Secondary Mission: A Chance Encounter

[Dufflepud]

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In a small, unnamed, and uninhabited system, a UNSC RSO outpost sits in gravitational orbit around a large gas giant. The two navy personell stationed there, Ensign John Salvatore and Crewman Alexander Hayes have spent the last few weeks doing almost nothing. suddenly, out of the blue, their sensors record a decently sized slipspace disturbance, and out of the blue, an unidentifiable ship appears in the system, emerging from a clean, neat slispace portal, but still not one rivaling covenant technology.

Inside the Human RSO Outpost

The two men sat playing cards as they did almost every day. Suddenly, a loud siren went off and Crewman Alex Hayes burst out of his seat. Fucking finally! he thought as he rushed to the sensor panel.

"Sir, sensors detecting a large vessel has entered the system via slipspace. It appears they have not detected us, but I can't identify it."

"What's the nearest vessel available?" asked the officer, Lieutenant JG, Jack Warris.

"A frigate, the UNSCS Uncorruptable, sir."

"Very well. Contact it."

"Yes sir, " answered the crewman, already entering the command at his console.

Aboard the KYV Unyielding

"Sire, we have exited slispace unexpectedly. It appears we must make emergency repairs to the slispace drive," said the Engine master, Tev, through her comm.

"Again?" Chur'R-Xet growled in frustration.

"Apologies, sir. Last time we focused more on the hull and weapon systems than our propulsion. We took quite a beating in our last engagement. I'll make sure to get it right this time."

"You'd better..." the captain muttered. Suddenly, an alarm blared, and Navigator Jor called out,

"Sir, a human Frigate has just entered the system and is approaching weapons range! Orders?"

"Well, this just got a whole more..."

Aboard UNSCS Uncorruptable

"...Interesting," mused Lieutenant Commander Samantha Forrest, "Their archetecural patterns are like nothing I've seen before! Ready the vessel for combat, but hail them." The order was quickly and efficiantly followed as the Frigate halted just out of maximum weapons range.

Aboard the KYV Unyielding

"Captain, the Humans are hailing us."

"Open a channel," ordered Xet. As the order was followed, the face of a female human appeared on the viewscreen, and she recoiled in surprise.

"Skirmishers!" she exclaimed.

[Deleted]

Lieutenant Commander Samantha Forrest

The Lieutenant Commander slowly exhaled when the video feed turned into lines of static and then abruptly cut off. The Uncorruptable had entered the gravity well of the gas giant. They could penetrate it of course with a stronger output signal, but Samantha needed a moment to think, to ponder on how to approach this. That's why she didn't use that option. It would look like the video ended simply because they were in a strong gravity well.

"Well sir, orders?" A Ensign at the console said. His tone broadcasting that he was worried, even scared. Perspiration turning on like it was a tap back on a planet. Trembling at his console. Slowly, he steadied himself. "Stay out of weapons range for now, get the MAC charged." The Lieutenant Commander replied. She sat in her chair and read the sensor reports from the stations around her bridge. She sighed slowly as thoughts went through her head.

She boosted the power output to the communication dish to increase the strength of signal waives. The dish on top of the Frigate, a tiny thing that would be nearly impossible to see at the distance between the two vessel, pointed directly towards the UNSC RSO Outpost. A channel was quickly formed using the UNSC E-Band. Intelligence reported that not even the Covenant have managed to crack that channel, or most channels for that matter. They were technological superior in most ways, but the radio was one of only a few things the UNSC did better then the Covenant.

"RS-"
"I'm here."

The instant cut off by the Lieutenant JG at the RSO Station was a shock. Never in her UNSC Career has someone cut her off well she is trying to broadcast who she was. She quickly put the Lieutenant JG's details into the tac pad and came up with his history. After reading it quickly, she nodded and thought to herself; So that's why your on a RSO at the rank of Lieutenant JG.. Huh. Isolated too.

"Don't interrupt me again, Lieutenant. I'm feeding you a live video of a vessel unknown in origin. I want you too send that information directly to Reach. Do you understand?"

The man on the station nodded then cut the channel all together. "Fuck him..." A console operator said. The Lieutenant Commander let it go. She wanted to say that to the man as well. Complete lack of respect for the Military. It made her wonder why he was still in the UNSC. Being on a RSO station in a system barely visited was one of the worst things. Maybe he had a skill for using the probes the RSO uses. She didn't know, but was glad that the only communication between the RSO and herself would be text from now on.

"Comms, I want High-Command on the line, Alpha Priority." Samantha ordered. The communications officer quickly did his work and nodded. "Channels open, sir."

