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Chapter Text

Shadow of Sol Redux

Chapter 1

Earth / Sydney Australia

UNSC High Command

Grand Admiral Lord Terrance Hood

Breaking through the clouds, the Pelican Dropship started its slow descent toward one of the most important cities on Earth. The freshly painted olive-green hull shimmered in the sun's rays, and drops of water stuck to the hull after passing through the clouds.

Two FSS-1000 ‘Sabres’ from a nearby UNSC Air Force Base enter formation with the Pelican. One on each side of it to protect it from incoming threats. The three aircraft continue their descent until they reach an altitude of 400 meters from the ocean level.

The three military aircraft soar across the light-blue Pacific Ocean towards the coastline of Sydney. The aircraft boom over a Cruise Ship causing those onboard the Cruise Ship to look at the aircraft with pride and joyfulness.

Earth is the only planet in the UNSC and UEG that still uses water vessels. Some planets only have fishing boats and small boats to cross rivers or dams. But Earth is the only one that still uses Cruise Ships, Transport Ships, and Military Vessels.

Something that most of the other Colonies envy. Their tourists come to Earth to explore the planet where humanity started. There are many places for them to explore ranging from the various ancient monuments. The diverse landscapes, the continent-wide sprawling megacities. The ocean that humanity used to connect all the continents.

The different nations that still exist ranging from the United Republic of North America to the East African Protectorate or the Commonwealth of Australia. There are millions of things to do for people who want to visit Earth.

Unfortunately, not everyone has had the opportunity to do it. Even in the 26th Century, interstellar flight is still expensive. It is a much better investment for people to just stay in the Colonies that they were born on. Not that it matters now since all of the Colonies outside the Sol System were wiped out.

The UEG and UNSC…Humanity has only six worlds left and a handful of cities build on the moons in the Sol System. All other worlds outside the Sol System are either glassed or rebelled.

According to the UEG, only 11 Billion humans survived out of 39 Billion. Only a dozen worlds survived out of 800. Humanity was massacred.

Even as the three aircraft fly across the crowded beaches of Sydney, humanity is still rebuilding after surviving the war. Most Cities are already rebuilt but it will take a couple of years for New Mombasa to be back to pre-war status.

After crossing the beaches, the aircraft flew over Sydney Harbor and the Opera House. With Elegance, they maneuver between the kilometer-high skyscrapers that dot the entirety of Sydney. Taking a hard left the aircraft flies low and slow over the man-made canal that leads inland, slowly approaching their destination.

Continuing down the canal for another twenty kilometers the two escorting Sabres veered off and went on their way back to their airbase. The Pelican however continued on its journey on its own.

Getting closer to the intended destination the pilot of the dropship sends the clearance codes towards the ATC of the base. Getting the green light, the Pelican starts slowing down considerably with the back engines tilting downwards as it slowly descends towards the landing pad.

With a gentle thud, the hulking beast touched down on the landing pad. The dropship’s engine's whine came to an end as it powered down. Slowly the rear ramp opened revealing the sole passenger of the flight.

The current de facto leader of the United Nations Space Command. Grand Admiral Terrance Hood.

Taking in a deep breath of the salty air, Lord Hood can’t help but let out a sigh of relaxation.

“Thank you for the ride Second Lieutenant. I appreciate it.” Lord Hood says to the pilot of the Pelican who is also exiting the rear ramp.

She smiles and gives the Admiral a friendly wave while walking down the staircase at the landing pad. “It’s not a problem sir, it is a privilege being able to transport you around sir. Now if you’ll excuse me, sir, the mess hall is calling my name.”

Lord Hood can’t help but smile at her. “You are excused Second Lieutenant.” With that, she salutes the Admiral before walking towards the mess hall inside HIGHCOM.

Lord Hood stands on the landing pad for a couple of more minutes, basking in the sun before starting to move down the small staircase. After all, it is nice to enjoy moments like this when you are not stuck in a spaceship or a space station for most of your life.

Moving across the concrete floor, Lord Hood walks towards the main building where the elevator is located which will take him to the floor where the meeting is being held.

An officer with an unknown rank slowly jogs towards the Admiral. “Lord Hood! Sorry, I am late sir. I didn’t know that you would arrive at this time, sir.” The officer responded while saluting.

“It is quite alright Commander. I believe I am running a bit late, so let’s talk while walking.” Lord Hood told the exhausted Commander before the two of them started walking.

“Tell me Commander, how is your family?” He asks the Commander walking next to him. It is a common thing for the Grand Admiral to learn more about the soldiers under his command.

It is so common for him that before he boards a ship, he would learn the names of and hobbies of everyone on board said ship, solely for the reason that he can talk to them without it being awkward and to make them feel like they matter. Even if the ship has a crew of five thousand, Hood will learn everything about them and make sure that they are comfortable.

“Well since you asked Admiral, me and my wife are having some relationship issues, but we are working through it. My son enlisted into the Marines earlier this year and my daughter is going to join the Air Force next year after she is finished with her college degree.” The commander says with a smile while thinking about his family.

“That is good to hear. I know your twins would make excellent soldiers. And for your wife, just buy her some chocolates and talk it through with her. I am certain you would come to an understanding.” Both of them came to a stop in front of a security door.

“Thank you, Lord Hood. I’ll buy her the best chocolates in Sydney.” The commander says with a grateful smile on his face.

“What is your service number Grand Admiral?” The VI in charge of the security door asks in its dead synthetic voice.

“Grand Admiral Lord Terrence Hood, service number 07960-48392-TH.” Hood said while waiting for the VI to respond.

“Affirmative Admiral. What is your date of birth? And your homeworld?” The VI asks for the next step of verification codes.

“Date of birth is the 4th of September 2490. Homeworld is Earth, born in the state of the United Kingdom.”

“Affirmative. Everything is green and voice patterns match. Welcome to Facility Bravo-6 Grand Admiral. Please enjoy your stay.” The security door slides open allowing entry for the Admiral and Commander.

“Is the rest of High Command already here Commander?” Hood asks the Commander as they travel kilometers downwards in the spacious elevator.

“Yes, Admiral. All commanding officers of the different branches have already arrived from Fleet Admiral Harper to Commanding General Rachel Fabray. The only one who isn’t here at the moment is the head of ONI Admiral Parangonsky because she is well you know, facing court martial for treason.” The Commander said with a satisfied smirk. Happy that Parangonsky is facing court martial.

“That's Good to hear. Let’s move. It would be best not to keep everyone waiting for too long.” The elevator came to a stop, and the two of them exited and started moving down the long, narrow hallway toward the room where the meeting was being held.

On the walls of the long narrow hallway, dozens of paintings hang for top military brass. The content of the paintings is of countless important military battles throughout human history. Ranging from the Battle of Waterloo where the greatest general in human history met his defeat to the Battle of Stalingrad which to this day is the deadliest battle that was fought between humans, at the end of the hallway is a painting of the Battle of the Coral Sea, where the United States of America turned the tide of war against the Empire of Japan.

And Lord Hood can’t help but admire these paintings. Hood after all was obsessed with history. In his free time, he would always learn more about human history and conflicts and how they changed everything. In Hood’s own opinion, those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.

Stopping in front of the door Lord Hood turns to the Commander of the base. “Thank you for escorting me here Commander, you are relieved…. oh, and tell Martha I said hi.”

The Commander gives Lord Hood a crisp salute with an acknowledging smile on his face before walking back towards the elevator at the end of the hallway. “Yes sir. I will be in the Command Centre if you need anything.”

As the Commander walks towards the elevator Lord Hood turns around to face the door again. Pressing his hand against the scanner the light at the top turns green, opening the door and allowing entry for Lord Hood.

Entering the room, Lord Hood could already see that everyone was present and, in their seats, waiting for him. “Sorry I am late ladies and gentlemen. There were some issues with Air Traffic Control. I take it that everyone is doing good so far.”

“Yes Grand Admiral. So far everything is right on schedule and we have no issues at the moment. It would be best to get this meeting over with so that we all can return to our respected station.” Juliet Bowles, the Chief of Staff of the UNSC Army said with a somewhat bored expression. Not everyone is a fan of long meetings like the one that is being held now.

“Okay then General. We will start the meeting with you then.” Lord Hood says as he takes his seat at the round table.

 Comfortably settling in his leather chair before continuing. “How is the current recruitment drive going for our ground forces across the solar system?”

“Of course Admiral. If you all would please open the documents in front of you and turn to page 3.” Everyone in the room grabbed the folder and opened the aforementioned page.

“As you all can see recruitment is going great at the moment, but it can be better. Only around 2 billion in the solar system are in the Army at the moment. And our goal is to raise that number to 4 billion. After all 2 billion Army personnel are not enough to defend the colonies in the system.”

The general takes a breath before continuing. “There are numerous things we can do to increase our ground defence. We can start by building even more fortifications and bunkers around the planets and the moons. Build even more planetary defence guns. We can start forming militias in every town and city, that will raise our number to 3.5 billion and if that doesn’t work we have the controversial option…conscription and mandatory military service.” The general finally finished her part of the report.

“That’s good news. I approve of the construction of extra defenses and the formation of militias. The conscription and mandatory military service on the other hand while be an unpopular choice among the civilians. We will need to think about that one.” Lord Hood finishes while taking a sip of the coffee that was brought in while Juliet was busy delivering her report.

