About This Site
Daily Musings
News
News Archive
Site Resources
FAQ
Screenshots
Concept Art
Halo 2 Updates
Interviews
Movies
Music
Miscellaneous
Mailbag
HBO PAL
Game Fun
The Halo Story
Tips and Tricks
Fan Creations
Wallpaper
Misc. Art
Fan Fiction
Comics
Logos
Banners
Press Coverage
Halo Reviews
Halo 2 Previews
Press Scans
Community
HBO Forum
Clan HBO Forum
HBO IRC Channel
Links
Admin
Submissions
FTP Uploads
HTTP Uploads
Contact

Halo 2: Prolouge: Beginnings....
Date: 8 October 2004, 7:10 AM

Hello....I had my other Sotries put up like along time ago...and hope poeple forgot me...lol...well hope you like it...puts more sense in my other ones thanks...bye bye...please coments please....


Beginnings...


Prologue¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

0912 Hour, September 13, 2552 (Military Calendar)
Aboard UNSC vessel Gettysburg,
Near Covenant battle Station Unyielding Hierophant.





"One last order son!" Admiral Whitcomb said as he crashed into the Unyielding Hierophant. The Covenant Warship crashed into the huge hull. The hull buckled and caved in as Haverson rammed the ship in full speed. Giving the engines 48% power it created a huge damage in the ships structure. However both the Admiral and the Lieutenant survived.
Covenant Carriers and Cruisers flew towards the Station as every single Covenant soldier ran to the breached ship. However the station still had at least 30 seconds left. Haverson and the Admiral fired as they ran out into the open.
"Remember the Alamo? You know every one of the brave defenders in those fights died. They knew the odds, but they hurt the enemy." The Admiral said as he put three into a Grunt nearby wiping out a trio of Jackals. Plasma missed the two trained officers.
20 seconds left.
"Yes sir!" The Chief said as he watched the view screen of the Ascendant Justice hull viewing the two marines. Dozens of Elite in black armor coated lairs drew their Plasma swords out as the Admiral and the Lieutenant reloaded their weapons simultaneously.
10 seconds left.
The screen became static and the stem part of the station blew. Metal blew apart as it melted onto the other Covenant ships causing them to explode with out being able to help their station get back on their feet. Flames busted out and the Admiral fired his Submachine Gun as four of the 12 Elites. They died running at the Lieutenant.
"Bastards!" The Admiral yelled as every single Covenant weapon in the station pointed at him.

The Master Chief saw the end of his dear commander and his loss. "Entering slipspace!" Cortana said as the probes were retrieved and entered the Gettysburg. The UNSC ship faded out of space leaving the destruction of the Covenant Battle Station, and the loss of the Admiral and Lieutenant.
"They halted the invasion of Earth. Covenant traffic on D-Band says they've captured a prisoner that was onboard the Ascendant Justice. Although they say they need time to regroup. Twenty ships were lost in the explosion destroying half of the station and not to mention its docking port. By my calculations we should have enough time to make it back to Earth," Cortana said as she switched monitors to see the Chief stare at the stars. Black enveloped the ship only able to view strings of light in space.
"How long will it take to get to Earth?" The Chief asked as he stepped away from the screen and sat in the chair near ops. Linda, Fred, and Will occupied the bridge. Linda at Engineering, Will at weapons, and Fred piloting the ship. Sergeant Johnson stayed in the Medical wing trying to fix the damn place.
Fred looked up and spoke, "Cortana says it might be a couple of days. That crystal pretty much nearly destroyed up our Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engines. Our engines are at," Fred paused and checked the panel one more time, " 39%."
"Ok. Linda, go down to engineering and see if you can give us more power. Will is it possible to─" The Chief stopped as he saw the Gettysburg come out of slipspace. Then he saw a UNSC ship fly by. Seventy-five percent of it was gone. "Scan that ship Cortana. And ask if they need assistance?" The Chief instructed Cortana as she accessed communications.
"This is the UNSC Frigate Gettysburg. Please give us your identification code." Cortana said with no response coming back. "Scanning the ship. Over 200 personal are still alive. Fred, I'm taking the controls. Preparing to engage docking sequence."
A loud noise rang in Johns ear as Cortana said "clear". "This is Lieutenant Hawk! Our Captain is dead. We need assistance! Captain please help!" The Lieutenant yelled as the crew on the bridge heard running steps in the background.
"Linda. Will. Get down to the medical wing, and help out the Sergeant. Cortana go to." John said as he replied back to the Lieutenant. Must be some navy pilot, the Chief thought as he spoke back, "This is the Master Chief in command. Report to the Medical wing."
"Yes sir." The Lieutenant replied.
Defiantly a Navy pilot.

Halo 2: Beginnings part 2
Date: 8 October 2004, 7:12 AM

"You have any medics?" Sergeant Johnson asked as the door swung open as two Spartans ran in before a mob came in. This is hell, the Sergeant thought as he got some beds ready.
"Yeah, we do. Hank! Ralph! Get over here, help this Sergeant!" Lieutenant Hawk called out as he laid a half conscious woman. She had her glasses broken, and a damaged knee. She defiantly needed a cast.
"What's her name?" The Sergeant asked as he looked at her closely. He swore he saw the same face before but couldn't put his finger on it.
"We don't know. We found her lying on an UNSC abandoned camp near, Gamma IV. Very close near the Covenant border I think. We're not sure." Hawk said as he looked at her. "Treat her, please Sergeant. I think she's a doctor."
"Sure, I'll try. Hey! You Spartan," the Sergeant pointed to Linda, "this person has a bad knee. You got any adhesive gel?"
"Yeah, there should be some in the cabinet second on your right." Linda replied as she bandaged up a male who broke his arm. She looked around and saw Will busy. She walked over to Hawk near another patient losing a little blood. "Who's in charge of your ship Pilot?"
"Our Captain died. Almost two hours ago. Great man, but that lady has been in command ever since," Hawk pointed to the sick doctor.
The Spartan turned around and walked to the bed. She wiped the dirt of her face and saw her teacher. Ever since she left them with Kelly, they've forgot about her. "It's Doctor Halsey! Will!" Linda said as she waited till Will came.
"My God. Lucky she ain't dead." Will said as he checked her pulse. It was slow but gaining quickly.
Dr. Halsey laid on the med bed as time passed. The UNSC Gettysburg and the Fireball flew in space, as the course for Earth got closer by the minute.


"Master Chief!" Hawk saluted as he entered the bridge form the elevator. He was tall for a pilot, but ready for action.
"How many people were killed on your ship before we reached you?" John asked as he saluted the Lieutenant back. The Gettysburg/Fireball entered slipspace as stars disappeared. The engines at 78% accuracy were all Will and Linda could get after they helped the Sergeant in the medical wing.
"Estimated kill was 147. The Covenant hit us hard taking Space Station Omega Six. 5 Cruisers came out of nowhere and started attacking. We managed to destroy at least 2 when the Monello and the Shapno exploded from the inside out. We think that Covenant Dropships blew their docking ports and docking bay. Making a good entry for Covenant Dropships, Seraph Fighters, and Phantoms." The Lieutenant said as he drank a glass of water. He sat next to the Communications network looking at the Chief.
"Dr. Halsey was with you. Correct?" The Chief asked wondering about Kelly.
" If you mean the lady, yes sir. She came up before we went to Omega Six. She was very insistent. She gave us some new weapons and re-supplied our stock of ammunition. She was nice to the crew as she fell unconscious." Hawk said taking another sip. He was tired; wanting to leave the Chief asked one more question.
"Where's the Spartan with her?"



Lights, noise. All were around her. She tried to open her eyes but struggled to stay awake. A marine walked up to her. She couldn't see him, but she heard that voice of his somewhere. Sergeant Johnson!
"Ma'am? You awake?" Johnson asked as he gave the Doctor a glass of water.
"I'm on the Gettysburg?" Halsey asked as she stood up. Will was next to her helping her up. "William?"
"Good to see you ma'am. You ok?" Will asked still hating her for calling him his full name. Part of him missed her, and part of it worried. He wanted to see Kelly with her but started to think of the doctor first.
"Yes Will, I am. Where's John?" Halsey asked as she lifted her lab coat that was white and swung it around so it fitted her body.
"He's on the command deck." Johnson said as Will told her Linda and Fred were up there too. She wanted to talk to John. "Take me to the command deck."
"Ma'am you should rest. You still need to re─"
"─I am a doctor Will. I know when I can walk or not. You however still need to relocate your Left shoulder."
"But."
"Take me to the deck." Halsey said as she walked out with the Sergeant thoughtless and the Spartan mad. Will ran after her as she reached the Elevator. I wonder if Admiral Whitcomb is still alive, Dr. Halsey thought to her self as the elevator reached the bridge showing only Fred and the Chief.
"John, is the crew well?" Halsey asked as she walked over to the Sensor readouts.
At least she's ok, John thought as he walked over to the Doctor. She was viewing the data faster then he could read, although he had Cortana to help him.
"Yes. They have made duties aboard the two ships. Doctor, where is Kelly?" John asked as the Doctor stopped looking and turned. Her glasses up and back straightened.
" That is classified. You can't know where she is going."

Halo 2 Beginnings Part 3
Date: 8 October 2004, 7:13 AM

"But she's one of my best soldiers, and...Friend." John said as he waited for the doctors' reply. He's been a friend with Kelly ever since CPO Mendez trained them to become the best of the best.
"I can't. Not with out the Admirals authorization." Halsey said as she too waited for a response from the Petty Officer. He was mad. Halsey looked down, thinking of what to say when the Chief told her where the Admiral was.
"He's dead! Died trying to get the data Cortana was holding for this mission. Now...where is Kelly?" John asked patiently, for the doctor to respond. She was holding this information to long.
"Cortana knows." Halsey said as she waited for Cortana to speak.
"Doctor, are you sure we should give the Chief coordinates for Kelly?" Cortana said as she saw them threw the security systems. Watching the two people move about Cortana was in the data stream watching for Covenant Traffic on the way back to Earth.
"Yes. Chief, the data that Cortana holds were plans for Kelly to go to the Coordinates the Crystal gave to me before I gave it to Corporal Locklear." Halsey said as Will came out of the elevator waiting for it to come back to Deck C for him to go with the doctor.
"After you left Corporal Locklear destroyed the crystal and himself. Pieces were found but the rest gone. We dumped it in space." The Chief said as Will came walking.
"Chief?" Will asked as he walked up to the Bridge near the Sensor readouts. Cortana saw Will walk up and him looking back at the camera. Damn Cortana must be always listening, Will thought as he looked back at the doctor and the Master Chief.
Fred stood up and walked to the party, wondering what was going on. He over heard the conversation with his HUD. "Your telling me you sent a injured Spartan to a set of Coordinates with out the team?"
"Yes. However if you found out I came up with a plan to find her and bring her back." Halsey said hoping she thought of this plan carefully while on the Fireball.
"And that plan is?" Will asked as the other two 7-foot Spartan stood next to her on the desk. Halsey looked at them. Thinking if she sent Fred, Will, and Linda, the Chief and herself can do more on Earth as the others searched for Kelly.
"We send in Fred, Will, and Linda to go find her. If all goes well, the Covenant will abandon Reach and they can settle there. The caves we discovered should be still there.
"But it will be covered with Covenant ships. You still wouldn't know if they left or not." Fred replied before the Chief asked about himself.
"What about me?" John asked as he wondered if Cortana knew about this as well.
"You will come with me and help perform surgery on a Group of ODST and train them to become Spartan-III's." Halsey said hoping she got the chemical right for the host body to be stable enough to even wear the Spartan body armor.
"Your crazy right? Didn't it take several weeks for us to wear the armor? They could die. It took us what? 12 to 15 years of training?" John said refusing them to risk their lives.
"I already got the men and women ready for this. They accept the responsibility and will do what ever they can to help." Halsey said as she handed the Pad to the Chief letting him read it for himself. All the men and women on the list had been in the service for 10 years. Lucky for them to survive that long with eh Covenant war raging on.
They were all in their 30's. Young lives being risked. "Ok doctor, you win. Tell them they can start the set up. Fred and Will. Get Linda and take the Pelican Dropship. You will go find Kelly."
"John. You can come if you want. We need you." Fred said as he waited for the Chief to reply.
"No, I need to get Cortana back to Earth. You guys can go. Fred you are team leader 1. Find Kelly and get to Reach, hide in the caves if still preserved. If not, find a moon. Turn on your beacons and wait. Use our special code. And besides, the marines would like to split the shares of killing with me back home. Covenants will want a permanent autograph."
"Yes sir." Fred said as Will and him walked to the elevator. Watching the Chief disappear in between the doors. They thought, save Kelly and go to the planet Reach, fun enough, if they don't get killed doing so.

Halo 2-=--=-=-=-=-=--=-=Chapter 1 Work pt1
Date: 11 November 2004, 4:36 AM

Chapter One¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

1002 Hour, September 13, 2552 (Military Calendar)
Aboard UNSC vessel GettysburgFireball,
Location Unknown.




----------The Pelican Dropship prepped for takeoff from the Gettysburg/Fireball. Refueling the ship for an 18 light-year mission to find Kelly. Fred, Will, and Linda entered the ship. Ready, and loaded for battle, they strapped them selves on. Will walked to the pilot chair and sat down.
----------"This is Pelican Echo-591. Ready for take off. Over?" Will said as he strapped himself in too. Keeping his SMG by his side, he started the engines. 50% accuracy and it started to levitate. He looked back at Fred, and Linda. Waiting for the response─
----------─ " This is Sergeant Gozer. Permission granted. Hold off for 5 second lift off. Over?" Sergeant Gozer joined the crew of the Gettysburg. He liked it here. Quite.
"Roger that. Taking off in 3...2...1...catch you later Sergeant!" Will said as he pushed the throttle to full speed.
----------"God Speed." Gozer said walking away from the comm. And saluting the ship as it disappeared in the blackness of space.

