The Joining of the Paths

Here's my shot at combining the Halo and Metroid universes. Hope you like. I do not own Halo, or Metroid

Never an Easy Job

November 8th, 2553

The one year anniversary of the final conflict in the Halo War was marked with fanfare and speeches as veterans gathered at the monument to the fallen. When the music stopped and the speeches ended the people left, all but a few. Despite constant reminder that the Elites were now allies and had helped win the war, they still faced constant threat while on earth or one of her colonies. For the time being the Arbiter and his newly formed command had issued an order to limit contact with the humans for the time being. As night approached a Phantom flanked by two Banshees dropped out of the sky and landed near the monument and from it stepped a single Elite. Two more tried to follow but he waved them back. They obeyed his word was law. The Arbiter walked slowly towards the monument and once he reached he bowed his head and spoke a pray for the lost, and for the future of the races. Once he had finished he placed a beam sword on the ground at the monument and headed back towards the ship. These next few years would be a trial. He had decided to unify the Covenant under a new law system he called the Spartani in honor of his oldest enemy and truest ally the Demon known as Spartan 117, or Masterchief. He had disappeared after the final battle with GuiltySpark on the unfinished Halo. Many said he was dead, but the Arbiter was certain that somewhere among the stars his old enemy lived. He reentered the Phantom and they took off towards their warship in orbit. He returned to the command chair and looked out one last time on earth.

"Did you find what you sought?" An Elite asked him.

"Were it so easy." He replied and gave the signal to leave the system.

September 2nd, 2753

The Hunter gunship glided through the stars of the Sole System. It had been a long time since she had been anywhere near the home world of her kind. Samus Aran was not born on earth but on a far colony. Her parents were brutally murdered by Space Pirates when she was just a child. She would have followed them if it had not been for the Chozu who took her in and raised her. It was they who gave her the cyber suit of armor that she wears. It was also the Chozu who helped her become a bounty hunter when the Space Pirates invaded their world. She crushed them and took up the occupation of a bounty hunter. As a bounty hunter she spent little time on any one planet as the quarry was never in the same place. Quarry was the very reason why she was so close to "home" she had picked up a job in one of the outer colonies and now was on her way to return her prize to a small asteroid prison fictionally known as Blackrock XII. She stood up form the pilot's chair and walked down to the cargo bay to check on her passenger.

Nelexx Talenta was your usual run of the mill smuggler and brigand, but he had down something big to get a sentence on a Sole System prison and she wanted to know exactly what it was. Nelexx was human but he had several augments that made him very dangerous. He had replaced his right arm with a plasma drill, and had a custom laser pistol that she was intending to sell to an old friend once the prey was safely behind gravofields.

"Listen girly, I'll cut you a deal." Nelexx begged once she entered the cargo bay. She crossed her arms and leaned against a bulkhead.

"I'm listening." She replied her voice slightly distorted by the helmet she wore. She found that wearing her power suit made it easier to coerce her prey to talk as death was just a point of her right hand away. Not that she was any less dangerous without it.

"I have powerful, rich friends that will pay handsomely for me." Nelexx began.

"They hired me." She answered. "You aren't worth as much as you thought." She answered. This caused Nelexx's mouth to go slack. Samus smiled. "However I am interested in why a small time like you gets a big time sentence." She continued.

"I ain't saying nothing." Nelexx huffed.

"Pity." She replied and aimed her arm cannon at Nelexx. The barrel began to glow as a ball of red energy began to form at the tip.

"Whoa, you need me alive!" He squealed.

"That's where you're wrong. Sure I'll lose some green if I blow you away, but I can take a hit. Can you?" The glow from the cannon filled the room, illuminating the sweat on Nelexx's face.

"Okay, Okay, OKAY girly I'll talk." He screamed. She smiled again and lowered her arm. The energy ball dissipated.

"Better." She replied and waited.

