Authors Note: So here it is, Chapter 10. Sorry it's taken so long to get out compared to previous chapter, it's just that the past couple of weeks have been pretty crazy due to exams and wrestling. This chapter marks the arrival of that little green alien dude, the return of the UNSC Blazing Sun, and our favorite silent ODST, Rookie.
As always, please feel free to review and tell me what you think, I really enjoy any feedback you can give me.
Special shoutouts go to to my betas Sharnorasian Empire and Jon Harper.
Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, but all original content is mine.
Chapter 10: Beginnings
Bridge of the UNSC Infinity, Kashyyyk Space
Admiral Lasky sat in his command chair reading some reports on his datapad, when suddenly, at the sensor station, a young officer shouted out, "Admiral sir! We're detecting a small buildup of energy associated with hyperspace exit-vectors!"
Getting out of his chair, Lasky walked over to the main holotank. "Show me."
In a flash of blue, a three dimensional representation of said space appeared on the tank. A glowing purple circle showed the area where the disturbance was located and strings of numbers and symbols ran around its perimeter.
"New contact! 300,000 kilometers distant!" shouted the sensor officer.
Infinity's ultra high-resolution cameras zoomed in on the vessel, showing a beat-up looking vessel that closely resembled one of Rogue Squadron's X-wings, but instead of having four wings, had only two.
"Is it Imperial?" asked Lasky.
"I'm not sure sir, it's not any vessel we've seen them use... wait a second... its accelerating on an intercept course!" exclaimed the sensor officer.
Inwardly Lasky was surprised. Typically, rushing straight at a warship hundreds of times one size was not a very sane course of action, but Lasky wasn't going to take any chances.
"Comm, prepare to send a warning message, all frequencies." said Lasky, and there was a flurry of typing.
Lasky continued. "Attention unidentified vessel, this is the UNSC Infinity. You are entering the sovereign territory of the Alliance to Restore the Republic and the United Nations Space Command. State your purpose in this system."
There was silence for a moment, and the sensor officer said, "It's still accelerating, 200,000 kilometers out."
"Weapons, get me a firing solution, warning shot." said Lasky, and he saw one of Infinity's Archer missile pods lit up on Infinity's holographic representation. "Attention unknown vessel, identify yourself immediately, or we will take measures to insure our defense."
Another moment of silence, and another moment where the vessel grew ever closer to the Infinity.
"Weapons, fire the warning shot. Archer missile pod H-44, one missile over the bow." ordered Lasky.
On the holotank, a yellow dot detached itself from the hull and began accelerating towards the closing vessel, represented by a red circle.
The Archer missile accelerated to dozens of G-s, and after a few seconds, passed only a hundred meters above the vessel's cockpit.
"Sir, she didn't budge at all, and is now 150,000 kilometers distant." stated the sensor operator.
Lasky slowly nodded. So that's how it's gonna be. "Very well, it's not like we didn't warn her. Four-missile salvo, fire for effect."
Four more yellow dots appeared on the holotank, and homed in on the small craft, who still found it rational to not take any evasive action. Lasky turned his attention to the real-time long range visual cameras to observe the missiles impact.
However, just when all four missile seemed to be on the verge of annihilating the unknown craft, they suddenly diverged off path, passing around the ship, then converged together behind the craft in a fiery explosion.
"What the hell just happened? Some kind of field that disrupted the tracking system?" asked Lasky.
"I don't know sir, the missiles were tracking just fine, and we're not seeing any strange energy readings!" said the weapons technician, puzzled.
"125,000 kilometers!"
"Get an Onager solution on that ship, fire when ready." Lasky ordered.
"Firing!" shouted the weapons tech, and a streak of blue-white raced towards the vessel.
Much to the amazement of Lasky and the bridge crew, the small ship snap-rolled at almost the exact instant the Onager fired, and the projectile passed harmlessly to the left of the vessel.
"Alright, I'm done playing games." said Lasky. "Bring the ship up to full alert status, scramble Broadsword squadrons Bravo through Kilo, and bring our Energy Projector to bear. Lets see if this bastard can dodge light."