----------Dr. Halsey walked up across the line of Men and Women. 52 ODST were ready for their so-called "treatment". Most of them were barley under 30. "Ok! This process will take at least 24 hours. You men and women gathered here, I mean, accepted the responsibility of becoming the next of the Spartan-III's and will open a new generation of Men and Women to fight for Earth."
----------She walked back and forth giving a short and careful speech of not changing the minds of the ODST members. She ordered her nurses the formula to inject into the people. The process would be painful, and possible deadly. She had been working it with Cortana for 3 months, to improve the rate of success. After 30 minutes, every ODST member was injected and put to sleep for a period of 24 hours.
----------"I hope this process works. It took me and Cortana at least 3 to 4 months to find the formula," Halsey walked to the data table and monitored all of the soldiers. "Cortana? Is the MarkVI armor done being built?"
----------"Yes doctor. The engineers from the Fireball were quick and worthy. I will send them to you immediately." Cortana said also monitoring the bridge with the Chief. She was worried about the other three Spartans that were sent of to find Kelly. It had been 2 hours and 12 minutes from her clock that they had left.
----------"Good. Monitor the condition of the Helljumpers. Contact me in 24 hours. I am going to have some rest." Halsey replied as she walked out the door. She took a right and entered the elevator. She pressed the button on C deck, and the elevator moved. She excited the elevator and entered her room. Filled with posters and pictures of her students she had kidnapped and cloned for her little project. She lay down and rested, thinking about Reach.

----------The Chief stood up and observed the bridge. Cortana was on another duty to monitor the ODST members. He didn't think they would make it, although, the doctor always brought hope to the Spartans on Reach.
Sergeant Johnson, and PFC Yack to the two stations at the bridge, Johnson at the helm, and Yack at the Sensor readouts, "Sir? Chief?"
----------"Yeah, what is it Sergeant?" The Chief asked as he looked at the screen. The engines on the Gettysburg were still online. But the Slipspace drive was off. He tried to power up the engines to 87%, but at that rate the Covenant might of attacked Earth in the instant.
---------- "How long till those Helljumpers get awake?" Johnson asked. He was now at his forties, becoming old wasn't his idea of good. He still never made it to his Sergeant First Class. He was happy of what rank he was though. Listening to Earth's old music called "Rock and Roll".
---------- "The Doctor and Cortana say about another 13 Hours, probably more. But I don't expect them to survive." John said as he engaged the engines to power up to his estimated 87%.
----------"Sure, right Chief. I am going to find some more men who could take the bridges' station." Johnson said as he left. The Sergeant was right they needed more men. Sergeant Johnson exited the elevator leaving the Chief with PFC Yack. He walked down to the medical wing to see Dr. Halsey and the ongoing project.

----------Dr. Halsey studied her pad as the alarm for Cryo Pod B-17 threw 23 died. Just completely died. Every single soldier who severed the UNSC died in 18 hours and 24 minutes. "Nurse! Come here, check what the readings were before they died. Cortana, examine the bodies as well. See what happened when they died, and what had caused it. "
"Sure Doctor." Both replied after one another. They were getting ready to observe the bodies. Seven people died, and only 45 remained alive, for now.

Halo 2 Chpt 1 part 2 and Chp 2 part 1
Date: 18 November 2004, 8:00 AM

      The Sergeant Entered after taking 10 minutes. The seven bodies that died just 10 minutes ago added another 12 to the list. Just in ten minutes the doctors were swarming all over the place like ants working for the queen. "Ma'am? What happened?" Johnson asked as he waited for the answer. He never saw more then 3 ODST die at once. They were great men and women fighting. But to lose 19 already, that was absurd.
      "The Men and Women seemed to have died from," Halsey checked her pad and looked back to the Sergeant, " Heart failures, and the increase of blood pressure going threw the body. We have adjusted the chemicals in the reaming Helljumpers, but another dozen could die in about 5 minutes."
      "If they just stayed alive for another 4 hours, then this wouldn't have happened right?" Johnson asked confused of what was happening.
      "No," Halsey said as 8 red lights started flashing threw the row of ODST members. The loud alarms rang in another pair of three's. Hearts failing. Lungs collapsing. "They seemed to have had their lungs collapse during cryo stasis. Interesting? Cortana, start injecting the chemicals I am giving to you now."
      "Yes Doctor. Injecting them. Doctor, my pathways aren't compatible of giving the patients their treatment. You have to do the work." Cortana said thinking fast. She pulled up the records of all the ODST that were still alive. Reading and rereading the files as quickly as possible, she gave the doctor the list of men and women with great records.
      The ones to test first, the Doctor did it quickly after the Sergeant asked. Johnson demanded as he ran over to his brother's friend, Sergeant Major Wallace L George. He waited; Dr. Halsey injected the chemicals for the first 12. The rest just died. With in three hours. It was a lost. Forty men and Women died trying to become a Spartan, but died doing nothing. They will get their revenge. Another time.

      It passed twenty-four hours since the Doctor placed the selected officers in cryo stasis. 12 survived. 40 died. A Waste of time, the Chief though. He sat down on the pilots seat steering the ship. They were at least 3 days away from Earth. Close enough, they could receive signals, but couldn't send them.
      He waited till the Sergeant, and Cortana got back from the Medical Wing. Time passed. He got up from his chair and decided to hell with it. He wanted to see if the Doctors formula worked. He just hope it wasn't a complete failure. He walked to the elevator after instructing the Private to pilot the ship.
      He did so as the Chief asked and continued down to C deck. He exited the elevator and entered the room lying with white covered tables. Inside them were bodies. The Chief counted quickly. 40 dead. A waste. He saw Dr. Halsey and continued to walk towards her.
      She turned around hearing the Chief walk up. "12 are alive and placing their armor on now," she said looking at John then turning towards the 12 ODST now Spartans changing into their armor.
      "You do know that losing 40 good men and women still ain't worth it?" John said behind the glass window. Sergeant Johnson was helping them place their armor on and screwing and testing the shield harmonics.
      Dr. Halsey looked at the glass window again, looking down, thinking of what she had done, just to see if her experiment worked. "I should of never became a doctor, augmentation you John, and the others. Sacrificed a lot of peoples life for just one thing. We need to train these new Spartans. Can you and Cortana help train them? Give them every statistics and analysis for battle?"
      "Sure, Cortana should be happy to give some information to the Spartans, her core is still almost in full capacity. I don't know if she will last 7 years ma'am." John said walking back as Cortana heard everything.
      "Sure doctor, the Chief and I will. However, doctor, I suggest you start creating a new AI to hold half of my information. If John is right, then I will not last my full 7 years." Cortana asked the Doctor as she saw her nod.
      "All right. I will start creating a new AI for you Cortana. And John?" Halsey asked.
      "Yes? Teach them to kill."
      "Yes ma'am."

Chapter Two¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

1002 Hour, September 14, 2552 (Military Calendar)
Aboard UNSC vessel GettysburgFireball,
Location Unknown.






      "Sergeant, can you and the Lieutenant go down to engineering and get that Engine fixed for slipspace?" Private Yack asked as he piloted the ship. He was tired, hoping that someone else could pilot the ship. Without the slipspace they couldn't get to Earth any faster.
      "What in the hell you are asking me to do that for?" Sergeant Johnson said walking towards the Private.
      "Uh? Sorry sir, no disrespect sir!" The Private said standing still after getting up to face the Sergeant.
      "Oh yeah? Well how about you get you skinny ass down to engineering and do that by your self!" Johnson yelled back as he stared at him, a lower ranked officer like Yack never commanded him.
      "Sir, yes sir!" Yack said running towards the elevator happy to get out of that situation. Yack continued down to E Deck to Engineering. He stepped off and was struck by a light plasma energy sword. He felt no pain. He stared at the ceiling wondering what had hit him. He then noticed a mouth opening. 5 sections full of sharp teeth, black coated body armor.
      "NO!" Yack said before the Elite cut off his head."


      "All hands to battle stations! Alert Combat Alpha! We have an intruder aboard! I repeat we have an intruder aboard!" Cortana yelled into the COM as she saw what had happen. Good thing about being an AI is that they can watch everything.
      "Cortana? What in the hell is happening?" John said loading his Battle Assault Rifle and running to the elevator.
      "There was a camouflaged Elite, elderly kind. Struck PFC Yack in the waist and then finishing him by..." Cortana said, she never saw an Elite do that kind of work before.
      "Never mind. I am coming. Cortana can you enhance my HUD by 50% to see any movement threw the naked eye?" John asked as she did what he said. He saw the ship better. Seeing every scratch that the naked eye couldn't or could see. He ran down the hallway to E Deck.
      Careful not to use the elevator if the Elite probably was watching the door. "Cortana? Is there any other crewmen dead or missing?" John asked as he passed a corridor 12 meters away from the door to E Deck. He waited.
      Cortana finished her scans and replied, "negative, the Elite only killed PFC Yack. I wonder how is got on board the Gettysburg?" Cortana said thinking. Her cybernetic brain worked on and on, never taking any rest.
      "How about the Fireball?" John asked as he entered the Deck running to the Elevator. Two marines joined the Chief running down the hallway. Carrying SMG's.
      "It is possible, however," Cortana paused and yelled quickly "Stop!" Cortana said looking threw the corridors. The Chief and the two Marines paused waiting for Cortana's signal. The marines were sweating from trying to keep up with the Master Chief.
      "Where's the Elite?" John asked Cortana as he waited. He peeked around the corner and saw nothing, not even his advance HUD couldn't see the camouflage.
      "The Elite has some kind of new technology. Interesting. Its shields keep on going on and off. As if it were a beacon of some sort?" Cortana said waiting. "Its 5 meters to your left Chief. I suggest a Grenade. The Hull structure around should hold."
      "Should?" one of the Marines asked as he started to worry.
      "Yeah, Should? Cortana do you think that a grenade will hold the ship intact if we blow it?" The other marine asked as he waited. The Marines was right, the Chief thought.
      "Well, by my calculations it suggest we have a 28% chance of killing our self's." Cortana said waiting.
      "Hell with this!" the one marine said running into the corridor. He shot his SMG a dozen times. The Elite yelled in laughter running towards the Marines. The Chief spun and shot his Assault Rifle. A trio of bullets penetrated the shields and went straight threw the Elite.
      The Elite fell, shifting its arm down also taking the marine with it. The Marine yelled in pain after his arm was gone. The SMG lay still in the arm that got cut off. The Energy sealed the wound, burning the skin a little. He spat at the dead elite, and kicked it.
      Then something rolled out of its pouch. "Shit!" The Marine said running the opposite direction the Chief was going. The Chief wondered what, and then looked at the Elite. A Plasma grenade rolled on the ground.
      "Yeah Shit!" The other marines yelled running to the partner. The Chief followed as the grenade exploded. Metal flew, fires started.
      "Cortana! Get the water running!" the Chief yelled to Cortana as she did so already. The Fires that started ended quickly. The Grenade blew a chunk of the Elite, and the wall with it.


      Lieutenant Hawk, and Corporal Red finished the repairs to the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engines. Powers from both the Gettysburg, and the Fireball were completed. "Cortana! The engines are repaired. Ready for transition to slipspace!" Hawk yelled as he waited.
      "Roger that Lieutenant, standby." Cortana said turning the engines on. The ship entered into slipspace like stealing candy from a baby.


* * *


      ETA to Earth was 2 days. By the looks of it, Earth would probably be informed of the invasion in 1 day. They were late. The Covenant, laid in slipspace behind of the Gettysburg/Fireball. The Admiral knew. And He knew that the Chief would succeed.
      The Door opened as a huge monster entered. The Chief called it the Brute. Its huge hairy face and body made it scary even fro the Admiral. "I am not going to tell you anything!" The Admiral spat at the Brutes face. It was taller, about two feet taller.
      "You are not to tell me anything. You will only obey the Holy one." The Brute said yelling at the Admiral.
Talk about bad breath, the Admiral added as the Brute breathed on him. "I don't want to talk anyways. You Covenant have destroyed our outer colonies and inner. All we wanted was to explore and create. You bastard's want is nothing but to destroy mankind. You losers never even thought if we could help you in anyway expand both empire!"
      "We do not like you humans. We only obey the Holy one. And our gods, the Forerunners!" The Brute yelled back as it gave the human some food they had stole from an outer human colony. "We never usually keep prisoners. You should consider yourself lucky!"
      The Brute then turned around and left, leaving the Admiral to eat his dirty food, and to find a way to escape.

Halo 2: Chp 2 part 2 and Chp 3--The Road to Earth
Date: 24 November 2004, 11:24 AM

Author's Note: Well. Here is my continuation of my story. Please give any comments. I don't really like nasty and bad comments, but anything to help on improving my story it welcome. However I will continue to post till i finished my book. Thank you. :)


Chapter 2 Part 2
      The Gettysburg/Fireball flew in space the past day. All the new Spartans were in cryo stasis after they trained with Cortana and the Chief. Dr. Halsey however made another AI. Same name as Cortana, but with I in front of the a., and an, n after the, a. His name was Intel.
      His life span was for 10 years, memory storage nit twice the size of Cortana's. To The Doctors thoughts, it was her best creation besides Cortana and The Chief. Halsey didn't activate the AI just yet. She wanted it operational on Earth. She then placed the data crystal in the table and headed to the medical wing.

