Disclaimer: I don't own halo or any other TV show or videogame mentioned in this story
Chapter 14: the way the world ends part 2
July 11, 2555
Location: UNSC ark angel- in orbit of order command planet
"Capacitors charged" said Falkland
"FIRE screamed Keyes
The whole ship shuddered and the lights dimmed as every ounce of energy was directed into this one shot. The white beam of energy raced from the ark angel and impacted the dreadnought, the hull held up for a fraction of a second as the beam boiled away the hull and gutted the ship as it passed through and continued into two other ships before dissipating.
"We're down to partial auxiliary power" said Falkland "all weapons are off-line, main engines are down we still have emergency thrusters though".
"A lot of good that'll do" said Keyes
"They're powering up weapons" said lieutenant Mathews as Keyes noticed a line of order ships preparing for an assault
"Do we order an evacuation" asked Ensign Davis
Keyes was about to order it but suddenly the ships stopped and began to drift; a couple of them actually collided.
"What the hell are they doing" said Keyes
"Sensors indicate negative power emissions coming from the ships; it appears they've been disabled" said Falkland
"That doesn't mean the covenant are willing to quit" said Keyes as she noticed the remaining 12 covenant ships come around and charge their forward plasma turrets. "Sound collision alarms and vent atmosphere in all unoccupied sections" ordered Keyes. The covenant ships released their plasma and it arced toward the battered cruiser. Falkland waited until the last possible moment before firing the emergency thrusters and pushing the ark angel out of the way but the plasma quickly came around for another assault. Falkland had already used the thrusters that could have moved them out of the way of the second volley so there was nothing left to do but brace for impact but suddenly the Daedalus moved in front of the plasma and its shields took the blow.
"Captain I have restored power to the remaining missile pods" said Falkland
"Launch our remaining archers and crossbows" she ordered
Over five hundred missiles left the ark angel's pods and raced towards the covenant fleet, the Daedalus along with the defiant and rotarin collapsed the shields on several of the ships just as the archer missiles impacted and thanks to that diversion the point defense didn't notice them in time. The unshielded ships soon became pot marked in fiery craters as the missiles blasted apart their armor and weakened the hull just as the crossbows delivered the final blow. When the dust settled only seven covenant ships remained most of them were heavily damaged. The Daedalus along with the defiant and rotarin formed up in front of the ark angel to try and shield it from the next volley but suddenly a white energy wave came up from the planet and passed right through the ships then seemed to dissipate.
"Falkland what was that" Keyes asked
"I cannot tell you for certain but I could as humans call it, venture a guess". The AI replied
"By all means"
"I believe that the plan conceived by Gemini has succeeded, seeing that the wave had no effect on any sentient lifeforms".
"There's still a lot of covenant down there" said Keyes "let's hope they can handle a retreat"
July 11, 2555
Location: order command planet- main firing chamber
Everyone was in shock over what had just happened, john had just shot Gemini and it looked like he'd killed her. Cortana continued to stare at him as he turned the carbine in their direction. "No he didn't turn; he couldn't" Cortana thought to herself, Fred decided to test this as her lowered his weapon and walked over towards him.
"John it's me Fred, don't you remember" he said
John didn't respond instead he rushed Fred, Fred brought out his combat knife but john got the upper hand and used his shear strength to knock Fred down. He grabbed Fred's knife arm and twisted it, Fred cried out in pain as he herd the bones break. John turned his attention to the others who just stood there as he approached them.
"Ah this is getting good" said an'lok
"JOHN STOP IT" screamed Cortana as she moved in front of him "don't you remember me" she asked.
John didn't respond but instead he grabbed her by the neck and pinned her up against the wall.
"John… stop" she cried but he tightened his grip and Cortana could feel her windpipe being squeezed shut. She grabbed his arm with both of her hands and tried to push him away but he was just too strong for her. The others went into action but Inuyasha was closer.
"Let her go" he said as he charged at john with his sword
John with his free hand removed the plasma pistol on his belt and fired it at Inuyasha. He never saw it coming as the bolt hit him square in the chest. Inuyasha collapsed to the ground and dropped his sword.
"Inuyasha" kagome screamed as she ran to his side, the doctor came over with his medical tricorder and scanned him.
"I'm sorry… he's gone" the hologram said
"You bastard" said Anderson as he pointed his phaser rifle at an'lok and fired but it hit a personnel shield surrounding an'lok.
