Chapter 14

"This is intense!" Sabine shouted over the firefight. Ezra was deflecting, or absorbing, as many shots as he could, occasionally having to dodge a few shots. They noticed a few of the grunts had a weapon that shot something like needles at them. They were still on the tree branch so they had a height advantage, but the enemy had the numbers and not to mention the two Rebels are injured.

"These needles are going everywhere! They seem to be following me," Ezra said as he narrowly avoided a needle to the chest.

The UNSC ship still approached their position, but they were running out of time.

Sabine ducked behind the branch to vent excess heat from her blasters and she took the time to really look around. The height they had on the branch really gave them a good view of a disgusting yellow-green scenery.

"Ezra something isn't right..." Sabine said. He ducked behind cover as well.

"What do you mean?"

"Look over there," she said, pointing to the disgusting mass around them. "That does not look natural."

Their comms began buzzing with static and a voice was heard.

"Commanders Wren and Bridger! This is Captain James Cutter of the UNSC Spirit of Fire. Do you read me?"

Sabine scrambled for the comms.

"Yes! We hear you!"

"Good. ~~ This is a dangerous~~~ spot. We need to get ~~~ out of he~~."

"Captain, your breaking up!" Sabine shouted into the comm.

Just then a loud screech was heard as something like a rocket flew towards the UNSC ship. The projectile smashed against the ship's shields and mere seconds afterwards, several guns from the ship fired upon the Covenant forces, forcing them to fall back. Parts of the shield opened up and a Pelican flew out of the hangars towards the two injured Rebels.

The bay doors opened and a bunch of ODSTs jumped out onto the branch while regular Marines helped bring Ezra and Sabine on board. As they did, the Covenant forces returned and began shooting at the base of the branch. The ODSTs returned fire and the gunners on the Pelican provided a little more support. However, as everybody was boarding the Pelican, a small pack of rogue needles from a Needler arched and nailed Sabine in the shoulder, leg, and a shard pierced the body suit on her back. It wasn't the full needle, but just a fragment; nevertheless it was still potentially deadly. She was knocked out almost immediately.

After Ezra and Sabine were secured, the ODSTs jumped back onto the Pelican as the tree branch broke off.

"We're going to perform a combat landing. Brace yourselves back there," the pilot said. The lights in the Pelican turned red.

"Are we in a rush because there's a lot of Covenant?" a tired Ezra asked.

A marine medic spoke while he helped Sabine, his face slightly pale. "No... Much worse."

"What's worse than the Covenant?" Ezra asked. He saw Sabine and he also paled.

"It's not about your friend. You don't want to know, but you will eventually need to know," an ODST said grimly.

"Okay..." Ezra said. The Pelican docked into the Spirit of Fire, but since it was a combat landing, they slid a few meters before coming to a stop.

The boarding ramp opened and ship medical officers helped the two off the Pelican. Sabine was put on a stretcher and taken to the medical bay.

"Sir, the Captain would like to speak with you," a guard said.

"I need to stay with Sabine!" Ezra said, almost shouting over the nearby alarm.

"She'll be fine, but right now you need to come with me!"

Ezra reluctantly nodded and followed the guard to the bridge. The ship shuddered for a few moments leading Ezra to guess their engines were set flank speed. They made it to the bridge and walked inside.

"Engines at full power, Captain. Slipspace should be available to us within 5 minutes."

"I suppose that will have to do for now," a man said. Ezra and the guard walked up to the man and he looked up.

"Captain, I got him," the guard said.

"You must be Commander Bridger," the man said. "I'm Captain James Cutter of the UNSC Spirit of Fire. Welcome aboard."

"Thank you, sir," Ezra said.

"Commander Wren has been hit by a needler, three times actually. One in the shoulder, one in the back of the leg, and a small fragment in her back, but she seemed stable for the moment," a bridge medical officer reported. "I just got the report," she added then as she handed Cutter the physical report.

