Chapter 8 : Sandstorm.

(Author’s note: if you want to better understand the size differences of the spaceships later in the chapter, please click this link. http://halofanforlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/StarShip-comp-w-UNSC-Infnity3_sm1.jpg )

War is a terrible thing, people die. It might be a short war that is over after fifteen minutes, but people still die.

Death is something that Isaac had feared for a long time, he could honestly say that he isn't scared of it anymore. He had learned to respect death, especially after he's had the luck of escaping it so many times as he did.

He didn't fear it anymore, but the others... He couldn't know if they feared it, or welcomed it. He couldn't imagine sending them to a war that isn't their own, for them to fear death, and to fear dying for a cause that isn't their own.

Isaacs thoughts was interrupted by Rainbow dash walking into the meeting hall, followed by Pinkie pie, who were shoving the bright blue pony in front of her as both of them were laughing and giggling.

Isaac sat in his chair, quiet. He greeted his crew members but stayed silent as they got into the room, one by one, and in Twilights and Estens case, they arrived as a pair, chatting about something on the bridge.

When they had settled down, they looked at Isaac, waiting for him to start talking.

Isaac took a deep breath and spoke to Ilsa.

"Ilsa, please inform the crew about Arrakis, and the situation that has arisen there."

The screen on the wall next to the large table flickered to life and showed a dark orange coloured planet, slowly rotating on its axis.

"Arrakis is an arid desert planet that oribts the star Canopus, which is located in the Carina star system. The star Canopy is located 96 parsecs from the terrans homeplanet "Terra". And Terra itself is now localed 2487 parsecs from our position; it will take a few days to reach it with hyperspace travel."

The others gave the screen and Isaac a few confused looks, but Isaac nodded to tell them to keep watching.

Ilsa continued.

"Arrakis is the home planet of the Shai-hulud sand worms, who mostly inhabit the deep sand dunes of the north and south poles, and the valuable spice melange and various other minerals that are mined out from under the sands and out of the mountains.

Terrans have controlled this planet for many decades, but now an alien race, called the jeckylleans, have attacked the planet in order to colonize it and get control of the valuable minerals found there. In answer, the terrans are sending a battle fleet to take the planet back. "

Isaac breathed calmly as the Ilsas transmission ended and his crew turned to him.

He spoke to Ilsa again, now telling her that she could go back to auto-piloting the Nordin. He then looked at his crew members.

"As you heard, Terrans and Jeckylleans are at war. The planet Arrakis has been attacked, and the terrans are sending a battle fleet in response."

Spike looked at him with a piercing look in his eyes, almost like he was suspecting that Isaac was hiding something.

"So what has this got to do with us? We're just a band of mercenaries after all, we don't really fly under anyones flag."

Isaac stood up from his chair and started to walk slowly around the large table.

"I want to support my fellow terrans in this war. I want to go to

Arrakis and defend what we own. I'm not expecting you to fight for a cause that isn't yours, and I don't expect you to be willing to go with me."

He stopped at the end of the table and leaned upon it, both of his hands resting on the plane surface.

"Whether you want to go with me to Arrakis or not, I will go there. And I will leave the Nordin with you until I get back. If I get back."

There was a moment silence, the others were digesting what Isaac had just said. None of them looked shocked, or even sad that they might never see him again if they chose not to come with him.

Rainbow dash was the first one to speak up in her normal, competing tone.

"I am surprised that you even think that I, Rainbow dash, will let you go there and build on your kill count without me? Forget it Captain, you'll still have to watch out for me!"

Her trademark smirk, made him smile slightly, but he didn't respond to her as Spike spoke up.

"I'll follow you to the edge of the galaxy and back, I wouldn't be able to sleep if I had to think of you on the battlefield, without me to protect you."

This caused the others to laugh, except Isaac, who were looking at him with an "oh you" look.

Esten stood up and walked over to Isaac, wrapping his arm around his shoulders.

"I think that everyone here has already made their mind up about this. And so have I."

Isaac turned his head and looked at his old friend.

"What have you gotten into your old green head now?"

Esten chuckled and patted Isaacs shoulder.

"I'm coming with you; I miss being out on the field, and especially being in the field with you. And I think that it will be another adventure, taking the field with our new crew."

...

Spike was sitting in his room by his own. At the moment he was looking at his bionic arm, turning it around and looking closely as he clenches his fist and moved the fingers individually.

He could honestly say that he didn't understand the medical science behind how it worked, but it was intriguing to know that somehow the electrodes in the bionic arm was connected to the nerves in the rest of his body. Of course he could not feel anything in the arm; you could smash it with a fucking hammer and he wouldn't even notice it... unless it had left any dents, then he would come after you. But don't worry, this is a fictional story, not chutulu witchcraft.

(note from the author: speaking of witchcraft, if people ask questions about the wierd stuff that happened in chapter 3, I don't know anything, and YOU don't know anything, okay? Good. Carry on.)

He stopped his very non-scientific study of his bionic arm and looked out of the window. Hyperspace was swirling around outside, it would be almost two days before they arrived at Terra. Spike was excited to see the planet where all Terrans originated from, since Isaac didn't really talk that much about it.

They wouldn't stay there for long if they were going to tag along with the terran battle fleet, but at least they could take a quick look at the planet from orbit.

Isaac hadn't been willing to tell him much about his homeworld, but the little he had told Spike about the huge oceans and the continents, made him imagine it being a large, clear blue pearl with small specks of green, floating serenely in the timeless whirls of space, orbiting around its star.

His thoughts went back to Isaac, his home planet wan't the first thing he didn't talk much about. How he got his eye for example, he did tell them all about how he got it, but there was no details, just a quick story, he was younger and his eye got shot out, it was basic at best.

