Mission Two :: Violence in the Heavens (Space)

[abroad]

Militant S'vat Var Saldanai

Aboard the Covenant Assault Cruiser Flagellant

Closing upon the Gliese 876 system, Slipspace.

The warped dimensional shapes and eerie lights of Slipspace reflected upon the hulls of the Coveant vessels as they surged forwards, those organic shapes making the vessels not seem unlike a group of sharks, swimming in the wake of a much larger and nastier beast.

The Flagellant was an Assault Carrier with a decorated history, it had served the Covenant for centuries, and had seen numerous repairs and refits in its lifetime – for a Sangheili Shipmaster to be given its helm was a mark of great respect and honour for one's skills. So naturally the Shipmaster felt somewhat disturbed that he did not hold his usual place of prominence on the command platform finding himself reduced to the level of his bridge crew while an outsider had taken his position. Not that he would argue this out with the usurping Sangheili, who stood tall and proud on the platform, ceremonial armour glittering brightly with the reflection of the holo-screens orbiting his position, the holy texts of the covenant scrolling over its surface.

Militant S'vat spoke with the voice of a Prophet, and no one, bar those who matched such rank, dared to speak against him – and so the Shipmaster kept his jaw tight, and seethed in silence. Of course the rest of the Sangheili on the bridge had noticed the discomforting tension, but they kept their heads down and did their job for the imposing new commander. Everyone would be glad to do their duties and see the stranger off their ship safely, then they would let out sighs of relief and normality would resume aboard the vessel – the Militant had only been carrying out a routine inspection when they had been called away on this search for the missing Pious Charity, the sudden slipspace eruption in an adjoining system to the other Assault Carriers previous known location had drawn the attention of the observing Militant, and with the full authority of his rank the small battle-group had made headway for the unknown space.

Up upon the command platform the Militant remained silent, imposing, studying the holo-screens around him and checking the status of the other vessels, when he did need to issue orders his voice was low, threatening, one didn't think twice about following them as soon as they were issued. The silence was shattered by that dark voice from the command platform,

“Shipmaster, It would be in the best of all interests for your vessel to undergo a refit of all its slip-space drives, your current ones are old, and inefficient, seek direction of the Minister of Technologies as to how to do this to this most sacred of vessels without committing acts of heresy to the works of the Forerunners, as dictated in the writings of the Prophet of Fortitude, in the twenty sixth year of our holy Covenant.”

The Shipmaster visibly blanched at this, the hassle of such an extensive project would keep him and his crew away from the front-lines of the war, but there was no way he could refuse the voice of the Executor of the Prophet of Sanctification, so he simply found himself forced by years of tradition to bow and acquiesce,

“Yes Executor, it will be done as soon as we return.”

There was little else one could do when faced with one of the military leaders of the Covenant, the Militant seemed satisfied and returned to his duties, the Shipmaster watched as the console before one of his bridge officers flashed an indication of them approaching their exit points, determined to have some semblance of greater position then his sub-officers he straightened up and looked up to the other Sangheili on the, no, his command platform,

“Executor, we have arrived at our destination, all our vessels wait upon your command.”

---

High Orbit

Gliese 876

The UNSCS Fenix enjoyed pride of position in orbit of Lethe, slip-space emissions casting off invisible bursts of energy into space from her sudden and dramatic arrival into the system – while its fellow UNSC ships remained skulking in the shadows, the Fenix remained proud and open in the orbit of the planet. Sadly, in high orbit, with the light of the distant star of the system glinting off its armour plated hull, the beautiful sight of the vessel was only marred by the fact that it now found itself directly in the path of the mass of Covenant Warships attracted by the powerful slipspace wake of its arrival into the system.

“Executor! We have detected a single Human vessel in the system, the Pious Charity has been detected within the planetary atmosphere, it appears to have taken significant damage, I am detecting numerous human life-signs aboard and on the planetary surface – we will begin sensor searches for further vessels.”

Militant S'vat, Executor of the Will of the Prophet of Sanctification, stared at the lone human ship so brazenly displayed on the holo-screens, and for a moment, admired its arrogant defiance, to be caught as it was seemingly preying upon a weakened Assault Carrier. The moment passed swiftly as he suddenly dropped his long silence,

“By the will of the Covenant, purge that ungraceful vessel from my sight, and command all ships to dispatch forces to recover the Pious Charity.”

In the void, floating free above the planet, the UNSCS Fenix found itself suddenly illuminated in fire, the energy weapons of the Covenant fleet slowly and surely opening up in a massive conflagration of energy as plasma torpedoes and energy beams arched out towards her. Before such force the combined fire of so many vessels, the beautiful glows lighting up its hull were a fitting artistic marking to a ship approaching its final moments. Then they struck, hull plates cooking to high enough temperatures to cause them to evaporate before the combined force of the Covenant weapons, blades of energy lanced into the vessel, carving through engine blocks and other sections of the ship, obliterating the ships Shaw-Fujiwaka drive a violent explosion that tore through the engineering decks, crippling the vessel within the first moments of the salvo, giving those aboard moments to evacuate before the wounded ship was torn apart by the horrific forces being applied to it.

[nex]

Captain Jason "Nex" Kerslake

The UNSC Midnight Silence

High Orbit, Lethe.

Captain Kerslake had enjoyed the relative peace this assignment had brought. Whilst the covenant vessel was proving a difficult mission for the ground crew, it hadn't posed them any threat- Not since the Welrod had crippled it further.

He'd insisted in being appraised of the ship's status every few hours. It had grown almost dull, but he savoured every minute of it. He had just finished a cup of coffee before emerging onto the bridge, and settling himself into his center chair. He was just about to call for, what would undoubtedly be the one thousandth time, an all stations' report. However he was much more rudely interrupted by his bridge staff.

"Captain, Covenant battlegroup emerging from slipspace." Her tone seemed calm, but he knew her better than that. She was just doing her job. He glanced quickly at the display, to see the covenant ships had emerged much closer in system than they had. Damn their more accurate technology.

He took a single deep breath. The oxygen pounded through his head, as he thought about his next action. That second would stop him making a stupid mistake.

In that second, the lead covenant ship opened up on the UNSC Fenix. The shock could clearly be heard through his bridge crew, as the hull of the Fenix burned white. He stood up and barked his orders. There could be no mistakes. Not this time.

"Sound General Quarters. All Hands."
As the red light began to blare, along with the muffled tone of a computerised announcement, he addressed his Comms Officer with a hurried point, before stepping towards the Tactical display.

"Deploy BlackWidow Satcoms, Scatter Pattern Alpha-6. "

"Aye, sir." The officer turned back to his display, and entered a fast series of commands.

He waited briefly for his first instruction to be carried out, mentally counting to five, before his next order.

"Helm, Bring ship to new course. Hard starboard, take us into a closer orbit on the farside of the target. "

"Aye, Captain". The ship shuddered briefly, as the reactor increased its power output, and the vessel began to slide forward, closer towards Lethe, and sharply to starboard.

"Bounce our signal through the Comm Satellite, wide-band all frequencies." He waited until the officer gave him a curt nod to proceed, before continuing with his message.

"Flash Traffic. Priority Alert: Arrival of Covenant forces in-system. All ground forces prepare for emergency withdrawal."

"Second Message: Narrow beam to these co-ordinates", he said gesturing to the darkside of the moon on the glass display. He used every ounce of strength to keep his finger steady. It was partly the caffeine, and partly the dislike of being out in the open like this. He was a Prowler captain, goddammit. What the hell was he doing on a frigate? If. When he corrected himself, he got out of this, he was going back to Prowlers.

"Sir?" The comment and accompanying stare from the Comms officer broke his thoughts. Suppressing a sigh, he straightened up.

"Task Force Arnhem: Execute."

Pacing further wouldn't help, he decided, settling himself back down in his chair. With another gesture to his Comms officer, he continued.

"Instruct the Mirage and the Welrod to break position. We'll extract the ground troops, whilst the rest of the fleet keep the covenant clear. "

But to be on the safe side...

"Charge Slipspace Capacitors."

[maxii1]

Captain Reginald McMillan
UNSC The Forlorn Hope
Location: Bridge

McMillan swore loudly “Vlad, get our weapons ready” He turned to his weapons officer, the man nodded and set to work activating the MAC and other mounted weaponry on the exterior of the ship.

Reginald released he was missing his Navigation Officer “Graham, get the bloody hell back here pronto” he radioed to the man, smiling as he made the announcement over the interior tanoy system, his message bouncing down the corridors of the ship, resonating down the gangways.

After pausing for a little while he added “Oh and the rest of you better get to battle stations” his tone sounded far too calm for a battle, so for good measure he activated the warning siren until the noise started to annoy him at which point he turned it off.

The Comms. Officer shouted about the Connecticut and Beijing wanting to move up. Mcmillan nodded to his second in command; Captain Hastings to take over at the helm.

McMillan picked up the small telephone that he insisted on using for communication with outside contacts “Yes, no, no I can’t allow that, even with both ships that manoeuvre wouldn’t work” he paused, biting his lip “Listen Captain, I am the 172nd Squadron Leader, you’ll do as I say” he was evidently cut short in what he was saying “Equal rank, yes I’ll grant you”.

The Captain grimaced “Don’t move up Stan, stay in the pack, you on the left, the Connecticut on the right, we’ll be alongside the others, our combined fire power” he ceased talking. “Stan, Stan?” Reginald banged the receiver down.

“The Crazy SOB is taking the Beijing away from our cluster of ships, thinks he can flank the entire Covenant Armada with the aide of the Connecticut” McMillan looked incredulously.

“Do you want us to follow him?” asked David Hastings at the helm of the ship, his hands fastened on the old wheel that was mainly there for decorative reasons.

“I want him to do what he’s bloody well told, he’ll end up killing all his crew and payload if he continues that way, bloody gung-ho mentalility!” McMillan threw his Coffee Mug outside the bridge, it crashed into the passageway, the guard at the door woke up quickly, weapon pointed at the remaining china fragments.

After covering his face with his hands and taking a long deep tired sigh, Reginald McMillan issued his next order to his Squadron; “Alright, Alan take the Connecticut and hold Stan’s left flank, I’ll get his right, Martina you keep the Venice back, I need you to be ready to take out any contacts or if the worst comes to the worse, be ready to send out rescue parties”

He turned to a freshly arrived and out of breath Navigation Officer “Get us up to speed with the Beijing, I can’t have that bastard take point, I sure as hell can’t trust him to not get his silly ass killed”

[newblood]

Captain Dray Perion
UNSC Fenix
Gliese 876
High Orbit

The captain had been looking over some of the ground operation reports, his ground forces were doing their job as instructed by their commanding officers. He sighed and forgot about the old times he used to enjoy with his brother when they would role play as army men. Times were good then, no covenant, no stress, just him and his brother, it was no good remembering him, Tim Perion was dead. Killed on harvest Tim was a Sergeant in the marines, good man too, but nothing in the training prepared him to stave off a glassing.

