Chapter Three – The Bandwidth
A Slipspace bubble appeared outside Reach orbit. The single ship that limped out had used none of its few weapons, and its cloaking device had been damaged. It was packed with survivors, and more than a few had been sick because of the abrupt Slipspace jump.
"Status!" Lukson called out breathlessly.
"Engines failing, cloaking out." One Lieutenant replied.
"All weapons accounted for, all at 0 charge." Weapons replied.
"Gaining access to Reach Highcomm." Communications explained.
"So, Harmony, mind explaining what the HELL just happened back there?" Lukson turned on the AI.
"I'm just as clueless as you are, Commander. One moment we were just about to be taken out by plasma and the next we were in Slipspace." Harmony explained, a little bit of her suave gone.
"Then what happened?" He turned to his bridge crew. They all sat with their chairs turned around, watching the Commander. "Did you do something?" he demanded hotly.
"Yes." Lieutenant Junior Grade Cody Orien stood up, facing the Commander calmly. "While you two bickered, we spotted the incoming plasma torpedoes, got the civilians who would listen to get into cryosleep, then jumped off to a random set of coordinates as per Cole Protocol. While you were still getting a hold of yourself we came home."
"So you acted without direct orders?" Lukson asked. "You know you're not allowed to do that."
"Would you rather be dead?" Lieutenant Margaret Trainer asked from Navigations. "We had no choice. Otherwise we'd be single-handedly responsible for the deaths of everyone from Troy. Not to mention that we too would all be dead."
"But -" Lukson began.
"This is Reach Highcomm. This is the Bandwidth?" came the transmission from the comm station.
Before Lukson could speak, Harmony broke in. "Yes. We have just returned from our mission. We were only successful in part."
There was a pause and the speaker asked a strange question, "Do the badgers fly at midnight?"
"Indeed. Sometimes they may even stalk the land, glassing their foes before they may evacuate all their civilians." Harmony replied. She then elaborated to the crew. "Everything related to this mission is classified to everyone except those who ask you that question."
"But then we can't tell people about the evacuation of Troy?" Lt. Trainer asked, surprised.
"As far as the UNSC is concerned, Troy wasn't evacuated. They were being transported because there was reported rebel activity near that area and the UNSC wanted to clear it out." Harmony explained, then she turned back to the person from Highcomm. "Tell Standish I will brief him on the mission when I get back to the base."
"I can do that." And with that the connection went dead.
"Ship the civilians to the surface. This ship will need a fix-up before it does anything like that again. Oh, and all five of you, you'll be wanted to speak with ONI at some point soon. Just letting you know." Harmony vanished.
"Dammit!" the technician swore loudly. He had been able to successfully get every civilian who had been in cryofreeze out and into dropships for transportation to the surface. That is, every civilian except one.
Jessie lay, still asleep in her malfunctioning cryotube, blissfully unaware of the chaos around her. The technician monitoring her vital signs wasn't worried, nothing had changed at all inside the tube. However, for some unknown reason the cryotube wouldn't open.
The technician slumped to the ground before the unforgiving technology. "I give!" he cried, "it's been four hours and I've made no progress! Someone else can try it."
He walked out.
Sigma Octanus... a colony world that had done well to prosper in such dark and dangerous times, serving boldly as one of the free civilian ports that the UNSC had not locked down. It was from here brave pilots would begin their random slip space jumps, before heading to their destinations; whether they were to other colonies for food and supplies, or to search the detritus of systems long glassed by the Covenant, or remains of great battles... survivors where hoped for, but rarely found, even in cryotubes or on moons.
The citizens of the world were varied and came from all over; retired captains of every creed and color, descendants of proud lines of first generation colonists, and refugees of hundreds of fallen worlds... But the planet was not something one would gawk over at arrival at the planet. Not like Reach, the UNSC military stronghold, or Earth, the homeworld of the humans. But it was here, Sigma Octanus VI, where the Covenant decided to attack next. With a flash forty-one Covenant ships appeared in-system, and among them was the Truth and Reconciliation, and on it, Erpa 'Lytamee and many Stage 1 Konuelo. The Konuelo were quick to board a Spirit dropship – they wanted to get in on the fun... immediately.
The message was sent to Harmony in mid-creation. Harmony stared at the reports.
Sigma Octanus was under attack?!
She contacted the crew, most of who hadn't had a chance to leave,
To all crew aboard the Bandwidth, this is Harmony. I am aware that our commander has left to speak with ONI, but we still have our bridge crew. Sigma Octanus is under attack, and we are to report to that planet immediately. Return to your stations. I will collaborate with the bridge crew as to who will be in charge. Harmony out.
The Bandwidth, still damaged from its defense of Troy, jumped into the Sigma Octanus system from the Slipstream. It took in the horde of Covenant crafts and spotted a single UNSC ship just waiting to be annihilated. It appeared to be swarming with Spirit dropships.
