STORY 2:

THE SHAMANS

-1-

0217 Hours, March 2, 2553 (Military Time), Covenant Communications Center, Tokyo, Japan

Master Chief scanned his AMAR gun all around the abandoned sanctuary of Painblood, the ruthless Covenant militia leader. Master Chief knew it was his fault Painblood had escaped the clutches of the Chief and his Spartan strike team.

Dead bodies plastered the floors of the "sanctuary", Marine and Covenant alike. Nothing seemed to be alive, but just in case, Master Chief asked Cortana to take a scan of the area. The Covenant body count was three quarters dead, one quarter injured or captured. Every Marine was dead. Master Chief took a minute to mourn for his fallen allies, and left the Covenant Communications Center to get to the airport, were he would fly to Africa, were Painblood was hiding.

36 Units, 13th Cycle (Forerunner Ship Clock), Forerunner Ship en route to HALO STRUCTURE V2

The Prophet of Guilt let out an evil grin. Guilt's new advisor, an Elite called 'Tamarmee, had finally proven himself useful, thinking of the idea to colonize the other ancient "HALO" infrastructures. The Covenant right now only had made home of HALO STRUCTURE V4, but the other six still waited, hopefully unpopulated.

"Entering HALO STRUCTURE V4's orbit in counting down… five, four, three," an engineer spoke over the intercom. The Prophet got ready for landing, summoning his Elite guards and gestured for a plasma rifle, just in case.

Halo V2 was stark and ugly, unlike Halo V4. Winds filled the air all around the stark, moon-like planet. Guilt, riding in a Wraith with three guards, an army of Elites, four duos of Hunters, and ten squadrons of Grunts trekked across the unknown planet. There weren't any signs of life or technology.

0250 Hours, March 6, 2553 (Military Time), Hluhluwe, South Africa, Earth

Master Chief's strike team - Master Chief, Alpha, Epsilon and two high ranked Marines – continued their "relaxing Warthog ride" through Hluhluwe, blasting down the millions of Covenant troops as the passed. The three Warthogs, each with a machine gun built in on the back and two rapid fire rocket launchers, helped blow away troops, but the Spartans really did most of the work, firing full rounds per second. Because of this, the team began to run out of ammunition.

"This is Master Chief Petty Officer to all open UNSC Air Assault Systems. Over," Master Chief desperately called Air Force troops, looking for help. No response.

"Repeat. This is Master Chief Petty Officer to all open UNSC Air Assault Systems, preferably in Africa. Over," No response. But then, after a great deal of static and random sounds on the comlink, a voice answered.

"This is Admiral Raymond McCetch to Master Chief. If you don't know, I lead Bravo Pelican Attack Team. We're comin' in to help. Just send us your exact position."

"Sorry, Admiral. I can't tell you my exact position. We're in the middle of nowhere. But I can tell you we're in Hluhluwe. Somewhere," Master Chief said dryly.

"Whaddever. We're comin'."