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First Contact; Chapter 3: First Blood
Posted By: retsamolah<samesdios@yahoo.com>
Date: 24 July 2003, 4:37 AM
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High Orbit, Reach, December 2, 2519
Orders to investigate the disturbing disappearance of the Harvest colony were immediately set on the highest priority setting. The official decision had been made to send a full battlegroup in case a hostile enemy was discovered, so orders were patched through to the commanders of the Destroyer Heracles and the frigates Arabia and Vostok rerouting them to rendezvous above Reach and depart for their week-long slipspace journey to Harvest. Captain Veredi, commander of Heracles was a relatively new officer and this was his first high priority mission, so he set out to make everything perfect.
"Send orders to Arabia and Vostok to form up for the slipspace jump," he told his AI, called Shiva after the Hindu Goddess of knowledge, and the other two ships moved quickly into formation below and to the sides of his larger Destroyer.
"Shall I make the jump, Captain?" asked the AI.
"Yes, Shiva. Synchronize the group's velocities and move us out." There was an almost indiscernible acceleration, and the stars out the bridge windows disappeared to be replaced with the monotonous blackness that would not change for their whole week of warp-travel. The two frigates which had been visible outside before the jump were now impossible to see, being both infinitely far away and infinitely close at the same time. Thus are the wonders of slipspace travel, thought Veredi, and retired to his quarters. While in slipspace, the ship could fly itself. The week would be a long one, but come their arrival, he would face the most potent danger Humanity had ever seen.
UNSC Destroyer Pioneer, December 3, 2519
Petty Officer Third Class, John 117, lay perfectly healthy in a bed in the warship's hospital ward. He had taken a bullet to the shoulder during the SPARTAN-II capture of the rebel Colonel Watts. The powerful, cybernetically enhanced, super-soldier had seen far worse injuries, but the medical staff seemed intent on making sure he was completely whole before sending him back to combat.
John thought back to the combat scene. The close confines of the command center on Eridanus, the small group of elite troops guarding the insurrection leader, the 3 other Spartans by his side. He had seen the shooter, a young marine; seen him raise his weapon, but the bullets came too fast to dodge, even with his enhanced reflexes. Two 7.62mm rounds hit him just below the shoulder plate. John had barely flinched, squeezing off three quick rounds from his own assault rifle, right into the head of the shooter, and 4 of his cohorts. Only after the situation was secure did the follow-up crew discover the wound and send him immediately back the Destroyer's on board hospital. There he had sat since November 22, wondering when he would be allowed to go back to duty.
John didn't like being inactive for so long. He needed to keep of his training, and had a strange feeling that he would need all of it very soon. He had followed the news of the mysterious disappearance of Harvest, and somehow knew he would soon become deeply involved in the whole conflict.
UNSC Destroyer Heracles, December 8, 2519
Shiva's voice over the intercom woke Captain Veredi from a light nap in his quarters. "We are coming out of slipspace within the hour, Sir. You had better get to the bridge. I have no idea what we will find when we emerge here." Veredi sprung from his bunk, washed his face in the sink, and walked briskly to the bridge.
"Ok, Shiva, the reason this whole battlegroup was sent is that there might be a hostile presence here. I don't want to be caught unprepared. Bring the ships up to combat alert Alpha. I want everyone at their stations."
"Everyone, Sir?"
"Everyone... And Shiva..." the AI's image appeared on the projector
"Hmmm?"
"Let's make a good impression here."
"I've already begun." Alarms began to sound, and crewmen rushed to battle stations. He saw reports from the flight deck that all Longswords were manned and ready to fly. The main MAC guns were powered up and ready to use. The ship was fully ready for combat.
"We are here, Sir," said Shiva.
"Good. Everyone is ready. Bring her out now." This time, the deceleration was noticeable. The blackness in the windows was replaced with the same starry sky they had seen at Reach, but instead of the massive blue-green orb of Harvest, they saw a huge black sphere glinting slightly with reflected starlight from its glassy surface.
