Stargate 117

by BIG Z1776

When the UNSC finds a Stargate and decides to use it things happen in a way never before seen. The most powerful Human entity in the galaxy has arisen to take the galaxy back from evil and oppression. But the road ahead is long and tough, and Earth will look to its mightiest champions to take the fight to their enemies. No Covenant or Forerunners. Normal SG-1 bad guys and setting.

2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Location: Epsilon Eridani System, Planet Reach, Menachite Mountain ONI CASTLE Base

Date: March 22, 2527

Time: 0930 Hours

The sounds of a normal day went on as usual for the so far quiet underground installation beneath CASTLE Base. The Stargate had thus far, been the subject of intense study and scrutiny for the large collection of physicists, astronomers, military officers, and the large security detail that always seemed to be in close proximity to the large stone ring. Much of the efforts of the group was in creating a series of complex algorithms and programs with a quantum level hard drive run by a single ONI smart A.I. which had been the source of a great deal of frustration for the large research team. But there were a few of them that had a theory on why their numerous attempts to dial the ring had failed.

To dial the Stargate four powerful rollers were fixed to the rotating ring and were calibrated to rotate the heavy stone until a desired symbol had been reached. So with the added power generation of a large block of fusion reactors buried several stories below the large red stones would glow and lock into place. This would go on, with a single set of symbols locked in and then with everyone observing and another A.I. recording the event the Stargate would fix itself on its last symbol, but would not lock, and power down. Then the ONI personnel would go back to the drawing board and try to understand everything that went on. From the power inputs, radiation readings, and other little things recorded by the system's A.I. they'd scratch their heads in absolute confusion and the half dozen A.I. slated to help would be forced to use their own segregated computer core to run their simulations and calculations so the normal system wouldn't be flooded by the combined outputs of six Smart A.I.

One of these people was a linguist named Dr. Daniel Jackson, a recently outlawed Egyptologist who'd suggested that the Pyramids of Giza were built as landing pads for alien starships. His theory was of rejected as ridiculous as the UNSC had been searching and colonizing worlds for many decades and had yet to encounter an intelligent race of aliens. So he'd basically had no real choice when ONI had come knocking at his about-to-be foreclosed house in New York offering a spot on a top secret project on Reach. And this was where he was, currently looking at a large stone tablet which had come with the Stargate to the large underground base. The other members of his department were all taking a quick coffee break as they chatted about the latest failed test.

"So what do you think Doc? What aren't we doing?" one of the linguists asked, looking over at the lone archaeologist.

"Huh, what?"

"I said, what do you think we aren't doing right now? We've been at this thing for several weeks now and nothing's happened. I think it's time that we look into some less conventional means."

"Well we're throwing massive amounts of power into a stone ring in an underground ONI base so I think conventional went out the window a while ago," Jackson responded with a shrug as the door to their lab opened.

"Hey I've got that new issue of Stars Weekly for you Doctor Imermein," a young secretary said walking in with a stack of papers and several magazines in her hands.

"Oh thank you Miss Nicks," said man responded, taking the magazine off of the top of the stack.

The lab that the group was using wasn't the most spacious, or the most equipped of the labs in the base, but it did the job. The group of five shared this thirty by fifty lab that had its walls covered in interactive screens, had a hologram projector in the center of the room, and was always under the watchful eye of a black armored ONI security man holding an MA5B Assault Rifle standing at the door. Their lab was also occupied by a medium sized room connected to the lab that held several computer banks that were the nerve center, brain, and effective body of an A.I. that they'd been entrusted with.

Jackson saw the cover of the magazine that the department head had just grabbed and then saw that one of the symbols was similar, no identical, to one of the symbols on the gate. He looked at the other symbols and then tapped away on the keyboard to his left he'd been using earlier.

"Doctor?" the voice of the resident A.I. Confucius piped out, the avatar of an ancient Chinese scholar appearing next to the table by Jackson, "I assume that you've…oh…that is something," the A.I. quipped, appearing again on the opposite side of Jackson to analyze what he was bringing up on the screen.

"I think we've got our breakthrough," Jackson grinned and saw the gears begin turning in the heads of his colleagues and they began smiling and several went to their own computers and workstations and began running simulations and comparisons.

"Well, well, well," a voice from the door into the room chuckled, "I see bringing you dirt collectors into the project wasn't a mistake after all."

"Admiral Hammond," Doctor Imermein jumped up, seeing the decorated commanding officer of the facility and their boss.

"Spare me the pleasantries Doctor, I've got ONI and Admiral Parangosky breathing down my neck demanding results. Tell me I can say yes the next time she calls me," the bald but strongly built man replied holding up his hand.

"Well yes we believe so. Well, it seems that we've been approaching the symbols on the Stargate wrong this entire time! They're not words needing a translation, they're constellations! Coordinates for dialing to other worlds!"

"I concur with Doctor Imermein's analysis," Confucius stated, "It seems that the Stargate needs seven inputted coordinates with the seventh being the point of origin for the Stargate dialing out."

"Full reports on my desk in one hour. I'll have the other departments notified," Hammond said definitively, walking out and leaving the scientists to continue in their work.

One of the women in the room went over to Doctor Jackson and sat next to him, "How did you know?"

"The magazine cover there. One of the constellations was identical to what one of the symbols is."

