Chapter 13
Face-Off
The Arbiter arrived in Lord Hood's mission briefing room, along with two Honor Guards, (he didn't need them, it was a sign of respect from the Ascetics) Shipmistress Kala Torvam(with two Honor Guards), and Fleetmistress T'kina Maxim (with four Honor Guards). He was met by Lord Hood and Blue Team, conversing over the success of the mission, and the moves they will be making henceforth. The Spartans naturally tensed up upon a seeing a group of Elites enter a room, but relaxed (slightly).
"Arbiter. I take it your mission was a success?" Lord Hood stated.
"Mostly. We've managed to acquire an interesting bit of information from Federation A. I.s, and a Federation soldier who was all too willing to talk when confronted by Shipmistress Kala and an energy sword." Arbiter removed Sirius from his shoulder pauldron and placed him on the table, along side Cortana.
"Well, hello there Sirius. Pleasure to formally meet you." Cortana said.
"The pleasure is all mine," Sirius responded, before returning to business. "Ahem, while battling on planet Elysia I've managed to acquire an interesting set of data. It mentioned a 'crucial wandering planet' in system, however, I wasn't able to completely decode it. The Elites were able to get a captured prisoner to, erm, 'talk', and he was able to elaborate on the situation." Sirius played back a data recording:
"Tell us what it means!" what sounded like a female Elite said.
"Alright, alright, I'll tell you. The Aurora Unit that we installed on the planet discovered a wandering, orbit-less planet in system. We wanted to give the location and geography of the planet to the Fleet Admiral. Please, that's all I know." a frightened Federation Trooper responded.
"Hmm. What is the location?"
"I have the data in my suit. It can be transferred to any data chip."
"Good. Arbiter! We have the information!"
"File end," Sirius said.
"You have the location?" Hood asked. Arbiter then took Sirius and inserted his chip into the holo-projector. The screen displayed a map of the system, with the wandering planet placed conveniently in Federation space. Hood, pleasantly surprised by the findings, then asked Arbiter,
"So what are your battle plans?"
"I will have nothing to do with the coming incursion. Alas, my brothers and sisters need me in other parts of the galaxy. Fleetmistress T'kina should have a plan for you however. T'kina?"
"Yes, Arbiter, in fact I do," Fleetmistress T'kina said as her glance she shot at him hung for several seconds, as if she was contemplating something. "My fleet can provide a full orbital defense, blocking the Federation from gaining access to the planet, at least not with any formidable fortifications. The human warriors can land on the ground to set up defenses and eliminate any forces that manage to make it past our blockade. Our only issue is the fact that it is a considerable distance away, therefore, we must act now if we want the advantage."
"I like your idea, Fleetmistress, I'll prepare the ship for slipspace travel-"
"Actually," T'kina cut Hood off, "I do believe Kala and I would like to um, 'see the Arbiter off' first. Don't we Kala?" Kala, who spent the entire briefing staring at the Arbiter and twiddling her braids then quickly responded,
"Oh, yes, definitely! I would love too!"
"What do you say Arbiter? Would you like as to personally 'release' you onto your journey?"
"Oh dear..." Thel responded, then told asked Lord Hood, "Are we all prepared here?" Kala and T'kina started massaging his armor.
"Um, yes..."
"EXCELLENT! Sadly I must be coming- er, going! Damned human slang. I must leave!" he called out as he was practically dragged away by his 'escorts'. The Honor Guards looked slightly confused, then followed after their leaders, since, by law, they must. They had no intention of entering whatever room they went in however. Everyone left in the room stood completely motionless, until Rick broke the ice with,
"Did anybody else get some sort of weird Elite sex vibe from all that?"
Everyone turned to look at him, anyone lacking a helmet wearing an expression that practically screamed 'seriously dude?', although everyone was too dignified to say it. "What?"
2 weeks later. Hunter Class Gunship. Pilot: Samus Aran.
