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0127 hours (station time), June 12, 2551 (Military calendar), Mac-gun station Gladiator, location: orbital battle cluster, planet Cronos III.


"Captain, they're here." "Good, right on time. Tell them to get in at docking bay eight." "Yes sir, right away." The captain gazed at the stars, at the vastness and calmness of space, feeling a sudden sense of peace. He then turned his head to the dozens of Mac-gun stations orbiting the planet and felt deeply disturbed, there was a war going on, and that was why he was here. Captain Arthur Weston, age 48, twenty-two years of active duty against the Covenant. His ships had taken out five Covenant cruisers in the battle for Emerald Cove, and single handedly destroyed two Covenant carriers. Some thought his record was impressive. He thought otherwise. He thought he hadn't killed enough. Weston was known for his extreme prejudice against the Covenant. His thoughts began to branch off, and his mind started to wander. He was suddenly addressed and his mind cleared. "Sir, they're inside now." He shook his head, as if he had just woken up, "Good, see to it that the Spartan finds his way here." "Yes sir." The captain thought about him. Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan 117, one of the finest examples of a soldier in existence. The stories of one half-ton soldier slaying dozens of Covenant warriors fascinated him. But he still had doubts. He'd seen legions of ODST's and Navy Special Warfare teams fall in the face of the Covenant.



The Chief wondered why ONI had sent him here. This planet was not a major strategic objective, not nearly as much as Reach. But he knew not to question orders. For now, all he could do was unload his equipment from the small ship-to-ship transport. "Chief," A young marine said "The captain would like to speak with you now. Don't worry about your stuff; we'll have the maintenance techs take it to the officer's quarters." He didn't like having things done for him, but he needed to talk to the captain. "This way to the bridge, Chief."



***

The Spartan walked into the bridge and came to attention in front of the captain. "Master Chief, nice to meet you." The captain said with a hint of anxiousness in his voice. "Likewise, sir." The Chief replied. "Alright Chief, let's get straight to business. While you were on Reach we we've received a visit from a Covenant scout party. That's why you're here. We're expecting another attack, but this time it won't be an easy victory like last time. "What about the rest of Blue Team?" the Chief asked. "They are… tending to other problems at the moment, Chief. Anyway this planet is absolutely critical to keeping the Covenant away from Earth." Once the Chief heard that, he knew that he wasn't going to get any R&R here. He shifted uneasily. "We need you to help defend this planet." The captain continued. "Some scientists from Section Three will meet you in the armory at 1500 hours. You might want to be early." "Yes sir", the Chief said. He snapped to attention and gave a crisp salute, then walked to the elevator.






1505 hours (station time), June 12, 2551 (Military calendar), Mac-gun station Gladiator, location: orbital battle cluster, planet Cronos III.


The Chief waited at the armory for the techs from Section Three to arrive, but they were late, which is very strange for those ONI spooks. The Chief gave it a quick thought but pushed it out of his mind. He waited with two marines in the room with him, Private Parks and Gunnery Sergeant Elms. "Where the hell are they?" Elms said impatiently. "Not usual for Section Three folk to be late." As he finished talking, the slow murmur of the elevator was heard.

"There they are now." Elms said with satisfaction. When the elevator stopped, the Chief made a troubling discovery, the scientists were there, but they were all dead. Elms jumped in shock and walked to the bodies. He stopped to examine them and said "Plasma burns, Oh my God-"The Chief heard a loud thwack as the sergeant fell to the floor.

He didn't have time to think, he reacted. Several plasma bolts appeared from thin air and whizzed just past his head as he ducked for cover. He looked across the room and saw the other marine, Parks, battle rifle in hand, blasting away at the shadows. The Chief was going to yell Get down! But it was too late, Parks was riddled with plasma. The Chief came up, grabbed an M6D pistol lying on the table in front of him and came back down. He knew that the pistol wasn't going to take down all of them, he didn't even know how many there were. The Chief got up and ran across the room while shooting. He aimed at where the plasma bolts were coming from, and managed to take down one of the elites and damage the shields of another. He then took cover next to Park's lifeless body; he looked at his eyes and cursed under his breath. He then picked up the marine's battle rifle and checked the ammo counter, 15. He hoped that was enough. He then fired again, killing two more elites. He stopped shooting and scanned the room, it looked clear. But to make sure he took them all down, he checked the room for another minute or two.