As Infinity rotated to bring her main weapon to bear, several squadrons of Broadsword interceptors set up a picket screen between the Infinity and the approaching ship.
"Admiral! Energy Projector is spinning up!" shouted the weapons tech.
"Alright, fire on my command-"
"Admiral wait! Hold your fire!"
Lasky turned to the source of the disturbance, and raised his eyebrows at the sight of General Rahm Kota, fresh out of breath.
"General Kota? What are you doing here? And why shouldn't I fire on that ship?" asked the Admiral.
The General just smiled, saying, "Because sir, he's here to help."
Bridge of the UNSC Blazing Sun, Orbit aboce Unknown Forest Moon
"Sir! Four new sensor reading at maximum range!"
Captain Vasily Ivanov bolted out of his command chair upon hearing the startled report of Lieutenant Jacob Brown, his sensor officer.
"New sensor readings? UNSC? Covenant?" asked Ivanov, even adding a couple of seconds later, "Forerunner?"
"No sir, I've never seen anything like them. Take a look." said Brown, and with a few key presses brought up the ships on the main viewscreen.
The four vessels were roughly dagger-like in shape, and had a large, rectangular structure that was elevated above the rest of the hull. Sensor reading were showing that all of them were around 1,600 meters long, almost 500 meters longer than his own ship. Each had what looked like four heavy weapons emplacements on either side of the elevated structure, and Ivanov assumed that there were many other smaller emplacements embedded throughout the hull.
The Captain of the Blazing Sun had a feeling that this was a vessel designed to strike fear into the heart of its enemies, but he wasn't intimidated. Decades of fighting the Insurrection and the Covenant will do that to a man.
That being said, Ivanov still had no idea what they were here for. They didn't look like peace-keeeping or messenger ships, but for all he knew they could be his ticket back to UNSC-controlled space.
"Joe, see if you can't open a comm channel." said Ivanov.
The holographic avatar of a twentieth-century American football player materialized on the holopedestal near Ivanov's command chair, and his unique southern drawl, said "No need sir, it appears that they're trying to contact us."
The Captain raised his brows a little, then stood up and motioned for Joe to let it through. The main holoscreen activated, and after a few seconds of static, an image of a man appeared.
Human! The man was wearing a gray tunic, with what looked to be colored ribbons on his chest, and a black hat. If Ivanov had to guess, he was military, but of what faction or planet he had no idea. Inwardly though, he was relieved. At least he could hopefully communicate with these unknowns.
Ivanov began to speak, "This is Captain Vasily Ivanov of the UNSC Blazing -"
The other man cut abruptly cut him off, and with a wicked sneer, said "We know who you are, rebel scum! You and your pathetic forces are wanted for charges of high treason! Surrender now or prepare to face the wrath of the Empire!"
Ivanov was baffled, and all sorts of questions flowed through his mind. Empire? Rebel? Treason? What the hell was he talking about?
Apparently, the UNSC Captain's brief show of hesitation was all the other man needed, and he said in a very smug voice, "Very well, it seems you've made your choice. Prepare to die."
The transmission ended, leaving the bridge in an eerie silence.
"That could've gone better" muttured Ivanov under his breath.
"Captain, three of the ships are accelerating on attack vectors!" exlaimed Brown.
"If they want a fight, then they'll get one. Sound the call to battle-stations! Bring the reactors up to 110 percent! Hanson, what's the status on the MAC's?"
"Both at 100 percent sir!" he shouted back.
Joe brought up a holographic display of the surrounding space, and said, "Captain, the enemy ships will be in maximum engagement range within one minute."
Ivanov pointed to the fourth enemy ship, which was in the process of breaking off from the rest of his comrades. "What is this one doing? No wait, let me guess, their trajectory will bring them to Alpha Base?"
Joe just nodded in response.
Ivanov sighed, he couldn't do anything to help them yet, not with his plate full the way it was.
It's a good thing I had all non-essential personnel transferred dirt-side, thought the UNSC Captain, before he said, "Notify the ground forces to prepare for a possible invasion."
"Maximum MAC range in thirty seconds." said Hanson.