      She needed some rest. Working on the AI for 5 hours straight was fast but hard. She was tired; she continued on and walked to the Medical wing. Entering, she saw the cryo pods. 12 Advance Helljumper/Spartans, after Training with the Chief with drills on the ship. They must have been tired.


      "Chief, it is 0437 Hours. I think you should get some rest. Ever since you came back from the Station. You have been a little too sleepy. Suggest you get rest immediately." Cortana said as she waited for the Chief to reply.
      The Chief was tired, right as Cortana always was, he never slept since the time Dr. Halsey left with Kelly. He hoped that Fred, Will, and Linda were ok. They probably needed a few more days for them to find Kelly. He still had hope. "Ok Cortana," The Chief replied, "I'll get some rest." Then the Chief fell asleep not worried about the next day, hoping it will be ok.
_____________
SECTION 1_____________

The Road to Earth


Chapter Three¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯


1624 Hours, September 14, 2552 (Military Calendar)
Epsilon Eridani system, unknown location,
Aboard UNSC vessel GettysburgFireball,
In route to Earth.


      "Chief. Wake up Chief. Chief?" Cortana said yelling on the intercom while the cryo tube opened, and out came the Master Chief after a long. The Chief stood up, and looked around. They were still ways from Earth. As the Chief straightened up, he coughed up the proteins, and nutrients that you were supposed to swallow. The mineral was all green, and blue like the Covenants blood making the Chief sick. This was his second time being in cryo status and he didn't like it one bit.
      "All right, Cortana. What time is it?" the Spartan said to Cortana whispering. The Chief walked threw the door that was on the other side of the armory. He then took the elevator to the bridge, and accessed the door open. The door lit green saying that the Chief could walk in.
      "We are approximately 1534 hours, and 3 standard light years from Earth. " Cortana said yelling at the Chief while he walked out of the elevator with his helmet off of his MJOLNIR armor suit. He walked up to the clock on the ship, and saw what time it was.
      "Ok, is the ship ok? And," John said to Cortana
      "The two hybrid ships are intact. Damage to the hallway is repaired from the grenade damage. Other words, everything is online, and functional." Cortana replied to John as he sat on the chair.
      "ETA to Earth?" John said lifting his arm over his mouth to yawn. He saw threw the glass window as he saw only black empty space.
      "We enter the Earth's solar system in three hours chief, and we will drop out of slip stream in a few minutes." Cortana said shifting her hands to hold her waist. " You know you slept over five hours, and forty-nine minutes, and your shield strength needs some repair. Dr. Halsey should be able to repair it before we arrive to Earth." Cortana said reassuring the Chief that if the ship got under attack by Covenant forces, ONI or UNSC ships might not be in the vicinity.
      "I will go check it out later. Did you Contact the UNSC HQ?" John asked as he sat still on the metallic seat. Spartan-117 asked while he sat down on the command chair waiting till the other Spartans wake up from cryo stasis again looking at the monitor. He stood up again, and stretched, and walked over to the obstacle course that was integrated to the ship after he gone back down in the elevator.
      "I have for the last hour, but all I get is static. I think the Covenant beat us to Earth. I am still unsure, but I can repair your shields for only minimal standards. You should go to Doctor Halsey to get it fully repaired." Cortana said walking up to the woken chief sitting at least two to three centimeters above the desk console watching the Spartan-117 get up and check the stations, and flip threw the personal list to see who's shift it was.
      The systems were checked and the next duty shift was not going to be on for another hour. His eyes turned on to the computer with the report file of everything the Chief experienced and the life of the past 2 weeks.
      "Did you complete the report for Admiral Stanforth yet?" The Spartan asked the computer because Cortana had all the surveillance of every activity that happened the past 2 weeks. He also didn't want to do it. He then walked over, and sat in the chair putting on his equipment. It took him a while to put the suit on, but finally managed to put it on, and activate the shielding that was used for the MJOLNIR project in the Epsilon Eridani System.
      "Yes I have, and should I wake the other Spartans? They could have some drills onboard the two ships. Their might be enough space." Cortana said wondering. As she stood up looking at the shiny armor as the Chief walked passed her.
      "Wait another hour Cortana, and prepare to enter normal space in a minute." The Chief said tapping a few buttons on the elevator. The elevator moved down to the armory. He got off, and walked to the locker room. He grabbed a Magnum, and a BR55, and strapped it to his back with extra clips of ammo. He left the locker room, and headed towards the bridge after he made a quick stop with Dr. Halsey to repair his shields. He sat down and the clock on the top said ten seconds left.
      Hmm? Got that done is 50 seconds, fast, the Chief thought to himself as the AI started the countdown. "NINE...EIGHT...SEVEN...SIX...FIVE...FOUR...THREE...TWO...ONE. Entering normal space now." The computer Cortana said to the Chief after he strapped him self to the chair cause it gave a big jolt if not strapped on to the UNSC belt.
      The Gettysburg/Fireball dropped out of slipstream space, and entered normal space. The Gettysburg/Fireball plotted a course, but not accurate cause of the design the UNSC made, for Earth. The ship shot it's afterburners to give the ship shove to start proceeding. The Master Chief stood up, and walked away from the console to the other console on the left side of the ship. "Cortana. Can you scan for any UNSC vessel's, or transport ships." Chief said to the AI.
      "I will Chief. Scanning. No transmission intercepted on any band frequency system, and no ships are within long scan range, it's just us. Perhaps we should wake the Spartans up and begin exercises early?" Cortana replied to the Chief as he stepped away from the console, and headed back to the elevator. The elevator moved down to the cryo level, and the Chief walked out of the elevator going to the door. Cortana said to the Chief.
      "Wake them." The Chief said to the computer. After Cortana asked the chief to wake up the squad, she opened the door so the Chief can get in while all the tubes opened in the room. The chief looked at Cortana then turned around, and saw the squad in rest, and comfort.
      The Chief watched the new Spartans wake from their harsh sleep. They stood up, and started coughing. They coughed the fungus out cause it still tasted awful.(The chemicals of proteins, and vitamins could not be swallowed, and whoever created this stuff must have been drunk, or his IQ was way below genius.)
      " Sir, the Spartans are awake." Cortana said to the Chief as he walked inside. He looked at some of them. They were tired. But they had to get oriented quickly to start the mini daily exercises.
      "Single File! Get in line ASAP." Chief said standing up in front of the door looking at the soldiers.
      "Sir, yes sir!" answered the squad as they filed in a single file on the double. As they moved quickly Cortana had to slow her time index by -5% in order to see the troops single file. Dr. Halsey's chemicals really improved the ODST, Cortana thought looking to see to find the first two in the line. It was perfect. They both had excellent records. Spartan number-098 stood at first, Spartan number-078 in second.
      "Sir! Ready, and waiting orders sir!" said the first Spartan number-098.
      "Very well." Chief yelled to the first Spartan as he walked down the line looking at each Spartan's face examining them. The Spartan's stood still like a piece of metal on a ship in a single line. As he walked back, and forth he told Spartan number-098 that he is second squad leader, and Spartan number-078 as third squad leader.
      The Spartan looked up at the Chief, and yelled his name was Rick Y. Callel, and the next Spartan's name was Gabriel R. Grownster. They appeared to be in there thirty's as the Chief, and the rest looked like hell. He saw one Spartan with a loose arm, and another had an ear missing. He looked like he used to be a strong fighter, but he remembered him at his first time running in the obstacle course on Reach. He then remembered that he had also lost that race. He lost the very first time that morning on the day. He then looked up folding his arm behind his back.
      "Morning everyone? Have a nice sleep?" John asked to the team. A few of them still were spitting out the fungus. "I know. I don't like being in a cryo pod either."
      All of them heard what the Master Chief said, and yelled, "Yes sir." John walked back to the first, and second Spartan in the line. He wondered how many systems fell to the Covenants. He wished that his team would find Kelly, but nothing could replace his best friend Sam.
      "Chief, are you alright?"
      "Yeah, I am fine Cortana. Can you plot the ship to Earth on autopilot for thirty? Give the crew on the bridge some time off. They have to be tired." Chief said replying to the computer. He then turned, and saw all the Spartans in groups talking about Earth, and that they only have been there once. He saw some of them going to the armory, and loading up BR55's, and Magnum pistols as a side arm. Most of them checked if the shielding of the MJONLIR worked, so they used their pistols to test, but Cortana said stop firing on the Deck. Most of them laughed at the AI.
      The Spartan's finished loading up, and headed to the short, and worthless obstacle course that was on both Cruisers. Cortana had constructed a number of paths for the Spartans to train it. He saw some of them say that the ship was worthless, and they should improve the training grounds on the ship. They were right thought John as he turned around, and headed to the elevator.
      "Sure chief." The AI responded to the chief's command, and the Gettysburg/Fireball was set on autopilot. "The autopilot is set Master Chief. The marine posted there is off duty." Cortana said smiling to the Chief as he walked with Rick, and Gabriel to the bridge using the elevator. They walked in the elevator, and pressed the activation panel. The elevator moved up to the bridge, and walked to three separate consoles. Gabriel walked to Weapons, and Rick to Engines on the bridge consoles.
      The Chief walked towards the command chair, and sat down looking at the console trying to contact Earth. He tried everything to get it online, but it was worthless trying. He sighed, and looked at the bridge. The only people that were on the bridge were Rick, Gabriel, Cortana, and himself. He tried to again to contact Earth, but then the console on the bridges command chair started beeping.
      "Sir we are receiving a distress signal. It's coming from Pluto's Orbit Chief!" Cortana said to the three Spartans as they looked at each other.
      "Patch it to all decks. They should hear this too." Chief said quickly as he heard Admiral Stanforth's voice on the distress signal.
      " This is Admiral Stanforth of the UNSC HQ. We have engaged the Covenant patrol units by Pluto. Their patrol central command has destroyed half of our MAC guns. Power to the rest of the surviving MAC guns is 56% and decreasing. We expect a late attack from the Covenant in the next day. We need all UNSC vessels to head towards Earth now. Any help from renegade soldiers will be gladly rewarded. Thank you." Then the transmission ended abruptly as it had started, but there were strange weapons fire. It sounded like Plasma guns, and grenades.
      The Chief stood up, and looked at Rick, and Gabriel. "Did you hear that guys? That sounded like Grunts entering the ship." Gabriel said making a fist.
      "That's all the transmission sir. I am powering engines to 157%, and increasing." Cortana said to the Chief, " and sir. Should I activate a distress signal to all UNSC band frequencies to any vessels about the invasion?" Cortana said wondering if they should send the transmission back to HQ.
      "Yes do it. Right now we need everything fighting to survive mankind." The Chief said back to Cortana. The Chief walked up from the command chair going down the aisle way.
      "Sir?" Rick said to the Chief thinking that the AI is right, and we should send a reply. He then walked over to the Chief looking at him. "How long till we get there?"
      "Not soon enough. Cortana tell the Spartans that we are getting home quicker than expected, even faster." The Chief replied to the Spartans question, and to the AI.

Halo 2 Chapter 4 Part 1---Temporary Transfer to the Enchanter
Date: 25 November 2004, 9:04 AM

Chapter Four¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯


1645 Hours, September 14, 2552 (Military Calendar)
Earth's Solar System, Planet Pluto,
UNSC Cruiser Gettysburg/Fireball,
In route to Earth.


      "Ok Spartans. We have just entered the Earth's solar system. Here is the plan," Chief said to the group as Cortana enlarged the photograph they have of Earth right now, " The have been planning to engage Earth. All the data about Earth and its land is on your data crystal. You can view them by inserting them in to you helmet on the right side. The Mark VI battle armor is new, and advanced, careful with it. " John said giving the statement."
      The Chief continued on after taking a short breath. Sergeant Johnson walked in as followed by Lieutenant Eversman from the Fireball. They took a seat by the first row watching the Chief make his plan. "Gabriel and Rick will command two separate teams. Since you ODST worked together for over 10 or 15 years together. I will have Cortana and the Marines as my team. We expect that the Covenant will attack Earth's major cities. That is all the information that Dr. Halsey, Cortana, and I can conclude now. So, one day till we get there. Gabriel, and Rick. You two will head to Ghost Town, Nevada. I will try to find the Admiral and head for the Weapons facility. Expect to be under heavy fire. Dismissed."
      Everyone got up and gone where they wanted to go. Some stayed and talked to each other. Lieutenant Eversman and Sergeant Johnson walked towards the Chief giving him their thanks for helping the ODST becomes the first Spartan-III prototypes. They were strong and tough. But happy, and had strong courage. "Chief. I understand we found another UNSC vessel fully intact?" Eversman asked as he took a sip of his shame Paine. He got it from the cafeteria.
      "Yes. Cortana has been sent there to see if the Cole Protocol had affected every system on the ship, if the ship has been operational by 2 hours. Half of the Crew can board that vessel. I was also meaning to ask you sir?" The Chief asked as he took off his helmet. His face had a strong impression on the crew.
      "What is it Chief? Anything I can do for you?" Lieutenant Eversman asked as he took another sip. The Strawberry flavor of the drink was very limited. At least Earth still makes the best of the best.
      "I would like permission to go on the Enchanter with you sir." The Chief replied as he looked at the Lieutenant. The Chief grabbed a glass of water and also took a drink from it.
      "Sure Chief. I still have room for a few more?" the Lieutenant said in front of Sergeant Johnson. He raised an eyebrow and looked at the Sergeant a few seconds. The Sergeant thought.
      "Permission to join the crew sir?" Sergeant Johnson finally asked as he waited for the answer. He took his sip of his beer.
      "Permission granted. But you should lay off that beer Sergeant. That's an order." Eversman requested to the Sergeant as the Sergeant took one last sip.
      "Yes sir." The Sergeant said finishing the conversation.


