-1Garrett sat in the briefing room after only three free hours of being back on board the ship. After debriefing from the evacuation of Arcturus and Valeius, then moving from the system because of a larger covenant fleet moving in, Garrett was pretty tuckered out. He had seen ground combat, anti-air combat, anti-ship combat, and had to reinforce the marines to take on boarding parties. Now he was going to be in another upcoming mission.
Spartans and ODSTs completely surrounded him. All of them were sitting at com seats with PADD Attachments to the chairs. VR linking were wired from the seats to goggles for everyone, though the Spartans just had the info downloaded to their helmets. It was kind of odd that everyone else seemed to be using high tech writing tools and Dr. Halsey still used pen and paper. From what she told him, you can't lose data on paper if the systems get fragged, and you couldn't even burn the paper as they were pyrofoam treated. The only thing she had to worry about was running out of ink… Garrett had noticed that every officer on board was inside, and Dr. Halsey was there as well, along with a tech for each Spartan.
"Alright you monkeys! Military intelligence has given us a very important target. R&D has confirmed that the target is an unknown ship moving through the Selphus system. It is an unknown design, and possible covenant, or, something they call "A forerunner artifact." Garrett was drinking a bit of coffee at that moment, and both him and a few officers, John included, sprayed coffee from their mouths. "Um… did you say forerunner?" John asked. "Yes sir. The techies said that this could be some ancient technology, or if it's bad, a new covenant ship. If that's the case, we are to board and attempt to neutralize the crew, then capture and bring the bucket back." The Marine Captain continued to talk, Garrett and John obviously not listening. They had pretty much already got the jist of things. They were to enter, kill, maim, and destroy. What seemed to come naturally for them at the moment. "Any questions?" The marine asked. "Alright! Move out!" And everyone started to leave.
Garrett was in an Albatross this time, and was happy that his neck wouldn't have a crick in it. The Albatross was a lot more spacious than the snug Pelican he rode down on to Arcturus. The Major and four other Spartans were in the craft as well, followed by twenty ODSTs and ten marine recon. The ship was about to launch when Dr. Halsey cut in through com 6. "Garrett, new orders for you. You're to head in by yourself. From the looks of it, you may need to provide cover fire for the transports if things get hairy." Garrett acknowledged, disengaged from the craft, and then waited. The Albatross had the clamps rocket it through a portal, then had the blockade doors behind it close. Garrett walked over to a large airlock and had the doors close behind him. "Uh… sir… c-clamp down y-your legs in the locking s-system and… uh… be r-ready for the airlocks to r-release." Garrett heard the stuttering and piped up. "Hey, is this a new launch officer?" He asked. "Uh… y-yes, yes sir, I am." Oh great. Just what I need. A Pad jockey whose gonna forget to keep spatial decompression out of the picture. "Command, this is Raven leader, I'm switching to manual for the airlock systems. I don't trust this kid to have enough experience with not having me fly out the door with everything not bolted down." He was given clearance, switched to M-3 Node, corrected the problems the officer didn't notice, and depressurized the airlock. The doors on the outside opened, and engaged the main wing Verne's.
When Garrett got half way toward the ship, the Albatrosses were still behind him. He tracked his heat control systems carefully, held his stealth signature to a minimum and keep chaff and flare systems on standby. If the mother was gonna wake up and blow something away, he was gonna unload on it. The ship seemed to be unable to be scanned by anything he sent at it. "This ship… Goraha Complex" was heard from Auron. "What did you say?" Garrett asked, but suddenly fire flew out from unknown weapon systems, and right by him. "Holy crap!" He yelled, moving his left leg away, but he learned the shot wasn't for him; the pulse energy blast hit an Albatross coming toward it, seeming to be ahead of the others. He knew what was on that craft: thirty ODSTs. He brought his weapons to bear and was gonna fire when Auron again talked. "Do not engage. Do not engage. Call all transports back." He heard what Auron said, thought about it a second, and at that second another shot was fired, hitting a pelican with some marines and a few tech specialists. "Back off! Back off! Target is bristling! I repeat! Target is bristling!" He yelled over the com channels.
