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Metrilo: Chapter 1
Date: 2 August 2007, 5:31 am
On the UNSC Phoenix-class cruiser-carrier ship Okinawa, it was quiet. The only noises that could be heard were the soft beeps of consoles and the quiet murmurs of all crew members not placed in cryo as they worked to navigate the massive ship and steer her to her preliminary destination.
The Okinawa's mission was to locate the five remaining Halo constructs and destroy them. The UNSC would have preferred to send a larger fleet, but the Covenant loyalists had anticipated them and were launching heavy assaults on Earth to keep the humans occupied. Thus, only ship that could be spared, the Okinawa, was heavily modified, armed, and expanded for its new mission. The ship carried three squadrons of C709 Longsword fighters, two squadrons of shortsword bombers, forty D77H-TCI Pelican drop ships, fifteen Albatross Heavy Drop ships, 20 Scorpion M808 Main Battle Tanks, a fleet of 700 M12 warthogs of assorted variants and nearly two thousand Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. In addition, it had been outfitted with twin Magnetic Accelerator Cannons, each equipped with the same magnetic field recyclers and the booster capacitors of the Pillar of Autumn to fire three shots with one charge. It had nearly eighty 50-mm point defense auto cannons covering all inbound vectors, and five dozen Archer Missile pods on each side, each containing five hundred missiles, six Shiva Nuclear Warheads, and the newest trifusion reactor and laser coolant systems, only the second ship to posses them. As a result of these new upgrades and modifications, the Okinawa was almost twice the size of its sister ship, the Spirit of Fire. But even with its increased armaments, equipment, and troops, the cruiser still stood very little chance of accomplishing its mission alone. Thus the UNSC had authorized the assignment of their best assets to the mission.
Enter the Master Chief, SPARTAN-117.
* * * * *
Master Chief walked down the corridor leading to the cryo bay. The recommisioned cruiser-carrier would soon jump to Slipspace, and it was necessary to place all non-essential personnel in cryo sleep.
The cryo bay was huge, having enough space for about half of the Okinawa's Marine complement and its fighter crew. The specially commissioned cryo tube for the Chief sat right in the middle of the bay. However, there were two others right beside it.
With a start, the Chief saw two other MJOLNIR-armored figures walk into the bay. They spotted him immediately and saluted. The Chief returned their salutes, and looked over the newcomers.
He didn't recognize either of the two, which was strange. He knew all the other Spartans in the UNSC.
As if he had read his thoughts, the shorter of the two spoke up.
"Sir, this is Chief Petty Officer Tim-077. I'm Chief Petty Officer Ryan-060. Pleasure to meet you."
The Chief simply nodded. "I don't recognize you two from the Spartan class."
"We're from the second class. Dr. Halsey found a couple of suitable candidates; the rest of us are back at Earth keeping the Covenant occupied."
"I was under the impression the second class was postponed."
"It was, but only due to a lack of suitable candidates. Dr. Halsey found enough of us to justify the augmentations."
The Chief nodded again, and stepped into the cryo tube. He saw the other two Spartans step into theirs before the cryo gases put him to sleep.
Chapter 1: Two Months Later
The Okinawa's engines flared as it turned and accelerated away from the remains of Installation 01. The nuclear mines, planted at strategic points across the ring by Marine fire-teams and the three Spartans, had done their work when detonated. The explosions tore the ring apart and destroyed everything on it including the vile parasite known as the Flood.
The same process had been repeated three times before, at the other three constructs. The ODSTs and the three Spartans had landed first in their drop pods to clear and secure an LZ, then the vehicles had been delivered to the surface of each construct via Pelican drop ships and Albatross heavy drop ships. In some cases, the fire-teams had been able to land directly at the spots where they would plant their mines. In others, Flood resistance had been heavy and the Marines had been forced to fight their way through the parasites. After planting the mines, they had been extracted and flown back to the Okinawa, at which they had detonated the mines and watched each installation's destruction.
Now, there was only one ring left, and morale among the soldiers had skyrocketed. Soon, there would be no way for the Covenant to annihilate humanity, and the parasitic Flood would also be gone. Captain Actuan had ordered best speed to the final construct, hoping to quickly destroy the last ring and get back to earth where they were needed.
