Cortana's Charity
The Master Chief jumped from the falling wreckage of the Covenant ship High Charity. The armor clad hulk closed his eyes and thought about what Cortana had said to him.
They let me pick, did I ever tell you that? Chose which ever Spartan I wanted… You know me. I did my research, watched as you became the soldier we needed you to be. Like the others you were strong and swift and brave. A natural leader, but you had something they didn't. Something no one saw but me. Can you guess? Luck.
The Chief opened his eyes again and saw the ground hurtling towards him, or rather, him hurtling towards the ground. Looking back up at the burning ship, he wished that Cortana was there to calculate the odds of him surviving the fall in one piece. The reason for this was not because he was afraid of dying or losing and arm, but because he wanted to hear that voice again before he met his demise. The AI… no… his AI.
He stole one more glance of ground before he closed his eyes again. He hit the ground with such force, that he did not feel the impact before he fell unconscious.
Was I wrong?
"Stay sharp," Sergeant Major Avery Johnson told his team of marines. Like they needed to be told. They had to do that 24/7 now that the Covenant had found Earth.
"The signal's getting stronger, sir. We must be close to where he hit," one of the marines said. It wasn't long before they found the green armor in a two meter deep, ten meter wide crater.
Avery and one of the techs ran to the massive Spartan and started scanning the suit.
"This ain't good," one of the marines stated.
"Damn," another answered. "How far'd he fall?"
"Two kilometers, easy," answered the tech next to Avery.
"Stay sharp," Johnson reminded his team. At hearing that command all of the marines gathered around the Spartan and kept watch. "Foreman?"
"His armor's locked up. Gel layer could have taken most of the impact," tech replied as he unlocked the Master Chief's armor. "I don't know Sergeant Major."
Avery knelt down next to the giant, armored man and thought about what to do. He sighed and removed the containment unit that had held Cortana from the Chief's Helmet. "Radio for pick up, heavy lift gear. We're not leaving him here."
"Yeah, you're not," the Master Chief agreed as he grabbed Johnson's and pulled himself up.
Avery felt relief flood through him as he saw him stand. "Crazy fool. Why do you always jump? One of these days you're gonna land on something as stubborn as you are, and I don't do bits and pieces."
The Chief looked down at Cortana's containment unit that the Major still held in his hand and took it from him.
"Where is she, Chief? Where's Cortana?"
Don't make a girl a promise, if you know you can't keep it. The words rang through his head as he recalled what she had said. "She stayed behind."
Avery almost regretted asking that question, but he pressed on, "Corporal, make it quick."
"Sorry sir," The man replied as he stepped in front of the Chief. "Your armor's still in partial lock down." The tech punched a few buttons on his data pad then held it up high. "Look up here, sir."
The Chief struggled with his armor for a few micro-seconds, but his suit gave way and he looked up.
"Ok," The tech punched a few more buttons, "Now down here." John followed the small screen down. "Good. Everything checks out Sergeant Major."
"Kick off the training wheels Corporal. He's good to go."
When they were done talking the Chief looked up and saw a ripple in the air behind the farthest marine. The kind of distortion you see when heat radiates off of a hot surface. The Chief had only a moment to act. He pushed aside the Major and ran at the cloaked elite. With his pistol held below the beast's four part mouth, Johnson stopped him, "Chief wait! The Arbiter's with us!"
The Chief didn't remove his gun, but he didn't shoot either. He kept starring at him, wondering if he should release him or not.
"Come on now. We have enough to worry about without you two trying to kill each other," The Major continued.
John released his grip on the elite, but he still did not trust him, then the Arbiter spoke, "Were it so easy. We must go. The brutes have our scent."
"Then they must love the smell of green," Avery said handing the Chief a better gun.
The Spartan took it and decided he would keep the elite in line with it.
The Major turned around and began giving orders, "First squad, you're my scouts. Now move out as quiet as you can."
The Master Chief started running ahead of all the marines, but he slowed so he could keep the Arbiter with in his sights. The jungle was very thick despite the fact that they had a narrow path because of a cliff, and they had to stop every now and then in order for the marines to catch up. Soon they came up to a small stream where they heard a howl that only a brute could make.
"That sounded close," one of the marines said with the obvious hint of fear.
"Johnson, you be advised. You've got hostiles en route." Then there was static.
"Say again gunny. You're breaking up," The Sergeant said.
The Chief looked up and saw a Phantom fly over head.
"Sergeant Major, Phantom inbound," one of the marines said.
