RP:Convergence

Convergence has started, jump in!

Notices

 * No factions other than the UNSC, pl0x ;)
 * Please sign posts.
 * No two posts by the same author can be next to each other.

Introduction
The year is 2009, and children all across Earth have been playing and reading resources all about the Universe dubbed Halo for over seven years. It has become very, very, very popular, and a few have taken it to the next step - writing fan fictions and creating an online encyclopedia - on this very intriguing universe.

Meanwhile, in 2552, the UNSC Apocalypso, suffering from a slip space anomaly brought on by a Forerunner artifact, has created a time/space anomaly within the Nassau Station, sending fragmented portions of the Apocalypso's AI, the station, and the station's team of highly specialized operators, including a SPARTAN-II, back to the twenty first century. However, at the same time, the temporal anomaly stayed open, and in exchange for the Nassau and a SPARTAN, the UNSC received something else: the few fanatics of that universe. Not only did the temporal anomaly transport in terms of universe and location, but it transported in time as well. ("Today" is October 17th. :))

Members

 * 1) Sgt.johnson - Chief Moderator
 * 2) Dragonclaws - Chief Moderator
 * 3) ONI recon 111
 * 4) ODST Joshie
 * 5) Spartan 112
 * 6) Matt-256
 * 7) Angel54
 * 8) MasterGreen999
 * 9) 1st Lt A. Smith
 * 10) Spartan-091
 * 11) Delta Team Curt
 * 12) Just Another Grunt
 * 13) Subtank
 * 14) Delta-269

Sgt.johnson

 * Name: AJ
 * Location: Johnson residence, New York, United Republic of North America

1st Lieutenant Aiden Smith

 * Name: Aiden Smith (Cover Name)
 * Location: Somewhere in London, 2552

Delta Team Curt

 * Name: Curtis Freeman
 * Location: Somewhere in North Carolina, 2552

Spartan-091

 * Name: Elijah Brooks (assumed name, I am paranoid)
 * Location: Somewhere in the Atlanta-Hartsfield Aerospace Zone, 2552

MasterGreen999

 * Name: CJ (A.K.A. Trilby)
 * Location: Staging an elaborate and somewhat idiotic rescue plan

Spartan 112

 * Name: Joshua
 * Location: Central Florida,2552

ODST Joshie

 * Name: Joshua McCallan
 * Location: Antrim, Ireland 2552

ONI recon 111

 * Name: Ben
 * Location: Somewhere in London, England, 2552

Dragonclaws

 * Name: Ryan
 * Location: In transit, Washington state, USA, 2552

Matt-256

 * Name: Matthias "Matt" Karlsson (real name)
 * Location: Washington D.C, USA 2552

Angel54

 * Name: Tara "Angel" Karlsson (cover name, Angel doesn't want to have her name revealed :P)
 * Location: Boden, Sweden, 2552

Just Another Grunt

 * Name: Slade Wilson
 * Location: In Amber Clad's Brig, New York, USA 2552

Subtank

 * Name: Judith Healey
 * Location: Somewhere in London, England, 2552

Delta-269

 * Name: James McBriarty (replacing my firstname with my middle name)
 * Location: Winnipeg, Canada (I dont actually live there)

001: Namesake
EARTH, SOL SYSTEM, OCTOBER, 2009 (UNKNOWN DATE)

“BOOM, HEADSHOT”, exclaimed AJ, just gaining another kill on his opponent in Halo 3’s multiplayer, which just so happened to be the one he knew as Tony, an administrator at a site that he worked at, and a fellow JROTC cadet. “AJ, you’re too cocky. Watch this!”

AJ moved his character on screen to face the new threat, and was about to fire when he was hit by three “bullets” from Tony’s BR55HB SR, killing him instantly. AJ chuckled, and was about to respawn when his internet began to act weird.

“Tony? Tony? You hear me, bro?”

AJ stood up, and began to touch his internet modem when, suddenly, in a flash of light, he disappeared from his room, and his house suffered a power outage.

UNITED NATIONS SPACE COMMAND COLONY EARTH, SOL SYSTEM, OCTOBER, 2552 (MILITARY CALENDAR)

In New York, United Republic of North America, Sergeant Major Avery Johnson, currently on leave, stepped outside of the monorail and walked towards a department store, to pick up more than a few things for his wife, Lieutenant Commander (Ret.) Jilan Johnson, who had been awaiting his arrival from the fallen Reach for more than a month. While doing so, he stopped for a second, thinking that someone was following him. After turning around and shaking his head, he continued his trip towards the store, until he had the urge to relieve himself. After barely making it to a bathroom, he relived himself until he heard the sounds of a young boy in the stall behind him. After zipping his zipper, he opened the door to find a boy, who strangely looked like he did when he was that age, hiding on top of the toilet, wearing clothing that he recognized as popular more than 500 years prior, due to his love of flip music.

“What the?”

“Hi… you wouldn’t mind telling me where the nearest Marine Corps base is, will you?”

“Are you old enough…”

“Yeah. You look like you’re too old.”

Johnson was taken back by the comment that he was too old, but laughed a bit, recalling all of the time that he had spent in cryo-sleep, extending his life by at least forty years.

“Alright, son. What’s your name?”

AJ quickly replied to the man’s question, choosing the lowest Marine rank possible:

“Private First Class AJ Lewis, 9th Marine Expeditionary Force, 21st Regiment, 1st Battalion.”

The man’s eyes changed, from one of surprise to one of doubting.

“No way in hell you’re in that unit.”

“Why not?”

“They were wiped out on Reach. My team was the last one off, so whoever was left got glassed. That unit was one of them.”

AJ snapped his fingers at the comment, when the man began to say something else.

“But… what did you say your name was?”

“Private First Class AJ Lewis”

“AJ… same initials as I do. They stand for somethin’, son?”

AJ uttered his full name, to which the man laughed.

“Well, mine’s Sergeant Major A.J. Johnson, Marine. You’re comin’ with me, but, I’m on break. You appear to have no home… when did you arrive?”

“Uh,” AJ quickly searched for an answer to how much time he had actually been in that bathroom. “Twenty minutes…” “Twenty minutes? What the f…”

“Alright, Johnson, I’m going to come clean. I’m seventeen; I’m not in the Marine Corps, and for some odd reason, checking by the calendars, I was transported from 2009 to 2552. And… wait… what’s your name?”

“AJ Johnson…”

AJ turned to face the man, and suddenly, he passed out. -- Sgt. johnson  23:48, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

002: Overkill
EARTH, SOL SYSTEM, OCTOBER, 2009 (UNKNOWN DATE)

''Double Kill. Triple Kill. Overkill. Game Over.''

Aiden, as he liked to call himself, smiled as the screen faded to black and his headset was filled with insults. He had heard it all before noob, fag and all that stuff but it didn't matter he had won they had lost. As he set himself up for another game something strange happened the game started to freeze and so did everything else, his music, his clock, everything. As he went to pick up his control he vanished in a blinding light. All that was left was his belongings and bemused German Shepard staring at where he had once been.

UNITED NATIONS SPACE COMMAND COLONY EARTH, SOL SYSTEM, OCTOBER, 2552 (MILITARY CALENDAR)

Aiden rubbed his head and squinted as light pierced his eyesight. He regained his balance, then finally his sight and thats when he saw it. He didn't know when but some how he was in a city surrounded by towering sky scrappers and what seemed to be millions of people packed into the streets.

"Watch where you going you idiot!" a man shouted as he bumped into Aiden

Then it clicked he looked around for some clue of where he was and thats when he saw it. Nelson's Column. ''My God! I'm in London!''

"Excuse me what date is it?" he asked but no one seemed to answer or even care

As he took shelter in a nearby alley his mind raced, was it a trick or some kind of crazy dream. He looked at his digital watch, he loved the fact that he never had to change the time as it did it automatically by radio. Then something happened, the date column started spinning like mad when it suddenly stopped Aiden couldnt believe his eyes. 2552.

"Nice watch."

