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The Beginning of Sorrows
Date: 10 September 2003, 6:36 PM

......................Introduction.........................
: Prolouge :
In the year 2552 it all began. We found 'Halo'. A massive ring planet that was eerie yet splendid to look at. It orbited a class '9' gass giant on the outer reaches of the Milky Way galaxy. It was a big mouse trap from the start. We raced in a frenzy against the Covenant to find the clock that made the thing work, but instead, we found the Flood. That was humanities worst mistake in all history. The Flood were a collective of ferocious creatures that borrowed into your chest and took complete control of your body. The sight was undescribably greusome. But it wasn't the Spartan II project that destroyed 'Halo' that ended this whole sharade, It was the men and women who hit the Flood where it hurt them most....



.......................Chapter 1...........................
: Infriction :

//Mission Clock-06:00.hrs.//Earth Date-jun.12.2552/_UNSC.A72//vec.19909273//Ltn. Garret Asperso./.

Luitenant Asperso began his routine check up on the optics lab, He knew it was neccessarry to the stealth of the base, but it often seemed nagging to him. He checked the personnel for signs of Covenant infriction, and kept his Battle Rifle handy just in case. They all scanned clear, but that was one of ten sections he had to check before arriving at the command center of Enemy Battle Net Communitactions or EBNC. It was where the UNSC Decoded as much of the Covenant Battle Net as they were going to get. The only real reason he volunteered his recources as a Linguist and infriction expert was the fact that his nefew was taken to one of the sections he checked on frequently, the highly advanced SPARTAN II.V project laboratory. The boy was only five, and hardly knew his uncle well, but was the highest synaptic responder in the group. They hadn't yet begun his physical inauculation, a large easement to Luitenant Asperso. But they had already begun his hyper reflex and mental nanite enhancement therapy. That wasn't that bad, he thought. They were only making Daniel faster and smarter. Garret moved on to the next sectional facility via gate R-45. It was his favorite gate, cause when you looked through the eight foot cerami-glass, you could somewhat see part of what long ago was San Francisco Harbor. It was fantastic. An early 23rd cetury city, completely untouched by modern structures, technology or people. It lay buried five miles under the Pacific Ocean from the SF Bay Earthquake of 2210. Only a few hundred meters away cloaked the hidden UNSC base, "Pacificus 3" or Area 72 according to most UNSC Personnel.

Now finished with his daily check-up on the lower starboard sector of the base, Luitenant Asperso clutched his note pad that had all of his greatest linguistic discoveries in hope that today he would find another to add to his worn out journal. He entered the enormous atrium filled with Covenant Battle Net technology and equiptment looted from a captured small Covenant battle barge. It felt as if he had entered a Covenant Cruiser. The feeling was sickening. It felt as if death lurked everywhere. After five years he was somewhat used to the feeling, or had just learned to cope with it. He walked over to a large pillar of holographic information, a total of three entire decks beneath him were scientists - studying the same pillar. He was completely in charge of Deck C-5, a group of ten scientists were gathered, their eyes dazed from the extended night shift. They all stood and saluted, more of a salute of relief than anything else.
"I'll take it from here." Said Luitenant Asperso, patting a tense techie on the shoulder. Garret sat down in front of the monitor, took a sip of his coffee and began decoding the information that the man-made computer couldn't solve. Everything was utopia for about five minutes, then an arrangement of numbers and Covenant symbols shot to the screen. It was berzerk and malfunctioning - It had to be. What these readings were indicating were too frightening to be true.

//Covenant Battle Net//High Shrine//23 units till contact//appr.vec.19909013//Laza `Gutamee//High Counsel Present./.

Laza `Gutamee was one of the few Commando Elites to actually see the High Counsel of the Covenant. It was of the most honorable days of his life, yet the most frightening. One wrong move and it was his head. The 'High Shrine' was the largest, most well defended Covenant ship in the entire fleet of Covenant starships, which was why the High Counsel chose this ship to view the destruction of the humans' puny planet they called 'Earth'. It was truly an exellent day for him, and for every member of the Covenant forces and their High Counsel. `Gutamee was chosen to stand gaurd at the entrance of the High Counsels' chamber. He had once saved the life of a Major Prophet during a raid of human vessels onto the great ship, the 'Prophetess'. Many other Elite Commandos lined the walls of the High Chambers' hallway and would gladly kill for the place where `Gutamee stood gaurd, and for that he was proud. The humans had destroyed 'Halo' and all of its inhabitants, as well as the enriched knowledge the ring had stored. It was time for them to suffer and `Gutamee couldn't wait to score his first kill.

From the deck where the 'High Chamber' was located, the High Counsel could see all of the ship's Commando troops lining for battle, as well as the hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of assault and stealth vehichles all eagerly prepared for battle. The Chamber that seated the High Counsel was enormous and easily spotable from the troops position, the loading bays at the ship's stern. It was completely brilliant - seeing the High Counsel directly above them was an honor, as well as an assurrance of blessed battles. Thought the Major Prophet. The Prophet felt blessed indeed to be the Battle Representative to the High Counsel, though it was very risky. If the High Counsel did not feel eased by the battle's outcome, his head would be removed by a lower Elite. That alone caused him to send a pair of fleet units to the Planet. There were to be so many armed Covenant forces on the planet, that the number of Commandos alone over trippled the population of Human residence on all continents. The Major Prophet had a special plan for the Lunar population as well.
"Majesties" Inquired the prophet.
"Request to present humbly the plan for the attack on the Lunar planet - as well as the Lunar Orbiter" Said the Major Prophet.
"Negative, you must first submit to us the strategies of the destruction of Earth itself - then we will consider your plan." Replied one of the members of the High Counsel tensly.
"Agreed. As you can see Majesties, for the first wave of attack, we have sent in 9000 Task Force units." The Prophet continued to explain the strategy that would eventually destroy Earth. Thousands of Covenant cruisers swarmed past a red planet to the bright blue dot in space.

//Mission Clock-06:30.hrs.//Earth Date-jun.12.2552/_UNSC.A72//vec.19909273//Ltn. Garret Asperso./.

The other nine scientists that Luitenant Asperso worked with began arriving at their stations simultaneosly but not that great of time intervals between them. Garret was so involved in proving to the computer that it was wrong, didn't even see his collegues join him. They all observed his intense concentration as they began to casually take their stations and warm up thier analog computers.
"Internet Spades aren't what they used to be, eh?" Asked Second Luitenant Smitt.
"No, Allen - look at these readings, do you think that they are ligitimate?" Inquired the un-easy Luitenant Asperso. Allen Smitt's complection dropped to a pale stare.
"Oh my... There is no time, contact Mars base now!"

//Mission Clock-04:31.hrs.//Mars Date-may.01.2552/_UNSC.A23//vec.19909014//Col. Jason Merrit./.

Col. Merrit fell out of his bunk from an earthquake force. His heart began immediately racing. He rolled forward and yanked his pistol out from under his rumbling pillow and quickly rubbed his eyes. He began frantically searching the room for what may have caused the force. Another large quake sent him to his knees. He quickly got back up and ran to the side of his door and activated the panel and peered out into the badly derranged hallway pistol first. The hall was empty as far as life was concerned, but broken and damaged equiptment was strewn everywhere. He sleepily began wandering to his command post to see what exactly was going on. He could hear explosions in the distance some far, some near, but they were timed too well and there were too many to be a Marsian dust storm. He tried one of the doors on Hangar Bay 1, it was locked. There was a crash sound, appearently the Longsword's feusaloge had blown. He heard human screams and gunfire as well as the screaching sound of plasma fire coming from inside. He began a frantic run to the next entrance to help his men. Now only a few meters from the door, a marine leaped through and hit the panic key on the keypad - later blown off of his feet by another explosion in the Hangar. The gunfire had ended inside. The Covenant had claimed the space as their own. Col. Merrit offered his hand to the fallen marine,
"Are you okay son? Will you make it?"
"Sir, I am not hurt, but we aren't going to make it." Replied the quivering marine.
"Suck it up, son. Leathernecks dont give up. We can hold them off once we can activate the base's defense systems."
"Sir, I don't think that will matter - look." The marine pointed out the rounded dust sharred window. Jason made out about a thousand Covenant battle vessels through the thin, transpearant atmosphere of the red planet - as well as human vehichles and troops loading onto dropships, later disposed of by Covenant air forces. He had a sickening feeling in his stomach as he watched his men drop like flies all around the base. He was either going to die saving his men, or die trying.
"Ok son, listen up. There is a loading bay of Fighter 'hogs in the Land transport facility, and it is not too far from here if we take the Main Transport Slip Gate. The slip gate is only three coridoors down, and there shouldn't be a whole lot of resistance."
"What would we do with a Warthog? That terrain is murder, not even mentioning the enemy count out there..."
"Just what are you suggesting son? That we sit here and wait for them to add us to their kill list so they can laugh it off later? Not while I am still breathing and kicking. We are going to make them remember our names weather they like it or not - is that understood marine?"
"Sir, yes sir." Replied the marine, and that was the last words out of his mouth for a while.

//Mission Clock-06:33.hrs.//Earth Date-jun.12.2552/_UNSC.A72//vec.19909273//Ltn. Garret Asperso./.

A marine skidded to a stop on command deck C-5 and reported the situation near out of breath.
"Sir, I cant contact Mars base. Their comm may be down, or they may be experiencing technical difficulties. Or it may be what we fear most, it may be the Covenant. The sensors from the Lunar orbiter picked up an enormous vessel fleet reading near the edge of our system shortly before they lost power - and from what I can see here, you guys have been a little more buisy with the CBN communications than usual. I also have word that code red alert alpha was raised two hours ago at the Galilieo IV base on Triton, along with flooded military frequencies reporting attack, moments later a complete loss of contact."
"Well dont just tell us about it marine, get on every horn you think of to contact Admiral Cole, requesting full military support on all civilian and millitary fronts, and for immediate civilian evac from the surface." Replied Ltn. Asperso - now frightened more than ever with the full load of information he had just recieved, and from the knowledge that the Covenant were filling their Battle Net with randomized junk, making it almost impossible to catch a command frequency.

//Mission Clock-06:33.hrs.//Earth Date-jun.12.2552/_UNSC.A72//vec.19909273//Sgt. Daniel Asperso./.

