Etheria. Near Bright Moon's eastern border.
Ah, patrols.
Adora really didn't like them.
It'd been a month and a half since the Princess Alliance held back the attack on Bright Moon and the gang had been running patrols ever since then, destroying the myriad of robots Hordak sent their way. It was basically a turkey shoot at that point, where the dark lord's machines became easy targets for them. The blonde woman couldn't even count the amount of spherical-shaped bot husks she left behind at this point.
"Man..." Glimmer sighed. The pink-and-purple-wearing princess of Bright Moon had a knack for also making comments that always started like that. And generally ended, like today, with "This is boring."
"I wouldn't worry... New robots are bound to pop up any time soon, right?" Bow, her friendly neighborhood unofficial royal guardsman and close friend, quipped, smirking. Adora sighed, wanting to turn and say something... But the roar of engines overhead made her pause and draw the Sword. Her gaze focused above, at the sight of a strangely-shaped aircraft, its belly burned by atmospheric reentry, as it angled to touch down somewhere in the forest.
"Well, you were saying?" Mermista snarkly stated looked to Glimmer, who shot back a glance.
"What type of ship was that, Adora?" Perfuma asked, smiling. Adora shook her head.
"I don't know, but... It wasn't Horde." The girl noted, then she showed them to follow, quickening pace. The others, Frosta included, tailed right behind, pushing through the shrubs right to the edge of the clearing where the aircraft landed. They hid behind the bushes, watching as, from the strange ship's cargo hold, a tired-looking woman and an escort of about a dozen weird soldiers stepped out.
"What the...?" Adora paused, examining the soldiers. She whispered to the team "They don't look Horde... I can't even tell what kind of weapons they have."
Frosta smirked.
"No. Whatever idea you just got, Frosta... No." Glimmer spoke, having noticed the little invisible lightbulb that lit up above the blue-haired ice princess's head. The girl pouted at the Bright Moon princess, before all of them looked forward at the Infantry and their white-wearing leader. She turned around to face one of the soldiers, a man with a cap and another strange design of a gun, then she spoke to them.
"Ugh... Can't hear what they're saying from here." Adora murmured, then she looked to the team and said "Everyone, stay back. I'll try to see if I can listen in."
"Adora, I'm not sure that's such a good idea-" Perfuma started with a light chuckle, but Adora was already off. The flower princess sighed, then said "And off she goes."
"Almost like clockwork." Quipped Glimmer "I should probably teleport in and try to drag her outta there before she gets herself hurt..." And she watched Adora crawl forward, toward a rock that was tall enough to hide her, before switching to a crouch and listening in. The blonde looked at the soldiers as they fanned out, forming a perimeter around the strange, armed transport and scanning the area.
She listened in and heard the woman "... We should prepare for the worst. I didn't even let the Eternity provide us some sort of deep scan."
"Well, shit." The man shrugged "Not the first time a Marine fireteam goes in without intel, ma'am. Ask any of my boys about it." And he looked around at the blue trees of the Whispering Woods, adding "This place gives me the creeps, though." before checking the chamber of his weapon. He blinked, then looked at the Motion Tracker in his eyepiece. He smirked, then shouldered the shotgun and powered on its flashlight. He whispered something to the leading woman, whose hand went to her handgun.
Then she called out "Alright, come out, whoever you all are!" as calmly as she could "We're not hostile... Unless you wanna be!" and she hummed. Adora gasped as she heard the crackle of leaves and the crack of trees being torn down to her right. The woman made hand signals to the Marines, who reoriented themselves, forming a loose firing line and pointing their weapons.
The first robot of the attack appeared, firing a beam of laser just over the troops' head. The Captain drew her sidearm, snapping off the first shot. And that one shot pierced clean through the central eyepiece of the machine, sending the ball-bot rolling forward with a destroyed eye and no weapon. The man stopped the bot with his boot, planted the business end of the weapon on its back and fired three times. Armor plating burst, broke and shattered, its insides broken by whatever the gun fired.
And then, the other troopers squeezed their triggers. Bursts of automatic fire gutted the approaching Bots and golden casings dropped to the floor from the sides of the unknowns' weapons. Adora stared at the onslaught of rounds fired toward the Horde's armored bots, with few of them able to return fire. Lasers slashed into the trees behind the team and some shots even hit the armored transport.
