And now, shit gets serious...
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Louise's POV
"War? Did you say war?" I asked as Guiche walked away without replying.
"Louise..." I heard Scorch behind me, I turned around "Colbert just told me, there is a solar eclipse in three days..."
I was shocked, I had hoped for a bit more time with him before he had to leave... but... three days... and with the war fast approaching... this was getting to be too much for me to handle... so I had to play it down... for my own sake.
"He told me I should fly then and if everything goes well, I should return to one of my realm's worlds..."
"Well then, good for you!" I said, trying and failing to keep a degree of sarcasm out of my voice. "Congrads, you've been wanting to go home ever since the first day you got here... I hope that everything goes well for you." I turned around trying to prevent him from seeing my face, which I'll admit, was very disappointed... I had meant what I said, but I guess he took it the wrong way.
"Yeah well I don't need any sarcasm from the likes of you!" he said and stormed away.
I turned around to look at him walking away, I thought about following him to talk to him again, but I didn't...
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Henrietta's POV
The court was in chaos, I'd never seen such a hostile environment... but then again we'd never had such a crisis since long before I was born... Tristain usually stayed out of foreign affairs, except for marriages of convenience.
"First we should send emissaries to try and talk this out!" said one of the court lords.
"But what good would that do!? We're up against a large nation complete with battleships! Once they've set their eye on something there's no stoping them!" countered another. "So now we only have two paths left... one... is to surrender and live... and the other, is to resist and be killed!"
I couldn't stand that, most might view me as timid, but I knew the rules of being a noble and royalty on top of all that! I stood up abruptly "Surrender is not an option... It is the same as a cowards death to lose one's pride as a noble... I-... I will take personal charge of the army." I looked toward my mother who nodded in approval and I smiled back. I glanced at the ring of water on my hand, this was for Prince Wales.
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Scorch's POV
I stood in Louise's room looking out at the night sky...
"Three day's time huh?" I muttered "Man, that's not long..."
"Are you becoming emotionally attached or something?" Derf asked.
"To her? No way!" I said
"His pulse level just increased when you said that..." remarked Cortana
"But I was talking about this world in general. Not just this one girl..."
"It just spiked again for a second..."
"Shut up you two! It's all happening so fast I can't figure out my feelings!" I shoved Derf back into his sheath. "I've never had to deal with feelings like this before anyways..." I sighed... grabbed Derf and went over to lay down on the straw bed, leaning Derf against the wall.
"You know, I think Louise said she was going to a meeting tonight... but it's getting pretty late..." I took my helmet off and put it next to me... and I think I nodded off, because when I opened my eyes again it was morning. I noticed a piece of paper in front of me... I grabbed it and looked at it... however as I said when I first got here... my French is a bit rusty, I could only make out my name, Scorch, and a few other words, but not enough to take a guess at what it said...
"Hey Derf, can you read this?" I asked, not sure how he could even see... but since he was a magical talking sword I guess it was safe to assume he could read...
Derf popped out of his sheath and spoke in a high pitched girly voice "Dear Scorch, you're fired, you can go wherever you like, signed Louise..." his voice returned to normal "Uh-oh..."
"I'm fired!?" I wasn't at all upset, but I became suspicious at this... "C-... can she even actually do that?"
"Such a waste..." said Derf "And you were getting so close too..."
"Shut up you damned stick..." I grabbed Derf and headed down to where they were keeping the FA38, Kirche and Tabitha were both nearby, Kirche came over wondering what I was doing and I showed her the note.
"Your fired?" she asked
"Yeah, Louise wrote and left that for me this morning... then disappeared..." I said
"Hmm... I wonder..." mused Kirche "She may have gone to join Lady Henrietta..."
"She's with the princess? Why would she do that?" I asked
Kirche explained...
"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa... there gonna be a war!? With Albion!?" I exclaimed, as if the looming threat with the Covenant wasn't bad enough... Huh!
"Guiche was signed up for defensive duty too... I'm originally from Germania so I was thinking of scurrying back home before this all gets out of hand."
Figured... and since there wasn't anything else for me to do, but wait until the eclipse, I spent the rest of the day idly thinking about what would happen to me, and this world, once I left... would I just go back to fighting aliens day in day out? At least this world proved some change for me... it wasn't constant battle, people weren't dying constantly and there was no threat of total annihilation from either Aliens or intelligent parasites or robotic human forerunners... that night I spoke to Derf about these thoughts...
"Hey Derf, I'm kinda curious... whadda you think your gonna do after I'm gone?"
"Ahh, I'll be sleeping again in an old item shop... nothing'll change..."
