To Survive I
Date: 4 June 2004, 7:53 AM
To Survive I
1st January 2553
Falling into planet's atmosphere
In HEV unit
On UNSC controlled planet Earth
The Chief glanced out of the HEV window and stared down at the surface below. It was beautiful, beautiful not being a word he used that often. Earth looked utterly breathtaking from up there but the Chief wasn't comfortable that he was falling closer towards it by the second. This was the Chief's first insertion using a HEV pod as it had been deemed the best way to go for a surprise assault. Cortana realising that the Chief's heart rate had spiked, said:
"Chief, don't worry. I've set the commands in the HEV so you don't have to worry about anything. Just relax". This actually did calm the Chief's nerves as Cortana saw his heart rate drop back down to normal. The Chief had also taken her advice and relaxed by closing his eyes and falling asleep, even though they had an ETA of six minutes. She guessed the Chief didn't get much sleep.
The upcoming mission hadn't been approved by the UNSC so it was only the Chief, no marines. The desert plateau below the Chief's feet was swarming with Covenant. Cortana believed this was suspicious activity, because there wasn't anybody for miles around of the plateau. But the UNSC thought it was too risky. Lot's of Covenant, and they didn't even know if there was anything down there. They could lose a lot of men for nothing. So, no reinforcements, no one to help the Chief except the aging A.I Cortana. She hoped the Chief could handle it.
The skin of the HEV broke away to reveal the alloy cage of the craft, where the passenger and his equipment were. In this case the Master Chief, his battle rifle and shotgun. The parachute shot up like an air-foil and acted like a brake. The remains of the HEV drifted towards the plateau and landed softly. It was a perfect simulation landing.
"Chief, wake up!" Cortana shouted. The Spartan returned to consciousness.
The Chief picked up his equipment as the hatch popped open revealing a snarling scarlet elite. A shotgun shell to the elite's head later and the Master Chief stepped out onto the desert plateau.
The darkness of the night covered the landing site, but it had raised a lot of dust. The desert plateau was made up of cliffs rocks and dust. It reminded the Chief of the plateau below the Truth and Reconciliation on halo. The small area he had landed on was closer to the cliff-edge than he would have liked and the ridge around the craft made the opening rather small. It was either perfect or it was a fluke. Knowing Cortana it was perfect.
"Look at the rock structure up there. I sense a lot of Covenant surrounding that area. If there's anything in this plateau I'd wager it's up there!". The structure was at least a km off the LZ. The slope the HEV had crashed on, led down to the cliff edge and onto a narrow path. The chief stumbled down this passage and stared down at the cliffs below. He kicked a stone off the edge and waited. It took the stone approximately eleven seconds to fall to the ground below. The fall was 250-ft. Even a Spartan like himself wouldn't survive that.The Master Chief came to an enclave swarming with Covenant.The Chief ducked down and steadied his Battle Rifle. Through the rifle's scope he looked at his surroundings. Four shades guarded the valley, plus other Covenant. But the shades were the immediate threat. Eight shots in quick succession later and two grunts fell from the shades. The rest of the valley opened fire on the Chief. An alarm resounded in his helmet as his shields evaporated. The Spartan dived behind a nearby boulder and awaited the recharge of his shields. The Chief, with full shields re-emerged and sprinted for the closest shade. He lifted himself into the still warm seat and grasped his gloved hands around the reigns of the plasma turret. Round after round of heavy plasma bursted out of the stand-alone shade as Covenant fell.The two remaining shades were knocked out of action as were a wave of three elites. A grunt, sensing his demise, desperately hurled a activated plasma grenade at the deadly shade. The Chief dived out of the stationary turret just in time as the shade was consumed in a veil of blue flame. They were gonna pay for that the Chief thought. He slinged the battle rifle and brought out his M60 shotgun.
The Chief finished off the small-time Covenant with heavy shells and was about to move on when Cortana yelled :
"Chief, Watch Out!". The Spartan ducked just in time as a clawed paw swung above his head. Brutes. The Chief stepped aside the second assault from the large ape and shot it in the back of the neck. The other two charged at the Spartan. The first was dazed by the butt of his shotgun and then knocked back into the other brute. The two beasts fell over. The first brute who had been knocked out was crushing the body of the second ape. The second was struggling to free himself to no avail. The Chief stuck his shotgun in the unconscious brutes mouth and fired a shot.The shell busted through both brute's skulls killing them both instantly.
"Cortana, are there any other surprises in this valley?" asked the Chief.
"Negative, area clear, Cortana announced. Now, onto the rock structure.
The Master Chief continued through the many cracks and pathways of the desert plateau. Finally the Spartan made it to the hill where the structure of rocks was placed. The Chief fought his way up the passages of rock and boulder pumping shells into the Covenant defence.
The Chief climbed to the top of the mound and spotted a entrance to the inside. An artificial entrance.
"Cortana, you were right!" exclaimed the Spartan.
"Am I ever wrong?" questioned the A.I. The Chief chose not to respond to this and began to walk into the structure. All that was inside was a small square empty room with metal-covered walls, but on the right was a door to what looked like a elevator. The chief was about to enter the lift when a small black and white holographic man appeared. It began to speak gibberish.
"What the hell?" said the Chief. The strange A.I paused for a moment, translating, then began to speak :
"Only Covenant are allowed in here" announced the A.I.
"What is this place?" questioned the Chief.
"Anyone who doesn't know, isn't allowed in!" bellowed the A.I.
Cortana spoke to the Chief inside his helmet so the strange A.I couldn't hear.
"He's a very old A.I. I can open this door if he doesn't realise I'm doing it. Try and make him talk. Don't worry it'll only take me a few seconds" Cortana exclaimed. The Spartan turned to the A.I and said :
"So, what are you called?" the Chief asked.
"If you must know, my name is Lincoln, artificial intelligence of this forerunner structure. Now, please go away!" Lincoln shouted. Suddenly the door behind the A.I whooshed open and revealed the elevator. The Chief strolled in and pressed the only button, meaning there was only one other floor, a basement.
