SALVATION
Copyrights 343 Industries & Bioware
Rated A for Adult
0710 hours, May 3rd, 2596 (Military Calendar)
Ministry of Defense, Calais, Arcadis
Eidera System, (Sector L-421), Outer Colonies
"Please, sir." A young soldier obligingly held the door open for him.
"Thank you." William entered the big building, as he did several times this week already. Like always his destination was Major Fredrick's office. Not only had she claimed by far the largest room in the whole Ministry, but it was the most beautiful one as well.
Her office was four times bigger than his and you had a wonderful view of the streets of Calais. Especially at sunrise. This view was achieved by the 14-meter-long and three-meter-high semicircular glass wall, which took up the entire side of the room facing the street. In the past, the room was used for presentation and is therefore equipped with a powerful holoprojector.
It was a familiar sight when he opened the door after a few unanswered knocks. Data pads, books and some other things that he did not recognize lay all over the floor. On her desk was still the half-filled coffee cup from two days ago. Some of the windows were covered with old-fashioned paper maps of streets, buildings, or satellite images.
One of the maps caught his eye immediately. It was an aerial photograph of Calais and its surroundings. Anabelle had pinned small pieces of paper in various places where she had noted additional information.
One of the small yellow sticky notes had a fat question mark painted on it.
Fort Green.
The military base was well hidden in the forest outside the city borders and nestled against the mountain range stretching up behind it. The base was surrounded by high concrete walls at the south, with towers and automatic defense turrets. Due to its excellent location on the foot of the mountain range, the base could only be reached from one side, which made it very easy to defend in an attack from the ground.
"Please be patient just a moment longer sir. I will be with you in a moment."
With narrowed eyes, Grand searched for the origin of the voice. After a few seconds, he found Anabelle kneeling in the middle of a holographic city. He walked over to her, wondering why he hadn't noticed the large hologram until now. The projector was the real highlight of the room, it could throw entire cities in a 3D model on the ground or simulate space and ground battles. With a mere touch of your finger, you could get additional information about a building for example. How old it was, which shops were there and their opening times.
It was mostly used by civilians to plan routes or discover new businesses in the city. It was a great program for the average citizen, but William hardly believed the young woman in front of him was looking for a new shoe store.
"Problems?" He asked after a short pause, while he tried to identify the unknown city around him. Definitely not Calais. That was certain.
"Yes and no. Something's wrong with my authentication." She moaned softly, slowly sinking backward, and was now sitting in front of a large holographic building complex. William took a few steps around her and crouched down beside her. He instantly recognized the buildings around them. It was a military base like Fort Green. UNSC no doubt.
"Charlotte gave you the clearance, did she?"
"Yes, she did. I can access everything, except for the underground facilities in that area." She pointed with her index finger to an area marked in the red, deep underground.
"What about the other bunkers and facilities?"
"No problems. That's the only one giving me a headache. I can't tell what's going on behind or for what it is used or how far it goes down. Nada." Fredrick massaged her forehead exhausted.
"What is the name of the city anyway?"
"Palisa, the capital of Halea," she answered after a short pause. "The funny thing is, it's not the first time I am stuck. The same thing happened to me yesterday when I tried to access a part of the bunker systems in Fort Green."
"Hmm, strange." Grand averted his gaze away from the hologram and stared outside. Normally she should have access to all systems, he had specially instructed Charlotte to get her the clearance. She obeyed his request, the young officer had received everything she needed: access codes and permission to obtain information about all facilities, UNSC or not.
"Charlotte please log out Miss Fredricks and log me in." He waited a few seconds but nothing happened.
"Charlotte?" The female officer beside him looked slightly amused. "What?"
"Sir, Charlotte is currently going through her upload."
Course! He brought her data chip to the hospital personally. As far as he knew, her data matrix was being uploaded to the body, but it would take a few more days for the process to complete. After that, she would be left in an artificial coma for three more days just to make sure, before the doctors would start to wake her up. For most AIs the first hours were chaotic as fuck. They struggled with thousands of new impressions and emotions. Hunger. Thirst. Pain. The warmth of the sun on your face for the first time. The slowness as human. All of this was new and unfamiliar. They had to learn how to walk and write. Pretty basic stuff every child could do. If all went well, he could visit her in a week, but until then he had to be patient.
"Habit," he replied. "Julia log me in please."
A young woman, 8 inches tall, with long, light brown hair pinned up in a bun appeared before him. Her pale white dress seemed to be blowing in the wind as she sat done one of the miniature skyscrapers.
"Done." Her feet lazily kicked at the glass façade of the holographic building. "Lieutenant Enfield also sent you some documents."
"About what?"
"I don't know, the data is encrypted."
"Does not matter. Enfield will come by later anyway, it can't be that urgent," he replied. "Tell her to come here," he added before turning back to his little problem.
He made a couple of hand gestures. Finally, the city was gone and only the bunker and tunnel systems inside the mountain could be seen. Grand started to recognize the true size of the complex. The huge caves of the old mine had been converted into gigantic storage facilities for goods, weapons, and vehicles. The bunker could easily accommodate over 15,000 soldiers without the additional buildings on the surface.
Nevertheless, many of the tunnels, especially in the lower levels had not yet been built or were in the middle of construction. The majority of the rooms were empty and it seemed that more than one division was planned to be stationed there at the time.
"Pretty impressive, isn't it?" came it from Anabelle.
He nodded in agreement. The military facility was several hundred meters below ground level. In a city of this size, on a planet of no real strategic importance, a lot of material and manpower were stationed there. But the most interesting part was at the bottom. Where the huge freight elevator ended was a large gate. It was so big a Mammoth would pass through without having much difficulty.
Everything behind the gate was so blurred out, that Grand couldn't see anything. Depending on the rank and the security clearance you could control who was allowed to access certain information. For civilians all military buildings had been made unrecognizable, for him, as the highest commander in this sector, such a limitation should theoretically not exist. Theoretically.
Yet it was there. Blinking in a dark red color, like it was annoyed by the two nosy officers. A few unsuccessful attempts later he lost his temper.
"Julia send a message to the officer in charge. Tell him to take the elevator down to the damn gate and open it. I want a full briefing on what the hell is behind that thing. Asap."
"Aye sir," came in from the young AI. Her hologram began to fade, leaving him and Major Fredricks alone in the large room. Anabelle envied the artificial intelligence – vanishing into thin air would be extremely handy in situations like this.
"Sir!" The young colored woman began cautiously after a minute. Her supervisor was still staring angrily at the restricted area. When she got no answer, she hesitantly continued. "We have the same situation in Fort Green."
She only got a sullen look and inwardly she already steeled herself for the coming tirade.
Since Charlotte was gone, it sometimes happened that one of his subordinates unintentionally had to deal with his displeasure. Julia tried to fill the gap as well as she could, but you could tell that she did not yet have the callousness and experience of her processor.
"Show me."
Grateful that she was able to escape his disgruntled mood, Fredricks placed the complex on Palisa with the bunker in Fort Green. Fort Green was five times larger than any comparable UNSC base in the Linwood sector. It was home to more than 250,000 Army soldiers and 17,000 civilian employees. The base had five runways, dozens of landing pads, several underground fusion generators to produce enough power for everything, its own factories producing weapons, vehicles, and ammunition and only God knows what else.
As for Palisa, neither he nor Fredricks had access to the lower levels, but unlike Halea, they had direct access to the internal network of the fortress.
"Julia connect to the network and find out what's wrong down there."