The woman in uniform cued her mic, then said "Shade, take off and see if you can't provide CAS... You're a sitting duck otherwise."
And with a painful, deafening roar, the aircraft's low-mounted engines powered to life, pushing it off the ground within moments. It swiveled about on what looked like its own power, before Adora found herself in need to cover her ears. The main gun of the aircraft spooled, then roared like an angry beast. Heavy, the rounds it spewed burst through the trees, shattering them, while Marines continued their own fire in enfilade.
Then, rockets roared off the tacks on the sides of the aircraft's wings and danger-close, explosions shattered more mechs. The Captain fell to her knee, dropping her gun and feeling her shoulder, while the Sergeant went to check on her. Adora gasped and instinctively ran toward the Captain as well, going to the side of the ginger-haired woman and looking over her. Her shoulder was dislocated.
"Are you alright?!" Adora asked, ignoring the complete danger she threw herself into.
The Captain looked up at the young girl, gritting her teeth, then she smiled through the pain and said "Well, holy shit..." as she tried to reset her own shoulder. Adora heard the others coming in, with Perfuma sending a wall of vines toward the advancing bots and Glimmer teleporting in beside her and the Captain. The woman blinked, vision blurred by tears, then said "Who the hell are you people?"
"We could ask the same." Glimmer said "But for now, we have to get you back to see a doctor. That's a broken arm."
"Pfft. Kid, it's a dislocated shoulder..." The captain chuckled "I can fix it."
"Uh, Cap?" The Sergeant noted, reloading his shotgun before he took a knee again, beside her "I think we're meeting the locals... Should we... Ya know... First Contact protocol?"
"Protocol went out the window the moment we jumped so shittily that my arm is the way it is, Sarge." She answered "Most we can do now is hope these folks..." And she eyed Adora and Glimmer, before adding "Who look human... Will play nice." and raising a brow at Adora "We are playin' nice, right?"
"Of course." Adora nodded. She eyed Glimmer, who chuckled, then nodded.
And the Bright Moon princess nodded to them "Yeah, we'll play nice."
"Good..." The Captain nodded "Very good. Now... Look away." and before either the blonde or Glim got a chance to ask why, a gross snap and a muffled whimper came from the Captain, who had just reset her shoulder in front of a pair of kids. She groaned "Fuuuuuuuuuuck... I think I'm gonna need a splint. There goes my combat drop wings, eh, Mike?"
The man chuckled, his voice gruff "Very funny, Val."
Adora and Glimmer looked between them, only noticing that the rest of the Marines had ceased firing. The rest of the Princess Alliance joined the team over in the center, while Reaver eyed them with a bit of unease. Adora helped the Captain to her feet, then said to her "I'm Adora and these are the members of the Princess Alliance. We're members of the Rebellion against the Horde. Who are you?"
The woman hummed. Rebels and a horde, huh? She wondered... Then she spoke "I'm Captain Valerie McKinnon and these are my Marines. We're part of the crew of the UNSC Super-carrier Eternity. What's this 'Horde' you speak of, Adora?"
"Just a bunch of guys who wanna subjugate the entire world." Glimmer quipped, crossing her arms "No biggie. Wait... Super-carrier?"
"Huh." The Captain raised a brow, almost ignoring the question "This 'Rebellion' of yours? It got an adult we can talk to... A leader of some kind?"
"That would be Glimmer's mom, queen Angela." Adora tilted her head to the sparkly girl, who smirked. The Captain nodded to Glimmer, then winced, feeling pain shoot through her arm yet again. She sighed, then looked around at the rest of the Princesses present, the youngest of which looked like she was 12. The Captain would've made a comment regarding the age of Rebel fighters, but she chose to stow it. Some of the Gamma company members looked like the kid and they didn't tell her their age.
"You ladies mind if I make a call? I think I may need the Admiral to get down here for the talks. Then, we can go meet the Queen." She offered, only to receive approving nods from everyone. She looked to the Sergeant as the Gunship touched down again, then said "Play nice while I'm in the call, will you?"
