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Artifact: ORION by Verses Fatum
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Artifact:ORION (Pt.1)
Date: 14 June 2008, 11:02 pm
Artifact: ORION
(Prologue)
:This is how it Began
The UNSC: Echo hovered over the Kenyan Savanna as New Mombasa was destroyed by the Slipstream Space rift that was opened by the Prophet of Regrets Carrier. The In Amber Clad followed Regret to were ever they went, but the crew had other matters to worry about…there was still Covenant forces out in Space above Earth…and they had a job to do.
They all watched the New Mombasa's Space Elevator fall across the Savanna, collapsing on farms, Factory's and on top of a UNSC vessel that veered in its destructive path…
(Chapter One)
:Role Call
The Kenyan Savanna was eerily silent ever since New Mombasa was destroyed…it made Andy shiver in his chair as he monitored all Silo Traffic as each Silo Base launched there Missiles at the Covenant that had broke through the line and headed for Cleveland and New Mombasa…Cleveland was destroyed and New Mombasa was now the Covenants Dig site…
Andy was a middle aged man, about 25. His brother was an ODST or Helljumper in the UNSC…he was stationed aboard the Pillar of Autumn that had made it out of the destruction of the planet Reach…the reports had stated that he had made it out but then died of internal injuries in the but Andy's sister, Samantha had lived through it all…and she was station with Andy at the Kenyan Silo Base or the K.S.B:1
Andy was sitting in front of the Monitor when a message popped up on the screen. It read,
//Unknown Messenger//
//Enter Password//
:: Hushed Casket ::
//Password Accepted//
"The Heretics have found something, something far greater the The Ark…we must find what there searching for…but our Fleet has almost been completely destroyed…the Unyielding Judgment is the only ship left, the Brutes have betrayed us, were broken from our Covenant and seek refuge along with the Shadow of Intent with you humans…this message is a warning to what we have found about these Heretics…this message was sent to both your human station you call Cairo Station and your Missile ports…We hope that this message gets to you in time…were in need of assistance."
//End of Message//
Andy sat there in shock of what he just read; he called Samantha and Bradley to read it as well. They were as shocked as Andy was.
Then another Message popped up on the screen. This one read,
//Cairo Station//
:: Enter Password::
:: Thus we Refute Thee::
//Accepted//
"I take it you got the message from that carrier…well then, you know that this is a serious problem, but we have a plan…were going to send a Team in to escort the Covenant Carrier known as Unyielding Judgment, this team will be lead by Samantha of the K.S.B:1.
You'll take the UNSC Frigate: Echo along with the Narcissus and follow the Unyielding Judgment to there destination…were ever that may be…
Good Luck…
Oh and P.S. Your Crew will be your choice…so we've sent you records of the available candidates for this mission…
Lord Hood out."
//End Message//
Samantha had heard of the Echo…how it was a part of the battle over Reach…and it had the longest history record of service dated back to the Battle of Harvest…
The Narcissus was a medium transport ship much like the Albatross…but used for a number of things…like Troop Transport, Vehicle carrier, S.T.B (Spacers Tug Boat.) and Supply Frigates…the Narcissus was attached to the top of the UNSC: Echo, but from the command deck of the Echo, it can be detached for certain tasks…it was the first ever vessel to ever have two A.I.
Those two A.I.s were named Echo and Narcissus, like the Greek Gods Myth.
Echo had long white hair and she wore a White Gothic Lolita Dress and her voice sounded like a harp playing…
Narcissus looked had short blonde hair with Teal colored eyes and he wore a long tan colored tunic.
His Voice had a soft tone to it…but it still had a firm tone to it…
Echo's A.I. box built into the ship, but she could be transferred to the Narcissus to be in its mobile form…
Samantha knew how to command a ship and it's crew, but that was two years ago… she used to be in command of the UNSC Frigate: Pasture
She then retired to the K.S.B.1 with her Brother.
