AN: I forgot to mention earlier, but for those new readers out there, if you want more backstory on the characters featured in this story, read the first installation of the series, Mist. Anyway, hope you like this story and R&R!
Chapter 2: Technical Difficulites
"I believe that's another checkmate, Captain." Joshua said, with a hint of amusement in his voice.
Rogers sighed, took another sip of coffee, and said, "Just reset the board Joshua. You'll make a mistake sometime."
"The odds of that happening are approximately twenty million to one." Joshua mused, rearranging all of the holographic chess pieces that made up his avatar. "So far, I have already won seven games to your two."
Rogers shook his head glumly. This was the price you paid for trying to outwit a Class A AI. He was pretty sure that at this moment, Joshua was playing around with him, running all of the automated processes in the ship, and staying in contact with the AIs on the Valiant and Fidelity, probably with enough extra processing power to play another thousand chess games against himself.
"Sir." Rogers' comm chimed, "We'll be exiting Slipspace in twenty minutes."
Security Station D7"So," Karla eyed Paccone suspiciously. "why is it that after all these years, you're still just a lowly sergeant? With what I've seen, you could've easily gotten a battlefield commission, and get at least the rank of Captain, maybe even Major."
Paccone laughed and replied, "I like being a Sergeant. I get to boss people around without having to fill out much paperwork."
"Ah, so you're a Johnson then." Karla nodded. Sergeant Johnson was one of the most famous or infamous Marines in the galaxy, depending on your point of view. He had fought in countless campaigns against the Covenant with barely scratch, and he was a Sergeant as long as anybody could remember. Unfortunately, Sergeant Johnson was MIA after Reach, though Karla had no doubt he'd be back one way or another.
"Besides," Paccone added, "I could never live myself if I got promoted. Then I'd become the very thing I hated, a white-collar pompous ass who can't tell the difference between his left and right hands."
Karla raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you've always thought about me during all these years?"
"Awww, did I hurt your feelings?" Paccone laughed as he saw Karla's hurt and angry expression, "Nah, of course not, Kare. You're special, not like those other guys."
"Because I was the only one willing to sleep with you?"
"That works." Paccone grinned. "On the subject of bossing lower ranked people around, who're those two kids who were following you around in that 'hellhole that is not to be named'?"
Karla looked up, slightly surprised at Paccone's sudden interest in her favorite sergeant and replacement officer. Unlike their commander officer, they were both in cryo sleep right now. "What makes you ask?"
"Hey, it's my turn." Paccone sniffed.
Karla shook her head, feeling like she was back in grade school. "Williams and Richards are good both soldiers. Kids, yes, but damn good ones. Williams is a pretty silly kid with a sense of humor larger than himself, but he'' his job when he needs to. Richards, well, I had to burn up a lot of favors to get her into my unit. If even half of those rumors about her are true, I'm pretty sure the effort will pay off."
"Rumors?" Paccone suddenly seemed interested in the subject. "Last I heard, she's barely older than Sam, hasn't had a lot of time in the Marine Corps."
"I'm surprised," Karla leaned back in her chair, "That a sergeant like you hasn't heard of them. Why are you so interested in her anyways?"
Paccone shrugged. "You could just say that she looked a little familiar to me when I first saw her."
Karla eyed Paccone warily. There something that he wasn't telling her, but before she could pry, a warning siren started to blare, prompting both Marines to get up and grab their rifles.
Then the security station went black.
Firing RangeIt would be an understatement to say that Leo was amazed at Sam's prowess with the sniper rifle. Even with the injured arm, she still retained most of her skill. Actually, Leo thought that she had somehow gotten better with it. She was nailing headshots on moving targets nearly five hundred yards away without breaking a sweat, as if she knew where they were going next.
"Are you sure you aren't cheating or anything?" Leo shouted, so Sam could hear him through her earplugs.
Sam looked up and asked, "What, is something wrong?"
Leo pointed to the faraway targets with neat little holes in their heads.
"Oh wow," Sam blinked, "didn't notice that."
Suddenly, warning sirens started to blare, and the firing range went black.
Bridge"Joshua!" Rogers yelled, dazed at the sudden power outage, "Find out what's wrong! Communications, tell the Valiant and Fidelity to clear a path out for us! Engines, I hope you're still working so we don't slam into the planet! And for god's sake, somebody turn off that siren! I am painfully aware that there's something wrong with the ship!"
