Chapter 6 – Dusk
--Chenoah--
"Duke Ecaz, as I'm sure you already know we have extended our fingers already." Said Siave as she finished her lunch, "Even though we have yet to scratch the surface of the UNSC we have picked up some disturbing findings. All I can say is that you should watch where you step. News of you has just started to appear in their territory. Some factions are extremely xenophobic. Even to the point where they are afraid of their own kind, they are also very powerful, which is understandable considering how their first contact with an alien species went."
"Mother Superior, my top priority is the survival of House Ecaz. I would never do anything to jeopardize that." Replied the Duke tersely.
"M'Lord, I'm sure that isn't your only priority. We know what these Covenant have done to the UNSC. In our universe it goes against everything moral and logical. We will do what we can to help but we are only a small group."
"So you believe that we are in a separate dimension?"
"M'Lord, I know that we are in a separate dimension."
"Is there anyway that you know of that would allow us to return home?"
Siave sat quietly thinking before she replied. "There is no way that we know of to return home Duke. If we did I wouldn't be speaking to you. We are alone here."
"I understand Mother Superior." The Duke said. "Now on our negotiation on harvester equipment. How soon do you need them? I'm guessing you have enough of a stockpile to survive you for a few months."
"We have reserves for a few years yet. Though we would like to have them as soon as possible."
"I can have the first delivered within three weeks."
"Thank you Duke Ecaz."
"I need your help as much as you need mine Mother Superior. Now I need to return to my ship. This war will stretch my people thin."
"Very well Duke Ecaz, I hope to see you again if time and fate allows." Said Siave
--The Ecaz--
As the Duke stepped off the lighter he sent an order to the bridge to break orbit and jump to Sigma Octanus. He then headed to his office to prepare his new orders to the fleet. Reaching his office he sat in his desk and began to compose the orders. Silently Joan appeared in front of him and said, "Welcome back M'Lord."
Looking up from his terminal he asked, "Why must you us that title even though you don't have to?"
"It's easier to say quickly."
"I see. Now what do you want this time?" He said tersely wanting to finish his business.
"Well well. I'll be quick then. While you were on that planet I saw several huge creatures in the sand. Since there were no people near it that I could see and I am not allowed into your archives the only explanation I can trust is that you know what it is. What is it?" She asked.
Leaning back in his chair the Duke thought of a reply, he said, "Well you were right that we do know what the creature is. Since you will find out in time I'll tell you the simple version. We call them worms. The Rakian Priesthood calls them Shai-Halud. The people of Rakis call them Shaitan. They produce precious narcotic, the spice Melange. We only know one other way to make it but we don't have the specifics of how it is made. In my home universe there is a very powerful and shady group called the Bene Gesserit. These women are addicted to the spice, they need an alloted amount each day just to survive. The agony of withdrawal kills. Or so they say. As you have no doubt guessed that is who I met. And as you also would've guessed, they need me to produce machinary to gather what they need.
Quickly checking the facts that she could Joan saw that it all matched up so far. So she said, "Thank you M'Lord." Finishing she dissolved from view and prepared a report for the UNSC as she had been instructed to do.
--UNSC Sabre--
The alarm in Commander Natalie Williams quarters chimed. Groaning she got up and walked to the clock. "Another day." Was all she said turning the alarm off. After washing up she headed to the bridge to begin her shift in command of her ship the Sabre.
Looking out the armored viewports she could see the alien ships hanging beside them. They had been sent here to bolster the defenses of this colony after Covenant forces had been detected a few hundred light years away. Thankfully everything had been quiet. Sitting in her chair she brought up a list of queries that the bridge crew thought only she could answer. The message at the top stopped her for a second, she then read it again.
Commander, this message has been relayed to you as per the request of the Captain of the Peter Blake.
--MESSAGE BEGINS--
Commander Williams, as the Captain of the Peter Blake, I request that you and your command officers come over to my ship for a dinner. The commanding officers of the Wallaby will also be attending if you choose to come. My Duke has asked us to get to know our new allies and I believe this would be the best way at the moment.
--END MESSAGE--
Well, she thought. The Captain was right in that it would probably be the best way to get to know each other even though they were in the middle of a warzone, if the reports from Sigma Octanus was anything to go by. She decided to place the request on the back burner until she could get some more background information and a meeting with her command officers.
