Fan Fiction Inspired by Halo

"John, do you think that you and your squad are ready for your mission to capture the Covenant 'Prophets'? Or do you think that you need some more combat experience with each other?"
     "Honestly, Doctor, we need more time. But fighting human soldiers won't cut it. We need to work against the real thing. Before these kids embark on the most important mission of their life, they need to actually see what they'll be fighting."
     "Well, the only problem with that lies in the fact that we don't know when or where we'll next see the Covenant. And when we do see them, they're almost always in space. Not on the ground too often. So as you see, this is a pretty tricky request."
     "Do what you can. We're not embarking on the mission for the Prophets until we've had some ground engagements with the Covenant."
     "Well, Chief, actually there may be something I can do to help you. I'll have to check on it first though. Meet me in my office at 0800 hours tomorrow."
     John saluted, and replied "Yes, ma'am!" Dr. Halsey gave him a look like he was doing something wrong, and he was. It was not required to give civilians a salute, but since John was in the military since age 6, he didn't know how to approach somebody without saluting. He still finds it odd that Dr. Halsey is the only person he ever comes in contact with that doesn't require a salute.

At 0800 hours, in Dr. Hasley's Office:

     "John, what I'm about to tell you cannot leave this room, until it's time to use it."
     "Of course, ma'am."
     "We have developed a way to jump precisely through space, nearly instantaneously. By putting a second set of Slipstream generators on a ship, we can effectively generate a Slipstream within a Slipstream. In a normal Slipstream, our ships travel at about 37,675 times the speed of light. However, inside what we're calling 'Second Dimension Slipstream,' our ships travel at that speed squared, or 1,419,405,625 times the speed of light. And we can do this with pinpoint accuracy. In a spatial coordinate plane, we are able to pick out the coordinate to the minutes."
     "And we can use a ship with this equipment to basically 'beam' ourselves to a battle?"
     "That's exactly what I had in mind. We've custom built you a ship; it has separate quarters for each SPARTAN, MJLONR maintenance equipment, a 0g-6g gym, and a combat simulator. Its cargo hold isn't for the usual baggage and the such; it carries all ammunition and weapons. It has the Grabber that you experienced on the Aztec. Instead of room for the usual one AI, your ship will carry 5 normal ship AIs, plus Cortana as the coordinating AI. And possibly the best addition, other than the Second Dimension Slipstream generators, is an energy shield, like yours, except it's been designed to absorb the impact of 3 plasma torpedoes. It is armed with 6 Super MAC guns, in case you're ever in a space battle. Powering all these systems is the most advanced reactor ever. It's very similar to the Pillar of Autumn's reactor, however instead of having just one, your ship has half a dozen. The ship physically is roughly 1.5 times that of a current state-of-the-art cruiser in our fleet. Since this is a one off ship, we're not going to give it a class designation. But it will have a name; that's up to you to decide."
     With that, the Chief left, wondering how his SPARTANs would fare in real combat.

1400 hours, in the SPARTANs training facility:

     "Alright, that's the end of today's exercises. However, you are not dismissed. Some information has been relayed to me that is pertinent to everybody in this room. The best and brightest UNSC scientists have developed a ship specifically for our use. Sparing you the details, here's what it comes down to: We'll be able to arrive at any battlefield in the universe nearly instantaneously. We're going to use this ship to engage Covenant ground forces as often as we can for a standard year. After that, we'll embark on our mission. I understand that the second generation doesn't know about it, but you will soon enough. We will be boarding at 0800 hours tomorrow. Dismissed."
     John picked up the phone, and had the operator AI patch him through to Dr. Halsey.
     "Hello, Doctor. We have a name for our ship."
     "And it is?"
     "The Valor."

At 0800 hours, the following morning:

     Everybody was onboard; nobody was even a minute late. As they were preparing to depart, an encrypted communication came through:

United Nations Space Command Emergency Priority Order 118945D-5
Encryption Code: Black
Public Key: None
From: NavSpecWep, Section Three
To: Valor
Subject: Orders
Classification: Alpha (BGX directive)

/start file/

It's already time to put the Valor's abilities to the test. Chonen Beta is under Covenant ground attack. If you didn't already know, Chonen Beta is one of our premier science facilities, behind only Reach. We believe the Covenant have discovered this, and want to wipe out our research, leaving us in the relative Stone Age. At this facility, we are extremely close to replicating the Covenant weapons, along with their cloaking devices. If we can produce these ourselves, it will turn the tide in the war. We already have better tactics, but they have better weapons. If we can match their weapons, then we have both advantages. And we're not only talking plasma pistols, rifles, and their long range pulse laser rifle. We have nearly figured out how to build plasma torpedo generators, albeit much smaller than theirs, so they can fit onto smaller ships. So as you see, protecting this facility is of utmost importance. We'd like the Spartans to win the battle on the ground, while we win the space battle, with the help of your new ship. We'll see you soon; if the new "Second Dimension Slipstream" works as well as they told us it should, we should see you by the time you close this communiqué.

/end file/

     With that, the ship tore a hole into normal space, and then tore one in Slipstream space, and was at Chonen Beta instantaneously. John made his way down to the weapons locker, and told his troops "The surface of Chonen Beta is a lot like that of the battlefield we were on just last week. However, here we have something to defend. Although the facility is far below ground, we'll be defending the entrance. It is approximately 2 miles in diameter, so we'll be spread out. I want 10 snipers evenly spaced, 1/4 of a kilometer from the entrance. We're anticipating a heavy battle here, so stock up with ammo. Snipers, you'll be Green team. Red team will be heavy weapons. SPNKrs and Jackhammers for all, and there will be 12 of you; 6 around the entrance, and the other six will be fighting with Blue team, acting as artillery. Blue will be the rest of the Spartans. We're the infantry. Arm yourselves with a MA5B, and take 10 clips of AP rounds, and 10 of Shredder rounds. Also, as a backup, take whichever pistol you'd like, but remember to take high explosive rounds, as I suspect we'll be up against some Hunters. All teams will be augmented by Marines, but the buck stops here. We're the last line of defense. Don't fail, and don't waste your lives. Live to fight another day." With that, the Spartans went and found their weapons, and filed onto their Pelican for the trip down to the surface.

     After a year of combat and crisscrossing the universe in their new ship, John decided he and his new squad was ready for their most important, most dangerous mission of their lives: infiltrating the Covenant home world and capturing as many "Prophets" as possible.

     "John, before you can do this, we'll need to find the spatial location of the Covenant home world" Dr. Halsey explained to John.
     "And I assume this involves me?"
     "Your assumption is accurate. We're going to need you and your squad to gain access to a Covenant ship and purge its navigational database. Cortana's firmware is being upgraded so she knows what to look for; since we built her, we've made huge leaps in understanding Covenant technology."
     "When will we be boarding a Covenant craft?"
     "ASAP. It will be up to you and your team of however many you need, and the Valor. John, I don't need to remind you of this, but I will anyway. You're the best of the best. You're humanity's last hope. If you don't succeed on this mission..." With that, the Doctor trailed off and looked away, examining the screen that showed the progress on Cortana's update. "John, you may go about your duties now."
     "Thank you, Doctor." And with that, Master Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN-117 spun on his heel and walked out the door.