Escape Velocity
Chapter 1: Escape Vector
Obligatory Disclaimer
I am not affiliated in any way to the companies who brought you Halo or Mass Effect.
This material is rated M for Mature Audiences. It contains violence, coarse language and adult themes.
0245 Hours, 13 November 2186
High Orbit above London, England
The Normandy swept through the veil of debris building up from the damage of the two fleets ahead of them. It locked on to an unsuspecting Reaper destroyer already battered with hull breaches and scorch marks. Two disruptor torpedoes lanced out, slamming against the upper hull of the destroyer blasting off chunks of armour plating. The Normandy twisted out of arcs of return fire and replied with another salvo of torpedoes. The Reaper shuddered as the torpedoes tore through its insides, setting off a chain of secondary explosions from within. Then with a bright flurry of detonations, the Reaper destroyer died.
Inside the Normandy's cockpit, the helmsman and his co-pilot worked furiously to evade retaliatory attacks, moving the Normandy out of Reaper firing vectors. While Joker took the helm, EDI feverishly scanned her in system reports, ship status updates and enemy movements.
"Multiple hostiles, fast attack craft on our six," she alerted joker, "Aft kinetic barriers are taking damage… more fighters incoming from three o'clock."
"I know!" Joker rumbled. "They're everywhere!"
The Normandy pulled a dramatic turn, pursued by a cloud of enemy drones firing upon its hindquarters. The kinetic barriers rippled a feint blue with grazing scores while GARDIAN lasers fired back, but for every drone they reduced to a cloud of helium and tangled metal, two more continued pursuit.
"I can't shake them!" cried Joker. From his peripherals, he saw the aft kinetic barriers dwindling to dangerous levels, though no matter what evasive manoeuvre he took, the drones managed to stay on his tail.
It was then that a voice came over the comms. "Normandy, this is the Destiny Ascension. Turn hard to your nine, now!"
Joker didn't have time to question this, banking the Normandy hard to port. Swarms of missiles overshot it, blooming into spheres of fire not far behind.
EDI checked the sensors. "No hostiles in our immediate proximity."
"We Asari pay our debts," a voice said over the line
A grin spread Joker's lips and spotted a formation of dreadnoughts about fifteen kilometres directly ahead. At its lead was a familiar giant, the Asari dreadnought Destiny Ascension. Her guns bristled as it was brought to bear upon a reaper capital ship, the combined firepower of the formation of dreadnaughts smashing through its kinetic barriers and punctured the plate hull. Secondary explosions tore at its insides and with a brilliant flash of light, the Reaper broke up, its corpse left to drift in the void.
Inside the Normandy, Lieutenant Ashley Williams stood behind the helmsman and his navigator watching as the battle unfolded outside. There was nothing she could do but watch, and this ate at her. Inwardly cursing the situation, glanced at the for view screen. On the far edge of the display behind several rows of friendly forces was the Citadel, its arms spread open and the Crucible securely docked.
She stepped outside of the cockpit and fingered her mic. "Doctor, how's Liara doing?"
The voice of the elder woman sounded over her earpiece. "Liara's doing fine, Garus too. I've managed to stem the bleeding and their conditions have stabilised."
"Thanks doc."
The line died and an awkward silence filled the air. Ashley tried to brush this by shifting to the towards the command perch behind the CIC. The terminals that lined the corridor were all manned. At the final terminal was Javik, his eyes scanning the screen.
"What are you doing here?"
The Prothean glanced at her for a second then returned his attention to the console. "I wish to know how the battle is unfolding, lieutenant. In my time, the war was lost before it had begun, but now you have a chance to break the cycle of destruction."
Ashley responded with a solemn nod. "Your kind gave us this chance… and Shepherd will end this."
The Prothean nodded. "The Reapers will end today."
As if on cue, the radio sounded, with Admiral Hackett's voice reverberating through the Normandy's PR system. "All fleets, the Crucible is armed. Disengage and head to the rendezvous point. I repeat, disengage and get the hell out of here."
Ashley's eyes widened, suddenly sprinting towards the Normandy's cockpit with Javik following closely behind. As they arrived, they found the massive shape of the Citadel coming into view. Puzzled, Ashley found a desperate expression upon Joker's face.
"We came to get Shepherd. We will get Shepherd… she wouldn't have left anyone behind."
