Chapter 8 – Threads
--UNSC Pillar of Autumn--
"Sir, Cortana has finished cycling up the reactors. We have full power available. We are ready to clear the space dock." Lieutenant Hikowa said.
Over the past few weeks, the Pillar of Autumn had been docked above Reach being fitted out with the new systems that would be needed for her coming mission. Now the engineers had finally finished High Command had decided that a very short shakedown run was needed to see if everything worked as it was supposed to.
"Understood," Keyes replied, "Signal the dockmaster. Helm, take us out, five percent thrust on the engines."
"Aye aye Captain." Replied Ensign Lovell. Slowly, the armored behemoth that was the Pillar of Autumn moved out and away from the space dock that had been her home during her upgrade. "We have cleared the space dock. Ready to break orbit."
"Understood. Hikowa, signal Fleet Command. Tell them we are proceeding on our shakedown. Helm, break orbit and prepare to jump to slipspace. One hundred percent on the engines. Set course for XI Belaruz." Keyes ordered.
The bridge holotub hummed to life displaying Cortana. "Hello Captain, I'd just like to inform you that our secondary AI has been initialized. "Cortana said, waving to the main viewscreen. Where a young girl in medieval armor had just appeared.
"Thank you Cortana." Keyes said before turning to face the viewscreen. "Welcome aboard Joan."
"Glad to be aboard sir."
"When we exit slipspace, we will need to test the new point defense guns. Be ready. In the meantime, learn the Autumn's systems quickly. When Cortana leaves, you will be the ship AI."
"Aye sir." Joan said before fading out.
"Cortana, how long until we can enter slipspace?" Asked Keyes.
"Twenty minutes with the reactors at one hundred percent, seven if we push them to three hundred." Replied Cortana.
"Well we need to test the new systems quickly so." Keyes finished abruptly as he turned to Lieutenant Hikowa. "Lieutenant, bring the reactors to three hundred percent. Shunt the extra power to the slipspace generators."
"Aye aye sir." Replied Hikowa, quickly relaying the order to engineering. Several seconds later she spoke up, "Reactors at three hundred percent, estimate eight minutes until we can enter slipspace."
A few minutes later Hikowa spoke up. "Captain, slipspace generators charge, ready to enter slipspace on your command."
"Understood. Helm, jump when ready." Said Keyes.
"Aye sir. Jumping now." Lovell replied.
The darkness of space in front of the Autumn exploded as the slipspace generators tore a hole between the two dimensions. The Autumn flew through the tear, entering slipspace. As she passed the tear, it collapsed on itself, being replaced by the vacuum of space.
--The Ecaz--
Structure90
Drives100
Life Support25
Armament10
Reactors100
The Duke glanced over the display. It was showing the status of Assault Ship One. The original idea for this behemoth was the Duke's. After reading several papers and taking a trip through slipsapce he told his engineers to design a large and heavily armed capital ship transport. If this war was going to be won, the UNSC had to share the burden, the slipspace drive wasn't fast, accurate or temporally precise enough for a large military operation. Four weeks later the first structural beams were laid in the new Ecazian shipyards. After negotiating with the UNSC, a technology co-operation was agreed upon. House Ecaz would build the drives, reactor, computer systems and core structure. While the UNSC would add the armament, single ships, and most importantly the navigator.
As the design had started, the Duke was informed that there was a large problem. The fleet contained no extra Ixian mechanical navigators. They would have to cannibalize one or test a part of legend. The legends about the Blutarian Jihad mentioned that the first navigators were not humans but machines. Maybe an AI of the UNSC could handle the strain of the calculations required to fold space. After House Ecaz had finished her part of the agreement the AI Joan was installed. After several weeks of learning how to use the Holtzman generators she made a small jump from the shipyard of Sokre to one of her moons, Rempere. After two more days of small jumps and refining her equations Joan jumped from the Gruvan system to Reach, slotting the new ship right in front of the dock she would be placed in. The test had been declared a success. On hearing this the Duke ordered that construction of the next four even larger transports were to be built immediately.
