Chapter 13: Tigres and Heretics
Millions of stars suddenly replaced the total blackness of the space
outside of the hangar. Will put the last of the gear they were taking
into a Hawk and walked over to the airlock doors. Off to his right
was a large blue and green planet that looked remarkably like Earth.
A few small freighters moved back in forth between larger ships that
would move about the different planet systems. On the dark side of
the planet, a few large groups of lights were clearly seen through
the cloud layer.
"It's pretty settled for an Outer Rim world,
don't you think?" Will asked one of the pilots who had walked
behind him.
"It was never attacked by the Covenant so it's
been chugging along since it was started, but you better get aboard,
we'll be leaving in a few minutes." Will nodded and walked back
towards the Hawk, sitting down in one of the seats in the rear. The
other Spartans were already on board along with all of the gear that
they were taking to their final destination.
"You'll be going to the UNSC Tigre,
a heavy cruiser, brand new as a matter of fact. Though not the
official flagship of the battle group, that honor belongs to the UNSC
Zealous, an assault carrier, it's got the most guns of any ship
in nearby." The two side doors on the Hawk closed shut and the
rear ramp rose up and locked into place against the passenger
compartment's ceiling. A loud roar reverberated through the metal
of the ship but quickly fell off as the hangar depressurized and they
took a sharp right after leaving the frigate they had ridden on from
space. Will looked through one of the view ports and was confused at
what he saw. It suddenly dawned on him that the small dots he was
staring at were actually ships.
"My god…look at them all…" a few of the
other Spartans near him looked out the window and saw what he was
seeing. Hundreds of ships were arranged in a loose band around the
planet. Smaller pickets of Longswords moved between them, looking
like small clouds of glitter. Interspersed throughout the band were
much larger ships, some of the largest he had ever seen.
"They must be assault carriers," someone
commented behind him. Almost as if on cue, one of the behemoths
powered up it's engines, all four of them, and started to maneuver
around it's nearby allies. Suddenly though, all of the ships
started to pan away and the colony came into view. Most of the other
Spartans sat back down, as did Will. One last look afforded him a
view of their frigate sliding into position among the battle group.
After about another minute of riding in the Hawk, a large grey hulk
began to slide past the view ports. Before anyone even had a chance
to react and get up to look, the drop ship swooped into the hangar
bay and landed. The roar of the engines quickly and then abruptly
shut off. All three doors opened up and navy personnel started
unpacking the gear that had come along. Getting out, Will was amazed
at the architectural changes that had happened during his absence.
Instead of the dimly lit hangars that seemed stunted, the Tigre's
was at least ten decks high and was brightly lit. Most of the docking
pads were empty but a few, most notably near the ceiling, were
occupied by Longswords and Daggers. Made of a dimmer version of the
white metal that had become standard, the hangar looked almost like
it could double as a hospital if it needed to. Looking back, instead
of seeing large blast doors, there was nothing to separate them from
the blackness of space, or so he thought. Upon closer inspection he
noticed the tell tale distortion of an energy field and concluded
that two of them worked in tandem to create an airlock. As he looked
back, the other Spartans were carrying their gear towards another
Hawk that had been waiting in the hangar.
"Are you going to grab your gear or should I
carry it for you?" Chris asked jokingly.
"If you insist…" he said as he grabbed his
different sacks. They moved away from the landing zone as the Hawk
powered it's engines back up and lifted off. After a few moments of
waiting around, someone emerged from a door near them and made his
way to the Spartans. As he came closer, Will could see that the man
was not the usual young plucky soldier who always greeted them but an
older man who might've seen the very end of the war with the
Covenant. Thick lines cut across his face in patterns and his eyes
were in almost a permanent squint and his short cut brown hair was
losing a battle against the grey hair around the sides of his head.
Even more remarkably, the man was one of the tallest non-Spartans
that Will had ever seen.