--Unyielding Hierophent--
The Prophet Pain looked over the final transmissions from the taskforce sent to the human planet to collect the Forerunner data that was known to be there. The ships had disappeared after their signal stating that they had exited Slipsapce had been sent. He was pondering on sending a larger force to find out what happened. The problem was that he didn't know if he could spare the forces. These humans did have weapons that could destroy one of his ships with a single shot. Thankfully the Covenant forces had only had to deal with a few. But their home planet would be surrounded by many of these things. So he needed as many ships as he could. But, he needed to know what had happened to these ships. What if these humans had a new weapon that could destroy several ships in one shot. Shaken he decided he had to know what had happened. Looking over the fleet inventory he found an interesting entry. Somehow a small spyship had made its way into the fleet. Quickly he made a set of orders sending this ship to the last know location of the taskforce with orders to observe and report back.
--Unseen Sight--
Shipmaster Zokche looked over the new orders he had received from the most esteemed Prophot Pain. He could see why the Prophot wanted to know what had happened, the hoo-mans, dirty word he thought, those animals didn't deserve a name and should be eradicated for the cold blooded murder of his fellow elites. Looking at the orders again he wondered how these animals could have destroyed the taskkforce. Something was wrong. Quickly he typed in a command into a Command Deck console and his ship broke away from the fleet and entered Slipspace heading towards Sigma Octanus.
--Reach--
Michael stood in the quarters he had been given after he had arrived. He had been teaching the UNSC about the history of House Ecaz and the Old Imperium. To him it had been boring so he put himself into mentat mode and just regurgitated the information while thinking about the capabilities of the UNSC. Things had become more interesting lately as Michael was looking over the daily reports from the other House Ecaz personnel. The Intelligence section of the UNSC had been asking some interesting questions to do with the total capabilities of House Ecaz, as was standard procedure the answers that were given only revealed a little of their capability. It was possible that they had picked up on this because in the daily meeting today the UNSC personnel had asked about the offensive and defensive capabilities of House Ecaz. After saying the total capabilities were classified, the UNSC personnel had conferred with each other and seemed to make a decision. This morning, Michael had been asked to remain in his quarters to receive a guest. He sat quietly in the center of the room knowing that he was being monitored
Doctor Katherine Hasley stood outside of Michael's quarters. She had called in some favors to get this meeting. With any luck Cortana had entered the security systems and was waiting for her to begin her talk with the alien. She shuddered, all the data she had looked over confirmed that they were human, but she could not bring herself to call them that. Regaining her composure she took a breath and knocked on the door.
Michael heard someone knock on the door. Slowly standing up he prepared himself for a fight. Stopping at the door he placed his hand on the handle and slowly opened the door. The only person he saw was a middle age women. Dressed simply in a lab coat. Making sure there was no one else in the corridor Michael finally spoke, "Welcome to my quarters M'Lady, would you like to come in?"
Hasley blushed at this question. Their language sounds so archaic, she thought. Quickly thinking of a response she said, "I would be pleased to Michael. By the way, my name is Katherine. You can call me that or Doctor Hasley."
"As you wish Doctor." Replied Michael standing aside and letting Hasley in.
Walking in Hasley took a quick look around the room. Standard diplomatic quarters, most of the original furniture had been removed. With some personal furniture brought with the Ecazian representatives replacing it. Michael walked beside and motioned towards one of the chairs. She looked at it skeptically, it looked like an old Victorian chair, seeing her stare at the chair Michael said, "That, Doctor. Hasley, is what my people call a chairdog. It will mould itself to the body of the person sitting in it. I assure they are quite harmless. I've even sat in that one myself and I'm sure the people monitoring me can clarify it. Now would you like something to drink?"
Listening to Michael's explanation, she wen and sat down. As she sat she could feel the chair move and change as it tried to find the best shape. After it finished it felt great. One thing she noticed though was that it made a few mistakes as it changed shape. Looking towards Michael she said, "A glass of water would be fine Michael." As she finished Doctor Hasley could swear the chair shivered. "Michael, are these things alive?"
Taking a glass out of the cabinet he said, "Yes they are Doctor, They aren't called chairdog's for nothing. They are very low maintenance but are quite alive."
Doctor Hasley was stunned, living furniture, ship based weapons that could destroy the Covenant in one shot, where did it all end. Across from Hasley, Michael sat down in another chairdog and placed the glass of water on the table between them. "Here's your water Doctor Hasley and there is a poison snooper above the table to show you the drink isn't poisoned." Michael said pointing to the spindly machine above the table.
"Poison snooper? Your people are full of surprises. The intelligence officers that briefed me beforehand said it was just a decoration." D. Hasley said picking up the glass. "Sorry, I've never liked small talk so I would like to get straight to business." She added before taking a sip.