Aiden jumped to his feet startled by the voice. He stared at the owner of the voice who looked like a Hell's Angel reject.

"Must be worth a bit, how about a charitable donation."

Three more goons appeared and produced bats and a knife. Aiden dropped into a defensive stance as he had be taught to do for so many years and waited for the first fool to attack. One of the let out a long battle cry and swung missing Aiden completely and clattering against the wall. Immediately Aiden kick his attacker in the stomach winding him and then "relieved him" of his bat. He placed the man in an arm bar and broke his arm. The next one moved in and he ducked as the bat missed his head by millimeters. He smashed the end of the bat into his chest and sweeped up in a uppercut style movement. The final two tried to run but it was to late Aiden and enter one of his blind rages. He chased them down drop kicking them and beating them both with the bat till they quivered in fear.

Dropping the blood soaked bat he strode off proud of what he did and thinking of one word as he went.

Overkill

1st Lieutenant Aiden Smith 02:46, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

003
"AJ? Tony? What the hell..." Curtis thought as the 32 inch LCD screen suddenly shed its colors and displayed a solid black screen.

A tap of the silver guide button on the control pad did nothing, the Xbox refusing to respond to a simple input. Mashing the centeral button, he sighed as the game console did not even prompt him to shut down. Tossing the controller at the floor, Curtis pulled himself off the couch, walking towards the console and kneeling next to the system and pressing the power button on the front of the 360.

Instantly he felt a tingling in his arm, his vision becoming distorted as white overtook color, bleaching the little he could see. His mind began to slow, his brain not responding in anyway to what was happening.

'''Concord, North Carolina, Earth. 17 OCT 2552 '''

Curtis' eyes opened to an entirely foreign sight, the familiar living room of his house replaced by overhead flourescent lights.

Where the hell am I?  ran through his brain, his thoughts still slow as if he had waken from a nights sleep.

Lifting his head from the wall, he scanned the space around him, his eyes transmiting the information to his brain to be processed. The room was tiled with a polished tan material, almost what looked to be sandstone, several trees growing from small squares of soil at regular intervals. A glass wall allowed for what appeared to be a lobby to be bathed in sunlight, the many people that currently were passing through chatting as they strolled along. The next thing that he picked up on astonished him.

'''Jennings & Rall. Concord Research Campus'''

"Hey kid, you better have a reason to be here." the harsh tone of a womans voice piercing his thoughts.

Instantly focusing on the person, he was shocked to see her in Ravenwood tactical gear, the contractors logo clearly emblazoned on her armored vest, an M2A2 in her grip and a holstered M6 on her hip. The uniform was exactly like he had envisioned them to be, this had to be a hallucination.

"Where am I?" asked the confused minor.

The woman sighed, looking over to another man adorned in similar garb, only wielding an M7 in lieu of the carbine. She then focused on him again.

"Where do you think you are, your in the lobby of a research center" she told him, a slight worried tone behind it.

"What's the date?"

"October 17th, you seem like you hit your head or something, do you need me to get someone to help?" the contractor inquired, her posture relaxed compared to when she first called him out.

"What year?" Curtis blurted out, standing up as his head started spinning.

"2552, are you alright?Sir?"

Starting towards the door, he started to freak out, this had to be a dream, this was a fictional universe, but why the hell did it seem so real. Passing through the doors, he didn't know what to expect, if it was a dream he could just fall into the abyss like walking off the side of a cliff or something. Instead, he was now greeted by the outlines of skyscrapers in the distance, a sight that he only saw in downtown Charlotte, not the tiny suburban towns that were Harrisburg and Concord.

The parking lot was filled with a wide array of vehicles, recognizing some to be the ones he had created, and even just started to think about. Curtis didn't know where he was going, what he was going to do, or if this was real. As if to answer his question, he stumbled and pain shot up his leg as his knee impacted on concrete. Scrambling back to his feet, he continued on, albeit with a slight limp, all the while ignoring the cars and various people passing him.

How could this be happening? One minute he was playing Halo, the next he was actually in 2552. He froze, remembering the story of ilovebees. That had to be what was happening, the artifact from the plot, the one that shifted an AI into the past, was he flung into the future. No, that was crazy, there was no real science behind that, you couldn't just time travel, it was impossible.

Curtis was brought back to reality, well this reality, as he bumped into a man wearing a business suit, the device he was talking on clattering to the ground as he was abruptly interupted by the teenager.

"What the hell!" he yelled out, glaring at Curtis before crouching down to retrieve his phone.

"I'm sorry, I... didn't see you" he managed to get out, stepping back as the guy examined the shattered screen of the gadget.

"Idiot, that was a top of the line chatter, your paying me back!" the person yelled, realizing that it was beyond repair.

Curtis started to seriously freak, now people were staring, this was getting bad, five minutes into the future and he was already involved in a confrontation.

"I...I..." he studdered.

"Your a refu aren't you, are you even on the grid?" he yelled, his voice obviously showing he was frustrated.

Without thinking, he turned and ran, sprinting as fast as he possibly could as the man pursued. As he began to enter the actual city, he cut right, moving down the alley towards the next street over. A display on the edge of the sidewalk indicated he was on Valhalla avenue, recognizing the street name and recognizing that he was only four miles from where he lived.

 Jennings & Rall   [SLIPCOM]

004: What the frak?
EARTH, SOL SYSTEM, OCTOBER, 2009 (UNKNOWN DATE)

Ryan seethed as he stumbled around the map, searching for opportune targets. His Elite character may have looked cool with its authentic Zealot-style armor colorations, but it made for poor camouflage and forced him to creep about the perimeter. At least that’s what he told himself, though he suspected his lack of “skillz” was probably a higher contributor to his lack of multiplayer success.

“Dai~!” he cried, Grunt-style, as a clever camper with Spartan armor killed him from behind. “Gah~!” His Elite body lay dead on the floor. As he watched, the Spartan player started to walk on it, choosing from Ryan’s dropped weapons.

“Oh, don’t you frakin’ corpse hump me,” he warned the screen, glaring at the Spartan. Then the screen started to warp and glow blue as the electricity failed, throwing the room into darkness. “What the frak?” Then the world faded away.

UNITED NATIONS SPACE COMMAND HOMEWORLD EARTH, SOL SYSTEM, OCTOBER, 2552 (MILITARY CALENDAR)

“My head…” Ryan groaned as he blinked his eyes. He had felt something like motion-sickness, only it was more of an intense disorientation. The kind where he wasn’t sure where the local point of gravity was supposed to be.

Then his eyes focused. ''What the? Where am I?'' he thought, staring at his surroundings. He sat on the sidewalk of what appeared to be a city block, only the city was… weird looking. For one thing, the buildings, though they looked old, appeared to be made out of some plastic-looking material like you might see on that technology show Beyond Tomorrow or something. For another thing, there were no lights on despite it being twilight hours.

This, however, seemed to be a common subject of confusion. Ryan overheard several people on the street remarking about the sudden blackout.

“You only rarely hear it so quiet,” one of the people marveled, his words accented rather oddly. Ryan couldn’t place the region of origin.

Out of the blue, power returned. The city at once lit up with brilliant light that blocked the stars from view. Various sounds of machinery, from traffic to trains, to other things Ryan couldn’t identify began to fill the air. Ryan realized that yes; it was very quiet compared to what the city sounded like normally.

“Oni’s testing their nasty tricks,” it sounded like the pedestrian said. Ryan assumed he was referencing the oni monster of Japanese myth, though he didn’t look like the manga-geek type.

…Although, Ryan wasn’t sure he could tell exactly what “type” the person was supposed to be. His clothes didn’t resemble any fashion Ryan knew about, and he wore strange earrings that seemed to change color depending on the angle one looked at them.

Ryan decided to approach him. “Excuse me?” he said, stepping over to the guy. “I’m kind of lost. I was wondering if you could tell me what city this is?”

“Hey, check out the authentic Y2K threadware!” the guy chuckled as he looked over Ryan’s outfit. “This is Seattle, o’ course. What’d you do, drain an alc-bev dispenser?”

