Disclaimer: I don't own Halo Universe as well as the Star Wars Universe.
Timeline
2553 AD
- March
A monument is erected in the Kenyan Savannah near Mount Kilimanjaro to officially mark the end of the Human-Covenant war, and in remembrance of those who gave their lives in the war – including posthumously promoted Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy John-117 who is labeled MIA. The land around the memorial is left barren to remind humanity of all the sacrifices it had to give in order to survive.
United Nations Space Command begins transferring power back to the United Earth Government now that the war is over, though they remain on high alert to mop up any remnants of the Covenant. Arbiter Thel 'Vadam temporarily heads the provisional government of the Separatist Covenant.
- May
UEG and Covenant Separatist (now called Coalition of Allied Species) sign the Milky Way Treaty on Mount Kilimanjaro to signify helping each other make the universe become a peaceful place. This marks the long process of recovery as most humans remain distrustful of the CAS.
- June
Operation Rebuild Earth is launched by UEG to rebuild Earth. UEG also discovers out of the 800 planets they have, only about 90 or so were glassed before the invasion of Earth. UEG (along with the help of the CAS) then launches Operation Seedling to recolonize all its glassed planets, but remarks that the progress is expected to be slow.
2554 AD
- January
[CONFIDENTIAL] After much deliberation, UEG approves the funding for a second Infinity-class warship (code named Everlasting) right after the success of the first's mission. The Interplanetary Scientific and Engineering Commission theorizes that UNSC Everlasting will be finished by 2560.
- March
Upon the request of UEG President Ruth Charet and (recently appointed) Defense Secretary Terrace Hood, Thel 'Vadam agrees to donate one CSO-class Supercarriers to help advance the vehicles and equipment of UEG.
[CONFIDENTIAL] In ISEC's monthly report, it states that the UNSC Everlasting space faring capabilities will be notch better than the recently upgraded UNSC Infinity by a small margin
- April
The UEG and the CAS have agreed to allow the Huragok help ISEC in Operation Back to Standard and Operation Seedling. With this announcement, ISEC theorize that the time to finish both operations will be cut in half.
[CONFIDENTIAL] In its April report, ISEC states that the completion date of UNSC Everlasting is now moved around late 2558 thanks to the additional Huragok helping build it.
2555 AD
- January
Operation Back to Standard is launched with the intent of rebuilding the entire UNSC military force back to its pre-war status but with additional upgrades. With most of its world untouched by the war, Secretary Hood is optimistic that they'll be back to pre-war status by the end of the decade.
- February
CAS Government (after deciding on a parliamentary-style government, with the head of government being rotated among it's species) begins trade relations with the UEG. Their home-grown businesses are what helps CAS develop and improve its economy. The Covenant armed forces are then reorganized as Armed Forces of the Coalition.
2557 AD
- January
SPARTAN–IV Program is commissioned but all members come from either Marine Corp or ODST Companies. UNSC also decides to release classified information regarding the SPARTAN-II and -III Program, informing the public on the trials and tribulations the previous generation had to go through to save humanity.
- February
Public Commission of UNSC Infinity. At the same time, UEG grants all its colonies an autonomous status, finally crushing any Insurrectionist Movements. It also trademarks the word 'Terran' to refer to humanity as a whole, while giving each planet the right to refer to their own (i.e. Reacher, Harvester, Arcadian, etc.).
- March
First general democratic elections are held. Because of her popularity, President Ruth Charet is reelected for the next six years
- July 21, 2557
After over four years of drifting, UNSC Forward unto Dawn is pulled into the gravitational pull of the Forerunner shield world Requiem. UNSC Infinity finds Cortana's distress beacon, on the way to Requiem. The First Battle of Requiem begins.
- July 24, 2557
The Raid on Ivanoff Research Station occurs. The Ur-Didact successfully steals the Composer from the facility and composes everyone, except John-117, in the facility. The New Phoenix Incident occurs causing the city to go into quarantine for eight months.
2558 AD
- January
The first signs of progress in Operation Seedling is seen, with the first batch of grass sprouting near the reclamation settlement in Reach. This causes massive celebration all throughout Terran space as this is an important milestone for humanity.
- February 7 – March 3, 2558
The Second battle of Requiem begins with UNSC Infinity arrives to combat Covenant Remnants from taking over a Forerunner Shield World.
- March
After much deliberation, UEG has decided to centralize all operations of the military after finding out that UNSC services all the divisions of the military. UNSC remains United Nations Space Command with four divisions: UN – Army Division (UNAD), UN – Naval Division (UNND), UN – Air Force Division (UNAFD), and UN – Intelligence and Special Operations Division (UNISOD).
