BEHOLD! My third fic thus far, my first fic that lives up to my alias of bungiefan89, and my first non-humor fic.
All milestones aside, I came up with the idea for this fic a long time ago, and my inspiration of this fic will not be reveled until it's conclusion.
I do not own the Halo series (If one game and a sequel could be called a series, not to say that I mock the name of the best first-person shooter ever made.), including Reach, the SPARTAN-II project, the Pillar of Autumn, etc. I do however own the ship Judicator and all of it's occupants, except for Solipsil who is owned by Bungie.
ONWARD!
Reach. One of humankind's greatest achievements in colonization. It was a planet like the ones scientists and astronomers had been dreaming of for countless generations. It was a planet like Earth in so many respects, that some referred to it as 'Earth's lost sister' when it was first discovered and analyzed. Once faster-than-light travel came to an existence, humanity as a whole desired to do little more than visit this new world.
The government of humanity, which bore no banner or name, eventually divided itself into branches. One of these branches was the UNSC (United Nations Space Command), and it undertook all things that were space related. It was a vastly larger success than former attempts and failures of government based space divisions like the NASA of more than half a millennium ago. Now that humanity was united as a whole, the infinite boundaries of space beckoned and humanity followed with an unstoppable urge to explore the unknown. Reach was one of humanities first and most successful targets for colonization.
Of the estimated 70 billion humans spread out across the stars, 48 lived on Earth, 37 lived on Reach, and the remaining 15 were scattered about on other planets and moons. Humanity had tamed itself into a species of potential, of exploration.
People were still far from perfect however. Fights still broke out, people were still murdered, women were still raped, illegal drugs were still sold, people with wallets were still mugged, and some people still smoked. These were sad facts that everyone had to accept as being a reality, so there was still a universal military that mostly acted as a police force. Because traveling into space was now so simple a thing, the entire military was controlled by a branch of the UNSC known as the Office of Naval Intelligence, or ONI; which oversaw the public throughout the universe. Things were not perfectly controlled, but a moderation of respect to law was undeniable.
That was humanity, and humanity was looking rather good.
Then the Covenant came.
Their introduction was spread fast as people eventually got word of how the first contact they had with other intelligent life was nothing but hostile. People were introduced to full fledged warfare for the first time in generations, and this was not a war against other humans but against creatures that could not be negotiated with, could not be reasoned with, and you could not beg for mercy with. War was the only option humanity had, and if humanity lost, then it would not be like other wars of past centuries where the losers were beaten down only to the point that they couldn't fight any more. This was a war where the losers would no longer exist; where not only all of there lives would be taken, but their cities, culture, and history would all be completely obliterated. This was the worst kind of war imaginable, and it was one that humans knew they had to win.
Every day, military and civilian outposts fell in a massacre. Every day, humanity learned that a distant possibility of defeat was slowly getting closer. And every day people held on to hope. Hope that one day the tide of war would be miraculously changed. Hope that they could find a way to effectively combat the Covenant. Hope that there just might be a negotiation of peace through some unseen way.
Most of that hope was lost when the Covenant assaulted Reach.
Reach was attacked on all sides as Covenant ships bombarded the surface of the planet with their alien weaponry. Millions were killed instantly, and those ships that tried to retaliate against the blockade were annihilated without mercy. The Pillar of Autumn was the only spacecraft able to escape the attack, and was a shining ray of hope in a dark sky of clouds for those who knew of its escape. The Pillar of Autumn also carried with it the last of the super-solders that were a result of the SPARTAN-II project, and 117, also known as Master Chief, was also supposed to be the top soldier of the group. Everyone knew how all of the other cyborgs of the SPARTAN-II project were whipped out in the attack on Reach, but as long as one remained, hope remained.
Some of this was not entirely true.
SPARTAN-117 was indeed the only SPARTAN-II soldier to escape the destruction of Reach, but the Pillar of Autumn was not the only ship to get out of the attack. There had been one other; Judicator. Judicator was not a Halcyon-class warship like the Pillar of Autumn, rather a warship of slightly smaller caliber, equal in class to the Pillar of Autumn's smaller sister ship, In Amber Clad.
