Section I: Leave No Stone Unturned
1830 hours, January 20, 2552 (Military Calendar)/ Eridanus III, Alpha Base, grid twelve by twenty-three
The sound of the pelican's engines filled the hanger as it landed. As soon as it landed the hatch in the back of the drop ship opened for Saber Team to step out of. Captain Wells was the first one to step out of the pelican. When he finally stepped off of the ramp he placed his assault rifle on his back. Afterwards he removed his helmet to reveal a young man in his twenties. He had hair that was shoulder length and black. His bangs looked jagged and stopped just above his eye brows and he had deep ocean blue eyes that were filled with confidence. His skin was also pale from spending so much time in his sealed armor. After removing his helmet he took a moment to look around the hanger. The hanger was a mess to say the least, it had scaffoldings everywhere which had spare parts and tools piled on top of them. There were oil and blood stains across over half of the floor from repairing pelicans and carrying wounded out of them. The hanger was also filled with people, civilians that were evacuated. A lot of them were wounded but the medical wing of the base was already full. The medical wing took in the most critically wounded for surgery while field medics tended to people whose wounds weren't as serious.
"What a mess" Wells said to himself.
He then heard a soft feminine voice "it's only going to get worse." He then turned to his right to notice a woman clad in dull, worn, dark pink almost red Spartan armor approaching him. She wore the same type of armor as him, a Mjolnir mark VI body with an R variant helmet and she was only two inches shorter than him.
As she approached the Spartan removed her helmet revealing a young woman similar in age as Wells. She had waist length vibrant pink hair which was kept in a bun. The front of her hair was let down and framed her face as it fell just below her chin. Her bangs were like Wells' and stopped just above her eye brows. Her eyes were a vibrant purple that held a great deal of emotion but at the same time looked tired. Her skin was a fair pale. Her name is Alice Wells, the wife of captain Wells. Alice looked down at Wells' armor and smirked when she noticed the purple blood covering it. "Have fun?" she asked.
Wells let out a small laugh before replying "more or less. Saline mentioned you found something."
Alice rolled her eyes while smiling "same old John, work first talk later." He rubbed the back of his head while holding his helmet under his arm and chuckled.
"I promise I'll make time to talk later but right now we need to find out what the covenant's after."
Alice smiled seemingly satisfied with what his reply "I was joking, follow me and I'll show you what I found." She then turned around and walked through a door as it slid open; 'John' followed her through it. Five minutes later they made their way through the maze of doorways and were at the heart of the base. As they entered a room full of computer monitors with people in lab coats typing away at keyboards they approached a table with a glowing, electric blue top in the center of the room. A moment later the top of a cylinder next to the table lit up and a hologram appeared. The holographic image was a fifth as tall the Spartans and looked like a woman with waist length dark hair who was also dressed in a kimono. Her bangs were the same as John and Alice's. It was also a ghostly blue. This was Saline, John's personal 'smart' A.I.
As soon as she appeared Alice spoke "Saline, show John what I found on my run."
Saline then turned to Alice "not even saying please commander?"
Alice rolled her eyes and spoke with an amused smile "please?" As she said this the table glowed brighter before a holographic image of a mountainous landscape rose from the table.
"Captain, remember the structure I mentioned before? Commander Wells actually discovered that area and I repositioned a satellite to get a better view. This is what I found." The map zoomed in to show a large metal gateway like door in the side of a mountain. The doorway was open and covenant troops were entering and leaving through it.
"Interesting" was all John said.
Saline lightly shook her head "indeed, I recommend we get a few teams down there to investigate immediately."
John pondered this for a brief moment before replying "agreed, tell the rest of Saber team to arm up and meet me back in the hanger. Alice you wanna come with?"
Alice visibly brightened up and smiled as she spoke "I knew you missed me. I'll go grab my gear."
Before she began to leave John smiled and spoke "always."
Ten minutes later all members of Saber team including Alice was back in the hanger. The weapons Alice carried were an MA5C Assault Rifle and an SRS-99 AM Sniper Rifle with a switchable thermal scope lens. She turned to John and quickly kissed him on the cheek before sliding her helmet on and speaking "all set captain, also you need to shave when we get back." She lightly laughed at her last statement. John then reached up to rub the place Alice had kissed to find out that he was growing a light beard.
"That an order?" He asked.
Alice turned back to face him and smiled behind her helmet "a standing one."
