The Rain Shadow Chronicles

Midnight Genesis

Chapter 1

UNSC Pillar of Autumn

Monday, September 19, 2552 1:03 AM

"Okay, bringing low-level systems online," said one of the tech officers who was busy punching in the codes on the keyboard "Cracking the case in thirty seconds."

The cryogenic case in the room below the tech officers' control center immediately blew steam out from the cracks in its hinges.

"He's hot. Blowing the pins in five." said a second tech officer

When the person inside of the case felt the heat beat against his armor, he stirred a bit and opened his eyes feeling a bit drowsy. The door to the case slowly swung open letting the cool air rush in and un-fog the face plate of his helmet. The man, who happened to be a seven foot tall soldier in green battle armor and a green helmet with an orange face plate, stood up and hopped out of the case to be greeted by a young man with brown hair in a yellow tech officer jumpsuit (who was the second tech officer).

"It's nice to see you awake, Master Chief," said the second tech officer "How're you feeling?"

"Eh, kind of drowsy," said the Master Chief "But other than that, I feel fine."

"That's good," said the second tech officer "Captain Keyes wants to see you on the bridge ASAP. Just follow me."

The Master Chief then followed the second tech officer through a series of corridors all the way up to the bridge of the Pillar of Autumn where a tall, grey-haired man in a captain's uniform who appeared to be in his fifties or sixties stood by the main computer waiting for them.

"Captain Keyes." said the Chief

The man turned to face the Chief.

"Good to see you again, Master Chief." said Capt. Keyes shaking hands with the Master Chief

"Good to be back, sir." said the Chief

"Hey there, Chief." said a familiar voice

A purple and black A.I. hologram appeared with the appearance of a woman in her early to mid twenties with a very well designed short cut hair-do. Judging by the voice and the smirk she was giving the Chief, he recognized her as Cortana, the Pillar's shipboard A.I. and the Master Chief's long-time partner and friend.

"Sleep well?" she asked

"I would slept better if it weren't for your lousy driving." said the Chief

"So you did miss me." said Cortana smiling

"Why is it that you wanted to see me captain?" asked the Chief to Keyes

"I'm glad you asked. Well, Chief, as you already know, the Autumn had entered slipspace en route to the coordinates of one of the Covenant's fleet," explained Keyes "Not only did we find their coordinates but we also found… this."

Keyes typed in a few keys on the keyboard of the main computer. The screen came up with a video recording of what appeared to be a giant, metallic ring. The Chief found himself surprised by its massive structure. Never before had he seen anything so huge and mysterious in his entire career as a SPARTAN-II soldier. There was a chilling silence in the air. There was something about this ring that just seemed… threatening.

"A giant ring?" asked the Chief

"So it seems." replied Keyes

"Out of all the artifacts to hunt for, why this ring?" asked the Chief

"Who knows," said Keyes "But whatever reason why this ring is so important to the Covenant we can't let them have it. I have a bad feeling that if we do, it may lead to the Human races' downfall. Which is why we're going to land the Autumn on the ring and stop them from whatever it is they plan to use it for. And if we're going to go up against an entire fleet, we're going to need some extra fire power."

"Sir, the other SPARTANs have arrived." said Cortana who flickered away for a moment when Keyes was explaining about the ring

"Good, send them in." said Keyes

Master Chief was surprised to hear that he was going to be working with other SPARTAN soldiers other than himself. He thought that he and SPARTAN Linda-058, one of his fellow comrades, were the only surviving SPARTANs since the fall of Reach, the planet where all SPARTANs were to be trained. In through the doors came a group of SPARTAN soldiers. The Chief hardly recognized them because of the different armor color.

"Hey, Master Chief," said a SPARTAN in blood red armor "It's been a while."

"104? Fred?" asked the Chief

"In the helmet," smirked Fred-104 who then looked over at a SPARTAN in grayish-black armor "Along with Will-043."

"Redecoration much?" chuckled the Chief

"Yeah, those Covenant bastards pretty much wrecked our armor in that last battle. So Will, Kelly-087 and I had our armor fixed and repainted." said Fred

The Chief looked over at two other SPARTANs. One who was a bit shorter than himself wearing golden brown armor and another in white armor that was a lot shorter than the rest of the SPARTANs in the room. In fact, the white armored SPARTAN was shorter than everyone in the room.

"Who are these guys?" asked the Chief

"Oh, you mean these two? The brown one is Evan-049 and the small one is Mikayla-625." said 104

"I thought that you'd all get along," said Keyes "Alright everyone, since the engines need some adjusting, you have two hours to prepare yourselves before we land. I want you all to be ready for any Covenant threat. Do I make myself clear?"

"Sir, yes sir!" said the SPARTANs

"About the two other SPARTANs," said the Chief while he and Fred were walking down the hallway "Are they new?"

"Evan is in from the third class so he's been here for about a while now," said Fred-104 "As for Mikayla-625, she's from the fifth class who just went through the augmentation process about two months ago. Speaking of classes, there is one thing I wanted to ask you."

"Which is?"

"How's… how's Linda doing?"

The Chief stopped in his tracks and lowered his head slowly with sorrow. He still felt responsible about his teammate's injuries when she was shot multiple times by Covenant forces. Not only did he feel responsible for Linda-058's affliction, but he also felt responsible for all of the SPARTANs who died on that day when the planet Reach fell into the hands of the Covenant.

"She isn't… you know…" started Fred

"No… she's… still alive…" said the Chief slowly and genuinely "But…"

Fred put his hand on the Chief's shoulder comfortingly.

"I understand," he said "I worry about her too."

Suddenly, the alarm went off. It echoed throughout the entire ship wildly.

"Attention all crewmembers," announced the PA "The ship is currently under fire by an enemy fleet. Please remain calm and-"

BOOM! The ship shook violently almost knocking the Chief and Fred down on their knees. Knowing that the Covenant had found them and they were most likely about to board, they dashed to the weapons room, grabbed whatever weapons were available and then ran straight to the bridge preparing for the worst to happen.