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Fortress Class Starship
Dimensions (From farthest Point)
Length : 80.7Km
Width : 30.9Km
Depth : 30.1Km
Synopsis: The fortress class schematics were retrieved from Forerunner shield world "Oxyi"
Constructed at Joint UNSC/So.S ship yards
Jointly operated by (At minimum) UNSC + So.S + one additional member government
Operated as Coalition of Allied Spices vessel, used for diplomatic purposes
Is fully capable of warfare if and when the situation calls for force
Combat Compliment :
Fighters : 12,000 GA-TL3 Longsword-class Interceptor
20,000 Type-47 "Seraph" XMF
15,000 YSS-3500 Saber-class Starfighter
50,000 Type-30 "Banshee" XMF
10,000 Gigas-class fighter-bomber
5,000 F-48 Broadsword XMSF
Mounted Weapons :
8 Series-12 "Super-Heavy MAC" (Mounted)
12 Series-8 "Heavy MAC" (Turret Mount)
14 Type-27 Energy Projector (Turret Mount)
80,000 Mk. 2 Hard Light Long-distance Cannons (Turret Mount)
100,000 Point Defense Hard Light turrets (Turret Mounted)
30,000 Arch-Angel Missile Pod Bays
20 "Rod of Gods" orbital Gravity Bar bays
20,000 Orbital Drop Shock Trooper Deployment Bays (30 Pods Each)
Standard Fleet Composition :
2 CSO-class Supercarrier (So.S operated)
4 Infinity-class Carrier (UNSC operated)
24 strident-class Frigate (UNSC operated [Carried by Infinitys])
30 CFF-class Frigate (So.S operated)
50 Various (Operated by various CoAS members)
Troop Compliment : Various
End File
March 8, 2653
Planet : Tinstof-2587b32 (Jupiter Class Giant)
CoAS Fortress-class 'Key of Discovery', Allied Fleet Surrounding unknown vessel
Hanger Bay A-01 Primary Control Station
Arbiter Thel 'Vadam
Thel stood, slouched over a seat in the hanger control station of A-01 aboard the Key of Discovery. The ship was based upon forerunner designs found roughly seventy-five years ago. It took no less than half a century to complete, along with 19 sister ships, but the end result was very much worth it.
A vessel that showed just how powerful members of the Coalition of Allied Species were, and was capable of both diplomacy and total war. Incorporating extra design elements from each member species during its development, it is capable of housing any lifeform that decides to board it comfortably. However, that was known species, and the entity boarding the vessel now was a complete unknown.
Thel, along with the vessels resident commander, Fleet Master Vuvo 'Gozumai, were watching as a UNSC Pelican began to dock into the Hangar's various lock systems. As the rear ramp came down, they got their first look at the alien from another galaxy. A blue skinned, humanoid entity with tail like appendages growing from its head. If Thel weren't already married, he might have thought she were beautiful, after all, interspecies marriage wasn't uncommon anymore.
"The alien seems to be nervous." Said Thel to his compatriot.
"No, she is just in aw of the size of the Hangar. All present vessels dwarf her's in size after all." Vuvo responded with a massive dash of pride in his voice.
"Possibly, but that is besides the matter. For the time being, I want our Inter-Galactic guest taken care of, and the data off that ship analyzed. There is no point in having her here if we cannot communicate with her. Yaolin, begin work on a translation matrix as soon as you feasibly can." Thel said, his commanding voice booming in the relatively small area.
"Yes sir! Question, what detail composition would you like to accompany out guest?" Asked Yaolin, the ships A.I., who took the form of a Sangheili ultra, which was odd for something based off of the human mind.
Thel thought about it as he watched the alien begin to interact with the hangar crews. He noticed that she felt most comfortable interacting with the humans present. At one point, an Unggoy worker came by, and she practically hid behind one of the Spartans that recovered her. He noticed this to happen no less than three times, each time she half hid behind the same Spartan. Clearly, she trusted said Spartan most out of all other entities present.
"The Spartan she has been staying close to, that will be her shadow for the forseable future." Thel stated.
"Affirmative sir, relaying orders to Spartan-1212 Col. Haley 'Mdama" responded Yaolin.
It really is a trend, thought Thel as he heard the Spartan's name, those raised by both Humans and Sangheili almost always become Spartans. It really is inspiring.
With that, The Arbiter began to leave the control center to prepare himself for the eventual conversation he would have with the alien.
March 8 22ABY
Planet : Tinstof-2587b32 (Jupiter Class Giant)
CoAS Key of Discovery, Allied Fleet surrounding GAR Undaunted
Really, Really big hangar bay
Jedi Master Secura
As Secura disembarked from the strange vessel, she found herself in a massive hangar that could easily fit most warships she knew of inside of it. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before her attention was drawn from the sheer size of the vessel she just boarded to the creatures that inhabited it.
