Disclaimer: I do not own Halo or any of the characters, vehicles, ships ect ect mentioned other than those created by me. This will be my take on a semi-AU Halo 3 that starts at the dead end of Halo 2 and begins only a few hours after the events of the level "Great Journey".
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Halo 3 – Finishing a Fight
Chapter 1
Installation 05 (UNSC codename "Delta Halo")
Much had happened since the fall of Tartarus at end of the battle for control of the second Halo Ring. So many lives (Human, Elite, Brute and other Covenant races) had been lost in this somewhat pointless fight. The Flood had controlled enough of the Ring to effectively keep it for themselves and without a Monitor around to handle the containment procedures, the fifth Halo Ring had been lose. However many gained joy in the fact that the Flood themselves could not light the Ring. No that ability was held by only one race that fought in the battle: Humanity.
Joy, or rather hope and salvation, was found on that very Ring in the shape of the the very fragile alliance that had been made between the former Covenant species known as the Sangheili, which were known to the UNSC as the "Elites", the name the race itself found to be very respectful as it meant the Humans recognised their superior skills and ability compared to the other races of the Covenant. Now that same race had made peace with what were once enemies in order to stop the madness that was the Covenant Loyalists and their mad leader, the Prophet of Truth.
Now the real fight had begun.
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Elite Assault Carrier Seeker of Divine Glory
In Orbit of Installation 05
To say that the "beds" used by the Elites were uncomfortable were an understatement. Commander Miranda Keyes sat up on the hard surface and glanced across the room where the figure of Avery Johnson was standing against the wall of the room they had been "escorted" to as soon as the they had arrived with the Arbiter and Fleet Master Rtas 'Vadum, who now commanded the Fleet of Retribution, the first fleet of the newly formed Sangheili Fleet.
The Arbiter, whose true "name" was Thel 'Vadam, was the most committed to the alliance between the Sangheili and the Humans, at least for his people. Miranda herself was all for the alliance so long as it stopped Truth from firing the Rings. She sighed to herself as she looked down at the ground, thinking about how in some way this was her fault. Sure Tartarus had been the one to force her hand to activate the Ring below using the Activation Index however she had pulled the Index out and unintentionally put all Rings into a "ready-to-fire"-state. Now the Ark, whatever that was, was now the most important location in the galaxy. A location the UNSC and Elites had to find fast. The noise of the door sliding opened bought her out of her thoughts as the Arbiter walked into the room.
The silver armor-clad Elite gave a small nod to Johnson before turning to Miranda. The news he had to tell was not very good, "Truth has flung all his forces into an assault on your homeworld. From what we, the Elites, heard before the Brutes started to slaughter us the news is not good for your planet. Most of your orbital defense platforms had been destroyed and your fleet is fighting a losing battle. With the Forerunner Dreadnaught at his command, Truth will no doubt breakthrough your race's defenses and proceed with whatever it is he has in mind.", his mandibles dropped down in what could be considered the Elite-equivalent of frowning.
Miranda hung to every word. Hoping by chance that some miracle had happened and Earth was safe. Alas that hop was diminished once the Arbiter had stopped talking. She immediately looked down at the floor again, processing the news that everyone she knew was probably dead, dying or fighting for their lives. However some part of her shrugged off the news and steeled itself for the war, or rather resistance war ahead and she looked up, her eyes locked with that of the Elite, "Can you offer us any assistance whatsoever Arbiter?", she asked, her eyes showing the firm and confident young lady that had made her father proud.
The Elite in response nodded, "Already we are preparing the Fleet of Retribution under the commander of Fleet Master Rtas 'Vadum to head to your planet to assistant. Further forces will be sent once they have been freed up from the tasks of quarantining Halo, High Charity and after the defenses of our homeworld have been secured. However we may take this vessel and leave for Earth at once if you wish it.".
Miranda didn't take more than a nanosecond to consider the offer and nodded with a firm stance. The Arbiter "smiled" and gave a small bow before he left to begin the preparations to leave the safety of the Sangheili Fleet and head into battle against the forces of Truth. It was once the silver armored Elite had left that Johnson spoke up, "Do you think we can trust the Elites?", he spoke with an almost cautious yet very neutral tone. Johnson, like Miranda, was all for an alliance that stopped Truth however the Elites had been their enemies before and though their had been rumors of Elites that hated the fact they were killing a noble race, Johnson didn't like to think he could automatically trust them.
The younger but much high-ranked Human nodded, "I believe so. They were led astray by Truth and the Prophets. Sure it is not a reason to excuse what they done, especially at Reach or Harvest, however they didn't know any better at the time. Now that they do they see what must be done. We would react in the same way if it was us in their shoes. I just hope this alliance hasn't came too late and we can do something to save Earth and the galaxy from Truth.", she sighed and sat back against the wall of her bunk. Johnson gave a small nod and dropped his head slightly, the man was deep in thought and Miranda decided to leave them both to their thoughts for a while.
