Double-Wonderland
With a large thump, we went out of Slipspace. I was on top of Chief, having toppled over during the rupture.
Chief sighed, " You going to ask me out on a date?"
I laughed, and got up. "Cortana, location?" I asked.
" Not too sure Will, Getting some NAV information but it's going to take some time. Keyes wants you two in HEV's though."
We both nodded, and headed to the HEV's in the cargo bay. Most likely we were probably going to do a combat drop.
"Chief, who was Parisa?" I asked as we were patiently in our pods, waiting for further orders.
"She was a young girl I befriended before I was conscripted. I saved her from a lake when we were six, and promised to marry her." He answered curtly.
I nodded, satisfied with his answer. Chief gave no more, and no less the amount of information required.
" I thought about her for a while I was training. I… wondered for her safety."
Chief was beginning to open up to me, that was a good sign. He needed someone with him, not just Cortana to talk to him. God knows we all needed a friend. If captain Keyes had never saved my life back then on Reach, I'd have no idea how Chief would have handled all the stuff we'd went through. But I think he'd have done fine, despite the stress we'd collectively gone through together.
I shook the ponderings out of my head and replied, " I see. You care for her. Maybe after this war, when all the black ink is wiped, of course if ONI decides to work for the benefit of war heroes for once, you could find her and tell her."
Chief replied, his tone thoughtful, "Maybe."
Miranda Keyes steely voice came over on our COM," Sorry for the quick jump, you guys okay?"
Cortana took the liberty to answer for the two of us. "We're fine."
On the viewscreen in our HEV's appeared the front camera of the UNSC In Amber Clad. Up ahead was a large object, growing larger still as we approached it, the Covenant Carrier with Truth up ahead. The object looked oddly ring-shaped, and as we got closer, I realized what we were looking at.
Keyes stared in amazement. "Cortana, what are we looking at?"
Cortana was amazed as well, but said to her, "That is another Halo."
Johnson choked, presumably on the cigar he was just chewing on. " What?"
Commander Keyes stared in wonder, most likely imagining the thoughts her father had when he first came across the ring world. "So this is what my father found. I thought Halo was a super weapon. This seems more like a planet, an artificial structure."
I replied, "Figures, the size of the weapon…."
Cortana affirmed. "Noble is correct. If Halo is ever activated, this will cause global destruction on a galactic scale."
On our view screens, the Halo grew larger. If it was anything like the one we were on, Chief and I were in for another slice of hell.
Commander Keyes ordered Cortana, " I want all the information you have on the first Halo. Schematics, topography, anything you got. I don't care if it's classified or not."
Cortana affirmed, " Yes ma'am."
Keyes then turned to us. "Chief, Noble, I need you to take first platoon. Hard drop into the ring, and secure a landing zone. Sergeant Johnson, take two flights of Pelicans, and follow them in."
Johnson replied, 'Aye aye, ma'am."
I heard a hiss as someone, presumably Johnson got out of his pod. He pounded both of our pods as he walked by, and Chief and I pounded back in response.
"Understood." Chief said.
A machine counted the seconds to drop, and I heard the familiar beep as there was a sudden lurch, and we hell-jumped to Halo. The pod began shaking, the acceleration incredibly strong as the pods caught fire and streaked down to Halo like meteorites. I checked the landing zone co-ordinates with my TACPAD, and then opened up an estimate of where I would land. A Jackal manning a shade began firing at us. I tapped two commands, and my pod adjusted slightly.
With a deafening crack, I heard my pod destroy the shade and the Jackal inside as I landed on it. I kicked open the pod as Chief got out next to me, several ODST's and Marines up front and behind us on the Cliffside.
Cortana was almost gleeful, " Could we make anymore noise?"
Chief turned to his pod and yanked out a SPNKR Rocket Launcher.
I grinned beneath my helmet, " Apparently so."
Sergeant Stacker and Private Dubbo both waved at us from the topside of the cliff, and yelled at us, "Chief, Noble! We could use your help in getting taking out those turrets. We gotta clear the landing zone for the Pelicans!"
We pushed upwards, and I fired three bursts from my Battle Rifle straight into three Jackals heads. Their shields did nothing to stop them, as they weren't covering their heads. Chief stopped, and suddenly straightened. With a plume of smoke and fire, a rocket streamed down into a huge group of Covenant that had just dropped from a phantom. Bits of charred meat sizzled the ground, as I whistled in appreciation. Two ivory Elites came out from a small alcove, and fired their carbines with deadly accuracy. I dodged and weaved to avoid their fire, but Stacker and Dubbo picked up the slack, throwing two grenades that dropped the Elites tough shields. Chief raised and fired, and they dropped.