Something about Isaac being so closed about himself and his past bothered Spike. He knew that it was rude to intrude on other peoples personal issues, but he wanted to know more; they were a pair after all. Maybe not official yet, but still a pair.

To be quite honest, Spike himself was not sure that the others didn't know. Him and his partner had spent most of their time showing each other affection, in Isaacs room, or sitting in the virtual reality machines, so there wasn't really obvious that they were affectionate in such a way. But still, he was sure that none of the others would object or butt into it, if they even cared, especially Twilight.

Twilight had been his friend back on their home planet Equestria, and she was the one that got him the gig at the imperial liner. She had always been there for him when he had a problem or something like that.

He looked out the window again, the hyperspace swirling outside. Maybe he should tell Twilight, sit down and talk with her, he thought.

He stood up and walked out of his room. The door made a soft swooshing noise as it opened and closed when he walked through. He headed down the hallway, towards Twilights room.

He noticed Isaac and Rainbow dash standing in the hallway, leaning against the wall as they were chatting about something that he couldn't quite hear, not that he tried

As he walked past them, he felt a light spank on his butt, followed by snickering from the both of them. He smiled to himself and continued down the corridor, heading for Twilights room.

He knocked on the door, and it didn't even take a second before he heard Twilights voice behind it.

"Come in, I'm just gonna put some stuff away."

Spike stepped in and saw Twilight putting some small electronic devices into a cupboard above her bed. Her room was designed differently than his. His bed was located on the right side of the room, with a desk on the other side, the cupboards above it and the window on the side.

Twilights room was not too different, just that the cupboards was above
the bed instead of over the desk, and the desk was facing the window.

Twilight closed the cupboards and turned to her long time friend, a warm smile across her face.

"Hey there Spike, what's going on? Getting worked up over joining the Terrans in their war? Personally I think it will be very interesting to see their own spaceships, weapons, their strategies, everything really."

Spike chuckled at her, ever the researcher she was. Couldn't leave anything connected knowledge within her reach without her trying to go through it, study it, and learn from it.

"Yeah, i'm a bit excited, but nervous as well." Spike started as the door closed behind him. "It's war after all, we have our reasons to be a bit queasy of the thought. But that isn't why I came here."

Twilight sat down in the chair next to the desk, and Spike took his seat on the bed.

"I'm always here for you Spike, so what's up? What’s on your mind?"

Spike rubbed his hands against each other, quickly pulling his thoughts together.

"The thing I wanted to tell you is... Well, you might already know, im not sure if you and the others have noticed. You can never be too sure about these things. Plus that there could be rumours going around and-"

Twilight interrupted him. "Spike, get to the point, you're waffling again."

He sighed and looked down. "Allright... Me and Isaac... We love each other. You know, we eat together, drink together, train together, we even sleep together. I love him Twilight. And I want you to know, since you are the closest friend I have, and I hope that you'll accept our love."

Twilight looked at him for a while, she didn't seem shocked, nor did she seem like she had always known, she looked neutral.

The lack of reaction made Spike feel uneasy. He felt a droplet of sweat run down his back as he waited for her to answer.

"I can honestly say that I do not care who you love and why. But I also don't understand why. The man is a brute, we all know that. He kills for money, but so do we, but he has been shaped by it, it has forever become a part of him. Killing others for personal gain."

Twilight looked at her friend with piercing eyes. Those eyes were something he had always feared; once she looked at you like that, she could get the truth out of you, no matter how deep you hid it. Or she wouldn't hold anything back in telling YOU the truth.

She continued.

"When he is with us on missions I have seen something in him that perplexes me. But I have finally figured out what it is, he has a passion, and a deep love for what he does. He feels free, and he keeps that to his heart. And he does so with you too. I have seen him, I have seen him with you. He feels the same about you, a fiery passion and love."

Spike looked up at her, not knowing what to say. "Twilight I-"

She held up a hand to silence him.

"He will love you more than he loves himself Spike, I can see it in his eyes, and he will protect you with his life. He is our captain, but me and him have grown to be good friends. Please, make him as happy as he makes you."

Spike smiled at her. She was special, the most special friend he'd ever had. He nodded and stood up.

"You know I'll make sure he stays with me, and I'm not gonna leave him any day soon, or ever. Thank you for accepting us. You're a great friend."

Twilight smiled back at him, and stood up, giving him a hug. " You are too. Now, I think you need some sleep. At least I do."

Spike nodded and walked out of the room. He felt himself yawn. He would need a long, deep sleep after this.

He walked back through the hallway, heading to his room. Isaac and Rainbow dash were still talking. He wondered what they had been talking about for so long. Not that it mattered to him, let them talk.

As he walked past them he saw Isaac give Rainbow dash a pat on the shoulder before he started to follow Spike. When Spike felt a hand grab his behind he chuckled and gave his boyfriend a smile.

The long, deep sleep would have to wait.

...

Once again the crew of the Nordin was sitting in the meeting hall. Not for a briefing this time, but to get ready for the jump out of hyperpace, and to vote for what they wanted to call their group when they arrived at Terra. After a while of laying forth suggestions and voting, they all agreed to calling their group "Assault team Stingray".

They were all chatting and laughing when Ilsas voice rang through the speakers in the room.

"Captain, we leave hyperspace in T-minus five. I would recommend that those who want to observe the planet in orbit should look through the windows. We're out of hyperspace in T-minus three."

This new information made the group run towards the windows, everyone except Isaac and Esten. They walked slowly towards the window, they were keeping their attention on the others, wanting to see the others reaction.

Ilsa spoke again, and the whirling hyperspace outside the window slowly transformed from whirling clouds, to regular space.

"Hyperspace jump complete in T-minus one. We have now arrived at Terra."

Spike, Rainbow dash, Twilight, Pinkie pie, Applejack, Fluttershy and

Rarity were all amazed at the sight before them.

