Avatar/Halo- Retaliation
The UNSC Frigate On the Horizon slowly crept through the milky blackness of space. The sleek grey ship; had just recently exited slipspace. The hull of the mighty ship shuddered as the Shaw-Fujikawa drive slowly turned off.
Like all UNSC Frigates, On the Horizon was remotely shaped like a huge rifle. The ship featured few windows, and looked to be a tangle of symmetrical squares and triangles meshed together. Protruding from the back of the ship were two huge engines, and two smaller ones that splattered yellow fire into the void of space.
Admiral Brian Conner paced the metal flooring on the bridge of On the Horizon. His right hand felt at the small unshaved stubble that dotted his chin. Admiral Brian was a middle aged man who looked good for his age. He had short, buzz shaved blonde hair; that was flecked with grey on the sides.
His blonde brows were usually furrowed with concentration. He had two pristine blue eyes and a small furry mustache on his upper lip. Brian was remarkably tall; he stood at 6'4 inches, and towered over his lieutenants and fellow bridge crew. Brian was dressed in grey fatigues, and a matching cap.
Brian looked out of the large windows of the bridge. A huge gas giant dominated the view. The planet's name was Polyphemus and it was the second of three gas giants that orbited the system's star, Alpha Centauri A. The uninhabitable planet's, massive red and orange clouds swirled endlessly. Brian admired the gas giant, thinking of similar planets like Jupiter and Hesoid, of the 23 Librae system. Polyphemus had no rings and it was slightly smaller and denser than Jupiter.
Alpha Centauri A was in the same galaxy as Earth, the Milky Way. It is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Centaurus.
The most notable feature of Polyphemus, was it's fourteen moons. Brian eyes then fell on the most striking of the many moons, which humans had come to call, Pandora. Pandora looked like a minuscule Earth from Brian's distance. It had similar white billowing clouds, dark blue oceans, and vibrant green continents. Pandora was also about the size of Earth.
Brian gazed at the shimmering moon for quite some time. It had been many years since anyone had traveled to Pandora. The last human voyage to Pandora had happened in 2154. Brian felt amazed that it had taken humans approximately 377 years to return to the blue planet.
Brian had read the reports; the first venture on Pandora had been a total failure.
Brian knew why the UNSC had then worked so hard to wipe the memory of Pandora from everyone's memories. The place was dangerous, and they didn't want to admit their failure. The Innies would have gone all over that.
No, the war with the Insurrectionists, and then the war with the Covenant had all but drained the UNSC resources and attention. They had no time to pay for future trips to Pandora, the place had become obsolete.
It made Brian think how fast technology had advanced in the 377 years since the last trip to Pandora. It had taken the last marines 5 years, 9 months and 22 days to reach Pandora, without a slipspace drive.
The journey had taken On the Horizon only a few days. Brian had been sent here to finish where the RDA failed. He was going to obtain the planet's resources and then leave. The UNSC needed resources, the Covenant had all but sucked them dry; partly because of the destruction of nearly every Outer Colony world and many of the Inner Colony worlds as well.
Brian knew if he failed his mission he would be out of his job, demoted, and probably teaching, or working as a drill sergeant for the rest of his life. No, that wasn't going to happen. He wasn't going to fail the UNSC, he was going to leave Pandora with every ounce of Unobtainium that it had, or he was going to die trying.
Brian walked away from the window, and looked over to the holographic image of the ships AI's avatar.
The ships AI, Miara swept a piece of curly brown hair from her right eye. She had chosen herself the image of a beautiful and striking angel; intact with wings and all. Miara looked at Brian, and her purple glow brightened slightly. "Your orders Admiral?" she asked.
Brian rubbed his chin again, "Send out the Pelicans. I want the Spartans ground side ASAP."