He looked over the report and sighed. "She's alive, that's what's important."

"Captain, 3 minutes to Slipspace," the nav reported.

"Reroute all available power to the slipspace drive, we have to jump now," Cutter said.

"Yes sir!"

"What's the rush, Captain?" Ezra asked.

"The Halo installation who were stranded on is infected. You two were lucky you crashed in one of the only areas not infected... yet anyways," Cutter replied.

"Infected? As in some sort of disease?"

"Something like that, yeah."

"It can be treated can't it?" Ezra asked.

"No. Even the Covenant or even the Forerunners can't find a cure for this," Cutter replied, motioning to the installation with his hand.

Ezra was able to get a good look at the ring and noticed it really did look like it was infected.

"I didn't see that before..." Ezra said.

"You guys are lucky. As for those Covenant... They are desperate for escape, but those are the remnants that still want to kill us. That's why they were there, but they failed to notice the installation was infected."

"Is Sabine and I infected?" Ezra asked.

"No you two are clear. If you were... you would definitely know," the medic said.

"What are the symptoms?" Ezra asked.

"That's unclear, but we know for sure you would die then come back as something horrible," Cutter said. "That Halo ring is under strict quarantine. If this infection is released back into the galaxy, we will all eventually succumb to it."

"Wait which galaxy are we in?" Ezra asked.

"You're in the Milky Way. How you two got here we don't know, but you really are a long way from home," Cutter said.

"Are... Are we able to get home?"

Cutter smiled, "We actually just recently finished researching a kind of jump technology using a stargate. The reinforcements we sent used that gate successfully. Last I heard, your planet was liberated, but at a heavy cost." The smile was gone when he got to that part.

"How many soldiers?"

"Almost 200 Marines died and that's excluding the ODSTs and Spartans. At least 40 ODST were killed and 2 Spartans."

"And... the civilians?"

"We estimate about half of the original population didn't survive. Reports say the marines cleared the houses, but found corpses instead. Blaster shots to the chest and head... The Empire must have executed them before we got to them. Many other civilians were caught within the bombing from both sides."

Ezra collapsed into a chair and raised his hand to his face. "So many... For my planet..."

"It's what we wanted to do. The UNSC is at war against the Empire now. This is just the beginning," Cutter said.

"Captain, we're clear for slipspace!"

"Do it!"

The ship shuddered as they passed through the slipspace rupture and they were on their way to the Sol System.

"Captain, we're detecting something strange in the cargo bay," an officer reported.

"Do you know what it is?" Cutter asked.

"Negative, but whatever we're reading it's giving off lifesigns."

"Send a team down there immediately."

"Yes sir!" the officer said as he began directing two teams to the cargo bay.

"They found them," Chief said and everybody in the room let out a sigh of relief.

"Are they alright?" Hera asked.

"They are. They're enroute to our home star to send them back here," Chief said. "But they'll have to meet with our central Command on Earth first. They've been wanting to meet with you guys in person for a while and they can't pass this chance while they have it."

Hera nodded, "Understood."

"Lucky them, I say," Buck said. "I'd do anything to see Earth again, though it's not my home planet."

"What do you mean by that?" Hera asked.

"The UNSC is basically our military in space. We have colonized several worlds and eventually filled all the planets. I was born on a colonized world called Draco III," Buck explained.

"However, no matter what planet we are born on," Kelly began, "Earth was our home planet from the beginning. We came from Earth, so it's still our home."

"It's also the capital planet of the UNSC, just like Coruscant is the capital of this Empire."

"Coruscant was also the capital for the old Republic," Kanan said.

"Sir, the UNSC construction fleet has arrived to a remote system. They have begun preparations for the gate construction," a rebel officer reported.

"What ships are stationed there?" Hera asked.

"UNSC Eternity is going to guard it until it is finished; maybe even afterwards," Lasky said as he entered the room.

"Captain, I didn't expect to see you down here," Hera said.