Terra, the homeplanet of Isaac was as Spike had imagined it, a blue pearl with white and green specks on it. Around the planet however was something that looked like a ring, of epic proportions.

From what Spike could see, the large ring was attached to the planets surface with something that looked like energy pillars surrounded by large black wire looking materials.

Twilight turned around to Isaac, the researcher twinkle in her eyes woken to life.

"What is that ring? And what is that pillar?"

"That." Isaac started, piking his finger on the window.

"That is the Terran shipyards. That ring is a massive factory creating all kinds of ships. Freighters, transports, fighters, massive military ships, you name it. And that energy pillar is one of many space elevators, transporting people and materials to the ring, aswell as keeping it attached and powered up, so that it wont crash into the planet. Our gravity is a bit odd like that."

"So its all just a massive workplace?" Rainbow dash asked, taking a long look at the ring before turning her gaze to some other spaceships that flew by.

"Not just a workplace, Dash. People live there aswell. There might be fifty billion terrans living on the planet, but there are close to ten billion, as far as I know, that live on the shipyard ring."

As Isaac spoke,their ship was suddenly cast in shadows, and the reason for it was just as amazing as the shipyeard ring itself.

Above them, a massive ship blocked out the the light that the sun was shining onto the Nordin.

All of them gasped at the sight of this. And Spike was the only one who spoke.

"Holy guacamole!"

Isaac gave a wide smile, feeling proud at the marvels that his fellow terrans had managed to create.

"That my friends, is the UNSC 'Goliath'. An 'Infinity' class cruiser. one of the largest ships in this part of the galaxy. An 'infinity' cruiser is always a part of a battle cluster. Meaning itself, two 'Phoenix' class frigates, four 'Halcyon' class cruisers and four 'Charon' class frigates."

He let out a chuckle after he had spoken. " I find it kind of funny that they say that terra will send a 'small' fleet in response of the invasion of Arrakis."

Applejack turned around and looked at him with a sceptical look on her face.

"It's funny that you send a small fleet? I should've sent a large one if I was in charge."

Esten nodded pointed up at the battle cluster, which was the Goliath and the other frigates and cruisers going with it, above them.

"He thinks it's funny because, one 'small' fleet, consists of fifty battle clusters."

The mentioning of fifty clusters like the one above them made the whole crew turn around to look at the both of them.

"Fifty, of THAT?" Rarity asked, not believeing it.

"Fifty, a total of fivehundred and fifty battle ships. " Isaac answered, a proud, wide grin now adorning his face.

"I want you all to have all your things ready for when we jump with the fleet to Arrakis, when we arrive we might have to drop immideately to establish a foothold on the planets surface. I intend for us to go with the first wave to land on the planet, but for now, I'll have to speak to the admiral of the Goliath."

Isaac turned and walked over to one of the monitors, and the others sat down in the chairis around the table.

"Ilsa, please contact the admiral of the Goliath for me."

"Yes captain, sending an audience request to the Goliath now."

For a while, there was silence as they waited for the response that the admiral of the Goliath might have. Then it came.

"Captain, the admiral of the Goliath will grant an audience."

The screen flickered and a man with brown hair, green eyes and a tall stature appeared on it.

"I am admiral Miguel Winters of the Goliath, I heard that you have requested my presence... Isaac."

Isaac smiled at Miguel, a warm, friendly smile, which looked like the kind one would give an old friend that you haven't seen in a while.

"Hello Miguel, how are you doing, brother?"

Not even Esten was prepared for this, which showed, since he visibly froze for a few seconds. And the others, well, they always get shocked about stuff Isaac doesnt tell them.

Miguel sighed, and he sounded a bit annoyed.

"Make this quick Isaac, my battle cluster have to join a fleet heading for Arrakis near Mars, I can't stay here and chit chat with you all day."

"You wont." Isaac said as his smile faltered.

"The others here are my crew of mercenaries. We are the assault team Stingray, and we're signing up for military duty in the Arrakis conquest."

Miguel looked at his brother for a second, then he crossed his arms.

"Are you sure this is what you want to do? What thay want to do?"

"We've talked this through, we all know what we're up against. Give us a spot in the first wave on Arrakis, and i'll be grateful."

Miguel nodded at his request, but held up a finger as he continued to make a point.

"On one condition. Your ship will be in military service, which means that your team will be flown down to the planet by a pelican, and we'll use your ship in orbit. Is that understood?"

Isaac looked over at Esten, who gave him a quick nod.

"I understand, I'll inform our AI, ASAP."

"Good." Miguel continued.

"I'll send your AI the number of the available hangar for you to land in, during the time in hyperspace while we travel, we'll give you weapons and gear for you to use. Along with that, we'll send pilots and marines in there to inspect the ship and to get accustomed to the controls and the AI."

"It all sounds fine brother." Isaac said and looked at his brother, who seemed eager to end their conversation early.

"I'll contact you once you're inside the Goliath. Miguel out."

The screen turned off when the call ended, leaving the crew in an awkward silence.

"I didn't know you had a brother," Applejack pointed out as she leaned back in her chair.

"Wondering why I haven't told you?" Isaac looked at her with a neutral expression.

"I know it's not my business to be snooping, but yeah, why haven't you told us you had a brother?"

He shrugged and walked over to his chair and sat down in it, nonchalantly leaning back.

"Oh I don't know, me and my brother haven't talked for long, and the times we do talk, it's not very good. I figured that it wasn't important."

Applejack looked at him for a second, and then she leaned back herself, nodding.

"Yeah, I suppose. It hasn't affected anything that's happened so far."

Applejack stood up and walked out of the meeting hall with nothing more to say.The others followed her lead and left one by one, going back to their rooms or disrupted activity they were up to before getting called to the meeting hall.