Lincoln yelled "Hey come back here!" as the elevator descended.
The Master Chief walked out of the elevator as the doors screeched open. A long wide passage stood before him. On each side of the corridor were ten locked hatches, indicated by a small red light. But at the end of the passage was another hatch, this one with a green light. The Spartan held his M60 shotgun at his side and strolled slowly down the corridor. The clank of metal on metal echoed all around the structure but no one came out to greet him. The one open hatch stood before the Chief. The door opened. Inside was a small circular room with a control panel floating in the middle. Lincoln stood above the panel, arms crossed.
"I'll give you one chance to step out of here ali......." He was cut off as Cortana was placed in the controls.
"Amazing! So much information! That's why the Covenant haven't glassed Earth! It all makes sense now!" she exclaimed.
"What is this place?" the Chief asked.
"It's a control room for every halo in the universe. All thirteen of them. This control centre is the reason they haven't destroyed Earth!" Cortana said.
"They've been in here though! They have no use for Earth now!" bellowed the Chief.
"Yes but look at halo - 01. It's moving within range. They're going to destroy Earth with that Halo! I'm guessing this maybe something to do with their religion" Cortana said.
"Can you disable it's weapons system from here?" questioned the Chief.
"Yes, Cortana said rather surprised. Scanning, just press that button there". The Spartan was about to press the button when it turned red. Lincoln appeared next to Cortana and said cheekily :
"No, no, no". An alarm began to sound as all the hatch's lights turned green. Hundreds of sentinels flew out of the doors. The Master Chief picked Cortana out of the system and raised his M60 shotgun..........
First Fan-Fic, blah blah
To Survive II
Date: 5 June 2004, 3:40 PM
To Survive II
1st January 2553
In forerunner structure
On desert plateau
On UNSC controlled planet Earth
The Master Chief backed away as Lincoln cackled insanely. The primitive A.I disappeared from the control panel and into the structure's system. The sentinels soared into the control centre to assault the Chief. The Spartan aimed at the oncoming forerunner robots. His M90 shotgun fired several heavy shells into the sentinels and they crashed to the ground burning. Still any that were shot down were replaced by many more. Realising escape was his only option over victory the Chief hurled a plasma grenade at a bunch of the sentinels. It latched itself to one of the many 'bots and imploded on itself. The Chief covered his eyes as the bright blue grenade flashed in a blinding light. About twenty sentinels fell blazing to the ground. The Chief made a break for it, firing shells as he went.
"Any UNSC dropships respond!" bellowed Cortana.
"This is Lieutenant Steffan Miklese of the UNSC pelican Bravo-66. Is that you Cortana?" Miklese asked.
"Yes this is Cortana with MC. We need extraction from the top of the rock structure in the desert plateau" announced Cortana.
"Roger that. I've picked up your signal and I'm inbound" exclaimed Miklese.
"Affirmative" said Cortana. The chief rushed into the elevator and tapped the button frequently, still firing shells. The doors closed just in time as several sentinels crashed against the elevator. The lift began to climb back up to the surface.
"Hey I'm not through with you! If you don't hand over you're A.I I'll have some trouble from the Covenant" yelled Lincoln. The Chief ignored him and shot a grunt in the abdomen as he ran up to see what was going on.
"Lieutenant, where are you?" Cortana questioned.
"Two banshees are on my tail, I can't shake 'em" he shouted.
"Don't worry Lieutenant, prepare a flyby and the Chief will take them out" Cortana announced.
"Affirmative. Chief get ready!" bellowed Miklese. The Spartan brought out his Battle Rifle and stared down the scope, while loading a clip. A soft droning whirred in the distance as a smoking pelican flew across the night sky closely pursued by two banshees. Suddenly Battle Rifle rounds tore through the first banshee's armor. Finally it hit the small craft's fuselage and the banshee twirled towards the ground, swimming in a sea of flame. The second banshee turned it's attention to the Spartan and fired heavy plasma at his position. The Chief backed into the structure as the plasma drew ever closer. He just managed to avoid the hot plasma as the banshee soared over his head. Seconds later it came back for a second pass this time at the Chief's level. It danced out of the way of the Battle Rifle fire and was about to shoot burning plasma directly at the Spartan when Bravo-66 re-appeared and sped towards the second banshee, chin gun blazing. The banshee fell out of the sky in a burst of fire.
"Good job Lieutenant!" exclaimed Cortana. All of a sudden the elevator doors opened to reveal a load of sentinels. They were after the Chief.
The hatch of Bravo-66 opened as the pelican hit the ground and Miklese was a little surprised to see a Spartan leap into the dropship.
"Let's roll!" shouted the Chief.
"Yes sir!" exclaimed the Lieutenant. A sentinel was crushed as the hatch closed.
"Floor it!" bellowed the Chief. The pelican slowly lifted into the air, chin gun firing at the oncoming sentinels. Suddenly the dropship's thrusters kicked to life and it sped in to the late night sky.
"Woohoo, yelled Miklese. So Chief, where do you want the UNSC's taxi service to take you next?" he asked.
"Earth City. I need to talk to high command" answered the Spartan.
.
2nd January 2553
Hovering in Pelican dropship
Above Earth City
On UNSC controlled planet Earth
"Shit, just look at that" yelled Lieutenant Miklese pointing down at the city. Downtown was a wreck. A plasma-scorched wreck. The Covenant were laying siege to the capital of Earth. This wasn't good.
"Lieutenant, down there. Land near those marines" commanded Cortana.
"Gotcha Cortana" replied Miklese. The pelican swooped in and landed with a sickening crunch.
"Miklese, what was that? Questioned the Chief.
"The fuselage just died. Those banshees must have hit it. This bird ain't taking off again for a while" said Miklese.
"Roger that. Guess you're coming with us then" exclaimed the Chief.