The middle-aged man, likely in the lower echelon of High Command came on screen. His rank was a simple one star Admiral. "Rear Admiral, sir!"

"What is it?"
"We've encountered something that isn't Covenant, and it isn't matching any of our intel in our database. Yet, it's a race of the Covenant, the Jackals."
"Our intel suggest Jackals don't pilot ships..."
"The ship isn't Covenant sir. It is completely different in design. The video feed from this systems RSO should be sent by know."
"I've got it. Hold on."

The channel paused. A few moments passed and it un-paused.

"Okay, so it's not Covenant. And what ever it is is classified by ONI, but I've pulled some strings. The "Kig-Yar"-", The Rear Admiral said, noting the races name as not even he knew it until a few moments ago, "-Have been known to have there own naval arm. It is not confirmed if they are hostile or not, but ONi is suggesting coming off cautious. They think that they are more like humans then we think. Some join the Covenant, well others just go on with life." The Rear Admiral sighed.

"For now stay out of weapons range and try to communicate with them, and hope you don't get any surprises. High-Command out."

Samantha nodded and felt her stomach churn. She got up and slowly walked around the bridge well her bridge officers did their jobs. The MAC was at 95% power to stop any potential damage to the magnetic coils. Communications was functioning properly, the sensors were working at full capacity and the ship was structurally sound.

"Take us out of the gravity well.."

[Dufflepud]

"Sir, they've entered the gravity well of the nearest planet and communications have ceased. Orders?" asked Jor.

"Hmmm," mused Xet, "our cargo bays are full, so we gain nothing but more damage to the Unyielding in a confrontation. On the other hand, we're running low on supplies." The Skirmisher took some time to decide, before speaking once more, " Ready all defenses and prepare to defend ourselves, but lets see if we can maybe attempt a trade with the humans. I'm sure they'd be willing to give us some food and supplies in exchange for Covenant technology."

His officers nodded, and they relayed the message to the respective crew members in charge of readying the crew and ship for both battle and a transaction. The main weapon was loaded with several cartridges, many more at the ready, and the plasma torpedo was charged. The manual safeties for the fragmentation pods were deactivated, and crew members began to sort the recently aquired loot.

"Sire, the Humans have exited the gravity well. Shall we engage communications?"

"Yes, on screen," commanded Xet.

[Deleted]

The screen flicked to life and Samantha couldn't find any words. She still couldn't believe she was looking at a likely non-hostile group that was also a member with the Covenant. She'd have to be tact about the situation. Come off to aggressive, she and her crew might be engaged. Come off to defensive, the same outcome might happen. She'd have to find a natural zone.

She remembered humanities history, and in the old days before the 1900's people traded with one another for a mutual benefit. Samantha looked over at her communication officer and signaled for the mute. The comms specialist nodded. Samantha let out a quick sigh and looked at her watch. Her shift ended soon and her XO would be taking the bridge, but this event forces her to take command during his shift regardless.

"Okay.." She said under her breath and readied herself, and manually unmuted the channel. "I am Lieutenant Commander Samantha Forrest. Naval Officer of the United Nations Space Command and the Commanding Officer of the Paris Class Heavy Frigate UNSCS Uncorruptable. May I ask why you are in a UNSC controlled system.. And are you hostile to the UNSC."

[Dufflepud]

Having taught himself English, but having had little chance to utilize it, it took Xet several moments to register the human woman's words. He assumed she was female both due to the fact that she was a ship captain, and that he vaguely remembered that females of the species had much longer... plumage. Despite this, he was still unsure of her gender. He began to respond in a rough, utterly alien voice,

"I am captain Chur'R-Xet, and I command this vessel, the Unyielding. We bow to no one, let alone the Covenant!" He spat the last word as if it were poison, before continuing, "We raided and destroyed a corvette of theirs less than a... planetary cycle ago, and our cargo bays are stuffed with looted technology. Despite the victory, we were damaged and had to stop to perform repairs. To answer your question, we have never had any hostilities with humans or the UNSC, as it is not you who sit on the borders of our home system, threatening us with genocide so that we provide troops for their endless holy war."

This was not entirely true - he had looted several human vessels in the past, but what she didn't know couldn't hurt her, right? Additionaly, his hatred of the Covenant certainly wasn't false. The population of his people, the Skirmishers, had been decimated by their over-exploitation by the Covenant scum.

"We are running low on rations," he continiued, "and we are capable of ingesting the meat based products your humans often carry."

'We're also capable of ingesting humans, but I doubt you'd take kindly to us proposing we eat some of your crew...

