Standoff
The giant abyss that was below the platform we were standing above yawned, as if trying to swallow us. Standing in front of 343 Guilty Spark and his Sentinels, it was a choice of fighting, or dying.
The monitor flashed away, leaving his sentinels to deal with us. A mistake, as we quickly rolled away from their fiery beams, then drew our Rifles opening fire on them in return. My BR55 still had a couple of clips, and I used a standard 3 shot burst to put them down quickly. The forerunner machines fell, holes in their bodies as I burned through my ammunition. Chief opted to use his M90 shotgun, firing methodically and its broad pattern proved effective in taking them down. A sentinel hit me with one of its beams, and I rolled away, but it still drained half of my shields. The offending sentinel was quickly put out of commission, and I rose back up to take the rest down. The last sentinel seemed to notice it was outnumbered, as it simply descended to our level, and charged in a suicidal blast. I wasn't fast enough to avoid it, and it slammed into me. We both careened over the edge as I heard Cortana yell out in panic.
"Will!"
I knew I was going to fall, so I swung my legs forward in an effort to catch some momentum. It didn't work as we both sailed over the edge. I then turned and put both my hands on its twin fins that extended from its centerpiece. We were sinking farther and farther down. I realized due to my weight, I could control it. I pushed up, and it went up, but not without a fight, smashing into the walls of the giant room surrounding us.
Chief's voice blared into my helmet, very loudly.
"Will, Will, report! What happened?"
"I'm fine! Pulling myself up with a sentinel."
"You're doing what?"
I didn't reply, as I scrunched my face up in concentration. The sentinel turned around, in an attempt to twist me downwards. I had to use all my strength, and nearly broke my arms, but I managed to pull it back upwards, pulling him up and over into the control room platform.
Letting go, I dropped, turned and shot the Sentinel straight in its 'head'. Chief said nothing, but he walked up to me and clasped his had on my shoulder. Cortana said the words he wouldn't say.
"Will, I'm glad you're okay."
"You and me both, I can't believe how I survived that."
" I guess it's true, Spartans never die." Cortana joked as I shook myself off. Turning back to Chief and Cortana, I said.
"So, you have a plan right?"
Cortana unashamedly replied before Chief," Yes, I do. We ant let the Monitor activate Halo. We have to stop him- we have to destroy Halo."
Chief nodded, but flexed his shoulders as if to question her statement. " How will we do that?"
"According to my analysis of the available data I believe the best course of action, is somewhat risky."
Of course it is, I thought.
" An explosion of sufficient size should be enough to destroy the ring, but it needs to be huge. A starship, like the Pillar of Autumns will do the trick. We need to find where it landed. If its fusion reactors are intact, we can make them go critical, destroying them."
Chief joked for the first time in a while. " Is that it? Sounds easy enough. It's nice to have you back Cortana."
Cortana appeared on both our HUD's smiling widely. "It's good to be back."
"Let's just get moving guys." I told Chief, who seemed very relieved. He nodded, and we continued onwards. Thinking about their relationship I understood, as they were completely interdependent on each other. One died, the other would follow. I was just here for the ride, to help Chief in anyway he can. So in a way I was a third wheel.
Continuing onwards, our boots made a hollow sound as we approached the gargantuan blast doors. I hit a switch, and revealed bedlam going on. Sentinels and Covenant ground troops were in battle, as red lasers and blue bolts crisscrossed throughout the air, as machines exploded and Covenant fell. The room was large, long and rectangular, and we stood at one end. Well out of harm's way, we watched the battle unfold, waiting for them to whittle each other down. When the battle finished, both groups were dead, with one wounded Elite lying on the corrugated floor bleeding. As we approached, the Elite stared at us with pure fury in his eyes.
"Demons, you shall not imperil the Great Journey!"
I said nothing, watching him continue rambling about how we were filth of the earth, and how we were unfit to even be here. It coughed more blood, and I knew it was in extreme pain. I walked towards him, and knelt at him.
