A New Era

by Okami1197

Chapter 12

Two Sabres, a longsword, and a pelican all fall towards the ground.

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"Get out of here the ACU is going nuclear." Maria shouted to the rest of her team and the remaining Covenant under her command on Baal.

"Its no use. We are to close." Rider responded from his sabre.

"It has been an honor Maria." John said from the pelican.

"Ship Master Runa. I wish we could have served together longer." the ODST pilot in the longsword said.

++This is Ship Master Runa. All Swords of Equestria are to prepare to evacuate and glass all remaining enemy structures++ there was a bright flash and four pilots went unconscious.

----

"Wolf Captain John, do you copy? Shadow Rider, do you copy? Ship Master Runa, do you copy?" the ODST pilot said as he pulled the longsword back into the air.

"Uhhh…. My head." Rider said, "Shit!" he yelled as he pulled up leveling the sabre out.

"What happened…." John asked as the pelican leveled out.

"Ship Master Runa!" the three conscious pilots yelled.

"Wha…… Crap!" Maria pulled her sabre out of its dive moments before it would have hit the ground, "Is everyone here?"

++Ship Master Runa. This is the Equestrian Star. What happened?++

++I don't know, but we are home. Get that ship down here so we can check our loses.++

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"So we lost three phantoms, two seraphs, eight wraiths, twenty ghost, and fifteen banshees. All in all I say that is not so bad. Sadly we are down to seventy-five percent manpower for this vessel." Maria said as she looked over the troop and inventory logs.

"Ship Master. A UNSC vessel is trying to initiate communication." the elite zealot said.

"Put them through Sword Brother." Maria responded.

"This is Spartan A-267 of the UNSC Prophets Bane. You are to leave this planet immediately or we will open fire on your vessel." a female voice said over the comm.

"This is Spartan Z-199, Ship Master Runa. Who are you to threaten my ship and crew?" Maria asked.

"You are not a Spartan. There is no records of your tag in the data banks. This is your last warning." the female said again.

In the background two voices could be heard, "But Captain what about the two Spartans that went missing a few months ago?" a male voice asked.

"They were deemed dead. Now I want you off this planet you Covenant BASTARDS!" the female yelled.

"Sword Brother initiate video feed." the zealot nodded as a screen appeared, "Now you listen here. You are alone up there. You cannot win against this ship so please do not force me to destroy your ship."

"So you are a Spartan. That does not matter. You have betrayed the UNSC and her interest. I order you to stand down and come aboard to be brought to trial." the female said.

"You cant order me around. I out rank you, and I did not betray the UNSC. I challenged their old Ship Master to a duel and killed him. I then took command of this vessel. I have also been trapped here because we are not in the same dimension as the rest of the UNSC." Maria said.

"You cannot lie to me. Spartan team Omega mobilize and capture the traitor." the female Spartan cut communications with the CCS.

++All hands prepare for combat we have hostiles inbound. All Honor Guard meet me in the forward port hangar and I will give you further orders++ Maria marched out the bridge followed by her team, "The nerve of some people." Maria said, "I want you guys to lead the defense from here. I will be going deal with that stubborn bitch of a captain on their ship."

"Commander please don't make us stay here. You will need us out there with you." John pleaded as he put his hand on her shoulder.

"They do not know about you three. I need you to insure the safety of all on this ship and the ponies in the surrounding area." Maria explained, "Now I need to return to the bridge." Maria finished before she left the trio in the hall.

----

Maria looked at the honor guard elites in front of her, "I will need you to follow me. I will also need those of you proficient in piloting banshees to provide an escort." Maria walked over to the hangar's terminal, "Rider do you copy?"

A crackling sound came from the terminal, "Loud and clear Ship Master. What do you need?"

"I need you to patch me through to the UNSC vessel. I have a request for their captain." Maria said.

"Understood." Rider responded.

There was an even louder crackle from the terminal, "Have you came to your senses traitor?" the female captain asked.

"No, I am challenging you." Maria responded.

"What type of challenge traitor?"