The Chief came to a clearing that split in two directions. One path kept going forward and the other arced back around the cliff they were walking next to. He looked around the corner of the cliff and saw a single brute keeping watch on a large rock approximately 15 meters from where he stood. The Spartan leveled his BR55 battle rifle with the ugly bastard's head and began to shoot. It took 5 rounds to finally take off its helmet and kill it, good thing too. The brute had already begun to level his own gun, what the ONI named the brute shot, or BS for short. The marines had a fun time with its name though, and that always kept their spirits up.
After the brute was down the Chief darted ahead. A Phantom came down to drop more support and John stepped behind a rock. He looked to see what kind of threat he was dealing with and saw that they were just grunts. Just grunts were ok, but when they came in hundreds, they were deadly little bastards. Right now though, there were only about thirty in all, ten here and a little more than twenty farther on. When the Phantom had left, the Master Chief jumped from his hiding place and punched the nearest grunt, making its head cave in on impact. He pulled out his pistol and shot the next two in the head. By now, the rest of the grunts realized what was going on and had all pulled out their plasma pistols and began to charge them.
Two marines jumped in the fight and started spaying the grunts with fire from there MA5C assault rifles. One of the grunts that were hit by the incoming fire released its stubby finger off of the trigger and fell to the ground dead. The stray plasma charge hit the Chief and completely drained his shields. He had to dodge a few more and find cover so his shields could recharge.
"Ahhh that was my best friend!" One of the grunts screamed.
"Then join him on the 'great journey'!" The Chief heard the Arbiter say sarcastically.
When his shields were charged up again, the Maser Chief came out into the open with his pistol at the ready. He found that all of the grunts had been dispatched. He counted the bodies of the grunts and only found nine though. Leveling his BR55 he looked for the last remaining grunt who had escaped notice. There was a shadow that was leveling its weapon with one of the marines. That weapon began to glow green. His eyes widened as he ran towards the shadow with speed that could rival most of the other Spartans... The dead Spartans… Everything went in slow motion. He could see the plasma discharge from the gun and head straight for the unknowing soldier. The Chief jumped and tackled the marine to the ground, careful not to break or crush anything.
"Hey!" The man was confused until he saw the green plasma race over the Spartan's head and on to a rock. The Chief jumped back up and smashed the last grunt's head in and it fell to the ground, lifeless. The marine just sat there on the ground with his eyes wide open, completely in shock of what had just happened.
"Marine! Get your ass off the ground and fight! We're in a war son! We don't sit around and wait for it to be over!" The Sergeant Major came running over. "Good work Chief, but there's still that group over there."
The Master Chief looked up and saw that there were still twenty or so grunts, but he saw something that he had missed. Two massive brutes. He nodded his head ready for the real fight to begin. Again he ran ahead of all the marines a dispatched the first three grunts. Their reaction time was always the same. But brutes were the ones you had to watch out for. Their reaction time was only a tad faster, but they were also deadlier, and there were two of them. He didn't have the element of surprise with him this time.
The closest brute started shooting its brute shot. The Master Chief's shielding went from full to half with one shot. He ducked in cover and let his shields recharge. He stood and peppered the smaller aliens with bullets from his BR. The brute began to shoot him again, but this time the elite stepped in and started shooting his Covenant Carbine or CC. The brute turned to his current attacker while the Chief snuck around to flank him. When the beast's back was aimed his way he jumped onto it and sunk his serrated knife into its chest. It let out a howl of pain as it grabbed for the armored man on his back.
The Chief jumped off and shot two rounds into the base of its neck. The large beast fell to the ground, dead. Just then, the Spartan was tackled by the other brute. How could he have forgotten about the other one?
It began to smash its fists against his helmet. His shield was dropping fast. The Arbiter pushed the brute off of the Chief and fired its CC into its mouth.
"Our leader is dead!" One of the nine remaining grunts squealed.
"The Demon and the Arbiter!" Another cried.
The Chief and the elite surrounded the remaining nine and showered them with bullets, plasma and metal alike. When the last one fell, the marines moved up. Johnson was the last man to catch up.
"You guys really know how to through a party. You two move so fast that we marines can't pull off a single shot."
"Were it so easy."
The Master Chief looked at the elite. That was the second time he had said that. But its meaning held true.
"Chief, I'm going to try and locate bravo," The Major said as a Pelican came into view. Johnson step on to it and saluted as it took off.
