"Dont you know, hindgehead? Spartans never die."
A ball of nuclear fire filled the structure which engulfed all of the Covenant forces that were tasked with capturing the inner part of the Shield World of Onyx. But before the nuclear devices could detonate, time slowed to even slower than a crawl. To Fortitude Everlasting 511, it was no small feat that slowing down time was something his makers had forged even if it was based from the creators of his creators. The purple glowing, floating orb of an artificial intelligence moved swiftly across the field of the alien conglomerates and had finally found the source of the radiation spike. Two nuclear devices being detonated by a Reclaimer. Upon detecting the Reclaimer, FE-511 took it upon himself to rescue the Reclaimer from his death and placed him in stasis before transporting him into another part of the facility. As FE-511 exited the chamber with the Reclaimer, he sealed it, entraping the hostile forces in to be devoured in a nuclear embrace. Just as the heavy doors sealed time resumed which helped to seal th fates of the ones inside. FE-511 had transported the stasised human supersoldier into one of its healing chambers. It is here where the ancilla placed the 8 foot tall man in a creamy whitish liquid. In this liquid, nanomachines, would repair and enter his body permanently. The nanomachines are to help increase the healing process at an alarming rate while also increasing his superhuman abilities by a factor of 8 which was to help the supersoldier to reach a baseline standard for Forerunner frontline infantry. The armor he wore, while primitive to not even classify as a Class-1 Combat Skin, was replaced to fit the outer designs of the standard Mk.IV MJOLNIR Armor System while keeping in line with being made of a newer metallic alloy that was extremely durable with a newer undersuit made specifically to withstand even Hardlight ammunition. The suit was also heavier than it once was which made it nearly 700 kilograms in weight and with a 346 kilogram supersoldier in it, the man as a whole would weigh in at nearly one tonne of pure soldier. The suit of armor had been upgraded with many software and hardware changes to a Class-12 Combat Skin to fit Forerunner Military parameters.
The weapons this Reclaimer had used intrigued the sentient machine. Not in technological amazement but in surprise that Reclaimers still used chemical propellant munitions and not those of their ancient counterparts that could breech the armor of a Forerunner Infantryman. So the ancilla took it upon itself to recreate the weapons of old. The tools of man that would have overcome his creators were it not for the Flood.
ZX-22 Particle Hardlight Automatic Handgun.
ZXU-77 Particle Hardlight Heavy Machine Gun
XDR-13 Designated Marksman Heavy Barreled Rifle
TDR-24 'Yggdrasil' Close Combat Scatter Gun
GYU-99 Railed Mass Accelerator Particle Rifle
WPN-82 Multiple Missle Launcher
MFE-7 Arganaut Non-Linear Rifle
JZO-11 Adaptive Close Combat Sub-Machine Gun
Within a few hours, everything had been completed. Now it was time to send him off. One of the directives of the AI made by the Master Builder of the Shield World was to send a soldier, particularly a Reclaimer, to the "other side" so to speak. He would deliver the supersoldier through a portal that was reverse engineered from Precursor Neural Physics. From there, a Reclaimer would be sent to assist in the advancement of another Humanity that crossed the veil of the portal. Why the Forerunners couldnt do it themselves was that they fear that the parasite would follow them or that they themselves would meddle too much with this other Humanity and would stagnate their technological and cultural growth.
2183
Within afew hours the SPARTAN-II awoke with a jolt. His breathing heavy and wheezing as he tried to get his bearings. He scanned the room before he got up. His instincs told him something was wrong and he trusted his instincs from his time in boot camp which saved him and his team more times than he could count. The room was light grey in colour and had only the bed that he was once on. His armor, or what he thought it was, was on him which he didnt know if he should be at ease with the fact that he had a Mk.IV suit on or feel uneasy at the fact that he should have been in SPI-II armor and on the verge of death in a Foreruner facility with 2 nuclear weapons and an armada of Covenant forces. But instead he was here in a room with no recollection of when or how he got there. The door to the room had split open and a man in his navy blue uniform stepped in, the spartan could see that this man had a noticable scar on his face and solid blue eyes that had seen the wear of combat. His eyes trailed off to the insignia on the man's shoulder and his body stiffened and he saluted to the man before him but being an 8 foot 6 inch giant, he had to stare down at the Admiral.
