Chapter Five: Reinforcements
Odin's Eye, UNSC Point Of No Return, 13:00 Hours, April 23rd, 2525
Two men sat around a single table in the dim room, both silent, seemingly waiting for something, or someone. One had graying hair, and looked older than his age. He had the insignia of a Rear Admiral on his collar, and carried himself a bit straighter than his counterpart. The other male had dark hair, and his posture was a bit off, likely from the condition known by UNSC personnel as 'space walk', a result of spending too much time in microgravity. He was a Captain, judging from his rank.
The two were Ned Rich and Aaron Gibson, and both were in charge of ONI special operations. Rich was the Covert Operations Commander of ONI's field operations, in charge of every special operations unit within ONI...save a few. Gibson was in charge of Section Three's Black Operations division. A 'hands on' counterpart to Rich's job.
After a few more moments pass, the door of the room silently slides open, a somewhat withered looking woman walking through. The moment she passes through, the door slides silently shut behind her, once again appearing like a part of the wall. She was sixty four, though she appeared closer to a hundred. Still, anyone who knew who she was would be very cautious, as people who crossed her tended to...disappear. With one exception.
"Ma'am." Both of the men say simultaneously, both moving to stand up as well, before she gestures for them to sit back down, her taking the third chair a moment later.
"Can I assume both of you know why you're here?" She asks quietly, her studying the two. As expected, they nod.
"Yes Ma'am. You want our opinions on that new project...N-7." Gibson answers, Rich just staying quiet.
"Well, that's a start. But it isn't the only thing I wanted to talk about." She pauses briefly, bringing up training records and budget diagnostics for both projects on three tablets, before handing one to each of the men. "But as I said, lets start with that. What's its feasibility compared to the SPARTAN II project?"
Gibson's eyes widen a bit, letting out an almost silent curse. "You could build a new battlegroup for what Halsey's spending, especially on that armor she's developing."
Rich doesn't really react much, taking a drink from a flask he happened to have on him. "The N-7's certainly aren't as effective, though they're a bit cheaper. Still, giving them ODST training, along with that alien technology...it makes each soldier worth a fair amount." The man sighs a bit. "Margaret, what's your take on this? Because from what I see, Spartan's are actually more efficient cost-wise. The gap in expenses just isn't large enough compared to the gap in effectiveness."
The vice admiral glares daggers at him for a few seconds, likely due to him using her name, before the expression disappears from her face. "And about the...other problems with the Spartans?"
Her two subordinates glance at each other, before Gibson reluctantly speaks up. "The N-7 project certinly is far more moral. The trainees are veterans, not children. No clones, no grieving families. And due to the lack of a specific genetic set, there is certainly a larger training group. Five hundred of them, compared to the thirty three Spartans."
"Well, it seems like N-7 will end up being the one mostly used, though I have to wonder, did you only choose to fund this because Natalie Sarrow, the director of the program, happens to have a certain...dislike for Halsey, similar to yourself?" Rich comments after Gibson had finished, glancing at Parangosky.
"Rear Admiral, you know I put business ahead of the people I dislike. If I didn't, Halsey would have been frozen in space by now, victim of an airlock 'accident'." She gives the older man a look that promptly tells him to shut it, unless he wants to end up in an 'accident' like the one she had just described.
He rolls his eyes and takes another drink, before he notices the screen of his tablet change to an image of a ship, one that doesn't resemble any human design. "What's this, Margaret?"
She doesn't answer quite yet, letting the two men look through a quick slideshow of images, all showing various points at the Battle of Shanxi.
Gibson narrows his eyes as he studies an image of the planet, before looking up at the vice admiral. "I recognize the world. It's Shanxi...but I didn't know it had been attacked by aliens."
"No one does but us...and the men and women down on the surface. We received this information at 02:00 this morning, thanks to an ONI sloop that managed to escape the system. I've had it sent to alert CENTCOM, and its estimated that a battlegroup will be arrive in about a week."
"A week? That seems like wishful thinking. It'll be a week before CENTCOM makes up their minds, and probably a month or so until the ships get there. Assuming they follow standard protocol, and travel using slipspace. Ever since the Atlas Incident, the Relays are too dangerous for military vessels to risk." Rich mutters, though the younger man in the room looks slightly curious.
"Atlas Incident? With all due respect sir, what are you talking about? We were all told military ships used slipspace because the relays demagnetized the magnetic coils on MAC cannons."
"Be more careful, Rich." Parangosky says ominously, before she sighs a bit. "No Captain, that was a falsehood we created to cover up an operation that had...unfortunate side effects to the Atlas system. A group of insurrectionists rigged a few fusion warheads to go off when a significant amount of Titanium-A was near."
