UNSC CHARON-CLASS FRIGATE TWISTED FATE
HOLDING HIGH ORBIT ABOVE PARIS IV
MARCH 15, 2547 (UNSC MILLITARY CALENDAR)
COMMAND BRIDGE

'Live life to the fullest they say, well I guess that phrase wasn't for AI.'

The AI Clyde stared at the imaginary sea of algorithms and networks that kept the ship's systems running. He had checked each and every system on the ship three-thousand five hundred and sixty seven times since Captain Recker stormed off of the bridge just a day ago. He tracked the Captain's movements through the ship until he reached the hanger bay. He even hacked the Captain's personal tablet and neural interface at least a few hundred times. It didn't help that AIs experienced time two-hundred and fifty-five times slower than normal humans.

Needless to say, he might be the first AI in history to say that he was officially bored.

'Wait,' his conscious countered quickly, 'that might actually been done by that AI that went missing with the Spirit of Fire during the battle of Arcadia…'

'Oh well.' he finished as he initiated his three-thousand five hundred and sixty eighth systems check.

HULL INTEGRITY-98%

-MINOR HULL BREACH ON DECK 11

SLIPSPACE DRIVE-0% CHARGED

ENGINES-100%

REACTOR 1-100%

REACTOR 2-100%

MAC CAPACITOR-0% CHARGED

ARCHER MISSILE PODS- GREEN

POINT DEFENSE GUNS- GREEN

SENSORS- GREEN

'Not much different than the other three-thousand times I checked the systems'

The sound of footsteps clanking against the deck quickly made Clyde shift his attention. He checked the ship's internal sensors to identify the owner of the sounds….

…..the Captain?

'I thought he wouldn't be back for another few days' Clyde wondered in awe.

Clyde materialized his holographic form on the bridge's pedestal as the doors hissed open to reveal Captain Recker waltzing in.

"Captain? I thought you wouldn't be back for a while." the AI began. "Usually you would be gone for a week at least.

"Something made me change my mind on drinking myself into a hole for the fourth time since I took command." he calmly told the AI.

"Well, it's glad that you made it back, sir."

"What's the status of the ship?" Recker asked the AI, hoping to change the subject.

"All ship systems are green, Captain. However, there is a minor hull breach on Deck 11. I'm sure Engineering can get that fixed up, however." Clyde quickly responded.

"Do I want to know how that happened?"

"I don't think so, Captain," the AI replied with much hesitation.

"What's the status of all crew?" Recker asked again.

"Most are still here on the ship, Captain. However, some of the bridge crew had left to go planet-side about an hour or so after you stormed off." the AI reported.

"Can you contact them?"

"I can attempt communication via any personal devices they might have on them. If that doesn't work, then I might be able to send a message to the local police forces for a round-up."

"Excellent. Get them back A.S.A.P."

"May I ask the reason, sir?" the AI questioned.

"We got a new assignment. Check for any transmissions that came in addressed from ONI and to me." the Captain sternly replied.

Clyde went silent as he checked the networks. Nothing seemed to..

...wait, what was that?

He quickly scanned a message that came in for the Captain just a few hours before. It was from ONI, as the AI suspected.

'For an ONI document, there seems to be a big lack of black ink' Clyde thought to himself.

"Found it, sir." the AI chirped as he placed it on the forward view screen. The mission report wasn't too long for anyone to complain, but the lack of ink still had Clyde concerned.

"Captain, permission to speak freely sir?" the AI asked.

"Go ahead."

"Don't you think that there is a big lack of black ink on here?" the AI asked, voicing his concerns.

"No. Part of the reason there isn't ink is because I just so happened to run into 'you-know-who' down at the bar last night." the Captain answered.

"Wait, what!" exclaimed Clyde, slightly horrified at the image of Margaret Parangosky at a bar in the middle of what remained of the UNSC's controlled space.

"I know, I was scared when I saw her there too." the Captain said calmly. "However, this could allow us to help bring back Delta-3! Maybe there could be some extra technology advances for the UNSC also, but that's not the point."

Clyde took a moment to scan the document again, noting very interesting tidbits of info that could begin a coin toss about survival.

'Wait, what's that' Clyde questioned. ' "… use of experimental devices to examine area is permitted." That doesn't sound too great.'

