Chapter 2: Wake Up!...
Aboard the rear half of Forward Unto Dawn
September 17, 2553
It's been over five months now since Spartan-117: John entered cryo sleep under the watchful eye of Cortana (his artificial intelligence sidekick of sorts). As the UNSC frigate Forward Unto Dawn was escaping from the Ark world (the main control system for the seven ring worlds), the portal to Earth collapsed cutting the ship in half. The bow of the ship was returned to Earth along with the Arbiter, but the stern along with the Master chief and Cortana was left behind near the Ark world, beacons were dispersed, but there is no promise of response.
On the far wall across from the cryo tubes, a data screen flickers to life.
Being scanning for life forms… Incoming message from UNSC cruiser Zeus's Rage. Accept hail?
Cortana flickers into view on the holo panel beside the console, more an act of habit than necessity, since she sees all information processed through the ship and its sensor array. She immediately accepted the message. It flows across the screen.
UNSC frigate Forward Unto Dawn, this is Captain Ortan of the UNSC cruiser Zeus's Rage. We intercepted your long range rescue beacon. We are sending a rescue team to board with your starboard docking bay immediately, have all survivors that can be moved to that area, and we'll have medical units ready. If you can respond please let us know how many to expect so that we might be more prepared. Oh, and sorry for the wait.
Cortana answers only the question asked and says little else, "Thank you Captain Ortan, we have only one survivor".
As she starts the thawing process lights and monitors flicker on above the cryo tube, gas vents releasing the pressure within the tube and slowly the hatch opens. Cortana flickers again into view but this time directly beside the Chief's cryo. She says in an excited tone, "Wake Up!... Chief!". John, still shaking off the "freezer burn" as marines like to call it, misinterprets Cortana's excitement for danger and lunges out of the tube grabbing his MA5 assault rifle and rolling into a ready crouch and scans the area for immediate danger. "Cortana battle assessment, pronto!" he shouts.
"No.. Chief, there is no battle, we're being rescued!" she explains.
"What? How long have I been out?"
"Just over 5 months"
"That's impossible, No UNSC ship could have picked up our signal in that amount of time, have you run a scan?" he picked
"Who exactly do you think you're talking to here? Did I thaw you too quickly?" Cortana scowled back
John stares at her display and cocks his head quizzically "Then how is this possible?"
"It's a new class of ship, like nothing I've seen within the UNSC, it seems that our new allies have been trading technology with us, it seems that this ship, Zeus's Rage, has a Covenant slip stream drive as well as a heavy shield generator, along with the traditional battle plating" She explains, "It must be a retrofit of one of our newer cruisers that survived the battle of Earth".
"I guess the elites are full of surprises I didn't expect" John says in an unbelieving tone.
"Alright, pull me out of here and lets get to the starboard docking bay, they'll be ready to pick us up in 5" Cortana exclaims as John pulls her memory core from the console, her display disappearing. He inserts the core into his neural interface; instantly the cool feeling washes through his mind and then he hears "still roomy" as Cortana jokes with him as she did the first time they worked together.
"Alright, lets go" he states as he sprints to the door of the cryo room and then down the corridor towards the docking bay.
As he shifts through the door still alert, he's instantly relieved to see ODST uniforms on 7 soldiers standing ready in front of the Pelican drop ship. The tallest man standing in the lead approaches John, the name on his chest read Johnson, catching his attention immediately. But Avery Johnson died in his arms he thought, was this a relative or just a coincidence? It's not a rare name exactly, but something to check in on later, once debriefed.
"It's the Master Chief!" a few of the marines shouted
"Damn it's good to see you sir!" Johnson shouts, "Moral hit the floor when you didn't come back with the Arbiter, everyone thought you were… well it doesn't matter, let's get you over to the cruiser, I'm sure your ready to relax for a change"
"Thanks" John replied, "It's good to see you too"
"You have no idea…" Cortana whispered in his head
What's next? He thought, "How are things back at Earth?"
"Things are… ok, we're rebuilding, but doing it smarter, just in case anyone decides to come try again, we'll be ready, but you'll see soon" Johnson explained
What are we building? Are the elites still on our side? A lot must has happened since that portal closed, but it's good to hear Earth is still there, that we had won, at least for now.