"At ease son. Im not here to harm you. Hell, you'd probably kill me and most of my crew before we could do anything to you."
The spartan dropped his arm from a crisp salute and stood at parade's rest.
"Now before you ask, we found you drifting in Alliance space along with your weapons. We know you dont belong here, because any person with a sound mind would see how 'other worldly' you look. We couldnt scan past your suit so we had no clue if you were still alive. Your weapons are also a mystery to us, no matter how hard we tried to scan it or take it apart, they wouldnt budge and would actually fry some of our systems from a simple scan. So this made me come to a conclusion and if I'm right on the money then you could be our saving grace and if I'm wrong..." the Admiral paused before continuing. "So trooper, state your name and rank."
Kurt instantly replied with no hesitation in his voice and as if he had read it off a script that he'd practiced over and over. "Sierra-051, Lieutenant Commander of the United Nations Space Command and instructor for the S-III Program." Kurt had no hard feelings felt when he saw this man before him and trusting his feelings that had saved him more than once, told abit of information which should have been classified.
The Vice Admiral stared at the gold-tinted visor staring down on him. He thought for a moment and chose his words carefully. He smiled, "Its nice to meet you Spartan." he had his hand out for a handshake which surprised Kurt. How'd he know who I was? Was what Kurt thought to himself. His body tensed and before he could react the Alliance officer held his free hand up. "Relax son. You're in a different universe, well... you cant relax after hearing that but before you begin a rampage through my ship..." The Vice Admiral slowly reached for something under his shirt and chained around his neck. He plucked it out and handed it towards Kurt to which he carefully took and saw what it was. It was a pair of old dogtags, UNSC dogtags. What surprised him even more was what was inscribed into them.
Rank: Vice Admiral
Name: Jeremiah P. Cole
Born: 3.11.2470
03956-26127-PC
Kurt was wildeyed behind his orange visor. The man standing before him was one of Humanity's greatest heroes and was instrumental in holding back the Covenant war-machine ranging from the largest engagements of the war to the creation of the Cole Protocol to not allow navigational data to fall into the hands of the Covenant and to ensure that all space worthy vessels were to do random slipspace jumps before returning to heavily populated civilian centers.
"Its ok spartan, you're secret is safe with me. As to how you got here? Hell I wish I knew. You're lucky it was me who found you and not some other vessel, otherwise I'd feel sorry for those sonsofbitches who'd try and hold you down."
Cole was different, before being sucked into the current universe he resided in he had brown eyes and hair so of course he'd seem different now but it was his laid back attitude which troubled the spartan. He'd heard that Cole was an all-military man. Discipline and bravery was what got him through the war and where he was now.
Cole turned around and gestured the spartan to follow him. Kurt felt tense and unnerved at the situation. As they passed the halls and to the bridge, most of the staff gazed at the spartan. It didnt bother Kurt, he had gotten the stares before and had grown used to it. As they entered the bridge, Ambrose could see that it was an entirely different ship than what he had been on. No gun-metal grey, utilitarian and angular design. It had more curves and was visibly more appealing.
Cole stood at the center of the bridge. His XO spotted him and addressed his presence. "Admiral on deck!" They bridge crew got up and immediately saluted in near perfect unison, something Ambrose was impressed by. They crew wore bright and dark blue uniforms which were much more different than the grey and olive green colours of the usual UNSC Navy attire.
"At ease,.." Cole began to speak, not turning to face the spartan. "Its different from the UNSC isnt it? The Systems Alliance is this Humanity's governing body and military arm. They are so much like us yet they've technologically advanced far from what we were."
