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A Single Motion: part 5
Posted By: Arthur Wellesly<arthur_wellesly@hotmail.com>
Date: 9 April 2003, 7:18 PM
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A Single Motion: Part 5 (Final Chapter)
1300 Hours, June 28, 2525 (Military Calendar)/
Cote d'Azur, Colony Capital, Sigma Octanus IV, UNSC mining/farming colony
Admiral Stanforth had needed this holiday for a long time.
Of course, Stanforth's idea of a holiday was quite different from others'. While many would have liked to bask in the famous suns of Draco III, Stanforth liked to walk around famous cities and see all the historic sites. He had already taken a tour of Halu's House, the famous bunker in which 8,000 Marines had died trying to take this very city, once called Iskorosten. What he truly wanted to see, however, was the much-talked about museum of natural history that displayed a massive skeleton of a sea mammal, one of the few alien sentient beings ever found.
But right now, Stanforth was bored. Because he was part of a tour, he had to go through the geology section before he could get to the wildlife wing of the museum. Geology bored him to no end.
"... And this is an meteor found by UNSC geologists," the tour guide was saying. "It is of particular interest because of the strange markings found on it and the high concentration of unknown radioactive materials." He paused for a moment so the people could appreciate the specimen and then he moved on. "If you'll follow me, please."
Stanforth followed the guide absent-mindedly, giving the holographic panel
showing a magnified image of the rock a scant glance. He suddenly drew a sharp intake of breath and halted in his tracks so suddenly he almost fell over forward. The Guide saw this and laughed. "Ah, we have an admirer here," he said, misunderstanding the admiral's actions. "That isn't even one of our best astro-specimens. I assume you love geology."
Stanforth nodded without really listening. "Yes... yes, I love it."
0130 Hours, July 12, 2525 (Military Calendar)/
Cote d'Azur, Colony Capital, Sigma Octanus IV, UNSC mining/farming colony
"Whatever this is, it better be important if you dragged me here personally from Reach," Wagner said to Stanforth as he greeted her at the door of the museum. "You know how I hate those cryo-chambers."
"Yes, ma'am," he said respectfully. "But you know I wouldn't bring you here if it weren't important. Believe me, you're going to love this."
They opened the doors to the massive building and approached a simple AI who guarded the second set of doors. "The museum is closed," the automated message said.
"I have a pass," she said, and she ran her ONI identification card through a slit on
the wall.
"Please enter," the AI said, and the double doors swung open.
"So, Stanforth," she said, not without a certain amount of irritation in her normally steady voice, "I wish I could say I am riveted to find out what is in this museum that is so important, but as you may have guessed, I cannot. If you are wasting my time..."
"I thought I told you that you could trust me," he said, turning left into the geology section. "It is perhaps a clue as to who these aliens are - and what they are seeking."
This seemed to shut her up. She walked alongside him, her pace quickening, clearly eager now to see what was so important. Suddenly Stanforth stopped and gestured to an ordinary looking space rock and her face dropped. "This is it," she said, the disappointment clear in her voice.
"Take a closer look," Stanforth said, tapping the holographic panel showing a magnified image of the side of the rock.
Julia bent over and closely examined the image. Suddenly she gasped and leapt back, taken totally by surprise. "Good God, it is the alien language!" she exclaimed.
Stanforth shook his head. "No, not quite," he said, almost reproachfully. He looked at her confused expression and began to elaborate. "On your lengthy journey here, I had ample time to come in here and examine this rock. I compared it to the knowledge I already have and some of the 'letters' in the computer you gave me, and they do not match. They are, of course, very similar, but, alas, they are not identical."
"So what are we doing here," she asked.
"Several reasons," he said. "Firstly, I already said they were very similar, and I hold true to that. I was able to translate some of it, I think, quite accurately. One part of the lettering says something about a 'ring of destruction' and another something about a 'massive cudgel' potentially wielding 'mass destruction'."
"So why don't we take it out of here?" she asked, excitement building. "Take it to the lab where it could be analyzed..."
"No," he said quickly. "If we take it, it would look far too conspicuous. Besides, I think we both know what it is referring to. The 'gods' cudgel'."
Wagner shook her head, regaining control of herself. "You are right. There is no need to take the risk." She paused. "You said there were several things of note about this rock."
He smiled. "Indeed there are. Do you remember those other characters from that transmission that were undecipherable for many years until it was recently realized that it was a form of navigation symbolization?"
"Yes," she said, her voice shaking, anticipating what was going to be said next.
"Well, there are those exact symbols on this rock, which I would guess gives the precise location of the 'gods' cudgel'."
