The Pillar of Autumn wasn't the only ship that left Reach when the UNSC withdrew from the planet. The UNSC was desperate to find a planet to settle on where they can effectively hide from the covenant and recover from the near fatal blow they suffered on Reach. When the Hall of Heroes, a ship similar to the Pillar of Autumn only smaller, finds an unexplored planet away from the covenant empire, they immediately launch a recon mission to confirm if the planet is habitable, Mikel Dakre and his ODST team find more than they bargained for.
Lieutenant Mikel Dakre stood in the command center of the Hall of Heroes, watching the projection in the middle of the room. He was there in place of his commanding officer, who had become ill as of late. He released a breath he had been holding, then sucked in another gulp of air and held his breath again. The crew of the Hall were looking out into the vast expanse of space around us to see of the covenant were anywhere within a thousand light years from the planet they were currently orbiting above.
Dakre was an ODST, or Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, for the UNSC. He was on the Hall of Heroes, a ship commissioned by the UNSC to find another planet to colonize away from the covenant. He was waiting for the results of the scan to show on the projection, because it determined whether the planet below was safe for human existence. A sudden ping came from the intercom as an announcement started. The hall had been in sllipspace for about nine months, so they were very far away from their origin, Reach. Reach was the UNSC's largest colony, and it was just recently invaded and destroyed by the covenant.
"Sector all clear, ODST team report to hangar for flight to the surface!" the female voice of the captain shouted over the intercom.
"You know, I'm right here. You don't have to use that thing." Dakre said to Captain Falan. Hannah Falan was a twenty-eight year old woman who was promoted to captain just before Reach was invaded.
"I know, but I wanted to let everybody know about the all clear." She responded. Dakre shrugged.
"I guess that makes sense." He said.
"Here's your mission instructions." she said, handing him a small chip, which he inserted into his wrist computer.
Dakre put his helmet on. His armor was pitch black, except for the team leader's red stripes on his armor. He had a MA-7D slung across his chest, with at least thirty magazines attached to his armor's clips. The MA-7D Infantry Carbine was an assault weapon chambered in the 8.8x44 specialized caliber. It was specifically designed by the Hall's scientists to be effective in all environments, and pack a harder punch than the standard assault rifle. It closely resembled a 21st century F2000, but had electronic sights and a smaller frame. All of the ODSTs carried these rifles because they had an abundant supply of lightweight ammunition. The ony exception was the squad sniper, who preffered to carry the older DMR because it had a greter accuracy at long distances.
Dakre walked down the halls of the ship toward the hangar, whistling a little to himself. He was excited that his team would finally get to carry out a mission, something they had yet to do. As he approached the hangar, he stopped whistling and began to focus on the mission at hand. He walked into the hangar and proceeded to his assigned pelican to take him to the surface of the new planet. His squad had already boarded, and were talking to each other. It was just some idle chatter to pass the time until Dakre arrived. Things like, 'what do you think is down there?'.
His squad was unusually small, only three including himself. His two squad mates were Sergeant Jan Pulad, a sniper, and Jackie Westley, a medic. Jackie was a young woman of only twenty-two. She was about six foot three inches, and was easily excitable. Despite this, she was extremely serious about her military career. Pulad was twenty-seven and six foot nine. He was a hulk for a regular human. He had a deep voice, and only really spoke to his friends. All three had fought on Reach to defend the LZ for civilians getting into pelicans to take them to the Hall. Back then, they were just partisans fighting for their lives. Now, they were elite soldier
His two squad mates stopped talking when the lieutenant entered the pelican. Both had their helmets off, revealing Jackie's short, blonde hair and Jan's bald head. They both reached for their helmets and put them on when they got them.
"You guys ready?" Dakre asked his squad.
"Just a little nervous, that's all" Jan replied.
"Lieutenant, what are we looking for down there?" Jackie asked.
"We have to look for signs that this planet is habitable. Mainly water and breathable air." Dakre said to the corporal. She nodded at him and picked up her MA-7 off of the bench next to her. Dakre proceeded to the cockpit, where he saw the pilot going over the final flight check before taking the ODST squad to the surface of the planet. When he finished, he turned to Dakre a thumbs up. He nodded and returned to the crew compartment. He sat down in the rearmost seat and closed the ramp. As it closed, the ODSTs continued to talk to each other, while on the outside of the pelican, an insurrectionist, disguised as an engineer, placed a small explosive charge over the fuel cell of the aircraft.
The pelican began to come to life as the pilot started the engines. As the engines finished starting up, the pelican lurched slightly backwards and began to move. The pilot flew the pelican out of the ship and into the space over the unknown planet. In the crew cabin, the ODSTs were all preparing for the mission. It was quiet, except for the roar of the engines. Dakre was reading a book on his wrist computer, while Jackie prayed silently. Jan was playing with the mechanics on his rifle, and adjusted his scope again to pass the time.
While the soldiers busied themselves to pass the time, a quiet beep began to sound through the cabin of the aircraft. It got steadily louder as time passed. Jan was the first one to pick up on the sound, since he was closest to it.
"Hey, can you guys hear that?" He asked.
"Hear what?" Jackie asked him.
"That beep. It's getting annoying." he said, "Just like you." he added, a smirk on his face under his mask.
"Hey, I'm not annoying!" she said in an obnoxiously high pitched voice.
"There you go. Mike, don't you think that's annoying?" Jan asked Dakre as he continued to read his book.
"It's definitely more annoying when you interrupt my reading over stupid arguments like this." Dakre said in an irritated tone.
"Oh come on, you read enough that the occasional argument can't put you that far behind." Jackie said, the obnoxious tone still lingering in her voice.
"God! Please stop with that voice!" Jan yelled.
"What voice? This Voice?!" She yelled in his ear, emphasizing the voice he hated so much.
"Stop it now!" Dakre shouted, but his shout was drowned out by a deafening explosion to the right of the cabin. The charge had exploded the fuel cell, igniting the right engine in a ball of flames. It shook violently, and sheared off of the vehicle, falling to the surface of the planet, along with a few pieces of steel from the fuselage.