Ashley reached for the helmsman's shoulder but was violently pushed aside. He tried again, slower and more firmly. "Jeff… we need to go."
Joker froze with realisation, desperate to hold back the tears. "Damn it," he hissed beneath his breath. He took a moment to compose himself before straightening and brought the ship about. Ashley took one final look out the cockpit and found a red light glowing at the tip of the crucible. It disappeared from view as Normandy faced into space and engaged its FTL engines.
1534 hours, 22 April 2552
New Ticonderoga, Fumirole System
"Push forward!"
With an effort, Carter emerged from cover and trained his rifle on an Elite's head and pulled the trigger. Several of the armour piercing sabot rounds stopped just before its cranium, slamming against a blue rippling shield before it failed. The last few rounds however easily pierced the light armour plating and through the Elite's skull, painting the elite next to him in a grisly coating of cranial matter. He brought his plasma rifle up to bear upon the Spartan but was far too slow, his head exploding in a hail of gunfire.
The city was like a tangled web of twisted metal as UNSC forces forged onwards. A few hundred metres ahead the massive Covenant battle Cruiser loomed, casting a long ominous shadow over the blasted city. Just below it was a gravity lift used to transport troops and supplies to the Covenant ground forces.
Heavy plasma fire raked the encroaching human forces, the entrenched Covenant forcing the enemy through a merciless gauntlet. The superheated gas chewed through the light body armour, incinerating the marines in scores.
Above, a pair of UH-144 Falcons screamed above with autoguns blazing. Incendiary tracer rounds scoured at the stubborn Covenant forces. The ground resistance responded with fuel rod fire filling the skies with plasma. Heavy return fire forced both aircraft to break off, leaving the skies over the city uncontested.
A magazine slid from his rifle as Carter slammed a fresh one home. A stream of plasma fire streaked past Carter, instead the marine next to him bore the brunt of the plasma volley, vaporising the steel chest plate and cauterizing the chest cavity behind it. As Carter pressed forward, the enemy fire intensified, but he had no choice. From one corner of his eye, he saw the looming shadow of the massive Covenant Battle cruiser hovering overhead. From the other corner, he saw a number counting down on his Heads-Up Display.
03:52:520
03:51:016
That's when Carter's radio came alive.
"Commander, I'm taking heavy fire."
He threw a glancing backwards look and found, in the midst of a crowd of soldiers was a blue Spartan, and in the crutch of her arms was a small cylinder with a radiological warning label. The marines around her were firing into the enemy, but one by one they fell.
Carter gnashed his teeth. "Press forward, Noble Two. We're all taking heavy fire."
Another voice cut in in the midst of the din. "Noble Six here. Providing cover for Noble Two."
There was a pause. Carter scanned the battlefield and found another Spartan forming up ahead of Kat, bearing silver armour, his rifle blazing into the enemy formation ahead. "Stay behind me, Kat. We'll make sure the package gets delivered."
"You better not slow me down, Thom."
"Just try to keep up."
Carter returned his focus ahead and squeezed off another burst drilling a neat hole through the head of the nearest grunt. His sights lined up to a leading Zealot's head when all of a sudden it disappeared in a small puff of purple blood. He lowered his rifle and pushed forward, activating his link.
"Nice shot, Jun."
A moment later, a voice replied. "Heads up, Commander. Two Banshees, eleven o'clock…" there was a pause, and with a loud shot ringing out from a hidden position amongst the ruins, a large calibre round punched through the lightly armoured cowling of the craft and through the head of the operator. With this, the vehicle spun out of control and crashed in a concrete pylon, erupting in a green plume.
"Correction… one banshee, closing in on Noble Two's position."
02:45:061
02:44:232
With fire plasma fire closing in on Carter, he dove into the cover of a ruined building. Balls of super- heated gasses slammed into cover, vaporizing a portion of the wall. Carter pressed hard against cover and was about bear against a squad of elites when they came under heavy fire. Three fell in the initial salvo, their shields providing little protection against the concentrated heavy calibre barrage. The rest began to flee before they too were cut down. As Carter peered out from cover, he found the imposing form of Noble 5 hunkering down amidst a pool of spent casings, training his heavy machine gun on another enemy position.
