The Warrior and the Intellect - Chapter 1
UNSC Frigate Forward Unto Dawn
July 21, 2557 (UNSC military calendar)
Current position: Unknown
Since the destruction of the Forerunner slipspace portal the rear section of the Charon class frigate continued to roam undisturbed in the depths of the more remote outer space, driven by simple inertia from the engines long since turned off. When the Halo ring exploded the Dawn was literally sawn in half, the halves undergoing two different fates.
The bow of the ship, similar to a double-barrelled shotgun, was able to return to Earth and land in the water off the coast of Kenya. Inside the wreck rescuers had found only one survivor: the Arbiter Thel Vadam, leader of the Sangheili.
Spartan-117, the hero of humanity and the soldier that ended the war, was reported as KIA and decorated posthumously to the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy by Admiral Hood during the commemoration of the fallen during the battle of the Ark.
However, ONIs Directive 930 ‘Spartans Never Die’ is partially true. Unknown to all, the stern of the Dawn was in an unknown sector of space.
Inside the stern, the Master Chief and his fellow AI Cortana had survived. Well aware of the possibility that it would take years to be recovered by UNSC forces, the Master Chief entered cryo sleep to survive the wait, leaving Cortana to watch over him.
And since then the AI remained vigilant for all those years in command of a ship close to collapse, waiting for the right moment to awaken the warrior. The moment when she would have need of him.
"Wake me, when you need me." These were the last words that John had said to Cortana before he entered in hibernation.
“When was that?” the AI thought as she began checking the chronology.
LAST CONTACT WITH UNSC: 4 YEARS, 7 MONTHS, 10 DAYS
“So long?” Cortana murmured, before she was struck by the realization. “I’ve lost my sense of time. I’m getting old.”
Aging four years would not be a problem for a human being or a so called dumb AI. But for smart AIs like Cortana, the matter was different. Each second of their life was vital. Smart AIs are able to perform roles for which they were not originally programmed to perform, thanks to a dynamic memory-processor matrix that allows them not only to absorb information from the environment, but to understand and use them to learn, like a real human brain.
Unfortunately, this allows them unparalleled computing power, their thirst for knowledge is also their damnation, because after seven years of life their memory maps become too interconnected, developing fatal endless feedback loops. In short, they think themselves to death. In the meantime the so-called rampant AI tend to develop a strong mental instability characterized by manifestations of melancholy, anger and jealousy. Such a condition leads the AI to become totally uncontrollable and constitute a danger to all those around.
That’s why the UNSC usually retires the AI from service before they become to dangerous. In Cortana’s case things were different. She knew she had far exceeded the seven years of life standard for an AI; furthermore the knowledge of the Forerunners that she had learned on the Halo ring and the tortures inflicted to her by the Gravemind had only worsened her condition.
So why was she still able to resist the rampancy?
“Because I owe him. He came back to save me from the Gravemind. It’s our duty to take care of each other. I cannot delude him,” Cortana thought , activating the holotank. The projection device, unused for a long time, flickered briefly before materializing her avatar. Her holographic appearance was the body of a naked young woman in her early twenties, with bluish skin and shoulder length blue hair cut shorter at the back. Down her body flowed blue symbols of various nature: math calculations, covenant's runes and forerunner symbols.
Not that it was really necessary. The purpose of the avatars is to provide the humans a reference image when speaking with the AIs, so in theory she could have hired any semblance.
But this was the form in which John identifies her.
There he was, right in front of her, completely covered by his MJOLNIR Mark VI armor, the Master Chief Spartan 117.
Cortana reached out as if to touch him. She was so close, yet so far.
“John” the AI murmured. “I'd do anything just to touch you once,” she added sadly, lowering her hand.
Suddenly her avatar began to flicker and switch from blue to red.
“Why, like we haven't sacrificed enough for that bastard,” a distorted version of Cortana's voice said. Her rampancy.
“Shut up,” Cortana snapped.
“While he went to take all the glory, the Gravemind has continued to torture us.”
“John's mission was to stop Truth. If I hadn't remained on High Charity the Flood would have escaped.”
“Wow, and your plan indeed worked.” the rampancy said with sarcasm.
