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The End of a War - Chapter 3
Posted By: Mr. Clark<mrclark84@hotmail.com>
Date: 14 February 2005, 3:41 AM
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The End of a War
Chapter 3
From Bad to Worse....to 'Wow, this really sucks'
The Master Chief felt his hands tighten their grip on the rifle he held. It had only been a few minutes since a lucky Jackal had announced his presence over the ship's battle net. He had expected an influx of Covenant to come barreling into crew barracks, but there had been nothing so far.
The fighting had been interspersed as he made his way through the twisting corridors and decks of the Forerunner ship, something John found disturbing. It was possible the remaining Covenant aboard were waiting on the above deck for him, but that didn't fit the way they usually operated. A stow away was a slander against their very existence. Typically, wave after wave of troops would be sent until the intruder was eliminated. What few battles he had participated in seemed as if the Covenant had higher priorities than getting rid of him.
He wasn't exactly going to complain, but it was troubling nonetheless.
John had accessed the ship's schematics earlier, what he attributed to dumb luck mostly, and now had a reliable layout of the ship. From what little he could decipher, he was one deck below the control room, undoubtedly where the Prophet of Truth was holed up. There was an access to the control room that wouldn't be filled with Covenant he had discovered. The only problem was he would be going in blind, with no idea how many troops lay behind the door.
The two points of access carried with them their own advantages and disadvantages, but John had decided that the element of surprise would be of greater use to him. Truth needed to die, and if he only got one shot at it, he would need to take it quickly. Announcing his presence by tearing up the corridor all the way to the control room would ensure they'd be ready for him.
He slung his rifle over his shoulder and picked up the gun the Jackal had wielded before he had crushed its skull against the bulkhead. If he only got one shot at Truth, he wanted to make sure it would finish him off.
As suspected, his path was free of Covenant. An Engineer flew by at one point, but as usual it ignored the Master Chief's presence. He reached the small access door and paused. This would not be based on his skill. It would be nothing more than luck.
Taking a deep breath, the Master Chief charged through the door, his speed carrying his through the doors before they had a chance to open. Dropping to the ground in a short crouch John rolled to the left, his eyes taking in as much of the room as he could. The control room was large, with large expansive windows along the front wall. Brutes and Drones worked the controls of the ship, but there were few of them.
As he came out of his roll, the Master Chief spotted Truth. He sat in the center of the room in his hover chair, gazing out at the fighting taking place around Earth.
Not sparing a moment, John brought the Covenant rifle to his shoulder, lined up the sights and fired. By now the occupants of the control room had realized something was amiss, and were turning to regard where John stood when the streak of concentrated plasma slammed into the Prophet of Truth. The startled shrieks of the Drones and the outraged cries of the Brutes reached John's ears and a smile crept onto his face.
His amusement was quickly lost however, when he noticed the shimmering light around the Prophet of Truth, as the creature slowly turned its chair around to face the Spartan. Cursing to himself John raised the rifle again and fired three shots in succession, overheating the gun and forcing him to drop it. As the excess plasma spilled onto his hand and burned away at his shield the Master Chief watched intently as his shots impacted Truth. Once again the shielding around him shimmered and faded from sight. Truth remained unharmed.
"I heard rumors of an insect infiltrating this ship; I had not realized it would be you."
Several Brutes were advancing on him, plasma rifles ready to fire. The Master Chief quickly slung his battle rifle around into his hands and trained it on them.
"Hold your fire," Truth ordered lightly. His eyes bored in on the Master Chief and a smirk alighted his face. "Have you come to watch the destruction of your planet Demon? Already our fleet has begun eliminating your orbital defense weaponry. It is only a matter of time before we begin the cleansing of your pitiful race."
Without moving his rifle, John stole a glance out the front of the ship, and saw as Covenant cruisers assaulted the MAC guns. Judging from the amount of debris floating about the stations had been doing a good job, but the Covenant ships were endless. When one was destroyed, another simply took its place. Truth was right.
It was time to shift tactics.
"Well then, I guess your just going to have to order your fleet to retreat," John said simply, his left hand fingering the plasma grenade at his side.
"You are a fool. Nothing will interrupt the completion of the Great Journey. With the Forerunners as our guides we will attain true enlightenment, but first your presence must be erased from this planet."
It was then John saw it, a small crystal like object sitting on a pedestal in the center of the room. He recognized it immediately. It was the same device Locklear had destroyed. But, how had Truth gotten his hands on it?
The ship suddenly accelerated, and John turned in surprise and saw that the ship was moving towards Earth. He was about to activate his com when he remembered that he had lost contact with Lord Hood earlier, whether from interference or the destruction of the main station he did not know.
John turned his gaze back to the crystal. The last time it had been destroyed, the explosion had been huge.
Here goes nothing, the Master Chief thought to himself as he keyed the plasma grenade and threw it at the center Brute. It activated and stuck to the Brute's forehead. Wasting no time John turned and fired at several Drones that had taken flight. Truth bellowed for the others to kill him, but it was too late. John had scooped up the fallen Covenant rifle and fired at the crystal.
