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Halo 2: Revenge of a Spartan, Chapter 3
Posted By: LostRock<The1lone2outlaw3@aol.com>
Date: 22 March 2003, 9:06 PM
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Author's Note
Hi,
Sorry about the beginning of my story; it was pretty blah. I was just testing the waters of my writing abilities.
I'm also sorry about the long wait for this new installment. I've been getting a lot of homework lately, so I had to get that out of the way first. I'm glad to finally get this posted.
Ciao and enjoy.
The Chief and Cortana explained the Flood, the Monitor and Halo's true purpose, and finally finished with how they got off Halo.
Captain Liskman, who had managed to stay quiet the whole time, pried, "Did you scan for survivors?"
"Yes," the Chief replied. "Nothing survived."
"Well," said Liskman, stretching, "That was quite a tale. You two were very lucky."
"But now it is time for you to tell a tale," said Cortana. "What happened here in Sol? Have the Covenant taken complete control of Earth?"
"Ah, of course, I still need to brief you," murmured Liskman. "I guess we shall have to sit here a little longer.
"The Covenant first attacked Zephyr Prime. The UNSC forces there are still giving the Covenant a tough time. They've been battling for a couple days, and I suppose that both sides are starting to grow weary. However, the Covenant could not be contained in the system; a couple thousand dropships plus a few dozen escort ships managed to sneak out of the battle and made their way to Sol. We were able to defeat the escorts, but the dropships made their way to the Earth's surface. There are too many rookie marines on Earth, and the Covenant are starting to win. We need immediate reinforcements if we hope to repel the Covenant."
"Those reinforcements are me," declared the Master Chief.
"I agree, Master Chief, you are the best man for the job. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to inform the Office of Naval Intelligence of this conversation so they can discuss it...and, we have something in store for you and Cortana, Chief."
"Like what?" said the Chief, his expression quizzical.
"We all like to call it," said Liskman, with a grin on his face, "VALHALLA."
1326 Hours, September 11, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
UNSC cruiser Leviathan (flagship), Sol System
The firing range on the massive cruiser was much quieter than usual. All techs and marines had been cleared out and only those with enough clearance were allowed in. Only a couple dozen people stood in the room now; mostly ONI spooks and high-ranking officers, including the famous Admiral Stanforth.
In the middle of it all was the Master Chief. Everyone was staring at him with smiles on their faces, and not just because they were happy to see the greatest soldier ever to be a part of the UNSC. The Chief was in his brand new VALHALLA armor. He looked himself over, inspecting the new suit; all while Cortana ran analyses on it.
"This suit is a little more amazing than your old one, Chief," Cortana said delightfully. "It's still just like its predecessor, but lighter and able to withstand more rounds from plasma. Speed is also slightly augmented."
This suit is badass, the Chief thought with a grin.
"Well, Chief," Admiral Stanforth said after clearing his throat, "I suppose that it's time to give the suit a warm-up. I know you and the rest of us have been dying to see the suit in action. You are the sole user of it. How about taking a lap around the room?"
The Chief immediately went into action, running so fast that he could barely feel his feet touch the ground. He then came to a stop in front of the crowd. Everyone gasped, seeing as how he had run an 80 by 50 yard room in 16 seconds.
Looking up to see the shocked faces on the crowd, his attention was caught instead by their hair. The Chief had run so fast that it looked like they'd been in a tornado.
"You'd better be a little more subtle, Chief," whispered Cortana. The Chief softly snorted with glee.
"Bravo, bravo," said Stanforth. "Now let's exercise your dodging skills and see how powerful your shields are."
Hatches suddenly opened in the wall. Automated .55 caliber guns protruded out menacingly and opened fire.
The Chief had been ready the moment Stanforth had finished talking. He rolled out of the way and where he stood previously was covered in bullet holes.
But the guns were also quick. They turned and fired on the Master Chief. The Chief dodged again, but let himself get hit in order to count the number of bullets he could take. 12...15...18 bullets hit the Chief as he finally sprang out of the way. He was surprised; his previous shields could only take 8 shots like that!
"Good! Now try out these new weapons," Stanforth said with a grin, motioning to the table over near the Elite dummies. "Two are evolutions of ones you've used before, but one is a brand-new weapon. First, try out the M92 double barreled shotgun."
The Chief picked up the weapon and blasted the closest Elite dummy in the range. The stuffed model shattered into bits, and not a recognizable part of it was left.
"The MA7B battle rifle," the admiral pointed out, "has a slower firing rate than your assault rifle and comes with a 5x magnification scope."
The Spartan took the rifle and aimed for a dummy about 50 yards off. He fired off ten bullets, and the dummy sagged to the floor.
"Finally," said Stanforth, "the latest SMG, which fires even faster than the assault rifle."
The Chief put the gun on his large shoulder and blasted a dummy. After the firing ended, the dummy looked like a dozen teething dogs had gotten to it.
