Halo: Predator Lost ch3. If you say things can't get any worse, then things magically get worse.
Hello darkness my old friend... I've come to talk with you again, because a vision softly creeping, left it seeds while I was sleeping and the vision that was planted in my brain, still remains, within the sound... of silence. Moaning is heard as Winter finally opens his eyes. "Why is it every time I'm knocked unconscious I hear that song before waking up." Sitting up and testing his extremities to make sure nothing was broken, Winter felt his headache and vision start to clear. Thanks to the armors' automatic medical diagnostic systems, minor pain killers were injected to remove the headache.
On top of integrating a long-lasting, advanced power core, Spirit also incorporated integrated medical systems. Such a thing accelerated healing times and greatly reduced the risk of being incapacitated for very long. The idea being was to both reduce the risk of capture and increase turnaround times. Sadly, the same could not be said for Scythe.
"uhh," "Scythe was coming too but in far worse shape as he wasn't wearing anywhere near as much armor, and the end result was a large headache. "Scythe, this is Winter, come in, are you dead, can I have your burner if you're dead?" Winter asked.
Trilling at the odd humor, Scythe's reply was less than humorless. "Glad to hear you have a sense of humor Winter, now grab the medkits and..." Unable to finish his sentence, Scythe ripped his mask off, then proceeded to vomit his stomach contents onto the floor. After emptying the contents of his stomach a scary realization occurred. Artificial gravity was offline.
The sound of Scythe vomiting didn't go unnoticed by Winter who also noticed the lack of gravity or much of any power really. looking around, scanning the compartment, Winter located emergency power across the room, activating mag boots, he walked over and pulled a lever. Snort...I don't know much about Elder Nova but I can give him credit for keeping his stuff maintained. Checking the doors, the systems were slowly coming back online and upon hitting the release, the door opened. "Scythe I'll be there in a minute but whatever you do, don't initialize artificial gravity very quickly. The last thing we want is to be vaporized by my own ordinance, out."
Replacing his mask, Scythe noticed the sounds of power coming back online, the soft humming of lights and data screens coming on was most welcome. Checking over his own body, nothing was broken thank paya. However, upon closer inspection he noticed blood coming out at various points, pauk. Suddenly a door swishes open revealing Winter with the medical supplies.
"You look like you've been attacked by a swarm of hardmeats." Winter said, noting the vast number of cuts and bruises and blood coming out. "Winter clamp that kit to the back of the chair, then proceed to do an inventory check, make sure nothing is floating, you know as well I as I do that treatment in zero-G is a dangerous affair." Winter nodded, then proceeded to the cargo holds to ensure nothing was at risk of dropping.
Unlike Winter, Scythe spent most of his life in space onboard motherships. Seeing first hand what happens to those who get severely injured and then die from the effects of zero-G gravity. As such, protocol dictated that if artificial gravity can't be repaired and reengaged, then if possible, head toward the nearest large rock with gravity in order to treat wounds. Still, the first thing Scythe does while Winter goes through a quick inventory check is to activate the auto distress beacon on his wrist comp.
Sound is heard as Winter makes it back to the cockpit. "Good news, everything is still strapped down tight but I've noticed some warping on the walls. Scythe if you please.". Clicking in annoyance Scythe, hits the system, activating the gravity generators. However, instead of slowly, gravity kicked on instantly, thus like dropping a rock in a music room, echoes reverberated as things not bolted down hit the floor hard, followed by an eerie silence.
Not wasting time Winter took the medkit and started sealing Scythes wounds.
"Pauk, you couldn't wait could you?" If Winter could see Scythes eyes, he would see burning hatred.
"look at the bright side, most of your cuts were minor and the bigger ones are now dealt with, now if you would so kindly tell me how much damage we sustained." Winter was in survival mode right now and thus not in the mood for any real conversation.
Still, it didn't take long for the ship's systems to do a damage report and it wasn't good.
