Chapter 22
UNSC Mobile repair refit station Pearl Harbor.
Epsilon alpha system, 2563 November 15th
Repair and refitting 4th fleet vessel.
"Get the station battle ready! Activate the point defense weapons!" roared the Station commander over the station's intercom system even as the Marine stationed on board prepare for any possible boarders attempt. Matriarch Lidanya and her envoy watch the controlled chaos as the crew of the Pearl Harbor attempt to finish their duty as soon as possible.
"Might I ask what is going on?" asked Lidanya to Anita Goyle as whatever has happen seem to have caught these humans off guard.
Anita Goyle looked around exasperatedly as none of the crews were able to stop and inform her of the situation before she decided to personally ask the AI. "Walter what is going on?" The Asari was a bit shocked when a glowing green man appeared beside Anita Goyle.
"It appears we have more interlopers from that device 4th fleet brought back." Gruffed the AI his avatar was one of a Major General that commanded the actual Pearl Harbour during World War 2. "A vessel we believed to be Quarian enter the system while trying to escape Slavers. Sadly the slavers managed to destroy the Quarian ship before we can respond to its aid. The ODP responded after that."
"ODP?" asked Lidanya as she was confused by the translation. The AI tilt his head slightly to the side before a holographic window appeared before the Asari envoy, showing them the odd orbital stations that caught Lidanya's interest. Six of the orbital stations shifted slightly to make targeting adjustment before they fired. A second window appeared and show the ships, which Lidanya identified as Batarians, shattered into a field of glittering fragments when the shots from the ODP impacted their targets.
"By the goddess" muttered one of the Asari behind Lidanya.
Levu 'Mdama merely split his mandibles in a very large human like grin before saying "I do believe that is what you human would call 'overkill'".
Anita Goyle gave a slight shrug before replying "The military has always been edgy and I do believe that the UNSC does not and never will tolerate Slavers." Turning back to the Asari Envoy, she gave a somewhat embarrassed smile before asking "Now then shall we proceed to the meeting room?" Matriarch merely nodded before they continued on their way.
UNSC Agincourt II Paris 2 class Heavy Frigate
Epsilon Alpha system, 2563 November 15th
Moving to pick up the lone surviving Escape pod of Honorata
"ETA until we retrieved the pod?" asked Captain Soloman as he gave an unwavering stare to his nav officer.
"Give or take 2 minutes sir" replied lieutenant Pressly. "The technicians are standing by as well as the Marines acting as security detail." As the Agincourt II slowly approaches the escape pod, a lone Pelican launched from them vessel, its afterburner burning brightly as the pilot expertly guided the Pelican to hover over the pod.
"Gamma 30 to Agincourt, I have a good lock on the pod. Thermal suggest one living being on board. I'm bringing it in." reported the pilot of the Pelican as rear magnetic clamps of the Pelican that was designed to normally hold vehicles attached itself to the tumbling pod. The Pelican flipped a 180 before heading back to the Agincourt but now at a slower speed so as to not harm the pod's occupants.
"Roger that Gamma 30. You are cleared for Hanger bay 3, a welcoming party is waiting for you there." Replied the ship's captain as he got up from his command chair. He strapped on his standard issued M6H sidearm holster and checked his service pistol before sliding it in. "Lieutenant Pressly, you have the bridge, I'll be down in hanger bay 3 to welcome the guest."
"Aye sir" replied Pressly as the captain diverted the bridge control to Pressly's console. Captain Solomon nodded at the freshly minted LT before moving to the command elevator, he punched in the code for the hanger bay before the elevator begins its decent. As the elevator doors opens, he stepped off the elevator onto a walkway before moving down to the hanger itself. Gamma 30 burst into the hanger as it pass through the look through energy shield that covers the Hanger's main airlock. The pilot gave a salute from his bird's cockpit to the Captain before he slowly lowers the delicate cylinder escape pod onto the makeshift cushion made by industrial foams.
When the Pod was barely a meter above the foam, the pilot disabled the clamps letting the pod fall into the foam. The pod bounced slightly before settling into the foam, the lead technician nodded to his work crew before the foam slowly dissolved revealing the Quarian escape pod. The Marines slowly surrounded the pod they assault rifles at the ready while the captain slowly walked up to the pod. The medics standing by behind the combat barriers waited until the all clear signal was given before they moved up and prepared their equipment. When they gave the captain the signal that they were ready, he gave a sigh before saying "Right let get this pod open."