An alarm broke his memory, his crew were running around, yelling and giving orders to eachother, his Ops officer turned toward the captain, speaking quickly,

"Sir, multiple contacts just came out of slipspace, its a covenant battlegroup!"

The captain had little time to react, the covenant had better slipspace technology meaning they were right on top of the Fenix. He didn't need visual confirmation, he knew his error, he expected as much but knew it was his gullet that he had slit, yet the UNSC still needed captains able to command vessels, even if it was not to be the only vessel he called home. He opened a ship-wide com,

"General order, activate the cole protocol, purge as much as you can, blow it up, i don't care, all crew abandon ship, this is a direct order, I repeat abandon ship!"

Right at that moment the first wave of blasts hit the ship, the plasma rounds lighting up the hull of the Fenix as they hit the armor protecting the Shaw-Fujiwaka drive, this indicated there was no time for the cole protocol, he knew that if it was to be done someone would lose their life.

"Send emergency message to the ground troops to evac that position, the Fenix has been compromised, go!" Yelled the captain as plasma heated the armor and soon the hull of the ship, the captain ejected Uriel's data chip, placing it in a pocket as the ship shuddered and protested against the impacts. He quickly ran to the main holo console and started the protocol to destroy all of the important planet info, including Reach and Earth, that could be in the short time they had and ran out of the ship's bridge.

Dray joined the panicking crew members heading for the flight deck escape pods, he hoped that he had done the right thing, sacrificing all he had for something so small. Uriel had been deactivated on the ship for the past few hours, unwise as it was the AI had one last piece left to complete it, he had hoped to find that piece before the covenant had arrived.

As the captain entered the escape pod the ship began to shudder and creak as the full force of the covenant ammo finally hit the ship, knocking the captain over into one of the empty seats. He heard the pilot yell out,

"No more time, sit down and buckle up," Right at that moment the door sealed and the pod flew out with so much force the captain would have been flung to the back of the pod before even getting seated, but someone held onto his arm from one of the chairs, a barely audible, "I have you captain," was heard over the roar of the pod's engines.

As the small pod became stable the captain pulled himself into a chair,

"Pilot, contact Task Force Arnhem, we need immediate pickup from any available ships, precious cargo on board.." he paused and looked at the chip in his hand, deactivated or not, Uriel held precious UNSC data inside, they had to do what they could to protect Reach and Earth, even if it meant his career. The pilot acknowledged the command and positioned them for best transit to one of the UNSC ships still there.

[Soulstep]

Lieutenant, Junior Grade Peter Graham UNSC Forlorn Hope Navigation Officer

"SHIT!" Peter yelled as McMad's orders echoed through the ship, causing the young Nav Officer to bolt from his chair towards the bridge. "Good luck lads!" he called behind him as he skidded past two surprised junior crewmen.

Arriving at the bridge faster than he thought possible, he strapped himself into the nav console. "Aye sir," he acknoledged the Captain, as began inputting the controls to get the Forlorn Hope rolling.

"Polly, are those evasion patterns ready?" he asked the AI, as the frigate began working on catching up to its trigger happy cousin.

"They were ready as soon as we arrived in-system, Lieutenant," the quirky AI replied, causing Peter to grin in spite of the situation. He sometimes wondered why the Captain even needed him.

[hollowsaber]

Master Sergeant Shawn Orion Team Venom, UNSC Fenix Space, drifting.

“Shawn! We got Covenant! Get inside now!” Jitter called over the COM channel between the four man squad; Venom Team.

Shawn was just finishing the hook up of a few weapon drop pods for the ground troops when Jitter’s voice blared. Shawn glanced to his right and watched as everyone started to run about the hangar, scrambling for a way off the ship. Shawn growled and quickly latched the final pod onto the back of the pelican and waited for a few mechanics, marines, ODSTs, and other crew alike to get into his pelican before he jumped in. Shawn shoved his way through the bay, yelling for everyone to strap in, and into the cockpit where Jitter was hastily firing up the craft. In front of them, Wayvern and Olis, Venom-2, were already about to lift off and bail for space. Shawn cursed to himself and took the co-pilot seat, letting Jitter take the helm as he checked on what was going on. When he figured out what it was, he felt his heart jump into his throat.

“Get us the fuck out! We ain’t got time to screw around! Skip pre-flight and hit the engines! GO!” Shawn said to his pilot then clicked the bay-COM, closing the door.
“Everyone hang on tight! This is going to get rough! If your standing grab something!” Shawn spat, moving as fast as he could to get the ship flight-ready as the first salvo of the Covenant plasma drilled the ship.

The pelican rocked and he could hear a few women screaming in the bay of his bird. He never liked transporting civilians, they made to much noise and gave him a headache. Shawn cursed loudly again as the ship rocked, and kicked Jitter’s seat to make him hurry up. Seconds later, Wayvern and Olis got their pelican up, flying over the others and out the hangar door. Shawn growled into the COM way so his pilot could hear his agitation, and Jitter slammed the thrusters to get the pelican moving. A quick switch lifted the pelican from the metal ground that would be their grave if they didn't move. As the Fenix took another salvo, Jitter tilted forward and basically fell out of the ship into the blackness of space. Their engines weren’t fully on so they drifted for a few seconds as Jitter fully-engaged them. Suddenly, a familiar voice came over the channel.

“Shawn! It’s Olis! We got an escape-pod launching from the side of the Fenix! Should we babysit?!” Olis’ voice echoed as the man pulled the Pelican up next to Shawn's.

“Get on it’s wing, guide it in, Protect as many pods as possible. Our pelican is weighed down, but we should be able to maneuver enough to not be dead weight.” Shawn answered.

The two pelican’s slid over to the pod, Olis moved to the right side of the pod and kept at a good distance from it so it wouldn't freak the pilot. Jitter moved Shawn's bird to the left and tapped a few controls that would keep the vehicle steady. His hands moved as if it was conducting an orchestra, just to keep the pelican steady and moving in a straight line. Shawn clicked the COM and tried to hail the pod’s pilot to see where it was going and to hope that he could give it’s passengers some hope of safety. Though, Shawn also had his own cargo, and he had to make sure they made it back as well.

“This is Co-Pilot Shawn Orion, Venom Squad. Is anyone alive in that pod? Anyone at all? This is Venom-1, can anyone hear me?” Shawn said, praying that someone was alive inside.

[Soulstep]

Warrant Officer, Third Class Mark Harrington Whiplash 3

As news of the incoming Covenant fleet spread throughout the UNSC forces, Mark hammered the COM. "Sir, looks like your escort just got bigger," he told Captain Nikon, before switching to the squadron COM. "Alright, everyone standby to launch!"

Punching in the controls, the engines on Whiplash 3 burst into life, swiftly followed by the remainder of Whiplash squadron. As soon as Super-Six took off, Whiplash would be right behind them.

[feral]

Captain Charlotte Evans

Bridge: UNSCS Scylla

On approach via slipspace to Gliese 876 system

Reclining thougtfully in her chair, the bridge like some curio, Captain Charlotte Evans perused the crew present with thought. Each console manned (Or Woman-ed, she mused with a subtle grin), every station at readiness. The memories of her time as a Lieutenant softened her smile appreciably as nostalgia threatened to take over.

Snapping herself from the grip of daydreaming- a bad habit picked up whenever in slipspace, she held back a yawn and sighed softly, uncrossing her leg to smooth her trousers before sitting up a little straighter to glance out of the viewing window that lay ahead of her. Glittering shapes taunted her, wanting her to see a pattern in the chaos of light and movement. She never had liked slipspace. The grin was threatening to become a frown.

"Slipspace exit in one minute- Mark". Announced the Navigation officer, Lieutenant Gordon Armstrong. He swivelled his head round to ensure the Captain had heard- a polite nod confirmed it had been, he returned to the console.

Stretching her legs out, swivelling ankles until they made almost inaudible cracking noises, curling toes inside her shoes and readying herself for a prolonged stand. Charlotte stood gracefully, swivelling around in practiced fluidity to stand at the large holographic projection tank, straightening up and looking directly ahead in readiness.

"Skadi, give me a rundown once we enter Gliese, please". Charlotte asked, as the small representation of the Scylla's A.I appeared on a far smaller projection pedestal fixed onto the larger tank. Nodding in understanding, they both waited the few precious seconds remaining as Gordon counted them down.

"Exit in five....four.....three.....two.....one.....mark". He read aloud, the crew all subconsciously bracing themselves for some great lurch.

The UNSC Scylla erupted out of slipspace in a small flurry of light- in a high orbit that's accuracy never failed to disgruntle Gordon- he was forever banging on about the superiority of the Covenant's accuracy. He didn't see why they hadn't reverse engineered something for the Navy yet, regardless of the complexities of doing so.

Motes of light danced across the hull of the Destroyer, glinting around her hull like momentary glimpses of silver eyes that winked in and out of existence. Skadi brought up everything in range as a holographic system map, overlaying what data was apparent with tags, indicating that the Scylla had, irritatingly, brought up short of her jump coordrinate.

"Bugger it". Gordon muttered just audibly from his chair, generating a chuckle from a nearby crewman and a small grin from Charlotte who had grown fond of his random outbursts.

"How are we doing, Skadi?". Charlotte enquired, almost a rhetorical question as she absorbed the available imagery, narrowed her eyes and frowned. "Action stations!". She announced loudly enough for the whole bridge to be aware- the flicker of familiar lights appeared all across the vessel, an emotionless voice across the tannoy repeated the Captain's words in a dull female voice- boots slammed in ragtag notes across the decks of the vessel as security teams manned their posts- Sergeant Mills appearing at the bridge doors with a Corporal at his side, flanking the door professionally. Across the bridge, shoulders involuntarily hunched slightly, backs straightened a little and activity was bolstered.

"We have a Covenant battlegroup in-system. Assault Carrier is among them- they are firing on a UNSC Cruiser. From what scattered sections of chatter I can pick up it appears it is under full evacuation". The A.I reported faithfully, highlighting an area on the holographic projection, zooming and panning the image to focus on the numerous Covenant representations, the UNSC Frigate flashing from amber to a red colour after a few blinks.