"Clever. I assume it was meant to go off when a large UNSC warship, like a cruiser or carrier passed through?"
"Correct, Captain. The explosives set off the Relay...and when it detonated, it wiped out over half the planets in the system. Fortunately it was uncolonized, but the blast destroyed several valuable warships. Now...I do hope you won't tell anyone about that little secret, will you, Captain?"
Gibson shakes his head immediately.
"Good. Now, back to the battlegroup." Parangosky brings up several images. "Due to the Force of Will already being lost in the system, CENTCOM will likely arrange for a larger force to be sent. Since a mere frigate did such damage to our new enemies, the nearest warships that aren't busy will be sent. The force will likely consist of the destroyer Heracles, and the frigates Arabia and Vostok. Such a force should prove sufficient to fight off any returning alien forces, at least until a larger force can be assembled. In fact, I sent the CO of my sloop with orders to suggest that particular composition."
"That should work...though why only those three? You have forty other ships that you have listed as 'available'. Why not send all of them?" Rich asks quietly, taking another drink when he finishes.
"You think forty warships is necessary? Rich, that would be one of, if not the largest battlegroup in the history of humanity. Why is that necessary to deal with a clearly inferior opponent?" Gibson asks, somewhat incredulously.
"Captain, these are alien ships. For all we know, those could have been the smallest ships they have. I don't intend to underestimate this new threat." He replies evenly.
"Gentlemen, please be quiet. To answer your question Rear Admiral, I only sent three because I believe that it wouldn't be wise to show our full capabilities just yet. However, I took the liberty of sending those ships all to the 23 Librae system under the guise that they were there to eliminate an insurrectionist base. Which isn't a lie, though honestly, that system's fairly quiet right now, and the op can be scrapped at a moment's notice. I even decided to pick a commanding officer for the new 'Battlegroup X-Ray'. His biography is available for you two to look at now."
Both men listen intently, before examining their tablets. The younger man speaks after a lengthy pause. "Preston J. Cole. Thirty six years of service, including several skirmishes with insurrectionist forces...quite a few, actually. Don't get me wrong, his record is impressive, though he strikes me as a bit...unwilling to follow protocols. That and due to his connections with a known insurrectionist, he was disgraced and has been put on desk duty for a while now. Are you sure he's the right person for the job?"
"I am, Captain. He's shown adaptability and his use of unusual tactics may help us against these new enemies. And his current position means he'll be an excellent scapegoat if we lose."
Everyone falls silent for a few seconds, before Rich reluctantly speaks. "Alright, Margaret. I can see there's no arguing with you here. but a standard Rear Admiral won't exactly have the authority to command a fleet that large. And how do you know he'll even accept the offer?"
The old woman smiles a bit. "He will. Especially if he wants to become Vice Admiral Cole. Maybe even higher, if he wins."
Rich raises an eyebrow. "Do you even have the authority to do that? You're only a Vice Admiral yourself. Wouldn't someone at CENTCOM have to decide that?"
She waves a hand dismissively. "They'd take too long. No, I already sent an agent to give him the offer. These plans are already in motion."
"If everything's already been decided, why did you even need us? Besides the special forces bit, obviously."
"Oh, i just know you two are some of the only ones who aren't afraid to tell me if my plans won't work. Now, meeting adjourned."
The three get up and leave the room, one after the other. To the rest of the universe, it would be like none of them had ever been here.
Hillsborough Class Destroyer CMA Heracles, Shanxi System, 04:00 Hours, May 2nd, 2525
"Good work, crew. I think that might be record time for this particular route." A middle aged man comments quietly, giving his crew a bit of a smile. Compared to the standard UNSC uniform, the men and women aboard his vessel likely looked rather plain in the garb of the Colonial Military Authority's naval branch. Still, all of them were willing to fight for humanity, or they wouldn't have came along on this 'volunteer only' mission. Or at least, it seemed that way.
"Transmission coming in from the Vostok and the Arabia. Both are in optimal condition, and will have regrouped with us in about ninety seconds." A young woman comments quickly, her seeming a bit stressed out at the moment.
"Thank you, Lieutenant. And I suggest you all try to relax. CENTCOM thinks the aliens haven't reinforced the system yet. We should be fine."
The rest of his bridge crew nods, though its clear that they don't exactly believe that. Still, everyone seems to be doing the systems diagnostics fore each of their respective duties, and it seems like there's nothing wrong, the crew reporting that all systems are functioning normally.
