Reach, Upper Orbit
August 30, 2552
They let me pick. Choose whichever Spartan I wanted. Like the others you were strong, and swift, and brave. A natural leader.
But you had something they didn't. Something no one else saw but me. Can you guess?
Luck.
Now... Let's see how your luck holds out for the rest of us.
Cortana could process a lifetime's worth of mathematics in an instant, thread a MAC shot through a battlefield to a target ten thousand kilometers away with pinpoint accuracy, and infiltrate any computer system known to man. She was the most powerful AI ever developed by humanity. And right now all of that potential was focused on a singular goal.
Staying alive.
The Pillar of Autumn's upgraded MAC fired three times in quick succession, the first shot breaking the shields of the SDV class Covenant corvette thirty kilometers directly ahead. The next two impacts tore through the purple nano-laminate hull, ripping a hole straight through the reactor that powered the ship. The Autumn slipped by, skirting the edge of the resulting explosion.
"Cortana, get us the hell out of here!" Captain Jacob Keyes grunted, holding tight to his command console.
Keyes was a veteran of the Human-Covenant war, having served in the UNSC Navy since the time of the Insurrection. His uniform was immaculate despite the circumstances, his graying hair neatly trimmed. In his right hand was clutched his pipe, unlit, of course. Around him, his crew were buckled into their seats, working furiously at their stations.
"Slipspace drive is at 95%, Captain. I've uploaded firing solutions to the gunnery crew to buy us the time we need." The AI responded coolly, her avatar 'standing' on the holo pedestal to his right. On the display in front of the Captain, he could see what she meant. At least a dozen Covenant cruisers were converging on the Autumn, the closest now only two hundred kilometers distant.
"Starboard coilguns firing!" The Weapons Officer, Lieutenant Aki Hikowa, called out. Keyes would feel the slight vibration under his feet as a total of six twin-barreled Spitfire coilguns batteries fired, their slugs slamming into the shields of the closest Covenant ship.
"Prepare to initiate Cole Protocol!" The Captain activated the ship-wide intercom. "All crew, brace for slipspace jump!" Throughout the ship, Navy and Marine crewmen alike began to strap themselves into jump seats and crew stations in preparation.
"Incoming plasma torpedoes!" Junior Bridge Officer shouted, prompting the rest of the bridge crew to brace themselves against their consoles. Cortana quickly relayed the same warning throughout the ship, though it was hardly needed as most of the crew was already in brace positions for the slipspace jump.
Ten seconds after the warning, the superstructure of the ship shuddered under a quartet of impacts. The intense heat of the guided plasma projectiles slagged hundred square meter seconds of armor with each hit, but the main advantage of the Halcyon-class cruiser saved the ship from.any substantial damage. The interior of the ship was formed with a honeycomb of solid titanium braces running through decks, cargo bays, and even the inner hull, all interlocked with massive hydraulic pistons. The braces took the brunt of the impact, transferring it throughout the ship and minimizing any kinetic damage. The system even held half-melted armor plates in place.
"Cortana, status report." Keyes ordered as he steadied himself. The large, transparent screen before him brought up a side cross section of the ship as Cortana complied. An area on the rear port side of the ship had taken the hits, rupturing the coolant lines for one of the Autumn's secondary reactors. Already he could see power output from the port reactor falling as safety measures activated to prevent meltdown from occurring.
"Sir, the Slipspace drive is fully charged!" Ensign William Lovell, the Navigation Officer reported, looking over his shoulder at the Captain.
"Make the jump!" Keyes barked, and within seconds the crew could see the swirling darkness of the slipspace portal opening directly in front of the ship.
Cole Protocol dictated that any UNSC ship in combat with, or otherwise in the vicinity of, Covenant vessels must take a minimum of one random slipspace jump before returning to United Earth Government space. Direct jumps to known systems in such a situation was extremely dangerous, as Covenant vessels could easily track UNSC ships through a single jump.
Unbeknownst to Keyes, or any of the other crew, the jump that Cortana had plotted hadn't been entirely random. While the data corresponded to no systems within UEG space, the coordinates for the jump had been extracted from a file she'd found in her analysis of Spartan personnel.