"Guess I am!" said Miklese reloading his pistol. The hatch of Bravo-66 opened and the pair stepped out. A large middle-aged man stepped towards the Chief.
"Morning Chief. Nice of you to join us. I'm Staff Sergeant McKenzie and this is Fire Team Monsoon" announced McKenzie. Five other marines stood around the sergeant, one holding his side.
"I need to reach High Command. Can you take us there?" acquired the Spartan.
"As long as it hasn't been hit, the command is 2km north of here. We'll use the upper passages. They connect all of Earth City together. Most of the marines will be up there.We might stand a chance of defending Earth City if we hold the upper passages" McKenzie told the Chief.
"Are we on the upper passages now?" asked the Master Chief.
"Yeah and so are the landing pads. We were guarding this pad until you got here. Since we're leaving maybe we should leave a surprise for the Covies. Matthews, do it" said the sarge. The private nodded and ran to the landing pad. He picked two land mines out of his pack and placed them down on the surface of the pad.
"All set sir!" shouted Matthews.
"High Command, this is Staff Sergeant McKenzie, make sure no UNSC forces land on landing pad B-14" exclaimed the sarge. There was a long pause before a voice crackled back over the radio :
"This is High Command, roger that sergeant".
"At least High Commands still there, growled McKenzie. Alright marines, lock and load. If anything on the ground moves, shoot it!".
To Survive III
Date: 6 June 2004, 7:59 AM
To Survive III
2nd January 2553
In Upper Passages
Above Earth City
On UNSC controlled planet Earth
"Hit that elite marines!" bellowed Staff Sergeant McKenzie. Immediately Fire Team Monsoon's combined fire turned to the elite. Bullets punctured the beast's body pumping holes everywhere. He fell to the floor, drowned in his own blood.
"Mop up the rest of them!" yelled McKenzie. The Chief leaned out of the Upper passages and fired at the Covenant on the streets below. As the last grunt fell the Spartan reloaded his Battle Rifle. The sarge was right. If the marines could hold the Upper Passages maybe Earth City wouldn't fall. Over the last fifteen minutes he'd spent with Fire Team Monsoon the Spartan had never known the Covenant so easy to kill. And with a reported twenty-thousand troops in the Upper Passages alone, the situation for the UNSC looked quite good. For what felt like the first time ever.
Fire Team Monsoon charged down the Upper Passages defeating the Covenant ground forces along the way.
"The only way to get to the High Command is by monorail. The monorail is protected by a electric barrier taken from the technology used on the Jackal's shields. It's just up ahead" announced McKenzie. Fire Team Monsoon froze as two marines rounded the bend in front of them. They barged past the Fire Team shouting :
They've taken landing pad G-11. Run!". Four hunters rounded the bend after the marines to be met by Fire Team Monsoon. Three of the hunters fell instantly as bullet after bullet impacted on their blue flesh. The remaining hunter managed to raise his thick metal shield just in time to repel the marines fire. The hunter charged his fuel rod cannon and was about to fire when Miklese, the pilot, thumped the Adonis round the head with his pistol. This stunned the hunter long enough for the marines to send him to 'paradise' to join his bond-brothers.
"We've got to take that pad back. Move marines!" bellowed McKenzie. The Fire Team stomped to the landing pad shooting any Covenant that passed. They arrived just as another Covenant dropship landed on pad G-11. Two elites and six grunts stepped off and opened fire at the squad. The Chief left the grunts to Fire Team Monsoon and turned to the big fish. The elites. They were both of the highest rank as their armor was gold. Both of them also carried plasma swords. The first elite ran at him to be kicked in the face with the Chief's boot. The second beast ran at the Chief, plasma sword held high. The Spartan dodged just in time as the plasma sword sizzled past his head. The Chief grabbed the elite's plasma sword arm and twisted it. There was a nasty crack as the elite cried out in pain. The Master Chief snatched his plasma sword and forced it through the elite's chest. The other elite began to get up to see a Spartan holding a plasma sword in front of him. A second later his head fell to the floor. The rest of the marines had finished off the grunts but were already staring at the next dropship.
"Matthews, you know what to do" yelled McKenzie. The private removed another pair of land mines from his pack and placed them on pad G-11.
"Fall back!" bellowed Matthews. The marines ran back as a large circle of flame surrounded the pad and dropship, incinerating the transport. The wreckage of the pad and dropship fell to the streets below.
Fire Team Monsoon entered the monorail after fighting their way through the Upper Passages. The Covenant had taken quite a few pads and were flooding the Upper Passages with the aliens.
"High Command this is Staff Sergeant McKenzie. The Chief needs immediate transportation to your HQ" exclaimed McKenzie.
"Roger that. Fire Team Monsoon get to Pad B-5" commanded the man at High Command.
"Affirmative. Good luck Chief!" said McKenzie cheerfully. The Monorail doors closed and the Spartan began to speed away from the marines. The Chief noticed the shield straight away. It was as if a layer of water was floating above him. Ahead the Chief saw the magnificent building of High Command. It immediately reminded him of the forerunner structures on halo, only one hundred times bigger. Above him in the battle-scarred sky UNSC and Covenant dropships flew. The Chief also noticed two banshees soar out of the clouds. It fired round after round of heavy plasma at the monorail. The Spartan covered his eyes as the plasma impacted on the shields, doing little damage. Realising that he was relatively safe the Chief relaxed as he sped towards the headquarters of the UNSC.
2nd January 2553
In High Command Building
Above Earth City
On UNSC controlled planet Earth
"Good Afternoon, Sir! What is it you need here at High Command?" asked a marine as the Chief stepped out of the monorail.
"We need to speak to Admiral Stanforth. Can you take us there private?" questioned Cortana.
"Yes Maam!" yelled the marine. The marine led the Chief up the stone corridors to an elevator. The marine pressed one of the multiple buttons in the lift. The doors closed and the elevator lifted up the structure. The lift stopped and the doors whooshed open.
