Do you think we'll ever meet them?
Epsilon Eridani System
Tantulus
Capitol City
33 Aug 2552
Three years ago, Jennings had been in this same system graduating from ODST school. Now, he was fighting for its very existence. Jennings took cover behind a concrete wall. Plasma bolts boiled chunks out of the wall, steadily whittling away at his protection.
“Incoming!” A plasma mortar from a Wraith tank impacted 10 meters away, shaking the ground with the detonation. Somehow, none of could have prepared him for what he was facing now. He spun around the wall, firing a few bursts from his BR at the column of enemy troops on an overlooking bridge. He recognized a splatter of brilliantly colored blood, mentally confirming a kill of another alien.
“Jennings, move up!” His new squad leader directed. He and Naber had been put into a new squad recently. Nobody else in their last squad had survived. Jennings sprinted, sliding behind a concrete barrier.
“What?”
“I need concentrated fire on that bridge!” Jennings rolled his eyes inside his helmet.
“Shoot at the enemy? Brilliant plan, Gunny. Couldn’t you have told me that while I was in better cover?” He raised up, squeezing the trigger repeatedly.
“You know you’re a real smart-ass, right?”
“And you know you could stand to learn a thing or two in common sense?” Jennings said during his reload. His Gunny shot him a death glare through his visor.
“Give me some covering fire, I am going to make a run for the Scorpion?”
“Why? You’re the NCO, tell someone else to do it!” He fired another two bursts from his BR, penetrating the shields on an elite and putting two rounds into its brain.
“You know what Jennings? Shut the hell up.” He rose, beginning to sprint forward. An explosion lifted him, tossing him backwards. Without legs.
“Gunny! Can you crawl back to me?”
“Oh God, my legs! Where are my legs?”
“Gunny, I can’t move into the open! Crawl back here!”
“My legs are gone! We have to go back and get my legs!”
“Gunny, shut up and crawl to me!” He tried to raise himself to what remained of his legs, but he was bleeding out of both his femoral arteries, and the ground was slick. He kept trying to stand but slipped in his blood.
“Jennings! Help me!” His scared screaming drew the attention of more covenant.
“Gunny, crawl to me! I can stop the bleeding!” Concentrated fire from many plasma rifles rained down on Jennings’ position, forcing him to flatten himself against the ground. The Gunny raised himself up. A plasma round incinerated his head, almost instantly melting and popping the NCO’s skull with blistering heat. His smoking shell collapsed to the street, smelling of horribly charred human and blood. Jennings stared at the lifeless form of his superior officer in shock.
“Shit.” He couldn’t help but notice that the Gunny’s hands were forever frozen outstretched, reaching for Jennings. It would be a while before that memory would leave him.
Jennings shook his head, he couldn’t focus on the dead just yet. He had to survive first. He crawled along the barriers flatter along the ground than he had ever been in his life. Working his way back towards the wall of a building and actual protection against incoming fire, he spotted Naber firing a sniper rifle towards the bridge.
“Naber!” The helmeted soldier looked towards Jennings. “Give me some cover fire!” Naber swung back out, dealing out swift death and destruction. Jennings stood to his feet, sprinting over the open ground to the building at a lightning speed.
“Where’s the Gunny?” Jennings pointed to the bloody and burned carcass in the street.
“Dead.”
“Shit.” Naber muttered. “What’s next?”
“We have to get the Scorpion up. We need to take out the Wraith on the bridge.” On cue, another mortar round impacted the ground with searing heat.
“Alright, I got this one. I’ve always been better in the Scorpion then you, anyways.” Naber handed Jennings the sniper rifle.
“Hey!” Naber paused. “Good luck, man.” Naber turned, sprinting towards the unmanned Scorpion tank. Plasma bolts peppered his feet as he tore across the pavement. Jennings fired upwards towards the bridge, taking out the brave who strove to kill the running human. Naber dove into the pilot seat, immediately closing the hatch and swinging the cannon around. Naber began pumping rounds out of the Scorpion as fast as possible. Blue explosions rippled along the bridge, chaining into larger and larger detonations. Jennings noticed a familiar sound in the air, shouting out a warning as loud as he could.
“Banshees! Naber, get your ass out of there!” Green bombs landed on the Scorpion, sending the vehicle flying in flames, flipping multiple times before landing on the ground again with a crunch. Agonizing seconds passed before Naber poked out of the rubble, emerging with a victorious double middle-finger salute.
“Still got my arms and legs! What now, you stupid Covenant sonsabitches!” Jennings laughed in relief, raising his rifle in victory.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Jennings raised his rifle, dropping three Jackals in the blink of an eye.
“Kill the Heretic!” Jennings grabbed his two companions, dragging the two to cover as plasma bolts sped past them. He deposited the two in cover behind a nearby building.
