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Dead In Space
Posted By: lam<lamminator_21@hotmail.com>
Date: 1 October 2006, 11:46 pm
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(Epsilon Eridani system, Onboard UNSC destroyer/ Deep Voyager, Above Sigma Octanus IV)
Jeremy P. Diddy rushed to the bridge, followed by a few surviving crewmen after the bloody battle that took place on the Voyager. Jeremy knew they were engaging in a space battle when an explosion appeared along the Voyager's hull. He'd never been to a real space battle before, but he did run a few simulations before he could join the Navy.
"What's going on?" One of the marines asked. Jeremy turned to face the marine and saw half his face was unshaved. The marine understood Jeremy's expression and growled.
"You can see I was kinda busy eh?" He grinned.
Jeremy chuckled and dashed ahead towards the bridge, wanting to take part of the incoming battle ahead.
Captain Gordan Connor studied the advancing covenant fleet through the front view port. About 6 covenant frigates and 3 destroyers appeared out of no where from slip space and their plasma turrets were charged, red-hot.
"Initiate evasive maneuvers on my mark!" Gordan commanded the AI. Unfortunately, the ship's AI was the only one with him on the bridge so they were like cattle being chased by hungry wolves. He needed additional crew to take the weapon stations and hopefully, he was going to get them soon.
The covenant ships fired their plasma turrets towards the Voyager's position at a slow speed. That was their disadvantage, one of many few; their plasma weapons traveled at a much slower speed rate than the UNSC's standard main cannons. The (MAC) magnetic accelerator cannon fired heavy projectiles powered by a dozen super conductive magnetic coils. That MAC gun can usually destroy a cruiser on a single shot, but the covenant had shields. This is what gave them the big advantage.
"Take evasive maneuvers now!"
Gordan yelled.
"Yes sir," the AI replied.
Gordan felt the ship's emergency thrusters come to life and pushed the ship aside on a rough angle. Just then, the plasma beams soared past the Voyager and headed towards the unglassed area of Sigma Octanus IV; Cote d'Azur. Gordan finally realized the covenant weren't after them, they were after the planet.
"Damn, the whole downtown area was already destroyed, and they still want to finish off the small remaining areas?" Gordan frowned. Can the covenant ever show some mercy, instead of destroying a planet that already met it's doom?
"Vile beast…" Gordan whispered, angrily. If the covenant were purposely aiming at the Voyager, they would have no chance of dodging the plasma. He seen what their weapons could do, especially the plasma torpedo. It somehow locked on to targets. There was no way Gordan would let the covenant glass Sigma Octanus IV without a fight.
"This is the captain! Where is everyone? All remaining personnel, report to the bridge!"
Jeremy ran past the cafeteria lunch room and arrived at the bridge, hearing the captain sending an urgent message over the loudspeakers.
[This is the captain! Where is everyone? All remaining personnel, report to the bridge!]
Jeremy was the first to arrive, followed by the Spartans, and then the rest of the ODST division.
"Awaiting your orders, sir!" They said in unison.
Captain Gordan Connor smiled in relief started the briefing
"About damn time you people showed up. Alright, Spartans, make your way to the intact missile launch bays and load 'em up. Lieutenant McKay, take your men with them. Ah, Lieutenant Jeremy, Your squad can stay on the bridge. All of you took flight and combat simulations on a battle ship right?" Everyone nodded.
"Excellent, Man your stations, pick whichever you feel most comfortable with.
Jeremy took a pilot seat on front of the captain's command post, beside a new recruit. Jeremy studied the marine's dog tag and saw a full name, rank, and service number;
Lee, Lam. ODST, Private. Service number 00174-38451-LL.
"You got some skills with flying this baby?" Jeremy asked sarcastically.
The marine wide-eyed Jeremy in surprise and replied, "Hell yea El Tee. The question is, can you?"
Jeremy chuckled. "Why do you think I'm asking you? Help me, that's an order." Jeremy knew how to fly a ship, but the problem was he nearly failed his flight simulations test with 3 KIA's.
The marine bared a big grin and punched in some codes, "Sir, yes sir! Follow along sir!"
Gordan took a look around the room and smiled, just like before; noisy with communication frequencies, people working at their stations, everything his old crew used to do.
"Alright, everyone ready?" Gordan asked. "Cause if we ain't ready, then we might as well start digging our graves before the covenant bastards could do it for us, understood?"