Ryan could barely follow the slang, but he got the gist of it. “I’m not drunk, just a bit… disoriented… Um, Seattle, huh?” He glanced at the nearby buildings, none of which looked remotely familiar. “When did they put up this neighborhood?”

“Dunno,” the guy said with a shrug. “2530s, 2520s…”

Ryan’s eyes narrowed. He had absolutely no idea what to make of someone saying he’d been dumped 500 years into the future. What was this, Talk Like a Future-Citizen Day or something?

“It was before the Insurrection,” offered a female teenager standing nearby, who was dressed in similar strange garb. Like the less than friendly guy, she possessed the same unfamiliar accent. “I know my grandmother moved here before anyone really cared about Reach as anything other than a glorified military base, but now…” Her face darkened. “Now all anyone talks about is the fall of Reach and the Covenant threat. How they only have ten and half light years to travel to find Earth…”

Ryan just stared, trying to process her words. What sounded at first like random nonsense was starting to sound very familiar. He was a Halo geek, after all. Heck, he helped manage the Halopedia! Which made him wonder just what happened with his game earlier. All he remembered was getting owned and then…

“Hey, are you a refu?” the girl asked suddenly.

“What?” he asked, startled. He knew the term, sure – a somewhat derogatory reference to a refugee emigrated to Earth from a colony world in an attempt to flee the approaching Covenant. However, it was a rather obscure word, used only in the ilovebees campaign and not something he’d expect the average Halo fan to know, much less use.

“Oh, I mean refugee. Sorry,” she apologized, apparently misunderstanding Ryan’s reaction. “It’s just your outfit seems kinda… low-grade. Your necklace looks like it’s gonna fall apart at any moment.”

Ryan glanced down at his silver ankh. It wasn’t the most fabulous piece of construction in the world, but it didn’t seem that bad… unless it was because it was made from a time 547 years before. Which was ridiculous of course. “Yeah, right. Why are you guys talking like we’re in Halo?”

“Halo?” She looked completely confused. “What does that mean? Is it offplanet slang?”

“No, seriously,” Ryan said forcefully. “What the frak is going on here?”

The guy with the chameleon earrings looked at Ryan with a concerned expression. “Are you okay? Do you want me to flag an ambulance?” He held up what Ryan supposed was a mobile phone, which looked like a cross between an iPhone and a Game Boy Advance.

Ryan closed his eyes. This was all so weird. First the messed up Halo game, now it he was like he was in Halo… Wait… Was it possible? He recalled the bizarre warping of the TV, then the blackout, and now this weird “future” place.

“No…” He opened his eyes and shook his head. “Sorry… Just hit my head earlier and I… What’s today’s date?”

The two people shared a quick look between them.

“Uh, October 17th, 2552,” the girl said.

Ryan’s thoughts raced. That was only three days before the Covenant invasion of Earth began. That meant he had three days to prepare before the whole planet went to hell.

He knew he had to act fast, but to do what? He could try to warn people, but who would listen to the crazy guy who thinks he’s from 2009 in an alternate universe where all this was fictional? Well, he supposed he could prove it through his knowledge of the Haloverse. However, that offered still more trouble.

He doubted ONI would take too kindly to someone knowing their secrets. Knowing them, they might consider him a spy or at least too great a liability to let go… Hey, that’s what he meant by ‘oni’, Ryan thought briefly. He thought the blackout was ONI’s doing…

And then it came to him. Of course, he thought. It was the Forerunner artifact from ilovebees that caused the blackout. That could explain how he arrived in the first place. If that artifact, which he knew intimately enough to write its article on Halopedia, was powerful enough to take Nassau Station to 2004 in the Dead or Alive universe it could potentially have drawn him from 2009 in his universe. Yep, this is officially insane.

But if this was a world in which ilovebees was not only canon, but real that could potentially offer him a source of security. He knew about vigilante groups that could perhaps stand a chance against the Covenant enough to change some things for the better. Who better than a Halo geek to navigate the Haloverse?

“Thanks,” he said. “Yes, thank you. I, uh, I am a refugee… I got here from Coral shortly before it was glassed. Listen, I have family in New Jersey, but I find myself a bit short on credits at the moment. Could either of you please get me a train ticket there? I hate to beg, but I have little in the way of money at the moment.”

“You’re off the grid, aren’t you?” the guy asked, looking at Ryan oddly.

“I… Yes,” he admitted. He knew there could be trouble at this point. Being off the grid usually meant you weren’t legally on Earth.

“I’m so sorry about Coral,” the girl interjected.

“Thanks,” Ryan said, trying to look reasonably dejected, like his homeworld really had been destroyed.

“I can’t get you on a train if you don’t have a chattersig,” the guy said, shaking his head. “But here,” he said, pulling up a holographic map of the city on his iPhone-like chatter, “There’s a packbus pick-up point here. They should be able to get you where you need to go. Might take a few days to get there, though.”

Ryan swallowed. In a few days the Covenant would invade… “Thanks,” he said anyway. “That’s really helpful.” He studied the map, trying to memorize it. Seattle had changed so much in 500 years… --Dragonc laws (talk ) 08:58, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

005: Roll-call
EARTH, SOL SYSTEM, OCTOBER, 2009 (UNKNOWN DATE)

Matthias, or "Matt", as he was nicknamed by most, including the users of Halofanon, continued to type words in the MSN window and sent to ONIrecon111 (nicknamed ONI), a fellow user on Halofanon.



 ONI typed back.



Matt waited for ONI's response, while he heard Angel curse at people on Xbox Live.

"Get out of hiding, you freakin' noob! AND STOP USING THE ROCKET YOU FAG! YOU FU-"

Then suddenly, the whole room they were in started to warp and glow blue, and then the two were gone, with Jonathan (Baccus) and Marcus (LieutenantDavies, LD) watching at the places Matt and Angel had just been with gaping mouths.

UNITED NATIONS SPACE COMMAND HOMEWORLD EARTH, SOL SYSTEM, OCTOBER, 2552 (MILITARY CALENDAR)

Matt woke up in an alley. He was certainly not in his hometown anymore, in fact, the architecture didn't look like that of any town on Earth. They appeared new and made with new materials, not reminding Matt of any building material he knew. He walked out of the alley, coming in front of a building. He read the sign: COLONIAL MILITIA RECRUITMENT CENTER. MILITIA SOLDIERS DESPERATELY NEEDED.

Matt looked both left and right. The streets were filled with what appeared to be refugees. For some reason, it reminded him of something that he'd read in Halo: The Cole Protocol. He decided to not disturb any of the refugees and instead went towards the Militia recruitment center, while thinking about why they called it "Colonial Militia" like in Halo. He was still covered in thoughts as he moved in through the door's building and up to a man sitting behind a desk, clad in military uniform. He looked up to Matt, not knowing he was occupied fighting his own logic.

"You here to aign up?" the man asked with hope in his eyes. If Matt had been focused, he would have been able to tell that few ever came here to sig up.

"Yeah, sure" Matt said, not focused.

"Your name?"

"Matthias Karlsson, with k and two s", Matt told him, still covered in thoughts.

"Then congratulations," the man said, smiling. "You're now in Earth's Washington Emergency Militia Program, ready to protect Washington in case of Covenant attack."

Then Matt finally understood; he had accidently signed up for a Colonial Militia! And worse, apparently, he was somehow in the Halo Universe, a short time before the Covenant attack Earth! It didn't appear logical no matter how he put it to himself, but he realized that it must be true. And if that was true, that meant Angel was in danger.

