Cutting A Path: October 23rd 2552
Location: Onboard Covenant carrier Zealous Exultation
"Chief, transfer me to the main bridge console so I can get to work." said Cortana through his helmet speaker. He marched over to the console and away from the ruined side of the bridge, he made to move the abandoned hammer out of the way but checked the motion and picked it up to attach to the magnetic clip on his back.
As he transferred Cortana to the bridge console her avatar popped up above the desk. She had a womanly figure, coloured different shades of blue and purple. Lines of coding streaked down her body almost too fast for his eye to track. She put her hands on her hips and looked down at him, "It's good to be in a ship, I have more room to move around and a little more freedom.", she said, half to herself, "I've already sealed off an almost direct route to the brig and sealed all the entrances onto that path, I'll vent the atmosphere in the surrounding corridors to kill any nearby Covenant. I'll stay here in the meantime, monitor the situation. You get to the brig and get them back here."
The Spartan nodded and turned to leave, "Send a transmission to Lieutenant Haverson, he's onboard the Phantom in the hangar bay I picked you up in. Tell him the situation and that I'll come and escort him to the bridge when I'm done." He marched from the bridge, rifle in hand.
As he headed down the corridor everything was eerily silent, there was no sound from anywhere due to the lack of atmosphere in surrounding corridors. As he neared the entrance to the brig there was a sudden grinding sound from above him. He looked up to see sparks tumbling down as whatever was above him cut through. He snuck back down the corridor to the nearest junction and round the corner to the sealed door, then stuck his head round the corner to watch.
The grinding continued until a small section of roof fell down with a crash followed by a pair of brutes. Looking down to his ammo pouch John drew out one of the three incendiary grenades he had left and lobbed it down the corridor. It rolled between the two brutes just as a third dropped down from above and then exploded into flames, the screams of the burning brutes echoed up and down the corridor and one got closer, saw him and collapsed either from shock or from it's injuries.
When he walked back into the corridor no more enemies appeared and there was no more movement or sound except the flickering and crackling of the slowly dying fires. From his pack John drew out a length of trip wire, stuck a frag grenade to the lip of the hole and strung the trip wire across the gap, making sure that any enemies who came through the hole would have an explosive surprise.
"Cortana", John called, "I need you to evacuate the atmosphere from several decks either side of the corridor I'm and above and below, you should detect a breach between decks near my location, don't evacuate that area or I'll lose atmosphere here as well." Just as he turned to carry on he got a reply, "Already done Chief, but I thought you should know, I told Haverson but he refused to wait and is on his way to the bridge now." John cursed under his breath and flashed an acknowledgment light.
As the door opened into the brig he was greeted by a terrible sight, inside the room was a group of prisoners, or what had been a group of prisoners. Their corpses were mangled and most had huge bite marks ripped out of them, congealed blood in puddles around the floor. The brutes must have executed them after they were warned he was coming. "I've found the brig but all the prisoners are already dead, I was too late." he felt terrible, if only he hadn't stopped at the bridge he might have saved them. "Roger that Chief, Lieutenant Haverson is here and he wants to meet with you."
"On my way." he replied.
He sprinted back down the corridor towards the bridge, Cortana's voice had sounded urgent and she struck him as the sort of person, AI he corrected himself, who wasn't easily worried.
As he skidded around the final corner to the bridge the ship shook and he was almost thrown to the floor, he steadied himself against the wall and continued on. As he charged onto the bridge Haverson and Cortana were both watching the main display showing an array of Covenant ships warming up their plasma weapons. "Status." he called as he made his presence known. Cortana turned to him and answered simply, "Trouble."
