Halo: Cryptic Dawn
A fan-fiction sequel to the events of Halo 3
By Peter Andrews
Characters:
Dr Catherine Elizabeth Halsey - A civilian scientist in whose mind Cortana is based on. She directed the SPARTAN - II program, working with the Office of Naval Intelligence. She was last recorded seen on Reach during its final days, and is presumed dead. In actuality, she was rescued by a group of SPARTANs, who then escaped to Onyx. After one of them, Kurt, sacrificed himself to help the other survivors reach the portal to a Forerunner shield installation and blew up the Covenant armies there, the survivors were trapped in what Halsey referred to as a 'Micro Dyson Sphere', in reference to the theory of Freeman Dyson
Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood - The official leader of the UNSC, a flag officer of the UNSC Navy, the Chief of Naval Operations, and the Commanding Officer of the UNSC Home Fleet.
Marines/ODSTs - Elite units from the crew of the UNSC Heart of Courage, commanded by John-117.
Cortana - The 'smart' Artificial Intelligence companion of John - 117, who was created through a clone of Dr Halsey's mind. She has assimilated knowledge from various Forerunner installations and has the entirety of Human history as recorded. She also has control of the UNSC Heart of Courage. She should have long ago gone rampant like other AI do when they age, but due to the unique nature of her creation, through a living clone brain, in addition to constant maintenance and use of Forerunner technological methods found, she retains her sanity for the minimum of a standard Human lifetime.
Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez - A senior, decorated and high-ranking Commander in the UNSC who was involved in the training for every SPARTAN soldier in the SPARTAN - II and SPARTAN - III programs. He has experience fighting the Covenant and the Insurrection.
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy John -117 - A SPARTAN-II commando of the UNSC Naval Special Warfare Command. He became one of the most important heroes of the UNSC during the Human-Covenant War. With nearly 30 years of active duty, he is one of the most decorated war veterans in the UNSC and has earned every known medal in the UNSC except the Prisoner of War Medallion. In 2553, he went missing in action after the Battle of Installation 00, when he and the current Arbiter Thel 'Vadam fired Installation 04B. He was presumed dead and a memorial was erected for him on Earth. Despite this, he was in actuality just in Cryosleep aboard the remains of the aft section of the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn with Cortana. The inevitable destruction of the ship forced Cortana to wake John from his sleep before the UNSC could respond to his distress signal, instead arriving on a large Forerunner structure. After a series of unconfirmed events, his distress signal was found and a search team recovered him, nursing him back to health.
Petty Officer Second Class Tom - B292 - A SPARTAN-III Supersoldier. Orphaned by the Covenant when his homeworld was glassed, he joined the SPARTAN-III program at age six in 2539 in order to get revenge. Tom returned to Onyx, despite being wanted for private use elsewhere, where he helped to train the SPARTAN-III Gamma Company alongside Lucy, Chief Mendez, and Kurt until the year 2552 when the Battle of Onyx occurred. He fought valiantly alongside his fellow SPARTANs to defend the shield world. When ordered to enter the rift to the shield world, he refused saying that he would be court-martialed before he would leave Kurt's side. Kurt then knocked him out with a blow to the underside of his helmet and ordered Lucy to take the unconscious SPARTAN with her into the shield world. He and Lucy were the last SPARTANs to leave the battle, surviving through Kurt's sacrifice. At most recent knowledge, he is alive inside the core, presumably safe from further attacks.
Petty Officer Second Class Lucy - B091 - A SPARTAN-III supersoldier who was conscripted into the SPARTAN-III program, developed by Colonel James Ackerson. She was six years old when in 2539, she was orphaned by the Covenant when they glassed her homeworld and killed her parents.
Petty Officer Second Class Kelly-087 - One of the few remaining SPARTAN-II super soldiers. She is well-known due to close friendships with Joshua-029, Samuel-034, Linda-058, Frederic-104, and John-117. She was temporarily missing, but was later reunited with the remaining SPARTAN-II soldiers (barring John-117) on Onyx. Currently, she, along with the other surviving SPARTAN-IIs and several SPARTAN-IIIs, are trapped in a Micro Dyson Sphere. She is one of John's closest friends, and is renowned for her incredible speed, even without her MJOLNIR armor.