''NOTICE: WHAT I TOLD ONI IN THIS POST IS ACTUALLY TRUE, AND I INCLUDED IT IN THIS POST TO MAKE SURE THAT THOSE INVOLVED IN HALO: DEEPER WE GO GETS TO KNOW OF ITS UNFORTUNATE FATE. ALSO, ANGEL'S SPEECH WAS SEVERELY FILTERED AND WRITTEN IN MORE FRIENDLY TERMS BY ME, OTHERWISE SHE'D SCARE THE BEJESUS OUT OF YOU. HOPE YOU ENJOYED MY POST :P''

006: Enlighten Me
EARTH, SOL SYSTEM, OCTOBER, 2009 (UNKNOWN DATE)

Slade's monotonous laughter crackled through his poor-quality headset, causing an anguished and angered reply from the player Slade had just run down using a mongoose. The insults were unoriginal, cutting Slades laughter short. On his television, Slade Wilson's Halo 3 character lept off it's vehicle, as a barrage from a battle-rifle shot around it. Slade's spartan spun, lobbed a frag and shot his opponent as the grenade exploded at his feet. Again there was groaning, the score looked like Slade was playing alone and Slade felt the familiar feeling of boredom as the moonlight broke through the clouds in the window behind him. Slade felt his eyes sting from lack of blinking, and was forced them shut as the screen buzzed a vibrant blue.

UNITED NATIONS SPACE COMMAND HOMEWORLD EARTH, SOL SYSTEM, OCTOBER, 2552 (MILITARY CALENDAR)

Slade opened his eyes and went to move his Spartan back onto it's mongoose, except there was no Mongoose, or Spartan, controller, TV or Room. Slade looked around, only seeing the faint outlines of skyscrapers above him.

"Blackout" a voice grunted behind him. Slade leapt as he noticed the dozens of people around him, his mouth hanged loose as his voice croaked out a timid yelp of suprise. "Hey, I'm not that ugly." the same voice said jokingly, spurring forced laugh from the people next to him.

"Uh, hi...can one of you guys tell me what's going on?" Slade asked, the confusion obvious in his usually unemotional voice. A head turned.

"What's there to know? It's a blackout, scared of the dark? Go back home."

"Hey, there could allways be more to it you know," another voice chirped out, "Like experiments draining our power, or it could've just been a some guy messing up at a grid."

Suddenly lights flared up, blinding Slade momentarily. As his eyes strained to readjust themselves he saw his first illuminated sight since a TV, people, a throng of them, filling up the streets lined with skyscrapers. They all seemed to get busily back to whatever it was they were doing. Slade scratched his head, before tapping the nearest person.

"Get off me!" she yelled quite suddenly, causing many of the surrounding crowd to stare as she whirled to face Slade as he grovelled out a plea.

"Please, um, where, uh, where am I?"

She glared at the him and Slade noticed her unusual attire. "What are you stupid?" she said rashly, earning a bewildered denial from Slade, "You're in New York."

"New York? In America?" Slade said, his colour visibly dissapearing from his face.

"No genius, in Asia."

Slade looked around, his eyes wide as if they were trying to take in his surroundings though he was really just to shocked to close them. "What day is it?" He stammered out again, only to find the woman had walked off.

"It's October 17th." said a girl who was standing outside what appeared to be a store.

"2009" he sighed, relieved.

The girl laughed "No silly, it's 2552."

007: Home Sweet Home
EARTH, SOL SYSTEM, OCTOBER, 2009 (UNKNOWN DATE)

The 360 Controller as Josh took incoming fire, he quickly turned round and shot the opponent, he was playing Halo 2 PC. He heard down the Mic "Oh My God! You douche!" The 10 year old screamed down the mic. Joshua responed "Dude, calm it. 'Tis a game" Joshua continued to shoot the enemy team with Battle Rifles and SMGs, he continued to get disgruntled Messages from 10 Year old Americans. They were alomost as bad as his Brother who would complain non-stop about games which annoyed the Hell outta Josh. Just as Josh was about to hit 40 kills when a giant flash of light appeared before his eyes

UNITED NATIONS SPACE COMMAND HOMEWORLD EARTH, SOL SYSTEM, OCTOBER, 2552 (MILITARY CALENDAR) Josh woke up to find that he was in Ballymena though it was different from what he remembered. He walked around the town to see if he could get his bearings

"Nice Clothes!" some chavvy people said as they walked passed

"Aye, your tight! Screw Off!" Joshua Responded

"Ohhh he's a fighter lads!" The Chav leader responded and began to walk over.

"Want your head kicked in son?" one of the Cronies.

Josh just smirked as they moved for the Kill, one of them went at him Josh grabbed hit arm twisted it and punched the back of the elbow hard, the cracking sound was horrible. The arm was broke the 3 other guys looked in horror and began to run away, Chavs were always cowards. "Oi smart arse, what date is it?!" Josh shouted to the ingured boy.

"uhh.. October 17th 2552" the boy replied feebly

"Oh, God" Josh said astonished "Here lemme help you." Josh began to put the arm into a temporary split.

"You better see a doctor, now run along" The boy sprinted down the Street.

For some odd reason Josh wasn't scared or angry, but infact he had a happy feeling inside him, for some odd reason he was Home.

008: (And you know this... how?)
Off in the distance, AJ heard the sounds of cooking, as well as the sweet, sweet smells of food, floating through the air, and right into his nostrils. He opened his eyes to find himself staring at a ceiling, lying on a plush bed cover in the clothes that he had fallen out in. He swung his legs over the side, got up, and walked into what had to be the kitchen, finding Jilan Johnson cooking food from her homeworld of New Jerusalem.

AJ grinned sheepishly, as Jilan was more beautiful than he ever imagined, then, looking over, saw Johnson, reading a news paper and watching the COM channels, muttering things like "bullshit". AJ rubbed his eyes, and looked at the two.

"Hello?" "Hey, honey. Your catch of the day is awake.", said Jilan, with a grin. "Well then. So, while you were asleep, I checked with some of my superiors... in all of the Colonial Administration's documents, there was no mention of an "AJ" anywhere, especially one with your name. So, who are you, where did you come from, and are you a member of the Covenant?"

AJ glanced around, and hoping to change the subject, muttered something:

"I'm God's own anti-sonofabitch machine."

Johnson slapped down his newspaper, then looked over at AJ, and stared at him.

"How did you know that?" "Know what?" "That saying... only myself and those that I've commanded use it. Now, who are you, where did you come from, and are you a member of the Covenant?" "No, I'm not one of those split-chinned aliens, I come from Earth, and you already know who I am." "Alright... well, all UNSC servicemen would know this one: What is the standard UNSC Assault Rifle?" "MA5B Individual Combat Weapon System, holding over sixty-rounds of ammunition." "Who is the commander of all UNSC forces?" "Lord Terrence Hood." "Hmf." "Alright, one more question..." He better get this one wrong, or I know something's up. thought Johnson. "How many SPARTAN Programs are there?" "Three, but you only know of two." replied AJ Johnson shifted his unlit cigar in his mouth, then spit it out, coughing. "SAY WHAT?" "Yes, there are three. You were one of the first one's... John is a member of the second, and the third are so highly classified, you wouldn't know about them..." "... you knew I was a I?" "Yeah." "How?" "Uh... I read the files to Operation: KALEIDOSCOPE..." "... those files are sealed by ONI. How the hell did you get them?" "They were open..." "What?" "Alright... um... there's a very long story behind that... um... in... 2009... there was... a book... and inside, were the records to KALEIDOSCOPE..." "... how the hell does a book in 2009 have the records of an operation that took place five hundred years later?" Johnson stopped, shifted the cigar, then glanced over at his wife, then back at AJ. "Well... never mind all that bull. I have to go to the Cairo in two days, and since I have nothing better to do with you, would you like to tag along?" "Really?" said AJ, trying to hide his enthusiasm. "Yeah. Here are some of my old fatigues, I'm sure you'll fit. From now on, you're Private AJ Lewis, a member of the 405th Regiment, assigned to the 7th ODST Regiment on a special program. Here's an M6C, just carry it for protection." AJ took the large pistol, inspected it, then safed it, grabbed Johnson's old uniform, as well as a standard Marine helmet, put them all on, and waited while Johnson put on his dress uniform, packing a duffel bag with combat uniforms as well. -- Sgt. johnson  22:29, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

009: Welcome to Surreality
“You’ve never been on a space-ship before?” The little girl asked, astounded.

