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Halo Chronicles by Otokam
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Halo Chronicles, Part 1: Contact
Date: 23 January 2000, 9:42 a.m.
The ship's klaxons erupted in a desperate wail as the ship's sensors lit up at the sudden presence of the enemy fleet. The Pillar of Autumn was hurled out of formation by the artificial gravity wells created by the unfolding vessels. The Covenant had arrived.
The Captain, jolted out of her seat, stumbled to her hands and knees and sprang to action. "Status! What the hell is going on here!" But before anyone could respond, she caught a glimpse of the short range sensors, to be greeted by hundreds of red blips where there had been nothing but hard vacuum just moments before. "My God, they're everywhere!" she muttered. And then "Red alert! All hands to combat stations. Commander Freisler, what's our status?"
"Thumpers, sir! They folded right on top of us!" the X.O. replied, as the Pillar took yet another jolt. "Their graviwaves knocked us 67 cliks, 43 by 2 degrees. The fleet's been hit pretty bad!"
And on top they had. The Covenant had appeared literally inside the combined human fleet; the force that pushed aside the Pillar had rendered smaller, less fortunate ships on either side to pieces, as other vessels collided in the confusion. The Captain stared in horror at the sensor readings, which registered a human fleet three quarters the strength of what it was before the attack.
"Helm, get us back in there! We're not going to sit on our asses while the damned bible-thumpers tear our fleet apart! Tactical, target the nearest enemy and fire at will!" she ordered. The Pillar of Autumn turned straight for the heart of the enemy formation, long range batteries blazing. Once in range, her main guns opened on the enemy, joining the rest of what remained of the combined fleet.
As the captain waited in anticipation, the red dots began to disappear one by one. Suddenly, the bridge crew cheered in celebration. "We've scored multiple hits, sir!" cried out commander Freisler. "They're dropping like flies!"
The joy shortly turned to apprehension, however, as the tactical officer shouted above the clamor, "Captain, they're not shooting back!"
"Affirmative, sir," interjected the communications chief. "The entire fleet reports the same phenomenon. Not one of them Thumpers has fired a single shot at our friends. Like they all dropped dead or somethin'."
"Cease firing." The captain barked, even as the Pillar's forward batteries shot off a burst. "Hold your fire! Chief, hail the nearest enemy ship. Lieutenant Radoslav, what do your sensors tell us about these bastards?"
"Very peculiar, captain. The readings do not match any known Covenant profile. There are no signs of any weapons, or a communications device."
"Well that explains why they aren't acceptin' our collect calls." Chimed in the chief.
"Thank you very much, Mr. Connelly. Contact the rest of the fleet with our findings. Now Lieutenant, what else can you make of them?"
"From what I can tell," replied the Radoslav, "they appear to be... unmanned."
Just as he finished his thought, Connelly reported, "Incoming fleet-level transmission from the MCS Elysium, captain."
"Very well, put it through."
A slightly accented voice blared over the Pillar of Autumn's main intercom system, "This is the Lord Admiral Roberto Montgomery-Soleil of the Martian Confederation Dreadnought Elysium. This is a fleet-level order to retreat. The fleet's sensors have revealed the latest invasion by the treacherous Covenant to be nothing more than unarmed probes sent to disrupt our formations. We have suffered heavy losses to these cowardly assaults. We must fall back and regroup, before the main battlefleet arrives. I have uploaded the rendezvous spacetime coordinates into your navigational mainframes. Ah, yes. In addition, one of our casualties was the UES Themosticles, and along with it, our commander in chief, Admiral Halifax. I have now assumed total command of the fleet. Montgomery-Soleil, out."
Halo Chronicles, Interlude 1: CRIST
Date: 23 January 2000, 8:31 p.m.
Sorry, this is really lazy, but this a little ditty from Marathon that I incorporated into my story. Reaquaint yourselves with this oldie:
The CRIST Sol orbiters, or Cargo and Resources In-System Transports were huge ships shaped like a hollow potato and designed to be able to move huge amounts of material between Earth and Mars with low cost and, theoretically, low maintenance. The system was simple. The CRIST was put into orbit around SOL on the plane of the ecliptic. Built with a powerful solar sail, the CRIST could change its orbit easily to pass by the Earth or Mars. On a flyby, materials could be loaded or offloaded. The energy used to accelerate or decelerate the materials would be supplied by the solar sail. Loading was accomplished with a giant tether and reel system, which would swing the material into orbit behind the CRIST and then reel it in slowly. Offloading was accomplished with a powerful ion beam which would pound the offloading material with a steady stream of ion particles.
