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The Defense of Earth 6; Spark's Demise
Posted By: Steele<hoffmansteele@hotmail.com>
Date: 3 August 2003, 1:52 PM
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The Defense of Earth: Chapter Six; Spark's Demise
1230 Hours, October 15, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
UNSC Silence...
Captain Dean Williams stared at the view screen before him, his eyes boring holes in it. Two hours ago he had received a message from Admiral Stanforth ordering him to leave the engagement near Mars and make all speed toward an intercept course near the moon. Apparently he was supposed to capture a lone Covenant drop ship.
He turned to his Navigations officer, "Lieutenant how much longer until intercept?"
"Ah...sir, you should be seeing the drop ship now.
"Wait, sir she's radioing on all frequencies. Want me to put it up?"
"Yes."
The face of a young Navy Commander appeared on the viewscreen. "I am Commander Richard Mitchell of the UNSC. My fighter crashed inside a Covenant ship, carrying an ancient parasitic race known as the Flood. I managed to destroy the ship and escape. Unknown UNSC Battleship, repeat I am—"
"Is he crazy or something. Send out a pair of Daggers to escort him in. Scan the drop ship, make sure it has nothing on board to destroy my Silence."
"Aye, sir."
Williams watched the two sleek Dagger fighters form up on the Covenant drop ship. The drop ship continued on, unperturbed by the fighter's presence.
"Sir the scan is positive. Only one person on board, nothing threatening picked up, though we did pick up what appeared to be a type of AI."
"Alright as soon as the drop ship docks, apprehend the Commander and search the ship. Isolate the Commander and make sure he is normal and mentally sane. Let me know when you're done."
"Aye, sir."
Commander Rick "Einstein" Mitchell knew he wouldn't be receiving a warm welcome; the two Daggers only boosted that thought. Both of the UNSC fighters were somewhere behind him, no doubt set up for a quick missile shot.
"Commander Mitchell, this is Devil One. I'm you're escort. Stay on your current heading and dock in the starboard bay. Any attempts to deviate and I will fire. Understand?"
"I understand, Devil One." Rick turned to 343 Guilty Spark, "You can explain everything about the Flood, can't you?"
"Yes, of course I can."
"You do realize they will suck your memory banks dry?"
"Yes. And then they will terminate me. My purpose is no more."
Rick shrugged and went back to flying the drop ship. Ever since escaping he'd tried to get answers out of the strange little thing, but Spark never told him anything useful. Coming up on the UNSC ship, he cut speed and carefully flew the drop ship through the starboard bay, slowing down and gently setting the ship down in the bay. He climbed out.
The barrel of an MA5B Assault Rifle greeted him. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask that you come with me," the Marine ordered.
"Nice to see you too." Just then, 343 Guilty Spark floated out from behind him.
One of the Marines cried out in shock and lifted his assault rifle, firing a three-round burst at Spark. The first two shots bounced off Spark's domed top, but the third pierced the camera-like lens and blew through. 343 Guilty Spark dropped like a rock and rolled around on the deck, smoking and sparking. It was almost comical.
"Holy shit," one of the Marines exclaimed.
"What in the hell was that, sir?" asked the leader of the detachment.
Rick felt strangely happy at the little robot's demise. It had just seemed evil. "I don't know, but it saved my life and Earth
The Marine looked skeptical. "Follow me."
Rick followed him.
Captain Dean Williams loosened his collar and popped open a refrigerator removing a bottle of well-aged Brandy in the process. Today had been...interesting. The techs had downloaded a ton of very very interesting information from the floating camera-thing known as 343 Guilty Spark.
ONI had already gotten some pretty good information about the Halos from Cortana and the Master Chief, but 343 had whole databanks full of information. Information that would win the war.
They know knew why the Flood had been created, where all seven (now six thanks to the 'Chief's handiwork) Halos were, who the Forerunner had been (though there was still no clue as to their disappearance, but Humans were their descendants), advanced technologies, and a bunch of other good stuff. But Earth had to be saved with what they had, not what they would have.
Mentally, Dean knew his mission to get the information back to Earth safely was very important, but he couldn't help his wanting to kick Covenant ass. As the Intercom blared, "ALL HANDS, BATTLE STATIONS!" he knew he was about to get his chance.
He tossed the Brandy back in the 'fridge, opened his door, fixed his collar, and ran toward the bridge. He arrived ten seconds later, slightly breathless; he was a UNSC Captain, not a world-class sprinter.
"What is it, Commander Harrison?"
"Two Covenant Destroyers; three minutes until we're within range, Captain."
"Alright. Shields at One hundred percent; charge the FRC and MACs. I want three hundred percent engine power. Lieutenant Burns, set two-seven-zero," he said as he dropped into the command chair.
"Merlin get me targeting info."
The Wizard-looking AI suddenly popped up, symbols scrolling across his robed-appearance. "Info is up, Captain."
The sensor port in front of him lit up with astrological equations, trajectories, and other info.
"Weapons, engage the leading Destroyer at maximum range with the FRC and MAC rounds. Launch Archer missile pods A through E at the second. Coordinate with the second MAC volley."
"Sir," his Navigations officer hollered, his voice panicked. "Multiple Slipspace exits behind us. Shit, sir, we have four Covenant ASSAULT CARRIERS behind us. FOUR! They're all within in range." The officer looked like he was about to cry.
Dean knew it was over then. His Silence could have easily handled the two Destroyers, but it would have had a tough time handling an Assault Carrier, much less four. "Get someone to destroy that information. We can't allow even the slightest chance for them to get it."
"Sir, they're not firing. They're launching boarding shuttles and fighters."
"Ah, shit. They must know we have something they want. Wait, belay that order. Get me Commander Mitchell and launch all our fighters.
