The smell of smoke and fire was thick in the air. Buildings burned all around, and the sound of explosions in the distance rang out so loud that even the bloodied bodies scattered throughout the decaying city seemed to tense slightly at the sound. The horizon was misted over with the fog of war, blotting out the light from the land below. Even the orange-blue light of the planet's sun could not penetrate the thick plumes of black smoke as they rose to the atmosphere.

Jason's breaths came heavy as he moved from building to building, and pile of rubble to pile of rubble. The screams of dying men etched themselves into his ears as he ran, hunched over to provide the smallest silhouette possible. He gripped his rifle so tightly in his hands that his knuckles shown white through his tattered and burned gloves. He blended in well all the same, with his uniform dirtied by soot and mud, along with a fair share of blood on his vest and sleeves. He carefully maneuvered from cover to concealment, insuring that anyone up the street wouldn't see him, or at least have a hard time shooting him if they did.

As he approached a broken-down truck, his eyes detected movement. Down the road, a man stepped out of a half-destroyed cantina. He wore a dark grey, ink-block patterned uniform with a black vest, helmet, and joint pads. His visor was clear, allowing Jason to clearly see his face. He showed no signs of even knowing he was being watched. In fact, he seemed blissfully unaware of the enemy soldier just a few dozen meters down the road.

Jason quickly ducked behind the truck and eyed his rifle. The magazine seemed to be in-tact, and the fire selector still worked. The butt-stock had a long gash on it, and was locked in the furthest extended position, but that was fine. He preferred it that way. One look at the rail told him that his bi-pod had been reduced to an off-balance mono-pod. Still, not all was lost or damaged. Upon inspection of the charging handle, he found that it slid back with little resistance, and revealed a round in the chamber. He breathed a silent sigh of relief, and checked the scope. The adjustment knobs were in-tact, and even though there were several small scratches and gashes along the length of the optic, one look down the sight told him that it still worked and was clear as ever, save for some dirt on the lens.

Mentally thanking the lord for his good fortune, all things considered, Jason turned around and shouldered the rifle, aiming through the passenger-side window. He brought the sight to his eyes and aimed at his target, who by now was starting to walk down the steps of the cantina and onto the street. He stilled his erratic breathing and did his best to steady his heartbeat. In that moment, everything around him dissipated in the blackness of tunnel vision. All he could see were his cross hairs and his target.

Seconds dragged on like hours, and with each beat of his heart, Jason could feel his nerves twitch. A constant battle of shoot vs don't shoot warred in his head as each footstep took the man further and further away from him. Finally, he made up his mind and pressed his finger against the trigger. He felt his heart beat in the pad of his index finger just once before something obstructed his vision of the target. He quickly dismounted his eye from the sight and looked at what had just appeared in front of him.

To his complete surprise, it was another soldier... walking right towards his position. They noticed each other simultaneously, and before Jason could even comprehend the severity of his situation, the soldier screamed.

"SNIPER!" He shouted.

Jason didn't wait for someone to respond. He quickly brought the scope to his eye, found his cross hairs, and pulled the trigger. A deafening *crack* filled the air, and the soldier lifelessly dropped to the ground, dead. Jason pivoted his shoulder to reacquire his first target, but found nothing. Instead, he heard his radio blare back to life from his left shoulder.

All... be advised... -coming. I repeat... rounds... -coming. All troops... enemy lines... -ave one mic until... -shdown.

Jason turned his head skyward, and to his horror, saw the tell-tale streaks of white as they descended from the heavens. There were thousands of them, all plunging toward the ground at lightning speeds. He quickly dove into the passenger side of the truck and brought his hands to cover his ears. Only a second later, the sound of explosions rang out in the distance, growing closer and closer until they were only a few hundred meters away. Deafening cracks and booms echoed through the air, and even with his hands covering both ears as securely as possible, the sounds of annihilation still rocked him to his core. Every bone in his body vibrated with each powerful explosion, making him visibly shake in fear.

