UNSC SAY MY NAME
Rookies POV
The ODST lurched forward after being hit in his stomach, he wondered why he had to be transferred to a squad with this joker. Rookie was trying to crack some of his sore bones seeing as the good old ODST Battle Dress Uniform wasn't meant for comfort. The armor had CTC's for body armor, titanium and ceramic composite armor plating to give the user added protection, along with HUD and Communications Systems to give more situational awareness. Although that's not to say they didn't try their best to make it comfortable by having temperature control added into it.
"Wake up buttercup" Rookie heard as his mind was coming into consciousness and through his visor he saw Romeo with a big grin on his face wearing our trademark BDU. Although his BDU was the sharpshooter version which allowed more freedom in combat and allows the sniper to aim better while also protecting their arms. On his helmet he had an optic device that allowed him to get a good look at the bastards he'll kill. Always the joker of the group, but also the coldest.
Though Romeo grin was interrupted when he was shoved by Dutch towards his own pod. Dutch was a man who believed in humanity no matter what the situation and would always jump to the defense of any branch of the military if they were being mocked. This was a man who didn't see branches of service he just saw a race of people fighting for their right to live. He wore basic BDU though he added orange paint as his secondary color no doubt copying his hair.
"Relax Rookie he don't mean nothing by it. Besides now's the time it pays to be the strong silent type." He said as he handed Rookie a Silenced SMG with a nod of his head and walked towards his own pod. Only to stop and turn back towards the Rookie.
"Just so you know we got a new boss. Mrs. Naval Intelligence from what Buck told us. So now we have to report to her." Saying his piece Dutch continued walking to his pod.
The ODST put the SMG into his pod and locked it in making sure it wouldn't fly out when they were dropping down. That's when the hatch to his pod started to close and he was turned a full 360 degree facing row upon row of other pods.
Lights flickered on throughout the pod as well as the two monitors that were placed on the hatch of the pod. Two figures came onto the screens one for each screen. On the right was Gunnery Sergeant Buck wearing the traditional BDU's.
Then on the left screen came their new boss Mrs. Naval Intelligence or Dare as it said on the front of her helmet. From the design of the helmet it was easy to tell that she was wearing the Recon variant of the ODST BDU. This design not only gives a sturdier helmet, but has more plating near the chest.
"Latest intel reports covenant troops are massing beneath the carrier." She said with a commanding tone.
"Why?" Buck asked with a little hope in his voice. He's not the only one who was probably hoping that the covenant were retreating.
"Were not going to find out way up here."
"Troopers we are green, and very, very Mean!" With that said all pods started to shake and then through the stillness of space they were shot off to the surface.
People have always wondered what it was like to be shot from space to the surface of a planet. The drop would always be hectic that was in the job description. However, at the same time it was always serene and gave off a type of peacefulness before being dropped into a fight.
This drop was not a normal drop though. Wreckage from one of the Navy's frigates had drifted over into the drop path. Many pods were destroyed as they exploded after crashing into the debris. Though luck was on the Rookies side when his pod hit a piece of debris at an angle it only moved his pod towards the cruiser at an accelerated rate.
"Rookie you need to use your stabilizers and change your trajectory." Said Dare.
"Radiation!" Dutch shouted warning his fellow squad members of the potential risk.
"The covenant just set off a nuke?" Mickey the team's captain obvious asked.
"No the carrier is going to jump! It's a slip space rupture. We need to-" Dare said before all contact was cut off between all members squad members as a giant white light spread throughout the sky knocking all of the pods into random directions.
Except for one which had gone through the light at the last second. With that the Rookie was nowhere to be seen.
Space above Installation 05
Cortana's POV
A dark blue portal opened up in the vacuum of space and flying out of it was a Covenant cruiser, numerous piles of debris and the UNSC In Clad Autumn.
Cortana will never cease to wonder what crazy things humans will do next. Going through a slips space rupture was a very, very stupid idea. It's like she doesn't exist at all unless information is needed as if she was a damn information booth. What does she have to do to make a point across have a breakdown and sabotage the ship?
Though she would then be considered going into rampancy. Even though she was years away from that disaster. Sadly out of the 1,000 ideas she was able to come up with this was the one that would see the results happen instantly. Because apparently saying the odds of surviving a slip space rupture that wasn't planned was 1,000,000 to 1. Somehow though they had made it in one piece from what she could observe through the luckiest object in the galaxy aka her Spartan.
It seemed like everyone else aboard the ship had finally realized they had survived and were going over the systems and what was working and what wasn't. Since she wasn't in the ship she had to listen to their own analysis. Which the worst part was that the engines were down and were recharging. This was great compared to the other outcomes that could have happened. She was expecting the ship to be split in half or the engines themselves being blown up. There was also the possibility of numerous hull breaches which would have led to multiple deaths.
