Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to my Halo/Star Wars redux.
Thank you all for your wonderful feedback and support. I deeply appreciate it. Given the lack of updates a couple weeks ago, I've decided to post this chapter two days ahead of schedule so that all of you can have a chance to enjoy the next part of this story.
I will also be posting another short story in the companion piece for this story: Star Wars: Tales of The Infinity's Odyssey. I highly recommend that you read the current short story that I've posted, as it contains some information that fills in a plot hole or two in the main story. In addition, I will be adding more short stories to that companion piece during the holiday season.
As always, leave a review, and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Halo or Star Wars franchises. They are the respective properties and trademarks of Microsoft Studios, 343 Industries, Bungie, Lucasfilms, 20th Century Fox, Disney Films, etc. Any material original to the franchises belongs to their respective developers and publishers. Any material not original to the franchises is of my own invention. I do not own any music listed in each chapter. Any music listed belongs to its original composers and/or artists.
Earth
UNSC HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6, Earth
May 9th, 0BBY, 0300 Hours (November 23rd, 2558, 0300 Hours)
"You look tense, Admiral Hood. You sure you won't have a heart attack if this waiting keeps up any longer?"
Hood gave the man in question, UNSC Marine General Hogan, an irritated look. "I won't be having a heart attack anytime soon, thank you. I do understand why you would ask, though. Feels like the very fabric of space-time might tear apart from the tension alone."
"I know the feeling. I'm sure that we'll all have answers soon enough. With something of this importance, ONI tends to pull out all the stops."
Hood frowned. "Yeah, they do. Just not in the way that I'd prefer it."
"They have messed up from time to time," General Strauss, the General of the Armies, admitted. "I'm not the first to say, though, that haven't had their rough patches from time to time. Still, given the importance of this meeting, combined with everything that's been going on, I hope that they really get off their asses and get to work finding out what's been going on."
"I think they are," Dellert, the General of the Air Force, said. Turning to Osman, he asked, "Are they?"
"Yes," Osman said, slightly irritated at Strauss' earlier remark. "They are." Right on cue, one of her officers walked in. A middle aged and bald man, Vice Admiral James Starker looked like nothing special. In reality, he was the head of ONI Section One, which meant that intelligence gathering was his forte. As such, in meetings like this, he was in his element.
The expression on his face indicated that they had the answers they needed, but that there was something about those answers that they weren't going to like. "Gentlemen, welcome," he said. "As you all know, around three weeks ago, at 1800 hours, the UNSC Infinity went missing during a test of her Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine. I have good news for everyone inside of the room: we have found the Infinity."
That was cause for celebration. The room echoed with claps and a few cheers. "Excellent," Admiral Hood said, a smile on his face. "I had a feeling that we were going to find the Infinity. However, I suspect that there's more to be said, yes?"
"You'd be correct, Admiral Hood," Starker said. "At 0300 hours yesterday, the UNSC Intrepid Guardian discovered a Slipstream Space signal that was being broadcasted towards Earth. The Intrepid Explorer managed to intercept and trace this signal, which led them to a modified Slipstream Space Probe that was in the Epsilon Indi system. Once the information was transmitted to us via Slipspace, we began working on analyzing the information to the best of our ability. What we have found has proven to be incredibly shocking."
Silence reigned in the room as she finished speaking. Hogan, though, wanted more. "Well, go on and tell us," he urged Starker. "I don't want to be kept in suspense here. We've got enough of that as it is."
"Very well. We've found out that the Infinity, thanks to a malfunction in its Slipstream Space Drive, has ended up in another galaxy entirely. Specifically, our cosmological next-door neighbor: the Andromeda Galaxy."
"Whoa!" Hogan shouted. "That can't be right! Slipstream Space Drives of UNSC manufacture can't go that fast. I'm no expert, but even such an anomaly would tear apart the entire ship."
"Not exactly," Admiral Hood countered. "The Infinity makes use of a Forerunner based Slipstream Space Drive." He glanced at Osman. "Correct?"
"Correct," Osman said. "The Mark X Macedon/Z-PROTOTYPE Slipstream Space Drive to be exact. It is Forerunner in both design and origin, which means that the Infinity could survive such a jump."
"Exactly," Starker said. "As we know from the log buoy that we found, it did survive the trip. They managed to exit Slipstream Space by cutting the power to the drive, which forced them to exit Slipstream Space and re-enter realspace. This resulted in them colliding with a ship of an unknown faction, while also ending up in another star system in the middle of a battle over a planet named Scarif."
"They got involved in a battle?" Hood asked.
"They did. According to information and intelligence that Captain Lasky gathered, they had a hostile first contact with a faction calling itself the 'Galactic Empire.' According to the intelligence that Lasky has gathered, the Galactic Empire is a totalitarian dictatorship that rules through military power, though they do have an 'Imperial Senate.' Intel suggests that it's a rump Senate; it's just there to mollify the public. We also have intelligence that confirms that the Empire has most of the Andromeda Galaxy under its control, with a large section of the galaxy that isn't explored being called the 'Unknown Regions.'"
A holographic image of the Andromeda Galaxy appeared, with parts of the map marked out in varying colors and sections. The entire map was literally littered with star systems, all of which had names that none of the Admirals had ever seen before. A large section of the map was marked out with gray and light gray lines, with an unusual symbol being shown. A small text box nearby marked it as the 'Imperial Crest.'
"Damn…" Hogan whistled. "Looks like they've got most of the galaxy under their thumb. That large dark section is the Unknown Regions, yes?"
"Correct," James said. "The explored regions of the galaxy are split into eight distinct regions which are, in order, the Deep Core, Core Worlds, Core Colonies, Inner Rim, Expansion Region, Mid Rim, Outer Rim Territories and Wild Space. The Outer Rim and Wild Space are much like how America's Wild West during the mid 1800s to early 1900s was, with the Mid Rim, Expansion Region and Inner Rim being akin to the suburbs of a city. The Core Colonies and Core Worlds are very much the Inner City. The Deep Core is mostly unexplored due to spatial anomalies that prevent their form of FTL flight from working properly."
"That might be useful," Osman said silently.
"Sounds like it," Hood said. "Are there any factions that oppose them?"
"Yes," Starker said. "The main faction that opposes the Galactic Empire is the Rebel Alliance. Intelligence indicates that they're a rag-tag group of rebels and dissidents that want to restore the rule of the government that existed before the Galactic Empire, the Galactic Republic. According to more intelligence, the Galactic Republic existed for thousands of years before it was torn apart in the Clone Wars. As the name implies, they used cloned human beings as soldiers during the war."
"That can't have been a good thing," Osman said with a frown. "You could easily stage a coup and take over the Republic."
"Which is exactly what happened. Around three years into the fighting, a man by the name of Sheev Palpatine performed a coup that saw him installed as the Emperor, and the transformation of the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire. Intelligence shows that, since then, the Empire's been building up its military force, for what reason we do not know. They've also started cracking down on any dissidents and rebels, though the Rebel Alliance directly opposes them still. They are very disorganized though, as this footage of the meeting with them shows."
Footage from the meeting with the Rebel Alliance played, with the Admirals and Generals witnessing Lasky's dressing down of the Alliance's leaders and the Alliance as a whole. "Oi ve," Dellert grumbled as the footage ended. "Now that's the definition of disorganized. They couldn't even decide on whether they should attack Scarif or not."
"Definitely," Hogan said. "You cannot afford division when you're doing something like that. Wouldn't you agree, Osman?"
"Definitely," Osman said.
"Same here," Hood said. Deciding to change the topic, he said, "What is their main form of FTL flight?"
"That's something that one of the engineers onboard the Infinity, one Specialist Jordan MacCallum, was kind enough to include in the log buoy. According to the information that we found inside of the probe, the Galactic Empire's primary mode of FTL flight is what they call the 'Hyperdrive.' It exploits an alternate version of space-time that is known as 'Hyperspace' to travel across the galaxy without incurring relativistic effects. According to data that Jordan included, most Hyperdrives are able to propel a ship across the entire galaxy within hours or even days."
"Hours to days?" he asked. "That is incredibly fast, faster than even our Slipstream Space Drives."
"Not necessarily, Admiral Hood. Jordan's research also included a rating system that Hyperdrives use, with hyperdrives being rated from 0-10. It's an inverse scale, meaning that the closer the number is to zero, the faster the drive can go. Most ships in the Galactic Empire are Class 2-1 Hyperdrives, which can propel a ship across the galaxy within two to six days time. Our drives can be modified to go faster, courtesy of the data for which Jordan has kindly provided for us."
"OK," Osman said. "If their drives are so fast, then how come they haven't been sighted in our galaxy? Is there some kind of anomaly in that galaxy that prevents them from getting here?"
"An astute question," Starker noted. "Jordan's intelligence indicates that the Galactic Empire is unable to leave their home galaxy, courtesy of a hyperspace anomaly that rings the entire galaxy. This led him to combine a modified Slipstream Space Probe with an unmodified one, and attach the log buoy to it. The normal probe transported the modified one out of the galaxy, before the modified one that had the log buoy detached and then left for our galaxy. Once it arrived, it transmitted a distress signal that we would pick up, leading to our current meeting here."
"Interesting. It sounds as though Jordan had to use the 26th century equivalent of the Pony Express to get a message back home."
"Indeed," Osman said. "I've seen some pretty inspired ideas, even during the war against the Covenant. This one, though, definitely earns points for originality."
"Let's cut to the chase," Hogan said impatiently. "What is the Empire's military capability compared to our own?"
"We have some data on that, but we'll get to that in due time," Starker said. "As for the schematics on the Hyperdrive, Jordan was kind enough to upload the schematics for the device into the log buoy. On top of that, the one in the modified probe is being extracted so that our scientists can study it. Before long, we'll know every FTL flight secret the Empire's got."
