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The Siege of Zion Base; Part One: Mission - Chapter 4
Posted By: Scimitarex<scimitarex@omegacell.net>
Date: 13 February 2004, 7:35 PM
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Chapter Four
Ninth Age of Reclamation, Step
Of Truth aboard Covenant
Frigate Ray of Purity, en rout to
Sinai system
Ebyo stood on the elevated bridge platform of the ship they had been assigned to take on their mission. Although the ship's commander, Rhad 'Ussumee, had not been assigned to the mission to kill the Immortal One, he had been chosen as the commander to convey them to their destination as well as transport the ground troops to the surface for the diversionary attack.
The Hand of Retribution had been given a Seraph fighter outfitted with a special device that would mask it from the human's sensor screens. Their objective was to jump in system, and once the Ray of Purity was close enough to the target planet, Genesis, they would depart the ship at the same time as the rest of the atmospheric fighter craft and drop ships, masking their approach. It was a good plan, he only hoped that the device would work properly since it was experimental.
Ebyo turned to his lieutenants that were standing behind him on the lower platform of the bridge. "Make ready for jump to the lower space," commanded 'Ussumee to the crew, "for now... we ride into battle."
Ebyo stepped down from the elevated platform to face his soldiers. "Prepare the ship. And gather your weapons and gear. We travel light, take only what will make you the most deadly."
The two Brutes and Leba 'Labadee bowed and made their way to the exit from the bridge to the docking bay. Ebyo watched them leave and then walked back up to the elevated bridge platform. He stopped beside 'Ussumee and whispered so that no one else on the bridge could hear, "If we fail in our mission, please convey my apologies to the High Prophet of Retribution. For if we fail, it means we are dead."
"I will do as you ask. But I pray for your success. It is the will of the gods."
"We shall see if their will includes our deaths. If it does, I only hope our end brings glory to them," replied Ebyo.
'Ussumee nodded and gave the order to jump, the ship shuddered as it jumped to Slipspace. Ebyo left the platform and made his way off the bridge. He walked the corridors, mulling over his own thoughts. He thought of the Immortal One and how likely he was to be ready for an ambush. He thought of his lieutenants and the High Prophet who had sent him on this mission. So much had happened to him so fast. It was an honor to have been so elevated in so short a time.
He walked until he had made his was to his destination: the ship's armory. His team was already within, choosing their weapons and equipment for the mission. Damacus chose a plasma rifle, several grenades, as well as a slender assassin's plasma knife. Varadel had chosen for himself the Brute's traditional weapon: a high-velocity grenade launcher with a long blade attached to the underside for close up melee fighting. Varadel picked up a few grenades, attached them it his armor's belt, and left to board the ship with Damacus. Ebyo moved forward to see what 'Labadee had chosen. "Labadee had picked up two plasma pistols and a energy sword hilt which he quickly fastened to his utility belt. 'Labadee looked up to see Ebyo approach from the doorway. Ebyo nodded his approval of 'Labadee's choice and went over to the wall on the right that held the selection of medium caliber weapons.
Ebyo chose for himself a Prism Gun, a relatively new addition to the Covenant's arsenal. After the Covenant had landed on Halo seven cycles ago, they had met some resistance from automated defense drones that had attacked them with a type of light beam. The Covenant hierarchy had instructed the Engineers to capture one and bring it back to Covenant controlled space for study. After immense study of the weapon, the Covenant Engineers had created a new weapon with the light beam technology. They replaced the energy source with the same energy that the Covenant's needler weapon used to guide its projectiles. This energy was able to reflect off of non-targeted surfaces. The effect the Prism Gun created was a forward firing beam of bluish-purple energy that bounced off of any surface that was not a target. Its range was quite long and it's effect, though practically useless in outdoor environments, was quite an advantage in close quarter, indoor firefights.
Ebyo wanted a weapon that the Immortal One had not encountered before. He wanted to surprise him.
'Labadee was turning to leave for the ship when Ebyo spoke, "You are our best hope of killing the Immortal One. Your experience with stealth combat makes you our greatest chance for success."
"I will not fail you, commander," 'Labadee replied.
"It does not matter if you fail me, Leba. If any of us fail, we all die."
With that last remark, Ebyo turned and left 'Labadee to ponder that possibility.
# # #
1300 Hours, December 8, 2552
Sinai Star System, UNSC Test
Facility, code name: Zion, planet
Genesis
John was exhausted. Two straight days of training with the new subroutines were taking its toll. Cortana had had him doing test, after test, after test. He was beginning to get anxious to get back to the front lines. He was confident that his team, or what was left of it, could get along fine without him for not, but he wanted to get back into the action. All this testing and probing wasn't his style. He had had quite enough of that during his Spartan-II training.
He was back in his armor, which made him feel more at home. The Cortana duplicate had all the same tactical, infiltration, and cognitive abilities that the original Cortana had, but it couldn't learn and grow in the same way that Cortana could. It was essentially a "dumb" version of Cortana's most used subroutines. Only those programs which were useful in combat situations.
Cortana was quite the happy camper at the moment. She had found that the speed with which the new algorithms took over her "duties" was faster than she had anticipated. Cortana had assured him that everything would be finished within the next twenty-four hours and then they could head back to their ship and make for the front lines. He was simply waiting for Cortana to finish filing her report with ONI.
John was resting in his quarters when the medical wing of the base suddenly exploded.
# # #
1300 Hours, December 8, 2552
Sinai Star System, UNSC Test
Facility, code name: Zion, planet
Genesis, Quartermaine Airfield
Eileen Franklin was just returning to her duties from her afternoon workout. She had been jogging and lifting some lightweights in the gym a few minutes ago. After she had finished she had taken a quick shower and gotten back into uniform to prepare for her patrol at 1400 hours.
As soon as she had gotten to the airfield she had hardly had time to react as a loud, resounding explosion rocked the plains. She immediately turned to look to where the explosive sound had originated.
It was the Zion facility at the top of the plateau. One of the main building's wings, she couldn't tell which, was ablaze with fire and huge sections of the wing itself were missing altogether. Not a second sooner had she seen this than the plain erupted with alarms. The Covenant had come.
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