Spartan 117 had taken a single image of a stone in the jungles of Sigma Octanus IV only a few months ago. By Cortana's best estimates, the carved symbols in the rock face predated human presence on that planet by at least a few millennia. It had taken a clever interpretation of the text to find any meaning at all. She had the realization that the symbols didn't refer to words or abstract meanings, but corresponded to astrological phenomena like black holes, quasars, and distant nebulas.
It was a star map, carved into stone. Someone had left this map there, with the intent of leading someone else somewhere. Its precision would have been impressive even if she had plotted the coordinates herself, but for a carved image? Her curiosity, even in these circumstances, couldn't be contained. Cortana had to know what the map led to, and a 'random' jump offered the perfect excuse.
She could satisfy that itch in the back of her mind, and they could be on their way to Earth afterwards. No one would be the wiser if there was nothing of interest, but if there was something, anything that had been undiscovered for all this time, she was sure the ends would justify the means.
Unfortunately for Cortana, and the rest of the ship at that, the coordinates for the jump had been written with a higher civilization's navigation and slipspace technology in mind. As the Autumn entered the black portal, it would brute-force its way into a hundred-millennia old path through the 11 dimensions of slipsace. The journey would start out smoother than any slipspace transition ever experienced by modern humans. But as the portal closed behind them, the shaking started.
The normal darkness of slipspace was replaced by a bright blue light as the tremors intensified throughout the ship. This wasn't slipspace, at least not as humanity knew it. Cortana immediately began to run diagnostics on the Autumn's slipspace drive, as well as analyzing every bit of data she could pull in from the nav sensors.
"What the hell is going on?! Cortana?!" Keyes demanded as the ship lurched like a water-borne vessel cresting a wave.
"Unknown, sir! The slipspace drive is functioning normally, but something seems to be wrong... with slipspace itself." Cortana replied, brow furrowed in confusion.
Keyes frowned and opened his mouth to ask for clarification, though he wouldn't get the chance. The Autumn lurched sideways, spinning on its vertical access as the blue glow of this other slipspace suddenly vanished. For a brief moment, a field of stars appeared beyond the bridge windows.
Then, everything went black.
Beacon Academy, Vale, First-year dorm rooftop
August 30, 2552 (UEG Standard Calendar)
"You know, seeing all the stars in the sky... do you ever wonder what's out there?" A girl asked, her silver eyes gazing up into the heavens. She laid on her back, hands tucked behind her head as her eyes turned to the young man keeping her company.
"Honestly, Ruby, I try not to think about it. I've got enough to worry about down here on Remnant." The blonde boy, Jaune Arc, replied with a soft chuckle. "But I'm sure there's got to be something out there, probably aliens. I just hope they're friendly."
"Aww, come on, I'm sure we could take on a bunch of little green men!" Ruby laughed, turning her gaze back to the stars.
The pair had been stargazing for about an hour now, hanging out to wind down after a long day of combat classes with Miss Goodwitch. Their teams had long since fallen asleep, but the leaders of teams RWBY and JNPR had been restless. Who wouldn't be when they were nearing the date of the biggest tournament of the year. As Huntsmen and Huntresses in training, they were under constant pressure to challenge themselves, and none were more challenged than these two.
"I'm sure you could, but me? There's no chance." Jaune shook his head, staring up at Remnant's broken moon.
"Hey, no need to put yourself down... you've come a long way since we started last semester." Ruby said, knowing her friend had a lot of issues with self confidence.
"I know... I just... I don't really compare to any of you..." Jaune paused as he saw a faint flash of blue light just to the side of the moon. He blinked, shaking his head. He was just seeing things, it was a shooting star or something.
It was probably nothing to worry about.
"Anyways, the Vytal Festival is two months from now. The best thing to focus on now for me is supporting my team." Jaune said, smiling as he thought of his teammates. All three were more capable fighters than he was, but they followed his lead without question. They were counting on him to get them through the tournament, and he didn't plan on letting them down.
"Yeah, at least you aren't two years younger than your teammates." Ruby muttered, closing her eyes. "We should probably get to bed, we've got a long day tomorrow, too."
As she began to get up, she couldn't help but take one last look up at the moon. She couldn't help but wonder what if she'd ever know if there was truly anything out in the stars.
