//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 // Story: Second Contact // by SpartanD014 //------------------------------// CHAPTER 13 >:ONI-AI-MIL WLF 8310-4 >:RUNNING SECTOR SCAN >:CHECKING RADAR… >:CHECKING LIDAR… >:SCANNING FOR COMMUNICATIONS … … … >:ALERT! COMMUNICATION FOUND! BEGINNING PLAYBACK. *static* >:ATTEMPTING CLEANUP. >:RESUMING PLAYBACK “Mayday, mayday, mayday! This is UNSC FFG-818, Lightning, requesting immediate recovery and assistance. This is Adam, Spartan D-014, sole survivor of the crash. Attached to this message is a data packet with all necessary information. Please render assistance. Spartan D-014, over.” >:MESSAGE REPEATS >:DOWNLOADING DATA PACKET… >:ANALYZING… UNSC Icarus FFG-109 CURRENT TASK: Patrol of outer Orion Arm TIME: 1123 HOURS CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN UNSC/ONI PROWLER ICARUS AND UNSC HIGH COMMAND [1123] HIGHCOM: This is UNSC High Command, how can we be of service? [1123] ICARUS: This is Captain James of the Icarus, I need to speak with Admiral Hood immediately. We have a priority one situation, here. [1124] HIGHCOM: Icarus, stand by for patch through to Admiral Hood. … … PATCH SUCCESSFUL [1126] HOOD: Admiral Hood here, what’s wrong? [1126] ICARUS: Sir, this is Captain James of the UNSC Icarus. While patrolling the outer Orion Arm we detected a distress call, timestamped as being sent out two days ago. [1127] HOOD: What ship? [1127] ICARUS: Sir… It’s Lightning. [1127] HOOD: You found her? Well done, I’ll prepare a- [1127] ICARUS: Sir, that’s not all. Included in the distress call was a data packet. We opened it, and it’s full of… I don’t know, sir. [1128] HOOD: Send it to me, Captain. [1128] ICARUS: Yes, sir. INITIATING FILE TRANSER FILE TRANSFER SUCCESSFUL [1130] ICARUS: Sir? [1130] HOOD: … Captain, launch a slipspace probe to the coordinates to confirm the information. Then return to Earth immediately. [1130] ICARUS: Yes, sir. [1131] HOOD: Hood, out. CONNECTION TERMINATED Adam walked quickly down the ancient Forerunner hallway, looking around for anything that might clue him in as to what Ulysses had been talking about. Before he completely shut down, the AI briefly mentioned that his arriving in Equestria was “no accident”, and that it had something to do with the Forerunners. With any luck, he could use whatever he found to find himself a way home. The ponies walked behind him, all of them staring in wonder at the pristine architecture. Finally, they reached the end of the hallway, and entered a large elevator. Adam stepped up to a pedestal, causing a holopanel to light up. He pressed a button on the panel, and the elevator began rapidly descending, taking them ever deeper into the ancient structure. After about a minute, the elevator reached its destination, which seemed to be the very bottom floor, and a door opened, revealing a hallway identical to the one upstairs. The only difference was that, rather than opening up into another set of ruins, the end of this hallway branched off into two more. Adam led the ponies down the hallway, to the junction, then weighed his options. “Which way are we going to go?” Twilight asked Adam. Adam thought to himself for a moment, before deciding on ‘left’. He turned down the left passage, and as he approached the door, the normally green lights turned red, and the door did not open for him. Adam puzzled over this, wondering why it would seal when he got near. Perhaps… perhaps there was something watching them, directing them to a specific room. Shrugging, Adam turned around, and tried the right passage. This one seemed to be the correct one, as the door remained green, and opened when Adam was about a meter from it. It opened into a large, very long chamber. The chamber went downwards into a deep chasm, the bottom of which could not be seen. A small hardlight bridge was spanning across the chasm, leading to a very large door on the other side. Lining the walls of the chamber were several tubes, which were pitch black inside. Adam looked at one and activated his VISR mode, and very briefly caught some movement as something scurried back inside of it. Adam then disabled VISR, and began cautiously walking out onto the hardlight bridge. Though it was very thin, it was also incredibly sturdy, and supported the Spartan and the six ponies with ease. They all walked slowly to the other end, and when they reached the massive door, Adam pressed a switch, opening it. Beyond the door lay yet another hallway, though this one was much taller and wider, and it was not empty. Standing – or rather, floating – right beyond the door was a… something. Adam had never seen anything like it. It seemed to be a floating horizontal cylinder, on top of which rested a curved surface, like a helmet. Sprouting from either side was an angled appendage, each of which had a set of claws, leading Adam to believe that they served as arms. Behind it sprouted two more of the angled appendages, though they were less bent, and seemed to function as some kind of propellant. Beneath the floating device hung a tail-like shape, with a red light on the end of it. It reminded Adam of the barrel of a Covenant plasma weapon, making him a bit uncomfortable. He reached for the magnum on his thigh, never taking his eyes off of the device. “Do not be alarmed,” it said in a strangely robotic voice. “Please follow.” The metallic flier being then spun around, and began floating to the other end of the hallway. Adam and the ponies all exchanged glances, and then cautiously began to follow behind the device. Adam continuously checked the area around them, looking for possible traps or other threats. The automaton (for that is the best description that Adam could come up with) stopped at the end of a hallway, where there lay another large door. A holographic panel appeared in front of the robot, and it began to use its appendages to type on it. Twilight took the opportunity to step forward. “What are you?” she asked it curiously. The automaton did not stop working on the panel, but did look at Twilight. “Installation sentinel unit,” it said, then looked back at the panel. Twilight seemed to accept this answer, as she stepped backwards and rejoined the group. The ‘sentinel’, as it had called itself, finished typing, and the holopanel faded away, followed by the massive door opening. It opened into a massive circular chamber that, much like the chasm behind them, seemed to be bottomless. A wide platform spanned the perimeter of the room, and a large hologram of the solar system was suspended in the center. The hologram, oddly enough, depicted a geocentric system, where Equis was in the center, and the moon and sun seemed to be orbiting around it. Adam found it odd, and unlikely, that Forerunners could have made that huge of a mistake. His train of thought was interrupted as a small spherical object descended from the high ceiling of the circular chamber, and floated over to Adam. Upon closer inspection, Adam noticed that it was not entirely spherical, and boasted what appeared to be a large green eye in the center. It floated past the six ponies, and finally came to a rest on Adam, where it made an oddly satisfied noise. “Ah!” it said in a shrill, high-pitched voice. “Reclaimer! You have come!” Adam stared at the orb quizzically, wondering what it could have meant. “What are you talking about?” he asked it, confused. The orb rotated to look at the sentinel, then nodded at it. The sentinel responded by flapping it’s appendages a few times, then it floated away into one of the small tubes that the Spartan had seen in the previous chamber. This confused Adam even further, so he looked to the object for an answer. “You, of course!” it replied. “I summoned you here!” “You did what?” Adam replied, growing even more confused. “We detected a reclaimer presence passing within the confines of this solar system,” the object explained. “We then pulled you out of slipspace, in order to meet with you!” “Wait,” Adam said, growing angry. “You mean that the deaths of all of the crew of Lightning is your fault!? You forced me to crash land here against my will!?” The sphere backed away in mock surprise. “I did not anticipate deaths,” it said. “It would appear that reclaimer slipspace technologies are still inadequate…” It then began to circle around Adam’s head. “I apologize that this has caused harm to you,” it began. “But your assistance is still required, Reclaimer.” “Alright, but first, I have just one question,” Adam said. “Please, ask, reclaimer!” the sphere said, ever excited. “Why is the solar system an incorrect model?” he said, pointing to the hologram. This drew confused stares from all of the ponies, as though they had no idea what he was talking about. Adam stared back, equally as confused. “What?” he asked them. “You do know that that’s not how space works, right?” “Of course that’s how our solar system works!” Twilight yelled. “Princesses Celestia and Luna control the sun and moon, and they both orbit around Equis!” Adam instantly thought back to the night that he had been spied on by Princess Luna, when he had knocked her out. After letting her go, he had