Hey
I'm back.
Read on my fellow fans…
(I don't own Halo and I never will)
One with the fic…
Brigid slowly awoke and stepped out of her cryotube. Well, fell is more like it. For about five minutes she knelt there and retched. The fluid in her lungs was chemically designed to be regurgitated. Brigid wiped her mouth and rinsed it with the water distributor in the room. She straightened and looked around.
"Firefly," Brigid called, "Killjoy. Someone, is anyone awake?"
"Hello," Firefly said. "Glad you're awake, the others should be up soon." Brigid looked at the small fairy and almost laughed, she looked like one of the old anime girls with the skinny legs and perfect form.
"Good," Brigid said, now standing fully upright, "Think you could show me around?" Firefly laughed.
"No," she said, "But Killjoy can." Killjoy appeared and gave a bit of a smirk.
"This way," Killjoy said. She disappeared from the pedestal and a generator started to hum. A life-size image of Killjoy appeared on the floor.
"This is unusual," Brigid said.
"Oh, just wait," Killjoy said, "This entire ship is unusual."
"How so?" Brigid asked.
"It can be run by two people or as many as fifty," Killjoy said, "The weapons systems, after a few modifications, can be automated. We have three fully automated MAC guns and a laser cannon prototype. This is minus Arc missiles and other torpedoes."
"That sounds fun," Brigid said. "I also noticed a few Warthogs in the cargo hold."
"We have enough supplies to sustain three platoons in the field for eight months."
"Damn," Brigid said as Killjoy lead her around the armory.
"I've added in the weapons and supplies that you dragged aboard," Killjoy said, "Added with our regular supplies, field supplies, and yours we should be able to last on our own for 1 year, eleven months, two weeks, and five days." Brigid let out a long, low whistle and the tour continued. Brigid snagged a package of cold cereal from the kitchen and began munching on it as they walked. "I should bust you, but I'm going to let it slide."
"Just this once," Brigid said, "And maybe a few other times. We can't be in the mess hall with this huge ship to run."
"Two people can run the ship," Killjoy said, "That includes one person and an AI. Come this way." Brigid turned and controlled to inventory the ship, then she took the bridge, Sarge joined her in a few minutes after he woke up.
"Hey McClain," he said, "What's our ETA?"
"We're set to exit slipstream in four minutes, fifteen seconds," Brigid said, "Preparing to sound alert." Brigid flipped a switch and a green light flashed three times, signaling their exit. "All hands prepare to exist slip stream."
"What class is this ship?" Sarge asked.
"It's a prototype," Brigid said, "They're not in circulation yet. Would you like to take the bridge?"
"No," Sarge said, "Jo, you got navigation?"
"Yes I do Sergeant," Jo replied, "Would you like to take the station?"
"No," Sarge replied, he grabbed on to a bar and braced himself, "I'm good right here." Brigid powered down the engines and the stars came into view. There was a little jolt as they hit some turbulence, but that was normal in slipstream jumps.
"We've exited slipstream," Jo said, "Setting coordinates." Brigid looked at her display and then put it on the large screen.
"Sarge, take a look at this," Brigid said. Jo typed in a few more keystrokes and the image flashed twice.
"We're out of UNSC limits," Jo said, "I have no idea where we are, none of the systems look familiar."
"Are there any habitable planets?" Sarge asked. He knew that they had to get out of space, this far away from UNSC they did not stand a chance against a Covenant battle ship, but on the ground they could have a chance of survival.
"This one is," Jo said, pointing to a planet on the screen, "It has more then enough atmosphere and there are no signs of intelligent life."
"Which means no Covenant," Sarge said, "Sounds good enough to me."
"Sarge," Brian said, entering the bridge, "Will all due respect, wouldn't it be better to stay here and hail UNSC?"
"We don't know where we are," Sarge said, "And we're not trained to handle such a ship in battle. This is also Covenant space, we're going to land and keep our heads low, then if we can find some landmarks we'll hail UNSC, but not before all of our other options are out. Understood?"
"Yes Sergeant," Brian replied.
"Begin landing sequence," Sarge said, "I'm going to go check on Kyle's leg wound." Everyone on the ship knew the long-term effects of plasma scoring. If the wound was bad enough Kyle could loose his leg in a matter of weeks. Plasma, if not treated properly, could corrode right through his leg and eventually into his internal system, poisoning him to death. Plasma scoring was a pretty simple matter on a military base, but this far from civilization they would have to be careful about injuries.