John just smiled and pulled on his helmet before replying "yes ma'am." After he boarded the pelican the rest of Saber followed. The pelican's engines roared to life as it rose to the sky and began its journey toward the north and the unknown structure.
The pelican finally landed in a flat aree in between two small hills. The back hatch opened up and the Spartans all filed out. As soon as the hatch opened they noticed that they had landed in the middle of a blizzard. John couldn't even see ten feet ahead of himself. "Damn, everyone switch to thermal." In less than a moment John's visor and heads up display changed colors. The surroundings were a deep blue outlined by white lines. Any heat source including the Spartans were a very warm orange and yellow while being outlined with black lines.
John called back to his team over their TEAMCOM channel through their helmets "get a move on Saber; let's not keep the covenant waiting." He was answered by six green winking lights in his helmet's HUD. Saber team continued its march for twenty more minutes before encountering a ridge line where the blizzard lightened up into a light flurry of snow. With their thermal visors John and the rest of Saber team immediately noticed the covenant forces as they were many blurs of orange and red moving in and out of the large structure.
John switched his visor back to normal, as did the other six Spartans. He increased his visor's magnification to two-hundred percent and examined the structure. Alice walked up next to him and stopped just before speaking "what do we got?"
John continued examining the structure as he spoke "definitely not a natural formation or cave, it looks forunner."
This peaked Alice's interest "forunner? What is it doing way out here in the mountains?"
John's visor returned to normal as he stood up "don't know, maybe the planet wasn't always like this or maybe they were trying to hide something…"
Alice continued to look on at the structure "…and whatever secrets the forunners would want to hide, the covenant would love to find." John the grabbed his assault rifle from the magnets on his back and began moving across the ridge line with his team right behind him.
"In any event, we need to clear the covenant out of that structure. Alice, I want you and Smith to position up at the ridgeline and wait to fire on my order." Two green acknowledgement lights winked on in John's HUD as he continued running. Alice and Smith darted off immediately and stopped when they found a good firing position. The part of the ridgeline that they stopped at provided a perfect over watch position. The two Spartans had a shot on every covenant soldier that was outside of the forunner structure. They both laid flat on their stomachs with one meter separating them. As they propped their rifles up with the attached bipods, they also adjusted their scopes with the dial on top of the rifles.
Alice pressed a button on her helmet to radio in "we're position, just say when."
John and the rest of team had found a trench like trail that lead down through the ridgeline and positioned them just outside of the structure as well as the covenant forces. John and the other five Spartans found several large rocks to hide behind and watch the covenant from. As the captain gave the signal for them to stop a lone elite guard heard their footsteps. As the large creature turned the corner it was met with a razor sharp combat knife to its throat, courtesy of John. John shouted "when!" Just as he did he heard two loud cracks from the sniper rifles. After the shots were fired the Spartans heard the roar of one of the elites as it was struck dead center in the chest by a rifle round, killing it.
Kane turned the corner to spot a mounted plasma turret that was manned by a grunt. He then grabbed a grenade from one of his damage packs. As soon as the grenade left the large pouch Kane pressed the button to arm it and tossed it towards the emplacement. The grenade landed and detonated killing the gunner and two more grunts that were nearby as well as toppling the gun in a haze of shrapnel.
John followed up by turning the corner and crouching on one knee. He opened fire in short controlled bursts taking down two jackals and a grunt.
"Move up!" John ordered.
As soon as he did, Jones, Taylor, and Wyatt began their sprint for cover that was closer to the enemy. While his men charged ahead John provide covering fire causing and elite to duck behind a covenant barricade wall. As soon as the elite stuck his head up to return fire a sniper rifle round impacted its neck while ripping through its shields.
The elite clutched its neck as it fell to the ground and bled from its wound. John began his sprint for closer cover and as he did a jackal with a needle rifle was on small hillside and prepared to open fire. Before the jackal could fire however, it was met with a rifle round to the chest knocking it off of its elevated position. Wyatt, Jones and Taylor opened fired simultaneously dropping an elite and two more jackals. The thundering sound of assault rifle fire was accompanied by the loud cracks from the snipers for a few more moments before it stopped.
Every covenant guard outside the structure was dead. John counted at least three squads worth of troops. Bodies littered the ground as their own purple and luminous blue blood covered it and stained the snow. The ground reminded John of a painted canvas with all the different colors of blood covering the white snow. "Let's move Saber. Alice, Smith get down here, we're going in."
As he said this Alice shouldered her rifle and equipped her assault rifle as she and Smith ran down to John who was waiting just outside the door of the structure.