Isaac turned to the screen on the wall, looking the his reflection in the dark black glass.

"Ilsa, Miguel has sent you the coordinates to the available hangar on the Goliath, am I right?"

"Yes captain, I am moving us into position now. We will arrive in a little while."

"Good, and please, do me a favour. When the pilots and soldiers from the Goliath arrive, please treat them like you would treat me and the crew, okay?"

"I'll do my best, I might even attempt making some new friends."

Isaac chuckled at this as he walked out of the room. A lot of things have changed, and now Ilsa was starting to change. All he could do was to hope that it all was for the better.

...

The Nordin had made a slow landing into the hangar on the Goliath. Ilsa had hadled the ship without fault, as always, but still Esten could notice that she was a bit off. He noticed that she was nervous.

It was peculiar to him, she was nothing more than a hologram built into a machine, an AI that was created to control machinery and electronics in a way that regular sentient beings ever could. Sure she was made by using human DNA, to give her personality, but machines shouldn't feel fear, or attachment to anyone. At least not outside authority, admirals, captains, and so on.

The attachment he could see that she had to Isaac, himself, and their crew...

He wouldn't say that it scared him, or even worried him, but he had realized that Ilsa was more human than he had thought. Maybe she was more human than her creators had intended her to be.

In any case, he understood what she went through. She was scared that the crew or someone in the crew would die, leaving her and the others grieving. He knew that she would grieve the loss of any crew member, after this was all over he would talk regularly to her. Ask her to help, make her feel needed.

When the Nordin had landed, the crew was met by six UNSC soldiers in the hangar. The soldiers were a bit shocked that the only human on the ship was Isaac, and that the others were Equestrians, a dragon and a rodian.

As they walked out of the ship to get re-geared and get their intel

Spike overheard some of the UNSC talking. One of them, a shorter, but robust soldier with a buzz-cut was chuckling, his head turned to his friend next to him.

"Like these grass eating cows can even help us. I bet they'll run around on that dustbowl, looking for any grass to chew on."

Spike took a step towards him and raised his binonic arm, lifting the guy up by the neck.

"I might choose to chew on YOU if I get hungry, how's that for a grass eating cow?"

The soldier coughed and struggled, in the process he started to slam his fist down on Spikes arm, of course not doing any damage.

The soldier’s friends froze for a second in shock before they charged at Spike, grabbing his arms, trying to get him off their friend before he choked him to death.

"Hey, get off him! Let him go!"

Isaac walked over to them and pushed his fists into Spikes sides, making him shout out and release the soldier, which made the others take a step back.

"Spike, what the hell!"

Isaac reprimanded him, and the girls were standing behind him, giving Spike, and those he had struggled with very dirty looks.

Spike frowned and turned to Isaac.

"What do you mean? He talked shit."

Isaac grabbed the dragons shoulder firmly and looked into his eyes.

"Maybe so, but if you start fights over WORDS, I'll GIVE you shit, understood?"

Spike nodded slowly.

" Yes captain."

Isaac let go of Spike and turned to the soldiers.

"And you guys. IF you don't show some respect to non humans wanting to fight on your side, I'll make sure that admiral Winters demotes you to toilet cleaning, you hear me?"

The soldier that Spike had choked chuckled.

"Yeah right, Winters doesn't listen to any chump that comes waltzing into his ship. 'captain'."

Isaac smiled and walked up to him, his face now inches from the soldiers.

"Captain WINTERS to you soldier. I'll talk to my brother in a few minutes. I hope you like scrubbing toilets."

They all stared at him with wide eyes, now realizing that they were in deep shit, almost literally.

Isaac turned arond and headed towards the door leading out of the hangar, his crew following him closely.

They walked through the halls filled with soldiers, marines and engineers that were heading to their bunks or their duties.

Pinkie pie was looking around, and as always a smile was on her face.

"I'm so happy that i'll be helping these men and women out. I mean, just me being here won't really change the outcome of the war, but helping people is still fun."

"Why, you're awfully exited." Rarity chuckled.

"You do know that this is war, and not some regular contract?" She asked, looking over at her friend.

"Of course silly, thats why its even more fun to help, in the most dangerous of situation, we will be helping those who need it the most."

"That proved it to me." Applejack said to her, over her shoulder.

"You are crazy, Pinkie."

The pink mare giggled.

"Yeah, I'm a crazy, crazy-pants."

"Calm down now girls." Isaac said to them in a loud voice, trying to be heard over all the other noise around them.

"We'll be meeting Miguel in here, in his office. He is an admiral after all, so we'll have to show him respect."

The door opened with a low swoosh as they went inside.In front of them sat Miguel Winters. Except some differences in the face and hair colour, he looked like his brother, and if he had tried to stifle a smile, he failed. He stood up and walked over to Isaac, giving him a big hug.

"Brother, I have missed you. How have you been?"

Isaac smirked, placing his hand on Miguels shoulder.

"I've been as I've always been. Close to being killed, earned money for killing others, but in the end, I feel good."

Miguel let out a laugh.

"The difference between you and me is that I don't get a new contract each time I have to kill."

"We're not so different after all then." Isaac pointed out, looking straight into his brothers eyes.

Miguel gave a respectful huff and looked over his brothers shoulder and looked at Isaacs companions.

"So who are your friends, I only got a far away look at them when we talked earlier. Introduce us."

Isaac took a step back.

"These are my crewmembers. Esten, Spike, Rainbow dash, Twilight

Sparkle, Pinkie pie, Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy."

When their names got mentioned, one by one they shook hands with the admiral, who in turn said his own name and gave them a warm smile.

They were interrupted by a beeping sound, and a male voice that spoke.

"Admiral, we have reached Mars, the rest of the fleet is ready to jump to hyperspace, so are we. We need you at the bridge urgently."