Now, as the soldiers prepared to endure cryo sleep for the fifth time, the captain surveyed the bridge from his command chair.
"Lieutenant Lee, are the soldiers in cryo?"
"Yes, sir,"
The captain nodded.
"Lieutenant Dutton, are we clear to jump?"
"Aye, sir. Navicomputer locked on coordinates. We jump when you're ready, sir."
"Punch it, lieutenant."
"Yes, sir!"
The young officer punched a button, and the cruiser-carrier shuddered, then the stars in the viewport elongated to long streaks.
Actuan turned to screen number two. "Cortana, ship status?"
The tank flickered to life, showing a purple-colored woman. Data scrolled across her body in streams.
"The engines are at fifty percent, MAC capacitors at zero percent each, all Archer Missile pods have full capacity, and every one of our nukes is there. In short," she concluded with a coy smile on her face, "everything is the same as it was last time you asked me."
"ETA to construct?"
"Approximately two weeks."
"Alright, then, we can get some rest. Tell maintenance and all other personnel not in cryo to take shifts and ensure everyone gets some rest, be it cryo or natural. That goes for the bridge crew too."
"Aye, sir." Cortana's image disappeared.
* * * * *
He was walking through a forest, alone. He enjoyed the quiet. It was fulfilling, and he liked it. He preferred not to be around large numbers of people, and when he had to, wearing his MJOLNIR armor. It isolated him from the world, made him feel alone, which suited him.
He heard a fsss sound and looked around. There was nothing in a forest that would make that kind of sound. It happened again.
"Sir, can you hear me?"
Oh, it was them. Don't they realize he didn't want to hear them? He just wanted to be left in peace.
"Sir, can you hear me?"
Instantly the forest faded away to be replaced with the cryo bay
He sighed and answered, "Yes, I can hear you."
Ryan-060 climbed out of his tube. He heard plenty of hissing sounds and realized that the rest of the Okinawa's soldier complement was being woken as well. It didn't take a genius to guess why, though Ryan thought he was very close to one.
"We're almost to the last ring, aren't we?"
The crewman looked up from the cryo panel.
"Yes, sir. The captain says ETA is forty-five minutes."
Tim-077 jumped out of his tube and hit the deck with a clang. He had also heard the tech, and nudged his brother. "We might as well prepare. You know, get weapons and stuff ?"
Ryan perked up. "I call the shotgun!"
"No, I call the shotgun!"
"I called it first!!"
"Well, I'm…um…cooler!! Yeah!"
The two brothers continued arguing as they proceeded to the armory.
Master Chief sighed. He didn't see how they fit the criteria for the Spartan program. They were both so childish… But seeing as the idea was a good one, he followed them to the armory, while wishing he could manually activate his suit's sound dampener.
Metrilo: Part 2
Date: 15 August 2007, 1:22 am
Chapter 2: Feet First
The Master Chief ran down the corridor to the Okinawa's pod launching tubes. As he reached the room he turned right and jumped into the pod with his number 117 marked on it. He strapped himself into the harness and checked that his weapons were stowed. He then opened a comm channel and said, "SPARTAN-117, ready to launch."
His announcement was echoed by several hundred ODSTs. The number 0:05 appeared on the corner of hs his visor. It began counting down. When it reached 0, the pod shuddered.
Though there were no viewports in the pod, the Chief had experienced enough drops to know that it had just been propelled out of the Okinawa's launching pod. As the pod continued its journey down, it decelerated, then started to shake violently.
Inside the Chief's armored helmet, Cortana chose this moment to quip, "Mind the bump,"
After several long minutes, there was a thump that rattled the pod, and the Chief kicked the door open, sprang out of the pod and drew both SMGs. Ahead of him, combat forms and infection forms turned. He cut them down with automatic fire as they spun to deal with these new threats. More pods thudded into the grass. Helljumpers sprang out and charged the Flood. The Chief saw SPARTAN-060 smash two combat forms together, then draw his assault rifle and hose another combat form with bullets. SPARTAN-077 picked up a combat form, ignoring its struggles, and hurled it at a carrier form two meters away.
