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On A Pale Horse: The Reverence
Date: 10 June 2003, 2:02 AM

-The Reverence-

1734 Hours, September 17, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
UNSC Spoke, Earth Solar System, in orbit around Earth

"...What if we miss?"
"I won't."

      With that, the Chief opened the shuttle bay doors. Immediately, the atmosphere began flowing out into the vacuum of space, carrying with it any unsecured object. The Chief waited a moment, behind a pillar to keep him from flying out of the ship, then hurled himself from the ship, into space…

      A Covenant Cruiser, The Reverence, had just exited the slipstream. It has lost all power, having used it all making a pinpoint jump. John decided to try to get on the ship, before they had a chance to charge their shields. He landed hard on the hull of the orbiting ship. He immediately grabbed on to a protruding piece of metal, to keep him from flying away from the cruiser. He then got out a large piece of C-12, and placed the charge on the hull of the ship. He then slowly backed away from the charge, making sure he had a firm grip on the hull. He then pulled out a remote detonator, and activated it. The C-12 exploded with an awesome force, and a 3-meter wide hole was punched in the hull of the ship. Atmosphere began leaking out, and he saw several grunts pulled from the hole, and explode from the extreme change in pressure.

      When the atmosphere stopped leaking out of the hole, John entered the ship, and felt the force of gravity pull him to the floor. He landed on his back. He stood up, and surveyed his surroundings. He was in a hallway, with doors to either end. "OK, the bridge should be…here." Cortana said, and then a nav point appeared on the HUD in John's helmet.

      "right" responded John.

      "hurry, It doesn't look too good for the fleet…"

      And John started down the hall to the door. When it didn't open, he decided to blow it open with his remaining C-12. He ran down to the opposite end of the hall, and detonated it, blowing the doors off, and depressurizing the hall beyond the door. Several grunts and an elite were pulled out of the hall, and out the hole in the ships hull. John ran in, and a door was almost closed, except it was jammed open by a grunt's breathing pack. The gap was just wide enough for john to squeeze through. He tried to continue, but the flowing air was slowing him down, so he kicked the grunt out of door, and the door slammed shut, and the atmosphere returned to the hall. John rounded a corner, and a door opened, and he was greeted by several grunts, who were stunned by what they saw. John quickly reached for his Battle Rifle, and fired half the clip into them. Blue blood sprayed out of the exit-wounds, and when he was sure they all died, he continued towards the nav point.

      The next door opened, and John saw 6 orange Jackals, 4 red grunts, and a Golden elite. The Jackal's created a wall of shield, protecting the grunts, and the elite. The 2 jackals on the end fired plasma pistols, one grunt had a needler, and the rest had plasma pistol. The Gold elite had a plasma rifle. All of them had very little room to move (there was only about 4 meters behind the jackals before a door) Immediately plasma began flying everywhere. John ducked behind a covenant communications uplink. His shields were down to 1/2, and he began to feel the heat rising, and then cooling in his armor. He leaned out from the box-like object, and fired his Battle Rifle at the grunts. The jackals' shields made it hard to get a good shot, and it was hard trying to dodge the plasma. A fully charged shot hit him square in the chest, and he quickly ducked back behind the uplink, and waited for his shield to recharge.

      The elite started shouting orders. Then a grunt's head peeked around the corner of the uplink. John shot a single bullet that tore its head off, spraying blood all over the walls. He pulled a grenade off of his belt, pulled the pin, and threw it into the whole mess of the Covenant. He leaned back behind the uplink. An explosion rocked the hallway, and screams followed. He looked back, blood was smeared all over the hallway, and parts of the grunts and the jackals were stuck onto the walls and ceiling. The elite was still alive, but it looked very injured. It picked up a jackal's arm, took a deactivated shield from it, put it on its arm, and activated the shield, along with a plasma sword. It was glaring at John…

      The Elite charged, and swung its sword at The chief. He ducked it, and slammed the butt of his weapon against its leg, but it had very little effect. He dodged the sword as it came down, picked up a plasma pistol as he rolled out of the way, and aimed it at the elite. He charged it, just as the elite lowered his hand shield to swing his sword again, and shot. The elite's body shield flashed, and died. John kicked it to the ground, and put the barrel of his rifle on the elite's neck, and pulled the trigger.

      John walked up to the door, and it opened, revealing nothing behind it. After walking through it, he thought he heard something. He turned around, took 2 bottles of bio-foam, and threw them at the ground down the hallway. The bottles exploded, covering an invisible elite with the foam. John zoomed in on the mass of foam, now beginning to charge at him, and began shooting. After expending the whole clip, the elite slumped on the ground, laying in a pool of dark blood.

      "nice one!" said a surprised Cortana. John reloaded the clip in his rifle, and walked up to another door. "The Bridge should be just beyond this door…be careful, the whole ship knows you're here…"

      "what are you talking about? You know me!" Joked the Chief

      "yeah, that's what I'm talking about…" The door opened, and there were 2 blue elites, a red elite, several jackals, and a dozen grunts, all looking at him. John started chucking grenades in the bridge. Explosion after explosion rocked the ship. The red elite was dead, all the grunts were either dead, dying, or running. The jackals were all lying on the ground. The two remaining elites aimed their plasma rifles at John. John tried to dodge the fire, but some of the rounds hit him, and his shield flashed. John aimed his plasma pistol at an elite, and sent a hail of plasma at it, using the semi-automatic. The plasma stunned the elite, and John rushed up to it, and punched it in the face, knocking it out. His shield was down to 1/4 from the other elite. John fully charged his plasma pistol, and shot. The elite's shield died, and john pulled out his Battle Rifle, and shot 10 rounds into its chest before it fell over.

      John walked up a ramp onto a circular platform. "There…" Said Cortana as a nav point appeared on John's HUD. John Pulled Cortana's AI cube out of his helmet, and put it into what looked like terminal in a holo-panel. Cortana's image appeared jut above the Holo-panel

      "So," asked the chief, "Find anything?"

      "Yes…those idiots actually kept the navigation data after we boarded…The Covenant…have a vast area of colony worlds…some of which are in the Andromeda galaxy!

      "so, do you know how to operate the controls of this thing?"

      "…yes, actually…hold on…" Cortana opened a comm-channel to the UNSC Cruiser Ticonderoga "This is Cortana to Admiral Freemont"

      "Cortana? All due respect, what the hell do you want now?

      "The Master Chief and I have taken over the covenant Cruiser Reverence, and we need some men over here with heavy weapons ASAP."

      "…I see…I'll see what I can do Freemont out."

      Then all of a sudden there was a loud banging on the door the Chief went through earlier. "Covenant! They're trying to break in!" shouted Cortana. The Chief picked up 5 plasma grenades, and activated one. The door blasted open, and 3 brutes, flanked by Hunters, followed by 5 black elites walked into the room, sights set on the chief…

TO BE CONTINUED

On A Pale Horse: Two Cruisers
Date: 23 June 2003, 5:32 PM

Note from the author: Sorry for taking so long, but I kept switching back and forth about what I was going to do…so…ah, who cares, just read…

-The Esteem-

1739 Hours, September 17, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
Covenant Cruiser Esteem, Earth Solar System, in orbit around Earth

      An Elite passed through the medical facility of the cruiser. It wore a suit of gold armor. It had bullet holes, and scratches all over it. As the Elite observed his injured allies, it began to remember the hell of the human world…the one they called Reach. He would never forget the humans that he saw there. He knew that these were no ordinary humans. They were fully dressed in emerald green armor, they had near-perfect aim with their weapons, they had enormous strength that almost exceeded his own, and they had shields similar to the one built in to his body armor. They had put him and his comrades through a living hell. Just thinking about them put a chill up his spine. A black elite walked up to him.

      "Sir, I'm sorry, but…he is dead…" The Gold Elite walked past him, and up to another Elite, who was lying down, and not moving. It was missing an arm and a leg. He got on one knee, and lowered his head. For the first time in his life he felt truly angry.

      "Brother…I swear, on your honor I will destroy any of those unholy beasts that may still be alive…They will burn in hell for what they have done to you…" He thought back to Reach. When one of the green humans aimed its weapon at his brother, whose shields were depleted. Bullets tore through his body, and he fell to the ground, dying.

      He stood up, and pushed that memory out of his mind. He walked out of the room, and to the bridge of the cruiser. He walked up to a grunt. "What's our status?" He asked in a bitter tone.

      "Sir! 2 kills, and we have damaged 2 more…so far, no damage to the ship." It grunt said in a squeaky voice. Just then, 2 explosions rocked the entire ship.

       "WE HAVE BEEN HIT!!!" another grunt screamed

       "I'M LOSING CONTROL, WE'RE GOING DOWN!!!" a elite shouted


1747 Hours, September 17, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
Covenant Cruiser Reverence, Earth Solar System, in orbit around Earth

      John threw the grenade, and dove into to the floor. He took his plasma pistol out, charged it, and fired it at an elite. He then dropped the spent weapon, and switched back to his Battle Rifle. He zoomed in, aimed at the elite's head, and shot 3 times. John activated another grenade, and hurled it at another elite. John dove to the ground, barely dodging a Rod-Gun shot. John stood up, slung his Battle Rifle over his shoulder, charged towards the same elite, and stuck his arm out. It's face made contact with his arm, and it's feet left the ground. It did a full back-flip before landing. Its shields were still activated, but the elite was out cold.

      Another 2 Rod-Gun shots just flew by the Chief's head. He noticed the spike in heat. Then a Brute started running towards John. He pulled his Battle Rifle over his shoulder, and aimed it at the charging Brute. He unloaded the clip on it, but it just kept coming. Just before it got to him, it collapsed as it's internal organs spilled onto the ground. John took his machete off of his belt, and threw it at another Brute. It hit the Brute square in the neck. It made a gurgling moan as it fell to the ground. John jumped as high as he could to dodge another Rod-Gun shot. The three remaining Elites fired streams of plasma at John. The alarm in his helmet signaled that his shield was depleted. He dove under the circular platform. His shields were not even at 50% when the Elites started firing under it. He rolled out, and aimed his Battle Rifle at an elite, and unloaded another clip into it. It's shields died, and it was bleeding, but it wasn't enough to kill it. He reloaded, and continued firing at the same elite, who was charging. It slammed its weapon into John, and his shields died. He slammed his own weapon into its skull, and it fell onto the floor. John threw two fragmentation grenades to either side of the remaining Elites. One was caught in the blast. It had an arm and a leg blown off. John finished it off with his Battle Rifle.

      Then, a Hunter exploded. Then 20 ODSTs stormed the room. 5 were carrying SPNKr Rocket Launchers, 7 with SMG's, and 8 with Battle Rifles. The Whole Room became lit with tracer fire, plasma, and explosions. After 30 seconds, no Covenant warriors were left, and 13 ODSTs were standing, 4 wounded, and the rest dead. John let out a sigh of relief. He noticed several medics running into the room. He took the canteen off of his belt, and drank a mouthful, and put it back. He then heard Cortana's voice in his helmet

      "Uh, Chief …" He walked up to Cortana's holo-image.

      "what?"

      "We have a problem..."


TO BE CONTINUED...

On A Pale Horse: New Mombasa
Date: 2 July 2003, 5:30 PM

Note from the author: Thanks to everyone who did this part before me, that provided some inspiration…and thanks to Folgers to keep me up this late :P

-New Mombasa-

1750 Hours, September 17, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
Covenant Cruiser Reverence, Earth Solar System, in orbit around Earth

      "We have a problem…A Covenant Cruiser, the Esteem, has been damaged, and is holding position above New Mombasa. The Marines that were sent in there have taken heavy casualties, and need help…and-"

      "great…" John pulled Cortana's AI cube out of the holo-panel, and put it in his helmet. He walked up to an ODST. "Who's the commanding officer of this unit?"

      "Sir," he said, staring at the giant, "Sergeant Johnson, right there."

      "Thanks" and he walked over to the sergeant.

      "Sergeant, we need some men, New Mombasa is under attack."

      "Christ, there's millions of people there…alright, listen up!" he shouted. "New Mombasa is being attacked. Graham, Murphy, you're with me, the rest of you, stay here, and guard the bridge."



1858 Hours, September 17, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
Pelican dropship, En route to New Mombasa.