seen her do something with her horn that caused the moon to lower at a quicker pace. At the time, he had believed that his head had been hit in the crash, but now… “That’s impossible,” Adam said. “The forces of gravity just don’t work that way!” “But-,” Twilight began, before she was cut off by the sphere. “You are entirely correct, reclaimer!” it said. This caused the ponies to all stare at it, confused. “While all other recorded solar systems within this galaxy operate on a heliocentric model,” it began to explain. “This one showed strange gravitational anomalies. At the time of this station’s construction, it still was heliocentric. However, about 2000 years ago, the system collapsed, and the planet’s orbit began to decay to the point that, had it not been stopped, it would have fallen directly into the star. Fortunately, disaster was averted, as a very strange force that we have yet to understand seemed to balance everything out, and bring harmony to the system. It has remained so since then.” Twilight began to rub her chin, then perked up. “2000 years ago?” she said. “That falls into the time when Princesses Celestia and Luna defeated Discord… I bet that, as a last ditch effort to bring the world into chaos, he decayed the orbit of Equis, forcing the Princesses to take control!” “Interesting hypothesis,” the sphere said. “I will have to think upon it. But for now, we must get to work!” “What kind of work?” Adam asked, stepping forwards. “Restoring this facility, of course!” it replied, spinning. “There are many monitoring stations dotted around the planet, many of which are north of here. I lost contact with many of them years ago, and I require your assistance to get them operational again.” “Stations in the north?” Twilight asked. “That’s Gryphonia. They’ve always been crazy about ruins, now we know why… It’s likely that they’ve tampered with the technology there, and inadvertently broke something.” “This is likely,” the sphere chimed in. Adam sighed. “Alright, I’ll help you,” he said. “But, if I do, will you help me get home?” “Of course, reclaimer!” it said happily. “I would be happy to!” The sphere then began to float away, before it quickly turned back around to face Adam. “The locations of the various monitoring stations have been uploaded to your small ship,” it said. “Also, my name is 401 Lamenting Chorus, a pleasure to meet you!” With that, it quickly spun around, and flew out of the room, leaving the ponies and Spartan standing on the platform. Adam heard a strange whirring sound, and turned around. Behind the group, several angular shapes flew upwards from below, and formed two parallel lines. In between the lines, a blue portal winked into existence. “I guess that’s our exit,” Adam said, and he began walking towards it. He stopped at the threshold, and turned to face the ponies. They were right behind him, ready to enter. Adam turned back around, and stepped through. There was a bright flash of light, and then he was standing back in the camp, right next to the pelican. A few seconds later, the ponies appeared, one by one. They all checked to make sure everyone was okay, and then Adam entered the cockpit. As 401 Lamenting Chorus had said, there were seven new locations added into his navigation computer. The ponies all strapped themselves in, then Adam took off. “We should check in with Princess Celestia first,” Twilight suggested. “She may want to know what’s going on.” Adam nodded in agreement, and set his destination for Canterlot. He then fired the engines, and they rocketed away to the large city. >:EXITING SLIPSPACE >:BEGINNING SENSOR RUN >:ICARUS PROBE 4A-26 ONLINE, BEGINNING SCAN >:COLLECTING DATA … … … >:DATA COLLECTED >:INITIATING SLIPSPACE JUMP >:ICARUS PROBE 4A-26 OFFLINE “And there are seven more stations, you say?” said Princess Celestia, pacing back and forth in the large planning room in Canterlot palace. “That’s affirmative, ma’am,” Adam replied coolly. “All of them are in griffon territory.” Celestia continued pacing, deep in thought. Adam watched her as she walked back and forth across the room, her golden shoes echoing loudly throughout the room. Finally, she stopped, and regarded the six ponies standing behind the Spartan. “Please return to your quarters,” she said to them. “I will see you at our evening meal.” Twilight’s five friends turned to leave, but Twilight appeared as though she was going to protest. She was stopped, however, when Applejack grabbed her and pushed her out of the room. When the door closed, Princess Celestia let out a sigh. “Adam-,” she