HALO: To Hell and Back
Disclaimer: Halo belongs completely to Bungie and Microsoft, and I along with a billion other gamers around the world thank them for putting together such an outstanding game. The characters all belong to them, all the original Spartans, all the book characters and the game itself. I have taken creative liberties with where I think the storyline could go and so I hope everyone can enjoy the work since I am not trying to make a profit, but instead just trying to write a good, entertaining story. Thanks to Eric Nylund for writing such intense books and giving me lots of information to base my own feeble attempts at writing on. All the characters I created are completely fictional and so any resemblance to a real person is purely coincidental and non-intentional.
Master Chief and the surviving first generation Spartans get upgraded and meet the second generation of ultimate warriors. These few, along with a fleet of Earth's most advanced warships and their most seasoned divisions of Marines, will attempt the unthinkable. An attack on the Covenant home world in Covenant controlled space, which was previously, and rightly so, thought impenetrable. They do so with the hope to put an end to the most costly war in human history.
Chapter I. Brief Respite
Following the successful but costly defense of Earth, thanks to the daring operations by the Spartans and revolutionary new technologies that finally put UNSC warships on par with the vaunted Covenant fleet, the human race was busy healing its wounds and preparing for a final counterattack.
Civilian life had been put on hold as the entirety of Earth and remaining Inner Colonies was put into action building the new advanced warships, producing combat materials, and training new personnel. The morale of the entire human race was at an all time high and for the first time since first contact, mankind held a decisive advantage.
Thanks to the Halo information and Covenant technology and programs that Cortana brought back revolutionized the human arsenal. Suddenly terran science was propelled hundreds of years into the future with new understandings of how the Covenant utilized their technology, or rather, didn't utilize.
Upon first analyzing Covenant technology, Cortana confirmed that the Covenant themselves had stolen the technology from other races, and did not know how to utilize it to its maximum potential. She also predicted that if the human race had gained enough access to the advanced technology themselves, they could out think the Covenant and turn the tides of the war.
She had been correct. While the Covenant imitated, the human race innovated. They had been forced to adapt throughout the war just to stay alive, and now that scientist, engineers, and technicians had been given the hard data they needed, they had been able to turn out wonders of science never before thought possible. Now the human race held the technological advantage over the Covenant, and the Spartans will turn all hell loose on the aliens to end their threat forever.
0800 Hours Zulu, Sarajevo Base, Nevada desert, Earth.
Master Chief walked briskly down the halls of the Sarajevo Base complex. The fluorescent lights seemed too bright for his unshielded eyes and though fully clothed in combat fatigues, John felt starkly naked without his Mjolnir armor. The techs had taken his armor off several hours before and the Master Chief was anxious to get to his mission briefing and hopefully return to his armor.
After what seemed like a terribly long time of walking through the halls feeling exposed, John reached the loading bay he had been looking for and hit the access button for the door. Twin titanium doors slid sideways and he stepped through into an expansive bay, filled mostly with empty space save for what looked like a tech station and a small gathering area. An admiral that John had never seen before was waiting for him, as well as all his fellow Spartans. They all looked slightly uncomfortable as they were also without their armor.
John came to attention in front of the admiral.
"Spartan-117 reporting as ordered."
The admiral nodded and gestured to where the others were standing.
"Stand at ease Master Chief."
John stood at the front of the small group of Spartans and watched the admiral silently as he rubbed a slightly wrinkled hand over his bald head.
"I'm sorry if I seem a bit fatigued Spartans, but the truth is that I am. This damn war had taken its toll on me, on all of us. But now we are in position to put an end to it all. I'll explain in a minute, but first, I'd like you to meet your new teammates."
The admiral turned and hit the intercom by the door.
"You may enter Black team."
A second set of entry doors hissed open and all the Spartans turned their heads to look at the new arrivals. John was fully expecting a unit of ODSTs to come walking through the doors and was completely unprepared for what he saw.
A large group of black armored figures came striding through the doors. Master Chief and the other Spartans did a double take at these others that apparently wore Mjolnir armor.
"Master Chief, Spartans, I'd like you to meet the second class of graduated Spartans."
The lead armored Spartan pressed the seal releases and pulled his helmet off. All the other black figures followed suit and the Master Chief was confronted by a group of young, hard faces.
"Master Chief, it's an honor to finally meet you and the other Spartans. Spartan-204 reporting."
The young Asian looking Spartan came to attention before John as did the rest of his team, and John quickly acknowledged them.
"What's your name Spartan?"
"Jason sir."
The two warriors shook hands and John marveled at the control the young Spartan exhibited. His hand was hardly pressured in the armored grip, a feat John had not managed to achieve until his third month in armor. But before any further introductions could be made, the admiral stepped forward.
"Now Master Chief, I know you and your team are feeling kind of antsy without your armor, so we'll get you back together now. You'll find quite a few changes to what you're used to, many new advances and abilities. They are in actuality, new suits, but retain the same things that made the Mjolnir armor you used before. So if you and your team would head to those techs, they'll outfit you. We don't have a briefing room to accommodate you all, so once you're ready, we've set up a briefing area over there."
John snapped to attention but the admiral waved him off.
"No need Master Chief, just double time it to the briefing. Our time is precious and there's not a moment to lose."
John nodded and jogged to the waiting techs. His team followed him as the new Spartans followed the admiral to where benches and a projector had been set.
"We have your new suit here Master Chief."
John stepped up to the tech as he wheeled up a large rack with a new black Mjolnir suit on it. It looked basically the same as his old suit, but John noticed several differences. The alloy plates were larger, and less of the interwoven composite material was visible. The shield emitters appeared to be shrouded by a dark surface and no longer glowed. There also appeared to be numerous small nubs inconspicuously placed on the armor's surface, and John wondered was function they might perform.
The tech asked John to strip down so they could prepare him for his neural interface and he did so as he looked at the progress of the rest of his Spartans. Most were also being prepared for interface, but Kelly was already getting her armor fitted to her body. She was always the first at everything, the fastest of them all.
Something cold touched John's neck and he felt the hair on his arms rise as the tech swabbed his neural jack. Soon after, other techs began fitting armor components to his body. John stood silently through the process, only moving when a tech asked him to do so. After about twenty minutes, John was completely encased in his armor, save for his helmet. It was beginning to feel hot in the unpowered suit, but John said nothing.
"Bear with me just a minute longer Master Chief. There're just a few more parts to the power up procedure than before. We'll have you powered in a few more seconds."
John only nodded and seconds later the suit hummed to life as promised. Immediately the internal components cooled against his skin and he felt secure once again. He had been the last to have his suit activated and once he picked up his helmet, his team headed for the briefing area.
The remaining original Spartans numbered only eight now, including John. Only four of twenty seven had survived the devastating, but unavoidable casualties during the defense of Reach and Earth campaigns. But seven other remaining Spartans was a much better figure than when John believed he was the sole remaining Spartan. Three other Spartans who had been engaged far from the major conflicts had finally been recalled and were reunited with their teammates. And now there was another team of super warriors to bolster the UNSC ranks and take the fight to the Covenant.
Master Chief and the older Spartans quickly sat amongst their new teammates, much more comfortable in their armor. Once they were all seated, the admiral stepped up in front of them.
"Well now, we can finally begin. As some of you may know, but probably shouldn't, I am Admiral Cole. I have been here since the very beginning, fighting the damned Covenant. And since the beginning it has been a losing battle. Their technology has always outclassed ours in space, and so we've never been able to really hold our ground against them. Sometimes, many times, we've had to leave good people behind to die, and I'm sick of it! I'm sick of seeing our people and our ships getting pasted by the damned religious heretics."
Admiral Cole slammed his fist down on the table holding the projected and nearly knocked it off the edge. All the Spartans could identify with the Admiral's anger and when he slowly unclenched his fist, many found that their hands were also clenched in rage. The Admiral regained his composure and continued.
"But now the tables have finally turned, and for the first time, truly, it is our turn Spartans."
Cole turned and flicked a switch on the projector and beamed three dimensional images of a fleet of human warships into the air. The ships were clearly from the UNSC fleet, but were of designs and classes that John did not recognize.
"These are the newest additions of the UNSC fleet. All these ships are the pinnacle of advancement and combination of human, Covenant, and Forerunner technologies. We've even utilized certain aspects of Flood biochemistry to enhance the repair capabilities of our ships, and also your suits."
John gave the Admiral a worried look once he mentioned the Flood, but Cole waved a reassuring hand.
"No worries Master Chief, we haven't even seen an actual Flood organism, living or dead. We just used principles of their biology and regenerative capabilities to allow our ships and your armor to mend themselves in combat. This is the information we extracted from that data disk you gave us on the Flood Master Chief. The potential of technology we could extrapolate is enormous, if only we had more information."
