Prologue
The UNSC. It was one of the most powerful civilizations in the known galaxy followed closely by their allies the Sanghelli Empire. Their technology far more advanced that they were on the Tier 3 scale of the Forerunner technological system. The UNSC and the Sanghelli Empire could have ruled with an iron fist, but they did not. They used their technology to help other species and guide them to a new life; for the UNSC upheld the Mantle of Responsibility while the Sanghelli Empire enforced the peace and dealt with the violent races, by de-evolving them to their primitive state.
Under their careful tending, life prospered in all aspects. Life spans were extended. Civilizations were uplifted. Peace was everywhere. That was until the Elementhians attacked.
Another Tier 1 race that had a grudge against the Forerunners for confining them to their system till they finally were released by the UNSC. The Elementhians fought the UNSC for 25 years winning most of their battles, the Elementhians then fought a battle against the UNSC forces above a quarantined shield world in the Centauras arm of the Milky Way. The battle ended with the Shield World being shattered and the release of the most dangerous species the galaxy had ever seen, the Flood.
With the Flood fighting against all sides the UNSC and the Sanghelli Empire formed a new faction, the United Species Space Command (USSC) in order to fight the Elementhian forces and the ever increasing Flood forces. All the while remaining UNSC forces chose to enact the Project Genesis protocol, a protocol that involved cataloguing and preserving ever species in preparation for the activation of Genesis Halo, a Halo ring so destructive that the Forerunners sent it out to the outer edge of the Orion arm, till it was discovered by the UNSC through the use of the Janis Key.
Throughout the entire conflict the USSC held back the Elementhian forces for five years before everything changed, Elementhian infiltrators used the DNA of the current Spartan 5's to clone and create a small army of Spartans called the Spartan 6's or also known as the Omega army. The Omega army made many USSC worlds fall on the surface while the Elementhian fleets managed to finally gain an advantage in space.
After 4 years the remaining forces of the USSC, UNSC and the Sanghelli Empire were pushed back to the Orion arm of the galaxy by the Elementhians and the Flood. As the Sanghelli Empire used the remaining forces they had to slow the advances of the Flood and the Elementhians, the remaining USSC forces re-grouped around the planet Reach and evacuated the planet after receiving intel that the Elementhians were headed for Reach next.
The USSC ships all entered the same slip space co-ordinates for the galactic rim of the Milky Way, just as an Elementhian fleet entered the system. As the USSC ships exited Slipspace in the unknown system their sensors pick up a large structure moving slowly through the system.
"Lysithea just tell me plainly, what the hell am I looking at?"
"Admiral. . . I have no idea."
Admiral Morrison raised an eyebrow at that. Lysithea was a 'Smart A.I.' that had managed to obtain meta stability and also fight in a cyborg body during the Reclaimer War.
"Can't you give me anything?" He asked.
"Only that whatever it is it's not anything the USSC has ever encountered, however it does seem to match the Forerunner designs of the large space station in their archives called the Mantle Judgement"
"I'm sensing a but."
"But," Lysithea continued, "This thing is giving off so much dark energy that the energy readings are off the charts." A graph appeared in front of him on the holo terminal showing a multitude of different level of radiation."
"Is there anything else about this station you can tell me?"
Suddenly Lysithea's avatar appeared before him. The small holographic emitter embedded in the holo terminal projected her in front of all the charts. She looked like a Spartan wearing an upgraded Mark V helmet and armour
"We'll whatever this is; it's releasing thousands of sentinels to scan our forces." Morrison and Lysithea watched as the thousands of Sentinels scanned each of the USSC ships before a message was received by Lysithea.
"Admiral it would appear there is a Forerunner Monitor called Reclamation Bias on the station and it requests to meet with the Leader of the fleet," Lysithea said as she marked a nav point on hologram of the station for where the meeting would take place.
Morrison sighed. It wasn't the first time he had been in a position where he had no idea what was going on. "Send a message to the Monitor that I am on my way, and that I am bringing a small security force, also send a message to Captain Markus Jenkins and tell him that he is in command of the fleet till I return." Lysithea nods her head before vanishing off the pedestal as Morrison leaves the bridge.
(Aboard the USSC Prowler - Stargazer)
While Admiral Morrison was sitting in the passenger compartment he studied each of the seven Spartans that came along, one of them being Lysithea in her cyborg Spartan Mark V armour variant body. Admiral Morrison looks at each of the other six Spartans, S118 known as Solar Azuregos wearing a green and blue variation of the Pathfinder armour with a green visor. S119 known as Tia Azuregos wearing a gold and blue variation of the Recon armour with a blue visor. S021 known as Kaosu Blade wearing a white and dark red variation of the Hayabusa armour with a black visor. S150 known as Rita Solex wearing a red variation of the Mark VI armour with a golden visor. S265 also known as Ripa, was wearing a Blue and Ice variation of the Enforcer armour with a silver visor. S251 known as Shadow wearing a black and silver variation of the Raider armour with a red visor.
