A/N: UNSC KYP here, Back with a new story featuring Halo and Gate.
Also restarting the update of my other stories. Haven't made a schedule on which story will be updated next. So wait for news regarding it.
Chapter 1
February 25, 2531
Shield world "Trove"
After being kidnapped by an Elite in Arcadia and transporting her to an unknown planet. Professor Anders was dragged by an Elite wearing silver armor then he forced her to touch a circle-like pad and the surrounding ships suddenly activated.
"The ancients have granted us the power to doom your race." The silver armored elite said "Let the deconstruction of our gifts. The majesty of our new fleet will be unparalleled."
Professor Anders looked at the Elites surrounding her, they were preoccupied so she decided to use this chance to escape then went to the teleporter pad "Nothing Ventured, Surface" she said and the machine activated teleporting her to the surface
"Hmm, that worked out pretty well" she suddenly walk back as 3 weird spore like thing approaching her "Or maybe not "
When the three creatures leap into the air, gunshots were heard and suddenly all the creatures were dead on the ground.
"Lady, I haven't got all day, do you want to be rescued or not?" The marine said and in the background a pelican was descending
Spirit of Fire Bridge
"Is this really going to work, Professor?" Captain Cutter asked looking at the two pelicans lowering a big device
"I believe this is our best hope." Professor Anders said "The overloaded FTL Reactor will cause a chain reaction in the sun."
"Enough to destroy all the ships here before the Covenant can get a chance to make anything from them." Captain Cutter Said
"Our FTL engine will cause the sun to go supernova, leaving nothing but dust." Professor Anders said looking at a small monitor
"That's the weak part of the plan, if you ask me." A blue female figure appeared in the holo table" We`ve no way home without that FTL engine."
"One problem at a time, Serina," Cutter said "If the covenant gets their hands on these ships, it will mean the end of the war. We'll take our chances here, to give humanity some hope."
" I know it's been a tough call, Captain but it's the right one." Professor Anders reassured
The monitor was replaced with a transmission "Spirit of fire, this is Forge. She's buttoned up and ready to go!" The marine said
"Deliver that package safely, Sergeant" Captain Cutter said
"Keep the coffee hot... And I`ll be back before you know it." Sergeant Forge said holstering his shotgun
"I`ll be monitoring you from here, Sergeant!" Professor Anders said
"Well, it`ll be pretty obvious if he succeeds" Serina said
Apex
After delivering the package safely despite encountering several Covenant forces along the way.
"Gentlemen, we`re burning sunshine here" Sergeant Forge said
The three Spartans provide overwatch just in case the Covenant send more troops to stop them while the other marine go to the door and try to open it while Sergeant Forge just climb up the machine that is carrying the Reactor and pressing some buttons
"It`s active!" The marine said after pressing a button in the panel looking at the door
"Sergeant!" Yelled by a Spartan and Sergeant take a peek and saw several Elites deactivated their active-camo then a yell was heard from behind
"Lieutenant?" Sergeant Forge said looking at the Lieutenant being impaled by an energy sword "Take care of those Elites, He's mine!" He ordered while kicking the release sequence which caused the reactor to slide at the Elite that killed Lieutenant.
"Let's go!" The Spartan Said and he kneeled while firing at the nearest Elites while his two teammates rush to meet the other Elites
The two Spartans just easily dodge the attacks while continuously firing their weapon then they pick up the pike weapon of the elites and throw it to the incoming Elites.
Sergeant Forge quickly jog to the door with his MA5B when he arrived it was empty then he feel something behind him then an energy sword came from the back but Forge manage to evade then tackle the elite and do a quick roll to the side then start firing his weapon at the Elite but the MA5B wasn't able to kill the Elite.
The Elite slash his energy sword diagonally but Forge ducks in time and the Elite knock Forge`s weapon in his second attack then Forge quickly tackles him to the ground and uses his pistol and shoots at the hand of the Elite making the Elite let go of his weapon.
The Elite then grab Sergeant Forge to smash him to the ground and punch his stomach making Forge to grunt in pain
"Like the rest of your race, weak and undisciplined." The Elite said and grab Forge to throw him to the wheel of the machine carrying the reactor
Meanwhile on the other side of the battle, The Spartans were murdering the Elites like they were nothing. They did not even break a sweat.
The Elite throws Sergeant Forge like a piece of paper then he slowly walks towards Sergeant Forge while picking up his energy sword along the way.
"There will be no female to save you this time." The Elite said
"Look me in the eye and say that." Sergeant Forge taunted while clutching his stomach
"As you wish" The Elite replied and picked up Sergeant Forge "My face will be the last thing your pathetic eyes ever see."
