Chapter Nine
September 20th 2552.
“Big fucker innit” McKay shrugged staring at the prone from lashed to the dropships loading ramp. It had regained consciousness after the convoy left the Pillar of Autumn and had simply glared at her.
“Yeah, look at the claws, gotta be like a foot long, how the hell does it even manipulate anything?”
“Well look at the bloody guns they ‘ad, I would put em on a hog rather than lug the bastards about” Corporal Hughes kicked the salvaged alien rifle on the ground causing the griffon’s eyes to snap to him.
“Don’t damage the weapon Corporal, it could be valuable.” McKay snapped before turning again to stare at the alien.
“Right, don’t want to piss it off neither.”
“How the fuck are we gunna move it?”
“What? The overgrown bird? It ain't as ‘eavy as it looks.”
“Nah, look at the neck, I bet the fucker could go full owl on us and snap a hand off.”
“Yeah Mike won’t want to lose your girlfriend would ya!” McKay fought to keep a grin off her face given her subordinates banter, in all honesty she had been worrying about the prisoner. The alien had been captured after it was knocked out by a grenade going off in its face and that had just knocked it out for less than an hour without any noticeable injury. It was going to be a very difficult prisoner to keep despite Wellsley’s insistence that it was to be captured.
“You’re a funny fucker you are I tell you wh-”
“Quiet” McKay lifted a hand and tapped her eyepiece accepting the communication from Alpha Base.
“First Lieutenant, It is good to see you made it.”
“Intel was fucked Wellsley, there were closer to eight hundred covinant rather than the one hundred you promised. And some real fucking strange new types of Covinant showed up too, big birds and some kinda psychic purple thing”
“Yes it seems that the Covenant caught wind, or predicted, our raid on the Pillar of Autumn and deployed a large force to prevent it, however the gallant assault conducted by your men have won us the day. Red Team faced a much more disorganized force then you did on the top deck, even if the force in the motor pool was much larger. ”
“It's not over yet, we have to get the convoy back, are you sure about this underground network Cortana is sending us though?”
“Oh absolutely, this ring is filled with chambers and tunnels, it's quite frankly colossal. Blue team is currently being inserted underground via Pelican at this ‘control room’, that should give you a good idea as to the scale of the network we are talking about. We might actually have a chance to contest this structure entirely if we can make effective use of it.”
“Well its several hundred miles until we can get into this tunnel network, the convoy is incredibly vulnerable”
“There is little we can do but push on in this case Lieutenant, you won’t be getting any additional air support. Good luck.” McKay looked at the alien staring at her with what almost looked like a grin on its beak and decided she would need all the luck she could get.
Twilight opened her eyes and felt a dulling empty malase fall upon her, an old friend. It was called magical burnout but for what reason Twilight did not know, it felt more like standing at a great distance from a dear friend without the confidence to cross that casam and be with them again.
She lit her horn pushing the agony of burnout aside as she had done countless times though her education and reached out with her magic, probing the room and mapping it in her mind rather than bothering to open her eyes.
“You're awake. How about that.” Twilight lifted her head and opened her eyes with a hiss as the light aggravated her headache, Keyes was sitting just across the room with both hands clasped in manacles locked magnetically to the ground. “You lost, my people made away like bandits with a great big convoy.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know, one of your big friends came to collect me and then they drag you and I into a dropship. Before rushing off back to the fight.” Twilight turned to Tath sitting up against a wall with her plasma pistol held lazaly in her talons.
“Shock trooper humans came in on the top deck, right on the Griffons, they did not have a chance to fire more than a few times. Then Demons, attacking the stockpile down below. Managed to get your guards to stay and fight them so long as I kept your human captain in check. Easy just told him.” Tath nodded at the Human. “I would eat him if he tried anything.”
“And he understood because he is fluent in Sangheili.” Twilight slumped and began to stretch herself out.
“No I just have an implant that translates for me, I only know English and French.” Keyes laid back with a sigh. As the door to the pilots cabin slid open with a hiss.
“Inquisitor, we need to talk.” Twilight rolled her neck and pulled herself to her hooves and collected the computer on Jacobs lap in her magic. “Are you sure you should be, you know. Using magic right after a burnout?”
