//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Off the Ice and Into War // Story: My Little Pony: Genesis of the Forerunners // by Bullet Soul //------------------------------// “Alright then,” the lone man said with his voice echoing off the metal and glass around him in the dank, cold room, his breath appearing as a fog in front of him. “Let’s get this soldier out of his slumber.” The man walked in front of the only active cryo-chamber on the Aurora Dawn. Another Human lay inside the tube, peacefully. “I don’t understand you, Rigs.” The man who was awake chuckled and accessed the control board for the cryo-tube. “Yes, Chief?” A sweet sounding female voice came on over the speakers in the room. The soldier rubbed the frost off the glass of the tube and peered inside at his sleeping friend. “Andromeda, please prepare Lieutenant Rigs here for defrost. I’m pretty sure he is ready to get out of the freezer and off of the ice.” “Oh, of course.” Andromeda replied. “I don’t know of any Human who wants to stay there, especially not Rigs.” “Yeah,” the soldier said, “I still don’t understand how he got the authority to be a member of Aurora Dawn.” The cryo-tube released a cold steam as some of the medicine tubes fell away from the freezer and prepared to thaw the sleeping man. “Well, Chief, you two seem to get along quite well. If my records are correct you and Rigs did grow up together.” “We did, we did.” The cryo-tube continued to prepare the soldier for thawing. “So, you never told me what you think about this last mission for the Aurora Dawn. What does the mighty Chief Warrant Officer, Grade Five, Davis T. Hand think about this trip?” Hand let out an abrupt burst of laughter. “’Trip’? Ha, I think the Covenant are going to give us everything they’ve got. This is for the largest Forerunner structure and weapon in the universe and the very last bit of the Covenant in existence; they won’t go down easy, but neither will we.” The A.I. chuckled. “I know you won’t. You seem to have forgotten that I have watched you in combat, Chief. You’ve taken down three Chieftains at once with seven rounds from your pistol and your combat knife and destroyed two Wraith tanks with a grenade and a rock. Which is quite impressive, might I add." The Warrant officer slid his fingers across the panel to tell the machine to start thawing out his friend. "Yeah, well... I was just doing my duty as a SSEAL. That's what we do." Andromeda hummed a tune as she started to fully cut off the medication being given to the lieutenant and started to lower the temperature. "You Humans have come such a long way." She stated, "Less than a century ago you only had the SEALs program: Sea, Air, Land. But now you have the SSEALs: Space, Sea, Air, Land. You all started with your legs, then earned your wings, and your gills, and now you've earned yourselves some thrusters." "Yup, best life forms in the universe we humans are." Hand said as he unlocked the freezer. "Oh!" Andromeda said as the cryo-chamber began releasing more and more steam. "The fleet admiral is calling me. I'll be back unless you no longer require my assistance." The Warrant Officer waved his hand in the cold, dry air. "Nah, I'll be fine. And so will he." Hand looked down at the tube while it slowly opened and released his friend from the eternal abyss he had been placed in for the two week long trip. Ever so slowly and ever so gradually his friend stepped out of the freezer: cold, numb, and naked. He looked up at his long time friend with dreary eyes and looked at the cryo-tube. "Man, I hate that thing." Hand laughed. "Looks like you do." Rigs made a face to mock Hand's laugh. "I'm sure I do, but be careful what you say: remember, I can have you demoted." Rigs said sarcastically. Hand tossed the freezing man a pair of his NWUs and replied, "After I just saved you from that cold, everlasting slumber? I'm sure you wouldn't." Rigs slid into the uniform quickly for someone who just awoke from cryo as he was used to it. "Keep up with that sarcasm and I will." Hands put his hands into the air. "Alright, alright. I'll stop. But sit down. I have to run the questions by you again. You know, safety protocol and what not." "Bah, I know. I know." Rigs sat down in a cold metal chair and Hand followed suit. "Okay then," the Warrant Officer said. "What is the name of this frigate?" "Aurora Dawn." "And why did you enter cryo?" "Because I can't handle the jumps into slipspace for more than three days." "And why are you on the Aurora Dawn?" "I am the medic, a combat medic, for the SSEALs team, the Vector Squadron, who's leader is Chief Warrant Officer, Grade Five, Davis Hand." "And what is our mission on the Aurora Dawn?" "We are to track down the Covenant and remaining parties of said foe so they may not harm or endanger another civilization again. We are chasing down the last known Covenant and they are searching for a Forerunner artifact, the Fruit of Good and Evil, which is found in the largest Forerunner library and laboratory, the Garden of Eden. We do not know where these Forerunner belongings are, but we are following the Covenant to find these artifacts and make sure the Covenant cannot get thier hands on this technology. "The Covenant, from our intel, know where these artifacts lie and they are heading towards an unknown planet outside of UNSC territory. We are to follow them and annihilate them." Hand and Rigs sat in the cold silence while Hands jotted a few things down on a piece of paper. "All right, Rigs, looks like you are fine; like always." Hand put the paper in his pocket and stood up. Rigs nodded and stretched. Hand extended his arm to his friend to help him stand. "Let's you get you to someplace..." The soldier was cut off short