Halsey watched as they loaded up the rather…small freighter with gear for N's new mission. Assault rifles, battle rifles, some pistols, an SMG or two, and more than a few grenades of both the human and Covenant variety. Halsey sighed. That ship down there looked like a piece of junk; besides, why design a ship after a firefly of all things?
Walking away, she almost ran into the Spartan she had been thinking about. "N?" she said, looking at the young soldier irritably. "Aren't you supposed to be down there?" she asked, pointing at the ship.
N shrugged. "Yeah. Your point being ma'am?"
Halsey was about to retort when the lights in the Infinity went out, only to be replaced by red emergency lighting…and N now wearing his helmet. "Come on Doc, we have a ride to catch," he said as he picked up the scientist bridal style. Halsey had no choice other than to hold on for dear life as N jumped over the railing to the hanger floor below. Crashing down, the Spartan made a sizable dent in the floor and rushed off to his new ship.
In seconds, the two of them were in and rushing to the bridge. "Doc, I need you start the flight cycle and charge up the Slip-Space Drive!" N ordered as he went back to check on the cargo. Halsey decided not to argue and did as he said.
N reached the door to the cargo hold and was about to close it when Osman's voice came in blaring over the comms. "Sierra Seven-two-one, what are you doing?!" Osman yelled. "You are in violation of UCMJ 09-85A, subparagraph twelve, section-"
"Oh shut up!" N shouted as he sealed the bay, not even noticing the ODST who was still somehow asleep by the crate of BR85 HB 9.5x40mm ammunition. Rushing back into the cockpit, N slid into the reinforced chair as Marines came pouring into the bay. "Doc, status?"
"Ready for the most part!" Halsey said. Damn, she hadn't been in a situation like this since she had taken Kelly away from Blue Team to reach Onyx. Without a second's pause, N tapped a few controls and gunned the small Firefly out of the Infinity. Seconds later, the nearby frigates started launching Longswords.
"Fuck!" N yelled as he sent the ship into a barrel roll. "Doc, the Drive!"
"Seventy-two and climbing! We'll be at full charge in ten seconds!" Halsey yelled as the nearest fighter launched a missile pod at them. N hit one of the multitude of buttons, releasing countermeasures. They mostly worked; only one missile got past, and even then, it hit the shielded rear section.
N yanked the stick back and looped behind the fighter, keeping him in his sights. N barely heard Halsey shout out that the drive was ready to go. He punched in a set of random coordinates, and hit the big red button. And with that, N, Halsey, and one really unlucky OSDT known as Rookie disappeared from the UNSC.
\/\/
Slip-space
Everyone on board knew what Slipspace was like, and this was not Slipspace. Slipspace was an eleven dimension manifold that the normal human eye couldn't ever hope to see. The Technicolor display in N's viewport told him otherwise. That, and there was a Covvie corvette heading his way, and it looked like it was about to fall apart. Odd thing was, he was getting a UNSC transponder signal from it.
"Doc, think we can hook up with that thing, see what's making the signal?" he asked. Halsey nodded and got up, heading to the cargo bay to see if there was a single HAZMAT suit. What she found instead was an ODST who was rubbing his helmet in pain.
"Is your suit breached?" Halsey asked. The Rookie shook his head no. "Then help me find a HAZMAT suit!" The Rookie nodded and searched through the crates for a suit for Halsey. Two minutes later, the two of them found one, and after helping her get into it, the Rookie stood over by the door as N guided the ship over to the still disintegrating Corvette.
N managed to get the Firefly to "hover" right next to the hanger bay where the signal was coming from. "Okay Doc, I'm guessing we have five before that ship falls to pieces on us, so move fast!" he said over the comm.
"Understood," she responded as the Rookie opened up the door. "I'll be taking our stowaway as well as back up." The Rookie looked alarmed at that, and if Halsey could guess, the same was on N's face.
"Stowaway? Who the fuck is it?"
Halsey shrugged, a habit that she knew she'd picked up from N. "My old ODST escort. Preparing to enter Covenant ship," she said, walking up to the shimmering blue field of energy. The Rookie followed close behind her, an SMG in his hands. Silently swallowing the lump of fear she didn't know she had, Halsey took a step towards the field, and entered the ship.
The first thing she noticed were the bodies. Most of them were Covenant, but she did see a few bodies that belonged to the UNSC Marine Corps. Next on things that were odd was that all of the bodies so far were rather fresh; some Zealots hadn't stopped bleeding. Halsey felt a tap at her shoulder. She turned and saw the Rookie point towards a Pelican that had obviously seen better days, and one that had a Slipspace generator in the hold. Wait, Slipspace generator?
One of the side doors opened, and Rookie snapped his SMG at it, attempting to push Halsey to the ground. Halsey resisted, because she recognized the giant that came through the door. Walking up to them, the giant set down its M247 GPMG, and took off its helmet. "It's good to see some friendly faces," the giant said, his voice thick with a Hungarian accent.
"Jorge?" Halsey asked, walking up to him. Jorge stiffened.
"Ma'am," he said curtly, almost at attention. Halsey breathed a sigh of relieve, and one of sadness.
"Jorge, is there anything left in the Pelican?" she asked. Jorge shook his head as he put his helmet back on.
