Universal Journey Chapter 12 Into the vault
Yorktown surface, Dagger base
Kenmore had dealt with the last line of defense. It was done and now he had to deal with the main buildings defenses. As he marched through the corridor from the elevator he heard gunshots and shouting. He had to stop the Covenant from reaching the vault, but he wouldn't risk everyone of these brave men and aliens to do it. The Jaffa was putting up a hell of a fight.
"Sir!" Came over the radio. "Colonel!"
"Colonel Kenmore here, report," he quickly responded.
"We're…" he was interrupted by gunfire. "…outnumber, can't hold them!"
"Where are you soldier?"
"Command center, too many of-" he was cut off by an explosion. Probably a plasma grenade.
"Goddamn it!" Kenmore cursed.
The command center had been lost. He should have assigned more men, but he had to protect the vault. The vault was too important. He stopped completely and listened. Footsteps, too heavy to be his own. More like an elite, or a few elites maybe. He readied his BR55 and sneaked closer to the corner. They had definitely breached the perimeter, which meant that most of the Jaffa were dead or trapped somewhere, cut off from them. Most of the army troopers were probably dead too.
He rounded the corner and stood face to face with an elite. He jumped back and fired a burst into the alien. The elite stumbled by the hit, but didn't fall. He aimed his plasma rifle. Kenmore quickly ducked around the corner.
"Kill the human!" The elite shouted to his grunts.
Kenmore aimed around the corner and fired a burst into the elite again, hitting his eye socket and blowing straight through his skull. The grunts quickly scrambled for safety. He let them go, not wanting to waste ammo on them.
It was probably only a matter of time before the Covies came down to level five and tried to get through the vault. Hopefully Dexter could hold them off with the men down there. They held a good choke point. Only a few could come down the elevator at a time.
He reached for his earpiece.
"Dexter."
"Sir."
"Give me an update from the vault."
A moment went by.
"Sir, security's not responding anymore. We can't make contact with the science teams either. Could be a communication issue," Dexter said. "Covies scrambling the specific area."
Kenmore thought about it. With them sealed up and contained, there could be no problem inside. Besides Doctor Silas said he was close to a way to achieve control. Could the Covenant have found a way inside? The back entrance? No, no. He would have heard about it by now. If the Covenant had overrun the bunker and used the elevator, he'd known by now.
"I need you to send a message to the Spartan fireteam. Tell them to head to the bunker and get down into the vault through the elevator."
"You sure, sir?"
"Positive. We need to make sure everything is fine. The UNSCs greatest possibility to win this war is down there. Dagger base is expendable. Just like the troopers and Jaffa. Just like you and me, and all ONI security officers."
"Copy. I'll get right on it. Dexter out."
Kenmore was confident in his beliefs. They had to protect the vault at all cost. He didn't like the idea, but what options did he have?
Yorktown surface, Dagger base
Rtek sneaked around the corner with a needler in his hands. Grek was with him, plus five wraith warriors. He cursed loudly as he looked over the carnage. Bodies of Unggoy, Kig-Yar, wraiths, Jaffa and a few Sangheili littered the ground. It was more like a massacre than a battle. Forty Covenant bodies or so, and twelve Jaffa. A bloody massacre. He spat.
"Damn Sangheili holy bastards, using the rest of us as cannon fodder."
Grek looked at him for a moment.
A lance of five Kig-Yar with shields and plasma pistols came up and joined them.
"Any word on how many humans remaining?" Rtek asked them.
"Some holding out in bunkers or isolated buildings. The yards under our control and the main buildings almost ours. Field Marshal Kaaldrumee sent in the Sangheili and wraith to crush the remaining resistance. Apparently some of those commando females from malevolence is here. The tall and pretty ones."
"How much higher than the humans are our casualties? Kig-Yar specifically?" he ignored the statement about the female commandos pretty looks. He liked their looks to, but this wasn't the time.
The Kig-Yar soldiers hesitated first.
"Well, sir…I'm afraid compared to the human and Jaffa, we lost four times more soldiers. The Unggoy lost eleven times more men, we think, haven't counted all casualties yet. Sangheili casualties are below that of dead hostiles."
Rtek wasn't surprised. For all that glory and honor stuff, they really preferred to throw everyone else at the enemy first. He snorted with disgust.
