Chapter 2
What doesn't kill you…
Remains of the UNSC Poseidon's Trident, Unknown Ravine, Eposz, Reach. August 31, 2552
The smouldering remains of the once proud destroyer lay cut in half at the base of a large mountain it had fallen down after being hit by the Truth and Reconciliation's energy projector. Its nose was melted, its blocked engines lay only 50 meters from the rest of it body. However, by some miracle or just by the fact the UNSC builds its ships to last, A large portion of the crew was in fact, alive.
In the main hangar at the front, members of the 501st began to pick themselves off the floor of the now burning vessel.
Curtis picked himself off the ground, using the hulk of a Mongoose that was partially crushed under a support beam to prop himself up. "Anyone else alive who can hear me?"
"Ugh, we are alive? Damn, I was hoping to finally be done with this bullshit." Hudson pushed some debris off of him as he sat up.
"I am still alive." Stacy was up inspecting her bent battle rifle. "I need a new weapon however" She checked her belt. "Still got my grenades, even the special ones."
"Good. We need all the ammunition we can spare." Curtis looked though the debris "See if you can find the others or to be honest, anyone."
The ODST spread out to search the wreckage. Marines lay crushed under still functioning vehicles, one even impaled on the prongs of a forklift.
"I found Sandra, she is hurt but ok." Hudson pulled the medic out of the hulk of an overturned Scorpion Tank
"Angela's over here. She is fine" Stacy called out as she looked over the ONI officer near the main door to the hanger bay.
"Anyone seen Allison?" Curtis was searching around for his second in command and close friend. She had been right next to him before the ship began to fall and the gravity failed due to being cut off from the main reactor. Yet he couldn't find her.
"Knowing her, she is probably further in." Hudson reassured "Don't fret too much, that girl can't die until you two finally admit it."
"I don't know what you are talking about" Curtis affirmed as her started down further into the Longsword and Pelican holding areas.
"Right" Hudson rolled his eyes "And I am the king of the covenant"
"So, if I shoot you the war will end? "Stacy commented jokingly.
"Haha, I forgot how to laugh" Hudson set Sandra down next to Angela and began to take out a canister of Biofoam to help with any wounds. Most would ask how they can act so normal in such a situation. The answer was simple. For the last 25 years this situation had become common place for humanity. The ODSTs especially. This was just another hellhole they were stuck in on this long bloody road that was slowly creeping towards the extermination of Humanity.
Curtis past a few wreaked Dropships until he found one that was in perfect condition. It was also the personnel pelican of a UNSC Air force member who was another member of the 501st. Unlike most UNSC Pelicans, it was painted silver and was more equipped for speed rather than taking hits, not that UNSC Pelicans could take a lot of plasma or fuel rod weapons fire to begin with. Underneath said Pelican, lay Allison, hurt but no worse for wear.
Curtis pulled her out form under the craft and pulled her into a tight hug. "Glad to see you are ok"
Allison groaned slightly. "I wouldn't say I am fully ok. Ease up with the hug!"
Curtis let go and looked at her side, a slight patch of crimson stained the black fabric of the BDU.
"Your bleeding"
Allison rolled her eyes. "It's just a scratch." She winced in pain "Ok, it a big scratch."
"I am going to get some Biofoam and some first aid supplies." Curtis assured her.
"Where is Sandra?" Allison looked around for the medic.
"She is ok, but unconscious. The others are all alive but hurt." He removed her helmet to see if her head was injured.
Allison looked past him at the broken hanger bay doors "We are still on Reach"
"We will get out of this, don't you worry." He removed his own helmet and gave her a slight kiss on her forehead. "Just wait here"
"Don't worry, I don't feel like taking a jog just yet." Allison assured him as she leaned back against the landing gear of the modified UNSC dropship.
Curtis found some medical supplies as she searched through Sandra's medic bag and soon came back to Allison. He inserted the tube of the Biofoam canister though a small hole in her uniform and sprayed the medical foam into the wound. The CQC specialist of the 501st gritted her teeth in pain as the Biofoam stung like a needle rifle shot to the gut.
"Just stay here. I am going to try and find anyone else and get to the bridge to see if Solara and the Captain are alive." Curtis helped her up and carried her over to the others
Hudson looked out over the wreckage. "The pelican back their looks like she can still fly, and god knows half of our vehicle compliment has a history of surviving worse crashes than this. We will try and find transportation."
"Good. Keep an eye on the girls and for god sakes Hudson. Keep your mind out of the gutter" Curtis warned the UNSC army airborne trooper.