Miguel sighed.

"I'll be there immediately, Vince. Get her running"

He turned to his visitors with an apologetic tone in his voice.

"That's my call. Get back to your ship, we'll be in hyperspace any minute now."

As on queue, an alarm went through the ship. Causing everyone abord to return to their rooms and positions.

"Warning, hyperspace jump imminent in T-minus ten. Get to your stations. I repeat, hyperspace jump imminent!"

This cause all the soldiers in the immideate area to hurry up to their destinations.

The admiral looked at Isaac and his crew.

"It'll take us five days to reach Arrakis in hyperspace. Your assault team will be with the first landing parties when we arrive. You'll go with fireteams Charlie and Omega."

Isaac nodded.

"Understood admiral, we'll give them hell!"

Miguel headed out of the room, and our friends did aswell, heading back to the hangar and into the Nordin.

Outside of the Goliath, a myriad of other Infinity class ships were gathered, all with their accompanying cruiser and frigate class ships.

It was so serene looking at it all. The armade of spaceships floating in space above the bright red planet we know as Mars, which was now inhabited with vast colony complexes and landing sites on the surface.

At first, one after the other, the large terran battleships jumped into hyperspace, but soon all of them were gone in bright flashes, seeming to all dissapear at the same time, into the vast emptyness of space.

...

Arrakis, the sand planet, home to the Shai-hulud and the mineral Spice melange, was spinning slowly around its axis, the great sand plains on the surface like big, bright yellow and orange

Even though it had been attacked, the space around orbit seemed calm, the Jeckyllean corvettes and cruisers that were patrolling, looked

almost beautiful in the glare of the nearby sun. Their dark black rounded bulks and thick hull glistening in the sunlught as they went, slowly doing their march around the planet.

But as we know, they were in for a big surprise.

When the first of the UNSC ships were about to jump out of hyperspace, the sensors on all the Jeckyllian ships lit up like christmas trees.

First one or two at a time, but then more than ten at once, the infinity class UNSC cruisers and all the following frigates came on through hyperspace, cluttering up a large plot of the orbit.

In a few moments, the cruisers were engaged in battle. Missiles, lazers and plasma turrets opening fire.

The fighters were also in motion, flying in formations as they ready themselves for battle.

Assault team stingray sat inside a pelican landing ship, waiting for their drop. They had been equipped with UNSC gear and weapons, standard for any teams that works with or under the UNSC.

Isaac walked past his crew and a few UNSC soliders that were sitting in the pelicans seats, and headed towards the cockpit.

"Pilot?" He asked, getting the pilots attention.

"Yes Captain?" She answered, pressing buttons and turning gauges, preparing for takeoff.

"Where will we be landing, and what's our objective?"

The pilot turns a few more gauges, which makes the pelican start to shake slightly and the engines rev up.

"Your team is going to be landed at Cielago west. Your objective is to destroy a jeckyllean outpost before they manage to build a fortifiable base there. This will help in clearing the way to Arrakeen, the capitol of Arrakis."

Isaac nodded and turned around, heading back out to the others sitting in the seats.

As he walked out, the pelican shook and the hatch in the end of the ship closed, as they took off, flying down towards the sand planet below.

"Alrright, team."

Isaac started, to get the others attention as he briefed them.

"We're going down together with fireteam Charlie and fireteam Omega, we're landing in Cielago west. Our mission is to make a crater out of a jeckyllean outpost. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir!" Isaacs team and the UNSC soldiers answered in unison.

"Good! Let's give them hell!"

The Pelican shook as they came into orbit, and once they had descended low enough, the boarding hatch opened, giving the passengers a clear view of the outside.

Pelicans landed in certain spots, soldeirs and different vehicles coming out of them. Twilight noticed a few pelicans that carried something that looked like some sort of truck and one that carried a big tank.

She gasped as a jeckyllean fighter jet flew past and blew the pelican into pieces, causing the wreckage to fall down into the sand dunes, almost crushing terran soldiers undearneath it. The enemy fighter jet was almost immediately pursued by the terran fighter jets that had escorted the pelicans down, they flew away in the distance, their deadly dogfight dissapearing over the horizon.

Their pelican picked up speed, leaving the sight of the landing terrans and the downed landing craft behind them in the dust.

Isaac turned on his earpiece and spoke into the small microphone attatched to it.

"This is assault team Stingray. Charlie, Omega, did you guys survive?"

After a second a voice came through, answering his question.

"Omega here, we came through clean, Fireteam Charlie is following close behind. Charlie will land with you Stingray, and we'll land on the other side of the outpost, flanking them. The fact that you'll be more on your side might make them send less soldiers our way, might be a chance for us to break through. Charlie will bring a warthog, so make sure you plant a flare, so they'll find you. good luck gentlemen!"

As their pelican kept flying, Twilight noticed a large machine standing in the sand, abandoned, with a large dig site next to it. She turned to one of the human soldiers across from her.

"What is that thing?" She asked, and pointed to the large machine.

"That's a Krupp bagger minig rig!" He answered, turning to look at it himself.

"That thing costs one hundred million credits to build. And it can mine a quarter million tons per day."

Twilight nodded in understanding. "That's why it's used in mining operations, right?"

"Yeah." The soldier replied.

"That's the most effective mining rig invented so far in the galaxy!"

Suddenly, the pilot demanded their attention through the speakers, the pelican making a sharp turn.

"Allright team, no more chit chat, get ready for landing, we're closing in on the LZ. We'll have to get down on the ground fast, we don't want them shooting us down. I've gotten intel that command will drop us some Spartans to make sure this place is cleaned up properly. Don't let your guard down just because we'll have Spartans! They are hard to take down, but they're also mortals, like us! Take care down there guys, and give them one from me!"