The Chief turned to look at the small natural tunnel that lay before them. It was time to move, they shouldn't stay in one place to long. He took the lead through the tunnel. He would still keep an eye on the elite, but not as much of one. He was almost sorry to say it, but he had begun to trust him. When they emerged on the other side the Chief saw movement out of the corner of his eye and ducked for cover.
"Sleepers. Take 'em out, nice and quiet." The marine who had said that almost sounded anxious.
The Chief jumped from his position and land silently, despite his one ton armor, next to the sleeping grunt. His fist impacted with the grunt head, crushing it. He dispatched five other grunts in the same fashion. When he got to the last one, it woke up.
"AHHH! The Demon!" It screamed to the rest of the Covenant in that area. Approximately three brutes, ten grunts and four jackals.
The Chief shot the grunt in the head and it stopped yelling. Three plasma bolts came zooming at him and he swiftly dodged to the side. He raised his BR55 and shot four grunts successively then leveled the scope with the nearest brute. As he began to shoot CC fire began to hit him. His first instinct was to turn on the elite and kill him for the betrayal, but then he realized that the fire was coming from the four jackals up on a cliff's ledge.
"Ahhhh," The elite yelled as he aimed at the jackals and took them down quickly with precision.
When John's shields had fully recharged again, he turned towards the brute again and began shooting it. The brute growled and charged him. The Chief side stepped and punched it in the spine, fracturing it and most likely, severing the spinal cord. The brute fell unmoving. The Arbiter dispatched one of the two remaining brutes and the rest of the grunts. One enemy was left. The marines had been firing the whole time, but unsuccessfully hitting anything. One of the soldiers, however, had just now attracted the attention of the last brute. The beast roared at its attacker and shot its T-25 Carbine (nick named the spiker by the marines because of its spike like projectiles) at him. The marine fell to the ground dead with five spikes sticking out from his head.
The Chief felt adrenaline kick in and he charged at the brute. He began shooting his BR at it when he was only five meters away. Then when he was right next to it, he shoved the butt of the rifle against its head, knocking it to the ground. The brute got up howling with the new found pain in the back of his skull. The Master Chief spun on his heel, put the muzzle of the rifle against the base of the brutes neck and fire twice. The beast fell, dead, with the look of pain and horror. The marines looked at their fallen comrade and all took their moment of silence. They couldn't carry him. It would slow them down and possibly cause more of them to die.
They all stood and left the spot where their friend had died and continued on. The Chief, as usual, pulled ahead of all the others. Another cliff took rise next to them and when they came to a corner they all had to stop when they heard voices. John looked around the corner and saw a brute standing on a natural bridge, holding a human prisoner by his neck.
"Tell me its location," The brute demanded.
"Kiss. My. Ass." The marine replied slowly and defiantly.
The Master Chief leveled his rifle with the creature's head and shot. The rounds caught it by surprise and released the man so it could protect itself. The soldier fell to the ground and rolled out of the way of the incoming fire.
When the brute finally hit the ground the marine turned towards the Chief. "The Brute Chieftain. They ambushed us. Killed my men."
John looked at the soldier and wished he could've been there to save them. Every man counted in this war for humanity. War had its casualties though, and people learned to live with it.
All of the soldiers pressed on across the bridge and found six grunts, two jackals and another brute. They just don't stop coming, do they? The Chief thought to himself. He pulled the pin from one of his grenades and counted. 1… 2… 3… 4… Now! The Chief threw the grenade hard and fast. "5," The Chief whispered, and the grenade exploded killing all of the grunts and one of the jackals. He jumped from his hiding spot and surprised the other jackal. Three bullets pierced the alien's vulture like skull, killing it instantly. The brute was also caught off guard, but was too late to ready its gun as the rest of the marines and the Arbiter showered it with gun fire. The beast fell and all the marines were happy.
"Hoorah!"
"Yeah, take that, you Jackass!"
The Chief ignored their celebration and continued through another natural tunnel. This unlike the other one, however, made a drop and caught the Spartan by surprise. He berated himself for not paying attention. Just then Cortana's voice came in to his mind as he recalled something that really caught him by surprise. Could you sacrifice me to complete the mission? Could you watch me die? He shook his head in shock of this memory.
"Chief, are you ok?" One of the marines asked.
Over the radio, Admiral Stanforth's voice said "Your vitals just pinged KIA!"
"I'm ok, sir," The Chief responded.
He was almost concerned for himself, but he immediately dismissed his self concern and continued on the mission. The mission always came first, concern for other things came later. Soon came a wide open area that held a few bunkers and landing pads. In this area were about five grunts and a brute. That's just what he could see though. Farther on there were more bunkers and most likely more enemies. He decided t o take the brute down first this time. He told the rest of the squad to shoot at the grunts.
