Oh my goodness. It's been nearly a month since I updated. So much for frequent updates. Yay. The worst part is, unfortunately, that I have nothing witty or clever to say about this. So, Uh… Enjoy the next chapter, I know you guys were asking for updates, so yeah…
I'm so awkward when it comes to things like this. I've been waiting a LONG time to get this story arc on the road (beginning of the year or a little bit before I think…), and by the end of this chapter, you'll see why.
Chapter 18: Refitted and Away again.
Earth orbit, On board "Grace" Station, 2nd of March, 2553.
At long last, The Squad was back on board the Spearhead. Or at least, they would be. Zhab and Jimaenius, along with the Lekgolo and the grunts, were waiting in one of the hangar bays aboard the human repair station.
Zhab was personally tired of Liyik and Limid for now. All of the crew had taken turns watching the Unggoy; but Zhab had had to the most, seeing as both the shipmaster and the human had been swallowed up by other duties for a few days during their stay.
The years that Zhab had spent hiding also left him with some instinctual feelings. He didn't like staying in the same place for a long time, unless it was a ship. Years spent running from those you'd pissed off did that to you.
There was no conversation during the wait. Zhab merely swept his eyes across the hangar again. They were in a sealed elevated overviewing room. A single human ship, which they called a pelican, was awaiting them in the hangar below. The walls and ceiling was all made up of the ever-so dull human grey.
The Spearhead, in fairness to her, had so much more natural and diverse sections. Zhab yawned.
A pair of double doors behind the group opened, admitting the shipmaster. He was dressed in a clean, darkish-red uniform that seemed to be both a mix of both human and Sangheili tailoring. It suited him, in Zhab's humble opinion.
"Greetings." He stated.
Everyone else turned to face him. He parted his jaws slightly and tilted his head downwards towards the last remaining pelican in the hangar below.
"Everything is ready. Come along." He announced.
The Squad arose. They followed the Sangheili down a collection of stairwells and out into the open space of the hangar. A few armed humans were standing on guard duty, but none batted their eyes at the strange congregation.
The Spartan stood by their pelican. The rear bay door of the transport was down. He gestured for them to get on board of the vehicle. With a giggle, Liyik and Limid spurted ahead and scrambled aboard. Zhab reached the pelican and stopped for a second to examine the interior; It was thin. Zhab assumed that most of what made up the interior, such as compartments, and storage cases had been removed from the transport to allow for larger loads to be transported.
Zhab clambered on board the pelican, followed by the Shipmaster and the Spartan. He quickly shepherded the two Unggoy into restraining harnesses. Jimaenius climbed on board the pelican and took a seat as well.
The Lekgolo finally climbed on, their combined weight causing the transport to sag slightly. They removed some of the plates from their bodies and shifted them in order to fit into the seats.
The Sangheili and Human clambered into the front compartment of the pelican. Zhab poked his head in the doorway behind them. The Spartan sat down on the forward seat of the vehicle, while the Sangheili took a seat on the higher up rear seat.
"How long should this take?" Zhab asked, purely to ask a question as not to appear as though he was staring at the two.
He winced internally. It was a petty question in his own eyes. His pride deflated a notch.
"The Spearhead is anchored at the Grace station, which is the station we are currently anchored to." The human AI answered over the COM.
"Head a hundred meters out and then pull back full and turn over, then proceed two and a half kilometers to the Spearhead and dock." The Sangheili AI immediately interjected.
Zhab nodded his head in acknowledgement and pulled backwards into the rear compartment and took a seat of his own.
The doors of the pelican slid upwards and closed. The engines kicked on with a faint rumble, and the downward force of gravity increased. The dropship lifted off.
Suddenly, there was a bang from outside the ship, and it accelerated violently, forcing all in the rear compartment to shift towards the rear end of dropship.
"What on Diosac?" Jimaenius muttered as he readjusted the strap around him.
"They musta vented atmosphere as we came out." Zhab concluded. "Nice way to get a bit of free speed."
He felt the acceleration force change to put full pressure onto the floor. They were now ascending, and he felt the craft rotate as it did so.
The violent trip then steadied, and the craft came back along the path they had come, only higher.
"We are now on course for our ship." The human AI announced. "If anyone wants to get a good look at it, have a peek from the cockpit."