"Welcome to High Command" said the marine. The Chief stepped out of the elevator into a high-tech room. Computers, holograms and several A.I were what made the buzzing room high-tech. Twenty men with headsets sat at futuristic super computers announcing commands, trying to calm every situation and organise the troops. Admiral Stanforth stood patrolling the room trying to get an overview of what the heck was going on. He suddenly noticed the Chief enter the room and walked over to meet him.
"Master Chief, what are you doing here?" asked the Admiral.
"Sir, we have an either bigger problem than the destruction of Earth City" announced the Spartan.
"What could be a bigger problem than that?" questioned Stanforth disbelievingly.
"The destruction of Earth" exclaimed Cortana. The Admiral obviously hadn't expected that so he paused and let the Chief continue.
"We found the control centre of every halo in the galaxy in that desert plateau. One of the halo's is moving within firing range of Earth. If we don't disable it's weapons system manually then were all doomed" announced Cortana.
"Why don't they just glass the planet if they want to destroy Earth?" asked the Admiral.
"I'm guessing it's to do with their religion. And when I hazard a guess I'm usually right!" said Cortana enthusiastically.
"Alright, I'll bite, how long do we have?" acquired Stanforth.
"Approximately twelve days sir" exclaimed Cortana.
"Shit.(he paused) One of our cruisers the Project was damaged in the opening battle here on Earth. Since it is one of our few cruisers that can fly in normal gravity we managed to bring it down for repairs. You can have it" growled the Admiral.
"Admiral sir, the ODST's have arrived and are pushing the Covenant back!" said a marine happily.
"Finally, some good news!" exclaimed Stanforth.
"Good to see you again sir!" Staff Sergeant Mckenzie said to the Master Chief as he met them at pad B-5.
"Our first victory of the war!" shouted a marine of Fire Team Monsoon.
"I haven't introduced you to the guys yet have I Chief? This is Wilkins our Sniper specialist, this is Matthews, as you might have guessed, our explosives expert, and this is Wells, Reeves and Victor. All god-dammed marines" exclaimed McKenzie.
"Look at this beauty, Lieutenant Miklese interrupted. High Command gave me this bird, Beta-12. Brand New!".
"We've been talking and we want to come with you to this ring-world. We all have loved ones on Earth and we'll do anything to protect them" said McKenzie enthusiastically.
"I guess I need a ride to the Project. Let's move Fire Team Monsoon" bellowed the Spartan.
The marines boarded Beta-12 and Miklese fired the engines for the first time. The pelican blasted off in to the still battle-scarred sky.
To Survive IV
Date: 10 June 2004, 9:02 AM
To Survive IV
4th January 2553
On downed UNSC ship the Project
On oil rig offshore of Russia
On UNSC controlled planet Earth
Spartan-117 stood on the scaffolding surrounding the Project. He had been on guard all night and all he had had for company were some POW Covenant engineers. They had been used for repairing the Project as they didn't need much rest and were much faster and more knowledgeable than any human engineer. They'd finished repairing the cruiser two hours ago and had begun to fit in a new MAC, the ship's fourth.
Day began to break and the Chief heard a long loud yawn behind him. The Spartan turned to see Staff Sergeant McKenzie approach him, looking completely refreshed.
"Mornin' Chief. Those engineers finished?" he asked.
"Repairs are complete. They're just adding some more weaponry to it now" announced the Chief.
"Those engineers don't care who they work for do they? They just want something to do" exclaimed McKenzie. The Chief nodded as McKenzie joined him leaning over the railing.
"Cortana, do we really have time to be adding more weaponry?" questioned the sergeant.
"I'm afraid were going to need all the weaponry we can get from the UNSC" said Cortana. McKenzie paused and then nodded. The sergeant looked up into the sky.
"Look at the colour of the sky. Look at those shades of purple" exclaimed McKenzie.
"Purple!" said the Chief suddenly. He looked up into the air and shouted :
"That isn't the sky, that's a legion of banshees!". The Spartan and the sergeant hit the deck as hot plasma hit the scaffolds. McKenzie crawled to the edge of the ship and reached to press the alarm.
Private Andy Reeves stumbled out of his hammock, still half-asleep. The alarm continued to echo around the living quarters of the Project. Reeves pulled his uniform on and picked up his MA7B Battle Rifle. It was gonna be a long day.
The Master Chief repelled another pass from the legion of banshees as he shot another two down. Marines had begun to march out of the Project and had joined him, firing at the banshees. The seven remaining crafts had begun another pass, firing round after round of heavy burning plasma. Another scaffold was hit and six more marines fell into the ocean. Sergeant McKenzie followed the tail of the rear banshee and fired 11.42mm armor-piercing bullets again and again at the Covenant ship. Smoke rose as the burning banshee hit the salty water.
"Where are those jackhammers!" bellowed McKenzie, frustrated.
"We're here sir!" yelled a marine. Four marines emerged from the inside of the UNSC cruiser holding Jackhammer launchers. They reloaded two large projectiles into each of their launchers and prepared for the banshee's next pass. The soft droning began to get louder as the flying vehicles appeared into view. The rockets launched from behind the Chief's head as the projectiles powered their way towards the banshees and the marines followed up with battle rifle fire. The rockets impacted on two of the crafts destroying them instantly in a ball of flame. The rest of the banshees broke formation, avoiding the rockets. This gave the marines their chance to finish off the last three. As the last smoking banshee fell into the depths of the ocean the Master Chief reloaded.
"Reinforce your positions!" shouted the Chief. "You can be sure more of them are coming!". Just as the Chief said this a marine shouted :
"Up there! Dropships!". Up in the sky nine dropships approached their position.
"All marines with Jackhammers stay here! Everyone else get to the hangars!" yelled the Spartan.
Captain Dunter and his crew ran up to the bridge of the Project.
"Man your stations people!" Dunter bellowed. The twenty-seven men got to their places and activated their stations. Dunter's plan was to use the actual cruiser's defences against the oncoming Covenant onslaught.