Lieutenant, Junior Grade Frederic-104 - A SPARTAN-II Commando and one of the few surviving SPARTAN-IIs. Historically, Frederic-104 has held the highest rank among any of the active SPARTAN-IIs except for Kurt-051. He has been known to become greatly affected by his injured teammates. He has also had a close working relationship with John-117. He is now active in a Shield World, but is marked as MIA.
Petty Officer Second Class Linda-058 - A SPARTAN-II supersoldier. She is one of the closest friends to John-117 and one of the few known surviving SPARTANs. She is best known for her skill with the SRS99-S2 Sniper Rifle Systems, and once eliminated two targets so quickly that even the Master Chief couldn't tell who she had targeted first.
Private Ash - G099 - A member of the SPARTAN-III Program and the leader of Team Saber in Gamma Company. It was said that he was one of the fiercest, smartest, and the best leaders in the class. He is currently active in the company of the survivors of the Battle of Onyx.
Petty Officer Third Class Mark - A SPARTAN-III Commando of the UNSC Naval Special Warfare Group. He was assigned to Team Saber of Gamma Company, and later Blue Team.
Petty Officer Third Class Olivia - A female SPARTAN-III commando and a member of Gamma Company's Team Saber.
Thel 'Vadam - The current Arbiter and leader of the Sangheli, helping his race find new purpose once the Covenant was destroyed and revealed as false. After the eradication of the Brutes, his primary concerns are helping the UNSC and finding Forerunner artifacts to find out more about his ex - 'Gods'.
Sergeant Major Avery Junior Johnson - A Human senior non-commissioned officer who served with the UNSC Marine Corps during the Insurrection and Human-Covenant War. Avery Johnson was a highly trained Marine, serving with various units of the Naval Special Warfare Command, including the highly classified ORION Project.
Filial Devotion - While on the Ark, John - 117 encountered a Forerunner terminal concealing a message, which roughly translates into English as follows:
[Father],
I hope this message finds you well and helps you understand my decision. Today I leave the only world I have ever called home, not for glory or [the anomalous desire to end another's life[?]] as you have [indicted]; but to [travel the path of demons[?]] to spare the hands of [another Father's son].
"Had we acted sooner; had we acted more decisively..."
Living in the past is a luxury none of us can afford. We must learn from it, but we cannot live there. It is impossible to plan for the [now]-the present is ever fleeting. [The future] is where we must live-[the future] is what we must plan for.
I do not look to trade my life in order to preserve our past, but to secure the future-and if not ours, then the future of some [culture] yet to come.
Isn't sacrifice in the interest of others what you always spoke of as being so noble? Should I have allowed another to bloody his hands while I remained safe behind a [shield of privilege]?
You raised me better than that.
[Filial Devotion]
[_;_%[?]]
The writer, a rogue Forerunner known as Filial Devotion who existed in the Forerunner-Flood war, abandoned his homeworld, Ghibalb, to take action himself in ways that he believed his peers had failed. In this book, it is revealed that, tens of thousands of years later, his descendant of the same name had survived in the safety of a Forerunner shield installation along with a group of other disillusioned Rogues, who were presumably born in the shield installation. These Rogue Forerunners were possibly the last surviving ones in the Milky Way Galaxy. The reason for this is that no Forerunner loyalists bothered to reach the Shield Installations, as their locations were betrayed to the Flood. Hence, their plans foiled, they activated the Halo Array without protection, killing even themselves in a monumental effort to destroy the Flood once and for all, which, sadly, was in vain. As it happened, the Flood only spread to a few of the Shield Installations before the Halo Array activated, leaving the lucky Rogues with a clean facility to survive in.
