DISCLAIMER: I don't own Halo or Game of Thrones (obviously).
SPECIAL DISCLAIMER: Another idea inspired by "A Spartan in Westeros" by Agailius (a.k.a. Avalor0n).
NOTES: Imagine the technology level of Westeros and the rest of the Known World being on par with ours circa 2010 A.D.
"A Spartan in a Modernized Westeros"
By StellarStylus
"Quite the view, isn't it, Master Chief?"
Standing on the balcony of Stark Manor, the Spartan known as John-117 turned to see Eddard Stark, owner of Stark Enterprises, headed his way. Inside, the formal dinner was still going on, and his wife Catelyn was entertaining their guests while Ned himself made the rounds. Of course, John himself had been mobbed by curious partygoers and attendees in record time. Everyone had wanted to meet the "spaceman" from some even more advanced civilization.
Still, there had been some people who had been able to temper their curiosity with a modicum of respect for their guest. The most curious of them had been Tyrion Lannister, one of the most esteemed professors up from King's Landing University. John had found his company bearable, and of course Cortana had wanted to adopt the intelligent dwarf and spend countless hours yakking away with him.
Of course, John couldn't go walking around in his MJOLNIR armor, and so he had to make do with his ceremonial uniform which he'd retrieved from the Forward Unto Dawn where it crashed into the forest of this previously-unknown planet.
"That it is, sir," John formally replied to the Stark patriarch. He had just been looking at the stars of this world's nighttime sky, trying to see if he couldn't figure out where he was in the universe. He really wanted to report back to the UNSC as soon as possible.
Still, as Cortana had pointed out, things could have been worse than crash-landing on some human-controlled world whose own tech was roughly on par with Earth during the early Twenty-First Century: booming electronics, nascent space program, etc.
"Besides, just imagine if we had landed even farther back in their history," Cortana had noted humorously. "We could have ended up in their prolonged medieval period which somehow lasted thousands of years."
Yeah, right, John mentally snorted. Like THAT could ever happen.
The two men made small talk — or rather, Ned made small talk while John tried to do the same — and then the Northman eventually went back inside to see to his other guests, still subtly beckoning the Master Chief to come join them, out of the cold of the chilly Northern evening and into the warmth of the home and the party it was hosting.
He probably should go back in soon, John mused. After all, the Starks had been kind enough to help him find nice clothes for the occasion, as he had nothing of the sort back aboard his crashed ship.
For now, John-117 managed as best he could. At least he had Cortana by his side, as always.
In the meantime, he would interact with the people of this world — or at least those of this continent.
The last king had abdicated roughly a century and a half ago, and all of the families whose Houses had been Lord Paramounts (and some of whom had been monarchs in their own right well before Aegon's Conquest) were now rich and powerful families, having carved niches for themselves in the modern economy. By Cortana's estimate, their current level of technology was the same as Earth's had been around the year 2010 by the UNSC's calendar.
The Starks had their heavy industries, the Baratheons had their military gear, the Arryns had their telecommunications, the Tullys had their transportation, the Lannisters had their hold on finance, the Greyjoys had their shipping, the Tyrells had their foodstuffs and agricultural output, the Martells had their entertainment industry, even the Targaryens still had their place in the world of engineering and aviation… on and on it went.
Meeting with these families had been pleasant enough, but he could have done without the countless representatives begging for his time as they were all eager to get even a morsel of his advanced technology.
John supposed it was a good thing that he had crash-landed on this world at this point in time, during its "modern" era and not its absurdly long "medieval" era. At least now he had technology which he could use to repair his ship and equipment, as well as try to contact the UNSC across the stars.
…Although he could have done without the constant hacking attempts which various people on the continent were attempting against the run-aground Forward Unto Dawn or whatever equipment he was carrying around. Cortana was keeping a log, and these parties — whoever they were — were not as clever or subtle as they thought they were. It was almost laughable, how they thought they could hack and infiltrate advanced technology roughly four hundred years ahead of their own. Still, he would investigate them later.
In the meantime, John would enjoy the Starks' hospitality here in Winterfell. It may have been a party, but to the Spartan, he saw it as a borderline-undesirable job which he had to do: Be the the de facto ambassador for the UNSC on this hitherto-unknown planet.
Soon enough, he would be back in UNSC, back where he belonged… soon.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: What can I say, I'm a sucker for Modern!Westeros AUs. This is just me trying it my own way, with the Master Chief and Cortana from Halo thrown into the mix. I just had to get it out of my head.