CHAPTER 22
1137 Hours, August 15, 2553 (Military Calendar)/ Cannon loading room of Fortress Orean on moon of planet Raiek
Commander Zaran was gone. Shortly before, a Covenant dropship had come for him. The Spartans had fired after the Elite, but, as expected, it was futile. Nothing could stop the guns of the dropship, and Zaran had escaped. In the end, the Spartans were forced to drop back and hide until the ship moved away.
Zaran's last words were, "You lose again, filthy cyborgs!" as he hopped into the ship and its relative safety.
Now, however, Farr and the "cyborgs" had a plan of their own. Farr was standing at the controls of what had turned out to actually be a make-shift cannon of a certain sort. "Zaran lied to you when he said there was no cannon on Orean," Farr said as he manipulated the controls. "At least, sort of. From the plasma energy that was put into the planet, we can shoot it back out again, making a type of cannon that we can use. All we have to do is align it, and fire it when your Captain uses the MAC on Orean."
"How do we do that?" Alex asked as he braced himself against the shaft in the center of the room. Both hands were on the metal covering, preparing for the awesome task ahead of them. They had shut off the electricity, so the whole room was now safe, save for the white-hot, boiling pit in the middle.
The Commander had already figured it out. Once again, he was one step ahead. "Just the same way that we reversed the polarity back on Raiek to make the energy go into the planet as it wasn't supposed to be, we can do the same here to launch the plasma from the core out of its place."
"Correct," Farr said.
In several minutes, Farr has used the radar at the control console to locate the battle ship Constitution. Within seconds he had a lock on the MAC gun. "We need to bend that shaft to match the cannon so it will intercept the cannon's projectile. Move the cannon slightly to the left, guys!" Farr called.
All three Spartans braced themselves and threw their entire weight against the shaft, hoping to move it. Bryce was throwing his body into it, aiding the Commander and General as they shoved with all their might. In seconds, the entire thing started to move, and bent until Farr ordered a halt.
"Now get onto the north end and move it south a bit."
All the troops shuffled to the other side and threw all their weight against the metal once more. Their combined incredible strength of the MJOLNIR technology proved effective yet again. The entire shaft of metal bent, straining, creaking under their force, until Farr again told them to stop.
"Perfect match! Well done you three."
As the Spartans came up next to Farr, James noticed the time. "Three minutes 'till showtime," he said aloud. "You know what you're doing, right, Farr?" he asked worriedly. "I mean, it's a good chance we'll come out of this alive?"
Farr looked at the Commander. "By 'we', do you mean us personally, or the human race in its entirety? Either way I'm not sure I can answer. Truthfully, our chances of this actually working are rather slim. But if we die here, we can at least know we tried. Of that Earth can be proud."
Captain Martin stood on the bridge of the UNSC battle cruiser Constitution. He was looking towards the ship's built-in AI, Sara. She stood on a platform all her own, the true Amazon warrior in her shining outfit as she, out of habit, fondled the hilt of her holographic sword.
"When shall we fire the gun, Captain?" she asked, almost impatiently. "We can't hold the charge for long."
Martin looked at Moores, who was standing behind him. "Will you do the honors, Captain?" he asked, a broad smile on his face.
"Certainly. We can only hope that the Spartans have made it off the planet by now." Little known to either of them that the Spartans were still alive and kicking, and nowhere near being away from the planet. If their MAC charge got through, it would mean the end for them all.
"Ready, Sara?" Moores asked, gripping the railing.
"MAC gun is hot," she said back. "Removing safeties."
Jeremy turned in his seat. "Transferring the firing control to on-board AI now," he said, his fingers rattling over the controls. "The gun is ready to fire, sir."
Moores stood straight. "Fire!"
On the hull of the ship, the main MAC gun was in position. Near its end, the weapon's energy was nearly ready to pop off. The lights in the bridge dimmed, and the entire ship shook as the cruiser spat its bolt of energy at the planet below.
"MAC charge heading for us. Impact in three minutes!" Farr called. "Brace yourselves! We're firing this baby in a couple seconds here."
The Commander and his men gripped the railing surrounding the perimeter of the control deck. Farr held a lever in one claw, and a red sliding button in the other. With one push, he slid the button all the way up the panel, and the metal shaft shook with intensity. The entire room radiated with energy.
With a flick of his wrist, Farr pulled the lever downwards. The four of them watched with intense curiosity as to what would happen as the entire Fortress shook. Then, the plasma came racing up through the shaft. They could watch it through the clear parts from Covenant design.
