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Aboard the Virginia (chapter 6-10)
Posted By: Snypehunter117<redsgehl@verison.net>
Date: 28 February 2005, 4:16 PM
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HALO: Chapter 6
2329 Hours, 9.2.2552 (Military Calendar)/
UNSC Vessel Virginia- In slip space- en route to the Sol System
The Virginia seemed to glide through slip space as it headed back to Earth from its failed mission. It was something that nobody wanted to talk about. The mission was to investigate why the covenant were so interested in the Orion system. Although they had glassed the planet long ago, they went back to it for some reason. The Admirals of Earth decided that since it was important to the enemy, it was important to them- just so that the Covenant couldn't have what ever it was that they were looking for.
Almost four hours ago (when the Virginia entered slip space) Cortana had experienced a minor error message from the reactor. She dismissed it as being nothing worth noticing- just damage from all of the fighting that the Virginia had been through, not to mention the jerry rigging that the Chief had to do just to keep the tub moving. But now... things were going a little strange in slip space. She was now able to detect wavelengths within a human's viewing range. That was not supposed to happen. Normally, slip space is completely black on the visible spectrum. Cortana had experienced the time bending effects of a crystal made by the forerunners, but the effect was different... Could the events that happened in the Orion system have something to do with this? Or was it something else? Either way, it would have to wait for further processing- Cortana was having a hard time maneuvering the ship through the disturbed space, especially in its current condition.
"Chief? Something weird is happening in slip space," She thought that it was best to report the anomaly to the Chief.
"What do you mean by 'weird'?" The Chief asked cautiously.
"Take a look at the forward view screen and see for yourself."
"You're sure that those waves aren't static?"
"Positive."
"Well then, it looks like our job isn't quite over yet."
"What do you mean by that Chief?" The A.I. inquired. "With all due respect, our first priority should be to get back to earth, give our mission report, then repair and refit."
"Don't worry Cortana. We will. But as soon as the ship is fighting fit, we are hightailing it back to the Orion system and finishing what we started. How long until we reach Earth?"
"The ripples and waves you see on the screen are causing some warping in slip space. I think that I can get us home a little quicker by bouncing of some of them... like this." A gentle burst of acceleration gently pushed the crew to the back of their seat for a second. "There." The A.I. said. "At this speed, I can get us to earth within the hour."
"Good job Cortana. Keep it up."
HALO: Chapter 7
0007 Hours, 9.3.2552 (Military Calendar)/
UNSC Refit Station Thor- In orbit of Earth, Sol System
"Yes sir," Cortana replied, "Beginning docking procedures. We will be docked momentarily." A few seconds latter, a thud reverberated through the Virginia as she made a hard dock with Thor. "Long time no see, old buddy!"
"Like wise Cortana. Good to know you made it back alive, Thor (named after the station he is in control of), the station A.I. responded warmly. "How can I save your butt this time?"
"Actually, we are on a very important mission," Cortana started to explain.
"As always..."
"I need the Virginia to be repaired on the double. What ever ship you are repairing, stop and transfer all your personal to us. I need this ship at 150% percent in order to complete our mission."
"Actually, I might just be able to help you there," Thor said slyly.
"What do you mean?"
"Do you recall the upgrades and modifications that you reported to the UNSC around a month or two ago?"
"Yes, why?"
"Well, it just so happened that the Navy has just released the beta version of a new shield grid for our own ships. It's not very reliable yet, and it needs field testing... but if you want it, we have one ready to be installed. Of course, it will require a fair amount of power, so I would also have to have an extra fusion generator to sure ship, though I doubt that you would mind."
"Where do I sign up?" Cortana playfully agreed to the deal.
"I'll have my crew start the refit now. It'll take about twelve hours for me to finish basic repairs. After that I can start installing the upgrades and an extra reactor."
"Good. While we wait, up for a game of chess?"
"With you? I'm always ready for a game, even though I know that I'll win..."
"Ha!" Cortana laughed, "Actually I've won all of the one-hundred and fifty four games we played." With that, Thor closed the comm. link.
HALO: Chapter 8
0102 Hours, 9.3.2552 (Military Calendar)/
UNSC Refit Station Thor- In orbit of Earth, Sol System
"Son, with all due respect what, the heck happened in the Orion system? Tell me that these reports are wrong! Over 1,500 of the Virginia's crew are dead, the ship was badly damaged, and now the Covenant knows that we know that they're in the Orion System!!!" One of the many Admirals demanded to know.
"Admiral," a Captain responded, "I think that the Chief and the surviving crew have been through enough without you yelling down their throats."
"I'm sure they have, but we still need to know what happened. Chief, why don't you tell us?"
"Very well." The Chief stood from his seat. He felt uncomfortable without his suit. Cortana insisted that he take it off and let the repair crew work with it, as it had been severely damaged. He walked up to the podium in the center of the dark, circular room. He paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts about the events that had transpired the day before, and then he began. "From the beginning things were not going well for us. When we exited slipspace, we were too close to where the Covenant had there base of operations. There wasn't even enough time to activate the Virginia's prototype cloaking device before an enemy ship spotted us.