Furrowing her brow, Charlotte's eyes flickered across the projection with concern. She was thankful that she wasn't going to be alone- or at least, not for long- so she hoped. "Lieutenant Cairo, charge the MACs. Lieutenant Gordon, bring us about to port, three-quarters power, move us towards the Covenant, once we have support we'll take it from there". She ordered, turning around to glare out of the view windows at the incredibly outmatched fight against the Cruiser.

[newblood]

Captain Dray Perion
UNSC Fenix Escape Pod
Gliese 876

The Captain stared at the small chip with a built-in holo projector, the last piece the object needed was out of reach to optimize its full capabilities but it could still be used for minor operations. Dray sighed, sad he had lost his home to the alien filth, sad he had let his crew down, only wishing there might be another way to make up for it but, in his mind, he knew there would be no way. The Captain took one last look at the chip owned by the "smart" AI, Uriel and pushed it into a small slot right below a small holo-projector and pressed a green button, activating the AI.

It would take a minute or two before the AI would be fully online, but the next thing that happened would use up that time.

"Captain, we have one pelican on both flanks..." the pilot froze for a second, his hand to his headset, "They are hailing us, its Team Venom, should we respond?" Dray surveyed the black around the pod, trying to spot the pelicans, he took the headset from the brown-haired pilot and keyed the COM.

"This is Captain Dray Perion, its damn good to see you Venom, we have a full load of passengers on board and precious cargo..." he paused for a second, letting his finger off the key before resuming, "This package is high priority, it cannot, I repeat cannot fall into covenant hands," he gave the COM a second, examining the cut between the dark side of the planet and the blazing lighted in their view screen, noticing a few moving dots in space, either shrapnel or pods from the compromised Fenix.

"We are moving to intercept Task Force Arnhem or any other vessel that can give us a ride from this deathtrap," he paused as the pilot pointed out a now distinguishable plate from the destroyed vessel, the words; UNSC Fenix, showed up in bright white, the 'x' torn away some. They were going to pass by it by four hundred yards, not much for such a huge plate of metal just hanging in space.

The Captain returned to the conversation with Team Venom, "Do not engage any hostiles, stay as silent and inconspicuous as possible, we are no good in the state we are currently in, Do you copy Venom?"

[hollowsaber]

Master Sergeant Shawn Orion UNSC Fenix; Team Venom Drifting towards Lethe's Moon; Hydra

Shawn was about to have Jitter turn off and go back to the debris to search for other survivors when the Captain's voice broke the silence. It felt as if a wave of relief washed over his body and Shawn melted into his chair. Jitter locked the signal and kept the channel strong so they could communicate better and not give off to much of a signal. With knowledge of people on the pod, maybe there was hope that others made it out as well. Though, as the Captain stated that precious cargo was on the escape-pod, it seemed that stress slammed back down on Shawn's shoulders.

Even after the Frigate was blown to hell, the line “no rest for the weary” came into mind. Shawn stayed quiet, letting the Captain speak before he did. Shawn evaluated the situation and was going to send the others in the other Pelican to help with escorting the other pods, but it would be useless if both of them didn’t make it back. The situation was grim, and survivors had to be found, but they weren’t in a good spot. With the Covenant breathing down their necks, drifting away from the wreck would be a better idea then searching the debris.

“Jitter, lock us in with the pod's route, head for Task Force Arnhem. We’re staying put. Keep an eye on the radar, and make sure nothing sneaks up on us. Warn the other guys to do the same. Pray to the gods that we aren’t found…” Shawn said, making sure not to speak over the COM.

Shawn sighed deeply and glanced out at the wreckage. A few seconds longer and they would be apart of that. Hopefully the other pilots made it out, but it was hard to say. There wasn’t much traffic except for a few whines for help here and there. It was exactly what Shawn had feared if the Covenant ever attacked the Fenix. Though, nothing much could be done now but hope that the rest of the crew, or at least most of them, made it out safely. Shawn began to listen to his main COM channel again, as the Captain finished and keyed his own microphone to respond.

“Understood Sir, Venom 1 and 2 copy. We’ll guide you guys in to the rest of the fleet, but if the Covenant find us, we’ll make sure your pod makes it. Your cargo is safe with us Sir, you can count on us.” Shawn assured, looking down at the silhouette of the small craft as he released the button that connected his microphone to the COM channel.
“Jitter, lower our engines to 20%. Keep us as quiet as possible but make sure we can keep up with the pod. Power down everything that we don’t need online.” Shawn said, watching Jitter tap a few controls.

“What about the weapon-pods?” Jitter asked, glancing over his shoulder.

“We’ll keep them as long as we can, but if the Covenant find us and engage, we’ll be force to drop them. A few guns aren’t worth dying over.” Shawn said, staring at a large metal plate that read "Fenix" in bright white letters, except piece of the 'x' was missing.
“Where’s the closest ship?” Shawn asked his pilot, looking at the small map that showed the positions of the UNSC ships behind the moon.

“We have a few Frigates moving, but they seem to be on an attack run so going to them would be redundant. The others are behind the moon. Well, unless a prowler or something is sneaking around that isn't on the map.” Jitter tapped a few commands and the craft rocked slightly, slowing down to a steady speed next to the escape pod.

“Great… Looks like we’re stuck here for a while. Try not to hit anything and throw us off course alright?” Shawn took another look at the escape pod, thinking quietly.

“Got it. I’ll engage auto-pilot just incase. We have a lot of time if we have to go all the way around. I hope they find us, we aren’t really broadcasting anything.” Jitter muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

“If we are then we’re screwed. Make sure we’re in the dark. I want us silent.” Shawn growled, praying that nothing was in fact broadcasting.

“Okay okay…” Jitter hit a few more controls and sighed.
“Nothing. We’re dark. Glad we painted this ship black too huh?” Jitter looked back at Shawn.

“As long as we don’t spook anybody, we’ll be fine. Keep an eye on that pod too. We’ll try to make the ride as smooth as possible for the Captain.” Shawn ordered.

“Yes Sir!” Jitter gave a smirk and returned to keeping the ship steady.

Shawn sighed and relaxed in his chair. He stared out into the blackness at Lethe’s moon, Hydra, and thought quietly to himself. The idea of having a family was starting to grow on him. He had been thinking about finding a nice woman and settling down if he got the chance, but whenever he went looking, something seemed to blow up. Just before the Fenix was attacked, he was looking into a woman who was apart of the crew. Sadly, all he knew was that she was a beautiful woman, he didn’t even know her name. Just that she worked on his pelican a lot and made sure his Pelicans got what they needed. She was somewhere on the other side of the hangar helping another flight when they were attacked and Shawn couldn’t help but wonder if she lived. If she had, maybe he would get to know her or something.

Shawn smirked, holding his urge to laugh inside of him. It was tough to think about settling down in the middle of a fight, but he had a lot of time to think. Depending on how long it took for rescue efforts to happen that is. If they were slow, Shawn would dwell on the subject a bit longer and maybe think about it more. If not, then it would be something he would save for another day. The second one sounded better whether they were rescued quick or not, which bugged him a bit. Shawn groaned and leaned back in his chair.

“Damn it. Why do these bastards show up at the worst times?” Shawn muttered, causing Jitter to look back.

“Something wrong?” The man asked, a questioned look on his face.

“Nope. Just my brain is going off on it’s own little car-ride.” Shawn said, still leaning back.

“Right. She is on your mind again.” Jitter turned back to his duty and continued to make sure the ship stayed on course.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" Shawn leaned forward and his eyes burned down the neck of his companion who only laughed and kept to his duties.
"Little punk..." Shawn sighed and relaxed in his chair, watching as the debris slowly clear and the stars come into clear view.

[SuperCommando]

MIL-AI-0382 “Uriel”

UNSCS Fenix escape pod

Gliese 876

Uriel awoke.

The process was not unlike that of a human returning to consciousness after a deep sleep. The empty blackness of deactivation was quickly replaced, function by function, by exponentially increasing data streams. Core programs activated by the hundreds in a matter of seconds, with self-diagnostic scans initiating even as the rest of her software continued booting up. It was immediately apparent that something was amiss – this craft was most definitely not the Marathon-class cruiser she had been expecting.

Control data began streaming in. Trajectories, vectors, velocities… lots of debris nearby, all tumbling wildly around a large, suspiciously cruiser-sized mass. Major radiation and energy readings too, which combined to form an unsettling conclusion. As soon as her systems linked with the host machine’s comm speakers, she synthesized and played audio that replicated a weary, disbelieving female sigh.

“Please tell me this isn’t happening…”

Uriel displayed her chosen avatar from the tiny projector, a red female hologram with long hair and large feathered wings. Her arms were crossed in front of her and she covered her face with the palm of one hand. This craft… it was a Bumblebee-class escape pod. And that wreck not far from their position… it was the decimated ruin of her ship, the UNSCS Fenix.

Communications data reached her as the pod received a signal from a nearby D77-TC, “Understood Sir, Venom 1 and 2 copy. We’ll guide you guys in to the rest of the fleet, but if the Covenant find us, we’ll make sure your pod makes it. Your cargo is safe with us Sir, you can count on us.”

“I’m not even going to ask…” Uriel remarked, still dismayed by the loss of the Fenix, but also because she didn’t need to. Judging from their wide-open position right in between the planet and the imposing Covenant battlegroup and the lingering emissions of their slipspace rupture , it didn’t take third-generation AI processing power to figure out what happened. What was of much more immediate concern was what to do about this grave situation.

“Much appreciated, Venom One” she replied to Master Sergeant Orian along the same narrow beam signal. “But to be frank, our survival hinges more on remaining here then on a mad dash to rendezvous with Task Force Arnhem.” She then turned the hologram to face Captain Perion.

“Sir, the enemy must certainly have anticipated an emergency evacuation. Right now, the Fenix is hot from being slagged. If we power down now, the ship’s residual heat should cover the thermal emission generated by the Pelicans and escape craft. By the time the Fenix cools, we will have blended in with the debris. While it’s likely we won’t stand a chance if they’re determined to search us out, it will be better then running out into the open and presenting them with easy targets.”

Of course, this was assuming the Covenant even bothered to deal with potential survivors at all. In all likelihood, the aliens would probably rather busy themselves in dealing with the currently mobilizing UNSC task force then with a handful of non-threatening pods. Even so, it was best not to take chances. In the event the enemy did decide to search for them, they’d make it as hard as possible.