"Really?" she responded, looking at it and noticing the similarity immediately.

"So, what now? I mean, I guess we have something to work with so what's the next step? They haven't exactly been open with their agenda for the Stargate," Jackson said, his curiosity bubbling to the surface.

"Well, you didn't hear it from me, but one of the guards that yours truly happens to be seeing has said that some Black Ops guys from the ODST's are going to be arriving here in a few days."

"Really?" Jackson asked, "Well I'd love to be them then."

Location: Sol System, Planet Earth, Colorado Springs, ONI CENTAURI Base

Date: March 24, 2527

Time: 1900 Hours

The closely guarded mountain top fortress on the ancient command facility of the USAF's SACOM at Cheyenne Mountain had never ceased being a fortress. ONI had swooped in first chance they got and renovated then built up the already impressive 20th Century underground stronghold with a large box shaped building on the very tip top of the high peak. It was embellished with terraced gardens, several landing pads, hidden anti-aircraft guns, and a powerful self-destruct mechanism of several tons of conventional explosives that would bring the entire apparatus crumbling down the side of the mountain. The primary operator of the facility was ONI Section One, the least shadowy of the branches of the Office of Naval Intelligence. The above ground facility often hosted tours, public relations meetings, and hosted meetings with the civilian political leadership. But below ground, it was a completely different animal, Section Three operated a small research program within the confines of the deepest most fortified section of the base eight hundred feet below the deepest portion of the Pre-UNSC compound.

In this titanium, concrete, and granite encased fortress a group of ONI's masterminds was sitting around a large table with stacks of papers all around them. Each one was a comprehensive personnel report on possible candidates for their newest and most secret unit based on Reach at CASTLE Base. This unit was planned to be made up of the best of the best, so they'd sought out every record of every special operations branch, unit, and operator. This meant that there were quite a few of them, and they'd need to pick out the best of what had already been put forward to them.

Among the papers were the files for troops from units of the 101st Orbital Drop Shock Trooper Division's 501st Regiment, operators of the UNSC "Wet" Navy's SEALs, quite a few ONI recon operators, even some ORION's the first Spartans were on the list, and most classified among them were the files of every single one of the thirty-three Spartan II Super Soldiers. The Spartans, in the most ideal of circumstances, would have been the vanguard of this new operation's forces. But there was great mistrust and rivalry within ONI, and the process to get the Spartans involved would have tread upon quite a few toes. But worse still for ONI High Command, it would have let one of the most infamous members of ONI into their most closely guarded secret operation, Doctor Catherine Halsey. She wasn't exactly popular in the ranks of ONI, and they would have preferred to have kept her nose out of their business. But the promise of Humanity's elite soldiers was enough to allow them to be considered.

"So we've read the reports and the files. What are our conclusions on our first teams?" the head of the gathering, Admiral Parangosky, ONI's Commanding Officer, spoke out, getting the attention of everyone present.

"Well ma'am, of course the Spartans are the ideal choice. But we need to examine the risk of allowing Dr. Halsey access to our program," Admiral Hammond, the CO of the SGC itself, said clasping his hands together, "I myself have no objections to her participation. However the record is clear as to what lengths she is willing to go to accomplish her goal."

The issue of course, was not the Spartans, but the master mind behind them, Doctor Catherine Halsey. It was standard protocol for any mention of the Spartans in official ONI dispatches or reports to be known by Halsey to maintain a strict cloak of secrecy over the program. If they planned on sending a team of Spartans through a wormhole created by an ancient alien device Halsey would want in, but there were some issues with her and her record that prevented the assembled Admirals from instantly choosing a team of the elite Spartans.

"You're concerned as to whether her own ego will undermine the SGC Admiral ?" Parangosky asked.

"Yes ma'am. Her course of action taken to recruit the first class of Spartan II's and her planned recruitment of a larger class of one hundred fifty Spartan II's speaks volumes. The risks and acts she may or may not commit in the involvement of the Stargate Program have me concerned a great deal. But, I would like to go on record to say that the risks are more than outweighed by the benefits of having her skillset and those of the Spartans at my disposal."

"Yes, Catherine's intellect and the abilities of the Spartans are more than enough to warrant their consideration for this task. But we must remember what exactly the Spartans were created to do, deal with the Insurrectionists. That is something they are doing well, but we still need them now more than ever. The Innies have been hurt in the past two years, but not crippled. The Spartans are needed on that front in full force to push this advantage and crush any Insurrectionist cells or movements while we have momentum on our side," one of the other staff officers said. His name was Admiral Griggs, his job was as head of ONI's direct action operations, such as those carried out by the Spartans. He had been enjoying using them like a unit of grim reapers, cutting and slashing all who stood in his path with perfect efficiency. So he did not want to give that ability up.

"I must concur with Admiral Griggs," one of the other Admirals stated, her name was Admiral Osman, pretty much the second in command of ONI and everyone knew it. She didn't exactly have a soft spot for Halsey, and made that clear quite often, "Dr. Halsey isn't exactly a perfect soldier. She's a civilian, a civilian with an ego as large as her Spartans. Her participation in the program is highly suspect to breaches in security that will be detrimental to the ability of ONI to keep it under wraps. And besides, the Spartans are needed on the Insurrectionist front quite badly. But we have more than enough candidates that will be able to do the job we have in mind, for example," she said, picking out the file of an ODST Colonel from the ODST's 101st Division's crack Spec Ops unit, "Colonel Jonathan O'Neill of the ODST 101st Division. His record is exemplary in all ways. He's never failed a mission, he's cleared our security screenings with flying colors and he is just the start of our list of candidates."