“Now that Juliet finished her report. It is my turn to deliver mine. If everyone would please turn to page 6. As we can see construction of our planetary defence fighters is complete. A Total of 4000 ‘Sabres’ have been built as well as their bases throughout the Sol system. But I don’t believe that is enough.” Robert Basil the current head of the UNSC Air Force says while looking at Lord Hood with determination.

“Grand Admiral I would like to get permission to build an additional 3000 ‘Sabres’ as well as build more launch points for them. I would want a launch point on Europa, Venus, Pluto, Ganymede, the various asteroids and a couple of dozen hidden in Saturn Rings. This will allow us to conduct quick hit-and-run tactics on any invading forces. The estimated cost of this will be around 40 billion credits.”

“That is quite expensive Air Marshal…but I’ll allow it. There is no price too great to ensure humanity's future and survival.” Giving the Air Marshal his approval Lord Hood turns his attention to the Commandant of the UNSC Marine Corps.

“Rachel I take it that the Marines are where they should be? That they are well equipped and that their new ODST armor has been delivered to everyone?”

Rachel simply leans back in her leather chair causing it to squeak. “That’s correct Admiral. Everything regarding the Marines is green. They all were excited when they got ODST armor and had to ditch the ineffective combat armor. The only issue we have is that we are still waiting to be deployed. We’re getting bored here Admiral.”

Her laid-back response caused some of the room’s occupants to smile. And some to shed some stress knowing that Marines are always ready to be deployed at a second’s notice.

“Good to hear Rachel. Next up, Fleet Admiral Carolyn. What is the status of the new fleet that we are building? Their condition? And is their crew trained to their fullest extent.”

Fleet Admiral Carolyn Webster, the current Chief of Naval Operations immediately straightened up in her chair and quickly assumed her professional attitude. “Yes sir. On page 10 you will see all the current ships that are under construction. The Martian shipyards are currently building around 120 military vessels.”

She flipped her page causing all of us to follow suit and flip ours. “At our current rate we are producing 7 Frigates every month. 5 Destroyers every month. 10 Corvettes every month. 2 Cruisers every month and for our Capital ships we are producing one ship of each type every three months.”

Everyone in the room nods their head in approval at the rate at which the navy is being rebuilt. “It takes around 4 months to fully train our Screening ships and 7 months to fully train the Capital ships…if we keep up at this rate then five years from now the navy would reach Pre-Great War numbers again.”

“That’s wonderful news Fleet Admiral. Keep up the great work. Harper your up next. What is the status of the Storm Covenant and our Orbital Defences and our Escape plan if shit hits the fan.”

Fleet Admiral Edward Harper is the current head of the United Nations Space Command Defence Force. The one who is going to be Lord Hood’s successor upon his passing responded calmly.

“The Storm Covenant is still busy rebuilding their navy, economy, and infrastructure. They unfortunately still outgun us in every single way so a pre-emptive strike against them will be ineffective. The best we can do is continue on rebuilding our navy and increasing our defenses.”

“Okay, please continue Harper.” Hood and everyone else listen attentively to Harper because the biggest threat to the UNSC is the Storm Covenant at the moment.

“Intel estimates that they will be ready to attack us and continue with their Great Journey in ten years. Now this wouldn’t have been a problem if the Arbiter was still alive and his faction not in pieces. Thank you for screwing us over ONI and Parangonsky.”

Parangonsky ignored orders to help the UNSC’s new ally the Sword of Sanghelios which is led by the Arbiter. They instead developed a plague that wiped out their crops. They assassinated the Arbiter causing his faction to shatter and causing the Storm Covenant to win the Civil War. ONI caused humanity to lose its only ally in the Universe.

When Lord Hood found out about Parangonsky's treason, he immediately ordered ONI Section Zero to arrest her. This caused a mini-war to happen between ONI and the UNSC. In the end, ONI was reformed and placed under the Navy’s Command. Parangonsky and Osman are facing court martial. Most ONI agents defected back to the UNSC. Basically, ONI fucked Humanity over.

“But at the rate, our fleet is being rebuilt, and with the Forerunner technology that is being incorporated, we would be able to take on the Storm Covenant head-on. And as for our Orbital Defences, each planet will have 350 Orbital Super MAC cannons. It will be more than enough to take them on.”

One Super MAC cannon is enough to obliterate a Covenant Super Carrier. And with 350 in orbit of each Colony in Sol, there will be thousands of them dotting the Solar system. The Storm Covenant will suffer heavy losses trying to breach our defenses.

“And if they breach all our defenses, our ground forces will try to hold them back long enough so that most of the Sol system can retreat through the Portal in New Mombasa towards the ARK. The moment enough civilians and soldiers are through the portal we will initiate ENDGAME. That would be all Lord Hood.”

ENDGAME. The final order for all UNSC forces. When ENDGAME is activated it will order Prowlers that stalk the Storm Covenant’s planets to deploy a NOVA bomb at each planet. Neutralizing it entirely and the said Prowlers will self-destruct.

All other UNSC Assets will also self-destruct. The portal will be closed and 20 Nuclear bombs will be detonated around the portal to prevent the Covenant from following us to the ARK…And all that would be left is to wait for them to fire the Halo Arrays and we can go and reclaim our Galaxy.

The final fuck you to the Covenant.

“Thank you, Admiral Harper. Now on to the Parangonsky issue. Joseph, you have the stage.” After calling him. Deputy Supreme Commander Joseph T. Casey stood up from his chair and looked everyone in the eye.

Joseph is one of the few people Hood trusts. Because unlike almost all of the UEG politicians, he is a man for justice and law. He hates greed and corruption and will do everything in his power to strike it down. Which means he absolutely despises Parangonsky for her corruption and greed. Yes, she was loyal to humanity…her version of humanity but she still committed high treason.

“Parangonsky’s Court Martial will be held next week in Site Alpha Zero Two in the city of Washington DC. We all will be gathered at the Pentagon to decide her fate. But we all of course know what her fate is. Death. Osman will be sentenced to life in prison. I trust you all to be there. That is all, thank you.” After keeping his report short and crisp he sits back down waiting for Hood to continue.

“Thank Deputy Commander. You hear that everyone, I expect to see everyone there next week.” Everyone nods their head in approval.

“It seems we are finished with the monthly reports. But I do have one last thing to add. I will not be in the Solar system until Friday. The reason is that I am going with the newly commissioned Battlegroup Sol to the ARK to inspect things on that side. So until I return you are in command Harper. Dismissed.”

Everyone gave each other a salute before they all returned to their workstations throughout the Solar system.

Arriving back at the landing pad, Hood walks up the stairs and greets his pilot who is leaning against the Pelican. “Second Lieutenant. I trust that you had a wonderful time in the mess hall. Please start the bird up. Our destination is UNSC Sol at New Mombasa.”

The pilot quickly straightens herself and salutes. “Yes Admiral. Thank you Admiral my lunch was great. Just climb on back and I’ll take you to UNSC Sol in a jiffy.”

Settling in his seat in the back of the Pelican, Hood watches with interest as the rear ramp closes again and the turbines of the Pelican’s engines start to whine. Not even a minute later the Pelican was already in the air soaring across the empty desert of central Australia accompanied by two Sabres.

“Just lean back and relax Admiral. We will arrive at UNSC Sol in an hour.” The pilot said over the aircraft’s intercom. Following her advice Lord Hood closed his eyes and leaned back into the uncomfortable bench. He envies the Marine and Army personnel for having to sit on these uncomfortable benches.

After an hour of flying across the Pacific Ocean and over the ruins of New Mombasa which is slowly being rebuilt. The pilot of the Pelican sent the verification codes and was granted access to land inside of UNSC Sol.

“Wake up Admiral, we have arrived and it seems like they put up quite a welcome party for you.” The pilot said over the intercom before switching it off.

Standing up and straightening his pristine white navy dress uniform and putting on his cap. Lord Hood prepares himself for having to walk through hundreds of soldiers saluting him and having to salute every soldier he comes across in the ship.

As the ramp lowers Hood stands at the edge of it before slowly walking down. Surrounding the Pelican are hundreds of marines in their newly issued ODST armor and the different naval personnel of the ship. All of them holding a crisp salute as he walks past them with his own salute until he reaches the two commanding officers standing at the end of the hangar near the elevator.

Admiral James Becket in command of all the ships in Battlegroup Sol and Captain Thomas Omar. The captain in charge of the UNSC Sol. Both of them salute Hood before extending their arms for him to shake. “Welcome aboard Sol Grand Admiral. We hope you’ll enjoy your stay here.”

“It’s a pleasure gentlemen, unfortunately, my stay won’t be permanent. I am going back to Cairo station after we finish our visit to the ARK.” Hood says while shaking both of their hands.

“That’s truly a shame Lord Hood. We would have loved to have you stay with us longer. It’s not every day that a living legend steps on board my ship. Shall we head to the Command Centre, we will be entering the Portal soon.” Captain Omar asks while pointing to the elevator.

The three of them step inside the elevator that will take them towards the top deck where the Command Centre is located as well as the Officer’s rooms. “Tell me Becket, where is the rest of the battlegroup? I couldn’t help but notice only Sol here hovering above New Mombasa.”

“Ahh yes. Unfortunately the rest of the Battlegroup is in maintenance above Mars. The good news is that they will join us tomorrow above the Ark. So we are going to be alone for a while, but we still have the frigates in the belly of the beast to provide support in case something goes wrong.” Becket explains

“That’s unfortunate. I hope the rest of the Battlegroup will be able to make it tomorrow.” Hood says slightly disappointed until the captain handed him a holo-tablet.

