Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to my Halo - Terminator crossover. I am very sorry for not uploading any new chapters recently. I was busy working on some things with my family, and as a result, I wasn't able to upload any chapters for the past two days. Thankfully, I was able to find the time and motivation today to write another chapter for this crossover. Thank you for your patience. It has really been an interesting week for me. As always, leave a review and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Halo or Terminator franchises. They are the respective properties and trademarks of Microsoft Game Studios, 343 Industries, Bungie, Carcolo Pictures, Skydance Production, Lightstorm Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, etc. Any material original to the franchises belongs to their respective developers, producers and publishers. any material not original to the franchises is of my own invention. I do not own any music listed in each chapter. Any music listed belongs to it's original composers and/or artists.
Shelter Theme – Terminator: Resistance OST
Unknown System
Forerunner Installation
September 19th, 2552
The Pelican continued to fly through the air silently, it's engines humming as the VTOL flew through the air towards Alpha Base. Inside, Chief was calmly, and quietly, looking out the exit of the troop bay towards the ground, with Six doing the exact same thing on the other side of the Pelican. The Terminator was as silent as ever, maintaining it's weapons all the while.
During the trip, Chief learned that Captain Keyes did, indeed, get captured by the Covenant, with the culprit being a cowardly crewmember that had betrayed him in an effort to survive. That crewmember had been killed, according to UAV sweeps, most likely by the Covenant she had tried to broker a deal with. As a result, OPCOM (Operational Command) of the entire surviving crew of the Pillar of Autumn fell to Carter, Noble One, as he outranked Major Silva.
Chief knew they had to get the Captain back, and it wasn't just because of what Cortana had said. Keyes knew the location of Earth, having visited the planet many times during his career in the UNSC Navy. If the Covenant had him in their possession, they would, no doubt, attempt to interrogate Keyes in order to find out where Earth was. This meant that retrieving Keyes was the highest priority, that and making sure they had a base to rest and resupply at.
The latter had been dealt with already, as Chief felt the Pelican beginning it's descent, looping around the base itself one more time. Alpha Base was currently set up on a large mesa in this region of the Forerunner installation they were on, with the bluff itself being a circular formation with a relatively flat top. An outcropping of rocks could be seen just past the perimeter, and Chief could see what appeared to be a number of earthen ramps leading upwards into the mesa. A large number of Forerunner structures were in the area as well, further indicative of their influence in this area.
The base itself was fully fortified, a feat only possible thanks to the machines that the Autumn had been garrisoned with during her retrofit at the shipyard. The perimeter consisted of Alaskan Barriers that towered over twenty meters in height and roughly ten meters below the ground, more than enough to stop any determined attackers. The walls were also fortified with automated defensive systems, which included automated turrets on the walls, automated mortar batteries just inside the perimeter, and a number of Hunter Killer Drones that were patrolling the perimeter. T-850L's could been seen milling about, ensuring that no one with hostile intents got into the base itself.
The interior of the base was well organized, thanks to the fact that the machines had gotten the base fully up and running in a matter of minutes. Plasma fusion reactors could be seen at the northwestern section of the base, along with power regulators and storage units in the event the reactors were damaged or destroyed. The northeastern section of the base was primarily being used for repairing and rearming vehicles, HK units and the other automated machines that were assisting in guarding the base. The southeastern section of the base was primarily being used for the UNSC forces that had made it out, with a modular, prefabricated dormitory being used as communal sleeping quarters. The southwestern section of the base held the mess hall and anything else that didn't need to be in the other sections of the base. Finally, the central portion of the base held the CIC, which was where the most important decisions in the coming hours would be decided.
As they flew in closer, Six looked outside and said, "I wonder what happened to the Pillar of Autumn. It's been an hour since we landed on this Forerunner installation, but no one's really told us if the ship made it through to it's destination."
"The Pillar of Autumn sustained heavy damage," the Terminator replied, having gotten an update on the Autumn's status just a few moments ago. "The ship's external weapons systems were destroyed beyond repair. All internal compartments suffered damage to varying degrees, with the outermost corridors suffering severe damage. The Autumn is no longer spaceworthy."
