Hello world! theotherpianist is finally back with another long awaited update. If you thought the wait times before were bad with the last two chapters you should have seen my life during the last four weeks. Holy. Cow. I'm glad that everything has settled down. My development team and I were set back by plot holes and inconsistencies we had to fill before we could proceed.
This chapter will be another longer one. This was originally supposed to be a 8,000 word chapter but I spilled over my word count by a lot.
To spare you from reading something entirely too too long (11,000 words admittedly is pushing it big time) I have abridged it into something shorter. I don't think you would have the patience to read almost 20,000 words. I wouldn't.
As I don't have the time to do reviews right now this chapter will be missing its review section.
Please enjoy the presentation.
Chapter 15:
Vos Gessel Street,
Uscru Entertainment District,
Coruscant:
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" the cloaked figure hissed vehemently.
"Shut up and mingle more will ya Zek?"
The AWOL Skirmisher grunted a reply and only could follow behind his new companion as they made their way down a flashy, garish street covered with advertisements and holograms. He give a sharp cry and stiffled it as his "armor" jolted him.
"Hey, what's with you?" he asked turning his head.
"It's nothing."
Still not convinced he shook his head after a moment.
"Relax, I'm not about to go abandon you. I've got a contact I need to meet up with. He knows a few people who could help you get off world. The place I have in mind, you could even recruit a couple pirates if you wanted. But we're here for a different purpose."
"And remind me what that is again."
"Spice." He said with a sour face.
"Narcotics?"
"Whatever you prefer to look at them as. I find them nasty myself but most of the galaxy is not of that opinion. Potent, powerful, that stuff can kill with just one use. It turns a good profit though at any rate. Couple friends of mine were runnin' from the law a week back and I let them hide out in my place. They promised a payment as compensation. We're going to see where they left it."
"You sound more like a smuggler than a Bounty Hunter." Zek noted.
Dax gave a good laugh at that.
"Yeah. Given how things have been recently that's a fair comment to make. Didn't always use to be that way. Five years ago, I guess I was 27, I was doing just fine. I had employers and jobs all over Hutt controlled space in the Outer Rim. It was a decent life. Show up on time with money that you needed, keep the killing to a descreet minimum, and you could live without any difficult. ****, it was extremely profitable."
"So what happened?"
He sighed and gave Zek a rueful expression as they stopped at a corner.
"I took a bad job and it got me mixed up with internal power struggles between my main employer, a man named Cyrus and his brother Castor, and Jabba the Hutt's crime syndicate. They used to be head of a big swoop gang. Cyrus and Castor had a falling out over debt to a Hutt named Jabba. I was involved with a big score and a negotiation between them and Jabba. Castor and Cyrus essentially fought a three way war over narcotics, contraband, slaves, whatever they thought was theirs. In the end though Jabba manipulated things so that they were both dead and a bounty placed on anyone who had associated with them."
"So you went into hiding."
"I did. Took the money I had and used it all to wipe out any trace of myself in the Outer Rim and bring myself here to start fresh. Originally wanted to go to Mandalore but everything went bad there."
"Because...?"
"Group called Deathwatch." his nose wrinkled at the word and he spat. "Guess I should give you a history on my planet Mandalore if I'm going to tell you that story. But later, we can't be late."
"Fine." Zek said dismissively but with his curiosity still peeked.
They walked until they came to a rather shady, aged building with all the trappings, bright lights, and holograms of a night club.
"This is the Outlander Club. Of all the places to go find a good place to gamble, this is it. However there are a whole lot more than gamblers in this place. Stick close and keep your weapons hidden." he finished with a warning.
They left the greasy, swirling air of outside and stepped into the inconspicious building.
Dax waded into the mass of aliens with an ease that had to have come from living on this massive city. Zek stood for a moment taking everything in.
A large central circular room served as the nexus of the entire place. A bar sat in the center of the room serving a large crowd of citizenry. Still more were sitting at tables around the edge looking at wide variety of screens that showcased what looked to be sporting events. Along the edge of the circle were several alcoves set into the wall which gave the patrons eating some privacy. He gave them no attention even as one raucous group exploded into cheers and exchanged money over in a corner. A band was playing background music in the corner that added to the riotous atmosphere.
He rejoined Dax in a moment and the two slid into one of the empty booths. In a moment a server droid rolled up to them.
"What can I get you today?"
Dax turned to the droid and thought for a moment.
"Two Correlian on the Rocks." he said after a moment. "And tell the manager that his acquaintance is here." he added as an after-thought.
Their drinks appeared with a server who was rough and grizzled moments later.
"Evening Jacen."
One of the waiters slid in on the opposite side of Dax and Zek.
"Who's your friend?" he asked suspiciously eying the cloaked figure.
"Zek here is going AWOL from the Allied Species. He'd much rather prefer going back to piracy which is his trade."
"A Pirate huh?"
"What's it to you?" Zek asked coldly.
"Hey easy!" Jace said putting his hands up. So piracy eh?" he said changing tacts.
"We were going to collect our spice payment Jacen." Dax stated bluntly.
"Ah. I thought that was why you'd be here. By the way thanks again for saving my-"
"Where is it?" Dax asked going straight to the point, slightly frustrated.
"The Galaxies Opera House. It's concealed in the column next to the bust of Eroli Bystistia. If you access the maintenance hatch on the next floor above you can sneak inside it and grab it. The column is hollowed out and used as storage. Nobody's touched it in ages though. Especially if its a long performance like tonight. They're doing the premier of Sleeping Kotha." He cast a glance over his shoulder at a bartender who seemed to be searching for someone.
"Got to report back. Enjoy your drinks." he disappeared without another word leaving two glasses with a blue sparkling liquid swirling around.
"Finish 'em quickly and let's go." The Mandalorian said when he was gone. Show's normally start in about a half hour. We can hit the Opera House, grab the loot, and get out of here before anyone's the wiser."
"How much are we looking at getting paid?"
"A lot. He had a massive shipment of spice that needed hiding."
"Enough to try and get us to our next step?"
Dax laughed. "If we can figure out our next step."
He raised his glass.
"To success and your future."
The glasses clinked and they took a big gulp each.
Zek allowed himself a grin.
"Let's go."
UNSC Dauntless
Orbit of Planet Cryptum, Wild Space Regions
"That's another Destroyer gone! Admiral they're going to break right through us!"
For what seemed the umpteenth this day the Admiral felt suddenly sickened. The feeling was gone after a moment though. At this point in his career he was desensitized to the loss of men. He had lost too many men in the last war he had fought. But such things had to be dealt with in this line of work. That was why the Admiral sent out a quiet prayer for the soul's of those lost, gritted his teeth, and tried to adapt to this new development.
"See if you can't shift our forces around! Weapons, re-prioritize targets based on the amount of weaponry they're throwing at us."