“Here you go, Lord Hood. This is the ship’s manifesto. It shows the names of everyone on board Sol at the moment. All of our equipment, munitions, everything. I know you like to go over this stuff.”

Taking the tablet Hood gently pats the captain on his shoulder. “Thank you, captain. Let me quickly go through here while moving to the Command Deck.”

Lord Hood starts going through the manifesto. Leaving the crew list for last he starts with the ship’s airwing. There is a total of 642 different fighter aircraft on board Sol, which are divided into 65 different squadrons.

For the bomber wing, there are 206 different types of bombers which are divided into 30 different squadrons. Not as impressive as the fighter wing but Sol is a Command Carrier, after all, its entire role is being a planetary assault ship.

For the Transport wing, there are a total of 48 Pelicans, 48 Condors, 250 Falcons, 200 Hornets and 50 Vulture gunships. And a large number of unmanned UAVs.

Swiping the tablet with his finger, the screen shows the ground forces of Sol to the Grand Admiral.

There are currently two Marine Expeditionary Brigades on board and one Orbital Drop Shock Trooper Brigade. That brings the total number of ground pounders up to a whopping 15,000.

As for Spartans, there is a total of 150 Spartan IVs on board the ship. It is wild for Lord Hood that the Spartan numbers grew from 75 Spartan IIs to thousands of Spartan IVs. Even if the fours are inferior to the twos and threes, that is still an impressive number.

There is also a regiment of Promethean knights on board. Lord Hood immediately decided that they would become extremely useful in any ground assault.

As for ground vehicles, there are 255 Scorpion Main Battle Tanks, 100 Grizzly Heavy Tanks, and 20 Experimental M1000 Tiger Heavy Battle Tanks. 200 Mantis Armor Defence Systems. 1000 different variants of the Warthogs. 250 different APC and IFVs. 50 Elephants and finally 10 Mammoths.

An impressive number of ground vehicles. But that is to be expected of a ship that is solely designed for planetary assault.

The elevator opening brought Lord Hood’s attention away from the tablet. Pocketing the tablet, the three officers’ step into the Command Bridge. Hood can’t help but note how similar it looks to the Infinity and Eternity’s.

It is similar because the Sol class is an almost exact copy of the Infinity class, the only two differences are that the Sol class is meant for planetary invasion and that they don’t use any Forerunner technology.

“Officers on deck!” Someone shouted throughout the bridge causing everyone inside to salute us while staring at us.

“At ease people. Get back to work, we are entering the portal to the ARK in tee-minus 5 minutes. Do the last-minute preparations.” Admiral Becket firmly ordered them and not even wasting a second, the entire bridge crew were already back at their stations, preparing for our departure.

“Shall we take our position gentlemen?” Captain Omar asks with a smile on his face. He is clearly excited about seeing the ARK for the first time in his life.

The three of them stand near the glass while staring at the giant opened slip space portal. As the ship starts to slowly accelerate Lord Hood can’t help but think about the last time he entered through the portal.

It was he and a handful of Frigates charged after the fleeing Covenant forces with their Prophet that was on the Key ship. The Battle of Earth was the worst month in his entire life. The only other one that comes close is the incident with the Spirit of Fire…he will never forgive himself for that.

The synthetic voice of the ship started counting down.

“Entering Slipspace in… 5…4…3…2…1”

Author Notes.

Yoh, I decided to rewrite, and rework the entire plot of the fanfiction.

I am extremely unsatisfied with the previous version so yeah. Im not gonna rush this one, imma take my time writing this one. Making sure the sentences work and fit together perfectly.

Compare the first chapter of the two. I strongly believe that this is a MAJOR improvement over the previous one.

Until next time.

Chapter Text

Shadow of Sol Redux

Chapter 2

12 March 2560

Unknown Star System

UNSC Sol Command Bridge

Grand Admiral Lord Terrence Hood

In an unknown star system that is not native to the Milky Way Galaxy a miniature man-made black hole appeared. Emerging from the black hole is a giant spaceship. But something isn’t right.

All the exterior lights on the ship are turned off. The entire ship’s power seems to be off. As the powered-down ship floats through space it finds itself stuck between a moon and a continental world…no a super continental world.

Yet it doesn’t matter. For the ship continues to float aimlessly between the celestial body and the satellite moon that orbits it. The ship looks calm…almost dead. Left to float through space for the rest of eternity.

Except that isn’t the case.

 On the inside of the ship absolute chaos is unfolding. Fires are raging through multiple parts of the ship. Smoke filled the hallways threatening to choke those who dared enter them. Electrical sparks are everywhere, in the metal walls of the ship burning her wires away. Causing regular power outages where the ship loses all power, just for the emergency generators to kick her back to life.

Wounded personnel lay in the hallways, hangars, their barracks. Everywhere. Everywhere you go there is someone calling for help or attempting to help someone. No one was spared from the accident that happened.

In the vehicle hanger, a mechanic is trapped beneath a Scorpion Main Battle that flipped over. Ammunition started cooking off on the opposite side of the hangar. Yet it is this mechanic’s luckiest and unluckiest day for a Promethean Knight who easily flipped the tank over and threw him over its mechanical shoulder.

They exited the hangar just in time as the ammunition cooked off. Causing a small explosion to rock through the ship. Shrapnel pattered against the wall. New fires started in the Hangar…yet on the bright side, a human life has been saved from being slowly cooked alive by flames.

Throughout the ship control of the situation is being gained. Unfortunately, it is at an extremely slow pace.

The four medical stations and one hospital on the ship are already filled to the brim with wounded. As more are being brought in they are forced to wait outside in the cold metal hallways. With their cries and moans of pain filling being the only sound heard by many. The beautiful dark gray interior of the ship is now coated with fresh blood and charred blackness thanks to the countless fires on board.

Doctors, medics, and Corpsmen are working overtime to try and save as many people as they possibly can. The doctor’s white coat and blue gloves are stained red with human blood. Showing their commitment to save the lives of everyone on board. Nurses run through the tightly packed medical areas, bringing medical supplies from the storage rooms and assisting the doctors.

Army Medics and Marine Corpsmen are busy in hallways that are packed with wounded, stabilizing them to at least ensure that they will survive until it is their time for emergency surgery.

Throughout the rest of the ship, dozens of Military Firefighters are busy fighting the fires that are scattered throughout the interior. Slowly they are extinguishing each fire, making it safer for everyone on board. But it will take hours for all of the fires to be exterminated.

In the reactor room engineers are working to restore power to the ship before the emergency reactors run dry or they malfunction. After that, they will have to work on the hundreds of electrical issues that appeared and replace all of the destroyed wiring throughout the hulking beast.

On other parts of the ship, the few Military Police stationed on board are helping and directing the wounded to the Medical Areas while also detaining anyone who is causing trouble in the panic that is spreading throughout the ship. But they and the hundreds of other officers are slowly regaining control of the panic and bringing back order.

The crew of the UNSC Sol is slowly winning this battle.

In the Command Bridge of Sol, it is an entirely different story.

“Admiral wake up….Hood wake up!” Slowly opening his eyes, Hood's vision is filled with the bloodied face of Admiral Becket and the red emergency light lighting up the bridge every couple of seconds.

Becket slowly helps Hood up to his feet and instantly he almost collapses onto the ground again. Looking down he can see that his ankle is twisted. “Becket…my foot is messed up. I won’t be able to move for the moment.”

Looking at the Grand Admiral’s leg, Becket can’t help but cuss before helping Lord Hood into a nearby unoccupied chair. “Fuck, okay Admiral just stay here. We have to wait for the Corpsmen to reach us and from what I hear they are occupied at the moment.”

Hood slowly waves Becket away. “I know Admiral. I am alright here, go and help others who need your assistance. I’ll stay put here and wait.” Becket gives a small quick salute to the Admiral before jogging across the bridge to help someone bend over in her chair.

Observing the scene, Hood can’t help but grimace as Becket lifts the girl out of her chair. The console she was stationed at is smeared with blood and flesh. Getting a glance at the girl while Becket carries her out of the room he sees her face is split wide open. Flesh dangling from the front of her skull. Giant gap down the middle. Her nose is broken in half…her one eyeball dangling. She must have hit her face pretty hard against the console when we exited Slipspace.

Unfortunately, this is a scene Hood is all too familiar with. Having seen stuff like this happen to many service members in his life serving the UNSC. Most never survived injuries like this. Be it due to the blunt trauma they received or the amount of blood they have lost.

Hopefully, she will survive that terrible injury.

Around the Command Bridge similar scenes play out. The personnel who can move are using their remaining strength to help everyone else up and towards the medical area…Captain Omar who suffered almost virtually no injuries is still moving up and about, directing his ship’s crew while trying to maximize efficiency.

The red emergency light stopped flickering and suddenly turned off, plunging the command bridge into complete darkness before a blinding white light filled the room again and an automated voice spoke out through the intercom.

“Back up generators operational. It is recommended that the core reactor be repaired immediately. Core Reactor at 78% integrity.”

Throughout the entire ship, her interior and exterior lights are brought back to life. The ship that is floating aimlessly through space now has power again. Throughout the ship, many personnel breathe sighs of relief. Thankful that they can see again in front of them and not wander through the dimly lit hallways of the ship. Many of them make promises to themselves to thank the Engineers who restored power or at least buy them a drink.

