-Senior Chief Petty Officer Aren 139-

-0200 Hours (Ship's Time), September 19, 2552-

-En Route to Command Bridge, Halcyon-Class Cruiser UNSC Pillar of Autumn, Current Location Unknown-

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As I emerged through the door of one of the Autumn's many maintenance halls, my ears were suddenly assaulted by the sounds of plasma fire as a barrage of sizzling green plasma bolts whizzed through the air and hit the wall to my left. I turned my head in the direction the plasma had come from and saw a trio of Grunts charging down the hallway, their weapons firing at a lone marine who had taken cover behind a deployable metal barricade and was shaking as he hid. His weapon was on the other side of the barricade, probably dropped in his haste to find cover, and he cowered in a ball as he said a prayer to whatever God he believed in.

As soon as the oncoming Grunts ceased firing for a moment, I sprang into action sprinting down the hall and aiming a needler I had 'commandeered' from a dead Elite in the air ducts earlier. I fired a few shots at the leader of the short stocky aliens, 6 pink glowing shards flew gracefully through the air and hit him in the throat, causing it to drop its weapon and clutch his throat and squeal in pain for a short moment, only for the shards to explode and cause a geyser of his blue fluorescent blood to leak and splatter onto his allies. The other two Grunts froze in an instant to wipe the blood off of their face-masks, then look in front of their dead comrade at me. I picked up the Marines' dropped MA5B and cycled the bolt before aiming it at them.

"How you doing?" I said before I pulled the trigger.

A long stream of bullets erupted from the gun as I sprayed round after round into the backs of the now fleeing aliens. The bullets ripped through their combat harnesses and caused the methane within to explode and send the bodies of the two aliens to be propelled forward for a few seconds until they came to a violent stop after hitting the other end of the hallway. The assault rifle clicked, and I looked down to see that I had used the rest of the magazine; out of habit I ejected the empty one and reached for a new one, but was reminded that I had none. I turned back around and made my way to the marine I had passed and got onto one knee as I gently laid my hand on his shoulder and shook him.

"Hey, Marine, pull yourself together."

The soldier looked up at me and I saw a pair of young, green eyes looking back at me. He had a trail of dried tears on his left cheek, and I frowned as I realized he was probably in shock. I looked down at his uniform and saw a patch that said SMITHE. I shook my head as the ship shook violently, causing me to steady myself by grabbing the barricade. I growled and tried again.

"Hey, Smithe, knock it off!" I lightly hit him on the arm, which caused him to yelp in pain, but it was enough to get him to look at me and salute.

"S-sir! W-what do you need?" He asked as he refocused his attention.

"I need to borrow your rifle, and a magazine for it," I said as I held up the empty rifle.

Smithe nodded, handed me two magazines for the MA5B and watched as I quickly and expertly loaded one into the gun. I sighed as I stood up and looked around, hoping to find some sort of a sign telling me what part of the ship I was on, but upon finding none, I looked back at the marine as he stood up and unholstered his M6D.

"Something wrong, Sir?"

I sighed in embarrassment at the question then kicked one of the dead Grunts as I responded. "Yeah, um... Do you know how to get to the bridge from here?"

A smile tugged at the corners of Smithes' mouth and I grumbled to myself as he chuckled and told me to follow him. Man I felt stupid...

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-Master Chief Petty Officer John 117-

-0215 Hours (Ship's Time), September 19, 2552-

-En Route to Command Bridge, Halcyon-Class Cruiser UNSC Pillar of Autumn, Current Location Unknown-

As myself and the remains of Noble Team passed a sign labeled BRIDGE, the marine who had been guiding us through the many hallways and corridors stopped and got onto his knees as he leveled his MA5B and aimed it at where we had come from. I stopped as well and looked at him.

"Aren't you coming?" I asked.

The marine shook his head. "No, you go on ahead, Captain Keyes is waiting for you, Sir. Besides someone needs to make sure the Covenant don't try and take the bridge."