Up ahead, a large temple decorated with ornate foreign markings dominated the Cliffside. It looked to be made of bronze, but was much stronger, as evidenced by the grenades that exploded on its side and caused zero dents on it.
"Clear the temple!" I called out. Chief pulled out a submachine gun, and tossed me his assault rifle. I caught it and nodded.
Stacker whipped out a M90 and drawled. "I like to keep this for close encounters." Dubbo used his Assault Rifle. We moved silently into the large temple. I stood in the forefront, while the two Marines protected the left and right, and Chief watched out back. I pressed against the first temple room. I set a countdown marker on 3. When the mark hit zero, we burst into the room, firing. Elites and Grunts seemed to look up in slow motion as we began firing. The Elites in the room were shredded to pieces, and the lowly grunts were polished off by Stackers shotgun. We entered the room as the bodies hit the floor.
Chief waved us onwards, as we moved slowly, with practiced and relaxed steps. The next room was clear, save for a couple grunts. I took point and signaled to the rest of our team to stay put. I pulled out my silenced pistol and was about to move into the room when stacker waved at me. I turned sharply, but caught a second M9S he tossed at me. I nodded in appreciation, and wielded both of them. Turning into the rom, my pistols coughed once, twice, thrice, and several more times before the seven grunts hit the floor. I whistled, and blew at the barrels before strapping them to my sides, and waving the rest into the room. John came in first, shaking his head at the sight of me. Dubbo and Stacker came after, eyes peeled for trouble. We moved upwards. Chief took point, and suddenly he stopped and fired his SMG. I peeled over the corner, and saw two Elites on the floor, throats streamed with blood. That was most likely the last of them.
We emerged on the roof of the temple, breathing a sigh of relief at clearing the large but incredibly cramped temple. I popped a large blue flare, and threw it on the cliff face. This would signal the Pelican that it was clear to land.
It wasn't that clear as a Sprit dropship dropped down in place of the Pelican. We all retreated into the safety of the temple, taking potshots at the dropping Covenant. Suddenly we heard a deafening explosion, and saw the shattered remains of the spirit on the ground. A Pelican with a loud roar of its engines powered over the LZ, and dropped a warthog as well as a small troop of Marines.
"There's our ride!" Cortana called out.
Johnson's loud and powerful voice came on our COMs, " I got a good view from here, There's a big ass building in the middle of this little outcrops lake."
Cortana affirmed Johnson's thoughts; "I saw it too on the way down, looks a bit like a temple. If I were a megalomaniac crazy person, which I'm not by the way, that is where I would be."
I hopped into the driver seat, while Chief hopped on the turret. The rest of the Marines would secure the area. I honked the horn, and drove was the gears and wheels of the warthog tracked turf all around the temple. We drove past the temple on a small pathway, allowing us some breathing room. Outside, there was a truly beautiful view. An enormous lake, shimmering and clear from human or alien interference lay at the bottom of a large ravine. Birds of an unknown origin flocked around in concentric circles, looming over the area.
"Looks like a postcard doesn't it?" I mentioned as we drove past.
Chief nodded." Indeed."
Dubbo and the rest of his Marines were behind us, and Dubbo joked over the COM, "Hey Sarge! Kicking ass in outer space, wish you were here."
Johnson came in over our COM, "I heard that, jackass!"
I drove on, till we saw a large chasm and the building Sergeant Johnson talked about on his way here. Wraiths and a platoon of Covenant guarded the area. I gunned it, going faster in order to avoid the mortars that desecrated the once beautiful landscape. I drove past the temple just as a mortar slammed into the roof of it, taking out the top turret and causing concrete to slam into the floor with a loud smash.
I swerved and weaved inwards and outwards, Chief firing until the touch armor plating of the large Wraith break apart. The turret gunner manned on the top of it began to fire the moment we got close; a couple of glancing bolts slamming into us and burning our shields. I threw a plasma grenade, latching it onto the too exposed gunner, sending him to Covenant paradise and sending chunks of meat everywhere.