While waiting in the ship’s command bridge for corpsmen to come and fetch him, Lord Hood can’t help but wonder what happened.

Everything was going according to procedure. He, Captain Omar, and Fleet Admiral Becket stood near the windows of the command bridge. Watching as Sol slowly enters the portal in New Mombasa that leads to the Ark…

And not even two minutes into the two-day journey to the ARK something bad happened. He doesn’t know what but something kicked the Super Carrier out of Slipspace. And the next moment everything was black…not a sound in the world.

All that he remembers now is Becket waking him up and helping him towards the chair while the entire ship is in chaos. But what caused them to suddenly drop out of Slipspace…

If it was a malfunction with the Shaw Fujikawa drive then they wouldn’t even be alive. Slipspace malfunctions are a death sentence. No matter what, there is no surviving a malfunction.

Did something pull them out of the stream? Could it possibly be some Forerunner technology or construct? Or worse…it could be another Didact.

As Hood sat in the chair pondering about the situation the holo-table next to him lit up and on top of the AI pedestal appeared a purple figure. The purple figure turned out to be the ship’s Artificial Intelligence.

If memory serves him correctly then the ship’s AI name is Equalizer. It is a sixth-generation Artificial Intelligence. They are vastly superior to the fifth generation. Sixth gens can live up to 60 years before facing the incurable threat of Rampancy.

The purple AI is dressed in what looks like a 21st-century United Nations Peace Keeper combat uniform. Hood had to admit that it was one of the most interesting outfits an AI chose to wear. It's up there right next to Roland and his Second World War bomber outfit.

The AI’s hologram turned around and stared at Hood with a blank expression on its face. “Grand Admiral Lord Terrence Hood. I have to say that it is a pleasure to finally meet you. Although I wish it was under more pleasurable circumstances than this.” Equalizer says while looking around the Command Bridge.

“I could say the same Equalizer.” Lord Hood says while wiping some of the blood off of his face.

“Equalizer do you know what happened to us?” Hood asks the AI.

“Unfortunately sir, I have no idea. I can only come up with some hypothesis and even they are not looking good.” Equalizer said in his emotionless voice.

Lord Hood is slightly taken aback by the AI’s lack of emotion. All other AI Hood has met throughout his career have shown more emotion than this one. Even dumb AI has more emotion.

“Well then Equalizer. I have no idea how long it will take for the Corpsmen to reach me. So let me hear these hypotheses that you have for me.”

Looking through the ship’s internal cameras Equalizer determines how long it will take for the Corpsmen to reach the Bridge. “Corpsmen are on the way and will reach our current location in 10 minutes sir. They have to take the emergency stairs since most of the elevators are offline.”

Hood can’t but let out a sigh when he hears that even the elevators are offline. “Wonderful. Equalizer explain to me what you think happened to us. What do you think caused us to exit Slip space prematurely.”

Equalizer gave a crisp salute. “Yes sir, there are possibly two things that could have caused this. Either our Slip space drive malfunctioned. Or something pulled us out of Slip space.”

Equalizer gives Hood a moment to take in the latter part of the information before continuing. “And I have run diagnostics checks throughout the ship sir, and unfortunately for us, the Slip space drive is in excellent condition. There is nothing wrong with it sir.”

“Equalizer, are you telling me that something pulled an entire ship out of faster-than-light travel?” Hood asks while feeling a headache starting to form in his head.

“Yes sir. That is the only other thing that can make sense. The question is if it was Forerunner technology that pulled us out or if it was something else entirely. I recommend that we look into this as soon as possible sir.”

“We will Equalizer. For now, we have to focus on getting Sol back up from her knees. What is damage we have sustained throughout the ship and our casualties so far?” Hood asks while looking around the empty damaged command bridge.

“Sir, we don’t have any damage to the hull of the ship. All of the damage we sustained is internal. Currently, multiple fires are raging across different sections of the ship; they will be put out in ETA 4 hours.

The engineers already restored the backup reactors and are working to bring our main reactors back online. Unknown when they will finish.

There was also an explosion due to ammunition cooking off in vehicle bay twenty-two. No casualties sustained there, it seems like one of the Promethean knights managed to free the Marine.” Equalizer says.

Going through the thousands of different security cameras on board the ship at the same time, Equalizer searches for any critical damage or wounded personnel that combat medics or MPs should come and rescue.

While doing that, the AI is also running different diagnostic checks throughout the ship to ensure that the critical compartments and electronics are not damaged and, if they are, to dispatch repair teams as soon as possible.

The Spartan compartment, Frigate Bay and Aircraft hangars took virtually zero damage. The rest of the ship isn’t so lucky. Equalizer ran the calculations in two seconds max and concluded that it would take about two weeks to fully repair the ship and bring her back to full combat capability.

Next Equalizer started looking through the medical reports that are being updated every minute from the medical staff. In 0.2 seconds, he acquired the data of the wounded and death count so far and how many more will likely pass away from their injuries later on.

“Admiral, so far we have lost 35 human lives. Twenty of them died the moment we exited Slip space and were thrown across the rooms they were in. The other fifteen succumbed to their wounds while the doctors tried to save them or while waiting in line for the doctors. And an estimate of fourteen will succumb to their injuries in the following hour.”

Hood lets out a sigh of disappointment. “That is just wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. And if we immediately start repairs on the ship, how long will it take to get her fully operational again?”

Equalizer ran the calculations through its programs and immediately came up with an answer. “Sir it will take exactly two weeks to bring the ship back to full combat capability. Enough time for us to further assess the situation while everyone is recovering from their wounds.”

The Corpsmen's footsteps echo throughout the hallway indicating that they are closing in on the Admiral’s position.

“Thank you, Equalizer. One last thing, I want 24/7 Combat Air Patrol around the ship. Deploy Frigates UNSC Gomorrah and UNSC Monarch along with 5 squadrons ASAP.”

Equalizer let out a salute as the two Marine Corpsmen carried the Grand Admiral to one of the medical stations on the ship. “At once Admiral.”

Connecting to speakers at the fighter and frigate bay, Equalizer immediately relayed the new orders from Hood to them.

“Attention. UNSC Gomorrah and UNSC Monarch are to prepare for immediate deployment and establish a defensive position around UNSC Sol. Fighter squadrons 1,4,11 and 27 are to deploy immediately and establish Combat Air Patrol around Sol.”

Underneath in the middle of the belly of Sol, two large hangars slowly opened. Two ships. Two UNSC Frigates dropped from her and engaged their engines. One Frigate took to the right, the other one to the left. Both of them flew a total distance of 10,000 km from the ship that birthed them.

After reaching their intended distance they started moving in a counterclockwise circle around their mothership. Daring anyone to attack her. And if anyone did, they would face their wrath.

As the two frigates circle the ship a total of 48 space superiority fighters launched from different fighter bays on the vessel. They immediately started circling the wounded ship like bees protecting the queen.

Now all that the crew of Sol can do is wait, repair, and heal until they face the next situation.

1 week later

UNSC Sol Medical Bay 1

Grand Admiral Terrence Hood

Sitting on the edge of the hospital bed, Hood slowly turns his fully healed ankle in a circle. Satisfied with the result after a week’s bed rest and healing he finally puts his socks on and boots before tying his shoe.

“Equalizer.” Hood calls out to the AI who manifested in holographic form on the bed counter next to him.

“You called Admiral.” The AI gave him a salute. Seems like the AI likes doing that.

“Would you please call all high-ranking personnel to my office? It is about time we discuss our current predicament.” Hood asks the AI as he ties the last lace on his shoe before standing up.

“Copy that Admiral. I will call them to your office at once. I assume that I should also be part of the meeting that is going to be held?”

“That would be correct Equalizer. I am going to need you to explain…well everything. Since you are the smartest being on this ship, right next to the Engineers. Now if you will excuse me, I will see you at the meeting.”

Lord Hood starts walking away from the AI while fixing his military uniform’s jacket straight. After all, he had to set an example for everyone else on board.

Approaching a nearby nurse he gently taps her on her shoulder. “Nurse, I am all good to go here. Please fill in my updated documents on the system.”

The nurse turns around slightly startled, not expecting the highest commanding officer in the UNSC to just walk up to her and tap her shoulder. “Oh! Of course sir, right away.”

She gives a small salute to which Hood nods at her before walking out of the Medical Bay. Entering Sol's hallways again, he is met by the sight of a couple of engineers complaining to each other while fixing some wiring in the wall.

There are still a couple of repairs going on throughout the ship. All the fires were put out, the main reactors were repaired and all other priority hardware of Sol was fixed first. All that is left to repair is the noncritical equipment which would take about a week.

After about ten minutes of walking through the ship and taking various elevators while passing engineers still repairing parts of the ship, he finally arrives at his office. And he comes to a standstill before the door, overhearing everyone else talking while waiting for him.

Ever since boarding Sol, he didn’t have the time to enter it even once.

It was supposed to be his temporary office for the trip to the ARK and back and now it seems like it will become his permanent one. Worst of all he didn’t bring any personal items so that means his office would look bland and spartan. And that just isn’t going to work for him.

Taking a deep breath he presses the button and the door slides open to reveal more than a dozen personnel cramped in the relatively small office. Some were sitting on the couch, and a couple were leaning on the walls, but everyone was gathered.

