Chapter 21

Harvest quickly saw how desperate the Flood was to take his little encampment, there were next to no combat forms, they must've been all in town, because mostly animals were the main driving force of the assault, that and infection forms

An assault rifle was much better suited to this kind of combat, where a single bullet could pop an infection form, much rather than a slow deliberate shot

Young had a pistol, and was emptying magazine after magazine of ammo into the massive force of Flood that attempted to take them

Qualomee's plasma rifle was perfect for the Flood, their weakness being plasma, and cut swaths into the oncoming force of parasitic life

A single combat form knocked Young to the ground, Harvest didn't think, time slowed down and he jumped from his tree

The next instant he was landing on the Flood combat form's back, crushing its skull, and twisting around in order to combat the rest of the tide

Admittedly, the tide was very weak with the combat forms cut down, and was easily forced back after the intense moments of combat

Harvest noticed Qualomee holding his side, upon closer inspection there was a bullet wound

"A stray shot" Qualomee gritted his teeth, "Come Grunt, we have little time for pain."

Young's armor was more than a little battered, and the ammo was depleted

"We can't stay here, and the Flood smashed the communicator." She gestured to the pile of shrapnel spread throughout the battlefield, "Don't know much else of where to go."

"Daniels's got something" Harvest tapped his temple, "He'll take down this infection by dinnertime."

"For the good of us all" Qualomee turned, "The parasite has been defeated, let us enjoy the moment."

"Then why do I feel like something's wrong?" Young asked

"Because something is" Qualomee did his equivalent to a frown, "I feel as if a great evil is now covering these lands."

"We need to get some food, an army marches on his stomach." Harvest laughed

"It always comes down to food with you doesn't it?" Young rolled her eyes

[…]

Daniels had reached the exterior of the Bridge, holding his rifle and signaling Morris to stack up

"What are we going to do?" Morris asked

"We're going to figure it out" Daniels answered, "It's not as if we've got something else to do here."

The doors to the bridge opened, and the pair entered the bridge, Flood infection form pods lay wasted on the floor, Harvest did a decent job in here

The new yet not quite finished Hive Mind was on the Captain's Chair, the bugs that had been following the duo quickly rushed in front of the ODSTs, before looking to each other and nodding

"What are they saying?" Daniels asked

"It seems that the translation from the magic field doesn't extend to them." Tatyana answered, "I'd guess that the Flood thing there is their queen, as their resemblance to bees is quite strong: they may be planning to save her."

"That thing's a queen." Morris repeated, "Because who needs logic anymore?"

"Look at the planet you're on for a bit longer, then get back to me." Daniels smiled slightly

The Changelings began to form a circle around their queen, their horns glowed green, and some sort of ghostly energy began to flow out and into the jagged horn of the flood queen, whom began to convulse

"What do we do?" Morris sounded urgent

"We find out what the hell this is, then we do something." Daniels answered

The changelings staggered, then collapsed in a heap on the floor of the bridge

Daniels took a step backwards before pulling Morris towards the doors, whatever happened here it wouldn't be pretty

Morris held his pistol at the ready, while Daniels kept the rifle pointed straight at the queen, unsure of what was about to happen

The Flood seemed to retract from the queen as a bright light began to build, then Daniels pulled Morris out into the hallway right before a massive surge of light and energy swept through the ship

[…]

Harvest looked up and grabbed his sniper rifle, a massive green beam of light was erupting from the Scavenger, and the Flood seemed to be incapable of stopping the massive waves of energy that demolished the infectious parasite

The waves passed by them harmlessly, nothing but wind

"Well" Qualomee looked at his friends, "I did not expect that."

Harvest took a deep breath, "You did it Joseph; you did it again."

Then they began the trek back into town

[…]

Daniels stood up, his armor was a bit singed but nothing beyond that, Morris seemed alright and their weapons were fine

"I see you two are alright." A distorted female voice said

Daniels looked at the queen, who now was Flood-Free

"It is not usual to which I would say this" she looked out the window, "But thank you for saving my people."

"We did what we had to" Daniels answered, "I'm glad this was with little casualty."

The doors to the bridge opened, two familiar princesses walked in, neither of them wore casual expressions, Luna looked irritated and Celestia looked tired, but that quickly changed into a stern look

"Joseph"

Daniels put up his hand, "Before we hear any more bad news, I want to point out that the Flood could have easily spread onto the train."

Celestia shot him a look, "I was going to say congratulations."

Morris shrugged, "He predicts things when he's tired, and he's usually wrong."

Chrysalis looked at the group, "I believe I'll be taking my leave."

"I don't hope to see you in my kingdom again" Celestia said as the queen left in a huff

"What was that abo-"

Luna cut Morris off, "It is better you do not know."

Daniels looked at the town through the window, "That was a catastrophic assault."

"You and your squad have saved Equestria yet again." Luna said, "However it appears as if casualties were minimal, as no one has been reported missing."

Footsteps in the hallway evidenced the return of the Delta Squadron, when Daniels saw Harvest the results were not pretty

"What. The. Hell. Are you doing here?" Daniels' voice was restrained, "You didn't COMM in or anything, letting me think you died."

"The Grunt had no choice" Qualomee stepped forward, "All communications were down, that and we had clashes with the parasite in the forest."

Daniels stepped back, but his angered and hurt air remained in the room

"You have all taken on danger when it was not your responsibility to assist" Celestia said, "Making sacrifices and even losing much, being stranded here."

"Not like we have much of a choice" Harvest shrugged, "It's fun, to say the least."

"Also going to get your head blown off of your shoulders, sound fun?" Young rebutted

"I would offer you time off of your jobs" Celestia continued, "However it appears that even if you are not required you have full intent to show up anyway, therefore it appears there is only one thing to grant you."

Morris shrugged, Harvest looked at Daniels and Young looked at Qualomee, what could this thing be?

"I apologize, I truly do." The sun princess used magic to pull a datapad from Daniels' belt, "I have not been truly honest with you."

"We noticed." Harvest crossed his arms, "Thanks for that, by the way."

"I did not trust you, nor your people." She said, "Once I found it not in the archives, I knew you had found it. Despite your discovery you decided to save my people once again."

"We do our jobs" Young said, "Even when we know we're about to be backstabbed."

"We cannot thank you enough" Luna finally piped up, "Without your assistance, Equestria would surely lay in ruins."

"I'm just glad we can fix the ship and get back to some peace and quiet." Harvest sighed

They had peace and quiet for a time, three weeks passed before the next incident. However, this was a far more pressing matter.