Halo: Installation 04: What If

''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.

''September 19, 0312 Hours, 2552

Threshold System, Surface of Unidentified Ring-like Object''

A weak drizzle rained down on the elevated plateau, wetting the grass and adding to the roaring waterfalls, which cascaded off the elevated ground with a muffled roar. In the sky, the dawn was just now beginning, and the sunrise covered the already red cliffs and rolling hills with a dull orange glow. Threshold, the gas giant, hung low in the sky, dominating the view of space. The ground was an orange-coated mosaic of dull greens and browns, and the cliff walls were red rock painted with orange and yellow smears. The sky was still a dark blue, but it was slowly growing lighter. Small bugs, glowing green and drifting in the wind, flowed through the air, and the whole environment whistled with the sounds of nature.

A low roar appeared in the distance, and all across the plateau, animals and aliens alike looked skyward. A fiery red comet traced its way down the sky and streaked towards the Cliffside—only this was no comet. It was a spacecraft.

“We’re coming in too fast!” called Cortana

Inside the Bumblebee lifeboat, the Master Chief gripped the interior hull so tight it bent and rippled—his own private reaction to their situation. Up ahead, the Cliffside loomed—if they were to land and survive, they would have to not go over it. In the pilot seat, the aviator of the craft yelled in frustration as she battled her controls.

“Damn, airbrake failure, they blew too early!”

Dull thumps permeated the hull of the lifeboat and the craft lurched as the four diagonally placed braking flaps snapped off from tension, one by one. The craft lurched yet again, and the pilot madly typed in commands on her side mounted board.

“I’m losin her…brace for impact!” yelled the pilot, and Chief gazed out the front hatch.

The ground rapidly came up to meet them—then they connected with a bone jarring crash. Chief flew forward, knocked his head against the inside of his helmet…then all he saw was darkness.

“Chief, chief can you hear me!?”

The Master Chief slowly woke from unconsciousness. As his eyes opened, he scanned the lifeboat, and was horrified but not surprised to find the bodies of the marines and the pilot slumped over in their chairs, dead from the impact. His muscles ached from the bone jarring crash, and he could feel a cut on his forehead bleeding, but his training instantly asserted itself, preventing him from mulling over his injuries. Move. Fight. Live.

“At last, your all right. Can you move?” asked Cortana, worry in her voice, but also sadness.

The Chief pulled himself up from where he had fallen and slumped over the lifeboat to answer her question, and spun himself around to face the craft’s exit.

“The others—the impact—there’s nothing you can do” she told him, the worry gone, but sadness still present.

He scanned it, and saw it had been blown or forced open—the hatch was nearby. The bodies of three marines had been thrown from their seats and strewn across the ground—one of whom Chief recognized as the young soldier he had saved in the lifeboat. He tried to ignore the youth’s ragged and bloody face, now facedown in the dirt. An ample amount of supplies and weaponry had been thrown across the ground directly behind the pod, where a long impact streak stretched across the ground. Chief spotted a M7S, a M6D, an MA5B/S-II, but most importantly: a M19-D AA Missile Launcher, a weapon that he knew, from experience, had the firepower to bring down a spirit dropship, even a heavily armed one like the Type-88 Heavy Armament Spirit. Chief moved slowly out of the pod, and guessed that the pods weapons locker had broken open during the crash. He moved straight to the M19-D, and grabbed it. He checked the barrel and confirmed the weapon was loaded, then grabbed a nearby extra rocket for extra ammo. He attached the weapon to his back and strapped the rocket to his thigh, before moving back towards the pod.

There, he procured a MA5B/S-II, along with ten extra clips of ammunition, which he slid into holders in his MJOLNIR. He grabbed four frags off the ground, and attached them to his other thigh, where they would be an easy reach. He turned to the bodies to pull them back into the pod, but Cortana spoke up.

“Warning, I’ve detected multiple Covenant dropships on approach, which appear to be Type 88s, not standard Spirits. I recommend moving into those hills—if were lucky, the Covenant will believe that everyone aboard this lifeboat died in the crash.” She told him, and he scanned the area.

The lifeboat had crashed only a few meters from the drop-off of the plateau, and the Chief knew he wouldn’t be able to escape that way, unless he wanted to pulp himself on the ocean and land below. Directly behind the pod, the land moved forward away, and a waterfall cascaded down from the ridge, but the high walls would provide no escape.

However, to the right of the pod, in the hills Cortana suggested, the Chief saw a slit in the red canyon walls—his exit. Between him and the area though, was a chasm over a waterfall. Chief approached anyway, and found what appeared to be some sort of conduit, crossing the gorge. It was made of heavily tarnished and engraved metal, and was a striking silver. It featured no handrails, but looked sturdy enough for Chief to cross. He stepped onto it gingerly at first, but then broke into a full run, crossing it quickly. He had to find cover quickly.

As he reached the end, he heard the signature whine of a Covenant dropship cutting through the sound of the falls and the rain. He dropped to a crouch as the dropship swooped directly over him, tracking it with his assault rifle. He noticed it was a deeper purple than the standard craft—definitely a Heavy Spirit. The dropship swooped low up ahead and performed a quick turn, looping back towards the pod. Over his comm, Cortana saw fit to speak up.

“Warning, Covenant air support inbound. They must be looking for survivors—I recommend immediate evasion.”

The chief scanned ahead and saw a pair of Banshee fliers emerge from his hopeful exit. They swooped towards the dropship, then peeled off and scanned the surrounding area. He only had seconds before he was discovered.

In a few moments, the Chief played out the entire situation in his head. There was the dropship, likely loaded with troops, directly to his right flank. In addition, the Banshee fliers were now streaking towards him, unaware of his presence, but soon to realize it. He could tackle a Banshee with an assault rifle, but with the dropship putting heavy weapons fire on him and infantry advancing, he would soon be overwhelmed. He couldn’t let that happen. He had to eliminate elements from the situation.

Chief slung his assault rifle and grabbed the M19-D. He swung around and waited for the dropship to come to a stop behind him, and then sighted through the integrated 5x tactical scope. The dropship jumped forward, and he put his finger on the trigger, keying off the safety. He put a bead on the troop bay, the biggest target, waited half a second, then let the missile fly.

The rocket streaked towards the spirit, letting a plume of gray smoke balloon behind it like a vapor trail. It smacked into the dropship with a dull red explosion, then the Spirit detonated in a ball of blue flame and plasma. Bodies from the troops inside fell from the air, and the destroyed hulk of the dropship fell from the sky and smacked into the ground with a sound that reverberated through the small canyon.

Above, the banshees abruptly changed direction and headed straight for him. The lead banshee let loose a fuel rod gun, and Chief rolled to dodge and let loose a series of short bursts from his assault rifle. As the flier closed, the reticule for Chief’s weapon shrunk, and formed a closed circle. Chief opened fire full auto, and the flier looped away, trailing smoke and issuing sparks.

He wasn’t done yet though. The other banshee rose fell towards him, firing it’s cannons. Blue bolts of heat splattered across Chief’s shields, and a shrill alarm filled his helmet. He open fired on the banshee, and burned through three clips of ammo as it got closer to him. It continued its dive, firing, and finally sent Chief dashing for cover as his shields dropped completely. It banked past him, then looped around for a second pass: only to reach a wall of gunfire as it passed into his most effective range. It detonated in a balloon of blue gas, and Chief refocused on the other banshee, putting a dozen controlled bursts into it’s fuselage. It finally detonated in blue fire, and fell past him, over the Cliffside.

Chief checked his ammo; he only had 420 rounds remaining, besides the clip in the weapon. The banshee fight had taken considerable resources. However, he finally had some space to maneuver. The chief turned and headed west, or at least what his rifles compass told him was west. He ran up a large hill, reloading the M19-D while he did so, and took in the beauty of his surroundings. He eventually climbed the hill, and found a wall of grey boulders blocking his path. There was a small opening however, which he moved through, only to see more trouble.

A half dozen covenant troops patrolled the area, an elite and a small group of grunts. In the open, he could be cut down if he advanced too much. However, without a longer ranged weapon like the battle rifle, his effectiveness was limited.

Chief opened fired with his assault rifle as if on semi-auto, pulsing the trigger and firing rapid individual shots. He gunned down a grunt and then moved forward, to a smaller boulder just ahead. From cover, he watched as the remaining grunts rushed out to greet him. He opened fire on them, taking two at range and then another at so close that his reticule shrunk. The last grunt tried to flee, only to get a back full of lead.

The elite moved from cover, firing with it’s weapon. Bolts of heat slammed into Chief, and his shields drained. He got off a burst of ten rounds, but the creature dodged back into cover, behind a bushy tree. But Chief was still kicking. He tossed a frag grenade, saw the alien leap from cover, and moved from his own spot, opening fire. He hosed the elite with bullets, cut through it’s shield, then stepped up to it and brought his rifle down on its chest. The elite staggered back, and Chief unloaded the remainder of his clip—17 rounds—into the bastards chest. It dropped.

The chief pasued and stripped grenades off a few of the grunts, then slid a new mag into his rifle. He let his shields recharge, then ran towards the break in the canyon walls. He hopped down a short drop off, slid, and turned left, to the northwest.

As he ran around a corner of the high walled passage, Cortana spoke up over his helmet.

“I’m reading a SOS beacon over the next hill,” she informed him. “We should check to see if there are any survivors.”

Chief agreed silently and pressed around the side of the wall, as he drew closer to a NAV marker Cortana had placed on his screen, he took in a scene of carnage. A Covenant dropship hovered low to the ground, and Grunts and Elites were pouring from it. A large silver structure, made up of an elevated base and a tower that shots periodic beams into the sky, lay behind it, and marine forces were on the ground and on top of it, firing at dismounting Covenant troops and at the dropship. Above the sound of the combat, Chiefly also dimly heard the sound of a BR55-M45.

The Covenant dropship rose as it let loose all of it’s troops, and it’s main cannon fired—a blast of purple and pink energy with the same force as a Wraith tank’s main gun. This was another Type-88. He didn’t know why there were so many, but wondered if the presence of the twenty plus SPARTANs had anything to do with it. From the blast of the main weapon however, a marine went flying, his legs and half his chest burned away. He didn’t even scream.

As the dropship rose, Chief got a clearer view of the area. Four UNSC personnel stood on the ground, firing at the Covenant infantry. On the structure, more had erected a defensive position—they had dragged six M235 Defensive Machine Guns onto the structure and placed them at places where they had a good field of fire. These were crewed by marines, and seemed to be protecting a pair of Naval Crewmen, who, still dressed in their white uniforms, were cowering up top.

Chief jumped towards the dropship, opening up with his MA5B/S-II in an attempt to draw fire. It worked. A purple blast ballooned next to him and his shields dropped to a hairbreadth. A loud warning light filled his helmet, and he saw an elite rush him, plasma rifle in hand. It leveled it’s weapon, and chief was powerless to stop it.

The triple crack of a Battle Rifle filled the air.

The elite dropped, missing half it’s head. From behind cover, a green armored figure stepped forward; Malcolm, shields blazing from a plasma pistol bolt.

There was no time for thanks, not with a half dozen covenant still around. Chief rolled as a bolt singed the air near him, and he pivoted and fired a full auto burst of fire at a pair of grunts, dropping them. Malcolm and the marines combined fire to drop an elite, then shifted to individual targets and felled the remaining enemies, a group of grunts.

A chorus of cheers echoed from the marines, and one wearing a bandanna stepped up next to Master Chief.

“Thank god sir, I thought we were in big trouble.”

Another marine, the black sergeant from onboard the Pillar of Autumn, approached the chief. He held his assault rifle loose by his side. In the corner of his eye, Chief saw Malcolm slip away and find a firing position. There’d be time for talk in a minute.

“It’s a mess here sir. We’ll called for evac, but even with your SPARTAN here, before you showed up I thought we were cooked.” Said the black sergeant.

Chief recognized him from elsewhere—he had been aboard an orbital station at Reach with his squad and had destroyed a data crystal containing the coordinates of Earth. He linked up with the Pillar of Autumn after piloting a Pelican off of the station. Chief and his squad had helped him offload his injured.

“Don’t worry sergeant, we’ll stay here until evac arrives.” Comforted Cortana.

Over the comm, Malcolm’s voice crackled loud and clear.

“Heads up, Heavy Dropship on approach!”

Chief broke away from the sergeant and headed to the top of the structure. He sprinted up and ramp and observed the area in the blink of any eye; beyond him was a small complex, with a series of pipes to his right and an elevated platform to his left, which was not quite as tall as the structure he stood on. In the center, the burning wreckage of a UNSC Pelican lay across the ground, where the dropship had crashed. He then headed for the northwest corner—where he spotted a variety of weapons, which had been thrown on the ground. He watched out of the corner of his eye as a dropship fired it’s main gun then dropped with a cloud of blue, it’s energy core punctured by the combined machinegun fire of the marines.

He sprinted to the armory area and swapped his MA5B/S-II for a BR55-M45, glad to have the extra range that the rifle allotted. He also found an extra rocket for the M19-D—which he promptly attached to his thigh. Another dropship swooped in low to the east and came to a stop, and Chief downed it with another missile. He was burning through the rockets, but he couldn’t take any chances—the dropships heavy gun could devastate the marine’s fixed position in moments if it decided to stick around and strafe after unloading its troops. Plus, he didn’t relish the thought of having to contend with waves of Covenant ground troops.

Another Type 88 streaked in from the east, and flashed around the northwest side and looped around behind the structure. Chief pivoted to track it, but didn’t dare let off a missile, lest he waste one. Over the comm, a marine called for help.

“Uh-oh, another bandit, dropping in behind us, their trying to flank us!” he cried, and Chief turned his missile to craft.

It saw him, or at least he though it did. As it lowered from the sky, its main cannon flashed, and Chief was thrown to the side, shields down and internal temperature high and rising. The plasma cooled and evaporated, and Chief struggled to resteady his aim.

He couldn’t aim in time, and the spirit dropped below his sights. It’s troop bays hissed open, and grunts and an elite poured out. Below him, he heard Malcolm open fired with his battle rifle, as a marine next to him let loose wildly with his assault rifle. Chief drew his BR55-M45 and dropped down from the platform next to Malcolm, lessening his fall by bending his knees. He signaled to the other SPARTAN quickly. Malcolm clicked his comm in a confirmation reply.

The gunners up top focused their fire on the grounded dropship, and their efforts paid off—as the craft started to rise, rounds penetrated it’s plasma cores and it fell back to the ground. Meanwhile, Malcolm flanked left on Chiefs orders and Chief himself moved right, onto the ramp. They moved around the area, circling the Covenant. Then, when they were both in position, they let loose a salvo of grenade fire. The aliens were flung wildly, and then the two of them moved in, executing the rest with BR fire. Chief glanced at his motion tracker and noticed a single contact move directly over his position, very large. He sprinted for the tower, climbed the ramp, and saw a marine firing his turret. He glanced left, and saw another Heavy Spirit, already landed and dispersing it’s troops.

From it, he saw not only Grunts and Elites dispersing, but also Jackals—their signature energy shields glowing. Malcolm would deal with those for the time being—he had to get that dropship. He unlimbered his M19-D, checked to make sure the final rocket was in it, and sighted on the dropship’s cabin, then fired.

As the craft started to rise, the missile streaked towards it. For a moment the chief wondered if it would miss—streak past underneath. But instead, it clipped the bottom of the cabin and detonated, throwing the cockpit higher in the air while the troop bays fell to the ground. Chief dropped the empty M19-D and grabbed an M7S from the small armory—its small size and high fire rate was the perfect companion to the BR55-M45. Another dropship swooped in, and the chief sprinted for a vacant turret. He jumped on, and open fired on the spirit as it landed. More marines joined him, and the dropship detonated on the ground, without ever lifting off. Nevertheless, troops ran from it’s bay—jackals forming a shield wall, and grunts working as canon fodder.

As the Covenant pressed in, the Malcolm and the marines took cover on the structure, using it’s walls as barriers between them and the Covenant plasma. Chief ditched the turret and open fired from next to Malcolm with his battle rifle—helping to decimate the Covenant group. Resistance was stiff, but with the high-ground and Malcolm at his side, Chief was able to lead the marines and beat back the Covenant troops. As they ran, the two SPARTANs shot them in the back at range.

Finally, it was mostly quiet, and a signal came through over the comm.

“This is Pelican now designated as Echo-419, is anybody reading me? I repeat, any UNSC personnel respond.”

Cortana was quick to reply to their only chance at escape.

“I read you Echo-419, this is Fireteam Charlie, is that you Foehammer?” she asked, and Chief wondered how Cortana knew the pilot.

“Roger Fireteam Charlie, good to hear from yah” the pilot announced.

“If you're not too busy, Foe Hammer, we could use a lift. We have survivors to transport to the Command Shuttle, including SPARTANs 117 and 059.” Continued Cortana

“On my way.” Replied Foehammer.

A low roar filled the air, and the Chief looked up and too the left—and saw a pair of Bumblebee life pods flying out of control towards the ground.

“Look, definitely more lifeboats, coming in fast.” Cortana confirmed “If those lifeboats make it down, the Covenant are going to be right on top of them.”

Even as she spoke, the lifeboats soared overhead and passed over the canyon walls—out of sight. However, Foehammer was now in view, as she came in for a landing. Her VTOL jets flared and she settled nearly to the ground, and chief noticed her Pelican was not of the standard variety—it carried four rocket pods and two chainguns, as well as being coated with yellow stripes. On the back, a hog dangled via magnetic clamps.

“Foehammer, we need you to disengage your Warthog. The SPARTANs and I are going to see if we can save some soldiers.” Said Cortana over an open comm.

“Roger that Charlie Team, Warthog deployed.” Confirmed Foehammer as she dropped the hog. “Saddle up and give em hell.”

“Roger Foehammer, stand bye to evac survivors and transfer them to safety.” Said Cortana

“That’s affirmative. Echo 419 staying on station, Foehammer out.” Said Foehammer as she eased her heavily armed Pelican closer to the ground. She halted as the marines piled on.

Malcolm clambered into the hog, and the Chief floored the gas pedal. Chief saw the hog didn’t carry the standard M41 LAAG—it featured a long, tube like design instead.

Malcolm was apparently also confused. “What is this thing?” he asked.

“M68 Gauss Cannon.” Replied Cortana

“Like a mini-MAC right?” asked Malcolm

“Indeed.” Cortana replied

Chief swung the hog around, and drove it towards a slope that he assumed would lead to an exit. So far, this canyon seemed very linear, with only a single way in and out. He didn’t much like that. As they approached the bottom of the slope, Chief turned right and was greeted by something he did not expect in the least. A tunnel loomed up at him, but not a natural one. This tunnel was made out of engraved silver metal, with patterns everywhere across it.

“This is not a natural formation.” Stated Cortana.

The Chief put his awe behind him and steered the hog into the tunnel. It easily permitted the light terrain vehicle. As the chief maneuvered through the tunnel, Cortana began to speak over his TEAMCOMM, so Malcolm could hear.

“I’ve hacked into the Covenant battle net. They’re actually broadcasting tactical data on unencrypted channels! We should show them who their dealing with. Master Chief, I’m going to use you system’s transponder system to monitor their chatter.” She informed him, and Chief didn’t see any reason to object. After a minute or so of driving, the Master Chief reached a small chasm. He backed up the hog and revved it over the jump, crossing it with room to spare. He fishtailed the hog right, around a sharp turn, then turned left.

As the hog came to a stop, Master Chief looked out beyond the tunnel. In front of him, the passage ended, though he could see it re beginning in the distance. In front of him, a large open space stood. A chasm bisected the area, and separated the other tunnel from his side. A slightly elevated ramp continued on straight ahead, while two lowered areas stood on the right and left.

“Sir, targets spotted.” Whispered Malcolm from behind him, and Chief then spotted them too. A single grunt meandered down the middle path, while more of his kind stood off to the left area. On the right, the Chief spotted a group of mixed grunts, jackals, and elites.

“Looks like we get to test that Gauss cannon.” Muttered chief “Malcolm, hang on, target rightmost hostiles until ordered otherwise.”

“Yes sir master chief.” Said Malcolm.

Chief revved the hog and barreled down into the main road in the center of the chamber. The grunt in the middle turned to the sound of the hog—then screamed and died as the vehicle slammed into it’s body. Behind him, Malcolm open fired with the gauss cannon—drilling a cluster of jackals behind them dead center. Their bodies flew ten meters, then lay still. The steady thump-thump of him firing filled the cockpit, and chief turned sharply to the right and rammed straight into an elite, who crumpled under the hogs frame. Chief spun the hog to the right again, and drove up the middle road—then down again, right into the cluster of grunts milling around of the left side.

Malcolm gunned all three down individually, then they were driving back over to the other side. Malcolm sent pieces of a grunt flying and chief made roadkill of a jackal, then they stopped firing. Everything was quiet. Chief drove the hog up to the chasm, and looked across it. No way across, not visible at least.

“There must be some mechanism to get us across.” Said Cortana “Look for a switch or control panel.”

Chief decided to do an on foot search. He climbed out of the hog.

“Stay here.” He ordered Malcolm.

“Yes sir.” Malcolm replied. Their was frustration in his normally even tone.

The master chief hiked backwards, toward the right side of the room. More covenant had been stationed their, so he supposed it was as good a place to start as any. He scanned the walls finding nothing—then glanced at what appeared to be an entrance, cut out of the metal. Chief approached it warily, his battle rifle out. As he came closer, he saw it was really a ramp upwards. He glanced back at Malcolm, then at the ramp. He began to walk up it, and drew his SMG. He came the top of it, and found a corner waiting for him. He slid around the left turn—and took a plasma bolt to the face.

Chiefs shields dropped, and he slid back behind cover. More bolts of the superheated gas splashed across the wall in front of him, but it strangely did not melt, only singed a bit. He stuck his battle rifle out the corner, and open fired. He fired slowly, trying to get a hit. He finally did, and he heard the alien curse. He then squeezed a grenade off, and he heard the alien scream as fire enveloped it. He slid around the side, and shot it once in the head. It wheezed and dropped.

The Master Chief advanced, and crossed a long catwalk. At the end of it, he found what appeared to be a holographic control panel. He touched it—it was solid.

Who the hell made this place? He thought to himself.

Chief looked long and hard at the symbols, wondering which to push. Finally, he began to give up—let his mind wander. In that moment, one of the symbols seemed to call to him. He pressed on it.

In front of him, he saw narrow metal beams extend—two from either side. The whole room hummed with electricity, and static crackled across his skin. The beams glowed, and across the chasm, light filled the air. Chief watched as Malcolm got down from the hog, and walked forward. He fired a battle rifle burst into this strange bridge of light, which stopped. It didn’t bounce off, but rather stayed in place, like it was a wall. Malcolm gingerly put one foot down on it, then two. He walked away from it, and returned to the hog.

“Sir, its solid.” Said Malcolm

“Copy. Hold position I’m on my way.” Replied the Chief

Chief walked back across the catwalk and down the ramp. He ran to the hog and climbed into the drivers seat. He drove the hog across it, as fast as possible. Even with Malcolm’s assurances that it was solid, the distance felt like miles.

The hog left the light bridge quickly behind, and Master Chief turned into another set of tunnels. As he did this, Cortana spoke to him and Malcolm.