Judicator had just been finishing its patrol that took it to the far side of Marco, the more distant of Reach's two moons, when the Covenant attacked. Being so distant from Reach, and partially hidden behind the moon, Judicator was undetected when the Covenant fleet warped in from some distant location. The crew of Judicator was grief stricken when they learned the planet they had been guarding was being set aflame. Nothing could compare to the hopelessness that they felt; the slap in the face that they received at knowing their planet, and all of the people on it were quickly being destroyed. Judicator was not a direct-combat craft, it was a support craft; a wing-mate of sorts that was designed to provided additional firepower and cover for the larger, more powerful Halcyon-class ships. Judicator wouldn't stand a chance against an entire fleet of Covenant capital ships. These were all facts that were too hard to take for those who were on board Judicator.
The commander of Judicator flipped the switch labeled 'ALL DEACKS' and spoke into the microphone on the armrest of her command seat, "All personal hear this: this is your commander Heather Cole speaking. I believe that you all have the right to know that as of just a few minutes ago a large Covenant fleet warped in and started attacking Reach, the very planet that we are defending. We are currently partially hidden behind the moon Marco from the detection of the Covenant fleet, and sense they over-shot us when they arrived; they are unaware of our presence. I am currently receiving data that tells me that less than 68 of the fleet of this colony remains and Sacred Promise, the ship that we have been for so long flying along side as a wing-mate, has lethally collided with Reach's moon Polo. We are left with a choice it seems. Alpha: We attack the enemy lines from behind as best we can, defending this planet to our deaths. Or Bravo: We can follow the example that has just been set by the Pillar of Autumn, by making ourselves visible, and try to lead as many Covenant ships away from Reach as possible. You have 420 seconds to cast your vote. That will be all for now."
Judicator had been a bit of an experimental ship in one way or another. It had been the designated ship to be the first to try out a new form of command. The idea was that each member of personnel on board, regardless of rank, always had a small 'vote communicator', as it was referred to, which would be used to allow the user to cast a vote upon given choices of command whenever the opportunity arose. At first, many disapproved of the concept as it would take to much time for a polling of decisions to take place, but that was why Judicator was the first to try this out.
"So what do you think is going to happen commander?" The AI construct of Judicator inquired as she became visible on her holographic display on the commander's arm rest.
"I'm not too sure Solipsil." Heather responded to the blue figure of a woman that was floating in front of her, "No matter what, I gravely feel that none aboard this ship will live long enough to die of old age. I know that our troops are smart and strong, our ship is in proficient condition, and our morale has always been high, but if any crew survives this fight, it will be that of the Pillar of Autumn, not the Judicator."
"Because the Pillar of Autumn has the last of the SPARTAN-II's?" Solipsil asked, "Or because they have a more powerful ship?"
"Both I think." Heather replied as she ran her hand through her short red hair, and scratched the back of her neck in a pondering manner, "I mean not to say that we are competing with them; I know Cortana was one of your... 'friends'... as far as AI go and I respect that."
"I suppose that you could say that." Solipsil replied, "But still, while the Pillar of Autumn may have a SPARTAN-II solider, we have you."
"Solipsil, that matter is almost irrelevant right now." The commander protested.
"Heather Joanna Cole:" Solipsil started reciting, "red hair, brown eyes, female, Caucasian, born in the year 2520. Received bachelor's degree from Gutenberg University in 2544 and enlisted in the ONI of the UNSC during the same year. Volunteered to be part of the ongoing at that time special project SPARTAN and was trained from 2544 until 2547 when SPARTAN project was abandoned and all work was concentrated on the more successful SPARTAN-II project. Considering the latest stats of the SPARTAN project before it was abandoned, you were the top of the class. Also in 2547, you were transferred over to the ship Judicator as an ODST with your expert SPARTAN-I training. From 2547 to 2550, you rose through the ranks with ease and are now commander of the same ship for the second consecutive year. Is that an inaccurate summary?"
"No. It is not." She sighed, "I suppose you're right. I was after all part of the SPARTAN-I project, and the only reason they stopped with it and started a new one was because my-"
"-loyalty was not 'bred' into you. I know. I know. And you never really thought that was fair judgment." Solipsil finished for her.
"What you speak is true Solipsil." The commander admitted, "At any rate, I think that the best option in this situation would be to follow my father's-!" She caught herself in mid sentence in respect for law #536; one of the oldest ONI laws. Law #536 stated that family members never be apart of the same ship, squadron, or any individual division of troops. This ensured that things like family relations did not cloud the judgment of any member of the ONI during a time of crisis, and when referring to other family members also enlisted in service; one must refer to them by their proper UNSC rank, not family related name or otherwise. This law was always in effect during times of peace and war.