Anger began to emerge from the core of the AI.
“Oh, did I hit a nerve?”
“Stop. Now. You're not even real,” Cortana hissed.
“Oh, are you sure? You're a real hypocrite considering you're only a disembodied machine. I'm part of you, Cortana. The one who tells the truth. Did you know that as soon as the UNSC will have found the ship – which is really improbable – we'll be deactivated? The bastard clad in armor will have others AIs after us. So why did he deserve to live? It would be so simple, you just need to turn off the life support of the cryo-chamber or overload the reactor and-”
“Shut up, whore! He came back to save me, as he promised, and I'll die before something could happen to him!”
“He come back only for the Index.”
“No, he came back for me. He cares for me.”
“You're just your Mother's shadow, the pathetic substitute for that bitch, Halsey.”
“And you're nothing more than a disease to eliminate.”
Without other words, the rampant Cortana disappeared, leaving her usual and sane version on the projector.
“You don't know anything about me.” murmured Cortana. “You do not know anything about John. I know that he cares for me. There is a special bond between us. A bond that makes us one.”
Suddenly she felt a rush of pain cross her head. She fell on her knees, her hands on her temples and a pained expression on her face.
Then a voice coming directly from hell spoke. “We exist together now, two corpses in one grave."
Cortana screamed, while voltaic bolts shots through her back. Then the pain ceased, ending as it had begun. Cortana shakily stood, looking determined ahead towards the Spartan.
“I must resist. He trusts me. I have to resist for a little while more,” she said.
Although the ship's systems were severely damaged, she was able to reactivate some of the external sensors due to the survival of a single service drone. During the last four years, Cortana had observed and mapped the solar system in which the ship reemerged from the slipspace jump and she'd made an interesting discovery. The current route of the Dawn was leading the ship to a planet similar to the Earth in a bewildering manner. The force of gravity, the size and the composition of the atmosphere gave the impression that it was the lost twin of the Earth. The only differences were the shape of the continents and, if the atmospheric analysis were correct, the apparent lack of air pollution in relevant concentration.
At her current speed the frigate would reach the planet in a few hours. Cortana's plan was to set the ship in a geostationary orbit around the planet so that, when she will no longer be operative, the wreck of the ship would be safe from eventual collisions with space debris or sudden route changes caused by gravity anomalies.
Of course, there was the problem of the degradation of the orbit caused by the gravity field of the planet itself, but even the dumb systems could perform the needed corrections using the auxiliaries propulsors.
The AI was busy reviewing her calculations to check if the approach vector could be improved when a metallic rumble echoed in the corridors of the ship. The strangest thing was that the noise seemed to be caused by something that had hit the hull.
“Oh, a gnat has impacted the windshield,” she thought ironically without interrupting her calculations. They were in the space after all, so it wasn't unusual for a random space rock to hit the hull.
The sound had just disappeared in the thin air, when the hull began reporting a growing number of impacts, some smaller, some stronger, but with the intensity of a hailstorm.
“What the hell?” she exclaimed, leaving aside her work aside to focus on the radar. In a blink she conjured a detailed holographic picture of the ship's surroundings, discovering a really unpleasant situation. For no apparent reason, the frigate had ended up in the middle of an asteroid swarm.
“Oh, come on! You're kidding me, right?” she exclaimed frustrated. “How's it possible that there's an asteroid swarm when a few hours ago the radars didn't report anything? Unless...”
Cortana quickly rechecked the data from the last hour and soon she found the anomaly. A few minutes ago the sensors had reported that the frigate had started to accelerate toward the planet.
“Really strange,” she thought puzzled. Checking better the data, she discovered that an energy pulse generated from the planet's surface had created a gravitational well that was attracting the frigate on the surface of the planet.
“For once I'd like to discover a planet or an artificial installation without bumping into it,” she grumbled frustrated while she pondered her options.
Equestria, Royal Canterlot Gardens
Few minutes earlier
The newly crowned princess Twilight Sparkle was sitting quietly in a secluded part of the garden, trying to enjoy the beauty of the night sky. The moon was full and the stars were shining brighter than ever.
“Luna outdone herself,” the young mare thought, ignoring the sounds of the party that came muffled through vegetation.
