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The Final Meeting - Part 1
Posted By: Bluestone<bluestone@343gs.com>
Date: 15 January 2004, 7:32 PM
Read/Post Comments
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CHAPTER 1
15th July 2560
Aboard Human Vessel, Orpheus in Slipspace
The Bridge door slide open and a pale, tall man entered. His breath smelt of cigarette smoke and his gaze was firmly fixed on the Captain.
"This isn't going to work," the ODST said, "I mean, one Human vessel against the entire Covenant planet... The odds are crazy"
"Watch your mouth, that's no way to speak to a Captain. Has anyone told about the Spartans?" Capt. Stenman remarked. He was clearly angry about the young ODST's respect for him.
"No sir, I was unaware of any Spartans aboard the ship" He answered, being a little more cautious with his words. "I suppose that does make the odds a little more realistic, how many are there?" he added.
Light flickered from the AI terminal and a small figure appeared. Kia had been programmed the same way as Cortana had. Apart from the fact that no AI is exactly the same, Kia was pretty much identical. Cortana started failing immediately after the Covenant failed their first attack on Earth back in 2552. 'Smart' AI's only last around 7 or 8 years. Cortana eventually stopped functioning around 3 years ago... Since then, Kia has been her identical copy. She looked smaller, but spoke with absolute confidence.
"There are currently 3 Spartans aboard... John, Fred and Linda. All are preparing on Deck 4G" Kia said. "We will be arriving in Covenant controlled space in around 3 minutes"
"And then the party starts" the ODST sarcastically remarked.
He had been against the mission even since it was drawn up. Kia had learned the location of one of the Covenant's several planets after intercepting an encoded message sent to Covenant ground troops on Earth. The plan went from there. A group of ODST Marines and the last remaining Spartans were put together to go and 'investigate'.
Once again the Bridge door opened to reveal three fully armoured Spartans, the centre one was slightly in front of the other two. He nodded at the others and walked in.
"Sir!" John said, and snapped a crisp salute. The Captain returned his salute and spoke...
"Good to see you. I called you to finalise the mission. We will be leaving Slipspace shortly, and once we do, it won't be pretty. John, you will be carrying Kia in your suit... She has the essential codes you will need to get past the Covenant defences" Stenman said. The Spartan shifted un-easy, it was the first time he had had an AI in his suit since the loss of Cortana, but he accepted, he had to.
"I understand" John replied. Fred stepped forward abruptly.
"Sir! Permission to speak Sir" he said confidently.
"Accepted" Stenman said.
"We have the dropship ready, but I have a question"
"Proceed"
"What if this doesn't work? The codes we have are months old, and the Covenant change them daily, if they find out that a bunch of Humans are heading for the planet, we won't even get a chance". The Captain sighed and looked out the Bridge front display screen. He was not all that different from Captain Keyes, and had proven outstanding in battlefield tactics in the attack for Earth.
"It will work, I can feel it. We've come this far and we can't give up now. The codes will work" he said confidently.
"Entering Covenant controlled space in 3, 2, 1..." Kia said firmly.
CHAPTER 2
15th July 2560
Aboard Human Vessel, Orpheus in Covenant Controlled Space
A massive star appeared on screen, a long with a huge planet. It seemed to glow with tiny pinpoints of light. The Captain looked closer... He saw thousands or possibly millions or objects close to the planet. They looked like ships like the huge Covenant cruisers he had seen all his life, except they couldn't have been... They were too many.
"Scan those objects Kia" He said, worried.
"Sir... Scan complete" Her voice was slow, and seemed anxious. "Scan shows 1,673,921 Covenant cruisers, 801,843 destroyers and 234 Control Ships. There are 3,495,765 unknown objects"
"Christ" the Captain said under his breath.
"Sir! I've just discovered another object, 10,000 kilometres in diameter" Kia exclaimed. John felt a shiver run up his spine. It didn't seem right, he had heard that number before but he couldn't pin it. Then it was announced...
"It can't be... Sir, the object is approximately 200,000 miles from the planet and is orbiting at a slow rate. Uh-oh... The object matches exactly to the Halo Installation discovered in 2552" Kia said.
Everyone stood in shock. John was horrified. How was it possible? A Halo orbiting a Covenant planet? It didn't make sense; there were too many questions, with too little answers.
"So here it is... The beginning of the end" Stenman muttered.
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