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"I'll slay you right where your feet have been planted, HUMAN!!"
Luthos charged at the Chief full tilt, activating his plasma saber. The Spartan did the same. He drew a half moon in front of him, and got into his warrior stance. It had now gotten personal with the John-117, as he saw his fellow Spartans get carried off into another Covenant ship to who knows where. He had to win, and it wasn't just for the human race either. He had to win, for his Spartans. He had to win, for himself.
Luthos brought down the energy sword to the Chief's head. Master Chief did an upper block, and kicked the Elite in the chest, sending the adversary backwards. An explosion sent shockwaves that shook the entire elevator platform. Luthos stumbled a little to his side, and regained his balance. Master Chief used that momentum to propel himself at the Elite. He attempted a horizontal slash followed by a forward stab, only for the first to be blocked.
"You have cost me victory on this much needed base, human! I shall have your skull on a mantel!!"
"Try and take it from me."
Another explosion sent debris littering the elevator platform; huge fiery boulders and small metallic shrapnel fell with it. Some of it pinged off the Master Chief's helmet, causing his shield to flicker for a moment. Again, the Elite charged at him, this time swinging his plasma saber in wild movements. Master Chief jumped to the side, rolled and stood back up. He jump kicked Luthos in the side, sending him to stumble and then trip over a small rock that was burning in flames. Luthos let the Chief come within his arms' length before round housing him in the face. The blow sent the Spartan warrior spinning and hitting the deck with uncontrollable force. Luthos rushed over and kicked Master Chief in the side, causing him to roll over. The Elite brought down the saber again, and again had it blocked by the Chief. John brought both his feet up against the Elite's chest, and threw him back several feet. He jumped back onto his feet and ran at the Elite to try and get a rush on him the time of his bewilderment.
Suddenly, a huge whine cracked the air, and the elevator shaft's energy elevating coils began to dim and slow. As that happened, the platform seemed to slow its ascent. Both the human and the Elite stared around, wondering what was happening. As explosions shook them every few seconds, they looked up, seeing the reason for the amount of commotion.
A crack could be seen, far off, growing on the structure, splitting it in half. It grew and opened, like a mouth, until all the floors within were visible. Master Chief and Luthos stood there, on the slowly ascending platform, as the great wall began to split in half. They stood in amazement as half of that wall moved away from them, slowly at first, and with a huge scream as though it were a wild animal being slain. The slow movement of its breakaway began to accelerate, rapidly bringing down the roof, until the Chief and the Commander saw it falling down below them. The energy elevating coils on the structure's standing half began to relight with new life, once again bringing the elevator up as it was doing before.
The fall of half the structure was cataclysmic to all the Covenant and flood battling down below. The fall sent shockwaves and dust up covering all combatants and burying them under metal and soft dirt for miles all around. To the Chief and Luthos, now near the top, the scene looked like someone had dropped a huge rock into tranquil water, causing enormous waves forth for miles. They could now see the air and space with all of the Covenant vessels in formation. Seraph fighters were still strafing enemy flood positions and Banshees peppered them with intense blasts. There was still a stream of drop ships from the Covenant carriers and battle cruisers. All the hustle and bustle of the battle waging on did not keep the Master Chief and Luthos unaware of their task at hand.
Luthos drove forward and did a double side swipe at the Chief. John backed up and sidestepped and then drove his saber into the Elite's. The two energy swords caught, and the two of them stood there face to face. Luthos snapped his menacing jaws repeatedly at the Chief, while the Chief merely held his ground. Their strength was not equaled though, and Luthos kicked John in the right knee, weakening his stance even more before elbowing him in the face and then kicking him in the chest plate. The blow had not been shielded, since the heat from their swords had deteriorated both their shields. Luthos quickly stomped the chief on the chest over and over again, causing his armor to dent inwards a little. He brought his energy sword straight down to the human, but the cyborg rolled over and avoided the potential deathblow. The plasma saber stood stuck in the platform, enabling the Chief to kick the Elite backwards.
"Chief, your armor has sustained intense damage to the main gel system. You may experience some difficulty moving like before. I'm going to try and fix it."