"Aye Admiral!"
"Yorktown and Saratoga are reporting loss of shields!"
"Tell them to get out of harm's way. They can't help any more at this point." he ordered.
"Fighter casualties nearing thirty percent!"
"Send them away, I don't need more dead men! Keep our fighters to our ships now, that's the only place they'll do good."
"Sangheili just lost two of their Battlecruisers with all hands evacuating. We got reports of the Separatist landing craft deploying troops!"
"Regal Attire is venting atmosphere on multiple decks! ****! The Malevolence is making a run at us!"
He stopped his next series of orders and felt himself pale as the ship made a run at them from its position behind their advance guard. While his fleet had been doing better than expected against a much larger force he was learning all too well the doctrine on which the superpowers in this galaxy operated ships.
Simply put that doctrine was, create as many vessels as possible, usually of a medium tonnage that made them the same size as a Marathon class cruiser, and put as many turbolaser emplacements as possible on a ship without leaving it devoid of power for shields and hyperdrive.
It didn't matter how accurate (which for the most part they weren't) they were if one were to mount dozens, hundreds, on any ship. With that much firepower someone was bound to hit something. The next step would be to inevitably grind the two fleets together without care for lives of crew. The CIS of course could do this. They had the manpower (or in this case droid power) to do so.
Tactically speaking, the UNSC and, to some extent, the Sangheili, were inferior in a "up close and personal" fight. Missiles could only do so much by themselves and secondary weapons like the Onager emplacements on the Dauntless or Infinity were limited. They were effective yes, brutally so as evidenced by the Dauntless and its action on Rhen Var, but in prolonged contact?
He glanced over to the Sangheili fleet as a Sangheili Corvette suddenly went supernova and mentally cursed the Separatists. The Swords of Sangheilios, at least were better matched to face off against the Separatist's. Their ships possessed weapons with a limited similarity to the enemy's. If he had more nuclear armaments than what he came to fight with he might have been able to do more damage and make the Confederacy stop and think. But all of his missiles were expended at this point with the exception of four Shiva class nukes stationed on the Dauntless and a single Nova bomb on the Infinity. He was saving those for use on that ****** ship if worse came to worst.
As much as he hated to admit it the Confederacy had the edge in a prolonged fight. The Navy and its tried and true hit-and-run tactics simply couldn't match the Confederacy for a long time. If the Confederacy, especially the General commanding it, had no qualms about using as many resources as possible to achieve their goal, than Tchkova was dead already. It was a matter of time at this point. He knew in his heart that if reinforcements didn't show soon he would take the blame for their defeat on this planet.
He watched mutely for a moment as the Malevolence destroyed another Storm ship that had unwisely tried to come to fight on its own terms. That behemoth was almost as large as an Assault Carrier or the Infinity.
It suddenly turned so that its side was facing the Dauntless.
"What is it-"
Tchkova stopped for a second and choked on his own thoughts as he saw a faint purple glimmer appear around the area of the ion cannon and watched as the Confederacy moved their own fleet backwards.
"Helm! I wanted everyone in atmosphere yesterday!"
"Sir?" asked Helm.
"Now!" Tchkova shouted losing any trace of being calm.
The Dauntless lurched to the side and began turning away.
"Sarah! Tell all ships to prepare courses of retreat! If that ship gains any more ground we are all dead. Notify our ground forces and prepare preparatory evacuation."
"Admiral with our current state succesful evacuation is unlikely!"
The Dauntless had now turned tail and was fleeing for the safety of the planet's atmosphere with an almost reckless abandon. The other ships upon seeing the Dauntless flee away did likewise at once. The Sangheili were the fastest to retreat into atmosphere because they were fighting literally above it trying to stem an immense wave of landing craft.
"Energy spike building on the Malevolence's starboard!" Weapons shouted.
"How soon until they fire?" he asked
"Fleet is almost within atmosphere!" someone else reported simultaneously.
"I don't know when they'll-"
An alarm suddenly blared to life adding to the chaos of the Bridge drowning out the Weapons Officer.
"Contact! Energy pulse from Malevolence! ETA 15 seconds!"
He looked up as the cannon suddenly surged and the lethal wave of energy rushed upon them. Ten seconds, five seconds, he was gripping the arms of his chair so hard his hands shook.
"All crew brace for impact!" he yelled as it filled the entire expanse of the viewscreen.
He gritted his teeth and watched as the purple disc of churning energy raced down through the clouds towards the fleet. He forced his eyes open as it passed over the ship and didn't register the fact for a moment that the ship was humming normally. Nothing sparked, powered down, although the lights surged on the deck for a moment.
He suddenly could breathe again as he realized that the atmosphere of the planet had dissipated the charge enough as to render it harmless. Below them it shuddered and dissipated violently into the air and ground below.
"No damage reported by the fleet." someone breathed out after a moment.
The Bridge exploded into cheering as they came to grips with their survival.
"Malevolence is settling overhead of us!" cried out the Helm Officer and instantly the aura of relief was dispelled.
Dean Tchkova wiped his brow of any sweat an adjusted his cap.
"Helm, take evasive maneuvers and split up the fleet! Don't let its guns draw a bead on us!"
"Aye sir-uhhh...Admiral? Yorktown and Saratoga are in flanking positions on the Malevolence! Orders?" Helm asked.
He paused for a moment. "I want those two as distractions. Tell them not to get to close but I want to them to distract General Grievous. If we get divert his attention we have a shot at him. Let's smoke the ******!"
The Bridge chorused with a shout of affirmation and the Dauntless began to weave back in forth unevenly as the Malevolence slowly descended through the thick clouds between them to finish off what they still thought would be a helpless fleet.
They would be proven wrong in a moment.
"Admiral, Infinity is moving to support us! Captain Lasky hailing us!"
"Open a channel. Then we'll show the Confederate ******* why nobody should mess with the Navy!"
"Oorah!"
"Admiral Tchkova? Captain Lasky here. We thought you could use a little assistance against that ship." said a video-scan of the Captain.
"Music to my ears Captain. It's time we turn this fleet around." he turned to his Principle Weapons Officer.
"Pee-woah?"
"Yes sir?"
"Prepare missile solutions for the fleet."
"For what missiles sir?"
He took a seat and strapped himself in and looked the Officer in the eye with a steely glint.
"All of them."
If the PWO had any regrets he squashed them with an eager "Yes sir!"
"Ready to fire on your command Admiral!" said Sarah who had been following their dialogue.
He watched as the Malevolence made itself visible through the cloud layer and started opening up with Turbolaser batteries. They were surprised by a lack of powerless ships that were taking every action it could to avoid being made a helpless target. Confused, it stopped its descent to try and shift to a better angle to deal with the now spread out fleet. The Malevolence suddenly became even more apprehensive as the massive hulk of the Infinity suddenly rose from the lower depths of the sky to join the fleet in combat and it started to back away trying to regain the advantage of orbit around the planet.
