Marc ran down the hall, towards the lower chamber of the ship. The Pillar of Autumn shook thunderously, almost causing Marc to fall, but he caught himself at the last second. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his arising panic, and took off running once more.
Once he arrived at the door, he fed his card into the machine to open the door; the red light turning to green, to allow entrance. The lower chamber was gigantic and yet there was one lonely shaped coffin leaning on a pillar in the middle of the room. He ran towards the cryo tank which had a glass which had a glass top and yet his vision was still obscured by the fog which seemed to be emitting from within the casket.
Marc turned towards the observation room which was sitting on the top floor. Two men looked through the glass window, down at Marc, who gave them the universal 'OK' gesture. The men returned him with a thumbs up, and slowly, the glass casket opened.
Many men had heard rumors and stories about the Master Chief. But he wasn't really expect much because he knew all the rumors always tended to be true, although nothing could have braced him for what he was just about to witness.
As the fog seeped out of the casket, Marc took a step back and 2 dark green, heavily armored boots came out, right after the other. And then the rest of the green armored suit followed. The man - or was it a man, Marc wanted to know - had a helmet on that covered his face and hid his emotions. The legendary SPARTAN II soldier wasn't at all what he was imagined to be, although he was a gigantic 7' tall, he was still nothing compared to the height of the hunters whom were 12', but crouched to 8' when in combat.
The Master Chief stretched out his arms and legs, but otherwise showed no emotion of being locked up inside the cryo tank.
"Good to see you, Sir." Marc said nervously, unsure of what was to be expected from the soldier, who merely nodded in response. "Sorry for the emergency thaw Master Chief, but it seems we have a problem."
The Chief inquired his head to illustrate his confusion.
"It's the Covenant, Sir."
Master Chief nodded his head without further questioning.
Just then, something caught his eye and he looked up sharply at the observation room. Marc followed suit and saw the metal door burst open and 4 Covenant elites rush in, firing their plasma rifles and killing the 2 surprised men. Marc felt as if he had been punched in the stomach, seeing the 2 men that had been alive and healthy, now dead in less 5 seconds. They laughed, kicking the dead bodies and Marc felt the burning singe of hatred for the Covenant.
Seeing that the elites hadn't noticed them yet, the Master Chief grabbed Marc's arm, pulling him to the door. He smashed his fist on top of the card slot machine which whirred and turned green. The door opened and he yanked Marc through, who was still paralyzed by what he had just witnessed. There was a dead end to his left so Master Chief proceeded to the right, passing by an exposed ventilation shaft with an opening to the other side.
As soon as he was near the door a frantic beeping sound was heard and without hesitation, he shoved Marc back, but it was too late. The explosion hurled both him and Marc backwards. The blast had only drained his shields, but it was too much for Marc. Master Chief got up, stunned and feeling vulnerable turned to Marc who lay beside him in a pool of blood. He touched his neck to feel a pulse, but felt nothing. He turned towards the metal door which was bent and smoking. A trail of blood led up to Marc from the door, who lay cold and motionless.
The Master Chief got up, slowly backing away from the scene. He then turned away, when he stopped suddenly and ran towards the corpse again. He pulled the shirt up to reveal a gun still holstered to the belt. He grabbed the pistol and ran to the ventilation shaft, jumping over and onto the other side.
There was one door to his right and a dead end to his left. He pushed through the door, not exactly sure of where he was going, but continued to press ahead.
He accidently ran into a fellow soldier, who looked taken aback by his appearance, and then quickly cleared his face. Even though Chief was still able to detect awe in the man's face who gazed up at him, the soldier was disciplined fairly well.
"Sir, the Captain wants to see you on the double. It's important he said." He was young, in his early 20's with a handsome face and dark brown hair that seeped through his helmet. The Master Chief felt a pang of sorrow for the young soldier as he followed him. He shouldn't be here. Suddenly, he felt an overwhelming responsibility to protect the soldier, feeling that if he didn't he would suffer the same outcome of Marc.
Master Chief sped up so he was next to the soldier other than behind him, just in case he had to pull him away from any hostiles. The young soldier gave him a funny look, but didn't object. There wasn't any fighting going on at the moment, but the soldier still kept his assault rifle in his hands, ready for usage as did Chief who kept the pistol in his hand.
Finally, the solider stopped and jerked his chin at the door in front of him. "He's waiting inside sir." Then he turned his back on the door to keep watch.
Master Chief entered the room, ducking his head as he did. There were computers and all sorts of buttons in which a few people attended to each one, looking frantic. But right when he entered, everyone stopped to stare at him. He ignored them, trying to find the captain, when the captain himself appeared around the corner.
He began barking orders at the people who ducked their heads in embarrassment like little school children. Captain Jacob Keyes had on the standard suit that everyone wore, carrying a pistol in his belt. His face was red from frustration and was lined with stress, showing his true age.