The door to his room suddenly opened and a Marine MP walked in. "Commander, your presence is required on the bridge. If you'll follow me."
"Of course, Sergeant." Rick followed the MP through the twisting turns of the Battleship. He tried to ask the MP what was happening, but he merely replied with a curt, "The Captain will tell you what you need to know, sir."
When he finally reached the diminutive Captain, he snapped to attention and saluted, "Commander Mitchell, sir."
"I know who you are, Commander. The information taken from the Spark thing shows you were telling the truth, so I have a mission for you. Multiple Covenant ships, the least of which is a Destroyer, currently surround us. We are obviously not going to survive this, but we do have an advantage.
"The Covenant somehow know we have that information and they want it. Bad. They're not engaging us in ship to ship, though they have moved forward and have launched boarding shuttles. As soon as the shuttles are in range we're going to take damage to drop our shields, but it'll be Pulse Lasers, strong, but not lethal.
"We'll hold 'em off as long as possible; our Fighter Squadrons are already kicking their ass. But we have a finite supply of fighters, the Covenant, on the other hand, have an endless supply. There are three remaining Assault Carriers out there." A mischievous smile suddenly lit his features. "A fourth one got a tad too close and was rewarded for her efforts.
"I want you to take this information, get to a Longsword and get out of here. I would offer you a Dagger, but they don't have Slipspace drives. I want you to get out of here and jump out of system then back in, making it to Earth. A substandard AI has already been loaded into you Longsword. The Silence can't jump out, the Covenant are blocking us, but a Longsword can slip through. You'll have to go it alone; I can't spare anybody, but I'm sure you'll make it.
"Your reputation precedes you. You have what, thirty kills?"
"About that, sir," Rick replied.
"Sir," the XO shouted. "We have boarding craft. They breached the shields and snuck through. They're on the Starboard Launch bay. The Marines are responding, but they're still kinda far away."
"Well, you better get going Commander. You may have to fight your way to your ship, sorry."
"Aye, sir. Could I get a weapon?"
"Of course. Sergeant, give the Commander your sidearm."
The MP gave a pained expression, but handed over an M6D pistol anyway. "There's twelve in the mag and one up the spout."
"Feel free to raid the armory if you need it, Commander. If you think you're about to be captured, detonate the information," the Captain added, handing over a small black case the size of a pack of cigarettes. "You know how to use one of these?"
"Yes sir," Rick said and saluted. The Captain returned the salute precisely and dismissed him. Rick found the armory easy enough. He conveniently found some standard Marine armor and a helmet. He put on both, found some extra magazines for the M6D, grabbed a shotgun along with a case of shells, and left, heading for the hangar.
He reached the launch bay without a problem, but getting to his Longsword would be a big problem. The Marines had just arrived, but the Covenant had had time to 'dig in,' making the Marine's job that much harder.
The Marines and Covenant were on opposite sides of the launch bay, behind cover and taking potshots at each other. Rick saw a Grunt stick his head around a blast shield. A second later it exploded, spraying the blast shield with cobalt blood, as a 14.5mm sniper round streaked across.
Two Grunts and an Elite suddenly burst into the open. Rick noticed they were the Covenant elite unit, wearing black armor. The Marines opened up, spraying the enemy, cutting down one of the Grunts in a shower of blue. But the other Grunt fired its Fuel Rod Gun, sending the Marines diving for cover.
Rick suddenly noticed he was in a perfect position to flank the Covenant. He dodged behind a blast shield and lobbed a fragmentation grenade right in the midst of three Grunts and an Elite. He had waited two seconds to throw it after pulling the pin, so the Covenant had no chance to escape.
The three grunts were thrown back and shredded by the shrapnel and the Elite collapsed in a violet spray. The group of Covenant beside that group suddenly turned their attention toward him. Plasma fire burned into the blast shield he was hiding behind.
He levered the shotgun in the slit on the blast shield and fired, dropping an exposed Jackal. With his sudden occupation of the Covenant's attention, the Marines advanced. Two Marines toting Jackhammer Rocket Launchers ran forward. Two rockets streaked toward the Covenant on
tails of fiery crimson.
One rocket impaled a Grunt, while the second slammed into the deck, wiping the Covenant out. Immediately a group of Marines crouched and ran, taking over the Covenant's position. A few holdouts still lurked around behind the Longsword.
A couple of Marines advanced behind the Longsword and Rick heard a few gunshots followed by an "All Clear!" Rick slung the shotgun and boarded the C709 Longsword.
He made his way into the cockpit and noticed that the Longsword was warmed up and ready to fly; the preflight checklist was even done. Without wasting time, he strapped himself in, and grabbed a nearby flight helmet.
Gripping the stick tightly, he shoved the throttles forward into afterburner and accelerated out of the Silence. As he pulled up and away from the human ship, plasma fire sizzled past his fighter.
Craning his head around he saw a Seraph closing in on his six. He didn't have time to dogfight with the Covenant fighter, but he couldn't leave it behind him, either. He'd just have to make it quick.
He retarded the throttles and kicked his Longsword into a diving bank. More plasma fire whipped by his fighter, but he just reversed his bank and cut even more speed off. The Seraph shot right into his sights.
Rick got an immediate lock and he depressed the button on his control column. An Anvil II missile shot out of the launch bay and lanced deep into the Seraph, exploding in the fighter's cockpit.
The Seraph seemed to burst at the seams as it exploded; pieces of armor whirled away, trailing fire. Rick knifed through the explosion and accelerated away from the Covenant cruisers.
When he hit a certain point in space, his Slipspace generator kicked in and he jumped out of the system as the Silence was silenced.
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