Note: This is a sequel to: Halo: In the Hands of the Enemy so I suggest you read that before reading this. I also do not own anything associated with Halo or Halo 2.
Chapter 1: Homecoming
Red hot embers swirled in the turbulent air, glowing eerily in the thick black smoke. Flames roared in towering buildings and others collapsed to the ground in deafening amalgams of crunching metal and stone. Debris and bullet casings littered the ground around the soldier's feet as he stood in silence surveying the scene around him. A swarm of missiles roared through the red sky leaving trails of white smoke. His focus snapped back to the ground as a dark shape slowly stood up from under the rocks and concrete that was on top of him. Thin wisps of smoke rose into the air and a whining noise was just barely audible over the noise around them. The silhouetted shape rose up to it's full seven and half feet but made no other movement after that. After a few tense seconds of waiting the shape spun around, his gold visor reflecting the hell that was surrounding them.
"I was always the best," the smug, distorted voice said through the external speakers of his helmet. He started walking forward, taking an extra large stride to avoid stepping on a corpse of a fallen Spartan. The other soldier, identical in almost every respect to his adversary, snapped his BR55 Battle Rifle to eye level and rested his finger a hair's width away from firing a burst off.
"John, what are you doing all of this for? You were our best hope and look at you now!" John only laughed as he walked closer to the other Spartan who was walking backwards at the same rate.
"It's time to end this." The air around him distorted and an ethereal blue glow emanated from behind the fractured golden visor. His hand rose into the air but melted away into darkness…
Will snapped awake and blinked his eyes quickly in the dim purple light of the Pandora's Box's bridge. He looked around and saw the other Spartans leaning against a wall, their BR55s lying ready in their arms. A low thrumming reverberated through the ship's superstructure as it hurtled through the darkness of Slipspace. The dream that he had just had slowly faded from his memory and no matter how hard he tried he could not recall the images that were so tangible just seconds before. Something shifted to his right and he whipped his head over and turned his flashlight on. Halogen light flooded the dark shadow and he saw a Spartan put their arm up to shield their eyes from the light.
"Uh, turn it off," a female voice called over her helmet's external speakers.
"Sorry," he replied quickly and flicked the light off. Linda stood up and walked out of the darkness, her S2-AM Sniper Rifle in her hand.
"How long have we been asleep for?" Will brought up two mission timers; one was counting up, the other counting down.
"We jumped thirty-three and half hours ago, and we've got only about an hour until we exit Slipspace."
"That's all?" she asked surprised.
"Yeah, why don't you wake them up, I'm going to bring the weapons systems back online." She nodded and walked over to the Spartan-IIIs and got them up. Over at what appeared to be main holographic terminal, Will, instinctively, moved his hands around the dancing pink, orange, and blue shapes. A diagram of the Planet Killer appeared in the middle of the room and portions of it were highlighted. He tapped a few more commands and areas all along the hull were also highlighted, but instead of a cool blue color, almost all of them were blood red. "Damn," Will said out loud. Linda looked over at him.
"What's wrong?"
"The MAC stations took out just about all of the turrets, all we've got is the number twelve battery, AA turrets…and the main cannon." She glanced over at the main view port and saw all of the holes in the purple metal caused by the Humans' barrage. Plasma slowly ebbed from the burst conduits and spilled over the ship, leaving large scars and some large sections were totally dark.
"Guess you better learn how to fire the big one them…" Will gave an audible puff of air and started to study the different systems.
"Three…two…one…" Sparks of energy rippled across the bow of Pandora's Box and inched it's way along the dull pronged hull. Vibrations rippled throughout the hull they decelerated from Slipspace and reentered the realm of normal physics. Scanners blared proximity warnings as the ship rammed it's way through the debris of Terra Defense Force which had sprinted from Jupiter to try and defend Earth from the surprise Covenant assault.
"The computer has targeted all nearby Covenant ships. Will, we need to move fast, they've almost overwhelmed all of our- hold on, we're being hailed." Kat, Spartan-501, looked up from a nearby console and looked at the viewport. A translucent face appeared on it. The man they were staring at looked as if he hadn't slept in weeks, his silver hair slicked to his wrinkled forehead by the sweat slowly dripping down.
"Spartan Oh-Four-Three? You're a sight for sore eyes son. I hope you know how to fly that thing because we need all the help we can get."
"Thank-you sir, I think we've got it down well enough to do some damage. Just tell our ships to stay clear of the largest concentrations." The Admiral's grey eyes squinted together but he trusted the Spartan's judgment.
"Just do whatever the hell you need to do." His image disappeared and Kat went back to the console in front of her.