"Tell'em that." The Sergeant shrugged "You didn't see the shit they pulled."
"Fair enough... Be back in a sec." The Captain shrugged, stepping inside. The Marines reformed into a blob, eyeing the Princesses around them. One of the soldiers elbowed another and pointed at Bow, a grin on his face. The other guy let out a mirthful laugh at the quip, then shot back a similar joke about Adora, to which his friend laughed too. The Sergeant, meanwhile, pulled a box of strange, long tubes from his pocket, slid one into his mouth and flicked on a lighter, before he took a deep puff from it and blew the smoke down.
Adora tittered on her feet, looking at the two gangs, then turned to the Sergeant and said "Soooo... UNSC?"
"Yup." The man flicked a bit of ash from the cig off to the side "United Nations Space Command... Or what's left of us, anyway." He chuckled darkly, a hint of sadness in his eyes. He looked to Frosta, then leaned in and asked "What's a kid doing with you?"
"I'm not just a kid!" The ice princess protested "I can fight!"
"I saw." The Sergeant noted "Doesn't mean it's normal for pre-teens to be fighting."
The girl crossed her arms, pouting at him. He chuckled, then looked around at the others in the gang. And indeed, it was the most weirdly-diverse group that the Sergeant had seen, Covenant notwithstanding. Adora eyed the weapons they carried, then walked up to him and asked "What type of weapons are these? They're kinda harsh. And loud."
"Guns." The man raised a brow "Do your people not use firearms?"
"Uh..." The entire gang winced, showing clear confusion at the idea of 'firearms'.
"I use a bow!" Bow jumped in.
"And we have magic." Frosta said, making an icicle appear in her hand.
"... Well, shit." The Sergeant sighed "Good thing the Eternity has factories aboard for ammo and extra parts." And he took another deep puff from the cig, before he flicked it to the floor and stomped it down, to put it out. The Captain appeared at the edge of the craft, then nodded and showed the Marines and the rest of the gang to get aboard. She watched the Marines stream in, before looking to a confused Adora and her bunch.
"You kids coming?" She asked "We're gonna need someone to guide us over to your kingdom, so we can talk."
"Oh." The group said. Adora, Glimmer and Bow shot each-other concerned looks, then nodded and walked aboard. As the hold closed in behind the members of the Princess Alliance, they felt the slight tug of G-Forces with the Aircraft lifting off. Glimmer stepped up to the cockpit, led forward by the Captain, to guide the pilot toward their destination, while the Sergeant and Marines eyed the group.
"So... Magic, huh?" He quipped, looking to Frosta.
"Yup." She nodded "Elemental magic."
"So... You'd be ice... What about the others?" He looked around "Blondie with the flowers?"
"Perfuma? She can use plant-based magic. Then we got Mermista who can use water. We can do some cool stuff together. Glimmer can teleport and Adora can turn into a big lady with a sword."
"She-Ra." Adora clarified, then chuckled awkwardly "Not like you folks would know her, right? I mean..."
The Sergeant hummed "Right. That explains the freakin' vines and that tidal wave..." And he smirked at the blonde gal. She smiled back, while the Sergeant turned to busy himself with his weapon. He pulled back the front grip, revealing the now-empty chamber, before he looked down the open top and checked to see dust and soot had gathered up in the gun. He'd need to clean it out when they hit the ground, if he didn't want it to explode in his face. He looked to the Captain, then asked "What's the word with the Admiral?"
"He's told me to do the talking for the time being." The woman shrugged "And bring the queen up to the Eternity, provided she does wanna talk further with someone of higher ranking."
"Huh." Reaver sighed "Not taking the blame immediately if shit goes south?"
"Nope. He won't, even when it's gonna hit the fan, I bet." The Captain quipped "Guy's too young... Too fresh outta officer school."
Sarge seemed iffy, giving the woman a tilt of the head and a raised brow as he slid the weapon onto his back, before saying "Must be a reason Hood liked him enough to toss him our way."
"Eh. If I know Hood well enough... You're probably right." The Captain noted, sitting down and sighing "Doesn't mean I have to like it. If he freezes on an important decision, we're gonna be screwed. And you know how newbies are."