"I see... but, I don't really live in this world to begin with... so... if I go home... this war will have nothing to do with me will it? It won't affect me, my people, or my loved ones... right?"
"Hehe..." Derf laughed nervously "Yeah that's right..."
I thought about all the time I'd spent in this world, Louise kissing me, trying to beat me up, me slapping her when the Golem was attacking, her tears, the time I'd saved the school from a brute, the time Louise offered to dance with me but I rejected... me swearing fealty to Henrietta... that one... that one stood out the most... despite all the hardships I'd gone thorough... I had it easy compared with my life back in the UNSC... and... really, I did feel attached to Louise... not as a familiar or lover no... but... like a guardian... the older brother she never had... I did lover her, but more in the protective sense that an older sibling might have for their younger siblings... sure she did some questionable things but, for some reason I felt that's why I needed to stay around... maybe I didn't need to go home... maybe eventually... the UNSC would come to me?
I nodded off again, tomorrow was the big day... when I'd have to make my final decision...
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I headed down to the FA38 in the morning... Kirche and Tabitha were with me, and Derf was on my back... I wore my MJOLNIR armor and also had an MA5B on my back and M6G at my side. I didn't realize it until yesterday, but I was actually starting to run low on ammo with only 600 more rounds for my Assault rifle and 120 more for my Magnum... it was the standard full carrying capacity for the common soldier on the field, but considering I had enough ammo to supply a platoon when I first got here, I counted that as not much left by comparison... it was amazing how much ammo I wasted on target practice to keep myself in crack-shot shape.
"Are you sure it will fly?" Kirche asked.
"I can't really explain it... but..." I touched the triangular wings at the back, where the jet engine for fighter mode was. "When I touch it... I just know it will fly just fine."
"I guess being Gandalfr can come in handy..." said Kirche "Well then I suppose this is goodbye my darling..." there was a pause "But are you sure it's what you want? Cuz you know you might never see Louise again after you leave..."
"I can't think about that right now..." I said then heard a long heaving sigh from my right... I looked over and saw Mr. Colbert with four flying barrels next to him, which he placed next to the FA38
"Sorry to keep you waiting..." he said "But the dragon's blood... I believe you called it jet fuel? I worked all night and was able to create this!"
I walked over to the barrels and put a hose in it leading up to the fuel tank on the underside of the fighter. "Thank you so much Mr. Colbert." I said
"Normally the whole academy would see you off with a grand ceremony, but... with times being like they are right now..."
"It's alright, and I'm sorry to be asking so much in such hard times..." I said, nodding my head in respect.
"Mhm... the enemy is already in the west end of Tristain... they've planted a battleship just outside of Tarbes... who knows when they'll reach here..." said Colbert
"Wait! They're in Tarbes!? Siesta's home town!?" I asked
"Our army has already begun it's advance under the command of our princess, Lady Henrietta..."
"Are- Are you serious!? I have to help them! They don't stand a chance against Albion!" I jumed into the plane and ran through the start off checklist.
"Your reckless if you're heading out to the warzone! What if you break a wing out there, you won't be able to return home!" said Kirche
"That's a risk I have to take, I'm a soldier, I'm ready to put my life down on the line for others... if I can at least save two people from certain death but die myself, then I know that my life had meaning... if I lose the chance to go home, but save an entire army... then that's a worthwhile sacrifice..." I explained and flipped the ignition switch. A female voice spoke.
"Subject identified as Commander Alexander Chyton, UNSC... error... this model is out of date, and considered obsolete, do you wish to continue with flight?" said the computerized voice of the plane and I hit the yes button on the viewscreen. The engines flared to life "You might want to stand back!" I yelled and closed the cockpit, locking it.
The engines flared again and I lifted up vertically, since the FA38 was a VTOL plane, once I got to a nice hight, I changed to fighter mode and took off towards western Tristain... I didn't dare open it up to break the sound barrier since I was so close to civilization as the resulting sonic boom might rattle a few windows... well... more like shatter them...
"This thing is pretty fast!" Said Derf "aint a dragon alive that can even remotely keep up!"
"Yeah!" I agreed and checked the ammo levels of the plane, which were at 65% for the rotary cannons and 20 single missiles in the pods also with 3 bursts worth of Sky-buster missiles as well. "It's not only fast, but there is still ammo loaded in its weapons!"