The Chief walked to the fallen sergeant, who was knocked out from the blow. The Chief shook him and woke him up. He was tense at first, but the Chief managed to calm him down. "What happened, Chief?" Elms said. "Camouflaged elites, they killed the Section Three techs." The Spartan replied. "Damn, that's not good. If these elites managed to get inside without being detected, there might be more." The sergeant said gesturing toward the bodies "And", he continued "that means that the rest of the Covenant are coming soon." The Chief replied "We have to tell the captain." "Right, Chief" Elms said. "What happened to Parks?" he said. The Chief paused for a moment, "KIA." "It's a shame, he was a good kid." he said picking up a shotgun, "let's roll." Chief opened up a private comm channel with the captain and said quickly "Captain, the Covenant are coming-" before the Chief could finish, the captain cut in, "20 capital ships, 15 destroyers, 5 carriers, fighters and boarding craft, you were saying, Chief?" "Right, sir." "Chief, the Covenant are going to try to take this station off-line, make sure they don't. Captain out." The Chief knew it was go-time, so he grabbed some ammo. "Elms," the Chief said, "let's get to the bridge". "Okay, lead the way", the sergeant said enthusiastically. Suddenly, there was a loud metal clang sound as everything vibrated. The Chief heard the sound of reverberating gunfire through the steel walls of the station. He knew that he had to hurry.



1510 hours (station time), June 12, 2551 (Military calendar), Mac-gun station Gladiator, location: orbital battle cluster, planet Cronos III.



The Chief and Elms quickly ran into the elevator and punched in the controls. The elevator lifted and brought them to the tram. It was disabled, the Chief found another reason to hate those elites he just dealt with. "We're going to have to walk down the rail, Sarge." They then hopped down and ran across the length of the tram line. They stopped at the bridge entrance and looked over the wall. The gunfire they had heard minutes earlier had ceased. The Chief saw two grunts standing on guard. Chief whispered to the sergeant "I'll take these two". "Alright Chief", the sergeant answered. The Chief quietly drew his pistol and pulled himself over the ledge. He hit the first grunt with the butt of his weapon, cracking its skull. The other grunt, startled by the sight of him, jumped and ran. The Chief quickly shot the dead-center of its methane rig and watched it gasp as it choked to death. "Nice job," Elms complimented. They ran up to the bulkhead and Elms punched in an override code. Elms was jittery, checking and re-checking his weapon, and constantly looking over his shoulder. Though he noticed this, the Chief thought it would be better not to say anything.

They then proceeded through the bulkhead in front of them; Chief dropped to one knee and analyzed the situation. There were two elites patrolling the area, there were also some grunts lying around too. He turned to Elms and exchanged his battle rifle for Emls' shotgun. He knew that there would be some close up work. "I'll cover you Chief. You take care of those elites, I'll take the little bastards." Elms said, taking aim at the grunts. The Chief gave a quick nod and headed slowly down the stairs. He saw a lot of dead marines. They obviously didn't give up with out a fight. He continued on until he was close enough. One of the elites began to stroll to the Chief's position unaware that there was a half-ton jolly green giant surprise waiting for him, he then jumped from his cover, aimed at the first elite and unloaded two shells into the it's chest. As soon as he took down the first elite, Elms opened up with the rifle, shooting one grunt at a time. The other elite covered the area with plasma fire. The Chief then jumped behind one of the control consoles; the Spartan noticed he made a big mistake, the other elite had white armor; it had to be the leader.

He then jumped back out started firing. The elite charged at him, all the while managing to drop his plasma rifle at pull out an energy sword. The Chief blew the elite's shields with his last shell, but he could no longer jump out of the way- the elite was too close. He punched him across the face and to the abdomen… but that didn't stop it. Before he could tell the elite had put his foot to the Chief's head and pushed him to the floor. Chief tried to roll to the side, but it was too late, the elite was already going to slice him in two. It raised its hand and let out a triumphant roar. It began its downward swing and the Spartan held his breath. The Chief then noticed he wasn't dead- and that three 9.5 mm rounds had just tore through the elite's head. He quickly looked at Elms; he then knew that he owed Elms his life…. And that he had made an unacceptable mistake. "Thanks." Chief said with a hint of shame. "Any time" Elms said.