Prologue
There were many SPARTAN - IIs once. They were super soldiers, kidnapped as children, trained so brutally that many of them died. They were biologically augmented and sent out to deal with any insurgencies against the UNSC. When the Covenant were added to the madness, the supersoldiers were pitted against them until only few remained. After the devastating attack on Reach, many people were presumed dead, including all of the act ive SPARTAN - II supersoldiers apart from John - 117, believed to be humanity's last hope against the Covenant before the events of the Great Schism. Seeing as the SPARTAN - IIs were already at the heart of much morale-boosting propaganda, the idea of John - 117 being the last SPARTAN - II quickly made him a legend among the UNSC. Not only this, but his excellence in battle led to him being named a 'demon' among the Covenant.
Despite the assumptions that John - 117 was the last SPARTAN - II, a small group of SPARTANs remained. Not only this, but some of them were members of Blue Team, a SPARTAN - II subdivision originally led by John himself. These SPARTANs were escapees from the destruction of Reach, and managed to save Dr Halsey from its downfall also. They escaped to Onyx, only to be attacked by Sentinels due to John's destroying of the Halo Installation 04. A battle between UNSC survivors, the Covenant and Sentinels took place until Kurt - 051 destroyed Onyx once getting everyone he could to a portal to a Forerunner Shield Installation.
Chapter 1: Awakening
November 7th 2564
Onyx Micro Dyson Sphere
Fred awoke to a bright, blurry area, with no discernable features. As his vision adjusted, he noticed Kelly standing over him, then realised that she was speaking urgently. "Fred! Fred, get up, there's not much time!", she said. "Some kind of portal's appeared, and Dr Halsey can't tell how long it'll stay open now that she says the main power supply's gone. Can't tell for sure now Jerrod's not responding, but her word is good enough. I'll take my chances, it might be the only way out of here. Unless you want to end up like Team Katana, you'd better follow.".
After a short silence, Fred replied "Roger that. Where are the others?"
"They've already gone through."
"Let's make this quick, then".
As soon as he said this, Fred rose from the ground where he lay, then quickly looked around before picking up his weapons and following Kelly through a strange, dark blue and unfamiliar man-sized portal. The two of the, emerged on a grassy hill where Dr Halsey, Tom-B292, Lucy-B091, Linda-058, Ash-G099, Mark, Olivia and Franklin Mendez stood awaiting them.
Linda stood in conversation with Dr Halsey, unaware of Fred and Kelly's arrival.
"I've identified a cluster of structures ahead, they look like they're inhabited. Should we have a look?" she asked. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained…" replied Dr Halsey, quoting her rival civilian scientist, Professor Ellen Anders.
After a moment's thought, Linda turned to address the newly noticed Kelly.
"Oh, hi. I see you're a little late to the party."
"Well, I had to wake him up first…" Kelly said in a humorous manner.
Suddenly, Chief Mendez came to everyone's attention. By the looks of things, he was scanning the area too, eager to stage a military operation. "Come on, double time! Stay alert!" he shouted, once again slipping into his old habits in an attempt to maintain discipline. "Yes, sir!", the SPARTANs replied, who remembered their military training well enough not to cross Mendez.
The team advanced through a lush, green environment, littered with strange, metallic installations. Towards the target area, there were some distinctly alien buildings, structured like those of typical defensive outposts. From the nearest building, a red – armoured Forerunner appeared, a surprised low-ranking warrior. The UNSC-affiliated survivors simply stared, expecting some kind of new Covenant species ready to attack them.