The whole room laughed and then roared with confidence, "Hell no, sir!" A sergeant shut them up and started doing his own prep. Talk, "Fellow jarheads, there was a reason why you joined this division. The reason why we dive feet first in to their raggedy-ass and kick their filthy ass. Do you know why? Not just for beer, oh no, not that. But why?"
Everyone yelled with enthusiasm as the question was asked. "We blow them straight to hell, sir!"
"Damn right you do, and for answering it right, all of ya'll get a glass of the finest, brewed beer. Down at Sigma Octanus."
All the marines cheered on until they were cut off.
"Hold on, you ain't getting any yet fellas. The covenant are trying to burn down the planet and steal our beer. So, we gotta take 'em out before they reach her. Am I clear?"
"Sir, yes sir!"
"Ok cut the chit-chat people and man your stations." Gordan said, calmly. Gordan saw the frigate ships charge their plasma turrets, ready to fire once more. But the destroyers ignored them and went straight for Sigma Octanus IV. The suicide mission started to dissipate and Gordan gave a deep sigh of relief. He didn't have to take them all on at a time. The covenant surely made a big mistake ignoring the UNSC destroyer and they're going to regret it.
"Arm front Archer missile pods A through E and side pods A through F."
"Missiles armed and ready, sir."
The captain viewed the covenant warships moving closer to the planet, going past the Deep Voyager.
"How long will it take the destroyers to go in the side Archer missile's line of fire?"
"7 seconds, sir, and counting."
"Good. Remove safety locks from one of our Shiva warheads and give me a firing solution on the destroyers."
"Yes sir, missile away!"
Gordan saw the missile slowly make its' way towards the covenant destroyers through the front camera view.
"2 seconds 'till the destroyers reach the Archer missile's line of fire, sir."
The high-explosive Archer missiles were designed to penetrate through thick plates of armor and then detonate inside it to cause a shredding action. But not to energy shields however. That'll be the warhead's objective.
The nuke detonated as it made contact with one of the destroyer's shields and engulfed all 3 in a cloud of destructive energy. As the energy burned out, the covenant ships were still intact, but their shields were gone. This left them vulnerable.
"Contact! Enemy frigates have fired their plasma turrets! Impact in 17 seconds."
"Good, make them follow us. Fire side Archer missiles now."
"Aye, aye sir. Missiles away."
Hundreds of Archer missiles streaked towards the unprotected destroyers, ready to tear them apart.
"Course change: zero zero zero point two six, declination zero zero zero point one eight; collision course, and divert 95% of energy to the main thrusters for full burn."
"Aye, aye sir. Collision with first destroyer in 5 seconds, plasma torpedoes in 8 seconds."
The Archer missiles themselves wouldn't do anything, but scar the covenant ship's thick hull. The best weapon to tear through those ship's are their own, and that's what they're going to get.
"Course correction; head to zero zero zero point two eight, declination zero zero zero point one eight. On my mark." Gordan commanded. If this won't work, then they'll be free floating particles.
"Collision with destroyers in 2 seconds, sir!" A marine panicked, "We're gonna die! Lord O' Mighty, save us!"
"Course correction now!" The captain yelled. He felt the bottom emergency thrusters come to life and blew them to a new course; 4 inches above one of the covenant destroyers. The Deep Voyager made it's way swiftly away from the destroyers, escaping the doom awaiting them.
"Bring up aft cameras." Gordan ordered. The ship's rear camera showed a dozen plasma torpedoes melt away the helpless destroyers. Their skeletal structure was visible now as it was the Archer missiles turn to do some damage; The high explosives missiles tore through the untouched decks and cut apart the intact destroyers. One destroyer mushroomed as a few missiles detonated on it's plasma reactor, leaving behind bits of hot metal and molten.
"Sir, how did you come up with that tactic? It was superb!"
Gordan smiled and thought of his blood brother he went to training school with. The one who taught him everything he needed to know about flying ships. Jacob Keyes was his name; commander of the Iroquois. "I learned it from an old colleague of mines. None of your business boy."
"Engines are hot, the coolant is having problems, sir," the ship's AI announced. "It will take exactly 15 minutes and 36 seconds to completely cool down."
"Shut the engines down for a while," Gordan ordered. "Open emergency vent."
"Yes sir, fusion reactor plasma is venting."
"Sir! Contact! I'm detecting high levels of beta particle radiation on the remaining covenant frigates; they're about to fire again!"