I opened my mouth and was going to protest, but closed my mouth as the sound of a plasma grenade detonating came from down the hall. I nodded and turned towards Carter. "He's right, we need to move."

Carter nodded and we continued down the short hall, rounding the corner to see a M247 General Purpose MG set up behind a small metal barricade. The gun was being manned by a lone marine who had several splotches of blue and purple blood all over his uniform. Upon seeing the four of us he looked up and smiled before turning his head to shout at someone who was currently firing a salvo of bullets down the other side of the hall.

"Hey, are these the guys you're waiting for?"

The sound of a Frag grenade being tossed could be heard followed quickly by an explosion and several dying screams of Elites. A moment later and I saw Aren come around the corner as her closed the door and locked it by punching the keypad. "There that should hold 'em, for now..." He turned to look at the marine, and upon seeing us, he raised his hands and gave a short laugh.

"What took you guys so long?" He asked as he slung his rifle over his shoulder and made his way over to me.

"Elevator broke down on the deck below, had to take the scenic route." I said as I shook his hand.

"Well, you made it, that's what counts. Come on, Captain Keyes wants to talk to you and I."

Carter cleared his throat and gestured to himself and the other two members of Noble. "What about us three?"

Aren shook his head. "Captain just wants us, says the bridge is a mess as is, doesn't want all of us crowded in there." He paused and pointed his thumb back at the marine on the machine gun, who was currently counting how many rounds were left in the box of ammo. "Smithe here will take you to the nearby armory station and get you geared up, then the Captain wants you to help defend the bridge while the Chief and I are inside."

Emile and Drake nodded, while Carter sighed then they all left with the marine towards the armory. Aren looked at me and gestured towards the bridge. "Come on."

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-Senior Chief Petty Officer Aren 139-

-0218 Hours (Ship's Time), September 19, 2552-

-Command Bridge, Halcyon-Class Cruiser UNSC Pillar of Autumn, Current Location Unknown-

As John and I passed the many workstations on the bridge, I was amazed at the state of everything; everyone was yelling back and forth, trying their hardest to regain control of the ship as it was assaulted by the Covenant. I sighed as I passed everyone and approached the main command screen where Captain Keyes was giving orders.

"Alert, Fire Suppression team needed at Bulkhead Bravo-12. Repeat: fire suppression team needed at Bulkhead Bravo-12!"

I waited until Keyes finished giving the order, then cleared my throat as I raised my hand in a salute, to which John did the same. "Captain Keyes..."

The Captain turned to face us and returned the salute as he smiled. "Good to see you, Spartans..." Keyes turned his head as he watched one of the bridge officers running past us. "Things haven't exactly gone according to plan. Cortana did what she could, but we never stood much of a chance."

At that, a small purple flash occurred next to the screen and Cortana's avatar appeared on top of the AI holotank. She looked at the command screen as well, tilted her head and hummed to herself. "A dozen superior Covenant ships against this old Halcyon-class cruiser? With those odds, I'm happy with three..." Several lines of code flashed on her body momentarily as she redid the math then she smirked. "Make that four kills." She turned to face John and I before she smiled and crossed her arms. "Sleep well?"

I shrugged at her while John just shook his head lightly. "Well, no thanks to your driving... but yes."

A large smile formed on her face at my response. "I knew you missed me."

Before anything else could be said, the entire ship was shook roughly by an explosion causing the captain to lose his balance and grab onto the view-screen's keyboard for support. John and I looked around as we were only jostled around slightly by the explosion, and several of the other crew members on the bridge had fallen over and were now picking themselves and each other off of the floor. Keyes shook his head as he glanced at the command screen, then to Cortana.

"What the Hell was that, Report?" He yelled.

Cortana looked back at Keyes as she quickly flashed a few different colors. "It must have been one of their boarding parties, an antimatter charge if I had to guess."

"Ma'am! All control for the main cannon is offline." A technician yelled from a few feet away.

"Captain, that was my last defensive option..." Cortana said desperately.