The Arbiter followed the Chief to the brute, who currently had is attention on a Pelican trying to escape. John punched the beast as hard as he could while the elite started shooting the back of its head with his CC. The brute fell to one knee. It turned around fast and caught the Master Chief in the stomach with its fist. He went flying ten feet before he landed and slid another five. He jumped back up and noted that his shields were almost depleted. He ignored the shield status bar and saw the elite engaged in hand to hand combat with the large alien. The final blow came from the elite when he crushed the brute's ribs with a hard kick to its chest. The Chief could hear each individual crack of all the bones breaking. The brute coughed up its own blood as it fell to the ground choking on the purple liquid that poured from its mouth.
The Master Chief turned around and realized that all the grunts had been dispatched by the marines. His inspection was cut short, however, when the radio came on and the people in the pelican began to panic. "I've got something on the radar… Banshees! Fast and low!"
"Break off now!"
"I'm hit. No!"
"Get a hold of her!" The Major's voice broke through the radio.
"Negative, we're going down," The pilot replied.
Just as she finished her sentence, two plasma bolts streaked towards the Pelican hitting it. The drop ship exploded on impact. The Chief watch the burning pieces fall into the water below. He looked away not wanting to be reminded of the losses. The small clearing in the jungle curved around a large boulder and presented more bunkers… and more enemies. The number of grunts didn't get any higher, but there were now four brutes. The Chief wasn't sure how well this was going to play through. Again he took a grenade and counted to four, throwing it in at the last second. When the Chief stood he noted that all of the grunts were lying on the ground in pools of their blue blood. He also noticed that two of the brutes had caught multiple pieces of shrapnel, one in the leg and the other in the neck who was slowing bleeding out. Good. The Chief thought. He wouldn't have to worry about that one as much.
The Master Chief, the Arbiter, and the marines all jumped out and began shooting to confuse the brutes even more. The brute caught in the neck by the shrapnel had already died. The rest were just now beginning to realized what was going on, but, in rapid succession, they were picked off by a sniper. The man was still hiding back behind the crates, waiting for the right moment. When the brutes had all fallen with a centimeter long hole in their heads, the soldier jumped out, proud of what he had done.
Just then a blue streak of plasma, going so fast that only the Master Chief, with his enhanced vision and speed, could see, came flying through the air and right into the forehead of the sniper. The shot came off so fast that the marine didn't have time to register what was going to happen. He died with a smug grin on his face, a sign of victory. The Chief turned around and located the jackal sniper that had pulled off that shot and gave his BR three tight squeezes. The jackal fell to the ground. It was no longer a threat.
The men looked at the happy marine, and yet again grieved the loss of yet another friend.
"He was the best sniper in the squad," one of the marines said.
The Chief walked over to the dead man and closed his unblinking eyes.
"Chief, I can't raise Bravo. I'm gonna try and find them on foot," the major informed over the radio.
"The banshees will be back, lets head back into the jungle," one of the marines stated.
The Chief agreed and started for the jungle. He took one step in it and saw another blue flash. He barely side stepped in time for in to hit the ground. He raised his BR and aimed at the jackal's head and pulled the trigger. Three bullets ripped through its small, narrow head as it fell off of the tree it was perched on. Scanning the immediate area, he saw no more snipers, but he was still going to be on the guard for more.
He went about twenty meters when the Major's voice broke through the radio. "Chief, can you hear me? My bird's down. About half a click down from you position."
The Master Chief acknowledged this report and quickened his pace. The land dropped down about twenty feet and he jumped down. When he landed, he saw that there were almost thirty grunts, all of them spread out over a small area. Along with them were two brutes. All of them were going after the same thing… Sergeant Major and his team.
The Chief had picked up a few plasma grenades from dead grunts earlier. He threw two of them into the mix of grunts. They all panicked, but instead of running away from the dangerous items, they either ran in circles or, not knowing where the bombs only knowing that there was danger, diving in the direction of the grenades. Fifteen in all went down in the confusion. The rest were still panicking and that's when the Chief took his chance.
He jumped in to the middle of the confusion and began picking them off one by one with his pistol. The gun fire only disoriented them more. He took eight more down when the marines had finally decided to jump into the action. The Arbiter was already engaged with one of the brutes. When the marines finished killing off the grunts, they moved to help the Arbiter. The Chief, however, looked for the other brute which was no where to be found. He turned back to the struggling elite and came in to help.
