4 years after the war against the Flood
"Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is UNSC FFG-201 Forward Unto Dawn, requesting immediate evac. Survivors aboard. Prioritization code: Victor Zero Five dash Three dash Sierra Zero One One Seven" Lasky heard the familiar voice of Cortana aboard the UNSC Infinity. "Shall I play it again sir?" Roland asked him. "No… Get the coordinates for that distress call and set a course to it." Lasky told them. "Do you think that 117 is at the source?" Lasky heard Dr. Halsey asked him. "I hope so." Lasky admitted. The ship hummed quietly before shooting through slipspace toward the coordinates. Catherine Halsey remained stoic on the outside but was eager on the inside. 'Finally. I'll see you again. John' Catherine thought fondly of her favorite Spartan.
Forward Unto Dawn- Cortana
Cortana was bored out of her mind. She did everything she could to stay relatively amused but none of it lasted. She played 3 dimensional chest against 13 different CPU's with the difficulty set on Legend. Then she decided to rewatch all of the Wargames stored on the ship until she memorized every single detail of the players movements and quirks. She also made some upgrades onto John's armor before she ran out of ideas, coding, and resources.
Suddenly she felt a high concentration scanner beam sweep through the cryo bay and started scanning John. "Uh oh" Cortana thought as she saw the scanner flash green as if on confirmation. She opened up the menu for the Cryo bay and activated John. The icing in John's cryo bay started thawing revealing John's unconscious giant form. The thawing process continued slowly as she bit her lip, a habit which she developed, hoping that it would not finish too late. She saw John's head moving in his icy prison. She sighed in relief before waiting for him to adjust.
John
John woke up from his cryo sleep and started feeling his limbs again. "Chief! Good to see that you are awake" Cortana told him. "What's our status Cortana?" John asked her. "I have no idea. But a high concentration scanner just swept through the entire ship and scanned you before disappearing. "Do you know what it is?" John asked her. She shook her head negative. "My scanners don't detect anything and I cannot connect to the bridge view since they are blocked from my extension. Yank me and let's go check it out." Cortana told him. John pulled her from the stand and inserted her into his helmet. He then proceeded to run through the ship until he reached the armory where he switched out through his weapons.
He exchanged his Assault Rifle for a SAW and his Pistol for a Sniper Rifle. He found a marine pack and stored excess ammo of his weapons in it after clamping some of the ammo on the armor. He had 8 Bullets inside the Sniper, 72 on his armor, and 144 inside his pack. His SAW had 120 inside the gun, 360 on his armor and 720 in his pack. He then got a Bubble Shield Cannister and clamped it on his waist. He picked up 4 frags and clamped it on his waist as well before storing 16 in his pack. He then ran out of the armory and headed to the bridge and found the windows locked. He immediately unlocked it and saw the Ark.
The only thing that was different was dark blue theme instead of the regular light purple and it was made fully out of metal instead of having any land mass or structures. The Ark started to glow blue before energy started spinning to the middle like a twister. "Chief, Slipspace Rupture behind us 30,000 kilometers… I recognize it from the ships database. It's the UNSC Infinity" Cortana told him excitedly. "Infinity?" John asked her. "According to the ships database. It was planned to be a massive vessel before the war ended. Looks like the plans were right. It is massive" Cortana said measuring the new vessel. Suddenly the ship lurched forward and was being dragged toward the Ark at a quick pace.
Infinity
"Sir! Some sort of Gravity well is pulling Forward Unto Dawn to the Portal." A person on the command crew reported. Lasky's eyes widened. "Activate Engines Full power, activate a tractor beam to attach Forward Unto Dawn to the Infinity before reversing engines and activating Slipspace." Lasky told the same person who went to work. The Infinity hummed quietly as it's Engines flared and shot toward the Frigate at incredible speeds. "Sir, The gravity well has increased in strength exponentially. The Dawn is speeding up toward it." another crewman told him. "Follow the Plan People. Lets move on the double" Lasky told the crew. The Infinity's thrusters activated and helped it speed up to the split Dawn.
"Tractor Beam Engaged" A crew member says as he activated the tractor beam. The Dawn was grabbed by a green laser of a sort before it got pulled onto the bottom of the Infinity's Hull. "SIR. SLIPSPACE DRIVE HAS GONE OFFLINE." Another Crew member yelled. "What?! Reverse the Engines. Maximum Power" Lasky called out. "Sir the Engines just gave out." A crew member told him.
Forward Unto Dawn
"Looks like the Infinity is trying to help us out" Cortana told John excitedly. John frowned when he saw that the Infinity still heading toward the same direction. He looked through the bridge windows and saw that the Infinity's engines that was just blazing now dark and out cold. "Cortana, get me to a Secure crash seat" John told her as he ran off the platform with her. "Wait why?" Cortana asked him confused. "Infinity's engines just gave out. Now hurry up" John told her before running through the ship. She huffed but complied anyway. An orange NAV marker on his hud led him to a folded seat on the wall with head locks attached to it. John quickly sat on the seat and brought the lock above his helmet and secured it around his chest. Then the ship started creating vibrations.