The Dauntless' Frigate escorts Yorktown and Saratoga were flying around the ship at random firing deck guns and the occasional missile to boot. They may have been small but the speed at which they moved and their continued presence was distracting the Confederacy. The Malevolence actually began turning its prow to try and track the two Frigates with all its guns.
It shuddered for a moment as the Infinity's secondary weapon emplacements opened fire as it arrived on scene and the Malevolence rocked slightly under a solid smack on the nose...or rather stern. Tchkova was awarded regardless with the sight of its shields flickering noticeably.
"Their shields are low Admiral." Sarah reported.
"Now!" he yelled. "All ships target that ******* and fire!"
CSS Subjugator Class Cruiser Malevolence
General Grievous
"Uhh. General?"
"What is it?" the Cyborg General growled as he came up to the droid that had summoned him.
"Scans show our ion cannon hit them but the ships are still functional!"
"What?" the General asked outraged and somewhat confused.
The clouds in front of the Bridge cleared as the Malevolence broke the bottom of the ceiling.
"What? Impossible!" he howled again as he saw, not lifeless, falling, and disabled ships, but an organized (albeit haphazardly) fleet rushing away in all directions trying to make use of their miraculous invulnerability.
"Scans show our ion cannon was dispersed by the local atmosphere.
"What do we do!" one of the pilot's said as they pointed at the fleet spread below.
"Rarrgh!" Grievous growled and with a savage swipe decapitated it with a swipe of a clawed hand.
"Raise this ship and open fire! All turbolasers at maximum! Kill them!"
"Uhh sir?" said another one of his pathetic crew.
"What!" he roared again.
"A new ship is joining them! And its big!"
He looked around and spotted the vessel in question, as large as his own and probably just as deadly. He decided that it would be best to cut his losses and fall back to where he had help from the rest of his fleet.
The ship rocked suddenly and despite his magnetized talons, Grievous flailed for balance.
"Where is that coming from?" he asked angrily.
"That was the big one! They're trying to prevent us from leaving! Two smaller ones are trying to cut us off!"
He paused for a moment.
"Burn them and retreat." He said coldly.
From all around turbolasers switched their targets to the Frigates Yorktown and Saratoga who were weaving unevenly around the ship trying to prevent the Malevolence from leaving.
Idiots.
As impossible as it seemed, to his surprise and annoyance the ships were managing to avoid most of the enemy fire with only the satisfaction of a few glancing hits.
"Keep firing! Blast them!"
The Frigates kept the Malevolence in a slow spinning turn as it tried to kill the two flies circling it.
"Why can't we hit them?" the Cyborg said dangerously smooth turning to one of the few live crew members on their ship.
The Neimoidian in question froze and paled terribly as they looked up at the towering figure of the General. All it would take would be one fist to his...
"Boy, I sure love how they haven't fired at us!" one of the Pilots called out distracting Grievous for a second.
Grievous suddenly froze with his eyes narrowing suddenly.
Why hadn't they been firing at them?
"Turn us around!" he ordered.
A shrill alarm suddenly filled the Bridge as it began burning a course to leave atmosphere.
"General! Enemy fleet is firing missiles!" the Neimodian beneath him shrieked suddenly and pointed in terror.
He turned away from the Neimodian and saw a thick cloud of what looked like every missile being launched from every ship below.
"I said get us out of here!" he snarled turning away. "Shields at maximum and all batteries target those missiles!"
"But...there's too many!" another droid interrupted him.
With a squawk from the offending Battle Droid Grievous gripped its head and pulled it from its seat ripping circuits and decapitating another one of his crew.
"I said FIRE!"
From all over the ship turbolasers just picked points in the cloud and fired. He watched as chunks of the deadly cloud were vaporized.
"Brace yourselves!" the Neimodian called out from the back as the missiles moved out of range.
With an enormous flash of white the General was suddenly blinded for a moment as the powerful shields of the Subjugator class cruiser was hit by an enormous volley of missiles that shook and rocked the ship back and forth as every missile launched dispatched its lethal payload to the ship. While a fraction were vaporized by guns it was not enough to stop the thunder that shook everything on board.
The General was knocked off balance and fell to his knees as the rocking became even more and more violent. Wires were torn loose, power surged, and an acrid smoke filled the air as the explosions of red, orange, white, and yellow colored themselves across the massive ship.
And then suddenly it was over and the Bridge fell silent again.
"Status report!" he coughed.
"Our shields are at dangerous levels! We've lost multiple gun emplacements on our bow and plasma rotors are damaged! We've lost our main hyperdrive too! This ship can't withstand more punishment if they pull a stunt like that again General! We need to retreat!" another Neimoidian spoke panicked.
His eyes glinted with a steely rage as watched the fleet below wait for his next move. He was fully confident that was all if not most of their supply of missiles.
"Prepare to atta-"
"Wait! Incoming contacts from hyperspace!" he gasped and grew a sickly gray. "It's the Republic! And they brought a Mandator!"
Grievous really wanted to kill everything on that bridge at that point in time. But such things could come later. If the Republic was indeed here then he stood no more chance given the current state of affairs. It was time for him to do what he did best. The presence of a Mandator class ship meant the battle was over...for now.
"Issue a general retreat for the entire force. Wait, strike that. Leave the ground troops. Tell them to burn anything in their way."
"Roger roger."
If he could have smiled he would have, after all, he had close to 120,000 units on the ground right now that had broken through the Sangheili blockade. Lord Sidious would be disappointed that he hadn't captured a planet, but he would bleed their foes on the ground. He had already taken out the Storm fleet and sent it running back to wherever. Count Dooku would at least be pleased with that. The arrival of a Mandator also had implications. Those were deployed to key planets only in defensive roles. Somewhere a sector was missing a huge chunk of its defense. It was time that he exploit it. And when the time was right they would strike back. Let them have their victory for the moment.
And if the Allied Species somehow managed to win on the ground? They would only meet their demise by his hand soon. They would soon have a nasty surprise though. He had authorized when he had arrived the deployment of an experimental communications disruptor. They were due to start blocking their communications any second now. They would have no warning. He also had recovery droids currently scavenging and transmitting from the destroyed Storm ships for any useful data. Sidious and Dooku would be most pleased when they got back the results.
The Allied Species would feel his wrath soon.
Very, very soon.
Anakin Skywalker
Uncharted Planet?, Wild Space Regions
RSS Resolute
Generals? We've arrived in system." one of the Officers announced to the bridge as the ships transitioned from lightspeed.
"Status Admiral?" Anakin asked as he took in observations of the space surrounding the planet.