After a bit over a minute the comm officer speaks up again. "The Arabia and Vostok are holding position a hundred kilometers off of our port and starboard flanks respectively. They want permission to approach the planet."
The Captain nods to her, letting his officer relay the command to the other ships, before the deck shivers a bit beneath their feet, as the destroyer's engines activate. The three ships approach in formation, everyone holding their breath in anticipation as they soon travel around the moon, the planet's orbital elevator soon being visible.
"Lieutenant, establish comms with the militia garrison, if you can." Veredi comments quietly, noticing several chunks of wreckage orbiting the world.
His communications officer nods, her quickly tapping at her controls, eyes briefly widening. "Captain, someone wants a word with you."
He waits a few seconds, before sighing. "Put it over the bridge speakers."
They nod quickly, tapping something, before giving him the thumbs up.
"This is Captain Maribeau Veredi of the CMA Battle Group Four. Who am I speaking to?"
A tired, almost emotionless female voice replies quietly. "Captain Evelyn Sykes, Thirteenth Shock Troops Battalion."
"Ah. Well, Helljumper, how are things on the surface?"
A cold laugh comes through the speakers, causing his crew to anxiously look at each other.
"Helljumper, could you please answer the question?" He calmly asks, though he puts a bit more force into his tone.
"You're all about three days late."
"So...most of you are dead? Captain, stop being vague and answer the damn question. I need specifics."
"Lauf jetzt. Dies wird deine letzte Chance sein." She quickly replies, before shrieking a bit, obviously in quite a bit of pain for some reason. "Go shove a-" The second part had obviously been meant for someone else in the room with her, though its cut off.
Veredi slashes a hand over his throat, his comm officer muting their side of the conversation. "Anyone speak German? What did she say?"
Eventually, his helmsman speaks up. "I'm a bit rusty, sir, but I think she told us to run. That it would be our last chance. I don't know why she would say it in German, though."
The Captain sighs. "I do. The aliens are holding her prisoner. Clearly they know English already, so she switched languages so that they wouldn't understand her." After a few moments of thinking, he speaks once more. "Unmute us."
The young woman nods quickly, their words now being capable of being heard once more.
"Helljumper, are you still there?"
This time, her reply just sounds depressed, her quietly muttering a single 'yes'.
"What do these aliens want? Why have they attacked us?"
"Something about us breaking a law and activating that one Relay. Oh, and using nukes. And a bunch of other crap. As for what they want...they currently want you to power down weapons and engines, and wait to be arrested."
"Seems to me they'll need a lot of firepower to do that."
"Captain, take my advice, or choose to fight. And activate your weapons systems. They'll be jumping in short-" She lets out an agonized howl of pain, her also choosing to let out several select curses. "I hope you kill a lot of these bastards." they pause, this time clearly clenching her teeth and biting back another scream. "Good luck."
The comm cuts out, though everybody starts working immediately, the communications officer telling the other ships to do the same. Which is good, because not thirty second later, the aliens arrive.
"Captain! I'm reading contacts all around us. Twenty corvettes, four frigates and a cruiser."
The ship's CO sighs audibly as the ship shudders, taking the impact of several alien light weapons. "MAC solutions for that cruiser. Tell the Vostok and Arabia to target a frigate each. As for missiles, fire all pods, target the remaining two frigates. Ignore the corvettes for now." The ship bucks again, getting another sigh. "This'll be a long day." He mutters under his breath.
CMA Headquarters, Taiyuan, Shanxi Surface
Evelyn spits a bit of blood from her mouth, before smirking at the three aliens in front of her. "Told you they weren't going to accept it."
The female was tied to a chair in the now mostly destroyed militia headquarters, with her armor pretty much entirely removed from the waist up, her currently only wearing a bra up there. Her skin was covered in burns and bruises by this point, along with a multitude of cuts, though there wasn't too much serious damage, short of a few broken ribs.
One of the aliens (that she had learned were called 'Turians') makes a growling noise, holding a metal rod in their hands, the end of which sparked with electricity. They had been jabbing her with that, along with other torture methods, for a while now. Though...that wasn't why she had cracked. While two of the aliens in the room were Turians, the third was a blue skinned humanoid known as an Asari. They more or less just looked slightly flustered whenever Evelyn had asked them a question, and actually seemed fairly uncooperative with the Turians, which led her to believe that she was being ordered by someone else to help these aliens, and that it wasn't something she wanted to be doing.
