Exiled soldiers

It's been a day since Twilight, Elegance, and Spike had woken up, and they, along with Fire team Osiris, Blue Team, Halsey, and Palmer, were at the edge of the Swords camp, waiting for a Pelican to arrive from the recently arrived and soon to be departing Infinity.

"'So, what are we allowed to know about the ship?" Elegance asked. It was decided before they left the tent that Spike and Twilight would let Elegance ask the questions.

"Just that, since it's a military ship," Buck, helmet under his shoulder, you'll be expected to follow the same as the rest of us." He then looked around. "Hey, uh, where's Resolution and Void? Thought they'd be coming with us."

"I believe that they're working on acquiring their own transportation," Halsey said. "In fact, they said they should be here soon.

As soon as the last syllable left her mouth, the roar of a Lich's engines could be heard. The nine Spartans looked back, and saw said vehicle approaching, and saw it stop over their location. Resolution exited from a side hatch, and hovered down to their location. "Transportation acquired," she said. "If you wish, you may join us. There is ample space."

"No thanks, we're good," Spike said.

"Of course," Resolution said. "Also, the vehicle's radar indicates an approaching contact that will arrive in five minutes."

"Thanks, Resolution," Tanaka said.

"Of course, Reclaimer," the Monitor said. "Before I go, Commander," she said, looking to Palmer, "you expressed an interest in permanently ensuring Void and the Soldiers under her command didn't follow the Ancilla Cortana's control, correct?"

"Yeah," Palmer replied. "Why?"

"Because the procedure can now be done," Resolution replied before she projected a holographic console. "Commander, Inheritor, if you would please put a hand on opposite sides of the console." Palmer did so, but Twilight hesitated.

"How am I supposed to do that," she asked. "I mean, it isn't solid."

"Incorrect, Inheritor," Resolution said. "It is hard light. It is not a simple projection, and is solid. Now, please, place you hand on the opposite side as the Commander's."

"Wouldn't hurt, I guess,"the unicorn said before putting her hand on it as well, surprised that she actually felt substance."

"Confirming signatures as Reclaimer and Inheritor," Resolution said. ". . . . . . Done. Soldier Captain Spirit-of-black-void and subsequent Prometheans now permanently under control of Reclaimer military and current Inheritor." The console disappeared. "Thank you," she said before she went back up to the Lich.

"That was quick," Buck said. "I mean, I get it's the Forerunners and all, but still, you'd think they'd have better security measures. What's to stop a Covenant Elite from chopping off one of our arms, and having one of Twilight's race put their hand on there?"

"Probably measures heart rate, too, Buck," Tanaka said.

"I guess," Buck said. "Still, be nice to know."

"Agreed," Vale said. "Besides, what's to stop a terrorist from doing that?"

"Enough, Osiris," Locke said. "It's done, and that's it. We can talk about the finer points when the galaxy isn't in danger, understood?"

"Yeah, we got it, Locke," Buck said. "Just having a discussion is all."

From there, the group waited four minutes before a Pelican could be seen approaching. "There's our ride," Kelly said.

The Pelican arrived shortly after and landed, the rear hatch opening. "All aboard," Buck said, and the thirteen individuals stepped on, took a seat, Twilight, Spike, and Elegance needing help with the seat straps, and the hatch closed, and the ship took off, the Lich close behind.

In the Pelican, Twilight was filled with questions, but, per the agreement with Spike and Elegance, voiced none of them herself, though Elegance did voice one. So, this is a ship you guys use?"

"Yeah," Tanaka said. "Though mostly for transport of personnel and supplies."

"Still, if you think this is impressive," Buck said, "wait until you see the larger ships like the Infinity."

"Can't wait, then," Elegance said.

"Good, because you three are gonna see it, whether you want to or not," Buck said in a joking tone.

A few minutes later, the pilot of the Pelican came on over the intercom. "Okay, people, I'll make this brief. Doctor Halsey used the Arbiter's radio to let Captain Lasky know of our. . . guests, and will meet the three of them, as well as the rest of you, when we arrive, same with the leader of the Forerunner units you're bringing with you. And just a personal word of warning to our guests, I have no idea how the crew of ship will react to you, so tread lightly for a while."

"Right," Elegance said, though she wasn't sure if the pilot heard her. "Who was that?"

"No idea," Vale said. "Infinity's population is equal to a small city, so there's a lot of the crew none of us have met yet."

"That large?" Elegance asked.

"Yep."

"Jeez," Elegance said. "Hey, uh, Twilight, what was Canterlot's population at before, well, you know?"

"Last I checked, low thousands, maybe three thousand or so."