"Marshell, arm those archer missiles now!" Dunter yelled. Ensign Marshell activated the archer missiles, that longswords also carry, and set a target trajectory.
"Fire" the Captain shouted. The thirty missiles launched and blasted their way towards the dropships. The nine inbound Covenant dropships were incinerated by the heavy missiles.
"Good job Marshell" said the Captain.
Even as the first wave of dropships were decimated by the archer missiles another eleven appeared on the horizon. This time they got through and only one was taken down by the combined firepower from all the Jackhammer launchers. The remaining ten soared towards the Project and landed in it's multiple hangars.
The Chief ducked down behind a ammo crate as plasma tore up hangar B-1. The Spartan and three marines from Fire Team Monsoon stood guard as the dropship flew into the hangar. It landed with a thud, plasma turret still firing. The Chief and the marines kept their cover as the dropship's hatches screeched open and the ship released it's occupants. The Chief turned and stood up, rifle raised, as the Covenant dropship lurched into the air. Where were these dropships coming from? The Spartan and the marines opened fire on the infidels. The Chief fired three heavy rounds into an rookie elite's head. The elite's corpse fell on a hapless grunt, crushing him instantly. The marines took care of a few more grunts as the Chief hurled a fragmentation grenade. Seconds later the battle was over as a few more charred Covenant corpses fell to the floor.
"Marines, this is the Chief. What's your situation?" asked the Spartan over his comm.
"All hangars clear except B-6. Reinforcements are securing the hangar now though sir" announced the familiar voice of sergeant McKenzie.
"Roger that. Good work marines!" exclaimed the Chief. The Spartan sat on the ammo crate he'd taken cover behind and reloaded his MA7B Battle Rifle.
"Um..Chief, would you care to take a look outside?" questioned Cortana. The Chief stood up and strolled to the edge of the hangar. Outside, hovering about two-hundred meters above the rough ocean was a small Covenant Cruiser. That's where the dropships were coming from.
"How did they know the Project was here?" the Chief asked.
"They must have intercepted a transmission. They probably know what we're up to!" shouted Cortana.
"MAC one through three are hot! Preparing a firing solution sir!" bellowed Ensign Marshell. He quickly typed up several solutions and chose the best of them.
"Fire that MAC" yelled Dunter. The three MAC's fired in quick succession and sped their way towards the cruiser. As the first two projectiles hit, the shields flickered and died. The third impacted on the unprotected hull and the cruiser began to fall out of the air, burning. A cheer echoed throughout the Project.
"Sir, three more cruisers inbound!" shouted Jack Dean, the ship's navigator.
"Damn it! Marshell, recharge those MAC's!" exclaimed Captain Dunter.
The Chief watched as three more Covenant Cruiser's soared through the clouds.
"They really don't want us to leave" said Cortana thoughtfully. "We don't have a chance against three cruisers. Maybe I should order an evacuation" pondered the A.I.
"Wait Cortana. Couldn't we use that technology you got from the Ascendant Justice to launch into slipspace from within the atmosphere?" questioned the Chief.
"Damn, I should have thought of that" said Cortana. "Let's get to the bridge Chief!" she exclaimed.
"Is that possible Cortana?" asked Dunter. He really seemed shocked by the whole concept of using slipspace from within a planet's atmosphere.
"Yes, we managed it at Threshold and that's a gas giant" announced Cortana.
"Very well, give it a try!" exclaimed the Captain. The Chief stepped up to the CPU and inserted Cortana.
"Preparing slipspace solution.......done! Get ready!" yelled Cortana.
"Roger" growled the Captain. He stepped up to the intercom and said :
"All marines to the cryo-bay. We're about to enter slipspace".
"Alright Cortana, amaze me" Dunter commanded. The Project lifted into the air and blasted itself into slipspace as the Covenant cruisers opened fire.
To Survive V
Date: 12 June 2004, 11:06 AM
To Survive V
5th January 2553
On repaired UNSC cruiser the Project
On Bridge
In Slipspace
"Were we followed Cortana?" Captain Dunter asked.
"I'm afraid not Captain" Cortana announced. Ensign Marshell swivelled round on his chair and interrupted :
"Permission to speak freely sir" said Marshell.
"Go ahead" Dunter growled.
"Why is it a bad thing that we weren't followed sir?" questioned the ensign.
"Because it means that this ring-world will have a Covenant force just waiting to ambush us when we return to normal space" exclaimed Dunter. The Captain stared out of the bridge into the nothingness of slipspace and continued :
"You just make sure those MAC's are recharged by the time we come out of slipspace. And also arm the shiva nukes. Just in case" Dunter told Marshell.
"Yes sir!" replied the ensign. He turned back round and got back to work.
"Cortana, what's our ETA?" the Captain asked.
"Twenty minutes sir!" announced Cortana. Dunter nodded and walked up to the ship's intercom.
"All men to their stations, immediately" commanded the Captain.
The Master Chief felt the pain of a thousand needles pricking him all over his body. He had once again paid the price for sleeping in cryo with his armor on. After a few minutes the Spartan had thawed enough for him to step out of the tube and stretch his legs. He stared at his surroundings and remembered where he was and where they were headed. He was going to another halo to once again save humanity.
"Master Chief, this is the Captain. I want you on the bridge immediately!" a voice growled over the intercom. The Chief picked his MA7B Battle Rifle out of the cryo tube and headed towards the bridge. Like his armor, the Chief always liked a weapon with him even though he was extremely skilled in hand-to-hand combat too. The Chief sprinted double-time to the bridge thinking about his fellow Spartans. Fred, Linda and Will had perished in New Mombossa when it was bombarded with plasma. The Chief had just managed to make it out alive on board a pelican, but he kind of wished he hadn't. The only other Spartan that might still be alive was Kelly, who had disappeared with Doctor Halsey on a mysterious mission. But the Chief was beginning to think he would never see her again. He pushed these dangerous thoughts out of his mind as Lieutenant Steffan Miklese joined him.
