User:Biologystudent/Halo: Priority One

Halo: Priority One

Reach before the assault

Prologue

Gamma Station, In Orbit Above Reach

The alarm sounded in Gregory Kulpar’s quarters. He immediately sat up in his bed. He blinked, trying to clear his vision. He shook his head; the room was pitch black and he couldn’t see a thing.

“Hit the lights, Doppler. And turn off those blasted sirens, I get the picture.”

The lights flicked on as Gamma station’s AI responded to his orders. “As you wish.

“ONI corvette Circumference is still here, so look sharp. Wouldn’t want those spooks to catch you on a bad hair day.”

“Since when did you have an opinion on them?”

Gregory’s hair was regulation short, but Doppler did have a point.

Gregory was supposed to report to the bridge in half an hour, and he was dressed, ready and stood in front of the door in minutes. He buttoned his collar as the slid open with a hiss. A device in the door beeped twice and the door closed behind him as he turned the corner to enter a long corridor.

UNSC personnel walked by, some escorting civilians. Those who were not busy paused to salute Gregory as he walked by. Some were wearing white uniforms of full Navy officers, while others wore brightly colored uniforms that said that they were non-commissioned officers.

There were some thick windows that allowed Gregory to see outside of the space station. Starships glided through space, and other stations were also visible.

He continued his walk through the maze of hallways until he reached a wide-open space, decorated with a variety of plants and paintings. People walked in different directions; going about their business. He stared at a particular painting, showing Gamma station still under construction, until a tube car arrived in the large room on the rails that sat in a curve in the floor. He avoided a large group of loud civilians and stood in the back of the car. There was a slight lurch as the car moved along the rails again to its next stop.

In a few minutes, Gregory was on the bridge. Even though he had been on the bridge hundreds of times, he still marveled at the view that the wide-open command center gave. As he walked up the steps to the main part of the bridge, Reach came into view. It shined in the bright light that it reflected off of Epsilon Eridani, which wasn’t visible from the part of the bridge where Gregory was.

Reach was the second farthest planet from Eridani, and not the only inhabited planet in the system. Over a hundred military starships were visible, and thousands more of mostly smaller civilian ships darted around.

“Captain on deck!” a marine in the corner of the bridge said as he straightened. The other members of the bridge crew did the same.

“Report,” Gregory said.

Jacob Stienberg, who was sitting at one of the computers, swiveled his chair to face Gregory. “All ships are green and stations report a-okay.”

“Excellent. Proceed as operations.”

The bridge crew all nodded as they went back to work. A while later, one of the officers said, “Civilian freighter Cornucopia cleared for passage through planetary borders.”

Everything went normal for hours until Jacob finally broke the silence that still hung in the air. “Remote scanning outpost Fermion is sending a report,” he leaned closer to the screen. The computer cast an eerie glow on the young officer’s face.

“Fermion?” Gregory said calmly. “They’re next report isn’t due until another forty-five minutes from now.”

Jacob scanned over the report. “Priority transmission, sir.”

His eyes widened as he finished reading the report, and Gregory wondered what could be so important. “A large object moving through Slipspace—or rather….”

Then a thought came to Gregory’s head, but he dismissed it. No, that isn’t possible.

“…More than one…” Jacob went on, now grabbing the attention of all of the bridge crew. “…Matching the descriptions of…. Captian!”

Jacob jerked his chair around to face Gregory, his expression full of fear.

Now Gregory found himself gripping the edge of his chair more tightly. The transmission appeared on the view screen, which had just seconds before shown the beautiful image of peaceful Reach. Now Gregory felt that that would be one of the last times that he would ever see Reach in that state.

Part One

Generator Two

Chapter One

Reach, military outpost B-13, August 30, 2552

Nobody knew what happened.

''“Reports of in-system Slipspace exit ruptures confirmed…there’s no doubt—it’s them. It’s the Covenant!”''

The speakers had crackled minutes before in Ben Talbot’s quarters. Now they were all gathered in the command room, if it could be called that. With almost all of the Marines except for the guards packed into the one room, you didn’t have any elbowroom. It was more like a computer-filled closet.

As the message played and repeated, silence fell over the Marines, who had been murmuring many complaints just seconds before. They looked to each other and at the glowing speaker at the center of the group.

“Impossible,” one of them muttered quietly.

“One hell of a prank…” another said.

All of the black-armored troops broke out into a series of comments, but it once again quieted as the speaker continued it’s grim message.

''“This is Admiral Talukdar. What you have just heard is no drill. Fermion RSO was the first to spot them. They estimate about three hundred ships heading our way. We’ve lost all contact with the outpost, and I am ordering all units to prepare for combat—and hell, anything that the Covenant can throw at us. Talukdar out.”''

The UNSC seal appeared on a screen at the front end of the room, ending the transmission.

Ben scanned his Marine’s faces. They all had faces with utter disbelief written all over them.

“Well, you heard the Admiral. I want all of you at the positions that we practiced. All of you should also have a weapon on you at all times. Understood?” Ben in a voice that demonstrated authority.

All of the Marines straightened out and replied in unison: “Sir, yes sir!”

“Then triple-time it!”

They moved like a herd of animals to the doors to get to their stations throughout the base. Once all of them had gone, he went and sat in the commander’s chair. Ben knew that when he joined the Corps, he would face hard times—but he wasn’t prepared for this.

“Tell all watchtowers that I want a report every ten minutes,” Ben commanded to Marine sitting at a computer station near the view screen. “And if anything at all unusual happens anywhere in or near the base, notify me.”

Admiral Prithviraj Talukdar strode through the doors of the lift and onto the bridge of his ship: Ajax. The Ajax was a Marathon-class cruiser, and the flagship of his fleet. The bright glowing lights all over the bridge immediately made him squint. His eyes quickly adjusted; he was used to the bridge. There were several Naval officers on the bridge, all at their own stations. There were two armored security guards standing near the back, unmoving with neutral expressions, each holding MA5Bs with M6 pistols holstered in their belts. There was a large view screen standing in the center of the room. The majority of the screen was taken up by the tiny dots of light and the blackness of space that surrounded them, but there were boxes to the side that displayed tactical and other information.

“Give me a report on the enemy fleet,” Prithviraj said.

Dax, who was the Navy officer at the tactical station, answered. “They’ve passed Epsilon Eridani, and are just outside our range. ETA to the outer edges of the kill zone two minutes.”

Prithviraj turned to the weapons station. “Charge MAC cannons, prime archer missiles and prepare point-defense guns.”

“Aye, Admiral.”

“Number of military ships at rally point Zulu is one-hundred thirty and growing,” an officer stated.