"We better get moving," Grek suggested.
Rtek nodded.
"Alright. Enough mourning. Let's move."
At first he had seen little trouble with the plan. His men was providing cover with snipers and close support with their energy shields. But then Kaaldrumee ordered him to send his forces into close combat, which wasn't good fighting ground for a lance of trained marksmen. Grek hadn't cared much given the massive wraith casualties overall. That was probably a wraith thing.
He looked left when he saw four blue skinned aliens. It was those attractive Aeyaen's he'd heard about. With their light fur and blue skin, their tail and pretty eyes. For aliens, they were pretty good looking.
"What's the word of the Aeyaen casualties?" He asked.
"Three dead," a Kig-Yar replied. "Word is they've killed eighty men or so between them. Given that there were fifteen of them here, that's pretty awesome."
"Were?"
"More arrived on a transport. Twenty actually. We intercepted some orders too boss. Looks like they're going into the underground structure with the Sangheili. Love to see that pissing contest over who's in charge."
Rtek laughed. He agreed completely. Grek tried to ignore him.
Walking through a destroyed doorway, they entered the main building. They met up with a lance of five Unggoy, led by a Kig-Yar major. Another group joined them from a junction on their right side. It was led by two wraith commanders, commanding four Unggoy, two wraith warriors and a Kig-Yar major.
"Commander," the first wraith commander greeted.
Grek nodded.
"The Aeyaen's want us to secure the elevators," he explained.
"Then, we should not wait," Grek advised.
The second wraith commander nodded.
"Yes commander. They lie in a corridor north us here."
Sagan-Gyaah galaxy, sector U12, Falcon system, orbit over Rygaal 3
Sight of Mercury's bridge
4,205 years ago
The only two habited systems in the Falcon system was Rygaal 3 and Rygaal 1. The other five planets was completely uninhabitable. Rygaal 3 was surrounded by a massive fleet of six-hundred warships. The largest was a white hulled Dreadnought. It was sixty-five kilometers in length and seven kilometer across from starboard to port. The Dreadnought Sight of Mercury was surrounded by Heavy and Light Battlecruisers, Cruisers, Carriers and which in turn was supported by Destroyers, Frigates and Corvettes. In the back of the towering warship, was the bridge. It had fifty crewmen working on consoles.
Apart from three figures on the bridge, they all had red skin with twenty head tendrils on the back and top of their heads. They were slightly shorter than the three others. Their uniforms were white and elegant. The three others had dark robes and facial masks and hoods covering their heads.
Jovakhin looked out through the bridge window, looking down on the planet below them. To side front was Lord admiral Falanizzo and a female to his left. Falanizzo was the Lord admiral of the Syyphoro-San'gyly, making him the Supreme Commander of the navy.
"Your opinion, Jovakhin?" Falanizzo requested.
"Hmm," Jovakhin tilted his head. "Hard to say. There is still three-hundred-thousand soldiers groundside and the planetary bombardment keep thinning the Plagues ranks. We could still turn this."
"I disagree love," Azzadira interjected. "Lord admiral, you should forget the Enclave. They cannot command the military, not in this crisis situation."
She looked at Jovakhin. He looked slightly in her direction.
"She could be right. If we launch the core missile, we have to evacuate all forces first. But the backlash of destroying a world as rich as Rygaal 3, might, might be significant. I wouldn't care, but it would in that case, land on you."
Unlike Jovakhin's dark grey mask and Azzadira's silver one, his own was gold. He had black robes and a black hood over his head. He had his hands behind his back.
"Indeed. For now, we'll continue as planned. We'll spare the core missiles for campaigns into plague territory." He turned around. "Alert me immediately when something happens. "I must go through reports in my quarters."
"Of course, Lord admiral," Azzadira assured him.
Falanizzo had been Lord admiral for only two-hundred years. There had been two other Lord admirals before him, sense the wars start, eight-hundred years into the past. The first had been killed in battle, even infected by the Plague of darkness itself. The second was killed when his Dreadnought was destroyed in battle with three plague infested Dreadnoughts. Before he died, he crippled a fourth and fifth infected Dreadnought and almost one-hundred other infected warships.
He withdrew to his quarters. At his desk he read reports from generals and admirals across the galaxy. He heard a beep from the door. He walked over and keyed the panel, opening it. Outside stood a young red skinned woman with the head tendrils. She was dressed in a white uniform and looked up at him nervously.