He was about to strike a finishing blow to the Sergeant but Forge was quick enough to pull his knife and stab it to the neck of the Elite making the Elite walk back and drop Forge and his weapon then Forge picks up the Elite`s weapon and uses it to kill the Elite.
"And for the record, I would have kicked your ass the first time if the lady hadn't stopped me!" Sergeant Forge spat while catching his breath
After the Battle, one of the Spartans operated the crane to put the reactor inside the room. The other one was dropping the body of the Elite in one of the edges while the last one was talking to Sergeant Forge.
"It's still fine Sir!" The Spartan Said analyzing the timer
"Okay, place it well and we will be running back to the ship once the timer starts." Sergeant Forge said and the Spartan nodded in agreement
Spirit of Fire Bridge
"Hangar Bays report all crews checked in" Serina reported
"Then let's not outstay our welcome. Best speed away" Captain Cutter said and looks at the bridge window along with Professor Anders and Sergeant Forge
"Captain, the gravity field from the sun is expanding, We`re not going anywhere" Serina said calmly
"Let's see if we can`t turn it to our advantage" Captain Cutter said "Serina plot a course that take us into the sun, we`re going to slingshot around it."
"Threading a needle while accelerating…" Serina said looking at a holographic example of their situation "an exploding star inside a planet that's falling apart. Sure why not?"
"Serina, can you do it?" Captain Cutter asked
"It's done, you might want to hold onto something." Serina said and Captain Cutter sat on his chair "Closing your eyes might help too."
The Spirit of Fire began accelerating around the sun going supernova with Serina`s piloting skills the Spirit of fire managed to get out of the Shield World, just in time when the Shield World exploded into millions of pieces.
The Ship was slowly decelerating after exiting the shield world when a portal suddenly opened right in its path.
"Unknown Slipspace portal" An Ensign shouted
Before Captain Cutter could give an order the ship already entered the portal and exited on an uncontrolled descent towards a planet.
"Captain, Ship is on a uncontrolled descent" Serina informed in completely calm manner
"Divert all power of auxiliary and non-important systems towards the engine." Cutter ordered "Try to achieve a stable flight."
"Captain,unknown energy put our engines offline" One of the bridge crew said "Engineering is trying their best to restart the engines."
The ship was already in the process of atmospheric reentry as it descended into the planet in a fiery entry.
"Serina, ETA on the crash?" Cutter asked
"At the speed we exited and got caught in the gravity well of the planet" Serina paused for a moment "Two minutes and ten seconds before impact."
Captain Cutter was formulating several decisions in his head whether to abandon ship or try to salvage the situation.
"Can we still steer the ship?" He asked
"Yes, we still have limited controls" Lt. Green answered
"Good enough Lieutenant. Take control of the ship Serina and have it land in the area where it will cause least damage as possible when it crashes." Cutter ordered "Issue a warning to personnel near the area you are planning to land the ship."
"Captain without the engines to further slow our descent there is a high chance the ship superstructure will be severely damaged or causing some part of the ship to be cut in half from impact."
"One minute till impact" A Bridge crew shouted "Captain, engines back online"
"Serina" Cutter said
"Already on it Captain" She replied
The ship's engines flared back to life as it tried its best to slow the descent of the 41 million metric ton ship.
"10 seconds till impact" A bridge crew said
"Brace for Impact" Cutter ordered
The ship crashed with a large sound accompanying it that could be heard kilometers away. Dust and debris kicked up into the air.
Captain Cutter experienced the worst headache of his life. He also heard someone calling out his name.
"Captain, can you hear me? Captain?" The voice said
When Cutter opened his eyes he saw Professor Anders was currently assessing him for injuries and inquiring about his health.
"Professor?" He said
"It seems you are fine, excuse me for a moment Captain." Anders said before going to other members of the bridge crew checking on them for injuries
"Serina Status report?" Cutter ordered "Serina?"
Cutter looked at the bridge with most of the crew currently waking up from their slumber, while others were currently leaning whatever surface they could lean on. He even saw Sgt. Forge administered first aid to a wounded crew member.
"Captain, sorry for the delay. My system just recently finished rebooting." Serina said "Ships Structural integrity at 63%, Essential Systems 75%, Weapon Systems are currently offline, Engines 1,4 and 5 are damaged from overexertion, Several hull breaches on the lower levels of the ship near the impact zones."
"Communication and scanning equipment are still online and operational." Serina continued "Overall Assessment, the ship still is capable of atmospheric and space flight. The crash did not compromise our ability to fly."
"Casualties?" Cutter asked
"No dead as of the moment, although personnel from different levels are reporting minor to major injuries." Serina answered
Captain Cutter let out a sigh of relief from the news he heard.