Overall Morrison believed that if anything were to go wrong, these seven Spartans could easily handle the situation since they have been on the front lines of every planetary assault and even survived an encounter with their clones and managed to make them fall back.
These were the soldiers that Morrison believed would be able to change the outcome of the war, but he knew that it was nothing but just hope, mostly due the fact that even if they prevailed against either the Elementhians or the Flood, the other would finish them off in their weakened state.
To avoid thinking more about how the war could turn out Morrison walked over to the pilot of the Prowler and watched her set the Prowler down in one of the hangers of the Forerunner station.
As the group prepare to disembark, Lysithea mentions that the Monitor should be meeting them here shortly. The moment Morrison and the Spartans exit the ramp they spot the Forerunner Monitor float over to them before looking at the Spartans and at Morrison.
The monitor then hovered closer to Morrison and the 7 Spartans and from its eye produced a wide orange beam that scanned them from head to toe. The Monitor was silent only for a moment until it spoke in English and in a very respectful tone.
"Acknowledged, identities as Reclaimers have been confirmed. Welcome Reclaimers, to the space station Mantle Judgement, final creation of my makers, the Forerunners. I am Defence Monitor 595, Reclamation Bias. How may I be of service to you?"
The Spartans held their fingers closely to the triggers of their weapons. The data they had about Forerunner Monitors all pointed to them being in the early stages of Rampancy. They kept their weapons lowered however since they needed information and so far this monitor wasn't showing any signs of hostility yet.
"What is this place?" Morrison asked noticing how concerned the seven Spartans were.
"Your confusion is understandable Reclaimers, as you are the first of your kind to arrive here. This station was meant to be the main command centre for the war against the Flood."
Morrison heard Tia chuckling, and he could also see her shaking her head and saying something to Rita.
"This Station is the Forerunner Command Base?" Solar asked doubtfully.
"Indeed! Near the end of the war between my creators and the Flood this station was used to re-supply and repair the Forerunner fleet. Admittedly, the IsoDidact visited the station after the activation of the Halo Array, he was the one who had me created to help maintain order and had given me command of the station and its facilities here to provide assistance to the Reclaimers, should they manage to find their way here."
Solar and the other Spartans hesitated momentarily, before taking their fingers off of the triggers and lowered their weapons. This Monitor at least appeared to not be showing signs of Rampancy since it wanted to help them out. Not to mention that was its primary function.
Looking out over the facilities, Morrison was amazed at how civilian the station looked. The massive towers dwarfing over the smaller buildings were not only unnecessary, but easily seen from a distance, and the view of the buildings went on more miles. Still, the Spartans couldn't deny the beauty of the Forerunner city architecture, as every building they saw was a masterpiece to behold.
Bias hovered near Morrison, speaking with what might pass for worry in its voice, "Reclaimer, I am guessing the Flood have returned due to the number of ships you brought with you? If any of the crew of the ships want to rest please inform them that they can rest in the city while I have the ships repaired and upgraded."
"Yes the Flood are back, we already have a plan to deal with them though, as for the fleet I'll let them know they can come aboard for a rest while you fix the ships." Morrison said calmly before walking past the Spartans back to the Prowler.
Bias then hovered over next to Solar, "Reclaimers, on to other matters. First, I believe your combat skins should be upgraded. The Class 5 combat skin is useful for your species technology but on Forerunner standards it is highly outdated, and their usefulness has long since passed. It was the fourth combat skin created in response to the discovery of the Flood.
My creators were forced to implement many changes and improvements with each new model to help combat the ever increasing number of the Flood. The Class 12 combat skin was deemed as the lowest level combat skin for combat against them. However, I am sure you will settle for only the best. Naturally, this means I will have to prepare the Class 18 combat skins for usage for all of you Spartans." Bias stated.
Solar turned to face Bias and nodded in thought. "Ok Bias I'll alert Morrison to order all the other 263 Spartans to report to the armoury here on the station. What about the Marines and ODSTs?"
Bias responded "They should be able to be outfitted with a least the Class 12 combat skins since that way they gain the extra protection without worrying about injuring themselves."
Solar nodded his approval to Bias before turning to Lysithea whom was listening to the conversation, "Lysithea go let Morrison know and tell the other Spartans to go to the marked nav point when it appears."
Lysithea replied calmly before walking off, "On it Commander."
Solar then turned to face the Monitor again, "Well then Bias we will accept the offer to upgrade our armour, but can you have the new ones built to look like our current ones."
Bias replied calmly as a few Sentinels flew over to the Spartans and started to scan what their armours looked like. "That we can do for you Reclaimer. Also we have learnt from the information that your fleet leader gave us, you and your sister were the ones who stopped a plot on your people from the Elementhians before even knowing about them."