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Forerunner Dreadnaught/Keyship Key of Absolution
In Orbit of Earth
Flagship of the Fleet of Glorious Judgment and Fury
John-117 surveyed his surrounding once more. The ship's interior was very Forerunner in design however it seemed like the Covenant had modified parts when they began to worship the vessel and then use it was a power source for High Charity. He mentally sighed as he thought of how he had left Cortana back on that station, fully aware that the Gravemind had boarded the Covenant station by using the In Amber Clad as his personal transport. Quickly taking a look at the Covenant Carbine he'd pried off the hands of a dead Elite before had jumped into the energy conduit, he set off to find Truth and kill him thus ending the Covenant-Human War.
Unbeknown to John though the Prophet of Truth was fully aware of the "Demon's" presence aboard this Holy Relic and had deployed his most elite Brutes to deal with him. These Brutes were using the Power Armor that had been developed for them. Basically the Power Armor acted as a Brute-version of Elite-armor and even had personal shielding with the "Stalker"-variant even having a low-grade optical camouflage system installed.
As John turned the corner he came face-to-face with a Brute Captain, who in his dark blue armor, bought up a Brute Shot and fired a single round into John's chest. The SPARTAN was flung backwards into a wall, his entire body glowing gold as the shields recharged themselves. Raising his own weapon, John fired round after round into the Brute's chest, finding his shots stopped by the personal shield. Surprised for a nanosecond, John rolled behind the cover of a pillar and bought his back against the surface. His enemy let out a roar of rage as it raised its weapon and fired at the pillar but found its weapon done nothing more than gaze the Forerunner-constructed object. Replacing his lost rounds John took a plasma grenade, one of his last grenades, from his left hip, activated the device then turned and walked out, firing the Carbine as he readied to throw the grenade. With the Captain giving him an opening the SPARTAN flung the blue object and it landed directly onto the beast's chest plate. The beast had only a moment to let out a loud roar of anger once again before it was blasted back onto the ground, a massive hole now where its chest plate, and part of its chest, used to be. Satisfied with his work, John moved on.
After taking care of a couple more Brutes, and their Jackal escorts, John had made it to what seemed like an important room. At least from the setup outside the door it made it appear it was important. Two heavy plasma turrets, manned by Grunts, had been setup and two Brute Captains, each wielding a Brute Shot, stood side-by-side infront of the door. Three more Brutes, wearing light blue armor and wielding Brute Plasma Rifles, finished off the guard detail. John only had a Carbine, two of those Plasma Rifles and three plasma grenades along with one stick-like object that had spikes adorning the upper part. It reminded John of an old WW2-era grenade and he hoped that this is what it was the Brutes had designed this to be also. Twisting the handle of the strange device he put his arm round the corner and flung the object hard. The spike pierced the chest of one of the light blue Brutes and the creature howled before it, one of its brothers and one of the plasma turrets plus its operator were blown away.
The remaining defenders howled their own battlecries and starts firing at John's position. He checked his shield status before he took both Brute Plasma Rifles from his hips and raised them before throwing himself out from his cover and spewing plasma at his foes. One of the Brute Captains howled in pain, dropping his Brute Shot and clutching his face after a lucky plasma shot had destroyed his left eye. The other Brute Captain found its fur being utterly destroyed by the twin plasma rifles of John whilst the other Grunt had fallen within the first few shots. The only active Brute Captain dropped his Brute Shot, howled in defiance of his foe and lunged forward on his fists and feet, pushing John to the ground. The beast started to pummel away at John's chest, his shields being the only thing keeping the beast from breaking his body. He managed to reach for one of his then-discarded plasma rifles and raised it to the face of the Brute and fired one, twice and then a third time before the beast collapsed on its side. He pushed the body of the creature off him and stood up, glowing once again as his shields recharged to only 98%. The one eyed Brute had managed to regain his senses but as John walked towards the door he fired two shots into the beast's face putting it down for the count.
Just as he was about to press the button to open the door he suddenly felt like he was not alone. He turned immediately raising his plasma rifle in his left hand but found nothing there. Perhaps paranoia had begun to affect him or maybe he just missed the ever-present voice of Cortana. He turned to open the door but suddenly found his world going back and his head in immense pain. He dropped to the floor as two Stalker Brutes emerged from their camouflaged state and looked down at their catch. Preparing to rip him and his MJOLNIR Armor to shreds, the Brutes were stopped by the voice of Truth, "Bring the Demon to me. I wish to let him see his world as it burns and its surface becomes glass under the might of the Covenant!". The Brutes obeyed, grunted and one picked up the SPARTAN over his back. It almost seemed like the fate of the SPARTAN was sealed.
