Not far from the Casimir Tether, in high orbit above Reach
August 30, 2552, 01:23 hours
"MAC firing!" Weapons yelled and the telltale -THUNK- reverberated slightly through the entire heavy carrier.
"Direct hit, shields buckling, Archers hammering! CAS one knocked out!"
Their clock had run out, it was time to pay the piper. More and more enemy ships were charging them, the tether had begun to buckle as a dozen or so plasma torpedoes hit it in rapid succession. The rest of the Battle Group was in an equally rough condition, especially the frigates with Madrid and Los Angeles being space dust as evidence. Fortunately the Virginia had been spared the worst of it so far as the Covenant's naval tactics revolved around first eliminating smaller ships before going for bigger ones, instead of target-prioritization based on threat level which was the UNSC Navy's primary combat protocol.
"Virginia, Leviathan Actual! Mancuso, get the Hell outta here!" Admiral Stanforth raged over commes through gritted teeth "You've done all you can, now go! We'll cover you!"
"Not without you, sir, get your drives online and jump! We're not leaving you behind!" the Virginia's angry Captain replied in a subdued but clearly agitated tone.
"You're one stubborn son of a bitch, Bonaparte! As much as I appreciate it, that was a direct ord-"
"High intensity energy charge detected!" Walter Goldman shouted over everyone from Nav.
"All hands! Brace! Brace! Brace!" the XO announced into his shipwide comms a split second later.
"What the fuck is Aguilar doing?!" Mancuso asked incredulously as he watched the already crippled Tabula Rasa fire its emergency thrusters- flying straight into Virginia's flight profile, half the ship already on fire, half of its heavy weapons gone or offline. The Ginny had to blow its emergency bow thrusters to put some distance between it and the Tabula.
It looked like the Covenant had finally had enough of their antics as a plasma lance from an Assault Carrier that was clearly meant for the Ginny cored the already wounded beast, the large 360 degree screens on the Virginia's bridge dimmed as the intensity of the blast and the following cascade effect aboard the cruiser almost blinded them.
"Tabula is going critical!" Khazim announced as the old Halcyon-class gave its final salute with Meiji firing off the remainder of her Archer complements in a gargantuan volley- sending Hellfire toward the offending CAS two, a split second later her fusion drives ruptured and the ship exploded, sending large chunks of Titanium-A in almost every direction.
A moment of absolute silence washed over the bridge "They sacrificed themselves.." the XO breathed, his throat tightening.
"Final Pelicans are aboard, Captain, the rest of the Battle Group is entering slipspace!" Comms said a moment later.
Mancuso turned back to the open channel on his arm rest "We're not gonna last much longer, Admiral! Did Churchill get your drives back online?!" the Captain's question being immediately answered in the form of a massive flash and shockwave off their port bow.
"Leviathan's gone! Two plasma lances cored her!" Khazim intoned through gritted teeth.
Golightly at Comms had tears in her eyes as the last thing she heard over the open channel was the Leviathan's bridge crew screaming in agony for a brief moment before the channel went dead.
"God damn it!" Mancuso had just lost some of his oldest, and dearest friends. He had many aboard Leviathan, not least among them their Battle Group commander.
"Drive is online and spun up, coordinates locked, quantum field expanding, rupture forming!" the ship's A. I. didn't need to wait for confirmation, he was getting his crew and ship out of here "All hands, brace for slipspace jump!" and the Slipspace Jump Sirens began to blare across the heavy carrier.
And not a moment too soon, as the Covenant heavies were bearing down right on top of them at what was practically bayonet range in space.
"All engines, ahead full!" Mancuso squeezed the arms of his Captain's chair, fingers almost digging into the material.
"All engines, ahead full!" Ms. Beaumont echoed.
"Aye, aye, all engines, ahead full!" and Nav echoed the Bridge officer in turn.
"Energy discharge, enemy firing!" Khazim shouted again.
"Khaz-!" Mancuso could barely get the A. I.'s name out of his mouth before the port dorsal and starboard ventral thrusters fired at maximum- rolling the ship along its X axis clockwise, the plasma lance missing the hull by roughly 20 meters, but hitting the edge of the slipspace rupture, supercharging it in the process. The rupture seemed to heave and brighten around the Virginia as the carrier shot into the dark portal at full sublight thrust.
Anyone who wasn't tied to a chair on the Bridge was thrown off their feet by the sudden burst of acceleration, sparks flying from a few overhead conduits, the rest of the crew not fairing any better as many were still trying to find something to hold on to.
/
The deck crews aboard were quickly carrying out their most pressing tasks, trying to lock down the last of the Pelicans as fast as possible, many of them still filled with their precious cargo: the Troopers and few civilians they had rescued, hanging on to their seats for dear life.
"Bloody fucking Hell." Spear cursed from her seat, almost biting her tongue in half from that last jolt. She sat on the starboard side of the bird, closest to the cockpit.
But as soon as the jolt came it was over, everyone simply stared in silence as the Combat Alert Sirens along with the Slipspace Jump Sirens were still blaring everywhere. But a moment later the CAS cut off, and a few moments after that so did the SJS.
"We made it, ma'am." Traven said sitting across from her, her head still in a daze "Ma'am?"
"I'm all right, Eddie." she breathed looking her young XO in eyes.
She wasn't, she was still pissed the Spartan had knocked her out cold, cheating her out of her last stand. She had to be held in place on her seat so she could be strapped in properly. Spear had come to somewhere halfway between Reach and the Virginia screaming bloody murder.
"All crews, stand down from TAC CON Alpha 2. Stand down from TAC CON Alpha 2." Khazim's voice echoed along the halls, hangars, locker rooms, and other internal facilities of the massive ship, including over the speakers of every Pelican currently in the hangars.
The Lieutenant Colonel released her seat's harness and stood, so did the rest- as the Crew Chief of their bird came over the internal comms "We're safe aboard, ladies and gents. Thank you for flying AMX Airlines." and with that the back ramp started to descend.
About a dozen or so remaining Air Force Pelicans belonging to AMX-42 that had been attached to Casimir's garrison had evacuated along with the Virginia's Pelicans, about half of them stuffed with civilians, evidence of the 12 year old boy sitting next to Spear's XO, his hands in a death grip around his father's arm.
"All right, lads, help the civvies off, coordinate and find them a spot." the CO spoke to the other Troopers in the Pelican's bay, they moved with renewed fire, getting up and helping out the few families that sat among them.
"You got a nasty cut on your forehead, Colonel, let me have a look." Eddie said with concern as he moved closer, lifting his hands towards her face waiting for her permission.
"Stop fussing, Edward, even my mother doesn't fuss as much over me." and she kindly waived him off, pushing him towards the ramp "All right, boys and girls" she spoke into Battalion comms "Let's see if we can give the swabbies and jarheads a hand." and the sizeable Army element comprising members from two raggedy Battalions began to form up in the hangars "Get the wounded to the sick bay." she ordered as she spotted a sizeable group of Marines and Corpsmen heading their way at a quickened pace.
The Marine in the lead held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel like her, according to her HUD, stubble on his face, light blue eyes, green Marine Corps cap on his head.
"Leftenant Colonel Mary Spear" she extended her hand "556th and 561st, 34th Infantry." she motioned to her right with her head "My XO, Captain Traven."
"Sir." Eddie sharply saluted.
"Welcome aboard, Colonel, Captain." the man shook her hand, then returning the salute of the young Captain, slight Germanic accent seeping into his heavy words, he wasn't in the best of moods, understandable all things considered "Lieutenant Colonel Jürgen Rommel, 4th Battalion, 55th Marines. I've already met Captain Best, he said he reports to you now."
"That's correct, Colonel."
"He's already seeing to his men."
"Happy to hear that, how can we help?" she indicated with her chin to the organized chaos around them.