Zhab glanced across to see the Lekgolo detaching themselves from their seats, and Jimaenius now standing as well. Zhab decided he would take the opportunity and have a look as well.
The Lekgolo modified their bodies so that only their heads peeked in through the door, while Jimaenius and Zhab squeezed in below them.
Zhab immediately noticed their ship directly ahead. He blinked. It was still the same ship, although several modifications had been made to it.
The armor plates had been retrofitted; instead of several different plates, there were only two colours. Dark grey and light grey. The colours were neatly intermixed with the frigate and did add some artistic value to the ship. Something Zhab had never really seen, as covenant ships were all generally purple, purple and nothing but. The colours were divided nearly into their own strips and sections that were restricted to their given area instead of being all mixed together.
The ship's hull had been remodelled somewhat; the human designed ships maintained their mostly flat designs, in fact, the Spearhead's had been flattened out in most places. The bump that was usually located on the front end of the human frigates was now a rectangle slapped on top the main forward carriages of the ship, as opposed to its original more curvy and smoother integration.
The forward side extending compartments were also now squared off. On the upper and under side of them rested a collection of turrets, two per side.
Zhab noticed a collection of eight turrets on the rear section of the frigate. Obviously the engine quarter had been redone.
One of the Lekgolo snarled.
"What have they done to our ship?" He growled.
"I'll have a full list of modifications waiting for you all when you get on board." The human AI reported.
"Thank you, Cortana." The Spartan replied.
The pelican shifted and redirected, sweeping under the right forward compartment.
"Established system link." The Sangheili AI reported. "Opening hangar doors."
They twisted and pulled backwards and fell into the hangar. They slowed immediately and came to a graceful halt and settled.
Zhab examined the hangar. Their vehicle supply had been restored; and the fighter that they'd lost back during their mission to that remnant base had been replaced.
They piled out of the pelican and headed to the lift to the bridge. The lift couldn't hold the Lekgolo as well as the rest, so they went on the second lift. They didn't head to the bridge.
Zhab figured that they must have stopped in the engineering section.
The bridge had been redone. There were two holographic tables about two meters away from the command chair, on opposite sides. There was an array of consoles and chairs around the holotables.
The human and Sangheili AIs were standing at the holotable to the right, waiting for the group as they entered the bridge.
"All systems have been approved and retrofitted. Reactor is in Zeta shakedown; ready in three to five minutes." The Human AI reported.
"Thank you, Cortana." The Shipmaster replied. "How long will it take to bring the engines online?"
"I'd rather wait until the reactor was ready, but we can go now if necessary." The Human AI explained.
"Very well, We'll wait." The Shipmaster nodded.
"Do you have the Admiral's message on our mission?" The Spartan asked.
Zhab sighed slightly. They already had a new mission? He'd personally hoped for some time to adjust to the new ship.
"One message from Admiral Walker in record; Playing now." The Sangheili AI announced.
A screen rose from the holotable and the Admiral's face appeared on it.
"Hello and greetings once again. As some of you may know, but for those that, however know, I will explain." The human said slowly and quietly.
"A human separatist faction and a covenant remnant force have been working in cooperation in a system known as Gabriel Prime."
He paused. A new set of holographs appeared beside him. It swirled into a star system. There were six planets. The one second closest from the star was highlighted red, and several red points swirling above it.
"We currently have a scout ship, the Thunderclap, in the system." The Admiral explained.
The second planet was zoomed up on, showing the red points in greater detail.
"This is their main planet of operations. You can see several orbital stations and their ground base. Your main mission is simple; rendezvous with the Thunderclap, gather intel and destroy both factions." He concluded. "Good luck."
The holographs faded into darkness. All that remained were the two AIs.
"Shakedown is complete, Shipmaster." The Sangheili AI reported.
"Very well." The Shipmaster grunted. "Care to take a seat, anyone?"
A general grunt of compliance was heard, and the Squad took their seats. Zhab watched through the from forward viewscreen as the repair and refit ships around the Spearhead turned away and scattered into space.
"Cortana?" The Sangheili asked.
"Yes?" She replied.
"Release moorings." He ordered, shifting himself backwards in his chair.
"Aye. Moorings released." The AI responded.
A muted gasp reverberated through the hull and several pieces of metal retracted from the hull.
