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Neu Haven: Chapter Two
Posted By: Blue Jaguar<madsh33p@netscape.net>
Date: 31 January 2004, 12:51 AM
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1309 hours, August 18, 2418 (EZT) UNSC Lagos, Section 17-C (ONI), Delta Jaguaris System
Staff sergeant William Holden skimmed across the pieces of debris on the table before him. Hundreds of pieces of materiel from the mornings battle needed to be sorted out, and he was the only one at the time, capable of understanding any of it.
"I'm sure headquarters will go bananas when they see this shit." Corporal Zimmerman, his assistant, declared.
"No doubt, well I guess we better begin. Start recording on cameras, put audio on as well." Holden instructed.
The Zimmerman reached over to a control panel beside him, flipped a few switched, and the cameras began rolling. Holden went through all the preliminary talk, telling the time, date, and how the articles were found, and then began sorting through the items.
"It looks like we have mostly scraps of a bluish metal. A few green pieces....and...Corporal, what do you make of this?" Holden held up a somewhat circular device, still completely intact, and attached to a odd shaped mounting.
"I don't know, the steering wheel?" Zimmerman joked.
"Looks likes a pretty shitty manufacturing job eh?"
Holden tried to pull the device from the mounting
"Uh sergeant, that pipe that goes to the device is leaking something." Zimmerman said, as he watched a green ooze come out of the where the mount had been broken. Holden turned the relic around so that he could see the broken end. He stared at it for a few seconds, and then realized that he wasn't staring at a piece of equipment, this was flesh and bone.
"Get a microscope." Holden ordered.
A few seconds later Zimmerman returned with a microscope.
"What is it?" He demanded.
"An arm I think." Holden replied.
Zimmerman tried to stumble some words out, but couldn't manage any.
Holden pulled out a needle and began extracting the now thawed fluid from the arm. He carefully placed the needle into what he thought was a blood vessel, and then pressed a button on the needle, which began the extraction.
"Get a container ready, we're gonna find out what this thing is." Holden said. Zimmerman once again immediately grabbed a sample dish and stood by Holden with it eagerly in his hand.
Holden slowly pulled the needle out of the arm, and then stuck it into a small hole in the top of the dish. After a few seconds, the fluid had completely emptied into the dish, and the container sealed shut.
"Lets see what this baby is." Holden muttered. Zimmerman placed the dish under the microscope, and then looked towards a monitor on the wall displaying what the microscope showed.
"Ain't nothin I ever seen before." Zimmerman muttered.
"What the fuck is this shit, it ain't human." Holden paused. "Computer, run a scan on these cells, tell me if they match anything ever found, anywhere."
A few seconds later a voice replied. "Sorry Sergeant, but we have no records of your cells."
"Ok...." Holden paused to think. Then flipped on a comlink to the Bridge.
"Sergeant Holden to the bridge."
"What is it Sergeant?" A voice replied.
"Send Captain Rovic to ONI, we have something he might like to see."
"All right, I'll see if I can't page him."
Holden closed the comlink and sat back in his chair. But before he could get very relaxed, the alarm klaxons sounded.
"All hands man your battle stations, enemy contact is closing in, all hands man battle stations!" The PA announced.
"You gotta be fucking me!" Zimmerman yelled as he slammed his fist into the table.
1327 hours, August 18, 2418 (EZT) UNSC Lagos, Section 1-A (Bridge), Delta Jaguaris System
"Range, six hundred thousand klicks and closing sir, he came out of slipstream right on top of one of our dropships, blew it out of the sky." Lieutenant Kilsa reported.
"All right, get firing solutions, order our fighters to form a screen between the enemy ship and our transports. We aren't going to let this asshole get away this time." Rovic replied. Still struggling to get to his seat in the zero-G room.
"Sir, more contacts exiting slipstream. Looks like...shit, there are two more vessels, one of the same size, the other just a little smaller."
"Dammit, order the contacts to engage enemy fighters as they launch, lock in firing solutions for the first ship we sited."
"Aye sir, I'm designating the first ship Alpha One, the second larger ship, Alpha Two, and the smaller one Bravo One." Jackson announced.
"All right, lets do this carefully, any mistakes and we are gonna be in a world of hurt. Turn on a course to suggest we are leaving system, fire all missiles at the smaller vessel and perform a quick FTL jump out system, if they don't follow then we'll jump back in and fire another salvo."
