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Koranus VII - Chapter 1
Date: 19 May 2004, 8:26 PM
Captain Manson stared out into the depths of space, contemplating some kind of strategy to fight the battle that almost certainly was minutes away, where, if the reconnaissance confirmed, would be downright hairy. Manson gave a long sigh and looked down at the reconnaissance report.
A long while ago, a reconnaissance probe was launched by the Argos, a UNSC cruiser armed to the teeth with various weapons including 24 Archer missile pods, 32 defense-offense 50mm rotary cannons, and a threesome of MACs, which it's crew lovingly named, "The Three Amigos." The Argos was escorting a marine frigate, the UNSC Liberty, patrolling an area around a colony in the Koranus system, where they expected the Covenant make their next planetary frag.
Manson shuddered while thinking about the images of Reach burning. Millions died... crew members and technicians buzzed around Manson, getting ready for a possible Covenant encounter, checking weapons systems, and running diagnostics various computers.
The Argos launched the probe on account of a transmission sent by a cargo freighter. The Argos received a detailed report, not a distress call, from the civilian freighter en route to the colony on the outskirts of Koranus VII. The ship had reported detecting a large Covenant ship roaming the sector on long range sensors, and that it was, so far, passive to the freighter's presence. Two minutes later, the link between the Argos and the freighter was broken. The probe was scheduled return in a few minutes.
Minutes, what seemed like hours to the crew, passed. The sensory officer informed Manson that the probe was coming into transmission range of the UNSC Argos, who nodded and walked over to the crewman's console. He read the data quickly, his fears confirmed. The Argos's intelligence officer relayed data to the UNSC Liberty as it came, and information and holographs appeared in front of Captain Manson, who nodded taking the information in.
Captain Manson's first officer, Lt. Kloswoski, took the captain's side, and glanced at the data, then back at Manson, who straightened and turned to face his first officer.
The Captain took a long, thoughtful sip of coffee and calmly walked over to the communications officer, Kloswoski following. The young Lieutenant stood at attention as he saw the captain approaching. "Lieutenant Baker," the Captain said in a loud commanding voice.
The crewman snapped his attention, "Sir!"
Captain Manson took another sip of his cold coffee and looked around the bridge. He looked at the crew on the bridge all of them looking up to him as a leader, then back at Baker.
"Sound General Quarters," he ordered and then looked at the holo-display, "I want full combat readiness in four minutes."
The Lieutenant saluted, "Aye aye, sir!"
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The hardened marines serving aboard the UNSC frigate Liberty were all sound asleep when General Quarters was sounded. A minute later, marines of the 42nd ODST unit and 7th "Cavalry" group were double-timing in full gear to the flight deck and into their squad formations, which normally consisted of nine troopers each. In this case, more were brought out of reserve and brought to combat status. In a minute and a half, the squads were ready and waiting for battle.
An intercom rang and the voice of the ship A.I blared through all the commotion. "All senior staff and field commanders report to Briefing Room A immediately." The "smart" A.I enthusiastically.
As the A.I finished it's announcement, a young marine chuckled, "I swear that A.I guy sounds like a damn sports announcer!"
A few "Helljumpers" smiled and nodded, but their squad sergeant's face turned serious. "Yeah," Gunnery Sergeant Wells said, "the score is: Covenant- 1, Humans- 0." He paused for effect, letting the reality sink in. "Time to get even boys."
A Warthog drove by them, the marine occupants waving as they went by, adding to the common hysteria everyone was used to on fleet duty.
The young marine grinned, his youthful enthusiasm showing bright green to the other veterans in the group. "I want to win sergeant, not get even."
Gunnery Sergeant Wells nodded and looked at his men, knowing they would all do their job when the time came. "We all want to win." Wells's face turned grim. "For gods sake, we have to win."
An eerie silence was broke only by a loud "Ooh-Rah" from somewhere. "Is it true we are going to board a Covie' carrier?" Another marine asked, with a weird mixture of apprehension, eagerness, and curiosity in his voice.
The gunny laughed half heartedly, attempting a shot of humor. "I sure hope so, cause' those little Grunt characters are damn fun kill."
Not amused at Wells's attempt to make light of the situation, a couple of marines shifted uneasily.
Wells sighed, and loudly slapped a magazine in his MA5B. He looked at the men, staring at each one of them. "Stand tall boys. We gonna' win this war."
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Soon the entire command crew of the Liberty were crowded in the roomy briefing room. The room was dark, lit only by a light above the enterance and a hologram of the UNSC insignia spinning on it's axis above the projector. The command crews from the Liberty and the Argos were in the room, creating an odd flock of mixed ranks and uniforms, most of which, were navy officers, but there was also a decent number marines present as well, the Liberty being a marine frigate. All were immersed in some in some sort of conversation or another, talking amongst themselves as they waited for the two C.Os of both ships.
Suddenly, the engineering officer of the Liberty stood. "Room, Attennnn Hut!" Everyone snapped to attention. Everyone was quiet as Captain Mason and Colonel Knight walked in the door.
The Colonel saluted without stopping his walk to the front of the room where the holo-projector stood at the ready, still projecting a the rotating 3D image of the UNSC insignia in the air above it.
Colonel Knight took the stand and did not waste a second, Captain Mason standing to his left. "Okay people we are short on time so I will be very brief." He paused to look around at the crew. Good men. "Alright men-" He stopped in mid-sentence as he saw two women in the room. He cleared his throat. "and women..." He shifted uneasily and continued. "At ease. And make yourselves comfortable, because it will be the last time you are for a while."
He saw a large majority of people take their seats, while others chose to remain at parade rest. "As I was saying, we have quite a situation on our hands here people." He cleared his throat and motioned to an audio-visual aide. A video of a Covenant ship at long range began to play. "At approximately 04:13 hours, we received a strong transmission from a believable source aboard the Cassandra, a cargo freighter en route to a newly established colony in the Koranus VII sector. It's captain reported spotting a Covenant vessel," He gestured to the Covenant craft. "The good captain sent us some high quality footage of the vessel, and reported that the Covenant craft had not engaged them. But-" Knight signaled the A.V aide again and a 3D schematic overview of a Covenant carrier. "as you can see," Knight paused the video and tapped a few keys on the keyboard. The schematic moved itself over the distant Covenant vessel, showing that the craft were one and the same. "it is apparent that the craft is indeed a carrier. Our intell people have positively identified the craft, it first appeared in the surprise attack on Reach, then it participated in a glassing of one of our outposts in the Vajre system," He paused, recalling the frantic transmissions from the base. "and is now here, in Koranus." He looked around at the crew members. "and we, boys and girls, are going to blow it up."
A few of the officers looked at each other and talked in hushed voices. All of them knew what a Covenant carrier was capable of, and knew full well it could easily call up some buddies.
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