“All right, everyone. Thank you for coming here on such short notice. I believe you all are aware of our current circumstance?” He looks around the room when he finally notices someone raising their hand. The hand belonged to the chief engineer.

“Ummm sorry sir, I have been extremely busy with repairs and directing said repairs throughout the ship so I didn’t have time to read the reports. Can you please fill me in sir?” The Chief Engineer asks with a tired expression on his face while it is caked in black dust.

“Of course, Rodney. Let me sum it up, we exited Slip Space prematurely or we hypothesize that something pulled us out of Slip Space while en route to the Ark. When we exited Slip Space the entire ship malfunctioned and almost had a meltdown, but thanks to Rodney here and the rest of the engineers, we were saved from certain death.” Hood gives the Chief Engineer a nod of acknowledgment before continuing.

“While myself and some of the other high-ranking members were in a hospital bed, I instructed the ship’s AI, Equalizer to do a full system scan, determine where are we and if it is possible to get back to UNSC-controlled space and the results are not satisfactory. Ladies and gentlemen we are officially MIA with no way of returning back to the Sol system. Equalizer will now take over and explain in further detail.”

Only the Chief Engineered seemed surprised at this information since he was the only one who didn’t read the report.

While Hood settled down into his chair, Equalizer appeared in holographic form on the desk with a holographic image of the planet Sol is currently orbiting.

“I am going to keep this as short as possible and make it as quick as possible. As the Grand Admiral has said, we are in unknown space. And no we can’t just enter Slip Space because we do not even know in what galaxy we are or if we are even in our Universe. And if we did know in what direction Earth is, it would take hundreds if not thousands of years to travel back to Earth, and I would not survive that long to guide our journey back. So like it or not, we are stuck here.”

The AI spoke in a tone that was fitting for a commanding officer. And it seemed to work since everyone paid close attention to it even Lord Hood.

“But we are fortunately lucky and yet again unlucky. As you can see in the hologram to the left side of me, we are currently orbiting a habitable continental world. Similar to Earth in size and mass, the only striking difference is that instead of the seven continents that everyone knows of, there is one giant supercontinent that is similar to Pangea. This supercontinent contains different biomes. In the north, we have a giant icy tundra with forests and in the south, we have a sprawling desert. As for the East and West, we still have recon satellites mapping that area out.”

“And the most concerning part about this Planet is that it is inhabited. And unfortunately, it is not inhabited by some primitive species with sticks and stones as weapons. No, the inhabitants are fairly advanced but still extremely primitive since we picked up different radio broadcasts across the continent. And it seems they have not entered the space age. Now we don’t know what they look like, they could look like us, they could look like the Covenant species or hell they could be a giant rolling ball of slime. But we know this place is inhabited. I will let Grand Admiral Lord Hood take over again and explain what our next course of action will be.”

Equalizer turns around to stare at Lord Hood while he slowly stands up from his chair again to address everyone.

“First, in three days we are going to send out scouting parties who would be accompanied by scientists to search for places far away from Civilization to scout for locations to build Forward Operating Bases while the scientists conduct their various tests to determine whether it is safe for us.”

“I want four FOBs in the continent. One in the North, one in the South, one in the West, and one in the East. When suitable locations are discovered we shall begin immediate construction of the FOBs and get troops on the ground.

After that, we will have ONI agents sent out to infiltrate the civilization that inhabits the planet to gather intelligence and determine whether it would be possible to co-exist with them or if they will be a threat to us.”

Turning his attention to the commander in charge of the First Marine Brigade on board, Hood gives him a nod before continuing.

“Commander Phillip, I want two platoons per landing site on the planet. So I want you to handpick the eight platoons to scout the area and protect our scientists, don’t worry, we will establish QRF forces to come and support them if shit hits the fan. Is that clear Commander?”

“Yes, Admiral. I will have the papers of the squad on your desk by the end of the day.”

“Good. Now that is all for the moment. You all are dismissed to continue on with your current duties and we will meet again after our recon teams have to return to discuss our next plan of action. Dismissed.”

Everyone starts slowly filling out the room while talking with each other. When the door closed, Hood turned around to stare at the empty wall behind his desk.

At that moment he decided that he needed to go and get an extra flag from the quartermaster to hang there.

Author notes.

Yoh, been a while.

Like I said I am going to take my sweet time with this and stuff. It is mostly going to follow the same recipe as the previous version only this time more detailed and with some minor and major changes in the story.

BTW my Fanfiction.net and AO3 accounts are bit broken right now. Like I cant respond to comments in stuff. But don’t worry I read every comment and take each comment into consideration.

Untill next time.

Chapter Text

Shadow of Sol Redux

Chapter 3

24 March 2560

Unknown Star System

UNSC Sol Lord Hood’s Office

Grand Admiral Lord Terrence Hood

Sitting in his soft leather chair while reading through the crew manifesto. Lord Hood can’t help but think of the scouting operation that will commence in an hour. Countless different scenarios ran through his head while trying to read the manifesto.

What if the native population is hostile and somehow eliminates the recon units and scientists accompanying them? What if the native population is friendly and non-hostile? Then they will have to navigate an entire world of different politics and cultures and humans don’t have the best history when someone is vastly different from them.

If the scouting team is killed then what? Should more units be sent after them to their deaths or should they just enter Slip Space and scout the other star systems for other planets to settle on? But there is a reason they exited Slip Space above this inhabited planet.

Thankfully ODST and Spartan QRF teams are on standby to come and reinforce the scouting teams if they are engaged and in the process of being overrun. And if that fails there is always the ship's secondary weapons to provide orbital bombardment.

Earlier Equalizer speculated that the native species on the planet can possibly resemble humans closely. Apparently, this planet is almost a replica of Earth, the only difference is that there is one massive continent. But everything else checks out. It is in the exact same position in the Goldy Locks Zone as Earth, air and gravity pressure are the same. The only thing we aren’t sure about is air quality.

It could look nice and breathable, but it could also kill us instantly if we inhale it. Then there is the issue of bacteria and unknown pathogens that would also be deadly for us. And the possible diseases the natives might carry on them. Either we will infect them and kill them or they will infect us and kill us.

The four scouting teams were already briefed on how to initiate first contact if they ran into the inhabitants. Hopefully, that won’t be the case. They need to maintain secrecy, we can’t risk making contact with them and getting involved in their local affairs.

Who knows, we might be the Covenant to them.

Hopefully, nothing will go wrong and everything will go as planned. We will get locations for the FOBs and we will slowly establish our positions there and slowly interact with the native population. Let them get slowly used to us and vice versa.

The alarm that Hood had set earlier went off and shook him out of his deep thoughts. The alarm that he had set was to warm him about ten minutes earlier before the recon team departed. He was after all the current leader of the UNSC and now he is the current leader of the forces stranded in this unknown system.

He is a well-known legend among the human race, up there with The Master Chief. Everyone knows Lord Hood as the person who led humanity through the genocidal war known as The Great War, a war which humanity hadn’t won…they merely survived.

It is a well-known fact that everyone looks up to him and expects him to lead them through this time of crisis as he did during the Human-Covenant war. And he shall lead them, for it is his sole purpose in life. Grand Admiral Lord Terrence Hood shall do whatever it takes to protect the men and women under his care.

With a newfound sense of purpose, Hood stood up from his chair, grabbed his long-sleeved uniform shirt hanging from the wall hangar, and started making his way towards the hangar, where all the marines going planet side were assembled and awaiting the order to deploy.

After ten minutes of walking through the ship and taking elevators, while noting how similar Sol is to the Infinity and Eternity on the inside, Hood finally reached the door to the Hangar where the scouting team is gathered.

Stopping before the door that leads to Hangar 9, he places his hand on the biometric scanner and goes through the same process as back in Sydney to get the door open for him. After the positive beep and the artificial voice welcoming him, the door finally opens allowing Hood entry.

Entering the Hangar, he is met by the sight of eight Pelicans standing in the middle of it and at the rear ramp of each Pelican a platoon is gathered and standing at attention while listening to Commander Eckart’s recap as to what their mission is, the goal of their mission is, their timeframe and the importance.

Next to each platoon are roughly four scientists who will accompany them to the surface to conduct a wide variety of tests.

All the marines gathered here are listening to Eckart speak…more like the platoon leaders are listening to him talk. They had already gone over the mission roughly three times before everyone assembled here. So now they are just waiting for this boring recap to finish so they can do their mission.

Unfortunately for them, Lord Hood still has a speech to give them.

Hangar 9

1st Platoon UNSC Marine Corps

Second Lieutenant Cole Blackbird

For Second Lieutenant Blackbird, this day could have been a lot more exciting than it already is. They are about to embark on a scouting mission to some planet that they are stranded above in orbit. Not only that, the planet is inhabited by unknown lifeforms. So they had to go over some decades-old First Contact protocols and etiquette from before contact was made at Harvest with the Covenant. It took an entire day to go through everything and memorize it all.

And then they all had to sit through a meeting with Commander Eckart. The meeting wouldn’t have been so bad except for the fact that Eckart takes for fucking ever to finish the meeting. He wants to go into every minute detail and he can easily turn a meeting that is supposed to last half an hour into one that will last four hours.

And the worst part is that Blackbird actually has to pay attention to the meeting. Unlike the rest of the platoon who just has to sit there and act like they are listening, he has to since he is the platoon commander. The only good news is that the other seven platoon leaders also have to share his burden and his second in command.

