Auth: Yea, sorry about the delay. Holidays and all

---

“Captain, from the right: Major Victor Rodriguez of the 129th Helljumpers Battalion, Colonel Nicholas Vega of the 201st Marine Brigade, Lieutenant Elara Kane, ONI Recon 108, and Dr. Robert Caldwell, elected representative of the two hundred civilians aboard as of the last count,” Commander Ethan points with his good arm while introducing the group before them.

 

“Gentlemen,” Captain Irons nods before giving them a salute, followed by a handshake. “Major,” turning his attention to the ODST, “Where’s your commanding officer?”

 

“Sir! Lieutenant Colonel Stone is currently WIA and is in the infirmary, sir!” the ODST quickly replies.

 

“A thousand men is a lot of responsibility for a Major, Mr. Rodriguez. Are you up for the challenge until your CO gets back on his feet?”

 

“Yes, sir!”

 

“Good. Now, everyone, our ship is not doing too well. Our communications array is damaged, while the rest are probably fried by the EMP. Our engineers are working around the clock to get those back up and running, but as of now, we don’t know if we are losing or winning up there. That being said, fixing the array is still our best bet for contacting the rest of the fleet. So, I am ordering a General Evacuation of the ship to give our repair crews as much space as they need.” Captain Irons then begins giving orders to the group.

 

“Major Rodriguez, I want you and your men to take as many Warthogs as you want. I need recon teams in every direction. You are our plan B. Find us a functioning communications tower to use. With our long range inoperable, your people will be on your own, so travel light but versatile. If you find any allies or civvies, ask if they have a working radio. Otherwise, engage enemies, support allies, or assist civilians at your own discretion.”

 

“Understood, Captain!”

 

“Colonel Vega, my engineers haven't given up on the old girl just yet, and besides, if we don’t find any nearby ships, she is still our best bet for leaving this place. I want you and your men to build several firebases and create a defensive perimeter around the Prometheus. I’ll have my engineers start getting our war factories online right away to help your people.”

 

“Acknowledged. Consider it done.”

 

“Lieutenant Kane, am I to assume your people are responsible for the heap of trouble we encountered earlier?”

“If you meant the nearly a hundred Covenant fliers that were chasing our ship, then yes, that would be us, Captain.”

 

“Is your prowler in working order, Lieutenant?” Unlike the rest of the small vessels aboard, the ONI vessel most likely has the highest chance of resisting the EMP blast, hopefully they could use it to ask for help and hail the fleet. However it seems Samuel’s wishful thinking didn’t pay off.

 

“No, sir. We had to pry the door open; otherwise, we'd suffocate inside.”

 

Not ideal. The captain thought. “I’ll try to free up some engineers to get to work on that soon.” Irons moves down the line for one last time. “Dr. Caldwell, do you have a complete headcount of your people?”

 

“I’m afraid not, but it's somewhere north of two hundred.” The civilians were herded together once they got aboard.

 

“Typically I’d be asking the civilians to stay out of our way, but we don’t know when the Covenant will show up again, so I’ll need all the help I can get. Convince your people to assist in the evacuation. If any of them also happen to have some specialized skills that could help get this ship back online, that would be appreciated.”

 

“I’ll ask around.” As the elected representative, he knows there are alot of things they could use right now, food and water and the like. However with the ship barely functioning, their needs might not be a priority, Dr. Caldwell understands this and did not mention anything for the time being. At bare minimum, their wounded were carried to the infirmary just like everyone else.

 

“Now, is there anything else? Questions?”

 

“Sir, can we borrow your brig?” says Elara, The professor is currently confined within the Eclipse Runner with Zoe guarding her.

 

“My brig? For what purpose, Lieutenant?”

 

“I’m not at liberty to say, Captain.”

 

“While I appreciate your enthusiasm to perform your duty to the letter, I’m in no mood to play a guessing game with you, Lieutenant, nor to repeat myself.”

 

“The Office of Naval Intelligence has tasked us to... arrest a civilian who attempted to steal sensitive files from the ONI Alpha Site.”