Joe brought Ivanov's attention to a mass of red dots that had just appeared on the tac-screen. "Uhh, Captain? They just launched a shit-ton of fighters."
"How many is a 'shit-ton' Joe? I need specifics here." said Ivanov, breathlessly.
"About two-hundred." the AI replied.
The skipper let out another heavy sigh. The Blazing Sun was only carrying two wings of twelve Broadswords each, and one of ten Longswords. Thirty-four fighters against two-hundred? "Scramble fighters, but tell them to stay close to the Sun! Our point-defense guns might be able to even the odds, they'd get massacred otherwise."
"Ten seconds!"
"Alright, let's see what these assholes are made of."
"They're in range!"
"Target enemy lead, center-mass, MAC one, fire!" shouted Ivanov.
"Firing MAC one!" Hanson shouted back.
The deck shook under Ivanov's feet as the 600-ton depleted uranium slug burst out of the top bow cannon and accelerated towards in target.
In a tense few seconds Ivanov watched the streak of brilliant yellow cut a swath through the inky blackness of space, before impacting with the front of the hostile vessel. Or rather, almost impacted.
The MAC round disintegrated into a field of blue energy that materialized right above the triangle-shaped ship, and Ivanov could see no visible damage to the craft.
The bridge crew had a few choice expletives to offer upon the discovery that their enemy possessed energy-shielding, bad memories from the Covenant War.
Ivanov acted quickly, "Same target, fire MAC two!"
"MAC two, firing!"
There was another thud, and the second MAC round hurled towards the lead hostile.
The targeted ship tried to evade, but the hyper-sonic round stayed true, hitting the very nose of the vessel. Once again the blue shields were summoned to absorb the round, but this time it was a different outcome. Instead of disintegrating like it did last time, the blue field sputtered, then died. Despite the fact that the MAC round energy was significantly reduced, it still packed enough of a punch to knock off a forty meter section of the nose. Wounded, but not out of the fight.
Ivanov allowed himself a small moment of satisfaction. At least we can hurt them, he thought.
"Sir, I'm reading large energy buildup by the enemy ships!" exclaimed Joe.
"Evasive maneuvers!" yelled Ivanov, cursing under his breath.
If these ships were equipped with energy projectors, this battle would be over in a matter of seconds.
Ivanov saw several flashes of light along the hulls of the enemy ships, and a flurry of sapphire green energy bolts raced towards the Sun, different then the pencil-thin white beams of an Energy Projector.
"Can we outrun them?" asked Ivanov, referring to the ever-closing bolts.
"No sir!" said Joe.
Ivanov reacted instantly, "Slipspace, under that lead ship, now!"
The purple-white portal opened up in front of the Sun, and with a mighty surge from her engines, the Marathon-class cruiser surged through the opening, the bolts of green energy passing through the space that she had occupied not a second before.
In a split-second, the Sun was back in realspace, directly under the enemy warship.
"Status on MAC one?!" questioned Ivanov.
"85 percent!" replied Hanson.
"Good enough, fire!" ordered Ivanov.
There was another shake, and almost the instant it was fired, the heavy slug impacted the vulnerable underbelly of the triangle-ship.
The resulting kinetic force ripped a gigantic hole in the middle of the ship, and in a series of electrical sparks, groaning, snapping metal, and secondary explosions, the warship split in two, the derelict pieces floating in separate directions.
There was a chorus of cheers throughout the bridge as the crew realized that not only could they hurt this new enemy, but they could also send them to their grave as well.
"Sir, the other ships are turning about!" exclaimed Brown.
"New course, 45 mark 71, put us on a diagonal with those ships!" ordered Ivanov. "New target, far left enemy ship. Status on MAC two?"
"Still charging, it'll be ready in 34 seconds." replied Hanson.
"Alright, well let's give 'em a broadside. All Helilical rail gun batteries on the starboard side and Archer missile pods A-1 through E-26 on my mark!"
The deck shuddered as the Sun's engines accelerated her on her new attack vector, and after a few seconds, optimum weapons range was achieved.
"Fire!"
Dozens of both yellow streaks from 150mm rail slugs and the swirling contrails of Archer missiles littered the space between the two sides as they crossed the distance to the Sun's target.