"At the moment just gather your things, and my XO" he motioned to the calm woman also with a Marine cap on her head next to him "Major Aëtos will lead you to the Armories, then we'll find your men some bunk space, it'll be a tight fit but we'll make it work, Epochs are big ships after all." he joked as much as he could "If you'd be up for a debrief, I'd appreciate it. The Captain has asked us to go up to the Bridge." then turning to his XO "Calliope, please organize with the Captain, get them situated."
"Yes, Colonel." and the Marine Major looked to Eddie.
"Eddie, go and herd the cats. Get some food in them."
"Yes, ma'am." he saluted, Spear returned it, and with that he turned towards the Major.
"This way, Captain." she asked with as much cordiality as a Marine could muster and the two walked off.
"This way, Colonel." the Marine CO indicated with his hand in another direction as his Corpsmen started checking over the Troopers for injuries, Spear turned and followed.
"I can imagine the Hell you and your men must've been through, Colonel Spear."
"Sigma Octanus IV, I've heard." she nodded in understanding "You jarheads put up a helluva fight."
A look of surprise came over his face.
"A compliment from a grunt, high praise indeed." he grinned as they reached the elevator.
"News travels fast when it's good news, even faster when it's bad." she replied, her helmet now under her arm, her blonde hair had slightly come undone from the regulation bun it was in usually. Dirt and blood still on her face and BDUs, the gash on her foreheard now even more evident.
"Do you want the CMO to take a quick look at you first?" he motioned to her face with his eyes.
Giving it a moment's thought "I guess it couldn't hurt." and they entered the troop elevator.
/
"Jesus Christ above and below." a young man breathed in relief as he cycled down the engines of his Saber, shutting them off, and securing the flight surfaces, after which he gave the expecting deck handler a thumbs up. He turned his focus to his HUD, giving a wink to comm his flyers "All right, sound off if you're not dead." he addressed his squadron.
"Shrike 3, present and accounted for."
"Shrike 5, still green."
"Shrike 14, took a few hits, but we're good."
"Shrike 2, still kickin', hoss."
And so on and so forth the others went on.
"Shrike 4 and Shrike 12 bought it, sir." someone replied morosely.
"Drinks on me tonight, kids." he added "Once we're locked down, after action brief, then hit the showers." a chorus of 'Yes, sir.'-s echoed, all of them exhausted.
"Kids?" his RIO laughed behind him off comms "You're barely 28, Canary, Hell, I'm barely 27."
"Then why do I feel like I'm 40, Donna?"
"I know what you mean, my guy." she just answered quietly, securing the radar and other systems "I know what you mean."
Their birds were toed and racked with the others in their section, the XO, Shrike Flight Lead looked up and across the hangar as he saw the same with the Longswords, his CO, Pirate, was already on deck, talking with his Sensor Technician, and a few ordnance handlers in their distinctive red BDUs. He noticed him from across the hangar and gave him a nod, the XO nodded back as he removed his helmet, locking down his and Donna's Saber, and keying the canopy control.
His RIO gave him a strong pat on the shoulder as she stood up in the back seat.
"Good flying, boss. We saved a lot of lives today." she exited, carrying two suspicious bags.
"Yeah.." he breathed, and all he could do was think of the ones they didn't save.
They walked towards the elevators in silence where their CAG and a few other pilots were waiting to get on, helmets under their arms.
"Good flying today, Chris. You've improved a lot in the last 3 months." he held out his hand, sweat on his face, his eyes always serious.
Canary only shook his hand with a goofy smile on his face replying "Thank you, Commander. Glad the first words out your mouth weren't you regretting making me Flight Lead of the Shrikes."
At that the man just chuckled, his first in many days "I even surprised myself, but you deserved it. That stunt around the elevator though, that was an insane piece of flying, Chris. Even for you. Next time let Donna know beforehand so she won't heave and fill two bags."
"Told you not to get spaghetti." Chris only said to his RIO behind him, getting punched in his arm for his gentleman's courtesy.
The elevator chimed green and its massive doors opened "Come, I want to go over our ordnance numbers, we went out a little light today, a mistake we will not be repeating anytime soon." the CAG said as they stepped into the massive troop elevator.
"That huge fleet came outta nowhere, sir." Donna tried to defend their decision.
"Something we should have seen coming. They've been pouring into the system for days now." the CAG chided.
Lieutenant Commander Ryoshi was a fair man, strict, but fair, never expected things from his pilots that he didn't expect from himself 'No wonder he's the CAG of an entire carrier air wing.' Canary mused to himself on the elevator ride up. The man could make a Longsword dance like it was a 5'2" ballerina, he'd been leading raids against Covenant supply lines for as long as he'd been in the seat of a bird, that's how he got stuck with the callsign Pirate.
"Remind me, Chris. How did you get your callsign?" Chris could swear the man was a mind-reader, which would also partially explain his stunning successes and killstreaks.
Chris smiled sheepishly whilst focusing on the deck numbers displayed above "I had an itch in my crotch to prove myself as soon as I graduated flight school, sir. I would volunteer my dumb ass for recon flights when active scans weren't a viable option, so it was down to mark 1 eyeball. I was the proverbial 'canary in the coal mine'." he finger quoted.
"Plus, he sings like one in the showers." someone laughed under his breath in the back of the elevator, the others joining in.
Ryoshi was glad to see his pilots still be able to laugh, losing Reach should be the last thing on their minds right now. The 142nd Naval Air Squadron was less than 2 years old, and already they were blooded veterans, Banshee eaters and Seraph fuckers, or as the Fleet knew them, the 'Black Death's. A monicker coming from their insane kill counts, ambush tactics even against superior enemy numbers, and the fact that the Sabres and Longswords of the 142nd were all coated in a heat dissipating and light absorbing matte black material that also made them nigh undetectable to Covenant sensors. They were the perfect predators.
/
The mood on the Bridge was stifling, it hung over everyone's heads like a black cloth of misery. They had lost Reach. Their fortress among the stars, it was gone. Just like that, after a month of fighting, the rough estimates were still coming in, but the death toll was soul-crushing, hundreds of millions, civilians and military alike, men and women, young and old, no one was spared. You could almost feel a sense of relief for those who died by direct plasma bombardment, just gone in an instant, no pain. It felt like the final punch before the fall, Earth would be next, and then the rest of the colonies along the Covenant corridor.
"What the Hell just happened, Khazim?" Mancuso asked groggily, wincing from the pain in his head "We weren't hit directly, that much is clear."
"Still working on it, sir. Running diagnostics. The hull is 99.73% intact, structural integrity is 99.83% intact, I'm already directing Damage Control teams to what little needs replacing or paching. Even most of that is from our scuffle at Sigma Octanus IV and the 6 previous heavy engagements we were in."
"Small miracles." Mancuso breathed in relief "Any wounded?"
"Mostly scrapes and bruises, a few broken bones, and an unconscious Marine. We had the luck of the universe on our side today, Captain." Khazim finished with a satisfied nod.
"Make sure we're fully secured and everything's locked down, last thing we need is damn accidents." the XO continued, going over to the holotank.
"Aye, aye, sir."
"Injured personnel are reporting to zhe sick bay now, sir." Ensign Beaumont reported next from Comms.
"Good." Mancuso said as he joined his XO looking over a holographic representation of the Virginia "How we're looking, Ollie?"
"Plating held well, we're gonna have to replace 2 Archer Pods and a Helix on the starboard bow plate. Section 6A." he pointed out the place of the missing or melted weapons platforms.
"Sir, the drive's giving off some very strange readings. Chief Kikwete is looking into it right now." Nav noted with a touch of concern in his voice.
"There's the vote of confidence.." his friend, Gustafson from Operations whispered next to him.
"Define strange, Mr. Goldman." the XO ordered with his usual calm voice.
Khazim answered for him "From what I'm able to piece together, sir, it looks like as if the drive had been supercharged. When that plasma lance hit the edge of the rupture, it.. somehow fed back into the slipspace drive, like a nitro boost. Fortunately the quantum field compensated immediately, if it hadn't.." and he let that hang in the air.