He simply roared in defiance before angling its snout-like head downwards. Pulling out my M6 pistol I put a round through the back of its head.
Chief looked at me, and we continued on. We were both running pretty low on ammo, so I grabbed a Plasma Repeater and Carbine from a nearby crate, and Chief grabbed a Needle Rifle, and a Beam Rifle from a dead jackal. From then on, it was a short journey to get out of the control room, and back to the blizzard. There were many guards, but all had their backs turned, and didn't turn till we opened the door fully. From that, it was a series of double takes before they started to respond. We were ready as we gunned them down with our energy weapons. They quickly fell. I drained an Elite's shields with my repeater, then with one hand grabbed my carbine and popped him in the head. Chief blew the rest apart with a focused barrage of needles.
"Okay we need to find transportation." I said as I studied the landscape around us, looking for a ghost, or any vehicle we could take. As if right on cue, a wraith came from around a corner and shot a mortar at us. We dived away, avoiding the blast but I could feel the heat emanating from the explosion. Running around the structure, we saw another battle going on with the Covenant and the Flood, but this time they noticed us.
I shot at a Flood Combat form, which promptly dissolved into mush from the radioactive pellets in the Type-51 Carbine. The flood fell left and right as I hit them in the head and chest, melting their outsides like vampires in the sun. Chief was handling the Covenant, hitting Elites and breakneck speed with his needle rifle, blowing their shields apart and then puncturing their throats with a needle, which exploded seconds later.
Swapping to my Plasma Repeater, I fired until it overheated at an ultra Elite with an energy sword storming at me, overloading its shields. It was promptly finished from a Flood carrier explosion courtesy of Chief's needle rifle. Little pods overwhelmed the rest of the Covenant as we continued to wear both forces down. A Jackal with a shield charged past me in hope of blindsiding me, but it didn't make it. I stuck out my hand in a clothesline, and slammed it to the floor. My superhuman strength served to ensure the Jackal wouldn't survive, as it hit the snowy floor with a sickening crunch. Grabbing a plasma grenade from its corpse, I tossed it onto the final enemy, an Elite minor, which promptly vaporized.
While all this was happening, the wraith was still lobbing plasma bombs from over the hill, and we needed to find additional firepower fast.
"Cortana, I need you to do a scan of the area, look for any heavy weapons." Chief asked her.
The smart AI scanned her systems for a fraction of a second, and then replied. "Sure. Scanning, up ahead, rocket launchers."
A dead Flood/Elite's carcass was holding on to the Rocket Launcher, and it was loaded. Some steps ahead, another Rocket launcher lay on the ground next to a dead human/Flood. I grabbed his dog tags from the remains and the launcher.
As we crept back around the corner, we saw the wraith backing into a large valley. We expended both tubes, and the wraith stood no chance, as it exploded in a fiery mist. On the bottom of the large valley, there were two banshees, with Elites guarding them. Chief immediately unsheathed his beam rifle, and within 10 seconds, the two Elites were headless and on the floor.
"Nice shot."
Chief nodded, as we continued down towards the Banshees.
Cortana instructed us," We need to buy some time in case the Monitor finds a way to activate Halo. There are machines in these canyons, which amplify its signal, allowing it to fire into space. There are three of them, and we need to damage or destroy them. I'm marking the position now.
Climbing into a Banshee, I looked at the controls.
"Hey Chief, what does that squiggly line do again?"
I almost heard a chuckle, as Cortana patiently instructed me what each and every one of the buttons did.
"Will, when was the last time you piloted a Banshee, like a real one." Chief asked me.
Hesitant, I finally replied," That would be never. So many years of training and warfare and still haven't piloted one of these things."
"Well, what can you pilot?" He continued.
"Oddly enough, all ground and air terrain vehicles except for the Banshee, and the space vehicles. Those Daemon tanks are a bastard to control."
Chief grunted in affirmation, and Cortana audibly sighed.
"Boys, can we go? While I'm still figuratively young?"
I gunned the Banshee, and we headed out.