Samantha already knew who she wanted to be her crew, Andy, Bradley, Maria and Martin, she knew these four very well…mainly because they were stationed at the K.S.B.1... The other crew members…she didn't quite figure that out…but she spent the next few hours reviewing the data files of all the available Marines…
She looked through 50 but only choice 20…but she saw someone in the files that seemed interesting to her…a Recruit named Tom…so she added him to the list as well…
After about 2 hours, she had the necessary 200 people needed for the mission…
100 people for the Narcissus and 100 people for the Echo…
For the next few days getting ready for the up coming mission, it was going to be a living hell…
(Chapter Two)
:Ready for anything…
The ride to the East African Shuttle Terminal or EAST was smooth…until it landed that is, Tom was woken up by the sudden jolt of the Pelican and quickly sat up to see everyone stepping off into an Assembly line…were they were all told that there Commander would meet them there…
When Tom stepped off the shuttle, he saw the most beautiful women he had ever seen, she had shoulder length amber colored hair, body of an athlete and eyes of a goddess. Tom realized that she was the commander that had recreuted all of them…He over heard another Marine named Oliver, call her Samantha. Tom thought that to be a very beautiful name to go along with her stunning looks…but he knew that she would never go out with a man like him. Mainly because that's against regulations of the UNSC Military…and she probly already had a husband.
As Tom staired off into space, he jumped as Samantha screamed, "Attention!" Oliver snickered silently…everyone then immediately straightened up and waited for her orders.
Everyone was silent when Samantha finally spoke, "Good Evening, my name's Samantha Bernard, I've brought you all here for one thing, to be my Crew to go on a mission, to Escort The Unyielding Judgment to locate an extremely dangerous group of Rouge Covenant…I also chose you because your all cut out for the job…and most of you I know while I was the Commander aboard The Pasture," Samantha paused for a split second before continuing, "I'm not forcing anyone to stay, you can hop aboard the Pelican to be taken back if you want, but I just want to know if you wish to honor your fellow marines and accomplish a moment of peace for Earth…decide now…stay here and accompany me aboard the Echo…or hop back on the pelican and go back New Mombassa."
No one moved from were they stood, they all stayed in line, wanting to accompany her on this mission…no matter what dangers lie ahead of them.
Everyone then hopped aboard the Narcissus and headed for the Landing Zone, were the Echo called to every Marine onboard…
(Chapter Three)
:Welcome Aboard
Zachary was shocked at how the Narcissus can attach itself to the top front section of the Echo, he had seen many ships in his time, but never one so advanced as the Echo & Narcissus. Zachary was 35 years old and had enlisted in the UNSC at the age of 17. He had short cropped, black hair with gray outlines on the sides. When Zachary stepped into the docking port of the Echo, his and everyone else's mouths dropped when they got a look at the inside of the Docking Port…it looked like it could fit two Marathon class ships with room to spair…
As everyone walked into the middle of the Docking bay, a Hologram appeared the shipboard A.I, Echo, her avatar looked amazing, she wore a long gothic Lolita dress that was tied in the center with a perfectly tied in a bow… she had long silver hair that reached past her shoulders and her eyes were also white.
She reminded Zachary of the Greek story of a nymph named Echo that had tricked Hera and then had a curse put upon her so that she repeats the last thing that someone says.
"Hello, my name is Echo and I'm sure you met the Narcissus's A.I. already.
Now then, There's a elevator just down this corridor and to your left…to your right will take you to Docking Port Two. Right now, please go to the left…I'll then direct the Elevator to go to the Command Deck & Crew Quarters…"
Echo just smiled then she disappeared, everyone headed towards the elevator were they met the A.I. once more to take them to the Command Deck & Crew Quarters.
* * *
The Command Deck was amazing…In the center of the room was a platform that overlooked three sections in a full 360 view, the seats were suspended in mid air overlooking a glass view port that was on the bottom and top front of the whole room…Samantha imagined what it must look like when in space. Two seats on the top floor surrounding the Commanders seat. Those were probly the gunners seats and the four seats in the second floor were for Monitoring the ships status or at least two of those monitors were for that purpose…the other two were sending messages to the Narcissus and to detach it from the Echo.
The First floor was a Star map…it contained all the known Planets on the map…or at least the ones that weren't glassed by the Covenant…
Some of the crew ran to some of those stations and felt right at home, while the others checked out the rest of the ship…
Tom went to go check out the Gym…Echo had told him that the gym features an option for no gravity.. so Tom tried that out and had a blast…he even called Oliver in to play a couple games of Gravity ball…
Samantha was bewildered by the rooms…they were huge, about 20Inchs by Width and 5inchs by Height. The room was empty, but if what Echo said was true, she can basically create her room with the terminal that's by the door…she planned to try it out once the Echo has launched…then she can worry about her curiosity.
Zachary was in the Engine room of the Echo with the guidance of the Echo's A.I. to help him with memorizing what's what and what…he was really fascinated with Engine cores since he was 6 years old.
He used to take apart his adopted parents engine to see how it worked, and then put back together.
Samantha made it into the Bridge and sat down in the chair in the middle platform…she pulled up a monitor and kept tabs on were everyone was.