“Never, it’s cheap now right? To fly around in space, right?” Slade responded, a grin spreading across his face. The future. This place that at first left him in such a daze of confusion now had an air of optimistical excitement. His future looked fun.

“My daddy’s been on lots of space-ships all over the place. He went to the UNSC.” The little girl said matter-of-factly, nodding her head as she spoke as if she’d rehearsed it.

“UNSC huh? They stole that from Halo.” Slade laughed at the coincidence, and the girl laughed too. Slade bent down towards her, “So, this is New York…that…that’s interesting, but can you tell me whats happened to Australia in the past 500 years?”

“What’s Australia”

“Uh….You know, downunder, that huge continent country thing near the bottom of the pacific,” The girl stared at him blankly, as if Slade was speaking jibberish, “It’s important cause I’m from Australia, see and I want to find out -."

“So you did go on a spaceship!” The girl smiled

“What? No!”

“Yes you did, you came to Earth from Australia.”

“Listen Australia is on Earth, it’s another country.”

“Oh…what’s Halo?”

“Never mind…actually how are video games now-days?”

The girl bit her lip as she thought hard only for this train of thought to be broken as a woman’s voice shouted out a name and the girl dashed into the store that they were standing outside of.

“Uh, goodbye…” Slade said as she ran off, “I’m going to need a job to buy space-tickets…wait, do I exist on paper work here? And why am I thinking out loud… maybe some asterisks like * will help show that I’m thinking…wait, what am I saying?”

×I’m going to need to find a UNSC establishment first, to check the prices and locations, yea, asterisks always work. *

010: I can't haz...?
EARTH, SOL SYSTEM, OCTOBER, 2009 (UNKNOWN DATE)

Bullets riddled the air as CJ dashed for cover. His shield were down, the entire enemy team was by him, and no teammates in sight.

Just the way I like it

Jumping from cover, CJ tossed a grenade at two of the men on his right, blasting them off the bridge. As the others approached, the Spartan got off a shot, downing two more, but was still outnumbered four to one. As they closed in, he waited for the sound of gunshots. But all he heard... was a beep.

"Wait, wait, guys; I have a message."

The blue-clad soldiers stopped in their tracks, patiently waiting for their enemy to return. Back in the real world, CJ pressed a button on his controller, bringing up the message. The sender was...

"Lukems?"

''Dear Trill B, due to the fantastic screenshot that has been circling around our site, and the remarks it got from Marty, you have hereby been awarded with the Recon armor. Enjoy.''

"Ho-lee ****. I won, I won, I freaking wo--"

'''CHICAGO MEGACITY, EARTH, SOL SYSTEM, OCTOBER 2552 (MILITARY CALENDAR)

The shout of joy slowly turned to a squeal of terror as CJ's eyes recovered from the blinding flash. All he could see was a lamp, and a small TV. He apparently was sitting on a couch. But where? The boy ran to the first window he could find, and looked outside.

A sprawling metropolis laid before him, thousands of people walking up and down the streets. Realizing the most obvious dilemma, CJ ran down to the street, and found a random person among them all. He asked where he was, and was told he was in Chicago, and the year was 2552.

He was lost. He had no idea what to do, and was on the verge of panic when he looked up at the billboard above him... It read "The Few. The Proud. The Marines." And below it was a symbol he recognized all too easily. And in a flash, he knew what to do. He ran into a nearby recruiting office, remarkably void of life. A sole woman sat at a desk punching random numbers into a computer terminal.

"I'd like to join the Marine Corps, please." He said to the lady. She glared at him with uncaring eyes.

"Aren't you a little short to be a Corps Trooper?"

CJ spitted at the poor reference, although he was too far-flung for the girl to really know its origins, he was sure of that.

"No, I'm 18."

"I don't believe it." The girl replied.

"I own a trilby hat."

The woman extended her hand to him. "You're in."

CJ shook her hand and sat down to fill out the paperwork. Finally, he was free. No more school, no more troubles, no more jerks from Halo Fanon, no more...

CJ dropped the pen in his hand as his mouth fell agape.

Oh, God, no.

MasterGreen999 00:56, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

011: Bus Musings
PACKBUS, WASHINGTON, EARTH, OCTOBER 17TH, 2552 (MILITARY CALENDAR)

Ryan squirmed around, trying to get comfortable on the packbus seat. Though he lacked any form of recognizable currency, the driver had let him on in exchange for one of his rings, in the form of a silver dragon clutching a red stone. Apparently the guy had never seen anything quite like it, making it valuable enough to earn him passage to where he needed to go.

The trip wasn’t superb, but it at least included free food. Ryan knew from his research on Halopedia that packbuses always kept a few passengers on the grid so that the Civilian Administration Authority didn’t guess something was up. These legal citizens kindly provided food and drink for the rest of the bus.

However, as Ryan had feared, the food wasn’t quite up to par with what he was used to. The war with the Covenant had cost the UNSC much of their food supply, and there were all sorts of rationings of various ingredients. And so, he mainly just warmed himself with hot tea as he tried to figure out his situation.

“There’s more than one universe out there,” he noted, tapping his chin. “That is known fact. Qubit.org and the quantum computer projects are basing everything on that concept.” The particles’ reaction to counterparts in other universes provided the means for a transuniversal computer to be developed.

“But universes so different?” Normal theory suggested that alternate universes differed only by a few molecules. Enough, perhaps, to create an entirely separate timeline of events, true. He recalled reading a Back to the Future fanfic in which one life saved had led to nuclear apocalypse via the Ripple Effect, which held that the smallest changes could provoke vast consequences. But that still didn’t explain how a whole world could be represented as a work of fiction in another.

He tried thinking about it for a bit, but then shook his head. He wasn’t a scientist. It didn’t matter so much how it happened but that it did happen. For that, he had a few questions: A) Can it be reversed? And B) Was it an isolated incident?

While he loved the Haloverse as an observer, it was a really dangerous place to actually live in. He loved his home far more, and would want to terminate this vacation at some point. It could be a like he was on the end of a rubber band stretching out the longer he was in the Haloverse, and it would eventually snap back and send him home. On the other hand, going back could involve activating the Forerunner artifact again. That would be really really hard to accomplish, given that it was in the basement of Chawla Base, not to mention that it was implied to have the function of activating the Halo Array.

And it was entirely possible that lightning had struck once in sending him here, but it was also possible that it had also happened to other individuals. If so, it was important that he be able to find them and communicate with them. For one thing, they were all in the same boat and should stick together. For another, the arrival of people from a universe where Halo was fiction could seriously shake up the Haloverse. If someone as obsessed with Halo as Ryan was were to end up in the hands of the Covenant, say, or even the United Rebel Front? Well, that could have terrifying consequences.

Ryan took another sip of tea. There had to be some way to get the word out to other universe travelers, if they did indeed exist. What he needed was a way to communicate that he knew about the game without ONI wondering how he knew something so secret. He started thinking about maybe the Iris symbol, a Forerunner glyph thought to mean the number 0, but dismissed that idea. Civilians weren’t supposed to know Forerunner symbols…

However… There was the one instance of the Society of the Ancients. Those guys, general alien wackos of the 2007 era, had come to the conclusion that aliens, which they called “Ancients”, had visited the Earth in the distant past and had inspired humanity’s technology. Though Ryan doubted most of their examples (Stonehenge, the Antikythera mechanism, etc) were legitimate examples of alien visitation, they had succeeded in noting a Tasmanian petroglyph that depicted the Iris symbol. He wondered if the organization was still around. If it was, then perhaps he could use it to get the word out to other visitors from Ryan’s universe.

He considered also using it to send a warning of the approaching alien invasion. If he disguised his knowledge as, say, a psychic prediction, then perhaps he could influence enough people while staying under ONI’s radar. He’d seen enough science fiction movies to be wary of the government, especially one that had okayed the SPARTAN-II program. He wondered if SOTA was the right sort of “wacko” movement to broadcast a psychic. If it even still existed in any kind of form after 544 years.