"Not much Ma'am. A few more boxes of ammo for my gun, a pistol, two assault rifles, and a box of grenades. Why?"
"Because Jorge," Halsey said as she pointed at the ship she had come in. "We need to get back on that before this ship falls apart on us." Jorge nodded and went into the Pelican, coming out seconds later with all the ammo he'd need for his main weapon. Rookie looked at the Spartan and went into the Pelican, put the pistol on his thigh armor, and grabbed the grenades. Walking back to the Firefly, he saw Jorge securing his gun and ammo, and that Halsey didn't know what the hell to do.
"Ma'am, if you would be so kind as to retrieve the assault rifles?" Rookie asked, his quiet voice still managing to be heard clearly. Halsey looked at the Pelican and nodded, walking off to grab the guns. Rookie looked over at Jorge, who was now standing right next to him.
"I'll take these," he said, taking the grenades. Rookie didn't resist as Jorge took the box and left, just as Halsey came in with the rifles. Handing one to the Rookie, Halsey tapped the comm.
"N, we're back in. Sending Jorge up to you now," she said as Jorge secured the grenades. "Jorge, the bridge is up the stairs. You can't miss it." Jorge nodded and climbed up the ladder. Turning to the Rookie, she said, "Anywhere we can be secure?" The Rookie nodded as he pointed to the rooms in the upper deck.
/\/\
Jorge sat down next to N. "So, what do you want me to do?" he asked the younger Spartan. N pointed to a control panel.
"Make sure the Slipspace manifold doesn't collapse!" he cried out as a massive chunk of ship almost hit them as they flew off. Jorge nodded and turned his attention to the control panel. For the most part, he could understand it. There was the reactor core temperature and coolant levels, life support, Slipspace manifold integrity, and then the –
CRAKA-BOOM!
Sparks flew into Jorge's face as the Slipspace manifold display blew apart. The ship itself violently left Slipspace, and was now hurtling towards a planet below. "EVERYONE HOLD ON!" N yelled through the comms, his face scrunched tight as he fought the ship for control. "I'm a leaf in the wind, watch how I fly," he said as started controlling the ship. "Sir, I need you to hit the retros on my mark." Jorge grunted in confirmation and made his hand over the button.
The Rookie and Halsey were still in the hold, strapped onto one of the crates tightly. Halsey looked like she was about to pass out. The Rookie took out a small device, synced it with his helmet, and all of a sudden, Doom's 'At Hell's Gate," better known as E1M1, started blaring out of his helmet. Halsey struggled to move her head so that she could look at the Rookie. "You have to pick now of all times?" she asked, obviously ticked. Defying the laws of normal physics, the Rookie shrugged casually as he soon started snoring. Halsey's jaw dropped. So this was the infamous Rookie from New Mombassa?! Damn, the kid could snore.
N watched as the ground came closer and closer to them. Eyeing the altimeter, he yelled out for Jorge to hit the retro thrusters. The big man did, pushing the button that would slow down the ship to where they wouldn't die after the first bounce of impact. N did his best to keep the ship level, but as it was, the small ship landed in a heavily wooded area, killed more than a few miles of trees in a straight line, and came to rest right before a small stone shrine.
N's safety harness snapped and sent him flying through the window, having him land next to the shrine; Jorge blacked out as pain assaulted his nerves, Halsey had passed out when the retro rockets fired, and the Rookie was writhing in almost the same pain Jorge had. N, well, N was still in pain, but happily out cold.
\_/\_/
Raynor was walking the halls of his manor when he saw the runner coming towards him. Nodding to the smaller coyote, Raynor waited for the runner to deliver his message. "My lord, something is wrong with the Seal!" he said panting.
Raynor was briefly paralyzed before he leapt off to the sacred pit, hoping that it wasn't too late. Using a few tricks up his metaphorical sleeve, Raynor managed to get to the pit in time to see a massive portal hovering in the middle of it. Shaman and Selena were there, but the young coyote fem, Raynor's own daughter, was caught in the portal's suction. Raynor jumped down and landed next to Shaman, grabbing his daughter with three of his five tails. "Selena, I've got you!" he cried out.
Selena's piercing gold eyes looked into her father's icy blue as she started to slip from his grasp. "Daddy, I love you!" she said tearfully, before the portal wrenched her out of Raynor's grasp, her small form disappearing in the blinding indigo light of the rupture.
"SELENA!" Raynor cried out as he watched helplessly as not only his daughter disappeared, but the portal as well. Turning wildly to Shaman, tears in his eyes, Raynor went ballistic. "Shaman, what happened? Where's my daughter?"
Shaman trembled, but whether it was from fear or exhaustion, no one could tell. "I don't know what happened to the seal. I just don't know. As for Selena, I believe that she has been sent to meet our summoner," she said wearily.
Raynor shook in anger and seconds later, howled longingly at the moon that showed itself from behind the clouds.
/_\/_\
This basically concludes what I'd call the 'Prologue' section of "Naruto: Hayabusa." As always, reviews, critiques, and suggestions are welcome! Now, dear readers, here is a question: Should I have Naruto's parents be alive, or shall I have his life proceed as 'normal?' Tell me in your reviews! And look out for a continuation of Kakashi's mask gag sometime soon! Enjoy!