The Petersburg Affair by Saber
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The Petersburg Affair: Part I, Chapter 1
Date: 18 August 2002, 6:15 pm
The clouds over St. Petersburg were lingering like a bad sickness. It had been over three weeks since the city had seen any signs of the sun. The cold evening brought in yet more clouds. The clouds did not bring rain, snow or even morning dew; instead they brought pain and despair. These clouds had the retched stench of war. The clouds had caught a wind current and blown to Russia from America. The scent of death still remained potent. It had been five years since the destruction of Halo, and one year since North America fell. The streets where empty in the city as most of the men were sent to America. The rest of the men hid, or took their own lives. The last thing anyone wanted was to be sent to America to fight the Covenant. It was virtually suicide in itself, except the Covenant tortured humans as if they were merely pesky insects that needed their limbs pulled off. Taking your own life was often the wise choice. The street lamps in St. Petersburg were dim and a musty smell overwhelmed the city. A figure walked in a dark alley beyond the shipyard. It was not a bold figure, and it was strange for someone to even be out that late. The figure walked towards a pier. There was a small ocean cruiser waiting.
"Good day ma'am, excellent evening out isn't it?" Said a male voice from inside the boat. The voice was not Russian it was to... American. But how could this be? Almost all of the North Americans were captured and sent to the battle cruisers.
"Sir, if I may note, your one of the only Americans that escaped the Battle of New York. I don't suggest you give away your position," commented the female figure approaching the boat.
"Ma'am you are in no position to give me orders! Now get the hell on board, we're heading for London. It's a long ride in this boat and don't expect it to be smooth either. We have a few officials in London who need to discuss a new weapon. The meeting is at 8:00 A.M. I don't suggest we be late," snarled the man.
"Then what are we waiting for Captain." Replied the woman.
The boat was untied and began its rough journey to Britain. The cruiser seemed to disappear and reappear over the swells that the sea cast at them. It did not seem likely that such a small vessel could withstand the rough waters of the Baltic. The black waters swallowed and spit out the vessel until the hull no longer reflected the lights of St. Petersburg. In the distance only a black void of eternal darkness could be detected. At this time two figures approached the dock. It appeared the two were looking for something of grand importance.
"Where the hell! You said they'd be here!" Yelled a man.
"Hey they were a minute ago, come check this out." Replied a female.
The two had found something near a crate sitting beside the pier. It was a sack with something heavy inside. The female figure struggled as she lifted it. This was strange because the bag was not any bigger than a soda can. As the figures walked towards another pier some light was cast on them. One figure, the female, had all black clothes on. Her hair streamed down her back like water rushing over a cliffs edge. Her eyes glowed blue even in the dimness of the night. The man stood bold, as if he had seen many battles. His hair was shaved into a military brush cut leaving the back of his head bald. The bald spot glistened as if it were carefully waxed each morning. The female approached the man with the seemingly heavy bag ready to let him inspect it. The two then removed the black clothes that they were wearing only to reveal UNSC uniforms. The females nametag said "Lt. RL Andrews" while the mans was labeled "Sgt. JA Robins." The uniforms they wore had not seen any battle. They were still starched as if they were fresh out of the factory.
"Come have a look at this John. I think you may be interested in what we have found," said Andrews as she approached the Sergeant. When she got close enough she slid open the bag to reveal a bright green stone shaped like the Washington Monument.
"Jesus Christ! Why would anyone be leaving this laying around! It's supposed to be at HQ. Bastard soldiers don't have any god damn respect for the human race!" Yelled the Sergeant.
"Sergeant, I left it hear for a reason. Head Quarters is gone!" Andrews smirked as she revealed a gadget with 6 buttons and a small screen.
"What the! What's gotten into you Andrews! Drop the detonator! THAT'S AN ORDER!" The sergeant was now furious and beads of sweat began to roll down his face.
"Sorry sarge! This is the end!" Andrews quickly pushed one of the buttons on the detonator, as this was done a large rumble could be felt accompanied with a huge noise. A fireball rose up in the middle of the city as debris. The HQ was no more. The Sergeant lunged at Andrews but Andrews simply stepped to one side and kicked the sergeant hard in the face. The crunch of broken bones could be heard from a block away. Now the sergeant lay still, twitching and groaning every ten seconds. It was clear that the Lieutenants steel boots had shattered his face, leaving him struggling to breath. Andrews delivered another swift kick to the temple of Robins. This time an even loaded crack echoed off building walls. It was clear that the sergeant was dead.
