//------------------------------// // The Storm // Story: A Noble Cause // by Sarkastik Menace //------------------------------//                        “All ships, fire the MAC guns in 3… 2… 1… now.” An earth shattering volley from the thirty four UNSC ships tore through the vacant space to the rivalling fleet. The recoil from the blasts ripped through the light frigate, as if an earthquake struck.                    “Sir, readings report four covenant cruisers destroyed, three other crippled.”               “Roger that, if there are any damages to the ship bring them up to my hub. Williams, bring her to broadside and load the missile tubes. Connery, get the anti-air online.”                 “Rockets ready to fire on your order, Sir.”                      “Multiple seraphs incoming sir, waiting for orders.”                      “Engage the seraphs now, Williams wait for further orders.”             The captain noticed a beeping noise from his hub. A glancing blow pierced the hull as the ship turned. The slipspace drive was malfunctioning. Not even flinching for a moment, he ordered it scuttled. A malfunctioning slipspace drive without even being activated could teleport the ship to oblivion. He kept the info to himself.                  “All ships,  fire all missiles on my mark. Three. Two.” The captain heard the safe locks being bypassed. “Fire.” Thousands of hisses we heard as clouds of flame headed towards the covenant fleet, still getting into battle formation. The  rockets stabbed into the enemy ships,  destroying some of the ships unlucky enough to be crippled by the MAC rounds.                     “Get into battle formation, we engage at our own accord.” ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   The night was very dark. Pitch black, no one could see reliably in these conditions, not even griffons. Save for one elite group          “Remember, don’t kill the monster. The commander is gonna have our heads if we do. Fan out in pairs, and if you zero down it’s location report back here.  Bow will relay the approximate coordinates. From there, we will stalk the target and I will lead. Remember your partners?” a chorus of yes sir’s was his reply. “well let’s to it.” --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A crow broke Six from thought as small black figures flew through the sky. She was busy focused on the pony she was carrying. The bandage she put over the wound was now soaked in red, losing the blueish tint it had two mere hours ago from the painkilling ointment. Opening Daring’s map to the best of her abilities with one hand, she looked to see she was fairly close to Daring’s “X”.  A day and a half at the most. Folding it back up she put it in one of her empty ammo pouches. One of three. The other was crammed to the point it was open, but the other was empty. It was bad luck to open that pouch. Yes, bad luck. Looking at the stars she used them as her guide, to the best of her abilities. Daring was more experienced in exploration, for obvious reasons as it was her profession, but Six didn’t want to wake up the pony. She was competent enough to manage, and it gave her something to do. Two blips zipped through her radar, and at the same time she heard serious rustling in the branches above. What the hell was that? Six thought to herself. She was too busy looking through the gap in the foliage at the stars to look out for threats. As much as Six hated to admit it the wilderness was getting to her. Memories, worries about the state of a bug eyed alien, and mild sleep deprivation, by spartan standards. It was probably nothing, the Spartan thought. Even if it was something, I’ll take care of it. I always do. “Almost always”, Six coldly muttered. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------                               “Holy shit, that thing almost saw us!” Mist Chaser blurted out.                 “Be glad it was almost private, you almost got us killed back there.” The pony’s superior bluntly noted. He was rather skittish when learning he was paired with the reckless pegasus. Her attitude had injured a handful of guards, and had her demoted from corporal twice in her three years of service.               Scurrying through the woods the two reached Bow, silently waiting for orders,                         “We spotted the objective Bow, relay these coordinates” examining the map he called out the area he told Bow the location where he found his target. the stallion cleared his mouth as he let out a bone chilling yell. A shriek, though not an ordinary one, it was a sound only the bats could hear. Infrasound. The other groups stopped all activity to hear the broadcast, instantly converging on one location. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bushes rustled as various birds flew from the foliage into the sky, screeching. Something felt awfully eery in the forest. Life in the forest had ceased to a standstill, and gave Six an ominous feeling. The rustling went from just a squirrel preparing for hibernation to something serious and dark, something she hadn’t dealt with ever since she had arrived in this new world. It brought back thoughts, memories, and nightmares. Listening to the rustling whilst suppressing her thoughts, she had begun to observe that the rustling was coming from all directions. Though it was tough to tell due to her walking pace, but the noises remained, only getting louder, seeming that the noises were getting closer. Though Six found it tough, because the noises, whether it being snapping of twigs, or knocking on bark, any sign of life never happened at the same time.  