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The End of a War - Chapter 6
Posted By: Mr. Clark<mrclark84@hotmail.com>
Date: 14 February 2005, 5:01 AM
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The End of a War
Chapter 6
Kicking Ass and Taking Names
Where am I?
The Arbiter stood before a great structure. Its architecture was flawless in design, leaving him breathless as he gazed up at its splendor. His body felt compelled to climb the staircase that led towards it, and he found no reason to question the feeling. As he grew closer, he realized just how large the structure was.
What is this place?
The entrance was enormous, and the doors were parted. He entered with no compunction and found himself stunned once he crossed into the threshold. The room seemed ancient, yet advanced at the same time. Design so simple in nature that it was complex. There was much he wished to see and absorb, yet once again his body felt the desire to move on, as if his time here was limited.
Am I dead?
It seemed as if it had been designed with ceremonial thoughts. Every step he took, the Arbiter felt as if he was walking on something holy, and to be revered. He walked through a hallway, grand in design and limitless from his viewpoint. Archways appeared periodically and seemed to cast no shadow upon the ground. The Arbiter could not locate what provided light inside the hall, yet he knew it existed for no area was left covered by darkness.
Why am I here?
Abruptly the hallway ended, and another pathway stood before him. Once again the doors were parted so he stepped inside. This room was something he had seen before. It resembled the chamber that he had killed Tartarus in, and witnessed the truth of what the Great Journey truly was. This chamber was different though, it was smaller. The Arbiter walked down the path that led to the controls, where the index had needed to be placed.
Am I reliving my past?
He walked off to view the center of the room. There was an adjacent pathway that led around the circumference of the room. As he started down it, he heard voices behind him. The Arbiter turned and looked surprised to see several figures standing before the controls. They were shrouded by a haze that seemed to cover the room, obscuring his vision. He watched as one of them accessed the controls, while two others seemed to argue in the background. The center of the chamber sprung to life as a hologram appeared filling the room with an incandescent light. It was a moment before the Arbiter could make out what the hologram was.
By the Gods.
Seven rings now filled the chamber, in no form of alignment. He recognized it though. The Oracle had shown him this before, this same vision of the Holy Rings.
Is this the Ark?
The figure at the controls began to work furiously at them. The images of the rings changed and icons appeared over each ring. Two of the rings changed design and disappeared, leaving only five. There appeared text over each ring, in a language the Arbiter did not understand. The meaning was understood though, and he felt a stab of dread.
Firing solution accepted. Activation protocols commencing.
They are activating the rings!
The image faded, and the room became devoid of life once again. The fear that the vision had brought stayed with him, as he slumped to the ground. His head bowed he stared down looking for solace, and received nothing. The touch of a hand upon his shoulder startled him and he glanced up.
Nothing was there, and quickly looked around him but he was still alone. As he wondered over the touch a voice suddenly filled his senses. It spoke in a language he had never heard but he understood it, almost as if it was speaking inside his mind.
"This is not the past, only a possible future. You must not continue our mistakes, do not follow our paths. Do not repeat out sins."
The Arbiter felt consciousness fade around him as the room sifted. The voice still echoing in his mind.
Do not repeat our sins. Do not repeat our sins. Do not repeat...
-----------------------------------
Flames lashed out at his body as his eyes snapped open. Shouting in surprise he rolled away from the heat, only to discover it was all around him.
"Arbiter!" Cortana exclaimed from somewhere inside the cockpit. He forced his eyes closed against the heat. His left arm was sending unending pain through his nervous system, informing him that he had been burnt severely.
"Do something about these flames!" the Arbiter bellowed, his throat producing a rough parched voice that sent him into a hacking fit. He began to breathe in the smoke the fire produced which sent him into a body-wracking heaving fit. His lungs were burning in his chest, and he knew that unless he got out of the smoke-filled room he would soon suffocate.
"Wait a moment," Cortana said, and in a few seconds Halon began to fill the room, squashing most of the flames. The cockpit doors opened and the oxygen vents began venting the smoke out of the cockpit. In less than a minute the air was breathable once again.
"What's the ships status?" he asked, lifting himself off the ground to slump against the copilot's seat.
"Structural integrity 13%, thruster's offline, massive damage to gravity lift, fires aboard hulls two through four. Engines are critical and the power core has a fracture. For all intents and purposes we are dead in space."
"Are the others still at the rendezvous?"
"Yes, but communications are offline, and our current trajectory will carry us past them."
Honor Without Mercy will stay at the rendezvous for only a short while longer. We must link up with them if we are going to have any hope of surviving.
The Arbiter accessed the controls from the copilot's seat, ignoring the stinging pain in his arm.
"Bring the engines up to 7% efficiency and prepare to activate a slow turn towards Honor Without Mercy," he ordered.
