I was walking. Dragging something. Everything was in ruins. A pile of rubble where a skyscraper once stood. A glowing burning yellow swath cut through the wreckage. Flames licking at rubble here and there. Smoke billowing into the air. Ash floating down from it. A glow came from above. Purple. I looked up. And everything went black.
The first thing I remember was the feeling of laying face down. I blinked my eyes open. Beyond my helmet's visor and HUD was brown. There was nothing but brown. My mind quickly decided that this was the ground, as I was clearly laying face down. I was about to roll myself over when a read dot appeared on my blue motion tracker directly behind my feet.
That woke me up.
I rolled over and sat with my left hand holding me up, while my right went to one of my M6G Magnums holstered on my right hip. I brought the pistol up to point at whatever was approaching me, all faster than you could blink. Thank you augmentations.
The creature that was approaching me immediately scurried away, scared by my sudden movement. I couldn't get a good look at it as it zoomed into the nearby rocks. All I could tell is that it was white and furry.
I shook my head and pushed myself up. I replaced the Magnum on it's magnetic holster as I took a look around. I was on the side of a rocky ridge, above an hilly valley that ran to my left and right with a mountain range in the far off distance. The side of the ridge was full of boulders and rocks offering plenty of cover should I be attacked. But one thing stood out about this landscape.
The brown. The entire landscape was brown. Dead. Not a patch of green in sight. My first thought was that it was Reach. Glassed to a crisp.
That's when the memories came back.
Commander Shaun, Echo One, laying dead, his cyan armour burned black and half his torso missing from a hunter's fuel rod.
Lieutenant Commander Austin, Echo Two, impaled on a sharp piece of metal after falling twelve stories courtesy of an Elite Zealot.
Warrant Officer Sladonsky, Echo Three, laying in a crumpled heap after a fifty story fall after he was blasted out the window by a concussion rifle.
Lieutenant Zie, Echo Four, burned alive in the wreckage of our Pelican after we were shot down.
And Warrant Officer Ashligh, Echo Six...my best friend. She had had her right arm and leg almost completely melted off by plasma. I had been dragging her, looking for help, evac, anything!
She had died in my arms.
I felt my legs go weak as I stared over the dead and burned landscape. Ash had been with me since the beginning of the SPARTAN-II program. We had trained together and became best friends. We had even been assigned to the same squads together. The rest of Echo had become family to me over the six months I had been with them. Losing them all in two days? And my home planet?
Over my time as a SPARTAN I had fought hundreds of battles. My kill count, Covenant and insurrectionists, was well into the ten thousands. I had seen more death and destruction in that time than any being should have to see in a hundred lifetimes.
But through all that, I had never felt like this. I had never felt the overwhelming sadness and depression I was now. Not once had I cried.
I gave a quick glance at the tactical pad on my left gauntlet. A quick thought through my neural-lace changed the display to show the air composition.
77 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, 1 percent other. Not quite Identical to Earth but close enough to breath.
I gave a small nod as I felt my eyes begin to tear up, my attempt at distracting myself failing utterly as my emotions overwhelmed my thoughts.
I choked back a sob, trying not to give in to my emotions. But in the end, they won.
I pulled off my white air assault helmet as I fell to my knees and let myself begin sobbing uncontrollably, twenty five years of bottled up emotions boiling out. A lock of my brown shoulder length hair fell in front of my eye, but I couldn't care less. My planet, my home, my team, all dead. Murdered, burned alive by the Covenant. Along with dozens of other planets and their populations.
I stayed like that, letting it all out for almost five minutes, looking out over the wasteland. I should have been dead. A Covie cruiser had fired a plasma projector right on top of me.
That made me pause for thought, my sobs quieting. How was I still alive? For that matter, why wasn't it hot? If this was Reach, then it had been recently glassed, but according to reports glassed planets were hot for weeks after the glassing.
I took a deep breath before standing up, and brushing my hair out of my eyes. Replacing my helmet, I brought up the atmosphere conditions on my tac-pad. It read 16 degrees Celsius, along with pressure and several other pieces of info I really didn't need at the moment. Glassed planets were supposedly above forty for almost a month after.
Weird.
Either way, everything may have gone to hell, but I had no intention of dying. I needed food, water, and shelter. The fact that I had no idea where I was didn't help either.
First things first, I shoved down my emotions and decided to climb the rest of the way up the ridge to see if I could see anything. Thankful for the survival training I had received, I turned around and began climbing my way up the mountainside.
As I climbed I did a quick inventory to make sure I had all my equipment. First was the dual M6G Magnums on each hip with special pop out magazines that allowed me to quickly reload. They would allow me to simply slip the mags in by pushing my pistols in top of them, hilt first. I had five eight round magazines for each.
Next was the energy sword attached just below my right Magnum. It had been modified by Austin, the squads tech expert, to recharge from my MJOLNIR amour when holstered, basically allowing me to use it as much as I wanted. Along with the sword I had a pair of plasma grenades if I needed them.
On my back I carried a stock MA37 assault rifle, with eight mags and, being a sniper, a SRS99 sniper rifle along with eight four round mags. I had modified my sniper rifle with a scope that had two, ten, twenty, and forty times variable zoom.