      The dropship's rear door opened as it descended into the lower atmosphere. The chief stood up, and walked to the open door. He gripped a pole that extended from one side of the pelican to the other. The marine who was manning the machine gun in the back shot an amazed glance at the chief. "The East African Weather Service forcasts a severe thunderstorm…and a possible tornado…sarge, you and you're men need to extra careful if that storm hits us…"

"We'll be fine, Cortana, but what I want to know is the status of that cruiser?"

      According to Admiral Stanforth, He fired 3 MAC rounds at it. It took 2 in the nose, then dropped into the atmosphere."

      "Who was first Contact?" asked the chief.

      "405th out of Diego Garcia" responded Sarge. "…but don't expect a big welcome. Covenant wiped most of them out before they hit the ground." The pelican banked and descended into the clouds. A spotter contacted the pelican.

      "Immediate, Grid Kilo 2-3 is hot. Recommend mission abort."

      "Roger recon" the pilot responded, then to the sergeant, "It's your call sarge."

      "We're goin' in." Johnson replied firmly. The chief thought to himself…if they could save but one soldier, it would be worth it. He remembered Reach, the fallen Spartans, fallen Marines…Murdered Civilians…He closed his eyes, and remembered the covenant ships charging their plasma weapons, and firing them at the planet just before the Pillar of Autumn disappeared into the slipstream… "GET TACTICAL MARINES!"

      "Covenant ground forces own this city, we'll need to deal with them before we can kill that cruiser." Cortana reminded the Marines as they loaded their weapons, and put their helmets on. The pelican dodged a large plasma bolt, and plasma flak. It turned, and dropped to a rooftop landing pad. The landing gear made contact with it, and the pelican came to a complete stop.

      "Pile out, GO, GO, GO!!!" sarge ordered. "I'll evac the wounded, keep me posted Cortana."

      "Of Course, Sergeant" The two ODSTs, and the sarge turned a corner, and ran down a ramp as John walked up to a marine.

      "Sir - Corporal Perez, A Company. CP's this way." He had a Spanish accent. He led the chief down the ramp. He passed a marine helping a wounded marine up the ramp. They gawked at the Spartan.

      "Must be seeing things…" The non-wounded marine said in disbelief.

      "Guess the brass do give a shit." The wounded marine joked.

      Perez led the chief through a makeshift hospital located in the middle of the street. It was dangerously close to the front, as he heard gunshots and plasma discharges in the distance. As he passed through the 'hospital' he heard medics working on wounded marines. On the other side of the road, Perez stopped by a medic who was working on a marine, who was badly injured. He stopped, and said in dismay "I'm calling it, it's 19:00…"

      "The lieutenant got hit as soon as we dropped in."

      "Who's in charge now, corporal?" asked Cortana.

      "Sergeant Banks, ma'am. He's pinned down out front. C'mon, I'll show you…" and with that, Perez led the Chief into a building. They went up a staircase, and saw a pair of marines fending off a covenant attack. One was shooting a stationary gun. They were frantically shouting to one another. Perez leaned out into a doorway, and called to a Marine, who was pinned behind a low wall. "Oye - Parsons!"

      "Yeah?" He responded.

      "Is it clear?" Right after he finished, something around the corner exploded, and threw debris outward.

      "You tell me!" Parsons replied.

      After mumbling something the chief couldn't understand, he shouted "Friendlies movin' out, covering fire!" He, and the chief ran out the door. Perez started shooting at covenant. The Master Chief heard a whirring sound, and look up at a massive covenant artillery piece. It was charging, and it fired. John could feel the heat from the plasma, and his suit automatically compensated for the heat spike. He looked beyond the low wall, they were 4 meters above street level. He looked through the scope, and shot 2 grunts while strafing right. He then turned and ran up to a ramp going down to a lunch area on a raised section. A ramp led from that to the street. He heard an ODST in his helmet "Grunts, down low…" The chief walked past the ramp, and tossed a grenade down to where the grunts were. It exploded, killing them all,and knocking over a few tables. He then ran down the ramp, with the ODSTs, and shot the remaining grunts left in the lunch area. He walked up to a marine. He seemed very glad to see him.

      "I asked for reinforcements…I didn't think they'd send a Spartan," he said. The Covenant Artillery piece charged and fired, destroying the building John had gone through minutes earlier. "we've gotta take that thing out, cover me!" he crouch-walked to a fallen marine, and grabbed his radio, as the chief fired into the covenant forces. He tried to raise the headquarters. "Tech HQ, this is sergeant Banks, I've got hostile artillery 200 feet North-Northeast of my position, bring smoke, over!" When John saw much more covenant pour out of a hole blown into a building, he manned the stationary gun, and destroyed them.

      Hostiles, right…" an ODST warned him. He turned, and destroyed the jackals hiding behind several power generators. He then turned back to the covenant still coming from the blown out building. After getting no response, Banks shouted into the radio, "Damn it, HQ, Is anyone on his freq.?!" He got a response.

      "Sergeant, this is Major Easley, Hang tight, we're inbound." Just then two long swords flew overhead, and dropped their ordinance on the artillery piece. It got a shot off just in time, but it was it's last, as it was totally destroyed. The shockwave shook John's bones. "verify delivery of ordinance on target…"

      "Dead on Major, Target neutralized!" Banks said with great enthusiasm.

      An ODST shouted "squad, move out" John turned to Banks, who held his SMG out to him.

      "Take my weapon, you'll need it…" John took his weapon, and took his own SMG out also. He entered the bombed out building the covenant was pouring out of. He started clearing it, but many aliens were lined up in an area. An ODST yelled an order another.

      "Frag and clear" the ODST threw a grenade in. It exploded "clear it out" and the chief, and the ODST's went in, killing the remaining covenant. John walked over the dead bodies, and up a ramp. He looked down at 5 jackals, who began shooting at the chief. He took his Battle Rifle, and began shooting, but a warthog crushed them. Another pulled up, and the driver called to the chief,

      "I could use a gunner, sir"



1905 Hours, September 17, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
Covenant Cruiser Esteem, Earth's Surface

      "Sir, they have stopped our advance…and…they are beginning to…push us back…"

      "WHAT?!"

      "…some of the frontline soldiers are reporting that they've seen a strange human…one more powerful than the rest…"

      "What? What did they say it looked like?"

      "big…with emerald green armor…"

      "This is not good…this is not good at all…where was the it last spotted?

      "Last sighting was at…location number 1539…heading this way…

      "contact the Sacred Promise. Tell them we need their Special Forces as soon as possible."

      "yes sir…where are you going?"

      "I will hunt this human down, and kill him myself…"

TO BE CONTINUED…

On A Pale Horse: Silent Assasin
Date: 4 July 2003, 4:11 AM

-Silent Assassin-


1905 Hours, September 17, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
New Mombasa, Highway 17, Top Level (249), Section 67

      The Chief stood up. He looked in the distance towards the central section of the city. There, a huge cruiser loomed in the distance. "Bingo, there's the cruiser, now all we need…to...do…is…"she trailed off as dozens of blue beams descended towards the city. 5 landed right in front of John. They turned out to be transport pods for Spec Ops elites. One opened, and a black elite jumped out, and shook off the effects of the fast thaw. The others did the same. They circled the chief, and activated their plasma swords. The Chief activated a plasma grenade. Cortana felt the need for a joke, "betcha can't stick it."

      Even in this grim situation, the chief smiled, and replied "You're on…" ,and with that, he chucked the grenade at the Elite right in front of him. It hit its foot, and stuck. The Elite let out its last yell, and then the grenade detonated. The four elites jumped at John. He dove between a gap between two elites. He rolled to his feet, grabbed one elites weapon arm, ripped it off of the body, and threw it at another elite. The still activated sword slashed it in half. He reached back, and punched as hard as he could at the one arm elite. It's shield deactivated, and it's skull caved in. He took his Battle rifle, and aimed it at an Elite, who was charging. He squeezed the trigger, and a 2 round-per-second burst of bullets pierced its shield, but stopped in the armor. The force behind the bullets stopped its charge dead though. John pulled the pin off of a fragmentation grenade, and tossed it at the elites feet, and continued to fire at the elite to keep it from rolling out of the way. It detonated, blowing the elite into a hundred pieces. He then reloaded his Battle rifle, and concentrated his fire on the remaining Elite. It's shield died with the last shot of his clip. He dropped the rifle, and took an SMG out ,and continued to fire into the shield-less Elite, killing it. The chief managed a fake-yawn, and said "…well, that was easy…and I think you lost…" Cortana laughed out loud.

      "OK…anyway, I've accessed the city's road maps…there is no way to get to there from here.

      "perfect…tell me you have a plan"

      "Maybe if you said 'please'…"

      The chief sighed…he had been stuck in a longsword for two weeks with her, yet he still didn't understand her. "alright…please tell me you have a plan"

      "Well since you asked so nicely…" A 3-D wire-frame map of the city popped up in John's helmet, and it zoomed in to where they were, their position marked by a green diamond. A yellow line, with an arrow on the front, extended down the road, through a building, up some stairs, and on the top was an old model Pelican. "I assume you know what to do here…"

      John cleared his throat. "…are you telling me that you seriously expect me to pilot that 60 year old rust bucket?"

      The view of the city shifted to their position again, and then panned to the end of the section they were on, a deep drop shown after. "That blast door was the only way off of this section…or would you rather take a 80 meter plunge, and climb almost the same distance on the other section?"

      John sighed again, and spoke disgustedly "Fine…but I'm telling you, I am not flying that thing any farther than we have to."


1907 Hours, September 17, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
New Mombasa, Top Level (237), Section 64

      A Golden Elite , known only by Loma 'Lumamee walked through the rubble of a city block pounded by both plasma, and shells. He didn't care what the possibility of finding this human was. All he cared about was avenging his fallen brother. A bit of movement made him freeze. A single human emerged from being buried in the rubble. He limped on away from the Elite. He thought 'why waste the plasma…he will only die of starvation anyhow.' He continued towards his goal: The human from Reach…


1910 Hours, September 17, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
New Mombasa, Highway 17, Top Level (249), Section 67

      The Chief approached the old bombed out building. He looked at the rusted over sign… 'FACTORY WORKERS ENTERANCE' He walked in. There were marine, and covenant bodies strewn all over the gigantic room. Massive machinery filled the room. A large hole in the wall to John's left shown the fiery autumn sun, and that lit up the room. He looked at a sign on the wall 'FOUNDRY' He noticed a stairway leading up to the catwalks. He climbed the stars, and he really got a feel for the sheer size of the building. There were 4 more levels of catwalks above the one he was on. He walked up the stairs all the way to the level 5 catwalks. He looked down. He was 30 meters in the air. If the supports gave, It would be very unlikely that John would survive. "Cortana?"

      "yes?"

      "What's the chance of the steel giving way?

      after a moment Cortana responded "depending on how fast you walk, I'd say 56 to 70 percent"

      "damn…" John slowly walked towards a door labeled ROOF then he heard a low growl. He looked down. A Hunter was right below him on a floor. He wasn't sure if he had been spotted, so he stood still, and took a grenade off of his belt. He took the pin off, and dropped it, and ran as fast as he could to the door. The grenade detonated just as he reached the door. The catwalks gave, and collapsed, crushing the Hunter The chief looked through the open door into the room. All the catwalks collapsed. He had no choice now but to use the aging pelican.

      He walked from the door to the Pelican. Its windshield was cracked, and there was some rust on the wings. He opened the cockpit, and sat a pilot's chair. He pressed a button, and the pelican's lights flickered to life. He pushed another button, and the engines came to life. The pelican took off from the ground, and it was violently shaking. It turned, and accelerated towards the cruiser.


1912 Hours, September 17, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
New Mombasa, Section 64, Sony Office Building, Roof

      Loma 'Lumamee stood at the top of a tall skyscraper. He looked at the bright star disappearing behind dark storm clouds. Somehow, it reminded him of his home. He remembered Peace. He remembered his bretheren. Then he thought to himself 'this war has gone on much too long. Some of the destroyed worlds even had a strange beauty to them.' He shook that thought out of his mind. It was treason to think such a thing. He looked at an old human building. A human dropship took off, and accelerated towards him. The ship took a nose dive, and crashed, just after the gap between sections. He saw something come out of the cockpit…it looked like it had greenish armor. He felt his anger return. He let out a low growl. "human…you will pay…" He ran down the stairs.

