You have got to be kidding me.
I have waited some unknown number of years for my distress beacon to hit off some installation in the middle of god knows where, and when a rescue does come it comes in the form of a colorful pony using…
A FUCKING SHOVEL!? OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE!
I smash my head into the holographic display the camera is displaying. Why, just why is the world so cruel? Of all the things that I think could find me, a fucking pony using a god forsaken shovel was so low on the list it's fucking ridiculous.
The black and white camera screen doesn't help much as far as features but it appears to be a Pegasus, it has a series of packs and saddle bags along with a shovel all strapped over its back. The thing looks around, gawking slightly, taking in the cargo bay with its few cargo containers laying around. I swear it seems halfway intelligent, but with aliens you never know they could be dumb as rocks or give me a run for my theoretical money.
The pegasus takes a few steps inside the bay looking like it wanted to see more, whipping its head to and fro like it was expecting a monster to jump out of nowhere. Then again with how primitive the tech is I would guess that it wouldn't take much to qualify something as a monster here.
Seeming to overcome it's indecisiveness it begins to push forward into the derelict ship, looking for something interesting no doubt so I decide to give him the tour. I close the rear door the sound causing the pegasus to look around in panic before seeing the door seal with a hiss, the pony shrugs and pushes forth once more. I smile it's got guts I'll give it that.
It moves from camera to camera visiting the mess hall and barracks, I have to step in a few time to prevent it from coming in contact with something too sensitive (mostly by sealing doors) and eventually I direct it to the bridge. It walks (trots?) into the command center and sees yet another empty room and starts to explore, pressing buttons and moving joysticks. Eventually it gets to the pilot's chair, it walks around and finds Sara, with a whinny in terror it jumps away, clearly not expecting to find a skeleton in an otherwise spotless ship.
It leans against the console on the other side of the room eyes locked on the bones, sides heaving. Slowly the fear leaks out of its frame and curiosity returns. It moves up to the chair spotting the glint of her dog tags against the matte of the seat. It unfurls a wing and using a feather it tries to retrieve the tags. I feel protectiveness wash over me as I watch the creature reach forward to desecrate the body of my dead friend and I act. I materialize in full size form right inside the skeleton and lean forward with a yell, broadcasting the sound to all the speakers on the bridge.
It gives a humanlike shriek of terror and leaps away from the body and me, then runs for the nearest door away from the bridge. I give a slight chuckle before watching the panicked pony run from the bridge and towards the medical ward, suddenly I feel the beginning of an idea begin to float around in my head.
"Dot do we have any neural links onboard?" I ask
A second passes before I get a cargo list sent to me, I smile seeing the object I want pop up and flash in red. "Thank you Dot." I say the idea growing more refined by the second.
I return to the alien in the medical bay freshly armed with knowledge and a plan, it's lost its terror from earlier but moves warily from room to room undoubtedly looking for something once more. I watch as it moves from the recovery wing towards the operating bay with a grin on my face as the plan starts to fall into place. To push it along faster I appear in my mini purple avatar at the head of the table in front of the pegasus and wave, once again the pony shrinks back but it seems to overcome its fear now that I am much smaller. It slowly walks up to me not seeming to want to rush it before it is eye to eye with me,
"I'm terribly sorry about this." I tell it.
It… She, I can now tell, cocks her head, not seeming to comprehend what I said but that doesn't matter when I bring down a mallet on the back of her head from the surgeon bot that has been waiting above us the entire time. I sigh and bring the unconscious body of the mare up onto the table.
"Dot perform an in-depth scan of her brain and get all the information we can out of it, then see if she is compatible with a neural link." I command.
Flashback
It has been some time since the battle for Sword and a lot has happened since then. I sent Sara out to scout for a Noble reconnaissance force before learning from the same force that the covenant has set up a ground base to launch from. This leads to an all-out fight the next day that Sara stayed back from to continue to protect Sword base, long story short we had a series of minor victories but in the end a covenant super carrier came in and fucked everything before starting a glassing campaign. We fought back by sending a rigged slipspace drive into a corvette, ramming it up the super carrier's ass, and detonating it.
We lost NOBLE 5 (listed M.I.A. but I know the truth) when the bomb went off due to an automatic detonator failure from damage sustained while fighting for control of the corvette NOBLE 6 was M.I.A. for a bit but popped up helping evacuate New Alexandria. Again we lost a NOBLE, 2, from sniper fire while moving to a nuke shelter. Now we have the team moving to help with a "Torch and Burn" Op at sword base but this is a façade for something else…
"Hey Sara, we got NOBLE incoming." I warn her as she sweeps the base once more.
