Halo 2: Act III: Attack of the Clones
The Chief walked down the street, picking his way through rubble and wreckage. He was on hair trigger alert. The Covenant had attempted to ambush him several times, causing the deaths of the Marines accompanying him from the downed Pelican and also forcing him to listen to Cortana's lecture of how he should be more careful because she 'was in here too'. He heard the scrapping sound of metal on metal over Cortanas' riveting seminar on how not to die and turned around in a flash. He had caught a Grunt trying to sneak up on him. The offending little creature froze in it's tracks and started to shake from fright. John decided not to waste the ammo and instead of shooting it in the head said, "Boo." The Grunt squealed and dove behind a wrecked car faster than chain lighting. John chuckled to himself and took a step forward when he heard a snick. He immediately ducked and brought his borrowed Battle Rifle around to his left and up. A beam of concentrated energy passed through the space his had occupied just moments ago. His return burst caught the Jackal sniper under the chin and penetrated it's brain, killing it instantly. As it fell and hit the ground, the Grunt from earlier had again tried to sneak up on him, only to be smashed into the ground by the Jackal's body. The grunt scrambled out from under the corpse frantically and in his rush to be free, his plasma grenade got caught on the Jackals' finger, which twitched at the worst possible moment and armed the grenade. The Grunt looked down in horror to see a blue light glowing ever brighter on his waist. He screamed in terror and tried to throw it, only succeeding in sticking it to his hand. The screams caught John's attention who looked over just in time to see the Grunt explode in a strobe of blue light. He just shook his head. "I'll never understand how those poor little things can even be considered cannon fodder," Cortana commented. "They're not. They're the cannon fodder for cannon fodder." Cortana laughed.
A few minutes later he came across a pair of Marines, one of whom was hyper-ventilating, while the other one was cool as a cucumber, albeit a bit frustrated. "It blew right past us," she said, gazing after the rear end of a Scarab tank receding down the bridge. "50 .Cal, rockets; didn't do a thing." John looked after the Scarab. What I wouldn't give for a tank right now. No sooner than the thought crossed his mind, a Pelican soared over the site and turned to land, a Scorpion Tank hanging from the aft section. To say the least, John was surprised. Usually fate made him fight uphill for everything.
He wasn't even surprised when he saw Johnson leap out the back of the Pelican as well. He glanced at the Chief as he approached for a moment before turning his attention to the woman. "Where's the rest of your platoon?", he asked. Grimly she replied, "Wasted Sarge." Just then the other Marine found the strength to stand up and speak. "And we will too sir! If we don't get the hell out of here!" He made to move past the Sergeant, but Johnson caught him by the shoulder without looking at him. "You hurt Marine?", he asked pointedly. "The other's voice quavered as he said, "N-no-no sir." Johnson looked him dead in the eye and barked, "Then listen up!" He looked at them all. "Usually the good Lord works in strange and mysterious ways---but not today!" He gestured to the imposing tank behind him as he said, "This here is 66 tons of straight up, H-E spewing, DIVINE INTERVENTION!" He looked at directly at the cowardly Marine. "If God is love, then you can call me cupid." The woman motioned in the direction of the Covenant behemoth. "What about that Scarab?" Johnson turned to look in that direction as he pulled out yet another of his endless supply of cigars. "We've all run the simulations. They're tough but they ain't invincible." Looking purposefully at John, he said, "Stick with the Master Chief; he'll know what to do." John scoffed. Figures he would dump them on me. But he kept his mouth shut. Cortana, on the other hand, couldn't. "Thanks for the tank. He never gets me anything." John couldn't help but smile at that. Johnson had settled into the back of the Pelican as it readied for takeoff, straddling the machine gun. "Oh I know what the ladies like," he said. As the Pelican lifted off, Johnson yelled down, "Hey Chief, make sure you keep an eye on that one." He pointed at the male attempting to sidle off unnoticed. John looked over but before he could grab him, the female Marine had strode over, grabbed the Marine by the shirt front, dragged him back to the tank, and plopped him into the turret gunner seat. She simply said, "Stay," as one might say to a dog, and locked him into the cubicle. John simply shook his head in amazement as he walked over to the Scorpion Tank and sat in the driver's seat. As he made to close the cover, the female Marine said, "I'll watch that idiot Melvin. You just shoot."