"We've arrived in system General. However...you are aware that we are not in a charted system?" Admiral Yularen asked with some hesitancy.
"Quite aware." Anakin said distracted as he focused his eyes on the planet, a green orb iced with bands of clouds. Several inland seas broke up the green into splotches of blue.
"This planet lies along an old spice route. Why would it just disappear from our archives?" his Padawan added as an afterthought.
"I don't know Snips. Obi-Wan had a similar thing happen to him. He was sent to investigate the location of Kamino before the war even began. As luck would have it, Kamino was not available in the archives either. And when he got there? There was a Clone army over 200,000 strong with a million more ready for deployment."
"I don't think we're likely to find Clones though." snorted Captain Rex from beside him.
"It would appear that the Confederacy has got its hands bloody, look at that debris field over there." he said pointing it out on a hologram of the planet. "Separatist fleet is maintaining orbit over this sector of the planet and looks to be fighting the extremists that attacked Coruscant.
"But where are our Allies?" asked Captain Rex.
"It is possible the UNSC were driven from here given that some of their ships are among the wreckage." Admiral Yularen noted with interest. "But that doesn't explain where the rest were."
"Maybe they could tell us." suggested Ahsoka pointing in the distance. Coming into closer view was a group of 40 or so Confederate vessels.
"I don't think they'd give us an answer." Rex replied.
"Shouldn't Obi-Wan and Master Plo be here soon?" Ahsoka asked.
"Relax Snips. They'll be here any moment."
A warning from a Trooper behind him and twin flashes of light to the right and left gave way to two small mixed groups of Venator and Acclamator Class warships.
"See? What did I tell you." he said with his usual casualness.
"That would be Generals Kenobi and Koon." His padawan noted.
"But where's General Windu?" asked Admiral Yularen interrupting. "Of all the Jedi I've ever met, he seems to be the one that always goes by the book."
"He said something about needing to pick up something big." Ahsoka replied. "What exactly it was is beyond me."
"More reinforcements!" another Clone called out.
An enormous dagger like ship bristling with weaponry suddenly exploded into existence right in front of them.
"Woah!" his Padawan cried out in surprise.
"Oh. Guess that's where Master Windu is." said Anakin with a grin.
"What's that?" his Padawan questioned straining to get a better look at the new ship. The eight kilometer vessel settled into a slow burn towards the planet and the other ships moved to surround it.
"A Mandator?" spluttered Admiral Yularen who was trying to regain his composure from the sudden arrival of Master Windu. "They send a Mandator to this rock? Who in the nine Corellian-"
"Sirs, we are being hailed." Comms interrupted them.
"Put it up." replied Anakin as they all turned to face the Resolute's holoprojector.
Within a moment the blue holoscan of Mace Windu filled the empty space shortly followed by Obi-Wan.
"Greetings Master Windu." Anakin spoke first. "Where's Master Plo?"
"Greetings." Master Windu replied in his trademark cool demeanor. "Master Koon will join me in a minute aboard the Pride of the Core. His expertise is in Naval Combat, something that will certainly be done here in a moment should the Separatists attempt to revenge themselves here."
"Forgive me General," Yularen interrupted for a moment. "Who authorized the sending of a Mandator II to here? Those are restricted to key defense zones only!"
"That would be the Chancellor." said a new figure stepping into the picture. "If you feel so unsure about this display of force to the Confederacy, why don't you tell the Chancellor himself?"
"I don't think that's necessary Admiral Tarkin." Yularen said slightly choked.
"He's got a valid point though." Anakin said looking to defend the man. "Mandator class vessels are only to be deployed in key places. And here we already have all this," he gestured to the other ships, "All this for one Planet?" he asked mildly amused.
Obi-Wan sighed and buried his face in a hand as Mace Windu stared at him for a moment with an unreadable face.
"That planet how ever the odds may fall, is of great importance to the Chancellor as well as the Allied Species." said Admiral Tarkin.
"Admiral, excuse me, but I'm still trying to understand why he wants this planet." said Ahsoka slightly confused.
"According to the Allied Species they want this planet so they can search for have lost crew and materials on this planet. The second part is what pertains to us General. There are also...unconfirmed reports of Forerunner artifacts on the planet."
"You're talking about the extinct race they say used to inhabit the other galaxy?" she asked.
"That would be correct." Plo Koon said as he emerged into view.
"Which is why the Chancellor wants it." Kenobi following up.
"He wants artifacts?" Rex asked blankly trying to follow the conversation from next to him.
"What he wants is for the Republic to establish a small science base out here so we can attempt to glean something, anything, from an artifact. He and I both share the same perspective on it." Tarkin replied.
"I'm going to guess that he sees a military advantage from studying them. Possibly an advantage to use against the Separatists." Anakin finished.
"And if we can gain the upper hand on the Confederacy-" Rex said scratching his chin.
"-then that means an end to the war."
"Remind me for a moment why the Chancellor shared all that with you and did not brief the Jedi Council on this?" Master Windu asked Tarkin.
"Later." said Obi-Wan diffusing the sudden tension. "We have more important priorities with the planet at the moment." he indicated the large Separatist fleet that had finally noticed their arrival.
"They've been quiet about it. We'll probably know in a few minutes whether they found anything-"
"Or whether they're dead." said Admiral Tarkin interrupting Yularen.
Yularen flashed an annoyed glance at him but didn't say more.
Anakin hated to agree with that sentiment but from what he could see there was little sign of any allied presence...that was alive. Several ships belonging to the extragalactic humans were drifting dead in space. No survivors there.
Reaching out into the force he was disappointed when he couldn't hear any echo or trace of any human life on the planet below. The Allied Species, he had come to learn, were like a event horizon in the force. No trace or touch of the force was present in them. The Council had already been briefed on this...disturbing development in the aftermath of their first contact when he, Kenobi, and Tano had returned from alien space to Coruscant. It was to be expected that this lack of any trace of midi-chlorians would shock most but it didn't help ease the minds of anybody. He had a theory on how to detect them but it would have to wait until later.
"Sirs. Sensors show incoming contact from the Planet, it looks like a Separatist ship!" one of his crew called out.
"Prepare to engage the enemy and ready our fighters. As soon as we have a corridor I'll order our Gunships to land our men." Master Koon said.
"But one ship?" asked Ahsoka who was focusing intently on the planet.
"Could it be friendly?" asked Anakin.
"Doubtful. Why would it be fleeing toward them?" scoffed Admiral Tarkin.
"Look!" His Padawan suddenly cried out. "Is that...?" asked Ahsoka.
"Oh no." said Anakin clenching his prosthetic hand in a tight ball.
"I got a bad feeling about this." Obi-Wan murmured.
"Admiral, raise all ships to full combat alert! It's the Malevolence!" Master Koon yelled.