The loud, nasal tone of the siren finally cut off, and the ship's backup power activated, bathing the bridge in bloodred light. The bridge crew, barely silhouetted against the dim lighting, looked around nervously.
"Joshua," Rogers said calmly, "I want you tell me right now what the hell just happened."
"It was a major system error, Captain." Joshua's voice floated around the bridge. There wasn't enough power to display his holographic avatar. "It was bug in the Slipspace programming that we didn't catch. The drives thought that they weren't getting enough power and starting sucking more from the reactors to the point that they were red-lining. My only countermove was to shut down the ship's reactors until I can find and isolate the bugged programming."
Rogers covered his face with his hand. He was afraid something like this would happen. What was the Navy thinking, rushing a newly completed and untested warship like this into battle? "How long?"
Joshua droned on, "We are currently running on emergency batteries which should last-"
"I said how long?" Rogers asked, putting more of an edge in his voice.
"Two hours at the most to find and debug the program, though I can reactivate the reactors and several other ship systems as I go along."
"Get the damn engineering crews busy too, just in case the problem is mechanical. And use our chemical thrusters to stabilize our orbit around that planet." Rogers pointed to the dull, grey rock that was merely named PX-454. "If any Covenant patrols pass by, I don't want to get caught out in open space."
"Yes, Captain."
"Sir?" One of the comm officers turned. The communications system was one of the systems designated emergency power. "The Valiant and Fidelity are both reporting an unidentified ship on the fringes of the system."
"Joshua?"
"Yes Captain?"
"Remember when you said you could fix the problem in two hours?"
"Yes, Captain, I did."
"Well," Rogers stared grimly out of the bridge viewport. "Shorten it to fifteen minutes."
Covenant Scout Ship Wandering Pilgrim
Ship Commander Paken Zemamee sighed as he tapped his console in boredom. Even though system survey was a necessary duty in the Covenant fleet, that didn't change the fact that it was an extremely mundane and dull task. What made the duty worse was that Zemamee was the only Elite on this ship. Because scout ships had little to no combat worthiness, they were mostly crewed by Grunts and junior Elites. Duty on such a ship was considered to be punishment detail among the Elite ranks, which left Zemamee wondering what he had done to anger the Forerunners and the Prophets so much. Zemamee raised his head in surprise when he heard one of the Grunts warbling and barking in its native language. Paken listened closely to what the Grunt was wailing and let a smile crawl out across his mandibles. This duty had suddenly gotten interesting.
"Bring the ship about. Full speed forward! Arm weapons and power up shields!" Paken roared to his bridge crew. "Today is a good day to die!"
The Grunt in charge of navigation hesitated and warbled. Evidentially, it was afraid of charging the three heretic ships, one of which was extremely large. Paken raised his plasma pistol and shoved the barrel into its eyesocket and yelled, "In the name of the great Prophets, drive!"
Paken smiled as the ship vibrated from the sudden change in speed. The three distant blips on the viewscreen began to get larger, and Paken could make out two heretic destroyers, but could not determine the class of the third ship. Was it a carrier? Paken had no idea, but was eager to reduce it to a floating pile of slag.
"Fire!"
Freedom
"Joshua-" Rogers started, seeing the dual plasma beams lancing toward their position.
"Don't worry, Captain." Joshua cut in, "The Covenant ship fired well beyond its maximum effective range. Those plasma beams will lose their potency before they hit us. Besides, I've managed to restore navigation and shielding."
For a brief second, the space around the Freedom flickered with golden light, which quickly dissolved into nothingness. The plasma beams, already losing much of their energy to the cold vacuum of space, were stopped several hundred meters short of their target by a golden wall of energy and dissipated.
"Well, at least we know it works." Rogers mused to himself. "Tell Valiant and Fidelity to engage that ship and keep it off our backs."
As Rogers watched, both of the Freedom's escorts pulled sudden ninety degree turns, lobbing missiles at the Covenant ship. The enemy craft plowed through the hail of explosives, its shields shrugging the missiles off like raindrops on an umbrella. Fortunately for the Humans, scout ships were never meant to get caught in combat situations, and therefore did not have very powerful shielding. The silver protective screen of energy was torn away, and the remaining missiles slammed into it head on, knocking armor plates free and obliterating one of the ship's two turrets.