“Reverse-thrust to counter all forward momentum,” she instructed the pilot. “Power down absolutely everything except the barest of life support functions and initiate comm silence. We’re in a thick debris cloud right now, hopefully we can blend in with the rest of the scrap.”

Even as she spoke, she made as much preparations as she could. Using the craft’s limited sensor array, she picked up signals from the UNSC fleetwide battlenet and gathered as much data on their movements as she could piece together. Task Force Arnhem was emerging to engage the Covenant from the dark side of Lethe’s moon – they’d be too far away and too busy to be of any help. A much more viable salvation rested upon the much closer presence of Task Force Mirage, the group of stealth frigates that had set up a defensive orbit above the grounded AC and were preparing to extract the ground troops. Then there was also the recent slipspace flare that heralded the recent arrival of another human ship in-system, the UNSCS Scylla. Before powering down her own systems to the lowest setting possible, she sent a distress call bouncing across the established comm sat array in an effort to keep the signal as difficult to for the enemy to detect and trace as she could. She figured the signal, directed to Task Force Mirage instead of Arnhem as the Captain earlier requested, had the best probability of being responded to by either the Scylla or the Midnight Silence. Until then, there was nothing left to do but wait... and hope.

[feral]

Captain Charlotte Evans

Bridge: UNSCS Scylla

Gliese 876 system - High orbit

As the Scylla brought her mass around, facing a few degrees to the side of the Covenant battlegroup, the chatter on the vessel's bridge intensified for a moment before abating.

"Captain". Skadi began- a look of interest on her holographic face as she fluttered a swirl of snow to gain attention. "Picking up a distress signal, strong- wide coverage to our area. Origin is the Cruiser's A.I unit, Uriel". She concluded, frowning for a moment. "From what I gather, they must be within the debris from the dead Cruiser, hiding. They don't have much choice of course". She finished, indicating a blip on the projection, highlighting the rough area the distress call was likely to originate from.

Crossing her arms at the revelation, Charlotte touched a finger to her lips in thought, studying the projection for a few moments before deciding anything.

"A direct rescue is out of the question. We're outgunned, outnumbered and wholly incapable of even a quick flyby without meeting the same fate of the A.I's own vessel. We'll just have to get creative until the rest of RRTF-I arrives". She responded, grinning.

Reviewing her options for a moment she gazed across the view window to look at Gordon, then at Cairo. "Lt' Gordon, bring us closer to the planet, heading away from the Covenant in an arc. We'll see what we can do for Uriel and anyone else nearby. Give us full speed, if nothing else we might be able to run a distraction, Covenant always did like a little fight in their prey, they'll want more". She began, grinning mischieviously. The Lieutenant nodded in confirmation, working away at his console once more as graphics flickered on it's screen detailing the changes to the course and speed.

"Lt' Cairo, keep the MACs charged. Ensure the MLAs are placed on alert in case we have any Covenant flyers getting bright ideas. I want our flight team ready to run escort if necessary". Charlotte continued, seeing the Weapons officer nod curtly before peering at the projection again to glare at the Covenant icons as she flicked her gaze to Skadi's attentive form.

"Skadi- have the medbay prepped for any wounded. That evacuation was hasty, we're bound to have more than just some scuffed knees". She added almost as an afterthought.

Moving from the holo' tank, the Captain took her place on the Captain's chair, sat rigidly as a little bite of adrenalin made it's way into her system, broadening her grin a little further.

[abroad]

Space was lit up for a final moment as the Flagellant finished carving through the Fenix, light dancing across the alien metal of the Assault Cruisers as the ruined ship was consumed in energy weapons fire. Aboard the bridge of the vessel Militant S'vat glanced over the holo-displays with an air of satisfaction, before his moment was interrupted by one of the Assault Cruisers Bridge Crew,

“Executor, we have detected a number of small craft exiting the debris of the human ship, should we dispatch Seraphs?”

S'vat looked at the displays, and considered it for a moment his hand a moment away from giving the launch gesture,

“Executor! We have detected a second human vessel emerging from slipspace!”

The holo-screens flashed as they updated with the image of the newly arriving frigate, S'vat chuckled darkly, one of the smaller human ships, it presented little challenge, but it also heralded potential threat, he scowled, even with his utter contempt for the apes he wasn't stupid enough to dismiss that they were intelligent enough to respond in force to such a prize as one of the most holy vessels of the Covenant, he snatched his hand away from giving the order to attack the craft escaping the ruined ship,

“Retain Seraph Choirs in standard battlegroup fighter formation, allow the humans to flee, for now, they will not get far without additional support,” he glanced across the flashing tactical displays of the covenant battlegroup, “Order all vessels to take offensive stance, engage any human vessels without mercy, if the Pious Charity will not move on her own then I will make sure to see her burnt from the skies myself, dispatch Spirits to extract our soldiers from her decks, I will not have the humans gaining any more satisfaction from this dishonourable situation. Make sure that its Shipmaster and Command Staff are brought directly to me when this is done – we will hear their explanations of this mess.”

He looked over the situation as more blips appeared upon his displays, new human vessels, moving out from behind the shadow of the planetary moon, and chuckled, perhaps the humans were starting to think like them after all,

“Executor! Additional---

He cut the bridge officer off, “I am aware of their presence, dispatch the Eternal Flame and her destroyer escorts to intercept on the outside of our formation, they will suffice to handle such a small force of vessels for now – Shipmaster?”

The Zealot looked up at him, “Yes, Executor?

S'vat smiled darkly at his subordinate, “You will take command of the parties boarding the Pious Charity, make an assessment of the vessel when you get aboard, take whatever you require to make sure that the humans have no chance of salvaging anything after you have evacuated her crew.”

It seemed for a moment like the other Sangheili would crack and attack him, he could see the thoughts formulating the desire to reach for the sword on his hip, but years of discipline and cultural traditions pushed back against it, the Zealot nodded and left the bridge in silence. S'vat could hear the distant roar of anger as the bridge doors sealed behind the other.

“Executor I..!”

S'vat glared down at the officer who seemed midway towards issuing a protest about the treatment of her Shipmaster, she hesitated, and stood down,

“Executor, the Jiralhanae destroyers Jubilant Prayer and Merciless Lash are breaking formation to go after the small human vessel that just emerged from slip-space, they are acting without orders, should we not stop them?”

The Militant chuckled as he turned away from her and glanced at his screens,

“Allow them their fun, the human ship is hardly of any interest to real warriors, no, let us wait and see if it is being followed by foes more worthy of our attention”

–

Their Brute crews eager for their first blood, the Jubilant Prayer and Merciless Lash continued to peel away from the main battle-group, ageing and ancient, they were ships S'vat, if he had been acting undiplomatically, would have described as 'fodder' they were beneath his notice, and hardly part of his battle-plan, like most Brute ships their placement near such a prestigious vessel was...a concession at best.

Still their Shipmasters were not afraid to prove they could earn their ways to higher and better places by working their way up – and if that meant they had to take on the stragglers that none of the Sangheili vessels were interested in, then they would do as such. The remainder of the Covenant battle-group remained close to the planetary surface, guarding their command vessel as it launched boarding craft down towards the Pious Charity

They were not heavily armed, little more than glorified refits of old heavy transporter crafts, lacking the speed, weaponry and agility of their more modern relatives – but they still made good their attempt to close upon the Scylla and make her their first kill of the battle.

–

The cruiser Eternal Flame began moving to the lunar edge of the Covenant formation, her weapons glowing hot along with those of her destroyer escort, she did not rush out to meet the battle, with the ships starting to emerge from behind the planetary moon – the Executor had been very clear in his message that they were to keep to the edge of the formation, her Shipmaster was on edge, cursing his engineers with increasing harshness that they could not give him the greater range to engage the oncoming vessels.

Jaws flexed and certain words were said that would no doubt spark a few fights later on, the Sangheili vessel was like a vicious dog held by a strong chain, just out of range until they could be certain that they were permitted to engage and break formation.

[newblood]

Captain Dray Perion

UNSC Fenix escape pod

Gliese 876

The captain smiled, nodding to the arrival of the AI, "Its good to see you again Uriel, sorry for the long wait, I was unable to acquire the new processing chip, you will have to make do with your current and out of date one, its all i could get to at least make you work."

"Now, we need to keep out of plain sight, our signature may be distorted but we are still here, visual reference is still the most valued object of the soldier," he paused, thinking about the covenant technology he had studied in the past, small tidbits but still extraordinary compared to their own.

"From all we know the covenant know we are here, not what we are, we could be floating debris for all they know, but even so they would have double checked but we are not dead, meaning they have some sort of use for our weak status at the moment, Uriel keep your messages on a thin band and keep us silent, your the reason im still here." he nodded curtly, his mind going nuts with ideas and consequences for such, discarding a lot of those plans.

"Yes, I could have decided to be honorable as a captain and go down with the ship, but uses for me were too much for honor, and its a little hard to hand someone, i don't know very well, your importance to the UNSC."

He gave one last smile before walking through the pilot's doorway to the packed pod, a few of his bridge crew were still alive that he knew of currently. He counted three of them out of the six well-known bridge crew and a couple more of the minor bridge crew members.

He took a seat next to his second in command, Derith Katerna,

"Derith, you seem to be nearly invincible, you have survived the near destruction of the Fenix just to survive the actual destruction of it, I would have thought you would hold onto the holo-board hoping to save it somehow." he ended with a laugh. It took a second for Derith to respond, it seemed he was in a sort of trance or deep in thought. People were crying, a couple were wounded, the rest kept silent, deep in thought like Derith, the Captain just noticed this as his SIC woke up,

"S..Sir, I know it would be a fool's errand to try to save the thing, i cant say im angry at your choice, but i understand you had to do what you had to do, and i respect that but..." he cut off, sighing deeply, "That was my home, i will hold nothing else more dear than that ship, but now I will never see its consoles again or.. or its magnificent armored hull..." his voice cracked then gave way, a tear sliding down the officer's cheek.

Dray nodded, patting the man's knee, "I know.. It was my home also, every man or woman still alive from the ship knows that what i did was right, but costly, that's why no one is beating me up for my decision, but im surly beating myself to a pulp, but i promise you, if the admiral will allow it, I will get another ship and pummel the covenant into the ground, and spit on their grave," this brought a smile to his Officer, a quick nod from Derith told the Captain his inspiration had worked, to some extent, Dray leaned back and closed his eyes, hardly any rest in the past few hours was plaguing his mind and body.