TO BE CONTINUED…

On A Pale Horse: Enough Dead Heroes
Date: 6 July 2003, 11:23 PM

-Enough Dead Heroes-


1912 Hours, September 17, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
New Mombasa, Section 64

      John climbed out of the Pelican. "uhh…I told you that thing couldn't fly…"

      "We're here aren't we?" Cortana responded in her normal voice.

      "yeah, but we could've been killed…"

      "There was no way we could die from that"

      "How do you know?"

      "Because, it would be just too stupid if we died like that after going through all that" John chuckled, and set off towards the cruiser looming in the distance. With the Elites roaming the city, it would be far more difficult getting to his objective. He saw a black Elite standing next to a skyscraper, busting a door in. It walked in, and spoke in an alien tongue. He aimed his battle Rifle at the back of it's head, and shot a 5 round burst into the back of it's skull. Its limp body fell to the floor. The Chief walked in the building to see what the elite wanted so bad. He saw 4 children, a man, and a woman. They were huddled in a corner. They gaped at the 7-foot tall Spartan. John thought for a moment. He did have standing orders to protect any human civilians, even if it did get in the way of his main objective. He had an idea.

      "Cortana, contact HQ, tell them we have civilians here that need to evacuated.

      "OK"

      The Chief spoke to the people, they jumped when he spoke "Stay here, there'll be someone here to get you out of here" He brought out one of his SMGs, and held it out to the man "I assume you know how to use one of these. He nodded weakly, and then took the gun. "Remember, stay here." He walked out the door, and closed it. He continued towards the cruiser.


1915 Hours, September 17, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
New Mombasa, Section 64

      Loma 'Lumamee ran down the street. He bent down, and picked up an empty shell casing. It was still warm. 'You're time is almost up, human' he thought to himself. He took off down the road, towards the Esteem, knowing that's where he was heading. He stopped when he saw a single, bleeding human soldier limping across the road…that was the same human he saw emerge from the rubble earlier. "this one is strong" he said in a low voice. The human disappeared into a building. He continued down the road, knowing that his target was real close.


1930 Hours, September 17, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
New Mombasa, Section 64

      The Sun has disappeared behind real dark storm clouds. The winds picked up, and a strong downpour has begun. Water rushed down the storm-drains. A loud thunderclap shook John. A fog also set in. It was so bad, that he couldn't see 30 meters down the road. Debris flew down the street. He quickened his pace, knowing the rain, and fog would mask his approach. John slowed down. He was under the ship. The fog was still thick, but without the rain, any covenant troop could hear him if he ran. He heard grunts talking. He ducked into an alcove. A patrol of 3 grunts walked by. After 30 seconds, he crouch-walked behind the patrol. After a minute, he saw a gravity lift in the distance. He waited until the grunts were under it, and tossed a grenade towards them. The didn't even see it, and they were blown away. He stepped into the purple beam, when he heard a growl. He looked back, and a golden Elite was walking towards him.


1933 Hours, September 17, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
New Mombasa, Section 64, directly beneath the Esteem

      Loma Lumamee' slowly approached the fully armored human. He activated his plasma sword. He spoke "Human, you die here…" The human raised its weapon, and spoke something in its own language, as if it could understand him. He jumped as high as he could, and swung his sword at the human. It was extremely fast. It dodged the sword, and slammed its weapon into his side. The shield blocked it, and he swung his sword at it again. It Jumped high, and dodged it again. It fired 2 shots, and his shield went down. He deactivated his sword, and pulled a plasma grenade out, activated it, and threw it. He dodged it, but it was caught in the blast. It's shield deactivated. He charged it, and hit it as hard as he could. It landed on its back, and he got both its arms, and put a leg on its chest, and pulled. He wanted to make it suffer for his brother. It was strong though…almost stronger than him…it got an arm free, reached into his belt, and grabbed a large knife, that looked like it was stained with blood from a brute. He let go just before it could slice his hand off. It got up, almost throwing his balance off.

      It got its weapon out, and shot 12 rounds into his shield. The force behind each pushed him back a step. Then his shield went down. 8 more shots tore through him. The pain was enormous. He didn't fall down though. The human reloaded its weapon, aimed at his head…and fired…

On A Pale Horse: The Esteem
Date: 9 July 2003, 8:31 PM

-The Esteem-


1934 Hours, September 17, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
New Mombasa, Section 64, directly beneath the Esteem

      The chief walked away from the body of the elite. He approached the gravity lift. Sergeant Banks radioed the chief "Chief, this is sergeant Banks, come in."

      "Roger that sergeant, go ahead"

      "we're pulling out, we're sending you a single HAVOK tactical Nuclear mine. HQ orders you to set it off when you have the data on the cruiser. We'll keep a pelican on-station to extract you when you're finished."

      "roger that, Can you put some ammo on that thing, I'm running low…"

      "I'll see what I can do. Remember, the fail-safe code on the detonator is Alpha-8245. Good-luck, Banks out" The chief waited 5 minutes, then a pelican pulled under the cruiser, and landed in the middle of an intersection. 3 marines got out, and made sure the landing zone was secure. The chief walked up to the pelican, and several people unloaded 2 crates.

      "Sir, Here's your supplies."

      "Thanks, now get the hell out of here, there won't be a New Mombasa in 10 minutes!"

      "yes, sir! Everyone, back on the pelican, let's go!" Everyone got back on the pelican, and it lifted off the ground, and flew out into the rain, and fog." The chief opened a crate with CAUTION-NUCLEAR ORDINANCE stamped on all sides. A single HAVOK mine was in there, along with a key, a detonator, and packing foam. He pulled it out, and tied it to his belt. He then took the key, and detonator out, and put it in a pouch on his belt. He walked over to the other crate, and opened it. There were clips for a Battle Rifle, and an SMG. There was also an 8-gague shotgun, several boxes of shotgun shells, 4 grenades, 10 fuse detonated 2-pound blocks of C-12, and a lighter. The chief made a low whistle. He dropped his SMG, and took the shotgun out of the crate, opened a box of shells, and loaded it. He also took the grenades, the C-12, the lighter, and as many Battle Rifle clips, and shotgun shells as he could carry. He walked under the gravity lift. He felt his feet leave the ground, and he rose into the cruiser…

      The chief was now in the cruiser. He put the nuke down, and put the key into a slot on it. HAVOK ARMED-AWAITING DETONATION SIGNAL flashed across his HUD.


1943 Hours, September 17, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
New Mombasa, Section 64, directly beneath the Esteem

       Several grunts ran up to the body of a golden elite. "Sir?" one of them spoke. They turned him over. There were bullet holes all throughout his abdominal area, and a bullet was lodged in his helmet. "He's still breathing…Call a ship to get him out of here…"

      "Yes…" He called a nearby phantom.

      "do you think he'll make it?"

      "I don't know…" After a few more seconds, a Phantom came down, and a Brute got out to help the grunts get the elite in the Phantom…"


1944 Hours, September 17, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
Covenant Cruiser Esteem

      The Chief was in the shuttle bay. Covenant bodies lye all over the floor. A single pelican flew in the door, and landed. The chief quickly got in, and it flew out of the door, taking plasma shots. Heavy rain, and hail hitting the pelican could be heard. The Pelican banked down back towards the city. "Pilot, where are we going?"

      "We got a call from someone still down there…" A minute later, the pelican landed, and a rain and blood soaked human got in the pelican. He took his helmet off. It wasn't until the pelican got above the clouds, and the sun light up the ship did they recognize each other.

      He looked at the chief. "Hello John…looks like I got to salute you now…" It was Mendez!

1944 Hours, September 17, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
UNSC Space station Number 257, in orbit above Earth

      John, and Mendez stepped off of the pelican. Mendez's hair was grayed, but except that, he looked exactly the same. They were greeted by a person with a Five-star collar insignia. The symbol for Admiral of the Fleet. The highest rank in the UNSC Navy. They both snapped a salute, and he returned it. He looked at Mendez "Senior Chief, I assume your objectives were completed?"

      "yes, sir"

      "Good…Master Chief, Your Objective was also Completed?" He said, looking at John.

      "yes, sir"

      "Great, Now, follow me, I think I have something you may enjoy…" The Admiral led John down a hall to a door. Mendez shot the chief a reassuring glance. They walked through the door. "Admiral on the deck!" someone shouted. They were in front of a large briefing room. John looked towards the people in the room…about 100 soldiers in full MJOLNIR armor stood at attention…

END OF CHAPTER 1

On A Pale Horse: The Beginning of the end
Date: 6 August 2003, 1:19 AM

Note from the Author: I'm Back! Okay, so stop E-mailing me! j/k... I made this one short, so I could get it in As soon as possible, the others will be longer

-CHAPTER II--
-The beginning of the end-

2101 Hours, September 17 (Military Calendar) /
UNSC Space Station Number 257, in orbit above Earth

      "At ease, have a seat." Freemont said. The Spartans relaxed, and sat down. "You have completed your training, and will join the ranks of the Spartans. I am sad to say that there is only one survivor of the original Spartan Class...Number 117. He said gesturing at John. Anyway, down to business."

      "Covenant Fleet Inbound! All personal to General Quarters. Man your Battle Stations! This is not a drill, repeat, this is not a drill" Than the alarms for Battle Stations blared.

      "shit..." the Admiral said in a low voice "Men, we will have to rush the mission...I have not anticipated that they will be back so soon...I must give you a new mission..." He cleared his throat. "Using the data obtained by the Master Chief, 117, and Cortana, we have located what we believe to be a high population covenant world..."

      John shifted his weight...this was going to be his most dangerous mission..."you will go there...and try to capture a covenant prophet...you will have 3 hours, then, we will get you out of there, launch every nuke we have, and get the hell out of there. If you can, try to salvage any covenant technology, including, vehicles, databases, or anything else..." A Spartan raised it's hand "Yes, 236?"

      "What are the Rules of engagement?" He had a deep voice

      Shoot-first, ask-later. But, try not to kill any non-combatants...but if any of them express any hostile action, shoot.

      "Spartans, this will be your finest hour. You are in the Hopes and prayers of every human-being. You are proof...that we will not go down without a fight...We will survive...Many of you may not be alive to see the day that the Covenant are defeated, but god-willing, that day will come!" Every person in the room began cheering "Dismissed!"

2110 Hours, September 17 (Military Calendar) /
UNSC Battlecruiser Atlantic

      The Atlantic was the newest class of UNSC ship, and only one of it's kind. It was easily the biggest ship in the UNSC. It was also the only ship with a designation above cruiser made by the UNSC. It had 4 layers of Titanium-A armor Each 4 inches thick. The layers are 3 inches apart. In the space between are compartments filled with liquid Nitrogen, used to cool the plasma. An enemy ship using plasma would have to hit it at least 4 times in the same area to breach the hull. It had 7 MAC guns, 10 Shiva Nuclear missiles, and over 100,000 Archer missiles. It is so massive, that they have high-speed monorail trains so people can get to places. It has 5 fusion reactors, so it is one of the fastest ships built. The Atlantic also features the same design principals of the old Halcyon class ships, making it one of the strongest ship ever built. All the usable captured covenant technology has been used also. It has energy shields, but only protecting the engine room, because the massive power used to operate them. It also has artificial gravity, and improved Trans-light generators. Not perfect, but still a big improvement over the old ones.

      John couldn't believe the sheer size of the ship. The had been in a monorail for 5 minutes, and the speedometer read 120 km/h. He had seen it from the outside, but he never got a good sense of the size, which was normal, because it was painted with a low gloss black. John had been talking with several other Spartans, all of which were in the young thirties. The monorail slowed, and stopped. The doors opened, and they stepped out, and turned to a person standing there. "Follow me please" He said. He led them to a cryo bay...

      The ship accelerated, and disappeared into the slipstream...


2130 Hours, September 17 (Military Calendar) /
UNSC Battlecruiser Atlantic

      Cortana had been placed in cryo sleep with John. New technology allows the Spartans, and their AI's to discuss possible battle strategies. The ship wasn't expected to arrive at the covenant planet until late December. This was a huge gamble, if the Covenant didn't follow them out of the system, Earth would be doomed. More than 3 quarters of the entire fleet made the jump with the Atlantic...but little do they know, that when they exit the slipstream, the covenant will have gathered every covenant ship available to beat the humans back...

