You know, not many people get to fight aliens. Even fewer survive longer than a few ops. And only one can be the volunteer. My name is Dorian Kharim. I am the volunteer. I'm the one who saved Earth from the Uber Ethereal, me and all of Foxtrot Squad. We boarded that god forsaken derelict, and fought every kind of alien under the sun. Sectoids, floaters, mutons, you name it, they were there, trying to kill us. But we did it. We defeated that Uber Bastard. We won the battle, if only for a few moments. You see, back on the capital ship, there was an orb of psionic energy that was primed to go off, creating a black hole. I tried to contain it, but I wasn't strong enough. I failed. I wasn't able to stop the orb from detonating, all I could do was dampen it, and instead of creating a black hole, it opened a worm hole, sucking the entire capital ship in. I'm not quite sure where we are. It's just me and the others, sitting in the helm, looking out at the vast nothingness of space. We've been drifting for nearly two days now, And still, all we can see is a green planet, probably light years away. Oh well, I guess it's a fitting, considering the previous event. I started to just sort've, accept it. That we were going to die. So, i just solemnly took a seat by the observatory window, looking out, knowing that no help was coming. The alien ship still had working engines, but hell if any of us know how to use em. Mathias has been down in the engine room with Midori since yesterday, tinkering away. I don't have the heart to tell em' it's probably all for naught. So here I am. Floating. Drifting, through god know's where in the universe, contemplating the very nature of the universe. I mean,it had only been a year and a month after the Ethereals had attacked us. Before then, humans were considered the most advanced creatures in the universe, no one questioning our superiority, cus' for all we knew, we never considered someone was coming to wipe us out. But it turns out that we aren't alone. In fact, we're not even close to alone out here. I mean, take all the different ET's we fought, they must have all come from different places, cus NONE of them, save the mutons and floaters, looked anything alike. We're just one cesspool of creatures, confined to our own corner of the universe. But we managed. We lived through it, albeit just barely. But now we know. We know that we've got to get off our asses and start preparing for the aliens. Because more will come. Now they know we're here. And judging from the whole. "blowing up your leader", thing we just pulled, they're presumably quite pissed. In a way, it's almost a blessing in disguise being out here. Not having to worry about the impending extinction of the human race. What was it that Dr. Vahleen had said to the commander? I believe it was, " This must only be a scouting fleet, as large scale invasions have been completely absent. There is most likely a larger, more powerful fleet of vessels en route."
So, yeah, they're probably all screwed. But, being the optimist I am, I'm gonna go out thinking I saved humanity, even if it was for but a moment. It's like that saying , "The Calm before the Storm." What no one seems to realize is that what we just endured wasn't the storm. It was the calm before it. Anyways enough philosophical quandries. I rose from my spot, waving to Bridgette as she removed some alien power cells from a light overhead, humming the tune of ' Major Tom' , to herself.
Ah, that crazy bitch. She seems to be able to use anything for everything. Take this one time, we were responding to a UFO crash, and we found some mutons, so she sneaks around the back of them , and trips over her sniper! She breaks the thing too! So the two mutons are scratching their heads, and turn around to Bridgette charging at them with a freakin' piece of wreckage. She ends up killin' one, and Chrissie shoots the other, but still, she's crazy.
I proceeded down a metal ramp, coming to a large hard light door. I tapped a key panel to the right of it, and kept going. Soon enough, after wondering the mazelike corridors, I found the engine room, where Midori was sound asleep by the bulkhead door. Mathias was tinkering with a large cylindrical object that gave off a feint purple glow.
" What are you doin' here? I thought you and Elise were supposed to be up on the bridge, tryin' to find us a place to set down.", The large assault trooper spoke. He was nearly seven feet tall in his olive green titan armour. His skin was a dark brown, and his head bore no hair, not that it much mattered, since they all wore helmets in combat. His features were innocent and young, like a boy's, yet imposing because of his stature. He had been with XCOM from the start. And though you couldn't tell it by looking at his boyish face, he had seen more horrors than any of them. It was almost ironic, in a way.