Soon enough, the building to his right vanished in a shock wave of destruction and awe, and all Jason could do was duck his head down and hope for the best. His precious cover was nearly ripped to shreds by shrapnel from another building meeting its end, and even with his body curled up in the fetal position, Jason felt each supersonic wave of god-like power reverberate through his bones, making his entire skeletal structure feel like jelly.

Jason screamed, not in terror or pain, but out of a primal, deep-seated need to vent his breath and keep his body from shutting down completely. All the same, his voice was lost to the cacophony of earth-shattering explosions and mind-numbing destruction that wracked the world around him. Even when his lungs were empty and burned for oxygen, he could only push air out. His entire world lit up around him like a fantastic display of light and fire, but the only thing he could think of was one simple question:

"Is this how I die?"

"Hey, McKnight, wake up!" A voice shouted.

"Huh?" Jason managed, shaking himself awake, "Captain Lupika?" He asked, quickly glancing back and forth while his head shot up.

"No, dipshit, it's Jamerson. Lupika just called a meeting for all the S and R teams on the bridge. Let's go." Jamerson admonished before heading out of the room.

Jason rolled over in his bunk and looked at the rest of the room. His heart pounded in his chest for a few seconds before he finally calmed down, and his tense nerves relaxed. With a quite sigh, he glanced around the room and stretched his arms. The skeletonized walls were made completely of steel and titanium. His bunk was one of two in the room, and there didn't seem to be any sign of the rest of his bunk mates anywhere in the room.

He lazily rolled himself over and slid his legs off the bunk. They connected with the floor with a dull *thunk* and the ice cold steel sent chills up his body. He rubbed his eyes with his hands to try to dispel some of the residual sleepiness he still felt before standing up and reaching for his locker. He opened it to reveal a few uniforms and boots, along with a picture of Earth and his parents.

Jason smiled at the memories that poured into his mind every time he looked at the pictures in question, before donning his uniform and boots. Within a few minutes, he was dressed in his duty uniform. The black boots and navy blue slacks were clean and sharp, ready to pass any kind of inspection. His top was pressed and cleaned, and his silver name tapes easily read "McKnight" and "UGSC" respectively. He quickly wiped a fingerprint off of the three chevrons that adorned his collar and set off for the bridge.

As he walked through the ship, Jason passed by several soldiers of differing rank, organization, and class. All the same, each one stepped to the side and gave a nod. He returned a few, but as he continued through the ship, he grew more and more annoyed with the constant acknowledgment, and his crisp, deliberate movements became sluggish and less caring. Eventually, he just ignored them as he walked.

Jason arrived at the bridge to find no fewer than thirty other men and women standing around the holotable in the center of the room. The air was filled with the constant chatter of everyone inside, although, much of it died down upon watching Jason enter the room. Several heads turned, and many of the soldiers in the room regarded him with a nod or a quick glance. Jason quickly marched past them and found his seat next to the holotable. Once he was seated, the rest of the room drifted back into conversation with one another, allowing him to simply fade into the crowd.

"Eddie, Mike, what's up?" Jason asked, taking his seat between them.

"Not much. How was your nap?" Eddie replied.

"I've had better. Mike?"

"Ah, you know how it is. We're all bored. This mission sucks. Blah blah blah. What I wanna know, is where is the captain? I've been sitting here for an hour already." Mike answered.

"I'm sure if it's got Lupika taking his sweet time, then it's probably something pretty big." Jason offered.

"What, did he find the Malevolence?" Mike sarcastically asked.

"Doubt it. That ship hit a black hole. If anybody even survived, they're just dead bodies in space by now." Eddie shrugged.

"We've been at this for almost a year now. If anybody's still out there, they're dead. It's not like we're gonna find anything other than bodies in the void of space after this long." Mike complained.

"No man left behind, right? What if it was you out there, man?" Eddie asked.

"Just saying, I ain't dead."

"Lock it down, guys. Captain's here."

"Attention on DECK!" A voice shouted.