Daniel and his groupmates were beginning to grow weary from standing at attention over a long period of time - for the ST. 1 Training Master had barked at them all night for losing a simple 'Capture the Flag' match against the demolitions group of S II.Vs, and was topping it off with his general 'Cheat if you have to, kill if you have to, but never, ever lose' talk. ST. 1 was an A.I., and a mean one at that, but the boys respected him and respected eachother as the only relatives they would ever know. They were all part of the Stealth Fraction of the highly advanced Spartan II.V project - which more than made up for the failure of the Spartan II project on Reach. The project had started not too long after the Spartan II project, in case that one was to ever fail. Although similar in some ways, the II.V project had many more error proof and ability ranges than its predesessor had. For example, the original MJOLNIR battle suits featured armor and rechargable shield armor, and required many physical inauculations and neural implants to the Spartan himself, but most inauculations were needless. In the II.V project, there were four seperate fractions of MJOLNIR advanced battle suits. MJOLNIR Stealth, MJOLNIR Demolition, MJOLNIR Sniper, and MJOLNIR Assault. These new Spartans were trained in four seperate fractions for their specific armor, but had twice less the physical inaculations and three times more the abilities than the S IIs. In case they were ever caught without their armor, they had a flexi-cell plasma gradient system graphed into their skin cells which allowed them to change shape into a jackal for a few hours or turn completely invisible for a longer period of time. So since the gradient system was developed from the coolant system of an older model of a Covenant cruiser that had a plasma drive engine, it also caused their skin to be completely invulnerable to any plasma fire, including grenades - and helped develop the neurogen that is used throughout their body instead of the marrow and muscular inauculations as in the previous project.
The intercom crackled as the speaker interrupted S.1, causing a group wide silent sigh of relief.
"All civilians must prepare to evacuate immediately, and all military personell must man your stations and wait until further instructions." Another crackling tone was heard as the speaker switched over to a military frequency.
"We think the Covies may have found Earth, so start locking and loading those pea shooters and I will let you know what we hear from Admiral Cole." S.1 turned his semi-transpearant body to his fraction with an embarrassed look on his face.
"Ok, disgard everything I just said about the Demolitions Fraction and listen up. They are on your team now, and like any team, you will need to watch eachother's backs." He began a slightly different speech, including his possible awkward goodbyes - and lucky for him, he was an A.I. which meant he could give orders all day and still not have strept throat.

//Mission Clock-04:35.hrs.//Mars Date-may.01.2552/_UNSC.A23//vec.19909014//Col. Jason Merrit./.

They had little hastle reaching the slip gate, only a small pack of Grunts got in the way and slowed them down some. A few dead marine bodies lay in front of the glowing slip gate, appearantly obliterated before they could reach it. Jason whinced as he felt the cool static plasma transfer him to the other side of Crater Canyon in less than 3.5 seconds, ejecting him into the musky Transportation facility. Jason grabbed the marines' arm and pointed to a half worn sign on the wall that read 'Armory'.
"We had better load up on some heavy weapons and ammo before we risk it out there." Said Jason as he hurried the younger marine along. Once they reached the armory, most of the guns had been taken, as well as wasted ammo casings on the floor. After moving a few dead bodies and body parts here and there, they managed to gather a sack of twelve fragmentation, and three white fosfurous grenades - side arm ammo, an S6 covert sniper rifle, an AMS-45cal. energy rifle and a medkit.
On the way to the land transportation Warthog bay, two frantic marines were ejected through the slip gate they had just come through, but from another location on Mars. They saluted Col. Merrit when they gathered their posture, and noticed that by the heavy ammo he was carrying, he had a mission for them.
"Sir, Corporal Shnue and Seargent Yang reporting for duty sir."
"Excelent. Corporal, Sergent, I need your assistance on a covert mission. are you up for it?"
"Sir, yes sir." they both answered mechanically.
"Ok, grab a 'Hog, and lets gets this show on the road." He ordered, no real discussion of the mission itself. They walked through the battered ark, nearing the Warthog chamber.
"You gun, we are taking that one." He said, pointing to the Heavily armored atmospheric HA-52 attack 'hog. The younger marine grabbed an atmospheric suit out of the rear compartment and began throwing it on. The HA-52 had an 80 caliber hydrogen/napalm energy cannon mounted on the gun runners and twin guided rocket launchers mounted on the hood. The other marines got an HA 50.b Atmospheric Warthog with twin 54cal. LAAGs mounted on the hood, with one standard feild issue triple barrel speed rocket launcher mounted on the gun runners, but both marines chose to ride shotgun.
The driver door sealed airtight as Jason turned the permenant chilled chrome key until there was a constant satisfying roar of the warthog's engine. Seargent Yang pressurized the hangar's air field, before blasting the cerami-glass doors into tomorrow - and Before long, both 'hogs treads were tearing accross the roadless terrain to their destination.

//Mission Clock-06:47.hrs.//Earth Date-jun.12.2552/_UNSC.A72//vec.19909273//Ltn. Garret Asperso./.

Garret continued to fight with the Covenant over their command codes, but it was hardly much use. They just pushed deeper to hinder him. What information he decoded was at least two days old, and nothing that effected the present. The Covenant were also looking for something. Something they thought was in Earth's solar system - but that also was as much as Garret could gather from that matter as well. Looking at the holographic comm screen in front of him, Garret caught a waiting line on a command frequency and without pausing from his work, he opened the channel.
"This is Colonel Hinojos to comm central, over... Admiral Cole has autherized and ordered that all military bases in the system be on code red alert alpha. Prepare for full scale battles on all fronts. all Naval fleets are to reandevous and arrange formation..." Garret got the message and cut the signal. The only person around to yell orders at was Charlie.
"McShaw, go warm up the mob." He said, handing him the order pad.

.....
For now that is it - it will continue. Please go to http://haloharbor.cjb.net to see info on the comic and hopeful movie versions. It may not appear much to critics now, but it will grow more interesting. Do you want in on the movie? we need computer animation people, voice actors/actresses, artists, color artists, fans, and any thing else you can fathom - but not negative critics. This is still a work in progress. Feel free to send me an email at:

Master_Bief@hotmail.com
.....

The Hall of Echoes; Chapter 1
Date: 28 October 2003, 11:03 PM

The Hall Of Echoes


................................. Introduction .................................
: Prologue :

The vessel's planetary diagnostic scans materialized into thin geometric holograms that floated in front of the control seat. The seat's occupant observed the readouts above him and notified the others that he had found what or who they were looking for. A lesser being, approximately 5 nics tall entered the shimmering, seamless, chrome covered chamber and addressed the control seat with greatest concern.
"Navigator, one requests permission to reveal one's thoughts." The seat's occupant turned slightly and elegantly from the holographic control sheet in order to return the addressor's comment properly.
"Permission is most definitely granted. It is important that we share as many thoughts as possible in this time of hope for a welcomed reappearance."
"That, dear navigator is my concern." Said the uneasy translator. The being pointed to the now orbiting hologram of the small blue planet below them.
"What if they have forgotten?"...



.................................... Chapter 1 ....................................
: Infraction :

//Mission Clock-06:00.hrs.//Earth Date-jun.12.2552/_UNSC.A72//vec.19909273//Ltn. Garret Asperso./.

Lieutenant Asperso began his routine check up on the optics lab, He knew it was necessary to the stealth of the base, but it often seemed nagging to him. He checked the personnel for signs of Covenant infraction, and kept his Battle Rifle handy just in case. They all scanned clear, but that was one of ten sections he had to check before arriving at the command center of Enemy Battle Net Communications or EBNC. It was where the UNSC Decoded as much of the Covenant Battle Net as they were going to get. The only real reason he volunteered his recourses as a Linguist and infraction expert was the fact that his nephew was taken to one of the sections he checked on frequently, the highly advanced SPARTAN II.V project laboratory. The boy was only five, and hardly knew his uncle well, but was the highest synaptic responder in the group. They hadn't yet begun his physical inauguration, a large easement to Lieutenant Asperso. But they had already begun his hyper reflex and mental nanite enhancement therapy. That wasn't that bad, he thought. They were only making Daniel faster and smarter. Garret moved on to the next sectional facility via gate R-45. It was his favorite gate, cause when you looked through the eight foot ceramic-glass, you could somewhat see part of what long ago was San Francisco Harbor. It was fantastic. An early 23rd century city, completely untouched by modern structures, technology or people. It lay buried five miles under the Pacific Ocean from the SF Bay Earthquake of 2210. Only a few hundred meters away cloaked the hidden UNSC base, "Pacificus 3" or Area 72 according to most UNSC Personnel.

Now finished with his daily check-up on the lower starboard sector of the base, Lieutenant Asperso clutched his note pad that had all of his greatest linguistic discoveries in hope that today he would find another to add to his worn out journal. He entered the enormous atrium filled with Covenant Battle Net technology and equipment looted from a captured small Covenant battle barge. It felt as if he had entered a Covenant Cruiser. The feeling was sickening. It felt as if death lurked everywhere. After five years he was somewhat used to the feeling, or had just learned to cope with it. He walked over to a large pillar of holographic information, a total of three entire decks beneath him were scientists - studying the same pillar. He was completely in charge of Deck C-5, a group of ten scientists were gathered, their eyes dazed from the extended night shift. They all stood and saluted, more of a salute of relief than anything else.
"I'll take it from here." Said Lieutenant Asperso, patting a tense techie on the shoulder. Garret sat down in front of the monitor, took a sip of his coffee and began decoding the information that the man-made computer couldn't solve. Everything was utopia for about five minutes, then an arrangement of numbers and Covenant symbols shot to the screen. It was berserk and malfunctioning - It had to be. What these readings were indicating were too frightening to be true.

//Covenant Battle Net//High Shrine//23 units till contact//appr.vec.19909013//Laza `Gutamee//High Counsel Present./.

Laza `Gutamee was one of the few Commando Elites to actually see the High Counsel of the Covenant. It was of the most honorable days of his life, yet the most frightening. One wrong move and it was his head. The 'High Shrine' was the largest, most well defended Covenant ship in the entire fleet of Covenant starships, which was why the High Counsel chose this ship to view the destruction of the humans' puny planet they called 'Earth'. It was truly an excellent day for him, and for every member of the Covenant forces and their High Counsel. `Gutamee was chosen to stand guard at the entrance of the High Counsels' chamber. He had once saved the life of a Major Prophet during a raid of human vessels onto the great ship, the 'Prophetess'. Many other Elite Commandos lined the walls of the High Chambers' hallway and would gladly kill for the place where `Gutamee stood guard, and for that he was proud. The humans had destroyed 'Halo' and all of its inhabitants, as well as the enriched knowledge the ring had stored. It was time for them to suffer and `Gutamee couldn't wait to score his first kill.