The Chief glanced around and saw two carrier forms waddling toward him. He opened fire before their exploding bodies could hurt him. Infection forms charged him and he cut them down with slugs.
Despite the sudden assault, there were more Flood than the other installation landing sites and they seemed to have been waiting for them, as if they knew that they would land in the closest visible landing zone to 07's control room, but as more and more flood poured in to the LZ he was forced to stuff his thoughts into the back of his mind and dedicate this full attention to the task at hand. After nearly two hours, Master Chief wiped blood off his shotgun and watched as Pelicans and Albatrosses set down, dropping off Scorpion MBTs and Warthog LRVs. The Chief ran over to a Warthog and jumped into the driver's seat. He saw SPARTAN-060 jump onto a nearby Warthog's turret, he gave him a thumbs up, and the chief responded with a nod
"Alright, boys, its time to do what we came here to do," Cortana announced over the Chief's comms system. "Squads Delta through Tango, go to the site I've marked on your HUDs and secure it. We'll use that one as the new LZ, this one is too far. Everyone else form up on the Chief, we're going after the Control Room!"
Two seconds later, the Chief saw an orange arrow appear on his HUD. He stamped on the Warthog and sped away. Behind him, the small fleet of vehicles turned to follow.
* * * * *
Two kilometers away from the LZ in a large underground chamber rested the final Gravemind. Around him crowded vast numbers of Flood, more than had ever been seen before. Then, golden rings surrounded the Flood, and they disappeared.
* * * * *
On the Okinawa, Crewman Sam Walker whistled as he went over the displays to check that the engines were working at optimal efficiency. Then, as he turned, he saw huge groups of reanimated corpses appear in the deck. His fellow coworkers were quickly beaten down by the monsters, but he managed to hit the panic button and scream, "Flood!!" before an infection shoved it's penetrater into his spinal cord and the world when dark.
On the bridge, Captain Actuan received the message. He turned to his crew and voiced the one word that summarized all their thoughts into one simple expletive,
"Shit."
Chapter 3: "We're in deep shit now"
"Shit," Captain Actuan swore. The invasion force of Flood had teleported aboard the Okinawa, a larger force than anyone had seen before. The remaining five hundred ODSTs fought valiantly against the corpses, but there were too many, even for the elite branch of the Marine Corps to handle.
He switched to a camera in section Three to observe a battle between a squad of Helljumpers and a group of Flood. Though the Marines killed form after form, the numberless waves of obscene zombies kept coming. Eventually, the last Marine was struck down by a combat form and assimilated.
On the bridge, Lieutenant Chen began the grim work of depressurizing Flood-infested compartments. Though extremely resilient, the Flood needed air to keep their bodies working, and the depressurized compartments forced the alien shock troops to find ways around each compartment. However, infection forms could fit into vents and access hatchways, popping out behind Marine squads to ambush them.
The captain grimaced. The Flood had taken over the engines and were heading for the bridge. Marine fire teams resisted the invaders ferociously, but all were beaten or gunned down and assimilated.
Actuan cursed. He had to do what he hoped he'd never have to do.
"Lieutenant Chen, activate self-destruct sequence: five seconds."
"wait, sir. Wait, I'm detecting a malfunction. I need a minute to reboot the system."
"We don't have a minute, damnit! Get cracking!"
"Yessir!"
He then activated the ship's comm system and announced "All personal head for the Blackcats, we're abandoning the ship"
The captain turned to his bridge crew. "We need to buy the lieutenant time to reboot the system and detonate the fusion cores. Lieutenant Dutton, take the guards and the other bridge crew and engage the Flood at the nearest juncture."
The lieutenant saluted and strode to the wall. With a press of a button, the wall folded outward. Nestled safely inside were three small stacks of weapons and ammunition. The lieutenant removed a pair of SMGs from the racks and took five clips of ammunition for each. A battle rifle came next and he rounded off with four frag grenades. The rest of the crew members took battle rifles and grenades as well.
The six Marines checked their own weapons and then followed the lieutenant out the bridge door. It hissed shut as the last man walked out.
Captain Actuan turned to the main screen as the Flood continued its inexorable advance, and sighed.