      The Spartans finished their drinks and headed towards their quarters to get some rest. Tomorrow they would be entering the Earth's Solar System. It had been a great party. The Chief however walked to the Bridge. He wouldn't be getting any sleep for the next 4 days max. He wanted to stay awake till he got contact from his other team, or when they would reach Earth.
      Sergeant Johnson replaced his white Marine Uniform and placed on his sleeping shirt and pants. He went to his bed and thought about the next day.
      Cortana however, was still on the Enchanter making the necessary modifications to make the Chief carry a few Tanks, Pelicans, and Warthogs. The Chief had 75% power.       Lieutenant Eversman and Hawk entered the Bridge. They waked to the stations to check the logs. Everything was gone. "Everything on the Enchanter has either been erased by the Cole Protocol, or they tried to delete every file on the ship," Cortana informed the Lieutenant as he walked over to the command station that had a huge glass board that was transparent and had marking patterns everywhere.
      The ship was from the battle of Reach. "I believe the ship was equipped with gravity boosters, and is able to support life." Cortana also told the Lieutenant as she had called the crews that requested to stay on the Enchanter.
      The Access tunnel that attaches the Gettysburg/Fireball to the Enchanter was enabled for the crew to move in a 3-hour period. The Master Chief took one last look around the Bridge and informed the Team that he was going aboard the other ship. He packed his weapons, and supplies, and walked out of the Gettysburg/Fireball.
      The Chief entered his new quarters inside the Enchanter. It was smaller then the other ship, but suitable. He placed his Weapons and ammo inside his storage unit inside his draws in his room. "Chief. Can you come to the Bridge please." The Lieutenant Asked as the Chief walked out of his room. He gone threw several dark hallways entering the elevator.
      He pressed the Bridge button as it started to go down. It reached the bridge, which was located at the very bottom of the ship. Not a very good spot to place the key bridge, the Chief thought to himself as he saw the Lieutenant and Sergeant Johnson talking on the bridge. The Chief saluted the Lieutenant as Eversman said, " At Ease Chief."
      "Why did you call me sir?" The Lieutenant asked as he entered the bridge walking towards the Lieutenant and the Sergeant. The Sergeant stepped back and walked to the nearest console to check if all the systems were online.
      "We will be departing the other ship in ten minutes. I suggest you get al the personal you want onboard this ship before we leave." Eversman informed the Chief as the Chief responded by asking one question.
      "Is Dr. Halsey coming with us? Or is she going to stay onboard the other ship?" The Chief asked as he waited for an answer. The Lieutenant sighed and walked over to his left.
      "She is going to stay aboard the other ship. If you want her to come aboard this ship you can call her and ask." The Lieutenant asked as he waited.
      "No sir. It is all right. I will head towards the cargo bay." The Chief explained as he turned around and entered the Elevator once more.

* * *
      Warthogs were magnetized to the Pelicans, and Tanks were equipped with power thrusters, and cannons to fly, and maneuver in space. That should help the fighting a little bit, although that it had never been tested, and they might move very slow, and can be hard to maneuver.
      " Chief! The orbital guns on Pluto were destroyed, but Earth's MAC guns are still online and on duty. There are MAC's at Marsit they wont be ready till tomorrow. There are the last groups at Venus, which are not complete yet. Those will be ready in the next 5 hours." Cortana informed the Chief as he entered the Cargo Bay. Cortana looked at all the vehicles they found on the ship. Some were in top working order and some were not.
      "Ok. Cortana can you tell the marines to test out the plasma weapons that were left inside the storage bay. See if they all work, and also, see if they can handle Covenant Plasma Grenades, and Covenant Weapons." Chief said to the AI hoping that the marines can handle it.
      The doors opened automatically, and John walked inside the control room for the main doors. John walked threw the aisle, and saw the passing marines, and sealed doors as he moved to the lower level.
      He walked over to the empty console. It had a panel missing, and the CPU was gone. The marines must have integrated it on the tank. He then turned his head, and looked at the Scorpion Tank. He saw technicians in gray uniform integrate the system to the tanks. The Chief wasn't sure this might work, but Cortana said it might be possible.
      He saw many of the marines with pistols at their sides, and a welder in their hand. He walked over to the Warthog that was getting re-painted, and reloaded with the 12.7x99mm chain gun in the back. Some of the marines painted an Eagle carrying an Elite dead with a BR55 assault rifle in the other. The Warthog looked great with that on, but the windshield needed replacement. The Chief saw another Warthog with a missing chain gun, and wheels. He walked over to the hog, and checked all sides. One marine walked up to the Chief, and stopped at the Warthog checking it.
      "Marine, what is wrong with the LRV?" the Chief said to the marine as he detached the Warthog's armor. The marine looked at the Spartan, and trembled, cause he only say a Spartan once or twice in his life.
      "Well sir. The Warthog needs a new transmission, extra wheels, and a chain gun with extra clips of ammo. We are limited supply, and that stuff is all out. Until we get to Earth we can probably run the LRV." The marine said to the Chief after saluting him. The marine walked away from the Warthog as the Chief examined it once more.
      " Carry on soldier." The Chief said reassuring him that he did a fine job. He walked to the console next to the deserted hog, and tapped a few buttons. He examined the blue prints of the Warthog that was torn to pieces.       The Warthog wasn't just missing its wheels, gun, and transmission. It was missing everything; down to the last pieces of scrape metal armor on the back taillight. This Warthog probably will weight less than 3.25 tons thought the Chief as he stared at it again.
      The Chief finished looking at the Warthog, and saw the Pelican. Some of the marines were adding Archer Missiles to the side wings of the ship. That would certainly slow it down more, but it will also do a great amount of damage to any Covenant Ground, and Air Forces.       The marines were remodeling the pelican with landing gear, and extra storage for weapons, nukes, and grenades. There were still two medical kits to the interior of the ship. The Chief jumped in side, and looked at the specifications. It looked like the Pelican drop ship specification they used on the station by the planet Reach's moon. He remembered that James died killing many of the Grunts, and Jackals. The Chief was surprised also; cause the name of the ship was named Pelican-Delta 666.       The Chief immediately knew what 666 were. It was the devils number, and it will certainly give the Covenants hell. If the Covenant's knew what 666 meant on Earth it might scare them a bit. Grunts might run over yelling crazy things.
      Grunts weren't the worst of the Covenant forces. The Spartans needed to worry about the larger Covenant. They call them selves the Hunters and there were also the Brutes. The Hunters had big, bulky armor, with an overcharging plasma gun. They were always 12 feet tall and carried Fuel rods. They had blue tight skin, and one huge mouth. John then remembered the time he saw the Hunter step on a Jackal. He saw the picture in the briefing room on Reach.
      Most Sergeants would just shoot like heck at the Covenant, cause they were fearless. The Chief liked that, and remembered what Captain Keyes would of done. Drop a nuke, and get out. His last mission was almost impossible to complete. It was to capture a so-called Prophet and bring it live to the UNSC HQ. That mission was, by Admiral Whitcomb, however canceled that mission.
      John blocked out the memories of those days, and focused on Earth, a way to protect Earth, and the rest of Humanity. Cortana came online in the console, and her image appeared.

Halo 2: Altered Version Chapter 5 and 6
Date: 5 March 2005, 2:22 AM

      Author's Note. Sorry but I posted The last part of Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 with a little of Chapter Six. This Chapter might be a little bland..if you don't know the storyline to this story..look up my name Mark_Lieberg and it should be there.. contact me by emailing if you want the whole version on Word.

Also there might be a dozen gramiical errors..just ignore them..I will fix them it time comes. THanks..
**************************************************
End of Chapter 4---

      "Cortana, tell engineering to power the engine a little more. And tell the marines to load up ASAP. I have the Feeling the Covenant might be right behind us in a few hours." The Chief said to Cortana as she did so.

       "Chief. We will be at Mar's orbital guns in two minutes, and counting." Cortana said appearing in the holo-emitter on the desk table next to the huge screen. She looked at the marines and looked back at the Chief. Hopefully she wouldn't make the mistake again like on the Covenant Vessel they captured before.

       "Understood Cortana." John replied to the AI as the others looked at the Chief.

       "Chief. All the ships that I am reading in the Earths solar system near the asteroid belt are three, the Equator, the Lockness, and us. Should I inform them that they should head to Earth?" Cortana said assuring how many ships were going to Earth. Cortana flickered, and lines of matrices flashed on, and off of her body of digital words of ones, and zero's.

       "Ok Cortana, thanks." The Chief said to the group as he turned off the monitor that had the plans for the mission.



Chapter Five¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯


1704 Hours, September 14, 2552 (Military Calendar)
Earth's Solar System, Planet Mars,
UNSC Hybrid Gettysburg/Fireball, UNSC Cruiser Enchanter,
Location in Mars, in route to Earth.






      The Enchanter entered the Mars radar range as Corporal Stephen saw the UNSC symbol. He asked for the access code making sure it wasn't a Covenant Captured Ship. The Gettysburg/Fireball came right after the Enchanter. "This is Mars command. Please give us your access codes to head to Earth?"

       "This is Lieutenant Eversman from the UNSC Fireball, currently taking command of the Enchanter. My access code is Alpha9Beta6CharlieDeltaGamma32 over?" Eversman replied as he stopped the ship. The Corporal heard the code, and continued to scan it to check if it is verified. The Corporal never saw this huge of a gathering since the taking of the Harvest System by Admiral Cole.

       "Roger that. Thank you Lieutenant. The UNSC HQ, and FLEETCOM has your thanks for getting here." Stephens informed the Lieutenant as he let the Enchanter, and the Gettysburg/Fireball threw the huge MAC cannons placed to protect the path to Earth.

      The Enchanter continued on as ten minutes were left till they reached Earth's Atmosphere, to inform them of the current information. "Ten Minutes left Lieutenant." Cortana informed Eversman of the time. He nodded and continued to sit down on his Chair.

      The Chief entered the bridge as he saw Earth. It was still peaceful and quiet.
"Sir? We here?" The Chief asked making sure it was the right place.

       "We're here Chief. Cortana. Please inform Sergeant A.J. Johnson of our status." Eversman requested as he stood up. "I will go down to the HQ and see if all the Marines down there are ready for the attack."

      Eversman looked at the Chief. "And Chief?"

       "Yes sir?"

       "Your in command." Eversman said about to give the Chief a handshake. The Chief quickly countered that by replying to the Lieutenant.

       "Sorry sir. But I don't want to take command of the ship. Lieutenant Mcfall can handle this ship. He should take command. Johnson and I need to get down to Earth when the Covenant start to attack." The Chief replied waiting for the Lieutenant to answer.

       "Very well. Cortana, also inform the Lieutenant that he is now in command. I will head to the Fighter Bay."

       "I will accompany you sir." The Chief requested as the Lieutenant nodded. "Hurry sir. I don't think we have much time left."

       "You know me Chief. I'm a Lieutenant." Eversman smiled to the Chief as they both walked in to the Elevator.


      Sergeant Johnson walked in the Fighter bay before the Chief and the Lieutenant dressed in his Marine White uniform.

       "What's the special occasion?" Eversman asked as he walked up to the Sergeant.

       "The Lieutenant's new command sir."

       "Oh yes. Ok Chief," Eversman turned facing the Chief, "Thanks for the help. And you too Cortana."

       "Thank you sir." Cortana and the Chief replied. Eversman saluted the Chief and entered the nearest Pelican Dropship. The Pilot was ready. The ship lowered down to the access hatch and was released.

       "What, we do now?" Johnson asked as he looked at the Chief.

       "We wait sir." The Chief said as the Pelican descended further down into the Earth's atmosphere.

* * *
      The Pelican Dropship flew downward to the planet side. They had to hurry before the Covenant attacked Earth. However as the Pelican flew by. They saw the Two-hundred MAC's orbiting Earth. Ready for the worst. The console to the pilots right beeped twice and blinked yellow.

       "Sir. The UNSC HQ has sent a transmission." The Pilot said to the Lieutenant as he looked at the window.

       "What was it about?" The Lieutenant asked as he straightened his uniform for his showing at the HQ.

       "The Covenant has entered the Solar System sir. Estimated attack is Ten minutes." The Pilot said piloting the Pelican as it passed the Atlantic Ocean. The Engines roared as water flew away from the ship.

* * *
       "Chief?" Cortana asked as she looked at him threw the intercom.

       "What is it Cortana?" The Chief asked as he looked at the space.
The Chief turned and saw the Sergeant talking to the ODST soldiers by him wondering how he survived Halo.

       "The Covenant will be here in 8 minutes." Cortana informed the Chief.

       "And the Battle Station?" the Chief asked again.

       "I don't read the station on the long range sensors. They could be behind. However I am reading Fifteen Covenant Capital Ships. Near Io." Cortana said as she waited for the Chief to answer.

       "Get to full combat alert Alpha quickly!" The Chief yelled as he informed the Sergeant and the ODST. Every soldier in the Enchanter heard the alarm and they ran for the Armory to get their weapons.



