Designate: Shadow Fox

Mission Launch

"Captain, I would much rather stay awake to monitor this area," Professor Andres protested.

"Professor, there's been no sign of the Covenant for almost two weeks." Captain Cutter settled Andres into her Cryo-Pod in Cryo Room 3 aboard the Spirit of Fire. "There is nothing left to do."

"But Captain!"

"But nothing, Professor. You got us all out of there alive." Cutter pressed a few buttons on Andres' Cryo-Pod, activating the Cryo-Sequence. "Get some rest."

"Not all of us, Captain." Andres said as the Cryo-Pod closed. "Not all of us..." The Cryo-Pod sealed shut, and Andres slipped comatose as the Cryo-Compression activated.

Cutter moved away from Andres' pod, and up to the last pod in the row. He hit a single button, and walked away as it closed. On the front of the empty pod was a label that read, "Sgt. J. Forge". Cutter left the Cryo-Room, leaving it in cold silence.

As the pressure door closed behind Cutter, he turned, and headed for the main deck.

"Captain Cutter, your presence is requested in the Observation Bay. We've got help en route." It had been three months since the Spirit of Fire had been left in space, and help was finally on the way. Captain Cutter entered the Observation Bay. The Observation Bay was a large room with two rows of three manned computers on the side walls closest to the entrance, a Digital Geographic Display table, and the forward half of the room had a large, floor-to-ceiling, paneled glass Observation window covered in desks and stands that were as well covered with wires and computers left over by Professor Andres.

"Officer on deck!" A U.N.S.C. Officer shouted near the Digital Geographic Display table. He saluted, standing at attention, while others turned in their seats from the computers, gave a salute, and turned back.

"At ease, Commander," Cutter dismissed the Officer. He stepped up to the Display table, and said, "Serena, give me the details."

A 3-D image of a young, thin woman with long hair, and white professor uniform tucked in at the waist, her entire body glowing a transparent blue, appeared in the center of the table.

"Commander," Serena greeted. "I think you'll be glad to hear we've got word that a U.N.S.C. warship is inbound with a new light-speed drive. And to think we were almost left drifting," she said in her slightly humorous voice.

"Activate the docking beacons, and open the drive bay," Cutter ordered.

"Aye, aye, Captain." Serena disappeared back into the mainframe.

"Sir," one of the men at the computers said. "We've got a request to transfer in a radio feed from U.N.S.C. North Star."

"Patch them through."

A man's voice sounded through a loudspeaker as the U.N.S.C. crest appeared on a monitor. "U.N.S.C. Spirit of Fire, this is the U.N.S.C. warship North Star. Requesting permission to dock for drive replacement, and get a Spartan Team  to you."

"U.N.S.C. North Star, permission granted," Cutter responded. "We are opening the landing bay now."

"Copy. We are docking now."

A large U.N.S.C. frigate nearly identical to the Spirit of Fire pulled up parallel to the ship, landing up to the lower docking bay. Several engineers and Cyclops construction mechanics began their work of moving and installing the slip-space drive. Captain Cutter remained on the deck as the Observation door's red light flicked on with a buzzing noise.

"Captain," another man said from a computer. "The Spartans are here."

"Bring them in."

The doors slid open with a hiss, and two Spartans stood in the doorway.

One was a green Spartan with a blue-visored helmet equipped with a miniature operation floodlight above the visor and a small, box-shaped scanner on the side. He had a small, blue intel monitor and mounting deck on his left wrist. His body armor consisted of a blue-screen radio on his chest, along with a couple single-clip ammunition pouches and a  pack on his lower back. His shoulders consisted of two half-sphere shoulder-covers, the left with a white, dotted symmetry pattern, and the right slightly bigger with a single white stripe. On the right side of his chestplate were two down-pointing Delta markers, the top a forest green and the bottom an olive green. The background symbol was the white shape of an up-pointed Delta wing. He carried a Designated Marksman Rifle and a Long-Range Thermal Sniper Rifle on his back.

The other was a black Spartan with red on his shoulders, forearms, and on his kneecaps and below. His helmet was a Mark V MJOLNIR helmet with a black visor. He had a copper-color GPS communication system and mounting deck on his left wrist. His body was covered in grenade launching capsules, and several impact capsules in his belt. His left shoulder was a red-white, curve-collar commando plate, and the right a red, bulk grenadier cover with a white stripe down the middle. Also on his chest was a symbol of a white skull with a red octagon background. He carried a 12-Gauge buckshot combat shotgun, and a mid-range grenade launcher on his back.

Captain Cutter turned around to the team. "Good to see you, Spartans. State your names and positions."

The first Spartan stepped forward. "Liutenant Archer. Field Marksman, and Delta Squad Technical Operator."

The second Spartan in the black and red armor stepped up next. "Spartan Officer Cross. Demolition Engineer, and Vehicular Pointman."

The team saluted slightly out of unison.

"At ease, Shadow Fox." The team lowered their hands, relaxing out of their erect stances. "It's comforting to know we've got friends out here to find us. But I'd like to know why your ship wants their five leading officers to visit me personally."

"Commander," Archer stepped forward. "The North Star's here to replace your drive, but also, we need a little help ourselves. We've got word that the Covenant are building another kind of super-weapon for some kind of backup plan after you destroyed their Forerunner fleet. Turned out to be a slipspace portal-something-or-other."

"Slipspace mass teleportation drive," Serena corrected.

"Exactly. That. Bottom line, they can use it to jump anywhere at anytime, kill anything there if they want, and we need your help to get there, shut it down, and be home in time for dinner."

Captain Cutter paused. "Very well. We'll help. We owe you that much for getting us moving again. We lost a good man today... It'll be good for us to hit them back."

"So this is our help?" A female voice came from behind the Spartans. The team turned to look, and then stepped aside for Professor Andres to enter. "Spartans. I take it it's bad."

"Shouldn't you be asleep, Professor?" Cutter asked.

"Well, I was, and decided to stretch my legs." She stepped over to the hologram table. "So, what're we dealing with?"

Captain Cutter began to speak, but Serena interrupted. "Our new friends here were just saying that the Covenant have a new toy. A jump drive with a one way ticket to anywhere." Serena projected an image of a large Covenant "Corvette" frigate. "They need us to, quote on quote," she set a playback of Archer's voice, "Get there, shut it down, and be home in time for dinner."

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Archer chuckled.

"Save it, Archer," Cross said. "So the question is, how're we gonna go about this?"

"I would suggest we MAC blast the entire ship," Serena suggested, "but we would risk triggering it, and sending us all to oblivion. So it would be much better for you to sneak in and shut it down safely without jumping us to another dimension."

"Sounds good to me." Cross replied.

"I guess it's a plan," Archer concluded. "But it's your call, Commander."

"Very well, Shadow Fox," Cutter replied. "I'm approving the mission. The Spirit of Fire will remain at a distance, as well as the fleet in the area for backup, if the Covenant decides to bring their friends. Give Serena the coordinates, and we'll be on our way."

"Harvest Division," Archer started. "Coordinates 75496."

"Thank you, gentlemen... We'll be on our way."

"Your team should head back to your ship," Professor Andres suggested. "We'll break off with the drive, and get going."

"Try to keep up," Serena added.

"Very well, Professor," Archer nodded and turned for the door.

"You might wanna get that A.I. checked out," Cross suggested. "Poor thing's a little twitchy." He exited the room.

"How charming..." Serena finished, and began to move the ship on course to the frigate.

End Of Chapter 1