Solar nodded in acknowledgement to Bias
"We'll then since your leader, Admiral Morrison has given me permission to help you Spartans, I think the first thing to do is give you Spartans a ship of your own."
The six Spartans were surprised at hearing this but continued to listen to Bias.
"Since my creators had to use most of their ships in the battle against the flood this station was only left with damaged ships which have been fully repaired about 50 years ago. I think you Reclaimers might enjoy having the best at your disposal so, I am going to give the last of Fortress Class vessels my creators had built."
The Spartans are about ask what Bias meant by a Fortress class ship when they notice the top part of the station separate and only then do they realise that, the top part was in fact the Forerunner Fortress class vessel.
"The vessel is 50,000m long, it armour is strong enough to handle taking 10 rounds from your Super MACs before suffering damage but that shouldn't be a big concern since it will take a long time before its shields give way."
"What about its weapon systems," Ripa asked while still looking up at the massive ship.
Reclamation Bias looked at Ripa and replied a bit disappointed "The ship currently has no weapon systems added mostly due the act the ship was left here for repairs due to damage from the Forerunner-Flood war, but while your forces rest here on the station, I will have the sentinels and the Huragok starting creating the new weapon systems for the ship."
The Spartans all nod, before Bias continues to speak as a smaller sentinel floats next to Bias, "Now Reclaimers if you would follow the medical sentinel and it will take you to the medical station for the procedure."
The six Spartans follow the sentinel to the centre of the station where they saw the white domed building adorned with the symbol of a blue cross. It seemed, regardless of colour, a cross was a sign for the medical division.
The first thing the Spartans noticed as they walked in was that there were only ten surgical stations in total. If this truly was the only medical station on this station, as Shadow and Ripa believed it to be, then ten stations were dangerously inadequate, especially in times of war as the Forerunners had been in. Though Solar, Rita and Tia figured that someone infected by the flood wasn't going to be brought back to the station anyways.
Next, Kaosu noticed the wall mounted charging stations for the medical sentinels. These sentinels were equipped with what appeared to be smaller surgical lasers, mechanical claws for gripping, and extendable limbs with attached syringes. The sight unnerved him slightly since he hated needles ever since receiving his augmentations but the treatment all the Spartans were going to receive had been confirmed to be less painful than when they received their augmentations.
When Solar stepped up to the side of one of the surgery tables, the sentinels came out of standby and one hovered around him. "Please remove your combat skin Reclaimer, and we shall then begin your treatment," The Sentinel said, its voice sounding more robotic than what Bias' voice was.
Solar looked over at where Tia was and saw her already removing her armour, while, Ripa was being stubborn that Kaosu and Shadow where holding him still as a sentinel removed the last of his armour. Solar then started the process of removing his armour, stacking it neatly on the provided cart, and lay down atop the table. Above his head, a mask lowered from the control system, covering the lower half of his face, and administering anaesthesia. The last thing he saw before passing out, was Kaosu punching Ripa as the sentinel next to him inserted its syringe into a container containing a dark red liquid, filling it up completely.
Solar slowly blinked his eyes open, wincing at the intensity of the lights in the room. He sat up and looked down, noticing that the hard light blade cuts, bruises, plasma burns, and other injures from his time fighting the Elementhians and the Insurrectionists were gone. Even scars he'd had since his initial Spartan training and training with the Sanghelli forces were gone. Did the sentinels really remove all the scars?
"The medical sentinels weren't the ones who did that you know."
He looked to his left at the door and saw Tia standing at the door, arms folded across her chest, and a relieved smile on her face. "How are you feeling brother?"
Solar stretched his arms and opened and closed his hands repeatedly. "Better. No pain, no aches, and no scars. Any idea on how it was done Tia?"
She moved out of the way as Lysithea walked into the room, "This is the information and results that Bias gave me, Tia has already seen them though."
She touched the holographic monitor in the room and a fully 3D, life-sized image of his body appeared in the room before him. He noted it was an x-ray scan, as he could see his internals, and narrowed his eyes when he spotted saw patches of darker red, the same colour of the liquid he saw the sentinel extract before he succumbed to the anaesthetics, flowing through him alongside the lighter red of his blood. "What is the dark red I'm seeing Lysithea?"
"Their Forerunner nanites," Tia said calmly as she looked at the x-ray.
Lysithea turned to face both Spartans. "There are a grand total of seven billion nanites running through each of your bodies. They're the pinnacle of medical technology, and were apparently created near the end of the Forerunner-Flood war. Unfortunately, as we know the Forerunners probably never had a chance to use them due to the firing of the Halo Array."
Solar turned back to his x-ray scan and saw the patches of dark red in his head, arms, legs, and the chest, which was where the biggest concentration was. "So are these nanites able to counteract a Flood virus infection?"
Tia replies to Solar as she takes a seat next to him on the recovery table "Apparently they can. Lysithea also says that they can also treat any internal injuries we receive, such as repairing potentially lethal damage to our organs or damage to our bones, but that last one would take them longer to do."