Inside the pelican, it was chaos. The pilot was trying desperately to regain control of the aircraft as it spun out of control. He eventually slowed the spinning and extinguished the engine fire, but there was no stopping the crash. Inside the cabin, It was almost as much chaos as in the cockpit. there was a gaping hole about a meter from where Jan was sitting, and he was thrown out of his seat onto the floor of the pelican. Dakre and Jackie had pulled down the emergency harnesses above their seats and locked them down. Jan managed to climb into a seat and pulled the harness down across his waist.
"Impact is imminent! Brace yourselves!" the pilot yelled back to the ODSTs. They all braced for the crash, just as the right side of the pelican smashed into a tree, then slid along the ground, spinning and crushing several other trees in the process.
In the quiet town of Ponyville, a young unicorn by the name of Twilight Sparkle was reading a book on the stars and constellations on her bed on the second story of the Ponyville library. Suddenly, her studies were interrupted by a large piece of steel crashing through her window, nearly decapitating the startled mare. She tapped the foreign object to see what it was made of, before looking out of her obliterated window to see where the object might have come from. As she peeked her head out of the obliterated window, and saw a glowing orange object plummeting straight toward the surface of Equestria. She watched with fascination as the object began to come closer to the ground. She followed it until it landed in a cloud of dust in one of the fields of Sweet Apple Acres. She yelped and immediately got up. Surprisingly, it made no loud noise upon impact. She wrote a quick note to Spike before running out the door to see if Applejack and her family were alright.
Dakre came to a few minutes after the crash. He took his helmet off, since the visor was cracked in multiple places, and began to escape from his restraints. He eventually got out of his seat, which was bent inward. Dakre stumbled around for a second, before finding his bearings. He picked up his helmet, and put it back on his head. He walked up to the cockpit to see if the pilot was alright. When he entered the cockpit, the pilot was sitting in his chair, knocked out, with a tree branch impaled in his left shoulder. Dakre checked his pulse, which thankfully was still there. He cut the tree branch off of the tree with his knife, and lifted the pilot out of his seat. he walked back through the crew compartment and to the rear ramp. He opened the rear ramp and set the pilot against one of the nearby fallen tree trunks.
He reentered the downed pelican to find his squad, who were thankfully getting up. Though slightly dazed, they were fine. Dakre's side of the ship took most of the impact, so he was the worst off of the three, with a split visor and maybe a minor concussion.
"That's one way to make an entrance." Jan said as he got up. He had taken his helmet off and was rubbing the back of his head.
Applejack was roused by the sound of cracking wood. She sat up in her bed and looked out her window over the orchard, where she saw a huge cloud of dust surrounding the center of the orchard. "What in tarnation is going on out there?" she asked as she jumped out of bed. She trotted down the hall and woke up Big Macintosh.
"Big Macintosh, wake up!" she whispered as she shook him, "Something's going on out in the orchard." The giant stallion slowly began to stir. After a minute, he rolled out of bed and stood on his hooves.
"Ready to go, big brother?" AJ asked.
"Eeyup." He replied.
They walked downstairs and opened the front door. They were met by a panting Twilight, who had obviously ran all the way there from her library across town.
"Uh, Twi? What are ya doing here?" Applejack asked her friend as she caught her breath.
"Applejack, something landed in the orchard! I came to make sure you were all safe!" She said.
"Oh, we were going to go see what that cloud of dust was, but ah guess that the thing that landed here caused that." Applejack said, "You want to come along Twi?" she asked.
"Yes I would like to go. I want to see if I can learn anything from it. It came from space!" Twilight said, she seemed to brighten up as she imagined the educational possibilities of studying a space object.
"Alright Twi, let's get going. We ain't gonna find anything standin' round here." Applejack said as she began walking into the orchard.
Spike woke up after rolling out of his basket onto the hard floor. He stood up and rubbed the back of his head. "Ow! That hurt." Spike said as he stretched out his arms. He was about to go back to sleep when he saw a note for him on the table from Twilight.
"That's one way to make an entrance." Jan said as he got out of the pelican wreck. The pilot groaned in agony as the tree under him dropped when Jan stepped on it, causing him to fall on his side. He coughed up a small amount of blood, which stained the small patches of grass a crimson color.
"Jan, search the wreck for the medical kit. This guy needs it bad." Dakre said as he sat the pilot up against the tree again. A pile of debris shook as Jackie crawled out from the pelican.
"Uh. I hate flying." Jackie said as she stood up to stretch her back out. Several cracks came from her back as she twisted left and right. "What happened to him?" Jackie asked. She crouched down down beside the pilot and began examining his injury.
"Ummm, well it's pretty much what it looks like. The pelican stopped when it hit a tree, and one of the branches hit him right in between the armor plates." Dakre explained.
"Well, he's in bad shape. It looks like he punctured his left lung, and he's bleeding badly from the fist sized hole in his chest."
"I can only imagine how much it will bleed when we have to take that branch out." Dakre said.
"Well, unless we can get him out of here pretty quickly, he'll be at risk of bleeding out. When we pull it out, we'll have to work fast." Jackie concluded. Jan was crawling out of the wreck behind them. He grunted as he tried to squeeze through the compressed frame of the crashed pelican.
"I've got the kit, but the emergency food is toast." Jan said as he came out of the wreck, a small white box in hand.
"Toss me the bio foam." Dakre said. Jan tossed him a bottle of the bio foam. It was about the size of a soda can. It was sufficient for the pilot's injury, but it would only be a single use. If the foam wore off before evacuation, the pilot would certainly die.
"Alright, this is going to hurt buddy, just bear with me." He said to the pilot, grasping the branch impaled in his shoulder firmly. He placed one hand lightly over the right sine of his chest, and gave the branch a firm yank. The branch came out with ease. As soon as the branch was removed from the pilot's chest, a bright red stream of blood spurted onto Dakre's armor and visor.
"AHHHHHH!!!" the pilot screamed out in pain.
"AHHHHHH!!!"
"What was that?" Twilight asked as the group of three ponies stopped to listen to the scream that, although faint, was audible to all three. It echoed through the orchard for a couple of seconds, before fading into the night.