The transports behind him slowed, blowing emergency thrusters in front to bring them to a stop. Oddly enough, the ship wasn't firing at him. "Goraha Complex, Prototype Dashra Super Carrier, will not allow unknown life forms aboard. All humans are to stay clear." Garrett floated in space, three fourths of the way between the ship and the fleet. He kept his weapons at the ready. "So what, this thing is another techno wonder like the Battle Frame?" Garrett asked. "Affirmative. The Dashra class carrier was created to carry the Battle Frames to planets, as well as assist in colony construction, fleet assistance, and fleet construction." Garrett gawked. "YOU MEAN THAT THING CAN MAKE SHIPS!" He yelled to Auron. "Affirmative. Unfortunately, it will only allow us near it, as all defenses seem to be on full alert to keep unknown forces away. It is registering us as an ally." Garrett tried to scratch his head, but rubbed his armored fingers against the armored visor. "So you're telling me, that that ship, the one in front of us, can make ships and has a regiment or something of this armor?" He asked, probing for more information. "Part of that is correct, however, the Battle Frame was being created at another main complex. This is the only Battle Frame made. The production designs are not onboard that ship." Garrett thought for a moment, floating in a kick-boxer like stance.
Before he could come up with a solution, he gained a com call. "This is Dr. Halsey. What is going on out there? What's happening?" She asked. He gained another com call from the Albatross the major was on. "Captain, what is happening out there? What is the situation?" Might as well hit two birds with one stone…
"This is Raven Leader. I believe…" And before he could finish that sentence, the ship in front of him started to move toward him, and seemed to be opening a small cargo bay from Garrett's point of view. The cargo bay was definitely getting bigger as the ship came closer, and he now realized that that was only ONE of the bays this thing had. He also realized that the bay that was opening was about as large the Resilience. "Um… The ship seems to be…" And his communications was cut off. "Raven leader to Resilience. Respond over." No response. He turned to see if the ship was taking fire, but it seemed unharmed. "The ships defense systems are emitting ECM waves as protection. The bay is open for us to enter" Auron told him. "Huh?" he looked down at the bay. He was hovering about seventy feet up and away from the doors of the bay, and the lights on the outside were blinking an entrance path. "Hold on one fucking minute! You want me to enter there!" He asked. "Affirmative. We will land and gain entrance to the ship." Garrett thought of his options. His com systems were being jammed, and if he tried to crack through, the ship could probably either easily overpower him, Auron could stop him, or it might consider him hostile and attack. He also was underneath a ship that he didn't know if it was manned by covenant or cannibal monsters, and the fleet was a sitting duck not knowing what was happening. He had no backup, and if this ship was forerunner, then his weapons might not do anything but annoy it.
"Ugh… I don't get paid enough for this shit…" He said to himself, and descended to the landing area. The doors swiftly closed. "We are moving" Auron said. "WHAT!" He yelled. "The ship is moving away from the area. It is going to attempt a slip space jump." That was all he needed to hear. "I knew it was a bad idea to do that! Can't you stop them or something? Tell them to stop and hold still?" He asked frantically. He was going to be kidnapped in an alien ship and may never get back. "Connecting… (Long pause)" Garrett stood there and looked around worried. He searched high and low for anything that looked like a lock panel to open the doors, without success. The weird part was, nobody was around even if there was one. "You have been asked for a reason from Ilana." Garrett thought for a moment. "Who is Ilana?" He asked. "She is the AI that functions this ship."
Garrett was shocked for a moment. An AI was running the whole ship? What about crew?
"Are there any crew?" He asked. "Negative. She has said you are the first aboard." First aboard? What? "Um… tell her we just need to stop. I need to run a scan on something." A momentary pause, followed by Auron again. "She would like to know what it is you are trying to scan. She may be of assistance." Garrett thought for a moment. "Auron, can she hear us?" He asked, hoping the answer was a no. "Negative. I am acting as a "middle man" as humans call it." He checked all com systems just to make sure. "Auron, I'm telling a white lie. Tell her something to make her stop! I can't leave the fleet." Another pause of silence, somewhat long this time. "She has granted the stop. She apologizes for inconveniencing you because of moving immediately after we had gotten here." Garrett sighed in relief. "Out of curiosity, what did you say to her?" He asked. "I had told her that you were busy playing a "Video Game" and that if she moved at this critical moment, you would not finish work in the game. I told her it was training." He stood there for a moment, blinking under the armor. "Hope she doesn't find out we lied." Auron didn't answer. There was a heavy silence in the air now. The doors to the halls opened on the other side of the bay. The place was quite empty; the site being what seemed to be only a landing spot.
