//------------------------------// // Chapter 27: Locked and Loaded // Story: I Have Returned // by EPiiCx5587 //------------------------------// I Have Returned: Chapter 27 Locked and Loaded “How do you even know the truth about Celestia?” Luna asked. “I could say the same about you.” Jane retorted. “As for me, it’s a long story. I’ll explain when we get to INFINITY.” “Celestia put a block on my memory. I only was just able to break it.” The group had been walking for at least half an hour by this point, yet they were met with no resistance. Jane didn’t like this one bit. The lack of anything trying to stop them meant one of two things. Possibility number one was that Celestia hasn’t noticed them escaping yet, possibility number two was that her forces were gathering and that they were waiting for the right moment to strike. With all of the experience Jane had, she knew that it was the latter rather than the former. “I don’t get where all of these bad guys are.” Rainbow Dash said. “You said that Celestia would send a bunch of bad aliens out to kill us!”” “They will come. They’re just waiting for the best opportunity to attack us.” “Ya, and I find that hard to believe. I bet that you just made that up to string us along so you can lock us up again!” “Think that way if you want Rainbow, but it’s your ass on the line if you go off on your own, and I wont come running to help you.” That seemed to shut Rainbow us as the pegasi put an angry frown on her face. Jane had the high card here. The others didn’t know what was out there, it was a huge advantage for Jane. Jane continued. “Once we get back to INFINITY we’ll come up with a strategy to take Celestia down. She’s planning something against humanity right now.” Luna turned her head towards Jane. “And how do you know this? You still haven’t even told us how you know about Celestia.” “Like I said it’s a long story. Lets just say someone told me, and that very same someone told me that Celestia is planning something against humanity. I just wish I knew what it was. INFINITY may be humanity’s strongest ship ever, but it’ll be utterly destroyed by anything Forerunner in origin. Hell, even the entire UNSC fleet would be powerless if she has some sort of weapon here.” “UNSC?” “My people’s military. We’re tough but after being almost wiped out by a war with an alien alliance our defences are crippled. We won the war, but the remnants of the alien alliance have banded together and are out on the hunt for human blood once again. If they regain their strength, humanity will be doomed. That’s why I want those elements, which I see have been taken from you by Celestia. They have the chance to wipe them out once and for all. Celestia on the other hand, she has Forerunner tech. Facing off against something like that would be far worse than any other alien force we’ve ever gone up against.” “I’m sorry for your species, but the Elements of Harmony belong to Equestria. We have no involvement in your war, nor do we know which side we would be on if we knew the whole story. For all we know your kind could have brought this upon yourselves.” A surging rage burst through Jane in an instant as she grabbed Luna by the neck, and held her up to her face so the two could be at eye level. “Those alien sons of bitches killed billions upon billions of my people! Try to find a way to justify that kind of slaughter! I DARE YOU!” “They why don’t you tell me first your justification for killing dozens of ponies then little miss ‘moral high ground’!” “I was making a sacrifice to save others. Trading the lives of just a few to save potentially billions! I was doing what needed to be done. A concept that you ponies are not familiar with. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few!” “There must be another way, there is always another way.” “Always with the other ways. I have some hard news to break to you Luna, the universe is a cruel violent place. It sucks, but that’s the way things are. Far worse stuff than what I’ve done has happened out there. Change needs to happen for people to move forward, and one who cannot sacrifice anything, can never change anything.” “That doesn’t make what you did right.” “No it doesn’t, but tell me this though. If pony kind would to be completely eradicated, but you could save them by killing a few hundred humans, would you do it?” Jane dropped Luna who held her head down in defeat. The alicorn didn’t say anything, but her silence was a good enough answer for Jane. The group came across a large elevator. Jane pressed what seemed to be an up arrow on a control panel, and the elevator started to ascend. “Our concern right now should be Celestia.” Jane said. “You are free to pick as many bones with me as you want when we’re done, but for now our minds should be focused on what Celestia is planning, and how we combat that.” As if on cue the elevator came by a large window letting them see what else was inside the planet. Jane at first wasn’t expecting much, but what she saw scared the life out of her. “That… That can’t be….” Jane said. “What? What is that thing.” Luna asked. Jane had only seen photo’s of one of these before, but she knew very well what it looked like, and what power it held. “That’s a composer….” ____________________________________________________ Crimson gasped awake on a medical bed, the recents events that transpired still fresh in his head. “Ah good to see that you’re awake.” Roland said who was on a computer screen next to him. Crimson noticed immediately that he was out of his armour and that he had a wound from Jane’s energy sword