"Sounds like somepony's in a heap o' trouble!" Applejack said.
"Eeyup." Big Macintosh said, agreeing with his sister. The group began to run toward the source of the cry, hoping they wouldn't find anything too gruesome to handle.
Dakre wiped his visor, smearing the blood over his visor, obscuring his vision more than it was before. he opted to taking the helmet off and tossing it aside. He opened the can of foam and began applying it to the pilot's wound, while Jackie waited with bandages to wrap the wound. Jan was supporting the pilot's unconscious body, since the pilot had passed out from the intense pain of the sudden removal of the branch. They successfully stopped the bleeding, and wrapped the wound on the pilot's chest, but only after using most of the medical supplies available . "Lieutenant, if there are trees here, doesn't that mean this planet can support life?" Jackie asked as the officer hoisted the pilot onto his shoulders.
"Well, we're still alive aren't we?" the lieutenant asked sarcastically.
"Umm, yeah." she replied.
"Well, there's your answer." Dakre said.
"Then shouldn't we blow the pelican in case any intelligent life forms happen to come across it?" she asked.
"That would make sense. Go ahead and destroy the pelican. Then follow us to a suitable extraction point."
"Yes sir." she said, then she went back into the pelican. Dakre and Jan turned around and began to walk off into the trees. About five minutes later, Jackie joined them as they walked westward.
"Sir, the charges have been set. Should I blow it now?" she asked.
"Wait about five more minutes, we want to be as far away as possible." Dakre said. As they were walking, Jan noticed something out of the ordinary.
"Hey, do you guys see that the trees are in neat rows, like on a farm?" he asked.
"Now that you mention it, yeah I do see it." Jakie said. "You think it is a farm?" she asked.
"I'm sure we'll find out soon." he said.
Spike read over the note once, before dropping it and hurriedly looking for a quill and a piece of paper. He eventually found some and began writing a letter to princess Celestia. After writing it, he sent it in a cloud of green smoke.
The group of soldiers stopped after walking for ten minutes through the rows of trees, which by now were looking very similar to a farm. They stopped under a large tree to rest for a moment. Dakre set the pilot down against the tree trunk and then sat down himself. All of the ODSTs took their helmets off to cool off for a second since it was warm outside. Dakre took a moment to inspect the damage done to his helmet, which was far more extensive than the crack in the visor. There was a dent about the size of a golf ball in the back, and the visor was compressed about half an inch, which is what caused the cracking. After examining his helmet, he set it down next to him and leaned back against the tree.
"Sir, should we destroy the wreck now?" Jackie asked as she leaned back against the tree as well. Dakre nodded in response. Jackie took the detonator off of her belt and pressed the trigger.
The three ponies approached the outer edge of the crash site with caution, observing the broken branches on top of the trees. About fifty feet later, there was absolute carnage. There were trees that were split in half, some that were missing chunks of their trunks, and some that seemed to explode under the force of the crash.
This was simply amazing to them, but what they saw next really caught their attention. It was a large, green metal machine. It was unlike anything in Equestria. It was also missing part of its left side, or what Twilight thought was the left side.
They had about five seconds to absorb the sight before it was washed away in a large fireball that engulfed the trees around the machine. A deafening BOOM came As the fireball did, stunning the three ponies. All three were blown back by the force of the explosion, amongst flying bits of steel and wood. Big Macintosh was thrown violently against a tree, and was knocked out instantly. Applejack was trowel back between the trees, and came to a sliding stop about twenty feet from where she was previously standing. She had three pieces of wood imbedded in her right foreleg, which was exposed when she covered her eyes from the fireball. Twilight got it worst of all, though. She was thrown into a tree ten feet back, then her abdomen was pelted with five small bits of metal. All three were unconscious, and Twilight was bleeding badly.
Princess Celestia was roused from her sleep when a letter from Twilight was delivered in the early hours of the morning. She picked up the scroll in her magic and read it:
Dear Princess Celestia, An object from space just crash landed in the trees at Sweet Apple Acres! Twilight went to go see if the Apples are okay, but she wants you to see the object that fell. Please come as soon as you have time. Spike
The princess got out of bed and walked to the balcony outside her room. She looked in the direction of Ponyville, more in particular Sweet Apple Acres. The farm was faintly visible in the night. As she observed the farm, an orange light erupted from the back of the farm. A find boom was heard a few seconds later. Celestia's eyes widened in fear, thinking what could have happened to Twilight or any of the Apples if they were near it. She immediately teleported in a blinding flash of white light.
Jackie took her finger off of the trigger as soon as she heard the explosion go off. She clipped the detonator back onto her belt and stood back up.
"Alright, you guys ready to go? I'm ready to get out of here." she said as she placed her helmet back on her head.
"Yeah, let's go." Dakre said as he did the same. "Alright pal, let's go." he said as he picked the wounded pilot back up and placed him on his shoulders.
"Guys, this is definitely a farm. Look." Jan said as he pointe up into a tree. There was a shining red apple amongst its leaves. A glance at the other trees confirmed it, these were all apple trees, and they were on an apple farm.
"Well, this planet supports life, and there's already somebody living here." said as he stared in disbelief at the fruit in the tree.
"I just hope they're friendly" Jan added as he began walking. He had his rifle in his hands, ready for any surprises along the road.
Jan cautiously looked across the opposite tree line. He scanned the clearing with his night vision, his rifle ready in case anything might attack. After thoroughly checking the clearing over, the ODSTs emerged from the rows of trees silently, weapons drawn. Dakre leaned the pilot against a tree, where he was out of sight from any passersby. The soldiers surveyed the clearing, looking for any geographical flaws that would prevent an emergency landing. After ensuring there were no outstanding flaws in the area, Jackie activated her emergency beacon. She buried it under a thin layer of dirt to conceal it from sight in the middle of the clearing. The ODSTs immediately sped of to three trees on the edges of the clearing. They climbed into the thick vegetation and waited for the pelican to pick them up. Jan was able to hoist the pilot into his tree before climbing up himself.