“There’s new traffic on the Covenant battle net. A lot more crew made it off the Autumn than I had predicted—the Captain really gave them hell. If we can find Captain Keyes, the rest of the SPARTANs, and the other survivors, we have a chance to coordinate an effective resistance.”

Chief continued to maneuver the hog through the narrow tunnels, taking sharp turns and pushing out the most speed he could with the little vehicle. After only a short time, they emerged into the open once again. Rain drizzled down, green bugs flitted in the air, and red cliffs loomed above them, and the sky was a dark, dark blue. To their right, near the edge of the cliff, a crashed Pelican dropship spewed fire. Chief drove up to it, looking for survivors or supplies. He got out of the hog, and found nothing he could use—just pistol and shotgun ammo. Strangely, no bodies could be found, though Chief did find a toppled hog with a standard M41 LAAG.

Chief mounted his own hog and swung the vehicle around. As he moved up the hill, he spotted the blue handheld shield of a jackal.

“Jackal, ten o’clock.” He whispered into his comm.

“I see him.” Said Malcolm as he tracked the avian like creature “Permission to fire sir?”

“Hold it.” Said the Chief “He might have buddies with him.”

Malcolm kept his gun trained on the jackal even as they advanced. Up the hill, Chief saw a ribbon of smoke rising—grey, dark, bumblebee crash smoke. He maneuvered the hog up the hill, and caught sight of the little craft. He drove towards it, splashed across a small river, and halted next to it.

“This lifeboats trashed Chief.” Said Malcolm “Weapons and supplies everywhere—but no bodies.”

Chief dismounted the hog and inspected the crash. Malcolm was right—their were no sign of bodies.

“Maybe someone made it out of here.” He said aloud.

The Chief looked around the scattered weapons and spotted something interesting—a silenced sniper rifle. He exchanged the weapon for his BR55-M45, which was low on ammo, and then changed out his M7S for a MA5B/S-II. He climbed back into the hog, and sent it forward, towards the jackal they had spotted earlier.

It indeed had friends. Another Jackal and a red armored elite stood ready, who open fired. Plasma chipped away the hog’s window, but Malcolm retaliated with the Gauss cannon. The aliens died as the high velocity rounds struck them. Chief revved the hog over the hill and through a parting of the canyon walls—and was surprised to find another of the beam firing structures.

“Maybe they took cover inside the structure like us.” Suggested Malcolm, and chief had a feeling he was right.

“Lets check it out.” He ordered.

Chief drove the hog towards the side of the complex, near the edge. Immediately, three jackals greeted him with plasma. He reversed quickly as bolts hammered the hog and both his and Malcolm’s shields flared. He spun the LRV around, and then left the area behind.

“I think there in their sir, the Covenant are putting up a big fight to keep that place.” Said Malcolm, and chief nodded.

“I know, but its too hot—lets find a place to hit em from afar.” He said.

Chief swung the hog out of the canyon and to the left. He passed the lifeboat—then swung left into another entrance to the same area. He came to a stop, then dismounted—he now had an aerial overlook of the area below. Chief set up a small area to snipe from, and promptly went on the offensive. He brought down a nearby pair of jackals first, then targeted two elites, who he brought down with headshots. He switched to a group of grunts, and downed one of the long range targets. After eliminating two more grunts and a red elite, he returned to the hog.

“Get ready, were going in hot.” He said to Malcolm.

Chief boarded the hog and drove down the slope. He stayed right, near the plateaus edge—then hurtled to a stop near the large middle structure. Malcolm took down four grunts with the gauss cannon, and chief noticed an entrance to one of the smaller structures—it looked like a doorway to a subterranean section. Apparently, Cortana noticed it too.

“We should search the interior of those structures before we leave.” She commented.

He would, but in good time. First there were some hostiles to take care of. Chief decapitated a grunt with one of the hog’s wheels, then Malcolm open fired at apparently nothing. Chief was about to ask him what he was doing when he heard a howl and saw the body of a Covenant elite slowly fade into view.

“Cloaked bastard.” Remarked Malcolm.

Chief picked up more contacts on his motion sensor, and heard them talking above him, from the top of the main structure. Chief dismounted the hog, and unslung his assault rifle. Malcolm covered his back with the turret. Chief sprinted up the ramp and targeted a pair of grunts. They were close enough that the reticule shrunk—which meant they were easy kills. He cut both them down in a hail of 7.62mm, then picked up a faint allied motion signature. He glanced down the structure. Malcolm was still in the hog, not moving.

Who had he picked up?

Chief descended the platform, and glanced at Malcolm.

“I picked it up too.” Malcolm told him

Chief knew he wasn’t imagining it. There were survivors, close at hand. And they might need his help.

“Malcolm, hold here, keep topside secure.” Said the Chief.

“Copy Chief.” Said Malcolm, and chief didn’t waste another second.

The Master Chief sprinted for the doorway he had seen earlier, and ran down it. Two grunts stood with their backs to him, and he cut them down. He sprinted past their bodies, and found two jackals with shields turned to him. And fighting them were four marines.

And a SPARTAN.

Grace-093 stood in front of a pair of naval crewman, carrying a massive T850 Chaingun. Her shields flared with energy as she took a bolt of plasma for a crewman carrying an M7S. Behind the group, a pair of grunts came through another doorway, hefting plasma pistols in their stubby hands. Two marines, each with an MA5B/S-II, open fired and drove them back.

Chief fired at the back of one of the jackals, hitting it’s unshielded body. It toppled over and mashed the trigger once last time, singing the floor beneath it with an overcharge bolt from its pistol. The other jackal, a major, carrying an orange shield, turned and sprayed chief with it’s plasma rifle. Heat seared him for a moment—then the jackal stopped firing, lived long enough to realize how fatal a mistake turning its shield was, then died in a hail of rounds from Grace’s T850.

“I’ve called for an evac.” Called Cortana over the comm, and the marines cheered and headed topside via the ramp he had just secured.

Grace halted next to him, and swiped two fingers across her visor. “Good to see you sir, I thought I might’ve been the only one who made it off the Autumn.”

Chief returned her smile gesture. “I’ve got Malcolm with me, but everyone else is MIA. The only other SPARTANs I’ve seen since cryo have been Ajax’s team and Adrian and Angel.” He told her.

She paused for a moment, thoughtful, then shrugged. “I’m betting most of us got off. Captain sent two thirds of us groundside even before the evacuation of most of the marines.”

Chief nodded, glad for this new intel, and led her back up the ramp. They emerged to see Foehammer swoop down, low enough to the ground that the marines could jump on. Grace jumped in the side seat of the hog, hefting the chaingun. Chief watched the marines board the pelican, then tore off the way he and Malcolm had come. As he left, a transmission from Foehammer crackled through the SPARTAN TEAMCOMM.

“I’ve spotted additional lifeboats in your area. One near a rockslide, and another near the head of the river. Hard to see from my altitude, but it looks like there could be more survivors.” She informed the chief.

“Copy Foehammer.” Said Cortana, and the chief steered out of the area completely into the section containing the empty lifeboat.

Chief stopped, scanned the skies, and noted two banshees circling.

“Malcolm, Grace, confirm you see the banshees.” He asked over TEAMCOMM

They both confirmed, and the Chief looked at his surroundings. Too the left, a river moved slowly past, which fed into a waterfall that cascaded off of the plateau. In front of him, he spotted an entrance to another canyon area, and farther on, to his right, he spotted what appeared to be two more. Banshees circled this area, making it hot. He would’ve liked to avoid the banshees…but the need for Foehammer to be able to operate unmolested made him have to engage them.

“Prep yourselves team, were going in.” he told Malcolm and Grace

Chief revved the hog and accelerated to the Banshee pair. One saw them and broke off, sending a fuel rod gun towards the hog. Malcolm and Grace open fired while Chief swerved, avoiding the deadly radioactive green blast. The banshee took a gauss round and two dozen slugs in the nose, and fell to the ground, leaving a blue explosion cloud behind it. Chief drove over a hill and discovered that there were indeed three entrances, and saw below him a pair of grunts and an elite.

As they drove down the hill, Malcolm gutted the elite with a Gauss slug. Grace mowed down the fleeing grunts with her chain-gun, splashing bright blue blood over the dark red canyon walls. The remaining banshee, seeing it’s partner and ground forces down, tried to retreat, but Malcolm drilled it twice with the Gauss cannon. The craft crashed to the ground.

“Why don’t we have more of those things?” asked Grace jokingly

“Ditto to you.” Said Malcolm, pointing at the chaingun.

Grace laughed, and the Chief wished he could join in. Being in command denied him of these moments—he couldn’t well take part in jokes and teasing if he wanted to keep his air of command. He was forcibly aloof.

Putting aside his thoughts, Chief steered the hog to the right, towards the opening farthest from the lifeboat. It was a twisting darkened tunnel like passageway that emerged into another open area, again dominated by one of the strange beam shooting structures. Just ahead, a lifeboat crash still smoked, and it was being prowled by two jackals. A hill dominated the corner of the area in front of him to the right, while the complex took up most of the other space.

Chief was about to attack the jackals when one of them crumpled. The sound of muffled sniper-fire filled the area, and the other jackal was soon gunned down. Chief traced the shots, and saw they came from the hillside. In the distance, he saw Covenant pressing for that same area. Chief stomped on the gas pedal and the hog shot forward. Up ahead, a group of grunts waddled towards the hill, who Grace promptly put down with a burst of the T850. The SPARTAN laden warthog ran a gauntlet of Covenant, weaving past Jackals and Grunts. They drove up the hill, and Chief caught sight of shining green—another SPARTAN-II.

As the hog pulled to a stop, the SPARTAN approached the hog and broadcasted to the hog. Chief heard James’ unmistakable voice.

“You’re a sight for sore eyes Chief. We’re in a bad way; we’ve got wounded here.” Said James

“How many?” asked Chief.

“One sir, one of our snipers. Plus, none of my three marines are in very good shape.”

Chief pondered this for a moment. “James, get them to hold back—we’ll hold off the Covenant troops long enough for evac to arrive with the hog.” He ordered

James nodded and ran for the group of three marines, who Chief saw were in a corner. Chief quickly turned the hog and reversed it so that the gun turret and Grace faced downhill. He dismounted the vehicle and unlimbered his sniper rifle.

“Stay here, put some fire downrange.” He told them

For the next few minutes, they held their position. Grace and Malcolm laid down a withering torrent of fire on anyone who got close, and Chief took down a dozen targets at range before they could get close. Three waves, deployed by dropships at the far end came, and all three were put down by the SPARTAN hog and the Chief. James held off the enemy in a corner of the area, and acted as a spotter for chief, using his battle rifle to pinpoint targets.

Eventually the final wave came and was beaten back by the UNSC troops. Over the radio, Foehammer’s voice crackled loud and clear.

“Echo-419 to Cortana, Foehammer on station and ready for another pick up.” Said the pilot

“Affirmative Foehammer, we’re ready for dust off, approach when ready.” Replied Cortana “We’re going to look for the last lifeboat Echo-419, good luck.”

A shadow passed over the hog as the Pelican swooped down into the canyon, and settled to the ground near the lifeboat. The master chief turned to James, who saluted.

“Sir, permission to help look for the other boat, sir?” asked James

“Negative.” Said Chief. He valued James—but his lack of transport would slow them down. “Stay with the marines and wait for the rendezvous.”

James nodded, and followed the marines down the hill. Him and a marine carried the injured soldier between them, who clutched his stomach.

Chief turned to Grace and Malcolm, and boarded the battered hog. The last battle had messed it up a bit, and a piece of the front had broken off. He hit the gas and sent the vehicle forward, to the left of the lifeboat. He spotted an exit different from their entrance tunnel, and drove up it. It was a small hill, which crested then fell where the canyon parted. As they reached the top, chief took in the scene; a roaring waterfall to his left, which fed a river which flowed in front of him. An elevated section stood at the bank of the river, and beyond it, another canyon parting lay in the red rock. On the elevated section, chief spotted a Jackal major and it’s underling, standing at attention but not facing him.

He revved the hog and sent it moving downward, then turned left. The hog flew past a boulder, down a short drop-off, then chief turned left and sent it up onto the elevated section. The jackals reacted to the SPARTAN presence with a pair of plasma bolts—Malcolm fired back and one of the jackals turned into purple spray. Chief sent the hog straight for the other jackal—when a plasma grenade appeared as if out of mid-air and flew dangerously close to them.

Grace sprayed the air with T850 fire, and a few rounds struck a target—the shields of a cloaked elite shimmered, revealing it. Malcolm fired on it and blue it’s upper torso away, then him and Grace fired at the fleeing Jackal Major who tried in vain to shield itself with it’s handheld device. Grace’s rounds bounced off, but Malcolm’s drilled straight through, putting a hole the size of a frag grenade in the Jackals’s chest. Cortana spoke up over the comm, thinking it an opportune moment between the fighting.

“Warning: I've picked up reports that the Covenant have located and secured the Pillar of Autumn's crash site. The good news is the Captain's still alive. The bad news is that the Covenant have captured the entire surviving command crew.” She said. “Let's hurry and find the final lifeboat, so we can link up with the rest of the survivors.”

The Master Chief pondered this briefly; if the Covenant had the crew, they would undoubtedly torture them to reveal Human secrets. He doubted the Captain would break…but he didn’t know about the rest of the crew. He pushed aside these thoughts and moved the hog up a hill, through the break in the canyon walls. The hog roared down a steep slope, then through a tunnel, then out into an open area. This area, unlike the last few, wasn’t dominated by strange silver alien structures—rockslide of boulders dominated the area. Most were a silver grey, but a few were dark brown, almost red. In the corner, off to the right, the Chief saw a single lifeboat smoking, and imbetween the rocks, he saw muzzle flashes. He steered the hog past a group of trees, and sent it towards the slide. There had to be human troops there.

As he drove closer, he heard the muzzle cracks of BR55-M45s, and he caught a glimpse of green. More SPARTANs, good news to be sure. The Chief roared through a patch of grunts, and headed for the far side. He roared around it, all the way to the middle of the slide, when he took a left onto a elevated dirt area. A marine sniper crouched there and greeted him with a cheer. As chief parked the hog, he gave orders to Malcolm and Grace.

“Use the high ground as an advantage; stay here. I’ll check on the troops down below.” He said

Chief disembarked from the hog after putting it close to an edge so they could fire, and jumped down from the dirt pad. He slid off a boulder and landed without harm. He spotted three SPARTANs and an equal amount of marines. On his HUD, the names of the SPARTANs ticked off: Fred, Anton, and Li. Fred held a BR55-M45 while Anton and Li both carried T850s.

“Good to see you sir.” Said Fred

Anton and Li tossed him salutes. Master Chief nodded, and was about to speak the voice of a marine cut through the comm channel.

“Another dropship!”  Chief glanced at Fred.

“Lets move.” He told him.

Fred nodded, and hand-signaled his squad to move out. Chief sprinted around a corner, and spotted a jackals foot, mostly obscured by a rock outcropping. He dropped to a crouch and let the alien have it, and soon enough it was on the ground in a pool of it’s own blood. Two more rounded the corner, and chief open fired. He caught one in the notch of it’s shield—sending it sprawling back, and allowing him to put another batch of rounds in it to finish it off. He turned to the other jackal and smacked it with his rifle—but it had enough time to hit him with an overcharge bolt of plasma.

Chief checked his tracker. All clear. Despite his blinking shields, he stepped out into the open. He thought he was relatively safe—until he saw a blur to his right. Chief saw the elite uncloak, tried to dodge—but it was too late. The creature fired twice—two red hot sledgehammers pelted Chiefs front armor.

Pain lanced through him, and he saw his own vital signs spike into red. His vision grew hazy, but he blinked and cleared it. He felt his armor singe and melt, then cool and harden. Internal temperatures skyrocketed.

Out of sight, he heard the clack of Fred’s BR, and the elite dropped. The chief took a got to his feet, and tried his best to ignore the pain. It wasn’t easy.

Over the comm, he heard Malcolm’s voice. “I got another dropship!” he yelled.

“Get to your squad, have them pull back.” Chief told Fred, and Fred nodded.

“On it Chief.” He told him.

Chief nodded and sprinted for Malcolm and Grace. A wave of realization came over him as he heard a deep booming blast. Those dropships, like those that launched the assault during the struggle to save the first survivors, where he had met up with Malcolm, weren’t ordinary craft. They too, had to be Type 88s.

Over an open comm, he heard Fred speak up.

“Ok marines and SPARTANs, retreat.”

Chief reached the top of the rise and saw Malcolm and Grace firing from the hog. He turned, and watched as Fred led the others up to the rise as well. He was filled with comfort for a moment—which turned to sick dread as he watched a dropship fly in close. Malcolm and Grace kept firing at the thing—until it decided to retaliate.

The master chief silently cursed.

The dropship unleashed another plasma bomb—this one right next to the hog. It detonated and sent the hog careening off the edge, into the area below, a forty foot drop, easy. Survivable—but crippling. And as chief watched covenant infantry swarm towards the area from two different directions, he knew they wouldn’t survive if he didn’t do something.

“Fred give me cover!” he yelled into the comm and jumped from the ledge, onto a nearby rock. He slid down, then landed in a crouch.

The hog lay burning ten feet away—as did Malcolm. Grace was lying on the ground nearby, but she was moving—hefting a sidearm, as her chaingun lay in pieces by her feet. She open fired, downing half a dozen grunts, before her pistol clacked empty. She cursed and tossed a grenade.

Chief open fired at an elite trying to get a shot on her, and gunned it down before it could fire. More covenant poured in, and he found himself surrounded—only to see chaingun fire and BR55-M45 rounds hit the other hostiles, downing them. Chief looked behind himself to see Fred rush in and grab Grace—drag her off the field of combat while firing his BR55-M45 one handed. Chief took out a group of Jackals as his heart raced with anger and fear and rage. He fell back, helping Fred carry Grace, who, after a few moments, began carrying most of her own weight.

The remaining Covenant also fell back—a fatal mistake. The sound of sniper fire filled the air, and the Covenant troops died under a hail of high velocity slugs. Over the comm, Chief heard Cortana radio Foehammer

“That’s the last of them.” She said happily.

“Roger that. I’m on my way.” Replied Foehammer

“New traffic on the Covenant battle net! I've found Captain Keyes! He's being held on a Covenant cruiser, the Truth and Reconciliation, a ship I disabled before we abandoned the autumn.” Said Cortana “The Truth and Reconciliation touched down on a desert plateau roughly three hundred kilometers upspin.”

Chief knew Cortana was already planning a rescue mission, and he agreed one needed to be conducted. They had to get to Keyes and the other command crew before the Covenant could force vital information out of them. He scanned the skies and watched Echo-419 touchdown, and placed a NAV marker on it to get the other SPARTANs attention.

“That’s our ride. Get onboard and lets get out of here.” Said the Chief

Master Chief left Grace with Fred, and watched Li and Anton pick up Malcolm’s body and begin to bring him to the Pelican. He moved away, got their before they did, and received a wonderful surprise.

On the Pelican sat a green-clad figure, encased in MJOLNIR. Across her lap, a sniper rifle lay fully assembled. It was Linda.

“Sir, good to see you.” Said Linda, and Chief smiled inside his helmet.

“How’d you get here?” He asked

“Foehammer picked up a distress beacon I let out. She told me what was happening…so I decided to see if I could lend a hand.” Said Linda

“Good. We could certainly use your help. We’ve got a new mission: Keyes is prisoner and we need to get him out.” Replied the Master Chief

Linda patted her sniper rifle. “Ready and waiting Master Chief.” She said.

Fred and the others walked up to the Pelican, and greeted Linda. As they exchanged remarks, Chief clambered aboard the Pelican, and watched the others do the same. Over the chatter, Foehammer spoke up.

“Welcome aboard Master Chief, ready for dustoff.” She said.

Cortana opened up a new channel, and Chief heard her and Foehammer talking.

“We should move out Lieutenant.” Ordered Cortana “We’re going to need your help on a rescue mission.”

September 19, 2037 Hours, 2552

Threshold System, Below Covenant CCS Cruiser Truth and Reconciliation

In utter silence, a single pelican dropship glided on low-level thrusters towards an elevated plateau. The craft was painted black as night, and behind it, six weapons capsules clung to the hull. Its engine VTOLs were heavily baffled, and almost no light were emitted from them.

In the time it had taken to secure the three lifeboat groups and then rendezvous with the Pelican Charlie-077 to enact a transfer of SPARTANs, darkness had fallen on the ring world. The sunset had been quick but glorious, a mosaic of colors as the sun set on the planet like structure. Inside the bay of the stealth Pelican, the Master Chief readied his weapons and glanced at his team. He carried a MA5B/S-II and a SRS108 AM Sniper Rifle—the silenced sniper he had encountered earlier. As the Pelican neared the plateau, he glanced back at the rest of his team, taking them in at a glance.

Fred, his second in command, carried the same BR55-M45 he had earlier. Anton, who had carried Malcolm’s body, hefted Malcolm’s old battle rifle—using it in replace of his chaingun. Li, who had also used a chaingun earlier, had traded out the bulky open terrain weapon for a MA5B/S-II—a practice which Grace, now out of shock, had imitated. In the corner, Linda sat with her own sniper rifle, a SRS108 AM Sniper Rifle like Chief’s

“The enemy has captured Captain Keyes, and are holding him aboard one of their cruisers, the Truth and Reconciliation. The ship is currently holding position approximately three hundred meters above the other end of this plateau.” Whispered Cortana over the TEAMCOMM. The SPARTANs accpeted this without qeustion. They all knew the plan: move in and use the gravity lift to enter the ship.

The low thrum of the Pelicans engines increased in pitch slightly as the craft swung around—letting the SPARTANs get their first look at the plateau. It was dark and lit only occasionally by low level covenant work lights, which illuminated sections of the canyon walls. It reminded chief of an elevated canyon, much like the last area, but the rock here was darker—instead of red, it was brown, and looked to be sedimentary—almost sandstone like.

The chief wasted no, time, as did his SPARTANs. He jumped and fell two meters off the Pelican’ “blood tray” landing in a crouch. He turned and watched as one by one, his SPARTANS piled out. Fred and Anton took up a firing position on the right flank, while Grace, Linda, and Li moved left. Five green acknowledgement lights lit his display boards, signaling the area was all clear. Chief scanned his area and saw a passage on the right flank, and he placed a NAV marker on it.

The SPARTANS moved.

Chief sprinted past the others and looked at the passage in more detail. Off to the left, it sloped downward into a small crater-like excavation site. To the right, it stayed high, with plenty of cover. A useful position to be sure—but sneaking in on the lower side would be a lot faster. He was about to order an attack when Cortana spoke up over the radio, giving her own analysis.

“Stick to the higher ground on the right. We should be able to recon the Covenant position without being spotted. I'm detecting Covenant Stationary Guns near the next pass. I recommend using your Sniper Rifle to take out the gunners while I call for Marine support.” She told him.

The strategic picture shifted in cheifs mind. A frontal assault on a Covenant position heavily entrenched enough to have turret support was suicide. They had to weaken the enemy defenses before moving in. Chief moved right. His team followed.