"Alright, I've got a group of about thirty Covenant capital ships just over ten thousand kilometers off of our starboard." Chris, Spartan-952, dipped the right side of the Planet Killer's nose and the Earth slid to their left, the Moon and a small cluster of ships replacing it. Molten rock still spewed into space from the Moon as it continued to fly off in it's new orbit.
"Let's give this a try…" Will's hand cupped a small orb and it pulsed for a few seconds before it winked away. All of the displays dimmed to almost nothing as did all of the lights inside of the ship. Plasma from the broken conduits mysteriously stopped venting and the red hot coils began to cool down. Blue energy began to dance back and forth between the two prongs as it slowly built up strength. Static washed over the Spartans' shields in waves as the energy increased in bursts. Bolts of plasma lightning arced over the hull from a steadily growing ball of blinding plasma at the point where the two prongs separated. This building of power lasted for a little over thirty seconds before the orb reappeared on the control panel. Through a fully dimmed viewport and with his own visor darkened to it's highest setting, Will squinted tightly as he cupped the orb again. Their ship shuddered violently and the weakened engines strained to prevent the mammoth from being blown backwards. A beam of plasma ripped from between the ship and headed straight for the group Covenant in a blink of an eye. The capital ships melted away into pools of liquid metal before their reactors detonated, setting off a chain reaction that took out their nearby comrades. Back on Pandora's Box, the reinforced armor around the prongs became red hot but survived the blast relatively intact. Vents all along the sides of the ships popped open and vented the superheated air into space and at the same time, the powerful generators deep in the hull powered on and began the slow process of replenishing their plasma supplies. Will took a few deep breathes and looked at the others silently while flickers of golden energy laced around; their shields had been blown away from the shot.
"Well…that worked pretty well," Kat said finally. The others grunted in agreement and just waited. With the amount of plasma that the main cannon had sucked from their reserves, the Planet Killer was dead in space until they could replenish enough to get moving again.
"I have a hard time with the fact that the Covenant would build a ship this big, have it fire it's main cannon, and then just sit there waiting for the enemy to swarm around. I mean, we lost all but five percent of our shields," Chris commented. Will looked at the console and saw a quick animation of something that was pushed from the ship that kept repeating itself. Small red accents circled around it and he tapped the picture. Once again, the diagram of the ship appeared in the middle of the room and slowly began rotating around. Instead of just showing the ship, two small boxes appeared next to it with a zoomed in view of six pods moving away from the hull, three on each side. The main image showed the pods extended a little over a kilometer from the hull before stopping. They had arranged themselves so that the top ones were almost directly above the bridge, the middle ones parallel with the center deck, and the bottom two below the ship, but still inline with the top pods. Nothing happened for a few seconds but suddenly gold sheets unfurled from the three pods. Floating weightlessly in space, they glistened hypnotically as the sunlight reflected of the highs and lows in the sheets. While the sheets were extending out, six columns extended out from the hull and connected to the pods just as the solar panels went taught. Instantly energy surged into the ship and was converted into plasma. Bars, that, five seconds ago, had been hair's width tall, steadily rose along the control panels which coincidentally also grew brighter and brighter. Colors played against the Spartans' armor as they stood and watched in amazement at the super-efficient solar panels that the Planet Killer possessed.
"Kat, find another target for us." Kat did so and a marker appeared on the viewport's HUD that pointed to a cluster of Covenant much closer to Earth. Unfortunately, the planet they were trying to save was also on the other side of this group and would suffer almost a direct hit from their shot.
"Chris, bring us into a better firing position."
"Yes, sir," he replied quickly. Thrusters on the starboard side of Pandora's Box came out of small encasements and pushed the ship horizontally for a few thousand kilometers. While they were repositioning, Will was finally able to get a good look at Earth and it was clear that it was suffering. Dark clouds were pouring into the upper atmosphere and being blown around the planet by the high winds. Every once in a while, a "small" explosion would be visible from space but would blend into the constant blue and orange explosions in space. Chris's expert piloting skills had swung the Planet Killer into a much better firing position and had put the largest part of the Covenant armada within their sights. Will once again powered up the cannon and waited as the plasma reserves emptied themselves. They fired another shot that vaporized more than eighty ships. But this devastating blow came at a price. Those Humans who hadn't heard the warning about moving, or were unable to break off from their aggressors, were also vaporized in the unrelenting wave of plasma.
"You're a savior Oh-Four-Three, but we need you down on the surface ASAP." Unlike before, the Admiral only patched his voice through.
"Aye, sir," Will responded and Chris set a course for the surface.