Catastrophe

UNSC Sol

Fleet Admiral Becket.

Eggs and bacon again huh? I'm getting tired of eggs and bacon. Hell, the whole crew should be tired of eggs and bacon since that is all we have to eat since the accident. Maybe we can find some local wildlife on the planet to hunt and eat from the forests our satellites have mapped out…just as long as it isn't eggs and bacon. Becket thought to himself as he poked the egg yolk with his fork.

The issue planet side is not looking good at the moment. First, our Recon Satellites suddenly couldn't scan and map out the terrain. In response, we launched scout planes to recon the area along with mechanized ground units. Then we lost comms with FOB Shangri La due to the increase of the electromagnetic particles. The scientists are currently trying to figure that one out. All that we can do is wait and communicate via Pelican.

My gut and instinct are screaming at me that something terrible is going to happen. I just don't know what…But something is going to happen. After all, they never proved me wrong through Operation Trebuchet and The Great War. Just have to wait and adapt.

Before I could take a bite of the bacon, the lights in my room dimmed before being accompanied by flashing red emergency lights and the blaring of alarms. Becket was out of his room and sprinting towards the elevator before the bridge crew could even give orders.

"All personnel man your battle stations. I repeat all personnel man your battle stations. This is not a drill. We are at DefCon 2." The intercom voices throughout the entire ship before being followed with. "Admiral Becket we need you on the bridge ASAP." 'I am on my way dammit!' Becket can't help but think while feeling frustrated and angry. After all, he knew to always trust his gut and instinct no matter what.

The moment the elevator doors open, Becket rushes into the Bridge of the ship only to be met with chaos. With most of the bridge crew running to man their stations, while those who are operating the intercoms are shouting orders for the various officers throughout the ship trying to get them to their battle stations in time. "Calm down everyone!" The Captain's shouting does nothing to calm everyone down. Just fucking wonderful.

Equalizer will be able to tell me what is going on since he is an AI and AIs don't usually panic. With eyes locked on the command table, Becket walks towards it while ignoring the chaos that currently surrounds them.

"Equalizer!" Becket shouts through the chaos trying to get Equalizer's attention. Appearing in holographic form and slowly turning towards Becket while observing the chaos around him. "Yes Admiral, what do you need assistance with?" Equalizer asks calmly.

'Damn AI, can't it show some other human expressions for once in its short lifespan' "Equalizer give me a sitrep right now. And tell me why we are at DEFCOM 1!" Becket asks while staring into Equalizer's neutral holographic expression.

"Admiral we have fully lost contact with FOB Shangri La. About 7 minutes ago a massive storm appeared out of nowhere that is covering the entire region surrounding FOB Shangri La." What? A Storm appearing out of thin air above our FOB. That isn't normal…I'm not a scientist but a storm randomly appearing defies the laws of physics and science dammit! Becket thinks to himself angrily.

"Equalizer how long until the storm dissipates or stops?" Becket asks the AI as everyone in the bridge slowly starts to calm down. "Honestly Admiral I have no idea. This is a situation I never imagined myself in and I don't really know what to do. I think it may dissipate in about 2 to 7 hours." 2 to 7 hours…My marines have to be alone on the ground for 7 hours…

"What about our Recon planes and Recon units?" Please tell me they are alive out there. "Our recon planes safely returned but unfortunately the status of our ground recon units is unknown. They were out there in the open scouting and first platoon was busy intercepting the unknown target. It is safe to say Admiral that they are in deep shit since they can't take cover at Shangri La."

Fuck. I am really starting to hate this damn planet. Maybe we can send Pelicans or UAVs through the storm to find out if everyone is all right. "Equalizer, is it possible to send UAVs or Pelicans plant side through the storm?" Come on, that has to work.

"I am afraid that will most likely end in disaster Admiral. Our scanners say that the storm is electromagnetic in nature and it will fry the electronics on the pelicans and UAVs." What? Aren't all our vehicles and equipment EMP-proof? "Equalizer EMPs wouldn't affect them!"