Unknown Planet, Suborbital trajectory
August 30, 2522
Captain Keyes awoke to the face of a medical officer leaning over him, shining a light in his eyes. Keyes squinted and grumbled as pain shot through his head. He sat up, reaching up to his temple and feeling a recently applied bandage.
"Easy, sir, you've been out for a few minutes." The officer said, steadying Keyes.
Around the bridge, the medical crew were checking over the members of Keyes' bridge crew. From what he could see, he had the worst injury, likely due to him being standing while everyone else was buckled in. He was sitting right behind where he'd been standing when they'd come out of... whatever that had been.
"Ship status?" He asked as he stood carefully, grabbing onto his console. The ship's cross section was still on the display, with a worrying amount of red alerts towards the stern of the ship.
"Hull integrity is holding at 78%, Captain." Cortana began, appearing above the holotank to his right. "Most primary systems are technically operable, though we lost the port secondary reactor, and the primary reactor is offline. The engine room is also reporting major power fluctuations."
"Weapons are all functional. MAC rounds at 58%, Coilguns batteries at 37%, and twelve Archer pods left. Point defense is at 43%, with full reserves. All four Shiva warheads are secure and functional."
"Get me Chief Engineer Purdy." Keyes ordered, ignoring the aching in his skull as he looked over the crew reports. Minor injuries on every deck, but none any worse than his own.
"Where the hell are we?" He asked, seeing an unfamiliar array of stars slowly spinning as the ship maneuvered to be pointed along its line of travel.
"Unknown, sir. I can't detect any UNSC signals, and the stellar navigation suite can't pinpoint any known celestial bodies. We're... off the map, sir." Ensign Lovell replied, nursing a headache where his forehead had been introduced to his console.
"Ensign, recalibrate your sensors. We were only in slipspace a minute at most. That's only enough time for a few dozen light minutes of travel." Keyes replied, an uneasy feeling growing in his gut with every passing moment. Slipspace wasn't linear in the same way real space was, of course, but to be off the map in a minute was doubtful.
"Captain, Lovell isn't mistaken. We're currently in a star system that certainly isn't Epsilon Eridani. In fact, it matches no known system, UEG space or otherwise. We're near a terrestrial planet, roughly equidistant between the planet and its moon.
"Chief Engineer Purdy reporting, sir!" A voice came over the intercom. The faintly Scottish accent was barely discernable over the clear distress in the woman's voice.
"We've lost the main engines for now, but we can still manage about 15% power on the maneuvering thrusters. It'll take at least twenty four hours to restart the main reactor, and another ten to do a proper shakedown on the engines."
"Sir, there's another problem." Cortana said, looking out of the window towards the stars.
"We don't have twelve hours, much less a day and a half. The Pillar of Autumn is caught the planet's gravity well. We won't be able to achieve a suitable orbit with the main engines down. We have a little under five hours until atmospheric entry." Cortana explained, pulling up a diagram of the projected path.
"So, we're going down whether we like it or not." Keyes muttered, rubbing his chin in thought.
"And the Covenant? Did we lose them, at least?" He asked, glancing over to the AI.
"So far, scans are clear. No sign of Covenant presence in the system. If they had followed us, they would have been waiting for us here. Covenant ships have always been faster." She replied, crossing her arms. "So, we're stranded with a half-crippled ship, in an unknown system, stuck in a gravity well that's slowly pulling us towards a planet. But at least the murderous aliens aren't here to ruin our fun." Cortana summarized, a hint of humor in her voice.
Keyes huffed in amusement, looking over the telemetry of the planet they were approaching. He raised an eyebrow and drummed his fingers against his console as he saw that the planet was surprisingly similar to Earth in its composition. Oxygen was a little on the high side, but nowhere near dangerous levels. There were also strange electromagnetic fluctuations in some areas, though it could have been any number of things.
The moon, on the other hand, was strikingly different than any he'd seen. Instead of being a pile of rubble floating in space, it looked more akin to a broken plate, pieces trailing behind the intact section's orbit.
"Sorry I can't get a better scan for you, captain. The planetary sensors were damaged over Reach." Lieutenant Dominique, the Communications Officer, apologized, glancing back at the Captain from her station.
