Combined Universe

"Captain! Something's happened!"

Cutter could hear those words ringing and repeating in his ears over and over again as he was awoken from Cyro sleep, he groaned a bit and he put his hand to his head. Soon the ringing and the words stopped repeating themselves in his head, and he slowly shook his head and he looked up to see his A.I, Serena looking at him with worry. Cutter slowly nodded and he got out of his tube "H-how long have we-" Cutter started but he lost his balance and he grabbed the side of the pod, Serena knew what he was going to ask though."Five years Captains. Or Five years, two months, twenty five days, three hours and-" Serena was cut off by Cutter. "Yes yes Serena...where are we? What is going on?" He asked. Serena looked at him "There is a planet, pulling us into its orbit. I cannot for the life of me get this ship to fight back" She said, Cutter got a curious, yet grim look and he nodded. "Start waking up the others, I will be on the bridge" He said and he began to shakily walk towards the bridge

Cutter was on the bridge, alone. He was looking at the planet with intense curiosity. But...he did not like the look of the stars they were...all off. Far too off for them to be anywhere in their Galaxy... He saw Serena on her stand in the middle of the bridge and he opened his mouth to speak, but Serena cut him off "Yes, I know the stars are off...from what I can tell, we are not in our Galaxy...perhaps not even in our own timeline...or dimension" she said and she looked back at the sky "one year, and three months ago... I shut down for about two months...the last readings I had were on an anomaly... like a wormhole but not...quite. I thought nothing of it...for about an hour, before I noticed that we were not anywhere near our original heading, the coordinates said we were at Earth. But the Star Charts were all off...and there were no UNSC assets within sensor, or communication range" She said and Cutter slowly nodded, The planet seemed sort of like earth...only, the land was orange.It looked like it had water but it looked kind of...weird, almost looking more like an oil than water. And the gravity well and the pressure were threw the roof! He looked at Serena "Is it possible to land any Assets?" he asked curiously. Serena sighed "Pelicans can land safely...yes, but they would have a very hard time getting back. Most of them are far too damaged to get back up here...and because our Slipspace drive is gone, we cannot escape" She said grimly, with her hand to her chin. Cutter sighed "Alright... Find the Pelican that is in the best condition...and land an ODST team" he said and looked forward. He then sighed "And...tell them to take Jerome with them" he said with a bit of hesitation. He knew that there was a lot of bad blood between Spartan's and ODST's. And he was quite nervous about putting them together. Serena nodded, and then smirked "I will be sure they sign a restraining order" she said sarcastically. Cutter sighed "Not helping" he said with annoyance

The Pelican took off without a hitch, despite one of the engines were only operating at 69% efficiency. The Spirit of Fire was pretty beat up, after all it was bombarded with plasma torpedoes, plasma cannons, flood spores and had a covenant destroyer ram it. After about seven minutes, the Pelican slowly landed in an empty field sort of area. Jerome was the first to get out, followed by the twelve ODST's that came with him. Jerome looked at the ODST's "I know its pretty obvious, but make sure your suit is in top form" he said and he looked around. He knew they could walk normally with their suits in good condition, but they knew they would be severally restricted, and might even die if they suit became too damaged. Jerome began to scout around, as the final two ODST's who were piloting jump out of the Pelican. Jerome put his hand to his Helmet, "Captain, we have landed safely and are beginning our scouting mission" He said, there was a pause...but Cutter's voice was heard soon saying "Confirmed, be careful out there"

Off in the distant was a small forest. Just exiting it was an odd group. One was a green and red chitinous being, specifically a Collector, one of the few remaining collectors after being unintentionally freed by the Leviathan. Its six eyes scanned the horizon silently, quickly noticing the group in the distance. Alongside the Colletor was a Krogan in full body armor, a Vanguard with some powerful biotics. A turian Havoc soon exited the forest glancing out at the valley as well. And finally a Volus waddled out, with the tale-tell Volus breath.

"So. What planet is this?"The Volus asked between breaths. The Collector's wings became visible and they buzzed lightly in some sort of pattern. The turian and Krogan glanced down at the Volus. "Uh... he said he doesn't know."The Volus relayed. "Brilliant. Stuck on some alien rock with a former Reaper slave, a diplomat Volus, and Krogan. How could this day get any worse?"The Turian asked. The collector headed down the hill they were on to the valley, motioning for his translator to follow him. With a bit of stumbling the Volus was down with the Collector and the two made their way to the ODSTs and the Spartan.

Jerome looked at the ODST's. "I suggest we start preparations to have a base land here, I have a feeling we will be down here awhile" Jerome said, one ODST smirked under his helmet and he leaned over to another ODST and whispered "I guess the Spartan forgot his purse" He said, and the two ODST's snickered. Jerome eyed the two, "Just going to remind you two, I could kill you both with a purse" He said with annoyance. Jerome took out his Assault rifle, with his Spartan Laser on his back, he then pointed at the two ODST's that had laughed at him "You two, with me. We are going on a scouting mission" he said. The two ODST's groaned and the other silently laughed and chuckled.