For all six knew it was just her mind being paranoid, and she was unwilling to waste time searching for “ghosts” that almost assuredly were not there with Daring in fairly bad condition. It all changed when something sprung from the bushes not even twenty meters from her. It resembled the pony on her back but looked fairly different. It’s height was slightly bigger, probably six foot one. It’s muzzle was different, but the pony appeared more masculine in terms of build. It’s wings resembled what Six could only describe as a bat’s in appearance, dark blue like the night sky. It’s coat was dull grey, and it’s hair and tail were two different shades of blue. Six was snapped out of thought when it spoke.                  “I don’t know if you can understand me, but put the pony down.”    Not the best way to convince me, Six thought in her head. Though she played along. Besides, if she had to beat the crap out of this thing if it got in her way, she’d need to drop Daring anyway.                          “By orders of Princess Luna, we have been ordered to detain you, on grounds of assault of a soldier in uniform, and interfering in royal business. Now get on your knees, and put your, err, hands up.” Now this is where he really screwed up. Six’s response was a clear no, though she wanted to wait, see if she would intimidate him by simply standing there. As a drop of sweat rolled down his face, she decided she had enough fun. With a shake of her head she awaited his response. She was surprised a little bit, to see it whistle. Almost instantaneously eleven more of the mysterious “bat ponies” popped up out of thin air. Cracking her knuckles Six stood, waiting their move, planning out her choices in her heads. Before I do anything, I should ask if these ponies are from the same place Daring is, Six thought. Taking out a piece of scrap from one of her “empty” pouches she scribble the question “Are you Aquestrian?”  Holding it up slightly, she opted to let them walk to her. Almost instantly, who she thought was the leader, sent one of his subordinates and took the paper out of her grasp, bringing it to him. Looking at it for a second, he looked up and dryly said “Yes”. Though he hoped that Six would now relent to his albeit degrading command. “Now will you comply to my commands?” He already knew the answer. Six shook her head again, knowing her plan. A good fighter always shows restraint. If you wear impenetrable armor but assure that none of your foe’s blows hit you, he will spend all his time simply trying to hit you that he won't realize he doesn’t know how to penetrate your armor. Six Luckily had her invisibility of all armour abilities. She stood motionless as the ponies encircled her and eventually closed in. They crept in. Ten meters, five meters, four meters. They didn’t get closer than four. Vanishing in thin air, the ponies, jumped back slightly startled. Before their training kicked in she striked. Picking up two of the ponies with one hand she slammed them into the ground. One tried to squirm out of the hold, and she released him, only to kick him in the chest, breaking a handful of ribs. As she stood up again two of the ponies charged at her from her left and right. Six jumped back with lightning reflexes, grabbing the back of the two’s skulls and smashing them into eachother. Bolting over the pile she ran into the woods, knowing that a long engagement meant more likely than not reinforcements. Six heard the leader yelling in the distance, ordering them to give chase. Reaching a rock formation, she activated her invisibility and climbed, knowing her tracks would go cold. One of the batponies though followed the tracks and used it’s wings to survey the group of boulders. All of a sudden out of thin air Six jumped, tackling the pony and dropping it onto the rocks ten feet below. Unconscious with a few broken bones, Six ran off even further. An hour of duck and mouse, Most of the original assailants were incapacitated. nine down and three unaccounted for still, through they likely started attending to the wounded, including the leader. Six was satisfied with her escapee, though she had creeping thoughts in the back of her mind. What if i just attacked soldiers from Daring’s country? six thought, knowing consequences of that in UNSC controlled space. Granted she had never killed any of the guards, not even giving them head trauma, the only truely dangerous region to hit. Hits from spartans in the head often meant severe mental disabilities, that often took a year or more of rehab and medicine to remedy. Six couldn’t help but think of Daring though. She had decided in her head, based on instinct, that she should leave Daring behind to make sure she got proper medical treatment. It was a calculated risk, though she should still travel closer to the X. It was good she still had the map. Maybe it was all a sham? Maybe those ponies were just thugs in fancy armor. They were scary in appearance. Well, scary in pony standards. The bug eyed creatures did look somewhat cute, even Six had to admit. No, they had to be. There was similar symbols in Daring’s outfit and backpack, or whatever she called it. rolling her eyes, Six discarded the thoughts, thinking of what happened with Daring. Whatever happened to Daring was not her problem anymore. She shouldn’t have been asleep in the first place. She was wounded for a few days though. The Spartan discarded the thoughts out of her head. It wasn’t good to think of what was already done. Though Six needed to think of what to do. Her destination was just crossed out of the equation. She wasn’t about to stroll in to a camp full of ponies she just beat into bloody pulps. Though the Spartan did just decide it was better to find a good place to set up camp. It was going to be a long night