Everyone came with us. Carl, Sarge, Chaz , Sonic and Tails will be coming with me with Ryan, Knuckles, Sally and Lance as a backup team in case we err…. go down.
Happy Landings!
/End Log/
The Indomitable glided silently through the vacuum, made shiny by Alpha Centauri's glow. She edged closer to an orb that was a color of greens, browns, and blues. Alpha Centauri II. The only habitable planet in the system and where 1/10th of the supercarrier's crew did their training. Fort New Hampshire was where Chris was from. She was no Reach, but she kept the troops at home. Many Marines had come to call the planet "The Ghost of Reach." Or just the "Ghost" since she was just as far away from Earth as Epsilon Eridani and looked basically the same. Closer and closer the behemoth came to the watery moon of ACII There was a small city on it, a floating city as a matter of fact. Since land was short, the inhabitants have chosen to build gigantic ship-cities that floated on the water. Now, with the Indomitable moored safely, no one ever noticed a ship materialize out of nowhere.
Sonic walked down one of the walkways on the spine of the ship, both admiring the glass ceiling and the stars beyond and at the same time, worrying that this glass is all that protected him from freezing cold space. Sonic hated space, everything about it. The only cool thing about it was airlock jumping. A crazy sport established a decade ago by putting on your suit, standing in a ship's hanger bay, having an EVA pack, then opening the doors. The explosive decompression would suck you out and with the combined movement of the EVA pack, you went so fast. Then after 5 minutes or so, your crewmates would pick you up. Hopefully. They only lost 4 men this last decade, but still, you had to be careful. It was a strictly non-regulation thing too. But then again, regulation had nothing on the past couple of months. Sonic gazed at Ceta Centauri with wonder that people could actually build floating cities. Then, something caught Sonic's eye. A ship that seemed to melt out of nowhere. Like in a magic movie, an ancient magic movie where a wizard just jumped out of nowhere wearing an invisibility cloak. "Uh oh." Sonic muttered. And he sped off. Damn these heavy clothes.
Andsworth snuggled in his chair. The UNSC had just recently put in heated seats for all bridge crew. He never felt happier in that entire Slipspace transaction. However, he was getting sleepy, a side effect to the heat. Just then, out of the Indomitable's reinforced Plexiglas wiewscreen, a ship managed to melt into view. Just like magic. "Uh oh. Call up the UNSC astrophysics silhouette files!" he cried to Lieutenant Feedin. Maple typed in all sorts of commands and a file popped up. The external cameras managed to snap the ship at 120 different angles so that the admiral could shift the shadow of the ship to that Astrophysics file. The silhouette matched perfectly. Lieutenant Jaffa, take the ship to 123 at course setting one-seven-nine, NOW!" Jaffa saluted in her seat. "Aye, Admiral, sir!" Then, Velo called over to Andsworth. "Sir, Transmission coming from the enemy ship's commander!" The Admiral nodded. "Patch it through to main bridge screen." Velo nodded. "Aye sir, coming to main screen." A man appeared sitting in a command chair surrounded by Intel officers on all sides. Andsworth blinked. The man was human and had human crew under him. This confirmed Kits' theory. The commander was smiling at the admiral, the evil sort of smile. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the admiral everyone talks about. Salvaging a few of our target's debris for records has sure proved useful." Andsworth stared in wonder. The record? The flight records. All of those would eventually point back to Earth. If they managed to find out that Earth was Humanity's homeworld, all could be lost just as when the Covenant attacked. "Who are you?" the naval officer asked. The commander chuckled throatily. We are the Terran Confederacy, the wave to wipe the humanity that imprisoned us across the Galaxy and beyond." All bridge crew looked out of the viewport to see that the battlecruiser warm up their weapons. All Andsworth could say, as the crimson bolts of energy streaked towards the massive ship were, "Oh boy."
Sonic had just came to first squad's position where Chris was sleeping, Carl and Chaz were playing X-box and Sarge listening to Flip while wearing earphones. The Captain requested it of him. Politely. "Guys!" Sonic yelled, waking Chris. "What's going on?"
Chris grunted heaving himself up to sitting on the mattress. "There's something coming!" Sonic yelled, panting. The ship was huge, even for Sonic. It was hard to get here. The elevators were too slow. 4975 steps to their level from the spinal walkway. Killer on the feet, but good exercise nevertheless. "Like what?" Johnson implied. Combing back his short hair with his hand. The ship then shook violently. Throwing Sonic to his feet and making the others stumble. An alarm blared: General's Quarters! Red Alert! Red Alert! The Indomitable is under attack! All personnel are advised to evacuate immediately!