Samus was flying in a Federation formation through Hyperspace. Her orders for this particular mission were simple: secure the planet. She simply had to make sure that nothing would hinder the establishment of a Federation Base on the planet, which is a simple as making sure the ship that doubles as a base in this very fleet landed on the planet.
Naturally, things proved to be very difficult. When she arrived out of Hyperspace, she was greeted by the sight of UNSC and Sangheli ships exiting slipspace. Neither side expected to see each other, but both quickly reacted. Seraphs and Longswords were dispatched by the UNSC and Sangheli. Stiletto-class fighters and Hunter-class Gunships were deployed by the Federation. Both sides where trying to clear a path for their bases to land, so naturally they employed similar tactics. There were a few UNSC Sabres flying around. Those happened to be piloted by Spartans. Of Blue Team, no less. One of these was piloted of course by John-117 himself, with Nicole-458 in the back of the ship with him. His orders were to secure a pathway for the UNSC base to land. It was supposed to be an easy mission, but of course, whatever you expect to be easy usually turns out extremely difficult. Chief flew his fighter toward the enemy ships, until he noticed something. There was a ship flying around that looked exactly like that Hunter's helmet! Chief altered his course and followed after that ship. When he got a lock on it, he fired missiles.
"We're being locked on to," Adam told Samus. She did a barrel roll to try and break the lock while speeding up and sending out flares.
"Oh, no, you're not getting away from me that easy!" John said as maintained a visual lock on the ship.
"That enemy fighter is tailing us. It seems to have a pilot that doesn't necessarily need lock on to follow you." Adam reported.
"Well, let's just discourage him from following us then," Samus responded. She then turned her ship around and flew backwards, taking aim at the Sabre.
"I have a bad feeling we just pissed him off," Nicole said.
"It makes no difference. We can take him," John responded. Both ships began firing upon each other. After a relatively short time, both ships sustained have damage and started to lose critical operational systems.
"Samus, I can take much more of this. Retreat, or we will die. Er, you will die." Adam told her.
"Chief, hull integrity has been compromised. We need to get out of here now!" Nicole said, checking the ships status.
"How are the engines?"
"Permission to speak freely sir?"
"Permission granted."
"Completely fucked up. We're screwed if this thing doesn't have escape pods."
"It has one."
"'One?'" Chief pressed a button on his control panel and ejected Nicole from the ship. He then turned the ship toward the planet and flew as fast as he could toward the surface.
"Good, they're retreating," Samus said. She was then hit by a Plasma burst from a passing Seraph, sending her crashing toward the surface.
Master Chief Petty Officer John-117. Unknown Planet. Crashed Seraph.
Chief climbed from the wreckage of his fighter, then drew the sniper rifle from his seat. Along the way here he got the final add-ons placed on his suit.
"Cortana, system check," John said.
"Sure thing Chief. Armor Lock: Online, Jet pack: Online, Drop Shield: Functional, Active Camo: Online, Hologram Projector: Online, Wrist mounted SMG: Functional, Shoulder mounted Missile launcher: Functional, last but absolutely not least, Shoulder Mounted Spartan Laser: Online and completely synced with your shields. You're all set, Chief!"
"Thanks." John examined the various upgrades that he received, and couldn't help but feel like a powerhouse. His personal Spartan laser was a very interesting case. It was linked to his shields, so he essentially has unlimited ammo. He has been told that it is unwise to try and max out the Laser's power, and that he should only do so if he could see no other alternative. He was very curious to see what would happen. Cortana informed him that the result would be extremely powerful, possibly capable of severely damaging a Covenant Carrier.
Chief liked that kind of fire power.
Over head, he watched the gunship he was fighting earlier fall out of the sky. It seemed to land a few miles away. He set off in that direction, determined to take out this illustrious "bounty hunter".