Cortana was right, he felt his armor getting heavier and sluggish. The layer of gel that adhered the suit to his body began to leak, and spray through little cracks in his rib area. He coughed up blood, as he tried to get up on his feet. But his suit got heavier and heavier, until he was almost stiff.
Luthos saw this, and took advantage of this time of weakness. He ran over and kicked the Chief in his side, knocking him over. Explosions made a huge amount of boulders to fall down, ablaze, and bounce off the elevator platform to the abyss below them. He roared at the Chief, as though he knew of his impending triumph.
"You need knowledge, human. We Al'djurians are a superior race that has been given the task of exterminating you humans from our universe. You may believe that your clever ability to steal and build upon our technology enables you to defeat us, but that is not so. You see, human, it has happened on numerous occasions that others like you have felt the swift hand of defeat."
Others like me? He thought about his Spartans on Reach. That meant that Luthos was indeed one of the key players in the fall of the colony world. His rage was building inside him even more.
"There was one foolish human who rose up against me. He was easily disposed of. Then others followed, and I killed them all the same."
He played around with the silver chain like links that hung around his neck. He unhooked them, and threw them down on the floor in front of the Chief's face. The Master Chief opened his eyes in great anger.
"Here's the proof, human!" He snarled at the Chief hideously, kicking him again to his side.
The silver chain links had small names engraved upon them with serial numbers and bar codes. They were the neural implants of his fallen Spartan brothers. This was enough, thought the Chief. The Elite had gone far enough, and now it had gone beyond evil, it had gone to cruelty. A neural implant had a self detonating charge once the brain's cells had gone into a state of apoptosis, or cell self destruction when someone dies. So in order to obtain a whole one, the individual had to be alive while the neural implant was removed.
The Elite laughed cruelly as he continued stomping John in the chest and ribs over and over again. Finally, as Luthos saw that they were nearing the top, he brought the plasma saber up, to deliver the final blow.
John was dazed, bleeding, and weak. He heard the sounds of a bell, Chief Mendez motivating him and his other Spartans, and Kelly and James both laughing as children, back in the training grounds. He could hear Cortana yelling something in the back of his head, but he couldn't make out what she was saying. As he looked up, he could see the plasma saber coming down on him, the Elite laughing and mocking him. Tears welled up on the corners of his eyes as he rolled his head to the side. It was finished, he thought. I lost; I lost for everyone. It's all over, the mission, the Spartans, Earth. He saw a quarter flipping over in slow motion down from the air. It hit the elevator platform once, twice, BOOOOOOM!
"What!?" Luthos stumbled backwards as another explosion now shook the entire elevator disc.
Chief laid there, still staring at the quarter, still spinning on its side. It slowed down, and finally fell flat. Heads. Suddenly he could hear Cortana screaming, and the quarter disappeared.
"MASTER CHIEF, MASTER CHIEF!! WAKE THE HELL UP!! WE STILL HAVE A MISSION TO FINISH!! I'VE FINISHED FIXING YOUR SUIT'S MOVEMENT MECHANISMS! SO GET YOUR ASS UP AND MOVE!!!"
His daze faded away, and as he blinked to get more focus, a plasma grenade lay where his quarter had landed. It was on the body of a dead grunt, and there was only one left. With all his might and will, he rolled sideways, avoided Luthos' swing of doom, which left a burn mark where he had just been. He grabbed the plasma grenade and threw it at Luthos' unsuspecting face.
"Eat it, now"
"THIS IS IMPOOOOSSSSIIIBBBLLLLLEE!!!!"
The Master Chief rose up, flames all around him, and ran to the Elite. The glare from the flames made wings on the Chief's shoulders in Luthos' eyes. The visor reflected the flames, and made it look as though they were the face of the human.
"Ooh....my gods nooo...plleaassee...deliver mee...please, deliver me, don't let it take me..! Don't let the Angel of Death TAKE MEEEE!!!"
