Disclaimer: Halo is not mine it belongs to Bungie, 343 Industries, and Microsoft Studios. This story of Halo is mine though.
Author Note: This is a reboot of my Second Human-Covenant War. I wasn't planning on doing this but I needed too because I have chapters set during the same time as other chapters. Thank you for support and please review, favorite or follow. thank you I hope you enjoy the rebooted story.
Chapter One
March 1, 2568
Sixteen years have passed since John-117, or the Master Chief, stopped the Halo Rings from firing and the United Nations Space Command and the remanence of the Covenant Empire have been at peace for those sixteen years. Some rebel Covenant forces had been causing trouble for the UNSC and the Covenant alliance. The inhabitants of Earth had rebuilt much of what the Covenant destroyed when they attacked Earth in 2552. Now every city has weapons to help protect the cities from any potential Covenant attack should return, each city also has a small force of UNSC soldiers' stationed there, though some of the larger cities have a larger force.
Colonel Heath-118 is a Spartan-II. He fought alongside and had been there for the Master Chief since they were six years old. The colonel, along with the Master Chief, Kelly, and Sam, became best friends as they were growing up in the Spartan program on the planet Reach. He was Master Chief's commanding officer because Dr. Catherine Halsey and Chief Mendez wanted him to be. He later become the commanding officer of all the Spartans; though when the war started he was only a Lieutenant. He went with the Master Chief on almost every single mission that the Chief was sent on. They were inseparable. One year before the battle of Sigma Octanus IV, Heath-118 was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Colonel Ackerson, despite his difference with the Spartan-II's, asked Heath to become the commanding officer of the Spartan-III's, but Lord Torrance Hood, with ONI approval, had already placed him in command of all the Spartan II's and III's.
He was one of the few people who knew about the Covenant early arrival on reach but due to his orders he couldn't tell anyone. After assisting Noble Team on Reach, Doctor Halsey gave him the AI Cortana as well as an another AI named April, who is Cortana's sister. Afterwards he escaped on the Pillar of Autumn with the Chief to fight on Installation 04 against the Covenant and the Flood before escaping. Once back, the chief and him went back to Reach to rescue the surviving Spartans and Doctor Halsey. They then returned to Earth and got some well deserved rest and relaxation. When the Prophet of Regret attacked Earth, Heath helped defend her, yet he stayed on Earth to fight the Covenant while the chief went to Delta Halo. Once Truth arrived on Earth, heath met the chief after he crashed into the jungle and together they fought on against the Covenant and then the Flood. Then they went through the portal and continued to fight on the Ark. Spartan-118 and the Arbiter where the only two to return in the front half of the Forward onto Dawn. Heath knows that John, the Master Chief, is still alive and he will find him no matter how long it takes. Anything to find his brother.
Colonel Heath-118 started a new Spartan program, called the Spartan-IV project, two years after he returned to Earth from the Ark. They are augmented as well as getting more training in combat operations then the Spartan-IIIs did to decrease fatality rates. The first group of Cadets for the Spartan-IV project were children that were from worlds that the Covenant had destroyed, similar to the Spartan-III's. The second group also came from worlds destroyed by the Covenant, though a select few came from UNSC Armed Forces, of which there was a Commander Sarah Palmer. As the Spartan-IV's started training, Colonel Heath-118 and the surviving Spartans could finally take off their armor and wear regular uniforms until the UNSC need them to be Spartans again. Sometimes Heath will thank back to the war and how many lives were lost, including his fallen brothers. He hopes that no more Spartans will have to die like his brothers and sisters died during the long war with the Covenant. The marines and the new Spartans admire the metals and ribbons he won during the long war against the Insurgents and then the Covenant whenever they see him pass by with them on.
One day while the colonel was training some Spartan-IV he hears a marine tell him over the radio, "Sir we have a Covenant ship passing the defense platforms." And the colonel headed to the tower.
"Who is it?' The colonel asks. The marine looks at him and can see that he has his hand on his sidearm. Heath is anxious to know if the Covenant Ship will be friendly or turn out to be hostile, as a few had in the past.
"It's the Arbiter's ship sir." the marine answered.
"Tell them they can land."
