User:Spartan 501/Installation 04: What If/Chapter One: Pillar of Autumn

September 19, 0104 Hours, 2552

Threshold System, Orbit Around Unidentified Ring-like Object

The Pillar of Autumn glided silently through space, it's engines alight with blue fire. It's hull was chipped and battered, scorched and crater, marred from meteor and plasma impacts. It was a dull brown, and it's flat side hull stood out among the utter inky black expanse of space.

In formation, a squadron a seven longsword fighters swooped by it's port side, an escort formation. The craft pulled up sharply, looped over the front of the craft, and turned quickly backward, heading aft along the starboard armor, performing a visual sweep.

On the bridge of the aged Halcyon class cruiser, Commander Jacob Keyes stared thoughtfully at the view screen in front of him, chewing on his lower lip. He was clad in a white dress uniform--along with the rest of the assorted crew on the bridge. They hadn't bothered to change out of the white clothing after the awards ceremony performed on Reach for Sigma Octanus IV, and they all were now paying the price. The walls of the bridge were a flat olive-gray metal, dotted with warning signs and control consoles.

Keyes gazed out the massive viewport in front of him, and withdrew a cigar and puffed a smoke ring from it.

"Cortana, all I need to know, is did we lose them." He said to apparently empty air.

From hidden banks of audio projectors in the bridges dull metal walls, a high sweet voice rang out, one that was underlain however with tension.

"I think we both know the answer to that one Captain." Replied the voice.

Keyes scratched his head, weary and sleep deprived.

"We made a blind jump, how did they--"

"Get here first?" The voice cut him off. "They're ships have all ways been faster. As for tracking us all the way from Reach, at light speed my maneuvering options were limited."

Keyes finally moved from his position. He slowly began pacing up and down the bridge, glancing at view screens and readouts.

"We were running dark, yes?" He asked, more of a statement than a question."

"Until we decelerated. No one could've missed the hole we tore in normal space."

Keyes stooped over at the navigation console, the screen of Ensign Lovell. The Ensign tapped in a few commands and waited as data streamed across his screen.

"They were waiting for us on the far side of the planet." The voice finished.

The ensigns console beeped for him, and he cursed and reentered the data.

"So where do we stand?" asked Keyes

"Our fighters are mopping up the remains of their recon picket now, nothing serious, but I've isolated approach vectors from multiple CCS class battle groups. In about ninety seconds they'll be all over us." replied the voice, sounding apprehensive

"Well that’s it then." said Keyes "Bring the ship back up to alert level Alpha, I want everyone at their stations or ready to repel borders."

"Everyone sir? Even them?" asked the voice

"Everyone. Especially them" Keyes affirmed. "And Cortana," He began

On the small circular holo pad to the left of the main view screen, photons swirled and coalesced into a tiny purple figure of a woman. She cocked her head in puzzlement.

"Hmm?" purred Cortana

"Lets give our old alien friends a warm welcome." said Keyes, as red warning lights flickered on and crewmen ran to their stations, white dress uniforms glowing red off reflected light.

"Already on it, aye sir." answered Cortana.

---

He floated dreamily in a state of semi-consciousness. He was slowly being revived from cryo, and as standard procedure, he was kept dreaming through the entire time.

He sat idly on a small hill, which he dimly recognized from a far flung memory. The surrounding area was flat, with a dull red sky and fields of olive grass and patches of dirt extending in all directions save behind him, where he saw a small school. A cool wind came over him, and he shivered. Suddenly, he spotted movement in the distance; two Covenant dropships, inbound. But something wasn't right, these dropships were a deeper purple--and their turrets were larger. Too large. He dove for cover as one dropship swooped by, a purple plasma mortar launching from it's turret. The blast hit near him, and through him into the air. He smacked onto the pavement, and rolled, reaching for his sidearm.

However, he discovered that it was not there, and that instead of wearing his MJOLNIR armor, he instead wore child’s civilian clothing--the clothes he had worn before he became a SPARTAN. From the dropship, a dozen elites departed, weapons glowing. He braced for the oncoming death as he saw one aim it's weapon, and closed his eyes as a flash of light and a burst of heat illuminated his retina and scorched his skin....

