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Halo 2.5 Chapter 3
Posted By: SPARTAN 117<smfessant@aol.com>
Date: 4 June 2005, 6:30 PM
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John...John. What was that? Now he remembered. His name was John, Spartan 117, the Master Chief. He remembered a woman walking towards him on a far-off planet, long since destroyed, and a silver circle with an eagle on one side and a man's face on the other. He had won the circle from the woman. He remembered waking up and finding himself in an itchy cot,and the shock of a stun baton, and it was this that jarred him from his reverie.
He looked around. He was floating in a huge black space, flecked with white. It was beautiful. Then he remembered where he was as a Seraph fighter nearly hit him, missing him by mere meters. He remained strangely calm, even though he had been only a few meters away from death. Death was something that always seemed like it would be later, and not now. John was not afraid of death, but he didn't want to die. Not now, not when humanity needed him most. He knew that without something to generate momentum, he would definitely die out here.
There was an explosion uncomfortably close, and his shields flared as micro-sized debris hit him. Then a chunk of material the size of his torso slammed into him and knocked him backwards, towards a Covenant ship. He sized it up. A destroyer, probably two kilometers long, bristling with plasma turrets. It had a hole in its side, and its shield probably did as well. He moved through the hole and into the area between shield and ship.
He moved across the ship, and his fingers just brushed the outer alloy that made the armor up. He found the hangar and the doors opened, as if to let him in, and spat out several Phantoms. John grabbed one, and it soared towards Earth. He saw the planet grow larger and larger, and he nearly lost his grip as the Phantom swerved to avoid debris. The Chief set the glove clamps on his MJOLNIR armor to a hundred percent, making sure that he wouldn't fall off the ship.
He rested for the fifteen-minute long trip to Earth and was almost taken by surprise as the Phantom stopped and began to unload its contents, which consisted of a Wraith tank and a dozen Covenant soldiers. He unlocked his glove clamps, and fell to the ground noiselessly. He was behind the Brute captain who stood overseeing the unloading of troops onto the site, and the Chief started moving to engage, when something inside told him no. He had no weapons, no grenades, nothing, and he wasn't going to engage a dozen Covenant and a Wraith with nothing but his hands and feet.
He moved away and searched for some other trace of humanity, besides the large, and eerily empty, buildings that lined the street he was on. He walked on, and then found what he was looking for. A Marine Sergeant stood directing his troops to entrench. John surveyed the pathetic and hastily built fortifications, if they even merited that name, and then as the Sergeant began to speak, turned his gaze to him.
"Hey, Chief, It's good to see you. We've been mobilizing all over the city for something. From what I heard, there's Covenant upstairs."
"Then you're right. The Covenant are in space, and they've landed. Two Phantoms landed a few blocks from here, and unloaded troops. They've got tank support."
The Chief knew that the Marines would never survive. "Sergeant, you and your troops are to follow me. I was on a high-priority mission, but my team got wiped out. You are the ideal men to replace that team. Come with me." No one moved. "That's an order."
There was an immediate shuffle as the five Marines, including the Sergeant, packed up and got ready to leave. The Chief picked up a Battle rifle and a pair of Submachine guns. He swung the rifle up and aimed it around, checking to see if the weapon worked. It did work, and he moved forward. Then suddenly he halted, and motioned for the team to get cover. They did, and then, thirty seconds later, an Elite rounded the next corner. The Chief looked at it. It wore black armor, and was not walking normally, but trudging and dragging its feet. It had the air of a defeated warrior. The Chief revealed himself, and the Elite turned to face him. "Why are you here?" asked the Chief.
"I commanded a squad that had five of my brothers in it. We had been sent to scout out this region and find the enemy's strength. They found us, but not before we found their main forces. There were dozens of them, and they killed the rest of my squad. I was the only survivor, and I escaped to get back to 'Base Firewall'," replied the Elite.
"How many are there?" asked a Marine.
"The Brutes have huge forces massing near the entrances to the city. We saw two groups, and they each had around ten thousand. We estimate eight more groups of the same strength," The Elite told them.
The Master Chief froze. A hundred thousand soldiers? How could he stop such a force? There were too many. Maybe there was a way. He could detonate a nuke, and kill every single one of them in one fell swoop. But that was impossible. He couldn't sacrifice any human lives to do it, and there were hundreds of humans, elites, and grunts in the city. He couldn't kill them all. He decided what to do in a split second. They had to go to Base Firewall, and warn the defenses of the threat.
Metraus the Brute walked through the ranks of his troops. These soldiers would penetrate the city, secure the Ark, and wait for the delivery of the Sacred Icon from one of the Human stations in space. He smiled. Soon the Great Journey could begin, and all those worthy could be propelled to the Beyond, and Salvation. He had one hundred thousand soldiers under his command, and they had encircled the human city. There was nothing to left to stop him.
The bowels of High Charity were oddly still without the presence of the Covenant. The Flood had consumed the ship, and the fleets surrounding it. The Chambers of the Hierarchs had become the lair of the Gravemind, who was pondering the recent infiltration. The fools had stolen two constructs, one of them a useless Oracle, and the other a valuable item that the humans had referred to as "Cortana". In the long run, the Gravemind knew this didn't matter. The time was almost right. The Flood had escaped Halo, but it wasn't good enough. It wanted more, and there was more on the blue and green prize known as "Earth". The Flood hungered, and soon its hunger would be satisfied with the food that was humanity.
"Come on. We're going to Firewall," said the Chief.
"Alright! Over and out!" yelled the Sergeant. They moved forward in the general direction of the coast, and a half hour they came upon two overturned Warthogs. They saddled up, and moments later, they were cruising through the city. The Chief drove one 'Hog, and the Sergeant drove the other. The Elite hung onto The Chief's 'Hog between the turret and passeger seat.
When they reached the coast, the two vehicles stopped. The Chief stared. Burnt and shattered human bodies were scattered all across the sand, and farther up was a huge glass-rimmed crater where Firewall had been. Smoke spiraled up from the crater, which was littered with burning debris. Banshees circled over the crater, and the faint outline of a Covenant ship could be seen high above. As the Chief took all this in, he suddenly noticed the thousands of Covenant that were marching down the beach. They were perhaps a kilometer away.
The Chief saw two Ghosts move towards him, both piloted by Brutes. They opened fire, and the two 'Hogs' gunners fired back, attracting the attention of two Banshees, which swooped down and opened fire. He gunned the 'Hogs engines and shot out onto the sand, plasma bolts turning small patches of sand behind him into glass.
The 'Hog screamed towards the ranks of Covenant, and one gunner turned his attention on them. Jackals, Drones, and Brutes alike were picked up and thrown back by the force of the slugs that were impacting into them. There were bloodstains on the sand, and the Chief turned the 'Hog backwards, the way they had come, and was closely followed by the other Warthog. As the two vehicles made their way up the beach, a dozen Fuel Rod Gun blasts arced through the air and raced toward the two vehicles.
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