"As you wish Doctor." Replied Micheal surprised at the difference in this women over the other people he had talked too. Something in the back of his mind said that he could trust her. He quickly crushed that thought knowing that until he had more information he couldn't do anything that would put House Ecaz in danger. "Why did you come to my quarters Doctor. It wasn't to try and get our technology straight out of me."
"Well not exactly, I have two requests." Composing herself, Hasley continued, "As I'm sure you have heard, we have troops called Spartans. A very small group, they have been intergral into slowing the Covenant down the best we could. As the person who began that project I'd like to ask for a transfer of technology. I understand that the weapons your ships carry are also scaled down into man portable size. The weapons would be very useful in future operations against the Covenant."
Michael sat still for a minute throwing thoughts around in his head. He knew that they couldn't trade any weapons right now. To many things had to be sorted out first. But she was right in that they had heard about these Spartans. They would put the best warriors in House Ecaz to shame even though he would never say it. Making a descion he said, "Doctor Hasley, I'm sorry to say that until certain details are sorted out between our governments I am unable to authorize any transfer of weapons. But, when those have been sorted out, I will make sure that the first weapons will go to your Spartans."
"I understand Michael. What I'm about to say I would ask that you don't repeat to anyone except your Duke. An... associate of mine has taken control of the monitoring systems that watch this room. I know I am unable to give you tis irrefutable proof of this so you will just have to trust me. My only concern is that the human species continues. I am going to inform you of a mission that could end this war in a single stroke. What I am planning to do is propose to the Admiralty that we send a single ship to capture a Covenant vessel, take it to the Covenant homeworld, capture a Prophet and bring it back here so we can negotiate a peace. I think it would have a higher chance of succeeding if you were to join with us in this mission."
"Please excuse me for a few minutes while I think about it." Said Michael. He stood and walked onto the balcony. That women is dangerous, he thought, but what she has to say is valid. The plan is based in logic, but even logic cannot see everything. He wished his friend were here to make the decision. That plan could work but it hadn't even been proposed yet. But, humanity had to live, and they should be able to spare the resources. But until he could make sure, he would have to give a answer now. Walking back inside he closed the door and said, "Doctor Hasley, until I can get back to my Duke I cannot promise any forces from House Ecaz. I will see what I can do and do what I can. What you have done is stupid and very brave. I will try to reward your bravery. I will have quite a bit of work ahead of me so I would like to end this meeting. I do hope for your sake though, your associate got the job done or you would have made relations between our governments very difficult. Until later." He finished and opened the front door.
Getting up and walking to the door, Dr Hasley hoped that she had done enough, and that Cortana had done her job or they would all be in a lot of trouble. Stopping at the door she turned to Michael, "Thank you Michael. With your help we may survive this war yet."
"M'Lady, there is a long way to go." Replied Michael. He watched Doctor Hasley walk down the hall, a stray thought passed through his mind which he quickly battered away. If this plan of hers was going to work, there could be no distractions.
--UNSC Sabre--
"Zeus, I want your suggestion on what should be done. I'm thinking of accepting this invitation." For the past couple of hours Natalie had been looking at the relevant information on House Ecaz.
"Commander," came the strong voice of the ship's AI, "I don't trust these aliens. But, from the data on the battle of Sigma Octanus we need them for our survival. I would suggest you meet them but take a security detail with you."
Commander Williams sat for the next few minutes thinking the dilemma over. Finally she said, "Zeus, send a communique to the Peter Blake telling them we accept their offer. Would it be ok for us to arrive at 6pm UNSC GMT time?"
"Affirmative Commander, message sent."
"Well tell the Command Staff to prepare for a formal dinner." Ordered the Commander, after standing up she paused, "And prepare a backup plan just in case, something tells me that I can trust them but I won't get caught without a fight." She started walking to her quarters for a shower and preparation for the dinner.
--HES Peter Blake--
Captain Jack Fand had just finished putting on his Dress Uniform when someone knocked on his door. Turning around he shouted, "It's open, get in here." The door opened and his second in command, Commander Simon Crest strolled through in his own dress uniform. Shutting the door he said,
"Getting ready to greet the misses of the Sabre are we?"
"Well I made the order didn't I?" Replied Jack chuckling. Glancing at the clock he noticed it was time to go to the airlock. "Time to go."" he said and led the way to the airlock.