"Be on the lookout for any movement. When the pelican is in sight, we collapse on the LZ. If anything comes to see the pelican, keep them back with stun rounds. You should each have one magazine." Dakre said to them as he charged his weapon. "If any threats do appear, switch to standard ammunition. Don't kill unless it is absolutely necessary. Got it?" Dakre's voice was muffled sloghtly by heavy static from the damage to his helmet.
"Yes sir." came the two swift replies.
"Then keep your eyes peeled and wait for evac." He said as he turned on the thermal optics on his rifle.
Princess Celestia arrived at the site of the explosion in a blinding flash of intense wight light. When her vision cleared up, she examined the object with curiosity. Now it was just a twisted heap of burning steel. The trees surrounding the object were riddled with shreds of steel and wood. There were multiple fires burning trees close to the wreck. She turned around and was completely speechless at what she saw. Three unconscious ponies laying on the ground, one of them bleeding badly. She immediately recognized her star pupil, lying on the ground, bleeding from multiple puncture wounds to her upper abdomen. The other two she knew as the Apples, Applejack and Big Macintosh. These two seemed to have more mild injuries, the only outstanding injuries being the wood imbedded in AJ's foreleg, and swelling on Big Mac's side. She immediately lifted them up and teleported them from the area to the hospital wing of Canterlot Castle.
The ODSTs were startled when a bright white flash emanated from their pelican crash.
"What the hell was that?" Dakre asked.
"I don't know sir!" Jan replied, making himself smaller in the tree.
"I think it was a flashbang!" Jackie said.
"No way, we would've heard it by now!" Jan said.
"Calm down guys, it doesn't matter now. We're far enough away that we don't need to worry, yet." Dakre said.
"Alright, but I don't have a good feeling about this." Jackie said.
Celestia landed abruptly above a bed in the castle's medical ward. She was barely able to hold up the three ponies she was still levitating. As soon as they heard the crash, the doctors rushed in to see what all of the commotion was about. When they entered, they were met by a panting princess holding three ponies, one with a shredded abdomen.
"*pant* Help them. *pant*" she ordered. The doctors immediately called for nurses, who rolled in gurneys to put the patients on. The princess placed them on the gurneys, before they were hurriedly wheeled off to the operating room.
About twenty minutes later, Princess Celestia was inside captain Shining armor's office.
"Princess!" Shining Armor exclaimed as the door shut behind her. He shot her a sharp salute.
"At ease captain." she said. "I need you to take a detachment of royal guards to Ponyville to investigate an explosion that injured three ponies, including Twilight."
"Is Twiley alright?" Shining Armor asked.
"Yes, she is in the hospital recovering as we speak." the princess said.
"Alright princess. when should we go?" He asked.
"As soon as possible." she stated authoritatively.
"Yes ma'am." he said, shooting her another salute before marching off to the barracks to get a platoon of guards to take to Ponyville.
The platoon of guards had been teleported to the crash by Princess Celestia, due to the urgency she insisted be placed on the investigation. The guards were inspecting every inch of the crash site, looking for clues to how this could have happened. After about five minutes, a gourd privet shouted, "I found some tracks!" Almost immediately Shining Armor and the lieutenant were upon the tracks.
"These are unfamiliar to me, I've never seen anything like them." the lieutenant said as he examined the prints in the earth.
"Send a team to follow them, see if they go anywhere." Shining Armor said. Three unicorns were sent to investigate the tracks.
About fifteen minutes later, a note from princess Celestia was magically delivered to Shining Armor.
Shining Armor,
I searched your sister's memories with a mind reading spell, and this is what the object looked like before it was destroyed. *There was a small picture of the pelican sketched onto the paper.*
Princess Celestia
Shining armor proceeded to show the sketch to the lieutenant.
"There is no way that was an accident, that was triggered!" he yelled, "Look at it, it couldn't have just exploded!"
"If it was triggered, do you think the ponies who triggered it intentionally triggered it when the victims were near it?" Shining Armor asked.
"I don't care! If somepony triggered this, it is a crime! They almost killed three ponies!" the lieutenant was screaming in rage now.
"Why are you getting so worked up about it!? We have to figure out what happened first." Shining Armor said, trying not to lose it on his lieutenant.
"What is that!?" a guard private yelled as he pointed his hoof at a strange flying object descend over the farm, about a mile away. It was easily a hundred times bigger than the average pegasus, and made a lot more noise than one.
"That's one of the things that caused this!" the lieutenant yelled. Shining Armor looked at the picture of the flying object. They were almost identical, except the left side of the aircraft was whole.
The lieutenant focused his magic into a beam, hoping to bring it down before it could destroy more property and injure more ponies in his crazed disillusion. Shining Armor realized what his subordinate was doing to late. He tried to tackle him, but he was too late. The beam connected with the object, and it went spiraling into the ground with a loud crash.
"Alright! Evac's here! Everybody hold the LZ!" Dakre shouted as he jumped down from his tree, followed by Jackie, and then Jan carrying the pilot, who had began to bleed again. The ODSTs crouched around the LZ and readied their weapons, stun rounds loaded. The pelican approached the ground as the rear door opened. There were seven marines with MA-5B assault rifles scanning the ground. Then, a bright blue beam shot through the sky and struck the pelican's right engine, causing it to explode. The aircraft spiraled out of control before slamming into the ground at the edge of the tree line.
"Twice!? Twice in one fucking day!?" Dakre screamed as he got up and sprinted toward the wreck with Jackie. Jan helped up the marines, since they fell out when the aircraft was struck.
This wreck wasn't near as bad as the first one, considering the pelican's close proximity to the ground. Dakre and Jackie had no problem getting into the downed aircraft, and walked up to the cockpit. The pilot was alright, just slightly dazed.
Dakre and Jackie went through the cabin of the downed pelican and searched for anything useful to make cover out of. After the blast that had downed the second pelican, the UNSC soldiers assumed that they were going to get hit on the ground as well. The ODSTs began breaking off parts of the armor plates on the interior of the aircraft, while the marines tore off the steel sides of the pelican. The steel sheets were shoved into the dirt, creating four foot tall barriers. As the soldiers finished making a defensive perimeter, they activated another distress beacon, since the radios were disabled in each crash.
