Prologue part 3 (final): To distant shores
Date: Aug 31, 2552
Time: 11:15 UNSC standard
Commander Cook
With the fresh arrival of the UNSC Old Timer, the captaincy aboard all the ships were arguing over a broadband call, debating on what our next course of action. 1 or 2 argued we should head back to reach and fight till the end, while almost everyone else wanted to flee.
The million credit question to that is, where to even run to?
Earth was almost surely out of the question, with the amount of ships lost at reach. It was almost guaranteed that at least one ship didn't have the chance to wipe its data completely before it was downed. So if not earth, then one of its colonies? What would be the point? If earth falls, the rest of the colonies will be screwed anyways.
While all the captains argue in circles on what to do, the only one who's kept quiet is myself.
These idiots haven't even considered that there may be a 3rd option, I thought to myself. When, not if, Earth falls, and it WILL fall at this rate, the UNSC is basically fucked beyond recovery. Each colony will be left to fend for itself, like a lamb left to fend for itself upon a pack of wolves. Each one will spend the rest of their short lives watching their neighbors going quiet, one by one, until its their turn to enter the cosmic silence when a covenant fleet appears overhead.
No, i'm not so foolish as to go that route. When I formed the raiders, it was made with the simple but effective idea, echoing the words spoken ages ago.
They entered this war under the quite foolish delusion that they would be bombing everyone else, and not be bombed in return. They have reaped the wind, and now shall reap the whirlwind.
Taking whatever my small company could purchase, we took 3 of our 5 cargo transports, the Egress class, and strapped whatever missiles and turrets we could get our hands on. Calling ourselves the UNSC Raiders, we would jump deep into covenant occupied space, and attack like wolves in the night, hiding amongst asteroid and debris fields, waiting for logistical ships to pass our way. Striking like lightening, we would surge forth and unleash our entire payload onto their ships, destroying the unshielded ships easily. We would then scavenge whatever we could from the wreckage, before jumping to a seemingly random location before returning to UNSC space.
It was very risky, yet also very rewarding, considering I'm quite possibly the only human alive to actually be armed with a modified energy sword. Amongst other small things, whatever high value tech we could get would be handed over to ONI for analysis, in return for free refueling and Ammo for our ships, as well as money for whatever supplies we could gather on our raids.
We were making quite the dent on covenant logistics in the surrounding systems, as it took them time and effort to make sure their ships reach where they needed to go. Of course, our luck ran out when the Covenant showed up on Reach, our main base of operations. Thankfully we were just days away from heading out for another raid, so we were mostly stocked up on everything we would need.
Coming out of my thoughts, my mind comes back to the kindergarten class that is the captaincy call. These idiots are really still going at it? Its not like there is many options to begin with, even if all of them are risky to begin with. Growing tired of these games, and with perfecting timing, one of the captains calls my name to attention.
"Out of everyone here, you, Commander Cook, have been unreasonably quiet. Care to make any inputs, since it seems we're just going in circles at this point" he says.
"Well if everyone is done trying to make a suicide pact with earth-"
"Suicide pact!?" one of the captains yells into my headset, making me cringe a bit in pain.
"Yes, suicide pact. In case you fucks havent realized, and no im no going to excuse my damn manners, earth is basically screwed with reach gone. Its basically guaranteed that at least one or 2 ships didn't have the chance to wipe its NAV data before it destruction, meaning earth is almost assuredly going to be the next target. After earth falls, and it WILL fall at this rate, the colonies will be left to the wolves."
"So what, should we not try to head anywhere then?!" again, the same captain yells over my headset, thanking my helmsman who was listening in who had lowered the volume of the call after the first outburst.
"I'm not saying that, but everyone is seeming to ignore that there may just be a third option."
"And what would that be, hmm?"
"Simple. We don't return to the UNSC. As it is, the war is basically lost. I propose we make a blind slipspace jump opposite of the covenant, and try to settle a new world, far away from their reach. Call it cowardice or whatever you like, but I for one would like to see humanity survive into the future. If leaving our homes behind to make a new one is required, then so be it. "
The call goes almost quiet for a couple minutes, as different captains mutter amongst each other and trusted crew, as to whether this is what they want to do or not. It's not an easy decision, I'll admit. But when faced with extinction, any alternative is preferable.
Turning my attention back to the call, and the captaincy finally coming to an answer. The one that would change my life, and everyone in this little fleet lives forever.
"...we almost all agree with you on this. But we have only one requirement, if we are to do this."
"And what would that be?"
"We want you…to lead us…"
...
...