Taking a moment to gather his wits, Starker said, "In addition to FTL flight, the Empire has access to a galaxy spanning information network known as the 'HoloNet.' Think of it as their version of Waypoint, only significantly larger. It is also highly secure, which meant that hacking into it was quite difficult. Cortana, though, managed to get in, and we managed to acquire a significant amount of information from this galaxy wide information and communications network."
"What kind of information?" Osman asked. "Did you verify it?"
Starker frowned, irritated. "Due to the large distances involved, verification was not possible. However, I trust Cortana's judgment in this matter, which means that, until we can independently verify the information and intelligence that we are receiving, we will have to go off of what she says is true or false. We've also confirmed that they use holographic technology, though in some aspects, it's not as advanced as what we use. It's used for their FTL communications system, which is called the HoloCom. According to Jordan's estimates, the Infinity should have the technology integrated into its systems by now. He was also kind enough to send us schematics for the technology and instructions on how to integrate it into our COM systems as well."
"So they can project a holographic image of a person while they're talking with them?" Osman asked. When Starker nodded, she said, "Now that would be really useful. The Eternity could definitely use that."
"My thoughts exactly," Hood said. "Anything else?"
"We've also discovered some surprising facts about the Andromeda Galaxy. For one thing, it is literally teeming with sapient alien life. According to the information that Cortana uploaded onto the log buoy, we are looking at nearly twenty million sentient and/or sapient species in the Andromeda Galaxy alone.
The look that was present on the faces of each of the Admirals and Generals in the room was that of stunned shock. If there are that many sentient or sapient species, Hood noted, then we're in for a really long fight, if they're hostile. If not, the ambassadors have got their work cut out for them in spades. That number alone was mind-boggling, even to someone as experienced and traveled as Hood.
Hogan, though, spoke exactly what was on his mind. "Twenty million species?!" he spluttered, his shock clear and present for all to see. "Vice Admiral Starker, you must be joking!" When Starker remained silent, and didn't laugh, his shock grew. "Shit. You're not joking, aren't you."
"I wish I was," Starker said. "Hell, even I, of all people, have a hard time believing what I've learned. However, given that Cortana has always been a trusted asset of ours, we'll have to assume that number is accurate."
"Ho boy," Strauss said. "Looks like the Ambassadors are going to be incredibly busy."
"Tell me about it," Hood said dryly, "and that's just the explored part of the galaxy. There could be another fifteen million in the Unknown Regions alone. We'd need fifty million ambassadors to cover that many species, and I'm not sure that we can do that many."
"I feel bad for Envoy Melody," Starker said with genuine sympathy. "She'll be up to her neck in greetings and the like, and she's the only Envoy on the ship. There's no one else to share the load."
"Indeed," Hogan said. "I'd be tearing out my own hair by that point. I hope that isn't going to be the case though. Is it, Starker?"
"Thankfully, no," Starker said. "Cortana's intelligence indicates that the dominant species in the galaxy is Humanity, which is very confusing. A theory that's quickly gaining traction in ONI is that the Forerunners migrated there and, when they constructed the Halo Array, they moved some humans to the Andromeda Galaxy to give Humanity the best chance of survival should the Flood overtake our species in this galaxy."
"That would make sense," Hood said. "After all, the Forerunners did want to keep sapient species from going extinct."
"True." Clearing his throat, Starker said, "Now we can get to the information that Admiral Hogan would like to know of. Cortana's data mining of the HoloNet allowed us to get some information on the size of the Empire's military forces which, needless to say, is enormous. Current estimates place the Imperial Navy's personnel in the low trillions, with millions, if not billions, of ships."
The mood became much more somber at those words. "Millions of ships?!" Hood said with a frown. "If that's the case, then we'd be severely outnumbered and outgunned were it not for that hyperspace anomaly surrounding their native galaxy. Do you have information on the ships that they use?"
"Yes," Starker said. "Cortana was able to hack into one of the Empire's main military vessels shortly after they emerged from Slipspace when their drive malfunctioned before transferring control over to Roland. According to the information that is present in the log buoy, the mainstay ship in the Empire is the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer."
At that, a holographic image of the ship class in question came up. To Admiral Hood, the Imperial I-class of Star Destroyer looked like someone had taken a broadhead arrow, blunted it, then stuck a boxy protrusion onto the back, which had two more protrusions sticking off of it. Information points highlighted sections of the ship, with the elevated tower section being identified as the bridge, while other sections were identified as the engines, engineering and crew quarters.
Almost immediately, Hood could see numerous weaknesses in the design, weaknesses that he knew UNSC ships didn't suffer from. For one thing, the bridge was located in the tower section, which was like painting a bullseye there while also spray painting the words 'Hey! Shoot me!' on the bridge. For another, most of the weapons were located on the dorsal, port, bow and starboard sections of the ship, with the ventral and stern sections having few weapon emplacements. In addition, he could see the sole hangar, which was left in an exposed position on the ventral section of the ship.
Hogan, though, was more cautious. "What the hell is that thing?" he asked. "Is that a 'Star Destroyer?'
"Yes," Starker said. "According to the information that we retrieved from the log buoy, the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer is the Empire's main capital ship. Information indicates that it's roughly 1600 meters in length, around the same length as a Valiant-class Super-Heavy Cruiser and roughly 900 meters in width at the back of the ship. The KDY Destroyer-I Ion Engines are designed to allow the ship to accelerate at roughly 2300 g in space, while having a top speed of 975 kilometers per hour in atmosphere, roughly the same velocity as a Valiant-class super-heavy cruiser in the same conditions."
The information had Hood both interested and intrigued. As the head of the UNSC Navy, this was his field of expertise. "That's quite an impressive ship, if it can move at 22.25 kilometers per second in atmosphere, if my math is correct. What's the number of personnel onboard this class of ship?"
Starker looked at the information again. "According to Cortana's intelligence, the ship is staffed with 47060 personnel, 19.8% of which is composed of officers, while 59.7% of the ship is composed of the enlisted personnel, and the gunners. The remaining 21.5% of the personnel are the ground forces that are carried as passengers onboard the ship."
Hood pursed his lips as he rested his chin on his clasped hands. That's significantly more personnel than what an Valiant-class super-heavy cruiser has, he noted. "Why the significant amount of personnel?" he asked.
"If I had to guess, I'd say it's their lack of dependence on AI," Starker guessed. "According to Roland, the Star Destroyers do not have a dedicated Smart AI onboard, though they have a number of Dumb AIs onboard in the form of robots that the Empire and its citizens call 'droids.' Most of the functions that don't need automation are not. In addition, the ship is wider than a UNSC ship of the same size and class, which accounts for the increased number of crew."
"That makes sense," Hood pointed out. "Without a Smart AI to handle certain functions, the crew of the ship has to be increased by a significant amount to allow the ship to even function in the first place." Satisfied with that answer, he asked, "What's their armament?"
"That we also have information on, as well as actual battlefield data," Starker said. "According to Cortana's data mining, and Roland's information gathering, an Imperial-class Star Destroyer is typically armed with energy weapons."
"They use energy weapons?"
"Yes. According to Cortana, the Empire's ship weapons are designed to fire high velocity boluses of particles at an enemy target. On impact, the bolts cause a significant amount of kinetic thermal damage to a target. According to battlefield information, though, they're weaker than Covenant plasma weapons, though they are stronger than UNSC anti-ship weapon batteries during the UNSC-Covenant War. As for present day armaments, I'd say they're roughly equal to each other.
"As for the armaments on a Star Destroyer, we've got information on that. According to Roland, a Star Destroyer of this class carries around 60 Taim & Bak XX-9 heavy turbolaser batteries, with twenty of each located on the fore, port and starboard sections of the ship. They've also got roughly sixty NX-7 ion batteries, 20 of which are on the fore, fifteen on the port and starboard sides, and ten of which are aft. There are six dual heavy turbolaser batteries on the dorsal section of the ship, with three on the port and starboard sections. They also have two heavy ion cannon turrets as well as 40 point-defense laser cannons. They also use tractor beams, which appear to be a form of directed gravity tether technology."
Hood whistled. "That is a considerable amount of firepower, and what battlefield data do we have on this?"
"Quite a bit," Starker said. "According to Roland's analysis, the Infinity's shields held up well against the turbolaser batteries. According to his analysis, the Infinity's shields were going down due to the NX-7 ion batteries, as well as the heavy turbolaser batteries that were mounted on the star destroyer they engaged."
"How did these ion batteries cause that much shield drain?"
"Ion batteries work by firing bolts of particles that, when they hit a target, severely disrupt or damage electronics and the like. As for the heavy turbolaser batteries, they were just slightly weaker than an Onager MAC."
"I see," Hood said, tapping the table with a finger. "What about their shields? Do they have energy shields?"
"It's… complicated. We've determined that, while they have shields, they tend to vary in their usage. The most common form of shielding is ray shielding, which protects solely against energy based weapons. Particle shield protects against projectiles, though they're mainly used for stopping asteroids and the like. Star Destroyers have both types, but the particle shielding wasn't very good. In fact, the Infintiy's Fortress and Onager class of MAC and Mini-MACs were able to penetrate the shields with little difficulty."
"What about armor plating?"
"The ship is mostly constructed of durasteel, a composite made of numerous materials. The armor plating, however, is made of duralloy which, according to Cortana's datamining, is quite strong. It is capable of withstanding and redirecting the impact and thermal energy of particle bolts. However, as he noted during the battle, the sheer power of the Infinity's armaments overwhelmed the tensile strength of this duralloy."
"I'm starting to see a pattern here," Hood pointed out. "From the looks of it, the Empire's more concerned about the intimidation factor and firepower of a ship than how it actually functions in space combat. In addition, they've got enough manpower that they can have ships with this many crew, and they do not make use of Smart AIs."