"A duel. The winner gains control of both ships and their crew. The loser dies." Maria explained.

"Why should I accept this 'duel' traitor?"

"Because the only thing stopping me from blowing your ship to high heaven is that you are currently sitting over a populated area, but should you refuse and continue to assault my vessel I will send troops to evacuate the town then destroy you and your ship."

The captain sighed, "Fine but where shall we fight?"

"There is an old castle in the nearby forest. Lets go there. No chance of an innocent getting involved." Maria suggested.

"At least you kept your honor. I will meet you there." the comm. cut out.

"Alright honor guard move to your vehicles. When we get there I need you to make a perimeter, but when I give the order leave the forest and prepare the ship to block an explosion from the town." Maria ordered before walking to the pelican.

"Z-199 you can't be seriously thinking of operation Meta can you?" Zalphite asked.

"I want you to prepare all armor functions for use. Even the armor lock function." Maria said coldly as she climbed into the back of the pelican, "If I can't win I need to be sure that these Spartans don't destroy Equestria."

"But Why would they do that?" Zalphite asked.

Maria stopped at the cockpits door "Because the Spartans were trained to kill. If they realize that the sentient species on this planet is not human they might kill everyone so humans can take control of the world." Maria climbed into the pilot seat of the pelican as two phantoms left the hangar followed by four banshees.

----

Celestia teleported onto the Equestrian Star's bridge, "What is going on?" she asked frantically.

"A hostile UNSC Stalwart Class light frigate is threatening us." Ride said calmly.

"Is that something from your world?" Celestia asked.

"Yes and if Maria's plan fails there will be one big explosion in the Everfree forest."

"I am temporarily giving you four complete control of Equestria so we might survive this." Celestia said sadly.

----

The pelican touched down in the castles courtyard as the phantoms and banshees landed a distance away. A green Spartan with a black visor approached, "And I thought that I was the only paranoid one here." she said jokingly.

"No I just don't like anything sneaking up on me." Maria said as she eyed the green Spartan, "Mind telling me your name? I don't want to keep calling you Captain."

"Call me Sana." Sana stopped moving, "You know you are the first to ask me my name in a long time."

"That is because I wish that we could be allies, but that will never happen will it?" Sana shook her head, "I thought so. You can call me Maria. I actually respect you in an odd sort of way."

"Same to you Maria. Tell me why did you challenge the Ship Master before you?" Sana asked.

"I more or less just beheaded him to save a child. Then me and one of my men killed the only five hunters they had." Maria responded.

"So you do still fight to protect the innocent from those that wish to harm them. I was afraid you lost all of your honor by becoming a traitor, but now I see why you did what you did." Sana said.

"Can we not fight and just work together to protect the innocent of this world?" Maria asked.

"Sadly we cannot. We received orders from HQ to remove the Covenant ship from this planet so mankind could colonize it."

Maria sighed, "I was afraid you were going to say that." Maria drew both of her light sabers, "I cannot allow you to leave this forest alive Sana. I have made it my duty to protect the people of this world from those that would hurt them."

Sana shook her head and raised a clinched fist into the air, "I'm sorry to do this."

Maria looked towards one of the castle towers and saw a reflection from the barrel of a gun. Quickly she jumped backward as a bullet hit the ground where she was just standing. There was a loud bang as the sniper was destroyed from something hitting it.++That is all I can do for you Maria. We have a lot of Spartans attacking the ship.++

++Thank you Rider. Keep the ponies safe. Our lives are now the lowest priority.++ Maria shifted her wait to the right as a knife flew past her head on the left. A brown Spartan walked out of the shadows and stood next to Sana, "Well this is just unfair. Two on one. You didn't bring any more?"

The spinning barrel of a tri-barreled chain gun could be seen coming out of the shadows, "Three on one you traitorous bitch." a maroon male Spartan said as he opened fire. Maria brought up her hardlight shield to block the bullets.