"Yes sir. Diagnosis is running," came her low voice from the loudspeakers. She took her time. "I can not connect to the lower levels."
"Why not?" asked Anabelle.
"Because the lower part of the system is not connected with the rest of the network."
"The connections were removed?"
"No."
"Hugh?"
Julia's little avatar reappeared before the holographic image of the red-colored door. She pointed one of her slender fingers at it. "The system within is completely sealed off and has no known connections to the outside."
"They probably wanted to prevent anything coming in," muttered the Major.
"Or out," added the Admiral.
"Do you think the UNSC did some crazy experiments down there?" Grand looked at her. The woman obliviously saw too many Sc-Fi movies.
"No, don't think so Major. If you want to experiment with something dangerous, you look for a secluded place and don't do it 20km away from a 32 million city"
"I guess."
"Admiral, Lieutenant Enfield has just passed the gate and is on the way up," his AI interrupted.
"Thank you." He turned to the woman with dark brown eyes. "Let's take a break Fredricks, maybe Enfield has something interesting to report."
"Sir she should be here any second now." Admiral Grand glanced over at the AI's hologram. Reluctantly, he got up from the comfortable sofa, crossed the room, opened the door with a jerk, and looked into the startled face of his lieutenant.
"Umm … sir," she saluted.
"At ease.," he replied. "Come on in."
"Hello Lt. good to see you again.," Anabelle greeted friendly.
"Ma'am." The blonde put the suitcase she had brought with her on the table.
"You have something for me?" Grand asked a little curiously.
"Yes, I do. Did you read the documents I sent?"
"No, we had some problems with Fredrick's clearances."
The blonde nodded and shifted uneasily from one leg to another. "Well, I have new information about…," she paused briefly and let her gaze wander to the officer. "… about the Noah project."
He had expected a lot, but not that. Everything they could find out about their little scavenger hunt ended in a dead end or turned out to be misinformation. By now several months had passed without any new information. In his head, he already had closed this file.
Enfield apparently not.
A few times Grand had noticed that she and Charlotte were looking through thousands of documents for clues, but they didn't find anything. Until now.
"Noah sir?" The brown-haired woman threw them an interested look.
Neither she nor his current artificial intelligence knew about it. Without new knowledge, he hadn't seen any point in letting them now. The fewer people knew about it, the better.
"Everything I say now remains confidential between us. Do you understand Major?"
"Yes, Admiral." Her eyes glowed with curiosity. "The same goes for you Julia."
"If you want, I can leave the room."
"Nonsense, sooner or later you would have noticed something anyway." Her little hologram blinked with joy. It looked like AIs were as much of a sucker for secrets as humans.
"I will give you the short version: Shortly after I arrived in the Linwood sector, I came across hard drives in my current office that contained encrypted files about a project called Noah. Most of the stored documents were too badly damaged or deleted. All we could find out was, around 2552 a lot of money, material, and manpower went into some project outside of known UNSC-claimed space. We sadly don't know what or where it is."
He nodded to Enfield. "It's your turn."
Lorena stroked her blonde hair. "Regardless of what it was, a project of this size and scope required bringing in a huge number of materials, personnel, food, weapons, and everything you could need. So, we decided to look for possible ships that would be suitable for this kind of work. Since it couldn't be a military ship and most civilian ships were simply too small to transport the necessary amounts at that time, there was only one type left.
She let a large 3D model of a 2.5km long ship appear at the same spot where For Green was a handful of seconds before.
"A Phoenix-class colony ship. Big enough to accommodate everything you need for an outpost or a new colony."
"There were probably dozens of such ships in this sector, unloading refugees or bringing material and troops to the front," interjected Grand.
"Correct, but after doing some research, I came across an anomaly. One of the ships, the UNSC Clinton, made four supply flights from Oria to Eternis for a company called Merida Industry. When I asked about the ship, the local authorities on Eternis told me they never heard of a ship with this name. The company Merida Industry also never existed, neither in this sector nor any other was it registered. All I found was an abandoned warehouse and an inactive account at a small bank."
"Couldn't we find out who is the owner of the account?" Suggested Julia.
"I already checked."
"And?"
"The customer service from the bank didn't know anything about the account and couldn't tell me who opened it."
"Accounts don't open themselves out of thin air." Anabelle looked thoughtfully around.
"Somebody hacked into the system or?"
"I think so Admiral," said Enfield. "The only organization, capable to bypass the security systems of a bank permanently a getaway completely unnoticed is …"
"ONI," Grand completed the sentence for her.
"Exactly. And we don't need to ask them. If they get wind of it, we never find out what's behind all this."
"We are stuck in a dead end," mumbled the Army officer.
"We may still have a chance," spoke Lorena with a big grin on her face. "I was able to locate the UNSC Clinton."
"She is still active?" Asked Grand in disbelief. The first ships were commissioned in 2362. 200 years ago!"
"No, she is not in service anymore, but still intact. Guess where she is right now sir."
"Agrion?"
She nodded her head in agreement. "The Clinton is still waiting there to be scrapped - for over four decades! We should send a team to retrieve any possible information left behind."
"Agreed Lieutenant. Pack your things and get ready."
"Where do we meet Admiral?" The blond officer requested.
"You will go alone." That answer took her by surprise.
"Excuse me?" She stammered, taken aback.
"The Nightfall should be still in orbit, meet Shepard's team there. They will help you recover everything that could be of use. You take command of the operation, the less the ship's crew knows, the better. Julia will inform the captain of the Nightfall. They will be ready when you arrive."
Grand walked over to the windows and looked in the rough direction of Fort Green. He clasped his hands behind his back. "Major Fredricks and I are going to take a little trip to the mountains. Any questions?"
Julia was the first to speak. "I forwarded the orders to the Nightfall and I also moved the scheduled date for the routine inspection of the ship forward, so lieutenant Enfield has an alibi for her short-term arrival."
"Good thinking." William praised her.
"I am going to prepare myself and organize a pelican. If you are ready, let me know." The Major saluted and left the office.
The only one remaining was still unsettled-looking Lorena. "What if it turns out to be a dead end?"
"Then we're back at the beginning," he replied with a shrug before continuing. "You can do it, Lieutenant. See it as a little practical exercise," William tried to encourage her.
"For what?"
"For the future. You have potential Enfield; you just don't see it."
"Hardly," the woman sighed.
"We'll see." He gestured towards the door. "Let's go, your ship is waiting."
"Aye, aye Admiral," she wished him goodbye and closed the door behind her. William stayed behind with that nagging feeling he had for months. Something was wrong.
1140 hours, May 3rd, 2596 (Military Calendar)
On way to Fort Green, Calais, Arcadis
Eidera System, (Sector L-421), Outer Colonies
The old D77H-TCI Pelican glided effortlessly over the roof of the metropolis with its two passengers in its bay. There was a lot of activity blow them. Many citizens enjoyed the midday sun in the numerous parks or chilled on the sandy beaches at the riverside. It was not the first time this year that William cursed himself for one of his stupid ideas.
Instead of enjoying the wonderful weather and the heat like the rest of the city, he sat in the hold of a Pelican with his gray-black BDU and stared through the open hatch at the passing landscape below him. Despite the open hatch, it was far too hot.
Perhaps he should have just left his white dress uniform on, but it did not offer any additional protection like the BDU. In addition to the gray protective vest, it offered a holster for a pistol and two smaller soft cases in which you could stow additional ammunition or other small items. The BDU was a mixture of uniform and combat armor specially developed for officers to better protect them from injury in confrontations with the enemy.