"Nah. Bridgette's got that covered. I figure I'd come down here to see how the engine is comin' along, since Chrissie asleep upstairs. So, how we doin'? Any progress?", I spoke plainly.
"Not much unfourtantley .... I only found one thing that might be of use to us, and even then it's ... naw, never mind.", Mathias brushed the idea away.
"Cmon' man tell me. Any idea is better than none.", I encouraged Mathias. He took a deep breath before he explained his scheme.
" Well, I cant get the engines working, they're coded to only respond when a Thin Man operates them, far as I can tell. However, I found a detonation sequence hidden in the code of the operating system. Anyone can use it, but the resulting explosion would leave only the bridge in tact, and thats only if we secure every bulkhead before we get inside the bridge. I know it sounds stupid as all hell, but the force of the explosion would be enough to propel us forward at an astounding pace. We could cover approximatley 1. 7 light years in the course of an hour. After that, we start slowing down , and within 24 days, we're stranded again. We only have one shot dog, we gotta make it count. You in?", Mathias stood up, towering over me, looking at me with those endearing blue puppy eyes of his. I was weak, and I conceeded to this batshit insane plan, as I reached out to shake his hand. I think it was also partly due to the fact that he stood a full foot and a half taller than my short Hawaiian ass. Either way, I had just agreed to let a man blow the ship keeping us alive to kingdom come, because he thinks it might work. Great.
I left the engine room, letting Mathias do his thing , and as soon as I was out of view, i began sprinting up to the bridge to inform Bridgette of our last ditch effort plan. Or our suicide plan, depending upon how this goes over. I burst into the bridge panting, and leaned on my knees as Bridgette came over to me, asking me why I was out of breath. I simply responded, " There's a crazed psycho trying to blow up the ship!"
"What!? I mean who, how is that, we're the only .... " Bridgette tried to formulate a coherent sentence.
"Don't worry Kennedy, the psycho is Mathias, but yes he's still blowing up the ship. If it makes you feel better, its for a good reason though.", I responded, doing my best expression of the :D emoticon as I finished, mocking her.
" Ookaaay. Now would you care to explain, what that reason is, cus' I have half a mind to go down there, and shoot him with my plasma rifle.", Bridgette said sternly. She was always such a buzzkill.
"Stop your fretting, all he's gonna do is intiate a cataclysmic explosion that wuld propel us forwards. preferably towards that green spec over there. I mean, what else do we have to shoot for, unless you've discovered something else that we can go towards, that spec is our best chance for survival.", I told her, silently hoping she would just concede to the plan. I knew better than to do that.
"Have you people gone mad? Detonating the engines would kill all of us instantly! There's no way on Earth that we'd be able to survive it, much less be propelled by it.", Bridgette retorted, exasperated.
" Yeah, well, look around you honey, we're not exactly on Earth anymore are we?" , I shot back jokingly, letting a wry smile spread across my face.
"Look, Dorian, I appreciate your effort in saving us the first time, I really do, but can you leave the whole, ' not dying ', thing to me and Elise?", she spoke, wholeheartedly.
"Nope. Sorry, but this is a matter of all of us survivng, not just you. ", I spoke, getting angry now, pointing my finger accusingly at her. "I'm going to talk to Elise and Chrissie. Me and Mathias are in, and if they are too, we're going through with this insane plan. start determining how far away that green spec is., I ordered Bridgette.
"But ... ", she tried to retort.
"Goddamnit, I try to be nice, but I was put in charge of this squad, and when I give you an order, you do it solider. Am I clear?" , I barked venomously. She raised her hand as if to speak, before she looked down at the floor, and spoke.
"Yes sir ..."