Damn, Gordan thought. With nothing to use as a shield against their torpedoes and their engines near critical, their ship was virtually just a stationary gun. "Can the MAC cannon fire?" Gordan asked.
"Yes, but it'll take 20 minutes to fully charge the conductive magnetic coils, sir," Thoren replied. "But we still have 2 Shiva warheads left and 75% of the Archer missile pods are still ready to fire, front missile pods are still armed."
Then something came to Gordan's mind, the only option was to go directly to the frigates. If they ran, then they would still die, rather die fighting then die a coward. Only AI and him are required to do that. He made a big mistake fully ignoring the frigates and now he was going to regret it. If only he was like Jacob…None of this would've happened, and now everyone will die if he didn't do something.
"That's it, everyone get off this ship! I'll call the Gettysburg and the Iroquois to pick you up." Luckily, there were still two remaining UNSC ships left on the other side of Sigma Octanus IV. If only they can get over here quick and help conclude this battle.
"Sir, are you sure about this?" Jeremy asked, everyone else starring at him concerned.
Gordan gave a deep sigh and answered, "Yes, this war has too many human casualties, and I'm not gonna let that happen to you people. Rather sacrifice one life instead of hundreds."
"You mean 2 lives," Thoren the AI, corrected. "Don't forget this is my home as well, sir."
"Yes, you too Thoren. Now everyone, get off my ship! That's an order!" Gordan yelled furiously.
Everyone immediately saluted and said their last comments to the captain and sprinted towards the pelicans and the life boats.
"You'll be remembered, sir. To me, you are considered as the best of the best. Good luck sir." Jeremy said quietly.
The captain nodded, "And so are you soldier."
Jeremy turned around and ran out of sight, head down in sorrow.
All the ODST's and Spartans got on their transports and departed the Voyager; back to Sigma Octanus, awaiting to get picked up. Jeremy stood up on his seat and took a last glance through an escape pod's rear door, at the Voyager as she set a new course towards the covenant frigates. At the same time he saw the frigates discharge their plasma torpedoes directly at the Voyager. Jeremy turned away and took his seat, sad, but also proud that he had helped destroy 3 covenant destroyers. For some reason, he wanted to be back on the Deep Voyager once more, one last time, fighting aside with Captain Gordan Connor and eventually die aside with him. Captain Gordan is a real hero and will always be one…
(Epsilon Eridani system, UNSC destroyer/Deep Voyager, on course away from Sigma Octanus IV)
The Deep Voyager and her crew of two were heading on a last mission; a long, awaited victory for the humans and a chance to give humanity more time to live, salvation.
"Thoren, warm up our engines and set a collision course with the enemy ships."
"Sir, you do realize that our engines have not fully recovered and will overheat, causing a super-heated wildcat reaction to our fusion drives, which will eventually detonate, generating a temperature of one hundred million degrees, disintegrating everything in an six-hundred-kilometer radius since our cooling vents will be destroyed," The AI replied.
"Yes, I'm fully aware of that and I'm planning to do so. Now I remembered telling you to warm up the engines to full burn." Gordan growled.
"Aye, aye sir. Collision with enemy frigates in 3 minutes."
Gordan heard the ship's engines desperately struggle to come alive and did so with a loud boom. "Status?" He asked calmly.
"Our fusion drives are near critical. 4 minutes until detonation if stay at this speed rate.
"Good, arm all our Archer missiles and remove the safeties on the remainder Shiva warheads. Fire on my mark."
"Yes, sir," Thoren replied. "Contact, enemy frigates have just launched their plasma torpedoes. They'll hit us in 10 seconds."
"Prepare to launch top emergency thrusters. Course correction; head zero zero zero point zero three one, declination zero zero zero point zero zero zero point three four. On my mark," Gordan said with sweat dripping down his chin now.
"Aye, aye sir. Impact with plasma torpedoes in 3 seconds."
Gordan saw the streaks of plasma surge closer towards them, and felt the bridge heat up intensely. "Emergency thrusters now!" Gordan covered is eyes as the V-bright plasma torpedoes soar right past them as they did a dive.
Suddenly the red alarm went off and Gordan felt the bridge turn into a large microwave.
"Status?" He asked.
"Sir, the ships' dorsal structure took a real beaten, all upper decks have been breached," the AI replied. "80% of the Voyager is stil intact."
