THE STORY SO FAR:
After the death of the Prophet of Truth, the Covenant fell into chaos. With the destruction of the Gravemind, the allied Humans and Elites brought the Flood under control.
It seemed like the war was finally over and peace could settle after decades of strife.
But this was not to be, from the disarrayed ranks of Covenant emerged a figure known only as: The Prophet of Illusion.
He was able to rally the scattered Covenant forces into a substantial military power, elevating a loyal representative of each race to the honored rank of "High One." These he used as emissaries to their own, to convey his orders and lift morale.
Taken aback, the Humans and Elites retreated back to their homeworlds, hoping they have enough time to prepare for this new threat. Once again, colonies were lost to the growing forces of the Covenant. But this time worlds on which the Elite resided were also attacked.
[14 months after the destruction of the Ark]
In a small system a sparsely colonised planet orbits its glowing red sun. Near this planet a wreck of the Human/Covenant war floats through space, a silent ghost, a reminder of the past. Suddenly, a fleet of strange ships comes out of light-speed. Heading towards the colony, tiny shapes detach themselves from the hulls of the massive cruisers, which open fire, filling up the planet's surface with beams of energy. Even the civilian transports trying to leave the planet, are ruthlessly destroyed.
In the crossfire the wreck is hit and starts hurtling towards the planets' surface.
"Chief, Chief! Can you hear me?" Cortana's voice was filled with worry as she tried to bring round the motionless figure, lying inside the cryochamber.
"Thank goodness," she sighed when she saw him look around with his helmeted head.
Cortana was an AI construct. Artificial intelligence that was designed to run the massive ships that were used to traverse space. But in the past few months she had not run spaceships, instead she had been inside the Master Chief's MJOLNIR battle suit. So that she would not be captured by the Covenant when they attacked the Pillar of Autumn. She had spent time inside the systems of the first Halo an ancient doomsday machine made by the Forerunner. She had also been in the systems of a Flood infested ship, suffering the Gravemind's constant probing.
"Come on, move it!" She urged as the massive figure emerged from its resting-place. "The Covenant are attacking this colony, we were caught in the crossfire in orbit and crashed here while you were still asleep." Grabbing the chip which housed her, he inserted her into his armour's system.
"Go through the armoury, it's the fastest way out of here," was the first thing he heard as her consciousness was transferred.
Things began falling apart. Pipes in the walls erupted, filling the passages with hot steam and fire. The Master Chief's armoured figure sped through the chaos, his cybernetic implants giving him superhuman speed and strength; shrapnel from the surrounding explosions burning up in the armour's energy-shields. Grabbing one of the assault-rifles from the racks in the armoury he rammed his armoured shoulder into a damaged door and crashed into the charred earth beyond.
Struggling to his feet he sprinted into a nearby cave, diving into cover as the wreck behind him exploded with an earth splitting boom.
Darkness, the entrance of the cave had collapsed when the explosion shook the earth. But among the rocks: movement.
Pushing aside the fallen debris the Master Chief emerged once again, against all odds.
"Don't ever do that again," Cortana's voice reprimanded.
Picking up the dropped gun he switched on the torches attached to his helmet, to see if there was a way out of the cave.
As if reacting to the torchlight the cave was suddenly illuminated by variously sized purple crystals: some small as salt grains, others as tall as the cave-roof.
Experience had taught the Chief caution and he proceeded carefully through the purple-lit cave, searching for an exit.
The husk of a structure blocked the exit, which was obviously of alien design. As he got closer to the ruin he heard harsh voices coming from beyond, speaking in a barbaric dialect.
"I'm picking up Covenant chatter," Cortana's voice said inside his head, "this is supposed to be the first combined human/elite. This is a forward base the Covenant siezed to establish a hold on this world," after a thoughtful silence she continued: "if it's a colony there will be civilians."
Going to the ruined wall he examined it for a while, then picked up his gun and calmly smashed the butt of it into a cracked section. Sending fragments flying into the faces of those on the other side.
Private Jason was frightened, never had he felt so helpless. He and his squad had been sent here along with a few others to oversee the construction of the new colony. But they had been far from ready for what was to come.
The Covenant fighters ripped their armour emplacements to shreds and without tanks they were defenceless against the swarms of ghosts and infantry that assaulted the settlements.
After a few hours only pockets of resistance remained. Then the brutes had found him, among the dead and dying. That's how he landed up here; with little hope of survival.
With a crash the wall opposite Jason erupted, showering him with dust and pebbles. Automatic gunfire ripped through the nearby grunts. The Covenant, caught off-guard by the sudden onslaught; were ripped to shreds.
The brute chieftain tried to rally his forces but was caught off-guard, when assault-rifle rounds slammed into his ceremonial armour. Roaring with rage he hefted his gravity-hammer but was still sent reeling by the attack launched upon him by the figure that flew out of the settling dust.
The private gasped when he finally cleared enough dust out of his eyes to see, the figure he beheld was one of the legendary, thought to be extinct Spartan-II's.
As the wall collapsed, the Master Chief fired some rounds into the smoke. Hearing the brute chieftain call out, he shot into that direction and charged in.
As the brute readied himself to face the unseen foe, but it was not enough to stop the sudden charge of the Master Chief. Running up to the brute he lifted his gun and launched himself off the ground, hitting the chieftain in the crest of his head-dress as he came down. Grunting with pain he swung his hammer to where the chief's head was supposed to be, who ducked just in time for the blow to miss him. The armour-clad cyborg retaliated with a punch of his fist, the brute cried out in pain as the energy-shields burned into him. Seeing the alien's pain he drove on his attack and brought up his assault-rifle in an arc that hit the chieftain in the throat, crushing his windpipe.
The power of the blow sent the creature over backwards, wheezing to catch its breath. As the Master Chief finished it off with a bullet to the head.
Staring at him out of the wreckage were some marines. Open-mouthed they gaped up at the living legend. Finally one of them stood up and saluted to the Master Chief. "Thank you for saving us, sir," he stammered, "everybody thought you died in the portal, so welcome back from the dead, sir."