Lord Hood watched as the UNSC Halcyon- class cruiser Breaking Horizon's MAC gun spat a ferric tungsten round straight through the shields of a Covenant Destroyer, impacting on the hull, leaving a sizable mark. Archer Missiles lanced out from missile pods and exploded against the shields. The Destroyer turned with deadly intent toward the UNSC vessel---only to be distracted by two Republic Consular-class Light Cruisers slashing across the larger ship's bow. The two small ships peppered the Covenant ship with laser fire from twin turbolaser cannons. Their firepower, even combined, was not enough to drain the shields. It was akin to a Kowakian Monkey Lizard trying to beat up a Rancor, but it distracted the Covenant ship for a few precious seconds as the UNSC vessel broke off. Their job completed, the two ships split up on either side of the Destroyer, easily dodging the return fire from the slow plasma torpedoes and disengaging from the Covenant vessel as the Resolute closed to point blank range with the Fires of Redemption. The Republic gunners wasted no time at all in unloading their lethal payload on the starboard of the enemy ship, riddling the side of the vessel with scorch marks, fires, and explosions. The return fire from the Redemption had no visible effect upon it's Republic counterpart, other than to cause the guns to increase their rate of fire. Lord Hood shook his head in amazement as he turned to the screen before him. "I must say I'm impressed Kenobi. The damage your ships can take is astounding, as is their ability to deal out punishment." The man Kenobi smiled. "And I must say that I am impressed by the tenacity with which you defend you're home." Lord Hood nodded as he gave a smile of his own. "It's so good to be loved." Kenobi chuckled and said, "Indeed. Now," he said frowning, "What can you tell me about this ... Covenant." Lord Hood sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Not very much I'm afraid. Our first contact was hostile. One of our ships came across one of their's and they attacked after saying that our elimination was the will of their gods and they were their instrument. Directly after, they laid siege to a planet we called Harvest." He grimaced as he recalled the incident. "At first things were going well. We drove back their first attempts to take the planet. But then...they arrived in force." He leaned forward and cupped his hands underneath his chin. "They massacred our troops and our fleet. Once that was done with, they glassed the planet." Kenobi's frown deepened. "What do you mean, glassed?" "They glassed the planet's surface with their ships. Literally glass due to the fact that their plasma weapons could fire for sustained periods at maximum heat and power. The planet was rendered uninhabitable and was lost. Since then, things have assumed a pattern. They come, wipe out the fleet, land troops, decimate our forces, then glass the planet. Every now and then we'll win an engagement on the ground, but not without severe casualties."
Obi-wan sat, silent as rock, for a time. Then he said, "Lord Hood, I hereby offer you our assistance, in exchange for a place to keep our fleet when at berth." Lord Hoods' grim expression brightened somewhat. "Thank you Obi-Wan. On behalf of the UNSC, I formally accept your offer of aid. Let's just hope," Hood said, growing somber once more, "That this will be enough."
The Spartan walked out of the smoking remnants of the Scarab's metal carcass, as nonchalant as if he were ordering dinner, holding his rifle in a one handed grip. He looked up to the Covenant Carrier still hovering above the city. Hearing a whine to the left behind him, he turned around to see Johnson in his Pelican, hovering next to to him. Johnson was crowing with delight. "Oh yeah, that's right you mothers, RUN!" As he said this the Carrier's rear flared in a burst of light, as it's engines came online. Slowly it began to push it's way forward. Commander Keyes came over the radio. "Not if we can help it Sergeant. Extract the Chief and return to In Amber Clad." He acknowledged the order and Keyes signed off. As the John lumbered into the cargo bay, Johnson called back, "So, what's next Chief? First a Covenant capital ship, then a Scarab...what else ya got in mind? Try a Halo. That should be a challenge at least." John shook his head. "I never ever want to hear of another Halo."