Lysithea then displays more information about the nanites on the screen in front of them "Their operational lifespan is about a hundred and fifty years, give or take. However the moment you die, so do they, though they're going to try their best to prevent that from happening. To start with, they're currently repairing broken down cell tissue and spawning new ones."
Solar's eyes widened as he quickly turned to Tia and noticed something different about her. "Wait Tia you look like you are only twenty-five years old."
Tia laughs at Solar's reaction before replying after catching her breath, "So do you Solar."
Solar then looks at Lysithea for an explanation. Lysithea then continues to explain what she knows about the nanites, "Yes, the nanites are restoring your bodies to peak efficiency. Bias had set the command for twenty-five years of age. Which in a way is good since that was the time all you Spartans were in your prime. However once the nanites lifespan runs out they will disintegrate and your ageing will resume again, starting from age twenty-five."
"You never told me what else they can do though Lysithea?" Rita asked as she walked into the room and stood next to Tia.
Lysithea took a moment to compose herself as Kaosu also walked in before answering Rita's question. "They bolster your immune systems, filtering out any viruses, or toxins that may enter your systems. They also apparently remedy a certain unfortunate side effect that all you Spartans had received from your augmentations. Your suppressed sex drives are slowly being brought back up to what would be known as normal human standards. Bias explained to me that it has to be a gradual process or the overwhelming time it was spent suppressed may react badly and drive you all crazy or even lead to death. After all forty years of reduced hormones coming out in a single instant could be bad, even for Spartans. So basically you all will be going through a second puberty."
Kaosu frowned in annoyance and tossed Solar a set of Spartan military fatigues, and Solar quickly put them on. He thanks Kaosu and then turned back to face Lysithea once more and asked, "Any reason why Bias thought this was necessary?"
"Honestly, I have no idea, even if the USSC won against the Elementhians we wouldn't have the numbers to deal with the flood. What I think Bias had wanted was for you Spartans to feel human instead of just being Super Soldiers. I guess if there was no wars what would you Spartans do? You'll all need a real life. That means either a wife or husband, and sons or daughters that you all could raise to continue your bloodlines. Let's face it, ever since the Elementhians created the clones of all of you to create the Spartan 6 army they have, the USSC will most likely never recreate the Spartan program. Either way they would struggle to recreate it anyway since most of the data was lost when Reach, Arcadia and Harvest all fell. So essentially any children sired from and trained by any of you Spartans are going to be some of the greatest warriors the USSC would have."
For a short moment, Solar let the thoughts of raising a family fill his head. He, his wife and child would be living peacefully together perhaps even serving on the same ship. He was shook from his thought by Tia who also had been lost in thought for a short while. Solar figured the increased hormones must have started affecting them since he noticed Kaosu was still lost in thought until Rita whacked him over the head with her right hand. "I admit, it sounds great Lysithea. But let's admit it, it's more likely not going to happen since there's a war going on that we possibly won't win, plus I think we all would most likely also outlive anyone we chose to be with anyway."
Lysithea waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry too much about that, Bias is currently having a nanite injection dispenser installed onto every single one of the ships in the fleet and is also installing about fifty on the fortress ship. But, you've all been out for almost two months; forty-nine days to be exact, though I suppose time means little to all of you now. Anyway other news Bias mentioned that all your new GEN5 MJOLNIR armours are ready, however it will be still a few more days for some of the other Spartans to recover from the treatment so in a way you four and also Ripa and Shadow will be the first ones. So do you all feel up to getting them, or would you all rather wait until morning?"
"Well I've had enough rest for a while don't know about the rest of you but let's go see what Bias has been up to hopefully he kept my armour the same way it was." Kaosu said as he walked out of the room followed by Rita and Lysithea.
Tia got up and walked over to the door before turning back to Solar, "You sure you are ok, Solar?"
Solar nodded his head before finishing off throwing the Spartan fatigue shirt on, he then got up and started following Tia.
As soon as the Spartans entered the armour crafting building, they saw a long row of metal pedestals with circular barriers surrounding each of them.
The monitor Reclamation Bias floated down to the Spartans and greeted them. "Reclaimers, say hello to your GEN5 MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armour." The Spartans watched as six of the circular barriers began descending into the pedestal, revealing their new suits.
Each suit looked exactly like their GEN3 MJOLNIR armour, though they each had a few slight differences. Each armour still had their original colours and the visors also were the same. They all also had thicker armour plates, and they covered more areas that had been left open for the black armoured bodysuit before.
In his search for the smallest of details and changes, Kaosu faced Bias and asked the one thing going through the mind of the other Spartans. "Explain to us what improvements we have here, Bias."