"Are you trying to tell me that we've exceeded our normal slipspace speed?" Mancuso straightened, walking over to Nav "How?" he asked incredulously.
"The how beats the ever loving stuffing outta me, but we did, and by quite a margin, sir, our rate of power consumption for having been in slipspace for this long should be higher, but it's not. Frankly, Captain, that charge might've thrown us way off course." Nav continued, unsure of the outcome.
"By how much?" Mancuso turned to his ship's A. I. as Khazim stood on the holotank next to the Ginny.
"Hard to say, sir. I recommend we drop out, get our bearings. From our locked coordinates at the momeny of entry into slipspace and the time spent in the stream, we should be roughly 2.37 light years away from Sigma Octanus. But this increase in speed.. eleven infintesimal dimensions, sir. Gives even me a headache." the A. I. laughed good-naturedly.
Mancuso took a moment to think before nodding "Do it." and he quickly returned to his seat along with the XO to his.
The SJS blared "All hands, brace for slipspace exit." Khazim informed over shipwide.
Somewhere in the Milky Way
A moment later the dark void of the stream brightened to an almost complete purple-white, before spitting the ship back out into their own reality again, countless stars winking all around at inconceivable distances.
The SJS stopped blaring a second later "Status?" the XO asked.
"All systems in the green, sir. Slipspace drive is offline."
"Nav, give us a location." the CO followed up.
"Working on it, Captain. The Nav computer is still crunching numbers." the man dutifully worked at his station, bringing up chart after chart, all of them flashing red.
"Mr. Goldman?" when Nav didn't reply Mancuso turned to Khazim expectantly.
"Already going over the data, sir." a moment later his face scrunched up "Here be dragons." he stated in an almost irritated tone.
"Khazim?" the XO asked with a raised eyebrow.
"We're off the map's edge, sir." he replied bringing up holograms of the surrounding space, a massive purple nebula dominated most of their portside aft, ventral and dorsal "We're definitely not on the map anymore, Captain. I don't recognize anything, sir."
The Bridge crew's reaction was complete silence, everyone looked at Khazim like he'd grown a second head. Ginevra and Monique shared a wide-eyed look before turning back toward the holotank.
"How the Hell is that possible? Just how far off course are we?" the CO asked basically everyone.
"Far, sir. I'm going to need a few moments to compile everything and see what I can extrapolate." the seconds ticked by and after roughly 13-14 the A. I. reappeared "We need to turn around and start jumping, sir. My recommendation would be short jumps, the drive's finicky right now and I don't want to strain it."
"Finicky? Is that a technical term, Khazim?" the Captain asked, clearly pissed off but keeping a tight lid on it "We lost the rest of the Battle Group because we had to drop out early, and we're in the middle of bum-fuck-istan."
"I can only run a completely accurate diagnostic on the translight engine if it's completely shut down, Captain." Khazim explained apologetically "That surcharge of energy into the drive could have unforeseeable consequences, so the less strain we put on it, the better."
"Ollie, what do you think?" Mancuso asked his XO turning to the man "You know more about slipspace than I ever will."
'Dusty' Goodman sat going over the data with his arms crossed like it was too cold on the Bridge "We can chance it. But I also recommend short jumps for now, we don't want a cascading effect if we stay in the stream for too long. We can run some energy diagnostics while we're in."
Mancuso trusted his XO and A. I. implicitly "That's good enough for me, Nav, bring us about, 1 8 0 to port, full turn."
"1 8 0 to port, full turn."
"Aye, aye, 1 8 0 to port, full turn!"
The Virginia's starboard bow and port stern thrusters fired, lazily turning the behemoth of a carrier around until it had turned perfectly, the opposing thrusters firing to stabilize the ship.
"Drive online. Drive spinning up. Coordinates set. Quantum field expanding. Rupture forming." Nav informed of the translight engine "Diagnostics looking good, we're in the green, Mr. Kikwete confirms on his end as well." the Epoch being a massive carrier had incredibly powerful fusion drives, as such charging the drive capacitors took a lot less time than it did even on cruisers, destroyers or frigates.
"Good." Mancuso sat back down "All hands, brace for short slipspace jump!"
"My recommendation is 18.2 seconds, Captain. The more we jump, the more I can chart our position. I already have an inkling, but I need to triangulate." Khazim informed them.
"Do it." and as the slipspace rupture widened the ship's sublight engines pushed it into the stream. The seconds counted down and before they knew it they arrived back in their reality.
"I need one more jump, Captain." the ship's A. I. informed them.
"Understood. Nav?"
"Drive online, drive is spinning up, Captain. Coordinates are set, the quantum field is expanding, rupture forming!" Mr. Goldman informed from his station once more.
"All hands, brace for short jump!" the XO notified this time, and the ship repeated the maneuver for another 18.2 seconds.
With their second and final exit the SJS fell silent once more as they waited for Nav and Khazim to work their magic, and they weren't disappointed "There it is! I knew it!" Khazim exclaimed triumphantly, and the streams of data over his form moved faster, he was excited, hopefully that was a good sign.
"Share with the class." Nav asked, his eyebrows furrowed as he was still trying to figure it out.
Khazim gave him a helping hand and highlighted a formation on the upper right corner of his screen, zooming in on it by a factor of 16.
"Wait a sec, that can't be right."
"Waiting for the other shoe to drop, Mr. Gustafson." the CO stated with humor and impatience in his tone.
"Sir, this constellation." and he brought it up on the holotank and in a few moments they all started to recognize it.
"That can't be right." Ensign Beaumont weighed in as they all stood and stared at the image.
"That-, that's- that's-!" their Weapons officer piped up for the first time from his station since they left Reach orbit. His back and neck twisted to look at the holotank's display.
"Yes, Mr. Liepa. That's the Olympus Nebula, from its far side." Khazim elaborated.
"But that would mean we're at least what, 4.. 5 thousand light years from UNSC space?" he spat out in shock.
"The good news just keeps piling higher and higher today." the Captain echoed everyone's mutual sentiment with an exhasperated and sarcastic tone.
"That means that that'll take us..." Ginevra began to calculate in her head her eyes glazing over.
"5 years, 1 month, and 23 days to return to UNSC space. Roughly." Khazim rounded the number for them.
"My God." someone breathed.
"And only that long if we stay in slipspace without dropping out once." Khazim continued "With the current state of the translight engine, I don't see how that would be possible, Captain. I am confident however that we can get to the bottom of it, and our drive problems will be resolved hopefully in a few hours."
Mancuso sank into his chair, his hands folding under his chin, his gaze becoming distant, mind going a mile a minute. No one envied him in that moment. Cryo was their only option, their only realistic option of course, the voyage could be done, even if no one would relish the prospect, but he worried that the war might be long over before they got back, the chances of Earth being gone by that time was high. Very high. But it didn't matter, they had to return, they were bound by duty and honor, but most importantly by all their loved ones who'd they never abandon.
"Get to it then. I'll make the announcement in an hour." Mancuso spoke as he rose from his chair "The crew will be thrilled.." he'd laugh if he didn't think it inappropriate "Khazim, run whatever diagnostics you need and get Mr. Kikwete and his drive team to fix whatever needs fixing. This is priority number one." he held up a finger, followed quickly by a second "Two, Ollie, we need a complete inventory of everything aboard. If we're in this for the long haul, then I want a head count, and calculate our supplies and food stocks accordingly."
"Yes, sir." everyone answered at once.
"I'm on it, Herb." his XO nodded from next to him, his attention still on a screen above their heads, he turned and walked to his station which was just left to the Captain's and began his work in ernest.
"I want it checked, rechecked, and then checked again. No mistakes!" Mancuso ordered in a tone that brokered no if-s and but-s.
The bridge crew must've been at it for a solid hour, checking and rechecking everything, they were very far away from home, and they only had each other and their ship to rely on. Khazim and the XO had just finished their work when Mancuso went over to Oliver.