The Chief took it out with a few quick shots to its chests and it fell with out another sound. There was yet another natural tunnel (evidently Africa was full of them) and they went through to try and find Johnson and his team. They emerged on the other side and followed a short and narrow path to the edge of a cliff. The Chief looked down and saw a small dam and a few power stations that controlled the water's flow. Across the river he saw Sergeant Major trying to fight one of the brutes. It laughed and kicked him to the ground.
"See how they bait their trap?" The Arbiter asked as he walked up behind the Chief. "I will help you spring it."
The Master Chief looked at the elite and nodded, letting the alien know that the Spartan had just given him his full trust. The Chief looked straight down and saw a small group of grunts, easily dispatched, but the brutes on the other side would try and find out what was going on. He pulled a grenade from his belt and yanked the pin from it. He let it drop and the fist sized piece of metal hit the ground about two seconds later. The grunts all gathered around the curious object and tried to touch it, but they never got to. It exploded sending all of the grunts in different directions and leaving no survivors. The two jackals that were near by fell over, partially from the shock wave and partially in shock. When they had collected themselves they walked over the center of the recently made graveyard.
John jumped down on top of one and completely crushed the smaller creature. The other turned in surprise and barely got a shot off before the Chief pulled the trigger of his own gun and killed the creature.
"What are you useless pieces of garbage doing?" Yell one of the brutes as he came stomping over. When he spotted the Chief and gave a surprised growl. "The Demon has come!"
Some grunts that had followed the alien gave a yelp and dispersed in terror. The Master Chief aimed his BR at the brutes and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. He looked at the round count and found that it was zero. He was out of magazines too. The brute laughed at this small handicap and lunged toward its opponent.
The Chief jumped to the side and the beast slammed into the wall of rock that he had been standing in front of. It howled in anger as it came around for another charge, but the Chief had already found a new weapon. He had killed a grunt and relieved it of its needler.
The Shards of pink needles pierced the brute's skin and exploded seconds later, leaving a disemboweled alien body in its place. The Chief turned around and found himself face to face with the biggest brute there. Its armor was thick and near impenetrable. The beast also had what the marines nicknamed the grav hammer, for its odd lightness, but extremely effective blows. The hammer was swinging towards him, but he didn't move in enough time. It impacted with his midsection and sent him flying into the cliff side. He tasted the distinct metallic flavor in his mouth and got back up. A few marines stayed in the back round shooting the beast while the Chief and the Arbiter engaged it head on.
The elite grasped its helmet and pulled it off, giving the Chief a clear shot to the head. He leveled the needler and pressed the trigger. The monstrosity's head exploded in a shower of its blood. The brutes, being all killed, left a few grunts running and screaming for there lives. The soldiers took care of them as the Chief ran to where they had put the Major.
"Chief, 'bout time you got here, now cut the power," Avery said when he saw John. The Spartan did as he was told and pressed a few buttons on the shield's power source. The cage turned off and the Sergeant Major was free, but he wasn't in time for the rest of his team. "Good," Johnson continued. "Now we're even, as long as we're only countin' today."
The Major then turned on his radio and spoke, "Kilo-two-three, what's your ETA?"
"Imminent, Sergeant. Find some cover. We'll clear your path," came the reply.
"Roger that, Hocus." The Major cut the transmission and turned to the marines. "Friendly gun ships, comin' in hot!" They ran to the bridge for their pick up.
"Phantom in bound!" One of the marines yelled.
The Phantom hovered right over the bridge and everyone ran off as it dropped grunts, jackals, and brutes alike. A Pelicans engines could be heard over the sounds of there enemies, however. Missiles streaked towards the bridge full of their foes and the Phantom. They both erupted in a shower of smoke and fire as the explosion engulfed both targets. When the danger had passed, the Pelican came to the bridge, ready to pick up the men.
"Good to see you, Hocus." The Sergeant Major said.
"Good to see you too, sir."
Yes, it was good to see them. The Chief was ready to get back to the base and get some rest. He needed it too. He needed to have a clear mind so he could find Cortana…
The Chief woke from his dream and was staring at the glass of his cryo pod.
"Chief! It's me Cortana. Some one is answering the distress signal."
The cryo pod opened slowly letting out mist. The Chief got out slowly, he could barely move. How long was he in there? "Cortana, how long have I been in cryo sleep?"
"Two years, four months and sixteen days."
He looked around and found a small window. Floating to it he peered out into the vast emptiness and saw a lone ship making its way slowly towards them. He was finally getting rescued.