It was dark like midnight out here, and a blizzard was growing, which meant that visibility was horrible. We kept a close eye on the nav point that Cortana had set. Despite it being alien, their standards, like x and y-axes and the turning were exactly the same as humans, albeit with different symbols and designations. We made good speed quickly, getting close to a well-lit platform, and surprised Covenant. We banked into a side-by-side formation, strafing the platform clear of aliens, before dismounting for an unopposed landing.
Chief's banshee gracefully banked and slowed, as he made a soundless landing. My Banshee crunched into the platform, bounced once, then slammed into the wall. I got off, shaking my head. We then passed through a small hatch, and entered the tunnel beyond.
Cortana informed both of us," We need to interrupt the pulse generator's energy stream, I won't bore you with how I did it, but I adjusted both of your shield systems to deliver and EMP burst, disrupting the generator. The bad news is, you have to walk into it."
We both stopped just shy of the next hatch. "Say again?"
The smart AI replied matter-of-factly," You'll have to walk into the beam to trigger it, the blast should neutralize the generator."
Chief was about to reply, but I beat him to the punch. "Cortana, I'd like to survive this? Whose side are you on?"
Cortana coyly replied," Ours, lest you forget, I'm in one of your minds."
Chief growled back," I remember, but your not the one who gets the cuts and bruises."
I sighed, as we continued on the hatch, following Cortana's nav indicator.
The pulse generator was impossible to miss; in fact, it was so bright I had to darken my visor just to get a clear view. To add to that, I could feel the crackle of ionized air was we approached the delta-shaped structures. I looked at Chief, and he simply extended his hand outstretched. I groaned, as I walked towards the beam.
"Cortana, you're sure this won't kill me right?" I yelled, for no reason other than being fearful.
" You should be fine, I can almost guarantee it." As I walked into the beam, all I could hear was her voice saying, 'almost' A loud boom, and the pulse generator shook in response, pulsating. I hurried to pull myself free of the beam, and felt a suction cup-like pulling at me armor. I got myself out, but I felt sunburned, and my shields were drained, slowly recharging.
"Well done, the core pulse generators are offline." Cortana said.
A squadron of Sentinels arrived, swooping into the chamber like vultures, spraying the area with their golden beams. I tumbled forward, slamming into the wall. I overheated the Plasma Repeater into 3 of the flying machines, which sputtered, exploded, and crashed onto the floor, spewing various parts across the floor. A machine hovered past me, firing its beam into Chief, who staggered, but his shield held. I grabbed it by one of its fins, throwing it onto the floor, then stomped on it. Its central 'eye' was completely destroyed by my foot, as it deactivated. Chief fired through the final Sentinel with his beam rifle, cleanly punching through it. The fight done, we began to make our way out. The air was stick with ozone as Cortana said, "The second generator is in an adjacent canyon, I'll mark it when you get back to your Banshees." We got out, hopped on, and went towards our objective.
We both spotted the next waypoint around 10 minutes away from our previous destination. We set town the hijacked banshees on the platform, and then went through an unguarded hatch. We heard the battle before we even saw it, and as we crouched through the narrow hallway, and into the pulse generator chamber, we saw the Covenant and Flood taking it to each other. The two groups whittled each other down, and then when the survivors were just recovering, we hopped down, tidying up with ease.
Spotting a couple human weapons amongst the dead Flood, we dropped our Covenant weapons, grabbing a Battle Rifle, Shotgun, and several grenades for both of us each. I also found a spare sidearm in the chest of a Flood form, pulling it out with grim satisfaction. Eager to finish the second generator, I quickly stormed through it, disabling it. We were about to leave when the Flood dropped in from every direction. Chief made to run, but I clapped a hand on his shoulder, and then rolled a grenade at them. Chief understood what I meant, as he did the same. The two frag grenades were very effective, blowing up with a 'wham!' and taking out quite a number of the Flood. I swapped to my battle rifle, picking off the ones wielding weapons, as Chief used his shotgun to blow apart any who came close. Carrier forms exploded like grenades as they fell to the ground. The battle took less than two minutes. Chief nodded at me in appreciation, and I returned it. Cortana quipped," I wonder what it would be like if it was just one of you fighting. Anyways, pulse generator deactivated-good work."