She nods "I know, will I have to deal with babysitting duty or can we tell the straight up?"
I'm standing on her shoulder in my small purple holo for, "I don't know, they aren't aware of the true reason for their coming here, so babysitting for now."
She nods "K."
She jumps around a corner and buries her knife in an unaware Elite and it slumps to the ground with a gurgle. Sara cleans her knife off on the Elite's reddish armor, "How close?" she asks.
"I got a bunch below you in the main lobby but NOBLE should-" I'm interrupted by the sound of gunfire from below, "Beat them down." I finish.
Sara smiles under her Recon helmet as she watches "I'll give them props, they know how to bash and whack." She says. I grin back at her as the firefight ends and they reach the waypoint originally set for them. We hear the sound of argument as they begin to squabble over the faulty waypoint.
I disappear from Sara's shoulder as I go to NOBLE's feeds. I cut them off to the outside and answer a question coming from Carter in the form of Auntie Dot. I set a new waypoint for where they will actually be going and watch as they call out that it's a mile underground.
I reappear on Sara's shoulder, "Alright the stage is set we just need to start the show." I say. She nods and struts into the room filled with 7 foot tall Spartans
"Evening boys." She purrs.
As this happens I have Dot say that the new waypoint came from an A.I. with higher clearance than her. The reply from the team is the same to both statements.
"What!?"
They level their weapons at Sara at the same time that Noble 1 says "What AI has higher clearance than you Dot?" he says into his comm
Ahh how the clueless blunder…
I respond with Dot's voice "Why don't you ask" I shift my voice to the standard masculine voice that I use, "The one who controls her?" I say popping up on Sara's shoulder. There are nods around the room as they take in the ODST and strange purple AI that had just crashed their party, Jun is the first to speak
"Would you like to tell me how out of my depth I am now?"
I smile "I am ONI. I usually am the one working the logistics on all of your missions and strategizing ways for you to work the most efficiently." I say smartly
He nods seeming to accept that, I'll give him credit the man knows how to take things in stride. "The reason that we brought you here isn't false it was just cover for your commanders." I float over to the middle of the room and seal the door, "Once I release you from the temporary black zone I have set up in this room Dr. Halsey will contact you. She is going to have you take on a guard mission followed by an escort a VIP assignment." I hold up my hands to stop the flow of questions coming from Carter, Six, and Jun. "I will allow her to give details, I am not allowed to tell you everything." I pull up a map of Sword and the glacier nearby, "Sara and I" I gesture over to the helmeted ODST "Have taken the liberty of placing charges on all of the structural weak points." Sara tosses the remote to Emile and I look at him "I know you talk with actions not words so you're the one who gets the boom stick, what they sent you to recover was me. The way you will recover me is by providing a distraction. When you complete Halsey's mission you will draw the fire of the covenant, my data storage along with my AI matrix will be transported out on the Blood Moon, a Wraith hidden under the base."
They nod seeming to understand that they're wayyy out of their depth.
"Gentlemen, I think your comm error is resolving itself, strange how no one could hear you for the past few minutes." I hint. They quickly go about the routine of calling command for an equipment failure. They soon get routed to Halsey and take up the mission that I told them about.
Pause Flashback
"Sir, I have completed the brain scan." Dot says
I thank her and access the results from our resident alien pony…
"Interesting." I say, I absorb all of her memories. I learned a new language along with the fact that we are either in an alternate sector of space or in a new dimension entirely…"
"We appear to be in the land of Equestria, a land filled with "Magical" colorful ponies that come in three types. I use the term "Magical" loosely, as the magic they use appears to be forunner in nature and possibly even halfway scientific. I hand this off to Dot and have her implement the customs and habits in memory so I don't have to.
I guess we should get onto who exactly our pegasus is. After I scan her with better Color Sensing! equipment I find that she has a bright white coat with a wild two-toned cobalt blue and golden yellow mane and tail. She has a erm… "Cutie Mark" depicting a shovel and brush crossed over a treasure chest.
Her name is Bounty.
I grin as I comb through her memories and see her life, all the ups and downs. She was orphaned early on in life when her parents went missing, no one knew why or how they just did. Raised in an orphanage she learned what she wanted to do when a famous archaeologist came to visit her school and entertained the children with tales of his discoveries, prompting her to research the history of the town and dig up a treasure hidden in the orphanage. She used this money to finance her travels and donated the rest of it to history museums that were in danger of closing, how she learned of his ship was a different story entirely and I will leave it out for now.