--UNSC Pillar of Autumn--
"Captain, we will be exiting slipspace in thirty seconds." Cortana said appearing the holotub,
"Understood Cortana. Engineering, bring the reactor up to two-hundred and fifty percent and prepare to charge the MAC gun capacitors." Ordered Keyes. Standing up he walked to the viewport and stared into the blackness of slipspace.
"Exiting in five, four, three, two, one." Counted Cortana. Suddenly there was a flash and the stars of realspace came into view. Keyes looked ahead at Xi Belaruz IV and his mouth nearly dropped. "Captain. I am detecting a ship." A few seconds passed, the bridge silent. "It appears to be human. I'm detecting plasma scoring on her hull."
"Sound general quarters." Keyes shouted. "Cortana, get me an ID on that ship now."
"Processing."
But before Cortana could speak again Lieutenant Hikowa spoke. "Captain, that ship is the Angel. It's a civilian ship the disappeared a couple of weeks before we encountered the Covenant at Harvest."
"Confirmed sir." Cortana said, "It's the Angel, it was operated by Inter System Discovery They reported her missing five days before Admiral Cole met the Covenant at Harvest."
"Hikowa, signal Fleet Command of our finding. Cortana, begin scanning the surrounding area for any contacts. Launch probes and Longsword patrols aswell."
--Two Days Later--
Captain Keyes stood at the head of the Autumn's briefing room. Slowly he looked over those that had gathered. Pilots, Technicians, Marines and even the Spartan's that were to be deployed when the Autumn got back to Reach. Glancing over his notes again he began. "Ten hours ago, we detected an energy spike in the civilian ship Angel. The pattern is similar to the Covenant anti gravity system. Though there are differences. Fleet Command has decided to send are recovery crew but we don't know if the Covenant know we are here.
So, it has been decided that we will board the Angel and see if we can get their logs and see what this energy spike is. To help with this, Fleet Command requested some help from House Ecaz. They agreed, sending one of their frigates, the Flrota, to assist us. Cortana will now begin the briefing for the mission." Keyes finished.
"Thank you Captain." Cortana replied. The lights in the rooms dimmed as a hologram of the Angel appeared. "For this mission there will be a total of five teams. Red, Blue and Grey teams will be Spartans while Green and Purple will be Marines. Green, Red and Blue teams will be inserted into the rear landing bay of the Angel by Pelicans." The hologram of the Angel flashed and zoomed onto the rear landing bay. "Red and Blue teams will dismount first and clear the bay. After the bay is declared clear, Grey team will dismount and set up a beachhead, covering Red and Blue teams exit route. After this, Red team will head to engineering, where they will eject the main reactor core manually. The reactor core has been putting out radiation that has been interfering with our sensors, after it has been ejected the Flrota will destroy it. This will hopefully allow us to pinpoint the transient contact. Meanwhile Blue team will proceed to the main computer core and extract whatever is left."
The hologram now changed view to show the location of the bridge and its closest airlock.
"Now for Grey and Purple teams. They will be inserted by a Pelican to the closest airlock to the bridge. After docking, Grey team will secure the airlock then proceed to the bridge to check the data core and see if the AI is still there."
The hologram zoomed out to show the entire ship again.
"After Red, Blue and Grey teams have completed their objectives there are two things that can be done. First, if the radiation is still blocking our sensors, a deck by deck search will be made if we haven't detected any Covenant ships. If the radiation has fallen we will scan the ship and direct whoever is the closest of the Red, Blue or Grey teams to the contact. Where they will make contact. The primary objective of this mission will to capture the contact. If it or they resist, you are authorized to use whatever force is necessary to bring it back.
The rotating section of the Angel has been damaged and breached in an attack. So it will be a zero-g op in suits. To inform everyone, I will be going with the Master Chief for this op so Joan will be the Autumn's AI while I am gone. Any questions."