Nearly two meters above them, the entire blast of energy slammed through the thick crust of the moon's surface and made a devastating explosion. The beam rocketed up through the atmosphere, several meters in length, and headed towards the sky, right for the direction of where the MAC bolt was coming.
Somewhere in between the two locations, the beams closed in on each other. It was Hara that noticed the other beam from her position in radar. She tapped some controls to make sure her observations were correct, and then turned to face the Captain. "Sir!" she called. "Unknown energy blast heading for the MAC charge, sir!"
Martin faced her. "Put it on-screen." The large screen ahead of them all filled with the image—it was true. There was another blast headed right for their's. "Can it stop our shot? And is it of Covenant make?" the Captain asked his officer.
"Affirmative, it can stop our shot, but it is of unknown make."
Martin cursed. "All that time and now our charge is to be destroyed before it even reaches the moon!"
In space, the plasma bolt headed right for the MAC charge. "Brace yourselves!" The entire crew of the UNSC ship Constitution and the remainder of the Pillar of Winter grabbed hold of whatever they could as the two beam smashed into each other.
The most deafening explosion ripped through space. Even though space was a vacuum, and no sound could be heard, the magnitude of the explosion, and the fact that the plasma could be heard in space, added to the sound. A sound that could be heard half-way across the system of planets ripped through the airless space.
In the case of the battle ship, the whole aft side was hit with the first shock-wave. The battle cruiser was tossed end-over-end, thrown sideways in space, tumbling into nothing as it drifted lazily away from the moon.
Aboard the ship, Martin cried out to the AI. "Activate thrusters. Stop this tumbling!" Outside the ship, forty or more tiny thrusters snapped on. As well as those, ten larger and two gigantic ones activated, using the force of several space ships of olden days to bring the cruiser to a halt. The roll only lasted two minutes, but it seemed like longer to the crew inside.
"Back to your stations, everyone!" Martin called. "Find out what that blasted thing was!" Little did he know at the time, the Captain had included a pun.
Down on the moon below, the Spartans were surprised to still be alive. They slowly stood and regained their footing. Even the only remaining rebel Elite was back on his talons again. Already he was checking the radar.
"We stopped it!" he growled happily.
There was little time for celebrating, however. They had to figure out a way to send a radio transmission to the Constitution before enough time passed that they decided to send another MAC blast down. Orean only had enough plasma left for one more shot, and that might not be as powerful as the preceding. It was a risk not worth taking. Also, even if the shot did make it through, too much of the core would be drained, and the planet might collapse in on itself.
As Farr tinkered with the controls, Bryce was watching the sky through the gigantic hatch above them. He thought he could see something moving in the sky above him. The distinct U shape formed itself into his mind. It was then that it hit him! "A Covenant dropship!"
James's head whipped around and he looked above. It took only moments before he, too, spotted the approach of the Covenant ship. And the fact that they were chancing a return meant they had found something worth risking an entire team of warriors.
"What could they want with Orean?" Alex asked. "We've pretty much taken it over. There's no way they could think the Constitution will allow them to land."
"The battle ship won't fire at them," James said, still watching. He knew what they were after.
Bryce looked at their Commander. He realized once again that the clever warrior was already one step ahead. Wonders never ceased. "Why's that?" He figured he would get a confident answer. He was correct.
"They're after the Pillar of Winter," James breathed.
"We've located four distinct forms on the moon below," Hara said to the Captain, who faced her in his seat, his face rock hard and serious.
"Can you identify unknown forms?" Martin asked in a deep tone.
Hara's fingers rattled across the keyboard. "All I can get is four obviously armored individuals in what appears to be the main control room of Fortress Orean. Actually, it the humans' time, it was a storage bay, but it has been modified. I suppose it's where the cannon is fired."
Martin leaned on his elbow, wiping sweat from his brow with the other hand. "That must have been what hit us," he said, staring hard at the on- screen view. "Sara," he called, "can you tell who they are any better?"
The AI responded almost immediately. In that little time, she had looked at every single way possible to check the area for the identities of the four figures. Unfortunately, none of them came out the way she'd hoped. "Negative, Captain," she said quickly, trying to show off her skills. "Would you like me to try again?"
"Don't bother," Martin murmured. He turned to face Captain Moores, who stood right next to him. "Any ideas on who they are?"
"Yes, Captain," Moores said, looking straight forward and not moving in the least. "I know exactly who they are."
Martin sat up. "Who?"
"My Spartans and the Elite rebel. They're still alive."