"Alright the covies inside must have heard all the noise so get ready. Stick together, tight formation. No lone wolves and keep your heads down. I want everyone to come out alive from this one." As he turned to face the large opened doorway he was answered by six green winking lights in his helmet.
As soon as they began to move he began to think "I wonder why Alice isn't talking at all; she usually would have made a few jokes or smart remarks by now. I'll just have to ask her about it later." Alice was usually a chatter box but her lack of comments slightly unnerved John. That usually meant something was wrong. Seeing how she hasn't said anything concerning the mission he assumed it was a personal problem. As concerned as he was he had to finish the mission first and worry about personal feelings later even though he did not like it.
Saber team began its dissent from the ramp at the entrance that lead deeper into the structure. The walls, floor and ceiling of the structure all looked metallic with several lights shining from them. There were also lighted lines that adorned the structure which was how forunner technology looked.
Smith spoke over TEAMCOM "say captain, what do you think the covenant is after down here?" John replied "don't know but whatever it is it can't be good for us humans."
Alice the spoke up "agreed but I think the covenant is going to put up a fight trying to keep us out."
John looked over his shoulder back at his team and spoke "then let's pick up the pace Saber. It wouldn't be polite if we kept the covies waiting." The Spartans ran through the forunner catacombs at break neck speed. Ten minutes later they were close to the heart of the structure with no sign of covenant forces. Their progress slowed to a crawl as they came upon a hard light bridge in a huge chamber like room. The bridge glowed electric blue as it stretched across what seemed to be a bottomless ravine.
As they walked across it Alice decided to speak "don't look down."
John smirked behind his helmet "same old Alice" he thought. As the group of Spartans crossed the bridge they noticed a light shining through a smaller door and the other end of the room. They made their way across the room quickly and stopped at the door. John turned the corner slowly and spotted at least four covenant squads circled around some sort of small sphere that was the same color as the hard light bridge.
He moved slowly through the door and spotted an elite to his right along with several horizontal rectangular metal slabs protruding from the ground that looked just like the rest of the structure. They were long and just tall enough to fit over half of his team behind them. Those slabs meant cover and cover was precisely what John wanted right now in case things got hot.
He crouched and quietly approached the elite guard from behind. As he got closer he attached his assault rifle to the magnets on his back and reached for the knife on his left shoulder. He unsheathed his knife just as he got to the elite and wrapped his left arm around the elite's elongated neck. Just as the elite dropped his plasma rifle to attempt to free himself from John's grip his assailant stabbed the combat knife into the creature's neck. John pulled the knife back leaving a large gash in the alien's neck and preventing it from calling for its comrades.
The elite's body fell slowly and quietly as John pulled it behind one of the metal slabs, a silent kill. The rest of Saber team had positioned themselves around the covenant forces, each one behind a slab. Alice, Kane, and Jones to his right while Smith, Wyatt, and Taylor were to his left, a perfect ambush.
The captain then surveyed the remainder of the covenant's forces; all of them were focused on the orb in the center. He also took note that their weapons were lowered. This meant that they were relaxed and must not have heard the gunfire because of how deep inside the structure they were.
"Perfect targets" John thought with a grin as he lit up a green light in each of the Spartan's helmets signaling for them to open fire. The covenant forces wouldn't stand a chance against the ambush considering they had little to no cover.
He sheathed his knife and leveled his assault rifle on the nearest elite. As he opened fire the rest of his team did as well at their respective targets. The elite's shields flickered to life and gave way under John's sustained fire. It didn't even have time to turn before its shields were depleted and bullets were piercing its armor hitting it in vital areas. The elite dropped to the floor as the grunts panicked and started to run in different directions trying, unsuccessfully to dodge the incoming hailstorm of bullets. Three grunts hit the ground dead as Taylor, Jones, and Wyatt fired their assault rifles. Alice and smith caught the last two elites in their sights. Alice opened fire at her target with her assault rifle as Smith fired one clean shot from his sniper rifle which hit one of the two elites dead center in the head, killing it instantly.
The six jackals had managed to turn around and activate their energy shield gauntlets. The blue, solid plasma shields the aliens wore on their left wrists were large, circular and had small half circle openings the right side. The openings allowed the jackals to aim the plasma pistols they carried in their right hands while maintaining protection. The shields slightly distorted the jackal's bird-like forms.
As the jackals crouched behind their shields they opened fire. Saber team quickly got back behind their cover as the bolts of green plasma flew past them and impacted the slabs melting small dents into the walls.