Master Chief Spartan warrior John-117 drop kicked the Elite in the face one last time, sending him off the elevator platform to the buried masses below. A few seconds in the descent, the grenade went off, and Luthos' headless body joined his brothers, in whatever afterlife their gods decided for them.
John huffed out and coughed some blood, regaining his composure, noticing that the countdown was now to five minutes before VILO went up. He couldn't believe he had come through this incident. He thought he was dead. This achievement suddenly made him feel as though invincible for a moment. Then his task at hand helped him to regain his focus.
"Jeez, Chief, that was real close. You're going to have some amazing stories to tell your grandchildren someday, if we're around that long..."
The elevator platform finally made it to the top. On the standing half of the structure's roof were smoldering Covenant bodies, melted turret emplacements and dead flood. He made his way past the scenery and got onto the energy platform that transported troops and supplies to and from Luthos' ship. He raced inside the Covenant's Kir'dun flagship, to the bridge. After killing off a small skeleton crew, he put Cortana in the control holopanel consoles. The ship lit up and moved with life.
In orbit of the moon base was another Covenant fleet. They began attacking the renegade Kir'dun, all of them unaware with what was happening on the base. Seraph fighters engaged each other in battle, spilling countless amounts of plasma blasts on the others' target. The night was filled bright, blue and white streaks of energy as the Covenant fought each other, some destroying their target's vessels, others just absorbing the energy and displacing it with the shields. A beautiful display of purple and indigo flashes could be seen, as this terrible battle ensued. Each ship's Captain bent on the destruction and death of the other.
Cortana flew the stolen Covenant battle ship past enemy lines and undetected, thanks to the stealth capabilities of the ship. She could hear the rattle of communication between the two sides, cursing each other and yelling orders to their subordinates, all without knowledge of their coming end.
"Better hold onto something there Chief, I'm about to try something." She initiated a sequence of numbers, inputting data of coordinates so that the ship could go into slipstream and go to the nearest UNSC command post.
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to get us home, Chief."
Home, he thought, where was home? Reach was destroyed, and so was the colony world he was born on.
Master Chief felt a tingling feeling throughout his body. His boots became magnetized to the deck, as the lights in the bridge went from the trademark blue and violet to a deep purplish red. Warning sirens pulsed throughout the ship, and then it, with the Chief, vanished in a brilliant deep blue flash of lightning and energized gas. Light mists of blue particles were left behind in place of the battleship.



VILO's internal systems detonated. The moon crumbled inwards, while fire and fiery gasses blew outward. The death of the moon base sucked all ships into it, destroying everything and everyone, on the moon, or in orbit. VILO was destroyed.






2155 Hours, October 2, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
UNSC Destroyer Icarus, location/ en route to rendezvous with
Defense fleet of colony world Lobo-208.


"Okay, Lieutenant Perkins, what's the update from Rear Admiral Davis?"
"Sir, the Covenant has sent in a strike against the Colony world. He believes that there must be some important activity going on, since we're only two thousand light years from Earth. They've positioned themselves in an attack formation, and they're jumping from these coordinates in threes."
Captain Ternopolis looked at the tactical grid on his bridge. He knew that his crew was nervous by the way they moved. Short and choppy gestures, some of them wiped sweat off their faces, others moved with a quickness only seen in a fight or flight kind of situation. The Covenant war machine was narrowing in on Earth. They had inched their way forward, colony system after another. The fall of a major colony research base brought many hopes of the authorities of halting some of the Covenant advance crashing down.
Even with the stolen technology the humans had gained from the renegades who subdued a Covenant cruiser within an asteroid field was still not enough to supplement all ships of the human fleet with even a taste of it. Some ships that were being built had a new network of weaponry, which was a mixture of the MAC cannons they already had and the plasma torpedoes the Covies used. Captain Ternopolis wished he had a ship like that, but the UNSC high command believe in reserving these new ships for the inevitable attack on Earth, that many of them think is coming very soon.
"Lieutenant JG Watkins, this is the Captain. Make sure you have all the missiles and nukes armed. Bridge to Docking bay two."