"Certainly Reclaimers." Bias stated eagerly. "The GEN5 MJOLNIR armour is composed of a combination between Hard-Light Battle Armour that the Promethean Knights are made of, and Titanium Nanocomposite Ceramic Skin alloy, taken directly from the Class 18 combat skin. The suits all feature full-body integration with a neural uplink via the helmets. This ensures full synchronization with the armour and not only allows you to move as if you weren't wearing it; it also makes instantaneous reaction timing a possibility, via the reactive circuits and the force-multiplying circuits.
Let's see…your hybrid plasma fusion reactors that powered the GEN3 MJOLNIR suits have been replaced by a Forerunner Reactor called a Nova Star reactor. This is a hard-light fusion reactor system that is working to power your new shielding system and armour functions. Each of your armours now starts off with an overshield for a total of three shield layers, and the recharge times are 200 years ahead of what they were before. Time delay from shields dropping under fire to begin the recharge cycle is a six second delay. Time from fully depleted to fully charged, is twenty seconds, with the six second delay first, and followed by the eight seconds needed to charge each layer.
Factoring in the actual strength of your new shields, the fact that they have three layers, and a vastly shorter recharge time, I'd have to say that overall, your new shields are about fifty times better than that of the GEN3 MJOLNIR Armours. Considering this was the standard for Class 18 combat skins my makers used, it makes you understand just how bad the Flood was in that time as well."
Rita, despite her amazement at the new armours, suppressed a shudder running down her spine, while the others looked at the armours amazed before facing Bias again. "What else can it do?" Blade asked curiously wanting to know more about his armour.
"Naturally, if your shields are depleted and you are injured, the armours have biofoam dispensers built into it to treat your injuries long enough till the nanites can repair the damage. There are stronger magnetic plates built into the suits, focused on the back, hips and upper thighs so you all should be able to carry more weapons into battle. A total of three weapons can be carried on the back, a weapon on each hip and one on each thigh. The suits also have upgraded thruster packs built in, allowing for rapid manoeuvrability across terrain or sustained flight for sixty seconds. Not to mention it will help with movement in a zero-gee environment, for which you all would have 3 hrs supply of air." Bias explained.
"I'm sure you've all noticed that some of the armours also have something different added to them as well, for you Kaosu your armour has an extendable hard light katana attached to the back. The blade it's self is thin, indestructible, and burns twice as hot as the energy sword you were using. The sword was made also from some of the components of your energy sword, so the blade still has that white colour to it.
As for the rest of you, your combat knifes have been upgraded also to extendable hard light energy daggers using Forerunner technology. They're also thin, indestructible, and burn twice as hot as the energy swords. Also for you Rita your red energy sword has been upgraded with Forerunner technology so it looks like it did before but is just as strong and hot as the katana and the daggers, the same goes for your green energy sword, Ripa.
Anyway your suits are capable of utilizing shield lockdown, deploying drop shields and can emit sustained active camouflage, which cannot be neutralized by enemy fire or shut down from the heat of your weapons. You can also create an exact duplicate hologram, you will also be able to create a hard light shield in front of yourself, just remember you could still get flanked if you're not careful. However you will only be able to activate one of these abilities at a time, else you run the risk of draining power from your shields. Now I think it's time you all were allowed to try them on."
Solar stepped up onto the pedestal, staring into the green visor of his new pathfinder helmet and smiled. He took his time, donning the new combat skin. When he finally had the combat skin on his armour disassembled itself from the stand and started combining together on him. As his helmet assembled around his head he instantly saw the HUD powered up, and there was a faint whir from the Nova Star reactor before it went silent. He felt the temperature within the suit regulate from hot too cold until it reached the perfect balance to keep him at a comfortable level.
He saw his shield beep three times, signalling the delay, until they started charging. Just as Bias had explained, the first layer was filled in eight seconds, and the next layer began its charge immediately after, with another time elapse of six seconds, until finally the last layer came online. The familiar blue, red, green display of an overshield confirmed that this was worth the wait.
"Now then Reclaimers, the temperature control is constantly adjusted to perfectly counterbalance each of you. Essentially, you're all invisible to thermal imaging. And last, but not least, your suits are capable of teleportation from and to the ground with your new ship through the use of the Slipspace transition grid. It was only completed a few days ago."
The Spartans were impressed. That kind of functionality would be immeasurably useful getting to and from the battlefield. They could get behind enemy lines without worrying about drop pods exploding in atmosphere.
"By the way, are the weapons done?" Kaosu asked after putting his Katana back onto his back.
"They are, and we've made more than enough that you should be able to distribute some to other USSC personnel on board of your ship if you ever had to deal with boarding parties and also there is enough to replace any that are destroyed in a fight. Would you like to see some of the weapons now Reclaimers?"
"Of course we would." Shadow said a bit impatient while Bias floated over to a panel, directly interfacing with the controls, which caused the wall to Shadow's right to retract. Once the wall was gone, the room beyond was revealed, with racks and racks of weapons. The Spartans did a quick count and found thirty of each type of weapon. It was more than enough to supply all the Spartans with four-five weapons to carry around.