John winced slightly on the inside, remembering what he had done with the original disk containing the in depth Flood information, but also remembered Sergeant Avery Johnson and that he was still alive today. He relaxed slightly, but noticed for the first time a new mechanism on the power unit of the Spartan in front of him. Several small antennas jutted up from a small shrouded box and John wondered what function it might perform, but the Admiral beginning again interrupted his thoughts.
"This battle fleet is centered around the Supercarrier Hornet and the three Main Battlecruisers Atlantis, Titan, and Impervious. There are a dozen other cruisers, both light and heavy, as well as numerous destroyers and frigates. The regular carriers Eisenhower II and the Centauri Prime have also been added to the fleet. Now this may not seem like much of a battle fleet, especially against the Covenant, because it numbers only around seventy-five ships. But let me assure you all, these ships have been created to be the finest vessels of war ever to have been seen by mortal eyes, human, Covenant, or otherwise. For the very first time, we have ships that will put anything the Covenant has to shame. Even our simple troop carriers have the defenses and armaments to rate cruiser in a Covenant fleet. But make no mistake Spartans, we will need every on of these ships, and every one of you to win this upcoming battle. Now to explain your mission, here is a friend of mine, and of some of you as well."
Out of another single person door rolled an automated chair bearing a familiar smiling face.
"Greetings Spartans, old and new. I am Fajad, formerly Spartan-022, but now of Naval Intelligence."
John recognized his long lost friend, and fought the urge to run up to him and crush him in a bear huge, but resisted and settled to smile instead.
"You my friends are tasked with the most difficult and important mission ever in the history of mankind. You are to enter Covenant controlled space, and make total war on the Covenant home world. To even attempt a mission such as this has been made possible by our sudden advances in technology. The Covenant never expected us to be able to threaten their home world, and so made no effort to hide its location. Their defenses around the planet are so numerous and powerful, they would invite an open attack on it by our entire combined military force with little to fear. Our recon drones have revealed thousands upon thousands of ships in orbit through out the system."
Fajad clicked a button on the armrest of his chair and the projector cycled images. The image was now a single Covenant cruiser against a backdrop of innumerable stars. John was puzzled. A single cruiser in place of thousands? And it's not even anything special, just like every other cruiser in their fleet. Ordinarily a single cruiser would be an even match for a dozen UNSC destroyers, but even still, a single ship?
"Don't be fooled. Those aren't stars. Those are all Covenant ships."
Upon closer examination, the projection proved Fajad correct. Thousands of cruisers, carriers, and destroyers floated through the image.
"Our plan is to send you, three divisions of our most battle hardened Marines, as well as a division of the roughest ODSTs along with our battle fleet to destroy the Covenant armada, and capture or destroy their home planet. Any questions?"
Fajad smiled and looked at the Spartans who sat silently in awe of their suicide mission.
"Of course we will have to soften their defenses for the fleet, because though our ships are now vastly superior, our fleet would still be very hard pressed to defeat their numbers. And so we are sending eight unmanned troop carriers, each with ten planet buster augmented nukes and an expansion field to hopefully clear our a sizeable portion of their fleets. From that point, you all will be on your own against the full wrath of the Covenant."
Fajad smiled again before clicking the projector back to the UNSC battle fleet. He reached out and touched the graphic representation of the Supercarrier Hornet. The graphic enlarged and split into schematics of the entire ship and its many profiles. The ships crew and Marine complement scrolled down along with a dozen other statistics.
"The Supercarrier Hornet. Fully two miles long, with sixty launching bays, four hundred plasma turrets, a thousand close defense cannon turrets, six hundred laser turrets, and one Super MAC gun. Her armor is ten meters of ablative titanium A with a ceramic plate coating. She has dispersive repulsion shields with interlock capability. Her power plant is the newest generation of nuclear, fusion, and biological power combinations. She carries six wings of Longsword interceptors, Fury attack fighters, and Skyhawk bombers. She also carries two wings of Pelicans and has a troop carrying capacity of eight divisions in addition to her onboard complement of one regiment. Her crew numbers twenty eight hundred and she has hyperspace provisions and life-support to carry her full crew and Marine complement indefinitely. This is just to give you an idea of the heat that our fleet is packing so you don't go into this thinking it's a suicide mission. We fully expect to win."
"Even with all the advancements, what hope do we have against the entire Covenant force? They'll just vaporize our ships the second we jump into their space."
"That's why we're sending the nukes in first. Those should give the fleet some breathing space, then the ships defensive and offensive capabilities will take care of the rest. Just wait John, you'll see."
"Intel is your field. I'll take your word for it."
Fajad and John smiled at each other as the Admiral once again took center stage.
"Ok Master Chief, I'm going to turn you over to Jason and his team to bring you up to speed on the new armor. Those suits of yours can do things you've never even imagined. So be ready."
Cole stood up again and every Spartan immediately stood at attention. They remained that way until the Admiral strode out of the room with Fajad in tow. Then the young Spartan in front of John turned around and smiled.
"I think you're going to love the new suits Master Chief. These really can do things you're not ready for. We'll show some of you vet Spartans a thing or too. But first, I'll need your fastest Spartan."
John smiled at the thought of anyone, old Spartan or otherwise, showing Kelly anything. She was so incredibly fast, not another warrior could touch her.
"Kelly, front and center."
The Spartans all formed a circle as Kelly walked into the middle. She glared at Jason before sealing her helmet to her armor and standing ready.
"Boxer, in the ring."
Another young Spartan, of Asian descent and strikingly beautiful, stepped into the circle and smiled as she sealed her helmet. The two Spartans assumed fighting stances and began circling in the ring.
"Master Chief, I think for it to be fair, your Spartan should start first. And as a matter of fact, I think she should have a teammate or two."
"I think you may be underestimating my team Jason."
"No sir, not at all. It's just that they don't know how to use the suits yet. That's what we're going to teach them to do now. And to best showcase the suits capabilities, the combat scenario should be stacked against it."
"If you say so. Linda, you're up too."
Linda put her helmet on and stepped into the ring. Boxer moved into the center and Kelly and Linda slowly circled around her. Without warning, Linda feinted from the side and Kelly flashed forward to strike Boxer from behind. Kelly's speed was dazzling, and any person, even any Spartan would have been floored. Any Spartan in an old Mjolnir suit.
But Boxer was in a new suit, and fully understood the suit's capabilities. And that suit was about to open the Spartans up to a whole new type of combat. Before Kelly's blow hit her, Boxer's suit distorted then vanished, and Kelly's fist snapped through empty air. Both her and Linda froze in confusion and disbelief.
No way is anyone that fast. She could not have gotten out of the way, and without me seeing her. Nobody is that fast, nobody is faster than me.
Incredible, she dodged Kelly's attack. Nobody could be that fast, Kelly is the fastest around.
Master Chief stared and his eye brows arched in confusion. Then Boxer reappeared above and behind Kelly. Her form was in mid bicycle kick when she blinked back into existence and she completed the motion, slamming her foot into Kelly's helmet. She crumbled under the blow but before she was even falling, Boxer winked out of view again and came back on Linda's shoulders. Linda suddenly had feet wrapped around her neck and was being launched into the air by Boxer's front flip.
Boxer never hit the floor but disappeared again and reappeared directly in Linda's flight path. She launched a massive roundhouse kick at Linda and smashed her out of the air. Linda flipped and crashed into the ground, laying still.
Kelly sprung to her feet and advanced on Boxer with a newfound wariness. Inside her helmet, Boxer smiled as she teleported to behind Kelly once again. But this time Kelly was prepared. The instant she saw Boxer's image distort, she spun low and swept her leg around. True to her anticipation, Boxer materialized right as her leg came around and Kelly took her out.
Master Chief smiled at Kelly's lighting fast adaptation and attack, but instantly returned to staring and Boxer disappeared again before hitting the ground and reappeared above Kelly's head. This time a reverse bicycle kick planted her heel in Kelly's visor and put her down.
Boxer vanished before she landed again and popped into existence right in front of John, standing at ease. John held his ground, not batting an eyelid even though he was thoroughly startled.
"Good enough Boxer, I think they've gotten the idea."
John gathered his composure and nodded to the young Spartan. He smirked as she removed her helmet and Jason cracked a large smile.
"I'm suitably impressed Spartan. These new suits seem to have the goods. Kelly's never been bested in hand to hand combat. Explain."
"Yes sir. See our techies have harnessed the Forerunner teleportation technology and combined it with the new navigational systems that Cortana derived from the Covenant ships."
He pointed to the nubs on Boxer's suit and said, "These are the field emitters. The form a teleportation field over the suit and any marked equipment."
"Now what do you mean by that."