"It's alright. Prep every probe and satellite we have in the tubes. I want full coverage over the whole planet within forty eight hours." Keyes ordered, earning a salute in response.
Directly fore of the bridge was the main sensor hub. At first glance, it would appear as though there was a pair of cannons mounted to the hub, though that was only partially correct. The mass drivers were specially designed to launch satellites and probes at high velocities, allowing them to use their on-board fuel supplies more sparingly to reach their target trajectories.
The Autumn rolled slowly, firing every few seconds. Normally a warship wouldn't launch all of its probes for a single operation. But in a few hours the units would be planet locked, if not destroyed by the impact. It was truly a use-it-or-lose-it scenario, and Keyes was not a wasteful man.
"Cortana, bring the ship to emergency alert alpha. I want everyone up and preparing to abandon ship." Keyes said, already mentally sorting what would need to be done in preparation for landing on the planet.
"Everyone, sir?" Cortana asked, raising an eyebrow towards the Captain.
"Everyone."
Unknown Planet, Suborbital trajectory
August 30, 2552
4.5 hours to atmospheric entry
All throughout the Pillar of Autumn, Marines and Navy personnel alike rushed to finish their preparations. Supplies, ordnance, and equipment from the lower decks were either moved onto one of the dozen Pelican dropships or secured in the upper cargo bays. Cortana predicted that at least the lower quarter of the ship would be destroyed or otherwise inaccessible in the event of a controlled crash. The maintenance lifts were the busiest they'd ever been, the crew working tirelessly to secure everything they could.
In one of the main hangar bays, Marines tied down their M12 LAV Warthogs and M808B Scorpions with double the normal braces and straps. Ten of the Pelicans onboard were loaded with a Warthog and a full load of Marines, with two carrying Scorpion tanks instead. The pair of Albatross dropships carried by the Autumn were packed with enough building materials to fabricate a small temporary firebase once planet-side along with the engineering teams needed to do so.
The five GA-TL1 Longsword Fighter-Bombers had already launched, each carrying its crew and a pair of ODSTs for scouting and air support. They flew alongside the cruiser, ready to defend it and the dropships at a moment's notice.
"Men, keep your hands on your weapons and your harnesses tightened, and we'll all make it to ground in one piece!" Staff Sergeant Avery Johnson called out to his squad, standing in the hatch of one of dozens of Bumblebee escape pods. His squad had gotten the short end of the stick, taking one of the single-use craft down instead of a dropship.
"Am I right, Marines?" He bellowed, making the pilot of the craft wince slightly.
"Sir, yes sir!" His Marines shouted in unison, double-checking their crash harnesses.
"Damn right I am!" Johnson chuckled, settling into the last open seat and closing the hatch.
On the lowest deck on the ship, two hundred and fifteen of the ship's four hundred Orbital Drop Shock Troopers gathered in the drop bay. Major Antonio Silva pulled up a tactical map on a holotable for the squad leads to see. For the rest of the Troopers, the map would be displayed in their helmets' VISR systems.The map was three dimensional, but limited in detail. Still, it would serve them well enough.
"Troopers, we will secure a rally point forty clicks from the Autumn's projected crash site. The Marines and Navy boys are counting on us to give them a safe place to land! We will not fail them!" He called out as two points were highlighted on the map. The point labeled Alpha sat atop a large, gently sloped hill that was mostly clear, while Bravo was a larger area just to the south of the hill.
The ODSTs listened and watched in silence, but he could see them shifting their weight from one foot to another, the fingers twitching. They were itching for a fight after losing Reach, and he'd be a liar if he said he wasn't as well. This late in the war, there was hardly anyone who hadn't lost someone or somewhere dear to them.
"Point Bravo will be our LZ. Point Alpha is the rally point. Pack every piece of equipment you can, anything left is going down with the ship. Any questions?" Silva asked, receiving only silence and looks of determination from his audience. "Then get to it, Troopers! The rest of our boys will meet us planet-side!"
"Ooh rah!" They shouted in response and began to prep for the upcoming drop.
