Good morning children! I'm sorry if I haven't put up anything for a while, but as I've said before: college comes first. Today you get to read about the master chief again! YAY!
Feel free to give yourself some bliss by enjoying chapter 10 of Halo 4: A Rip in Time!
The Chief watches the earth get smaller as the Pelican climbs higher up into the atmosphere from the cockpit window. The cool blue color of the sky fades into the white pin-pricked blackness of space. The Pelican pilot is a woman of small stature compared to the Chief, being at around five foot six. Her long brown hair is tied into a ponytail and is hanging out of the back of her helmet.
The Chief found out that her name is May Celsus when they had a conversation about The Ark. Turns out that she was one of the few passengers that survived the first incident with the Forward Unto Dawn thanks to the Arbiter finding her on his way to the bridge. She also volunteered to help search the remaining parts of the Dawn for the Chief.
"Alright Chief, ETA to the UNSC Infinity is five minutes." She says. The Chief nods and makes his way to the back of the Pelican.
Admiral Hood is looking over the report that the Chief had written a day ago about Del Rio and his kill team. The Chief has never wished death on any human until two days ago. Del Rio put one of the Chief's fellow Spartans at risk, and he wasn't going to take that sitting down.
And if he had just listened to the Chief, Cortana may still be alive.
The Chief sits down across from Hood. "We'll be there in about five minutes sir." The Chief reports, careful not to interrupt the Admiral's reading.
After a few seconds, Hood takes off his hat and rubs his bare head. It's become something of a habit for him ever since he started losing his hair. Hood sighs. "I'd always had a feeling that Andrew Del Rio would be a problem." He starts. "But I never would have thought that he would go this far.
Hood closes the file and places it on his lap. "Thank you for the report Master Chief. Once we are on board the Infinity I will give the orders to bring in Del Rio."
"Thank you, sir." The Chief replies.
May's voice comes on over the rear speakers in the Pelican. "Admiral, Chief, we're here."
The Chief stands up and makes his way into the cockpit. He looks out the window and sees the massive hull of the UNSC Infinity taking up the majority of the space in front of the Pelican. The ship is buzzing with activity; cargo ships bringing supplies and weapons go to and from the Infinity while pelicans bring in fresh troops.
The Chief glances at May and sees her look of amazement. "I knew the Infinity was big, but that is just… damn."
The Chief thought the same thing the first time he saw the Infinity on Requiem. Of course they were under different circumstances and his feelings were some of confusion and concern, but regardless, he was still amazed.
May turns on her radio. "Infinity Actual, this is Pelican four-niner requesting permission to dock." She makes the necessary adjustments to the Pelican's trajectory to dock in any one of the Infinity's space bays.
A female's voice comes in through the radio. "This is Commander Palmer. Permission granted, you are cleared to dock in space bay four."
"Commander Palmer?" Chief asks. "The Captain's made a smart choice for his second in command."
"So Chief, mind if I ask you a question? A personal one?" May asks without taking her eyes off of the Infinity.
"Shoot." The Chief replies.
"I was wondering… if you were offered to join the Spartan IV program, would you do it?"
The Chief ponders this for a moment. He's been a Spartan II his entire life, but he's never really thought about becoming a Spartan IV. He remembers Hood telling him about Linda being offered a chance into the Spartan IV program, but she declined.
"I'll have to think about that one." He finally replies.
May nods as she docks the Pelican into Space Dock Four. The Pelican lands on the dark metal floor with a "thud" sound. Pistons awaken and open the ramp on the backside of the Pelican, revealing Commander Palmer standing in attention in her Scout Armor. "Admiral Hood sir!"
Hood walks off of the Pelican and returns the salute. The Chief follows behind him. "At ease Commander." Hood says calmly. "Let's not waste any time. Take us to the bridge, I wish to speak with Captain Lasky."
"Yes sir." Palmer looks around and notices the engineers and some Spartan IVs staring at the Master Chief. "Did I say you can take break ladies? Get back to your stations!" She barks. Everyone immediately looks away and goes back to their business. Palmer looks at Hood and is suddenly calm again. "Right this way sir." She says before turning around and walking towards an elevator. Hood and the Chief follow.
The Chief couldn't help but wonder why the Spartans were staring at him. He was used to normal people looking at him like that; even ODST's would stop and stare. But he had never been looked at by another Spartan like that before. It made him feel awkward.
When they get to the bridge, Lasky shakes Hood's hand. "It's good to see you Captain Lasky."
"Likewise, sir." Lasky replies. Lasky looks at the Chief. "Master Chief. Glad you could make it."
"Glad to be here, sir." Master Chief says. Lasky smirks at the word 'sir'.
"So Captain, care to do some debriefing?" Hood asks.
"Yes sir. Palmer?" Lasky motions for Palmer to give the debriefing. Palmer leads Hood and Chief over to the center holographic situation map. A hologram of Planet Requiem pops up.
"This is the forerunner planet, designated 'Requiem'." Palmer starts. "After the attack on Earth, the Covenant had fled the planet, never to return."
A hologram of several Covenant carriers pops up orbiting Requiem. "Or so we thought until two weeks ago. They have come back looking for something, and we believe they found it."
The holographic video feed that Hood showed Chief pops up. The video freezes and zooms in on the cube that the fleeing Elite is holding.
"What is it?" The Chief asks.
"We don't know." Palmer replies. "But if the Covenant want it, then so do we."
Requiem pops up again. Palmer points to a group of Covenant ships orbiting the planet. "There are no more ground forces on Requiem as of yesterday, but for some reason their ships are still there."
Lasky steps in. "And that is where the Chief and his team comes in."
Two Spartan IV's walk on deck with Kelly following behind them. The first Spartan IV is wearing white EOD armor, while the other is wearing blue Recon armor. Kelly is wearing one of the newer Mjolnir VI armor variants.
"This is your team." Lasky starts. "Of course you know Kelly."
Kelly nods at the Chief, and he does the same.
Lasky motions towards the white Spartan IV. "This is Lieutenant Jack Wallous. He is the explosives expert." Jack salutes the Chief. Chief reluctantly does the same.
An explosive expert? The Chief wonders. He's a Spartan. He should be an expert in everything.
Lasky then moves onto the blue Spartan IV. "This is Lieutenant Lucy Stillworth. She has been mostly training with Covenant and Forerunner weapons, so she knows how they work inside and out." Lucy salutes the Chief, and he does the same.
Lasky moves over to a data console and pulls out a holochip. He walks over to the Chief and opens his mouth, but nothing comes out.
The new AI. Chief figures.
Palmer moves over to Lasky and holds out her hand. Lasky nods and hands her the chip. "And finally…" Palmer begins. "We have your new AI."
The Chief hesitantly takes the chip and stares at it. He doesn't even know what to think. Will it be another Cortana? Could he deal with something like that? He puts the chip into the back of his helmet and he feels a sense of cool liquid enter his mind.
"Hello Chief."
Hate me if you want, but I always like making people hang on for their lives off the edge of a cliff.
(We writers have to get a laugh somehow, right?)
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway , I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I know that it's a short one, but I'll make it up to you!
Also, be sure to check out my Mass Effect 3 Alternate Ending story!
I might also start writing a Skyrim story, kind of like how the Halo: The Flood is structured. Tell me your opinions!
I hope you're looking forward to the next chapter! Goodnight Children!