Chapter 14 Reunions
Lee Adama could only watch out the back of the so called Pelican as the ground passed below them. Only once they took to the air did he notice that it was already mid afternoon, they had had the highway almost the entire day. They had been flying for almost ten minutes as they few between the mountains.
"ETA 60 seconds." said the pilot as Lee realized where they were.
"The Grave yard?" asked Lee as a line of old mark 1 vipers appeared on the ground.
"The what?" asked Alec
"The Grave yard, it's a dry plan near the edge of the Zeus Mountain range." said Lee "It is where we store aircraft that are not needed at the moment but may need later."
" So it is a bone yard." said Alec
"You have something like it?" asked Lee
"Ya, we store ships from the first human covenant war in space, ready to go if they are needed or we need them for parts." said Ian as he noticed a large group of civilians camping out by the hidden base.
"Looks like this just got harder." said James
"No matter what happens we will get Cortana back." said the Master Chief as he loaded his shotgun before putting in on his back and went back to Assault Rifle.
"Alright ETA 10 seconds!" yelled the pilot as the Pelican came to a hover and started down. The civilians on the ground back off as Pelican landed. Instantly the Spartans followed by the ODST stormed out of the back of the Pelican just like they were trained to do. Since they were surrounded by citizens they had their guns ready but pointed at the ground. The few colonials soldiers who where there guarding the refugee camp raised their guns at the new comers however they lowered them once they saw Lee and the Caprica city cop, Tyler.
"Move aside." Ordered Rose as they started marching though the crowed toward what looked like a simple hanger built up against a mountain. However thanks to a quick scan done by the pelican which was hovering over head covering them with a machine gun out of the open back. Slowly the UNSC forces reached the back wall of the hanger.
"It's very well hidden." said James as he looked around and found a hidden keypad located under a simple moveable wall panel.
"Can you break in?" asked the younger Spartan Jim
"Can I break in?" asked James "I can break into almost anything."
"Don't bother." said a voice as an Officer in the Colonial military appeared "The base Commander wants to see you."
The officer walked over to the computer pad and entered a code, to the surprise of the citizens watching the mountain side opened up to show a huge blast door that lead to small loading dock with armed guards.
"Let's go." said the Officer as he lead them into the base, as the gate closed behind them.
Meanwhile out in space the Battlestar Galactica was finishing up loading up supplies from Ragnar Anchorage.
"How much longer?" asked Commander Adama
"We are moving fast but we can't go to fast or else some of the rounds may go up." said his Deck Chief Galen Tyrol "We should be done in four hours."
"Move faster, we got word that a counterattack as failed." said Adama as Chief Galen Tyrol looked at him.
"By the Gods how many ships have we lost?" asked Galen
"Almost the entire fleet, there are some fleets trying to protect the other planets but Caprica, Gemenon and Picon have been taken over by the aliens ground." said Adama "Tauron and Virgon are the only ones who haven't been hit yet and the government is trying to get people there but these aliens control space. We are still 6 hours away from Caprica."
"We will pick up speed but there is only so much we can do without risking the missiles and shells from going off." said Galen "And if the missiles and shells goes up then this station and Galaticial goes with it."
"I know, but people are dying." stated Adama "We need to move faster."
"We will have it load up in 2 hours." said Galen
"That means we would get to Caprica in eight hours." said Adama
Meanwhile back on Caprica the ODST and Spartans stepped off an elevator on the lowest level of the colonial base. They walked past armed guards and defense lines until finally they reached a large blast door. It looked just like the blast doors that used to be on old 21st century Nuclear bunkers. When the blast doors opened it showed a large circular room with what was probably the fastest computers on Caprica or the entire 12 colonies but to the UNSC those same computers would be found in a museum. However in one corner by two armed guards sat UNSC computer hooked up to the colonial computers.
"What are you doing here?" asked what had to be the commanding officer
"We have come for Cortana." said the Chief
"Cortana?" asked the officer as suddenly the image of a blue woman appeared on the UNSC computer.