Whatever the case, he would have to figure it out later. He sipped his tea and tried to make himself comfortable for the long wait ahead of him. --Dragonc laws (talk ) 02:09, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

012
EARTH, SOL SYSTEM, OCTOBER 2009 Ben was talking to Matt on MSN, a fellow user from Halo Fanon, after hearing the news that Deeper we go would be delayed. He looked at his X-chat window, checking to see if anyone was on, before the whole desk shook.

“What the hell?” Ben said to himself, looking puzzled, before realizing he had his 360 on.

“Oh, shit!”

He grabbed the controller, and unmuted the TV, before seeing himself die several times on Halo 3’s Matchmaking. Suddenly, the Internet and electricity went off, and Ben was gone, leaving the house empty.

EARTH, SOL SYSTEM, OCTOBER 2552 (UNSC MILITARY CALENDAR)

Ben woke in an alley, and realized instantly that he wasn’t at home, or his home town. He stood up, and walked to the nearest exit of the alley, and looked down the road. There were people everywhere, and cars going down the road. He noticed the cars weren’t the usual shape or make, before he looked down the road to see a statue at the end of it. Nelson’s Column. He was in London. Ben turned to see recruitment centers lining the street, and soldiers stood by the desks, before noticing something specific about them. Their armor matched that of UNSC Marine, and the weapons they carried were BR55 Battle Rifles. Although he was amazed, Ben wasn’t sure what was going on.

“Excuse me, what date is it?” he asked a passerby in the street.

“It’s the...17th of October” The man replied.

“Year?”

“2552...”The man replied again.

Ben looked at him for a while, before realizing what was going on. He turned to see recruitment posters. “Fight for Her” “Fight for Humanity” “Defend Earth from The Covenant”. Ben had somehow travelled to 2552. The year the Covenant attack Earth. He was in the universe he had long been writing fan fiction about. He felt in his pocket for his phone, and pulled it out. He was attracting a lot of attention, especially because of the clothes he was wearing. He started walking, trying to get a reception on his phone, when he was stopped by one of the marines at the recruitment desk.

“What’s that you got there, boy?”

“Oh, err, nothing.”

The marine grabbed Ben’s hand and forced him to open it, and he picked up the phone.

“What the hell is this thing?” he said.

“It’s called a mobile phone.”

The marine looked at him, confused, before another marine interrupted.

“It’s an old 21st century thing, Corporal, go back and watch the desk.”

“Yes, sergeant” he replied, still looking puzzled.

The sergeant came over to Ben, and handed his phone back to him.

“Where did you get that?” He asked. “I’ve had it a while...”

“It yours?”

“Yeah, of course”

The marine took a look down the street, before he stepped back and saluted, as a female officer walked up to the sergeant.

“Why aren’t you over at the recruitment center?”

The sergeant looked towards Ben.

“A trouble maker, huh? Don’t worry sergeant; I’ll ‘relieve’ you of him.” She smiled, and asked Ben to follow her, which she did.

After several minutes of walking and weaving through pedestrians, they arrived at a small UNSC marine building, and went into one of the offices.

“Take a seat” she said to Ben.

Ben sat down, but said nothing.

“Not much of a talker, are you? Anyway, I need to know something’s about you, where you live, etc”

Ben looked at her, wondering what to say. ‘I was playing my Xbox, when I suddenly travelled several hundred years into the future’. He contemplated some more. ‘Should I lie about my age? Should I give her my name?’

“My name’s Ben, i’ve got no home as far as I know, and I’m...”

“17...”

She looked at him.

“No home? Where’d you come from? And what’s your full name?”

“St Anne’s, not far from Blackpool, up north.”

“Blackpool? That place has been gone for a long time, back in the 2400’s.”

Ben looked at her, and then looked away. ‘Gone?’

He looked at the ground. He muttered his name to her, and she wrote it down along with the rest of his details.

“Okay, I’ll check the records, you just go rest.” She pointed towards a room.

Ben got up and walked into the room. It was like a miniature house; there was a bedroom, although small, a small toilet, and a kitchen and dining area. Ben went straight into the bedroom, and instantly fell asleep when he lay down on the bed. Maybe it was all just a dream...

013: Missed The Boat
"Hi, can I ask how much a trip to the moon is?"

The marines behind the desk stared at Slade for a few seconds before one of the piped up after being given a nudge from the other, "Welcome to the UNSC Marine Recruitment Centre, do you want to sign up?"

"No I wanted to....oh...is this a joke?"

"No, why? Is this some kind of a joke?" the Marine replied.

"Wait, UNSC Marines, like the ones in Halo."

A woman entered the room from a door behind the Marines, sandwich in hand and tapped the Marine not talking to Slade on the shoulder. "Sorry, Private, where do you keep the drinks here?"

Slade recognised her, not only as the woman he bumped into before, but also as, "Miranda Keyes?"

Miranda turned and stared at him, looking him up and down, "How do you know my name?"

Slade laughed, "Okay, this is a joke right? You're Miranda Keyes son of Jacob who died on Halo, ha! Hey can I meet the Master Chief? And Avery Johnson? Ha Ha, how are you going to pull off the Prophet of Truth, a guy in a body suit? Give the joke up, just take me home."

The Marines turned to Miranda, her fists tightened, "Listen I want to know how you know about my father, Halo and all the other stuff you just mentioned, if you don't cooperate I have authority to hold you in the brig of my ship, and from there, hey who knows how far into a prison you'll sink."

"In Amber Clad? You can't pull that off, wait, yea let's go. You know though, you're playing Miranda as a lot of a harsher character than the game depicted in my books."

"Quit speaking nonsense, you want to go to the brig that's fine by me, Marines place him under temporary arrest I want him at In Amber Clad in twenty minutes and I want him ready for interrogation in another ten after that." Miranda glared at Slade, "If we don't crack you I'm sure ONI will be more than happy to check out this case."

014: Day Dreamer
EARTH, SOL SYSTEM, OCTOBER 2009 Judith dropped on her bed after a tiring day at school, too lazy to change her attire. Life with the International Baccalaureate programme was hard, considering that it is a pre-university program. It sucked the life out of her. She covered her eyes with her left hand and sighed.

"Why did I enroled in this stupid program. I would be better off studying..." Judith snatched a pillow and shouted at the top of her lungs. Unknown to her, her table lamp began to turn on and off. Then, the entire room began to follow suite.

Somewhat relieved, she rubbed her eyes and yawned. Then, she laid back and relaxed and slowly fell asleep.

The electrivity in her room suddenly juiced up; her table lamp gettign brighter than its capacity, her television began transmitting radio chatters from nowhere, but she was unaware, slowly slipping into Dream Ville. A short burst of light enveloped the room.

She was gone, along with everything in the room.

EARTH, SOL SYSTEM, OCTOBER 2552 (UNSC MILITARY CALENDAR)

Judith rolled to the side of the bed, trying to make herself comfortable, but instead, she fell. Her floor was muddy and has that smell - the outdoors. She grunted and slowly stood up, scrathing her head.

Judith sat on her bed, trying to gather her focus.  Something is wrong , her mind whispered to her ears.

The first thing she saw was the Orbital Space Elevator. She became confused. They had similar design and architectural elements as to what she had seen in Halo 2 and Halo 3.

"You've got to be kidding," Judith talked to herself. Slowly, she assessed her status. "Headache, blurry vision, and elements from my previous memory is still here." Judith dived on her bed and closed her eyes. "Stupid dreams. I don't want another Halo dream."

 5 ub<font color="#FF4F00">7 ank (<font color="#FF4F00">7alk ) 11:53, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

015
EARTH, SOL SYSTEM, OCTOBER 2009

James sighed. This was the fourth spammer he'd kicked from IRC today. He swiveled his computer chair back to the TV and unpaused the game. He had gotten Live the day before, and had already unlocked most of the Spartan armour perms. No one was online, so he was playing through campaign on Heroic. He was about to crush a Grunt's skull on The Covenant, when his TV began glowing a vibrant blue.

