Forerunner's Legacy
October 20, 2557 (UNSC Calendar)
Unknown Star System…
Hundreds of miles away from the outermost atmosphere of Earth, there's nothing but emptiness. That emptiness doesn't stay long however as suddenly, several ships appear after exiting the slipspace.
The fleet is composed of ships from both the United Nations Space Command and the Swords of Sanghelios. From the UNSC, there are UNSC Infinity of Infinity-class warship, UNSC Toulon and UNSC Rome of Paris-class heavy frigates, UNSC New Hope and UNSC State Your Status of Charon-class light frigates, and UNSC Song of the West of Autumn-class heavy cruiser. From the Swords of Sanghelios, there are Shadow of Intent of CAS-class assault carrier, Shattered Belief and Light of Truth of CCS-class battlecruisers, and Long Struggle, Spirit of Will, and Beyond Divine of CPV-class destroyers.
Their destination is Earth. However, it is not the Earth that's the homeworld of UNSC. They are approaching Earth for one reason.
To investigate the possibility of Forerunner's technology.
UNSC Infinity
After having some good sleep and a cup of coffee, Captain Thomas J. Lasky enters the bridge to see that all personnel are doing their respective tasks. He then turn his attention to something, or perhaps someone else.
"Roland, status report!"
As soon as Lasky said that, a yellow avatar of Infinity's AI Roland appears on a table. He appears to be thinking about something before talking.
"We have exited the slipspace, sir. In approximately three minutes, we will have visual on the location." Said Roland.
"That's good to hear. By the way, you seems to have something in your mind." Said Lasky.
"Well, when we enter the system, I found out that there are similarities with the Sol system. I decided to check the coordinates. The result say that we're anywhere except the Sol system."
"May be just a coincidence. This is a vast space after all."
For almost three minutes, the combined fleet is slowly but steady approaching the location. When the time is almost run out, almost everyone on the bridge can see that the location is a planet with blue as its dominant color. From experience, that means the planet is majority water. They then see a small rocky ball – a satellite – orbiting the planet. When the three minutes are over, everyone who can see the planet are surprised; the planet is none other than Earth.
"Sir, it's the Earth!" Exclaimed one of the staff.
"Roland?" Said Lasky, demanding an explanation.
"No, sir. This is not our Earth. I told you I had checked the coordinates, and we're nowhere near the Sol." Replied Roland.
"Then, why we're seeing Earth?"
"Like what you said earlier; this is a vast space after all, sir."
Suddenly, Roland receives a transmission from Shadow of Intent.
"Sir, receiving transmission from Shadow of Intent. Order, sir?" Asked Roland.
"Patch me through." Ordered Lasky.
"In a minute."
After waiting for a minute, the transmission has been properly established between Infinity and Shadow of Intent. The person who sent the transmission is the lead representative of the Swords of Sanghelios, Shipmaster Rtas 'Vadum.
"Shipmaster." Said Lasky.
"Captain." Replied Rtas.
"Is there anything you want to say?"
"I am here to tell you that this planet is not your Earth."
"Thanks…for the information."
"The proofs are the coordinates of the planet and the conditions of continents called Africa and America."
"What? I mean, what are their conditions?"
"I believe it is better for you to see it yourself."
Lasky diverts his attention to the planet in front of him. It's currently rotating from west to east, just like the Earth. The combined fleet is also moving from west to east from the planet's point of view. When he sees Africa, Lasky realizes that the continent is normal, no single hint about the glassing done by Rtas during the Battle of Earth to prevent the spread of the Flood. When he finally see America, especially the northern part though…
"You've got to be kidding me." Commented Lasky when he sees the North America.
"It looks as if the planet knew about the history of US of A and decided to mold North America into a star-shaped landmass." Stated Roland with an amused tone.
"Well, I believe that's more than enough proof that this is not our Earth." Said one of the staff.
"Captain." Lasky turns his attention back to Rtas. "None of our ships are equipped with surveillance device. If this planet is similar to Earth, then we can expect some advanced life-forms."
"Good idea. Can we do that, Roland?" Said Lasky.
"Of course, sir. Sending surveillance probe…now!"
From the bridge, Lasky can see the probe approaching the planet. He then turn his attention back to Rtas.
"This is going to take a while. I suggest that both of us prepare for an expedition party when the probe returned." Suggested Lasky.
"That suggestion is a good one, Captain. Shipmaster out."
With that, the transmission is cut. Lasky, along with the UNSC staffs, are now waiting for the probe.
At the training facility, two SPARTAN-IVs are shooting some targets. After few seconds shooting, one of them – with big slit-like visor – presses a button so the targets approach them. When they're close enough, it's revealed that the one who pressed the button has a better result than the other SPARTAN.
"Looks like you're still below me, Locke." Said the SPARTAN.
"I am just not feeling well." Excused the SPARTAN with visor not unlike Master Chief, Gabriel Locke.
"Yeah, yeah, not feeling well. How many times I have heard of that?"
"Shut up, Adams. At least I don't have a record of friendly fire."
"How many times I told you that was an accident?! It's not my fault I thought that he was infected!" Retorted the other SPARTAN, Douglas Adams.