Shining Armor was abruptly thrown off of the insane lieutenant by a blast of magic that hit him in the chest plate. He landed, and let out a pained grunt, and coughed a few times to expell the dust from his lungs.
The lieutenant hopped to his feet after blasting his captain with his magic, and looked arounded at the shocked expressions of his comrades. They all shared expressions of shock or anger. He dashed off into the trees in the direction of the object he destroyed with his magic. He was determined to prove that whatever that thing was, it was evil.
The marines were all watching and waiting for something to peek out of the trees. They were all ordered to command any contacts to stand down, and if they did not comply within ten seconds, disable them. The ODSTs were inside attempting to establish radio communication with the Hall, and Jackie was trying frantically to keep the first pelican pilot alive.
"Shit! We're running out of foam! I don't know if he'll last much longer!" Jackie yelled to the others in the cockpit.
"Don't we have bandages or something!?" Jan yelled back.
"Not that can help a wound this size!" she yelled. She sprayed the last of the bio foam into the pilot's wound. It had stopped bleeding, however, the foam would probably wear off in the next hour, which is about the amount of time it would take to ready up a new pelican.
In the cockpit, the pilot of the second pelican and Dakre were trying to repair a radio they could contact the Hall with. They were making progress, using pieces of the transmitter on Jan's helmet. After about five minutes, they got a faint signal, that got stronger until it got to a moderate power.
"This is Apollo one to UNSC Hall of Heroes do you copy?" Dakre said into the microphone.
"This is UNSC Hall of Heroes, go ahead Apollo." the captain said.
"We need immediate support on the surface. We lost a second pelican, and we have one critically wounded. We have no medical supplies, and suspected hostiles lurking in the woods of the surrounding area." Dakre said.
"There is a town about five klicks from our current position, so if they are hostile, we'll have an entire population on top of us within the hour." the pilot added.
"Confirm. there are sentient beings on the planet? Over." The captain asked.
"Yes, we suspect that sentient beings live here. They have weapons capable of destroying most UNSC equipment. Request support package Alpha Zulu Three." Dakre said.
"Confirmed support package Alpha Zulu Three. 138 is inbound." the captain said, then the transmission cut out.
"Alright, Christain is coming in. He will help us hold this position until help gets here." Dakre said.
"Do you think they will get first contact teams down here?" the pilot asked.
"If they do, and we get in a fight, they will have a shitload of work to do." he replied, chuckling. Then, a crash sounded outside, followed by a slow hiss. The ODST lieutenant stepped out of the pelican, and was met by the imposing stature of the SPARTAN III, clad in a full suit of EVA armor. He held up a medical kit to the ODST, who took it gratefully. He saluted the SPARTAN.
"Thank you sir. We needed that." he said. The soldier nodded and turned around to inspect the surrounding area. He had a MA7 and a DMR on his back, and a magnum on his outer left thigh. He walked around the barriers, occasionally hitting one deeper in the dirt to secure it.
"Jesus, I hope we can avoid using him. I'd feel bad for unleashing him on the poor bastards." Jan said.
"I agree. I hope we don't have to make anything harder on the diplomats." Dakre said, as he went in the pelican to give the medical supplies to Jackie.
Twilight woke slowly. She opened her eyes ever so slightly, just so she could see the light in the room. As she began to open her eyes wider, the light began to overwhelm her mind. Her head was immediately assaulted by an intense migraine that threatened to knock her out again. She whimpered as she curled up with her hooves cradling her head. The sudden movement caused an intense pain to radiate from multiple points in her midsection.
The doctors noticed her movement and distress and rushed to her bed. They began to cast painkilling spells, and moving her back on her back. She was numb after the spell process ended, and just looked blankly at the sterile white ceiling. She began to drift off to sleep, but was distracted by the door opening. She saw the doctors walking in the room.
"Ugh... Where am I?" She asked.
"You are in the hospital wing of the royal palace." the head doctor told her. "You just got out of your first operation to remove shrapnel you received in an explosion of an unknown object."
"Oh." she said. Her brain was still groggy from the painkiller spell, so she couldn't think of any other questions to ask.
"We are preparing to start the second operation, so we will put you under momentarily, ok?" he asked. She nodded weakly in response. They replaced the mask on her face, and she passed out almost instantly.
The lieutenant kept running toward the crashed object, hoping to prove his point. He saw another object fall from the sky,,only this one was much smaller. He ran to a clearing in the trees, where he saw the object lying in the dirt. He picked up the pace into the clearing.
"STOP NOW!!!" a voice commanded from his left. He stopped in his tracks and looked to the source of the voice. It was a massive creature of white with gold stripes on the sides and around the wrists. It was on its two hind legs, and was pointing at it with an odd silver object.
The lieutenant acted immediately, charging up a beam spell to vaporize the figure.
"STOP NOW!!!" Christian yelled out to the running figure. It appeared to be an equine figure, clad in armor. It also had a horn on it's head.
"What in god's name is that?" a marine muttered.
The horn on the equine's head began to glow, and a large beam exploded from it, narrowly missing the SPARTAN, and destroying a chunk of steel a marine was hiding behind.
Three shots were immediately fired, two to the chest of the being, and one to the head. The figure dropped dead immediately. Then, more of them appeared at the edge of the clearing. The marines and ponies looked at each other in disbelief. Each of them thinking the other was a myth, although in the case of the humans it was just unicorns and pegasi as myths, not earth ponies.
"DROP YOUR WEAPONS NOW!!!" Christian yelled out to the Royal guards, who were carrying spears. They dropped them, witnessing what happened to the lieutenant who opposed the massive SPARTAN.
"Mike, get out here." he said, his gun never leaving the ponies direction.
"Yeah?" Dakre asked. He looked at the ponies, and was slightly shocked. "What are those?"
"I don't know, but we need to figure out whether or not they are hostile. One fired on me and I killed it, the rest complied to my command and dropped their weapons." he said. "Should we talk to their leader?"
