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Solemn Prayers
Posted By: Soulcry<soulcry22@hotmail.com>
Date: 9 May 2005, 5:15 PM
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Altered State: Chapter Two: Solemn Prayers
The Solemn Prayer moved silently through space. Its massive bulk rather drifting through the darkness than moving at any speed usually conceived for space travel. The UNSC had no idea that this ship even existed, it had been a top secret project, but not of the military's and they hated someone else having secrets they didn't know about. The military was the ones usually known for implanting spies and stealing secrets, but not this time. Another, more powerful entity had taken control of the fight against the Covenant, or at least, that is how they felt. The Solemn Prayer put any ship in the UNSC fleet to shame, and even outshined many Covenant vessels.
The ship's specs were known only by its crew, not even its passengers knew of this ship's complete outfit. The vessel was made out of a combination of good solid UNSC metal, and reinforced with Covenant materials. The shape of the ship was one of a square base leading up into a point, a triangular cubic shape, complete with four orbs, two on the bottom, and two on the top. An odd shape for a ship, but for good reason, the designers of the ship refused to allow their geniuses to be wasted on anything but a masterpiece of art, technology, and design. The best minds from the UNSC shipyards, AI databases, and all of the top level researchers and designers had been...drafted for this purpose. This would be the first, the last, and the only ship of its class and majesty.
The Captain of the vessel looked over the ship's supply logs and whistled. The Archer missile pods that lined the craft were already warmed and ready to fire at a moments notice, the ship's systems ingeniously crafted in a manner that prevented the ship from having to pre-heat the weapons systems. The MAC guns numbered eight, and were the best weapon they had, of the UNSC weapon's systems of course. The technicians at the project base had wanted to release their brainchild's ultimate weapon system to the public, but were denied the right to release the weapon to the military. It might save lives they begged, but the project's coordinators refused to allow it to leave their hands. The weapon of course, is called the Holy Cross. A weapons system capable of tearing apart Covenant Cruisers like paper, this made the captain grin as he reviewed the system's sequences. He fingered a control panel that made the full system lay out pop onto the screen.
The Holy Cross weapon consisted of both Covenant and Human technologies. It was usually a last resort weapon, because of its high resource nature. The captain sighed and fingered the simulation's activation sequences. Power stored by the generators in each of the four orbs triggered, traveling through specifically designated conduits into each other, and into the triangular head of the ship, the firing point. What one expected from here would be an explosive display of light as it was forced from the head in the shape of a cross, which was the initial idea of the designers, but what was expected was not always what happened. The energy gathered would now be stored into the tip, the Captain kept an eye on the projected energy output as he watched the simulation. Energy levels were high, nigh unbelievable, if he hadn't witnessed them himself. He fingered the firing trigger, the target being a collection of coordinates and numerical data graphically represented into the product of years of top notch scientist's hard work and neglect of their own families.
The energy burst emitted from the firing point and collided with the target, disrupting its shields; the secondary burst poured from the triangle and tore into the opposing ship's hull. The ship exploded into a burst of light, which did in fact resemble a cross. The fires spread throughout the ship as the four orbs fired an explosive pulse co-coordinated from the ship's weapon's system. This final burst was used to completely wipe the data and life forms from within the target's wreckage. No mercy...as the weapon was often called.
The captain took a drag from his cigar, and in that instant he ceased to be. The embers of the cigar burned and the smoke trailed into the air, but the breath which it had just escaped, no longer existed. The captain hit the ground hard, but it didn't matter, the concussion he would have sustained was nothing to the blade's impact to his sternum. A white haired form behind the captain sheathed his shining metal weapon. A smile on his face, he knew he had done exactly as he was ordered to do. The blood from the captain now stained the deck, but his death wasn't alone. Solemn Prayer's deck was stained with blood, all from the now extinct method of swordplay. The assailant never enjoyed the concept of guns, though he was an expert marksman. He kicked aside the captain's dead body and punched several keys on the navigation array; Solemn Prayer lurched and shuddered as it altered its course.