Making our way back to our Banshees, we moved to the final pulse generator. "The Pillar of Autumn is located twelve hundred kilometers up ahead," Cortana continued. "Energy readings show her fusion reactors are still powered up! The systems on the Autumn have fail-saves I cant override without permission from the Captain, we need to find him, or his implants to start the detonation."
"Cortana, one thing at a time, lets take down the final pulse generator." I reassured her.
"Okay… setting the waypoint now." Cortana seemed to calm down, replying to me. As we fired up our Banshees, a neighboring installation began opening fire on us. I put the attack ship on a steep dive, swooping downwards like an eagle on its prey. The ground came very fast, but we successfully pulled out, guiding the Banshee through a wide pass into the canyon beyond. A tunnel up ahead was where the indicator lay, and as we began to take fire from the ground, we knew our piloting skills were about to be tested.
A rocket blasted by us as we hit the floor of the canyon, and fired our plasma cannons on the unfortunate Flood in front of us. After they were clear, we slowly flew into the tunnel. Inside the walls, we tried our best not to turn left or right without killing ourselves. A couple seconds later, we saw two forerunner double blast doors. They looked shut tight, but I had an idea. Ten seconds later, a smoking carcass of a Banshee, and the two blast doors were open.
Chief shook his head," Why would you do that." I laughed, as my armor was slightly black from the soot of driving the Banshee into the doors. Two carrier forms scuttled past the remains of the doors, and my M90 Shotgun promptly blew them apart. Reloading, we stepped through the crack. While there was no sound but the gentle roar of machinery, and the drip of water, I decided to still be wary. As the Flood had a habit of coming out of nowhere, it was a good idea to be wary. To add to our steadily increasing problems, the giant cavern-like space in front of us had many places to hide. Gargantuan pipes emerged from the walls, diving downward like Chinese dragons. Mysterious installations stood like islands on the platform around him, and there was no way to know what lay lurking in the dark corners and niches. Lights situated high above provided little illumination, but it was good enough for us to see well, due to our enhanced vision.
Standing on a broad platform that ran the entire length of the open area. A deep chasm not unlike the one I fell off separated the platform from an identical one on the other side of the canyon. One of the bridges was down; leaving only one we could pass over- a wonderful choke point. There wasn't a hell of a lot of choice, so I shrugged, and walked side by side with Chief, marching down. We hadn't gone more than thirty feet before sixty of those tiny infection forms came at us crazily. Simply rolling a grenade, I took out half of them, and the shrapnel laid waste to all but a handful. I pumped my shotgun, a quick blast sufficient to kill the rest of them.
Reloading, I looked at Chief, who understood. He took point this time; smart as it allowed us to keep progressing without being exposed to fire, as Chief would absorb it all. Making it about three quarters to the other side, a mixed force of a couple carrier, combat and infection forms seemed to spawn from thin air at the beginning of our bridge. We already managed to get across the choke point, so we took this too our advantage. They would be forced to funnel through the bottleneck, so I used my Battle Rifle to burst down the carrier forms, their explosions blowing a couple of the combat forms off the bridge. Chief used his rifle to blow apart most of the bastards knees, allowing me too make quick work, head shot after headshot as they could only crawl slowly at us. the last combat form seemed to try and make a kamikaze charge at us, foregoing its weapons and jumping at us. It swiped at me, taking out all of my shields in a staggering blow. I fell back, as Chief stormed forward from behind me, firing his shotgun. Two blasts blew it apart, bits of gore and other brown matter everywhere. I gave him an almost imperceptible nod as we continued across the platform. This time we met little opposition on the other side, a nice opportunity to refill my ammo from the dead Flood. In front of us, the blast doors looked like the one I slammed my Banshee into, and I looked at it, wondering what to do now.