- May
Astronomers at Mauna Kea Observatories discover that a previously undetected spiral galaxy (named Novus Galaxy) and discovers that it has planets around the edges. The Novus Galaxy is calculated to be about 9,120 light years away from the Milky Way Galaxy's edge.
[CONFIDENTIAL] UNSC Infinity discovers a long curved metal arms surrounding a set of revolving, gyroscopic rings five-kilometers across Forerunner artifact that is capable of launching vessels to a similar artifact near the outer edge of the Milky Way instantaneously. Data mined from a nearby Forerunner research outpost shows that the artifact is a gateway of sorts to the newly discovered Novus Galaxy, with a similar artifact discovered there.
- June
UEG and CAS launch Operation Novus Terra with the plan to colonize the planets in Novus Galaxy after a probing team reports of habitable planets. The operation contains two colony ships (rumored to contain the UEG and CAS species) along with a joint UNSC-AFC fleet escort. Thanks to the recently released information about the slingshot device, UEG and CAS plan to use it to a great effect.
[CONFIDENTIAL] UEG and CAS launch Operation Reclamation with the plan to seek out what is believed to be a Forerunner signal coming from the outer edges of Novus. A military converted Phoenix-class colony vessel and a CAS-class assault carrier containing scientists and equipment are dispatched along with a joint UNSC-AFC fleet escort.
- July
Operation Novus Terra is a success, with a single planet (named New Aurora) being colonized by the Novus Exploration Fleet. Two other planets are discovered within the system but are not colonized because of supply constraints.
[CONFIDENTIAL] Operation Reclamation is fully under way. First planet (codenamed New Aurora) is made the headquarters of the Novus Exploration Fleet, being the only planet with what little Forerunner presence. The two other planets (codenamed Ballou and Proelia) are void of any Forerunner presence
- September
[CONFIDENTIAL] Decrypted data from New Aurora suggest the system was used as a research outpost to understand the slingshot device and try to recreate it. A prototype device was said to have been created but was lost due to a mistake in design.
2560 AD
- June:
UNSC Everlasting is publicly commissioned and is announced to be sent to the Novus Galaxy as UEG's flagship in it. It is to be accompanied by a CAS-class assault carrier named AFC Era of Redemption.
However, the story does not begin with the United Earth Government nor with the Coalition of Allied Species. It begins with a military converted Phoenix-class colony vessel floating in space in a galaxy far, far, away…
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FROM THE IMAGINATIVE MIND OF PINOY GAMER
IN COLLABORATION WITH [ENTER TEXT HERE PRODUCTIONS]
PRESENTS
STAR WARS: THE GUARDIANS OF THE FORCE
Summary: The Force will not be chained to the wills of an uncaring being – it was not a puppet to be played and discarded when done. If this…this monster wanted wrestle the control of the galaxy, then the Force will give Him the fight He truly wished to have.
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ACT 1 | Part 1: Unintended Discoveries (September 2560 | 33 BBY)
29 Years, 8 Months, 7 Weeks, 6 Days, 5 Hours, and 4 Seconds.
That was what Serina computed as she stood on the holotable of the desolate bridge of the UNSC Spirit of Fire. For nearly 30 years, the Spirit has been floating aimlessly in the vast expanse of the Milky Way Galaxy ever since the…'Treasure Planet' incident. Apparently, the Covenant found a planet full of ancient yet powerful vessels that could wipe humanity in an instance. Thinking quickly, the Spirit had to sacrifice its Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine to destroy the planet that was housing the said vessels. It was a small price for them to pay but it was worth it – they had given humanity more time to stop the Covenant from destroying them in exchange of being forced to drift in space towards home.
Serina sighed before scanning the empty bridge. Every single personnel were sent to the cyro bay to sleep for obvious reasons. The Spirit was nowhere near any UNSC outpost or planet so all they could do was sleep and await rescue from anybody – preferably human. Frankly, she thought that everyone onboard deserved it - they've been (to borrow Cutter's words) 'into five years of Hell', so a 30-year beauty rest was more than perfect for them.
Serina herself was also affected by the impromptu beauty rest. She was forced to isolate herself into makeshift faraday cage to prevent her rampancy from affecting the Spirit and delete herself - unfortunately (or fortunately, she wasn't so sure), she entered the cage when her rampancy was affecting her without inputting a termination program. Instead, she accidentally inputted a ten year lockdown forcing herself experience the rampancy.
Those 10 years were...mind-numbing. 'Especially the aftermath…'
"Give me an update, girls!" shouted Serina, forcing herself to forget that thought. Suddenly, her two AI children (she wasn't so sure what to call them), a binocular and a gear, materialized on the holotable and looked at Serina. Having nothing to do for the past two decades, Serina decided to experiment out of boredom whether Dumb AIs could transform into Smart AI (something she theorized as possible after her transformation into a metastable AI) - and thus Sights and Gear were born. Suffice to say, the two AIs drove Serina crazy with their shenanigans - especially since they did things out of childlike innocence.