Everyone in the room immediately dropped what they were doing and stood at attention. The room became silent, and all eyes focused on the lone man with a captain's rank on his chest.

"At Ease." Captain Lupika called out.

Instantly, the atmosphere became less tense and everyone sat back down in their respective seats. The captain walked over to the holotable and entered a sequence of digits into the touchpad. Within a few moments, a cluster of stars appeared over the table.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen. I know you've been waiting for a while, but this is important, so bare with me here. We had to triple check our records to make sure this was legitimate." Captain Lupika announced.

The already silent crowd became even more deathly quiet. Each Marine in the room eyed the hologram with more intensity, and their ears perked up as the captain continued.

"Now, to be honest, this might just be another goose chase, but as you all know, almost a hundred and fifty years ago, mankind left the Milky Way, and traveled to Andromeda. The first ship to ever conduct this voyage, was known as the Icarus. According to any kind of records that survived the last hundred and fifty years, it should be arriving on Earth in just about fifty two years, along with a thousand other ships that made the journey just after. Now, the reason we're all here, is because we've just received a distress signal from that ship. It dates back almost two years. We had to run through century-old channels to even decipher what we were getting, but it's there." He explained.

Captain Lupika moved to the table and typed in a series of coordinates into the touchpad.

"Now, as you all can see, the coordinates only put us within a solar system of where this thing allegedly went down. As I'm sure you can all guess, that doesn't narrow it down as much as we'd like. Fortunately, embedded in the signal, there was a code signaling an escape pod launch. Now, we don't know where it landed, not for sure at least. However, we have located the closest planet, and there is a good possibility that the pod crashed there and all four crew members are still alive at this very moment. As such, we're setting a course for this solar system right now. Lieutenant Jamerson, you're up."

"Yes sir. Alright, listen up, people, we've got a lot of possible distress signals to look at, and these dudes are ancient. They're cryopods probably kept them from aging too much over the last hundred and fifty years, but don't be surprised if they freak out when they see you. I mean, really, these guys still had to deal with cancer when they left." He began, a small chortle of laughter rang out as he talked.

"Now, as for the mission, we're gonna go Threat Con Four on this one, so only one F-25 for atmospheric entry. Once you have them in your possession, just radio up to one of the comms buoys and they'll relay that up to us. We'll swing back and pick you up within a couple weeks." Jamerson finished.

Eddie raised his hand.

"Yeah?"

"Sir, how long, approximately between comms checks?"

"Good question. Due to the lack of info we have on this planet, we're gonna set it to every two to four months. You guys are gonna be scouring an entire planet, we don't expect comms to be a constant. There could be pockets of radiation, atmospheric interference, and any other load of bullshit. We'll have more info as we get closer, so expect some homework tonight and tomorrow."

Eddie nodded and scribbled some notes down in his personal touchpad.

"Alright, now, as for the team taking this one, we've designated Charlie Company as the lead, and Vulture One as your flight crew. Any questions?" Jamerson asked.

The room was silent.

"Alright, go get ready guys. We'll be arriving in the next thirty six hours. If the worst were to happen, and you can't get off world or let us know anything through comms checks, then we'll swing by in six months to pick you up, or whatever is left of you." He finished.

"Alright, you heard him. Sergeant McKnight, I understand you're filling in for Gunnery Sergeant Frost. Are you and your men good to go?" Captain Lupika asked.

Jason stood at attention and responded, "Yes sir. We'll be ready to deploy by the end of the night."

"Very good. Dismissed everyone."

With that, everyone departed the bridge. Jason walked beside Eddie and Mike. As the crowd dispersed, they finally found some conversation.

"So... We're gonna be down there for six fuckin' months?" Mike asked.

"Only if, we don't get comms." Eddie pointed out, raising a finger to make his point.

"Yeah, well we don't even know where we're going yet. For all we know, this planet could have some radiation or some shit that makes comms impossible." Mike replied.

"Regardless, we're going." Jason declared, leaving no room for debate.