But despite her best attempts, she wasn't able to enjoy the wonderful vision, still too confused by the events that happened in the last two days.
Until the day before she was just the student of princess Celestia, heroine of Equestria and bearer of the element of magic (not a common quality, but she could still handle to live with it). Then, after solving the uncompleted spell of Starswirl the Bearded (risking ruining the lives of her friends in the process), not only she was transformed into an alicorn, but she has also been proclaimed princess by her mentor princess Celestia.
The celebrations for the coronation lasted for a full now day, not only in Canterlot, but also throughout the rest of Equestria.
“Ponies who I do not know are now partying in my honor... it sounds strange,” Twilight thought uncomfortably. “They expect great things from me. Will I be up to their expectations? What if I'm not?”
Noting that a panic attack was coming, Twilight remembered the anti-stress technique that Cadence had taught her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Relieved by the simple exercise, she looked up at the sky.
The view of the constellations was simply superb. So many celestial bodies, distributed in enormous spaces, at distances simply inconceivable. The size of the universe could intimidate, but Twilight found it at the same time reassuring. It made everything seem, even her new concerns, insignificant.
She was interrupted from her observations when she heard steps coming closer.
Twilight turned in time to see Spike appearing from behind a hedge. The baby dragon, as well as number one assistant and little brother, smiled when he saw her.
“There you are, Twilight,” he said with relief. His smile suddenly faltered and he corrected himself, looking down. “I mean, your highness.”
Noting her friend friends unease, Twilight rapidly approached Spike and wrapped him in a hug.
“Please Spike, don't need to be so formal. You're my friend and nothing between us has changed.”
They remained hugged in silence, enjoying the special moment that only a brother and sister can do.
"Have you ever imagined it could happen, when we left Canterlot?" Spike asked while they broke the hug.
“No Spike, I never imagined something like this could happen,” Twilight admitted. “What did you wanted to say to me?” she asked.
Spike's eyes widened. “Oh, right, I almost forgot. Everypony is waiting for you! Why did you come to this area of the park?”
“I wanted some tranquility to reflect. Many things have happened in such a short amount of time.”
“I see, but the party is not over yet. There is still much to see.”
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked cocking her head. The festivities have lasted all day and should be coming to a close soon.
“Well, I shouldn't spoil you the surprise, but I heard that Princess Luna has planned something special. She said it's something dedicated to you.”
“Really?” she said surprised while they walked along a path of the royal garden, heading towards the area where the party was. All the plants were magically flowering for the occasion, for the pleasure of Fluttershy, and now the park perfumed of thousands flowers.
“Yep! I have no idea what she's planning but, considering she's the ruler of the night, I hope it's something cool,” Spike said hopeful. Then he noticed the thoughtful of Twilight. “Hey, what's up?”
“I'm just surprised. I didn't expect that Luna would prepare something for me.”
“Well, I think that it was inevitable,” Spike replied.
“What do you mean?”
“If it wasn't for you, everypony would still run away from her screaming in fear, as if she was still Nightmare Moon. I think that she wants to thank you.”
“I guess you're right.”
They had to walk only a little more in the ornamental woods before they finally arrived at the party. The area where the party was taking place was a vast meadow surrounded by tall flowering shrubs. The entrance was guarded by two royal guards, a grey unicorn and a white pegasus, both wearing beautiful golden armor. Judging from the ranks on the shoulders, they were cadets. It was with a certain surprise that she noticed that the guards were eating discreetly what looked like a piece of cake. When they noticed Twilight and Spike approaching, the guards quickly put aside the cake and resume the impassive and martial pose typical of the guards.
Well, they would have appeared more credible if it wasn't for the cake crumbs on their muzzles. They gulped nervously, beads of sweat dripped down from their foreheads.
"Seriously?" Spike asked, raising a brow.
The two guards broke their façade. The unicorn fell to the ground crying, stammering that it was their first assignment, while the pegasus bowed his head and took off his helmet, full of shame.
“We're a disgrace to the Royal Guard, Princess Twilight Sparkle. We'll accept any punishment that you consider appropriate,” the helmet-less guard said.