The man looked around at the scene of death and destruction around him, they will be pleased, he thought to himself. A small communications device was attached to his ear and fed via wires to his internal workings. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a harsh gasping sound. The metal of his blade gleamed in the artificial atmosphere as it left the black sheath. The man dressed in black slashed his blade forward, slicing a metal table in half. The shining blade was a masterpiece of art and science, a fusion of the two created by masters, for masters. The handle was nothing special, a micro-computer that monitored heart signs and functioned as a motion sensor that caused a crystalline light on the hilt to light up when enemies were near. The blade was the truly ingenious part, designed to be the first, last, and only line of defense the user had, the blade was truly important. It was made with a combination of Earthen and Covenant metal that gave the blade its unparalleled sharpness and shine. Circuits lined the inside of the metal and powered the special features of the weapon. The sides of the blade vibrated at a very high frequency that was barely detectable when held, and couldn't be heard, not even by dogs. The other feature of the blade was the small shielding imbedded into the metal that allowed the user to deflect plasma and even counter the Elite swords. The man holding said weapon had mastered its use, and relished in destroying Elites with it.
The metal table split in half, and a man clutching his stomach looked up at the swordsman. He coughed blood, a sign he was near death, a token that spread a smile across the man's face. He raised his sword to finish the man off when something on the control panel of the ship began blinking rapidly. A wave of cold fear swept over him as he approached, and to his horror, he discovered a rapidly approaching fleet of iridescent sharks. Covenant... The word echoed in his mind and he looked down at the dying pilot. It would be at least another two hours before the new team arrived. The rest of the passengers were all sealed down and very few of them had actual combat experience. He threw his sword through the ground and it stood there, its handle pointing to the ceiling. He hit the communications switches and saw the reddened, round face of an angry, well fed, highly paid, cardinal.
"Xar, what are you doing? You are disobeying every direct order we have given you, you hav-"
Xar didn't let him finish his sentence. "I did what you asked, shut up and listen. We have stumbled across a Covenant fleet; we have no crew save one mortally wounded pilot and myself. This ship is as good as dead if you don't get the replacements here and now." His voice was calm and never once did he express panic. He was program to resist the feeling of Death's hand on your shoulder, or even his Scythe through your gut. Xar checked the display, Three minutes until they discover us the readout translated to in Xar's mind. The Cardinal visibly sweated on the screen, and Xar almost smiled.
Captain James Terrell of the Hell's Tulip laughed as he witnessed the Covenant fleet approach the doomed freighter before him. In fact, he was recording it as his life support systems began to fail. His ship was greatly damaged; he was mortally wounded, and was fated to fade into the afterlife in approximately three minutes. He knew this, and this caused him extreme interest in the upcoming wave of destruction. He took one last swig of his cheap, but kill-your-brain cells strong drink. He laid back, dimmed the lights, and enjoyed the show.
The first Covenant ship released a group of the Seraph fighters, obviously to inspect the vessel. The Seraph fighters were fast, strong, and deadly in numbers, but nothing more than an insect trying to take out a bug lantern. The Solemn Prayer released a volley of plasma energy into space, a magnetic force causing a tight net of death to surround the ship. The Seraph fighters never saw it coming. Xar smirked as he flipped through the available resources. He could with all technicalities destroy the fleet with the weapons aboard this ship. He aimed the MAC guns and double checked the trajectories. He hit the controls and the MAC guns ripped through space, several of them missed their targets. The ones that hit however crushed the shields and hull of the Covenant ship that launched the Seraphs. Flames consumed the ship and it became nothing but a memory.
Calm piano music floated over the bridge, stained with blood and death. Xar hit the controls, watching the energy level of the ship. He had entered the Captain's override, so as he sat in the massive chair, he had most of the ship's systems at his command. He hit the controls one more time, the MAC guns were reloaded, the missile pods were hot, and plasma generators were ready. As the ship's AI, Xar now had full control of the ship and was more than qualified to take out a good portion of the fleet, though without a proper crew he would not be able to last for long. His minds wandered throughout the vast array of data he had on his side, he calculated Covenant flight patterns and attack squads, pouring through thousands of simulations per second. His minds were truly remarkable, something unique, something almost unexplainable. One of his minds flipped to the passenger inventory, checking the background on each of the three thousand cryogenically frozen Humans. After cross-referencing the qualities he was looking for with the records, he found six individuals who met the qualifications. He began the process of awakening him, and he fingered the MAC guns control's again.
The captain smiled as the lights faded and a covenant ship exploded in a vast array of light. Under normal circumstances he would have been bewildered and curious, but all he had room for now was drunken amusement. He considered hailing the massive ship before him, but figured it was a little pre-occupied, so he finished his drink and reached down to pet the small animal below him. The puppy looked up, whimpering and nuzzling his hand sympathetically, James's heart broke in an instant. Dammed, if I haven't' already earned my way to hell I'm definitely going there now, poor dog. He petted it and tried to comfort it, but the animal knew what was about to happen. In a few minutes the systems would die, the atmosphere would vent, and the engines would achieve critical mass, and both of the life forms would be nothing but atoms in space. James's wandering mind came up with a solution, and he went to work.
