Orbit of Reach
August 14, 2552.
“Tell ‘em to make it count.” Jorge says as he hurls Noble Six off of the corvette.
He quickly turns back to the task at hand.
“There was no other way.” The Spartan assured himself as he prepped the bomb.
“The thing came out of nowhere and we didn’t have the firepower to stop it.”
The corvette, Ardent Prayer, was nearing the supercarrier’s docking station at this point.
“We were lucky Kat came up with this brilliant plan in the first place.” Jorge thought with just a hint of sarcasm.
The plan was simple, take a Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine aboard the Covenant corvette and use it as a make-shift bomb. They would take control of the ship and set it on a refueling run. When the corvette got close enough to the supercarrier, him and Six would fly out, the bomb would explode, and the supercarrier would be sent to oblivion.
Things didn’t go according to plan.
Damage done to the corvette by the UNSC Savannah had blocked the path to the Sabres, the spaceships they used to get on the corvette, and the thrusters on the Pelican that carried the bomb had been badly damaged meaning the only way off was through a space jump. To make matters worse, the timer on the Slipspace bomb had been damaged by plasma fire. The only way to detonate it was manually.
Jorge immediately decided that it would be him who would set of the bomb. Without a second thought, he promptly picked Six up, and sent the Lieutenant plummeting towards Reach.
The Ardent Prayer was now docking with the supercarrier.
“3.”
Jorge mentally prepared himself for the ultimate sacrifice.
"2.”
Reach had been good to him.
“1.”
It was time to return the favor.
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Just outside the Everfree Forest
Fluttershy’s cottage.
“Oh, Angel, won’t you eat just one more bite?” Fluttershy cooed, unsuccessfully trying to coax her troublesome pet into finishing his dinner. All the animals had already been fed for the night… except for one.
“Oh, Angel, what am I going to do with you?” Fluttershy asked as she made her way up the stairs, defeated.
As she entered her bedroom, she stared out her window. Luna’s sky was beautiful this particular evening, the large full moon in the distance, surrounded by a plethora twinkling stars. Continuing to gaze upon the dark night sky, Fluttershy noticed a shooting star through her bedroom window. She closed her eyes and made a wish.
When she opened them back up, she knew something was wrong. The shooting star was bigger than before. A lot bigger! And closer! It disappeared behind the tree line with a deafening *Crash*. She quickly flew out of the window heading towards the area where the “shooting star” had landed. When she finally got there, Fluttershy gasped.
In place of the meteorite she thought would be there, was a very large hunk of metal. It was smoldering around the edges and had left a crater as deep as Ghastly Gorge and was just as long. It was nothing like anything Fluttershy had ever seen before. Suddenly, a rustling sound came from the crater. An appendage popped up from the smoking wreckage. Fluttershy could only watch with a mixture of shock and curiosity as what appeared to be a large, metal, ape pulled itself out of the rubble.