A good portion were Human, which was a small relief for Secura, but the rest were species she had never seen nor heard of before. Many tall, slender beings with a four-mandible mouth, a few bird like beings that walked with a slight slouch, and countless... things that wore masks with large backpacks that were barely half her height. That wasn't the end of them, however, as those were just the ones she could see. She had a sinking feeling she would get to see more unknowns as she went deeper into the gargantuan vessel.
This was a relatively stressing event for Secura, as she was in completely unknown territory. She has no idea what they want, or what they will do with her. Luckily, they seemed nice enough, though she would rather not get to close to the stranger aliens, commonly using the armored woman that got her like a wall to conceal herself.
Suddenly, she felt a slight ting in the force, as if a powerful force user had shown himself for a brief instant. Had she not already been feeling around in the force at the time, she likely would have missed it. Looking up, she saw a small dome like structure with windows protruding from silvery blue ceiling. She would have tried to communicate with the person in the room via telepathy, but the force was far too week her for her to do so. It was as if the force was incredibly thin to the point of being near vacuum conditions, metaphorically speaking of course.
As she looked back down, she noticed that one of the bird like beings had come rather close to her and was holding what looked like a hand held scanner with a red cross on it. This startled the jedi and she back-petaled a bit, until she hit the armored woman. The woman kept her from falling and began speaking to the bird thing in the language she couldn't understand. As she listened, she picked up on a few key words and phrases that she partially understood. Most notably was the name of the bird like species. Kig-yar, hmm, I've never heard of their kind. She thought as the creature waved its free hand and left, clearly unhappy.
The armored woman then placed her hand on Secura's shoulder again, motioning towards an exit of some kind nearby, saying something in the strange language. She decided it was best to comply with the woman, as without her lightsaber and the force as weak as it is, she wasn't in a position to argue. As they approached the door, it opened automatically, revealing an absolutely massive corridor leading to what appeared to be an industrial elevator.
As they approached the elevator, Secura noticed several things about the ship's architecture, and compared it to the other ships she had seen on her way to this one. Most notably was, while the ships that made up the rest of the fleet appeared to be designed by one species or another, this one seemed to be a joint project, using aspects from all the other vessels. The beauty of the purple vessels and the utilitarian look of the grey vessels being the most predominant. All brought together by that strange silvery blue metal. There were just too many unknowns here, and Secura was become more nervous about it with each passing minute.
The elevator ride was brief, not because it was short, but because it was really fast. Upon exiting, she found herself in yet another corridor, though this one was slightly smaller than the last. She was then guided into a room with a particularly large door. On the other side was what appeared to be a conference room. To be honest though, it was more like an auditorium. She was then guided into another room inside the room and found herself in a much smaller conference room with an oval table and a few soft chairs of varying design. Ok, this is much better.
March 8, 2653
Planet : Tinstof-2587b32 (Jupiter Class Giant)
CoAS Key of Discovery, Allied Fleet surrounding Unknown Vessel
Tertiary Research Lab
Dr. Dag Zuq
Dr. Zuq is commonly called the "Halsey of the Kig-yar" by his co-workers, and to be honest he quite liked being compared to the legendary human doctor. It was just a shame that he was one of only a few of his kind that were interested in such titles. That, however, is not relevant at this time. What is relevant is the data, equipment, and seemingly human carcass he was studying at the moment.
Already, Zuq was noticing many differences between the studied objects and what was traditionally accepted by the society he was a member of. First, there was the weapon. It seemed to be an ionized plasma weapon, though it was severely under powered and would be easily survived as it would leave nothing but a small burn mark. While it was advanced, it certainly wasn't effective.
As far as the body went, studies showed that it is, essentially human, though features suggested that its appendages were much narrower and frail in comparison to most humans he knew. Though the DNA testing was still being done, Zuq theorized that this was likely the result of a rough Reseeding ship from 100,000 years ago, rather than the independent evolution theory the spartan that brought it in had suggested.
Finally, there was the data. It was written in glyphs, which made translation complicated, but they did bare resemblance to ancient forerunner, which has worked thus far in translating it. Again, likely the result of a crashed reseeding ship. The spoken version was rather simple to translate as well, as it too bared resemblance to ancient forerunner, though with much heavier alterations to it than the written versions.
Thus far, they had discovered that the unknown vessel's name was the Undaunting, and was built for some military known as the Grand Army of the Republic. This Republic, as the data revealed, is a galaxy wide government in civil war with a separatist movement called the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Data suggested that both governments were highly corrupt. What really caught Zuq's attention, however where two things. One, the body was a clone, and two, the alien was apparently some kind of monk entity known as a Jedi, capable of accessing something called the 'Force'.
The second bit, for Zuq, was the most confusing. To start, who gives a monk a military command position, and why would a monk, of all things, accept such a position. The covenant may have been a theocracy, but there was never a significant religious leader in a true military position.