"Alright, get you're a** back to work, this ship isn't going to run on it's own!" the captain snapped, then used a sarcastic tone. "We all know of the great green monster folks - enough staring."
Master Chief smiled under his helmet and walked up to the captain who smiled at him, a familiar glint in his eyes.
"Good to see you Chief." He greeted him with a nod.
"Likewise, Sir." He responded, his voice low and masculine.
Keyes walked to the head of the ship and Master Chief followed, his chest constricting as he saw the damage that was being done to The Pillar of Autumn. Dimly, he heard a warning bell ring; the engines were going critical. And suddenly, he knew what Keyes wanted.
An agreement.
He looked at the great ring world, the world in which the Covenant armada called Halo. It was humongous and looked almost silvery and metallic like.
"No offense, Sir." Master Chief began. "But this war already has enough dead 'heroes.'"
Keyes turned to look at him, his hands behind his back. "We don't have much of a choice. The ship is going down - our only option is to land on that ring."
Just then, the ship's AI, Cortana flashed, her holographic body coming to life.
"Captain, Chief." She greeted them, turning to Chief with a mischievous smile upon her face. "Have a nice sleep?"
"No thanks to you, yes." He answered, a hint of a smile in his voice.
Cortana smiled too, folding her arms. "So you missed me, huh? Well, it's good to have you back in action."
Chief nodded his head and the captain cleared his throat.
"You have news for us, Cortana?"
"Yes - more Covenant battleships are closing in on us. If they increase their firepower, then we're doomed for. We have to leave the ship - now. Chief," she turned to him. "The south end of our ship is going critical, and we've lost all marine contact in the vicinity. We need you to round up as many men as you can and get them and yourself on an escape pod. I already have all of the pods trained to land on Halo."
"And I'm about ready to leave to." Captain Keyes inserted. "We have no choice, Chief."
Master Chief sighed but nodded reluctantly.
"Good," he turned his back on him to look at Cortana. "You ready?"
She took one last look of The Pillar Autumn's main control room and closed her eyes. "I'm ready."
Her eyes remained shut as Keyes took the chip out and Cortana's holographic image instantly disappeared. He pivoted on 1 foot till he faced the Chief again and handed him the microchip.
"Take good care of her Chief." Keyes said solemnly as he took it from him and inserted the chip into a slot in his helmet. "The rest of us will rendezvous on Halo. Until then Chief." He saluted respectfully and the Chief did the same.
The Master Chief left the bridge, coming to a stop when he noticed that the soldier who was standing guard just minutes before was gone. There was no blood, no body, and no trace of evidence that would have shown where he could've gone. The Chief shook his head as if to clear the image of finding the soldier's dead broken body somewhere along the way.
Ignoring the sense of dread, Cortana's voice chimed in sympathetically. "It'll be alright, Chief. Every man on this ship is here to fight for humanity. If he died - then he died with honor."
He didn't say anything, just continued running towards the red and yellow dots on his HUD.
Suddenly, there was machine gun fire and loud gunshots being heard from the cafeteria with marines shouting orders. Already outside the café, marines had fallen, their blood soaking the floor. Gritting his teeth, the Chief quickly checked for any signs of life before entering the café, but all of those who had fallen were dead; severe plasma burns covering their skin.
"Those marines could use some help Chief." Cortana reminded him as he quickly got up and ran into the café, picking up ammo along the way and the most familiar gun to him; the assault rifle.
Barging in through the double doors, he began firing his rounds, shooting the Covenant Elites that were attacking the marines who were fighting back valiantly.
"A SPARTAN!" one of the marines cried happily, ducking behind a table bench to avoid a plasma shot. "We're saved1"
One of the elites growled something in it's shanghelie tongue, it's mandibles clicking together and the rest of the elites stopped, focusing their beady eyes on the SPARTAN. They started shooting him down, but the Chief avoided plasma shots after plasma shots, ducking and weaving out of the way while he continued firing his assault rifle, only stopping briefly to reload.
After a couple of minutes, he successfully gunned down 2 of the remaining elites, and with help from the other marines, killed the other 2 elites.
"Wow, Chief." One of the marines said in his New York accent and let out a low impressed whistle. "They don't call you that for nothin'."
The SPARTAN busily reloaded his gun, picking up more ammo from his fallen comrades and stocking up on more grenades as well as plasma grenades.
One of the other marines wiped the sweat from his brow, fixing his helmet. "We're on our way to the southern end of the ship, to help out more marines. Are you coming too Sir? We're going to take the escape pod just shortly after."
The Master Chief thought it over for a bit. "I think it's best if you take the escape pod now. I can round up the other marines by myself."