Andy and Bradley were sitting in the two seats on the outer ringed platform monitoring the Shaw Fujikawa Drive and how well the Engines go in High speed tests and Slip space Traveling…
Everything aboard the ship was amazing, but scenery doesn't tell how well a ship like the Echo & Narcissus is during a mission…
Samantha pressed a button on her Monitor and then said over the ships intercom, "Attention, We are now going to get this ship air born...May god bring us back home safely."
(Chapter Four)
:Old painful memory. Return to Reach
The Echo lifted off the ground like a feather, they were already along side the Unyielding Judgment when they went into Slip space…the ships were headed to one of the old Colonies that was glassed, Reach…
It was an hour before they exited out of Slip Space near Reach, One of the crew members working in the gunner seat, Ashley, started sobbing, she was born on Reach and was in Cleveland when she got the news of the tragedy that befell Reach…
But Ashley couldn't let her past effect this mission.
"Shipmaster, this is were your fleet was attacked right?"
"Affirmative…" replied Icka.
"Alright, Send out a scout and I'll send one of ours to accompany you to the wreckage were the Heretic ship was last spotted…and hopefully it's not still here…cause I would like to get a team down on the Planet to do some exploring…we've been reading some strange activity on the surface but don't know what could cause it."
Samantha then started sent a message to Marianna and Christian to get a Pelican ready to accompany the Phantom. Then she focused her attention back on Icka,
"Alright…our sensors have started picking up the same thing now."
* * *
"This is Pelican-187 and were at the site of the attack…we're collecting pieces to analyze now, we'll send you the data once were done here and head to the surface of Reach."
"Alright Pelican-187, Samantha out."
Samantha turned off her monitor and sat back in her chair, hands on her forehead…she was tired, they've been researching the wreckage for half an hour…hopefully the Heretic ship wasn't around.
Samantha then turned back on her Monitor and awaited for the data transfer…
(Chapter Five)
: Discovery…or ruin?
Tom was at the third floor terminal monitoring the area near Reach, making sure that Heretic ship that Samantha told him to watch for, didn't appear out of Slip space. If it did, he would alert the research party and Samantha that hell was about to break loose…but so far everything was quite…
"This is Pelican-187, to the Echo, we've found some sort of building on the surface of Reach…I'm sending the data feed now."
"Copy that Pelican-187, I'm receiving the data as we speak." Replied Tom.
The data that he was getting was strange…it showed a small Pyramid type structure jutting out of the ground, no entrances to be found.
It seemed to Tom that the structure was pulsing as he saw a stream of light flash down from the top of the structure.
"Pelican-187, this is the Echo, I would request you have the Unyielding Judgment fly down there to excavate the area…it seems to be some sort of tower. Echo out."
"Roger that Echo, Pelican-187 will report back to you later once we get the site excavated…or at least some of it."
Tom then cut the channel, going back to looking at the data that the Excavation team found…
* * *
Jesse was floating in free fall in the gym, him and Oliver were playing Gravity Ball again for the forth time. Soon, Samantha joined in for awhile before going back to monitoring the Excavation Teams progress with the Structure on the surface of Reach.
Andy eventually came into the Gym and determined to kick some ass in Gravity Ball…he ended up getting smacked across the face with the ball, eating his words, he went back to his Quarters and sulked.
Samantha thought it funny to see a grown man sulk over getting his ass handed to him in Gravity Ball…
"Samantha?" Tom said over the com-channel.
"Yes? What is it Tom?"
"Well. It's the Excavation team, they've uncovered the structure. They requested you go down there to check it out…"
"Why couldn't they send me the Data of what they found?" asked Samantha.
"Well, that's the problem, something in the structure is interfering with there data recorders…they said it looked very important."
"Tell them I'm heading over to the surface right now…Samantha out."
* * *
Samantha had just made it to the surface and into the structure to meet up with the Shipmaster and Marianna…
"Okay, I'm here. What is it you wanted to show me?"
"Right this way maim." Replied Marianna.
She led Samantha to a dimly lit room with Pulsating walls…in the center of the room looked like a map…or a holographic blue print of something…what ever it was, it made the researchers giddy…
"what exactly am I looking at here Marianna?" asked Samantha.
"Well, by what the Elites say it is, it appears to be a hologram of an ancient structure they called the Orion…it has some great significance to there religion…"
"So I'm guessing this is what the Heretics are searching for?"
"I guess so…what ever this, Orion is, it must be dangerous…"
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