The red-armoured Forerunner walked briskly into a doorway, muttering "...Humans?...", before addressing an unseen figure. "Filial, some so – called 'Reclaimers' have arrived! What should we do?" There was a calm, calculative silence before a deep voice replied "...let me deal with them". Seconds later, a heavily armoured, self – important being came into view, the colour schemes matching those of the previous warrior. The being appeared to take a short breath before angrily beginning: "Humans! My peers entrusted you with the legacy of their entire species, yet even a false covenant beat you to the race. They were foolish, and did not survive. Not anticipating that some would see through the guise of success the Didact shrouded over death. Your species was to be our successors, but have already failed. Now, the true Forerunners will take their rightful place and rebuild the glorious Empire! Come, and I shall not harm you. Refuse, and you will be punished. After all, there is a large selection of you, and I am sure that one of you will break. I require your help to activate the portal, for it appears only the selected few were granted authorisation, save you 'Reclaimers'. Without your help, we are all stranded, and power will run out now that some buffoon has destroyed The Ark. You will die if you do not cooperate, if not by our hand, by your own".
While the rest of his peers stood dumbstruck, Fred defiantly said "That's...not going to happen". Upon this statement, the being appeared to subtly flinch in surprise.
"As you wish.", came a hasty reply. The being then signalled to unseen warriors, and screamed "Crush their resistance by any means necessary! We only require one alive". Suddenly, multiple sentinels of various classes appeared, followed by 4 rogue Forerunners. They began to attack, showing intent to kill all of the Onyx survivors. A long firefight began, with the now alert SPARTANs firing their weapons accurately and efficiently. Once the area was clear the group quickly left the area, not eager to face the possibility of hostile reinforcements. Soon, they reached what appeared to be multiple computer terminals with turquoise holographic controls, standing in the centre of a series of seemingly empty Forerunner structures.
"I see negotiations went well." Mendez commented sarcastically.
"Let's try those controls. Maybe we can find a way out of here." scoffed Halsey.
"Yes, Ma'am!" replied the SPARTANs. Soon, a bright light appeared in the artificially created 'sky'. "Was that really a good idea?" Ash asked, attempting unsuccessfully to conceal his panic. "Hell if I know, but we're going to go have to through it soon. I believe that's our portal. Our ticket out of here." answered Fred.
Ash nodded, reassured, then Mendez issued orders to move out. The group fought to the gigantic Forerunner Dreadnought's entrance, then entered silently, making their way to the surprisingly empty bridge. Responding to Dr Halsey's touch, the main controls began to blink, then the engines began to vibrate. They were finally free.
Chapter 2: Salvation
November 7th 2564
UNSC Heart of Courage, Marathon-class Cruiser
John - 117 stood at the bridge of the newly christened UNSC Heart of Courage, remembering how Jacob Keyes had stood on one very similar when they first encountered the Halo Rings. The cruiser approached space outside where the Forerunner Dreadnought had appeared, desperately fighting off waves of sentinels – enforcers, sentinel majors and the standard (yet still very much deadly) sentinels.
A shocked crewman turned his attention from his control terminal to John. "Master Chief, we have arrived at the destination. We have detected multiple hostile contacts but are unsure where the distress signal came from. Should we engage?"
"Affirmative." came a tired, yet confident reply. Really, John thought. Can war never end? "Engage those Sentinels, but don't fire on the ship unless it fires first. Understood?".
"Yes, sir!" replied the enthusiastic crewman, beginning to tap furiously at his terminal's controls.
John moved towards the main control system, activating the comms systems.
"This is SPARTAN–117, responding to a Priority Alpha distress beacon. Any UNSC forces, respond." Suddenly, a completely unexpected yet familiar voice replied
"John? Is that you?"
"Doctor? Might I ask what you're doing on that ship?"
"Well, John, we're trying to survive, being attacked by Sentinels and their Forerunner masters. Care to give us a hand?"
All too quickly, Cortana's artificial presence appeared. "Forerunners! Some did survive! How fascinating! This could be an excellent opportunity to fill the gaps on the events of the Flood war!" she exclaimed.
"Now isn't the time. I don't think they'll be willing to talk. Dr Halsey, what are your requests?"
"Evacuation would be nice, John."
"Understood. SPARTAN–117, out...and it's good to hear from you again, Doctor."
"Good to hear from you too, John. Out."
John turned away from the comms system, addressing the crewman on the bridge.
"Scramble the fighters and prepare a flight of Pelicans, we have friendlies on that ship!"
