Halo: Mythic

by 117Jorn

What if more Spartan's made if off Reach than before? What if there was another ship that traveled with the Pillar of Autumn to Halo? Watch as Spartan Team Mythic, the SPARTAN-II's and other brave men and women fight on halo, to stop the covenant, and an ancient evil from dominating the galaxy, and wipe out the human race. HALO AU, Revised version of my old fic Halo Delta Squad.

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August 30th 2552 19:20 Hours

Reach

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In the skies of Reach, a lone D77-TC Pelican Dropship was flying over the landscape of reach, making its way towards the Office of Naval Intelligence CASTLE Base. Inside the Pelican, there were two individuals presently inside. The first, was a woman who looked to be in either her mid-50's to early 60's, possessing black graying hair, and grayish blue eyes, she was Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, the founder of the SPARTAN-II Program.

The second person in the Pelican, who was also behind the controls, was wearing dark green and black MJOLNIR powered assault armor, customized with sniper-use equipment, and his Scout-variant helmet lying down to his side next to his sniper rifle. He, was SPARTAN-A266 Jun, Noble Three.
Carter had ordered him to escort Halsey to CASTLE Base, to make sure she survived Reach. Normally, Jun wouldn't give this order a second thought…however…after the death of Jorge and Kat…he was worried about what was left of his squad. Emile, Carter…and Six.

He was especially worried about six, since he didn't want to leave her behind. Over the short time that he'd spent with her something had formed between them, he didn't know if it was either love or just a strong friendship. At first he had been reluctant to accept the replacement. Thom had been their teammate. But at some point, he'd accepted her.

She'd held her own during their first encounter with the Covenant on Reach, and she'd cleared the way for them at Sword Base. He supposed that it had really started to grow while they were infiltrating the dark zone.

Jun was always the eyes for his team. He would be in the sky or up high, seeing the enemy before his teammates. While infiltrating that dark zone, he had expected to once more be covering his teammate from high above. She'd surprised him. Six had been a wonderful sniper. She'd assassinated with skill and had put bullets through the heads of elites from yards away. She'd watched his back while he set the charges, keeping even hunters from getting to him.

Jun had been a bit afraid that they'd lost her after the space op. They had lost contact with her, but when Kat had reported that she was alive, he'd been relieved. He hadn't realized how much she mattered to him. He had been so worried that he wouldn't see her again, that they'd lost their Six.

Only the situation and the sobering fact that she'd come back without Jorge kept him from being overjoyed as she joined them at New Alexandria. Then Kat was killed right before their eyes, and Jun realized how easily that could have been her. If the shooter had only shifted their aim a few inches to the side, they would have been targeting her. It was only luck that she was still with him.

Now, as he flew that Pelican, he hoped her luck held out, she would need it. He was getting the easier way out. He only had to protect Dr. Halsey. She would be taking the package to the shipyard. There would be Covenant everywhere, and he knew that it was going to be difficult. He wished he could have gone with her—watch her back from high above as was his great skill.

He gripped the controls tighter, he felt so helpless as he flew the Pelican, still wishing that he could be with her and his team.

Jun regained focus when the Pelican's sensors went off, signalling that they were almost at Castle Base "Ma'am, we're almost there." He said into the passenger compartment of the Pelican. Dr. Halsey nodded "Good," she said, "Transmit the landing codes I gave you, we don't want the auto-defenses to shoot us down." The Spartan III nodded as he transmitted the codes as he had the pelican approach the landing pad.

As the Pelican descended, Jun looked out the window and he could see a small gathering of people outside. They were all armored, so he asumed they were all ODST's. However, as the Pelican got closer too the pad, though he could see four men and women in ODST Battle Armor, his eyes widened upon seeing five others wearing what was clearly Spartan Armor.

Once the Pelican landed, Jun and Halsey disembarked, and were soon greeted by the lead figure, an ODST who had black and white trimmed armor. He had his helmet off, revealing his short military crew cut blond hair and onyx colored eyes. His armor possessed the image of a silver oak leaf, indicating his rank as a Lieutenant Colonel.

"Dr. Halsey Ma'am," The Colonel said, as he, the ODST's and Spartan's saluted "Good to see you made it here alright."

Halsey smiled and nodded "Yes, thank you colonel Monroe," she said, "But there's no need to salute me, I'm still a civilian you know."

The colonel just chuckled "Old habits die hard Ma'am," he said, before his face turned serious "Anyways, Spartan Group Mythic and Bullfrog Squad are ready, and can move out now."

Halsey nodded "Good," she said as she turned to Jun "Noble Three, are you ready to save your squad?"

Jun blinked in surprise from behind his helmet "E-Excuse me?" he asked, and Halsey smiled a bit "Did you really think I would just leave Noble Team to die?" She asked, "Colonel Hector Monroe here and his team volunteered to go back and retrieve Noble Team once they make their delivery."

"And he wasn't the only one," One of the Spartans said, who's voice Jun could tell was female, who wore a CQC helmet and Commando Armor. However Jun's eyes widened in surprise upon recognizing who this was. "R-Rose?" He asked, "What..."

SPARTAN-A244 Rosenda chuckled a bit "Good to see you again too Jun," she said, "Haven't seen you since that Insurrection Op on Mindor...Emile still have that Scar?"

Jun managed to chuckle a bit "Yeah, he hates taking off his helmet now because of that." He said, "But why are you..."

"On Reach?" Rose asked, "Why else? Taking care of my team," She pointed back at the group of Spartans behind her "High Command was so impressed with what I did back on Mindor, they put me in command of a Squad, see if I could repeat that miracle again."

"You have a team?" Jun asked, with a raised eyebrow as Rose nodded "Yeah," she said, "Meet Mythic Team," She first pointed to a large individual wearing dark green Mark V MJOLNIR Armor with GUNGNIR Pieces "That's Randall-037, our heavy weapons specialist, and a SPARTAN-II." Randall nodded as Rose then pointed to another Spartan in red CQB armor "I think you already know Kai-A019." Kai gave Jun a two finger salute with a nod. Rose then gestured to a tall man in brown and black EOD Armor "That's Leon-B170, explosives expert." Leon did not say anything, however Jun had a feeling he was grinning under that helmet. Rose then pointed to the last Spartan in the group, who appeared to be the youngest wearing dark green and red trimmed SPI Armor, however modified with an OPERATOR helmet. "And finally, our newest member, Jaden-G300." Jaden just stiffened a bit upon his introduction.

"Not to interrupt," Hector spoke, "But we should hurry up and get moving, that is if we're going to pick up your squad mates before the Pillar of Autumn leaves."

"Pillar of Autumn?" Jun asked surprised, before he could ask why the Colonel explained "We won't be able to return here to CASTLE Base, with all of the Covenant in the area, it would be too dangerous." he said, "Out best bet is to hitch a ride with the Autumn as they escape the planet. Once there, we'll meet up with the UNSC Andraste, where the rest of my battalion is evacuating on, and get out of here."

Jun was a bit surprised at that, and turned to Halsey who just shook her head "No, I will not be going with you," she said, "I must remain here at CASTLE Base, there are things I need to take care of." She then walked towards Jun, placing a hand on his shoulder "Just do me one favor Jun," she said, "Once you find your team, make it off Reach...alive." She turned to the others "That goes for all of you as well...good luck." And with that, Halsey left the group, heading towards the front doors of CASTLE Base.

"Well, you heard the lady, let's go!" Hector shouted, "Unless you wanna stay here when Reach burns, get in that Pelican!"

Rose nodded as well "Right, Mythic!" She hollered, "Mount up! Jaden, your in the cockpit! Let's go!"

The Spartan's and ODST's quickly acknowledged as they boarded the Pelican, with Jaden stepping into the Cockpit preparing the drop ship for take off.

The last three to enter the Pelican were Jun, Rosenda and Hector "Sir," Jun spoke too the Lieutenant Colonel "You said we were linking up with the UNSC Andraste?"

"Yes," He said as they took their seats. "When my C.O got killed in the battle of New Alexandria, I assumed command around the time the Navy decided to begin pulling out. I got most of what was left of my battalion on the Andraste, but I stayed behind with the Bullfrog's here too get as many people off Reach as we can." He then smiled a bit "Like your team, and Mythic for example. In fact I just got word from the Andraste that just recently they managed to find a Spartan-II who's T-PACK got destroyed and was stuck in space."

"But if the Andraste stays at Reach for too long, couldn't the Covenant find it?" Jun asked, worried, however the Colonel just chuckled and shook his head "Nah, the Andraste is one of the special sub-classes of the Paris-class, it has special stealth systems, similar to the ones its sister ship, the Midsummer Night had. The Covenant wouldn't be able to find it unless they actually tried to find it. Not saying they haven't had any close calls, their Slipspace Drive got damaged after a little tangle with a Corvette, but I heard they're making progress repairing it. All else fails, the Andraste can follow the Autumn in tow through slipspace."

"We're not taking any chances here Jun," Rose said as they sat down. "The moment we get your team out, we're getting the hell off Reach."
All Jun could do was nod, as the Pelican began to rise in the air, and fly into the distance.

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Meanwhile

Elsewhere on Reach

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A pair of Warthog's were crossing the terrain of Reach, their passengers hanging on as the Vehicles sped across the land, but with no direction.
Driving the lead Warthog was a Spartan in Mark-V MJOLNIR Armor, which was trimmed red. On the chest piece of the armor, the numbers '137' were written in bold as the Spartan-II drove ahead.

Carris-137 was one of the Spartan's Red Team Leader had ordered to fall back to CASTLE Base with the four surviving Marines of Charlie Company. However, not too long ago, their team was cut off from the rest of Delta Team, and now were just wondering the soon to be glassed landscape of Reach without much direction.

In the passenger seat next to Carris, one of the said surviving Marines was scanning the radio for any signals or survivors. "Come on...theirs gotta be someone out there..." The Marine said.

"Robin, theirs no one else," Said the Marine on the Gunner Station of the Warthog, "And even if there were, their probably have already evacuated."
The Marine, Robin, still wasn't convinced as he continued scanning the radio frequencies. Carris meanwhile sighed, she had to admire the Marines determination, but even she would admit there wasn't much hope.

She activated a private comm with the other two Spartan's in her group "Joseph, Keiichi?" She said, "Any word from Red Team?"

"Nada," Joseph-122 replied, "Either they're not listening, Covenant are jamming us...or theirs no one left to transmit too."

"No way they could be dead..." Keiichi-047 said, "Not all of them...what about the regular frequencies?"

"Nothing yet," Carris said, "That Marine is scanning the comm channels, but we haven't had much-"

"...autumn...here...ptain Keyes...acuation!" a voice began to crackle through the static of the radio. "H-Hey, I think I have something!" Robin shouted, as he tried to clear up the signal.

"...is is Captain Jacob Keyes of the UNSC Pillar of Autumn," the voice came through, more clear now. "My ship has landed in Drydock of the Aszod Ship-Breaking facility. To any civilians and UNSC Personnel alive on Reach, we will be departing soon. If you want to get off Reach, I suggest you haul your asses over here now!"

"The Autumn is still active?" Carris asked, shocked that their 'Chariot' for Operation: Red Flag was still alive and kicking.

"She's a tough ship, with a tough captain," Keiichi commented, "No wonder Dr. Halsey picked him...what should we do Carris?"

Carris was silent for a moment, she really didn't want to just leave Reach, this was her home, as well as the home for the other Spartan-II's.

However...she knew Reach was a lost cause now, and she still had to worry about the safety of the Charlie Company Marines.

"...we're heading to the Shipbreaking Yards," Carris said, "We should be able to link with other survivors there!

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Meanwhile

Aszod Shipbreakers

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SPARTAN-B312 Amy ran through the building of Aszod attempting to reach the extraction point. Following her was SPARTAN A239 Emile.
"We're almost there!" Amy shouted as she fired her DMR at a grunt while still running. "I know, I know!" Emile replied. Amy rolled forward, missing a Grunt tossing a Plasma grenade. Emile fired his shotgun at said grunt killing it.

An elite dropped from the catwalk from above with it's energy sword drawn, but Emile jumped up, slammed into the elite, and stabbed his knife into the Alien's neck. "That's what you get when you mess with a Spartan." He said to the dying elite.

"Now's not the Time Emile!" Amy shouted as she exited the building, quickly followed by Emile shortly after.

They now found themselves outside, next to a small Pelican landing platform. There were several other Marines armed with an assortment of weapons from Assault Rifles to DMR's. Most of them were Marines or Army, however one soldier stuck out from the rest, a single ODST who was barking out orders, getting the other Soldiers to prepare for another attack.

"COME ON YOU MAGGOTS!" The ODST Shouted, "YOU WANNA LIVE FOREVER?"

Amy looked over to the person shouting, unlike most ODST's he wasn't wearing a full environmentally sealed suit instead wearing a set of fatigues obviously having been on leave when the Covenant struck leaving his matte black cybernetic arms bared to all. Amy had seen him move during the brief skirmishes with the enemy and guessed that he had cybernetic legs as well considering he was able to vault a Hunter from a standing position. He had his brown hair cut in the standard crew cut and his green eyes seemed to continually take in everything around him, he had a communication device mounted in his right ear with a small heads up display before his eye.

"I WANT SNIPERS ON THAT RIDGE YESTERDAY!" He roared hefting a massive rifle of his own that Amy didn't recognize "HEAVY GUNNERS IN THOSE TRENCHES THAT OUR ENGINEERS SO PAINFULLY DUG FOR YOU! THE COV'S WANT US, LET THEM COME GET US!"

"HOO-RAH!" The Marines chanted as they followed his orders.