"How are things looking, Dusty?"
"So far so good, Bonaparte, we're boned, but I'd venture to say not too horribly boned. It could have definitely been a thousand times worse." he explained in his ever calm, monotone, and slightly rumbling voice "Fortunately supplies won't be a problem, neither will water or our life support systems. We might have to cut back on daily showers, but that's not a tall order. Khazim has already detected Titanium and other precious metal deposits in a system ahead of us so we'll be able to restock our munitions, and fabricate whatever else we might need, including top off our fuel reserves, thank God we can process it all. Once we pass the Olympus Nebula we'll be in a very mineral-rich environment, and we'll be able to stock up on rare-earth minerals as well. Just in case."
"Always the hoarder, ey, Dusty." Mancuso patted his oldest friend on the shoulder "Good work."
"You know me, Herb, rather have it and not need it, than need it, and not have it." the XO said calmily, his eyes still on the screen in front of him looking over his glasses.
Just then a ping from the stern end of the Bridge signaled the arrival of one of the Bridge elevators "The Colonels are here." Khazim informed Mancuso and Goodman. Its doors opened and the two Marines standing guard eyed them for a second before turning their attention back to the bridge, the other Marines doing the same before resuming their own watch as the two infantry leaders made their way to the CO.
They heard boots on the deck approaching and turned to face the newcomers, the XO rising from his station to stand next to his Captain.
"Captain Mancuso, Commander Goodman." Rommel saluted, the Army Colonel next to him a split second later following suit.
Mancuso saluted in return "At ease." and they relaxed. The Marine CO turned to the Army CO next to him, prompting her with a look.
"Captain, Commander, I'm Leftenant Colonel Mary Spear, 556th, 34th Infantry, UNSC Army. Thank you for getting my men out of there, sirs." Spear spoke with gratitude and a slight tone of relief in her voice, helmet under arm, and a clean patch on her forehead. She had quickly washed her face in the sick bay and adjusted her hair to be somewhat presentable for the skipper of the ship.
"Think nothing of it, Colonel. How are your Troopers?"
"Those still alive, well, a little worse for wear, the wounded are in sick bay, the rest are stuffing their faces in the Mess, sir. I didn't lose nearly as many men and women as the 561st did, Captain Best's Troopers got hit pretty hard by the Covie push into Casimir. Fortunately their collective rears were pulled out of the grease fire by a Spartan who was in the A. O.."
At that almost every person on the Bridge went bug-eyed, especially the younger cadre, a silence falling as they all listened in.
"There was a Spartan in Casimir?" the XO asked almost incredulously but with clear surprise in his voice "I knew they were deployed to Reach, but Casimir?"
"Yes, sir. He's still down there, angels bless him, stayed behind with a Company worth of volunteers to cover the Pelicans." she spoke almost enviously, but with respect in her tone.
"I'm guessing you didn't wanna leave." Mancuso stated, eyeing the woman carefully.
"No, sir. In fact I would still be down there if he hadn't knocked me out."
"He knocked you out?" the jarhead to her left asked with surprise.
"Yes, Colonel. Apparently he thought I was too important to die or some such rubbish."
"Spartans are the best for a reason, Colonel. He was probably right." the XO tried to placate her kindly.
"We also have an Air Force element aboard now, Captain." Rommel continued "13 Pelicans from AMX-42, a Captain Emerson is their highest ranking officer, I spoke to her as well, they're settling in as best they can."
"That brings up our numbers to a total count of what? 45?"
"49 Pelicans, Captain." Khazim clarified "Along with 72 Sabers and 60 Longswords."
"Good, I'll speak with Ryoshi, see if they can integrate with his Air Wing for now."
The Marine Lieutenant Colonel nodded in acknowledgement.
"And how are the wounded? Anything life threatening?" Mancuso asked the Marine.
"No, Captain. They will all recover."
"The Chief Medical Officer and her staff were very kind." Spear nodded in gratitude.
"That's an understatement." Jürgen laughed "Angie was fretting over them like a mother hen."
At that Spear had the sudden urge to smile but stifled it as best she could "She was treating one of my platoon leaders asking him 'Didn't your mother teach you any better?' poor kid looked like a deer caught in headlights."
"Oh, that sounds like Angie all right." the CO of the Marines stated with a chuckle "Almost all of my men have that quote etched into their brains."
"And the civilians? Khazim?" Mancuso asked whilst checking something on his station's screen.
"Not many of them, sir." the A. I. appeared on the holotank "84 survivors, 34 of them are children, 4 of which are under the age of 3. Lieutenant Colonel Carnahan's medical teams are seeing to their needs, seeing to what arrangements we can make for them."
"Christ, kids. Do we even have anything for toddlers in our stocks?"
"We can make due, Captain. Nothing to worry about." Khazim reassured.
"All right. Good work, everyone." the Captain nodded before looking up from his screen "I'm sorry to sour your moods, Colonels, but we've got more pressing matters." and with that he turned and indicated for his XO and the two mud slingers to follow "I'm afraid we might be in a bit of a bind." and with a movement of his hand he brought up their current position on the holotank.
The two Colonels followed him along with his XO standing around the table. Lt. Col. Spear only raised an eyebrow whilst keeping both eyes on the image "My apologies, Captain, astrogation has never been one of my strengths." she explained with a small smile.
"We're a bit off the beaten path, Colonel Spear." the XO explained and zoomed in on a formation on the image.
At that their Marine complement's CO narrowed his eyes focusing on the image "Not to sound disrespectful, sirs, but how screwed are we?"
Mancuso just smiled "Relax, Jürgen, we've known each for far too long for any of that nonsense." the CO then turned toward the holotank "Khazim?"
The A. I. nodded before bringing up a zoomed-in version of the image "I'm afraid we're in the thick of it, a plasma lance hit the slipstream rupture the moment we entered the stream, supercharging the drive, which resulted in a massive increase in acceleration. It's a good thing we exited the stream when we did, otherwise who knows where we'd be. This" and he indicated with his right arm a nebula on the image next to him "is the Olympus Nebula, specifically its far side."
The Colonels only needed a moment to realize what that meant, their eyes slightly widening in surprise was a good indicator to the Captain that they had.
"A 5 year non-stop journey in slipspace." Mancuso elaborated.
"Bugger me." Mary Spear breathed in annoyed surprise.
"The crew will be going into Cryo, unfortunately we don't have enough to go around. That means that there will be double bunking for most personnel." Khazim added "I did a quick head count, Captain, 5901 souls aboard."
"No, no. None of that. We'll all switch. I'm not having favoritism aboard my ship." at that everyone nodded, agreeing with the CO completely.
"Our supplies fortunately should not be a problem, with half the crew in Cryo all the time basically, and with only a slightly modest rationing plan, we should have more than enough. I'd rather have some left over and arrive than its reverse, sir." the XO explained for everyone.
"When are we informing the crew?" Colonel Rommel asked, clear concern for his Marines in his voice.
"We're still running diagnostics on the drive to make sure it's 100% up to standard and all parameters are in the green, I'll make the announcement after that. Shouldn't be more than an hour." Mancuso informed them, arms crossed.
"Thank you, Captain." Rommel said.
Mancuso then addressed both Lieutenant Colonels "See to your boys and girls, get squared away. And prepare to settle in for the long haul."
"Sir." both saluted and Mancuso returned it, with that they turned and left the Bridge.
"Khazim, please inform the Air Force crews to join the CAG in their ready room. And get me Ryoshi."
"Yes, sir." and with that he winked out only for a moment later for Ryoshi to appear on a screen next to him.
"How may I be of service, Captain?" the ever polite Lieutenant Commander asked.
"Ryoshi, I'm sending you the crews of the Air Force elements we picked up, work with them, see how you can fold them under your command for now."
"Yes, sir. I don't see any problems coming from it."
"They're dropship flyboys, they should feel right at home."