Sargent Johnson stood, "Ma'm, if I may ask. What is so important about this ship?"
"Well Sargent." Cortana said looking at Keyes who quickly gave her a nod. "This ship could be the answer on how the Covenant found us and we may be able to find out something we don' know now since the Angel was equipped with the best sensors money could buy. These sensors are still better than what most ships have now. Any more questions?"
There were no more. Seeing this Keyes stood up.
"Everyone knows what is needed of them. The Pelicans will launch in two hours. Dismissed." The room emptied as everyone left to prepare. "Cortana, begin transfer of your ship duties over to Joan." Keyes ordered.
"Aye Captain." Replied Cortana disappearing in a flash.
Keyes' stood alone in the room. Wondering if this ship held the answer to some of their questions. The screens silently showed the Angel, floating in a debris field of her own making.
--Foehammer--
"Twenty seconds to objective troops. Prepare for fast dock." Captain Rawley, callsign Foehammer shouted behind her.
"Okay Foehammer. Just make sure you got the right door. You know I hate floating in this piece of crap." Johnson shouted straight back. A few people chuckled as the rest rechecked their weapons again. The Master Chief slowly drifted over to the airlock they would be using. He had never liked being in space. There were too many things that could turn into snags. Pushing it out of his mind he opened a channel to the rest of the Spartans in his team.
"As soon as we dock I'll head through and clear the airlock. As soon as that is done we head straight to the bridge." Ten grey dots flashed. At that moment the Pelican shuddered as the docking clamps engaged. The Master Chief watched the indicator lights to light up. After a final clang two of the lights lit up, he knew that was all he was going to get so he quickly grabbed the handle and opened the airlock door. Everyone leveled their weapons around the Chief's body as he opened the second door. With a lunge the Chief threw his body through the now open airlock into a large room on the Angel. The Spartans quickly followed behind with the Marines right behind them. The Chief made a quick hand motion and opened doors heading quickly to the bridge while Johnson set up shop around the airlock.
The Chief rounded a corner and flew into the bridge. His radio came to life as Fred spoke. "Florta, ejecting reactor core in five, four, three, two, one." The Angel shuddered as the large reactor core was thrown out. The engineering sections had been breached during their battle with the Covenant. Due to this it had taken longer than planned to get rid of the core. Meanwhile the other two groups of Spartans had been slowed down because of the unexpected amount of armor on the Angel. She had been upgraded to allow her to fight for a discovery.
"Reactor core targeted. At present speed and trajectory we will open fire in twenty seconds." The Forta's Captain said.
"Chief." Came a voice from his head. "Put me in the dataport over there." Cortana said.
As he pulled her out the Chief could feel her leave. Even though it had been done several times he still hadn't got completely used to it. Putting the data-crystal into the port the Master Chief waited as several of the screens around him came back to life with Cortana appearing. 'well unfortunately they've taken the Angel's AI." Suddenly the symbols on Cortana began to race. "No way" was all she said before opening a channel to Keyes. "Captain Keyes, the Angel's AI has been taken but it left an entire copy of its files on the secondary core. They were exploring beyond UNSC space when they found something amazing." She paused while the symbols moved even faster over her body.
"What is so amazing Cortana?" Keyes asked.
"Wait a second sir. Here we go." On all the screens in the taskforce a picture of a huge circular construct appeared.
"Cortana, what am I looking at?" Keyes asked slowly.
"The translation protocols that were left in the data dump translate its name into Installation Zero Seven. Apparently it was constructed by a race known as the Forerunner." Cortana shook her head, "Ah sir, they crew of the Angel found something on this structure. An ancient AI. They were bringing it back to UNSC space when they were attacked by the Covenant. The records are sketchy, but it appears they didn't find it."
"Fire." was heard over the radio as the Florta fired and destroyed the core. "Radiation decreasing, will notify when we find something. Keep going Cortana." Captain Yuth said.