Petty Officer Master Chief John-117 awoke with a start in his no longer freezing cryo pod with a start. Pain clung to his skin like a dozen peeling band-aids, evidence of the MJOLNIR interacting with the cryo-pods chemicals and his skin cells. The chief blinked twice, rapidly, to clear his eyes from the haze that covered them, and he saw that mist and fog that filled the tube was receding. He strained to move his neck, but he was frozen in place, and was unable to move at all. He tried to chin the self-diagnostic on his helmet, but too his surprise, it didn't respond.

A hiss shot through the tube, and the Master Chief watched as the door to the pod groaned upward, fog and mist spewing forward. With his enhanced vision, Master Chief saw through the cloud a technician, in not his usual jumpsuit uniform, but rather his dress whites. Then he remembered Reach, how it had been destroyed, and how no one had changed...how they were all still in too much shock.

"Sorry for the quick thaw Master Chief, things are a little hectic right now. The disorientation should pass quickly."

The chief glanced about the room, and spotted another technician, similarly dressed, standing on the elevated observation room behind a bank of monitors.

"Welcome back sir, we'll have you battle ready stat." said the white clad technician

The Master Chief continued to glance around the room, flexing his stiff neck muscles. "I'm brining your health monitors online sir." Called the observing technician, and the chief saw bio-data scrawl across his HUD. Finally, the technician next to him gave the order for him to disembark from the cryo tube.

As he climbed out, the Master Chief took advantage of his new position and observed the cryo bay. It was filled with tubes, and a upper walkway stretched along the walls. In the corner, a trio of crates sat, creating a pyramid. The floor was a matte silver metal, and the back walls were darker and heavily textured. The Master Chief joined the technician near him on a variety of tests--tests to test his target acquisition skills and tests to enable his shields. Finally, after making a full round around the chamber, he joined the technician at the near his chamber.

Overhead, a loudspeaker crackled with a familiar voice: Captain Keyes issuing orders.

"Cryo two, send the Master Chief to the bridge immediately." said the Captain

"But sir, we'll have to skip the weapons briefing and I--" The technician protested

The captain cut him off. "On the double crewman."

"Aye aye sir."

The master chief noticed something was wrong. The Captain wasn't normally that stiff with his men--something must have changed. The technician turned to Chief, worry in his voice. He knew something was up, too.

“Come on, we’ll find you weapons later.”

On the observation window, the other technician piped up.

“I’ll leave the self diagnostic running at least.” Said the technician

Suddenly, a loud banging sound penetrated the bay. The technician turned to the bay, his face frozen with fear.

“Oh god! Their trying to get through the door!” he cried.

The door by the technician above heated and melted, and an elite rushed through the doorway. It’s plasma rifle crackled blue and heat impacts slammed into the unarmored technician. His white dress uniform burned and stuck to his skin, and he crumpled to the ground into a pool of his own blood.

The remaining technician turned to chief, his face live with anger and rage.

“Come on, we’ve got to get the hell out of here!” he yelled.

The technician sprinted to a doorway on the right side of the cryo-bay, and the Chief followed closely. The technician slid a key-card across a reader, and the door’s clearance light shifted from red to green. The door slid open, and the technician beckoned him through, yelling “Hurry!”

The chief slid through the door as the technician ran through the hallway. The technician was next to a door just up ahead, and Chief was about to follow, when something deep in his gut told him not too.

Thunder roiled through the Autumn, and an explosion roared through the door. The technician was illuminated in bright light for a second—then his body was engulfed in flames and heat. The fire died a moment later, leaving the technicians smoking body laying on the floor. The chief turned to his left and found a pair of conduits running through the middle of the wall. He slid over the conduits and turned right. He sprinted through a pair of doors—then cursed as an explosion threw him to the side.

He hit the wall with a loud clunk, and dragged himself to his feet, shaking off the effects of the blast. He moved forward again, paused to let a door cycle him through, and was greeted by a partially closed blast door. He examined it and determined their was just enough space for him to fit. He rolled under the door, came up, and observed his surroundings.