Major Fredricks sat across from him. She had her eyes closed and was enjoying the short break. How she managed to be so relaxed was a mystery to him. In contrast to him, she wore the full combat gear of an Army soldier. The woman was armed with several grenades, a knife, a pistol on her thigh, an AR resting on the free seats beside her, and a backpack that was currently lying on the floor between her legs.
It looked like Anabelle wanted to go to war and not explore an old bunker with Grand. When he asked her about it, she said it was better to be safe than sorry and as long as she was carrying her equipment herself, he didn't care.
"Sir we are going to land any minute now," the copilot informed him over com. He stood up and, on the way, to the ramp gave Fredricks a quick pat on the shoulder.
"Wake up Major, naptime is over." Behind him, he heard a deep sigh followed by a loud yawn. A handful of seconds later she was standing next to him at the hatch and both were watching the base below them.
"Slept well?" He asked. As an answer got a tired look and a low grunt.
The pelican jerked as it landed with a roar on one of the landing pads in front of the aircraft hangars. They headed down the ramp in the direction of an already waving soldier who stood in front of a transport warthog.
"Good day sir, I'm supposed to take you to Major Stump."
"Let's go then." Grand turned around and gave the two waiting pilots at the heck a shorthand signal. They saluted quickly and disappeared inside the bird.
William made himself comfortable in the passenger seat of the hog and watches as the Pelican rose back into the air and then disappeared behind the treetops of the surrounding forest.
The bunker's official number was C-73, a supply bunker to be more precise. There were probably a few on the base, all of them connected through a network of tunnels deep inside the mountain. What disappointed William the most was that he didn't notice anything special about the building. Inside he spotted numerous mechanics, which were busy repairing and maintaining countless tanks, Warthogs, and some Wolverines. Forklifts transported boxes of spare parts and ammunition around. Several soldiers sat around a small table and played cards.
"Admiral." Fredricks pointed to the right, from where a tall soldier was marching towards the two in full combat gear.
"Sir," he saluted briskly, "welcome to Fort Green."
"Thank you. Who are you?"
"Major Stump," replied the tanned man with blue eyes and a neatly trimmed beard on his face.
"Do you always walk around in full armor Major?" He threw a short look at Fredricks. Must be an Army thing.
"Usually not, but when I heard you heading down to the lower levels I decided to tag along." He looked at the large freight elevator a dozen meters away in the corner. "You know, Admiral," he began as the trio started moving, "I was down there once with my predecessor out of curiosity."
He pressed a few buttons on the control panel and the elevator slowly began to move downwards.
"Can you tell me what's down there exactly?"
"A big gray door made of Titanium A and a control panel. That's pretty much it." Stump leaned against the railing and crossed his arms over his chest. "I rummaged through the archives and my files to find additional information about the bunkers. No luck sadly."
"Did you say bunkers?" Grand asked puzzled.
"Yeah exactly. Higher up in the mountains are three other bunkers. Much smaller like this one, but they are well hidden inside the forest. No chance you would stumble on them by accident."
"Can't be Major, I have a list with all bunkers and military buildings in and around Calais," Fredricks joined the conversation.
"Sorry, but that's how it is. They aren't mentioned in any official documents. I only know of this through my predecessor. He left me some notes before he retired."
"Could he know something?" Fredricks padded her lower lip with a finger.
"Doubt it, but I can ask him. Admiral Terrel may have additional information."
"Terrel died two years ago." William looked up. They were already pretty far down. It was noticeably cooler as well. "Back to the three bunkers Major. I there a possibility to get in from there?"
A loud squeak interrupted the conversation and the elevator jerked to a stop. Very calmly Stump walked over to the control panel and pressed his hand against the scanner. The elevator started moving again.
"Security clearance," he answered the unspoken question. "No, I don't think so."
"Are the buildings manned?" Fredricks paced forth and back.
"No, they are empty. They don't look much like bunkers to be fair. They are more like a concrete warehouse hugging the mountain. Within the building is a large Titanium gate going inside the mountain. A Scorpion can fit through, maybe two. Only reachable by air. I have them monitored with drones to ensure nobody is doing something stupid."
A muffled noise marked the end of their journey. The heavy elevator doors opened and Grand stepped out. They were about 60 meters from their destination and they weren't alone. Four Squads of 12 Army soldiers each had already gathered in front of the massive gate. Some technicians were busy setting up spotlights and generators. Two Warthogs and a Cyclop with a welding device on its back were waiting.
"I see you have already brought some support. Good job." They could use any helping hand.
"Thank you, Admiral. The boys are very eager to crack the vault." He nodded. A few meters before they got to the control panel of the gate Fredrick tugged on his arm.
"Look up." He obediently followed her instructions. Above them, carved in stone, Grand spotted the famous symbol of ONI."
"My day is just getting better and better," he muttered.
"Attention," said a corporal as the three approached. The soldiers stooped all their activities immediately and stood straight, the feet together, and both arms at the sides.
"Carry one," replied Stumpf curtly. "Over here sir," he said and led them to the terminal at the gate. A technician was already waiting. Admiral Grand press his hand at the bio scanner and waited for a reply. Seconds later the screen began to blink red, the same as in the Department of Defense.
"Open," he instructed the technician.
"Yes sir." The woman opened the side of the terminal and connected a small device to it. As soon as she had pressed the start button, they heard a loud mechanical click.
"Oh," she uttered surprised. The display went dark.
"What Oh?" asked William.
"The system noticed someone was trying to gain unauthorized access and locked the door and threw me out. "
"And how on earth do we open it now." His voice grew louder.
"Maybe from the inside," she squeaked out softly.
He shot her an annoyed look. No shit.
"We're switching over to Plan B Admiral," the Major said, distracting him.
"Specialist it's your turn," he yelled at the pilot of the Cyclop. As supple as a cat he jumped into the vehicle and activated the welding torch. A two-meter-long, bluish flame shot out from the Cyclops right arm.
"Don't worry, we'll be through there in no time," Major Stump assured him with confidence. "This baby can crack everything."
Yeah.
In no time.
45 minutes later they only advanced about 22 cm. At this speed, it would take days to cut their way through the gate. How thick was that damn gate anyway? Grand scratched himself on the chin.
William didn't have that much time. It was not like he had no other things to do.
He would need something with heavy, something with a punch to get through the four-meter-thick Titian-A gate. Conveniently he was on an Army military base, which gave him access to various vehicles.
William already had one on his mind.
"Stop it Major. Let's try something else," he turned to the man.
"Sir?"
"Get a Cobra down here."
"You're kidding Admiral. A Cobra has enough firepower to bring everything here down," Stump stared at him. Fredricks didn't look too enthusiastic either but kept her comment to herself. "Sir with all respect, but an unlucky shoot could let the roof collapse."
"Duly noted." He averted his gaze from the officer and folded his arms behind his back.
The soldier had only one answer to give, "Sir, yes sir." He shouted a few more orders to his troops before he shuffled off in the direction of the elevator. Minutes later, a nearly nine-meter-long Cobra rolled out of the elevator, followed by more soldiers and an M808 main battle tank, better known as Scorpion.
The Cobra was already getting into its lockdown mode, storing away the M66 guns and replacing them with its M98 Light Rail Gun. The rest started to gather behind the fire-ready SP42 and the Scorpion.
When everything was clear the Shooter reported over com, "Ready when you are sir."
"Fire."
The first projectile struck with deafening noise and the released shockwave blew up a lot of dust. Smaller stones trickled from the ceiling. Some soldiers began to cough, while others cursed and tried to avoid the falling stones.