"I don't believe this," said Shiva with awe. "Sensors show the entire surface of the planet is completely incinerated. It is just a sheet of blackened glass. I don't know anything that could possibly do that to an entire planet." There was no trace of any human occupation in the area. Veredi had no idea what to do. After several minutes of a stunned silence on the bridge, Shiva finally spoke.
"Sir, I'm picking up some encrypted transmissions from this area. It's an encoding I've never seen, but from what I've been able to pick out, it is from one or two ships calling themselves the Covenant. Wait... there is a transmission sent here. You had better take a look at this!" Her image disappeared and was replaced by the same golden shining alien head that had appeared on the bridge of UNSC Santa Maria before it had been destroyed.
"Your destruction is the Will of the Gods... and we are their instruments!" said the voice in deep English. As if to punctuate the stunning words that still reverberated around the bridge, the shining Covenant cruiser materialized about 200 miles off the bow of the Heracles, moving very fast. Veredi reacted quickly, however and shouted to the crew and AI.
"Evasive Action! NOW!" The ship lurched sideways and downwards with as much speed as it could muster. The frigate, Vostok was not so lucky. It took a direct hit from the Covenant plasma cannon, and began drifting lifelessly through space, spewing thick black smoke from a burning hole in the hull. "Fire MAC guns," shouted Veredi, and the ship vibrated with the launch of the heavy explosive rounds. "Launch all Longswords," said the Captain as he watched the rounds streak towards the Covenant ship. The firepower that would destroy a small human destroyer struck the enemy cruiser near its flat, wide tail.
Ripples of blue and white light erupted around the impact point, spreading in irregular circles around the ship's contours. It was unlike any ship explosion he had ever seen, but Veredi was almost sure he had destroyed the alien cruiser.
But the ripples cleared, and the Covenant craft continued on unscathed. "They've got some form of energy shield around the ship," said Shiva loudly. "We need a weapon of a much higher magnitude to break through it." Just then, the Longswords engaged the enemy cruiser that began spewing out fighters of its own. These purple craft were smaller, but much more maneuverable than the large ungainly Longswords, and there were too many of them for the human fighter-bombers to destroy. Instead, they just tried to fly right through them.
The first wave of about 20 Longswords broke through the Covenant fighters, and launched their volley of 3 high energy nuclear missiles at the massive enemy ship. They banked up and away, heading back to the Heracles to rearm. 60 ten-foot-long missiles streaked towards the ship. Such a barrage, Veredi knew, could destroy a fully armed human carrier. The missiles approached the Covenant craft, powered on their warheads and moved in to impact. Suddenly, lances of blue plasma fire streaked from small batteries all over the enemy ship. Missile after missile was shot down, until only about 15 broke through and impacted on the ship. The blue and white ripples, that revealed the energy shield, flared, but did not break, and the Covenant craft continued unharmed.
"This can't be happening!" shouted Veredi in anger and frustration. The shining blue alien ship had resumed firing and the other frigate erupted into a silent fireball of light and energy. The waves of small Covenant fighters reached the Heracles, and began pounding on it with their small energy cannons. Most shots were deflected by the magnetically shielded armor plates, but several found there mark among exposed machinery and suddenly the destroyer was taking damage on all sides.
Of course, no sound was transmitted through the vacuum of space, but Veredi could imagine the tremendous hiss of power as the Covenant ship fired its main cannon. Shiva took immediate control of the listing human craft and managed to dodge the massive energy bolt with a gut-wrenching turn that threw the captain and the rest of the crew to the floor. She turned the ship, and began powering up for slipspace, but took a heavy hit on the port side, just in front of the engines.
"Sir, we've been hit!" shouted Shiva. "Part of the hull is shattered; I've sealed off all blast doors. I really hope we can make it to slipspace, because that's our only chance!"
The crippled Heracles accelerated, and chased by several thousand bolts of superheated plasma, vanished into slipspace.
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