AN: I do not own the Halo Franchise by any means. Also, if you like fics like these, I highly recommend you reading 'Kyle 091' by general MB, and 'Into the Fire' by Heretic Knight 515. Both are exceptionally good fics by VERY good authors, and have inspired myself and Patriot-112 to write this fanfic. Please enjoy :D
September 23rd 2015 AD
North America
A young man with short brown hair and brown eyes wearing a pair of dark green jean shorts and a black T-shirt, looking to be in his late teens or early twenties walked down the streets of his hometown, a pair of earphones on as he listened to the music on his Iphone, hefting up the heavy bookbag on his back. 'Why does the closest library have to be a damn mile away from my house?' He thought to himself, groaning as he walked home. 'Wouldn't be a problem if I had my own car...'
Jordan Tackett was on his way home from the local library. He was returning from the small anime club that he was a part off that his friend hosted there. The whole club wasn't centered around Anime though, it was about anime, manga, video games, books, comics… anything that anyone of all ages would love. Today's topic though was a bit centered around a particular science fiction franchise that was on the verge of releasing its next installment next month:
Halo.
While Jordan had a love for all things science fiction and even fantasy, with interest in Star Wars, Star Trek and the like, his number one favorite genre in video games, and science fiction in general (excluding Mecha-based anime such as Mobile Suit Gundam and Macross/Robotech) was the Halo Universe. It was the game which first got him hooked into the wider range of science fiction to begin with. Sure he knew of Star Wars and Star Trek as a child, but becoming a young adult, Halo has been his favorite series. The music was amazing, gameplay, the storyline, he could find very little to really complain about Halo aside from minor issues, and always liked talking about it.
Hence why his friend thought it was a good idea to bring their local Halo expert - that being Jordan - to the Anime meeting to help discuss the game, and all of the books, comics, spinoffs and movies that had been created in the series wake. To do so, he brought with him arguably his entire Halo collection, including the games, the DVD's to Halo Legends and Forward Unto Dawn, pretty much every book and comic book to be published at the time, even downloaded examples of Halo-based Machinima like Red vs Blue. And, due to the fact he was the only one in the anime club (at the time) who owned and Xbox One, he had brought his unit over so they could play the Halo Master Chief Collection.
And now, here he was - nearly 8:00 PM at night with him hefting most of his stuff back home on a mile-long walk, carrying all he brought with him in a backpack and a computer case over his shoulder. Silently cursing himself for never getting his licence yet so he could've just driven home.
'I could totally buy a Jeep Wrangler from my dad,' He thought to himself, continuing to berate himself as he listened to 'Blow Me Away' from Breaking Benjamin. 'Hmmm… I wonder if I did get one, if I could mod it for airsoft… just think of me driving a Wrangler with Dennis on the back firing his Airsoft M2… it'd be like driving in with a Warthog!'
Before he could continue his thoughts on how to make his next airsoft match all the more interesting, he heard a strange whirring sound to his right, as he looked down an alleyway between a few old stores. "Hello?" Jordan called out, "Dennis, that you buddy?"
He didn't hear a response, and he was about to continue on his way chalking it off as some random noise… but that was when he heard the growling. At first he thought it was a dog or something… but then he saw something move very fast from between the garbage cans, causing him to jump.
"Uhh… w-who's there?" He asked, thought he was beginning to consider just saying 'screw it' and run as fast as he could back home as possible. but that train of thought ended when the… thing appeared from atop one of the garbage cans, revealing a bird-like face with razor sharp teeth carrying some sort of glowing item in his arm, snarling at him.
Jordan's eyes widened as he almost immediately recognized the creature… it was a Ruutian Kig-yar, or more commonly known as Jackals across the Halo Universe, most notably being the Jackals from the vast majority of halo games. Judging from its gear, he could tell it was a Jackal from Halo: Reach, and he could tell it was armed with what appeared to be a Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher - aka the Needler.
For a few moments, the Jackal and Jordan just stared at one another. While whatever was going on in the mind of the Jackal was a mystery, Jordan on the other hand had his mind racing, trying to figure out why a fictional alien was standing right in front of him! 'I'm dreaming… fucking hell, I HAVE to be dreaming... '
A car sped past them, seeming to pay no mind to the situation. However this drew the Jackal's attention as he fired his Needler at the passing Car. Jordan quickly weighed his options, knowing he couldn't possibly outrun a Jackal considering how fast and mobile they are in the games. So that really only left him with one option, as stupid as it was.
Jordan ran towards the Jackal as fast as he could. The Jackal, seeing him charging at him, brought the Needler back towards him, and fired off two shots. They hit Jordan square in the gut, as he groaned, but kept pushing before he crashed into the Jackal, sending them both to the ground. Though it seemed luck was smiling at Jordan, for due to the combined weight of all of his stuff in his backpack, combined by his own body weight and the Jackal's own relatively hollowed bones, he crushed the Jackal's bones from under his weight, causing the creature to howl in pain.
Jordan got up, and proceed to stamp on the Jackal's face repetitively, "Just. Fucking. Die. You. Stupid. Fucking. BIRD!" He shouted at each kick, before finally, the Jackal fell limp on the ground, surrounded in a pool of purplish blue and red… blood…
'Wait...' he thought, 'Jackal blood isn't… red...' He glanced down, and he finally registered that he had been hit with two needles in his torso, both of the pink crystal detonating, but not in the combined explosion effect thankfully, as Jordan realized he was bleeding. The Adrenaline leaving his system as he collapsed to the ground on his knees.