As Martin turned back to face his officer, smiling lightly under his small moustache, he heard Jeremy scream louder than he ever had. "Captain!" he roared, startling everyone on the bridge. "Two Covenant warships in- bounds! Moving fast enough to be in range within three minutes, sir."
"Charge the MAC gun! Arm Archer missile pods A1 through B7." Martin ordered without hesitation. Jeremy nodded and turned back to his console. He rapped several buttons and keyed in the orders. "Hara!" the Captain called to his comm officer Shirley. "Any word from the Spartans?"
Almost as if on cue, a voice crackled in over the system. Shirley nodded from her seat and cranked up the volume as loud as it would go, and also connected the channel to every other one on-board the ship. This would be important.
"Battle ship Constitution! The Covenant have returned to Orean, and the only reason they could possibly be here is because of the Pillar of Winter! Master Commander James Carser is planning on moving out to stop them within the hour. We're going to need back-up eventually, as our ammo supply is running low! Can you help us?"
Everyone on-board the ship cried out in joy at the Spartans survival. No one else knew who the voice was, but Moores recognized it as the voice of a Master Chief-ranked soldier named Bryce McClain. He picked up the mic from Shirley and spoke directly into it. He already knew it was the Spartans that had intercepted the MAC shot, but he wasn't sure how he knew that.
"Chief! This is Captain Hank Moores, on the battle ship Constitution! We have received your message and are planning on sending reinforcements within the next few minutes."
"You'd better hurry, Captain!" Bryce said back. "We don't know how long the ship will be safe without us to guard it. It might take another hour to get back there, and who knows what will have happened by then? Did you execute the Cole Protocol before you left?"
"Don't worry about it, soldier!" Moores radioed back. "We have a way to keep those Covenant out of our ship until you arrive. Captain out!"
"Chief out!" The line went dead and Shirley switched it off.
"What is his plan?" Martin asked, already curious.
"Just watch and see," Moores responded. "But I can tell you one thing. The Covies are going to have one hell of a time trying to take our ship away from us!" he said, laughing. Then, he turned around, picked up the mic again, and keyed it in. "Do you read me? Hello?"
After a short burst of static, a voice came through that sounded vaguely like... "Aye, Captain, this is Darkel, what can I do for you, sir?"
1137 Hours, August 15, 2553 (Military Calendar)/ Cannon loading room of Fortress Orean on moon of planet Raiek
Commander Zaran was gone. Shortly before, a Covenant dropship had come for him. The Spartans had fired after the Elite, but, as expected, it was futile. Nothing could stop the guns of the dropship, and Zaran had escaped. In the end, the Spartans were forced to drop back and hide until the ship moved away.
Zaran's last words were, "You lose again, filthy cyborgs!" as he hopped into the ship and its relative safety.
Now, however, Farr and the "cyborgs" had a plan of their own. Farr was standing at the controls of what had turned out to actually be a make-shift cannon of a certain sort. "Zaran lied to you when he said there was no cannon on Orean," Farr said as he manipulated the controls. "At least, sort of. From the plasma energy that was put into the planet, we can shoot it back out again, making a type of cannon that we can use. All we have to do is align it, and fire it when your Captain uses the MAC on Orean."
"How do we do that?" Alex asked as he braced himself against the shaft in the center of the room. Both hands were on the metal covering, preparing for the awesome task ahead of them. They had shut off the electricity, so the whole room was now safe, save for the white-hot, boiling pit in the middle.
The Commander had already figured it out. Once again, he was one step ahead. "Just the same way that we reversed the polarity back on Raiek to make the energy go into the planet as it wasn't supposed to be, we can do the same here to launch the plasma from the core out of its place."
"Correct," Farr said.
In several minutes, Farr has used the radar at the control console to locate the battle ship Constitution. Within seconds he had a lock on the MAC gun. "We need to bend that shaft to match the cannon so it will intercept the cannon's projectile. Move the cannon slightly to the left, guys!" Farr called.
All three Spartans braced themselves and threw their entire weight against the shaft, hoping to move it. Bryce was throwing his body into it, aiding the Commander and General as they shoved with all their might. In seconds, the entire thing started to move, and bent until Farr ordered a halt.
"Now get onto the north end and move it south a bit."
All the troops shuffled to the other side and threw all their weight against the metal once more. Their combined incredible strength of the MJOLNIR technology proved effective yet again. The entire shaft of metal bent, straining, creaking under their force, until Farr again told them to stop.
"Perfect match! Well done you three."
