Post Mission 1: The Arcadian Disaster

[elando]

((OOC: Just as a note, this is where you can do any out of combat Rping inbetween missions.))

The alarms rang still in the 'Honour and Glory' as the ship rolled to avoid yet another plasma torpedo. "Sir! Comms report that everyone is aboard! The evacuation is complete!" Comms officer Chekov said. "Good, now lets get out of here before the Covenant can cause any more damage..." Flashheart Replied to the crew in general. "Roger that, Sir! Spinning up FTL drive."

The ship shuddered slightly as the FTL drive sprung to life. "This is Captain Flashheart. I'm ordering a system wide retreat. Pull back to Reach after executing the Cole Protocole." Flashheart ordered, as the ship engaged the FTL drive and sped at the speed of light out of the system. "Damn, that was a close one." Lieutenant Warren said, spinning around to face the rest of the crew. "Yes..." Said Flashheart. "We might of gotten away with our lives and those of most of the planet's population but at what cost?"

"Not only have we lost another planet to the Covenant, but we've also failed in protecting that data. God knows what they could find on there... Tactical readout for our ships, trade lanes, even the position of Earth." He said, leaning forwards to rest his head in his hands. "Sir, we may have lost the data but I did manage to plot the course of the assault carrier as it jumped." Said McNeal.

"Ah, well isn't that great news. We'll just walts on over and take it back then..." Flashheart replied. "We have to report this to ONI immediately. They'll know what to do. If anyone says anything, I take full responsibility for the loss of the data..."

"Now, if anyone needs me, I'll be in my quarters..." Flashheart said with a sigh as he made his way off the command deck and down to his quarters below...

----------------------------------------------------------------------

In the far reaches of space, the Assault Carrier 'Pious Charity' flew through space, making it way the Covenant Super City of 'High Charity'. "This is the Assault Carrier 'Pious Charity' requesting permission to land. We have something of great interest to the Prophets and must not be kept waiting." Said shipmaster Joo'nae Yamm. "Very well Pious Charity. Proceed to docking bay 4. The Prophet of Truth will meet you there..."

Slowly, the Ship made its way into the docking bay, ready to deliver its precious cargo...

[Soulstep]

Lieutenant, Junior Grade Peter Graham Forlorn Hope Navigation Officer

"Sir, calculating slipspace jump. Polly, can you check if it's in ordinance with Cole Protocol?" Peter was furiously typing away, attempting to get the Forlorn Hope out of Arcadia. A very brief pause, then the AI responded, "Yes, Lieutenant. FTL drive online."

"Alright... here we go." Peter said, as the Forlorn Hope punched it's way into slipspace.

Crewman Mark Harrington Whiplash 3 Pilot

Mark sat silently in the corner of the hangar, gazing at his Longsword as the crews repaired the stricken craft. He hadn't said a word since they had been rescued by Nikon, and had merely slouched to where he was now. He was mourning the deaths of his squadron, as well as wondering who the replacements would be. The rest of Whiplash 3's crew were sleeping, but Mark was just blankly staring at the interceptor as engineers worked on repairing the electrical systems.

Corporal Andrew Deiran Indigo Squad

Andrew jammed the Assault Rifle into one of the armoury's many holders, before turning and walking out the door.

He walked towards the medical bay, while on the way wondering how Sarah was doing on the Forlorn Hope. She had probably got to the bay on time, but he couldn't be certain.

He rounded the corner and entered the bay, walking past soldiers with injuries he did not want to take a second glance at. He arrived at the beds of his team, and sat down on a nearby chair, to give them someone to talk to when they awoke.

[daeron]

Sergeant Louis Bernard
Honour and Glory

Bernard and his squad made their way out of the Pelican, and toward the armory hold, the ringing sounds still buzzing a bit, but their sweat and blood still fell down their compacted suits. After visiting the armor hold for only a moment to retire their weapons for the time being. Bernard quickly pulled his squad to the side, addressing their condition.

"Rookie, all I can say, you've gone through hell, and if I could keep you I would, but knowing Parron he should be ok," a short pause was for Parron's injury, "Get some rest, you guys deserve it, I'm going to go check on Parron."

The squad saluted their leader, Bernard, and the squad walked off. From here Bernard made his way to the Medical Bay. He was stopped by incoming girdles with bleeding men on them into the immediate surgery room. His helmet was slid off, showing respect to them.

As he entered the room, several injured Marines laid in beds, aching in tremendous pain as they're wounds were tending to. The medical bay was sort of big, enough to hold the ones there, and Parron was stationed on the far right, sleeping in his bed.

He stood at the end of the bed, looking at the man who risked his life saving civilians and taking a shot to the shoulder, inches away from Bernard's face. Moments passed in a flashback before Bernard was brought back from Parron's voice.

"Nurse....nurse? Is that you?" His sleepy voice filtered into Bernard's ears.

"I hope I was demoted to a nurse," Parron's eye's lit up and the two laugh a bit, "How's your shoulder?"

"Good, still abit hurt, but I should be back soon. How'd my replacement go?"