"Dammit... Alright then, I'm initiating Cole Protocol, Article II." Keyes stood up straight and looked Cortana dead in the eyes. "We're abandoning the Autumn, that goes for you as well Cortana."

John went to help a technician who had hit his head when the ship had shook, while I continued to listen to the Captain and Cortana. "While you do what, go down with the ship? Not a great idea, in my opinion, sir."

Keyes pulled an old wooden pipe out of his pocket and fiddled with it in his fingers then pointed to the command screen. "In a manner of speaking, yes. The object we found, I'm going to try and land the Autumn on it."

It was at this point that I looked outside the huge viewing windows that sat at the front of the bridge and gazed out at the large ring that was in orbit around the large purple-hued gas giant. Actually seeing Halo with my own eyes was breathtaking. The many landmasses that were laid inside the rings' surface were amazing to look at, and made my head spin as I tried to think about the things that I knew and then the things that I probably had no clue about. It scared me, knowing about the Flood and the Monitor, but as I tried thinking about it more, I was torn from my thoughts as I heard Captain Keyes address me directly.

"Which is where you come in Spartan..." Keyes frowned and looked at my faceplate, probably looking for some signs of emotion, though upon finding none, he continued. "Get Cortana off of this ship, keep her safe from the enemy. If they capture her, God forbid it, they'll learn everything about us. How we deploy our forces, our weapons' research... Earth."

I frowned but nodded my head. "I understand, Sir."

By now, John had come back and was listening to Keyes's explanation as well. Cortana reappeared on the holotank and crossed her arms as she looked at Keyes. "The Autumn will continue evasive maneuvers until you initiate a landing sequence. Not that you'll listen, but I'd suggest letting my subroutines handle the final approach." She shrugged her shoulders, but smiled at the captain nonetheless.

"Excellent work, Cortana, thank you. Are you ready?"

Cortana took a moment to look around the bridge before she sighed and closed her eyes. "Yank me..."

Keyes didn't hesitate as he walked over to the holotank and input a series of commands, a moment later and the AI storage chip was ejected from the system and Keyes pulled it free. He looked at it a moment, then to me before he extended his hand towards me. "Good luck, Spartan..."

I accepted the chip and turned it over in my hand once before I inserted it into the empty socket at the back of my helmet. There was a loud click followed by the familiar sensation of ice water being poured down my spine, and then I heard Cortana's voice.

"Hmm... still crowded by clutter I see..."

"Nice to see you too, Cortana," I said quietly.

"One more thing before you go, Spartans," Keyes looked at both me and John this time. "As of this moment, I'm forming a new fireteam which will be comprised of the remaining members of Noble Team and the two of you. I don't have time for any fancy crap, so you'll be stuck with Noble as your team name. Good luck."

I nodded at the captain, then John and I made our way off of the bridge. As we rejoined Carter and the others I noticed a pile of dead Covenant troops as well as a few hundred empty shell casings. The M247 was in pieces and looked like it had been shot with a plasma bolt, but everyone was still alive, including Smithe. Carter walked over to us and handed John an MA5B as well as an M6D, then nodded to me.

"What's going on?"

"We need to get off this ship, fast. Keyes is initiating the Cole Protocol. We need t get to the lifeboats." I explained quickly.

"Okay, well let's get moving." Emile said as he loaded a few shells into an M90 CAWS.

"One more thing," I said as I pulled my own MA5B from my back. "Keyes said he wanted the five of us to form a new fireteam, but stick with Noble as our team name..." I finished.

Carter turned to look at me and I could tell he was beyond pissed. "He what?"

"I had nothing to do with it. It was all his decision, I'm just relaying the message." I replied as I stood my ground.

John approached Carter and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Let it go, we'll deal with it later. Right now our main priority is to get to a lifeboat."

Carter sighed loudly but nodded. "Right, lets move."