I left the room without a word, and set out to the barracks where Chrissie and Elise were resting. Seem thats everyone is starting to get a bit jetlagged. Or Is giant-ass-space-ship-lagged? I'm going with the latter. I jogged down the long hallway that led to a catwalk that split into two branching paths, each leading to a small hardlight door. I proceeded down the left path, and tapped the panel beside the door, as it disintegrated before me. I stepped through the doorway into the small barrakcs where Chrissie lay passed out on a metal bed in her armour. Elise was sitting in a corner, reading her personal copy of Sun Tzu's art of war. She was the strategist of the group, even though she preferred a front line role, being a heavy trooper and all. Still, she was strong in both mind and body, a force that the aliens never saw coming.
"Whatcha doin' girlfrand?", I said in the most feminine voice I could manage, while I waved at her. Elise was about the same height as me, 5' 6". She has the prettiest orange red hair I have ever had the pleasure of witnessing sway gently in the wind. She wore a suit of customized blue and white titan armour, that had the picture of the British flag on the back of the overarching spine armour. Her features were sleek and well defined, her pale skin complimenting her fiery hair. She had a small, dapper mouth, with a slender nose, and jade eyes that could reduce even the toughest of men to little more than babbling idiots. Not me though, I knew since I first saw her that I'd forever be in the friend zone, and so I just let her beautiful eyes wash over me, as opposed to piercing me. Still, a man can dream.
"Nothin' much, just watching Chrissie sleep, reading. Hoping to not die. Speaking of which, what;s the word on the engines?", Elise inquired curiously, hoping for a non - explodey response. She wasn't going to get one.
"Well, about that. You see, the engines can propel us, but not in the way you'd think." , I responded akwardly, scratching my head.
"What do you- ", Elise started.
" Explode. We're going to blow up the engines to hopefully rocket us forward. ", I revealed, spilling the beans.
"What does 'hopefully' mean. Are you sure that'll work? it seems extremely risky, and prone to accident.", Elise spoke in her cute British accent.
" Well, Mathias told me that there's always a possiblity it could backfire on us. But I mean, in all honesty what would yu prefer? just sit out here, and starve to death. Or freeze. Or Burn. Or suffocate. Or - "
" i get the point."
"Right. Anyways, all I'm saying is we have a choice to make, die out here, giving up. Or die trying to survive. Which sounds more like the Elise Schafer that was the first one to use an prototype plasma pistol, knowing full well, it could kill if it malfunctioned?", I spoke convincingly. I could see her contemplating the choices presented before she, lookaed at the ground, then up at me, staring into me. Through me.
"I'm in.", she said confidently, nodding her head.
"Awesome. Go ahead and tell Chrissie the plan when she decides to stop being so depressed.", I spoke as I began to exit the barracks.
"Wait. I have just one more question.", Elise stopped me, putting a hand on my shoulder. U turned to face her and ask what she wanted to know.
"Where are we going, exactly?", she asked, a bit nervously.
"Remember when were up on the observation deck? remember that little green spec we saw? There. We're headed there. I know it sounds crazy, but it's our only shot. By the way, wake sleepy head up, and start securing all the bulkhead doors you can find, except for the one path between the engines and the bridge. Midori and Mathias are still down there. I'll tell you everything else when we're all safely inside the bridge. Let's get goin." , I answered back, hoping that it would be enough to assure her everything would be all right. For the time being, it had to be.
I exited the barracks, running back down to the engine room to inform Mathias of the squad's ruling. I came through the bulkhead door, just as Midori was waking up. Midori was a legend when it came to all things XCOM. With over 57 ops under her belt, and 109 confirmed kills, she was easily in competition with Mathias for most experienced soldier. You can imagine her disbelief when I was put in charge of the mission. Even after our "sucess", she still doubts my leadership skills. As she picked herself up off the floor, her light purple titan armour glinted from the alien lighting fixtures. Her jet black hair was tied back in a ponytail, and the lighting really brought out her soft brown eyes. Midori was Chinese, and her almond eyes gave this away. Her features were soft and gentle, with an oval shaped face. Her personality reflected her physical features, as she had chosen to become a combat medic, healing her fellow soldiers more than she killed aliens. And that says a lot when you've got 109 kills.