Cortana cut across my thoughts," Don't think about it, there is a panel up front. Tap on it and it should help us pass through."
Chief finally stifled a small laugh, as he walked forward and placed his hand on the panel. They opened flawlessly, allowing us two super soldiers to enter a relatively short section of tunnel that led back to the surface. Back up and into the snowy floor, we rounded a corner into a group of four Covenant soldiers standing guard. The grunts were frightened and scared, and they had a right to be. I sighed, walked forward silently, pulling out my knife. As I moved to assassinate the grunts, I flashed back upon Emile, and his kukri. I'd hated the fact that I had to leave his body there; it seemed almost disrespectful to do so. But that's the way Spartans would fall, fighting to save every last inch of our colonies. As I zoomed back to the present, I methodically slit each of their throats, quickly and painlessly. A Banshee spotted me, and burned a long line of plasma into the snow, continuing up the valley. Due to the blizzard, and the fact that it was actually nighttime, it was totally possible the pilot had no idea it was actually a demon it had fired upon. I waved Chief over, as we hugged the face of the cliff we were on, and stood within the cover provided by the boulders and trees lining the edge of the valley. The staccato ring of human fire and the high-pitched whine of plasma weapons testified to the intensity of a fight going on. We went over a slight rise to where the battle was going on. Close combat between Flood and Covenant was going on, and we decided to skirt around the fight. Snow began crunching as we made our way down the bloodstained snow, past the spot where a trio of infection forms wriggled their way into an Elite. I stopped, turned around and stomped on the Elite's chest. The infection forms died, and the Elite lay pristine and untouched, more or less.
"You show a strange sense of compassion Will." Cortana commented.
" Despite what they've done to our race, leaving him here will only give us another enemy."
Just passing the perimeter of the battle behind us, we followed the nav indicator into a second group of dead Marines. Snagging their dog tags, and kneeling for a second in silent respect, we then scavenged for ammo. I found a SRS99D sniper rifle, and tossed it to Chief, who grabbed it. I picked up a rocket launcher. Finding a cave nearby, we gently carried the bodies into a nearby cave. Progressing along the second valley to a third one, we saw a familiar sight. The Covenant were waging on full on war with the Flood it seemed, with Shades, Ghosts, and Wraiths. The flood just had bodies, but they had oh so many to throw them at the Aliens. Two Banshees stood at the head of the Valley, and that was where we needed to go.
I pulled the Sniper Rifle off Chiefs back, slapping on the ground next to him.
" You know what I mean." I grinned through my faceplate.
Chief didn't laugh, but shook his head in amusement, as he lay on the ground. Getting ready to snipe them down. I was about to head downwards, but I saw an Elite combat form sneaking up behind Chief, I immediately turned back, running back up the small hill and dove into the Combat Form. Its strength nearly overpowered me, but I managed to get my M9 pistol out, emptying my clip into its chest. Convulsing, and shaking, it then died. Turning back, I looked at Chief, who again shook his head. I made sure there weren't any surprise, before continuing on my way around the battlefield to the Banshees. Looking to my left, I saw a couple of Elites fall to the floor headless, and Flood Combat forms staggering, and then hitting the deck.
I made around, and then threw a grenade into the fray killing quite a bit. Chief's Sniper Rifle made very audible cracks as it took out the stragglers. .Crack. Thanks to the powerful armor-piercing rounds, there were dozens of bodies laid out on the snow. The area clear now, Chief picked up his Sniper Rifle, and then met me across the battlefield, scavenging as he did. When he greeted me, he tossed a couple belts of ammo at me, which I caught, draping them across my shoulder.
"Shit" was the first word I uttered as we rounded the corner, straight into a Wraith mortar tank. A serious problem, we'd have to take it out before we'd even have a chance of advancing farther beyond the valley. Thankfully for us, the Wraith was preoccupied with hurling its energy bombs down the valley. Normally, alone, I'd have gone back and scavenged for a spare Rocket Launcher, but with two people…
"Chief, I have an idea, but I'm not sure if you'd like it." I turned to him, whispering. He whispered back.