"We both met our fair share, Val." The Sergeant offered, smiling at her melancholically "Hell, some of the guys in my squad were Newbies to the Corps not too long ago. I was a newbie NCO still when Arcadia got fucked."
"Don't remind me of home, please." Val sighed, rubbing her eyes "God, I can't fucking believe I wasn't there to help defend it."
"You'd've gone down with the Belfast." He quipped, leaning forward "Plus, we were kids. You were a CO barely out of the Naval Academy and I was barely out of boot."
"Fair enough..." She returned, working to remove her armor. A corpsman moved to her, to assist, at the unspoken hand-signal orders of the Sergeant. The medic made sure that her shoulder was set proper, then he applied a semi-elastic splint, to permit movement while also stopping her from taking any more damage, before he stuck another needle with painkillers into the wounded appendage.
The Medic started to hum an old song, much to the surprise of the people present. The Marine Non_Com started humming along, before he started murmuring the lyrics:"He was a jarhead, fresh outta Boot, he was barely learnin' how to shoot. He had to sit and listen to the Sergeant's call..."
And the entire squad burst into song, trying to keep themselves from thinking of home "You ain't gonna shoot no more! Gory, gory, what a helluva way to go, gory, gory what a helluva way to go! Gory, gory what a helluva way to go! He ain't gonna shoot no more!"
"'Is e'rrybody ready?!' cried the Sergeant, lookin up. Our hero feebly answered 'Aye!' and then they pushed him up. He shouldered his 35 and the the safety he'd undone..."
"You ain't gonna shoot no more! Gory, gory, what a helluva way to go, gory, gory what a helluva way to go! Gory, gory what a helluva way to go! He ain't gonna shoot no more!"
"Oh, Christ." The Captain chuckled, tipping her hat and hiding her face behind the peak.
The Sergeant kept it up "He counted long, he breathed out and put his finger on the trigger guard. He felt the sweat, he felt the weight of this awful fuckin' gun! His finger twitched, his grip had failed 'round the gun's fore-end... And he ain't gonna shoot no more!"
"Gory, gory, what a helluva way to go, gory, gory what a helluva way to go! Gory, gory what a helluva way to go! He ain't gonna shoot no more!" The others chorused again, with the Princess Alliance taking different measures to not hear the dark humor of the Marines. Bow had covered Frosta's ears, much to her protests, while Perfuma seemed to be meditating(with her hands covering her ears) and Adora was just listening to them happily sing about death of all things.
"We're approaching the kingdom." The pilot reported over PA "And for fuck's sake, guys, stop..." He almost pleaded.
The Sergeant grinned, continuing to sing the last stanza more slowly just to spite the Marine pilot, with the squad echoing the sad song almost too jovially, even if they sung slowly "There was blood upon the range, he missed his head after the shot! His body lay sprawled across the shooter's booth! He was a mess, they picked'im up and dragged him to the bunks... And he ain't gonna shoot no more! Gory, gory, what a helluva way to go, gory, gory what a helluva way to go! Gory, gory what a helluva way to go! He ain't gonna shoot no more!"
"That..." Adora swallowed, tugging at her collar "Was horrifying."
"Oh, come on, kid, we don't sing that bad. Sure, Corporal Hsu's our soprano, so you can't expect us to do good with her around..." Reaver grinned
"Fuck you too, sarge." The female toting a rifle-Adora and the others had just now realized that was a woman behind all the heavy kit and the face mask-joked, giggling. She turned to the Best Friends Squad, of whom Glimmer had just now joined, then said "Look, she liked it." in a joking manner, much to the horrified Bright Moon princess, who wore a faux-thousand yard stare at just hearing the lyrics.
"... Not. What I meant... Isn't that a bit too dark to sing, considering..." Adora tilted her head to Frosta, who raised a brow, before pushing Bow's hands off her ears. The Sergeant chuckled.
"She had her ears covered." Corporal Hsu shot back, immediately, the team felt the aircraft begin its descent. The Marines stood to their feet, with the Sergeant helping the Captain up off of her ass. The others stood up too, just as the Aircraft had landed with a metallic thnk. First to pile out was the Princess Alliance, with the Marines and Captain being the second team out.