“Yes.” Twilight nodded for Major Dash to entire the pilot cabin again and the pegusi turned while shaking her head, the pair filed into the cramped space and the door closed again with a hiss. With barely any room to stand the pair sat in seats specially designed to accommodate an Equestrian pony phasique.
“Inquisitor there were reports from the Sac-”
“I am aware of your communication to the Infinite Succour and the encryption you have placed upon your messages, an odd behaviour but not one that breaks any protocol, do you mind telling me who you were communicating with?”
“You have decrypted the messages?”
“No I have not had the time, I would much rather you be honest with me.”
“I was contacting an old friend, she is currently onboard the Infinite Succour, She is an academic and was requesting non critical information on animal life on Halo”
“You are telling me you were in correspondence with an academic?”
“Yes, she is an Ethologist.”
“And she is currently onboard an agricultural support ship?”
“That is correct Inquisitor.”
“Is she perhaps studying the evolutionary pressure of a slaughter pen?”
“She is not Inquisitor.”
“Well then what is an academic doing on a food ship? Spit it out.”
“She does not receive a stipend for her studies” Twilight stared at her major for a moment in disbelief.
“She is an unregistered academic?”
“She was not born on Equis” Twilight blew a raspberry and stomped a hoof in annoyance as Dash continued. “She is a competent academic and currently dealing with a San'Shyuum Legate that took control of the ship when Halo was discovered. It's meant to be an Equestrian ship.”
“And this concerns you how?”
“This Legate is incompitant and is sending Equestria-”
“Colonists?” Rainbow rolled her eyes.
“Yes, Equestrian Colonists down to this gas giant, there is some kind of Forerunner facility down there. You know how deadly reclamation can be, the only ones down there are Unggoy and Colonists, none of them even halfway trained to understand the language or what they could find down there. At any moment they could trigger a security system!”
“What do you want me to do about it?” Twilight looked her pilot in the eyes.
“Requisition my friend, sh-”
“You want me to requisition a civilian. Oh sorry, not even a civilian, a colonist! From an agricultural support ship so she can give me advice on the evolutionary pressures of animals while we fight a war?!”
“She won't get in the way Inquisitor.”
“Are you sure about that? Are you entirely sure that she won't get in my way?”
“I am utterly convinced Inquisitor.” Twilight stared at the impassive face of Major dash for a moment before sighing.
“I don’t want more people to die down here Major.” Rainbow Dash’s eyes slowly turned to meet Twilight’s her impassive mask slipping slightly.
“She is a colony brat Twilight, if there is one thing they are good at it’s surviving, She can honestly help us! I won't lie to you, it's safer down here with you then it is up there with that Legate.” Twilight shook her head her eyes low but a moment later she let out a sigh.
“Very well, you would know if a pony could survive all this, I need to contact The Legate, He was a professor at the Equis University of Religious studies. Never took his class but I did exchange words now and then.”
“Huh, small galaxy, how did he end up on a farm ship?”
“How did I end up out here? The will of the Forerunners is hard to understand sometimes. Now what is this report from the Sacred Inquisitor?”
“Banshee that was running dark came in and a Demon popped out, without any security it was running rampant for a while. Broke out all the Humans then took a bunch of the stasis chambers, including the one with the sleeping Demon. And booked it out of there.”
“Is Savo okay?”
“Yeah he gave me the report, Demon somehow had access to the whole ship, it was locking and unlocking doors at will apparently, knew exactly where to go and escaped on a Type-44 Phantom.”
“Can’t have taken more than three or four stais chambers in that case. The objective was purely the Demon and not to save the other sleeping humans.” Rainbow shrugged and turned to look at the display before her.
“Well let's get back down to the crash site, looks like that Human convoy has moved off now so it should be safe down there.”
“How many?” Twilight stood on the dry earth looking out over the vast expanse of dead, all of them lined up in rows as Zealots and Decans gave them the last rites.
“Four hundred and seventy six, we found roughly one hundred and sixty humans too.” N’tho looked out over the bodies a great sorrow weighing heavily upon him. Twilight was standing next to a burnt and melted helmet, little else of Dosa remained.
“We outnumbered them three to one, we offered them surrender and a chance to repent.” The unicorn mare turned away from the field of the dead. “No matter what this should not have happened.”