"That sucks," Six remarked. "Well, in that case, we'll just have to steal a Covenant ship and get out of here that way. If I know Commander Carter, though, he'll get the Captain out of his current predicament. That is, if Major Silva doesn't try to pull any shit."
Chief nodded in agreement. Rumors had it that Major Silva disliked the Spartans greatly, as he felt that normal human beings could do the same things the Spartans could do just as well. In Chief's opinion, this was a dangerous mindset, as it often got people killed when they could've been saved for another mission. With Noble One in command of the operation, however, Chief knew that any unnecessary actions would be avoided.
Eventually, they came in for a landing in the northeast quadrant of the base, as it also held the landing pads for any Pelicans that needed to land. A number of Pelican VTOL's were present, with one offloading more survivors that had been rescued from the lifeboats they had used to get onto Halo. As the VTOL landed with a muted thump and a slight jolt, Chief and Six got up and exited the troop bay, with the Terminator following them as well.
As they walked along towards the CIC, Chief could hear a number of Marines and ODST's remarking on the T-850L's and the other HK drones that were flying about. According to reports from other parts of the Marine Corps, the reaction towards the HK drones and the T-850L's ranged from skeptical acceptance to full acceptance, with only a few units being openly hostile towards the idea of machines that were capable of thinking on their own.
Chief could also hear whispers from the other Marines about himself. Most Marines tended to view the Spartan-II's in a couple of ways, and that was either full blown praise or cynical muttering behind his back. Chief knew that many of his missions had helped show the UNSC Marines and a few ODST's that the Spartans were now a necessary part of the UNSCDF, but not everyone liked it. The ODST's in particular, were not receptive to the idea that they were being replaced by super soldiers.
When it came to the machines that had been sent to help them fight, many of the ODST's treated them in the same way: with cynical acceptance. Already, Chief could hear a number of ODST's that were grumbling about being 'replaced with thinking tin cans.' Still, that was probably the initial resistance towards accepting a new part of warfare, resistance that would, eventually, fade away entirely as the machines became more and more familiar.
Walking towards the prefab building that held the CIC, Chief walked inside, with the automated doors closing behind him moments later. The hallways of the CIC were composed mostly of military grade hyperalloy walls, with light fixtures built in every few feet to provide excellent illumination. To avoid people being blinded, the hyperalloy walls were coated with a matte gray material that kept lighting glare down, while making it easier to walk without slipping. There were few viewports to the outside world, but they were a welcoming addition, nonetheless.
The hallways of the building were occupied as well. ODST's, Marines, and officers walked down the hallways, with the crewmen from the Autumn performing maintenance and repairs in other parts of the building. In addition to this, T-850L's were walking about, performing guard patrols and maintenance, while smaller HK Spider Scouts were moving about, getting into areas that the others couldn't get into.
Moving past the people inside of the building, Chief eventually came into the main room that held the CIC (Combat Information Center). The CIC was a large room, with enough room to hold roughly three Scorpion MBT's with a little room to spare. The ground floor was dominated by a large, holographic projector that was currently displaying an image of the Forerunner installation they were on, as well as the location for the Pillar of Autumn. Other points of interest were highlighted on the map, which was being constantly updated as HK Aerials performed scouting missions and intelligence operations.
Surrounding the holographic projector was a series of computer consoles that were being tended to by more T-850L's, allowing the crewmen from the Autumn to perform less critical tasks. Standing at the holoprojector was Carter, one of the Spartan-III's that had survived Reach and gotten aboard the Pillar of Autumn. Nearby, Kat was working on getting more information on Covenant troop movements, while Major Silva was talking with Carter, though it was clear that he and Carter were ironing out some issues with each other.
Approaching Carter, Chief said, "Sierra-117 reporting for duty."
Turning around, Carter saluted Chief and said, "At ease, Chief. Technically, I'm Army and not Navy, but at this rate, we can't focus on small details like that." Clearing his throat, he said, "Did you recover the crewmen and soldiers from the region they were in?"
"Affirmative," Chief replied. "Cortana, myself, Noble Six and Noble Eight recovered all known survivors in the region."
"Good," Carter replied. "Major Silva and I were just discussing what we are going to do, now that we have Alpha Base fully set up. Major, bring Chief up to speed on current events."