From the deck where the 'High Chamber' was located, the High Counsel could see all of the ship's Commando troops lining for battle, as well as the hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of assault and stealth vehicles all eagerly prepared for battle. The Chamber that seated the High Counsel was enormous and easily spotable from the troops position, the loading bays at the ship's stern. It was completely brilliant - seeing the High Counsel directly above them was an honor, as well as an assurance of blessed battles. Thought the Major Prophet. The Prophet felt blessed indeed to be the Battle Representative to the High Counsel, though it was very risky. If the High Counsel did not feel eased by the battle's outcome, his head would be removed by a lower Elite. That alone caused him to send a pair of fleet units to the Planet. There were to be so many armed Covenant forces on the planet, that the number of Commandos alone over tripled the population of Human residence on all continents. The Major Prophet had a special plan for the Lunar population as well.
"Majesties" Inquired the prophet.
"Request to present humbly the plan for the attack on the Lunar planet - as well as the Lunar Orbiter" Said the Major Prophet.
"Negative, you must first submit to us the strategies of the destruction of Earth itself - then we will consider your plan." Replied one of the members of the High Counsel tensely.
"Agreed. As you can see Majesties, for the first wave of attack, we have sent in 9000 Task Force units." The Prophet continued to explain the strategy that would eventually destroy Earth. Thousands of Covenant cruisers swarmed past a red planet to the bright blue dot in space.

//Mission Clock-06:30.hrs.//Earth Date-jun.12.2552/_UNSC.A72//vec.19909273//Ltn. Garret Asperso./.

The other nine scientists that Lieutenant Asperso worked with began arriving at their stations simultaneously but not that great of time intervals between them. Garret was so involved in proving to the computer that it was wrong, didn't even see his colleagues join him. They all observed his intense concentration as they began to casually take their stations and warm up their analog computers.
"Internet Spades aren't what they used to be, eh?" Asked Second Lieutenant Smitt.
"No, Allen - look at these readings, do you think that they are legitimate?" Inquired the un-easy Lieutenant Asperso. Allen Smitt's complection dropped to a pale stare.
"Oh my... There is no time, contact Mars base now!"

//Mission Clock-04:31.hrs.//Mars Date-may.01.2552/_UNSC.A23//vec.19909014//Col. Jason Merritt./.

Col. Merritt fell out of his bunk from an earthquake force. His heart began immediately racing. He rolled forward and yanked his pistol out from under his rumbling pillow and quickly rubbed his eyes. He began frantically searching the room for what may have caused the force. Another large quake sent him to his knees. He quickly got back up and ran to the side of his door and activated the panel and peered out into the badly deranged hallway pistol first. The hall was empty as far as life was concerned, but broken and damaged equipment was strewn everywhere. He sleepily began wandering to his command post to see what exactly was going on. He could hear explosions in the distance some far, some near, but they were timed too well and there were too many to be a Martian dust storm. He tried one of the doors on Hangar Bay 1, it was locked. There was a crash sound, apparently the Longsword's fuselage had blown. He heard human screams and gunfire as well as the screeching sound of plasma fire coming from inside. He began a frantic run to the next entrance to help his men. Now only a few meters from the door, a marine leaped through and hit the panic key on the keypad - later blown off of his feet by another explosion in the Hangar. The gunfire had ended inside. The Covenant had claimed the space as their own. Col. Merritt offered his hand to the fallen marine,
"Are you okay son? Will you make it?"
"Sir, I am not hurt, but we aren't going to make it." Replied the quivering marine.
"Suck it up, son. Leathernecks don't give up. We can hold them off once we can activate the base's defense systems."
"Sir, I don't think that will matter - look." The marine pointed out the rounded dust charred window. Jason made out about a thousand Covenant battle vessels through the thin, transparent atmosphere of the red planet - as well as human vehicles and troops loading onto troopships, later disposed of by Covenant air forces. He had a sickening feeling in his stomach as he watched his men drop like flies all around the base. He was either going to die saving his men, or die trying.
"Ok son, listen up. There is a loading bay of Fighter 'hogs in the Land transport facility, and it is not too far from here if we take the Main Transport Slip Gate. The slip gate is only three corridors down, and there shouldn't be a whole lot of resistance."
"What would we do with a Warthog? That terrain is murder, not even mentioning the enemy count out there..."
"Just what are you suggesting son? That we sit here and wait for them to add us to their kill list so they can laugh it off later? Not while I am still breathing and kicking. We are going to make them remember our names weather they like it or not - is that understood marine?"
"Sir, yes sir." Replied the marine, and that was the last words out of his mouth for a while.

//Mission Clock-06:33.hrs.//Earth Date-jun.12.2552/_UNSC.A72//vec.19909273//Ltn. Garret Asperso./.

A marine skidded to a stop on command deck C-5 and reported the situation near out of breath.
"Sir, I cant contact Mars base. Their comm may be down, or they may be experiencing technical difficulties. Or it may be what we fear most, it may be the Covenant. The sensors from the Lunar orbiter picked up an enormous vessel fleet reading near the edge of our system shortly before they lost power - and from what I can see here, you guys have been a little more busy with the CBN communications than usual. I also have word that code red alert alpha was raised two hours ago at the Galileo IV base on Triton, along with flooded military frequencies reporting attack, moments later a complete loss of contact."
"Well don't just tell us about it marine, get on every horn you think of to contact Admiral Cole, requesting full military support on all civilian and military fronts, and for immediate civilian evac from the surface." Replied Ltn. Asperso - now frightened more than ever with the full load of information he had just received, and from the knowledge that the Covenant were filling their Battle Net with randomized junk, making it almost impossible to catch a command frequency.

//Mission Clock-06:33.hrs.//Earth Date-jun.12.2552/_UNSC.A72//vec.19909273//Sgt. Daniel Asperso./.

Daniel and his group mates were beginning to grow weary from standing at attention over a long period of time - for the ST. 1 Training Master had barked at them all night for losing a simple 'Capture the Flag' match against the demolitions group of S II.Vs, and was topping it off with his general 'Cheat if you have to, kill if you have to, but never, ever lose' talk. ST. 1 was an A.I., and a mean one at that, but the boys respected him and respected each other as the only relatives they would ever know. They were all part of the Stealth Fraction of the highly advanced Spartan II.V project - which more than made up for the failure of the Spartan II project on Reach. The project had started not too long after the Spartan II project, in case that one was to ever fail. Although similar in some ways, the II.V project had many more error proof and ability ranges than its predecessor had. For example, the original MJOLNIR battle suits featured armor and rechargeable shield armor, and required many physical inaugurations and neural implants to the Spartan himself, but most inaugurations were needless. In the II.V project, there were four separate fractions of MJOLNIR advanced battle suits. MJOLNIR Stealth, MJOLNIR Demolition, MJOLNIR Sniper, and MJOLNIR Assault. These new Spartans were trained in four separate fractions for their specific armor, but had twice less the physical inaugurations and three times more the abilities than the S IIs. In case they were ever caught without their armor, they had a flexi-cell plasma gradient system graphed into their skin cells which allowed them to change shape into a jackal for a few hours or turn completely invisible for a longer period of time. So since the gradient system was developed from the coolant system of an older model of a Covenant cruiser that had a plasma drive engine, it also caused their skin to be completely invulnerable to any plasma fire, including grenades - and helped develop the neurogen that is used throughout their body instead of the marrow and muscular inaugurations as in the previous project.
The intercom crackled as the speaker interrupted S.1, causing a group wide silent sigh of relief.
"All civilians must prepare to evacuate immediately, and all military personnel must man your stations and wait until further instructions." Another crackling tone was heard as the speaker switched over to a military frequency.
"We think the Covies may have found Earth, so start locking and loading those pea shooters and I will let you know what we hear from Admiral Cole." S.1 turned his semi-transparent body to his fraction with an embarrassed look on his face.
"Ok, discard everything I just said about the Demolitions Fraction and listen up. They are on your team now, and like any team, you will need to watch each other's backs." He began a slightly different speech, including his possible awkward goodbyes - and lucky for him, he was an A.I. which meant he could give orders all day and still not have strept throat.

//Mission Clock-04:35.hrs.//Mars Date-may.01.2552/_UNSC.A23//vec.19909014//Col. Jason Merritt./.

They had little hassle reaching the slip gate, only a small pack of Grunts got in the way and slowed them down some. A few dead marine bodies lay in front of the glowing slip gate, apparently obliterated before they could reach it. Jason winced as he felt the cool static plasma transfer him to the other side of Crater Canyon in less than 3.5 seconds, ejecting him into the musky Transportation facility. Jason grabbed the marines' arm and pointed to a half worn sign on the wall that read 'Armory'.
"We had better load up on some heavy weapons and ammo before we risk it out there." Said Jason as he hurried the younger marine along. Once they reached the armory, most of the guns had been taken, as well as wasted ammo casings on the floor. After moving a few dead bodies and body parts here and there, they managed to gather a sack of twelve fragmentation, and three white phosphorous grenades - side arm ammo, an S6 covert sniper rifle, an AMS-45cal. energy rifle and a med kit.
On the way to the land transportation Warthog bay, two frantic marines were ejected through the slip gate they had just come through, but from another location on Mars. They saluted Col. Merritt when they gathered their posture, and noticed that by the heavy ammo he was carrying, he had a mission for them.
"Sir, Corporal Shnue and Sergeant Yang reporting for duty sir."
"Excellent. Corporal, Sergeant, I need your assistance on a covert mission. are you up for it?"
"Sir, yes sir." they both answered mechanically.
"Ok, grab a 'Hog, and lets gets this show on the road." He ordered, no real discussion of the mission itself. They walked through the battered ark, nearing the Warthog chamber.
"You gun, we are taking that one." He said, pointing to the Heavily armored atmospheric HA-52 attack 'hog. The younger marine grabbed an atmospheric suit out of the rear compartment and began throwing it on. The HA-52 had an 80 caliber hydrogen/napalm energy cannon mounted on the gun runners and twin guided rocket launchers mounted on the hood. The other marines got an HA 50.b Atmospheric Warthog with twin 54cal. LAAGs mounted on the hood, with one standard field issue triple barrel speed rocket launcher mounted on the gun runners, but both marines chose to ride shotgun.
The driver door sealed airtight as Jason turned the permanent chilled chrome key until there was a constant satisfying roar of the warthog's engine. Sergeant Yang pressurized the hangar's air field, before blasting the ceramic-glass doors into tomorrow - and Before long, both 'hogs treads were tearing across the road less terrain to their destination.

//Mission Clock-06:47.hrs.//Earth Date-jun.12.2552/_UNSC.A72//vec.19909273//Ltn. Garret Asperso./.