Wagner trembled with excitement. "Do you understand what this means?" she asked, extremely happy. "If we get to this ring first, we'd get an upper hand on these aliens when they come for us." She stopped and bit her lip. "And I fear that day is near at hand. The further we stray into space the closer I feel to destruction."
1230 Hours, August 9, 2525 (Military Calendar)/
Alpha-1 Space Station in orbit around Chi Cheti IV, UNSC Military complex and mining colony
It had taken nearly two weeks to convince the navy to send a state-of-the-art Cruiser, the Silent Night, to a seemingly randomized area deep into unexplored space on a "reconnaissance role". It had taken another two weeks to scrounge enough money to make the mission possible and to find an appropriate captain and crew for the job. They ended up spending about a two billion dollars out of ONI's funds, but to them it was pocket change - at least in the face of all the benefits.
They had ended up with a captain named Caitlin Young. She had distinguished herself as a lieutenant commander when she saved a ship from mutiny after the captain and commander had been killed. For her heroic efforts she had jumped a spot and received a commission as captain of the frigate Blue Moon. Of course now she had been transferred to the Silent Night and she had yet to find out why.
The crew consisted of 2,000 ops personnel and 850 Marines. The Marines were specially selected from an elite, swollen battalion in the 105th Orbital Drop Shock Troops. The ops personnel were also the best of the best, coming from famous ships like the Gearing, the Montgomery, and the Crimson Sun. It struck everyone as weird, especially fleet admiral Preston Cole, but ONI was highly influential and they got what they wanted.
There were very few in the galaxy who were even aware of the existence of Chi Cheti IV. For the most part it did not permit civilians of any kind for it was a testing ground for many top secret UNSC weapon and ship designs as well as a manufacturing facility for the very same things. It just so happened that the planet housed some of the richest metal deposits in the entire human empire, which brought a steady flow of materials towards the military's efforts.
In high orbit around Chi Cheti 4 was a gargantuan space station that might give the famous one at Reach a run for its money. It had a solid cylinder one-kilometer long topped by a massive half-sphere three kilometers in diameter. It was from here that a fifth of all UNSC ships were built and serviced. And it was here that the Silent Night docked.
The impressive cruiser, 293.4 meters long, was dwarfed by the immense space structure. The long ship docked in a side-docking bay on the cylinder and captain Young boarded the station via Pelican transport to be briefed on her mission personally by Wagner and Stanforth. She walked towards them instantly, recognizing them from the email she had received. Stanforth had the immediate impression that she was an attractive woman of about thirty. She had shoulder length hair and a pretty face, but sorrow and cynicism now marked the face that must once have looked innocent and promising after experiencing the worst of human nature. Nevertheless it did not check her beauty - to Stanforth it made her look even more attractive.
"Ah, Captain Young, I presume," Wagner said with a smile, extending a hand.
"Ma'am," she said respectfully, shaking the hand but not returning the smile.
"Well, we'll get right down to business," Stanforth said, noticing with some amusement that a flicker of relief briefly fluttered across her face. "You and the Silent Night are going to these coordinates," he passed a small, handheld computer to her, "to investigate an anomaly we may have discovered out there."
Young didn't even look at the computer. "That's ridiculous, sir" she said simply. "Why would you send the best cruiser in the fleet to investigate some anomaly?"
Stanforth looked at her reproachfully. "Maybe you should look at the computer, captain," he said. "The coordinates indicated are far beyond the edge of our boundaries. Indeed I believe we are practically there right now. But it will take you months to get to your destination."
Young glanced at the screen and raised an eyebrow. "Alright, sir, I concur with your analysis, but still, I must ask why not send a prowler? Many of them are now equipped with Fujikawa Shaw Slipstream generators."
"True," Wager interjected, "but the Silent Night is equipped with a modified generator and the best Fusion Engine Core we have been able to build. We have to get there fast, captain."
"May I ask why, ma'am," she asked Wagner.
"No," she retorted. "We'll tell you everything you'll need to know. Keep in mind we'll be in constant with you via subspace messaging. You'll have to send us monthly reports and then daily once you reach your final destination. Understood?"
"Yes, ma'am," she said, saluting crisply. Stanforth and Wagner returned the gesture.
After this short debriefing Young walked back to the personal docking station to the pelican that would bring her back to the Silent Night.
Stanforth leaned over Wagner's shoulder and said quietly into her ear, "Do you think we just sentenced her to death?"
Wagner shrugged impassively, putting herself in a different mindset so as she would not be haunted by the awful possibility. "I would hope not, admiral. We need to find out what the gods' cudgel is."
They looked out a window and watched the pelican enter the cruiser's docking bay.
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