"-Aye sir-"
"-Docking bay two, what is it Captain? -"
"How's my nuclear armed Longsword coming?"
"-It's ready to go sir, all it needs is a pilot. -"
"Very well. Poseidon will take care of that."
He knew very well that Poseidon was well capable of piloting the small ship and carrying out tactical guidance for the Destroyer at the same time. A new brand of AI was forming. The unique thing about these AIs was they were being created by other AIs. Not only did these computer constructs get smarter with every new situation, but they also tried to have a personality. This was something that Captain Ternopolis didn't appreciate.
"I've started the routine warm up of our MAC cannons sir. Soon they shall feel the wrath of a real god!!"
"Can it, Poseidon, just make sure we get to our rendezvous point, and get me a comm. Connection with the rear admiral."
"Aye sir, will do."
The Destroyer was making its way to the defense formation, 72,000 miles from Lobo-208's orbit. He could now make out the fifty-three ships that were there. He picked out a spot in the formation and ordered his piloting crew to get into it without any fray. On the tactical grid blipped many small crescent shaped formations, sixteen in all, with three ships in each. It was obvious who they were. Seeing them sent chills up his spine. Any seasoned Captain was a Captain who survived one encounter with a Covenant battleship. He survived and overcame two.
"Good evening, Captain Ternopolis. As we speak my AI is uploading the latest from the front. It seems that the Covenant have an idea or know where Earth might be. The UNSC high command has deemed colony worlds Lobo-208, Zarconis and Dubois, as well as Donovan-6 in Troy system as important strategic standpoints between them and Earth. Ships from all over are being called to these places within the week. I plan to release our Longswords once the bastards come within the system. All ships are ordered to start the preliminary process of the Cole protocol, and arming all nuclear weapons they have on board. I hope you the best Captain."
"Aye sir, I the hope for the best sir."
The ship's lights turned red, confirming the status of battle. The Marines onboard began boarding Pelican dropships, preparing to board any enemy vessels for capture.
A blast went off from one of the ships from the fleet. In the distance, a Covenant ship spun on its axis as two hundred missiles hit it. Flames engulfed it, as it spread into a million fragments. Two others released their payloads of plasma torpedoes to the human fleet. The targets released their magnetically charged projectiles and numerous missiles. The plasma melted right through both their hulls, and blew the engine rooms apart, immediately destroying them. The Covenant had gotten smarter, and they knew how to aim, making it even more dangerous than they already were.
The sixteen formations were on the human fleet in no time, and the two sides were attacking the each other immediately. Plasma streaked in the space to the human ships, while nuclear-armed Longswords detonated alongside flashing shields of Covenant battle cruisers. Seraph fighters and Longsword interceptors and attack ships engaged each other, little explosions filling the space between the two parties.
"Hurry up and get us there Poseidon, we need to help out any way we can."
"Sir, I can only get us there as fast as this ship can go while keeping the MAC cannon hot sir."
Just then an alarm went off warning of an incoming attack. A Covenant warship lit up the main view screen with its weapon charging. Captain Ternopolis stared wide-eyed at the beautiful yet deadly metallic creature.
"Well, maybe we can get there faster..."
Poseidon let out the MAC projectile with about three-dozen missiles. The Covenant ship spun once from the MAC cannon's hit. The missiles hit along the side of it, making small flames to start spewing from it. The Destroyer charged another MAC round, but moved into a different position in order to be out of the line of fire from the enemy.
It was too late. The streak of white-hot energy flew straight and true toward the Icarus, hitting it on the ventral part of it, slicing into it numerous decks and almost to the core. The ship's lights flashed on and off from loss of power and the amount of radiation from the blast.
"Poseidon, release the Longsword and destroy that bastard!"
"Already on its way sir."
Three units of Longsword fighters accompanied the payload to the enemy, dodging enemy fighters and engaging them to protect the important weapon. After about five minutes, a white blast filled the screen, and engulfed the Covenant battleship.
"Enemy destroyed sir." A sigh of relief wiped across the Captain's face.
"Good, assess the damage and prepare to get us in fleet formation."