* * * * *
Lieutenant Michael Dutton stood in the corridor leading to the bridge. His Marines were concealed in alcoves along the sides of the corridor, and the bridge crew members were stationed behind him. As it was a good twenty meters from the corridor to the bridge door, the Flood would take heavy casualties in attempting to storm it. Unfortunately, the Flood seemed to be numberless, and eventually they would overwhelm the lieutenant and his men and storm the bridge.
Michael's ears picked up the telltale liquid hissing noise that signaled the Flood's arrival. He readied his SMGs. Behind him, the Marines aimed their own battle rifles at the junction.
Sure enough, several pod-like infection forms bounced out of the corridor. They stood there, waiting and looking.
Michael emptied his SMGs into the infection forms, popping them and sending green gore all over the deck.then, Combat forms arrived and charged the defenders.
The Marines opened fire, three-round bursts knocking over the corpses. In a matter of minutes, the deck was strewn with corpses. The Marines remained in their alcoves, firing bullets and chucking grenades at the parasitic monsters. However, more and more flooded out through the corridor. Infection forms bounced forward and popped, strewing the deck with bits of green and yellow flesh, combat forms charged mindlessly and became bloody hashes, and carrier forms waddled up and came apart like wet cardboard.
Michael ducked a swing from a combat form and emptied his last SMG clip into the corpse, letting his weapons fall away. He drew his battle rifle and thumbed off the safety. Flood fell, yet the obscene tide of zombies never stopped.
One Marine fired a burst and then dropped his clip to reload. A combat form jumped him and snapped his neck with a powerful blow from a tentacle. As the dead Marine slumped to the floor, an infection form bounced up and punched its penetrator into his neck. Lieutenant Hall saw this and blew the body apart with a well-aimed spray of bullets. Two other Marines were swarmed by masses of Flood infection forms and assimilated. Frag grenades blew them all to hell.
Michael slapped another clip into his rifle and yelled, "Retreat!!"
The six remaining humans retreated down the hall, continuing to fire into the wave of flood, until their backs collided with the bridge door. Infection forms and combat forms followed. One combat form had taken a battle rifle from a dead Marine and opened fire. One of the Marines dropped, his head gone. Sustained battle rifle shots annihilated the killer, but the defenders were running out of ammo, and the Flood were as numerous as ever.
One combat form jumped through the hail of bullets and stunned the lieutenant with a powerful blow from its foot. He fell backward, his chest on fire. As he slumped on the door, an infection form bounced toward him. The sight gave him new focus. I will not turn into one of those filthy bastards!! I will not!
He reached onto his belt with numb fingers and unhooked a frag grenade. As the infection form latched onto him and shoved its filthy tentacled down toward his spine, he triggered the grenade, blowing everyone near the door to hell.
* * * * *
Captain Actuan heard a muffled thump from the direction of the door. "Lieutenant Chen, almost done?" His tone belied the fear swimming inside his stomach.
"Yes, sir! Initiating countdown! About four seconds to detonation!"
There was a bang, and the bridge door flew open. Hordes of gibbering combat forms and infection forms swarmed into the bridge.
"Damnit!" Actuan cursed. Drawing his pistol, he fired indiscriminately into the horde of zombies. Infection forms exploded and combat forms slumped, but there were always two more to replace every vanquished one.
"Almost done, sir! Four, three, two, on-AAGGH!!!"
The lieutenant shrieked as an infection form landed on the back of her neck. She fell, twisting and trying to shake off the pod.
Actuan emptied his clip and dove for the console. The infection form had infested Chen and was trying to stop the countdown. He knocked it aside with his pistol and yelled something incoherent.
Then everything erupted in white.
* * * * *
The Gravemind of Installation 07 had realized that the bridge crew would activate the Okinawa's self-destruct sequence. It had pushed most of the Flood toward the bridge to stop them.
Now, with the countdown almost finished, it issued an order to the Flood stationed at the fusion reactors. They managed to reactivate the blast shields on two of the three reactors and smother the last one with their bodies. The result of this desperate tactic? The ship broke in two.
The front half of the ship fell toward the inner section of the ring, the hull burning up as it entered the atmosphere.
The rear half plummeted toward the outer section. As it connected with the ring, the weakened superstructure of the ship gave out and it tore apart, metal flying in all directions. The wreckage crashed onto the ring and exploded.