"ETA," Jo said, "Twenty-eight minutes till atmosphere."
"Let me know two minutes away," Sarge said. Jo acknowledged him and turned back to the navigational panel, Brian turned and went with Sarge to take care of his cousin.
"You know," Jo said, "You should be down in medical too."
"I'm fine," Brigid said, "I'm barely feeling any side-effects."
"And "barely" is the reason why the stitches on your arm are coming undone?" Jo asked innocently.
"I'll look at them later," Brigid said.
"Here," Jo said, standing and walking over to her. "It's later." Jo produced a needle and some wire-clamps out of nowhere and removed Brigid's gauntlet. The spiraling stitches were beginning to come undone and her arm was not felly healed. Jo re-sewed the wound shut and slipped off the wire.
"Thanks," Brigid said as Jo took her seat. There was a silence between the two and they looked out over the stars that they could not recognize. "We should start sweeping the nearby systems for familiar constellations." Another stone silence filled the bridge.
"You didn't think we'd ever get off Ku-Lita," Jo asked, "Did you?"
"No," Brigid said, "I didn't think so until we were off."
"Hey," Jo said, "Come on, we're the Charlie Company Clowns. A few Covenant can't kill us."
"We're hanging by a thread, Jo," Brigid said, "There's no sign of any cities down there, but there could be a Covenant outpost or a patrol coming by soon. Chances are we're not going to outlast the supplies, or at least I'm not."
"Oh shut up," Jo said, "You'll make it. Ok, the side effects are going to be hard, but they'll be manageable. You survived the surgery and you're not crippled. Now stop being so depressing."
"Sorry," Brigid said, "It's just. I know I can never go back." Brigid ran a hand over her scarred face. "They'll never accept me no matter how much I should succeed."
"Hey," Jo said, turning in her chair so that she was facing Brigid. "Look at me. They were never going to accept you. They never have and they never will, deal with that and keep going. I hate to be frank, but I think that's what you need to hear right now."
"I'm all right," Brigid said, "It's just depression."
"Side-effect," Jo said, "Let's hope they don't get any stronger. How are you holding up?"
"I took some meds," Brigid said, "Don't tell anyone."
"Like I'd ever," Jo said, "We're coming up on the system." Jo radioed Sarge and told him where they were.
"Beginning burn on my mark," Brigid declared. "3, 2, 1, mark!" The engines roared as the ship slowed for entry into the atmosphere. The pressure inside the cabin greatened as they entered real gravity and the room began to heat up.
"Hull ionization," Jo said, "It's about to get bumpy."
"Cutting back rear thrusters," Brigid said, "Turning on nose engines and leveling out." The ship slowed greatly and they broke through the cloud cover. Before them was an incredible jungle display with trees hundreds of meters tall.
"Scanning area for a suitable place to land," Jo said, she downloaded the graphics to Brigid's screen, who then shows it to Sarge, who cursed.
"Damn," he said, "No break in the jungle, and we can't risk going under that canopy."
"I'll fly us around," Brigid said, "Brian, see if we have any probes to launch."
"We don't," Firefly said, "We were about to get the order in when the Covenant invaded."
"Cancel that," Brigid said. "Well, glitch number 1 has now occurred."
"On to glitch number 2," Brian answered. "I'll run a thermal scan, maybe that will show us something."
"Oi!" Kyle said, limping onto the bridge, "I saw a body of water on our way on of the starboard side. We could go there."
"Good eyes," Sarge said, turning to Brigid and Jo, "Let's go."
"Yes Sergeant," the said in unison. Jo had to keep from laughing, she remembered the first time she called Sarge "Sir." He had nearly taken her head off for pulling that movie crap, though he did point out that he would not mind being promoted to an officer position and out of Non-Com work.
"Body of water detected ahead Sarge," Jo said, "There's a break in the tree line forty meters from the shore."
"McClain," Sarge said, "I want us thirty nine meters from the water."
"Yes Sergeant," Brigid replied. She relaxed and set her hands on the controls. She exhaled and looked foreword, piloting this big ass within a meter of the tree line would be hard. Brigid maneuvered the thrusters as they came up on the lake and swung the ship around to it was parallel to the beach. She flipped off the thrusters and engaged the hover booster so fast that Sarge could barely see her hands dance over the controls. She hovered the ship and brought it just under the canopy and one meter before the undergrowth got heavy. A dull thump resounded through the ship as it gently touched down. "Landing gear down Sarge, beginning to shut down flight systems." Sarge turned to Kyle, who was manning the science station.