He turned away from the marines and walked up to the SPARTANS "Sergeant Major Ryu Hisanaga of the 2nd Shock Troops Battalion, Marine Corps Ma'am," He introduced with a salute to the two SPARTANS "Glad to see we can get some SPARTAN luck on our side for once."

"Happy to oblige Sergeant," Amy said, "We need to get onto the Autumn, we have a vital package from Dr. Halsey that need to be delivered there, and cannot fall into the Covenant's hands."

"Understood, but the Autumn can't send anyone our way until the L.Z is cleared-SHIT! PHANTOM'S!" Ryu shouted, as two Phantom Drop Ships could be scene on approach "Listen, I know you both outrank me, but if either of you could use the Onager Cannon to keep those damn Phantom's at bay!"

"Say no more," Emile said as he began to run towards the position "I'll handle the big gun, and keep those skies clear!"

Ryu nodded as he then activated his comm "Captain Keyes! Sergeant Major Hisanaga here!" He shouted, "That Package you mentioned just arrived! We're clearing out the L.Z now!"

"Copy that Sergeant," The Captain's voice said on the radio "I'm on my way now, ETA 5 Minutes! Keep that landing Pad clear until then!"

"Will do sir, over and out!" Ryu said, before turning to Noble Six with a grin "You Spartan's any good at keeping L.Z's clear?" he asked.

For some reason, Six couldn't help but smile a bit herself "On occasion, I may know a thing or two." she said. Ryu chuckled "Well I hope for our sake you are, 'cause here they come!"

Ryu moved to the entrenched Marines and aimed down at the enemy "SNIPERS, OPEN FIRE!" He roared as he took aim at one of the approaching Ghosts and squeezed the trigger.

KRAKOW!

Amy and Emile couldn't help but stare slackjawed at the Sergeant's weapon as a slight amount of steam could be seen coming off of it as a yellow bolt obliterated the Ghost "The Magnetic Accelerator Rifle AKA the M.A.R," Ryu explained seeing the SPARTANs staring at him "Or as I like to call it... the Bitch Cannon, cause even with my cybernetics this thing hurts like a bitch to fire!"

"Damn...Jun would kill to have that thing..." Emile said on the radio as he mounted the Onager, and soon after fired a shot obliterating a Phantom. However two more Phantoms arrived, and deployed their respective complements of Grunts, Jackals, Skirmishers, and Elites.

Amy tossed a Frag grenade at a column of Jackals and Grunts walking down some stairs. The grenade detonated and the bodies of the aliens went flying. She then hopped and stepped on a Jackal's shield, hopped behind the said alien, grabbed it's neck and broke it. She then grabbed the Jackal's shield and used it to avoid a blast from a Grunt's overcharged pistol, disabling the shield, but leaving her own personal shield fired a trio of shots from her M6G pistol at the Grunt, killing it.

An elite attempted to get up behind her, but she side-stepped, and she fired the last few rounds of her MA37 into the elite killing its shields, then using her knife to finish the job. She tossed away the useless rifle, and grabbed the Elite's own Plasma Repeater and fired at a pair of elites. The shots tore through their shields and killed them.

Amy then holstered the Repeater, and drew out her DMR and fired at a team of Skirmishers with Needle rifles. Two shots, two aliens hit the ground dead.

KRAKOW!

Another rapport was followed by the kenetic round impacting against a Wraith punching through it's armor and setting off an internal explosions as it hit the ammo for the tank. "GET SOME BITCHES!" Ryu shouted out to the Covenant before letting go of his rifle and picked up a pair of SMGs "THEY'RE CLOSING IN! HEAVY GUNNERS LET LOOSE THE MARINE FURY!" He roared out as the marines opened up with their heavy weapons and mounted turrets.

Ryu leapt out from the trenches firing his SMGs at an elite its shield quickly collapsing under the hail of bullets before becoming swiss cheese. His guns ran empty as he swept them over a group of Grunts and dropped his guns as a pair of blades emerging from his cybernetic arms as he started to cut a bloody swath through the enemy.

Amy watched this both in shock, and a hint of admiration at how this single ODST was cutting through the Covenant Forces, with the same skills as a Spartan. 'Who is this guy?' she thought. However a few moments later she heard an animalistic roar, as she turned around and swore at the sight of a team of Brute's entering the battle, firing their Spike Rifles and Custom Plasma Rifles, one even wielding a Brute Shot.

The Lead Brute fired off its grenade launcher at Six, however the Spartan retreated and ducked behind some entrenchments to avoid the fire. "Damn I hate Brutes..." she muttered as she prepared a Plasma Grenade. She waited for the Brute's to move in closer before she rose from her cover, and tossed the grenade.

Her aim was true as it hit the Brute Shot wielding ape, who howled in anguish as the Grenade detonated, taking him out. She used her DMR shortly after to take out two more Brute's.

An Elite flew past her it's throat gaping wide as she looked over to where it originated from to see Ryu cross his blades over a Brute's throat as he was flipping over it and cut deep enough for the blades to scrape across the beast's spine. He took a quick look around as he landed and used his foot to throw up an assault rifle that was laying on the ground and opened fired on a group of Grunts that were clutching plasma grenades in their hands and shot the lead one in the methane take causing a chain explosion that took out the group of Grunts.

"Ma'am, looks like the they're thinning out," Ryu shouted out to her as he came up next to her quickly checking the rifle's mag "Should we call in the Autumn?"

Six was just about to say 'Yes' when the two heard another roar of rage, and they looked up just in time to see a fully armored Brute Chieftain came charging at them, Gravity Hammer raised for a strike. Ryu and Amy both swore as they jumped back just in time to avoid the Hammer's gravitation blast which left a small crater where the two once stood.

The Chieftain roared again as it charged at Amy, dashing towards the Spartan in a berserking rush. The Spartan tried to outrun the attack, but the Brute managed to get close enough to strike with his hammer's gravitation effect, hitting Amy sending her flying back. The Spartan hit the side of a building head-first, cracking her helmet's visor as she fell to the ground unmoving.

The Chieftain chuckled as he moved in for the kill, and to claim the Demon's 'package' for the Covenant. "Hey fuckface!" Ryu shouted making the Brute pause as he turned to see the ODST standing behind him his blades extended and already moving "Eat shit and die!"

The Brute roared as he tried to react in time only for the blades to pierce completely through his midsection and with a powerful jerk he cut the chieftain in half severing the spine and cutting through many of the very important internal organs. The pieces of the Brute fell to the ground as Ryu moved to the fallen SPARTAN and hefted her by arm arm and placed it over his shoulder "C'mon Ma'am, up and at'em," He said grunting under her weight "Many aliens to kill, not enough people to kill them with."

Slowly Amy began to regain consciousness, however she groaned at the pain she felt in her head "Ugghh...what...hu?" She said, "What..."

"Brute Chieftain, caught us by surprise." Ryu answered for the Spartan, "Don't worry, he won't be a problem anymore."

Amy was silent until she looked at the corpse of the Brute Chieftien who came dangerously close to finishing her off then and there "...Thanks..." was all that she could say. Ryu just grinned "Eh, don't mention it," he said, "its not everyday that an ODST saves a Spartan, usually its the other way around."

Amy herself managed to chuckle at that note as well "Well, considering everything that's happened today, I'm not surprised." she said, and she managed to stand up on her own "Damn...my Visor's broke...hope they can fix this."

Before Ryu could make another comment, the sound of Covenant Dropships were heard, and he groaned as three-make that two since Emile destroyed one-drop ships landed additional Covenant troops. "Shit, do these guys ever just give up!" He shouted, as he picked up the Brute's Gravity Hammer, prepared to give the Covenant a taste of their own Medicine.

He stood in front of Amy as she tried to pulled herself together as the first wave of the Covenant came charging at them "MARINES!" He roared as the soldiers opened fire with their weapons cutting down the Grunts that were placed in front, a group of Jackels were next as they placed their energy shields before themselves and slowly, but steadily made their way forward "GRENADES!" Ryu shouted as he pulled a frag from his belt and primed it before throwing it right behind the approaching Jackals with the other marines cutting them down as the shrapnel tore through them "HERE COME THE ELITES!"

Hefted the Gravity Hammer as a Zealot came charging at him with swinging an energy sword, he ducked under the initial swing and twisted his body his cybernetic arms hauling the hammer around with him smashing full into the Zealot's chest sending him flying back into another Elite. A pair charged him as he dashed forward bringing his hammer down between them sending them flying away from the gravity blast as another group came running.

He used the pole to block another energy sword before twisting the hammer in an arc jerking the Elite to the side as his sword was pushed off the pole and received the bladed side of the hammer to the back of his head for his troubles "Get some!" Ryu shouted snatching a plasma grenade off of a dead elite and threw it into the face of a zealot before kicking another in the chest sending it flying as another group came "Why. Don't. You. Just. DIE!" He shouted punctuating each word with a swing of his hammer.

However, just as even more Covenant seemed to be piling in, weapons fire from behind the Covenant attack force drew the alien's attention as the bodies of Grunts and Jackals went flying from explosions.

"What the?" Ryu asked, however he soon gained the answer when he saw, charging from behind the enemy lines, were three Spartan-II's and four Marines attacking the Covenant from behind, the Spartan's were armed with an M90 Shotgun, a AIE-486H Heavy Machine Gun, and a MA5B Assault Rifle. The Marines were all armed with MA5's as well, however one seemed to have a Sniper Rifle, and using it with good effect.
Not letting this moment be waisted, Ryu and the few surviving Marines, plus Amy, charged the Covenant Forces, and the aliens found themselves surrounded, and were quickly defeated.

Ryu let out a sigh of relief as he once again turned on the comm "Captain...landing zone secured." he said, "Bring in the Pelicans, get everyone here out before more show up sir."

"Copy that, on our way." Keyes said, and Ryu could see several Pelican Dropships launch from the Autumn and headed towards the landing pad. Meanwhile Ryu turned to the group of Spartan's and Marines who, thanks to them, they managed to fight them off.

"Not that I'm complaining about you helping us Spartans," Ryu said, "But why the hell are you here?"

"We were on our way to CASTLE Base, with these Marines," The Lead Spartan, who Ryu made a good guess was female from her voice. "Their all thats left from Charlie Company that was set up to defend the Power Generators for the ODP's. We were going to set up a fall-back position, but we got separated from the rest of our team, and approaching CASTLE at this point would not be a good idea, since Covenant are beginning to swarm all over it."

Upon hearing that, Amy stiffened a bit as she remembered that Halsey and Jun were heading towards CASTLE Base. She just hoped they were still alright.

It was at that moment that the Pillar of Autumn's Pelican's arrived and began loading survivors from the Army and Marines. On the landing platform, several Marines were unloaded, along with Captain Jacob Keyes. The Captain was soon approached by Noble Six, Ryu and the other Spartans.

"Good to see you Noble Six," Keyes said, as Six gave the Captain the package "Cath-Doctor Halsey assured me that I could count on you."

"Not just me sir..." Amy said, and the Captain nodded in understanding "They'll be remembered." he said, before looking at Carris and the other Spartan-II's in surprise.

"I thought Red Team was defending the ODP Power Grid?" he asked, with a rised eyebrow.

"We were sir," Carris spoke, "But Red Leader ordered us to secure our fall back position at CASTLE Base and evacuate what was left of Charlie Company, however it would be impossible to do that at this point, with the entire area under Covenant Control. We tried to contact the rest of the team, but..."

The Captain nodded "I understand," he said, "Either way, its good to have you back onboard."

Keyes then made a turn for the Pelican, however he looked up and then cursed as he saw a CCS-class Battlecruiser descending upon them. He quickly activated the radio "Battlecruiser! Adjusting its heading towards the Autumn!" he shouted, "Noble Four, I need fire on that Cruiser or we're not getting out of here! Do you copy?"

"You'll have your window sir," Emile said, as he adjusted the Onager to aim at the Cruiser.

The Captain then stepped into the Pelican "Bridge, this is the Captain," he said, contacting the Autumn, "We have the Package, returning to the Autumn, over?"

The Spartan-II's were the first to get on the Pelican, Amy and Ryu were about to get on, however Ryu swore as he saw yet another Phantom on approach "INCOM-" he began to shout, however a series of missiles from above hit the Phantom dead on, destroying the alien drop ship before it had the chance to open fire on the Pelicans or unload its troops. It was then another Pelican flew over head, and a loud "Yeehaw!" was heard on the comm channels "That's my fifth kill today! I'm on a roll!"

It was then another voice came on the Comms "Noble Six, do you copy?" A very familiar voice said, "Come on Six, you there?"

Amy was surprised when she heard that voice "J-Jun?" She asked on her radio "What are you-"

"Delivered Halsey to CASTLE Base safely," Jun answered, "But I wasn't about to leave you, Carter and Emile to die here."

Hearing Noble Lead's name, Amy became silent for a moment "Noble One is...he's...Missing in Action." she said.

There was a long pause on the comm "Understood..." Jun said, "Once Emile disables that Cruiser, we're out of here."

"Roger that," Amy said, "And Jun?...its good to see you're alright."

"Same to you," Jun said before the comm turned off.

Amy felt a hand press on her armor and turned to Ryu who flashed a smile "Good to see more SPARTANs joining us," He said giving her a friendly shoulder push before moving to rejoin the marines "SPARTAN luck to you ma'am!"

The Spartan-III watched as Ryu and his Marines were loaded up onto another Pelican, and took off for the Autumn. Not too long after, Jun's Pelican landed, and Amy was able to board it.

When the Covenant Battlecruiser came close enough, a single well placed shot from the Onager MAC Gun managed to disabled the offensive capabilities of the warship, giving the Autumn the time it needed to launch.