[hollowsaber]

Master Sergeant Shawn Orion UNSC Fenix; Team Venom Escorting Fenix's Captain's Pod

Shawn slouched in his seat, tapping his foot lazily against the metal floor of the pelican's cockpit. He let his mouth hang open like a flytrap as he moaned and groaned, gurgling the air, bored out of his mind. His arms dangled to his sides off the arm rests, and he was flopping his hands by his wrist joints as he pretended to fly like a really, really fat chicken. It was only a few minutes into the ride, but he felt like he was there for a few hours, and it was killing him. He even began to think that Jitter was turning into a woman, which scared him.

The cockpit was mostly black and there wasn't much to look at except for the shadow of Jitter in the pilot seat, moving his small hands across the command keys. The guy was a pro at flying these things, so why was he so agitated? It wasn't really rare to see him moving constantly, but something was bugging him. Though, tapping everything was how he got his nickname 'Jitter'. He was always shaken, and was always tapping or touching something, as if the guy had ADD. Yet, his record never said anything about that. Maybe he was just good at hiding it, or he took some pretty damn good pills. The constant tapping was starting to become looped, and Shawn guessed that Jitter was just bored.

A loud bang from the bay made Shawn and Jitter jump, and Shawn banged his knees on Jitter's chair. The two looked back and heard yelling, as if a fight was going on. The two were probably to spaced out to even notice. Of course, Jitter stayed still and just stared at Shawn to go do something. He had to fly the ship, Shawn was mostly crowd control since he was better at driving tanks then flying giant ships. With a heavy sigh, Shawn got to his feet and tapped Jitter on his shoulder to get his attention since the kid already went back to looking at his controls.

“I’ll be back. If I don’t come back, open the bay door.” Shawn teased, making Jitter chuckled.

Shawn moved to the sliding door, and Jitter hit the ‘unlock’ button, making it open. The sight made Shawn want to open the bay at that second, but he couldn’t. Two ODSTs were at each others throats, their Sergeant was yelling at them while two others were struggling to separate them. Sad enough, Shawn had seen this before. They just watched their ship explode, and felt it disappear without being able to do anything about it. One guy was probably crying, while the other told him to suck it up, turning the discussion into an argument then a brawl. Shawn would usually be fine with it, and let them duke it out, but they were on his ship.

He carefully weaved through a few women who were standing to the side, and by a few marines who were keeping them away from the fight. The four ODSTs were against the wall, two trying to pull one back, and the other cowering like a baby. Shawn shook his head and quickly moved the two trying to break them up. The ODSTs moved aside as the giant walked to the fighters. His shadow was enough to make them stop and look up. Shawn didn’t have a face plate, so they could easily see he was pissed. He reached down, grabbed a piece of their armor in the front and lifted the pair up onto their tip toes against the wall. He sneared at the two then shoved them into two seats at the end of the row that were vacant.

“Sit down and shut up! The god damn Fenix just went off, and you’re fighting when you should be thinking about what you’re going to do to the Covenant as payback! Not what you’re going to do to your damned squad mate!” Shawn slapped both of them upside their helmets and growled.
“I’m not your CO, but this is my ship… Now buckle down and stay there until we get picked up…” Shawn turned from them and looked at the others.

The ship had fallen quiet once again, and seats were filled up. All the women were sitting, and all the men were standing, as was Shawn's policy to anyone that got on He even had a small plaque against the wall; "Ladies first". That at least was good enough to get the point across. Shawn sighed and moved over as the Sergeant of the two fighters moved up to scold them himself. Two privates it seemed, wasn’t hard to figure that out. Though, amongst the soldiers and crew that was on his pelican, the different dress wear made him think for a moment. Shawn moved up and down the tray, glancing at the different uniforms that the people were wearing as he thought. Finally, as he saw only a few people wearing the same type and being very close to each other, it dawned on him.

“You three the bridge crew?” Shawn asked, moving up to the trio. All three heads nodding.
“Now how in the hell did you three make it here and not get into a pod?” Each of them looked at each other then shrugged.

“We missed the Captain's pod because we deleted as much as we could from the files. Then ran like hell.” A woman with the tag, Trin Jocans, stated blatantly.

“Oh well that’s great.” Shawn shook his head.
“Sacrifice yourself just to get rid of some petty files. Be lucky your three are alive. Your Captain made it as you know, I don’t know about anyone else.” Shawn sighed and the intercom of the Pelican came to life.

“Uh-Shawn! You should come see this!” Jitter’s voice wasn’t shaken, but more surprised.

“Alright, you three come with me. The Captain will want to hear your voices probably. Now what the hell was he complaining about…?” Shawn questioned, looking to the cockpit.

He moved slowly, splitting the sea as he and the three bridge crew moved to the cockpit. Shawn slipped inside with the crew right behind him, standing off to the side so they weren’t in the way. He strapped himself into the co-pilot seat that was raised a bit up and got settled in. His seat had gotten cold in just the few minutes he was gone, but it felt good on his warm back. The ship was getting hot from everyone breathing heavily, and they couldn't get any AC because Jitter forgot to ask a mechanic.

“So what’s the problem?” Shawn asked, looking over a few screens to figure out what was going on.

“We got friendly contacts. Escape pods and a few pelicans heading towards us. There’s a flight of Longswords and Shortswords as well.” Jitter pulled up a small map on Shawn's display to show what was happening behind them.
“The Captain’s pod’s distress signal must have reached them and everyone came a’runnin’ to his aid.” Jitter laughed a bit.

“Any I.D tags on the ships?” Shawn asked, as he worried about this. If friendlies saw it, the Covenant might.

“Nope, nothing. They are just moving in from the debris and that they are from the Fenix. Looks like a lot of the crew made it. Hell, if we got another ship now we could probably fly it with the numbers coming up. Holy crap. Should I try and establish a connection with someone?” Jitter tapped a few more commands before relaxing.

“No, not yet. How about Olis and Wayvern? What are they doing?” Shawn looked across to his right into the darkness.

“They are still there. Haven’t moved and are still following the pod just like we are. They probably are seeing the same things.” Jitter said.

“Alright, open a connection with the Captain’s pod. I got some of his crew, and I’m not sure those pods have radar so I’ll tell him about this as well.” Shawn connected the microphone to his arm chair so he wouldn’t have to wear his helmet, and so the three crew members could speak as well.

“You’re on.” Jitter said, tapping one last command to make the stream-lined connection.

“Captain’s pod‘s pilot, this is Venom-1. We got some news for the Captain. Mind getting him for me?” Shawn relaxed in his chair as he awaited an answer.

[newblood]

Captain Dray Perion

UNSC Fenix escape pod

Gliese 876

The Captain was fast asleep for only an hour, enjoying the quietness of space and no longer whining of the hull or the chatter of the bridge crew. Things felt peaceful now but a small nudge on his side woke him almost instantly, his heart racing until he saw it was only Derith.

"Urgh, what is it?" he spoke in a grumble, rubbing his eyes free of sleep, careful not to rub his neat, white Captain's uniform on his sweaty face.

Derith spoke to him in a kind but respectable manor, "Sir, the pilot needs you, sounded something important."

Dray nodded, lifting him from his seat as he sifted through some crew members laying on the floor finally climbing to the front of the pod.

"Ok, you have me what is so important?" He spoke slowly, still trying to wake up from his deep slumber.

"Sir, Venom-1 has something for you, also i cant really see it due to the pod's bad radar but something big is coming at us from our right."

The Captain took a look out the window, something was moving but he could hardly see, "Well, i don't think its covenant, might be ours, lets see what Venom has to say." He leaned against the side of the small cockpit of the pod, waiting for a responce from the radio until it finally crackled open on the headset in his hands, he lifted it to his head to be greeted by one of the crew members from his bridge.

"This is Trin Jocans, Captain do you read?" He heard from the headset, the slender female wasn't always seen, mostly being busy in the med bay, but he knew that anywhere.

"Im here Trin, its good to hear your voice, good to know were not alone out here huh?" He gave a slight grin to himself before she continued.

"Sir... is there any other bridge survivors?" she spoke, her voice a little shaken from the past hour, "Uh, I have Zenican here, you?"

He let a second pass before naming the ones on board the pod, "I have Derith, Dirk and Blythe, wheres Bekka?"

It took a minute before he knew her answer, "Shes... Shes dead sir, i saw her get... crushed," the mic rattled, some static came in before leaving the conversation, "By one of the ship's consoles."

Her mic turned off, but he knew she was crying, Bekka was a good friend of hers, Nothing can break a friendship like they had, except for death.

The Captain gave the headset back to the pilot, taking a few deep breaths to keep from breaking out in tears, in the short time they had together on the Fenix his bridge crew was some of his closest friends also. He took a few deep breaths and took the headset from the pilot, keying the mic, "I hope your recording this, for all its worth, the covenant must pay, and will, someday."

[hollowsaber]

((OOC: Whoops, I didn’t know Trin was a chick… Mah bad NB XD))

Master Sergeant Shawn Orion UNSC Fenix; Team Venom Escorting Captain’s Pod

As the woman broke down in tears from remembering the death of the other crew member, Shawn couldn’t help but fell for her. He had never lost a soldier yet, but he had seen several die right in front of his eyes. It wasn’t something easy to see, and it was a lot harder to say. Her friend from the bridge, Zenican, moved behind and helped her. Shawn nodded to the man and he escorted the girl out of the cockpit. She was a doctor? Shawn could only wonder what she was like before the attack, but a thought of her with a bloody knife sent a shiver down his spine. He shook the off thought and looked to the right into the darkness.

From the debris, a lot of the pods and other craft had drawn closer and he could visibly see that a lot more craft had made it out. Olis and Wayvern moved out to them slightly more and seemed to be talking to the group, as those with civilians and troops were moving into the middle while the longswords, shortswords, and empty Pelicans took to the sides. Shawn stayed out of the COM channel with them, as Jitter was already on top of it. He spoke with Wayvern, and could hear Olis in the background of their conversation through his helmet mic. Shawn sighed and turned it off, the idiot forgot to hit the switch when he moved the microphone apparently. Shawn looked back to the Captain’s pod as he heard the man’s voice again and keyed the COM once more, hopefully for the last time.

“The Covenant will pay sir, and once we get you, and the rest of the crew, to safety, we’re definitely going to kick some ass. Oh, and I don’t know if this will make you feel any better, but we got Pelicans, Longswords, Shortswords, and more bumblebee escape pods moving in from the debris around us. My pilot and Venom-2 are setting them up in a good escort group so we can get everyone as safely as possible to the other ships. They should link up with us in a few minutes. There’s already a lot of chatter and a long roll call of whose there and who isn’t. The list is pretty long and names have been coming in for quite sometime.” Shawn smirked a little and looked down at his pilot.