"Atmosphere is a combination of nitrogen, oxygen and other gasses, breathable to humans," Kyle read, "Major plant and animal life. No cities within three hundred clicks. Life forms detected, a few unknown species."
"Let's take a look around," Sarge said, "Jo and Brigid, I want you to suit up and be ready to take a Warthog out in five."
"Sarge," they said. Brigid went down and found a partial suit of MJOLNIR armor. She whistled as Jo got a jackhammer and spanker rounds in the side seat of the warthog.
"It was meant for a lower-class Spartan," Killjoy said, "And I'm the AI supposed to be in the suit."
"Well," Brigid said, flexing her false left hand, "I'm not Spartan, but I can wear that.' Brigid took the helmet, chest plate, and leg guards. Those were all that could fit her, she guessed that Spartans were normally large. She smiled and moved around the little, the armor was still big and it was harder to move in then it would be if it was a suit, but it would work. She walked up to Jo.
"Hey girl," Jo said, "Cool threads."
"Like them?" Brigid joked. "I got them on sale." The two laughed and Killjoy appeared out of nowhere.
"How can you move in that?" She asked, confused. The armor would kill a normal person, but then she remembered that Brigid wasn't exactly normal anymore.
"Easy," Brigid said, "Brainwaves."
"Well," Killjoy said, mentioning the pedestal she was standing on. "Pick me up, I'm the AI for that suit." Brigid shrugged and set her hand down, letting Killjoy in her systems.
"Home again," Killjoy said, "Looks like we'll need to make some adjustments for your…"
"I know," Brigid said, "I'm short."
"I was going to say stature," Killjoy said, "But be proud, after all, Yoda was short."
"Who the heck is Yoda?" Brigid asked as they pulled out of Crimson Revenge.
"He's a character in a really old movie," Killjoy said, "He was a little green creature less then a meter tall and he walloped a guy over six feet tall."
"I've believe it if you say it," Brigid said, "Are you recording this?"
"Of coarse," Killjoy said, "Be back, I've got to take in the tactical region for Firefly." Brigid smiled inside her helmet and grabbed the gun as they went over a bump. About a klik away they stopped and looked around. Brigid knelt down next to Jo.
"Pretty Planet," Jo said, taking a swig from her canteen, "Think it's got a name?"
"I'm sure you'll have one by time we get back," Brigid said, kneeling down and climbing into the passenger seat. "Want to go take a look around the jungle?" Brigid took her rifle and walked a few feet into the jungle. She had not gone ten feet before raising her hand and crouching, Jo was right behind her.
"What is it?" Jo whispered. Brigid pointed to the tracks in front of her and put her hand in the trench.
"Covenant," Brigid said, "Let's get out of here." Jo turned and brought her rifle to the ready as Brigid moved back to back and covered towards the jungle. They hauled back to the ship and reported in immediately.
"How many?" Sarge asked.
"Based on their tracks there were a good number of them," Jo said, "A few grunt tracks and dozens of elites."
"Blast," Sarge said, "Ready the guns. Start reinforcing the ship and I want all shields closed. Brigid nodded and began to activated the automated defenses. Brigid also brought out several fifty cal machine guns and placed them at different hallways. Jo shut down all non-essential systems and kept just enough power to fire up the engines again. They were shut down and running dark by the time the sun set over the sea. Brigid sighed, just a few hours ago they had been happily exploring the planet, now they would probably not last long enough to eve wipe the memory bank from the ship. Brigid looked out over the sea as the last rays of light disappeared.
"Jo." Brigid said as they crawled into their bunks.
"Hm?" Jo replied, half asleep.
"We're going to survive."
"If you say so," Jo said, "If we do, someone up there's got a sense of humor. Get some sleep kid, you'll need it." Brigid smiled, Jo always called her kid because of her height. Brigid turned over and snuggled into her bunk, she would need sleep if the Covenant found them, because there was no way in hell she was going down without a fight.
Like it, hate it?
Please review, I love criticism.
Flames are welcome, just review.
Aa'menealle nauva calen ar' malta. (May your ways be green and golden.)
Hannon le. (Thank you)
Verya