“What are they?” Rainbow Dash asked, eyes bulging.
“Stay down, get help,” Jennings hissed through his helmet.
“But what are they?”
“Let’s just say I have experience with them before. And they aren’t friendly.” He sprinted off in a desperate flanking maneuver. Pinkie looked at Dash.
“The hay with that! I’m going to help him, you fly to Canterlot as fast as you can and get help!” A determined look lit Dash’s face, and the two separated at high speeds. Moments later a sonic rainboom erupted in the night.
Jennings pulled up short of a corner, pausing and listening for any noises around the corner. Satisfied the coast was clear, he moved around the corner, bringing his M7S up to chin height, scanning vigorously for hostile targets. He moved up slowly behind a pair of grunts who he hoped were the rear guard of the formation. Killer instincts honed to perfection, the trooper moved stealthily through the night behind the unaware Covenant. He transitioned his non-firing hand away from the suppressed submachine gun, slowly pulling his combat knife from the polymer sheath. He lunged forward, plunging the knife deep into the neck of the squat footsoldier, twisting and bringing the knife out the other side of the neck in one smooth motion. His right hand swung the M7S over the body of the fatally wounded grunt, firing a burst into the head of the second grunt.
He moved quickly to the side, pausing to see if anyone had heard the commotion. He moved on towards the next group. This group appeared to have about five grunts firing indiscriminately into a building, catching the wooden structure on fire with the intense heat put off by their pistols bolts. He slowly moved on them from behind, his black armor making him invisible in the night. He raised his M7S, aiming carefully at the head of one of the soldiers, planning on working his way from right to left killing as he went.
“So that’s how you like to party, huh? I’ll show you how we party in Ponyville!” A thunderous crack lit the darkness with a sudden burst of light. “Nopony can withstand the Party Cannon!” A victorious Pinkie stood above the five stunned grunts, who were suddenly covered in confetti. Jennings’ submachine gun whistled, the five grunts dropped spurting blue blood from their chests and abdomens.
“Nice job, Pinkie. Next time try loading it with something more lethal,”
“I wasn’t trying to kill them!” Pinkie said, horrified. “I just wanted to stun them until the Royal Guard could show up.”
“Somehow I doubt they’ll show up in time,” Jennings said.
“You never know,” she said with a grin. Jennings looked disbelieving.
“Right. I’m sure they’ll be here any time.”
“Yuppers!” Jennings shook his head, he was getting distracted from the mission at hand. Must find and kill the remaining covenant. Jennings took off into the night, a pink fluffball at his side.
“Let’s not kill the next group of bad guys, ok?” Pinkie was obviously a little distraught at the sight of the mass killing right before her eyes. Her normal cheery attitude was somewhat lessened, though she tried to maintain a normal attitude.
“Not happening. If I find them, I kill them,” he whispered back to her.
“But what did they do to you? They weren’t doing anything bad.”
“Other than burning down a house with people inside?”
“Ponies. And maybe they didn’t know what they were doing,” she suggested.
“No, they knew. I’ve seen that tactic before.”
“But seriously, wait for the guard this time. They can deal with it without killing anypony. That’s the ideal way!”
“There isn’t an ideal way to deal with combat.”
“But…” Jennings shushed her with a hand clasped over her mouth, catching a glimpse of an elite surrounded by a posse of three grunts. His hand went to a grenade in his belt as he crept forward, planning his strike.
“Stop this very instant!” The aliens stopped in their tracks, slightly confused by the audacity of the pink-maned pony standing before them.
“Um, heretic?” A grunt looked up at the elite for guidance.
“You are hurting other ponies! Now, what do you have to say for yourself,” the pony eyed the elite with an angry look. The elite drew himself to his full height.
“You heretics stand in the way of purity. Your blood will cleanse my path to the Great Journey,” he growled, raising his sword high.
“Fluttershy!” Pinkie bolted from her hiding spot, tackling her friend as the sword swung through the air. Jennings swore under his breath as Pinkie ruined the surprise. His submachine gun rattled, hosing the grunts in a spray of death. The mag clicked empty; Jennings transitioned fluidly to his BR, keeping a deadly bead on his opponent, whose shield struggled to stay lit. He grabbed rapidly, pulling Pinkie off of Fluttershy and up as live shield. Jennings halted his fire momentarily.
“Isn’t that a dishonorable way to fight?” He taunted.
“There is no honor in fighting beings that are so far beneath me,” the split-jaw replied.
“So what’s keeping me from shooting your feet and keeping your shields from recharging indefinitely?” The elite raised the sword, cutting into Pinkie’s chest with a sickening sizzle.
“Don’t even try, human.”