"Fuck… fuck..." he muttered, as he tried to stay contous from the blood loss, but his vision was already starting to go blurry. "Hell of a… way to go… getting axed by a... by an alien..."
Jordan began to fall over, before his hand unknowingly grazed the strange object the Jackal was carrying, as it began to glow bright gold. "Let's see… who's imaginary friend… was right... " He muttered, as his vision blurred in a flash of light, before he felt nothingness.
Sector K-009, UNSC Hopeful,
February 9th 2545 AD
Lieutenant Commander Kurt Ambrose sighed, as he looked out the window which overlooked one of the main medical facilities of the UNSC Hopeful. Inside he could see the hundreds of young boys and girls, none of them older than twelve of thirteen as they began undergoing a series of chemically-induced drugs, to become the very thing he had become many years ago - Spartans.
It was time for the augmentation process for the SPARTAN-III's of Beta Company - to replace the loss of the vast majority of the Alpha Company Spartans from Operation: PROMETHEUS. While Beta Company had improvements from the lessons learned from Alpha, Kurt still had many doubts. He already knew from Mendez that Ackerson was already planning another mission for the SPARTAN-III's, and he once again knew that it would likely be another suicide mission much like PROMETHEUS.
'Wasted lives...' He thought to himself, thinking about the lessons that Mendez had once told him and the SPARTAN-II's when they were being trained. To know the difference between lives wasted, and lives spent. Was it vital for the K7-49 shipyard to be destroyed? Kurt would not argue with that, but he would argue the fact that there were other ways to have done it without sending the Spartan's to their deaths. Providing actual orbital support, extra ground troops… but there was little the Lieutenant Commander could do, with all but a handpicked few from Alpha who did not participate the battle surviving.
Now, here was Beta Company. While training had improved to allow for more unit cooperation… Spartan-051 still had a sinking feeling in his stomach that this wouldn't change the results of the next battle, whatever it was. And with the UNSC accelerating the production of SPARTAN-III companies, it gave them all the less more time to train them up, to prepare them for their mission where they'd all likely die…
'Spartan's never die...' Kurt thought almost bitterly as he turned away from the hospital floor as he left the observation room, exiting out into the hallway. Upon leaving, he soon ran into none other than his former instructor, and now subordinate, Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez.
"Eltee," Mendez said, offering him a quick salute.
"Chief," Kurt said nodding as Mendez stood at ease. "Augmentation is underway..."
"And the Admiral has their mission," Mendez said, causing Kurt to blink.
"Already?" He asked, "I thought it would be at least a little while..."
"He accelerated it." The chief said, rolling his eyes slightly. "They've already found a good target, and wants them deployed the moment they're all combat ready."
Kurt sighed, as he walked down the hallway along with Mendez. "How the hell did you deal with this, chief?" He asked, "I want them to survive as best they can… but these missions Ackerson's proposing-"
"Suicide missions. All of them." Mendez said nodding, "I can delay their deployment to that mission for a bit… Ackerson has a slightly less suicidal mission, Operation: CARTWHEEL. But after that… it's out of the frying pan, and into the fire. I can get as many out as I can… but I can't get them all out. And as for the how… I just train them as best I can… there's not much else I can do after that."
"I know..." Kurt said, shaking his head. "I just wish there was… something we could do. Give them a better chance than they already have. Some sort of edge."
Mendez was about to say something, however as they rounded another corner, they arrived just in time to see a brief golden sphere appear before them, before it dropped out a young human man with a blood-covered shirt, and a dead Jackal. "What the hell?!" Mendez shouted, as he and Kurt ran towards the figures.
Mendez first checked the alien. "Jackal's dead, bones crushed." He said, as he took away the Jackal's Needler and wrist shield.
"This guy's still alive." Kurt said, as he checked the pulse of the human. He then reached for the alarm, as he hit the medical alert as alarms sounded, sending medics to their position. "The hell did they come from though?!"
"Hell if I know..." Mendez said, before he picked up the strange silver object that the human had in his hands, looking like a strange L-shaped device with a glowing crystal at its center. "But this doesn't look Covenant..."
"Only one way to get answers..." Kurt said as a team of Medics arrived at their location, as Kurt lifted the young man up a and placed him on the stretcher. "Here's hoping he lives long enough to tell us."
California,
September 19th 2015 AD
A man in his mid to late twenties was looking over his laptop for the latest news on Halo 5: Guardians. Mostly the new characters, plus the return of other characters like Spartan Blue Team, the old team of John-117. He was dressed in a pair of tan shorts, a olive green army shirt, and brown tennis shoes.
This man was known on the internet, mostly Fanfiction, as Patriot-112. In real life, he was known as Drew Cobb, a humble, and currently unemployed, resident of Fresno County.
He was staying at his grandparents place, due to how hostile his mother was getting recently, but of course, that didn't mean, that she was not still driving him nuts.
He sighed as he brushed his short brown with his hand, his brown eyes narrowed a bit. He wished he could be something more than what he was now, but his laziness just stopped him from doing anything productive. Sure, he was good at history and writing, but he just wished that something would happen that would make more than just...him.