"Alright bridge crew, listen up. I want us stationed near that ship, Commander Billing's ship. I want maximum power to the engines, and I want our MAC gun charging as fast as possible." Harmony began dishing out orders. The bridge crew, secretly glad to be rid of Commander Lukson, were at their tasks in moments.
"I can only route enough power to the engines to get us 86. I could get more, but we'd melt down awfully fast." LTJG Orien said.
"Then give us 86. I don't want us melting in mid-combat." Harmony replied,
"We can charge our MAC gun at a rate of 1 per four seconds." Adam Tulloc called out from Weapons.
"Do it. And Lt. Trainer, get us to that combat as fast as possible." Harmony ordered.
"I'm on it." Margaret replied.
A dropship flew for the surface. On it sat a set of figures, Sangheili, all but one Yanme'e. They awaited their chance to cleanse the planet of humanity, but only after taking the Holy Artifact that stayed on the surface.
"Heads!" A human ship appeared in view from nearby. It was damaged, and appeared to have just come from a battle. "Pilot, take us into that ship! I want to see about capturing it. It shouldn't be hard, just alert the fleet to not completely destroy it." 'Lytamee called.
"Yes sir!" The pilot called back.
"To all Covenant forces nearby, we are attempting to capture the human ship that has entered the system. Do not strike killing blows. Over."
The Spirit blasted towards the Bandwidth, streaking past its point-defense cannons, its size hiding it from detection. Meanwhile, the Truth and Reconciliation targeted the Bandwidth with its long-range plasma cannons. It took a second to charge them and as it did, it fired out hundreds of plasma bolts, all flying at the Bandwidth. Most of the bolts missed, but 1 impacted, just under the ship's bow.
"We've been hit!" Orien cried. Harmony scanned the ship. It had taken a heavy beating, and wouldn't last much longer.
"Alright. I'm taking extreme measures. I want a MAC round fired at the largest Covenant ship. Then I want us to retreat and get some atmosphere between us and them. Meanwhile I think I'll pull out our wild card again.
"Come in Petty Officer Tom Starle. Please report to the bridge immediately. I have a task for you. Harmony out."
Tom Starle stood before Harmony.
"I am going to be put in your head. From there we will together board Billing's ship and defend it from the boarders. I am leaving Lt. Trainer in charge of the Bandwidth. Are we in agreement?" Harmony asked, eyeing the SPARTAN.
"Yes ma'am!" He said.
"Excellent." Harmony vanished from the holopedastal. It took a moment for her to download herself to the data chip, and then it popped out. Tom inserted the card into his helmet, and felt the cool presence of an AI entering his mind.
Everything functioning within full parameters? Harmony asked him. Perfect. Now let's make out way to the hangar bay.
Tom left the bridge at a run, heading for the hangar where he could grab a Longsword.
"Alright, you all heard Harmony. What's the charge of the MAC, Tulloc?" Lt. Trainer asked.
"98... 99... Full charge." He replied.
"Open fire at the largest ship in the fleet. That one." Margaret pointed to a cruiser larger than the rest.
"Yes ma'am. Harmony's sub-AI is handling the direct targeting… got it!" The MAC round blasted from the Bandwidth, slamming into the side of the Truth and Reconciliation and downing its shields. The round had hit a weak point however, and it ripped through a pair of decks along the top as well.
The Truth and Reconciliation retaliated by firing it's main plasma cannon and ripping the MAC gun clean off the human ship. The human ship was then fired on by two other Covenant ships, blowing the engines clean off of it.
The spirit hovered inside the human ship's hangar bay. The Covenant dropship had been able to sneak past all the human's defenses and now was dropping off the camouflaged Sangheili. Korajyra leapt out last, hiding behind a human Longsword so his brothers could make sure no humans were there. The Yanme'e couldn't waste his invisibility, for it would not last.
"All clear." 'Lytamee called through the link. "Korajyra, activate your camouflage."
The Yanme'e obliged, and the squad of Konuelo troops snuck towards the entrance to the hangar. But to their utmost surprise, the door opened before they could press the pad to open it. And to their horror a human stood on the other side that they didn't want to see – a Demon.
The Bandwidth stumbled under the blow. It fell back, and its bridge crew worked frantically to fix the ship.
"MAC offline!" Tulloc cried.
"Engines heating at a rate of – holy crap! They're gone!" Orien stared in shock.
"Oh god…" Trainer mumbled. The other bridge crew looked at her. "There's a Covenant dropship just outside our point-defense system's range. And it's flying away." She turned to face the rest of them. "It was a pleasure knowing you all. You're great people, and I'm sorry it had to end this way."