"Well you were right, the outer hull has been contorted a little bit, not much but enough that the plasma cannons can't be deployed. FTL drive is gone, long-range sensors are offline, two of the three engines are out along with half of our maneuvering thrusters. Shields are gone, Life support is failing, power is at thirty percent of total output, cloak and other stealth systems are shot. Beacon is active and a nearby habitable planet has already been detected, but should we decide to attempt a landing. I'm sorry to say the landing gear is jammed.
Before you ask it, yes the coms are gone too, outside of short-range transmitters on our helmets and the long-range distress beacons." This was bad, it was a miracle they weren't killed.
"How long before life support fails?" Winter was nervous now since he had never experienced a crash landing and from the looks of it, things were headed that way.
"A cycle, sorry Winter but given our distance and with only one engine, we'd be cutting it close, and then there is the landing part." No telling what the atmospheric composition was until the ship got closer. Scythe had never experienced a crash landing before either.
"Set a course, I'll see what I can do about those thrusters, though if you can help it, try to aim for a body of water near a coastline, it should help soften the landing and if not, look for the flattest terrain possible." Winter then exits the cockpit to run repairs.
Putting his hands on the controls, Scythe engages what few systems remain and plots a course for the planet.
Algolis 2536, 08:00.
Running through hallways, like a possessed Grunt or one that had some meth added to its methane supply. Pvt Mayweather was ecstatic. After clocking in the half-hour before, she got called in on a briefing regarding the discovery she made last night.
Reaching the door, she hit the panel and nearly tripped on her feet. There at the head of the table was the local director in charge of this base. Colonel Stein, others at the table included Dr. Turk, a specialist in planetary surveys, her supervisor, Lieutenant Owen, a few people from various scientific departments, and an ONI spook. "Welcome Pvt. please sit down, since you were the one who discovered this phenomenon, you get a hand in figuring out what caused it and gather any intel pertaining to it." Said Colonel Stein.
Stein was not exactly tall, about six feet, with darkened skin and a textbook military haircut. One could easily point out the man's critical green eyes. By all accounts, this man while part of the UNSC Army, screamed former spook. It was clear this man has a no-nonsense attitude. On the plus side, he had a reputation for two things, one keeping things quiet and two, getting the job done.
Taking a seat, the briefing finally began.
"Very well then, twelve hours ago, Pvt. Mayweather noticed a massive radiation spike from the deep space radars pointed at the L1 Lagrange point in our system. Thanks to Owen here, all available scopes were pointed at this area of space, and probes dispatched to investigate. ONI, here believed it may have been a Covenant ship or something else that exploded. In fact, by all accounts, the radiation was from a massive explosion and yet our probe picked up this." Colonel Stein then activated the table's holoprojector and what was brought up had everyone's attention. "Pvt please give us your opinion," Stein ordered
"Well, I think I speak the obvious answer in saying that the vessel isn't Covenant, judging by its shape and the fact the power signature isn't very high either I'm guessing". Mayweather said. This was exciting, a new alien race, hopefully, one that doesn't want to wipe out all of humanity.
"hmm, I'm guessing it's headed here?" Ask Captain Markus, who heads the colony's interceptors.
"Correct Captain but it's not what you think, Dr. Turk if you will?" Ask Colonel Stein.
" The probe encountered no resistance, and there was no response to hails. Upon a closer inspection, we found out why. If you look carefully, only one of the three engines is on and the probe recorded sporadic bursts of energy. As everyone here knows, such an abnormality is a clear indication of a vessel suffering damage and are unable to operate at full capacity.
Stranger still is the vessel's signature doesn't match anything we have thus far and judging from its design, Mayweather is correct, it isn't Covenant" Dr. Turk ended his opinion.
"So what do we do about it then, even if the ship isn't a threat, the ones flying it could be." Stated Lt Owen, knowing that should it be a new race, they won't be wanting their technology falling into unknown hands.
" Which is why, we are going to help the ship land, and should the unknowns be hostile, then we eliminate them and see what we can do with the technology, assuming it's comparable to anything we or the Covenant have. Pvt. Mayweather, you are now being promoted to specialist and along with Lt Owen here, will be the first faces these beings see, good luck, everyone dismissed." Upon leaving Colonel Stein couldn't help but hope that whoever these beings were, they were friendly.
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Next chapter, Crash landing