"Okay you're right I'm just a small time smuggler who occasionally comes up with a nice piece of salvage for the Amondo family, or the HPM and they pay me for it handsomely." He babbled. Samus nodded these were indeed the people who were paying her. The Amondo crime family was the largest organized crime syndicate in the galaxy. They had contacts on nearly every planet and some even in the Space Pirates. Samus herself had worked for them at one time. It was they who got the ticket to Blackrock XII for their good friend Nelexx. The HPM was another animal. The Holy Purest Militia or HPM were a group of old Covenant radicals who had recently unearthed the tablets of the Prophet of Truth. They passed them off a sign form the Forrunners that if was time for the Holy Covenant to rise again. Samus had fought these monsters before and she didn't want to do it again.

"So tell me what you found that made your bosses want to lock you up."

"Halo." Nelexx whispered. Samus' eyes went wide inside her helmet. "Not just any Halo, but the first Halo created."

"Where?"

"First you promise to let me go." Nelexx growled. She touched a single button on her forearm cannon and the weapon shifted and began to glow blue as mist rose from it.

"No." She spoke and fired. A blue blast his Nelexx's mechanical arm and froze it in a block of ice. Nelexx screamed. Samus held the cannon up again this time aiming for the man's neither regions. Nelexx got the message.

"It beyond the outer rim in Pirate space."

"Exact location." She pressed charging her beam.

"Kalli system! In orbit of Kalli prime!" The criminal cried. Samus lowered her arm.

"Thanks." She said and turned to leave the cargo bay.

"Wait I told you what you want to know please let me go." He called after the bounty hunter but the door hissing shut was his only reply. When Samus returned to the cockpit she had a message waiting for her. She keyed it up.

Hunter Aran, you are to surrender your cargo to the Galactic Federation and leave the Sole System immediately.

Captain Denatra

Samus frowned. She and Denatra had never seen eye to eye since she left the GF military to be a hunter and now it seems that the dear captain was on the payroll of the Amondo family. Samus was torn. She really wanted payment for Nelexx, but if she turned the wart over the Amondos would get to the Halo first. She smiled there was another option. She got up and moved down the cargo bay.

The GF battle cruiser Hawk's Fire fired a tractor beam at Samus' gunship once they were in range. Captain Denatra was taking no chances with her old enemy. She led the group of marines herself onto the gunship. The plat formed lowered and Nelexx's bound form rolled out.

"Here you go." Samus yelled and closed off the ship. The Marines dragged the criminal away from the ship. Denatra smiled.

"Drop her." Samus' ship was dropped back in space. She gunned her engines and moved off.

"So far so good." She said to herself as she prepared to jump out of the system. Captain Denatra entered the interrogation room where Nelexx sat motionless. She sat down across from them.

"No use in playing dumb." She sneered. "You know who I work for." Nelexx made no reply, but began to shake violently. His skin became translucent began to liquefy. Soon only a puddle of goo remained. She walked over and looked at the puddle. "Chemclone, very cleaver Aran." She growled and slammed the com on the wall. "Target the ship and blow her from my sky." She spat.

"Sorry sir, her ship jumped several seconds ago." Her first replied.

"Damn! Can we follow her ion trail?"

"We'll get right on it sir." The com clicked off. Denatra rubbed her temples.

"Kral is not going to like this." She whispered leaving the room.

Once her ship was safely away from the cannons of the Hawk's Fire, Samus unstrapped herself and headed back to the cargo bay. Nelexx lay on his cot.

"Why didn't you turn me over?" He asked.

"Because I don't want anyone to know about the Halo."

"Simple enough, but why I am still alive, don't get me wrong I like it that way but…"

"You are going to lead me to Halo and then maybe I'll let you go."

"Fair, so we're partners?" He sat up and smiled hopeful.

"No." She replied and left the bay.

"We are the children of the Prophets!" Lai cried as he stood on top of a old Wraith tank. He spoke to several dozen other Elites and other Covenant species. Yes Covenant a name long ago forsaken by the heretics of the past. Lai thought. "They are the children of the Demon; we must crush them for our new holy covenant with the Forrunners to be true and pure!" He continued holding up his Gravity Hammer as it crackled with energy. The covenant roared with pride and agreement. Lie silenced them. "We must be true to the old ways of our holy brothers who came before. Let us rest this night and think on the teachings of the holy Truth. The last Prophet." The group disbanded and Lei went to his tent. Two Brutes in fancy headdresses stood outside her tent. He nodded to them as he passed. He opened the tent to find his friend and second in command Krah waiting for him. They both made signs of allegiance to the Prophets and sat.

