Chapter 2: Strange Meetings
Location: Unknown Planet
Date: August 15, 2572 (Approximately)
"...ory"
"Wake... u... Gre..."
"Gregory wake up!" the doctor's voice echoed through my armors radio. I moan and roll over onto my stomach. Getting to my feet I feel a lance of pain in my chest. Ignoring it I check my armor's systems. My right thigh had a blown pressure seal but other than that everything was fine. Until I got that pressure seal fixed I wouldn't be able to sprint for longer than five minutes.
"Doctor where are you?" I asked.
"I'm still with the pelican." she said.
"Stay there I'm coming to you." I told her. I draw my pistol and rack the slide to make sure it still worked. Holding the pistol at the ready I fallow the clear cut path that I had created when I was thrown out of the pelican. Scanning from side to side I slowly make my way to the crash site, looking for any hostiles. Yes I had my motion tracker but I can still remember Chief Mendez's voice, 'Machines break. Eyes don't.'
Soon I reach the crash site. It was a wreck. There was a large gash in the side of the pelican and it was missing a wing. There were ammo and medical boxes scattered in a 30 foot radius around the pelican. In front of the gash were what appeared to be the bodies of wolves. But these were different; they were made out of wood. All of them were crushed or burned.
I step into the pelican to see Doctor Halsey kneeling over one of the wooden wolves with a bioscanner in hand.
"Any idea what these are ma'am?" I asked as I prodded one with my boot.
"No clue. They are obviously made of wood but that is not the thing that troubles me the most. Apparently they do not have any internal organs other than eyes, olfactory membranes, tongues, and a brain. They remind me of the Flood in this respect."
I bristle at the mention of the Flood. I have had some encounters with the Flood and I hated every moment of it. The doctor turns to me and says, "Spartan you need medical treatment. Lay down so I may remove your armor."
"I am fine doctor."
"No you are most certainly not. You have two broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder that has been reinserted improperly, and a punctured left lung." she said as she turned the bioscanner towards me. It showed an MRI of me and she was right, I was pretty beat up.
"I've had worse." I said as I sat in one of the pelicans seats.
"At least let me re-align your shoulder properly." she said with a sigh. I simply just raise my arm so it's perpendicular with my neck. Then I just bring my arm to my right. I feel and hear my shoulder give a pop and then shift back into place properly.
"Done." I told her as I start to remove the armor plates on my thigh. Over time me and the other Spartans had learned to make field repairs on our armor. I walk over to one of the medical crates. I don't even bother with undoing the locks, I just rip the top off with brute force. As I shuffle through it I realize that today must be my lucky day, because it was filled with spare parts for MJOLNIR armor. I pull out a spare pressure sealant and carefully place it on the broken area.
Standing up I walk back into the pelican. As I put my thigh plates back on I ask, "Doctor where's the pilot?"
She just looks to the cockpit and shakes her head with closed eyes.
As I walk towards the cockpit I remove my helmet and toss it on one of the seats. I take a deep breath and breath in unfiltered and un-recycled air. When I entered the cockpit I smelled burnt flesh and fresh blood. I look at where the pilot's seat was and took in the sight. What laid there was what was left of the pilots body. Her right arm was missing from the elbow down and there was a branch at least two inches thick in throat. Most of the body was covered in third degree burns.
I sigh and then unstrapped her dead body from the seat and then carry outside of the pelican. Then I tear the branch out of her throat and walk to one of the medical crates. Ripping off its top I rifle through it, looking for a body bag. Finally after several minutes I find one. Before I place her in it I remove the pistol at her side. Then I shuffle through what was left of her pockets trying to find anything useful.
"What are you doing?" Doctor Halsey asked.
"Being practical. We don't have very many supplies right now and we need to salvage what we can." I said as I removed an energy drink, a couple candy bars, a music player, and a portable hologram projector. I then place the body in the gag and zip it up.
"Here hold onto this." I said as I give Halsey the pilot's pistol. I walk paste her and retrieve my helmet. I put it on and reset the motion tracker. Almost immediately I get multiple contacts. They were all in a circle somewhere not too far off to the north. I search around for one of my hold alls. Finally finding the one I need I open it and withdraw the shotgun and battle rifle. I walk back outside and hand the shotgun to Halsey.
"There are multiple sensor contacts to the north. I'm going to investigate, anything that comes close that's not friendly... kill it." I didn't wait for a response, I just walked off.
With my rifle at the ready I jogged towards the contacts. As I get nearer I see more of those wooden wolf things. They surrounded a group of what looked like miniature horses. They were many different colors. Some of them had what looked like a single horn on their head, while others had wings. One of them caught my eye. This one had both wings and a horn. I was going to leave them be and let nature run its course when some of the wolf things turned in my direction and started growling.
They then start to run towards me while barking and growling. I raise my rifle and pull the trigger. Three rounds burst from the rifle and impact the lead wolf and it drops like a rock. I continue to move from target to target doing the same to each of them. My magazine quickly runs dry and I don't even bother reloading. I just sling the rifle and pull out my pistol and empty its magazine into more of the wolves.
By now there were only six or eight left and they turn to me and charge. I holster the pistol and draw my knife. With blinding swiftness I stab the first one and the second one. Then one of them jumps on my back and tries to bite my neck. I let go of my knife and reach up and grab its neck and flip it over my head and slam it into ground breaking it's back. I turn around to see the rest running back into the forest.
I lean down and pull out my knife and wipe it off.
"Thank you stranger."
I turn back to the ponies and look around for the voice. Seeing nothing but the horses I start to walk back to pelican. I must have been hearing things.
"You were not hearing things. May I have the honor of knowing at least your name?"
I whip around to see that in fact the horses were talking. The one that was bigger than the others was starring right at me while the others quacked in fear.
"Call me Gregory. Who are you?" I asked.
"My name is Princess Celestia..." before she could go any further I spotted a blip on my motion tracker barreling towards me. I turn around a bring my right hand up and over my head, deflecting and redirecting whatever was headed towards me. Then another blip appears behind me. This one was much faster and I barely had time to roll out of the way. A cyan and rainbow colored blur whizzes past me.
I turn around to see an orange colored pony in front of me. It turns around and kicks me with its hind legs. This did almost nothing to me and my shields let alone my armor. I reach back with a clenched fist and was about to punch her when a purple shield appeared in front of her. I punch anyways and it shatters. Not just disappear or fizzle out like most shields but actually shatter like glass. The shield did reduce the force behind my punch. This probably saved the ponies life. Instead of probably having my hand go straight through her head it hit her and probably gave her a moderate concussion.
"ENOUGH!" the large white pony yelled. Some sort of yellow shimmering force surrounded me and I felt myself growing tired. Fighting back I slowly started to lose consciousness.
"Gregory!" I heard the doctor's voice.
"Halsey." I whisper before I pass out.
Quote of the Day: "Murder"