They were walking further into the field, one ODST had a scanner in his hand while Jerome and the other ODST provided security, and looked with their eyes. The ODST with the scanner had blue stripes were the normal white ones were, and had a M6D Magnum on his left hip, the other ODST had normal white stripes, but had a bunch of Elite skulls on his chest plate, likely his kill count of elites. There was roughly 70 on his chest plate. This ODST had a battle rifle in his hands. Jerome then noticed something walking out of the forest, the ODST with the battle rifle saw them, and raised his rifle to them. However, Jerome slowly pushed the ODST's rifle down. Jerome slowly walked towards them, and stopped about seven feet away from them. "Who are you? And why are you here?" Jerome asked, his weapon in his hands but not raised at them.

The collector looked down at it's Volus partner, who was around the same height as a grunt but with clearly different proportions, motioning for him to speak. "Ih, greetings. I apologize for my friend's in ability to dirctly answer you. His kind have been very heavily modified by the reapers, and are no longer physically capable of speech. My name is Kaknar Can, and my friend here is Pllo. We crashed and have since been stranded here. We had entered a mass relay and when we came out we were hurteling towards this acursed planet. You are the only advanced scenitients we have seen since our arrival. We are also here with a Turian and a Biotic Krogan."Kaknar said, pointing back in the direction they had come indicating the Turian havok and the approaching Krogan. Pllo's wings buzzed to life, making out a pattern. "Yes yes Pllo, I was getting onto that. I can personally understand your distaste for this world, I am no more fond of it than you."Kaknar replied. "Do you by chance have a functioning ship that will enable us to leave this planet?"Kaknar asked.

Jerome looked very baffled...at first he thought they might be new members of the Covenant...but, if that was the case, they should have been shot at on sight! He nodded slowly as he thought, so many questions raced through his mind... What was a Reaper? Who were these people? What planet were they on? He shook his head and he folded his arms "We do have a ship, however... we have no way of getting home I am afraid" Jerome said, the ODST with the Skulls scratched into his armor smirked "WE Saved the human race by sacrificing our Slip Space core to destroy a bunch of ships a genocidal alien race was going to use to destroy the human race" The ODST said with pride in his voice. Jerome rolled his eyes under his helmet "We can get you off the planet, but not until we can find a way to fix our engines. They are...pretty beat up to say the least" he said, the ODST with the scanner looked up at the group "We got rammed" He said and he looked back down at the Scanner and he pushed a few buttons

"Hmmm.... perhaps you are some old form of military Earth-clan? Commander Shepard was the one hwo saved, not only humanity, but the entire galaxy from the reapers."The volus said. The collector's wings soon buzzed to life impatiently. "He says that it is unfortunate that your ship was rammed. A Krogan assault i'm sure."The volus said between breaths. "Think you could show us where your ship is?"The turian asked having caught up to his companions, along side the krogan.

Jerome blinked "Commander who?" he asked with confusion. He looked at the ODST's to see if they knew what he meant. But they shrugged and shook their heads. Jerome looked at the group "We do not know this Sheppard, prehaps he is not UNSC?" He wondered. Then the blue ODST Spoke up "No, a Covenant assault actually" he said. Jerome nodded "They knew we out classed them, so they rammed us. But, yes you may see it" He said, and off they went

It took a good fifteen minutes, but soon the Spirit of Fire was in view in the sky's horizon, it was two and a half kilometers long! It had many cannons and M.A.C's on it, tons of hangar bays and base landers, it was clear the Spirit of Fire was a ship built for war, the ODST With the skulls smirked "That's our ship, the UNSC Spirit of Fire" he said with pride

"Ah impressive."The volus said after a breath. "I personally odon't find warships to be too appealing, but I'm certain my Turian and Krogan friends here can certainly appreciate that particular expertise."Kaknar said. The collector didn't seem too interested in the design. It's wings buzzed several times as it glanced down at Kaknar. "Oh I'm sure they have a means of getting to the ship."Kaknar said. "So hwo do we get up there?"The turian asked, well. How do you get up there? I'm certain I could reach it with no difficulty."The turian said. "Oh please, those rinky-dink thrusters wouldn't get you more than a few feet in the air."The krogan replied. "They wouldn't get you in the air more than a few feet Threskgar."The turian replied. "Palpus, Threskgar, quite arguing about those weird thrusters you've got. They are no where near pwoerful enough for sustainable flight."Kaknar said. Pllo buzzed something, with Palpus and Threskgar glancing down to Kaknar for the translation. "Uh... I'd.. rather not translate."Kaknar replied. "Is that your transport ship?"Threskgar asked, looking at the pelican.

