Universe H-2478 Subtype A
Interstellar Space
UNSC Spirit of Fire
Official Status: Lost with All Hands
22 Sep 2558
16:46 Deck Time
Bridge
After more than 27 years of drifting in empty space, the sleeping crew was awakened by the now deceased Serina through her automated programs. What caused the crew to wake up was an unknown vessel 650 meters long located a few light minutes from Spirit. The systems automatically detected the threat and began to activate the previously dormant elements and wake up the crew.
Captain Cutter was standing on the bridge along with Doctor Anders and the sailors serving on the bridge. On his way to the bridge he listened to Serina's last message and complied with her request not to say anything about it to Anders.
-So who are they?- Cutter asked with undisturbed calmness into space towards the barely noticeable unknown ship. -I don't know Captain, the ship doesn't look like it's being used by the UNSC, plus that strange prow of it looking like a battering ram on the front is worrying me.-Anders replied. She then squinted her eyes -This is strange.-.
Cutter looked at her questioningly -What's strange Anders?- The woman wordlessly moved from her station and threw her datapad on the table to turn on the Spirit's sensor projection on the table. The ship shown on the sensors looked similar to the UNSC but at the same time had more engines than their ships normally had. Another strange thing was that the design of the ship was both similar in its simplicity to the UNSC ships but at the same time had a kind of gothic-like decorations? The most disturbing thing was that the ship itself seemed to be full of cannons, missile silos and under its bow-taran you could see something like a MAC cannon.
But what was most striking was the writing on the side of the ship illuminated by the searchlights. It was eminently human but the words were not in English, moreover you could see that they used letters at the end which are not in English.
-These words aren't in English and the abbreviation before the name if my database isn't wrong is an old abbreviation from the old Earth times -Anders replied and then looked at Cutter -If my translator wasn't right the ship's name is Ship of the Republic of Poland Spectral Justice- Cutter looked at her in surprise and the sounds of the sailors talking only added to the effect.
Are you sure about this Anders? - Anders nodded her head - I don't know how it's possible Captain but that's what it says on the ship, moreover I think they turned on the searchlights on purpose so we could see the writing on the hull. - Cutter nodded slightly towards her - Explain. - Anders quickly turned on the sensor image on the table showing at an accelerated rate the video from the moment the ship appeared next to them. -They jumped us about thirty minutes ago and at first the caption was not visible. It wasn't until our ship fully activated and the crew appeared on the bridge as if they knew about it that they turned on the searchlights to show the inscription.
Cutter looked at the film and replayed the moment a few times and compared the time they did it to the time the crew arrived on the bridge. Everything matched, as if they were waiting for them to wake up and find out they were human. Cutter led by a hunch said -Send a message on all channels to this ship, let's see who our guests are.
Brief acknowledgements from the sailors on the bridge confirmed that the order had begun to be carried out and a few minutes later one of them said -Sir, we have a connection, they are picking up on a slow channel, it is a visual connection.- Cutter nodded and ordered them to connect. He then turned with Anders to his left towards the call screen.
After a brief moment, the screen showed an image of an officer in a navy blue uniform with an eagle on the cap but different from UNSC sitting in a chair. -Greetings Captain Cutter of the UNSC Spirit of Fire, this is Komandor Porucznik Andrzej Werner of the ORP Upiorna Sprawiedliwość, we were sent on a mission to find you and bring you home at the request of the UNSC.- Said the middle aged man with a few gray streaks in his hair in English but with a Polish accent. It was obvious he had learned English, but had not used it in a long time.
Cutter and Anders looked at each other in agreement and then Cutter looked penetratingly at Werner - I understand Commander but do you have any proof of this? - Werner smiled at this - Absolutely, Captain and you will know it! - Then the picture split and on the other half he saw three people. At the front stood Pluta on whom Cutter's eyes widened for a moment only to squint immediately when he saw the uniform he was dressed in. To his left stood a man with very short hair wearing black body armor with N7 written on it. On his right stood a black man in a familiar UNSC uniform though with a more modern UNSC eagle design.