"What the hell!?" he yelled

He crouched beside his TV and began fiddling with the cables on the back. Nothing. He stood up, then grabbed his SJHS hat off the computer table, just as the glow exploded from his TV and he blacked out.

EARTH, SOL SYSTEM, OCTOBER 2552 (UNSC MILITARY CALENDAR)

James fell to the earth with a thump. He groaned, then pulled himself to his feet. Looking around, he noticed he wasn't in his home town anymore. He was far from it. The coast was no where in sight. He looked around, trying to find his bearings. He glanced at his watch. Midnight. He ran down the alley, and out into the street. A glowing sign above him stated the date and temperature. He couldn't believe his eyes.

"No.. I can't be in 2552..." he whispered

He ran down the street, zipping up his hoodie. At the end of the road he looked around. In front of him was a massive tower, soaring above the cloud cover. A Space Elevator! His eyes widened. He ran back to the alley he had showed up in. Lying on the ground in it was his hat and shoes. He pulled them on, then hid between a group of garbage cans for the night. "At least the trash doesn't smell as bad in the future." -<font color="Black">Legends May Die, <font color="OliveDrab">Heroes May Fall,  <font color="Black">But We,  <font color="Red">Shall Conquer

016: Life's a Bitch
Miranda eyed Slade from across the table, what little light the dull grey room had directed solely on Slades timid face. Miranda got up and walked over to him, scraping her hand along the desk as she went, “You’re not on the Grid,” She smiled, “You’re here illegally, you have no papers, no name, you don’t exist in the database and we found these on you,” Miranda slapped down a few plastic bags containing Slades Ipod, Mobile and 360 Headset, “Early 2000 technology, likely stolen, but why. Tell me who are you and how do you know so much about me and my colleagues.”

Slade was still stunned from the walk to the ship, he’d seen guns, warthogs and In Amber Clad itself and had no idea how it could all be happening to him. “Uh…I’m Slade Wilson and I know it from playing the Halo games.”

Miranda put her hand to her head and sighed, “Delusional, but still I’ve got enough on you to make this legal and maybe to put you away.”

“I’m going to prison?”

“Maybe, unless you co-operate, stress co-operate, no more jibberish about games, who are you with, cause if you are ONI I want to know now and I want proof. Or are you a rebel?”

“Uh…I’m ONI but I’ve left all my proof at my house, so if you could just –“

“I’m not stupid Mr Wilson no matter how much you seem to think otherwise, we have reports of a similar case of this coming from Marines in Ireland.”

“What?”

“That’s right we’ve found your friends.”

“There are others?”

“Don’t you play innocent Mr Wilson, as I said before, co-operation or life in a cell.”

“Can I meet them?”

“No. Not until you tell me everything.”

“I don’t know what you want! I can’t explain this!”

Miranda grimaced before signalling for the two marines by the door to take him away, “Right before I get fathers honours, do you know how hard this is?”

“You’re about to go to Cairo Station?” Slade half-shouted, causing a surprised Miranda to stop the Marines from dragging him off.

“Tell me how do you know this!” She said with a mixture of distress and annoyance.

“It’s the start of 2 the Covenant are going to attack Earth!”

Miranda spun away from Slade and signalled again for the Marines to drag him off.

017: Welcome to Space!
AJ and Johnson boarded a small elevator at the New York Space Center, which took them up to a large space station that was in geosynchrnous orbit around Earth. AJ felt the artificial gravity, and marvelled at the futuristic archetecture, as well as the fashion. What AJ didn't like was the music - the only thing people listened to now was a descendant of 21st century hip-hop - and Avery gave AJ his small disc player, in side of it a disc full of "flip music". AJ popped in the earphones and blasted the heavy metal like-sound into his ears, bobbing his head to the beat. Avery laughed, and when they finally boarded a UNSC shuttle to the Cairo, AJ took out the earphones and marvelled at space.

"So, this is what space is like..." "You've never been in... said Avery. "Yeah... 2009, remember. "That's right. So, kid, when we get to the Cairo, I'm dumping you off on Staff Sergeant Banks, one of my squad leaders. He'll take care of you." "Yes, Sir". said AJ, remembering Banks from Halo 2, the same man who requested reinforcements and got a SPARTAN. After the short trip, AJ heard the airlock open and stepped aboard the Cairo Station, none of the Marine Guards questioning his arrival as he was with Johnson, who was going to be decorated as a war hero. AJ followed Johnson to the processing station, where Lord Hood walked over to Johnson, shaking his hand.

"Welcome to the Cairo, Johnson. Who's the kid?" "Private AJ Lewis, he just got out of boot, survived Reach. Found him in New York, AWOL. I'm attaching him to my unit." "Ah... nice to meet you, son. Aren't you a little too young to...? AJ rolled his eyes, then, correcting himself, replied "Sir, no Sir", and walked off with Johnson towards the Cairo's barracks, where he met his new squad.

Off in the corner, wrestling with a foot locker was Private First Class Morales, in the other corner was Corporal Reynolds, a cousin to Gunnery Sergeant Reynolds, sleeping on a cot with a folded porn magazine was Private Polaski, and sitting in a small rocking chair, quietly cleaning his pistol was Staff Sergeant Banks.

"Johnson! I was wondering when you were going to make it off leave! Who's the kid?" "Banks, here's your new squad member. Private AJ Lewis, made it off Reach, went AWOL." "Isn't he a little young to be a Marine?" "He's old enough." "Whatever you say, Sergeant Major. Alright, Lewis, you're comin' with me and the squad. We're going to test you out, make sure you're combat ready, just in case the Covies show up. What'd you qualify?"

AJ thought back to his JROTC days, when they shot pellet guns at paper targets, and picked out his marksmanship rank.

"Sharpshooter, Staff Sergeant." "Alrighty. Stow your gear, and grab that bee arr. Get ready for a little target practice."

AJ walked over to the armory rack, picked up the BR55, which was stamped with the logo of the HRV Armament Company, smiled a bit, then grabbed a full magazine, slapped it in, and didn't charge the handle, not wanting it to go off and kill someone.

While walking down the hallway, AJ, admiring his weapon, nearly walked into a man. He was 6'11, neck as wide as a fire plug, had a military haircut, as well as scars all over his body. On his upper forearm was a tattoo, with three simple numbers: 117. AJ stopped, and in awe, said: "Master Chief..."

"Yes... that's my name... most people don't recognize me out of uniform..."

AJ walked on, looking back at the SPARTAN, the infamous Master Chief. AJ continued his march towards the rifle range, stopped, and hefted his BR55. He placed on the ear protectors, yanked the charging handle, put the weapon on burst fire, and took aim at the farthest target. After steadying his breathing, he fired.

-- <font color="Red">Sgt. <font color="Red">johnson  22:20, 8 January 2009 (UTC) "

018: Hasty Decision-making
CJ stood at his post with the rest of his squad on the Cairo, casually by the staircase watching men and women go by. He recognized the place where first contact the Chief made with the Covenant in Halo 2 was at this staircase, but he was secure in the knowledge it wasn't time for the invasion yet. He noticed one of the other soldiers, Corporal Dumont, was eyeing his trilby hat. As the corporal reached for it, CJ swatted him away.

"No one touches my trilby."

"And what are you gonna do about it, Trilby?" Dumont asked mockingly. He reached again, but this time CJ was fully prepared. He ducked under the grab, and swung his foot out, knocking Dumont to the floor. He grabbed the man's arm and twisted it to the near breaking point, and sat on his back, keeping him locked in place.

"Huh, Trilby... not a bad nickname. Thanks." CJ then got and went back to the soda machine nearby. Suddenly, a thought occurred, and he reached into the undershirt he had been wearing since he arrived's pocket, and pulled out his Ipod.

''Huh... Might as well listen.''

He flipped it on, to hear the familiar opening to Basket Case, and put it on full blast. He quickly got stares from the others.