"Well, that concludes the demonstration," Stanforth said, he had the rest of the crowd clapping their hands. "Now, how about—"
"Admiral Stanforth, we have a situation!" a panicked voice said over the speakers in the room.
"What's going on, lieutenant?" replied Stanforth, now alert.
"More Covenant ships have made their way out of Zephyr Prime!"
The ONI spooks gasped, but the military men, including the Master Chief, stayed calm.
"How far into Sol are they, lieutenant?"
"Fortunately, their Slipspace engines were damaged, and they're at Neptune but are closing the distance to Earth quickly!"
"Well, that's it, then," said the admiral. "Chief, I'm now assigning you to the Junto, a ship identical to the Pillar of Autumn in everything but name and crew. Your mission is to capture one of those Covenant vessels intact."
The Chief did a double take. "Sir? You're reactivating my Section Three mission?"
"That's right, Chief," Stanforth replied with a grim expression. "If we can—and we WILL—repel the Covenant, one of our top priorities is to sneak into their homeworld. But this time, we will NOT take one of their Prophets hostage. We're serious now: we are going to DESTROY their planet."
2048 Hours, September 11, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
UNSC Junto, Sol System
Captain Ben Franklin chewed on his lip as he stared at the tactical display in front of him. A bad habit, he thought, but this was not the place and time to worry about bad habits.
On the tactical display, there were five large red markers. They were 2 Covenant destroyers and 3 frigates. Franklin knew that they knew they didn't stand a chance: there were still about seventy UNSC ships defending Earth. But it didn't matter to the Covenant; they threw every last warrior they had at human forces. They would fight to the death.
The captain heard heavy footsteps behind him. He turned around, and found saw that the Master Chief had come to the bridge.
"Master Chief," he said with a slight smile.
"Captain Franklin," the Chief replied, saluting.
"At ease," said Franklin with a sigh. "So, what do you think of this?" he said, referring to the tactical display.
"I'm not sure what you mean, sir."
"I mean, what sort of plan do you have to capture one of those ships? I have some ideas, but I'd like to hear yours."
"Well...I remember at Chi Ceti 4 the UNSC Commonwealth blew a hole open in a Covenant ship, and me and my teammates used thruster packs to make our way inside it. The shields lowered every time it fired its plasma."
"Hmmm..." Franklin scratched his chin. "Well, unfortunately, we have no Shivas or thruster packs. I have a plan: We get above a Covenant ship and take out its shields. Meanwhile, you go out the airlock. The escaping air should give you enough momentum to reach the damaged ship."
"Interesting," Cortana piped up over the com channel. "I like your thinking, Captain."
"It gets better," Franklin grinned. "You infiltrate the ship and get to the hangar. You drop the hangar entry shields so reinforcements can arrive. Then, with support, you take control of the bridge after all Covenant have been eliminated. What do you think?"
"Very well," said the Master Chief. "We'll be ready and waiting on the maintenance deck."
Franklin turned away as the Chief left the bridge.
"Sir, Covenant at 9 'o clock! Distance: ten thousand klicks!" shouted the navigations officer.
The Chief made his way through the hallways of the Junto. Techs and marines alike stared at the Chief and whispered among themselves. However, crowds immediately dispersed when the klaxons began blaring.
A rack of battle rifles protruded in front of the Chief as he made his way down a narrow hallway. He took one, and, checking to see that it was locked and loaded, continued his pace. He came to the end of the hallway, which had doors to the maintenance lift.
"Well, Chief, here we are," said Cortana as they reached the lift. "Back to the grinding stone."
"Grinding stone to you maybe," said the Chief as he entered their destination in the lift's keypad. "But this is my life, and I'm ready to live it some more."
Cortana chuckled all the way down the shaft.
There was there was a far-away rumbling sound surrounding the Chief. He could not tell if it was from the Junto's guns firing, or if the Junto was taking hits. He didn't want to think about it now; his main focus was to get onboard one of those enemy ships.
Half a minute later, they were on the maintenance deck. Suddenly, the com channel turned on.
"Chief!" Captain Franklin almost yelled over the channel. "We are in position! Go, go, go!"
The Chief grinned. It was time.
He opened the lift door. which was a large room with airlock doors. Outside the doors, he could see the battle raging on Earth, as nuclear-scale explosions parted clouds and created an almost-mystifying view. The Chief would be down there soon, or so he hoped.
The Chief noticed the door controls were on a large beam facing away from the windows. Perfect. The Chief came up to the beam, and, with his back facing the controls and his hand poised on the emergency airlock lever, he was ready to go.
There was an odd moment of silence as the he opened up the control panel. The Chief contemplated how many ways this operation could go wrong, and wondered if he'd make it out alive. Then Cortana spoke.
"What if we miss?"
The Chief slowly grinned, and reassured himself and the AI, "I won't."
He pulled the lever.
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