Samuel Hixon hummed quietly to himself as the elevator to Deck Five descended. It was for quiet moments like this that he had joined the Navy. His duties never really generated much fuss, and he preferred the simple rut of his schedule over the hectic hassle of any other position.
And people hated him for it.
If there was even a minor infraction or delay in the ship's day-to-day processes, Hixon was the first to point them out and demand punishment towards the perpetrators. He had few friends at his position, needless to say.
The elevator came to abrupt stop as it reached its destination, causing Sam to lose his footing and nearly fall over. If there was one wrong thing aboard the Clarke, it was without a doubt the elevator. The doors slid open, revealing the large cavern-like interior of the Storage Deck.
The few powerful florescent lights nearly fifteen meters overhead barely penetrated the canopy of crate towers. Sam had to squint in order to find the Chief Logistics Officer on the far side of the room, operating on the only computer terminal in the cargo bay.
"Tucker, what are you doing?" Hixon asked as he walked closer, mentally making a list of all the safety violations in the Storage Deck.
"Damn thing's caught some kind of bug," Tucker replied from behind the large console of monitors and buttons. "Something's messing with the administration login, so I'm rebooting the whole system."
"I actually needed you to retrieve some ordnance deployment records from it," Sam sighed. "Commander says the ship's computer isn't registering some data from logistics correctly."
"Well, I have been on duty since we arrived at our last drop off. I'll tell you anything you need to know," Tucker said. "What's the corrupted data about?"
"Order... 543-A: GSI and GPS satellites. Orion-class. You reported that you deployed those," Sam read off the supply report from his datapad. "System didn't register it, though."
"Huh. Yeah, I sent that out a few minutes after the order came from the bridge," Tucker said as he clicked something behind the monitors. "I'm sure it has something to do with the bug in the admin programs. Like I said, I'm going to fix it with this reboot."
Hixon raised an eyebrow. "Right. I'm going to need more than your word to finish up the documents. I need something more official."
"I don't know what to tell you, man," Tucker responded as he slid himself out of the gap. "All the data is going to be purged with the reboot. Even the backups."
"That seems a bit extreme for fixing a login screen," Hixon folded his arms. "Have you tried getting anyone from maintenance on this instead?"
"Well, yeah. I just... think that it would save time to do it myself," Tucker said hesitantly. "I don't want anyone else working on this."
"Irrelevant. Let me operate that console."
"The administration login isn't working anyway, Hix. You won't be able to get-"
"Just watch me," Hixon scoffed as he pushed Tucker out of the way. "The datachips are still intact, yes? Regardless if the console isn't working, I'll just access the chips and everything on them."
Hixon began pulling out one datachip at a time from the exposed circuitry, being quite thorough in making sure he got every last one out of the computer. It was actually helpful of Tucker to go and remove the casing in the back and allow Hixon to go straight to work. From the corner of his eye he saw Tucker pacing around the deck frantically.
"Hix, pal, you need to just calm down and get back to the bridge. Just take my word for it," Tucker sounded defeated.
"No can do. Now stop pacing around like a lunatic before I call security on you for suspicious behavior," Hixon sighed as he plugged in the first chip from his pile. "Let's see what our dear computer recalls."
Shipments of food items to the mess hall, requests for a fresh supply of engine coolant, and other such normal things composed most of the logs imprinted on the chip. However, closer to the end of list he found a few things very out of place.
"Tucker..." Hixon's voice trailed off as he looked down the list is astonishment. "Why is there high-explosive ordnance on the-"
His sentence was cut short as Tucker whacked the back of Hixon's head with his sidearm. Hixon's vision blurred from the sudden pain, but he rolled with the blow and landed on the deck. Barely clinging onto consciousness, he clambered back to a standing position to face his attacker.
"I told you to stop snooping, Hix!" Tucker exclaimed as he lunged again with his free hand to strike. Hixon ducked and missed the punch by mere centimeters. He quickly ran into the forest of cargo containers. "Damn it! Get back here, you idiot!"
Clutching his head with his right hand, Hixon tried his best to get as quiet as possible. The dimly lit interior of the room meant that he could evade his unexpected assailant as long as he didn't broadcast his whereabouts.
"Shit shit shit. Get out here Hix, damn it. I'm not gonna- I mean I won't hurt you, man. I can't let you get out of here until- arrgh, I fucked up!" Tucker rambled incoherently. Hixon racked his brain trying to figure out what was actually going on while hiding in the shadows.
He moved silently past an enormous rack of cargo as quick as he could, trickles of blood dripping from between his fingers. Resting his back against the metal support, he slid down slowly onto the floor. On the far side of the rack, Hixon could see the silhouette of Tucker and hear his ramblings.
"Sam, I can't let you get off this level. I'll kill you if I have to, man. Please don't make me kill you," whined the distant voice of Tucker. "I'll find you one way or another, Hixon. That's a promise!"