"I know O'Neill, I had him under my command during my first tour on Harvest fighting the Red Hand Cell in 2520," Admiral Griggs said, nodding at the name, "He's a good man, a born leader."

"You make an excellent point Admiral," Hammond replied, "I have also received a list of some people who are already taking part in the program. Two of them are my top picks for going through the Stargate. Captain Samantha Carter, our foremost expert on the Stargate and its proposed capabilities. She practically single handedly wrote the program for the dialing sequence of the gate and has also seen quite a bit of her own frontline service. And I also know her father, Admiral Carter of the Third Fleet. Another possible candidate for the team is our finest linguist, Dr. Daniel Jackson, his knowledge of the glyphs and markings on the gate cut months if not years from our research. It was he who put together the missing piece to get the gate working."

"And those two have passed our security screenings as well," Admiral Osman replied, "And Captain Carter's own intellect is on par with Dr. Halsey and she's not nearly the egotistical cannon Catherine is. We can order her do something and she'll do it, no questions asked."

"So I take it that we agree that the Spartans are no longer needed for our first team?" Parangosky asked, seeing the prevailing consensus at the table, "So who do we pick?"

"Well, I would vote for Colonel O'Neill as commanding officer of the team," Griggs said immediately.

"I second that vote," Osman said, getting a nod from Parangosky. Hammond kept his peace as he pondered the subject, he knew no matter what he said the decision and approval of the team rested with Admiral Parangosky.

He knew that the Spartans were the best and deadly soldiers in the UNSC, and that ace in the hole for him was a luxury unlike any other. But at the same token he'd have to deal with their master mind, Dr. Halsey. He'd heard and read the reports of what she'd done to get the Spartan Program going and make it what it was today. Her expert knowledge and intellect was one of the most treasured in the UNSC. But he was wary of the baggage that came with it. He had Captain Carter already, a young officer of nearly equal intellect but with none of the ego and civilian status to side step.

"Well, I'll have to go with a team without the Spartans. Their record is exemplary, but they're needed elsewhere and Dr. Halsey's own record is questionable enough to keep her out of the loop. But I would like to say that we keep the Spartans in mind if an emergency evolves needing their unique skillsets and Dr. Halsey's own skillset."

"Very well Admiral," Parangosky nodded, "We have a team leader. I want Colonel O'Neill transferred to Reach's CASTLE Base within the week."

Location: Delta Arcturus System, Planet Outland, Outback City

Date: March 25, 2527

Time: 1920 Hours

The tiny little exploratory colony of Outland, the farthest planet from Earth, was hardly the fortress world. It was barely settled, with little to no large firm infrastructure established on it. The UNSC had a great deal of trouble keeping a firm presence in place to protect the population of one hundred and fifty thousand souls. This made it a perfect spot for Insurrectionist activity to fester and grow. In orbit there was nothing but a single Charon Class Light Frigate, the UNSC Until Death, and a pair of small Corvettes, the UNSC Wishful Thinking, and UNSC Raise the Flag. But that was it, there were no UNSC Army units on the ground, barely a shadow of a militia, and a corrupt police force in the largest city on the planet, Outback City. But secretly, there was one group of UNSC troops on the ground. Their mission was one of seek and destroy an Insurrectionist cell operating out of the planet's space port.

The space port was where its numerous food stuffs were shipped back to the rest of the colonies. It was a farming world, with most of its populace farming wheats, grains, oats, and many types of fruits and vegetables in the rich soils of the planet's plains and river regions. There was a smaller mining operation in the mountains surrounding the city taking iron, zinc, copper, and even gold and silver right out of the ground. These metals were taken in their raw form to a fledgling industrial complex where the ore is extracted and refined and then shipped out to the more complex industrial planets of the mid and inner colonies. Outland colony was meant as the first of the Outskirts Colonies that went even further away from the established UNSC bases of power and to be a base for future colonization missions and as a massing point for UNSC forces to mass in case of unrest. It was privately funded by a conglomeration of farming unions, mining companies, and shipping firms looking to exploit the potential resources of the untapped worlds beyond the Outer Colonies. But this meant that it was the perfect place for the Insurrection to take root far from UNSC power.

That Insurrectionist presence was what this team of five Spartan II Commandoes was there to deal with. In overall command of this team was Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan John-117. In his team were Fred-104, Kelly-087, Linda-058, and one of the largest Spartan II's Samuel-034. They were in their powerful and advanced MJOLNIR Mk. IV Armored Exoskeletons, with MA5B Assault Rifles, M6D Magnums, flash bang grenades, and fragmentation grenades with the exception being Linda who carried an SR99 Sniper Rifle as the team sniper. Linda was situated high on a large loading crane that gave her a perfect view of the space port's warehouses that held the weapons cache that the team of Spartans knew held something deadlier than a few rifles and improvised explosives.

"Blue Five, sitrep," the Master Chief said into his comm, calling for Linda to give him a low down of what she saw.