Before he can think any further, a large bang was heard on the roof, causing him to blink.
"What the hell?" he said, standing up and making his way outside. His grandparents were in Fresno right now, doing some shopping, meaning at the moment, he was home alone, with only his brother's Siberian Husky, Harley, who jumped from his position on the couch and looked at the door, growling, the hairs on his back standing on end.
"What is it, boy?" Drew said, patting the dog on the head to calm him a bit, before he started hearing something like chatter.
Feeling a chill go down his spine, he reached out and grabbed the bokken training sword and began walking outside, before telling Harley to stay put. He slowly opened the door and headed outside. He could now hear the chatter, and he blinked as it reminded him of Grunt talk from the Halo Games.
"Where the hell are we!?" said one squeaky voice.
"How should I know!?" said another, "We should look around, if we don't do anything the Elites will get angry,"
Drew blinked at that, "Elites?" he whispered, just something dropped from the roof in front of him making him stop in his tracks. His eyes widened as he saw, an honest to God, Grunt.
'What. The. Fuck!?' he thought, as the little alien looked around, sniffing the air, before fully turning towards him, and the aliens yellow eyes widened.
The two stared at each other for what felt like a few minutes, before...
"A HUMAN!" that snapped Drew out of it as he, in a speed he didn't he had, ran forward and clocked the Grunt upside the head, sending it sprawling on the ground, it's eyes rolled up into it's head. Drew then walked toward the Grunt and kicked it a couple times.
"You better be dead," he said before he heard a scream, and something dropped on his shoulders, making him lose his grip on the bokken.
"AW FUCK! GET OFF ME YOU LITTLE FREAK!" He yelled, as a second Grunt was on his back, and was now trying to get it, as the little alien began to hit him with something metallic.
"TAKE THAT HUMAN!" The Grunt screeched, hitting him on the head, until a bright light absorbed the two and the dead Grunt.
Desdoron
January 12th, 2545 AD
"FUCK! INCOMING!"
The colony world of Desdoron was under attack by the Covenant, as a fireteam of ODST of the 105th Shock Troops Division took cover from heavy Covvie plasma artillery fire. Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck cursed as he and his his team of ODST's found themselves pinned inside a building as Covenant Wraiths unleashed a wave of plasma mortars into the city.
"I thought the fly boys took care of the Wraiths!" Private William O'Brien shouted, pulling out his SRS99D-S2AM sniper rifle up to bear, looking out the window for any more Covenant ground troops.
"Well, it looks like the Covies had more!" Corporal Taylor H. Miles said, as he hefted up his M6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle up, checking its power supply. "Fuck, I've only got one shot left for this thing."
"Then make it count when you use it," Master Sergeant Fernando Cortez said, sighing as he readied his own MA5C Assault Rifle. "Buck, any word from command yet?"
"No sir," Buck said, shaking his head. "It's all frantic as hell. And if its bad down here, its gotta be worse up there."
"The navy'll hold e'm off as long as they can," Dutch said, "But we all know what's gonna be coming soon."
"Then we'd out to get the hell out of here while we-" O'Brien began to say as he peered through the scope of his Rifle before he blinked, "What the hell?"
Cortez glanced at O'Brien, moving up to him. "What do you see?" He asked.
"Civie, looks like he's fighting a Grunt." O'Brien said, as Cortez pulled out a set of binoculars, and saw indeed a few buildings away a human trying to yank off a Covenant Grunt off his back, along with a corpse of a dead Grunt not to far away.
Cortez cursed "Fuck, didn't they say they evacuated this area early?" He asked.
"Well either way, we're not leaving him behind, right?" Buck asked, as Cortez sighed, and nodded.
"Time to test your sniping skills, O'Brien." He said, as the ODST sniper nodded as he took aim.
With Drew, he was still trying to get the grunt off of him as it kept hitting him with the object.
'Now I know how Bruce Campbell felt!' he thought as he delivered a punch to the alien's mask, which resulted in it gasping, which made him guess that he broke it. Before he could capitalize on this, a loud crack was heard and the Grunt went flying off his back.
"OH SHIT!" he shouted, as he landed on his behind watching as the grunt landed on the ground, and the object falling out it's hands.
Drew used this moment to calm himself down, and then looked, noticing that he was not at home in Auberry anymore. In fact, it looked like he was in a city somewhere near the Rockies or the Alps, due to how VERY cold it was.
"Where the hell am I!?" he thought outloud, and then looked back to the dead grunt, and walked toward, seeing the object the little critter used to hit him he bent down and picked it up. Sone silver L-shaped object with a small yellow crystal in its center.
'What the hell is-' D.J began to think, before the Grunt once again crashed into him.
"Give back! That Mine!" The Grunt shouted, as he tried to wrestle the object out of D.J's grasp.
"Fuck you ya Gas sucker!" D.J shouted back as he tried to yank the object from out of the Unggoy's grasp. However, suddenly there was a loud CRACK, followed by a vapor trail speeding by, hitting the Grunt in the head causing it to spray a blast of purplish/blue blood onto D.J as the Grunt fell over dead.
"FUCK ME!" he shouted as he looked around for where the shot came from, before taking cover by some rubble. "Shit...what now,"
However, he then felt something next and looked over and his eyes widened slightly at the body of another human. However it was what the human was wearing that got his attention as it was a UNSC Marine BDU with all the armor, and not that far away, was an MA5C assault rifle, the iconic favored weapon of the Master Chief.