"Alright sir." He said in his southern drawl. He turned to the rest of the waiting marines. "You heard the SPARTAN, let's get a move on it." All together the marines left for an escape pod, going in the opposite direction of the Chief. He watched them go then continued on his trek to the southern side of the ship.
Running past a window, he saw more and more Covenant battleships targeting the ship, repeatedly firing their plasma guns. As he watched, he saw an escape pod launch itself from the Pillar of Autumn which was immediately destroyed by the battleships. Gnashing his teeth, he started running once more while Cortana reflected upon what she had just witnessed.
"I can't believe it!" she said, outraged. "How could they? That's horrible!" she sighed, cursing softly.
The Master Chief was turning a corner when he screeched to a halt. A single red dot appeared on his HUD but it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Thinking he had imagined the dot, he persisted, although he remained guard for the slightest of sounds.
Suddenly, a yellow dot materialized on his HUD and following that came a piercing shout - one of the marines. More red dots surrounded the yellow dot and the Chief picked up on his speed, turning a corner so he could sneak up behind the aliens.
The scene that he saw made Cortana curse loudly, gasping as a Covenant Elite had a marine by the neck, strangling the soldier who sucked in air wildly, trying to stay alive while the elite's friends watched, laughing sardonically. Gripping his assault rifle tightly, Master Chief took aim, targeting the main elite's head when what felt like a solid chunk of concrete smashed into his head, blinding his vision in pain.
Sucking in a mouthful of air, Master Chief swiveled around with his assault rifle swinging, to see nothing when his gun connected with the invisible elite. It cried out in pain, attracting the other group's attention. Moving quickly, the Chief ducked under the elite, pushing him in the line of fire when the elites had already started firing. Killing their own comrade by accident, the elites howled in fury, the leader crushing the marine's neck who let out a horrible ear-splitting screech, dropping to the ground.
Immediately, the elites lunged for the SPARTAN who was already backing away, yanking out the pin and chucking the grenade at the unfortunate elites whom wailed in pain when the grenade exploded. Their purple and blue blood mottled the interior of the corridor, but the Chief ran past the slippery glutinous mess and towards the marine. He felt the young marine's neck which was ultimately broken and sighing pitifully, he got up when Cortana interrupted.
"His eyes," she said quietly.
Bending down once more, he shut the marines eyes', collecting his dog tag and wrapping it around his wrist.
"Remind me to get this back to his family." He said; his voice flat and emotionless.
"They should know." She agreed, trying to contain her sadness.
"Chief, have you made it to the southern end yet?" Captain Keyes radioed in, interrupting them.
"Not yet." He answered.
"Well be careful along the way. Some Covenant jacka**** decided to hitch a ride. Take em out."
"How are they managing to infiltrate our ship?" Cortana inquired.
"From the launched escape pods." He grunted.
"Those clever b*******." Cortana fumed. Once the captain's voice was gone, she urgently began instructing the Chief. "We have to get to the marines and fast. Time just got scarce. We can't let the Covenant wipe out the rest of the marines. We have to move now."
But the Chief was already ahead of her, sprinting towards the sound of bullets and hot plasma being shot by both races. Entering, he saw 2 platforms where they were shooting furiously at each other, the Covenant mainly occupying the top of the stairs. Rushing up the steps, he started delivering blows, instantly killing the grunts that stood in his way. With the elites it was much harder as he ducked, rolling out of the way and hurling a plasma grenade to the elite's head which stuck to him. He bellowed in fury, running towards the Chief in vain attempt to kill them both, when the grenade exploded and the Master Chief was splattered with its brains and blood.
Trying to wipe his visor clean with his hand, another elite snuck up behind him, invisible, and struck his helmet with so much force that it would have crushed the skull of any normal man but not the SPARTAN. Even Cortana hissed momentarily when she was also able to feel the force of the impact.
Swiveling around, he dealt out his own series of punches, driving one up the elite's jaw. Cursing in his native tongue, the elite grabbed the Chief's helmet with both of his hands and brought it up to his own head, sending a jolt throughout the Chief's body. Hastily cuffing the elite's abdomen, the Chief staggered back, trying to control the blackness that threatened to overtake him when the elite roared and sprang at him.
But before he could make contact, the elite emitted a horrible cry, sinking to his feet where the Chief could see a single bullet, still smoking, inserted in the back of the helmet. Looking down, he saw a marine whoop with joy as did the other marines who were still standing.
After having the premise liberated of all hostiles, the Master Chief found an open entry way which was partially jammed, but he rammed his shoulder into the door, thus forcing it open.
Peeking through the door, he found more marines who were unable to breach the other side, looking relieved when they saw that the Chief was able to open the door for them.
"Thanks Chief." One of the marines grinned as did the other 2 who quickly ran past him, out the door.