Not to be outdone however, the remaining two Imperial ships also fired salvos from their main batteries, sending their strange green energy blasts intermingling with the UNSC ordanance.
"Joe! Can we evade those blasts?" asked Ivanov urgently.
"No sir, not in time, and the slipspace capacitors are still charging. I'm diverting shield strength to starboard, but I do recommend fastening your seatbelts." the AI suggested.
"Yeah no shit sherlock..." mutterd Hanson under his breath, and he made sure he was properly strapped into his station chair.
As Ivanov buckled himself him as well, he watched on the viewscreen as the Sun's ordnance impacted against the targeted triangle-ship. The rail slugs struck first, and as the shield reacted small blue craters of energy erupted along the length of the ship. The Archer missiles were close behind, and although a few were destroyed by lances of green point-defense lasers, the majority made it through. The Archers had much the same effect as the rail slugs did, in the fact that they did not penetrate the shield fully. Back on the bridge of the Blazing Sun, Ivanov and the command crew shook in their chairs as the cruiser was violently rocked by the energy salvo it had just taken to starboard.
"Status report!" ordered Ivanov. "Our shields took a walloping sir, its holding at thirty four percent. One of the generators blew out, I've got techs and Huragok on route to fix it, but they won't be raising until they do."reported Joe.
"Shit. What did our weapons do to them?" asked the Captain.
"Not much sir, but it seems their ship's point-defenses are lacking compared to ours or the Covenant's, they could be vulnerable to more missiles. MAC two also ready to fire." said Hanson.
"Alright, bring us about to face them. Launch the rest of the Archer missiles from the port side, and time the MAC round to impact with the missiles. Hell, put a couple of fusion rockets in there for good measure also."
"Yes sir, missiles away."
There was a series of thumps, and this time hundreds, instead of a few dozen, Archer's accelerated towards the hostile vessel.
"Uh, Captain? The other ship just fired another salvo, its only half as large as before, but it'll still won't be pleasant if it hits. Impact in fourteen seconds." observed Brown.
"Goddammit, how long until we fire the MAC?" said Ivanov, irritated.
"Eleven seconds sir." replied Hanson.
Ivanov let out a heavy breath, then said, "Stay on course, but as soon as that MAC round clears the barrel activate our emergency maneuvering thrusters!"
There was a tense silence on the bridge as the seconds ticked by, and the laser salvo grew ever closer to the Sun. Ivanov bet he could have cut the anxiousness with a knife.
Then it was over. "MAC 2, firing!"
"Thrusters, now!"
Almost the exact instant the MAC was fired, tens of tanks containing trihydride tetrazine and hydrogen peroxide, which creates a significant explosive force when mixed, activated, violently propelling the ship to port. The energy bolts passed only fifty meters or so past the Sun, mere inches in terms of space combat. So close in fact, that the heat bleed-off from the passing rounds lowered the shields another five percent.
Though the Sun barely escaped destruction then, the enemy vessel it had targeted did not fare as well. The kinetic force from the MAC round shattered the remaining shields of the ship, physically pushing the ship back and causing the two dome-like structures on the top of the elevated bridge to violently explode.
Now without shields, the missile salvo impacted milliseconds later, to devastating effects. Scores of Archer missiles pockmarked the entire length of the hull, tearing off chunks of hull plating and burrowing into decks. Blasts of air and small explosions rippled through the ship due to the sudden decompression of previously sealed chambers. The three fusion rockets that were fired delivered the coup de grâce, as one annihilated the bridge and two impacted amidships. Unable to sustain the damage it had taken, the ships reactor went critical, turning the rear third of the ship into a sea of boiling, molten metal. Hull integrity almost completely gone, pieces of the ship began to break off, leaving a once-mighty warship nothing more than scrap.
This time there was no celebration, as Ivanov quickly started giving out orders again. "MAC one should be ready by now. Fire a round at that last ship, then jump us underneath it, just like we did with the first one. Prepare to fire the rest of our starboard missiles and rail guns."
The Blazing Sun turned to face the last enemy ship, who was doing the same as well.
