Shor Vadum opened his eyes, half expecting to be outside for some reason, but instead was greeted by the bridge lights of the 'Love and Remorse'.
" *grown* Status report!"- he said to both elites who were on the bridge.He was expecting one of them to speak, but instead a new voice answered him.
" Shipmaster, the ship is undamaged. The shields managed to absorb most of the damage from the impact."
The three elites and AI looked over to where the voice came from and were greeted with the sight of Kiro, a minor.
"Kiro, it is good to see that some one else survived."- said Shor with the slightest trace of joy in his voice. He always knew Kiro was a great soldier, but surviving a crash like this was indeed an achievement.
"Oda! Get me an atmospheric reading."-ordered Shor.
"Yes Shipmaster"
"Commander, the air seems breathable. But I am also getting some strange energy readings"-said the slightly confused ultra.
This got Shor thinking... 'What could he mean by "strange readings"? But he decided he will find an answer to that later on. He had more important things to worry about at the moment.
"Ok, let's see if any of the vehicles are operational."
"Yes Shipmaster" -obeyed the three surviving elites.
The four of them, plus Blaze the AI, made their way to the hangar, after a short stop at the armory of course. After they re-equipped themselves with ammo, they found their way towards the hangar, which to their surprise was in a surprisingly good condition. The only thing that was out of it's place was a Ghost, which amazingly (and weirdly) got under the Wraith, How it got there, none could tell.
After a few seconds of staring at the uncommon sight, Oda Naax finally spoke up:
"I think that's a problem.-he said 'as-a-matter-of-factly'.
All three elites looked at Oda with clear annoyance in their eyes. Although Shor had known Oda since his earliest years 1 thing never ceased to annoy him. And that was the fact that he always played the smart ass. Of course he finished first in class at any given subject, but that was no reason for him to act like a that guy.
"What?"-asked Oda, slightly disturbed by the fact that all eyes were being pointed at him."Oh,ok...I understand...
The Sangheilis' eyes were still locked on Oda. He let out a shout of exasperation. "Fiiiiiine, I'll handle this....
Shor only gave a small nod turning towards his friend."Smart ass" he said in a deadpan voice.
Everything else seemed to be in perfect shape, except for a lone Banshee, held only be a few wires. Shor gave a small sigh before saying:
"Blaze, lower the blast shields of hangar bay 1". The AI obliged, as she opened the hangar doors and lowered the force shield surrounding them. The first thing Shor noticed was the unnatural amount of sunshine flooding the hangar, and filling it with a wintry warmth. 'So, he thought, either this planet is usually chilly and covered in snow, or it's simply winter...Might be both as far as I'm concerned'
Shor jumped off the edge of the bay, landing on the clear snow. As soon as his legs touched the soft matter he felt relaxed.
It was unusual considering the fact that he had survived a crash just minutes ago. It was like this place was 'enchanted'. "Magic" was one of the first words he taught, but immediately shook of that idea. 'What has gotten into me'-he taught. 'Magic? Really? I must have hit my head pretty hard during the crash'. But no matter how much he convinced himself this was a stupid idea, he wouldn't stop thinking about it. After a few more seconds of profound thinking he brushed the idea aside. He had more pressing matters to attend to. He was brought back to reality the the sound of metal touching the ground. He turned around to see his three friends as they slowly and gently lowered the damaged Banshee. All turned to their commander for further orders. Shor, realizing they were waiting for him to speak said:
"Aul, I want that Banshee repaired and fully functional in 3 hours."
"Yes, Shipmaster."-said Aul.
Shor Vandum knew Aul was up to the task. Apart from being an excellent warrior, he was also adept in engineering. 5 years of continuous studying have made him an expert in the field of repairing, always being the first one Shor turned for technical assistance. 10 more years in the service on the 'Covenant' have also boosted his knowledge in vehicle repairing. The constant fear of being attacked by the iconic ' Spartan II ' super soldiers have made him capable of taking care of any machine that needed repair, in case of an attack.