Kelly, tom and Lucy moved toward john but we're blocked by team katana
"Leave this to us" she said to the others "just stay out of this you're no match for them'
"You will fight me instead" said Tarinus
"Don't you think it's a little unfair" said Ronon as he stepped in front to him
"You will make a worthy opponent" said Tarinus as he charged at Ronon
Meanwhile Kelly, tom and Lucy were trying to avoid the weapon's fire from team katana
"Come on stop this" said tom but his pleas fell on deaf ears
An'lok the decided to mix things up a little so he reached into john's mind and brought out his conscientious, he only gave him the ability to see and hear but this was enough for what he was planning.
John left like he woke up from a long sleep but then the memories of what an'lok had dome came back. He was suddenly horrified when he saw through his own eyes who he was strangling. He tried to move his arms with no success stop this, "don't do this to her" he pleaded. Just then Cortana uttered one word "why" then she relaxed her grip and her arms went limp. His hand released her and her body slid down to the ground
"NO" john screamed and then he focused all his rage on trying to break the control over his body and he could feel his control breaking
"What how… is… this possible" said an'lok
John focused all his effort on one final push and then he was free. He turned over at an'lok
"You may have one this battle but THE WAR IS MINE" he said as he disappeared in a transporter beam. Suddenly the members of team katana screamed and grabbed their heads. This drew the attention of everyone and Tarinus used this distraction to sneak away. All three member finally collapsed and the doctor was by their side in seconds, he scanned each of them it looks like an'lok induced a brain aneurism there's nothing I can to they're gone. John kneeled down by Cortana side and removed her helmet, her cheeks were purple and she didn't have a pulse. John removed his helmet and began mouth to mouth and chest compressions, she didn't wake up. He scooped up her body and held it close "I'm sorry" he whispered.
"J-John" she replied
he pulled her away and sure enough she was alive
"is it you" she asked.
"Its me" he replied
"Oh john" Cortana said as she hugged him
"How are you alive"
They got their answer as someone gasped, Gemini was alive and she was holding her hand at Cortana, it was glowing white. She turned over to Inuyasha and placed her hand over his fatal wound and when she lifted it up the wound was gone. He regained consciousness as well
She moved toward Cortana and john then collapsed right in front of them; the wounds in her back were still there.
"I'm dying" she said to them "this is the punishment I get for helping you"
"I don't understand who are you" john asked
"She can tell you everything" Gemini said pointing to Cortana "I understand what my sister was planning, I see it all now".
"Wait what do you mean" Cortana asked
"She knew it, all this has happened before, but it dosen't have to happen again, that's… why you're… here".
"What are you talking about" john asked
"You both have a destiny" she replied
"What do you mean destiny" john asked but Gemini only told them one more thing
"You are more like them than you know", she closed her eyes then appeared to dissolve into dust, and she was gone. Suddenly the whole room began to shake like they were in an earthquake. McKay ran over to the main holo panel and brought up a readout of the planet
"We have a serious problem here" he said, Sheppard joined him next to the console and McKay began his explanation "an'lok has somehow destabilized the planet's core".
"Can you fix it" Sheppard asked
"What, I don't even know how he did it" McKay replied
"Forget it" said Anderson as he hit his communicator "attention all strike units this is strike leader, initiate immediate retreat to the landing site, the planet's going to blow".
Kelly and Lucy helped Fred up and they all ran out of the room trying to retrace their steps to the entrance. Suddenly Ash, Mark, sango and miroku came running up to them, ash and Mark were firing their weapons at something behind them. "Not that way" the both screamed as they all got a look at what they were running from, the flood.
"Leave it to us" said Anderson as he Cheney and the doctor walked forward and set their phasers to a wide beam dispersion and cut down the combat forms. When they were all killed a new problem arose as another earthquake struck this time causing the ceiling to collapse. John bolted for Cortana and pushed her out of the way the he grabbed Captain Anderson and pushed him over by Cortana before the debris landed on top of them. When the dust settled Anderson john and Cortana were cut off from the others.
"John can you hear me" Fred asked over the radio
"Yea we're all ok over here" he replied
"Hang on we're going to try and clear some of the debris"
"Negative we don't have any time for that" said Anderson "just try and find a way out of there and we'll met up at the LZ"
"Captain are you sure" asked Cheney
"Just get the hell out of here that's an order' Anderson replied
"Aye sir" said Cheney
"Where to" Cortana asked
"This way" said Anderson as he led the two Spartans down the hall where the flood had came from.
Fred and the others headed in the direction of colonel Sheppard's puddle jumper, along the way they came across several bodies of colonial marines and flood.