bandaged, and stitched up on his chest. “Where is Jane?” “Sadly she saw the others escaping and chased after them.” “Damnit I failed then.” “Not exactly. You did delay Jane long enough. If you weren't there she would have caught them before they left.” Crimson sighed to himself. He did what he could, in fact he was lucky that Jane didn’t just use her magic and got the fight over and done within a few seconds. Still though, his best wasn’t enough. God knows what Jane has already done to them. “What about what’s going on on the surface. How are ponies reacting to humanity?” “Most are scared and don’t know what to think. Others already hate us. We did set up shop in a few hospitals and cured a few diseases, so some of them like us.” “I wonder what they’ll think of us a year from now.” “I haven’t got any clue. This is all so new to them, who knows how they’ll be able to cope being uplifted from medieval times into the space age. It’s hard to tell how long their society will take to fully interrogate into a modern one.” “I just hope that when all of this is over that they’ll be ok.” “I think they will. There’s good humans out there, and as long as they see that not every human is a Jane Arimondo, they’ll be fine. All that we have to do is show them the best that humanity can be.” “Heh, you always know the right thing to say Roland.” Crimson chuckled. “I have a tendency to do that.” “But Jane is still out there.” Crimson said, switching back to the previous topic. “She’s down there and she has to be stopped. Crimson sat up in his bed, and moved to get up, but the pain from his wound immediately stopped him. “Woah there.” Roland said. “You’re still injured. The wounds weren't too serious, but it’s best that you take it easy for now.” Despite Roland’s words Crimson managed to push himself off of the bed, and stand up all while clutching his wound. “You know I can’t do that.” “You’re in no state to go up against anyone, let alone Jane. Even if you were at full strength you would still be no match for her.” “I have to try though, I won’t be able to live with myself if I don’t.” “I’m starting to see why they choose you to be a Spartan IV. You don’t seem to ever give up.” “Prep my armour and a Pelican. Those ponies need me. Just tell me where they went.” “To the inside of the planet through the gravity well.” “Well then that’s where I’m going. Watch out Jane, because you’re about to face my resolve.” _____________________________________________________ “What is a composer?” Luna asked. “You remember how I told you that Celestia has an army of Prometheans made from humans.” “Yes.” “That’s the thing that composes humans into them.” “My god.” The was one of the worst things that could happen. With INFINITY just floating above Canterlot, Celestia would have a clear shot at composing thousands of human lives in an instant. “We have to get back to the INFINITY now and get it out of orbit! Or else all of our lives are at stake!” The elevator reached its top and what they saw wasn’t surprising at all. There was an army of Prometheans right in front of them. “Get behind me!” Jane shouted as she threw down a bubble shield just as the shooting started. Jane quickly exited the bubble leaving the others safely in it as she held her SAW in one hand firing it at enemies on the right, and firing magical bolts from her other hand at the enemies on the left. She took out quite a lot of them, but her shields were drained in a matter of seconds forcing her to step back into the bubble. “Godammit there is a lot of them. More than I have ever faced.” Jane said. Once the shield gauge reached full on Jane’s hud she leaped out of the bubble shield again with her SAW Once promethean knight teleported behind her, a grave mistake as Jane pulled out her energy sword and slashed the knight in half. Jane unclipped a grenade from her belt and tossed it above a group of knights. The promethean watcher grabbed onto the grenade and prepared to throw it back at the Spartan. Sadly for them Jane shot a magical bolt at the watcher causing it to disintegrate, and drop the grenade right in the middle of the knights, killing all of them. Jane picked off the last few with her saw just as the bubble shield dissipated. “Any injuries?” Jane asked. “None.” Luna responded. “Then follow me.” The group started to rush down hallway after hallway in an effort to escape the underground structure, but the way in which they entered was blocked up thus they had to find another way. The problem was though that they had a constant threat looming over them, very little time to get back to INFINITY, and no map of the area as the cherry on top. As she ran Jane activated her com unit in hopes of contacting INFINITY. “Captain Jane Arimondo to INFINITY! I repeat, Captain Jane Arimondo to INFINITY!” She said, but there was no answer. Chances are all signals were being blocked. On the off chance that INFINITY was listening, and just wasn’t able to get a response through she continued. “UNSC INFINITY this is Jane Arimondo. We have an emergency. A Forerunner threat under the planet is preparing to use a composer against the INFINITY.” “Are you getting anything Jane?” “Nothing at all.” “Well keep trying!” “We are en route to a pelican, but we might need assistance.” Jane paused for a moment as she knew what she had to say next. “If we’re taking too long get out of orbit and back to Earth as fast as possible so you can warn them. The enemy has a composer. All of humanity is in danger!” Jane left her com unit open for a few more moments, but to no avail. All that Jane could do was get the hell out