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Ruvu 'Lagramee activated his active camouflage unit as he exited the assault craft and watched as the Unggoy, Kig-Yar, and other Sangheili proceeded ahead of him. After he was sure it was safe, he activated his plasma rifle and began his mission, creeping along the hallways of the Human ship hoping to find his target. 'Lagramee was one of several experienced officers who had been chosen to act as an Ossoona, or Eye of the Prophets. His role was to gain intelligence from the front lines, and hopefully glean several key pieces of high-quality information. While other units with his job were tasked with capturing high-ranking Human soldiers, 'Lagramee was chosen to attempt to find and if possible, capture a specific Human who had already evaded capture in the past.

This 'Demon,' as it was referred to, was considered highly dangerous and was regarded by Supreme Commander Thel 'Vadamee as one of the most important targets to the Covenant. It had evaded capture by previous advanced Sangheili warriors, and was now sought after at any opportunity available. 'Lagramee had volunteered to take the role of Ossoona in this engagement against the Humans, not because he did not seek honor in combat, but because he believed he had the skills necessary to capture the Human.

'Lagramee stalked down a long series of hallways, being careful to listen closely to the battlenet for any reports of sightings of the Demon, and as he entered a large room with several of what the Humans referred to as 'Warthogs,' he heard the conversation of two Sangheili over the battlenet mentioning the Demon briefly.

"The Demon! It approaches the forty-fifth deck! We cannot stop it, it cuts through our lines!"

"Stand firm, you coward! It is only a Human!"

'Lagramee listened for a few moments more, but no more words could be distinguished, as several explosions could be heard, followed by a burst of gunfire before the transmission was cut off. He growled in frustration at the weakness displayed by his brethren, then shook his head and continued onward. 'Lagramee was currently on the deck above where the Demon had been spotted, and there was no doubt the Human was intent on escaping the ship like several others of its kind. A smile formed on 'Lagramee's face as he eventually found a stairwell, and he chuckled as he grabbed a lone Human by the neck and silently thrust his Energy Dagger into it's back. The Human was silent as 'Lagramee wrenched the blade from his back and fell forward with a small thump.

Clearly if the Humans were this easy to kill, it would be a simple task to capture his target...

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-Senior Chief Petty Officer Aren 139-

-0255 Hours (Ship's Time), September 19, 2552-

-Deck 45 (En Route to Lifeboat,) Halcyon-Class Cruiser UNSC Pillar of Autumn, Current Location: Soell System-

"Can this damned elevator go any slower?"

I turned my head and looked at Drake as he was tapping his foot on the floor of the service elevator we were all in. Our trip to get to the lifeboats had been a bit of a pain in the ass, since we had had to fight our way down 5 decks of the ship before Cortana was able to finally pinpoint a lifeboat that would wait for us. Our trip had taken us through parts of Engineering, Crew Quarters, and a large section of the Cargo Hold; and by now I was almost out of ammo.

"Seriously, I'm not telling you again to be quiet. Next time, I'm just gonna smack ya'..." Emile said as the lift finally stopped. The blast doors slowly began opening, allowing several plasma bolts to sneak through the small opening and hit us, but we paid no mind to it as Carter got down and used his DMR to pick off several Grunts who were taking potshots at us. They went down fairly easily as the blast doors finished opening and we all started making our way down the long hallway. Most of the crew who were on this deck were dead, their bodies littering either side of the hall, with dead Covenant interspersed between them, and as we approached another blast door, this ship was rocked by another explosion from somewhere else.

"The Covenant sure are relentless: the damage to the superstructure is extensive... I don't know how much more abuse the Autumn can take," Cortana said as the blast door cycled open.

"She'll hold." I replied calmly.

"I sure as Hell hope so," Carter said annoyed.

The blast door opened and past it was a small fire that had broken out when a large canister of flammable chemicals had been hit with a stray bullet, but other than that I saw nothing. The lights in this section of the ship had been damaged, making visibility difficult, so I clicked on my flashlight as I stepped forward. I raised my hand and motioned for the others to follow me, my MA5B raised just in case and I crept forward sweeping from side to side as we continued.

"Anybody else get the feeling we're being watched...?" Smithe said as he followed us from the rear.

