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Politics and Soldiers by Griffin 3542
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Politics and Soldiers: Colliding Cultures I
Date: 24 February 2006, 10:42 pm
This is a story of colliding cultures, that have almost forever been isolated. Of course, we all recognise the UNSC's struggles against the Covenant, but I have one other obsession apart from Halo-Skylords, an online strategy game that I write a regular story for (hence, Politics and Soldiers). I will keep ALL of my stories Halo-relevant, and will help explain any Skylords-related material. This is of course all speculation as to the actual Halo story, but comes mainly off the novels. Welcome to all Skylords visiting, and I hope you enjoy the series.
Politics and Soldiers Collding Cultures I
UNSC Military Calendar 31st September 2151
Onboard Stolen Chiroptera-Class Ship in Slipspace
Kelly, Spartan 087 was furious. She kept it hidden of course, but there was no doubt as to how infuriated and very deeply betrayed she felt. Barely that very morning she had been walking into the Gettysburgs medbay, only to be sedated by Dr Hasley and now onboard the Chiroptera class ship which she found was actually called the Brandy Supreme. Simply put, Dr Hasley had them on a course away from ANY known co-ordinates, almost as if she had deserted Earth-deserted humanity.
And while the veteran soldier believed she had known the Doctor, it appeared that she had been wrong.
Mentally, Kelly grappled as to whether she should take command of the vessel and head straight for Earth. She knew of an obscure ONI clause that dictated that "If an officer or a person of equivalent authority is shown as guilty of desertion of duty then that person's orders are no longer valid, and so command falls upon the next person in the command chain.". Which essentially fell to her.
But she as of yet didn't know whether Dr Hasley was deserting or not.
And there was no way in the high hills that she was going to disobey a direct order from a commanding officer.
When the SPARTAN had asked Dr Hasley the purpose of their "mission", she had merely told Kelly to check up on the vessel's tactical systems...or the lack thereof. Still, the Doctor had had the sense to bring some weapons, so Kelly was satisfied in that respect. She also found that doing that menial work was almost relaxing...or to be more specific, distracting.
That had been three hours ago.
However, in the next few minutes the Brandy Supreme would drop out of Slipspace, to wherever the Doctor was so keen to get to.
Kelly made her way towards the bridge, intent on finding out why they had seemingly deserted any hope of helping humanity.
On the bridge, which was more of a cockpit really, Dr Hasley sat in the main control chair looking over something.
"Um...Doctor?" Kelly asked, using a slight motion of her helmet to get the message across.
The aging woman sighed, then a look of resignation dawned on her face.
"Kelly. I suppose you're wondering why I kidnapped you and abandoned everybody. You're entirely right I suppose; I have abandoned them. But I have most certainly NOT abandoned humanity; that I guarantee." She glanced at the Slipspace timer, and turned her back on Kelly. Sighing, Kelly got into the pilot seat and awaited orders.
"3 minutes till slipspace exit," the drone voice of the computer rambled. Kelly couldn't help but wonder why Jiles hadn't changed the voice; it sounded like it was coming from an android.
"Let me put it this way Kelly-you'll have the answer within five minutes."
And so, impatiently, Kelly waited.
89th day of the Great War,
Semenai system,
Onboard Skylords battle cruiser USLN Saviour
Captain James Gerrous was pretty damned iritated. For days the pride of the Skylords the Saviour had been sitting in orbit of Semenai IV, doing nothing more then be a pretty sight...and target. Nowadays, the old commander was thinking more and more about war.
Soon he wouldn't be able to go to bed right...and considering Sarah, neither of them would be quite willing for that particular thing to happen.
An ever so slight smile flickered across his face.
A sudden alarming bleep-bleep woke him from his thoughts.
"Leuitenant Terrence?"
"In a minute sir."
His hands raced across the tactical board, and a confused frown creased the young man's face.
"Sir, it looks like an Interstellar Flight rupture...but these signals are like nothing I've..."
He stopped as the front screen turned to the bright blue distortion on the front screen...rather different from the I-Flight and Hyperdrive distortions familiar to the Skylords.
A small vessel, perhaps the size of a Slipjaw heavy bomber emerged, and there was no doubt in anyone's mind as to the origins of that ship.
Because it certainly wasn't Skylordian.
The Skylords were not too complex a culture, but they were definitely powerful. In fact the Skylords had ruled over a good 3/4 of the entire Galaxy for the last 6000 years, but they weren't so much a single culture but a gigantic meeting of empires and clans; war was not so much a possibility, but a way of life. Generally, all of the hundred odd empires had their own Skylord, a being of tremendous power and unbelievably varied attributes. However, as they could not reproduce, they were dying out; a mere dozen remained.
