Disclaimer: I own nothing found within this or any other piece of literature but the plot and a few characters.
Author's Note: Apologies for the record shortness of the previous chapter. This is an idea that has nagged in my head along time, and it will cross with maybe a few of my other stories, as I have a lot of original content in them, and definitely cross with other games, movies, etc. Just so you know, this is going to give spoilers for my other stories XD. So, let this fledgling story BEGIN!
Chapter 1: Wake up, it's a whole new world. Literally.
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It was a wonder, Azeil thought, that this man was still alive. He was aboard the Viator, a NEFTAP scout cruiser. After the wars against the rebels, the fighting became so harsh that the Skaarj had become bloodthirsty, driving the humans out of the galaxy, litterally. They had left in refugee and colony ships, and stumbled upon another solar system, relatively several hundred thousand light years away from the milky way's edge. They had used the resources there to build and advance, and gained an idea.
Why not build colonies in the space between galaxies, they would be safe, and given an inertial/gravatorial dampener engine, which kept them in relatively geosynchronous orbit around the star system, Custodia, or protection. Here, with these colonies and other star systems that were discovered sparsely, the fledgling New. Earth. Federation. of Trade. And. Protection, or NEFTAP. His ship was a new model equipped with the best faster than light engines, though it was still a prototype.
He quit reminiscing and went back to the task at hand, being the ship's leading medical and cryogenical officer. His 'patient' was an apparent human, who had apparently been encased in a stasis chamber for some time, god knows how it kept running, or maybe it was the cold of space, either way, he had to thaw them out.
Azeil was encased in a light body-armor reminiscent of a Renegade suit, with a red cross and white stripe to signify his position as medic. His face was well concealed behind its green visor. Obviously not the first thing anyone centuries or not old wanted to see in the morning, though these kind of suits were common among naval officers and soldiers.
He used a magnetic crane to move the chamber into a pressure room, and began t remotely thaw the man out. He shooed a group of scientists away while he and a few other medics worked to revive the man. His arms were not touching any ruins of any kind, instead they were filling a socket like a plug to work the controls, only accomplish-able if you were in this particular suit. He used a complex system of mechanical arms to remotely activate the thawing sequence of the capsule, and waited.
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Alisha came to in a surprisingly slow manner, considering she was a genetically augmented super soldier. The first thing she noticed was that she was not on board a UNSC ship, judging from the walls and beings on the other side of a glass wall alone. On the other side was a pair of individuals in odd armor, with a white stripe and red cross leading her to correctly guess them as medics. A medical arm came down and tried to prod her for something, she ripped it out of socket with a little effort. One of the beings looked up from whatever screen it was analyzing, if you could call it looking up, and spoke in fluent English, " My now, was that really necessary?"
Alisha said nothing and tossed the mechanical arm down, before walking straight to the glass wall, "Yes. Now who are you and what are your purposes?" She was itching for a weapon or at least a side arm, she was stuck with her combat knife, which was good enough really.
"Quite brutish, but it is fortunate that we speak the same language." The other medic, the one to the left from her view, knocked his partner upside the head, "Quit talking like a droid moron, we need it to understand us, not solve vocabulary questions."
"Right. Sorry sir."
"Now then, do you want to destroy anymore equipment or can we deactivate the wall?" It was the apparently senior medic.
"I think that has to do with the answers to my questions."
"Fine, ask away." The senior stated.
"First, what year is this?"
"It's currently 2652, by olden calender, by federation calender it's 0025 A.F."
"Okay, that leaves me to say I was in cryo-stasis for a few years, what is your affiliation and intention?"
"New. Earth. Federation. of Trade. And. Protection, or NEFTAP for short. My intentions are as of yet to revive you and aid my ships crew in whatever possible way as their medic while we explore the unknown."
"Have you heard of the UNSC pr Human-Covenant war?" Alisha asked again.
"No, the most recent war occurred twenty-seven years ago and was on the subject of Skaarj invasion. I'm checking the databanks, here we go. The Human-Covenant War occurred in the twenty-five hundreds standard calendar and was on the subject of human genocide, the humans, UNSC, were being driven back systematically to their home system of Earth by a fanatical alliance of aliens called the covenant. Humanity pulled itself from the brink of extinction in 2552 by allying with a group of rebel covenant. Due to the export of several unknown individuals the wars was ended by destroying a holy artifact, only one of these individuals was heard from again. During a civil-war, a search team was dispatched but contact was lost shortly."
"So they didn't succeed, or they did and couldn't return.." Alisha stated lowly with a hint of sorrow.
It was then the medic noticed a 'patch' painted on her shoulder over a red stripe, 'UNSC Spartan IV Subject: 273, Force Reconnaissance Alpha 1'
"You were one of those individuals? And what's a Spartan IV, we don't have them in our databanks."
"Why should I answer to an unknown officer, especially classified information?"
"Because everything you're familiar with died away centuries ago, and frankly it doesn't matter."
Alex sighed and answered, "Yes, I'm from the rescue team, and let me show you what SPARTAN IV is." She removed her armor and pulled up her sleeve, it looked like there was another set of armor there, platinum colored and from fitting, aside from joints. "It's a cybernetic exoskeleton, wired to my already augmented body to give an extra boost, it's tough, relatively flexible, and not very comfortable, but it's also physically attached to me like an ordinary organ and I can't remove it." She punched the wall, making a sizable dent without showing any pain, and put her armor back on.
"Impressive. So you're, for lack of a better word, a super soldier?"
"Pretty much." Alex replied.
"What happened to your squad?"
"I don't know, all I remember is being placed in cryo-sleep, though it's not nearly 'sleep'. At least it wasn't for me, the only scenario I can come up with is the cryo-tubes went through emergency eject.."
"What do you mean?"
Alex looked at him, "Sometimes you wonder, what is it like? You know, to be alone, forever asleep and unconscious of the world around you. Some think that they would revel in it, in their tranquil slumber away from the world. But, You're offered no chance to dream,you're just dead weight to the world. Imagine that, you can be preserved in you rest, drifting through an impossible void. The coldness of it surrounds you, death cradling you in its embrace like a starved dog. But death never comes, nor does anything. It's a hell, really, to just drift blissfully unaware, locked inside a tomb that forces you to stay alive...
It gets worse, what if you're not so unaware, what if you can see everything happening around you, locked in a numb consciousness with no escape. It's not hell.. it's limbo, and it is agony. Imagine how It feels, and then imagine how it feels when you 'wake up' when you finally have a purpose."
They stood in silence before the Medic introduced himself, "I'm Azeil, that guy over there is Markes, his actual name is Alistar, but we call him by last name. You are?"
"Spartan 273 UNSC Force Recon. Alisha is my first name, I don't know about my last name, it's been a long time."
"Okay then Alisha. Good morning, it's a whole new world."