Gear would always call out any damages and try to have them fix it immediately, stressing out how long it would take before the Spirit was destroyed (she once called out a flickering light bulb and stated that it needed to be fixed or a potential fire hazard might happen within 500 years).
Sights, on the other hand, had a strange fascination with the MAC - always using it as a problem solver: a meteor heading for the ship - spin the MAC; discovered a black hole five light years from the Spirit - point MAC towards it's direction; need a hand dodging a solar storm - MAC it.
"Sights, you first."
Sights, the AI on her left, replied "We are approximately 2.5 trillion AUs from the designation 'Treasure Planet' with no objects ahead of us. MAC is currently turned off."
Gear added "Fusion reactors are running smooth. No other damages have been detected in the system except for a steam pipe bursting on Maintenance Sub-Corridor B5. Unless fixed, the ship has approximately 525600 months before it is destroyed."
Serina rolled her eyes at Gear's comment, now wondering if she coded the maintenance AI to be too paranoid. Still, nothing has changed since the last update so she counted it as a blessing. "Thanks for the update girls. I'll–"
"Unidentified object has decloaked at approximately 10 kilometers from forward aft." cut Sights. "Rendering image and prepping MAC Cannon."
"Argh, I already told you Sights, the MAC isn't used for objects like these!" Serina said in frustration, immediately canceling Sight's order. "Just bring up a render of the image, okay? Now, what is it?"
Her two AI children stayed silent for a few moments as they looked at the structure before them. "I'm not entirely sure. It looks like a gate with similarities found inside the 'Treasure Planet'." Sights announced in her usual monotone voice.
Nodding, Serina looked at Gear. "Gear, power up the fusion reactors-"
Suddenly, one of the arches of the structure growled and shot a red beam towards the ship and made scanning motions at it. It happened so fast that none of them manage to react quickly. The scanning and growling lasted for one minute before dying as quick as it happened. No one spoke or moved as all three of them tried to comprehend what happened.
"Should I spin the MAC?" Sights then asked to no one in particular.
Serina stared at the structure before coming to a quick decision. "Do it Sights. Gear, wake everyone up from the cyro bays. I'll go wake the captain personally." she ordered in her best drill sergeant voice before disappearing from the bridge quickly. Reappearing in Cryo Room 3, she stood in front of a pod and willed it to open. As it opened, she uttered four words that made the man inside wake up in a second.
"Captain, something had happened."
# # # # # # # # # #
30 minutes later, the entire crew of Spirit of Fire was now awake and on hand. Members of the 49th Infantry Brigade and 50th Helljumper Battalion grunted as they did post-cryo exercise to get the ice crystals out of their bodies, Engineers checked and scrutinized the vehicles and equipment to see if anything was damaged, and the entire bridge bustled with energy.
Meanwhile, Serina was staring at the Spirit's resident scientist, who asked "Serina…what's with these two?"
Sights glanced at Serina and quipped "Please answer this query, mother."
Rolling her eyes Sight's (sarcastic) remark, Serina just sighed. "It's...complicated." she answered lamely, getting a raised eyebrow from the scientist.
"Leave her be, Anders. Check the two later after we're done with the briefing." Chief Engineer Andrew Prescott as he made his way towards the holotable, handing over a tablet to the captain. "We've done the scans - ship's at top condition with a minor damage at the side where we got rammed. However, I suggest that we find ourselves some ammunition soon - we only have enough to wage three heavy ground operations. And oh, before I forget, thank Gear here for her wonderful job of maintaining the ship's engines. Damn, she gave me the report of the ship even before we began the assessment!"
Gear preened (Serina wasn't sure, but the cascade of colors Gear did made her think it was) at Prescott's praise as Cutter cleared his throat. "Back to the main topic: why did you wake up us again? You said something had happened."
With the wave of Sight's hand, a render of the structure appeared on the holotable. "Sights found this after we've finished the weekly status update. We were discussing the similarities between the structures found inside the 'Treasure Planet' with this when it suddenly scanned the ship from a distance."
Ellen stared at the structure, no doubt trying to decipher it. "Looks like a gateway of some sort," Ellen said after a couple of minutes, having checked out the image. "The five archways act like…a train station of sorts – you know, where the train stops to drop of its passengers – but this one just features the skeleton of the station." Ellen pointed towards the separated arcs.
