- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Okie Dokie... Chapter two, Off to Reach (not the real title for the chapter):
Chapter Two
You know the real meaning of peace
only if you have been through war
- Kosovar
0622 Hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar)\
UNSC Vessel Gettysburg, Epsilon Eridani System, Over Planet Reach
How had the Covenant found Reach? The question had been running through Captain MacMillan's mind since the aliens had bothered to show their sorry asses in system. "Ensign Heathe, how are the MAC cannons looking?" Heathe was a small, youthful man of thirty. He was one of Macmillan's best men. "Fine, Sir. We're reloading now, ready to fire in about thirty seconds." Damn. That cannon was the ship's best defense. "Archer pods?"
"Online, Sir." MacMillan looked at his tactical display. A single Covenant Flagship was obliterating a large number of UNSC ships. He tapped the small image of the vessel. "Lock on to that target there. Hold ordinance until I say the word."
"Aye, Sir." Heathe's monitor lit up, and screens next to it displayed an image of the cruiser. "Ensign Salle, give us a heading on a collision course with that ship." Salle was a tall, skinny man of twenty-five, with a wild, fiery look in his eyes amd a deep-rooted hatred for the enemy.
He was a brilliant navigator, one of the best in the UNSC. "Aye, sir. Turning around." Salle focused on his computer terminal again, and the ship gently swayed as another fiery plasma bolt hit it. "Heathe, Arm MAC cannons, charge up Archer pods. We'll give them hell."
"Solipsol"
The dark cloaked, male figure of the 'smart' AI, solipsol appeared. About twelve inches high he stood atop the pedestal by the captain.
"Yes, Sir?"
"I want you to create a subroutine to make sure this ship crashes right into that Flagship, no matter what. And you should advise Captain Keyes over there" He pointed to the ravaged Pillar of Autumn. "to haul ass out of the system. Give him my regards."
"Yes, Sir. Anything else?"
"Key the comm to FLEETCOM 7. That'll be all."
"Aye, Captain." Solipsol faded out. A line of words in the upper crner confirmed the Captain was on FLEETCOM 7. "Gettysburg requesting assistance. All ships in range target that flagship. We'll take it down."
A group of Halcyon class cruisers turned about to fire on the ship.
Lances of red flame and traces of ghastly white lanced across space between the ships. The Gettysburg creaked as it accelerated toward the enemy vessel. Explosions and shots coloured the nearby space a strange mix of blood red, sky blue, blinding white, and fiery, hellish orange. Keyes was turning tail and accelerating to slipspace. "Godspeed, comrade." MacMillan said it so low no one else heard it. But Keyes deserved all the luck he could get. Poor bastard was being chased down in an outdated ship. Hopefully he made it.
Ninth Age of Reclamation,
Covenant Cruiser Divine Imposition
Epsilon Eridani system, Over the planet Reach
Orse' Tunammee gazed off blankly at the bridge crew he commanded. Sangheili moved about, monitoring this and that, and issuing orders. Unggoy ran underfoot, shuttling orders and watching monitors. A pair of Uragok chittered in the corner, waiting to fix something. "Shipmaster! One of the infidels is firing on our flagship!"
"Target them" Orse' barked."Focus on the ship headed for it."
"Yes, Excellency." The Sangheili had seen some of the ships destroyed in this battle, and were all nervous. That needed to be fixed.
0625 Hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar)\
UNSC Vessel Gettysburg, Epsilon Eridani system, Over planet Reach
"Sir, CCS class battle cruiser turning to open fire on us." Heathe was awfully calm and cool for a man hurtiling toward a deathtrap. "Ignore them, Ensign. Hold your fire." The captain keyed the inter-ship battlenet. "All non-combat personnel report to a lifeboat, and leave the ship." That meant everyone but his bridge crew of three, and a platoon of Marines would be onboard for musch longer. But he had a lifeboat armed and ready for them to eject. "Solipsol."
"yes, captain?" MacMillan detected a hint of irritability, but with these AIs, you can never really tell.
"Destroy NAV databses, wipe the computers of everything this crate won't need, and sort yourself for transfer. Solipsol tapped his forehead, and shifted a bit for about ten seconds. "Done. Yank me." MacMillan tapped a button on the pedestal, and solipsol faded out. A few more buttons stored his code in the ships' now empty database, and then a few more transferred him to a disc. MacMillan pocketed the disk, and deleted the backup of Solipsol's code."Heathe, set wepons to fire at 1 kilometer from the target. Salle, set your NAV computer to track the ship. destroy any records we have left." Both set out to do their tasks. MacMillan clipped an M6D in a leather holster to his belt. He did a quick check for any online computers, and finding none, returned to the middle of the bridge.
Salle put a round through the NAV control computer. Heathe uploaded the distance to the ship on his data pad, and then did the same. "How far away are we, Heathe?"
"1.5 Kilometers, and closing fast. Engine tempreture is reaching a critical level, and one of the coolant tanks is bleeding."
"Everyone out then. Hurry!"
The Marines led the short walk to the Lifeboat, and slammed the hatch shut. MacMillan took the wheel.
0630 Hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar)\
Lifeboat from UNSC Vessel Gettysburg, Epsilon Eridani System, Over planet Reach, Near Reach Station Gamma
MacMillan looked back out the hatch. he had handed over control of the rickety, beaten ship. The Gettysburg was still accelerating at a dangerous rate. A piece of the cannon fell off. The weapons fired. The damaged cannon tore itself into millions of gray, black, and red steel globules. Bits of bulkhead floated around. The ordinance from the Gettysburg struck the sheilds, and they flared a bright silver.The ship continued toward it, and the flagship -blam!-, gutting her from stem to stern, but according to the captains' neural interface, missing the slipspace generator and MAC systems. The Gettysburg struck the exposed side of the ship at dangerous speed, creating a massive bend in the ships' critical outer armor. An orbital super MAC platform finished the ship off, and the round it fired caused the atmosphere to vent. Orange, read, and purple fires and explosions ran down the hull. The covenant craft fell toward the surface of Reach.