Garrett decided standing around in a closed room he probably couldn't break out of was boring, and anything was better than staying here. "Ilana has opened access doors. She has illuminated the path to the bridge. She is awaiting you to move there." Garrett looked around one more time, wondering if she might be watching him through cameras in the ceiling or something. Auron told him yes, but not with cameras, instead using Multi Phased Flux Ultra Sonics to create the image as if similar to an action movie. Action movies always show the coolest angles.
"You should turn the armor off and move to the bridge." Garrett's eyes widened. "Not a fucking chance! I still don't know if something bad could happen to me! The armor is a good thing! Especially in unknown terrain!" Auron noted that he would not fit through the halls in his current state. Garrett grumbled something that was incomprehensible, then deactivated the armor. He still had his duraplast Titanium A under, but he felt a bit vulnerable now that he didn't have enhanced shields and other stuff. Hell, if this ship had the power he thought it did, he'd rather be in a Star fortress than here in a marine combat suit.
He walked on, moving through the hallways that were lit, blinking orange lights on the sides showing him the way. He moved to a lift, and it elevated to another level, and with much speed. The doors opened and there he was in a large bridge area. There was a main seat for a captain he thought, and at least four piloting seats for extreme or manual maneuvers, even though it looked like the AI could fly the thing on her own. Multiple other seats in descended pod areas were probably for sensors or communications, but one thing was for sure, he noticed something in the back. He lowered his rifle to the clip on his hip, and moved to investigate. It seemed to be some sort of pod, but he couldn't see what was inside with a bluish fog floating around inside. Suddenly, the pod door popped and unclamped locks around it. He jumped back and readied his rifle. The door hissed open similar to a cryo pod, and the misty fog pushed out. He kept his eye on the opening, and as the fog dissipated, he saw the form of a woman. She was wearing a white glossy suit of some sort, with a small white glossy jacket covering over it, about the size to be over her shoulder blades. She wore a similar skirt, and similar hip high boots, that seemed to disappear under the skirt. She wore similar long gloves as well. The odd thing was she had waist length long sapphire blue hair, and interestingly enough, what looked like Elvin ears.
Could this be what forerunners are supposed to look like? All those ideas of fantasy novels humans have written about elves being around might be subconscious thoughts of these guys. He lowered his gun again, and moved slightly closer. He peered at her, a little bit unnerved by the comparison between humans and her body. She looked quite normal, aside from the ears and hair color, and was quite beautiful. If it weren't for what she could be and the ears, not to mention where he was, he might've tried to catch her eye and gain her attention. She looked to be around the age of 18-21, but if she wasn't human, she could be any age.
He soon was face to face with the being, her eyes closed. He took a closer look at her ears and hair. The ears were pointed, and somewhat long, and not curved at the end like he had read in some novels. Creative writing to make the stories different so as to not call the wrath of the copyright gods he thought. Her hair seemed normal, although in just the right angle the blue shined quite beautifully and had a bit of a sparkle.
He burst back to combat readiness, however, when her sapphire blue eyes suddenly opened, and he jumped almost a meter back with his gun ready. "H-hello Garrett Gryphen" She said, somewhat shyly. She noticed the gun aimed at her and the wariness in his eyes. "I, I mean you no harm. My, my name is Ilana. Auron told you, about me being here, remember?" She said, getting out of the pod, and now shifting and fidgeting around a bit, trying to get out of the aim of the gun. Garrett was trying his best to show no motion or emotion, as he tracked her moving around. "So you're the one Auron was talking about?" He asked. "Y-yes. I, I'm the battle AI for the Nexus. I-I'm at your service." She seemed to be stuttering, as if she was either nervous or shy. How could an AI be shy? Garrett slowly lowered his gun. "Ooookay…" he said, still really confused as to what the hell was going on.