"The suit will transport any equipment that the computer knows you have. You have to put a small marker on it and the suit will know to keep it. Other wise it will get left behind. You can find these markers in a dispenser on the left forearm. And the weapons or equipment have to be within a one yard radius of the suit, otherwise they are outside the field's range. But the whole process is a lot easier with an AI because they can more readily discern what you want to keep and what you don't, even without the markers."
"Ok, so how do you navigate this thing?"
Boxer spun around and Jason pointed to the small antenna box.
"That's the navigation control box. And the beauty of it is that you can simply think of where you want to go. If you can see you target location, visualize it, or have previously been there, then the suit can take you there. You can also enter spacial coordinates just like a slipspace jump. For example we could teleport from the bay of a Pelican to a specific point inside an enemy base if we can see it or know the coordinates. And the suit remembers any location you have previously been and logs the coordinates for later use, so if you visualize one of those places, you will go there."
"Outstanding. And what is the operational range of the suits?"
"Well the technology itself if basically unlimited in its capability and range, but the power required for long jumps is hard for the power plants to furnish at short notice. The suits are calibrated to provide enough power for a thousand kilometer jump max. you could of course change this setting, but the techies foresaw no need for a larger jump than that. This is the most versatile setting to provide for range and combat maneuvers. So we could jump from a ship in high orbit to the planet's surface. And the power requirements are proportional to the distance of the jump, so the smaller the jump, the less power you need. And of course the suit regenerates available jump charge over time, just like your shields. It takes about a standard hour to recharge to maximum power after a complete discharge. So after one max range jump, you would have to wait an hour before doing it again. And combat maneuvers, like Boxer was performing, drain little power. You could perform probably a million before discharging the capacitor."
John nodded his head in approval. The older Spartans were also impressed. Kelly and Linda had since recovered from the bout and were listening eagerly about the technology that had bested the both of them.
"How do we activate the jumps? Just think it?"
"There are two modes of jumping. The first is the mental mode, and all you do is think it. It takes some getting used to, but once you're up to par, you'll be able to replicate what Boxer was doing and show us some new moves as well. The second mode is the voice mode, and it requires a voice command to jump. Simply set the coordinates, then speak your command and you're away. You can activate either on your HUD."
"That's some sharp stuff. Well let's get to training. Younger Spartans, I would appreciate greatly if you could teach us older ones the finer nuances of controlling these suits. We need to mesh our teams together to form the most lethal fighting group to ever exist. The Covenant will pay for all the casualties they've inflicted, on us and on the rest of the human race."
The Spartans all nodded and understood. They would finally be able to pay the Covenant in full for the atrocities they had committed, and for all the people they had killed. It was a final vindication for the older Spartans, and a fulfilling of purpose for the younger.
And so began the training. The new Spartans taught the old about the equipment and capabilities, and vice versa the old taught the new what they knew about the war and the enemy.
The Spartans had transferred to the Hornet for the trip to the Covenant home world and were working on more hand to hand techniques when John had told them about the Brutes. He had faced the powerful warriors and bested them, just barely, on the Unyielding Heirophant. He was in the middle of telling the Spartans about the Brutes terrible strength and ferocity when Jason suddenly perked up.
"Master Chief, if I may interrupt for a minute. I think I have something that may help us against these Brutes, but more specifically against the Elites with plasma swords."
"The floor is yours Petty Officer."
Jason pulled an eight inch black tube from a joint in his armor and snapped it out. The tube telescoped to a twenty one inch baton. It looked to be the basic design of collapsible baton used by police forces in the early twenty first century. John almost laughed as a rifle would prove to be just as effective a club as that small baton.
"Um Petty Officer, I believe you may have misunderstood me when I said that these Brutes are in fact stronger than Spartans in Mjolnir armor. How will a small hand to hand weapon help us? I only beat the one I fought with a grenade to the belly."
Jason smiled as he brandished the baton and twirled it expertly between his fingers.
"No Master Chief, no misunderstanding. There are two parts that will help level the playing field with these Brutes. First, the new suits will boost your strength two fold over the old suits, and second and most importantly is this baton."
John almost laughed until the young Spartan hit an activator on the bottom of the baton. And instant later the baton was alight with glowing plasma. The brightness of the plasma illuminated Jason's face in an eerie glow, even in the brightly lit room.
"Master Chief, I would like to introduce you to the PCW-10 plasma baton. This was developed for us by the boys at R&D to combat the threat that plasma sword Elites posed. We never had a weapon to counter those swords, so the only hope was to kill them before they got to you. Now I've never seen how fast those things moved, but from what Marines have told me they were damn fast, even for a Spartan to fight. So we have these, they will project a plasma field around the baton and counter blows from a plasma sword. You will find that they will cut through most anything, opening up a whole new world of door breaching. And so from what you said about these Brutes, I figured it would be useful to mention now."
Jason deactivated the baton and it immediately reverted back to a plain black stick. He snapped it back down to compact size and reinserted it into the joint of the armor just above the hip. Then he gestured to John to pull his own out, and John reached back and removed the small weapon from the concealed compartment. He snapped it out and activated it in one smooth motion and was instantly holding fiery death in his hand.
"Outstanding. Well you were right Petty Officer, this should level the playing field dramatically."
The Spartans continued training each other on hand to hand combat techniques, and for the better part of a week, only Linda and the three other snipers from the younger class touched a projectile weapon. She tutored them on custom layouts for their sniper rifles that would be most efficient and effective on the battle field, and they would ask questions about certain combat scenarios for her advice.
During the training period, the new and old Spartans embraced each other and formed a tightly knit group, almost identical to the original class. Once again the Spartans were a team and could operate to their maximum effectiveness. The no longer referred to one another as new or old, but just as Spartans, as teammates.
In the second week of the jump to Covenant space, the Spartans began to re-familiarize themselves with their weapons. They all worked on marksmanship in the firing ranges, but also took a special opportunity when the fleet came out of slipspace to repair some damaged equipment on a destroyer. The Spartans took nearly all of their weapons and went EVA to practice their shooting in vacuum and null G.
John watched as his team fired thousands of rounds into the void, targeting small drones that had been launched to facilitate their training. It always seemed odd to John to watch and assault rifle be fired in space and see the muzzle flash, but not hear the attendant report. Will emptied a magazine into a drone at extreme range and blew it to pieces, but was pushed slightly backwards by the recoil. He countered with his thruster pack and was stabilized again just in time to hear Linda mock him.
"You call that marksmanship Will? The worst Marine in the fleet shoots better than that."
She calmly shouldered her sniper rifle and radioed to the cruiser to have another wave of drones launched. At the far end of the cruiser, in one of its first launch bays, a flight of twelve drones flew into space. Well over four kilometers away, the drones only registered to the Spartans as red light in the darkness.
Everyone stopped to watch what would surely be a fantastic display of marksmanship. Linda tracked her first target and calmly fired off her first round. The flight path of the hypersonic sabot round was indiscernible in space for lack of an ionization trail because there was no atmosphere. But before the first drone was destroyed, Linda smoothly fired three more times at second intervals and ejected the spent magazine. She never took her eye away from the scope and locked another in place while following her next target. The first light vanished as she racked the charging handle on the rifle and three more quickly after that. Linda fired another four rounds, each time firing a burst from her thruster pack to keep her stable. Another reload and four more rounds later each drone was destroyed.
Linda slung her rifle over her shoulder and put her hand on her hip as if she were standing on solid ground. Her thruster pack fired and she rotated to face James and everyone knew there was a self-satisfied smirk on her face.
"Now that is good shooting."
The Spartans all clapped, and though it was silent in the void, their cheers and adulation could be heard over the com. She took a moment to bow, a maneuver somewhat difficult to perform in null G and without a solid surface to stand on, but completed the motion with a flourish of her hands.
"Well done Linda. We all feel better knowing we have you covering our backs."
"Now after a display like that, none of us regular Spartans are going to put on a better show. Let's call it a day and head in."
The Spartans all jetted their way to the two waiting Pelicans and jammed themselves inside. It was an extremely tight fit inside the troop bays and the crews could not even close the doors because Spartans were hanging out of the opening. The Pelicans flew back to the carrier and entered a launch bay. As the Pelicans landed and the Spartans debarked, a patrol of Londswords returned to the carrier and set down.
"That means we're going to jump soon Spartans. I want everyone back in the training back and working on teleport drills until 1800 hours. Then break for chow and rest up. Jason, you're with me, we've got to report to the Admiral on the bridge."
The Spartans disappeared as they teleported to the training bay and Jason stepped up next to the Master Chief as he began walking to the bridge. The Spartans avoided jumping to anywhere on the ship except for the training bay because if an unarmored human, or any human for that matter were in the spot a Spartan jumped to, the half ton of Mjolnir armor would violently displace them, probably killing them in the process.