Shor knew all this and he was sure three hours were more than plenty for the 'Honor Guard' to repair the Banshee. With nothing more important to do he went on a small scouting expedition around the 'Love and Remorse'.
(time skip: 2 hours, 10 minutes before first contact)
...-...-...
Shor was just about to turn back to his subordinates when he heard the all to familiar sound of a flying Banshee. With a smile he looked upwards. After a few seconds he spotted a small purple object on the horizon. "He's done it again."-said Shor to himself, a small grin on his face.
As Shor arrived at the hangar he left from, he was greeted by the female voice of Blaze.
"Davah, do you have any orders?"
Shor taught for a moment before answering:
"Yes, actually I wanted to ask you this earlier, but hadn't quite had the chance. Summarize the damage done to the ship after the crash. Oh and status report on what we have functional/nonfunctional."
"Of course Shipmaster."-answered Blaze. I have good news and bad news alike.
"Bad news first."-said Shor after a brief amount of thinking.
He prepared himself for whatever the AI was going to tell him. It might be bad.....awfully bad.
"Well first of all, our long-range beacon transmitter is fried beyond repair. Second, one of our main thrusters, and a few secondary ones were damaged during the impact. Hovering in low orbit and flying in space is possible. You already know of the slip-space drive being destroyed during the fight with the enemy carrier,.....and that's about it."
Shor let out a sigh of relief. It could have been much worse than that. The simple fact that the ship could still fly was already a miracle on it's own.
"And the good news?"-asked Shor now impatiently.
"The good news are:gravity lifts are still intact, all guns and batteries are operational, all hangars operational, except for a very few of them, shields are operational, cloak operational, and short range communications operational, as well as the planetary slipspace core."
(that core being made to alow a ship to travel any where on a given planet. but wont allow interstellar travel)
It was good. Fantastic even. A ship the size of 'Love and Remorse' was not designed to withstand a full-on crash on a hill.
Shor turned to his, now talking friends:
"Oda, prep a Phantom just in case. I want it fully loaded with ammunition, medical equipment, and rations enough to last us 1 month."-he ordered.
"Yes Shipmaster."-responded respectfully Oda, as he entered the ship to complete the task.
(time skip: 9 minutes, 30 seconds, 30 seconds before first contact)
...-...-...
Oda emerged from the ship and jumped down to the ground below.
"Shipmaster, a Phantom has been readied, just like your orders. It is ready to leave at any moment."-Oda said. "Good. Blaze!-he said turning towards the hologram of the AI. "Cloak the ship. I don't want to take any chances when it comes to encountering a new intelligent life-form."
"Of course Davah."-said Blaze as she faded away to the main bridge.
Shor could see Kiro was a little uneasy for some reason. He turned to his loyal minor.
"Kiro, speak up my friend. What thoughts trouble your mind?"
Kiro flinched a little bit as he heard his name being spoken. He calmed down at the sight of his masters' caring eyes. He spoke:
"Ei tugreacch oox kiya shipmaster" (I’ve got a bad feeling, Shipmaster)-said Kiro
in the Sangheili native language. Shor thought about his statement for a bit. Now that he was thinking about is, he to had an eerie feeling that had been bugging him for the past couple of minutes. It was that kind of feeling that told you that you were watched. By now all 4 elites were looking around themselves. They were at the edge of a forest, so it was natural they would look in that direction. They were searching for anything abnormal. A pair of eyes, the sound of a bush moving, a shadow passing by. Whatever it was, they knew something was out there. Their hands were slowly slipping towards the weapons they had tied on their thighs.
The next thing they saw, or more specifically: ' were blinded from' , was a bright flash of blinding light...almost like one of the incendiary grenades the brutes used. This thought shook Shor. Memories of battle after battle being fought came back to him in an instant. His emotions died out, his instinct kicked in. His inner warrior has been awaken and immediately told him to duck for cover. The same thing went through the minds of his comrades, they to activated there shields. After regaining his sight, Shor yelled:
"DRAW YOU WEAPONS! FIRE ON MY COMMAND!"-shouted Shor at the top of his lungs.