"Yes, sir." Pirate only smiled.
"And Ryoshi?"
"Sir?"
"Helluva flying out there today, son. You boys did good."
"Thank you, Captain." the man bowed in the traditions of his upbringing and the image winked out.
/
The Mess was controlled chaos, people pouring in and out, a hurricane of BDUs and uniforms, the clamor of noise toned down, everyone brooding over their coffee or meal. Groups of Army Troopers had finally come up for air after having their gear stowed in the ship's Armories and finding bunk space with the Marines who were happy to share their home away from home. Fortunately they didn't have to do a lot of squeezing for everyone to find a spot, most didn't mind double bunking, neither did the flyboys with their new chair force buddies.
Deck crews were already going over the banged up Pelicans, repairing systems, replacing irreparable parts, their expanded Pelican fleet would be right as rain in a couple of days, their Flight Lead, or better said, designated Flight Lead, who had the good fortune to inherit the position by sheer luck of survival and rank had gone over the specs and details with the grease monkeys. She was currently sitting at a corner table with Pirate and Canary, going over their new operational structure, Captain Katja Emerson, same age and rank as Best, she was as amicable as one could be, considering having just gone through another planetary evacuation. She and her flyers had been ferrying Troopers and their supplies for two weeks all over Casimir Island. She just sipped at her coffe quietly, paying attention to the CAG, nodding at Best when she caught him glancing towards their table. Best nodded in kind and returned to his meal. They've gotten pretty familiar over those two weeks, reflecting the close relationship Air Force and Army shared, like two peas in a pod, much to the same effect as Navy and the Corps.
"What a day." he said to the empty table he was sitting at. Dry mud still caked on his boots, a few smears on his neck and face. Digging back into his food he scarfed it down, going over everything in his mind, questioning his command choices, how many boys and girls of his hadn't made it because of his choices? "Fucking Hell.."
"Mind if we join ya, Trooper?" he was brought out of his musings by a very distinct accent probably of Australian descent, he looked up to see a squad worth of Marines in black BDUs with piled up trays in their hands. He just nodded while he still had food in his mouth.
Their commanding officer sat down straight across from him extending his hand "Campbell, CO of this merry bunch." he indicated with a dip of his head to his side with a quick glance to the other 4 at the table.
"Captain Best, 561st." the Marines shared a look, the grunt looked haggard as Hell.
"How are your men, Captain?" the man from before asked cordially.
"They're good, thank you. Squared away with the Marines." he nodded with a thin lipped hint of a smile "You guys are Helljumpers, right?"
"Did the tattoos or the psycho eyes give it away?" a woman next to the CO asked in good humor "Gunny de Vries." pointing to herself with her fork, followed up by indicating to the man across from her and next to Best "That's First Lieutenant Chapman." the man nodded and Best shook hands with him as well "And these two morons are Bilko and Guthrie." she thumbed the other two at the table who just smiled and kept right on stuffing their faces, Best nodded in return.
"Definitely the tattoos, Sergeant." Best replied as he nodded to one on her right arm "Algolis, that was some mean bush."
She nodded emphatically in return "13th gets it done!" and she hammered the table with her fist, and a few others joined in, along with a few other tables in the Mess joining the hurrah.
"13th gets it done!" they took up the cry, their CO just shook his head with a big smile.
Shock and realization dawned on Elliot's face "Holy shit, you're the Skullfuckers?" he asked with awe in his voice "You have any idea how many lives you saved that day?" he stood from his seat extending his hand and shaking everyone's at the table once more enthusiastically.
"Don't let it go to their heads." their XO laughed "Otherwise they won't fit into their pods."
"Oh lay off it, boss. You know we're awesome." their Assistant Company commander chided but with clear humor in her voice.
"Wilhelmina here has the biggest head." his CO joked, getting an elbow in the ribs for his effort "Yowza, down girl, don't make me get the hose."
Best was surprised at how carefree the ODSTs were with one another, his thoughts must've been written all over his face as their CO noticed it and nodded in understanding "Helljumpers are a crazy bunch, Best, we gotta be for the shit we do, so off duty I keep things loose and chill, my boys and girls are wound up tight as is already." the Army Trooper just nodded in return.
"Makes sense, Captain."
"My kids know what to do when blue and green shit starts flyin', don' you worry 'bout that. And please, call me Archie." he just smiled, downing his coffee.
"Elliot."
"See? Better already." the XO joined in "I'm George."
The First Lieutenant was a rank below him, but Best knew better than to kick up a fuss about him not addressing him as 'Sir', especially with Helljumpers, so he just rolled with it. The man after all looked like he had more combat experience in his pinky than he had in his entire body.
"Saw your CO head up with Colonel Rommel to see the Captain." Archie continued.
"Yeah, she's one good organizer and leader, got us off Reach in more or less one piece."
"That's good to-"
"All hands, stand by for announcement from the Captain." Khazim's voice echoed over shipwide, everyone stopped what they were doing, looking up at the speakers out of reflex.
A moment later the familiar voice of their CO began speaking in a calm tone of voice:
"This is Captain Mancuso. You know me well, we've been doing this jig and dance together for some time, so you know I'm not the type to mince words so I'll cut right to it: We've jumped far outside of UNSC space."
People began whispering in the background, a few nervous glances were shared.
"A malfunction in the translight engine greatly accelerated our jump and it was a good thing we dropped out when we did." a slight pause "Otherwise God only knows where we might have ended up. Fortunately we're not lost, we have a heading as you might've noticed from our previous short jumps."
Every man and woman aboard waited for the other shoe to drop, from exhausted Troopers who were roused from their sleep, Marines in the ship's gyms, cooks in the Galley, the deck crews working on the clipped birds, to engineering teams still working on the powered down slipspace drive.
"Good news is the translight engine is almost back up to 100%, we're not stranded, not by a long shot, but we are pretty far from home.. and it'll take us roughly 5 years to get back to UNSC space."
People everywhere on the ship gasped in surprise, but they trusted their Captain with their lives, most would be more worried if the Galley had ran out of coffee.
"But we got the supplies, and we'll shift in Cryo, there's plenty of room in the Bays to split the crew down into two shifts. Besides, a few extra beauty lines could never hurt." he joked over shipwide, already enough to ease the minds of the overwhelming majority of the crew.
"But you're tough as nails, the best of the best, of all branches: Marines, Army, Air Force, and Navy, all of us under one roof, just as it should be. And good for the Covenant too." many looked confused at that "It'll give 'em enough time to put on a fresh pair of panties." and a rowdy laughter went up across all decks, Marines high-fiving each other, barking like dogs.
But everyone was standing now, united in purpose, united in cause, united in brotherhood.
"Cause I sure as shit don't have to tell you who we are. I don't have to tell you what our duty is! People are depending on US! To get back, back in the fight! And wipe the Covenant off the face of the Universe! For Earth, and All Her Colonies!"
"FOR EARTH, AND ALL HER COLONIES!" the entire crew of the ship echoed at the top of their lungs, the halls rang with their power.
"We are the UNSC! Today. Tomorrow. Forever!"
"TODAY! TOMORROW! FOREVER!"
"That's what I wanted to hear." Mancuso added a moment later, a predatory grin in his voice "Return to your duties, Khazim will update you all later with your schedules. Mancuso out." and with that the announcement was over. For all their misery and troubles, the crew felt hopeful. The Virginia had never let them down.
/
"Nice speech. Short and simple." the XO jested from his station without looking up.
"It's gonna be a long haul, Dusty. I want to make sure that they'll be all right."
"We're a tough bunch, Captain." Liepa added from Weapons, smiling at his CO like a mad cat.
Mancuso smiled and nodded "All right, everyone, I want diagnostics checked and rechecked on all major, secondary and terciary systems. I want us squared away before we break out the ice beds. I don't want us getting caught out here with our asses hanging in the breeze." after which he commd Engineering "Mr. Kikwete, how are things on your end?"