As the technicians move forwards towards the pod door they studied the system as they slowly work around the pod's system. "Captain I would advices against opening the pod. It seems the new data I just got stats that Quarians have weak immune systems, if they are exposed to an environment without their suit they will die." Came Alice's voice over the hanger's speakers as she quickly processed the incoming data.
"And how are we supposed to treat them without opening their pods?" asked Solomon as the new problem compounded the situation as it is. The technicians that were working on the pods paused as they listen in on the conversation. Solomon glanced back at the lead technician before ordering "Continue with your work, open the pod when I tell you to." The technician nodded before his team continued their hacking of the escape pod's door system.
The ship's AI was silent before she finally spoke. "I have a suggestion captain but it will require the medical team to prepare the equipment." The Captain glanced at the security camera hanging in the shadow of the hanger bay before nodding for the AI to continue. "We should be able to ensure the Quarian's safety from bacteria and virus if we set up our Portable Sterilization field generators in a linked system around the pod. However there is a problem with the system."
"Which is?" asked the captain as he slowly walks around the pod examining the escape pod's simple design.
"The PSFG are not designed to sustain a large field as required around the escape pod, the constant fine tuning of the generators will require significant man power to do so." Replied Alice as she double and then triple check her calculations. "With your permission captain I do believe I can maintain the field if I divert 80% of my processing power to the task."
"Granted get the technicians to set up the generators and get this pod open." Said Solomon as he finished his inspection of the Escape pod.
Honorata escape pod 5
Unknown system, 5 days after leaving the Migrant fleet
Inside unknown vessel.
"Oh Keelah…." Groaned the Quarian currently strapped into the escape pod's pilot sit. There was a massive ponding in her head when Keenah'Breizh had roughly thrown her into the escape pod when they exited the mass relay. The last thing she remember was strapping herself into the pilot seat before the pod launched the gee force forcing her unconsciousness. She looked around the pod and found that most of the controls are largely intact albeit with a few console still sparking slightly. Tapping a control on the main console slid open one of the armored viewports in front of her revealing a view of a large hanger bay filled with bright lights. Her head still pounding, she slowly try to recall what happen while absent-mindedly trying to get the pod's external cameras online.
Her Omnitool glowed a soft orange as she used it to bypass damaged circuits in the pods system. Multiple small holographic windows open showing the surrounding of the pod. The images that they provide are not familiar to her even when she had studied most if not all hanger bay layouts. Her attention was quickly drawn to a few humanoid creatures gathered around at her pod's escape hatch, "Probably trying to get me out of this damn thing" she thought until she noticed a small puncture in her suit. Panic filled her as she quickly assessed the situation, if the aliens open the doors with her suit punctured the results would be disastrous for her. She quickly activated the external com system in a vain attempt to stop them from opening the doors. Even as the com system activates the pod's door slid open with a hiss.
Swearing, the quarian grabbed the Scimitar shotgun folded behind her and aimed down the corridor at the exit. A head appeared and disappeared as quickly as she let loose with a blast aimed below the figure, the pellets from her shotgun barely scratching the surface of the unknown metal that the alien ship was made off. There was a shout, the language clearly not one associated with any known species, making the quarian even more nervous. Suddenly the same voice changed to the Turian's language before switching to the Asari's, this time a humanoid figure appeared in front of the pod's escape hatch, a rifle slung behind it and the figure looks to be wearing some sort of body armour. Show her both of its empty hand the figure slowly approach her while tapping a piece of equipment on its helmet, each time it tap the equipment, obviously a translation device, it switched language the humanoid switched to Hanar and Volus before finally getting the Quarian language.