As I got ready to tell him to be quiet, I noticed a distortion effect ahead of us. The motion was almost imperceptible, if it hadn't been for the nearby fire, I wouldn't have noticed the difference in the way the walls looked. Immediately I recognized it as a cloaked Elite and turned my head to the others.

"RUN!"

As soon as I looked back where the Elite was hiding, I was greeted by the sight of a black armored Elite. It roared at me and activated a plasma grenade and threw it towards us; I lunged at the grenade, my rifle outstretched and began peppering the alien with gunfire. I didn't stop when the others ran past us and when the plasma grenade latched itself to my rifle, I discarded it, throwing it behind me as it exploded a mere moment later. The explosion caused my shields to drop almost completely and I was dazed a moment as I tackled the Elite to the floor.

In my confusion, the Elite managed to knock me off of it with a punch to my head, and I reeled as I fell backwards. I could here a loud ringing in my ears as I refocused and reached for my M6D, though my eyes grew huge as the Elite stood up and activated an Energy Sword. Instantly my mind was brought back to the events on Sigma Octanus IV, to when I had lost my arm and I froze as I turned and began crawling away. I could vaguely hear Cortana's voice in my ears as she yelled for me to do something that would no doubt save my ass, but my mind had tuned everything out as the only thing I could think of was getting as far away from the Energy Sword as possible.

I eventually made my way to a dead Marine, and was reaching for her rifle when I felt something grab my foot and throw me backwards. I shook my head and looked up to see the Elite snarling at me, its blade raised above its head in preparation for a strike. I swore under my breath and closed my eyes as I waited for the burning pain, only to hear the slick sound of metal piercing flesh, followed by the sound of a choking scream. Opening my eyes I saw the Elite fall to its knees, its hand clutching its neck, and the handle of Emile's kukri jutting out.

I turned my head to see Emile and John running over to me. John stopped next to me and pulled me to my feet while Emile yanked his knife free from the dead Elite with a sickening squelch.

"You alright?" John asked as I he grabbed my shoulder.

I shook my head, my breathing a little erratic, but slowing down. "Y-yeah. I'll be alright," I said as I brushed his hand off and turned to look where the Elite had been hiding. "Why'd you come back for me?"

"Because, I'm not losing you too," John said firmly. "That and you've got Cortana in your head."

I nodded slowly as I reached for my M6D and racked the slide. "Right..." I paused as I turned and began continuing down the hall towards the lifeboats. "Well we'd better move, we need to get out of here."

"Yeah, let's move." Drake said as we all began jogging down the hall.

The rest of the way to the lifeboat was, for the most part uneventful, only a few Grunts and Jackals here and there. But when we reached the hall with our lifeboat, I damn neared cried.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me..." Drake said as we rounded the corner.

Down the hall, about halfway, was a Shade turret and a Hunter. The Hunter was stomping its way towards us while the Shade was watching its back, the operator aiming the large gun down the hall towards where we had all taken cover.

"They really don't want us on that ring..." Cortana said quietly.

"What was your first clue?" I said as I checked the number of rounds remaining for my M6D. I only had 8 rounds left, which meant I only had enough for either the Hunter or the gunner, but not enough to take care of the both of them. I looked around and spotted a door to a maintenance hallway. I instantly got an idea.

"Cortana, access the ships' schematics and tell me where that maintenance access-way leads."

"One moment..." she answered quickly.

I peeked my head around the corner and looked at the Hunter who was about 15 or so feet away. It stopped as it stretched its neck, the quills on its back pointing upwards and looking extremely sharp.

"Okay, it looks like that access-way will put you at the other end of this hallway. You'd be in a perfect position to flank that Shade turret if you wanted," Cortana said as a small hologram of this hallway appeared on my HUD.

I nodded then looked to Carter, Drake and Smithe. "Alright, you guys go through that access-way and flank the Shade, I'll take John and Emile and take out the Hunter, got it?"

Everyone nodded after I finished explaining, and I waited until the small maintenance door closed behind Carter before I readied my pistol and rounded the corner.

