Chapter 1
"You ready Chief?" The AI asked. "I'm always ready, just get on with it." "Alright then. Captain, we are ready for drop-off." "Alright, Cortana. We will be over the target in 5." The Captain replied. 5 seconds went by as the Master Chief and his AI partner, Cortana, were dropped from the Pelican along with a cluster of other Marines. "Mind the bump." Cortana told the Spartan as they entered Halo's atmosphere. The pods were starting to catch on light fire as gravity pulled them down, faster and faster. After a minute or so, the pods slammed into the ground with such force, it caused craters to form wherever they landed. Quickly, the Master Chief, also known as Spartan-117 or even by his actual name John, kicked down the door of the pod and aimed around with his Battle Rifle. The surface of the world was cold and icy with snow falling for miles and miles and a thick fog covering the area. A man could barely see a few inches ahead of him. "Is everybody okay?" John asked out loud. A few seconds passed with complete silence other than the windy sound of the snow. "Yes, sir, everybody seems to have landed just fine." Said a man with a fairly Latino accent. It was Colonel Mendez. "We all need to stay together out here, at least until the fog clears up. Just stay near me and we should be fine." The Master Chief said as a group of eight Marines circled around him. He glanced at his motion tracker within his HUD. Nothing seemed to be out there, so he pressed on, making sure his Marines weren't getting lost. As they passed under a rocky arch, one of the Marines yelled out. Everyone turned to him as his flashlight shined on a dead body. The Master Chief walked over to him and the body, crouched down, and inspected it. It looked he was mauled to death. Scratches at bites covered his body and one of his legs was ripped off. John shook his head and stood up. "Marine, do you know who this is?" He asked. "Yeah," the Marine said, "He's my brother." The Marine looked stared at his brother's dead body, "You can't let this get in the way of what we came here to do. I understand that he's your brother, but you if you don't focus, you'll die too." The Spartan said, "Come on, Marines!" He led the Marines under the arch and into a harder blizzard. "Everyone, from now on, we talk over intercom." John said into his, "Yes, sir!" The Marines replied. "Now let's split up. Harris, we'll go north. Mendez and Raimi, head east. Rodriguez and Campbell, you two head west. Understood?" John said. The Marines saluted and all said together, "Yes, sir!" and split up.

Chief and Harris took the northern path, which was slightly less fogged than the rest of the area, but still they had to stick close, or else they would get lost or separated. The Chief kept his eye on his Motion Tracker. "Stop." The Chief commanded as a few red dots appeared on his Motion Tracker, "It's just a few." More dots started to appear. Then hundreds came up and they were heading to their position and fast. "Ah, shit. Run!" John said as Harris and he turned and ran toward their Pelican. He called the other squads to round up back at the drop-off point. There was no reply, only static. "Mendez? Do you read me?" Still nothing. "Rodriguez? Campbell? Is anyone there? Damn it." He said. Suddenly, the yellow dot representing his partner went blank and he heard howls and shrieks behind him. "Flood?!?" He asked himself. He hurried into the cockpit of the Pelican that dropped them off. He started the controls and took off into the sky. Captain Miranda Keyes showed up on the screen of the cockpit. "Chief, what are you doing?" She asked. "They're all dead. Hundreds of Flood are on that planet, and we can't afford to lose that many Marines. Mendez, Rodriguez, Campbell, Harris, and Raimi were bad enough losses. We can't lose any more." John responded. "Alright, we'll pick you up. Look out for In Amber Clad." The Master Chief nodded and the screen went black. He slowed down a bit so he could keep a lookout. A large wormhole appeared out of nowhere and out came In Amber Clad. "Alright, Chief, land in here." Keyes said over the intercom. "Yes, ma'am." John replied and docked the Pelican in the opened Shuttle Bay. The Master Chief walked out the back as Ms. Keyes joined him outside. "You had a lucky break there." She said, "Too bad we lost some of our finest men." John nodded as he looked forward and saw a tall creature standing in the shadows near the wall. Miranda walked away, back into the cockpit, as the creature moved forward into the light. John slightly inched his arm towards his pistol. "You need not try and kill me." The creature said. He had a deep voice. "So, it's you." The Chief said. "What can I call you?" The creature asked. "John. What's your name?" John asked. "Just address me as," The creature walked completely out of the shadows, "Arbiter." "Okay, then." John replied as he extended his arm. "What is this?" The Arbiter asked. "A human's symbol of friendship, we shake each other's hands." John replied. The Arbiter looked puzzlingly at the Chief, then extended his arm as well and shook his hand. "So, there was Flood down there?" The Arbiter asked as he walked with the Chief to the armory, with his hand behind his back. "Yeah, I'm the only one who made it." "Yes, I can see that." "They were some of our finest men." "I understand. Though, I still have many Elites, Grunts, and Hunters at my command." "That's good. I'm surprised they didn't object to joining with Humans." "Some did, but most were on my side." "So, we have half the Covenant ranks on our side, and half against us?" "That is correct." Suddenly, the Red Alert alarm rang throughout the halls of In Amber Clad. "Approximately 500 Covenant ships have been spotted." Cortana said, "They're making a jump!" Miranda's voice came over the ship's intercom. "Everybody, brace yourselves! We're jumping with them!" She said. The Chief and Arbiter grabbed onto the walls and slightly crouched. The ship suddenly started shaking violently. "This is it!" The Chief said as everything in the ship went black and nothing could be seen, only the loud sound of the space time rip could be heard. After a moment, the ship stopped shaking. "We've gone into drift. I can feel it." The Chief said. In Amber Clad started moving faster and faster and it started to heat up. "We're going to crash!" Miranda said over the intercom.