Chapter Six¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯


1713 Hours, September 14, 2552 (Military Calendar)
Earth's Solar System, Planet Earth,
UNSC Cruiser Gettysburg/Fireball, UNSC Cruiser Enchanter,
In orbit of Earth, Preparing to attack Covenant Armada.






      The Gettysburg/Fireball entered Earth's atmosphere as Rick saw every MAC gun in place ready for an attack from something. "What's happening?" Rick asked to the Marines piloting the ship. Private Banks informed the Spartan of the current situation.

       "Crap. Tell everyone to get to Combat Alert Alpha. Get everyone loaded incase we get bombarded. And get the team ready. We are heading down to Earth.

* * *
       "Admiral. The Covenant has attacked the MAC's on Mars. They were totally destroyed by mini fighters from two sides. No survivors." Lieutenant Adams informed the Admiral.

       "Jesus Christ. Their finally here." The Admiral said as the Camera on the main MAC gun was showing the remaining UNSC fleet. It showed hundreds of ships coming out of nowhere. Covenant Seraph Fighters, Banshees, Dropships, Phantoms, and other bombarding ships entered the Earths Atmosphere first. "FIRE AT WILL!" the Admiral yelled as the Lieutenant repeated the order on his COM unit.


      The entire MAC's fired their huge armor penetrating round in to the first wave of ships. Five Covenant Carriers and Dropships were destroyed. Plasma fired threw Space hitting a few MAC's and destroying one.

      The Chief looked as saw the blimps on the board. The Sergeant ordered the ship to fire at the Covenant fleet. "All hands! We are being boarded. All Marines report to level C for counter attack!" Sergeant Benjamin yelled as he died in the bridge as Elites came in swarming into the area. They slaughtered every human in A Deck.

       "Ok. Let's do this." The Sergeant yelled as he ordered the ODST to follow him. The Chief ran after them. They entered threw a metal door. Fires started where the Covenant entered the Ship. Grunts and Jackals were everywhere. Barricades that were placed on both sides of the door, that the Covenant were breaking threw, were good cover. The Chief was the first in line as the Sergeant followed by the ODST went separate watching the door.

      Covenant cutting tools started to cut away quicker then the Human tools. "Ready men! Shoot anything that comes threw that door!" Johnson yelled as he pulled out his BR55. He reloaded the weapon till it said full clip of Thirty-Six bullets.

       "Yes sir!" The ODST responded as they held their SMG's up. They waited till they saw those little Grunts come running threw the doors.

       "Ready...Fire!" Johnson yelled as the Chief threw two Frag` Grenades. They ticked twice and exploded causing more fire. Then they heard a loud yell. They all knew which Covenant made that kind of noise before they attacked. Elites.

      They came running up firing their two Plasma Rifles at the Marines. Burning plasma hit the hull as the ODST sprayed a dozen bullets on them.

       "Two up front!" Johnson yelled as the Chief fired first. His BR55 shot of a dozen rounds into the screaming Grunts.

       "Bye, bye to those suckers!" one ODST yelled as he threw a grenade into a swarm of Jackals coming out of the side. The Jackals exploded. The Chief moved up to check if there were any inside that were left. The Covenant Dropship that had deployed the enemy had cut threw the hull with some sort of new ship. The tunnel was dark, but as the Chief flash his lights. An Alien of some sort flew in the air firing plasma everywhere.

       "Bugs?" Johnson yelled as he put a trio of bullets in the flying insect. It fluttered around a few times and fell to the ground after another trio of bullets from the Chief.

       "What the hell are those things?" one of the ODST asked as they kicked it to make sure it was dead.

       "Don't know." The Chief responded as they heard more foot running. They heard screams. Everyone ran threw the metal door and saw the battle. Grunts, Jackals, and Elites were crawling; killing, murdering, or cutting threw the marines. The Marines stepped back and fired. They kept on doing that. Now it was time to change it.

      The Chief jumped down. An Elite and a pair of Grunts looked at the Chief confusingly. They tilted their head's as the Chief rose slowly. The Grunts jumped as they saw the 7 foot tall Spartan. They started to yell, "Chief! Chief! Chief!"

      The Chief was now confused. They never saw Grunts act like they did now calling John's designation. He lifted his weapon and killed the Elite first standing on one knee. He spun around and took out another pair of Elites. The Marines fired at the Grunts and Jackals and were down to a few left.

       "Nice shooting Master Chief. Looks like the Covenant now who you are now." Johnson informed the Chief as he nodded. The ODST reloaded their weapons. They ran to the side door and waited before they entered the compound.

       "Chief. I hacked into the Covenant Battle Net. They have a bomb." Cortana explained as the Chief listened looking at the door before they entered it.

       "You got to be kidding me? The Covenant use bombs now? Great." One Sergeant spoke to the team.

       "Where are the Covenant bombarding the ship?" the Chief asked Cortana. They looked at the map.

       "The Covenant, are all over the ship, threw out the decks, and on the bridge."

       " I don't think there are any marines left. However, they got to the bridge and slaughtered everyone before they knew what came in. We got out to the lower levels. Some other marines are trapped on the deck on top of us." He said breathing heavily.

       "Roger that. Let's go and get introduced then." The ODST told them, as he started first.

       "Strong heart that dude has." Johnson told the Chief. The Chief smiled.

       "Yeah, strong heart." The Chief replied running after him. The ODST got to the door and tried to open it. "What's wrong?"

       "The door's sealed shut from the other side. Dang Covenant." The ODST yelled kicking the door. They heard much gunfire from the other side. Heard a few screams and yelling as marines and Covenant fell.

      "HELP!" one marine said banging on the door. He was hurt. The Covenant didn't notice him yet.

       "Hold on Marine we're trying to cut threw!" Johnson yelled firing his rifle at the door. "Damn it. No use."

      "Hold on." The Chief said. He stood back, "Back away from the door!"

      The Marines on the other side did so. The Covenant saw him running to get him. The Marine turned to his left and watched the door.

      The Chief ran back away some more, and then ran towards the door. He jumped and kicked it. It budged a little. The Chief then stood back up looking. He kicked it again as his heavy MJOLNIR armor clashed with the door. The Marine saw the Chief barley. "Hurry they are coming!"

       "Hold on." The Chief replied using his shoulder and running into the door. The door smashed open as the marines ran inside to help their buddy. They fired their Battle Rifles and SMG's. The Covenant started to run away as the ODST pursued them.

      The Master Chief knelt on the ground and looked at the scared marine. He was in shock. And was happy. He saluted the Chief and the Chief saluted back. The Chief heard the noise. The men stood up, and readied his Rifle. "Thank you sir."

       "Pleasure is mine marine." The Chief replied running to the door. "Sergeant. Get over here. Look." The Chief pointed as Elites with some sort of powered jet pack flew in the air inside the ship.

       "Must be looking for survivors." Johnson spoke, as the Elite looked at the gap. The alien saw the head and acted like it didn't see him. "Whoa. That was close."

      Then the Aliens spoke to each other and then nodded. The Elites walked away from where the Chief and the Sergeant could see. The Elites ignited their swords and looked at the Chief straight in the eye. "Shit." John spoke quietly as the Elites came flying threw the air. The Chief dropped a grenade, picked up the Sergeant and ran to the other room. The Elites ran threw, right then the grenade exploded, the Elites stopped horrified and was incinerated.

       "Nice Chief. Can you put me down now?" Johnson asked as the Chief did so.

       "Chief! The ODST have found the access hatch to the Covenant's main Dropship. No Covenant was around the facility." Cortana informed the Chief as he ran to the gap threw the door. The tunnel was short this time. The Chef ran threw it seeing the marines.

       "And the bomb?" The Chief asked, as he was growing angrier.

       "They took it with them. Down to engineering level." Cortana told the Chief, "There is a large group of Elites, and some Grunts for leftovers." Cortana continued.

       "Ok. I will go alone. Marine, give me your weapon." The Chief ordered as the Marine gave the Chief his SMG's. The Chief reloaded each weapon and ran down the hall. The Chief ran down the hall as the Marines went onto the Covenants Dropship.

      The Sergeant was supposed to pick him up on the other side of the ship. The Chief continued to run down the hallways that were on fire and blinking on and off with red lights. He fired his SMG and killed a trio of Grunts. He made it to the door. Cortana started to speak to the Chief, "There are armored Elites with Spec-op Grunts. I think you should do well with both of your SMG's for close range."

       "You know me to well Cortana." The Chief responded as he busted threw the doors. The Covenants in the room looked at the Chief for a slit second and attacked. The Chief jumped down for cover and he smacked a Grunt by crushing its skull with his SMG and shooting it with the other. The Elites ignited their swords and yelled.

       "Take out your Rifle. My scans indicate that they have no shielding since their attack." Cortana informed the Chief as he did so a third of a second before the AI explained. He whipped out his Rifle and shot two pairs of a trio of bullets at the two Elites.
* * *


       "Don't touch anything." The Sergeant told the ODST. They didn't and stepped back. He looked at the panels. "Corporal? Can you interface with the controls and scan the ship from here. See if they are any survivors."

       "Sure Sergeant. Well, as I was scanning the ship. I noticed We are the only ones left. I suggest we get to the Gettysburg. They haven't been attack yet. They are on the other side of the planet." The Corporal informed the Sergeant as Johnson thought a bit.

       "Can you fly this?" The Sergeant asked as he yelled to everyone to get inside. All the marines and ODST ran entering the purple vessel.

       "Whoa. Nice ship you got here sir." One Private told him looking at the panels and the hull.

       "Don't get pushy with me sonny." The Sergeant countered that remark and looked at the screen watching Earth get bombarded by many Covenant vessels. A door that closed disconnecting the tunnel. The ship backed up and flew threw the space.



      The Chief saw another pair of Elites and took them out by using his melee attack on them in the back. Plasma flew everywhere. The Chief saw a trio of Jackals entering the facility. They gave their screeches, as it was their last. The Chief threw a plasma grenade he picked up from a nearby Elite.

      The Grenade exploded as they flew across the room. "Chief. You need to deactivate the bomb. Interface with the machine and I will disable it." Cortana told the Chief as he did so. He ran to the bomb. Placed Cortana's data chip inside the bomb. "Interesting." Cortana said deactivating the bomb.

      The Chief finished off the last pair of Grunts. "How much time was left?" The Chief asked as he walked to the bomb. Cortana paused as she checked.

       "You don't want to know." Cortana told the Chief, as he understood that there was probably only a few seconds left.

Halo 2: Altered Version---This Time More Action
Date: 18 March 2005, 7:57 AM

AN: Just a quick note. Lol this is getting funny. Third story in a row. Please dont flame me guys. Like a year ago when I stopped coming to this site for a month guss you didnt know that did ya? Well here it is. There might be a few mistakes..hope MCC Can catch them so I can edit on my real one.


      The Chief looked at the Bomb as Cortana activated the E-Band frequency. They heard many Admirals and Marines calling in and throughout the kill zone. "Master Chief, I want you to get to the Gettysburg/Fireball." Admiral Stanforth told the Chief.

      "Sir. I would like permission to leave the station and get on board one of the Dropships I have captured?" The Master Chief asked as he waited. Cortana stayed inside the bomb as she also waited for what the Chief was going to ask.

       "For what purpose Chief?"

       "To give the Covenant back their bomb." The Master Chief said smiling.

       "Permission granted." Hood responded as he deactivated the COM at his end.
****
      Covenant Destroyers, Frigates, and Carriers fired Plasma at the MAC's as they fell one by one. Many Covenant ships got passed and started down to the Earth's Atmosphere. On the Gettysburg/Fireball the Scanning radar picked up an enemy vessel closing in.

       "Sir." Intel informed the Spartan on the bridge. Rick looked around quickly, and
responded.

       "What is it?" Rick asked as he stood up walking over to the panels.

      Intel paused then told Rick, "There is a Covenant Dropship heading towards us. The Chief is in it with Sergeant Johnson."

       "Let the Pelican into Fighter Bay Alpha." Rick said walking into the elevator and going down to the Fighter bay.
****

      The Chief got out of the Covenant Dropship after getting Cortana into his helmet. "Nice little ship Chief." Rick said as he walked towards the Chief. He saluted John and he saluted back. He walked back and pulled out the heavy metallic bomb.

       "Well, we just had a nice little vacation with the Covenant on the other side of the planet." Johnson informed the Spartan as Rick looked at the Sergeant.
The other Spartans came walking to see the Chief.

       "Sir. I hope you don't mind me asking, but what the hell is that thing?" The Spartan Gabriel asked John as he looked at both her, and Rick.
       "It's a bomb the Covenant were planting on one of the MAC's. I want to give it back." The Chief said looking at the two-team Spartan leaders, and the rest of the team.



Chapter Sevenøøøøøøøøøøø


1834 Hours, September 15, 2552 (Military Calendar)
Earth's Solar System, Planet Earth,
UNSC Cruiser Gettysburg/Fireball, in orbit of Earth.






      John watched the last time he saw the Pelicans as they entered the doors to enter space. The three-meter door closed behind the Pelicans as John climbed down to the main deck.

      Each of the ten Pelicans flew out of Cargo Bay two and down to Earth after the first three. Many Banshee fliers and Phantom ships flew up to invade them. Each of the Pelicans was equipped with Standard Machine Guns mounted in the Front and Aft of the Drop ship. And the Pelicans with the Scorpion Tank had its 7.62 armor piercing coaxial gun. Petty Officer Quinton fired his tank at the Covenant scum. He missed, and reloaded. During the reloaded, the Banshee flier came down for another swoop.

