Reach, Epsilon Eridani System
August 29th, 2552
[Status: Winter Contingency]

UNSC Saratoga Captains Report

"It has been a rough few days for this ship, yesterday we took part in the battle of Viery on the surface of the planet. We were not prepared when the UNSC Grafton took a direct hit from a Covenant supercarrier that was camouflaged above us, the Grafton was lost, thankfully we managed to rescue a few survivors, our pelicans scattered soon after to return to the ship. Soon we were ordered by Vice Admiral Stanforth ordered us to the main fleet to aid in the evacuation efforts. Our job, to hold a place in orbit for colony ships to make their escape, it's unfortunate only half of those numbers survived."

The young officer sighed.

"I fear the end of this battle is coming, and humanity is not the victor, without Reach, I'm unsure what is next for humanity."

"Is that all Captain?" The onboard ship AI asked.

The young Captain frown looking at the metal floor of his observation deck.

"Captain Snowden, signing off."

The AI remained silent, the bridge was quiet because outside the observation window was the destruction of Reach, the surface turned to glass.

"Ben, enact cole protocol, we can't lead the Covenant back to Earth,"

The ship's AI remained neutral, "Yes, Captain."

"Listen up ladies and gentlemen," the Captain began turning to face his crew."

His crew at this point was demoralized, this defeat was going to hurt the UNSC and everyone knew it too. The trick was finding the right words.

With nothing better to say he began.

"I know this hurts, we are all in the same boat here," he spoke letting his crew hear him.

"The loss of Reach is going to hurt is in more ways than one, I'm sure some of you had family on Reach. I sure did," The Captain said closing his eyes trying not to think about his wife and daughter, hoping they made it out in one piece.

"That is precisely the reason we can't give up now, we cannot allow this cycle to continue," Snowden knew they'd all heard this spiel before but there was nothing else he could say.

"We have to fight on for the rest of the colonies, even if it takes us back to Earth we will fight, we will fight until there is nothing left to give," the anger in the Captains voice began to rise as he got into his spiel.

"For this, I will quote Winston Churchill, 'If you are going through hell, keep going,'" the Captain finished his speech.

He didn't expect much but he could tell it gave them the will to keep going, that's all they needed.

"Petty Officer Grant, get us out of here," Snowden ordered, the female behind the nav computer nodded, "aye, sir," she replied as she began her inputs.

As she finished they felt a jolt and the ship complained loudly as the crew was knocked down including the Captain, he leaned up and looked up.

"Captain, enemy slipspace rupture they warped in off our port side!" that was one hell of a coincidence.

"Battlestations, Grant get us out of here!" The red lights and klaxon began to light up the ship.

"I'm trying Captain, the computer just shut off!" Grant replied in a panic.

In a flash, Captain Snowden hurried over and gave the computer a hard slap on the side, to his surprise the screen lit up. The ship also would be entering slipspace in 5 seconds.

"Grant please tell me you finished the coordinates before this happened?!" Snowden exclaimed.

With a look of horror, she looked at him and shook her head. The color drained from the Captain's face, they were going in blind as the slipspace portal opened and the ship was pulled in.

All they could do now was find out where they were going.

1 week later.

Unknown System,
September 5th, 2552

The Saratoga was finally spat out of its slipspace venture.

"Captain, wake up, we are out of slip space," Ben said as Snowden's cryo pod began to thaw. It took a while but the Captain began to come to. Rubbing his face and coat free of any excess ice from cryosleep.

Captain Snowden's pod opened allowing him to step out. He took a few extra minutes to collect his bearings falling flat on his face he splayed his hooves on the floor to catch himself.

Wait. Hooves? The Captain looked puzzled by what he was looking at.

"Captain, I was about to tell you you've," Ben paused, "changed." The still human-looking projection of Ben said to him. "No, you don't say," Snowden's voice dripped with sarcasm. He had what appeared to be white fur, but he needed to see what exactly happened.

Carefully he stepped out and reached for his hat next to the cryo pod. Strangely, he found himself able to hold it with his new appendages, or lack thereof depended on how you looked at it. He went to put it on his head to discover something protruding from his head. It caught him by surprise. Okay, he really needed to see himself in the mirror now.

Walking in of itself now was a chore, he was some kind of quadruped now and it took everything for him to walk one deck up to his quarters.

Upon entering his quarters the automatic doors opened and Ben appeared on his desk.

"Captain, you should know our skeleton crew we had up is experiencing the same phenomenon," Ben informed the Captain who grabbed the nearest mirror. What he saw jolted him awake. He took a closer look at his features, the best way he could describe it was a white unicorn, he now had silver hair, or well, mane, and his uniform seemed to mold to fit him which was also odd. What was happening? Why was he a horse now?

"I won't lie, Ben, I'm at a loss for words," Snowden said turning to Ben. Ben returned the look of confusion. Truthfully Snowden was beginning to feel uneasy, even Ben was confused if the A.I. didn't have an answer then this was definitely strange waters.

"We need to come up with something, I don't need my crew jumping out the airlock." Snowden said, Ben nodded in agreement. "I will try to find something Captain." Ben replied standing at attention.