The SPARTAN team followed the trail for a few seconds—around ten or fifteen meters. They then stopped, taking cover behind a large rock and melting into the shadows. Below was what appeared to be a Covenant dig-site, occupied by several troops. Jackals patrolled while grunts slept, and Chief heard the shuffling steps of an elite in the distance. Inside the site, which was covered in boulders and other cover, two stationairy gun turrets sat unmanned. Only these weren’t normal turrets; they each had a front energy shield and featured two twin side beams, which appeared to house what looked like dual needler turrets, with cool blue needles. One was to the right, on an elevated patch of dirt, while the other was directly ahead, though farther away. The turrets definitely looked formidable—if he could, Chief would rather not have them taking shots at his team. He decided to target the gunners first.

“Linda, find yourself a target, ready yourself to fire on my mark. Don’t fire until the enemy returns fire on us. Me and Linda will take out as many as we can covertly before we resort to full-combat. That should help us keep the element of surprise.” Said the chief.

Fred, Grace, Li, and Anton all eased into the shadows of the elevated area. Linda’s voice crackled over the comm. It was cold and brittle—her so called “sniping” voice.

“Target acquired sir.” She whispered “Right turret, grunt gunner.”

Chief acquired his own turret target. He eyed it through the scope, and switched to night vision for a better picture. “Fire at will.” He said.

The crack of Linda’s sniper rifle was eerily silent, and a grunt toppled out of it’s turret, instantly dead. Chief fired a half-second later—another gunner toppled down, dead from a shot that had ruptured it’s tank and detonated. Linda continued firing—a trio of grunts and a Major jackal all crumpled and fell. Chief retargeted and switched—not as fast as Linda—to general infantry sniping. He open fired, took an elite in the neck, then cut down two grunts as they fled the sight of their superiors death. One of the grunts turned and fired a plasma bolt at the concealed SPARTAN pair. Linda’s shields burned a bright orange.

So much for stealth.

“Let em have it SPARTANs” he called over the comm

Anton, Li, Fred, and Grace emerged from the shadows, weapons firing. The muzzle flashes from their weapons played hell with his sniper scope glare, and he had to compensate to cut it out. He glanced to his side, accounting for his entire team—then open fired again with his sniper at the remaining Covenant. He dropped one, but didn’t have time to take another—his team finished it with a rain of bullets.

“Team, follow me and advance.” He whispered over the comm. Acknowledgement lights burned his HUD.

Chief sprinted and jumped off of the high ground. He landed, watched Linda gut an elite with a sniper round, and moved forward, beckoning his team. Linda followed quickly after the others. A group of grunts waddled around a nearby corner, stubby hands shaking—and moved right into a wall of led. They fell and died, leaking blue blood. Chief sprinted for the turret he had taken out—which was perilously close to a ledge. He climbed on and swung the turret around just in time to see a trio of Jackals moving towards him.

Time to test out the turrets firepower.

Chief fired, and twin blue streaks launched from the sides. They each impacted on a jackal…and detonated with the force of a needler explosive chain. The final jackal met a more gruesome fate than its partners as chief focused all fire on it, sending gore and meat flying everywhere. Behind him, he heard Fred’s voice over the comm.

“Right behind you Chief.” Said Fred

Chief signaled his team forward, around a corner, when Cortana yelled abruptly over the comm.

“Stop!” she cried “Motion tracker shows movement around the next bend.”

Chief waved Linda forward.

“Ready to advance as soon as you call for us Chief.” Whispered Fred

Chief and Linda crouched forward, sniper scopes on the area in front of them. Partially obscured by foliage, a open area was directly in front. Behind it was an rock face, probably ten feet high. On top of this elevated area was another Covenant turret, this one facing them.

“Chief, I’m detecting a weakness in the turret…the shield isn’t very strong, so combined sniper fire in the middle, which is farthest from the projectors, should be able to penetrate. I recommend at least three rounds.” Said Cortana, and chief adjusted his aim.

“Linda, cover the infantry. I’ll take the turret.” He said to Linda

A green acknowledgment light burned his HUD, and he set his scope on the middle, where Cortana indicated. He open fired, once twice, then three times. The first two rounds seemed to bounce off, interacting with the shield in a haze of green light. But the third round went straight through, decapitating the grunt.

A wave of shock swept through the Covenant forces, a few jackals, grunts and elites…then amplified as Linda’s fire took out a pair of Jackals.

“Open fire team.” Called the Chief

The sound of assault rifle and battle rifle fire filled the night, and a pair of grunts dropped. An elite’s shields flickered blue-white—revealing its position. Chief saw an opportunity, and took it.

“Covering fire!” he yelled into the comm as he drew his MA5B/S-II

He bounded towards the elite—a blue armored rookie—and let loose a quarter of his clip. The alien’s shields sparked, then faltered, and the chief raised his assault rifle high over his head and brought it crashing down on the alien’s skull, cracking it. To his right, only meters away, a white armored elite turned to face him, glowering. Chief put the remainder of his clip into the bastard and dropped it with a little help from sniper fire. On the ridge above him, a jackal and a grunt toppled over from Linda’s rifle fire, and the Chief’s team moved forward. After a moment of scanning the ridgeline, Linda moved as well, hanging back near towards the back of the SPARTAN one and box formation. The SPARTANs pushed left, onto a side path, fought their way onto a hill, and took control of it, cutting down its defenders: a single elite and a pair of grunts.

Chief checked his team; elevated, but easily tolerable, pulse rates. Nothing else amiss. Good. He glanced out in front of him and saw a narrow path clinging to the Cliffside—and on it, a group of Covenant advancing.

“Open fire team.” He called.

The covenant troops, only three grunts, didn’t even get a shot off. They came and were cut down by well placed fire from assault and battle rifles. Linda didn’t even fire a shot.

“Team: Move up.” He barked into the comm

As they moved onto the narrow cliff path, Cortana spoke up on the radio.

“Covenant forces detected up ahead. The path on the left should let us sneak up around them.” She told them.

“Orders?” asked Fred

“Take middle, I’ll take left.” He said

The SPARTANs advanced around a bend, and into another open area. This one featured a crater like section in the center, with elevated walls above it, and a rock bridge extending over it. Not one, not two, but three Covenant needler turrets were positioned around the area, one near the SPARTANs, another near the end of the rock bridge, and another to the far left. A ramp sloped up to the walls fifteen meters to the left of the SPARTANs position, which was below the walls, and their lowered area continued to the left, forming a path, which looked to wind around the side of the cliff for what looked close to a 100 meters before gradually getting higher. Chief signaled his troops forward.

Directly ahead was a single turret, looking away from the path. On his HUD, Cortana projected the ghostly holoimages of the other three, which were position to his left and in front of him a good sixty meters, on either side of a narrow break in the canyon, which seemed to be an exit. Chief shot the grunt out of a nearby turret, and sprinted to the left as a sniper shot flew above him. A stealth elite’s camouflage system disengaged and the dead creature faded into view. How Linda had spotted it in the near darkness, he couldn’t begin to fathom.

The Chief kept moving left, around a bend, killed two Jackals with his assault rifle and then jumped to his right onto a elevated rock. A turret, true to Cortana’s Intel, sat on the ridge, facing him. He unloaded almost forty five rounds into the center of its shield and the grunt slumped over. Chief jumped onto the turret, threw the grunt out with one hand, and boarded it. His hands flashed over the holographic controls.

“Cortana to SPARTAN Team, the Chief has the left flank covered, recommend you move up the middle.” Said Cortana

The crack of battle rifle fire lit the night, and the Chief swung the turret around too target the remaining Covenant in his area. His team could handle the other emplacement—he had to eliminate the enemies in a position to flank him. An elite ran into the open and open fired, and Chief gunned it down with a dual blast. A handful of grunts open fired as well, but chief took them down as well with repeated twin blasts. His SPARTANs crossed the rock bridge and ran along the far wall and took cover directly across from his position, in a group of trees. Linda paused and took out the remaining Covenant, a group of Grunts, with headshots.

Apparently the Covenant wanted to fight a bit for this particular real estate. Over the comm, Cortana’s voice echoed. “Alert, Covenant dropships inbound!”

A NAV marker appeared on chief’s HUD at the approximated landing vector for the dropship. It was close, to Chiefs left…too close.

As his team fell back towards their entrance area, the Master Chief’s comm crackled.

“Sir, ditch the turret!” yelled Grace

Chief didn’t need to be told twice. He jumped from the weapon, and spotted the dropship inbound—and felt a slight twinge of fear as he saw it’s deeper purple armor and bloated turret. The chief and his squad moved back, trying to get a clear angle on the vulnerable disembarking aliens while steering clear of the dropship. It streaked over them, and it’s hanging turret burped a pink-white burst of energy. The blast hit near Li, Anton and Fred and detonated, making their shields shine a bright gold like they were on fire. The covenant troops disembarked and rushed up the hill to greet the SPARTANs, who welcomed them in open arms—with a healthy serving of 7.62, 9.5, and 14.5mm rounds. After dispatching these foes, the SPARTANs moved to secure the area, wiping out stragglers and making sure it was all clear. Over the comm, the Chief radioed them.

“Head check.” He whispered

A chorus of “All Good.” Came back to him, and five acknowledgment lights winked on.

“We don’t have enough time to stay here and mind shop.” He whispered. “We’ve got to move.”

He led the others down into the crater and towards the passageway. On his motion tracker, a multitude of hostile contacts emerged. Chief glanced into the passageway, which was well lit due to a large number of work-lights. As he peered into it, an elite and a pair of grunts sprinted around the corner, yelling in surprise.

“Shit!” cried Anton “Ambush!”

The SPARTANs open fired, but in the narrow space, it was hard to get a clear shot. In the front of the pack however, Chief had no problems finding and open line of fire. However, when two more elites and a four more grunts rushed into the narrow space, Chief knew they needed to try something different.

“Fire in the hole!” he yelled, and armed a plasma grenade.

He tossed the adhesive blue explosive into the mess of Covenant troops, then dodged behind the cliff wall as the explosion set off the grenades the warriors were carrying and created an inferno of explosives. When all was calm, the Master Chief stepped into the open. Nothing moved.

He sprinted forward, and his team followed. He could see the grav-lift now, which meant they had to be close to more Covenant forces. And the blast would have definitely woken them up to the danger of the approaching human troops. As chief rounded the corner, he caught a narrow view of another crater like area. High walls stretched along the edge, with occasional slopes to get atop of them. In front of chief and his squad were nearly a dozen grunts—and worse, on the ridge, an elite, a grunt pair, and another turret.

The SPARTANs open fired on the grunts as the turret open fired on them. A blue explosive blast detonated in the center of the SPARTAN team, making their shields shimmer and sending a shrill warning tone through the Chief’s helmet.

Linda maneuvered in front of the others and braced with her sniper rifle. Silently, she fired off three successive rounds—and the turret gunner slumped over dead.

“Hit them!” the chief barked.

In front of them, outside the passage, a pair of Jackals tried to rally their grunt comrades—but the Master Chief and his squad fired into the slots of their shields and then retargeted their weak alien bodies, sending them sprawling. On the ridge, an elite moved to marshal the grunts as well, but the SPARTAN team suppressed him with a rain of bullets, making his shields glow and forcing him behind cover. Chief jumped over a low rock they had been using as cover, and moved out into the open. The others followed, and the SPARTANs fought their way to the right and up the side of the ridge wall, to where the elite as hiding and where a dead grunt still sat slumped over in it’s turret.

Once up on the high ground, the squad open fired on a pair of needle turrets in the corners. The turrets tried to retaliate, but between the long range capabilities of the BR55-M45 and the SRS108, the Covenant troops quickly fell.

From the grav lift, a Covenant squad fell from the sky and disembarked. Fred and Anton let loose a pair of grenades from their launchers into their midst—which detonated and killed everything save an elite, who clung stubbornly to the side of the lift platform. Linda put a round through it’s back and it let go.

“Alert: Covenant dropships inbound!” cried Cortana, and the Chief looked skyward to see a standard spirit glide in towards Cliffside wall of the crater and drop off a contingent of grunts. The little creatures jumped out of the spirit and waddled towards the SPARTAN.

Chief drew his sniper rifle, and with Linda, put the grunts down promptly. The lift hummed again and a Covenant group fell from the sky. Linda hit an elite with a sniper round to the head, while Chief and the others finished off the grunts with short controlled bursts from battle and assault rifles.

Wave after wave descended from the lift, each which the SPARATAN team dispatched. On one occasion, the Master Chief threw a grenade which caught a whole group in a blast. In another, the SPARTANs simply closed the distance slightly and let the Chief, Grace, and Li mow the enemy down with automatic fire. Finally, after almost five waves, the lift seemed clear. But as Chief stepped towards it, he felt a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. A very bad feeling.

Via the lift, two Hunters fell from the ship, shields out and ready. Their beam weapons charged, and the Master Chief’s mind spun. He knew they wouldn’t be able to trick the Hunters like he’d done on the Pillar of Autumn—they’d have to flank the beasts.

“Linda, relocate to the far end. Li, stay with her and cover her.” He ordered “Everyone else, on me. Those Hunters will toast us at a range. We have to get close.”

Chief knew that the Hunters were deadly strong—he’d seen one tear a marine in half with it’s shield before, and knew that it would take only a single hit to put one of his SPARTANs out of the fight. But he also knew the beasts were slow and unmaneuverable—the SPARTANs could, with some luck, dodge and eliminate the beasts.

Linda and Li sprinted for the other end of the ridge, while Chief, Fred, Grace, and Anton jumped down to meet the beasts. They fired on full auto one of the charging hunters—but their rounds bounced off the armor. It was only meters away from them, and reared up to strike—when a sniper round slashed through it’s exposed back, and out it’s midsection. The hunter groaned and collapsed.

The other Hunter roared in rage. It turned and sprayed Linda’s position with plasma, and Chief saw it burn through her shields and toast her legs. She staggered and fell, smoking, as Li moved to the left and attempted to draw the beast fire.

Chief knew it would only delay the inevitable. Without sniper cover, fighting hunters at medium range was suicidal at best. Li was doomed if he kept it up. Chief couldn’t let that happen. He checked his ammo in the blink of an eye and sprinted downhill. He only had forty-nine rounds. Hopefully enough. He charged the beast and fired a three round burst at it’s head. The shots bounced off harmlessly, but they did what they needed to do. They got it’s attention. The beast turned to chief and slashed at him with his shield.

Chief rolled behind the hunter, and unloaded his clip into its back, every single round. Forty-six 7.62mm bullets pelted the exposed back section, and for a second, Chief thought it might be enough. The hunter roared, and Chief watched it move. But it wasn’t falling to the ground dead. It was turning towards him. The beast swung around, and with a throaty roar, ran straight towards him and lifted it’s shield up to strike.

He was all out of options.

Over the comm, he heard a gasp. His fellow SPARTANs were afraid for him…which he didn’t like. He refused to give up. As the beast reared up to attack, it’s belly stretched in front of him. His mind, running at the adrenaline charged speed jokingly known as “SPARTAN” time, winked on with an idea.

Chief gabbed his assault rifle with one hand and threw it—as hard as he could—into the Hunter’s belly. The back end of the rifle penetrated and sliced through the dozens of orange eels that made up the creature, then went all the way through, poking out the other side. The great beast roared in agony of it’s death throes, before finally toppling over just short of the Chief’s feet.

A second finally ticked off his mission clock.

Over the comm, Chief heard a chorus of cheers. Even Linda, injured and burned, managed a yell. Chief’s exhaled explosively, and tried his best to forget about the Hunter, to focus on the rest of the mission. They still had to rescue Keyes.

Fred jogged down the slope, and pointed to Chief’s left. Chief glanced over, and saw a group of dead marines. Next to them were their weapons—which Chief knew he would have to loot. He nodded Fred his thanks, and moved over to the pile. In front of him was a variety of guns—a trio of MA5B/S-IIs, a BR55-M45, and oddly, enough, a T850 chaingun. Chief checked the ammo of the assault rifles and battle rifles, and found they had only a few dozen rounds. He glanced at the chaingun. It had nine ammo canisters laying beside it, along with one in the weapon. Each held a hundred rounds. He grabbed the nine, slung them in a pack, and slung them over his shoulder.

Chief hiked up to Linda, and found her carefully standing. Her armor’s leg sections were blackened and burned, and he could tell by her body language that she was in pain. He realized what he had to do; force her to not board the ship.

As he approached, Linda readied her sniper rifle and hobbled to him, towards the lift. He stopped her.

“I need you to stay here and guard the entrance, make sure no one gets in behind us.” He told her, and she nodded. “Yes sir.” She answered.

Chief was glad she wasn’t taking it personally. Some of those under his command might’ve. An ancient memory from training of another recruit who had died in augmentation came to mind, Leonid-144. Then another, of a more recent soldier; Ajax-013, who some called psychotic.

Over the comm, Cortana opened up a channel to Foehammer.

“Foehammer, this is Cortana. We have reached the grav lift but have a wounded soldier who cannot proceed. We could use some reinforcements, if your able.” She asked the pilot

“Roger Cortana, hang tight SPARTANs. Foehammer inbound.”

Chief watched as all of his SPARTANs, save Linda, moved to around the drop zone. They took up positions around it’s edge, looking outward. He glanced skyward and saw Echo-419 inbound, yellow armor plating flashing in the moonlight.

“Once were inside the ship we can home in on the Captain’s command neural interface. He’ll probably be in or near the ships brig, which should narrow our search.” Said Cortana, as Echo-419 glided in and spun around. As it rotated, the Master Chief saw a SPARTAN dismount.

Chief walked up to the dropship and recognized James from his distinctive gait. Inside the ship was a small armory with a row of BR55-M45s. Each SPARTAN took one, but James also held a T850 like the Chief.

“Good to see you sir.” Said James and the Master Chief nodded in reply.

The SPARTAN team moved to the grav-lift. As they entered, it felt to Chief like his stomach was being forced down into his gut. The SPARTANs secured the edge of the craft, then the lift hummed and reversed. Chief wasn’t sure how Cortana did it, but they were suddenly rising. The SPARTAN team rose to the top of the lift, watched as a metal door opened for them, then hung in the air as the door closed beneath them. When it finally hissed shut, the lift faltered, and they fell to the deck.

“We’re in. I’ve got a good lock on the captain’s CNI transponder…no Covenant signals detected.” Said Cortana, puzzled

“No Covenant? That can’t be right.” Said James

A doorway behind Fred, and a cloaked elite carrying a sword of plasma ran through it. Over the motion tracker, dozens of enemy contacts appeared in the four corners of the room.

“No Covenant huh.” Said Grace “You had to say it, didn’t yah.”

Covenant troops poured into the room, firing all the way. The SPARTANs turned and open fired…but it wasn’t enough. Enemy forces kept moving in, pouring fire onto the humans, concentrating on one at a time. The Master Chief unleashed a hellish torrent of rounds with his T850, cutting through Covenant troops like butter. But it wasn’t long before they overwhelmed the SPARTANs.

The Covenant troops backed the humans into a corner with steady waves of troops, forcing them back farther and farther. Eventually, Chief felt his back hit the wall. From this position, the SPARTANs continued to hit the enemy with gunfire. Covenant troops would rush out, open fire, die under an onslaught of rounds, then repeat the cycle. However, after what seemed like dozens of waves, it finally stopped. Then, in a second, everything changed.

From one of the doors, a white armored elite carrying a sword of pure plasma emerged. It roared a challenge—then sprinted for the human lines. Li put a grenade into the thing but it didn’t stop—it kept moving. Chief rushed to bark and order, but realized too late that his comm had malfunctioned—it had sent his “Stay back!” order to James, instead of Li.

Li rushed forward and fired a burst, followed by a grenade. Fire enveloped the elite—then it stepped forward and slashed. It slashed through Li’s battle rifle just behind the handle, then twisted, cut off the grenade launcher from the rest of the assembly, and drove it’s sword between Li’s shoulders, just below the neck. Over an open channel, the Master Chief heard Li gurgle as the blade melted his insides and roasted him alive. The elite roared, and Li revealed something—his BR55-M45 grenade launcher, which had been sliced from his rifle, still in his hand.

Li let loose a single grenade point blank—which finally penetrated. The round slashed through the elite’s shields and inside armor plating, then detonated inside the creature. Pieces of meat splashed over the Chief’s visor. Chief sprinted forward to Li as the sword deactivated, hoping to maybe somehow save him—and came to terms with an ugly reality. Li had been gutted and roasted internally—he had been dead before the grenade launcher had ever detonated.

Chief stepped away from the body, and snapped himself into the fight. He quickly gave out orders.

“Fred, get whatever you can off Li…ammo, grenades, anything.” He said “Everyone else, check the doors.”

The SPARTANs moved through the room, and made sure it was safe, finally Anton informed him of the situation.

“Area secure sir, we better keep moving. How bout that door?” said Anton

The SPARTANs moved through a large door, which looked big enough to fit a pair of hogs. Fred lagged behind, and coordinating with Cortana, sent Li’s body down the grav lift, in addition to marking him MIA in the mission roster. Linda would guard it until the mission was over. The SPARTANs turned left through the door and jogged down a short ramp. They turned right, and stopped. Another door loomed in front of them. Fred handed Chief Li’s battle rifle, and the Chief dropped the T850, which was low on ammo.

“Doors locked sir, can’t bypass it.” Said Anton

“We could use the side passages to find a way around.” Suggested Cortana

“We’d be sitting ducks in that narrow space.” Said Grace

Chief had an idea.

“Team, wait here, and hold position. I’ll try and find a way around to open the door.” He told them.

Four green acknowledgement lights burned chief’s HUD. He noted the darkness of the fifth one with sadness. The Chief turned and ascended the ramp, back into the body strewn grav-lift chamber. He turned directly to his right, where a door sat unlocked. He moved cautiously into it, stepping over Covenant bodies. He stepped around the corner and turned left to cover his back—and was hit square between the shoulders by a grunt behind him. Chief’s shields flared and heat washed over him as the grunt’s yell of “Human” filled his helmet. He spun and planted a battle rifle burst square in its head, killing it. However, he knew his troubles were far from over.

As he stepped around the corner he scanned the passageway ahead. It was a long purple colored corridor that slanted up, and featured a support beam in the center of the top passageway, which was actually a corner into another area. Around the corner, an elite in maroon armor came around to the report of the gunshots. It saw chief and sprinted for him, firing badly aimed plasma blasts on the way. As it rushed down the ramp, the Master Chief fired into the creature. He dumped five bursts into it, then dodged to the side as the creature tried to swing it’s rifle like a club. He darted behind it and smacked it once with the butt of his BR55-M45, then drilled it once in the skull, splattering it’s brains on the deck plates.

On his motion tracker, the master chief saw multiple contacts approaching from in front of and behind him. Things were about to get hairy. The chief slid behind the corner and spun around to see a Jackal charging him, shield off to the side. The chief fired once at it’s head, and the avian like alien fell to the deck in a heap. The chief rolled from his cover and leveled his rifle uphill, towards the passageway where the elite had come from. He fired off two bursts and took a grunts face off, then three more and brought another grunt down with a tattered chest.