"Once you're done gazing at the orders, attempt to get the bridge crew back to the ship." the Captain called out as he waltzed out the door as smoothly as he walked in.

'I don't see why they would send something like this so uncensored over the channels! What if the Covenant intercepted this and went to wreck the planet?'

After deciding that there wasn't important left to question on the document, Clyde switched to contacting the bridge crew.

The Castle

Piper, MacCready, and Curie walked smoothly down the corridors of the Castle; trying to get to Tasha as fast as possible.

They found the room guarded by Brotherhood Knights.

"Halt!" one of them commanded.

The group stopped before the guarded door.

"We were requested to be here." Piper sneered. Although she was okay with the BoS and Minutemen teaming up to destroy the Institute, that didn't mean that she exactly liked the BoS soldiers.

"By whose request?" the second one asked.

"The request of the patient, now please step aside." Curie chimed in, hoping to defuse the tensions between the soldiers and Piper.

"We're going to need confirmation about-"

"Hey. What's going on here!" Paladin Danse complained as he stuck his head out of the door. "I though I told you two to let them in!"

"Sorry sir." they replied simultaneously before turning back to Piper. "You may enter."

The group entered without another word to the guards. Piper noticed that they managed to place the pilot along with Tasha in the same room. Although there wasn't much space for two patients in the same room, the medics sure got the job done. Crates and other medical supplies were all shoved into one end of the room, leaving the Tasha and the pilot on the other.

"Sorry for the confusion." Danse apologized as he closed and locked the door to the room.

"So, I guess it's down to business then..." Piper guessed.

"Agreed." replied Danse as he turned to the two patients in their beds. "So, what do you want to know?"

The pilot and soldier gazed at each other with hesitant glares before Tasha spoke up. "I guess you better start from the beginning. I don't feel like having to answer questions knowing where we are and what were fighting."

Piper took a hard glance at the BoS Paladin. "Well, Danse. Do you happen to know anyone who can recap the whole history of the world without being ambushed by the Institute AND making the story clear and understandable?"

The Paladin took a few moments to ponder the subject. Any BoS scribe can make a good guess about what happened during the world before the war. However, there wasn't anyone who can make it sound so simple…..

...unless

"I have an idea, but it might take a while to round up the person I have in mind." Danse said thoughtfully.

"How long?" Tasha quickly asked, not wanting to waste too much time in the unknown.

"Not entirely long; could probably get him here by nightfall." the Paladin answered.

"So, who did you have in mind?" Piper asked with much skepticism.

"There's a Brotherhood intelligence specialist from the West Coast. I have heard that he's here in the Commonwealth. I could contact him over radio frequencies. However, nobody knows his true identity. He goes by the name: Storyteller." He quietly replied, hoping to keep the conversation between the two of them.

"Hold up!" MacCready loudly interrupted. "I know that guy. I seen him in the Capital Wasteland a few years back; really annoying guy; wouldn't shut the hell up for the life of him."

"Do you have a better idea, MacCready?" Piper rounded on the sniper.

All the determination melted from the sniper's face as he desperately attempted to find a comeback. He didn't think that Piper would allow him to give an alternate solution, he just believed that he would just be ignored like every time he provides such an argument.

"Well, now that you mention it-"

"Shut up, that was rhetorical." Piper shot back quickly before turning back to the BoS Paladin. "Call him in, Danse."

GST. JACKSON DOUGLAS
UNKNOWN LOCATION

Black…

Not exactly the most exciting color in the world, but was often the most recognizable when knocked unconscious by something going at extreme speed.

That wasn't good.

Jackson shook himself awake, hoping to find a different topic to worry about. He scanned his pod, nothing seemed out of place; his weapons were still on the racks and the pod door was still in place. The only thing missing was the glass to the door and the bright lights that shown from the monitors in the pod.

Wait….something else was missing.

He couldn't place it at first, but sure as hell tried. He checked his helmet, which was still in place, his suit wasn't busted; nothing was sticking out of his skin, his joints moved with ease. He winced as he tried moving his legs, however, as the muscles were a little sore from the impact.

'Man, this silence is killing me.' he thought to himself.

He stopped and allowed the realization to hit him harder than the impact itself: his radio was silent.

Although he usually liked the banter from his comrades absent while on the battlefield, he sure as hell wanted it back, bagels and all.

