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Project Shadow Spartan: Prologue
Posted By: Shadow Spartan and Arinoth Koby<silent_shadow13@hotmail.com, stklego@hotmail.com>
Date: 5 April 2003, 2:57 PM
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Project Shadow Spartan: Prologue
**Hey everyone. Many of you may recognize this title. I'm Shadow Spartan, and I was the one who wrote the original Project Shadow Spartan. However, I felt mine wasn't going anywhere, so I've teamed up with Arinoth to work on this new one, Enjoy! **
Prologue: Earth's Solar System Outskirts, December 14th, 2562
"I see it, the exit to this Slipstream, coming up fifteen hundred meters, stand by for exit!" came the all too familiar voice of the "smart" AI Cortanna. John leaned back in the command chair and held on tight to the arm braces. The battered-up Longsword intercept fighter shook uncontrollably as it reached towards the exit. John heard the hull groan and grind as they exploded into real space. The fighter came out of the hole with a bang, and started spinning without warning, as if it was a top. The alarm systems blared in John's ears, and because of frequent use, they suddenly stopped. John felt like he was going throw up. He did his best to cover his mouth and scream at Cortanna.
"Get us back into position!" he exclaimed. He heard a muffled response, but couldn't make out what she had said. He instead waited and prayed that she could fix them up again. This wasn't the first time they had come out of the Slipstream like this. They had been randomly jumping since they had left Halo.
Without warning, the fighter slowed down, and eventually, with much struggling on Cortanna's behalf, they stopped and floated into a cluster of stars. John's vision was blurry as hell and he shook his head and rubbed his eyes to fix it. Slowly, the cockpit of the fighter stopped spinning and came into focus. He gave a loud sigh and looked near the 3-D projector. Cortanna appeared, panting and trying to stand still. She had obviously worked hard to get them out of that spin. John gave her a small smile.
"Nice job, but where the hell are we?" he asked. Cortanna gave a look of disgust at him. 9 years of being together, and they were starting to hate each other somewhat. Cortanna put a hand on her digital forehead. She suddenly smiled and pointed out the window. John cocked an eyebrow.
"What?"
Cortanna smirked, "See that star cluster?"
"Yeah?"
"Naturally, it consists of radiated gases, remains of stars, important effects like that, but that isn't the point. Beyond this star cluster is Pluto" she said, looking at John with a smile. John's eyes widened and he smiled.
"You're joking?" he said, making sure she wasn't. Cortanna grinned.
"Nope, but we still have a few hundred light years to go, so I suggest we go back into the Slipstream after we exit this place" she suggested. John however was in awe over the good news and at the cluster they were passing through. He took this time he had of peace to relax and reflect on past events.
It has been exactly nine years to this day that John had ran up the ramp of this intercept fighter, a large group of Flood Workers behind him. He remembered them barking at him as he had soared out of the cargo bay exit hole. He remembered Halo, the ancient alien ring world for which he and the crew of the Pillar of Autumn had crashed landed on, after escaping the Reach system and avoiding capture of the Covenant who had boarded their ship. He had fought down there, trying to stay alive and take control of Halo for almost a month. When they had discovered Halo's true meaning, John knew they had to leave. But, the Flood was too quick. They killed all the marines, using them for their own purposes and "killed" Captain Keyes as well. John still had trouble sleeping. The Flood was by far the most destructive and unpleasant race he had encountered. He still had dreams of marines getting infected with their disease, and Keyes yelling at him "YOU FAILED!" This had prevented John from sleeping for almost a year, but Cortanna helped him fight it off and he could sleep well. He hadn't aged much. All the drugs given to him during the incubation tests back at Reach had slowed down the ageing process of his body. He still looking like he was in his mid-thirties, even though he was around forty seven in age. That was the problem. John didn't know how old he was. He had forgotten everything. The only thing that was clear in his mind was the past few torturing years of random Slipstream jumps after random Slipstream jumps. John showed signs of cracking a few weeks ago. He was doing a good job of controlling it, but it was getting tough. He needed to get to Earth. He had to help train the next batch of Spartans, so that they would be aware of what would be in store for them. He knew the Covenant would be preparing to invade the Solar System, so he had to get there quickly.
Suddenly, a movement in a cloud caught John's attention. He sat forward and squinted out the window. One of the clouds that had look like a cartoon cloud had suddenly changed and looked like a streak in space. He cocked his eyebrow and looked around him. There were odd lights all around him, and this worried John. In a cluster like this, you would normally see the star up close, shinning with bright energy, and making the insides of any ship feel like a sauna. But John could still feel that coldness in the fighter and was getting agitated. Patches of clouds were starting to pull away and John was starting to realize what was going on. A large chunk of dust suddenly evaporated, revealing what was behind it. John froze. The huge hulk of a Covenant capital ship could be seen through the other dust clouds floating around its hull. More clouds began to move and John could see more Covenant ships, all parked and waiting. He swore silently to himself and sat in his chair. Quickly, he activated the engines, and did what he had been doing for nine years; programmed another random Slipstream jump. He didn't put the coordinates too far, because at the trajectory he had planned, they would be heading in the direction of Earth. If he programmed the ascent coordinates too far, they would most likely end up in the Sun, which wouldn't be good. He made another quick estimate, punched it in, and then sat back, ready. Cortanna appeared, scowling at him.
"What the heck are you doing?!" she exclaimed as the Longsword's engines powered up. John merely pointed both his hands out the window. Cortanna saw the rows upon rows of Covenant ships and her entire shinning digital figure froze for two seconds. She then tapped into the Slipstream countdown and detonated the engines. The hole to Slipstream opened through four clouds, and within seconds, the fighter was gone. John sighed as they accelerated away from the cluster. That was no scout patrol that was an invasion army. Earth's survival time had shortened incredibly. John had to get home, fast.
TO BE CONTINUED: CHAPTER ONE, COMING SOON
By: Shadow Spartan and Arinoth Koby
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