“Alrighty, then.” Jennings retreated two steps to a fallen grunt, never taking his weapon off of his opponent. He dropped to a knee, taking careful aim. He waited until the shield just started it’s recharge cycle before acting.
“You see, human? You’re pathetic—raaargh!” He put a burst right onto the elite’s hand, the shield slowing the bullets to keep them from penetrating into Pinkie’s body. The surprise sharp pain caused the elite to drop the sword to the ground. Jennings launched himself forward, knocking Pinkie from the elite’s grip, tossing the two warriors to the ground.
“Your shields are gone now!” Jennings flipped around, jumping on top of the angry alien. The elite picked Jennings up, tossing him into the nearby building. A large, human shaped dent remained.
“And your life is gone, human!” The elite hissed, grabbing his sword with his good hand. Jennings read the move and ducked forward as the blade seared the air inches above his head. Jennings drew his knife rapidly, swinging it up and plunging it into the neck of his opponent. The elite froze for a second. Jennings slashed the knife through the rest of the throat, tossing a spray of bluish blood high into the air. The elite toppled over, dead seconds later.
He turned his attention immediately back to Pinkie Pie. He dashed the few meters back to where she lay, blood running from her partially cauterized wound. Wasting no time, he whipped out his biofoam cartridge, filling the gaping wound with the healing salve. He looked straight at Fluttershy, who recoiled in fear at the sight of the masked figure covered in alien and pony blood.
“Is there a hospital nearby?”
“Um…”
“Tell me!” He shouted, tired of people unable to act on a battlefield.
“Eep!” She cowered further away, terrorized. Jennings calmed somewhat, knowing he would not get any help like this.
“Look,” he said with a forced calmness in his voice. “If you want to help me save her, you have to tell me if there’s a hospital nearby.” Fluttershy nodded.
“Y-yes,” she said so quietly he barely heard it.
“Great! Can you take her there?” Again, a nod and a unintelligible whisper. “Good, now you have to get her there quickly, ok?” Fluttershy loaded Pinkie onto her back, taking off towards the hospital. Jennings stood there for a few seconds, fairly certain that they hospital did not want to deal with a new species at the same time. He opted instead to head back to Twilight’s tree.
“Freeze!” A troop of white, male pegasi landed all around him, their spears facing inwards. “We have found the perpetrator!”
“Whoa guys, I think you have the wrong alien!” He protested, raising his hands into a mock ‘I give up’ stance. It also happened to be the same stance he used for unarmed combat.
“A likely story, just how many different aliens are there?” Jennings cocked his head.
“As in how many total? Or how many right here? Am I supposed to include dead ones?”
“Enough talk, wise guy. Are we going to have to do this the easy way, or the hard way?” one of the stallions said, the only unicorn of the group, said. Jennings glanced around, weighing his odds. He decided that he could probably take them, but he didn’t really want his first interaction with the local law enforcement to be a negative one.
“I’d prefer not to go in at all, but if I have to I don’t really want my first interaction with you to be a negative one.”
“Well, you are going down. So stick your hooves out in front of you.” Jennings did as instructed, not having long to wait before cold metal shackles encircled his wrist.
“Alright, where am I going?”
“Canterlot,” one of the soldiers said gruffly.
“It’s alright everypony, you can come out now. We’ve solved the situation,” the unicorn shouted out. Rainbow Dash poked her head out from behind a building.
“Did you stop the bad gu-hey! Why’s Jay in chains?”
“I guess they don’t like me taking care of their problems for them,” Jennings shouted back at Dash as they ushered him away.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“I think we should execute it, quietly and away from the populace. Put this disturbance to rest, after we extract as much information from it as we can.” The military commander was the first to break the awkward silence. Celestia’s top advisors had been called to an emergency meeting to discuss the problem of the sudden influx of aliens. The first response came from the appalled voice of the internal affairs advisor.
“Are you mad? How would that solve the situation?”
“We know this creature is a skilled fighter. We learn its tricks, then we kill it so it can’t fight against us. We could imprison it, I guess, but that would cost way more.”
“From a purely logical point of view, that makes quite a bit of sense,” the economic advisor said.
“Logic? What is logical about murdering another sentient being?”
“Isn’t that what it did earlier this evening? From the reports,” the general said, flipping through pages of hastily generated statements, “it moved with remarkable speed and precision, dispatching enemies with skill.”
“So it could be a valuable ally too, right?” The general responded immediately.
“Yes, he could. However, he has no reason to stay loyal to our side. More likely, he’ll become a mercenary.”
“And how do you know this?” the political advisor queried.
“I don’t,” admitted the general, “it just seems the most likely given the situation.”
“So you’re saying you have no actual data to back up your predictions,” the internal affairs advisor questioned.
“Nothing firm, no. Just predictions based on what I have seen in the past.”