Chief kept firing until he must have hit a fuel line, as the Wraith tank suddenly detonated in a beautiful blue flash. The place now clear, I took a look around. The chasm up ahead had Covenant supply containers, which meant that Regret was somewhere there. We had to find a way to get past the chasm.
Cortana seemed to read our minds. "The Covenant have control of the bridge ahead, and they're going to try keep us here. However, what they don't know is that there's a bridge override in the temple structure up front."
I hopped off the warthog and Chief followed into the ornate temple. I cracked it open, and saw a large switch. Unlike the rest of the ancient looking temple, this was a hologram with the ancient symbols hovering and shimmering around it. This looked a lot like the switches we'd seen on the first Halo. I tapped the hologram with my palm, and heard a loud whirr as the bridge began coming from the other side.
We immediately ran back to the Warthog and strapped in for a big fight. As we moved on past the bridge, we kept our eyes peeled for enemy activity. As it seemed, most of the Covenant had retreated further into the bridge.
Johnson came over the COM, "Time to deliver you boys some armor."
Up front, there was a hologram of the Prophet of Regret delivering a speech in Covenant.
Chief walked to the hologram, then walked back.
"There's our target. What's he doing? Delivering a battle cry?" he asked, his gravelly voice accentuating his questions.
Cortana helpfully answered. "Actually, I believe Regret's giving a sermon to be exact. For now, it's mostly the usual religious spiel, but I will translate if there is anything of note."
The familiar roar of a Pelican sounded over our heads, as a tank attached to its side dropped from the sky and landed with a loud crunch. I waited for Chief to get on the tank, but he stood, and pointed his rifle at it.
"Oh boy!" I said sarcastically, getting in the driver seat as Chief smirked before getting on the turret.
Cortana butted in, "Now now boys, everyone gets their turn. Drive further into the temple, Regrets signal is broadcasting from the center."
"Backseat driver." Chief grunted, as the tank shuddered and rumbled across the bridge. As we turned into a large temple, a small group of grunts came out, squeaking and shrieking in their guttural alien tongues before being silenced by twin plumes of fire from Chief's rocket launcher. He tossed it to the side, empty before we kept moving.
We carefully passed through the ruins, eyes peeled. Behind us, the ODST's caught up after securing the area behind us and followed on foot. A couple of Ghosts swarmed into view, firing their plasma cannons straight at us. I made a large target, allowing the armor plating to take the hits, while I fired the cannons right at them. With a large boom, the main gun recoiled back, and the ghost disappeared, leaving behind a charred metal carcass.
"Woo!" I whooped, whipping the cannon around to fire at another unlucky Ghost, which blew it over the ramparts in the structure, causing it to topple into the abyss below, the Elite screaming with terror every inch of the way. The rest were simply annihilated by superior firepower.
I drove the tank deeper into the structure, destroying everything in my way. Cortana concernedly mentioned, "Careful, we're coming up to another structure."
I drove in, and two Wraith tanks instantly turned on us, firing their mortars at us in unison. Due to the confined areas of the ruins, the plasma harmlessly detonated on the walls, leaving us unscathed. I loaded a shell and fired, destroying the plating of the Wraith with my first shot, my second shot serving to destroy it. The other one followed suit quickly, and I drove onwards. Soon, I made my way to a track that was impassable, ruins of buildings scattered across the path. I grunted in annoyance and got out of the tank, pulling Chief out as well.
"Time to hoof it." He said as he began to walk through the remains, and quickly ducked as a plasma bolt whizzed through the air and seared the top of his helmet. He pressed against a large pillar as seven Elites emerged from what looked like the ruins of an altar, wielding Plasma Rifles and Carbines. The Marines behind us arrived, slamming into the walls behind us.
"Suppress!" Chief yelled as he turned from cover and began firing his Assault Rifle in short bursts. The marines and I followed up, moving pillar-to-pillar, cover-to-cover. I made it to just a couple feet from the Elites, and I heard Stacker yell, "Noble!"
I turned and saw an M90 at my feet. I picked it up and pumped it, before throwing myself over the pillar, and firing. One Elite caught the full brunt of the first shell, blown apart and back several inches back. An azure Elite on my left began firing, but I barged into it with my left shoulder, and used my left hand to find purchase on its shoulder. My arm strained as I grabbed him and threw him against another Elite, and shot them both with my M90. Meanwhile, Chief had loped his way swiftly up onto the altar, and began firing at the Elites left, drawing them off my back and allowing Stacker and his Marines to shred them apart with concentrated rounds.