TO BE CONTINUED

On A Pale Horse: Last Resort
Date: 16 August 2003, 8:05 PM

-Last Resort-

0000 Hours, December 23 (Military Calendar) /
UNSC Battlecruiser Atlantic

      The sailors have already been revived. The Spartans were still in cryo sleep. The ships AI sounded the alarm for General Quarters. They were about to exit the slipstream. The screen began to focus, and a large blue-green planet began to come into view. Twin stars in the background also came into view. The planet had 3 moons, and many rings, about half as many as Saturn. A voice came over the intercom. "All ships, Rally around the large moon, and Await further orders."

0013 Hours, December 23 (Military Calendar) /
UNSC Battlecruiser Atlantic

      John still felt a little groggy going through the checks after being thawed. After his shields were charged, he did some stretches. "Spartans, I need you to follow me to weapons storage." Said an Ensign

      "Yes Sir!" said everybody in unison. They followed the Ensign to long, and narrow room. He keyed in some numbers on a keypad in the wall, and the wall lowered into the floor, revealing a spacious room stocked with weapons, and tons of ammo. John cocked an eyebrow, and someone whistled.

      "Take your pick...you will be split into several teams, so plan accordingly" the Ensign said. John took a Battle Rifle, and a Shotgun, 5 fragmentation grenades, 4 smoke bombs, a clip of rubber bullets, 9 clips of regular bullets, 20 breaching shells, 80 standard shells, a pair of binoculars, and a 5x scope. He walked over to the tanks stacked in the corner. He took three, and attached them to his belt.

      The alarms blared. The overhead lights changed to a bright red. "All hands, to General Quarters, this is not a drill." The voice seemed like it belonged to an AI.

      "Shit...we better get you on your way"

0005 Hours, December 23 (Military Calendar) /
Pelican Dropship, En Route to Covenant World

      The Spartans were silent. John couldn't sit still. He stood up ,and stared out the cockpit. He couldn't see anything as it disappeared into the blue clouds that surrounded the planet. The ship began shaking violently. "We're getting close to the surface!" a pilot said. The Spartans put their helmets on, and took the safeties off of the guns. John sat down, and pair of doors closed off the cockpit. The shaking stopped, and the ship stopped suddenly. The rear doors opened, and John stepped out. His jaw dropped...

      Dozens of buildings could be seen. They had the most serene archetecture he had ever saw. They extended up, and disappeared into a bluish fog. They didn't appear to have windows. "Stay close" John said. The "streets" looked to be paved with a bluish metal. John saw what appeared to be ghost, and phantom variations. Some with wings, some enclosed, some appeared to be like a pair of wraiths fused to a small pod. John led the team down the road. John noticed the Spartans staring at the buildings. What appeared to be an elite without armor came around a corner, and froze. The Spartans aimed their weapons at it. It's eyes darted from Spartan to Spartan, and it turned and ran. "Cortana, where are we going?" John asked, "Cortana? Cortana?!"

      "what? Oh sorry...this is amazing!"

      "Yeah, I know, now, where the hell are we going?"

      "um...the best I can tell, the entire planet knows we're here, and everything is locked down. Intelligence reports a building one click towards the nearest magnetic pole, that seems important to the covenant...go there..."

      "OK" He led the team down the street.

      "sir?" One of the Spartans said

      "Yes?"

      "This...this is wrong..." John felt uneasy, he was thinking the same thing. He looked down the street. The bluish fog prevented him from seeing over a kilometer. Everything was dimly lit, which reminded him of pictures of total Solar Eclipses on Earth.

      "Right..." He responded, then shouted "Everyone, be on your toes!" John slowly continued down the road. When the reached an open field, they froze. They could barely make out pyramidal building in the distance. There were fountains, and gardens. Some had weird looking plants, some had plants that looked like something he'd saw on Earth. There was a blue-green grass, everywhere else. It was one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen. "Damn, can't make out anything in this fog...everyone, switch to thermal"

      John pressed a button on his helmet. His view changed to solid Black. It was useless, everything was freezing out there. He pressed the button again. "Nevermind, It's useless..." John proceeded to lead the team out into the open field. He approached the building. About 10 meters of steps led to a door leading inside. John climbed them, and when he reached the door, something dressed in a gold cloak was standing there. John raised his weapon....it spoke.

      "Humans...drop your weapons...you are out numbered..." John was bewildered, he was never spoken to by the Covenant before. He wasn't sure what to do.

      "Sir!" a Spartan shouted out. John looked back, hundreds of covenant soldiers had the Spartans surrounded, pointing their plasma weapons at them... "...what do we do sir?"

      "You have no chance of survival" the tall thing said...

      "Sir? Orders? Sir?" the same Spartan said

      John clenched his teeth..."until death!!!"

...To be continued...

On A Pale Horse: The Gates of Hell
Date: 23 November 2003, 4:22 PM

Note from the author: I wont expect many of you to remember the first parts of my series...*sigh* but being grounded constantly, school, and the worst case of writers block I've ever had...you get the idea...

-The Gates of Hell-

0007 Hours, December 23 (Military Calendar) /
On the surface of the Covenant World

      Everything seemed to stop. John could see the bullets slowly coming out of the barrel of his Battle Rifle. He could see the plasma slowly being discharged from the covenant weapons. A second seemed like a lifetime. John's shields activated as a bolt of blue plasma drew nearer. The plasma washed over his shield, and dripped toward the ground like an extremely viscous liquid. He pulled a pin on a grenade, and threw it. "Into the structure, NOW!!!" John barked over the intercom. He backpedaled slowly into the metal pyramid, while reloading his Battle Rifle. Several Spartans helped their fallen allies into the building, taking plasma in the back. John got on one knee, and crouch-walked to the exit. He fired into the masses of Covenant coming up the steps. He saw more Spartans fall. John noticed a door behind some sort of altar. "Everyone, into that room!" John said, pointing at the door.

0010 Hours, December 23 (Military Calendar) /
On the surface of the Covenant World

      The doors were locked, and two Spartans were firing a Heavy Machine gun out holes in the metal door. The Spartans with the breached suits were on oxygen. After several minutes, the machine gunners shouted "There coming through!!!" and they ran from the door. Seconds later, it burst open, and bullets tore through the covenant coming through. The covenant answered with large plasma discharges. Dead Covenant lie in the doorway. For every Spartan hit, 25 of the covenant numbers went down. A hole was blown open in the back wall. John picked up a heavy machine gun, and unloaded in the masses of covenant coming through the door.

0015 Hours, December 23 (Military Calendar) /
On the surface of the Covenant World

      "they should be dead by now..."

      "My lord, they will die...have patience"

      "PATIENCE?! We have been fighting much too long...this war should have been over ages ago...yet they have set foot in the Holy Temple of Ishma...the gods will not be pleased..."

      "My lord, they are desperate, and this is just a last ditch effort to save themselves...we have dominated them on their planets, this will be no different..."

      "you underestimate their power...you forget that the ring of the gods has been destroyed by but just a handful of them...you know as well as I do that we can still lose this war...you remember the planet they call Reach, don't you?"

      "...the humans came in vast numbers to defend that planet...most of them fought with nothing more than a club, or a pipe...some of them had no weapons at all..."

      "remember, a cornered animal will do anything to survive...do not under estimate them...for it will be a grave misjudgment...you are my best warrior...I want you to kill them..."

0015 Hours, December 23 (Military Calendar) /
On the surface of the Covenant World

      "This is Master Chief, Spartan Number 117, I need immediate assistance ,does anyone copy, over?" John yelled over the radio

      "Chief, this is Captian Reeves, where is your current location?"

      "we are at grid number Delta 9-0-9-1"

      "roger that, we're inbound, ETA 5 minutes."

      "Hurry!" John picked up a rocket launcher, and sent two rockets at the wall. When the smoke cleared, a very large halo was in the wall, and it led to the outside. "Everybody, out, NOW!" John ordered. He tossed a grenade over the heads of the covenant, still pouring through the door. It detonated, and sent several bodies flying. John picked up a machine gun, and unloaded on the covenant. Once every Spartan was out of the hole, John turned, and bolted towards the hole, firing the machine gun over his shoulder. He dove out of the hole, and slid down the 2 stories of dark metal.

      When he reached the bottom, he shouted, everyone, away from the pyramid, quick! John picked up an injured Spartan, put him over his shoulder, and ran away from the building, and into a street. "Captian Reeves, come in"

      "Yes?"

      "There is a pyramid structure in the middle of a field, I need you take that, and all the covenant surrounding it, out"

      "Roger that, ETA 30 seconds" Exactly 30 seconds later, John heard a longsword pass overhead, and then the pyramid erupted into flames, and the covenant waiting outside was blasted away. The force of the blast knocked all the Spartans to the ground. "Verify delivery of ordinance on target..."

      "Bullseye! Target is neutralized" John said. His heart was pounding. "Cortana, now where the hell do we go?"

      "I have detected a covenant vehicle leaving the area once the fighting started. I think maybe that is a transport for a prophet. We're gonna need some kind of vehicle to catch up with it." John looked over at several covenant vehicles parked on the side of the road.

      "Looks like we found our ride" John said with a grin.

TO BE CONTINUED

On A Pale Horse: Assault
Date: 27 November 2003, 12:06 AM

Note from the author: Hehe, looks like my two-month long writers block is no more...

0027 Hours, December 23, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
On the Surface of the Covenant World

      "Chief...the object seems to have gone into that building..." said Cortana.

      "Perfect..." John said with a sigh. He got off of the vehicle, and walked towards the building. He kept his Battle Rifle aimed at the giant blast door. He placed 20 pounds of C-12 on the front. He backed about 200 meters away, and crouched behind a wall. He was bewildered by the surprisingly low amount of resistance he has had to face so far. He pushed the detonator, and a massive explosion rocked the area. He was knocked off of his feet. He picked himself up, and looked at the door. Even with the massive explosion, only a small hole was blown in the door. He approached it, and he figured he might be able to squeeze in.

      He thought about the Spartans. He had them be evacuated while he pursued the prophet. None of them wanted to go, but John knew better. He knew that the likelihood of anyone surviving this mission was very low. He also knew that if no one gave pursuit quickly that there would be no chance of capturing a prophet. So he went alone. Hopefully, he could hold out until the UNSC could arrive with better weapons and reinforcements.

      He Climbed through the meter wide hole, and looked around. There were 5 doors, each with a symbol on it. He walked to the center door, and pushed a button on it. It flew open, revealing several grunts waiting for him. He quickly brought up his Battle Rifle, and unloaded. He took several shots, but his shields protected him. Once the last grunt fell to the ground, he reloaded the gun, and proceeded forward. After 60 seconds, an elite dove down through a hole in the ceiling. It was in white armor, and had an activated energy blade.

      John fired several shots, but the elite dodged them, and pulled out something like an energy shuriken. It threw it at John. He dodged it, and the shuriken cut threw the wall. He Fired several rounds at the elite, and amazingly, the elite blocked them with his sword. John pulled his shotgun over his shoulder, and aimed. "Block this!" He said in a low voice. He pulled the trigger. The elite jumped, and grabbed a pipe 3 meters above the floor. He fired another shot, and it pushed off the pipe, and hit the ground, and its shields were activated. "Cortana, what do I got to do to kill this thing?" The Chief asked.

      "DUCK!" Shouted Cortana as the elite swung his sword at the Chief. John dove to the ground, and jumped to his feet. He Put out several more shotgun shells. Each one missing, or doing minimal damage. He activated a plasma grenade, and threw it. The elite dodged this one as well.

      "Shit..." John got his Battle Rifle out, and he pulled the trigger. Every shot missed as the elite gracefully dodged them. John backpedaled and picked up a needler from a fallen grunt. He activated a plasma grenade, threw it, and unloaded a full clip of needler rounds at the elite. It dodged the plasma grenade, and some needler rounds, but the majority hit the elite. It erupted in a purple explosion. It hit the ground. Miraculously it was still breathing. He put of its misery by pumping several Battle Rifle rounds into it.

      John proceeded down the hall. He came up to a door. He pushed a button. Inside this door was A patrol of Jackals. He threw in a fragmentation grenade, and it killed them all before they even knew what was going on. John proceeded down the hallway with caution. He thought he heard something. He shot out all the lights, and everything was enveloped in blackness. He switched to thermal imaging. Everything was still freezing, but not as bad as outside. He could barely make out the walls and the floor. He proceeded down the hall. He saw three Brutes, bewildered at the sudden loss of light.