"Bastard!" Commented Andrews as she sauntered off. She seemed to be showering with pride at the moment as if she had just over thrown a leader. In a sense she did. Andrews began to run into the dark alleys with the heavy green gem in her left hand, leaving the sergeant lying dead. * * * * *
The sounds of alarms and monotonic beeps and buzzes could be heard all through out the space frigate. A voice came up on the loudspeaker, warning the crew of the massive human vessel, of possible boarding Covenant. The scene seemed all too familiar to one of the men on board. The man stood in the corner of the bridge with a suit of MJOLNIR armor. It was the chief.
"Chief! We have a problem! I've detected something strange down on Earth!" Cortana said urgently.
"Why does this not surprise me?" Remarked the chief.
"Its... Another construct! That means..."
"Another Halo? You gotta be kiddin' me!"
"Chief we have to get the construct! We must find this other halo!"
"Now Cortana don't jump to conclusions, the last thing we need is to abandon Earth." Said Chief calmly.
"Chief we don't know who this person is that has the construct and we don't know how many of them there are. Maybe there are millions of constructs. One thing is for sure, we need to move now!" Screamed Cortana.
The Chief made his way to a Longsword fighter. Along the way blasts could be heard hitting the ships hull. The ship wasn't going to last and at this rate neither was Earth.
TO BE CONTINUED...
The Petersburg Affair: Part I, Chapter 2
Date: 21 August 2002, 8:00 pm
ÝÝÝÝÝÝThe longsword fighter was sitting in the docking bay surrounded by frantic marines and roaring warthogs. The chief gradually made his way through the squadrons until he came upon the loading ramp. Quickly he ran up as a huge blast hit the docking bay door. Everyone stopped and observed the damage. The blast had completely collapsed the blast doors. There was no way out for the longsword.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝ"Chief! What are we going to do? We're going down!" Screamed Cortana.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝ"Hold on, we need to get you to a data uplink. I need to know where all the other exits are. There's gotta be a way to save this beast." Replied Chief.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝThe Chief ran along side a warthog and commanded the marine to take him to the nearest uplink station. The marine complied with honor and punched the gas squealing the tires as he accelerated. The warthog was tearing along the deck of the vehicle bay when suddenly a mysterious machine tore its way through the hull of the cruiser. Air started rushing out of the cruiser sucking out anything that was light enough. Luckily the warthog was out of range. The machine was about 20 feet long and with closer observation could be seen being driven by a three Covenant elites.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝ"What the hell is that Cortana?" Howled the marine.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝ"It appears to be some kind of giant drill. Judging by the looks of things it may be meant for some kind of mining operation," said Cortana.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝ"What would they be bringing one of those here for? Earth's oil is depleted," commented Chief.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝ"I don't know, maybe they are looking for something. Maybe they plan on mining some substance we didn't even know existed on Earth!" commented Cortana.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝBefore the conversation could continue the giant drill dove towards the warthog seeming to accelerate as it came. Quickly the marine jumped out of the warthog and began running. At the last second the machine avoided the warthog and went after the marine. In a series of crunches the marine was exterminated. Only a pool of blood remained where the marine had been standing.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝ"Jesus! Cortana get me some answers! Get into that things communications!" Demanded Chief.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝChief now jumped over into the drivers seat and drove towards a command post. The command post had a series of computer screens and twice as many blinking lights. Chief suppressed the brakes and squealed to a stop. He ran up to the touch pad and started pushing a series of commands. He reached beside his head and ejected a data coupling and placed it into a small slot. Instantly Cortana appeared and started working on an escape plan.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝ"Chief, there's two stations where we keep two banshees. They are strictly for research so I can't guarantee that they run properly. If we can somehow find a large enough hole in the hull we may be able to escape but we have to move. The holes in the hull will soon cause this cruiser to collapse."
