Chapter 2
Hello guys. Welcome to my second chapter. It looks like the first chapter was a success and i am doing good for now. This chapter continues where the first has ended so let's move to the chapter. I want also thank you for the faws, likes, and patience with me, i am so glad you luke it. This chapter will be about the situation on the UNSC Gargantua after the Mass Relay discovery, it will be more chilling chapter. I hope you will like it. Enjoy
Chapter 2 – Discovery
-
"Okay, what the fuck is this?", sergeant Hartman said after the few seconds of silence.
Everybody was looking at the giant object in front of them. Captain after few seconds spoke: "Can anybody tell me what are we looking at?" Jack was confused too, just like everybody on the bridge.
"Forerunner?", someone has asked.
"No, the architectural style of the facility does not match the Forerunner's architectural style.", Loko dismissed the idea.
"It looks like it used to be covered in ice.", Hartman noted as he observed the various sized pieces of ice around.
"Good point.", Jack replied.
„What now?", the sergeant asked the captain.
The captain was about to reply when a couple of marines from Hartman's group came onto the bridge.
"We're at the point where we left slipspace and-…who threw out that gigantic tuner?", one marine said.
"We know nothing yet, but someone has to figure out how we will call the object." Hartman replied to his teammate.
Then another marine answered: "How about something like…NBE-1."
"But that's cool…NBE-1, we have a name fot the object, Serge."
The sergeant just nodded at the captain with a smile and said, "Well, that took care of itself, don't you think?"
"Indeed", Loko confirmed.
"Well, it looks like we're going to be here longer than the scientists figure something out, so I'm going to take a nap in the cabin.", and with that Hartman left the bridge.
Loko went with him because he had to report anyway. A group of marines stayed on the bridge for a while, chatting with the captain. After a while they also left the bridge and left the captain on the bridge together with the people operating the computer systems etc.
"Sir, the prowler is requesting to approach so they can begin surveying NBE-1.", one of the crew on the bridge stated.
"Permission granted, minimum distance from object 15 kilometers, don't try to launch anything and so on, no exceptions, extreme caution.", Jack replied.
"Understood sir.", and the message was sent.
-
A few minutes later, in the cabin, the sergeant was lounging on his bed while his colleague compiled a status report.
"This is terrible…the war ends just to set the stage for the Flood and after a few fights we finally neutralize the Flood…boom…there's another unknown right at our doorstep.
Loko turned away from his report and looked at the sergeant in astonishment, his mandibles shifting in a confused expression. The sergeant noticed it, after the few days of being in the same room with him, he learned to distinguish emotions, it still lingers somewhere, but he is able to deduce it.
"I mean it's a scenario like: If you solve one problem, two more will replace it. And that those problems have cost us a hell of a lot."
"I see…sometimes I share the same feeling with you, but I admire you for still being so…to use the right word…you don't really care.", Loko understood what she meant and replied, then returned to writing his report.
"Well…that's probably because it doesn't even surprise me anymore. I mean, yeah, there's always going to be a problem, a threat, but we're ready to kick anyone's ass who threatens our space and our people and send the bastards back out there where they came from," Hartman said.
Loko replied, "The same way as during the Great War?"
The sergeant laughed at this remark and responded, "But mind you…we didn't have the numbers or super advanced weapons, maybe you didn't expect the UNSC to pull Star Destroyers, turbolasers, ion cannons or proton torpedoes, the Death Star or even Grand Admiral Thrawn with all its fleet out of the hat."
A remark made like that would normally irritate an ordinary person, from an Elite…it would be worse there. Loko was about to apologize and regret it, but this sergeant surprisingly took it calmly, of all the people he had ever come in contact with, this was the only one with whom they could even have a normal conversation.
But there were still regrets about a war that didn't even have to be. Loko hesitated as to what to say next, but asked, "How come you're taking it all so calmly? Most people took it rather seriously."
Hartman probably suspected that the Sangheili would eat it up, so he decided to give Lok a little support: "Look, what happened, happened and unfortunately it can't be undone. The fact that You realized what was happening, that you were deceived and abused and that you decided to step in and put an end to this big and expensive nonsense is worthy of respect. Yes, I may have been pissed off too, but this is just a fact that people as such have to learn to live with. As did I. And you certainly did by this step they have made the job easier because people will get used to you much better than the rest and maybe forgive you faster than the rest. No one is holy, not even us, we too have fought a hundred and six wars in the past. War is the language of every civilized nation and you , living in that illusion called peace…god help them. So either you be like a little crybaby or face it. It's time to get your ass out of the past and live in the present and look to the future again. So? Maybe mine motivation helped at least a little, but what you do is up to you."