as his ear piece rang with a command. "Chief Hand, I need you at the bridge in 30." A raspy voice crackled over the headset. "Yes, sir, but may I bring my friend who just woke up?" "Rigs?" "Yes, sir." "That's fine, just make sure you are here in 30 minutes." The voice concluded. Hand nodded his head even though he knew only Rigs could see him. "Aye aye, fleet admiral." The lieutenant tilted his head. "Was that admiral?" "Yeah." "What's he want now?" "We need to meet him on the bridge in half-an-hour. In the meantime let's get you somewhere warmer." "Like a hottub! Please tell me you got a hotub while I've been on ice." Hand gathered the few things he brought and raised an eyebrow. "You do know we've been in slipspace the whole time, right?" "Oh, I know. I'm just saying it would be nice." The warrant officer nodded. "It would be. It would. You know you are a lot more energetic than most people that are freshly thawed." Rigs stretched again. "Really? 'Cause I sure don't feel like it, but I did get a lot of sleep you know." "Yeah, you are. Let's get back to our room." The two soldiers began to walk towards the door of the cryo-room. "You had better not of screwed our room up while I was in here." "Really, Rigs? You should know me better than that." "Oh, good. You didn't." Hand stopped at the door, waited for it to open, and looked at his friend while jiggling the man's last statement in his head. He smiled and laughed and walked out the door. "Whoa," Rigs stated. "What does that mean? Like.... Crap, you did destroy our room didn't you?" Hand didn't reply, smiled, and walked towards his sleeping quarters. "Hey!" Rigs caught up to his lower ranking commander and walked with him. "I hope you know I hate you." Inside the quarters Rigs plopped himself onto his bed and pulled every blanket he could find over him, still cold and still a bit hyper. "Glad the room was clean enough I could find the blankets." Rig said with a smirk on his face. Hand opened a drawer and took out his data pad. "Really? Because our quarters is pretty much spotless." "Yeah?" Rigs cuddled himself under the blankets. "Well, there's a smudge on the mirror. It's aggravating me and makes me want to punch you, just, really hard in the face." Hand laughed and scrolled down his data pad. "We need to meet the fleet admiral in twenty minutes so we need to get going in about ten." "And until then," the medic said covered in blankets, his voice bouncing off the mostly metal furniture and walls of the quarters, "you need to catch me up with everything that has been going on while I was on ice." Hand started to laugh and began to speak up. "Well, Stevens and Sapp got into another little quarrel of their's the other day." Rigs perked up and sat up in his bunk. "Really? What this time? Was it for an even more stupid reason than last time?" Hand smiled and placed the data pad back into the drawer. "Yup, by about 20%. Twenty-percent more pointless." "So, what was it for?" "Well..." The Warrant Officer began to reply, but was cut off when his ear piece rang again and a female voice came in over the headset. "Hand? We need you at the bridge as soon as possible. Oh... wait... Scratch that. We need you here now." "On my way, but might I ask why Andromeda?" "We seem to have miscalculated where we were at in Slipspace. The rest of Vector Squadron has been notified, but please get here now." "Aye aye, ma'am." Hand turned to Rigs who was looking up at his lower ranking commander quizically. "What was that?" "We need to get to the bridge, now." With a sigh and reluctant motions, Rigs tossed the blankets off of him and slid himself off the bed, grabbed his cover and placed it in his hand. "Alright, let's go." Warrant Officer Hand and Lieutenant Rigs placed their cover on their head and positioned it the way anyone positions a hat. Hand moved ahead first and moved to the center of the Quater Deck, saluted the UNSC flag, then turned to salute the officer of the watch. The officer saluted back and Hand said the ritualistic thing everyone who crossed the Quarter Deck said. "Chief Warrant Officer, Grade 5, Hand; permission to cross the Quarter Deck." "Permission denied." The officer began to turn away, but looked back with a shock when the Warrant Officer spoke up in defiance. "No! We need to cross now!" The officer crossed his arms with an emotionless face. "And why is that, Warrant Officer?" "Because we got direct orders from the Fleet Admiral that we are needed at the bridge." "And why are you so special to get these commands?" "Listen, do you want me to call up the Fleet Admiral right now? Because I can and I will. And why can't I cross anyways?" "There was a chemical spill in the recreational room and we are in the process of cleaning it up." "Alright, please let us pass. We are making our way to the bridge..." "No, sir. You can't pass. And besides, why does the Admiral want you at the bridge?" "Because we are about to make an emergency jump out of slipspace." The officer laughed. "Is that really the best excuse you can come up with? If this is true than why hasn't anyone announced it to anyone else?" Hand sighed quickly in aggravation. He hated being asked questions he can't answer. He shrugged. "I don't know, maybe everyone's busy trying to figure out where we will land and..." Hand was cut short when the entire ship lurched and the power cut off for a couple seconds. Hand, Rigs, and the officer of the watch fell to the floor. There was only one reason a frigate would do that. Hand stood up and helped Rigs stand up. He started to walk past the officer who was lieing on the floor, a bit stunned, but instead looked down at him with a mocking face. "Told you so." Hand and Rigs made their way onto the bridge and met