"If the engines are powered for more than 4 minutes this ship will tear itself apart," Cortana warned.
"We'll have to take that risk, Construct," the Arbiter said. Cortana was silent for a moment.
"Engines online."
The Arbiter exhaled loudly and brought the ship into a slow bank that would bring them into contact with the others.
---------------------------------
'Give me a status Johnson,' Keyes voice ordered over the battle net.
Sergeant Johnson held up his fist signaling the others to hold up.
"We've cleared alpha and omega deck, ma'am; we're on our way to link up with the other team handling the lower decks."
'Major Ekaporamee is handling Flood containment on deck three; I need you to head over there and see what's keeping him from answering his radio.'
"Roger that," Johnson acknowledged as he got back to his feet. "Slight change of plans guys, were heading up to deck three to check on the Major."
The three Elites, a pair of Hunters, and a squad of Grunts gave their understanding and followed Johnson as they changed directions and headed east.
Flood resistance had been weaker than expected. Aside from a few scattered engagements there had been sparse action so far, which did nothing to set them at ease. If anything it made the stress more evident on everyone's faces.
Johnson ran a hand briefly across his brow, taking the time to adjust the Marine Corps cap on his head. The Covenant Dissidents, as he had now begun to refer to the Elites, Hunters, and Grunts, were still not adjusted to his presence but at least they did not seem to be hostile anymore. He had risked his neck more than once to save several of them that had gotten sloppy and nearly been pierced by a carrier form.
Though the fighting had been sparse, the Flood still proved to be a skilled opponent. They set traps and lured them into tight quarters where it was easy to bunch up and become swarmed. Johnson knew that if not for the invulnerability to the Flood that he possessed, he might already have been killed by now. The regenerative properties the infectious form had left in him on the first installation had been a blessing. Skilled soldier though he may be, the number of battles that he had participated in should have put a death sentence on his head.
Battle was what defined Sergeant Johnson though and if he had his way; he would fire the last shot of the last war.
They crossed up to the third deck and followed Johnson as he continued towards the navigation indicator of the Major's last known whereabouts. Once he was within 15 feet of the indicator, Johnson felt something akin to a tingle run down his spine.
"Hold up," he ordered quickly as he lent against the wall. A veteran soldier knows not to take such instances lightly, especially when they had kept him alive through countless battles.
Keeping his grip tight on the rifle, he took several cautionary steps towards the doors that led into the next room. The feeling seemed to become more and more evident the closer he got to the navigation indicator.
"There's something in the next room," Johnson informed the others, then pointed to the pair of Hunters. "You two go on point and be prepared for anything. I don't think were dealing with just the Flood here."
The Hunters assumed point and didn't waste any time charging into the next room. Johnson followed close behind, his eyes fixated on where the nav point was. As he expected the major wasn't there, but there was certainly a great deal of blood. As he shifted his gaze Johnson got his first good look at the room.
It was easily the largest hull on the ship, spanning nearly a kilometer in length. The design was ceremonial, and once again Johnson found himself wondering why the Covenant had to always create so much circumstance whenever they did something.
His musings were cut off however, when his eyes fell on what was situated at the end of the chamber.
"What the fuck?"
----------------------------------
Jan knew she had to have been crazy when she asked to give the Spartan a lift back to Cairo station. The chances of some military official asking what the hell a 17 year old girl was doing driving a Spartan around were probably pretty high. What made her even more crazy, was that she wanted to stay with the Spartan instead of returning to the yacht with Kevin and the others.
Fighting in space, driving around just waiting for a Covenant ship to obliterate her with one shot, was not the way she wanted to fight. Fighting with a gun in her hands was just about the only usefulness she'd have in this war. That was why she'd told Kevin that she wouldn't be coming back after dropping the Spartan off. Durga was going to continue supplying them with information, which was pretty much the real reason she'd been asked to come along in the first place.
"Thanks for the lift," the Spartan said as he got up from the co-pilots seat and began to exit out the back.
"Wait a sec!" Jan called after him as she hastily unclipped herself and followed after him. The Spartan was standing with an air of impatience, though it was hard to tell since she couldn't see his face.
"Something wrong?" the Spartan asked.
Jan suddenly found the floor very interesting as she fidgeted with the hem of her shirt.
Why the hell am I acting like such a stupid ditzy schoolgirl for? He's a goddamn Spartan, its not like I need to skirt around the issue.
"I would like to continue on with you. I'm more use as a soldier than a pilot."
The Spartan stared at her a moment before turning away.
"Its too dangerous, go back to your friends."
"Ah, hey at least give it some consideration!" Jan shouted as she hopped down out of the Pelican to follow him. The Spartan stopped, turned and looked intently at her.