"Wait," he called to them and they immediately froze, turning to face him with questioning yet tired faces. "Keyes wants you all on an escape pod. Where are the other marines?"
A marine with a badge and a name tag that read 'LT. Shane Matthews' stepped forward to answer the question, "they're still at the farthest backing of the ship sir. Some Covenant s***heads found a way in and started attacking us. So they sent us to find help."
"Are they still standing?" he asked the Lieutenant, sounding tense with worry.
"Yes sir." The marine said proudly then frowned. "But there are just too many elites. They kept charging us but we held them off."
Thinking fast, "Take the nearest escape pod and leave. I'll see what I can do." The Master Chief said, already heading past the group when he was interrupted.
"Sir?" the Lieutenant said, sounding offended, his eyebrows puckering. "Sir, we didn't sign up for nothing. We can take care of ourselves and those d***** elites. We're coming with you."
"This isn't about being brave and courageous." The Chief said tersely, getting frustrated as time ticked away. "This is about staying alive and getting your a** on board Halo safely."
Seeming slightly taken aback, the LT. stammered throughout his speech. "B-but sir! W-we know w-what to do. We c-can-"
"Enough Lieutenant." He interrupted. "Get on board that escape pod. That's an order." Stalking off and not waiting for a response, he left the dumbfounded marines to carry out his order and returned back to his mission.
"I'm tracking movement Chief." Cutting into his thoughts, said Cortana tensely.
On his HUD screen he indeed noticed a row of red marks which were parallel to a row of yellow dots. Peeking around a corner he saw them; grunts and massive elites whom hid to and fro behind empty crates of ammo and equipment while across the room he could see the human forces holding their own, but just barely.
"Please don't." Cortana said softly, but the Chief had already developed a plan, chucking the plasma grenade in the middle of the surprised elites and grunts hold out.
"Get out of the way!" one of the grunts squealed, diving to one side, but his warning was too late just as the grenade exploded causing a chain reaction off of any other grenades the Covenant troops carried. They went off consecutively and the Chief ended up counting at least 6 explosions which killed off all of the resisting forces and therefore ending the siege.
Suddenly there was a huge shock wave which shook the Pillar of Autumn, spooking its inhabitants. Cortana instantly reported back to Keyes who informed them grimly that all Covenant forces had either left the ship or had been eliminated and that they were preparing to blast the ship with its plasma torpedoes.
"Get yourself on one of those escape pods Chief. Report back to me once you've breached Halo."
"Understood." He answered right when the ship shook once more, cutting off the lights and any communication.
"This can't be good." Cortana intoned.
No kidding, the Chief thought to himself.
Switching on his built in flashlight which was attached to his assault rifle, he headed towards where the human resistance had once been but had now scattered off. He found more fallen comrades but he ignored them when the ship shook thunderously. Speeding up his jog to a sprint he headed straight for an escape pod, but all the ones he passed where either occupied or badly damaged to the point that they were unable for flight.
"Chief…" Cortana said, her voice rising in panic.
The alarm started ringing dimly in the distance but the Chief was beyond listening. The Pillar of Autumn trembled again and he could hear the torpedo making contact with the metal exterior of the ship.
"How much time?" he grunted, his gun pointed straight ahead as he dashed through the corridors, trying to find an empty or somewhat empty deployment pod, but again, they all seemed to be taken.
"Approximately 1 minute. Hurry Chief!" he could almost visibly see Cortana trying to contain her anxiety of being left behind with the ship.
Running up a flight of stairs, he turned a corner and another corner until finally, he saw an escape pod which still had its doors opened and starting to close…
Diving through the opening, he barely made it as the sick with dread marines whom were packed inside of the pod, breathed a sigh of relief.
"You made it Chief." He recognized the marine as the one who had escorted him to the bridge and Cortana projected a smile into the Chief's head.
"He made it." She said so quietly that not even the other marines could hear what she had spoken.
"Alright folks," the female pilot said with her southern drawl. "Hold on tight, this is going to be a rough landing."
The escape pod was launched and they braced themselves as they rocketed towards the ring world Halo cutting it close just as the Pillar of Autumn burst into a silent fury of flames.
The Master Chief was the only one who was standing, his hands firmly gripping the inside of the small ship which was roughly about the same height as the SPARTAN so he was able to stand comfortably.
"Are you sure you don't want to take a seat?" Cortana said queasily.
"I'll be fine." He answered simply just as they entered Halo's atmosphere.
"Please?" she begged him but he ignored her as they neared closer to Halo.
*wow, that was a long one. I wasn't expecting it to be this long. Oh well. I hope you all liked it! Please read and review!!!!! :) Hopefully, I'll be updating soon, but I can't be sure b/c of school and other stuff getting in the way.