"Good Guns Spartan!" Keyes said, "All Stations, Brace for Cast off!" The Booster Engines mounted on the Autumn ignited as the Cruiser began to rise up into the sky. Its main fusion reactors then activated, and as the booster engines fell off of the Autumn, it rose up from the sky, and into space.
In their Pelican, Six watched this scene with a smile as they retrieved Emile. They did it, the package was saved, and onboard the Pillar of Autumn.

Though they lost Reach, at least they kept that thing out of the Covenant's hands.

Amy relaxed into the seat of the Pelican, and sighed as she leaned into her seat. She then reached for her damaged helmet, and removed it. It soon revealed her not to pale skin, her beyond ear length scarlet colored hair, and her violet eyes. For her, it felt like years since she last took off her helmet, when it truth it has only been a few days at least. She then let out a long and tiresome sigh.

"I heard that," Emile said with a chuckle as he removed his own helmet, revealing a bald african american man, with a scar across his face. "Damn, can't believe we actually pulled all that off." He turned to Jun "Looks like I owe you one Jun, for once."

Jun just smirked "Don't thank me, thank her." He said, as he pointed at Rose. Emile followed his finger, however his eyes widened before he sighed "Ah, shit." he said.

Rosenda just grinned "Hey Emile...been awhile hasn't it?" she said with that all too sweet voice, "Still have the scar?"

Emile grumbled as he put his helmet back on, causing some of the others to laugh. "You're the one who gave me the damn thing..." he said.

"No, that was an insurrectionist, who I tried to warn you about before you went all guns blazing into that warehouse." Rose said, her grin never leaving her face. "This makes it a second time I saved your ass."

Emile groaned "You're never going to let that go, will you?" he asked, knowing the answer.

"Nope," Rose said, causing the others to laugh again, even Amy smiling a bit herself.

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Later

UNSC Andraste

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The space battle over Reach was not going well, Covenant Fleets were moving in, and UNSC defenses were beginning to withdraw, retreat or try to stay and evacuate as many people off Reach as they can. The Covenant were picking off any stragglers who came into their line of sight.

However, one ship was in high orbit over the planet, waiting for something. A single Paris-class Heavy Frigate, the UNSC Andraste. It appeared black on black from the stars above, and according to sensors, it was not even there. The Andraste was one of the few UNSC Frigate's which also could fulfill the same role as a Prowler, acting as a covert stealth ship, thanks to it being covered from stem to stern in black Stealth Ablative Coating. It was thanks to this that the Andraste had yet to be discovered by the Covenant.

However, Captain Crystal Hertland knew that eventually they would have to leave before the Covenant decided to take a look out a window and see them. However she refused to leave behind the Pillar of Autumn, as well as the other survivors down on Reach before she left. Her fingers twirled around her near shoulder length brown hair, her brown eyes never leaving the front view screen.

"Ma'am! We just got confirmation," the sensors operator reported, "The Pillar of Autumn has launched from Aszod, and reached space! They just picked up Spartan Blue team from Reach Station Gamma, and are preparing to leave!"

Crystal grinned "I knew Keyes would make it," she said. "Get the Andraste moving! Contact the Autumn and sync our NAV Computer with theirs so we end up at the same place."

"Yes Ma'am!" The Crew quickly acknowledged as the Andraste's engines ignited and sped towards the UNSC Cruiser.

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Meanwhile

UNSC Pillar of Autumn

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On the bridge of the Autumn, the assembled Spartan's, including the three Red Team Spartan's, the three Noble Team Spartans, and those of Mythic Team were present. The Captain still had the package in his hands. They watched as he inserted the package into the Holo pad terminal, and a few moments passed before a holographic image appeared, that of a woman.

"Ah, feels good to be whole again." The A.I said, before turning to Noble Team, "Noble Team, I thank you for the safe delivery of the package." she said,

"It had valuable data contained in a part of me I left for Halsey to retrieve the data you gained from the underground ruins...also, my condolences for the loss of the rest of your team."

"Its alright, but thanks." Noble Six said, with a nod.

It was then at that moment that the doors to the bridge opened again, and yet another Spartan entered the bridge. Most on the bridge, even some of the Spartan's looked surprised upon his entrance, or more by the condition of his armor. It was charred, battered, and covered with alien blood.

However, despite all of this, the Spartan's could make out three numbers engraved on the MJOLNIR armor the Spartan Wore.

117.

Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 walked onto the bridge of the Autumn shortly after he placed the clinically dead Linda-058 into Cryo, with the hopes of Resuscitating her once they get to a major medical facility. Upon entering the bridge, he instantly took notice of the numerous other figures on the bridge, and to his surprise, they were Spartans.

Three of them he instantly recognized as Carris, Keiichi and Joseph, three of the Spartan's he had sent down with Fred and Red Team to the surface. He also recognized Randall as well, even though his armor had been obviously upgraded, he could still tell it was him. Seeing those four brought a wave of relief to John, glad to see they were still alive. John gave the four Spartan-II's the 'Spartan Smile' upon seeing them.

However, seeing the other seven figures were what surprised him. He knew from their armor that they were Spartans, however their armors were all greatly modified to the point he could barely recognize them as MJOLNIR armor. This brought a series of questions into his mind, however John knew to focus on the Captain for now. He faced the captain, and saluted "Reporting for debriefing, sir." He said.

The Captain returned the Master Chief's salute "Was the NAV database destroyed?" He asked.

"Of course, Very good, Master chief." Keyes replied.

"Sir, may I ask for active FOF tags in the region?" the chief asked. "I lost a man in the station…and he may still be out there."

"Lieutenant Hall?" the captain asked.

"Scanning…" The said crewmember said. She looked back and shook her head.

"I see," The chief replied. There could be worse deaths...but not for one of his Spartan's. Floating helpless. Slowly suffocating and freezing-losing to an enemy that could not be fought.

"Sir," the master chief said, "When will the Pillar of Autumn rendezvous with the rest of the planetside team, or are they already onboard?" He turned to Carris and the other two Spartan-II's or Red Team.

However, Carris shook her head "No Chief, they're not." she said, "Red Lead ordered us to secure the CASTLE Base fallback position with the four survivors of Charlie Company...we got seperated from the rest of the team, and haven't heard word since. It was by luck we managed to catch the Autumn when she landed on Reach in the first place to get Cortana's Package."

"She's right Master Chief," The Captain said, as he turned away and stared out into space "However...we won't be picking them up, they were overrun by Covenant Forces. They never made orbit, and have lost contact with them."

John then took a step forward "Then, permission to take a Pelican and retrieve them, sir." he requested.

"Request Denied, Master Chief. We still have a mission to perform. And we cannot remain in this system for much longer. Dominique, aft camera."

Covenant ships were swarming Reach now in five-ship crescent formations. UNSC ships were fleeing, those that couldn't move were slaughtered by covenant ships.

The Covenant had won this battle. They were mopping up before they glassed the planet; Master Chief had seen this happen dozens of times before in past campaigns, however this time was different.

This time the Covenant were glassing a planet...with his people still on it.

He tried to think of a way to stop them...to save his teammates, but he couldn't.

The Captain turned and strode to the Master Chief, stood by his side. "…Doctor Halsey's mission…" The captain said. "…is more important than ever now…it's the only hope humanity has left now."

The Master Chief clenched his hands into fists. The captain was correct: There was nothing to do now except complete the mission they had set out to do.

"Captain Keyes, I'm picking up a UNSC Frigate on approach to us," Cortana Reported, "Paris-class, IFF confirms it to be the UNSC Andraste."

"Captain, I'm picking up a transmission from the Andraste!" Dominique confirmed. "Captain Hertman on the line."

Captain Keyes looked surprised before he nodded "Patch her through," he said, and Dominique patched the communications through. On the front view screen, an image of the bridge of the Andraste appeared, along with the image of Captain Hertland appeared. However, she was not alone as John could see another figure standing next to the Captain, a Spartan. And not just any Spartan, but one that John thought would suffer the worst death imaginable for Spartans. James-005.

"Captain Keyes," The Female Captain said, "Good to see you made it out alright, me and my crew were hoping we can hitch a ride with you and the Autumn out of the system, if its not too much of a problem."

Keyes smiled somewhat somberly "Of course Captain Hertland," he said, "Cortana, sync the Autumn's NAV Computer with the Andraste's. In the meantime, Lovell, give us our best acceleration. I want the Autumn to enter slipspace ASAP!"

"Working on that now sir," Cortana said, "Also, I have six Covenant Frigates are inbound towards us and the Andraste on intercept courses!"

"Continue evasive maneuvers, Cortana. Prepare the Slipspace Generators and get the Autumn and Andraste appropriate randomized exit vectors."

"Aye sir." She said, as navigation symbols flashed along the length of Cortana's holographic body. "Synchronizing Navigations with the UNSC Andraste, generating randomized exit vectors per Cole Protocol."

John glanced at Cortana's translucent body, however he cocked his head as the symbols and numbers scrolled across the NAV Console. The Representations of Slipspace Vectors and velocity curves twisted across the screen-tantalizingly familiar. He'd seen them somewhere before-but he couldn't make the connection.

"Something on your mind, Master Chief?" Cortana asked.

"Those symbols..." He said, "...I thought I had seen them somewhere before. Its nothing."

Cortana got a far off look in her eyes. The marks cycling on her hologram shifted and rearranged. John and the others turned back to the main view screen, as they watched the Covenant fleet gather around Reach. They swarmed and circled like sharks. The first of their plasma bombardments launched the surface, as cloud in the fires path boiled away.

"Jump to slipspace, ensign Lovell," the captain said. "Get us the hell out of here."

Lovell didn't need to be told twice. The Covenant Frigates were closing in on their position, however before they could get off another shot, the Pillar of Autumn and Andraste jumped into slipspace, leaving Reach in the hands of the Covenant.

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Later

UNSC Pillar of Autumn

Spartan Quarters

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Once the Pillar of Autumn and Andraste were safe in slipspace, for the time being at least, the surviving Spartan's could be found in the designated quarters for the Spartan's. Currently, there was something of a confrontation between Master Chief and the three Spartan-II's of Red Team, against Amy and the other Spartan-III's along with Randall.

For a whole minutes, neither side said anything until Amy spoke first "I know you must have a lot of questions about all of this," she began, "So now that things have calmed down somewhat, I think its only fair that we answered them for you."

John nodded his head, he had taken off his helmet for this conversation, revealing to everyone his face. "Alright," he said. "First off...exactly who are you? Your Spartan's but you're obviously not Spartan-II's."

"True, we're not." Rosenda spoke up, "We're Spartan-III's, we were created by ONI Section-III Beta-5 division, headed by Colonel James Ackerson." She practically spat out the 'Colonel' part. "Spartan-III's were created as successors to Dr. Halsey's Spartan-II's, you guys, as more mass produced than you were."

"If that's true, why haven't we heard of you guys before?" Joseph asked, "Why hasn't Dr. Halsey been informed of this?"

Rose looked at her Fellow Spartan's, and Jun sighed as he stepped forward "Would you want to know that Section Three was creating expendable Spartan's?" He asked, deciding to drop the ball right then.

The Spartan-II's all appeared surprised hearing that, "Excuse me?" Keiichi asked, "Expendable Spartans? What's that suppose to mean?"

Jun sighed "Just what it is," he said, "Ackerson created the Spartan-III's as a Cheaper way to make Spartan's to succeed you guys. Mass Produced and expendable Heros. He wants the existence of Spartan-III's kept secret because..."

Jun stopped there, however Emile continued where he left off "Because Spartan-III's were not expected to live for very long." he said, "Us III's were created to complete Suicide Missions, even in Spartan Standard's. Alpha Company got wiped out in their first major op, and last I heard only two people survived Beta Company's first real op, 600 Spartan's dead in total."

That news hit John, Carris, Keiichi and Joseph like a sack of bricks.

Six hundred Spartans dead.

John himself could feel a chill go down his spine. He had already lost so many Spartans, some before they even had a chance to fight, but even he found difficult to wrap his mind around losing that many more. He didn't know any of them, but they were Spartans nonetheless.

"S-Six Hundred?" Carris asked, and the Spartan-III's all nodded, even Randall.

"Yeah," Emile said, "The only reason any of us were not part of the operations that brought their demise was because our Eltee got us out of the companies and into teams like Noble and Mythic. Alpha Company was sent to destroy a Covenant Shipyard at the K7-49 Asteroid. Though they destroyed the facilities, they were all confirmed 'Missing in Action'. Beta Company attacked a Covenant Refinery at Pegasi delta, but last I heard only two Spartan's walked out of that hellhole."

There was a long pause between the II's and III's. John meanwhile remembered what Mendez taught him: that losing lives were acceptable so long as they had been spent wisely instead of wasted.

"Was it worth it?" he asked.

This time, Jaden spoke, he had removed his helmet revealing his short spiky black hair and crimson colored eyes "In my opinion? No." he said. "Though Alpha and Beta Companies accomplished their tactical objectives, the strategic situation remained the same. The Covenant's march continues unabated. Alpha had no survivors after Operation: Prometheus, but Ackerson, the Project's founder and funder, trained Beta in the exact same manner with the exact same result, even though there were some improvements learned from Alpha."

John sighed as his head dipped and his shoulders slumped, 'wasted lives' he thought. It was hard for any Spartan to hear of their brethren falling, but at least they knew that they have made a worthwhile sacrifice to the great whole of humanity.