"Eyes on target area, count nine heat sigs on ground floor, and three on the roof. Negative visual on the package and radiation sweeps are negative," Linda responded, looking through the thermal sight of her sniper rifle, of which she'd swapped the muzzle break with a silencer for stealth.

"Copy that, moving in on target," Chief replied, and put up his hand and waved them forward, "Blue Two on me, Blue Three and Four, move parallel to us."

Three blue winks answered his orders as he got the confirmation from his team and crept forward with a silence that didn't seem possible for a half ton suit of armor and Spartan. The four of them had gotten to within twenty meters, directly across from the warehouse in the cover of a stack of crates and boxes and didn't have much further to go. So with cat-like stealth, and inhumane speed the four Spartans were right outside of the warehouse where they were now capable of hearing the conversations of the Innies inside with their augmented hearing. John knew that he had nine Innies to neutralize inside and three on the roof. So his mind instantly came up with a plan.

"Blue Five, neutralize hostiles on the roof. Blue Three and Four enter and sweep from right to left. Blue Two, we'll sweep from left to right. Execute on my mark," Chief said, looking at the motion tracker to see that the majority of the hostiles inside were bunched up, more than likely playing cards.

"Blue One, be advised, I'm picking up a large heat signature from one of the hostiles. Proceed with caution, I can't tell what it is," Linda called out as Master Chief opened his mouth to give the signal.

"Blue Team hold, Blue Five give me a radiation reading now."

Chief had a theory about this sudden heat signature. He and the rest of the Spartans had passed civilian modded Cyclops exoskeletons used for heavy lifting here and there in the warehouses as they'd closed on the target. Something like that would put a bit of snafu in this operation.

"Negative Chief, heat signature is moving, I'm still not certain what it is."

"Very well, Blue Two," Master Chief said to Samuel, the team's muscle, "If contact is a Cyclops then it's all yours."

A blue wink on the HUD gave Chief the acknowledgement he was looking for and he nodded at his team for them to get ready, "Breach and engage on my mark, mark!"

On the crane Linda squeezed the trigger of her rifle and felt the kick of the silenced weapon and used it to level her aim at the second, not bothering to look at the gore that was to follow her sure shot. Without hesitation she fired again, and saw that the third one was within feet of the second man and drew a bead on him as well and fired without hesitation. The three Innies were hit and killed in such close succession one would think there were three snipers targeting them. But no, it was only a Spartan.

The four Spartans outside the warehouse yanked the large metal sliding doors back and rolled four flashbangs into the large mostly empty ground floor. The clattering of the cylinder shaped charges got the attention of eight of the Innies, none of whom had weapons within reach. The explosions and blinding flashes did their jobs, and all of them screamed in agony as the powerful shock and awe weapons blinded and deafened them. This moment of weakness wasn't really necessary for the Spartans, but it worked out all the same. The single shots of the MA5B Assault Rifles rang out in quick succession as the Spartans leveled their weapons, double tapping opponent after opponent. This firing roared out in less than a second due to the Spartans' 300% faster reflexes due to their augmentations. By the time the Innies hit the ground the Spartans had reloaded and were now facing off with a single stunned Innie who had been inside of a large civilian Cyclops exoskeleton. The massive mech dropped the large metal crate it was holding as it stumbled awkwardly from its driver being disorientated but then turned to face the four Spartans.

"Blue Two engage, cover fire!" the Chief ordered, squeezing the trigger and sent torrents of rounds right at the protected canopy of the Cyclops.

Bullets pinged off of the bullet proof glass and metal plating as all seven foot eight inches of Samuel charged forward with his weapon on his back to free up his deadliest weapons, his hands. The Cyclops driver saw the charging Spartan and threw a punch of the powerful mech right at him but at the very last second Samuel dodged to side, and let the concrete floor take the bone crushing blow for him. He jumped forward at the Cyclops, his right fist locked and drawn back. His half ton armored body slammed into the Cyclops, and he grabbed onto the metal plate with enough force to bend and mutilate the metal. His fist came forward at the blacked out canopy and smashed through it like one would shatter a porcelain vase. His fist continued through the glass, and into the chest of the Innie, caving in his ribs, collapsing his lungs, and totally pulverizing his heart. The Cyclops toppled onto its back from the two consecutive blows with a loud crash that broke open several empty wooden crates. The Innie only saw the shattering glass before the fist made impact and he died just as suddenly. Samuel felt the Cyclops freeze and stop responding as its driver died and rendered it inert. He withdrew his hand and saw that it slightly dripped with dark red blood. He stood upon the dead mech and its driver and looked to the rest of the Spartans who had been aiming their weapons ready to assist.

"Clear!" Samuel yelled out, grasping his rifle once more to be ready for anything.

"Copy that," Linda spoke over the radio, "No new contacts. Standing by for orders Chief."

"Very well," John said, and turned to the rest of his team, "Spread out and locate the objective."

The other Spartans nodded and spread out into the warehouse, looking for the tell-tale radiological symbol that nuclear ordinance was always marked with. The item they were looking for was a HAVOK Nuclear Mine that had been taken from the UNSC Homefront, a fleet tender on its way to rendezvous with a UNSC Battle Group before it was jumped by a group of Insurrectionist ships. The entire crew was killed save for a single man who hid inside the vents he had been crawling through for maintenance and was found when the UNSC responded and recaptured the ship. They'd tracked the nuke here after a threat from a small Innie cell went public, saying their usual threats and demands and showed the nuke on camera to give themselves leverage. But all they'd done was seal their fate.