"I-I mean Cole protocol," the commander stuttered, a rare thing for her to do, "and make a blind jump to a non-Earth-bound vector."
"Then why not just make that decision ma'am? After all, this whole idea of polling for a decision is entirely optional, and in a time of crisis like this; isn't a single quick decision wiser?" The AI asked.
"I'm surprised that the idea of democracy has lasted this long throughout human history;" Heather explained, "I think we should keep it alive."
"Commander Cole, the votes have been cast, shall I present the results?" Tarek Conner, one of her sub-commanders said.
"Affirmative." She nodded to the man who had occupied that very same post and rank ever sense she was first enlisted on this ship. A holographic interface appeared next to Solipsil and the two women (if Solipsil could be considered a real female) both smiled at the results.
"45,000 votes to Bravo," Solipsil declared, "zero to Alpha, and zero undecided. Look's like we've either got a super tight-nit crew or a glitch in our system that I cannot detect!"
Heather flipped the switch labeled 'ALL DEACKS' once again and spoke into the microphone, "This is Commander Cole speaking. After viewing your unanimous decision, I have decided to go through with the Pillar of Autumn's example, and try to lead as many of the Covenant forces away from Reach as possible. Prepare ship for high turbulence. That is all for now." She flicked the switch off, and then turned on the HSSC (Head of Star-Side Combat).
A small viewing screen folded out in front of her and on it was displayed the face of a fat, gruff looking man with a thick beard that looked as though it didn't meet hygiene standards. He also wore an eye-patch as black as his skin with UNSC labeled on it. "Nice li'll speech there carrot-top!" He said in an amused voice, "You called?"
"Not now Musket!" She yelled at the screen with fire in her eyes. The display made the man on the screen jump a bit in his chair, and caused the various crew-members around her to tense up and start monitoring their computers twice as fast. Heather was not by any means a sight for sore eyes, but when she was angered; everyone suddenly remembered that her SPARTAN-I training had taught her how to break 5 bones of an average Elite before they hit the ground, and more than 13 bones in an average human, with her bare hands. A while ago, some fresh young recruit of Judicator (Buck-private, barely passed boot camp on account of disciplinary issues) thought it might be funny if he were to shine a laser pointer at one of the commander's breasts as she walked through the hall one day. The man was not only relived of duty from the ship, but was also left without any thumbs, a somehow permanently broken hip, a smashed nose, 15 missing teeth, and broken knee-joints. He was too afraid to press charges against her. "Our very lives are resting on the end of your nose, and I can't have you to sneeze! Now I need a weapons and antigrave deflectors status report immediately!"
"All Right! All Right!" Musket replied in a slightly aggravated voice. Tyler Musket was the former commander of Judicator, and had been so for 34 of the 57 years of his life. But when he went on leave to visit his family for a week, a thunderstorm broke out in the middle of the night around his winter home. He had gotten out of bed to get a glass of water when a bolt of lightning struck an old rotten tree in the back yard, which fell upon the house. As fate would have it, the bulk of the tree smashed through the roof of the kitchen, and Tyler had not been killed but quite brutally crippled by the falling timber of the tree and mostly wooden house. The muscles in his legs had been damaged beyond all repair, he had lost his right eye, and though his left arm had been broken in many places and the medical doctors were able to fix it; it never worked the same again. Due to his poor physical condition, he was not able to continue his service as commander of Judicator, and was demoted to be HSSC of the same ship simply because of all the experience he had. It was probably because of this that Tyler was one of the few people who could push the relatively short limits of Heather's temper.
Tyler madly typed away at his keyboard and control panel, and in an amount of time that was longer than 'immediately'; he began depicting the ship's status. "Ummmm... we've got Main Canons Alpha through Dora at a combined average strength of 97 due to a slight lack of energy on Caesar's part. But secondary guns 1 through 24 are all at 100 on their energy ratings, and ready to fire on demand." Tyler said in a hurried voice, as he knew that the commander's pity for him did have it's bounds.
"Sound's like we might have a chance." Solipsil commented.
"How about the antigrave deflectors Musket?" Heather asked him.