Oda Naax pulled out his two plasma rifles he had stored in on his thighs. Dual wielding small weapons was his specialty, one might say he enjoyed burning out the lives of his enemies with them. But he had another surprise. On his back laid his 'Type 52 Plasma Cannon. The massive weapon holding a mag of 200 shots is perfect for ambushes, or in Oda's case, surprise attacks. The 600 RPM cannon is designed to strike fear in the hears of the ones being fired at. No wonder Oda was the most relaxed at the moment...having such a monstrosity oh his back was sure to come in handy if raw fear was to be created amongst the attackers.
Aul da'Morph liked the more 'advanced' type of weapons. Since the human-elite alliance many scientists, from both sides, thought of ways to upgrade the arsenal of the soldiers. Many weapons were mere combination of the technology the humans had and the plasma science the elites mastered. Thus came into existence the new 'Assault Plasma Rifle', or APR for short. The design wasn't spectacular, it combined the classic 'MA37 Assault Rifle' with the plasma power and damage of a 'Type 51 Plasma Repeater'. The results were, however, astounding only looking like a silver plasma rifle. Not only it packed a bigger punch to the ape-like Jiralhanae, also known as the 'Brutes', but it also disrupted energy shields around wearers in a few shots, whereas a normal 'Assault Rifle' would have to empty an entire magazine to take down the shields. Along with the discovery of this weapon, not so surprisingly, the death ratio amongst soldiers decreased by an astounding 23%. THAT was a lot.
So, Aul had one of these weapons in his arms, ready to bring death to any who tried to take his and defend Shor being his guard.
Along with his APR he also had drawn an energy sword his side. After all, this was the weapon of choice of an 'Honor Guard'.
Kiro was not so different from his superior, Aul. He to had a weapon from the 'new generation'. An M45 Tactical Shotgun, combined with the plasma technology was sure to bring certain demise to anybody...or anything, for that matter. But it was a close range weapon, so for now he relied on his 'Needle Rifle' for medium-long range combat. 3 well placed needles would annihilate any foe by exploding on it's body. However only seeing action on the first battle of Reach. Bur perfect for this kind of situation.
Shor was the last one to take his weapons out. Being a high-ranked Commander, he was thought the art of wielding the Energy Sword to a master lever, Often rushing through barrages of enemy fire with only his trusty sword at his side. He flicking his left wrist causing the energy blade to activate in a flurry of red sparks producing a red magnetic barrier but the most important ting is that the energy inside the field was jet black.
From his right arm, right above his hand came out a small, dagger sized, energy wrist blade. This one was a real help during close combat, as many soldiers would often drop the sword, by accident, or by and unblocked hit. The wrist blade could not fall off, could be only deactivated by the wearer and could be hidden away from sight very easily. This small weapon would be crucial in hand-to-hand combat, as it could save your life if disarmed, and Shor knew this all to well.
By now all 4 elites were ready to whatever they would be confronting and jumped out of the cover.
Just as their feet reached the ground, their jaws (or jaws, i don't exactly know, when it comes to the Sangheili) dropped.
There, in front of them were eight quadruped creatures, each one having different colors. Shor and his team could identify them as being 'ponies'. They knew that because they have been already studying humanity for two decades when the 'Human-Covenant' war started. But the most surprising thing of all, was that they either had hings, or horns.
'......Pega....Pegasus.....Pegasi?....'-mumbled Shor to himself.
'And the other ones....Unicorns?....That's what humans call them?'
All four elites were now standing in place, weapons lowered down, and eyes wide. What kind of planet did they crash into?
There were, amongst the eight, two mares that stood out. Judging by the collars, armor slippers and royal attire they wore, it was obvious they were important. Oh, and let's not forget the crowns they wore on top of their heads. So yeah....really important....
Finally after a long and awkward silence of just staring at each other, Shor finally broke the silence.
"Who and what are you?"
...............
"I am Princess Celestia, ruler of this region, and this is Equestria."