Retreat: October 23rd 2552
Location: Onboard Covenant carrier Zealous Exultation
The bridge was tense as Cortana explained the situation to John, "Some Covenant on board managed to get out a message to the rest of the fleet, they know we're not friendly to them any more, they've opened fire. I've vented the atmosphere from everywhere on the ship now that I know we're the only survivors." John saw Haverson grimace at her words but then turned to the Spartan. "Master Chief, we need to get back to Earth asap, during my time here I discovered the Covenant has fitted experimental slipspace drive to some of the ships in this fleet, they're revolutionary but require a lot of power. We're charging the capacitors now so all we need to do is hold out until they're done. I want you on weapons, I'm on nav and Cortana is focusing on getting the slipspace drive ready."
John nodded and silently stood over the weapons console, it was covered in Covenant script but suddenly he felt Cortana's presence in his mind, "I'll overlay translations of the control so you know what you're doing." she chuckled in his ear, Haverson left no the wiser to their conversation and he stared in amazement at how the Spartan seemed to be able to use the Covenant controls as if he had spent years doing so.
The plasma turrets warmed along the length of the ship and pulse lasers shot at Seraphs bugging the huge vessel. The turrets spewed forth great volleys of plasma at the other Covenant ships, smashing into their shields and after a moment burnt through and singed off the top layer of hull. The enemy ships returned fire and the carrier bucked like a crazed mule from the impacts. "Slipspace capacitors charged, hold onto something gents!" Cortana yelled over the sound of the fighting and suddenly motes of light appeared in space all around the ship, they grew until the merged into a swirling balloon which engulfed the ship. Then they collapsed and the ship was gone.
John collapsed to the floor once they were safely in slipspace, his copious wounds suddenly all flaring to life and pain, he grimaced pulled off his visor and lay back on the deck, the cooling sensation he felt as his head pressed against the cool metal soothing for his throbbing headache. "Cortana, Lieutenant", he called to them, "I'm going to catch up on some sleep, let me know if there are any…" his voice trailed off as he fell asleep.
Cortana looked down at him with a mixture of amusement and concerns, "Lieutenant", she called, "Would you be so kind as to inject some biofoam into the ports on his armor, he may look and sound okay but Doctor Halsey warned me he never admits to an injury, this may be our one chance to get some biofoam into him." Haverson nodded thoughtfully and leaned down with his last can of biofoam and stuck it into each port on the Mjolnir armor in turn. He produced a handheld medical scanner from his pack and linked it to the armor, instantly medical diagnostics scrolled across the screen. "Shit…" murmured Haverson as he surveyed the injuries of the sleeping Spartan. Four broken ribs, two cracked ribs, damaged kidney, lacerations of the liver, ripped tendons, pulled ligaments, strained muscles, ripped muscles and more cuts and bruises than he had ever seen on one person.
He turned, stunned to Cortana, who simply shrugged her shoulders in a go figure motion. "Good news is our eta for Earth is two days so we may as well get settled." Haverson grunted a confirmation and settled down against the wall of the bridge and promptly fell asleep.
Honey, I'm Home: October 25th 2552
Location: Onboard Covenant carrier Zealous Exultation
John's eyes opened blearily and he looked around, he was still on the bridge of the carrier where he had fallen asleep. As he sat up and looked round he saw Haverson awake and standing by the main console reviewing some sort of data with Cortana. It only took her a moment to see he was up and called to him "Morning sleepy head, did you sleep well?"
He grunted back in a voice which showed he had just woken up, "No thanks to your driving, yes." Cortana gave him a teasing smile and motioned for him to join them at the console. As he approached the console Cortana explained the situation to him, "You've been asleep for two days solid", she explained, "We're almost at Earth now and I've sent a message ahead to warn them we're coming. The Covenant already know Earth's location so I didn't bother with the Cole Protocol." John nodded and the three stood in silence and waited for their arrival.