"We've just finished da drive diagnostics and tests, Captain. Drive Control is looking good, Khazim was a big help, he ran our diagnostics software for any bugs or inconsistencies. Everything was green on that end, as for da drive itself, now the real issue would have been with dhe drive's acceleration coils, had they drifted out of phase, or the quantum field generators had been compromised we would've been in for a world of hurt. Fortunately, there are no lasting effects from the surcharge, sir."
"So, we're good to jump?" Mancuso asked for clarification as his XO listened in.
"Short answer, yes, long answer, I'd rather not stress dem for more than a few hours at a time, Captain, at least not yet."
"He's correct, sir." Khazim chimed in for the first time "This far out a few stops along the way will be a big help for me to calculate a far more accurate heading, might shave some time off of our journey. I also wouldn't put it above 3 jumps per day, sir. At least for a week. So I can run comparative diagnostics, and make sure that nothing jumps beyond the system's green parameters."
Mancuso deep in thought nodded a moment later "All right, thank you, both of you." with that the screen winked off, and the Captain turned in his chair forward "Nav?"
"Sir?"
"Spin up the drive."
"Yes, Captain."
"Khazim, Dusty, let's start putting non-essential personnel along with the civvies into Cryo." he said over his shoulder.
"Aye, aye, Captain." the XO replied, still not looking away from his work.
"Khazim, get Angie on the horn."
"Sir."
A moment later the Virginia's resident Chief Medical Officer appeared.
"Yes, Captain?" a dark-eyed woman with dark brown hair in a bun and a lab coat over her BDUs answered.
"How are things down in sick bay, Doc?"
"Everyone's out of the woods, sir, nothing to report. Just a few bones to set, that's all, the B-K polymer is doing its job."
"Good, I wanted to ask, will the children, especially those under 10 have any issues with Cryo?"
Angela Carnahan's brows slightly furrowed for a moment as she mulled over the medical data in her mind "Not to my knowledge, Captain. They should be fine."
"Excellent, what I was hoping for. As soon as everyone is able to walk I want them in Cryo."
"Understood, Captain. Anything else?"
"That'll be all, and thanks, Doc."
"My pleasure, sir." and with that the CMO's image vanished and she, along with the rest of the Virginia's crew resumed their duties.
/
"Anything else we can help you with, Captain?" the calm voice of First Sergeant Finlay spoke up, a soft southern URNA drawl in his voice, a mug of hot tea in his hand.
"We're squared away, Sergeant, thank you. You and Major Aëtos have been a big help." Eddie Traven complimented the duo "You jarheads are all right in my book." he added with a grin as he cleaned his Battle Rifle on a service table.
The Major in question at hearing her name smiled widely while going over a few files one desk over, her boots up on the table "It's what we do, Captain. Marines make due." she stated with a smile in her voice, clear Greek accent, not lifting her eyes from whatever she was reading.
"So, 5 years of Cryo, or at least 2 and a half, guess I'll be able to catch up on my reading."
"Don't get too comfortable, Captain." the Major warned clearly amused "Marion here loves to run drills, and Colonel Rommel's standing orders don't preclude officers from it."
"PT every morning, 05:00 hours sharp, sir." the quiet man drawled, a grin of satisfaction on his face "Followed by weapons maintenace, Hell, I might even sprinkle in some small unit maneuvers in port hangars 5 and 6. Captain gave us the green light."
"I think you enjoy tormenting us a little too much, Finlay." the Major shook her head "But God in Heaven only knows it's kept many of us out of a pine box and a shallow grave." she stood from her seat and closed the file on her screen, which Traven caught a glimpse of out of the corner of his eye, seeing a picture of a family, the Major with her husband and son.
"Godkillers all the way." Finlay drawled the Battalion motto.
"Godkillers all the way." she echoed with amusement as she left the Armory.
Somehwhere along Big Crater Strait, Viery Territory, Reach
August 30, 2552, 10:42 hours
The dawn had come and gone, but the murk of thunderstorms was cover enough, the constant fallout of ash carried by high winds from the west had made the rains grey and dark, covering the lands in suffocating soot, which meant one thing, Reach was in the process of being glassed, even aboard their escape craft, a sizeable pleasure yacht, with their air filters working overtime, the smell of ash permeated the ship.
The Troopers had mostly recovered from their ordeal back in Casimir, still many slept, the master bedroom with its king size bed had about 6 soldiers packed on like a can of sardines. Couches, chairs, all were occupied, even the empty jacuzzi had a couple of grunts in it snoring away. Perks of being Infantry, any surface could become a bed, and it was nothing short of a miracle that they hadn't wrecked the plumbing in the bathrooms.
They had emptied the yacht's pantries, what they didn't eat they stuffed into what pockets they could, most of their ammo being gone meant their magazine pouches were filled with power bars, cereal bars, candy bars, soda cans along with a veritable myriad of other preserved packages of fruits, meats and vegetables.
A dozen or so were gathered in the main lounge, a few standing by the windows looking at the Hellish landscape passing by at insane speeds.
"Jesus Christ, look at that." one Trooper whispered to not bother his sleeping battle buddies down the hall as a cruiser's energy projector tore into a distant city.
"Is that Debrecen?" another asked, swallowing a lump in her throat "My boyfriend was from Debrecen.."
The dark rain fell so heavy that it moved like courtains of greywater across the windows of the yacht, at those speeds it seemed like streams of darkness. Even so, the vibrant color of plasma could be seen through it all.
"Goddamn Covies.."
On the bridge of the yacht the Spartan kept his eyes on the radar along with his A. I. companion.
"I don't like our odds, Petra. How far out is SHIELD Base?"
"36 minutes until we round Cape Bakony, another 142 from there."
"3 hours.." he turned walking back towards the lounge at the end of the hall "You sure you got the access codes?" his external speakers turned off.
"That was zhe first thing I accessed when we left Casimir's docks. I'm not zhe kind of girl who leaves something like that up to chance."
"As long as we don't trip any lockdown protocols and get our asses cooked on the front porch."
The lounge doors automatically opened and he walked into the sizeable chamber, the Troopers that were sitting stood up to attention, others turning from the windows and doing the same.
"At ease." he addressed them switching to internal comms "Lieutenant Lombardi, rouse and gather everyone in the lounge."
"On our way, sir." he replied curtly a moment later, and closed the connection.
"I'm honestly surprised we haven't been caught yet, bizzare, n'est-ce pas?" Petra asked outloud now for everyone to hear.
"Count our lucky stars, ma'am." a Sergeant replied as the Troopers slowly gathered. Lombardi was the last one to arrive, nodding that they were all there.
"I know what you're thinking, sir. Trap." Lombardi added his own two cents "We humiliated them in Casimir and many of us managed to get away."
"If they are waiting for us, there's not much we can do about it, SHIELD is the only remaining location on Reach that might have a way off planet, so we have to make a play for it."
"We will have to go deep in zhe facility, several kilometers underground. The base isn't as exposed as SWORD was, Lieutenant, so zhe chances are good that zhe Covenant have not discovered it yet." Petra clarified for them.
The Spartan only nodded "We're 2 hours and 42 minutes away from SHIELD. I want everyone geared up and ready. It'll be a mad dash for the entrance as soon as we arrive. Petra will set the auto pilot to crash and sink this tub into the Bay once we're off, that means we'll still have a 2 kilometer hike from here." and he indicated the inlet on the holographic map floating above the holotank with a finger "These cliffs will give us some cover, but the last 300 meters are open ground. Good news is the entrance is hidden in this secondary cliffside, bad news is, until we're in, we'll be completely exposed. So once we're there, double time it."
"Why not just fly up to the entrance, sir?" a young Corporal asked.
"I'd rather not telegraph our position to the Covies." he explained to the green Trooper "The heavy rains will cover our tracks, but we will be moving through heavy terrain most of the way, and we'll have to do it fast, so watch your footing." he warned them calmly and they nodded in understanding "Dismissed."
