A large hunk of metal slowly glided through a field of debris. The vessel was over one in a half miles long and almost a mile wide of hulking metal. It had numerous weapons lining it’s hull and would no doubt be a difficult adversary to put down, even for the Covenant. Men and women ran around the vessel heading towards their post as they approached a planet. The surface glowed with large orange lines that had been carved into it. The planet had turned grey from all the ash.
“Victoria, bring us out of the debris field for we can deploy ground forces, and bring weapon systems online.” Said a man as he walked up to the view port of the bridge. His hands to his sides he looked at the planets surface. The light coming from the sun that hid behind the horizon light up the bridge, illuminating the man. He face was young, but his facial features were like stone, unmoving. He had near pale skin and hard brown eyes. A full beard covered his face, colored dark brown just like his hair that hid beneath a naval cap.
“Yes sir.” said a female voice that was slightly distorted. A hologram of a woman appeared from the table sitting in the middle of the room. She wore a naval uniform like his own, however it’s design was one that mirror the United States Navy back in the 21st century.
The vessel, known as the Divine Retribution due to the name being printed on the hull in bold white letters, pushed chunks of metal out of its way. Once it exited the debris field it deployed its pelican dropships. They flew out of the vessels hangars and began to move towards the planet heading towards the Northern Hemisphere.
“Any sign of the Spirit of Fire?” Asked the man moving towards the the table.
“Negative sir, but I did get a message from Admiral Cole saying that the Spirit of Fire had set course for Arcadia. He did not say why though, but he told me to tell you to secure the site that the Spirit of Fire found.” He let out a sigh, it’s not the first time they had to clean up someones mess. “Covenant activity?”
“Most of it is in the southern hemisphere and none of their ships seemed to have taken notice to us.” This was good, if they could get in and get out this could be a lot easier. He didn’t know why they were still fighting for Harvest. There was nothing left but a barren wasteland. To him it had no value.
“Alright, move us into a stable orbit above the site. From there we can start deploying our friends from ONI.”
“Aye sir.” The AI’s Hologram retreated into the table. Captain Alexander Stone studied the holographic map of the region where the site was located. He was surprised to find very few Covenant forces in the region. Most of them were hazardously packed around the site making them easy targets if he so chose to use his ships MAC guns. Actually, he would use them.
_________
Yip-Yap, a small Unggoy male walked away from his post to gaze across the large valley of snow. In the distance a large plume of black smoke rose from where a human base once sat. However, it did not bring joy to his heart to see such a sight. Instead it brought guilt and shame. He along with a few felt sympathy for the humans, his kind knew what it felt like. Their world was once glassed to put down a rebellion. However, he couldn't imagine what it felt like to have world after world glassed.
Looking down to the snow he stared at the strange substance that made his feet cold. It was water yes but in a form he had never seen before. He heard laughing and joyed filled barks to his right in the distance. He saw a group of grunts playing in the ‘snow’, throwing balls of it towards others like they would throw a plasma grenade. However their fun was put down as an Sangheili walked over to them and ordered them to stop. They complied, not wanting to provoke the soldiers rage.
He looked away from them and continued to gaze upon the valley. He stood there for a while until the sound of heavy footsteps approached him. Turning he saw his only Sangheili friend, he was a minor just like him.
“Greetings Yip.” He greeted.
“Hey Rcco.” Replied Yip-Yap. The Sangheili walked up beside him. He also began to gaze upon the valley. They stood their in silence before Yip tried to begin a conversation.
“Ever wondered why we doing this?”
“What?”
“Destroying humans?”
“They’re heretics and are affront to the Great Journey! You should know this!” Replied the Sangheili, anger growing in his voice.
“But why are they heretics?” The Sangheili was about to respond, but silenced himself when he couldn't think of an answer. He had never really thought about it. Come to think about it the humans were just branded heretics on the spot. He didn't know much about their kind either. All he knew was what the Prophets told him about humanity.
“I.. I… I don’t know.” Finally replied the Elite. “It’s best if we don’t think about it. The last thing we want is to be branded heretics.”
“I guess you right.” Yip said.
“We should get back to our post, if the Commander finds out that we were away we will no doubt be punished.” With that he turned his back to the valley and began to make their way back to where they were supposed to be. However, before they could even take a few steps Yip noticed something… no somethings falling out of the sky.
“What that?” He asked pointing towards the bright orange balls coming out of the clouds. The Sangheili followed his gaze and locked eyes on them.