"That seems a tad wasteful," Osman said.
"My thoughts exactly," Dellert said.
"That was our reasoning as well," Starker said. "We're still working out why they have 21.5% of the crew as ground forces."
"I can see why," Hood said. "From what I can tell, the Empire's focused on strength in numbers. Did we manage to get one of those?"
"Yes," Starker said. "The Infinity's forces boarded and captured a Star Destroyer, the Intimidator. Lasky's report indicates that the Star Destroyer was given to the Rebel Alliance as a parting gift at one of their bases. Before they did so, however, they cleaned out the entire ship of anything that could be considered valuable, along with any information they could find."
"Very good."
"What's the standard ground trooper for the Imperial Military?" Strauss asked. "What do they look like? What's their equipment and training?"
"We have information on that too," Starker said. The hologram of the Star Destroyer faded and was replaced wtih the holographic image of a man was displayed. The man was shown wearing a grey uniform that had some armor plating, though all of it was concentrated onto the torso. The helmet was also grey, while a black visor obscured the man's eyes. A backpack was on the man's back, as well as a toolbelt and what appeared to be a weapon was in his hands. "This is the standard Imperial Army Trooper. However, the real threat to our soldiers are the 'Stormtroopers.'"
At that, the holographic image of the man vanished, and was replaced by another individual entirely. The individual in question was covered in head to toe with armor, with the armor being a bright white color that was mounted onto a black bodysuit. The helmet had two eye pieces, as well as what appeared to be an oddly shaped mask that was integrated into the body of the helmet.
Seeing the armor, Hood found that he was vaguely reminded of the body armor that ODSTs wore, though beyond that vague resemblance, he could see a number of differences. Hogan, seeing the armor, asked, "Is this what they give their version of Marines?"
"Pretty much," Starker said. "And, as you've guessed, the Stormtroopers are the Empire's equivalent to the UNSC Marines and ODSTs. According to information that Cortana and Roland were able to gather, their armor is composed of a material known as 'plastoid', a composite that, combined with an anti-blaster mesh underneath it, is designed to disperse the kinetic and thermal damage of a particle bolt over the entire user's body, with the armor absorbing some of the damage. The armor also has magnetic shielding, as well as an insulator, with the body suit able to provide limited protection from vacuum. The helmet also includes a number of sensor systems, and has filters that protect against chemical weapons."
"Impressive," Hogan said, "but not quite as good as what we've got. What about their weapons?"
"The standard weapon used by the Stormtroopers, and Imperial Army Troopers, is the E-11 BlasTech Blaster Carbine. It's designed to fire a bolus of particles, known as a 'blaster bolt' at a velocity of seven hundred meters per second. The weapon has an effective range of roughly 50 meters and a maximum range of three hundred, which is where the bolt dissipates. I'll send you a technical readout of how the blasters work later."
"Interesting," Hogan said. "Impressive weaponry, but it's quite inferior to what we use."
Hood nodded in agreement. Even during the war, the UNSC had enough stolen Covenant weapons and armor brought back to allow Misriah Armory and the other weapons and armor manufacturers in the UNSC to get to work, with other teams performing historical research to bring back ideas from as far back as the late 20th to early 21st centuries. That had resulted in the current generation of body armor, which could take multiple plasma bolts to the torso, chest and limb regions before failing entirely.
"Their weapons are also shit too," Strauss added. "Fifty meters as the effective range? I know Marines that can hit a target effectively at seven times that range. The bullets also travel faster than these 'blaster bolts.' How effective is their armor against projectiles?"
"Against their version of our weapons? They're practically invulnerable," Starker said. "However, Weapons Engineer Borodin Kalashnikov, one of the engineers onboard the Infinity, did some testing in that regard. According to the data from his tests, Stormtrooper Armor is practically useless against the caseless SAPHE-HV ammunition that we developed for the MA5 series of rifles during the Insurrection and Covenant-UNSC War.
"In addition, as Hogan pointed out, the armor that we've developed for our soldiers in the field is more advanced than what the Stormtroopers use. Borodin's tests indicated that our armor can take roughly twice as many blaster bolts as it can plasma bolts before failing, which I can accredit to the research that we conducted during the Covenant-UNSC War on samples of nanolaminate armor that we recovered and experimented on during that war."
Hogan and Strauss nodded in agreement. "Exactly. Looks like our war against the Covenant has given us something of a fighting chance against the Galactic Empire… if they become hostile that is."
"Agreed," Starker said. "As far as we know from the log buoy, Captain Lasky is attempting to secure a peaceful contact with the Galactic Empire, as well as the Rebel Alliance. According to his logs, the Rebel Alliance is quite disorganized, as they have a civilian leader, but no civilian government. Instead, they have a military government, and their military is also quite disorganized as well."
"Sounds like it," Hood said. Leaning back, he said, "Thank you, Osman, for providing this information to us."
"You're welcome, sir," Starker said. "However, there is one more development that, I think, all of you need to hear about immediately." Clearing his throat, Starker said, "Lasky also requested that we send to the Infinity around five NOVA Bombs."
Again, the Admirals and Generals were silent, with Hood and Osman giving each other a confused look. "Why does he need a NOVA Bomb, and five of them at that?" Hood asked. "You don't just ask for that kind of thing casually."
"Because of this," Starker said. The hologram faded out, with another image coming up. Looking at it, Hood noticed that the image was that of a spherical space station, with a crater-like formation that looked very much like the dish on a projector. At the same time, footage of the Infinity's first contact battle was played, specifically of the station firing what appeared to be its main weapon: a green particle beam that destroyed a portion of the planet's surface.
Hood felt a cold chill run up and down his spine as he watched the station fire its main weapon at the planet shown in the footage. Hogan looked pale, while Dellert and Strauss looked as though they'd just swallowed a liter and a half of sewage. Osman looked as though she had just seen another glassed planet, as her skin was pale and her eyes slightly widened. "What the hell was that?" she asked. "Tell me that this is a joke, Vice Admiral Starker."
Starker's frown said it all. "I wish it was." Enlarging the still image, he said, "This, sirs, is what the Galactic Empire calls the 'Death Star. It is a space station that is 160 kilometers in diameter, roughly half the size of the space station known as High Charity. The space station, however, was built with one purpose in mind: to be able to destroy an entire planet with a single shot via the use of a phased macro-scale energy projector."
The silence that followed yet again was deafening. "Destroy an entire planet?" Hood asked. "Are you certain?"
"Very much so," Starker said. "The log buoy contained the schematics for the Death Star, from the superweapon that is mounted in it's structure, to the power supply it uses. What you saw in the footage was a low powered shot from the Death Star, what the schematics call a 'single reactor ignition.' The advanced hypermatter annihilation reactor inside of the Death Star, combined with a fuel known as 'khyber crystals' is designed to generate enough energy to destroy an entire planet. Cortana's calculations, which were also included in the log buoy, confirms that the Death Star is capable of such a feat."
Hearing that, Hood felt that cold chill become even more intense. "Just like the NOVA Bomb that Vice Admiral Whitcomb designed," he said. "One was detonated on a Sangheili colony. It literally blew it apart. Also reminds me of that Forerunner superweapon that was capable of destroying an entire planet that Commander Palmer destroyed."
"Exactly," Starker said. "To make matters worse, the space station is capable of being moved to another location under its own power, and is capable of FTL flight. It is also capable of housing an entire fleet in its hangars, as well as its own garrison. In other words, sirs, this weapon is both a weapon of mass destruction and a weapon of terror."
Now that he had heard that, Hood said, "I can see why Lasky would request a NOVA Bomb. It's the only thing powerful enough to destroy the Death Star in one fell swoop. Given the destructive power it is capable of, I'd say his request is appropriate."
"I agree," Osman said. "A space station of that power and size, a NOVA Bomb would be considered 'standard munitions.' Is there any good news, Starker?"
Starker nodded. "Yes. One of the people working on the Death Star, a mineralogist by the name of Galen Erso, managed to build in a weakness into the design." Using the hologram, he highlighted two areas on the northern hemisphere of the Death Star. "Right here are two thermal exhaust ports, which are used to siphon heat away from the ship. Galen Erso added the secondary exhaust port as a deliberate act of sabotage. A well aimed missile fired here will cause catastrophic damage to the reactor module, which will trigger a detonation on the level of a NOVA Bomb."
"Damn," Dellert whistled. "Now that is what I call an explosion. Is Galen Erso onboard the Infinity by any chance?"
"No," Starker said. "Galen Erso was killed by the Empire during a raid on the facility he worked at. Even if he survived, he had a kill order placed on his head by the Rebel Alliance."
"Damnit," Osman growled. "Galen Erso could've been a valuable asset. Did we capture anyone during that battle?"
"Yes," Starker said. "Spartan Blue Team captured the main architect and the head of the Imperial Military Research Facility at the planet Scarif. The man in question was one Orson Krennic. He's currently onboard the ship and is making himself useful to Lasky. We've also confirmed that Dr. Halsey is onboard the Infinity, and that Krennic has been placed under her tender loving care." He smirked sarcastically. "Apparently, he's having to be useful by helping Halsey find a way to deliver a modified NOVA Bomb to the Death Star's thermal exhaust port, otherwise he's dead."
"I thought Halsey was persona non grata," Hood said to Osman.
"I thought so too," Osman said. "Apparently, I was mistaken to think that she was."
"I see," Hood said. "Did Lasky capture anyone else that was at the facility?"
"Yes," Starker said. "One Admiral Gorin, the CO of the Intimidator. Apparently, he fired on Lasky's ship without due provocation, forcing Lasky to engage in the military actions that he did. In addition, Lasky managed to recruit Galen Erso's daughter."
"Galen had a daughter?" Dellert asked.