The design of the CRIST was innovative and useful, but it was not low-maintenance. Of the five CRISTs that were built, four lasted around one hundred years, and the other one only seventy three before they needed to be brought back to Earth and refitted. Each refitting took about fifteen years, and completely occupied the Earth-Space Shipbuilding Facility for that time. The result was that no more than five CRISTs could be kept in service at any time. No CRIST was ever built after 2310.
The CRIST failures devastated Mars. As the first five CRISTs were built, Mars colony grew quickly, confident that the growth would continue. But when the source of Mars' resources failed, the colony found that it had overgrown its supportable size, and extreme poverty struck most of the population. Each time that a CRIST broke down, the result was famine on Mars.
The conversion of Deimos into the Marathon began when the Mars colony was at the height of its power. By the time it was completed sixty four years later, the decline of Mars was well advanced. During that time, the Martian population had seen its standard of living drop by eighty percent. On top of oppressive poverty, Martians saw one of their moons being converted into a colony ship in an expensive and risky colony venture which was predominantly funded by a ruling foreign power. The argument to make the Marathon into a CRIST became more and more popular, but the UESC never seriously considered this an option. The farther that Mars sank into the depths of poverty, the more that the Marathon became a symbol for the oppression of the Martian people.
The Declining Martian World:
After the Marathon left Mars, the UESC's attentions focused primarily on technological development, and the upkeep of the CRISTs. Mars was left to decay. Population continued to increase as attempts at mandating abortion or sterilization always started revolt. -Ueda Saijiro, Elysian Fields: A History of Mars
(*author's note, body text taken from Term. 2 of Level 4 in Marathon 1, Couch Fishing, as archived by the Marathon's Story page*)
Halo Chronicles, Interlude 1.1; The Tyco
Date: 24 January 2000, 6:39 a.m.
"And this, is only the beginning." A proud, confident Rudolph Montgomery smiled to himself as he stepped out of his personal transport, onto the red carpet leading to the steps of the now defunct Mars state house. The unmistakably red Martian landscape was as beautiful to him as any on earth. Troops from the 1024th orbital insertion legion of the Unified Earth defense corps stood at attention (council's compliments), while his personal bodyguards escorted him through the massive crowd that had come out to witness the arrival of their new ruler.
It was no secret that Montgomery had been pulling together his assets for the last year and a half. Many analysts had predicted a run for the presidential seat of the UESC, while others believed he was working to complete the construction of his own colony vessel, in direct competition with the council's already announced plans for a second interplanetary expedition. No one, however, could have anticipated Montgomery's next move. Under the tightest security, he met behind closed doors with representatives from the council's most powerful provinces (the North American Confederation, Greater East Asian League, United Africa, European Union, and the Inner Belt Mining Conglomerate), and with President Vikram Alexander Kumar, who had replaced Buend'a after the latter's retirement two years before. After a week of negotiation, Rudolph Montgomery emerged as the sole owner of Mars colony.
News of the unprecedented transaction spread like wildfire. Rudolph Montgomery, the nanofabrication mogul who had made hundreds of trillions off of lucrative contracts during the construction of the Marathon, had purchased the colony of Mars for an undisclosed amount. Within days of its announcement, his had become the most widely known name in the Sol system. The public was stunned, and the media were hungry. News stations all around Sol scrambled for interviews with the man of the hour, but Montgomery was still hard at work. His orbital factories had secretly finished repairing the last of the surviving CRISTs, and he and his entire estate were already en route to the choicest real estate on the red planet.
The public was confused. How did a man like Rudolph Montgomery get his hands on Mars? And what could he possibly want? Only the Unified Earth Space Council knew better than to ask questions. President Kumar and his staff were elated with Montgomery's offer. Mars had been a steady drain on the UESC treasury long before the third war, and after the successful launch of the Marathon, earth would have liked nothing more than to obliterate Mars from its collective memory. The council's apathy toward its derelict colony had become so great, even the once feared MIDA, realizing the futility of their work, phased itself out of existence. Future historians call Montgomery's purchase one of the most pivotal moments in humanity's interplanetary history, third only to the launch of the Marathon and the subsequent destruction of the Phfor empire.