And now that they were finally going to be deployed, Eckart came into the hangar and ordered everyone to line up. That includes the pilots of the Pelicans, the Marines of course, and the unfortunate scientists accompanying us and the bastard decided to recap the entire briefing they received yesterday.

Everyone in the Hangar just wanted to get in the Pelicans and get as far away from Commander Eckart as possible before he yaps everyone’s ears off.

“-And so each platoon has two days to complete their scouting mission, where the Pelicans you all came in will pick you up and will be your ride back to Sol.” Eckart finished and was prepared to dismiss them all before he glanced over his shoulder and spoke up again.

“Before you all depart, someone important wants to tell you all something.” The moment those words left Eckart’s mouth, half the personnel in the hangar either sighed or groaned audibly.

In that moment Blackbird wished he declined his promotion all those years ago.

The moment everyone saw who was standing next to Commander Eckart, everyone's backs instantly straightened and stood at rigorous attention. All eyes are on the person next to Eckart.

Some were staring up at him in fear, some were nervous at his mere presence, and a couple of Marines ’ hands were trembling. But most of them were staring up in complete awe. The leader of the UNSC, one of the most famous people in human history had decided to grace them with his presence.

Blackbird decided that at this moment he would sit through thousands of boring meetings and all other stuff, just to be in the presence of Grand Admiral Lord Terrence Hood. No doubt everyone else in the hangar felt the same way.

“I apologize for interrupting all of you, I am certain that many of you are eager to embark on this mission and some of you are nervous for this will be your very first mission. So I thought it would be best to give all of you a small speech. Don’t worry it won’t be as long as Commander Eckart’s speeches.”

Everyone let out a small laugh at the Admiral’s charismatic words. Even Commander Eckart is laughing slightly while giving Lord Hood a small gentle pat on the back.

With the tension instantly evaporated by his words, everyone calmed down considerately and simply waited in anticipation for Lord Hood to start his speech. The recon mission can wait, in their mind their Admiral is far more important than some primitive planet.

“But enough about that.” Hood’s calm appearance was replaced by the stern look of a leader.

“You might think that this is a simple recon mission. You are unfortunately wrong. This mission will most likely determine our future and our chances of getting home. Finding four locations for our Forward Operation Bases will help us a lot, many of you Marines are already tired after spending more than a week on the ship. The chances of us returning to Earth and the rest of humanity depend on this mission.

Our first interaction with the species of this planet also depends on this mission. We all depend on this mission to succeed and in short, we all depend on you. If you encounter any native intelligent species, contact command through your radio. I will personally help you through the First Contact Scenario. My callsign will be ‘Overlord’.

That is all. Long live the UNSC and long live humanity.

The Admiral finished his short speech calmly but the response everyone in the hangar gave was the exact opposite of his calm and composed tone. The marines raised their rifles in the air, the scientists and pilots their right fists and they all shouted at the same time. “LONG LIVE THE UNSC AND LONG LIVE HUMANITY!”

Their voices echoed throughout the hangar causing the two high-ranking officers to smile in pride as they watched everyone board their assigned Pelican.

Blackbird entered the back of the Pelican, which he and his platoon would use for transport. The Pelican’s codename is P-1-1 but most of the platoon are going to call it by the name that was given to it by her pilots. ‘Pixie Dust’

In a minute the entire platoon got into the back of Pixie Dust with the two scientists taking their seats at the front of the Pelican. Their white CBRN uniforms stand out against the dark green interior of the Pelican and the olive green ODST Marine armor that the Marines are wearing.

The only difference between the new Marine armor and the ODST armor is that the ODST ones are black or dark grey and have energy shielding. While the Marine armor is normally painted olive green but lacks said energy shielding.

Still, most of them couldn’t complain since this refurbished ODST armor is a massive upgrade to the old Marine armor used in Operation Trebuchet and The Great War.

The rear ramp of Pixie Dust closed and the Pelican slowly started lifting taking off causing everyone’s stomach to sink due to the change of gravity.

The eight Pelicans left the ship after exiting the blue energy barrier. Once they left and gained enough distance from Sol, the eight Pelicans split up into pairs of two. Each pair goes to their designated coordinates on the Super Continent to drop off their platoons of Marines and Scientists.

“Hey LT, you should give us a speech to you know motivate us and shit.” Said Corporal Tommy, sitting next to Blackbird with a shit-eating grin on his face and playfully nudging him with his elbow.

Multiple voices of agreement rang out through the blood tray. Most of the other Marines who weren’t busy talking to each other were looking at Blackbird with smirks or expectant smiles through their polarized helmet visors.

Blackbird can’t help but sigh before responding. “Are you all sure that is what you want? I gotta warn you all, that I love giving long speeches just like Commander Eckart, and I won't stop until we touch down. So should I give a boring speech and yap everyone’s ears off, or we can just relax.”

Everyone immediately stopped taunting Blackbird and went back to either talking to the person next to them or relaxing back into their uncomfortable seat to take a quick power nap until they were to disembark for their mission.

“Awww man LT, you just ruined all the fun.” Tommy leaned back while complaining.

Blackbird followed suit trying to find a comfortable position on the horridly designed bench. “Eh, maybe next time I’ll talk everyone’s ears off. After sitting through so many of Eckart’s meetings I am fucking tired of hearing people talk for a good month.”

“Amen to that,” Tommy replies while closing his eyes behind his visor, trying to catch as much sleep as possible on this short trip.

As everyone settles into their seats the female pilot of Pixie Dust informed everyone on the intercom about their current trip. “Ladies and Gentlemen, Marines and Scientists. This is your extremely lovely Captain speaking. Our short trip to this unknown Xeno world will take twenty minutes, so please make yourself comfortable as we descend to the planet. I will keep you up to date on our descent.”

Blackbird can’t help but scoff at the ego and pride of the Pelican pilots. It is always the Pelican pilots, believing they are the best just because they fly dropships, but at the same time, he can’t smile because it has always been these pilots risking their lives trying to pull the Marines out of shit. There is a reason the Marines and Pelican Pilots have a strong bond with one another.

Blackbird closes his eyes, filling his vision with darkness as he slowly drifts off to sleep with the sound of talking and the humming of the Pelican slowly being drowned out.

…

Slowly Blackbird’s eyes opened and the sound of panicking and alarms filled his hearing. Registering what was happening he fully snapped his eyes open and saw the entire back of the Pelican in full on panic with everyone clinging to their benches and gripping the straps tightly.

The reason for that being the Pelican is shaking, almost causing some of the Marines who weren’t strapped in to fly around in the troop compartment. Slowly the panic subsides but everyone is still clinging on for dear life.

“Tommy! What the fuck is happening!?” Blackbird shouts at Tommy while clinging to his seat

“Sir! The moment our pilot announced that we were entering the Exosphere the Pelican started fucking shaking, the emergency lights turned on and now we are here clinging onto our seats LT!” Tommy shouted back in a panicked voice.

After all, Tommy is the one in the platoon who is afraid of heights and flying in any type of aircraft. His fear of heights is the reason he didn’t volunteer to become an ODST. And now it seems like his fear came here to haunt us.

“Pilot! What’s the situation?” Blackbird shouts into the radio transmitter inside his helmet.

“Lieutenant the moment we entered the Exosphere at 400km, we started encountering heavy turbulence and I mean a fucking shit ton heavy turbulence. The Pelican almost ripped itself apart, it is as if the atmosphere is trying to push us back, but don’t worry sir, we are slowly regaining control of the bird.”

True to her words the Pelican slowly started to stabilize itself and everyone started calming down little by little. Once the Pelican fully stabilized everyone relaxed back into their seats although judging from the heavy breathing echoing through the compartment it is safe to say that this turbulence affected everyone.

“Pilot…status on the flights?” Blackbird asks through heavy breaths while trying to lower his heartbeat.

“Lieutenant all other flights are accounted for, they went through the same shit as we did. You should have heard them scream it was pretty funny.” The Pilot says back while joking.

Typical Pilots, scared shitless one minute and back with their bravado the very next minute. If only everyone else in the UNSC were able to recover themselves as fast as them.

“Copy that pilot. What is our current altitude and our eta to the drop-off zone.”

“Current altitude is 300 kilometers and our eta is 7 minutes.” The Pilot responded while she was going over her instruments and avionics to check for any damage the Pelican might have received in the heavy turbulence.

“Copy that.” Blackbird turns his head to see how everyone is doing. So far it seems like everyone is a little bit shaken up but they will recover. Tommy on the other hand isn’t looking good at the moment.

“Yoh Tom, you doing okay there? Your fucking shaking man.” A Female marine who is sitting across from Blackbird and Tommy asks with an amused tone that is lased with a little bit of concern.

Tom waves her off with his hand. Attempting to show her that the heavy turbulence earlier didn’t affect him. It is obviously not working since his hand is trembling from either adrenaline or fear. “Yeah, Lucy, I’m doing good. You know…heights and flying isn’t really my thing. It’s way too scary for me.”

“Ha! That’s funny, usually, Marines are scared of getting melted by plasma or getting divorced by the stripper they married. You! No, you are scared of a little bit of altitude!” The female Marine mocks him causing everyone in the Pelican to laugh including the two scientists and the two pilots.