The two Spartans arrived at the bridge several minutes later and stood at attention behind the Admiral after passing the Marine guards outside. They had been ordered to receive their suit AI's for the mission and their presence on the bridge raised the thickness of the atmosphere for the crew. While the crew was all combat veterans, virtually none had seen an armored Spartan up close before. In fact, most all of the crews whom John had served with, had been killed in combat.
The two super warriors dwarfed even the largest people around them. Their black armor stood over two meters and was a stark contrast to the light grays and steel of the bridge.
"Admiral sir, Master Chief and Petty Officer Spartans reporting."
"Stand at ease Spartans, we have your operating AI's and will be giving them to you presently. I would have liked to let every one of your Spartans to have an AI, but we were hard pressed to procure these two and the three for this ship. Additionally every ship in this fleet had to have at least two top grade AI's to run their functions and raise their combat effectiveness so two was all we could get for you."
Cole went to the tech officer's station and pulled two AI chips from the console. He walked back to the Spartans and handed them the chips.
"Master Chief, you've had the pleasure of working with this AI before. She's been relieved of all her Halo, Covenant, and Flood data, and so she will be operating at optimum efficiency again. She's just like new. And Petty Officer, your AI is new to the Spec Ops community, but she's top of the line in combat support and second to none in Games and Theory."
The Spartans gingerly accepted the chips and inserted them into the data ports in their helmets. Once again John felt the liquid chill of an AI intelligence entering his mind and for Jason the new experience was startling.
"Chief, it's nice to see you again. I see your suit is a bit different, some upgrades in here. Should increase your overall combat effectiveness over three hundred percent. The Covenant won't even know what hit them. But it's good to see you're still the same old Master Chief."
"Thank you Cortana. It's good to uh... work with you again. It's been a while."
"Aww Chief, did you miss me? I knew you just couldn't live without me, I am an imperative in your world I'm sure."
"I thought I did before, but now I'm not so sure."
"Well aren't you just the cheeriest person around."
Jason was still adjusting to the new sensation of having another person inside himself with him, and was just as startled when she began talking to him.
"Greetings Petty Officer. My name is Victoria, and I look forward to working with you. It seems you are much more intelligent that the other AI's would have me believe, and Cortana is right, these suits will make you much more combat effective."
"Well thank you Victoria. I was trained by the best, and with the best. So you can expect nothing but the best from me."
"Hmmm... Hubris. I didn't expect that from a Spartan. You sound like a Marine."
"I've spent most of my life beating Marines to be ready for now."
"Don't let it go to your head Spartan. The Covenant have spent millennia wiping out advanced races that didn't suit their liking, and this entire war wiping out Marines."
The Spartan nodded his head in acceptance as another voice came from across the bridge.
"I wouldn't count on the Covies wiping out this Marine ladies. Them and the Flood couldn't do it before, they sure as hell won't do it now."
John turned to face a smiling Sergeant Avery Johnson. He wore a combat armor that John had never seen before that looked like regular Marine armor, but was jet black and had a larger power pack and shield emitters.
"Sergeant, I'm glad you could make it."
"Wouldn't miss this party for the world Master Chief. And you can bank on the Marines being there to cover your ass when you battle junkies run into trouble and cry for Mama."
Johnson smiled again and left the bridge, off to prepare his own unit.
"You can look forward to a lot more help from the Marines this time around Master Chief. They could hold their own against the Covenant before, but now they have armor that makes them as tough as you were in your old Mjolnir armor. Not quite impervious, and no enhancements, but those hard ass Marines can back up what they say now."
"I remember them being tough as nails before Admiral, because they didn't have shields."
"Exactly Master Chief. All the Marines with this fleet are combat veterans and so they still have that mentality. Only now they're better protected and are more combat effective. Imagine what the Covenant is facing now. Four divisions of crack Marines and a new unit of super warriors whom they could kill only at the expense of thousands of their warriors. We're going to take the fight to them. Now get back to training your unit. We have three more days until we arrive in Covenant space."
John and Jason came to attention before the Admiral then disappeared. Cole smiled at the havoc those Spartans would wreak on the enemy before turning back to his work.
The Spartans arrived on what they had previously designated as the teleport arrival pad. All Spartans would jump to there to avoid violently displacing anyone else in the room. Of course the armored Spartans would not be hurt, but it would be an annoying nuisance to experience over and over again.
"Ok Spartans, we have two ladies here who are going to help us take the Covenant down. Now we have three days left, lets train hard to make sure we're ready when we get there. I want rotating groups working on teleporting, weapons, and combat scenarios. Let's get to it."
The Spartans immediately sprung into action and the training bay was a flurry of motion and action as Spartans jumped here and there, throughout the room while sparring with each other. Kelly had mastered the teleport concept and was once again her most dangerous self, but Boxer seemed to be a match for her. Kelly enjoyed her company immensely and the two constantly challenged each other since no others really could and were virtually inseparable.
At the moment, the two were clashing in a sparring section and a few other Spartans watched in amazement as they waited for their turn. Kelly and Boxer were only visible in flashes as they maneuvered to get the best of the other, but it was a draw. The flashed in and out of existence, throwing punches here, kicking there, but never really landing a blow. They anticipated each other far to well and reacted far to quickly to even allow a single blow.
The Spartans continued their grueling training for two more days, and one day from Covenant space, they stopped to be briefed. They sat once again in the briefing seats and projections of Cortana and Victoria stood before them. They were analyzing and designating Covenant defenses as they came across them, but little was known about the alien planet at this point.
"Our main target is this temple. It is located on the eastern tip of the only continent on the planet. Our mission is the jump down and kick open the door for the Marines to storm and occupy the temple. We have also been tasked with taking out the main defenses and critical targets of the temple. For instance we'll be the ones searching out and eliminating all Brute forces in the temple. After gaining access to the temple, this will become our main mission. Our newly ramped up Marines should have no trouble dealing with any of the other Covenant forces."
Victoria moved forward and indicated a large entrance at the base of the temple on the three dimensional schematic. The entrance enlarged and rotated, and presented itself to the assembled Spartans. The door was the standard Covenant design, four matching segments that came together to seal the entrance. Victoria showed the Spartans where the entry controls were and also called up a cross section of the doors.
"Don't even think about using any type of explosive or breaching charge on these doors Spartans, they are ten meters of solid Covenant alloy. The MAC guns on the old UNSC ships would have a hell of a time even denting that. You must activate the door access panels here, by bringing either myself or Cortana to one or the other, so we can tap into the Covenant net and disable their defenses and control their net."
Master Chief committed the information to memory as every other Spartan did, noting potential weaknesses in the Covenant defenses, as well as alternate routes to their objectives. Soon, Cortana took center stage and activated a recording from the suit cameras of the original surviving Spartans. John recognized the combat recordings of his team on the Unyielding Hierophant of the Brutes.
"These are the Covenant Brutes. They are classified as a sort of ceremonial guard. They were present in limited numbers on the Unyielding Hierophant, and ONI informs us to expect at least a battalion inside the temple, and countless more on the planet. It will become your primary mission to eliminate these 'Brute forces' and allow for a smoother take over of the temple. You will also need to respond to any call for assistance by Marine forces in dealing with Brutes."
The hologram projected the image of three high velocity grenades impacting Grace and blowing her in two, her armor no protection against the fearsome weapons. John saw the recording was from Will's suit, and he also saw Will cringe at the sight of their comrade dying again.
"Master Chief, I will leave the tactical decisions up to you and your team, but this is what we have to do, and this is all the information we have at the present. Realize this Spartans, we are in fact going in as blindly as a newborn baby into a blacked out room. We will have to gather intel on the spot and provide pinpoint support for the entire Marine operation. This is a huge workload for a team numbering only fifty five, but I have the utmost certainty that you will succeed."
Cortana and Victoria blinked off as the projector shut down and all the Spartans stood up. John and Jason retrieved their AI disks and reinserted the AI's into their suits. They turned and faced their teammates as Master Chief addressed them.
"Spartans, I realize that we are a newly assembled team, with new Spartans, and old. But the key factor is that we are all Spartans. We all went through the same training and received the same lumps. Some of you have seen combat against the most ferocious enemies mankind has ever faced and survived. So there is no reason why the rest of you should not follow suit. We have the initiative, and we are on the assault. Let it be known to the entire extended universe and its inhabitants, that Spartans are second to none when on the attack. We will strike hard and fast, and leave no doubt that every single enemy we meet will die. Our mission is to save humanity, to make safe the universe so that children can grow without the fear of war, or death. And at this, we must not fail. We shall not fail. Square away your gear. I want the armory checked out, and every single rifle, pistol, shotgun, and rocketlauncher to be cleaned and loaded for combat. Prepare everything, because we will not be coming back for more. Move out."
The Spartans garbed for war and prepared for the mission to end the Covenant. Looks of solid determination came over their faces and they prepared their selves to make total war upon the most dreaded enemy, prepared to fight, and prepared to die.