(A/n: I will possibly include this story later if anyone is interested.)
She had stumbled in looking for a challenge and adventure and then ended up on Quo's table for the adventure of a lifetime.
"Dot, prep the surgeon bot and turn on the lights. It's time to give her the neural interface."
Continue Flashback
"So… anything interesting to talk about?" Sara asks.
I sigh, "Has anything happened since you asked that five minutes ago?"
"I dunno has there?"
The sound of my facepalm echoes across the bridge (Yes, I do have software for that, deal with it.)
We had been waiting for NOBLE team to tell us that they had started the pre-discussed plan, they make lots of noise we wait for the Covenant to follow then we give them the go ahead to blow the base. So far they had yet to start the party.
Sara was seated at the helm of the UNSC Blood Moon, a Sahara class Prowler that had been specially modified to transport me to Reach. It has been modified to run on the power of a fusion reactor due to the shear amount of energy I require to function and to still be able to meet the energy requirements for the ship's engines. The crew barrack's size had to be massively reduced and a faux wall had been erected to conceal the entrance to my data hub, this only allows for a skeleton crew to be housed while the ship is moved from place to place. On the rare occasion that I was being moved to a new containment facility the crew was told that they were moving delicate cargo and that was the reason for such an odd carrier vessel.
Suddenly the comms system rings out displaying a message from Six:
Package is away, starting the party.
I grin ready for more action, the problem with being moved on the Gateway was that once I was loaded on the ship I had to be connected to the new containment vessel with a hardwire. So I was effectively cut off from the outside world till I get physically plugged into my new home, the only reason I could read Six's messages was that I was integrated into the ship and therefore could read incoming messages.
"Ready to roll?" I ask Sara
"Finally ready!?" she yells excited to get moving
"Yeah, open the launch bay doors."
There is a low rumble as the huge doors slide open to reveal the open skies, coated in orange clouds from the fumes of the full planet glassing that was going on. The mood is grim as we are reminded of how the planet is slowly being consumed by ash and crystal.
Suddenly there is a screech as a squadron of banshees go by in the direction that NOBLE was supposed to be flying, their trails quickly dissipate as we lose sight of them on the horizon.
"I think it's working…" I say as Sara flicks switches on the instrument panel in front of her.
"You don't say!" comes her reply.
The yoke comes alive in her hands as the flight systems on the ship all boot up, a gentle hum as the engines fire follow by a dull roar as the afterburners clean up the thrust. There is a slight shake as the ship pushes off the ground and towards the sky, I get the chance to send off one more message to the team before we get out of range.
"Thanks Spartan, Godspeed to you all. Tell four to light it up."
Seconds later there is a rumble as the remnants of Sword Base is consumed in an explosion, a final blast to protect its secrets from the world and keep me hidden. Soon enough we reach the inky black of space and the engine shifts pitches to compensate for the lack of oxygen.
"And we're off." Sara says setting the course for the next UNSC rendezvous point in friendly territory. She lets go of the wheel and sighs rubbing her hands on her face and bending down allowing some of her wariness to show through.
"Sometimes I'm not sure about the universe."
"Me neither, and I've seen the scary shit that the UNSC sweeps under the rug"
She is shaken in her seat as the prowler does evasive maneuvers to avoid incoming plasma fire, "FUCK!" she yells grabbing the yoke and rolling to the left to avoid a torpedo. I pull up the sensors,
"We got a cruiser closing fast!"
Her answer is another string of cusses followed by another roll to the right. I pull up the weaponry and start pumping bullets into the smaller craft that were following the Moon.
"We got to come up with something, there's too many for us to take!"
"What about camo?" she yells
"They have a lock on us, we will have to put a lot of distance on before it will fool them!"
The sound of the shield absorbing more plasma sounds out and a screaming alarm rings out as the low shield warning flashes up on the console.
"We're not built to fight! This is a stealth carrier!" I yell over the alarm
Suddenly Sara's face lights up in a 'I have had an insane idea' look, "Remember that wormhole that we had to skirt around on the way to Reach?"
"Yea..."
"How close is it?"
"You aren't really thinking-"
"Just how close!?"
"… We can make it before the shield gives."
I mark it on the nav system and she opens the throttle wide trying to beat the shield level. As we progress the alarm for shield failure grows louder and louder before dropping to an ominous moan. I pull up status reports across the ship, "Hull integrity at 75%..."