"There, I've considered it. Still too dangerous, go home," the Spartan said simply. Though Jan knew better, she swore there was a hint of amusement in his deadpan voice.
"But, um...ah," she struggled for something to say before falling on the perfect excuse. "You owe me!"
The Spartan looked down at her and seemed to shake his head. Jan wasn't much for getting talked down to, even if it was a Spartan.
"Don't shake your head at me buddy. If it weren't for me pulling your mangled corpse off the Pelican when I did you would have died. I think I'm entitled to a little leeway here."
There was a long silence as the Spartan considered her words, or at least that's what Jan was hoping he was doing.
"Fine, but don't expect this to be a walk in the park."
Jan inwardly cheered over the victory but placed a solemn look on the outside.
"I can hold my own."
The Spartan merely turned and continued on his way, Jan tailing close behind. The Cairo Station had taken quite a beating for the past few days, and maintenance crews were scrambling to get it patched up for whenever the Covenant decided to rejoin the fight. Jan and the Spartan were forced to cross several maintenance walkways as they headed for the bridge.
"I'm Jan James by the way," Jan said, realizing that she hadn't introduced herself yet. The Spartan gave no sign of having heard her. "Um, do you have a last name, or rank?"
"Master Chief," he responded shortly. Jan came to the conclusion that the Spartan wasn't one to mince words.
"Master Chief, got it," Jan said, nodding self-consciously. "You can just call me Jan."
"Fine," the Master Chief responded, entering the next room and after seeing what was inside, decided to pick up his pace. Jan hastened after him, confused, until she saw the other soldiers. They were ODST soldiers, if her memory of military units was correct, and from the way they were glaring at the Chief they obviously didn't think too highly of him.
"Would you look at that," one soldier remarked to another close by, just loud enough for them to hear. "We risk our balls protecting the MAC guns while he's out gallivanting around picking up some entertainment for later."
Jan was already turning to let the jackass have it the second the words left his mouth, but was stopped when a hand clamped down on her shoulder.
"Let it go," the Master Chief warned, but Jan shook him off and stalked up to the soldier.
"Excuse me," Jan said, her voice purposely sweet. "I couldn't help overhearing your observations there, and I was wondering if I might be able to help clear a few things up."
The ODST looked at her in amusement before smirking and motioning his hands.
"Go right ahead."
She grabbed his outstretched left hand and had firmly planted her elbow in his solar plexus while she pivoted on her right foot and hefted the soldier, flinging him over her shoulder to slam into the bulkhead. The soldier that had been the recipient of the others comment took a wild swing at Jan but his fist was knocked aside and she kicked him hard in the pubic arch. She didn't hit it hard enough to crack the bone, but he would certainly be sitting funny for the next couple of days.
"Anyone else got something to say?" Jan asked the other ODST's, who were too surprised to really offer an opinion. She smiled sweetly at them and walked briskly back to where the Master Chief stood waiting for her.
"Your pretty good," he said as they resumed walking.
"You should see me with a weapon," Jan said, her voice smooth and confident. They walked in silence for a while before she remembered something that had bothered her. "So why aren't you liked by the regular soldiers?"
The Master Chief was silent but then let loose something akin to a sigh.
"I have no problem with the regular Marines, it's the ODST's that have a problem with me," he explained.
"Well that's bullshit, what's their problem? An inferiority complex?" Jan asked, surprised that the thought of some group of soldiers despising the Spartan simply because of his skills made her so upset.
"Its not their fault," the Master Chief said, surprising her. "They're trained to believe that their the best there is. Something that challenges that belief, especially a controversial group of soldiers like the Spartans will most likely cause for some conflict."
"But what does it matter who's best?" Jan asked. "Aren't we all fighting for the same cause? Who the hell cares about that stuff?"
The Master Chief didn't comment right away, and Jan was sure that if he wasn't wearing that helmet she'd see a smile plastered on his face.
"There are many who wished the Spartan 2.0 project would never have seen the light of day, Jan," he explained, using her name for the first time. "If it wasn't for the outbreak of the Covenant war than I doubt us Spartans would have been around for very long."
Jan was silent, trying to understand the implications of what the Master Chief was telling her. Maybe her dad hadn't been so paranoid as she thought.
"But that should be all moot now right? The Spartans are what's keeping us alive in this war, your track record is the best in the entire military. You guys are invincible."
"No," the Master Chief said, so forcibly that Jan was taken aback. "We aren't invincible. The Office of Naval Intelligence has put on a propaganda campaign to keep the true facts of the war out of civilian knowledge. When Reach fell, nearly all of the Spartans were killed. The remaining Spartans died making the trip back to Earth and fighting the Covenant above Earth."