"Yes," Starker confirmed. "One Jyn Erso, whom Galen referred to by her nickname of 'Stardust.' He gave her the information she needed to find the Death Star schematics before he died. Given the fact that she's a native, and that she's been to a lot of contested places in the galaxy, Lasky recruited her to serve as a navigator once she left the Rebel Alliance. A lot of people also left the Alliance because of Jyn leaving the Alliance, as well as the fact that they were also disgruntled with the Rebel Alliance. It's because of Jyn being recruited, along with the recruitment of hundreds of other people, that Lasky's requested recruiters from the Navy, Marines, Air Force and Army. He's not equipped to recruit that many people. One or two yes, but not hundreds of people."
"I see." After a moment of thinking, Hood said, "Thank you for sharing this information with the rest of us. It's time to decide what we have to do with that information."
The Admirals and Generals turned to one another, with Starker standing near the door as they spoke. "I've seen some of that information for myself," Hogan said. "According to the log buoy, Lasky refused the Alliance's offer to join their organization due to his affiliation with us, along with how disorganized and unprofessional they are. He's also refused to join the Galactic Empire, though he's working to ensure that relations with them don't deteriorate into war."
"He's wise to do that," Strauss said. "We don't need another enemy. Sun Tzu once said, 'If fighting will not result in victory, then you must not fight, even if your leaders demand you to do so.' By refusing to join the Rebel Alliance, while also attempting to clear up any misunderstandings with the Empire, he's effectively defusing a war that we can't win, not right now at least."
"I also agree with Lasky's decision to make peace with the Empire… for now," Osman said. "We don't have enough information on the Empire to make an informed decision as on what to do. As the military philosopher you quoted once said, 'if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory you gain you will also suffer a defeat.'
"By negotiating with the Empire, Lasky is not only buying us time to build up our strength, he's also buying time for us to infiltrate the Empire and learn more about them. In addition, they have a weapon that's capable of destroying an entire planet in one shot. That tells me what kind of foe we're facing."
"That we can agree on," Hood said. "So far, Lasky has held himself to the highest standards and traditions within the UNSC and UEG. If his negotiations with the Empire succeeds, we'll not only temporarily avoid a war with the Galactic Empire, we'll get some much needed time to build up our military to pre-Covenant-UNSC War levels. I'll even promote him to the upper half of Rear Admiral." It'll also advance my secret plans for Lasky, he added to himself.
"I agree," Hogan said. "As for the Empire, you think that we might go to war against the Empire at some point?"
"Definitely," Hood said. "Osman said it herself: we're going to make peace with the Empire for the moment. I have no doubts, though, that the Empire is going to want to assimilate the UNSC into its own government. Totalitarian governments usually develop rivalries with republican and democratic governments once they learn about each other. Just look at the Cold War from the mid to late 20th century if you want proof of that."
"I remember that part of my history class quite well," Hogan said. "Still, I get your point. Once the Empire learns more about us, they're definitely going to try to get at us, even if we're in another galaxy. It's just a matter of time."
"My thoughts exactly," Hood said. "If we're going to survive a war against the Empire, or even win for that matter, we're going to need to stall them long enough for our fleets to rebuild to their pre-war status, and then beyond that. We're not going to make the same mistakes that we did when we were fighting against the Covenant."
"What exactly do you propose?" Dellert asked.
"My proposal is this," Hood said. "We're going to gather a task force together and send them to the shipyards at Tribute, as well as to any shipyards in the Inner and Outer Colonies that have shipyards that weren't severely damaged or destroyed by the war. At those shipyards, they'll have the necessary modifications that Jordan listed done so that they can head to the Andromeda Galaxy in the same amount of time the probes took to get here. We'll also refit one of our mobile shipyards so that they can refit and resupply themselves while they're there and send the NOVA Bombs and recruiters that Lasky has requested with this fleet. I will assign a Battle Group to Epsilon Indi in case we get another probe from Lasky.
"Once the refits are made, which will take around a month, they'll gather at Epsilon Indi and, using the information that we've gotten from the log buoy, they'll make the jump to the Andromeda Galaxy. Two of the ships in that fleet will drop off HoloCOM equipped Slipstream Space COM Buoys so that we can maintain two way communications with any fleets in their galaxy and have a second link in case the first is cut."
Turning to Osman, Hood said, "Osman, I want you to send some Prowlers to this newfound galaxy, and to have a regional HQ established there. Once that is done, I need you to get to work doing what ONI does best: infiltrate hostile organizations in order to gather intel on them. In this case, corporate and technological espionage is also required so that we can catch up with the Empire in certain areas of technology and even become superior to them. We'll also need that intel to counter any moves that the Empire makes. You'll also need to create encryption protocols for the new COM system so that the Empire doesn't listen in on us.
"I also need you to have Starker send the schematics for the Death Star to Admiral Sark, the Chief Architect of the Infinity. If anyone is going to find a weakness in the design, she will. Plus, having information on the Death Star will allow us to build larger ship designs and accelerate the construction of some of our ships."
Osman nodded. "Understood. I'll have Prowlers ready to go for the mission within the two week deadline that we're now facing. Once they're ready to go, they'll move out and begin their long term mission. I will also send the Death Star schematics to Admiral Sark and her team. The sooner they can get to work on finding a weakness, the better."
"Good. We also need to discuss a plan to assist the Rebel Alliance when possible."
"We should discuss that in the next meeting we have," Hogan said. "Right now, we need to get ready to send people to the Andromeda Galaxy."
"Agreed," Hood said. "Can you have the UNSC Marines ready to go for when the going gets rough?"
"Yes," Hogan said. "Once we're done here, I'll go make sure that the UNSC Marines are ready to rock. I'll even see if we can get a recruiting drive going so that we can get more trained bodies into armor and uniforms."
"I'll have the Air Force ready to go," Dellert said. "Strauss, you think you can have the Army ready to go?"
"I'll have the Army ready," Strauss said. "I can't wait to show those Imperial bootlickers how real soldiers fight. What about you, Hood?"
"I've already got a plan ready for the Navy," Hood said.
"There's one other thing we have to take care of as well," Osman added. "Someone has to inform the UEG President of what is going on."
Hood nodded. "I'll inform President Charet on the recent developments. Any other questions?" When no one said anything, he said, "Very good. Osman will send over the relevant information that each of us will need to know about. We've got a long road ahead of us, gentlemen, and it's going to be a rough one. This meeting is adjourned."
. . .
As soon as Hood stepped out of his car, the man standing before the car asked, "What is your name and business here?"
Hood cleared his throat, then said, "I would like to speak with the President. I have to update her on a developing situation. I should have an appointment to be speaking with her at this time."
"One second," the man said. Advancing forwards, he patted Hood down, before using a handheld scanner to scan Hood's fingers and his eyes. Finishing that up, he keyed his earpiece and said, "Ma'am, Admiral Hood is wishing to speak with you. Are you expecting him…? Yes…? All right." Turning to Hood, he said, "You may enter, Admiral. Sorry for the inconvenience, sir."
"That's all right," Hood said. "You're just doing your job. No harm done." As the guard opened the door, Hood advanced inside.
The room he found himself in was quite large, with the floor shaped like an oval along with the ceiling and walls. Three windows that looked out towards the city of Sydney were ahead of him, along with a desk. Two sofas were present in the center of the room, and the walls of the room had a few cabinets, tables and chairs arranged neatly nearby. Paintings were on the walls, as well as portraits of past UEG Presidents.
The desk that was at the end where the windows were was occupied by a single elderly woman that was steepling her fingers as she waited. A short and slightly rotund woman, Ruth Charet had a grandmotherly figure, with white hair and blue eyes that seemed to shine like a lighthouse in a storm. Her tanned skin was wrinkled with age and the stresses of her work, though her eyes shone with an intelligence and wit that few could've matched.
Hood smiled as he saw her. Ruth Charet, he thought. One of the strongest President's I've met in my career. Certainly knows how to play a crowd, and to keep ONI in line, when she knows about things.
As soon as Hood walked into the room, President Charet looked up at him. "Admiral Hood," she said, her Australian accent giving her voice a slight twang. "I trust that the day is going well for you?"
"Something like that," Hood said. "I take it you heard about the Infinity going missing, yes?"
"Of course I did," Ruth said. "I was speaking with my cousin, who's aboard that ship, when he suddenly dropped out of contact. You know as well as I do that I was the one that ordered the investigation, and that it be done quietly to prevent a public panic. Given that you're here, I take it you're here to give me either bad news, good news, or both. Correct?"
"The latter of the three is correct," Hood said. Drawing himself to full military attention, he said, "The good news is that we have not only located the Infinity, we've determined that she is intact, and that Captain Lasky and his crew are alive and well."
Charet smiled. "Excellent work, Admiral Hood. I knew you were the right person for the job. Now what's the bad news?"
"The bad news is that the Infinity is not where we believed she would be," Hood answered. "According to a modified Slipspace probe that had a log buoy attached, the Infinity has ended up in the Andromeda Galaxy, over two and a half million light years from our current position." At Ruth's silence, he added, "Now before you say that is impossible, I had ONI and numerous AIs check over the information. There was no sign of tampering and -"
"Relax, Hood," Ruth chided him. "There's no need to reassure me that what happened did actually happen. You know more about this sort of thing than I do, and I trust your judgment in the matter. So, to summarize what you've told me thus far, Captain Lasky and his ship are alive and intact, but they've ended up in another galaxy. If that was it, surely you wouldn't have come in person to tell me."
"You're right," Hood said. "There's more to it than that." Pulling out a data-pad, he handed it to Ruth and said, "According to the log buoy, Lasky and his ship had a disastrous first contact with a faction calling itself the Galactic Empire. Since their arrival, Lasky's been working to ensure that a war doesn't break out, while sending us information on how to get to his position, as well as information on certain technologies that we can reverse-engineer. In addition, there's a full AAR on the various events that happened. Would you like me to step out?"
