Post by Mr.Bobert on Sept 10, 2010 10:28:48 GMT -5
Captain Jonathan Anderson, or, as preferred to be called, Jack, stood at the bridge of the UNSC Marathon-class Cruiser Mercury. Placed at the very front of the ship, similar to its predecessor, the Halcyon-class cruisers, the bridge gave Jack a spectacular view of the space directly in front of them. But he wished it didn’t. The normally tranquil view of space, the empty black void with thousands of calmly-twinkling stars, was almost completely blocked out by a swirling cloud of gasses and debris, spinning slowly and ominously around an empty circle.
A black hole.
This was ridiculous. Everything inside of him screamed that this was insane. But the scientists told him otherwise. The probe had come back unharmed, they said. Everything would be fine, they said.
But flying dead-on into a black hole and jumping into slipspace at the last second did not seem wise, no matter what the scientists or his orders said.
And yet, those were indeed his orders. To lead a fleet of four UNSC ships, one of them being a gigantic Phoenix-class Colony Ship, into a black hole, and activate their Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engines at the last possible second. They would then find themselves in another galaxy, far, far away. Possibly in an entirely different dimension, a different universe. Establish a base. Create a UNSC colony, the farthest one away from Earth to be created yet. The Forerunners had supposedly done this as well, hundreds of thousands of years ago.
But it was a very important mission, he reminded himself. It was the first non-combat joint operation between the UNSC and the newly-reformed Covenant, which was now led almost entirely by the Elites, the Sanghelli. Gone were most of the lying prophets, the treacherous Brutes. The other species of the Covenant were split on who to follow, but most of them sided with the Elites, and every day more followed.
There was a small, but powerful, fleet of Covenant ships around the UNSC fleet, prepared to follow. Both sides could have most definitely brought more firepower, larger fleets, but this wasn’t a military operation. The military ships were there to provide an escort for the two Colony ships, one human, one Covenant.
Still none of that eased his discomfort of flying straight into a black hole, and simultaneously ripping a hole in space-time with the Slipstream engines.
“Captain,” a gruff, weathered human voice said from beside him. “It’s time to head out.”
Jack glanced at the small man beside him. Well, no. He wasn’t small. He was six-feet tall. Jack was seven foot-one, slightly taller most of the other Spartans. Yes, he was one of the mythical Spartans. One of the last surviving ones. Almost all of his friends, his family, were either dead or missing. Some of the surviving SPARTAN-II’s had been promoted to high ranks after the Human-Covenant War. Not many, though. Most of them were leaders in battle, tactics. Not in wars, strategies. Jack was one of the rare exceptions. He was a master in tactics and strategy. So good, in fact, that he, Jack-083, had been ‘killed’ during his second mission as a Spartan. In reality, the ONI, Office of Naval Intelligence, had abducted him and made him the commander of a black ops fleet, and given him a name, Jonathan Anderson. Instead of MJOLNIR armor, he wore a supersized Captain’s outfit. Why all the need for secrecy, even from his fellow Spartans, he could never guess. ONI didn’t really explain anything they did.
Now, here he was, commanding a fleet that had been so publicized it wasn’t even funny. Everyone on the human Colony ship was a civilian looking for a new life. Mostly refugees that were still homeless after the war. He wasn’t sure how the Covenant had handled their own colony ship.
“Yeah,” he said slowly, still lost in his thoughts. Then he remembered that the man beside him was a Vice Admiral. “Uh, I mean, Yes, sir.”
Vice Admiral Steven Lighn grinned. “Yeah, I’m not to thrilled about this idea, either, son,” he said. He spoke with just a hint of a Texan accent, mixed in with some other one Jack couldn’t identify. “Orders are orders, though, even for a Vice Admiral, and a... Captain.”
Jack new he’d almost said Spartan. He always almost did. Nobody was supposed to know he was a Spartan. But it was kinda hard to hide it. He was seven feet tall, for cryin’ out loud. Everybody in his fleet knew it. Everybody who’d ever seen him in person knew it. But nobody ever mentioned it. They all knew unofficially.
“Yes, sir,” Jack replied. He then turned to the helmsman. “Take us in, twenty-percent sublight speed. Navigator, stand by with the Slipstream Drive. Coms, signal the rest of the fleet. The Destructo will come second, followed by the Overhang, and then the Redundant. The frigates will stay behind with the Colony ship and the Covvies. The Covvies will come after the Redundant, in whatever order they choose. After they’re all through, the Colony Ship will come on through, followed by the frigates. Got all that?” The woman at the COM station nodded. “Very well. Go.”