"No promises but I think I can mange" Hudson saluted.
Stacy rolled her eyes "Don't worry. If he tries anything, I'll break his nose."
Curtis chuckled slightly as Hudson held up his hands in surrender at Stacy's threat. The 501st was like a family to him and he wasn't going to leave them in this hell hole. He climbed through the debris to what remained of the stairwell and began to work his way up. On the deck above he was greeted to the sight of several still living UNSC personnel who were patching themselves up. One was UNSC air force pilot, Ryan Armstrong, call sign Apollo. He was the owner of the pelican down in the hanger and a lifelong friend, member and occasional life saver of the 501st. Next was another air force pilot who though the Trident was her port in the storm, Sarah Rawley, callsign Midway, due to her use of old US Navy tactics form WWII against Covenant fighters. Her GA-TL1 Longsword, a C712 variant, laid in pieces in the hanger bay as the craft as very long even with its wings and tail folded in, it was still too long and wide as it slammed around the hanger bay in its retrains as the ship crashed. This situation reminded Curtis of the fate of his half sister Ichika. She had joined the UNSC around the same time as their sister Akeno. They were both of Japanese descent from earth, but they were both family. They had been visiting their home on Harvest around the time of the first Contact with the Covenant. He pushed the memories of that dreadful incident out of his min, not wanting to remeber the horrors of Harvest any longer than he had too. After all, he had the horrors of Reach to deal with at the moment.. Curtis continued through the broken Halberd class Destroyed until he finally got to the bridge. The Glass of the viewports was smashed as were many of the consoles. Some of the bridge crew was ok but many lay impaled, electrocuted or just died form impact as UNSC ships didn't take high velocity impacts well, something many Captains who tried in vain to ram a Covenant ship have learned the hard was is the Nanolaminate is stronger than Titanium-A, even if the shields are down.
Curtis maneuvered around the dead body of what he presumed used to be the Comm. Officer as the station it lay in front of was literally ablaze, flames and sparks arcing form the keyboard and screen. He made his way to the Captain's seat only to see Captain Baird himself, dead on the ground. Shards of reinforced glass had skewered him. He lay on the ground in a pool of blood something clutched in his right hand over his chest.
"The heck?" Curtis knelt to slowly open his former Captain's hand to find a data chip. Solara's Data chip. He had removed and protected the ship's AI as the once mighty vessel fell from the sky. He pulled the chip form his hand and inspected it. The Data crystal at the center of the chip was perfectly intact. He held it I the palm of his hand as Solara manifested her avatar. She was collapse on the chip holding her face in her hands, crying.
"I am sorry, Captain" the AI sobbed. "I failed you and the ship. I am so, so sorry"
Curtis held the AI close "Solara, it wasn't your fault"
"Yes, it was!" The golden avatar turned red, this was the AI tell tale for it being angry. If it flickered red, then it was rampant, but Solara was only 3 years old. "If I had jumped the ship sooner, we could have gotten away!"
"Solara, stop" Curtis voice was firm yet not cruel. "You are an AI not a fortune teller. You did all that you could to save this ship and hell, we even shot down a CAS in the process."
"It landed semi intact." Solara admitted
"Still shot down." Curtis pointed out "A single Halberd shot down a 6-kilometer assault carrier without taking a lot of return fire."
Solara turned pink as a form of a blush and smiled up at Curtis "Thanks. It wasn't that hard discerning the charging time of the ships plasma lines and with the boosters we managed to slip past unscathed."
Curtis smiled don at the AI "And that was something only you could have done."
Solara turned back to her normal golden hue and looked down at the fallen bridge crew. "I didn't do it alone."
"They will be remembered Solara." He assured the AI "But first, we got to get out of this ship."
"I am detecting several intact vehicles near by and…." Confusion came across the AI's face "A artificial cave nearby? Odd, I have no such records of anything like this in my data banks."
Curtis seemed interested "Can we use it to hold out against an attack?"
"Easily. Hell, it may even stand up against a glassing beam if what I am reading is right. But I have no known UNSC or civilian structures in this area" Solara was looking over the records for anything she missed.
"Could It be ONI?" Curtis asked.
"Angela tells us a lot, but I would bet 50% of my processing power that even ONI keep things hidden from high ranking members like her." Solara explained.
Curtis slotted the AI chip into a Data pad on his arm for transport. "Well we are not going to find out in here. We got to get out of this ship before the Covies start snooping. Especially survivors of the downed Assault Carrier."