      Lieutenant Quinton was sure that his Pelican was going to blow, but then at a certain moment as the Banshee powered up its Plasma cannon. A Pelican drop ship fired its Machine Gun into the Covenant Ship. The Banshee blew up with melted purple black metal as the Pelican flew through the debris.

       "What the hell was that Rick?" Gabriel said on the COM line.

      "I don't know, but looks like we have some reinforcements coming Gabriel. Hold on tight Marines, this is no joy ride!" Rick said looking into the monitor that displaced the outside view of space. He saw only one Pelican drop ship coming out of the Earth's atmosphere.

       "You all right sir?" asked the pilot of the Pelican ship.

       "Yes sir. What's your name Pilot?" asked Rick as his Pelican went down towards Earth. While he asked he saw many Banshee fliers, about fifty-four of them came flying towards them. "This is Spartan-098. Please state your designation soldier?"

       "Pilot? I am no Pilot sir. I'm a Helljumper. Names Helljumper Ya`ko Ro of Earth. Hold on, we'll protect you long enough for you to enter Earth's Atmosphere." Said the Helljumper, Ya`ko Ro, flying the Pelican drop ship from Earth.

      Lieutenant Quinton and the Pelican marines with the Spartans saw after that COM signal at least thirty Pelicans armed with their standard issue Machine gun also placed in the front and aft of the ship, flew from Earth to target the Covenant Scum. All of the Pelicans fired their machine gun. As many white bright bullets flew away from the Pelican it went straight towards the Banshee's, and the Phantoms. The pack of Pelican drop ships certainly helped the other Spartans and the marines a lot.

      Lieutenant Quinton saw the other tanks fire at the Covenant warships. The huge round flew from the Scorpion Tanks towards the Covenant Cruisers. The warships ignored them as they flew to Earth. One by one, each of the Banshee fliers blew up in space. The Pelicans together fired their Archer missiles at the Covenant Cruiser and together they managed to destroy the Cruiser.

      The Gettysburg/Fireball fired its Archer Missiles as they had only five pods left. The purple tail lightened missile flew to the Dropships. The Weapons from the tanks, and MAC took down their shields. As they recharged, the Frigates' missiles hit the Covenant Warship.

      After that, the warship blew up from all the impacts that the Archer missiles came from. The ship started for Earth, and headed down in to orbit. The ship began to burn, and then dissolve cause of the overwhelming heat. The odds of that were countless millions to one. They destroyed a warship with only a few Pelican fighters equipped with their Tanks, plus the MAC.

       "Thanks Helljumper." Gabriel said to Ya`ko as she held her gun up looking at the other Spartans.

       No problem sir! We need every man and women to fight this war," Ya`ko said to the curious Spartan, "land here in these coordinates. All the cities are overrun and one of the Colonels and the two teams of marines with one Sergeant are located here. Have fun, and God speed Spartan! Ya`ko out!"

      Gabriel glanced at the coordinates and noticed that it was in Ghost town, Nevada. She wondered how many marines are there. She looked at the monitor and saw the rest of the Pelicans descend towards Earth. She saw many of the ships burn and reentered the atmosphere. "Take us to these coordinates pilot." Gabriel yelled to the pilot as he changed course.

      Gabriel's Pelican descended just like the rest. She saw flames and ashes in many of the towns and cities. There was Plasma guns and turrets flying all over in the air. Banshees flew everywhere. There, she saw the White House the old political building from the 1800's. That building however was totally destroyed. It was burning with the rest of the things. She then saw marines firing BR55's at the Covenant Jackals and wished to help. But she was unable to land here cause it was Hot. She watched many fights along the land of Earth. Every thing was burning or blowing up.

      To Gabriel, she just wanted to nuke the Covenants home world like they did to Earth. Blow every little city, and fry everyone that speaks something else beside English. When she flew over, which appeared to be Kentucky, she saw marines wearing armor while firing their pistols. There were camouflaged Elites everywhere. The Elites ran towards the marines and sliced them with their swords like slipping a knife in to butter. Gabriel swore she saw them laugh at the dead carcasses. "Pilot! Open the back door and bring up a 10mm machine gun," Gabriel said to the plot as it flew around the Elites over and over again, "I want some target practice!"

       "Acknowledged. Good Hunting!" the pilot said back to Gabriel as the doors opened up with a 70mm machine gun coming out of the tail wing. Gabriel laid her hands on the machine gun. She took a deep and slow, angry breathe before pulling the trigger. As she pulled the trigger the 70mm machine gun shot at least two-inch bullets per second. She counted at least fifty-seven bullets came out of the gun. The two-inch bullets fired into the Elites shields. The shields flickered then faded as many of the swarming bullets went straight threw the Elites like nothing.

      The Pelican flew for around thirty to forty minutes. They now entered Arizona. The vast waste land that filled with burning Scorpion Tanks, Pelicans, and even Warthogs. There seemed to have been a great battle here. Although Gabriel did not see any Covenant bodies, she thought to her self that the sand must have buried them, but the wind never kicked up. Nothing moved in the dry desert. The Pelican flew for another ten minutes and entered Nevada. They were near a UNSC camp, but then saw it burning all so with ashes and flames. Everything, down to the last pet was either dead, or still burning. Gabriel looked to the other Pelicans as they fired their guns.

      Rick's Pelican flew firing ammo the size of his fist. Each armor-piercing bullet flew from the 70mm machine gun at their stern and forward side. They were firing at rows and rows of Grunts. They all screamed enough that the Pelicans engines vibration couldn't wear it off. The sound of the Grunts made the marines mad and absurd that they kept on throwing fragmentation grenades down the aft hatch. The team didn't care what happened unless it was them who get shot at. They wore strong faces and were ready to do anything. Each of the Spartans threw grenades down then they saw the worst. There were hunters. They wore big armor shields, blue skin, and had tentacles sticking out of their heads. It was gross enough that they saw the blue blood that the Grunts had all over the desert.

      The Scorpion Tanks that was attached to the Pelican drop ships opened fired. Each of the 70mm armor-piercing bullets left the cannon; they headed straight for the Covenant ground forces. Big explosions blew in the air, fire everywhere, and when the Pelican continued to fire more bombs exploded on the ground. Little Grunts and Jackals blew up with pieces flying everywhere. It was a disaster, all the UNSC personal dead on the spot.

       "Target that Wraith tank son. Take that thing out now!" Rick said to the marine in the Scorpion tank on the back. The marine pulled the trigger and fired. As the cannon shot, the big bullet round hit the Wraith tank and it exploded. Wraith tanks weren't supposed to explode on one shot, but maybe it exploded cause of the altitude they were in. Most of the Wraith tanks would explode after 2 to 3 hits, but this was really unusually. Either the UNSC Scorpion tanks had stronger ammunition, or the Wraith tank had been damaged before from a fight not to long ago.

      Indeed it had passed at least twenty more minutes before the reached Ghost town, Nevada. Rick thought of Earth as a fireball and could not accept it. "Fire everything you got marine! Wipe the stench of Covenant forces on the Earth!" Rick yelled aiming out of the Pelican drop ship as the Scorpion tank, the 7.62mm machine gun, and the Pelicans 70mm machine gun in the front fired. Heavy rounds fell out of the machine guns dropping bullets softly in the sky. Smoke filled the air as Rick breathed it. Rick pulled his trigger to his BR55, and fired. Each of the rounds flew from the new gun and into Covenant soldiers. Grunts bleed blue-blackish blood while the Jackals green, bluish. Thousands of Thousands of Covenant soldiers died.

       "Sir! Banshee flier at two o'clock!" The pilot said shifting the control to steer at nine o'clock. The Pelican drop ship turned and flew faster. The marines and Spartans fired at the incoming Banshee fliers. It was certainly Hell out there. Rick looked out of the aft hatch and saw an undamaged building. There he saw people carrying Jackhammer rocket launchers on their shoulders. Rick saw one of them fire the rocket. As the rocket flew it almost hit his Pelican. Rick zoomed on his display and saw it was a Sergeant. The rocket flew past his Pelican by meters and hit the Banshee fliers. The ships blew up in the air heading down to the ground. Black smoke flew from the destroyed Banshee as the Pelican landed near the LZ.

       "Welcome to the secret UNSC base in Ghost town, Nevada! I am Sergeant Lieberg from the outer province of Washington." Lieberg said to the Spartans and marines as the Pelican landed and dropped off Tanks, Warthogs, and ammunition. The Pelican drop ships sat where they landed while the Scorpion Tanks and Warthogs formed three lines. Marines jumped off of the drop ships and checked the vehicles.

       "Thank you Sergeant. What happened? We received a set of coordinates from a Pelican Dropship, and requested reinforcements." Gabriel said as she walked towards Rick and Sergeant Lieberg.

       "The Covenant appeared only a few hours ago. Multiple ships came out of slipspace. However the MAC's destroyed half of the fleet. I thought the Covenant had more than this. The attack on Reach was probably forty or fifty times this size." Lieberg stated to the Spartan as Gabriel moved towards the Private after listening to Lieberg.

       "We should set up a perimeter around the base. How many marines do you have?" Rick asked the Sergeant.

       "We have at least nineteen marines waiting for combat from the Chief," the Sergeant looked at the Spartans and blinked a few times, " Where is the Chief sir?" Lieberg asked Rick as he looked around searching for the Chief.

       "He is doing another mission." Rick told Lieberg as he shook his head.

       "We need every Spartan available to fight against the Covenant. What is his mission exactly sir?" Lieberg asked curiously hoping that he was not dead, not yet anyways.

       "His mission was to...he didn't really have a mission sir. Only to kill every Covenant he could find and send them back to hell where they came from."

       "That sounds like a good plan, coming from a Spartan." Another marine interrupted as he walked up from the encampment. "My name is Colonel Poe. From California, 2nd company, and Sergeant Lieberg is in 3rd. We're ready to do anything to kill these bastards."

       "Acknowledged. Well the Chief is really not alone on this mission. He has the Computer intelligence AI called─"

       "Cortana. Yeah, we know all about that AI. She's the advance one we have in the ONI and the UNSC HQ."

       "Right. Ok will set up a perimeter. Liz, Calvin, and Hobbs. You guys will locate here at this point, about ten meters away from here to the south. Julie, Andrew, and I will be ten meters from the East." Rick said to the other Spartans and marines. He moved his hand above his visor and looked around. All he could see was dirt and sand. All mixtures from Red to Yellow, vast wasteland was everywhere, no water for miles, besides cactuses, animals digging in the ground either to hide of to live under the cool shade.

       "Acknowledged. Justin, Luke, and Bill will head ten meters to the North while Joe, Kevin, and I will be ten meters to the West. That should cover every meter from here to the ten meter arena." Gabriel told Rick and she looked at her team. All of the Blue and Red lights winked on and off signaling that it was clear.

       "Ok Spartans. Lets see what you're made of." Lieberg told Rick as the Spartans separated into four groups. Gabriel's team of Blue-Three and Blue-Six moved west 10 meters. Justin's team consisting of Blue-Four and Blue-Five moved out towards the North.

      Sergeant Lieberg looked at his company. Private's Darby, Bezold, Stoll, Wilson, Fuller, Kincaid, Heller, and Williamson looked at the Spartans wearing the MJOLNIR suits. They shined, reflecting light in the marine's eyes. The marines grinned and held their hands up to block the sun out. Rick's team that was made of Red-Five and Red-Six headed East while Liz's team that had Red-Three and Red-Four towards the south.

      Colonel Derrick Poe walked away from his company as he looked out at the clear desert. He thought to himself that nothing might happen to them, but although every time he felt that way something bad was going to happen. His company was called the Charlie Company.

      One of his Privates however, walked towards the Colonel and asked, "Sir should we stay with Sergeant Lieberg's squad?" Private Diaz asked.

       "Yes set a small perimeter around the LZ. Arm the squads with the basic crap marine." Colonel Poe told the marine as he did so.

      Private Diaz ran to the squad and told them to get ready for anything. He saw the Colonel's squad get ready. He saw Private Chekov pick up some armor for his vest. Private O'Brien was next to Chekov as he checked his pistol. Private O'Brien was taller then the Colonel but guarded him with everything.

      Private Rodriguez, Smith, and Alami talked about their BR55's. They each always gave extra clips of ammo to each other. They were friends since the Academy of UNSC HQ.

      Privates Wiles, and Paffic were friends with each other but never helped each other if in trouble.

      The last Private in the Colonel's group was Private Stacker. He was tall and smart of plans and traps for the Covenant soldiers to fall into. He always carried a small box of Fragmentation grenades by his sides. He wasn't very talkative but got the job done the right way.

      Lieberg wondered if this, perimeter will help them survive a little longer although the Spartans were trained for offence not defense mostly. Sergeant Lieberg wondered if the Spartans could hold their position before reinforcements arrive. He counted on the Chief to come and rescue them. The Private talked near Colonel Poe's marines.
      Private Darby was Japanese, however he was talented with snipers nonetheless. He wore a strong face with a few burns on his right side of his face.

      Private Bezold was taller then any of the marines, but was very good in demolitions.

      Private Stoll loved to toy with his BR55 and M6C pistol. He was an expert in Covenant technology. He graduated from the college of UNSC HC.

      Private Wilson was a talkative person, but always got his job done. No matter how hard the task was, he seems to have complete all the tasks the Sergeant instructed.