" Let's hear it."
" It's something to do with distraction…"
A minute later, I was beside the Wraith, waiting for Chief's signal. At his cue, I emptied a clip from my Battle Rifle into the Tank. It didn't leave a scratch, as it turned to face me, turning on its cannon.
However, before it could kill me, it exploded. Chief hopped from the back of the Wraith, his hand covered in machinery and blue fluids. A quick nod of respect, for saving me again, and we continued onwards, the smoke trailing in our wake. A Ghost heard the commotion, and skittered across to snow towards us. I waited till it got close to us before attaching a plasma grenade on its front. The grunt, too surprised to react, exploded with his vehicle.
We pushed on farther ahead, finally reaching the platform where the final generator lay. Sentinels attacked by the tenfold, firing their crimson and blue beams at us. We ducked, crossed, and weaved under, taking them out methodically and excruciatingly slowly. I winced as I felt the temperature within my suit increase by several degrees, rolled to avoid a beam, and promptly fired a burst into the Sentinel, destroying out. As we finally blew the last of the pesky machines out of the air, we backed through the hatch, letting the door close on reinforcements if, or when they came.
"We're very close, "The AI commented." The generator should be up ahead." Nodding, we headed into a room and were instantly hit by two lasers from across the room. The monitor was doing anything it could to stop us now. They're force fields seemed slightly stronger than usual, but it was no problem for us. We had enough plasma grenades to spare, latching one in the middle of the pack, causing 3 of them to explode in a hail of machinery and shrapnel. My grenade caused a Sentinel to do loops in a vain attempt to rid itself of the sticky, but it took another machine along with it. The final three succumbed to a hail of bullets, and a stomp from Chief when one crashed onto the floor.
Finally the complex was clear, and I quickly strode through the pulse generator, feeling the odd feeling of suction.
"Final target neutralized, nice work boys," Cortana complimented as I stepped back a few moments later. " Let's go get the captain."
" We need to find a Banshee." Chief said.
" No, that'll take too long. " Cortana disagreed.
" You have a better idea?"
" Actually, yes. There's a teleportation grid running around Halo. That's how the monitor moves about so quickly," The AI explained. " I learned how to tap into the grid when I was in the Control Room.
I interjected," If you could do that, what was stopping you from teleporting us to the pulse generators?"
" I can't. Unfortunately for us, each jump requires a large expenditure of energy, and I don't have access to Halo's power systems to reroute the energy we need-" She hesitated for a nanosecond, the continued on," There is another way."
I frowned, and Chief did the same," Let me guess, we need to use our shields to power it?"
Cortana's face was in my HUD, and I saw her smile," Actually, exactly. I'm pretty sure I can pull the energy we need from your system without completely damaging your armor. Needless to say, let's just try this once."
Chief agreed," Tap into the Covenant network and see if you can find him. If we got one shot at this, we make sure we have the highest chance of finding him.
A momentary lull in conversation as Chief and I patiently waited for Cortana to work her magic, and she suddenly shouted aloud." I got him! I've got a lock on Captain Keyes' CNI transponder signal. He's alive! The implants are intact! There's some interference so I can't bring him completely there, but I'll do my best to bring you boys as close as possible.
Chief growled," Let's just get this over with."
I replied to him, " You weren't the one who puked last time we did this."
No sooner had we both spoken, the familiar bands of golden light rippled over our armor, and I felt like vomiting again. We vanished, leaving nothing to mark our passing.
(A/N: Small case of slowness on this one, my bad guys I had lots personal stuff to attend to. Again unedited and untouched, so you see my failures plain and simple. You see their slowly developing a slight bit of rapport between the three, which I've been planning. I've got two things up in the pipe right now, the next chapter should be up soon either way, but I've been wondering, would anybody like to hear of Noble Sixes lone wolf days? I feel that hasn't been explored enough and I'd love all your opinions. Anyways done for now, please enjoy and review and favorite. )