Foresaken Forefathers Part Four- Rendezvous
Posted By: Havok and AlphaBravo343<Tactical_Havok@hotmail.com>
Date: 28 May 2003, 9:08 PM
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'Zprazdny sat at the controls of his Phoenix Fighter Bomber, in a deep state of meditation. The AI in control of the assault force was guiding his and his squadron's spacecraft to the rendezvous point. For the time being, he had nothing to do, and so was looking into his past.
His mind shimmered and his long raven black hair fell across his face as his head sank lower in front of his body. His fiery red irises faded to black and spiraled open, admitting the mind to inner thought. In his mind's eye he saw his home world. He saw his family, kneeling around their shrine to the Sun God. From the sun, his people had drawn their immense power, and all homage must be paid. He saw his soul mate and their children. And he could see that they were happy.
They were happy because the Sun God had told them that they were to be reunited with their long lost brother race. They had spawned from the same planet, and now they were in grave danger. And so the great Forerunner military, long kept dormant, was reinitialized. The Ancients had sought refuge from the flood in an alternate universe, but now they must go back. They must return to save their brothers.
This last image brought 'Zprazdny out of his meditation. His black irises, wide open with the concentration of inner thought now spiraled closed, and his pupils glowed like burning embers as he sat straight in his cockpit seat.
He checked his tactical display, reaffirming that his forces were in order. He submitted an inquiry to the AI. A few seconds later, text scrolled across his man screen. They were two hundred million kilometers out from the rendezvous point. ETA was ten minutes.
The pilot's fingers danced across the holographic displays as he silently alerted the other men under his command to come to full alert. This would be one of the most important missions since his days as a young novice fighting the flood almost five hundred years ago. On this mission, they would be surprising a very clandestine meeting of the most important species in the Covenant caste system. Out here, far away from any prying eyes, was the meeting place of the Covenant Prophets.
It was here that they conferred with each other and drew up to battle plans for their holy wars. 'Zprazdny's eyes blazed brighter as he thought of the treacherous crimes these beings had committed. Their main objective was to destroy the Hand of God. This ship would be carrying the Minor Prophets in control of the lesser Covenant worlds. Their secondary objective would be to disable the Mind of God.
Once this was achieved, an assault transport would jump into the area and attempt to take control of the ship. Even for the Forerunner, this would not be an easy task, these Prophets were powerful, and their contingents of Holy Guardians never left their sides even for a moment. That ship would be crawling with the meanest and best-equipped bunch of elites in the galaxy.
'Zprazdny signaled the other fighters that they would shortly be in range. A combat mask snaked down from the ceiling of the craft and secured itself to the pilot's face. The chair morphed and molded itself around its precious cargo, forming an airtight seal with the mask. The cockpit was vented of atmosphere, and missiles and laser pods were extended outside the hull. The Phoenix was ready.
A volley of blasts struck the Hand of God in a full broadside, nullifying the shields. The Minor Prophets looked on in utter silence. It was no use to run around screaming. Their time had come. The second and third volley of anti-matter warheads struck the unprotected hide of the Covenant Super Cruiser. Purple armor plated boiled away and bulkheads shattered. The great ships shuddered and writhed. Wrenching deck plating and ruining structural integrity. The plasma core burst open and detonated in a brilliant ball of alien fire. The Hand of God was destroyed.
The night was alive with purple pulse laser fire and the deep red strobes of Forerunner answering fire. The meeting, though very secret, was not unprepared for an attack. Eighty seraphs swarmed around the larger Forerunner Phoenix fighter-bombers, trying to score a kill. The Mind of God was firing blindly into the fray with pulse lasers and plasma torpedoes. The six escort destroyers were giving everything they had; every weapon was firing. Three of the destroyers simply stopped firing, their fire control grids melted down.
The two hundred and thirty Phoenix fighter-bombers danced and weaved around the overwhelmed enemy. The seraphs were no match for the vastly superior Forerunner craft. The few shots they did manage to land on the spacecraft did little damage, as there was no crucial atmosphere to vent or start fires.
The three remaining operational destroyers took volley after volley of the potent anti-matter missiles. One of the junior pilots in 'Zprazdny's assault force boldly advanced too close to the destroyers and was consumed by the hellish detonation of a ship's plasma reactor.
'Zprazdny fought his way out of the entanglement of combat and searched his tactical display for the Mind of God. He kicked in full military thrust as he saw it sneaking away from the battle. A smaller set of weaponry slid out of the belly of his fighter. A red and blue aiming reticle danced over the purple glow of the huge ship's engines. The holographic icon pulsed, signifying a lock. 'Zprazdny tightened his grip on the trigger and the launch tubes spat twin bolts of fire. The smaller missiles jetted toward their target and impacted seconds later with a bright blue flash. The EMP shockwave shut down the alien power plant, leaving the enormous craft dead in space.
The other ships under his command finished off their targets and retargeted the Mind of God's weapons. These were systematically destroyed and soon the ship was dead in space. The signal was sent and the assault transport dropped out of Slip space amidst a brilliant blue glow. Its engines warmed and it closed with the Covenant ship.
This Battle To Be Concluded in Forsaken Forefathers- Boarding Action...
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