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Henrietta's POV
Me, Louise and the rest of the Tristain army finally reached the battlefield... a giant Albion ship was at the opposite end of the field above us... "Griffon squad, lure out the enemies Dragon squadron, Magic knights rush the flagship as soon as that happens..." I said, it wasn't the best plan by far... I saw our Griffon soldiers get knocked out of the sky quickly... while the Knights were getting picked off by cannon fire from the battleship... it wasn't going well... Wales... I wished he was here... he'd know what to do... this was my first battle, and I'd never lead any troops... If I hadn't doubted my military leadership abilities before, then I defiantly did now...
I noticed it was getting dark, but it was still noon... I looked up and saw the sun begin to be covered by the two moons of Halkenginia... the solar eclipse...
Then after a few moments of dead silence I heard a faint whisper... like a staff or sword cutting through air before it hit a target. "What's that?" I asked in general, to no one in particular.
"I don't know..." Said Louise who was right next to me... then she gasped and pointed "The robe of the dragon!" I looked and saw a triangular metal dragon flying across the sky... it flew straight up vertically then dove straight down towards the Albion dragons... four smoke streams flew from the dragon impacting the enemy dragon riders, exploding and vaporising them... it turned sharply and a stream of light flew from the nose of the dragon, ripping apart more of the riders... it was... amazing...
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Scorch's POV
I took aim at the last Dragon rider, this was way too easy... *bambambambam* the guns screamed and ripped up the last of the riders with high explosives, the sound of metallic ringing of the guns firing was... nostalgic... I noticed the Tristain army watching in awe... my ego started to build up... however I managed refraining from showing off...
"Partner! In front!" Said Derf and I looked ahead to see another dragon coming at me, I fired the cannons at it but missed... it came around to my rear, I looked back... "Who the fuck is that guy?" I said not recognizing the rider...
I noticed the Elite Rider beginning to channel a spell... "Partner draw me and open the canopy!"
I didn't hesitate. "Cortana, take over!" I pulled her chip out of my armor and put it into a drive for the fighter, then magnetized my boots, drawing Derf and opening the canopy just in time to absorb the spell from the Elite rider... "Alright let's do this!" I yelled and Cortana did a backfilp over the rider to get behind him... thankfully I had magnetized my boots so I didn't fall out of the plane... I sat back down and got a lock on the Elite Rider "I have you now" I said and pulled the trigger... nothing... I quickly hit the red missile button... nothing either... fuck... there was going to be no contest is I didn't have a weapon... however, in the corner of my eye I noticed an orange light from the center of the eclipse... and... two more Albion ships in the distance... well outside the blast radius that was to come...
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Sergeant Stacker's POV
We all lurched forward in our seats as we came out of the portal...
"Location?" I said to the pilots of our Pelican.
"Unknown..." replied the co-pilot "Our beacons are transmitting our position back to command, assuming we can keep the signal alive long enough..."
"Sir!" Said the pilot "look at this!" the pilot hit a switch and the monitors in the drop bay of the pelican lit up, showing a Covenant Super Carrier orbiting the planet...
"Damnit... have they spotted us?"
"Not yet... we should head to the surface before they do." Said the Pilot who turned on the radio to speak to the other Pelicans "Covie cruiser spotted, head to the surface ASAP."
All the Pelicans replied with an affirmative...
"Sir! This is Pelican Charlie 412! We've got banshees on our tail! Count of three! We've been hit!"
"Stay on us Charlie 412!" said the pilot..."
"I can't! We're losing her!"
None of us could see what was going on without turning around, since we were the lead Pelican... but we could hear the muffled explosion... and see the light...
"This is Pelican Delta 420! Pelican Charlie 412 is down! Repeat Pelican 412 is down! We lost Fire Team Charlie along with 500 pounds of equipment and one warthog!" said the pilot of Pelican Delta 420.
I looked out the front of the Pelican, we had just entered the atmosphere... the planet looked suspiciously like earth...
"Pelican Bravo 378! We're hit but we can hold! Our gunner managed to deter the attackers!" said the Bravo 378 pilot.
"Good." I said and looked back out just in time to see a blast of white light engulf the field we were approaching... I then saw a pile of burnt rocks, an old 21st century plane flying across the sky, heavily damaged and an entire army dressed like old medieval warriors and knights at one end of the field...
"Where in Sam hell's name are we!? Some planet bend on cosplay!?" said a marine from the drop bay.
"Can you raise that plane?" I asked
"Trying to now... opening a free channel..." the pilot hit a switch "This is UNSC Pelican Alpha 545 to unidentified fighter... state your name and business"
"U... UNSC!?" Said the pilot of the fighter... "T... the solar eclipse just ended! And you guys appeared... your UNSC! Get your Pelicans landed marines! We need to help these people!"
"And who might you be to order UNSC force around..."
"Who am I talking to who's in charge?"