"Yes sir." he answered. The only operational defense platforms within range stood down to allow the peaceful Covenant ship to land on Earth. The Covenant ship landed in a huge field outside the Marine base in South Africa near Voi. Within minutes the ship was surrounded by Marines, Hornets, and Pelicans, as well as two UNSC ship. They had orders not to fire unless fired upon. The ramp of the ship dropped and a soldier in armor walked out.
"It's a Spartan!" A marine yells.
"Call Lord Hood and Colonel Heath, tell them there someone here who they should meet." A lieutenant yells to those under her command. Soon after a soldier got in contact with them and two Warthogs drove up to the ship along with several warthogs equipped with missile pods.
"Master Chief!" Heath yells recognizing the Spartan. He runs over to him and gave him the jester of a hand shake and then hugged him instead. The chief could tell that even though they were trained not to show much emotions, it was hard not to. The chief knew that he could crush heath with heath out of his armor.
"Good to see you again sir." he says to him.
"Is Cortana with you?"
"I'm here, how are you colonel?" She says through his helmets external speakers.
"I'm fine." he answers as the Arbiter came out.
"How did you find him?" Lord Hood asked the Arbiter.
"His ship's beacon," the Arbiter answers. "It took years to find him but in the end we found him."
"Thank you for bringing him back." Lord Hood tells him. They shook hands and then the Arbiter shook hands with the colonel and the Master Chief.
"You humans have been rubbing off on me since this alliance started." the Arbiter tells them.
"Yeah, thank you for sending some troops to help us rebuild." Lord Hood told him.
"Your quite welcome, and thank you for your help as well. I hope this peace will continue for at least as long as I'm alive." And then the Arbiter left.
The Master Chief got into the passenger seat of Hog and then heath drove the Chief back to Spartan HQ. The two ODST outside of the gate halted them at the gate. The colonel gave them his identification card and they let the hog through as they gave him a salute. When they saw the Master Chief they looked on in awe. Heath stopped the Hog at the barracks and everyone that saw the chief were talking to themselves in awe.
"Was that master chief?" a soldier asked another soldier.
"I think it was," the other person answered as they entered the Spartan's instructor's quarters. Kelley was the first one to see the chief and when she did she ran up to him and gave him a big hug.
"It's good to have you back John." she said to him.
"It's good to see you too Kelly." At that Linda and Fred looked up.
"John?" they both said in unison.
"Yes, I'm back." And then they hugged one another.
"Once again we are all together." Heath said as Dr. Halsey entered, followed closely by Chief Mendez.
"I thought you might return to us John," she said to him. "Good to see you."
"Likewise ma'am," he answered. "Where did you go with Kelly?" he asked, prompting her to tell her tale.
"Will the Covenant return to destroy Earth or to enslave us all?" Kelly asked John.
"I don't know, but I do know that as long as the Arbiter is in charge they will not attack us, but we must still be ready to defend Earth and all of her Colonies that are left; especially Earth if they do decide to attack."
"No peace will last forever and I think sometime in the near future the Covenant will return, maybe not to destroy us but to enslave us," Colonel Heath-118 replied. "We cannot predict the future but we can choose our own fate in any future. If the Covenant does return then I'll fight them until there's not a breath left in me to defend the people of Earth." Every Spartan cheered in agreement.
"Can we win against the Covenant if they decide return?" Dr. Halsey asked.
"I don't know, but with the new weapons coming from the UNSC weapon labs we might stand a chance. The four hundred orbital platforms will also make any Covenant attack hard," Colonel Heath-118 told them.
"You do know that only ten of the orbital platforms are operational as of right now," Dr. Halsey tells him.
"Yes I know, the Arbiter's ship pass through one of those defense platforms," Colonel Heath-118 replied. "The rest should be operational in another month, and they can all be controlled from a few command platforms, but even they haven't been brought online yet."
"Excuse us Heath, John, but Mendez and I need to head to a secret ONI base, and I'll be taking three of your Spartan-IV's with me," Dr. Halsey tells them as she leaves with Mendez and the three Spartan-IVs on a Pelican. The three Spartan-IV's she choose are Miranda, Kat, and Eva. Fred, Kelly, Linda, John, and Heath headed to the officer quarters to give the chief some fresh clothes so he can get out of his MJOLNIR armor. Cortana's chip was taken to the main base after the chief was given a fresh set of new clothes after he took a hot shower.