Capt. Andrew Spaar's Story

April 10th, 2550, 23:03:19.

The 5th of November silently cut through slipspace, maintaining its speed as it shot through the galaxy. The bridge was silent, dark, and dusty. Thick clumps of dust floated through the air of the bridge. To save energy, the artificial gravity had been deactivated. In fact, most of the ships devised had been deactivated to conserve power for the engines as they propelled the ship through slipspace. The blast-shield's were lowered to prevent any space debris from breaking the class. Even the ships AI, Samuel had been put into a state of hibernation. The only light in the entire bridge was the lights of a digital clock on the main console. 1:4:20:19:10 read the number. It was the time until the crew was to be woken when they arrived to earth.

Suddenly, the clock's digits spun until they locked in place, and stopped. 1:4:20:00:00 Then suddenly it changed again. 1:4:00:00:00 Once more, the clock spun, and locked in place. 0:00:00:00:00 The bridge suddenly came to life once again. The gears of the blast-shield's turned, and lifted the heavy metal plates off the glass. The control panels lite up, and the low hum of electricity zipped through the ship, and the engines started to hum deeper and deeper as they slowed through the slipspace rift. Finally, the rupture split open and allowed the ship to normal space.

The cryo-deck was frozen solid. The entire room was freezing cold, filled with a total of 20 cryo tubes. Only 19 of the tubes were being used. The deck's lights lit up, and the high pitched hiss of the cryo chambers heating up filled the room. Inside the captains chambers, stood a single cryo tube. Inside the tube was the captain, Andrew Spaar. 'Activating wake up programs.' Stated the ships computer system. Inside the tube, Spaar took a deep breath.

From inside Captain Write's room, her own tube hissed to life. Allowing her to take her first breaths... It was as if, the ship itself started to breath once more.

Andrew's eyes were heavy. After being in cryo for a month, the hardest step of waking up was opening your eyes. After a moment, Andrew opened his eyes with a deep sigh he looked around the tube, and found the release. Unlike the other tubes, Andrews tube was down flat on the ground. Because of back problems he had ordered it that way, because the stress of staying on it for months could cause further damage to his back. The best logical answer was to lie the tube flat, so while in cryo his back didn't worsen.

With a grumble and a sigh, Andrew popped the window of the cryo tube, and lifted himself out of it. Slowly he turned his neck to crack it both ways. Cryo Protocol... He thought to himself as he checked each joint in his body. Legs, check. Thighs, check. Chest, check. Shoulders, check. Hands, check. Knuckles, check. He looked up once, then down once, then checked from side to side. From his cryo tube Andrew walked to his closet, putting on his uniform in no time.

Both of the captains chambers were connected to the bridge, so both of the captains could arrive within moments of being needed. After lasing up the final straps in his boots, Andrew unlocked the airlock to the bridge. Taking slow steps through the door, still trying to adjust to being awoken, Andrew walked through the seemingly endless airlock. Finally, he reached the end. After typing in his authorization code, the airlock slid open with a soft hiss. Taking his first step into the bridge, the lights, consoles, monitors, and projectors lit up.

The bridge itself was relatively large, based on the size of the ship. It was a large octagon-shaped room, with a massive sphere of plexiglass at one end to see outside the ship. Stretching into the sphere was a triangular-shaped cat walk, which hung over the bottom part of the glass sphere. A large panel was in the center of the triangle, which acted as the command station with 4 other stations surrounding it.

Walking through the command station, Andrew cracked his neck once more before reaching the station. 2 spherical contacts straddled the middle of the station that glowed a light blue on the edges. Placing his hands on both contacts, Andrew spoke loudly with a deep firm voice. "This is captain Andrew Spaar, ID# 2345/B3. Activate AI unit-01, and run a ship-wide diagnostic"

After a moment, the console responded. Welcome, Capt. Spaar. Initializing AI unit-01, designated 'Samuel'. Ship diagnostics report: Engines, stabilized. Shields, online. M.A.C, online. Outer defenses, online. Cryo deck's, awakened Comuni-

Andrew touched his hands to the contacts again to shut the computer up. "What is our location?" The computer was silent for a long moment before it replied. Unknown.