-It's been a long time Cutter, we haven't seen each other, you've obviously gotten a little younger - said the first Pluta. Cutter nodded at that and replied -I'm glad to see you too, you've obviously aged a bit, and I see we have some explaining to do. Pluta agreed with him - Well, actually, the one over here - he pointed with his hand to the left - He's Commander Shepard of the Systems Alliance, he's gathering people to fight the threat from his dimension, which began to attack other worlds and now the UNSC has already supported him.- Then he showed his hand to the right - Captain Lee and you have something to give you from the command.-
The captain nodded at Pluta's words -Agreed- Then he recited -Captain Cutter, by order of Lord Admiral Hood, I have the honor to inform you that you have been commissioned as a Rear Admiral to take command of a new battle group to be deployed in the Shepard universe. Cutter looked at him, overwhelmed by the new information.
-Of course Captain, sir, Commander and -he paused looking at the rank symbols on the epaulettes of Pluta's uniform- Marshal of the Commonwealth, Capt... Rear Admiral Cutter. I hope you will prepare a cozy place on board, this is going to be a long story,- said Pluta with his cheerful face. Cutter nodded and then said to them, -Understood. See you on deck.-
-It will be intriguing Anders- -He said to her- -It is already Rear Admiral.- Cutter slightly tilted his head in query- -Did you notice that we were talking in real time even though we are 3 minutes light apart? I wonder how these Poles are so advanced that they have the ability to talk faster than light and keep it that way and share it with us.
-Well Anders, it's been 27 years, let's see what galaxy we've woken up in.- Cutter replied calmly as he looked out into space.
UNSC Spirit of Fire
Status: Returned to Service
Battle Group Paradis Flagship
About an hour and a half later
Conference Room
In addition to the three already mentioned, they were joined by the dispatched UNSC personnel who immediately got to work updating the UNSC Systems and implementing the new UNSC Regulations to integrate the crew into the rest of the fleet. In the conference room, in addition to those already mentioned of course, 3 people joined shipspirit Ewelina, the Doctor and Spartan Jerome.
The explanatory talk itself was very comprehensive for both sides. Lots of questions and answers and of course the most important thing, the search for a new captain for the Spirit and what will happen to her because of course in such a situation scrapping a needed ship is borderline stupid. -I understand,- Cutter began, -why was I chosen to lead the new battle group but I have a question, what exactly is a Shipspirit and does the Spirit of Fire have one?- Pluta looked at him and then after a short while he answered
-Shipspirit, it's simply a machine spirit or more precisely a spirit of a ship and its crew, it's the oldest type of such collectively known as shipgirls but incorrectly. You can summon them, wake up the spirits that got a chance to be human, or wake up the sleeping spirit in the hull - he stopped for a moment - Our Shipspirit are not the ship itself, they are something separate, the ship for them is like clothes for us, of course there are subspecies where it is different but in our case it is not. And whether the Spirit has a spirit, yes, every ship has one. - He finished the topic and looked with a smile at Ewelina who was making silly faces at Jerome.
He noticed through his knowledge of Spartan gestures that Jerome was smiling behind his helmet at the exploits of the little spirit. Cutter who looked at her as if thinking about something and then turned to Pluta -I wonder if you could awaken the spirit of our ship. I wonder if you could awaken the spirit of our ship. She could be her captain.- Then he looked questioningly at Captain Lee. -Will Hood mind?-The black captain shook his head. -He won't mind sir. What's more, I understand the Spirit of Fire is to first go to the Polish shipyards on their Mars to receive new upgrades to better handle her new assignment. It will be a great help to have her spirit as an asset, and it's up to you who you appoint as captain.-
Cutter nodded with satisfaction, then looked at Pluta. -Would you mind?- Pluta tilted his head and smiled wryly. -Wake your sleeping princess? -He laughed for a moment. -Sure, I'd be happy to do it.-
Shepard said with some doubts - Isn't it dangerous? And how can you be sure he's up to the task? - Pluta turned to answer him, but the Doctor forestalled him. - You see, these "Spirits", although I don't really think of them as such, are creatures that are the essence of the ship and the vision of her crew. As Pluta himself said, they are a kind of machine spirit or highly advanced AI, but closer to humans than they are. They are the ones that make the ships operate differently even if they are the same class. - Then he leaned towards Shepard - They have access to the ship's systems and mechanisms and some of the skills of her crew. She will be a captain without a problem.-.
