Samus fired into the thick of the Flood. Her ice beam freezing many in place, while her missiles she sent afterward destroyed them. Beside her was one of the forerunners.
He glanced her way, "Samus. We can't keep this up for long! There are flood proof rooms not far. We should go quickly and try to come up with some kind of plan, to keep them at bay till Halo can be fired!" turning he disappeared down a long hallway with Samus hot on his trail. She had switched to her wave beam and found it was good for blasting the little buggers.
The room came into sight. The forerunner pushed her into the room. The door that would seal it was starting to close. He ducked under but before he could get completely in, one of the flood corrupted forerunners dragged him back out. The door shut before she could do anything to help him.
"NO!" she said trying to reopen the door. It wasn't going to open again. The wires that opened it from the inside seemed to be fried. All she could do now was hope the others managed to kill out this threat, even at the cost of all intelligent beings. Lucky for her the room she was in would be safe from the Halo and its power. She wandered over to one of the cryopods. At the very least she would be able to wait till someone came to get her. Climbing in she thought of her ship safely tucked away in a cave on the planet bellow. The camo on it would keep it safe until she could get it latter. Climbing in she closed her eyes and waited for her cryo sleep to begin.
John looked down at the ring world, Halo. This would be the second time he had to go onto one. Last time he had had to go up against both the Flood and the Covenant. It had been a fierce battle. Lucky for him the Covenant hadn't found out about this one yet. If he could get in and get out with just the flood on his tail he would be fine. He was confident in that matter.
"Hey Chief! Bet you can't wait to get down there and blast some of those little buggers!" lieutenant Johnson called, striding over and smirking at him.
"I just want to get the job done" he replied, his voice was gruff and deep, hardened by war and what he had been through with the Spartan program.
"Keys will probably be sending you and some others down soon. I don't think she is going to let me go this time" Johnson continued seeming to not hear the Spartan. Just after he spoke a voice came over the intercom calling him to the control room where Commander Keys was waiting to brief him. As he made his way there, he heard the exited voices of the marines. Mostly things about how they couldn't wait to get into the action.
He walked in glancing around. Johnson followed closely behind.
"Ah there you are chief." Keys said glancing up from the holographic map of the Halo installation. Cortana was standing on the board and smiled at him before launching into this rings structure.
It's very similar to the one we were on before but this one has one thing the other didn't. There are cryo chambers that have no Flood signatures in them. One however has some kind of humanoid life form. I believe it might possibly be a forerunner.
John blinked in amazement, "that's an awful long time to be in cry sleep."
Indeed it is Chief. But it might not have been impossible for the forerunners. They did create Halo in the first place.
"Chief" Keys said looking at him, "I want to know what's in there. Get in find out. If it's a threat get rid of it, if not then have them help you deactivate this halo and destroy the flood."
"Got it" John replied turning away.
"One more thing Chief" Keys called, "I want you to take Cortana with you. You might need her help with the doors."
Turning back he stepped over to the holographic map. After extracting Cortana's chip, he placed it in the back of his helmet. He tried to suppress the shudder that always came when she merged with his suit.
Hey ya Chief. Let's get this party started.
He nodded and headed to where the launches were kept. A small crew met him there, "ready when you are, master chief." the leader said saluting him.
John nodded his approval and entered the craft with them following him.
As they hurled towards the Halo something seemed to go wrong with the craft they were in. it began to shake badly. A sputtering noise made its way to them.
"Hang on!" called the leader to the other marines. John had been through this before and chances of the rest of the crew surviving weren't high. He gritted his teeth angrily. Why did his missions always seem to go this way? They always went wrong and innocent people got hurt in the process.
Brace yourself chief. It's going to be a very bumpy ride. If my readings are correct we might be the only ones walking away. IF we don't burn up on the way down that is.
John sat up slowly. He felt as if he had just fallen from space. Oh wait he had. Ouch. He looked around. The crew lay in different position in the craft. After checking each one he was once again saddened to see that none had made it.
You couldn't have done anything to stop this. Then or now. All we can do is continue forward and complete the mission as planed. That's the least we can do for them.
With a heavy sigh he nodded, "ok which way first?"
Let's see…. Ah here we go! Alright head about 2 miles north of here and we should find a tunnel that leads towards where the cryo chamber is. The only problem is that we have quite a few little Flood friends we will have to go through to get there. Think you can handle it? She said a little playfully trying to get him to stop thinking about the rest of the crew.