"Chief," Kelly called out from the back of the warehouse, "Got something."

The others continued searching while John walked over and kneeled down next to Kelly who was leaning over a medium sized square cut into the concrete floor. It had a small handhold on one side to allow for a crowbar to pry it up but it was just big enough for a Spartan to get a good grip and lift it up. The Chief could see a small meter in his HUD start to glow that signaled the presence of radioactive material. He reached down and pulled the concrete slab up like it was made of wood and saw the steel container marked with UNSC markings and radiological symbols. He and Kelly reached in and lifted the large crate and gently set it down and John carefully ripped off the lock and opened the case to see the disassembled components of the nuclear warhead in their lead and foam insulated case.

"Good work Spartans, package is secure," the Chief said, getting nods from his team as they relaxed their guard. He switched frequencies to alert the ONI Captain aboard the UNSC Until Death, the frigate in orbit that they'd deployed from, "Command, this is Blue Team Actual, authentication Juliet Sierra one one seven. Objective is secure, repeat objective is secure."

"Copy that Blue Actual, good work. Prepare for extraction, Pelicans inbound ETA five mikes," the radio said.

"Very well, command, Blue Actual out."

The Spartans had by now begun going through the pockets of the Innies, checking for anything of use such as phones, data pads, or anything that might lead them to more Innie hideouts or leaders. The Spartans had become used to this type of operation by now, and not one of them had even begun blinking an eye at the act of killing these people. They'd all done it so many times and in many ways, some more graphic and personal than others. But best of all to them, none of their brothers of sisters had ever not come back from a mission. Sure some had gotten banged up from time to time, but those that did simply shrugged it off and came back after a little rehab and R&R back on Reach. But for the Spartans all that meant was some sound sleep, good food, and friendly competition in everything from CQB to smuggled video games that were set up in the recreation center on base.

But the night was not yet over for the Spartans, not by a long shot. Something else was on its way that would test them like never before.

Location: Delta Arcturus System, Planet Outland, UNSC Until Death

Date: March 25, 2527

Time: 1950 Hours

The Pelicans had taken off for the planet below to retrieve the team of Spartans and the nuclear device that they'd easily retrieved, leaving the crew to finally relax after several hours of being on standby. The Until Death was a Charon Class Light Frigate, the work horse of the Fleet. She was 490 meters long, 156 meters wide, and 139 meters tall with two feet of Titanium-A Battle Plate. She wasn't built for hard core ship-to-ship combat like the mighty Marathon or Halcyon class Cruisers, or for hunting down pirates like the Gorgon Class Destroyers and Paris and Stalwart Class Frigates. She was more for policing duties and troop deployment. Of the Frigate classes she and her sisters carried the most fighters, dropships, and ground vehicles, making her and her own sisters the prime movers of troops to trouble spots. But compared to what the Insurrection fielded her own single MAC gun, twenty-six M58 Archer Missile Pods, four M870 Rampart 50mm Point Defense Guns, and three M4093 Hyperion Nuclear Delivery Systems were more than enough for one or two of them to hold their own.

The UNSC Until Death was at the moment in orbit with two smaller Mako class Corvettes in close attendance, keeping an eye on the space of this new colony. The little corvettes' heaviest armament were four turrets armed with 50mm Point Defense Guns with a half dozen smaller Anvil-II Missile Pods for smaller targets that the little ships were actually meant to tackle. The crews of all three UNSC ships were calm and content, the majority of the two companies of Marines stationed aboard the frigate were on the surface with their weapons, equipment, and supplies landed so that in the event of the Until Death being called away they wouldn't be short on anything they might need and so that the frigate could move out immediately. But the Until Death still had her detachment of thirty six ODST's aboard where they could deploy via HEV pods within minutes of being ordered.

The ship was under the command of Lieutenant Commander Andrea Valdes, a recent graduate of the Fleet Academy on Reach. The UNSC Until Death was her first command, and she was happy to have her. Her crew as well was green, with only the senior Chiefs having the slightest experience in the Fleet. At the moment she was on the bridge, where she liked to be, watching her bridge crew doing their jobs and looking out at the view of the planet and space itself.

"Commander," the voice of the ship A.I. Celestis spoke up, her green avatar form appearing on the holographic projector to Valdes's right, "Captain Grier reports that his team has successfully completed their mission and are en route to Fire Base Alpha. He has returned the ship to your command."

"Thank you Celestis, how did the mission go? No casualties I hope?"

"I'm sorry Commander, that information is classified Tier One," Celestis responded without missing a beat.

That's the problem with these Dumb A.I., no personality, Valdes thought to herself, "What's the status on the Wishful Thinking's FTL? Have they got it fixed yet?"

"Negative, they are still reporting that it is offline."

"Order Chief Kaiser to get some of his grease monkeys together to help them out," she ordered.

"Commander, sensors are reading a slip space rupture twenty degrees to port. Make distance fifteen thousand kilometers," one of the men at the sensors station to her left called out.