"Where did the ship land, Serina?" Cutter asked Serina
With a wave of her hand several pictures and texts appear on the holo-table. A map of a very large continent with a bleeping red icon in the middle.
"This is what the ship's scanner got prior to the atmospheric entry." Serina said "This planet possesses similar qualities of Earth like normal gravity and a breathable atmosphere,etc."
"As for the area we landed in," Serina pointed at the map "North of us are mountain ranges of varying heights, South of us seems to be a large slightly hilly barren field, East of us is large grassland with a small forest and to the West is large open lake which seems to be connected to an underground cave system in the mountains."
Serina then highlighted three points of interest in the map which was a few kilometers away from the ship. Point A is a narrow pass near the mountains about 2 meters in width and beside it is a several hundred meters deep chasm.
Point B is situated on a hill and at least the farthest from the ship compared to the others. It is also surrounded by large rock formations making it difficult for movement .
Point C is the least defensible compared to the other two. It's a wide stretch of land as far as the eye can see. It has a forest near its vicinity.
"If we send some troops on these three points, we can effectively secure the roads heading towards the ship." Serina pointed out "The natural terrain around us provides a defense that we can force any attacker to funnel in the direction we want. Denying them their numerical superiority. So long as we hold those three points."
"Although the third point needs some walls and several defense installations as it is the weakest among the three." Cutter said "If the enemy manages to break through it, they have a wide open field to utilize their number against us. The only saving grace of that point is that the enemy would be confronted by the large lake sitting in between the ship and them if they continue to advance deeper."
" Send out some troops to secure our perimeter then have them set up outposts on those points. Our crash made a large noise that will attract natives." Cutter continued "Sgt. Forge I want you to gather your men and try to scout our vicinity."
"Yes Sir" Forge said as he run out of the bridge to prepare
Time Skip
It took a few hours for the Marines and Army to establish a secure perimeter around the ship as well as trying to establish a Firebase a few hundreds meters away from the ship. So far everything was smooth sailing as they did not encounter any natives so far.
Point C Outpost
Designation "Charlie"
A few kilometers away from the firebase was a hastily built small outpost that was being manned by a squad size marine force. The outpost consists of a small prefabricated building and a MG nest beside it along with 3 Warthogs with M41 LAAG. With the marines currently digging a trench line.
"What the fuck is that!" A marine shouted pointing at a very large group of unknowns 200-300 meters away from their current position
Several marines looked in the direction as they heard the sound of a drum being played.
"Is that a troll and a bunch of goblins!" Another marine said
"ROAR!" The leader of the Troll shouted and pointed at the UNSC forces
Goblins and trolls quickly charge with frenzy
"OPEN FIRE!"
Staccato of gunfire resonates in the air. Few marines run towards the Warthog to use its chaingun to provide a supporting fire.
Whatever armor some Trolls and Goblins were just plain useless against the 26th century bullets as it simply tore through them like tissue paper. The fantasy creatures keep charging, uncaring of the losses they incur after all they outnumbered the current UNSC forces 30 to 1.
"Shit!" A marine said "SOF-actual, this Sgt. Foley we are currently being engaged by creatures straight from a fantasy book and about to be overrun. Requesting air support and reinforcement."
"Roger, hold out for 50 seconds. Captain is authorizing Swortsword Bombing run" The operator said
"Men hold out for 50 seconds!" Foley shouted
Another roar alerted the UNSC forces and saw a fully armored ogre with a giant log on his hand.
"Ramirez!" Foley shouted "Shoot that ugly bastard with a SPNKR"
The marine named Ramirez quickly pulled out the M41 SSR MAV which was technically an infantry portable anti-armor weapon. Ramirez aimed and pressed the trigger as the missile flew towards the armored ogre… the result was plain overkill.
Goblin archers were in range and began raining down arrows while their crude arrows did nothing to penetrate the 26th infantry armor; the amount of arrows unleashed allowed it to hit some unprotected areas. Like one Marine manning the Warthog's gun got hit on his right leg and left arm.
The rest of the marines scrambled to whatever cover they had to avoid getting hit.
A medic quickly run to drag the injured marine to cover
"Ramirez, man the hog" Foley shouted
The poor private was trying his best not to get hit by the arrows but safely managed to reach the warthog's gun then wasted no time to lay down large amounts of bullets onto the enemy.
The enemy was getting closer to the outpost as they continued to charge and even climbed over the dead bodies of their own allies.
A whistling sound could be heard as Swortsword planes passed by carpet bombing the enemy formation. The marines cheer at the planes and a few pelicans arrive to reinforce the marine outpost.
"Mop up the stragglers, marines" Foley shouted
The marines were easily taking out the goblins and trolls who are now running away after their formation and morale were broken by the explosions.