"I'm Master Chief Petty Officer Carmich. The
Captain has already arranged for your quartering to be near the
hangar. All of the weapons you'll need are stored in special
lockers in your quarters as well as ammo. You have one Hawk and two
Daggers designated for your team that will also be given priority for
evacuation in case of emergency." It was a welcome relief to have
someone who was straight to the point and wasn't interested in
trying to become friends with the Spartans.
"Thank-you," Will responded, at least trying
to be courteous to the master chief (not John, in case anyone gets
confused with the similar ranks). The master chief turned around and
headed back towards the door he came from as the Spartans grabbed
their bags and followed behind him. In a sudden contrast to the huge
hangar they were just in, the normal sized passageways were darker
and more claustrophobic. Unlike the halls at the UNSC HighComm
buildings, the new metal was only exposed on the walls to provide
lighting while the rest of the architecture was painted a dark,
almost black, color. These contrasts produced mixed feelings in Will
as he slowly began to yearn for the olive drab colors of the ships
now sitting in scrap yards or hacked into pieces for soda cans or
cars. They followed the master chief through a dizzying assortment of
hallways before arriving at what appeared to be a pair of officer's
quarters.
"These are ours?" Chris asked as they walked
into the plush room. Mahogany wood had been placed on the walls and a
soft carpeting had been laid on the ground. Instead of a single bed
installed, four twins had been arranged in the quarters, cutting down
the amount of space they had available to them. In the female's
room, though, two larger beds were positioned at the rear of the
quarters and most of the amenities, namely a large granite table in
the center, were still present.
"Neither one is occupied and we've got more
of these than there are officers so they wouldn't have been used
anyways. Also, a little request from General Johnson goes a long
way." Will was unsure if his comment was a joke or disdain for the
General. "Put your stuff away but be quick, the captain would like
a few words with you ASAP." The Spartans set their gear down near
the lockers at the front of the room and exited. Moving through the
labyrinth of halls again, they finally arrived at a large elevator
and bent down as they forced their bulk into it. While they waited
for the doors to close, a few people slammed into the cyborgs and
looked up, startled at the hulks of metal standing patiently in the
tight space. Eventually, it shut the doors and groaned as it brought
the soldiers to the command level. First out was the master chief who
hurried through the hallways, following the blue stars painted on the
deck. The Spartans were shocked as the entered the radically
different bridge layout. Instead of walking through a tight, cramped
area to get to the main view port, the walls had been brought down
and a large hologram of the ship and it's surroundings dominated
the center of the room. Like before, stations were arranged all along
the room but they were no longer in recessed cubbies but were now
stand alone consoles that allowed for better communication between
the command crew. Even more surprising was the addition of a second
level. The vaulted bridge now housed a new level that jutted out just
over the entrance to the bridge. Will looked up at it and saw the
room was bathed in a blue light from a floating UNSC insignia over a
large table and rows of table. As he walked forward, a shimmer went
across the front of it, confirming the presence of glass that could
electrolyze to prevent others from looking in on a meeting going on.
(Like the doors in Chaos Theory mission in the security company's
HQ). The group of soldiers moved to the captain who was reading a
message on his personal data pad. They stood rigid behind him as his
eyes traveled over the last few sentences. Setting it down on a flat
surface to his right, he turned around and saluted them, receiving
eight in return.
"Thank-you master chief, that will be all."
"Aye sir." He saluted and about-faced,
leaving the bridge.
"Welcome aboard the Tigre, I've been
briefed on what the General was allowed to say, so I'm up to speed
on what's going on in regards to your situation."
"We'll most likely be waiting for our call
so we won't be impeding on your crew," Will said.
"Don't worry about it, for now at least.
Most of them are on the surface right now, very beautiful planet,
I'll talk to Johnson and see if he can give you a few days of
leave." Will didn't expect anything to come of it, but thanked
him anyways. "Oh, before I forget, a software update was sent out
to us for your suits. It was sent to the medical bay for some reason,
so you should head down there. Dismissed." The Spartans saluted and
then left the bridge. An awkward sight in the hallway, seven heavily
armored soldiers wandering aimlessly through a leviathan of a ship,
they eventually reached the medical bay to a slightly confused
technician.