Ignoring the constant curses and jumbled death threats, Hixon began searching the rack for any light containers he could throw. He hoped to trick Tucker into investigating the noise while he made a mad dash to the elevator. Unable to find any such objects where he was, he moved to the next shipping rack one to his right.
The first container on the bottom was far too heavy for anyone to pick up without aid. Hixon could barely make out the bold label printed on the side: ORION-class Satellite Unit. Number Six of Eight. Hixon's mind reeled as he tried to comprehend what was happening in addition to trying to survive. His fears and suspicions would have to wait until he was safely out of Deck Five.
"If you even take a step to the elevator, Hix, I'll gun you down. Just come over to me and I'll just knock you out until it's safe for you to leave," Tucker bargained.
Hixon put his hand on top of one of the levels and began moving his hand about to find any loose articles. He finally grabbed hold of a wrench and chucked it several meters in the opposite direction of the elevator. He could hear Tucker's loud footsteps race towards the origin of the noise.
Hixon jumped up from his crouching position and ran towards his only escape route, ignoring the pain of his injured head. The elevator opened automatically at his approach, almost seeming to wait for Hixon to enter and escape...
His accelerated stumbling was interrupted suddenly as Tucker jumped onto him from behind, wrestling him to the ground. Hixon tried desperately to get off his stomach and into a more defensive position, but Tucker pinned him to the ground with remarkable strength.
Tucker hit Hixon over the head once again with his handgun, quelling his desperate movements. Hixon's vision darkened and his body became strangely numb. Still, he could feel the restraints being tied on his hands and feet as well as being dragged across the room towards another section of the deck.
"It has been three hours," Commander Rainsford muttered bitterly. "Where is Lieutenant Hixon? His break isn't for another hour still."
"He hasn't checked in on any deck, sir. Reports show he didn't check in on Deck Five either," A young Ensign replied. "Should I order a security detail to find him, sir?"
"Yes," Rainsford sighed as he nodded his head. "Hixon wouldn't forget to make a report unless something was terribly wrong. Order four men down there and try to raise communications with Deck Five. Someone has to have seen him."
"Aye, sir."
"Sir? Engineering is reporting a cascade failure in the FTL drive. We're losing speed quick," reported the helm officer from the lower platform.
"Get a maintenance team down there now. What's causing the engine failure, Ensign?" Rainsford inquired as he got up from his command station. It wasn't normal for engines to suddenly shut down with modern fusion drive engines. They were too well made and maintained to suddenly start acting up.
"Unknown, sir. The engineers are saying have no idea what's going on."
"Wonderful," Rainsford grumbled quiet enough so that no one else in the Bridge could hear him. His ship was falling apart all around him, and he had no idea why. "Where's our projected endpoint?"
"Empty space, sir. We're still four hundred lightyears from Aegis," he reported with a hint of disappointment.
"Then we wait there and hope that the engines get repaired quickly," Rainsford nodded as he watched the distant stars decelerate as the ship itself slowed. Indeed, the sector where the ship had ended up was indeed "empty space". Very few particles of matter littered the black void outside of the ship. Even the closest star system seemed impossibly distant.
"Sir?" the communications officer said in what seemed to be complete amazement. "We're receiving a priority hail from the Admiralty. Private band spectrum."
"Confirmed sighting of friendly ship off our stern. IFF tags say its the UEGS Asimov!" reported a surprised Lieutenant Tobler.
"What the hell is the Admiralty doing out here?" Rainsford thought out loud. "Patch the communication through, Lieutenant."
"Aye, sir."
On the Bridge's main holoterminal, a robust yet fairly old officer appeared. If his graying mustache was any indicator, the hair hidden behind his peaked cap was also losing its youthful color. Menacing brown eyes seemed to pierce Rainsford's very soul.
"This is Admiral Ivan Zaroff of the UEGS Asimov. Your ship has been disabled as per order of the United Earth Government Expeditionary Fleet. I am coming aboard along with an escort of marine squads to speak with Commander William Rainsford. Any attempts at preventing our boarding will be met with severe court-martials," the Admiral's voice came in crystal clear through the hologram. "This is not a request. Asimov out."
"What the hell is going on?" Rainsford muttered once the projection had fully disappeared.
50 bits says the admiral's going to be one of those crazy Star Trek admirals that's trying to do something illicit with Equestria a la Insurrection.
Man, nothing is ever simple when it comes to the military.
Shit just got real. Also, Asimov? That's a cool font ^_^.
Obviously, this blatant sabotage and clearly hostile boarding is necessary. If the native civilization doesn't prove itself hostile by eliminating the expeditionaries, it would impossible to pursue a war of conquest to secure the rich natural resources.
Behold, friends! The hostile ideology of the military industrial complex.