He had to pass over a hill on his way there. When he got to the top of the hill, he looked to the bottom and saw some sort of alien species. Some were rather tall and bipedal, while others were of equal height, but seemed to have crab claws instead of hands. Chief crouched low and observed the aliens. They seemed to be casually waiting for something... wait. What's in that giant tube of theirs? Chief brought his sniper rifle up to his eye and zoomed in on the tube. Inside of it was... a Flood Infection Form?
"Oh, no." Cortana said. "Why is that there?"
"Bigger question: What are they doing with it? " John said. They apparently had a keen sense of hearing, because one looked up toward him. He was out of his line of sight before he could see him, so John felt safe. Unfortunately, The alien teleported right beside him, causing him to roll backward to get to his feet. The Alien roared and called out,
"It's the Federation! Pirates, kill him!"
Pirates? Federation? Chief thought. The one who was apparently in charge teleported away from him, but he was quickly replaced by the surprisingly nimble clawed "Pirates". Upon making it to the top of the hill they began firing beams from their "claws".
"Aww, great," Chief said as he dodged the shots, he retaliated by firing SMG shots back at them. He was able to kill a few, but they had very powerful armor. One ran up to him and tried to swat him with it's claws. Chief ducked the attack and responded with a punch to his face. The Pirate was sent reeling, but didn't die as expected. It seemed to get angry and jumped at Chief, but he simply fired a Sniper round through his head. He did the same to the rest of the clawed Pirates, and they all fell. He then fired a missile salvo out of his shoulder to deal with the other "Elite like" Pirates. On of them dodged his barrage, then dashed toward him with what looked looked like an energy sword that was attached to him. The Pirate swung, but Chief caught his arm, broke it, knee capped him in the gut, then broke his neck. He prepared to snip the disgruntled "Commander," but he took cover behind the Flood tank. He placed his assault Rifle on his back and walked cautiously toward the tank. He was delighted to find that he was behind the Pirate, who was making some sort of frantic call. He said to whomever he was reporting to,
"Lord Weavel, the Federation has arrived! There advance scout has eliminated our scouts! No it wasn't the Huntress! Wait..." The Pirate teleported behind Chief, who dodged just in time to not be decapitated. John paused, then asked the Pirate,
"What are you?"
The Pirate looked slightly confused, then responded,
"You mean to tell me you don't know what a Space Pirate is?"
"Space Pirate? No, I've never heard of something so... I don't know, generic,"
"'G-generic? Was that supposed to be an insult?"
"What? No-" John was cut off by the Space Pirate charging him with two Energy sword... things. He dodged the attack's followed up with a punch toward the Pirate's temple, but the pirate blocked the attack, then tried to stab Chief. He landed the blow, but it didn't kill him. In fact, it knocked out only 25% of his shield. He used the momentum from the attack to back himself up, then prepared to fire his Spartan Laser. The Pirate dashed at him, but didn't get the chance to do any damage. The Spartan Laser blasted him to pieces. John drew his Sniper Rifle and took aim at the stasis tank.
"Cortana, can you confirm that this is a Flood?"
"It has all the signs..."
"Good enough for me." Chief fired through the tank, killing the Infection Form. "We do not need any of those around."
"Chief, I don't get it. Why are there more Flood? Why are they here?" Cortana asked, although it was more of a rhetorical question.
"And what were these 'Space Pirates' doing with it?"
"I guess we'll find out eventually."
"We always do." Chief took off to take out the Bounty Hunter as originally planned.
Samus Aran. Unknown Planet. Downed Gunship.
Samus stepped off of her gunship. It was in pretty bad shape. It would probably take at least an hour before it was ready to fly again.
"Samus, I followed the trajectory of that crashed fighter. I suggest you go investigate it, whomever is piloting it could be expensive." Adam stated.
"Adam you know I don't care about the money," Samus responded.
"Okay, well then why don't you go investigate the movement I picked up on the surface? Apparently, there is something already planet-side. It may be best to see if it is hostile. We don't want to land Federation Troops in a hostile environment." Adam suggested.