He then turned towards Pluta -If I remember your Shipspirit generally act as Helmsmen on ships but also as second-in-command of ships- Pluta nodded in agreement -And any other function of a sailor though they would do better one top two functions with more of them getting into trouble.-. And then he turned to Cutter - And just what about your second-in-command? - Cutter grimaced - He's dead, he died on the Harvest and then there was no time or opportunity to get a new one because we had to move to help the doctor - Pluta began to remember the beginning of the war with the Covenant. There weren't that many people then and the speed of the UNSC ships isn't that fast when it comes to FTL.
Simply the officer additions may have been late, or it was felt that they were better suited for the new ships. Especially if there was an AI on the ship. It was the very beginning when the UNSC was starting to mass-produce ships and the officer and sailor schools couldn't keep up with training new recruits. Anders interrupted him thoughts. -Well, when are we going to start waking up Spirit? -The tone of her voice betrayed curiosity about how it all worked. She was very interested in this unfamiliar area, at first she couldn't believe Ewelina was a ghost, ironic considering the name of the ship she was on.
Her disbelief disappeared quickly when Ewelina, quoting the famous quote about the infidel Thomas from the Bible, demonstrated her spirit abilities. In this case she showed how she enters combat mode when she goes out into space to fight, as befits a ship. Then her role is taken over by a human helmsman. Her appearance is far from the steorotypical cute girl with cannons on her back and in her hands. None of that, she looks more like a soldier in powered armor and her weapons look like regular rifles, or pistols with the firepower of her all guns. The other thing is that she can make her cannons within the length of her ship of each other and fire them like the turrets deployed by the WP on planets.
In short, the only thing that limits Ewelina is her imagination and partially the laws of physics. Of course, if she doesn't have her equipment she is as deadly as any other human, although as long as her ship exists she will always come back to life. Otherwise, you have to perform the ghost summoning sequence. It looks similar to waking up, but in this case, we bring the spirit back.
Back in the room, Pluta looked at Anders with a calm expression -I can see you're impatient Anders- then he turned to Cutter -Do you have a chaplain on board? -Cutter replied in surprise -Well, he's an Evangelical, why? -Pluta nodded thoughtfully -A Catholic or Orthodox would be more effective, but he'll do. Then he shook his head and said -Call him, and ask the commanders of each section of the ship to come to the Hangar and have each of them take two subordinates.- Cutter nodded in surprise and complied with the request.
10 minutes later
Hangar
In the Hangar all those asked to come were gathered. They were set up by Pluta around a circle marked out with a few random objects. It didn't look like the quality of magic they thought it was. As Anders asked if Pluta would be doing magic. Pluta looked at her and said in disgust -Don't mention that disgusting thing. What I will show here is a gift to humans from God, that is psionics. Real magic has nothing pleasant about it, nor is it forbidden for no reason.-
Anders in turn pointed her finger at the circle -So what is the purpose of this circle? - Pluta looked at the circle -It is simply to designate the most dangerous zone for humans. I specifically chose the heaviest items in the hangar so that they would not be moved when this happens. Why do you think I made you stand at such a distance?
Anders nodded in understanding and then asked, -Why do we all need to be here?- Pluta smiled and the Doctor whined quietly, -Well, you're her crew aren't you? -They all agreed, -So like in a children's game you'll call her! -The Doctor shook his head and muttered something about Pluta trolling. Anders looked at Pluta and said dully, -Really- Pluta suddenly became serious, -Not really, I need you to facilitate the process, I just need you to focus on your job with the ship. The more you focus, the less Spirit will have to learn and the process will be faster and easier to control.-
One of the sailors asked -What exactly are we supposed to focus on, our work or emotions.-Pluto looked at him and said -Either way, just focus on everything that is related to the Spirit of Fire.-The sailor nodded, and the chaplain asked -And what do I do? -Pluto looked at him and whispered quietly in his ear what to say. The priest hearing this at first made a disbelieving face and then laughed -And this is a joke. It is so simple, and strangely fits into the rest of the puzzle. No problem, Mr. Pluta - He said all this with newfound respect and energy.