Since all of you may not know about the cloaking device, I'll give you a brief summery. It was designed to mask a ship's engine trail, heat signatures, and also generate a small magnetic field around the ship in order to mask it from all forms of sensors, except visual. As I was saying, we did not have enough time to activate it before a Covenant ship spotted us and began to move in an intercept course. We decided then that we would have to pull out... but not without a better look at what they were doing first. We redlined the reactors and got the Virginia cruising extremely fast. There was no way for the covenant to lock onto us long enough to fire a shot. The strategy worked... to some degree. As we got closer, it was as if we were getting farther away at the same time. We think it has something to do with a crystal similar to what we found on Reach. We were able to detect the same sort of radiation in the area as we did when we entered slipspace on the Ascendant Justice.
We were able to get close enough to the center of operations to see what the enemy was doing. It appeared that they were mining something on the moon in orbit of the 4th planet in the system. I'm not sure what it was, but it must have something to do with the Forerunners if the same sort of radiation was found there. That's the good news. Soon after we got a glimpse, things got real bad, real fast. Systems just started failing all over the ship. There were reports of covenant boarding parties on the Virginia, just before the internal communication went out.
We never detected any Covenant craft that were close enough, or fast enough, to launch boarding parties at us. That leads me to believe that the Enemy found a Forerunner facility, and used its close range teleporters to teleport the parties on board our ship. That would also explain the strange energy readings we detected in bursts throughout the ship. Then large explosions went off from inside the ship. One Charge took out reactor number four and soon after that another blast took out reactor three. The resulting shockwave severely damaged reactors one and two. At that point we jumped into slipspace. But that too was also a bad idea. As we transitioned, several smaller explosions went off on the outer decks... effectively depressing all of the lower decks, and also killing most of the crew on board. I ordered that all personal meet on decks one and two, and stay near the bridge to repel the Covenant forces. The remaining enemy forces on board outnumbered and overwhelmed the survivors. They killed all but me and a few of the bridge personnel before we retreated to the bridge and explosively decompressed all remaining decks. We had run out of options. From there, the reactors soon died and we fell out of slipspace and found ourselves in the Epsilon Eridani System." The Chief went on to describe the events that took place there, and the disturbances in slipspace, until they reached Earth.
HALO: Chapter 9
1957 Hours, 9.3.2552 (Military Calendar)/
UNSC Vessel Virginia- Heading outbound from the Sol System
"Thank you again, Thor," Cortana gave a final transmission to the Thor station. "These new modifications should greatly increase our odds of a successful mission."
"For you Cortana, anything." Thor said with a smile as he closed the communications channel.
Cortana accelerated the Virginia into slipspace. She could feel the power from the extra fusion reactor flow into the slipspace generator. She could have easily been one of the happiest A.I.s around. She was in control of the most advanced ship in all of the UNSC. The Virginia, with its new upgrades, now had the destructive power of almost four destroyer class warships.
She ran another simulated activation of the ships defenses. "Hmm..." She noted to herself. "That was a little slow..." Her sensors reported that the shield took a full 3.6 seconds in to fully activate. That was too long in a space battle. She set aside 50% of her processing power to come up with a software alteration that would hopefully allow it to come online in half that time. She also noted that she had almost double the resolution on her slipspace scanners then she had had earlier. Although it was still nowhere near as good as Covenant vessels, it was still a vast improvement to earlier Human technology. She rechecked the crew roster. Good. Everyone was either going into, or already in, cryosleep. Even though it would only take about half the time as usual to get to the Orion system (due to the ongoing disturbances in slipspace, and the improved slipspace engines), Commander Miranda Keyes had still requested that everyone go into cryosleep. Cortana would awaken the crew in a little over three days, when they would be closing in on the Orion system. Until then though, she would be keeping herself busy with making further upgrades to the weapons and defenses onboard.
HALO: Chapter 10
0723 Hours, 9.6.2552 (Military Calendar)/
UNSC Vessel Virginia- Slipspace- Approaching the Orion system
"Cortana- Is everyone awake?" Commander Keyes asked.
"Yes Captain. Everyone is either at their station, or en route. We enter normal space in seven minutes, give or take ten seconds," Cortana reported.
"Thank you Cortana. Have the chief meet me on the bridge in five minutes." Keyes popped out of her cryotube and got dressed. She then walked into the corridor directly outside of her cryo station. Something wasn't right though. "Cortana? Is there anything unusual about this area of the ship?" The comm. stayed silent. "Cortana? Is anyone there?" She braced herself against the wall as the Virginia transitioned into normal space. She began running to the elevator that would take her to the bridge. She pushed the call button for it... but the doors never opened. Just then the power to her deck cut out. A few seconds latter the emergency lights kicked on and illuminated the hallway. She paced over to an access panel in the wall. She removed the panel, which revealed a service ladder. It was one of a series of access ladders that ran throughout the ship. Although it would take much longer than using an elevator, she could use the ladder to get to the bridge. As she climbed onto the ladder a strange, eerie yellow glow swarmed around her. She felt as if gravity was shifting all around her. It was as if she was upside down, but she didn't fall. The bright light of a Forerunner transporter swarmed around her, and the Virginia vanished from her view.
Note: if anyone cares, the date for chapters 1-5 were off by a few months. this part of the story happens right after the first six chapters. the time stamp in these 5 chapters is more acurate however.
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