But this...six hundred Spartan's Dead, this could have been prevented. It should have been obvious to everyone after the first annihilated Spartan-III Company that something wasn't working. Instead, they threw good money and lives after bad. John has never meet Ackerson, but he now shares Dr. Halsey's seething hatred for the man. Mendez had taught him about men like Ackerson: those who were grossly unqualified to hold their respective positions of power. People like that refused to learn from their mistakes or step down for more competent replacements, and ultimately got ever more people killed for no real gain whatsoever.

"What about that other Company?" Keiichi asked suddenly, "Gamma Company? What about them?"

"Still around," Jaden answered, "They just recently graduated, but last I heard they've been raiding Insurrectionists and Covenant Outposts on their new Mothership, the UNSC Dawn under Heaven. They haven't gone through their Suicide Mission...yet." He then sighed "I just hope Ackerson will wise up with Reach gone...if the Covenant find Earth, Gamma Company will be more useful there than off fighting on a random and meaningless covenant planet."

The Spartan's couldn't help but agree. They were silent once more before Joseph spoke again "Who trained you?" he asked.

Leon grinned, he having removed his helmet as well showing all his military crew cut blond hair and blue eyes "CPO Mendez," he said, "I think you're familiar with him?"

"The Chief?" Carris asked, "You were trained by the Chief?"

"Yeah, he and Lieutenant Ambrose trained all three Companies." Kai said, with a smile "They're also the ones who transferred us out of our companies so that we'd have a better chance of surviving than in those suicide missions."

Hearing that, John couldn't hold back the small smile on his face. They may not be Spartan-II's, but the fact they were trained by the person who trained them created all the more reason to trust them.

It was then John felt something deep inside him: respect for the Spartan-III's. Though he could tell that they were inferior to the II's in a few ways, they were superior in other areas as well. Though the III's were trained quicker than they had been, they received that same training from Mendez. And no matter who it was that was funding the project, it could not change the fact that they have earned the right to call themselves Spartan's.

Then, he spoke "I know that we have only just met," he began, "And you may not be Spartan-II's, but no matter what your all still Spartan's one way or another." He let that sink in for a moment before continuing "Before...before Reach fell, my team were about to go on a mission, one which might change the course of the whole war. With most of the team...missing in action, we're gonna need all the help we can get to pull this off." He then looked at the Spartan's dead in the eyes. "It would be an honor to have you, all of you, to serve with us." he said, "So, what do you say?"

"You know I'm in sir," Randall said with a grin "It would be my honor to serve under you again."

"Well, we've got nothing better to do." Emile said with a chuckle. Rose rolled her eyes "I'm in," she said, "Mythic? Noble?"

One by one, all of the Spartans of Mythic and Noble Teams agreed to go on the mission. Not too much of a surprise for the II's. After all, they were all Spartan's.

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Meanwhile

Pillar of Autumn Infirmary

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Ryu sighed as he lay back on a table dress only in a pair of boxers and his dog tags baring his matte black cybernetic legs to the engineer and doctor who were carefully inspecting them "Didn't get a chance to use the blades mounted in the knees," He explained as they removed the outer shell of his arms revealing the circuitry that lay underneath with the sharp blades resting in the forearms "The composite carbon-titanium worked like a dream Havoc, I was able to bisect a brute chieftain with them."

The engineer sighed as he adjusted the thin wireframe glasses that rested over his dark brown eyes and ran a hand through his equally dark brown hair just a hair longer than military regulation "Well their not showing any signs of stress from doing that," Henry 'Havoc' Williams agreed "Have you tried parrying Energy Swords yet?"

"Nah, not yet," Ryu answered letting out a gusty sigh, all this poking, prodding and Q&A was tedious for the ODST, but that was the price for being able to use the prototype cybernetic prosthesis being tested by the UNSC "I'm trying to avoid that, if the MJOLNIR armor can't take it..."

"Ah, good point," Havoc agreed in a murmur getting back to work on the circuitry "Wish I had the chance to work on those magnificent pieces of art, 'to explosively inclined' my ass, they're just afraid I'd show them up. Also it seems that the adjustments we made to the framework worked out, seeing no signs of stress from firing the MAR rifle."

"Hmm, seems like your nervous system has finally adapted to the neural link ups in the arm," The doctor, Greg 'Crazy Eyes' O'Houlihan, a man looking to be in his early thirties with deep black hair and rather unsettling red eyes that held an ever so slight glint of madness to them, only reason he wasn't drummed out of the military was due to the fact he was an amazing battlefield medic and black ops operator, so they just had him channel that... slight mental issue towards the enemy, muttered more to himself than to Ryu "Any problems with lag time?"

Ryu shook his head looking over to the doctor nonplussed as he looked at Ryu like one would look at a rather interesting animal or puzzle "Nope, nothing," He assured "Not even a stray twitch."

"Good," Greg muttered turning away with a swish of his doctor's coat and moved to his computer station working on something no one want to even guess at.

"Creepy guy," Havoc muttered quietly looking at the doctor suspiciously making Ryu chortle "One part of me wants to know what he's working on, the other vehemently protests at the thought."

"He's an ONI black ops doctor, what do you think?" Ryu retorted getting a 'no duh' look from the engineer before he set about replacing the outer casing. Once it was in place Ryu sat up and move his arms around to ensure that there were no problems "But that's the least of my worries, got some newbies to initiate into the squadron."

"Really?" Havoc asked curiously "I thought we weren't getting any recruits on this mission."

"Former Charlie Company," Ryu clarified as he stood back up and got dressed in set of fatigues "Captain Keyes assigned them to the Roughnecks to make up for losses on Reach."

Havoc smirked as he slide his glasses up "Have fun with that, wish I could join you, but that project you suggested is almost finished." He informed "Shame too, I've always enjoyed watching you intimidate Roughneck Rookies."

Ryu laughed as he left the infirmary heading to the barracks.

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Meanwhile

Marine Barracks

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A group of five Marines stepped into an area of the barracks that had been taken over by one of the most infamous squads in the UNSC. Each person there was a battle hardened Helljumper with more missions under their belt than all five of the marines combined "What're you looking at daisies?" A dark skinned female with short brown hair and dark brown eyes asked wearing a light green tank top and woodland camo fatigue pants "These are the Roughneck quarters!"

"Ah, we were assigned to the Roughnecks ma'am," A marine with rather startling blue eyes and the short cropped hair of an obviously fresh recruit said with a salute "Private Will Jensen ma'am, most call me Demo though. We're the remaining members of Charlie Company, Captain Keyes assigned us to your squad."

The woman snorted as she looked the obviously green recruits over "Master Corporal Jenn Devlin, AKA Iron, the Sergeant will be back shortly, get a bunk and settle in, we're on deck watch for the trip." She said gesturing to the empty bunks, deck watch was during slipspace transit a squad of marines would not be placed in cryo incase of emergencies "Why'd we get stuck with the greenies."

"The captain probably remembers that last time we were on his ship!" A male with dark rust red hair and rather odd golden eyes shouted from the far side of the area they had chosen as their own, he was sharpening a knife with a wide grin as he watched the rookies "We really made a mess of that mess hall when those Army pricks got all uppity in our faces."

"If I recall correctly Red, you were the one mocking them," Another female shouted as she was doing one armed push ups her blonde hair closely cropped to her hair and green eyes glinting mischievously "And the Sergeant had to jump in to save your ass from a lynching!"

"Ah shut it Kitsune!" Red retorted getting laughter from the rest of the squad as he blushed from embarrassment.

"What's the Sergeant like?" One of the rookies asked, a slight young girl with ear length bright, almost neon, spiky red hair and surprisingly wide dark blue eyes, she honestly looked like a deer caught in the headlights as the squad shifted their attention to her.

"What's yer name?" Asked a deeply Russian accented, massively built man with such muscles many wouldn't be surprised if he could lift a SPARTAN with a shaved head and coal black eyes with a rather prominent scarring completely taking over the right side of his face.

"Eh?" The girl reacting with a slight jump "Oh, uhh, Yuko Hagami, I'm mostly called Hawkeyes though."

The man grunted "James Gorvitch, Bull." He returned with a nod before turning back to his rather large gun and set about cleaning it.

"Sarge saved all of our asses before taking us into the Roughnecks!" A cocky voice stated drawing the newbs attention to a really nondescript man with average brown hair and eyes absolutely no distinguishing features to him "Gotta say, the fact that a bunch of fresh faced rooks like you survived the hellhole that was Reach is points in my book. I'll give you two missions before you either quit, break or die."

"Like hell I will!" One of the rookies, a male with light sandy blond hair and angry aquamarine eyes shouted as the others paled slightly "I busted my ass through boot and came out with the best records in a decade! I can survive whatever you can throw at me!" They tried, they really did, but the Roughnecks bellowed out in mocking laughter as the speaker flushed in embarrassment "What's so funny, it can't be that hard if your leader is a goddamned cripple!"

That shut the ODSTs up as the recruits edged away from their fellow. The roughnecks stared angrily at the recruit as one of them walked forward, a man of Arabic descent strode towards them his dark eye blazing in fury "What is your name brat." The man asked darkly in a voice that promised pain.

"Geoff Harding, Odin." Geoff declared proudly as if he was a celebrity.

"Well brat, you have a lot of nerve coming in here and trashing the Sarge like that," The arabic man said "Want to know what happened to the last one who did that? We gutted him and dumped his carcase under a missile so it burned up when the missile was launched, I wonder, should we do the same to you?"

"No need Death." Ryu voice rang out through the barracks as the Roughnecks leapt to attention with the recruits sans Geoff as he walked calmly towards them his face neutral "I can defend myself, besides. I know better ways to dispose of a corpse," He looked Geoff over "Hey Cortana you there?"

"Yes Sergeant?" The AI asked as she used a nearby holopad to project her image "You need something?"

"What happens if a body is jettisoned into space during transit in Slipspace?" He asked conversationally walking over to the holopad.
Cortana smirked up at the ODST as she used a split second read through his files and psych profile "It is a rather interesting event Sergeant," She replied seeing that he was only using it to drive a point home "If the person is alive they'll be killed instantly by the radiation of slipspace, and the fact that we're in the middle of a wormhole I would guess that the body could potentially end up at the other side of the universe. That is if it isn't burned up by the radiation, Why do you ask?"

"Well I may have to jettison a body if this recruit gives me any lip," Ryu answered pleasantly "I hope you wouldn't mind terribly if you kept it a secret for me?"

Cortana smiled brilliantly, she really could grow to like this Helljumper "Not at all," She agreed "I could even doctor the security cams to make it look like suicide, an unfortunate common thing with recruits who lose their Company."

Ryu turned to Geoff who was looking increasingly pale "Do you get it now brat?" He asked coldly a hard visage dropping over his face "I own you, I can kill you and make it look like a suicide and no one would question me. And for your information, the mission that took my limbs, is a type of mission we go on regularly." He looked over the other recruits "Names, ranks, nicknames and specialties." He ordered "Starting with you brat."

"P-Private Geoff Harding, O-Odin, CQC." Geoff stuttered out nervously as he realized the danger his mouth put him in.

Ryu looked to the next one, a woman with short, dark, dirty blonde hair and light hazel eyes "Private First Class Jessica Fielding, Gear, Vehicle Specialist sir!" She said with a salute.

"Mike Reinos, Private Second Class, Echo, Infiltration specialist sir!" Mike a short man standing just under 5'6" with trimmed black hair and dark gray eyes.

"Private Y-Yuko Hagami, Hawkeyes, sniper sir." She said with a nervous salute.

"Private Will Jensen, and they call me Demo for a damned good reason!" He stated proudly with a salute as Ryu looked at him oddly for a minute.

"I heard about you," Ryu stated getting a surprised look "You're the one who set up some cherry bombs in the drill sergeant's cans weren't you?"

"Ah, yes sir!" He admitted slightly nervous only for Ryu to chuckle and pat his shoulder.

"Don't worry, we like a good prank every now and then, just do it only during the down time though alright?" He requested getting a nod of agreement from the recruit before turning to the final recruit. A short, somewhat scrawny yet seemingly strong male who had short crew cut red hair, and onyx colored eyes and a pair of glasses, his uniform equipped with a TAC PAD. "And you Scrawny?" He asked.

The Boy scowled a bit, but answered none the less "Private First Class Robin Vaoman, Firewall, Tech and Computer specialist, sir!" He said, "I can hack anything, be it Human or Covenant, just get me to a computer."

Ryu nodded "Good," he said before he looked at his new recruits. "Alright you Rookies, here are the Rules: Everyone fights, no one quits. You don't do your job, I'll kill you myself." He gave a quick glance at Geoff at that note. "You get me?"

"We get you sir!" The Rookies all shouted in unison.

Ryu just grinned "Welcome to the Roughnecks." he said.

"Ryu's Roughnecks!" Shouted Iron,

"HOO!"

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September 19th 2552 AD

UNSC Andraste

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It had been 21 days since the Pillar of Autumn and Andraste ran from Reach, and they were nearing the end of their journey. As per Captain Hertman's advice, the full crews, including some of the Spartans, had been brought out of Cryo one day before, in the off chance that the Covenant were already there waiting for them they would have each of their full Marine and ODST complements at the ready to defend their ships rather than a skeleton crew of a few squads of Marines and ODST's.

The Engineers on the Pillar of Autumn had managed to successfully repair one of the secondary reactors in engineering, giving the Halcyon-class at least 20% engine power, however the primary and the other secondary reactor were lost causes. However in a stroke of luck, the Engineers had managed to repair the Autumn's depolarized MAC gun, bringing the Cruiser's primary weapon back online, for how long no one knew. Aside from that, they managed to also patch up most of the hull breaches as well.

