A Rarity of a soldier

by Lon35hadow


The Ark-The map

The Pelican carrying Diamondback, Heretic, and Spark split off from the other pelicans on approach, with the two unicorns and one alicorn making them invisible to sight and sensors, allowing them to slip down to the surface with ease. "So, Spark?" Tony said, getting the Monitor's attention. "Any idea where this Cartographer is?"

"A few, Reclaimer, based on previous data extracted from the data banks of the interloper ships I have been able to access on our flight," the Forerunner A.I. said. "Currently, I would say it is in the desert area we are traveling to, close-relatively speaking- to where your comrades are touching down."

"Anything specific?" Jacob asked.

"Uploading coordinates to your navigation now," Spark replied.

"Got it," Bishop said.

"Yeah, same," Jacob said. "Oh, does not look good, people. Place is occupied by Covie forces, according to current scans."

"There a way in that doesn't involve us showing ourselves?" Josh asked.

"Yeah. Elite scans show a few open platforms facing what is essentially an ocean separated from the entire thing by a chasm. We may be able to use those to get in and find the thing," Bishop replied.

"Then it looks as if we had best get ready," Hades said as he examined his Brute Shot and the Gravity Hammer he still had from Mombasa, though now it was fully charged.

"Agreed," Ruso said as he examined the hilt of his energy sword, followed by his double plasma rifles, each of which at full charge. Sawn checked his shield gauntlet, along with his Carbine and Plasma Pistol, Twilight checked her dual Needlers and Storm rifle, while most of Diamondback had the standard Battle rifle and magnum, though Pawas had both a plasma pistol and compact SMG.

"Okay, people, we're coming in at one of the upper platforms," Jacob said. "From the looks of it, there's a console here, so it may be what we need."

"We'll drop you guys off, and stay nearby in case it's what we need," Bishop added as the Pelican turned around, and the back hatch opened, revealing a crescent shaped platform, a large hole in the middle between the two arms of the room. The human aircraft slowly backed up until the ramp was over the main portion-the area in front of the terminal- allowing those inside to jump out or, in Spark's case, hover out.

After they had checked the area, Josh turned toward the console. "I'm guessing this is it," he said as a holographic terminal presented itself. "Get ready, people! No telling what may happen when I activate this thing!"

"Got it," Sawn replied back as Josh put his left hand on the terminal, surprised when his hand didn't pass through it, which brought up the image of the Milky Way Galaxy before it swept past the galaxy of humanity's birth, and revealed a giant-larger than anything seen in the Galaxy;larger than the Galaxy itself, really-eight pronged star that seemed to curve upwards, with each ending in two prongs, though four were smaller than the others-about half as long, and a third the width-with a giant hole in the middle, filled with a planet.

"Well, shit," Josh muttered. "I didn't think anything like this could be built."

"The Forerunners were capable of many feats, Reclaimer," Spark said as he hovered next to Josh's head, scanning the map. "It seems that the meddler has hidden away here, near the core." As he said this, a red circle appeared to high light the area he was talking about. "And he has activated the shields. Problematic, but not impossible to get around." The monitor was silent for a time before he said, "Oh my. That's. . .interesting."

"What?" Rarity asked as she looked over the map herself.

"It seems that, along with being the location where one can activate the Halo array," Spark said, "the Ark is capable of building them. And it is rebuilding Installation zero-four. My Installation. How wonderful!"

"Spark, calm down," Josh said. "Right now, we focus on taking out Truth."

"Of course, Reclaimer," Spark said. "Forgive me."

"Hey, we all get excited sometimes," Tony said. "No need to apologize."

"Yeah," the other human said. "Hey, Jacob, Bishop, we're ready for pick up."

"Copy that, on our way back," Jacob said. "Captain, we have the intel we came for, along with a little bonus."

"Understood," Keyes replied. "The Dawn's got a landing spot now. Get here, and we can plan on how to finish this once and for all."