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Earth Super MAC Defense Station Cairo
In Orbit of Earth
Attached to 1st Home Fleet, 7th Division
Lord Hood wiped his brow as more sweat appeared on his slightly red forehead. The air conditioning for the Cairo had long since been shut down and its power sent to more pressing areas. The Cairo itself was in bad shape and had not really been repaired much since the First Battle of Earth although its ammo stores had been restocked and a new AI installed to replace the now gone Cortana.
The AI known as Lucifer, a red-hued holographically representation of a demon-like figure, complete with horns, and dressed in long robes, had been chosen as the new AI of the defense station. Lucifer was a very aggressive AI and thus it had been said he was prefect for the job however unlike Cortana he lacked the advanced tactical knowledge that was needed to make effective use of the station. Mostly he refused to every answer the calls of his fellow AI to coordinate his attacks and instead focused on taking down as many as he could on his own. Due to the current crisis Lord Hood was unable to replace Lucifer or to order him to better coordinate his fire.
Lucifer appeared on a hologram pedestal nearby the main tactical battle screen, his face showed his anger towards the overwhelming numbers that the Covenant were pushing against him, "Lord Hood, anti-ship batteries 2-5 have been rendered inoperable as have 80% of our anti-fighter guns. We are losing the ability to cover the right flank sir and I am unable to take the main cannon away from the center long enough to stop their advance on the right flank.", he spoke with a tone that made his anger and annoyance very clear.
Hood nodded, "Thank you for that Lucifer but since there is nothing else we can do keep firing down the enemy's center and taking out their Assault Carriers. Those vessels cannot be allowed to enter the atmosphere. Put their cruisers as secondary targets and have anti-ship batteries 1-through-8 coordinate with the main cannon. Have batteries 9 to 14 open fire at those cruisers and realign all anti-fighter guns to defense the important sections of this facility, forgo defending our vessels until we are secure.", he spoke with a strained voice. He had been bellowing orders for hours now and his old voice was finding it hard to stay loud over the noise of explosions and the occasionally word from a communications officer on the upper deck of the bridge. The red-hued AI nodded and disappeared into the pedestal.
Read Admiral Benjamin Richards stayed at the tactical readout infront of him. Admiral Richards had always been a patriot and he had been one of the first captains to engage the Covenant and actually survive. He stood at 6 foot 3 inches and was at an age long considered to be a time when someone had been in retirement for many years however the man's strict physical workout and diet had kept him with his youthful looks apart from the loss of hair, most of which had been due to stress. He had been at the fall of Reach and was in command of one of the several cluster of ships that had left the system together, a breach of the Cole Protocol in some sense but one that he had deemed worthy. Although they were followed to a barren system by a single Covenant cruiser his quick thinking had saved his fleet and earned him a promotion to Read Admiral where upon he'd returned to Earth to await posting to a new ship. However that posting never came and now he was stuck on the Cairo, serving as Hood's right-hand man.
Admiral Richards sighed and looked across at Hood, "Sir, Fleet Admiral Harper's ship has been disabled. Admiral Harper himself is incapacitated but several officers managed to get themselves and him to a escape boat. The Marathon-class cruiser Commonwealth has managed to collect them on their own way back to the rear lines. We've also lost another five frigates on the front lines. Three enemy Assault Carriers and that unknown have broken through the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Defense Line. Only the defense station batteries have a chance of stopping them!", he spoke with true fear. That unknown was exactly that: truly unknown. Its capabilities in combat were unknown and the amount of troops it could hold were also unknown. Once it landed on Earth things would be complete changed.
Fleet Admiral Hood sighed. He knew that the Master Chief was onboard that unknown but he couldn't just let it and three Assault Carriers break past the last lines of defense and enter the atmosphere. After all all civilians had yet to be completely evacuated and anti-air emplacements were being rushed into activation even now. He placed his hands on the counter infront of him, steadying himself as another plasma torpedo impacted the Cairo, the station groaning as an already evacuated sector was breached. He turned to the hologram pedestal, "Lucifer...", he began. The red-hued avatar appeared and bowed. Hood cleared his throat, "Use all remaining anti-ship batteries to take down those Assault Carriers. Turn the point defense batteries on that unknown and fire at will. Keep the main cannon front and center." he finished as the avatar nodded and disappeared. Various computer screens displayed new readouts as the AI handled his orders. Almost immediately the station's floor shuddered as the remaining anti-ship batteries, large linear rail cannon turrets, fired at once whilst the smaller gauss cannon-like point defense batteries opened fire at the unknown target. Hood watched the results and thought only one thing: God help us all.