"Fine, I'll go. But you'd better be repaired when I get back," she said.
"No promises. Although the Etecoons and Dachoras could probably give the hull a good shining. They're very smart you know."
Samus chuckled, then speed boosted in the direction that Adam had marked on her map. Upon arriving, she found an unknown bipedal ape-like species examining a Metroid. A... Metroid? Oh, no.
Samus actually called out to the aliens,
"Hey, get away from there! Don't you know what that is?" this proved to be a mistake. The moment the brutish creatures saw her they began firing upon her. She should have guessed, since they were wearing armor. One made the oh so intelligent comment:
"It's a Demon! Kill it!
Demon? Samus thought. I thought I was the Hunter. Or the Huntress, for the ones that are in the know. Samus thought.
"I'll take him out quickly," one said, then charged at her with his to weapons raised.
"No! You will be KILL BY DEMON!" the golden armored one, apparently the leader, said.
Samus switched to her Nova Beam and fired high frequency beams through their heads, killing them all quickly, save for the leader, who, after seeing his allies die, activated an impenetrable shield around himself, drew a hammer type weapon from his back and charged her. Samus tried to kill him in the same way as the rest, but he merely absorbed the shots and kept moving. He closed the distance between them and tried to crush her with the hammer. It was an imposing sight. Ape man was at least 9 feet tall. Samus dodged the crushing blow, then tried to follow up with a missile, but the moment she fired, the Ape man swung his hammer horizontally at her, swatting the missile away and knocking her ten feet at the same time. She landed on her feet, but her abs ached intensely where she got hit. Her shields held up, but that... that brute hit hard! Then again, she had been feeling cramps in her lower abdomen for two weeks now. What the hell was wrong with her?
The Ape man was closing in on her, but she noticed that he didn't have that blue glow from before. She fired a Super Missile at him before he could reach her, launching him away. If the blast didn't kill him, the fall will. Samus turned and looked at the stasis tank. The Metroid in it inched closer as she did so. Samus extended her palm out toward the tank. The tank then released coolant into the chamber, effectively killing the Metroid. Samus couldn't even hear it's cry. An Unggoy then hopped out from behind the tank.
"Could it be?" it said, then looked Samus up and down. "It must be! Brothers, sisters! Look! It be the Huntress!" The Unggoy exclaimed. Samus aimed her weapon at the initial Unggoy as more showed up. "Oh, no, mighty Huntress, please don't kill Kwisswas! Kwisswas friend! Brutes, bad, but Kwisswas friend, see!" he layed down his weapon. "We not seek fight! We seek freedom! Elites say they give freedom! Elites say, you give freedom. They say Huntress is mighty warrior goddess, capable of killing Demons and defeating Arbiters!" Samus wasn't quite sure what to make of what the Unggoy just said, but it was clear that he wasn't hostile. Escaped rebels, perhaps? Maybe they were imprisoned by the ruffians she just dispatched? Samus didn't have time to think about this, as she instinctively went into morphball mode just as a Sniper Bullet whizzed past her head. As she stood up, one Unggoy called out,
"DEMON!" the rest responded and immediately ran away. Samus looked toward the horribly misinformed Spartan who possibly thought that he had just missed the opportunity to put a bullet through her brain. She scanned him.
Morphology: UNSC Spartan-II. Armor variant: Mark X
Nomenclature: John-117
Species: Human
The UNSC Spartan is a forced to be reckoned with-
The information seemed to end there. Something must have been blocking her from accessing the necessary files to get the information.
"Chief, I think that bounty hunter's trying to hack us! I'm blocking him out, but he has a very powerful hacking system. Extremely adaptable. Almost... organic."
"Well let's just delete him then," Chief said, then took aim again with his Sniper Rifle.
"Spartan!" Samus called out.
Chief kept his weapon trained on the Bounty Hunter. He was starting to feel weird about referring to the Hunter as "he" for two weeks. He responded nonetheless.