Infinity
The Infinity's engines gave out and they were heading head first into the portal with the Dawn. "All remaining crew members. Get into a secure crash seat and lock yourselves in. This is not a drill. On the double people. You only have 15 seconds before we enter the portal. Lasky out" Lasky yelled into the comms before he and Catherine as well as the command crew went to a crash seat that was located on the walls of the command room.
"Roland, once everyone is strapped in. Take all power from all functions other than Life Support, the Tractor Beam, and Shields before rerouting to engines to jump start it once we exit the portal." Lasky told the AI which nodded to him. Right then the Infinity passed through the Portal and disappeared from sight once the portal turn itself off.
Another Universe- Reach
"Ma'am, we are getting a high energy reading coming from just outside of orbit. It may be a Covenant slipspace rupture." A command crew member told Catherine Halsey. Catherine Halsey, the head of the UNSC's Research Division, stared impassively at the high numbers before speaking. "Ready the Mac Guns!" Catherine told them before leaving the room inwardly cursing. 'Damn, their armour is not done with it's upgrade' Catherine thought viciously hoping that her Spartans could manage.
She left the command room of Sword Base back to her lab to get as much data out before destroying the lab as fast as she could before the Covenant gets them.
Infinity
They grunted as the ship shook as the ship shook as if it hit a bump. "Roland report" Lasky barked at Roland. "Power is now being rerouted to the engines. Estimated time: 30 seconds" Roland told him. Lasky saw the Infinity drifting aimlessly very quickly at a familiar planet. "No that can't be" Lasky uttered baffled. "That can't be Reach!" Catherine whispered in shock. "Sir, scanners are showing that this planet is showing 99% match to Reach before it's fall" Roland informed him. "And we are going to crash. Focus Roland" Came the voice of Sarah Palmer from across the room.
"My apologies ma'am, only 20 seconds left till engines start up again." Roland told her. The ship started to burn up as it started drifting into the planet's atmosphere.
Forward Unto Dawn
"There is no way, that can't be Reach" Cortana exclaimed in shock. "I thought Reach was glassed?" John asked her. "Thats what I mean. That is obviously Reach but there is no trace of glassing- John what happened to your weapons… What happened to your Armor?" Cortana asked him in surprise seeing his armor and weapons changed. "What do you mean?" John asked her as he looked down onto his armor. He saw that it was was not less bulky but still fit him with a black armor set with glowing white trim that was going all over his body and centered on his chest. (Picture on Profile: Iron Man Stealth) On his chest plate was the numbers 117 glowing white proudly. He took of his lock and got up. He took off his weapon and was surprised to see a Binary Rifle and some black variant of a Saw with a glowing Mag.
"John, I am detecting a new algorithm of coding in your armor set. It's much more advanced than the Mjolnir series." Cortana told him. "Any Changes." John asked her. "A lot I can tell you. All of them are a lot better than what you had before. This suit is a combat enhancer. I don't know it's full capabilities but it has armor abilities that are better than what we have. Oh and it seems that this armor also have something called Interspace Storage. That might be where your pack and ammo went" Cortana told him. He patted his back and didn't feel the pack he was carrying. "How do I use this Interspace Storage?" John asked speculative. "One moment Jon, let me get myself reorganized in this new armor." Cortana told him as he locked himself back into the seat when he felt the atmosphere friction bump the ship.
Infinity
"Sir, I am reading UNSC communications and MAC Cannons on the planet surface but the communications are under war time lock down that I cannot pass through at the moment while the MAC Cannons are being aimed at us." Roland informed him. "Roland, send out a peace flare and get those engines back online." Lasky told him. "Yes Sir, flare sent and the engines will be functionable in 10 seconds- warning, collision trajectory analyzed.
At our current rate we either crash on New Alexandria or destroy several Skyscrapers with civilians living in it." Roland warned him bringing up a map of their collision course. "Roland, put the thrusters on full power and guide it over New Alexandria." Lasky told him. "Sir, that will delay Engines for another 10 minutes and we will land into the ocean next to it." Roland told him. "Do it Roland" Lasky told him. "May I suggest to drop Forward Unto Dawn when we hit the shore line. It may be crushed by the Infinity's weight." Roland told him. "Ok Roland. Make sure everything goes well." Lasky told him before leaning back in his seat.
Sword Base- Reach
"Ma'am, Unknown ship has shot a peace flare but is on a collision course toward New Alexandria." A command crew reported to Catherine who was in her lab. "Wait, is it the Covenant?" Catherine asked him. "No signatures match. Wait we are getting a visual… Ma'am you may want to look at this" the command crew told her sending her a live feed. She stared at the screen and her eyes went wide eyed at the sight of a huge ship carrying a ship that looked like it's been cut in half.