Loko was speechless. He had to admit there was something wrong with that. The sergeant snapped him out of his thoughts and said, "I guess you're going to be wondering about what came out of me before, I mean the star destroyers, the death star and stuff?"
The sergeant ran off topic, and it looked like the Elite welcomed it as well.
"I'd like to avoid this unpleasant subject, so yes.", Loko replied.
Hartman smiled and began to explain: "This all comes from a science fiction universe called Star Wars. Tonight…funny considering we're in a universe where it's always dark…we're having a movie night with mine group of marines and the theme it was supposed to be science fiction, science fiction, and today we were planning to watch star wars. Then there are other science fiction universes like Stargate, Babylon, Star Trek… well, Star Trek is completely different league, but also Spectral, a very good movie for me, Life, Transformers and others."
Loko also seemed quite interested, the chance to watch these "movies" created by people doesn't come easily. He probably didn't even know about it, he just skimmed through human culture. And it would be interesting for him to see such human creations.
"Would you be interested in joining us? We're going to be here for a while anyway and this is a pretty good time killer.", asked the sergeant.
Loko thought for a while, but finally agreed, curiosity got the better of him. Hartman smiled slightly and nodded. Then he added, "Great, I must have interrupted you while you were writing the report I see, so I'm going to také a nap for a while, you can do your thing and when I get up, I'll go get the rest. We'll use the storage area. Luckily I didn't let them clean it up , they'd be pretty pissed."
At the last sentence, Loko and the sergeant laughed and Loko added, "Indeed my friend."
Then it was silence for a few seconds. After it, the sergeant broke the silence and said: "The war spoiled us for everything."
Loko turned his head and looked at him with confusion on his face. Sergeant noticed it.
"Erich Maria Remarque, June 22, 1898 – September 25, 1970, author of „All quiet on the Western Front", very good book…perfectly describes the horrors of World War I from 1914 to 1918. I always remember this when there's talk of a war between the humans and the Covenant," he explained to Loko.
Loko understood that he was probably talking about some important personage, but he did not understand the rest. For example, a mention of the First World War.
Considering that according to the human calendar we have the year 2593, it is unimaginable for him that a war would arise among them, probably of global impact, according to the name, already in such a year.
1914? After all, it's already a good… whopping 679 years ago.
As he thought about it like that, a number of questions came to the surface. How was the war fought at that time? Victims? Guns? Strategy? What were the conditions like? Morality?
Hartman then rummaged through his things until he pulled out said book and asked: "Can you read English? I also have the movie, but it's a little different from the book, even though it's based on it."
Loko looked at him curiously, then at the book in his hand. The sergeant held out his hand with the book and added: "Maybe it will reach out to your friends too. Who knows?"
"I…thank you…I never got a chance to learn about any of your history that took place so long ago.", he cautiously took the book and added, "I guess English shouldn't be a problem.", moving his mandibles into a friendly smile.
"I always sit down with it every night and read a bit. I've read this book about 35 times," Hartman said.
Loko listened to the sergeant and at the same time made a mental note to make time for himself.
"Well, nothing…I'm going to take a nap for a few minutes.", with that the sergeant rolled over on the bed and closed his eyes. After a while he was dozing off.
Loko was now sitting, writing a report, looking at the book the sergeant had given him. Finally he took the book and started reading out of pure curiosity.
-
In another part of the ship, Jack was heading to a laboratory that had also been added to the ship.
About 25 minutes ago, the science team had collected the first information about the object, and Jack had just gone to see the scientists, who were transported here by the DT-81/C Transport Pelican, a completely new generation of Pelicans designed to transport ground military equipment or people from place A to place B.
The DT-81/C looked similar in appearance to the D-77-TC/G Pelican. It has got better armor, more powerful engines allowing for higher speeds, new avionics and on-board systems, and more cargo space.
A Grizzly tank could fit into such a Pelican twice and still have room.
However, when fully loaded, the Pelican was more difficult to control and maneuver in the atmosphere. In space it was relatively unimportant.