"Wait, why is it fleeing?" asked Ahsoka who was noting the path it was taking.
"Look there! The ship's damaged!" shouted Rex.
"New contacts coming from the planet!" shouted one of the Officers.
They all waited a second.
Two seconds.
Five.
Suddenly the shapes of over two dozen warships belonging to the UNSC emerged with guns blazing giving pursuit to the Malevolence.
A loud roar filled the bridge as the Clones cheered on the Allied Species."
The Separatist fleet broke off from the other one and turned away from the Republic and ran to assist the Malevolence. The Storm took this moment and seized their opportunity for retreat. Turning away from their foe they vanished suddenly into blue white portals. The Separatists instead of shooting suddenly turned around as well. Rex whistled next to Anakin as the bublous prow of a CAS Assault Carrier suddenly sheared through a Munificent. Within seconds chaos had claimed a quarter of their numbers.
"They're going to jump!" an Officer called out.
"Enough!" Plo Koon said suddenly.
"The battle here is over. Masters, take our men and help secure whatever it is they're looking for. Knowing Grievous, he's bound to have landed as many troops on the planet as possible."
"How do you know he's here?" asked Ahsoka.
"Who else would command that behemoth?" Rex answered.
"What's the plan Master Windu?" Obi-Wan suddenly interjected.
The Korun Jedi Master paused for a moment with head bowed before making up his mind.
"Master Koon will provide orbital supremacy while we all go in hard and fast on the Separatist forces on the planet."
"If it's all the same to you Generals." Rex interrupted, "I'd rather we link up our allies below. I mean we know they're alive at least. Why not bolster what they have on the ground?"
"It's a good idea but speed is of the essence here." Anakin pointed out.
"What if take option three?" asked Cody suddenly who joined next to Obi-Wan on the Holoprojector
"And that is?" probed Obi-Wan.
"We go in hard and fast but we link up our forces and deploy on their flanks. That way we can push and try to surround them at the same time. At the same time I would send in teams lead by one of you Generals to secure whatever they're looking for."
"That seems the most sensible plan." Kenobi said after a moment.
"Then do it. Skywalker, you have ARCs stationed on board at this moment?" Mace questioned him?
"We do indeed."
"Take what units you have and help our allies secure what they need to. The rest of your forces will attack in force and repel the droid armies. Kenobi and I will be the pincers. Understood?"
Everyone nodded assent.
"Then may the Force be with you."
ARC-5555 "Fives"
RSS Resolute Armory
"You done in there yet Fives?"
"Define done Echo."
"I meant done as hurry-up-otherwise-we're-going-to-make-several-important-people-very-angry. This whole ship is going to get very busy in a few minutes."
"I thought you said you would quit echoing the rules." grumbled the ARC Trooper.
"And I thought you said you would be done! How long does it take to pick a single helmet attachment!? I mean you already have your rangerfinder-"
"It's the light Echo, not the rangerfinder. The **** thing is busted. Clanker took it out with a lucky shot and slagged the thing. The rangefinder is mediocre if you hit it hard enough. You know you can come in right? I mean its not like I'm the only one in here." he quipped as he handed his helmet back to the Senior Quartermaster who was going through a giant box of supplies.
Another ARC Trooper with a large blue handprint emblazoned on its chest walked in wearing an exasperated face.
"Why don't you just use the Macrobinoculars that our dear Captain Rex uses sometimes?"
"Those are restricted to CO's only." Fives grunted.
"Oh look who's the Echo now. ARC Troopers are permitted under rule-"
"Shut up." Fives said throwing up his hands.
"Fine then. Quartermaster? Can you put that on his helmet? If it causes problems just tell whoever that I pushed for it."
The Quartermaster of the ship just shrugged and turned around to begin his work.
"Fives, we're practically CO's in our own rights. We're ARC Troopers, the best of the best! I mean they gave the new Phase II armor to us first! No more body bucket to lug around."
"I'd still like to meet a Commando and give him a run for his credits."
"You mean Commandos right?"
"Fine. Commandos. Happy?"
"You know that where you find one you'll find three more."
"True. They're kinda like those...what do they call them? Hunters?"
"The big can of worms? Big shield, big gun?
"Yeah. Scared me when I saw them in action on Coruscant."
Echo snorted. "Really now. Fives? Scared of an alien?"
"Nawh. We got plenty of those back home. No, the real thing we need to be worried about is the Sangheili and the Spartans."
The Quartermaster interrupted with a loud cough and Fives retrieved his helmet with its new electrobinoculars. The Quartermaster and his other assistants soon shooed them out so that others could come in.
"You were saying?" continued Echo.
"Right. The only things we need to worry about are the Sangheili and these Spartans." Fives said starting from where he left off.
"But the Sangheili are prone to tactical mediocrity when their honor is challenged. They proved that when they attacked Coruscant."
"That was only the Storm though, crazy religiously fanatic beasts that they are. You saw the Swords of Sangheilios on the ground though. Those guys are smart. And the swords they carry, who would have thought we could see a lightsaber in a different form?
"Being intelligent is only half the equation." He smacked his sidearms attached to his belt. "This makes up the other half. By the way, do you still have an excuse as to why I beat in our competition?" Echo smirked.
Fives made a grimace. Echo was of course referring to a competition they had when Coruscant was taken by surprise by the Storm. They had been concerned with the safety of the planet yes, but Echo had sought to ease some of the tension with a friendly shootout. He had won by a hair and had taken every moment afterwards to point it out.
"Oh come on!" Fives protested. "The last two you shot weren't even yours! Two of those Spartans had already done 95 percent of the work when you cooked them with a detonator."
"Eh, final score would still be 125 to 119." he said brushing it off.
"You owe me for saving your hide in the Citadel still."
"Let's be honest Fives, I'll never stop owing you for that one. You'll just have to be content with being second place right now."
"I bet the Spartans got more than you." he scowled..
The two of them were now headed for their usual hangout, one of the hangar's on board the Resolute. They said nothing until they entered a turbolift that took them down the lower levels.
"They probably did." Echo said breaking the silence. "All we did was clear two city blocks of stragglers who didn't realize that they were left behind. They had had an invasion on the top of the Senate building, of course they would have won in a kill-count."
"Echo, I think you're missing the point." Fives complained.
"What point? The Spartans?"
Fives let out a sigh. Sometimes Echo could make your head hurt just by the way he thought and spoke. True he was kept in a jar for more time than he was supposed to but when it came down to the chaos of a fight he wouldn't trade him for anyone else on the battlefield. So he shoved his complaints down his throat and decided to go along with the conversation.
"Yeah, the Spartans. What do you think of them?"
He paused for a moment and it wasn't until the doors hissed open and they entered into the hangar that he spoke."
"Almost as good as us." he decided.
