Halo: A New Beginning
Prologue
Wreckage of The Forward Unto Dawn,Deep Space
"Wake me when you need me." said the Master Chief as the blast shield of the cryo-tube closed. Cortana once again felt alone. It had only been a few hours since the Chief had rescued her from the Flood-infested Covenant capital ship High Charity. She ran some diagnostics on the engines to see if they were still operational. They were but only barely. Cortana ran some tests to see if she could pilot what was left of The Forward Unto Dawn. There was a loud roar as the engines came to life. So far so good. thought Cortana.
"Now if only I could..." an alarm sounded. They were on a collision course with a planet! Cortana calculated the time until impact, 20:00. Not enough time. thought Cortana. She checked the power of the engines, if they had enough power maybe they could land safely. She double checked the numbers in seconds. They were to badly damaged and would soon die. Cortana calculated the odds of surviving of a crash landing at the speed they were going. The odds weren't what she had hoped for but she had little choice time was running out. 15:00. There was all of a sudden a great rumble as the wreckage of The Forward Unto Dawn enter the atmosphere. No I couldn't of miscalculated the time. Cortana increased the shields of the Chief's armor and she recorded a message just in case she didn't make the landing.
"Sorry ,John, but its going to get bumpy." said Cortana. As fire engulfed the room and everything went dark, Cortana felt like she would die for the first time in her life.
- Part One -
Chapter One
Five years Later
000 March 8, 2557 (Military Calender)/Sol System, Earth
Alien and Human relations Training Complex,Alaska
"Damn it Private can you ever get it through your head that this is a restricted channel! Report to the stockades at once!" yelled Sergeant Williams. The Private had once again broken protocol so he could eavesdrop on the other team. Damn his persistence! The Sergeant like his determination but it was making the Elites pissed that he couldn't be commanded. I can't help it if any of my men don't trust you damn split-chin bastards! You did destroy most of our colonies for almost over 25 years! thought Williams. Even though they had a small alliance together it still didn't increase or improve relations with the Elites. Every once and a while a small attack on the Elite's or human's camp would result in a few casualties on both sides. Williams tried to keep order but some of the men had lost kinfolk and their world to these bastards. But some big shots in the Brass thought to become friends and forge a future trade partner.
Not a bad idea if only it would work. Williams checked the other com channels. All were silent. Good. thought Williams. Alright time to begin the exercise.
"Red team you may begin." Williams watched the team move out from his sentry post. This was one of many exercises the Marines and Elites did to help coordinate battlefield effectiveness. One team consisting of five Marines and five Elites would work together to cripple the other team's camp. Blue team had a Elite Commander commanding them as the Red team had Sergeant Williams commanding them. So far these exercises had only helped to improve distrust between the two races. The teams would have in-team fighting and would disrupted the exercise. God I hate this place! thought Williams as Red team moved to the first I wish they'd put me out of my misery.
The silvery form moved closer and closer to the Human commander. Ra'Lu pressed the activation button on his energy sword's handle, a short hiss erupted as the sword came to life. Williams turned with his pistol unholstered. Ra'Lu swung the sword in a wide swipe at Williams chest. Williams dove to the right and rolled to his feet. As Williams faced his attacker Ra'Lu disengaged his camo. Williams saw his opponent for the first time. A big black armored Elite. He fired at the Elite before it charged him. Ra'lu's shields reflected the shots from the commander's pistol. Damn! How do I kill this son-of-a-bitch! Thought Williams as Ra'Lu charged him.
Ra'Lu roared a battle-cry as he charged the commander. Williams dove into the Elite and tackled him. Williams grabbed his combat knife from its sheath and started to stab at the Elite's face. Ra'Lu's shields blocked most of the human's blows. He grabbed Williams wrist as he brought the knife down again and moved his other hand to the commander's face. Williams felt the Elite squeeze his skull. He couldn't over power Ra'Lu so he used his left hand to grab a grenade from his belt. Ra'Lu saw the movement and twisted Williams knife hand. Williams felt pain surge through his ark and almost dropped the grenade as he yelled in pain. He pulled the pin with his thumb and was about to jab it down the Elite's mouth when all of a sudden Ra'Lu let go of his face and grabbed his hand and the grenade held within. Williams yelled as the grenade was pride from his hand. Ra'Lu worked the grenade out of Williams hand and into his. Williams couldn't think of anything else to do to kill the Elite.
Ra'Lu felt the grenade in his hand and threw it through the open door. Three seconds later BOOM! He pushed Williams off of himself and started to get up. He couldn't fight laying down. Williams got to his feet faster and ran through the door. Ra'Lu didn't look for his weapon instead he ran after Williams. The Elite's shields had already recharged and were again at a 100%. He activated his camouflage and followed the human's blood drops. He had twisted a bone so far it ripped out of the skin. The blood led down a stairway and into another room. Ra'Lu hadn't been down here so didn't know what was waiting for him. He had climbed into the look-out-deck from outside and had thought he could deal with the commander quickly and then fall back to his camp.
He had never planned for this to happen. There were two doors leading into the room where the blood led. Ra'Lu looked for another way into the room. There was none that he could see. He saw no alternative, he had no weapon. He stormed into the room. He was met with no resistance of any kind. Strange. he thought. The room was small and filled with human weapons. Their armory. guessed Ra'Lu. He saw a shelf with three slots for shotguns, only two remained. He scanned the room. The human was still in here and was armed now. He cautioned himself even though he had wounded the commander, he still was dangerous. Every Sangheli knew humans would fight till the end and with everything they had. Almost honorable like.
Ra'Lu looked for more blood and saw a path that lead to a Medical Kit. The blood ended there. There was a crash behind him, he turned to see a huge gun rack fall toward him.
"Found you, Bitch!" yelled Williams who had noticed footprints were his blood had dropped and had pushed the gun rack he had been hiding behind at the Elite. Ra'Lu dove to the left to avoid the gun rack but didn't dive far enough to avoid all of the rack. His feet got crushed under the rack. Ra'Lu roared as he felt his bones shatter. Williams walked up to the now visible Elite.
"Hurts doesn't it!" yelled Williams at the helpless Elite. Ra'Lu looked up at Williams.
"Your race will die for its betrayals!" Betrayals! I must have hit this bastard harder then I thought. Williams heard someone running down the stairs. He hind just in case of another hostile.
"Sir, are you alright in there!" yelled a Marine outside of the room.
"About time!" yelled Williams.
"We're coming in, sir." The doors opened and Williams saw ten people. Five of them Elites.
"Recruits get in here fast!" Williams threw a grenade at the Elites. The Marines ran and jumped into the room as fast as they could. The Elites evaded the grenade. BOOM!
"See brothers these humans would rather betray you then be your ally! We must exterminate them!" Williams had had it with this Elite. He aimed for the Elite's head.
"Sir no!" yelled one of the Marines. Williams finger pulled the trigger. Time seemed to slow down to Williams as he pulled the trigger something blue entered his veiw. Shit!
"Down!" yelled Williams as the plasma grenade made its way across the room. Everyone flew into movement to avoid the grenade. But what they didn't see was the Elite who was invisible; jump to block the grenade. He yelled as the plasma burned through his shield.
"Holy shit!"yelled one of the marines who was close to the invisible Elite.
"What the Hell was that!"