The cruiser lurched as the sublights came on, and slowly approached the empty abyss of the black hole. It grew in the viewport a bit faster then he’d like, but he told himself he was still just nervous. He still always grew nervous in space battles, after all these years. He still preferred to have a gun in his hand, a planet at his feet.
Then he realized they were going too fast. The gravity of the black hole must’ve been stronger then they’d predicted. “Decrease speed to ten percent thrust,” he ordered over the rumbling. The ship was beginning to shake.
“I’m trying, Captain,” said the helmsman after a few seconds. “We’re being pulled in too fast!”
“Cut sublights, activate all bow maneuvering jets,” he said, his voice rising to be heard over the gradually louder rumbling.
The helmsman didn’t reply, but his hands flew over the controls, and the ship began to decelerate, and the rumbling got a little quieter.
“Coms, signal the fleet, tell them it’s a bit more bumpy than we’d anticipated. They should go in slower than the predefined speeds.”
“Aye, Captain.”
“Captain, we’re coming up on the transition point!” shouted the navigator.
A little earlier then predicted, but that was to be expected when you were going too fast. “Be ready with the Translight engines!”
A countdown appeared on the main viewscreen. Ten seconds. Jack wondered where the clock came from. Probably Lieutenant Chads, the navigator. He was always showing off by doing just a little more than he was ordered.
Five seconds. Jack suddenly wished he had his armor on. It felt like an impenetrable shield, protecting him from everything. Now, he felt naked without it. He instead braced himself by grabbing on a handrail on the wall. He could sit in the Captain’s chair, but there wasn’t much time to get to it now. With the way the ship was shaking now, there was no way he’d get there. He turned to see Admiral Lighn had a look of grim determination on his face, and had grabbed a handrail as well.
One.
Here we go...
Zero.
Chads slammed a fist down on his keyboard dramatically, and then a blinding white light filled the viewport. Jack raised his hand to shield his eyes, but the flash was gone just as quickly as it had appeared. The ship had stopped shaking, so he opened his eyes and looked out.
There were stars. Stars all around. And, directly in front of them, a planet, a wonderfully peaceful-looking planet with greens and blues and whites, with a single smaller clone serenely orbiting it. They’d made it.
Jack let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “Helms, get us into orbit around that planet. Sensors, get us some scans of the area.” Nobody acknowledged, aside from wide-eyed nods.
A black hole.
This was ridiculous. Everything inside of him screamed that this was insane. But the scientists told him otherwise. The probe had come back unharmed, they said. Everything would be fine, they said.
But flying dead-on into a black hole and jumping into slipspace at the last second did not seem wise, no matter what the scientists or his orders said.
And yet, those were indeed his orders. To lead a fleet of four UNSC ships, one of them being a gigantic Phoenix-class Colony Ship, into a black hole, and activate their Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engines at the last possible second. They would then find themselves in another galaxy, far, far away. Possibly in an entirely different dimension, a different universe. Establish a base. Create a UNSC colony, the farthest one away from Earth to be created yet. The Forerunners had supposedly done this as well, hundreds of thousands of years ago.
But it was a very important mission, he reminded himself. It was the first non-combat joint operation between the UNSC and the newly-reformed Covenant, which was now led almost entirely by the Elites, the Sanghelli. Gone were most of the lying prophets, the treacherous Brutes. The other species of the Covenant were split on who to follow, but most of them sided with the Elites, and every day more followed.
There was a small, but powerful, fleet of Covenant ships around the UNSC fleet, prepared to follow. Both sides could have most definitely brought more firepower, larger fleets, but this wasn’t a military operation. The military ships were there to provide an escort for the two Colony ships, one human, one Covenant.
Still none of that eased his discomfort of flying straight into a black hole, and simultaneously ripping a hole in space-time with the Slipstream engines.
“Captain,” a gruff, weathered human voice said from beside him. “It’s time to head out.”