"There's not supposed to be anyone showing up for two days. Ensign, get me an ID, now."

"I'm trying ma'am, contact, two ships, signatures do not match anything in our records."

"Commander, those two ships came out of the same slip space window," Celestis called out.

"That's impossible," Valdes responded.

"That may be true, but there are still many things we do not know about slip space."

"Commander, I have a visual," the ensign called out.

"On screen."

The monitor flashed up, showing a rather odd looking pair of ships. Both were quite large, with a single tetrahedron surrounded by a dark gray latticework. Their hulls were dotted with tiny pinpricks of light as they closed in parallel to one another.

"Lieutenant, bring the ship to Tactical Alert, Alpha Two. Alert Wishful Thinking and Raise the Flag to do likewise. Alert the colony and our ground side forces. Celestis call Captain Grier to the bridge."

The ship went to full alert, crewmen and pilots rushed to their stations. The sound of the shrill alarms went off across the ship as hatches were sealed, gun safeties were tripped, and the targeting systems warmed up. The ship heeled over to face the unknown intruders head on with the two Corvettes flanking her. The two unknowns slowed down to within effective range of the Until Death's primary weapon, her MAC gun and faced off with the three UNSC ships. They were larger than all of the UNSC vessels, but their cross sections were bigger, which made hitting them easier should it come to that.

"Commander, shall I order Chief Haiser to belay the gathering of a work crew?" Celestis asked as the ship settled into its alert status. Maybe these Dumb A.I. do have a sense of humor, Valdes thought to herself.

"Yes, belay that order. Warm up the MAC, and release safeties from our nukes," Valdes said as the ships hovered there menacingly.

"Ma'am I am receiving a signal from one of the unknowns."

"On screen Lieutenant," Valdes ordered and saw the screen flash to life.

What greeted the eyes of the UNSC crew was something that made them all do a double take. What they saw was an ornate golden mask with a border on the sides of its human face in blue and white. It looked exactly like something out of an Egyptian movie about mummies and pharaohs. Lieutenant Commander Valdes furrowed her brow in confusion at the sight and began thinking that the full alert was a bit of a jumpy response to what seemed to be some kind of a weird prank/role play. So she had a little trouble taking what the figure said next seriously.

"I am Ra," a deep foreboding voice said over their speakers, "I claim this world and its inhabitants as my own domain. Surrender yourself and your pathetic fleet and you will be spared to serve me. If you resist your deaths will be swift."

Valdes looked at her bridge crew, who were equally confused and in some cases entertained, "This is Lieutenant Commander Andrea Valdes of the United Nations Space Command Ship Until Death. Be advised any show of aggression towards UNSC warships and personnel will be met with equal force. If you have laid claim to this planet then I must direct you to Colonial Administration Authority."

At this point the door opened and in walked the black uniformed ONI officer who'd been in command of the Spartan team charged with retrieving a nuke from Innies on the planet below. He looked over at the rather strange sight of the Egyptian style masked figure on the screen and the oddly designed vessels in front of the ship, "Commander? What is going on here?"

"Captain Grier, apparently, this guy is claiming to be someone named Ra, and is demanding our surrender. He says that he has claimed Outland as part of his own domain and has threatened us. Friend of yours?" she said, looking at him with a slight grin.

"We've never met, and I've never heard of him. But I do know the name, I studied a bit of Egyptian history in high school, Ra is the name of the Egyptian Sun God."

"Well he is certainly acting and dressing the part," Valdes responded as the figure calling itself Ra spoke again.

"A god does not barter with lesser beings. Bow before me, and serve. Or be destroyed," Ra said, and the feed cut off.

"Well whoever or whatever he is, he's high on something. Launch all Longswords, Celestis give me a target solution on the ship to the right for the MAC. Prepare Archer pods A through D for launch on the second ship," Valdes ordered.

"Commander, what are you doing?" the ONI captain demanded.

"My job, this guy may be some kind of whackjob, but it's pretty clear to me that he intends to attack us and I'm not taking any chances."

"Targeting solution acquired, Archers are locked on target," the Lieutenant in charge of weapons called out.

"Contact, hostiles are launching secondary craft, make twelve bogeys."

"Celestis you have the fifty millimeters. I want Wishful Thinking and Raise the Flag ready to open up as soon as hostiles open fire."

"Aye aye Commander."

The twelve flying wing shaped craft were smaller than a Longsword, much smaller. But they were closing in fast. The four Longswords of the Until Death formed a picket line between the fighters and the ships and faced off with the enemy. The Until Death adjusted herself so that her MAC gun had the ship on the right square in her crosshairs. The magnetic coils for the gun were practically glowing with electricity as the 600 ton ferric tungsten slug waited to be unleashed.

And soon, the time arrived, "Hostile fighters have opened fire on our Longswords. Hostile ships are closing."

"Ma'am, fighters are reporting that hostile fighters are using some kind energy weapon against them."

"What?!" Captain Grier snapped.

"They're too far away sir, I can't get a definite reading," the same man replied.

"All ships are clear to engage. Launch Pods A through C. Check solution on the MAC and fire," Valdes ordered excitedly.