"Give a us five upward puffs with the manoeuvring thrusters. Half second bursts." He continued, his voice conversal. This must have been like getting dressed for him.
There was a collection of hisses for five or so seconds, and the ship began to slowly rise towards the curved bars around the station.
The repair station had a central runway for ships too long to be docked on the external pads. A collection of bars ran over this dock to prevent the ship from drifting away if it accidentally detached.
"We are now clear of obstructions directly ahead." The Sangheili AI announced.
"Cancel our upward velocity. Long puff. Go." The Sangheili ordered calmly.
There were several white flashes across the forward hull, and the Spearhead's slow rise halted.
"Reroute power to main engines. Give me Fifty percent forward power."
A rumble reverberated through the hull. The bars began to slowly slip behind the top of the viewscreen. Guidance lights flashed on the runway ahead as the Spearhead picked up speed. It took about half a minute to reach the end of the runway.
"Line us up with the Gabriel Prime system, Full power to Slipspace drive." The commander interjected.
The Sangheili cast him a slight glance back, but said nothing back as the AIs complied with the order.
Light began to flicker against the shields of the Spearhead as it pulled backwards to line up.
"Stand by to slipspace." The human AI announced.
The light suddenly stretched and expanded. A black hole appeared dead ahead and the Spearhead drove into the darkness.
"Jump complete." The Sangheili AI reported. "ETA four hours, however the Crystal dilation may escalate. Expect a sooner arrival."
Jimaenius cleared his throat.
"Will we be seeing those... um... Informants was it? Again?" He asked quietly.
The Spartan and Shipmaster both cast glances at each other.
"Possibly." The commander said. "Although probably not for a while though."
"Ah." The Jiralhanae exhaled.
A silence fell over the bridge for several seconds. Zhab glanced lift and right, and then stood.
"Anyone up for a game of cards in the common room?" He asked.
Jimaenius grunted an affirmative and rose aswell. Zhab turned to the shipmaster and the commander.
"We have some work to catch up on." The Sangheili told him. "We may join you all later, however."
Zhab nodded in adknowledgement. Knowing that the shipmaster and the commander had work to do, he snapped his fingers, and the Unggoy rose to follow him as they always did.
He'd keep them in the common room where they'd not be of any bother to them. The four crouded into the lift and descended.
I+-+-+I
UNSC Spearhead of Dawn Bridge, Somewhere in Slipspace, 2nd of March, 2553.
Thel and John watched the four leave. As the lift doors closed, Thel spun his chair back around to face the holotable and stood up.
"Cortana, Vala," He began. "I'd like a rundown of the modifications that Walker made to our ship while we were docked."
The two AI nodded. Cortana pulled up a holograph of the ship.
"The hull has been redesigned with hard geometry sectors. Our hull integrity has been increased by about five percent due to that. Unused sectors have also been turned into blast cocoon sections." Cortana explained, highlighting several areas on the ship.
"The majority of the external hull has been replaced with a new UNSC Covenant hull solution, Increasing the strength of the hull by about 25 percent." Vala continued.
"All of our reactors have been repaired and restored. We now have full power available, with 300 percent boost for fifteen minutes available." Cortana interjected.
She brought up a new holograph of that section of the ship. The reactors had been completely redone. Gone was the mostly unfinished look open reactors with pipes and wires expanding and leading freely where they will, in their place was a central structure that the reactors were built inside.
"The engineering section has been given several overhauls and covers." Vala explained. "You see the new covering for the reactors. I'll also have you know that there is now a laser ion cooling system installed."
"How does that work?" Thel asked, unfamiliar with human cooling systems.
"Essentially, It uses cooled Ions to cool the reactor instead of venting the coolant to space. The more power we use, the cooler it gets. Extremely efficient." Cortana explained. "The Pillar of Autumn used that system."
"There were a few upgrades to the weapons systems." Vala continued.
"What did they do?" John asked quietly, approaching the table as well.
"The main upgrade, In my opinion," Vala said, "Is the fitting of a class-S energy projector to the undercarriage."
Thel mentally flipped through his memory to find what a class-S energy projector was meant to do. During the covenant, the job energy projectors were meant for were decided by their name. The class-G, for example, was meant purely for glassing, while the class-E was for excavation, and the class-S was for using against enemy ships.