"Yo Mathias, you just about ready to get this show on the road? Chrissie and Elise are securing the bulkhead doors, and Bridgette's plotting a course to the Green Spec. I haven't asked her how far it is, but let's hope it's in range.", I asked humbly.
"Yeah dawg, let's go, just gotta ... " , Mathias was interrupted by a surge of purple energy that zapped the control panel he was tinkering with. " Aww shit ... I must'a done something wrong.", he told me, resuming work on the control panel, sweat forming on his brow.
"What just happened? Is it bad? uhm, Murakami, no time to explain now, but get to the bridge ASAP, and if you see Chrisse and Elise tell them to hurry with the bulkhead doors.", I ordered, observing Mathias fidget with the controls.
"What? What bulkhe-", she tried to question.
"Midori, please, this is really important, just go!", I pointed towards the exit. In an instant, she just nodded and was off.
"Now, about that 'mistake'. What have you done?", I questioned the already stressed engineer.
"I, I think I started the self destruct sequence, see? it's counting down in these weird symbols. Man, we've gotta split, now. Lets start closing off the last five doors. C'mon, better safe than sorry, even if it isn't an explosion that comes."
"Alright, lets get to it. " I responded, worried at Mathias' deduction. Well, I mean, this was what we we're hoping for after all, it just happened to come a bit abruptly. Who was I to question this seeming misfortune? it's a wonder that we even had this desperate option available to us, after we blew apart corridor after corridor defeating the ethereals. Oh well, time to find out if this was a saving grace, or a death wish. Either way, it was gonna be fun as hell riding the shockwave!
Mathias motioned me through the first bulkhead a she secured it into place, and we both ran towards the next one, we repeated this procedure four more times before we finally came to the bridge where Elise was standing in the doorway, leaning against it.
"Bridgette tells me we won't make it to the green dot. She says it's too far away.", Elise spoke solemnly. I didn't know what to say. I was utterly shocked by the revelation, although I sort've knew deep down that this plan was a long shot.
"Let me talk to her, let's go. Inside.", Mathias spoke, herding us through the door. Once inside, I found Bridgette at the helm, looking at a holo map intently. Chrissie and Midori were off to the left, talking about something involving an old op.
"What do you mean we wont reach? That engine's got 1.7 light years of boom. If we don't reach it with that, we'll be damn near close enough to step outside of this ship and land on it. Now tell me, how far away is it, Bridgette?" , Mathias asked, frustrated. Bridgette sighed deeply, and began.
"Look, Mathias, we're in range of it. I lied to the others to keep them from freaking out. In fact, we're more than close enough, in fact, we're too close. That spec out there is 1. 5 light years away. That engine is going to blow us . 2 light years farther than we need to go. We're either going to shoot right past it, or crash into it. We have to find a way to slow our approach, and fast. I heard the electrical surge. I presume Mathias started the detonation sequence." , Bridgette answered back, approaching the doorway, and securing the final bulkhead. "I've found one thing that might be able to dampen our speed, but it would require someone to manually operate it. And that would mean ..."
"Okay, well where is it then? ", Mathias asked, desperate as the beeping coming from the engine room began to speed up. I just took a back seat to the whole conversation, resigning myself to a seat next to Elise.
"It's outside the ship, they're hardlight flaps, airbrakes almost, but designed to withstand solar winds and such. That's why they're made out of energy.", Bridgette said gravely.
"Can't you just access them from here? When I last checked that interface controlled the whole ship.", Mathias shot back.
"Yes, but what you failed to check was if all of them still responded. Like the engine, the interface only responds to alien DNA, or so you've claimed. Apparently that's the case with all the alien devices. So, who's going out there? We don't have much time left before the engines go.", Bridgette retorted sharply. Me and Elise stood up, and walked to stand beside Mathias. Chrissie and Midori did the same. We all Encircled Bridgette, standing silently, staring her down. She shook her head in disbelief.