"What?"
"What's your name, Spartan?"
"Sierra. Sierra-117."
"Is that some sort of in joke with you people?"
"No..."
"Because I met another Spartan named Sierra-458 the other day. That can't be your real name, can it?"
"How would you know?"
"Just guessing. But I'm right, aren't I John?" Chief paused. How did (s)he know that? Lord Hood didn't even know his real name!
"Enough talk, bounty hunter. I'm going to take you down." Chief fired a Sniper round again, but Samus rolled into a morphball to avoid it, then switched back to bipedal status and fired a Super Missile at him. Chief activated Armor Lock, and the missile flew back at her. She tried to dodge, but took splash damage. She suddenly felt somewhat guilty about blasting so many people with that thing before. Chief quickly closed the distance between the two. One thing he learned from their last battle: don't fight this guy/girl at long range unless you hate yourself and want to suffer a horrible, painful death. Before Samus could get up, Chief pinned Samus to the wall, then pounded on her armor with multiple shots to her abdomen. She transformed into a morphball and left five bombs for Chief to deal with. He jumped out of the way, but his shields still took a hit. Samus returned to bipedal status, then fired ice beam shots at Chief's feet. He found himself frozen on the spot. Samus fired a missile at him. He activated armor lock, waited for the missile to bounce of of him, then deactivated it. He was greeted by the site of Samus speed boosting toward him. She tackled him out of the ice, then launched her grapple lasso at him. She caught him around the throat. He tried to break himself out of the grip, but Samus held firm. Once she had solid control over him, she yanked him toward her as hard as she could, then kicked him in his chest, sending him back a few feet from her. He checked his shields. 50%. He decided to seek cover, so he tossed out a hologram of himself and sent it one way, while he went the other. Samus thankfully went after the fake one, while he sought cover behind a group of rocks. Samus killed the fake one, then turned and went after him. However, she didn't expect him to be charging his Spartan Laser when she saw him. He blasted her with a Spartan Laser shot, taking out three energy tanks. The impact was so heavy that whatever injuries she sustained when attacked by the ape-man with a hammer now had to have been exaggerated, and she knew she was bleeding internally. She had to kill him quickly. Samus decided to stop holding back and use every ounce of her abilities to kill this guy, something she usually reserves for the likes of Ridley or Mother Brain. She stood up and found herself face to face with the Spartan again. He seemed more than a little surprised that she did stand.
Good. She thought. That means that was his strongest attack.
Uh, Cortana... that bounty hunter just took a direct Spartan Laser blast and survived. What IS he? John thought.
Well, what I'm gathering from Federation files is that she is a bit of a one woman army, said to have taken on impossible odds and not only survived, but pummeled the crap out of them. Cortana responded. You might be in a bit of trouble.
Maybe not... he thought.
He tried to punch Samus in the face, but she ducked it and responded with a kick of her own. He ducked that, and caught her leg. He swung her over his head and tried to slam her on the ground, but she rolled with it and used the momentum to propel Chief over her head. He landed on his feet then closed the distance between the two again while firing SMG bullets at Samus. She retaliated by running toward him firing stacked beam shots. His shields took a heavy hit, but thankfully he wasn't frozen from the ice beam in the shot. He had actually increased the suit's temperature to circumvent this. After closing the distance he quickly redirected her cannon arm to save himself from having to deal with her now incredibly powerful shots, then attempted to punch her head again, but she caught his fist. The both were locked in a sort of test of strength to gain the advantage, when Chief realized he already had had one.
"Hey hunter?" he said. Samus had very little time to react as Chief fired a missile from his shoulder mounted launcher. Samus pulled away from him and basically threw herself on the ground to avoid the missile. She then transformed into a morphball and layed a powerbomb.