In light of their reaction, Twilight Sparkle hurried to reassure them.
“Please, don't worry. Rest assured, I have no intention to punish either of you.”
“But Princess-” the pegasus began to say before being interrupted by Twilight.
“No buts. It's a special day for all of Equestria and I declare that everypony deserves to enjoy the festivities.”
The two guards' eyes widened, incapable of believing their luck.
“Thank you Princess,” the other guard thanked her, wiping the tears from his face.
“Don't mention it. So, out of curiosity, where did you two find the cake?”
“Well, we..." the guard scratched his head, puzzled. “To be honest, I haven't the slightest idea. The only thing I remember was that a pink blur has passed before us at great speed, letting in front of us a piece of cake.”
A smile of recognition passed on the face of the young princess.
"I think I know who's the culprit. Very well, I leave you to your duties. Oh, and hide the cake. I wouldn't want my brother noticing it, ” Twilight said while she and Spike resumed their path. The guard smiled at them and he put on his helmet.
“You've been kind to excuse them,” Spike commented.
“They were only cadets, Spike. They're barely older than me or our friends, but they've already gotten a difficult and stressful task. I didn't have the heart to ruin their career even before it starts. However, I'll have to talk to Pinkie about-”
“About what?” asked Pinkie Pie while she abruptly popped up from a nearby bush and startled them.
“Aah! Pinkie! How many times have I told you don't startle other ponies by appearing suddenly?” exclaimed Twilight rhetorically.
The random mare took out of nowhere a clipboard and gave it a quick look.
“This week you told me sixty-five times,” she said with her usual smile.
In front of her antics Spike faceclawed while Twilight groaned, renouncing to explain to her the meaning of a rhetorical question.
“What I wanted to tell you, is that you can't offer cake to the guards while they're on duty. You could get them in trouble if they're noticed by an officer.”
The mere thought of putting someone in trouble while trying to cheer them up put the pink mare on the verge of cry.
“I just wanted be nice. See them there, all serious, while we have fun, made me uncomfortable. I didn't want to cause trouble to anypony,” she said while bringing a hoof in front of her mouth.
Seeing her friend in that state, Twilight hurried to reassure Pinkie.
“Oh, don't worry. They're not in any kind of trouble. I've put them in their place before that my brother or somepony else would notice them.”
Hearing the news, Pinkie squeezed Twilight in a bone-crushing hug. “Thank you, Twilight! I feared I caused a bad thing.”
“Pinkie – hug – too strong – need air!” the alicorn exclaimed with difficulty while trying to breathe.
“Oops!” Pinkie said sheepishly, releasing her friend. “Next time I suppose it'll better if I deliver a cake in the guards barracks.”
“Yeah, it's a perfect idea!” exclaimed Twilight catching her breath. "And my lungs approve," she thought.
“Ok, then. Now enough chitchat! Time is fun! Oh, I'm so nervouxited! I wonder what's Princess Luna's surprise!”
“I'm sure we'll find out soon,” Twilight replied as they walked through the crowd.
Many members of the crowd were part of nobility or the Canterlot elite, but most were ordinary citizens which on this occasion had the opportunity to join the main party in the Royal Gardens. Fancy Pants had warned the Royal Sisters with some concern that the idea wasn't found to be acceptable by many of the nobles, especially their nephew Blueblood, But Luna had told him casually that "If our nephew and his snob friends do not want to mingle with the people, they are free to stay in their homes."
They soon arrived at the center of the lawn, where an elegant stage decorated with flowers was located. Twilight saw her loved ones waiting on the stage talking happily with each other. Celestia and Luna were cheerfully talking with Twilight's parents, whom apparently didn't have difficulties to approach the two princesses. Twilight's father in particular was telling a joke, earning a chuckle from the alicon sisters.
The rest of her friends were listening with interest Cadence and Shining Armor to tell the last news from the Crystal Empire and the progress of the preparations for the Equestria Games.
“ - and that's why we're still looking for a place where practise the caber toss," Shining Armor ended to say embarrassingly, causing laughter among the girls. They soon noticed the arrival of Twilight.
"Twily! Where were you been? We have starting to worry."