“They had Demons, four of them.” N’tho sighed and turned to walk with Twilight “They are walking far ahead of us on the Great Journey, no matter how it hurts we cannot waiver, we cannot mourn. We must celebrate the lives of our cherished brothers and sisters.”
“I must have made a mistake somewhere. I was distracted.” Twilight held her head low as the pair walked to the trio of Phantoms waiting for them.
“No, war is not something that we can dictate. Two great people march against each other, wit and strength and skill tested but when all else is certain it is pure luck and fate that decide the victor.”
“Not the Forerunners? I am sure a great many people would disagree with you N’tho” The Major shrugged.
“Would the gods hold our hand like a mother does her firstborn? No, we are here to find our own way, I am certain that we are no more deserving of victory then the Humans.” Twilight looked at the man standing beside her with an eyebrow raised.
“You think very highly of them.”
“I do, it has been a long path but the heretics are cunning and deadly and are more than the base creatures they are accused of being. I fully support the world the Equestrians created, Repentance. No son should find his feet clasped in lead for the sins of his father.” Twilight looked out at the ring that stole her breath with every glance and prayed for the fallen, all of the fallen.
“You look older and wiser every time we speak Minister of Etiology, or should I say Legate” Twilight bowed her head in respect.
“Ah Twilight my child, you flatter me, I must confess I was dearly looking forward to speaking to you again. It has been far too long, look at how you have grown.”
“I apologize that we have not had a chance to simply speak.”
“There is nothing at all to apologize for, we all have a great many tasks to complete, now let us dispense with the pleasantries. You have something to ask of me.” Twilight smiled warmly.
“Wise and perceptive as always. I do have a request, one of your charges on the Infinite Succor, an Equestrian colonist with a private education in ethology. I would like to requisition her service.”
“I think I know the one, polite and not a single sanction to her name. A very talented worker, I would be eager to offer her services to you Twilight but I am afraid I cannot secure transport for her.”
“I can send a ship to collect her, it would not strain my resources at all.”
“Then I shall make her aware of her requisition and the shift in duties, now we must catch up at some point my dear child, perhaps once we have eliminated the humans we can walk upon the ring together.”
“I shall look forward to it Legate.” Twilight cut the communication and turned to Rainbow Dash. “You will have to pick her up while I go to the Sacred Inquisitor. It's a long flight over to the gas giant.”
“Thank you Twilight this means a lot to me.”
“Gilda, make sure my pilot makes it back to me. Keep her safe.” Her honour guard champion bowed her head and moved to catch up with Rainbow Dash while Twilight, Jacob, Tath, N’tho and the surviving ten members of her honour guard entered a dropship heading towards the Sacred Inquisitor.
Nothing but dialogue this chapter, sorry for that! Anyway I threw together a spreadsheet to explain the ranking and authority of the Covenant. While I am using the yank military pay grade structure (Because the UNSC uses it) rank does not actually denote wealth but rather influence within the Covenant.
I am still looking for an editor so PM me if you want to help me out with this mess!
Remember to give me a like if you are enjoying the story.
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An interesting rank structure not sure I totally agree with it but it makes sense to me. I’m interested in following the griffin that’s been captured for a while it would be good to see the UNSC’s perspective.
9791391
What ones do you disagree with? I am open to changing things up if you think I am overlooking something
9791402
I don't see anything wrong with it, just so you know.
9791454
oh no there is nothing wrong with disagreeing with me. I love feedback on ideas and if someone points something out they find odd, like you did before with Twilight using a cheep weapon rather then a more expensive one. It helps massively with me building this universe. Whenever someone engages with me and is critical or points out something they see as a flaw I think it improves the work and I can certanly be wrong even if it is my story.
9791464
Okay, but I never said or implied that there was something wrong with disagreeing with you.
An AWESOME chapter either way! Xd
This scene/topic shift needs to be made clearer, I had to go and re-read the passage once or twice to figure out who was talking. I honestly thought it was a defensive Twilight talking to Commander Vadamee about some undisclosed associates.
9791477
I never meant it like that I was just encouraging criticism of my ideas.
9791554
Thank you!
9791627
I will try to change things a bit to make it more clear who is speaking now and in the future.