“The ship may have been destroyed, and our home amongst the stars gone, but the heart of the Fenix is still beating Sir.” Shawn chuckled at the cheesy line, and Jitter looked at him awkwardly but got the point.

The two gave each other the thumbs-up, and Shawn turned his microphone off so he could talk with Jitter. Jitter did the same, but the voices from the rest of the crew still came in. He could even hear Olis and Wayvern trying to handle the situation. They weren’t really good at organizing things, but they were trying hard to make sure everyone would be safe. It was the first time Shawn ever cared so much about the others on the ship. Most of the time he did his own thing, but now he knew that was stupid.

“How long have names been coming in?” Shawn asked.

“You really think I’m counting?” Jitter looked back, his jaw open.

“Well duh! Damn it man! You gotta be on top of this things!” Shawn pounded his fist into the arm of the chair, accidentally keying the COM.

“What do you mean I gotta be on to of these things? What am I? Your god damned secretary?!” Jitter growled, keying his COM to the other ships as he put his hand on the controls.

“Well! Who else do you think is going to do it?! 'Cause I sure as hell ain’t!” Shawn growled.

“Well, why not just get Olis to do it?! He’s a lot dumber and listens to almost anything you say! Or, better yet! Get a freakin' wife!” Jitter barked.

“Oh you did NOT just go there!” Olis’ voice echoed through the cockpit.

“Wait-what?” Jitter looked at the controls, and his mistake.

“I got a right mind to punch you in the face once we get rescued!” Olis yelled.

“But you won’t! You’re to much of a wimp!” Jitter yelled back.

"Don't make me come over there you cocky bastard!" Olis growled, moving his pelican a bit closer.

“WOULD YOU TWO CUT THE CRAP?!” Wayvern’s voice boomed over the radio, shutting the two up immediately and making Olis move back out.

“Sorry!” The two said simultaneously.

“Damn, it’s like a friggin’ circus with you two…” Wayvern sighed.

“Tell me about it…” Shawn muttered.

“You started it!!” Jitter stated.

“Truth hurts! Get use to it!” Shawn growled and knocked Jitter upside the head.

“Why you--!” Jitter was about to swing back when he noticed a green light on Shawn’s chair.
“Wait… Uh… That’s a problem… Isn't it...?” Jitter pointed at the light.

“What is a… pro… blem… SHIT!” Shawn said, seeing his mistake as well.
“Sorry you had to hear that Sir!” Shawn said, quickly turning off the microphone.
“See what you made me do?!” Shawn went to knock jitter upside the head again, but he blocked it.

“HAH! You owe me fifty bucks!” Jitter said, laughing.

“Damn it! I forgot about that bet…” Shawn sighed, sitting back in his seat and waited to get scolded by the Captain.

[newblood]

Captain Dray Perion

UNSC Fenix escape pod

Gliese 876

The Captain had listened to the whole conversation, a frown on his face, knowing this kind of stress must have been his fault placing his crew in such a situation, but what his squad had said was true, were were going to get payback, this would not go unpunished but until that time he had to correct his men.

He keyed the mic to Venom-1, Shawn, I know everyone is in a rough mood with all that has happened, but its no reason to be bossing people around, you are in as much fault as your pilot, Jitter, yes im talking to you," He paused to let his words sink in,

"We all have to do our share, even if we don't want to, it is our duty and job, giving one man the burden to bare and leaving none for others will drive him insane, insanity cannot be cured, only eradicated, meaning you lose that friend and ally, and he might possibly turn on you." He looked down at the holo-console that contained Uriel, deep in thought.

"We are all tired, pissed, sad, but its no ones fault, there is no reason to bicker and argue, but if i hear any of my men insult their ally ever again im going to jump from this pod holding my breath and come over there and smack both then smack their CO, understood?" He let go of the key, grinning at his pilot, a little humor goes a long way in stressful situation. The Captain wasn't very good at it due to years of disciplinary training, But he tried his best.

As he waited for the response on the short-band radio he looked out his window, the small swarm of pods, pelicans, Longswords, and Shortswords were gaining on the small escort, swerving through the large debris field.

All of the deploy-able units had near the same paint job the cruiser had, two red stripes going down each side, meant for kill counts, some of the Longswords had kills, but most of the Shortswords didn't have any, just blank red stripes

[hollowsaber]

Master Sergeant Shawn Orion UNSC Fenix; Team Venom Escorting Captain’s Pod

Hearing the Captain's words come back, Shawn took a deep breath to relax as he knew they were true. Though, when he opened his eyes and saw Jitter’s tongue sticking out at him, he was ready to sock him in the face. The Captain was right, it wasn’t anyones fault for this. The only ones at fault were those bastard Covenant ships. They were the cause for the Fenix’s destruction, and they were the reason they were all drifting now… Shawn couldn’t change that, he could only work to try and make it better, and he would. Starting then, Shawn would make sure to pay the Covenant back in full.

Shawn reached down, and expecting a hit, Jitter moved. Shawn laughed a bit and patted the man on the head. He was only 20 as far as Shawn knew, and his birthday was in a few months. It made him happy to know that both of them made it out of the explosion. Jitter groaned and turned back to his controls out of embarrassment. Through his helmet’s radio, Shawn could hear Wayvern giving Olis an earful, then forcing the him and Jitter to apologize to each other and the entire Fenix crew. They weren’t in charge, the Captain was, but Shawn wanted to make damn sure they all were safe.

“Continue the roll call. How many people are missing?” Shawn asked.

“Alphabetically at least 23 MIAs, but they are sounding off by pod number. We’re missing 3 Longswords, 6 shortswords, and no Pelicans, that is for sure. All Pelicans are loaded to the brim with troops and civilians, except for 4 who are loaded with equipment. All pods are loaded with troops and civilians and mostly every one of them is full. Though, we lost one pod shortly after contact. Seemed that there was no pilot and a civilian had taken it in hopes that it would be easy, but it wasn’t… All we know of is that one KIA. He did say no one else was one board, but didn't give a name.” Jitter muttered, hitting a few commands to silence the talking so he could hear his co-pilot better.

“Do you guys have anyone marking the names off? Or are you just praying that someone else is?” Shawn narrowed his eyes on his young pilot.

“A little of both I guess… Olis apparently found a PDA when he was running and grabbed it. He has some data on the crew, but not a lot.” Jitter looked back to see Shawn drop his head.
“Don’t we have some bridge crew or mechanics onboard? Maybe they have something?” Jitter asked.

“Not sure…” Shawn rubbed the back of his neck and looked at his COM as the Captain started again, scolding them on their little fight. Shawn and Jitter both laughed at their Captain’s threat of jumping up to them.

“Well then my good sir! I guess we should open our bay door then shouldn’t we?” Shawn chuckled but a loud bang on the metal behind him made him flinch.
“I’m only kidding!” Shawn yelled and heard another bang, flinching again.
"Damn civis..." Shawn muttered to himself.

“I don’t think they like your jokes.” Jitter said with a blank face before returning to the other chatter.

“At least I’m trying.” Shawn groaned, kicking Jitter’s chair.

Jitter looked back, making a very pissed off face.

“Alright, alright, sorry.” Shawn sighed and looked away. Jitter smirked and returned to flying.

“Hey Captain! I got a question that might lighten the mood a bit, though, I'm a little hesitant on what your reaction will be.” Jitter keyed the COM to everyone that was listening and decided to try out his own humor.
“Everyone, listen up. I got a question I think the Captain might find pretty amusing.” Jitter looked back at Shawn, giving the man an evil looking smile.

“I got a bad feeling about this…” Shawn muttered.

“Captain, what do you think about switching me for a female pilot?” Jitter spoke loud enough so both microphones would pick up the answer.

“What kind of question is that?!” Shawn asked, leaning forward making Jitter lean away, giving him an very evil glare to counter his smile. Shawn could hear Olis and Wayvern laughing through the speakers and eventually causing a small chain to start.

Shawn growled and dared to sit back in his chair, crossing his arms and looking away to restrain himself. Jitter always asked the dumbest things at the worst times, but a lot of his questions had some meaning behind them. He seemed to poke around the outsides of people and always tried to be a bit different. Though, no matter what he did, he always did it carefully, and never without reason. Shawn waited for the response of the Captain, but the question was more serious then a joke. What was Jitter planning to get out of the question? He couldn't read his pilot's face, for the man had turned his back on Shawn and busied himself with the controls... What was on Jitter's mind...?

[matthew]

ODST Corporal Matthew Harlow.

UNSC Fenix--Team Venom 1's Pelican.

Gliese 876--Escorting Captain Dray Perion's Escape Pod.

There was a silence that hung inside the drop-bay of the Pelican after the fight. Matthew had sat quite the entire time, staring out the back view-port. There were brilliant flashes all throughout the Fenix. Traces of liquid blue shot across the sky, striking her hard. No one said a word the moments during evacuation, after everyone was strapped in. The ODST stared for quite some time, watching the blackness of space devour what was left of the Fenix. He watched specks fly away from her--some pods, some people. He watched the engines ignite and burst, completely silent in the vacuum.

The Sergeant chastised those who were arguing, and Matthew looked down at his MA37 Assault Rifle, blood beginning to dry all around it; his mind sank into memory.

There was a flash and Matthew felt vibrations of the shot--a Covenant Plasma Torpedo. The whole ship shook like a leaf. The floor didn't feel steady but he kept pretending it was so he could move--so he could run. His helmet felt tight but he ignored it. There was chaos. Ship techs running to and from open panels in the halls, typing keypads, splicing cables and cords together. Matthew was running as fast as he could, trying not to look at them in the eye. Not when every one of them would be dead in minutes.

He was running to Bay 9, he knew that Venom's Pelican would wait; he knew Shawn would wait until his ship was full. Matthew only hoped that he made it before then.

The door ahead began to close--seal shut, forever. The Cruiser was compartmentalizing itself--where they already losing oxygen? A lone technician stood on the other side, waving Matthew along; but the door moved so fast. There were so many sounds, so many flashing lights--Matthew's boots slamming against the metal bulkhead; the flashing red alarm; the pleas of the technician to run faster--but even in the blinding moment, Matthew slung his Assault Rifle around, and threw it at the technician. He quickly caught the gun, placing it up-right, in between the door and the floor, holding it in place. The ODST slid under, grabbing the rifle as he passed, and stood up again. He nodded to the technician--who smiled--just as the wall behind him exploded in a light blue fire. The technician's blood splattered all over Matthew, and the fire threw the ODST down the hall. His armored body pounded the ground, hard, and he slid for a few seconds, finally halting right in front of Bay 9. He slowly stood to his feet, staring at what was left of the technician, and then turned to run into the bay.