Finally, I had a active camouflage module on my amour, as well as small built in hologram projectors in several spots. I could use both at the same time, if I rerouted power from my shields. It was experimental, and the thinking was it would allow me to move through civilian areas or covenant camps in full armor without arousing suspicion. On ops against the insurrection it would allow interaction with others without revealing I was a SPARTAN. While most SPARTANs were downright horrible at having conversations due to our upbringing, I was a exception being right at home in a conversation. That was the main reason I had been chosen to receive it.
Satisfied with my equipment, I reached the top of the ridge. Below me was a good sized city, all in ruins. I pulled out my rifle to get a better look through the scope. The damage seemed to radiate from the city center, with the damage being worse the closer you got. An area at the very center, about a kilometer across, was completely leveled, with buildings reduced to nothing more than piles of rubble. The buildings at the outskirts almost thirty kilometers away from the blast were in much better shape, some completely intact but for their windows.
I had seen destruction like this once before. It was on Argitan, one of the inner colonies. A insurrectionist cell had gotten their hands on a HAVOK nuke. My team and I had been deployed to recapture it when they detonated it. We had survived, thanks to our distance from the blast and our armour, but the capital city of Feniris had been obliterated when the 30 megaton yield bomb had gone off.
This city reminded me eerily of Feniris after the nuke. I continued scanning the city through my scope. Here and there were small brightly coloured bloches. I flicked the magnification on the scope from twenty to forty times and the bloches became creatures.
They were quadrupeds, all different colors scattered here and there across the ruins. I couldn't get a detailed look at them because of the range, but some seemed to be wearing armour and others were carrying what appeared to be guns in their mouths.
Everything seemed to point to them being sapient.
Now, unlike a large part of humanity, I'm not xenophobic. The war does that, and it makes perfect sense. If all the intelligent aliens you have encountered are trying to kill you, then the rest you haven't met will try too.
Either way, if these new creatures were intelligent, I was probably not on Reach anymore.
I flicked the scope down to two times zoom and replaced the rifle on my back as I began to walk down to the city. As I made my way down, I looked over the landscape around the city. The ridge made a semi-circle around what my HUDs compass was telling me was the north end of the city. I was approaching from the west.
A thought through my neural lace opened a channel on the UNSC's emergency frequency before I began speaking calmly.
"This is Sierra-zero-niner-zero to all UNSC forces. If you are receiving; please respond."
...No answer.
"Shit." I muttered under my breath. Another thought sent a scan out looking for any UNSC beacons or any other electronic evidence of civilization. A few seconds later it came back with promising results.
A green ordnance marker popped up on my HUD. Thanking my good fortune, I brought up the beacon's details on my tac-pad. A evidenced by the marker on my HUD, the beacon was about thirty klicks away. It was up on the ridge above the opposite side of the city. The details didn't tell me much more than that, other then the obvious fact that it had ammunition for me.
The second thing the scan picked up was radio transmissions. A quick check revealed they were all using civilian frequencies, or more specifically, the frequencies used by music stations and news agencies.
I switched off my radio as I began to pass the first few buildings built up on the ridge. They were mostly small single family houses of an old design, all in various states of disrepair. Scattered here and there were other buildings you would find in a suburban setting. Mainly restaurants and stores.
I drew my assault rifle as I walked, as well as activating my Active Camouflage. I watched as my form shimmered before becoming little more than a distortion in the air. I kept at a walking pace to keep as concealed as possible.
As the slope levelled out, I began moving down one of the main roads towards the city center. In the streets were carts burned black, and piles of rubble from fallen buildings. The buildings themselves had gotten taller becoming packed together five or six story apartments.
I was about halfway between the blast crater and the ridge around the city when I heard something that startled me.
A voice. Speaking English! Or more specifically...cursing like they were about to die. Considering the situation, that was probably accurate.
"Oh, FUCK ME!"
The yell was followed by a roar, much like that of a lion's. It sounded close. Like it was just around the next corner. Sure enough one of the colorful quadrupeds came tearing around the corner.
"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!" It, or rather she judging by her voice, cursed as she ran like hell. She was about half my height and had a tan coat with a black mane as well as a horn poking through her mane on her forehead. She was wearing a saddlebag and an assortment of leather and metal armour and, interestingly, somehow levitating a pistol behind her.
She continued to curse as she looked over her shoulder, her pistol letting off several rounds at the pursuing monster. Said monster was at first glance, a lion, but further examination revealed a pair of bat's wings and a scorpion's tail.
The small horse like creature, really a pony, let out a girly cry of surprise as she twisted one of her front ankles stepping on a piece of debris. She stumbled and fell, her gun falling to the ground and sliding under a metal plate. Her face twisted to a look of fear. The unicorn glanced back at the lion thing, and began attempting to hobble away on three legs.
The lion in the meantime had slowed down to a jog, realizing that it's prey couldn't escape. It slowly gained on the unarmed pony.
Meanwhile, I was still unseen. I was standing on the middle of the street about fifteen meters away as this unfolded, trying to figure out what to do.
On one hand, I could stay still and let my camo keep me hidden. Doing so would almost certainly get the unicorn killed, while I wouldn't have to fight the lion. On the other hand, I could shoot the lion. It didn't seem tough, and a few bullets to the face would likely kill it. As well, I could get in contact with the pony, which was obviously intelligent and spoke English, maybe get some intel on where I was.