Snowden looked over a thought suddenly coming to him.

"Ben," Snowden began, the A.I. gave him his attention ", assemble the crew that was awake in the mess hall before you do that, it might help to better understand what happened." Ben then nodded snapped to attention and saluted. "Right away, Captain." With that, Ben disappeared leaving the Captain to his thoughts.

UNSC Saratoga
Commander Dunkirk
Ship XO

"Commander, we're exiting slipspace soon." Grant said, Dunkirk stood behind the Holotable in the center of the bridge. "Let's not wake the crew just yet," Dunkirk began walking over to the closed observation, "we still have no idea where we will spit out." Grant nodded, "aye, sir." Grant began the exit sequence as the ship exited slipspace the helmsman reached over and opened the blast door covering the windows. It was then that it began. A white light washed over the ship, some of the crew shrieked in surprise, and almost as soon as it began it ended.

Dunkirk looked over himself, what he saw surprised him. He was not human anymore, he looked around, a majority of the crew was reacting the same way. "Okay everyone, remain calm, what the fuck just happened?" Dunkirk struggled to his feet, or well, hooves. No answer came as everyone was in utter shock of this sudden transformation. So Dunkirk opted for a louder approach. "Hey! Status report, you can admire yourselves later!" This got the crew's attention. Grant sat up and looked at her computer looking at her new chocolate-covered hooves. Her new mane matched the color of her coat as she looked confused on how best type on the computer. "Well, all systems appear normal, sir." One Petty Officer on a computer near the back said until Grant figured out that she could somehow use the keyboard with her non-existent 'fingers'.

With a look of confusion Gruntered how 'that can't be right.' Dunkirk came up behind Grant to see what the fuss was about. "Sir, I don't think you are going to like this." Grant got up from her seat stumbling and Dunkirk caught her and held her upright letting her get her footing. "Thank you, sir." She said as she typed a sequence into the computer transferring the data to the holo table. Dunkirk and the rest of the crew nearly dropped. Some actually did from them not being used to the new bodies they have acquired. "Grant. Is this a prank?" Dunkirk asked approaching the holo table still struggling to get his footing.

"Unfortunately I am not sir, we are not in the Epsilon Eridani system or the Milky Way Galaxy for that matter. I have no idea where we are either." Grant spoke blowing up the nav chart showing them in an entirely new system. Just as Grant was about to continue Ben showed on the holo table.

"Commander, I see you have changed as well." Ben interrupted. Dunkirk nodded turning his attention to the ship's A.I. "Is this new change affecting the entire ship?" Dunkirk asked Ben who nodded. "Yes, sir, I just woke the Captain who experienced the same thing, I also just completed a scan on the rest of the crew, it seems they have all been changed, in different variants too." Ben informed. Dunkirk looked around the room noticing a few things, a few had horns, a couple including Grant, had wings, and most including himself had neither. "Thanks Ben. You are dismissed." Ben nodded before disappearing.

"Okay Grant, let's figure this out," Dunkirk said getting a nod from the mare.

As soon as they found any possibility as to what they found Ben appeared again to inform them the Captain wants the skeleton crew in the mess hall. Dunkirk thought it best to wake Lieutenant Colonel Grace and Sergeant Major Ramirez. Walking down into Cryo having finally gotten used to walking in his new form. He found the two, they had insisted on having their pods next to each other. He walked over and hit defrost on them both. Grace, having once been a black female was now a Yellow pony with a horn and an Orange mane. Her Sergeant Major who was once also a black male was now a brown pony with a black mane, they both thawed out and began to come to.

"Okay you two, you are not going to like what has happened so the first thing is first you need to remain calm." Dunkirk began fixing his navy cover. The two ponys rubbed their eyes and their pods opened. "Don't get out, just listen to what I am going to say first." Ramirez opened his eyes and made eye contact with Dunkirk. "What kind of drugs are you using in these things?" Ramirez said rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. "I can assure you, Sergeant Major, you're not seeing things and the drugs are not having an effect on you." Dunkirk said earning a puzzled look from Grace as she also came too. "What in Sam's fuck happened to you, Commander?" Grace replied shock evident in her voice. "Colonel, if you will allow me to explain I'll tell you, you might wanna inspect yourself as well." Having said this they did and Ramirez was first to speak. "You are sure there isn't something in the drugs?" Ramirez said skepticism evident on his face. "Well Sarge, if we're both seeing a talking horse wearing a UNSC uniform I'd say we're both very much awake."

Dunkirk explained to the two of them what happened as they began to move around and learn how to walk again. "So you are telling me we came out of slipspace looking like this?" Grace asked fixing her patrol cap to her head. "Yes Colonel, the entire crew is affected by this and the Captain wants a sit down in the mess hall to get to the bottom of this. Ramirez lit a cigarette and nodded in pleasant surprise that he could still hold things. "We leaving everyone else on ice until then XO?" Ramirez took the cigarette out of his mouth to speak. Dunkirk noded. "For now, yes, until we can find a way to break it to them. Plus we don't need to be concerned about the Covenant, being where we are." Dunkirk said as the trio began to make their way out of the cryo room and towards the mess hall.