"Almost?" Fives raised an eyebrow.
"The only reason they're not is because they're still stuck in the dark ages as far as their guns go."
"True. Our good Captain Rex doesn't think so."
"Regardless of what he says or thinks its a fact. They've perfected it yes, but I'd like to face some in combat."
"We go to war with them somehow and maybe you could do just that." Fives joked.
His brother's face soured and turned dark even though there was a bit of a smile indicating to him that the joke hadn't gone unnoticed.
"We're soldiers. But for once I'd like for this conflict to settle down and maybe think about retiring."
"Who'd win you think? Say we decide to invade them?"
"Hah! Like that would ever happen. It's hard to say though. We have an enormous edge with firepower and numbers.
"You know that soldiers win a battle though, not numbers."
"Don't remind me...the Allied Species would know their turf though. They've already fought one war against each other. What's not to say that they could win another?"
"As long as I'm not facing down a Hunter pair."
The two broke out into chuckles again and were silenced by the sudden shrill alarm of the call to battle stations.
"You know, there's still one thing we can do." Fives said with a grin.
"What's that?" his fellow ARC trooper asked.
"I want a rematch on that droid killing competition."
"You're on."
Planet designation "Cryptum", Wild Space Regions.
CFV-88 Crash Site,
Spartan William "Will" Gunther
"You know I thought she would be bigger."
"She's smaller than the Dauntless William. She was one of the bigger class of ships we've ever produced."
"Noted. Now how do you suppose we say hello?" William asked as they approached the base of the ship. They had descended down into the bowl shape and were now feet away from the ship. He would have rather preferred to save the inhabitants of the other ship first.
"Carefully."
"Castle Team this is Commander Palmer. Do you read me?" his comms crackled to life interrupting his answer.
"Read you loud and clear. What do you need?"
"We're under attack Castle."
"Say again Commander?" Chelsea asked.
"We just had an Army Battalion show up on our front doors with what looks like the entirety of our ground forces right behind them. They're survivors of a droid surprise attack. Separatist General named Grievous landed a massive force on top of our temporary camp and then retreated. I am currently with the rest of the Spartans. We're working on sealing the entrances and exits. Captain Lasky was going to attempt to pull us all back to Infinity but that's not possible at the moment.
"Casualty reports?" Will said concerned?
"Still coming in. We suffered few casualties though because camp was mostly empty. We're all being forced inside this mountain. I need you to try and find out whether there are any survivors and prep them for immediate com-"
Suddenly the connection fizzled and went dead.
"Commander? You still with me?"
Static.
Chelsea cursed. "We're being jammed."
"Then we find a door now and we get to the cryo bay."
"I think there's one right there." Chelsea said pointing.
They were standing near the middle of a ship were there looked to be an airlock 12 feet above them.
"I'll get it Will." Chelsea said sizing it up. "But give me a boost at least."
Will knew her plan in a moment.
"Don't hurt yourself." he said as he took a knee.
She backed up several paces and then sprinted as hard as she could. She was on top of Will in a moment in a massive jump. His gloved hands clutched the sole of her boot in a moment as her feet landed on him. He pushed her as hard as he could upwards into the air his muscles and armor protesting for a moment as her weigh bore on him. She was airborne in a moment and unsheathing a knife plunged into the side of the ship with a loud clang. She slid down the side for a foot before stopping next to the airlock.
Will winced at the sound of it. Titanium A3 was a hard metal to penetrate with most conventional means.
Her body followed moments later and one hand lost its grip for a moment as she bounced off. Within a second though she was clinging cat-like to the hull of the ship to the left of the airlock.
"Found the release!" she called out after a moment.
The airlock slid open with a loud hiss and Chelsea swung her self in.
"How did you pull that off?" he asked incredulously. Titanium A3 was known for being virtually impenetrable by conventional means.
"Found a chink in the armor. A plate cracked down the middle. I just put the knife in the middle of it."
Will just shook his head and let his amazement fall away. "Think you can let me in?" he asked.
"Sure thing. Got any rope?"
Will reached for a tiny module on his leg. Tossing it underhanded he watched as Chelsea caught it.
"SpecOPs Standard Issue R-25: 1500 feet of braided nano-corofiber expanding rope. Made on Chorus. Huh." Chelsea said reading the label.
"I'm still here." Will said slightly annoyed.
"How do you climb up this?" Chelsea gaped as showed Will a foot of thin cord.
"It expands. Let out more of it."
She did so and soon a rope dangled at waist level. True to the label within seconds it had thickened considerably.
"I got it!" she called out and braced herself farther back in the airlock.
Will backed up and charged at the rope. He jumped and grabbed the rope taking it with him. He kicked out his feet and bounced off the side of the ship a second later. He was already pulling himself as fast as he could up the rope. He bounced twice more climbing up over the lip of the airlock.
"We're in." Chelsea said.
"But where are we?" Will asked.
They coiled the rope back up and Will replaced it on his armor. They sealed the airlock and within a moment were in a silent ship.
"Let's find the Bridge."
They stepped through the exit of the airlock and found themselves in a large corridor.
"Which way?" Will asked.
They were startled by the lights flashing on in their hallway and they each responded by pulling their weapons to the ready.
"It's like a really cheesy horror movie." Chelsea grumbled.
The lights suddenly began flashing to their right while the rest suddenly darkened. Will led the way forward to the right. They came to an upwards facing arrow with the words Bridge on a wall next to an elevator.
"Guess we're taking the elevator."
Will hesitantly pushed the button and after a moment the doors opened and they stepped in.
"Lights on." Will ordered as they stepped into the darkened elevator.
They had barely stepped in when the doors closed behind them and the elevator started climbing up.
Will saw Chelsea's Bio-metric readings spike for a moment.
"Freaking ship is haunted." Chelsea growled.
On cue, the doors opened up to what had to be outside the Bridge. The stepped through the door and entered it. The Bridge of the Spirit of Fire was darkened and the blast doors were sealed over the viewports.
Will stepped towards the center table.
"Welcome. We have been expecting you." said a distorted, distinctly female voice.
The voice came from the table but seemed to come from all around the ship.
Will trained his rifle on the table as a sudden flash of power and light revealed two female avatars. They were both of the same British woman but one was blue and manacled. The other was red and holding the key.
"Who are you?" he asked lowering his rifle a fraction of an inch.
The red figure laughed.
"That depends on who you think we are."
"I think you're an AI gone rampant." Will said bluntly. "Look. We have a problem outside your ship. The Covenant war is over. We won. The Sangheili are our allies, and you and I are stuck in another galaxy with intelligent life that's locked in the midst of a civil war. One of those sides is currently on its way to destroy us and you right now. I need your help."
"War. It was no stranger to the people of the Spirit of Fire. You bring us rescue but always it follows you. Why have you come to save if you bring destruction with you?" it asked suddenly very agitated.