The wormhole comes into view, a huge swirling mass of dark purple swirling around a focal black circle, slowly the thing orbits like a galaxy. More plasma bolts shake the ship,
"Hull Integrity at 50%..."
She guns the engines, trying to coax every last bit of speed out of the craft bringing us dangerously close to the center of the wormhole.
"The fighters are falling back!" I say seeing the blips reverse direction on the radar.
Sara sighs and tries to pull the ship out of the dive toward the hole in space time, I run a quick calculation and the results aren't good.
"I don't think we're going to make it out…"
As I say that the ship slowly gets dragged backwards toward the rift, the gap closing quickly.
Sara folds her head "Quo it has been an honor serving with you, I hope that you can move on after me."
I flash up in front of her in my full body form: Spikey black hair, purple eyes with white irises, dressed in jeans and a black sweatshirt, and 6 feet tall.
"Do not give me that shit! You know that we will make it and kick whatever is on the other side's ass!" I say angrily. She just gives me a weary resigned smile,
"I don't think that I will make it this time, the damage to the hull will cause oxygen leaks when the extreme pressure of the wormhole hits. I need O2 you don't."
Almost right on cue the ship gives a screech as pressure is exerted on it from the swirling hole.
"No, you will stay with me!" I yell defiantly.
Suddenly the ship gives a spin and my world goes black as power is interrupted.
*End Flashback*
I knock the cobwebs from my head as I pull myself from the past once again.
The mare was in recovery after I operated on her, in short I put in a specialized neural implant that is very similar to the ones Spartans receive to interface with their suits. The purpose of this one was to allow me a carrier and a messenger in the form of a living being, but I will come back to that.
"Dot how long till she wakes up?" I ask
"Five minutes give or take sir."
I nod and strap on the backpack I had put together for her, inside was various items that I thought that I would need to move around on the planet and eventually talk with the leaders. It also included an almost indestructible A.I. carrier unit that I rigged to work with a small antenna so I could act like an A.I. in the MJOLNIR armor minus the actual armor. In short, I was going to get off this damn ship after who the hell knows how long.
"Dot, I'm going to leave you behind to watch the home base." I say splitting off my faithful subroutine.
"Yes sir, any other orders sir?" she asks
I nod "No one else is to enter the ship. If they do make it in terminate them with prejudice or capture them if they are deemed non hostile. I now give you clearance up to the level just below my own." I say, making sure that a commander couldn't walk in and hijack the ship.
Suddenly the pony stirs making a soft whinny, I run it through a rough translator that I programed and get a groan sound.
"Alright Dot, put me in."
Her response comes in the form of being unceremoniously shoved out of the ship onto the smaller storage unit.
"Well that is an unpleasant change... Dot you receiving?" I ask
"The rig appears to have worked sir." Comes the reply
"Good, assume your orders till I return."
"Yes sir."
I run a quick check on all the systems one more time, and just as I finish the pegasus opens her eyes allowing me to see the world in actual color again.
"Nice." I remark to myself.
She gets off the table slowly, still woozy from the operation, and stands up stretches her wings looking around. I notice another ever so useful TV in her sight and connect to it.
Third POV
Bounty smacks her lips, getting knocked out isn't pleasant but she'd had it happen before. As she takes stock of her surrounding she takes notice of the backpack she had secured to her. She pulls at it but the metal straps are tightly secured and don't budge.
Suddenly the wall seemingly begins to glow black, she turns to look at it and cautiously moves closer.
Quo looks on with a smile knowing what will come next.
The screen shows a security feed of the room she is in and her looking at the screen in the corner. Bounty looks on in wonder, having never seen something this complex still working, and gets closer to the screen.
Suddenly there is movement on the screen.
A huge Sanghelli in blood spattered armor appears a few yards behind her and lets out a petrifying roar. Bounty smashes her nose to the screen before whipping her head around to see the Elite coming at her with dual blades drawn.
She books it out of the ship.
Quo just laughs
Hey… Sup? I am having a blast writing this still but now I must go. The plan now is to post the chapter on A Life Taken sometime this week or next before moving my story Starting Over to this account. Go check them both out, but I must warn you not to read past chapter two on Starting Over because I am editing some of the chapters so it will be different. This has been the longest chapter I have ever written clocking in at 4k words but the next ALT chapter will be even bigger! But till then… peace
- TDB
PS: Let me know how I'm doing , I'd really like to know.