"MAC one firing!" shouted Hanson, and sure enough, with a familiar rumble the hypersonic slug shot its way towards the hostile vessel, bouncing off its shields, but hopefully weakening them enough for a follow-up strike.
The purple-white of the slipspace portal once again filled the forward viewscreen, and the Sun quickly accelerated into it.
When they exited however, the UNSC bridge crew was at first confused, then horrified.
Instead of returning to realspace below the enemy warship like they should have, they were now directly above its dorsal face, with the ships heavy weapons turrets pointed right at them.
"What the hell?" yelled Ivanov, but that was all anyone got to say before a full salvo of green energy slammed into his cruiser.
The Sun jolted so violently that Ivanov swore he cut off a piece of his tongue with his teeth, and now the metallic taste of copper filled his mouth.
He took a second to spit a mouthfull of blood on the deck, before groggily asking, "Status, how bad was it?"
Although he couldn't see Joe, Ivanov could still hear him.
"FUBAR sir. Shields are gone, engines are gone, MAC cannons are gone, and we're venting atmosphere on multiple decks. Engineering was almost completely taken out, I can't reach anyone down there, but I still have contact with the reactor itself." Just then the bridge lighting flickered, then died, and the dull red emergency lighting bathed the deck in its somber tone. "Also, the lights are out."
"So we're dead in the water. How's the hull integrity?" asked Ivanov.
"Forty-two percent sir, not too great." replied Joe.
Ivanov grimaced slightly. The Marathon-class cruisers were known to be some of the best armored ships the UNSC possessed, with 191 centimeters of Titanium-A battle plate integrated into its well-structured design. The fact that one full volley from that ship's heavy weapon emplacements not only whittled away a good thirty percent of the remaining shields, and still had enough power to critically damage the Sun like its was, was frightening.
Going through his options, Ivanov questioned, "What about the missiles left on the starboard side?
Hanson quickly answered that one, but Ivanov could tell through his ragged breathing that his old friend was banged up pretty bad. "Guidance systems are acting all screwy, we'd be as likely to hit ourselves as them. Also, when we dropped out the triangle ship maneuvered to face our port side, so a blind launch wouldn't do much good either."
Ivanov spait again, at least this time the red lighting helped the blood blend in.
"Lieutenant Hikowa, do we have any sensors still up?" After receiving no answer, he looked over to her station, again saying "Hikowa what the hell is taking so -"
Ivanov cursed under his breath when he saw her, head hanging limp to the side, body motionless. A small trickle of blood ran down her chin from the corner of her mouth, and the Captain could see a bump of skin on her neck that wasn't supposed to be there.
Joe answered his question before he even asked it. "Broken neck sir, she died during the impact."
"The fucking bastards..." said Ivanov. "This was her first assignment out of Academy. Did you know she graduated top of her class? Goddamn waste..."
Joe was silent a moment before saying, "Ain't that some shit that don't stink. More bad news, based off a few visual cams I still have left, that enemy ship is pulling up along our starboard side. I think she might send boarding parties."
"Well if that's the case, I'm instituting the Cole Protocol. I want all navigation data, weapons schematics, force deployments, personnel roster, everything gone. And Joe? An AI of your importance cannot be allowed to fall into enemy hands. Given our situation, you know what that means..."
"Don't worry Captain, I'll do my duty."
There were a series of resounding clangs coming from close by. The bridge crew went quiet, and Ivanov disengaged his safety harness, slowly drew his M6D, and took a position covering the bridge bulkhead.
Hanson and Brown did the same, and soon all three of them were waiting, pistols pointed at the door.
It was a tense couple of minutes, when suddenly Ivanov heard the sharp cracks of gunfire on the other side of the door. That must be the Marine bridge guard, God help them. The UNSC Captain also heard a large amount of unfamiliar whines answer the sporadic gunfire, and after a few seconds, the gunfire stopped.
"Joe, worst case scenario..." began Ivanov.
"The reactor's locked down and primed for self-destruct. I have it linked to your neural implant to blow if your vitals flatline, or if I send the activation code."