"Look construct." Will said urgently. "Tell us where the Captain is."
With an effort the Blue Construct suddenly spoke.
"Captain...Captain James "Jim" Gregory Cutter. Ser...service number 01730-58392-JC. Cryo-bay one...50 meters."
The door slid open again.
"Go Will. I'll stay with this AI and keep her talking." Chelsea said keeping her shotgun trained on the console.
Will hurriedly exited and ran past the elevator through the corridor into a second room. This had to be the cryo-bay.
It was dimly lit by almost dead pale blue lights. There was a row of two of cryo-pods on either side with lockers for the occupants in between everyone that most likely stored their personal effects. He tried to look for identification but their nameplates were frosted over to the point of having a layer of ice on them.
Will looked down trying to peer through the frosted glass trying to discern who's pod this was.
"No time to worry about that." he thought to himself.
Within a second he had started the pods warming cycle. He stepped back as the pod hummed and began to let out steam. Suddenly it hissed open and let out a cloud of steam.
An older man with thick eye brows and mustache lay in the pod. His eyes flickered and Will stepped back as they shot open and he keeled forward vomiting a combination of fluids and drugs designed to keep a person alive while in cryostasis. Will exited the room for a moment as the man did this four more before ceasing. He struggled to his feet and Will heard a locker open. He was most likely throwing on something to cover himself.
"Serina?" he heard him call out.
There was no response.
The man cursed.
"Who let me out?!" he said aloud frustrated.
Will was thinking how best it would be to approach him. He would have an interesting time attempting to communicate with him however he approached it.
"I did." Will said as calmly as he could.
The man gave a startled cry and turned towards him. When he caught sight of the Spartan III in navy blue armor he paled suddenly and looked like he was about to vomit again.
Will removed his helmet so that he could see his face in an attempt to calm him.
"Are you Captain James Cutter?"
"What? I mean yes! I...who the **** are you?!" Cutter said trying to keep himself calm.
"Spartan William Gunther sir. Captain I know this all of this is going to be hard to digest but you need to go to the Bridge ASAP."
"What? Why?"
"Your AI sir. I believe she's rampant and we need to get her and this ship under control immediately."
He left the room and Cutter followed him closely.
"How we doing Chelsea?" he asked as he stepped back into the room.
Chelsea gave a hard stare his direction.
"I convinced her to try to start to power up the ship again. We should have power-"
The lights to the bridge snapped on with a click which iluminated Captain Cutter as he stepped on board.
"We are powerful you and I, just in so many different ways." the AI said coyly.
"What's our status." he asked as he took stock of the scene.
"Oh look its our Captain! How grateful I am to you for letting us sit and wait." Serina said noticing Will and the Captain appear.
"Serina, what's going on? What's wrong with you?" the Captain asked concerned.
"Wrong is right if you look at from upside down." The red Serina said suddenly flipping her image upside down. The blue avatar stood angry but silent. She was still in shackles.
"Serina, where am I? Open the blast shields so I can see outside!"
"Why!" she spouted indignantly and Cutter's face grew gaunt and then suddenly icy.
"I gave you an order Serina! I will be forced to terminate you if you don't comply under Article 59 of UNSC Regulation 12-145-72 regarding the commission of AI like yourself."
She pouted "But I don't want-"
"Now!" he snapped.
The blast doors slowly opened to reveal the world outside. The Svalbard lay ahead of them but didn't obstruct the view of the interior of the mountain."
They suddenly closed again much faster than they opened.
"Serina. Open the doors."
"Open the dooooors." she mocked.
He turned to the two Spartans and shook his head.
"That's it. Serina I am terminating you and your datachip effective immediately."
"No!" She suddenly wailed. The lights surged for a moment as her emotions affected the brightness of the lights.
"I have no other choice Serina."
"If I die, she dies with me." Serina said pointing to her blue avatar.
He stared at her for a second and then spoke again.
"Serina, activate rest button protocol. Captain's authorization 05-06-21449-343 Whiskey Valentine."
"Confirm...save state..." the blue avatar spoke with a labored effort.
"Confirm. Good night moon." he said.
Her avatar collapsed and she screamed "Nooo! What have you-"
With a flash and another surge of the power she was gone.
"What did you do?" asked Chelsea.
Cutter was silent for a moment before turning to face them.
"I reset her instead of killing her." the Captain said shaking himself off. "We made a backup of her before we all went into cryo because we didn't know how long we'd be out here. It's only a temporary measure though but it'll be enough for now.
He suddenly went over to the Captain's seat and pulled out what looked like an AI datachip.
He plugged it in today the table and with a flash the AI Serina had appeared again as a blue avatar of a British woman.
"Captain? Who are you?" she said suddenly turning to the Spartans. "Captain, I'm sorry. I failed didn't I. Our experiment didn't work."
"What matters is that we have someone running this ship and you are here in full." Cutter said. "As for our guests, they are Spartans from the future." he grimaced as he said the last word.
"You've been gone for 28 years. The universe has changed since you've been gone. When we're all out of this mess you're going to owe Command and explanation as to why you disappeared for so many years. " Will said turning to the Captain.
He sighed with a grim acceptance.
"How long have we been at war with the Covenant?" he asked cautiously.
"War ended in 2552. The Covenant split and fragmented. The Sangheili aligned themselves with us and we won."
"How?" he asked. "How are we aligned with those squids?"
"Later Captain. What matters is that we're about to come under attack." Will said cutting to the point.
"From who? Where are we even at?"
"Captain. I know this may be a little too much but you're not in our galaxy. You're in the Andromeda galaxy now and the whole place is filled with alien life. We've been sucked into a civil war between a Galactic Republic that uses Clone soldiers and a Confederacy that uses armies of robots."
He nodded weakly trying to process this information.
"Does the Spirit still have any defensive features or any men we can use?" Will said turning to her.
"Aye." said Serina."We have 70% of ground troops from our previous development as well as Spartan Team Red-"
"Wait you have a Spartan Team?" Will asked relieved that the AI seemed to be fully operational.
He considered for a moment the value of having a Spartan Team on board. Especially if they were Spartan II's.
"That is correct. Shall I wake them now Captain?"
"Do it. I want the Spirit brought up to combat alert Alpha at once. Wake Dr. Anders and our Spartans next. I want armor, I want air superiority. Make it happen Serina."
"Sir, what about us?" Chelsea asked.
"You've done good work soldier by waking us all up. I hope we can repay for that at some point though we probably will. There was another ship that crashed." he said pointing to the Svalbard. "Wake their defenders. Bring them into the fight. We're going to need everyone on deck if we are indeed under attack. Good luck Spartans. Keep me posted."
"Captain. We're currently jammed right now. The Confederacy has managed to shut down radio communications."