Corporal Harlow stood up inside the Pelican, walked to the cabin, and knocked on the door.

[newblood]

Captain Dray Perion

UNSC Fenix escape pod

Gliese 876

The Captain had been in the cabin of the pod, chatting with his bridge crew about strategies in combat, having a nice laugh about old times, remembering things from their past and sharing them when he heard the pilot say,

"Hold on ill get him," this was his que, "Don't bother, im coming" he replied, groaning as he sifted through the pod, these things were made to withstand long waits with plenty of air for the passengers.

The Captain took the headset from the pilot and heard the question that was directed at him,
"A female pilot hmm? I think i can arrange a transgender for you, you'll have to wait until we get to a planet, but im not replacing my pilot if that's what your asking."

He laughed at his own joke, returning to the mic, "But you might want to reconsider that being Shawn is a woman's worst nightmare," he said in a sarcastic tone.

He looked at his pilot, who was laughing uncontrollably, he smiled and looked out the right of the cockpit, at the now larger shuttles and small combat ships, it would be beyond suicide to send that small of a strike force at the covenant.

"But really, there's no need to replace you atal, you saved my men, which means your a hero and im not eager to start throwing away my heroes."

[hollowsaber]

Master Sergeant Shawn Orion UNSC Fenix; Venom Squadron Escorting Captain’s Pod

Jitter had been seriously listening to the Captain's answer, looking off towards Lethe as he did so. Shawn didn’t understand what, but something was on Jitter’s mind. He would leave the kid for now, but once they got back in a ship or on a planet, Shawn would have to ask what was wrong. The two stayed quiet, and the cockpit’s air was tense as they waited for the Captain to finish. Jitter wanted the full answer before he said anything, and Shawn could tell he wasn’t laughing, even when the man said Shawn was a woman’s worst nightmare. Jitter wasn't himself, and had become very quiet. Though, once the Captain finished, Jitter leaned back in his chair to get closer to the microphone.

“Thank you sir, but I’m no hero. I’m just a pilot in a Pelican who ran like hell.” Jitter leaned forward from the COM and returned to the other channel, continuing the roll call.

Shawn tapped the button on his chair to shut the microphone off and grabbed Jitter by his shoulder. He didn’t strain his touch, and held on just to get his attention. When the man looked back, his face was blank. Shawn smiled at the pilot and patted his head carefully.

“You aren’t going anywhere on my watch…” Shawn smirked, hearing a pound on the door. Shawn keyed the COM with the Captain just to finish up.
“Thank you for dealing with us Captain, we won’t bother you for the rest of the way.” Shawn smiled, turning off the microphone as Jitter opened the cockpit door.

Shawn leaned back in his chair and looked to the ODST figure in the doorway of his cockpit. Shawn waved the man inside and Jitter closed the door behind him to keep the others from hearing the conversation. His I.D. tag read ‘M. Harlow’, and a small insignia, to show that he was a corporal, hovered next to it. Matthew was the last one to get on his pelican before Shawn scrambled in himself, and he was lucky that Shawn looked back at that last moment or he would be left to die. Shawn sat back in his chair so he could look comfortably at the Corporal, and laid his arms down on the rest's of the chair. Jitter reached back quickly before they started and looked at the Corporal, giving a weird look, then at Shawn.

“Friendlies are falling in formation, pods in the middle, all able escorts are around. Two Longswords on our left and two on the right of V-2. We are in the lead and all are following the Captain’s pod.” Jitter stated before turning around to his controls and his thoughts.

“Make sure the connection with everyone is secure, use only short-range radios.” Shawn ordered.

“Already done.” Jitter spat, leaning back in his own chair as he engaged the auto-pilot.

“What do you need Corporal?” Shawn asked, looking over at the trooper.

[matthew]

ODST Corporal Matthew Harlow.

UNSC Fenix--Team Venom 1's Pelican.

Gliese 876--Escorting Captain Dray Perion's Escape Pod.

The cockpit was shockingly unlit. Panels, buttons and screens littered the small room, but in an attempt to quiet things down, their lighting had been dimmed to almost nothing. As Matthew stepped in one of the pilots closed the door behind him. They finished their scans and acquired the formation of the surviving crew members. Matthew wondered how many had made it, but he decided it too soon to ask--there was no telling how many.

His boots made slight clanking sounds as Matthew shuffled in the cockpit, removing his helmet to speak to the pilots. He was unusually pale and had light blue eyes. His brown hair needed to be cut as his bangs surely hung below regulation; but when you were so far out in space, many regulations seemed to disappear. There was a new gash that ran down the left side of his head, dried blood lining all the way down to his cheek. He cradled his helmet in his right arm like a football as he spoke,

"What's the plan, sir? And the situation planet-side?" His nervous tone of voice shocked even him as he spoke. Truth-be-told, he just wanted out of that back room.

[hollowsaber]

Master Sergeant Shawn Orion UNSC Fenix; Venom Squadron Escorting Captain’s Pod

Shawn looked at the ODST, then at Jitter who was also amazed at the question. It was to hard to hold it in and they both burst out laughing hysterically. Shawn breathed heavily after a few moments and looked at the Trooper with a badly formed-smile. He couldn’t hold it in, it was the first time he was ever asked that kind of question. Though, he would answer truthfully. Truth now was all he could give.

“Sorry, we just aren’t asked about a ‘plan’ to much. We normally just wing it and it works some how. Though, right now all we are hoping for is to safely drift away from the Fenix debris and get picked up by a friendly UNSC vessel without getting blown up in the process.” Shawn pulled up a small map of where a few of the ships are so the Corporal could take a look.

“We are heading for Task Force Mirage I do believe. If we continued at this pace at least it should take 40 minutes to an hour. They might already know we are here but don’t want to risk moving and getting turned into cheese like the Fenix. I don’t blame them. Planet-side the ground-troops are probably evacuating or something. With Covenant reinforcements, I wouldn’t want to stay down there, and I wouldn’t be stupid enough to do so.” Shawn said, rubbing his chin as he thought about it.

“Hm… Hopefully we’ll be able to drop off our payload of people and get down there to help the last few troops... I wonder what the Captain would say to letting the Pelicans gun it for the Task Force so we could help with evac efforts...” Shawn thought, turning his attention to the bumble-pod.

“You said we wouldn’t bug him anymore, so let’s not ask. Let him rest.” Jitter muttered, tapping a few controls which sped up the Pelican slightly.

“Oh so you’re going to risk getting kicked out of your comfy-chair just over a stupid idea?” Shawn asked, looking down at Jitter.

“If it saves lives, yes.” Jitter kept an emotionless tone.

“Jitter, maintain that pod’s speed. We are staying put. I was kidding.” Shawn growled.

“So what, we’re just going to leave those troops down there to die?!” Jitter looked back, his face suddenly serious.

“No, we’re not! We’re going to make sure the Captain and the rest of this crew makes it to safety. Then we’re going to go help! Now slow the god damn ship!” Shawn roared, his voice booming through the cockpit.

Jitter growled and locked eyes with his commanding officer before turning away. Defeated, he slowed the Pelican and fell back into formation. Olis had begun to ask what the problem was, and Jitter went to answer. Shawn sighed and rubbed his eyes to try to relax.

“I hate stressful situations like this…” Shawn muttered and looked at the Trooper still there.
“Sorry, but we’re stuck on escort duty for now. Anything else you need Corp?” Shawn sat back in his chair again, trying to compose himself.

[matthew]

ODST Corporal Matthew Harlow.

UNSC Fenix--Team Venom 1's Pelican.

Gliese 876--Escorting Captain Dray Perion's Escape Pod.

The pilots erupted into laughter at Matthew's question. He smiled, briefly, and half-halfheartedly. He understood it was silly, but who else was there to ask? The ODST felt uncomfortable without having a plan; he didn't take sitting and waiting too well. He never got to jump, either. The Covenant ship showed up before his company could leave the Fenix and reinforce the ground-operation. He listened to their replies and the following argument that ensued.

"With all due respect, sir, I think we should head planet-side." His statement hung in the air, and Shawn stared blankly at him for a moment. Matthew felt the need to clarify, "What I mean is, sir: the Captain's pod is obviously a VIP, I am making no attempt to nullify that. . . but so're those men on the ground. You say they're evacuating due to Covenant reinforcements? Well send us in. Send the survivors down to reinforce the Humans on the ground. What can we even do for the Captain's pod? Provide cover? If anything, sir, we're attracting Covenant logistics to his location. The more ships we rally on him, the more attention will be focused on him. We can still get planet-side with what ODSTs are left, leave those Longswords with the Captain," He stepped forward in the cockpit, pointing out at the flanking fighters, "And let us get to the ground. . . sir. We can keep trying, and win." He stared into Shawn's eyes, knowing he'd be the one he'd have to convince. "Or, sir. . . we can bug out. Scrub the mission, and escort the Captain to another ship only to retreat. . . And leave all those bodies, " he pointed again, this time to the planet below, "Down there, to rest in vain."

[nex]

Lieutenant Darian 'Romeo' Fawkes

Super Six Five

Approaching Lethe - High Orbit

They were already rapidly approaching the atmosphere of Lethe, when the call came through the radio.

"Flash Traffic. Priority Alert: Arrival of Covenant forces in-system. All ground forces prepare for emergency withdrawal."

Fawkes sat up straight, trying to test whether he'd imagined the call or not, every moment hoping he had, but knowing he hadn't.

"S***." The word escaped like a slow whisper from his side. This time, Fawkes couldn't help but agree with his Co-pilots choice of wording.

He tried to hail Captain Nikon, hoping for some new orders. Instead, he got a message from the UNSC Midnight Silece.

"Super Six, please acknowledge. It looks like your the closest in. Begin evacuation of ground forces to Task Force Mirage. You're not making it back to the Forlorn on this one."

The voice was unnervingly calm, given the situation. But you could always trust ONI not to get emotional. He tried to reply, but all he got was static. The ship wasn't listing it's FoF, and the message had been bounced of a satellite network. He played his reply back through the same network. Hopefully they'd pick it up.

"Super Six Five, Copies."

The was a bright flash, and he could feel the small craft shudder. Quickly tapping the console, he watched in growing shock as the UNSC Fenix was destroyed again in minature on the Holotank.