"I hope y'all put coffee up, Commander, I'm gonna need it." Grace spoke up as they made their way towards the mess hall. Dunkirk and Ramirez smiled and chuckled. "I'm sure the Captain is on it."

Snowden poured himself a cup of coffee in the mess hall as the crew began to file in. Pretty soon so did Commander Dunkirk and the two marine command staff. Grace found herself gravitating towards the coffee machine as well stopping in front of the Captain. She rendered a salute to him. "Good day Captain." Grace greeted, the Captain put down his own coffee and returned the salute. "I wasn't expecting you, Colonel." Captain Snowden responded. Grace poured her own cup of coffee. "Commander Dunkirk thought it best all of the high command should know what is going on, plus I like being up before the rest of battalion." Grace replied taking a sip from her coffee. "You are taking this well Colonel." Snowden commented picking his coffee back up from the table.

"I'm taking this as well as anyone who gets turned into a colorful horse, sir." Grace replied with a smile. A chuckle escaped Snowden's lips. With that, Grace left to go sit down at a table and listen in.

"Okay people, so I understand what just happened is a bit of a mystery, from what info Ben has collected, this is affecting the entire crew. I have awoken Doctor Bowman who is currently working on finding the cause of all this." Snowden spoke taking a sip from his coffee. "However, we do have more important problems to figure out right now, like the question of where we are. Commander? Has Grant found a star coordinate yet?" Dunkirk stood up. "Not yet, sir. She's pretty much hit a brick wall, she has figured out that we are not in the Milky Way Galaxy." Dunkirk answered. Snowden took another sip from his coffee.

"Alright, then, until we can come up with that we may as well try to find a planet that can support life. We need to see if we can contact the fleet command. For now, let's activate our distress beacon and comms will broadcast an emergency signal to the fleet." The Captain finished off. "Aye, sir." The crew replied as they got up.

As the Captain went to leave Ben appeared next to the door. "Captain. Petty Officer Grace needs you on the bridge, says she found something." Ben said, Captain Snowden nodded and finished his coffee setting the cup in the trash.

Ben appeared on the bridge as the Captain walked in.

"Attention on deck!" Grace called snapping to attention followed by what bridge crew was on the bridge. "At ease! What do we have, Grace?" The Captain said eagerly. "Well, sir. I still don't know where we are. However, have detected that we are indeed in a solar system." Grace informed the Captain took a look at the holo table to get an understanding of what he was looking at, he saw a map of his ship and a solar system on the outskirts of it. "From what I can see, sir. There is one planet in this systems habitable zone, it seems habitable, I did send the relevant data to Doctor Bowman." Grant said. The Captain thought for a moment before looking to Ben. "Ben set a course for that system. We can find out if it's habitable when we get there." Ben stood at attention. "Aye, sir." Ben disappeared once more as the bridge doors opened to a lime green stallion wearing glasses, his blue mane was a mess, and he had a white lab coat, over his UNSC Naval uniform.

"Doctor Bowman, I was just about to come to see you." Snowden turned to face him. "Captain, I found something intriguing." Bowman said. "That's great. What did you find?" Snowden replied. Bowman walked up and set the data he found on the table. It showed tons of graphs and numbers most of which Snowden didn't understand. "English please Bowman." Snowden grimaced as the number of numbers made his brain hurt. "Heh," Bowman scratched the back of his neck, "right, sir. What I found here on this graph," Bowman pointed to the graph, "Is what appears to be a magnetic field." The confusion on the Captain's face grew, but before he could ask Bowman began to explain. "However it is not magnetic, with how powerful this is the ship would have imploded if it were actually magnetic, it's something else, my magnetometer just happens to be picking it up." Bowman said.

"Okay, how does it relate to us?" Snowden deadpanned. "You see, it is important because whatever I am picking up. If it is magnetic in nature, is more powerful than Earth's magnetic field!" Bowman exclaimed in excitement. This peaked Snowdens interest. "More powerful than Earths? In space?" Bowman nodded. "Doctor, try to get more of an understanding of this. I wanna know if it is dangerous, and what it is. It could be the cause of this." Bowman snapped to attention and saluted. "Aye, sir. I'm on it." Bowman retreated back to his lab, and Snowden turned back to the table as the ship approached the planet. According to the timer, they would arrive in an hour. "Helmsman, full speed ahead, let's try to cut our arrival time in half." Snowden called out. "Aye, sir." The Helmsman replied.

"Ben," Snowden began. Bens projection promptly appeared, "wake the crew, officers first, have the officers brought up to speed before the junior enlisted are awoken." Snowden ordered. Ben promptly nodded.

Snowden looked back at the map as Grant returned to her station.

"What is out there?" The Captain mumbled to himself as the ship drew closer to the planet.

Author's Note

Next chapter we go.

I wonder what planet they just found. Hmm.

What did Bowman pick up on his science thing? Find out in the next chapter.