"Damn...," was all he said, as he placed his fingers on the Marine's neck checking for a pulse, only to sigh sadly at having found none. His eyes then turned to the assault, and by instinct grabbed, before checking the weapon to see it was still functional. He then turned back, and saw his eyes were still open, before he closed them with his hand.
"I need this more than you, buddy,"
"Psst! Hey!" A voice called out, causing D.J to jump a bit before he followed the source. A few dozen meters away he could see a figure sticking out of one of the buildings. From the distance however, D.J was able to tell that they were wearing the oh-so iconic ODST Ballistic Armor.
"Holy shit dude," he said in a low whisper as he saw the armor, before the ODST spoke again.
"Come on, what are you waiting for, a written invitation or something!?"
D.J. decided to do what the man said, as he stood, and immediately bolted to where the ODST was, not stopping until he got there.
"Oh damn!" he said when he got there, "Thanks for the save,"
"Don't mention it, though why the hell are you out here?" One of the ODST's said. "Didn't you get the whole 'Covenant attacking - flee for your lives' memo?"
"I uhh..." D.J said, not exactly sure what to say. He was able to deduce quickly that someway and somehow, he was in the Halo Universe, and those were real ODST's in front of him, and that was a real Grunt that tried to kill him. So he obviously couldn't tell them he was from Earth, let alone Earth from the 21st century.
So, he improvised.
"My… family lived out in the mountains," He said, "We… didn't hear anything about the evacuation… then the Covenant showed up… the rest of my family's… gone. I tried getting to the city, to get out of here, but… those damn aliens jumped me."
"Shit..." The ODST muttered, "Sorry to hear that kid, but it looks like you're in luck though. Me and my boys are about to radio in a pickup and get off planet before the Covenant decide to say screw it and glass the planet."
"Assuming the Covenant don't kill us before they arrive," Another ODST said, his voice sounding a bit more familiar to D.J causing him to blink.
'Wait, is that…?' he thought, as the first ODST continued speaking.
"Radio in for that Pelican, Buck." He said, "Now we've got a civilian here, we need to get him - and us - out of here while we still can."
"Got it." Buck said, as he touched his helmet. "Command, this is Alpha-Nine, 7th Shock Troops Battalion. Requesting immediate evac. Be advised, we have a civilian survivor here."
Buck paused for a moment, as D.J silently wished he could hear whatever Command was saying. "Yes sir, we're near the outskirts of Tarka City, hold up in an old building." He said, before pausing again, and then let out a tired sigh. "Understood. Alpha-Nine out." He turned to the other ODST. "They said there's a good LZ a few klicks south of our position, near the outer city plaza. But we're gonna have to hoof it if we're gonna get to that Pelican in time."
"Is it that bad?" The taller ODST said, once again in a voice D.J recognized.
"Fleet's falling back..." Buck said, "They're rounding up as many transports they can, and protect what they can… but we need to get off on the next pelican, or we can kiss our sorry asses goodbye."
"I agree with that, one hundred percent, sir," said D.J. as he cocked the MA5C ready , making sure his finger was off the trigger, which didn't go unnoticed by the ODSTs. "What? I owned a few guns before these assholes showed,"
"Just keep your head down, kid." Cortez said, as he pulled out his own rifle. "We're getting you out of here, one way or another." He peaked outside, and seeing no Covenant he motioned the others forward. "Come on, let's go!" He said, as he and Dutch were the first out, followed by D.J with Buck and O'Brien right behind.
All the while, D.J. was thinking on how he got here and how to get back home.
UNSC Hopeful
With Jordan
After what felt like an eternity, Jordan finally began to feel his senses again as he groaned. 'Fuck me...' he thought, 'That was the weirdest dream I have ever had in my life...'
Jordan's eyes opened, before they immediately closed from the light in his face. "Stupid light..." he muttered, "I thought my lamp… was… " However, when his eyes reopened to push the lamp to the side, he glanced around and froze. This was not his room. If anything, it looked as if he were in a lab. He was on some kind of stretcher in the middle of the room, surrounded by several pieces of medical equipment, some he knew, others he hadn't the foggiest.
"What… the… fuck..." He muttered before he sat upright, glancing around. "How the hell did I get here?!"
'Okay… calm down Jordan...' I thought to myself. 'You were walking home from the library, you met that… thing that looked like a Jackal from Halo, bright light and then… here...' He facepalmed. 'Is it possible to be knocked out while you're dreaming?'
What Jordan didn't know however, was that he was being watched from just outside the one-way window. Standing there were three individuals, those being Kurt, Mendez, and a woman who looked to be in her mid to late thirties with short ear length blonde hair, green eyes and wearing a lab coat. And lying before them on a table was all of the items that the young man had with him.
One of the first things that struck Kurt as odd was how old the tech was. Most of it looked as if it were from the 21st century, including pieces of technology that was 500 years old… and yet it looked almost as if it just came out of the stores. Including a laptop computer, a Microsoft Xbox One, and even an Apple Iphone. There was also the ID that he had on him, which indicated he was born in the early 1990's.