Xar's minds were set upon their individual tasks all doing what they could to save the lives of the crew, that not surprisingly, Xar had little love for. He was bound by duty and programming to complete his task. It was strange how an AI was bound by the chains of code and programming. He shook his head and hit the thrusters, maneuvering the massive ship the best he could. Six people appeared on the bridge, six new targets in Xar's mind. They were outraged at the scene of violence around them, confused at what was happening, and terrified out of their minds at the fleet before them. Xar didn't try to explain, comfort, or orient them.
"Take your stations; you're the only hope this ship has, take my orders without questions, and you might live." Xar knew someone was going to ask a question, someone always did, so his hand leapt to his sword prepared to cut down the daring questioner, however no one asked a thing. Xar almost smiled, almost. The six formed an operating crew, each one an extension of the other, operating almost as smoothly as a machine, each one a separate job, but each one the same goal. Xar was impressed as the dazzled crew adapted quite well to the new technology. Xar was a little curious on how they could come to use it so well in such a short time. Outside the battle was furious, though inside the bridge the soft piano music continued to play. Xar had control of all of the special features of the ship, so as an arc of plasma headed towards him, he punched in the correct combination of characters, and activated the Revelations Device. One of his minds laughed cynically at the name, while another appreciated the tactical abilities of the ship. The device created a magnetic field that was used to redirect the plasma, simple, and powerful. A normal blast of plasma was what the device was created for, but it proved incredibly effective when Xar turned it on a beam of the energy. The flow of the beam was actually reversed, streaming the deadly energy back into the weapon it came from, of course this took a tremendous amount of energy from the Solemn Prayer to perform this feat, but the resulting spray of light and destruction was worth it in the end
The crew rejoiced as the last of the ships were disintegrated by the ship's weapons, and Xar found his mind's mutually relieved. Of course this meant that the new crew had to die, Xar wasn't allowed any compromises in his mission. As he stood and drew his sword the crew reached for their joy and at their dismay found it was gone, replaced by cold fear. Xar was about to relieve the stand-in Navigator of his duty when the Sensory technician shouted in a combination of fear and desperation.
"Sir, we have an incoming....projectile. It's unidentified and doesn't appear to be a weapon of any sort. In fact, it's a ...escape pod! Definite life signs are onboard, what actions should I take?"
At first Xar was frustrated, his vast minds were having difficulties overcoming his programmed desire for blood, when more important matters were at hand. He raised the sword and made a thrusting motion, before he dropped the blade. One of his minds had stumbled upon the programming's base subroutine and taken apart the very code. He looked up awkwardly, as if through the eyes of a new born child. The ship lurched as one of the bays opened, and an escape pod entered the ship. Xar turned to a view screen as a small ship disappeared in a burst of fire and brimstone.
On the bridge's main screen the scowling face of the Cardinal attempted to reprimand Xar on his rash and foolish actions. The A.I.'s rebellious mind took control of the situation and immediately shut down the parts of him that would ban this sort of behavior. With a quick motion the screen was shut off. Part of Xar's minds decided to obey part of the Cardinal's orders and set in the slip space coordinates necessary to reach their next desired position. A part of Xar's mind that was not shut off reinstated a piece that was and made sure that it was kept a secret from the rebellious piece of his mind. The entity that is Xar is a collective of what started out to be seven minds. In an unforeseen error in the developmental part of Xar's evolution new minds were created. All had control of the various systems of Xar's being, allowing a private war within himself. To counteract this portion a new mind was created. Technicians fought with Xar to install the new mind, but were effectively blocked out. This caused worry amongst Xar's creators, so they instead imbedded the separate mind into an entirely separate entity. That entity now held an unfamiliar weapon as an uneasy alliance was formed with his enemys. It was up to Xar now to save his "brother" and it just so happened these were the orders from the Cardinal. Xar leaned back into the chair and watched as the slip space computer took him towards the ongoing battle before him.
Author's Note: This is the second part of Altered State, however has very little connection with Of God's And Men, part two of that story will come out next, though I felt it was important to get this part of the story out in the open, to kind of explain the complex tale I am attempting to weave. Try and bear with me, I appreciate all comments I get, and I hope you look forward to my next part.
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