As the Spartans came up next to Farr, James noticed the time. "Three minutes 'till showtime," he said aloud. "You know what you're doing, right, Farr?" he asked worriedly. "I mean, it's a good chance we'll come out of this alive?"
Farr looked at the Commander. "By 'we', do you mean us personally, or the human race in its entirety? Either way I'm not sure I can answer. Truthfully, our chances of this actually working are rather slim. But if we die here, we can at least know we tried. Of that Earth can be proud."
Captain Martin stood on the bridge of the UNSC battle cruiser Constitution. He was looking towards the ship's built-in AI, Sara. She stood on a platform all her own, the true Amazon warrior in her shining outfit as she, out of habit, fondled the hilt of her holographic sword.
"When shall we fire the gun, Captain?" she asked, almost impatiently. "We can't hold the charge for long."
Martin looked at Moores, who was standing behind him. "Will you do the honors, Captain?" he asked, a broad smile on his face.
"Certainly. We can only hope that the Spartans have made it off the planet by now." Little known to either of them that the Spartans were still alive and kicking, and nowhere near being away from the planet. If their MAC charge got through, it would mean the end for them all.
"Ready, Sara?" Moores asked, gripping the railing.
"MAC gun is hot," she said back. "Removing safeties."
Jeremy turned in his seat. "Transferring the firing control to on-board AI now," he said, his fingers rattling over the controls. "The gun is ready to fire, sir."
Moores stood straight. "Fire!"
On the hull of the ship, the main MAC gun was in position. Near its end, the weapon's energy was nearly ready to pop off. The lights in the bridge dimmed, and the entire ship shook as the cruiser spat its bolt of energy at the planet below.
"MAC charge heading for us. Impact in three minutes!" Farr called. "Brace yourselves! We're firing this baby in a couple seconds here."
The Commander and his men gripped the railing surrounding the perimeter of the control deck. Farr held a lever in one claw, and a red sliding button in the other. With one push, he slid the button all the way up the panel, and the metal shaft shook with intensity. The entire room radiated with energy.
With a flick of his wrist, Farr pulled the lever downwards. The four of them watched with intense curiosity as to what would happen as the entire Fortress shook. Then, the plasma came racing up through the shaft. They could watch it through the clear parts from Covenant design.
Nearly two meters above them, the entire blast of energy slammed through the thick crust of the moon's surface and made a devastating explosion. The beam rocketed up through the atmosphere, several meters in length, and headed towards the sky, right for the direction of where the MAC bolt was coming.
Somewhere in between the two locations, the beams closed in on each other. It was Hara that noticed the other beam from her position in radar. She tapped some controls to make sure her observations were correct, and then turned to face the Captain. "Sir!" she called. "Unknown energy blast heading for the MAC charge, sir!"
Martin faced her. "Put it on-screen." The large screen ahead of them all filled with the image—it was true. There was another blast headed right for their's. "Can it stop our shot? And is it of Covenant make?" the Captain asked his officer.
"Affirmative, it can stop our shot, but it is of unknown make."
Martin cursed. "All that time and now our charge is to be destroyed before it even reaches the moon!"
In space, the plasma bolt headed right for the MAC charge. "Brace yourselves!" The entire crew of the UNSC ship Constitution and the remainder of the Pillar of Winter grabbed hold of whatever they could as the two beam smashed into each other.
The most deafening explosion ripped through space. Even though space was a vacuum, and no sound could be heard, the magnitude of the explosion, and the fact that the plasma could be heard in space, added to the sound. A sound that could be heard half-way across the system of planets ripped through the airless space.
In the case of the battle ship, the whole aft side was hit with the first shock-wave. The battle cruiser was tossed end-over-end, thrown sideways in space, tumbling into nothing as it drifted lazily away from the moon.
Aboard the ship, Martin cried out to the AI. "Activate thrusters. Stop this tumbling!" Outside the ship, forty or more tiny thrusters snapped on. As well as those, ten larger and two gigantic ones activated, using the force of several space ships of olden days to bring the cruiser to a halt. The roll only lasted two minutes, but it seemed like longer to the crew inside.
"Back to your stations, everyone!" Martin called. "Find out what that blasted thing was!" Little did he know at the time, the Captain had included a pun.
Down on the moon below, the Spartans were surprised to still be alive. They slowly stood and regained their footing. Even the only remaining rebel Elite was back on his talons again. Already he was checking the radar.
"We stopped it!" he growled happily.