Sure it was depressing, but that's what math and numerous calculations can lead to. Though all of these events paled in comparison to what they at stumbled upon for a second time.
"Cortana what exactly am I looking at?" asked Commander Miranda Keyes who was staring at the object in front of her with curiosity and caution.
"That is another Halo" she said. Silence fell over the com wave as Miranda just gazed at one of the installations that had taken her father.
Cortana even heard her mutter "So this is what my father found".
This could prove problematic if she lets her emotions control her reasoning. There are numerous dangerous that could be hidden on this ring.
"Cortana, I want every piece of information on this structure. I don't care if I have the clearance or not."
"Yes, ma'am."
Scanning through her memory for all information on the structures known as Halo she then started to copy and transfer it to Miranda's tablet. This task was at least something to keep her busy while waiting for their next plan of action. Though being a super intelligent AI it only took Cortana 2 seconds to begin uploading all information through the Spartans armor.
Cortana knew that it would take the commander a little bit to read through the information so she figured she'd chat with her Spartan.
"Chief are you ready to go through another fun adventure with the entire universe at stake again?" she asked sarcasm dripping with every word.
"This time things will be different." Chief said with determination.
Most wouldn't understand by what he meant, but Cortana knew him the best. He wanted to make sure that there would be more survivors. Cortana could never imagine how much pain he was holding in and how much more he would be forced to withstand. She sometimes wondered why did they have to do this to children, sure the results were amazing but at what cost.
"Don't worry Chief things will definitely be different we now have a better understanding of this horrible place." She said to ease his worries even if they would only show for a brief second because of his damn training.
Cortana was going to try and get him to open up more, but was interrupted when she noticed an IFF tag outside of the ship and heading towards the ringed structure.
"Commander I'm picking up an IFF tag outside of the In Autumns Clad. Do we have radar back up?" Cortana asked. She was 89.86% sure that what she was reading was correct, but with all of the new information she had gained from Halo she had started to slow down and show more emotions than usual.
"Pvt Wilson what can you tell us?" Miranda asked moving her gaze from her tablet to her subordinate.
"IFF tag is confirmed and it seems like it is headed towards the Covenant cruisers location, ma'am."
"Very well then until our engines are back online where drifting, so Chief I need you to head to the surface with two squads of ODST and capture the Prophet of Regret. Johnson will follow you via Pelican." Miranda ordered.
"Yes ma'am."Chief replied in his typical stoic manner. Though this did not fool Cortana she knew that he was going to push himself to the extreme to make sure everyone came out of this mission alive.
A green light shone inside the pod and they had started to sway back forth while getting into position. Then pod after pod was shot down and each person inside was hoping this would be the battle that would end the war sooner rather than later.
Rookies POV
Rookie groans as he tries to shake off the grogginess from the crash. It had all happened in a flash, one second he's dropping down towards the carrier the next he's heading towards some strange ring in the sky.
Looking at the top of his pod he pulls the hatch which launches the door away from the pod. Grabbing his Silenced SMG he scans the area in front of his as he steps out of his pod and then circles around. He notices that he had landed in some kind of decaying ruins. Moss covered the pillars that were scattered across the area. It looked as if this could have been a courtyard where goods were traded a long time ago.
Rookie than spent the next few minutes securing his current position. From what he could tell he was near a stone road that led towards a lake. In the center of the lake was what looked like a temple? He pulled out his binoculars to get a closer look. Zooming in he was able to notice numerous grunts, jackals, and few elites swarming the temple.
"Ain't not rest for the wicked." He muttered as he continued observing the temple when he saw something that shocked him to his core. A phantom had come towards the temple and dropped off Honor Guard elites and the last thing coming out was a Prophet.
He'd been briefed that the prophets were the religious/military leaders of the covenant. These were the scumbags who declared this war in the first place. 'Well might as well go say hi to him.'
With that Rookie started making his way down the road keeping an eye open for any covenant that he might come across.
For the next 20 minutes all Rookie saw were lots of dead covenant. The odd thing was that he wasn't the one who had killed them. He had examined the bodies the best he could and it seemed that they had died about 10 minutes before he arrived. The closer he got to the temple the time of death was moving down until he stopped at the edge of the lake.
There was a switch that looked holographic and was twitching as if it was asking to be pulled. Rookie first looked across the lake to see the temple and strange floating platforms that looked like they were docked into the temple itself. Taking a chance Rookie grabs the holographic switch and pulls down. Immediately a large blue beam shot out from the switches pedestal and attach to the floating platform. Then it started to move towards him slowly, but surely.
While he waited he noticed a dead jackal with a beam rifle next to him and decided to see what was going on at the temple. What he saw shocked him, it was a Spartan being held up by two elites as he was being stared down by a third with an energy sword in his right hand and it looked like he was holding something very fragile in his left. This thing better pick up the speed.