"Super Six, advise scatter."

Flying in a row just made easy targets. While it was unlikely the covenant were right behind them, it made it harder for ground AA to track them. He pulled hard on the stick, breaking the ship away from the small convoy that they'd been following.

"Looks like Medevac is scrubbed. Carson, clear out the bay. We'll need all the space we can get. And we'll probably need you on the rear gun afterall."

With haste, both Carson and Lamora made the way into the rear compartment. He could hear the noise as they collapse the fold up stretchers and stacked them, along with the other medical supplies, in the over head lockers.

He sat silently and watched as the debris of the Fenix turn over, in an endless dance. A last dance. He reached to switch it off, when he noticed something. Some of the debris was moving away. He was puzzled. Wh-

"Fawkes, I'm getting some radio chatter on a low UNSC band. Sounds like some of the crew made it off the Fenix."

Finally, some better news. The loss of a ship with all hands was something that was becoming all too familiar. But the chance of survivors making it off that ship alive was one of few small good things that can come out of something so tragic.

"Can we hail them".

"Negative, they're out of range."

"Damn." Not that talking to them would help matters much. The ungainly shape of the Longsword through his side window, however gave him some idea. He punched a button on his console.

"Whiplash, we're clear from here. Advise circle back and provide assistance to Fenix Convoy. You'll need to guide them in for visual approach to Mirage. Sounds like they're trying to stay quiet."

He switched off the mic, before straightening up his pelican for final descent. He was trying to tune out the local ground transmissions. It sounded pretty disorganised down there.

"Ground Force, this is extraction flight, on approach. Please designate emergency LZ. Say again, designate LZ."

Unless, someone told them where to go, or where the ground forces would be rallying for extraction, they would have to wait. And waiting was something they couldn't afford to do. Not any more.

[hollowsaber]

Master Sergeant Shawn Orion UNSC Fenix; Venom Squadron Escorting Captain‘s Pod

The ODST was becoming overzealous, and his wanting to fight was starting to bug him. There were a lot of troopers like him these days, and they were all turning into ground meat for the Brutes. Shawn looked off at the stars and sighed heavily. He thought quietly on how to answer, and relaxed as he did so. The Pelican was full, there was no doubt about that. None of the civilians had masks either and he doubted they all could close their eyes and hold their breath for at least 2 minutes. Some could, but some would suffocate. Jitter had the same feelings as the Corporal but in a different way. Shawn could understand, but it was a risk that he would not take. Not with to many civilians.

“Corporal, I understand. Everyone is crowding the Captain, but with this many pods, the Covenant won’t be able to tell which is which. There are no special markings on that bumblebee pod. We are also only using short-range radios, so there aren’t any signals going outwards. If I was going to go help with evacuations and drop off fresh soldiers, I would be doing so. This isn’t the case. On board there are several civilian crew members; mechanics, medics, bridge crew. None of them have filtration masks that are required on Lethe. You troopers and the marines might have them, but the others don’t. I’m not going to risk their lives because you want to go shoot something. I know the feeling.” Shawn sighed and looked at Matthew.

"We’re going to Task Force Mirage, they are a few minutes away. I’m not going to turn and head to the surface when we are this close. Once we hook up and let the civilians off, you are getting off as well. You are staying in space. That is the end. The safety of everyone is my priority at this moment and you being in space is safer then bringing you down to a soon-to-be-vacant-and-destroyed-assault carrier. I need this Pelican empty if I’m going to pick up a good number of soldiers. And bringing more down when there is a retreat signal going out is just redundant and stupid.” Shawn sifted in his chair as he straightened his back.

“When we get to the Task Force, you will get off my Pelican and you will not get on another. You will stay on that ship. You being on that ship is better then risking you on the planet. Humanity needs every available soldier to fight for them. Stupid mistakes could mean the end of Humanity. You will get your chance to fight, everyone will. Do you understand?” Shawn looked up at the Corporal, his face becoming serious.

Jitter stayed quiet, it was best to do that in this kind of situation. He busied himself with keeping the Pelican steady and sent a small distress signal, blinking it for 5 seconds, directly to the Task Force as they grew closer and closer to the massive ships. Hopefully they would acknowledge and send some sort of signal back. It would be even better if they sent some Longswords to help escort them in. Though, he doubted they would. He didn’t even think the signal would make it, he sent it with the smallest transmitter on board in hopes to hide it from the Covenant. If it worked, he would be happy. If not, he would probably cry.

[matthew]

ODST Corporal Matthew Harlow.

UNSC Fenix--Team Venom 1's Pelican.

Gliese 876--Escorting Captain Dray Perion's Escape Pod.

Matthew turned to Jitter, only to find that the pilot was looking away, trying to ignore the conversation. The ODST was alone in his thoughts. Disappointment weighed his shoulders as he looked through the Pelican's cockpit. White dots peppered the black space--distant stars. Would planets and systems orbiting those stars know what happened here, in this moment? How the choices of a few affected so many? Let this planet be another monument to Humanity's failures.

His head sank, and he looked at the floor for a moment before turning to leave. He halted when he made it to the door, hesitating a moment. He cocked his head looking over his shoulder but keeping his back to the pilots, saying "It feels wrong to leave, sir. . . ." He put his helmet back on, sealed it, opened the door leading to the bay, and left the cockpit.

[hollowsaber]

Master Sergeant Shawn Orion UNSC Fenix; Venom Squadron Esxorting Captain’s Pod. Nearing Task Force Mirage

As the cockpit door slid shut, Shawn stared off towards the UNSC ships that were directly in front of them. They were still probably 30 minutes away, but the Task Force had gotten fairly large, even at that distance. Shawn and Jitter were silent, and the roll call had ended finally. 73 MIAs, 23 KIAs, and a little over 80 WIAs were noted by Olis. Even with the little information, there were probably a lot more lives either missing, or gone. Plus Olis wasn’t very good with documentation and intelligence like that anyways, so there were probably a few mistakes here and there. Either way, an eerie silence had fallen upon Venom-1’s cockpit.

The air was still as the Pilot and Co-Pilot drifted in their separate worlds of thought. Shawn thought about those that died, and those that were missing, as well as what he would do to the Covenant. Yet, he couldn’t think of harming them for some reason. Had he grown soft because of the destruction of the Fenix? That couldn’t be the reason… Maybe it was his Pilot with thoughts of leaving him. The two had been together for a while, but Jitter was already planning on getting a transfer to another squad. He wanted to be on a medical ship, not on an assault ship. Jitter was young, and he became a pilot to save lives, not to take them.

“Jitter…” Shawn called out quietly, just enough to make his pilot freeze.
“Why did you ask that question earlier…?” Shawn looked to the shadow of the man as it remained frozen.

“There was an opening on a pelican squad that was going to be put on transport duty for a medical frigate back in the Sol System… I wanted to go home and see my parents as well…” Jitter muttered, sitting back in his chair.

“The attack was just a trigger huh…” Shawn looked off into the darkness of space towards the UNSC craft.

“Yea… Reminded me of how bad the war was getting. You know I’m not made for this kind of stuff…” Jitter sighed and looked down at his feet.

“I do know that, but that is why I like having you as a Pilot. You’re a bit… Unique.” Shawn had trouble thinking of the right word to place, but hoped it would work.

“Unique? I’m just another pilot just like Olis. Just like all the other Pelican pilots. I would to better away from situations like this. I’m not a very good frontline flyer either. I can’t even fly over a fight in the damned simulators without freaking out.” Jitter kicked the hull of the Pelican and gripped his chair’s armrests tightly.

“Even so, we’ve made it this far haven’t we? I just want you to think about this Jitter… I know it’s been on your mind for a while. Questions like that bother me though. You’ve turned into something of a son to me I’d say. No one could fill your chair in front of me if you leave, not even the hottest chick in the entire UNSC. Remember that, alright?” Shawn reached down to grabbed Jitter’s shoulder, but he stopped and rested back in seat.

“I just want to think about it for a little bit…” Jitter muttered, and looked at the controls of the Pelican.

“Take as much time as you need… Once we board you can stay on the ship. I’ll take the Pelican planet-side.” Shawn looked back at the fleet and waited for the answer.

“Would I at least be able to sit in the Co-pilot seat? I don’t want to be left behind…” Jitter looked back and Shawn could see the kid was holding tears.

“No problem. You can even tell me how to fly, my skills are a bit rusty from just driving tanks all the time.” Shawn laughed and smiled at his pilot who smiled back.

“As long as you don’t crash into the Assault Carrier!” Jitter smirked and relaxed in his chair.
“Task Force Mirage is 25 minutes away sir. What should we do?” Jitter hovered his hands over the controls as he waited.

“Send another small beacon, let them know how close we are.” Shawn looked down at his Pilot as the man’s fingers tapped the Pelican’s buttons again.

“Yes Sir!” Jitter called out, sending the beacon out of the small transmitter again for a short 5 seconds before shutting it off.

Jitter was a good pilot, and the man knew what he was doing. Shawn just had to make sure he didn’t break down while he was in the chair right then. The kid’s mind was fragile, and had already split in two from the stress of being a pilot. Shawn knew of the split-personality in Jitter’s mind, and that took over in most battle-situations. Jitter was a good transport pilot, but wasn’t a good fighter, but that other side of his was a force to be reckoned with when Venom team dropped from the skies… And Shawn knew that was the main reason Jitter wanted to become a medical-Pilot. He wouldn’t have to worry about losing control if he did. For now Shawn would make sure the kid was alright and happy with his position. If Jitter left his Pelican, he would have no one else to rely on covering his ass, and Olis wasn’t to good at doing that. Shawn wondered how Wayvern put up with the guy…

[newblood]

The Captain nodded at Shawn's response, “Thank you sir, but I’m no hero. I’m just a pilot in a Pelican who ran like hell.” He admired how soldiers wouldn't admit they did something great, but to a civilian they are a hero.

Dray watched as the group drifted towards Task Force Mirage, the lack of gravity mainly pushing them along with a couple of bursts to adjust their speed or heading.

"Captain, 25 minutes until we meet up with Task Force Mirage." He nodded and looked up at the pelican to his left just in time to see it start to pull ahead. He gestured for the headset around the pilot's head, placing it on his now.

"Venom-1, slow down, your going too fast, you cant burn your engines for too long or you will light us up, copy?"

He waited for a response, watching Uriel, "By the way, Uriel, once on board im going to give you to one of the techs to find you the proper piece to that chip, they have to have one."