"Hello?" he tried once into the mouthpiece.

Static filled his helmet's speakers.

"Damnit!" he cursed as he tried again, this time with the official form of a distress signal. "This is Gunnery Sargent Jackson Douglas of the Delta-3. Anyone that can hear me, please respond!"

Static reigned supreme over the helmet speakers.

"This is Gunnery Sargent Jackson Douglas of the UNSC." he tried once more. "Any and all UNSC personnel, please respond!"

"I need out." he said to himself before kicking the pod door outward, exposing him to a horrifying sight: bags of human meat, and scorched earth.

He tried to keep himself from vomiting in his helmet. The smell from the meat was insanely strong! He haven't been so disgusted by a smell since his first battle against the Covenant as a marine.

"Jesus Christ! What kind of people…."

He trailed off as a large shadow was cast over him. He looked up to find a giant green bag of muscle standing with a large board in hand.

"Holy. Shit."

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRR!"

The creature then began to wildly swing the board at Jackson..

"This is Gunnery Sargent Jackson Douglas of the-*STATIC* Any and all UNSC personnel. Please respond!" a nearby radio crackled.

"Isn't that one of the people that we're supposed to capture?" X-871 asked.

"Yes." XL-947 told the courser as he pointed ahead. "It seems that he's in a mutual fight between a camp of super mutants."

The small squad of coursers sat on a nearby cliff edge that overlooked the camp of abominations known as super mutants. Flashes of gunfire from both the creatures and their target erupted in the distance. It was an interesting fight to be honest: a fish-outta-water soldier versus a hungry pack of mutants was something new to them. With the war with the BoS and Minutemen taking most of the Institute's focus, nothing seemed entertaining anymore.

"Our target is winning." X-658, the squad's sniper, reported with no emotion.

X-947 focused back onto the ensuing battle. The soldier held a strange looking rifle in his hands. However, the synth did give credit to the human, that rifle was a firearm to be reckoned with. Each burst of the rifle seemed to pierce the super mutants' skin and even the makeshift armor that they wore. One by one, the mutants fell, each to the wrath of a soldier and his strange rifle.

"All the mutants are dead." the sniper reported again.

X-947 scanned the area again to find the report true; super mutants littered the ground in front of the strange being and his rifle. For some reason, he was shouting at the dead mutants, as if they could still hear him.

"That's right you mutant freaks! Go ahead and die. You were all weak anyway!"

X-947 turned to the two coursers in his squad, "X-658, switch to a Syringer Rifle and stay out of sight. We're going to need tranquilizer rounds to get him to the Institute. X-871, come with me."

"Yes, sir!" they complied as the sniper switched his preferred plasma sniper rifle for a Syringer Rifle.

"Stay dead mother fuckers!" Jackson yelled for the sixth time as he kicked a green muscle bag for the seventh time.

He felt good after killing the monsters. In fact, he wanted to kill more. They presented a challenge. Bigger than Covenant Brutes and twice as brutal, these monsters were even smarter than the Brutes, smartly using long range firearms and CQB to their advantages. Seeing the bags of meat also made Jackson question their motives; what sick animal would do such a thing?

The sound of footsteps shook him out of his thoughts. Two figures were approaching him, both had long, black coats and sunglasses. Both carried similar, white weapons. One of them strode with much authority.

Jackson snapped his rifle up to aim at the both of them.

"Who are you?" he snapped.

The two figures stopped in their tracks and had no fear in their faces whatsoever.

"You need to come with us." one of them replied coolly. This one seemed to be the leader, but Jackson couldn't take any chances.

"I'm not going anywhere! Not until you tell me who you are, who you work for, and what this place is! So tell me: Who. Are. You."

Neither of them answered. Instead, the apparent leader turned around and signaled at something.

"What are you-" Jackson began.

Suddenly, a sudden wave of drowsiness washed over the soldier.

'Must be the adrenaline' he thought hopefully.

"Tell me!" Jackson shouted again, this time weaker.

The leader gestured again and the drowsiness grew stronger.

"Tell..." said Jackson wearily as he slumped to the ground.

"Target acquired." Jackson heard the leader say before the darkness overtook him for the second time in a day.

Thanks for reading! Sorry for not posting in a while, but things were going on.

Anyways

RNG, OUT!