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Hope Battle Platform 'Jupiter'
Geosync Orbit
Terra Nova
3rd March 2783
'Towards the end of the Humano-Covenant war, shortly after the Fall of Reach, the UNSC devised a plan to ensure that some members of humanity survived should they be defeated.' The teacher had a quiet voice and a number of children in the class had to struggle to hear what she said, while others were far more captivated by the view from the window.
'Nearly ten thousand of humanity's best, along with thousands upon thousands of frozen embryos were gathered in a convoy of long range freighters, agro-ships and a number of frigates, this convoy was despatched to the very edge of space, where they would be safe.' A hologram of the galaxy appeared next to the teacher, showing the location of Sol, Hope, and Epsilon Eridanus.
'They didn't just travel randomly though, they were sent to one of a series of seven coordinates that had been found in crystals scattered around the known galaxy. The coordinates selected were at the very edge of the galaxy, as far away as possible, the risks were huge and the journey took years but the Colonists found Hope, and made it their new home, without them none of us would be here.' At the push of a button the hologram shifted to show the star system with each planet's orbit represented.
'The star was named 'Hope' for that is what it was, a beacon of hope shining on the Colonists, around hope spin five planets, three of which we call home. The innermost planet is named Thanatos, because its proximity to the sun means that it is burned and barren. The outermost planet is known as Archway and around it spins two satellites, one a natural moon, the other an artificial ring, known as a 'Halo' The class of children were growing bored by the monologue, shifting uncomfortably and fidgeting.
'The other three planets are, quite impossibly, all habitable and occupy a similar orbit, we believe this is intentional, done by those that built the Halo. Those three planets are called Terra Nova, Utopia and Freedom, Terra Nova, which is below you, is the most populated and has the government, Freedom is an empty farm world, there aren't many people there, while Utopia is a balance of the two and is considered the most beau…' Her voice trailed off as two boys started a rowdy tussle, rolling on the floor and shouting, the other children laughed and jeered at the two wrestling figures. The adults accompanying the class broke the fight up and led the children back to their SkyLink shuttle.
The teacher, whose name was Felicity Munroe, shut off the holoprojector and sighed, before turning to look out a huge viewport. Her gaze focused on one of the platforms main cannons, recessed slightly into the hull surface. The cannon looked harmless from where she stood, but she had seen its power at a test firing once, and it terrified her.
A flash of movement distracted her from the weapon, she focused on a small shape that detached from the station and sped away down towards the planet, Felicity watched the SkyLink as it descended into the atmosphere, before fixing a smile on her face and turning to meet the next class of children.
Forces Bar
Outskirts of Europa City
Terra Nova
'Listen Mr..er..Sergeant, I don't care how good you think you are, without the Navy you're all cooked when the shit hits the fan,' Lieutenant 'Squirrel' Sauvage argued, whilst finishing another drink. 'Without us to cover you you're all as good as dead, you'd never even make it planetside, a whole lot of good you'd be then, face it, without us the Infantry is useless.'
The big, burly Sergeant seemed shocked by this, then smirked and, while pushing Squirrel's fresh drink away, said, far louder than was necessary.
'You trying to badmouth the Infantry?' The ambient noise in the smoky bar dropped considerably as many ears strained to hear what was being said at the bar. Hearing this another pilot, sitting at a table with a young woman looked up.
'Squirrel starting another fight?' he asked his companion, who only nodded. Lieutenant James 'Badger' Barraclough sighed and watched his wingman at the bar, all the while tensed for trouble.
Squirrel laughed at the Sergeants blunt attempt to start a fight and brazenly swigged from the man's drink. She placed the glass down very slowly, knowing that he would keep his eyes on her face. She shut her eyes for a moment, gritted her teeth and punched him in the face.
The Sergeant staggered back, looking shocked, before a vicious left hook caught him on the cheek and left him sprawling on the floor. The crowd of drinkers cheered before clearing a space for the combatants and furiously exchanging bets.
Squirrel let the Sergeant get up and the two fighters slowly circled each other. Drink made Squirrel reckless and she darted forwards, swinging a punch. Her wrist was caught and twisted so that she gasped in pain before a savage blow caught her on the jaw and sent her reeling.
While her back was turned the Sergeant charged forwards for a shot to the pilot's kidneys, only to receive an elbow to the face. He swore horribly and buried his fist in Squirrel's stomach. She fell with a grunt, the cried aloud as his boot cracked into her ribs.
Badger gave a quick series of hand gestures to his companion and the two of them ran towards the bar. His companion, a small woman in civilian clothes ran to the fallen pilot while he leapt in front of the Sergeant, pushing him back and shouting about levelling charges against the man.
'Hey shortarse, I didn't realise you were here,' Squirrel said weakly as she was dragged out the bar.
'Must you call me that?' Lieutenant Alice 'Shortarse' Madden asked tetchily.
'Well it is your call sign,' came the quiet reply. Madden sighed and shifted her grip.