"I would gladly negotiate a trade of supplies and the technology of our mutual enemy, your... erm... excellency? I can take a shuttle craft to your vessel along with my first officer and a few loyal crew members and continiue negotiations there?" he finished. He wasn't lying when he said he needed supplies. They posessed far more Covenant technology than was needed, and far too little food. They would run out well before they made it back to Eayn or one of the Kig-Yar colonies to trade.

[Deleted]

Samantha

The aliens voice hit home. Not even they liked being a member of the Covenant. Unfortunately, due to some protocols the UNSC had she still had too do it. "One moment." She said and muted the channel again. She strolled over to her tactical officer, out of the camera's panning edge. "Purge the navigation databases as per Cole Protocol. Weapons, ready archer missiles just in case... Communications, get me my link to fleetcomm, priority one. I want an ONI agent present as well." The Lieutenant Commander said, thinking over what the alien had said. It called her excellency.

"Channel's open on monitor two, ma'am." The Communication's officer replied. The Lieutenant Commander fast walked towards the monitor and stood in front of it. It was the same Admiral from earlier, and "On the line" was the director of ONI. The director himself.

"Lieutenant Commander, what is the situation out there?" The Director said.

"I've only got words to work with. Apparently they hate the Covenant as they are practically forcing there species to join their military by using things, according to the.. Jackal.. like genocide against them if they do not supply troops."

"What are they asking?"

"They are asking for food, rations. In trade, we get Covenant technology from them. Weapons perhaps, or maybe blueprints."

"At ONI we classify the Jackals, or "Kig-Yar" as intel has suggested, as a dangerous hostile of the UNSC. We've only gotten a few reports were non-covenant species of these Kig-Yar have showed up and each time they've ignored us."

The Navy Rear Admiral stayed quiet.

"So what should I do, sir?"

"Simple. Stay cautious. It would be nice if you got some Covenant Technology for us. In fact, make it a mission priority, preferably shielding technology like they use on there capital ships."

"So Covenant arm shields."

"Exactly. We are busy here, Lieutenant Commander. ONI out."

"Don't let them board, Samantha." The Rear Admiral said. "I've got a bad feeling about this. FLEETCOM out."

Samantha sighed as she positioned herself in front of the monitor active with the Kig-Yar captain. She un-muted the channel.

"You need food, we need Covenant Technology preferably shielding technology. What can you provide." She asked in a more serious tone.

[Dufflepud]

"Shield technology? I will see what we can do..." the shipmaster responded. He gave the command for the inventory to be searched, and as he waited, he observed the human captain. She was small, and her face betrayed as little emotion or expression as his own. He didn't know if that was due to trained self control or simply her alien features, but either way he respected her for it. He also noted that she would have made quite a delicious meal, but he quickly pushed that thought to the back of his mind. It wouldn't do to eat one's trading partner.

As the I ventory was sent to him via the small screen embedded in his seat, he looked it over, trained eyes taking in all of the information with a glance.

"Alas, the corvette's energy shield generator was unsalvageable. However, we have several shielding devices designed to cover their seraph fighter craft. I will give you two, in addition to a hundred assorted infanry weapons if you provide us with sufficient supplies for a crew of several hundred over a week long period. That should be several metric tons of supplies, if you can afford it."

He drummed his fingers on his seat, waiting for the female captain to respond. He was curious as to how good at this kind of dealing she was. Most military weren't well trained in the art of bartering.

'I never thought I'd see the day I haggled with a human,' he mused.

[Deleted]

Samantha

The Lieutenant Commander let out a quiet long breath with a straight face, she couldn't let the.. Kig-Yar was it?.. Know that there demands were un-reachable. Her Frigate didn't have that much food, and she wasn't about to give up weapons that her Marines, ODST's and standard crewmen needed. Her hand fell to her hip holster and her hand rested on the grip of her own M6D issued to every naval personnel and more. They were practically the standard issue, up sided .50 Caliber shooting magnum. Reports said they could take out an elite quicker then the assault rifle could, which was impressive.

She muted the channel and looked over to the tactical officer who shook her head. "They want tonnes of food, we don't have that. We are scheduled for a re-supply on fuel and food." The console operator said, shrugging. The Lieutenant Commander returned to the screen and unmuted it. She had remembered the arm shields the Covenant used on the ground with the Covenant race.

She kept her food supply off the radio, "I'll give you one metric tonne of food for your races arm shields, the one the Covenant employs. Weapons are non-negotiable." The Lieutenant Commander said. "We don't have any available for trade." She added. In a way she as lying, but at the same time she wasn't. Most of the weapons were assigned to someone, but there where a small amount, not enough to trade away, in reserve.