As I thought the lion thing had gotten to the unicorn and was about to swipe at her with its claws. I made a quick decision, I flicked my safety off and brought my rifle up.
I let off a quick four round burst into the lion's head, causing it to stumble with a yelp of pain, it's face a bloody mess. To my surprise though, it didn't go down. Slightly startled, I let off a longer burst unloading half the remaining bullets in the mag.
That put it down, as it's head was turned to bloody mush.
The pony's head immediately swiveled to me as I became visible from the weapons muzzle flash. I deactivated my camouflage as her eyes widened and she began to back away. I flicked on the safety and placed the rifle on my back before looking to the pony.
"Hey. I'm not going to hurt you." I said making sure my hands were where she could see them.
Her eyes widened and she froze in surprise as I spoke. "You can talk?!" She blurted.
"I could say the same to you." I replied as I began to approach her. She took a step back as I approached, but I walked right past to the pile of rubble she had tripped by. I crouched and pushed aside the metal sheet her gun had slipped under. I figured that if I returned it, the would be a little more trusting. After all, if someone had plans to harm you, why would they give you a weapon?
I picked it up and examined it. If you asked me for one word to describe it, I would have said old. It was a fairly average sized pistol, smaller than my huge Magnums. A glance told me it was nine millimeter, and in horrible condition. There was rust all over, and chunks and gouges everywhere.
I always prided myself with my gun knowledge. I could tell caliber and type with a glance, or the sound of gunfire.
As I turned back to the alien, she seemed to shrink away, no doubt intimidated by my relative size.
"A-are you a robot?" She asked shakily.
"No, I'm a Spartan." I replied with a smirk under my helmet. I had gotten that question from more than a few Marines before the SPARTAN program went public. "And you?"
"Uh…I'm a pony. A u-unicorn to be exact." She stuttered still shaken by my appearance.
"I think this is yours." I said holding out the pistol.
She glanced at my face, or rather my helmet's visor, and back at the offered pistol. Before I knew it, a tan-ish glow surrounded her horn and the pistol levitated in an aura of the same color. To say I was stunned would be an understatement, but outwardly I didn't show it.
"Thanks..." She muttered, levitating the gun into a holster on her right foreleg. "Uh...I'm Dustoff by the way."
I raised my eyebrow at that. Either way, alien cultures, enough said. I pondered what to tell her. After all, we Spartans rarely share our names, as they have special meaning to us, being one of the few things we call our own. But I always thought numbers were dehumanizing. I could always tell her my squad nickname.
"You can call me Ghost." I replied. I had earned the nickname from the way I preferred to operate. Being a sniper I preferred to engage from afar, and I was also the infiltration specialist as well, hence the Active Camouflage. That and I could be very stealthy when I wanted to. Of course, that din't mean I wasn't capable in close quarters. Like every SPARTAN-II I was trained in martial arts, and CQC.
I looked over at Dustoff who was still looking at me with an expression of awe.
"You done?" I asked.
"Oh...s-sorry." She exclaimed and looked away as she realized she realized she was staring.
I crouched down to her level before I spoke. "Can I ask you a few questions?"
She looked back at me, still seeming a bit stunned at my appearance. "Sure, I guess."
"Where am I?" I asked giving a small gesture to our surroundings.
She glanced around as she replied. "Oh, these are the Trottingham ruins."
I raised my eyebrow at that. "Ok, well why are they ruins?"
Now it was Dustoff's turn to be confused, and her face showed it. "What? Have you been living under a rock?"
I smirked, "In a manner of speaking."
Once again she looked surprised, which I figured would be the norm for most of this conversation"Oh...well...The Great War, I guess."
"Great war?" I muttered.
She nodded before continuing, "Both sides fired Megaspells at each-other. Left the world an irradiated wasteland that you see now."
"Megaspells? Are those nukes?" I asked.
"Nukes?" She asked.
"Nuclear weapons. Capable of causing huge explosions and releasing nuclear radiation." I explained as I stood back up to my full height.
"Uh…kinda? I don't really know that much about them. I'm just a courier after all." She replied with a shrug.
I nodded before answering, "Fair enough. Does the word-"
BANG!
I stopped speaking as a bullet ricocheted off Dustoff's metal shoulder plate.
"Shit!" She yelled in surprise before she dove behind the nearest cover, in this case a burned out tram car laying on it's side. "Sniper!"
I quickly followed crouching beside her. My mind was already in combat mode, analyzing the gunshot. "Seven-point six-two millimeter. Probably a DMR. Two o'clock, bout a hundred meters." I muttered to myself.
I swiftly grabbed my Sniper Rifle from its magnetic clamps on my back. I pulled the charging handle once and flicked off the safety. Quickly setting the scope to two times I took a deep breath before stepping around the corner of the tram. I felt an adrenaline rush as I did so and time seemed to slow.
Spartan time.
All it took was a second. Already knowing the sniper would be looking at our cover I had to be quick. Luckily I already knew his approximate location. I popped up quick as lightning and sighted down the scope. I saw a flash of blue and aimed at it. Another pony greeted my eyes, this one without a horn. He was three stories up in a building looking down the street from a T-junction. He was wielding a rifle on a saddle like contraption and looking right at me. Just as I squeezed the trigger I saw a muzzle flash. Unluckily for him I had energy shields.