"Why are you asking me? You're in charge here." Dakre said.
Shining Armor stepped in front of the crowd of soldiers. He looked at the dead body of the lieutenant with regret. He then looked at the soldiers. They were all looking at them, pointing strange objects at them. Two of the humans walked forward toward the ponies. One of them was large, about the size of Celestia, minus her horn. The other was massive. He was at least two hooves (2 hooves=1 foot) taller than Celestia, and was extremely thick. They stopped about ten hooves from Shining Armor. Both had glass faces, and metal bodies, unlike the humans behind them.
"Wait, hold on a minute. You can talk?" Dakre said. Even though he fought the covenant briefly as a child, and he knew they could talk, the fact that an animal could talk surprised him though.
"Um, yes I can." Shining Armor replied. He raised an eyebrow at the lieutenant as he spoke.
"Okay, that's beside the point. why did you fire at us when we were attempting to leave this planet?" Dakre asked.
"We didn't," he Shining Armor said. He pointed a hoof at his dead lieutenant. " He did."
"I know he did, that's why he's dead." Christian said as he loaded a fresh magazine into his handgun. He yanked the slide back and chambered a new round. One of the soldiers reached for a spear that was on the ground near hes hoof.
"Not a good choice." Dakre said, and pointed his pistol at the guard. The soldier retracted his hoof and shrunk into the ranks of the other forty guards. "Well, we aren't diplomatic experts, and I assume you aren't a diplomat, are you?"
"No, I'm the military leader. I can take you to the princesses, my leaders." Shining Armor said.
"Well that would be little help, considering we don't have any diplomatic experience. We could get some authority down here and then that would be a viable option." Dakre said. Someone tapped him on his left shoulder, and he turned his head to acknowledge the person. It was Jackie, and she wore a grim look on her face.
"We lost him sir. He lost too much blood before I could close the wound." she said, as she used a bandage to wipe the blood off her hands.
"Shit!" Dakre yelled. He punched the metal barrier next to him. The punch was delivered with enough force to dent the armored steel. "Have you notified captain Falan?"
"No sir." she said.
"Well come with me. I have to talk to them about diplomatic matters anyway." Dakre said. He turned around and began walking to the downed pelican, which served double as the UNSC command post in the foreign land.
"Excuse me, would you mind telling me where we are?" Christian asked Shining Armor.
"You are in Equestria." He replied.
"Thank you." He said. Christian then joined Dakre and his team in the cockpit of the pelican.
"Yes ma'am, I understand. We will negotiate a location for a peace summit in the next few days." Dakre said.
"Good, lieutenant Dakre. We have an issue with getting you supplies, since innsurrectonists sabotaged the hall. They choose now of all times to hate us again." Captain Falan said.
"Roger that. We will make due with what we have, and possibly get some aid from the natives." Dakre said.
"Roger. Hall of Heroes out." the transmission cut out immediately after those words were spoke.
"Well, we have to find somewhere big enough that multiple pelicans can land, and try to schedule a peace conference with the leaders of this nation." Dakre said.
"Alright, do you want to go talk to the guy out there? He said he could get us to the heads of state here." Christain said as he stood in the doorway.
"Yeah that would probably be best." Dakre said. He stood up and replaced his helmet. "Let's get this over with." The two soldiers walked back outside, where it was still dark, despot the fact that it was close to seven in the morning local time, which had been determined by the Hall's scientists and mathematicians. The two soldiers ignored this and proceeded to Shining Armor.
"Alright captain, we would like to meet your leaders. Our leader wants us to negotiate a location and time for a summit between our two nations." Dakre said.
"I believe that can be arranged. RUNNER!" Shining Armor called with a shout. A pegasus showed up immediately. "Tell princess Celestia and princess Luna that foriegn contacts would like to meet to discuss details for a possible peace conference in the next few days." The runner saluted the captain and immediately took of. "Now that that's settled," he turned to face the humans, "Do you have anywhere to stay or food for the next few days?"
"Actually, I was supposed to ask if you could spare some supplies." Dakre said.
"I'm sure we could spare some supplies. I'm not sure how much though." Shining Armor said.
"Well, anything would be great for us." Dakre said.
"Oh, I want to ask you, did you destroy one of those," Shining Armor pointed at the downed Pelican, "a little ways north of here about three hours ago?"
"Yeah, that was our first ship. It was sabotaged by some rebels on board our flagship. It is standard to destroy technology to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands." Dakre explained to Shining Armor.
"Well, three ponies were injured in the explosion, and we're out here to investigate the cause." Shining Armor explained.
"Well, now you know, and I'm sorry to whomever was caught in the blast." Dakre said.
"It's alright, since you didn't intend to harm anypony. Although the princess is upset, since my sister, and her prized student was one of the ones injured." Shining Armor said.
"Well, like I said, it i protocol. I am sorry, but it had to be done." Dakre said.
"It's alright. In the future please make sure you don't destroy it where somepony could get hurt." Shining Armor said.
"I can't make any promises." Dakre replied grimly.
"At least try." Shining Armor said firmly. "Anyways, I'll get you somewhere where you can stay until we can take the train to Canterlot tomorrow afternoon." He lightened up as he made his offer, much to the relief of the SPARTAN standing next to them.
"Where will you keep us that will not scare the general population?" Christian asked.
"I believe you can use the barn on the farm, but I will need to get consent from the owner to have 'guests' stay in there over night." Shining Armor said.
"Again, I don't think it is wise to alert the general population of our arrival yet. We should at least wait until the peace conference starts, and at our leader's discretion." The SPARTAN said to the captain.
"Alright, I will think of something else." Shining Armor said.
"I believe we should stay here for the night, just to be safe." The SPARTAN suggested.
"I agree. We shouldn't reveal ourselves until our leaders have deemed it acceptable." Dakre said.
"Alright, you can stay here, but we will have to stay with you as part of our regulations." Shining Armor said.
"That sounds perfectly fair." Dakre said. "In that case, I'm going back to the CP and informing the captain. Good night everybody." Dakre said as he left to go back to the pelican.
