Dialogue Chart
"Person speaking"
|Ghost Speaking|
"Alien speaking"
{AI Speaking}
Adding [ ] before any of these means the being in question is thinking
'Something being referred to with air quotations'
Anything else
Date 03/05/4522
Location: Subspace en-route to Nessus
Persons of interest
Saint-14: Legendary Titan
Paean: St-14's Ghost
Raz-22: Nightstalker Hunter
Sparks: Raz's Ghost
No POV
"I don't like this." Raz complained over the coms. "What's not to like my friend? Sure, we were a bit hasty leaving but those pictures your Ghost got of that ship were quite impressive indeed!" The old Titan rebukes. "You say that like they're some colonists that got REALLY lost during the collapse. As much as I'd like for them to be new allies I would also like to not be blown to bits by the giant warship." Raz says defiantly. "Relax, The Guardian should be there already, if they haven't been destroyed by the Vex or the Space Turtles then we should be fine. If they are hostile, the Guardian will take care of them!" Saint declares confidently. "Ha! I would be lying if I said your enthusiasm wasn't infectious. So then lets hope for the best! We should be there any moment anyways." Raz declares.
With that there is a burst of light and both jump-ships drop out of subspace, about a kilometer away from the thankfully intact unknown warship. Both Guardians sit in awe for a moment, before Raz breaks the silence, "I want one!" the hunter declares. "Think of how much it would help the people if we had one of these. We could defend an entire section of the wall with only one! Freeing Guardians to head out into the system and reclaim lost wonders from the Golden Age." St-14 murmurs to himself, imagining all the possibilities such a ship could present. "I know it's awesome St, but it isn't like we don't have any ships. We've stolen plenty of Ketches and the occasional Cabal Cruiser over the years. We're even working on restoring the House of Exiles Ketch on the moon." Raz points out. "I am aware of the city's projects my friend, just because I was gone for some time doesn't mean that I haven't taken it upon myself to learn of all that I missed. This is different from those stolen vessels. It is not Cabal, not Fallen, this ship is HUMAN. That alone would be a powerful symbol for the people." The titan explains. "Well, when you put it like that… I still want one." Raz replies. "HAHAHA! It is good to know that Hunters have not changed, still it is not good having one of the Vanguard positions open. I believe I will recommend you, if you desire it of course?" St-14 offers. "WHAT! NO WAY! I am not doing that! Find Shiro-4! He was supposed to be Cayde's replacement!" The hunter vehemently rejects.
As the hunter continued to deny the Vanguard position, Sparks decided it was time to pipe up. |Hey guys, as much as I would like to continue tormenting Raz like this, we just received a message from the ship.| There was a moment of silence before St-14 broke it "Well go on then! No need to drag out the suspense." The Titan complained. |Very well, it says that they are expecting our arrival, not us specifically but some other Guardians. It also gave us a flight plan to one of their hangars, where Custos is apparently already docked.| Sparks explained. "Well, looks like there was nothing to worry about after all." St-14 said smugly, Raz could almost feel the Exo Titan's gaze burning into him through the hull of his ship. "Fine, you were right, Custos had it handled. Now then, time to meet our new friends." Raz-22 says confidently as both of their ships pull up to the hangar.
Date 03/05/4522
Location: UNSC Spirit of Fire, Bridge.
Persons of interest
Serina: 2nd Gen Smart AI
Captain James Cutter: Cpt of the SoF
Custos: Dawnblade Warlock
Cogito: Custos' Ghost
30 minutes before the arrival of St-14 and Raz-22
Custos' POV
["That went better than I thought it would"] I pondered to myself. After finishing the disposal of the Vex, Captain Cutter had invited me to the bridge. I was disarmed of course, not that it really mattered to a Guardian. Interestingly enough, they also asked that I removed my Sunbracers. I believe that when they saw me use a melee ability they had interpreted it as my gauntlet's work, not mine. I also removed my helmet, it would help for negotiations if they were looking at a friendly face rather than a helmet, at least I hoped it would. Regardless, this was going to be an interesting conversation, I thought to myself as I walked onto the bridge.