"Alright, took a shot to the hand, broken arm, he's good though. We all are looking forward to your return Parron."

"I should be back soon, or at least I hope so."

"You will be trust me, you will be."

The two went on in a discussion before Bernard was asked to leave, from here he rejoined his squad mates.

[dusty]

John McCoy crushed the glass he was holding. "Jump away to reach!" He yelled picking glass from his hand. He was going to need stitches.

The Rolling Thunder Jumped.

Dusty Zanba
Dusty awoke in the sickbay. His hands were wrapped in bandages. Tom and Amy sat at the Edge of the bed. Kendra was 2 beds over and Vincent was sitting at her bed.

Dusty surprised them by speaking

"What’s the news?"

"Your gonna have full movement of your hands, but not feeling. the burns caused damage to the nerves. Kendra is gonna survive, and so is Vincent. Vincent will be better once his ribs are set, and Kendra once her back heals. Doc however... has been discharged."

Dusty frowned at this. The old man was part of the squads life and history. He had been in it almost as long as 8.

"Doc lost most movement to his wounded arm, and lost a lot of blood. The Doctors said a full recovery is rare. So whenever we get to reach he’s been discharged."

Dusty nodded.

"We're meeting the replacements. A Pvt. James Hormel, and PFC Rick Valdez. Both squads were wiped out to those survivors. Valdez is a Corpsman, and Hormel is a trooper."

Dusty nodded again.

"Do you know when my Rehab starts?"

"Later Today, until then rest easy buddy"

Dusty nodded, turned over, and went back to sleep.

[Killer Frog]

//SPARTAN Evan 247, UNSC Honour and Glory

"Where is he? I can't wait all damn day on some ass wipe in big armour..." These words came from a crewman waiting in the back of a small room located behind the armory. Inside there was a large circular device surrounded by computers and other computers, to the right of the room there was a large door, to the front an elevator. Well the door stood there for a while, being a door until it sprung to life, sliding into the side of the wall revealing the large figure of a SPARTAN dressed in MARK IV MJONLIR power armor.

"Did I keep you waiting?" A voice came out from behind the helmet, muffled by the partially activated armor.

"No, no you're just on time!" The man said as he jumped to attention, picking up a small clipboard. "Now step on into that there uhh... device." He then pointed to the circular object in the center of the room.

"Real technical" The SPARTAN groaned as he stepped into the centerpiece of the room.

"Have a nice Chryo-sleep sir?" the man said as he pushed down on several keys on a terminal next to the SPARTAN. "Now you're gonna feel a little woozy here, bear with me."

"Thanks for the warning" his last word trailed for a bit as he look at the device around him spin, his systems springing to life, shields flaring, HUD springing to life, reactor flaring up.

"You missed a hell of a battle sir, the forces down below could have used you." The spinning apparatus began to slow down as he scrawled down something onto the pad.

"As it turns out, I don't control my sleep schedule."

"Understandable sir. Now I'm gonna need you to look to your right... OK. Now look to your left.... OK. Now look up... OK. Now look down... OK. Is this better?" he led the SPARTAN's head around with a small glow-stick.

"I'm fine."

"Okay! You can step out and go do what ever it is you do in your spare time!" he then went over to a small terminal, plugging his pad into it.

"Right, I'll go do that..." as he crawled out of the device and out of the small room Evan thought to him self: "What do I do now? No standing orders, nothing to do..." he sighed as he walked through the armory, the Marines gawking at him as he walked through.

[inhert]

//Rocco Evans
//Honour and Glory Hanger Bay

Rocco and Courtney sat at the back of their Pelican and looked out into the Honour and Glory's Hanger. They were on a different ship and they did not know any of the crew or any pilots that scurried around the Hanger.

"It looks the same but It feels different then the Forlorn Hope." Rocco though aloud. Courtney looked around the Hanger and nodded in agreement with his co-pilot. The two pilots sat in silence sipping from their canteens on the back of their Pelican.

A cough broke the silence around the Pelican as a deck hand walked-up and addressed Rocco and Courtney, "Sorry that its a bit hectic around here. While you guys are here you are welcome to use our mess hall."

Courtney nodded at the deck hand in acknowledgement, Rocco stared off into the distance of the hanger not acknowledging the deck hand's presence.

"Shelby's gonna be pissed." Rocco said once the deck hand walked away. Courtney chuckled at his co-pilot's remark as he stood.

"She'll have to wait for you. In the mean time I'm hungry." Country said as he walked away from the Pelican.

---

//UNSC Juniata

"All craft are on board and the doors are sealed" Raphael, the Juniata's AI reported to the bridge crew. Alarms rang as the Juniata readied to jump. The FTL drives had be spinning up since they were used to avoid the Assault Carrier's energy beam. This was pushing the rebound limit of the FTL drives of the Juniata. The Juniata had not taken heavy damage from covenant attacks but it did take a Plasma Torpedo along it's top scarring some of the armor in the process.

"That move with the slip space rupture saved our lives." Ryan Huros said trying to release his tension from the battle.

"I didn't think it was going to work." Gil admitted to his XO, as he back away from the holo table.