This civilization was clearly troubled in many ways, but it probably is worse now, as computer records show that the ship has been drifting for forty-two years. In reality, that was a very short amount of time for a ship to go from one galaxy to another, but in a civilization, that was a long time, and many things could change.
"Yaolin, is the translation matrix to the alien language complete yet?" Dr. Zuq asked to the A.I. that he had been working with for the last forty-five minutes.
"Nearly complete Doctor. Should be able to communicate with this 'Jedi' in the next five minutes." Responded Yaolin.
"Good, inform The Arbiter as soon as you are done, then, keep me tabbed on the conversation he has with the Jedi." Ordered the good doctor, which made the A.I. give the Sangheili version of a smile, knowing the doctor was planning something, again.
"As you wish Doctor Dag Zuq." Stated Yaolin as he disappeared back into the ship's computers.
March 8, 22ABY
Planet : Tinstof-2587b32 (Jupiter Class Giant)
CoAS Key of Discovery, Allied Fleet surrounding GAR Undaunting
Conference Room 1283
Jedi Master Secura
Nervous and bored are the only things that could describe Aalya Secura's mental state right now. She is onboard an unknown ship, with all but one species on board being unknown, and was made to wait in a conference room with an armored woman she couldn't understand. Well, at least the chairs are cozy.
A small flash of light appeared in the corner of her eye, and she was surprised to find the hologram of one of the tall, slender creatures. Strangest of all, it began to speak in basic.
"Hello, and welcome onboard the Coalition of Allied Species vessel Key of Discovery. My name is Yaolin, ship's A.I., and for the time being, I will be acting as translator for you. Oh, and may I be the first to welcome you to the Milky Way Galaxy. You are the first Inter-Galactic Visitor we have ever received. You are making history." It said.
Different Galaxy, that shouldn't be possible. Yeah, the hyperdrive malfunctioned, but there is no way it could have sent me to another galaxy. Could it? She thought until the 'A.I.' started speaking again.
"Right now, you are joined by Spartan-1212 Col. Haley 'Mdama of the UNSC Spartan Corps. She will be acting as your shadow for the foreseeable future. Soon, you will be greeted by the Arbiter Thel 'Vadam, leader of the Swords of Sanghelios. Once he is here, you will be free to ask any questions you would like, so long as you answer some of our own." It said.
"Well, if that's the case, can I ask how you learned my language so fast?" Secura asked, curious about how an Artificial Intelligence was able to decipher an entire language in such a short amount of time. A.I.s were just code, it would take one at least a month to decode and translate a language of any kind.
"Simple, we off loaded all data off your ship, and compared it to all known languages. The closest match was Ancient Forerunner. We translated it to all modern languages from there." It responded with the tone of a seasoned scientist.
"Well then..." she said, trailing off as she didn't have a good response to that.
A moment later, the door to the room opened once more to allow another one of the tall, slender aliens through. This one was dressed in ornate golden armor with ruins and inscriptions decorating the surface. Around it, it carried an air of command, pride, and honor, yet she could still tell through the force that it had a softer side to it somewhere.
"Ma'am, allow me to introduce Arbiter Thel 'Vadam, leader of the Swords of Sanghelios and representative of the Sangheili people." Said the A.I. Yaolin
So this is their leader, or at the very least one of them. She thought to herself as this 'Arbiter' gave a small bow and sat down in one of the oddly formed and larger seats.
As it began to speak in the strange language, Yaolin translated for her. Apparently, it thought it was nice to meet her, which was a comforting thing to hear, as it meant they probably didn't intend to harm her.
"To start off, I would like to ask if your current accommodations are acceptable. We are unaware of your particular needs, as the data from your vessel lacked that information." The Arbiter asked.
"Well, they are cozy, but rather boring. Not much to do around here, is there?" she responded, trying to keep the mood light.
"There is plenty to do aboard the ship, we just want to get to know more about you, and frankly, your intensions, before allowing you to wander freely." The Arbiter said.
"Understandable, however, there is something I would like to ask. Your A.I. off handedly said that I am in another galaxy from my own. Is that true?"
"It is, I'm afraid. According to data from your ship, you have been in a stasis of some kind for forty-two years. During that time, it drifted from the Andromeda Galaxy, that being where we believe you came from, here to the Milky Way Galaxy."
"Forty-two years! How is that possible? What happened to the crew? Do you know?"
"I'm afraid we don't know. When it drifted into this system, the fleet used gravity emitters to halt it. When the Spartans boarded, all persons found aboard were already deceased. Though, the vessel must have seen serious combat before beginning its drift, as there were multiple hull breaches."
"I need to go back" Secura said, to the minor amusement to The Arbiter.
"Why must you go back?" He asked in a coy tone.
"I need to assist in the war effort. The Separatists cannot be allowed to win. I need to prevent it." She responded in urgency.