At the same time, the single surviving banshee soared overhead and began a strafing run on the approaching human infantry. Jorge brought his machine gun to bear upon the Bashee as it began to scour the advancing human forces. Armour piecing rounds tore through the light armour plating. Smoke and flames erupted near the punctured fuel tank but before the small craft could fall, it fired a final time with its fuel rod cannon. A massive explosion ruptured deep within the ranks of the advancing human advance forces a moment before the Banshee's fuel tank ruptured in a fiery green explosion.
01:47:133
01:46:511
Carter felt his jaw drop as he rushed towards the point of the first explosion. "Noble Two, do you read me? Noble Two! Respond!" Carter's heart raced within his chest. His eyes frantically scanned the field. Charred corpses were strewn about like so much chaff in the wind, most of them burned beyond recognition. "Kat! Are you there?"
As the wind blew, something in the distance caught his attention. A silver Spartan standing amidst the ruins clutching small device with radiological warnings etched on the side. At his foot was a blue Spartan with much of her armour charred black, her visor smashed to pieces. Blood began to pool beneath where she lay.
"Kat…"
"Noble One… this is Noble Six. I've got the package." Before Carter could protest, Thom engaged his jetpack. As the Spartan began to ascend from the smouldering rubble with the tactical nuclear weapon in hand, he his voice came over the comm a final time. "I'm ending this."
Carter stopped, feeling a lump forming in his throat. In the end, the only thing he could manage was "Good luck, Thom."
The link died and Thom flew towards the pillar of light pouring from the Battlecruiser's underbelly. Meanwhile Carter raced towards the fallen Kat and heaved her over his shoulder. "Hold on, Kat. I'm going to get us out of here."
Kat groaned a pained reply. Carter smiled and fingered his comm as he hauled Kat over to the blasted ruins. "To any fire team receiving this transmission, this is Noble One. The package has been delivered. You have less than two minutes to fall back to minimum safe distance. If you can't make it, find somewhere to hunker down. We're going to light that cruiser up."
A moment of static filled the air before a familiar voice followed. "This is Noble Four… shit commander, looks like Kat's hurt. I'm coming over-,"
"Negative, Emile!" Carter roared over his line. "I gave you an order, either fall back or take cover."
There was a protracted silence.
"Sir… yes sir."
00:43:313
00:42:016
The Spartan waded through the empty ruined streets and into the blasted remains of a building looked around. On the far end was a stairwell, its walls heavy and well supported. After a moment's hesitation, Carter waded through the wreckage and carefully set Kat against the wall. He reached over and pulled Kat's helmet off. Blood trailed across her forehead and down her face. Her breath came in sharp, painful wheezes.
"How are you holding up, soldier?"
Kat managed a pained smile. "I feel as bad as I look, sir."
"In that case," he began as he embraced her tightly, "you're not doing too badly."
00:01:421
00:00:000
And then the world faded in a flash of white light.
0323 Hours, 13 November 2186
Charon Relay, Sol Sytem
The Normandy dropped out of FTL just beyond Pluto's orbit. Inside the cockpit, Joker scanned the in-system reports. "Charon relay detected at three-thousand kilometres. Plotting a course to the Arcturus relay."
EDI scanned her terminal display and paused. "Reports are coming in from Earth… there is a massive energy build-up at the Crucible. Weapon firing imminent."
"Any word about Shepherd?" asked Ashley.
EDI scanned her screen. "Negative."
Joker returned his attention to the fore and saw a massive structure not far ahead, the Charon Relay. The two massive concentric circles spun wildly with several arcs of lightning ran from the massive element zero core to outbound ships before flinging them to the other side of the galaxy. One by one, they disappeared into the void until finally, the Normandy was alone.
"The board is green," Joker began, "approach run has begun." The Normandy likewise formed up alongside the Relay. Massive arcs of blue lightning jumped between the massive element zero core in the heart of the relay and the Normandy's hull. "Jumping in 3… 2… 1…"
The relay jump began like any of the thousands of jumps they went through with the wash of stars blanketing the canopy like a brilliant mantle. But then a massive jolt threw Ashley and Javik off their feet and the emergency klaxons sounded.
"What's happening?" Ashley shouted.
"I don't know," Joker shot back.
The lieutenant heard the hull around her groan against an unknown strain. She tried to rise to her feet but the trembling grew more violent. For a second, Ashley thought that the tremor would rip the ship apart.