"Great." the SPARTAN said. He turned around and faced the marines behind him. "Alright, we will be staying here for the night." he pointed at the royal guards, "They will be keeping us company for the night. They are friendly, so don't do anything stupid." a few yes sirs were heard through the clearing, but other than that it was silent. "Good, see you in the morning marines." The SPARTAN walked into the pelican and sat down on one of the benches as a conversation was going on over the radio in the cockpit.
On hiatus again, this time due to family problems. My grandmother is and out of the hospital for something (that I currently don't know the name of) and my mom is kind of depressed about it. That is holding me up, and I may not have a chapter up for a couple of weeks. Sorry
Christian sat on the bench inside the pelican wreck. The seats were still relatively intact, although a few of them were a little burnt from the explosion from the magic blast that had hit it just hours before. His helmet was an EVA model, with a golden cross stained into the middle of a black visor. His armor was painted white, with golden stripes running down the outsides of the arms and legs. On his weapons, he painted two golden crosses, one on each side, and etched a bible verse (which will not be named) under each of them.
He set down his weapons next to the seat he was currently in, and set his grenades down next to them. He removed his helmet, revealing his face. He had short black hair, which had just started to grow back after it had been shaved. His nose was a little over sized, due to the amount of times he had broken it. His eyes were an light shade of blue, and one had a scar just to the left from a glance from an energy sword on Reach. He was missing several teeth from his lower jaw, and a large scar ran from his neck to the left of his jaw.
Christian set his helmet down on the seat beside him and leaned back, letting his head rest on the wall of the pelican. The door to the cockpit opened up, and Jan stepped through before it closed behind him. Jan was holding his helmet under his left arm, and holding his DMR in his other hand. He sat down on the seat directly across from the SPARTAN. Jan set his helmet down on the ground, and put his rifle next to it, leaning against the seat adjacent to him. They both sat there for several minutes, taking a temporary leave from the stress of the last few hours.
Jan spoke up, ending the prolonged silence. "What are all the scars on your face from?" he asked.
"Well, the one near my eye was from an elite's sword. The fucker stabbed my visor, but I shot him off before it could do more than poke me. It sliced straight through the skin, but melted the wound shut. The other one is from a brute's hammer. He sliced me with the sharp side from my chest to my jaw. Went clean through my armor." he finished with a chuckle. "This armor didn't help against the covenant. The only help was the overshield we were given."
"What about your teeth?" Jan asked.
"Well, that was from training. I took a punch during hand-to-hand combat and lost four of my lower teeth." Christian said.
"Damn. You've taken a lot of punishment. The most I've gotten is a few dented plates from the crash earlier." Jan said.
"Trust me, you don't want anything more than that." The SPARTAN said grimly.
Just then, the cockpit door opened again, and the rest of the occupants exited the cockpit. They all took seats around the compartment. Nothing was said, they all just sat there. Jackie was the first to doze off, followed by the other ODSTs and the pilot. Christian just sat there, thinking of how his team was managing on the Hall.
Three SPARTANS were taking cover behind a wall, looking down a corridor in the Hall of Heroes. The Insurrectionists were slowly pushing forward, but the marines were battling fiercely to keep them away from the civilians. the corridor was the main entrance, and only entrance, to the hangar portion of the ship. Civilians were being evacuated to the planet below, to anywhere that they could find that was unoccupied. The insurrectionists had almost gained control of the entire ship by now, and it had only been a few hours.
The SPARTANS, and a handful of ODSTs and marines, were tasked with defending the area at all costs. The SPARTANS were all members of Crusader squad. They were one team member short, since Christian was on the planet below.
The team leader was Commander Luke-112. He was clad in Air Assault armor, which was colored the same as Christian's. The squad support gunner was Warrant Officer Paul-083. He carried an M-2102 heavy machine gun, an older model and significantly heavier than standard models, but with significantly more hitting power than standard issue weapons, it was worth the extra weight. He wore a suit of EOD armor, with added CQC shoulder plates for better protection. The final member of the squad was lieutenant Peter-122. Peter was a close quarter combat specialist, and he carried multiple submachineguns and handguns, due to the abundance of ammo and light weight of the weapons.
"Paul, it's clear, get over here." Luke commanded. Paul began to run out across the corridor, which was roughly five meters wide. as he was taking the last step, a chorus of shots rang out. One shot managed to slam into Paul's left leg, shattering the overshield and tripping him, sending him crashing to the ground. He hit the ground hard, and didn't move for a few moments, giving the impression that he was dead. When the hallway was silent for a few minutes, he swiftly rolled the last few feet behind the wall. This was met by a hail of bullets to the floor and wall where the SPARTAN was just laying.
"That was a close one." Paul said as his shields began to recharge, covering him in an orange glow for a few seconds.
"How much longer are we going to be here!?" Peter asked, yelling over the machine gun fire, which had continued.
"Only a couple more minutes! The marines are falling back now!" Luke shouted back. The machine gun stopped firing for a moment, and left an uneasy silence hanging in the air. Then, a combined shout from the insurrectionists that had massed just past the hallway signaled a charge, which came around the corner a few seconds later. There were many enemies, packed into a large mob, moving down the hallway toward the SPARTANs.
"You guys go, I've got this." Paul said as he raised up his machine gun and stepped into the hallway. He was met by the occasional inaccurate shot from an enemy, but was mostly unopposed when he stepped into the open. "Good night." he muttered under his breath as he opened fire with his weapon. The bullets cut through the mob of insurrectionists like a knife through butter. The enemies fell in great numbers, and Paul was able to hold them off for a few minutes, but eventually, the click of an empty weapon sounded down the hall. Paul immediately turned and ran for the hangar, dropping a few charges on his way.
When Paul arrived in the hangar, the last of the supply transports were leaving, and the last pelican was for the three SPARTANs, two of which were already aboard. Paul ran for the pelican as fast as he could. The insurrectionists hadn't made it to the hangar yet, but were approaching fast. Paul ran onto the pelican, and the pilot closed the loading ramp behind him. Before the ship left the hangar, Paul pulled out the detonator for the charges he dropped. He pressed the button and a fireball erupted from the door of the hangar just before the pelican left safely.