Glimmer sighed in relief, looking at home, then said "Well, that was somewhat horrifying." before looking to Hsu and asking "Do you and your friends usually sing about stuff like that?"
"We're just trying to keep our minds off things, Sparkles." Quipped the rifle-girl, slinging the strange, long weapon over onto her back. The teams watched the Bright Moon royal guard, soldiers clad in old, ceremonial-looking fantasy armor, with capes and pikes, approaching. Through the crowd of soldiers, they could make out pink hair, purple skin and a pair of angelic wings. The young woman which was being escorted by the guards went bug-eyed upon seeing the Marines and Captain, before she pushed her way through the guard and walked up to Glimmer, only to hug her.
"Hey, mom." Glimmer smiled, patting the woman on the back.
"Is everyone well?" She asked, looking over Glimmer more than the others.
"We're fine, your highness." Adora noted, a smile on her face.
"And we brought guests!" Perfuma jovially added, before murmuring "Very frightening guests, whose energies are a mess, but... Guests nonetheless."
Angela looked from her daughter for a moment, again, at the Marines and Captain, before she straightened up and approached them. The Marines visibly tensed, readying themselves just in case. They were wide-eyed and staring disbelievingly at the fact that an angel in a dress and that acted as queen of a kingdom was now standing in front of them. She then looked into the Captain's eyes, able to notice what few others could. An amalgamation of worry, fear, anger and relief, of all things, swiveled around in the woman's soul as they stared at one another.
"Greetings." Angela decided to break the ice "I am queen Angela, of Bright Moon. Am I right to say that, by the design of your uniforms and armament, you are not from Etheria?"
The group gasped as the realization finally began to hit them. Adora walked up beside Angela, then murmured "They're aliens?" as the soldiers tensed and the Royal Guards spoke in murmur. The Captain looked eye-to-eye with the queen, then took her cap off, revealing her messy, dirty ginger hair. Then, she simply nodded, the faint traces of a smile appearing on her face. It was almost as if the woman thought she was staring at a god.
Angela smiled, her eyes telling of surprise, then said "Welcome, then. To Etheria. Your road must've been long."
"Well... You could say that we got here in a snap of the fingers..." The Captain sighed, then spoke "My name is Valerie McKinnon and I serve as the captain of the UNSC Super-carrier, Eternity. It's a pleasure to meet you, your highness. I am... Honestly surprised you aren't more outwardly hostile toward us."
"Why would I be?" Angela raised a brow "Should I be?"
"No." The Captain said, most certain of herself. She scanned the surroundings, looking at the Royal Guards and at two other women that had just arrived, to see them staring at the squad with eyes tired by conflict. She'd seen those same looks before, though more pronounced, on her own men and fellow COs in the UNSC, so she spoke "Would I be wrong to assume you're at war?"
"Quite the opposite, really." Angela hummed, then made a motion of her hand to the Royal Guards and the staff. She then looked to the Captain and her team, then spoke "May I offer you and your soldiers dinner, Captain? We can talk more there, with the Princess alliance present."
"I'm fuckin' starving..." Murmured Hsu with a grin behind her mask. She took an elbow to the gut from another, seemingly female Marine of the crew, before yelping and whispering "Sorry..." and garnering a chuckle out of the Captain. She waved to her men, to holster their weapons and take their helmets off. And so, they did, revealing a bunch of unwashed, tired-looking men and women with sunken eyes and scars, both physical and emotional, hidden behind dangerous grins, warm smiles and absentmindedness, with the Sergeant embodying it all in a tired-looking, blue-eyed, blonde-haired NCO with a skull tattoo on his neck.
To that, the tired Captain herself turned and said "We'd be honored to join you, your Highnesses."
"Then, please, follow me. Glimmer." She turned to her daughter, who yelped and jumped. Angela smiled, then said "Go with the others and wash up... I've got a feeling we're going to have a long talk with the Captain and her guards." to which Glimmer nodded, smiling back. She and the others marched away, toward the palace, only to be followed by the Captain and Marines. She stopped two of the, Hsu and the girl that elbowed her in the gut, then ordered them to stay with the Pelican and be ready to bug out at a moment's notice. Otherwise, the Captain would be back to communicate with the Eternity as soon as early talks were done.
Guess they found a new war...