"Hmm, yes about that, the data we recovered about that war clearly shows that it wasn't going to last much longer. It seemed the Confederacy you were fighting was experiencing political issues, resulting in depletions of military resources faster than they could be replaced. It is unlikely that it even lasted another year after your departure." He stated matter-of-factly.
"Well... that would be good, I suppose. It did seem unstable from the start." Secura said.
"Naturally, governments formed during a war never stand long. It is better to start that part after the war is won for longevity." Spoke up the Armored woman known as Haley.
"Ah, well, if that is the case, then, well... ... should we discuss history?" Secura asked, at this point very unsure of how to proceed.
"No need, we already have a complete account from your vessel. A rather interesting one at that. If you are curious about ours, you will be given access to such data in your quarters. If you have trouble with any of that, just ask Yaolin. He is there to assist you."
"I get the feeling you are trying to keep this short."
"That I am. While I am very curious about you and your civilization, I'm afraid I have a multitude of pressing matters to attend to shortly. For the time being, this is just a curtesy call. Though, I do hope we can continue this conversation in the future. In the meantime, the leaders of the Unified Earth Government are on their way here, but won't arrive for some time. Until then, you are free to wander civilian areas of the ship. Spartan-1212 here will be your shadow and escort for the time being." Stated The Arbiter as he lifted himself up and began to walk to the door again.
As he came to the door, he stopped and turned his head back too her to say, "Oh, and we do intend to travel to your galaxy soon, so don't worry about not going back. It will just take time to prepare before we embark." And with that, he left.
Secura looked over to the 'Spartan' that was to be here escort on the massive ship to see a small smile on her face.
"Well, anything you would like to do first?" asked the Spartan
"I am rather famished. Do you know where I could get something to eat?" Secura responded nervously.
"Of course, I know just the place. Yaolin, transfer translation matrix to my armor, I'm going to need it." She said as she got up.
As the Spartan led the Jedi out into the corridors once more, Secura once again found herself admiring the sheer size and architecture of the vessel. They were walking for a good three minutes until they came to some kind of terminal. The Spartan punched in some codes, and soon a portal appeared between two spires.
"Follow me, and don't be afraid of the portal, it's completely safe. Fastest way to get around actually." Said the Spartan to the visibly shocked Jedi, as she began to step into the vortex and disappear.
Secura followed her in and found herself reappearing in another corridor that over looked...
IS THAT A CITY?! Secura thought as she looked down upon the civilian residential district of the Key of Discovery.
This is going to take some getting used to.
March 8, 22ABY
Planet : Morellia
Rebel Alliance to Restore the Republic vessel 'Home One ', Orbital repair station
Home One Bridge
General Luke Skywalker
Battle after battle, engagement after engagement, ship after ship, the empire has continuously worn down at the Alliance's ability to wage war. This was a fact that brought great displeasure and despair to many within the Rebel Alliance. Especially to its supreme commander, Luke Skywalker.
As of this time, he stood aboard the bridge of the alliance flag ship Home One , built to replace the original Home One that was destroyed above Endor. The battle of Endor was easily the biggest hope the Alliance ever had, and ended up being one of their greatest blunders ever.
Luke was there, he was on the second Death Star. He stood before the emperor of the Galactic Empire. He had the chance to kill the Dark Lord of the sith once and for all. In the end, he hesitated, and this gave his father the opening he needed to cut off more of Luke's arm. The second Death Star may have been destroyed in the end, but it was considered a failure as it didn't kill Sidious.
This has always brought Luke shame, even if that shame came only from himself. Nobody blamed him for his failure, except himself. And now, eighteen years later, he was still beating himself up over it, albeit not as much.
Now, he stood in light meditation aboard his flag ship. He was looking through the force for anything. Anything that may help him put an end to the Empire and their endless assault on the Free Galaxy. For many minutes, he found nothing but darkness in the galaxy. As he was about to give up, he saw light. But this light was different, as it came from beyond the galactic rim. In the realm of the force, he approached the light, and what he saw was a Blue skinned Twi'lek female, a tall, slender alien with four mandibles, and a heavily armored... thing. For some reason that he just could not place, they radiated the one thing he and his forces desperately needed.
Hope.
Stupid Authors Note :
So, I received a review that I am making the Arbiter too soft of a character. Looking back, I do agree, but I have no regrets.
I intend to make him the real version of what Palpatine had made himself look to be, a strong, yet kind galactic ruler.
Also, to the guy who said that in the story 'Spartans' should be kept a secret from the Alliance, I say no. Why? Because in current Halo Cannon, Spartans are well known by the public, and rather hard to hide. It would not be worth the trouble of hiding them on the part of the UNSC/So.S
That is all, my friendly Bastards. I will see you all in the next shitty ass chapter I write for this train wreck of a story.