From a corridor to the left, two more grunts emerged, running towards where the elite and grunts had just died. The Master Chief gunned them down as they ran. The chief waited a moment to make sure all was clear, then ran up the corridor and stopped at the corner. He took a right and came face to face with an unlocked door. On the other side, his motion tracker painted several contacts. The master chief unlimbered his sniper rifle and warily approached the door. It slid open almost soundlessly, and he spotted a Jackal with its back turned to him. He flicked on the night vision to pinpoint the creatures head, then open fired, taking it clean off. He switched targets rapidly and cut down another jackal, then fired through an elite and into a grunt, killing two with a single bullet. The chief reloaded, fired off his next clip, then slung sniper, drew then BR55-M45 and advanced, having eliminated all hostiles in his immediate area.

The Chief stood on an elevated walkway a story above the ground. Below him was what appeared to be a large cargo-bay—it was an open space littered with weapons and communication crates, along with a powered down Wraith tank. Too him, it seemed like a waste of space. The chief moved forward then right, and then turned left into another set of passageways. The chief slid through the door and looked to the right—and found half a dozen covenant, a mix of grunts and jackals, rushing up the stairs to meet him. The chief open fired with a grenade, sending bodies sprawling. He continued firing from cover, taking down a grunt. However, the last survivor, a lone grunt, slid around a corner, ran left, and disappeared.

The chief ran down to corner, but didn’t walk around it. Instead, he listened, and heard the hum of an overcharged plasma pistol. The Chief rolled around the corner and saw the grunt fire, right over his shoulder. The chief came up, stood, leveled his battle rifle, and calmly shot the alien in the head. He continued down the passage, took a right, ran down another hall, took another right—and felt something hit him in the back of the head.

The chief went sprawling to the deck plates and heard the roar of an elite. He rolled onto his back and raised his battle rifle one handed, looking for a target. Nothing. He got slowly to his feet, and saw the air move. The image of another cloaked elite resolved, and the chief shot it again, then ran up, slammed the butt of his rifle on it, and shot once more, this time in the head.

The chief turned around and moved through a doorway. He kept moving, took a right, then stopped. Two jackals were patrolling inside the bay, seemingly at ease. The chief drew his sniper rifle and cut both of them down. He heard a roar from inside the bay, and took cover in a conduit space to his right. However, no enemy fire came his way, so he ducked out and peered through the scope of his sniper—only to see a rapidly approaching blur. The chief snapped off a shot and a stealth elite fell to the ground, camouflage slowly dissolving. There seemed to be an abundance of the cloaked warriors on the ship and around it.

The master chief slowly crept down the next passageway, which emerged into the cargo bay. He sighted through his sniper, and spotted a large number of troops milling around near doorways. He looked to the door. It was a straight shot.

“Team, ready yourselves for combat conditions, ETA six seconds.” He said into his comm.

The chief took a deep breath, drew his M45, and exploded from hiding, heading for the door control. Plasma bolts stitched the air near him, but he ignored them, focused on putting one foot in front of the other as quickly as possible. He closed the distance in the time he had said he would, and slapped one hand on the controls, opening the doors. The doors hissed open as the chief spun around and the Covenant charged him, and from behind the now open doorway, the SPARTAN team open fired. Hundreds of rounds from James’ T850 cut through grunts and Jackals, while battle rifle bursts and grenades from launchers hit elites and any stragglers. The SPARTANs moved out of the doorway, open fired on the enemy, took down several targets, and continued to advance, pressing the enemy into, and then out of, cover. Chief advanced with them, firing as well, and the combat raged intensely.

Anton moved ahead of the main group, trying to get a good angle on an elite, when he came under fire from a pair of Jackals. The plasma blasts from the aliens pistols slammed into him, making his shields burn orange—then an overcharge bolt hit him. He cursed over and open comm and charged the jackals, knocking one aside with his battle rifle. The other turned to track him, and sprayed him with plasma bolts from a plasma rifle. The bolts of heat splashed across his rifle—and found his grenade launcher. The grenade in the tube detonated as it was superheated and fried. Orange fire blossomed from the weapon across Anton…igniting his other grenades. Fire erupted from all over him, and a scream filled the comm as Anton was cooked alive inside his armor.

“No!” cried the chief, lunging for Anton. Fred held him with one arm and fired his battle rifle at the two jackals, the last remaining covenant.

Anton’s body hit the floor and smoked, and Chief gingerly walked up to him. He rolled him over, and saw his front armor was charred and roasted. It was breached in half a dozen locations, leaving no possible way Anton could have survived. The chief stared at Anton for a moment. Two SPARTAN casualties already. He knew that boarding a Covenant ship was dangerous—Sam had died on one in 2525—but he hadn’t been prepared for this kind of trained resistance.

The Chief pushed aside his feelings on the matter. No time for regrets. He had to stay focused: find Keyes, get him out, and escape.

“Status?” he asked

“Area secure, sir.” yelled James, and Cortana added quickly onto him.

“We should get moving.” She said

“Agreed. Everybody stay frosty.” Said Fred “Wired tight now.”

Chief waved the squad forward, through a doorway into another passageway. The SPARTANs moved too the left, turned right around a hallway, took another right, and entered a long passageway. In it, a variety of Covenant forces open fired at the Chief.

The master chief open fired as the rest of the squad slid into view, and using his battle rifle, he downed a jackal and four grunts in seconds. After pausing to slot in a fresh clip, he moved down the hallway, signaling his team to move out and keep careful watch. He ran down the hall, turned left, and was about to move forward when he saw a shimmering outline and small details floating in the air. A covenant elite stood still, facing away from the squad, and the master chief drew his sniper rifle with the least sound possible and aimed it at alien’s head.

The shot didn’t echo—despite the enclosed space. The elite went sprawling forward, with a grunt, and landed facedown ahead of the chief. The chief slid a new mag into his rifle, waved his squad forward, and then proceeded on. The SPARTANs ran down a short ramp then moved through an unlocked doorway—and emerged into yet another wastefully open space.

The Master Chief scanned the area around him, and decided that it was a hangar. It was a large rectangular room, with a ten meter wide structure running the width of the room, looming thirty meters tall in the center. This platform bisected the chamber, and on either space to the right and left of it, a pair of open bay doors stood. One of these, the one on the Chief’s side of the room, had an active bay door shield. The other, on the far side, had no shield. A spirit dropship hung in both hangar sections, but the one closest to chief was moving and had it’s troop bay doors closed, while the far one was hanging still with open doors. Above chief, platforms of the same height as the middle structure traced along every wall save the far left one, apparently to keep the bay doors clear. Support beams sliced through these platforms and connected with the ground by chief, which he noted would make good cover. In the center of his side, a jumble of covenant crates created an area that looked like it could spark devastating cat and mouse gunfights—something that if he could, Chief would avoid.

The chief motioned for his team to move up, then stepped through the door himself, and headed right. He moved a few feet to the side, then spotted two jackals and a two grunts. The master chief fired two bursts—sweeping the weapon across the aliens like it was a sword, cutting them down quickly. Just above the deck, the dropship lurched forward and sailed out the bay. Too the right, in the corner, a door slid open, and released half a dozen troops. They came out on the offensive, taking cover and opening fire. On the large middle structure, a pair of grunts and an elite open fired, hitting the SPARTANs from above.

Chief knew they were boxed in an needed to move, but he wasn’t sure where they could go.

“SPARTANs, hit them on the right flank! James, cover me!” he yelled.

As Fred and Grace held the enemy off on the side, James sprinted over to the Chief and open fired with his T850, sending rounds upwards at the grunt pair, drawing fire. Chief however, knew the elite was the real problem—his shields meant that he could take damage then retreat and let them recharge. Chief grabbed his SRS108 and propped it up against his shoulder. The bay was well lit, so he switched off the night vision, and sighted up at the elite, now raining fire down at James, who was in cover. The chief put a round through the blue armored creatures faceplate, then hit one of the grunts.

As he reloaded, more Covenant troops ran onto the elevated platform and fired from above on the SPARTANs. Jackals moved first, forming a shield wall, as Grunts took up positions behind them and primed grenades. The chief yelled “Grenades out!” and Grace and Fred let loose a pair of M10 grenades into the Jackal’s midst, burning them alive. The grunts tried to toss their grenades—but chief shot the one who had armed his first and sent him toppling to the ground. Before any of the grunts could throw, they were consumed in blue fire.

The chief waved his soldiers into the next room, but before he proceeded, he stopped next to the middle wall. Two dead marines, laden with ammo and battle rifles, lay facedown on the floor, and Chief appropriated what he needed from their ammo, trying to ignore how he was forced to wade in the blood of his comrades. The chief drew his battle rifle and proceeded into the next room, rifle ready.

As they entered, the Chief noted a deactivated Wraith tank sitting in the center of the room. It was quiet and the hatch was closed, so the Chief checked it off as not being a threat. Chief noted that every door was dark and faintly red.

“Were do we go now?” asked James “All the doors on this level are locked.”

“Wait a moment SPARTANs. I’m going to access the Covenant battle net and locate and override code to open these doors.” Cortana told him

“Copy.” Said the Chief “SPARTANs, hold position!”

From the right corner, a door slid open, and an elite and a pair of Jackals jogged from it. The Jackals didn’t have their shields ready, so Chief and Fred put a round in each Jackal’s face, downing them. Grace let a grenade loose, and James hit the elite with enough rounds to make it’s chest gory Swiss cheese. On the motion tracker, red blips appeared at the opposite side of the hangar, moving fast to their location. More appeared behind them, on the platform.

“James, handle the back. Grace, Fred, cover an entrance.” Ordered Chief, and his SPARTANs swung around

Covenant troops poured through on both sides of the middle structure, but the concentrated and well orchestrated fire held them at bay and took them out. Suddenly, another corner door, the one the Elites and Jackals had come from, slid open, and a pair of Hunters roared and open fired.

“Take cover now!” the Chief ordered his team as he slid behind one of the support beams and felt the brace warm behind him. The searing stream melted even Covenant metals; the SPARTAN armor, as Linda had proved, was no match for it.

“Stay in cover!” yelled the Chief

He slid from the beam and sprinted to the right, dodging a stream. It moved fast, but the Hunters tracked slowly, letting him dodge it. Chief turned, ran at the hunters, and fired a grenade in their midst from his launcher. They recoiled for a second, letting him get close—close enough to be deadly. He fired at the slight slit of orange skin as he approached, and the Hunters roared. One moved out of the doorway—charging him. The chief watched as it lifted its shield to club him, then dodged behind it. He fired his full clip into it’s back, and it finally fell.

“Attack!” he barked over the comm

The SPARTANs drew from cover and pelted the hunter’s armor with projectiles. The confused beast tried to alternate between targets, reducing its effectiveness by critical levels. The SPARTANs finally flanked it, and James put half the T850s fifty round clip into the Hunter’s back. It roared and fell.

“Got it!” cried Cortana, and a delta shaped NAV marker appeared on his HUD “The door is open. Everyone should move through now—I can’t guarantee it won’t lock again when it closes.”

The SPARTANs moved through the door, and into a narrow set of passageways, just like before. No one grouched, but he knew his SPARTANs were slightly frustrated from their body language—being in the bay had almost been like outside. Slowly but steadily, the SPARTANs made their way up ramps and through corridors, wading through plasma and fighting and killing waves of Covenant troops. Eventually, they made their way onto the upper deck of the hangar and past the middle structure and sprit dropship, and into more passages. Then, after battling past a group of Jackals and Elites, they emerged onto the third floor of the hangar, now a story above the dropship. Chief eyed the fall beneath him—he could survive, but it would hurt.

The SPARTANs eliminated the Covenant forces trying to stop them and moved past the hangar, back into the winding and twisting passages. Inside, they moved as quickly as possible, fighting their way through the corridors while feeling lost and out of place. The overwhelming alien-ness of the place was hard to stomach. Chief now understood why he’d been able to trick the hunter pair on the Pillar of Autumn—they had suffered from the same feelings as his squad was now, though to a much greater degree.

Eventually, they made their way to an intersection—with a door right in front of them, unlocked. Cortana’s voice suddenly crackled over the TEAMCOMM. “Be advised, my sensors can’t penetrate this room. It must be of importance.”

The chief nodded, and turned to his team. They reloaded their weapons and gave him a thumbs up.

The SPARTANs moved into the room. Inside was a large rectangular chamber with a raised circular platform in the middle. This platform was ringed by holographic controls, and two trenches were also dug into the deck plates on either side of it. Sleeping grunts were all around the room, but two elites patrolled in the corners—and at the top platform, a single Zealot, a ship commander, stood patrolling, energy sword out.

The chief unlimbered his sniper rifle, and sighted at the Zealots head. It hadn’t noticed them yet, but when it did—and it would—the SPARTANs would be in for a rough time. The chief open fired and the elite recoiled backwards—but didn’t die. Chief pumped two more rounds into the thing, cutting through it’s overshield and finally sending purple gore splashing over the deck plates. The grunts, in close proximity, woke up, but were promptly filled with gunfire. The elites turned and open fired as more grunts woke up. While the elites took carefully aimed shots, the grunts, panicked and scared, fired blindly—on the platform, controls melted, and two of the grunts toppled from friendly fire.

Chief let loose a grenade, and caught and elite in a raging fireball that threw him to the ground. The other SPARTANs fired on the other patrolling creature—James overloaded it’s shields with rounds and Fred delivered a lethal headshot.

“This looks like the ships command center. The captains transponder signal is strong, he must be close.” Said Cortana, and chief looked around, capturing the area with his helmet cameras.

Suddenly, his comm crackled with Linda’s voice. “Sir, reporting.” She said

“Go ahead.” He replied “How are things down there?”

“Not good sir.” She told him “Things were quiet for a while, a couple stragglers, but no one got in. The covenant just arrived in force though sir. No way we can escape down the grav lift. The covenant haven’t gotten it to get them inside yet, but they’ve got the entire area down here secured.”

“We’re are you?” he asked

“Hiding. Too many to snipe.” She replied

The chief considered this. They would have to escape some other way—and he didn’t know quite how.

Cortana however, appeared to have an idea.

“We can still do this.” She said “Echo 419 can pick us up from the hangar bay—now that we control the bridge, I can lock the Covenant out and keep them from accessing the weapon’s systems. It will take a minute, but I can do it. ”

The chief didn’t know if it could be done—there were still Covenant ground forces to contend with—but he figured it was their best shot.

“Grace, Fred, James: stay here and interface with the controls. Guard the place long enough for Cortana to get in, then get to the hangar and find a hiding place.” He told them “I’ll get the captain and anyone else who’s with him.”

The trio nodded, and took positions at the top of the platform. The chief felt Cortana’s presence withdraw. After hours of working with her, he felt empty.

Pushing the feeling aside, the Chief moved out through a door with a red NAV marker on it. Alone for the first time since landing on the ring, he was forced to fight his way past dozens of Covenant troops—but in the cramped hallways, he was able to use grenades to take out large numbers at one time. Finally, after quietly eliminating a pair of Jackals with a single silenced sniper shot, the chief glanced to his right—and found his objective.

A large rectangular room greeted him, defended by a group of sleeping grunts and what looked like a single energy sword armed elite. However he quickly saw that was a mistake; he caught the telltale shimmer of an elite in active camouflage. Of course. Chief examined the room, noting a raised control panel at the far end, and the rows of cells on either side, blocked by energy shields.

“The brig—the Captain must be inside.” Said Cortana

However, before he proceeded on, he wanted a report.

“SPARTANs, status on the lockdown?” he asked

“Ninety five percent chief.” Fred told him. “Almost there. Have you found the Captain?”

“Affirmative.” The chief said “Stand by.”

The chief sighted through his sniper scope at the cloaked elite—and fired three times in succession, bringing the creature down. He had learned from the last elite. He slung his sniper and drew his BR55-M45, then rushed through the door. He dodged to the right, smacked a sleeping grunt, and did this to two others. Finally, the stealth elites open fired—revealing their position. Chief promptly tracked and eliminated them. Over a chorus of marine cheers, the chief moved to the end of the room, stepped over the body of the sword elite, and placed a hand on the cell controls, opening them. The energy shields disappeared and the chief moved to the Captain and extended his hand.

“Coming her was reckless you two know better than this.” Said Keyes as he took the Chief’s hand and hoisted himself up. “Thanks.”

The two of them strode out of the cell, and Keyes barked out orders. “Marines lock and load your weapons lets be ready to move.”

Keyes strode over to in front of the door controls, and once there, a small council of war convened, with the SPARTANs at the bridge listening in over the comm.

“While I was locked up in here I overheard the guards talking about this ring world. They call “Halo”.” Said Keyes

“One moment sir, accessing the Covenant battle net.” Said Cortana.

Chief shifted his battle rifle to on top of his shoulder. Curiously, one of the naval crewmen who’d been tied up with Keyes pried open what looked to be a trophy case and withdrew and M90 shotgun, which he dropped at Keyes’ feet.

“According to the data in their networks, the ring has some kind of deep religious significance. If I'm analyzing this correctly...they believe that Halo is some kind of weapon. One with vast, unimaginable power.” Said Cortana

“Well...that's true.” said Keyes “The Covenant kept saying, “Whoever controls Halo controls the fate of the universe.”

“Now I see.” Said Cortana “I have intercepted a number of messages about a Covenant search team, scouting for a “Control room”. I thought they were looking for the bridge of a cruiser I damaged during the battle above the ring. But they must be looking for Halo's control room.”

“That's bad news. If Halo is a weapon, and the Covenant gain control of it, they'll use it against us and wipe out the entire human race.” Said Keyes, getting more excited “Chief, Cortana. I have a new mission for you. We need to beat the Covenant to Halo's control room. Let's move!”

“One moment sir.” Said Chief. He switched over to the SPARTAN channel. “Got everything? What’s your status?”

“Got everything chief.” Said Fred “Lockdown is done and were moving to the hangar.”

“Copy, good luck.” Said Chief. He switched to helmet broadcast. “Ready to go.”

“Master Chief, you have the point.” Said Keyes, picking up the shotgun.

The chief glanced and saw the marines take M7S SMGs from the trophy case. Chief sprinted for the doorway, BR55-M45 readied. The doorway slid open, but nothing came out. Which, as the chief had learned over the past few hours, meant something was definitely there. The chief let a grenade launcher loose—and two stealth elites went flying. Chief fired again, and caught a jackal rushing up the ramp into the room in the head.

The SPARTAN led the small group out of the cell, and into the corridors. The fighting was fierce, and chief was constantly forced to check on Keyes to make sure he was alright. The captain tried his best to keep up, and did, but Chief saw that he was tired and hurt from torture and his imprisonment.

Suddenly, over the comm, Cortana’s voice crackled, excited.

“Chief, I’ve got news. I’ve linked up with the Pelican Sierra-144, another heavily armed craft. It’s linked up with a large group of SPARTANs.” She told him, and he felt a burden lift. “They’ve also come into contact with more SPARTANs, and from what I can tell, it looks like everyone made it off the Autumn, and that there’s been few or no casualties since.”

The chief shrugged, not betraying his relief. His people were alive. He focused on the mission, and led Keyes to the edge of the bridge. He leaned in, and spotted two shimmers of stealth elites, and found it wasn’t hard. The elites held energy swords in their hands—which appeared to be floating in midair. Not exactly stealthy.

He unlimbered his sniper once again, putting his near empty BR55-M45 away. He shot both elites dead center, bringing them to the ground. He entered the bridge, captain and crewmen in tow.

“We made it!” cried Cortana “Cortana to Echo-419, we have the Captain and need immediate extraction.”

The comm crackled, and chief heard strain the naval flier’s voice. “Negative Cortana, I’ve been engaged, by Covenant air patrols, and am having a tough time shaken em. You’d be better off finding your own ride. Sorry.”

“Air support is cut off Captain, we need to hold here until she can move in.” Cortana announced over Chief’s helmet speakers even as the team assembled on the raised command platform.

“We’re trapped in here, we’re screwed man, screwed!” yelled one of the crewmen, who scrambled for the door. Two of his fellows restrained him.

“Stow the bellyaching soldier, remember you’re a leatherneck.” Barked Keyes, voice harsh. “Cortana, if you can get us into one of those heavy Covenant dropships, I can fly us out of here.”

“Yes captain, there’s a Covenant dropship still docked.” Said Cortana

“And it has a few passengers.” Said Grace on the open channel “Who needed a good hiding spot.”

“Perfect.” Said Keyes “Move.”

Around the bridge, doors slid open—letting grunts pour through. Chief spun, launched a grenade into one doorway, then fired with his BR55-M45 into the next. Behind him, he heard Keyes open fire and take down the remaining intruders.

The small team moved back into passageways, weaving in and out of combat in the tight spaces. Chief did his best to protect the captain, and more than once took plasma fire for Keyes. It was a short run, and then they emerged onto the top level of the hanger. A small Covenant patrol stood ready—an elite, and four grunts.

Chief cut them down, and moved to a small hangar control panel. He touched it, and the dropship rose to their level.

“That’s it, the dropship is loose.” said Cortana. The troop bays swung open, and Chief saw Grace, James, and Fred clinging to the hull, beckoning them in.

“Everybody mount up, lets get onboard.” Said Keyes, and the chief quickly helped the captain and crewmen in, then jumped aboard. The doors swung shut.

“Give me a minute to interface with the ship’s controls!” yelled Cortana

“No need.” Replied Keyes as he moved to the pilot station. “I’ll take this bird out myself.”

The dropship lifted and it’s anti-gravity drive hummed.

“Captain Hunters!” cried Cortana as a pair of the blue armored beasts lumbered from one of the doorways and fixed their weapons on the dropship.

“Hang on!” cried Keyes

The dropship spun and lurched forward, straddling a support column. The dropship collided with the beasts and sent them sprawling, then Keyes back it up and rotated it to face the exit.

“Well done sir.” Said Fred

“Time for a little payback.” Said Keyes

Their dropship accelerated out of the hangar, and as it did, a pair of Banshees and another dropship flew towards them. A dull thump resounded through the hull as Keyes open fired, downing all three with a blast with the force of a Wraith blast. Their hulks tumbled from the sky. The human controlled dropship arced away from the ship, gliding in the open sky.

September 20, 0450 Hours, 2552

Threshold System, Over Ocean #013 on “Halo” installation

The Master Chief stared out over the water and into the horizon as the Pelican dropship Bravo-22 roared over the ocean. In the distance, the sun was rising, and the Master Chief had a hard time believing that it had been more than a day since he’d bailed out of the Pillar of Autumn. It felt like a few hours, tops. The chief looked out at the sky, noting it’s dull orange color. The sunrise here was even more vivid then before, at the cliff edge, turning the entire sky orange and red.

Turning his view away from the background, the Chief turned his gaze to the interior of the bay. A single marine was the only non-SPARTAN inside the troop cab—and he crewed a turret on the Pelican’s “Blood tray”. Inside the troop bay were eight SPARTANs, not including the Chief. Most carried BR55-M45 Battle Rifles, but a few carried MA5B/S-II Assault Rifles. Chief noted each one on his roster, and absentmindedly marked Linda as WIA. She had escaped and was back with the Captain, recovering from her wounds, and was almost combat ready. It would only take one, maybe two hours, and she would be fit for duty.

