Chapter 2
Author's note: Due to some recent inspiration from a fellow Fanfiction user, I'm back and ready to continue the story. Everyone who was waiting for this story to continue, please give a big thanks to LONE RANGER 97.
Secret Cavern, Forward Unto Dawn Cryo Bay
Eli stared at the Chief, trying to figure out exactly what he was.
"Well, Master Chief Petty Officer 117," Eli began, while thinking of how long that title was, "My name is Eli Shane, and with me are Kord, Trixie, and Pronto." He indicated each of his friends as he introduced them. The rest of the Shane gang stared warily at the metal man, and the blue woman floating near him.
"My name is Joshua Blakk, amatuer slug slinger." Josh spoke, placing his blaster back on his back. Said blaster was a rifle configuration, but with a four-slot rotating cylinder. "Now that introductions are out of the way, might I know what you are doing in this cavern?"
The Master Chief thought for only a split second. In that time, he could not convince himself that this wasn't just a Insurrectionist trick to get him to accidentally mention secret information.
"That's classified." He simply stated after the brief pause.
The blue hologram, Cortana, gave him an exasperated look. "Chief, these people are almost young enough to be your kids, if you had ever had any. I know what you are thinking, but I'm almost sure they arent part of the Insurrection." She turned back to the group.
"I apologise for my partner's lack of trust. It's hard for him to trust people he doesn't know. As for why we're here... I'm afraid I don't really know. We were left drifting in space after an... incident. In case we weren't found soon, I placed myself in stasis. When I brought myself out of stasis, we were plummeting towards this planet. I would have awaken Chief before the impact, but I figured the cryo tube was the safest place." Cortana glanced back at the metal giant, smirking. "Glad to see our luck is holding, eh Chief?"
Chief let out a grunt of annoyance, and stepped a little closer to Cortana's terminal.
"Well, I guess we should lend you guys a hand, that is, if you need any help with him around." Kord said to Cortana, while still focusing on the Chief. The cave troll's mind was running wild with ideas of what he could do with the tech from this place.
"Kord's right. We came with the intention of helping, so we should hold to it." Eli said, with Josh and Trixie agreeing. Pronto, however, stepped forward.
"I cant believe you guys!" The Molenoid scolded in his signature french accent. "This is a great moment to build a... umm... business... yes, a business relationship!" He shouted excitedly, obviously coming up with some get-rich-quick scheme. He turned to face the two strangers, who were staring at him intently.
"I believe we can make a very fortuitous deal; We offer our services for a modest price of 200 gold coins an hour. Sounds good, yes?" Pronto grinned. Suddenly, he was lifted off the floor by Kord.
"Pronto, what have we told you about trying to make people give us money?" Kord sighed while carrying him out of the room.
"Im sorry about our friend. He can be a little..." Trixie trailed off.
"Greedy, clumsy, annoying?" Josh offered as he leaned against a wall.
"It's alright. To be honest, I didn't think he could talk." Cortana said, clearly amused and curious. "I was under the impression that he was a dressed pet. What is he, and the other one, exactly?"
"Pronto is a molenoid, a creature that inhabits a few of the lower caverns. Kord is a cave troll, and they can be found all throughout Slug Terra." Eli explained.
"Slug Terra?" Chief asked, his helmet tilting slightly.
"It's the name for the entire cavern system. it streches hundreds of miles, all completely underground. Right now, we are in a cavern that opens up to the surface, though we only just learned about it."
Cortana and Chief took a few moments to digest this information. They were in unknown territory, with an unknown amount of equipment, unknowm hostiles, and some possible allies. Cortana looked up at Chief and gave him her signature smirk. "Eli Shane, I think we'll take you up on your offer of assistance."
Blakk Industries Headquaters
"I've run the test three times, sir." The black clad soldier said shakily. "The scanner is fully operational. Six hours ago, it detected a massive sesmic wave, originating from thirty two miles northeast, and almost a mile above the highest cavern in that area."
"Does it say anything else?" A voice growled. A large, broad shouldered man faced the numerous banks of computer displays, slowly stroking his back beard in a sinister, and, admittedly stereotypical, way.
"It's reporting a faint, constant energy reading from the same area, as well as a transmission. However, there is to much interference to listen to it." The terrified man said, hoping Dr. Blakk would not kill him.
"Hmmm... Curious..." Thaddeus Blakk contimplated the information.
"Fill out a report, and give it to Recon Echo. I'll be dispatching them to investigate." Blakk ordered. The young soldier nodded quickly, and walked hastily towards the exit.