      One of his team of marines was Private Fuller. He was excellent with snipers, Plasma Needlers, and rifles. He was a little shorter then Sergeant Lieberg, but was a fine officer. He and the Sergeant were best pals in the training grounds and still were.

      Private Kincaid always never let a Covenant run away no matter what. Private Heller is great with demolitions. She can blow a Covenant when luring it towards a trap. The last soldier in his group was Private Williamson. He was taller then the Sergeant. He was a great friend and a reliable soldier. He usually upgrades his MA5B. But this time he used the new BR55.

       "Uh ten hut! Get in a straight-line maggot! We haven't got all day! Come ladies, this ain't no Girl Scout camp like the ONI has, so get your rat assess moving before you get sent to the Covenants for dinner!" Lieberg said to the group of Private s. He walked back and forth looking at his squad. They were now one company, one team, but only one leader. Their team was Bravo Company now. Lieberg straightened up the soldiers in old fashion.

       "Sir," Bezold said looking straight at the major, "permission to saddle up and get ready sir?"

       "Permission granted. Well? Move it you scum bags we haven't got all day! Hustle up! One, two three... one, two, three." Lieberg yelled to the marines in line scrambling to get to the weapons locker to saddle up.

************************************************************************
      Gabriel walked down the dry arid desert with nothing but a BR55 and a 5mm pistol with two companions. Her team jogged down West ten meters away from the LZ. The sun shined harshly and the MJOLNIR suit changed temperature cause it was so hot. Her suit felt a little cooler then the standard temperature the suit had before on the other mission.

       "Gabriel! We are ten meters away from our LZ. Should we stop here and stand watch?" Kevin asked the Spartans as she walked away from him looking out at the desert.

       "Affirmative. Hold position here and notify the other squads." Gabriel responded to the Spartans question looking again out in the desert. She squinted and swore she some something shine silvery and purplish. She looked around and only same her group consisting with Kevin and Joe. She looked back at the exact spot she saw the shimmer and ignored it.


      Justin's team made it ten meters by running. Justin thought to himself that he should have brought a Warthog out here incase Elites or Brutes come here. Justin felt all right. He could see all around him. "Hold position here." Justin called on his COM to his team. Blue lights blinked on and ended as Blue-team acknowledged. Justin checked his equipment and scouted a head after informing his group.

      Bill looked around at the dry desert. He hoped that they would have luck as their Master Chief had every mission. Bill looked at Luke and day dreamed about Earth being safe. He wished he was in combat and ready to kill those Covenant home worlds like they were doing to Earth. He hoped by some miracle that the Master Chief will devise a plan and to destroy the Covenants evading Earth.

      Luke looked back at Bill and hoped that after this mission the war would and possible be over. He remembered all those marines back at the old White House. He hoped that that old historical building never gotten destroyed. Luke looked at his arm panel on his MJOLNIR suit and adjusted the temperature. It was hot as hell out where he was thought Luke as he saw Justin coming back to there position.

      Liz, Calvin and Hobbs made it out ten meters. They each sat down on a dry log and looked around. The breathed for a few minutes and checked their ammunition. They weapons loaded full and they each had a full pack of standard issue grenades. Calvin looked out and saw something shimmer.

       "Hey Hobbs. What do you think that is over there?" Calvin said squinting at the small image but then quickly disappeared.

       "I don't know I can't see it from here. Liz, permission to scout ahead?" Hobbs stood up looking at Liz as she looked back at Hobbs.

       "Negative we have to stay here. If we scout ahead we might be in trouble." Liz responded worrying about what Calvin saw.

       "Acknowledged. Hobbs out." Hobbs ended as he walked towards Calvin. He sat back down and stared at Calvin. He held up his BAR and checked it one more time.
       "Well Calvin. I guess we can just sit here and watch."

       "Understood." Calvin responded also wondering what he had seen. Was it an illusion or was it something horrible.


      Rick made it ten meters away from his LZ. He took a deep breath and ordered Andrew to scout. Rick thought to himself that the Covenant would never pass him. The only way the Covenant will get passed him was over his dead body. Rick checked his BR55 and reloaded his pistol after practicing it on the Longsword Fighter.

      Andrew scouted ahead and saw something shimmer. He immediately reported it. "Sir? As I scouted ahead," Andrew swallowed his breath and looked again, "I saw something shimmer."

       "What exactly did you see?" Rick asked to the shaken Andrew as he tried to remember.

       "I think it was silver sir. I may have seen nothing." Andrew responded to his team leader.

       " Keep your eyes peeled son. Make sure nothing passes you. Rick out!" Rick said on the COM frequency. Rick walked down the desert area and saw the bright hot sun. The desert was quite warm and hot as heck thought Rick.

      Julie walked down the dry wasteland. She likes it here. Nice and quiet, but that can also be really bad thought Julie as she checked her weapons and shield status. The shield bar was full and her health was excellent, but that gave her a chill. She looked out of the desert and magnified her view ten times normal. She looked at the ground and saw small particles of rock and sand shiver and stops then again shivered and stopped.

      She wondered what could cause it. She looked around and saw Andrew and Rick staying still then realized what it was. A huge silver and bulbous machine that was partially purple appeared on her magnification. There in the air flew probably at least ten to twenty Banshee fliers and many Covenant soldiers, all shapes and sizes that she saw.

       "Sir! Covenant soldiers, air, and ground forces by north, northeast. Repeat Covenant soldiers, air and ground forces by north, northeast!" Julie yelled over the COM channel and raised her rifle. She fired ten rounds and saw three Elites and five Grunts dropping to the ground. The other two shots missed and flew passed them denting one of their Wraith Tanks.

       "Acknowledged. Blue teams and Red teams proceed to section north by north east. Covenant spotted and engaging repeat engaging Covenant forces!" Rick yelled on E-band to the other teams.

       "This is Gabriel! Covenant forces on East side of facility. They're trying to flank us! Stand ground, I repeat stand ground!" Gabriel yelled to her blue team as they fired at the Covenant forces.
       "Justin here. They must be circling us. We have contact in the North with Rick's team. The Covenant is surrounding us. Liz! Pease say you don't have contact?" Justin reported to the other teams.

       "Sorry sir! We are too engaged in Covenant forces." Liz responded to the Spartans question firing her sniper rifle.

       "Acknowledge. Contact our LZ and tell them we have company!" Rick yelled after Justin's question.

       "Understood! Gabriel out!" Gabriel ended her transmission firing multiply rounds of her BR55 and pistol. Bullets kept firing at the Covenant as she opened a channel to their LZ. "Sergeant Lieberg! Get ready for battle! We have contact on all sides, repeat all sides!"

      "Understood! Get ready. We've got company!" Lieberg yelled to his company as they readied their rifles and grenades for incoming Covenant Forces.

Halo 2: AVoTS Chp 8---The Jump
Date: 10 July 2005, 9:29 am

                  Halo 2
            Altered Version of True Spartans

AN: I have something to say in the comments section when this gets posted, and I would like to say thanks to all you Fan Fiction writers and Readers and Great, Great Teachers out there.Four months of readin, rereadin, editing, re-editing, writing, and re-writing I've completed half of this chapter.

Now to the Chapter
--

Chapter Eight¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯


1210 Hours, September 15, 2552 (Military Calendar)
Earth's Solar System, Planet Earth,
UNSC Cruiser Gettysburg, in orbit of Earth,
Fighter Bay A-01.

      John, one of the last greatest warriors of mankind, grabbed the heavy Covenant metallic bomb, which he had defused a few minutes ago when the Cairo Stations personnel were at a life threatening situation, and dragged it onto the elevator, which the damn thing barely fit. Once inside the elevator, John pushed in a button on the panel and the elevator started down into the belly of the ship. John stood next to the bomb in the elevator while it darted downwards to the bay. The space was already cramped, and John didn't like it. "You know what you are doing is crazy." Cortana stated looking at John from inside his heads-up display interface.
       "So, stay here." John replied with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Cortana thought that finally the Chief had finally gotten his sense of humor she always admired back on Reach. Before Dr. Halsey thought John was a well good leader, capable of commanding many, including his brothers and sisters to fight the war, and she was right. John was the prefect candidate to become the leader, and now was as good as any to get his humor back.
       "Unfortunately for both of us. I like crazy." Cortana added being sarcastic as John smiled. Yes, he sure did get his mood back up, Cortana thought as she watched the Chief look at the side of the small room, examining the elevator seeing red lights passing by quickly. The sound of a hum whizzed pass and the elevator shook, as it was closer to the bay. Both Cortana and John knew what their doing was totally crazy, so the AI decided she need to relax more, learn of what was going on outside the ship.
       "I am going to open the com-chatter to listen in on what's going on. I hope you don't mind." Cortana informed John as she opened every UNSC Frequency in range of the ship they were on.
      Before John could reply with a, 'go ahead', he heard static and then a com-chatter open up like the people were sitting in a conference room speaking to each other loudly.
       " Sir, they folded into our formation!" One man had yelled as it had sounded as if he were on a ship, because John could hear him in the background yell to fire archer pods B6 through B8. After the sentence, static erupted and then a quick reply came from the Admiral Hood.
       " Son I told you to calm down." The Admiral stated as the man started to yell more, panicking about what to do before his station was overrun with Covenant boarding parties. John knew the Admiral was on the Cairo, continuing to hold back the Covenant while they were getting boarded.
       "Additional Contacts are coming everywhere out of Slipspace." He said more calmly as he started to regain what was on his mind.
       "Proceed to Rally Point Alpha." Hood ended quietly as another man, a General, entered the conversation. The General sounded calmer, probably on the main Central Command Magnetic Acceleration Cannon Station. The General spoke up talking on his end to the Admiral.
       " Listen Admiral. You can not let them maintain orbit," the General stated as his station fired multiple salvos from the five MAC cannons on the station into a Covenant Capital Ship. One of the rounds hit its nose's shields and it flickered. Another two entered the middle section causing the shields to flicker with a faint white line, and the fourth missed the middle causing the enemies shields to regenerate, but when the ship fired its plasma torpedoes, the fifth salvo entered through the center. Dead in its track was the command bridge of the vessel. After that, the ship began to bubble up in the middle section of the teardrop shaped vessel.
      A few kilometers away, a squadron of fighters, First Echelon, formed an attack pattern shape of an arrow, and fired their archer missiles into the vessels belly causing the ship to malfunction and when one missile reached close enough to the reactor tank, the ship exploded in a calm and quiet manner.
      The Admiral responded after a cheer of victory as the Covenant Capital Ship was reported destroyed, " I'm trying General, but we lost advantage to try and keep them out of the perimeter! All Frigates are combat ineffective, and the Fighters. They don't have enough punch to take out a Covenant Assault Carrier!" John continued to stand in the elevator, anxious to get to battle, but then another reply came, from the General's station.
       "Your pilots let up. But down here, it's the God Damn Apocalypse!" The General stated as an explosion rippled threw space as two nearby frigate exploded, possibly from the hundreds of Seraph fighters flying through space, sneaking up like a mosquito and attacking its prey by boarding and dropping off troops onto the frigates leaving bombs.
       "I'm asking you to retarget the orbiter!" The General yelled to the Admiral as the station shook beneath his feet. He looked around and grabbed a submachine gun below his desk. He cocked the charging handle, and then looked around. A Lieutenant from the other side of the Generals desk nodded and pointed towards the door. Before the two battled the boarders, Admiral hood responded.
       " And let more of them swift the kill zone! That's insanity!" The Admiral yelled again taking a breath. He looked back, and stated, "There's nothing more I can do." Back on the station, the General wasn't happy as five spec-op elite units charged in, firing plasma at the two humans.
       "What difference does it make?" another man asked, "We are taking heavy fire from the Capital Ships. Not to mention the Hundreds of Dropships that landed everywhere on the planet!" a Colonel pointed out as he issued his Lieutenant to fire the archer pods on the ship.
       "The Cruisers are getting passed our defenses. One of them has passed through a battle cluster, and their heading towards the surface. Alone!" another Admiral yelled as his station rumbled from the salvo that just launched itself into space. Back on the Gettysburg, John didn't like how this was sounding. It was Admiral Hood's battle cluster that couldn't keep one cruiser away from the surface, including the hundreds of drop ships heading down to the surface. This was bad, real bad.
       " Their taking down our defense, it's to intense, and our grid has maxed. I don't think we'll last another run." a young Marine entered in as the elevator reached the fighter bay, and its double doors slid apart. John grabbed the bomb and pulled it out of the elevator and into the wide-open room. The docking bay doors were closed shut, and beyond the window was a view of Earth.
      John took another few steps, and released his grip on the bomb. He dragged it off the elevator, and onto the metal bay, and left it there in the back. John held his rifle close, and walked towards the double sealed windows that over viewed Earth. He saw Earth, and the hundreds of dropships entering the atmosphere. He thought about the past, he wouldn't let Earth down, not like Reach. The Planet was covered with dots and in the view he could see two more ships breaking through three battle clusters and heading towards the surface. My God, we could be late, Cortana thought as she entered the conversation also.
      John heard Cortana say, "Tell your men to hold their position Admiral, reinforcements are at the spoke." John walked back towards the pillar that was metallic in the middle of the bay. He walked towards it, and stopped next to it. He turned around.
       "The entire fleet is engaged Cortana. With respect, what the hell sort of reinforcements do you got?" another Admiral yelled to Cortana as the Covenant Cruisers, and Fighters that flew everywhere obliterated more UNSC vessels.
       " Trust me on this one Admiral." Cortana ended as quickly as she started, and saw the pillar next to John, which was in the middle of the room. "Chief? Once you access the panel to the module the bay doors will automatically open." Cortana told the Chief as he walked near the module in the center of the bay.
      John paused for a few seconds, and thought about the past. Was he going to save Earth? Was he going to make the jump? Was he going to be alive to see his new brothers and sisters? The thoughts all rang in his mind, but the AI then interrupted him and his thoughts when John heard a last sentence from the com-traffic, "Ma'am, its closing below your position, near proximity zero."
      Cortana gave her thanks to the Marine and cut the channel. She was thinking would they make it? There was a huge possibility that they would miss, but then again, there is a huge possibility that they could make it. There fore, before Cortana jumped with the Chief, that question pondered on her mind. So she wanted to ask the Chief for his thoughts, so she asked, "just one more question before we make the jump. What if we miss?"
      John hit the panel, and a switch came out from inside the pillar. He grabbed hold of it and looked at the bomb, which lied in front of him, ready to leave the station with him.