Garret continued to fight with the Covenant over their command codes, but it was hardly much use. They just pushed deeper to hinder him. What information he decoded was at least two days old, and nothing that effected the present. The Covenant were also looking for something. Something they thought was in Earth's solar system - but that also was as much as Garret could gather from that matter as well. Looking at the holographic comm screen in front of him, Garret caught a waiting line on a command frequency and without pausing from his work, he opened the channel.
"This is Colonel Kimonos to comm central, over... Admiral Cole has authorized and ordered that all military bases in the system be on code red alert alpha. Prepare for full scale battles on all fronts. all Naval fleets are to rendezvous and arrange formation..." Garret got the message and cut the signal. The only person around to yell orders at was Charlie.
"Mishawka, go warm up the mob." He said, handing him the order pad.
Garret returned his attention to the EBNC control palette, expecting the utter confusion he was growing accustomed to, but found that the information flowed calm and usual as it had before - yet something still didn't feel right, and Garret hated those feelings. It was now easier to retrieve force deployment stats, and other battle specs, but the figures were too small. They were playing with him. He was curious as to what they were looking for, and dug deeper now that the EBNC was easier to penetrate. Taking advantage of 'The eye of the storm', he began searching their mission records for what it was that they were looking for on Earth. A few educated guesses here and there, as well as some heavy hacking got him into the system. He browsed the recent logs and began downloading them, then went straight to their big secret. The Covenant believed that the humans possessed an item that belonged to the forerunners of the ring world, Halo. An artifact that meant life or death to the high counsel, or so it seemed - the file was now being disrupted from an adverse location. Garret tried overriding it, but it was no use - he was out of the system. He by habit wrote the happening in his journal and went back to his screen to decode the downloaded files. When he tried opening the first one, the entire pillar shut down from A-deck, all the way to E-deck.
"Ghhhaa, how I hate dial-up!" He screamed and began shouting at Power Deck 3 over the intercom to get the power back up. They didn't respond, and moments later the entire facility began shutting down - starting with the Comm systems.

//Mission Clock-06:41.hrs.//Earth Date-jun.12.2553/_UNSC.A72//vec.19909273//Sgt. Daniel Asperso./.

ST.1 gave the boys 'the silent treatment'. In other words, it was a holographic training mission, and highly sophisticated in stealth - with live ammo (plasma of course) and enemies with the difficulty of legendary. This mission was in a jungle, and they had to clear their own drop zone, secure it as a rendezvous point, and do it in under 16 seconds - undetected. Then they had to penetrate the island jungle defense systems, and seize control of the enemy battle group's headquarters. Not as much as a lone enemy sentry would be alerted, or the mission would be a failure. The boys loved missions like this, they only thought strategically and it was like giving a cargo ship load of candy to a spoiled little girl. They armed themselves with tracers, and sniper/assault covert pistols or sac pistols as well as some flash bang grenades. Team Captain Rodney Brown began discussing a quick and easy way to win - until ST.1 interrupted.
"Ok brats, listen up. Those big wigs in the ONI have a warm up mission for you - a new mission." He grumbled - he always grumbled.
All team members sprang to attention - they hadn't had a new type of curveball since December of 2552.
"You wont be fighting the Demolitions, assault or sniper fractions today. You will be fighting with them - against pre-rendered Covenant AIs. The competition is greater, the team effort is more extraneous, and your weapons do less damage to the enemy - so I suggest you don't get cocky and screw this up, otherwise, you wont get any more missions for a very long while." The AI said, the room turning into the bay of a Pelican troopship - flying over a large lake to a medium sized island in the distance, lush with the artificial evening's jungle greenery. Frightened by what the instructor said, they became briefly acquainted with the other fractions, but a nod of their existence was all they could muster. They were in closing range of the island, and Daniel with his comrades squinted to spy out the drop zone for an enemy count and form brief take out plans. Rodney and his crew jumped as twenty rounds of sniper rifle bullets rang through their ears and echoed into the night. They turned a sloppy 'bout face and squinted obviously to the Sniper fraction who had taken their seats almost as quickly and quietly as they had getting into position and firing. The ship touched down on the banks of the lake and Daniel was as surprised as his comrades and the other fractions that twenty-two alien bodies lay equally scattered on the ground, forming a noticeable SF (for 'Sniper Fraction') embedded into the weathered structure behind the dead bodies' exit wound direction. Rodney tapped Daniel's jaw so it wouldn't seem that he was gawking, and whispered in shear disgust,
"They think they're tha bomb, heh, those sissies have a girl as their squad leader!" He chuckled then walked over to meet with the other three squad leaders, and formulate a plan. Each time each squad leader spoke to the other, it was mostly mixed with groupie lingo or tactic plans they weren't all familiar with. Rodney then spoke out,
"Ok, we aren't getting anywhere. I suggest that we go with the old time football style interception plans - we need to mix the pack of wolves lesson with the eagles, crocodiles and asp lessons." When he mentioned combining those lessons, they all caught on.
"We will be team Asp. We are the Silent Strikers of the outfit. We will designate ourselves as Green team - we fall out first." He said, the others quickly reporting to each other their code names and team names.
"Right, we will be the eagles, picking off the enemy before they can get a funny feeling about it. We will be Yellow team." Said the girl, Squad leader of The Sniper Fraction.
"Blue team, wolves, assault fraction falling in."
"Red team, crocs, pyro-maniacs falling in - taking position."
"Good, Green two through four, lets investigate that structure." Rodney waved a few signs to Daniel who was Green-two and he nodded with acknowledgement of the order. Daniel squinted as he allowed himself to turn invisible, oddly remembering a marine who took a few pot shots at him while in the state of a jackal - a previous mission, supposed of no allies and full enemy enforcements. They wormed their way to the 'porta potty' as his group called them, a portable diagnostics station used by the Covenant. They eased past the Elite guards by the entrance, and de-activated their shielding devices from behind them, then slipped a cord around their throat and flattened their esophagus, laying them behind a crate on the inside of the structure. They burrowed deeper until they reached the command and communications center, and decapitated forty two Covenant beings in 16 seconds, making up for the shoreline sniper barge. They radioed Red team and told them that they needed a warm touch down in the cold cellars of the Covenant structure. The beings in lead were brought back to the surface as POWs for debriefing later - when the extraction was made. Red team ran with excitement into the structure, and not too long after that, you could hear the muffled sound of equipment being brutally destroyed and mangled.

//Mission Clock-04:48.hrs.//Mars Date-may.01.2553/_UNSC.A23//vec.19909014//Col. Jason Merritt./.

The air was thick with red bloody dust, and the treaded tires grumbled beneath the vehicle. Jason pushed the 'hog deeper into the ravine of the canyon, and struggled to control it against the rocks. Sergeant Yang continuously watched the skies intently from the vehicle behind them, and initialized the gun runners to go into an auto targeting fire pattern towards hostile engaging forces. The ride seemed to last a rough eternity, and they finally began nearing a deserted military compound on a ledge - three hundred feet above the canyon floor. That is when Shnue and Yang's 'hog got trapped on a rock. Three 'Mosquitoes' (the only known flying vehicle driven by Grunts) weaved and swarmed around a falling longsword. It was falling fast, too fast and needed assistance. The auto cannon began firing on Yang's hog, and blew one of the blood suckers out of the sky. Only bad thing was, it began falling towards them when it blew. They shoved the gas pedal near through the floor, and attempted shooting the ground nearby with a rocket - to fling them out of harm's way. They just rolled back a little, it didn't do them any good. Jason winced as he watched two more of his men evaporate into flames and cursed the younger marine for being such a lousy shot. He drove the 'hog into the deserted base, and released his door hatch as the force fields took hold. He ran down a flight of stairs, the marine closely behind him. He uncovered a series of new high tech ONI equipment, and set up a comm screen - typed a few numbers into the comm pad as the marine behind him withered into the shape of an alien being.
"Colonel!" It shouted in a scratchy, unfriendly tone.
"Drop your armaments and tell me what I want to know." The alien demanded. Jason turned, shocked at first - then a grin of anger streaked across his face.
"Ah, a wolf in Black sheep's clothing, how original." He said.
"I am in no mood to take your amusements, pest. Tell me where you humans are hiding it."
The thing had to be on some kind of alien crack, cause Jason knew nothing of what the creature meant. All he knew was his mission. Alert base 113 at all costs to prepare themselves to evac the system Degu' immediately if anything was to go down.
"Look bastard, if I knew what the hell you are talking about I wouldn't tell you anyway." He yelled.
"Very well then." said the alien, raising the pistol, awkward in his hands. Colonel Merritt made his last mission a success as he backed up, hit three keys as fast as he could - sending the alert signal and wiping the data base clean of the location and encrypted message. Jason winked at the alien and smiled.
"If that was what you were looking for, it went that away." He said, pointing at the sky. The alien screamed with fierce anger and emptied the magazine of projectiles into the human's face. The alien knew that the High Counsel would have his head and other painful for removing body parts if he did not have the location of the 'Cradle of Life' by the end of this cycle, he therefore spent the rest of the cycle unsuccessfully discerning the whereabouts of the cradle through the human made communications chamber.

//Mission Clock-06:48.hrs.//Earth Date-jun.12.2553/_UNSC.Ft.Bragg//vec.19909273//Ltn. Frank Merritt./.

The young pilot Frank struggled to keep his eyes open. He partied all night only two hours before, and thoroughly felt like crap. He walked up the ramp of 'The Betty Beater', his crew's favorite longsword rescue fighter. He leaned back in the pilot seat with one heavy dose of caffeine in his coffee, and made a horrible face as he downed it. The sun was coming up now, and the windshields were hardly transparent with the thick dew. Jeff's face appeared through the front right windshield and smiled. It was his turn to be the window washer. Frank half smiled then yawned. Five hundred other Longswords were fuelling up and packing their ammo full only inches of the wing's length between them. He eyed the small deck around him and remembered the many battles he had won from this very seat. He hated to leave Fort Bragg, the food was best there, not even mentioning the waitresses that worked in the mess hall, but he was sick of doing nothing, and a practice run on the Re-naïf 3 asteroid nebula sounded like a break. Nothing happened there, even the Covenant thought it was too small to mess with - but five hundred Longswords? There had to be something missing in the mission logs. Josh Peterson, his co-pilot came and took his seat next to him and pulled an apple out of his jacket pocket and tossed it up in the air and caught it about three times in his hand.
"Would you mind not making so much noise?" Grunted Frank as he reached for his forehead.
"Ah, hard night?" He asked taking a bite of the apple and grinning as he crunched it loudly.
"You could say that." Replied Frank, downing some pain relievers. Jessie shouted from the dock's podium that the Longsword was all green and go for take off. Frank waved a brief salute to her of his acknowledgement, and radioed all of his crew to report in and take their stations.
A voice on the comm made him order his crew to the bridge of the Longsword. It was on the hollow screen. As if a superior officer appeared on board, they all snapped to attention. The figure that appeared on the pad was Admiral Johansen. He made his appearance on all of the fighters.
"Hello gentlemen." He said then cleared his throat.
"I am going to have to be down to the point with all of you. This mission that has been assembled today will not leave this system. In fact, the mission will take place here. You see men, the Covenant have found Earth and will be here with full force in a matter of mere minutes. I am glad the diversion we gave you allowed you to work quickly and safely in preparing, and do so without mass hysteria. Now take those controls and get to the skies - we need you, Earth needs you." He said, leaving the men numb. Frank looked at each of his men in awe, then went back to getting his ship and crew out of the busiest port he had ever seen. Thousands of fighters already flew in the sky, mostly from nearby bases, and hundreds were leaving in rows on the runways in front of him.