"Take a look at this" said Kelly as she picked up a crate marked biohazard from one of the dead marines "they were trying to get specimens"
"What the hell was Cain thinking" said Fred "make sure you got enough images on you suit's camera we'll need it".
They continued down the service corridor until they came upon the stairway Sheppard and his group used to get down. They made it to the roof in record time and Sheppard removed his jumper remote and deactivated the stealth mode and opened the rear hatch. Sheppard and Inuyasha stood guard as everyone got in but suddenly a force hit Shepard in the back and sent him flying, he landed only a few feet from the edge of the roof. Inuyasha ran over to the other side of the jumper and saw Tarinus standing there with his hammer
"You will fight me human" he growled
"Fine by me ugly" Inuyasha replied
Tom and Lucy had come out to see what the commotion was about and saw Inuyasha fighting Tarinus.
"Get him inside" he said pointing to Sheppard
Tom nodded and he and Lucy went over to Sheppard and flipped him over o his back, he coughed up a little blood which indicated he had some internal injuries. Inuyasha tried to hold off Tarinus but the brute got a lucky blast and sent Inuyasha tumbling to the other side of the roof. Tarinus rushed at tom and Lucy as they continued to tend to Sheppard, Lucy noticed this and ran at Tarinus hoping to take him on hand to hand. This did not happen as she got hit by a full blow from his hammer.
"Lucy" tom screamed as he rushed to her side, he brought up her BIOs on his HUD and she was still alive but they indicated more severe injuries that Sheppard's. Teyla and Ronon came out of the jumper and helped Sheppard into it while tom picked up Lucy and tried to get her inside but was stopped by Tarinus who blocked his path.
"You demons are pathetic" he snarled then he began to charge with his hammer, Tom continued to hold Lucy and he closed his eyes and wait for the end to come, it never came. When tom opened his eyes Tarinus stood there with his hammer at his feet looking at his hand, what was left of it. Half his hand had been blasted away by something then tom got an acknowledgement light from Linda.
"Why don't you pick on someone stronger than you" said a voice from behind Tarinus, he spun around and standing there was Inuyasha and kagome with her bow.
"Ready" said kagome
"Let's do it" Inuyasha replied as he began to run towards Tarinus, the brute brought up his good fist and was ready to fight but he didn't notice the purple arrow streaking toward him. The arrow seemed to stop in mid air as it hit something and drop to the ground; no one saw anything except Inuyasha who saw a swirling collision of two winds, the wind scar. Inuyasha swung his sword at this anomaly and it produced the familiar yellow energy wave which raced towards Tarinus.
"You're not human" he said with a look of fear on his face
"That's right; I'm half-demon" he replied
Tarinus looked at his opponent who had beaten him and gave him a nod of respect for his victory and Inuyasha's nod back was the last thing he ever saw, when the blast wave cleared there was nothing left but the scorch marks of the wind scar. Inuyasha and kagome joined the others in the jumper and they made their way to the cockpit where tom and Kelly were treating Lucy. Tom had opened up part of her chest armor so he could insert some biofoam into her chest cavity, after he was finished he helped her up into one of the chairs then the whole jumper shook as another earthquake was triggered.
"We got to go" said Cheney as he and Teyla made their way into the cockpit
"Hang on" said Kelly as she got into the pilots station "how do you turn this thing on" she asked but she got her answer when she simply placed her hands on the control sticks and the jumper came to life
"How do you have the gene" Teyla asked
"Who cares" said Cheney as he took the seat next to Kelly "fly us out of here"
Kelly complied and she got the jumper off the ground without any difficulty
"Wait we still have to get Linda and Olivia" said Kelly, the HUD came up and isolated their lifesigns. "That's convenient" said Kelly
"Maybe not" said Cheney "these readings indicate the building their on is too unstable to support a landing".
"Leave that to me" said tom you just get me close.
"You got it" Kelly replied
Tom went aft and opened the rear hatch then with ash and mark holding his legs he leaned over the side of the hatch and hung there as the jumper skimmed over the various buildings. Tom was able to make out two figures in the distance, as they got closer he saw it was Olivia and Linda. "Stand by for pick up" he said over the comm line and he got a pair of acknowledgement lights. He reached out with both of his hands and caught both them just as they made their pass, ash and mark helped them inside and tom closed the hatch. Tom went forward along with Linda just as the ship started to shake
'We're taking fire" said Cheney as a banshee made a pass and came around "try the cloak" he said
"I don't know where the control is" Kelly replied
They didn't need it as the banshee was destroyed by a pair of vipers that streaked past the formed up next to the jumper.