The Spartans entered the vault and inspected the various weapons as Bias ran through the specs for each one.
Bias had chosen to create several varieties of the UNSC weapons and Sanghelli Empire weapons, including:
Human Weapons
The Hydra MLRS is a UNSC airburst rapid-fire missile launcher
The M363 Remote Projectile Detonator, also known as the Sticky Detonator
The BR85 Heavy Barrel Service Rifle, more commonly known as the Battle Rifle
The Asymmetric Recoilless Carbine-920, also known as the Railgun
The M45D Tactical Shotgun
The M7/Caseless Submachine Gun, more simply known as the SMG
The M41 Surface-to-Surface Rocket Medium Anti-Vehicle/Assault Weapon formally known as the Medium Anti-Vehicle / Assault Weapon, Bore 102mm, M41 Surface-to-Surface Rocket Launcher
The Weapon/Anti-Vehicle Model 6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle, also known as the Spartan Laser
The M739 Light Machine Gun, also known as the SAW
The M6H Personal Defence Weapon System is a M6 Series-handgun
The MA5D Individual Combat Weapon System also known as the assault rifle
The Sniper Rifle System 99-S5 Anti-Material
Sanghelli Empire weapons
The Type-33 Light Anti-Armor Weapon, more commonly known as the Fuel Rod Gun or Fuel Rod Cannon
The Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword, commonly known as the Energy Sword
The Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle, more commonly known as the Plasma Rifle
The Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher, more commonly known as the Needler
The Type-51 Carbine, also known as the Covenant Carbine
The Type-2 Energy Weapon/Hammer (or T2 EW/H), more commonly known as the Gravity Hammer
The Type-25 Carbine, also known as the Spiker or Spike Rifle
The Type-25 Grenade Launcher or Brute Shot
The Type-50 Sniper Rifle System, otherwise known as the Particle Beam Rifle
The Type-50 Directed Energy Rifle/Heavy or the T50 DER/H, otherwise known as the Concussion Rifle
The Type-52 Guided Munitions Launcher/Explosive (T52 GML/E), more commonly known as the Plasma Launcher
The T-55 Directed Energy Rifle/Advanced, or Storm Rifle
The Type-52 Pistol, more commonly known as the "Mauler
The Type-25 Directed Energy Pistol, also known as the Plasma Pistol
Forerunner Weapons
The Z-110 Directed Energy Pistol/Exotic or Boltshot is a Forerunner pistol which fires concentrated bolts of hard light.
The Z-130 Directed Energy Automatic Weapon, more commonly known as the Suppressor, is a Forerunner weapon. It fires bolts of charged hard light that pierce and destroy any organic material.
The Z-180 Close Combat Rifle/Asymmetric Engagement Mitigator, more commonly known as the Scattershot, is a Forerunner shotgun.
The Z-250 Directed Energy Engagement Weapon, informally known as the LightRifle, is a Forerunner weapon that fires beams of hard light particles.
The Z-750 Special Application Sniper Rifle, more commonly known as the Binary Rifle, is a long-range Forerunner weapon. It employs two core-mounted particle accelerators to propel a round with unparalleled stopping power that can bring down distant foes with one shot.
The Z-390 High-Explosive Munitions Rifle, more commonly known as the Incineration Cannon
After the Spartans fully inspected all the weapons, Bias informed the Spartans that it would still be another three months till the basic weapons on the Fortress Class ship were built.
While Bias, as well as a large contingent of Huragok and sentinels, worked on the fortress class ship's systems, the Spartans all spent the next two months putting their new armour and weapons through their paces. Bias had directed them to a large combat simulation training arena. The Spartans all had formed squads of four and compete against each other in many different war game scenarios.
As the marines, ODSTs and Sanghelli had their armours also upgraded they eventually also joined in the war game scenarios against the Spartans. The favourite game types play by everyone were Invasion, Generator Defence, Big Team Battles and good old Team Slayer.
Invasion was good for everyone since it allowed each side fight in simulate environments that were fought on during the Human-Covenant War.
The Big Team Battles normally occurred between the Spartans and the Sanghelli which allowed both sides to prove who was better. Most of the time the Spartans would win the match, but there were a few times the Sanghelli won.
By the time the three months had passed the total score in the simulations were:
Spartans 70 wins, Sanghelli 49 wins, ODSTs 28 wins and Marines only 14 wins
Bias informed the Spartans that the basic weapons were completed on the ship but that the advanced weapons would require 5 years to be fully constructed, as for the two Super Mass Accelerated Cannons they would be ready in a year.
Most of the Spartans went aboard the Fortress class ship while Solar, Ripa, Kaosu, Tia, Rita, Lysithea and Shadow stayed on the station to talk to Bias and come up with a name for the Fortress ship.
The seven Spartans stood on a viewing platform in the massive ship yard staring at the ship while Lysithea was messing around on one of the consoles.