On his HUD, he highlighted each SPARTAN with him and moved them to an additional category. Fred-104, Grace-093, Kelly-087, Ajax-013, Mike-028, Elise-070, Will-043, and Isaac-039 where all present in the troop bay of his pelican. In addition, Vinh-030, Joshua-029, Edward-077, and James-074 were present inside a second Pelican, which was trailing theirs. Inside his Pelican, the SPARTANs were utterly silent, ready for the soon to be conducted assault. After escaping from the Truth and Reconciliation, Chief and his team had met up with the SPARTANs Cortana had contacted aboard the ship, as well as others. Chief knew that even more of his people were inbound—they would arrive sometime within the next few hours on the island.

Chief mentally went over the plan in his head. The pelicans would drop the SPARTANs off on the beachhead, which the SPARTAN force would then secure. Chief had asked Cortana what the defenses were that they required thirteen SPARTANs to secure, but she had been unusually short on the matter, telling him only that they were “Quite strong.”, which had left him more than a little worried. After the beach was secured, Foehammer would move in and drop off a hog for them to use. The majority of the SPARTANs would keep the beach secure, while Chief took two and moved out to view the cartographer. After this, they would escape and mount up on Pelicans and move to the Control Room

But as Bravo-22 and it’s trailing sister ship Echo 206 turned and flew parallel to the beach, and the defenses came into sight, the Master Chief’s stomach plummeted.

“We're approaching the LZ. It's gonna be hot. Get set to come out swinging.” Said Foehammer as the Pelican came in on the final approach.

Near the landing zone, on a hill, one of the Covenant Needler turrets sat. Past this, three more turrets were placed, underneath an arch created by one of the many engraved structures of the ring. They were arranged in a line, with a needler turret in the middle of the line and two other turrets on either side. These turrets looked like normal “Shade” turrets, but as they approached, Chief saw one of them shoot a burning pink orb of plasma—the same shot by the Heavy Spirit’s main gun. Also, on top of the structure, a needler turret stood high above the battlefield with a commanding field of fire. On the field itself, numerous Grunts, Elites, and Jackals stood guard, with the main groups laying in front of the hill turret in a patch of rocks, next to the hill turret, and underneath the arch. In addition, a pair of Hunters lumbered around ahead of the hill turret. Chief thought of calling off the mission, from the sheer amount of firepower. But he knew they had to press on—with heavy casualties if need be—to secure the cartographer, and then the control room, to keep the Covenant from taking control of Halo and using it.

The Pelican dipped and fell to a meter above the ground. “Touchdown! Hit it, Marines!” yelled Foehammer

The Chief slid from the Pelican’s seat and brought his BR55-M45 up to chest level. Over the comm, Fred yelled “Go go go!”, and the SPARTANs piled out.

The first target, the Chief knew, was the Hunters. Even as the Chief sprinted up the beach, the marine in the gun turret open fired—sending a wall of slugs downrange at the behemoths. Chief fired a grenade launcher M10 at one of the Hunters, but it didn’t do much damage.

The chief was still thirty meters away but was running top speed towards cover. The hunters were invincible to anything he had. He wondered how the SPARTANs were going to take the beasts at mid range—when a rocket from the Pelican carrying James and the others slammed into one of the Hunters, flattening it. More rockets flashed forward, and the remaining Hunter fell.

The air filled with the sound of battle rifle fire as the SPARTANs rushed up the beach. Grunts and jackals fell under and onslaught of bullets. The chief spotted two marine bodies in the sand, and saw one of them had a rocket launcher next to it. He ran for it, and dropped his secondary weapon, a MA5B/S-II, for it. Meanwhile, James and Vinh advanced along the flank, hitting the Covenant turret up on the structure with a dozen rounds to the weak center. The other turret fell under a pair of M10 grenades from launchers, and the SPARTANs rushed forward, over the hill, leaving a trail of devastation in their wake.

The SPARTANs crossed over the hill—and emerged into a hailstorm of fire. The turrets opened up, needler turret spraying blue explosives, and the other two firing pink orange orbs of plasma, which detonated and sent plumes of dirt spraying upwards. Chief didn’t know what was happening to his squad, but heard someone scream, and knew he had to take out the turrets. The launcher he had picked up had three rockets, two in the tube and one spare—enough to take out the two biggest threats quickly, the pair of plasma orb spewing shades. The Chief dropped to a knee and fired two rockets in quick succession, pausing only to swing his launcher around and retarget.

Orange fireballs consumed the turrets, throwing them to the side, as well as their elite gunners. The needler turret’s shield was overwhelmed with 9.5mm battle rifle rounds. Its gunner, a green armored grunt, slumped over, dead at the controls, with a dozen whistling holes in him. There were still a large amount of Covenant in the area—but the SPARTANs rushed in, taking advantage in the hole in the defense, and overwhelmed them. Shields flashed orange as the last defenders, a pair of camouflaged elites and half a dozen jackals, held firm and fired. The SPARTANs let loose salvos of grenades and followed with bursts of battle rifle fire. The Covenant troops finally fell, splashing purple gore into the sand.

“Area clear, all hostiles have been eliminated.” Said Ajax, and the Chief wondered why it wasn’t Fred or Joshua weren’t talking, as they were the designated second and third commands. Then he realized the ugly truth.

On his HUD, Fred’s vital signs had flat lined. Next to his, Joshua’s were also stopped. The chief ran to the hill, and saw Fred’s body lying facedown in the sand. A hole stretched from his groin to his chest—a gaping gap where a needler turret had penetrated and detonated, killing him instantly. His battle rifle lay close at hand, still clutched in his MJOLNIR armor’s gauntlets. Joshua was nearby, but he had been hit by one of the heavy shades—his armor was melted and blackened, and thin trails of smoke curled up from holes in his armor. Boiling hydrostatic gel flowed from holes in the suit.

The chief stepped away from the bodies, and returned to the arch of the structure. He highlighted Will on his HUD, and put a marker on Fred and Joshua’s bodies.

“Recover them.” He told Will shakily. A green acknowledgment light burned his HUD and Will jogged off.

The comm crackled, and Foehammer’s voice snapped him back to reality, and to the plan. They needed to move in and secure the cartographer. “Echo-419 inbound. Someone need a Warthog?” the pilot asked

“Could use one, sure.” Said Kelly with a joking tone. “Come on down Foehammer.”

Foehammer swooped in low to the beach, and Chief noted a hog trailing her. It was black, and coated with yellow stripes, but it wasn’t the M12A1 LAAV, a variant of the hog with a triple barreled rocket launcher and the same paint job. This hog had a single tube, vaguely similar to the Gauss hog. His HUD highlighted it as the M12A2 LAAV, the updated version of the so called “Rocket Hog”. The chief stepped into the driver’s seat and saw Kelly and Isaac clamber in to the gunner and side seat, respectively.

“Lets move out. Lets go find the map room that will show us the location of Halo’s control center.” Cortana told the three of them, and Chief stomped on the accelerator.

The hog surged forward, sand spraying in it’s wake. The chief followed the coastline, skimming close to the high walls—a shear cliff on his left that was easily seventy meters high. The hog rounded a slight corner, then the coast and high walls dipped inward fifty meters, creating a much larger space. In this space, Chief spotted a slope leading upwards to a hill directly in front of him, which clung to the cliff and turned left. Directly on Chief’s left, a ten meter tall hill with shear sides sat, with a single jackal atop it. Next to it, on the ground, was another jackal.

Neither saw what was coming as the Master Chief slammed the hog into the one on the ground and Kelly nailed the top one with a rocket from the turret. The hog kept moving forward, and the Chief spotted a Covenant group ahead, a trio of Grunts commanded by an elite. As the hog approached, the elite spotted them, and faded suddenly from view, engaging a cloaking device. The grunts however, didn’t spot the SPARTAN loaded hog, and the Chief slammed the hog through their midst, sending two sprawling, dead. The other tried to run, but in the side seat, Isaac put a hole in his head.

The cloaked elite fired—a bad move. Kelly pinpointed the source of the shot and let loose a rocket, turning the elite to pieces of warm meat and blood. Chief sent the hog up the hill, moving fast—then slammed on the brakes as a Covenant dropship flew by on the left, humming loudly. Kelly and Isaac both tracked it…but they didn’t dare fire, lest they attract its attention and make it open fire. The dropship passed without firing however, and the Chief exhaled and kept driving. He steered the hog up the hill and around a fork in the road, taking a left. Ahead was a metal structure which extended from the wall. It was elevated, on the same height of their hill, and was a shiny engraved silver metal. It featured a platform which extended outward and was quite large, easily big enough for the hog to move around. It also had a smaller, narrower section which went straight into the wall and looked like an entrance. In front of this, in the center, was a needler turret, and on the platform, half a dozen grunts milled around, loosely directed by an elite.

“There, in the cliff wall!” cried Cortana “I bet the Silent Cartographer is somewhere inside that facility.”

The chief revved the hog, and Kelly fired a rocket in front of the turret. The blast caught both the turret and a group of Grunts, sending bodies flying everywhere. The chief sent the hog flying forward, and mowed down an elite and a group of grunts with the front end of the vehicle. Two elites emerged from the structure, but Kelly put a rocket imbetween them and burned them away. The firing stopped, and the Chief jumped out of his hog.

“Watch the six.” He told Kelly and Isaac.

Green lights burned his HUD and the chief moved into the facility, his BR55-M45 ready. As he entered, he felt heat glance his side—so he spun and rolled, leveling his battle rifle at a green armored grunt. He shot it in the head and it fell, mashing on its plasma rifle’s trigger and sending blue plasma to the floor, singing but not melting it. Over the SPARTAN channel, Cortana’s voice crackled, audible for chief, the SPARTANs in the hog, and everyone at the beach.

“The Covenant are putting up a real fight! The Cartographer must be here. My analysis indicates that the map room should be at the bottom floor of this facility. Let's keep going inside.” She said

The chief turned and ran down a short hallway, which and took a right down a ramp. He noted the many intricately carved geometric symbols embedded on the walls, which covered every metallic surface in view. When he reached the bottom of the ramp, he turned left, through a short tunnel that sloped downward. He stepped into an open area, turned right, and addressed his situation.

He was in a small room, which sloped down from his position then leveled out at the bottom. A doorway was at the opposite end of him. In the room, an elite and half a dozen grunts looked startled and angry to see him, but beyond them, in the doorway, a single elite with an energy sword growled. The chief didn’t want to take on this many Covenant at once in such a confined space, so he unlimbered his rocket launcher. As he did this, Cortana spoke to him.

“Don’t let them lock the doors!” she yelled.

The chief didn’t have time to react to her order and fired the rocket he had just loaded into the center of the Covenant troops. Bodies went flying, and the entire enemy force went down in a single blast. But beyond, in the door, the elite emitted a startled roar and slapped his hand against a control panel. The chief dove for the door, but it was too late. It slid shut.

“Interesting.” Said Cortana, sounding annoyed as Chief settled at the bottom, next to the door. It was vaguely translucent, and Chief caught sight of the sword wielding elite on the other side. “I underestimated the Covenant’s understanding of Halo’s subsystems. They’ve locked the doors, and we don’t have the firepower to get through.”

Cortana opened a channel to someone off the island. It hissed with static. Chief noted the details and saw the transmission was being recorded and played back to everyone on the beach and in the hog.

“Cortana to Keyes.” She said

“Go ahead Cortana. Have you found the control center?” asked Keyes

“Negative Captain.” Said Cortana “The Covenant have impeeded our progres; we can’t proceed until we can disable this installation’s security system.”

“Understood. I’m just now leaving for the objective. I may be out of contact when we get there.” Said Keyes “Here are your orders. I want you to use any means necessary to force your way into the facility and find Halo's control center. We have to get to the center before the Covenant, and failure, people, is not an option.”

The comm crackled, and Foehammer’s voice chimed. “Echo-419 to ground teams, I’ll stay on station and keep and eye out for Covenant bogies.”

Kelly’s voice quickly followed, adding to what now was somewhat akin to a head check. “Hog is ready to roll, soon as your topside Chief.” She told him

Ajax, acting in charge of the beachhead, quickly added his comment to hers. “LZ looks secure sir…nothing moving.”

“Good luck people.” Said Keyes. “Keyes out.”

The chief turned away from the door and headed the way he had come.

“We need to find the security override to get this door open.” Cortana told him.

The chief jogged up the tunnel and then up the ramp, emerging into the passageway. He ran down this, and moved to the hog. In it, Kelly tossed him a quick “smile” two finger swipe. He returned it as he hopped in the hog. The chief spun the hog around and raced over to the hill, then turned left, down it, but away from the LZ beachhead. Down the hill, on flat ground, three jackals patrolled, arm shields activated but at their sides. They moved nonchalantly—until the roar of the M12A2’s engine alerted them to the SPARTAN presence.

But the chief accelerated the hog as fast as it could go and sent it crashing into the commanding jackal before the enemy could respond. Snapping sounds filled the hog’s cockpit as the creature’s arms and legs snapped like twigs, and then body slammed into the windshield then bounced off, flying past Kelly and Isaac. The chief kept the hog moving forward, and set a Jackal in his sights. He gunned it for the creature—and it dived away—only to have the chief swing the bumper around and slam the three ton LRV into it’s chest—crushing its thin bird like rib bones and flattening it’s entire chest. The third jackal turned tail and tried to run, holding it’s shield high next to its head. Kelly wasn’t keen on letting it escape however—she let loose a rocket towards the fleeing alien.

The high explosive non-guided missile slammed into the jackal and detonated in a cloud of fire and smoke. With a roar of thunder, the alien went tumbling, burned and charred from the detonation. The chief turned the hog and left the mangled bodies of the Jackals far behind—headed straight past them and through a stone arch. The arch was huge, a hundred meters tall, and thirty or forty meters wide, and the sun shined brightly in the Master Chief’s face, making his visor polarized automatically. The chief drove for almost a minute under the orange sky and in the heat of the sun, before he headed right, onto the beach surf, and roared past a flipped hog next to a pair of boulders. Bodies of marines, soaked with red blood, lay in the sand and surf, and weapons and ammo lay scattered. The chief craned his neck left, and saw a cluster of trees, a fallen log, and a cluster of Jackals. Behind them, elites and grunts sat and stared out at the beach, and at the SPARTAN hog, roaring with alarm.

The chief cursed and spun the hog around the way they had came as plasma scorched the air near him. Kelly launched a rocket, but it hit a tree and detonated harmlessly, spraying splinters of wood. The chief passed out of sight of the Covenant troops, then spun the hog again, reorienting toward the enemy group. Blocking his view of the enemy was a large hill…which looked a lot like a ramp of dirt.

An idea suddenly blossomed in the Chief’s mind, and he smiled beneath his visor. He had just the plan to flush out the Covenant forces—and knew how to implement it.

“Hang on!” he called back at Kelly and Isaac, then floored the hog towards the hill.

The vehicle raced forward, and climbed the hill in the blink of an eye. Then they were flying forward and falling—straight towards the tightly clustered jackals, who had their eyes locked on the last position of the hog and weren’t watching. The jeep like LRV slammed into the cluster of jackals and sent them sprawling, bones broken. Grunts and a red elite rushed from a opening in the rock walls, and Kelly fired on them with rockets as fast as the chamber would recycle. Detonations rocked the ground and sent plumes of dirt up in the air—the elite turned to chunks of meat, and it’s fleeing grunt charges soon followed.

Finally, when all was silent, Cortana spoke to the three SPARTANs.

“It looks like there is a path into the interior of the island.” She said

The chief clambered out of the hog. He opened a comm channel to his team, and gave quick orders.

“Kelly, stay here, watch our six. Isaac, your with me—lets move inland.” He told them

Isaac and Kelly both flashed acknowledgement lights and Isaac jumped out of the hog. He leveled his BR55-M45 at the path to the interior, and gave the ready hand signal. Chief returned it with a “move in” hand signal. The two of them moved to the entrance to the path, and took cover behind a tree in the middle of the way. Ahead of them was a single grunt, but their motion trackers were filled with activity—there was obviously more Covenant than a single grunt here.

The chief leveled his rifle but let Isaac take the shot. His BR55-M45 let loose a single triple crack, and the grunts head disappeared in a shower of blue. The headless creature toppled over onto the ground and began bleeding profusely onto the ground.

From beside the grunt, two of it’s comrades emerged from behind a rock, where they had hidden from the SPARTAN’s crosshairs. They ran around a corner to the right, screaming their heads off.

“Move in.” Ordered the chief “Clean em up.”

The two of them ran past the tree and after the grunts, but as they emerged around the corner, they saw almost a dozen grunts and a pair of elites waiting for them, weapons glowing and charged.

“Ambush!” cried Isaac

“Move!” the Chief barked

The two of them dove for cover as the Covenant troops open fired, sending a wall of heat downrange. Luminescent bolts of green and blue heat flashed past them slamming into rocks and trees. Bark and wood caught fire and burned, while rock superheated and shattered, raining red hot fragments onto the SPARTANs and heating their shields. But from behind cover, the SPARTANs were shielded from most of the destructive effects.

The chief looked Isaac in the eyes and twirled his hand, four fingers up, thumb out. The two of them stood from a crouch and fired, toppling a pair of grunts in a shower of alien gore. The chief held back as Isaac leaped over the rock they hid behind and flew into the midst of the Covenant. Inside, he was a blur of motion, snapping his rifle out and slamming it into an elite, then launching a closed fist strike on another.

While Isaac distracted the elites, the Chief fired on the grunts. He drained his battle rifle mag and brought down almost ten of the bastards, down to the last grunt. Isaac meanwhile slid back out of the elite pair’s hitting range and leveled his battle rifle at the elongated skulls of the two mandibled aliens. The elites’ shields had been brought down by his close quarters hand-to-hand attacks, and Isaac delivered a single burst to each elites head. The eight foot tall hunched aliens crumpled and fell.

The chief reached into his ammo pouch and found he had no more spare clips for his rifle. Isaac tossed him an M7S, which he caught with one hand and accepted happily. The chief waved Isaac forward, and the two of them advanced up the hill. They walked up it, and found themselves in a large open, almost courtyard like space.

High walls encircled them, creating a circular area, roughly. In the center, a circular hatch like strucuture stood on a silver metal base, and Covenant supply crates had been piled on this base. The land sloped down from the SPARTAN position to the center, then rose again at the opposite side, where the chief spotted an exit, along with a clump of Jackals.

Next to the supply crates was a pair of Hunters. The twin beasts growled deeply as they spotted the SPARTANs, and the Chief heard the hum of their weapons charging.

“Isaac, take the one on the left, I’ll take right.” Said the Chief

The SPARTANs ran down the slope, hoping to draw the hunters away from mid ranged combat, where they were practically invincible. Isaac primed a frag grenade and tossed it at his hunter, and it landed imbetween it’s shield and armor plates. The grenade detonated and the hunter roared, angry and hurt but not dead. Meanwhile the Chief sprinted at his and dodged a sustained beam of boiling plasma, which sliced past him, raising the ambient temperature. The beam slammed into a tree and cut straight through it, sending it toppling to the ground.

Isaac closed the distance to his hunter and waited for it to raise it’s shield in an attempt to crash it into his MJOLNIR helmet. It did, and Isaac punched straight into the Hunter, an armed plasma grenade in hand. The beast roared and Isaac slipped away, as the grenade detonated. Burning orange eels slid from open joints of the armor, writhing and slivering on the ground as they burned alive. The chief meanwhile let his Hunter lunge at him, then dodged behind it. He emptied his M7S clip into it’s back, then slammed the butt of the gun into the open joint. The Hunter roared and fell.

Burning emerald plasma fell near the SPARTAN duo and warmed the deck plates next to them. From higher ground, the group of jackals fired their plasma pistols as fast as possible, and Chief saw his shields drop to a quarter. He had to move.

Isaac fired at the slot of the Jackal’s shield as the Chief dodged behind cover. Then, once Chief was safe, Isaac took cover on the other side of the structure. The chief slipped around the side and broke from cover, sprinting to the left diagonally forward. In his hands, he armed a M9 HE-DP frag grenade and tossed it at the line of Jackals. The grenade landed in the dirt with a muffled thump, then detonated with bone-rattling force. The explosion tossed the bodies of three jackals skyward, and sent another one flopping to the ground. Two remaining Jackals were too stunned to move, and Isaac darted from cover and fired his battle rifle twice, hitting each in the skull and turning their heads to fountains of purple gore.

Isaac and the Chief moved forward, sweeping the area with long glances. When the Chief was satisfied, he waved Isaac forward. They jogged over a low hill, and spotted an open area in front of them. The area to the left and far back was dominated by a patch of trees, and rocks were strewn over the landscape. Off to the right, an engraved metal structure loomed, and a path wound out of sight. An Elite commanded a covenant group of jackals and grunts—and the group looked angry.

Plasma bolts hissed up the slope to the SPARTAN pair. The chief and Isaac moved left, into the trees, and marginally better cover, firing while they advanced. The chief hosed down a pair of grunts with SMG bullets, while Isaac let a grenade launcher loose into a cluster of two jackals then retargeted and elite. The shields of the creature dropped under an M10 grenade, then the SPARTAN finished it off with a burst to the chest as the chief moved in and dropped two grunts with lightening strikes of his M7S’s butt plate.

The chief pasued to catch his breath, and saw Isaac move towards the metal structure, and the path. The chief followed Isaac forward, eyes peeled. They followed the path for a few moments, before emerging into an open space. They were on the side of a cliff, and Chief saw the structure extend out in a disk shape in front of them, high in the air. Their only exit was a corner to the right, and a platform that it lead to. On his HUD, chief saw the entrance to the structure. On the ledge in front of them, a group of five grunts milled around near the ledge. In front of them, a Covenant turret sat on it’s three footed triangular stand, it’s bloated main gun glowing.

The turret spotted them and fired.

The chief dove to the right as heat washed over him, draining his shields. To his left, Isaac disappeared in a flash of heat and light, the blast of superheated purple and pink plasma enveloping him. Fire raged and burned Isaac alive, leaving not a trace of him. On the Master Chief’s HUD, Isaacs bio-signs weren’t even flat lined—they were gone entirely.

A rare uncontrolled burst of anger coursed through the Chief. He yelled into his comm and rolled from the side of the structure, then leaped onto the turret. He grabbed the elite manning it by his overly large head plate, lifted him into the air, and armed a plasma grenade. He shoved it in between the elites mandibled mouth, then withdrew, as a titanic explosion of blue-white light filled the air behind him, casting moody shadows on the rocks.

The chief’s eyes blurred and he fired his M7S wildly, cutting down the five grunts, who ran in terror from him. When all was said and done, he was the only one standing on the platform, panting with anger.

Cold realization flooded through the Chief, drowning out the anger. He realized that outbursts like that were dangerous—he could not hope to succeed unless he kept a level head in combat. He shook his head, and moved into the structure, through a central doorway. The chief ran down an engraved ramp, and turned left through a doorway into a large chamber. It was filled with Covenant cargo modules, hampering his line of sight. The too still air seemed to speak to the Chief, telling him something wasn’t right. No matter what he did…he couldn’t shake the feeling.

The chief slowly advanced into the room—when two large red blips appeared on his motion tracker. He heard a telltale whine of a charging plasma weapon—and flattened himself against a wall.

A searing stream of green heat hissed past him, so close that his suit’s internal temperature spiked. He rolled from cover, to see two hunters charging from opposite ends of the room—intent on cracking the Chiefs head open.