Ivanov just nodded. "Is there any way you can transfer yourself off the ship?"
"That's a negative sir, at our current bandwidth it you'd have a harder time trying to illegally download a song from the Internet. We're all in this together Captain."
A series of bangs brought Ivanov's attention back to the bridge's reinforced Titanuim-A door, and he checked his pistol one final time.
"Get ready." he said.
There were a few more bangs, then at the bottom at either side of the door, the seams turned molten red. They worked their way up the side of the door, then across the top, meeting in the middle.
Gospod' dayet nam silu. Lord give us strength.
The door exploded inward, and Ivanov fired his pistol into the opening, feeling the kick of the recoil against the back of his palm.
A seemingly huge wave of soldiers clad in bright white armor stormed the bridge, and despite the best efforts of the remaining crew, the UNSC personnel was quickly overwhelmed.
Strange red bolts of energy heated the air around him as the mysterious troopers returned fire.
His magazine empty, Lieutenant Brown threw his pistol an invader a few feet away, then with a mad scream, rushed at him, tackling him to the ground. Brown produced a combat knife from his belt, and buried it up to the hilt in the black bodysuit around the white troopers neck. Bright red blood poured from the fatal wound, and the trooper gurgeld and flailed on the deck. The other boarders shot Brown several times before he even had a chance to remove the knife, and soon he lay still.
Beside him, Lieutenant Hanson took a bolt to the right side of his chest, and he spun around before falling to the deck on his left side.
Turning to see if Hanson was alright proved to be Ivanov's mistake, as he as well was hit twice, once in the right leg, and the other in his weapons also fell backwards, ending up on his he couldn't feel anything, Ivanov could see that the red bolts the boarders used had burned through his uniform and that his blackened skin resembled charcoal more than anything else.
The boys in white soon surrounded both him and Hanson, black rifles leveled right at them.
At the door, a man walked in, dressed differently than the rest of the boarders. Ivanov instantly recognized him, it was the man he had spoken to before the battle had first begun, the one who had accused him of some sort of treason.
He slowly walked over to the incapacitated UNSC Captain, the same smug smile on his face. The man pushed one of his troopers aside so that he was looming over Ivanov, and took a moment to survey his condition.
"You should have listened scum. Your inferior forces couldn't have hoped to stand up to the might of the Galactic Empire." the man said.
Galactic Empire? From some part of the Milky Way we haven't explored? But wait, could it be..., Ivanov saved that thought, it wouldn't do him any good now. He looked up into the man's eyes, then said. "Inferior? Last time I checked you started with three ships to our one, that doesn't sound like inferior to -"
Ivanov was cut off by a vicious kick to the face by the man, and he groaned in pain, vision darkening around the edges. He spit onto the floor, and in addition to the usual blood, a thought he could see a few teeth.
With a large effort, Ivanov turned his head to look back up at the man, who was now smiling openly at the UNSC Captain's pain. Ivanov smiled at him though bloodstained teeth, saying, "Is that all you've got? My grandmother could kick harder than -"
This time the man delivered a hard kick to his chest, and Ivanov heard a few sickening cracks. It felt as if someone had stabbed the inside of his chest with dozens of ice-picks, and now breathing was a colossal effort.
"There will be much more of that to come, Mr. Ivanov. You and your friend will be transported to Imperial Center, where you will then undergo the worst, and last experiences of you life. You will tell us the information we need to know, then you will be disposed of with maximum efficiency."
Ivanov turned his head to Hanson, who was holding a hand to his side, breathing heavy and ragged. Ivanov noticed that Hanson's pistol was only a foot or so away, and Hanson did as well.
Following his gaze, one of the troopers warned in a synthesized male voice, "Don't even think about it you scum."
Hanson looked towards the pistol, then to Ivanov. The two men shared a gaze of understanding, and Hanson surprised Ivanov by saying in Russian, "Eto bylo chest'yu ser." It's been an honor sir.
Ivanov's friend then lunged for the gun, but before he could move more than a few inches he was shot right in the head and went limp, face blackened and disfigured.
It was then when Joe made his appearance, appearing literally inches in front of the grey tunic wearing man's face.