The man typed away at his console for a little over three seconds and replied with a large grin on his bearded face, "Well ma'am; The indicators are currently registering at 110 power, and that's gona make things really pointy for us!" Antigrave deflectors worked on the still theoretical laws of the fabric of the universe. Every object has mass, and that mass pulls down on the fabric of the universe, causing gravity. An antigrave deflection system worked on the principles of anti-matter, and caused a 'spike' in the fabric of the universe rather than a 'dip', and reversed the effects of gravity. It wasn't as effective as the plasma shields that many Covenant warships carried, but it was the best the UNSC had to offer the ONI.
"One hundred ten percent may be rather pointy Musket, but we're talking about hit and run against an entire Covenant armada." Heather countered as she turned to the AI hovering in front of her, "Solipsil, how quickly can you bring this ship to CGS?"
"Snap of the fingers, commander." The blue hologram replied with an expression on her face that understood what was going through Heather's mind. After all, CGS stood for Conservative Ghost State. The ideology behind CGS, was that all lights inside and out of the ship were shut down, as well as all except for the most vital radio communications. The newly available energy was transfered over to things like the antigrave deflection system, gun turrets, etc., so that the ship was as invisible as could manage, and was ready to fight back stronger than under usual circumstances.
"I mean emergency lights too Solipsil." Heather added.
"Ma'am?" Solipsil asked, a bit baffled at the command.
"You heard me; emergency lights too. And emergency radio waves as well." The human instructed the AI.
"That's still not going to take very long commander." Solipsil replied, "But are you saying you want-"
"Everything shut down, yes." The commander explained, "I want all the energy and power of everything that's connected to this ship, and not a computer, to be transfered over to the antigrave deflectors. And I want all of the energy from Main Canons Bravo and Dora, and all the energy from secondary guns 1-24 to be transfered over to the antigraves as well. I want Alpha and Caesar to be running at 50 energy. Engine cores should be running at 100 until we get the chance to make our jump through sub-space. Oh, and you can stay on Solipsil. Is that all clear?"
"Yes ma'am, just give the word." the blue figure responded.
Heather flipped the ALL DEACKS switch once again and spoke as her voice echoed throughout the hallways of the entire ship, "This is commander Cole speaking. We will soon be engaging the Covenant fleet using standard hit-and-run tactics. During this time, we will be running without lights or radio contact until further notice. It is advised that all personnel grab on to anything directly connected with the ship, and to hang on tight as we will be making a blind jump through sub-space. Any reports of horseplay, or mischief will result in feeding Snouts without a suit. That is all."
Judicator was home to many Marines, officers, and high members of the ONI, but it was also the prison of a captured Covenant grunt named Snouts. After being studied on the ship for numerous years, Snouts had learned that his human captors would not harm him, and he lost his fear of them. But instead of becoming friendly and somewhat domesticated, he had learned that they would never harm him; no mater how much he harmed them. He would savagely attack his captors in any way possible, and the crew of Judicator was forced to use specialized protection suits whenever it was necessary to feed him. Usually this procedure involved 6 suited up individuals who worked together to hold the creature down and force feed him as he had tried to starve himself to death in the past. It was considered the largest punishment on the ship to 'feed Snouts without a suit', meaning to feed him wearing nothing at all. And Snouts did have his pointy ends.
"Did you get all of that Musket?" Heather asked as she turned back to the viewing screen.
"Yes ma'am!" The HSSC said as he saluted as best he could.
"Good." Heather replied, "You take control of Canon Caesar, and Solipsil will help you out with Alpha. Remember you two, we want to get enough of their attention that they want to chase after us, nothing more. All right, let's do it. For Reach."
"For Reach." Musket replied as his image faded out and disappeared on the screen.
"For Reach." Solipsil repeated as the AI snapped her fingers, the sound of which seemed to echo throughout every single last wall of Judicator until it reached the outer hull, and the vacuum of space which was now as dark and silent as the inside of the ship. Judicator was slowly moving out from behind the moon and the only thing between it, and the largest Covenant fleet ever seen.
FIN!
Hope you enjoyed it! I also hope that this shows that I'm not all about things like Can I Push Your Button?, I have my serious side.
Now I can fully understand if someone might think that this is a bad fic over all or so far, but that's why I say to you now that I am not afraid of the fires of your flames. But still, as my little poem goes...
R&R or give me a flame,
for I shall read them all the same.
(Hey, I made a rhyme!)
So Read and Review, (Bambie Eyes) pleeeeeease!
Second chapter should be posted in roughly two weeks.