Disclaimer: Halo belongs completely to Bungie and Microsoft, and I along with a billion other gamers around the world thank them for putting together such an outstanding game. The characters all belong to them, all the original Spartans, all the book characters and the game itself. I have taken creative liberties with where I think the storyline could go and so I hope everyone can enjoy the work since I am not trying to make a profit, but instead just trying to write a good, entertaining story. Thanks to Eric Nylund for writing such intense books and giving me lots of information to base my own feeble attempts at writing on. All the characters I created are completely fictional and so any resemblance to a real person is purely coincidental and non-intentional.
Master Chief and the surviving first generation Spartans get upgraded and meet the second generation of ultimate warriors. These few, along with a fleet of Earth's most advanced warships and their most seasoned divisions of Marines, will attempt the unthinkable. An attack on the Covenant home world in Covenant controlled space, which was previously, and rightly so, thought impenetrable. They do so with the hope to put an end to the most costly war in human history.
Chapter I. Brief Respite
Following the successful but costly defense of Earth, thanks to the daring operations by the Spartans and revolutionary new technologies that finally put UNSC warships on par with the vaunted Covenant fleet, the human race was busy healing its wounds and preparing for a final counterattack.
Civilian life had been put on hold as the entirety of Earth and remaining Inner Colonies was put into action building the new advanced warships, producing combat materials, and training new personnel. The morale of the entire human race was at an all time high and for the first time since first contact, mankind held a decisive advantage.
Thanks to the Halo information and Covenant technology and programs that Cortana brought back revolutionized the human arsenal. Suddenly terran science was propelled hundreds of years into the future with new understandings of how the Covenant utilized their technology, or rather, didn't utilize.
Upon first analyzing Covenant technology, Cortana confirmed that the Covenant themselves had stolen the technology from other races, and did not know how to utilize it to its maximum potential. She also predicted that if the human race had gained enough access to the advanced technology themselves, they could out think the Covenant and turn the tides of the war.
She had been correct. While the Covenant imitated, the human race innovated. They had been forced to adapt throughout the war just to stay alive, and now that scientist, engineers, and technicians had been given the hard data they needed, they had been able to turn out wonders of science never before thought possible. Now the human race held the technological advantage over the Covenant, and the Spartans will turn all hell loose on the aliens to end their threat forever.
0800 Hours Zulu, Sarajevo Base, Nevada desert, Earth.
Master Chief walked briskly down the halls of the Sarajevo Base complex. The fluorescent lights seemed too bright for his unshielded eyes and though fully clothed in combat fatigues, John felt starkly naked without his Mjolnir armor. The techs had taken his armor off several hours before and the Master Chief was anxious to get to his mission briefing and hopefully return to his armor.
After what seemed like a terribly long time of walking through the halls feeling exposed, John reached the loading bay he had been looking for and hit the access button for the door. Twin titanium doors slid sideways and he stepped through into an expansive bay, filled mostly with empty space save for what looked like a tech station and a small gathering area. An admiral that John had never seen before was waiting for him, as well as all his fellow Spartans. They all looked slightly uncomfortable as they were also without their armor.
John came to attention in front of the admiral.
"Spartan-117 reporting as ordered."
The admiral nodded and gestured to where the others were standing.
"Stand at ease Master Chief."
John stood at the front of the small group of Spartans and watched the admiral silently as he rubbed a slightly wrinkled hand over his bald head.
"I'm sorry if I seem a bit fatigued Spartans, but the truth is that I am. This damn war had taken its toll on me, on all of us. But now we are in position to put an end to it all. I'll explain in a minute, but first, I'd like you to meet your new teammates."
The admiral turned and hit the intercom by the door.
"You may enter Black team."
A second set of entry doors hissed open and all the Spartans turned their heads to look at the new arrivals. John was fully expecting a unit of ODSTs to come walking through the doors and was completely unprepared for what he saw.
A large group of black armored figures came striding through the doors. Master Chief and the other Spartans did a double take at these others that apparently wore Mjolnir armor.
"Master Chief, Spartans, I'd like you to meet the second class of graduated Spartans."
The lead armored Spartan pressed the seal releases and pulled his helmet off. All the other black figures followed suit and the Master Chief was confronted by a group of young, hard faces.
"Master Chief, it's an honor to finally meet you and the other Spartans. Spartan-204 reporting."
The young Asian looking Spartan came to attention before John as did the rest of his team, and John quickly acknowledged them.
"What's your name Spartan?"
"Jason sir."
The two warriors shook hands and John marveled at the control the young Spartan exhibited. His hand was hardly pressured in the armored grip, a feat John had not managed to achieve until his third month in armor. But before any further introductions could be made, the admiral stepped forward.
"Now Master Chief, I know you and your team are feeling kind of antsy without your armor, so we'll get you back together now. You'll find quite a few changes to what you're used to, many new advances and abilities. They are in actuality, new suits, but retain the same things that made the Mjolnir armor you used before. So if you and your team would head to those techs, they'll outfit you. We don't have a briefing room to accommodate you all, so once you're ready, we've set up a briefing area over there."
John snapped to attention but the admiral waved him off.
"No need Master Chief, just double time it to the briefing. Our time is precious and there's not a moment to lose."
John nodded and jogged to the waiting techs. His team followed him as the new Spartans followed the admiral to where benches and a projector had been set.
"We have your new suit here Master Chief."
John stepped up to the tech as he wheeled up a large rack with a new black Mjolnir suit on it. It looked basically the same as his old suit, but John noticed several differences. The alloy plates were larger, and less of the interwoven composite material was visible. The shield emitters appeared to be shrouded by a dark surface and no longer glowed. There also appeared to be numerous small nubs inconspicuously placed on the armor's surface, and John wondered was function they might perform.
The tech asked John to strip down so they could prepare him for his neural interface and he did so as he looked at the progress of the rest of his Spartans. Most were also being prepared for interface, but Kelly was already getting her armor fitted to her body. She was always the first at everything, the fastest of them all.
Something cold touched John's neck and he felt the hair on his arms rise as the tech swabbed his neural jack. Soon after, other techs began fitting armor components to his body. John stood silently through the process, only moving when a tech asked him to do so. After about twenty minutes, John was completely encased in his armor, save for his helmet. It was beginning to feel hot in the unpowered suit, but John said nothing.
"Bear with me just a minute longer Master Chief. There're just a few more parts to the power up procedure than before. We'll have you powered in a few more seconds."
John only nodded and seconds later the suit hummed to life as promised. Immediately the internal components cooled against his skin and he felt secure once again. He had been the last to have his suit activated and once he picked up his helmet, his team headed for the briefing area.
The remaining original Spartans numbered only eight now, including John. Only four of twenty seven had survived the devastating, but unavoidable casualties during the defense of Reach and Earth campaigns. But seven other remaining Spartans was a much better figure than when John believed he was the sole remaining Spartan. Three other Spartans who had been engaged far from the major conflicts had finally been recalled and were reunited with their teammates. And now there was another team of super warriors to bolster the UNSC ranks and take the fight to the Covenant.
Master Chief and the older Spartans quickly sat amongst their new teammates, much more comfortable in their armor. Once they were all seated, the admiral stepped up in front of them.
"Well now, we can finally begin. As some of you may know, but probably shouldn't, I am Admiral Cole. I have been here since the very beginning, fighting the damned Covenant. And since the beginning it has been a losing battle. Their technology has always outclassed ours in space, and so we've never been able to really hold our ground against them. Sometimes, many times, we've had to leave good people behind to die, and I'm sick of it! I'm sick of seeing our people and our ships getting pasted by the damned religious heretics."
Admiral Cole slammed his fist down on the table holding the projected and nearly knocked it off the edge. All the Spartans could identify with the Admiral's anger and when he slowly unclenched his fist, many found that their hands were also clenched in rage. The Admiral regained his composure and continued.
"But now the tables have finally turned, and for the first time, truly, it is our turn Spartans."
Cole turned and flicked a switch on the projector and beamed three dimensional images of a fleet of human warships into the air. The ships were clearly from the UNSC fleet, but were of designs and classes that John did not recognize.
"These are the newest additions of the UNSC fleet. All these ships are the pinnacle of advancement and combination of human, Covenant, and Forerunner technologies. We've even utilized certain aspects of Flood biochemistry to enhance the repair capabilities of our ships, and also your suits."
John gave the Admiral a worried look once he mentioned the Flood, but Cole waved a reassuring hand.
"No worries Master Chief, we haven't even seen an actual Flood organism, living or dead. We just used principles of their biology and regenerative capabilities to allow our ships and your armor to mend themselves in combat. This is the information we extracted from that data disk you gave us on the Flood Master Chief. The potential of technology we could extrapolate is enormous, if only we had more information."