ÝÝÝÝÝÝChief recovered the data coupling and hopped in the drivers seat. The warthog dashed towards a small doorway with a label above it "Research A." This is where they needed to be. Soon creaking and groaning could be heard as pillars began to bend under the extreme pressures of space. Any marines remaining began to hit the ground in pain and soon after there bodies began to implode and not long after that any object that was near the puncture in the hull began to get sucked out. The scene was gruesome. Just before the door to the research lab the Chief jumped out. The pressure began to crumple the cruiser even more and explosions could be heard near the engine room. Just ahead of the chief was an empty banshee that seemed to be in good working order.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝ"That one! Hurry!" screamed Cortana.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝ"Shut up for a minute!" Snapped the Chief.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝThe banshee was not the conventional purple color that the Chief was used to seeing. This one had a paint job similar to that of the warthog. It appeared that it was modified slightly from the original version as well. Whatever it was it was different and the Chief didn't care. He hopped up in lied down ready to take the controls. A voice came on in English; it was obviously placed there by the engineers in research, and said, "Welcome, UNSC Marine!" The plasma accelerator clicked into power and the Chief was ready to go. He clicked a few switches and grabbed onto the two control sticks. It had been over 5 years since the Chief had flown in a banshee. After a few minor collisions and an accidental weapons "malfunction" the Chief was off.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝThe walls of the cruiser rushed past at unusual speeds and the banshee seemed to handle much better than the last time he went in one. A few Covenants could be seen in banshees up ahead. The Chief blew past them and right away the elites were in the chase. The older banshees were obviously not quick enough to keep up. Very soon the Chief came upon the hole that the giant drill had made. He maneuvered through the hole and took a quick glance back at the ship. A part of the cruiser had been bent almost 90 degrees. What a mess. A few more explosions could be seen and not 15 seconds after the chief escaped the ship began to plummet towards Earth.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝ"Shouldn't that ship be floating not falling towards Earth?" Asked Chief.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝ"Look! Chief the Covenant are actually pushing the ships they destroy down to Earth! They are going to blow them up on the planet!" Replied Cortana.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝThe Chief made a few adjustments and dcided to go after a few Covenants. Maybe he could bored one of the ships and thus prevent a major explosion. He made a 180-degree turn and made his way towards a huge egg shaped craft. The craft was assisting in pushing the UNSC cruiser towards its doom and did not seem to detect the Banshee coming towards it. It was at this time that chief noticed a data uplink on the banshee. If he could upload Cortana to the banshee he could get her to drop him off. The benefits far out weighed the risks. As he placed the data coupling into the uplink Cortana took control.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝ"Wow! Those engineers added some amazing features to this!" A few beeps and a couple of blips are all that the Chief had to realize that Cortana was already used to the system. A strange wavy noise followed and the ship became invisible.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝ"Active Camo?" said the Chief
ÝÝÝÝÝÝ"That's not all... I don't even have to drop you off, we can take that ship out right now!" replied Cortana.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝThe banshee changed course and began to fly towards the bridge of the Covenant ship. A few more noises and alarms sounded as a series of rockets flew up ahead. Just when the Chief thought the banshee ran out of ammo it began to fire more rockets, and then more, and more.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝ"When's this thing gonna run out?" Asked the Chief.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝ"I fired 64 rockets at the Bridge, some of them are traveling at slower speed to allow the other rockets to explode. These ones are heading for the Engine room." Said Cortana calmly.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝ"I didn't even know they made rockets like that anymore. Go figure." Said Chief.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝA few moments later a large series of explosions erupted on the ship ahead of them. Instantly the ship began to deploy banshees. About 150 banshees began to fly chaotically as they struggled to find the Chief. Complete hell broke loose when the Covenant started shooting one another down, not knowing whose side each other was on. Not one enemy banshee came towards the chief.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝThe Covenant ship began to explode from the inside out indicating that the rockets reached their destination. One down 1,399 more ships to go. The whole operation seemed to be doomed for the Chief. He had neither the time nor the resources to take out this fleet.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝ"God Dammit Cortana! We gotta help Earth!" Yelled the Chief.
ÝÝÝÝÝÝ"Chief we are doing the best we can! Don't forget why we are here in the first place! The constructs, remember!"
ÝÝÝÝÝÝ"How many people can we get off the planet in 3 days?" Asked Chief
ÝÝÝÝÝÝ"None! The Covenant has us surrounded."
ÝÝÝÝÝÝThe situation became hopeless in a matter of moments. The Chief did some thinking and decided the only option was to go to earth and find this construct Cortana had detected earlier. With the construct maybe the Chief could determine the location of another halo. With some luck the ring will be out of Earths range but in the range of a few Covenant planets. The Chief lied down and let Cortana guide the ship to Earth. In a few minutes Chief dozed off into a dream world. A dream world of the ring world.
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