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First Contact; Chapter 2: Probe
Posted By: retsamolah<samesdios@yahoo.com>
Date: 24 July 2003, 2:10 AM
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Reach, November 22, 2519
It was night on Reach in the control tower of Fleetcom HQ on the planet's main continent. The communications officers, along with everyone else who kept the colonial networks online, were asleep in their swivel chairs. Despite differences in planet rotational speed, all interstellar communications were held during the daylight hours at Fleetcom on Reach. Only in emergencies could transmissions be made, and emergencies were rare. The night crews were accustomed to long, peaceful nights in the control center. Thus, no one noticed when the tiny yellow light marked HARVEST blinked out of existence on the star map. A soft alarm sounded, but would not be noticed until morning, 7 hours later.
Reach, November 23, 2519
"Hey Bob, we got a problem at coordinates 42, 36, 77 on the star map!" called Jim Henderson, the junior comm. officer to his boss.
"That's the Harvest system," replied the communications manager Robert Youngs and jogged over to join his subordinate. Anything to do with Humanity's newest colony was very important.
"I don't know, Sir, when I checked the status of each colony, Harvest was just gone, not even positioning and computer communications, and those should never be off."
"Hmmmm," mused Youngs. "Check your gear; it's probably just an equipment problem." Henderson punched several keys and flipped on the scanning program master switch.
"Running diagnostics now, Sir... Things are fine on our end and there's no way to tell what's going on there. The link is completely severed." Youngs shook his head in frustration. Such problems were rare, but caused him a lot of anxiety until they were solved.
"Shit," he said, speaking the only word he could think of that would do justice to the situation. "This had better not be a major problem. Send a probe to find out what happened. We'll know in a few days."
"Yes, Sir."
High Orbit Reach, November 23, 2519
With a silent flash, Argo, the tiny deep space probe detached from the orbiting station and launched in the direction of Harvest. 900 miles out, the automated flight systems engaged the boosters and the probe quietly disappeared into slipspace.
The probe was one of the only unmanned UNSC vessels capable of slipspace travel. It was also the smallest ship in the fleet, measuring in at about half the length of a Longsword and bullet shaped. Despite its small size, Argo was an extremely sophisticated piece of equipment, capable of interstellar communication and long range scanning. It was even equipped with a prototype energy shield that the UNSC hoped to one day use on capital ships. Probes were used to search for new planets before the cruisers were sent to prepare and were very reliable. Argo would be the first one lost in a long time.
High Orbit Harvest, November 29, 2519
Argo exited slipspace and immediately decelerated to normal space travel and activated its sensors, searching for the energy signatures of Human presence. Instead, a strange signature came back, one that the probe was not familiar with. It moved forward to investigate, when the source of the signature appeared right in front of it.
A Covenant cruiser had remained to survey the planet and had hidden itself in slipspace until the predicted human investigation arrived. The ship powered up its weapons and fired a first shot in the probes general direction.
Argo's simple AI understood one thing: that it was in danger. Probes were obviously not meant for combat, and had been programmed to evade and escape to slipspace. The tiny ship dodged up, then dove sharply downward in a preplanned maneuver, but it did not fool the Elite gunner, standing on the command deck of the alien ship. The hull of the covenant cruiser was momentarily illuminated by a small flash, and tiny metal pieces glanced harmlessly off the metal surface as it vanished back into slipspace.
Reach, November 29, 2519
"What do you mean it's gone?" asked the UNSC Colonel who had received the problem report from Fleetcom HQ. His head was floating in the holographic display above Robert Youngs' desk.
"I mean the probe just disappeared. It is programmed to constantly transmit a very simple code just to tell us that it is still there. A termination of that transmission can mean only one thing: the probe was destroyed."
"Destroyed!? You mean intentionally? If you are suggesting that there is another insurrection, you must be mistaken. The Eridanus insurrection was only suppressed a few years ago. There can't be another so soon."
"Relax, Colonel," soothed Youngs. "It might have just hit a misplaced particle of debris or suffered a cataclysmic malfunction. Still, I would recommend a battlegroup or at least a warship be sent to determine the condition of the colony."
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