On the Andraste, things were slightly better, all things considered. The stealth Paris-class Heavy Frigate was able to avoid too much damage during the Battle of Reach, no doubt thanks to its stealth systems. The only damage it sustained was from a Covenant heavy Corvette who got a lucky shot at them, which damaged their Slipspace Drive.

The Engineers said they managed to pull of this jump, however a second jump was out of the question until they could enact proper repairs on their engines. Other than that, the Andraste was fully staffed, and it still had most of its MAC Rounds and Archer Missiles available, along with one last Shiva Tactical Nuclear Missile.

Crystal cracked her neck a few times, still feeling some of the effects from waking up from Cryo Sleep. But she ignored the feeling as she looked through the complements of the Andraste. For some reason, Captain Hertman got a sneaking suspicion that they would end up fighting on the ground at one point, so she decided to do a quick run down at the supplies of the Andraste.

Being a Paris-class Heavy Frigate, and a Prowler-type at that, the Andraste was the only ship out of the two which could enter and exit a planet's atmosphere without additional assistance, making it a rather invaluable asset should they have to fight on the ground at one point.

Speaking of which, the Andraste has a surprisingly large complement of ground vehicles. This came even to a surprise of the Captain herself as she scanned through what her ship had in the vehicle bay. Scorpion Battle Tanks, Warthog LRV's, two Squadron's worth of D77-TC Pelican's, a squadron of GA-TL1 Longsword Interceptors, a few Albatrosses, Mongoose ATV's, even a pair of Elephant HRV's.

When it came to Manpower, Crystal would have to say they were somewhat overmanned. In addition to their own Marine Battalion, they took in the survivors of the 22nd Shock Trooper Battalion, along with numerous other Army and Marine personnel who survived. As it stood, the Andraste had over a thousand people onboard, most of them being either Marines, ODST's or Army, while the rest were part of the Andraste's crew.

"We should be dropping out of Slipspace in about Three Hours Ma'am," a synthesized voice said, as the holo pad on the bridge lite up, revealing the series of changing light patterns of Auntie Dot. Another 'survivor' from Reach, Auntie Dot had transferred all of her files and herself onto the Andraste to avoid being captured by the Covenant. Since then, Dot has been an invaluable asset to the Andraste, even though she wasn't designed to be a Shipboard A.I.

"Good," Captain Hertland said, "Make sure everyone are at their stations when we enter normal space. If the Covenant beat us here, I want to be ready."

"Understood Ma'am," Dot said, before her hologram disappeared. Not two seconds after, Lieutenant Colonel Hector Monroe and Spartan-005 walked onto the bridge. "Captain, reporting as ordered." The Colonel said, as he and the Spartan snapped to a salute.

The Captain returned the gesture "At ease you two," she said. "Lieutenant Colonel, I need you to prepare the 22nd to repel any boarders who attempt to attack the Andraste, Spartan-005, you do the same. I need everyone at their stations if we're attacked."

"Will do ma'am," Hector said, "If the Covies try anything, we'll be ready."

"I know you will," Hertland said with a smile "However, I also need to make sure that the Andraste's SOIEV's are ready for deployment, call it a gut feeling, but I think we might be seeing some ground action eventually."

Hector looked surprised, however nodded either way "The SOIEV's are all loaded, and can be launched at a moment's notice." he said. "The Pelican's and Albatrosses are the same as well. With all of the Marines and Army we picked up from Reach, Ground Combat is what we're more than prepared for."

"True," The Captain said, "Anyways, you better hurry and get too it, dismissed." She said. The two soldiers both saluted, and left the bridge.

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Later

UNSC Pillar of Autumn

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A few hours later, the entire bridge crew of the Autumn was assembled on the bridge, the Captain was standing as he awaited for the Autumn and Andraste to drop out of Slipspace.

"Five Minutes until Normal Space, sir." Cortana announced, even though she knew they could see the countdown timer.

"Good," Keyes said, "Once we drop out, shut down all systems, Cortana. I want us to be dark when we hit normal space. If the Covenant did follow us-maybe we can hide."

"Aye Sir, Running Dark." Cortana said, as the Pillar of Autumn and Andraste finally dropped out of Slipspace, their screens being filled with Green Light temporarily; smears of stars came into focus as the two ships arrived. They quickly took note of the large gas giant which filled a third of the view screen.

"Fire thrusters to position us in orbit around the planet, Ensign Lovell." Keyes ordered.

"Aye Sir!" Lovell replied, as the Autumn's thrusters light up towards the planet, alongside the Andraste which had already activated its own built in stealth systems. The two UNSC ships glided around the gravity well of the single moon over the planet.

However, at that moment Cortana detected a radar echo ahead, an object hidden in the Planet's shadow. "Captain, we have something..."

(Begin Playing 'Opening Suite' from Halo: Combat Evolved OST)

At that moment, the Autumn and Andraste emerged out of the planet's shadow, and that was when they saw it. The eyes of the Captain, Cortana, and the rest of the bridge crew widened in shock.

The Captain had been expecting Seraphs, Covenant ships, or some other military threat. But not even he could have expected seeing the massive object which was now floating between the gas giant and the moon. A enormous ring-shaped object, that seemed to shimmer with a glow like a jewel emitting from within it. The outer surface seemed metal, and seemed engraved with deep geographic patterns. A closer look revealed what looked like oceans, and continents.

"What. The. Fuck?" said Lovell as he gaped at the massive structured in front of them.

"What the fuck, indeed," Cortana said.

On the Andraste, it was the same reaction, as Crystal's eyes, along with her bridge crew's, widened at what they were seeing.

"What the hell is that?" the Captain as she looked at the massive ring-like structure.

"Unknown Captain," Dot's voice said, as she appeared on the Holo Stool. "However, scans of the surface of the structure indicate similar construction patterns to the Unknown Ruins found on Reach by Noble Team. It is highly probable that whoever created those ruins, also created this object."

"So either way, it wasn't made by the Covenant?" The Captain asked for confirmation.

"Yes Ma'am," the A.I answered.

Back on the Autumn, Keyes was asking Cortana a very similar question "Cortana, what exactly is that?" He asked.

"Unknown..." Cortana said, as she began going through scans. "The ring is ten thousand kilometers in diameter, and twenty-two point three kilometers thick. Spectroscopic analysis is inconclusive, but patters do not match any known Covenant Material sir. The Object is clearly artificial, there's a gravity field that controls the rings spin and keeps the atmosphere inside. At this range-and with this gear-I can't say with one hundred percent certainty, but it appears that the ring has an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere and Earth-Normal Gravity."

"If its Artificial," Keyes spoke, "Then who the hell built it?"

Cortana processed the question for a whole three seconds until she answered with a shrug "I don't know sir."

Captain Keyes took out his pipe, lite it, and puffed once. He examined the curl of smoke thoughtfully "Well then," he said. "we'd had better find out."

Cortana was about to say something before she froze "Captain! I have multiple Covenant Ships on sensors on the far side of the planet! I'm also detecting Seraph Starfighters on approach! Longswords are intercepting!"

The Captain cursed upon hearing that, "Damn, we're running Dark, yes?" He asked.

"Yes, until we decelerated." Cortana said, "Dark or not, no one could've missed the hole we tore through subspace."

The Captain sighed "Where do we stand?" He asked as he check out the sensor readings.

"Longswords should deal with their Recon picket soon, so nothing serious there." Cortana said, "But, I'm also picking up approach vectors from multiple CCS-class Battlegroups, making three Capital Ships per group. I give them over two minutes until they're all over us."

The Captain sighed "Alright then that is then." He said as he turned away. "Bring the ship back up to Combat Alert Alpha. I want everyone at their stations."

"Good thing we woke up most of the crew before decelerating, huh?" Cortana said, her hologram flickering a bit as she grinned.

Keyes chuckled a bit "I suppose Captain Hertland's instincts proved worthwhile." he said, "And Cortana? Let's give our 'friends' a warm welcome."

Cortana smirked "I've already begun." she said.

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Meanwhile

UNSC Pillar of Autumn

Hanger Bay

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Klaxon Alarms sounded throughout the Pillar of Autumn as the crew began preparing to fight off the incoming Covenant Forces. In one certain hanger bay filled with Pelicans and Ground Vehicles, a certain dark skinned Master Sergeant assembled his team of Marines.

"You heard the lady! Move like you've got a purpose!" Master Sergeant Avery J. Johnson shouted, as his squad of Marines assembled in two rows before him.

"Men, here is where we show them split-chin squid-head sons-of-bitches that they could not have picked a worse enemy than the human race." Johnson began, his commanding voice booming throughout the room.

"We led them dumb bugs out here to the middle of nowhere to keep their filthy claws off Earth." Johnson continued as he stood between the two rows "But we stumbled onto somethin' they're so hot for that they're scramblin' over each other to get it."

He then began walking between the two rows "So once again it is our job to finish what the flyboys started. Make no mistake, we will be leaving this ship, Platoon, and engaging the enemy on solid ground. I don't care if this thing is God's very own anti-son-of-a-bitch-machine or a giant hula hoop, we're not gonna let them have it! What we will let them have is a belly full of lead and a pool of their own blood to drown in! When we meet the enemy we will blow the hell out of those dumb bugs until we don't have anything left to shoot e'm with! And then we are going to strangle them with their own living guts, and rip their skulls from their spines and toss them away laughin'! "

When he reached the end, Johnson was silent for a moment before he twirled around "AM I RIGHT MARINES?" He shouted.

"SIR, YES SIR!" they chorused.

"Mmhmm, Damn right I am!" He said, "Now move it out! Double Time!"

As the Marines rushed out of the hanger, Johnson just grinned as he hefted his M90 Shotgun "All you greenhorns wanting to see Covenant Up close," he said, "This is gonna be your lucky day! Just remember to keep your eyes down range, fingers on your triggers, and we all come home in one piece!"

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Meanwhile

Roughnecks Barracks

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"Listen up you mangy dogs!" Ryu shouted out as he paced before his squad "Johnson and his marines will be making sure the Hanger is clear, we, as Helljumpers, are going to be dropped onto the ring-like structure ahead of everyone else. But before we can do that, we have been ordered to ensure that our fellow troopers get dropped because they're all scared and prissy that if we're boarded they'd have to fight on a ship," He announced with mocking drawl towards the end "So we are to protect the drop bays until it is our turn to drop, remember, we are onboard a ship in space, so limit the explosives to grenades only, I for one cannot breathe vacuum, any questions?"

"No sir!" His marines chanted as one.

"Right than, Iron take squads three, four and six to cover the south entrance, the rest of you are with me at the main entrance!" Ryu ordered

"Roughnecks! Move out!"

"HOO!"

Ryu grinned as he picked up a shotgun and started jogging with the rest of the squad towards the drop bays when Havoc fell in line with him "I managed to finish up you little project Ryu," He informed holding out a bulky rifle to him "Just be careful of the tight quarters."

"Thanks Havoc," Ryu said accepting the weapon and slung it over his shoulder "Going to join the party in the drop bays?"
Havoc snorted "Nah, Captain wants me to set up a couple of surprises for the Covvie boarding parties," He informed grinning widely "Just follow the chaos and I'll be in the center of it."

"See ya dirtside than Havoc." Ryu said clapping the man's shoulder before he moved off down a different corridor. The Roughnecks trooped into the drop bays where a contingent of ODSTs were already preparing to drop "Silva." Ryu greeted in a barely restrain growl to the brown haired brown eyed ODST Major.

"That Major Silva Sergeant." Silva growled back angrily "I'll have you rank for insubordination if you keep it up."

Ryu snorted in contempt eying the other Shock Trooper as both squads edged away, it was a well known fact within the UNSC that the two held a grudge for one another a mile long, Ryu for Silva ditching out on his squad which had resulted in Ryu's squad being caught in the explosion that took his limbs, and Silva due to the fact that despite his lower rank their superiors always took Ryu's suggestions and tactics before his "Like you'd have the balls pussy," Ryu retorted gesturing for his squad to set up "You're pussying out again now like you did five years ago."

Silva growled as he stepped up close to Ryu the two of them only inches apart, however before either of them could do anything "Break it up you two," Cortana said appearing on a holopad next to the pair "I don't think the MP's have time to deal with your bickering right now!"

Ryu snorted but turned his back on the ODST Major and to the entrance he was supposed to be guarding as Silva angrily shut his drop pod door "Thanks Cortana," Ryu said releasing a gusty sigh "Whose brilliant idea was it to put the two of us not only on the same mission but the same goddamn ship?"

Cortana sent him a regretful smile "You know the bureaucrats Sergeant," She replied "They just don't quite get it. Also Covenant Cruisers are five minutes out."

Ryu nodded as he took out his new rifle and gave it a once over "Let's hope that this ring we found is worth it," He grumbled "All right maggots! Lock and load!"

"SIR!" was the Roughnecks reply as they got ready to deal pain on what Ryu calls them 'Extra-Territorial sons-of-bitches'.

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Meanwhile

With the Covenant Fleet

CCS-Divine Reckoning

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Meanwhile, on the flagship of one of the Covenant Battle Groups, a Sangheili was placing the last of his orange on green Ranger Elite armor. Only his helmet was removed, showing the familiar face of a Sangheili. He stood at a height of 7.5 feet, had brown skin, and orange colored eyes.
This was Feras 'Refumee. A Former Ranger elevated to Commander of his own unit of Special Operations Elites. Although he was now a Commander he kept his old armor, out of sentimental value.

He was in command of his own battalion of troops, one of the many who were assigned to safeguard the sacred ring which had only recently been uncovered. Though at first the assignment seemed exciting, paving a path for the Great Journey. However as time went by, Feras would have to admit to himself...it was rather boring. The only form of sport around here now was either sparring with his fellow Sangheili, or going down onto Halo's surface and hunt some of the wildlife on the surface such as Blind Wolves and Thorn Beasts.