Archer missile pods deployed from their housings on the hull of the frigate and let loose their powerful warheads. Smoke trailed the fast missiles as they sped towards the ship on the far left. The lights of the thirty missiles racing towards the ship were then overshadowed by the sudden shaking of the MAC firing. The large ferric tungsten slug was but a beam of white light as it sped from the UNSC ship. The entire bridge crew watched it all the way in until it impacted the right ship. A golden glow instantly surrounded the ship, and the ship jolted backwards from the powerful blow. But it just kept coming.

"Celestis, what the hell did I just see?" Valdes snapped.

"Commander, it seems that these vessels are protected by some kind of energy field that the MAC round impacted. No damage appears to have been done, I would suggest focusing fire on a single target to counter this."

"Do it!" Valdes ordered as she watched the waves of Archers impact the shields of the second ship with similar frightening results, "Dammit, prepare Pods A through I for ripple fire. Fire every missile in those pods. Prepare Shivas for launch, set them to detonate by the lowest proximity they can."

The ship shuddered as more and more missiles lanced out at the ship that had already been hit by the MAC gun. Valdes looked longingly at the MAC's charge level as it made its way past ten percent. Her best weapon was the MAC, that was what every professor in every combat course she'd taken at the Academy had told her. But here she was, baring witness to a ship that had taken a MAC gun right on the nose and was now baring down on her. She watched as the next wave of Archers impacted, lighting up the golden shielding with orange and red explosions from the supposedly powerful missiles. The two Corvettes were letting rip with their own guns and smaller Anvil missiles at the same target, but it didn't look like it was doing them much good. Then she remembered that their fighters were shooting some kind of energy weapons at her Longswords, and she surmised if their fighters had them, then these big behemoths would have bigger ones.

"Helm, bring us about, course one-eight-zero, flank speed. Celestis launch Shivas to take position at eight hundred kilometers from target. Calculate a course to slingshot us around using the planet's gravity well for speed. That'll give the MAC time to charge. Execute."

"Aye aye ma'am," the navigation officer responded, tapping away at the controls.

The Until Death heeled over, and accelerated with everything her four engines could muster. The two Corvettes fell in line behind her, letting loose with their point defense guns to keep the fighters at bay so that their Longswords could join them in the maneuver. The three ships accelerated quickly, using the gravity well of the planet to their advantage and put distance between them and the enemy ships who were still trying to close. This type of maneuver bought them time to charge the MAC, reload the Archer pods that had been emptied, and bring three more Shiva warheads into their now empty silos. If the two ships pursued, they'd buy even more time, if they stayed in place they'd be right in the crosshairs of the UNSC ships when they came back around at full speed, hopefully too fast to get a good shot off.

But then Commander Valdes realized something, her ships had no shields, and barely any armor plating. Add the fact that their weapons had thus far proven to be ineffective the odds of losing were very real. The UNSC had to know what was happening, no matter the cost. She couldn't take her own ship, that would doom these two Corvettes to certain death and possibly sentence every man woman and child on Outland to the same fate. That left the only other FTL capable ship, the Corvette UNSC Raise the Flag. She didn't like weakening her already outmatched force, but it had to be done. While she was thinking about it she remembered her ship still had a platoon of ODST's aboard. If the ship went down, they went down. She couldn't let them perish without being able to stand and fight, so she made up her mind.

"Captain Grier, the UNSC hasn't faced anyone like these guys right?" she said once they disappeared around the far side of the planet.

"That's right, at least as far as I know," the ONI man replied.

"Which means the events of this contact scenario need to get out to the rest of the Fleet. I'm not willing to leave this planet and those two Corvettes here to die, and the Wishful Thinking's FTL is offline, that leaves the Raise the Flag to get the word out."

"I see what you mean Commander, and I couldn't agree more," he replied affirmatively.

"Celestis, copy the sensor logs and dispatch them to Raise the Flag and order her to spin up her FTL and to jump to the nearest colony to raise the alarm," she ordered.

"It's done," the A.I. stated after a half second.

"Captain, when we come again things are likely to end badly. I think you should get to the HEV bay. I'm dropping my ODST's on the planet just in case."

"Commander, if it's all the same to you I'll stay. I've never run from a fight before, and I'm not about to start now," the man responded, drawing surprised glances from the bridge crew. The common consensus about ONI personnel was that they always shied away from fights, and would never risk their necks if they could help it. But not this one.

"Fair enough."

"Ma'am, Lieutenant Gibson from Raise the Flag is contacting us," Celestis piped up.

"Let's hear it."

"Commander, I figured I wouldn't get a chance to say it later, so I'll say it now, what you're doing is the bravest thing I've seen and I'll put you and your crew in for a Citation. Good luck, Gibson out."

Then the small ship opened up a swirling slip space window, and dove into it, disappearing from the formation. The two ships continued speeding around the planet, and their crews braced themselves. In the ODST bay, thirty-six Helljumpers in full armor locked their weapons into place within their drop pods and sealed themselves in. Their pods were loaded with the coordinates for their drop zone and their CO said one last good luck to the skipper of the ship before he felt his pod drop away from the speeding frigate and start its rapid descent into the atmosphere. The four Longswords too peeled away and dropped into the atmosphere to land so they could live to fight another day.