Several tense minutes later the ship shuddered and they exited slipspace just above Earth. They looked out of the view screen at the planet in horror. In orbit were hundreds of ships, both Covenant Separatist and UNSC alike, but there were other ships. They seemed to trail brown debris as they flew towards the Allied ships. The Flood. The comm hissed online and the panicked face of Lord Hood appeared on the side screen but he seemed to relax a little when he saw who was on the other end of the video link. "Chief, Haverson, Cortana.", he breathed in shock, "We thought you were dead…" he quickly composed himself. "As you can see the Flood is back, since you left they've attacked the Elite home world Sanghelios and now they've come to Earth. We've been under attack for hours trying to plug holes in the fleet but even with the combined Sangheili and human fleets we still don't have enough ships. Yours will make a welcome addition but I don't want you formed up with the rest of the fleet. You're going to have the dangerous job of taking the fight to the Flood. The biggest Flood ships are still holding back so I want you to focus on the smaller ships buffeting our line then we can launch an attack on the main ships."
John didn't like the way the Admiral assumed command of their ship without bothering to ask any questions about what had happened to them but he knew a mere master chief petty officer couldn't even consider questioning orders from an Admiral. Haverson was the first to speak "Yes Sir, but I thought you should know there is a Covenant fleet, hundreds strong, mustering above the Ark artifact and most probably planning to attack Earth." Hood nodded and considered before replying "If the Covenant arrive before the Flood are destroyed we may as well give up, there's nothing we can do for now." The look on his face was pained as he cut the connection.
"Cortana, you heard the Admiral's orders, bring the ship to combat ready and charge the plasma lances." ordered Haverson
"Yes Sir", Cortana replied, "Bringing ship in line to-. Lieutenant we have an incoming communique from the UNSC Spirit of Justice."
Before he could think John blurted out "Patch it through!" Both Cortana and Haverson turned to look at him, amusement on their faces and John was grateful for his reflective visor to mask his face. "Yes Sir!" Cortana replied, giving him a mock salute before she disappeared and was replaced by the avatar of another AI, Sarah.
Welcome back to UNSC space Master Chief, Captain Price would talk to you himself but he's a little busy helping coordinate our defenses. The other Spartans we have on board, 104, 058 and 087 have requested a transfer to your vessel due to your lack of personnel. I have no qualms with the idea and it could help you to fly that thing but I need the permission of your commander." Before John could reply Haverson cut him off "It would be a pleasure to have the Spartans onboard, we're running on a skeleton crew as it is so any extra personnel would be greatly appreciated."
Sarah nodded and with what he swore was a chuckle cut the link. Haverson turned to John "Chief", he began, "I want you to go and wait in the hangar for your fellows to arrived and when they do escort them to the bridge."
"Yes Sir." John replied, saluted and left the bridge for the hangar.
As he walked he force himself to calm down, he had found himself developing and irrational hatred of the lieutenant and this worried him, he had never had problems with his temper before and he made a mental note to keep his emotions in check.
When he finally arrived in the hangar bay he was awarded a view of the battle between Allied and Flood ships, there were more MAC rounds, plasma torpedoes and Archer missiles flying through the dark than he could hope to count. The Allied forces were holding there own for now but it would be a close fight.
As the Exultation changed course he saw several plasma torpedoes coming from the direction the carrier's turrets and they smashed into the nearest Flood ship, an old UNSC frigate. It felt strange to John to be onboard what was a Covenant ship firing plasma torpedoes and what was a UNSC ship. He half winced as the plasma projectiles impacted the much smaller ship and cleaved it in half despite knowing the ship was now the enemy.
The Allied fleet had taken up positions in high geosynchronous orbit above the planet and the near blanket of ships was just about holding it's own against the Flood. He could see the Spirit of Justice plasma lances searing from it's turrets and occasionally MAC rounds flying across the battlefield and pulverizing Flood ships.
As he zoomed in on his faceplate the tiny dot of a Pelican dropship could be seen, engines flaring, as it crossed the vast distance between the Justice and Exultation. Every so often the tiny ship was forced to do a barrel roll or swing off to one side to dodge plasma, MAC rounds and missiles that came a little too close. As one enemy plasma round passed close to the Pelican he saw the engines partially melt and the dropship spun out of control, now nearing the carrier he could easily make out what was left of the engines flaring at max burn to try and get them to the hangar.
