Chapter 4: Tau Ceti
FAR Station, Tau Ceti. January 13th
Nhab Nin sat upon a waiting chair in the ONI station departure room. His gudi lay across his face. Jimeanius, the Jiralhanae paced the room restlessly. He inhaled loudly in boredom and stared out the glass window into space. The warm light of Tau Ceti bathed the station room. Nhab sighed.
"Peace, Jiralhanae." Sighed the Kig-yar. "We're not high priority to them. They'll be here in a few hours. Take a nap."
The Jiralhanae turned and snarled, obviously not used to being talked down to in such a way by a Kig-yar.
"I grow restless, Jackal. There is little to do aboard this station." Jimeanius muttered. "How can simply sit there and do nothing?"
"I have all I need, My Beam Rifle, Protection from my enemies, and peace. With all that, I'm free and happy to do as I wish." Zhab laughed.
"Ohhh. Very prophetic." Liyik whispered to his brother, Limid.
Limid laughed. The Kig-yar snapped the Unggoy. The two were unimpressed.
"Kig-yar thinks he's scary. Ohhh." Limid laughed.
Jimeanius snorted, then returned to staring out into space.
"Imbound slipspace signature." A voice blared over an intercom.
The Kig-yar raised his gudi slightly to allow his eyes to see. Usually it would say that is was an anomaly, not a signnature. That was enough to tell Zhab that they were expecting this signature. Perhaps their ride was here. In the distance, he noticed a small blue ball in the distance, which disappeared after a few seconds. A dark, grey ship turned towards the station and began its approach. Zhab tried to examine the ship's profile, but it was far too far away to properly examine it, but he could see that it was dark and grey. A human ship then. He wasn't too concerned by that. After all, this was a human organisation.
Static broke over the room. "This is the UNSC Spearhead of Dawn, preparing to dock." It was a human female voice.
Zhab stood up and mounted his beam rifle on his back, and his combat harness physically locked it to his back using a series of mechanical arms, not magnetically. The human ship closed distance rapidly. They all watched quietly. After a few minutes, the ship slowed and turned to dock. It slowly approached the station, heading for the docking port on the boarding bridge. There was a clang.
"Ship docked. Pressuring bridge." The intercom informed them.
They all stood up and took several steps towards the door. The Brute and Kigyar spared a quick glance while the grunts jumped around, laughing insanely. Which, of course, they kind of were. There was quiet for a few seconds. There were then several clangs from the other side of the door. Then the door slid open. Light bathed the room. The Kig-yar raised his arm to shield his eyes from the light. The light suddenly died, revealing four figures standing in the corridor before them.
"Well…" The Jackal muttered to the Jiralhanae beside him, "Maybe they do care about us."
I+-+-+I
John stepped out of the Spearhead's airlock, into the Tau Ceti station's docking bridge. The Arbiter and the two hunters followed. A year ago, John would have been looking for the best place to run without get shot by the Elite and the Hunters, but now, here he was, with those said aliens being his companions. He would never understand it.
The door ahead of them opened as they approached, revealing an arrival/departure lounge, or so it appeared. The light from some of the Spearhead's lights flooded the room for a split second, before Cortana dimmed it.
"Whoops." She muttered over the team COM.
The dimming of light revealed four figures in the room. Two laughing Unggoy, presumablely Liyik and Limid, suddenly stopped laughing and stared in disbelief. A Brute stared aswell, Jaw hanging freely. A Jackal also stood with them. He stood, obviously surprised. He muttered something to the Brute, which the Brute was too dumbfounded to hear.
The Master Chief was, despite his humble opinion, was definitely a dumbfounding sight, especially among non-humans. The Mjolnir armor was his identity to everyone who knew him as a figure, but not personally. The Arbiter, was also an intimidating figure, clad in a mix of his traditional and modern Elite armor. The Hunters, of course, although clad in what they called "Worker" Setups, were always an intimidating sight.
There was silence for a minute as both parties looked over each other. Then the Unggoy broke the ice by running over to one of the Hunters. (The Chief had yet to figure out which one was which) They stopped at the feet of the Hunter. One reached his hand into the hunter leg gap, where the Lekgolo worms that would up the creature were exposed to allow leg movement. The Hunter immediately jerked back and growled. His brother also turned, growling faintly.
"Touch me again, Unggoy, and I'll crush you into a speck." He warned.
"Hmm. I'll think I'll pass." The offending Grunt replied.
The other grunt bounded across the corridor, stopping directly in front of the Arbiter and stared up at him like a child does when he asks his parents for candy.
"Do you have any food nipples?" He asked.
The Arbiter's bottom two jaws parted in confusion.