"Kaasana," he said with a smile. "What can I do for you?"
"Eh, I wanted to speak to you uncle," she explained.
He gestured for her to step inside his quarters. She strolled over and sat down on his couch and he took a seat at the desk, but turned the chair around.
"What can I do for you?"
"I, eh…I can't stop worrying about Ahlborn," she admitted.
He smiled slightly under his mask.
"I am sure your brother is fine. Last I heard his Platoon repaired a short range transmitter before pulling back from the front lines."
She looked worriedly at him.
"But, you're the Lord admiral, can't you like, transfer him somewhere safer?"
"I could," he acknowledged. "But…I won't. He wouldn't want me to and he wouldn't forgive me for it. As hard as it is to admit, we all need to do our duty honey. Besides, millions of families feel the same way you do right now."
She looked down and slowly nodded.
He walked over and kneeled in front of her, taking her hands in his own.
"Don't worry. Do your duty, stay safe, and it'll be ok. He'll do the same. After all, he's valuable in the militaries eyes. People with psychic powers are carefully looked after your brothers no exception. He can handle himself."
She looked into her uncles eyes and swallowed hard, before nodding again.
He smiled behind his mask.
"Psychic powers are one of our best weapons against the plague. It's nothing we can waste, which means that your brothers is-and this sounds cold honey-is a valuable resource."
"You're right," she said simply. "It sounds really damn cold."
"Lord admiral," they were interrupted by Azzadira's voice. "You are needed on the bridge, immediately."
Falanizzo rose and walked towards the door.
"We'll finish later, ok?" She nodded and stood up to follow him out. "It'll be ok."
Falanizzo quickly made his way to the bridge where Azzadira and Jovakhin waited for him. the bridge crew seemed nervous and very worried.
"What's going on?"
"Seven-thousand starships has entered the system, two hours away, an officer explained nervously.
Falanizzo stared out the front viewer.
"Identified?" He asked worriedly.
"It's the infected armada," Azzadira said with a heavy heart. "We're heavily outnumbered."
Jovakhin stepped forward.
"If we use the Quantum bomb, the one Doctor Wolfgang created-"
"That'll destroy the solar system," Azzadira argued. "Love, you can't be serious."
"The following super nova from the sun will destroy everything in the system, crush their fleet. We simply launch it and abandon the system."
Falanizzo considered it.
"It could-"
"He's not stating the fact that we can't evacuate the ground forces in time. In two hours? No way we can evacuate all of them. We have three-hundred-thousand troops planetside."
Falanizzo lowered his head. They both had a point. Could they-he, abandon those men? But destroying seven-thousand infected warships, could he pass that up? It would cripple the Plague to lose its armada. Sacrificing two million to save two-hundred million from, dying in battle later. He always knew it was a hard job when he took it.
"Start evacuating as many men as possible. Start with the most important. Paladins and those with psychic powers."
Azzadira slowly nodded.
"Yes, sir."
Yorktown surface, Dagger base, back entrance to the Vault
7th day, present day
Rodney and Stahl made their way out of the jumper and towards Gate's team. Fox grinned widely when she saw Stahl. The young woman jogged over and hugged her. Stahl smiled and hugged her back. Porter walked over casually and nodded to Rodney.
"Doc. Great to have ya."
"Eh, right well…should we get, eh, going?" Rodney answered somewhat awkwardly.
Meanwhile the jumper left as Baker had already cloaked and presently flew over Dagger base itself to offer assistance and if necessary disable targets. He always had to make sure to not waste drones on pointless targets. There was no way to refill them afterwards. He would stay close by if they needed evac.
"So good to see you on your feet, Maddie," Fox complimented her.
"Great to be back. Doc had to let me out, given what's happening," Stahl replied cheerfully as Fox released her from the hug.
She looked over to Gate. He and Jovakhin stood by one of the Spartans. Five meters away. Wolf was sitting in the grass, relaxing in the sun. you couldn't tell on her that there was a planetary invasion ongoing at this very moment. Like always, she seemed way to relaxed when she waited. The last three Spartans stood on their own, a few meters from the fourth and her team. Her eyes darted to the bunker built into the lower hillside, and going underground by the looks of it. She looked around but didn't see anyone else around. No personal or anything.