"Thank you again for everything you did for us, Bias." Rita says as she smiles at the monitor. Bias replies with a happy tone, "Your welcome Reclaimer Rita." Bias then turns towards Solar who is busy listening to Kaosu, Ripa and Shadow say random names for the ship, "Would you guys just stop saying random names that don't make any sense for a ship like this, and Kaosu stop saying names of famous swords."
Bias then floats over to them and gives a suggestion, "Why not call the ship the USSC Lost Legacy, after all if you Reclaimers hadn't located this station the ship would still be here lost to the ages."
Solar turns towards Bias and nods his approval, "Yeah that actually sounds like a good name for the shi..." Solar is suddenly cut off by Lysithea. "Damn it an Elementhian scout ship just located us, we only have about four hours till they return with their entire fleet."
Tia is about to ask Lysithea about how many people are still on the station when suddenly all comm channels are opened up, "This is Admiral Morrison I am ordering a full evacuation of the station, everyone return to your designated ship and prepare for combat while we prepare for a random Slip-Space jump."
Bias floats over to the console next to Lysithea whom moves out of the monitor's way, "Admiral Morrison, if I may, you said that your original military faction the UNSC were preparing to fire the Genesis Halo am I correct."
"That is correct Bias they are currently finishing off cataloguing the last few species in the galaxy, they will most likely be activating the Halo in four months." Morrison replied over the comm shocking the seven Spartans.
Solar turns to Bias with a desperate look on his face, "Bias please tell me you have something to help against the Halo's blast."
Bias replies with an upset voice, "Unfortunately I don't Reclaimer; nothing on this station was designed to deflect the power of the Halo's." Bias then floats over to the window looking at the USSC Lost Legacy. "However there might be something I can do, your Admiral said something about doing a Random Slip-Space jump. Well my creator built a new prototype Slipspace generator onto this Station, never been activated however but the preliminary reports suggest that if your ships all enter the Event Horizon of this Slipspace Portal it should put you outside the firing range of the Genesis Halo."
The Spartans quickly discuss this between one another, "It's worth a shot, I mean if this fails were dead either way." Blade shakes his head in annoyance, "I just hate this though, I would have preferred going down fighting in combat instead of getting killed from the Halo's blast, now you want me to risk getting killed from an untested Slip Space Generator." The other Spartans look at him confused, till he suddenly surprises them with what he said next "We'll count me in."
Ripa then looks at Bias, "We're in lightbulb, just tell the fleet what you told us and we will head for the Prowler we left in Hanger 250." Bias nods and heads back to the comm terminal while the Spartans run for the hanger.
After running through the Station for two hours making sure the other USSC personnel along their route were heading towards the drop ships to get back to their respective ships, the Spartans eventually reached Hanger 250 just as the comm channel went active again, "Attention to all USSC forces this is Admiral Morrison, change of plans people instead of doing Random Slip-Space jumps we are going to be entering a Slip-Space portal generated by the station... You're clear to activate the portal Bias."
The Spartan notice the station lose power for about five seconds as it fires a beam ahead of the USSC fleet which created a large Slip-Space portal, "Slip-Space portal is activated Admiral. I would recommend your fleet travels through it as soon as possible, since the portal won't be able to stay open for more than an hour.
The Spartans quickly climb aboard the Prowler and start powering up the engines as they hear more comm chatter, "Admiral Sir, we are detecting thousands of Slip-Space ruptures 2000km away from the fleet, sir it's the Elementhian Fleet."
Solar stands behind Tia as she pilots the Prowler out of the Hanger and straight towards the USSC Lost Legacy and the rest of the fleet as they approach the active Slip-Space Portal.
In the distance the Spartans notice the Elementhian fleet starting to fire their cannons. "Tia take evasive actions now." Tia makes the Prowler do a hard bank to the right sending Solar, Kaosu and Ripa flying from their positions into a wall. "Damn Tia you didn't need to bank right so hard." Kaosu said as he got back up and helped Ripa to his feet.
"Commander, we have a problem." Lysithea called out.
Solar lifted himself off the floor and glanced over at Lysithea in the co-pilot seat. "What is it Lysithea?"
"The Slipspace drive is picking up charge the closer we get to the Station's Slip-Space portal. Currently approaching 110% charge and climbing."
Kaosu, Ripa and Solar rushed into action, strapping themselves into the seats next to Rita and Shadow, all the while Lysithea was trying to reduce power to the Slipspace drive and Tia continued to dodge incoming fire from the Elementhian Fleet.
"Power is locked in Tia. I can't divert it." Lysithea informed her.
She nodded, as if expecting that answer. "I believe it's a safety precaution for ships entering that..." Tia is cut off when she notices the station suddenly start opening fire upon the approaching Elementhian Fleet.