"Uh…" The Sangheili paused.
"Over here, boys right inside the ship." Cortana suddenly stated over the COM on the ship.
The two grunts jumped and ran towards the airlock of the Spearhead. Once they entered the airlock, Cortana closed both doors, trapping the two inside the airlock. It was comical.
"Oh… Sorry." She replied to them banging on both doors in an attempt to escape. "I lied."
"Finally. Some intelligent conversation." The Jackal muttered. "I never want to be stuck with those two again."
"Are those two always that… crazy?" The Chief asked.
"You have no idea, Demon." The Brute replied.
There a pause, then a pair of doors from inside the station. A pair of marines escorted a scientist out. The Scientist held an AI chip.
"Ah. Section four's 'The Squad'." He replied. "All here at last. You are almost ready. I hold here your final member."
He raised the AI chip. The hologram of a Sangheili appeared standing on it. It was the same blue that Cortana used.
"Greetings." It said. "I am Galactic Alliance AI VLA 9162-8. Also known as Vala."
The Arbiter stepped forward, obviously intrigued by the idea of an Sangheili AI. John was, in fairness, rather interested in the idea of it, but he doubted that it could really replace Cortana.
"She is fully ready for ground combat. I believe the matrix on your ship has been prepped for having two AI active at once." The Scientist stated, offering the chip to the Arbiter.
The Elite hesitated, then took the chip. The AI's hologram looked up at him.
"Well. Looks like we're going to have great fun, Arbiter Thel 'Vadam." She remarked.
He parted his jaws slightly in the Sangheili equivalent of a smile.
"If you say so." He replied, and placed the chip in one of his armors magnetic clips.
"You do know where to go first, Right?" The Scientist asked.
"To find our hideout in the system." The Chief replied.
"Yes. I have the co-ordinates for it. I'll have a guys at hangar control transmit it to you before you leave." The Scientist checked his watch. "Which you should be doing around now." He remarked.
I+-+-+I
A few minutes, the Spearhead of Dawn
The Spearhead had a number of unique systems on board, for instance, triple reactors, Dual SMACs and, most notably, a complex on-board war games simulator. Outside this room, the entire squad waited in a side room. This was a test for the entire squad, to see if they were capable of working together.
In the side room, the team selected their loadouts for the sim. According to the Cortana, the whole thing was based in hard light, which she manipulated to create the sims. She had to move the hardlight around them to create the illusion of a map in a small "wing" of the frigate.
For this sim, The Chief would be using the Sangheili AI as the combat AI for the sim. The group of different aliens stood awkwardly in the room while Cortana loaded the sim in the room next to them. All that could be heard was the clanking of armor and the hum of the Spearhead's Engines.
"Simulation ready in… Twenty seconds." Cortana announced.
The Chief's professionalism kicked in, and he stood up.
"Com check." He announced.
"SQ – 1, Online." The Arbiter announced.
"SQ – 2, Here." The Jackal, Zhab, replied.
"SQ – 3." The Brute muttered.
"SQ – 4, here!" One of the the two grunts shouted.
"SQ – 5, waiting." The other replied.
The Hunters would not be taking part in the sim, after all, they were there purely for maintenance.
"SQ – AI, Online." The Sangheili AI announced.
"COM link to UNSC Spearhead of Dawn, Online." Cortana replied. "Simulation loaded. Doors open."
The Chief led the way into the room. As soon as he entered, the loadout he had selected; A Battle rifle with dual SMGs. He knew they weren't there, but he could feel them.
"Very well done, Cortana." He complimented.
The room he was in was the a corridor of a UNSC ship. It was the drop pod room. Lines of UNSC HEV ODST pods were lined upon the walls, waiting to drop. The other members of The Squad entered the room, marveling at the weapons that just appeared in their hands.
"Objective: Board the pods." Vala stated.
The Chief complied. The Arbiter also boarded a pod, surprised to find that it fit him well. The Brute also did the same. The Grunts fought over a pod until the Kig-yar separated the two of them, forcing them into different pods, before taken his own.
"All crew boarded. Countdown engaged." Vala announced.
Cortana's voice broke over the COM. "Scenario: 0638. A Covenant splinter group has stolen a pair of UNSC HAVOK nuclear weapons. They are transporting it to a hidden base on the planet. Sources have stated that no-one outside the base knows of its location. Your object is to eliminate the team escorting the nukes before they hand it over to a team from the base. There is a ten point five kilometer stretch where they can be intercepted. Good look."
The HEV pods detached and fell. The Unggoy screamed. The pods feel quickly through the planets upper atmosphere. The COM silence was only broken by the screams of the Grunts. The Chief hoped that they were worth the bother and annoyance that they were putting them all through.