"Weapons, what's our status?" Rogers asked, still looking at the distant skirmish.
"Our missile batteries and autocannon turrets are operational, but I'm afraid our MAC and particle laser systems are still locked out."
"Order batteries A through F to launch a volley at the Covenant ship. Get each battery to stagger their fire. We want to keep up the pressure so it can't aim its plasma cannon."
Rogers watched as hundreds of Archer missiles erupted from the Freedom's starboard side in sequence. The Covenant ship fired a plasma missile in response, totally ignoring the two UNSC destroyers pummeling it. The energy bolt sizzled past the Valiant's port side and struck the Freedom's shield, splattering across the protective field of golden energy like a water balloon.
"Stupid son of a bitch." Rogers shook his head as the Freedom's missiles found their target. Almost every Covenant ship commander that Rogers had ever faced disregarded tactics and strategy and usually just rushed, firing in all directions. It was a horribly predictable and defeatable tactic, but when Rogers thought about it, the Covenant could afford to be sloppy due to the power of their warships.
"Keep up the fire and blow that bastard out of the sky."
Firing Range
"Oh man, I can't see a thing!" Leo cried out, reach his arms out to find something to grab onto.
"Stop moving around!" Sam yelled, grabbing Leo's hand and leading him out of the room.
"How can you see in this mess?" Leo asked, still unable to see anything but pitch black.
"What are you talking about? I can see just fine." Sam continued leading Leo until they reached the hallway, which was lit only by red emergency lights.
"Better?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, a lot- holy shit." Leo's jaws dropped as he looked out of the viewport.
"Huh? What's the matter-" Sam looked out of the viewport, "oh wow."
In the distance, both Marines could make out the distant flashes of a fierce space battle. Two black shapes were trading fire with a small purple shape in what seemed to be a lethal mix of fireworks show and dance routine.
"Isn't it fascinating," A strange voice suddenly said behind them, "how we can find something so destructive so beautiful and poignant?"
Sam and Leo both jumped in surprise and turned to see Scohar behind them, looking at the battle with a child's fascination.
"Scohar!" Leo gasped, "You nearly scared me to death! How'd you get here?"
"Leo? Do you know this guy?" Sam stared at the stranger curiously.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you two." Scohar smiled apologetically. "I didn't realize that you two were so caught up in the moment."
D Deck
"Wonderful." Karla sighed in the red haze. "I suppose you arranged all this so that I would get scared and jump into your arms."
"Not really, but that is a really great idea."
"I so wish Richards and Williams weren't in cryo, so I don't have to deal with you."
"Such hostility is so unlike you, Kare." Paccone said enthusiastically as he followed her down the hall. "I can think of a lot ways to reduce your stress, you know."
"Ah, but how many of those involve keeping my clothes on?"
"Not many." Even in the dim lighting, Karla could make out Paccone's mischievous smile.
Her only answer was the ominous click of a rifle safety mechanism being flicked.
"Time to shut up?"
"Time to shut up."
Wandering Pilgrim
Paken held onto the console as more explosions rippled across the ship. Most of the Grunts on the bridge were either dead or trying to get out. Paken laughed at their almost comical cowardice, and casually shot a few with his plasma pistol.
"Keep firing! And don't stop until those heretic ships are destroyed!"
"Our turrets are destroyed!" A Grunt shrieked in reply.
Paken shot that Grunt in the head. "Then full power to the engines! Ram the heretic flagship!"
The chief pilot never heard his command. The command console exploded in its face, piercing the Grunt's skull with glass and computer components, and spraying its brains across the bridge deck.
"Useless fool." Paken growled, shoving the chief pilot's body out of the seat. Paken took the controls himself and aimed the Wandering Pilgrim straight at the massive heretic carrier.
"For the great Prophets!" Paken yelled, "May they see our glory this day!"
The Wandering Pilgrim surged forward towards the Freedom. Paken was too engrossed in the moment to notice one of his bridge crew sending a rapid and desperate message over the communication console. Battle and honor. To die was to be graced by the Prophets for eternity.