Cole sighed and asked the spartan. "I'm guessing you want a little history lesson. Don't worry, I'll fill you in." The spartan then stood beside the Admiral in silence as he nodded. "That day on Psi Serpentis, when we caused the gas giant to go supernova, I ordered a slipspace jump just before it happened..." there was a pause before the Admiral breathed and regained his composure. "The supernova apparently screwed with our slipspace vector and dropped us here. We were running dark and our slipspace drive had practically melted beyond repair. We thought we were doomed, drifting slowly in space with no way of FTL jump. It was then that a ship, one of the earliest spacefaring vessels of the Systems Alliance that came into contact with us." The Admiral halted his story knowing that Amborse had a question. "Sir, what year is it?" Cole turned to face the man and said "2185, 40 years since me and my crew arrived here." Cole stared out into the viewport of vast space. "Long story short, we were intergrated into the Systems Alliance military and after learning of our history, we were sworn to secrecy and preperations were made incase we had anything following us on the way here." The Admiral was hinting at the possibility of the survivng Covenant vessels doing the same as he did and got trapped in this universe. But knowing that the move he pulled was too dangerous for even the most foolhearty Fleetmasters to even try such a thing was out of his mind completely.
"My ship, the Everest, was a Valiant-class Superheavy Cruiser which is hidden in this Sol System's Ort Clound that has not been used by this humanity and is still undegoing repairs since the technological level of this universe hasnt begun to grow from where it is now apparently." Cole sighed before continuing. "So now me and my crew, mann this vessel. Its smaller than our cruiser but in this reality nearly e everything has been down-sized except for the Council's arrogance and ignorace to a threat that will destroy all civilization in the universe." The spartan was confused at the mention of the Citadel Council but held his tongue, knowing that the Admiral had more to discuss later. "This vessel is a 'dreadnought' at the length of 800m and a damage output of something similar to our old and outdated Frigates. This ship was named after my old one. She may not be much by our standards but she has some shielding to it." The Admiral turned once more before asking Ambrose a question that may change the fate of the galaxy. "Spartan, you have given up your life for the UNSC and Humanity as a whole." Cole stared into Kurt's visor and said. "I have no right in asking if you would give your service to the Systems Alliance. But I'd like to know, if you were asked once again to do it but for a different version of Humanity, would you do it? To protect the Human Race at whatever the cost?"
Kurt thought about it, this was not the UNSC but this was the Human race and he had devoted the entirety of his military career to defending his race. Honestly, he was tired of the fighting with the Covenant. Tired of reading the after-action reports of Alpha and Beta Company casualty reports. he was just tired of it all. Yet, before he could make his decision, he looked at the Admiral. The man before him had been fighting long before the war with the aliens and yet he hasnt broken at all, even at the loss of a third of his fleet in all his battles which resulted in thousands of deaths, he didnt flinch when it came in defending his race. That was because he became a symbol of hope for his people, the proverbial light in Humanity's dark future against a genocidal race of aliens. Kurt made his decision and saluted before asking "When do i start, sir?" The aged Admiral smiled. "Right away spartan." Immediately Cole began barking orders and everyone on the bridge began their work. "Comms, get me a secure line to The Illusive Man." The bridge crew did so and Cole's arm glowed orange and revealed a figure siting in an empty room facing a dying star with a cigar in one hand and a glass of scotch in the other. The man was dressed smartly, a dark grey coat and trousers, black shoes and a white collared shirt underneath, his eyes glowed blue and a chain hung around his neck with a pair of dogtags. The figure got up and greeted them both. "Hello Cole, or should I call you Hackett now? And it looks like we have a new player on the block. Greetings Spartan, I've heard about you from Ackerson. Shame really, you could be a valuable asset here. " Cole shook his head before speaking to the figure. "Enough Hopper, or should i also call you by your new name as well? Mr. Harper?" "The smug look from the figure died down before he asked Cole "So to what do i owe you the pleasure of taking the risk of calling me?" Hopper tool a sip from his glass as Cole gestured to the spartan. "Our friend here has agreed to help us defend this Humanity and needs a position and I think we both know where he'd be most suitable." 'Hackett' said with a grin on his face and to 'Harper's' dismay had actually grown a grin aswell. "Of course, I know just the ship to get him on."