'Definitely not Covenant' Catherine thought as she saw the grey bulky design. Then her blood froze when she saw the writing on the biggest ship and the wreckage of a Charon class ship it was carrying. "Impossible" She muttered as she eyed the two UNSC logos. "Ma'am, our directory is not showing any records of the UNSC Infinity or the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn. What should we do?" the command crew asked her.
The bottom of the huge ship started glowing blue and she was confused on what was happening. "Ma'am, The UNSC Infinity ship seems to be activating some sort of thrusters. Collision course has been redirected to the New Pacific Ocean" The command crew told her. "Send out Noble Team. If there is any problem then I will send in the Spartan II's" Catherine told the crew member.
Forward Unto Dawn
"Okay John I got it. You have to visualise what you want and if it is in the interspace storage then it will appear in your hand. Any energy Mags discarded will be taken into the Interspace Storage and recharged there. This armor also has Kinetic, Energy, Plasma, and Explosive Shielding which would help deflect bullets, Plasma, and Grenade Explosions. Also there are some elements that this armor has similar to the Mjolnir armor. It has the same black body suit but it is a lot comfier which will help dull impacts and the thruster packs on the back of your armor. Those changed from thrusters to weak warp drive rockets which has enough strength for you to get to the moon within 1 hour. Your hands have have a some sort of thrusters to help you out and on the soles of your feet there are some rockets that will let you fly. Oh, the thrusters in your hand can also turn into a weapon which will shoot out a repulsor beam. Your armor has an active camouflage installed, some flares on your leg armor and several miniature missiles all over your upper chest. This is all fueled by the Arc Reactor on your chest which can also shoot out a very powerful laser which can penetrate through the Dawn's hull" Cortana told him.
Normally Spartan II's don't whistle but John found himself whistling at what Cortana just told him. "Now how about we test out this armor." John asked as he got out of his seat before running at the control room. Cortana picked up John's train of thought and shook her head. "That's crazy, we are 600 meters up in the air and we still don't know if you can fly it." Cortana told him. John raised an eyebrow. "Ok then you can stay here" John told her as he slowed down. "Unfortunately for you, I happen to like crazy" Cortana told him with a sly smirk on her face. John sped up again and jumped through the window shattering it.
Noble Team
"I never seen that kind of ships before. Are they new ones?" Thom asked Carter as he drove a Warthog with Carter on Shotgun and Kat on the gun. Noble 7 Spartan-B312 was driving another Warthog, Emile sitting on Shotgun, and Jorge on the gun with Jun right under the Gun with a Sniper Rifle watching the new ships.
"No, Sword Base told me that these ships were not in the UNSC database so they can be Covenant undercover." Carter told him. "Then again, it could be ONI, they were always sneaky bastards" Kat told Carter. "No, someone would have found out beforehand. We'll just find out once we get to it." Jorge told her through the comms. "Guys I got something on my sight" Jun called out to them. "Well what is it?" Emile asked him. "Don't know, it just jumped out through the wrecked ships window and is doing a nose dive… toward the ground" Jun stated confusingly. "Are you sure that it's not an ODST pod?" Carter asked him. "Affirmative." Jun reported.
"Alright Thom, Seven. Head for the landing zone." Carter told them. "Sir, we won't reach the landing zone in time." Noble 7 spoke up. "I know. Whoever is crazy enough to jump out of a flying ship high up in the atmosphere may know what they are doing or suicidal. Either way we can check the corpse to see if it's the Covenant." Carter told Seven. They headed off toward the landing zone and found the figure flipping before slowly descend onto the planet surface with some sort of thruster on it's hands.
Everyone tensed as they readied their weapons for a possible fight.
John
"John, imminent death coming up in 3 seconds" Cortana chimed at John. John flipped around and spread his arms out before thinking of thrusters. The thrusters on his palms activated glowing blue and he slowed down his fall considerably. He landed on the ground and saw 2 warthogs in the distance heading for him. "It's Noble Team John, But they somehow have seven members instead of six." Cortana told him excitedly.
John watched the two warthogs drive up and stop a few dozen meters away from him. The entire Noble Team got out and pointed their weapons at him. His HUD started drawing imaginary lines to where the bullets would land with most of them coming at his chest which constantly shifted all over his head and chest probably due to the weight. "Identify yourself, are you an Insurrectionist or a Covenant?" The apparent leader called out.
"Should I answer?" John asked Cortana. "I don't see why not. Give them your call name." Cortana told him. "Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan Sierra-117" John told them. "Yea I call Bravo Sierra on that. 117 is woman you dumbass. She is..." Kat told him before she got cut off by John. "Wait, What?" John asked surprised at her answer.