This fanfiction is a crossover between Star Trek Discovery and Ancient Halo. I have included the English translation for all of the Halo names and references.
Erde-Tyrene(Earth), Homeworld of Humanity 89,000 BC.
Commander Aloros plunged his hardlight dagger into the neck of the struggling Forerunner Promethean Warrior Servant. Viscous blood oozed out of the Promethean's wound as the warrior servant gurgled his last breath in vain. Aloros instantly stood up and looked around him. Two scientists still have their energy pistols pointed at the dead Promethean. While another one commandeered the Promethean's Lightrifle. "That's the Human fighting spirit!" laughed Aloros out loud. "We are Terrans of the fatherland, we do not waver in the face of an enemy" proudly exclaimed the formerly squatting scientist now brandishing a lightrifle.
Suddenly, bolts of hardlight pepper the floor around the commander and his charges! Followed by the collective whine of Forerunner weapon ship drones closing in on their position. The Commander responds in kind by launching his hunter-killer drones from within his combat skin. Hardlight projectiles fly wantonly overhead as both Human and Forerunner drones dance a battle to the death. The hollow screech of a war sphinx pierces the din of battle. Commander Aloros looks down the boulevard and spots a moderately damaged war sphinx barreling down towards him. The war sphinx's cockpit has long since been destroyed and is only operating through the instructions of it's AI.
"It's declawed but still as deadly, I can't take this on myself," Thought the commander grimly. Knowing his duty to humanity and the mantle of responsibility, the commander summon every ounce of willpower he had and activated his anti-gravity jump jets aimed towards the nearest building. He hopped from building to building, looking for a chance to land on the war sphinx. Commander Aloros plan to activate his combat skin's self-destruct once it has latched onto the Forerunner machine but not before he disengages from the suit. The commander makes his second to final jump, he is less than ten meters from the war sphinx. As he braced himself for his eventuality, the war sphinx shatters before his eyes!
A bolt of antimatter and hardlight has expertly obliterated the top portion of the Forerunner fighting vehicle. "Alpha team, you glorious bastards!" Exclaimed the Commander through his neural interface. "Sorry to take your kill, Commander" Came the telepathic reply from a grinning Lieutenant commander Kinzuru. "I can't have all the fun, Lt, and besides family always got each other's backs." The commander replied with a light-hearted laugh.
Before this distracting altercation, he was en route with Alpha Team escorting the scientists from research base nine to the Bellicose. The Forerunner attack separated him from the rest of Alpha Team. The Bellicose is the last remaining prime cruiser cloaked on Erde-Tyrene(Earth). The Didact's fleet has all but glassed the entire planet to deliver a morally crushing blow to Humanity and it's interstellar empire.
"Commander, are you there?" rang a voice in Aloros' head. Commander Aloros snapped back to reality and replied telepathically through his Combat Skin's neural interface, "Where is your location Kinziru, I am at the Shenzen skymall's main lobby, come to my location and we will regroup and continue towards the Bellicose." "Roger" came the reply.
Aloros took in the war-torn landscape before him, the once beautiful skyscrapers and levitating gardens of Sina prefecture have all but been destroyed by the invading Forerunners and the Shaping sickness(flood) beforehand. Dark thoughts suddenly cloud Aloros mind, "one human soldier is worth three Prometheans but we have neither the numbers nor the resources to continue this fight...not after we sacrificed one-third of our population to destroy the shaping sickness." Aloros angrily brushed these thoughts aside because he trusted in destiny and it is not his destiny nor humanity's to be extinguished by the Forerunners.
The ghostly whirr of anti-gravity repulsor engines from Alpha Team's IFV(infantry fighting vehicle) alerted the commander to their presence. With a short exchange of greetings, the commander and the scientists settled into the back of the IFV. The commander smirked and told the scientists "Research base nine is a botanical facility, if I didn't know any better I would say that you dirty dogs are building a bioweapon from Terran mushrooms." The scientists looked at each other and the one who still held the forerunner lightrifle replied with a chuckle "errr...Yes and No commander, our research is highly classified but what I can say is that there is more to spores than what meets the eye."
Before the Commander could reply, the lightrifle wielder extends a hand to the commander and says "I am head-researcher Ure, Alpha Team's exploits and accomplishments throughout our war with the forerunners and the shaping sickness have kept us grounded and sane." The other scientists nod in agreement as Ure continued "and I speak for all of us when I say that we are honored to be escorted by the most decorated fireteam in Republic History." The Commander shook the scientist's hand while saying "We are just doing our duty."
Warrant Officer Nabonnassar, known as Nab by the rest of Alpha team said out loud "Eta five minutes commander, the Bellicose is powering up her engines." The commander made his way to the front of the IFV and peered out of the transparent alloy viewport that covered the top half of the front of the IFV. The relatively enormous Bellicose greeted his eyes, while just one and a half kilometers in length, prime cruisers are small in comparison to Forerunner warships. But its small size lends it great maneuverability and with Humanity's mastery of Vacuum energy, which is energy siphoned from nascent universes, mind crushingly powerful weapons were created, such weapons fitted upon the armored superstructure of the vessel.