He was in a long hallway, and just in front of him, to his right, a crewman fired a silenced sub machine gun—probably procured from the SPARTAN-II’s special armory, which Chief remembered had survived the escape from Reach. The thought of the armory, and its users—his SPARTANs—brought him to remember the covenant glassing Reach. He paused, remembering that he had almost sent his SPARTANs to the surface. Almost.

To his left, a blast door behind to creep close, and a pair of elites fired from the shadows of behind it. The chief turned left, and saw another door shutting farther on. A brave crewman, dressed in his dress whites, carried a SMG and held off a contingent of Covenant as the blast door began to shut between him and his fellows. Another crewman ran from the carnage—only to be engulfed in the blast of a plasma grenade.

“Secure those blast doors!” cried one crewman, as he and the one near Chief laid down suppressing fire on the  Covenant troops long enough for the doors to hiss close.

The Chief ran forward, braving plasma blasts from elites to get close to an exit; a doorway, glowing green, stood on the left side of the passage, beckoning him. The chief ran through the door, and was greeted by another. He stepped through his passage—and was greeted by an elite, plasma rifle leveled at him.

The Master Chief dropped to a crouch, braced—and then was thrown back as an explosion from a grenade launcher engulfed the elite. It stood for a moment however, turned it’s rifle to Chief’s left—only to have a pair of three round battle rifle bursts pierce it’s helmet, blowing purple gore out onto the wall. The master chief stepped over the creature, and was greeted by a pair of familiar faces.

In the doorway stood two SPARTAN-IIs. They both carried BR55-M45 Battle Rifles—weapons that fired three round bursts, carried and optical scope on a carrying handle, and featured an integrated underslung grenade launcher. The first SPARTAN, whom Chief recognized as SPARTAN-014, Adrian, gave Chief a thumbs up. The other, Angel-054, swiped two fingers across her visor in the signature SPARTAN smile.

The chief came around the corner fully, and was filled with a feeling of security, knowing that the captain had deployed his SPARTANs to defend the ship internally. He stepped past the two, letting them do their job, while he did his.

The Master Chief stepped around a corner, heading right, and found another fight raging. A marine, in full armor, armed with what Chief saw was a MA5B/S-II Assault Rifle—also pillaged from the SPARTAN armory—was exchanging fire with a covenant squad. To the marines right, directly ahead of Chief, a technician fired a SMG, while to his left, a SPARTAN in full MJOLNIR fired with a BR55-M45. Chief noted that on his HUD, the SPARTAN appeared as Malcom-059. The three soldiers fired from cover behind a red striped crate and a metal infantry defense box.

The Chief ran to Malcolm, and Malcolm spoke up over the roar of combat.

“Captain Keyes wants you on the bridge ASAP, better follow me Chief!”

Master Chief nodded, and Malcolm turned and ran through a doorway. Chief followed as they sprinted through an armory, where injured marines sat up against the weapons lockers and support beams. They exited the armory into another firefight, where three marines attempted to hold off twice as many covenant as blast doors hissed shut between them.

“Get clear John!” yelled Malcolm, and they ran for their life

They sprinted to the left, as plasma bolts flashed past them. A beam of blue-white heat slammed into Malcolm’s back, and his shields flared, but they both kept running. They turned a corner onto the bridge, and then Malcolm stopped, covering the entrance with his Battle Rifle.

“Captain Keyes is waiting for you sir, go on.”

The Chief turned and entered the red illuminated space. He noted the vast majority of the bridge officers still wore their dress uniforms, and he wondered why they hadn’t changed.

Chief approached the Captain, and snapped to crisp attention as the Captain turned to his heavy footfalls. He quickly snapped off a dignified salute.

“Captain Keyes, sir.” He said

Keyes eyed him for a moment, and then spoke.

“At ease, Master Chief. Things aren't going well. Cortana did her best, but we never really had a chance…”

Cortana’s holographic avatar swirled and appeared on the holo-tank, a slight female with lines of code running up and down her transparent body.