Andrew was confused. How did the computer wake the crew without arriving at earth? Their was one way to know. "Lower blast-shield..." Andrew muttered to himself. Slowly, the gears of the massive iron blocks turned, and lifted the shield. Where ever they were, it surly wasn't earth. The planet he was looking at was burnt red, with massive hexagon carving deep into its shape.

The computer spoke up again: AI unit-01 online. Touching his hands to the contacts again, Andrew spoke this time in a deeper more serious voice. Samuel, what planet are we looking at...?"

Samuel

Holotank Status: Online...

AI Unit-O1 Status: Booting... initializing... Online....

Avatar Status: Online...

A bright blue light pulsed from the center of the holotank before flickering and morphing into a humanoid shape. Seconds later, that humanoid shape was defined as a young man with dark hair. He wore virtualized clothing that seemed as though he was a civilian. The A.I moved his head to look up at the Captain. "Hello Captain Spaar." he greeted after being offline for so long. His words were politely spoken, which might be a little weird coming from his Avatar. But even after being off for a great while, Sameul immediately searched through the UNSC's list of known planets and looked for one that fit the planet's description. After only a few seconds, Sameul replied wtih his response to the Captain.

"I-I have checked the entirety of the UNSC's list of known planets."he began, and something was wrong with his audio. It would probably be assumed that the hibernation was the cause of this, and after some active time, the kink would fix itself. "This planet is not in that list. It would seem that this planet has not been discovered by any UNSC forces, and is therefore unknown."

Briefly, the console flickered and Samuel's avatar lost any defintion. This lasted for only about a half-second before he returned to normal.

"Computer, whats the status of the crew?" Andrew asked pushing his back against his arms to help support him while he thought of what the next step should be. The computer responded; Cryo tubes 1-6 are online. Tubes 6-20 are activating. All Spartan units are online. C.C.B-02 is offline.

Damn... Write is still under. Spaar thought to himself. Looking at Samuel again, Andrew thought for a moment before speaking again. "Sam, wake up Captain Write... We need her input right now. And find out what caused us to come out of slipspace..."

Again Andrew locked his hands with the contacts, turning them at a slight angel. A slight feedback spike could be heard through the entire ship as the PA system started to warm up. Andrew took a long moment to look over the ships bridge, reading various monitors to see what the ships status was. The ships life support was green, and so was the artificial gravity. But the slipspace drive came in as red. They wouldn't be able to activate it until it cooled down, which was normal after a long while of use. After a moment, Andrew decided the best course of actions, and spoke deeply into the mic:

"Attention all crew. This is captain Andrew Spaar. It seems most of the crew is awake, but dew to a malfunction in the ships systems, we aren't where were suppose to be. Our life support is online, and so is artificial gravity. Supply levels are stable, so I encourage all crew members to go to the mess hall, and grab some food. But, I need all flight crew members to report to the bridge, along with all Spartan units. Captain, out."

John stopped just outside the mess hall "Damn good judgement." he said and kept walking sharpening his knife the whole way.

Carl looked at the marines "You heard the captain grub time move out sidearms only then come back and we'll do training exercises, oh and Ramirez keep pushing till I get those hundred." She said looking down at him. Carl then turned and walked out to the mess hall and grabbed some food then sat where nobody could see her and took off her helmet to eat.

The Spartan clad in white EVA armor was the last of the Spartans to wake, his gold visor which he wore while under stasis was covered with a small amount of frost which soon faded away into his field of vision. With a small grunt he lifted his stiff armored joints out of the tank of a bed and looked about the room. His HUD systems slowly coming online. His eyes following the rest of the group leaving the room.

He stayed behind though, much prefering solitude for a good moment. Conscious solitude. Spending a good time alone in that damn tank didn't count. He moved his wrist into view and activated the small terminal upon it. When the small wrist mounted tactical rep monitor came online a few more blimps popped into his HUD, replacing the standard motion sensor was a thermal detector, not much improvement of a motion detector and the range was actually shortened. But it allowed constant surveillance of foes within closer range. Other than that, the system allowed hackings, scans, and longer range communication. It was a tactical package, not a luxury one.

He took a small breathe and wandered over to the weapons rack. Taking two M6G Magnums and placed them on his chest holsters as opposed to on his waist. He then took four clips for each and looked around the room once more before heading out. Upon exit, he took a different hall, heading to the bridge through the Engineering Deck. Passing was simple, as a Spartan clearance anywhere was given, as a Spartan Utility Specialist he had specs up there among most UNSC Science Engineers. He wasn't hungry not yet, so the mess hall was unneeded even if the Captain had given Spartans permission to head there.