"Easy now….. can you understand me?" ask the humanoid as it stop a few feet away from her. The quarian gave a slight nod, but her shotgun still aimed in the humanoid's general direction. "Good. It's safe for you to come out. We mean you no harm." Said the humanoid as it slowly scanned its surrounding while still keeping an eye on the quarian. The quarian warily watched the humanoid as she got up slowly moving forward while the humanoid slowly backed out of the pod. When they were out the quarian found herself surrounded by a group of similarly armored humanoids who had their rifles at the ready in case she tried something dangerous. With a wave from the humanoid leading her out, the other figures lowered their rifles. Looking around the Quarians noticed some sort of machines the beep around her escape pod and was curious of their function. She made a mental note to ask what they were when she noticed she wasn't feeling sick. Suddenly another humanoid one dress differently approached her, it stop just out of reach before asking "What's your name?" the voice even though it was through a translator sounded like one that held authority over others.
The Quarian look around and guessing she had nothing to lose, replied "Tali, Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya."UNSC Agincourt II Paris 2 class Heavy Frigate
Epsilon Alpha system, 2563 November 15th
Making contact with the Quarian.
When the hatch to the escape pod finally opened, the lead technician poked his head in the hatch to greet the Quarian. But before he can say anything the sound of a weapon discharge filled the hanger bay. The Technician pulled his head back while yelling "Jesus Christ!" The Marines in the hangar bay tensed up with their rifles aimed at the hatch while the technician and his crew pulled back behind the mobile blast shield they had placed in the hangar bay.
"Oh boy" sighed the leading Marine "Sir requesting permission to make contact."
"Granted, watch yourself William." Replied Solomon he stayed behind the marines, well aware he had no body armour to protect himself. He tapped the marine next to him causing a bright golden shield to flare into being before returning back to its transparent state. "Cover the Gunny." The marine nodded before waving the rest of the fire team forward.
Ashley William nodded her thanks before slowly entering the pod, it was slightly dark in the pod but it was obvious to her that the quarian had a gun pointed in her direction. Ashley tapped her com set, uploading the languages that Alice had received from the Spirit of Fire. "Easy now… can you understand me?" asked Williams as she raised both of her hand to show that they held no weapons. The Quarian remain motionless but her weapon still pointed at Ashley.
"Gunnery Chief, You are not speaking quarian. Tap your language selection two more time." Replied Alice through her com unit currently hanging from her ear. Ashley winced slightly at her mistake before tapping her com unit. The unit repeated her question in the other languages before finally it repeated her question in quarian to which the quarian replied with nod of her hooded head.
Ashley looked around before saying "Good. It's safe for you to come out. We mean you no harm." The quarian remain still, causing Ashley to wonder if she should start running before the quarian slowly got up. When the quarian stood, she saw why the quarian was nervous. The environment suit that from what intel they have suggest it was the only protection a quarian have in a unknown environment, without it they will easily succumb to even the most basic bacteria in the air. Ashley quickly turned on her com unit and reported "Sir we might have a problem it seems that the Quarian's environmental suit is punctured. Recommend we get the jury rigged PSFG backpack ready."
There was brief moment of silence before Solomon replied "Copy that. The tech teams are working on it. Now I would like to meet our guest face to face if possible."
"Copy that" replied Ashley as she slowly back out of the pod followed by the quarian. As they emerged, the Marine fire team standing in a semi-circle tensed before a hand signal from Ashley cause them to lower their weapons. "Sir!" said Ashley as she Saluted Captain Solomon.
Captain Solomon nodded and returned the salute before moving towards the Quarian. He easily stood have a head taller than the Quarian "What is your name?" Asked Solomon as friendly as possible.
The Quarian was silent as it stared at Solomon before it answered "Tali, Tali'Zorah Nar Rayya." Even through the translation unit it easily identifiable that this quarian was probably female.
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Tali. And welcome aboard the Agincourt II. May I call you Tali?" asked Solomon as politely as he can. The Quarian gave a nod in answer. "Excellent now, I would offer my condolence to the loss of your fellow crew members to….." as Solomon paused to check his datapad "Batarian Slavers. We will try everything we can to return you to your fleet if that is alright with you?" Even with this the quarian's expression was unreadable behind her mask, making Solomon wondering what the quarian is thinking. Tali gave a wary nod in return still slightly untrusting of the new race. "Excellent, Corporal Nash." The marine saluted before heading back to where the technicians were working before coming back with a backpack like contraption.
"Ma'am if you can put this on, we will be able to allow you to explore the ship….. with some escorts of course." Said the corporal nervously. The captain gave a slight nod before making his way back to the bridge.