However, now all that has changed, even if just for today, when the Fleetmaster reported Slipspace Ruptures, and detecting a single Human Warship entering the system, with a possible second ship, however it was probably cloaked. Feras practically rejoiced at the thought of some actual combat for once, and it was even more so that the Prophet of Disdain had forbade the fleet from simply shooting the human ships down with Plasma Torpedoes, in fear that they could potentially damage Halo, meaning that they would be boarding the human ship(s).

Though Feras knew that such an act would result in higher casualties, this was an opportunity that was too good to pass up. He even hoped that there were 'Demons' on board any of those Human ships, but it was just wild guessing.

When the war started, he and his older brother Sesas were among the many who joined the cause to exterminate the Humans without question, even sharing the same mindset as the other species of the Covenant who believed the race as 'Unclean Beings'. But as time went by, Feras began to doubt the Prophets' words, seeing firsthand how the Human Soldiers, despite being weak physically, fought with a fierce determination.

He also admired Human Teamwork, despite being weak individually, when in packs or 'Fire teams' as the Human's call them, they show remarkable teamwork. More than once he has seen even Jiralhanae Chieftains be slain by small packs of humans.

Feras was not the only one who believed this, as numerous others in the Covenant were beginning to share these thoughts, even if it was on a private level. Many were believing the Humans would have made better allies than enemies.

However, for now Feras had to put these thoughts aside for now. For the moment, the Humans were enemies, and had to be dealt with accordingly.
"Commander...," said a voice he recognized immediately and turned to see the only female Sangheili in the Fleet, and quite possibly the whole Covenant Military, Fan 'Seranee. She was a few inches shorter than him and had light blue skin, and lime green eyes. She was wearing her silver on black Spec ops armor, with a energy sword on her left hip. "The rest of the team has assembled and are ready to board their boarding craft. We're just waiting on your word now."

Feras nodded "Good," he said, "best not to keep them waiting, we have a mission to do after all."

Fan nodded as the two elites made their way towards one of the hangers of the Divine Reckoning. Upon their arrival, they could see other warriors of the Covenant, from Sangheili too Unggoy, boarding their own boarding craft and launching to take the Human ship.

Near on Boarding Craft, he quickly took note of a handful of warriors there already, and he quickly recognized them as he approached. There were two other Sangheili Warriors, a Kig-yar 'Skirmisher' as Human's called his species, and what some would consider odd, a single Unggoy Heavy Trooper.
The small squad saw their Commander and stood at attention.

"At ease," said Feras, "Here is the situation, two Human warships have entered this system. From the scanners, they're a cruiser and a frigate, but the Frigate is being very difficult to keep track of on our sensors, so we have reason to believe it may be a stealth type. However, our larger concern is the Cruiser, which we will be boarding ourselves. Our mission is to reach the Bridge of the warship, and secure the vessel's Navigation Data and Artificial Intelligence. Failing at that, we are tasked to capture the Human Shipmaster alive."

"Why's that?" The Skirmisher Commando asked, who's name was Rhar-Zan.

"The Fleetmaster want's to get information from the Shipmaster, such as locations of Human Planets." The Sangheili wearing Blue Minor armor said. "Am I right commander?"

Feras nodded "Yes N'tho," he said, "A Human Shipmaster would likely have the locations of many Human Colonies, such as their homeworld."
The Sangheili wearing a Crimson Assault Harness glanced at the single Unggoy Heavy "Bayap, best if you leave your Fuel Rod Cannon here." He said, "Too much close quarters, you'd probably end up killing us with that thing than the enemy."

"I know, I know," The Unggoy, Bayap grumbled as he put down a Fuel Rod Cannon, in exchange for a Plasma Rifle and a Needler. "I ain't stupid like Rhar."

The Skirmisher growled at the Unggoy, "I'd keep quiet if I were you!" he snarled, normally this would have scared most Unggoy, however Bayap just glared right back. "Make me, Bird-Face!" He shouted.

"Why you little-!" Rhen snarled back, only for Feras barking at them to stop.

"Enough! Remember we have a mission to do!" the Elite said, "Focus on that, not each other!"

The Unggoy and Skirmisher growled at one another "Fine..." Rhen growled, "But this ain't over yet!"

Feras sighed as he shook his head 'Those two never change...' he thought, "Alright, onto the boarding craft! Now!" He shouted, and his team obliged as they moved up into the boarding craft, which shortly after launched from the cruiser.

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Meanwhile

UNSC Andraste

Bridge

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"Captain, are you serious?" Crystal nearly shouted as Keys appeared on the front view screen "Sir, you need all the help you can get to fight off the Covenant!"

"Yes, but I need you and your ship down on that Ringworld." Keyes said, "The Andraste is too valuable to lose, and is the least damaged out of our ships. Any of our forces who make it down too the ring will need your ships support if we're going to make it out of here alive."

Crystal sighed, she could see the Captain's reasoning, but she couldn't just abandon him. But she knew he was right "Fine...just make it out of there in one piece!"

Keyes just smiled somewhat grimly "I'm not going down with this ship," he said, "I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve." And with that, the transmission ended.

Captain Hertland sighed, and was silent for a few moments before she began issuing out Orders "Set the Andraste to a course for that ringworld!" She ordered, "Activate stealth systems, make sure we slip right past their defenses!"

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Meanwhile

UNSC Pillar of Autumn

Spartan Barracks

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When the first warning alarms began going off in the Pillar of Autumn, the Spartan's were quick to gear up as fast as they could getting their weapons together. Like the rest of the crew, all of the Spartan's including the II's under Chief's command were awaken a day earlier, meaning they had a day to prepare for this.

Jaden had just slapped a magazine into his BR55 battle rifle "Alright, where too?" he asked.

"Bridge," Master Chief said, "The Captain probably needs us there."

Not two seconds after he said that, the Intercom sounded off "Bridge to Spartan Bay!" Keyes voice sounded through, "Master Chief, I need you on the bridge ASAP!"

John nodded "Understood sir! On our way." he said.

"On the double Chief!" Keyes said, as the intercom turned off.

"Chief," Randall spoke up "You head up to the bridge, the rest of us will do what we can to secure the ship."

John nodded "Alright," he said, "once you all arm up, do what you can. I'll meet back up with you once I speak with the Captain."

"Understood sir," Carris said, "Stay safe." John nodded as he turned and left the Spartan Barracks.

"Alright, we're splitting up into teams." Rose said, "Me, Kai, Emile, Randall, and Keiichi will head down to engineering, secure the engines before the Covenant try to blow them and the whole ship apart. Noble Six, I need you to lead the others too the hangar bay, and secure as many dropships as you can, the crew is gonna need those if we're gonna get most of the crew off this ship."

"Uhh...ma'am?" Jaden spoke up, "What about Spartan-058?"

There was a short silence after Jaden mentioned the incapacitated Spartan-II in Cryo. "What about her?" Rose asked.

"Ma'am, we can't just leave her!" Jaden said, "I know she's clinically dead, but there's still a chance we could bring her back once we find proper medical facilities!"

"And where do you suggest we find those said facilities?" Leon said, "We're in the middle of nowhere, and I doubt we're gonna be finding a hospital anytime soon."

"He's right Jaden," Randall said with a sigh "I hate it, but...we can't go back for her. Besides, her Cryo Pod will auto-eject from the Autumn if the ship goes down. With any hope, we can find her later."

"But what if the Covenant find her pod first!" Jaden still protested, "Guys...I know this sounds crazy, but I refuse to leave behind anymore Spartan's for the Covenant to have! Mendez told me and the rest of Gamma Company that 'Those who Abandon the Mission are Trash, but those who abandon their Comrades and friends are worse that trash'!"

The others thought about Jaden's words, and knew what he said is true.

"He's right," Rose said, and turned to Jun "Jun, you, Keiichi, and Jaden go to the Cryo Chamber and get Spartan-058," she then turned to Kai, Randall, and Emile. "Same as before though, you three with me. Amy, you lead the others too the Hanger and get us transport! If we're getting 058's Cryo tube out of here, we're gonna need transportation!"

Amy nodded "Right," she said, "We'll get transportation ready, just be here before the bus leaves!"

The Spartans all nodded in unison, as they quickly grabbed what gear they hadn't taken before, and rushed out of the barracks.

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Meanwhile

With the Master Chief

En-Route to Bridge

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The Master Chief emptied his MA5B's magazine into an Elite, the split-jawed alien's corpse dropping to the floor in a rattled mess as he reloaded, slamming a fresh clip in. He was glad that he was well armed in this situation, if he had only just woken up he would have undoubtedly been unarmed in this encounter.

Chief then moved forward and around a corner where he came across a squad of the eponymous Devil Dogs holding a makeshift barricade. They fired upon the advancing Elites and grunts as they tried to storm and take the position. They were holding their own, but the enemy was numerous. The Master Chief was tempted to just go ahead and help the marines defend the position, but as one of the defenders reminded him he had another place to be.

"Chief, Captain needs you on the bridge ASAP!" he shouted over to him from the door to the armoury. "You better follow me!"

John obliged and followed the Marine through the armoury, now stripped bare and housing a number of gravely wounded Marines. Blood pooled around them as they groaned and hunched over themselves. Their guns had already been taken by their still able comrades.

As he exited the armory the chief found himself in yet another battle. Marines were falling back behind a closing blast door. Elites were not too far behind with their grunt followers. They weren't facing off against unarmed deckhands now though. They were dealing with proper soldiers and as expected they met with predictable results in the end.

'If they're this far into the Autumn, then we won't hold out for much longer.' He thought, 'I hope the Captain has an escape plan...problem is, where would we escape too?'

After following the Marine a few more feet down the winding halls of the Autumn they were finally on the bridge where Keyes was no doubt waiting. As the Marine waited outside and the chief entered the bridge, he found it swarming with activity, deckhands at every terminal typing furiously and desperately trying to keep up with the status of the ship. Others were rushing between stations trying to respond to everything as it came. No easy task, but when did any day offer something easy?

There standing in front of the command console and its screen was the good Captain himself, clad in his military dress uniform and standing with his back to him. Chief also looked out the window briefly and saw the amazing sight that had become lost in the background of the fighting. A ringed structure floating in space, with what looked to be landmasses, an atmosphere and water adorning the surface, not exactly the kind of sight you expected to see every day.

"Captain Keyes." He said finally announcing his presence too the Captain.

Instantly the Captain turned to face him, and smiled somewhat somberly as Keyes quickly grasped Chiefs hand and gave it a firm shake."Good to see you Master Chief," he said, "Things aren't going well. Cortana did her best, but we didn't really have a chance."

Cortana holographic form appeared at that statement, staring out into the void of space. Her back was turned to the group, but Chief just knew somehow that she was arching a holographic eyebrow at the remark from the Captain.

"A dozen Covenant superior battlecruisers against a single Halcyon-class cruiser and a Paris-class Frigate." She proclaimed in a proud and snarky tone. "Given those odds I'm content with five..." she paused for a moment, new information flooding into her "...make that six kills."

Just as Chief remembered her, cocky as hell and proud beyond belief, although given the facts he found little reason to berate her. It was rather impressive she had killed that many given the odds, though the Andraste had a hand in that as well. Cortana soon turned around, showing her smiling ever confident face to all present.

"Sleep well?" she asked him

"No thanks to your driving, yes." Chief replied, trying to get one up on her just a little.

The jab only seemed to embolden the AI though, her smile broadening at his words.

"So you did miss me." She said, her snark even more pronounced than before.

The brief reunion was interrupted by a powerful explosion the shook the whole of the ship. It threatened to topple over everyone still standing on the deck. Keyes quickly turned to Cortana. "Report!" He demanded.

"It must've been one of their boarding parties!" she reasoned, finally appearing concerned "My guess is an anti-matter charge."

The helmsman below the command console deck soon chimed in. "Ma'am! Fire control to the main cannon is offline!"

"Captain the cannon was my last defensive option." Cortana informed Keyes.

Keyes shook his head exasperated, he was out of ideas that much Chief could clearly see. It wasn't hard to guess his next course of action. "Alright then, I'm initiating Cole Protocol Article 2. We're abandoning the Autumn." Keyes turned back to Cortana. "That means you too Cortana."

"While you do what?" Cortana shouted. "Go down with the ship?"

"In a matter of speaking." Keys replied, facing the view screen showing the ring-world. "The object we found." He said. "I'm going to try and land the Autumn on it."

"With all due respect, sir, this war has enough dead heroes." She argued.

"I appreciate your concern Cortana, but it's not up to me." He said steadfastly resigned to his decision. "Protocol is clear on this. Destruction or capture of a shipboard A.I is absolutely unacceptable, that means you're leaving the ship. Lock in a selection of emergency landing codes, upload them to my neural lace and then sort yourself for hard transfer."

Cortana seemed to sigh at her failure to persuade the Captain as she responded.

"Aye, aye sir." She said despondently.

Cortana vanished from sight back into her console to do her work while Keyes turned to the master chief. "This is where you come in, Chief." He began, as stoic and firm as ever. "Get Cortana off this ship. Keep her safe from the enemy. If they capture her they'll learn everything. Force deployments, weapons research... Earth."

Keyes delivered that last word with a more foreboding tone then Chief had ever heard before. There was doubt in his mind now how serious this situation was and how important this task was.

"I understand." Chief responded simply.