"Frag em!" John yelled and just as he did Kane attached his shotgun on his back and pulled two grenades out of his "damage packs." Kane turned around the cover and gave the explosives a mighty toss after priming them. The grenades land right behind the jackals and detonated before the jackals could turn their shields. The explosions sent the jackals flying while the shrapnel penetrated the armor of the ones who weren't killed in the initial blast.
The shrapnel itself was enough to kill the frail aliens. After the explosions settled down and john heard no more plasma pistols firing he turned to see his fallen foes. The grenades not only killed the jackals but the remaining three grunts as well. The aliens' bodies were strewn across the floor while their different colored blood covered the ground they lay on.
The ground where the grenades had detonated was completely black. John slowly made his way past the bodies while occasionally looking down to make sure the aliens were dead. The rest of Saber team followed as John approached the artifact the covenant gathered around. The artifact looked unharmed from the fire fight that had just happened much to John's relief.
"That wasn't so hard after all," said Alice.
Upon closer inspection the sphere was comprised of small glowing hexagonal plates and looked several times bigger than John's hand. The plates that made up the electric blue sphere were inscribed with what looked like ancient symbols, the language of the forunners. John slowly reached his arm out towards the sphere but was caught by Alice.
"Hey we don't know what that thing is. We need to wait and scan it first." Alice said with worry lacing her voice. John turned to meet her gaze as their helmets golden visors lightened up to show their eyes through the large curved slim screens.
He nodded before speaking "I agree but we don't have time for that. The covenant is going to realize something's up when their dig team doesn't check in. We should grab what info we can before reinforcements show." Alice slowly released his arm and nodded meaning that she understood.
As soon as she let go John raised his hand and pressed it against the sphere. The bright blue tiles of the sphere glowed brighter under John's touch. The light outlined his hand before expanding. Were it not for the Spartans polarized visors they would have been blinded for a moment. The Spartans stepped back as a reflex while the light expanded and before they knew it a large holographic display of different planets and star systems appeared around them. Kane whistled at the impressive display while Wyatt was awestruck.
Wyatt then spoke "holy hell, it's a star map."
John looked closely at the three dimensional map before pointing just above them "look that's where we are right now." The rest of the Spartans looked up at the holographic image of the world they were currently on. A line then shot from the hologram and traced itself past several star systems before stopping at another system.
"What the hell's that line doing captain?" Jones asked. John simply shook his head slowly before replying "don't know, maybe it's a plotted course that the forunners took…" He looked closely at where the line had stopped "….and it stopped at the Procyon system? That was where the colony Arcadia was located before the covenant glassed it and took the system."
The term "glassed" was used whenever a covenant bombarded the surface of a planet with a beam of plasma that melted and burnt the surface giving the world a glassy look. A planet being glassed usually only happened when covenant warships destroyed the UNSC naval warships in space above the planet. That and when they didn't want to bother with sending troops to clear the world. Being on a planet that was being glassed meant one of three things. You should get far enough underground where the beam can't reach you, evacuate to a surviving ship in space, or you're going to die with the rest of the planet. If planet was glassed then it would take years and possibly decades before the atmosphere of the world can become stabilized. It would take even longer for the planet to become habitable once more. The covenant would glass a planet even if they still had forces on the ground. It's a cold tactic the covenant are well known for.
It was Alice's turn to speak "Arcadia was glassed over three years ago so what could the covenant find in that system now?"
John kept his gaze fixed on where the Procyon system is located "there were other worlds there, maybe the covenant is after something on one of them. Either way its bad news for us, we need to evacuate all forces back to the ship and get to the Procyon system ASAP."
Kane suddenly looked at John "we're pulling out? Are we seriously going to leave this world for the covenant to take?" John didn't like leaving a fight either especially if it was with the covenant. His visor turned back to solid gold instead of being transparent.
"I don't like it either but that's where the covenant is likely heading. Besides we're in the outer colonies, there's more than likely no UNSC forces to back us up in a pinch. I would rather not lose my ship and be stuck on this planet and get glassed."
Kane understood the captain's reasons and shook his head accordingly before replying "good point so what are we waiting for? Let's go stick it to the covenant." John smiled underneath his helmet "yeah let's." He then pressed a button which connected his com system back to his ship's "Saline, I got a present for you, a forunner stellar map that points us to the Procyon system and near Arcadia. Plot us a course and pull all forces back to the Conviction."
Saline immediately answered back "recalling all surface squads and plotting course for arcadia, aye sir."