Then Pluta turned away from everyone, -Well, ladies and gentlemen, please focus on the Spirit as if you were saying a sincere prayer. If anyone wants to pray for prosperity to God about it, that's fine. And I will even say more, it is very good! He will help us in this.- Then he turned towards the circle and stopped moving.
The priest, seeing that Pluta had begun, began to recite a prayer quietly. The rest in turn felt a change in their surroundings. And Shepard heard the Doctor saying -Look and marvel Shepard, oh this is the power of the people of the original worlds. No one will ever believe you in what you see.- Shepard looked at him and suddenly felt the same as the Reapers creatures he had met before. What's more he felt the same near Raknia as well as the Protean beacon.
But there was something different about it. It was as if he saw the beginning and prototype of what he felt there. Waves of invisible but palpable energy passed through the Hangar. He suddenly felt small and it seemed to him that Pluta had grown and they had all shrunk. Suddenly he felt an unexplained longing for something he did not remember. But he knew he had felt something like this before.
Suddenly he heard Bartek say
-Et qui aedificaverit, et ex una parte, ex altera destruit. Est nobis surge!-
A woman's voice answered him
-Who's waking me up?-
-Et qui videt plura. Unum eorum quae ad voluntatem refertur Creatorem, qui defendat.-
Replied Pluta in a voice of mighty power.
-Why are you doing this?-
She asked back curious and frightened?
-Quod illis qui in vita altera navis ad illos non egent.-.
A woman's voice asked doubtfully
-But why me? After all, there are many more powerful and better than me. I am really old now. Someone else will do it better.-
Pluta laughed and said
-Et multo quidem plus quam tu. Sed non est eis facultas superesse? Demum nefas erat qui vicit et interfecit de superbia eorum qui spreverunt primogenitus. Ad hoc, cantavit potius tecum in aliis. Et hi electi ad pugnam Reapers-
Suddenly they all felt a change and heard.
/SYSTEMS SHIP\
/ENABLED\
/REACTOR... FUNCTIONAL\
/WEAPONS... FUNCTIONAL\
/PROPULSION... FUNCTIONAL\
/SLIPSPACE... NON-FUNCTIONAL\
/ALL SURVIVING FUNCTIONAL SYSTEMS\
/ALL CHECKS COMPLETE\
/WELCOME CFV-88 UNSC SPIRIT OF FIRE EXITUS ACTA PROBAT\
Suddenly, everyone felt something crack and a young woman appeared in a blinding light in the center of the circle. After the initial gathering of order from the disorder the blinding light caused, people began to look at each other and then began to stare at the woman in the middle.
Suddenly everyone felt something break and in a blinding light a young woman appeared in the center of the circle. After the initial gathering of the disorder caused by the blinding, people began to look at each other and then began to stare at the woman in the middle.
The first one to move would be Rear Admiral Cutter, who stepped out of line and looked at her with a look of shock on his face. The woman who stood in the middle looked like what an adult version of his daughter should theoretically look like. The woman herself was dressed in an officer's outfit similar to Cutter's, but she had a belt on which were the tools used by the sappers on her deck. In a holster on her leg was a good old Magnum pistol.
Her hair was a deep red that reminded me of fire. Her eyes were the color of blue flames. Her face itself bore a striking resemblance to Cutter's in that, as mentioned earlier, she could be considered his daughter.
The first to speak was Pluta, who jokingly said -Uhu she seems to like you very much Cutter that she looks like your child.- The assembled sailors giggled in agreement with Pluta. Then spoke the Spirit saluting - CVF-88 UNSC Spirit of Fire reporting as ordered Rear Admiral! - Then she said a little muted tapping the tips of her fingers against each other - If you do not like it I can change my appearance Rear Admiral-
Cutter hearing this quickly denied -No need Spirit, I'm just surprised you did it, I didn't expect that... -Cutter interrupted who felt a striking reality, his daughter hasn't seen him in 27 years and he doesn't know what happened to her. -Didn't you expect me to look like your daughter who might be dead or so old you wouldn't recognize her, and I'm the age of her youth- said Spirit and seeing the questioning looks, -Well, I'm 85 years old now, I've seen enough to know about the world and I was a civilian first. What's more, I did it to honor you Rear Admiral, for your loyalty to the crew and me. -
Shepard looked at her in surprise -I'm sorry to bother you, but were you a civilian before? -Spirit looked at him as if remembering something and suddenly said -Well, this ship was originally built as a colonization ship, only later I was recruited into Starfleet along with my sisters as support ships for ground troops.