'Wait, stop, stop now, please,' Madden kept walking
'No seriously Shortarse, I really need to stop,' Squirrel moaned
'Why?' Madden snapped
'Because I'm going to be sick,' without any ceremony Madden dropped the drunk pilot and stepped back.
Turning from her vomiting friend Madden watched Badger run from the bar, which had erupted to the sound of fighting, even from where she was standing she could see the grin on his face.
'Fine group of responsible officers we are, credit to the Navy us,' she remarked over the sound of splattering.
'Just an honest barfight, nothing wrong with that, eh?' was the reply
'No, no it was the perfect end to our leave,' she spoke with withering sarcasm 'our SkyLink to the Aaenid leaves in five hours,' Shortarse peered down at Squirrel who had stopped throwing up and now lay on the road.
'Think she'll have sobered up by then?
'Reach' class battlecruiser 'Aaenid'
Flagship: Human Navy
Orbit above Terra Nova
The three pilots stepped through the airlock from the SkyLink and onto the Aaenid. With their kitbags slung on their shoulders they made their way through the maze of corridors towards the pilot's areas. Madden split from the other two, heading towards Watchtower Squadron's dorm while Badger and Squirrel kept going towards Revenant Squadron's dorm.
Badger pushed open the hatch to Revenant's dorm and found it deserted, which wasn't surprising he thought, most of the pilots would be flying CAP or in the pilot's common area. He threw his bag onto his cot and stretched.
'Good to be home, eh?' he said cheerfully, Squirrel just groaned.
'Oh its wonderful,' she gingerly touched her ribs and winced.
'Hey, you alright?' in a second his attitude changed, his subtle ways of irritating her disappearing and genuine concern showing through. She winked and said flirtatiously
'I'm fine, nothings broken, why? Were you worried about me?' He coloured and looked away.
'Squirrel, you got your arse kicked, of course I'm worried, I'd have noone to fly with,' she smiled at the sudden openness and vulnerability in her wingman.
'And you were really drunk, anything could have happened,' as always when his tone turned patronising she grew angry and defensive.
'Listen, I knew what I was doing, I didn't need your help! And I've had far worse than this before, back when I was, back, well in the past,'
She turned and strode out of the dorm, pausing for an moment at the door, long enough to say,
'I'm going to the common area, coming?' Badger sighed and followed her out the hatch.
Captain Jason Cairns stood at ease on the bridge of the Aaenid, watching the orbital traffic. His first officer, Commander Faye Adams, strolled over to him.
'Do we have orders, sir? She enquired. Cairns sighed and turned to face her.
'Yes, the Admiral has ordered us to carry out a patrol of Route Five.' Adams muttered something under her breath.
'Those were my thoughts, Route five isn't the most interesting of patrols, but these are our orders,' Adams just nodded mutely.
'Prep the ship Number One, we have jump clearance, call me when you're ready,'
Cairns acknowledged her salute and strode off the bridge.
Adams stood there for a few moments, the started issuing orders in a rapid stream.
'Helm, break orbit. Nav, plot a pinpoint jump to Beacon Five. Engineering, warm jump drives. Ops, prep ship for departure. FlightOps, recall all ships. Aaenid, coordinate,' the ship's AI appeared on a holo-pedestal and said, with a smile.
'My pleasure, Commander,' Adams hadn't liked the AI on her old ship and this one wasn't much better, maybe she just didn't like them all she mused as she stood at the centre of the chaos that had engulfed the bridge. Maybe it was just the sense of superiority they gave off, they knew everything the ship knew, an AI could run a ship, and that was a worrying thought if one ever went rampant.
'All hands report to jump-stations, prep for immediate jump,' Badger and Squirrel hadn't reached the pilots room when the ship's voice echoed from every speaker on every deck. They turned and had just begun to head towards their jump stations when the deck lurched underneath them, the gravity increasing considerably, as the Aaenid's massive engines fired to push her out of orbit. The two pilots clung to each other for several moments to avoid falling over. Badger glanced at Squirrel and started when their eyes met. He looked away, blushing, and so missed the look of confusion in her eyes. He looked back at her, gave a small smile, and they continued to their jump-station.
Cairns returned to the bridge of the Aaenid and acknowledged the Marine sentry's salute.
'Captain on deck!' a crewman shouted
'As you were,' Cairns smiled at his second in command 'report,'
'All decks report ready for jump, we have clearance to depart and are standing by, Sir,' she said, brushing brown hair behind her ear
'Very good, Commander, you may begin jump,'
'Thank you Sir, jump report?' a chorus of 'Readies' came from each of the bridge stations.
'Beginning count. Jumping in five, four, three, two, one, jump'
A vortex of blue appeared just ahead of the Aaenid. The vast warship nosed into the rupture, her engines going dark, then the ship was gone, swallowed up by the rapidly closing vortex, and then there was nothing but empty space.
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