Jerome looked at the group with curiosity, their fighting made him a little uneasy, The ODST's seemed to find it amusing though. Jerome glanced at the Pelican before nodding. "Ya, it is. It is the only one we could find that was in...moderate condition" He said, one of the ODST's, this one had red stripes and black colored armor instead of grey spoke "Being stranded, no way of getting reinforcements and fighting a war, does that to your inventory" He said and he went back to ordering the other ODST's around. Jerome looked at them "It is a little beat up, since the Covenant do not normally like us dropping in and out of combat" he said and he stepped into the back "Though, this one can get us up...but, not very smoothly" He said and he looked at the group "you are welcome to use the Pelican" he said, motioning them to come aboard

"How do we use it? Is it VI piloted?"Threskgar asked walking over to the Pelican

Oop: Sorry for short post

(it is okay~)

Jerome shook his head, then the blue ODST spoke "I can fly" he said and he got into the pilot seat. Jerome looked at the group "Climb aboard and we'll be off"

Soon Kaknar, Pllo, Threskgar, and Palpus had all boarded the Pelican. "So, I assume this ship is used to transport troops?"Palpus asked, glancing around the Pelican.

Jerome nodded "Ya, can carry about...I would say Thirty people, since fifteen can sit on the seats and fifteen can stand. But, if the Pelican has Troop Deployment Pods, it can carry double the amount." he said as the Pelican took off. He looked at the group "Though, we do not normally land Pelican's with a full crew or even one full of troops unless it is away from enemy units, since the Covenant are pretty good at shooting them down" The White ODST said as he was checking his weapon, making sure it was working. Jerome looked at the Turian and Krogan "While not used for combat, the pelican does have two missile pods that can fire eight missiles rapidly, and a chin mounted chain cannon that has explosive 70mm depleted uranium round's" he said and soon the Pelican landed inside the Spirit of fire, many troops were in here assisting the repair crews since there was a lot to be fixed, both on the ships, and the hangar bay itself.

"Take notes Palpus, these humans sure know how to make good weapons."Threskgar chuckled. "Oh please, Turian weaponry has a certain elegance to them that not even the Asari can copy."Palpus replied. "What ever makes you sleep at night."Threskgar replied. "*hhhhk* perhaps I may go see the *hhhkkk* captian?"Kaknar asked.

Jerome looked at Kaknar and he nodded "I do not see why not" he said and he started to walk them down the halls. There did not seem to be any other people that looked like Jerome on the crew decks, however any marines they went by seemed to salute or show great respect for Jerome, even those of high rank. They then got to the bridge, and low and behold there were two other Spartan's on the bridge. Spartan Douglas, and Spartan Alice. Cutter looked at Jerome, Serena was right next to him "Jerome," Cutter started, but Jerome already knew what he was going to ask "Sir, these people wished to meet you"

"*hhhhk* Greetings Earth-clan,*hhhhhk* my name is Kaknar. This is Pllo. We were hoping *hhhhk* you may be able to transport us to citadel space. The ship we were previously on *hhhhhk* crashed on the planet below us."Kaknar explained. Pllo looked around the bridge, with his wings occasionally buzzing. He quickly took note of the armor the Spartans were wearing, which was clearly different from the armor the other marines were wearing, as well as any armor he'd seen humans wear before.

Cutter looked at Serena, and then back at them and was about to speak, but was then cut off by Serena "I am afraid we cannot take you anywhere until we get our engines fixed." Serena said, in an almost hostile tone. Cutter looked at them and he nervously chuckled and he folded his arms "I am afraid we were attacked by an invading alien race known as "The Covenant". Our engines are in not good condition" he said in a more calm and respectful tone than Serena, one of the spartans, Alice leaned over "forgive Serena, she is very hostile towards aliens...since every alien race we have met has attacked us" she said quietly

"I *Hhhhhk* can understand. Though, fo her *Hhhhhk* own sake I would suggest she not insult Pllo. *Hhhhhk* Before the Prothean Reaper *Hhhhhhk* war, the Protheans, what pllo*Hhhhhk* used to be, had a war with a *Hhhhhhk* large group of Ai's."Kaknar said. "Assuming that *Hhhhhhk* she is infact an Ai and not a *Hhhhhhk* Vi."Kaknar added. "Perhaps we may *Hhhhhk* be able to help fix your engines?"Kaknar suggested.

Serena eyed him, but kept quiet. Alice tilted her head "That is...impressive?" she asked curiously "I apologize for sounding...rude, it is just none of us have heard of Prothean, Or Reapers, all we have really heard of are A.Is. And the ones we made are not for fighting" Alice said and folded her arms, Douglas then spoke up "Though, we once fought this very advanced A.I, made of hardlight. Not sure where it came form though" He said. Cutter looked at them "Serena is not a V.I, I can assure you. She is what we would call a "Smart" A.I. The UNSC have two variants of A.I, the longer lasting "Dumb" A.I that do not have nearly as fast reaction time and cannot store as much memory, but last for years and years, while Smart A.I are better in every way, but only last a little more than seven years" He said, but then nodded "If you could fix our engines some how, we would for sure repay you by taking you all home"

"*Hhhhhk* I am unsure that would be an option. Nor a wise choice. *Hhhhhk* I don't think we would be able to return to the Citadel, as the stars are very different from what they used to be. *Hhhhhk* And I would fear for Serena's safety. Ais are not permited in Citadel space, and very few races use them, *Hhhhhhk* especially after the Geth uprising on Ranogh."Kaknar replied. "But, Threskgar *Hhhhhhk* could possibly fix your engines if you'd *Hhhhhk* point him in the right direction."Kaknar said.