The door, however, was still intact but dented.
"A small success at least," mumbled Fredricks next to him.
"Keep firing," he ordered the crew of the Cobra.
It took them three shoots in total to create a hole large enough to climb through and five more as well as the Cyclops with the welding torch to enlarge it so that the rest of the vehicles could pass it. The tank would still have trouble passing. But Grand didn't think of any scenario he would need the Scorpion.
William peeked carefully through the hole. There was no light on the other side. No emergency lighting or any sort of alarm. Nothing.
"Here goes nothing," he encouraged himself. He had already made the first step when an armored glove fell on his shoulder and stopped him.
"Ladies first," Major Fredricks said and pushed him to the side.
With her assault rifle ready the colored woman walked in front of him and carefully trudged through the hole.
"Looks clean," she activated the small lamp on the AR and swept the weapon across the room.
"It's even cooler here," he remarked. Stumpf and his troops followed behind them and began to spread out. The darkness was pierced by dozens of small lights. Still, it was impossible to see the roof more than a dozen meters far.
"Are those containers?" Remarked a private. He pointed to objects barely illuminated and difficult to spot in the dark.
"Looks like it," agreed another.
They were neatly lined up to the right and left of the passage and they didn't seem to end.
The two Warthogs slowly rolled past the group and took the lead. Their headlights lit up the area but they weren't able to penetrate the darkness eighter.
"Looks like a warehouse to me," said Stump from the opposite side of the path.
Fredricks suddenly stopped the team. William was just able to halt before he ran into her.
"What is it?"
"Do you hear that?"
The Admiral only heard the growling of the Warthogs engines, which had come to a halt in front of them. With a little concentration, one could detect a quieter noise in the background.
"Sounds like the turning of a gun barrel."
He had barely finished the sentence when Anabelle started sprinting forwards while shouting something to the drivers.
The warning came way too late for the first vehicle. The first bullet hit the engine hood, ripped it apart like a piece of paper and a fraction of a second later did the same with the vehicle's windshield.
The driver behind had no chance to react. His body was ripped apart by the M71. Meat chunks flew in all directions and a fountain of blood splashed against the nearby containers. The gunner was just able to turn her M12 in the rough direction of the attack, only to suffer the same fate shortly after. A projectile hit her face and spread its contents on the floor and over the windshield of the Hog behind.
The second LAAG fared no better. The corporal driving the Warthog had already engaged reverse gear, but he couldn't get any further than to press his foot on the paddle before his upper body disappeared in a red cloud.
Without a driver and out of control it ped backward against one of the containers. Some of the soldiers jumped to the side in panic. One of them was too slow and his left leg was crushed by the large tires. He screamed like a banshee. Trying to get up and crawl in cover like the rest of them.
Fortunately, one of his buddies turned around and grabbed him under the arms. Dragging him into safety.
The gunner had already jumped down and thrown himself into one of the alleys between the rows of containers.
Grand could only stare in disbelief at the chaos in front of him.
Three of his people are dead within seconds, one crimpled and two more wounded by flying fragments. Out of his eye, he could see a blurry movement.
The force of the impact made him stumble back and he crashed into a metal wall. Two hands grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the action behind one of the cargo containers.
"Admiral!" he heard a distant voice. Suddenly it was almost eerily quiet. You only heard the sound of the burning vehicles and the screams of the run-over Army soldier. Everyone else held their breath, cowering behind the containers.
Stump started to shout out orders. "Keep your fucking heads down. Get a medic over there."
"Sir are you all right?" asked a worried Fredricks. She pressed him against the wall with one hand.
"What happened?" he stammered, still shaking.
"Our intrusion must have triggered the automatic defense systems. If there weren't as many containers here, you could pick up our remains from the ground."
"Shit, the whole thing wasn't planned like that. What do we do now?"
"I don't know sir," shrugging she turned away from hind and looked over to the other side of the corridor. Stump and the rest of the troopers crouched on the other side.
The young private with the shattered leg had passed out by now, but without a real hospital, they would need to amputate it. The boy needed help and ruckly.
"Can we get him out of here?" William pointed to the seriously injured man. A young private pushed past him with a shouldered SPNKr.
"The risk would be too great. I can't even see the gun it's too dark and it probably reacts to …. What the hell?" Her hand snapped forward and grabbed the guy with the rocket launcher before he could sept past her onto, the open field.
He crashed into the container wall next to Grand and dropped the rocket launcher in surprise.
"Are you fucking nuts," she snapped at him.
"I... I wanted to take out the turret.," he tried to explain himself.
"The hell you will. It would have taken you apart before you even saw where it is." She pushed him back to his remaining comrades.
She threw a few colorful insults at him about his intelligence before she turned back to her superior.
"I will contact the tank. It's our best option."
"Possibly our only one to get out alive," he replied dryly. As soon as Anabelle had passed her commands to the tank over the radio you could hear the engine of the 35-ton monster come to life. The Scorpion squeezed itself through the opening.
Half of the distance between them and the gate the automatic defense system started firing again. A bullet hit the vehicle's headlight and it burst into thousands of pieces. Small splinters shot in all directions.
Whatever the gun fired with it was damn effective. Grand and the rest had wisely withdrawn further into the alleyways to avoid possible ricochets. Other projectiles tore pieces the size of golf balls out of the armor of the old M808.
The old girl's answer wasn't far behind. She made a small leap backward as she fired her main gun. Somewhere further back you could see a fireball come up and a second later something was crashing onto the floor.
But the hail of bullets continued. Less now, but still continuing. Under the continuous fire, the Scorpion began to smoke dangerously. At the back, a small fire could already be seen. It was just a matter of seconds now before it couldn't take any more.
"Another one," it dawned on Fredricks.
"What do you mean…."
The soldier had already started moving. As fast as she could, she shouldered the rocket launcher, which had previously been lying carelessly on the ground a few meters ahead, and slid around the corner.
The tank driver had also noticed the second turret and tried to turn the main gun in its direction as quickly as possible. But before the Scorpion could be ripped apart, two rockets struck the cannon on the ceiling, tore it with brute force from its bracket, and converted it into a big pile of scrap falling onto the floor.
Major Fredricks were standing in the middle of the path. Still shouldering the smoking SPNKr. Appreciative clapping and whistling could be heard from some soldiers in the background. She dropped the launcher.
Major Stump on the other hand was one of the first to shake off the shock. He immediately started giving orders to his people. The wounded were brought out of the cave as quickly as possible. Behind the gate paramedics with additional reinforcements were already waiting.
Exhausted Grand watched as more and more UNSC staff stream through the entrance. Floodlights were set up by technicians along the way and Army squads were looking for other hidden traps between the rows of containers.
Other Warthogs removed the destroyed wrecks after unloading additional equipment. Half the base must have gathered down here by now, or so it seemed to Grand. He slowly pushed his way through to Anabelle, who leaned against the back of the tank.
When he stopped in front of her, she looked up briefly from the floor.
"I already saw the bullet coming." She pointed at a 15 cm crater, that must have been caused by a projectile."
"It was very brave of you Major," he acknowledged without taking his eyes off the hole.
"It was stupid, we both know that," she began with a shake of her head.
"Not stupid, rather – daring." She just snorted disparagingly.
"Maybe you will get a medal. How does that sound?"
"Just don't," she grinned briefly. After a moment, she pulled away from the abandoned Scorpion moaning softly.
"Let's go. I want to know what ONI is hiding down here to have us shot."
"Not just you," he agreed. William looked at the three dead soldiers or what was left of them. They were lying on the side, put in a black body bag. He felt his throat tighten.