"One minute to impact." Vala announced.
The pods tore through the medium height clouds of the planet. The System's star shone above them. The ground below them seemed fresh and sunny.
"Thirty seconds."
They headed through the lower clouds.
"Cortana, Do you have a topography map for the mission?" The Chief asked.
"I have it, Master Chief." Vala replied, sounding annoyed.
She displayed it in front of him. He say their landing point marked in red. A blue line represented the path the nukes' escorts would use. The HEV pod engaged slowdown procedures. The Chief jerked in his seat, and then the pod fired its thrusters for the last kilometer. Finally, the pod slammed hard into the ground. The Chief waited for a count of five, then popped the hatch. He drew his BR and stepped into the green plains of the planet. The other members of the Squad climbed out. The Arbiter and the Brute seemed unaffected by the trip down. The Kig-yar seemed rather disorientated by the fall, but he seemed functional. The Unggoy staggered in circles.
The plains around them were plain, with small hills, which prevented them from being visible, but they could still see the tops of the hills, along with a short stretch of the path visible.. A single tall tree stuck up in the distance.
"Jackal." The Chief said. "Can you climb that tree and tell us where the escort is?"
"Gotcha." He snapped, strapping his rifle to his back and sprinting to the tree. He lunged at it, successfully climbing it in the space of a few seconds, becoming lost in the mass of leaves. The rustled slightly, as if by the wind.
The Squad gathered at the foot of the hill the tree sat upon. The Jackal opened the COM.
"I see them… They're coming this way, they're using a turret-less Wraith to hold the bombs." He replied.
"How many?" The Chief asked.
"Let's see… Ten- No fifteen Sangheili, Three Kig-yar, Twenty clueless Grunts." He stated. "The path is on the other side of the hill to the east of you."
The Spartan turned. He grinned under his helmet.
"Stay up there, snipe at will once we engage." He ordered the Kig-yar.
"Yes."
"Weapons up, everyone." The Spartan announced.
The Arbiter drew his Carbine. The Brute drew a Spiker. The pair of Unggoy raised their fuel rod cannons. The Chief began a slow, quiet advance up the hill. The group reached the top, with them keeping low to avoid being noticed. Even the Unggoy were quiet. The Chief scoped his rifle and looked down the hill, onto the path. About one hundred meters away, the group of Splinter Covenant advanced.
"Wait a second." The Arbiter began. "These guys have human nuclear weapons. Is there any danger if they are hit by crossfire?"
The Chief paused, but Vala spoke up.
"No. Human weapons have to be remotely or Manually detonated for a nuclear explosion. They have no degree of powerful explosives inside them to be activated by the exchange." She told them.
"Very well." The Sangheili exhaled.
"Once they reach the bottom of the hill, open fire." The Chief said. "Until then, hold and stay low."
Even the Unggoy obeyed without question. The Splinter group advanced to about fifty meters from the bottom of the hill.
"I cannot get a clear shot." The Kig-yar growled. "They just went under my line of fire. I'll give you guys cover should you need to retreat."
The Remnant reached the bottom of the hill. The Chief stood up, shouldered his BR and fired. The shots impacted upon a sangheili below. Three shots slammed into the Elite's shield, and it darted to the right. The second burst broke the shield and impacted into the head of Sangheili. He fell. The Arbiter rained down Carbine rounds, taking down a single Sangheili before he even drew a weapon.
The Grunts at the rear of the group, behind the Wraith, drew their weapons in considerable panic at the ambush. Liyik and Limid jumped up and blew apart the Unggoy group. The Sangheili in the front paused at the ferocity of the Unggoy attack. They hadn't even got off a shot before half their number had been blown apart.
The Brute's spiker round tore through a Sangheili's shields and sent him to the ground. The Arbiter and the Chief combined firepower, taking down Sangheili in single volleys. Liyik and Limid turned their fuel rods upon the front lines of the remaining Sangheili and Kig-yar. They opened fire, blowing them apart, empting their entire clip.
"A job well done!" One of them barked.
A beam rifle fired. There was a cry from elite.
"Sorry. I saw a survivor making a break for it." The Kig-yar notified them over the COM. "And another. Wait a sec-"
The Beam rifle fired again. A thud followed.
"So." The Chief said, walking down the hill to the Wraith, which was mostly untouched. "What now do we do with these."
"OBJECTIVE COMPLETE." Cortana's voice broke over the COM. "Simulation ending. Please exit via the door to your right."
A door appeared out of thin air. The Squad exited it, only to find themselves back in the waiting room from before the sim had started.
"Simulation ended." Cortana announced.