Jack glanced at the small man beside him. Well, no. He wasn’t small. He was six-feet tall. Jack was seven foot-one, slightly taller most of the other Spartans. Yes, he was one of the mythical Spartans. One of the last surviving ones. Almost all of his friends, his family, were either dead or missing. Some of the surviving SPARTAN-II’s had been promoted to high ranks after the Human-Covenant War. Not many, though. Most of them were leaders in battle, tactics. Not in wars, strategies. Jack was one of the rare exceptions. He was a master in tactics and strategy. So good, in fact, that he, Jack-083, had been ‘killed’ during his second mission as a Spartan. In reality, the ONI, Office of Naval Intelligence, had abducted him and made him the commander of a black ops fleet, and given him a name, Jonathan Anderson. Instead of MJOLNIR armor, he wore a supersized Captain’s outfit. Why all the need for secrecy, even from his fellow Spartans, he could never guess. ONI didn’t really explain anything they did.
Now, here he was, commanding a fleet that had been so publicized it wasn’t even funny. Everyone on the human Colony ship was a civilian looking for a new life. Mostly refugees that were still homeless after the war. He wasn’t sure how the Covenant had handled their own colony ship.
“Yeah,” he said slowly, still lost in his thoughts. Then he remembered that the man beside him was a Vice Admiral. “Uh, I mean, Yes, sir.”
Vice Admiral Steven Lighn grinned. “Yeah, I’m not to thrilled about this idea, either, son,” he said. He spoke with just a hint of a Texan accent, mixed in with some other one Jack couldn’t identify. “Orders are orders, though, even for a Vice Admiral, and a... Captain.”
Jack new he’d almost said Spartan. He always almost did. Nobody was supposed to know he was a Spartan. But it was kinda hard to hide it. He was seven feet tall, for cryin’ out loud. Everybody in his fleet knew it. Everybody who’d ever seen him in person knew it. But nobody ever mentioned it. They all knew unofficially.
“Yes, sir,” Jack replied. He then turned to the helmsman. “Take us in, twenty-percent sublight speed. Navigator, stand by with the Slipstream Drive. Coms, signal the rest of the fleet. The Destructo will come second, followed by the Overhang, and then the Redundant. The frigates will stay behind with the Colony ship and the Covvies. The Covvies will come after the Redundant, in whatever order they choose. After they’re all through, the Colony Ship will come on through, followed by the frigates. Got all that?” The woman at the COM station nodded. “Very well. Go.”
The cruiser lurched as the sublights came on, and slowly approached the empty abyss of the black hole. It grew in the viewport a bit faster then he’d like, but he told himself he was still just nervous. He still always grew nervous in space battles, after all these years. He still preferred to have a gun in his hand, a planet at his feet.
Then he realized they were going too fast. The gravity of the black hole must’ve been stronger then they’d predicted. “Decrease speed to ten percent thrust,” he ordered over the rumbling. The ship was beginning to shake.
“I’m trying, Captain,” said the helmsman after a few seconds. “We’re being pulled in too fast!”
“Cut sublights, activate all bow maneuvering jets,” he said, his voice rising to be heard over the gradually louder rumbling.
The helmsman didn’t reply, but his hands flew over the controls, and the ship began to decelerate, and the rumbling got a little quieter.
“Coms, signal the fleet, tell them it’s a bit more bumpy than we’d anticipated. They should go in slower than the predefined speeds.”
“Aye, Captain.”
“Captain, we’re coming up on the transition point!” shouted the navigator.
A little earlier then predicted, but that was to be expected when you were going too fast. “Be ready with the Translight engines!”
A countdown appeared on the main viewscreen. Ten seconds. Jack wondered where the clock came from. Probably Lieutenant Chads, the navigator. He was always showing off by doing just a little more than he was ordered.
Five seconds. Jack suddenly wished he had his armor on. It felt like an impenetrable shield, protecting him from everything. Now, he felt naked without it. He instead braced himself by grabbing on a handrail on the wall. He could sit in the Captain’s chair, but there wasn’t much time to get to it now. With the way the ship was shaking now, there was no way he’d get there. He turned to see Admiral Lighn had a look of grim determination on his face, and had grabbed a handrail as well.
One.
Here we go...
Zero.
Chads slammed a fist down on his keyboard dramatically, and then a blinding white light filled the viewport. Jack raised his hand to shield his eyes, but the flash was gone just as quickly as it had appeared. The ship had stopped shaking, so he opened his eyes and looked out.
There were stars. Stars all around. And, directly in front of them, a planet, a wonderfully peaceful-looking planet with greens and blues and whites, with a single smaller clone serenely orbiting it. They’d made it.
Jack let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “Helms, get us into orbit around that planet. Sensors, get us some scans of the area.” Nobody acknowledged, aside from wide-eyed nods.