 

“I see.” Espionage? Treason? For what reason it may be, there are regulations regarding the use of a holding cell in the middle of a warzone, especially when there is a civilian involved. Innocent until proven otherwise… and it’ll be cruel to let them die like a dog, trapped in a cage with the ship exploding around them. “The best I can offer you is a crew quarter with guards by the door.” Turning to the Doctor. “Are any of your people a member of the police or some form of security personnel?”

 

“We have several guards who were posted at Luna Station.” Alice and Ryan came to mind right away.

 

“Those would have to do. Lieutenant, whatever it may be about this Professor would have to wait. Go have your men do something useful in the meantime. If there isn’t anything else, you are all dismissed,” saluting them once more.

 

The ODST crisply saluted before making his way out of the bridge. The Colonel reciprocated, though with less enthusiasm. Lieutenant Kane hesitated for a second but eventually replied to the gesture, clearly unhappy that her request didn’t get approved in its entirety. Dr. Caldwell simply nodded at the Captain before leaving the room.

 

Land vehicles were repaired and restored to working order in no time. The Warthog is the backbone of every UNSC land army, and most of the crew and soldiers probably owned one at home, making their reactivation quick and easy. As the landing bay doors extended to the ground, Major Victor’s recon teams began spilling out in droves before quickly rushing onto the plains around them.

 

Tanks and other support vehicles soon followed as Major Vega began organizing them into battle groups to set up a perimeter around the ship, dig trenches, prepare sandbags, build pillboxes, and such. Combat Engineers began working on it right away, setting up machine gun nests and anti-aircraft batteries, making sure these weapons would not overlap with the ship’s own point defense systems to maximize the coverage.

 

It took some time, but power was slowly being restored all over the ship as Chief Donovan berated his men whenever they gave him the wrong tool. Power came back through the hallways at first, allowing the yellow emergency lights to turn off and recharge once again. Though spotty, some lights were still flickering, but it's better than being in complete darkness.

 

Consoles in the bridge were repaired or replaced one after another by the damage control teams, allowing Captain Samuel to check the ship’s progress. The Primary Grid is back online; the secondary is completely toast and in need of replacement; the Auxiliary Grid is temporarily being used as backup, which made the Captain shake his head as the Auxiliary lines aren’t meant to be used this way.

 

Ship sensors are slowly going back online, but several exterior cameras got destroyed by the EMP. He could even look out the window and see an engineer with a torch trying to remove the broken peripheral. Air began breathing through the ventilation system again, as even when the ship doors are open, that doesn’t mean it is comfortable inside the ship. Weapon systems were responding; Sam could hear the giant turrets groaning outside as they turned side to side while he fiddled with the controls. Targeting is offline, and so, manual operation would be their go-to for now.

 

“The Slipspace drive is on standby…” Samuel frowns as he checks the next system on his list. "Why is it online?" he asks himself before tapping the controls to turn it off. However, the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine refuses the commands as he types them into the console. The ship’s FTL drive is drawing so much power from the ship’s reactors, but luckily, it is not overloading, as its safeties keep diverting power away to prevent a catastrophe. “Commander, get Chief Donovan on the line.” He enters the security commands a few more times but to no avail.

 

Ethan taps the intercom, which then responds by beeping into life. “Oh thank god. Bridge to Engineering.”

 

“What do you want?” Master Sergeant Donovan answers quickly as the noise of engineers, sparks, and tools lingers in the background.

 

“Chief! This is Commander Hayes. The Translight Engine is online, and we can’t turn it off from the bridge.”

 

“Yeah. I know. The capacitor that is causing the power surge? The FTL is charging it. We’re working on getting it offline without damaging the drive.”

 

“Any idea what caused it?”

 

“Nope. But I do know that it nearly overloaded the main grid. The breakers and fuses rerouted the energy spike to the secondary to prevent damage. The secondary power grid and fuses got bricked as a result. When the power build-up got nowhere else to go, it stored itself in the capacitors. Just don’t try turning on too many things at once yet till we get this fixed.”