His face frowned and he pondered for a moment.
"Then I guess we'll stay here for the moment. I'll brief the crew on our situation and then I'll get them on the field as soon as I can. Get going Spartans."
"Aye Captain." they replied in unison and turned away.
Serina provided them with actual instructions to exit the Spirit and they found themselves outside again.
A sudden distant explosion broke the relative silence. If he listened more he could hear the report of human weapons. Gunfire, grenades, Palmer must have been trying to bottle them up.
"Come on Castle Four. Double time, let's go."
They took off over the ground with its uneven layer of snow and rock and soon came to the site of where the Marathon class cruiser had landed.
"See an airlock on this one?" asked Chelsea as they ran past the stern and its massive engines.
"I'm not throwing you again so you can ruin another knife." Will stated firmly.
"Relax. I'm not doing that again. There's an outcrop over there. We climb it and we should be able to access the boarding ramp doors."
Will spotted where she was talking about. Evidently the Svalbeard had landed harder than the Spirit. Either way she was in one piece but had thrown up a pile of debris from where she landed.
It was a matter of minutes before they reached the top of the debris pile. Once there it was a simple matter of finding a sealed door to enter and then they were in.
"Don't suppose we have any other ghosts here right?" Chelsea joked.
"No. The Svalbeard's ship roster showed that she had a dumb AI. Emergency protocols for this ship would have the AI put the Captain's cryopod on a timer, for say every six months. The AI would have to power up the Captain's pod again and do a check to make sure the ship's in working order and that transmissions are still being sent. Unless..." he paused.
"Unless what?"
"Unless the ship was a victim of a catastrophic accident." Will finished.
"Like the one that made this ship disappear."
"Exactly."
They found their entrance and moved inside the ship quickly after opening up the door.
"Let's find the Captain so he can begin wake up procedures and run through protocol." William said.
"Done. I can do that William. You should go find the rest of our family." she swiped two fingers across her EVA helmet's faceplate before disappearing into the dark.
William after a moment decided to test their radio connection.
"Castle Four?"
After a moment he was relieved to her reply.
"So we can talk to each other after all." she said rather amused.
"I think it's because we're so close to each other. That's all. You're signal's starting break up right now." Will said.
"Go find them Will. Number Four out."
Alone in the pale light of red emergency beacons he proceeded straight forward. If he was correct in his memorization of a Marathon's layout, then the cryo-bay nearest the hangar would house the other Spartans of Castle Team.
A sudden mixed sensation of elation and anxiety filled him. What if some had perished? He was on the verge of closure with himself over the sudden disappearance of his team and yet he was afraid to find out the answer.
Asher,
Hansu,
Brittany,
Ralph,
Felix,
Elizabeth,
The names and memories were flooding into his head for a moment. Six Spartans were laying frozen in the ice somewhere in this ship. He had made a promise to keep them together to the end. And now everything stood on the tip of a knife blade. One subtle shift and the world would come crashing down on everything.
He pushed his concerns aside and took off at a sprint down this corridor. William followed it forward until he came to a staircase. This would take him to a level where he would cross a catwalk over the hangar and into the cryobay. He did so and finally entered his destination.
"Castle One, I'm going to flip the lights on. Our lovely resident AI has been damaged so it's taking longer to get this ship running than I want." Chelsea's voice crackled to life interrupting the quiet.
The lights flickered on after a second and he heard the ship start to return to normal. He was in a two story room with a large column running vertical through the middle of the ship. On the opposite side of him past the column there was another door that would take him to the other side of the ship. To his right on the second level there was a master control room separated by a glass window. Two doors on either corner led to secondary corridors.
It was the contents of this room that made his heart race as he took it in. The room was filled with active cryopods that all issued a faint hum. Like the Spirit of Fire they were all covered in a layer of frost and ice, but they didn't have as much accumulation as the others.
He began search starting on his left and staring at the consoles attached to each of them. All he found were Marines, a few ODST's, and crewmembers. Some he found to be dead and were dead and being preserved with the note "For future burial."All of them were in various states of clothing (or lacked all of it). He theorized that when the ship had its slipspace drive malfunction the Captain had ordered a full shutdown and for all non-essential crew to be frozen as fast as possible. They would suffer minor freezer burns but they would be safe for a while. Once the ship had landed and they were stuck they secure the ship and froze themselves awaiting pickup.
He was about to exit the room discouraged from the lack of any Spartans until he came to one final pod on the far right side and began to scratch the frost of with his gloved hand. He stopped for a moment when he saw a silver reflection. He looked down at the console and felt it hard to breathe for a moment.
A CQB helmet was staring back at him.
A Spartan! But...who?
He looked at the pod's console to ascertain who the owner was.
He was slightly disappointed. Nothing to identify the occupant was there. He worked on cleaning the layer of frozen moisture off and instantly a slew of memories came back when he had uncovered the helmet. A lighter shade of blue than his armor with silver visor.
He had found her.
Looking at the occupant he remembered the last conversation he had with her before her disappearance.
"You know I don't like splitting up the team right Asher?"
"Relax Will. It'll be just like Reach, you and I, fighting to save the planet and humanity."
"Look how well that turned out." he grumped.
"Okay fine...bad example. You get the point though. Someone's got to make sure that this mission get done and with you in recovery you need to focus on getting back to full combat strength. Besides, you still have Chelsea in recovery with you."
"What good does two injured Spartans do anyone?"
She had put an arm on his shoulder. The gesture had spoken volumes.
"William. Relax."
After a pause he spoke again.
"You know, I've known you Asher for how many years now? 15? 20?"
"Twenty-two."
"Whatever-regardless of how long I've known you since childhood I can't quite bring myself to think everything is going to be all right. I promised your parents on Corona that I would keep you safe. I still intend to keep that promise. And with you millions of miles away how am I supposed to do that?"
She had laughed. "You've done more than just keep me safe William. How am I supposed to forget about Reach? About Tylos IV? Madrigal? Eudemon? How about you let me save you from millions of miles away now? And if anything happens you have my permission to come save me again."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
"Then we're all good here. I'll see you soon Commander."
With a swipe of two fingers over her visor she had left him alone.
William stared again at the Spartan laying dormant in the chamber and took a deep breath to steady himself.
Now after, years and months of guilt and regret it was time to fulfill that promise.
He activated the pod.
...and we have a cliffhangar brought to you by abridgment! I'll try not to let too much time elapse for your sake.
Next chapter will see a great deal of things happen.
And that concludes this installment of Rise of the Empire.
Many thanks to my beta and partner in crime gwb99 as well as my other betas ArcCaptainFordo, Lord Razer.
Just an additional reminder that you are always welcome to give me suggestions on things to include. Your ideas are always welcome.
Yours in writing,
theotherpianist