"No, you can't expect me to- ", she tried to stammer out.
"Look, you're the only one with archangel armour, meaning you're the only one with a jetpack." , Elise told Bridgette coldly.
"But. I could just take off my armour and one of you could ...", Bridgette tried to form a repsonse.
"You know that won't work Bridgette. All of our armours are custom fitted. Please don't make this harder than it has to be. " , Elise spoke sympathetically, trying to coerce her into accepting her fate. I simply watched form the sidelines, a spectator to my own survival story.
"Please, there has to be another way ... ", Bridgette stammered, her voice quavering.
'"You said it yourself not five minutes ago. This is the only way.", Midori chimed in.
"Let's go, Dorian , open the bulkhead, ad lets hustle to the airlock. Fast. Bridgette, Get your helmet.", Mathias said commandingly. I did as he said, opening up the door as everyone filed through, Bridgette in the middle, flanked by everyone. We all sprinted as fast as we could through the deserted hallways, the only sound the clang of our boots on the metal, and the ominous beeping coming from the engine room. After a short jog, we arrived at a large hole in the side of a wall, big enough to fit a muton through. We all stood around Bridgette as she solemnly put on her helmet.
"You can't make me do this. I won't go. I won't die. " , she stated matter of factly. Mathias opened the circular hatch which revealed the small cylindrical hallway that led to another hatch. Everyone just stood and waited, eyeing Bridgette longingly. She stood there, aloof from the situation at hand, arms crossed, looking at us through her visor accusingly. All was silent save for the grave beeping. I couldn't take the silence, and the anxiety, so I just did it.
"Will someone just push the bitch?" , I shouted as I kicked Bridgette in the stomach with the sole of my boot, sending her flying backwards into the hallway. Mathias quickly sealed the door, as Bridgette banged against the metal hatch.
"You bastards! How dare you! You need me! You hear me! Without me, you're all gonna die!", Bridgette assaulted us with her barrage of words.
"Bridgette, we're not letting you back in. So goddamnit, just save us. For the love of god, just go out there, and save our asses. Please. We're begging you. Because if you don't, we all die.", Midori pleaded with Bridgette, as the banging died down. I could hear Bridgette sighing deeply, before she uttered a simple response.
"Let's go.", she choked out, the words barely audible.
"Atta girl. Now, let's get to it, we only have a minute or so left, judging by that beeping, Bridgette, we're heading back to the bridge. You can open the airlock from inside there. We're counting on you Kennedy. Godspeed. " Mathias spoke, a single tear sliding down his cheek. And that's when we all ran like hell. We just managed to slide back into our cocoon of safety, and secure the bulkhead door, when we heard Bridgette saying something through Elise's helmet. From what I remember, she said, " This is Major Bridgette to ground control ... I'm stepping through the door. And I'm floating in a most peculiar way ... and the stars, ... they look very different today ..." , in a tone that broke my heart. Even if she was crazy, I could never thank her enough for what she had done for us. As we all settled into the bridge, fastening our helmets on, Bridgette radioed that she had done it, and gotten the space breaks in place. She told us she could still come back inside. That there was still time.
And that's when the explosion hit. It almost didn't feel like an explosion though. It felt more like a distant earthquake. At first anyways. For the first two or three seconds, we thought we would be fine, safe inside the bridge. That assumption shattered when my entire squad was thrown backwards, as the engines exploded, thrusting us forwards at an incredible speed. I didn't even try to stand up, as I lay against the wall, the universe zipping by faster than I could imagine, my whole world went black. I couldn't see anything. At first I panicked, thinking I was dead, but over time I just let it continue, as I yelled and whooped, enjoying this universal version of a roller coaster. I threw my arms up, thinking that I might as well have some fun if this happened to kill everyone. But you know what? it didn't. I sat there blind and having the time of my life. I didn't even care that I couldn't hear either. And after what felt like a single minute of hurtling through space, my vision and hearing returned, and within a few minutes, everyone managed to pull themselves to their feet.