      John could hear them talking to each other. One was away from the other two, with his back turned to John. Perfect, he thought. He pulled his machete out, and slowly approached the Brute. In a blink of an eye, John grabbed its forehead, and slit its throat. It made a sick noise, and fell to the floor. The other two brutes turned their attention to the fallen brute. They approached it, and one tripped over its dead body. John threw a fragmentation grenade at the fallen Brute. It exploded, killing both brutes. John continued down the dark hall. Then He came to a strange door. It had symbols painted all over it. He pushed the button, and the door flew open...

0056 Hours, December 23, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
Covenant Political Building, On the surface of Covenant World

      "My lord, they have broken in. We must get you to safety."

      "You...you have fought these warriors before, yes?"

      "Yes my lord, I am aware of their battle techniques."

      "You must hold them off, at least until reinforcements arrive."

      "As long as I am still breathing, I vow to never let them past me..."

      "May fate be with you...Good bye..." The Prophet left the room. Now Loma was alone. He heard some activity behind a door on the opposite side of the room...He activated two energy short-swords, one in each hand, and awaited whatever lay behind the door. He gripped the swords hard...and as the door opened, he almost broke them...

0058 Hours, December 23, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
Covenant Political Building, On the surface of Covenant World

      John quickly aimed his Battle Rifle at the Elite. He fired two rounds. It quickly rolled to the right, and charged the Chief, it swung one sword at him, but John dodged it. He did a backflip to avoid a low sword thrust. He pushed off of the ground, and landed on his feet. He dropped the Battle Rifle, and took out his SMG. He Unloaded on the elite, it's shields protecting it from the low caliber bullets. It thrusted both swords at John One almost hit him, as his shields activated. He swung his SMG at the elite, and made contact with its arm. It dropped one of its swords. It dropkicked John in response, knocking him to the ground. He couldn't recover in time before the elite got up, and held its sword at John's neck...

      It was about to plunge it into John, when its head exploded. The sword deactivated, and the elite fell backwards. John picked himself up, and examined the dead elite. "Cortana. What the hell just happened?"

      "I knew you'd need some help, John..." A shadowy figure in the hall said.

      John and Cortana both said at the same time, "Who the hell are you?" Then it stepped into the light. It was a fellow Spartan, Miranda-227, and she was holding a sniper rifle.

      "And you thought you could do it alone..."

      "I thought I told you to hang back, and help the wounded."

      "Yeah, well, I had a gut feeling that I should go with you..."

      "Last I checked, I outrank your gut...You violated a direct order...thanks..."

      "Anytime..."

      "Hate to interrupt your little chat, but I think we still have a mission here..." Cortana said.

      "She's right...let's end this war, shall we? Miranda said.

      "Chief, I've just got word from the Atlantic...they're sending in reinforcements ETA 10 minutes...

      "Good...we'll wait here until they get here..."

TO BE CONTINUED

On A Pale Horse: Into the Belly of the Beast
Date: 4 December 2003, 12:33 AM

Author's note: Sorry for missing the last few updates...too busy watching the RvB DVD ;-)
If it's any consulaton, then I've made this twice as long as the others.

0015 Hours, December 23, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
Covenant Political Building, On the Surface of Covenant World

      John led the team of ODSTs down the dimly lit hallway...he listened for the slightest movement. He crouched down, and turned a corner. He slowly walked down another hallway. The 15 ODSTs and Miranda following. They came to a door. John pushed a button, and the door went up about half of a meter, and stopped. Something exploded above it. "Shit..." John said in a low voice. "Cortana, is there a way around?"

      "Scanning...there is one way back about a hundred feet there is a vent. You should be able to fit. You can follow the vents into that room."

      "I hate vents...ok, let's go!" John said. John shot out the vent cover, and climbed in. It was a tight fit, but he could still move. He followed Cortana's directions. There was a fan, and some kind of filter at the end. He threw a grenade at it, and it blew up, sending small pieced of shrapnel everywhere. He pulled himself out of the vent. He was in a cylindrical room about 20 meters in diameter. A ledge extended 2 meters along the edge. At the end, there was a deep pit. A single railing provided...some protection against falling to your doom. There was no ceiling. It looked as if it was a gigantic smokestack. Steam poured out from the bottomless hole in the center of the room. John Couldn't see 2 meters in front of himself. He helped the rest of his team out of the vent. Water condensed from the steam rushed down the walls. John saw some type of awning above the vents. Probably to prevent the water from entering the ventilation system.

      "God, it's hot in here." An ODST commented. They walked around, and opened another door. Another long hallway was behind it. This one much less aesthetically pleasing. They proceeded down it. They came to yet another door.

      "Everyone, stack up on this door." John ordered. Once they have, John counted down from three on his fingers. 3...2...1... he quickly pushed the button on it, and the door flew open. "GO, GO, GO!"

      John opened fire on the Grunts and Jackals waiting inside, as did everyone else. Blood spattered all over the walls. "Clear!" yelled John. He stepped over the bodies lying on the ground, and went to the door, and the ODSTs stacked themselves behind the Chief. "Ready? GO!" He opened the door. A patrol of elites guarded the door on the other side of the door. A torrent of lead and plasma flew through the air. John's shields activated. Two ODSTs were hit. An elite went down, and two more had their shields deactivated. Two elites dove behind a table, and fliped it on its side, and hid behind it. John concentrated his fire on the exposed elites. They died quickly as their shields were down. Now John waited for the elites to come out from behind the table. John fired several shots into the table, but they didn't go through. One of the ODSTs threw a grenade. "Fire in the hole!" John ducked down. One elite dove from behind the table, and the grenade detonated. It sent the table flying into a wall. John fired at the elite on the ground, and killed it before it could get up. "Room clear!"

      John rushed to the door on the other side of the room. He pushed a button, and the door flew open. "GO!" John and the ODSTs rushed the room. John fired into the masses of Brutes behind it. All the ODSTs fired also. The floor quickly became a lake of purple blood. The brutes fired their plasma weapons. An ODST was hit, but besides that there were no casualties. The injured ODSTs limped along at the back of the squad. "Stack up!"

      "Chief, there is an entire covenant platoon behind that door. I suggest a safer way..."

      "There is no time, if we look for another way, the prophet will escape..." The chief said firmly. "Flashbang them!" He pushed a button on the door, and an ODST tossed a flashbang in. There was a line of about 15 Jackals, with their shields activated to provide cover to the covenant behind them. There were also stationary shields behind them. Behind those were 10 Grunts, 15 Elites, 5 Brutes, and a pair of Hunters. The flashbang exploded, stunning the covenant. John put his Battle Rifle on full automatic, and ran into the room. fired into the masses of covenant. John targeted the Hunters first. With his rifle on full auto, he could not fire accurately. The hunter went down. The ODSTs killed several Jackals, and 9 Grunts. A brute hit the ground also. The covenant recovered from the flashbang, and began to fire their weapons. The remaining Hunter charged its fuel rod gun.

      "OH SHIT!!!" several ODSTs screamed as the Hunter fired its weapon. It hit one directly, and he was blown out of his boots...with his feet still in them. Several ODSTs went flying. John switched back to semi-automatic, and fired into the Hunter's neck. The 3rd shot hit it dead on, and it fell over, dead. John now concentrated his fire on the brutes. 2 were dead. Another ODST went down.

      "Chief, aim for that pipe in the wall..." John sent three bullets into the pipe. A white mist flew out at high speed. "Chief, get everyone back into that room!"

      "Everyone, fall back into the last room, NOW!" John yelled. Everyone ducked into the room. Once the threshold was clear, the door slammed shut automatically.

      "Sir...what about...what about Jimmy and them?" An ODST asked John. John sighed, and shook his head slowly. The ODST lowered his head, and leaned against the wall.

      "Okay Chief, open the door." Cortana said.

      "Everyone, be prepared." John warned. He pushed a button on the door, and it flew open. The broken pipe was no longer pouring out mist. Everything was still in the room, but they were entombed in thick, solid ice. The coat of ice was at least 5 centimeters thick. John let out a sigh, and walked across the icy grave. His fellow solders, trapped forever in a frozen prison. The Covenant soldiers were frozen statues in their battle stances. He looked back at his troops to make sure they were alert. He pushed the button on the door, and it flew open. Nothing was inside. John walked in, and to the door. This had 8 symbols on it. "Stack up, now! Miranda, I want you on front!"

      "Yes, sir!" Miranda, and the ODSTs yelled.

      "3...2...1...GO!" John pushed he button, and the door opened. John looked around. He was in a trench-like hallway, with no ceiling, and a big room over the ledge on the right. John walked up the stars. He was in a big room, with a blast door on the wall to the right. John walked over to the blast door, and saw a holo-panel off to the side. This door reminded him of Halo. He pushed a button on the holo-panel, and the red lights on the door turned green, and it began to open. "Remember, we must take the prophet alive!" John shouted over the roar of the blast door opening.

      "Oh, shit...Oh, shit..." An ODST kept stammering. The blast door gained momentum, and opened. John took in the situation. They were in some kind of amphitheater. It was gigantic. The prophet was inside, on the stage. A gigantic energy shield. Three gold, and 10 spec ops elites surrounded the blue shield sphere. John fired his Battle Rifle into the elites, and they answered back with several plasma blasts of their own. A high-speed plasma blast, with a blue contrail flew from one of the seats, and landed at john's feet, blowing the wooden planks out from his feet.

      "Sniper!" John shouted. He aimed his battle rifle in the direction of the shot, and saw an elite with some kind of new covenant sniper rifle. He shot the elite before it could fire another shot. "Watch for snipers in the seats!" John, now concentrated on the covenant in front of the prophet. John shot a gold elite in the head. He also saw several ODSTs fall to the ground. He saw a rocket fly by, and hit an elite. It exploded into a million pieces. Three elites caught in the blast were launched into the seats.7 elites remained. An elite charged John, and swung its plasma rifle at him. He ducked, and put the butt of his rifle into its abdomen. It fell to the ground, clutching its stomach. John put two bullets into its head. He picked himself up. There were 6 ODSTs remaining. There were 3 elites remaining. They were dispatched quickly. John, Miranda, and the ODSTs surrounded the prophet, and aimed their weapons at its head.

      The prophet raised its arms in the air, and the shield glowed bright, almost enough to blind John. His visor grew darker t compensate for the light. The ODSTs fell to their knees with their hands over their visors. John fired several shots into the shield, but they bounced off. The white ball of light began to shrink down to the size of a tennis ball. It flew out the door which John came from. "Miranda, I need you to see if they are all right, I'll go find where the prophet is going."

      "But-" Miranda began.

      "Don't argue with me, just get them to safety!!!" and John followed a blue trail left behind by the prophet. John followed it back through rooms. He sprinted, as he noticed the trail getting thinner and thinner. John followed it through rooms and finally arrived at the steamy room he was in earlier. He lost the trail. He looked closely for any sign, but he couldn't find any. "Cortana, where did this thing go?"

      "Into that...CHIEF, LOOK OUT!!!" He spun around. A plasma grenade was stuck on his back, and there was Miranda. John was shocked.

      "Miranda?!?!" She drop kicked him over the safety railing, and down the pit of steam...John ripped Cortana's AI cube out of his head, and threw it upwards out of the pit. If the covenant found his body, then they wouldn't get cortana. Then the grenade detonated. All John could see was blood spattered all over his visor. He hit a catwalk with great force. He couldn't move. He was in great pain. Several elites ran up to him, and trained their weapons on Johns head.

      "Don't move human..." An elite said, "Take him away."

TO BE CONTINUED...

On A Pale Horse: The Escape
Date: 25 December 2003, 6:38 AM

Authors Note: Merry Christmas Guys and Girls...I just got off being banned from the computer (don't ask) and I'm getting First Strike in the morning, so I'll make changes that have to be made in order to follow with the story line (who knows, I might get lucky, and only have to change a few things), well, I would make this section longer, but it's late (1:30 at the time I'm writing this), and I'm tired...I'll probably make the next one by Sunday (of course I can't make any promises). Well, I hope you like this part...