Shepard nodded in amazement -Well, it seems not stupid. It's cheaper than building a specialized one.- Spirit nodded and suddenly stunned. Cutter, who had already returned to normal after his meltdown, asked, -Spirit, what's wrong- and Spirit, looking blind, replied, =Sir, there's a tunnel pulling us in!-
Suddenly the whole ship shook and Cutter seeing this ordered -All hands to battle stations and you Captain Spirit follow me to the bridge! -All sailors immediately after accepting the order ran to their seats and our heroes to the bridge.
ORP Upiorna Sprawiedliwość
Moments before the tunnel appeared
The sailors on the bridge, quietly indulged in doing nothing except checking systems from time to time. The current situation did not require excessive vigilance. Interstellar space is such a place that any threat is easily detected and no one fights battles in such a place.
Suddenly, one of the sailors raised the alarm. -Komandorze! An unknown wormhole has been detected. -And then he added threateningly -The Spirit of Fire is being drawn into it! -The Komandor heard this and reacted quickly -Hurry to the wormhole, we can't lose them! And then quickly surround the entire allied ship with Dabski's field for his safety! - The sailors did not need to be told twice. They quickly got to work and at the last moment they jumped into the tunnel right behind the Spirit.
-We made it at the last minute Komandor-Said one of the sailors on the bridge. -Event report- Komandor Werner asked and another woman of Japanese descent replied -Komandor the entrance closed a moment after we entered and the allied ship was unharmed. Dabski's field, on the other hand, was activated within the first minute of entering and we surrounded Spirit as ordered.-
Komandor Werner nodded that he accepted the message. Suddenly, the communications officer said -Komandor, Spirit is requesting to connect on a secure channel.- The Komandor gestured with his hand to let them know to connect to Spirit. After a short moment, a connection request appeared on the command panel, which Andrew pressed so that an image appeared in front of him, displayed on his personal monitor connected to his command chair.
In the image he already saw Rear Admiral Cutter and the rest of the people on the Spirit with a young red-haired woman who was probably the Spirit of Fire herself as Werner guessed by looking at her beauty. It wasn't the first time he saw similar beauty among Polish Shipspirit so he realized it easily. The other thing is that if your grandmother is the first Polish Shipspirit Katarzyna "Błyskawica" Grom-Werner was already used to distinguish spirits from ordinary people.
-I see you're with us Commander.- said Cutter with undisguised satisfaction. -That's right, Rear Admiral. Unfortunately I can't give you an answer as to how this wormhole appeared, it happened suddenly.- answered Werner.
The doctor hearing this thought -There were no warnings or signs of it?- Werner looked at him and said. -There were no warnings, we reacted in the last moment and only the quick reaction of Mat Nowak we realised that there was a wormhole. -Hearing that the Doctor shook his head. -An ordinary hole in space between the stars.
Werner was about to agree when he suddenly received new data. -Now, is it true? -He asked the sailor who gave it to him. The quick affirmative answer froze him. Cutter looked at him questioningly -What happened Commander Werner? -And Werner looked at the screen and said with a voice full of bad feeling. -Mr. Marshal, I report that the exit directs us towards the Alpha Zero Zero Hotel -
Pluta looked at him in surprise and then added -Świetnie kurwa, po prostu kurwa świetnie!- he said annoyed. The others looked at him questioningly, Bartek replied -Remember I told you how the war with the Covenant ended- Everyone nodded. -This is the name of Installation 00, called the Ark in our military nomenclature.- They looked at him with surprise.