He didn't.
The sniper's round hit my shields and bounced off causing them to flare for a second. He wasn't as fortunate, as the 14.5 millimeter anti-materiel round hit him right in the head. It literally disappeared in a puff of red.
I kept my rifle up and scanning for anymore targets. I saw a few flashes of color, presumably more ponies, duck away from the windows in the same building the sniper had been in. I saw another flash of movement as a curtain was pulled away from a window to reveal...a mounted Gatling gun. I quickly realized the danger.
While individual bullets would bounce off my shields, they could only take so much. By the looks of things, the Gatling was about 7.62 Millimeter. While the snipers round had been the same caliber, it was only one bullet. Gatlings, or mini-guns as many called them, could put out thousands of rounds per minute. My shields could only take maybe fifteen to twenty...
I quickly stepped back back behind the tram as the Gatling opened up with a 'buRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!', bullets whizzing overhead and bouncing off the tram.
"Oh Come on! They got a fucking MINI-GUN!?" Dust shouted over the roar.
"Mind to explain why your fellow ponies are shooting at us?!" I asked as I took a peek.
"They're raiders! The Silver Gang!" She replied, as I turned to look at her. She pointed to a fallen sign post. It read Silver Clover Street. "I usually avoid coming in this area but I panicked when the Manticore attacked! They kill anypony who enters!!"
The Gatling gun silenced, but only for a few seconds as its operator realized all he had to do was keep us pinned down, and began firing in two or three second bursts. Considering our cover was in the middle of the street, it was a twenty meter run to the nearest cover, a rubble pile. I could probably make it with my shields and speed, but Dustoff wouldn't. A quick peek revealed several ponies moving out of the building while the Gatling kept us pinned down, while a few others with all sorts of guns began firing as well to keep our heads down. If I had to guess, they were going to flank us through the buildings on either side of the road. I had to give 'em credit. For supposedly untrained bandits, they knew their way in a firefight.
I racked my brain trying to think of a way to get us both out of this. We needed to get out of here. Then I got an idea.
I leaned my rifle against the tram so both hands were free. I brought up my tacpad and quickly tapped in a few commands. Satisfied, I grabbed my rifle again and turned to Dustoff.
"OK. As soon as I fire, run as fast as you can to that rubble." I said pointing to the meter high pile of concrete twenty meters away. "I'll drop the gunner and a couple others, then follow."
"But I'll get torn to pieces!" She protested with a shocked look.
"That's what my hologram is for." I said while giving a mental command. A hologram of me appeared and began sprinting out the opposite side of the tram.
The response was instant.
The Gatling immediately opened full auto spraying the holo' with bullets, as did most of the other raiders firing at us. With them sufficiently distracted I popped out and sighted the pony manning the Gatling down my scope. Half a second later my round punched through his head. I quickly swiveled to the nearest raider and fired again, dropping her. A split second later I saw another move to take the place of the dead gunner. She too promptly received well aimed head-shot.
This all happened in less than two seconds.
The others dove for cover on instinct, and Dustoff took off, sprinting for the rubble. I quickly followed after placing my rifle on its magnetic clamps. Ahead, Dustoff reached the rubble and crouched behind it. She levitated her pistol and began firing at the building to cover me. I heard a few gunshots but only one hit my sprinting form, and it simply bounced off my shields. I reached the rubble and immediately went prone, more bullets whip-cracking overhead and smacking our concrete cover as the raiders recovered their wits after my sniping spree.
"Wow." Dustoff muttered in awe as she tried to recover some breath from her sprint, "Where'd you learn to shoot like that?"
"A lifetime of training and combat experience." I replied before beginning to crawl towards the building the rubble had fallen from.
I crawled through a door into the apartment building into the lobby and stood up now satisfied I wouldn't be shot.
"So whats the plan Ghost?" Dustoff asked standing up and shaking herself to remove some of the dirt accumulated from crawling. "Those raiders are sure to come after us."
"We need to find somewhere in here that's easy to defend." I replied, moving towards a stairwell. "We should be able to hold out for a while considering my weapons and armor. We can kill those coming after us and then hightail it out of here."
"Alright. I hope you're sure about this." Dustoff muttered as we climbed.
We had came to the third floor of the apartments by then. Seeing another rubble pile from a collapsed ceiling and a few busted apartment doors I decided this was where we would make our stand.
"I am." I replied to her, "In the words of a Marine I served with, I'm a 'seven-foot-tall-invincible-walking-tank.' I've fought enemies three times more dangerous and numerable than these raiders." I walked into one of the apartments that was missing its door. Spotting a metal table I holstered my pistol, grabbed it and hauled it over to the rubble pile placing it for a little extra cover.
"These raiders shouldn't be an issue. The only problem was the Gatling and they aren't gonna get that in here." I said as I worked on placing the table. I heard the sound of hoofs as the raiders began climbing the stairs.
"Hide and only open fire when I reveal myself." I instructed Dust. She nodded and crouched down behind the table. I walked over to the wall beside the stairs and drew two weapons. I grabbed a magnum in my left hand and my energy sword in my right. I flicked off the safety on my pistol but left my sword deactivated. Ready, I activated my active camo while Dustoff ducked behind the table and waited.
