I do not own any characters save for my OCs, any references to other fanfics give full credit to their authors.
02/04/2541
UNSC Spirit of Fire: Status; MIA
Location: Interstellar void
Persons of interest
Serina: 2nd generation Smart AI
Serina POV
'10 years… they had been adrift for nearly 10 years…' Serina thought to herself. This would normally be a death sentence for a Smart AI such as herself, thankfully though, the Spirit, as a former colony ship was equipped with long term AI storage. This would allow her to stave off rampancy for nearly a century, much less the decade they had been adrift. In another time they would have been caught in an unknown slip-space rupture and sent to the mysterious construct that is the Ark, but fate decided that things would be different this time around.
ping…
'Now that's odd…' Serina thought to herself. The Spirits sensors had found an anomaly within a star system they were set to pass by. This was a crucial moment for the AI as well as the crew of the spirit. They had made considerable progress in the last decade. Serina had finally pinpointed their location in relation to UNSC space and found that they were roughly 30-40 lightyears away from the UNSC colony world of Actium. This would put them within reach of a distress beacon in some three thousand years. Naturally this was an unacceptable outcome, as the ship would fall apart before entering range, much less the crew in cryo. As such, Serina changed course towards the anomaly, in hopes that it may hold something that could be her crew's salvation. Little did she know that it would not merely be her crew's salvation, but humanity's.
03/04/4522
Location: Nessus Core
Persons of interest
Raz-22 Exo Hunter: Nightstalker
Spark- Ghost: Void Shell
Raz-22 POV
"Spark, what is that?" Said Raz-22. "I have no idea." There in the Nessus Core, where there should have only been a ball of molten metal, floated a giant vex gate. "Sooo, how long has it been since the last patrol came down here?" asked Raz. "A little bit before that insane warlock killed the giant vex on The Levaithan." Reported Sparks. Raz whipped his head towards the shard of light, "So you're telling me NO ONE has been down here for two years! We need to check this out!" Shouted Raz with anticipation. "NO WAY," Sparks yelled, "We need to tell the Vanguard before you just jump right in, it could lead straight into the Black Garden for all we know!" "Fine," groaned Raz, "But the second after we report we're going in!"
03/03/2541
UNSC Spirit of Fire: Status: MIA
Location: Star System PF-22B
Persons of interest
Serina: 2nd generation Smart AI
Captain James Cutter: Captain of The SoF
Docter Ellen Anders: Scientific consultant
Cutters POV
Cold, I wake up to an extreme cold. I cough as I fall to my knees and I see flashes of memory, a world burning, a world exploding, echoes. The joys of waking up from cryo. "Serina, what's going on?" asks Cpt Cutter. "Good to see you're doing well too Cpt. As for your question we have found an anomaly. A big one, in fact it bears an eerie resemblance to the planet we blew up a while back." Serina muttered. "Another one?!" exclaimed the Cpt, as he began to walk to the bridge. That could be bad, the covenant were crawling all over the place on that world, much less that alien parasite. Running into either of them again could spell the end for them. "Fortunately despite the initial resemblance I have determined that this world does not share an origin with the previous one. I have woken yourself, the bridge crew, Dr. Anders and a small ground team if we decide to investigate the surface." explained Serina. "Good work, Serina, I'll be visiting Docter Anders to see what she has to say about this development. And Serina, have someone make me a coffee." "Aye sir."
Anders POV
This was so fascinating! As I looked over the data that we were receiving from this new world as I looked down at its' surface. It was a dull stone grey, not that uncommon. What was uncommon was the silvery lines that cut across the surface, they appeared likes veins, or perhaps circuitry that lined the entire world. And if the sensor date was correct unlike the previous installation, this place was brand new. Not really new, it had been there for thousands of years but it had only recently been abandoned, less than two years ago! As fascinating as that was it meant that the owners could certainly come back to check on this place. We'd need to be quick. "Serina get me the captain."
Ground team AAR (After action report)
That place was freaky. Not alien murder parasite freaky but more of an abandoned house creepy. According to what Doctor Anders was getting from her tech stuff, that place was some kinda experimental portal hub. It was run by some organo… syntho… things, that decided to cut and run after the top AI in charge got up and killed. Normally that meant that things would apparently default to next in command… but whatever that was got killed too. SO now we're on some mission to try and hook Serina up to the core and see if she could get the portal running. Oh yeah and this planet is hollow too. What is with aliens and the hollow planets! We marines prefer our solid ground to be well, solid. Still we were coming up on the portal control. Damn that thing was huge! The gate could easily fit a covvie supercarrier, much less the spirit. Still we did our job and hooked up the adapter to the core and got Serina in, that's when all hell broke loose.
Serina POV
'I'm in' I thought triumphantly. As I looked around the digital environment I couldn't help but feel a sense of awe at the immense nature of the system. You could easily fit hundreds of Smart AI in the space they used for just ONE of their core AI! I shuddered a bit at the implication before getting to the task at hand. Using the portal to send us back to UNSC space. Immediately I ran into an issue. 'You can only go between portals huh…' I sighed. This network was designed to ONLY send things between two portals Still it was possible that the other end was closer to UNSC space then we were currently. So, I began to check the destination coordinates. It was then that I noticed something terrifying. "No no, this can't be right!" I exclaimed as I double, triple and quintuple checked the destination coordinates. "Serina, what is it?!" asked Dr. Anders. "These coordinates, I know them! This portal leads to SOL!" I panicked and said. With that every single person on the bridge froze. Sol, as in the home system I know they were thinking. How? Had the Covenant found new allies in these aliens? Had they built a portal to let the Covenant directly strike the cradle of humanity? "Serina," the Cpt began, "you said earlier that the highest ranked AI of this instillation, Argos, correct, was killed along with it's fellow ranking AI a few years back right?" With that order seemed to be restored on the bridge. They had all been briefed. They knew that The AI had been destroyed. If that was the case it was possible humanity was still fighting and they had a home to return to after all.
"Serina, recall the ground teams and activate the portal. Humanity needs to know what we found." Commanded the Cpt. "Aye sir, recalling the ground teams and activating the portal." I repeated. With that the portal once an immense circlet of silvery metal began to hum to life and the very surface of the planet split apart to reveal a hole big enough to allow even the biggest ships the UNSC had to offer to pass. 'This was going to be interesting' I thought to myself.
No POV
The silver metal sparked, immense beams of blinding energy shooting between the frame. The titanic ship, forged of dull grey metal sailed boldly into the gate, into the unknown. Those aboard thought that they would be home soon. That they had completed their duty yet though they would arrive at their home, it would not be the one they remembered.