 

“Acknowledged. I’ll inform the Captain. Any news for our sensor grid?”

 

“Minor damage. I sent a team to repair and replace those already. Is it still not up?”

 

“Not yet. We have external cameras, but radars and the like are still non-functional. What’s our ETA on the comms array?”

 

“An hour at best. I can get short-range back up and running in a few minutes, but for long-range, I need to solve the FTL problem. Earlier, I thought purging the capacitors would fix the problem, but if we try to use the long range without solving this issue first, the array will get fried beyond recognition.”

 

“Alright. Keep us posted, Master Sergeant.”

 

“Uh huh.” Bill ends the call so he can get back to work.

 

More terrible news. Though they are lucky that the enemy hasn’t found them yet, perhaps they think the ship is just a wreck that they couldn’t be bothered to investigate. Still, just knowing that the enemy is out there somewhere and the only reason they are still alive is that the Covenant thinks they are a waste of resources doesn’t really sit well with Irons.

 

From the corner of his vision, he could see Lieutenant Commander Nathan limping as he entered the room. A makeshift crutch against his armpit as he makes his way back to his station, saluting the captain as he passes by him. “Lieutenant. How is Ensign Mitchell?”

 

“She is still unconscious, Captain,” struggling to get back into his seat. “Dr. Bennett said she might be in a coma, but she can’t be sure without the right equipment. The good doctor is also requesting to have a hospital built outside the ship as the Infirmary is already full.”

 

“No.” Samuel quickly replies. He doesn’t know if the Prometheus can still fly or not, but if the wounded are moved outside and the enemy attacks, he’ll be forced to abandon them to save the rest. “Commander Hayes, I want one of the hangars cleared and converted to a field hospital. Have the Pelicans, Darters, Civilian ships, Cargo Haulers off this vessel. Have engineers set up an airfield nearby.”

 

“Aye Aye, Sir!” Ethan soon began barking orders into the intercom and had the ships moved as soon as possible. The ship’s B-65 Shortsword bombers were all moved into the nearby launch bay to make room.

 

“Captain. Short Range is online.” Nathan calls out as the display before him lights up, his fingers dance over the controls. Several relays are already connecting to it from Col. Vega’s half-built firebases, slightly extending the radio range.

 

“Get me Major Rodriguez, Lieutenant.” Samuel orders, clearing his throat as he tries to get comfortable in his seat. He still hasn’t visited sickbay, ignoring the pain.

 

“Right away, Sir.” Nathan carefully tunes the comms array to get a better reception, boosting the signal as little as possible so as not to fry the device. “Transmission secure, Captain.”

 

“Rodriguez, this is Irons. Give me a sitrep.”

 

“Prometheus Charlie Oscar, this is Viper One Actual. Viper 6 and 7 reported seeing a river a few klicks south of the landing site. I had them follow the river from either direction. The rest are still heading toward their assigned directions. Over.”

 

“Any sign of the enemy, Major?”

 

“Sir.” Then there was a pause. “Negative, sir. Even allies or civvies. We tried pinging known UNSC frequencies and got no response.” Victor is audibly upset that the Captain is not responding using proper call signs; however, complaining now might not be wise as he barely knew the man.

 

“The EMP must have knocked out more things than I imagined. We’ll try to contact you again in an hour. It's getting dark out there; try to keep a low profile. Regardless, keep us posted, Major.”

 

“Roger that. One more klick, and we’ll be out of comm’s range. We’ll maintain radio silence unless absolutely necessary. Viper One Out.” Victor could’ve posted a squad to guard a transmitter at the edge of radio range and use it as a relay to boost the signal. However, leaving a lone squad to defend a device that acts as a beacon for friend and foe alike is not great, even if they are ODSTs.

 

Samuel groans as he pushes himself off his seat. “Commander… you have the bridge,” trying his best not to cough as he makes his way out of the room. With labored breath, he stands tall and walks toward the ship’s infirmary. Now that most patients are to be moved to the newly assembled field hospital, there would be fewer people to see him enter the sick bay.