"Alright then." he replied before heading off in the direction Cortana had indicated. Everything seemed so quiet. On these treks he was so used to the sound of battle raging around him. Because of this when his radio suddenly cracked to life he nearly jumped out of his armor.
"Chief?" the radios went down. What's going on down there? The craft you took isn't responding at all." it was Keys and she didn't sound happy.
"The crew is gone, Commander" John replied calmly, "Ill get this done and find a way back."
Keys was silent for a while, "ok chief. I trust you to get it done, but hurry it up! If you don't keep a good radio link up and going im going to send people after you. Got it?"
"Loud and clear" he muttered as he continued onward. Finally he reached the entrance to the tunnels.
Watch yourself chief. From here out ill keep a close eye on the radar. The Flood could be anywhere for all we know.
He moved slowly keeping an eye on his surroundings. Before long they came to a door. He pressed the button for it and it came open easily. He was inside of some kind of science lab. His gaze flickered around cautiously.
Chief, plug me in somewhere so I can see what they were researching.
"Alright" he said looking around. It didn't take him long to have her hooked to the computer.
Oh wow! It's incredible! It says something about a species called Chozo. And about something they created long ago called a metroid…. Hmm…. Wow it was supposed to keep something called parasite X under control. It seems that both species went extinct before the Flood invaded, but the technology of the Chozo, seemed to be best against the Flood. Even though they were not there to see it they contributed greatly to fighting off the Flood. I also have a better map of the place now too. This will defiantly come in handy….. It seems they made small places of safety on this particular Halo where the blast wouldn't reach the Forerunners, not many I guess made it to them though with the Flood swarming the place. If any at all besides the one were going to see.
John was perplexed by all the information that Cortana was relaying to him.
OK you can unplug me now. I have all we need and more.
"Alright" John said gruffly as he pulled her chip out and stuck it back in his suit. With that he continued on carefully making his way to the cryo chambers.
He reached another door. It was bigger and more impressive than the ones he had been going through till this point.
Hold up chief. The flood is on the other side of this door. We have to be careful about this or we will be over run with them. There isn't too many but there is enough to cause us a whole heap of trouble. Luckily the cryo chambers are right on the other side of the room down a long narrow hallway. If we can make it that far it will be easier to keep the Flood at bay while I get us in.
"Got it" John grunted pressing the button that activated the door. It swung open to reveal several of the Flood corrupted forerunners and a few of the ones that exploded into the little aliens that attached to you. Lucky for the Chief, he had made sure to load up on plenty of ammo before leaving the crashed ship. Guns blazing he worked his way across the room. He used his assault rifle to slowly but efficiently make his way to the hallway that Cortana had talked about earlier. The Flood were everywhere. Not as many as he had been expecting to find in one room but enough to give him a run for his money that was for sure. He was backed up against the end of the hallway, his back to the door. He had already let Cortana in so she could hack it.
AH HA! There we go chief we have ten seconds before it shuts again so hurry it up and get inside!
"Im not going to argue with you" he replied before slipping inside. He continued to shoot until the door had shut. Taking a moment to let out a sigh of relief he turned and looked around. The walls were lined with several highly advanced cryo pods. Each one was impressive.
Our forerunner friend is in the last one on the right chief.
With a grunt to show he understood he headed for it. Looking in he could just make out the orange suit and the green visor.
Hook me too it and ill see what I can do about getting it open. Cortana ordered.
John looked at the control panel. Noticing a small place for a chip he unhooked her from his suit and stuck the chip in the slot. It wasn't long before a hissing sound came from the cry tube. John backed away unsure of what this Forerunner would do.
Samus felt horrible. How long had she been out? She sat up slowly and looked around groggily. Her eyes landed on a MASIVE humanoid. He had green armor and a golden orange visor. Under the armor was a layer of black padding.
He raised his hands, she guessed, as a way of showing he meant no harm.
"Who are you?" he asked in a gruff deep voice, "are you one of the forerunners that built Halo?"
Samus sat for several moments trying to gather her thoughts, "im not one of the Forerunners. Im the Chozo representative that helped with the building of this installation and the others." she shook her head slowly, "how long have I been out?"
"Let's just say long enough for civilization to completely start over." he replied, "It's been a VERY long time."
Samus gaped at him. She felt hot, thirsty, and massively hungry. But how could she have been in cryo sleep for that long? It was unheard of. She raised her hands shakily to her helmet. She had to get it off. She felt so weak that every movement was a struggle but she managed to get it off. Her long blond hair fell around her shoulders. She heard a small gasp from the man in the green armor, but that was all before she lost consciousness.