The pelican slowed down and made a turn, which gave its passengers a view of some small fortifications in the sand in front of them, and the purple skinned jeckylleans running around between them.

From this distance, and clad in their armour, the jeckylleans had a close resemblance to purple skeletons in military suits.

The pelican sank down to the sand, and Isaac started shouting out orders.

"Allright, move, move, move!"

They all grabbed their rifles and ran out into the sand plain, heading for some rocky outcrops that would work as cover for them. As they ran towards them, one of the human soldiers running next to Esten got hit and fell down dead in the sand, his blood slowly painting it dark red.

The jeckyllean spike guns wasn't powerful in the way a bullet was, but the nails, the size of an index finger, could do much damage if they penetrated your chest and torso.

Isaacs crew and the remaining UNSC soldiers leapt for the rocky outcrops, and found themselves behind cover. Once again, Isaac started to shout out orders, turning his rifles safety off.

"Spike, Twi, Fluttershy, shoot at the left flank! Rarity, RD, Pinkie, you shoot their right flank, this'll cause them to cower in the middle where Esten, Applejack and I'll pick them off!"

He turned to the UNSC soldier and pointed to a position behind them.

"You, put up a flare where fireteam Charlie can see it! We'll be needing that warthog!"

He turned back, patted Estens shoulder and turned his head to Applejack.

"Allright, us three, let's lets pick these purple fucks off!"

The jeckylleans had opened fire at them already, the spikes from their guns clattering against the rocks and sticking to the sand when they didn't hit their mark.

Assault team Stingray answered with their own volley of bullets.

As ordered, they all shot at the flanks, while Isaac, Esten and AJ shot at the jeckylleans in the middle of the small outpost. After some of them had died, the jeckyllean soldiers started to move towards the middle, huddling behind the small concrete walls that they had started to build, for cover.

A popping sound was heard behind them and a dark green smoke started to pour out from the flare that the soldiers had placed in the sand.

Isaac stopped shooting and sat down behind the large rock. He turned his microphone on and spoke into it, doign his best to make sure that he was heard over the gunshots.

"Fireteam Charlie, this is Assault team Stingray. We''ve placed a flare for your arrival, what's your ETA?"

"Hearing you loud and clear, Stingray. We'll be there in two minutes, hang tight! Show those purple balloon animals who they're dealing with!"

"Roger that, Stingray out!"

Isaac turned back and opened fire again, shooting down an enemy when he hit it in the shoulder, but he had to keep his head down, and this caused a small rain of jeckyllean spikes to rain down on him.

The second pelican with fireteam Charlie on board swooped over them, casting its shadow on them, and while it swooped around them it also drew the enemies fire towards it, giving Isaac and his team a second to reload safely and to get ready for the next strike.

The pelican dropped the warthog it had carried with it next to the rocky outcrops, then it swung around, and fireteam Charlie came charging out.

The other team came running down the sands, heading towards the others, but the jeckylleans realized what was going to happen if they allowed these reinforcements to reach the others.

They had already had to split their forces to deal with another group of humans that had landed on the other side of them, forcing them to fight on two sides, and they were not willing to give one of the sides an advantage against them.

Suddenly, all of the jeckyllean soldiers that were fighting against Isaacs team, stared to shoot at fireteam Charlie, forcing the group to fall back and lie down among the sand dunes, not to get mowed down by their spikes.

"They're pinned down!"

Applejack exclaimed, firing at the jeckylleans, sadly not hitting anyone of them as they cowered behind their small concrete walls .

Isaac groaned.

"I know, but we can't get to them, or else we'll be mowed down!"

Esten looked at the warthog that had been dropped next to them. It had a machine gun turret attatched to it on the back. This gave him an idea.

Twilight noticed that he crouched down and did the duckwalk over to one of the UNSC soldiers. The soldier nodded and both of them stood up and started running. She couldn't understand why, since standing up in itself was a death trap at the moment.

When Esten and the soldier got to the warthog and jumped in, she understood what they were up to.

As Esten climbed up into the machinegun turren on the back, she stood up and shouted at him.

"Esten don't! you'll get killed!"

The warthog roared and drove through the sand dunes, heading towards the jeckylleans, spraying sand around it as it went.

Twilight suddenly felt herself get pushed over, along with the sound of the enemies nails flying around her.

When she looked up, Applejack was looking down at her, visibly angry at her.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed !?"

She looked up at her friend as she pulled her up with a firm grip of her arm. She tried to defend herself as both of them huddled behind the rocky outcropping again.

"I had to stop him, they will get gunned down!"

Applejack had her head down as the enemy nails kept raining around them, before quickly looking up above the rocks, firing a few rounds at the enemies and then went back down again.

"Esten knows what he's doing, getting yourself killed will not help one bit!"

The rattling of a machinegun was heard, and both of them peeked over the rocks to look.

The warthog was moving at full speed towards the enemy, and Esten was letting the machinegun turret rip, the bullets raining down onto the Jeckyllean soldiers, . It looked like they were going to drive right into the outpost and clear out some of the jeckylleans, and to pull the attention towards themselves so that fireteam Charlie could reach their own team.

But those ideas would soon be buried beneath the very sands upon which they fought.

A grenade that was thrown by the jeckylleans exploded close behind the warthog, making it flip over and fly into the jeckyllean outpost.

It crashed behind one of the concrete walls, landing upside down.

Twilight gasped as she saw this, and she let out a short scream as the jeckylleans ran up to the warthog and opened fire.

After a few seconds, they moved away from the wreckage and turned back to their concrete walls.

Twilight let out another scream.

"Esten, no!"

Isaac ran up to her and grabbed her, holding her back as she tried to run away from the rocks and charge the enemy by herself.

"Twi! Don't! We'll find him! We'll get him out of there, but you cant run out there!"