"What kind of music is that?" Private O'Donnell asked. "It doesn't sound like anything I've ever heard."

"It's called Punk Rock. How can you guys not know who Green Day is?"

"Punk Rock? I ain't never heard of no--"

"Commander on deck!" A man yelled. All the soldiers turned and saluted as Miranda Keyes entered the room. As she passed, CJ - or Trilby - heard her whisper something about "a boy who thinks he's from the year 2008." Trilby was startled for a moment, but without thinking, he began to follow her, formulating a plan as he went.

MasterGreen999 20:44, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

019: Friends in the Future
James was awoken by a gentle buzzing at his hip. He groaned and opened his eyes. The buzzing continued, and he remembered his cell phone was in his pocket. He pulled out the device, surprised it had reception this far in the future.

"Hello?"

"James? It's Ben, you'd know me better as ONI from IRC."

James' jaw dropped "Ben!? Wait, are you in 2552, too?"

"Yeah. I'm in London, staying with some Marines."

"Marines? UNSC Marines!?" James asked

"Yeah, man! I saw some of the guns, they're all real!" Ben replied

"Sweet, I'll try and figure out a way over there, can't be to hard in the future, you know?"

"Yeah, I got to go, bye."

"Alright. Seeya, man"

James shut the phone, then turned it off to save the battery. He pulled off his hat, shoving it into his pocket, then headed out into the street. There, he say another thing that made his jaw drop. A trio of men walking down the street that he immediately recognized. One man noticed him, and frowned.

"Piss off, kid" he snarled

"Cobb, shut it." the leader of the three said "What do you want, son?"

James just gaped. Finally, he managed to choke out "Are you.. Are you Maddox Reynolds?"

"That I am, why?"

"You own the Radiance, a Firefly-class?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"Long story... Uh, hey, can you give me a ride to London? I don't have much money, but..."

The third man cut him off, "Boss, what about that 'business' in the US?"

"We'll get there, Muldoon" Maddox said "We need to lay low for a bit, London would be a nice place, don't worry about paying, it's not far out of our way."

"Thanks!" James said

"Don't mention it. Cobb, Muldoon, go get whatever essential supplies we need."

Cobb and Muldoon left, and James followed Reynolds through the maze of streets to a spaceport. James immediately picked out the Radiance, as he had created it on Halo Fanon back in 2008. Maddox saw him staring and laughed. He said "Like the ship?"

"Yes."

"You and Christina, our mechanic, will get along fine, then." he laughed

After what seemed like an hour, Muldoon and Cobb returned to the ship, and they took off. The "business" turned out to be a person they picked up. Once the newest passenger was aboard, they took off and made their way to England. James climbed out of the ship. He was sad to leave it, but he knew they were part of and anti-UNSC movement, and should be avoided. He pulled out his phone, turned it on, then dialed Ben's number.

"Hello?"

"Hey. It's me," James said "I'm in London, at the West London Spaceport."

-<font color="Black">Legends May Die, <font color="OliveDrab">Heroes May Fall,  <font color="Black">But We,  <font color="Red">Shall Conquer

020:Excuse me?
Joshua was walking around the familiar town which had housed him over 500 Years ago.

"Excuse me, sir?" a Marine said.

"What?" Joshua said in return

"Your to come with us." The Marine said as two other Marines flanked him each with M7s

"Like hell I am!" Josh screamed and began to run. He thought he heard Open Fire but that didn't matter as 3 seconds later something hit him three times in the back, he stumbled and fell and darkness enthralled him.

Joshua awoke in what appeared to be a brig.

"Bring him to interrogation" a voice over the intercom said.

2 minutes later Joshua was at the brig and was sat down with a glass of water infront of him.

"How can I help Miss.Keyes?" He smirked

"Don't be cheeky with me boy!" She spat

"Awww you so much nicer in the Games." Josh said, continuing to smile

"Listen, we have more of you! Tell me WHO ARE YOU!"

"Excuse me? There's more?"

"GOD DAMMIT! Take him away!"

The Marines guarding him picked him up.

"Wait there's more where are they?! Tell me!" He screamed, before he was thrown into his cell and shot twice with TTR, he was asleep.

021: Aren't you a little short to be a Marine?
Trilby ducked into a room as Commander Keyes walked by, and continued down the hall where she had come from. He found two Marines standing in front of what appeared to be the brig. He approached the one on the right.

"I'm your relief. Commander needs to talk to you."

"Aren't you a little short to be--" but the soldier was cut off by Trilby's rant.

"Listen, that joke is 500 years old, if you are going to beat a dead horse, try a corpse that still has something on it to beat. Now, just go."

As the man passed, he heard something muttered about his hat, but he let it slide... for now. He took up his spot guarding, and glanced at the man next to him.

"So, uhhh... you got the cell key in your pocket?"

"Yep."

"And, uhhh... these guns shoot tranquilizers?"

"Yep."

Within a second four needles were in the man's arm, and he dropped to the floor. Trilby fished the key out of his pocket, and ran into the brig. He found two people near his age on the floor, sleeping. He quickly began unlocking the cell.

"God, I hope these are the right ones. I've broken out at least a dozen convicts by now."

MasterGreen999 19:17, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

22: Nice Shot, Man!
After AJ let loose with his BR55, he nailed every target with a headshot, and set the smoking rifle on the table. His squadmates congratulated him, and when they reached their rooms, AJ finally realized something.

''It's October 17th. The Covenant come in 3 days...''

He decided it was time to get off the Cairo.

AJ picked up a pen and paper, and wrote a letter to Johnson:

"Dear Avery Johnson,

It was nice of you to welcome me into your home and take care of me for this past day. I really appreciate it, and you deserve that award! One thing though... if you ever meet something you'd call "tinkerbell" or "lightbulb", watch your back. Stay safe!

Sincerely, AJ Lewis"

After doing that, and putting it into Johnson's dress uniform, he ran out of his room, grabbed a BR55 and some ammunition from one of the many Arms stations, as well as a M7 Submachine gun, and went to the IAC to look for a shuttle.

After running into the IAC, he started searching for the hangar bay, which he knew was somewhere in the back, and he had to go through the brig to get there.

After walking past a frustrated Marine, he stumbled across one, who was freeing two people locked in holding cells. AJ dropped his bag, and looked. They were his age, and they obviously weren't from that time period.

So, thinking quickly, he decided to do something that only people from his time period would know:

"So, you hear about Britney Spears being put into rehab?"

-- <font color="Red">Sgt. <font color="Red">johnson  19:24, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

023: *Insert Witty Remark Here*
"What?" Trilby asked. "Again?"

He finished unlocking the cell, and turned around to shake the person that had walked in's hand.

"Name's AJ." He said.

"Call me Trilby." CJ responded. He turned back to look at the two still asleep. "We'd better get these two out of here. I've got, like, thirty marines thinking the Commander has a meeting with them scheduled. She's gonna know something's up in a couple of minutes."

"Well, what should we do?" AJ asked.

Trilby sat down in thought. He was going to suggest they shoot their way out to mix things up a bit, but when he reached for his gun, all he found was a key for some reason. Suddenly, he had an epiphany.

"What about HEV's? If we take them down to Earth, we might be able to get far enough from the UNSC to escape."

MasterGreen999 22:36, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

024: Feet First Into Hell?!
AJ looked over at Trilby, and shook his head in amazement.

We use HEV's, we're going to die! I was thinking about hijacking a shuttle and heading to the New York space port. From there, we can simply disappear off the grid, and probably head to New Jersey... I think I know of someone down there that can give us fake identities. AJ said, with a wink. -- <font color="Red">Sgt. <font color="Red">johnson  22:43, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

025: Why New Jersey?
Trilby paused a moment.

"Was that a New Jersey joke? Either way, I guess it's better than my plan. Let's go."

Each of the time-travelers grabbed one of the sleeping prisoners and began to run for the hangar.

MasterGreen999 23:24, 11 January 2009 (UTC)