"Whooo! That was one hell of a joy ride, wouldn't you say Mathias?", I shouted, overjoyed to be alive. He approached me, wrapping his arm around my neck and pulling me close in a brotherly embrace.
"Yeah man. It sure was.", he responded, as he removed his helmet, and let it drop to the floor.. Retracting from the hug, I began to speak.
"Wasn't that ride supposed to be like an hour or something? If it was, I was having too much fun to notice.", I said, removing my helmet, and laughing at simply being alive. I strode over to the observation window, to see if we had even made it, a surge of stress and anticipation washing over me. I wasn't ready for what I saw.
"WOAH, EVERYONE BRACE! Now! Get your helmets on and get down!", I shouted as the other ran over, refastening their helmets, to look at the planet surface that was rapidly approaching us. We could make out a large green continent, similar in size to South America, surrounded by oceans, and linked in several places by large isthmuses to other continents. I sat down and braced myself for the impending impact. I thought to myself that we might die here. I quickly brushed away the thought. If I can hurtle through space at a speed so fast it would rip people apart, I can survive a crash goddamnit! I was speeding into the atmosphere, the friction tearing away at the hull of the ship. I got up to look at how close we were. It was possibly the stupidest idea I'd ever had, fr when I stared through the window, we were but a few hundred feet from a forest below. I began praising every god under the sun that there was air on this planet. I wouldn't come this far just to suffocate, and thankfully, we chose the right rogue planet. It had never occurred to me that this planet was indeed a rogue planet, as there was no star anywhere near it, which begged the question of how life existed here. Much less complex stuff like trees. I pushed away the questions, thankful that I had at least been given the best chance possible to live, and if it was freezing cold out there, oh well, there was nothing we could do anymore. As I came to terms with this i returned to my position calmly, and braced myself, hoping for the best.
And that's when when me made impact. But the impact wasn't a boom, or a thud, or an explosion like I had expected it to be. No, it was a dink. The sound you'd expect a coin to make when you drop it into a cup. And that's when I noticed the yellow and blue glow of energy suspending us mere feet above the surface. We slowly began to descend the last few feet, touching the ground with a dink. What just happened. Like seriously. WAT. We had came in at a tremendous velocity, and yet here we were, the ship still mostly intact. The yellow and blue auras faded, leaving the ship with a reddish glow, the hull still immensely hot from entering the atmosphere at such a great speed.
"We ... We did it! Oh my god, were still alive!", Midori yelled, overjoyed by the series of events. Elise and Midori hugged, telling each other of their former doubts about the plan, and how they had all been wrongly founded.
Still, I don't understand what caused us to just up and stop like that. Was it the hardlight space breaks? Was it some form of emergency breaks this ship had built into it? I couldn't know for certain, and that bothered me. I felt as if the aura's were magical almost. Had god himself saved us? No, that's ridiculous, even for me. I didn't linger on the thought much longer, gathering myself.
"Heh. Alright then, who wants to go explore an alien planet then? Just to be safe, let's bring our weapons. We don't know if this is the ethereal home world. After all, the wormhole DID deposit us in this spot in space, or close enough. Even if it isn't, it could still be dangerous. Let's get organized, and get going." , Mathias instructed us. I didn't mind that he was taking charge, despite my former appointment of squad leader. If there was anyone qualified to lead us into this brand new world, it was Mathias.