“INCOMING!” Yelled someone in the camp. However, it was too late. The first projectile slammed into the ground near the FOB (forward operating base) completely destroying it in a large explosion. Meters worth of earth was thrown into the air. The shock wave picked up anyone close to the impact and threw them like dolls. The ground lifted upwards and knocked those who were at a distance to their knees. More began to rain down from the sky bring destruction to anything within it’s influence. The large metal slugs had enough velocity to them that they could rip through entire shields in a single blow.
Rcco 'Topolee could only guess the strikes were from orbit. They were traveling too fast. After a full minutes the bombardment stopped. Slowly Yip-Yap and Rcco got to their feet and looked around. Their entire battle group was destroyed, husks of Wraiths and Locusts lay scattered around the area as corpses of various species scattered the area. Blood slowly oozed through the soil and the smell of burning flesh reached Rcco’s nostrils. He couldn't do much about it though. They had been lucky to survive.
However, their luck seemed to be running out as the sound of jet engines met their ears. Looking towards the sky once more they watched as human transports flew overhead heading towards the site. They slowly lowered themselves to the ground and let a large amount of human soldiers out. They began to scan the area for survivors and they were soon noticed. Bullets flew towards them in mass as Rcco grabbed his grunt friend and began to run.
However, his shields soon fell and bullets tore into his leg. He fell to the ground. He slowly tried to get up but was forced down by a boot. He growled at the human ontop of him. However, he couldn't see his face because of its visor and bandanna. The Grunt was also picked up off the ground and they were forced to comply with the humans demands. Rcco didn't care much for dying with honor at the moment, he cared more about getting through this alive. That is if the humans commander felt like showing any mercy.
_________
“Sir, ground teams report that they have captured a few survivors.” Said Victoria who stood on the table.
“Lets put them into isolation for now.” Usually one would be surprised at this. However, Stone was a man of mercy, something uncommon among the UNSC these days. He hoped ONI wouldn't try anything stupid with the prisoners. He never liked ONI, they had a very bad reputation among the UNSC. He was one offered a job as an ONI agent. He however turned it down and joined the Navy. It had only taken him a few years to reach Captain, he was also one of the youngest to ever reach the rank to.
Anyway, he looked at the map again. The holographic image of the Pelican loaded with the survivors took to the skies. A large group of people moved into the building. For the next few hours Stone waited for anything to happen. He was about to ask for a status report but Victoria popped out of the table.
“Sir, we have three Covenant Destroyers approaching. Fast.” Stones went wide eyed.
“Victoria, recall all ground forces.”
“Including ONI personnel?” Victoria question with a bit of sarcasm in her voice.
“Even them.” Stone replied. He could care less if he left them but he would be in some deep shit if he did. It wasn't long before Captain Stone could see the purple hulls of the destroyers just over the horizon. Luckily, the Divine Retribution was out of weapon range but it didn't mean that the destroyers were also out of range. “Victoria, see if you can slow them down a bit with the Archers.”
“Aye sir.” Not a second later the first salvo fired, heading straight for the destroyers. One of the vessels had been foolish enough to leave their shields down and the missiles tore into its hull completely disabling it. The other two had their shields up however and showed no sign of stopping.
“Victoria…”
“All ground personnel are accounted for Captain.”
“Get us out of here then!”
“Sir without a destination solution…”
“Anywhere will do! Just not here!” Yelled the Captain.
“Yes sir.” Replied the AI with an annoyed tone. A slipspace portal soon opened just in front of the vessel. Sitting down in his chair Stone felt like something push on his chest as the vessels was pulled into the portal at high speeds.
The familiar sound of an alarm clock filled Spikes ears. Groaning he reached over to the nightstand beside his table before slamming the snooze button. He laid there for a bit before slowly climbing out of his bed. Sitting on the mattress he gave a short stretch before getting his feet. Quickly putting on some clothes he made his way over to his door and opened it. Walking out into the crystal halls he gave a quick look around before heading towards the dining hall.
He had still hadn't gotten used to the many corridors of the Palace, sometimes he would even get lost in them. Finally finding the dining hall he entered. However, he soon wanted to leave. Rarity along with her coltfriend sat at the side beside the rest of his friends. Going by the name of Crystal Sheen he was a rich Canterlot pony with some manners. Key word some. The unicorn liked rubbing the fact he was Rarities coltfiriend into everyponies faces, but mostly Spikes.
“Well if it isn't Spike! Care to join us for a bit of breakfast?” Said Sheen with a large smirk on his face. Spike had to suppress his emotions, as much as he wanted to punch the guy he didn't want to get in trouble. He just sat as far as he could from everyone else, they seemed to not notice this however and they went about their business. Breakfast soon arrived as a servant placed down a plate of Gems and… Salad. At this age he was supposed to be eating meat. However, ponies found it very taboo if not sick to eat another being.