It is obvious what Lucy is trying to do. Everyone is a bit shaken up and it is never good to be shaken up before a mission because then you will constantly be on edge and become a liability. Mocking Tommy in some harmless fun calms everyone down a little bit making them forget about the turbulence.

“Well sorry for my human emotions. But I ain’t scared of dying. I am more scared of dying in some useless senseless way. There is a difference between dying on the ground, fighting the Covenant, and taking as many of those bastards down with you than just simply dying in a Pelican that is being ripped apart by fucking physics. I prefer dying in combat.” Tommy said causing the female Marine to shrug her shoulder.

“Nah man. It is the opposite for me. At least dying in an aircraft is most of the time instant and relatively painless compared to being burned by plasma. Jesus… have your armor melt and fuse to your skin while your internal organs slowly melt and your skin melt to the bone in a slow, painful, agonizing death. Yeah, fuck no.” Another Marine sitting on the opposite end of the Pelican said.

And just like that everyone inside the Pelican started talking about how they wanted to die and if it should be painful and painless or an honorable or cowardly death. It is truly impressive how Marines can talk about morbidly messed up topics with a smile on their faces while cracking jokes at the same time.

“ETA five minutes until touchdown.” The pilot announced over the intercom causing the more experienced Marines to start doing weapons checks.

“Okay Marines, you heard the lady! Five minutes until we are boots on the ground. You know the procedure, start doing your weapon checks. Make sure your safety is on and that all of your equipment is properly secured!” Blackbird orders.

As everyone goes over their equipment, Blackbird grabs his Assault Rifle to do a quick inspection of it. After making sure he has everything secured he turns over to face Tommy and starts inspecting his equipment to make sure he hasn’t missed anything. The other Marines do the same to their Battle Buddy.

“ETA three minutes until touch down. Hey lieutenant, check under the bench. We left a little surprise for you and the platoon.”

After hearing her instruction Blackbird moves his hand under the bench and pulls out an olive green military crate. Blackbird opens the crate as everyone else watches with curiosity at what could be inside. Once opened and its contents revealed some of the Marines couldn’t help but smirk at the present they received.

A box full of 42 energy drinks.

“Damn pilot, where did you get this and why are you giving it to us?” Blackbird asks while taking a can and pocketing it in his rucksack before sliding the crate to the other Marines so that they can also get a can. There are even two for the scientists.

“Well, we are feeling a bit sympathetic to you guys. I mean exploring a scorching hot desert for two days straight on limited supplies has got to be hell. I mean the other teams got a winter wonderland to explore and some forests while y'all are stuck in the sandbox. That’s just cruel.” The pilot explained with a hint of sympathy in her voice.

“You know what Pilot, we will never forget this. After our mission, we all will buy you a drink. Ain’t that right Marines!?”

At once the entire troop compartment screamed as the Marines shouted enthusiastically. Echoing their promise to the two pilots who did something extra for them. Something that they will never forget. “OORAH!”

“This is Pixie Dust; we are touching down.” The Pelican landed on the rocky sand with a gentle thud before the rear ramp opened causing bright light to shine into the darkish grey interior of the Pelican. Thankfully the Marines visors were polarised so they weren’t momentarily blinded.

Once fully opened, Blackbird and the Marine in front of him rushed down the ramp with their weapons raised scanning their surroundings. As everyone piles out they form a perimeter around their Pelican, to protect it from any incoming threats. The last out of the Pelican were the two scientists who crouched in the middle of the circle of Marines.

The same scene repeats with the other Pelican ‘Dragons Wrath’ dropping their sister platoon off two dozen meters next to them. In two minutes the two platoons were deployed in the unknown desert region under the scorching hot sun.

“This is Pixie Dust, we are RTB. Good luck out there Marines.” The pilot of the first Pelican said over the platoon intercom before taking off to return to Sol. As the two Pelicans took off, dust and sand filled the air already dirtying the olive-green armor of the Marines and the pristine white hazmat suits of the scientists.

Once the two Pelicans left, an eery silence filled the air as everyone surveyed their surroundings in full detail. Surrounding them is an open barren desert wasteland that doesn’t have a speck of life in it as far as the eye can see. The scorching heat from the sun already penetrating through their armor causing everyone to sweat. The visible heat waves in the distance and the mirages that are already starting to form.

From the howl of the wind traveling through the plateau, one thing is certain for everyone. This is going to be the most uncomfortable two days of their life.

Turning around Blackbird signals the two scientists. “You two. You got five minutes to do a quick analysis of the air quality. After that, we are moving.”

The female scientist simply threw an okay sign before they started unpacking their equipment to do their tests. If their tests determine that the air quality is toxic to them then it is gonna be a problem for everyone, both short and long term.

“Tommy form a perimeter around them. I am going to talk to second platoon’s CO.” Blackbirds orders Tommy before starting to walk a couple dozen meters to their sister platoon’s position. His boots kick up sand as he walks and an irritable crunching sound from the hard sound echoing as his boots make contact with it.

As he approaches them Blackbird notices how they also set up a perimeter around their scientists who are busy performing tests on the sand. Why the sand needs to be tested, Blackbird doesn’t know.

Second Platoon’s leader, Viktor Petrov, a Russian-born Marine spots him and starts walking towards Blackbird with no doubt a giant smile behind his polarized visor.

“Aha, Blackbird! Gotta say, I was scared shitless on our descent to the planet. Never knew a Pelican could shake like that.” Viktor says while pulling Blackbird into a hug. Two friends who went through countless battles together reuniting again.

“Oh yeah man. You should have seen Tommy, he was shaking like a leaf.” They both start laughing at Tommy’s misfortune.

“Yah, can’t blame the man. One of my marines almost started pissing himself…but let’s cut to the chase, we need to set up our scouting route correct?” Viktor asks while folding his arms under his chest, waiting for Blackbird to continue.

Blackbird nods while pulling out a tablet with the map of the surrounding area on it which the Recon Satellites scanned. “Yeah basically. So here is what I am thinking. My platoon moves East and yours move West, once we both reach 60 kilometers we start moving in a clockwise formation inwards until we reach this exact position.”

Viktor simply whistles in surprise. “Damn man, 60 kilometers and we need to move inwards. That’s gonna take a toll on everyone.”

Blackbird simply sighs. “Yeah I know, would have been a hell of a lot easier if we had some Warthogs or Silverbacks with us…but we are Marines, we never get the easy shit.”

“Haha, true to that. But I agree with your plan of action. We can complete it in time if we start moving in the next five minutes and if we don’t stop moving, but I would like to add something extra.” Viktor says while observing the TacMap of the surrounding desert.

Blackbird merely raises his eyebrow behind his visor since it is rare for Viktor to do something like this. At the same time, he is thankful, no one wants a Yes Man. “Uhh yeah sure, go ahead Viktor.”

“It's simple. We do comms check every hour and report our findings every hour and if the other platoon doesn’t answer, they should haul ass to their last known location. We can never be too careful after all.” Viktor says with a concentrated edge in his voice.

“Huh, not bad Viktor…I approve of this addition. When the fuck did you get so smart?” Blackbird says while being impressed with Viktor’s new addition and newfound intelligence.

“Fuck you too Blackbird. But let’s get on moving and get this mission over with. I am already tired of this desert.” The two friends fist bump each other before Blackbird starts moving back to his platoon.

“All right everyone, we're moving out. I hope you all are mentally prepared this is going to be one hell of a long day.” Blackbird observes his Marines who are standing tall and ready, waiting for his command to move out.

“You two, how’s the air quality?” Blackbird asks the two scientists who finished packing up their equipment.

“Oh! It is perfectly safe to breathe without oxygen masks…it is actually remarkable. It is exactly the same as on Earth.” The female scientists explain with excitement in her voice.

“Good to know. Everyone let's move out.” All twenty-two members of the platoon start their gruelling journey through the unforgiving desert wasteland, fully prepared to face anything unknown and hostile that would stand in their way. Their sister platoon led by Viktor does the same but heading in the opposite direction.

Blackbird suddenly remembers that he should inform Lord Hood or his current call sign ‘Overlord’ about their current status. “Overlord, this is Metal Zero One do you read me over?”

After a couple of minutes, a voice comes through his radio. “This Overlord, good to hear you made it safely. Send traffic over.”

Blackbird can’t help but shiver in excitement from talking to Lord Hood personally. Even though it is just to inform him of their progress of the mission so far. “Copy that Overlord. We and Silver team are currently carrying out our recon mission in our AO. Scientists determined that the air quality is safe to breathe over.”

“Copy that Metal Zero One. I will inform all other recon teams about your scientists' findings, good job. I want you to radio in every two hours along with the other teams so that we can know you are alive over.”

“Affirmative Overlord, Sir what is the status of the other teams?” Blackbird asks, hoping that the other recon teams made it through that terrible atmospheric entry.

“Metal Zero One, all other teams made it safely to their designated AOs. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for Echo and Charlie teams. Charie’s Pelican malfunctioned during the entry and had to crash land at their AO, Echo team is currently keeping them company until we can Evac them.”

Blackbird’s heart slowly sank upon hearing that news. The worst situation has happened. One of the Pelicans couldn’t handle the stress of the turbulence when entering the atmosphere and had to crash land. That is two recon teams out. “Did they suffer any casualties, Overlord?”

“Negative Metal Zero One. NO casualties were sustained. They are only a bit shaken up. Don’t worry about them and focus on your mission. Overlord out.” Hood cut the comms to them and yet Blackbird couldn’t be even more thankful that everyone on Team Black was all right.