The AI of the Bellicose, Alexia suddenly appears on the holoscreen inside of the IFV alerting the crew that they are being pulled in via tractor beam inside the docking bay of the Bellicose. The commander felt the usual nauseating feeling that accompanies recipients of tractor beam emitters. Even after a lifetime of experience, I will never get used to that, Aloros thought.
Once within the hangar of the Bellicose, the commander and his team are greeted by the captain of the vessel, Captain Lakhmu. Aloros and the rest of Alpha Team crisply salute the captain and Captain Lakhmu returns a tight salute. "Alpha team, good work! You will follow Alexia's prompts to your debriefing room and then I will personally bring you up to speed." Captain Lakhmu sternly said. "Yes sir! replied Alpha Team. The Captain smiled slightly, looked at the scientists in the distance, and added, "Alpha team might have just won us this war"
Warrant Officer Marada elbows Nab and snarkily remarks "Magic mushrooms and forerunners, looks like we're violating the mantle of responsibility and serving up some forerunner steak with a side of shrooms." Nab laughs and says "The Didact's mine and I want him cooked with the finest Terran fish sauce and whatever mushrooms these egg heads scientists are growing." Chief Warrant Officer Merodach shakes his head and sternly replies "Knock it off you two, we are humans and as caretakers of the galaxy and holder of the mantle of responsibility we do not consume the flesh of other sapient species lest we regress to being Forerunners." As the three squabbles like brother and sisters, Commander Aloros listening in on this conversation in the background thought to himself, "this is my family, he has been through hell with them and back yet they still can joke about cannibalism as though they are unmarred by the savage hands of war."
After their debrief, the metal bulkhead door opens, and in steps the captain and head-researcher Ure. He salutes Alpha team and then asks, "what do you know of slipspace?" Aloros replies, "It is the only way to travel FTL, whether it be Human or Forerunner, and right now the forerunners can predict when we are coming, block us from ever getting there or clog up our slipspace lanes"
The head-researcher smiles then ask "And what do you know of star roads, the very essence of the universe that we build orbital structures on?" Aloros looks bemused and replies, "The Primordials, our creators, believed that the universe is a living entity, and thus weaved the fabric of the universe itself to create star roads, we were all taught this in grade school." "Look what are you getting at?" Asks a perplexed Aloros. The captain nods at Ure and the head researcher replies, "We have proven with our research that the Universe IS a living entity and it propagates itself through the spores, the star roads are a physical manifestation of the connection between each fungal colony." The captain thinks for a moment and asks "So what ARE you getting at head researcher Ure?"
The head researcher excitedly replies, "We can travel via the fungal network and forego slipspace all together and we have done it already in our lab, imagine FTL travel that is untraceable and instantaneous, and the answer was right here on Erde, our Homeworld, Shitake Mushroom spores!" The Commander looks deep in thought but before he could reply, Kinziru says "Then we better disseminate this technology to the rest of the Republic Navy, we already have the upper hand in energy production and offensive armaments with weapons of which they have no defense against of." The captain clears his throat and replies, "We will be making the jump to Capital world Charum Hakkor via our "spore drive", Alpha Team will be given leave once we reach the capital." The captain looks at every member of the fireteam and continues "you've all earned this little vacation."
"Black Alert" Signaled Alexia as the Bellicose prepared to jump via the spore network. The Bellicose suddenly lurches alarmingly and emergency alarms honk over the ship's speaker network. The Captain after regaining his footing orders Alexia to give him a situation report and Alexia replies "Captain, there appears to be a critical malfunction in the spore drive, we are at Charum Hakkor but the planet's skyline is barren and there are no orbital stations or star roads at all!" Captain Lakhmu then replies without hesitation, "scan that planet for lifeforms and planetary defense weaponry, this could be a Forerunner trap" Alexia disappears for a second before reappearing and saying "Sir, there are approximately 500 million Human lifeforms on that Planet, no orbital defenses but I am also detecting what appears to be a buildup of exotic energy 50kms out on our port side, not dissimilar to a slipspace jump!" The Captain nods at Alexia and says "open coms to all of Bellicose, yellow alert."
Commander Aloros looks at the interactive holoscreen on his combat skin's hud, a massive looking ship followed by three smaller ships of the same make has suddenly appeared 50kms out portside of the Bellicose but they are not Forerunner. Through his combat skin's audio receptors, he can hear Alexia proclaiming to the captain that the unidentified ship is powering up weapons and shields but also is broadcasting on an open channel towards the planet. Commander Aloros switches his view to that of the room before him and he is greeted with a projection of the alien, an ugly humanoid with a ridged complexion, black teeth, and an arrogant smile. The alien was accompanied by an entourage of four all dressed in black leather. He could not make out any words of the alien tongue except what Alexia's translation suite patched in at the very end of the alien's speech, "We Klingons will exterminate you, humans."