The repercussions were minor but would affect him later on in the future. He only stared at the plate before pushing it away. He loved Gems, but his stomach didn’t feel like eating anything.
“Spike, is there something wrong?” Asked the familiar voice of Twilight.
“No, I’m just not hungry.” He replied.
“Spike…”
“I just want to be left alone, OK?” Snapped Spike, taking everyone by surprise. With that he quickly got up and walked out the door. He could feel the grin plastered on Sheen's face. He growled as he made his way down stairs and outside. He began walking through the dirt roads of Ponyville towards the park. Once there he sat down in the grass and took a deep breath.
‘Why is it always me?’ He thought, he didn't expect an answer. Letting out an explosive sigh he looked up. He scanned the sky trying to empty his mind. He watched as Pegasi flew through the air, some chasing after one another as others flew alone. He could be up there, sadly the lack of meat left his muscles weak. Letting out another sigh rubbed his eyes before looking back up. As he scanned the skies one last time something caught his eye. A brief flash of light came from high above as a jet stream came from it. It soon however disappeared. Spiked wondered what it was for a moment but shook it off, thinking that his mind was tricking him.
_________
Captain Stones PoV
I groaned as I came back to reality. I slowly opened my eyes only to quickly close them as a bright light filled my view. My body felt like it had been torn apart and reassembled multiple times and I couldn't move, paralyzed by pain. It soon began to dull allow me to at least move my head. Opening my eyes they began to adjust to the amount of light filling the room. Once they did I recognized it as the bridge. It seemed that my crew had not awoken yet however as their unconscious forms laid against the control panels.
“V-victoria, status report.” I ordered through pained breaths. However, I was only greeted by silence.
‘Great, this is the last thing I need!’ I thought. Slowly getting up I held my side as I made my way towards the helm. Slowly dragging the man sitting in the chair out I took it upon myself to move the ship into a stable orbit. Typing in various commands the vessel began to correct its trajectory. The engines have a thirty second burn, angling the Retribution into a stable orbit. Sighing in relief I sat their for a while staring out the window. The planet below the vessel was definitely different. The sun was directly above the horizon allowing an ungodly amount of light to pour in.
I turned away from the window and looked around the bridge. My crew still was unconscious. I growled a bit at his fact. Slowly standing up the pain had subsided and I began to pace around the bridge. After at least ten minutes of pacing later I walked over the the table. Pressing on the screen it lit up waiting for a command. Swiping my finger across the screen and pressing on various buttons I was able to get a image of the Leviathans structure. Nothing seemed to be damaged, however the FTL drive seemed to be offline along with two of the ship’s fusion engines.
‘That’s not that bad.’ I thought to myself. I nearly jumped when the Victoria's holograms appeared beside me. She let a giggle exit her as I stared at her with an unamused expression.
“Spooked by an hologram Captain?” She asked me, however I just ignored her question.
“Save it for later, where are we?” I ordered, crossing my arms as I stood up straight. A scowl spread across her blue face. It was common knowledge that I was an asshole at points. However, my crew is still loyal to me, even when I am a bit of a hardass. Due to Victoria's AI coding she had been programmed to be more… social than other AIs. You kind of see where this is going. I’m not one for being social thus we had some conflicts.
“Well, we are orbiting a planet in a binary star system… that’s all I know.” She said to me, I nodded in response. “And the planet itself?”
“Give me sec…” There was a moment of silence. Her face held one of concentration turning into one of confusion. “That can’t be right…” She said to no one in particular. “Sir, I think I found something that may interest you.”
The tables holographic display lifted upwards before forming a 3D map of the terrain. There was a mountain, a large forest, and what seemed to be a large formations of clouds just in the middle. However, what caught my eye was that their was city on the side of the mountain along with a small village near the forest. Hell, I even saw a train moving across what seemed to be tracks towards the city.
“A colony?” I asked.
“Negative sir, if it was it should have a spaceport or at the very least some radio transmissions. However, I’m detecting none. About the only thing that seems like decent tech is scattered around this continent.”
“And the others?”
“We would have to do a few cycles around the planet before I can be certain.”
“Alright, start scanning the surface and make a 3D map of the planet. For now I’m going to see if I can wake the crew.”
“You have a special way of going about it?” I walked over to my chair.
“Victoria, give me control the ship's intercom.” A shit eating grin spread across my face. This was going to be fun. What? I may be a disciplined soldier, but it doesn't mean I can’t have some fun. Pressing down on the intercom I cleared my throat before taking in a deep breath.