"Good thing we stayed behind when everyone else left" said blaze
"Nice timing" Kelly replied
They ascended through the atmosphere until they reached orbit then they homed in on the transponder signal from the ark angel. When they arrived they found the ark angel and the Gettysburg drifting and the Daedalus was finishing off the remaining covenant ships. The battlestars were going toe to toe with several cylon baseships; Pegasus was showing some signs of damage to its armor but not as much as Galactica which didn't have a lot of armor to begin with
"Jumper 1 this is Caldwell prepare for landing on the port landing bay"
"Copy Daedalus" Kelly replied, she brought the jumper around and lined up for landing but she had to break off when a group of cylon raiders strafed the jumper. Kelly took evasive action and brought the jumper behind them
"Do we have any weapons on this thing" Kelly asked and suddenly the drone bay opened and launched a drone at the raider and destroyed it. "How powerful are these things" she asked Teyla
"Quite" she replied
"Ok then, I've got an idea" Kelly said as she turned towards one of the baseships, once they were in range Kelly fire off three drones at the baseship. Their point defense couldn't handle the drones and they easily penetrated the hull then a few seconds later the baseship exploded and took another one with it.
"Nice shot" said Linda
"Lets get out of here" said Kelly as she turned back to the Daedalus, she would have destroyed the other two baseships but Lucy, Fred and Sheppard need medical attention fast. She lined the jumper up with the landing bay with blaze and edge flying escort but another cylon raider squadron tried another attack run. This time blaze and nagase flew up to meet them head on.
"Eat this" said blaze as he let loose a haul of gunfire and cut down two raiders. Nagase was only able to take out one raider and the other managed to hit her fighter but was destroyed by a missile.
"Edge how ya doing" blaze asked as he took position beside her
"I've got failures allover the place; I can't make it to the Batlestar"
"Just head for the Daedalus I'll meet you there"
"Copy, see you on board", she turned toward the hangar bay and lined up for landing but then one of her engines exploded and she began to veer out of control
"EDGE" blaze screamed but suddenly she regained control and managed to crash on the hangar deck. Blaze quickly made a landing as close as he could to her fighter and hoped out of the cockpit. He stripped of his helmet and ran to her viper and pulled out his side arm, he shot out the canopy then he pulled her out onto the deck and removed her helmet, she had a nasty cut on her forehead but was otherwise good.
"You scared me when you made that crash Kei" blaze said to her
"Consider us even" she replied "blaze look" she said pointing to the open hangar doors, they baseships had suddenly jumped away.
What the hell happened said Beckett as he arrived with a medical team lets get you to the infirmary he said after looking at Nagase.
"I'm fine; have a look at the people on the other ship first" she replied.
Beckett and his team went over to the jumper just as everyone was exiting, the got stretchers for Sheppard and Lucy and carried them away then suddenly Cheney and the doctor were beamed away
"What happened" asked Fred
"Colonel Caldwell is getting us out of here" said Beckett.
"Wait john and the others are still down there" said Kelly
"The Gettysburg is going to stay behind and get them out; their FTL is still down" said Beckett.
Blue team could only stand there as the Daedalus jumped to hyperspace, the battlestars jumped and the defiant and rotarin towed the ark angel into warp leaving the Gettysburg in orbit. Cheney and the doctor beamed directly onto the bridge then sparks shot from Collins station.
"That's it we've lost transporters" he said
"Do we still have the emergency circuit baker" asked
"Yes but its" short range only
"Ensign, get a lock on the captain's signal and take us down" she said to the helmsman.
July 11, 2555
Location: order command planet
Captain Anderson had led the chief and Cortana to where the Argo was parked and thankfully the flood hadn't taken any interest in it. Andiron took the driver seat while Cortana rode as passenger and john manned the gunner's position. The captain gunned the engine and they headed down the streets past the remains of wraiths and scorpions and the bodies of solders from both sides. As they left the city they could see parts of it in flames but when they got to the Argo shuttle they found it entrenched in flood.
"Well there goes that plan" said Anderson
"We can't let them get out of here in the shuttle" said john
"Quite right" Anderson said as he tapped his communicator three times and that sent the signal to the shuttle causing a core breach. Anderson put the petal to the metal to get away from the blast then they herd the thunderous boom.
"What now" asked Cortana.