But those times of galactic bickering were over.
A scarce year ago, an enormous empire had attacked perhaps the strongest planet in Skylords space, Twilight Citadel, and all of the Skylordian factions had united. One of the most gigantic, bloodiest battles in human history had resulted, but the united Skylords had held firm; the Empire as they had become known had been defeated.
But the resulting war had cost the Skylords a full 1/3 of their territory...and counting.
Which was the exact reason why the programming on automated turrets changed to track and make ready to do battle with any unidentified craft in the system.
Such as the Brandy Supreme.
"Madam! The defence turrets on that planet on targeting us, I have evasive maneuveurs prepared. They're not firing yet though; odd that the Covenant aren't attacking us yet.
"That's because they're not the Covenant," the doctor whispered back...with what looked like amazement on her face?
"Sir? Should I open fire?"
The old Captain shook his head; despite his growing weariness since leading the Skylords fleet at Twilight Citadel, he wanted to give the occupants of the craft the benefit of the doubt. Besides, he had fallen in love slap bang in the middle of that battle.
"Turn the ship so that their current trajectory goes into the hangar bay...and bring a heavy security team, a HAZMAT team and also bring Cydiona down, and tell her she might have to do combat."
Well...partially the benefit of the doubt.
Kelly only took a couple of minutes to suit up, grabbing a battle rifle and a shotgun, as well as stocking up on a couple of plasma grenades and a bandolier of fragmentation grenades. No harm in being careful after all.
When the Supreme Brandy entered the cavernous hangar bay, no less than 20 soldiers, a terrifyingly armed Cydiona and the hangar's main interior turret tracked it's progress. Slowly but surely, the small ship stopped and touched down; when the ramp began to descend, tension almost crackled with electricity.
First out came a 7 foot tall green goliath, wielding what looked like an old fashioned projectile weapon, but there could be no mistaking the grenades nor the simple ferocious message that figure put across. Suddenly, the nervous Captain found himself cursing that he hadn't gotten more soldiers; if that ship was full of those things, then suffice to say he might very well lose control of his ship. It could even be an Imperial spy; although the Empire had yet to be discovered doing any espionage work, nobody put the aliens past it. The figure snapped it's weapon up towards the Skylordian party, but to the great relief of everyone present didn't open fire. The Captain prayed that no triggers of his own party slipped.
Behind the armoured giant came a small, wrinkled old woman; a human. She carried no weapons on her, but there was a certain sense of intelligence about her that the Captain almost automatically assumed that she was a scientist.
And it was she who gave a calming nod to the giant, whos weapon slowly lowered.
Feeling slightly reassured by this action, the Captain spoke first, using his best command voice; the one least prone to sounding nervous.
"I am Captain James Gerrous of the battlecruiser Saviour, flagship of the Galactic Skylords Battle Fleet. We don't want to fight you; in honesty, every Skylord faction in the entire galaxy is busy fighting another invading enemy. May I enquire as to your identitiy…and purpose?"
He carefully studied the woman's face, and was surprised when an expression of relief spread across her wrinkled features.
"I am Dr Halsey, military scientist of the United Nations Space Command, which is based in planet Earth." She used one of the oldest sentences in human history, and couldn't help but smile at the irony of it. "We come in peace. Obviously, we are all human here…although I'll admit that that is probably the only common thing between us. Right now, Earth and it's colonies are under heavy attack from a conglomerate of species called the Covenant. They have superior technology and have all but destroyed our naval forces. We've been doing what we can against them for decades. Indeed, a scarce few days ago they destroyed our military centre and main shipyards, REACH. For all I know, they could be attacking our homeworld, Earth right now. I found you by interpreting a number of artefacts from an ancient galaxy-spanning race called the Forerunners, and found you and this system by that way. As we are both human, we plead for assistance from our kin; our race's very survival might depend on it."
She finished her rehearsed speech breathlessly, and Cydiona gaped.
No, wait.
The Captain blinked a few times to actually register it; yup, she was gaping.
A moment of silence past…which was briefly interrupted by an alarm.
"Incoming targets, tactical alert. All personnel to their stations."
The Captain acted immediately.
"Corporal Taylor, get your men to the defence guns. Doctor Halsey and…um…your guard, please follow me."
They walked at a brisk pace to the bridge, to see a viewscreen focused on a squadron of alien ships.