began. “Princess, this is important,” Adam interrupted. “It may be my only way of getting home.” “You don’t know that!” Celestia retorted. “For all you know, your people could be organizing your rescue as we speak.” Though that did sound appealing to Adam, he still ignored the thought. “I’m a Spartan, ma’am,” he replied. “I’m trained to formulate plans based on what I know as factual information, not based on what I hope is going to happen.” “Oh?” the Princess said. “And how do you know this ‘401 Lamenting Chorus’ is telling the truth? For all we know, once you have completed the task, it will simply leave you to rot in those ruins.” Adam sighed, beginning to grow annoyed. “It’s my only option,” he said through his gritted teeth. “It isn’t, Adam!” Celestia said, stepping forward. “You have a place here! With us!” This surprised Adam. He had known these ponies for just about two weeks now, and yet that seemed to be enough time for them to trust him. Even so, he had a duty to fulfill. The Covenant were crippled, yes, but that was an entirely different thing from being destroyed. The UNSC, and humanity, needed him. “I’m sorry, princess,” he said. “But I have a duty to humanity. And I don’t need your permission.” With that, he abruptly spun around, and stalked towards the door. He pushed it open, and walked out. “Adam, wait!” Celestia called. But Adam continued walking, ignoring the calls of the guards for him to stop, and he finally pushed through the door to the gardens, where his pelican was landed. He stepped inside, sealing the hatch behind him, and entered the cockpit. Through the window he saw Princess Celestia staring back at him, flanked by two guards. He ignored them, spun up the engines, and began to lift off. He saw the princess lower her head, then turn around and slowly walked back inside. The two guards lowered their weapons, and followed. Adam angled his pelican for the closest of the seven sets of coordinates, and fired the thrusters. Twilight had been somewhat confused when Princess Celestia had ordered her and her friends back to their bedrooms, but had complied and, with some help from Applejack, went back to their assigned quarters. Adam had seemed a fairly stressed out, more so than usual, after their encounter with the Forerunner machine. She hoped that he had not made any rash decisions. As Twilight and her friends walked down the hall, she decided that she could easily ask Princess Celestia at dinner. After a few more minutes of walking, they approached the large doors to the dining hall, and opened them. Sitting at the table already were Princesses Celestia and Luna. Luna had bags under her eyes, and it was clear that she had just woken up. She looked to the newcomers and smiled warmly. Celestia then looked up, and followed the gesture. “Hello, everypony,” Celestia said. “The waiters were just coming to take our orders. Please, sit.” The ponies complied, and they each took their seats. Twilight noticed that Adam’s larger seat next to Princess Celestia’s was vacant. Twilight stared, confused, then looked to the Princess. “Where is Adam?” she asked. Celestia froze, then sighed. “He is gone,” the princess replied. “Gone? What do you mean, gone?” Twilight asked, baffled. “He left, to go fulfill his missions in Gryphonia,” Celestia said. She was clearly not pleased. “You gave him permission to go?” Twilight asked. “I did not,” Celestia replied. “In fact, he made it clear that he did not require my permission…” Twilight sighed. She had feared that Adam might overreact, and do something rash. And now he had gone to Gryphonia, all alone, to eliminate the Griffon presence in several locations to reactivate the stations. Twilight sighed once more, but also began to feel worried. “I’m… sure… he’ll be okay,” Twilight said to Princess Celestia, attempting to be assuring. Celestia simply nodded, and closed her eyes. Adam set the pelican dropship down a few hundred meters away from the coordinates of the griffon-occupied ruins, deep within Gryphonia. He had not expected to run into what appeared to be a blizzard, but the noise of the wind had helped to mask his approach, giving him the advantage. He stepped into the troop compartment, and opened the weapons cabinet. It was much smaller than the one he had in his old pelican, but still had several good items in it. For the sake of stealth, he had decided to go with a M6C/SOCOM pistol, and a M7S Caseless Submachine Gun. It had been awhile since he had last used the suppressed SMG, but it felt good to hold it again. As for the SOCOM, it delivered a powerful punch, and