"Yes, sir." the Troopers replied in unison and filed out to quickly grab their gear and organize with renewed energy.
53 Troopers had survived along with the Spartan, less than half of the volunteer Company. If the Covies managed to figure out their plan they would have the fight of their lives on their hands, and that if they were lucky and the enemy didn't just decide to glass them from low orbit.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Petra asked in a low voice in his ear.
"Just running through possible scenarios." Tom replied as he loaded his DMR on a neary table, placing several more mags in his front pouches "From here on out, it will be a mad dash." he continued to stow gear, loading an M319 with a 40 mike mike before locking it to the magnetic plate on his back, shoving a few more Mk 110 MOD 2 HE grenades for his launcher into pouches, checking and rechecking his sidearm, grabbing grenades and a few other items to be placed in his chest rig that was fixed to his Mjolnir's chest plate.
"Let me guess, zhe worst possible ones?" she teased him over his arsenal.
"Can't hurt to be prepared, Petra. I would've gotten a SPANKr as well, but we're basically down to small arms at this point, and not the fun ones. Go check on the Troopers."
"Copy that, at least these rains won't be letting up anytime soon." she added on an optimistic note before winking out from his HUD.
A few kilometers north of SHIELD Base, Reach
August 30, 2552, 14:02 hours
The Lieutenant's comms came to life and Petra's voice came on "We're 2 minutes out, Lieutenant. Get your men to the exit, as soon as zhe doors open it will be a mad dash to the first cliffs!"
"Understood, ma'am." he nodded not realizing she couldn't see him "We'll be ready." and with the that the comms closed and he got up from his seat, shouldering his rifle and moving towards the stairs "All right, boys and girls, grab your gear and move your asses down to the first floor! This is it! As soon as we set down and the doors open, head for the cliffs, full tilt!"
"Sir! Yes, sir!"
"The Spartan will lead the way, do what he does, and do what he says!" he bellowed into comms, but they could all hear him just fine in those enclosed, and immaculately white corridors.
"Sir! Yes, sir!"
They felt the yacht rapidly decelerate, and they could hear the internal servos releasing the landing studs before a reverberating -THUNK- had half of them on their rears.
A moment later the doors opened and they were immediately hit by the rush of cold wet wind and foggy air, a fog bank had thankfully descended on the shoreline by the time they got there, enveloping everything in the fog of war "Off your asses, go, go, go!" Lombardi yelled shoving them out the double doors one by one. Before the first Trooper's boot could hit sand a massive Titanium shape landed in front of them from the upper deck- and took off at a light jog towards the cliffs without breaking his stride, waiving them up to follow.
Stepping out of the yacht's warm and dry environment back into the muck was something none of them relished, but the prospect of getting off the planet drove them all on.
"Follow him, kids! MOVE!" Lombardi started smacking helmets, and the soldiers ran as fast as they could in the wet, dark sand, all that gear made sprinting a bit difficult, coupled with the fact that the sand was shin deep in certain places.
As the last Trooper went out the door Lombardi followed her, giving her a good push from behind, poor girl was loaded down with medical supplies "Give me that, Carmen!" he ordered the girl and took a backpack from her, throwing it over his shoulder. Not a moment later the yacht took off, banking hard to starboard rising a bit before diving nose first straight into the bay, kicking up a dark column of water- sinking to the bottom.
"Good work, Petra. One less problem to deal with." Tom spoke as he kept an eye on his motion tracker, waiting for the Troopers to catch up, and as they did he was off again, keeping an eye on the sky above them as they were moving through a pretty narrow gorge for the moment.
"I had everything shut down zhe moment it hit the water, not even Sherlock Holmes could find it now. Fortunately for us Crater Bay is deep."
"Let's hope that good fortune holds up then." he replied stoically and advanced forward, picking a good route that shouldn't pose too many difficulties for the soldiers. And they followed obediently, like ducklings in a row. The rain was still coming down hard, making tracking across that rocky terrain almost impossible. They were making good time, they made their way ever higher and higher, and the gorge they found themselves in was still deep enough to hide them, making aerial detection only possible if a Covie flyer was right above them.
After a solid half hour they could see the gorge taper off and open into a much wider area.
"We're here." the Spartan announced over Company comms and everyone took a knee, becoming as small as humanly possible, switching a moment later to his internal channel "Do you know where the entrance is?"
"Yes, marking it on your HUD now." and an indicator appeared 297.3 meters away a bit to his left, it was below a pretty sizeable outcropping of cliffs which continued up for another solid 700 meters above their heads "Motion tracker is clear. No activity."
"Can you open it from here?" the Spartan asked hopefully, the Troopers behind him waiting with patience, rain pouring down their faces.
"Je suis désolée, Tom. I need to interface with zhe hidden terminal directly."
"Copy that." he turned and help up a fist 'hold here' and he took off in a sprint, as silent as a cat in the night, a couple seconds later he skidded to a halt, kicking up some dirt.
"There, at your 2-o-clock, waist high." she instructed quickly, he could see a rock that was a bit out of place, he moved it and behind it a rock-colored metal surface appeared, small opening on its left side "That's it, get me in." he removed her data crytal and held it close, a moment later she was in, and he reinserted the empty chip into his helmet.
Nothing happened. And the seconds ticked by. The rain kept pouring as if from a bucket behind them, creating a strange echo effect in the hidden cave opening he was standing in.
"Petra?"
"Just a moment. Halsey put some very interesting safeguards in place, I'd rather not trigger zhem."
"Copy."
"There!" and with her word the wall behind started to pull back, after a few meters it started slowly sliding to the left.
The Spartan turned and waved up the Troopers, who, like their lives depended on it, made a mad dash for the entrance, piling in in pairs. Lombardi coming up with the rear element.
"Get them situated." he told the Lieutenant whilst still scanning their rear, the silence was unnerving, even with the rain pouring hard, he felt watched.
"Yes, sir." and Lombardi followed his men, but turned after two steps "You okay, sir?" he asked a bit unsure, but clearly concerned.
"Green, Lieutenant. Don't worry. Go, see to your men." the Spartan said without turning towards him.
"Copy that." and he jogged off, making sure they didn't touch anything they weren't supposed to.
"I got full control of this level!" Petra announced a moment later, pride in her sweet voice.
"Lock it down, Petra." and the wall began to close again ever so slowly, he kept watch until it was fully closed, turning a second later walking into the bowels of SHIELD "Bring up base inventory and schematics. I want to know what we got here."
"On it." and she disappeared from his HUD.
The Troopers were standing around in the antechamber, flashlights on, several large vehicle doors led in 4 different directions.
"Sergeant, go look for a switch or something, let's see if we can get some running lights going." Lombardi said from the center as they heard the Spartan walk up behind them.
"I wouldn't advise it, Lieutenant." and the Sergeant in question stopped in his tracks as Petra spoke, her voice bouncing around the large chamber's walls "The lights are hooked into zhe main generator, which I wouldn't recommend turning on, unless you want to get glassed. We're too close to the surface 'ere, fortunately there's a backup generator deeper in zhe base, it should be deep enough to be shielded from detection. I'll mark the way."
And the second large set of thick doors from the right started to slowly open.
"If the main generator isn't running, how are you able to open doors?" the Lieutenant asked curiously.
"Maaagiiic!" she whispered with a laugh.
"Petra." the Spartan spoke up from their 6.
"Killjoy. This tunnel leads to zhe Research Facilities 732 meters below us, I'm afraid the trams are also run by zhe main generators, enjoy the stroll, ladies and gentlemen." Petra announced.
"All right, let's go, kids." the 2nd Lieutenant spoke up "Sasha, you got point."
"Sir." the young man replied and with DMR shouldered started walking along the tram line.
The tunnel was wide and high, not ideal enough to be a vehicle tunnel, but it had to be with all the heavy equipment and gear they found along the way.
"What were they researching down here?" someone asked.