FUCKING WHAT?
You're kidding me right now, right? How in the unholy fuck do these guys think its a right idea to make me of all people the leader?! Yes I know how to fight in both space and on the ground if need be, and yes I know how to run a business…oh fuck, yep that would do it.
Im probably the only guy here thats competent enough to manage our small ass fleet and also start a colony. Fuck, this is NOT how I expected my life to go.
"By the look on your face, you seem to be in as much disbelief as we are about this, but you ARE the best choice to lead us. Yes some of us might be trained in how to conduct space warfare, but considering we are fleeing the only enemy we have, besides Insurrectionists, we needed someone who knows what they are doing with the more civilian aspect of this. Plus, you are the only one here that, if it came down to it, would be the best when it came to small unit tactics in space, with how few ships we have. So…..what do you say?"
"...As long as you ancient fucks dont start calling me the God Emperor or some shit as a gag, Im in. My current title will suffice. Is it safe to assume you already have a location in mind?"
"Yes, our NAV specialists got together and hashed out a decent spot for colonization. Its almost 100 lightyears from our Cygnius , but it should only take us a month or 2 to arrive. Only one planet is colonizable, from what the records say, but there is quite a large amount of asteroid fields and small moons dotting the system."
"Records?"
"Yes, this system is so far away that the only records of it are from ancient NASA files from the 21st century."
"...alright then. If this is the place we're going for, then so be it. Have all ships link up on me, and lets go. Send the news to your crew and everyone on your ships. And while you're at it, start logging everyone for skills or certifications that would be useful, mainly engineering, medicine, and farming. Those will be vital, even with a phoenix class with us."
With our course of action finalized, the call disconnects, leaving me to the hum of my ship. Turning to my helmsman, as ask him a simple question.
"So kid, got any good names for our new home? And don't name it after a band or song, for fucks sake."
He simply gives me a soft smile before responding.
"New Terra" he says, before I feel myself lurch back in my chair as the ship makes the jump into Slipspace, and into the unknown, changing the course of 2 peoples forever….
To answer some questions as well as make some things known for the future, ill leave this little space after every chapter for that.
Q/A -
1-Besides the EOD helmet, the armor is whatever you want it to be. Since Six was basically scavenging whatever armor he could, i'll let the readers decide what his armor looks like in their own headcanon. The only 2 things i wont budge on are His EOD Helmet and his color scheme being Black and Red. Everything else is up to the readers imagination.
2-For grammar or spelling mistakes, just point out the line in your comment and when/if i see it, ill go back and make the change.
Story and release schedule.
The story will NOT include any outside characters or crossovers. Only the people that arrive to remnant in the official beginning of the story are the only ones who will show up. That does NOT mean I wont make any references to history and characters prior to arrival.
Release schedule wise, it will be 1 or 2 chapters a week. I have a bad habit of getting bored of things easily, so i want to limit myself to that so i don't suffer burnout. I have everything up to the battle of Beacon set up in a loose story blueprint so i have something to go off of instead of just winging it the entire time. IF, for whatever reason, i have to stop working on this story, i will make a dedicated chapter to post the entire blueprint, as well as other story notes post Beacon.
Now onto characters. They will almost entirely be the same as they are in the show, but i will add onto whats there and tweak characters a bit to make them a bit more realistic or human, in a sense. Some things i might tweak just because it wont break the character and would be pretty funny. Ill spoil one right now and say that one change that wont change the story at all but is a funny note is that Neo CAN speak, she just doesnt because it annoys the fuck out of everyone and she gets a kick out of it. So ill only have one or 2 lines where she says that, and then she WONT speak for the rest of the story. Again, i only plan on ADDING onto characters and background info, and expanding upon things the show glosses over. I wont do shit like making everyone lesbian FFS. the SDC are still racist asshats, and General Ironwood is still a controlling dick.
And on one final note, I ask for some help from the viewers. Every chapter i have to fight the spacing so its not just one big ass text wall. If anyone knows how to get this damn thing to work right, please say so in the comments. I use Google docs so incase my PC crashes, all my work is safe.
Another things is i have a map of remnant im planning on using for this story and i want to link it on here, but i don't know how. Again, if someone knows somewhere i can post it so i can link it, that would be helpful.
Next chapter should be out sometime next week, and it will be the official start to the series. Im having it take place 3 years prior, but the first 2 arcs of the story will have various timeskips as the Terrans settle in. first arc is going to be first contact, and the 2nd will be where the timeskips start to kick in, with various sub chapters going into each kingdoms reactions, as well as important characters.
Until next time folks!...