Time seemed to slow as the dropship approached the hangar entrance, showing no sign of slowing, roared through the bay and embedded itself with a huge crash and the sound of tortured metal in the wall at the far end of the hangar bay. Fearful for his Spartans' lives he ran over to the crash site and leapt up to the back hatchway of the crumpled Pelican. He got his hands into the small gap in the hatch made by the crash and pulled. For a moment nothing happened then with a metallic groan the hatch gave way and three sets of Mjolnir armor slumped through the gap.
John instantly synced his armor with theirs and brought up team bio signs. He breathed a sigh of relief. They all had broken bones and some degree of internal bleeding but most importantly they were alive and had steady, strong heartbeats. He activated his comm unit and called the bridge "The Spartans arrived but their Pelican was damaged and crashed at high speed in the hangar, they're all alive but have internal bleeding and broken bones."
"Roger that Chief", Cortana's voice came over the comm, "Can you carry them to the bridge where Lieutenant Haverson can assess their condition, he has, fortunately, had advance medical training." John flashed his acknowledgment light, not pleased that the ONI officer would be giving his Spartan medical attention but he had little choice.
With brute strength John swung the unconscious forms of Kelly and Fred over both shoulders and carried Linda bridal style, her being the lightest, and began the walk to the bridge.
It Followed Me Home: October 25th 2552
Location: Onboard Covenant carrier Zealous Exultation
John watched worriedly as Haverson carefully removed the Mjolnir armor from the injured Spartans and began treating their injuries. Using a sterile field generator he had produced from his pack he had began performing surgery to seal up their internal bleeding then, unable to do anything for their broken ribs but wrap bandages around them, he sealed up the incisions and left them to wake up of their own accord.
He wiped his hands with an antiseptic wipe and turned back to the display screen. "Cortana, status." he ordered.
"The Flood ships just keep coming, their numbers seem to be inexhaustible. I've kept this ship taking down their smaller ships with no problems but if this keeps up the Flood will eventually overrun or defenses." Her voice sounded defeated and she looked down. Haverson sighed and moved to open up a link to Lord Hood but his action was cut short as warning lights strobed around the bridge and sirens started up. "What's going on?" a voice called from the other side of the room. Fred had woken up. Cortana swiftly answered the question "Multiple inbound slipspace ruptures, I'm still calculating the figures but initial estimates are at over five hundred ships." She was cut short as every inch of space around the planet and beyond seemed to boil as motes of light appeared everywhere, illuminating the momentarily motionless fleets in a pale blue aura. The light faded and everywhere John looked he saw Covenant ships. Dozens of super carriers, carriers, destroyers, frigates, battle cruisers and light cruisers. There was silence on the bridge as they stared out at the armada before them, even the Flood was motionless in the face of such fire power.
The dozens of the Covenant ships began to glow a bright purple-blue as the lateral plasma lines began to charge up, at almost exactly the same moment over a hundred plasma torpedoes soared out of the ships. Two the surprise of all present the ones which had appeared to be heading for the UNSC ships curved sharply and followed on the rest towards the Flood Armada. The huge amount of plasma engulfed most of the Flood fleet as as the white hot region of space cooled to red and then a dull orange glow, it became clear the Flood had been decimated.