0040 Hours, December 23, 2552 /
Unknown Coordinates, Covenant World.

      John could barely move. The searing pain in his back was as strong as ever. He was amazed that he was still alive. His armor was destroyed. Somehow, he had managed to crawl out from it. It was misshapen, and deformed. The back was completely shredded. He managed to make a bandage for his back using cloth from his armor, and under-suit. John sat in the corner...he passed out...

       "Steve, I'm not sure, but Will over there says that they have a Spartan in the next cell..."

      "You've gotta be shittin'. A Spartan? They never surrender..."

      "He says his armor was pretty shredded, and he was dripping blood everywhere..."

      "I still don't believe you" He called back. John groaned, and opened his eyes. The pain was considerably lower. He noticed that the blood on the floor was dry, and that his armor was gone. He sat up in his cell, and cracked his knuckles. He didn't know what time it was...or what day it was for that matter...the guards were asleep. John stood up. The 'bandage' was hard, and it was encrusted with dry blood. He peeled it off. "Hey, you...you awake?" Someone in the next cell said to him.

      "Yeah..." John replied wearily. He slid back down to the cold floor.

      "So...uh...how did you end up here?" He called back

      John thought...all he could remember was a plasma grenade, Miranda, and falling...then excruciating pain. "I...can't remember...last thing I do remember was an explosion." He said, this time the fatigue was much more noticeable in his voice.

      "Oh...so...uh, is it true? Are you a Spartan?" John passed out before he could reply...

      He sat up. Someone was standing at the energy barrier. The person, or whatever it was, pushed something through the barrier. It disappeared into the darkness. John grabbed the box shaped object. It was a Hand-Taser. He picked up the taser and hid it inside his suit. He layed down on the cold metal floor, and fell asleep.

      "WAKE UP HUMAN!!!" John opened his eyes. Two elites were standing above him. He got up. He glanced at both. "Walk!" One said, pointing out the cell, and down the hall. He began. He remembered his taser. He thought about how he should do this. He could stun the one behind him, and get the one in front as it turns around. No...The one in back would know he was up to something...He thought about a kick to the groin to the one in back, stun the one in front, and stun the one in back. No...the one in back would pull the trigger in pain...and he didn't need an entire base after him with just his taser. He thought again. Spin around, knock the gun out of his hand, stun him, and stun the one in front before he had a chance to shoot. It was a long shot, but he knew he didn't have time to think of a better thing to do, because they were going to execute him. John counted down 3...2...1...He grabbed the taser as he spun around. It was so quick, that he was little more that a whirling blur. John reached out his arm, and using his momentum, hit his weapon. He put the taser to it's skin, and pushed the button. A 20,000 Volt shock of electricity surged through the elite's body, and it slumped to the floor. John Turned around, and put the taser to it's extending arm, and pushed the Button. It twitched as the electricity went through its body, and it fell to the floor. John lifted the elites bodies into an open panel in the ceiling. He then closed it, and turned the lock switch.

      John slowly walked back...He backtracked his path all the way back to the holding chambers. Even though he was getting old, his memory was still as sharp as ever. "Hey, you, get us out of here" One of the prisoners whispered.

      "Hold on, I'll be back with some weapons. Just hang tight"

      "What the hell? Get back here!"

      "I'll be back, Trust me..." He then left the room. He kept to the right hand wall, so when he gets some weapons, he could find his way back easily. He ducked behind a communications uplink s a patrol of elites walked by. He continued down the hall. He opened a door, and peered through. It looked like nothing more than a storage room. He continued down the hall. He heard a patrol of grunts. He jumped to the ceiling, and pressed his arms and legs against the wall to keep from falling. The patrol walked by. After the patrol turned the corner, he let himself fall to the floor. He then slowly walked down the hall. He checked several rooms, and found nothing. Then he came to one more door. He opened it. Inside was an armory. There were weapons and armor stretching down the length of the 12 meter long room. He grabbed a duffel bag, and grabbed as many weapons as he could fit in it. He then exited the room, with a plasma pistol. He walked back to the direction of which he came. He kept to the left this time. After a minute, he was back in the holding chamber. He put the bag down. "I told you I'd be back..."

      "I thought you ditched us..." John walked over to the controls. He deactivated all the cell barriers. "Thanks, man"

      "Take a weapon, we're getting the hell out of here."

TO BE CONTINUED

I know it's short, but I only had a few hours to write it

On A Pale Horse: Against All Odds
Date: 4 January 2004, 4:22 AM

I know my writing isn't as good as it normally is. I apologize, and ask that you keep reading. I'm just running low on inspiration...and will to write. Hopefully my reading First Strike, and the Flood (I know, I am way behind with these things) will save this series...

Unknown Time / Covenant Detention Facility, Location Unknown

      John had crouch-walked out the door, with his fellow humans following not far behind. He leaned around the corner. No signs of Covenant. He kept a plasma pistol pointing forward, ready to shoot anything that moved. He came to a 4 way intersection. There were signs suspended from the ceiling. They appeared to be Arrows with Symbols. There were two arrows pointing to the right. One with a Red Symbol, one with A purple symbol. The Arrow pointing forward had a gold symbol. The arrow pointing left had a small purple symbol, with a 'normal' sized green symbol following it. For some reason john looked at the Green one, and thought 'exit'. He couldn't explain it, it was just a gut feeling. Last time he had this feeling was on Halo, when he just 'knew' what did what on the forerunner holo-panels. He turned around, pointed to the left hallway, and whispered "This way, look out for covenant patrols. No one shoots, unless you're certain they've spotted us." They all nodded in acknowledgment.

      John slowly walked down the hallway. The hallway was lighted by what appeared to be some kind of crystal on supports in the purple metallic wall. He came to a door similar to the ones on Covenant cruisers. It had a purple symbol on it. He couldn't remember where he had seen that before, but assumed it was from Halo, or another Cruiser. A light cast on it made it appear like red metal. As John approached it, the light changed to yellow. Then after 5 or 6 seconds, it turned to white, and then the door opened, revealing a lift. John tilted his head in the direction of the lift, and all 5 of the marines piled in. John was the last in, and he pushed a button on a holo-panel in the wall. The door closed, and then john felt himself pulled to the floor as the lift accelerated upward. After a few seconds, the lift slowed to a halt at a door. It parted, and John half-ran out. He slowed, and hunched over in a slow crouch walk. He missed his armor. He felt somewhat naked without it. Without it, he felt like a part of him was missing. Then he thought...the armor...If the covenant reverse-engineer it, then the power of the covenant infantry would be increase a hundred-fold. John now had to get out. He could transmit a self destruct code. And then he would have to pray that his armor was within transmit range, and that the Covenant engineers haven't learned too much...John settled that out of his mind. He had to first get out.

      John spotted two red elites barking at each other in their own language. They seemed to be arguing. John turned around, and whispered "hide..." The marines ducked into alcoves, behind communications uplinks, any cover they could find. John hid in an alcove. He used the mirror finish on the covenant weapons to see what's going on. Although slightly distorted, he has a good view. The two red elites were still shouting at each other. A golden elite shouted louder than the two. It said something, but John couldn't hear anything. The two red elites took turns talking to the gold elite, and then the gold elite said something to both of them, and walked away. One elite turned down the hall the marines were in. John pulled the plasma rifle back, and got his stun gun out. He set it on high. The elite hung its head low, and was to occupied with it's own thoughts to notice the Spartan coming up behind it, until cold metal touched it's skin, and a 100,000 volt shock fried its mind, and it slumped to the floor.

      "All clear" John whispered as he looked at the elite twitch on the floor. He dragged it into the alcove he was hiding in. He continued to lead the 5 man team down the hall, past where the elite's were arguing, and around a corner. He came to another Intersection. Symbols with arrows were painted on the corner walls. He followed the path the green symbol pointed out. After a minute or so, the light crystals turned from white to flashing red, and alarms blared throughout the ship.

      "Shit!" a marine shouted.

      "Weapons ready! Let's move, Double quick!" John and the marines got the marines drew plasma weapons out. John ran down the corridor. The marines were running a little short of a sprint, but to John, it was little more than a jog. John turned a corner, and unloaded on a covenant patrol of Grunts and jackals with his plasma rifle. The marines did the same with their weapons. They were caught completely off guard, and didn't get a shot off before they succumbed to the plasma burns. John continued down the hall, following the green symbol at intersections. At one intersection, an elite jumped out. John got a plasma pistol, charged it as it was taking fire from the marines, and discharged it at the elite. Its shields gave out, and it's skin blistered, and burned. It fell to the ground, and john put several finishing plasma shots into its head. He checked everyone. With the exception of a few burned limbs, and near-hits, everyone was fine, and could go on. He continued down the hall, meeting resistance as he went. He came to a familiar looking room...with 5 doors...and a meter wide gash in a blast door. He was in the same building he had infiltrated days earlier...He remembered...Cortana...He had left her in that steam room. With that thick steam no one could ever find her without looking...not the covenant, not Miranda...not the ODSTs. He spotted a covenant communications uplink. "Who here knows the covenant communication equipment?"

      "I do...sir..." said one of the marines

      "Could you rig that uplink to transmit in a UNSC frequency?"

      "I might..."

      "OK, try to contact a UNSC boat...if we cant, then we're gonna find something to get us off this rock. But in the meantime, try to see if the UNSC is still here...I'll be back..."

      "Wait, we need you to help us fight off a covenant attack..."

      John gave a re-assuring smile "You don't need me...you're a leatherneck...you can hold them off...I'll be back in a few minutes..." He opened the door in the middle of the 5, and walked down the familiar hallway.

      He thought about Cole Protocol Article 2...But that wasn't the reason for going back. He didn't want Cortana to fall into the enemy hands. He felt like she was a part of him, and he would not let the covenant have her. He walked down the long corridor. He Opened a door. This section of hallway was dark. John had shot the lights out. He continued down the hall. He couldn't see any covenant. His vision in the darkness was just as good, if not better than his vision in the light. He came to another door, and opened it, revealing a room he was almost killed in days earlier. He opened a door on the other side, and proceeded down the hall. He turned the corner, and almost froze. A pair of brutes were walking down the hallway. John fired his plasma rifle into them. They were very Surprised, but they shook it off, and charged John. He charged his plasma pistol. He fired it at the Brute in front's head. It melted off, and the brute slumped to the floor. John ran at the second brute, and speared it to the ground. He got his stun-gun out, and put it to the brutes neck. It shrugged off the 100,000 volts, like it was a static shock. It stood up, with john still plunging the stun-gun into its throat. It put an arm around John's neck, and threw him like a pebble. He hit the ground hard. John fired his plasma rifle into it. It let out an angry growl, and charged John. It attempted to clothesline him, but he ducked it. He put his stun gun into the back of his head this time. It spun around, but John had a death grip on its neck. He made sure to keep himself from getting grounded, or he would be shocked as well. The brute slowed down. Its hair began to smoke, and it fell to the ground. John got up, and examined the brute. A foul smell filled the air as its hair caught on fire. He felt a headache, and he proceeded down the hallway, but not before picking up a covenant grenade launcher.

      He spotted a vent with the cover blown off. He climbed in, and crawled down the shaft. damn it's a lot easier without my armor... He thought. He followed the scratches made by his MJOLNIR armor when he went through earlier. He went around corners, down slopes, and finally arrived at his goal: a steam shaft behind a blown out fan. He jumped down, and searched through the steam. The lights were a great help. He crawled the ground. John began to sweat. After several minutes of searching he touched a glassy object. He picked it up...John let out a chuckle "Damn, is she gonna be pissed..."

      PFC. Parker had tried every frequency used by the UNSC...no response came. He had given up, and drawn his plasma pistol out to help the marines to keep the Covenant from pouring through the doors, and overrunning them. The Spartan was gone for more than 10 minutes...He had no idea where he went, or why. He just wished he would have stayed behind. After a few seconds, John opened up the door which he went into, and fired some new covenant weapon down each of the doorways. The explosions rocked the building. He continued to fire the weapon until all the covenant was dead. Only 2 marines were standing. 1 was still alive, but with severe injuries. John walked over to Private Parker. "Any luck?" Parker shook his head grimly. Then on the uplink, they heard something they will never forget...

      "This is the Battle Cruiser Atlantic, we have received a distress signal from this area, please confirm, over."