[Outside the wreckage of the UNSC Poseidon's Trident]
The Surviving members of the crew that actually reached 10,000 due to everyone trying to evacuate form Reach the ship had crammed as many people onboard a sit could. 10,000 was way over capacity form the 250 sailors and 50 marine the ship was supposed to carry. The Trident had tried to take them to safety, but instead only 7,350 survived the crash. The little ship had tried to carry them away form hell yet now ley broken and defeated on the burnt glass ground of the world it was built on. The managed to scrounge together a sizeable ground fleet to get to the cave. Several Warthogs of varying types although two of them were Tundra Hogs with treads meant for ice worlds but they would have to do. A Platoon of Scorpion tanks that were a bit banged up but operational. Apollo's silver redesigned D77-TC Pelican and from the remains of another downed ship, the UNSC Musashi, that had crashed from orbit nearby from the ensuring battle in the space over Reach, a pair of C709 GA-TL1 Longswords. These fighters didn't have the eight 50mm coil gun cannons of the C712 but instead they had the 110mm heavy Gatling cannon. The gun was mounted dead center in the nose under the cockpit and was considered hopelessly archaic by those who didn't know how to use it. Many pilots who did know how to use it, loaded the guns with ammunition that had gotten themselves from private contractors. Specifically, old 21st century tank ammunition as the main gun for older tanks was 120mm they could find someone who would make the ammunition slightly smaller. SABOT rounds were the most popular amount C709 pilots as it followed the now standard UNSC ammunition requirements of having to penetrate energy shielding. Others used shaped charged HEAT shells of just stuck to the twin 50mm autocannons, four ASGM-10 missiles and the retractable 120mm ventral turret. Those, however who DID know how to use the 110mm cannon showed the enemy how even Hopelessly archaic tech like the cannon was lethal to the Covenant. The larger intakes and retractable wing tips showed the fighter was built for both air and space and meant to be used on ships that normally couldn't hold a Longsword. God know a C708 was not fitting inside a Frigate hangar bay, but a C709 ad C712 could. Rawley took one of these fighters up but her co-pilot had done inside her old fighter and thus she flew solo and thus she had no one to man the turret on top. The UNSC soldiers even found a few Alien vehicles. A few ghosts, a Revenant, a Specter and even a semi damaged banshee. The group headed out toward the location of the cave system, hoping to find shelter. They pasted under a archway made from wreckage from the Covenant CSO Supercarrier Long Night of Solace when its two halves fell form orbit before coming upon a massive titanium gate way in which dozens of civilians in truck and car were huddled outside of, unable to get in.
"Of course, ONI won't open the door even as Reach is being GLASSED!" Curtis yelled. He had a deep-rooted hatred of the upper echelon of ONI. He worked with many ONI operative sin his time and even had one on the team but those were the down to earth agents. The ones who cared. The big wigs, the ones who RAN ONI? There is time one would forget they are on their side.
I recognize this type of configuration." Angela stated. "But I need to see inside to confirm it, but if I am right…this is a shipyard."
"ONI has Underground shipyards?" Hudson asked as he maned the turret of a Rocket hog looking for anything that may come after them.
"It was an experiment to build ships out of sight form both insurrectionists and later the Covenant." The Oni agent explained as she got out of the Ghost she rode in on and walked up to the massive door. She found a panel and input in her ONI clearance codes.
In a stroke of luck, the codes were accepted, and an alarm blared as the doors began to open. The door looked thick enough to crush a Charon class light assault frigate as they opened wide as everyone, UNSC and Civilian alike rushed inside and closed the doors back. Inside was dark, the only light was from the UNSC vehicle headlights and the ominous glow form Covenant Vehicles.
"Anyone can find a power switch?" A marine called out.
After a bit of fumbling around, an army ranger called out "I think I found one!"
The switch was flipped, and the light indeed came to life. The white luminescent lights on the ceiling on the room began to illuminate what it was that the Office of Naval Intelligence had hidden down here. Jaw dropped as a massive dark gray form emerged form the blackness as the light came on. It was, to the survivors, a beautiful sight. It was over 13,000 feet long, or just a bit over 3 kilometers. It was very tall at about 800 meters high. The light shined off its twin Supermac guns. It was one of Humanity's most powerful vessel, second only to the planned Infinity class Supercarrier. It was a Punic class Supercarrier. On it side was its name. UNSC Hornet CV-408.
Curtis looked up at the ship and smiled. "Ladies, Gentlemen. We just found our ticket off this rock."
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OC character, Curtis Fletcher is created and owned by SBB-67Montana ,my good friend. I own nothing but the original Characters.