"And soldier?" Dr. Blakk began, causing the man to freeze. "I expect the transmission to be claered up by this time tomorrow, understand?"
The soldier quickly saluted, then contined his retreat, growing pale as he thought of the consequences of failure.
Dr. Blakk turned and stared at the monitors. "What is going on here...?" He asked himself quietly.
Secret Cavern, Forward Unto Dawn Aft Armory
"Okay, so we have almost a hundred blasters of this type. But whoever built them did a horrible job." Trixie said, holding up a rifle. The gun was flat black, had a scope mounted on top, and seemed to have a magazine slot behind the pistol grip. "A slug would never fit through the barrel. Same goes for most of the weapons in here."
Eli looked over from the other side of the armory, puttimg the sorting on pause.
"Trixie, these guns aren't meant to fire slugs. On the surface, humans had to make weapons that fire small pieces of metal." He explained. A holographic projector lit up, and Cortana appeared.
"He's correct. The particular rifle you are holding is the BR55HB, built by Misriah Armories on Mars." Cortana stated, while putting up pictures and designations for every weapon in the armory.
"Please, handle the weapons with care as you take inventory. There are bullet counters and magazine loaders on the back wall, next to the ammunition lockers." and with a wink of light, she was gone. However, Eli had a feeling that the A.I. was still watching them closely.
"So, Eli, what do you think of the Master Chief?" Trixie asked, laying the rifle in a neat stack with the others of it's kind.
"To be honest, I'm not sure what to think, or expect out of him. All I know is that he genuinely doesn't want to hurt us." Eli sighed.
"What about Josh? How do we know he's not one of Dr Blakk's spies?"
"He may be, or he may be on our side. I told Kord to keep an eye on him. Last I saw them, they were following the Master Chief to the vehicle bay."
"And Pronto?" Trixie asked, stopping again
"I... have no idea." Eli answered, hanging his head. "Let's hope he doesn't break anything."
Secret Cavern, Forward Unto Dawn Hanger Bay
"Look at the size of that thing!" Kord shouted as he laid his eyes on a massize vehicle.
"That is the M808B Main Battle Tank, or the Scorpion." Chief said, leading them past it.
"Man, I've never seen a machine that that didn't run on a railroad." Kord said, gazing at the tank, in all it's 90mm-cannon glory
"What are we doing in here, anyways?" Josh asked, walking faster to ctach up to the other's long strides.
"I need you two to help me assess the equipment at the rear of the bay. The anterior hanger is intact, but the hull was breached in the stern section." Chief stated in his low pitched voice.
"How much equipment are we looking at?" Kord inquired, still looking around with wides eyes.
"Two M12 Warthogs, one Troophog, and a Mongoose may be servicable." Cortana sais, appearing suddenly on a pedestal next to Josh, causing the grown man to shriek and jump back.
"Please don't do that again!" He shouted, breathing rapidly. While Josh recovered from his panic attack, Cortana opened a private com line to the Master Chief.
"How are you holding up, Chief?" She asked, her soft voice missing it's usual snide attitude.
"I'm fine." He replied simply, while directing Kord and Josh to the vehicles in need of service. "Why?"
"It's just... After what happened to Commander Keyes, then Sergeant Johnson... Chief, you know I'll have your back as long as I can, right?" Cortana spoke softer, in a tone that made it sound like she was going to cry.
"Cortana, are YOU alright?" Chief asked, pausing to devote all of his attention to his most trusted companion.
"I was put into service four and a half years ago..." The A.I. replied quietly.
"Four years..."
"A.I.s deteriorate after seven, Chief." This revelation threw the Master Chief off almost as much as his first fight with the Covenant did.
"Is there a way to stop it?" He asked in the smallest voice Cortana had ever heard him utter.
"I don't know. I have several theories, but for now, we need to focus on the problem at hand."
"Find out where we are, how we got here, and how ti to get home." Chief said, agreeing with the A.I.
"The shots taken by the exterior cameras, before reentry burned them off, show a planet of earth-like size and composition, but an entiresly different set of land masses." Cortana placed the relevant photos on Chief's HUD. "As for the other two questions, I don't have enough information at the moment."
While Master Chief and Cortana were conversing, Josh felt a small buzz on his wrist. He looked at his watch and noticed a small blinking light.
Josh glanced at Kord, making sure the cave troll was too ingrossed in the partialy disassembed Mongoose to notice him. Josh hid behind a totaled Warthog chassis, and pressed the blinking light.
"Joshua Blakk here." He said queitly.
"Josh?" A feminine voice said, equally as quiet. "We have a problem."
