Halo:battle for Equis

Rescue and Landfall

August 25, 2552

U.N.S.C Spirit of fire cryo bay

"Captain, wake up. Something has happened," Serina, the ship A.I said to Captain Cutter.

"Serina, mind explaining why you pulled us out of cryo sleep?" Cutter asked Serina.

"I'm sorry, Captain, but their’s three U.N.S.C ships that are in the system and one is heading towards our direction. Orders sir?" She asked

Captain Cutter thought about it for a moment and said, "Get all the crew ready for any surprise attack by the Covenant and hail the Captain of the closest ship."

Serina acknowledged and went to work. Captain Cutter was left to his thoughts, thinking if the Covenant found Earth. Or are they holding out. He heard the bridge doors open and saw the ship scientist, Ellen Anders, walk towards him.

Dr. Anders asked Cutter, "Why are we out of cryo sleep?"

"Serina detected three U.N.S.C ships in the system and one heading towards our direction. We're getting everyone ready for any surprise attack by the Covenant. What is red team’s status, Serina?" Cutter answered Ellen and asked Serina.

"Red team is ready and awaiting orders, Captain," Serina responded to Captain Cutter’s question.

"All right then. Tell the comms officer to hail the ship," Cutter said as Serina nodded and left for the communication room.

U.N.S.C Omaha hangar

To others, it would’ve been usual to see an empty hangar, but ever since the Spirit of Fire was found, it was buzzed with activity because; 1) they found the lost colony ship and 2) they found a habitable planet. Before any civilians were sent to the planet, they were sending a recon team with scientists to see if it's safe to move civilians down to the planet. As this was happening, a pelican was getting ready to depart. Viper’s team and alpha squad of Centurion-1, along with Captain Nikolai, were going to the Spirit of Fire to see the status of the ship until the Blitzkrieg and Summer Solstice come back from planet searching. Delta Decided to help the scientists move heavy equipment, until he heard a comment from a group of O.D.S.T, "Can't you believe that those stupid Spartan-3s are going to the Spirit of Fire. They're nothing but cheap versions of the Spartan 2. We should be the ones going to the ship."

Delta walked to the small group of O.D.S.T and said, "Even if they’re three's, they’re still a Spartan and Spartans always care for their own cause we're family and all we got is each other in this war. So if I hear you disrespect them again, I will not hesitate to put you in an airlock. You hear me?"

All the O.D.S.T nodded quickly and ran from the Spartan 2. After the incident, Delta resumed helping moving equipment to special pelicans that is used to carry supplies and equipment to a base. Ten minutes later the pelican carrying the Captain and his escort flew to the Spirit of Fire.

"So, do you think red team will be there?" Callie asked.

"Don't know. For all we know they might be in cryo freeze or something like that," Brandon said.

"Well, if the crew is alive, then we get an extra ship in our group," Marcus said.

"And if they're dead?" Luke asked.

"I don't know, that's up to the Captain to decide." Viper said.

After the conversation, they all waited to dock the ship, some cleaning their weapons, some thinking about the new planet they discovered and the rest stayed silent. As they felt the ship land they all got into a rectangle formation to surround the Captain if things escalated quickly. As the ramp lowered to the ground, they all saw armor, vehicles, and supplies untouched by time. They saw marines wearing armor before it was switched with the new and improved armor. Grizzly tanks and mobile AA railgun systems were also seen. They saw the original red team, Captain Cutter and Ellen Anders.

"Welcome aboard the Spirit of Fire and who do I have the pleasure of speaking to?" Captain Cutter asked.

"I am Captain Nikolai Chernov of the U.N.S.C Omaha, and I am honored to meet you Captain," Nikolai said.

"How about we have this meeting in a more private location, shall we?" Anders asked.

The two Captains agree and they, along with their escort, went to the bridge. They started talking about when they disappeared. Apparently the Spartan 3 program started a month after they were declared lost with all hands. The three Spartans gave pity to the S-3 for being used as cannon fodder. And two other projects called Centurion and Hoplite were created by using regular soldiers and giving them suits that enhanced the person’s strength without augmentation, while Hoplite needed augmentation to move the 1 ton of armor and ammunition. This got red team respect because someone had a lot of courage to use the armor. Bad part is only 50 centurion were created and 2,000 Hoplite were made before Reach was attacked.