"Yes, sir!"
Cortana's disapproving voice reappeared.
"You do realise that current figures show we're heavily outnumbered?"
"Yes...but I'm the lucky one, remember?"
"Sometimes you never change – wait! Slipspace rupture detected!"
"Who is it?"
"It's the 'Shadow Of Intent'! The Elites have come...but for what reason?"
All of a sudden, Thel 'Vadam (The Arbiter)'s voice appeared over the comms systems: "Apologies for the unexpected arrival, friend. Word spreads quickly. I heard of your mission, and I admit I could not resist curiosity. Would you mind if my Phantom came aboard? I'll be happy to assist the boarding party."
"Granted, Arbiter." John replied.
" Enough with the niceties. We must free your brothers."
"Agreed. By the way, thanks for coming."
There was a short moment of silence, then an amused voice replied "…my pleasure."
John made his way to the hangar, where a Phantom containing Thel 'Vadam awaited him. Signalling for some men to follow, he entered the Phantom, which then took off and boarded the Dreadnought. They battled to the control room, accompanied by much external support from allied forces in space.
"John? Is that you?" Kelly asked, surprised.
"We'll have time to talk later. Good to see you're all in one piece, though. Now, let's move!" John replied, regretting the decision but acknowledging that time was limited.
They sprinted towards the Phantom and escaped, then John contacted the UNSC Heart of Courage, which destroyed the sentinel-infested dreadnought in a barrage of MAC rounds.
Chapter 3: Ashes
November 20th 2564
New New Mombosa, Earth
"Congratulations, SPARTANs. You did the UNSC proud." Lord Hood said in his standard ceremonial voice. He turned to John: "It's a shame that the Arbiter
couldn't join us".
"He needed to be elsewhere", replied John.
"So I gathered. Now, I'm afraid I need you all for one last mission, after which I will gladly grant you all unconditional retirement for your excellent services. That goes for Dr Halsey too. I'm sure that she feels the SPARTAN-II project was enough." on this note, he turned to Doctor Halsey: "I'll gladly see you continue your research nonetheless, Doctor. The information from Cortana so far could be somewhat revolutionary if we could incorporate it into our own technological advances".
This brought a slight smile to Dr Halsey's face, before she replied "According to my research, we could use the Forerunner terraforming knowledge to rebuild entire planets. Reach..." she said hopefully.
"I'll leave that to you, Doctor."
"Yes, sir."
Later that same day, the SPARTANs found out exactly what their final mission was. After a ceremony consisting of medals, mourning of the fallen and congratulations on valiant efforts, they were summoned to a briefing room, standing with none other than a successful clone of Sergeant Major Avery Junior Johnson.
"We've got a situation on our hands. Those insurgent bastards just don't know when to quit, and found an excellent opportunity to hit us now that the Covenant are gone." he stated. "It looks like they've got their filthy hands on some mighty powerful shield technology, because projectile weaponry won't hurt them anymore. Thanks to our eggheads at ONI, with the help of Cortana, we've managed to get a prototype sentinel beam turret, which should be enough to heat up and bring down their shields. We've got a couple of the models already attached to some 'hogs, and thought we might take them on a test run. Let's go!".
Soon, John found himself once again in the driver seat of a M12 Warthog LRV jeep with Sergeant Johnson. Just as he was beginning to enjoy being away from the rather unstable vehicles, he was back again, he thought. Damn.
Following various directions from the not-so-helpful Office of Naval Intelligence, the group managed to track down the main base of the newly emerged insurgents, making short work of them with the prototype turrets. The mission completed swiftly, the soldiers soon arrived back at headquarters before being granted the opportunity of retirement.
Epilogue
Thanks to Dr Halsey's research, Forerunner knowledge was soon used to rebuild the UNSC colonies glassed in the Human-Covenant war, even better than before. Not much later, the creation of artificial human planets began. The first completed planet was christened "Utopia" and opened on July 7th 2589.