John winced slightly on the inside, remembering what he had done with the original disk containing the in depth Flood information, but also remembered Sergeant Avery Johnson and that he was still alive today. He relaxed slightly, but noticed for the first time a new mechanism on the power unit of the Spartan in front of him. Several small antennas jutted up from a small shrouded box and John wondered what function it might perform, but the Admiral beginning again interrupted his thoughts.
"This battle fleet is centered around the Supercarrier Hornet and the three Main Battlecruisers Atlantis, Titan, and Impervious. There are a dozen other cruisers, both light and heavy, as well as numerous destroyers and frigates. The regular carriers Eisenhower II and the Centauri Prime have also been added to the fleet. Now this may not seem like much of a battle fleet, especially against the Covenant, because it numbers only around seventy-five ships. But let me assure you all, these ships have been created to be the finest vessels of war ever to have been seen by mortal eyes, human, Covenant, or otherwise. For the very first time, we have ships that will put anything the Covenant has to shame. Even our simple troop carriers have the defenses and armaments to rate cruiser in a Covenant fleet. But make no mistake Spartans, we will need every on of these ships, and every one of you to win this upcoming battle. Now to explain your mission, here is a friend of mine, and of some of you as well."
Out of another single person door rolled an automated chair bearing a familiar smiling face.
"Greetings Spartans, old and new. I am Fajad, formerly Spartan-022, but now of Naval Intelligence."
John recognized his long lost friend, and fought the urge to run up to him and crush him in a bear huge, but resisted and settled to smile instead.
"You my friends are tasked with the most difficult and important mission ever in the history of mankind. You are to enter Covenant controlled space, and make total war on the Covenant home world. To even attempt a mission such as this has been made possible by our sudden advances in technology. The Covenant never expected us to be able to threaten their home world, and so made no effort to hide its location. Their defenses around the planet are so numerous and powerful, they would invite an open attack on it by our entire combined military force with little to fear. Our recon drones have revealed thousands upon thousands of ships in orbit through out the system."
Fajad clicked a button on the armrest of his chair and the projector cycled images. The image was now a single Covenant cruiser against a backdrop of innumerable stars. John was puzzled. A single cruiser in place of thousands? And it's not even anything special, just like every other cruiser in their fleet. Ordinarily a single cruiser would be an even match for a dozen UNSC destroyers, but even still, a single ship?
"Don't be fooled. Those aren't stars. Those are all Covenant ships."
Upon closer examination, the projection proved Fajad correct. Thousands of cruisers, carriers, and destroyers floated through the image.
"Our plan is to send you, three divisions of our most battle hardened Marines, as well as a division of the roughest ODSTs along with our battle fleet to destroy the Covenant armada, and capture or destroy their home planet. Any questions?"
Fajad smiled and looked at the Spartans who sat silently in awe of their suicide mission.
"Of course we will have to soften their defenses for the fleet, because though our ships are now vastly superior, our fleet would still be very hard pressed to defeat their numbers. And so we are sending eight unmanned troop carriers, each with ten planet buster augmented nukes and an expansion field to hopefully clear our a sizeable portion of their fleets. From that point, you all will be on your own against the full wrath of the Covenant."
Fajad smiled again before clicking the projector back to the UNSC battle fleet. He reached out and touched the graphic representation of the Supercarrier Hornet. The graphic enlarged and split into schematics of the entire ship and its many profiles. The ships crew and Marine complement scrolled down along with a dozen other statistics.
"The Supercarrier Hornet. Fully two miles long, with sixty launching bays, four hundred plasma turrets, a thousand close defense cannon turrets, six hundred laser turrets, and one Super MAC gun. Her armor is ten meters of ablative titanium A with a ceramic plate coating. She has dispersive repulsion shields with interlock capability. Her power plant is the newest generation of nuclear, fusion, and biological power combinations. She carries six wings of Longsword interceptors, Fury attack fighters, and Skyhawk bombers. She also carries two wings of Pelicans and has a troop carrying capacity of eight divisions in addition to her onboard complement of one regiment. Her crew numbers twenty eight hundred and she has hyperspace provisions and life-support to carry her full crew and Marine complement indefinitely. This is just to give you an idea of the heat that our fleet is packing so you don't go into this thinking it's a suicide mission. We fully expect to win."
"Even with all the advancements, what hope do we have against the entire Covenant force? They'll just vaporize our ships the second we jump into their space."
"That's why we're sending the nukes in first. Those should give the fleet some breathing space, then the ships defensive and offensive capabilities will take care of the rest. Just wait John, you'll see."
"Intel is your field. I'll take your word for it."
Fajad and John smiled at each other as the Admiral once again took center stage.
"Ok Master Chief, I'm going to turn you over to Jason and his team to bring you up to speed on the new armor. Those suits of yours can do things you've never even imagined. So be ready."
Cole stood up again and every Spartan immediately stood at attention. They remained that way until the Admiral strode out of the room with Fajad in tow. Then the young Spartan in front of John turned around and smiled.
"I think you're going to love the new suits Master Chief. These really can do things you're not ready for. We'll show some of you vet Spartans a thing or too. But first, I'll need your fastest Spartan."
John smiled at the thought of anyone, old Spartan or otherwise, showing Kelly anything. She was so incredibly fast, not another warrior could touch her.
"Kelly, front and center."
The Spartans all formed a circle as Kelly walked into the middle. She glared at Jason before sealing her helmet to her armor and standing ready.
"Boxer, in the ring."
Another young Spartan, of Asian descent and strikingly beautiful, stepped into the circle and smiled as she sealed her helmet. The two Spartans assumed fighting stances and began circling in the ring.
"Master Chief, I think for it to be fair, your Spartan should start first. And as a matter of fact, I think she should have a teammate or two."
"I think you may be underestimating my team Jason."
"No sir, not at all. It's just that they don't know how to use the suits yet. That's what we're going to teach them to do now. And to best showcase the suits capabilities, the combat scenario should be stacked against it."
"If you say so. Linda, you're up too."
Linda put her helmet on and stepped into the ring. Boxer moved into the center and Kelly and Linda slowly circled around her. Without warning, Linda feinted from the side and Kelly flashed forward to strike Boxer from behind. Kelly's speed was dazzling, and any person, even any Spartan would have been floored. Any Spartan in an old Mjolnir suit.
But Boxer was in a new suit, and fully understood the suit's capabilities. And that suit was about to open the Spartans up to a whole new type of combat. Before Kelly's blow hit her, Boxer's suit distorted then vanished, and Kelly's fist snapped through empty air. Both her and Linda froze in confusion and disbelief.
No way is anyone that fast. She could not have gotten out of the way, and without me seeing her. Nobody is that fast, nobody is faster than me.
Incredible, she dodged Kelly's attack. Nobody could be that fast, Kelly is the fastest around.
Master Chief stared and his eye brows arched in confusion. Then Boxer reappeared above and behind Kelly. Her form was in mid bicycle kick when she blinked back into existence and she completed the motion, slamming her foot into Kelly's helmet. She crumbled under the blow but before she was even falling, Boxer winked out of view again and came back on Linda's shoulders. Linda suddenly had feet wrapped around her neck and was being launched into the air by Boxer's front flip.
Boxer never hit the floor but disappeared again and reappeared directly in Linda's flight path. She launched a massive roundhouse kick at Linda and smashed her out of the air. Linda flipped and crashed into the ground, laying still.
Kelly sprung to her feet and advanced on Boxer with a newfound wariness. Inside her helmet, Boxer smiled as she teleported to behind Kelly once again. But this time Kelly was prepared. The instant she saw Boxer's image distort, she spun low and swept her leg around. True to her anticipation, Boxer materialized right as her leg came around and Kelly took her out.
Master Chief smiled at Kelly's lighting fast adaptation and attack, but instantly returned to staring and Boxer disappeared again before hitting the ground and reappeared above Kelly's head. This time a reverse bicycle kick planted her heel in Kelly's visor and put her down.
Boxer vanished before she landed again and popped into existence right in front of John, standing at ease. John held his ground, not batting an eyelid even though he was thoroughly startled.
"Good enough Boxer, I think they've gotten the idea."
John gathered his composure and nodded to the young Spartan. He smirked as she removed her helmet and Jason cracked a large smile.
"I'm suitably impressed Spartan. These new suits seem to have the goods. Kelly's never been bested in hand to hand combat. Explain."
"Yes sir. See our techies have harnessed the Forerunner teleportation technology and combined it with the new navigational systems that Cortana derived from the Covenant ships."
He pointed to the nubs on Boxer's suit and said, "These are the field emitters. The form a teleportation field over the suit and any marked equipment."
"Now what do you mean by that."