"No, no," Ruth said. "Sit down. I have some questions that I would like you to answer once I'm finished reading." For the next fifteen minutes, Ruth silently read the datapad that Hood had handed, stopping only to take a sip of some tea or to ask for clarification for a part of the report. Beyond that, she was as silent as the grave.
In fact, Hood was starting to nod off when Charet set the data pad down. "Interesting," she said. "It appears as though Envoy Melody has her work cut out for her, and that she's performed above and beyond the call of duty. I should give her a raise – no… I should give her a promotion to Ambassador and a raise. She's done some stellar work."
"That she has," Hood agreed. "I'm certain half of our Ambassadors would've botched up this situation quite badly."
"I think so too," Charet agreed. "Speaking of which, how many sapient species are there in the Andromeda Galaxy?"
"You really want to know? Around twenty million so far."
"Then we're going to need more Ambassadors," Chaeret remarked, surprise coloring her voice. "Still, Captain Lasky has also performed above and beyond the call of duty, both in his resolution of the crisis, as well as his dealings with the Rebel Alliance. Still, this Galactic Empire sounds quite ominous… If I'm half as smart as everyone thinks I am, I'd say that our differing political ideologies will bring about the start of a cold war, which might eventually escalate to a full-blown war."
"You read my mind," Hood said.
"Of course I did. It's my job to anticipate this sort of thing, especially in times like these." Tapping the table between the sofas, Ruth said, "I feel as though the crucible that I've been going through is about to get a lot hotter." Looking at Hood, she asked, "What do you need of me, for both the UNSC and the UEG?"
"We're going to need a lot of support, ma'am," Hood said honestly. "The Empire's got more soldiers than we do, and some of their tech is more advanced than our own. If we're going to be going into a war with the Empire, we need to make sure that our soldiers, ships and equipment is a damn sight better than theirs. One of our Marines will have to be worth thirty of their Stormtroopers, and the same goes for the Army."
"I most certainly agree," Charet said. "Still, twenty million sentient species, with some of them being sapient… What kind of situation did we get ourselves into? On top of that, there's this whole Death Star thing. Is it really true that it can destroy an entire planet? Melody's report says that she saw it in action, and I just saw the footage."
"'I'm afraid so, Ma'am," Hood said. "Lasky and Cortana's report, along with Roland and Gabriela's report corroborated that as well."
"Damn... That's not good news. The hell are we going to do?"
"No idea, but I intend to get us out alive and well."
"I'm certain you will, Admiral Hood. As for support, I believe we should go public with this information, as well as what happened with the Infinity within a month's time. That should give us time to make peace with the Empire, however long that lasts, and enough time to have the Eternity ready to go. It wouldn't do well if this were to leak before we are ready."
"I know," Hood said. "I've ordered Osman to get to work ensuring that we're ready to go on the intelligence side. I've got a plan ready for the Navy, and Strauss, Dellert and Hogan have got a game plan for their respective parts of the UNSC. We'll have to begin a recruiting drive for when the war begins, because to me it's not a matter of if a war will happen, it's a matter of when."
"I agree," Charet said. "I would be a fool not to know that our differing political ideologies will cause us to clash with the Galactic Empire. War is all but unavoidable, though we will use whatever options we can, aside from appeasement, to ensure that peace lasts."
"Agreed," Hood said. "Do you have any questions that you need answering?"
"Yes," Charet said. "I noticed that Lasky mentioned a person by the name of Leia Organa repeatedly. Do you know who she is?"
"Not fully," Hood said. "Lasky mentioned that she's an excellent ambassador and an Imperial Senator. She was able to convince the Empire to have an audience with Captain Lasky and Envoy Melody."
"I read that they have an Imperial Senate, though it's mostly just a powerless remnant of the Galactic Republic. Correct?"
"Yes, Madam President."
"I see. I feel sorry for Melody Azikiwe. She's got too much work on her hands."
"Agreed. How long do you think this peace will last, if Envoy Melody and Senator Organa manage to keep the peace?"
Hood considered her words, came up with an estimate. "I'd say around five to six months, at best. You?"
"Not too bad. I had eight. What reassures me greatly is that they can't escape from their home galaxy… for the moment. If we play the hand we're dealt correctly, we'll not only liberate numerous worlds from the Galactic Empire, we'll forge a strong relationship with the Rebel Alliance."
"That we will," Hood said. "Do you intend to involve the Swords of Sangheilios in this as well?"
"Of course I do," Ruth said. "We're allies, no thanks to ONIs meddling and the public's perception of the Sangheili by this point. I fully intend to uphold that alliance, and I will make it loud and clear that anyone that tries to pull any crap will get their just desserts. Plus it is only logical that we do so. When faced with a faction like the Empire, we must unite, 'else we will fall in a contemptible struggle for survival.
"With that in mind, I would like to have an ambassadorial ship refitted for the long journey to the Andromeda Galaxy, as well as numerous Ambassadors ready for the Rebel Alliance, Galactic Empire and the major governments in the galaxy. We can't meet them all, but we can meet the major players. We'll need all of our bases covered for when things happen, plus the Rebel Alliance, once full reorganized, will be our sole ally in this brave new galaxy."
"Wise words," Hood agreed. "Is that all?"
"For now, yes. I will call you if I have more questions. You may leave now."
"Thank you, madam President. I look forwards to working more with you."
"And with you as well, Hood. Good luck. You're going to need it."
"The luck's all yours, ma'am."
. . .
Back at the Bravo-6 facility, Admiral Sark, along with Rear Admiral (Lower Half) Greyson, Dr. Dana Wolf and Dr. Sada no Okuni, found themselves being escorted down the hallways of the facility by a pair of Spartan-IVs. All four of them were confused, though it was Sark that was wondering what was going on the most. She had been getting some much needed sleep when she'd been contacted and told to head to HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6 to speak with her immediately, along with the rest of her design team.
Next to her, Dr. no Okuni asked, "Where are we going? Have we done anything wrong? I'm not aware of having done anything bad."
"You will be briefed on what is going on once you enter Osman's office," one of the Spartan-IVs said. "No sooner, no later."
"That helps," Okuni said sarcastically.
"Settle down," RDML Grayson said to him. "I'll bet that it's to tell us what's happened to the Infinity. That ship is like my baby, well our baby that is. When I heard she'd literally gone poof, I was deeply worried about what happened to it."
"I've got a feeling we're about to find out," Dr. Dana said as they came to Osman's office.
The door opened to admit them inside, with the Spartan-IVs taking up position outside of the doors. Looking ahead, Admiral Sark could see Osman looking directly at her and her team, her hands clasped as she waited for them to fully enter. "Admiral Osman, ma'am," Sark said as she saluted.
"At ease," Osman said. Looking at the group of four, she said, "I understand that all of you are curious as to why you all have been called here into my office. Yes?" When the others nodded, she said, "Well, the good news is that the Infinity is intact and her crew is alive, though they've ended up in the Andromeda Galaxy. I take it you've read the briefing on what happened, yes?"
"That we have," Grayson said. "To think that they ended up in a galaxy where life is teeming, an Empire is present along with their version of the Innies, and that they're stuck in their galaxy. I take it that there's bad news too, yeah?"
"There's always bad news," Osman said. "We have received intelligence that the Galactic Empire has, in their possession, a superweapon that is designed to destroy an entire planet." Pressing a button, she pulled up a hologram of the superweapon in question, as well as the schematics for it.
"Damn," Grayson said as he and the others looked over the hologram in question. "What's it called?"
"The Death Star. It is a 160 kilometer large space station that is designed to be a WMD, as well as a weapon of terror. This station has a macro-scaled energy projector that is capable of destroying an entire planet in a single shot. A low powered shot is capable of destroying a significant portion of a planet's surface. Don't believe me? Here's proof." Pressing a button, she played footage of the Infinity's first contact, as well as the Death Star weapon's activation.
Upon seeing the footage for herself, Admiral Sark felt a cold chill run down her entire body, with the others turning pale as they saw the weapon in action. Turning towards Osman, she said, "Tell me that this footage is doctored."
Osman shook her head as she frowned. "I'm afraid not, Admiral Sark. Our AIs have confirmed that the footage you are seeing has not been doctored. You're looking at one of the most destructive weapons in the entire Andromeda Galaxy. The only weapon we have that equals the Death Star in destructive capability is the NOVA Bomb. As for the Forerunners, well… they have the Halo Array, and you don't need me to tell you how powerful that is."
Sark felt her heart drop into her stomach. "That's bad news," she said. "And you're saying that shot in the footage was a low powered shot?"
"Yes."
"Shit," Dana said. "No wonder you brought us here: you want us to find a way to destroy this station, and to see if we can use the schematics to build larger and more powerful warships."
"An astute observation," Osman said. "Your new assignment is to find a weakness in the Death Star's design, a weakness that we can exploit. In addition, you are to use the schematics to find ways to allow us to build larger and more powerful warships. The Galactic Empire, which built this superweapon, will eventually go to war against us due to our differing political ideology. The diplomats will try to preserve peace, but given what I've learned of the Galactic Empire, it's that long term peace is nothing but a pipe dream."
"Are there any weaknesses in the design that we know of right now?"
"Yes," Osman said. "Near the main thermal exhaust port is a secondary thermal exhaust port that leads directly to the reactor module inside of the Death Star. A single, well aimed missile will be able to fly into the Death Star's reactor module and trigger a catastrophic detonation. However, we need to see if there are any other weaknesses that were purposefully engineered into the design. Your mission, specifically, will be to design a smaller version of the NOVA Bomb that will be able to fit into a missile small enough to fly through the thermal exhaust port and into the reactor module."