"Go Reclaimers, I will use the station's defences to buy you the time you need to get through the portal." Bias says over the comm
Tia pushes more power to the engines making the Prowler get closer to the USSC Lost Legacy just as both ships enter the large portal and the Spartans on the prowler are suddenly knocked out cold.
As Solar recovers he notices the Prowler is still in Slipspace but that all of the other Spartans were missing except for Tia who was still out cold in the pilot seat and the console in front of her was beeping red. "Tia wake up we have a problem."
Tia slowly recovered and suddenly noticed the console beeping, "Oh shit this Slipspace stream is becoming unstable."
"I figured that out already Tia since the others are missing," Solar said as he got into the co-pilot seat. "What do you mean missing," Tia asked as she was pressing multiple buttons on the console trying to keep the Prowler together.
"Just get us out of Slipspace then we can try and figure out what has happened." Solar said as he transferred power from the weapon systems to the shields. "On it Solar," Tia said as she started decreasing power to the Slipspace drive. The Slipspace around them began warping and distorting rapidly, showing the two just how unstable it had become when they were out cold. They both activated the magnetic plates on their back and feet to keep them in place as the Prowler rocked around violently within the Slipspace field. Suddenly an exit portal was created in front of them, though it looked as if it would collapse at any moment. "Tia, punch it."
"Engines are running hot. We're exiting Slipspace now, brace yourself!" Tia exclaimed.
The Prowler shot out of the portal and came to a sudden stop making the seats the two Spartans we on crack and bend forward. The shockwave from the portal's collapse impacted against their ship with tremendous force, and had the Spartans not been magnetically held in place in their seats, they would have likely been thrown clear across the bridge into the cargo bay. The two waited several minutes until Tia was sure things had calmed down and they released their armour's hold on the chairs beneath them and stood up. "Ok Tia, what's the status of the Prowler?"
"Slipspace drive has been damaged and isn't repairable, but the engines are severely overheated and will run at half efficiency until they finally shut down for good. The reactor is on the verge of going critical, in other words in about an hour we will be dead in the water."
Solar sighed softly to himself. "Well it could have been much worse, so I'm glad we are still alive. Where did we exit Slipspace by the way?"
Tia and Solar walked over to the holographic display and brought up the hologram of the galaxy. "Scanning indicates we are in the Utopia System of the Exodus Cluster, but last time the UNSC was here, they did locate a garden world, but they couldn't set up an outpost here since the Elementhians attacked just a few days after the discovery."
"Guess we will have to wait for a rescue on the garden world in this system then." Solar advised while pointing at the holographic planet.
Tia nodded, seeing as that would be their only chance at survival and started heading back to the pilot seat. "Ok, fine I'll power up the engines and get us to the planet, I am also diverting power from non-critical systems like the cryo bay, weapon systems and the cloaking system to the reactors, to drain the heat from the engines faster that way we can at least make to the planet. Anyway we should be there in abou—wait… picking up a distress signal."
That had Solar instantly on alert. "Is it from anyone in the USSC?"
Tia tapped away on the console while trying to pinpoint the signal, "What the...the distress signal is coming from the planet we were heading to, but the frequency it's on is not something the USSC uses, anyway transmitting it to the holo table."
Tia hit one final button then walked over to the holo table and stood next to Solar as the distress signal started to play.
The video began showing human soldiers wearing unknown armour and wielding unknown weapons, getting attacked by blue energy weapons. The shots fired from the unknown energy weapons seemed similar, yet different from the plasma weapons the USSC had.
Apparently it was a helmet cam recording the distress call, as a female soldier, wearing white and pink armour, came and pushed the camera down; avoiding what appeared to be a mortar round. The camera began panning erratically, and the two Spartans weren't able to see most of the video clearly, until a soldier, appeared in front of the camera, speaking frantically. "We are under attack, taking heavy casualties! I repeat, taking heavy casualties! We can't…argh…—eed an evac. They came out of nowhere. We need—!" He suddenly was shot in the back by an unknown threat, as his body slumped over mid-sentence.
Suddenly, a loud humming blared through the video, causing all the soldiers, to cease firing and look up in shock. The camera turned to the left sharply, and the Spartans were given a view of a large grey ship with four visible appendages, hanging down from the end giving it the appearance of a large squid. The camera began spinning around even more wildly than before until the camera shut down in static.
"The feed cuts out after that. There is no com traffic, no more distress signals, absolutely nothing. I have however tracked the signal back to the where on the planet it originated from the Prowler is currently on autopilot for those co-ordinates." Tia said solemnly.
Solar instantly turned from the holo table and started walking towards the armoury. "We'll I guess we better arm ourselves, also how long till the engines give out now."
Tia set her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow in annoyance. "Considering I just pushed the engines to max we can expect them to shut down as we reach orbit, so looks like we will be abandoning the Prowler, unless you want to go down with the ship."
"We'll then it looks like we better prepare our armours for emergency armour lockdown, this is going to hurt a lot."