Porter noticed her looking.
"Not exactly rolling out the red carpet," he pointed out.
"Not really. But they are desperately fighting to hold the front entrance, so maybe we should give them some slack?" She suggested.
Porter shrugged playfully. "Nah, maybe…I suppose."
Fox put her arm around Stahl's shoulders and led her towards the others.
"All ready here, sir," she called. "Shall we get going?"
Gate turned fully to them and smiled broadly at Stahl. He half turned to the Spartans, specifically the one he was talking to.
"This is Lance Corporal Maddie Stahl. Our combat medic."
"You the one that got wounded?" Daniel asked straight up. He had a hit of a disrespectful tone in his voice.
"Lucky hit," Fox remarked defensively. "Got pretty much overrun and surrounded."
Daniel shrugged casually and turned to look at the bunker entrance.
"We're going, sir?"
Fox snorted.
Becky nodded simply.
"Yes," she said. "Lance Corporal. Pleasure. I'm Sphinx one or simply commander."
Stahl nodded back at her. The tone sounded a bit too cold for Stahl to immediately accept that she was sincere about it.
"Let's move people."
Phoenix and Daniel was the first to get moving. Wolf joined them after throwing a glance at Stahl and given an encouraging smile. She was basically saying, 'Yeah, I know', about the Spartans talkative side.
Gate and Porter came behind Wolf and Becky, with Jovakhin and Rodney short behind. Rodney looked less than pleased about the situation. He had preferred to be in orbit, those engineers were actually nice and appreciated his brilliance.
Pierre strolled over to Fox and Stahl and reached his hand out. he reached out his hand and she accepted with a pleasant smile.
"Don't mind them. We tend to focus on the objective during missions, so with whatever respect it has, your name isn't exactly important to them."
"You seemed nice enough," Stahl replied.
"Well, we don't want to get off to a bad start," he explained with a light shrug. "Whole damn planets at stake. Can't afford failing. Besides, you don't seem so bad."
"Why thank you," she smiled. "You guy look quite capable yourselves."
Pierre simply nodded.
"Not everyone would assault a Covenant Cruiser with a small team. Certainly not without major casualties."
"Well, we didn't actually know who we were fighting at the time. Come to think of it, it probably gave us some enemies back home some years ago. Between two-three times."
They walked inside the bunker. Rodney stood by a console, getting the elevator operational. Daniel and Phoenix stood by the elevator doors who were currently closed. Becky stood close to Rodney with Gate.
"Well?" Gate asked him.
"Relax," he said. "Not my fault UNSC lost power to the elevators. I, eh…there. Backup generators online."
"Why where they off?" Gate asked.
"Covies probably overrun the CC," Becky wagered. She looked across the chamber. "All personnel here was probably evacuated or joined up to fight at the main compound."
As the elevator arrived the two joint teams made their way inside, while Jovakhin and Porter remained to guard topside and their escape route if the base, Vault, as the ONI called it in their transmission, had been compromised by Covenant and Wraith forces.
When the elevator stopped and the double doors opened, Daniel, Pierre and Stahl was first out, securing the corridor.
"Clear," she said.
"Confirmed," Daniel said after a moment.
Stahl ignored the fact he had to confirm what she said, getting the feeling he definitely didn't like her for some reason. Gate looked left and right down and up the corridor. It was incredible dark, almost too dark to see.
"Doc?" he looked to Rodney.
He grumbled.
"Don't look at me, I don't-" he started annoyed.
The light coincidentally turned on.
Gate was about to speak when he noticed the corridors infrastructure. Rodney started with wide confused and shocked eyes. Stahl and Wolf looked surprised, but didn't show as much of it as Rodney or Fox. Her wide eyes stared around her. Becky noticed their expressions.
"What is it?"
Gate and Rodney looked at each other.
"Doctor?" Gate began.
"Huh…no place like home, right?"
Alright, so that scene with Jovakhin and Azzadira might have created more questions then answers, but we'll get more into that later on. For exempel, what's that got to do with the current situation, we'll get to that shortly too.
Also we've managed to meet an ONI officer who isn't an asshole, unlike Dare who seemed to be a bit of a maniac with issues, and Wadsworth of course. Welcome aboard Kenmore!
Sorry it took so bloody lnog to get this out, but finally!