All of a sudden a fleet wide communication came through, not from the Allied ships but from the Covenant flagship, Endless Devotion. The main view screen resolved from an image of the space above Earth to showing the interior of the bridge, similar in appearance to that of the Exultation but bigger. Sat on an anti-gravity throne with an elaborate headpiece was a Prophet. It was clearly younger than any Prophet humanity had come into contact with so John naturally was surprised by it's appearance. It wore the red robes and golden ornamentation of a Hierarch, most likely a replacement for those lost during the Battle for the Ark. The creature raised up both hands in a grand gesture and began to speak. "True believers, Sangheili Separatists and Humanity. I am the Prophet of Redemption Hierarch of the New Covenant and leader of this mighty fleet. We returned to the Ark after the Prophet of Truth was lost in the battle for control of the site. We searched tirelessly for a new purpose and after much time I began to fear hope was lost but fear not a Holy Oracle has been found and guided us on the path our gods once trod.", John muttered a curse under his breath, it looked like another hierarch, full of himself and deluded that his 'gods' wanted humans dead, "This Oracle called itself Offensive Bias, it is the most holy of Oracles, the final one left behind by our Lords and guardian of all they left behind." John froze for moment, the Covenant had captured Offensive Bias? How had they got into the Shield World and past the Sentinels? His questions were answered for him by the young Prophet "It sought us out, appeared before my eyes in a column of light. We have a new purpose. Defend that which our gods themselves fought so hard to protect and destroy that which they sought to destroy. Warriors of the New Covenant, it is our sacred duty to defend to species we were lied to about. The human 'vermin'", the Prophet put heavy sarcastic emphasis on the word, "Are no such thing, they are the heirs to our gods, they are the Reclaimers. We must support them in their latest conflict, cast aside our foolish hatred of them, unite our Covenant in the war the gods guided us to fight. We must destroy the Flood."
John was speechless, the new Prophet was not what he was expecting, instead of continuing with previous practices enforced by Truth, Mercy and Regret. He had cast their teachings aside and recognised humanity as the heirs to the Forerunners and that they should help them, not destroy them. Maybe his name, Redemption, reflected his ideals. The video link pulsed and split into three and the faces of Lord Hood and Rtas 'Vadum appeared Rtas was the first to speak. "Prophet, what are these lies? The Covenant committed genocide against the humans, your own people instigated it!" The Sangheili sounded angry and he thumped his fist into the arm of his command chair with a thump.
"Fleetmaster", the Prophet began, "it is good to see you alive. I understand your doubts but as you can see, and I hope understand, the Covenant has changed. The races have more freedom now, Unggoy, Kig-Yar, Jiralhanae and San 'Shyuum all sit on the High Council. I came here initially to offer all our races the chance to join together, work together and live in peace now the Great War has ended but the Flood is more important than that. You must trust me Rtas, I only returned from my exile after Truth was dead. I was an exile because I knew the truth about why the war was fought and now I'm back to guide the Covenant into peace."
'Vadum still looked suspicious but nodded and sat back in his, pondering. Hood seemed to have little to say, having never had anything to do with the Covenant's hierarchy seemed a little confused but anxious to gain at least a temporary ally to fight the Flood. "Prophet, you must understand that I do not trust you or the Covenant but I recognise that I need your help and clearly you suffered under the previous regime. We must all work together to destroy the Flood. Let us form this Alliance." Rtas, Hood and Redemption all nodded in unison and the link terminated.
John turned around to see that Kelly and Linda had both woken up as well and had seen all that had just happened, they looked furious. "The Elites were one thing, but now the rest of them?" Kelly fumed.
Linda looked at her and nodded subtly in agreement, John noticed this and knew he had to get them on side. He hated to admit it but they did need the support of the Covenant. "Look, we need them if we're going to beat the Flood. You think I trust them any more than you? Remember we felt exactly the same way when the Elites joined us but now we get on just fine, I'm sure the rest of the Covenant could turn out the same." The look on Linda and Kelly's faces told him his words had hit home, they remembered the day the Elites and entered their Alliance and how well they now got on. They both muttered submissive words and turned to go and sulk in the corner, they hated being wrong.
John turned back to the view screen which had flicked back to show the two fleets. The now massive Allied fleet outnumbered the Flood ten to one and after several salvoes of MAC rounds and plasma torpedoes the Flood was in full retreat, slipspace ruptures opening up and granting the fleeing ships an escape.