There is also a DT-81/G model, a Pelican gunship, fitted with four GAU-19 Hurricane 40mm 6-barreled rotary cannons, two per side, and four 45mm autocannons, again two per side.
The DT-81/G has strong armor, powerful engines, new targeting systems and advanced avionics. It also has anti-missile decoys, just like the transport version.
It's like an American AC-130 gunship, circling above the battlefield and spraying the enemy with bullets. Devastatiom firepower, soldiers are calling it a guardian angel, like an angel who circles above them and watches over them from heaven.
Jack was halfway to the labs. He entered ship elevator, rode down to the lower floors, walked through the corridors, passed the ship's personel, and after 10 minutes he reached the laboratory, where they were already waiting for him.
"Captain, i am-"
"Doctor Ross McLaren. Nice to meet you.", Jack finnished.
"Name tag?"
"Yeah.", Jack confirmed
"I see, so let's get straight to why we're here, please make yourselves comfortable.", the head scientist said and they all sat down around the table.
"I agree, I talked to the high command a while ago and they're getting pretty nervous. What did you find out?", said the Captain.
"According to our measurements, NBE-1 is not emitting any kind of heat or other radiation, from the looks of it, it looks as if NBE-1 is being held in place by force…we have never encountered anything like this before…it's a big unknown for us…it seems that NBE-1 must somehow be completely violating the laws of physics.", the scientist began to explain.
"Does it…violate the laws of physics?", Jack asked in disbelief.
The scientist nodded and Jack decided to ask something else: "What about the gravitational anomalies?"
"That's what I was getting at.", Ross said.
A blue hologram of the NBE-1 object appeared above the table and the scientist began to speak: "The gravitational anomalies we detected are coming from this point.", he pointed to a point on the hologram, the projected object shrank and moved sideways while the projected point got larger.
It was a central core with two gyroscopic rings that would rotate in different directions around the core.
"The whole object is made of an unknown material, an element outside our periodic table, and so is the core. As we poked around further, we came across a strange text, a formula, a code, something along those lines. But when our experts took a closer look, we found it was a requirement. Then we focused on the anomaly and tried to go deeper. We came to a shocking conclusion.", explained another scientist called Herrmann, he had a strong German accent.
Jack became alert at this point and motioned for him to continue.
Ross started again: "Well, we found that what we were asking for was atomic mass, none of us knew what that was supposed to mean until one of us came up with a theory."
Here the scientist named Thomas continued: "Somehow the nucleus must be interacting with other objects, in our case ships, once the mass is given, say a ship, the nucleus will probably capture the ship and stabilize, steady, in place in close proximity to the NBE-1 and after a few seconds the ship will shoot off at a tremendous speed far in excess of the speed of light somewhere out into space."
In that point Jack was confused. He has lost in the first half. Thomas noticed it and tries to explain it easily.
"Well, imagine two big cities and in between them is a patchwork of small villages and other smaller towns. To get from one city to the other you could normally use one of the many roads available, but that would be too long and you need to get to the big city quickly and directly. So instead of taking the long way, you take the highway that leads directly to the other big city and you can also go faster than on those ordinary roads,", he explained.
"Okay, i understand that.", Jack answered.
"This is basically the same thing.", he said, pointing to the NBE-1 hologram and continued: "We could get from point A to point B using slipspace, but it would be tedious and we would have to calculate and map the route. But it doesn't need that. NBE-1 will get you to a specific point directly and much faster still. Of course, where the transmitter is…"
"There is also a receiver.", Jack added to the scientist.
The captain was concerned by such news, just the thought that this object, this NBE-1, could lead somewhere in a completely alien area where an unknown enemy might be located.
Worse, however, was that it could also pass through NBE-1 to here, so he asked one question, a crucial one for him, that shocked everyone in the room.
"Can it be destroyed?", he asked.
"W-what? We've got brand new technologies, opportunities, y-you can't just-„
"That's not for you to decide!", Jack rudely interrupted the scientist and continued: "You said it yourself, it's like a highway, only in space…but highways are two-way too, for God's sake! We don't even know what lies on the other side!"
Jack got up from his chair and started pacing back and forth while talking.
"It's great that there's an opportunity for new technology and planets, but I'm not going to send anyone to the other side just to provoke some dormant threat or introduce some kind of disease, virus, etc. Also, there may be other space races out there that may not be twice as friendly! Hasn't the Covenant and the Great War taught us anything over the years?! What if there could be monsters and parasites on the other side that could prove worse than the Flood itself? I'm not going to expose humanity to a new danger. Send someone to the other side ONLY over my dead body!"
