The Line In The Sand
Chapter 1: Orders
Darkness, plain and simple. It permeated every corner, every nook and cranny. The room was still, no movement. Only the soft sound of breathing could be heard. Vice-Admiral Moore inhaled deeply, quietly. Dull lights snapped on over-head. For the first time since Moore had arrived he saw the spook, and even now he was still mostly concealed in shadow. Cloak and dagger bullshit.
"Admiral, thank you for coming." Like I really had a choice, "This briefing is of the utmost importance and is quite…" The ONI agent let the word hang as he searched for the right word, "Time sensitive, that said I apologize for the abrupt manner we must dive into this." The spook whispered inaudibly, a holotank hummed into life and an holographic projection of a UNSC Marathon-class Cruiser. Now this is interesting, not to many of these seen outside of the Home Fleet.
"The Outlaw," The spook paused, whispering more inaudible commands to what Moore assumed was am AI somewhere in the ship. The holographic projection was replaced by a list of specs for the ship. 2 MAC's, oversized Archer pods 60 missiles each, 50mm point defense guns, 5 fusion rockets. The standard load-out for a Marathon. Moore's eye's continued to work there way down the list of armor plating, engine and weapon specifications. The paused over the one unusual thing in the load-out. Dear God! A NOVA what kind of a mission did I sign up for!
"Admiral by now im sure you've noticed an… oddity in the Outlaw's armament"
"You call one of those planet splitters an 'oddity'?!"
"Yes, you are only authorized for its use in the most dire of situations." The spook stared deep into the Admirals steely eyes. "And in no circumstances is it to be used in a way that could endanger the colony."
"What colony?" The ONI agent whispered once again and again a new image filled the holotank, this time with a planet.
"Sargasso," the image of the planet shrunk to show the local area, Sargasso's moon, Iva, now clearly visible. So were the 3 covenant ships in orbit. "2 Frigates and a Destroyer arrived in system very recently. Even as we speak this Prowler is taking us to our response."
"I assume that'd be the Outlaw?" Moore asked gruffly
"Among others."
"Well snap to it damnit!"
"This Prowler along with 5 Frigates will accompany Outlaw." Again the whispering, fucking spooks. The standard shape of a Frigate was shown by the holotank. "UNSC Coral Sea, UNSC Redoubtable, UNSC Paris, UNSC Thunder Falls, and UNSC Freedom's Reign." More hushed speaking. The Frigate faded and was replaced with specs for the ships.
Several things out of the ordinary here, enhanced engines… Two small fusion reactors coupled with a third large one, able to boost power to 300%! Frigates are damn fast already this is incredible. Those are going to run damn hot. As Moore read further he found himself impressed with the upgrades to the cooling systems which made this engine layout possible. Something else different that Moore noticed was different was that each Frigate carried its own complement of ODST's, no regular Marines were stationed.
"I take from your expression that you're impressed with our modifications?"
"Yes, very impressed. This opens several new doors for Frigate hit-and-run tactics."
"Exactly what we had intended to do." A smile crept onto the spooks shadowy face. "You ready to see the surprises we've packed into this Prowler here?" Moore nodded in agreement. The ONI agent spoke what Moore hoped would be the last of the spooks infernal whispers. The holotank hummed and displayed a Prowler along with its specifications. "UNSC Fall's Whisper." Moore ran over the list several times searching for what the ONI had shoved in this Prowler. Nothings out of the ordinary… its all the same as any other Prowler I've seen…wait…that has to be it! More HORNET mines. They've jammed quite a few in here. By sacrificing some crew space and non-essential area's the ONI had managed to double the standard load-out.
"You've surprised me once again, these will be particularly handy." The spook nodded and was about to say something but was interrupted by the AI that had manifested in the holotank.
"We've reached rendezvous point Able. All frigates reporting green, Outlaw's pre-op shakedown is almost complete, and of course Fall's Whisper is operational and ready." To Moore's surprise the AI was speaking to him, not the spook.
"Moore, may I introduce your Tac-Op AI, Catharine." Moore eyed the digital representation of a woman. She had long hair, beautiful face, a gorgeous woman-like figure, wearing a tank top and tight jeans. Moore snapped out of it and greeted the AI.
"Good to be working with you Catherine."
"Admiral if you're ready Fall's Whisper is about to dock with the Outlaw. We need to hurry. With your permission I'll dump myself into a Data Crystal Chip and we can be underway."
"Very well Catherine." Her avatar disappeared, then from the bottom of the holotank a chip was dispensed into Moore's waiting hand. The spook and Moore stood from the table and shook hand's. "I take it you're the captain of this tub?" The ONI agent chuckled.
"No sir, I'm just the resident spook on board. I'm sure you'll be pleased to hear that Fall's Whisper is actually mainly crewed by UNSC regulars. That is a relief, one spooks bad enough a crew of them is a handful. With that Moore proceeded to the airlock with Catharine in hand.