That was odd in itself… but then they saw what else he had in his backpack and in the laptop case. Books, Comics, video games, all of them possessing the same title of 'Halo' on them, but most disturbingly was that most of the images showed pictures of men wearing MJOLNIR armor variants, and ODST BDU's. But it became even more confusing, when they discovered a book which had two figures in MJOLNIR armor, and another in SPI armor, titled 'Ghosts of Onyx'.
"What the hell is this…?" Mendez muttered, as he read through the first few chapters of the book. "Its talking about… everything. The SPARTAN-III's being founded, you ending up with the program, your assassination of Robert Watts… hell, it even tells us how Operation: TORPEDOE is going to end!"
"Yet it's all displayed like its… fictional." Kurt said, as he tried to wrap his head around what he was seeing. "The Insurrection… the SPARTAN-II's… the Human-Covenant War... how can this be right?"
"Well gentlemen..." the woman said, with a bit of a british accent. "There seems to be only one possible solution… as unlikely as it seems… he's from a different universe where, apparently… ours is a science fiction series to them."
"If I wasn't looking at this right now, I'd be calling you insane, Dr. Allannah." Mendez said, as he kept looking through the book, before he sighed as he put it down. "Fuck… if this is as accurate as its being… only two Spartan's survive TORPEDOE..."
"This… isn't something we'd expect..." Kurt said, shaking his head. "All of this information… " he glanced at Mendez and the Doctor, "No matter what though, Ackerson must not learn about this."
"Taken care of," Mendez said, as the doctor nodded. "We dumped the Jackal's body into space, and the doctors swore secrecy on the matter. No one knows he's here… for now at least." He then looked back inside, as he saw Jordan wondering around in the room. "Question now is… what to do with him?"
Kurt sighed, as he massaged his forehead a bit as he considered the options. "We can't keep him here indefinitely." He said, "Someone will notice him… but we can't exactly let him leave, he knows way too much not just about our programs, but about the future itself. If ONI somehow tracks him down..."
"Damned if we do, damned if we don't..." Mendez muttered, before Doctor Erika Allannah's datapad beeped as she turned it on.
"Ah, there it is." She said.
"What?" Kurt asked.
"I took the liberty of getting a sample of his blood," She said, "Just to run a few tests, see if he is human and such..." she glanced through the contents of the data, before she paused... and then smiled. "Well… here's our answer."
Mendez and Kurt both blinked "Answer to what?" The Lieutenant Commander asked, before the doctor showed him the results, and Kurt's eyes widened a bit. "I see… well that's another option at least." He then turned and headed for the door.
"What are you doing?" Mendez asked.
"We're gonna need some answers out of him," Kurt said, "Get things from his perspective… and then I'm giving him the only chance he's got to get off this ship alive."
Meanwhile - Desdoron
Tarka City Plaza
"Oh son of a bitch."
D.J would have to agree with O'Brien's assessment, as the ODST's had taken cover within another building in the Tarka city plaza, which gave them an excellent view of the area… and how many Covenant were there. And it wasn't just a few Grunts and Jackals, but even D.J could see a handful of the deadly Elites among their numbers as well. As well as a pair of Type-26 "Shade" Anti-Vehicle turrets as well.
"Of all the places for us to make an LZ… it's in the middle of a Covenant Platoon." Dutch groaned, as they observed the situation. "What's the ETA on that bird?"
"Seven minutes." Buck said, looking at his watch. "Give or take. But we don't have the time to warn them about the LZ, we're either leaving here, or not at all."
"Shit..." Cortez muttered, "We're gonna have to do this quick then… Dutch, O'Brien, you two take out those AA Guns, Buck, you're with me, we'll move in and try to flank them before they know we're here. O'Brien, keep us covered up here, but make sure they don't remain that last turret."
"What about me?" D.J asked, getting attention drawn from the others.
"You are staying here." Cortez said, "Dutch and O'Brien will keep you safe, just keep your head down, and don't try anything stupid."
D.J. sighed, as he kneeled on the on the ground placing his borrowed MA5C on his leg.
"Crystal, Sarge," he said, "I'd wish you guys good luck, but...you already got the Devil's Luck,"
Cortez smirked slightly behind his visor, as he and Buck stood up. "Just stay tight, this'll be over before ya know it." He said, as the two of them left the building.
The two ODST's descended down the small flight of stairs before reaching the ground level, where they crouched and silently moved towards the Covenant from below, sticking to whatever cover they could find as they did their best to go unnoticed. From above, the other ODST's looked down, before Dutch pulled out his Spartan Laser, and took aim.
"On my mark… fire." Cortez informed on the radio, as he and Dutch managed to get behind the Covenant.
"All set here." Dutch said, as O'Brien nodded.
"Alright… three… two… one… Mark!" Cortez shouted, as Dutch charged his Laser, and a blast of red energy shot from out of the weapon, scoring an easy hit against the AA turret, blasting it to pieces as O'Brien fired his sniper rifle, which quickly killed the Covenant Grunt manning the second turret. In all of the confusion, as the Covenant tried to figure out where the fire came from, Buck and Cortez lobbed one grenade each towards the aliens. One Grunt noticed the grenades, and began shouting a warning, but it was too late as he and several of his brethren were sent flying in pieces of flesh and shrapnel. The blast was strong enough that an Elite Minor lost his shield, making him easy picking as O'Brien fired another shot from his rifle, killing the Elite with a headshot.
