Fallen Angel: Part 4: Winds of Doom
Posted By: Gruntkiller/Covert<ttavenor@nf.sympatico.ca>
Date: 12 January 2003, 1:43 am
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Word spread quickly throughout the galaxy of the UNSC frigate Minotaur and how it was captured. To the covenant it was reason to celebrate, the streets of the capital planet were flooded with parades celebrating the advance in the war. But to the humans it brought them a step closer to doom, onboard the Minotaur's main computer the coordinates to every human colony lay, since the ship had no AI construct the hard drives could not be destroyed in time to stop Sam from accessing them. Now every military vessel was being mobilized in a desperate attempt to track down and destroy the Minotaur before it reached a covenant planet. ~ Josh sat on the dark rocky shore of a beach on Newfoundland a small island on the northern Atlantic Ocean. Behind him a military base made up of mostly hangers and barracks was scrambling to prepare their 8 wings of Longsword fighters and 3 wings of Pelican drop ships for the hunt for the Minotaur. The last few nights had been just like tonight. Mechanics scrambled to make the necessary adjustments to the fighters and drop ships, and marines carried out boarding drills incase they had to board the Minotaur.
The sky was clear revealing thousands of stars, from there space looked so kind and inviting. A slight breeze came off the ocean caressing his face easing his tense mind. Josh knew what was at stake if this mission failed, the war was now in its darkest days if the Minotaur managed to escape them the war would become hopeless, if it wasn't already.
The covenant armada was advancing faster and faster entire fleets of ships were being crushed. Suicide rates everywhere were on the rise, people just couldn't stand the idea of watching their species become extinct. Conscription was put in place anyone over the age of 16 who could fire a weapon was given basic training and sent to the fronts. Josh and the rest of the Spartans would be sent out tomorrow, they would once again return to the front to fight the seemingly invincible covenant army.
Josh stared out onto the black ocean it was calm only a slight ripple from the breeze disturbed its surface. Josh took in a deep breath and then let it out slowly in an attempt to ease his mind. Since Reach fell he had been fighting continuously as everyday passed it became harder and harder to find any hope in his existence, he had watched as planets were glassed he had seen dozens of marines die slow and painful deaths on the field, every moment his existence seemed to become more and more pointless, humanity was dieing fast not even the greatest of generals could ever imagine the slaughter that was going on.
Behind him he heard footstep on the rocky shore, he didn't bother to turn around and see who it was, he already knew by the pattern of footsteps. Kelly walked up behind him and sat down on a rock next to him. The two of them had been like a brother and sister ever since Reach, one always stood up for the other.
"So what do you think," said Kelly looking up at the stars overhead.
"Think about what?" asked Josh.
"About the mission," said Kelly, "by the looks of it this will be more important then Reach."
"I guess so, there's a lot that depends on the destruction of this one ship," said Josh.
Josh had thoughts racing through his head but on the outside he looked calm, "Its almost ironic."
"What," said Kelly.
"That after the destruction of hundreds of huge cruisers and carriers, and the loss of dozens of major colonies that possibly the most important ship in the galaxy right now would be one small patrol frigate," said Josh.
"Fate has a lot of strange twists," said Kelly.
"I keep getting the feeling that things will get a lot worse before they get better," said Josh, "almost like there's something powerful out there that we have yet to discover, but still it knows about us."
"I get that feeling too sometimes," said Kelly, "I guess that's the way everything goes."
Josh stands up taking one last look at the stars above he turns around and walks back towards the barracks followed closely by Kelly.
Next: Chase
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