The captain immediately walked up to me and extended his hand. "Custos, I had my doubts but you have my utmost gratitude for your assistance in the defense of my ship and her crew." Cpt. Cutter said upright. "I'm glad I could help Captain, any Guardian would gladly help people in distress. However that is not entirely why I am here. As you would imagine, having a warship of an unknown faction appear in our home system has the Vanguard spooked. I need to know why you're here." I ask the Captain in an authoritative tone. There is a bit of hesitation in the Captain's visage, before he immediately hardens his stance and says, "My ship, the Spirit of Fire last pursued a Covenant ship in hopes to deny a critical asset to our enemies. In order to accomplish this we were forced to sacrifice our slip-space drive, our FTL engine. As such, to return to our space, we were forced to use our sub light engines. We have been adrift for nearly 10 years, since the year 2531." The Captain would have likely continued explaining, if not for the startled grunt/random noise I was unable to suppress. The Captain looked at me with a slightly confused and concerned look. He realized that I had been shocked by his presumed timeframe. "I presume that you used the Vex gate after discovering where it led, in hope of rejoining humanity?" I ask, just for confirmation. "That is correct, now, what was that?" The Captain asks in a commanding tone. Seeing no way around this I clear my throat, "As of today, the date is March 5th 4522." I declare. The entire bridge crew freezes
"We don't understand the underlying principles that allow them the function, but it has long since been proven that certain Vex gates possess the ability to allow their users… to time travel." I say cautiously. This would mean to them that everyone they've ever known is dead, I'd need to deal with this carefully. "That in no way means that you are stuck. You can always travel back through the gate and you will most likely and up where you came from, however I would like to make a request of you before you go." I say in both an attempt to calm them and sate my own curiosity. Looking significantly relieved, the Captain responds asking, "What do you need?" Rather blunt, but that was good. "I would like to have access to your historical database and star charts, if you don't mind." I ask, trying (and likely failing) to hide my immense excitement. Captain Cutter looks slightly confused at my request. I think he was expecting me to ask for military hardware. Regardless he doesn't look like he will refuse. "That is agreeable, Serina, I would like you to work with Cogito on the date exchange." He asks their resident AI. {Alright Captain, however can we have their historical data as well? You don't get the opportunity to see the future every day sir.} She replies cheekily. I don't blame her, if I could reliably hack a Vex database without changing the future in the process I would want that kind of knowledge as well. I continue chatting with the Captain as well as some of the bridge crew, discussing the possibility of re-arming and fueling the Spirit as well as giving them a new FTL drive to make their trip back through the gate easier, when both Serina and Custos announce some confusing news.
{Captain!}
|Custos!|
""What is it!"" Both the Captain and myself reply simultaneously. {Captain, there are many points where are histories do not align, I was chalking it up to what appears to be an utter collapse of human civilization doing wonders for their records, however their star charts are the real issue.} Serina declares. "What issue…" The Captain growls, looking at me. I was very confused, star charts are the most basic thing in the books. Even a few thousand year difference would only cause some drift on a galactic scale. {I confirmed it with our own sensors, Epsilon Eridani… Reach's star isn't there! At all!} The Spirit's AI declared. With that the bridge dissolved into chaos. "REACH IS GONE!" 'WE'RE TOAST!" "DID THE COVENANT BLOW UP A STAR!" Many such arguments flew through the air until "QUIET!" The Captain screamed. He looked like he had aged a decade or two with that statement. "Is that all Serina?" he asked quietly. {No sir, there are many similar occurrences. There is no Arcadia. Harvest's star is still in place but according to the readings the planet itself is not present. To top it all off there are dozens of stars that don't even exist on record, all floating in places where there were none before.} The Ship AI stated. "What are you saying, Serina?" The Captain asked, even I was intrigued, that AI was leading up to something, I could tell. {Captain, I don't think that this is our Sol System, I don't even think we're in our own universe.} The AI confidently declared. In but a few moments, the bridge once again descended into chaos.
"QUIET! ALL OF YOU!" Cogito popped out of no-where and screamed. "Cogito, I sternly begin, do you and Serina have any definite proof of this? You know what it would mean if you're both right." I say quietly. As a supporter of Dead Orbit, this represented a massive chance, not that anyone on the bridge save for Cogito knew what I mean by that. |I took a scan of the molecular structure of their walls and found that their electrons are moving wrong.| Cogito declared proudly. The bridge crew looked like they were about to draw their sidearm and shoot him before he got to the electron part, then they looked slightly curious, I was too. |To skip the tech jargon, let's say for reference all of the atoms in our universe orbit clockwise. The atoms I scanned in the ship however, all orbit with a clockwise northward inflection!| Cogito explains proudly, unaware of the totally clueless looks he was getting from the bridge crew. I rub my forehead a bit and ask for confirmation "So they're from an alternate universe?" |Yes!| says my Ghost.