"Not bad." He muttered.
"The weapons has a 120 degree firing cone from the undercarriage. Base charge at six point five percent reactor power gives us a one and a half minute charge." Cortana elaborated. "The maximum effect range is 20 million kilometers, although you will have to lead to consider the light barrier. It fires a continuous eight second beam."
A cone appeared to show the ship's firing range. Thel liked what he saw. The energy projector would require less maneouvring than the SMAC, although it probably would need to focus on a target for a while in order to do the same deal of damage.
"On top of that, Our Octagon AAA guns have been improved." Vala announced. "They now have three types of ammunition. Type-1 rounds are your standard Helix batteries shots, albeit more powerful explosive-wise, and three kilometers per second faster projectile speed on average."
"Type-2 rounds are Helix shots, except with plasma charge capillaries. Better at shield penetration, but lack the explosive power of the Type-1s." Cortana picked up. "Finally, we have the Type-3s, which have been dubbed the Splaser rounds by the core. They fire rounds similar to the Spartan laser, except they have the power to take out a seraph in one shot. Maximum range is about two million kilometers, but seraph destroying power is limited to about one million."
John looked impressed. Thel was also impressed with these new weapons systems. This would give him plenty more ways to fight, and given their new mission, he felt that he'd need that.
He sat back down in his chair and turned to face the forward viewscreen.
"Time to destination?" He asked.
"One and a half minutes." Vala immediately replied.
"Where should we be arriving?" John asked, taking a seat for himself on the other side of he holotable.
"About 500 or so kilometers or so from the last recorded position of the UNSC Thunderclap." Cortana replied.
Slipspace suddenly distorted, and then began to fill with stars.
"We have cleared slipspace." Vala announced. "Running area scans."
"Building intrasystem network. ETA one minute three seconds." Cortana added, and brought up a holograph of the system.
Several red points appeared scattered throughout the system. A huge, almost swarmlike presence was detected around the planet that had been shown to be the headquarters of the Splinter faction and the Insurrection.
"Where's the Thunderclap?" Thel asked.
Space around them was dark and starry. They were nowhere near any planets, in a seemly random point of space. Perhaps the Covenant patrols had forced them to move.
"I'm picking up weak telemetry coming from a source about twenty thousand kilometers away." Vala announced.
"I ran a profile scan of the source." Cortana added almost immediately.
"What is it?" The Spartan asked.
"It appears to be the Thunderclap." She answered. "I'm reading several hull deformities that seem to indicate a recent attack."
"The telemetry has just focused on the ship." Vala noted. "I'm reading a communication band."
"Let it play." Thel ordered quietly, sitting forward in his chair.
Static immediately washed over the bride. Thel's hearing, as all Sangheili hearing was, was not great. He tried, but failed to decipher anything in the grainy mix.
"Cortana," He asked. "Can you get anything from that?"
"I'll try to improve the quality, although the system seems to be low on transmission power. I can move the ship closer to improve the signal."
"Do it." He growled.
"Aye. Answering thirty percent binaries and coming about on direct course." Cortana announced.
Thrusters flared, and the main engines roared to life. The hull rumbled as the ship began to close the distance.
A holograph of the Thunderclap appeared. The curved superstructure of the ONI prowled was servilely twisted and melted in places. Two large holes from plasma torpedoes could been seen smashed clean through the ship, and it spun slightly from the force of those impacts.
"Ninety thousand kilometers." Vala announced.
The static had, by this point, somewhat lessened; Thel swore he could hear voices deep within the grain, although he couldn't really confirm that.
The ship was directly ahead now, nearly invisible to the void of space. A thought struck Thel. Deep in covenant territory, and they come across a ship they were meant to meet, derelict and transmitting a faint, illegible message in hopes of drawing them in. Perfect setting for an ambush.
And while it seemed unlikely, Thel couldn't take that chance.
"Slow to three thirds current power and bring weapons systems online." He growled.
John glanced across at him. Thel looked back briefly before standing and turning his attention to the tactical holograph displayed directly on the table. It had been shrunk to he point where it barely encompassed the two ships; about a hundred thousand kilometers squared. No additional ships were in this radius.