Over the past two hours the Sabre and Peter Blake had been slowly maneuvering beside each other preparing to make a hard dock. Unfortunately the engineers on board the Peter Blake had had to make some unexpected changes to the mating collar to get an airtight seal. They had managed to get the modifications done and get the two ships docked. They were just completing their final checks as Jack and Simon arrived. Looking around Jack saw the rest of his command staff floating and waiting. The head technician looked up from the datapad he was carrying and approached the Captain, coming to a stop he said, "Sir, final checks have been completed and the collar has been pressurized, we are ready to open the outer and inner airlock doors."
"Understood. Is this room locked down?" Asked Jack. Even though the chances of the collar being breached were tiny you couldn't be sure so standard procedure was followed for having the airlock open.
"I have already ordered and checked that this room has been shut." Replied the technician.
"Very well, open the doors."
There was a loud hiss as the inner door of the airlock slowly swung outwards to the assembled personnel. As soon as both doors had finally finished opening Jack pushed himself through towards the door at the other end of the collar. As he approached it, the door hissed and slowly opened. The first person to appear was an armed guard. Jack heard a hum and knew the two guards behind him had activated their shields. Giving them a subtle hand signal they deactivated their shields. At the same time the UNSC Marine also stood to the side and Commander Natalie appeared. She said,
"Very impressive Captain, your men a very disciplined."
He replied, "A hundred and fifty years of service will do that to a person."
"A hundred and fifty years old?" Natalie said with a laugh, "Now that would be a few candles on the cake each year."
"Candles? I'm sorry, I'm guessing it's a cultural difference. Also to be exact I'm one hundred and fifty three years old by your calender"
Natalie knew she was out of her depth with this new information. Her people had been trying to increase the length of a human life but had been less than successful. If these people were to be believed then their was a long way to go for the UNSC.
Suddenly the technician that had just been talking to Jack came flying up. "Sir, Five Covenant ships have just been detected jumping in at the edge of the system." Just at that time a UNSC officer flew up behind the Commander and told her the same thing.
"I guess we'll have to cut this meeting short then Commander Natalie." Jack said as he signaled his command staff to the CnC. Natalie nodded and headed to her own ship as the airlock closed. Speeding through the air back to his own ship Jack stopped after he passed the airlock and opened a channel to the bridge. "Captain to Bridge, have the Wallaby cover us until we can disengage from the Sabre." Closing the channel before he could get a response Jack ran to the C-n-C in the center of the ship. Being one of the newer ships in the fleet it had been equipped with a command center located in the most protected part of the ship. You didn't get the views but you got to live to see another day. As he entered the CnC he pulled off his jacket and threw it on the center chair. Standing next to it he asked, "How long until we can disengage from the Sabre?"
An Ops officer replied, "We have just disengaged from the Sabre and are moving towards the Covenant at best speed as per your standing orders."
Sitting down in his chair Jack acknowledged the response.
"Sir, the Covenant ships have launched fighters." Said the Sensor officer.
"Understood. Launch second flight fighters and send the first flight to engage enemy small ships."
The holo display dominating the C-n-C showed the fighters quickly moving ahead of the Peter Blake. Looking over the display slowly Jack could see the Wallaby ahead of the Blake.
"Sir, the Covenant ships have just launched Plasma Torpedoes, I count twenty in all."
"Send second flight fighters to cover the Wallaby, prepare DLI flight to launch." Ordered Jack.
This was going to be a tough battle and he knew it. Five to three odds and the Covenant got the first shot, "Sir, the Wallaby has engaged the Covenant." Said the Sensors officer, "Sir, fifteen of the plasma torpedoes are heading to the Wallaby, eta 40 seconds." Another officer chimed in. Tapping a command into his console the holo display zoomed in on the Wallaby and the Covenant ships. He could see the plasma torpedoes heading towards the Wallaby as the Covenant ships slowly took damage from the long range shots from the Wallaby. Suddenly the shields aboard the front Covenant Cruiser failed, the heavy lasgun on the Wallaby was quickly brought to bare. A bright lance of light was thrown from the Wallaby and smashed into the hull of the Covenant Cruiser. The beam cut through each of the decks and slowly moved towards the other side. The Cruiser was being cut in half. Suddenly the beam finished. The two pieces tore the last connection apart and floated away. Then the lights on board the Wallaby dimmed as all her power was diverted to her shields. The Plasma Torpedoes were only a few seconds from hitting. An explosion of gas from the side of the Wallaby threw her away from the torpedoes and three missed, Two more just flew straight on but the ten others that had targeted the Wallaby hit. Her shields flared as the energy from the plasma splashed across her shields. But the energy was too much and the shields fell. The plasma kept on burning and smashed into the heavily armored hull of the Wallaby slowly eating its way through. By now eight of the torpedoes had expended their energy and were no more. But there were still two left. They were quickly burrowing towards the engines. Quietly another disappeared as the plasma dissipated. As the final torpedo reached the engines there was a huge flash and they were gone.