"Now we're talking!" Dutch said, as he discarded his now powerless laser, and pulled out his MA5C and began firing down below, providing suppressive fire, as O'Brien continued to snipe at targets of opportunity.
Down below, Buck and Cortez fired their own assault rifles at the Covenant, keeping the enemies on their toes as they fired from cover. "Come on, eat some of this!" Buck shouted, firing his rifle into an group of Grunts panicking away.
"Keep the pressure on!" Cortez shouted as he lobbed another grenade forward, "Don't give them any - FUCK! SPECTRE!"
As the Sergeant said, a single Covenant Type-46 Infantry Support Vehicle had arrived on the scene, as two more Elite soldiers stepped off of it, and the gunner on the plasma turret opened fire on Buck and Cortez's position, forcing them to duck for cover.
"Shit!" Dutch shouted, "O'Brien, take it down!"
"Last shot..." O'Brien said, as he took aim with his sniper rifle, as the Spectre's gunner opened fire on Buck and Cortez's position. "Goodnight ass-" however a beam of energy shot past O'Brien's head, causing him to duck. "Fuck! enemy sniper!"
D.J peaked from his own spot, looking where the shot came from as he spotted a Jackal Skirmisher on top of a garage complex. "Up there! Top floor, the garage!"
O'Brien nodded as he raised out from the cover, aiming his rifle as he took the shot, His aim was true, as D.J watched the Jackal skirmisher take the shot square in the head, before it fell down to the ground.
"Great, but how do we take out that Spectre?" Dutch asked, looking down where Buck and Cortez were still pinned.
D.J cursed as he looked around the Plaza, looking for something they can use to their advantage… that was when he spotted what seemed to be an M12 LRV equipped with the M41 LAAG. It appeared banged up, but still functional.
"I found the solution!" he shouted and then began to bolt across the plaza toward the Warthog.
"What the- NO! SHIT!" O'Brien cursed as he saw D.J. begin to bolt to the downed warthog, "Boss problem!"
"Can it WAIT?!" Cortez shouted, as he peaked over his cover, only to duck from the Plasma fire.
"The Kid left!" He shouted, "He's going towards a Hog!"
"WHAT?!" Cortez shouted, "What the hell does he think he's doing?!"
D.J reached the bottom of the stairs, as he ran towards the Warthog. Thankfully the Covenant were so focused on the others they didn't notice him reach the famous Halo vehicle, as he climbed up onto the back. "Okay… how does this work..." he muttered before he noticed the two pedals on the bottom of the turret, he pressed them as he discovered the controlled the direction of the turret. "Alright! Now, safety off… pull the lever back..." He adjusted the turret towards the Spectre. "Eat lead!" He shouted, before he opened fire as the LAAG unleashed a loud roar of fire as 12.7x99mm armor penetrating rounds shot out of the weapon.
The fire impacted against the Elite machine, as the driver backed the Spectre away as the gunner adjusted his fire towards the Warthog.
"Shit!" D.J cursed as he was about to duck for cover, but then the Warthog lurched forward as it began speeding away, as D.J in surprise grappled onto the Chaingun.
"You've got guts Kid, I'll give ya that!" D.J blinked as he looked at the driver seat, where Dutch was currently behind the wheel, with O'Brien in the passenger seat. "Not many brains, but plenty of guts! Now fire that gun and kill that Spectre!"
"With pleasure," he said as he aimed the gun at the Covenant, "By the way, I'm 26 years old just to let you know."
With that he opened fire back on the Spectre, scoring hits along it's entire chassis. The Spectre sped up as it chased after the warthog as the two vehicles began driving around one another across the Plaza, trying to get a good shot out of the other.
"Well… at least it's not shooting at us now." Buck said as he and Cortez move out of their cover to get a better firing position on the Spectre.
"Alpha Niner, this is Bravo Six Twenty, you copy over?" A voice spoke in Buck's headset, as he turned on the Comm.
"Bravo Six Twenty, this is Alpha Niner!" He responded, "We're at the LZ, but be advised; LZ is hot!"
"Rodger that Alpha-Nine, we're coming in." Came the response before the sounds of a D77-TC Pelican dropship was heard in the distance. "Stand clear."
No sooner than that, Cortez and Buck looked up as the Pelican Dropship lowered down towards the Plaza, as its chin-mounted 70mm Chaingun pointed down towards where the Spectre was. "Going loud!" The pilot announced, before it unleashed a hail of rounds towards the enemy vehicle, the superior caliber rounds virtually turning the Covenant transport into nothing but shredded metal as it exploded in a brilliant blue blast.
"Whoa shit!" D.J. shouted as the Pelican continued to take out the other Covenant troops. While the aliens tried to bring the Dropship down, their small armed plasma pistols and rifles didn't pack the punch to do any substantial damage to the dropship, as the Pelican - combined with D.J behind the gun of the Warthog - mowed down the Covenant ground troops, until the only ones left were hastily running grunts.
"Area's clear - putting her down." The Pelican pilot said, as the dropship moved to a hovering position in the center of the Plaza, its troop hatch opening up as the Warthog drove up next to it as Cortez and Buck approached.
D.J sighed as he let go of the machine gun, before he allowed himself to climb off of the Hog. He was soon confronted by Cortez, who had a bit of a disapproving look, causing D.J to sigh.