"I see," Sark said. "Who designed the Death Star?"
"Director Krennic. He's currently been captured and is assisting Dr. Halsey onboard the Infinity in the same endeavor that we are working on. The man that integrated the design flaws was Galen Erso, a mineralogist that was forced to aid in the design."
"I see," Sark grumbled. She didn't like Halsey, though she could put aside that dislike of her for the time being. Forcing those thoughts out of her head, she asked, "Is Galen alive and well?"
"No, unfortunately. The Empire killed him for committing treason. He would've been dead anyway, though, as the Rebel Alliance placed a kill order on Galen's head, a colossal error in judgment."
"I see," Sark said. "Well, If you need to find a weakness in the design, and to make larger and more powerful warships, then you've come to the right team. We'll find a way to make the Empire's biggest superweapon look like a pop-gun."
Osman's smile was as cold as liquid nitrogen. "I'm certain that you will," she said. "You will have near-unlimited resources to go with your mission. This will be a long term mission, but I expect progress reports on a monthly to yearly basis. I'll have the ordinance teams in the UNSC work with you so that you can create that smaller and more advanced version of the NOVA Bomb. I've also got schematics for a new form of communications technology that we retrieved from the log buoy the Infinity sent to us. I'll send you the schematics and information immediately. You will integrate it into the design of the Eternity, while other engineers will integrate it into other UNSC ships. Understood?
"Yes, ma'am."
"Very good. Should you succeed, we will make the UNSC even more powerful, powerful enough that not even the Rebel Alliance will want to fight us once the war is over. I will have the AIs send you the schematics to your shared office for you to look over. If you have any questions about Galen Erso, I'll send a list of questions that you want me to ask sent to Jyn Erso, Galen's daughter. Perhaps when communications is set up, we can talk with her some more. Dismissed."
As the team left, Osman paced back and forth behind her desk. Looks like Halsey gave us yet another key to fighting this new enemy, she noted. Perhaps my decision to order her assassination was an error in judgment on my part. Once she was a nuisance, now she is an asset. She shrugged. Oh well, such is life, I suppose. At least she'll be useful instead of a drag. Now, I need to speak with Parangosky about this. She absolutely has to know.
. . .
In a galaxy far, far away, Cole was making sure that he was fully dressed for his meeting with Lasky. Gazing at himself in a mirror that he had in his quarters, he made sure that his uniform was properly fitted. Satisfied with how he looked, he nodded to his reflection before advancing out of his quarters. Two UNSC ODSTs flanked him, with both soldiers accompanying him as they moved towards the hangar bay. Moving past crew that had gotten up just hours ago, they entered the hangar and proceeded onboard one of the Pelicans. "I am aboard," he informed the pilot. "It's time to go."
"Roger that," the pilot said. "Flight Command, this is Golf Zero-Niner-Five. Requesting permission to take off. Over."
"Permission granted, Golf Zero-Niner-Five," came the reply. "You have permission to take off. Follow flight vector 0-9-0 dash negative 0-1-0 until you are clear of the Everest. Infinity Flight Command will then take over for you."
"Roger Flight Command," the pilot said, before gunning the throttle. Within minutes, the Pelican had left the hangar bay, and was now flying out towards the Infinity. As it turned, Cole got his first look at the UNSC's most powerful ship.
To call it big was to undersell the magnificence and scale of the Infinity itself. Doing some mental math, Cole figured that it was large that eight ships of the same class as the Everest could fit inside of the ship with room to spare. Thanks to his clearance level, he had also been able to review documents of the Infinity's design, which had led him to learning about the Infinity's escort. Damn ship is a floating city if I ever heard of one, he thought.
The pilot, seeing the ship, whistled loudly. "Damn… and I thought the Everest was big. The Infinity practically blows it clean out of the water… or vacuum… whichever of the two. Dagh!" He flicked a hand flippantly at the ship.
"It does," Cole said. "I wonder what would've happened if the damn Slipspace Drive hadn't malfunctioned. Maybe I could've become the Captain of the ship. Still, no harm done, and Captain Lasky's shown himself to be more than capable of handling the job properly."
A moment later, the COM crackled to life. "Golf Zero-Niner-Five, this is Flight Operations. Do you read me? Over."
"Roger, Flight Operations, this is Golf Zero-Niner-Five requesting permission to come aboard with Admiral Cole. Over."
"Roger Golf Zero-Niner-Five, cleared to come aboard. Welcome home, Admiral."
"You too, son," Cole said as they approached the Infinity. Slowly but surely, they approached the Infinity, with the Pelican smoothly flying into the hangar bay that they were assigned to. Before long, they had landed, with the Pelican turning around just before doing so.
As he advanced out of the VTOL, Cole looked around at the interior. The entire hangar was busier than a hornet's nest, with personnel quickly moving to and fro as they worked at their stations or headed to other ones. Nearby, he spotted a tram system, a necessity on a ship that was larger than a kilometer. Cole himself knew how many times he'd used a tram onboard the Everest.
Standing at the foot of the Pelican's loading ramp was Captain Lasky himself, along with a pair of Spartans. Having seen an image of him already, Cole could clearly see the experience in Lasky's dark brown eyes. Advancing forwards, Lasky saluted and said, "Captain Lasky of the UNSC Infinity, sir! Welcome aboard."
"At ease, and thank you," Cole said. "I must say, you've got yourself a nice ship, Lasky."
"Thanks. I was lucky to be stationed aboard her," Lasky said. "Now, you might've noticed some odd things in that report, especially given the information on it."
"I did," Cole said, "but we'll discuss that in your private quarters. Would you kindly show me the way?"
"Of course," Lasky said. Both men began to walk along, with Lasky being escorted by Fireteam Majestic, while Cole and his ODSTs followed closely. Boarding the tram, they began the several minute trek from Hangar Bay 21-D to Lasky's quarters near the bridge.
As they traveled along, Cole said, "I've looked at your service record since you became an officer, Lasky. Part of me wonders why we never met before the Battle of Psi Serpentis."
"Same here," Lasky said. "I don't really understand it either. I guess we just never crossed paths due to circumstances. I was still being trained as an officer, after all."
"Agreed," Cole said as the tram came to a stop. Exiting, they began heading to Lasky's quarters. Once they entered, Lasky had the Spartan IV's come inside with him while the ODSTs remained outside. As the door closed, Cole sat down and said, "You're incredibly lucky to be the Captain of this ship, Lasky. In fact, part of me wonders how you became the CO of the Infinity. A ship of this size should be commanded by at least a Rear Admiral. What changed?"
"Del Rio," Lasky said he poured a couple cups of coffee. "He was the CO of the ship for a time. In order to understand how we've gotten to this point, though, I'll need to tell you what happened after your disappearance. Before we continue, though, there's a question I need to ask you."
"And that would be?"
"Are you still loyal to the UNSC?" Lasky asked. "I know it's an odd question, but I have to know before we can proceed. From what that historical analysis said, you were either a member of the UNSC still, or you became an Insurrectionist in the end. If you're no longer loyal, and I share classified information with you, I could end up being court-marshaled and put into prison, or worse, executed."
Cole sighed "That's completely understandable. You don't want to give a potential threat any classified information." Leaning on his elbows as he took a sip from his coffee, he said, "To be honest, Lasky, I wasn't planning on getting out of that battle alive. Yes, I had planned the in-atmosphere jump, but I thought we would've been torn to pieces in the ensuing jump. That or the micronova that occurred would've destroyed us outright from the thermal energy alone. Part of me distantly hoped that we might reunite with my wife, the Captain of the Bellicose."
"Lyrenne Castilla? An Insurrectionist and… your wife?"
"Yes," Cole said. Noting Lasky's expression, he said, "Don't worry, Lasky. It'll take more than that to offend me. Yes, I had hoped that I would be able to meet with her again, to spend the rest of our golden years with our daughter. It seems that fate, though, had other plans for me. When we ended up out there dead in the water, with no way of knowing where we were, we decided to bottle ourselves up in cryosleep. The AI onboard the ship sacrificed himself to make sure that we would be fine. Hell, I just listened to his goodbyes to me." He wiped at a tear trickling down his face. "Breaks my heart to remember his words."
"Do you need a moment?"
"No," Cole said with a frown. "I have to do this, otherwise I won't get anywhere." Taking a deep breath, he said, "I know, Lasky, that we were losing the war, so I performed that maneuver at the end of the battle to go down swinging. Take as many with me as I possibly could. I'm glad, though, that the war ended in a victory for our side, and by the skin of our teeth too."
"Agreed," Lasky said. "So, where do you stand in that regard?"
"Where do I stand?" Cole repeated. Taking a breath, he said, "I'm returning to active duty for the UNSC, now that you've found me. I might've had a bumpy relationship with the UNSC and UEG as some reports indicate, but a true Admiral doesn't dump the people he works with just because of a few rough spots here and there. So, to answer your question, I am still a member of the UNSC. Always have been, and I will be until the day I fully retire."
Lasky sighed with relief. "That's good to hear," he said. "I was worried about your loyalties, though that's only in an official capacity. You proved your loyalty to me when you helped me save my ship. An Innie wouldn't have done that."
"I would disagree, but given my experience, I'd say that's fair enough," Cole said. "Now, could you enlighten me as to what happened during my absence?"
"Yes, sir," Lasky said. "The war got a lot worse after your disappearance during the Battle of Psi Serpentis. We lost numerous systems in the war, as well as a lot of good soldiers. The worst casualty of the war, though, was Reach."
Cole snapped his gaze towards Lasky. "What?! Reach was destroyed?!"
"Glassed," Lasky said with a nod. Picking up a data pad, he handed it to Cole and said, "Here. This is information that Cortana compiled for you once you came aboard the ship. I've also listed my service record onto that data pad for your information. I'll explain as you read the contents."