* * * * *
The Chief drove the Warthog across the plains, with the main expeditionary force behind him. So far, they had encountered only a few Flood, and they were easily dealt with. Comm chatter indicated that the splinter force had secured their new LZ site. With the Control Room not too far ahead, things were looking pretty good, and the Chief allowed himself the luxury of relaxing.
Cortana spoke up in his helmet. "I'm transmitting our status to the Okinawa. Wait, something's wrong. They're not responding. I'm going to scan the atmosphere."
"You won't have to." SPARTAN-060 spoke up. He pointed with a gloved hand toward the sky.
The Chief saw a piece of wreckage tumble through the atmosphere. He watched it until it fell out of sight.
"What was that?"
Cortana answered, "There was only one ship in orbit, Chief. Therefore, logic leads us to conclude that the Okinawa has been destroyed and we're going to have to find another way off this ring" she continued "after I'm in the control room, I'll see if anything with a Slipspace drive managed to land on the ring, if there is something we'll use it to escape after we set the bombs, if not….." her voice trailed off
The Chief answered "A man once said to me 'It is acceptable to spend lives, if necessary, but it is not acceptable, however to waste those lives'. It won't get any more necessary then this; we will do our duty to mankind, no matter the cost"
Metrilo Chapter 4: Unexpected Developments
Date: 25 August 2007, 3:38 am
The expedition force continued toward the Control Room. The mood was darker now. With the only apparent method of transportation off the ring gone, it was not looking good for the humans. The only people not affected by this were the three Spartans, since they were always a hairsbreadth from death anyway.
After a while, Cortana spoke up. "We're almost there. Expect some resistance."
The Control Room finally came into view. It was surrounded by Flood. Evidently the Gravemind was prepared for their foray into the Control room, and had compensated for it. Thus began the assault.
Warthogs spun and wheeled around, crushing Flood and gunning them down with fire from their LAAGs. Scorpions blasted and crushed concentrations of Flood and picked off stragglers with their machine guns. The Chief backed up to give the gunner a clear shot, spun the wheel to avoid a carrier form, and accelerated forward, crushing several infection forms under the wheels. A pair of combat forms charged the 'Hog and received a few hundred rounds of armor-piercing ammunition for their trouble.
The humans killed what seemed to be a numberless amount of Flood, but more kept on coming until finally, the tide of obscene warriors began to slow, and then stop.
Master Chief climbed out of the LRV and surveyed his surroundings. The green grass of the plains was covered by bodies and gore and the gigantic black pyramid-shaped structure of the Control Room stood out among the plains like a massive, dark sentinel keeping watch over all.
Cora said, "That's the Control Room. Let's get inside so I can give you your objectives."
The Marines parked their vehicles and followed the Chief inside. As the door closed behind them, the Chief hunted around for the control console, and then having found it, removed Cortana from his helmet and slotted it in to a data port.
Cortana's image appeared on the pedestal. "Ah, same as always. Give me a minute. Accessing network….identifying and marking structural weaknesses…accessing teleportation grid..…Damn, one of the main power generators is malfunctioning. You'll have to take me to fix it before I can teleport you to the ring's structural weak points. This complicates things a little, since the Forerunner systems are incredibly sophisticated. I'll have to make a copy of myself to provide Intel and open doors. Stand by."
There was a few minutes pause as the Marines and Spartans waited.
"Done. Chief, yank me."
The Chief removed the data chip and slotted it back into his armor. Once again, the familiar mercury presence returned to his mind.
An image of Cortana appeared on the data pedestal.
"I will provide intel and supply you with access from here."
"Understood." the Chief replied.
"Alright people, listen up! One of the generators is damaged so; SPARTANS-117, -077, and -060 will be going over there so I can manually fix it. The rest of you should stay here and guard the Control Room; it's indispensable to our mission."
The Marines saluted and began taking up positions within and outside the room. Cortana said, "I'll put a NAV point on your HUD. It'll point you to the generator. When we get there, upload me and I'll fix it.
"Understood." the Chief replied. He made a fist with his left hand, and the other two Spartans formed up on him. They walked out of the Control Room.
"Wait," Cortana spoke up. "We should take one of the Warthogs; it'll make the trip faster."