“A dozen superior Covenant ships against a single Halcyon class cruiser, I’m content with three, make that four kills.”

On the view screen, to Chief’s interest, the image of a CCS class covenant cruiser winked off.

Cortana gave chief a sly look, which he did not return.

“Sleep well?” she asked

“No thanks to your driving, yes.” He said

“So you did miss me.” She said mischievously.

Another roar of thunder filled the air and the deck shook slightly. That was a bad sign—anything that could make the deck of a thousand ton ship was bad news. Keyes grabbed a support beam and held onto the ship, while Chief carefully balanced himself.

"Report!" cried Keyes, coughing.

"It must have been one of their boarding parties! I'd guess an Anti-Matter Charge!" Cortana told him, her voice laden with concern.

A tech officer manning a station just ahead of Chief turned around in his seat. "Ma'am! Fire control for the main cannon is offline!" He called

"Captain, the cannon was my last offensive option!" said Cortana, as the hull groaned.

"Alright then. I'm initiating Cole Protocol Article 2. We're abandoning the Autumn. That means you too, Cortana." Said Keyes in a tone that suggested finality. However, Cortana didn’t seem to be ready to quit.

"While you do what, go down with the ship?" she countered.

"In a manner of speaking. The object we found, I'm going to try and land the Autumn on it." Said Keyes.

For the first time, the Chief gazed out the viewport, and was awed to find something titanic floating in orbit. It appeared to be a large floating ring, thousands of kilometers in diameter, rotating slowly in orbit around a gas giant, which his HUD identified as Threshold.

"With all due respect, Sir, this war has enough dead heroes." Continued Cortana, snapping Chief back to reality.

"I appreciate your concern, Cortana, but it's not up to me. Protocol is clear. Destruction or capture of a shipboard AI is absolutely unacceptable, that's means you're leaving the ship. Lock in a selection of emergency landing zones, upload them to my neural lace, and then sort yourself for a hard transfer." Said Keyes, as he typed in commands on the main console.

"Aye aye, Sir." Said Cortana. Her avatar swirled and disappeared. "Which is where you come in, Chief. Get Cortana off this ship. Rendezvous with the other groundside units, SPARTANs and marines, and keep her safe from the enemy. If they capture her, they'll learn everything. Force deployment, weapons research... Earth." Said Keyes, his tone grave.

Chief already knew the ramifications of the Covenant capturing any old AI. The ones for Cortana were apparently even force.

"I understand sir." The Chief affirmed.

The holo-tank swirled again, and Cortana reappeared. Chief noted that the math running up her body moved much quicker than before, and was much more complicated.

"The Autumn will continue evasive maneuvers until you initiate a landing sequence. Not that you'll listen, but I'd suggest letting my subroutines handle the final approach." Said Cortana

"Excellent work, Cortana. Thank you. Are you ready?" asked Keyes.

Cortana glanced about the room, and finally drew a long sigh.

"Yank me." She said.

The Captain bended over and typed in a few commands on the Holo-tank. He withdrew a small silver data chip, and handed it to the Chief.

"Good luck, Master Chief." Keyes said.

The chief accepted the chief and slotted it into an open port in the back of his helmet. It entered with a click and he immediately felt a sharp jab of pain, followed by a feeling of cool mercury inside his mind.

"Hmm... Your architecture isn't much different from the Autumn's..." Cortana toyed.

"Don't get any funny ideas." He replied back.

The Chief turned to Keyes, who reached into a holster and handed him and M6D pistol. Chief noted that it was unloaded—the slide was pulled back and the clip was removed.

“I don’t keep it loaded son, you’ll have to find ammo as you go.” Keyes apologized.

Chief didn’t give the bridge another thought. He had an objective now—get off the autumn and link up with his SPARTANs once he was on the ground, which he presumed meant the ring. He turned away from Keyes and moved back out of the bridge. As he moved into the passageway away, he saw Malcolm had withdrawn, and he noted a clip for an M6D lying on the ground, half loaded. He also noticed something else: the high pitched squeals of a group of Covenant grunts. He slid the clip into the pistol, noting he only had six rounds left. One of the grunts heard the click, or maybe his boot falls, as it ran to investigate. As it moved into the open, John open fired, sending a single round into the creatures face.