He arrived quickly and walked through the door, falling in at attention and saluting the Captain with perfect form. "Sir, Spartan E101 reporting for duty, sir."

Alex caught the tossed DMR that John threw at him. He quickly checked the clip, which already had bullets in it, before putting it on his back. He looked over at John as he left the Armory, sharpening his knife. As soon as he left, Dalton came in donning his trusty pistol upon his self. He gave Alex a casual nod as he loaded it. Alex smiled under his helmet as his HUD began to malfunction a little bit. That was strange because it never happened before. The camera that covered up his eyes began to static, then shut off. He couldn't see properly because the GUNGNIR used a camera that went in front of the eyes. Probably just not worked into yet after being shut off for so long, but it was still strange. Alex put his pistol to the side as he took his GUNGNIR helmet back off.

"The hell is wrong with this thing?" He asked to no one in particular, although Dalton was sitting a little bit away from him. Just after he asked that, his Captain came across the intercom updating them on how everything is going. Alex sighed as he got up, holding onto his helmet. He approached the Captain of the Spartans on the ship, Dalton, and handed him the helmet. "Sir, do you know what is wrong with my helmet?" He asked in a casual tone. He nearly forgot that Dalton outranked him by a lot, and to pay more respect to him, but it was too late now. Alex stood there and awaited his response.

John walked onto the bridge "Sir?" He asked not as polite as the others he didn't solute but was paying absolute attention.

Carl looked out the window of the mess hall "Where the fuck are we?" She mumbled looking at the empty space outside a bit of light visibly bouncing off a planet. She grabbed her helmet and put it back on and started towards the normal area that they practiced in. When Carl arrived she drew her pistol and quick fired hitting the cans the marines had set up. "holy shit!" one yelled looking at the the cans. "Ramirez still ain't done?" Carl asked. "Shit doing better shooting than you captain." the marine responded holding a can that had been grazed. "Did I give you permission to bitch?" She asked tilting her head slightly the marine shut up immediately.

The Spartan in blue only got a few minutes of relaxation before the Captain of the Ship's order blaired through the comms. At least the ship wasn't destroyed or otherwise disabled while they were having their beauty sleep. Conway stood himself up and stayed there for just a moment as his stomach began calming down. Damn did he hate this. Around that time, he was approached by Alex with technical issues with his helmet.

Dalton took the helmet and turned it around, glancing at the back of it. Ah, there it was. The back of the helmet. He raised his fist and hit the back lightly. "Davidson, I'm no techie. Find someone who is." Dalton ordered, though not in an annoyed or otherwise displeasant tone. Not yet at least. "After we report to the bridge." he then added as he began out the armory, taking his helmet off as he did so. Now he saw nothing with his HUD on, but rather simply, his own eyes. That was good every once in a while.

Shortly after, the third Captain arrived at the bridge with two others who had also arrived. Of course, out of them, he showed the most respect by not only raising his hand to his head in solute, but speaking calmly and professionally. "Sir." he said with his unyielding glance locked on his Captain.

---

"Yes sir." came Samuel's computerized voice in acknowledgement. Nearly instantly, the A.I found the Spartan-II's cryo tube and began the sequence to force it open. In Miranda's room came the hissing of the Cryotube as it began awakening her, finally. The A.I, after making sure the proper programs to intiate the release were running, looked to Spaar.

"Sir, the cryogenic stasis tube for Spartan AP3X, Miranda Write, is online and defrosting as requested."

Samuel

A.I's didn't ever show signs of fear, at least not due to aggression. Had that not been the case, Samuel'd probably have wetted his circuits due to the sheer boom coming from the nude Spartan's mouth. But oddly, he only heard the second demand, not the first, which is why it took him a minute to respond. There was no holotank immediatey next to Miranda, only one on the desk at the corner of the room, so Samuel worked from there, appearing in a small flash of light.

"Hello, Captain Write." came his virtualized voice. He glanced right at her. "Diagnostics show that the 5th of November is running without any malfuctions, but we have come out of hyperspace just outside of a planet not known by the UNSC's databases." he quickly summed the situation up without digressing on matters unimportant to her, nor elaborating more than he need to. She'd probably prefer the Captain's full rundown over his own.

