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Long Shot
Date: 25 February 2004, 1:13 AM
Long Shot
(Part 1: The New Devastator)
O930 Hours, July 24, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
Epsilon Eridani System, Reach UNSC Orbital Shipyard
Captain Jon Hastings eyed the clean lines of his new ship through the window of the shipyard. It was an enormous ship, the newest in the entire fleet and the most advanced. Hastings thought about how beautiful it would look once it was free of the shipyard, floating in the darkness of space, yet for the moment it was still moored to its berth with numerous tunnels, tubes, and pipes attached to the outer hull transporting all manner of materials and necessities to the ship, but yet marring her perfect appearance. The shipyard at Reach was second only to those at Earth, heavily armored and protected by no fewer than eight Orbital Magnetic Accelerator Cannons capable of taking down a Covenant carrier with three rounds. Beyond the fixed defenses there was the fact that Reach, being a 'second Earth', was home to at least four hundred warships at any given time, ships ranging from picket vessels to fleet carriers. Home to more than billion humans Reach would be a prime target for the relentless Covenant, but so far they had been unable to locate it, much to the relief a an Earth Government already beset by defeat after defeat. Great emphasis had been placed upon research and development of new more advanced weapons systems, this had paid significant dividends in the form the new SPARTAN super-soldiers and many new classes of warships which could go toe-to-toe with any Covenant ship and survive.
Hastings once again eyed his new Thermopylae-class battleship, the UNSC Devastator. Captain Hastings moved through the main crew tunnel returning salutes to several personnel who were moving equipment for the upcoming voyage. Upon entering the cavernous launch bay he was met by a short-stocky Asian whose insignia indicated the rank of Commander, who gave a crisp salute saying simultaneously," Captain on deck."
"At ease," Hastings replied while returning the salute," Quite a ship isn't it Commander...?"
"Sir, the name is Shiogi, Commander Shiogi, pleased to meet you", he said extending his hand, which Hastings shook firmly.
"And yes sir she is quite a ship, state of the art everything, we have the newest armor, 5 meters of Titanium-A Battle Plate, the finest weaponry, and something that is only on this class of ship, a prototype of sorts..." Commander Shiogi paused briefly and then continued," Sir, we have shields." He said proudly.
"No shit," Hastings knew that the ship was special, but never in his life could he have hoped for this, "Do they work?"
"Up and running at one hundred percent, the best part is that we can take repeated hits from Covenant plasma torpedoes, even after repeated hits with the shields operational our Battle Armor retains more than seventy five percent of its integrity."
"Excellent commander, what other surprises do we have for the Coves?"
"Two Mark 48 Magnetic Accelerator Cannons, forty eight pulse cannons equally mounted top and bottom, one thousand archer missile pods mounted evenly on each side, and an array of close in defense weapons covering our blind spots." Shiogi listed off the weapons and then continued, "Also, Sir, we have two squadrons of Longsword fighters, several shuttles, and a reinforced company of marines."
All of the personnel stationed in the bridge turned and saluted as Hastings entered the large room. Perched about one hundred meters above the hull it had a stunning view from the surprisingly large window. There were two sunken work stations straddling a central walkway with various control stations situated around the remainder of the bridge. At the head of this room sat the captain's chair which was elevated above the rest of the chairs, both as a symbol of the captain's status and to give the captain an unobstructed view of space and the bridge.
"At ease," Hastings said returning his right hand to his side, "As you most likely already know my name is Jon Hastings. I look forward to serving with you and leading you into battle with the Covenant." His remarks were short and to the point because not only was he uncomfortable with public speaking but because he was eager to discover the rest the ship had to offer. Having inspected the bridge Hastings moved toward the nearest elevator to begin his exploration of the newest most advanced warship in the UNSC fleet, "And it's all mine." He thought to himself as he entered the marine barracks.
To be continued...
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