The Covenant's here! Harmony hissed. She had spotted the dots on the motion tracker just before the camouflaged Sangheili had stopped moving.
Tom leapt to the side. His shotgun was out in a flash, but as he eyed his motion tracker, nothing appeared. Then, after a moment of waiting, he saw a red dot come through the door.
"DIE BITCH!" He yelled, opening fire with his shotgun. Nothing happened. There was no Covenant there. What the hell? he thought. The red blip was still approaching slowly, but it should have been blown to bits. He looked around. Still seeing nothing, he began backing away. Suddenly needles flew at him from above. Surprised, the SPARTAN dove to the side. A few of the purple projectiles hit him, but the damage to his shields was minimal. However, when he regained his senses, he found himself facing a group of red dots before him. Then they vanished.
"Aw crap. Just fight fair for once." The SPARTAN didn't let down his guard, but he did back up. From in front of him plasma bolts flew at him, as if from a wall of cloaked sangheili. He turned to run, seeing a sangheili shimmer into being on the ceiling as its cloaking ran out of power. He dashed for the next corner, but the plasma downed his shields before he could make it. The SPARTAN dove, managing to grasp the corner and dodge most of the plasma at the same time. He leapt up, propelling himself by pulling off the wall, and he dashed into safety around the corner. Then he heard a hiss, and touched his back.
"Oh no." The plasma grenade exploded, vaporizing his chest and killing him instantly.
'Lytamee strode around the corner, the rest of his squad and Korajyra behind him. The Sangheili picked up the Spartan's remains and dragged them to the hangar, where he placed them in a human jet.
"The Demon plagues us no more." He muttered, then joined the rest of his squad in the hallway. "Alright. Korajyra, you and I will move through the ship towards the bridge. I want you four to go secure engineering, and I want you five to loop around and begin taking out the marine barracks. We don't want prisoners, we just want technology. The rest of you, stay here and don't let any humans escape."
The Sangheili nodded and began to move towards their objectives. "Korajyra, I will go ahead of you. If I see a human, I will signal you to activate your camouflage. From here on out, we will not use our comm channels."
Korajyra nodded, and the two Konuelo snuck through the Bandwidth towards the bridge.
"Why are we not dead yet?" Tulloc wondered. He stared at the viewscreen, watching as human and Covenant tore each other apart, completely ignoring the gutted and hamstrung Bandwidth. "It's like they were told not to attack us."
"They know we're not a threat." Katherine Gillespie muttered from next to him. They both knew that Cody Orion and Margaret Trainer had loved each other, and they were spending their last minute in space expressing it. "They're going to finish off the planet, then take us in."
There was a hiss from behind them, and the two Lieutenants spun around. Cody and Margaret lay on the ground, cleanly beheaded, and over them stood nothing. But this nothing held an active plasma sword.
"Oh shit!" Adam yelled. He reached for his pistol, but was stopped as something completely alien wrapped its arms around him. Just as he was trying to figure out what was going on, pain lanced up his body. He looked down to see nothing but a score of bloody holes in his abdomen. With a final exhalation he collapsed, and Korajyra pulled out the blood-covered needler.
'Lytamee dodged to the side as Margaret grabbed Adam's pistol and opened fire on the two Konuelo. However, she couldn't see either, and was only going off of the glowing plasma sword and the bloody needler. 'Lytamee reached Margaret, who couldn't back up because she was cornered, and stuck her through. The last of the bridge crew died.
Korajyra reappeared, and 'Lytamee called through the comm, "Status?"
"We've secured engineering. No damage to the heathen ship."
"We're currently finishing off the barracks. It's slightly more difficult than we thought, and we've lost 'Terualanasee, 'Escarbendee, and 'Dorensee. Give us some time and we'll finish them off."
"No one has tried to escape the ship."
"Excellent. The ship is ours." 'Lytamee smiled. "Now, to report."
"Truth and Reconciliation, this is Erpa 'Lytamee Konuelo. We have secured the damaged ship and are preparing to bring it back for inspection."
Unbeknownst to 'Lytamee or Korajyra, the copy of Harmony purged the navigational files and self-destructed, erasing all knowledge of the rest of the human-inhabited worlds. This capture would gleam them nothing in the way of navigational data.
"We've finished off the human defenses."
"This ship is ours, gentlemen." 'Lytamee said through the shipwide comm. A ragged cheer went up as the Sangheili converged on the bridge. All the Konuelo had deactivated their cloaking, as there was no reason to keep it on.
'Lytamee alerted the Great Prophet to have them get picked up and towed back to High Charity, where scientist teams could draw out whatever information they needed to down the humans. The Covenant ship moved close to the Bandwidth, opening up a tow cable and snagging the human ship.
After pulling the Bandwidth into the ship, the Great Prophet opened a portal into Slipspace and left the system, bound for High Charity.