"That is correct Admiral. But the EMPs this storm is producing are around 200 times stronger than what our electronics can withstand." Of course it is.

"Fucking great. Captain!" The captain of Sol quickly turns around before Becket continues speaking. "I want you to get a QRF and Medevac team ready in Hangar A ASAP. They should be ready to launch the moment that storm clears up!"

"Yes Admiral! Right away!" Good, I love it when people follow my orders without question. Makes my job so much easier. I wonder what the alien looks like that first platoon intercepted. Guess only time and luck would tell.

Lieutenant Blackburn

The silence. The silence has to be the most terrifying part as we all watch the dark tornado surrounded by yellow lightning touch down. That tornado has to at least be a couple of klicks north of Shangri La. "Look another one!" Turning my head around and peering over the hood of the truck there it is. Another tornado touched down. Nothing about this situation is normal.

"Aaaaahhhh We're going to die! Fucking slaves are gonna cost me my life." The shouting of the humanoid slaver quickly shook Blackburn back to reality. We…we need to get out of here and return to base ASAP. "Jessica I want you in the back of the truck with the slaves. Just make sure they calm down."

Becket turns his attention to Tom. "Tom your with me in the truck. We are taking it back to base with us. Load this slaver piece of shit in the middle with us." Okay this can work. We just need to get back to base with two fucking unnatural tornadoes around us.

"Everyone else mount up and get into circular formation around the truck. We are getting the fuck out of here!" After saying that Becket, Tom, and the slaver quickly gets in the truck. Okay, the controls of the truck look normal. Nothing I can't handle.

Pushing the ignition button the truck slowly comes to life with an electric whine. Guess the truck is electric, we abandoned electric-powered vehicles in favor of hydropower. "Everyone is in their vehicle L-shit another Tornado just touched down!" Another one! That's three tornadoes so far. "Okay, Tom just hold the slaver down until we get back to base." Quickly issuing orders through his neural link. "Platoon roll out."

Jesus, why does this truck have to shake so much? Okay, we just need to drive 40 kilometers south and then we'll reach Shangri La. Judging by our current speed we will get there in about 30 minutes. Hopefully a tornado doesn't land right on top of us and kill us or that weird yellow lightning doesn't hit our convoy.

"Okay slaving Xeno, I am going to ask you some questions. You are going to answer them otherwise Tom here is going to throw you out of the door and you're gonna be on your own in this Catastrophe got it?" The slaver nods his head enthusiastically. Good, time to get some fucking answers.

"First question, what is your name?" the slaver looks shocked that Blackburn asked that question first. "M-my name is Duncan Wallenstein." Duncan…a pretty uncommon human name, still a human name.

"Okay then Duncan. Next question, what the fuck is a Catastrophe?"

"What! You don't know what a Catastrophe is!? Are you a backward savage!" Turning his head towards Duncan Becket glares at him while Tom's grip on his shoulder tightens. "Answer. The. Question. Duncan." Why do people have to be so difficult? Can't they just do as they are told?

"Well, Catastrophies are natural disasters that are over time formed by Originium particles in the air. When there are enough Originium particles in the air a Catastrophe occurs. They can come in various forms…with Tornadoes being one of them. But Catastrophies always leave behind a massive abundance of Originium crystals that will contaminate the area and over time will form another Catastrophe." Duncan quickly explained. So they are basically natural disasters but worse…Really what kind of planet have we found ourselves on?

"Fuck, fuck this piece of shit planet. And what the fuck is Originium?" Says Tom. I completely agree with you there Tom and Originium…sounds like some sort of mineral or crystal. How the hell can a crystal cause a Natural Disaster of this scale?

"Yeah Duncan. Tell us what is Originium." So far so good. We will reach Shangri La in 20 minutes where they will interrogate this bastard further.