"Lemme check on that…" she said as her
hands glided over a holographic keyboard, "Huh, apparently we did
receive it. You can just wait here while I grab some fiber optic
cables." She stood up and walked over to a small desk in the room
they were in. Pulling out the long, almost invisible cord, she hooked
it into the computer and took Will's helmet. A small bar went
across the screen as the program was downloaded onto the Mk VII, the
screen flicked to a new bar as the program was then installed. Each
one of the Spartans then moved forward and did the same until they
had all upgraded.
A large mercury like orb rose into the air, small droplets of the
unknown substance falling back into the large puddle it hovered over.
A few smaller orbs rose up and began to circle to largest one.
"This is Thandon, a Human military planet.
Located in the Mazertan Prime system which itself is quite removed
from nearby systems. This will be our new target." Forerunners
moved in and out of the dim light as they watched John pace around
the pool of liquid. His heavy boots echoed in the large hall and the
elder creatures stepped aside as he came by. "As most of you know,
the Humans have placed almost their entire fleet in the Outer Rim to
counter our incursions. Therefore, you will be engaged by the UNSC
Navy proper and no more individual cruisers or raggedy ass fleets."
"The Covenant couldn't even withstand our
might, why should these inferior Humans be any different?" One of
the Forerunners said, uncrossing his gauntleted arms. Blue and white
lights on his armor moved in the darkness as he followed the Master
Chief in his pacing.
"We have ingenuity. We think out of the box.
The Covenant were fools, blinded by glory and religion. They will
find our weakness, whatever it may be, and exploit it until we do
something about it. But back to my point…the entire navy is,
essentially, stretched to it's limits," the orbs changed to show
the fleet in it's current positions, different portions taking on
hues of colors to represent specific things. "By attacking at
Thandon," he said, pointing at the orb that represented the planet,
"they will rush to defend it, weakening the rest of the defenses.
Not by much, of course, but they will be weakened. Then, we attack
somewhere else…Testarossa. Again, they will pull their resources to
defend that planet." Looking at the groups of fine droplets that
formed around the two planets, one couldn't help but notice the
weakened lanes it created. "From there, it is a straight shot to
Earth. There is no need for an extermination planet by planet, system
by system. If Earth falls, the Inner Colonies will die. If they die,
the Outer Rim will starve to death."
"Our fleets will be stretched thin as well,
launching to large scale assaults with a third even larger than both
combined. You are leaving a very small margin for error here. Neither
of us has the element of surprise, we both know where our home worlds
lie and we do not have the luxury of hundreds of colonies as well."
The Forerunner commanders looked over at the one who had spoken. He
was a younger officer, distinguished in his prior military service.
"You are already doubting?" John said,
almost laughing. "If you wish to eliminate planets one at a time,
then be my guest, take your ships…I'm sorry, ship and do
it on your own. But! In the meantime, the rest of our fleets will be
preparing to end this…it's not even a war…this skirmish in a
matter of days." The Forerunner contorted his face in a look of
disgust but said nothing. A few of the officers near him ever so
subtly moved away from him, making it known that they didn't share
in his beliefs. "That's what I though…" John turned around
and left the room, the echoes from his footsteps the only sound.
"How did everything go?" Kelly asked him. She got up out of her
chair and moved over to him. Off in the distance the sounds of a
fighter squadron meandered it's way through the city, finally
reaching their ears.
"There is one, he's dangerous. No one
follows him but I do not believe I can have him doubting my every
move for much longer without some of them seeing it as either a sign
of weakness on my part or a sign of strength on his." She put her
hands on him and let him sit down on the bed. Leaning forward and
looking into his eyes she spoke.
"He's getting to you isn't he?"
"How can he not? My authority is being
challenged by him…"
"Once everything begins to fall into place no
one will take him serious. You know that as well as anyone."
A/N: The spelling of Tiger as: Tigre, is intentional, it's the name of a British ship that fought in the Battle of Trafalgar, as many know, that was the name of the UNSC's flagship that was destroyed at Reach. Zealous is also the name of a ship that participated in the battle.
