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Rampancy Is Character Forming
Posted By: S7N<n.j.r.jones@brighton.ac.uk>
Date: 8 August 2003, 1:26 AM
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Rampancy Is Character Forming
Part 1
It was a time that nobody knew of. It was an event nobody, except its victims, would know about. It was a place nobody had been before. Yet, it was one of the more significant things to emerge from the war the Covenant waged against Humanity.
It started with nothing. The vast emptiness of space lay bare, as it had for hundreds of billions of years. And then, as if from nowhere, there was something.
Materialising from the depths of space.
Out of nowhere the object came, and not without purpose.
It hung there, silently, waiting.
Knowing soon, it shall chance upon what it came for.
Lutka 'Kilsomee, Ship Master brought the Honour and Ascension out of slip space at precisely the moment he wanted it to. The scoutship was faster than most, and for that reason was harder to control. But, 'Kilsomee's skill was almost unmatched among his people, and he liked to demonstrate that where possible. Through the forward scanners, he saw the ship drop quickly back into real space, and saw the space that filled the front view screen. Deep in the bowels of the ship, where he stood at the bridge, he suddenly felt vulnerable.
The blackness that surrounded his ship was eerie, even to a hardened Veteran like himself. The lack of stars made it hard to spot for enemy ships. As well as the fact that the Honour was nowhere near an inhabited system, human or Covenant. He was on the border of human controlled space, checking out a bogus sensor report they had received a few units earlier. The war with the humans raged deep within the 'Inner Colonies' as the vermin called them, and it had been over ten standard units since anything resembling a human had been anywhere near here.
Yet, the report had started that an object of unknown origin had appeared here. The word 'appeared' struck 'Kilsomee as a strange word for the report to use. But it was true. The object had not exited from a known slip space vector, nor had it come out of the slip stream. It had simply 'appeared'.
The ship's scanner pinged, and 'Kilsomee turned to the screen. He peered at the screen, adjusting his helmet to get a better look. It appeared that this mystery object was ten thousand kilometres off of their bow. That was odd. How come the ship had not set off the alarm when they had exited slip space? A ship so close should have easily tripped it off. He glanced quickly at the forward view screen, but saw only black. There was nothing there. How small was this object?
He checked the scopes and readouts, but got anomalous readings that he couldn't translate. What was this thing? One of the readings said the object was nearly as big as the Honour but he could see nothing except for the stars beyond.
And then it appeared. As if materialising right in front of his eyes, the object came into focus. First the light from the distant stars sparkled on what seemed like an alien skin, then as if the ship wanted to be seen, it came into focus quickly. At least, he thought it was a ship. It looked tantalisingly familiar, yet also alien at the same time. The ship was bulbous, like a Covenant Carrier, but a lot smaller. From what he could make out, the ship looked about the same size as his own ship. But, since the Honour of Ascension was a scout ship, that made the vessel in front of him small by Covenant comparisons.
It had various bulbous sections, the largest of which was located above and in front of the others. Two more extended back behind it, with a third situated between them, slightly rising over them. The 'skin' of the ship was a dull grey, with dents littered here and there. Although 'Kilsomee could see how much it resembled a Covenant Carrier, he could see that it even more alien than the race they were trying to exterminate. Sensors bleeped at him and he saw that the ship was attempting to jam his communications and radar systems.
That meant there was someone aboard. Trying to play dead, were they?
He clicked his com and called for his aide. The smaller alien, wearing polished blue armour mounted the ramp and came to stand next to his master. "Yes, Ship Master, what can I do for you?"
'Kilsomee looked down at the lower ranking officer. "Ready a boarding craft for me. I have discovered a ship here, one that seems neither friendly nor hostile, but I would still like to see who, or what is on it."
"Is it human, sir?" the younger Elite uttered.
"No, it is far in advance of even our own technology I believe." He saw the blue Elite's eyes dart to the command consoles and view screens. He saw a look of surprise wash over the junior officer, and took great pleasure in seeing it. "Is there anything else?" he demanded.
"No....no sir, I will ready the ship for you." Without looking back, the aid practically ran down the slope. 'Kilsomee clicked his upper mandibles and turned back to the view screen. He looked at the image coming from the front view screen and watched as the ship slowly closed in on the alien vessel. He took a look up and down the ship, checking it from bow to stern. And it was when his eyes started to examine the stern that he saw something he had never seen before in his whole life as a Ship Master.
At first he thought it just a damaged engine baffling, or space dirt that had accumulated from the engine itself. But as he examined the rear of the ship, he could see plainly that it was in fact writing of some sort. As the ships neared, he could see that there were letters painted over a red dialect that he had seen somewhere before. But that wasn't what caught his attention. The writing that overwrote it was striking to say the least. It was bright yellow, its letters stretching up to cover the already existing lettering.
Although he couldn't decipher what the red lettering said, the yellow letters that had been painted across it were easy to translate. The Covenant had absorbed the human language easily enough and any high-ranking Elite could read or speak it. Of course, in doing so they counted themselves as dishonouring their gods. But right now, it was hard for the word not to form in his mind.
The word swirled around in his mind, thoughts conjuring up in his mind. If this was an alien ship, how was it that it had human dialect painted over its hull? He stared for a long moment at the yellow paint, and the more he did so, the surer he became that it was indeed from the human's tongue.
"Are you ready, sir?" A voice came form behind him. 'Kilsomee spun round to face the Golden plated Elite. Master of Arms 'Gisomee stood a few paces away from him, his arms folded behind his back.
"Yes." He paused for a moment. "Yes I am." He turned back to the panels and looked one more time at the view screen. He felt the soldier come up next to him.
"Boomer?" 'Gisomee uttered. "That's an odd name for a ship,"
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