I got up as Stacker whistled appreciatively. "Glad to have you Noble."
I nodded. "Part of the job aint it?"
I clanked a fist against Chiefs as we kept moving, guns at the ready. Beyond the destroyed altar had a corridor that led directly to the heart of the forerunner ruins, and with it that was where Regret was hiding. I passed my shotgun back to Stacker, who grabbed it and slung it behind his back. We moved on, making it to a large area.
Miranda Keyes calmly came in over our COM, "Chief, Noble, I'm sending you some ammo and weapons, they should help you punch through their lines."
Chief replied, "Noted."
We looked up to the sky to see small pinpricks of light flash from the Dawn, and pods containing ammo rocketed down, containing a sniper rifle, several slings of ammo, and a large amount of grenades along with a prototype.
Chief picked up the prototype grenade. "Will, what's this?" He tossed it at me.
I caught it and inspected it carefully, and my TACPAD began streaming information. "Mini EMP grenade. It's mostly used in counter-insurgency ops to take out the electronics of the rebels before they storm in and take everyone out. Just recently it's been repurposed to work on Jackal and Covenant shields. Marines are starting to call it the power drainer. Is it EMP or emp?"
"EMP." He said as I passed it back. "Will come in handy when we encounter Elites. It'll blow apart their shields and allow some easy headshots."
I nodded, and he popped it next to his grenade belt. We moved forward quietly, looking around at the atmosphere up ahead. Apart from the blazing sun, the ruins raised around the area were jutting out from the ground like the enormous fingers of a dead god. It was quiet and eerie, apart from the Covenant religious sermons placed around the area, giving the place a scene of a horror movie. I drew up my TACPAD, and tapped a command. A waypoint appeared in our HUD, signifying where we were supposed to go.
Cortana interrupted." Hey, don't let that thing replace me."
I coughed, "Not a chance."
Several more steps forward and a wave of red dots flashed on my motion sensor. Up ahead, through a one story building came several Elites clad in crimson and grey armor. Along with them came several shimmering mirages of the background, which meant stealth Elites. An unlucky Marine took a plasma bolt to the chest, and hit the floor, unmoving and eyes open. Stacker pulled off his dog tags before jumping into cover.
Chief rose and fired two bursts, and two Elites materialized out of thin air, blood dripping from their chests. Stacker looked around, and suddenly threw a large mound of sand upwards into the air. It shimmered onto the ground, except for the parts covered by Elites. I fired my Battle Rifle quickly, punching three holes each into their head and neck.
We charged forward, and Chief bowled over a crimson Elite, and snagged his unpowered energy sword before throwing it to me. I caught it, activated it and stabbed an Elite through the chest, before shoving upwards with a yell and cleaving it in half.
The last Elite roared and charged at me with his own blade, but not before being taken out by a clean rifle butt to the back of the head. Chief knelt, and snapped its neck painlessly before getting up and strapping the Elite's energy sword to his own weapon belt.
Cortana's clear voice spoke to us. " You're nearing a large Covenant emplacement. No large vehicles, but 3 ghosts and at least three-dozen Covenant infantry… wait, make that 4-dozen, a phantom just dropped a couple more. They're just behind this corner. Power drainer seems useful now doesn't it hmm?"
"Yes. Yes it does." I said as Chief activated it. We pressed against the wall leading to the Covenant forces, almost like breaching a one sided door. I took a smoke-flash canister, and primed it. After three seconds I lobbed it past the corner.
Three seconds later, I heard the Covenant forces scream in confusion and anger as they were blinded first by a brilliant flash and then by milky dark smoke. Chief threw the power drainer down the corner, then turned and stormed in. I followed as Stacker and the rest of the marines stayed back.
Being in the MJOLNIR armor had its benefits, and one of those was seeing clearly through the dark smoke. With no shields, and swinging their bodies crazily around, they were easy picking. When the smoke cleared, a pile of bodies littered the ground.
"We need to make these canisters standard issue." I said, as I began to scrounge for plasma grenades on the corpses. Stacker brought up the rear, lowering his guard only slightly as he saw the enemy was dead.
One marine frowned. " Where'd the party go?"
Private Dubbo replied, " Back to your mums house mate." Immediately after he said that there was a thump. I turned and saw Dubbo massaging his arm and a grinning ODST with his helmet depolarized. Boys will be boys. I sighed and waved as both of them polarized their helmets and stopped goofing off.
