User:Elite Commander Fett/Halo: Return

Halo: Return is a science fiction novel by author Jeffery Moreau. The novel takes place in an alternative post-Halo 3 timeline centered on SPARTAN supersoldier John-117 four years after the end of the game.

=Synopsis= It is the year 2557. Less than half a decade has passed since the brutal Human-Covenant War ended in a narrow victory for Humanity and their newfound Sangheili allies. While most humans have begun their trek on the long and difficult trail to recovery, a seldom few seek out the man who pulled humanity back from the brink of destruction and propelled them to a victory he would never see.

Many of these few persons belong to a newly formed, highly skilled group of special warfare operatives with only one directive: complete the mission, no matter the cost. Lead by Captain Richard Hunter, these elite warriors will embark on the most important series of missions since the War: find and recover SPARTAN-117.

=Story=

Teaser
John ducked to avoid the enormous hammer, which missed his torso by barely three millimeters. He rolled to his side and unloaded the Spiker’s magazine into the Brute Chieftain’s side. The red-hot spikes, however, merely ricocheted of the Chieftain’s shields uselessly. Taking advantage of the Spartan's lack of ammo, the last Brute Honor Guard wheeled out of cover and fired its Brute Shot at him.

Out of ammo, John resorted to his only option. Drawing his arm back, John hurled the Spiker at the Honor Guard. The alien carbine’s twin blades impaled themselves into the face of the gorilla-like Brute, which fell to the ground with a horrendous scream. John swiveled to face the Chieftain just in time to see it bowl him over.

The Chieftain grabbed John by his neck, and with hardly a huff, threw the Spartan into the wall so forcefully a vaguely human-shaped dent was left in the strong Forerunner alloy. Stunned by the impact, John fell to the floor.

“Chief!” Cortana warned, but it was too late.

John looked up to see the chieftain swing his hammer straight at him. The hammer’s head—augmented by gravitational actuators—connected with his breastplate in a direct hit. The colossal impact force shattered the ultra-hardened metal—designed to stop a sniper round dead in its tracks—drove him nearly straight up into the domed ceiling at three-hundred fifty kilometers an hour.

John fell twenty meters to the floor below, landing in a heap. His heads-up display flickered, and filled with static and “suit failure” warnings; his body exploded in pain more intense than any he had ever experienced in his entire life. The enormous brute’s shadow loomed over him, raising its leg, then thrust downward. John tried to roll out of the way, but before John could recover, his world was filled with an agony so intense, so indescribable that, for the first time in his life, John screamed.

“JOHN!” cried out Cortana.

The brute laughed and grabbed the Spartan by the back of his neck. The soldier’s legs dangled uselessly, paralyzed. He couldn’t feel anything beneath his chest.

The chieftain glared past John’s shattered faceplate. “You are the Demon. And I, Mallanus, Grand Chieftain of the Jiralhanae, will now be known as the Demon Slayer!”

John forced back the pain and looked straight into Mallanus’s eyes. “No. You. Won’t.” He activated his energy sword and plunged it to the hilt into Mallanus’s hide.

The Chieftain screamed and kicked John in the chest. John, and the energy blade, was knocked to the floor. Mallanus stood over him and said, “Leave this realm, Demon.”

The hammer began its deadly swing.

Chapter 1
=Sources=