Silva donned his helmet, allowing himself to grin in satisfaction at his men's eagerness. He turned to his own pod, and began making his final checks. Unlike the majority of the Single Occupant Exo-atmospheric Insertion Vehicles, or SOEIVs, aboard the Autumn, his was slightly larger. It was filled with enough communication equipment to create a local battle network, essential for conducting coordinated operations without orbital support.
"Wellsley, get McKay on the line." He ordered, an image of a proper looking Englishman with long hair wearing a collared coat appearing in his Heads Up Display. Wellsley was his AI assistant, a 'dumb' AI, relatively speaking, but an indispensable asset to the Major nonetheless.
"Yes, Major Silva." The AI nodded, vanishing once more. A moment later, a link was established between the comms suites in his and McKay's helmets.
"First Lieutenant McKay, reporting. Pelicans are loaded and ready, sir!" Melissa McKay, Silva's Executive Officer, spoke, answering his query before he even had to say it.
McKay would be leading the fifty ODSTs loaded into four of the ship's Pelicans, and would be responsible for carrying heavy ordinance to the LZ after Silva and his men touched down.
"Good work, Lieutenant. We have a narrow window to secure an LZ for the life pods. They won't have the maneuvering capabilities your dropships do." He nodded, not that she could see him. "We launch in one hour, you will follow half an hour after. Sync?"
"Sync. See you planet-side, sir. McKay, out."
As the comms channel closed, Silva let out a breath. Dropping onto an unexplored planet, securing an LZ for a crippled cruiser and coordinating two hundred men and women crazy enough to drop feet first into hell. The corners of his mouth twitched into a grin.
All in a day's work for the ODSTs.
"Cortana, have you finished plotting the course for the autopilot?" Keyes asked, watching the reports flow in as one task after another was completed. The clock showing the estimated time to reentry ticked down slowly, but steadily. In just over four hours, the UNSC Pillar of Autumn would reach its final resting place. Once that happened, Keyes could focus on getting his sailors back home.
Glancing at a status indicator, he could see that a majority of non-essential crew members were already in their cryopods. There weren't near enough dropships and life pods to accommodate the twelve hundred combined Marines and ODSTs, much less the thousand naval crew. Anyone who wasn't going down to secure the LZ and the Autumn's crash site would be going into cryo sleep. Nothing short of the reactor going critical would harm them in the pods, and if that happened he'd have much bigger problems anyways.
"Yes sir. Also, I found something interesting. The satellites are detecting radio signals on the planet's surface. They don't match any known signal patterns, human or Covenant." Cortana replied, looking out the window towards the approaching planet.
"Not human, and not Covenant? Cortana... Are you really saying...?" Captain Keyes trailed off, giving the AI a sideways glance. He really didn't like where she was going with this, nor how little of a choice he had in how to proceed.
"Sir, this may be a first contact scenario. Luckily, our projected landing zone is roughly two hundred clicks northwest of what appears to be a population center. They don't seem to have reached their space age yet, I'm detecting absolutely zero orbital presence." Cortana explained. "Whoever these people are, I highly doubt they even know they aren't alone in the universe yet."
"And here we are, about to crash the one of the most advanced UNSC ships fielded to date right in their backyard. Perfect." He muttered, chewing on his pipe. He considered lighting it, but he'd rather not break protocol over such a trivial matter. He could wait till his feet were on solid ground.
"Let's just hope they are friendly enough." Cortana mused. She silently wondered if these people had once been the ones to leave that stone on Sigma Octanus IV, or if they were otherwise involved. Those questions could wait, as she could see someone very important entering the bridge through the security cameras.
"Cortana, load yourself onto your chip. You'll be riding down with your escort, naturally. I'm sure you two will know where you're needed." Keyes allowed himself to smile, seeing Cortana's avatar glance behind the Captain and smirk before disappearing.
"Captain Keyes, Sir." A deep, gravelly voice spoke, and Keyes turned to greet it. There stood a seven foot tall behemoth. He wore emerald green armor with a black bodysuit underneath it, and his face was obscured by a reflective golden faceplate. Across his back an MA5B was slung, the pockets of his armor packed with spare magazines. The Spartan snapped to attention.
"Master Chief Petty Officer Sierra 117, reporting for duty."
Thank you for reading this first step in this project of mine!