His arrival had drawn millions of weary, famished Martian colonists in attendance. As Montgomery took his first steps, he felt a twinge of fear as he felt those millions of pairs of eyes watching his every move. As the main beneficiary of the Marathon's launch, there was much about him for them to despise. However, the mass was silent; Montgomery had acted so quickly and his moves were so unprecedented, the Martians were more befuddled than angry. In any case, years of famine, poverty and riots had left Mars too tired to act. Rudolph completed his march to the state house without incident. Mars, Earth, and all of humanity waited in silence as Montgomery prepared to speak.
Halo Chronicles, Interlude 1.2: Mars
Date: 27 January 2000, 12:28 a.m.
Citizens of Mars! A new era is upon us. The days of hunger and poverty, panic and confusion, and anarchy and chaos are now over. For a century, you have been deceived. You have suffered through the empty promises of Earth, as well as by the extreme measures of your own, rebellious brethren. Together, both factions turned your pioneering efforts into a political and physical battlefield, laying waste to all they touched! Ignoring the victims of this terrible conflict, the UESC and the MIDA had ruthlessly fought each other for political dominance, and ultimately, convenience. They have ruined Mars, ruined your homes, and ruined your lives! When you asked for supplies, they stole your moon. When you begged for food, they brought you war. When you hoped for change, they established terror. And for the last 28 years, Mars Colony wanted nothing more than attention, and the United Earth Government, who had found a new toy with which to play, turned its back, hoping its failed experiment would go away. Good citizens of Mars, your adventurous ancestors forged the future of humanity on this barren planet. Two hundred years ago, the best and the brightest had abandoned the amenities of life on Earth in order to gain humans a foothold in space. They were the pioneers of this modern age! The rich, greedy gluttons who owe their fortunes to the legendary exploits of your brave ancestors, now sit idly by, while Mars grows weaker by the day! Injustice! Injustice does not even begin to describe this intolerable behavior! In a darker age of humanity, such dishonorable conduct would have been punishable by death!
We are, however, beyond our barbarous past. In this enlightened age, we must learn forgiveness, and compassion for the failings of our enemies. Neither Earth nor MIDA have injured and abandoned Mars out of malice. They were not the bully taking advantage of weaker prey. They did not act out of contempt, good Martian citizens, they acted out of fear. Yes, friends, it is they who are scared!
The collective spirit and mind of Mars Colony has grown beyond the expectations of its creators. The spineless politicians of earth cannot possibly contain the power that lies within this red planet. The awesome power flows from every natural mountain, every valley, and every river bed. It flows through the expertly terraformed forests, grassland, oceans, and fields. This energy, channeled through the bodies of you, the Martian colonists, is a formidable force. Citizens of Mars, do you not feel it? It is the life force of our planet. It is the strength of Ares, my friends, the ancient God of War! Do you not feel it? It is crying out to be released! Good citizens of Mars! Friends! Bask in its warmth, in its strength, in its Glory! Hold in your hand the power which all of earth is afraid to harness! Let us, my friends, unleash the beast within, and restore our planet to its former glory! Let us show the rest of humanity the power of Mars! Let us show the United Government of Earth that we will not disappear! -Rudolph Montgomery I, Archduke of Elysium Premier Speech to the Martian Populace; Old MIDA Statehouse, New Cydonia, Mars. Apr. 17, 2500
The events directly following the completion of Montgomery's speech have been widely argued to have been the clinching moment of Mars' acception of their new leader. After a positive, yet lukewarm reception of his speech, Montgomery continued, "Ah, yes. Many before me have filled you with false hope and broken promises. I am not a politician, friends. I am a man of action, not of words. Therefore, here I will terminate this speech and introduce to you the first spacegoing vessel under the complete ownership of you, the Martian people."
On cue, the men of the 1024th legion snapped to action, pushing aside the crowd to form a giant perimeter hundreds of meters in diameter. At Montgomery's command, a low rumbling noise emanated from the skies, growing louder and louder by the second. It was a sound the older population instantly recognized, and a racket of optimistic anticipation grew among the assembly. Within a minute, an enormous cargo canister broke through the light overcast clouds, and decelerated to land gently inside the giant ring of troops. Over the deafening cheers of joyous celebration, Rudolph Montgomery announced, "I introduce the Cargo and Resources In-System Transport Prometheus, and its first of many foodstuff shipments to the planet Mars!"
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