"That is Cortana, now you can give her back the easy way or we will take her." said the Chief as he gripped his assault rifle.
"You are here to rescue a computer?" asked another officer
"Cortana is more than a computer she is a smart AI and one of the greatest heroes in the galaxy." said Mike as the colonials eyes widened as a few actually started to head toward their weapons. However faster than any of the colonials the Spartans all raised their weapons and the ODST where not far behind.
"I wouldn't try and kill her because then you would just piss off the Master Chief and then you have no hope of living." said Arnold as the commander noticed that a laser spot was on his chest. He followed the laser designator to the Master's Chief's assault rifle. "He could drop five of your men before you could blink."
"So why don't you just give us Cortana and we can all go our separate ways." said Rose
"Fine, it can't do anything since the starlight bases where destroyed." said the commander as the Master Chief and the other Spartans lowered their weapons but stayed at the ready. The Chief walked pasted the colonials and toward Cortana who was now lying in a fetal position.
"You came….you finally came." said Cortana weakly as the Chief knelt down beside the computer.
"When make I a promise I keep it." said the Chief as she looked up at him.
"You do…you do keep your promises." said Cortana as she smiled and stood up. "It has been a long time."
"Too long." said Chief "Are you ready to fight another fight."
"Just like old times." said Cortana "Another suicidal mission in which we have no chance of getting out alive?"
"Of Course." said Chief
"What are you planning?" asked Cortana with a smile
"Shooting our way out of any trouble." said Chief
"Just like old times." said Cortana
In the distance the ODST and Spartans watched what was happening.
"How can she even be around, I thought AI's like her go into rampancy in seven years." said Jim
"Yes, but there is a theatrical fourth stage of rampancy, the Metastability level." said James "It has never been seen but if Cortana is at the 4th Stage she has reached stability. That means she can live pretty much forever."
"It's the holy grail of AI." said Arnold as suddenly Cortana spoke up again.
"So we have a whole team of Spartans now?" asked Cortana
"Yes." said Rose as she stepped forward "Lieutenant Rose 345 Spartan 4 from the Into the Darkness."
"Ah so that is the ship I detected." said Cortana "Well maybe with a team of Spartans and ODSTs we may be able to make it."
"You still have sensors?" asked Rose
"Yes." said Cortana "It's limited but yes."
"Do you have the location of the Covenant fleet?" asked Rose
"Yes most ships are still in orbit but 75 ships have entered the planet near the southern ocean." said Cortana "By cross checking they are in the Dionysus fields."
"Why would they go there?" asked Lee
"What is there?" asked Rose
"It's where all the right celebrities have huge houses there. It's the play ground of movie stars and billionaires" (Think Belleville Hills) said Lee "There are no military bases there are large cities."
"Then what is their target?" asked Kim
"They have a target…." said Cortana "Likely something Forerunner if they are sending so many ships."
"Wouldn't we have found a Forerunner base when we arrived in orbit?" asked Jim
"No, not if the base is deep underground…hell we didn't find the portal to the Ark until the covenant attacked earth." said Mike "We didn't run a deep level scan and that would have been needed to find something."
"I wonder what they may have found." said Kim
"It will not matter…." said Cortana "It will be bad for us."
Just then the entire base shook as alarms went off. Then a colonial soldier ran in.
"Sir the enemy is only five kilometers away and advancing." said the soldiers
"That means they are only minutes away." said Rose
"You need to get those people out of here." said Mike as he looked at the base commander
"They can head up into the mountains." said the commander
"There is no way they can get there in time." said Rose "You have to let them come in, it is the only place they can survive."
"I agree sir." said the second in command.
"Alright." said the commander
"Time to go Chief." said Cortana as she disappeared as the Master Chief pushed a few buttons on the computer as a computer chip holding Cortana. The Chief put Cortana in the computer port in the back of his helmet. "Let's go."