"Chief, can I come with you?" he asked.
"I guess so Lieutenant" the Chief said coolly. The pair stopped talking as the doors to the bridge whooshed open.
"Ah Chief, glad you're here" exclaimed Captain Dunter.
"Sorry to interrupt Captain, but we're re-entering normal space in 3, 2 , 1!" announced Cortana.
The Project floated through the scattered asteroids dancing from shadow to shadow. This system was unknown to the UNSC until a few days ago when the Chief had infiltrated the Halo's control centre. Three planets, the asteroid field and a silvery disc occupied the system as well as what looked like large lumps of purple clay. Covenant cruisers. Thirteen cruisers to be exact, some large some small. All the Project's systems were powered down except for it's secondary thrusters which gently pushed it through the asteroids.
"Damn it! A human ship can barely take on one Covenant cruiser, let alone thirteen. Suggestions Cortana?" asked the Captain.
"Hmmmm. The Project has three shiva nukes. At point-blank range it will rip a large hole in a small fleet, such as this one" exclaimed Cortana.
"Point-blank range! You might as well invite the Covenant round for milk and cookies!" bellowed Dunter.
"Maybe if we load a shiva nuke onto a longsword, it may be able to get to point-blank range undetected. I'm afraid the explosion would envelope the craft before it got away though sir" Cortana said, running a simulation in her head.
"Cortana, could a copy of yourself perform this task?" questioned the Chief.
"I'm a little embarrassed, but recently my copies have been, well.. a little unstable. They might detonate the nuke too early, which would alert the Covenant to our presence. I'm afraid the longsword will have to be driven manually" replied Cortana. The Chief shook his head and stared down at the floor's metal plating and thought to himself :
Too many damned heroes in this war already.
Lieutenant Steffan Miklese stood at attention, listening to the three-way conversation between the Chief, Cortana and the Captain. He thought about his two year old son who had perished on Reach and how he hadn't managed to save him. His wife lived somewhere on Earth, in one of the refugee camps that were being hit everyday. How much longer would she be alive for? The Lieutenant knew one thing. He would do whatever he could to delay the inevitable for her.
"I volunteer for this mission Captain...sir" Miklese exclaimed. The three turned, as if seeing him for the first time, especially the Chief.
The Master Chief stood in the recent 'battlefield' that was hangar B-1. One longsword sat in the hangar, being loaded with a shiva-class nuke. Miklese walked around the longsword inspecting the inside and out. The Chief strolled towards the Lieutenant.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" questioned the Spartan.
"Yes, I'm sure" Miklese announced shakily. A marine walked up to the Lieutenant and asked :
"Are you ready to go sir?". The Chief pondered for a moment wondering whether the honorific was added because of Miklese was a commanding officer or whether the marine simply respected the Lieutenant. The Spartan dismissed it as 'pointless'. The Lieutenant nodded to the marine and the marine nodded back, as if they had their own secret language. Miklese walked up the ramp and turned to the Chief.
"Make sure you kill everyone of those Covenant bastards..for me" said the Lieutenant. The Chief performed the Spartan's smile signal. Miklese didn't know what this meant, but he smiled back as the longsword's hatch closed.
The longsword drifted out of hangar B-1 into the asteroid field. The nimble craft swerved between the asteroids at a quarter of it's top speed. A tear fell down the Lieutenant's face as he flew closer to the Covenant fleet. He knew what he was doing had to be done. Miklese also realised that this had to be his fate. This was his part in saving Earth. And he would do it at any cost, even if he had to give his life.
The Chief returned to the bridge to see Fire Team Monsoon conferring with the Captain. Every monitor the Chief could see showed the Lieutenant's longsword at different angles. The Spartan walked towards the hologram of Cortana and said :
"Miklese is doing the right thing".
"Yes, his bravery may well save millions of lives" exclaimed Cortana.
"I hope when my moment of fate comes I can be as brave as the Lieutenant" said the Chief confidently.
"I have no doubt" Cortana announced.
The Lieutenant's face appeared on all the Project's screens. The Captain saluted, as a sign of respect and said :
"Lieutenant, the people of Earth will always remember you as what you are. A hero".
"Thank you sir. I have one last wish before I leave though sir" Miklese said shakily.
"Anything Lieutenant" Dunter exclaimed.
"Please tell my wife that I did this...for her" the lieutenant growled.
"Yes Lieutenant" the Captain replied. The bridge of the Project saluted the Lieutenant one final time before his face disappeared off the screens.
The Lieutenant's longsword manoeuvred around the many asteroids. The small craft blasted through the small gaps, speeding up as it went. The small Covenant fleet was 300km ahead and the asteroid field could hide the fighter for another 100km. Cortana had said she would be able to block the Covenant's tracking system for a little longer after that but then it would be all down to the Lieutenant's piloting. He had to hope that they didn't waste a plasma torpedo on a longsword, because if they did, he wouldn't have a chance in hell.
The longsword blasted out of the asteroid field into the empty void of space. 145km later and the Covenant's tracking system kicked back into action.
Miklese danced out of the way of the oncoming plasma shots. Seraphs flew out of the Covenant flagship's hangars and boosted towards him. The Lieutenant didn't even attempt to engage the enemy, as he pushed the longsword up to it's top-speed
The small human craft sped past the squadron of Covenant fighters and soared towards the fleet. The cruisers re-opened fire only for the longsword to easily dodge the oncoming plasma. Cortana had told Miklese to release the nuke at 10km distance. This was close enough to decimate the entire Covenant fleet. The fighter was at 15km distance and was approaching the capital ships at speed. Suddenly plasma rocked the Lieutenant's longsword. A seraph had followed him and had fired at the craft's wing. The longsword spun towards the flagship. Miklese realised that he was at 10km and fired the armed nuke. Nothing happened. He tried again, but still nothing happened. The nuke's propulsion system had been damaged in the seraph's assault on the longsword. Miklese was at 2km distance when he knew what he had to do.