Cortana POV
Noise, Noise, Noise. This was always the one thing she that annoyed her whenever she was with the Chief. All the damn noise that would happen during a battle. More like a massacre she thought as she had witnessed her Spartan going through the covenant like they were nothing. As they were being carried to a strange temple that was housing the Prophet of Regret a thought raced through her brain. He had also been especially brutal with his kills as well.
Like when he was fighting a Hunter he had rammed his SMG into its orange stomach and fired repeatedly. Or when he kicked a grunt off of a cliff instead of just going for a simple head shot. One thing was for certain this was not the Spartan she knew. It seemed like after the first Halo he had gotten colder and colder.
"Chief, you need to slow down and take a breather." She said trying to get him to stop.
"Negative were almost to the Prophet and one step closer to ending this war." He said as he stepped foot onto the temple and was ready to storm it.
Plasma was fired at the Chief as he walked off, but was able to roll behind a wall just in time. When the plasma stopped he struck with quickness and fury. Charging the group while firing his assault rifle taking down five grunts with a single clip. Without breaking his stride he pulled the pistol from his waist and fired at sole Elite. With its shield being depleted Chief finished it by pulling out his combat knife and stabbing him in the throat watching the life fade from its eyes.
The sole groups of ODST's were shocked by the carnage they had just witnessed by the Spartan. Not that she could blame them it was a pretty terrifying. They were probably regretting not joining up with Johnson and his group securing the ruins like the other had.
"Chief you can't keep doing this you need to think like a team player not a lone wolf." She said trying to get it through his incredibly thick skull.
He didn't even reply back he just started walking towards the stairs not even giving his squad a command. Then out of no where an energy sword comes to life from behind them as the Spartans radar picks up enemies, but it's to late.
As Chief turned around the first thing he saw was an ODST on the end of an energy sword and being thrown away like garbage. This had then lead to the other three squad members to open fire, but the elite had activated its camouflage.
The surviving members circled up making sure to cover each others blind spots and to protect themselves from any threats. Normally this formation would help against an elite, but if what Cortana had seen was correct then these were Zealots.
"Chief we need to go back and wait for back up these are Zealot class elites." She tried to warn, but she could see it in his stance that he wouldn't budge.
"Capturing the Prophet of Regret is the main objective there can be no turning back." With that said he started moving back up the stairs looking for any more of the Zealots with the rest of his squad following behind.
As they were about to reach the entrance a large blue light flew towards them and stuck to the helmet of a squad member. With quick reflexes he takes his helmet and throws it towards the stairs watching it explode. As it exploded there was a shimmer in the air which they all saw and fired until a Zealot fell face first into the ground.
Cortana let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding. They just might make it out of here with their lives. Though as she checks the radar she notices three faint red dots moving towards before she can alert the Chief all she feels is pain. All three Zealots had charged their plasma pistol and shocked the Spartans suit so he couldn't move. She was screaming in pain as the electricity reached her.
Though this was nothing compared to the pain the Chief was in. As he laid their all he could see were the Zealots picking his squad apart with their energy swords. Hearing their screams and seeing their faces as they died was unbearable to him.
"Chief I'm sorry that…" As Cortana was trying to apologize to the him an elite came and took her chip. He then ordered the other two to grab him.
"So this is the great Demon that no one could kill. Pathetic, I easily defeated you and my name will be sung with praise that Voro' Tuyokee has slayed the cursed Demon. Not only will I have killed you, but I will take all the information from this AI and present it to the Prophets." Voro' said with pride in his voice as he gloated his victory.
Time seemed to slow down for Chief as he had realized that he had failed. As a Spartan this was unacceptable failure was never an option there was too much on the line. He tried to move his body, but nothing would move as it sunk in that this would be the end.
Voro' ignited the energy sword in his hand and was about to impale the cursed demon when he shouted out in agony as he felt pain in his left hand. As he looked at it he noticed that it was a mangled mess that he couldn't ever form a fist and so the AI chip he was holding fell to the floor.
Before he could get hit again Voro' activated his camouflage and fled to the back of the temple were a Phantom was waiting. Knowing that he had to get his hand repaired. As he left though he made sure to turn to the and look at who had injured him. Across the water he could he saw the platform moving back and was halfway back to the temple, so was to far away for him to see. He would find out who this human was and make them pay for ruining his chance of glory.
The remaining two Zealots dropped the Chief to dive behind cover. As they dropped him though a thin beam fired at them and pierced the closest ones skull. Furious after seeing his comrade die and his commanding officer betray them by running away the last elite charges towards the edge of the temple and fires blindly hoping to take down the enemy. This only lasted briefly as he soon had a hole through his head and fell towards the lake below.
Rookie POV
Seeing the last Zealot fall, he could finally relax and took his mind out of the sights of the Beam Rifle. If only that other one didn't get away, but he had at least dropped whatever it was he was holding. Now he had to make the Spartan was alright and to see what it was that elite wanted from him.
Next Chapter: Confrontations