//Mission Clock-06:55.hrs.//Earth Date-jun.12.2553/_UNSC.A72//vec.19909273//Sgt. Daniel Asperso./.

Daniel pushed his way silently through the thick branches of the jungle, and scouted out the area and enemy count ahead of the group. He held his fist up and motioned the group to hold position. He had almost walked into a commando squad of Elites - Gold Elite commandos. They were good enough to take out a Spartan II, and seeing as he was an SII.V, he knew he could take them all on - but he didn't want to start anything that could jeopardize his mission.
"Sir, they got the squad out there patrolling the area. Are the snipers ready?"
"Ready as we'll ever be Team Asp." The girl replied over the comm link. The comm crackled as she came back on the channel -
"Whew, its a good thing you boys told us about that squad before taking them on, there is more than just one squad. There is about fifty troop carriers on the other side of that ridge." She paused,
"I think we can get these nuggets, just be ready to drag them in the bushes." She said. And for once - the girl had some good advice.
"Roger that Eagle's nest..." Was all the words that left Rodney's mouth before eight dead Elite corpses lay lifeless on the ground in front of them. They heard a scuffle and quickly dragged the bodies in the bushes, preparing a plan of attack on the key compound only meters away. In less than 10 seconds, they were in the plasma transfer core channel, and were heading to the main facility. No human could enter the channel and live, but thanks to their plasma proof skin, they swam through the stream as if it were water. They scanned the outside of the channel walls every thirteen feet and finally located the power core. All in order, the young augmented marines grabbed the smooth textured walls and tore a gap in the access panel. Glowing plasma vented from the top and mist arose as the boys exited the channel at lightning fast speed. Three of them searched the room for enemies and trip bombs as the other jolted to the ceiling and disabled the lighting and scanning equipment. They gathered behind a crate and went through one of the ventilation systems as a 'Worker Covenant' being quickly reassembled the torn duct. It turned in curiosity as to what may have torn the channel, and was quickly put out of its misery with a silenced poisoned dart. The human responsible placed an H3 silence tech grenade under the power core and quickly vanished into the duct and continued on his way. Rodney looked out into a deserted hallway and gave the command.
"Ok group, make-up time." He said as they dumped their equipment into a Covenant diagnostics satchel case. They shifted shape into a group of light armored Jackals and walked down the hallway, completely unnoticed by the other groups of Covenant forces in the area. They entered the command comm systems lab and went to work. Three Grunts were stationed at the controls of the comm system, and two Brutes guarded the door. Rodney walked over to the wall and lifted an access duct, pretending to be working on something there. Garret went behind the Grunts and silently injected their methane breathers with morphine. The other two finished looking through the base for its other vital systems via the comm control deck, then shot a dart into the lungs of the Brutes - before they had time to alert anyone. They corrupted the comm systems with a downloadable virus and notified the others to take position. They shifted their shape again, but this time, they were Jackal commando special type guards. They got to the command station and took their places around the leaders as phony guards, bearing Plasma staves as their 'protective' weapons. Moments later, a rumble was vibrated throughout the base and the power went down. The boys put down the un-expecting commandos with the staves and held the leaders prisoner with the guarding weapons - until the others could provide a sufficient evacuation route from off the island.
The dark room flickered and changed. They were not in the training program anymore, they were in the training room with all 25 of the other Spartans. Daniel knew they had failed miserably, for the mission had been aborted. Chief Petty Officer Mendez, leader of the assault fraction walked into the room.
"Okay ladies and Gentlemen, I know what you are thinking. Your mission here was aborted due to loss of power on the Pacificus 3. It had nothing to do with your mission, but I think you all should know that our base's cloaking equipment has been damaged and since they are coming, we are sitting ducks."
"Which means," Added the training spook S.1.
"That you chimps have a job to do. And that would be to run. The last group were overwhelmed and too easily defeated when a surprise party was pulled. We just got word that one of them has in fact survived, and is heading in with the lunar orbiter's re-enforcement troops." Chief Mendez grinned to himself and paused for a moment. He then walked over to a duffle bag and opened it.
"Alright marines, in line on the double." He pulled out a glowing panel with straps on it. The children began strapping them to their left arm as he handed them to them. The bottoms were coated with green sticky gel, and two thin needles that made each kid wince as they put it on. The face of the plate turned from a bright blue to a bright yellow. Body diagnostics showed up in the center of the plate. The kids marveled at it, some flexing their arms to get the feel better.
"These, marines are in fact going to be your battle suits from now on. They are permanent. We weren't able to get your big clanky suits up and running this quickly..."
"So this is our back-up plan." Mendez glared at the training A.I. For interrupting him again.
"All the techs are busy shooting at the Covies so I have to brief you on this stuff. That wrist band contains a mini reactor that has the power needed to coat your body with seismic impulse projections. It is much more effective than rechargeable shields at defending your body, and that plasma stuff in your skin masks its heat signature. There is one drawback though. It easily overwhelms itself when too much fire is concentrated on it. This normally takes about fifteen seconds to overdo itself in normal situations, but when things get too hot, I'd give it five - tops... Example." He held a pistol out towards one of the kids who had just put one on. The child braced for the bullet, but when he fired, the bullet disintegrated two inches from his chest. The band hummed as the charge meter showed status of 85% operability. Garret hurried to get his, afraid the Chief was going to take a pot shot at him to. They all stood at attention once they were all situated, and the Chief walked in front of them, next to S.1. And the now joining D.1. Trainer.
"Your mission is as follows." Spoke the Demolitions trainer.
"You will leave the system and rendezvous at mark three vector zero. You will wait on Writhing base until notified otherwise by the ONI main headquarters. There, you will board a troopship and arrange for debriefing. The time estimated in contacting you has not yet been determined. But right now, your main goal is to get out of this system. Are these orders understood?" With unison, the young marines shouted,
"Sir, yes sir!"
"Good, now as you did before, get in line and get some of those weapons that the Chief is going to throw away. Now shake a leg marines, Go, Go, Go!" They all scrambled over each other to the weapons locker and grabbed a camouflage jump suit on the way - as well as a tactical helmet. When they got to the weapons locker near the door, Chief Mendez threw each one of them a battle rifle and combat knife - and screamed at them to move faster as he shoved them into the hallways. Daniel's heart raced with excitement and fear as he made his way towards the main lift. The gun felt different in his hands, perhaps easier to control with the new armband. He threw his helmet on and tried to run and put the jumpsuit on at the same time. It was important to the mission that they got out of the base before the Covenant got there, because fighting them in person was a whole lot different than fighting them in the VR training rooms. In real life, they were smarter and tougher.

The Hall of Echoes; Chapter 2
Date: 28 October 2003, 11:03 PM

The Hall Of Echoes


.................................... Chapter 2 ....................................
: Falling :

//Mission Clock-07:00.hrs.//Earth Date-jun.12.2553/_UNSC.Ft.Bragg//vec.19909273//Ltn. Frank Merritt./.