The grunt’s skull caved in with the force of the 12.7mm HE bullet impact, rocking the creature back. The chief knew he had lost the element of surprise, and slid around the corner, leveling his weapon while staying behind cover. A pair of grunts remained, and Chief fired without remorse. The first grunt went down with a pair of ragged holes in his chest, pouring blue blood. The other fell as a round slammed into his leg as he tried to run, halting his progress. The Chief executed the diminutive alien with a swift stomp of his boot.

A door hissed open to his right, and he spotted a dead marine lying in it, MA5B/S-II close at hand. Chief ran to the doorway, and scooped the weapon up, along with 240 rounds of extra ammunition from the marines ammo bandolier.

The current clip only held fourteen rounds, so chief ejected the mag and inserted a fresh one. The red ammo counter morphed to sixty, and Chief moved through the doorway completely. He had emerged into the Pillar of Autumn’s mess hall, and spotted elite and two grunts directly ahead, being fought by a trio of marines. The chief aimed through his rifle and open fired, toppling a grunt while the marines felled another.

Behind the elite, a door hissed open, and Chief caught a green flash. Behind the elite, Chief saw triple flashes of light and the heard the sound of BR55-M45s. The elite screamed for a moment, then toppled forward, exposing a back covered with ragged bullet wounds. Three SPARTANs stepped through the doorway, BRs still smoking, and Chief recognized Jared-091, Fred-104, and Kelly-087. The sound of two doorways opening drew chief’s attention, and he spun to see Covenant troops emerging from two doorways on the other side of the mess hall.

The SPARTANs across the way dropped to a crouch and let loose a salvo of grenades from their launchers. An elite and a trio of grunts went up in flames, then everyone in the room open fired. The chief and the SPARTANs moved forward in the open, weaving in and out of cover, letting their shields take damage but getting clear angles of fire on the Covenant. The marines stayed back, firing with their M7S SMGs. The marines took the right flank, while Chief and the SPARTANs stayed left, and together, they laid down a withering hail of crossfire that cut down the Covenant troops, even when in cover.

Chief moved through the right doorway, and stuck his head around it. Inside the next room were a few grunts, nervously shaking. Chief open fired with his assault rifle and the three died as a hail of automatic rounds cut through their bodies. The chief waited a moment to make sure it was clear, then stepped out into the open and moved up, stopping only to grab ammo off a small weapons locker. Chief slotted a new clip into his rifle, and moved on, through a skinny passageway.

The chief moved through a trio of halls, but stopped at a fourth one to the sound of suppressed gunfire. He slid around the corner to see a triplet of marines unleashing SMG fire at an elite, but their lines were sloppy and their non-combined gunfire did little against the eight foot alien’s shields. The elite open fired with it’s weapon, sending a marine rolling behind cover, and chief saw his opening. He rushed up to the creatures turned back, and raised his rifle up and then smacked it down vertically on the creatures neck. The beast fell to the ground, and the Chief gave it a good three rounds to the head just to make sure it was dead. The marines followed this up with several bursts of SMG fire.

Suddenly, a low rumble hit the hull, and one of the marines cursed.

“What the hell, did something just hit us?” asked one private, and his leader, a corporal, answered his question with an order.

“Move in, back to the airlock.”

The three marines moved forward and chief followed dutifully. They rounded a bend, and Chief saw a crewman in dress whites lying face down on the ground, along with two marines standing guard at a lifeboat airlock doorway. One of them, a sergeant who looked of Asian descent yelled to Chief.

“We sure could use your help sir!” he said.

Chief was about to respond when he saw a plasma grenade detonate on the doorway. The sergeant and the other soldier were thrown forward, and Covenant grunts poured out, followed by a pair of elites. The soldiers to chief’s right open fired with their SMGs, and cut down a near dozen grunts. An elite tracked one marine and shot him with his plasma rifle, sending him falling to the deck. Chief fired a burst of his MA5B/S-II, brought down a grunt and weakened an elite’s shield, then side armed a grenade into the covenant boarding pod.