Meanwhile on board the Unto Glory General Stose looked over the map of the last message from the Into the Darkness command pod, it was already many hours old. However a clear picture was beginning to take shape. The Covenant had control over space and where working there way out from major cities that they had taken over.
"What do you think Joseph?" asked General Stose as the ship's AI appeared.
"It is a pickle, sir without up to the date information we cannot be sure until we get to the planet." Said Joseph, the AI looked like a man in his mid twenties with brown hair and glasses "However I recommend we stop just outside the orbit of the planet's moon and then move in."
"No we can't waste those people on the ground need us." said Stose as he looked at the map again. "What about this."
With that he quickly laid out his plan on the holographic table.
"Its risky sir." said Joseph
"It is the best way to save those people." said General Stose "How long until we are over the planet?"
"Eight hours sir." said Joseph "We will time our arrival with sun rise over the capital city."
"Very well make sure everything is ready." said Stose
"Believe me sir; every soldier can't wait to be part of the group that brings the Master Chief home." answered Joseph
"Good." said General Stose
Elsewhere in orbit of the Cylon home world on Halo installation 01. The Humanoid Cylons stood before the Monitor or Guardian.
"Why have you come?" asked the monitor
"We come to ask questions of your holiness." said number six as she pulled out still images taken from News reports from Caprica. She held it out to the Monitor as he quickly scanned the image of the Spartans doing battle with the covenant. "They appear to be from Earth."
"Reclaimers!" yelled the Monitor in glee as he looked at the images "Finally the true reclaimers have been found nearby and the unification can begin."
"What these are reclaimers, I thought that the humans of the 12 colonies where the reclaimers?" asked the one "The only reason we wanted humans forms that we could become recliamers."
"The humans of the kobal and it's off shoots are but they are not true reclaimers." said the monitor "If the home world would have been lost then they would have become true reclaimers."
"I don't follow." said a three
"My creators wanted to protect the human race, their chosen successors." said the monitor "As such after the human population on earth reached a safe surplus a group was gathered up and brought to another location to be used as backups if the human home world should be lost."
"Wait your saying Earth is the true human world?" asked the one
"Yes, we couldn't risk the reclaimers only on one planet so my creators hedged their bet on the human race by settling many worlds with the hopes that the home world would make it." said the Monitor "That is why I oversaw the settling of the 12 planets of humans in the nearby system."
Back on Caprica, in the Grave yard Civilians rushed though a top secret door into a base none of them had ever known to be there.
"Go…go…go!" yelled Ian as he stood by the front of the door guiding people into the base. It reminded him so much of the historic videos of the battle of Reach, where the civilian population would hid in bunkers and hope that the UNSC would get to them in time, most of the time those bunkers became their tombs.
"Sir we have wounded coming in." said Laura
"Go to their medical bay and help out as much as possible." Ordered Ian as a plasma mortar shoot overhead."Crap we don't have a lot of time."
Suddenly the sound of explosions filled the air.
"Sounds like the Spartans have made contact with the enemy." said Alec
"Let's just focus on getting these people into the base." said Ian as another group of civilians ran past him. At that moment an entire column wraith appeared.
"Looks like we may not much time left." said Tom as he aimed his Spartan laser and shot over the heads of the civilians, destroying a wraith.
Finally Blake arrived with the last group of Civilians.
"That is the last of them sir." said Blake as the group ran into the base.
"Alright." said Ian as he hit his radio. "Lieutenant Rose the civilians are inside the base."
"Roger." said Rose as she and the other Spartans took cover behind some old colonial military crafts.
"Lets fall back." said Arnold as the Spartans began a classic fall back. Firing as they went the fell back to the base entrance.
"Close it." ordered Rose as the doors closed just as the sun was going down.
"You know they have us trapped and surrounded." Stated Arnold as the huge blast doors were closed and locked.
"Ya, those poor bastards." said the Master Chief.
Well I hope you liked this chapter, I would like to thank everyone who reviewed and I would ask that you keep on reading and reviewing. Thanks Wilkins75