"The attack on Vox has brought us more followers to the fold." Krah said as he poured a glass of brandy that they had raided from a human transport ship. He took a sip as Lai sat next to him.

"Soon even the high council will see that we are the righteous." He spoke as Krah finished his drink.

"Why not force them to see now?" He asked. Lai stood up.

"Because the words of the Heretic and the Demon remain strong even after a hundred years the Arbiter is prayed to more than the old gods or the Forrunners." He sighed. "Sometimes the blind must be made to see."

"Then we will make them see." Krah stood up and held out a holo device. "This will be the catalyst for the return of their sight." The image flashed and Tai gasped in awe of what his friend had brought him. He touched the hologram as it shimmered.

"Halo." He whispered. "Our salvation."

Captain Denatra was right Kral was not thrilled with the news of the loss of Nelexx. The head of the Amando crime family at first glance might not be as frightening as his reputation would have it. He wore a well cut suit and had graying hair. He was heavy but not fat. The scar along his neck he bore showed the darker side of his life. He frowned.

"You know Captain I worry that this continuing trend with bounty hunter Aran may affect our professional relationship." He spoke with a disappointed voice. Denatra winced. Samus had made a fool of her the last three times they had crossed paths and Kral was beginning to loose faith in his lieutenant in the military.

"Believe me sir; I will get Nelexx back for you." She begged.

"Indeed you will. I will make sure of that." Kral smiled. "Meet my in the Fuul system. We're going hunting." The holo clicked off. Denatra rubbed her temples.

"When I get my hands on you Aran, you'll wish the Pirates had captured you first." She hissed and ordered her ship to move out.

Samus watched the stars glide by as her ship plotted the next jump towards the Halo. 'I wonder how it escaped notice all these years.' She thought as she punched up a historical database. She read countless reports on the war between the Covenant and the UNSC, and how it was the first deployment of the super solder program called the Spartans. She found one in particular most interesting the one called 117, or Masterchief. 117 was credited with turning the tide of the war on several fronts. 117 had destroyed several Halos, and killed countless Covenant forces. The computer beeped as the ship jumped to her next destination. Alarms began to blare. Samus looked up and cursed. Staring her right in the face was a Space Pirate Droneship. Her hands flew fast across the keyboards as the lights began to glow on the ship. The drone scanned and recognized the ship. Samus watched the plasma cannons swing towards and begin to charge. She fired first. Three glowing missiles streaked from the ships launch tubes and slammed into her target. The droneship had no shields and was easily destroyed by the barrage. Samus primed weapons shields and engines temporarily taking power away from the jump drives. If the drone was a scout for a larger force then they would jump into this area guns blazing. She waited. The seconds ticked painfully slow as sweat broke out all over Samus' body. The alarms, no flashes signaling a hyper jump, no plasma bolts flying at her. Samus let out a sigh of relief and began to power down non vital systems for the jump drive, but she kept her eyes on the scanner. Drones never venture far from raiding parties. She added several erratic jumps to the list to throw off any pursuers, and moved on. Not far from the wreckage of the drone masked by the gravity well of a gas giant. A Space Pirate dreadnaught floated. Several support frigates and droneships were clustered around it. As Samus' ship jumped the pirate manning the scanner turned to the commander.

"Sir, the Witch's ship has left the system." He hissed. Samus' relations with the Space Pirates had gained her the nick name Witch. Every pirate worth his phazon new the orange armor and ship that she wore and feared her relentless fury. The commander sat in thought for a moment. "Shall we pursue?" The pirate asked.

"No, send this data to the General and continue with the operation we must insure that the next batch of Metroids are ready for him when he arrives."

"I obey." The com officer replied

Here's the first chapter, don't be shy tell me what you think.