"Very well. Carry on."
"Thank you, sir. As I was saying earlier, the Covenant found Reach and invaded one of the WAVECOM Relays there, Visegrad Relay. A Spartan team drove them out, but the UNSC had to institute the Winter Contingency to lock down the planet and to deal with the threat. Eventually, it escalated to the point where Reach was glassed by the Covenant after they barely won a naval battle with our forces."
As Lasky spoke, Cole read the information on what had happened at Reach. Looks like Colonel Ackerson made his own Spartans, he thought. The Spartan IIis. I guess that's where the Spartan IVs came from, though I could be wrong. Still, what happened to Reach... it wasn't right. "Where there any survivors?" Cole asked.
"Yes," Lasky said. "One of the ships that was at Reach just before the planet was glassed was the Pillar of Autumn, a Halcyon-class Light Cruiser under the command of Captain Jacob Keyes that was refitted for Operation: RED FLAG, which was the planned UNSC Operation to find the Covenant's main HQ and take their leaders hostage in order to force a surrender. Cortana, one of the AIs present on the Infinity, was assigned to the Autumn, specifically to the Master Chief."
"I see," Cole said. "I remember Captain Keyes. He was a young Lieutenant when I met him, but I could tell that he had talent for command. Go on."
"They made a blind Slipspace Jump to the Soell System, which had been previously uncharted until now. There they found a ringworld created by an extinct species of aliens known as the Forerunners, a species the Covenant worshiped as gods. Apparently, they were an alien race that existed hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of years ago. They built the megastructure known as Halo, which the Autumn stumbled onto after coming out of the jump."
Cole nodded as he continued to read the datapad. According to a section of the info, the Forerunners, as Lasky had said, were a hyper-advanced civilization that existed for millions, if not billions, of years, right up to around 100,000 years ago. Seeing a section of information, he asked, "Lasky, the info Cortana compiled says that our species also existed alongside the Forerunners as equals. Is that true?"
"Yes," Lasky said. "Apparently, our species was nearly equal in technological progress and political sway to the Forerunners. However, for reasons that you'll soon learn about, we were put back into the prehistoric era in terms of technology and population."
"OK," Cole said. "Carry on."
"Yes, sir. Following their arrival, the Autumn was engaged by Covenant ships under the command of one Supreme Commander Thel 'Vadamee, one of the Covenant's most foremost tactical minds. He was basically their equivalent of you."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Cole said. "What happened next?"
"Under the command of Captain Keyes, the crew of the Autumn escaped to the surface of Halo, with the Pillar of Autumn crash landing onto the inner surface of Halo. After they gathered the survivors together, they rescued Keyes and the surviving command crew from the CCS-class Battlecruiser Truth and Reconciliation. Once Keyes was back in command, he had them look for Halo's control room, as the Covenant believed that it was a superweapon of immense significance to their religion. Keyes wanted Chief to find the Control Room and secure it against the Covenant."
"I take it that something happened during this time, yes?" Cole asked.
"Yes," Lasky said. "As it turns out, Halo was a weapon, but not in the sense that everyone was thinking, and it wasn't the only one. Apparently, around a hundred thousand years ago, the Forerunners were attacked by a parasitic species known as the Flood. According to information that Cortana received from a Forerunner calling herself the 'Librarian', the Flood was once a species known as the Precursors. They were responsible for seeding the Milky Way Galaxy with life, and the Forerunners believed that they were the living incarnation of the Universe as we now it. They also believed in what they call the 'Mantle of Responsibility', which was that all sapient life deserved a chance to live and that extinction of those races was unacceptable. However, the Forerunners had a war with them when the Precursors gave the Mantle over to our species. which resulted in the Precursors being wiped out, and the Mantle being transferred to them."
"From the sounds of things, that wasn't the case, wasn't it?" Cole guessed.
"Correct. According to the intelligence that Cortana got from the Librarian, the remains of the Precursors mutated into a transcendental parasitic species known as the Flood. They were capable of infecting living organisms and converting them into more members of their kind. The Halo Array, of which Alpha Halo was a part of, was created to sterilize the entire galaxy: basically wipe it clean of all life. The reasoning behind this is that any lifeform can be consumed by the Flood. Humans, Elites, everything was edible. The only way to kill them is to literally starve them to death."
As Lasky said this, Cole saw images of what happened when a person was infected by the Flood. A pang of terror and horror rushed through his mind as he saw images of Marines that had been turned into mindless monsters by the Flood. His breathing accelerated, prompting Lasky to ask, "Are you OK?"
Taking a breath, Cole felt his heart, which had been hammering in his chest, slow down to a normal pace. "Yes," he said. "Just nerves. This 'Flood' is a significantly greater threat than the Covenant ever was. How did we manage to defeat them?"
"We're getting to that," Lasky reassured Cole. "During this time, the Master Chief was instrumental in the conflict. Not only did he contain the Flood, he stopped the rogue caretaker of Halo, a Forerunner AI called 343 Guilty Spark, from activating Halo, which would've killed all life within a 25,000 light year radius of the Soell System. Keyes was lost to the Flood, but Chief managed to get his neural codes and caused the Autumn to self-destruct, destroying Halo in its entirety. He also led an operation to destroy a Covenant mobile base called the Unyielding Heirophant and rescued Halsey while doing so."
"I see," Cole said. "What happened to this 'Thel 'Vadamee' figure?"
"He survived, though he was stripped of his rank and called a heretic," Lasky explained. "After that, he was made into the Arbiter, a sacrificial warrior that would preserve the Covenant while dying as a result. That, along with the destruction of Halo, began a schism inside of the Covenant that would see it fall apart completely. Before that, though, they managed to find Earth."
Cole looked at Lasky again. "They found Earth?" He asked. When Lasky nodded, Cole asked, "How bad was it?"
"Bad," Lasky said. "Thankfully, we managed to hold the majority of Earth and confined the Covenant to a few cities on the North American continent, as well as Africa, specifically Chicago and New Mombasa. As it turns out, though, the Covenant didn't know that we were on the planet, which meant that they initially sent a very small force to Earth, along wtih one of their leaders, a Hierarch known as Regret. Chief, along with Captain Keyes' daughter, Captain Miranda Keyes, managed to hitchhike a ride to Delta Halo, another part of the Halo Array. They managed to keep Regret and his cronies from activating that ring as well, though it led to the entire array going on standby mode."
As Lasky spoke, Cole read more of the info on the data pad. Noting a section, he asked, "Thel actually defected to your side? How did that happen?"
"Partly due to their religion," Lasky said. "As it turns out, the Forerunners, before activating the Halo Array once various species were inside of specially designed Shield Worlds, designated Humanity as 'Reclaimers,' as we were meant to take up the Mantle of Responsibility from them. The Covenant, however, believed that the Forerunners used the Halo Array to achieve apotheosis, and that activating Halo would allow them to do the same. Thel, though, was the first to discover the truth, and managed to show said truth to the Sangheili, causing them to break away from the Covenant, an event that triggered a civil war within the Covenant when the Brutes took over the Sangheili's duty of being the military leaders of the Covenant."
"And that led to the destruction of the Covenant," Cole surmised.
"Yes," Lasky said. "For the most part, the Master Chief was the catalyst for Humanity's victory against the Covenant and the Flood, as you've no doubt read by now."
"That I have," Cole said. "Honestly, the feats that the Master Chief has pulled off are the stuff of legends. It looks as though he was born to be our greatest champion against the Covenant and the Flood. Speaking of which, what happened to the Flood in all this?"
"We managed to contain them for good," Lasky said. "The Flood were under the command of a sapient gestalt organism known as a Gravemind. Chief managed to kill it when he activated a newly constructed Halo at the Lesser Ark. He only did so since the Lesser Ark was outside of the galaxy. That same Ark was also where we finally defeated the Covenant."
"And Chief?"
"He ended up going MIA. According to Cortana, he was MIA for four years, seven months and ten days. They landed at Requiem, which was a shield world that we learned was created to contain a Forerunner war criminal known as the Ur-Didact. I was the XO of the Infinity when we got pulled in by the Didact. Del Rio was the Captain of the ship."
"I see," Cole said as he continued to skim through the summary that Cortana had compiled. "From the sounds of things, Del Rio wasn't that good of a Captain."
"He was competent, mostly. Hood, the Admiral of The Navy, had him installed as the Captain."
Cole's head whipped towards Lasky so fast that Lasky thought Cole had gotten whiplash. "Terrence Hood is the Admiral of The Navy now?" he asked, an edge in his voice.
"Y-yes," Lasky said. "He's also the head of the UNSC. Why do you ask? Is there something wrong?"
"There is," Cole growled. "I've got nothing personally against Hood, but professionally speaking, he's not a particularly good leader. I, for one, relieved him of command when he didn't pick up the log buoy for the Spirit of Fire, which is one reason why that ship is still MIA, as far as I know. Putting a man like Del Rio in charge of this ship was like asking a politician to manage a fleet without any prior. Your record, however, shows that you are much more competent. Why didn't you initially get the position of CO of the Infinity?"
"To be honest, I don't really know," Lasky said. "Must've been politics."
"Or something else entirely," Cole said. "I suspect, in fact, that Margaret Parangosky had you as the XO so that you could keep Del Rio in line."
"Parangosky assigned me to the Infinity?" Lasky asked, stunned.
"Possibly. It's the logical explanation to me. That woman is much more intelligent than some people give her credit for, and she is quite dangerous."
"If she did put me aboard the ship, then I'm glad she did," Lasky said.
"Same here," Cole said. "Is that also how you managed to become the CO of the Infinity?"