C-C-Captain Spaar has requested that all Spartan Personnel head to the bridge and is eagerly awaiting your presence." he added with an monotone voice. "Further inquiry can be made there."

Samuel's avatar in Write's room flickered off and he now reappeared at the holotank next to Spaar.

"Captain Spaar, Captain Write shall be here shortly." he relayed. "I would take a preemptive action and think of an explaination for her before she reaches us."

The captain stood over the command station still looking over the massive planet they had discovered. He didn't like this. He didn't like it one bit. That's when the idea struck him. Still ignoring the Spartans behind him Andrew cycles through windows of the command post, until he found the one he wanted. The title of the blue hologram window stated Slipspace Drive Status.

Normally, when a SPD is used the drive holds the slipspace rupture open so a ship can slide through. While in use, it heats up rapidly. But when the destination is about to be reached, the drive starts to slowly collapse the rupture until the ship is free of it. This causes the drive to cool down. But the status of the SPD was far from normal. The drive was still red hot, meaning it was deactivated mid rupture. Meaning that something made the ship stop here. Because the drive was still red hot, it couldnt be used to reopen a rupture.

It was time for Andrew to face the crew. Before turning to face the Spartans, Andrew closed the windows of the station, then turned about to the crew. "Soldiers! Attennntion!" He shouted at the crew in front of him. Because of disuse, his voice cracked as he turned to the men. Even though he had been away from the crew for a little under a month, he still wanted to remind them he was in charge...

Andrew turned away from the Spartans and walked with his fellow captain. He thought for a moment before replying. "Negative. We aren't going anywhere near this planet. From what we know, the Covenant don't have the ability to build planets, and i can tell you for sure this planet wasn't made by God..." With a sigh the captain looked at Samuel, clearing his throat before asking:

"Sam, as soon as that Slip space drive is active, fire it up. We need to get out of hear as soo-" Andrew was cut off suddenly by the sound of cracking metal. The ship vibrated and shook hard for a long moment, like an earthquake. After a moment the shaking stopped, and Andrew turned to the Spartans to see if they were alright.

"Is everyone alright? Sam, what on gods earth wa-" Again, the captain was cut short by the high pitched blare of the emergency siren.

Across the ship sirens blared and hollered, alerting the crew. Over the intercom came an announcement: WARNING: Hull breach. Repeat, hull breach. Sectors A-3 through A-5, evacuate, evacuate, evacuate. Initializing lock down.

"requesting permission to assist in evacuation?" John said drawing his pistol in case they had been fired upon he doubted it but wanted to be safe.

Carl had just got into her drop pod and was doing a routine systems check when the hull had breached in the wall across the room she hit the button to seal the pod. She then turned the comms system in the pod on "Can anyone hear me I'm trapped in sector A-4 in a ODST drop pod I have about fifteen minutes before the hole in the hull is decompressed." the computer flashed a warning the computer saying "Carbon monoxide level at 10% and rising connecting to command." Carl appeared on the viewing screen in a small box in the corner "Running out of air captain I have to launch to the surface below or else the pod will be ripped out by the vacuum!" Carl said knowing the pod would be ripped out of the ship or at least ripped off it's mounting and tossed across the cabin "Captain Sparr I need orders to launch Or I'm gonna suffocate in here!" Carl said before the screen went to static the pod ripping form it's mounting causing a power surge that fried most of the systems.

She blinked, taking in Andrew's words. As he turned to address the AI she excused herself, moving to leave the bridge. About half to the door the ship shook- things fell, scattering about from shelves and cubby holes, her lightning fast reflexes allowed her to dip under a sailing coffee mug and avoid taking hot drink to the face. Eyes wide she turns to scan a nearby computer screen, what she saw filled her veins with adrenaline- something had hit the ship. Here came the shit, the fan was ready. Without pause she races from the cabin, dodging people as she makes a bee-line for her pod, she was going to need her armor.

Ducking into her room she slides into the black pod, and hits the seal. In moments the hatch closes and the automated systems kick online. A grinding sound fills the air, as well as a strange spraying sound, harsh chemical scents begin to waft from the odd black pod, lights flashing within. Something was moving within, the light bringing forth a vague impression every now and then, one could almost see arms, a set of hydraulic presses, a drill...