"Yeah, Infinity has a crew more like six thousand or so."

"Whoa," Spike said. "Just how many humans are there?"

"About ten billion," Vale answered.(1)

"Ponies only have fifty thousand!" Twilight said.

"Well, to be fair, humans have colony planets, while you guys only have one," Buck said.

"Yeah, fair point," Spike said.

It was silence for a few more minutes before Elegance said, "So, um, what exactly is life like on a ship?"

Buck scoffed. "Depends. If t's' military, expect either cold or hot and terrible food with not so soft beds, and having to wake up with everyone else on your shift."

"On something a little more civilian," Vale continued, "warm food with actual taste and soft beds."

"Which is to say, you guys are getting somewhere in the middle," Buck said. "Since you're the first of your species', Brass would want ot make as good an impression as possible, so, for you guys, expect somewhat soft beds with lukewarm food that'll most likely be half shit, half delectable. Of course, that's just a guess."

"Rather a bed with a guarantee of food than a rock with little if any food the next day," Twilight said.

"Amen to that," Buck said, with a chorus of "Oh-rah"s from three of the Spartan-IIs, John remaining silent. "I can definitely speak from personal experience that any kind of bed with even piss poor terrible food is better than a rock with either no food or ration bars."

"You haven't had the worst food until you've had those," Fred said. "Just pray that if you do need to eat those, it's not for days on end."

"He's not wrong," Kelly said. "All three of us," she said, gesturing to herself, Fred, and Linda, "speak from personal experience."

"Just how bad are those ration bars?" Elegance asked.

"Imagine a piece of crap left out in the sun for a week in the summer that's infested by maggots," Buck said, "which I accidentally ate during ODST training, by the way, so I know what I'm talking about. That is no where near the taste of the ration bars, because the crap at least has taste. Horrible taste, but still taste."

"Dear Goddess," Elegance said. "That bad?"

"Oh yeah," Buck said. "Nothing I've tasted tastes worse that a ration bar, even with the so called 'improvements' made to it since the end of the war."

"I'm sure Twilight there would be able to change that," Spike said, getting a glare from the unicorn. "Give her a problem that can be solved, and she will come up with a way to fix it. She may need a week or two, but she can fix it."

"We'll keep that in mind," Tanaka said.

"So, any part of your old life you guys are ready and willing to share?" Vale asked.

"Well," Twilight started, "before we had to leave, my former friends and I were my country's greatest defense."

"That wouldn't have to do with what Resolution said yesterday, does it?" Vale asked. "You know, the six weapons that went missing and you said they were what your country used against threats?"

"Yeah," Spike said. "The six of them each controlled one of the six. Twilight had the most powerful one, but it was split from her when we left."

"Sounds like a kind of fail safe, honestly," Kelly said. "It's like UNSC nuclear missiles. You need a code to launch it. With out it, it's a dud."

"Yeah, only they can only be used when together," Elegance said. "If there's even one gone, they are all powerless."

"Okay, now that's a stupid move," Buck said.

"Yeah, in retrospect," Twilight said, "They're really as useful as the Royal Guard, which is to say for show."

"Finally, a pony sees that," Elegance said. "There's a reason why Canterlot was taken by Chrysalis' forces easily, Twilight, and it would be the guard is incompetent."

"And just what does your guard do?" Buck asked. "You know, other then just standing like a statue."

"Guard the princesses, which really don't even need it," Twilight said. "Or, at least, that's what everyone thinks, but seeing as how one of them, a friend of mine, got rid of me for a false accusation, I'm beginning to wonder just how intelligent they are."

"You and me both, Twi," Spike said.

"Wow, you really pulled a one eighty on liking your country, didn't you?" Buck asked. "Not even the Innies are that quick."

"Being betrayed by people will do that to ya," Elegance said.

"Yeah, I guess," Buck said, remembering one of his old squadmates who had turned.

There was silence for a few more minutes before the pilot came back on over the intercom. "Approaching Infinity," he said. "Don't worry, everyone's been told of visitors, and the Captain had them all leave the hanger we're heading to, so no issues there."

"Copy that," Lock said. "Prepare to disembark, Osiris."

"Not very friendly, is he?" Elegance asked.

"Only when you're ONI, a former squadmate of his, or a current one," Buck said. "Still, he's right. You guys better get ready."

"Right," Spike said. From there, it was just all of them getting ready to disembark. A few minutes later, they leaned to the side in their seats, indicating the Pelican was coming to a stop, and half were pushed into their seats, the other moving forward, for them, only slightly.

"We thank you for flying Air Infinity,"the pilot said. "And we hope that, when you next have the opportunity, you'll choose us."