"I can't access that data from zhe Central Command Terminal, Corporal. Even if I could, way above your pay grade." Petra replied with a chuckle.
The kid just got a love tap on his helmet for his dumb question by his squad leader.
The Troopers now all filed into the tunnel as the Spartan walked up to a terminal near the entrance "Yank me." Petra asked, and a second later touched the data chip he was holding, which was placed back into his helmet in a moment. As he walked down the tunnel to follow the Troopers the massive doors started to close behind him.
"You got anything?" the Spartan asked with his externals turned off.
"Well, the base is empty, clearly, no one has been down here in over a year, zhere was no rush, it was locked down all prim and proper. The vehicle bays are all empty, zhis place used to house a flight of Pelicans and about two dozen Warthogs, quite the outfit. Not to mention zhe Prowler bay."
"The what?" he stopped, not sure if he heard her right.
"Yes, its hangar is on the other side of zhe mountain, the 4th tunnel leads to it."
He resumed walking "And I'm guessing we didn't head down that way because it's long gone."
"Bingo, mon trésor."
"Petra."
"Oh, relax, we're doing fine! A lot better than being glassed I can tell you zhat."
"And the Research Station?"
"Now that's the million Credit question. As I've said, rumors have been flying within zhe walls of ONI for decades, if not more. Sifting through all that data takes time, even for me."
"Please, it didn't even take you 7 minutes." he chided.
"How rude, don't you know that's months in zhe life of an A. I.?"
"And you can also direct your attention at hundreds of other things at the same time with equal measure." he huffed with amusement.
Silence.
"Oh, all right, you win! In any case, what we're looking for will be on the Research Station's main servers, hardened against hacking or any other external intrusion, and completely cut off from any other system, even zhe ones inside this base."
"ONI wouldn't be ONI if not for their paranoia."
"But what we're really looking for, zhe main prize, iz much deeper in the mountain, it was sheer luck that it was discovered really, whatever it is. This place used to be a Titanium mine, apparently they were chasing a very rich vein when they came across.. something else. Something exotic."
"And I'm also guessing that the rumors really don't paint a clear enough picture."
"I'm afraid not. But we'll find out, I promise you."
It took them about 40 minutes to reach the Research Station's hub, Petra opening up the massive doors once they neared it, once inside she closed those doors as well. They all felt a bit safer, being in a secret, gigantic undeground base that wasn't only hidden, but had already 3 enormous reinforced gates locked down between them and the outside world.
They continued to follow the signs on the ground, which indicated the Research Station's direction. 50 meters down the corridor they turned left, straight into the great opening of a gigantic cavern, and across from them, the Station itself lay waiting.
The Research hub was massive, countless other tunnels and elevators leading into over a dozen directions. They crossed a long walkway to it, internal security systems powered down, turrets, M41s, the works.
"What the Hell were they keeping down here?" someone asked aloud.
"More to the point, what did they find?" Lombardi asked as a follow-up question.
The Spartan headed straight for Operations, forcing the lock before entering.
"Caveman." Petra laughed "There's zhe terminal." she indicated on his HUD once more.
"Let's see what we got on the menu." the super solider said as he approached it, holding his A. I.'s data crystal close to it, a second later she was in.
Not a moment later they heard the fusion generator come online somewhere underneath their feet a few floors below. Running lights were turning on everywhere, revealing the enormity of the cavern even more so.
"There we go, much better. I've got life support running, you all should be fine now zhat we're sealed in." Petra spoke over the Research Station's comms "Good news is that we have supplies, foodstuffs, medical gear, even a fully automated operating room, a good place to hold up until we figure out our next step."
"Bring up their research, Petra, I'm guessing any pertinent files will be under heavy encryption."
"Already working on it, there's a lot of data to sift through, 258.6 terabytes to be precise."
"Any sign of what we're looking for?" Tom asked again with his externals closed.
"Just a moment.. yes! Here it is!" and she brought up the relevant files. Images, schematics, complex calculations, formulas, all buzzed by at a rapid pace as Petra went through it all.
"What do you got?"
"Mon Dieu." she spoke with trepidation and a touch of fear in her voice.
"Petra, what's wrong?"
"See for yourself." she said enigmatically "And bring zhe Troopers along. Zhis might be our only ticket out of here and off this planet." she spoke enigmatically, and a pair of heavy doors across the room flashed green for a moment and started opening up "Take zhat elevator down, 2952 meters straight to zhe bottom. It will fit everyone." she was clearly nervous, and worried about something.
"Talk to me. What did you find?"
"Whatever it is." she breathed nervously, clearly agitated "It's definitely not Covenant. Because it predates both sides by at least 380 thousand years." she revealed.
That got his attention "Excuse me?"
"Just go, and I'll explain once you get down there." she egged him on "I'll follow your progress through zhe cameras and motion sensors, don't worry."
Without saying another word he headed toward the elevator switching to Company comms "Lieutenant, get everyone. There's something we need to see."
His 'XO' was on his feet a moment later "Copy that, sir." and yelling to get everyone's attention "All right, ladies! Let's go! We got places to be!"
The Troopers had been exploring the cavern, some settling in, rucksacks gathered in a separate office. Lombardi's voice echoed in their ears, so they followed him up to Operations, and they all piled into the massive elevator which could probably hold a Scorpion with ease.
The ride down was long, even by 26th century standards. Almost 3 kilometers was nothing to scoff at, especially underground. Many of them felt their ears slightly pop. The elevator slowed and came to a full stop before the doors opened, revealing another carved mining tunnel, they followed it until they reached another smaller cavern on the far side of which a strange construct loomed in the dark. They couldn't exactly make it out from a distance, but a strange forebodence descended on the Troopers, as they moved forwars several soldiers shined their flashlights to get a better look.
"What the Hell..?"
Blue-greyish, silvery surfaces, smother than anything they've ever seen, geometric in design, towering over them, running up high into the cavern's walls, there was an entrance in the middle with a clear path leading up to it. Its walls reflecting their lights almost like glass, but the reflections were far dimmer. As they got closer their flashlights started painting a clearer picture, and everyone was stunned, the Troopers stared, their mouths hanging open with wonder and fear.
This clearly wasn't UNSC technology.
"Dios mio." a Trooper quickly crossed himself.
"Fucking ONI, man, what the fuck were they doing down here?" a squad leader asked from next to Lombardi.
"This, ladies and gentlemen." Petra stated from the Mjolnir's speakers "Is an alien construct."
That stopped them dead in their tracks, guns up.
"The fuck do you mean 'an alien construct'?!" someone asked half panicked "Did ONI know about the Covenant before the war?!"
"No, Private Santos. This structure predates both us and zhe Covenant by at least 380 thousand years."
At that said Private almost tripped over a bunch of cables which were connected to torch lights that were strewn about the cavern. Some to a few research consoles to the side on the left of them, with several power lines that lead straight up to the construct's doorway and down its internal path.
"Those consoles and terminals are on a separate server, Tom." Petra spoke into his ear "They're connected to zhe construct. I will need you to bring me down later from zhe Research Station so I can access it directly, and find out just what the Hell they've been working on here."
"You sure that's a good idea?" the Spartan asked a bit worried.
"We're out of options at this point. We need to access zhe information they've accumulated, find out if this thing can help us or not. But I'm happy that you worry about me." she smiled on his HUD kindly.
"Just don't make me regret plugging you in." with that he opened his helmet's external speakers again "All right, everyone, clear out. We're going back up."
"Don't have to tell me twice." someone said clearly agitated, already turning on their heel, some were rooted to the ground, almost unable to move. Still stunned.
"Stow that shit!" the Lt. said turning toward his men "And get back to the elevator. Now!"
The Troopers slowly filed out of the cavern, their platoon leaders herding them along.
"What do you think it is, sir?" the Lieutenant asked walking up to the Spartan, his eyes still on whatever it is that they had discovered.
"I don't know, Lieutenant." he said turning around and walking away "But we will find out."