Another alarm sounded. There were two Covenant ships on screen now. One with its weapon charged, the other incoming rapidly. The blood from the Captain left his face. Everyone on the bridge froze in disbelief. On the tactical grid blipped the remaining human force, about 12 ships left. The Covenant still had 27, and 5 inoperable but still flight worthy. Smoldering debris and exploding ships filled the Captain's view screen now, some of the disabled ships tried to get away, only to be destroyed by the Covenant vessels. A final order was given by a Commander; the rear admiral had been killed. Everyone alive and ready to fight was ordered to regroup. White flashes filled the screen, nuclear blasts still going off in the distance. Some Covenant ships exploded, others just flashed in their brilliance and let the attacks roll off their hulls.
"Bring us up and to the port there, Poseidon. Starboard thrusters on full."
The Covenant ship was now within firing range. Captain Ternopolis had taken a very mortal hit already, and didn't know if the ship could handle another. Their belly was now going to be the target of the blast, hoping that it would buy the crew some time to get out.
"Sir, there's a gravitational signature coming from our rear."
"On screen there Lieutenant."
"Aye sir."
Another Covenant ship showed up. The crew stood open mouthed and scared. They knew their end was here.
"Ensign Roberts, have the data logs been destroyed?"
"Yes sir."
"Lieutenant Perkins, have engineering run us up on power."
"Sir that would destroy the ship in a nuclear explosion sir."
"Exactly, might as well go out with a bang people."
The new covenant adversary charged up its weapon, white-blue lights shimmering alongside its hull. The other two continued their course, and the one that had its weapon charged, let fly its plasma torpedo.
"Brace for impact people, here it comes."
The white-hot streak drew closer and closer, inching its way toward the belly of the Icarus. Behind them the third Covenant attacker drew evermore closer, to the point of ramming.
"What the hell are they doing? Everyone, get ready..."
The new attacker flew right over them, and to the front. The gravitational pull was so great that everyone onboard felt a few seconds of weightlessness. The new attacker let fly her charged up plasma. The other's torpedo hit it on the face, activating its shield as it flashed blue and purple. The energy was displaced greatly, since the shield of the new attacker was strong. The attacking Covenant ship was blown to bits by this new mysterious attacker. The other Covenant vessel saw its sister vessel get blown to bits. In bewilderment its plasma torpedo was not fully charged when released, causing it to suck back into its weapon port. The flash of light was green, then indigo then white. It blew itself in half, causing it to float adrift in space ablaze and spilling its crew into vacuum.
"What the...?" Captain Ternopolis could not believe the turn of events. He did not know what to make of this. The Covenant ship turned on its axis toward the Icarus.
Let it end already, he thought. He then heard something that sent silent joy throughout the entire crew.




"Destroyer Icarus, this is Construct Cortana aboard a stolen Covenant Vessel. I have with me important ONI material here."
"-Read you loud and clear there Cortana. Whose captain of the vessel?"
"This is Master Chief Spartan warrior John-117. I have important information, Captain, for the high command in the UNSC."
"We can take anyone if you want Captain, our docking bays are ready."
"-Aye, Cortana. I have a dead ship, and have ordered her abandonment."
"Aye Captain Ternopolis."


It took twenty minutes for the entire crew from the Icarus to board the vessel. The Covenant force had already destroyed all the human ships, and was on their way to glassing Lobo-208. It was a miracle that Master Chief and Cortana hadn't been picked up yet, but they weren't counting on their good luck anymore. They needed to get out of there and warn the UNSC about the fact that the Covenant had found Earth. Cortana punched in a few coordinates, and the ship's lights dimmed to a deep purplish red. The new, human inhabitants felt chills as they were sucked to the decks. A tingling feeling ran through all their veins, as the ship sped forward.
"Well, Chief, what have you got to say now? We've defeated and outwitted another Covenant fleet, and you've also completed the objective you set out for over a month ago."
She was right, but all he could think about was his Spartans, how he had been with them and all in one moment, had lost them again. But there was one thing that now could at least let a glimmer of hope shine from.
"We're going home."

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