They were dead because he couldn't keep his nose outside of other people's businesses. He should have left the cursed gate alone.
Fuck.
William started to get angry. Angry at himself for his stupidity and even angrier at ONI. Why the fucking hell had they put automatic turrets at the ceiling. And why didn't they have a working IFF? A friend or foe detection was the easiest thing to do. Every soldier had a chip implanted which transmitted and received all kinds of information.
What the fuck is wrong with these guys.
While he kept raging on in his mind, the two marched along the path past the still-smoking pieces of the turrets, towards the steel door at the end.
"Hurry up a little," Stump complained to the technician who was just trying to open the 5-meter-wide security door.
"How is it going?" Asked William, who had just joined the group of around 50 men waiting in front of the door.
"Only a matter of minutes sir," the technician assured him. "The codes are far weaker and easier to surpass."
"Anything else?"
"We haven't found a gate control or a way to switch the light on. I suspect there is a central control room somewhere," the Major replied. His gaze wandered upwards, but he couldn't see anything because the light from the hastily erected spotlights did not reach the ceiling. He turned back to the waiting Admiral.
"As soon as the door is open, I'll have the bunker turned upside down," he growled. He was in a terrible mood. Three men dead. William couldn't blame him for that.
"Do you have enough people for that?"
"Yes, I think so. More reinforcements are already on their way. I will find out who was in charge here and then I'm gonna rip that little motherfucker …."
Their conversation was interrupted by a low beep before the door slowly opened. You couldn't see much, but it was not another room. In front of them was a poorly lit corridor that supposedly led them into the heart of the facility. Only the red emergency lighting was on.
Stump activated the flashlight on his assault rifle. "If we find anything, you will be the first to know sir." He and his soldiers gradually disappeared inside. William looked after the group until the last one was out of sight.
"Let's get to work, Major." She nodded in agreement.
Both walked over to a small group of Army members, waiting in front of one of the many unopened containers.
"Open it," Fredricks ordered the young Corporal.
"Yes ma'am." Two of his comrades unlocked the door and pulled it open.
Grand stared into an empty container. He ran his hand over his face. Disappointed.
Anabelle had stepped into the containers as if she wanted to make sure it was empty. She crouched down and looked at some strange electrical ports at the bottom. Six in total. All of them are around two meters away from each other.
"Looks empty Major," reported one of the leathernecks intelligently.
"I see that," she growled at him. "Next one"
The second container was opened – nothing.
The third. Empty.
The fourth. Empty.
The fifth. Empty.
After more than 32 randomly chosen samples, Grand finally gave up. His mood had hit a new low. He was fed up. Today everything went wrong that could have gone wrong.
Suddenly the lights went on.
Only now William could see the full extent of the cave. It was four times the size he first suspected.
A kind of transport and crane system was attached to the ceiling with which the containers could be moved further inside.
It reminded him a little of the great spaceports in orbit, where thousands of tons of industrial goods were handled every day.
His gaze wandered leisurely over the ceiling until he stopped at the control room above the door. Up there, 150 meters above the ground, he could see some of Stump's people.
As they saw him the soldiers began to wave.
Grand raised his hand, pointing in the direction of the main gate.
Someone understood his message. The heavy titanium gate began to open with a groan.
Good, the incoming supplies didn't need to squeeze themselves through the hole, which saved the drivers time and nerves.
"Sir, Stumpf found something," Fredricks informed him quietly from the side.
"Did he say more?"
"No sir. He said you should see it for yourself." She frowned. "He's sending someone to pick us up."
Grand leaned tiredly against one of the containers. The day began to take its toll on him. Mentally more than physically.
He pushed the sleeve of his uniform back a little to take a quick look at his watch. He hoped the whole thing would take maybe an hour or two at most. Looking back, it was a bit naïve. But time was his smallest problem now.
It was now a little before five in the afternoon and Grand had no choice but to carry on. He wanted to finish this shit. He owed that to the dead.
"So far we have found out that the complex can be roughly divided into two areas. We are currently concentrating our forces on this area, but some smaller groups have been sent out to explore the other part of the facility. Major Stumpf suspects that the second part and the other sealed bunker doors converge somewhere deeper inside the mountain. ONI was up to something really big," rambled Corporal Haley happily to herself.
The young, curly-haired blond soldier had been chatting to Grand and his Lt. almost the whole time. It was mostly a monolog and Anabelle next to him grimaced in annoyance.
He couldn't blame her. The blonde was talking like a waterfall, but the worst part was her high-pitched voice. It irritated him more than the constant talking.
"Here we are, Admiral." The group had stopped in front of an elevator.
"Thank God," muttered William.
"Was the way so tiring sir?" asked the blonde sincerely.
William bit his tongue. He had to think of something quickly. "You know Corporal, I'm not used to walking on my feet for so long without a break," he lied. Beside him, he heard a snort.
"Thank you for accompanying us. Without you Corporal we would have been lost," he continued quickly and gave her an appreciative nod before stepping into the elevator.
"Very smooth sir," Anabelle remarked amusedly when the doors closed and the elevator started moving.
"Leave it," he grunted annoyed.
"What have you got for me Major," called Grand before he even saw him.
"Over here, sir." The officer was standing in front of a terminal, holding a data pad in his right hand.
William stood in a circular room. It seemed as if he was standing on a viewing platform. The windows were currently sealed by tick titanium bulkheads.
"Take a look at that."
The Major pressed a button on the screen in front of him. The bulkheads went up slowly, revealing a huge chamber beyond. He leaned on the control panel and looked curiously into the poorly lit chamber.
"Is that …," Anabelle pressed her face to the window next to him. Large grey rectangular pods with a glass window at the front hung on the walls.
"That's right – cryo capsules. Exactly 10000 pieces in each room," replied Stumpf.
10000 pods. 60000 in total. Grand tried to understand what the hell ONI had planned with them.
Sixty years ago, when most ships were barely traveling 3,5 light years a day, cryo-capsules were indispensable. A journey from earth to the outer colonies could take several months. But that still didn't explain why they were hoarded here – 2400 meters underground. In a bunker that is only comparable in size to the facilities in the Inner Colonies and a few selected others. A warehouse could do the same thing.
All sorts of scenarios popped into William's mind, but none so far made any kind of sense to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed how Fredricks walked around and stared into every single room.
Another question popped into his mind, probably the most important question for now.
"Are the pods empty?" His question was directed to the officer who was still standing next to him in silence. Without a word, he handed him his holo pad.
"What the hell is this about," he muttered.
The list of names seemed to go on forever. He scrolled and scrolled and scrolled.
"Take a look at one of the profiles, sir."
Grand tapped one of the names. A young woman with dark brown hair and blue eyes appeared on the screen. She was in her late twenties maybe.
"Ellen Ryder, neural implant specialist and a lead scientist in AI research. Married to Alec Ryder for two years." His eyes traveled over the profile until he found a date.
"The last update was 2552," he remarked, handing the pad back to Major Stumpf.
"That's correct sir. Since then, there have been no new entries, neither in the list nor on any other computers in the bunker."
Stumpf looked thoughtfully at the pad in his hand.
"We haven't found any further information regarding why ONI went through all the trouble, but the capsules are all empty," he continued.
"Have the list checked and find out everything about the people on it. Where they come from, what they are doing now, and whether they are or were connected to the Naval Intelligence," Grand instructed him.
"Yes sir." The Major turned to leave.
"And Major!"
"Yes sir?" Stumpf stopped at the elevator door and turned around.