Within the pod was something rivaling a mad science experiment, Capt. Write was floating in more fluid, a darker shade however...due to a mixture of spilled blood. Her armor was not like the rest of the Spartans, hers was quite special...unique you could say. Her disability had granted ONI a chance to push the limits of human optical performance, it let them see just how good they could improve upon human limitations. Her armor was the results.

Gunmetal grey, the outer sheath was a polymer mesh of carbon fibers and titanium plating, it's simplistic design belied a far more complex inner structure. What one could only see was small pores in the armor's surface were actual millions of tiny optics, forming a perfect 360˚ view at all times. Various parts have added armor, shown in a dull brown color, mainly the knees, chest and shoulders. As an additional bonus extra slots and pouches have been secured to the armor's chest, hips and the like, allowing Capt. Write to carry a substantial amount of ammo and gear into the field.

The helmet of the armor stands out most of all, angular..all sharp edges and quite unlike your standard set of power armor. Being that she has no need for a visor or other head based optical slots her armor's helmet can afford extra padding..making her suit far more durable than one would expect- the sharp angle also adding to it's avoidance of projectiles, the hard angles adding to the armor's toughness and causing a bullet to 'curve' along the angle rather than impact against it.

Emerging from the pod, she stands a moment, letting her systems power up to full. HUD systems load to max, her shield projecting silently. She was ready for whatever might be coming aboard...or wherever she may have to go. Resting a hand on one of her armor's built in sheaths she removes the nine inch combat blade and reaches for her standard weapon- the highly illegal yet oh-so-lovely augmented M45 TS, with a shortened barrel and extended ammo tube, a viscous close-range weapon. She was ready, and someone..or something was about to regret that.

Samuel

As the ship shook violently from the attack, Sam's holotank flickered and shut off temporarily, leaving them without artificial intelligence for only a brief second. When his avatar returned not even minute later, it lacked its defining feature, appearing only as the outline of the man he was supposed to be. With great distortion in his voice, he spoke. "It-it-it appears as though we have been hit." it stated, knowing this fact was obvious. "Sensors do not-not-not know what has engaged us-us-us. Please wai...."

He shut off, but didn't turn back on.



*Smack*

*ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ*

While the 5th of November quaked viciously under the effect of the attack, Dalton thought himself pretty fortunate that he was wearing his armor, as something, he didn't see what, would've hit him in the head otherwise. The immediate area around him glowed bright with a golden color as the barricade between him and damage was restoring itself to full operational capacity. Dalton managed not to fall on his ass as the ship shook, either, and glanced up at his fellow, male captain. "Spaar!" he called less formal, but the situation dictated nothing less. "We're just mindless grunts until you give us something to do. Your orders?"

What ever was happening, Andrew didn't like it. Pressing his hands to the console he looked through the various windows looking for answers. 100's of questions flew through the captains mind, A boarding craft? A missile? Covenant? Rebels?. Looking through the windows, a flashing red light blinked on the station. Noticing it, he opend the file it was representing. The window was titled: Engine Status, and under it showed a picture of the massive 4 engines.

All 4 engines were blue, meaning that they were working at full capacity. But suddenly, the upper-starburt engine turned a deep red, and started to flash. Simply enough, red was bad. The engine was shutting down. Finally the engine turned black on the screen, meaning it was completely dead. Before the captain could do anything, the lower-port engine started to flicker red, then die black. Leaving only 2 engines left. Once again, the ship started to shake violently, but that's when it hit the Captain. The reason they were shaking wasn't because they were being boarded... They were entering the atmosphere of the planet.

"Sensors do not-not-not know what has engaged us-us-us. Please wai...." The captain heard Samuel utter out. Turning to the holotank, Andrew was surprised by the sudden loss of Sam. Now angry, Andrew walked to the holo tank, and quickly typed in the code to eject Sam from the tank. A few seconds later, a chip popped out with a holo-ring in the center, glowing bright blue, meaning Samuel was still online, but the Holotank wasn't.

Putting the chip into his pocket, the captain turned to the command station once again. Now, only 1 engine was left. After the last engine flickerd out, Andrew was completly unable to steer the ship... But that was the least of the problems. Suddenly the whole station's projection flared bright red warnings everywhere. From what he could see, every system in the ship was shutting down.