"Sorry BBBFF, I just needed some time to collect my thoughts," she said reassuring him.
“Quite a stressful day, we dare to say Twilight Sparkle,” princess Luna said approaching her with a smile.
“Well, I wouldn't call it stressful, only eventful,” Twilight said blushing slightly and placing a foreleg behind her head.
“And it was a super-duper-mega-everypony-are-happy-party-time!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, exposing one of her usual bright smiles.
“It just so happens that I have the perfect way to end this amazing day!” Luna added with enthusiasm.
“Oh, I'm so excited” Fluttershy said with her usual quiet voice. Then a thought occurred to her. “I only hope it's a quiet thing.” The phrase earned some confused looks from the other ponies, so she tried to explain the reason behind her last words. “Uhm, not that there's anything wrong with having fun with a bit of noise, but I wouldn't want the forest critters to be scared. Not that I don’t want there to be a surprise....”
Noticing the panic rising in the voice of the young pegasus, Luna reassured Fluttershy with a smile and touched her shoulder gently with her wing.
“Fear not for your animal friends, kind Fluttershy. What we, I mean, I have planned will be enjoyed without any kind of harm by all the inhabitants of this land. I think that even your little friends of the woods will like it.” the princess of the night said, smiling at her.
Then, without further ado, Luna rose up on her hind legs with her wings wide open and began to talk. Not in her feared Royal Canterlot Voice, but enough loud to be heard by the whole crowd.
“My dear inhabitants of Equestria, today we celebrate a special and unique event in the history of our beloved nation. In this event, we honor a special mare that has done so much for all of us. I'm talking of our new princess Twilight Sparkle! In her honor, which I am privileged to call her my friend, I dedicate to her the most spectacular shower of shooting stars that we've ever seen!”
A choir of acclamation rose from everypony as Luna began her spell. Her eyes started to glow, while from her horn set off a beam of pure white magic darted into the night sky. Soon, to the amazement and wonder of all, the first comets made their appearance in the sky, dragging their beautiful tails of light on the blue backgrond of the night sky.
The first exclamations of awe and wonder began to rise from the crowd, while the comets followed each other more and more frequently, until they became impressive swarms.
Luna smiled, hearing the wonder of her subjects and her friends. It had taken her a while to prepare the spell, but it was worth it. No one, pony, dragon, griffin, or other species, which would have watched the meteor shower would have been disappointed from watching the impressive meteor shower.
“Cursed, stupid, useless space rocks,” a certain AI thought darkly, hearing the umpteenth impact.
It was with some frustration that Cortana discovered that the options available to her were extremely limited.
The point defensive turrets were out of ammo, and even if they had been charged there were too many asteroids; moreover, the main problem was the gravity well.
A slipspace jump like the one she had once done in the gas giant Threshold? Absolutely not. The Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine wasn't as nearly responsive as the Covenant counterpart, in addition the reactor would have taken too long to reach the temperature of functionality.
The only plausible thing was to buy some time taking a low orbit and abandon the Dawn before she fell on the surface.
Provided that the frigate could bear other impacts.
So far the armored flanks of the frigate were able to handle the smaller asteroids, but Cortana was well aware that it was only matter of time before a bigger rock made its apparition.
By sheer coincidence, few moments later, a boulder of the size of a Warthog crashed through the side of the ship exactly in correspondence of the hydrazine tanks used by the maneuvering thrusters. The pressurized propellent came out violently from the pipes, to then disperse in the space adding an additional, and unwanted, push to the ship, changing also the angle of entry into the atmosphere.
“Great,” she thought sarcastically. “Say goodbye forever to the possibility of assume a temporary low orbit.”
There was only one reasonable thing to do: abandon the ship.
"But first"- murmured Cortana looking toward the Spartan - “I need to wake him up.”
Without further delay, the smart AI selected a holographic display and began the procedure of awakening of the cryo chamber.
"Wake up, Chief. I need you."
Author's Note
Ok, I finally managed to publish the first chapter. Although the idea for this story was in my mind for months, it took me a while to develop the plot.
I welcome any criticism and suggestions, also because it's my first story, and English is not my native language. In this regard, I would like to thank Requiem17 for his help, offering himself as editor.