Reflexively, the Captain growled "The Empire," and Dr Halsey simultaneously said "The Covenant."
Both looked at each other, and a new bond of understanding lit between them.
That they were in very, very hot water.
Politics and Soldiers: Colliding Cultures II
Date: 18 March 2006, 12:50 am
21st September 2151,
Semenai System,
Onboard Skylords Flagship"Saviour".
In the small, insignificant system that was the Semenai system two powerful warships sized each other up, flashing their teeth and snarling with hate.
One was the "Angel" class super battle cruiser "Justice and Punishment", a Covenant vessel that sported over 40 powerful "thread lasers", a new Covenant weapon that had been used to great effect by the vessel's sistership at the Battle of REACH. On her were around 7,000 veteran Elite soldiers, as well as another 4,000 Engineers. With undeniable menace she sparked her guns and crept up to her adversary.
This was the USLN Saviour, a mighty veteran battle cruiser that had survived countless battles and had a crew who were unequalled in their effectiveness. The smaller ship sported many, many phase turrets as well as Type-IX plutonic semi-nuclear torpedoes, a devastating weapon which the Saviour had in abundance. The shielding system of the Saviour was advanced as one would find, with a startling 500% increase over it's adversary...although the fact that the Saviour was outgunned by 4 to 1 did them no favours. The dignified cruiser flexed it's muscles, placing itself directly inbetween the Covenant and the heavily populated Semenai IV.
"Ensign Marcus, do you think you can outmaneuveur that goliath?"
The 42 year old pilot nodded. "They have pretty old fashioned maneuveuring systems sir, and an extremely primitive pair of fusion reactors. I've never seen those weapons before though."
The aging doctor behind him immediately spoke up.
"They're thread lasers, some kind of fast-as-light weapon that cut through our warships armour like tissue paper. It had a five-minute recharge, and I doubt you can outmaneuveur it. Tell your AI to use emergency thrusters the moment it..."she stopped, looking at the puzzled expressions.
"AI? As in artifical intelligence? Sorry Doctor, but we don't have them. Our computers are top notch though; I hear you. Mr Jiles?"
"Done before you asked sir."
The Captain nodded almost to himself, and had a deep, deep breath.
"All hands, prepare for duel, repeat duel with large enemy ship. Brace for serious damage and snappy maneuvering. At your best everyone; anything less and you won't be seeing your families again."
This brought out a momentary twinge for Sarah in his stomach, but he bit it down.
"Helm...ahead at flank speed, try to get on top of them to the rear. Be weary of emergency bursts by the computer."
"Tactical, try to focus your fire on single targets and save the torpedoes for when we get their shields down unless I say otherwise."
At this, Cydiona the resident Skylord spoke up.
"Captain...I can give you an advantage by using a stealth ship to sneak onboard and cause havok with their systems."
Now the armoured green soldierr spoke up too; was this a bloody committee?
"I'm an excellent soldier Captain...I request that I go too."
With a confirming glance from Dr Halsey, the Captain nodded.
"Get your butts down to the hangar bay then, and be careful. Those are going to veteran elites over there."
Both nodded, and half-ran into a turbolift.
10 seconds later, the enemy opened fire.
The Saviour danced around the bright blue plasma bursts with light-hearted grace, while herself letting loose her own arsenal of phase cannons and the odd torpedo or too when the shields were breached. The enemy who were 4 times the Saviour's size tried to keep track, but being so large and bulky had it's disadvantages. Still, tiny Seraph fighters did what the Justice and Punishment could not, sending wave after wave of plasma into the Saviour shields whilst also engagingthe 4 squadrons of Slipjaw light and heavy fighters that protected the Saviour with formidable skill.
In all of the mayhem, an ever so tiny black vessel, no larger then the bridge of the Saviour dropped from it's cargo bay and slipped in ever so silently into one of the many holes the Saviour was creating in the enemy shields. With unnatural speed the small vessel docked at one of the hatches...and two of the most formidable female soldiers to ever grace the Covenant entered the Justice and Punishment.
Cydiona drew her blades...and Kelly drew her guns. The Elites outside the hatch were no match for their experience; they fell without even having the chance to fire a single plasma bolt. When a response party of Elites arrived on the scene, one half of the silver party were cut into pieces by the energy blades of Cydiona; the other half fell to the deadly fragmentation grenade and well-placed fire of the 42 year old SPARTAN.
With barely a passing notice of each other, the two elite soldiers marched onwards.
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