The chief reached to his belt and withdrew his four plasma grenades, his only explosives. Without hesitation, he armed them all and tossed them onto the hunters armor. The grenades pulsed and whined as they stuck and meshed with the alien metal—then they roared with blue fire. The hunter was consumed, leaving the other to roar in grief and charge the Chief.

But the chief, enlightened from his experience from moments ago, was ready for the anger filled attack. While the alien was blinded by rage, he slipped behind it, emptied his entire clip of M7S into it’s back, then jammed the weapon into it’s cluster of orange eels. The beast roared in it’s death throes, wobbled once, then toppled to the ground.

The chief stood over the corpse and gave it a good kick to make sure it was down, then withdrew his M6D sidearm. He advanced warily around a corner and into the next chamber. He ran down a long segmented hallway, then into a circular chamber with pillars spaced evenly around the side, dominated in the middle by a spinning hologram of some complex facility, which chief quickly identified as the cartographer.

“Use the holo-panel to shut down the security system.” Said Cortana.

The chief moved to the panel she had spoken of, and pressed one of the buttons. The hologram sparked and changed color, from blue to red. Small holographic symbols that had darted around the hologram faded.

“Good.” Said Cortana. “That should open the door that leads into the main shaft.” The chief turned and jogged back down the hallway, leaving the security station behind him. But as he emerged into the chamber filled with crates, his motion tracker pinged a ghost. It could have been a malfunction…or it could have been an elite in camouflage. But before the chief could make a move, his comm crackled with a panicked voice.

“Mayday, Mayday! This is dropship Bravo-022 taking enemy fire! I repeat, we are under heavy fire and are losing altitude—.” Cried the voice, before it abruptly shattered into static.

The chief eased behind cover as Cortana explained the dropship even still being here. He had thought it had left after depositing his team on the beach.

“Chief, Bravo-022 was bringing us some heavy weapons. After I saw we were up against Hunters I thought we could use them.” She said

The chief realized that he needed to go secure the crash site—see if anything had survived. He eased out of his cover and moved into the open, eyes scanning the chamber. As he moved into the open, a pair of plasma rifles crackled—exactly what he had wanted. Even as his shields blazed a brilliant gold, he brought his pistol up to his shoulder and squeezed off three consecutive rounds. An elite toppled over, and Chief sprinted forward and retrieved it’s plasma rifle. He then hosed what looked like empty air with the weapon, and saw an elite fall to the ground, armor melted away and skin fried.

The chief confirmed the area was clear then exited the chamber, into the sunlight. He looked out from on top of the cliff—and spotted the wreckage of Bravo-022 laying on it’s side, propped up against an elevated dirt mound with a ramp leading up to it and sheer walls. Jackals patrolled on the ground, while a group of grunts was stationed at the top.

“Lets double back and move down the beach.” Said Cortana “Keep an eye out for any cargo we can salvage.”

The chief knew that would take too long. If they didn’t act fast, the Covenant would destroy whatever was left over from the crash. On the far right side, the Chief saw the ground was higher, and the slope less steep. He ran over to it and prepared to pumped up his hydrostatic gel layer to maximum safe value. He activated the shielding on his feet and enhanced it. It felt like he was skating across the metal. Then, he jumped.

The chief slid on the rock wall, then landed in a crouch. He sprinted for a nearby tree and slid behind it, shielding him from the gaze of a nearby pair of Jackals. He eased out from cover, zoomed in with his pistol’s scope, and rapidly took the shot. The nearest Jackals head exploded in a fountain of purple gore, and before the other one knew what was happening, it had a cluster of rounds in it’s chest.

On top of the ridge, the grunts looked alarmed. The chief rapidly fired with his pistol, reloading twice but dropping all the grunts on the elevated surface. Then, the Chief moved out into the open, sprinting towards his last foes, a pair of Jackals to the left of the dropship. The Chief dodged an overcharged plasma bolt, returned fire, hit one of the Jackals in it’s shield slot, then hit it twice in the chest as it recoiled. The other turned tail and ran, but turned it’s shield with it. The chief shot it square between the shoulders three times. It crumpled.

The chief jogged over to the Pelican and inspected it. Bodies lay sprawled on the ground—smoking from executionairy plasma shots. Supplies had spilled everywhere, and the Master Chief was able to procure a rocket launcher for his plasma rifle, along with an M7S, plus extra ammunition for both. After loading up with as much as he dared to carry (lest he lose combat speed), the Master Chief headed towards the sun, and the passage to the interior of the island, where Kelly waited.

It took a few minutes for the Master Chief to make his way across the shoreline. While he encountered no resistance, it was a long walk, and he was in full combat gear. He ran along the waters edge, letting the sea lap at his boots as he ran. Distant memories came to mind—water training on reach, a scuba diving exercise on Emerald Cove.

After a few minutes, the Chief spotted the hog and Kelly and ran to it. She swiveled the gun turret at the sudden motion—then halted when she identified him as a friendly. As chief ran up the slope however, he noticed several charred craters and burnt bodies that hadn’t been there when he left. She had been a busy girl.

“Sir, all ready.” Said Kelly over a single beam “What’s the cartographer status?”

The chief walked up to the hog and briefly checked it out.

“Security system is down and out.” He told her “Ripe for the taking.”

Kelly nodded. “Good to hear it.” She said

The chief clambered into the hog and hit the ignition switch. The all terrain vehicle rumbled, and chief steered it out of the clump of trees, back to the beachhead LZ. They passed by the downed wreckage of Bravo-022, and the large metal security structure. Eventually, they cruised into the secured LZ.

The SPARTANs had their weapons trained on the hog as soon as it entered, as a safety precaution. While they lacked the proper tools to set up a real perimeter with trenches and mines, his team had taken positions behind cover, and dragged the turrets that had been used to defend the beach into good firing positions. When the SPARTAN laden hog finally came to a halt, Vinh climbed aboard the side seat. The chief bid farewell to the rest of the team, and set off towards the cartographer.

The chief and his team met no resistance as they approached the hill and then climbed it, but Chief saw a painful looking defensive perimeter around the cartographer itself. Three jackals were close by, not even on the structure’s platform itself, a sentry group. Past them, on the platform itself, two hunters lumbered around, and were supported by a turret.

The chief sent the hog through the line of Jackals as Kelly and Vinh open fired on the hunters. The hog’s massive front end plowed through the Jackals formation, killing all three of the aliens. But by that time, it was too late to slow down—all they could do was keep going. Vinh fired his battle rifle through the center of the turret shield, and the grunt gunner fell onto the controls—and fired. A single blue blast detonated under the hog, and sent them flying into the air in a dizzying tumble.

Oddly, the blast proved to save them. Blistering heat from the Hunter’s cannon filled the air where the hog had been, blasts that would have heated the hogs armor and detonated it’s fuel cells. Still, they were in the air, and that meant things weren’t good.

But miraculously, as they were flipping, Kelly fired and managed to hit a Hunter with the rocket turret dead center. The rocket slammed into the tank like creature and detonated in a flash of smoke and thunder.

Then, they were no longer airborne. The hog smacked into the ground, near one of the edges, and threatened to roll off. The chief rolled from the hog as Vinh ran forward, towards the Hunter, shields blazing. Kelly seemed to still be recovering, taking cover behind the hog, even as a plasma stream meant for Vinh hit her cover.

The chief tried to yell for Vinh to pull back, but it was too late. Vinh charged the Hunter straight on and drew its fire. The Hunter, pleased at a target, did not relent with it’s energy beams, and pummeled Vinh’s chest with a full stream of heat. The shields on Vinh’s armor sparked and died, and the front plates of his MJOLNIR slagged and melted. His body fell to the ground, steaming. The intense heat had cooked him alive inside.

The chief once again felt anger at the death of so many squad mates since coming to the ring, but this time he controlled it, more to his nature. He dropped to a crouch and held his M19 rocket launcher steady, and finally released a SPNKr missile.

The rocket flew straight and true, and slammed full force into the Hunter. It detonated, ripped open the back armor of the beast with the force of it’s blast, and sprayed the hunter’s blood and guts all over the rocks behind it, before finally making the Hunter rock and fall over, without even a sound.

The chief stood panting, and glanced over at Kelly, while replacing the rocket tube. She glanced at him, as she came up from hiding. Her body language spoke volumes of how surprised she was.

The chief glanced back at Vinh’s body, still smoking.

“Recover him.” He ordered Kelly, and she moved in, set a timer on his armor’s power pack for a detonation, then climbed aboard the rocket turret. .

The Chief wondered if Kelly was as rattled as he was over Vinh’s death. He guessed she was, but pushed past the thought, knowing he had to focus on the mission. He slung his rocket launcher, got his SMG to an easy thigh reach, and climbed into the hog.

The chief drove the hog towards the door, and looked at it for a moment. It looked big enough to fit the LRV, and thinking back, he knew that the other parts probably were too. The chief carefully drove the Warthog inside, wincing as metal scraped on metal, but being flooded with relief as the vehicle squeezed through and fit.

The chief drove down the ramps and such until he stopped at the doorway where the Covenant troops had locked him out. He stared at it. No way the hog was going through it.

The Chief maneuvered the hog around and gave Kelly a good firing angle, inside the room. Then, he opened a comm to her.

“Stay here and cover my six.” He told her, and an acknowledgment LED flashed on his HUD.

The chief climbed out of the hog and walked through the doorway. He was at an intersection, and turned right. Ahead was a huge room, with an abyss stretching on below him. The chief walked out onto a small platform, and kicked a small stone off the edge. It fell for a while, and the Chief never heard it clank. He looked up, at the ceiling, mind grappling with the huge size of the chamber.

The chief turned back and headed this time to the left. He jogged around a corner, before emerging into a well lit room. In front of him, an elite manned a communications crate with it’s back turned to the Chief. Beyond, in what Chief assumed was the next room over, more contacts patrolled idly.

The chief quietly approached the elite and snapped it’s neck. He then moved to the right, onto an elevated walkway. He move through the door, and snuck along the wall, then moved left. He open fired and cut two grunts down, then open fired on three more, stuck and elite with a plasma grenade, and finally killed another with a swift strike of his rifle.

The Chief spotted an doorway, but his motion tracker pinged contacts on the other side. Instead of facing these enemies, the Chief elected to try and find an alternate route. He moved to the back of the room, and found a passageway. He entered, took a right, and found himself in a small room brimming with holographic displays, but also with a hole in the floor. The chief glanced down it. From what he could see, all clear.

The chief jumped down, fell for a moment, and landed in a crouch in a darkened corner. His motion tracker showed a contact moving along slowly from his back towards in front of him, and Chief waited and let the adversary come into view. When it finally did, he gunned it down. When the Jackals was not seen by it’s comrades again, one of them came to investigate. The chief took down this one as well, and waited and eliminated to more jackals in the same manner.

Slightly satisfied, the Chief slipped from cover. He moved forward, and into a better lit section of the room, only to look to his right and see a hunter pair, growling, cannons charging.

The Chief rolled as the two beasts open fired, this time with the burst projectiles. Green explosions heated the air behind him, and the Chief drew his rocket launcher. He steadied for a moment, then let a rocket loose into each hunter.

Twin detonations rocked the chamber, and each hunter groaned and finally laid still. The chief exhaled with relief, loaded a new tube, and drew his SMG. He jogged past the two hunter corpses, and onto a ramp leading downward. He descended the spiral ramp, and exited into a pair of corridors, which wound into a small room. As the chief entered this room, the voice of Echo-419 filled his helmet.

“Foehammer to ground teams, you’ve got two enemy dropships coming in fast, along with ten more on route!” said the pilot

“Damn it.” Said Ajax “Alright SPARTANs, hostiles inbound. Let’s set the table, engage enemy forces on sight.”

“It’ll be easier to hold them off from inside the structure, can you get inside, over?” asked Cortana

“Negative, their closing in too fast, negative!” yelled Ajax “Chief, you and Kelly have to find the cartographer. We’ll hold off the first few waves and lay low, by you some time, and wait for the others to arrive.”

“Give em hell SPARTAN.” Said the Chief to Ajax. He cut the comm line.

“We’ll be in a tight spot if we don’t get out of here before the second wave arrives.” Cortana told him. “Lets find that map.”

The Chief moved farther into the chamber, and found he was on the third story of a room. He ran down a ramp, across a platform, turned left, and emerged into a separate area, bordering the chasm. He ran down another ramp as his motion tracker signaled contacts to the right of him, and kept his eyes peeled for the enemies. The chief took a right around a corner, and found himself on the lowest level of the room. He ran across it, and found a doorway. He moved through this door, and ran down another spiral ramp. Two grunts spotted him, tried to call for help—and received a faceful of led for their troubles.

Thanks to the silenced nature of the M7S, the other covenant had not been alerted to the danger. The chief ran into the room, across a platform, and tossed a grenade into a cluster of Covenant. A grunt was consumed by the explosion, and an elite lost it’s shields. The Chief hosed it and a pair of grunts down with M7S fire, then sprinted down a ramp and took a left, into a new room. The chief fired off his remaining M7S rounds, taking down two grunts, ran down a ramp, and took a right, emerging into a room that reminded him of the security station.

Inside, two elites stood guard. They roared, and chief resorted to his last offensive weapons—grenades. He tossed two in with the elites, then rushed one, punching it square in the face and grabbing it’s plasma rifle.

The hammer blow killed the alien instantly, and Chief spun and hosed the remaining elite with fire. It burned and roared, before finally succumbing to its wounds. The Chief waited for a moment, seeing if anyone besides himself was left—then turned, satisfied, to the cartographer. It was a much simpler hologram than the one in the security station, a ring that looked vaguely similar to the installation they were on.

“There.” Said Cortana “That holo-panel should activate the map.”

The chief slowly approached the device. He looked at it, and found himself drawn to some of the buttons, then a single one in particular. He pressed this down, and watched as the hologram in front of him began to move.

The ring spun twice in the air, then began to separate, growing larger as each section was drawn from the ring. Eventually, these larger sections connected, and made an even rougher image of the ring. On it, a single holographic symbol blinked rapidly.

“Analyzing.” Said Cortana “Halo’s control center is located there. That structure seems to be some sort of temple or shrine, if I’m interpreting this correctly…interesting actually. A shrine is an unlikely place to put such a important installation.”

The chief moved away from the cartographer, anxious to get topside. He had an objective—and he now knew how to reach it. The Chief ran out of the room, plasma rifle cradled, ready to take down any Covenant soldiers who tried to stop him from escaping.

As the chief ran out of the room, Cortana opened a channel to Keyes, via Echo-419.

“Cortana to Captain Keyes.” She said

However, instead of Keyes’ voice, Foehammer was the one who contacted them.

“The Captain has dropped out of contact Cortana.” Said Echo-419 “His ship may be out of range or having equipment problems.”

"Keep trying.” Cortana told her “Let me know when you've reestablished contact, and then tell him that the Master Chief and I have determined the location of the control center. We'll be heading there as soon as we're topside.”

“Affirmative. Foehammer out.” Replied Echo-419.

The chief ran up the ramp, across the platform where he had killed the grunt pair, and onto the staircase. Three jackals were waiting for him, and he let them eat plasma. He killed one, then tossed a frag grenade at the other two and slid behind cover. One of the jackals jumped and dodged, but the other was killed instantly as the grenade detonated and shook the floor. The chief popped from cover and open fired on the other, burning it’s back armor away.

The chief sprinted up the ramp, and into the open three story room. Two jackals were off to the Chief’s right, and the Master Chief sprinted at them and killed the leader with a pair of melee strikes, before burning the other away with blue heat.

The chief began taking fire from across the room, on an elevated platform. He eased behind cover, let his damaged shields recharge, then popped out and ran at the enemies who were trying to suppress him. He rushed the jackal, gunned it down, ran up a ramp, and grabbed it’s fresh plasma rifle. He sprinted around a corner, and came face to face with another jackal. The chief sent an open handed blow towards the jackal, and it plummeted off the abyss edge.

The Chief ran across the platform and rounded another corner. He encountered four enemies—a single elite and a batch of grunts. The chief slipped behind the cover of the wall, tossed in a plasma grenade, and then spun out and hosed the survivors of the blue-white detonation.

The chief ran past the smoking bodies, around a corner, and dispatched three jackals with plasma fire. He ascended a spiral ramp to where he had killed the hunters, then moved to the left. He caught a jackal off guard and burned away at it’s unprotected armor, then slid around a corner and open fired, burning away two grunts and forcing an elite into cover.

As he did this, the master chief noticed the bodies of marines strewn over to the side of him—along with their weapons, MA5B/S-II assault rifles. The chief attacked and drove away the remaining covenant, then fell back, retrieved an assault rifle and 320 rounds of extra ammo, and ran through a nearby door.

The only opposition was a pair of jackals, which fell quickly under an onslaught of 7.62mm rounds. The chief stepped past the bodies, now filled with holes, and ran up another spiral ramp. He emerged into the first area, with the elevated walkway.

Two jackals took positions on the walkway, while grunts resided underneath them. To his side, the Chief saw an elite, and he decided to first hit it. He tossed a plasma grenade, which fused to the leg armor of the alien, then detonated and made the creature into purple spray. The Chief then fired at the jackals, gunning them down with the automatically shrinking reticule’s improved accuracy. Then, as the grunts tried to run, the Chief advanced and mowed them down.

The chief left the area behind and ran into where he had stealthily killed the elite. He turned into the tunnel, ran to where the door was—and came face to face with the sword wielding black armored elite that had locked him out.

The chief dove backwards—and was glad he did. A pair of rocket’s from Kelly, on the turret, slammed into the sword wielding monster and killed it. The chief flashed his acknowledgment light to signal “friendly approaching”, and ducked out of the tunnel. Kelly was still there, unharmed, and the Chief was filled with relief to see her. The chief climbed into the hog, and sent them back the way they came. As the came up the ramp, Cortana radioed Foehammer.

“Cortana to Echo-419. The chief and I are topside, requesting pickup.” She asked

“Roger. On my way.” Said the pilot coolly, and the Chief drove the hog up into the tunnel.

Just ahead, a Covenant dropship loomed—and in front of them, a dozen elites in cloaking open fired. Kelly fired back, and quickly turned them into pieces, sending them to their deaths in fiery detonations of heat and thunder. The dropship, seeing it’s ground forces gone and Echo-419 inbound, rapidly left the area. The chief drove the hog forward, out onto the platform, and saw Foehammer land on the platform. The chief spotted a blackened crater where Vinh had fallen—his suit’s detonation.

The chief disembarked from the hog, and opened a radio channel to Ajax.

“Status?” he asked

Ajax’s voice on the other end was rough.

“In combat sir! Second group isn’t here yet—but we’ve got casualties!”

The chief knew he had to secure the control center, and get away, but he also had a second responsibility—make sure his team got out in one piece. So, he made several rapid orders.

“Ajax, hold position until the second group arrives. Kelly, get over there and help them out. Once its clear and second group gets here, follow Foehammer’s route. I’ll go on ahead.” He said

A chorus of acknowledgments whined over his comm, and the Chief watched as Kelly climbed out of the hog turret, and into the drivers seat. She sped off towards the drop-zone…and into the fray. The chief climbed aboard Echo-419’s troop bay even as the sound of Kelly’s hog faded. The craft lifted off the ground, and the Chief heard Cortana begin speaking to Foehammer.

“Let's get moving. Foehammer.” She said “Here are coordinates and a flight plan I've worked out."

"But, Cortana...these coordinates are underground." The pilot complained, clearly worried.

"The Covenant did a thorough seismic scan.” Said Cortana “My analysis shows that Halo is honeycombed with deep tunnels, which circle the whole ring."

The pelican jetted away from the platform during the exchange, and came to a halt above the metal hatch where the Chief and Isaac had fought the hunters. It slowly slid open in response to the aircraft’s presence, and Foehammer lowered her Pelican towards the opening. When the hatch slid open completely, it exposed a deep abyss, barely big enough to accommodate the Pelican.

“I hope your analysis is on the money Cortana, this Pelican won’t turn on a dime!” called Foehammer, worried.

“Look on the bright side Foehammer.” Reasoned Cortana “The last thing the Covenant will expect, is an aerial insertion, from underground!”

The pelican cleared the hatch and continued lowering, even as the hatch began to slide shut above them. Finally, with a clunk, it slammed shut, and the whole tunnel was thrown into darkness.

September 20, 0557 Hours, 2552

Threshold System, Beneath Surface of “Halo” Construct

On the edge of a circular abyss, a single grunt patrolled a platform that extended outward. His fellows were busy sleeping nearby, and he had the task of making sure the metal structure remained secure. As he patrolled along the edge of the shiny silver metal, something strange hit his ears. He stopped sniffing the air…then cried out in fear as a Pelican dropship rose to eye level with him, then higher. He ran for his fellows and woke them, before turning tail and retreating through the doorway.

In the troop bay of this Pelican, the Master Chief readied his weaponry, a BR55-M45 and a M7S SMG. He was worried and anxious—ever since the dropship had dropped below the surface of the ring, their transmissions had been cut off, keeping him out of contact with the rest of his team. He wished with his entire being to be up on the surface with his SPARTANs, helping them fight off the Covenant who had secured the beachhead. However, he knew his duty—he had to press on without them and secure the control center.

“This is as far as I can go without going out of my way ten kilometers.” Foehammer told him, swinging her dropship around.

The pelican rotated so that it’s troop bay faced the platform, and the chief caught a view of the area he was being dropped into. It was wide and long, but small compared to the abyss it was perched on. The covenant had deployed four stationary shields and two needler turrets—but none of these were being put to good use. His only opponents were a group of grunts that were fleeing towards a doorway in the middle of the platform.

“Roger that.” Cortana replied to Echo-419 “We’ll be able to find our way to the control center from here.”

The last of the grunts disappeared in the doorway, and the Pelican lowered to two meters of the deck.

“Good luck.” Said Echo-419 “Foehammer out.”

The chief jumped from his seat of the pelican, raising his battle rifle to his shoulder. While the grunts were gone for now, the Chief knew they would soon be back—most likely with elite reinforcements. As soon as the chief landed on the alien metal, he dove behind the cover of a stationary plasma shield—on the flat metal surface, there was no other cover.

The Chief had barely had time to get behind it fully and swing his rifle around to cover the door when the door ahead of him slid open, and an elite sprinted out. It roared and unleashed a hellish torrent of fire at the chief, making the shield glow red and hiss. Behind it, a group of three grunts came through the doorway, squeaking and squealing in excitement and fear.

The chief could hardly see through his bright red cover, but he didn’t have too. He peeked his weapon around the corner of his shield, and linked to the smart scope on his battle rifle. The image of the scope exploded onto his HUD, and he took careful aim and open fired. The elite’s shields went down with a rain of bullets, and when it did, the grunts ceased their suppression fire and ran.

The chief came up from a crouch and drew his M7S. The little weapon fired with dozens of muffled cracks, and before any of the grunts could get away and through the door, they were all down.

On the platform, it was suddenly quiet. The chief drew in a long breath, and stepped through the doorway. He jogged down a strange ornate hallway—diagonally shaped walls, an easily fifteen or twenty feet high ceiling, ornate markings on the floor, and glass areas of some of the lower diagonal sections, and behind these, sparkling blue lights of power generators. After rounding a corner, the Chief was directed forward by not only the linearity of the hallway, but also an arrow on the floor, pointing forward.