Thirty seconds later, sure enough, a unicorn with green fur climbed up the stairs. He took a quick look around and begin climbing the next flight. Another followed, as well as three more. They were a ragtag bunch. Their amour and weapons were all sorts. One had two pistols while another had an assault rifle. The sixth to came up had a large shotgun on a saddle contraption. As he passed my invisible form I sprang into action.
And by action, I mean I decloaked, ignited my sword and cleanly chopped his head off. The raider who had come up before him turned around as she began to climb the next flight of stairs at the sudden noise. She looked at me in fear an instant before my magnum's explosive round blew apart her head.
Then all hell broke loose. There were shouts of panic and the report of Dustoff's nine mil' as she gunned down two raiders who were climbing the next flight of stairs. Another raider came charging up the stairs levitating a shotgun only to be impaled on my energy blade, while my pistol barked two more rounds at another coming up the stairs.
"Dust! Deal with the two who are still upstairs!" I shouted before I primed a plasma grenade. A raider peeked around the corner of the stairs and I threw it. Her eyes widened as it stuck to her face and she fell back behind the corner in shock, likely into some others, before there was the sound of a plasma detonation and the glow of blue from the corner.
Soon after I heard the report of a nine mil' behind me as Dustoff gunned down one of the raiders who I had let upstairs. For a courier she was surprisingly good in a fight, but for all I knew being a courier meant fighting her way from place to place considering how dangerous this world seemed.
"Stay here." I said to her as I activated my camo again, holstering my sword "Make sure no more come up."
Dust gave a nod and kept her pistol trained on the stairs. I made my way up the next flight with my magnum scanning for the last raider. I spotted him as I came around the next landing. He was levitating two pistols, training them on the stairs from some cover and shaking with fear. He had no doubt heard the slaughter that had just taken place. He seemed to squint at the distortion in the air where I stood. I sighed under my helmet and raised my magnum.
I decloaked and watched his eyes go wide in fear. He scrambled to bring his pistols to bear, but he wasn't fast enough. I fired another perfect head-shot, dropping him instantly. I holstered and flicked on the safety on my magnum as I turned and headed back down to Dust.
"Got him?" She asked as I appeared, still covering the stairs.
"Yes, lets go." I replied drawing my Assault Rifle and heading down the stairs. As I came around the corner where I had thrown the plasma grenade I spotted three torn bodies of the raiders. A quick peek told me they had been the last ones in the group.
"Clear." I said as I continued down the stairs, rifle out and scanning for more hostiles. I continued down not encountering any more raiders. When I reached the bottom I looked around and went over my options. I could move into the gang's stronghold and clear them out. It would likely eat up a good portion of my ammo, but we would never be bothered by them again.
On the other hand, we could leave before another group came after us and come back more prepared. It posed much less risk of injury to Dustoff.
I made my mind up. When we came back to the ground floor I told Dust to cover the door. She nodded. I turned back and found my way to the rear wall of the building. I took a fast running start and threw all my body weight against the brick. I punched through much more easily than I thought I would and went sprawling in a spray of brick and plaster. I stood up and shook myself off. I was covered in dust and bits of brick.
I looked around me to find I was in another apartment building's lobby. "Dust! Come here!" I yelled. A few seconds later she came trotting up. Her eyes widened at the huge hole in the wall.
"Did you do that?!" She asked.
"Half a ton of SPARTAN and armour will do that." I replied with a small chuckle, "Let get moving."
The two of us made our way over the the door. I went out first, assault rifle drawn, to make sure it was clear. "We're good. Lets go!"
Author's Note
So yeah. Short little story. Fun.
Last chapter comes tomorrow.
We had been walking for a couple hours after our escape from the raiders. Dustoff had suggested we make our way to the nearest settlement: Sanctuary. The sun had begun setting and Dust had changed our course. It was almost dark by the time we reached another dilapidated apartment building. It wasn't a huge thing, only about five stories. She lead me up to the fourth floor. Once we were there she went over to one of the rooms that still had a door still attached. A quick glow of her horn produced an audible click as she unlocked the door and pushed it open.
The inside was in considerably better shape than I expected. There was a chair and a bed with an intact mattress. The window had a operable shutter on it. While the room was still a bit dirty but that was hardly surprising.
"What is this place?" I asked as Dustoff went to one of the corners and began shrugging off her saddlebags and armour.
"Safehouse. I have six scattered around the city." Dust muttered, "They're useful when I'm doing long haul deliveries across the city."
I found my way over to one of the corners and sat down. I felt a pang of hunger. I hadn't eaten since before New Alexandria. Screw it, I thought. I reached down to my right calf and opened the hollow storage spot. I pulled out one of the MREs inside. Unsealing my helmet I pulled it off and placed it beside me. I opened the MRE and began eating. I was thankful I was used to eating them, otherwise I might have thrown up.
As I ate I noticed Dustoff had sat down on the bed and was looking at me. "What?" I asked looking back at her.
"What are you?"
We talked well into the night. I regaled her with stories of human achievement, and I learned a bit about her. Turned out she was born twenty-one years ago in Sanctuary, and had learned to survive from her father who had been a courier before her. Eventually we both fell asleep.