I+-+-+I
Spearhead of Dawn, Bridge, January 13th
The Arbiter returned to the bridge with Vala's chip. He was alone when he reached the room. The others had retired to the "Common" room, which was a concept that was completely alien to him. He walked over to the terminal and inserted Vala. Her hologram appeared. She gave a faint smile in the form of parting her jaws.
"Back in here, again." She said.
If there was one thing that the Arbiter had noticed about the Sangheili AI was that she lacked Cortana's sarcasm, instead being very literal about everything.
"A pleasure to have you." Cortana replied.
"Where are we now?" Asked the Arbiter.
"In an asteroid field in Tau Ceti." Cortana informed him.
On the holotable in the center of the room, a map of the system appeared. Their destination was inside the field. It was marked as a red point, whereas the ship was a blue point.
"Any trouble?" He asked.
"Nothing." Cortana replied.
The Arbiter sighed and took the Captain's chair, staring out into the blue-green cloud in the distance. Asteroids drifted around the hull of the ship.
"Hold on." Cortana paused. " A blip."
The Sangheili turned his chair around. "A blip?"
"Interesting… It's gone now, but it was definitely there." Cortana replied.
"I detected it as well, but as Cortana said, it's not there anymore." Vala stated.
"Scan again. Also, warm up our weapons and heat up the reactors." The Arbiter ordered.
"But, there's nothing there. It was probably just an material laden asteroid reflecting our scanners." Cortana protested.
"Never hurts to be cautious." Vala said.
The Arbiter nodded. There was silence for a few minutes. The ship drifted through the field in silence.
"Nothing detected." Cortana repeated for the umpteenth time.
"Scan again. Keep us on cour-" He began.
"Ship detected!" Vala suddenly shouted. "Holding position on an asteroid. It just powered up."
"What kind of ship? Human or Covenant?" He asked.
"Receiving Message." Cortana informed him.
"Patch it through." The Arbiter ordered.
A grainy video of a Kig-Yar Queen resolved itself on the main screen of the bridge.
"Stand and Deliver!" Hissed the Queen. "Your money or your life!"
"They must new to this." The Arbiter muttered. "Tell them to Yiofer (Sangheili swear I decline to translate.) off."
"Sent." Cortana sounded amused.
"35% to engines. Get us outside the asteroid field." The Arbiter ordered. "Anything on that ship?"
"Got a full scan." Vala announced.
She displayed the hologram of a CPV class destroyer. It was damaged in patches, but seemed intact and functional. It broke away from the asteroid and accelerated quickly.
"That's… odd..." Cortana remarked. "Most reports show that this ship usually is slower than this."
"Get me a visual." The Arbiter asked.
A picture of the destroyer appeared on a right screen. It burned full out, also trying to get out of the field.
"Ahh…" The Arbiter parted his jaws. "The Kig-yar are naïve. Most ships never go this fast, as the ship is hard to maneuver as it is, but at that speed it's nearly impossible to turn it."
"I understand." Cortana replied.
The frigate rose up out of the asteroid field and slowed down as it headed away from the destroyer.
"They're moving to intercept." Cortana informed the Arbiter.
"Prepare the cannon." He replied, referring to the MAC.
"MAC charging." Vala announced.
The Spearhead suddenly swept back, aiming directly for the destroyer. The destroyer turned sluggishly. Points on it glowed an angry orange and red as the plasma torpedoes charged. The frigate's SMACs were at 80% charge. The destroyer fired six plasma torpedoes.
"They've fired six torpedoes!" Cortana yelled.
"Brace for impact!" The Arbiter yelled over the COM and grabbed the bars of the holotable.
The torpedoes slammed into the Spearhead's shields. The ship jerked slightly.
"Shields down to 96%" Cortana informed them.
"Fire a missile pod." The Arbiter ordered. Hopefully this would distract the destroyer while the MACs charged.
"Firing." Vala announced.
The BOWMEN torpedo pod broke off the ship. The blue torpedoes, around 16 of them, accelerated towards the unprepared the destroyer. The torpedoes slammed into the destroyers, breaking the shields with only a single torpedo, the rest slammed into the destroyer, literally ripping it apart into mere fragments of hull.
"Woah." The Arbiter gasped as he saw the explosion light up space.
The humans weren't kidding about adapting the technology of both races. The MACs wouldn't even be necessary. The frigate flew through the debris, knocking it out of the way. It barely fazed the shields. The Arbiter rested back in his chair.
"Fools." He muttered as he watched a single piece of debris bounce off the shield.
I+-+-+I
So, here's some action scene for you guys. I don't normally ask for Reviews, but seeing as it's been two years since I seriously did any writing, Please, Please give this a review.
Thanks