"The suit will transport any equipment that the computer knows you have. You have to put a small marker on it and the suit will know to keep it. Other wise it will get left behind. You can find these markers in a dispenser on the left forearm. And the weapons or equipment have to be within a one yard radius of the suit, otherwise they are outside the field's range. But the whole process is a lot easier with an AI because they can more readily discern what you want to keep and what you don't, even without the markers."
"Ok, so how do you navigate this thing?"
Boxer spun around and Jason pointed to the small antenna box.
"That's the navigation control box. And the beauty of it is that you can simply think of where you want to go. If you can see you target location, visualize it, or have previously been there, then the suit can take you there. You can also enter spacial coordinates just like a slipspace jump. For example we could teleport from the bay of a Pelican to a specific point inside an enemy base if we can see it or know the coordinates. And the suit remembers any location you have previously been and logs the coordinates for later use, so if you visualize one of those places, you will go there."
"Outstanding. And what is the operational range of the suits?"
"Well the technology itself if basically unlimited in its capability and range, but the power required for long jumps is hard for the power plants to furnish at short notice. The suits are calibrated to provide enough power for a thousand kilometer jump max. you could of course change this setting, but the techies foresaw no need for a larger jump than that. This is the most versatile setting to provide for range and combat maneuvers. So we could jump from a ship in high orbit to the planet's surface. And the power requirements are proportional to the distance of the jump, so the smaller the jump, the less power you need. And of course the suit regenerates available jump charge over time, just like your shields. It takes about a standard hour to recharge to maximum power after a complete discharge. So after one max range jump, you would have to wait an hour before doing it again. And combat maneuvers, like Boxer was performing, drain little power. You could perform probably a million before discharging the capacitor."
John nodded his head in approval. The older Spartans were also impressed. Kelly and Linda had since recovered from the bout and were listening eagerly about the technology that had bested the both of them.
"How do we activate the jumps? Just think it?"
"There are two modes of jumping. The first is the mental mode, and all you do is think it. It takes some getting used to, but once you're up to par, you'll be able to replicate what Boxer was doing and show us some new moves as well. The second mode is the voice mode, and it requires a voice command to jump. Simply set the coordinates, then speak your command and you're away. You can activate either on your HUD."
"That's some sharp stuff. Well let's get to training. Younger Spartans, I would appreciate greatly if you could teach us older ones the finer nuances of controlling these suits. We need to mesh our teams together to form the most lethal fighting group to ever exist. The Covenant will pay for all the casualties they've inflicted, on us and on the rest of the human race."
The Spartans all nodded and understood. They would finally be able to pay the Covenant in full for the atrocities they had committed, and for all the people they had killed. It was a final vindication for the older Spartans, and a fulfilling of purpose for the younger.
And so began the training. The new Spartans taught the old about the equipment and capabilities, and vice versa the old taught the new what they knew about the war and the enemy.
The Spartans had transferred to the Hornet for the trip to the Covenant home world and were working on more hand to hand techniques when John had told them about the Brutes. He had faced the powerful warriors and bested them, just barely, on the Unyielding Heirophant. He was in the middle of telling the Spartans about the Brutes terrible strength and ferocity when Jason suddenly perked up.
"Master Chief, if I may interrupt for a minute. I think I have something that may help us against these Brutes, but more specifically against the Elites with plasma swords."
"The floor is yours Petty Officer."
Jason pulled an eight inch black tube from a joint in his armor and snapped it out. The tube telescoped to a twenty one inch baton. It looked to be the basic design of collapsible baton used by police forces in the early twenty first century. John almost laughed as a rifle would prove to be just as effective a club as that small baton.
"Um Petty Officer, I believe you may have misunderstood me when I said that these Brutes are in fact stronger than Spartans in Mjolnir armor. How will a small hand to hand weapon help us? I only beat the one I fought with a grenade to the belly."
Jason smiled as he brandished the baton and twirled it expertly between his fingers.
"No Master Chief, no misunderstanding. There are two parts that will help level the playing field with these Brutes. First, the new suits will boost your strength two fold over the old suits, and second and most importantly is this baton."
John almost laughed until the young Spartan hit an activator on the bottom of the baton. And instant later the baton was alight with glowing plasma. The brightness of the plasma illuminated Jason's face in an eerie glow, even in the brightly lit room.
"Master Chief, I would like to introduce you to the PCW-10 plasma baton. This was developed for us by the boys at R&D to combat the threat that plasma sword Elites posed. We never had a weapon to counter those swords, so the only hope was to kill them before they got to you. Now I've never seen how fast those things moved, but from what Marines have told me they were damn fast, even for a Spartan to fight. So we have these, they will project a plasma field around the baton and counter blows from a plasma sword. You will find that they will cut through most anything, opening up a whole new world of door breaching. And so from what you said about these Brutes, I figured it would be useful to mention now."
Jason deactivated the baton and it immediately reverted back to a plain black stick. He snapped it back down to compact size and reinserted it into the joint of the armor just above the hip. Then he gestured to John to pull his own out, and John reached back and removed the small weapon from the concealed compartment. He snapped it out and activated it in one smooth motion and was instantly holding fiery death in his hand.
"Outstanding. Well you were right Petty Officer, this should level the playing field dramatically."
The Spartans continued training each other on hand to hand combat techniques, and for the better part of a week, only Linda and the three other snipers from the younger class touched a projectile weapon. She tutored them on custom layouts for their sniper rifles that would be most efficient and effective on the battle field, and they would ask questions about certain combat scenarios for her advice.
During the training period, the new and old Spartans embraced each other and formed a tightly knit group, almost identical to the original class. Once again the Spartans were a team and could operate to their maximum effectiveness. The no longer referred to one another as new or old, but just as Spartans, as teammates.
In the second week of the jump to Covenant space, the Spartans began to re-familiarize themselves with their weapons. They all worked on marksmanship in the firing ranges, but also took a special opportunity when the fleet came out of slipspace to repair some damaged equipment on a destroyer. The Spartans took nearly all of their weapons and went EVA to practice their shooting in vacuum and null G.
John watched as his team fired thousands of rounds into the void, targeting small drones that had been launched to facilitate their training. It always seemed odd to John to watch and assault rifle be fired in space and see the muzzle flash, but not hear the attendant report. Will emptied a magazine into a drone at extreme range and blew it to pieces, but was pushed slightly backwards by the recoil. He countered with his thruster pack and was stabilized again just in time to hear Linda mock him.
"You call that marksmanship Will? The worst Marine in the fleet shoots better than that."
She calmly shouldered her sniper rifle and radioed to the cruiser to have another wave of drones launched. At the far end of the cruiser, in one of its first launch bays, a flight of twelve drones flew into space. Well over four kilometers away, the drones only registered to the Spartans as red light in the darkness.
Everyone stopped to watch what would surely be a fantastic display of marksmanship. Linda tracked her first target and calmly fired off her first round. The flight path of the hypersonic sabot round was indiscernible in space for lack of an ionization trail because there was no atmosphere. But before the first drone was destroyed, Linda smoothly fired three more times at second intervals and ejected the spent magazine. She never took her eye away from the scope and locked another in place while following her next target. The first light vanished as she racked the charging handle on the rifle and three more quickly after that. Linda fired another four rounds, each time firing a burst from her thruster pack to keep her stable. Another reload and four more rounds later each drone was destroyed.
Linda slung her rifle over her shoulder and put her hand on her hip as if she were standing on solid ground. Her thruster pack fired and she rotated to face James and everyone knew there was a self-satisfied smirk on her face.
"Now that is good shooting."
The Spartans all clapped, and though it was silent in the void, their cheers and adulation could be heard over the com. She took a moment to bow, a maneuver somewhat difficult to perform in null G and without a solid surface to stand on, but completed the motion with a flourish of her hands.
"Well done Linda. We all feel better knowing we have you covering our backs."
"Now after a display like that, none of us regular Spartans are going to put on a better show. Let's call it a day and head in."
The Spartans all jetted their way to the two waiting Pelicans and jammed themselves inside. It was an extremely tight fit inside the troop bays and the crews could not even close the doors because Spartans were hanging out of the opening. The Pelicans flew back to the carrier and entered a launch bay. As the Pelicans landed and the Spartans debarked, a patrol of Londswords returned to the carrier and set down.
"That means we're going to jump soon Spartans. I want everyone back in the training back and working on teleport drills until 1800 hours. Then break for chow and rest up. Jason, you're with me, we've got to report to the Admiral on the bridge."
The Spartans disappeared as they teleported to the training bay and Jason stepped up next to the Master Chief as he began walking to the bridge. The Spartans avoided jumping to anywhere on the ship except for the training bay because if an unarmored human, or any human for that matter were in the spot a Spartan jumped to, the half ton of Mjolnir armor would violently displace them, probably killing them in the process.
