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Archive - Chapter Three: Change
Posted By: Bodie<bodie_bumm@hotmail.com>
Date: 23 November 2006, 10:23 pm
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"If you go there, you're gone forever…
If I go there, I'll lose my way…
If we stay here, we're not together…
Anywhere is…"
0505 Hours, October 22, 2552 (Military Calendar)/ Sol System
Planet Earth: Australia. Victoria; Melbourne
Matthew Wood impatiently flashed his security clearance card to the young officer at the gates. He quickly opened them. Wood's sleek black sedan sped though the courtyard of the ONI section of HighCom's Melbourne headquarters, kicking up dust and pebbles.
His car smoothly slid into a parking spot, next to a civilian Hog. He got out of his car, and the sun beamed warmly on his face.
Wood walked up a light sandstone path, slivers of silt and sand landing on his black shoes. He couldn't hide the anger on his face, and it was plain for everyone to see. He had to see someone about this.
Wood was looking forward to meeting the bright Admiral that decided to put him and Hope on the same assignment. She would ruin the mission, and Wood was sure he could convince someone of that.
He pushed open the two glass doors and walked passed the reception desk. The receptionist was seated behind it, and with one flash of his security clearance, she let Wood pass. He walked past her, and walked down a small hallway to the right.
Portraits of old Admirals smiled down on him. He reached the end of the hallway, and eyed a small silver panel on the wall with an illuminated arrow pointing down on it. He pressed it, and it glowed brighter.
A soft ping escaped an unseen speaker, and Wood knew that elevator that would take him to the secure sector was approaching, rising from the chasms of the earth.
A few minutes later, the white outer doors opened, revealing a small mirrored chamber. Wood entered it and the doors closed slowly. He looked at the silver panel to the right of the door, and pressed a button marked 'O'. The lift idled for a moment, and then descended back to where it had come from.
After a few minutes, Wood felt the elevator slow and stop. He knew he had passed though hundreds of layers of strengthened Titanium-A armour plating. The doors opened, and a calm female voiced announced, "Floor 'Oh'; Operations."
Wood stepped out of the elevator, and walked into an impressive white lobby. At the rear was the receptionist's desk. He strode over to it, and the receptionist pulled heres away from her computer screen to look at him.
"Please place your ID card into the machine, sir." She routinely told him. He did as he was told, and a beep told him to take it out. His profile appeared on the receptionist's screen.
"Captain Wood?" she asked.
"Yes," Wood replied, and with a sarcastic smile he added, "That's what it says on the card."
The receptionist ignored his last comment.
"Are you here regarding the Archive Assignment?" she asked,
"Yes. I need to see the Admiral in charge. Is he in?" Wood asked, with a hint of superiority.
"Admiral Tevenson is in his room. Its…" the receptionist looked at her screen, "Room AJ. I'll alert him you're coming," she said with a false smile.
"Thankyou," Wood replied, equally as false.
As Wood walked down the corridors, he tried to remember if he'd ever encountered Admiral Tevenson before. When he located room AJ, he took a deep breath and knocked, hard.
"Enter," a deep voice boomed, and Wood pushed the gold handle down and opened the door.
Sitting behind his desk, smoking a cigar, was Admiral Tevenson. A tall, old man, wearing a crisp white uniform. Wood saluted.
"Admiral,"
"At ease," Tevenson nodded, "have a seat." He motioned to one of two chairs in front of the desk.
Wood took a seat. "Admiral, first, I thankyou for letting my son pilot the Carthage. I know he will do a fine job."
"I'm sure he will," Tevenson replied, "And secondly?"
"It's Hope, sir. Why did you choose her to be on the mission, with me?" Wood asked.
Tevenson's face twitched.
"To let you know, she was chosen first. You were the second candidate," he boomed, his eyes narrow.
Wood's eyes narrowed.
"And, to answer your question, I chose you two because you are the best we've got."
"But considering our history…"
"You can't put that behind you? Wood, it was ten years ago."
"Yes sir. So there is no chance of changing?" Wood hesitantly asked.
"No," Tevenson bluntly replied, "You'd better go. Darwin in five hours."
"Yes sir." Wood got up to leave when the Admiral spoke,
"Wood. I don't want anything to go wrong on this mission. Alright?"
"Yes sir." Wood nodded, and walked out.
The receptionist in the main lobby saw Wood storm out of the elevators, into his car, and speed off down the road, and out the gates.
Planet Earth: Australia. New South Wales; Sydney
It was cold inside the large expanse of the Sydney International Airport. Caitlyn Hope walked through halls made of white tiles, and grey steel. At the end of the hall, she found herself in a room with numbered sections. She knew these were gates, and her eyes spied out gate eleven. She walked over to it, seeing people huddled together in the cold. She sat down on a white leather couch, its chill touching her even through her jacket.
She looked ahead, and watched a small television screen perched up in the corner of the section. Gate 11: Darwin. Departing at 7:30am. Hope exhaled, and looked at her watch. Half an hour to go. Hope closed her eyes and slumped down in her chair. She realised there was soothing music drifting out of the speakers.
"If you go there, you're gone forever…"
Listening to the soft music, Hope's thought reeled back to a few hours before.
"If I go there, I'll lose my way…"
She couldn't take Kelly along with her. She'd be issued an AI when she boarded her ship.
"If we stay here, we're not together…"
Kelly had said she didn't mind, but Hope saw the sadness in her 'face' and her 'eyes'.
"Anywhere is…"
The music halted, and a voice resonated throughout all the sections.
"Flight KL-142 to Darwin is now boarding at gate eleven."
Hope got up, her mind still full with thoughts about Kelly. What if something happened to Kelly while she was away?
She silently prayed that Kelly would stay safe, and walked over to the gate. The guard at the gate checked her ticket, and directed her to the walkways that lead her to the front of the plane. Once she had boarded, she sat down in her designated seat. Hope shut her eyes for a few minutes, while the other people boarded.
When she opened her eyes, she eyed a man coming down the aisle towards her. She recognised him as Daniel Wood; Matthew Wood's son. Daniel was an exceptional ship navigator, and was probably piloting one of the ships in the Battlegroup.
"Could be dangerous," thought Hope.
The plane exploded down the runway, and Hope was headed off to Darwin to begin phase one of the Archive Assignment. The two Captains and all other crewmen were to meet in Darwin, Australia, and use the space elevator there to get to the UNSC Darwin, a geosynchronous orbital platform from which a carrier would come and take them to a MAC Platform, the Rome, named for the city it orbited over.
From there, the Captains were to inspect their specially made Trinity-class destroyers, while the other crew were shipped to the other ships in the Battlegroup.
Hope's destroyer, the Carthageand Wood's destroyer, the Sphenophyter, were going to make up the command stations for Battlegroup Legion, the Battlegroup that would escort the Library-class vessel, the most valuable ship in the UNSC. Two frigates, the Watson, and the Mallon, and two Marathon-class cruisers, simply designated Aft Cruiser and Fore Cruiser, were to make up the rest of the escort Battlegroup.
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