Cortana soon appeared on the console once more with her arms crossed. Her work was done and she was more or less prepared for departure.
"The Autumn will continue evasive maneuvers until you initiate a landing sequence." She explained, she continued in a less subdue manner. "Not that you'll listen, but I'd suggest letting my subroutines handle the final approach."

Keyes didn't respond to Cortana's advice and just nodded his approval at the completion of her work.

"Excellent, Cortana." He thanked "Are you ready?"

Cortana looked about the bridge one last time, before she sighed "Yank me." She told Keyes.

Keyes pulled Cortana's AI unit from the console and her image shivered before vanishing entirely from the pedestal. The slender device Keyes held in his fingers was now where she resided, her essence represented by the glowing circle of light that pulsated in the center of the device. "Good luck, Master Chief." Keyes said as he handed to the Spartan.

Chief took the AI unit in hand and gently slid into the slot at the back of his helmet. "Hmm, your architecture isn't much different from the Autumn's." Cortana piped up as the interfacing completed.

Chief, only slightly annoyed, stopped that train of thought before it went any further.

"Don't get any funny ideas." He told her firmly.

He then turned to the Captain who again wished luck. That was when his comm picked up Amy's voice.

"Chief, this is Noble Six," the Spartan-III said, "We're in the hangar bay securing some transport out of here,"

Master Chief nodded at that, "Understood, I'm on my way there now," he said, "Contact Rose and have her and her team head to the Hangar as well,"

"Already on it Chief," said Amy, "Rose, Kai, Emile and Randall are in engineering, making sure the Covenant don't try to blast the Engines to kill everyone on the Autumn before we even have a chance to get off her."

"Right, I'll be there ASAP." And he then turned to leave the bridge.

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Meanwhile

With Rose's Team

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Kai was working on one of the Console's in Engineering near the engines "Alright, almost done!" He shouted, "I'm about to Lock Down the Reactor's Vent Clamps! That should keep the Covenant from blowing the Reactors!"

There was the sound of distant gunfire "You sure it will hold!?" Rose shouted back, as she and the others along with a few Marines kept the Covenant at bay.

"Yeah, it would take a lot from the Covenant to blast these things off." Kai said, "The Covie's can't compromise the Core with the clamps in place, the only way to get them off is through the Captain's Order himself."

"Yo SPARTANs!" A voice shouted as a bespectacled Combat Engineer with brown hair and eyes headed towards them dragging a box with him "If you're done can you please move out of the way, Cap'n asked me to prepare a little 'Contingency' for the worst case scenario and I need everyone out of here."

Rose narrowed her eyes behind her visor at the Engineer "What kind of Contingency?" She asked "And who are you for that matter?"

"Just call me Havoc," The man grunted unlatching one of the clasps on the box "And this is my contingency plan. 'Operation: Blow Shit Up.' Now with all due respect SPARTAN, please leave so that I may get to work. For these explosive are not your average C4 blocks, these are a combination of Nitroglycerin and a shit-ton of other explosive components that it can, and has been, classified as a Ship Breaker."

"Wha...why the hell are you setting that up here of all places!" Kai shouted, "If that's a ship breaker, if it goes off we'd all get blown to hell! Vent Latches or not!"

"Eh, you worry too much!" Havoc said, "I know what I'm doing, don't worry. For now though, I suggest you SPARTAN's either find a Pelican or get on a Lifeboat, 'cause this ship is going down!"

"What about you?" Kai asked "Are you just going to sit here with the bomb?"

"Fuck no laddie," Havoc denied looked appalled "I'm getting to the Helljumper pods, after a quick stop to pick up someone, hopefully the Covvies are smart enough to leave him alone."

The Spartan's seemed a bit...unsettled at the man, however they both knew they had bigger things to worry about. "Whatever..." Kai muttered as he finished typing "Alright, Clamps are in place, time to go!"

Rose nodded "Right, team let's get to the hanger!" She shouted, as the team rushed out of the engineering, leaving behind Havoc all to his lonesome.

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Meanwhile

Autumn's Infirmary

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Greg remained silent as he steadily typed away on his keyboard ignoring the warning klaxons and the shouts of the soldiers around him as they prepared for battle his slightly glazed eyes focused on the screen before him.

He paused in his typing as his head tilted ever so slightly before a slight smile came across his face "Active Camouflage?" He said tonelessly "How quaint."

He suddenly whipped around throwing a trio of scalpels that impacted against what seemed to be dead air only for a waiver to appear as an Elite appeared its Active Camouflage dropping. It roared out at the smirking Doctor as he ripped the scalpels out of his shoulder and activated his energy sword charging at the doctor.

The Doctor's smirk widened as his eyes started gleaming insanely. Whipping his hand out insanely fast he used the elite's momentum to throw the Elite over his shoulder before stabbing the Elite in its neck eliciting a gurgle from the elite as he bled out "Hm, I've appeared to have hit a major artery," Crazy Eyes noted calmly his eyes still gleaming wildly "How... quaint..."

As the Elite lied on the floor dying from blood loss, the doctor simply sat back down in his chair and resumed typing "Good thing I don't have to clean up the mess this time." he commented, "Blood is so hard to scrub off of the floors...especially Elite blood."

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Meanwhile

With Jaden's team

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Jaden, Jun and Keiichi entered Cryo Bay 5, their weapons drawn as they scanned the room for Covenant "Clear," Jaden announced upon seeing no one inside. "Let's find Spartan-058's pod and get out."

"There," Jun said as he pointed to the only occupied Cryo Pod in the Cryo Bay, which contained the MJOLNIR Clad Spartan inside. "Alright we found her...but how the hell are we getting her out?"

"We're Spartans," Keiichi said as he moved to the Cryo Pod's controls, "We've picked up heavier things than a Cryo Pod before."

Jun gave the Spartan-II a deadpanned look, "Including a Spartan in 1000 pound powered armor in a Cryo Tube that weighs twice as much?" he said, and Keiichi shrugged

"No problem," he said as he hit a series of commands, and the latches which kept the Cryo Pod in place released "Alright, she's freed! Now..." Keiichi then grabbed both sides of the Cryo Pod, and pulled it out as he carried it over his head "There we go! I can handle the weight, but you two are gonna have to cover me on our way to the hangar bay."

"Got it, we got ya covered." Jaden said, as the three Spartan's left, with Keiichi holding onto Linda's Cryo Pod.

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Meanwhile

With Feras's Team

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Feras and his team were sitting in the boarding craft as it approached the Pillar of Autumn. "Multiple life pods from the Human Cruiser have launched for Halo," Fan reported, "They are abandoning ship."

"No surprise there," Rhan snorted, "The Human ship probably can't re-enter Slipspace 'cause its so damaged."

"What about that second human ship? The Stealth Frigate?" N'tho asked.

"Undetectable," Feras answered, "Our sensors can't detect it anywhere, either it bugged out, or it slipped by our forces and is heading towards Halo as we speak."

"Not good," Usze said. "If the Human's gain a foothold on Halo, it will make things a lot more difficult for us in the long run. Not to mention the Zealots and Prophets will be crying in outrage that humans have landed on Halo."

"There's nothing we can do to change that," Feras said, "The Humans will be getting onto Halo one way or another today, all we can do is thin their numbers."

The Covenant team nodded showing they understood, as Feras readied his Type-31 rifle.

"For the Covenant. For the Hierarchs. For the blood of our fathers. And for the Blood of our sons," he said, "Let us gain victory today, for the glory of our salvation!"

A few moments after he said that, the Boarding Craft latched onto the Human Warship, and the lights in the ship turned green "Move!" He shouted, as his team deployed from the Boarding Craft, and onto the Pillar of Autumn.

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Meanwhile

ODST Drop Pods

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"EAT IT HINGJAW!" Ryu roared as he shoved his bulky rifle into the open jaw of a red armored Elite and pulled the trigger causing the Elite's head to explode into gory bits "SQUAD THREE IN YOUR PODS!"

Five of his troopers nodded as they broke off from the firefight with the Covenant and dashed to their drop pods and quickly prepared themselves for drop "Alpha Squad is ready sir!" Iron shouted from her pod.

Ryu hit the drop command on the console causing the pods to be ejected from the pods and towards the ring below "SIXTH SQUAD!" He shouted as the said squad moved for their pods.

A blue armored Elite came roaring towards him it's Energy Sword flashing for his head as he backed away with a snarl. "Tsk, looks like I'll have to test it now." He growled as the Elite kept him backpedalling. He hit a button on his rifle and caught the Elite by surprise as it quickly extended and changed into a scythe(Think of the weapon used in the RWBY 'Red' trailer). With a smirk he swung the scythe low to the Elite's back and used his foot to keep the Elite pinned between said foot and the blade "Boom Bitch!" He shouted pulling the trigger firing the rifle and used the recoil to tear through the Elite.

Once the sixth squad was dropped Ryu took a quick look around to see that there were only two squads left, his own and Bull who was leading the rookies "Bull, get your squad into the pods!" He shouted to the large russian descent ODST who nodded backing up to his pods covering the rookies his heavy machinegun causing the enemy to take cover "Death, War, cover our rears!"

"Sir!" War shouted, a young man with shaved black hair, green eyes and a rather prominent scarring on his jaw as he and Death moved to cover their backs.

Ryu hit the drop command for Bull's squad and smirked slightly as he heard the rookies scream wildly "One by one to your pods!" Ryu shouted shifting his scythe back to rifle form before keying his comm "Havoc, Doc, where the hell are you!"

"Just about there!" Havoc returned "The Covenant isn't making this easy you know!"

"Hurry, we're loading up now!" Ryu shouted as he tapped the shoulder of one of his soldiers indicating for them to go to their pod as he shot the methane tank of a dead Grunt causing an explosion "We can't wait forever!"

"No need to," Greg said as he calmly walked up to Ryu from a service access way with Havoc coming up from behind sealing the door behind him "We'll load ourselves up."

Ryu sighed as the doctor, still in his white coat and not the recommended ODST armor when dropping, got into his designated pod and sealed himself shortly followed by Havoc. Ryu tapped a few commands into the control terminal for a delayed launch and looked up to see an enemy squad rounding the corner. He fired blindly forcing the squad behind cover as he jumped into his command pod and sealed it just in time as he felt the heavy press of the pod dropping settle onto him.

Working quickly he accessed the Command Pod's computer's to check on the situation with his squadron and their landing zone "Thank the higher powers for miracles." He said as he saw that not only has most of his squad already gotten past the battle with no casualties, but their landing zone was looking to be in the middle of a Covenant camp in some kind of structure "Hard Contact people!" Ryu shouted over the comm "We've got a crowded building LZ, so kick them out!"

"YESSIR!" HIs squad chanted between their shouts of excitement making him grin, after all, the squad did have an image to maintain.

He felt his pod shake as he hit the atmosphere of the ring and raced himself in time for the sharp jolt of his pod's drag chute open before another jolt signified it breaking away. "Engaging the enemy!" He heard over the radio as the first squad landed "Haha these bastards had no idea we were coming!"

Ryu smirked and braced himself for landing, out of the pod's window he could see a beautiful landscape stretching before him before he landed, right in front of a pair of golden armored Elites that stared at his pod in what he guessed to be slackjawed shock "Oh, I'm just getting started," He said, more to himself as he reached up and hit the eject button causing the door to explode off its hinges and into one of the Elites smashing it back into a wall where it's purple blood could be seen exploding out.

Before the other Elite could react to his ally's death Ryu dashed forward his blades extending as he stabbed the Elite in the chest before slashing out to the sides ensuring that he caused the maximum amount of Damage possible.

Ryu looked around his landing zone and saw no enemies in the immediate area as his heads-up display over his eyes pulled up the motion detector and made a quick check "All squads, report in!" He ordered opening a squad wide channel making his way back to his pod where he grabbed his scythe/rifle and MAR. Using the maglocks on his armor he attached the MAR to his back and started moving to the closest doorway.

"Iron here, we landed on the roof with squads 4 and are securing it now sir!" She shouted over the sound of gun and plasma fire "Do you want us to keep their mounted guns intact?"

"Do it, this will be out Base of Operations," Ryu informed as he checked around a corner to see a small squad of Grunts cowering behind a group of crates, their backs facing him, he smirked as he primed a pair of grenades and tossed them to the Grunts who looked around seeing something clatter behind them, the screams were glorious to Ryu as he chuckled and kept moving.

"Bull here, we landed outside the base with squad 6 and are making our way inwards," Bull reported his gun's loud retort echoing "Iron's squad thankfully have already taken out the gunners."

"This is Falcon!" Another voice reported, squad 5 lead "We're on the west side of the complex with squad two!"

"This is Death, me and the horsemen are securing the east side, could use a hand against the enemy though." Death reported as Ryu got to the door outside where chaos reigned, he spotted Death and his 'Horsemen' fighting against a Hunter pair a level below him as they circled them firing away with their weapons.

"I see you Death," Ryu informed as he switched to his MAR and laid down on the ground and took aim "Giving you some fire support."

KRA-KOW!

The rapport rang out through the entire complex as the Hyper-Accelerated bullet turned yellow bolt hit one of the Hunter's in the back with enough kinetic force to bisect it in half.

The second Hunter Roared out as it started going berserk using it's shield to smash the crates the the Horsemen were using as cover and level it's Fuel Rod Cannon at them.

KRA-KOW!

The second deafening rapport hit the Hunter's cannon as it was charging causing an internal reaction and backfired setting the Hunter on fire as the cannon exploded.

"What d'ya think?" Ryu said joining the Horsemen with a grin "Covvie Kill of the Week of what? C'mon let's secure this place!"