Unknown system, 5 days after leaving the Migrant fleet
Inside UNSC vessel.
Exploring the UNSC vessel.
Tali look around in wonder at the ship she was currently on, from what her omnitool can tell her, there seems to be not a single speck of Ezzo being used on this vessel. Additionally it seems the backpack device they had given her seems to be a sterile field generator, which is decades ahead if not centuries of any technologies she had come across. According to the technicians that weren't too nervous to talk with her, the device works by generating a unique field around the device itself using nanites that target any bacteria that it finds. If she can take an intact unit back to the migrant fleet….. The possibility for the Quarian race would be endless. With this technology the quarians might finally be able to settle down on a planet instead of roaming the galaxy in their aging and falling apart fleet, if this unknown race allows her to take it back that is. However there was something unnerving about their ship's VI. The programs seems… too animated to be just a computer program. "This is amazing. Your race managed to develop technologies that are not even reliant on Ezzo!"
The technicians who were accompanying her, Kenneth Donnelly and Gabriella Daniels, were on their free time when their captain assign them to follow along to provide a tour of the Agincourt. Gabriella gave a somewhat proud smile as she replied "This ain't nothing you should see the taxpayer money at work on the Marathon heavy cruisers. Those ships are so much more powerful than this refitted frigate."
"Nah, Marathon doesn't even hold a candle to the Infinity class super carrier." Argued Ken as he took a glance at his datapad to check up on the progress of his Maintenance Jotuns currently crawling through the ship maintenance shaft. "That ship will really just be a fleet all compacted into one ship" Laughed Ken as he closed his datapad and slip the device into his pocket.
"True if there was more than 3 Infinity class super carrier. From what I heard High Com have been hesitant to build more. Too bloody expansive for a ship if you ask me." Replied Gab.
Tali look at them puzzled as she had no idea what kind of ship they were talking about. "I'm sorry? What ships are you talking about? I have never heard of those ship designation before." Gab and Ken looked at each other with slightly embarrassed looks on their face as they glanced back at the quarian. Gab asked something in her native language after she turned off her translator before Ken hesitantly gave a slight nod.
"Okay, since I guess they are common knowledge I guess it cann't hurt to show you the ships" replied Gab to Tali's question, Ken took out his datapad before activating the build-in holo-projector that projected the appearance of a marathon class cruiser. "That is a Marathon class heavy cruiser. Mark II version. They are mainly the frontline ships we have nowadays. They can plow through almost anything and come out unscratched."
Tali looked intensely at the ships that was projected, even this small she can pick out the tiny missile pods located throughout the ship's hull along with a wide array of what appears to be CIWS. The ship design was boxy in design, and there was nothing noticeably until the projection rotated to show the front of the ship. "Why are there two holes here?" asked Tali as she pointed to the two holes " Wouldn't those be point of vulnerability where enemy can shoot up your ships?"
Gab look at Ken who cleared his throat before replying "Err not exactly, that's where the primary and secondary MAC are located. And believe me nobody wants to be on the end of those."
"MAC?" asked Tali as she looks closer at the hole.
"Yeah… oh I forgot, MAC stands for Magnetic Acceleration cannon. They are massive coilguns, since the current versions are classified, I can only tell you that during the Human Covenant war which ended 10 years ago, the MACs then can fire a 600 ton at around 30KM per seconds. Most ships of that era will be crippled in one shot."
Tali's eye visibly widen as she calculated the massive amount of kinetic energy release by the cannons on the ship. "Keelah… If those things were to hit a planet."
"Yeah it'll be a bad day for anyone on the ground." Nodded Gab.
The trio continued on their way even as they were unaware that someone was watching them. Alice had examined the substance that the Quarian referred to as Ezzo. It was an exotic particle that is rare in the galaxy and yet it was something familiar about it. She continue her surveillance of the Quarian even as she diverted more of her processes to compare the matter to those in her forerunner archive that is standard to all Ship AIs. After five minutes of non-stop comparison the computer finally got a hit and she quickly open the file and processed the data. "Oh no…." with that she quickly open a channel to Captain Solo "Captain we have a problem."
Author's note: Yeah sorry all for being so late in updating. Had to take care of my exams. Enjoy and review