She circled around the table and pointed at the Ω at the very start. "My bet is that this...gateway, for lack of a better term, is some sort of toll booth...but going where is another matter altogether." She crosses her arms and states "Whatever this is, I don't like it."
"So…this is like the one that we went through when the ship entered the weird ass planet?" quipped Andrew, getting a confused look from Ellen. "Sorry, you weren't with us when we entered the 'Planet'. We went through like six to seven rings inside the planet's crust before coming out the inside – or were it outside the curst? You know what, nevermind - you get the idea, right?"
Ellen nodded and opened her mouth when the ship lurched forward and slowly headed for the structure. Grabbing hold of the table to prevent himself from falling, Cutter looked about and shouted, "Status report, now!"
"We're being dragged towards it sir! I don't know how, but the computer's suggesting that the structure is some kind of gravity well!" yelled back one of the technicians.
"All hands brace for impact!" Cutter shouted immediately as the entire ship lurched forward again, slightly hastening its speed towards the structure. Everyone on the bridge immediately strapped themselves to the nearest chair.
"Passing the first archway at 35 kph." Gear calmly replied, transforming herself into a virtual dashboard for everyone.
"Great, now the structure wants to eat us! Anybody got salt, 'cause I know we don't taste too good." Serina said sarcastically, earning a nervous laughter from everyone on the bridge. "Everyone, sit tight - let's not upset the giant metal being, okay?
"Oh boy, you'd think that 29 years is enough to dull her sarcastic comments but nooo, it had to get better!" Ellen groaned while having a faint smile on her lips.
"Hey," replied Serina. "I should say the same thing about you. We got a weird looking structure outside of our ship and you're asking me why I–"
"Wait, how long is the structure?" Ellen asked, eyebrows furrowed.
"35 kilometers, why?" Serina answered.
"Captain, permission to fire MAC at the structure." Sights monotonously asked. It would have been funny if it wasn't for the danger they were in.
"Denied. Gear, give me an update!" Cutter shouted hurriedly to his temporary AI Pilot, the real helmsman being forced to sit down.
"Passing second archway at 700 kph." cut Gear, stopping the two from bickering immediately.
Ellen gulped from her seat, looking scared as everyone started getting pressed to their seats because of the speed. "Cutter, the structure's going to sling us somewhere really fast - it's like a MAC but for ships!"
"Passing second archway, speed is at 1050 kph! A portal has now been created."
Silence reigned as the ship continued to race towards the Ω, not one breathed as everything outside the ship elongated. "14000 kph, 175000 kph, brace." announced Gear calmly as they entered the portal, everyone else terrified. (Once this was all over, Serina decided she needed to add a personality subroutine into her children. Hearing them say things monotonously in a situation like this sounds really weird.)
For three long minutes, the stars around elongated before reverting back as pinpricks in space. They just sat there in complete silence until Andrew asked "Alright, what the hell just happened? I thought that was supposed to be a slingshot?"
"It...it was," Ellen answered , her voice wavering. "We just experienced being shot across space. The question is where?"
Andrew raised his hands up in confusion. "You're telling me that was it?"
Serina huffed. "You of all people should be glad nothing else happened. If something did happen, you'll be the one in charge of fixing it." she said with a smirk.
Andrew stared at her before walking towards the door. "This wasn't part of my job description, Captain. I'll be in the Engine room if you need me!"
Cutter cleared his throat after Andrew left. "Serina, give me a sitrep."
"Nothing broken, all systems green." Serina listed down. "Sights, what do you have?"
"Unsure. All data has been lost in regards to our position after our arrival." Sights replied.
"Thought so," Ellen said. "It was a sling shot after all and–"
"Captain,"
"–we'll be disoriented to our position because of it." Serina finished.
"So," started Cutter. "We're completely blind now."
"Yup. Damn, I knew we should have just fired–"
"Captain!"
"–a MAC round at it." Serina said to Cutter, who chuckled.
"It would have exploded Serina," interjected Ellen. "The structure was powering itself. Blow it–"
"CAPTAIN!" Sights shouted , making everyone look at her.
"What?" Serina asked, looking at her child.
"Unidentified vessel is situated in front of us." Sights said, everyone spotting a sleek, silvery-colored vessel in front of them, few kilometers from the Spirit's bridge. Everyone on the bridge just looked at the vessel in confusion, no doubt wondering where it came from. "Permission to spin MAC?"
Up Next:
ACT 1 | Part 2: Making New Friends
Character Visualization:
Serina (Halo Wars) as Serina
James Cutter (Halo Wars 2) as Captain James Cutter
Ellen Anders (Halo Wars 2) as Dr. Ellen Anders
Kenneth Donnelly (Mass Effect) as Chief Engineer Andrew Prescott
UPDATED 01/12/2020