The officers on the bridge of the Juniata started to relax as the carrier left Arcadia via slip-space. Gil stood in place and dreaded what he had to do next. "Whats the damage?" he asked.

"60 ships destroyed, another 30 combat ineffective," Pamela Morgen, the comms officer paused in her report on the Juniata's fighters, "we will be able to repair and replace once we dock. Our current."

"I can do the math," Gil cut her off before she could say that the Juniata had only 70 combat ready fighters. Gil spun toward the door out of the Bridge, "I'll be in my quaters, XO had the con." he said as he walked out of the bridge.

As he walked down on of the Juniata's many hallways he crossed paths with Mary making her way to the Bridge. As they passed the CAG didn't salute her captain.

"I could have your stripes for that, Lieutenant." Gil said with a grin turning to face Mary.

Mary sighed and clicked her tongue, "Do that and your XO would be furious." She added a salute at the end of her remark.

"Get going, he has the con." Gil said as he turned and continued to his quarters.

Upon reaching his quarters Gil activated the speaker on the cabinet by the door and walked across the room to his desk. I was taught to fight, taught to win. I never thought I could fail, the lyrics filtered into Gil's head as he sat behind his desk and looked to the papers. He activated the keyboard and holo display build into the desk and began to work on the after action report. As he worked on it he realized how much he needed a MAC gun, hopefully they could fit in in as the Juniata was docked. The music continued as Gil put all of his attention to the report, Don't give up. Your not beaten yet. Don't give up.

[nex]

"Orbit established. Captain, it appears the covenant cruiser has entered slipspace. "

"But why would it run? They've more or less won air supremecy."
"It would appear that the Honour and Glory, the Forlorn Hope, the Rolling Thunder and the Juniata have also entered slipspace, at random vectors. Transmissions indicate, a full retreat to Reach has been ordered. The Revolution had sustained damage, but will be able to jump in due course. The remaining covenant ships are holding distance."

The captain mulled this over for a few minutes, before the Adria interuppted from the holopad.

"I have a signal from one of the ComSats. Its long range transmitter is malfunctioning, and there is data still stored in its buffer. Recieving an encoded data burst, on a narrow beam. Timecoded roughly 4 hours ago. It's the archive from the ONI building. It had been forwarded by a PFC Vincent Chu, during earlier defence of the building. Archive log also indicates unautherised access, prior to their download."

"Meaning?" Kerslake replied, somewhat impatient, although glad that he had fulfilled the purpose the ONI had sent him to do.

"The covenant. They've got a copy. Weapon schematics. Trading routes. Ship payloads. Earth."
O'Brian, whispered the last word. Such a turn of events clearly had an impact on the young ensign. Kerslake, however, was not allowed to show his reaction. He had to remain in control of the situation.

"Walker, put us in a Slingshot orbit, aim to bring us to the edge of the system at best possible speed. Self-destruct that satellite. We cannot allow any trace of this data to remain. O'Reilly, is the FTL drive online?"

"Yes, sir."

"Power it up. Adria, Set co-ordinates to Reach."

"Captain, may I remind you that the Cole Protocol dictates tha-"
The AI began, but Kerslake cut him off.

"They have stellar cartography on Reach now. The protocol is void. We need to apprise HighCom of the situation immediately. We cannot delay"

"But sir, I cannot comply." The figure was protesting. The very limits of her mind, imposed upon her by Scientists, was preventing her from seeing the wider picture.

"Override programming restrictions. Code: 'Thereisbutonehope', he said, almost angry now.

"Co-ordinates set." The AI replied, much more subdued.

"Jump as soon as we're in position.", he said, taking his seat on the Bridge. Probably the first time he had sat since arrival. Yet, things were just getting started.

[Jakob]

LT. Jakob Zaborowski
Hellfire Comet aboard Honor and Glory

Jakob and his squad had been assigned to ship defense duty. Making sure no Covenant were able to surviving boarding with the ship. In retrospect he wish he hadn't.

The only thing he had done was walk around the ship not a single shot was fired from his squad. He had watched wounded marines and ODSTS come in with there vest's burned from plasma. Jakob felt bad for them but at least they had some action.

Although it meant him and his squad survived he was still jealous of them. Jakob sighed he mind as well suck it up and continue his duty's.

The ship shuddered a bit but not from a plasma explosion. A slipspace transition? he thought. Jakob ran over to a view port the Covenant were still there. That meant people still on the ground. It had to be a retreat. But why they had a chance to cause more Covenant losses.

Jakob realized how stupid that was. There had been barley any human victories against the Covenant and the victories had resulted in near obliteration of human forces.

Jakob wondered what to do now. He decided to go ask his commander. "We're going Comet let's go!" Jakob yelled walking away.

(OOC:Anyone know who my commanding officer is at the moment?")

[maxii1]

\\Captain McMad
\\Forlorn Hope: Bridge


Captain McMad looked over to Lt. Graham and smiled. "Come on matey, can't be the last vessel in the convoy"
"Polly, whats the status of the ship?"
"83% Operational, Umber's patching up as quickly as he can"
McMad nodded and took a seat, the battle was over for now.