"Go to hell, you bastards!" the Lieutenant yelled as the craft impacted on the Covenant flagship's hull. The shiva nuke detonated in a blinding flash of light.
The Project powered it's way towards the debris field. One of the smaller cruisers, that had been on the edge of the blast, limped away from the battlefield only to be obliterated by a wave of archer missiles. After checking that nothing else was moving the UNSC cruiser floated towards the ringworld, known as Halo, installation-01.
The Chief stared out at the debris field and sighed. Once again he said to himself :
Too many damned heroes in this war.
The Covenant destroyer, the Swift Massacre re-emerged from the moon Mestes. It spotted the human cruiser heading towards their forerunner artifact. It slowly drifted after them.
To Survive VI
Date: 15 June 2004, 6:41 PM
To Survive VI
5th January 2553
On repaired UNSC cruiser, the Project
In atmosphere above ring-world
Halo Installation-01
"Captain, I've found a great place to put her down!" announced the A.I construct Cortana.
"Good. Where?" asked Captain Daniel Dunter.
"A large ridge, about 700m in height. If attacked, we should be able to defend ourselves with ease" Cortana exclaimed.
"Alright Cortana, bring her down!" commanded Dunter. The slightly damaged UNSC cruiser dropped into the atmosphere, hull shining with a reddish glow from the sudden increase in heat.
The Master Chief stared out of the bridge down at the derelict ring-world before them. Suddenly memories flooded his mind of his previous visit to Halo Installation-04. Captain Keyes. All the other marines. The flood. Were the flood here too? Probably. Would the same thing happen all over again to the crew of the Project? The Chief couldn't bare to think about it. At least this time they weren't marooned. They could escape if things got rough! But that would condemn billions of people to their death. The Chief would rather die! His thoughts were interrupted by a soft thud.
"Captain, we've landed!" announced Cortana.
The Chief and Fire Team Monsoon stood at attention on the bridge and the Captain saluted.
"Welcome to Halo! Lucky for us we've got a veteran among us. Chief, you and Fire Team Monsoon have to secure the perimeter. After that we move on to the primary objective. Stopping the destruction of Earth and saving our skins. Marines, move out!" bellowed Dunter. The Spartan and the six marines saluted the Captain and marched out of the bridge and towards the hangar.
The Chief was back on Halo.
"Good morning! I'm Lieutenant Kroker, pilot of Bravo-04. I'll be your pilot today. Make sure that when the seatbelt light switches on that your strapped in as we may experience some turbulence" the pilot exclaimed jokingly.
"Just get us to the bottom of that ridge Lieutenant" commanded Staff Sergeant McKenzie.
"Yes sir" replied Kroker. The Chief sat down on the side-seats as the hatch automatically screeched closed. Kroker was surprisingly jolly, especially since one of his fellow pilots had perished to save them earlier.
Bravo-04 fired it's thrusters and kicked itself out of the humid hangar into the bright rays of sunlight beating down on the green pasture of Halo Installation-01.
"Whooa!" said Kroker in amazement. The interior of the ring stretched up into the sky showing the seemingly endless green fields and deep blue oceans that looked as if they should be falling onto them, if it weren't for the forerunner's artificial field of gravity. The pelican swooped down the steep ridge, of which the Project perched atop. Kroker spotted a small group of Covenant grunts down on the field below the ridge and shouted :
"We've got Covenant contacts people!". The pelican's chin gun whirred into action, making quick work of the hapless grunts.
"LZ's clear people, do what you do best marines!" yelled Kroker. Bravo-04 touched down on the surface and the Chief stepped out, closely followed by Fire Team Monsoon. Sergeant McKenzie saluted the Lieutenant, as the pelican-class dropship soared back towards the Project.
"Marines, get it together, the core isn't paying you by the hour!" bellowed McKenzie. "Reeves, Victor scout ahead. Matthews cover our six".
Pvt. Reeves and Pvt. Victor ran ahead, taking cover every five seconds. A minute later they were out of view. The rest of Fire Team Monsoon moved up through the lush green surroundings, MA7B's raised.
"Three enemy contacts over here" Matthews said as he shot a grunt in the head. A frag grenade later and two jackals flew into the air, their corpses scorched.
"The Covenant are scattered all over this valley. What's going on?" Pvt. Wells asked.
"Your job isn't to figure stuff out, that's ONI's job, your job is to shoot stuff. Alright private?" questioned Mckenzie.
"Sir, yes si..." yelled the private. Wells was interrupted as a smoking Covenant dropship fell to the ground only 200 meters away from their position.
"What the hell happened?" the sarge asked rhetorically. A muffled radio transmission crackled on the sergeant's radio.
"Engaging enemy, sarge" sounded the voice of Pvt. Victor.
Pvt. Ben Victor ducked down behind a small boulder and stared out at the smoking Covenant dropship. It had torn up the ground around it, it's nose at least six-feet into the dirt. It was a complete wreck.
The private emerged from his cover and cautiously approached the U-shaped dropship, MA7B raised. The hatch, which held Covenant troops usually, was scorched as if hit by plasma. He noticed the controls to open the hatch and he slowly headed towards it carefully. It was his job to check out this wreckage and he would do just that. Victor kicked the hatch controls twice before the hatches slowly began to open. Inside were four dead grunts and a elite, still strapped up against the side. So far so good. The private ran to the other side to see another bunch of vertical corpses. Victor let out a sigh of relief and sat down on the lush green grass. Almost immediately though he jumped back up as he saw something move. It was a small, white, balloon-shaped creature, which crawled along the ground. The private took this as a threat and began to fire. The bullets pinged against the alloy of the dropship, completely missing the small target. It jumped on to Victor's back, stabbed him with a small tenticle and injected it's deadly serum.
"Sarge, this is Reeves, I've lost contact with Victor. Over" announced the frantic voice of Pvt. Reeves.