During this moment of discraction, fireteam Charlie had reached assault team Stingray, but they still held their position behind the rocky outcrops, they saw no safe way to charge the enemy without being gunned down.

A shadow was cast upon them. They looked up and saw another pelican fly overhead. But that wasn't all they could see.

The pelican left three small dots behind it, which grew larger and larger.

After a few seconds, Isaac recognized what they were, and noticed that they were falling towards the enemy outpost.

"Spartans!"

This made the soldiers of team Charlie to cheer. Isaac shared their entuziasm, the spartans were some of the best soldiers that exited amongst all the terran systems.

"When they land, we move in, get ready!" Isaac ordered and reloaded his rifle, throwing the empty cartridge in the sand near his feet.

The swooshing sounds coming from the three armoured spartans falling towards the enemies grew louder and louder. With an impact that shook the ground and a dust cloud that followed, they finally landed.

When the large cloud of dust settled, three armour clad giants stood up, their lenght close to two meters. Their helmets had visors that, just like their armour, glared in the sunlight.

As they opened fire against the jeckylleans, Isaacs team and fireteam Charlie charged and ran through the sand towards the spartans.

...

Esten groaned, he had slammed his head into the machinegun when the warthog flipped over. His head felt swollen, and more correctly his right eye had taken a beating, which had made it swell up, so he couldn't see with his right eye at the moment.

He coughed and spit some sand out of his mouth. He raised his head a bit and looked around. The warthog had landed on top of him, but the machinegun turret had shielded him and bent almost all the way down under the weight of the vehicle, so he was lying in a small hole of sand with the machinegun turret above him as a roof.

He groaned and started to dig beside him, shoveling handful after handful of sand out of the way.

After a little while, he had made a hole big enough for himself to crawl out of. the battle was ensuing outside, but from what he could see, the terrans had now managed to get into the jeckyllean outpost, and taken the battle into the enemies "lair" itself, but the jeckyellans still had his friends pinned down behind a concrete wall, and three large armour clad soldiers had their hands full with picking off jeckylleans that circled around them.

It was obvious that fireteam Omega still fought against the enemy on the other side of the outpost, since it seemed that most of the jeckyllean soldiers were fighting against his team and fireteam Charlie.

He turned around and looked at the machinegun turret, aside from the large stand that the machinegun itself was fastened upon, it was intact. Maybe a few kicks would crack the stand so that he could pick up the gun itself.

He moved himself to a better spot, where he could see the turret completely. He lifted his leg and kicked. Nothing happened, but he kicked again, and again, and again. with one final kick, the machinegun fell off with a crack and landed in the sand with a dull thud.

He grabbed it and started to drag it towards the opening he had made for himself.

After a few moments of pushing, pulling and swearing, he managed to get out into the open air.

The sudden sunlight made him squint. He looked around, searching for the spot where he had seen his team. There, he saw them crouching behind the small wall, occationally peeking abovi it to fire at the enemies.

He turned and looked over at the jeckylleans huddling across from his friends. He felt himself frown, and he held up the machinegun and pulled the trigger.

...

The rattling of the machinegun suddenly sounding through all the other sounds of battle around them, made Fluttershy and Pinkie pie look at each other, what the hell was that?

Pinkie pie, always there to see what's going on, peeked over the wall they were crouching behind, squeed and then went back down.

"It's Esten!" She exclaimed to Fluttershy.

"He's not dead, he's alive, and he's picking those meanies off!"

Fluttershy gasped as she herself peeked over their cover and saw the state that their comrade was in.

"He won't last long with that swelling." She noted.

"He'll pass out, and then he's in trouble!"

Pinkie pouted, then lit up. She grabbed Fluttershy by the arm and ran out on the battlefield, heading twards Esten, while waving towards the spartans, who were busy with taking on a large group of the jeckylleans that tried to herd them in so that they could take them on from all sides.

"Spartans!" She shouted, getting the attention of one of them.

The armoured giant, with red plated armour, used the butt of his shotgun to break the cranium of an enemy trying to take it from him.

He looked up at her.

"Yes, soldier?"

Pinkie pie kept running towards Esten, Fluttershy now running on her own accord next to her.

"We'll get them from behind and let Omega inside on the other side. You get these guys attention!"

The spartan nodded. "You got it!"

He turned over to the two others and said something over their communicator. Then they went melee. They bashed their way through the enemies that tried to surround them and then jumped straight into the largest group of them, now using their weapons and fists to beat them down, another cloud of dust hiding them from view.

Pinkie and Fluttershy closed in on Esten now, who stood with his side turned to them.

"What is your plan?" Fluttershy asked, she, as the others, knew that pinkie was a spontaneous woman, and rarely planned anything.

Pinkie giggled. "Grab him, and follow my lead!"

Before she could question, or even protest the idea, they had caught up to Esten and they grabbed his shoulders, picked him up and kept running.

"WHOA!" was the reaction they got from Esten.

"Keep shooting, we'll take them from behind!" Pinkie shouted at him, and the pure shock of what was happening made him nod.

The jeckylleans were just as confused as Esten, and before many of them could get out of the way, they were gunned down, their dark blue blood staining the concrete walls and sand under their feet.

The three of them moved towards a larger group of the enemy that were hiding behind the concrete walls on the far side of the outpost. The sight of them made the jeckylleas retreat further into the outpost, heading towards the spartans and the others.

Suddenly, the machinegun stopped firing as it had no more ammo, and the three of them fell into the sand as Fluttershy tripped.

Before they could get a moment to rest, they heard footsteps heading towards them. Fluttershy handed a pistol to Esten and Pinkie held her rifle in a tight grip, ready for battle once again. But there were no jeckylleans charging them, the sound came from behind them. And before they could turn around, UNSC soldiers came over the concrete walls with a unified roar that felt like it shook the foundations they were resting on.