Then, with a terrible and violent crash, the crew, the marines and Ashley was plunged into darkness.
2133 Hours, April 27 2552
Aboard the UNSC Iroquois
Somewhere in slip space
Within the stark grey steel hallways of the Iroquois, Spartan Commander Carter stood just outside the Med Bay, staring out into the darkness of Slipspace from one of the Ships view ports. There was nothing to on the other side of the transparisteel port hole, not that he was interested in anything outside. Instead, with his arms crossed over his chest, his deep blue eyes stared back at his reflection, lost in some faraway horizon.
The door behind him hissed open and an elder man emerged. He was dressed in naval officer greys with a Captain's Wings pinned upon his breast.
As the door slid shut behind him, he smiled weakly at the larger, younger Spartan with a solemn look upon his face. The Spartan swivelled and snapped to attention.
"At ease, son."
Carter nodded.
"The Iroquois is one of the newest ships constructed by the UNSC, and for the last three days, the only thing you've seen of it is this hallway."
The Spartan remained silent.
Captain Jacob Keyes raised his gaze to meet the Spartan's. "The doctors have managed to save Katherine, but we weren't able to save all of her."
"Sir?"
Captain Keyes eased a sigh. "There's no easy way of saying this, so I'll just say it. Her arm sustained too much damage. The plasma ate right through the armour and part way through the bone. The medics were able to stem the infection but it had spread too far."
Carter's gaze fell, as did his heart in his chest.
Captain Keyes could almost sense this carried on. "Nobody's blaming you for this, least of all Katherine. You were assaulting an entrenched position against an enemy with superior numbers and firepower. You managed to pull it off."
Studying the Commander's expression, Keyes surmised that he wasn't going to convince the Spartan any other way. "When's the last time you got some rack time, son?"
Carter was unable to answer.
"I see… well Commander. I suggest you take this time to-"
The Captain was never able to finish, his voice cut off by the in-ship alert. An automated voice sounded over the comms. "Slip space jump completed. We have arrived at the Epsilon Eridani system. Distance to Reach, one hundred and three million kilometres..."
"As I was saying," Captain Keyes began but was again cut off.
"Receiving priority one broadcast from the UNSC Savannah."
Both men sprinted to the nearest console where a video feed began to play. The other captain was younger than Keyes, his face void of blood.
"This is Savannah actual. We have detected atmospheric entry above the equator on the dark side of the planet. Impact detected around the five hundred kilometres north of New Alexandria. We are scrambling fast response teams to investigate."
Jacob chanced a look at the Spartan from the corner of his eye and found the otherwise stoic warrior taken aback at the news.
"All military assets have been raised to Defence Condition Two. All incoming forces are to assemble near Anchor Nine."
"Commander," Jacob finally said, straightening himself out and turning his attention to the Spartan. "Assemble the remaining member of Noble Team at the HEV pods, prepare for atmospheric deployment. I want your team to head the investigation… if the Covenant has discovered Reach, then they'll need all the help they can get."
Carter blinked and nodded an affirmative. He turned marched away leaving Keyes to himself. The man returned his attention to the screen, which was now displaying several reports from the planet. His eyes turned towards one report, displaying suspected entry trajectories.
"This can't be," he gasped as he noted that. Whoever this was, managed to bypass the nuclear mine field laid out in high orbit above the planet. He also noted that none of the planetary sensors detected the incoming vessel until it was finally inside the atmosphere.
And then he froze.
In the far corner of the screen were visuals from one of the Orbital Defence Platforms of the vehicle entering atmosphere like a flame wreathed comet amidst the darkened background. He fingered the console and brought the image up. The display zoomed in at the head of the comet and clarified the image.
His mouth dropped as he read the words etched on the craft's side.
"Normandy."
A/N
I've remade the fic for two reasons. A lot has changed since I originally posted. On Mass Effect's side, they released the extended ending which, in my opinion, was an improvement on the original. Also, Halo 4 came out and with it was a lot of new material.
Also, from the original fic, there was a lot of feedback that I took on board. Granted, I did not know much about the Halo Verse back then, and I still don't know much now. I'll do the best that I can to bring you a half-decent fic.
Again I apologise and I hope you've enjoyed this fic so far. I'll try to bring out more stuff sooner.