"I know, I know." He said, "It was stupid and suicidal for me to do that, and I could've gotten myself killed. But the way I saw it, I either helped you guys or we'd all get screwed if they shot down the Pelican with that Spectre."
Cortez sighed, as he rubbed his forehead, "Yes, you're right." He said, "It was irresponsible, stupid and reckless… if not pretty damn balsy."
D.J. just shrugged, "Someone has to do it," he said, before the ODSTs laughed at that, while Cortez just shook his head, and soon the ODST team, and their extra package and the Pelican lifted off the ground, closing it's rear hatch and floated over and picked up the Warthog. Best not to waste a good piece of UNSC hardware afterall.
D.J meanwhile sighed as he relaxed into the passenger seat of the Pelican as it flew up into the sky. "To… close..." he said.
"I heard that," O'Brien said chuckling, "Crazy stunt you pulled out there…stupid, but crazy."
"Uhh… thanks?" D.J said unsure, causing some of the ODST's to laugh a bit.
"Hang on boys, we're heading for the Andraste now." The pilot of the pelican said, as their Dropship continued to rise up into space.
D.J stood up as he headed for the rear hatch, as he looked out the rear window. He watched with a bit of wonder, as he saw the planet below from space, as he could see the city in the distance as they rose away from it.
However that soon changed as he saw the familiar organic like style of a Covenant ORS-class Heavy cruiser. D.J. knew in his gut what was about to happen next as it fired it's energy projector, and began the glassing of the planet below. D.J watched as the beams of energy hit the city, as building crumbled to ashes as the blasts burned the surface. It was soon joined by more beams as additional covenant vessels including destroyers, battle cruisers and frigates all began a series of crisscrossing orbits over the area, firing their plasma weapons down to ensure every last millimeter was burned.
And deep down, D.J knew that there were likely still millions of people still down there, helpless to do anything against the genocide of the Covenant. His fists clenched tightly as the glassing continued until he finally spoke
"I've decided," he said, causing the ODSTs to look at him.
"Decided what?" said O'Brien.
"I'm enlisting,"
Cortez and the other ODST's all shared a look "You… sure about that, kid?" Dutch asked, "This isn't something you should-"
"I just watched a planet - my home get glassed." He said, looking back at them. "Everyone I've ever known, everything I've loved… is gone. I've got nothing else left… but I'll be damned before I just roll over and let this shit keep happening!"
Cortez looked at the young man. He could see that spark inside of him, telling him he wasn't gonna change his mind from this. He sighed as he took off his helmet.
"Well kid..." he said, "If you are committed… I guess we can at least help get you started. Once we get to Reach, I'll help get you to a recruiter, but from there… well, I wish you the best of luck kid."
"As long as I do something to make a damn difference. That's alright with me," he said looking back out the window. He then blinked as he remembered the item he picked off the Unggoy and took it out of his pocket to inspect it.
'That little gas sucker was really desperate to get this back from me,' he thought to himself, as he examined the device, noting it had a Forerunner style.
"Hey, what you got there?" Buck asked, noticing the object.
D.J shrugged "No idea," he admitted, "One of those Grunts had it… no idea what it is though..."
Cortez hmmed, as D.J handed him the object, inspecting it. "It's not Covenant..." he said, "But it sure as hell ain't human… you said the Grunts had it?"
"Yeah..." D.J said, "So… ideas on what to do with it?"
Cortez hummed in thought at this, before his eyes widened in realization.
"I think I know the person who can help find out what this is," he said, and D.J. had a very good idea, but kept mum at the moment, instead taking a confused look.
"Who?"
"Someone we met after a… Classified mission." Cortez said, as he pocketed the item. "I'll get it to her, don't worry… though once we're onboard the Andraste… it'll be a while before we get to Reach." He then smirked slightly, causing D.J to gulp. "Might as well give you a taste what the Marine life's gonna be like for ya..."
'What the fuck did I get myself into?'
With Jordan
'Ugh, I'm getting bored,' was the one thought going through Jordan's mind. He had been sitting in the strange operating room, trying to figure out someway out. When that failed, he tried to find a means to entertain himself until someone came to see him or let him out. And he was running out of things to do, from randomly singing '100 bottles of Root beer on the wall', to finding a bunch of random small items he could find and juggle them around. 'Where's my 3DS when I need it...'
"*SIgh*... twenty one bottles of root beer on the wall, twenty one bottles of root beer..." He sang, "Take one down, pass it around, twenty bottles of root beer on the wall..."
Before he could continue onto the next verse, the door to the room finally opened up, causing Jordan to sit up as one man walked inside. And he was… well, very tall, roughly seven feet if Jordan had to guess, and had the build of an Olympian Athlete, with short crew cut brown hair, and hazel colored eyes. "Sorry to keep you waiting," the man said, "Had to get a few things prepared… plus, got you this." He then placed down a plate of food in front of Jordan.
Jordan glanced at the food, his stomach rumbling, since he felt like he hadn't eaten anything in days. But he was still a bit cautious at the man standing before him, glancing between the food and him.
The man sighed, shaking his head "If we wanted you dead or interrogated, we'd of done it already." He said, pushing the plate towards him. "Its safe."
He still didn't look very trusting… but his hunger was winning him over, as he accepted the tray of food, and after a few experimental bites, he began eating everything on the plate. "So… do you mind telling us, who you are?"