"SIR, the Wallaby has just sent a burst message. They are dead in the water and have fires on all decks." Shouted the comms officer.
"Captain, I'm picking up hundreds of very small contacts. The Wallaby is being boarded. I suggest we tell them." Said the officer overseeing the sensor station.
"Understood. Comms, send a warning to the Wallaby telling them to prepare to repel borders."
"Message sent sir."
"Now target the closest two Covenant ships and prepare the atomic." The CnC fell quiet for a second as the shock passed over the crew. Then everyone redoubled their efforts to kill the Covenant. No one wanted to launch the atomics so soon.
--Delta Flight--
Lieutenant Dominac was relaxing in his seat as his back-seater came over the internal comms. "Hey Dom, we've been called back home. The Wallaby and Blake are under attack and requesting help."
"Okay." Said Dom opening the encrypted channel to his flight. "Okay guys, the Wallaby and Blake are getting the shit kicked out of them and want some real men to help. That means us. I want best speed back to the Syd, we'll probably be landing hot as well." Finishing he opened up the channel back to Sydney, "Delta flight to Sydney, message received and acknowledged. Though I do suggest you head over to the Blake and let us wait here until you get back."
The channel crackled with static until the flight ops officer started speaking, "Negative Delta Leader, we need everyone and we don't know when we'll be back so the Cap wants everyone back."
"Understood. Then clear bay one and prepare for a hot landing, jump as soon as we touch down." Replied Dom.
"Roger Delta Leader, Bay one is clear, land at your discretion."
Switching back to his flight channel Dom said, "Okay Delta Flight, Bay one has been cleared for a hot landing. Prepare your ships and go for max burn on my mark." Waiting for the other three ships to signal ready Dom finally said, "Mark." The four Rapier class Heavy fighters screamed forward as the Sydney quickly grew larger. After ten seconds Dom ordered the ships to throttle back and prepare for a full reverse burn. Slowly making minor corrections his back-seater prepared the engines and inertial dampeners. Twenty seconds before passing the outer airlock Dom ordered everyone to decelerate and land at their own discretion. Closing the channel he waited until the outer airlock doors filled his forward screen then threw everything into stopping his ship. The engines quickly began overheating and the inertial dampeners strained and Dom was thrown into his harness. But all he was concentrating on was the speed indicator and distance radar. Both were falling quickly but was it quickly enough. His fighter was stopped suddenly as it hit the gravity field of the landing bay. Taking a deep breath Dom quickly landed his ship and checked to make sure everyone else was in one piece. Looking towards the closing airlock doors Dom could see foldspace screaming by outside. Securing his flight suit he popped the canopy and jumped out. Looking around he could see technicians swarming down onto the fighters suited up in similar suits until the bay could be pressurized. Dom waited until his back-seater had got down then jogged over to the pilot lockers.
--HES Peter Blake--
The battle was even so far. The Blake and Sabre had managed to destroy three more Covenant ships but the Sabre had been heavily damaged. Jack had had to lauch the DLI fighters to cover the Sabre. This left a damaged Blake to take on a damaged Covenant. Jack sat in his chair shouting orders. One of the Covenant plasma torpedoes had taken out the primary memory bays. So now the main holo display was down, leaving Jack to keep track of everything through the panels. Jack was watching this Cruiser carefully, twice had its shields been brought down but they had managed to escape destruction both times. This time Jack was concentrating everything on the Criuser. Once again its shields fell but this time before Jack could order all guns brought to bare the Sabre fired her MAC gun and the 300 ton round smashed into the Cruiser ripping it apart. Waving away the smoke Jack shouted, "Okay people, that was the last ship, now I want reinforcements sent to the Sabre to help with damage control." Standing up Jack shouted, "And Helm, bring us alongside the Wallaby and dock. Make it a hard dock so we can relieve their strained systems and personnel to help repel their borders." He then opened a channel to the Navigation bridge, "Nav, you have the conn, I'm going to lead a party over to the Wallaby. When the Sydney arrives have her prepare to receive wounded and have her take position near us." Closing the channel Jack ran to the armory to prepare to help the Wallaby remove their guests.