“Is everything alright LT?” Tommy asks in a concerned voice while walking next to Blackbird through the desert.

“Yes and no, Team Charlie Pelican couldn’t handle the turbulence and crash landed in their AO. Everyone is alright and Team Echo is keeping them company. So basically we are down two platoons and their recon mission is halted.”

“Fuck that sucks. Unfortunately, we can’t do anything about it. We are on the other side of the continent.” Tommy shrugs his shoulder. It seems the fact that hearing that the other two platoons are alive is more than enough to calm his nerves.

Blackbird simply rolls his eyes behind his visor as everyone continues to walk under the scorching heat in the unforgivable desert. On the north side of the continent in the frozen forests is an entirely different situation for two other recon teams.

Unknown Forest

Unknown Continent

Recon Platoon Charlie and Echo

Lieutenant Dan Washington UNSCMC

In a forest that is covered with snow is quite an unusual scene. One Pelican which has perfectly landed in an opening and a hundred meters away from said Pelican lays another one. Only this one isn’t in perfect condition. Black smoke is spewing from the fuselage, and the snow around the crashed bird is slowly melting due to the small fires in and around the Pelican.

A Couple of Marines and the Pelican’s Co-Pilot are busy extinguishing the flames and electrical fires with fire extinguishers. Even though the snow around them could have helped as well.

Near the treeline some Marines sit on their behinds or on their gear, trying to fathom what caused their Pelican to crash and being thankful that no one sustained any injuries during their crash landing. So far it has been a pretty terrible start for Charlie platoon.

The only two saving graces are that their sister platoon managed to land unscathed and that there were no injuries.

Standing off in the middle of the clearing caused by the Pelican crashing is the two commanders of the platoons. First Lieutenant Dan Washington and Seargeant Erika Meyer.

“Is that pilot of yours ever going to stop beating up her Pelican?” Erika asks Dan while the two of them watch as the pilot of the crashed Pelican kicks and hits the fuselage of the Pelican while screaming at it with pure rage that will melt the snow in the entire forest.

“You fucking piece of shit! After everything we went through, you decide to almost kill us all!? We survived Reach together! Fought on Earth together and we won the war the ARK together! Yet you decide to give out on me due to a little bit of motherfucking turbulence!!” She adds her anger with an extra hard punch that would break bones.

Dan simply nods at two Marines standing near her to take her away from the wreckage so that she can calm down before she pops a vein. “Yeah, she is very attached to that Pelican. Shame it went through whatever that was.”

Erika merely scoffs. “You mean that unnatural turbulence. That wasn’t normal, I mean a Pelican doesn’t nearly rip itself apart from a bit of turbulence…no something tried to push us back into space.”

“Probably, not really our problem to worry about. Hell, I am pissed our mission got canceled because of this.” Dan complains slightly.

Erika unseals her helmet and takes it off revealing her pale skin and silver hair tied into a bun. “Yeah, I hear you. Good thing Alpha platoon found out the air is breathable, can’t stand these helmets.”

Marines from both platoons decided to take advantage of their mission that was canceled and started using the snow to build snowmen and decorate them with their equipment. Others started making snowballs and having snowball fights.

“Why are we Marines like this Erika?” Dan asks as the two commanding officers watch a couple of Marines building a snowman with a massive penis.

Erika simply takes a long drag of her cigarette which she pulled out of her pocket. “No idea Dan, no fucking idea.”

As everyone started relaxing and having fun playing in the snow, one Marine who is patrolling spotted something unusual in the sky. A light grey smoke plume…and they didn’t make it. He quickly contacts the platoon leader through his radio.

“Copper Zero One, this is Copper Zero Nine, I spotted an unknown smoke plume northeast of our position bearing 55 degrees.”

Dan immediately jumped up from his relaxed position to an alert one with Erika following suit. Quickly scanning above the tree lines he spots the smoke that the Marine was talking about. “Fuck, Erika getting everyone sorted out, I’ll contact Hood. We have a possible First Contact Scenario on our hands here.”

Erika immediately puts her helmet back on, hiding her face from the world before beginning to scream at the Marines to assume combat positions. Interrupting their playtime in the snow.

As the Marines move to get their gear from the Snowmen and the ground, Dan contacts Lord Hood in an urgent tone. “Overlord! This is Copper Zero One we have a possible first contact scenario over!”

Immediately he heard Lord Hood respond back. “Copy that Copper. Give me a quick sitrep over.”

“Affirmative Overlord. Two minutes one of my Marines patrolling the area spotted grey smoke in the air. I looked at the bearing he gave and I see it as well Overlord. It is manmade. I repeat it is manmade.”

“Copy that Copper Zero One, I want both platoons to move towards the smoke and attempt to make peaceful first contact with the unknowns. They may already know you're there.”

“Affirmative Overlord. Moving out now, we will keep you updated.” Dan cut contact with Lord Hood and grabbed his Assault Rifle from the ground before making his way towards his platoon.

“Okay people, you know the First Contact drill. Just stay still while looking menacing and I’ll do all the talking. Let’s move out, arrow formation.” The Marines of Charlie platoon immediately fell in an arrowhead formation with Dan at the tip.

Echo Platoon copied their formation a dozen meters to the side of them with Erika at the tip. The pilots of the two Pelicans got into the operational one to await the signal from the Marines if they should come and provide air support if First Contact broke down.

The forty Marines slowly move through the thick snow-covered forest. The snow making loud crunching noises as their boots sink into it. They scan their surroundings, searching for any possible sign of intelligent life through the densely packed trees and the snow.

After about five minutes of moving through the forest, the Marines come to another clearing and they all crouch behind the tree line to observe the clearing and in the clearing, they see their first sign of intelligent life which causes some of them to stare in awe and in shock.

Standing in a field of wild berries is a woman carrying a basket in her left hand while picking berries and depositing them in her basket all while humming a tune and being completely unaware of the Marines watching her in shock.]

The species they found is not at all what they expected. They all imagined that the unknown species of this planet would be some ugly alien like the various species in the Covenant. But it is the exact opposite, standing in front of them is a human woman…or a woman that looks 90 percent human. On top of her head are two deer antlers and her ears…are replaced with those of deer.

The woman is wearing dark grey and white rags that look poorly made, almost as if peasants made it. She has light grey hair and grey eyes and at the same time, she looks slightly malnourished as if she hadn’t had a proper nutritional meal in a while. Despite all that she is picking berries without a care in the world…the scene looks so serene.

Unfortunately, the silence was broken by a Marine who couldn’t believe that he was staring at someone who looked so human yet so alien. “What the hell.”

The moment the words left the Marine’s mouth, the woman stopped picking the berries and looked in the direction of the tree line where everyone was hunkered down. Her eyes narrowed before widening in fear after spotting around forty unknown humanoids in the tree line.

She dropped her basket filled with berries and immediately started running into the forest. She somehow managed to hear the Marine from over fifty meters away which in on itself is not natural.

“Fuck. Everyone after her!” Dan shouted when he saw the woman running away. Immediately forty Marines clad in olive green armor from head to toe rushed after the woman which only caused her to increase her speed.

The woman was unnaturally fast and agile, dodging trees left and right. Jumping over roots and running through the snow with ease. While the Marines struggle to chase after her with some bumping into the trees or tripping in the snow.

One thing is for certain, this woman’s physical capabilities far outclass theirs.

Five minutes into the chase, the Marines arrive at a small village. Extremely small with only four poorly build wood houses there. In the center of the houses is the woman who the Marines chased holding a spear while breathing heavily.

Around the women are old people and a couple of children, who look different from the woman. These new people have bear ears on their heads and they look extremely fragile and scared.

A Tense standoff has begun between the Marines and the old villagers wielding pitchforks and spears. As both sides stared at each other warily, Dan made a decision that would hopefully end this standoff.

“Erika…take my gun. I am going to slowly approach them and try to initiate contact. If any of them try anything…kill them.” Dan gives his Assault Rifle to Erik before he slowly walks toward the Villagers with his hands raised in the air.

“Be careful Dan…everyone lower your weapons, we don’t want to scare them.” At Erika’s orders, all the Marines lower their weapons while staring with bated breaths as Dan slowly approaches the unknown villagers.

Seeing everyone lower their weapons the Villagers can’t help but do the same and lower their makeshift weapons while staring at the approaching figure clad in armor.

Stopping in front of them, Dan slowly reaches up and removes his helmet, revealing his human face to them. This seemed to cause the Villagers to relax even further, almost as if they thought he would look like an alien invading them.

The woman they were chasing took a step forward before speaking in heavily accented English which shook everyone to their core. The chances of an unknown species knowing English should be impossible. “Who are you? What is your name?”

Quickly regaining his composure Dan responds with a shaky breath. “I am Lieutenant Dan Washington of the UNSCMC…we mean you know harm. May I ask for your name?”

The woman stands still for a moment, processing his words before looking Dan in the eyes with determined eyes that showcases her willpower.

“Alina”.

Author notes.

Yah, another chapter is done. Yeah, I made them meet Alina, cause why the hell not :).

But regarding the barrier above Terra, I made it so that USNC aircraft can still move through it, although it will have a heavy strain on said aircraft which would make them possibly crash and require heavy maintenance after going to the planet and back….this was legit the only way around the barrier that I could think of.

I wonder how the UNSC shall interact with Alina and the other villagers.