"I think that it is cute that you think you can win." Maria said mockingly, "I mean, you three just have standard armor that only has one ability right." the trio nodded, "Then boy do I have a surprise for you."

"What is with my motion tracker. It says that there is numerous enemies in the area." the male Spartan said.

A white blade was shoved through the males chest causing him to drop his weapon, "I told you this wasn't fair." Maria whispered into his ear as her hologram faded, "Now who is next?" Maria asked with a short laugh.

"I have a small trick for you. It is an experimental device that disrupts cloaking." something shot off the frigate when Sana said that. A small pillar that looked almost Forerunner planted itself into the ground, "Now lets see where you are."

A pulse was sent out from the pillar. When it hit Maria her cloak flickered then vanished leaving her visible to the other Spartans, "That is a nice trick, but I doubt that you have one for all of my tricks." Maria said smugly.

"You see once I kill you, I am going to go to the nearest settlement and torture all of the inhabitants. I won't kill them. They will suffer because of your incompetence." Sana said receiving a glance from the brown Spartan.

"I am sorry Captain, but if you truly mean that then I will not follow you any more." the female brown Spartan said before she ran towards Ponyville.

"I will deal with her later." Sana said.

Shallow breathing could be heard from Maria as she struggled to stay in control of herself, "You will regret what you just said." she growled.

"And who will do that? You are to weak to do anything to me." Sana laughed.

Maria was consumed in a bright white light, "I will tear you to shreds!" she yelled as the light faded to reveal her with her demon wings.

"That’s a neat trick, but it will take more than that to beat me." Sana said.

"Zalphite prepare operation Meta." Maria said quietly.

"Understood." Zalphite responded.

Maria's arms were consumed by fire as she shot the blue flames at Sana only for them to be blocked by a bubble shield. Maria growled like a beast before she charged Sana. Sana spun and kicked Maria square in the jaw sending her flying into a tree. When Maria stood back up a piece of her visor fell of to reveal a dark blue eye filled with rage. Maria charged again, but this time she created three holograms to try and confuse Sana. Sana pulled two SMGs from her sides and quickly destroyed the holograms and shot at Maria only for her to use the hardlight shield to block the bullets. When Maria got close Sana dropped down and punch Maria in the chest breaking part of her chest plate, "Give up." Sana said, "You cannot win." she kicked Maria away.

This time when Maria stood up parts of her chest piece fell off, "I will never let those who cannot defend themselves be tortured or killed if I have the chance to stop it." Maria growled.

"Stop this Z-199. If your armor gets damaged much more your chances of survival will become almost none existent." Zalphite warned Maria.

Maria quickly shuffled back and forth letting her arms go limp before she charged again. This time when Sana went to hit her, she jumped to the side and round house kicked Sana in the shoulder breaking her shoulder pad. Sana recovered quicker than Maria expected and she punch Maria in the face breaking the rest of her visor. ++This is Thunder Cloud. Ordinance ready to drop just waiting your command Commander Runa.++

"Zal. Activate all defensive armor abilities. Shut down all non essential equipment and transfer that power to the shields." Maria ordered. As she slowly stood back up.

"It is done." a shield of hardlight surrounded Maria before a bubble shield went around that.

++Thunder Cloud you are clear for delivery on my position.++

++Understood. Dropping ordinance. It was an honor to serve you ma'am.++

Maria didn't have a chance to respond before an extreme heat started to burn everything in the area. The shockwave that followed sent Maria flying through the air. "Armor lock activating. Emergency Visor activating. Shields failing. Survival chances dwindling." was all Maria heard inside her helmet as the suit slowly broke down.

"I will miss you all." was all Maria said before she blacked out from the immense pain that shot through her body.

----

The Equestrian Star shook as the shock wave from the nuke hit the hull of the vessel, "Don't let this ship move before it is safe." Rider ordered.

Celestia watched the live feed of what had just transpired outside the ship, "Did she just……"

"She did that to protect your little ponies Celestia. All she ever wanted to do was save the innocent and she has done just that, but she will be missed all the same."

Comments

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Throne! That was intense!