"Aye sir, turning to course One Three Nine mark Two. Ahead flank speed." His navigations officer reported.
"Missiles away sir, Longswords have engaged enemy single ships."
"All right, lets bug out."
A few seconds later the ship shuddered and then was flung into slipstream. After a six second trip, the ship dropped back out, and began to turn back towards the planet, now 718 million kilometres away.
"That's about the shortest FTL trip ever recorded." The navigations officer piped up.
"All right stay focused, are any of the ships following us?"
"Negative sir, enemy ships are still moving towards our supply route, I estimate they will be in weapons range in two minutes."
"What is the status on the smaller ship?"
"Most of the missiles were shot down before impact, the remaining few are impacting as we speak."
"Ok, lets move back in. Four seconds only, no more."
The Lagos entered slipstream for a mere four seconds and then jumped back out.
"Couldn't ask for any more luck!" Jackson shouted.
Dead ahead was the rear of the enemy ships, only 30,000 kilometres away.
"Lock in firing solutions and FIRE!"
"Aye sir, solution in place, three seconds until all missile tubes are ready......FIRING!"
The Lagos vibrated as missiles streaked out of the ship, accompanied by 180mm cannon shells. Within seconds they were upon the rear enemy ship.
"Impacting now sir."
The 180mm shells struck first. They hammered into the shields, causing them to overload but before collapsing, they were shut down by the ships crew. But before they could be turned back on and regain much of their strength they were hit by the salvo of 17 Crossbow missiles.
"Sir, seven of our missiles were destroyed en-route, but the remaining seventeen have struck the ships hull. I count multiple hull breaches, severe damage."
The enemy craft began to turn to port, as if to engage the Lagos, but it soon became obvious she was no longer under control of the crew.
"Sir, it would appear the enemy ships bridge was destroyed, I think they have lost control."
A few seconds later the ships engines shut off, leaving the ship spinning in space and its orbit around the planet rapidly deteriorating.
"All right, target the next ship." Rovic ordered.
"Captain, they are coming about, enemy ship is preparing to fire!"
"All right, get our salvo off ASAP, order all crewmen to brace for impact."
"Aye sir, bracing for impact."
The enemy plasma round struck the Lagos on the port side and grazed down the side of the ship, melting off armor and detonating Crossbow missiles that were still in their tubes, causing even more damage to the ships' superstructure.
"DAMAGE REPORT!" Rovic yelled.
"Crossbow missile tubes 13-24 are out of service, all sections on the port side on decks 2-5 are depressurized."
"DAMMIT!" Rovic shouted. "Return fire, fire at will!"
Immediately the Lagos' 180mm cannons began pumping out shells as quickly as they could be loaded. But even if this threat could be stopped, the other smaller ship was still en route to the supply convoy, and could wreak havoc if it arrived there.
"How long till enemy ship reaches convoy?"
"45 seconds sir."
"Order our fighters to disengage enemy craft and attack that vessel."
"Aye sir, redesignating target package for our fighters."
"Captain, enemy ship is firing again."
"Turn hard to port, fire starboard missiles and order all crewmen to evac missile bays."
"Aye sir"
The Lagos turned its' still fully armored side towards the incoming round. Missiles fired down the length of the ship as it turned, and crewmen began evacuating the missile bays. But they would not reach safety, the enemy round struck the Lagos, instantly blasting through the armor into the missile bays and crew compartments. The round continued to hammer through the ship until it reached the port side, were it blasted back out with a violent explosion that broke the Lagos into two pieces.
Red warning lights flashed on the Lagos' bridge, and alarm klaxons blared, deafening the crewmen.
"DAMAGE REPORT!" Rovic screamed, trying to out do the klaxons.
Finally a crewman shut off the klaxons, but by this time the front end of the ship had already spun 180 degrees, so that through the bridge viewport the back half of the Lagos could be seen.
Several crewmen gasped as they watched their engineering section depart from them and then fall out of orbit.
"All non-essential personnel abandon ship, I repeat, abandon ship!" Rovic ordered. He then turned to the bridge crew. "We are staying on board, we still have one of our 180s, and we aren't going to stop firing till th...."
But before he could finish his statement, a 2nd round struck the forward half of the ship, killing the entire crew instantly.
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