of there, and pray to whatever gods were listening that the INFINITY got her message. The group made a right turn at an intersection and came face to face with a ramp leading outside. After running out of the underground structure the seven stopped for a moment to catch their breath. Jane didn’t really need it, but she knew that the others did. Looking to the sky Jane couldn’t see any recognizable landmarks. It was going to be hard to get back to one of the two pelicans. “Any idea of where we go from here Jane?” Luna asked. “None at all. It’s just nothing but forest. I did land in a clearing but it’s going to be hard to find it. Can you fly up and see if you can spot it?” “Yes I can.” Luna said before flying up. The alicorn stayed up there for a few moments looking around in all directions before finally coming down to let Jane know the news. “What did you see?” “There’s quite a few clearings out there so I have no idea which one has the spaceship or whatever you called it in it. The closest one is just west of us, maybe a few kilometers away.” “Then I guess that that should be our goal then. I just hope one of the two pelicans is there.” This would be much easier if she had Roland with her. If he was here, he would have been able to keep track of where they were and put a waypoint to the pelican. “Lets get a move on.” Jane said as she started to head west. The group walked in silence. The tension between the others and Jane was as thick as it could be. They hated her living guts, and while Jane didn’t care all that much about their opinion on her, it didn’t mean that one of them could turn on her at any moment. Jane ignored that for now though as she pressed onwards. There was no time to waste. About a little over half an hour later they finally came to the clearing. There was a pelican there, but it wasn’t what they were expecting. The pelican was a smoldering wreck. Celestia must have sent prometheans to destroy it. And then out of the blue knights started to teleport in. Before Jane could react one fired its weapon hitting Rarity in the stomach. “NOOOOOO!” Rainbow Dash screamed as she rushed to Rarity’s side. Jane automatically threw another bubble shield down over them. As soon as her shields were fully charged Jane lept out of the shield and into the fray. There must have been twice as many prometheans as their encounter in the Forerunner structure. Pulling out her SAW once again Jane started to fire short controlled bursts at each knight. Jane even noticed a few new types of prometheans amongst the crowd. The new ones were bipedal, and looked very human like. Jane didn’t care though, they were still enemies. It was all the same to her. A few knights started to teleport around in an attempt to confuse her as the new prometheans pushed forward on her, forcing Jane to back up a bit. She took out a few, but her shields were drained, thus Jane re entered the bubble shield to let them recharge. There were so many of them. It felt like it would be impossible to take them all on, but Jane had to. Upon reaching full shields again Jane stepped out of the bubble shield with her weapon raised. When she tried to fire it though, all she got was a few clicks signaling that the clip was out. Jane reached for her belt to grab a new magazine, but to no avail. She was completely out of ammo. Dropping her weapon Jane tried firing magical bolts from her hands, but there was just too many knights. Suddenly though Jane head the sound of an engine in the distance. I began to get louder and louder until a pelican flew by her spraying bullets at the prometheans. One by one they all fell until there were no more in sight just as the bubble shield disappeared. The pelican landed and it’s cargo bay door opened revealing none other than Crimson himself pointing a battle rifle at Jane. “Jane Arimondo if you do not come quietly and let me arrest you I will kill you right here and now. Do I make myself clear!” Crimson declared. “Can this wait for later. Rarity was shot by one of the prometheans. She needs medical help.” “Since when did you start caring about them?” “That doesn’t matter right now! Just get some bio foam!” “Please just do it!” Luna shouted. “We’re working together now, just please help us!” Crimson nodded and went back into the pelican to search for some medical supplies. Jane on the other hand picked Rarity up and took her into the pelican. She placed her down on the floor, and closed the hatch once the other ponies entered. When Crimson came back with some bio foam Jane said. “Good, now take off and get us back to the ship! INFINITY is about to be attacked.” “Why the sudden change of heart?” He asked. “I could have sworn that you wanted to kill them just a few hours ago.” “I’ll explain later, just do it.” “Fine then.” Crimson went back into the cockpit and the pelican started to take off. Everyone else strapped in except for Jane who was tending to Rarity’s wounds. She inserted the nozzle of the biofoam canister into the unicorns wound and injected the foam into it. Quickly the foam hardened sealing off the wound. “That’ll hold for awhile Rarity.” Jane said. “But not forever. You’ll live, but you need proper medical attention. Just stay calm for now and everything will be okay.” As the pelican ascended Jane stayed by Rarity’s side. Things were fine for now, but god only knew what would happen once they got back to INFINITY. “Jane you better see this.” Crimson said from the cockpit. Fearing the worst Jane left Rarity and entered the cockpit. There she could see the INFINITY over Canterlot city, and it was under attack….