The plasma grenade pulsed blue-white for a moment, then detonated in a flash of superheated gas and light. The remaining Covenant troops were engulfed in flames, sending bodies sprawling throughout the area.

“Their using our lifeboat airlocks to attach their boarding craft!” exclaimed Cortana “Clever bastards!”

Master Chief moved forward, sweeping his rifle around the area, checking for survivors. He quickly determined there were none, and moved forward. He passed through a doorway marked stairs and into a section where the lights had shorted out. He gunned down a covenant grunt who tried to run, and took a right, into another lighted section. The chief turned a corner and spotted marines fighting covenant ahead, but noticed a passage that was closer and seemed to lead to the side of the marine’s enemy. He moved into the passage and found a grunt fleeing. He drew his pistol and emptied it into the little alien—but depleted it’s clip. He dropped the pistol and grabbed an M7S off the floor, along with extra ammo. He’d make do without his M6D.

The chief moved through the passage and saw his hunch had indeed paid off. A covenant force comprised of a half dozen grunts and a pair of elites were battling marines, who had created a wall of crates and were using it as a barrier and cover. Master chief unslung his MA5B/S-II and used his superior flanking position to open fire at the enemy. The grunts went down first, having several slugs in each and no shield protection. It took significantly more rounds to take down an elite, but between the marine’s M7S SMGs and chief’s assault rifle, the blue armored bastards stood no chance.

Reloading his rifle and stepping out into the carnage zone, Chief kept moving forward, into a doorway. He executed three grunts with sub machine gun fire, and moved out. He entered another hall and rounded a corner to his left, stepping over the three aliens as well as a marine in full armor. He proceeded down the hallway, and reached an intersection. The hall went on straight, but it also went left, where chief saw two marines crouching and firing at someone out of sight. Chief resolved to move straight, to get an angle on the marine’s attacker or attackers.

He rounded a corner section where two human bodies laid, and then open fired on a group of covenant standing right in his crosshairs. He put them down easily with a hail of 7.62mm. So far, the Covenant were deploying themselves offly stupid.

The combat aboard the ship continued for several minutes without much difference. Chief moved forward, helping scattered marines, securing different areas. With marine help, he moved onward, through passageways and bulkheads, securing things such as open corridors and lifeboat airlocks. Along the way, he ditched his assault rifle for a BR55-M45 he found near a dead naval crewman, and used it to help save two unarmed engineers.

After moving through several corridors wide enough to admit a M12 Warthog LRV, he emerged into a large open circular space. A stairwell was centered in the room and a overhead walkway ringed the area. Marines, led by a black staff sergeant, attempted to move up the stairs, but were taking heavy casualties. Covenant elites and grunts were perched on the high ground, and more were surrounding the marines by moving in through blast doors surrounding the stairwell.

A pair of marines darted from cover, and one was put down by a plasma blast. The other froze, watching his buddy die before his eyes, and a grunt above him lowered it’s plasma pistol right to the marines head—just in time for it’s head to explode in a shower of blue gore. Moving out of the shadows of the blast door, chief open fired with his BR55-M45, sending Covenant running for cover as three round bursts tore into them.

The marine rallied as they saw Chief, and fought with renewed vigor. The marines fought off the enemies attacking from ground level, while Chief moved to the stairs, drawing fire. His shields drained to a quarter as he ascended it, and the internal temperature of his suit rose four degrees. He finished climbing the stairs, and then open fired, cutting down a pair of grunts and an elite with a single clip. Rather than reload under fire however, he let loose a grenade from his launcher, which sent pieces of an elite flying in all directions. The remaining grunts scattered, running in fear, and the marines promptly silenced them with M7S fire.

John progressed on, through another open blast door. Greeted by three marine bodies and a contingent of Covenant, he open fired with his BR at a range, taking down grunts with lethal headshots and pelting elite shields with three round bursts. He moved to a nearby barricade shield, and grabbed ammo off of the three dead marines he noticed earlier. Then, fully replenished, he drew his SMG and charged, gunning down the remaining elite.