       "I won't."

      John pulled the switch, and he pressed his weight on the module. Air was sucked out into space as cargo debris flew out with it abrupt decompression cycle. John didn't hear anything, so he grabbed tight of his rifle. The bomb that was in the back of the bay started to budge while John stared at it. The bomb then picked up with the decompression cycle, and flew out slowly.
      In a quick second, it was sucked out, but John's reaction time was quicker, so he slung his rifle and then caught the device in mid air, hitching a ride as he floated down through space. While in mid-space, he saw a UNSC ship fly past him. He then saw a fire and an explosion, and to his surprise, a plasma beam cut threw the thick ship and it exploded from the starboard side and out. The ship exploded again, and it ripped in half. The ships two-part body stayed in space as the Spartan fled in-between the debris and towards the cruiser that caused the destruction. He was getting closer, and closer by the second as the ship in front of John powered its weapon again for an attack to another vessel.
      Focusing back into play, the Chief could see a squad of Longsword fighters fly in swiftly towards the cruiser from behind him. As John continued to hold the bomb, he observed the squadron fly ahead. They must have seen John, or were dispatched from the Lieutenant taking command of the Gettysburg/Fireball, because they flew close, real close by the top part of the ship. Just before the squadron rammed into the ship's sliver glowing shields, the cruiser fired once more, dropping the shields long enough for John and the Fighters to get underneath. The Longsword fighters dropped five; two hundred pound bombs over the Covenant ship. Explosions rippled on the enemy's hull, and it created a large enough hole for John to get in.
      The Cruisers shields deactivated again, and the squadron boosted out of the ships perimeter and fled to help other vessels. The Spartan however, shifted his weight enough to change his trajectory and land in the hole that was created by the squadron. John got the bomb placed inside the ships hallway. Just before the Master Chief got up, the huge hole that was above him turned to a bright blue, created some kind of shielding around the entry point. "They must have shielded the breach, interesting." Cortana said to herself while John examined the purple hallways, which made no way of telling which way it led.
       "Well this is a bad." John said to Cortana as he saw a few dead covenant engineers. The bodies stood out well, but that wasn't what John was looking at.
       "Chief. I hacked into the Covenant Battlenet. This is the Covenant Cruiser the Inquisitor. I am reading firefights through out the ship. It looks like, Chief you aren't going to believe this." Cortana said as John waited patiently. "The Flood, they are taking control of this ship. The Covenant have managed to seal the docking bay doors and shuttle bays, but they don't know how long it will hold before the Flood breach the security measures. We need to get to the reactor and detonate this vessel. If the Flood get to Earth, there is no telling what will happen." Cortana informed the Chief as he walked towards the dead bodies. There was a puddle of ooze, and a dead Combat Form Elite with a plasma rifle next to it. Shriveled up, and bleeding covering the floor with blood.
       "Was it another ship that was attacked from the Halo ring that we didn't know about?" John told her wondering. "Or maybe from the gas giant by Halo. Where else would the Forerunner stash the Flood besides the ring?"
       "Perhaps, checking data. The Covenant managed to isolate the Flood. Although, reports I am currently checking say they got infected just prior to the destruction of Halo. I thought the Covenant say they couldn't afford the Flood to leave the Ring. I guess I was wrong. But bringing the Flood here, wait. They were trying to destroy the Flood that was left on the ship while coming to Earth. What were they planning? They know that if one infection pod even touches a planet, it could mean chaos in the whole galaxy." Cortana muttered quickly to John as he knelt down and checked the body. Its Infection pod was deflated and dead. Cortana continued, "I'll set the timer to the bomb for thirty minutes." Cortana asked to the Chief. "Access me to that terminal Chief."
      Right when Cortana ended the sentence, the bomb glowed bright red as it rearmed itself and set its timer to thirty minutes, just as Cortana had programmed it to. It ticked continuously. The Chief walked toward the terminal that was next to the dead engineers. He took out the chip from the base of his helmet and inserted the chip into the terminal. The terminal glowed blue and green for a split second and Cortana appeared on the panel near the entrance of a sealed door. "There are flood practically on every level of the ship. There's no Covenant AI, strange?" Cortana asked her self-checking the ships systems twice, and now a third time.
       "The ships standard AI was erased. This is very confusing. The Covenant is talking about something called the 'Mound'. They call it a holy destroyer of all life. I wonder if it was the Halo's Flood Hive Mind. It could explain a lot why there is still Flood onboard the ship. It's something massive on this ship. The Covenant managed to isolate it, and they are calling all Hunter Kill-teams to eliminate the Mound. Strange? I can't detect any religious wordings for the creature, but…great," Cortana muttered at the end as the ship shook. Then she continued, "Chief get to the holding chamber on this level. Ill lead you through it."
       "Can you give me a Navigation Point in my heads-up display?" The Chief asked as the ship shook.
       "Not anymore. The Flood just blew up a navigational database for this ship. I can't access it from here. But I did manage to get the location of the ships Fusion Reactors prior to the explosion." The AI said with a hint of satisfaction. John continued to stand waiting for Cortana to speak. He wondered what was happening on Earth, but then something struck him. The timer for the bomb, it was counting, and fast.
      Before John ran, he grabbed the chip, which Cortana knew why she had to leave quickly so she quickly downloaded herself into the chip, and he placed it back in the base of his helmet. Then Master Chief started to run through the hallways as a navigation marker appeared on his faceplate. He turned around a corner and was stopped by a door that wouldn't open when his presence was near. This caused him to agitate.
       "Cortana?" John asked as he waited. He didn't like standing here in the middle of a corridor open for enemy fire to commence. "Cortana now is a good time." The Master Chief said as he looked at the timer he had placed on his heads-up display.

      Timer 00:25:04

       "Got it. There might be a gravity lift just three meters ahead of this door to your second left. It runs straight down to the engineering level, and you just have to run from there on." Cortana said. Easier said then done, John thought as Cortana read his mind.
      As the Master Chief continued to run towards the gravity lift that was just nearby, he noticed something familiar. Something that looked almost like a tentacle, but it quickly vanished. "Chief, we need to get to the Reactor." After a few seconds, the Chief ignored what he saw and continued to the gravity lift. Before he reached the lift however, three blimps appeared on his tracer, and John was caught staring at an Elite with two Grunts.
      The Master Chief raised his rifle and fired a quick shot. The first trio found its way to the orange armored Grunt. It punctured its body and blood spurted out. The Elite raised its hands, which carried double Plasma Rifles. Great, thought John as he ducked, rolled to the left, and stood straight quickly. When he rose, a blob of over charged plasma struck him in the chest. It washed past him as his shields took a beating. It was half full so John reacted quickly by firing his rifle. The bullets entered the Grunts head with out ease and another trio headed towards the Elites. It struck the alien, but its shield only flickered. He fired two more trios of bullets. The shield deflected them; "it has an over-shield layer on him. I suggest a grenade." Cortana suggested, as the Chief was one step ahead of her.
      He tossed the M9 HE-DP Grenade at the Elite and watch it fly in the air getting swept off its feet. Another Grunt appeared from the gravity lift and faced John, it was surprised the seven-foot Spartan was still alive, so it turned around and starting running away squeaking with its hands in the air.
      The Master Chief aimed at the cannon fodder, and fired.
      The Chief jumped into the gravity lift and headed down to the engineering level. Once there, his feet felt something crush. It was a head of a Jackal. It was lying on the ground, blood pasted on the wall as the Chief's weight pressed on. He stepped off the pad, and reloaded his rifle. He noticed the navigation marker on his display, so he ran to the door, but before he made it, three green blobs sizzled past his face. Before John could react, Cortana said, "Chief, I'm getting reports that the Flood have broken into the weapons storage compartment. We need to blow this ship now!"
      The Chief then turned around and knelt to his left quickly. He saw three easy targets, Grunts, and fired his rifle. "Can you start a self-destruct sequence?" the Spartan asked as he saw the Grunt fly backwards into a wall. Blood started to pour on the floor as John ran to the door. The Chief looked back at his timer.

      Timer 00:18:29

       "Negative. Something tampered with the self-destruct code. I can't initiate the sequence. We probably should have set the timer for the bomb for forty minutes." Cortana spoke to herself as the Chief entered through the door, found himself next to an adjacent hallway and chucked a grenade because he heard some noise, a familiar noise and two red dots on his motion tracker.
       "Then lets get this over with," John said to Cortana as he rounded the corner a split second before he heard the explosion from the grenade. Two Flood Carriers fell on the ground, and exploded as two dozen infection pods swarmed in the air and onto the deck. They sensed the Master Chief, and crawled towards him. John didn't like the pods one bit, so he immediately opened up his rifle on the tiny beasts. They popped like balloons and in two seconds, they were gone. The Master Chief entered the door, as the navigation marker was just a foot from where he was.
       "Wait Chief!" Cortana yelled in his helmet as the Chief observed the area, "Scanning the vicinity. There multiple enemy targets in the area, I suggest we avoid fighting for now. The core is just above you, nearly ten meters." Cortana said to the Chief as he looked up. There was a plank like structure over him that had a round machine sitting on top of it. By the looks of it, John figured it was the fusion reactor. Then another question arose. How in the hell was he supposed to get up there?
      Plasma and grenades flew everywhere. John had seen the reactor, and in the air he saw a plasma grenade fly over him. A thought swept his mind and he turned. He looked straight forward, and saw a Combat Elite Form at his nine running towards him. The Chief raised the rifle, and fired. The creature fell down as the three bullets popped the infection form inside.
       "Chief? You can throw right?" Cortana asked as John fired his rifle at another target.
       "Of course I can!" the Chief yelled out loud as he fired again and again. The clip became empty, so John dumped the magazine and replaced it with a fresh new one…the last one.
      John walked three feet from his current position, and looked up. He grabbed the two bundles of C-7 he always carried in his pouch and set the timer for five minutes. He pressed the button, and threw it as high as he could. The explosive reached half way, then three quarters, and then finally pasted the fusion reactor. And it kept going up, and up.
       "Nice throw." Cortana said as John's shields went down half way. He ducked, and ran for cover towards a gap in the wall. The Master Chief watched the bundles fly in the air, and then, it started to fall with ease towards the inside of the reactor hatch. "The explosives made it, lets get out of here. There should be a fighter bay near here," Cortana said as she searched the Covenant database. The areas were all scrambled up, but she got a clear signal. "There, that's the fighter bay. If you run for it, we can make it." John started running out the door and down the hallway. Now he had two times on his clock, and he was focusing the one close to reaching zero.

      First Timer 00:14:13
      Second Timer 00:04:27

       "I thought you said the navigation database was destroyed." John stated as he ran through the door, back traced his steps and starting running closer to the fighter bay.
       "They did, I just grabbed a recovered a copy of the Covenant Cruiser Truth and Reconciliation's schematics. Their practically similar in design, almost." Cortana added later as the Chief sprinted even more.
       "Just a little further, about two meters on the next left. There you will see two Elites. Use your fragmentation grenade. I've sent a frequency that jams their shield adapters. They should be defenseless." Cortana instructed the Chief as he ran.
       "Where did you learn that?" John asked as he continued closing to the point where he needed to throw the grenades.
       "I'll talk about it later." Cortana replied as the Master Chief ran the two meters, and chucked two grenades, with two shots from his rifle. The Elites went down without a hitch so the Spartan ran down the last five meters and into the door leading into the fighter bay, hopefully. Once inside, John looked around seeing three brightly lit shields active in the bay.
      The Chief wondered where they were. "Cortana, where are we?" The Chief asked the AI. Cortana brightened quickly searching for where they were.
      The Chief had no time to wait.

      First Timer 00:10:56
      Second Timer 00:01:10

       After seeing the timer, he ran and dove down to a floating platform, and then swung down another few meters. They were on the very top level of the bay, but now they were on the second level, about to get to the first. "One more level Chief. I'm reading no aircraft in this bay. They must have launched them when they entered the system or─" Cortana ended as the Chief jumped down the last level.
       "What do you expect me to do? Jump out of the ship?" John asked as ran towards the middle of the bay stopping to look at the timer.

      First Timer 00:10:00
      Second Timer 00:00:44

       "My thoughts exactly." Cortana said as John ignored her, and ran for it. He reached the edge, and quickly Cortana deactivated the shields of the fighter bay. John was barely a centimeter before hitting the shields, but when they went off, the air pushed him out into space rapidly. The Master Chief made the jump.

We are NOT Bungie, Inc.! Bungie Inc. are bungie.net!
Halo © Bungie Inc., 1999-2012, Microsoft 2012-2024
Intellectual © halo.bungie.org, 1999-2024