The chief rounded another corner, then another, and found a doorway. However he hesitated to go through it—a red blip, elite sized, was on the other side, patrolling back and forth. The chief debated what to do for a moment, then finally made up his mind. The chief watched until the red dot on his motion tracker had stopped in what he hoped was away from him—then he sprinted out of the door and behind the elite.

The chief barely made it, but he managed to crack the elite’s neck before it turned. It toppled forward and fell, and the Chief swore under his breath as his motion tracker picked up dozens of contacts in the central area of the room he was in. He dodged to the inner wall, and pressed up against it, out of sight. He glanced about, taking in his options. He could plunge through the center, and attack the enemies inside in a full frontal assault, but that would destroy his stealth advantage and be extremely dangerous. He could move around the center, sticking close to the center, staying low at the windows. To do this, he saw that he could go to the right of the doorway, but knew this would require running in front of the entrance to the center, something he wasn’t keen on doing. He could also however, move to the left of the doorway, and move around the side unmolested.

The chief slowly emerged from his cover and headed to the left side, brushing up next to the wall and getting as close to it as possible. He crawled low under a window panel—then stopped, frozen.

On an elevated platform, a single grunt stood, sniffing the air cautiously, it’s back turned to the chief. The Chief slowly drew his M7S SMG, and pointed it as soundlessly as he could at the grunt’s back. Then, he fired, and suppressed gunfire rang out.

Or not. The grunt toppled over, dead, with a dozen holes in it’s back bleeding florescent blue blood, but the silenced nature of the SMG made the Covenant troops fail to notice it through the thick metal. So far, so good.

The chief moved forward cautiously, rounded a bend, and spotted a single jackal, directly in front of him. But before he could move in and take it down, snap it’s avian neck like he planned to, it moved forward, and Chief spotted another Jackal behind it. The Chief saw it’s gaze drifting towards him, and rolled behind a nearby metal piece that stood out from his left, in a desperate attempt to get out of the way.

This attempt however, was not quick enough. The Jackal squawked in alarm and fired a burst of it’s plasma rifle, and the walls glowed green as the trio of energy bolts flashed past, illuminating the area.

The other jackal spun and rounded the corner, angling for a shot, but the Chief rolled from his crouch and snapped his boot against the alien’s shield, full force. The force of the blow sent the Jackal flying into the wall behind it—stunning it, and making it’s shield droop. The chief opened up with his SMG and cut the alien down, then moved left. The element of surprise was gone now, and his only hope was to move quickly.

The chief ran around the metal piece and sprinted at the Jackal who had spotted him. Behind the creature, he saw another of the high doorways—and knew it had to be his exit. He ran at the jackal and fired into the slot of it’s shield. It’s hand disintegrated into a fragmented mash of blood, skin, and bone, and the alien screamed and rolled onto the ground. In one swift movement, the chief brought his boot up and slammed it down onto the Jackal’s head, pulping it against the deck plates with a dull thwap.

From around a bend to the right, two more Jackals sprinted. They overlapped shields, and the leader, a major wielding an orange shield and a plasma rifle, squawked a command. Plasma hissed past the Chief—near misses that would definitely hit next time.

The chief side armed a plasma grenade at the Jackals, with enough force that when it hit the lead’s shield, the leader stumbled back, breaking the shield wall. The Chief turned away from the two and ran for the doorway as the grenade detonated behind him, a harsh blue-white light that casted shadow over the hard surfaces in the room.

The Chief made it to the doorway, and saw on his motion tracker that contacts were closing fast behind him, angling for a firing angle. He knew he might be able to get away—get through the door, and get out of dodge. But as the tall doorway slid open, his hopes turned sour.

From the door, half a dozen grunts waddled out, yelling frantically. They weren’t well armed—plasma pistols only, and one carried not even that, instead hefting an explosive cutlass.

The chief back-peddled and hosed the creatures with his M7S, tearing through their orange and red armor and puncturing holes in their complex and vulnerable methane systems. The chief put a quartet of rounds in one’s face, hosed two in the chest and left a dozen whistling holes that leaked blue blood, then hit another in it’s tank, which detonated as the explosive methane gas ignited. Fire streaked from the grunt, consuming it, leaving gnarled and scorched flesh behind, and taking down the other three grunts around it.

The chief saw the contacts begin to round the corner to his area, and sprinted forward, into the door. As he entered, it hissed shut behind him, and he saw it’s status lights wink from green to red as Cortana locked it behind him.

The chief found himself in another of the high walled hallways, and maneuvered through it. He turned right, then ran down it a good twenty-five meters, before taking a left, and stepping through another doorway. But as this door hissed open, it was not another room as he expected for the underground area, but instead, he found himself high above the ground in a canyon like area, with the ceiling not visible, on a long metal bridge.

Snow fell gently to the ground, sticking lightly to the cold metal, and the Chief could see steam rising from Covenant troops further along the bridge. The bridge, he saw, was made up of two levels, the upper level, which the Chief was on, and a lower level, which ran below it. Four beams of energy, two to each side of the bridge, appeared to tether and support the structure—to the Chief’s interest, the snow melted to and evaporated as it hit the beam.

On either side of the Chief, an unmanned needler turret sat motionless. A sleeping grunt dozed next to the turret on the Chief’s right, and he moved towards it, and snapped it’s neck. The chief spotted three more arrayed in a triangle ahead, and he fired his suppressed SMG, cutting them down.

“Strange…” said Cortana “The weather here seems natural, not artificial. I wonder if the ring’s environment system is malfunctioning…or if the designers wanted the installation to have inclement weather.”

The chief wondered as well, but didn’t voice any concerns. His thoughts were closer to the situation at hand—not at vague, generally meaningless discussions on the weather. He made sure the area was clear, that no grunts remained to awaken and ambush him, and then glanced down the bridge. Numerous pieces of metal jutted from the bridge itself, hampering his line of sight, but he spotted two jackals with blue shields patrolling, and heading towards him. Trouble.

The chief unlimbered his BR55-M45 and sighted in on the lead Jackal’s head, but stopped before firing.

From the far left end of the canyon, a heavily armed Pelican, similar to Foehammer, swooped in over the bridge. As it passed, it let loose a barrage of badly aimed chaingun fire, sending one of the Jackals running for cover, as the other crouched behind it’s shield and took potshots at the Pelican with it’s plasma pistol.

As the dropship roared over the bridge, it’s pilot broadcasted on an open channel, and the Chief’s comm crackled with the pilots cool voice.

“This is Pelican Echo-206, Fireteam Zulu, requesting immediate assistance from any UNSC forces, does anyone copy?”

The dropship swung around to face the bridge, and as it did, the Chief spotted the troops within it’s troop bay—green armored SPARTANs, the remnants of the team from the beach, along with several marines. On the back of the Pelican, a hog dangled from magnetic cables, and the dropship began to lower straight down, towards the ground.

Cortana was anxious to link up with the others. “I didn’t think they would make it.” She told the chief, then she switched to a channel directed at Zulu.

“Cortana to Fireteam Zulu, I read you.” Said Cortana “Fireteam Zulu, hold position, we’re on our way.”

Relief flooded through the pilot’s voice.

“Roger that, make it quick.” He said

The dropship continued to lower, until it reach the canyon floor. Through his scope, the Chief watched his SPARTANs unload from the back of the craft, onto the ground, where they could fight. First came a five man Fireteam, which moved in and secured a perimeter. They took cover in a patch of trees, with good lines of fire, and set up shop as Echo-209 dropped it’s hog and released the rest of the team, then lifted into the air. The dropship accelerated forward, out of the canyon, around a bend—before vanishing.

The chief turned his gaze to the bridge—he had to cross it, and then find a way down to the canyon floor. He moved forward, towards a metal beam that was placed in the middle of the bridge, creating two pathways on either side of the bridge. As he approached, a Jackal spotted him, squawked in alarm, and activated it’s orange energy shield, bringing it’s plasma rifle to bear. It fired a burst that hammered into the Chief, but the SPARTAN kept moving forward, took another burst that blew his shields away, and knocked the alien down with a swipe of his rifle. He tracked the creature’s head as it recoiled, and fired his Battle Rifle at it—making it erupt into a fountain of purple gore.

The chief moved right and ran down a ramp to the lower area. He fired his battle rifle at a Jackal that wasn’t ready, putting half a dozen rounds in it’s chest, making it fall to the ground in a heap. An elite fired from cover nearby, and Chief let loose a M10 grenade, which enveloped the elite in fire. It rose however, bleeding from it’s ears and half a dozen shrapnel wounds, and received a burst of battle rifle for it’s troubles.

The chief ran down the length of the bottom passageway, and found a half dozen grunts who were sleeping around corners on it. How they hadn’t awoken during the firefight, he didn’t know, but he killed them as they slept without remorse, carefully checking each corner to make sure no would jump out at him.

He made his way to the end of the hall, and found that he had to move to the upper level to progress. He crawled up the ramp, and saw two Jackals moving towards his area, shields lowered, easy targets. Chief grabbed his M7S and fired it, cutting through the two avian like aliens with dozens of rounds. The bird like creatures dropped with a squawk, unable to get their shields in place in time to prevent the attacks.

The chief eased up onto the platform, and found two manned needler turrets next to the door he needed to get through. Chief drilled one with battle rifle rounds, then hit another with a grenade—then saw something horrid running towards him.

A black armored elite carrying a sword of blue light sprinted towards him, roaring. Chief fired off his M7Ss full clip—it kept going. The chief let loose an M10 grenade from his battle rifle, making the aliens shields shimmer but not die. It raised it’s blade high above it’s head, ten meters from the Chief. The chief fired his entire battle rifle clip into the alien—and saw it’s shields finally flicker and die.

The alien was within striking range. It swung—Chief fired—and the elite fell forward, blade grazing the Chief’s thigh, burning through his M7S and blackening his armor plating.

The Chief stood over the corpse, breathing heavily, as the energy blade flickered, died, and consumed itself in a flash of plasma as the failsafe mechanism activated. The chief made his way to the doorway, and paused at it, letting it slide open. It was clear of hostiles.

The chief moved through the open doorway, and ran down another long hallway. He turned left through another door, and entered another large circular room. The path to the Chief’s right was blocked, and the area to the left was filled with grunts. A break in the wall was in the center, but the Chief guessed this led to the inner part of the room, which was something to avoid, as flanking maneuvers abounded there.

The chief decided he had to tackle the grunts on his left. He drew his BR55-M45 and linked to the scope, setting his crosshairs on the lead grunt. The chief fired, and blue blood splattered onto the wall. Another grunt swung around to face the Chief, but he put a burst in it’s small head.

The chief ducked into the opening into the circular room, and spotted a pair of grunts on an elevated walkway to his left. He fired and brought both of them down quickly, then glanced at his motion tracker. It painted a target heading straight for him—a target contact that wavered and shifted.

The chief let loose a battle rifle burst and got lucky. The burst hit the cloaked elite in the chest, knocking out it’s vital camouflage equipment. The chief finished it off, walking bursts up it’s chest and into it’s forehead. The elite fell to the ground with a tattered mess for a brain and a chest that bled freely, smacking into the ground.

In the room, another pair of grunts assaulted the Chief. He gunned them down with battle rifle rounds, then spotted a contact on his tracker. The chief activated the auto-zoom on his battle rifle, and spotted a single grunt, cowering in a corner, mostly obscured by machinery. The chief open fired and dealt a lethal headshot, then broke from cover and headed around the left flank.

The chief found a pair of marine bodies sprawled on the ground. Blood seeped from their corpses, painting the deck plates red, and ammo and weaponry from them lay on the ground beside them.

Searching through the carnage, the Chief located a MA5B/S-II Assault Rifle. He traded this for his SMG, and gathered ammo for it from the bodies. The chief suddenly heard a high pitched squeal, and spun to the glass window in time to see a Grunt retreat from the central chamber into the outer area via a walkway high above him.

The chief moved forward, following the walls, until he got a clear shot on the grunt. It was nervously looking about, swinging it’s plasma pistol back and forth.

The chief aimed his MA5B/S-II and watched the reticule shrink as the firing computer established a close range distance. He open fired, a ten round, fully automatic burst, and the grunt fell over backwards off the platform, screaming until it hit the ground. The chief paused, and reloaded his rifle. He continued on, around the chamber, and then moved down a short ramp into a small room, dominated in the center by a ramp leading to nothing. The chief stepped around this ramp and through a small doorway, ran up a ramp, took a left, and stepped onto a circular lift platform.

The chief slid his palm across the lift control, activating it. Much to his pleasure, the lift fell downwards, towards, hopefully, the bottom of the canyon where his SPARTANs waited.

The chief waited for the lift to reach the bottom, then dismounted it. He pressed through a doorway, around a bend, and found himself in a square shaped chamber, which was attached to another circular room. Sleeping grunts dozed with small snores throughout the area, and the Chief moved about, quickly, quietly, and efficiently assassinating them.

The chief left the bodies of the grunts behind, and proceeded on, into the circular room. He first moved right, but found it was blocked (though he did find another dozing grunt). The chief moved left, but caught a blip on his motion tracker—moving straight towards him.

The chief sprinted onto an elevated side section on his left, and watched on his tracker as the blip got closer and closer—then as it disappeared, stopped. The chief waited silently, holding his breath—then exhaled as the contact reappeared, moving away from his position.

The chief hopped down from his perch and ran behind the contact. It was an elite, walking slowly, with the arrogant stance that was trademark of the species. The chief lifted his MA5B/S-II high above his head and brought it crashing into the creatures neck, breaking it. The elite toppled forward, and lay on the ground, still and silent.

The chief glanced about, confirming no one had spotted him. He moved forward, and saw to sleeping grunts—along with several hostile live contacts in the main room. The chief quickly killed both of the dozing grunts, then cursed as a contact moved towards him. He flattened himself against a wall as the contact—a dull witted grunt—moved into his area. It sniffed for a bit, but didn’t seem to notice the pair of bodies—and then moved away, back into the chamber.

The chief rolled behind a crate, with a straight line of sight into the central room, aside from the crate. He spotted several hostiles in the room—and knew stealth was no longer a viable option. It was time to cause some chaos.

The chief grabbed a M9 HE-DP frag grenade from his belt and racked his MA5B/S-II. He braced for a moment, then threw the grenade forward and high.

The small pineapple shaped device bounced off the ceiling and fell to the floor. It landed and skittered, and the Chief heard a grunt cry “What the!” while another yelled “Grenade!”

The frag exploded with a roar, and the Covenant troops inside screamed. Chief swung out from cover, and saw that while the grenade hadn’t killed any enemies, it had shocked and frightened them. A number of grunts and Jackals were still inside, and the Chief aimed his assault rifle carefully and fired. His MA5B/S-II thundered and alien bodies fell under a hail of rounds, tearing away flesh and splattering blood over the engraved metal.

After expending a clip and a half of ammunition, the chamber was still and silent, and no one moved other than the Chief. The chief left the room behind, and made his way back into the outer corridor. He ran to another high walled doorway, and entered it. The chief ran down a hallway, and made it to another door. He stepped towards it, it cycled open, and he walked through.

The sounds of battle immediately filled his ears. The roar of T850 Chainguns filled the air, and the crack of needler turrets punctuated the combat. Plasma whined and hissed, and silenced M7S SMGs sputtered quietly. In the distance, a wraith tank hovered, but didn’t fire, lest it hit any of it’s own troops. To the chief’s left, a single needler turret sat, firing at his SPARTANs. The SPARTAN team had taken cover in a patch of trees and boulders, and the Chief spotted a flipped M12 LRV near them. Another needler turret sat high on a ridge, with a grunt manning it and another as backup. Beneath it, a pair of ghosts, idled, unmanned.

The chief open fired with his MA5B/S-II at the turret nearest to him, and grunt gunner slumped over in it’s chair. The chief sprinted for the SPARTAN encampment, and unlimbered his BR55-M45. He glanced through the scope, stopped, crouched, aimed, and fired. He kept shooting until the rounds pierced the weaker middle section, then switched targets and eliminated the other grunt before the alien could crew the turret.

The chief kept running towards the tree line, but spotted an elite running for one of the ghosts. The blue armored, eight foot tall, four mandibled alien was only a few meters away from the hovercraft—and aboard it, he would be a significant threat. The chief aimed his battle rifle, but before he could fire, the alien roared—it’s shields flashed a brilliant blue white, and then failed, as dozens of rounds from a T850 hit it’s back and killed it instantly, soaking the snow with purple blood.

The chief kept moving towards the SPARTANs, and downed three grunts on his way. He moved past a large evergreen tree, and spotted his SPARTANs. Four of them stood behind cover, hefting chainguns, covering a pair of M7S toting marines. Chief’s HUD highlighted each SPARTAN—Grace-093, Edward-077, James-074, and Kelly-087.

“Master Chief, good to see you!” yelled Ed, as the Chief came into view

“Chief, some of the others got a distress call from some marines, and headed down the canyon.” Added Kelly, and the chief found himself a cover behind a boulder.

The SPARTANs were all safely behind cover, but the marines were not. The Wraith tank, seeing it’s firing line clear, opened up—and plasma blasts hit the ground, too far away to damage, but close enough to get the marines to take cover.

Chief knew the inaccuracy wouldn’t last long—after a couple of ranging shots, the tank would hit much more accurately. They had to take it out—quickly. The chief glanced backwards, at the M12 LRV—their best shot.

“Ed, Kelly, hog now!” yelled the Chief

The tank belched plasma, and the SPARTANs ran for the Warthog. The three of them surrounded it, and lifted the flipped hog into the air—then threw it upwards and spun it, right side up, onto the ground. But even as they did this, a mortar slammed close to James and the marine pair.

James’ shields sparked gold and he rolled away from the blast, living, but the marines were not so lucky. Heat enveloped them, and the duo roasted alive—without the MJOLNIR to protect them, they instantly died in flame.

The SPARTANs clambered into the hog. Kelly slid into the gunner’s seat, and Ed climbed into the sideseat, bringing his T850 to bear. The chief floored the gas pedal, as the Wraith fired again—as the Warthog roared away, a blast of heat slammed into the ground where they had been moments ago.

The chief drove to the right, then turned left, and barreled straight towards the Wraith. The tank rotated to face them, and open fired with it’s plasma cannons, small energy cannons located on the chassis. Beams of blue heat flashed past them, and the chief turned right, away from the fire, and gave Kelly and Ed a clear shot on the tank.

Dozens of rounds slammed into the tank, but did little damage, hitting the heavy and nearly invulnerable front armor.

“Target the hatch!” yelled the Chief

Kelly and Ed adjusted their aim. They fired a continuously at the crew hatch as the hog closed. The tank fired a blast from it’s mortar turret—the Chief swerved and narrowly dodged.

Sparks skittered along the surface of the hatch. Pieces of metal flaked off, and the whole piece began to crack—then the whole piece shattered. The elite gunner roared as dozens of 12.7mm rounds punctuated the armor, then the driver itself. Blue blood vented from the hatch—and the elite gunner slumped onto it’s controls, and the tank nose dived into the snow, as flames began to flicker along it’s hull.

The Chief maneuvered the hog to the right of a large ramp of snow. The dual chainguns onboard made mincemeat of the Covenant troops—a pair of Jackals and a few grunts. The chief maneuvered aggressively, dodging plasma bolts and smashing Covenant troops with the hog. Finally, the resistance had been destroyed, and the Chief maneuvered the hog away back towards the trees and Grace and James.

As the hog slid to a stop, the Chief examined the area around the site. Scorched craters were the remnants of the Wraith, but bodies were also scattered around—three marines, dead, bodies laying in the snow, steam rising from them. Each carried something the Chief was glad to see—a S108 Sniper Rifle, a M19 Rocket Launcher, and a M90 Shotgun.

The chief knew he couldn’t carry everything—and knew he would probably need to grab the shotgun—he needed something to defend himself in a pinch. So, the Chief dismounted briefly, and grabbed the M90 and M19—firepower, and close range ability. The Chief returned to the hog and climbed into the driver’s seat. He clicked his comm, activating it.

“James, Grace, advance on foot and meet us there. Me and the others will secure the next section of canyon.”

A pair of green acknowledgement lights lit his HUD, and the Chief steered the hog towards the other end of the canyon. The hog roared off a short edge, and landed on a patch of ice. The chief battled his controls as he tried to keep the hog moving straight, and lost a significant amount of speed and momentum.

But as he was fighting this, the Chief heard the signature muffled crack of a S108 Sniper Rifle. In addition, the sound of a T850 filled the air, and a M7S whimpered.

Around a corner, a single SPARTAN and two marines fought the Covenant. One was the black sergeant, who held a sniper rifle, and the SPARTAN was tagged on Chief’s HUD as Ajax-013. They were in fierce combat against a pair of jackals, an elite, and half a dozen grunts.

The chief maneuvered the hog and gave Kelly and Ed a clear shot. They open fired, tearing into the Covenant troops. Alien bodies gave way and bled freely under hails of bullets, before finally crumpling to the ground. It took only a few moments of fire for the Chief’s team to finish off the Covenant, and then, it was mostly silent. Even so, they were not without casualties. A marine took a plasma bolt to the face, and fell to the ground in as smoking heat, not moving.

After the battle was over, the Chief exited his hog to talk to Ajax.

“Sir!” yelled Ajax “Good to see you.”

The Chief nodded, and spoke.

“Got any armor here? I’ve got two more SPARTANs coming.”

Ajax looked relieved.

“Glad to know that they made it…and we do. A Scorpion sir.”

Ajax pointed to the other side of the canyon, and the Chief spotted a flaming and crashed Pelican dropship. Beneath it, a Scorpion Main Battle Tank was flipped over; it looked like the SPARTANs might be able to right it and use it.

But before they could do anything, the Covenant attacked. A pair of ghosts came first, followed by eight Jackals. By combining fire, the humans were able to beat back the assault, drive back the Covenant troops. After this, the Chief gathered his squad.

They moved to the tank, and flipped it. They dragged it away from the burning dropship, then conferred a plan.

“Sir, orders?” asked Ajax

“Ajax and James, take a hog. Everyone else, on me, we’ll ride on the tank.

Confirmation crackled over his comm, and his team mounted up. The sergeant, whom his HUD highlighted as Avery Johnson, took a place at the back of the tank. Ajax took the drivers seat of the hog, and James manned the gun turret.

The Chief gave the order, and the squadron of vehicles moved out. The chief guided the ponderous Scorpion through a cave, and as he rounded a corner, he spotted a pair of needler turrets on a snow ramp. They had a good field of fire on the Chief—which meant they had to die.

The chief swung his crosshairs over the first turret, and fired. The massive 90mm HE shell hit the turret and, with a titanic explosion, sent it flying. The other turret turned to face the Chief, and he swung his own weapon around to target it. Before the needler turret could fire, the Chief’s cannon roared, and the turret was punched completely through. A grunt was milling around on the mound of dirt, between the two needler turrets, and Kelly killed it with a burst of her T850.

Ajax’s hog accelerated around the side of the Chief, roared to the right, and disappeared behind the dirt mound. The roar of the M21 LAAG filled the air, then the hog reappeared on the left side of the mound, heading back to the Chief, leaving a trail of bodies behind, but a tank alive.