The chief continued, and ran alongside thick glass bulkheads with a stunning view of Threshold. He glanced to his left and saw three lifeboats launch—and the third get destroyed by Covenant pulse lasers. Cortana spoke over his helmet’s speakers, offering her own commentary.

“The covenant are destroying the lifeboats. They really don’t want us on that ring.”

The Chief silently agreed, and pressed on, knowing that if they were to escape, they would have to do it relatively soon. He rounded a bend, dispatched three grunts milling around with his battle rifle, and heard the telltale sound of a door hissing shut.

“Warning: blast doors closing.” Stated Cortana as chief rounded the bend. “We’ll have to use the ship’s maintence access ways, turn right, one should be right next to us.”

Chief spotted the access way and stepped through it, into the darkened tunnel. His enhanced eyes instantly adjusted, and he had no problems seeing. The next five minutes of his life were spent crawling through the cramped space, trying to get around the increasing security measures being imposed on the ship and the Covenant penetrated more and more areas.

Eventually, chief found a doorway. However, Cortana wasn’t so sure about it as their exit.

“I’m detecting heavy covenant movement outside the doorway chief, activating your motion tracker now, lets find a safe exit.”

Chief sighed inwardly, but pressed on, as the small circular 25m tracker popped on in the corner of his HUD. Cortana was right—there were a lot of covenant outside the doorway. He moved to the right, and spotted another doorway; approached it, to see what was on the other side.

“Motion tracker shows all clear.” Muttered Cortana, and chief emerged into another hallway. He slammed open a damaged door with his fist, then turned right—only to find a grunt with it’s back turned on him. He drew his SMG, and swung it high then brought it down—killing the grunt instantly. He snuck forward, found a doorway, and peeked his head through—then pulled it back in. A pair of grunts nearly saw him, and sniffed the air. He had seen at least a half dozen grunts, at least two elites, and perhaps more were in the area. He finally decided he couldn’t wait any longer, and decided to take them on. He sprinted to a far doorway, and peeked out. He sighted down his BR scope, and zoomed in on a grunts head. He held his breath, and fired.

The grunt went down with a strangled scream. A chorus of yells of alarm came from the Covenant troops, and Chief eased out of the corner, and fired with his BR55-M45. He dispatched two elites and four grunts, then withdrew, and moved to the other doorway. He ducked out of it, shot two grunts who were aiming at his old position—then nearly froze with fear.

A pair of Covenant Hunters lumbered out of a doorway farther on. Their fuel road cannons glowed green with ghostly energy, and they roared: a deep, massive, subsonic thrum.

They open fired.

One launched a single bolt—which Chief dodged. However, the other let loose a searing stream—something chief had never witnessed before. Plasma scorched the deck behind him, and a corner of this stream beam caught him in the side. His shields drained to an eighth, and internal temperatures skyrocketed. He eased back behind cover, but knew he had to move as the metal grew warmer and warmer. The Hunter’s main cannons were drilling straight through his cover.

Chief ducked out of cover and sprinted towards the first hunter. The beast weren’t incredibly bright he hoped—or this wouldn’t work. He dodged a plasma stream, then got the Hunter’s attention with a SMG burst. One hunter maneuvered in front of the other to get a better shot—and walked straight into a searing stream of superheated gas. The hunter’s back armor melted, and the hundreds of eels that made up the creature burned with fire. It toppled over, dead.

Chief sprinted forward, and lifted the dead hunter up in front of him. The other didn’t fire—it was too confused. But Chief was dead serious. He reached down, grabbed the hunters arm and cannon, and ripped it off. Then, he dropped the hunter, and fired the cannon.

The Hunter’s frontal armor bubbled and melted, and the beast roared in it’s death throes. It’s hundred eels lit aflame and toppled out of it’s armor. It huffed once, and died.

The chief exhaled explosively.