"Be discreet."
"Of course, Admiral," replied the officer pressing the button.
"Fredricks?" He walked in a circle around the elevator. "Where are you, Major?"
William's gaze fell on an open door that he hadn't noticed before.
"Out here," he heard a muffled voice. She stood on some kind of scaffolding. Her gaze was directed downwards. "From here you can get down, by using the ladders," she pointed to a few yellow ladders beside her.
He leaned against the railing next to her. "Now we also know what ONI needed all the containers for." The admiral followed the soldier's look. Five containers were standing forty meters below them. Half-loaded with doors wide open as the crew would come back any moment now to continue.
Two others hung in the air. The transport system looked strikingly similar to the one in the upper levels, which made some kind of sense.
"I want to see them up close," before Fredricks could react he climbed down the ladders.
"Sir with all due respect, I strongly advise against it. Everything here is damp and slippery."
"I will be careful," he tried to appease her. Above him, he heard a faint course and how Anabelle snapped a few commands into her com.
She was right. The ground was slippery. With careful steps, he moved toward what looked like a manual crane control.
The chocolate-skinned soldier had meanwhile packed her AR on her back and was now also starting the descent.
Grand curiously pressed a large green button.
A couple of lights went on and you could hear the crane's engine starting to hum. But that was the only button you could still see clearly. The others were pretty much unreadable. William could only guess what they meant.
"What's the worst thing that could happen?" he thought and began to press one of the other buttons.
With a loud rumble, one of the hanging containers started to move and collided with the other a few seconds later.
"Oh shit," he hissed and slapped the emergency stop button on the panel with the palm of his hand.
Fredrick was just down when the two containers collided. One of the steel cables tore and whipped through the air.
William threw himself to the left with a bold leap.
The front container now hung ominously crooked in the air and you could hear the contents crashing against the locked door.
He got up.
At the same moment, the doors were pushed open by the enormous weight of the cryo-capsules inside. Fredrick's yells were drowned out by the noise of the falling pods.
One of them came down on the same spot he stood mere seconds ago and crushed the crane control under its massive weight. Sparks flew and debris shot in all directions.
Distracted by the events around him he turned his head around and looked up again, finally realizing that one pod was flying exactly in his direction.
With another jump to the right, he tried to get out of the collision course.
Without success.
The pod hit the ground before him, jumped back into the air like a ball, and tore him with brute force to the ground. Adrenaline flooded his body. Everything blurred.
His head hit the floor and for a moment his vision went black.
His whole body ached like hell.
Something warm rand down his face and dripped in his eyes.
With great effort, he rolled on his back. He started to cough heavily as he tried to push himself up. William couldn't move his left arm and he collapsed back onto the floor as the pain overwhelmed his senses.
Somewhere upstairs he heard frantic yells and boots running across the metal walkway. He couldn't understand them though.
With his right hand, he tried to wipe over his eyes. But it was of no use. He couldn't see shit, only blurred shadows and bright spots on the outer edge.
He closed his eyes for a moment. His breath was too quick and shallow.
When he opened them again, he saw Fredricks leaning over him. Her eyes were wide open and her face was completely devoid of any color. She said something, but the only thing he heard was his racing heart.
The Major rummaged in her backpack and pulled out a green 20 cm long cylindrical canister.
Grand groaned in pain as she attempted to seal his wounds on the left side with BioFoam. Another canister followed. The empty one was thrown to the side without another look.
She turned briefly in the direction of the ladder and waved her hands widely.
In the light, he could see her bloodied hands and how they slowly ran down her arm - dripping onto the floor.
Her face started to disappear as the black edges of his vision were creeping more and more to the center.
He closes his eyes slowly. Grand needed a minute or two.
Anabelle was yelling at him, shaking his head gently with both hands.
William had already lost too much blood and his head rolled limply to one side.
0210 hours, May 4rd, 2596 (Military Calendar)
Junkyard, Orbit, Agrion
Beta Columbae System, (Sector L-421), Outer Colonies
"Where should I land John?" Kaidan asked without taking his eyes off the windshield.
Shepard stood behind him in the Pelican's cockpit, holding onto Kaidan's seat with his left hand.
"As close as possible to the bridge."
"There is a runway for smaller ships, little blow the bridge," suggested the only female ODST on the team. She was sitting in the copilot's seat behind Kaidan and to the left of John. "From there we can take the elevator straight to the top."
"Big enough for our Pelican Ash? You're sure?" Alenko slowed the ship's flight.
"I think so," replied the brunette. The pilot stiffened noticeably in his seat.
"See, no need to panic," she reassured her comrades when the old colony ship was in sight.
"You can't hold it against us Ash. Last time we lost a wing." John patted her shoulder.
"And a bunch of nerves," muttered Kaidan.
Shepard laughed. It looked like Alenko was still not over it. Since this day Ashley was only allowed to fly in emergencies.
"Just bring us in – in one piece please," he instructed.
"Ma'am, we are as good as there," he informed the young officer as he stepped through the door to the back of the hold.
"Thank you, Chief."
Behind the mirrored helmet he couldn't see Enfield's expression, but from her voice, he could hear that she was nervous.
He felt a little sorry for the pretty blonde. She had little to no practical experience in how to lead a spec ops team and even less in how to move around in space.
Maybe that's why the admiral had just thrown her into the deep end. Learning by doing so to say.
At least that's what Coats said. But his friend didn't know much more. It seemed Enfield didn't talk about their mission, not even with him in private. Currently, she was the only one who knew all the details.
On the flight, Captain Evens had tried several times to squeeze any kind of information out of the officer. Why she was on board and why the date for the inspection had been brought forward so suddenly?
Evens was one of the oldest Captains in the sector. She had seen the war against the Insurrection, the Covenant, and the AI Uprising. She normally got what she wanted.
She grilled the girl for hours - in front of the whole bridge crew. You could see Enfield sweating as Even's tone got harsher and harsher. It was a gruesome thing to watch.
But the Lieutenant remained stubborn and always referred to her explicit orders.
At one point the captain exploded as Lorena refused to answer any more of her questions. Evens didn't like to be denied, even less so from a young brat who could be her youngest grand-granddaughter. She even threatened Lorena with a lawsuit before the military tribunal if she disobeyed.
John could understand his captain. Both of them didn't like to stumble into something completely uninformed. They felt like pawns.
Lorena to his surprise snorted loudly as she heard the captain's threat. Not caring anymore what the captain thought of her.
It was hollow as fuck.
He knew it, she knew it, Evans knew it and probably the rest of the ship knew it.
The Lt. walked away without saying anything else. It was the first, and probably last time in his life he saw the old lady speechless.
There was nothing she could do. The girl was working directly for an Admiral.
Complaining to Admiral Grand was probably the only thing, but he doubted she would do that. You didn't argue with the brass. Never.
The pelican touched down silently in the hangar of the old colony ship. "Get tactical lasses, you too Ashley," he announced over the intercom.
He took two assault rifles from their mounts and handed one over to Alenko who had just emerged from the cockpit with Williams in tow. Ash grabbed a pistol and an SMG and fastened them to her tights. At last, she shouldered her bag with first aid.
Coats who was sitting next to Lorena took his shotgun and handed her an M6C Magnum.
"Should I take something," Shepard asked a kneeling Jenkins on the floor next to him. The young Corporal was wearing the DEMO variant of the ODST armor. He was the youngest member of John's team, a little more than a year since he joined.
"Nah I am good," he replied and gave him a thumbs-up sign. Jenkins was carrying the backpack with the explosives.
