ONI Black Ops Part Eleven(Finale)
Posted By: Havok<Tactical_Havok@hotmail.com>
Date: 3 June 2003, 3:20 PM
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Spartan 117 stood to attention as the two scientists circled the shadow that he had brought back. The two Russians seemed perplexed with this new craft the Covenant had produced.
Vladimir clambered inside the ship. "Looks like the plasma power plant is larger." He studied the small chamber where the power source sat. "I think these red diodes are meant to soak up the waste energy and feed it back to the power plant. A lot like the electromagnetic recapacitators on our MAC guns." He made his way to the pilot's seat as Dietrich joined him inside the craft.
"You can come up if you would like, Master Chief." Dietrich announced to the open portal. "After all, you captured this thing." The old man turned back to the control panel, which displayed a dizzying array of unknown symbols and holographic icons.
John leaped up on top of the craft, and deftly swung himself into the cockpit, startling the two scientists. Vladimir was hunched over a panel, studying something. After a few minutes, the scientists got up and began another inspection of the underside of the craft. To john, they were speaking absolute gibberish, mixed in with few words he could understand.
The Spartan followed the scientists around for another twenty minutes. They had apparently forgotten about him as they conversed in a mathematical tongue that seemed utterly alien to the soldier. Finally, one of them noticed him. "Oh, sorry to drag you around like this, master chief. You may leave if you like." And with that they turned back to their gibberish.
* * * *
Vladimir sat on his cot, thinking. The covenant attack craft that the master chief had brought back was truly amazing. New technologies had been incorporated into this ship that the covenant had not had before. They must be absorbing a new race and its technologies into its caste system.
Vladimir turned his eyes to the hologram that shimmered above his desk. A new Covenant race. A Brute. A fierce looking alien, much like the hunter except this covenant soldier sported tufts of shaggy hair and a superior intellect that lurked behind its red eyes.
There had been no sign of such a beast yet on this world. But that didn't mean anything. There were only a few hunters on this planet, protecting vital installations like the one designed to protect the shadow. ONI's calculations had showed this to be a very low priority planet, so maybe the brutes were assigned to protect much more valuable information.
Vladimir leaned back and rested his head on the metal post of his bed. Closed his eyes. This operation was drawing to a close. The battle group had gotten what it had come for. The test of MJOLNIR II was labeled a complete success, and orders were in the works requisitioning a mass production of the armor for all operational Spartans. The new battle cruisers had shown under battlefield conditions that they held the upper hand when it came to confrontation with a numerically superior enemy.
And on top of all of that, they had captured a Covenant shadow. Quite a success that Section Three had managed to procure.
The ground troops had mostly pulled off of the planet, leaving only a security detachment to keep the LZ secure until the scientists had arrived back on the Archangel. The last drop ship was due to leave in half an hour. This black op was over. Vladimir would remain with the research group, but he and Dietrich would have to take a trip around to neighboring colonies and maybe even earth to replace their fallen comrades. It was a job that he did not relish in the least, but it was one he had to do nonetheless.
The Archangel battle group pulled out of close orbit with the covenant world. They pulled back to a safe distance, and then slowly turned around, special weapons systems armed and ready. The order was given to fire, and three hundred huge black shapes skipped across space and plowed into the planet's atmosphere. The protective black casings were stripped away by the immense heat of reentry.
All around the planet, the strange black shapes shuddered to a halt and digital timers began to count down. Those on station on the ships' bridges looked on as the planet began to bubble and burst. These new weapons were tearing apart the molecular structure of the planet. The weapons produced a field around them in which molecules could not hold together. Molecules separated from each other and floated out into space as the energy fields expanded. The wholesale destruction tore across the entire planet, shredding matter, molecule by molecule.
It was humanities first taste of true revenge. The covenant had destroyed hundreds of their planets, and now it was their turn. The planet began to wobble and spin erratically, launching off huge chunks of disintegrating matter. The intense gravity of the planet pulled the dirt back together, the heat of the planetary core fusing the dust into a much smaller, denser, planetoid.
In the black void of space, the human ships turned their backs on their gruesome work. Their engines rumbled to life and a soft blue light enveloped them as they entered slipspace.
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