"You fool!" Truth shouted as the shot slammed into the crystal. The room grew silent as all eyes turned to the crystal, seeing what the shot had done. A small crack lined down the remaining parts of the crystal, and it started to grow in size.
Not taking any chances, John fired once more. The Covenant soldiers turned, ready to stop him from firing again, but they didn't get a chance. The crystal shattered, emitting a light bright enough to blind everyone.
The Master Chief's auto-dampening visor failed to soften the bright flash and he momentarily lost his vision. He felt the ship begin to shudder, almost as if it was breaking apart. Heat suddenly lashed out at him, and then there was nothing but black.
-----------------------------
Janissary James could adequately sum up her situation, along with the other crewmembers in two words. Supremely fucked.
When the sirens had been activated in the city, announcing the imminent Covenant invasion, she had been scared. Fighting local street toughs and gang members suddenly seemed to be a very small accomplishment. Everyone knew what the Covenant looked like, from the Grunts all the way to the Hunters, but that didn't make the prospect of fighting them any easier to bear.
There had been a sense of panic at first. Then uncertainty; what were they supposed to do? Sit around and wait for the Covenant to start glassing the planet? The news hadn't been much help. All the stations had been broadcasting the award ceremony, where the survivors of Reach were being decorated. The broadcast was cut short, but not before Jan caught a glimpse of the Spartan. He was the one that had discovered and destroyed the device like the one her and the others had deactivated at Chawla Base. Only the one he had destroyed had been the size of a planet.
A representative for ONI had appeared on the news and advised all non-combat personnel to seek shelter. Jan wasn't sure what she was classified as, but non-combat certainly wasn't it. Gilly and Gladys had warned her against leaving, but she didn't give much of a damn what they thought was best. She was calling Kevin Moralis on her chatter before she was even out the front door.
He hadn't been lying when he had said he was prepared. The plan he and the other one point ones had developed wouldn't be of much use anymore, and neither would the yacht. He had contingency plans though, and when she had called he was already putting a few into action.
Kevin had picked her up with two other one point ones. Benji Wong and Carol Sloan. Benji looked almost exactly how Jan had imagine he would. Kevin had described him as a money-maker. He was short, and scrawny looking. The only thing that would've completed the picture is if he was wearing glasses.
Carol was a reminder that despite being one point ones, the title didn't necessarily mean you inherited good looks. She was plain looking, flat-chested and looked like she didn't have a muscle in her whole body.
Jan was suddenly feeling slightly more uneasy about Kevin's plan.
Kevin drove them all to a small building downtown. Once there, Jan met the others. Penelope Niar, Grant Liaos, Carl B. Bronson, Sarah Ingle, Edward Roberts, Earl Terg, Nick Delis, and Sadie Watson.
Grant had flown a Pelican into the city from Chile. Kevin wanted to move out as quickly as possible when they had caught chatter over the net about Covenant forces breaking through the defenses and landing in New Mombasa. It was quickly decided that they would make a stop at Old Mombasa to pick up the weapons cache Kevin and Sarah had set up before seeing what they could do about the Covenant.
Halfway there Jan had been shocked to hear Durga over the Pelican com. She had hacked the net and informed the crew of one point ones that their assistance was not needed at New Mombasa. The Covenant had deployed a Scarab class tank, and Spartan 117 was engaging. Carol, who turned out to be a superb pilot, had turned them around and flown them back to the city.
It had been for the best though, shortly after returning home, they overheard that the Covenant had performed a Slipspace jump from in the city, nearly demolishing the entire city. The Spartan 2.0 had followed the Covenant ship, along with the ship In Amber Clad.
They spent the night in an apartment owned by Edward, and woke up early the next day. The battle still raged above Earth, but at least no additional Covenant forces had broken through the defensive perimeter. Kevin had listened to reports for nearly a half hour before deciding it would be safe to bring the yacht into low orbit around Earth. From there whey would attempt to intercept Covenant transmissions and come up with a strategy on how to assist the orbital defense stations.
It was that decision that led to Jan's present predicament. The yacht had turned out to be everything Kevin had described it to be. Seven of them would be needed to run it efficiently, and it was decided that the remaining five would get the stashed pelicans and bring them into orbit. The Covenant were still firing out boarding crafts at the MAC guns, and the wounded needed transportation off the stations and into hospitals back on Earth.
Carol was going to pilot the yacht while Benji, Sadie, Earl, Penelope, Edward, and Nick would operate the other equipment aboard. Kevin and Jan were heading out to Switzerland to pick up one of the Pelicans, while Carl and Sarah would pick up the other. Grant was flying solo, and after he dropped the others off at the other Pelicans he was going to escort the yacht into low orbit then head off to Cairo station. They had been calling for medical evacs for awhile.