Now free to focus on the task at hand the two UNSC warships rounded the planet with the two enemy ships right where they estimated they'd be. The two of them turned to face the oncoming UNSC ships, and for the first time opened fire. Several golden bolts streaked by the Until Dawn within several hundred meters. The MAC gun was by now charged and loaded, the three nukes were loaded with three more positioned nearby the enemy formation. Every Archer missile pod was loaded and ready and the guns of both ships were trained on target.

"Celestis order our warheads to target the first ship, fire MAC to hit in tandem with nuclear detonation. All Pods and our remaining warheads to fire on the second ship."

Three orange lights appeared behind the first ship, and sped right at it, their internal programming instinctively causing them jink and maneuver to avoid point defense fire that never came. A count down timer appeared on the weapons console, telling him when to let loose. But the bolts of golden plasma continued streaking past the two ships, drawing closer and closer until the inevitable happened. A single bolt struck the Until Death on her starboard engine nacelle, blasting away a chunk of the armor. But thankfully, this was where the ship's armor was strongest, but the hit wasn't harmless.

"Hit on starboard engine nacelle. Armor down to ten percent, hull breach detected on deck eight section two, sealing it now," one of the bridge crew called out.

"Firing MAC in three, two, one. Fire!"

The ship shook once more with the firing of their main weapon, by now they were close enough that the total time for the MAC to impact was less than a second. The three contrails of the Shiva warheads ended in three miniature suns that enveloped the first ship in blinding white light. The 600 ton slug smashed the shields of the enemy ship at the exact same time. But this time, the results were different. The shields flared for a second, fighting back the impact of three 140 megaton Shiva nuclear warheads on one side, and then collapsed with the sudden piercing blow of a six hundred ton projectile being slammed into it at a fraction of the speed of light. The slug continued in until it shattered the gray latticework of the hull and smashed clean through the pyramid section. Explosions ballooned throughout the ship, gutting it and fracturing it into large pieces. The incoming fire ceased from this ship as the vessel became debris.

The Until Death now unleashed its other weapons as it swung around. Dozens of Archer missiles lanced out with three more nuclear warheads right behind them. The guns of the two ships opened fire with everything they had. But the luck of the UNSC ships soon ran out. The Wishful Thinking took shuddered under the blows of three consecutive hits from the plasma bolts of the enemy ship. Her thin armor offered little resistance and the bolts cut deeply into the little vessel. Hull breaches scattered along her damaged sections as fuel lines and missiles detonated and split the little Corvette into pieces. The Until Death too took hits. Eight plasma bolts cut into her armor, wrecking the ship's starboard side. Hull breaches began appearing by the dozens as the ship fought desperately, emptying the last of her Archer missile pods. The detonations of the three Shiva nuclear warheads coated the enemy ship in bright white light, and gave them pause and a momentary respite to the wounded frigate.

"Commander! We have hull breaches on all starboard sections. We have lost maneuvering thrusters and sensors are down. Archer missiles have been expended and the MAC has been disabled!"

Explosions rocked the ship as the Until Death slowly died, seeing no alternative, Commander Valdes looked around at her darkened bridge, and made her last decision as commander of the UNSC Until Death, "All hands abandon ship. Celestis, initiate Ship A.I. Protocol Article Five," she ordered, and looked back with sorrow in her eyes, "I'm sorry."

"I-i-it's alright comm-commander. It has-has been an honor," the scratchy damaged voice of the A.I. spoke calmly as ever.

Within the A.I.'s memory banks, Celestis's own subroutines kicked into action, deleting themselves block by block until all that was left were the physical hard drives themselves, which then detonated themselves with thermite incendiary charges that melted through the hard drives until all that was left was molten copper, plastic, and steel. The ship's crew scrambled to life boats, desperately trying to get off of their dying ship. Most never made it as the ship shuddered from more punishment at the hands of the enemy ship. One by one, and two by two, the lifeboats launched away from the ship and angled towards the planet. The last one was piloted by Lieutenant Commander Valdes herself along with members of the bridge crew. She spun the life boat around to watch as her beloved first command ruptured as her engines overloaded and exploded, tearing themselves away. The ship had live up to its name, she'd fought valiantly, and had gone down fighting. She looked now at the large ship responsible, and watched it turn towards the planet.

She knew that there were Marines and ODST's on that planet with weapons, equipment, and vehicles that hadn't gone down with the ship. But there were five other soldiers down there as well. Those soldiers were Spartans, which meant this fight wasn't over, not by a long shot.

There we are, I think that's a good place to stop. I know that in the show a supposedly 1,000 megaton nuclear warhead didn't bring down the shields of Apophis's Ha'taks. But for this story I'm going to tone down the shield strength of the Ha'taks a bit because of how weak they ended up being later on in the show and for the fact that we've got quite a bit to go. Thanks for reading, hope you all enjoyed it. Please leave a Review and click those follow and favorite buttons for more.

Oh I also came up with an idea as I was writing this and I was thinking about how I could get Noble Team into the story at some point. And that train of thought got me to thinking about writing a story about Noble Team surviving the Fall of Reach and joining the Chief in his adventures on Halo. It's still only an idea at this point. But I think I can pull it off once I wrap up Brutal Truth.

Next Chapter Preview: That's right, SG-1 is in this one. Let's see what happens when Teal'c meets the warriors of the UNSC. And we learn what happens when you try to make Spartans kneel to a false god.