TO BE CONTINUED

On A Pale Horse: Rescue
Date: 12 January 2004, 10:53 PM

2200 Hours, December 25, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
Modified Pelican Dropship Inbound to Covenant World.

      "Andrew, I have no control in my stick, take us down faster, we have to get there in 10 minutes, or there wont be a reason for this mission." Major Shouted over the roar of the Pelican. This was a different type of pelican. It was a prototype of a new pelican designed to handle the heat of a high-speed reentry. Its outer Hull was comprised of Heat resistant panels, fused with a new heat-resistant metal. The inner hull was built around a cage-like Titanium-A frame. It was Made of an alloy of the new metal, mixed with Titanium

      "I know Major, but we'll burn up if we go in much faster..." Lieutenant Andrew Beck shouted back. He looked out the widow. Red flames had engulfed the pelican. Even his modified Pelican wasn't made to survive reentry heat to this degree. The pilot was amazed he was still alive. He wanted to avoid pushing the pelican further, but the ETA was 12 minutes. The POWs would surely be over-run by then. If he increased the power to the engines by 10% he could cut the ETA down to 5 minutes. It would only increase the odds of the pelican burning to a cinder by the time it hit the ground, however. He wiped the sweat off of his forehead, and pushed the throttle forward. The ship began to violently shake. He gabbed a handhold, and squeezed for dear life. The ship held for a minute...then an alarm sounded. He looked at his computer screen with a look of horror on his face, as multiple warnings and cautions scrolled down.

> WARNING: COCKPIT TEMP EXCEEDING 125 DEGREES F
> CAUTION: SHIP FRAME INTEGRITY 76%
> CAUTION: OUTER HULL BREACH IMMINENT
> WARNING: ENGINE TEMP CRITICAL
> LEFT ENGINE SHUTDOWN

      "Sir! She's falling apart!"

      "Dear god in heaven..." The Major muttered as he looked at the computer screen. Andrew pulled back the emergency airbrake lever. The ship slowed a little, then a tearing noise sounded throughout the pelican as the airbrake panels were ripped off by the force of the air. The speedometer read ERROR. The pelican began to roll. The controls barely responded. The throttle was now pulled back all the way, and switched into reverse. It did little good. He triggered the emergency reverse thrusters. The ship rocked, and everyone felt a lurch forward...then backward. Andrew looked at the screen again.

> WARNING: COCKPIT TEMPERATURE EXCEEDING 140 DEGREES F
> WARNING: OUTER HULL BREACHED
> ENGINE SHUTDOWN ENABLED
> WARNING: SHIP FRAME INTEGRITY 23%
> EMERGENCY THRUSTERS DAMAGED
>> EJECTION HIGHLY RECOMMENDED <<


      Andrew grabbed the cross he wore around his neck, and prayed. Sweat poured from him like a river. He deployed the emergency chute. It failed. Bailing wasn't an option anymore. At that velocity, it would take at least 10 minutes to slow down to a reasonable speed. "We're screwed!" Andrew screamed. He pulled the stick back as far as it would go...The ship slowly slowed down as it went in belly first. He punched in a few commands to try to override the engine shutdown. After 15 seconds the engines came back to life. The extreme heat would probably damage the engines, but all he cared about was living. The throttle was pushed all the way forward, and the engines thrust aimed down, as if it were going to do a landing. The altimeter read 8746 meters, and it was rapidly declining. The ship was slowing, but not fast enough...8000...7000...6000...5000...all in a matter of seconds.

      The flames around the pelican disappeared, and large buildings came into view. He was still coming down way too fast. He was down to 3000 meters. He slowly regained control of the ship, and pulled up, and he was dodging skyscrapers...trying to get somewhat close to the nav-point that indicated the location of the escaped POWs. His inertia kept the pelican flying at least 8,000 km/h. Even with the thrusters on reverse, it would take forever to slow sown. Avoiding the skyscrapers was an incredible feat, because the controls were so loose. He was coming down a long stretch of highway, with he marker 2 km ahead, and deployed the landing gear. He slammed the ground hard, and the front, and left rear wheels blew off. The pelican's nose scraped down the highway. It slid for 2 ½ kilometers before stopping.

      Andrew sat back in his seat. He wasn't sure if he was still alive. He leaned forward, grabbed a bag, and threw up in it. He hit the hatch door to get some air in the room. The cold air was lake a slap in the face. It was a welcome relief from the 150+ Degrees in the ship. The Major jumped out, and threw up.

2206 Hours, December 25, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
Covenant Political Facility, On the surface of Covenant World

      "what the hell? C'mon, lets see if they're alright!" John said, gesturing at the pelican that slid past them seconds earlier.

      "We should get a ride, first..." said a marine pointing at a parked covenant transport bus.

      "Ok, Get on, before they get out of there." John and the marines piled the covenant 'cars' and 'busses' against the doors inside. John figured that would hold them in for about two or three minutes. John, and the marines piled the 2 bodies, and the injured marine inside, then got on themselves. After about a minute, John got the feel for the controls. He sped along the gash in the road. He tried not to be too rough, because the only thing keeping the marines from falling out the open sides was a bar stretching across the 'ceiling' that served as a hand-hold. And they could only hold on with one hand, because they had to hold on to their comrades unable to stand. He caught a glimpse of the pelican. It looked like a blackened pelican that was once in a thick metal skin. That skin appeared to be pealed back to about halfway. It was standing crooked on a single wheel. The under hull had wavy patterns on it...as if a liquid was washed over a speeding car, and it solidified suddenly. A Marine were outside, bent over with his hands on his knees. "Must've been one hell of a ride..." One of the marines commented.


      Andrew jumped off to join the Lieutenant. He handed him a bottle of water, and he gulped it down furiously...He looked up. "Oh shit..." A covenant transport bus was approaching. He grabbed his sidearm, and aimed it. He fired several shots. The bus stopped, and a human stepped out, with a hand in the air. He was pale...too pale...as if he had never seen the light of day. Then two other marines stepped off, each holding a marine up, and helping another marine limp towards them...

      "Let's get the hell off this rock" John said "...sir" he added after noticing his insignia of Lieutenant.

      "Let's..." The man said, sweat dripping down his face. He stood up straight, and climbed back in the pelican. Major Bradley got in, and sat back into his seat. Andrew Hit a couple buttons, and amazingly, the engines came to life, and they were off to the Atlantic...

2220 Hours, December 25, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
Damaged Pelican Dropship, Covenant Controlled Space

      The pelican was dead. The engines were completely useless. It was being pulled in by a tug. Longswords patrolled the area, ready to blast anything that came after the pelican. John looked out the front. The huge ship Atlantic loomed in the distance. It looked like it took the biggest beating any UNSC ship has ever taken. Gashes, and burned holes streaked down the sides. A hole was so huge, that it punched through all the layers of its hull, and breached the decks below. Oddly enough, it was the only UNSC ship out there. John was wondering...'where the hell is the rest of them?' as if the lieutenant could read his mind, he said aloud, "We were hiding behind that gas giant" He pointed at a blue-green gas planet. "The Captain wouldn't let us exit the system without extracting as many marines as possible...and every Spartan inserted...after two days, we were losing hope...then we got your transmission..." John didn't know what to say. These people risked their lives to save him. He would forever be in debt to the Captain of that boat.

2300 Hours, December 25, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
Battle Cruiser Atlantic, Slipstream Space

      John was in the cryo bay. He had just gone through all the pre-cryo checks. All were good. John looked at these cryo tubes. They were designed for Spartans. They could communicate with their AI's while in hibernation...they were not conscious however. Their brains would be functioning, but just barely. 1 minute to them would in actually be days. He climbed in. The tech was about to put Cortana's AI cube in the slot on the side of the pod, when he turned to John. "you say she hasn't been in anything for 2 days?" The chief nodded. "God help you" He said with a smile. He chief couldn't help but smile as well. "If you'd prefer, I could not put it in...it would just be like normal cryo-sleep..."

      John smiled. "No, I couldn't do that to you...I can't imagine the hell she'd give you people." The tech let out a short burst of laughter.

      "OK then." He turned to the tech in the control room overlooking the whole bay. He gave the thumbs-up sign, and he returned it.

      The last thing John saw was the pod door close, and the tech inserting the cube in...and blackness...He felt Cortana's presence in his mind...but instead of feeling like ice-water, like it should, it felt like his mind was on fire.

      "What? Where...who...You! You asshole, what the hell were you thinking, when you left me there?!" Cortana shouted

      John said very calmly, "Didn't want you to be captured by the covenant..." The heat in John's head seemed to cool down a bit "Cole Protocol, you know..." ...the heat came back...

      "Oh...well I think I'd rather take my chances with the damned covenant, than that torture"

      "Calm down..."

      "Fuck off!" The chief was surprised by this. He had only seen Cortana act like this once before...

      "Have it your way..." John said, still calm as ever. Damn, you'd figure she'd be grateful, and not act like an ass, he thought to himself.

      "I heard that!"

      Oh it's gonna be a long trip...

TO BE CONTINUED

On A Pale Horse: Calm Before the Storm
Date: 18 January 2004, 7:46 AM

2000 Hours, January 20, 2553 (Military Calendar)
Battle Cruiser Atlantic, Slipstream Space

      "So what happened to your armor?"

      "You're talking to me now?"

      "Shut up, and answer my damn question..."

      "Alright, your highness...It was detected on the planet. They set off one of those exprimental nova bombs...the entire planet was destroyed.

      "The covenant will be pissed." Her voice seemed to be trailing off.

      "I'm sorry? I can't hear you..." He got a reply, but her voice sounded so far away, he couldn't make it out.


      John opened his eyes. The light momentarily blinded him. He rubbed his eyes, and shook his head. He heard a voice. "Welcome back Master Chief." He felt weak. He couldn't keep his arms up for more than a few seconds. The whole trip seemed like a dream. "Take this." He saw the blurry silhouette of a tech handing him something. John extended his hand, and felt a pair of pills fall into his hand. He swallowed them, and felt the strength return to his muscles, and his mind felt clear. He took a deep breath, and started coughing. He nearly fell out of the tube. A tech handed him a pail. After a few seconds, he regurgitated a mucus-like substance into the bucket. He stepped out, and leaned on his knees.

      "I really hate that stuff..." He mumbled as he stood straight.


0000 Hours, January 20, 2553 (Military Calendar)
Battle Cruiser Atlantic, Earth Solar System

      There was a knocking at the door..."Come" said Commodore Admiral Hearst. The door opened, and Spartan 117 stepped through.

      "Sir, you wanted to see me?" John asked

      "Have a seat..." The Admiral replied, back to John, staring at a large painting of a battle in the American Civil War. John sat down in an overstuffed chair in front of the Admirals desk. "You say that Spartan 227 has betrayed us...is that correct?" The Admiral said, still looking at the painting. John thought his voice was oddly familiar.

      "You could say that, sir" The Admiral let out a sigh, and turned to face the Chief.

      "John..." The Chief's eye's widened...almost no one has ever called him by his name. It made him especially uneasy, because he had just met this man a few seconds ago. "That incident on that planet never happened. You never got hit by that plasma grenade, and you were never captured...and as far as the UNSC is concerned..." The admiral spun his laptop around. On it, was all the data on Miranda. Her Combat Record, her Decorations, Health Records...Everything. He selected everything, and pressed 'delete' "...Miranda, Service number 02165-57489-227, never existed. Do you get me?"

      "...yes, sir"

      "One last thing Chief...at 1700 hours tonight, you will board a shuttle bound for Honolulu for a good two weeks of R and R." He grinned at John "You've certainly earned it...dismissed"

      "Thank you, sir" John stood up, and snapped a salute. Once the Admiral returned it, John turned around, and left the room.


0000 Hours, January 20, 2552 (Military Calendar)
Covenant Flag Ship Holy Light, Debris Field of Planet Sacred Guardian.

      "'tis a great loss indeed. I can only stress that it could have been avoided, had the commanders of the Reverence, and the Esteem not have so foolish as to leave their navigation data."

      "The humans shall pay for this."

      "Indeed they shall. The High Prophet of Life is getting annoyed by the delay in the capture of Earth. The fifth key to the Sacred Light of the Ancients is on that planet. Re-assemble the fleet. We're going back.