After giving them a brief description about what happened, Nikolai was allowed to digest the information. After a while, Cutter said they are willing to have some civilians onboard to help relieve stress of supplies. After this, Captain Nikolai got a message from the Summer Solstice to head to the location that they received. After 25 minutes of getting to the location, Captain Cutter saw another Phoenix class colony ship. But something was wrong. The three ships were giving the same amount of energy as a CCS-Battle cruisers. The Omaha's Captain told him that they were given covenant slip space drives and shielding to have a chance against the Covenant. They all were talking via video screen.

"All right gentlemen, since the Spirit of Fire was found we have more space for others civilians, but now we have a bigger problem," Captain Jackson said bringing up a planet similar to theirs.

"This planet looks like Earth," Viper said.

Anya spoke up, "It's like Earth, but the inhabitants are not what you think."

Anya showed them a video of the drone getting chased by a blue blur after it crashed. It was able to get a clear shot of the creature. What they saw was a mythical creature.

"Is that an anthro pegasus?" Anders asked

"It is and its get weirder after this," Jackson said

As they continue to watch the recording, they saw a group of more ponies. Some ranging of regular ponies to 7-foot tall ponies with both horns and wings. They saw their military and they could not help but laugh.

"Are those ponies using spears and Roman armor!?” Callie asked as she laughed.

"I Believe so. By their technology they are in the bronze age," Serina said.

"But we have bigger problems than that," Nicholas said.

At that point, they all became deathly quiet and thought 'what are more problems than that’?

"Apparently while our drone was flying over cities, they saw a slave ship filled with our kind."

Everyone was now quiet. Some too shocked about what they heard while others were angry and mortified about that. But viper was thinking 'am I a slave’?

"Apparently one of our Spartans is a slave," Anya said.

All the Spartans were looking at each other until Viper spoke up.

"I am that slave, sir."

"What?!" His team shouted.

"Well, I don't know. I didn't know my true home, so it might be possible," He said.

"Regardless if you are or not, I'm not allowing any civilians down there until we find a suitable area for a settlement," Nikolai said.

After an hour of arguing, they agreed to have a firebase to observe and attack slavers if possible. Everyone agreed and started to get ready to touch down on the planet’s surface. They started to get hoplite units ready for deployment. As they were loading up, they saw Delta grabbing a piece of scrap metal and started singing before jumping to the planet below. They just shook their heads and entered the pelican. As the pelicans and mobile base were flown to the ground, they all saw a thunderstorm happening. After passing through it, they landed in a clearing of a creepy forest. They started to unload and Viper’s team left to scout out the area.

"Okay, this isn't creepy at all," Brandon said sarcastically.

Callie said, "Shut it, Brandon. We're already in slavery territory, but it doesn't mean that you have to make snarky comments." Brandon shut his mouth and they found a castle in the forest.

"Alright, I'm going inside. The rest of you head back to base. I’ll catch up," Viper said.

The team was hesitating not to leave, but they have to follow orders. As they went back to base, Viper went inside the old abandoned castle. As he went deeper into it, he couldn't stop thinking about having a pair of eyes staring at him. He enters what looks like a throne room. As he heads to the single standing throne, he felt something hit the ground behind him. His reflexes kicked in and he grabbed his smg, only for it to be removed from his hands. He turned around and saw, in his opinion, a drop dead gorgeous mare with cat slit eyes and a flowing mane with stars in it.

"What do we have here?" The mysterious mare asked

"Who are you?" Viper asked her.

"Well, for starters, I'm Nightmare Moon, The Mistress of Night," Nightmare Moon said.

"Who?" Viper asked, confused.

"How do you not know me? I tried to declare eternal night on Equis long ago," she said.

"Look lady, I don't know who you are or what you did, but I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Viper and I am with the U.N.S.C. If you want, you could come with me to talk to the Captain of our ship, Captain Jackson," Viper said.

Nightmare Moon was thinking about it until she agreed and went to him, but during the walk, she thought about him. ‘Why is he on my mind, I should be thinking on what to do next, but he is a handsome stallion. I wonder if he would go out with me’. As that thought passed, she followed him to the base.