“Tell me General,” the political advisor started, “what experience do you have with an alien invasion? About as much as the rest of us have. None. Does anyone else have suggestions with what to do with it?”
“Well,” said the economic advisor, “I do recommend that we keep financial concerns on the table. It would cost a considerable amount to incarcerate it for the remainder of its life. We don’t even know if it dies of natural causes!”
“Pardon me,” an old, frail pony said at the back of the room. Up until now, he had remained silent. As a long time judge and the advisor for all things judicial to Celestia, he was used to sitting back and gathering all of the facts before speaking. He spoke rarely, and when he did, everypony listened. “but we all here are ignoring one major fact of the report. And that is, that this one alien—the human—has not fought against us in the slightest. In fact, all of his fighting has been against this second group of aliens—the covenant. Only the covenant have attacked and killed a member of Ponyville. Perhaps that should be considered when rendering judgment.” He sat back down quietly, leaving his words to be absorbed or rejected by the rest of the advisors of their own accord. The advisors slowly turned back towards each other to discuss.
“That is a fair point,” argued the internal affairs advisor.
“I don’t think you’re afraid enough of what this thing can do,” the general stated emphatically.
“And you are? Scared of an individual?” The general slammed his hoof down emphatically on the table.
“You’re right I am! And you should be too. You haven’t seen the bodies of the aliens it dispatched with ease. Their physical and technological capabilities far exceed our own, and it took them down single-handedly.”
“Maybe we could convince it to tell us how it was trained?” the internal affairs advisor joked. The general mulled over the idea, giving it some serious thought.
“That’s not a bad plan…” his voice trailed off as his eyes went towards the ceiling. He trotted towards the door in a hurry, saying one last thing before disappearing behind the heavy oaken door.
“As long as I can get him to talk to me about training, I don’t care what you do to him afterwards. You can decide that.” The door slammed shut.
“So, we get to make the final call on what happens to him, after the General talks to him for a while?” the economics advisor stated, making sure that everypony was on the same page.
“Yup.”
“Excellent. Am I to understand that nopony wants it dead?” Heads nodded. “And furthermore, that simultaneously poses a serious threat?”
“Agreed.”
“Well then, we have but one course of action. Permanent incarceration,” the internal affairs advisor said with finality, while the economics sighed in despair.
A/N.
I’m back, and now I’m pinned with Air Assault wings. Booyah. No guarantees on when chapters can be posted, as my schedule is still being worked out. Sorry. Thanks PadwanTGL for giving me this idea for the council meeting deciding his fate, even if it was in a roundabout sort of way.
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Permanent incarceration, that won't end well...
Nice chapter :3
Well shit, this doesn't look good. *ducks from hoof* Ha! *gets turned into a bunny* Curse you Lunian.
*Lunian* I wouldn't do that if you would stop cursing.
Why did nopony try to tell the royal guard that Jennings was trying to help?
Did he end up killing all of the invading Covenant? (Which should be capitalized, by the way)
Or did he kill most of them and left the others to the Royal Guard?
looks like he has a new ONI to deal with
1069709
I know it moves the plot,But I mean Is I can't find one halo ODST crossover with out Covies if you know one can you tell me plz.
1073712
There's an ODST crossover without Covenant contact... at least I think it doesn't have any.
I don't remember what it's called, though.
Permanent incarceration! That is a complete load of horseshit! Where was Luna or celestia when this happened?
well im glad i helped ... somehow
1075416
Not quite sure how my brain connected the two, but somehow your previous comment made me think of this. And I liked the possibilities it brought up. I haven't planned where this story is going in the slightest, so it's a journey for me too. And that particular summit opened some doors I hadn't thought about before. Thanks!
1073796
FFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
OH AHHAHA Incarcerating a ODST HA bad idea.
1075889
It's pretty interesting, and the only Covenant contact is all in his head. (That's all you're getting! No spoilers!)
Hope you enjoy!
I give that "permanent" incarceration about 10 minutes
Must. Have. Moar.
This is one of my favorite cross-overs so far. It's just so short....
1128333 O.o Can you see into the future?
1138785 It's coming, I promise. My schedule has been crazy busy, and my computer has been slowly self-destructing. I may end up breaking this thing with a sledgehammer. If I post a picture of a broken laptop, you'll know what happened.
1162818 lil' bit. What I can't tell is whether it will be from Rainbow and/or Vinyl vouching for him (meh) or from him easily escaping and utterly humiliating the Royal Guards (
)
incarceration + ODST = fun for the entire family
they killed Colgate
sorry the energy sword fully cauterizes wounds and it is impossible she will survive it hit her chest and likely went through the heart and lungs I call BS that she even has a chance to live.
1073712 There's this one: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/133675/celestial-gift
Now its time for a jailbreak, and a mini-genocide