"Are you sure we have everything?"
He looked at him and opened it a little so he could see its contents better. "Sixteen C-12 charges and…," he pulled out a flower-shaped disk "my personal favorite a Lotus mine."
Shepard didn't need to see the kid's face to know he was grinning behind his visor like a Cheshire cat.
"Be careful with that thing, if it blows up all that's left of us is dust and a fucking huge crater," John reminded him a little worried. A Loutus mine could tear apart a Scorpion tank with ease and even meld Titanium-A
"Don't worry boss, as long as the mine has not been armed it is as harmless as a bookend." The young man grabbed his M739 LMG and shouldered the rucksack.
Shaking his head, Shepard turned to Enfield. "Ready ma'am?"
"Let's get going Chief."
It took a moment for the Pelican to pump the air out of the hold. Shepard pressed the hatch button.
The group moved silently across the landing platform in the direction of the elevators. He had never been on a Phoenix-class colony ship, but from basic training, he knew that most ships of this type were used during the war to carry material and troops to the fronts.
Or back.
He could hardly imagine how many soldiers and civilians must have been cramped inside the hangers and rooms when another planet fell to the Covenant. Crammed together like animals.
Many of the ships were never able to jump in time though before the plasma rained down on them.
Strangely enough, the rooms they passed were empty. No one bothered to thoroughly clean them before they were sent to be scrapped. Normally only the stuff you could sell or use otherwise was removed.
The rest - wasn't worth the effort and was simply left behind. Sometimes they even left the bodies behind, if it had to go quickly.
These ships were fucking graveyards.
"Shepard up there," said Williams, who was at the head of the team. "That must be one of the elevators."
"Jenkins, it's your turn. The rest stays here at a safe distance."
The Corporal attached three of his C-12 charges to the door and suck a detonator inside. John watched from a safe distance as the rookie lit them up.
For a split second, a small sun enlightened the corridor. As somebody had thrown a flash-bang directly in front of his feet. However, the result was impressive.
The door was gone.
And most of the wall.
A few pieces of debris that hadn't melted or evaporated floated in the vacuum.
"Good job kiddo," praised Alenko.
John strode to the shaft and peered inside.
"And?" Coats and Enfield stopped next to him. "Looks good," he replied to his old friend. "The elevator is down there somewhere. We shouldn't have any problems getting up to the bridge."
He deactivated his magnetic boots and pushed himself off the ledge. Shepard floated silently through the shaft. In his head, he counted the decks. After the seventh, he grabbed the elevator rope.
He looked around.
Somewhere had to be an emergency handle to open the door. "Got you." He pulled on it and the door cracked open.
"Goddamn. Michael get your ass up here." Coats appeared next to him. "Help me push the door open."
Finally, the gap was big enough to push through. Just a few meters left and they were finally at their goal.
Jenkins was the first to stand in front of the bridge door and eyed it suspiciously. "I looked into it, the door is 40 cm thick and made of Titanium-A."
"Get to the point," hissed an impatient Ashley.
She hated space missions. Like him, she loved having dirt under her feet.
"We need my baby here." He pulled the mine out of his bag back and tapped it on the door along with six other explosive devices.
"Hey Corporal, are you sure? We just want to open the door and not blow up the whole bridge," Alenko interjected.
"Yeah, yeah." Jenkins shooed the group around the next corner before activating the detonator.
Shepard winced and pressed himself closer to the wall as the yellow, orange fireball shot past him an arm's length. For a second, he thought Jenkins miscalculated and they were all going to be grilled alive.
The shield bar on his HUD blinked in an angry red color. The heat had reduced his shield to zero. His skin was itching and burning.
"I'll kill him," Ash threatened when it was over. "I'll kill the bastard." Kaidan grabbed her arm just in time. With great difficulty, he managed to push the furious soldier against the wall. Next to him, Coats held a completely shocked Enfield in his arms. She had collapsed. Her body had probably shut down, not able to handle the immense heat.
"Jenkins go back to the Pelican," Shepard ordered.
"Sir, I.."
"Move Corporal or I will tell Kaidan to let Williams go," he told him. After Jenkins turned briefly to the still-raging Ashley, he quickly packed his remaining things and ran away.
"You're all right Lt.
"I …I am fine," she managed to say after a few tries.
"Williams is his smallest problem when we are back on the ship," announced Coats angrily over a private radio channel. It wasn't the first time Jenkins had put his comrades in a risky situation.
John had hoped the former Marine would manage to get his recklessness under control over time. His reckless nature is a big problem. For him. For the team. For the mission.
What made it even worse was the presence of an officer. If Grand only got a whiff of what happened, he would have to justify his group's unprofessional behavior.
He already put his head on the line for Jenkins. Captain Evens wouldn't tolerate any more of this.
Shepard hat to find a solution. If Coats get his hands on him, it was over for the boy.
"I will take care of it," he promised him. His skin was still itching, while the suit's internal systems tried to cool him down. "Just promise me you and Ash won't do something stupid."
"Sorry John, can't do that. It's not about me you know that."
Fuck. Of course, it's not about Michael.
It's about the blonde.
The thing between them was as serious as it could be. It was personal.
"Just not as long we are on duty."
"Sure, but as soon we are on shore leave …." He didn't need to finish the sentence.
"Let's continue," Shepard wanted to finish the mission asap. The hole was big enough to easily step through.
For a ship that was 2500 meters long and could transport over 11000 colonists plus crew, the bridge seemed almost a little small to him. A large holo table dominated the center of the room. Countless screens hung on the walls. Some were lying shattered and melted across the floor.
Nothing worth mentioning.
"Lieutenant don't you want to tell us what we are searching for," he tried asking.
To his surprise, he even got an answer this time. "Everything that can tell us the past whereabouts of this ship. Logbooks, star maps, navigation data, and Slipspace calculations."
"Why is the Navy interested in an old colony ship," he further inquired.
"That Chief … is classified."
Oh, how he hated this word. He loathed it.
"Oh, come on ma'am."
"I am sorry Shepard. Ask the Admiral, maybe he will fill you in."
John glanced over her shoulder at Coats, but the tall ODST just shrugged.
"We found the navigation console," interrupted Williams their conversation over the open com channel. Without wasting another word, the officer walked past Shepard and joined Ashley and Kaidan.
"What did you find," she wanted to know.
"I'm afraid nothing useful," Alenko muttered.
John got to his knees in front of the grey terminal. The small shutter was ripped open and the remains of its insides were floating around everywhere. He picked up a frozen electronic component and kept it twisting between his fingers. Must have been a piece of a memory card.
Nothing to salvage here.
"So, the whole thing is a hoax." Ash turned away and stomped towards the door. John looked after her. The bridge, like the rest of the Clinton, was almost clinically clean. Something was wrong here. He took his AR from his back and turned the flashlight on before he shone it into the case.
"A moment Chief," Lorena leaned over him and took something out of the case with her long slender fingers. A shimmering golden shell.
"Well, what do we have here," he took the shell from her fingers. He knew the caliber.
12.7x40mm. Standard ammunition.
John released the magazine from his M6D attached to his hip and took out the bullet at the top. They matched perfectly.
"Somebody was trying to remove his traces. The storages are scrap," said Alenko thoughtfully.
"Can't you put them back together," Enfield asked. "Or a specialist."
"No chance ma'am." Kaidan shook his head.
"Is there no backup?"
"I don't think so. Some parts here are missing as well and I highly doubt they forgot the backup. If there was any," replied the tech expert on the team. "Except…"
"Except what?" The female officer wanted to know impatiently.
