Chapter One: Asteroid Invasion
Date: 8 February 2004, 1:20 AM
Sailumoes watched his displays as the faint image of the renegade Ascendant Justice coupled to a human vessel disappeared into slipspace. He instantly gave the command for a few of the vessels in the battle group to move quickly to follow the escaping craft, and soon disappeared themselves. Sailumoes had a different agenda however, he wanted to get his hands on the leader of the newly discovered colony in the nearby asteroid field. The small ships bound for a certain asteroid had not been hard to detect as the Covenant fleet entered the system. The Implanting Bane slid smoothly into the asteroid field, followed by several of the other ships in the fleet. The sleek battle ready vessels surrounded the particular rock two kilometers in diameter.
"Master," addressed Oilimee, approaching the Fleet Master. "We are in position, as ordered half of the fleet remains stationary above the asteroids to cover our position."
"Excellent, order the insertion," answered Sailumoes. "But make the order remembered that all leaders will be captured and not killed.
The second in command bowed and strode away to relay the orders to the other ships. Sailumoes let his face morph into the equivalent of a smirk. He would enjoy every bit of the interrogations, and the eventual death of the human vermin. The high ranking sentient watched
via the displays as hundreds of small forms headed for the rock before him. Dropships and individual Elite warriors in jet packs streaked towards the large doorway impeding the progress of the mission. As the scorching plasma began to melt the metal layers, the full effect of the
tractor beams came into full effect and the rotation of the large mass slowed to a stop.
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Governor Jiles sat very uneasily in his chair in the secure room. A Covenant fleet had surrounded his colony of pirates and rebels, and their was only one possible out come: death. He didn't feel a bit safe, even in the "safe" room in the center of the asteroid. Around him was two meters of solid titanium-A battle plating, but it didn't sooth him at all. He knew it wouldn't do a
bit of good when the plasma torpedoes hit his rock.
"What's the status of those ships?" questioned Jiles, his tone uneasy.
The guard next to the triple door turned to face him, "Dropships are inbound and we have reports that the outer blast door of the hangar is near being breached."
Jiles shifted uneasily in his seat, he hated loose-loose situations, and this was definitely one of them. He heard the creak of the internal structure oh his base and the shutter of the metal under his feat. He felt a sense of vertigo as gravity fled from the room and he floated off his seat. The now terrified governor lashed out and grabbed his seat, holding it with a white knuckled
grip. The two guards in the room grabbed onto a handle and checked their comms.
"Sir," addressed the same guard as before. "The hangar has been breached and we are no longer rotating. Several enemy dropships have begun to enter the ship bay."
Jiles remained stiff and silent in his chair for several minute, completely overcome by fear and lack of hope. He had been abandoned by the odd twosome that he had helped to repair, and now was faced with imminent destruction. The room was suffocatingly quite for many
moments as the Governor pondered over his doomed situation. Suddenly the white lights filling the silent space went dark and the red emergency lights flared to life. He could feel thuds through the floor and walls as the Covenant teams filled the hollowed asteroid and shut down the systems. They must be getting close to shut down main power, and Jiles knew it.
"The outer doors are being breached!" shouted the other guard. "Sir, get into the supply room, we'll hold 'em off for you to escape."
Jiles took one last look around before pushing off towards the closed door at the far end of the room. As he closed the door of the adjacent room he saw the inner blast door of the "safe" room begin glow orange. He had one last option, and now was the time to pray it would remain an
option. He ignored the screams of his dying men and rushing through red rimmed air lock. The codes he had looked over every day since becoming the Governor of this colony now came into play as he punched the series of commands into the control pannel.
The now desparate man strapped himself into the pilots seat of the small modified ship and punched the final countdown sequence. The surfaces around him pinged and creaked as the frame strained from the shearing forces. Jiles watched the front view screen straining to keep himself conscious. The small specks of light at the end of the tunnel rapidly approached as the refitted pleasure craft shot from the recently opened hidden portal, not yet found by the Covenant. As the ominous siluet of the Covenant ships came into his view, Jiles' eyelids fluttered and slid shut.
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