The two Spartans arrived at the bridge several minutes later and stood at attention behind the Admiral after passing the Marine guards outside. They had been ordered to receive their suit AI's for the mission and their presence on the bridge raised the thickness of the atmosphere for the crew. While the crew was all combat veterans, virtually none had seen an armored Spartan up close before. In fact, most all of the crews whom John had served with, had been killed in combat.
The two super warriors dwarfed even the largest people around them. Their black armor stood over two meters and was a stark contrast to the light grays and steel of the bridge.
"Admiral sir, Master Chief and Petty Officer Spartans reporting."
"Stand at ease Spartans, we have your operating AI's and will be giving them to you presently. I would have liked to let every one of your Spartans to have an AI, but we were hard pressed to procure these two and the three for this ship. Additionally every ship in this fleet had to have at least two top grade AI's to run their functions and raise their combat effectiveness so two was all we could get for you."
Cole went to the tech officer's station and pulled two AI chips from the console. He walked back to the Spartans and handed them the chips.
"Master Chief, you've had the pleasure of working with this AI before. She's been relieved of all her Halo, Covenant, and Flood data, and so she will be operating at optimum efficiency again. She's just like new. And Petty Officer, your AI is new to the Spec Ops community, but she's top of the line in combat support and second to none in Games and Theory."
The Spartans gingerly accepted the chips and inserted them into the data ports in their helmets. Once again John felt the liquid chill of an AI intelligence entering his mind and for Jason the new experience was startling.
"Chief, it's nice to see you again. I see your suit is a bit different, some upgrades in here. Should increase your overall combat effectiveness over three hundred percent. The Covenant won't even know what hit them. But it's good to see you're still the same old Master Chief."
"Thank you Cortana. It's good to uh... work with you again. It's been a while."
"Aww Chief, did you miss me? I knew you just couldn't live without me, I am an imperative in your world I'm sure."
"I thought I did before, but now I'm not so sure."
"Well aren't you just the cheeriest person around."
Jason was still adjusting to the new sensation of having another person inside himself with him, and was just as startled when she began talking to him.
"Greetings Petty Officer. My name is Victoria, and I look forward to working with you. It seems you are much more intelligent that the other AI's would have me believe, and Cortana is right, these suits will make you much more combat effective."
"Well thank you Victoria. I was trained by the best, and with the best. So you can expect nothing but the best from me."
"Hmmm... Hubris. I didn't expect that from a Spartan. You sound like a Marine."
"I've spent most of my life beating Marines to be ready for now."
"Don't let it go to your head Spartan. The Covenant have spent millennia wiping out advanced races that didn't suit their liking, and this entire war wiping out Marines."
The Spartan nodded his head in acceptance as another voice came from across the bridge.
"I wouldn't count on the Covies wiping out this Marine ladies. Them and the Flood couldn't do it before, they sure as hell won't do it now."
John turned to face a smiling Sergeant Avery Johnson. He wore a combat armor that John had never seen before that looked like regular Marine armor, but was jet black and had a larger power pack and shield emitters.
"Sergeant, I'm glad you could make it."
"Wouldn't miss this party for the world Master Chief. And you can bank on the Marines being there to cover your ass when you battle junkies run into trouble and cry for Mama."
Johnson smiled again and left the bridge, off to prepare his own unit.
"You can look forward to a lot more help from the Marines this time around Master Chief. They could hold their own against the Covenant before, but now they have armor that makes them as tough as you were in your old Mjolnir armor. Not quite impervious, and no enhancements, but those hard ass Marines can back up what they say now."
"I remember them being tough as nails before Admiral, because they didn't have shields."
"Exactly Master Chief. All the Marines with this fleet are combat veterans and so they still have that mentality. Only now they're better protected and are more combat effective. Imagine what the Covenant is facing now. Four divisions of crack Marines and a new unit of super warriors whom they could kill only at the expense of thousands of their warriors. We're going to take the fight to them. Now get back to training your unit. We have three more days until we arrive in Covenant space."
John and Jason came to attention before the Admiral then disappeared. Cole smiled at the havoc those Spartans would wreak on the enemy before turning back to his work.
The Spartans arrived on what they had previously designated as the teleport arrival pad. All Spartans would jump to there to avoid violently displacing anyone else in the room. Of course the armored Spartans would not be hurt, but it would be an annoying nuisance to experience over and over again.
"Ok Spartans, we have two ladies here who are going to help us take the Covenant down. Now we have three days left, lets train hard to make sure we're ready when we get there. I want rotating groups working on teleporting, weapons, and combat scenarios. Let's get to it."
The Spartans immediately sprung into action and the training bay was a flurry of motion and action as Spartans jumped here and there, throughout the room while sparring with each other. Kelly had mastered the teleport concept and was once again her most dangerous self, but Boxer seemed to be a match for her. Kelly enjoyed her company immensely and the two constantly challenged each other since no others really could and were virtually inseparable.
At the moment, the two were clashing in a sparring section and a few other Spartans watched in amazement as they waited for their turn. Kelly and Boxer were only visible in flashes as they maneuvered to get the best of the other, but it was a draw. The flashed in and out of existence, throwing punches here, kicking there, but never really landing a blow. They anticipated each other far to well and reacted far to quickly to even allow a single blow.
The Spartans continued their grueling training for two more days, and one day from Covenant space, they stopped to be briefed. They sat once again in the briefing seats and projections of Cortana and Victoria stood before them. They were analyzing and designating Covenant defenses as they came across them, but little was known about the alien planet at this point.
"Our main target is this temple. It is located on the eastern tip of the only continent on the planet. Our mission is the jump down and kick open the door for the Marines to storm and occupy the temple. We have also been tasked with taking out the main defenses and critical targets of the temple. For instance we'll be the ones searching out and eliminating all Brute forces in the temple. After gaining access to the temple, this will become our main mission. Our newly ramped up Marines should have no trouble dealing with any of the other Covenant forces."
Victoria moved forward and indicated a large entrance at the base of the temple on the three dimensional schematic. The entrance enlarged and rotated, and presented itself to the assembled Spartans. The door was the standard Covenant design, four matching segments that came together to seal the entrance. Victoria showed the Spartans where the entry controls were and also called up a cross section of the doors.
"Don't even think about using any type of explosive or breaching charge on these doors Spartans, they are ten meters of solid Covenant alloy. The MAC guns on the old UNSC ships would have a hell of a time even denting that. You must activate the door access panels here, by bringing either myself or Cortana to one or the other, so we can tap into the Covenant net and disable their defenses and control their net."
Master Chief committed the information to memory as every other Spartan did, noting potential weaknesses in the Covenant defenses, as well as alternate routes to their objectives. Soon, Cortana took center stage and activated a recording from the suit cameras of the original surviving Spartans. John recognized the combat recordings of his team on the Unyielding Hierophant of the Brutes.
"These are the Covenant Brutes. They are classified as a sort of ceremonial guard. They were present in limited numbers on the Unyielding Hierophant, and ONI informs us to expect at least a battalion inside the temple, and countless more on the planet. It will become your primary mission to eliminate these 'Brute forces' and allow for a smoother take over of the temple. You will also need to respond to any call for assistance by Marine forces in dealing with Brutes."
The hologram projected the image of three high velocity grenades impacting Grace and blowing her in two, her armor no protection against the fearsome weapons. John saw the recording was from Will's suit, and he also saw Will cringe at the sight of their comrade dying again.
"Master Chief, I will leave the tactical decisions up to you and your team, but this is what we have to do, and this is all the information we have at the present. Realize this Spartans, we are in fact going in as blindly as a newborn baby into a blacked out room. We will have to gather intel on the spot and provide pinpoint support for the entire Marine operation. This is a huge workload for a team numbering only fifty five, but I have the utmost certainty that you will succeed."
Cortana and Victoria blinked off as the projector shut down and all the Spartans stood up. John and Jason retrieved their AI disks and reinserted the AI's into their suits. They turned and faced their teammates as Master Chief addressed them.
"Spartans, I realize that we are a newly assembled team, with new Spartans, and old. But the key factor is that we are all Spartans. We all went through the same training and received the same lumps. Some of you have seen combat against the most ferocious enemies mankind has ever faced and survived. So there is no reason why the rest of you should not follow suit. We have the initiative, and we are on the assault. Let it be known to the entire extended universe and its inhabitants, that Spartans are second to none when on the attack. We will strike hard and fast, and leave no doubt that every single enemy we meet will die. Our mission is to save humanity, to make safe the universe so that children can grow without the fear of war, or death. And at this, we must not fail. We shall not fail. Square away your gear. I want the armory checked out, and every single rifle, pistol, shotgun, and rocketlauncher to be cleaned and loaded for combat. Prepare everything, because we will not be coming back for more. Move out."
The Spartans garbed for war and prepared for the mission to end the Covenant. Looks of solid determination came over their faces and they prepared their selves to make total war upon the most dreaded enemy, prepared to fight, and prepared to die.