"No no no no NO!" The captain shouted in rage as he brought his hands up and crushed them against the contacts, trying to get them to respond. Slowly, the station started to turn red itself, and the projection flickered away until it went black.

Turning away form the concle, Andrew had only one other option, the Emergency Announcement system. What ever was attacking the ship was using some sort of EMS (Electro-Magnetic Static) to make the ships computer functions go offline. The only 3 things that didn't run off electricity, were the artificial gravity generators, the emergency lighting, and the EAS. The AGG's worked on kinetic energy, an EMP wouldn't effect them, because they make their OWN power without relying on other systems.
The emergency lights worked on chemical energy, instead of electricity, and the EAS worked on landlines. No EMP was strong enough to disrupt the connection between the speakers.

Moving to the other side of the bridge, the captain found the EAS on the wall, in a sealed class box, with a small keyhole underneath it. Taking his key from his pocket, he slid the key into the lock, and turned it 4 times clockwise until a soft POP sounded, and the box opened up. Pushing the EAS system forward. The system itself consisted of a microphone, and a button for talking, but no speaker. That was the only problem with the EAS, if someone wanted to talk back to the captain they couldn't.

Pressing the button firmly, their came an electric CRACK across the ship from the EAS being used. After clearing his throat, Andrew spoke into the microphone in his clam voice, trying to keep the crew calm along with himself.

"Attention all crew members. This is Captain Spaar. Currently, all ship systems are offline, witch includes the engines and life support. Currently, I am speaking to you over the Emergency Announcement System. The vibrations in the ship is the actual ship entering atmosphere. We have no choice men, we are making an emergency landing. All crew members, grab onto something. Because of no engines, this isnt going to be a smooth ride.

Good luck, and god bless men. Via, con Dios. Captain out..."

The flight crew had its hands full, trying to control the ship as best they could as it came to the planet. Andrew gripped onto the station to keep himself steady as the AGG and the planets gravity struggled for control. Again came a tremor of rattling from entering the atmosphere. From what Andrew could see from the bridge, they were about 30 miles above the planet, meaning they had cleared through the Exosphere, and with that new rattle meant the ship was entering the Mesosphere. At that very moment, there trejectory was perfect, and if they continued they would go into the planet at a perfect 22% angle.

But, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. The calm before the storm had passed. In the Exosphere, there is practically no wind. It is to high up for planetary winds to effect it, but strong enough that solar winds couldn't penetrate it. But when they started to enter the Mesosphere, there is so much turbulence its nearly impossible to navigate with out some sort of engine. Even though the 5th of November carried 4 nuclear propulsion engines... They were all offline. They were a dead weight, and not a very aerodynamic weight.

Suddenly, the entire ship started to tilt forward, with the aft starting to point down at the ground, they were in a free fall nosedive...

They were going down. They weren't just 'hit' or 'grazed', but this giant piece of man-made machinery was going to leave its mark on the surface of whatever planet was beneath them, and they would be casualties if they didn't get the fuck outta dodge. Some people might hit a bump in at this point, because Dalton wasn't given a single order, he was given two. While Spaar ordered anyone and everyone to buckle up, Write told them to abandon ship, and quite frankly, he felt she had the better mind at the moment. Nothing against the captain, who probably hated seeing his ship go down, but Dalton wouldn't die with it, if he could help that.

Because he himself had no opinion on what they should do, he said nothing, but nodded. His rank, Captain like the other two figures on this ship, was... dull compared to the others. Technically, he was about the third most powerful person on the ship, with Write and Spaar outranking him....somehow. Dalton was thrown on this ship for some reason, and because he didn't care to argue with a religious man and a blind brute, he didn't have any problem with this, and as of yet, he hasn't heard any 'stupid' orders from his superiors. As such, he started out towards the nearest escape pod with the intent of getting out of here alive.

The ship rumbled again, this time much more violently before suddenly, Dalton found himself climbing up an arced hallway. "Down" began feeling harder to keep up with, and unfortunately, he started falling at the same time a rupture in the area beneath him appeared. The aged Spartan, knowing exactly what this meant, clutched his fists as viciously, he was sucked out of the ship.

Well fuck.