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Meanwhile

With the Master Chief

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A Covenant Elite Major roared as it charged at the Chief with an energy sword drawn. Chief rose his rifle and fired a few rounds at the Major, however he only succeeded in taking out the elite's shields when his current MA5B Magazine went empty.

Tossing the rifle away, the Spartan ducked under a swipe of the Elite's sword, and then he launched himself towards the Major, punching him right into his lower jaws. The impact sent the Elite back a few feet, until the Chief spun around and delivered a roundhouse kick sending the Elite back even further. John used the time and distance to whip out his M6D Pistol, and fired the rounds at the Major. Since the Elite's shields were already down, the rounds tore through the Elite's skull as the alien fell to the ground dead.

Once the Elite was dead, he turned and picked up his fallen MA5B, ejected the spent clip, and replaced it with a fresh one. "Chief, we should almost be at the hangar," Cortana said, "Most of the Life Pods have already launched, any surviving crewmembers are either heading for the Hangar Bay, or to the SOVIE launch bays!"

"And the Captain?" Chief asked as he continued down the halls of the ship.

"I believe he is still on the bridge, for now at least." The A.I replied, "But if he want's off this ship, he need to leave soon."

Chief was about to say something, but his motion tracker then picked up additional contacts, marked green meaning they were allies. He could see from the IFF Transponders that they were Jaden, Keiichi, and Jun.

He then keyed up the TEAMCOM "G300, A266, 047, respond." He said on the Comm. "I'm almost at your position."

There was a brief pause "Hey, Chief!" Keiichi said, "Good, we've got Linda's Cryo Pod, and we're taking her to the Hangar! Hurry up over here before our bus leaves!"

John blinked at that, "What are you...," he began only for Keiichi to cut him off.

"Let's just say Jaden said some inspirational words that Chief Mendez told him," his fellow Spartan-II said, and the Master Chief blinked at that before a small grin adorned itself on his face, knowing Mendez's obsession with teamwork. Of course, said man wouldn't call it that.

"Copy that," he said, "Be with you in a few seconds." And the chief hurried through the corridors until he came across the three Spartans, Keiichi carrying Linda's Cryo Pod, while Jun and Jaden were keeping him covered from any threats.

"Alright, glad you're here Chief." Keiichi said, "Come on, we're almost to the hanger."

John nodded as they continued forward "Have any trouble on the way?" John asked, but Jaden shook his head. "Nothing we couldn't handle sir." he said, "Few Grunts and Elites aren't that tough..."

Jaden's voice trailed off as his Motion Tracker went off again, only this time the figures were painted in Red. "Wait, we've got company." He said, holding up his hand. "Hang on, let me check it out." He rose his BR55 and approached the Corner, he peaked over the side, and he grinned seeing a small squad of Grunts, about six in total. "Grunts, I got e'm." He then primed a grenade...

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As the battle with the Human's continued to Rage, an Unggoy Major named Yayap lead his small detachment of his own kind through the hallways of the human cruiser. Throughout his unit's whole mission they had seen signs of massacre, blue blood of their own species drenched everywhere, spent shell casings, and many many dead. Most of which were either humans or his own kind.

Yayap wasn't truly surprised, considering the Prophets had long made use of his species as cannon fodder. He only hoped that his deceased brethren had at least gone to a Methane-rich paradise, free from all of the pain they were forced to endure.
However, Yayap's thoughts were cut short as he heard the sound of rolling, and he looked ahead where two other Unggoy Minors were, as they looked down and saw a spherical metal device roll under them.

The Unggoy Major's eyes widened "GRENADE!" He shouted, as he and three other of his kind managed to jump away from danger, however the other two Unggoy were not as lucky, as the blast tore through their armor and methane tanks, causing an additional explosion.

Yayap looked up just in time to see a figure walk from around the corner. And his eyes widened in horror as he saw a green and red armored figure with a human rifle in hand. 'A...A Demon...' he thought, knowing that upon seeing the armored figure, he and his squad was as good as dead.

However, before the Demon could get off one shot at what was left of his unit, a few needle rounds hit his armor causing the Demon to jump back, and look up. He then fired at someone further down the hall, but retreated back to where he came from.

Yayap looked to who his unit's savior was, and saw an orange on green armored Sangheili, firing his Needle Rifle, along with three other Sangheili, another Unggoy, and a Kig-Yar Skirmisher.

The orange on green armored Sangheili, which he recognized as Ranger Armor, then grabbed the Unggoy Major and hefted him to his feet.
"I hope you can still fight, Unggoy," the Sangheili said as he hefted his rifle. "Because if you and your team are gonna live through this, you'd best follow my lead."

Yayap just nodded quickly as he tried to get his team together as the Sangheili rose his rifle and prepared to meet the Demon.

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"Ok, didn't expect that." Jaden said, as he took cover to let his shield recharge. "Grunt's got backup, about four Elites and a Skirmisher."

Jun cursed "Damn, they're between us and the Hanger." he said, "What now?"

"We're Spartans," Keiichi said as he set Linda's Cryo Pod down, and picked out his MA5B "We improvise."
John nodded "Right, on my Mark," he said, as the four Spartan's prepared their weapons. "Focus on the Elites first, the others are secondary targets. 3...2...1...Mark!"

The Four Spartan's then charged around the corner, and as expected the Elites, Grunts and one Skirmisher were still there. The Skirmisher fired its Plasma Carbine at Keiichi, but the Spartan fired back hitting the Alien in the shoulder and torso, causing it to fall.

The Orange armored Elite roared, seemingly angered at the downed Skirmisher as it charged at John. However John and the other Spartan's began firing their respective weapons, spraying bullets forward at the Elites.

This forced the Elites and Grunts to take cover, one of the Heavy Grunts managing to pull the wounded Skirmisher to the side.

The Elites then fired their respective weapons at the Spartans who responded in kind.

"This situation has gotten a little crazy," Jaden said. "We need to leave now or we're not getting off this boat!"

"We could run and head for a nearby lifeboat," Cortana said, "But that would involve leaving behind Spartan-058, since a Life Pod lacks the space to store one inside."

"We're not leaving her behind!" Keiichi shouted, as he took cover to reload. "We got this far, we're not giving up yet!"

Meanwhile, Feras cursed as he was forced to take cover 'Damn, I knew I wanted to face a Demon...but not a whole team of Demons!' he thought, 'We didn't come prepared for this!'

He glanced back as he saw Bayap pull Rhan out of the Demon's line of fire, the Unggoy Heavy trooper confirming he was still alive, but he needed medical attention. He also noticed that some of the surviving Unggoy who they rescued needed medical attention as well.

"Bayap!" He shouted, "Get Rhan and the Unggoy squad out of here! We're falling back!"

"Commander?" Bayap asked, as he slapped some Kig-yar Battle Dressing into the wounds.

"This ship is going to be entering the atmosphere of Halo any minute now!" Feras said, "Unless we want to be on this ship when it hits the ring, we need to leave now! Mission or not!"

Bayap looked at his commander and nodded and turned to Yayap.

"Mind giving me a hand here?," he asked the Grunt Major, and the Grunt leader blinked at that. Surprised at his fellow Unggoy 's bravery. "I can't get Rhan and your wounded out of here on my own, the Commander will keep the Demon's at bay long enough for us to escape!"

Yayap said nothing, however he did nod, as he agreed in getting what was left of his unit out of the human cruiser. He and the three other surviving Unggoy of his unit then began to retreat, Yayap helping Bayap carry the Skirmisher away, while Gagaw helped one of the wounded Unggoy to his feet and carry him away.

Feras and the three Elites continued firing until they saw the Unggoy and Rhan were safely away. He then reached into his supply pack, and pulled out a small spherical device which was silver with a golden glow. 'I hope this thing works,' he thought as he activated it, and tossed it forward.
The device then unleashed a massive wave of light, which blinded the Spartan's forcing them to cease fire. When the light subsided, they looked up and saw the Elites were now gone.

"They Ran?" Jun asked, confused "Since when do Elites run from a fight?"

John too, squinted his eyes at that, knowing that the Elites were among the most zealous and most lethal of the Covenant. He then remembered seeing the injured Grunts and Jackal Skirmisher being tended to, and evacuated by other Grunts.

"I'm not sure. But right now we have to get off this ship," he said and the other Spartans nodded as Keiichi went back over to Linda's Cryochamber and heft it. "We need to get to the hanger, now!"

They didn't need to be told twice, as the Spartan's ran as fast as they could towards the hangar bay.

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Meanwhile

Hanger Bay

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Amy gunned down another Jackal and its team with her MA37, tossing a grenade for good measure to take them out from behind their shield. "Area secured!" She shouted as she looked at the hangar now.

Since most life pods had already left, most of the UNSC Personnel were being loaded onto the Autumn's Pelican's which were in the hanger. There were Navy, Marines, Army, even a few ODST's pouring into the hangar bay, and loading up the Pelicans, some far beyond their standard carrying capacity, however they were being loaded up nonetheless.

"Noble Six, this is Carol Rawley on Echo 419!" A female voice shouted, "All the Autumn's Pelicans now have pilots present, and we are loading people on now! But we can't take too much more people!"

"Just take as many as you can carry," Amy said as she scanned the hangar, and then caught sight of a few Longsword Interceptors "Then launch, we can use the Longsword's for our escape, and to get more people out of here!"

"The Longswords?" Echo 419 asked incredulously "Those are fighter interceptors, not dropships!"

"They can survive re-entry and have enough space to carry a few more men!" Amy retorted, "Don't worry about us, we'll get off the ship."
There was a short pause "Roger that Noble Six," Echo 419 said, "We're loaded to max as is, me and my Squadron are taking off to drop these boys off on the ring! Then we'll look for crash survivors from those life pods!"

Amy smiled and nodded "Sounds good, good luck Captain." She said. Shortly after she watched as the Autumn's Pelicans launched from the Cruiser one by one.

Once they were all away, she then shouted to the remaining troops "Alright, everyone who doesn't want to go down with the ship, into the Longswords!" She shouted, and soon the evacuee's began heading for the Longsword's. It was at this time that John, Jaden, Keiichi and Jun arrived "You guys made it just in time!" She said, "Get into a longsword, we're getting out of here!"

"What about Rose and her team?" Keiichi asked.

"Their going to be riding down in a Life Pod," Amy said, "They called in a few minutes ago, but we gotta go now!"

"Right, Keiichi, get Linda's Cryochamber secured. Jaden, Jun, go with him," he said and they nodded and headed toward a Longsword. John then turned toward Amy and her team.

"Noble Six, you and your team are with me," he said, and the Spartan-III nodded and turned to the others.

"Let's go," she said and the Spartans followed the Chief to their own Longsword.

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Meanwhile

With Rosenda's Team

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Rosenda, Kai, Randall, and Emile rounded the corner quickly, watching a number of Marines pile into the lifeboat. Covenant were already coming down the next corridor and they had little time. A plasma grenade went off near the back of one Marine and fell into the airlock.
"Oh no! Oh God no!" he said quaking in fear, thinking a slow painful plasma laden death was soon to follow.
Randall sighed as he picked up the screaming soldier by his back and forced him into the lifeboat. Emile and Kai entered first while Rosenda and Randall kept their weapons trained on the entrance to the lifeboat as they slunk into it. They could hear the Covenant closing in from all sides, firing plasma like crazy into the air.

"Ma'am, I think now would be a good time to leave!" Kai shouted.

Rosenda turned and ran into the lifeboat, Randall followed just as the doors closed. He stood beside Rose as the Marine they had forced into the ship crawled for towards a seat.

"Pilot! Punch it!" Rose ordered.

"Aye Aye ma'am!" saluted the female pilot as she lowered her headgear.

The lifeboat rocketed out of the docking bay, away from the Autumn as fast as it could.

"Phew..." Kai muttered, "That was too close..."

"Guys, look!" Randall said, as he pointed towards the front window of the Life Pod, and the Spartans and Marines looked up at the massive ringworld that they approached.

"What the hell is that?" Emile asked.

"Hell if I know, but we're landing on it." The pilot said.

Meanwhile, two Longsword Fighters launched from the Autumn shortly after Rosenda's team life pod left the autumn. They left just in time as the Autumn's nose dipped forward, headed straight for the ring.

"I knew it!" Cortana said, "The Autumn is accelerating! Keyes is going in manually!"

"Is he crazy?" Jaden shouted on the Comm as he piloted the second Longsword, "I knew he was a good pilot, but this..."

The Autumn rocketed right over their heads, fires brimming from its many bulkheads as it whizzed past them. It headed for the ring like a shooting star, its course set for who knew where.

"Chief, anyone receiving me?" Rosenda's voice came through the Comm, "If your still in Comm Range, Respond."

Amy answered "Rosenda, its Noble Six, we read you." she said, "We left on a pair of Longswords, you alright?"

"Yeah, we all got into a Life Pod." Rose said, "We're hitting the atmosphere in five. Don't know where we're gonna end up though on the Ring."

"We'll meet you on the surface. In the meantime, try to stay alive," Amy said.

"Got it meet ya down there!" Rose said and cut the link.

The lifeboat rocked and rattled as the flames around it kicked up higher. The ground was closing in with every passing second. Rose gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on the pods walls. Groundside was coming up fast. Emile spoke for all of them.

"If you still have fingers, better keep them crossed!" He shouted.

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117Jorn: And there you have it! The first chapter of Halo: Mythic! A new Halo Series which I plan to replace my old and outdated fanfic, Halo: Delta Squad!

DKR: Next Chapter, We get shit-faced drunk! I'm already getting a head start! *Holds up a bottle of whiskey*

Patriot-112: *Sweatdrop* How is that different from any other time?

117Jorn: *Sigh* Just go with it...until next time everybody!