Apparently the whole mind meld thing was quite significant in their culture, as Shaia (the asari) pointed out during one of the 'interrogation' she had with Evelyn. Due to it being quite intimate for their species, the Helljumper had equated it to being forced to have sex with someone, and Shaia had pretty much agreed that it was similar. So naturally, since she wasn't a total asshole, the ODST felt a little bit of sympathy for her. It wasn't enough that she wouldn't kill her, if she got the chance, though she behaved less violently when the blue-skinned alien was around.
The less aggressive turian makes a sighing noise, before muttering something in its native language and walking away, which interrupts Evelyn's thoughts, the woman trying her best to look at where they were going. She doesn't get the chance to see anything important, though, as the alien clutching the shock prod jams it into her stomach. This time, she manages to stifle any screams, her just glaring at them for several seconds until they stop. "I can see why I'm tied up, you know. It's because you're afraid a female's gonna kick your sorry ass all the w-"
She's cut off as they angrily pistol-whip her in the jaw, her deciding that silence might be a better strategy, at least for now. The alien then promptly asks Shaia a question, which she assumed was asking what Evelyn had said. After the asari answers, the turian jabs her again, this time in the neck, before muttering something to their translator.
Shaia walks over and kneels next to Evelyn, having a small smirk on her face. "You know, I would suggest you stop pissing him off. I actually kind of like you, and I'd rather not see your head rolling on the floor."
"It's a personal talent of mine, Shaia. I'd hate for it to go to waste." She manages a bit of a grin, though its clear she's in quite a lot of pain. "So how long until they execute me? Since I assume that I'm not useful anymore?"
The alien tilts her head a bit, before indicating the Helljumper's tormentor. "Well, I think that depends how much you aggravate this one. Since the general just gave him permission to do what he wants to you."
The woman rolls her eyes as she hears the turian say something directed at Shaia, making her slightly curious. "So what did he say?"
She sighs, not exactly enjoying delivering this news. "He says that he wants to see you beg for your life. Then he'll return you to the other prisoners. If not...well, I think we both know what he intends to do."
Evelyn surprisingly manages a bit of a chuckle, getting a rather odd look from Shaia.
"Why are you laughing?"
"Simple. I'm not afraid of dying. So please, tell him that I think he's a coward, a weakling, and...well, you know more about his species than I do. Think of a few more insults for me." She smirks and leans back on the chair.
"You are going to get yourself killed." The asari rolls her eyes, before she turns and relays the message, with a few additions.
The male alien immediately tenses up when they hear that, quite obviously pissed off and likely a bit stunned, too. After a few seconds of simply glaring at the human, he tosses aside the shock prod, walking up to her and pressing one of their talons next to one of her eyes, the threat being fairly clear. So rather than apologize or anything remotely similar, Evelyn tilts her head back, and spits in his face.
They growl, quickly wiping it off, before jamming the claw into her eye socket, getting a low groan of pain, though she manages to hold her tongue and glare at them with her good eye. If she was going to die in the next few minutes, she didn't intend to give in first. Soon enough, they pull it out, wiping the blood off of their finger with a nearby rag, before tossing it aside. Though as they study her face again, they actually look mildly impressed, though that doesn't stop them from drawing their sidearm and pressing it to her forehead.
The woman chuckles a bit once more, before closing her good eye, and feeling the blood from her injury slide down her face. She takes a deep breath, and three heartbeats later, she hears a bang.
Author's Note: So, that was chapter five. I must confess that I have lost most of my motivations in this story, though for the sake of the people reading it, I don't intend to give up quite that easily. Still, don't expect quite as many updates for this story compared to Dogs of War. Now, on to the sometimes fun, sometimes annoying part. Answering questions.
Shadow Walker of Fire I've considered everything you that you said. Thanks for the ideas.
Major Sivi Thanks.
Artyom-Dreizehn Okay, I've read all of what you said. And I am grateful people keep bringing science stuff in here, because if I'm being honest...well, I don't have the time to research every little detail, though I do read your comments, so I learn new stuff frequently. As for the rest, I read it, obviously, and I am going to use most of the info. Thanks. As for the nuke comment, they are quite damaging out of atmo, at least at close proximity, due to the vacuum enhanced loads that the UNSC uses (Though you are right, they're better in atmosphere). And I'm not trying to make them afraid of nuclear weapons, the opposite, actually. Since they are currently outlawed by the Council, my main reason for bringing them up was just one more intergalactic law the UNSC broke. In short, one more reason for the war (and the plot) to go on.
Lycaon 117 Thanks. I'm glad that you guys think the writing quality is decent (which is actually better than I thought it was, though I do have a somewhat low value on my own work.) As for the updating bit, I promise that I will try to continue that trend.
And that's it for now. Talk to you all later. Bye.