"Ah, screw this." Shouted Frank. He was getting tired of the hold-ups with the engine. He could see explosions in space from human vessels struggling against Covenant Cruisers.
"Are you almost finished down there? Because they sure as hell are almost finished up there." He complained.
"Just a moment! I don't know how this thing blew a bearing, but I will never get it changed if you don't shut up!" His engineer screamed back.
"Can we make it with out it? Asked Frank.
"Only if you can fly without engines." Frank laid his head on the controls and let out a big sigh. To him, a war or battle could not be won unless he was flying. He pondered the idea of not having any engines. Could he somehow make it fly without them? His co-pilot rested his hand on his shoulder.
"Look, if anybody can get this bird up the fastest, its Oliver."
"They are up. Punch it." Shouted Oliver. The good news ringed through Frank's ears. Frank hit a few controls and the engines roared to life. He radioed in to the other fighters.
"This is Morning bird 7 to Morning bird 4, nap-time is over. Our engines are up and we are on the way." There was a pause on the radio.
"This is Morning bird 9 to Morning bird 7. Roger that, over. Frank, Morning bird 3,1,5 and 4 have been recalled to the Batter-back base at Mombassa. It seems they are already up to their ears. Good thing they dropped off a Spartan. I guess it is just me, you, the squad and as many as we can round up at Fort San Monica on the west coast."
"Roger that Morning bird 9. Lets give'em the old razzle dazzle." The Longsword jetted across the continent at unmentionable speeds. Frank slowed them down once he neared the Pacific ocean. A fleet of Drop-ships carrying heavy turrets and tanks were inbound.
"Ok, you guys see that? I want that to fall out of the sky in ashes. Is that understood?" His gunners got into position.
"Roger that, just keep us in good range." One of them yelled from the back of the fighter.
"That, I can do." Replied Frank, breaking formation from the other fighters to flank the ships. Plasma pelted the air all around them. Mortar cannons and LAAGs fired from his own, silencing the smaller of the ships.
"Can you get me in a little closer? I am going to try and take out the lead ship." Shouted the gunner of the flak guns. Frank pushed the engines to 120% and did a barrel roll to avoid getting his engines knocked out by a lucky plasma bolt.
"Where do you want her?" He asked.
"Bring me belly side, I'll go for the fuselage." The ship groaned as it maneuvered under the large battle ship. Flak pounded the shiny metal until it blackened and gave in to the force of the blow. An explosion was heard from the inside of the vessel, and Frank cut the power to the lead jets to clear them out of harm's way. The ship fell like a rock from the sky with a large trail of smoke behind it. A cheer went up in the fighter's crew until they found what was on the other side of the smoke. Three Covenant Ambush fighters were flying directly at them. Plasma rained all around them, but there was no dodging it this time.
"Sir! Engines have taken a direct hit!"
"Can you fix it?" Yelled Frank over the roaring engine fires.
"It is a little more than a lose bearing this time sir, by the time I could strip away the damaged parts or the worst of it, we will have already been ten feet into the ground." Frank paused, struggling against the controls. He looked over to his co-pilot who had frozen up.
"It looks like I am going to have to try and take you up on flying with no engines old pal." He muttered to himself, pulling the shaking controls of the rumbling ship backward to turn the steep slope of the falling brick into a steady fall into the ocean.
"We still got guns back there?" He asked, Watching his sky mates gunned down one by one.
"I'll do my best sir." Yelled the Auto cannon gunner. The guns roared but blended into the sound of the engines overheating. Frank let the control stick drop a little to pick up some speed on the fighter then he shifted the wings slightly backward so it wouldn't plunge or go into a stall. It was like trying to drive a warthog on a needle.
"On my mark, brace yourselves... extremely well." He grunted to his frightened crew. The mile marker read four miles distance from shore and just enough water beneath them to cushion their fall. A warning flashed on the diagnostic screens that read 'Altitude dangerously low' and he hit the override key to silence the warning. He sealed the hatches on all the doors and anything else that could leak. He cut the power to the whining engines and focused on landing the beast. The water streamed past them only feet below them, seeming to move at the same speed only in reverse.
"Mark!" He shouted, hoping his crew heard him. He yanked the control sticks back and brought the front end of the fighter near straight up in the air. He hit the deck and grabbed the foot bars. The rear section crashed with full force into the ocean, a fraction of a moment later sending the front end into a crashing dive for the water. Frank landed on the ceiling of the fighter with full force and coughed as he grabbed his ribs. He looked up and saw his co-pilot's arms dangling from his limp body - held in his seat by his brace belt.
"Is everybody all right?" He yelled, hearing a few groans then simultaneous responses. He pushed himself to get up, and felt for a pulse on his friend's near swollen neck. Nothing. Peterson was dead. The hissing sound of the engines cooling wasn't as loud as they were when they were on fire, but still they were loud.
"Hang on." He said, then he turned the artificial gravity generators on. He fell to the deck and Peterson's arms fell back down to his side, later he slumped over. Frank got up and squinted his eyes so he could see out of the window. Something was there, on the other side of old San Francisco. Explosions swarmed the area. There had to be people there. His job was to save them.
"Can I get maneuvering thrusters?"
"What is with you and pushing this ship too far all the time?" Grunted Oliver, rubbing his shoulder.
"Can you do it or not?"
"Don't need to. They are already up. I'm not stopping you from using them, but if you break 'em, you buy 'em." Frank got back in his seat. He hit the side boosters and turned the ship back on its belly of sorts. He flew low to the ocean floor and stopped near the outskirts of old San Francisco. About 300 meters away was an enormous base. It was the size of a UNSC Cruiser, but took a beating a lot better.
"Uh, you guys want to see this?" Said Frank, his crew packing the window with their mouths open.
"Whoa, look at that thing! Is it ours? It can't be - its too big!" Oliver frowned and rubbed his chin.
"I've heard of this place. Pacificus 3 if I'm correct. It is the largest hidden base that the UNSC has. I never would have guessed that they would have it on Earth." He turned to Frank and explained.
"See, this is where the ONI does all their dirty work. All of the new weapons and vehicles and whatever else it is they do that's useful is made or shipped to here. From where, I don't know. But I can tell you that they have the stuff in there I would need to get this thing up and going in no time flat. Or if anything else, a better ride." The sound of new toys made the entire crew look at Frank as if they were little wanting kids, asking permission for something.
"Well, I don't care what we do - there are people in there and we have to get them out." He looked at his half mangled crew.
"I need all of you on guns if we want to get to that base. Personally, I got my eyes on that thing there." He pointed to a fighter that looked almost half alien but was five times the size of his own and in much better condition. It had two jet pod ports on it, one in the front and one in the back - but that was just the starboard side.
"Stop gawking, we have to get over there before they spot us, take your stations people, lets get it on!" Frank hit full thrust and ignited the last of the booster fuel the thing had in it. Sand and dirt trailed behind them, then hydrogen bolts of the Covenant nailed it back down. The Longsword's guns were muffled but pounded through the musky water and Frank still struggled with holding the ship still. Flying under water was a lot different than in flying in the rain. The top of the base shadowed over top of the tiny fighter and shielded most of the incoming fire. A stray hydrogen bolt hit the rear boosters and melted them shut. Frank pulled the nose up and coasted it thirty feet further before hitting the belly jets. He shifted the pitch of the nose back and forth, until it was lined up with a small dock. The rubberized docking arms reached out of the fighter and took hold of the base's hull. Frank jolted forward in his seat from the sudden stop and gagged when his brace belt held him back. He retracted the arms and sealed the shaft airtight. His Crew had already begun opening the escape hatch. Some excess water poured in as they climbed into a room full of monitors and computers and high tech scanning equipment. Frank looked around the empty room then looked at his crew.
"Alright guys, get some guns and lets find that ship." His crew smiled and eagerly obeyed the order.

//Mission Clock-07:13.hrs.//Earth Date-jun.12.2553/_UNSC.A72//vec.19909273//Ltn. Garret Asperso./.

Garret couldn't do anything else but try to scramble their communications. He rigged his decoding A.I. pad or 'Foster' to the control palette as fast as he could. He had the A.I. Scramble as many of the codes that the Covenant were transmitting in hope that he could slow them down some. The codes just kept coming in. Foster wasn't fast enough to confuse them like he had planned. The floor of the deck rumbled beneath him and Garret sighed, knowing that they would all be killed. He didn't want to go to his nephew and introduce himself at the last moment as his uncle who he had never known that would save him, for Daniel probably had more fighting experience than he had anyway. Garret was sloppy with a gun, but he had seen Daniel in training before, and he knew that the boy could take care of himself. He wrote something on a sticky note and placed it on the book that he was so fond of writing in. He held it and looked at it a moment, then placed it under the control palette.
"Foster, if you see a group of young - no, very young marines come by here, make sure you show them where I put that book - alright?" The lights went dim, flickered then went off. The red glow of the alert lights beamed over Deck C-5. The comm was flooded with people screaming that the base had been boarded, and everyone under Garret's command had already cleared the deck. The blast doors behind him gave in to a blow force and a Commando Elite met eyes with the brazen Crewman. Garret pulled the pin on the white phosphorus grenade he always had kept in his desk just in case and began to lunge it forward. A bolt of super heated plasma melted through his organs and left only his spine visible through his bloody shirt. Garret didn't feel any pain, he just looked confused. He couldn't move or feel anything, but it was the absence of pain that surprised him. The grenade rolled out of his hands onto the floor and what was left of his body fell limp and folded. The Elite picked up the glowing device the human had held, curious to see what it was. The Elite touched the pressure switch on the grenade and it instantly blew a hole in his skull. The remaining white phosphorus clutched to the alien and ate through the major remaining sections of his body, leaving it utterly indecipherable. Foster, the A.I. held his semi-transparent body straight at attention over his portable glowing data transfer pad and saluted the fallen crewman out of respect for his last impression on the Covenant. He was a soldier and a good one too. He had never fought the Covenant with frontal assault, but he had won many significant battles from the now vacant command seat he had been stationed at only moments before.

//Mission Clock-07:17.hrs.//Earth Date-jun.12.2553/_UNSC.A72//vec.19909273//Sgt. Daniel Asperso./.

Daniel's squad made it to the lift first with no resistance. They (as they were trained to do) covered the area until all of the squads were secure. Rodney uploaded the lift with the deck and passwords they were to go to from his armband. Daniel looked straight up into the shaft, seeing the slightly showing sun through the ceiling's ceramic-glass view port and the tons of water resting on its strength. The lift itself traveled freely between the upper and lower view ports of the shaft. Daniel looked at Rodney who was still looking disgusted at the girl that was identified as the 'Sniper Fraction's' leader. He rested the Battle rifle on his muscular shoulders and accidentally fired the weapon into the wall when the lift jolted down a few feet and screeched to a halt. The lights all blew with sparks leaving each one like a chain reaction to the other, and the lift's large cords hummed and vibrated, causing the entire lift to shake. The marines were all braced with readied weapons and searched their dim surroundings for an alternate route to the objective.
"There, an escape hatch!" Shouted Greg. He was an assault groupie and could spy out anything in close range faster than any of the others.
"Give me a lift." He said, looking at Daniel. Daniel looked at Rodney, shrugged then linked his fingers under his teammate's foot. He sprang the young marine into the air with his augmented bicep's un-countable strength and offered his hand brace to whomever was next. They all formed a link and pulled the remainder of the kids into the hallway. They readied themselves, and let the assault fraction lead the way. They turned the corner and found a pack of Commando Grunts. The Grunts made formation and hurled bolts of plasma at them. Two bolts struck the group, but the plasma only burned a small hole in their jump suit and revealed unharmed skin behind it. The Grunts panicked when they found that their weapons were useless and lunged their grenades at them, running backwards and tripping over themselves screaming. Their misery was ended moments later with a round of armor piercing, wound inflicting bullets. The Spartans re-grouped and headed for the fastest way to the closest hangar - through deck C-5 of the EBNC decryption labs. They passed a few more corridors with no serious resistance and walked through a blown blast door into the enormous darkly lit Atrium where the holographic pillar once had been. Human and alien blood mingled the floor below them, and Rodney reached down to get the marine's dog tag as he did to every fallen marine, looked at the name carefully with a puzzled look then shook his head and shoved it into his pocket. An A.I. Ghostly figure appeared on the control palette.
"Marines, I am not sure which one of you he meant, but there is a book under this control panel that the lieutenant had for one of you." Greg knelt down and felt under the control panel. He reached it out and read the sticky note attached.
"Uh Daniel, that lieutenant wanted you to have this." Daniel looked at him confused. Greg shrugged.
"I don't know why either. He also wanted you to take that A.I. With you. The note says that it may come in handy, whatever that means." Daniel took the book frowning in confusion and placed it in an empty ammo cache in his jump suit. He took the A.I. Chip and pad and placed it in the same cloth compartment as the book. Rodney just looked at him as if he knew something that he ached to tell him.
The deck rumbled as did the whole base. Water began dripping from above - first slow, then faster and in larger quantities.
"Come on, lets get the hell out of here!" Yelled one of the squad leaders. They all ran through the next blast door and it sealed behind them. The fight was harder now as they progressed, but they pushed even that much harder to get through and make up for lost time.

//Mission Clock-07:23.hrs.//Earth Date-jun.12.2553/_UNSC.A72?//vec.19909273//Ltn. Frank Merritt./.