Those words of warning sent shivers down Sonic's spine. Evacuation? They'd have to move fast or else they'd be taking space-swimming lessons, no charge. Then without warning, his brain sent electronic messages to his feet to high tail it out of there. Chris seemed to get the same idea also. "Alright, ladies, we have to get our sorry behinds out of this crate! The Indomitable may be going down once and for all so I plan not to be here when she sinks. Now lets get!" The pressure door slid open and first squad files out. Sarge was on flank scolding anyone who fell behind. "Move it you pathetic Grunts!" he yelled to Carl, who's SR2 RRSM sniper rifle was slowing him down, sometimes having an eagle eye had its disadvantages. A squad of technicians ran up ahead. Chris recognized two of them. "Larry, Gerry!" Chris yelled. By some miracle, Chris calling the two techs managed to save them from being crushed by a falling piece of piping. "Cap'n!" Larry called. "Boys, I am giving you direct orders to take the Deadalus down to Centauri II so we can load out our 'Mechs! Move it soldiers!" the two mechanics sprinted off before a ball of flame that threw five techs into the air engulfed them.
The Evacuation Survival Protocol was active, and painted the ground in a green glow illuminating the path to the lifeboats. The circlular portals leading to the Bumblebee emergency life vehicle were crammed with as many Marines as the pods could carry, then blast towards either Ceta Centauri or it's parent planet. Chris's squad boarded Sierra Alpha Charlie 27 with space left for 10 more marines plus the pilot. Chris strapped in next to a marine whom's IFF transponder read PFC Gitols. Tails strapped in next to him. Flight officer First Sergeant Defcan took the pilot's seat, dropping the visor over her eyes. "OK, boys and girls, hang on tight. We're blowing this Popsicle stand. Right when she finished, Sierra Alpha Beta 26 blew up, rocking the pod that contained first squad. The crew inside never had a chance. Defcan screamed and slammed the throttle to maximum blowing the tiny escape craft free on the metal behemoth. To small to house a gravity generator, the crew started to rise, but were pressed back by the Gee Forces. Chris could hear Tails's teeth chatter with the movement of the lifeboat. A duet of lifepods skittered close to Sierra Alpha Charlie, one read Juliet Bravo Mike 65 and the other Victor Lima Alpha 10. Juliet had opened up a channel. Defcan picked up the com. "This is a private channel Juliet, what do you-" Defcan paused as the person on the other end exchanged words inaudible over the rumbling of what the craft had for engines. " A message for Private First Class Sonic the Hedgehog from her highness, Sally Acorn of Mobius, "We'll see you on the ground." And she instructs Captain Chris Vennettilli to make sure he doesn't kill himself. Defcan chuckled slightly at the humor of the Princess's message before laser bolts sizzled past the viewport. The three lifeboats made it into the atmosphere of Alpha Centauri II when Terran Drone fighters chased the trio onto the planet. A drone scored a hit on Victor Lima Alpha 10. The lifeboat seemed to light up as it exploded from the inside out, blowing a hole clean through the ship, causing it to drop like a rock, only to be burned up completely 5,000 feet later. The drones kept pursuing. Defcan's lifepod was next; the lasers clipped the lifeboat, sending it smoking down towards the ground. But then they were too far in. These appeared to be space drones, unsuitable for atmospheric travel. Two dropped, too far into the air and one veered back towards the inky blackness.
"I think I had a dream like this once," Carl said. "What? Escaping by the skin of our teeth and in a tiny craft to boot?" Sonic suggested, sporting clammy skin from their situation. "No," Carl said, starting to cry. "Crashing and dying in a horrible fiery crash." He whined. "Heads up, everyone! Surface coming up at 2 klicks!
The pod screamed into a valley. They were coming in fast, too fast. Chris's instincts came into gear. He took out his Desert Eagle and shot out the door control panel. The door in the rear slid open and created a vacuum sucking out the high caliber round as it was ejected. He then screamed over the explosive decompression, "Get out now!" He then slapped his chest, releasing the acceleration belt and the Marine rode the air current out of the craft. Needless to say this was going to hurt. He was falling from 50 feet, not bad height, yet this was still high enough to kill a human on impact. But, his trajectory was leading him right into a small lake. He altered his form to create a jackknife dive to avoid pain. The Marine entered the lake at nearly seventy-five miles an hour. Struggling for breath since the impact knocked the wind out of him, Chris struggled for air, just when he surrendered to the darkness, his head broke the surface and he could breathe again.
It seemed that the others agreed since the others in his squad also jumped. More less graceful. Carl cannonballed into the water while Sarge and the others followed suit. Tails did a face first dive and landed on his stomach, ouch. Sonic seemed to have gotten out on land, lucky little bugger. Chris dived into the lake to get the others out of the cold waters.