...

The rest of the battle was over quickly. The sheer number of terran soldiers managed to overwhelm the jeckylleans, and they were finally defeated. This battle had been won.

The commanding officer of fireteam Omega, accompanied with claps and cheers, planted a flag in the center of the conquered outpost.

It was a black and blue flag, half of each colour, and in the center a picture of continents, encircles by a wreath and a circle of stars. And cirling this was a text that said " Unis Terra, Unus Lugum." One Terra, one Union. The flag of Terra.

Isaac was relieved to see his friend still alive and gave Esten a big hug when he, Pinkie, and Fluttershy finally met up with the others, who were moving the dead into piles, one for the UNSC soldiers, one for the jeckylleans.

Each and everyone of them were covered in the dark blue jeckyllean blood. Twilight had gotten some in her face and on her hands, Applejack had gotten some on her boots when she had stepped on an enemy before shooting him in the chest, Spikes bionic arm was almost completely covered with the stuff since he had punched a jeckyllean in the chest repeatedly until his hand broke through the skin and ribcage.

Even Rarity was covered in it, but she looked proud of it rather than disgusted, it might have been because she had chosen to wear this " organized chaos" herself.

Right now, and for many hours to come, it was time for work, but when the evening came, it was time to rest, finally.

...

Assault team Stingray, the two commanding officers of fireteam Charlie and Omega, and the three spartans were gathered around one of the fires that now burned inside the outpost.

The spartans, named James, Karl and the third one who was a woman named

Carrion, had taken their helmets off after the battle had ended. Beside their sheer size and their armour plating, they looked like normal people, buzzcut and all the standard army gear.

They were all chatting with each other, finally able to rest. But they would not leave their guard down completely, and had built makeshift guard towers that would be used to guard the outpost during the night.

They were lucky to be able to rest, the sounds of battle could still be heard in the distance, echoing through the night.

Isaac was talking with one of the spartans, Carrion. She had been interested in Isaacs eye, and Spikes arm. She cringed when Isaac told her about how Spike had gotten his new arm.

She told him that she had gotten her arm broken once during a battle against the farmer rebels on Europa, one of Jupiters moons, and the pain had been close to unbearable, so she couldn't imagine loosing the arm completely.

Then she went back to talking about the rebellion on Europa and chuckled.

"Luckily the rebellion didn't spread to the other moons. A rebellion on one planet, and even one moon is difficult enough to deal with, but 63 moons with rebelling farmers and colonists, what a nightmare."

Isaac nodded and looked over his shoulders, gazing out into the endless sands behind them . The dune sea stretched for tens of thousands of kilometers. If you got lost out there with no water, the planet would swallow you whole.

"It isn't like here at least. A dustbowl that hasn't seen rain for millions of years." He looked at Carrion and smiled.

"Have you ever heard the saying 'the grass is always greener on the other side'?"

She nodded and grabbed a hipflask filled with water.

"Yeah, what about it?" She asked before starting to drink.

Isaac grinned and gave her a sly look.

"Here on Arrakis it must be 'The grass is always- FUCK I GOT SAND IN MY EYES, AND MY ASS! AND MY MOUTH!' "

This made Carrion spurt the water out of her mouth and she started to laugh.

"Holy crap, I'm gonna burst! Hahaha!"

She gave Isaac a hard pat on the back. Her strength knocked him over, making him fall down onto the sand. Even though this shocked him, he couldn't stop laughing at Carrions reaction at his joke.

Commander Echo of fireteam Omega raised an eyebrow when Carrion and Isaac started to laugh when isaac fell off the small rock he was sitting on.

He turn his head to Twilight, and gave a nod in Isaacs direction.

"The fact that we fought a battle today and that the jeckylleans might attack us in the night doesn't seem to faze him at all."

Twilight smiled and stretched her arms above her head.

"It seems that few things do, except if one of us get harmed."

"So he cares about his team more than the way a commander usually does?"

"I guess so, since we're all good friends we wouldn't want to loose anyone. Though, i had to admit, there have been many times where we could've lost someone."

Echo looked into the fire, the dark orange colour panting his face.

"Dangerous missions?"

"Yeah, a few of them might have been called suicide missions, but we made it through, came with a price though. I almost lost my life, aiming for the head seems to have become a generally accepted strategy."

Echo gave an amused chuckle.

"It doesn't always end your life. Isaac survived it, didn't he? "

He looked over at Isaac and Carrion again, now the two of them were testing the strenght of Carrions armour suit, or the strenght of Isaacs hand, he couldn't really tell.

Carrion stood in front of Isaac, her arms crossed, And Isaac were backing up a few steps before punching as hard as he could at Carrions stomach.

With a loud clunking sound and a "Shit!", Isaac started to jump around, holding his hand while both of them were laughing.

Echo looked up at the two moons above. Krelln and Arvon, both of them were colonized, covered by large building complexes.

"So peaceful they are." He thought as he observed the two bright orbs in the sky.

"Looking down at us from up there, are people that have never even been to Terra, the very home of our race. But still, in this time of need, people they have never met come to fight for them."

He looked back down and turned his head to the horizon, listening to the sounds of explosions and gunfire, occationally a faint sound of screaming voices echoing through the night.

He stood up and cleared his throat, getting the others attention.

" We need to rest, tomorrow we will join the teams from Cielago east and south. We'll be launching an assault at Ceilago north, we won't have any air support, so things will look dark. But we'll have to fight like we were defending Terra herself!"

Author's Note

This has taken a long time, and it has beem fun gathering ideas. Though i have to admit, this chapter should have gone on for much longer, but instead i will put the next part of this chapter into chapter 9 instead, so i already have a big idea for the next chapter to work on. i hope it was worth the wait, thank you for reading!