could be fairly accurate at range, so it would likely serve him well. He opened the back hatch of the pelican dropship, and stepped out into the freezing landscape beyond. His armor immediately altered the suit temperature, bringing it higher to support him in the frigid climate. He activated his VISR mode, and began to trek through the thick snow in the direction of the ruins. He was guided by a waypoint he had set on his HUD, and it said that he was a mere 150 meters away from his objective. He began to move quicker, and finally, the dim light of campfires became visible through the heavy snow that was falling. Even with the interference, his VISR began to pick up the outlines of several figures. Most were crowded around the fires, but some were further away on patrol. He chose to prioritize these targets, and snuck up to their positions. When he was just a few meters from the first sentry, he raised his SOCOM, and fired off two shots. Each penetrated the griffon’s thick skull, killing the large creature. He then went down the line of sentries, killing them each with two 12.7x40mm M228 Semi-Armor-Piercing rounds. Finally, the sentries had all been dispatched, and all that remained were the eight griffons crowded around two fires. It would be difficult to get all eight of them without gaining some of their attention, so he decided to use the noise of the loud winds to his advantage. He got into a good position about midway between both fires, then took out two M9 HE-DP fragmentation grenades. He pulled the pins out on each of them, then threw each right into the center of the fires. They exploded on impact, killing all four griffons sitting around each of the fires. The noise of the usually loud explosions was muffled by the very loud winds, not alerting anybody left inside of the structure. Satisfied with the kills, Adam entered the ruins, and brought his SMG to bear. He found very little resistance inside, only a single griffon every few corridors. Unlike the ruins on the Equestria-Gryphonia border, these ruins were clearly Forerunner the moment he stepped inside. The outside was made of primarily the same brown stone, but once inside, the long silver corridors were all that could be seen. Finally, Adam came to a small door with a holographic button beside it. He stacked up on the side of the door, then peered through the window. Inside he could see four armed griffons, and two more who appeared to be looking at the various controls. He could clearly see where one panel had been ripped off of the wall, and the inner workings were exposed. They appeared to have been tampered with. Adam reloaded his SMG, and now with 60 rounds ready, he pressed the button, and burst into the room. The four griffon soldiers were caught off guard, and failed to raise their weapons in time. Adam easily sprayed them all down, then turned on the two remaining griffons. They were unarmed, but both were staring at Adam challengingly. Adam jerked his head in the direction of the dislodged panel. “What did you do over there?” he asked them. They both answered with threatening snarls. Adam fired a shot into the ceiling, causing them to flinch backwards. “I won’t ask again,” he said as he reloaded the magazine. Finally, one of the griffons backed down. “We moved some of the things inside,” the griffon said in a gruff voice. “The king wants to know how it works so that we can become stronger. That is why we are here.” “Fix it,” Adam commanded. The griffon snarled again. “No,” he replied, getting back into a challenging pose. Adam sighed, then aimed his SMG at the other griffon’s head. “Fix it, or your friend dies,” Adam said, clearly moving his finger over the trigger. Still the griffon did not back down, so Adam squeezed the trigger, and sent ten rounds into the griffon’s head. It dropped to the ground, blood oozing from the bullet holes. “Fine!” the griffon shouted, walking over to the panel. He bent down, and used his talons to move some of the wires back to what Adam assumed were their original positions. The lights dimmed, then came on stronger than before. Then, a voice filled the room. “Well done, reclaimer!” it said. “I once again have access to this station!” The voice then cut off. “Good work,” Adam said to the griffon, before firing ten more rounds off. The griffon slumped to the ground, dead, and Adam turned around, exiting the room. As he exited the ruins, he turned and set down a landmine to discourage anybody from returning here. His job done, he returned to the pelican, and set off to the second set of coordinates.