A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys. Keep em' coming
Chapter 2: Slipspace
Slipspace. The alternate dimension to humanities own puzzled the Admiral. The swirling tunnel of light was out of the ordinary. Most ONI scientists believe it was to accurately send a ship to its destination. But ever since the Covenant, John had his doubts about ONI.
The researchers were determined that the Human race was the only able-minded species in the universe. They were determined that the only thing to worry about was some rebels in an asteroid field.
They were wrong.
John shook himself out of his trance and gazed at his bridge. His entire crew had been silent since the departure from Reach. The only sounds were the occasional ETA updates from Ensign Chau.
Admiral Thomas had felt bad for David. The twenty-four year old Ensign had a life on Reach. His two brothers and father served on Thor's Hammer. The UNSC frigate had been in repairs during the battle for Reach.
David still did his job with perfection, despite the emotional trauma he must have gone through. Of course, John still recognized the fact that the Ensign questioned his orders.
The interjection had hardly been troublesome, and the Admiral knew it was the Ensign's love for his family that made him speak out. But, it had almost cost them their lives.
If David had stalled a second longer, that plasma bolt would have torn through the Gladius' hull. They were all lucky; lucky to escape with only a few burn marks and one tear through the aft part of Deck 7.
"ETA to randomized coordinates in twenty minutes sir," reported the Ensign.
John nodded towards David and the Ensign turned back to his station. The Admiral had a lot of choices that could be made. The Gladius could hit the ground running and try immediately jump back to Earth, or another randomized location to lose the Covenant. The least favorite choice of the Admiral's would be to engage the Covenant.
John cleared his throat and spoke to his crew. "Sullivan!" The Lieutenant turned to the Admiral, "I want our MAC hot and all safeties on our missiles disengaged."
Rick began to type then looked in shock at John. "Sir?" the Lieutenant started, "That's over seven-hun-."
"I know." John interjected, "Seven-hundred missiles." Rick sighed and finished his typing. The Gladius was going to need a miracle.
"ETA is ten minutes."
---
A heavy sigh escaped from Damien as he entered his room. The Lieutenant's room looked like a battlefield. Mattress stuffing and the torn remnants of their host littered the floor of the Deck 7 cabin.
"I ain't cleaning that up," proclaimed the Lieutenant. Damien had a slight problem with talking to himself sometimes, whether it was about battle or whatever else he just had to get out.
"Well I'm not either." Damien chuckled and turned around. A blonde woman dressed in her pilot suit stood in front of the Lieutenant.
"Caught me talking to myself again, Rachel." Rachel had been Damien's roommate, pilot, and girlfriend for over a month. She was an ace at flying and had been sent to Gladius on a special request from the Admiral.
When everyone found out her last name, they knew why. It seemed the Admiral had to keep a good eye on his daughter, so he transferred her in.
Damien and Rachel's relationship was a secret to him for reasons Rachel wanted to keep private. The Lieutenant was not looking forward to the day the Admiral found out about them.
Rachel ran up to Damien with open arms. The two pilots kissed and started making moves for each other's clothing. The two were shaken apart though, by a sudden burst of movement from the Gladius.
---
"What the hell was that?" John looked at his crew, but only Lieutenant Connor Hughes replied.
"It was probably us exiting slipspace sir," said Hughes, "We were scheduled to exit now."
Hughes was right, but John had never felt that rough of an exit from slipspace. "Do a systems check and see if everything is all right."
Connor started the scan and lay back in his chair. The over confident Lieutenant only had one job and it was to scan the systems aboard the Gladius. The Admiral always heard him bragging about his accomplishments on past ships and about what he had done when he was on Sigma Octanus IV.
The Lieutenant, in shortest terms, got on everyone's nerves.
"Scan for Covenant ships, Ensign," ordered John. Everything seemed to be too good.
"No hostile ships sir," reported the Ensign. The sighs of relief from the bridge were louder than a bullet.
"Uh sir,' said Hughes, "You have to see this." John walked over to the Lieutenant's station and looked over his shoulder.
Error! Slipspace generator has been damaged and is in need of repair. WARNING! Generator must be fixed within in the allotted time: 1 hour.