"Lieutenant Chuck Walker was in charge but his pelican was shot down... Sergeant Stacker is here... and I'm in charge..."
"Hmm..." there was a pause "Well, this is UNSC Spartan-III, Commander Alexander Chyton S362, Noble Six. You will listen to my orders Sergeant..."
"S-Spartan!? Out here!?" I then remembered the story about Noble six going missing from his apartment on Reach... "So... you... you went missing a month and a half back!"
"Yeah... well I was taken here... now there are two more battleships headed this way, I've got friends in that ancient looking army over there and I'd like to protect them... plus maybe UNSC and Tristain, the country I'm currently fighting for, can work out an alliance later?"
"alright... we're landing now!" said the pelican pilot
"Good... my plane is heavily damaged, I'll meet you on the ground..." and the comms were cut off.
As we came into land we noticed the old flying ships were deploying soldiers... both on foot and air... on some winged beasts... I turned back to the drop bay.
"Alright... we're going in... GET TACTICAL MARINES!" I yelled as the Pelicans touched down in front of the other friendly army... I looked out the front and saw most of, if not all of them were slack jawed, gaping at us...
The doors opened and the pilot turned around in his seat... "Get ready to come out swingin'... touch down... HIT IT MARINES!"
"GO GO GO!"
We all ran out of the dropships, which had formed a square and used them as cover to avoid the blasts of fire coming from the enemy flyers... this was child's play, we all used our MA5Ds to take down the winged beasts and tear apart the enemy infantry, who only wore steel armor, making our bullets rip them to shreds. I saw a larger ball of fire headed towards us... "Dive men! Dive!" I yelled and three of the four marines near my rolled out of the way in time to avoid the explosion of the fireball I hadn't survived the Human-Covie war and the all the Halos by being slow... however one man didn't get out in time... although he didn't die he suffered major third degree burns...
"MEDIC!" I yelled and a marine with a red cross on his helmet and bag ran over and started treating the marine after putting out the fire.
Then I saw him...
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Scorch's POV
"Spartan!" Shouted a marine called Stacker, he looked like he wanted to ask me some serious questions so I silenced him with my hand
"Questions later, for now, we fight!" I pulled out my MA5B...
"Spartan!" Said a marine, "That's some seriously outdated weapons you got there!" he ran into a pelican and threw another rifle at me "It's the MA5D assault rifle, less ammo then the MA5B but much better accuracy and stopping power!"
"Thanks!" I resumed firing at the dragons, taking scores of them down... I heard the distinct sound of cannon fire in the distance. "INCOMING!" I yelled as one pelican blew into pieces... scattering supplies and sending the Warthog on it flying... but not destroying it... luckily...
"Marines! Get the Gauss hogs and Scorpion out and take down those ships!" I ordered and several squads of marines unlocked the vehicles and boarded them. Two of the 4 hogs were gauss hogs and were driven into position away from the Pelicans... the Scorpion Tank soon followed...
"Fire!" I yelled and the tank fired a single shell just at the right trajectory to impact the side of one of the Albion ships, blowing a hole in the side, bringing it down. While the other ship was taking fire from the Gauss hogs, one round from a hog tore the ship's mast in half, breaking the pole holding up the sail... then the two sails that kept the ship flying were targeted and destroyed... making the ship plummet to the earth... the men cheered as the rest of the Albion forces were cut down with our technologically superior weaponry... an Albion charge of about 600 or more soldiers came at us... but to no avil, the machine gun Hogs and the Scorpion opened fire on them with their machine guns ripping the entire army to bloody pieces in a matter of seconds. The attack ended with a final loud clap ringing out from the Scorpion tank as it finished off the remainder of the Albion Forces... I smiled under my helmet... probably due to my first chance to be in a large battle, or maybe that the UNSC had finally come... I'm not sure, I turned away from the carnage as I heard one last loud bang I recognized as a sniper shot... it came from near the first crashed Albion ship, the one that Louise had taken down with her new Void magic, as Derf had called it.
I walked over to Sgt. Stacker "What were our loses?" I asked
"Compared to the loses of the enemy... minimal sir! We lost one Pelican and five marines, two pilots... to fire burns no less... which means we only have 32 men left... 15 marines, 10 ODSTs and 8 pilots... along with 4 warthogs in good condition and one Scorpion Tank, along with about 2 tons of supplies... however we've also got several wounded but I'm sure most of them will recover."
"What were your orders?"
"To cross through a forerunner portal system to... here I guess... and establish a firebase until UNSC could track down our location and send a fleet through slipspace."
