Disclaimer: I do not own Halo or any of the books but they are still the greatest books under the sun.
If you read all of the first book you know that in one of the space battles that one of the ships called the Cradle sacrificed itself by taking a devastating plasma torpedo blow saving a lot of the fleet but killing everyone onboard. This is a small oneshot of the story of the last moments of one crew member aboard the Cradle. If I get good reviews there might be another chapter on a person on the bridge of the Cradle
Cradle: The Last Moments
It had been a pretty much routine day for repairman worker Sam Kliegh. You know, other than the fact that there were over a million bloodthirsty aliens about to attack him. He uneasily dismissed the thought and continued welding on the 2 meter thick class A titanium armor. "Dang, what the hell could have the commanding officer on this ship have been thinking?" He thought as he observed other repairmen scraping and welding the underside of the Iroquois, which had the previous armor shaved all the way through. A couple hours later the plating was finished and the repair technicians had reported back to the Cradle. "All hands to battle stations," a loud voice boomed out over the intercom. My battle station is right here in my bunk," Sam mumbled to himself while staring at the pin-ups on his ceiling. About half an hour passed and he felt the ship slowly changing course. "Guess we're lining up with the rest of the fleet. I sure hope the damned Covenant don't use boarding craft," he thought. His hair bristled at the though of meeting an Elite face to face. "All crew members may I please have your attention," the intercom buzzed, "Even though I may have not gotten the chance to meet or talk to all of you, I would like you all to know that it has been my pleasure, no, my honor to serve with each and every one of you." The voice sounded strained and cracked. "I have just informed the Admiral that we are all going to sacrifice our lives for the rest of the fleet. There are plasma torpedoes en route and the ETA is approximately one and a half minutes. Take this time to prepare yourselves. I also want to inform you that the lifeboats will be of no use, by the time you engage the all the system checks we will all be dead. Once again I am proud to have served with such great people. The entire human race salutes you. Sam was already out the door and close to the life pod bays by the time the Commander was halfway finished with his speech. By the time he had entered the room he had heard the announcement of the one and a half minute ETA. He reached a console and set the remote safety for the longsword on his left. He climbed into the cockpit and shut and sealed the hatch. Through the plexiglas air lock he could see the blackness of space. He opened the airlock and watched as the atmosphere vented through the door. The ship rumbled and spun as the first plasma torpedo hit. The ship rotated so fast that Sam got dizzy. When he regained his sense of direction he noticed an error light winking on and off. To his horror he found the couplings on the landing gear were jammed. He turned his attention to the now open air lock and saw the lance of blue plasma heading straight for him.
He let out one silent tear, closed his eyes, and waited as the temperature warnings started to sound off in the longsword. Then the pressurized ship started to buckle and eventually broke apart sending whatever was left of Sam Kliegh hurtling into space while the Cradle glowed and smoldered
Most Definitely The End
Yes, I know it's a sad story, but if you likes it E-mail me or leave a review please. Yeah it does suck to be that guy.