Welcome back my dear Halo fans!
I will try and type this as often as I can so that I have more chapters ready to go. I learned that the family will be finally getting internet for the house, so expected activity from me with my other stories.
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Disclaimer: I don't own Halo. OCs may show up from time to time.
SECTION I – UNIONS
CHAPTER ONE
0315 Hours, November 25, 2557 (Military Calender) /
Entering the Double Helix Star System
John had flown across space on his own with the temporary AI installed with the chip as his company. The AI kept his questions to himself, preferring not to probe Master Chief with questions that may trigger tension; he could not help but glance at the SPARTAN in slight awe before returning his focus to the stars.
Spirals of questions had sprung within Chief when he first opened the content of the chip. It explained the other branches of the SPARTAN Program within the other Armed Forces. Like his military branch, the others were quite similar; the difference being were their attitudes. Marines SPARTANs had the scream-in-your-face tendency, Army SPARTANs were more levelheaded, and the Air Forces SPARTANs seemed to be cool-headed.
One of the questions he asked himself-and received no answer-was why he had not known about them? Were they kept a secret by ONI to prevent some sort of alliance between the diverse SPARTANs? Whatever the reasons were, Master Chief was bothered. He hated secrets.
The organization that held these four Armed Forces together was named Union of the SPARTAN Brotherhood-or the USB. It was founded near the same time the SPARTAN Program was created, the founder being none other than Catherine Halsey herself. She had left the establishment in hands of her trustworthy men and women who had Dr. Halsey's similar demeanor and they all swore to protect the USB and the SPARTANs to the best of their ability. This set of SPARTANs had their share of battles with Covenant in distant spaces that stretched further away from the natural distance many men and women were not accustomed to travel. There weren't any human settlements-the only one being planet Symphony where the USB resided.
ONI would have their grubby hands all over planet Symphony within a matter of days.
"Master Chief." the disembodied voice called the SPARTAN to attention, rousing from his inner musings.
"Report." came John's command.
The AI pulled up the star system they were in, focusing the attention to the planet rotating around the central star several planets away. "We will be arriving on planet Symphony soon, sir. ETA, two hours.
"Thank you."
The AI offlined his holo-form, flickering once.
The SPARTAN rested his head against the seat's head rest, lifting an armored hand to stroke his short hair and scratch lightly. Whenever the AI was online, he could not bring himself to look at the miniature man. Furthermore, he refused to speak to him. Neither of them spoke freely to one another; what was the point if the AI was going to be purged automatically? The Cole Protocol was to take effect after the message to all the remaining SPARTANs was relayed and purge every last bit of data Dr. Halsey had placed onto the chip. A more personal reason as to why the Chief did not engage with the AI: Cortana.
Cortana made him feel human, not just a man in a suit built to kill, not just... a machine.
His facial expression became pained as her words echoed: Don't make a girl a promise you can't keep.
He failed to save her, failed to take her to Dr. Halsey.
John swore to himself never to become emotionally attached to any other being, regardless if it breathed or not. He couldn't suffer another loss. Cortana's sacrifice affected him more than it should have. The Master Chief released a small sigh, staring at the small crevices in the ceiling than a normal human eye would have missed; questions continued to rouse in his mind.
The information on the chip stated that the deactivation of the SPARTAN Program was effective as of 1 December, 2557, and this allowed the transport ship to take it's time in arriving on planet Symphony. The Master Chief assumed that their ship was not slip-space compatible considering the travel-class of the ship; luckily for John, he had the advantage of leaving earlier than the ONI officials, who left a standard week after. John would arrive at planet Symphony with enough time to save the other SPARTANs from becoming decommissioned.
Although it was not performed, an active SPARTAN would not have the capacity to integrate into regular human society. Not only were they deadly-with or without their suits,-they were unable to socialize with civilians. News of SPARTAN integration would spread like wildfire and civilians would be capable of distinguishing a super-soldier from an average human.
John agreed with Dr. Halsey; he would not be able to cope with a new life he was not accustomed to.
He was trained to fight, trained to kill.