"Uhhh well we don't know. All that we know is that Originium has been with us for about since the beginning of time. And Originium causes Oripathy." Oripathy…please don't tell me that it is some sort of disease or infection caused by Originium.

Sensing my impending question Duncan continues. "Oripathy is…well it is a disease caused by Originium." Called it. "Someone can get Oripathy by being cut with a Originium shard. Then Originium crystals will start to grow out of said person's body. They will then later on die and transform into Originium Dust. If this dust enters any open wound you will also get infected and die."

Yup. I fucking hate this planet. "Is it transmittable by any other means?"

Duncan quickly shakes it head. "I don't know. I only know the basic description of Oripathy. But I believe it is only transmittable through open wounds and getting wounded from the crystal itself."

"Fucking lovely. And the infected population? How are they treated?" Upon asking that, Duncan's face instantly turned into one of hate and disgust. "Most nations segregate the infected bastards. Some don't really care like Columbia." Columbia….another human name. "But many of us out in the wastelands here simply kill any infected bastard we see."

That's concerning. If they kill and segregate them. That would most likely cause the infected to hate the non-infected and could lead to a possible insurgent or rebel group with the ideals of freeing all infected and wiping out all non-infected.

"That's all the questions I have for now Duncan. So be a good boy and shut up and sit still." I need to check in on how's Jessica doing in the back with the…slaves. "Jessica, is everything good back there?"

Private Jessica

Oh no it's the Lietenant. "Uhhh yes sir. So far everything is okay here. The women back here are just afraid, mostly naked and cold." These poor people. Why is slavery still allowed on this planet? We made slavery illegal centuries ago! "Copy that Jessica, just make sure they don't do anything stupid. We will reach Shangri La in 7 minutes."

Oh good we are almost back. Wait! What will happen to these women? Are we going to help them or are we going to lock them up since they technically aren't human….Or worse they will be experimented on.

No, no. I believe the Admiral will see reason once he finds out that the inhabitants of this planet are basically human like us…safe for the halo and horns growing out of them.

I am more worried about the more Xenophobic soldiers back at Shangri La…I guess that can wait until we get back to base. I guess I need to try to comfort them. "Hey don't worry. You all are going to be okay."

A woman with long white hair who has a small devil tail and horns growing out of the side of her head speaks up fearfully. "Who are you? Are you here to save us? Where are you taking us?"

Seems like she is basically the den mother of this group. She is afraid and concerned about their safety. That is a good sign. "I cannot give you my name, but I am with the UNSC. And yes we are here to save you and help you. You are currently being taken to our base nearby."

Nodding her head slowly the woman asks more questions. "Is the Catastrophe over? What type of species are you?" Guess I better look outside. Hmmmm the clouds are disappearing, that means the tornadoes are gone. Thank God. "Yes the Catastrophe is over." Everyone seems to take a sigh of relief. "And for my species…we are humans."

"But what race of humans are you?" The woman asks again. What does she mean by what race of human…don't tell me they call themselves human too. "I am sorry. But I can't answer that as well."

"Okay." Looking back out of the rear of the truck, Jessica lets out a sigh of relief. Were finally back. But half the base looks decimated…The truck comes to a halt along with the one warthog behind it. "Okay just stay here in the back of the truck, I will come and get you all out of it in a moment okay?"

Upon receiving their fearful nods, Jessica hops out of the truck while taking in all the damage Shangri La has obtained. Jesus this is going to set us back a month. Well, time to get this show on the road.

"It's easier to be ignorant and say I don't know about the problem. But once you know, once you've seen it in their eyes, then you have a responsibility to do something. There is strength in numbers, and if we all work together as a team, we can be unstoppable."

–Craig Kielburger

Author notes.

Yoh, sorry it took so long for this chapter. I moves houses at the start of the week and then I rewrote the prologue.

Same as last. If you have any suggestions just pm me or leave them in the reviews.

Until next time.