We gathered a the damaged bulkhead door, that managed to remain in place all throughout or journey. Before I could say something, Mathias kicked open the destroyed door. Before us lay a scene of indisputable beauty, and horror, all at once. The forest looked like it could harbor all kinds of dangerous life. Maybe this is where the feral muton berserkers were taken from. It sure looked the part. But in a way it was serenely beautiful with sunlight streaming down through the - . Wait what. WHAT. Sunlight?!? I tried to refocus my vision by shaking my head and blinking, but sure enough that was sunlight, illuminating this rogue planet. But how?There had been no star anywhere near it? I also began to realize that I'd seen the sunlight earlier, when we were coming in, I had been able to see the continents perfectly. This didn't make any sense, how had there been light if there was no light source? I continued pondering what the hell was going on here, as we stepped outside the bridge
And sticking to the trend of what-the-fuckery, sure enough, there, hanging in the sky was a bright yellow star, much like our own sun. I began to wonder how any of this was possible. Maybe I was dreaming? Maybe I was dead? I'm not really sure at this point, but I'm going to assume I'm still alive, for my own mental health.
Putting aside the massive question of how any of this was possible, I soldiered on, the last in the group of my squad mates. I wielded a plasma rifle and pistol, and an alien grenade, while Chrissie and Elise carried heavy plasma guns. Mathias carried an alloy cannon, the BFG shotgun of the real world. Over his shoulder was slung Bridgette's sniper rifle. Death makes people you hated in life so much closer to you in a way, for I couldn't help but look away from the gun. It almost hurt to look at it.
"Hold up. We got a contact. Heads down.", Chrissie whispered loudly, signaling for us to halt. We Stopped dead in our tracks, crouching down, guns primed. We saw rustling come from a bush not ten meters away. We all decided to duck behind tress for better cover, and observed the bush, poking our heads out from cover. The bush began to glow with a yellow aura that looked similar to the one that encircled the ship earlier. As the bush parted, I observed a large figure step through the gap, accompanied by a bodyguard of others. The creatures appeared to stand on four legs, and were about as tall as horse. Two of the larger ones had horns jutting out from their heads, and the smaller ones appeared to have wings. All the smaller equines were white, while, one larger equine was a dark blue pruple. the other large one was also white, with a mane and hair that seemed to flow and radiate energy. The blue one also had a similar design, in the sense that her hair flowed without wind, and seemed to be made of energy. In fact, they looked like smaller versions of horses, in regards to their features, proportionate to their size. They were equine in nature, yet their facial features conveyed a higher level of intelligence. I never expected them to be so intelligent as to be able to talk though. Talking alien horse things. That's new.
"Luna, where did you say it came down? I sensed it was near here, but I cant see any smoke or fire. Surely it must have been damaged to some extent, going at that speed. " , the large white equine spoke in a regal voice that were gentle to the ears. I couldn't believe what was happening. Screw being alive, there was no way this was happening. But the conversation continued, as I shifted to hide myself more fully, thanking that my armour was a brownish black, which helped me to blend in with the bark.
"I'm sure of it Tia', just a bit further, and we'll see just what disturbed us. Onwards guards.", The Blue One ordered to the white equines. They obeyed immediately, advancing.They seemed to be wearing a primitive, yet regal, form of golden armour that covered their back and head. The two larger specimens also seemed to wear armour, yet it looked to be more ceremonial in design, as it didn't cover any vitals areas. I still couldn't believe what the hell was going on here. it's too bad not believing something doesn't stop it from happening. I shifted to see Murakami turning to get a better look at one of the guards, and tripped over a fallen branch. She hit the ground with a loud thud, as the guards turned to face her. Shit.
"What ... what is it sister?", The Blue One questioned the larger white equine.
"I'm not sure sister. Maybe it came from whatever fell from the sky. Let's try and talk to it, and see if it can understand us.", the large equine replied. She took a big step forward, looking down at Midori, who scrambled onto her back, and sat up, her arms supporting her. I could tell Midori was shocked that they could even talk, I know I was.
"My name is Princess Celestia, and this is Princess Luna. Can you understand us?", the white pony motioned to The Blue One with a wing. It turns out I didn't notice that both 'Princesses' had large wings. So they had wings, and horns. So according to mythology, that makes them a mix between a pegasus, and a unicorn. Pegacorn? Unasus? I'm not even trying to understand this place anymore. My head ... it's full of fuck ...