"Hey, Fishfood!" I yelled as I pointed at the Hunter.

Emile watched me as he pumped his shotgun and shook his head. "What are you doing? Are you crazy?"

The Hunter turned towards me and roared as it raised its cannon and began charging it. I charged forward and jumped as the huge ball of plasma shot out of the gun, the blast propelled me forwards and allowed me to grab onto its arm with ease. The hulking alien growled even louder as it began shaking its entire body in an attempt to throw me off, and I bared my teeth as I climbed along its arm and onto its back. Emile ran up to the Hunter and started peppering it in the torso as it tried to distract it, and I could see John as he began to understand what I was doing. Tightening my ball into a fist I started pounding on the back of the goliath, right where the large plate of armor covered the gap in its armor. The force of my repeated punches cracked the armor at the seams and allowed my to slip my hand underneath and rip the metal off with a loud crunch.

The Hunter must've felt the armor break, because it chose that moment to roar in fury and use its massive shield of an arm to knock Emile away like a fly. He flew into John and they both hit the floor in a heap, leaving me to wrestle the Hunter alone. I gritted my teeth in anger and pain as it stomped backwards and slammed me into the wall, my body making an indent in the metal and instantly dropping my shields to nothing and causing the warning alarm to sound. I tuned out the incessant whine as I pulled my M6D from my hip and aimed it at the Hunter's back.

I pulled the trigger and watched as all eight shots hammered into the quivering worms that made up the huge alien, and each one ruptured several worms making the rest of the colony quiver and squeal in pain. As the eighth bullet left my handgun, I frowned as the Hunter remained standing and rammed me backwards again, the pain from the impact causing me to lose my grip slightly, but not before I was able to grab a frag grenade and shove it into a gap in the Hunter's back. I let go of the Hunter and dropped to the floor as I grinned under my helmet.

"Fuck you..." I said as I covered my helmet with my hands.

Not a moment later and the Hunter exploded into chunks of blue armor pieces and orange goo, covering me and everything in a 10-foot radius. The explosion knocked me on my back, my head hitting the floor hard and causing me to see spots, but I ignored it as I slowly climbed to my feet. The others came over to look at the carnage and Emile laughed.

"And I thought I hated the Covenant..." he said between laughs.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but now would be a very good time to leave!" Cortana said, causing us all to sprint to the airlock and climb into the lifeboat.

I closed the hatch and turned towards Drake as he climbed into the pilots seat. "Punch it!"

"You got it! Next stop: Big-ass Hula-Hoop thing!"

I stifled a laugh as I made sure everybody was buckled in, then grabbed a handle in the ceiling of the lifeboat. The craft shuddered as it ejected itself from the Autumn, and I watched as well flew towards Halo.

"What the hell is that thing, anyways...?" Smithe asked, amazed.

"Hell, who knows, but we're landing on it." Carter said.

"Shit, the Autumn, she's taken one Hell of a beating..." Drake said as he peered out the windows that were built into the doors to the lifeboat.

"I knew it! The Autumn's accelerating, Keyes is going in manual..." Cortana said out loud.

I quickly climbed into a seat and strapped in as the lifeboat began shaking.

"Alright guys, hang on, we're entering the rings' atmosphere. It's about to get bumpy!" Drake shouted.

It was then that the lifeboat shook violently and I looked outside as I saw a Spirit dropship shooting at us.

"Shit! We just lost one of the airbrakes! This could be bad..."

"We'll be alright, just get us down there." I said.

"Oh well definitely get down there, though I can't say if we'll be in one piece..." Drake said chuckling.

"If I still had fingers, they'd be crossed..." Cortana commented morbidly.

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Author's Note:

Well, there's chapter 20! Hope you enjoyed it; this was another long one but I hope its not too long.

Now for this chapter and maybe the next two I will probably be doing 1 level/ chapter. If that ends up working okay, I might continue that, but I don't know, we'll see.

Anyways, let me know what you thought of this chapter and I hope you've enjoyed the story so far.

As Always,

I'll See You Starside,

Soul's Release