Cortana helpfully notified us on the COM, " We need to clear the Covenant forces in this structure." I looked up and saw the large granite building, looming over us. It seemed to have eyes, cold dark ones, staring at us as we entered. I saw was a long hallway stretched to several pairs of walkways leading skywards into an unknown destination. Ancient symbols dotted the walls, and Covenant caches were scattered around the area. The light refracted off the skylight in the roof, reflecting and illuminating the room. Two Hunters rumbled with anger as they stepped off a small plinth, and charged their cannons. I threw myself to the side, and Chief simply hit the floor as the huge plasma bolt streamed out the door.
I lobbed two grenades over the wall, detonating two large plinths of smoke, and revealed the two hunters having several cracks in their armor, bleeding bright orange blood. Enraged now, the hunters began charging, swinging their shields around and firing their cannons. An unlucky Marine caught a cannon to the face, and was gone instantly. I rose, aimed and fired an accurate burst into one hunters exposed neck. More blood began streaming out, and it finally went down with a well-placed plasma grenade by Chief. The second one roared in grief, and began firing even faster, its rage seeming to fuel its thirst for our blood. It managed to take down two other Marines before concentrated fire finally took it down.
I keyed the KIA's in my TACPAD, and took the remaining intact- dog tags of the fallen. We moved on, and travelled slowly up the staircase, guns pointed up, and down at the previous room. On top of the staircase there was another hologram of Regret, delivering another of his sermons.
"What's he saying this time?" I asked.
Cortana helpfully replied, "He's explaining the nature of the forerunners transcendence, and the binding nature of the Covenant."
Chief said. "Their transcendence is going to end in mass suicide."
We kicked over the hologram generator, and we moved out. The giant room moved outside, breaking open to reveal a large wooded area. A waterfall stood right ahead of us. We stepped through gently, as the water streamed passed over our visors, and the Marines grumbled with frustration.
Cortana winked at us over the HUD, "You two bring me to wonderful places. Anyways, the main temple is right past the creek that's up ahead. Regret is close to that area. Careful, this place has more Jackals than I've ever seen."
I shrugged, thinking that it couldn't have been that much.
We moved upwards, and found ourselves on the top of a large cliff with a lone Jackal. I crept forward, and then snapped its neck, catching it before it hit the ground. I looked and saw upwards of 50 Jackals around the area. They hadn't noticed us, and were milling about, doing their business. Chief moved up and scanned the area. We signaled the Marines to follow up, and counted to three. One three, we jumped and landed on the cliff face. The Jackals in front turned and were met with burning led bullets.
10 went down quickly, and I immediately shouted. "Stacker open fire!"
On cue, a hail of bullets cascaded downwards, shredding the stunned and surprised aliens apart. Several of them powered up their shields, but I'd already planned for that, rolling grenades across their feet and blowing them into the air.
All of 60 seconds passed, and they all lay dead around us. The temple up ahead was where we needed to be. The area was clear, or clear enough for a Pelican to land. Stacker ordered his marines to fan out, then pinged us.
"We're gonna drop a Pelican down for an assist." He drawled at us.
"Got it." Chief nodded, and cocked his head at me. We ventured into the temple carefully, guns at the ready.
We entered the temple to see four Elites wielding energy swords. They were different though, with ornate headdresses and a special kind of armor.
"Oh god! Honor guards. You two watch out these guys are a special kind of dangerous!"
I ducked backwards as one of them jumped down the staircase and swung a sword at me. I swerved to the right and caught the Elite on its right arm, then threw it against the wall. My motion detector flashed again and I swiped to the left this time, causing an energy sword to embed itself against the wall. Chief fired three bursts from his assault rifle on both of their heads, and they went down. The two others charged forward, swords pirouetting a deadly dance. One barely missed, slamming against my side as I fired round after round from my BR, whittling its shields down slowly. A lucky strike slammed against my side as my shields bleeped a warning, barely holding. I immediately tried a new tactic. I shoved forward, butting its face with my Rifle, and knocking it back. Momentarily stunned, I whipped out my combat knife and stabbed it into its throat. It warbled, shook, and then finally hit the floor.
I turned to see Chief standing with his rifle smoking against an Elite carcass on the floor.
"Took you long enough." He deadpanned.