"The Slipspace drive normally stores the last jump point in its internal buffer. You have to delete it manually on the terminal. A safety measure."
"Isn't that a violation of the Cole Protocol."
"Yeah technically. In short, that's why you make a couple of random jumps after initiating it or before going into a battle, so the Covenant weren't able to trace the Slipspace vectors."
"And where is the terminal?"
"Engines room I am afraid," the ODST mumbled quietly.
"Crap. We don't have enough explosives for all the doors," Coats reminded Shepard.
"Alenko try to get the emergency generators online," suggested a returning Ashley who listened to their discussion over the open channel."
"It's worth a try," Shepard agreed.
John stood in front of the Slipspace drive. The most expensive piece of technology mankind ever built. At least that's what everybody said. Hard to believe that this piece of junk brought anyone anywhere.
No wonder it was still here. Nobody gave a fuck about it.
Colony ships didn't have a particularly high reputation. They were not made for racing. Safety was the top priority after all, the ships had to bring tens of thousands of people to their new homes.
Next to him, a petty officer was lost in thought, trying for over an hour to crack the drive's security protocols.
"Half an hour left Kaidan," he broke the silence.
"Hmm?"
"There's only enough air left for 30 minutes," he informed him.
"I only need a couple more seconds."
"It's okay. Take your time."
Another 15 minutes passed before Alenko threw up his arms. "Eureka." He inserted the chip into the console and downloaded the data set. "Let's get out of here."
Both jogged back to the Pelican in a hurry. They were already expected. Engines running, ready to launch.
"Mission accomplished Lieutenant." Alenko handed her the chip.
"Thanks. Good work. Grand will be pleased." The grey-eyed Lieutenant thanked the team.
Shepard hit the button to close the hatch.
1952 hours, May 9th, 2596 (Military Calendar)
Civilian Cargo ship Trump
Unknown Location, Outside UEG Territory
Donald was in a terrible mood, while he was staring through the bride window of his cargo ship at the asteroid belt several thousand kilometers away. Inwardly he cursed the Navy. They were late. As always.
Time was money.
If the military wasn't paying so well, they could take care of their shit themselves. But he was a greedy old bastard, not letting a single dime slip through his fat fingers.
It should be an easy job. Just transport the goods to the designated coordinates, meet with the frigate, and unload the cargo. Easy money.
Grunting he took another sip from his beer bottle and scratched his stomach.
"Hopefully the fuckers will be here soon, I have something else to do today," the ship's captain grumbled.
"Don't worry boss, they will be here soon," replied Tim, the only other person on the bridge. "Just think of all the money we gonna make when we arrive at Reach."
"The money I get," he corrected him.
"Whatever."
The thought of cash made him grin. In addition to the supplies for the Navy, he had also loaded a smaller, approximately two-by-two-meter large container from Liang-Dortmund.
Inside, were a few micrograms of Dark Matter, kept in suspension by a gravitational field. The new Black gold of the 26th century. A single gram was worth several trillion credits and was enough to power an entire planet for decades.
It powered all of the Navy's shiny new toys, whether it was the new types of ships, the giant shield generators, or the mighty orbital platforms. The hunger of the inner colonies could never be satisfied.
It was a good thing the Navy in this sector had so few ships at the moment, otherwise, they might have transported it themselves. But that way he got a lot of money for two simple cargo flights.
"Two Slipspace portals are opening. UNSC signature," Tim informed him and tore him from his thoughts.
"About time. Let Lutz know. Send Lisa and the newcomer to help him."
"Aye."
From his chair, he could watch the 500-meter-long frigate pushing itself out of the Slipstream. A little further behind her, a smaller ship appeared. It was a little over 140 meters long and lacked the typical markings of a UNSC vessel. It could easily be identified as a civilian ship.
Donald guessed it was a research ship. The yellow and black paint was somehow familiar. Liang-Dortmund. His eyes still lingered enviously on the much more modern and newer ship.
"Wildcat what a fucking dump name," he grunted. "Tim, tell them we are ready to dock and unload the cargo," he instructed his employee moodily.
"That can't be right," Tim swore under his breath and supported himself on the console in front of him.
"What is it?" wanted to know Donald without taking his eyes off the disappearing ships. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Tim sourly typing on the navigation console. Only when the portal finally collapsed behind the frigate and the science ship, he turned his attention to his first officer.
"I am getting a faint signal from one of the asteroids at the edge of the field."
"And what is so interesting about that signal?" In space, you got all kinds of strange and mixed signals. Nothing uncommon.
The ship's captain leaned back in his chair.
"It's a UNSC signal, but I would need to get closer to find out for sure."
He shrugged. Could be everything. A leftover from the frigate, bouncing back from one of the asteroids or old wreckage.
"Are you sure it's real?"
"A hundred percent."
Still, approaching an asteroid field was crazy. No one could predict how the rocks would behave. Even an AI found it difficult to keep an eye on all the flying chunks, let alone calculate their course.
Few ventured into an asteroid field, and even fewer came out again.
He propped himself up on his right arm and his fingers drummed on the leather-covered armrest.
The chances were comparatively good that the signal was one of the missing ships. Five starships were reported missing last month, only in this sector alone. Many believed that such a thing no longer existed, but the reality was usually very different.
Especially out here, in the outer colonies, it was a common event. The UNSC always assured they were on the lookout for the missing ships, but the chances of success finding these were insanely slim. Most of the time only debris and corpses were found. If found at all.
But it was a UNSC signal and not a civilian ship after all. He didn't know about any Navy ships gone missing. And what did a military ship do in an asteroid belt anyway? The Covenant never reached the Linwood sector. That meant: The ship never was forced to flee inside the belt.
Then why did it go in?
He couldn't think of a reason. Whatever it did, it was top secret. And secrets were worth money. A lot of money.
"I am trying to contact the Wildcat, maybe the UNSC can help.," continued Tim thoughtfully.
"Are you nuts," he snapped at him. "We'll get the ship ourselves."
"What about the asteroids?"
"I thought the signal was coming from one of the rocks on the edge."
"Yes, but …."
"Then let's go!"
Tim programmed the new course into the computer and began carefully to set the ship in motion. He steered the Trump as best as he could bast the flying asteroids.
They were only a few hundred thousand kilometers from their destination away when a loud bang could be heard.
The alarm went on.
The old cargo transporter was brutally torn around. Donald was yanked from his eat and hit one of the instruments in front of him with his head. Tim collided with his console. He slumped motionless to the ground.
Blood ran down the man's face. The fire alarm went on as well.
Four decks below them, inside the cargo, hold the fire ate its way through the ship. Melting Titanium doors and devouring everything in its way.
Exactly in the direction of the container with the Dark Matter.
The captain needed all his strength to get to his knees. He slowly crawled in the direction of the control console. There was an emergency button to open the hangar doors. The vacuum would pull the oxygen out of the hold and extinguish the fire.
But it was too late.
Before he could press the button, the fire already weakened the protective shell of the container and destroyed the anti-gravity field generators.
The Dark Matter looked like a beautiful black raindrop and for a very brief moment, it just floated in the vacuum, before it collided with one of the walls.
The following explosion released more energy in one moment than the local sun produced in the last two hundred years.
Another sun could be seen at the very edge of the system. It destroyed everything, even the asteroids several hundred kilometers away. Some, big as a Moon, melted under the immense heat, but it also released all the materials captured inside.
Maybe, in a few million years, a new planet will be born.
But from the ship and its crew was nothing left.
Only cosmic dust and a few echoes.