"Chief look out!" Cortana barely had time to say, then the bomb went off, engulfing the area in a shining ball of pure energy that would tear living matter aside from the user apart at the molecular level. Samus stood up, and watched the blast subside. When the area in front of her became visible again, she saw the Chief inside a spherical shield, that seemed to just barely hold up from the blast. He seemed to be charging his laser weapon. Deciding enough was enough, she started to charge her own laser weapon. The Zero Laser. She had never used it before, mainly because it had the huge backfire of rendering her suit powerless. She always had this weapon, but was told by the Chozo not to use it unless there was literally no other option. Seeing as she had used every other ability she could think of, and there wasn't anything around to seize an opportunity to attack her while (relatively) defenseless, this was as good a time as ever. Meanwhile, Chief had basically the same logic with his Spartan Laser. He watched his shields go down completely, then kept charging the Laser, which was now going into his suits main power generator. He was GOING to eliminate this threat. The moment before his suit shut down completely, he fired the blast, which had an amazing blast radius, and truly did seem capable of bringing down a carrier if he fired it in the right-er wrong direction. It broke clean through his drop shield and seemingly headed straight for the hunter, except she released a similar blast simultaneously.
I should have known she'd have even more ridiculous fire power. He thought, then was blasted back when the Lasers collided.
Ugh. Pain. Guess that's good news. It means I'm- Chief thought, at the exact same time Samus thought,
-Still alive. Samus stood up, her suit now falling off of her body. She locked in the direction she remembered seeing John. He was doing much the same thing. He removed his now non functional helmet, then pulled some sort of chip out of it. From where Samus was standing, it appeared to be a glowing purple light. Samus couldn't here it, but Chief said,
"Well, that was the dumbest thing I've ever done. It was a complete waste, and now I'm virtually defenseless."
"No, the dumbest thing you've ever done was run head first in a flood infested God-knows-what to save a nearly rampant AI. This is probably a close second though." Cortana responded.
He then noticed a blond, rather tall woman walking up to him. She had a gun on her hip, so obviously she was not civilian.
"So, you're the bounty hunter?" he asked her.
"Samus. Shocking isn't it?" she responded.
"What?" John asked.
"That I'm a woman?" Samus responded.
"Honestly, it doesn't make a difference to me. Enemy is enemy. There's no distinction between female and male." he now stood at his full height. As with before, he had a good two inches on her. And judging by her body build, a good two hundred pounds.
"You look 'tough' Spartan. Genetic experimentation perhaps?" Samus said. He was slightly taller than her, and looked like a body builder.
"Pretty much. I take it you've head experience with this?" Samus chuckled and responded,
"Plenty."
"Well, bount- uh, Samus what do you say we end this? Manu-a-manu."
"Yes, that's fine. I prefer not to use this weapon anyway." Samus decided not to mention that it's a non lethal stun gun. Samus got in a like Japanese derivative fighting position, whereas Chief stood in one more akin to boxing. Chief sprang into action first, delivering a kick, which somewhat surprised Samus, but she blocked the attack then threw a backhand punch at Chief, who countered by catching her wrist and drawing her in closer. He then tried to grab her leg for a take down, but she made him regret it by kicking him in the jaw when he caught one. He was sent reeling by the blow, but reacted quickly when he threw another kick by catching her foot and bringer her to the ground. He tried to pin her, but she kicked him off of her and jumped back to her feet. They circled around each other, trying to figure out the other one's weakness based on what they just saw. To try to prove the synopsis they just came up with, they changed their tactics. Samus acted first, by closing the distance between the two and grabbing Chief in a headlock. Chief responded by lifting her off the ground (he now gauged her weight to be about two hundred pounds), and suplexing her onto her head. He then switched to a position on top of her and tried to punch her in the face while on the ground. He got in two good hits, but was then flipped over on his back by Samus, who scored another two hits, but the Chief reversed that by rolling her over his head. Now on top, he tried to punch her, but she head butted him and then rolled him over his head. Samus was reeling from her rather dense skull colliding with his ceramic alloyed skull, so he was able to easily roll her back over. But she reversed it and rolled him on his back. But he reversed that. The kept reversing positions until they impacted the Metroid tank, Samus on top. She was about to strike him again when she felt something brushing against her leg. She raised an eyebrow and said,
"Funny, you weren't wearing a sidearm before," she said.