The Chief and Elms then looked around the room for any survivors. The Chief saw the captain in a dark corner at the far end of the huge room. Then he rushed over to his position. "Chief…." The captain said in a weak voice. "Captain, are you okay?" The Chief said quickly. "Don't worry about me, son…." The captain said clutching his stomach; Chief looked and saw that his abdomen was badly burnt. Noticing that the Chief had acknowledged his wound the captain said "See what I mean. Chief, the station is compromised, the Covenant aren't going to waste too much time before ripping it to shreds. I suggest you leave. There is a frigate docked in the East wing; Colonel Carson's troops are inside. If you can get there in time, you can help stall the ground invasion. Use the station's intercom once you've gotten to the frigate. I would suggest telling the rest of the marines and crew to get out on the pelicans." "Yes sir" the Chief answered. "Now go Chief, get the hell out of here, now." The Chief acknowledged his order and signaled to Elms that it was time to go.

As soon as they left the bridge they were faced with more Covenant. The next room was filled with grunts. They stood there snarling and growling- there was also the loud whine of plasma fire. The Chief then noticed they had plasma cannons firing onto the passage below. The Chief looked closely and saw that there were some marines pinned down on one of the platforms. The Chief found a frag grenade around a fallen marine. He picked it up, pulled the safety pin, and chucked it into the room. There was a loud thump, and then everything was quiet for a moment. There was still two bloodied grunts running and screaming the Chief quickly put them down with the shotgun. One of the plasma cannons had made it, but the other was blown apart. Elms jumped down to the passage below and yelled "Look! More Covenant incoming!" The Chief quickly looked and saw that more Elites and grunts came pouring into the passage. The Chief then took hold of the other plasma cannon and aimed it at the incoming enemy. The Chief then shouted to Elms down below "Get down!" The Chief then unleashed a spray of plasma onto the incoming enemy. He took down most of the grunts and a few elites, but the survivors took cover and fired blindly at him. The Chief kept firing and killed more of them, burning them with their own plasma. Elms shouted "fire in the hole!" and hurled a grenade into the fray. Then, there was an uncomfortable silence. Elms checked the passage and gave Chief the all-clear sign. The Chief policed some plasma grenades from the dead grunts behind him and jumped down into the passage.

As the Chief and Elms entered the next room, they expected another onslaught by the Covenant. But the room was empty, no one, alive or dead. The Chief then walked to the next bulkhead and punched in an override code and waited for the door to open. It usually took a minute or two when you put in an override code. But the door didn't open, it blew up. The explosion sent Chief and Elms flying backward. It was a hail of smoke, fire, fragments, and plasma. It had to be a Covenant charge. The Chief looked at Elms and found that he was dead. The explosion had thrown him back against the wall, breaking his bones. Not to mention the fragments that came from the shredded metal of the door. The Chief's shields were only at one quarter so he paused to let them recharge. No sooner had Elites barged in and fired at him. The Chief grabbed Elm's rifle. He then rolled to the side, took cover behind a crate, and returned the favor. The Chief's battle rifle spewed out rounds non-stop as he took the elites down, one by one. When he ran out of ammo, he dropped it and drew his pistol and continued firing. He had already taken two elites down with the rifle, and he succeeded in taking another one down with his pistol. The last elite unleashed a string of plasma that blew the Chief's shields. Reacting, he dropped to the floor and emptied four rounds into the elite's chest. It kept upright for a moment, taking into account the bullets that had penetrated his body. The elite gasped and held out his hand, as if he was trying to grab the Chief from across the room, and then dropped as purple blood dripped out of his mouth. It puzzled the Chief, how even in death, the Covenant would do their best to kill him. He decided that was something to think about some other time, so he moved on to the next room.


***

The Chief approached the dock to the frigate and saw Colonel Carson and a few marines defending the entrance. There were dead grunts and a few dead marines, so the Chief knew they didn't have it easy either. "Master Chief" the Colonel said "Glad you could come to our little tea party." "Glad to be here" the Chief replied. "We need to get out of here now. I'll get the crew to make final preparations. You take the intercom ring up the others." The Chief nodded in reply and came to an intercom station at the frigate's entrance "All remaining personnel, report to nearest pelican bays or life boats. We are abandoning the station; I repeat, we are abandoning the station. Master Chief out."

Carson waited a few minutes and decided to go. "Come on Chief, let's go." The other marines defending and Chief went inside And shut the hatch. A few seconds later the Chief heard the loud metal clang as the ship departed. The Chief looked out a small port hole and saw pelicans and lifeboats leave the station. He then looked left and saw three plasma torpedoes head straight for the station. It was incinerated completely in a bright flash of blue and white. After several pelicans docked with the frigate, the ship started it's descent to the surface of the planet.

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