John and his team left quickly were clear of the structure just before covenant reinforcements arrived to see their handy work.
After they made it back to the pelican that was under the cover of the blizzard he got into the pilots seat and closed the back hatch when his entire team was seated.
A few moments after he took off and the pelican was on its way out of orbit he spoke over TEAMCOM "hey Kane, ready to give the covenant our good bye gift?" Just before they left the structure John had told Kane and the rest of his team to line the walls and the artifact with C-12 shaped charges and detonate them with a remote detonator on his order.
"Holiday's here early for those bastards" Kane said while his thumb was millimeters above the red trigger button on the stick-like detonator.
"Blow them to hell," John ordered.
Kane smiled as he pressed the button "with pleasure." Moments before Kane had pressed the button several squads of covenant troops were inside the structure and approaching the artifact. When they finally noticed the explosives it was too late. The charges had completely destroyed the interior of the structure and caused the mountain it was built in to cave in. The blast had reached outside through the entrance to the structure and engulfed all the covenant forces within ten meters in flames. John looked at their handiwork from the aft camera on the pelican and fed the video feed to his team, they all were amused by the destruction they had caused to the covenant. "Merry Christmas Saber" John said as he flew the pelican back through orbit towards his ship.
As the pelican docked in one of the many hangers aboard the two and a half kilometer long ship Saline spoke to John through his helmet's com system. "Captain, eighty-five percent of our forces has been recalled." John made his way to the bridge of the ship. As he walked into the medium sized room he stopped next to his chair the "hot seat" was what people often called it. The seat was located at the center of the room. Of course John never used it while wearing his thousand pound armor for the seat would snap clean off the floor it was bolted to if the ship made the slightest turn or shift in momentum. The room was filled with monitors and screens along with a small team of people at separate consoles typing at keyboards.
A young woman who sat to the captain's right turned back to face him "sir, course plotted for the Procyon system and awaiting your order. " Lieutenant Sarah Hawkins was the navigational officer aboard the UNSC Righteous Conviction. Her light blonde hair was maintained at the sixteen centimeter length that regulations would allow and her steel blue eyes always showed how serious she is. She was the best shot and the best navigator in her graduating class at Luna. Her navigation and marksman skills show that she is definitely more than just a pretty face.
Lieutenant Gregory Miles manned the weapons station on the bridge. He had black buzz cut style hair and green eyes that meant business. He then turned to give his report as well "weapons systems are operational, MAC cannon is hot. Archer missile pod hatches open and ready to fire. Mass Driver is primed." He wanted to test the newly installed Onager cannon against a covenant ship and blow the poor covey bastards to hell with every fiber of his being. The cannon was also known as the Mass Driver. He would hold off on that however until John ordered it.
Lieutenant Miranda Hawkins stood post at ops. She was the twin sister of Sarah except her hair was up in a small ponytail and her eyes were green but just a serious. She and her sister had entered and graduated from Luna at the same time and both showed fierce determination and fiery spirits along with above average skill. That means they could keep their cool in a tight situation and John appreciated that. He couldn't bear to part the two anyways seeing how close they were so he accepted both of them onto his ship with open arms. He remembered how hard it was for him to part with his own family back on earth. Miranda gave her report "all forces accounted for captain, we're ready to dust off."
Manning the com station was Lieutenant Jacob Harlot. He kept a shaved head and his blue eyes showed that he took his post seriously. The man was one of the best communications officers that graduated from Luna. He could pick up on an intercept a transmission faster than anyone in his class. He was not however nearly as efficient as an A.I. such as Saline but John would need the man's talent regardless. "No pings or hails yet sir. Sending mission report back to Fleet Com HQ with your permission," he said.
John nodded his head while replying "send it."
Harlot began typing away at his console "it's away."
Saline's ghostly holographic image then appeared next to John above the cylinder by his chair known as a 'holo tank.' She began to speak "All hands ready and waiting captain. Course plotted and engines are hot."
John turned to her and spoke "take us out of here."
Saline simply replied "spinning up FTL drive, aye sir. You better hold on it might be a bumpy ride." John nodded as he looked back out of one of the five large windows on the bridge and took a long look at the planet they had to leave.
"I'll be back, just hold on," he whispered to himself as the steel blast shields covered the windows. The room darkened considerably as the ship shuddered multiple times just before a large pitch black portal with a dark blue outline appeared in front of the ship. The Righteous Conviction then flew into the portal and entered slip space, heading towards the crew's new destination.