...
IN SPAAACE
This.... It pleases me.
Surgery?
There are two errors here:
Hixon began pulling out one datachip at a time from the exposed circuitry, being quite thorough in making sure he got every last one out of the computer.
There aren't enough ponies in this thing.
Is this a rewrite or a repost of the story?
Because the scene with the guy and the manticore (and a scientist after that), plus this sabotage and betrayal in the storage room, sound very familiar.
...Yeaaaahhh... I may just stop reading soon, if this is going where i think it's going...
Let me guess Tucker is a terrorist. Has terrorism survived even in SPAAAAAAAAAAAACE?
... what kind of juice is it?
2720292 And where is that, exactly? If you don't mind me asking.
2720129 Repost of what?
2720061 My apologies.
2719975 Thank you. Corrections have been made.
It's fluorescent, not florescent. Also, the chapter felt incomplete, but pretty good overall. Looking forward to chapter six.
... why can't stories ever be NORMAL? urgh. I guess I'll just wait for the next chapter before making assumptions.
2720815
"Ooooh humans are evil except for these rare few who want to help the ponies and it's the big scary evil government!"
2720816
Of this story?
2721235
cdn.escapistmagazine.com/media/global/images/articles/article/7782/7_6_10.jpg
On the subject of humanity's irrepressible literary dickitude...
2721375 ... can't say that it is. If you find something that says otherwise, get back to me. This is literally all off the top of my head.
2721235 Well, no. At least not in such a general statement. If the fact that it will be a tad bit more complex than that doesn't sound all too appealing, I bid you farewell. No government dickitude is or will be in this story, really.
2720462 The difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter is perspective. It's all relative.
This seems more along the lines of sabotage or insurrection.
2722579
That was what I was referring to...ish
2722592
As long as armed combat survives, "terrorism" will.
not complaining or anything why is it taking a while for them to meet the ponies.
2725440 Because I'm not that great of a writer.
...I'm not trying to knock the story, I love it so far, but, uh... Court-marshals are basically always severe. I've never heard of a mild one. "Severe court-marshals" just seems... quite redundant.
2719387 sounds about right, UN/American totalitarian goverment crap out for the betterment of humanity with the eradication of all other life shit
2720462 remember the terms terrorist and warhero and nationalist all come down to the side of the fight you're on
prime example: africa
British Empire, Mandela-terrorist
africa, Mandela-warhero
Mandela-nationalist. he wanted the position of the white man, convinced the other africans to help him and now he and his family sits in the plantation house
2762402 Really? That's... sad. And disconcerting.
Whooo! More cannon fodder for my eyes. By the way, is it normal for your tongue itch?
2765557 I do not think so. That should probably be looked at.
2765720 turns out i had popcorn sticking to my tongue.
Interesting story and I'm liking it so far. My only issue is that you don't really use the ranks of some of the characters, mainly the marines. I'm having a hard time figuring out who's a higher rank than who. Aside from that small issue I think you're doing a really great job here with your story!
United Earth Government
You realize that is the exact name of the government that the UNSC is subordinate to. Is this like a pre-Halo fic in the same universe? It's kinda hard to tell 'cus the Halo-verse UEG also has an official Expeditionary Fleet of the same name. This is amongst other similarities.
Also, I'm pretty sure that Bungie hit the nail on the head in regards to mankind's future unification. Both in how it happened, and its names and organization. Though in real life we'll probably not make the same mistakes that lead to the insurrection. That and people tend to NOT want to join a terrorist group that nukes civilian cities without even bothering to make demands. Just going around killing innocents.
Anyway, yeah. Also, I think the ship naming style of Halo will probably be used by a real-life UEG. Lets face it, there's only so many names of important cities and people and events. Wit hath no bounds.
2824417 After extreme devotion and obsession to Halo since it's inception, I will admit that many elements of the story are and will be incorporated into this story. However, numerous other elements stories and games of the sci-fi genre are included. Halo just happens to be the predominant influence, having no direct relation with this story.
I... don't know if you're angry at me or not. It seems that you're just giving information and opinion on the Halo universe, but your profile pic is making me squeamish.
2872539
Don't worry. It's not like you're a heretic.
1d4chan.org/images/d/d1/Comissar.png
Are you?
Seriously, though. Why would I be angry? I'm just making an observation. Commissar Fuklaw just isn't amused at being ponified.
By the way, your name is awesome.
2872539
Glad to here you are ok from surgery :D
What did you go in for if you dont mind me asking?
3003861 I had a tumor removed from my jawbone.
3013459 Yet that cart was powered by magic, it so seems. Not conventional electricity. In addition, rubber wheels are can be very general, not always pertaining to cars. It may be very likely that a few of their manual carts have advanced to use such tires.
My theories are rather complex on the standing of Equestria on the Technological Tiers.