After the captain's speech everyone fell silent, the room was so quiet that only the drop of a pin on the floor could be heard.
"Morgan?", the captain called out.
"Yes Captain?", on the table the hologram of NBE-1 was replaced by the hologram of AI Morgan, a 45 year old woman in a navy uniform and long blonde hair.
"I'm declaring full combat alert, have destroyers deploy around NBE-1, send a message to UNSC HIGHCOM, from now on this area is under strict quarantine, no civilians will pass through.", the Captain barked.
"The message has been sent out Captain."
"Good, I'm going to calm my nerves.", said the Captain and left.
-
Sergeant Hartman woke up after a few hours and blinked his eyes. He looked around in confusion, then looked with a sleepy expression at Elite in the next bed.
Loko noticed that the sergeant had woken up and looked back.
"What time is it?", the sergeant said in a sleepy tone, yawning.
"Half past eleven in the evening.", Loko replied and put his book down. The sergeant slowly stood up and said: "Okay, I'll just rinse my face and we can get on with it."
Loko nodded slightly and Hartman went into the bathroom to rinse his face with cold water, then grabbed his radio and told his group they could go get ready.
"Let's go, it's coming up.", he announced, motioning for Elita to follow him.
The journey didn't také long, the two already knew the way, so they knew where to go. When they reached the warehouse area, a group of Marines were already waiting for them. It was just a small group of 8 Marines.
"Well gentlemen…and ladies…I've brought us an extra guest, mind you he's never seen Star Wars before.", the sergeant stated as he entered the warehouse area…now converted into a mini movie theater.
„Sergeant, I hope you slept well," said one of the Marines named Ricky. He then looked at the Elite next to Hartman, immediately shook his hand and greeted, „We're not going to play games, I'm Ricky."
„Sergeant, I hope you slept well," said one of the Marines named Ricky. He then looked at the Elite next to Hartman, immediately shook his hand and greeted: „We're not going to play games, I'm Ricky."
Loko hesitated for a moment, looking at his hand, then finally accepted it and replied, "Loko ‚Gonamee."
"Great, nice to meet you, here I'll introduce the rest.", Ricky replied with a smile, he turned to the group and began: "That one over there on the right is called James, he's a weapons expert, excellent shot."
James nodded and Ricky continued: "There's Helena, or we usually call her Helena, very skilled in hand to hand combat, smart too."
Helena nodded as well.
"Here sits Josh, our machine gunner. Goliath, Jane, George, David, these are basically veterans, but they've had their sentences lengthened, but it's not like the Spartans, just a few decades."
Ricky's done introducing himself. Loko nodded and politely thanked him: "It's an honor to meet you and I'm glad to be a part of your little event."
Josh said, "It's nice to meet you too, by the way."
The sergeant finally said, "Well, let's do it."
And they began to show the movie, they were showing it using a holoprojector, it was Star Wars IV.
"Gentlemen, I see you're having a great time…I hope you don't mind if I join you.", the captain surprised everyone, he happened to be walking by and when he noticed the group he thought he'd také a look.
"But you're always welcome here Captain, just come on in.", Ricky said, pointing to an empty seat next to Hartman.
So the Captain sat down, the movie was about 35 minutes in, Jack then realized: "Ooo, Star Wars IV…that's a very old movie."
"Indeed.", Hartman replied.
"I see you have a guest here as well. Loko.", the Captain noticed and saluted as well. Loko nodded at the captain.
And that was how the evening went, they enjoyed the movie, Loko learned a lot of new things, they also discussed topics for the movie here and there.
The part where they were about to fire the Death Star and destroy Alderaan was just coming up. That's when one of the marines, George, yelled: "IMA FIREEEE DA BIG LASEEEEER!...BOOOM!", just as the death star fired. That made everyone laugh, George timed it perfectly. And so it went on in a similar vein.
So, this was chapter two, as I said, it was a more chilling chapter and was meant to show the positive view of the Elites as such, see Loko and Hartman/marine group. The third chapter will look at the subject in more detail and will also be partly narrative. I hope it's okay in terms of grammar, I also changed the translator. Still, point out any mistakes and I'll fix it if necessary. I'll say goodbye here and see you in the next chapter. Bye!