Without missing a beat she kept going. "The AI calls itself Four Seven Seven Sentient Bypass and... Huh. The energy signature of Four Seven Seven Sentient Bypass is the same as our transient contact."
"Cortana, download all the files into your system. Spartans you have a new objective. Find Sentient Bypass and bring him to us." Keyes ordered.
"Energy signature detected." The Florta's captain said, "According to your plans it should be in the Captain's quarters."
"Sir! Energy spike detected. It's a Covenant Frigate." Joan shouted.
"Hmmmmm... Understood. Sound general quarters. Engineering, bring the reactor to two-hundred and fifty percent and start charging the MAC gun. Sargent Johnson, change of plans, get your men out of there now." Keyes said.
"Aye aye sir." Replied Johnson before switching over to the Marines channel. "You heard the Captain. You forgot to clean your rooms and we have visitors. So back to your transports." As he switched back to the command channel the Marines around him began to pack up. "Master Chief. We'll be waiting for you in Foehammer."
"Understood Sargent." Master Chief replied. "Everyone except for James proceed back to your transports and the Autumn." Everyone began moving as the channel was closed. James moved up right behind the Chief and waited to go. The Chief grabbed Cortana after she was finished and began to race to the Captain's quarters with James right behind him.
--HES Florta--
Captain Yuth stood on the bridge as his crew prepared for battle. Opening a channel to the Autumn he said. "Captain Keyes, defend the Angel. I'll take care of the Covenant ship.
"What are you going to do to get to it before they start shooting plasma torpedoes?" Keyes asked.
"This." Came the simple reply. Yuth turned and said "Jump" The Florta suddenly disappeared and reappeared right beside the Covenant Frigate. Before it could even move the Florta opened fire with every gun that could. The Covenant shields flared brightly as they strained to withstand the energy being dumped into them suddenly they flashed as they were breached and the lasgun beams slahed deep into the hull, within seconds it was over. The Covenant ship was in pieces. No life signs or energy signatures were detected.
"Well if the Covenant are working like they usually do there will be a large taskforce heading here right now." Keyes said over the radio. "Master Chief, find that thing now." Keyes ordered flatly.
"Aye sir."
Sentient Bypass had been monitoring the progress of the reclaimers closely, so he was startled to see two of them appear in the room. Deciding to speak first he said, "Greetings Reclaimer, I am Four Seven Five Sentient Bypass. I am the monitor of Installation Zero Seven."
The Master Chief stood there thinking of what to do next. Cortana whispered to him. "Mind if I speak?"
"Go ahead." Was his quick reply.
Cortana replied on the same frequency Sentient Bypass had used. "Sentient Bypass, I am Cortana, representative of the UNSC. We have many questions to ask you but we are in a dangerous place. If we do not leave we will die. If you agree we can continue on our ship."
Sentient Bypass floated there thinking for a few seconds before asking, "Is this an order from the Reclaimer?"
The Chief spoke up, "It is." Something told him that Sentient Bypass was talking about him
"Very well then, lead the way." Sentient Bypass replied cheerfully. The party of now three left the dead Captains Quarters and moved quickly to Foehammer.
"Foehammer, this is Cortana. Prepare to disengage the clamps and get us back to the Autumn." Quickly changing channels Cortana continued, "Captain Keyes, we have managed to get Sentient Bypass to follow us. We are proceeding to Foehammer. I suggest we scuttle the Angel and return home before the rest of the Covenant get here."
"Agreed Cortana. I have a Shiva already prepped." Keyes replied.
The Chief flew round the last corner and waited until James and Sentient Bypass had got into Foehammer before getting in himself. After shutting the airlock doors Foehammer disengaged and sped off quickly to the Autumn as a bomb was launched heading straight to the Angel.
As soon as Foehammer landed the Autumn began to accelerate to enter Slipspace. Meanwhile the Florta covered her and waited until the Shiva had destroyed the remains of the Angel before jumping away herself.