The chief hit his throttle and moved to the right flank, following Ajax’s tracks. He roared around the side, and as he did, he took fire from a needler turret to his right. He silenced it with a 90mm shell, as his SPARTANs riding on the treads fired their T850 Chainguns at the Wraith. They peppered it’s armor, distracting it while the Chief swung the main gun around to face it and let loose a shell. Explosions tore through the Wraith, and Chief roared through the middle of the Covenant troops, using the point defense machine gun to kill several, while his SPARTANs hit more of them. On a ridge up ahead, a Wraith tank lobbed a bomb at his Scorpion—the Chief retargeted and destroyed it with a swift gun shot to the mortar apparatus.

High above the ground, a banshee flier accelerated towards the Chief. Ajax was on it before it could fire a shot—had James hit it with the LAAG and put it down to the ground. The chief sent his tank down a slope, towards a Hunter pair, and drilled them both with the 90mm main gun. He moved downward, and found a massive doorway off to his right. The chief called Ajax down, then opened the gate.

It hissed open with a roar, and the Chief sent his tank through the door. It was forty meters high and easily fifty five wide, permitting his tank with room to spare for Ajax’s hog. They drove through the tunnel for a few hundred meters, then through another doorway into an expansive chamber. It was three of four hundred meters long, at least five hundred wide, and with a ceiling at least a hundred meters high. In the center, a two hundred meter wide crevice bisected the room, and two bridges crossed it. However, one had been blown away, and was destroyed. On each bridge, a needler turret sat, and the chamber was cluttered with machinery, obstructing lines of fire.

On the other side, a significant enemy force was placed, several elites, numerous light infantry, and a hunter pair. On the chief side, a pair of elites patrolled, and grunts crewed Needler turrets.

The Chief roared down a ramp into the chamber, fired his 90mm into one elite, and made mush of the other with the coaxial machinegun. He then turned his attention to his right, and blew away a Needler turret, and it’s surrounding spare grunt crewmen, before turning his sights to the other Needler turrets.

Ajax moved into the chamber, using the hog’s mobility to stage hit and run attacks. The chief backed him up with long range artillery fire. Ajax moved in and hit the enemy, then pinpointed targets for the Chief, who then hit them with 90mm shells. The chief’s complement of SPARTANs defended him from point blank, when Ajax wasn’t close enough. After a good deal of combat, the SPARTANs finally cleared the entire chamber. They crossed the bridge, onto the other side of the chamber, and keyed a gate and headed into another tunnel.

After only a few seconds of driving, the SPARTAN team found a covenant group camped in the tunnel. The Chief blew away a cluster of ghosts and their elite drivers, while Ajax finished a group of grunts. To the left of the area, the tunnel turned more natural, sloping upwards into another canyon. Covenant troops, blue shielded Jackals, were placed sparingly on the slope, but the Chief eliminated them with tank fire from a distance. The tank rumbled as it accelerated uphill, and when they were near the mouth of the tunnel, the hum of a dropship filled the air.

The deep purple hued Type-88 Heavy Spirit flew in low and hovered in place in front of the cave. With a whine, it began to descend.

“Not so fast.” Muttered the Chief

The tank’s main gun roared and a shell slammed into the dropship. The explosion rocked the dropship back, and it sluggishly accelerated away, trying to escape, only for the Chief to blow it out of the sky. The dropship fell from the sky, belching blue flame, and the Chief smiled and sent his tank into the canyon.

The chief noted a huge rock face dominating the center of the canyon, separating it into two areas. The chief moved into the right area, and spotted a needler turret at the top of another snow mound. The chief sent this flying, just to be safe, then moved to the hill to secure it. But as he got there, a door in the rock face hissed open to his right, and a dozen Covenant troops ran out.

The chief swung his crosshairs over to the rushing hoard and fired twice. The Covenant formation was ripped to shreds, then the Chief watched James finish off the survivors on the back of Ajax’s hog.

Marine bodies were scattered to the right of the Chief, and he knew saw equipment and more importantly, ammo, scattered nearby them. The chief however, knew they first needed to clear the canyon. The chief and Ajax moved forward, onto an ice field, where an unused Wraith tank appeared easy prey. However, they were quickly proven wrong. As they entered, the found themselves swiftly surrounded. A ghost, along with a Type-55 Fast Attack Vehicle, called an Apparition, attacked. The Apparition was similar to the ghost but carried the weaponry of the Needler turrets—which is soon put to use. In addition, the tank went live, a Hunter pair emerged from a canyon exit ahead of them, and a banshee attacked.

“Ambush!” cried Ajax

Plasma bolts splattered over the armor of the Scorpion. The Chief yelled as the Apparition launched an attack—making blue explosion blossom over the Scorpion’s armor. As the blue detonations raged, Grace cried out in pain as a dozen needles hit her midsection—and tore her apart.

The Chief fired his main cannon at the Apparition and accelerated away from the tank. He hit it with a 90mm shell, then finished the ghost. However, he glanced over at Ajax’s hog, and saw him under attack—and to his frustration, his main cannon was still reloading.

Ajax’s hog tried to maneuver, but on the ice, it couldn’t. As James tried to fire the M21 LAAG, it ran dry on ammo—and the hog was a sitting duck. The banshee roared towards the hog, and it’s plasma cannons crackled, raking blue heat over the hog. Armor melted and burned away—then the entire hog was engulfed in flame as a fuel rod gun slammed into the hog and detonated the vehicle’s engine tank.

The flaming hog spun on the ice, flipped over, and lay still, with fires raging from it. But miraculously, Ajax crawled from the wreckage, shields glowing gold, armor blackened and scorched, but alive.

The banshee swooped down at the tank, and the chief open fired with the coaxial machine gun. As he did this, the SPARTANs on the tank treads also fired—hundreds of rounds went downrange, and brought the banshee to the ground. It’s flaming hulk slammed into the ground and skidded on the ice, gouging deep chunks of ice away.

The chief saw Ajax climb onto the tank, in the spot Grace had vacated. The chief was shocked at the sudden death of his two teammates—but he dealt with it. No time for emotions, he couldn’t risk another outburst.

The chief sent the tank rolling through a passageway into another section of canyon. He found himself on a high ridge, with a path leading down to the bottom up ahead, and another, equally high ridge, off to his right, sandwiching a lowered section. Grunts and Jackals were positioned to his right, and in front of him, but the Chief eliminated them with tank fire—explosions blossomed in their ranks and sent their bodies flying. On the other ridge, a pair of needler turrets sat, but Chief quickly wrecked them with 90mm shells—he couldn’t chance them attacking his team; the dual needler armament, Grace had proved, worked all two well. The chief rolled his tank forward, to the circular snow ramp leading to the bottom—when almost a half dozen allied contacts pinged on his motion tracker.

“I thought the Covenant had eliminated all the UNSC forces in this area.” Said Cortana

Around a bend, a team of five came running, pursued by hunter fuel rod streams. Three of their number were SPARTANs—Chief’s HUD highlighted them as Mike-028, Elise-070, and Linda-058. They were accompanied by two marines—and looked harried and worried.

Ajax spoke up.

“I sent them ahead, on recon…but I sent Will and Melanie with them.” He said

The chief knew what had happened—and knew he had to move quickly to get them out. Because of the main guns positioning, and their presence high above the hunters, they wouldn’t be able to hit the creatures with the main gun. But Chief had an idea. The M19.

“Cover!” he cried, and keyed the hatch.

The chief leapt from the tank and sprinted to the edge. He grabbed the rocket launcher and set it up against his shoulder. Keying through the sight, he established a lock-on.

“Gotcha.” He muttered

The chief fired his rocket, the swung the launcher to face the other hunter. A shrill lock-on tone coursed through his HUD, and the last rocket fired. Fire enveloped the Hunter, and it roared in it’s death throes, before collapsing, missing it’s chest.

The chief ran back to the tank, and climbed in. He activated the controls and sent it down to the bottom of the hill—when the hum of a dropship filled the air.

“Shit…anybody else hear that?” Asked Ed “Oh man, Covenant dropship inbound, take cover!”

The chief saw a target marker appear on his HUD, courtesy of Cortana. It was rapidly approaching—and the Chief rotated the turret to face it. As it glided over a metal structure, the Chief fired, hitting it’s starboard troop bay. The dropship retaliated—a orb of purple energy slammed into the tank—and Ed’s shields flared, a brilliant gold. As it flew overhead, it’s hull was filled with tracers—the five SPARTANs carrying chainguns fired continuously. It settled in on the top of the ridge the Chief had just came from—then exploded as a 90mm shell hit it’s cockpit, gutting it. The troops never made it out.

The chief made sure the area was clear, then climbed out of the tank. He strode up to Linda, as Ajax followed.

“Status on your team, report.” Said Ajax “Where’s the others?”

Linda looked at him coolly for a moment, expecting Chief to talk instead of Ajax, then spoke.

“We got separated sir. Will started heading for the control room—and we took on an attack. Mel didn’t make it.” She paused “Will’s missing in action sir.  Melanie is KIA.”

The chief spoke.

“Very well.” He said “We’ll continue on, though it looks like we’ll have to ditch the tank.”

Indeed, their only exit from this section was a tunnel, which was fenced off by metal beams, with space only for infantry.

“Prepare to move out.” The Chief ordered.

The SPARTANs gathered and moved for the tunnel exit. All of them carried T850s save Linda—she hefted a SRS108 Sniper Rifle. The marines were armed only with M7S SMGs. The chief stopped at a pair of marine bodies near the entrance to the tunnel, and saw they carried M19 rocket ammo. The chief restocked, grabbing eight rockets, two of which went immediately in the tube, then moved the to the tunnel through imbetween the metal beams.

The chief ran through the tunnel, when a cloaked elite roared and emerged, running straight towards him. It carried an energy sword—which revealed it’s position. The chief switched to his shotgun, and racked the slide. He put a pair of rounds into the cloaked creature, and it roared and died.

The chief exited the tunnel, and saw contacts pop up on his right side. Grunts and Jackals emerged from behind a tree, and received grenades and T850 fire instantly. Behind them, on top of a ridge, a needler turret swung around to face them—Chief put a rocket into it and blew it to pieces.

The SPARTANs pressed forward, up a pair of ramps and onto the main canyon section. This section was the largest yet, with huge open spaces, a metal structure in the middle, a doorway to the right and several hundred meters away, and a bridge which loomed high above.

The chief sprinted onto the main section and led a devastating charge. The covenant fought back with dozens of grunts, needler turrets, banshee air support, a ghost, and another Apparition.

After putting a rocket into the first needler turret, which sat on a metal pad near a patch of boulders, the chief ran through waves of grunts, putting shotgun rounds into them, then spotted the manned apparition. He clicked on his scope and put a rocket into it, making it spin in the air. A banshee swooped in low towards the Chief, but his SPARTANs were already on it—chaingun fire ripped it from the sky. Two needler turrets guarded the doorway, and the Chief fired a single unguided rocket into each as they fired on his SPARTANs, with no time to waste letting the computer get a positive ID.

Explosions rocked these and the SPARTANs printed for the doorway. When they were twenty five meters distant, it opened, and two elites rushed out—into a swarm of gunfire. Rounds penetrated their shields by the dozens, making the elites into bloody Swiss cheese, before throwing them to the ground like rag dolls.

The SPARTANs killed off the stragglers, then conferred near the door. The chief was about to order them to move in through the doorway, when Ajax spoke up.

“Sir…” he whispered to the Chief “I think we better stay here.”

“What’s your angle?” asked the Chief

“The marines will slow us down, and we can’t very well leave them behind. They’ll be slaughtered.” Said Ajax

“What do you propose? We have to get to the control center.” Said the Chief, annoyed

“Sir, you should continue on ahead, and I’ll hold here with the others. We’ll have Cortana drop a beacon for a dropship—which will move in, and transport us to the control center, which you’ll have secured.” Ajax explained

Cortana spoke up

“I can do that.” She said “I’ve reestablished contact with Echo-206, and he can be here within fifteen minutes. Echo-419 is also closing, she’ll be at the control room in thirty.”

The chief nodded.

“Good idea Ajax.” He said “Stay here, and defend yourself until you can link up with transport.”

Ajax nodded, and began issuing orders to the squad. The chief however, needed a few things. He ran back to the cave, and gathered more ammunition. He ditched the rocket launcher in favor of a SRS108 Sniper Rifle, and took extra ammo for his shotgun, along with a pair of M9 frags to expend those used during the charge. He hiked back to the doorway, saw Ajax’s team dragging Needler turrets into a defensive position, arranging wreckage and bodies as cover, and entered the door, leaving them behind.

The master chief pasued in the long corridor, scooping up a plasma rifle from a downed elite. It had been many minutes since he had left behind his team, many minutes of constant fighting. He’d crossed high bridges, fought through small rooms, tackled dozens of enemies in long corridors like this one, and had assassinated grunts who were dozing on the job.

Glancing at his erratic biosigns, the chief shrugged off the pain that filled his awareness, and left the corridor behind. His shotgun had run dry, then had been replaced with an assault rifle, which had also been depleted of ammo. Now he was down to the sniper rifle and the plasma rifle he had just looted off the corpse of a cloaked elite, which could not be reloaded.

The chief entered another room with a ramp in the middle leading to nowhere, and climbed up a small ramp, into another circular room. They things were everywhere, repetitive, and it seemed like every area had them. But from his motion tracker, Chief knew he would surely remember this one.

Two large blips were the only things other than him in the room—but these were definitely something huge. Knowing the Covenant, they had to be Hunters. From his motion tracker, the Chief knew they were in the middle area—and knew he needed to get creative to tackle them.

The chief looked to his left. One of the platforms the grunts liked hiding on was nearby, and reachable—and gave him an idea.

The chief jumped into the air, and grabbed onto the platform. Flexing his armor, he pulled himself up, and then crouched through a low doorway, into the next room. The Hunters glanced about, but didn’t spot him. The chief waited until one was close, then took a flying leap.

The chief narrowly avoided the spikes protruding from the back of the Hunter as he landed on it and struggled to stay on it. It roared and shook itself like a dog, but the Chief drove his hands into the joint’s of it’s armor and stayed stubbornly attached. The other hunter growled, confused, unsure if to fire or not.

The chief drew a frag grenade and pushed it inside the vulnerable back section, until it was completely immersed in the Hunter. Then, before it knew what was happening, the Chief keyed the grenade and jumped from the Hunter’s back, rolling onto the floor, and away from the impending explosion. The other hunter ran to it’s bond brother, feeling something was wrong—then was thrown back as the grenade detonated.

The frag literally tore the hunter apart, tossing bits and pieces away. The remaining behemoth growled and looked ready to charge the Chief, but he was already behind it—jamming his plasma rifle into it.

Before the Hunter could react, the Chief fired, continuously, until the weapon overheated. The eels that made up the Hunter roasted and burned, as it roared and writhed. Squirming eels fell flaming from cracks in the armor, and others blackened to a crisp near the plasma rifle itself. As the weapon over heated, the Chief let go, and raised a boot. He kicked the plasma rifle in deeper, and the Hunter collapsed, in a pool of burned eels and orange blood.

The chief glanced about the room. Fresh marine corpses lay on the ground, whom Chief could only guess had been killed by the Hunters. The chief searched them for weapons, and found a BR55-M45 in the main room, which he picked up and loaded. In addition, he found SRS108 ammo, and better yet, a M19 Launcher in the outer hallway, near the exit, another door with high ceilings. But as the chief collected all the weaponry, he came under attack.

Four grunts and an equal number of Jackals ran through the door, and open fired. The chief was out in the open, away from cover, and under a barrage of plasma, his shields quickly dropped. The chief rolled away from fire, behind a small metal crate, but even as he did so, a half dozen plasma bolts hit his armor. Even through the MJOLNIR, he could feel his skin burn.

The chief ducked out from cover and fired his Battle Rifle. He aimed for the slots of the shields on the jackals, then hit them in the head when they recoiled. For grunts, things were much easier—without shields, their unprotected skulls were easy work for the 9.5mm bullets of the BR55-M45.

As the dust settled, the Chief returned to his weapon stocking.

“Resistance appears to be increasing.” Said Cortana “We must be getting close to the command center.”

The chief, with this in mind, decided to grab all he could carry. He strapped both the M19 and SRS108 across his back, with his BR55-M45 in his hands, and decided he couldn’t carry more. His mobility was already dangerously low.

The chief moved into the doorway, cautiously, then emerged into another canyon.

“This must be the control center.” Said Cortana

He was on a large natural looking snow bridge, above the canyon floor. A pyramid shaped structure was to his left, and a Wraith and a batch of ghosts were positioned to his right. In front of him, an unmanned banshee was parked—and its elite driver nearby. “Subtle.” Said Cortana, as he glanced at the pyramid. “The entrance to the control center is at the top of that spire. Bring me up there and I should be able to get us inside.”

The chief saw the red armored elite banshee pilot approach it’s craft. He wondered if he’d be able to hit it—and decided to try his luck. The chief unslung his SRS108 and open fired, tearing into the Elite’s head. The creature crumpled, then the Chief switched his aim to the elite nearest him—and fired. It took fell, and the chief stowed his sniper, grabbed the rockets, and fired the shots in the tube.

The covenant forces between him and the banshee were blown away—and the Chief made a mad dash for the craft. He ditched the BR55-M45, low on ammo, so he could fit inside the small cockpit, then climbed aboard.

He sat on his belly and keyed the craft’s take off systems. It sputtered off the ground, and the Chief heard the howl of another banshee—an aircraft that had risen from the other side of the bridge. The chief flew straight up, then dropped onto the tail of the opposing aircraft. He fired his plasma cannons—they opened up, faster than usual, and the banshee’s back plating melted. The chief hosed it’s wing pods with heat, and they detonated—a blast that consumed the craft.

Air threat neutralized, the Chief looped back to the bridge. Grunts ran from a doorway on the opposite side of where he had came out of, and numerous forces were placed there as defense. He neutralized them with dozens of plasma bolts and few rod gun shots, sending scorched bodies to the ground.

The chief dove, straight for the Wraith. From the vertical angle, it couldn’t defend itself from the plasma blasts as Chief walked blue energy from the mortar to the hatch. He finished it with a fuel rod gun as the elite driver tried to bail—losing half his torso when the green cloud found him.

The ghosts on the ground tried to fight back, but it wasn’t possible. The chief moved to quickly, and they couldn’t track him, even as he strafed and eliminated them with his plasma fire.

With the armor neutralized, the chief accelerated, straight towards the spire. On it were numerous Needler turrets, which he raked with fire, but most of which were unmanned. The chief set the banshee down in front of a massive gate, and spotted a control panel. Getting out his rocket launcher in case of a warm reception, he prepared to key the lock—when his comm crackled.

“Sir, this is SPARTAN-013, were inbound! Get into that facility chief, we’ll be there in almost ninety seconds.” Said Ajax

The chief clicked his won comm.

“Roger, land directly on the spire—it’ll be clear in a few moments.” He told them

The chief made sure his weapons were loaded, then moved to the panel. He activated it and made a mad dash away from the gate, towards cover—he didn’t want to be right next to it when it opened.

He had thought good. On the other side, a dozen covenant forces stood—including an energy sword bearing stealth ops elite.

The chief fired the rockets in his tube, laying waste to the enemy. The elite dodged a rocket meant for him, even as the explosive detonated in a pocket of grunts behind it, and charged. The master chief snapped his sniper up to his shoulder and fired twice, without the scope—dual rounds battered through it’s shields and into it’s headpiece.

The chief dove behind cover, and reloaded his launcher. When he had replaced the disposable tube, he popped out and fired. With the majority of the forces down, he advanced, and hit the stragglers with his sniper fire.

As he finished the clearing, Cortana’s voice sounded in his helmet.

“Chief, the dropship is ten seconds out.” She told him

The chief returned to the lip of the pyramid and watched Echo-206 land safely on the edge. His SPARTANs jumped out, but they were accompanied by two newcomers: Adrian-014 and Angel-054.

“Echo-419 dropped them off Chief.” Said Ajax, and the Chief nodded. He didn’t have the words to tell them how happy he was to see them.

The chief led this SPARTANs to the final gate, the one that led into the control center. They took up firing positions around it, and someone handed Chief a BR55-M45 and a M7S—which he promptly took. His sniper and his rockets were out.

Kelly keyed the hatch. It cycled open with a groan—and was clear. The chief broke from cover and walked forward, BR55-M45 in one hand at his side. His SPARTANs followed warily.

“This is it.” Said Cortana, as the Chief entered and glanced around. “Halo’s control center.”

The SPARTANs moved inwards. They were in a huge sphere shaped room. A glass walkway ran to the center, then parted into a circle. Overhead, a huge representation of Halo floated and spun, while in the very center, a miniature of the whole system, Threshold, Basis, and Halo, rotated.

The chief moved to the very center, and spotted a control panel.

“That terminal, try there.” Said Cortana

The chief approached it, and took the data chip containing Cortana from his neck. When she withdrew, his head seemed to warm, and he felt hollow, empty. The chief slotted the chip into the terminal—and drew back as the image of Cortana, huge jumped into appearance in front of him.

“You all right?” he asked catiously

“Never been better!” said Cortana happily “You can’t imagine the wealth of information—the knowledge, so much—so fast! Its glorious!”

The chief shook his head minutely, slightly annoyed. Time to get back on track.

“So, what kind of weapon is it?” he asked.

Cortana looked at him, exasperated.

“What are you talking about?” she said shortly

Ajax spoke up.

“Lets stay focused. Halo, how do we use it against the Covenant?” he asked

Cortana glanced at him, then back to the Chief. The look of exasperation turned to annoyance.

“This ring isn’t a cudgel you barbarians, its something else…something much more important. The Covenant were right, this ring…it’s forerunner. Give me a moment to access...” Cortana paused, and Kelly glanced nervously at the Chief

Cortana spoke again, snapping the SPARTAN’s attention back to her.

“Yes the Forerunner built this place, what they called a “fortress world” in order to…oh no, that can’t be.” Said Cortana, dread filling her tone.

Quite suddenly, she burst out in alarm. “Oh those Covenant fools! They must have known, there must have been signs!” she yelled

The chief raised his hands in an attempt to calm her.

“Slow down, your losing us.” He said as calmly as he could manage.

Cortana continued on, unabashed.

“The covenant found something, buried in this world, something horrible, and now…they’re afraid.” She said gravely

“Something buried? Where?” asked Adrian

“The Captain, we’ve got to stop the Captain!” stammered Cortana, alarmed

“Keyes? What do we—” started Chief

Cortana cut him off before he could finish.

“The weapons cache he’s looking for, its not really—we can’t let him get inside!” she yelled

“We don’t understand.” Said the Chief

“There’s no time!” Cortana told him “Get out of here, find Keyes stop him!” yelled Cortana

The chief turned to his squad. They moved. The SPARTANs ran for the dropship, but Chief stopped Adrian and Angel.

“Guard her, and find out what’s going on.” He told them

Adrian nodded.

“Can do Chief.” He said

The others were already aboard Echo-419, who had just touched down. They quickly explained the situation to the pilot, and as soon as the Chief was aboard, the dropship’s engines flared and the VTOL gents roared. They took off and headed straight up, towards an exit tunnel—and eventually, to the Captain.