"Yes," Lasky said. "Del Rio made the decision to return to Earth, but Chief disagreed, stating that the Didact had to be stopped before he could get to Earth. Del Rio attempted to arrest him, but we all stood up to Captain Rio. When we got back to Earth, Hood was profoundly disappointed with Del Rio's actions, enough that he stripped him of his command of the Infinity and had me become the CO of the ship. We managed to stop the Ur-Didact, but not before he used a weapon called the Composer to upload the consciousnesses of every human being in the city of New Phoenix. We also had to have Halsey come aboard during our second visit to Requiem."
"I see," Cole said. "Your report says that Osman ordered Halsey's death, but you disobeyed the order. Why is that?"
Lasky sighed. He knew he would have to answer that question some day. "To be honest, I disobeyed because there was more going on than we thought," he said. "Halsey was actually trying to get Humanity control of all of the Forerunner installations while destroying the Storm Covenant and exposing ONI's more... illegal actions. She partially succeeded in that goal, though as you know, my rescue of Halsey, combined with recent events that you already know of, led to that ONI Captain going rogue and trying to depose me."
Cole was silent as he finished reading the rest of the report. When he finished, he set down the datapad and said, "I see. It seems to me, Lasky, that things got very interesting after my disappearance. Not only did we manage to defeat the Covenant by exposing the flaws in their religion, we defeated an ancient foe that would've seen all life in the galaxy consumed by it. I'm surprised that the member races of the Covenant had been tricked by the San'Shyuum, though in hindsight, it's not that surprising. What's even more surprising is that Thel 'Vadam is not only the leader of the Sangheili, but that he has also forged an alliance with the UNSC, despite ONIs attempts to destroy that alliance. It's just sad that we lost so many people, all because some senile, power hungry fools wanted to hold onto a comforting lie, rather than face the cold, hard truth."
"It is sad," Lasky agreed. "However, as you can see, we've gained quite a bit since the war."
"That we have," Cole said. "When we get back to Earth, or when they establish communications with us, remind me to talk with Admiral Sark and the rest of her team. I'm fairly shocked that they designed this ship without my input. Still, it's done quite well for a ship of its design. Still, the fact that it went up against a Storm Covenant Supercarrier, a ship I've never heard of until now, and survived speaks volumes about how well the ship has fared. "
"That it has," Lasky said. "In addition, I am going to be giving command of the ship to you in accordance with protocol. The Everest is a good ship, but she's old and in desperate need of a lot of upgrades, upgrades that are unavailable right now. Besides, once you take command of the ship, you can have the flag quarters, which are unoccupied, because I'm not a flag officer."
"An interesting proposition," Cole said. After a few seconds of silence, he said, "All right. If that is what is needed, then I will go ahead and take command of the Infinity. I'll inform my XO that he's in command of the Everest now, and that the Infinity will come under my command, with you as the XO for the time being. You know more about the capabilities of this ship than I do, and while the Everest is a good ship, she's old and outdated. I'll do what I can to treat her and her crew right by you. Goodness knows that they deserve it."
"Thank you, sir," Lasky said. "I'll make the necessary arrangements once we're done here, and I'll inform my XO that I'm now your XO. Also, I take it you've also read about our disastrous first contact with the Empire?"
Cole nodded. "Yes, I did. I've seen few things in my life that made me legitimately afraid. That is one of those things, Lasky. If we're going to be in this galaxy for the duration, we're going to need a weapon that is capable of destroying the Death Star. In fact, I don't think that we'll be at peace with the Galactic Empire for long, not with weapons and a doctrine like what they use."
"Well, we do have a weapon that can destroy the Death Star. The NOVA Bomb. It's a superweapon that Vice Admiral Whitcomb created. One use of that bomb and it can destroy an entire planet, just like the Death Star. I requested five of those when I saw the Death Star in action."
"A smart decision," Cole agreed. "We'll need a weapon like that to fight the Empire. I also read up on this 'Rebel Alliance' that you encountered as well. I understand their disagreement with the Empire, but you were right in not joining them. According to your report, they are badly disorganized, so much so that even have infighting among themselves. When you're leading a rebellion against a tyrannical government, you cannot afford to be divided."
"Yeah, and we weren't the only ones that were disgusted with the Rebel Alliance," Lasky said. "We ended up having a crowd of people leaving the Rebel Alliance in order to join us, which is why I've also requested professional recruiters from the UNSC."
"A smart move. That being said, we're not doing so hot ourselves."
"Agreed," Lasky said. "For starters, we need to find a place to stay until the UNSC can get to our location. As my report details, I had Jordan follow up with his idea of using twin-linked probes with a log buoy to send a message back home, and I'll have him send another one after we're done here. An inspired idea, if I do say so myself."
"And the right decision on that," Cole said. "I'll have a Battle Group stationed near Pantora if we get a probe from the Milky Way. However, you are correct. We need a place to keep our heads down until the UEG and UNSC sends someone to us. Any ideas? You know more about this galaxy than I do."
"I've got one," Lasky said, with a hologram of the galaxy appearing at the holotable in the room. Striding over, he said, "Gabriela, Cortana, Roland and I, along with Jyn Erso, one of our newest recruits, were skimming through possible locations to stay at for the duration, and we found this place." Pointing at a dot that was highlighted, he said, "The Pantora System. According to Cortana's data mining efforts, Pantora is an isolated world located in the Outer Rim Territories. Ever since the Empire's formation, it's been isolated from the wider galaxy. According to Jyn, who's been there a couple times, it's the perfect place to get a base set up."
"I take it you have an envoy ready to go, yes?" Cole asked.
"Yes," Lasky said. "Envoy Melody is getting ready for when we head there and speak to the Pantorans. According to her, it might take a few days to secure an agreement with the Pantorans. According to Jyn, their government is split on what they ought to do. Some want to join the Rebel Alliance, others the Galactic Empire. Hell, given that we broadcasted footage of the war across the galaxy, some might even want to join the UEG. We leverage that, we can get a foothold into this galaxy."
"A smart decision," Cole said. "There's also another decision that we have to make."
"Oh?"
"I've been looking at the Master Chief's service record, especially in the ending years of the Covenant-UNSC War and . Many of the decisions he's made are in keeping with the highest traditions of the UNSC and UEG. Men have been promoted for less, and I think he's been snubbed by remaining a Master Chief Petty Officer."
"What are you suggesting?" Lasky asked.
"That we provisionally promote him to Upper Rear Admiral of the Spartan Corps. Now before you ask, I reviewed some of the personnel logs for your officers, especially that of Commander Palmer. She's… inconsistent in her competence. While she's done an excellent job of keeping people in line and managing her administrative work, her ability to command, as well as her competence in the heat of the battle is inconsistent. There are times where she does quite well, and times where she seems to falter."
Lasky nodded in agreement. "I admit, I have noticed that being the case quite often. If we're going to have someone that's in charge of the Spartans onboard this ship, we're going to need someone that is not only an excellent leader, but also has the experience needed to do what is necessary to get the job done. I'd say that Chief is the right person for the job."
"I agree," Cole said. "Roland, are you there?"
"I'm here, sir," Roland said.
"Would you have the Master Chief come to Captain Lasky's quarters immediately please?"
"Understood," Roland said. "Just alerted him. He's on his way. ETA: four mikes."
Four minutes later, there was a ping at the door, with said door opening to reveal the Master Chief in his full armor. Walking towards them, he saluted. "Sierra-117, reporting for duty, sirs."
"At ease," Cole said. Once Chief was at ease, he said, "Both Lasky and I have looked over your service record, Master Chief. It is one of the most distinguished service records in the entire UNSC. Stopping a superweapon from destroying all life in the galaxy which caused the Covenant to fracture, bringing a species over to our side with the help of the Arbiter, and ensuring the destruction of the Flood. Men have been promoted for less than this. The question is, why are you still a Master Chief Petty Officer?"
Chief was silent for a full five seconds before answering. "I'm where I'm needed to be, sir. In addition, I'm part of the enlisted personnel, which means that my current rank is the highest that can be achieved for enlisted personnel."
"Understandable," Cole said. "However, remaining at your current rank is a poor reward for the services that you've rendered to the UNSC. As such, Lasky and I have decided to give you a provisional promotion based on your conduct in the past, as well as current circumstances. You will now, provisionally, have the rank of Rear Admiral."
Again, Chief was silent before he spoke. "Sir, as honored as I am to be promoted, I must decline. I'm comfortable with my rank as Master Chief Petty Officer, and I would prefer to remain in command of Blue Team. I also do not have the training needed for the administrative work that comes with such a rank. I was also approached earlier by Hood with a similar proposition, but I also declined as well."
"Ah, but we insist," Cole said. "I understand that you're more comfortable in command of Blue Team, as well as being out in the field. You will not always be left in charge of the administrative work; you will have ground missions of your own. However, we have decided that this provisional rank is necessary due to current circumstances. Once we reestablish contact with the UNSC, we will decide if your provisional rank will become your permanent rank. Understood?"
Chief nodded. "Yes, sir."
"Very good. I will provide you with the training needed to handle the administrative side of things. As of now, your current orders are to hold a meeting with Commander Palmer. Roland will inform her of your new provisional rank. You will also be in charge of assigning someone to take over as the Head of Security for the Infinity. The coup we had to deal with has shown a major security breach as well as a breach in the safety of the ship. Dismissed."
"Yes, sir," Chief said as he turned to leave the room.
Once Chief had left, Cole said, "Now that we've taken care of that matter, we have others to tend to, Captain Lasky. We've got a lot of work ahead of us if we are to survive in this new galaxy. Ready to get to work?"
"Yes," Lasky said. "It's time to get to work." As they left to get to work, Lasky couldn't help but think back to a month or so ago. Well, I've finally got a Vice Admiral on the ship, but we've got no fleet. Well, that'll be a problem we'll have to fix later.