The chief emerged from a maintence passageway, and was surprised to hear the high pitched triple crack of a BR55-M45. He ducked out of the passageway quickly, as his motion tracker revealed four enemy contacts—now right in front of him. He let loose a burst from his M7S that swept a grunt off it’s feet, then turned and braced for a burst of plasma as an elite turned its weapon towards him. However, instead of a sharp burst of heat blinding him, three BR55 M45s crackled, and the elite toppled, along with two grunts behind it. Chief turned, and saw Mike 028, Elise 070, and Ajax 013 standing in the hallway, off to his left. Ajax ordered his group to move out with hand-signs, and the chief moved forward as Ajax’s group followed. The chief ran into another bulkhead area, and open fired alongside the other three SPARTANs. Instantly, six grunts dropped, and the chief rounded a corner and found more covenant troops, in cover behind stationary shields.

“Chief, picking up a lifeboat, around the next corner! Only one spot!” Yelled Cortana through his helmet and teamcomm,  and Ajax stepped forward with his team.

“Get out of here, sir.” Said Ajax, and chief nodded.

“Find your team a ride Ajax.” He said.

“Copy.” Ajax replied, and his team moved away.

The chief knew time was running out. He drew his M7S, and found he only had a single clip left. He ran towards the shield, gunned down a pair of grunts, and then ditched the small weapon. He drew his BR55-M45 and fired off a full clip into an elite, bringing it down. He moved forward, and swung the butte of the weapon into a second creature—knocking it to the ground. The chief tracked it as it fell and fired into it’s helmet, not missing a shot.

Chief turned to his right, and spotted almost a dozen Covenant troops. He only had half a clip left for his BR. He then observed a “egg carton” grenade container. He rushed forward, grabbed it, and ducked behind cover. He threw as many M9s as he could, then pole vaulted over the cover and sprinted towards the lifeboat, shooting an elite in the head as he passed.

A marine, armed with a pilfered battle rifle, jumped for the entrance to the lifeboat, but didn’t make it. He froze up, muttering to himself. Chief ran up and scooped the soldier up by the scruff of his neck and threw him into the pod, covering the area behind with his half empty battle rifle, as if it was no more than a pistol. The marine crawled inside and found a seat, and chief moved inside, standing up in the pod.

“Now would be a very good time to leave!” yelled Cortana, and chief turned to the pilot.

“Punch it.” He told her.

“Aye Aye Sir.” The pilot replied

Thunder rolled through the pod and an explosion sounded at the aft end of the craft. Acceleration tugged at the master chief and leaned backwards, trying to stay standing.

“We’re disengaged, going for minimum safe distance!” called the pilot, twangy southern accent rising above the roar of the dropship’s engines.

The chief moved down the row of soldiers, each strapped in. He spotted the marine he had just saved. The marine spoke up, fear in his voice.

“We’re gonna make it aren’t we sir? I don’t wanna die out here.”

The chief had no words of consolation—he’d never been the best orator. He patted the marine on the shoulder, hoping it would help.

“Look!” cried Cortana

Chief moved to the front of the craft, and leaned over the pilots shoulder. In the distance, the ring world object grew slowly and became bigger and bigger.

“What is that thing Lieutenant?” asked one of the marines as he stared at a readout of the ring.

“Hell if I know, but we’re landing on it.” Relied the pilot.

Chief glanced around the ship, and paced towards the back of the ship—when one of the marines screamed.

“The Autumn! She’s been hit!” He cried frantically.

“I knew it, the Autumn is accelerating. Keyes is going in manual.” Said Cortana as chief leaned on the glass and gazed out at the autumn, now covered in fire in a dozen locations and being bombarded by pulse laser impacts.

Chief continued to gaze at the craft, until the pilot’s voice snapped him from his daze.

“Heads up everyone, we’re entering the ring’s atmosphere in five!” yelled the pilot

Chief braced himself on the bulkhead, and stood tall, with feet placed wide.

“Sure you wouldn’t rather take a seat?” asked Cortana nervously

“We’ll be fine affirmed.” The Chief

The little craft bumped and swayed as it hit the outer layers of the atmosphere.

Cortana couldn’t settle. “If I still had fingers they’d be crossed…” she muttered.