If his mouth and throat weren't clogged with blood and bits of tooth, Ivanov would have chuckled, but nonetheless, the man's sudden jump backwards showcased his surprise.
After a couple of seconds, the man's expression turned into one of recognition. "Ah, an Artificial Intelligence, how quaint. Couldn't run the ship by yourselves?"
In his deep southern drawl, Joe growled, "Go shove your dick down a garbage disposal."
Clearly offended by Joe's brashness, the man grew angry, and yelled at Joe, "Now listen here you antiquated line of code -"
He was cut off mid-sentence by Joe, using the bridge speakers to amplify his voice. "No you listen you little piece of shit. I've watched you kill my friends, and now it's you turn."
A holographic timer appeared near Joe, and started counting down from five minutes.
The characteristic female voice of the general warning program came through the bridge's speakers, "Self-destruct sequence initiated. Recommend immediate evacuation of all personnel to minimum safe distance."
The man glared at Joe, then Ivanov, brows furrowed in anger. He then motioned to his troops, saying "Back to the Star Destroyer! Move your shebs!"
The soldiers quickly filed out the door, and right as the arrogant man was about to leave, Joe called out, "Hey! Jerkoff!"
The man stopped, turning his head slightly. Joe continued, arms crossed against the chest pads of his holographic avatar. "I was just fucking with you, I don't need a countdown. Have fun in hell!" He then started laughing, and Ivanov joined in to the best of his ability, watching as a look of absolute horror cross the enemy man's face, then his world turned white forever.
When the Blazing Sun's reactor went critical, it enveloped both ships in a ball of superheated white, then climaxed in an enormous explosion.
What was left of the Sun was completely annihilated, while pieces of the neighboring Star Destroyer were propelled in hundreds of different directions at insane speeds, due to the force of the explosion.
The largest piece, about four-hundred meters of the front point of the Star Destroyer, was propelled on a course that would have it impact the surface of the nearby forest moon, at a particular location that would have disastrous effects...
Alpha Base, Surface of Unknown Forest Moon
Rookie awoke slowly, and took a moment to survey his surroundings.
He was obviously in a medical facility, that much he could tell by the whitewashed walls, smell of antiseptic, and comfortable bed he was laying in.
He raised his arms, and saw that the gashed he had sustained from the fight with that huge wolf-thing had been stitched, and were slowly fading into scars.
Noticing that he was awake, a Navy nurse hurried over to his side. "Good, your awake. It's been about two days since you were admitted, but you're healed up just fine. You need to get your rear I gear, the Blazing Sun has been engaged by unknown forces, and Captain Ivanov radioed us to prepare for an attack. Your squad is out on patrol right now, as soon as you gear up, there will be a Falcon waiting to take you to them."
She pointed to a tall locker against the wall by his bed, and when Rookie saw it he swung his legs over the side, feeling fine.
He opened the locker and was greeted by the sight of a brand new set of ODST body armor and fatigues. His old boots were still there though, good, won't have to break those in, he thought.
A Battle Rifle was leaning against the wall, and an M6D lay on top of a black box that Rookie assumed contained ammo.
The Navy nurse politely averted her eyes while the ODST changed, and within two minutes Rookie was fully dressed and armored, minus his helmet.
"Guess that hard-core ODST training comes in handy sometimes." joked the nurse, a small smile upon he lips.
Rookie just nodded in return, and bent over to pick up his rifle, when suddenly the ground beneath him began to shake.
"What the hell-" said the Navy nurse, before being interrupted by another shake.
This one was much more violent, so much so that it caused Rookie to stumble into his bed, arms placed on the side for support.
The navy nurse didn't fare so well, falling almost flat on her face.
The trembling just continued to grow larger, and Rookie felt the bones in his body shaking, bracing himself on the bed.
The nurse started to scream, and Rookie turned his head to see if he could help her, only to be greeted by the sight of his locker detach itself from the wall and fall right towards him.
Rookie raised his arms, but wasn't fast enough, and for a split-second he felt cold metal of the locker impact his forehead. This has to stop happening to me, the unlucky ODST thought, before everything again, turned to black.