"Forgive me I'm excited. That said..." Chief flipped her over on her back, now on top. "It isn't very cold out here."
"So I've never met an attractive male who can match my skill, so what?" Samus said, almost playfully.
"Oh. Thank you. You have got to be the nicest terrorist I've ever met," he said, somewhat deadpan.
"Terrorist? I'm no terrorist!" Samus said.
"Right, you just work for a terrorist organization. That's how it is with you bounty hunter types."
"Well, some, but not me. The Galactic Federation is not a terrorist organization. It's an intergalactic peacekeeper. In fact, they aren't even an aggressive peacekeeper. They only attack when attacked first. And you know, you really shouldn't call others a terrorist organization when you are one,"
"Wait, if you only attack when attacked first, then how id this war start? The UNSC aren't aggressive either, and they only want to exist let alone exist in peace. They wouldn't attack any starships, especially not superior ones."
"Obviously there's some sort of confusion. If we didn't start the fight, and you didn't start the fight, then who did?" Chief didn't get a chance to answer, as a Brute jumped out from behind the tank.
"I've found them! They are mating behind the stasis tank!" The Brute prepared to fire, but was stunned by Samus' emergency pistol. Chief jumped off of Samus and seized the opportunity to break the Brute's neck.
"What is that, and why was it looking for me? For us?" Samus asked.
"That's a Brute. Thing about Brutes is, they're big, mean, and they always bring friends." Chief responded. He peaked out from behind the tank and saw a bunch of Brute minors advancing toward them. "I'm assuming that's a stun weapon?"
"...Yes."
"Great. More than thirty years of combat. So many ways I could have died valiantly. Harvest, Reach. No, I have to get done in by a bunch of Brute Minors." They got close, and both Chief and Samus considered jumping out and fighting to the last breath, but the Brutes then got distracted by something else, and started firing to their right. Chief peaked out, and watched the last Brute minor get taken out by shotgun rounds.
From a Spartan-II. Chief exited his cover, and motioned for Samus to follow. She didn't exactly trust him, but she wasn't exactly safe either way. She decided to follow him.
"Chief, I encountered a bunch of Brutes on the way here. My shotgun's almost spent." Nicole-458 glanced at Samus, then aimed her weapon at her. "Who's this?"
"Let's treat this woman as a civilian... for now." Chief said. They then heard the sound of Brute Prowlers. There were two, but one was occupied by the aliens Chief fought earlier.
"Space Pirates?" Samus said.
"You know those things?" Chief asked.
"Yes, and they are bad news. All of us here together, your bad guys, my bad guys. Obviously this was some sort of setup. I wouldn't put it past the Pirates."
"Indeed," Chief responded. They were coming at them from afar, but the gunners fired at them regardless. They missed, but they were closing the distance fast. A Phantom flew in overhead, and opened it's hatches. A few Brutes appeared in them, leading the trio to believe they had fallen into a well placed trap. Then all of the dead Brute bodies were thrown out by Elites, who then jumped out of the gunship and fired over charged plasma pistol shots at the Prowlers. The Elites ran to attack the vehicles, taking the passengers out of the vehicle and killing them.