The Chief chose a standard LRV with a turret-mounted LAAG anti-aircraft machine gun. He jumped into the driver's seat. SPARTAN-060 hopped into the passenger seat and reloaded his assault rifle. SPARTAN-077 climbed up onto the turret. He pulled back the lever, loading a round into one of the three barrels.
Cortana placed a NAV point on the three Spartans' HUD. The Chief stepped on the gas, and the Warthog shot off.
* * * * *
They had been driving for about three hours. The Chief turned through a canyon and drove for two minutes until he encountered a large silver building.
Cortana said, "Stop. This is the place. The generator is here, in an underground complex underneath this structure."
The Chief braked, and hopped out; the two Spartans jumped out as well. They approached the building. It had no door, just an opening wide enough to accommodate an average-sized Spartan. The Chief and SPARTAN-060 passed under it easily, but SPARTAN-077 had to duck his head. He straightened, muttering something about small people. The Chief ignored this and checked his weapons. The Spartans took the hint and checked their own weapons too. The Chief stepped forward, and noticed a keypad on the wall facing him.
"Cortana, what's this?"
She was silent for a moment, and then said, "There's a code we need to enter in order to gain access to the rest of the biulding. Give me a minute to interface with the system."
The three Spartans waited. "Damn, this thing is complicated…Alright Chief, I've got it. I can't guarantee it'll work though. That system was a bit tough to crack…"
"Why, Cortana," the Chief said with amusement in his voice. "Are you admitting that you're not perfect?"
"I'm not going to dignify that comment with a response." the AI said primly.
"Just give me the code so we can input it and get the hell out of here." the Chief snapped.
"Alright, keep your helmet on. It's 33226849."
The Chief entered the code into the keypad. There was a pause, then the room started to shake.
"What's going on, Cortana?' the Chief demanded.
"I must have given you an incorrect code! The security system is taking effect!"
The Chief saw the wall shift and land in front of his companions. He had a brief glimpse of the two Spartans before the wall cut them off.
He fired a burst of bullets into the wall, already knowing it was useless. He reloaded and addressed Cortana.
"What the hell happened?"
"I told you that the Forerunner security system would be active. Apparently, the building has shifted around. The other two Spartans are located somewhere in the newly reconfigured building. I'll try to comm them."
"This is Cortana to SPARTANS-060 and 0-77, do you read me? Repeat, this is Cortana to any Spartans receiving this signal."
"This is SPARTAN-060 acknowledging."
"Confirm your position."
"I'm marking it on your HUD. We appear to be in some sort of strange corridor. It looks just like a hallway from the Libraries on the other Halos."
"Acknowledged. Accessing the Forerunner network… There's some sort of vent system that will allow you to reach the generator. However, there's also a laser defense system that creates laser walls every few feet. I advised you to crawl through each wall, and then stop to allow your shields to recharge. Follow the NAV point, it'll lead you to the generator."
There was a pause, then SPARTAN-060's voice came back over the comm.
"Acknowledged."
Cortana cut the channel and addressed the Chief. "We should get moving, there's a vent on your right, crawl in and get moving, We won't be able to do anything until the generator is fixed."
The Chief jumped into the vent, saw a NAV point appear on his visor and started walking in the direction it indicated.
* * * * *
The Chief walked on, his boots ringing against the metal of the floor. The NAV point showed he was coming up on the generator. His comm system registered a new message from SPARTAN-060.
"Master Chief, this is SPARTAN-060. We're almost to the generator. What is your approximate position, sir?"
The Master Chief responded. "We're about three hundred meters away from the generator. Once you get there, hold position until Cortana and I arrive."
"Roger that, sir. SPARTAN-060 out."
The Chief resigned himself to about another half hour of trekking.
* * * * *
The Chief came up onto the corridor that Cortana assured him would take him directly to the generator.
His HUD showed blips representing SPARTAN-060 and SPARTAN-077 up ahead, stationary. The Chief briefly wondered why, then had his question answered as dozens Red blips began to appear all around the two yellow blips representing his fellow Spartans.
The Chief began to sprint toward the position of his allies. After what seemed like hours, he managed to arrive just in time to see their deaths.