After a few minutes of sitting down, a light knock sounded on the closed door of the crashed pelican. Christian put on his helmet and walked to the ramp, and climbed out of the top hatch, as not to disturb his sleeping comrades. When he jumped down, he was met by Shining Armor.
"Is there anything I can do for you Captain?" Christian asked the pony.
"No, but do you know why more of these ships are coming down as we speak?" Shining Armor asked.
"What?" Christain said. He looked up into the darkened sky, and saw about forty pelicans descending at a high altitude, far to the west of them. "Shit! Something bad must have happened." Christian said. he then proceeded to climb on the pelican and jump back down the hatch into the crashed ship.
"I thought you said that your people would wait in your ship until we reached an agreement." Shining Armor said. "If they're coming now, that's a violation of our agreement."
"I never said anything of the sort." Christian responded, looking for the ship in the early morning sky.
"How do I know this isn't an invasion?!" Shining Armor yelled at the human.
"It's not." Christian said flatly as he scanned the sky. He never found any trace of the Hall of Heroes.
"What, and your word is supposed to be enough for me to believe you?!" Shining Armor yelled at Christian. A number of marines were gathered around the escalating situation.
"It should be if you know what's good for you." Christian said to the unicorn.
"That's it. I have to arrest you until we know what's going on." Shining Armor said calmly.
"Are you being for real right now?" Christian asked, a smirk hidden behind his visor.
"This is how real I'm being right now." Shining Armor said. He then pulled out his sword and stretched to put it up to Christian's neck.
"That's all I needed to know." Christian said. He then grabbed the sword with his left hand, and twisted the thin steel blade until it broke. With his right hand, he grabbed his sidearm and aimed it at the unicorn's head.
"No!" Christian's hand was pushed from it's aimed position just before he pulled the trigger, causing him to miss Shining Armor's head by mere inches. Christian turned to look at the person who had interrupted him. It was Dakre, who was wearing a panicked expression on his face, which was currently exposed. Christian immediately bashed him on the bridge of his nose with the handgun, knocking him over and breaking his nose.
"Watch your step, lieutenant." Christian said before pointing the gun back at Shining Armor. Before he could pull the trigger, the unicorn blasted the handgun out of the spartan's grip. Christian shook his hand a little, then looked at the pony before him. He was in a defensive stance, horn glowing. Christian lunged forward, reaching his left arm toward the unicorn's neck. Shining Armor launched a beam of magic at the human, who dipped his right shoulder, narrowly dodging the beam. He gripped the pony around the neck, lifted him up, then grasped his horn with his other hand. Christian held him up for a few moments, before throwing him over the marines and in front of his men. He was cut up and bleeding from a gash on his forehead where he hit the ground.
"How did that feel!?" Christian shouted at the captain, who lay on the grass, panting and bleeding heavily. He lay just ahead of the royal guards, who had woken from their slumber when they heard the altercation. Some of them had weapons, but most were standing without weapon or armor. A few made advances toward their leader, being cautious not to startle the marines. "Back off!" Christian yelled the guards, noticing the minute advances they were making.
"Protect the captain!" One of them yelled. He and a few fellow guards ran out and surrounded Shining Armor. They all formed a circle with spears, and the few in front with their armor on.
"I warned you!" Christian yelled at them. "Blast em'." He said to the marines, who were ready to defend themselves at a moments notice.
"No. Don't shoot!" Dakre yelled frantically. He walked up to christian, blood trickling from his broken nose. "Look here spartan, we don't need to start a war with these people. We need to make peace so we might have somewhere to live."
"Look, lieutenant. They started the battle. If we have to fight to gain the land, we will. I'm not going to make peace with a nation whose military leader is a fool." Christian said. "Fire!" he yelled at the marines. One looked to another, shrugged, and started shooting. he was soon joined by his comrades. They swiftly cut down the ponies in the front of the group, as the rest dove for cover.
"Stop! What are you doing?!" Dakre yelled over the gunfire.
"My job." Christian replied. The royal guards were beginning to regroup, and a few had gotten their hooves on the weapons. They were handing them out to the others, while the rest tried frantically to get their armor strapped on.
A few guards wielding spears had made their way to within throwing distance of the marines, but were taking cover behind a rock while bullets chipped away at their sturdy cover. One of them crawled to the left side of the rock, and sprung up and launched his spear at the humans. He was almost immediately hit in the shoulder with a bullet from one of the marine's rifles. He immediately dropped to the ground, clutching his shoulder with his good hoof. The spear, however, continued to sail through the air. It traveled toward the marine lines, and struck one of them in the neck, causing a jet of blood to spray from his severed jugular. His body lay draped across the cover he was behind, coating it in a layer of blood.
A few marines had fallen back, due to lack of ammunition. The humans were fighting valiantly, all except Dakre, who refused to enter the engagement. The marines and ODSTs were only equipped with enough ammo to last in a quick firefight, not a battle against a foe with superior numbers.
The Humans were slowly being beaten back by the ponies, although several of the royal guards had been badly wounded by the human's gunfire. The remaining humans were pushed up against the pelican wreck, fighting for their lives against the greater numbers of royal guards. The battle had been raging for about thirty minutes, and the humans were almost out of ammunition. Just as the last of the last of the bullets were fired, many of the humans surrendered to the ponies. Only a few chose to continue fighting, those few being Jan, Jackie and Christian. They were all fighting with their knives, and they were being overrun quickly.
Just as it seemed that the three were finished, a growling sound came from within the rows of trees surrounding the battleground. A few moments later, the battlefield was coated in a bright whit light, and a large black object burst through the treeline and screeched to a stop in the middle of the clearing, leaving a long dirt trail behind it.
For everyone who doesn't like the fighting between the humans and ponies and swearing, please just un-favorite now. I decided that the fighting will probably be only in the beginning, but it is happening. As for the swearing, I'll try not to use it, but it will probably come up from time to time. I'm just tired of taking heat for all of this.