There was little time for celebrating, however. They had to figure out a way to send a radio transmission to the Constitution before enough time passed that they decided to send another MAC blast down. Orean only had enough plasma left for one more shot, and that might not be as powerful as the preceding. It was a risk not worth taking. Also, even if the shot did make it through, too much of the core would be drained, and the planet might collapse in on itself.
As Farr tinkered with the controls, Bryce was watching the sky through the gigantic hatch above them. He thought he could see something moving in the sky above him. The distinct U shape formed itself into his mind. It was then that it hit him! "A Covenant dropship!"
James's head whipped around and he looked above. It took only moments before he, too, spotted the approach of the Covenant ship. And the fact that they were chancing a return meant they had found something worth risking an entire team of warriors.
"What could they want with Orean?" Alex asked. "We've pretty much taken it over. There's no way they could think the Constitution will allow them to land."
"The battle ship won't fire at them," James said, still watching. He knew what they were after.
Bryce looked at their Commander. He realized once again that the clever warrior was already one step ahead. Wonders never ceased. "Why's that?" He figured he would get a confident answer. He was correct.
"They're after the Pillar of Winter," James breathed.
"We've located four distinct forms on the moon below," Hara said to the Captain, who faced her in his seat, his face rock hard and serious.
"Can you identify unknown forms?" Martin asked in a deep tone.
Hara's fingers rattled across the keyboard. "All I can get is four obviously armored individuals in what appears to be the main control room of Fortress Orean. Actually, it the humans' time, it was a storage bay, but it has been modified. I suppose it's where the cannon is fired."
Martin leaned on his elbow, wiping sweat from his brow with the other hand. "That must have been what hit us," he said, staring hard at the on- screen view. "Sara," he called, "can you tell who they are any better?"
The AI responded almost immediately. In that little time, she had looked at every single way possible to check the area for the identities of the four figures. Unfortunately, none of them came out the way she'd hoped. "Negative, Captain," she said quickly, trying to show off her skills. "Would you like me to try again?"
"Don't bother," Martin murmured. He turned to face Captain Moores, who stood right next to him. "Any ideas on who they are?"
"Yes, Captain," Moores said, looking straight forward and not moving in the least. "I know exactly who they are."
Martin sat up. "Who?"
"My Spartans and the Elite rebel. They're still alive."
As Martin turned back to face his officer, smiling lightly under his small moustache, he heard Jeremy scream louder than he ever had. "Captain!" he roared, startling everyone on the bridge. "Two Covenant warships in- bounds! Moving fast enough to be in range within three minutes, sir."
"Charge the MAC gun! Arm Archer missile pods A1 through B7." Martin ordered without hesitation. Jeremy nodded and turned back to his console. He rapped several buttons and keyed in the orders. "Hara!" the Captain called to his comm officer Shirley. "Any word from the Spartans?"
Almost as if on cue, a voice crackled in over the system. Shirley nodded from her seat and cranked up the volume as loud as it would go, and also connected the channel to every other one on-board the ship. This would be important.
"Battle ship Constitution! The Covenant have returned to Orean, and the only reason they could possibly be here is because of the Pillar of Winter! Master Commander James Carser is planning on moving out to stop them within the hour. We're going to need back-up eventually, as our ammo supply is running low! Can you help us?"
Everyone on-board the ship cried out in joy at the Spartans survival. No one else knew who the voice was, but Moores recognized it as the voice of a Master Chief-ranked soldier named Bryce McClain. He picked up the mic from Shirley and spoke directly into it. He already knew it was the Spartans that had intercepted the MAC shot, but he wasn't sure how he knew that.
"Chief! This is Captain Hank Moores, on the battle ship Constitution! We have received your message and are planning on sending reinforcements within the next few minutes."
"You'd better hurry, Captain!" Bryce said back. "We don't know how long the ship will be safe without us to guard it. It might take another hour to get back there, and who knows what will have happened by then? Did you execute the Cole Protocol before you left?"
"Don't worry about it, soldier!" Moores radioed back. "We have a way to keep those Covenant out of our ship until you arrive. Captain out!"
"Chief out!" The line went dead and Shirley switched it off.
"What is his plan?" Martin asked, already curious.
"Just watch and see," Moores responded. "But I can tell you one thing. The Covies are going to have one hell of a time trying to take our ship away from us!" he said, laughing. Then, he turned around, picked up the mic again, and keyed it in. "Do you read me? Hello?"
After a short burst of static, a voice came through that sounded vaguely like... "Aye, Captain, this is Darkel, what can I do for you, sir?"