"Alright son, keep your pants on! Regroup with us and we'll find him later. Over" exclaimed Sergeant McKenzie.
"Yes, sir. Over" said the private. Fire Team Monsoon moved forward through some dense shrubs before Corporal Wilkins, their sniper expert, shouted back to them.
"Chief, Sarge, you better take a look at this!". They ran up the mound which Wilkins was perched on and surveyed the scene. Ahead stood a large Forerunner structure, populated with screaming grunts and a few calmer elites.
"This looks like the place where the Covenant are operating from. Alright marines, we take the outside of the structure and then we call in reinforcements to take the inside!" yelled McKenzie. "Move!" he bellowed. Wilkins stared down the scope of his top-of-the-range S9 sniper rifle. A gold armoured elite stood atop the structure shouting orders in alien dialect to the grunts. The corporal steadied his rifle before whispering "Goodbye". A heavy round blasted through the elite's neck. Purple blood oozed down the polished gold armor as the elite fell to the floor. The rest of the marines moved in firing three round bursts at the screaming grunts, putting them out of their misery. Wilkins rifle fired two more heavy rounds killing the two remaining elites. The grunts never stood a chance. The marines dusted them off quickly, ending the battle.
"Lieutenant, reinforcements please" growled McKenzie over his radio.
"Yes, sir. I'm inbound. Hey, I'm picking up another signal" Kroker replied, slightly bewildered. A familiar six-note tune sounded over the Chief's COM.
"There are Spartans down there" he shouted.
To Survive VII
Date: 16 June 2004, 8:35 PM
To Survive VII
5th January 2553
On surface of derelict ring-world
Outside Forerunner structure
On Halo Instillation-01
"What?" Staff Sergeant McKenzie asked.
"There are Spartans down there!" repeated the Chief. He stared sternly down the dark tunnel.
"How do you know that?" questioned McKenzie. The marines stared quizzically at the Chief.
"Just trust me" exclaimed the Spartan. The marines of Fire Team Monsoon and their reinforcements looked at each other, as if thinking as whole.
"Alright Chief. Move marines!" yelled McKenzie. The marines gave each other one last look, before raising their MA7B's and entering the interior of the structure. The ten marines and the Chief turned on their rifle's lights and the small beams sliced through the darkness like a knife cutting through butter. The Chief took up the rear as the marines headed deep into the ring.
As the marines made their way further into the structure the Chief noticed a minor difference between this structure from Instillation-01 and the structures from Instillation-04. The tunnels seemed almost natural except alloy holding the rock above them. The tunnels were carved out of rock. The Chief wondered why there was a difference but he put it aside. He had to keep the squad safe and recover his fellow Spartan or Spartans. The ground beneath them finally levelled and the marines came to a door.
"What the hell?" exclaimed McKenzie.
"What's the problem sarge?" asked private Wells.
"I've seen this type of door before. At ONI's CASTLE base on Reach" announced the Sergeant. Now that McKenzie said it the Chief recognised the door too. What was going on here?
"Something strange is going on here and we're gonna find out what! Let's go marines" bellowed McKenzie. The squad moved through the door cautiously, rifles still raised, eyes darting to every shadow. After the compact rocky tunnels the marines were very surprised to see a large, sort of futuristic, room. It was one of the biggest rooms the Chief had ever seen, spanning at least half a kilometre in width. In fact the only room that he'd seen that was bigger was where they had recovered that forerunner artefact underneath ONI's CASTLE base. Metal-plating covered the floor and walls. What was the room's purpose though? The only reasons the Chief could think of were a hangar for a UNSC cruiser or a training facility. The marines continued into the large room.
"Whooa, look at it!" said a marine in a mixture of disgust and fascination.
A dead rookie elite lay on the floor of the huge room, it guts scrabbled all over the metal-plating, scorched burns over it's body.
"Looks like it's been hit by plasma" exclaimed Pvt. Reeves. The Chief paused and looked down at the elite.
"I've seen this before. Stay alert and don't blink! The flood are out" announced the Chief.
"The flood?" asked one of the marines.
"Chief, we should get out of here!" shouted Sergeant McKenzie. The Spartan's six-note tune sounded over the Chief's COM again.
"I've got a lock on it!" yelled the Chief. "Sergeant, get your marines to the surface. I'll meet you topside once I've extracted the Spartans".
"Alright Chief! Good luck" growled McKenzie. The marines turned on their heels and exited the facility. Cortana placed a NAV point on the Chief's HUD.
"Are you sure about this? It might be a trap!" Cortana said frantically.
"What if it's not?" replied the Spartan calmly. The Chief headed towards the signal's source.
The NAV point led the Chief to a large hatch. As soon as he approached the door it opened automatically. Inside was a long corridor with at least twenty doors on each side.
"I detect life-forms. Yes six. Three doors down on your right. Try there" commanded Cortana. The Chief came to the door and it opened. It was empty.
"No, your other right" announced the impatient A.I. The Chief grumbled and crossed the corridor. This room contained three rookie elites. The Spartan dropped a frag grenade and closed the hatch. A satisfying bang later and the Chief moved on.
"Down the end of the corridor, I detect more life. I can't tell which side it's coming from though" said Cortana calmly. The Chief sprinted down to the end of the long corridor. Both doors were locked.
"Cortana, unlock the left hatch please" commanded the Chief.
"Alright Chief!" replied Cortana. The hatch screeched open. A dark armored figure stood inside. It was a Spartan alright but not like any he'd met before. It's silver armor wrapped in veins on the outside like vines, and sticking off it's right shoulder, a weathered flood infection form. The Chief recoiled in horror backing away, as the 'Spartan' approached him. His back hit the other locked door.
"Open it Cortana!" bellowed the Chief. The door flashed open and the Chief fell in. Cortana locked it again just in time. The Chief hoped their weren't more of these 'Spartans' behind him. He slowly turned his head to see two shocked, but familiar faces. It was Docter Halsey and Kelly.
|
