Depths Without Atmosphere
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Chapter 1-
The ambient light glinted off his helmet visor. The light affixed to the barrel of his Battle Rifle flickered as it highlighted the wall ahead. The deep purple of the wall, it's glimmering curves and soft sloping edges glinted softly as the light from his torch flashed by. He moved slowly, his heavy armoured boots clanking against the metal floor, the indented texture giving him the grip to creep quietly despite his bulky Mark 6 armour suit. The dull black of his Battle Rifle glimmered as he moved silently down the corridor. He stopped, his breathing becoming slower and heavier within his helmet. He looked out before him- the corridor had opened up into a huge gallery with multiple floors. From his position on one of the upper floors he looked down, below him sat a Covenant Phantom drop ship. He could see the tiny forms of Grunts and Jackals, rushing about their menial tasks. He scanned the huge chamber, coming quickly to the conclusion that this was the ship's hangar. In enclaves in the walls of the chamber sat sleek Covenant attack craft. Probably the very same craft that had just destroyed the UNSC Heavy Cruiser May Flower. He could feel his anger building, smoothly and with skill he moved his finger away from the trigger. He knew one bad move could ruin everything. He couldn't help but let his emotions wash over him for a few seconds- everyone he knew, everyone he cared for had been aboard the May Flower when she went down. His training wouldn't allow him to let his emotional attachments get in the way of his mission. But he vowed, if it was the last thing he did: He would avenge his comrades.
The craft drifted, unable to move or gain stability. The pilot, 2nd Lieutenant Povalski tried punching in the ship's start code again, but as nothing happened she grunted in frustration. The ship still had power, but the activation modules were fried from the Plasma bursts. She glanced up at her co-pilot. His dead body sat slumped in his chair, the front of his head dripping with blood. The console before him was still stained with his blood. She sighed and sat still, quietly contemplating the fate that had befallen her crew mates. She thought of them, their corpses frozen in the sub-zero depths of space. She'd been on the UNSC May Flower since she was a recruit. Her life revolved around that ship, and now it was gone. She felt a pang of regret, everyone, everything, her life. A single tear rolled down her cheek as she closed her eyes in acceptance of her situation. The ship rumbled as it hit another piece of wreckage. The once dark green hull of Pelican 13C screeched as it brushed past, just a piece of floating scrap amidst the wreckage of yet another destroyed UNSC warship.
The huge form of the Covenant Carrier banked to the left, the complex series of bright purple lights across its hull flickering in the darkness of space. On the lower section of the ship a small explosion ruptured the Carrier's hull. Warning alarms activated across the ship, but already gas was venting from the small hole in the ship into the vacuum of space. Tiny alien forms of Covenant ship's crew hurtled into the freezing depths of space, never to be seen again. Sealed in his battle armour he drifted across the room; what was once the command centre of the ship was now nothing more than an empty chamber. Along the walls sat the complex Covenant terminals, sequences of intriguing symbols glowed and flickered in the darkness that had now consumed the room. Equipment, data pads, weapons and other miscellaneous items drifted in the zero-gravity. The armour-clad figure floated through the vacuum towards a central console. He magnetically clamped his Battle Rifle to his back and began tapping the alien symbols on the screen, the console bleeped. He pulled himself closer to the terminal.
"This is Spartan X74 broadcasting on all frequencies to any UNSC forces. Let's end this."