"Uhm ... uh ... Ah, yes. I can but ... but how, how are you speaking perfect English ... you're, you're ... horses. ", Midori managed to stammer out brokenly, getting to her feet. She seemed to be surprised that, being as tall as she was, the white pony was still a head taller than her. It astounded me the proportions of the equines. While the larger ones looked like horses, but a bit smaller, the guards, had relatively stubby legs, and large bodies and heads. The eyes also creeped me out. They had eyes the size of saucers, almost as big as a sectoid's. Those eyes man, just ... just ... stared into your soul. I could sense Midori was uneasy. So being the idiot I am, I decided to step out from the tree with my gun held in front of me.
"Ambush!", one of the guards shouted as two rushed me, spear tips facing me. I Mentally face-palmed, letting them ram their weapons into my armour, as they recoiled backwards, falling onto their backs.
"Look, guys. Horses. Ponies. Whatever you are, you need to know but three things. One, were called humans. Hyoo. Manz. Get it? Good. Second of all, yes we understand you, we speak English, and yes, we are wondering how the hell you speak it too. Thirdly, and finally, my name is Dorian. Pleasure to meet royalty.", I spoke, taking control of the situation. Honestly I was pretty nervous, and thank god I had my helmet on, cus' when i get nervous, I blink a lot. Wouldn't wanna scare them with my spazz attack. I slung my gun over my back, taking an awkward bow to show my humbleness. It only felt respectful to do so in the presence of royalty. Even if they happened to be talking horses. Plus, we need all the help we can get, and the last thing we need is another set of aliens trying to kill us.
"Guys, you can come out, we're square. Oh, almost forgot, call your guards off. Even if they tried, they won't be able to hurt us. They're just hurting themselves. And wasting their spears.", I spoke, looking down at the shattered spear shafts, as the rest of foxtrot squad came out of cover slowly.
" It is a pleasure to meet you as well Dorian, along with all of you friends. I apologize for our bodyguards behavior, they're a bit on edge lately from all the debris falling from the sky. But, I would like to know, where did you come from? Were you in the object my sister and I halted?", Celestia questioned.
"Wait, you stopped our ship? How? How is that even physically - ", I began to stutter out, as Celestia interjected.
"Why, with my magic of course. We simply levitated your ship, as it were, down to the ground after we stopped it." it all made sense now. That blue and yellow aura earlier, it wasn't a breaking mechanism. it was magic. As crazy it sounded, according to these seemingly reliable horses, they possessed magical properties. Well, it would make sense, with them having horns and all. Still how was that even possible? Perhaps it was better to hold questions until later though, so I swept aside my inquiries in favor of getting on these ponies' good sides.
"Okay then. Can you answer me this then? Where are we exactly? We sort've crash landed, more or less thanks to you. By the way, thank you for stopping our ship, I'm not sure we could've survived the impact." , I thanked them, knowing that without them, we might be burning corpses.Still, at least then it would've made more sense that what was happening currently.
"Why, we're on Equis of course.", Celestia answered back. Duly noted. Equine inhabitants, planet is called Equis. Weird. It'd be like humans calling Earth homo-sapien-sapien. Eh, at least Equis rolls off the tongue better, but it was still odd nonetheless. "Please come with us, we'll explain everything once we've arrived back at the castle. We'd like to know if you know anything about the sky debris. Follow us, we should be there by 8 if we hurry." Indeed, the sun that didn't seem to exist was begginning to dip below the treeline, casting long shadows along everyone. I motioned for my squad to follow, as they shook their heads in disbelief, and followed me. Midori gathered her plasma rifle, slinging it over her back, joining up with the group beside Elise. We began walking, following the troop of guards.
I still couldn't even begin to come to terms with what had happened in the last hour and a half, and yet we continued to go deeper into the rabbit hole of what the fuck, hoping to find some explanation for all of this. I guess it's sort've like that saying.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.