It didn't seem too bad at first. The Flood surrounded the two Spartans, but well-placed bullets drove them back.
Then, something happened. The masses of Flood forms parted to admit a new type of combat form that the Chief had never seen before.
It resembled a raptor from the days of prehistoric Earth. Its coloring might have once been orange and turquoise, but now its natural color was marred by the sickly white and necrotic green that characterized the victims of the Flood. Unlike the legions of Flood forms surrounding it, it seemed undamaged.
The strange beast lumbered forward and charged the two Spartans. SPARTAN-060 raised his shotgun and fired several rounds into the thing at point blank range.
It didn't even slow by the heavy rounds but continued charging them, lashing its tail.
To give the new Spartans credit, they met the beast's charge head on; pumping rounds and leads into its hide.
The beast lashed out with its tail and connected with SPARTAN-077, sending him careening into the wall. He crashed into the wall, causing a huge dent, and slumped. His bio-signs flatlined.
SPARTAN-060 threw two frag grenades and rolled aside. The grenades detonated on the beasts hide and threw smoke and shrapnel everywhere. The monster blew aside the smoke with its tail and lunged with its mouth, catching the Spartan around the helmet. There was an audible crunch. When the beast released its grip on the helmet, it was dented around the middle, with its visor cracked in a spider web pattern and four large holes in the middle.
The monster turned and caught sight of the Master Chief. It roared and charged him. As it bounded toward him, the MJOLNIR-armored warrior noticed several more beasts like the attacking monster standing among the swarm of Flood. The tides of obscene organisms moved suddenly, all heading toward the Chief.
The noncom rolled to his right and hurled two frag grenades into the tides of regular Flood, blowing apart numerous forms, but still they came.
Backing up, the Chief made a dash past the Flood. His objective was to fix the generator, not engage the Flood, even though he wanted to pay them back for killing two of his Spartans. Two of his family. It didn't matter if he hadn't known them that well. They were Spartans. Part of him.
He slid to a stop and saw the generator. He felt a sense of relief, and then was smashed forward.
Blinking away the black in his vision, he rolled over and saw the same type of beast that had killed his teammates. It roared. He sprayed it with gunfire, knowing it was a futile gesture, but unwilling to go down quietly.
The monster lowered its mouth and prepared to take a bite of MJOLNIR and Spartan. Suddenly, a bright blue beam of light streaked past the Chief and struck the beast in the head. Ice began coursing over its body, covering it entirely. Then a pair of missiles struck the ice-coated monster and blew it apart.
The Chief looked behind him and saw an orange and red armored form fall down to the ground. It had a red helmet with a green slit across the middle. Its right arm ended at the elbow. The rest was composed of a lethal-looking cannon.
The figure raised its arm cannon and fired several of the blue ice beams. They struck the remaining monsters and froze them all. It finished them off with missiles. With the seemingly invulnerable creatures killed, the armored figure routed the rest of the Flood with orange energy beams, similar in appearance to Covenant plasma bolts.
Master Chief pushed himself off the floor and leveled his assault rifle at the new arrival. It turned and pointed its cannon at his chest. They stood like that for a while, weapons leveled at each other. It took minutes until the Chief realized that if the figure had not attacked him now, it probably wouldn't unless he provoked it. He slowly lowered the rifle, and as he did so, the arm cannon lowered as well until it was pointing at the ground.
Now that they weren't pointing guns at each other, what should he do now? He had little experience dealing with aliens. The only species he had met were the Covenant and the Flood, and the only thing to do was kill them.
Fortunately, it seemed like the figure was about to save him the trouble of initiating first contact. Words blared from inside his helmet.
"Greetings, Master Chief."
The Chief tensed. How did this thing know his rank?
As if reading his mind the figure spoke.
"I recorded your broadcasts. Strange. They registered as on a secure channel, but my suit's equipment was easily able to crack it."
The Chief did not speak. Cortana said, "It's right. The channels you opened up to the other Spartans were secure, but it cracked it. Admirable."
The figure seemed to sigh. "You're obviously not too talkative. I guess I should start the introductions. I am a bounty hunter who usually takes contracts from the Galactic Federation, though right now I'm unemployed. My name is Samus Aran."
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