"Spartan! Huntress!" a familiar voice called out. Samus and Chief turned around to see the Arbiter manning a plasma turret. "Come, there isn't much time. I have discovered that all of our fighting has been senseless. We must quickly call a cease fire." Samus and Chief exchanged glances, then jumped onto the ship. "Thank the Forerunners I was able to arrive in time. The Pirates and Brutes were planning on surrounding you here and tearing you to shreds. Huntress," The Arbiter looked over at Samus. "I'm truly sorry for our 'engagement' and I'm happy and relieved that you made it out alive. I've met your old enemies, those wretched Pirates." He practically spat out that last word. "Obviously, they are here. And in full force. Just on the other side of this planet, there is a fleet of ships preparing to eradicate both human fleets at the same time. This whole conflict was a setup. Deception of the finest cunning, which they say was only possible because of their leader 'Her Mistress'. Huntress, would you be so kind as to direct us to the landing bay on your capitol worship, and also let them know that we are not hostile. Samus nodded and and did what he requested, and after a few minutes, sat back down in the troop bay. Chief and Nicole were discussing how he lost his armor. Chief finished whatever sentence he was saying, then looked at Samus, with an almost puzzled look on his face.
"Yes?" Samus asked.
"You called me attractive. Did you mean that?" Samus was about to answer when Cortana activated and answered,
"Well of course she meant it! I have no need or want for attraction to anything that isn't data, but let's face it, by most definitions, you apply!"
"What she said," Samus stated.
"Is that so? 'No need or want?'" he repeated.
"Strange isn't it? A woman whose purpose in life is not to get a man?"
"Not what I was implying. It's just, someone as attractive as you had to do it on purpose, and I don't understand why if your not planning to-"
"You know, maybe I just want to look good-"
"Listen, you don't want to raise you voice with me-"
"Oh, I can't raise my voice? I'm not even raising my voice-"
"What are you talking about? You're raising your voice right now-" Nicole and Arbiter exchanged nervous looks.
Why can't humans just give up their unnecessary sexual barriers? It would make relationships much easier. There is not a single woman who doesn't like me, very few men, and it's a stress reliever! As much stress as a Spartan would be put through... Arbiter thought. It was actually one of the main reasons why him and his female Zealots work so well together. That and natural talent, and leadership abilities. Almost as if on cue, Arbiter's new AI, modeled after a recently deceased Imperial Admiral, spoke up.
"Why don't the two demons mate with each other and rid themselves of their sexual and adrenal tension? Both of those are very high, not to mention irregular hormonal levels, which suggest that they both are probably in heat during this time. There are also practical benefits with mating them together. Think of the gene pool their potential children are swimming in. That child could possibly out class even the great Arbit-" Arbiter deactivated the AI, then placed it in his armor.
"Sorry. He- he speaks his mind."
Samus and Chief had stopped arguing for most of his speech, then looked at each other rather awkwardly.
"Well, that... put things in perspective." Chief said.
"Quite. He, um, really has a way with words." Samus responded.
"Heh heh, yeah... Listen, why don't we start over?" He stuck out his hand. "Master Chief Petty Officer John-117. You?" Samus smiled, then grasped his hand.
"Samus. Samus Aran."
John then decided to do something completely uncharacteristic and said, "A pleasure to meet you Miss Aran," then kissed her hand.
"Oh, get a room!" Cortana said, which actually caused everyone in the drop ship to laugh.
The Phantom continued on it's path to the GFS Olympus, hopefully to to help two governments avert a potential catastrophe.
A/N" Well, that was it! The big Master Chief vs. Samus. That battle went on for about three pages. Hope you all liked it!
On a side note, I'm feeling a bit let down. I thought you guys were following this! I got only two reviews for my latest chapter. I am saddened. :-( I really do appreciate the reviews, and they are the only reason I keep writing. I'm writing this story because I had a story to tell, and thought it could entertain people. If I'm not hearing how you guys feel about my writing, I don't know if you are being entertained. If I don't know if you are being entertained, I assume I'm failing. If I'm failing, then I might as well stop. So keep reviewing! Even if you are an anonymous reader, submit a review! They all matter to me, they're all very important. Well, that's all I have to say right now, until next time, Remembuh me? and Remember Reach :)
P.S. I also paid homage to a much more famous fanfic than mine, and even threw in a few memes here and there. Remember those those references. This is half METROID after, you gotta get all the pickups... well, that's all I have to say. PEACE!