"What I can't see how you're all doing in person?" he joked.

"Your presence is welcome, Captain," Hera said smiling. "I'm inclined to thank you for helping us in Lothal's liberation. The survivors thank you, ever so reluctantly."

"Is the Eternity the only one guarding the gate?" Zeb asked.

"No, our entire fleet is stationed at a nearby planet. It's uninhabitable, but we have supplies that are able to help with that," Lasky said.

"Habitation modules?" Hera asked.

Lasky nodded, "We've also located a resource on this planet that is capable of being fuel for our smaller craft, such as our Broadswords, Longswords, Shortswords, even Pelicans."

"What about fuel for your larger vessels?"

"We use fusion drives to propel our ships. It doesn't really require fuel, but does use fusion reactors."

"Fusion reactors... nice," Hera said.

"Woah..." Sabine muttered as she looked out the window from her bed.

"Incredible... I've never seen a planet like this besides Alderaan or Naboo," Ezra said.

"Have you ever seen Naboo or Alderaan before, Ezra?" Sabine asked.

"I don't think so..."

A marine walked in, no armor and no weapons except for an M6 Magnum handgun strapped to his holster on his belt.

"We're about ready to depart for the surface. You two feel good enough to go?" he asked.

"You guys remind me of Mandalorians," Ezra said suddenly.

The marine looked confused and looked at Sabine.

"I'd take it as a compliment, but why do you say that?" Sabine asked.

"They're always armed with something," Ezra pointed out.

"Is that a problem?" the marine asked.

"No, it's no problem," Ezra said quickly, shaking his hands.

"My people always carries some sort of weapon with us; we're never fully unarmed," Sabine said. "He seems to think you guys are the same."

The marine laughed then, "No, we're not always armed. It's just those on duty and all, but even then we have certain shifts."

"What does that mean?" Ezra asked. "Just those on duty?"

"We have people that just wear normal clothing while still keeping up with uniform regulations, and they usually never have a gun or sometimes not even a knife. They leave those things to the men and women who are working their shifts; for example, me," the marine explained. "I'm working my shift and my brother is off duty right now. However, in any case of an attack, all personnel are required to prep for combat. Usually many of the guys here don't have time to strap on their armor so they just grab a gun and go."

"You should do that sometime, Sabine," Ezra said. "Just let loose and not wear that armor all the time." He regretted it as soon as he said it.

"Excuse me, Bridger, but my armor represents my honor. Taking it off would be like throwing that honor away," Sabine scolded.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that..."

"Let's just go," Sabine said. The medical treatments they gave her really helped. She walked past Ezra with ease and put on her armor, then followed the marine out. Ezra was close behind, though he lowered his head.

"Are those... water craft?" Sabine asked.

"Yes," the marine said. "Even though we have starships, there's still going to be people that don't want to go to space, yet serve in our military. All the guys here you've seen were Marines. Now..." he said as some aircraft flew around the Pelican, providing an escort, "you get to see the UNSC Air Force and Army, along with glimpses of amphibious naval craft."

"So the Army and Air Force don't travel with you guys?" Ezra asked.

"Not unless they're being permanently deployed to another planet, or continent on this one. Welcome to Earth, you two."

"What's that over there?" Ezra asked, pointing to a ship with aircraft sitting on the deck.

"That's an aircraft carrier. Its purpose is really in the name," the marine said.

"That's pretty cool I guess," Sabine said.

"We have to make sure we have a ground military in case our space fleets are away, but we always make sure we have a home fleet. You see, the ships we sent aren't really all that we had. Some are, as we say outdated, but they still pack a good punch."

The Pelican landed on a pad and the boarding ramp opened. They were met by a unit of soldiers that looked slightly different from the Marines.

"These guys are not Marines, but Army."

"Thanks for rubbing it in," an Army guy said.

The Marine leaned close to Ezra, "These guys are on all our planets. They help provide defense against rouge Covenant forces and Insurgents."