up with the rest of their squadron, who was standing in a line according to their rank: Master Chief Petty Officer Howard, Petty Officer First Class Neihoff, Petty Officer First Class Stevens, Petty Officer Second Class Heisler, Petty Officer Third Class Wayne, and Petty Officer Third Class Sapp. The SSEALs stood in rank and peered out of the glass windows of the Aurora Dawn to give view of what was in front of it: and that view was beautiful. A beautiful and majestic looking planet sat in the center of the glass panels, like an angel painted what heaven would look like if it were a planet. "It's a shame," Sapp spoke up, "that this beautiful place in the universe will be ravaged by war because of the Covenant." Wayne looked in Sapp's direction. "So, it's the Covenant's fault? It takes two to tango, you know." Sapp began to form a rebuttle, but emergency lights flashed on and the engineers and other personelle that worked the bridge started shouting at each other. "We just entered the atmosphere of the planet!" "Did we really exit slipspace that close to the planet?" "Everyone get the Dawn out of the atmosphere!" The Vector Squadron stood there because they could be of no help. That is, until an engineer shouted, "Look! The Covenant are sending Phantoms and Spirits down to the planet!" The peaceful scene quickly turned into chaos by war. The Fleet Admiral turned towards the SSEALs. "Alright! Well, as we turn this ship around we need you all to go down there and intercept the Covenant! Go to the landing bay and prepare to go down their! I'll make sure that Beck has his Pelican ready for you all! Go! We can handle this all up here!" The Vector Squadron all nodded and took a step back and preformed an about-face in unison to fallout. The Vector Squadron grabbed their usual weapons for being on the front lines and grabbed as much ammunition as they could carry after they dawned their gear. They made their way, double-timing it, to the Pelican that would adorn them the gift of battle. On their way through the hanger it was utter chaos and discord as the Aurora Dawn tried to gather its bearings. When the SSEALs reached their Pelican they automatically jumped in the back. Hand ran up to the cockpit and shouted a command to the pilot. "Beck! Get us to the ground! We need to intercept the..." "Yeah, yeah! I know! Just sit down and I'll get you there! I know where we are going so take a seat and take some notes!" Hand laughed at the violent sarcasm and sat in the back compartment. The Pelican lifted off and the group of Humans headed towards war: to end it or to prolong it. When the Pelican was approaching the LZ for the open field where they would meet the Covenant the SSEALs began to mash the magazines into their weapons and place a round into the chamber of the weapon. Hand's ear piece rang again. "Chief! Once you get to the battle hold off the Covenant for as long as you can to prevent them from getting at whatever they are wanting to get to so hastily. Once we get the Dawn stable we are going to hot-drop some ODSTs and our little green friend into the battle." "Can do sir!" The Warrant Officer shouted over the roar of the Pelican's engine and air rushing against the hull of the bird. "Alright!" Beck shoated at the squad. "I'm going to open the door and you all jump out! I'll try to get a view on the battle and give you overwatch! If this bird had weapons I would help, but unfortunately it doesn't!" "Alright SSEALs!" Hand shouted at his squad. "Lock and load!" The bay door to the Pelican lowered and the soldiers leaped from the air and dawned the garments of war. The Pelican flew into the air and the soldiers scanned the field. It was a completely open field with beautiful flowers lining across the field in a magnificent display of color and a couple large rocks clustered in one portion of the field. Sapp sighed and said again, "It's a shame." "I agree," Hand spoke up. "But there is not a thing we can do about it. War may be a terrible thing, but let's keep it from tearing this planet apart too. SSEALs! Behind those rocks! We'll wait for the Covenant there." So the soldiers moved behind the rocks and waited. Howard sat on one of the rocks peering down the scope of his rifle, the sharpshooter ready to speak up when the members of the conflict would appear in his visual. "Beck." Hand put his hand to his ear piece. "You see anything?" At first there was no reply. "Beck, ya' there? A few seconds passed before he answered. "Yeah." "What do you see?" "Well," the pilot was reluctant. "Are you planning on dieing today?" Hand's heart sunk. "Why is that? "Well," Beck started to speak up but Howard spoke up first. "Contact! Lots of 'em!" Hand dropped his hand from his ear and looked at Howard. "What do you see?" Howard replied in a shaky voice. "Five wraith tanks." Every soldier there grew a worried look on their face and Neihoff gripped his rocket launcher while Stevens gripped his Model 8 Galilean Nonlinear Rifle, Spartan Laser. "Three ghost recon vehicles, two choppers, a prowler, and about twenty Brutes, fifteen Grunts, and ten Jackals." "Versus eights SSEALs? We aren't Spartans or ODSTs! We can't handle all that!" Heisler spoke up. Hand sighed. "Our orders weren't to survive, soldier. They were to hold off the Covenant long enough so they may be destroyed here and now and not have any chance of finding the Fruit of Good and Evil, which for all we know we could be standing on it." Wayne tilted his rifle in his hands. "Well, I always wondered what heaven looks like." Hand nodded, his heart in his chest and his rifle in his hands. He looked down the field and saw a Brute Chieftan in range of his rifle. He lifted his weapon, flicked the safety off, and prepared to die.