I awoke habitually early as the sun rose. I had fallen asleep in my armour, huddled in the corner of the room while Dustoff took the bed. She was still asleep, leaving me to pass the time. I cleaned my SRS and fiddled with the bolt in one of my pistols. Eventually I tired of the guns. As I watched Dust sleep and idea popped into my head. I grinned and stood up to enact my plan.
When Dustoff woke up I was back in my corner grinning at her. "Up and at 'em Dust!" I said. She shook herself awake and glanced over at me. She froze.
Under my helmet I had a huge shit eating grin. "G-...Ghost?" She stuttered out, "Is that...?"
"Yeah its me! Like it?" I asked.
"How...?" She said in confusion, not comprehending what her eyes were telling her. Where I had once been sitting was now a white unicorn. She had a white mane and coat with lime green eyes and was clad in a ponified version of my armour with the helmet on the floor beside her. Like me she was grinning with barely hidden mirth.
A mental command made her disappear only for me to take her place. I pulled my helmet off and began explaining.
"So I scanned you into my hologram database while you were sleeping. All I had to do was recolor and make a set of pony armour like mine and voila! Then I messed around and made some modifications and effects. Took me a couple of hours but its worth it. So now I can use my Camo and go invisible. Then I project that holo in my place. I also made it so the holo will move like a second body through my neural lace. It will mimic my facial expressions and walk as I walk. Cool huh?"
"That's amazing!...Even if I don't understand half of what you said..." Dustoff muttered.
I nodded and engaged the holo again. My cloaked hand went to my thigh and I unholstered one of my magnums. To my satisfaction the holographic magnum on the pony-me's flank glowed as did the unicorns horn as if levitating and flew up to merge with the one in my hand. At that point the hologram disappeared and the real magnum decloaked. The 'magic aura' still stayed, to suggest that I was levitating it.
"Wow. If I didn't know any better I would assume you're just another unicorn." Dust muttered.
I grinned, "That's the point."
"Well that solves our biggest problem..." Dust began to explain, "The ponies of Sanctuary are a good bunch, but they're unicorn elitists. It's not like they take slaves or will kill non-unicorns, but the sheriff rarely lets non-unicorns in."
"So basically we're keeping the fact that I'm an alien secret from now on."
"It's for the best." Dustoff nodded, "Now, we need a story for why you're with me."
Sanctuary was a nice little settlement. It was built inside of a pre-war shopping mall. Stores had been turned into dwellings and whatever other living spaces the ponies needed. Dust had vouched for me at the gate. The sheriff had me take off my 'Helmet,' ostensibly to make sure I was a unicorn, saying something about not wanting any mudponies in his town. We walked through the mall for a bit before Dust lead me into a boarded up storefront.
"Home sweet home." She muttered as she unlocked the door.
The inside was actually pretty nice by wasteland standards. The floor was reasonably clean, as were the few pieces of furniture that Dust owned. There was a couch and an armchair facing each other in the corner with a coffee table between them. The other back corner had a cabinet and a small gas burner. Her kitchen it seemed. A mattress lay on the ground was nearby.
"It's not much but I'm rarely here anyway." Dust said shrugging off her saddlebags and taking a seat on the couch, "I spend more time in my safe houses while doing deliveries."
"Mmhmm." I hummed as I looked around. My eyes were scanning for possible cover, entry points and escape routes. It was a force of habit.
"Take a seat." Dust nodded to the armchair across from her, "We need to talk."
I shrugged and did so, the seat creaking under my weight. I dropped my avatar now that we were in private and took off my helmet. "And what is it we need to talk about?" I asked.
"Well…" She started, "You're far from home, and we have no spaceships or anything to get you back. I suppose I just want to know what you plan to do next."
Now that's the question of the century isn't it…I'm really stuck here…I thought to myself, What do I do? Oh just listen to me. 'What do I do?' I've made contact with a species that nuked itself into oblivion, while alone and cut off from the UNSC. I just have to follow protocol!…If I hadn't gone and broke every rule in the book already.
"I dunno," I finally said, "I have no idea what to do."
Dustoff seemed to think for a second before she spoke, "You could live with me."
"What?"
"You could live here, with me," She repeated, "If you helped me with my deliveries as a guard I could charge more for our services. I'm one of the best couriers in the city, but I'm not invincible. And my clients know that. But if you are helping me I can charge more for the extra security. That way we can both stay fed. And if you ever want to leave you can. How about it?"
I paused. There really weren't any negatives to helping Dust out. She was a good person, or pony rather, and I found myself liking her. It wasn't like I had anything better to do anyway. I smiled and shrugged. "Eh, why not."
Over the next few days we did a pair of uneventful deliveries to and from the small settlement of Eglin's Roost. It was a small griffon and pegasi settlement on the upper floors of a high rise on the opposite side the city centre. While we traveled we talked, and I learned more about Equestria. When she told me about the pegasi and Dashites I couldn't help but grit my teeth. It made me respect the pegasi of Eglin's. They left their conforable life above the clouds to help those stuck in this hell. We spent the night there before heading back to Sanctuary with a package in the morning.
We were returning to Sanctuary when the ordinance beacon I had picked up when I had arrived popped up again. We were only three kilometers away, and I quickly notified Dustoff.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Might have some ammo or weapons." I said.