"Aft cameras." Gordan commanded. The main screen switched to the rear view and Gordan saw a dozen plasma torpedoes turn around in an arc and continued following them.
"40 seconds until collision with enemy frigates, 50 seconds until detonation," Thoren said.
"Launch the nukes and give me a firing solution on the Archer missiles right after their shields are down." Gordan commanded.
"Yes, sir."
"Switch to front cameras," Gordan saw the nukes and hundreds of Archer missiles streak through space towards the frigate on the main screen. The first nuke engulfed the first 3 frigates and then followed by the rest from the second nuke. As the explosions winked out, every single covenant shield disappeared; leaving them vulnerable. The Archer missiles impacted a second later, tearing small holes through the frigates.
"Sir, the frigates are spreading out! They're trying to escape, or at least decrease the number of casualties. By the time we reach them, some may already be out of range."
The captain sighed; with no armory left they'd be lucky to at least get one or two frigates.
"4 seconds until collision, sir. It was a pleasure fighting along with you."
The captain nodded in approval.
The ship crashed into one of the frigates with extreme force, propelling them both back towards another frigate. Gordan closed his eyes as the ship started to shutter and explosions appeared along the Voyager's hull. Everything went white as a compact sun blossomed where the Voyager used to be.
Just when the remainder covenant frigates thought they were safe, twelve plasma torpedoes met with the growing inferno, fusing with it, causing the thermo nuclear sphere to compress into a small, red ball. Then released a powerful halo of pressure waves rippling through space, followed by a huge super nova from the compressed thermo nuclear; engulfing every single surviving frigate.
The Deep Voyager and everything on and around her in twelve-hundred-kilometer radius, ceased to exist.
(Epsilon Eridani system, Above Sigma Octanus IV, Onboard UNSC destroyer/ The Iroquois)
Jeremy starred through a window compartment on the Iroquois, watching a gigantic fire ball swallow all the covenant frigates. All of a sudden, some thing pounded against the ship, knocking Jeremy off his feet.
"What the hell was that?" A worried marine asked.
Jeremy grunted as he pulled himself up, once again, starring at the thermo nuclear sphere burn out the last of it's fuel, and finally winked out.
"It was an ultra sonic pressure wave from the explosion," an old man replied. "Man Gordan sure did put on a helluva fire works show, that's the largest thermo nuclear reaction I've ever seen. Good bye brother," he whispered, loud enough for Jeremy to hear.
Jeremy studied the man's insigne; Keyes, Jacob. Captain. Service number 01928-19912-JK. The man's uniform was completely clean; he was a new captain.
"Sir, permission to speak?"
Jacob Keyes's eyes locked on to Jeremy, "Go ahead son, make it quick though. The ONI personnel requested to study the mission log, to find out the cause of the second explosion."
"Thank you, sir," Jeremy replied. "Are you Captain Gordan's colleague, the one he has been talking about?"
Keyes gave Jeremy a wide-eye in surprise, "I see he has been opening that wide mouth of his too big this time. Yes, and why do you ask lieutenant?
"Well, sir, he really didn't tell me your name, I read you CSV profile myself and saw what you did today. He did speak very highly of you and your strategic skills."
"Quite so," Keyes answered back. "It was a pleasure talking to you lieutenant, we'll meet again. But right now my schedule is tight."
"Yes, sir, I understand," Jeremy saluted and walked back to the view port. Something was weird this time. There was some sort of void where the explosion took place. The space around it seems to get sucked inside it as it grew larger.
"What on earth…" He whispered. Suddenly, an ONI scientist ran into the room and whispered something into Captain Keyes's ear.
"What's going on?" Lieutenant McKay asked.
Captain Keyes turned around and frowned, "There's some unnatural activity going on where the Deep Voyager was last located. The Gettysburg and the Leviathan found something." He paused and took a deep breath. "Doctor, may you explain?"
The ONI scientist fixed her glasses and nodded, "The super thermo nuclear reaction with the plasma torpedoes somehow caused the particles there to compress with each other, burn out, and tear a hole through a large amount of mass through space. This is what happens when a sun dies out and causes a super nova. The unstable energy rips a hole through space. This phrase is also known as a 'Halo' of gas and dust spiraling in the center of a singularity; also known as a black hole. Now will you excuse me, I don't anymore time to explain," She said and walked out of Captain Keyes.
"This is gonna be a 'large minor' problem," Jeremy whispered as he saw the 'event horizon' get larger, sucking stellar material out of existence...
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