Oliver grabbed a small gun from his boot and checked the safety key.
"Where did you get that?" Asked one of the crewmen. Oliver smiled and fed three bullets into the top of the gun.
"It must have wound up in my laundry." He replied, setting the gun beside of him to get his scanning pad out of his crew pack. He touched the screen and activated the device. It glowed blue and pulsed a variety of dots in different areas.
"Alright, lets head this way." Said Oliver, pointing through a door while looking at his pad. Frank let his engineer lead the way. The entire remaining crew of the Longsword followed Oliver to a tiny closet he called a 'weapons cache'. Only two of them got one fragmentation grenade each, but there was enough for each one to get a gun with very sparing ammo.
"Ok, now I hope there will be more than this in the ship yard." Said Frank, examining the MA-1A Derringer looking assault pistol in his hand.
"Don't worry about that sir, there will be plenty for you to mess around with once we reach it." Said Oliver viewing the status of the ship yard on his nav-pad with wide greedy eyes. They avoided as many contacts as possible with alien forces until they had gathered sufficient defenses off of some of the dead marines that lay strewn in the hallways. Every fifteen or so feet, Frank would nudge anyone who showed signs of slowing because water was now dripping from the structural beams above them. Some dim red lights were shorted out and threw sparks into the soaked hallway, some brighter than the lights themselves. Gunfire was heard ahead in a compound, but Oliver kept them moving with his gun. Every instinct drove him to help those men, but saving his own life and the lives of his friends was his first priority. He stopped a few feet from a locked door in a now better lighted hallway.
"Guess what guys? After this door is an access grid. It will take us right under the belly of that big thing Frank had his eyes on earlier. Are you sure you want that one Chief? - cause there is a larger one in there." Frank's eyes jumped then relaxed.
"Na, I think that one will do, we don't want to make a big target out of ourselves. Lets try and get out of here in one piece ok?"
"Right. Ok crew, on the quadruple. Break that hatch and lets find a way into that ship." The men had already begun shooting the hinges off and worming their way into the access grid. It was a tight squeeze, and quite cramped, but before long, echoes of gunfire, and yelling marines thundered through the metal grid. They reached the entrance hatch near the large fighter and kicked the vent cover in and onto the ground from the wall and each of the men leaped onto the ground and hit the dirt in case of them being in the line of fire. The fairly new ship reflected bullets like they were lead pellets and absorbed plasma fire almost seamlessly. There were excavation spotlights running on portable generators all around the fighters and some of them were blown useless by stray fire. Frank aimed in the direction that the plasma bolts were coming from and emptied his clip of ammo to provide some cover for him and his men to make it up the ship's ramp with no or less casualties. Frank made sure that he boarded last and hit the ramp's seal key when he was close enough to. The thing didn't work. He kicked the wall and paused before screaming and holding his foot in his hand. He leaped towards the pilot seat cursing. He powered up the ship's controls and hit the ignition device. The ship rumbled and groaned but powered back down. He laid his head on the controls and yelled. Oliver ran to his station and looked at the engine. He had never seen this kind of engine, it appeared to run off of anti-matter plasma.
"Uh, sir? I am not sure if I can fix this thing, I'm not even sure I know what it is."
"Well fix it anyway." Yelled Frank from the pilot seat. Those words always infuriated Oliver but it also oddly made him find and fix the problem. Not this time though, he didn't even know the general specs on this model, much less try and fix whatever was wrong with it. He studied it and tried different things, but nothing seemed to work.
The human gunfire outside of the fighter ceased and one of the crewmen watched as the aliens formulated against the fighter with full force.
"Hey Frank, can you get that big juicy gun up there running?" Said his main gunner. He knew how to handle tight situations, but only with a big gun. Frank touched a few buttons and powered up the weapon systems. The airman jumped into the gunner seat and began pounding the aliens back with the 200 caliber laser weapon and judging from the design, it was surprisingly of human origin. The other crewmen hit the deck near the ramp to guard it from anything that might make it past the laser turret though that was highly unlikely.

//Mission Clock-07:37.hrs.//Earth Date-jun.12.2553/_UNSC.A72//vec.19909273//Sgt. Daniel Asperso./.