1800 Hours, January 27, 2553 (Military Calendar)
Honolulu, Hawaii, Earth

      John leaned on the balcony railing, and watched the waves lap onto the shore as the sun set. He felt a sort of peace. He watched a group of kids playing with each other. He watched a man and his wife playing with their kids. He saw an elderly man, enjoying his recent retirement. He was looking at the very faces of the people he was fighting to save. The people he was born to protect. And the people his best friends have made the ultimate sacrifice for. John remembered his fallen brothers and sisters in arms. He would not forget what the differences those people made in his life. So many lives lost.

      Fred walked up to John. "Hey John"

      "Hey Fred..." John shook his head when he thought of how many people had died. Fred joined John in just staring at those whom he must defend.

      "It's the calm before the storm..." Said Fred, refering to the serenity of the scene. "Before the Covenant attack."

      "Too many people have died...too many good people...gone..."

      "There's nothing we could do...the covenant is just far too advanced..."

      "Damn them...before I'm dead, I swear it, they will all be rotting in hell"

TO BE CONTINUED


To those of you who didn't find this section good or as good as the others, I'm sorry. It's 3:00 AM, and I'm running on empty.

On A Pale Horse: Frozen Typhoon
Date: 25 January 2004, 9:13 PM

0700 Hours, January 29, 2553 (Military Calendar)
Battle Cruiser Atlantic Earth Solar System

      The Spartans were sitting in the briefing room of the Atlantic. They were waiting for the Admiral to give them their mission. The Covenant has arrived, and the greatest battle in the history of mankind was about to begin. The Spartans were silent. They were getting prepared for their battle.

      "OK folks" Admiral Hearst said as he walked into the room. "As you know the covenant has arrived in the system. They've sent thousands of ground troops in to neutralize the power station for the orbital guns, and our polar MAC batteries. Spartans 117, 043, 104, 058, 234, 193, and 170 will be assigned blue team. The Admiral continued assigning Spartans to teams for 2 minutes. Blue team was assigned to defend the Antarctic cannon battery. The admiral wished them luck, and the Spartans left for the armory.

0850 Hours, January 29, 2553 (Military Calendar)
Battle Cruiser Atlantic, Earth Solar System

      "Looks like the UNSC didn't forget to give us our Christmas presents after all..." Will said as he walked through the door of the armory. Blue Team had decided to help themselves to the wealth of weapons the Atlantic had to offer. John had picked out a Battle Rifle, and a Shotgun. He loaded his belt pouches with 8 gauge Buckshot shells, 8 gauge slugs, and Battle Rifle clips.

      "Now this is what I'm talking about!" Fred shouted, as he picked up a twin barrel, box-fed 7.62x51mm M65A2 Squad Automatic Weapon. He ran his hand down the length of the barrel, and slung the 40 pound machine gun over his shoulder, and picked up a Tripod for it. He was smiling ear to ear. "Now how in hell are we supposed to fit this in our pouches?" He said as he picked up a 200-round box. He jammed the box into his largest pouch, and tried to close it. After a while, he said "Fuck it" and suspended several boxes on a rope from his belt. The bullets may fall out the opening in the side, but he'd have ammo.

      Linda picked out her favorite gun: the S2AM Sniper Rifle. She loaded her belt with clips. She also took out a Battle Rifle for close quarters battle. Will took a SMG, and a Battle Rifle. Chris-234 was a basic assault specialist. He took the same. Anthony-193 was the team's demolitions expert. If it could be blown up, he'd know how to do it. He knew where structural weaknesses were, and the best place to plant the explosives. He could also disarm any human-made bomb, and a few made by the covenant. He was also no stranger to a Rocket Launcher. He took a M78 SS1 Triple-barrel, Shoulder-fired Guided Missile Launcher, plastic explosives, and a demolitions kit. He also took a SMG. Jake-170 was a reconnaissance specialist. If the Spartans were stealthy, Jake was virtually invisible. He could get close enough to something, even a Spartan wearing their MJOLNIR armor, to be able to spit on it, and they wouldn't even know he was there. He grabbed an SMG, and an M6D Pistol. Everyone attached 4 grenades to their belt. When they had everything they needed, John ordered his team on to a dropship.


0930 Hours, January 29, 2553 (Military Calendar)
Pelican Dropship, En Route to Antarctic Super MAC Battery

      The dropship roared over the icy plateau. John had loaded a clip into his Battle Rifle. Fred loaded belt of bullets from one of his boxes into his machine gun. Once the belt was in, he secured the box into its slot on the rifle. Everyone checked their weapons, and donned their helmets. Cortana's was talking to the Spartans, via the radio. "The covenant has captured most of the surface compound. They haven't reached the underground complex yet, but if we don't hurry, they will breach the main doors, and destroy the firing mechanism." Once the surface has been reclaimed, you're going to have to defend against future attacks until help arrives."

      The pelican's chain guns opened fire on the grunts and jackals on the ground. The pelican decreased altitude, and hit the ground. "Go! Go! Go! Move it!" John shouted. He jumped out first, and opened fire. He took in his surroundings in a quick glance. He was in the middle of a collection of buildings no more than 3 stories high. A large group of cannons loomed in the distance. For the most part, the cannons were underground. The only part showing was a spherical rotating section, with a wide, but short barrel sticking out. He noticed 6 watch towers.

      John turned to the right, and fired into the grunts in front of a shack-like building. He tossed a fragmentation grenade into the open door. The Pelican began to take off, and John fired hot lead into jackals shooting at him from a 2nd story window in a building to his left. The sound of gunfire filled the air. The pelican was off. "4, and 7 (Linda, and Jake) , in that building, set up a sniper position on the 3rd floor." He said, pointing at a 3-story high building. "5, 3, and 6 (Chris, Will, and Anthony) Search the south buildings. Me and 2 (Fred) will search the north buildings.7 Acknowledgement lights winked on. John ran, with his rifle blazing, and Fred right behind him, to the northern group of buildings. Machine gun fire suppressed the covenant inside the building. He stopped to the right of the door. Fred stopped to the left. Frag and Clear! Fred tossed a grenade inside, while still mostly staying away from being in front of the open door. It detonated, and blood splattered all over the walls. John and will ran in. They opened fire on the stunned covenant still alive. When the last grunt fell, John announced "All clear, let move." Fred nodded, and followed John out of the side door, and next to a door to another building.

      John took a frag grenade off his belt, and pulled the pin. With his free hand, he placed his fist on the door, close to the lock. "get ready..." he told Fred. He responded with a single nod. John pulled his arm back. "One...two...THREE!" John slammed his fist into the door, and it flew open. John let go of the handle, triggering the timer, and heaved the grenade in. It detonated, and dark blood sprayed out. When John got inside, He saw a metal trap door underneath a jackal, and a pool of blood. It looked like the covenant was trying to open it with some kind of cutting tool. Chief knocked on the door several times. "Open up! Help's here!"

      After a while, a soldier opened the door, and came out. He was in a white subzero parka, had cloth drawn over his face up to his eyes, and had goggles on. He greeted the Spartans in a muffled voice. "Hey, damn good to see ya, the covenant were raising all kinds of hell here. We thought we were done for then you guys came..." He said, He turned around, and shouted back down the hole. "Hey, are we gonna let these guys have all the fun?"

      Several voices responded. "Hell no!" and several marines came out of the hole with MA5B Assault Rifles. They were all dressed the same as the first one. They stared at the 7 foot tall Spartans for a few seconds, then John led them out the door..

      "Compound secured." Chris announced.

      "Good work, guys. Look out, because they're gonna be sending in more troops soon. Stay alert. John looked around. A snow vehicle was by a south building. It was like a standard warthog, but was painted white, had tracks instead of wheels, actually had doors, and had a mounted single barrel AP machine gun. There were burn marks, and bullet holes in every building.

      "Heads up, Chief, we've got phantoms inbound..."

      "OK. Everyone, find some cover, now! Move it!" John and the marines ran into the 3-story building. The Spartans went into other buildings. "6, when those phantoms touch down, I need you to send a rocket right threw the hatch."

      "Roger that" Anthony said, with a tone of excitement in his voice. A pair of phantoms flew overhead, spun around, and began to descend. A rocket flew right into the open rear hatch, exploded. An elite, a pair of jackals, and several grunts flew out. The explosion also blew a massive hole in the side of the phantom. It fell rapidly, and struck the ground with great force. A second rocket slammed into the side of the second phantom. It was thrown off course, and fell to the ground. 2 elites, 5 jackals, and 4 grunts stumbled out.

      "Open fire!" John screamed over the radio. Bullets tore threw the covenant. Blood spilled into the snow. The covenant shot blindly into random buildings. The last one went down in a matter of seconds.

      "Chief, we've got trouble!" Cortana half-screamed. John looked around. A formation of 3 seraph fighters was closing in, about to make a strafing run on the base.

      "Shit! EVERYONE DOWN!!!" John barked over the intercom. The Spartans got into prone positions, as the fighters closed in. They opened fire. Plasma rained down on them. Buildings were blown in half, watch towers, snapped like twigs. John got up. "What's everyone's status?" John got green lights on his HUD for 2, 4, 6, and 7.

      "Augh..." Chris groaned in agony "I got something stuck in my leg...I can't move it..."

      "Standby Blue-5..." John said "Number 3, come in" John asked Will "Blue-3, are you there?" John asked one last time, with a tone of worry in his voice. "...oh no..." He said to himself. He walked into the building he had thought he was in. It was half thew size it was before the strafing run...He looked the rubble. He saw a green-armored arm. John checked his vitals. He had a pulse...a very weak one, but it was a pulse. John pulled his comrade out from the debris. Large plates of his armor were missing. Blood poured from large wounds. His visor had shattered. "Is there a medic here?" John called out. A marine walked into the shell of the building.

      "We have an infirmary in the lower compound, sir"

      "thank god...4, and 7, get 3, and 5 down into the infirmary, and get back up here."

      "Chief, they're coming back to make another run!"

      "shit...6, take those seraphs out!"

      "Yes, sir!" John passed out Linda as he exited the building. Anthony set up, and fired at the incoming seraphs. He got two shots off, before he had to dive from the incoming plasma. One seraph was destroyed, and one was hit during its run. Plasma slammed into the buildings.

      The burning hulk of the seraph slid to a halt. The flying seraph, and the crippled one disengaged, and flew out of the area. "status?" John asked. He got 4 ok lights. "good..."

      "Heads up, chief, we've got drop pods inbound." Cortana announced. John looked up. Blue streaks flew down from the heavens.

      "Look sharp folks, we've got elite drop pods coming in." John got his shotgun out. Three pods landed right in front of him, and he had to dive out of the way of a fourth. Two landed by Fred. Three by Anthony. A few landed somewhere else in the base. He fired a missile that destroyed one, then he dropped the launcher in favor of the SMG. The pod in front of John opened, and the elite jumped out, and shook its head from the dizzying effects of the insertion. John fired an 8-gague shell into its abdomen. The three other elites jumped out. John fired round after round into them. One went down, and the other's shield gave out. John fired a point-blank shot into it, and he fell. The third activated its sword, and charged John. He fired his last shell into it. It's shield died, but it was still running. John got his Battle Rifle out, and began firing. A sniper round flew through the elite's head. John looked over, and saw a marine holding an old model sniper rifle. He cocked an eyebrow, picked up some plasma grenades. He turned around, and shot into the elites by Anthony. They were caught off-guard long enough for Anthony to drop a grenade at their feet. It exploded, spraying blood everywhere.

      John now fired into the elite by Fred. The combined fire from John, Fred, Anthony, and the marines brought the elite down. John turned around. An elite was about to blind-side him. He fired several shots into the elite, stunning him. He threw a plasma grenade at the elite. It attached to his abdomen. John turned, and sprinted as fast as he could. An explosion shook him, and he stopped. He turned around, and half the elite wasn't there. "Is everyone all-right?"

      "yeah, I'm good." Anthony said.

      "I think so..." Fred said, a little out of breath.

      "Chief, more problems..." Cortana said

      "What now?"

      "We've got half a covenant division heading this way."

      John froze. "did...did you say division?"

      "Yes. To the west..."

      "Cortana, call for backup, we need air-support." John climbed a watch tower, and looked west. Hundreds of Covenant creeps, wraiths, ghosts, banshees, phantoms, and soldiers were in the distance...marching towards them...

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