"Why not. Lets go!" Dust replied. We were in a suburban neighbourhood on the very edge of the city up on the ridge, skirting the territory of a particularly nasty raider gang. We began up the road that went up the side of the ridge. Nopony was around. The road eventually curved and began to switch back up the ridge leaving the dwellings behind. By the third turn we were level with the bacon. I lead Dust off the road along the slope. We quickly reached it.
"A cave?" Dust raised her eyebrow.
"Yup." At this point I almost never turned off my unicorn avatar. To Dust it seemed that a power armoured unicorn was leading her, even though she knew better.
We made our way into the dark cave. I turned on my night vision. We hadn't gone very far in when the tunnel opened up into a larger open space.
"…Oh hell yes…" I tailed off. Dust had lit up her horn and was scanning over the contents of the cavern.
"What is this...thing?" She asked looking over the large metal thing.
I had a huge grin under my helmet as I began rattling off specs. "This 'thing' is the M831 TT, the Troop Transport Warthog. Also known as the Troop 'Hog. It weighs three tons and is powered by a 12.0 L liquid-cooled hydrogen-injected Internal Combustion Engine." I decloaked and pulled off my helmet as I began to walk around the 'Hog inspecting it. "On good terrain it'll do a hundred and twenty-five kilometres an hour. And guess what the best part is Dust?" I said looking at the unicorn. She shrugged so I continued, "A Graf/Hauptman Solar/Saline Actuator. In other words it basically runs on water. The 'Hog'll convert the water to the hydrogen that fuels it. It doesn't matter if its irradiated or clean water, it'll run on it."
"Soooooo...?" Dust asked obviously confused.
I chuckled a bit before speaking again, "Just get in!"
"Ok." She complied hopping in the passenger seat. I hopped up and checked the fuel gauge. Half a tank of water. That would be three hundred kilometers, easy. I hit the ignition and Dust jumped a bit at the sudden growl of the engine. I quickly made sure the pair of us were strapped in.
I eased on the accelerator slowly guiding the Warthog out of the tunnel before stopping just before the slope. "Ready to put this baby through her paces?" I asked with a grin before stomping on the gas.
The 'Hog leaped forward down the hill quickly picking up speed. We came off the ridge back into the suburbs very quickly and I turned down a road in the direction of Sanctuary.
"Wow! So its a carriage that powers itself!" Dust said excitedly as we bumped over rubble.
"That's one way of simplifying it." I answered.
Dustoff had a huge grin on her face as she examined the rear seating area. "Just think about how much we can carry! And how fast! This will make large deliveries a breeze!" She shouted over the wind.
I had my unicorn avatar on by the time we reached Sanctuary. It took a bit of convincing to get the guards to let us in with the 'Hog. I slowly drove through the mall to Dustoff's place and parked the Warthog. Dustoff hopped out and told me she was going to deliver the package. I nodded and went to work on putting a transponder lock on the 'Hog. That way the only way it would start is if my armour's transponder was nearby.
After I also went and visited the local mage, Tectonic Sky. For a small sum of caps he would duplicate my magazines keeping me supplied with ammo.
We quickly settled into a routine of deliveries. The Warthog was a great asset. Within a month we were doing deliveries all the way to other cities. It wasn't hard to find fuel either. We just used dirty or irradiated water that was not safe to drink. I was no mechanic but I knew a thing or two about maintaining a Warthog.
We made a killing. The speed and cargo capacity of our vehicle meant we could charge a rather large sum of caps (still don't know why bottlecaps of all things are the main currency...). For the first time, I began to enjoy my new life.
And then shit hit the fan.
We were driving through the Manehattan on the way out from Tenpony Tower when it happened. The route we were taking had been passable in the Warthog in the way in. On the way out however we found a building had been blown down onto the road. I brought the 'Hog to a stop and looked at the obstruction. It would be impossible to get the Warthog and its cargo over.
"Shit," Muttered Dustoff from the passenger seat, "this wasn't here before..."
"No it wasnt..." that's when it clicked. A roadblock. An ambush.
There was a loud explosion behind us. I looked just in time to see a second building collapse on the road behind us. We were trapped.
Then thirty or so griffons popped up in an instant on the rubble and the surrounding buildings. All training weapons on us. There I was ready to throw myself on Dust to protect her from the bullets. But none came.
One of the Griffons came out walking towards us. I got a good look at his gear. He was much better equipped than your average raider. A white symbol of a wing adorned his chest piece. I looked around and noticed all of our assailants had the same symbol somewhere on their gear.
"Mercs." Dustoff growled.
The griffon came to a stop ten meters or so from us. "Alright. Listen up you two," He growled, "It's nothing personal, but our client would very much like to attain a certain memory orb you are currently transporting. Hand it over and you can go on your way.You have two minutes."
Memory orb? I had no idea what he was talking about. Dust was the one who managed our cargo. Me and Dust exchanged a glance. I was weighing our options in my mind. At the moment the griffons thought I was a unicorn, so I could use the element of surprise. But Dust had only minimal armour, and it only took one bullet to kill.
"We should just give it to him," I said, "Its only a small lost profit. And there's too many of them for me to take on while protecting you..."