Daniel felt that they had already failed their mission by not escaping the compound before the Covenant got there. They had cleared out many Covenant troops without losing anyone, but at the speed they were moving in, they wouldn't make it out before the base collapsed. That thought was more prevalent now, for the walls bent out of shape and wheezed with the pressure of the thousands of tons of water combined with the constant battering of the Covenant's weapons against the hull. Resistance was more challenging than they had expected, for half of the group's jumpsuits were weathered with the burn holes of the plasma weapons used against them. They had come across two new types of enemy contacts that they had only heard about, making their progress that much more difficult. One was an extremely versatile being that could change into their surroundings and destroy most of them in the process, something a few marines they had encountered along the way referred to as 'Chameleons'. The other was surprisingly more intelligent than the Elites but appeared to that of a small dragon, roughly thirteen feet tall. They would fall from ceilings and actually shred a human into a vast variety of pieces with their large teeth and then eat what ligaments were left. For the Covenant, this seemed rather barbaric, but it scared the hell out of marines and one could easily kill fifteen ODSTs before it was shot down. Yet needless as it may be, some of the beings were covered in full body armor, even out to their scaly bony wings. The armor was designed to be as frightening as the creature itself, and it did a very well job at it. Therefore, these barbaric creatures kind of got the name 'Scythes of the Covenant', though no real name was issued from headquarters yet. The group had encountered one of the Chameleons, but took it down faster than it could fathom. They were worn out but pressed on through the dim mucky hallways. They came to the power deck, two parsecs from the hangar. The large generators slightly hummed, only giving dim, moderate light to the large dome shaped structure. Water stood a near foot off of the ground, and shattered controls were littered with human remains.
"Keep your eyes peeled, they're here - and they're hungry." Whispered Rodney, aiming his gun at the hanging metal decks above them. Daniel spied quick movement behind them, but it disappeared. A slight icy breeze brushed his chest, and a clang of some metal was heard above.
"Backs to each other, strong formation, they have us surrounded." Whispered The girl. She dropped to one knee and shot a round of sniper ammo into the air and a horrific scream was heard, later a large limp being fell to the ground, landing on some comm antennae. It twitched as blood and drool ran from its large crocodile mouth and let out a painful last breath before relaxing into a dead state. About three more screams were heard, not of wounds, but of hunger. Daniel turned his flashlight back to the dead being, and caught a sight of it being dragged off into the darkness, a sound of tearing flesh followed.
"Whoa, they are eating their own." Said Greg, now trembling. A heavy splash settled in the musky water, followed by two more. No one moved. They held position as one of the demolitions groupies threw a group of blue flares a far as he could throw them in all four directions. The blue light illuminated the room, revealing at least fifty of the Scythes - surrounding them from above and enclosing on them in every possible path available. The beings charged in unorganized rows and grenades flew with rockets and bullets in masses from the group in all directions and the beings continued to fall, but trampled over their fallen comrades and kept coming, some stopping only to devour the dead ones. The near invincible Spartan II.Vs were falling one after the other. Greg steadied himself and fired into a being, stepping back as it fell at his feet. He emptied the clip into its hideous head to prove his point. When he looked back up, one of the beings lunged at him from above and locked its jaw into his diaphragm, swooping back up into the darkness and clawing at him to disable his seismic refracting shields. Daniel fired his weapon in anger at the position where the being was that held Greg in his jaw and heard it scream and fall to one of the above decks with incredible force. Greg's bundled gory body fell into the water below and formed a cloudy pool of blood around him. The remaining five beings dove and lunged for his body seeing the large pool of blood and judging by the area it covered, it looked like there was more than one dead or struggling humans in its vicinity.
"That's our break, lets move." Said Rodney, slinging his battle rifle over his shoulder and running with the remainder of the group into the next corridor, sealing the hatch behind them with fresh napalm. They were worn and dazed from the previous battle and only twenty one of the Spartans were left. They had never seen the Scythes formulate that way, they were normally somewhat controlled like the Brutes but having never seen them in a large congregated group; they now knew what not to mess with. What the humans didn't know was that the Covenant used a mind altering process on the 'chosen' Scythes, but used the unaltered ones to take out certain strong targets that they only thought of as something in their way, and thus did not grace the unaltered types with the 'chosen' ones' armor. Daniel's muscles ached from being thrown, battered and beaten. He was sorry for the loss of his friends, but there was still him and twenty of his fellow Spartans left that were up for grabs by those ravaging creatures. The Covenant had already dumped their worst on them and they lived, so anything that came next was sure not to be a surprise to them. By now, Daniel hated dark and quiet hallways and they were in another. A plasma bolt materialized out of the air and blew Daniel back a yard and leveled him onto the ground. Rodney fired his weapon in front of him and the seven foot tall Chameleon materialized and fell to the ground lifeless. The combat knife of the Demolitions leader lifted out of its case on his hip and tore a gap in his side large enough for the floating plasma pistol to enter. He screamed and looked down as the weapon over charged and fried his insides. Daniel held the end of his gun and swung it at the area where he supposed the alien to have been and luckily crushed its skull. They fought and fired until nothing breathed or moved in the hallway but them. Rodney took the Demolition Fraction leader's dog tag and stashed it in his pocket with the others he could gather. They eventually made it to the Ship bay and formed quick plans for a route to the fighter where a laser turret was firing and airmen were holding their position the best they could. They all entered the hangar with their heads low and ran to a bunker of a few marines to help them out. The man in charge looked at the kids in shock first at how they could have survived making it to the hangar from anywhere and second that the three kids with sniper rifles floored a group of jackals almost instantly. He saw the stripes on their arms and shrugged.
"Sure, why not, I've seen about everything else today. Can any of you fly one of those?" He asked pointing to a fighter nearby. Rodney raised his hand then turned to the group.
"Alright, despite Mendez's orders, we are going to have to split up. You have all seen how they ambushed us back there. If we separate, there is less chance of them taking all of us down." Said Rodney, and he had some good advice. He turned to Daniel and held something out in his hand.
"Asperso, this guy's name was the same as yours. He may have been related to you. Why don't you take this for good luck - I may not ever see you again seeing as I am the only qualified pilot in our fraction for a large fighter, you four and I will go separate." He said, waving to four of the other Spartans. He looked at Daniel who seemed rather disappointed that he had chose him to go separate from most of his remaining group, and felt the need to lighten his spirit.
"Daniel, I feel like we are as close as brothers, so since I am older, I am going to ask you to protect these guys and don't let them screw up ok?" Daniel took the tag and shoved it into his pocket.
"I'll try sir." He said and nodded in recognition of the order. He knew he would see him again, he had always looked up to Rodney and he knew he could fight through anything. He motioned to three of the other Spartans and they all ran to the fighter across the hangar.
The men in the hatchway were surprised to see the boys fight their way to the ship taking no damage. Daniel ran up the deck and grabbed his teammate's sniper rifle as he followed, but was a lousier shot than he was. His teammates ran on past the deck to assist the crew with the take off.
Oliver struggled with the engine but he didn't know if he was breaking or fixing it. He hit the engine with his welding tool and turned to see a child behind him, staring directly at him.
"You know, violence won't cure anything." Said the young boy with what looked like a plasma weathered jumpsuit, walking up to the engine. He bent down and looked at the engine a few times as if he knew more about it than the veteran crewman did.
"Antimatter plasma core, product number: *yy65789c. The channels haven't been set. If we want to get out of here, I suggest we set them. This happens a lot on the 'Galion Tryke' fighter types." Said the boy, utterly loosing the Crewman in shock.
"Uh, right, set them." He said straightening himself, trying to make it seem that he wasn't surprised. The boy crawled behind the engine and did something that made the entire thing light up, hum and glow. Out of excited shock, Oliver screamed back a reply to the constant nagging of Frank's complaining about no engines.
"Frank, they're up! You can shut up now!" He cheered as Frank ignited the engines' pre-run flight test.
There was something wrong, the Covenant suddenly began drawing back and withholding their fire. Daniel knew what was wrong and turned to warn the crew over their cheering for supposedly winning the battle.
"I guess you guys haven't seen a Scythe lately? They are one of the new contacts and worse than I have ever met in combat at that. They were really trying to get rid of us back there, and I wouldn't be surprised if they have sent another load of those things right here into this bay." The crew looked at him, chuckled then went back to their stations. One of the Spartans eagerly manned one of the guns, for he remembered what the aliens had done. Garret turned to the original crew and shrugged.
"Look, believe me if you want to, but I would rather not be eaten today." Said Daniel, achieving their undivided attention. The ship rumbled, lifted three feet off of the ground, then plunged front end first into the hangar floor. Frank started to yell at Oliver, thinking he had something to do with the failure of the front belly jets, but the words couldn't leave his mouth. He was too frightened to move. The large creature that had caused the plunge stood on the nose of the fighter and roared meaningfully in an alien babble. Drool ran from its mouth by the gallons but Frank went from frightened to pissed.
"Get that damn bat off of my wind shield!" He yelled to his gunner who was now pounding one of his own with every thing he had. Daniel grabbed his Battle rifle off of his back and readied himself as another of the Scythes leaped onto the ramp that was now making a grinding sound as it tried to close. The beast snapped its jaw at him and caught the end of the Battle rifle in its teeth and pushed Daniel against the wall. The force caused Daniel to pull his trigger, filling the beast's head with new lead components. The alien's heavy body fell on Daniel and forced him to the ground. He bent his knees and kicked it off of him and back down the ramp. The struggling ramp finally began to close as Daniel stood at the edge, prepared for anything that tried to stop it. He glanced out of the open part of the hatch and watched Rodney and some of the others take off in their much larger fighter. He saluted them, hoping that some day they would make contact for the rendezvous as ordered and complete their mission that had so many failures. Frank finally got sick of the thing trying to break his windshield and he switched the belly jets over to his maneuvering thrusters.
"Yeah, lets see what you got now jackass." He murmured to it, thinking it understood him. He yanked the controls into reverse and grinned half-jaw as the fighter kicked backwards. The beast looked somewhat surprised in its misshapen face, lost its balance and clawed at the nose as it slid off of the fighter and onto the hangar floor. The nose of the fighter came level with the rear and steadied itself with the belly jets. As Frank switched to full thrust, the fighter shot out of the hangar and into the launch bay, incinerating the beast with after burn. An energy barrier held the 400 foot tall wall of water in place so ships could move freely through them, without admitting any ocean water.
'If I would have known that before now, I could have brought that old rickety Longsword in this way.' Frank thought to himself as the large fighter jetted out into the ocean's semi darkness and shifted upward, the engines now glowing at 100% power. The only difference in the surroundings was that the ocean had become much brighter, and as Frank soon noticed, the ocean level had significantly dropped. The Covenant had begun glassing Earth. His thoughts were overwhelmed with hate towards them but he had to escape. He overrode the safety protocols and forced the engines to 150%. The ship catapulted from the water, loosing some of the oceanic traction it had obtained. The planet glistened like glass and reflected the sunlight's beams into the fighter that was now near out of the atmosphere. Blockade after blockade of Covenant cruisers and battle barges began to appear in the view ports as the atmosphere dissipated from the space bound fighter, along with a few mangled human vessels who's escape pods were launching and then being destroyed. Frank hit the key that ignited the vacuum jets and braced for concentrated fire as the fighter attempted escaping the blockade. The now tiny fighter passed the near planet size Covenant cruiser hull and glided across its silky shields harmlessly. Daniel marveled at the size of the ship, and at the count of the others, for he had never left the base in his life. There were explosions of battered human vessels everywhere, some were very large and some small, but Daniel could only hope that any one those explosions wasn't his comrades' escaping fighter. Frank's plan was to glide it as close to the cruiser's shields as possible to mask their signature somewhat and for now, it was working. If they made it past this cruiser, they would have a chance at jumping into slip space unharmed and unnoticed. Frank uploaded his personal messaging file to the comm panel. It was something he always did in a new fighter no matter what the situation was. Right now it was a handy habit to get his mind off of the present. A message icon blinked on his communications screen. The file was from his second cousin Jason on Mars base A52. They kept in frequent contact and Frank figured that the message was to tell him what system he was now in and to meet him there. Frank downloaded the file to his messaging chip for later reading. They were nearing the end of the cruiser and he had to find a suitable way past the rest of the blockade. About six Covenant Ambush fighters had spotted them and was closing in fast.
"Gunners, get those things on fire." He yelled as the heavy pelting of plasma began. Four of the fighters sloped in to flank them as two more came from above, preparing to drop some plasma charges on the top of the hull. Daniel Grabbed the empty top window seat of the 'lob-launcher', a hydrogen projectile that delivered a very explosive force. He took the controls and pointed at the nearest trailing fighter, and launched one of the burning casings into its engine intake valve, barreling it towards another of the fighters. They impacted and exploded in a storm of plasma as the other two raced through the aftermath. He jolted forward as a pounding force hit them from above. He gathered himself and whirled the gun in a ninety degree angle and pointed upward towards the craft. The charge bays were opening on the second fighter. With careful aim, Daniel launched another lob of hydrogen into the charge bay, igniting the charges from within the Ambush fighter. The explosion did major damage to its neighboring fighter, causing it to pull off and break its formation. The original crew's gunner was concentrating all of his fire onto burning and slicing through the hulls of the remaining two trailing fighters with his 200 caliber laser cannon. Daniel knew they had more to throw at them and soon found out they did by the distant bombers that were gaining speed and fast. He also found out that they were shielded with energy barriers as the gunner of another smaller Longsword fighter found his guns useless and then was incinerated from within his seat by a plasma torpedo. Daniel looked at the ramp that led to the Acorn fighter deck below him and looked back at the heavy Covenant bombers heading towards them. It was up to him now that Rodney wasn't there to stay in control and the thought weighed heavily on his mind. He had never really been in the situation to act as a squad leader, but what skills he had were soon put to the test. A guided missile slammed into the hull from the oncoming bomber group. It was just enough to shake some sense and confusion into his mind. Although he was a Spartan, he was still human. With the power outage and collapsed barriers in the fighter's main deck-way, all that could enter his mind was panic and thoughts of escape. He hurried in utter confusion to find if anyone had survived the blast, seeing as their breathing atmosphere was instantly weakened by the blast. The smoke and debris from inside the fighter was so strong, he couldn't hardly see anything. At last he came across a fellow Spartan, and a marine crewman. He searched his sight range for any others, but these two were all he could see. The ship was still moving he found out by hearing the constant clean humming of the engines, which indicated that the pilot was still alive. He glanced back through one of the view ports and spied two small blazing bright plasma torpedoes gaining speed fast. Time seemed to stand still as he grabbed his fellow Spartan and the marine's arm, pushing them down into the Acorn fighter deck. He paused at the hatch to get a better grip on his teammate's waist and ran at his best with them to the nearest fighter pod. The pod was positioned upward and unlike the larger vessel had absolutely nothing to produce artificial gravity. The maneuvering room inside was small, but he managed to find a quick, secure place for his comrades and power up the flight controls in the pilot's seat. The ship made contact with the first torpedo, sending him face first into the main view ports. He winced as a slight trail of his own crimson blood followed him back to his seat. He strapped on his safety holds and released the docking arms from the docking port. The reverse thrusters whined against the large fighter's hull, and broke the awkward formation it held for the time being. Daniel struggled to bring it to a steady halt, before forcing full thrust into the small booster rockets in the rear of the pod. The view port was now as bright as the sun itself from the after burn of the large fighter now in front of them. The small pod wobbled seemingly helplessly by the force of the exhaust as Daniel pulled the controls backward, lifting them out of the roaring blaze. The small fighter pod rumbled past the highly damaged fighter, preparing to try and trail one of the other, faster fighters that were streaming into open slip gates. An orange like beam shot from the damaged Fighter and opened a glowing slip gate, right in front of the pod. Daniel tried to reverse his thrusters, for he knew that it was dangerous for a small fighter to try and enter slip space without the mass of another, larger vessel shielding the wake before it. At this range, his thrusters were useless. Even the thrust from the reverse boosters were sucked into the slip stream. He knew this was it. He had to coast it into the stream. He powered down all of the engines and powered up the hull shielding at its maximum. Bright echoing light surrounded the pod and space seemed more infinite than it ever had before. Everything was still and black. They had made it out of Earth's solar system. He felt that Rodney would be proud for how they escaped, or would he? He remembered the other two Spartans he couldn't save from the fighter. Pain and guilt rushed all through him for the many Spartans that had died in one day. He took the book out of his pocket and observed it. There were instructions and many symbols of some kind - not even Covenant. Diagrams of ships and objects he couldn't even fathom littered its many pages. He grew very intrigued with the book, but knew that he had to study the language or whatever it was more to understand it better. For an hour, nothing seemed to move. That was until a slicing sound was heard, as an enormous bright blue object passed inches over the small fighter, causing them to jolt out of the slip stream as all of the stars in the sky began to reappear. They were all lucky to have survived even entering the slip stream, much less an unsafe exit. The shielding generators were at 2%, a mere ounce more than death. A nearby nebula was the only sign of any possible planetary life within three hundred billion miles, and seeing as the vessel possessed only thrusters, it took twelve days to reach the nearest system. With much needed luck, they found a livable planet, operated by the UNSC. When they landed, they were counted as some sort of heroes to have escaped Earth, but all Daniel could ever think about from the time they left the slipstream, until where his aching life now resides was,
"Did my teammates survive? Was that blue glitch in the slipstream the fighter they were in? Was everything my fault? Where the Covenant after this book - after me?" Daniel knew that his questions would never be answered, and his teammates were now only memories, but the feeling of a constant nagging of guilt and responsibility to his team captain to get his men out unharmed seemed to haunt him throughout the rest of his caved in childhood.


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Chapter 3: Kidnapped from Misery and the rest of The Hall of Echoes is coming soon, so for now that is it - it will continue. Please go to http://haloharbor.cjb.net and mainly http://johnbief.hyperboards.com to see concept art and info on the comic version. It may not appear much to critics now, but it will grow more interesting. Want in on the comic? We need artists, color artists, fans, but not negative critics. This is still a work in progress. Feel free to send me an email at: Master_Bief@hotmail.com.
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