Suddenly a brute chopper rolled up and hit the Argo causing it to flip over and spill its occupants on the ice. When john and the others got up they found an'lok pointing a plasma rifle at them
"You have ruined my plans and my fleet, at least I'll have the satisfaction of killing you" he said as he pointed the rifle at john's head "you first". Suddenly there was a rumbling sound followed by a fierce wind which kicked up ice and snow, they all looked up to see the Gettysburg descend through the clouds. An'lok turned to fire but before he could all three were whisked away by a transporter beam. An'lok looked back up to see a bright blue ball of light leave the ship, it took him only a second to realize what it was and it was heading for him. He raised his personal shield hoping it would protect him but he never found out it didn't.
Captain Anderson along with Cortana and john arrived on the Gettysburg Bridge just as the ship exited the atmosphere.
'Nice going Lisa" said Anderson as the commander relinquished his seat and she took her own. "Now how about that warp drive" he asked Collins.
He had just finished typing in the commands "full warp at you discretion sir" Collins said
"Commander how long till it blows"
She looked up at him slowly with a blank expression and only uttered one word, "now".
The planet exploded and produced a sizable shockwave which obliterated the order ships then slammed into the Gettysburg. Anderson was thrown from his chare and he slammed into the floor while john and Cortana were knocked off their feet. John slowly crawled over to her side and he grasped her hand in his and held on tight "I love you" he said
I" love you too" she replied as the held on
Anderson got up and stumbled toward the helm console after noticing the helmsman slumped over in his chair
"Warning hull breaches on decks 22, 23, 24 structural collapse in 45 seconds" said the computer.
Anderson had to asked fast, he glanced at the console and saw the warp drive on-line and a course laid in all he had to do was activate the drive. He stumbled toward the console and fell right in front of it. He could feel fresh blood run down his face from a head would and his vision was beginning to turn blurry but he reached out with his hand and just as his fingertips bushed up against the panel his vision filled with a white light then all he knew was darkness.
July 20, 2555
Location: Earth, Australia- Admiral Cole memorial cemetery
"Attention" said a marine from the honor detail
Kelly stood next to the other Spartans of blue team and Doctor Halsey in their dress uniforms, she snapped of a salute along with everyone in uniform. Attending the service also was Cain, Adama, roslin. Colonel Sheppard and his team stood with them too, Blaze and nagase wore their OADF jumpsuits and saluted as well, standing on the opposite side was Inuyasha and his friends along with admiral hood, captain keys and commander Fhajad. "Present arms" said the gunnery sergeant and several marines fired off a 21 gun salute as Kelly looked at the names on the two tombstones.
Master chief petty officer
John- 117
2511-2555
Petty officer second class
Cortana Halsey
2552-2555
They were both dead, for good this time. After the Gettysburg didn't show the defiant went back to the order planet and they found hull fragments that could have only come from the Gettysburg. The analysis showed that the Gettysburg had been torn apart by the shockwave from the planet's explosion. After they returned to earth negotiations began between the colonials and the UNSC about finding them a world to settle on. The wormhole appeared and that was the cue for the defiant to leave and go back to DS9, Captain Anderson would most likely be posthumously awarded for his actions and Martok had promised him a statue in the hall of warriors as a hero who truly saved the empire. John and Cortana had been posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. A monument had been erected behind the graves, on top was a marble statue of the Gettysburg, underneath it was a few words inscribed in the stone
Dedicated to the memory of the men and women of the federation starship Gettysburg
"The needs of the many out way the needs of the few"
This crew proved that
Seven flag poles were erected behind it; the three on the left were the stars and stripes of the United States, the stars and bars of the Osean federation and the flag of the twelve colonies. The three on the right were the Klingon Empire the UNSC and Japan. The one in the middle was the circular star pattern of the united federation of planets.
"At ease" said hood "burial detail dismissed"
Colonel Shepard along with Inuyasha's group and blaze and nagase beamed up to the Daedalus. Admiral Cain along with roslin and Adama walked over to the Spartans but Cain was suddenly grabbed my a pair of MPs
"What the hell do you think you're doing" she said trying to fight their grip
"Arresting you" said Fred "we found your recovery team, the one you used to try and get flood specimens"
"And we were informed about the events after you fled your colonies" said hood "take her away"
'This isn't over" said Cain as the MPs slapped cuffs on her then marched the admiral over to a waiting warthog
"Lets go" said Fred as he led the group away from the area, tom and Lucy were holding hands as they walked away
"Hang on Fred I'll be right there" said Kelly as she turned back and stood next to john's grave, she placed a hand upon and she could feel tears run down her face as she said "goodbye John, say hi to Sam for me". She turned around and ran to catch up with the others.