The Wandering Pilgrim never got far. The Fidelity fired its MAC cannon and hit the Wandering Pilgrim's nose on the port side, severely altering the Covenant ship's course. Unable to correct its suicidal trajectory, the Wandering Pilgrim was caught in PX-454's gravity well and slammed into the planet's bare surface, instantly flattening into a pancake of twisted metal and wreckage. The Valiant made a quick flyby and drilled another MAC round into the wrecked ship, just to make sure. The round touched off the Wandering Pilgrim's plasma reactor, engulfing the ship's remnants in a blue ball of fire. Satisfied, the Valiant broke off into high orbit to join its fellow UNSC ships.
Freedom
"I am glad to report," Joshua beamed at his regained holographic avatar, "that the engine and Slipspace drive are operational again, as well as our sensor systems."
"I'm hearing a 'but' coming on..." Rogers sighed.
"But the bug is still rendering our advanced weaponry inoperable, and the shields are only at a fraction of their strength. If we are caught in a full scale battle, our odds of success are slim."
"Uh, sir?" The communications officer turned from his console. "Our scans show that the Covenant ship we destroyed sent off a signal before crashing into the planet's surface."
Rogers had a sinking feeling in his stomach. Oh please, please don't let there be-
Two Covenant battle groups popped out of Slipspace. A picket of three frigates on one side of the system and two cruisers on the other. Apparently, the ship they had destroyed had friends. Lots of them. Rogers had no doubt that if the Freedom was fully operational, it could handle the incoming ships. Unfortunately, the ship was barely in a state to even fly. The Valiant and Fidelity wasted no time in intercepting the three Covenant frigates, unleashing missiles and MAC rounds in an effort to draw their fire, but they couldn't stop the frigates and cruisers from firing their plasma weapons at the Freedom.
"Evasive maneuvers!" Rogers yelled. "Get this ship moving and out of here!"
The Freedom banked hard to avoid the Covenant plasma torpedoes. The Covenant warships continued to fire out bright spears of energy in an attempt to take down the Human ship.
"Joshua!" Rogers yelled, clinging to his bridge seat. "How long until we get out of the gravity well?"
"Let's just say I'm powering up the shields now." Joshua said, destroying a knight in his chessboard avatar.
An explosion rocked the ship. One of the plasma torpedoes had found its mark.
"Energy levels are dropping." Joshua announced, swapping his chessboard for checkers. "I doubt our shields will hold for the next hit."
"How about diverting power?"
"The only remaining source of power are the engines, but if we divert power from them, we won't have enough to attain the necessary velocity for a Slipspace jump."
Rogers glanced at his tactical display again. The Valiant and Fidelity were doing their best to hold the Covenant picket formation, but that meant he still had to deal with two cruisers with a ship that had multiple core systems failing in succession. These were not good odds.
However, before Rogers even had a chance to give another order, a fusillade of MAC rounds fired from nowhere, shredding apart the Covenant formation. Rogers blinked in surprise. In some sort of sick coincidence, or divine intervention, another UNSC battlegroup had chosen the almost the exact same random jump coordinates he had. He looked on as the fresh reinforcements began toengage the confused enemy fleet.
Meanwhile, belowdecks, Scohar smiled. They were certainly being watched by a god, or gods, or whatever controlled the fate of this universe.
Sam and Leo were slightly less philosophical, and a lot more worried about their ship staying in one piece.
"I think we should find some cover." Leo said quickly.
"Yeah." Sam nodded.
"Hold it right there you three!" A stern and familiar voice echoed through the hall.
Leo and Scohar both quickly saluted as Captain Karla Wellings strode in through the hall. Sam, hesitated for a second and then saluted along with Leo and Scohar.
"Sarge?" Leo asked in disbelief, seeing Paccone following Karla. "What are you doing here?"
"What, him?" Karla pointed at Paccone, "I'm a Captain, he's a Sergeant. He'll do any damn thing I tell him to do."
"You wish." Paccone said glumly.
"Right, well, I suggest you get your weapons ready, boys and girls." Karla looked out the viewport, and saw one of the Covenant cruisers getting closer to the Freedom, despite the savage crossfire between both UNSC battlegroups. Karla had been in enough space engagements to know what was going to come next. "It's time to get up close and personal with some Covvies."