Dust seemed to think for a sec before she nodded, "I get it." She unbuckled her seat and climbed over into the back where the cargo was. She dug around for a sec before she produced a small metal box. She climbed back into the front and opened it.
Inside was a small white crystal ball. She picked it up with her magic and began levitating it towards the griffon. But when the crystal was only a meter or so out the side of the Warthog she froze. The Griffon raised an eyebrow. Dust sat stock still, the crystal still levitating.
"Uhhh...Dust?" I asked waving a holographic hoof in front of her eyes. She didn't move. The Griffon flew over and grabbed the memory orb, trying to pry it from her magical grasp. He tugged and tugged but it wouldn't move. I shook Dust trying to get her out of her strange stupor.
"Fuck it. I don't have time for this." The Griffon drew a large revolver and pointed it at Dust.
I just acted. It was over in an instant. I sat, my smoking magnum in one hand, the Griffon on the other end, his head blown apart into little red bits by my high explosive round.
Everything seemed to freeze for a second as I reacted. I dropped my camo and hologram, grabbed Dust, protecting her with my body, and I ran like hell for the nearest building to the right of the 'Hog. The Mercenaries seemed to recover their wits as bullets began flying past and pinging off my slowly recharging energy shields. The sliver of shield I had been able to get broke and alarms went off in my helmet. I felt the impacts of bullets hitting my Titanium armour. Luckily for me none penetrated, but I would have some nasty bruises to show for it.
At least until I was about to enter the ground floor. I felt a tearing impact, and I felt a dull pain blossom in my right hip. I ignored it and ducked inside. I scanned the interior. It was an old grocery store. I ran to the far side and found a janitors closet. I quickly placed the still spaced out Dustoff inside.
There was a hum as my energy shields regenerated. I drew my assault rifle. The mercs were no doubt on their way, both from across the street, and the floors above. My hip hurt whenever I put my weight on my right leg, but I could still fight with it, and that's what I intended to do. I ducked behind a customer services counter for cover and prepared myself. It was a good spot as It covered me from fire from both the main door, and a set of stairs I assumed went to the apartments upstairs.
A dot appeared on my motion tracker and I spun to face the stairs. A Griffon poked out with a rifle, scanning for me. I simply dropped her with a quick burst of fire. I heard a gunshot and a bullet went off my shields. I spun and fired at the offender, a pistol wielding griffon. He too died in a spray of his own blood.
Adrenaline cursed through me, and my heart hammered in my chest. It was abnormal for my heart rate to be so high but I payed it no mind. I had other problems. Like the dick who was flying through the air at me firing his shotgun. I gunned him down just in time to spin and crack another over the head with my rifle butt as he came flying through the air trying to tackle me. I ducked down behind the counter and quickly reloaded my rifle. I popped back up only to receive a three round burst of assault rifle fire to the face. I immediately identified the offending mercenary and fired back. She ducked back into cover before the bullets could catch her.
"Fall back! We have the Orb! Fall back!" A voice yelled form outside. Almost every griffon immediately turned tail and bolted. I caught one more trying to get out the door.
And then everything was quiet. I stood there a second longer, waiting more bullets to be fired at me. None came. I ran to the door and took a look around outside. Deserted.
I let out a sigh of relief and put away my rifle. I turned and walked back in, towards the closet I left Dust in. She was still in the strange trance. I picked her up and headed back to the Warthog. I strapped her into the passenger seat and took the wheel. I looked around and found a convenient alleyway off the the left. A quick detour and we were on our way.
It took another twenty five minutes for Dust to snap out of her trance with a sharp intake of breath. She looked around, seemingly confused for a moment before her eyes settled on me. My hip hurt like a bitch.
"Oh my Celestia! Ghost what happened!?" She burst out. It was hardly surprising. I had griffon blood on several spots on white armour. "Your flank!"
That got my attention, "What?" I looked down. "Oh...shit."
Just below my belt was a hole in the black titanium weave under-suit. It was soaked in blood, and you could see bloody red flesh underneath, as well as bits of my hip bone. It was bleeding pretty badly. I stopped the 'hog and immediately opened the glove box and grabbed the trauma kit inside. I got out a biofoam canister and flipped it open. I placed the nozzle in my wound and filled it with the white foam. I let out a sigh of relief as the painkillers did their work.
"There." I muttered and began driving again.
"So after I accidentally accessed the Memory orb what happened?" Dustoff asked.
After I finish recounting the firefight I asked Dust why she had spaced out. It turned out that Dust had accidentally accessed the memory orb while levitating it. "It had the memories of some prewar archeologist. He was searching for some super weapon. A buried vault of weapons and war machines. Enough to turn the tide of the war. The memory orb had the location of his lab."
"And someone wants that info. They want the weapons." I realized.
"Yup." Dust said, "For the record I think after you've healed up we should go after this…vault. Who knows what they could do in the wrong hooves?"
"I really don't know Dust." I muttered, "I really don't know…"
Author's Note
Yeah. Short and sweet. I will fully admit I didn't put my full effort into this. It's slightly half assed. I dunno.
I have a full storyline and stuff planned out. This is one arc really. But I already have two projects ongoing at the moment, and I really don't need a third. I just needed to get out of my writers block, and this was an idea that just wouldn't leave me alone. I will come back and write out the whole thing eventually, but for now this is it.