The engines quietened slightly and the Octagon gun rose from their birthings and began their standardised area sweep, checking for hostiles.
"I'm not reading any hostile ships within the immediate area; sixty thousand kilometers out." Cortana informed the pair.
"I'm starting to not like this;" Thel growled. "The odds of us finding the ship we were meant to rendezvous with derelict in a hostile system are way too low; unless something deeper is inside Section Four..."
He met John's eyes again, and for a brief second, he saw actual fear in them. He didn't often see the Spartan's face, most of the time that they were in combat it was obsured by his helmet.
But from what he know, if something rattled the Spartan off the battlefield, then that was scary indeed. And it was true, if there was a mole in Section Four, the implications of that could be very dangerous for all of them.
"Forty thousand kilometers." Cortana announced.
The static played again, this time with concrete points where the volume of the grains held or increased slightly.
"Anything?" He asked.
"A little closer and we should." Cortana replied.
They closed to thirty thousand kilometers. The Static quietened slightly, although nothing could be made out on Thel's end, just detected.
"Got them." Cortana suddenly blurted.
Thel cursed his hearing internally; he still couldn't make anything out of the grain.
"Can you relay it to me?" He conceded.
He hated appearing dependent on someone for something so basic as hearing, but given the possible gravity of the situation, His pride would probably have to take a hit.
"Aye." Vala and Cortana both replied.
"This is the UNSC Thunderclap, do you read? We're on emergency power and have major casualties. Request immediate assistance." Cortana repeated.
Thel grunted and stood.
"Can they hear us?" He asked.
"They should." Cortana guessed.
"Very well." He sighed. "Thunderclap, this is the UNSC Spearhead of Dawn approaching you. We read you, albeit not clearly, but we hear you nevertheless. What happened?"
"Spearhead of Dawn..." Cortana repeated. "Our cloaking system failed for some reason and a Covvie patrol noticed us. We don't have any serious amounts of weapons. They probably would have destroyed us, but try were distracted by something. Our scanners think it was another UNSC ship."
Thel tilted his head at that statement.
"Another ship? Vala, can you scan for it?" He asked.
"Yes, I can. Doing that right now. Standby." She replied.
"Do you have a hangar, Thunderclap?"
"No, we don't. We're merely a small recon prowler. There were about fifty on board initially. Now there's only twenty." Cortana repeated.
They'd now reached a distance where Thel himself could understand the static. Without being asked Cortana stopped the repetition.
"Do you have an intact hardpoint?" John asked from across he holotable.
"Yes, Spearhead." Came a weak crackle through the static. "We have a single accessible intact hardpoint for docking."
"Good." Thel grunted. "Cortana, bring us about and move to dock. Keep our weapons up."
"Make it snappy, Spearhead." Crackled the captain of the prowler. "Our life support only has about ten minutes left."
"I'm detecting a UNSC ship across the system." Vala interrupted. "It appears to be UNSC Phoenix class colony ship."
"Have you found the registry number?" The Spartan asked.
"No..." Vala replied slowly. "This ship's registry seems to have been completely wiped from the UNSC records."
Thel closed his eyes and growled quietly. More complications.
"But the immediate fact is, the covenant remnants are converging on this ship with all available ships." Cortana noted.
"There are no major power readings coming from the ship. It seems to be completely dormant." Vala informed them.
"The crew must be in cryo." John grunted, examining the holograph that had been drawn up on the holotable.
"The ship is coming into GA space, however, not coming in." Vala explained. "It lacks the energy flares suggesting it's been in slipspace. It must have been drifting for several years."
The Spearhead's engines suddenly stopped; the thrusters came to life and began the slow task of aligning the two hardpoints.
"Let's talk about this later." Cortana interjected. "The Covenant fleet appears to not be using slipspace to reach the ship. I don't know why, but that gives us twenty minutes to make a plan. Let's save the crew of the Thunderclap first."
Thel nodded in agreement. He snapped his jaws impatiently as the two ships latched together. He couldn't help but feel like this was going to be a long day.
I+-+-+I
I wonder what the lost colony ship could possible be… (Insert Lenny Face here)
Yeah, this was a part of the plan all along. I'm really looking forward to writing the next chapters in the future. Anyway, guys, please R&R, and thank you for nearly 10k reads and 44 favs. It's amazing.