"Got it, Sarge." Mike and Eddie quickly replied.

The trio walked through the many intersecting corridors of the ship as soldiers from every corner of the galaxy busied the hallways. Eddie glanced over at a long window looming over a small hanger. Inside, there were a group of soldiers training in several different variants of enhanced battle suits.

Eddie whistled, "Damn... look at that armor. Those new EVA suits are badass... Does that dude have a fucking Kukri on his shoulder?"

Mike and Jason looked over at the soldier in question.

"Well, shit... That guy looks ready to kill." Mike muttered.

"Wish we had suits like that during the war." Eddie replied.

"Well, we didn't have them then, and we're not gonna have them on this mission either." Jason replied.

"I get that, but still... The damn war would've been over in a few weeks if we had those." Eddie said, shrugging.

"I know... Let's just meet up with Vulture One." Jason said, turning a corner while Eddie and Mike followed.

Soon enough, the trio arrived in a large landing bay, finding dozens of space faring craft parked all along the landing strip in the center of the massive room.

Mike whistled, "Damn. Every time I see her she just looks more and more beautiful." He praised, looking at the sleek, geometrical profile of their F-25.

The craft in question stood at nearly one hundred feet tall, and five hundred feet long. It's wings spanned an impressive four hundred feet from wingtip to wingtip. It's harsh angular profile along with radio absorbing material and stealth drive all confirmed that it was one of the lowest profile ships in the entire fleet.

"I still can't believe this thing is still in service." Eddie offhandedly mentioned.

"She did a lot for us in the war. I guess this is just retirement for her." Jason answered.

"I remember seeing her wipe out an entire fleet of SRY-99's." Eddie huffed.

"And now she's a search and rescue ship. Oh, how the mighty have fallen." A new, masculine voice spoke out, diverting the group's attention away from the spacecraft.

"You must be our pilot." Jason remarked upon noticing his flight suit.

"You got that right, Sergeant. The name's Chief Warrant Officer Smith. I take it you're the fabled Team Two from Charlie Company?" Smith asked, looking curiously at their uniforms.

"Yes sir." Jason replied.

"Good. I heard about what you did at Bellruse. With guys like you on the ground, we'll have these guys in no time." Smith said, offering a friendly smile.

"Thank you sir. We'll have these guys back home and out of your hair in no time." Jason replied.

"I'm sure of it. Besides, even if you guys don't find them, I'm sure some guys from the other teams will."

"Hey, sir," Eddie chimed in, "Do we have any more data on these guys other than just 'they were in the ship that crashed'?"

"Well, as far as I know, we only have their names." Smith replied.

"What are they?"

Smith reached into his pocket and pulled out a touchpad. He scrolled through several pages for a moment before arriving at the page he wanted and paused.

"Alright, so the guys we're gonna be looking for are... Richie Vilovoy, Roman Doss, Issac Clarke, and... David Lawson."

Author's Note

Hello there my loyal readers. It's been a long time coming, but I'm so proud to finally show you guys the story I've been working on for the past few months. For those of you who are new here, I hope that you've read the previous stories, or at least plan to do so soon. By chapter 3, you'll be completely lost in the sauce if you don't.

Anyways, I wanted to take a slightly different approach with this story than I did with The Discovery. Humanity coming to Equestria has been done a thousand times over on here, but I think you'll all be pleasantly surprised by what I have in store for this story. I really wanted to show the best of us in the worst of situations, and I think I've done that in this story. As you might have picked up on, there are some references to a particular video game series that's been around since 2001, and I just couldn't help myself.

Lastly, and something that I've wanted to do for a while now, is chapter themes. Each chapter in this story is going to have a song attached to the author's note that will be the theme of that chapter. It might not work with the whole chapter, but for certain scenes and whatnot, it was the music I chose. Speaking of which, here's the theme for this chapter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N3N1MlvVc4

Anyways, this is only the beginning of a long journey, and I am so excited to share it with all of you. I really do hope you enjoy my work and stick around for the new chapters each week :)