"Hey, what's going on in here?!"
Both SPARTANs turn to see the source to see a SPARTAN-IV with a rectangular-like visor. The lower part of the visor moves upward, creating a curves. Locke and Adams also realize that the marines are also looking at them.
"Sorry, sir. Just some…disagreement." Stated Locke as both SPARTANs stand still.
"Well, that's good because we're going on an expedition."
"Sir?" Said Adams.
"There's a high possibility that the planet that's our destination can support advanced life-form like humans or elites. With that kind of possibility, our task is to perform small expedition; find out as many thing as we can about the life-form and return to the fleet. For now, we're forbidden from making contact without Captain Lasky approval."
"Why is that, Abbas?" Asked Locke.
"Well, we don't know whether we're going to be greeted with hostility or not. So until we know enough about them, we're not going to make a contact with the local." Replied Hasan Abbas.
"Understood, sir."
"Good. Now I want both of you to prepare our equipment while I'll try to find Koyuki and Smith. Finding them will be hard, that's one thing I know. So when we return, I want everything ready. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir!" Replied Locke and Adams.
"Then what both of you waiting? Do it now!"
Back on the bridge, Lasky is checking through the data about Infinity's current condition when Roland appears. Lasky saves the data before talking to the AI.
"Has the probe returned?" Asked Lasky.
"No, sir. But, it managed to send some data before it was destroyed." Replied Roland.
Lasky looks surprised when he heard that. The probe was designed to be as inconspicuous as possible. Though he do admit that a flying device might not be so inconspicuous if someone see it with clear visual.
"Destroyed? By what?"
"Don't know, sir. There's no clue on what caused the destruction."
"I see. So what kind of data it managed to send?"
"Quite a lot actually. For one, the similarity of the planet with Earth is 95.72% while its ability to support life is 92.38% if compared to Earth."
The result makes Lasky curious. If the planet can support life, then if compared to Earth, it should be somewhere near 99.5%. Sure, the number can be lower than that, but most don't reach 92. And those that reach the number have a good reason.
"Also, it managed to catch a signal and transmitted it back to Infinity. Sir…it has a lot of similarity with the signal of radio transmission during World War II."
Roland's words surprised almost everyone on the bridge. Many of them, who were only listening a little bit, now want to hear the full detail.
"So we can assume that the most advanced life form is a humanoid race and their technology is somewhere at 1940s level." Said Lasky.
"That's not all, sir. Take a look at the photo that the probe acquired before its destruction."
Besides Roland appears a picture. The background is blue so it's safe to assume that the photo is taken above a sea. That's not the most interesting part of course. The most interesting part is two planes in the photo. Both of them are propeller planes and have an iron cross at the wings.
"World War II…iron cross…great, one of the hostile we might meet is Nazi." Said Lasky with a sigh.
World War II is no longer as famous as it was few centuries ago. But one thing that managed to still reach the ears of the people of 26th century is, to put it simply, Nazi are bad guys. Actually, calling them bad guys is like calling the Covenant a group of nice aliens.
"That's a possibility. There's a chance that they're just using the same symbol." Replied Roland.
"That's another possibility. Any other important information?"
"No, sir. The rest are just a basic data."
"I see. Roland, send the data – including the basic ones – to the Shadow of Intent!"
"Affirmative, Captain."
With that, Roland disappears.
At the deployment bay, Fireteam Vanguard – consisted of five SPARTAN-IVs – is currently doing a final checkup. Locke is armed with MA5D Individual Combat Weapon System, Adams with M45D Tactical Shotgun, Anne Koyuki with Sniper Rifle System 99-Series 5 Anti-Materiel, and Christine Smith is armed with M395 Designated Marksman Rifle.
Standing in front of them is their commanding officer, Abbas. He's armed with MA5D ICWS, like Locke. He's walking from right to left as he checked each of his teammates.
"Alright, listen up, Vanguard. Our objective is to infiltrate the planet and acquire as many information as we can about the humanoid race that live there. This is a stealth mission, so I don't want anything that can revealed us to happen!" Stated Abbas. Locke then raises his hand.
"Speak, Locke."
"Sir, what kind of technology that the local have?"
"Intel said that they only have World War II era. This doesn't mean we can underestimated them. Weapons from that war, while obviously weaker than ours, still can kill even a SPARTAN if used correctly. Fortunately, there isn't any record of such event."
This time, it's Smith who raises her hand.
"Go ahead, Smith."
"How are we going to proceed, sir?"
"I am just about to get to that point. First, we will be dropped to a forest that's technically speaking is the Ardennes. Inside the forest, we will regroup with four members of the Swords of Sanghelios. From there, we will go to the nearest settlement or military base."
"Sound simple." Commented Koyuki.
"It sounds simpler than actually. The only thing we know is that the local are using WWII technology, live in a crude copy of Earth, and are possibly humanoid. And even the last one have some doubt. Anymore question?" Asked Abbas.
None of Fireteam Vanguard answer that question. All of them remain silence.
"I'll take that as a yes. Let's go, SPARTAN!"
And this is complete.
Sorry if something feels off. This is my first time writing a Halo fic.
If you have question or suggestion, feel free to tell me.
Review please.