What had led Jan to make the somewhat callous observation over their situation occurred several minutes after the other Pelicans had taken to the air. A large unidentified ship had entered the system a few hours ago, and it had begun to accelerate towards Earth. Lord Hood, Commander of Earth Orbital Defense had issued a standing order not to bring the craft under fire. The problem that came up was a Covenant flagship carrier had sent several squads of Seraph fighters to escort the unidentified ship. Even one of those fighters could take out a Pelican.
Kevin ordered the other Pelicans to back off from the stations in case one of the Seraph fighters decided they would make an easy target. He had started to bring their Pelican back into a low orbit when a huge wave of static and radiation washed over the ship. The controls had failed, the com went silent with nothing but static and they began to drift towards Earth in free-fall.
Supremely fucked indeed.
Where the hell is Durga when you need her? Jan asked herself as she kept a death grip on her seat. Next to her Kevin worked furiously to get the Pelican's controls back online.
Casting a glance at the huge ship, Jan felt her breath get hitched in her throat.
The entire ship was being distorted, almost as if space itself was bending around it. There was a huge flash of light, so bright that even with her eyes closed she saw nothing but white, and then another shockwave rocked the Pelican, only this time it was generated from an explosion aboard the ship.
The Pelican was thrown into a spin, and Jan smacked her head against the bulkhead. Stars swam before her eyes as she heard Kevin swear angrily as he wrenched fruitlessly at the controls. Her head pounding, Jan forced her eyes open and caught a glimpse of the huge ship, where an explosion emanated from its center. Before the ship could completely tear itself apart, there was the same distortion that she saw earlier, only much larger and the ship simply disappeared, leaving only debris from the initial explosion. The Seraph fighters that had been escorting it were nowhere in sight.
"Sonofabitch!" Kevin exclaimed as the controls sprung to life and he pulled them out of the spin. Once the ship was righted he turned to Jan, who was still dazed.
"I'm fine," she responded, seeing the concerned look on his face. She cautiously ran a hand over her head, and it came away without any blood, validating her response.
A voice sounded over the com, alerting them to the fact that the disruption earlier had passed.
'This is the Last Hope, everyone report in,' the voice belonged to Benji. The Last Hope was the name of the yacht.
"Ferdinand Six reporting in," Kevin replied over the com. "A little shaken up but otherwise fine."
'Understood Six, you've got debris heading your way, recommend you move out of low orbit and link up with the others.'
"Roger that," Kevin said, complying. He put the Pelican into a slow bank, turning back towards the Last Hope, and the other Pelicans. Jan continued to watch the space where the other ship had once been. She couldn't comprehend the sudden disappearance, and since Kevin wasn't commenting on it there was a good chance she had imagined it.
Her eyes were still fixated on the spot when she noticed several objects moving fast towards them. It took a moment before she could make out the shapes but when she did she saw it was debris from the resounding explosion.
"Uh, Kevin?"
"What is it Jan?" Kevin asked as he brought them out of the low turn and started towards the yacht that was a mere spec in the distance.
"I think that's debris," she commented, raising a hand to point it out. Kevin followed her hand and saw the incoming objects.
"Shit," he cursed as he powered the thrusters and made for a quick burn to move them out of the trajectory, but it was too late. Several pieces slammed into the Pelican and sent the ship rattling with bone-jarring force.
"This is Ferdinand Six, we just took some debris off the port side," Kevin announced over the com.
'I'll check you out,' another voice piped in. That would be Grant, or Ferdinand Five. His Pelican disengaged from the yacht and made a quick burn over to their Pelican and pulled up alongside.
"Anything vital hit?" Kevin asked. There was a slight pause as Grant looked them over.
'Nothing serious, you are definitely going to need a new paint job though.'
"Alright, if this bird isn't going to fall apart on us then we might as well..."
'Jesus Christ,' Grant cut Kevin off. 'You've got some debris clinging to you.'
"Its alright, it'll be knocked loose when we start to power the thrusters."
Grants voice was stupefied. 'This isn't debris from the ship, it's a person.'
Jan and Kevin traded looks. Kevin slowed the Pelican down and he opened up a visual com with Grant.
"You mind repeating that Five?" Kevin requested. Grant's face was a picture of surprise, and it was a moment before he remembered them.
'Hold one Six. Slow your Pelican down and head over to the yacht. Get Jan into gear and have her do a free walk to check it out.'
Wordlessly Kevin complied while Jan quickly suited up. A free walk would entail that she wouldn't have any connection to the Pelican, essentially she'd be one misstep away from free-falling in space.
Once the back was vented and the latch lifted Jan slowly, inexorably made her way from the inside of the Pelican to the roof. Her heart pounded in her ears as she carefully gained proper grips as she continued to pull herself along.
She reached the spot where the debris had hit, and Jan surveyed the scene.
The Pelican had been hit several times, twice on the wing cluster. She moved closer, hoping to see what had sent Grant into such a stupor. When she was close enough to make it out, Jan felt her heart nearly stop.
There, clinging with one hand onto a small dent in the outer armor was somebody. She didn't need to get closer to know who it was. The armor gave it away. She activated her com.
"It's a Spartan."
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