UNSC Firebase
Few days passed since the incident with those fantasy creatures near the outpost. The Spirit of Fire did not experience any more attacks. So it was free to fully build the firebase without worries.
Various buildings are being built like barracks, supply pad, vehicle depot, reactors, etc. everything needed to sustain their ground operations. Soldiers from the 45th Marine Regiment began digging around the ship and around the firebase. Various sniping posts, MG Nest, foxholes and trenches were being built. It is a second defensive line should the three outposts fall.
Several Squads were also assigned to reinforce outposts and checkpoints around their area to prevent anyone attempting to slip in and serve as early warning when there is an attack against the firebase.
The engineers have already finished the band-aid repair on the ship. Which allowed Serina to properly land their ship instead of letting it lean on the mountain. The ship is still not fully repaired from the damages incurred during the landing and from the previous encounter with Covenant but it can still fly if it wants to.
But the Captain wants the ship fully repaired before planning to fly the ship back to space. Which according to the engineers probably will take several months to three years at best to finish the repair due to a lack of dedicated repair facility.
A satellite freshly made from the Spirit's onboard factory was being checked by engineers one last time before being loaded to a Pelican. The satellite will serve as the eyes in the sky, relay-communication point and GPS for the ground troops while the Spirit undergoes repairs.
"Ramirez dug deeper and wider." Foley shouted at the marine having a hard time digging a trench hole "Your hole barely fit your feet."
"He's probably a city-boy sarge, digging holes like this isn't new in the countryside" Cpl. Dunn said "You kid aint going to survive at Bliss."
"You finished your speech Corporal?" Foley said "Now shut up and keep digging. Command wanted this to be done before nighttime."
Overhead were several planes flying to different directions which was occuring for the last few days.
"Guess the flyboys get to see the front seat of this world we landed in." Dunn looked at the AV-22 Sparrowhawks and Pelicans "Hope they leave us something to explore."
"Do you think we will meet more magical creatures?" Ramirez asked
"Well we got orcs and trolls, maybe we'll meet elves?" A female voice said who was also digging a trench
Ramirez looked at the direction of the voice and saw a female marine of Asian descent. Noticing her rank which was Lance Corporal and name is Sarah.
"Do you think they will have magic? You know the real magic and not the hocus-pocus type we saw on TV?" Ramirez said
"I hope it's real magic." Sarah said "I wonder if we can learn magic?"
"Well, Hope they don't do a magical girl transformation first before doing magical things." Dunn said laughing
The group stop talking when they saw a Pelican land saw the Spartans exiting the back and one of them was dragging something
"Well I be damn, is that a dragon?" Dunn said
Spartan-042 was dragging a red dragon out of the troop compartment of the Pelican. The body was filled with bullet holes. Some marines nearby, even army personnel were looking at the dead dragon in awe.
Spirit of Fire Bridge
Captain Cutter was currently overseeing several reports regarding their building operations when he was interrupted by the ship's AI.
"Captain, you want to see this." She said
The holo-table begin displaying several pictures taken from the recon planes
"Is this legit Serina?" Cutter said
"Yes Captain, a copy was sent to Professor Anders for study." Serina said "Unknown energy readings can be detected in major cities. Any attempts to determine the source and type results in static."
"Jamming?" He asked, "Our planes are equipped for electronic warfare operations."
"It's not that they are being jammed based on our understanding." Serina replied "It's like the moment our planes passed the city walls the scanners went static for a second before returning to normal."
"The pilot says he did not notice anything out of the ordinary during the flight."Serina continued "However, investigation yielded there were attempts to alter the information inside the storage chips where all the scanners data are being stored."
"How can they access it?" Cutter asked
"Unknown but there are signs of attempts to hack it for a lack of a better term." Serina said "Whatever the natives used to do this phenomenon is unknown."
Serina waves a hand on the holo-table and several red marks appear on the map.
"This is where all the areas where our planes get unclear readings and they are all stationed in major cities." Serina said "But, there are some cities that do not display this kind of phenomenon."
Captain Cutter looked at the map for a moment, studying it intently.
"Serina, coordinate with Anders regarding this issue." Cutter ordered "Also tell Sgt. Forge to assemble several recon teams, and make contact with nearby settlements."
"Not flying straight into those cities?" Serina asked
"We need to secure our backs before advancing, some of those areas of interest are located deep inside unknown territory." Cutter said "We need to make sure our troops don't get surrounded on all sides or get flanked from the back, and they have a way out if things go FUBAR."
Serina just nodded at the Captain before disappearing
"More unknowns" Cutter muttered before going back overseeing other things
End of Chapter 1
A/N: Sgt. Forge is alive because there are not enough stories of him
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