"Judging from the fact I don't have my wallet or any of my stuff, you already know who I am." Jordan said. "Jordan Tackett, from South Carolina… and I'm still trying to convince myself I'm having a very vivid dream right now."
The man chuckled, before bringing up a chair.
"I would be too, in your position," the man said, "Considering that I'm a character of science fiction in your 21st Century,"
Jordan froze for a moment, glancing at the man for a few seconds. "Wait..." he said, "Who…?"
"Lieutenant Commander Kurt Ambrose… or Kurt-051." The man confirmed, as the young man's eyes widened at the revelation. "I admit… me and the Chief were a bit… perplexed when we saw your books… I hope you can help fill in a few gaps, mainly… how the hell you got here with a Covenant Jackal."
Jordan blinked, before he sighed "Its… well, its not a long story, but its an… odd one." He said. "I was walking home from the library, having helped my friend with a Halo event there… next thing I know, a fucking Jackal appears from nowhere, I attack it, get shot, killed it… and then I wake up here."
"Do you recognize this?" Kurt asked as he pulled out a small device from his pocket, as Jordan recognized it as the thing the Jackal was carrying.
"Yeah." he said nodding, "I think its Forerunner…"
"Forerunner?" Kurt asked confused.
"You obviously haven't gotten too deep into my stuff then," Jordan said with a light chuckle, "To put it simply… the Forerunners are an ancient alien race from 100,000 years ago, who populated the galaxy. After they killed themselves by firing a superweapon called the Halo Array to cleanse the galaxy of sentient life to defeat a galaxy spreading zombie plague called the Flood, they reseeded life across the galaxy. The Covenant worship the Forerunners as gods, and believe humans are an affront to their Gods… which is really the exact opposite, since the Forerunners put something within our DNA called a Geas which grants us near full access to Forerunner ruins, since they wanted humanity to become the inheritors of the 'Mantle of Responsibility'. The Prophets of the Covenant figured this out, and fearing their entire empire would collapse if this became public knowledge, sealed this information away, and claimed Humanity must be exterminated in order to preserve their idea of a 'Great Journey'."
Kurt looked at Jordan with an almost dumbfounded expression. "And… I just blew your mind, didn't I?" Jordan asked.
"... in a matter of speaking..." Kurt said, sighing as he fought off a migraine. "This was… not what I was expecting… "
"Neither were the fans," Jordan said sighing, "And there's still more coming… Halo 5 was about to get released, and it just raised a whole lot more questions about humans and the forerunners and a lot of other things. And then there's gonna be a Halo 6 coming out sometime even later. Not to mention the books that haven't been released yet."
"Though I guess we come to the big question though." He said, "What happens to me? You have all of my stuff after all… don't exactly need me."
Kurt, having recovered from the mind-blowing information straightened himself out, "Well, that's not true." He said, "Right now… you have a decision to make. At this time, no one in ONI outside of myself, Chief Mendez and Doctor Allannah. While we can try to hide you from Ackerson and ONI… it wouldn't be long before they found you, and interrogated you. And you of all people would know what they'd do to someone with so much information like you." Jordan gulped before he continued, "So… that leaves us with only one viable option if you want to get out of this place alive."
Kurt pulled out what looked like a UNSC Navy uniform, presenting it to Jordan. He looked at it, and first he noticed the rank pin for a Petty Officer second Class… and the nametag which read 'JORDAN-B000'.
"Holy shit!" Jordan shouted, as he backed away in surprise. "Sir… are… are you telling me…?"
"Yes." Kurt said nodding as he sighed, "Jordan… the information you have in your head there is invaluable to the UNSC, and our galaxy as a whole… but the knowledge you have can help me too… help me save my SPARTAN-III's from the same fate they faced in your books. I want you to help me turn them from lives being wasted at Ackerson's command… to real Spartans. You have all of the genetic markers to become a Spartan… and not just a III, but a II. While your… age would've initially caused problems, thanks to lessons learned from the initial SPARTAN-II augmentation myself and the others went through, along with Alpha Company, and the few second class Spartan-II's… we can, with some degree of certainty, safely give you the same augments they all went through. I can't promise you that you'd survive… but it's better than no chance at all."
"But what about my-" Jordan said but Kurt raised his hand.
"We will engineer a false background for you," he said, "We'll come up with a story where you were selected as a… prototype for future SPARTAN-III's with II-grade augments. And as for your stuff… we'll find a safe place to hide it, until you need it. The question now is… are you in?"
Jordan was quiet for a few moments, as he considered his options. He wasn't the most skilled fighter he admitted, most of his 'combat' experience stems from video games or when he'd play airsoft with his friends. He never considered himself a soldier, let along a Spartan.
But, not only did he not have much other choice… this was a chance to rectify that concept. He was here, in the Halo Universe. He had the potential to save so many lives, and while some may seem like small victories at first… sometimes the smallest changes can cause the biggest of impacts later on. Plus… the chance of becoming a super soldier easily outweighed the idea of being captured by ONI.
"Let's do it."
117Jorn: And the tale of two soldiers begin!
Patriot-112: Yup! One a Spartan, the other a Marine.
117Jorn: And with the wealth of Halo information in their heads, and their upcoming training, hopefully they'll be able to survive long enough to see the end of the Halo series. But until next time…
Both: Ja Ne!