Pluta without looking at them asked the Commander -What will be the expected date of our departure? -The Commander looked at the received date to grimly add. -We'll be leaving on November 26, 2558. -Pluta turned around and hit the table -Bright fuck! - before adding more calmly but with a threat in his voice -I'll talk to Michael, it looks to me like sabotage of the Great Enemy. It can't be otherwise, just don't.-
Shepard looked at him and asked -Who do you mean Pluta? - Bartek turned around and said calmly -What do you mean who? The very commander of the Heavenly Army Archangel Michael Mika'el.- Shepard looked at him and as if he was going to say something but thought it over.
Actually, that explains a lot. Shepard thought, guessing that this Great Enemy was Satan himself, and from there figured that he probably had an interest in delaying his actions. Shepard began to nod -If this Great Enemy is the one I'm thinking of, then I'm not surprised, he must be a big piece of shit.-
Pluta laughed grimly upon hearing this -And just so you know Shepard, he really is a very dangerous piece of shit capable of cheating entire universes, next to him Loki is a small beer. And the fucker who made the whole Big Multiverse exist. And the reason he did it is pretty damn simple. He hates humans or how much the Supreme loves them. Really giddy son of a bitch what thinks mixing is wrong and you need racial purity.-.
Everyone except the Doctor who knows the whole story looked at him many times. Anders asked him -Now who are you talking about? - Shepard warned Pluta -I'm guessing you're talking about the Satan we all know from the Bible.- Pluta nodded -That's right, his warped world view makes the Nazis or Covies look like little kids playing genocide. It was he who made the Forerunners throw themselves at the Precursor, it was he who tempted the Covenant Prophets into mass genocide. He is the one who led to the creation of the Flood and the Reapers. And do you know what the worst part of this is?-
Seeing that they don't know Pluta replied -That the bastard has found a pretty effective way to avoid justice for eons. He simply stands outside the world in the void and takes advantage of the fact that the Lord has to create something in order to use his power, so he keeps moving far away into the void forcing God to chase him endlessly and in order not to make it easier for him to chase him he keeps throwing obstacles at his feet creating situations like this one forcing him to maintain the Multiverse and keep repairing it.
You could hear the bitterness in his words and the anger at the first Evil One. When he said that, they saw with their eyes the Void in which Chaos reigns and how God is forced to act on a huge scale when He tries to save the world and chase Satan who keeps saying that it's not worth it and that He should finally give up and remove everything. They felt Satan constantly laughing at God, his creations and all the beings he created and helped create in the Multiverse.
The vision ended abruptly and Anders said, -Now He is infinite! - Pluta's grim smile made it clear to her that it doesn't work that way and that God had long tried to take advantage of it and failed as He intended. -Remember, He is ALL-MIGHTY, not ALL-POTENTIAL. If He were, we wouldn't be standing here agonizing over the Reapers and having His support not so invisible that you can't see it at first glance.-
Jerome suddenly had a daze and looked at Bartek -He's the one behind John's incredible good fortune right? - Pluta nodded -Yes he's the one behind it, as well as the fact that the Spirit of Fire has survived all this, unfortunately because of the multiverse he can't support us more actively, which hurts him a lot. Anders suddenly looked at him and asked -Is this about the theory of the multiverse where every small change creates a new universe? - Pluta laughed but it was the Doctor who replied -Not really, it's more about significant changes, small changes don't create a new Alternate Universe but bigger changes like someone being a different gender do.-
Everyone but the Doctor and Pluta nodded in understanding and realised what this meant. God is in the trap of his justice, he can not only impose his will, but at the same time he can not more actively influence the world in order not to cause harm to another world. In fact, the strongest being in the Multiverse is almost powerless, and not of his own will. But still it does not remove everything, it does not want to annihilate them and it does what it can to the damaged Multiverse in order to make it work and not to be destroyed.
The really Silent God is not silent, he just can't say anything anymore because the only thing left for him is to complain about everything.
The gloomy atmosphere was interrupted by Commander Werner. -I'm sorry to interrupt, but we're getting to the exit. As he said so it happened and after a few minutes both ships jumped out of the tunnel near the Ark.
And there, a surprise awaited them in the form of an Enduring Conviction Banished Assault Carrier and a small fleet of Cerberus ships around it.
-We're in for a ride with some enemies.- Shepard said ironically. The rest silently agreed with him.