"What?" Jan felt the color drain from her face. "You're the last one?"
The Master Chief didn't respond, he merely increased his pace as they neared the bridge. Jan followed him, speechless, her mind repeating his words over and over again.
"Ah Master Chief, its good to see you."
Jan quickly came back to reality and looked around. They were now standing in the bridge of the Cairo station. The man addressing the Master Chief stood at the far end of the room glancing at a hologram of the stations infrastructure.
"Its good to be back sir," the Master Chief said, his hand snapping reflexively up into a salute.
"When that Forerunner ship exploded and then disappeared we were worried that you'd been killed," Admiral Hood said, waving them over. He noticed Jan for the first time. "Who is this?"
"A civilian sir," the Master Chief said bluntly. "She picked me up in a Pelican before I hit reentry in Earth."
"Good work young lady," the Admiral smiled. "You've protected our greatest asset."
"Yeah," Jan remarked, uncomfortable with the attention. She wasn't impressed with the military itself, but this admiral seemed to almost command respect with his persona.
"Have you been brought up on what's happened so far?" the Admiral asked, turning his attention back to the Chief.
"I received a brief run through sir."
"I'll take you through again just to bring you up to speed then," Admiral Hood said, moving towards the hologram map of the defenses surrounding Earth. "About four hours before that Forerunner ship showed up, a Covenant armada entered the far end of the system from Slip Space. We had mopped up the previous force the a few hours earlier and were in the middle of repairs when they arrived."
Admiral Hood retrieved a pointer and used it to indicate several of the MAC guns.
"I ordered the realignment of two new MAC guns to replace the Malta and the Athens. They were in position just as the Covenant were upon us. The force was once again smaller than I expected, but they were tenacious, almost as if they wanted to destroy the Orbital Defense Grid completely this time before moving onto Earth. I suppose they wanted to make way for that Forerunner ship you arrived in. Despite the relatively small size of the armada, we were taking a pounding. It looked like we were going to lose the MAC guns when you showed up in that ship."
The Admiral said a series of coordinates to a Yeoman nearby and the image changed, this time showing a large cluster of Covenant ships at the end of the system.
"When you set off that explosion aboard the Forerunner ship, it through all communications out of commission for almost five minutes, which sent the Covenant ships into disarray. We started to gain the upper hand but when that subsequent explosion occurred, the Covenant backed off. They've been waiting at the end of the system for a few hours, and our scanners are showing their communicating like crazy with one another."
"Most likely trying to find the Forerunner ship," the Master Chief commented.
"That's what were assuming too," Admiral Hood nodded. "As much as I'd like to chase the bastards right into the hell were barely managing repairs as it is. When they decide to jump back into the fight were going to be in a tight spot."
Admiral Hood turned to the Master Chief and pointed at him.
"That's where you come in Chief. I can't spare any troops right now to delay the Covenant fleet from jumping back into battle, so I'm sending you. With the Covenant in disarray it should be possible to get in close enough with a Pelican or maybe a Longshore fighter and board one of their destroyers. Once your inside I want you to do what you can to keep the Covenant from returning to battle, and whatever information you can gather about the whereabouts of that Forerunner ship too."
The Master Chief snapped another salute and bellowed out, "Yes sir!"
As the Chief turned to leave the Admiral laid a hand down on his shoulder.
"Once we've taken care of the fleet, I'll authorize one of our carriers to head to the coordinates you gave me where the other Halo Installation was and we'll retrieve all the survivors," the Admiral said, his voice gruff but soft. "ONI won't like it, but by the time I get around to informing them the ship will probably be on its way back home."
"Thank you sir," the Master Chief said, and Jan could tell he really meant it. The emotion in that simple phrase was so deep that she began to wonder if the classification of Spartans as cold, calculated killing machines was off target.
They exited the bridge and began the long trek back to the Pelican.
"I suppose you'll need a driver again right?" Jan asked, trying to keep the hopefulness off her features.
The Master Chief stopped completely this time, and regarded her.
"You do realize that this is not going to be a mission that even I expect to survive right?" he asked. Jan nodded and smiled at him. "Alright then, we'll get you suited up and grab some gear before heading out."
Jan nodded, but suddenly realized that she was actually heading into combat. As much as she had wanted this, being faced with the actual situation, she found herself coming up short.
"Don't worry," the Master Chief's voice startled her. "You'll be alright."
She smiled to herself. As gruff and unfeeling as he may of liked to appear, Jan could see that he had more emotions than he liked to show. His strength may have lain in his training, but to be the last of his kind, he had to have known true loneliness, something Jan felt she could empathize with.
They may have been completely different from one another, but high above Earth, heading out towards certain death, Janissary James and the Master Chief found a kinship neither of them expected.
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