"I see... well Sergeant... the men we lost shall be mourned... but let's not waste time... there is someone who I think would like to meet you and your men..." a few marines and ODSTs stayed behind to clean up the mess by salvaging parts from the broken pelican and picking up the pieces and supplies dropped from its explosion, as well as preparing the dead for their choice of funeral, noted in their service record. Most of them would be buried on the spot they fell as a memorial, while one wanted to be cremated with his ashes sent back home. Ironic really, that he'd die to fire and request that...
We approached Henrietta and her army who were still dumbstruck by the arrival of the UNSC.
"M'lady..." I said and bowed slightly, the rest of the UNSC soldiers nodded politely, understanding that I was addressing someone of high authority. "Remember how I spoke about the UNSC, from my homeland a week ago?" Henrietta nodded with her mouth still open... "Well, this is some of them... only a few teams mind you but... well... I think their actions speak for themselves..."
"That..." Henrietta finally spoke "Was... impressive... to put it mildly..."
"Task force leader, Sgt. Stacker was commanding them... still is to some extent..." I said and pointed to the southern style American man...
"That's right, yer... err... what can I call ya?"
"Lady Henrietta..." I said "is that fine?" and Henrietta nodded
"Well then Lady Henrietta... this here is Fireteams Alpha, Bravo and Delta... there'd be nineteen more of us... but we lost twelve men on the way here due to Covenant fire and seven during the battle..."
"Covenant?" Henrietta asked
"COVENANT!?" I exclaimed "Explain yourself!"
"W-well... on the way here we passed a Covenant Super Carrier orbiting the planet... I thought you'd known?"
"I'd been seeing sporadic Covenant forces here... but... I've only encountered three squads worth... I... I didn't know that a whole Super Carrier was here! Oh fuck... it's Reach all over again..."
"Reach?"
"Reach... the whole planet was essentially destroyed in only a few days time... by a sneak attack by Covie forces..." the Princess gasped and a murmur of fear moved through her troops.
"sir!" Called an ODST corporal holding a sniper SRS-99 sniper rifle, I looked over to see the body of a long haired blonde man with a bullet hole in his head thrown to the ground. "I took out this scumbag who was using some kind of mind-control device on these teens... hope you don't mind but I thought it necessary to take the shot."
"That is Cromwell! The leader of the Reconquista!" said Henrietta "We meant to give him a trial for his war crimes if we caught him... but now he's..." she paused for a moment "Well, given the circumstances I understand your actions... this war should come to a quickened halt now that he is dead..."
I turned back to the situation with the covenant...
"Well, about the Covenant... Hopefully, they are only here for a relic recovery... if that's the case they might leave you alone... but... seeing as how I've encountered several Covenant soldiers on the ground, I don't think that's the case anymore... but... not to fear... UNSC is on the job... we will keep Tristain safe..." The princess seemed to calm down "However we do have one request first... before we take up defensive positions..."
"Sure, anything!" said Henrietta... and I smirked under my helmet...
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General POV (Third person)
Louise and the rest of her friends were at the ceremony for the battle's end, receiving metals for their acts on the field... while a UNSC soldier stood to the side waiting to speak with the Princess... after the ceremony the soldier spoke to the princess who nodded after their conversation was over...
Louise headed back to the academy to show Scorch her metal only to find he wasn't in her room... upon leaving the room she sees things have gone back to normal... Kirche is a guy magnet again, Tabitha was reading books... Guiche was trying to convince Montmorency that he loved her and only her while she rejected him... she saw Siesta washing clothing at a fountain, who then said Scorch had just been there... and directed Louise just outside the academy... Louise went out to the front gate and looked to her left to see the foundation of a large green structure... with a hole leading underground and platforms one of which had a building raising from it... the start of the UNSC outpost on Halkenginia...
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So from now on, the plot will vary due to the UNSC and Covenant's involvement, it will still generally follow the cannon plot but will switch back and forth to the UNSC and Covie involvement in Halkenginia, such as battles and the REAL reason the Covies have taken an interest in Halkenginia! In fact, these Covie and UNSC agendas will more than likely affect the outcome of the cannon plotline.
Sorry for this chapter being shorter than the last few by the way... but... well...
So... that's it for season one... might take a bit of a break for a while... put this on temporary hiatus... maybe... well... you'll know if I don't update for a while... anyways...
Since I've brought this story so far, why not leave me a review about what you did or didn't like, constructive criticism is welcomed! And if you really liked the chapter/story so far, why not add this fic to your faves, maybe also follow it so that you can stay in the know of future updates? All the above help me to stay motivated to write this story (Cuz I like knowing people actually read my story... but let's face it, who doesn't...)
Welp then... WTYL peoplez! :D