"Makes sense," Ezra said.

"Anyways we'll take it from here," the army guy said.

The Marine saluted the Army and Ezra and Sabine were taken to the UNSC headquarters.

"Sir, I'm picking something up behind those extra ammunition pods over there," a marine LT said.

"Jackson, check it out," the squad leader ordered.

One of the ship's security teams were dispatched to the Spirit of Fire's hold, apparently nearby where the drop pods are. Several drop pods are filled with ammo reserves, but they were sitting away from the catapult launchers.

One of the marines, Jackson, cautiously approached the spot where the life signs were coming from. He turned a corner and about dropped his gun in surprise.

"Oh my God..." Jackson muttered. "Medic!"

The squad medic ran up and almost dropped everything as well. "Sir, you're going to have to see this..."

"What is it?"

The medic read the tags on the unconscious, but still very much alive Spartan soldier. S-B312...

Sabine and Ezra were excited. Not only did they get to meet with UNSC Central Command, but they were just told they could get back home almost immediately. In the meantime, they were allowed to explore the city, but of course they had to have some soldiers with them as guides and security.

"Everyone here is human?" Ezra asked.

"Yup," a soldier said. "It's like this on all our other planets as well."

"This is amazing. I've never been in a kind of city like this," Sabine said.

"I hear there are planet-wide cities in your galaxy. Is that true?"

"There's a couple," Sabine replied. "Coruscant being one and Denon. Both are full of criminals and gangs, though. Very dangerous."

"Wouldn't doubt it. Cities typically have higher crime rates due to the large population."

"Do you guys have a holonet?" Ezra asked.

"Well... uh... not really sure what that is actually," the soldiers said.

"It's basically like news, shows, all sorts of stuff," Sabine explained. "It's a communications system."

"Oh, like that?" a soldier asked, pointing to a screen on a building.

"So you do have a HoloNet," Ezra said.

"Here it's usually just TV, but yeah we have communications systems."

"Are you two hungry for anything? I know a great place not too far from here," one of the soldiers asked.

"You would," another scoffed.

"Shut up, man, I'm just trying to be hospitable!"

"Yeah using other people's restaurants!"

"Alright you two, knock it off! We're still on duty, remember?" their commanding officer barked.

"Sir, Yes sir!"

"But he's right, are you hungry?"

Ezra and Sabine looked at each other, then back up at the soldier, "Food sounds great right now!" they said in unison.

"Great! Follow me," the UNSC squad leader said as he turned down a street and walked down the sidewalk.

A little while later they stopped in front of a fancy looking restaurant and they walked inside. Since they were in the city the UNSC wasn't armed to the teeth like they usually were, but they still wore their uniforms and carried an M6 Magnum on their belts and a combat knife.

A waitress greeted them cheerfully and asked how many would be eating. The squad leader did a quick head count and answered, "Four soldiers and 2 guests."

The waitress smiled and picked up a few menus and led them to a vacant table. She handed everybody the menus and asked what everybody would like to drink.

"Coffee," the squad leader said.

Most of the others ordered water or a soda. Before they knew it, it was Ezra and Sabine's turn to order.

"I'm afraid I don't know what's good here..." Sabine said.

The waitress smiled, "That's alright, take your time."

Sabine looked a bit longer and decided to try the coffee only because it sounds similar to their caf back home. Ezra wanted to try the Dr. Pepper.

The waitress left to get their drinks and Sabine looked around at the large room they were in.

"This is a nice place," she said.

"Soldiers usually get a 20% discount here, so I guess it is," the squad leader shrugged.

Half an hour later, they were eating their food. Sabine ordered from a more seafood side of the menu. She ordered shrimp with a side salad and Ezra ordered the restaurants Ironside Steak; their signature dish. It had a charcoal grill finish with Lawrey's salt and a side of fries. The UNSC soldiers ordered the same thing as Ezra and Sabine.