"Be easy if we knew who our pilot was," Tanaka said.

"Spartan Joshua Miller, people. And no, there is no relation between me and the other Spartan Miller on board, and yes, it is confusing when Roland wants one of us and we're in the same room."

"Right," Vale said. "Isn't he part of that two man team?" she asked.

"Yeah, he is. One of them, any way" Palmer said, standing up after releasing her seat straps. "Fire Team Lone. May be a two man team, but they sure can do damage."

The main hatch then opened as the others were working on getting up, with Lasky standing just shy of the ramp. As the first stepped off, John and Locke, he said, "Welcome back, Spartans."

"Thank you, sir," they both replied.

Palmer, Halsey, Twilight, Spike, and Elegance were the last to step off.

"Palmer, good to see that you're alive," he said to the Spartan

"Going to take more than a Pelican on fire to kill me, Tom," Palmer replied.

"Of course it will," he said before addressing the doctor. "Doctor."

"Captain," was all she said before she made her way to a door on the left side of the hanger.

"Roland, make sure she doesn't do anything."

"Already on it, Captain," Roland replied over Lasky's personal radio before the Captain looked at the guests.

"So you're the three Palmer found?" he asked.

"Apparently," Spike said. "Who are you?"

"Captain Lasky, UNSC Infinity," he said. "Halsey and Vale sent recordings of you to me once we arrived, so I already know who you three are. Just thought I'd greet you personally."

"Thanks, I guess," Elegance said. "What about those machines from earlier?"

"They arrived in another hanger bay," Lasky replied. "The good doctor also informed me of that sub-routine, and I had everyone on the ship know that they aren't hostile, so you don't need to worry about them getting shot."

"Well, that's good," Elegance said. "Where are we going to be staying, anyway?"

"I'll let Vale show you there," he said. "Vale, can you show them to the VIP quarters?"

"On it, Captain," Vale replied. "Come on, guys."

"Coming," Twilight said as the four made their way to the same door Halsey had walked towards.

"As for the rest of you, take some time off," Lasky said to the Spartans. "You've definitely earned it."

"Aye aye, sir," they replied before heading to the Spartan Armor bay. Just as they left the room, another Spartan wearing Maverick armor with the Jester skin and a Buccaneer helmet with the Tyr skin under his shoulder walked in. His armor was colored cyan and brick. He had slight Asian features, tanned skin, close cropped brown hair, and blue eyes.

"What are you doing here, Ken?" Palmer asked the Spartan.

"Just came to get Josh for our next Warzone match," he said. "Teams'll be off balance if he doesn't show."

"I'm coming, Ken, just hold on," Josh said as he walked into view. His armor was that of the Raider set, and had the same colors as Ken's, helmet under his shoulder. He had light skin, not albino light, but white light without a tan, brown hair that barely met with military standard, and green eyes. "You know I was asked to fly this bird for the evac."

"Yeah, and the match is about to start, so come on," Ken said. "Specter's already there with the other two teams for red, and it'll be ten vee twelve if we don't get there before it starts."

Josh rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, come on," he said as he put on his helmet and jogged to the door that led to the holo-deck.

"I'm the one who should be saying that," Ken said as he raced after Josh.

"So, you gonna watch the match," Palmer asked.

Before Lasky could reply, Roland told him over the radio, "Halsey wants to see you, Captain. It sounded important."

"I doubt it, Palmer," he said. "Halsey wants to see me. As for you, report to medical to make sure the burns don't get infected."

"Sir," she said, and the two made their way to the same door Halsey had left, but split up upon exiting, Lasky making his way to Halsey's lab on Infinity.

It was a short walk there, as the lab was near the current hanger bay, two marines standing guard outside. They both saluted as he neared, and the door slid open, closing behind him a she walked in. "You sure found something quickly, doctor," he said.

"Not really," Halsey replied. "I found it back on Sangheilios, but was unable ot confirm it until now." She tapped a few buttons on her data pad, which sat on a table, and screen flashed on, showing a strand of DNA. "Tell me, Captain, what do you see?"

"A strand of DNA, but what does that have to do with this?"

"Everything, Captain," Halsey said. "What you are looking at is an archived genome of Fredrick from Blue team, which is to say a Spartan-II." She tapped a few more buttons, and three other gene sequences appeared. "And these are from our guests." She then pressed another button, which caused a few parts of DNA on each to light up. "And these are genes they have in common." Another press, and more lit up. "And these, which include a few of the previous, are the ones I was looking for in the screening of the Spartan-II project."

"What are you saying, Doctor?" Lasky asked.

"What I am saying, Captain," Halsey said, "is that our three guests have the potential to be Spartans."