"Yes, sir," Silva replied. When he said this, Chief noticed that Silva's voice had an undertone of contempt, as if he was disgruntled by the fact that Carter had been given command instead of him. Still, Silva maintained a professional demeanor, as he walked over to the holographic projector and began talking, manipulating the controls as he did so. "We have recovered roughly 95% of all the personnel that were aboard the Pillar of Autumn before it crash landed. We're taking into account any casualties that we have, which are, thankfully, low for the time being."
"What about the Captain," Chief asked.
"We've got some good news there," Silva replied. "It turns out, we've got an inside source, in the form of a T-1000B that has successfully infiltrated the Covenant's ranks. According to our source, the Covenant are currently holding Captain Keyes aboard one of their ships, the Truth and Reconciliation, which is currently holding position over a small mesa in this area." A moment later, the ship and it's location were highlighted on the map of the Forerunner installation they were currently on. "According to our source, the Covenant have tried, and failed thus far, to glean any meaningful information from Captain Keyes on the whereabouts of Earth and the remaining colonies under our control."
"Do we have a plan to get him out," Chief asked.
"We were just discussing that," Carter replied. "Major Silva believes that a team of ODST's can get Captain Keyes out of the Truth and Reconciliation without causing any more problems."
"That's right," Silva agreed. "We don't need hyper-intelligent machines or super soldiers. We need good men, and good equipment, in order to get inside and get the Captain out. I am fully confident in the capabilities of my men to get the job done."
"And I'm certain that you do, Major," Carter replied. "However, given the amount of resistance that we will be facing, as well as the concentration of enemy forces, I do not believe that will be enough, no offense intended." Turning to Chief, he said, "That is why I have decided to modify Major Silva's plan; in addition to the ODST's, we'll be sending in Noble Team, you, as well as any Terminators that can be spared to rescue the Captain."
"Sir, with all due respect, we don't need the machines," Silva argued. "They'll be better off defending the base, which is the most vulnerable area on this ring." Turning to Chief, he said, "Scans of the region indicated that there is a network of caves and tunnels that runs throughout this mesa like a honeycomb. A particularly creative Covenant unit could use those tunnels to bypass our defenses and wipe us out without letting us have a chance."
"That is a good point," Cortana pointed out. "A particularly inventive Covenant unit could do exactly that. The chance of that happening, though, is rather minimal, given what we know about Covenant tactics."
"I agree," Carter concurred. "The Covenant typically favor forward charges and overwhelming firepower to wipe out UNSC forces. Either way, I've ordered some of our HK Tanks to guard the tunnel entrances that lead directly into Alpha Base, while the T-850L's have been positioned on the walls of the complex. As a result, we have a few that are unassigned, which we will send with you and the others to rescue the Captain." Turning to Silva, he said, "Major Silva, I understand your dislike of the Spartans and the HK's and Terminators, but right now, we need every advantage that we can get. I don't want to force you to like it, I just need you to work with what we have. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir," Silva replied. Chief could tell that Silva was having to bend his pride and prejudices, but it was clear that he respected Carter's tactical knowhow and wasn't going to continue beating a dead horse. "I'll get my men ready for the operation that is coming up."
"Good man," Carter replied. "Dismissed." With that, Silva left the CIC.
As soon as he was gone, Carter rubbed the bridge of his nose with a pair of fingers. "Ugh," he growled. "Working with Major Silva is like trying to pull teeth out of an elephant. The man has a lot of prejudice towards the machines SKYNET built, and he doesn't like the Spartans. He'll probably be giving us problems down the road."
"Probably," Chief replied. "Should we do anything about it?"
"For now, no," Carter replied. "Major Silva is starting to get over it, but it's going to take some time. More successful operations involving the Terminators will likely change his opinion. The ODST's, thankfully, are not nearly as resistant as he is to the idea of machines performing combat operations." After a moment, he asked, "Is Cortana present?"
"Yes," Cortana replied. "What do you need?"
"I need you to listen carefully," Carter replied, "as this is imperative to your mission's success." Walking over to the holographic projector, Carter fiddled with the controls, causing an internal layout of the Truth and Reconciliation to appear. "According to our inside source, the Captain is being held in the brig, here." He pointed to a part of the ship that flashed yellow. "The Bridge of the ship is located here, and we have hangar bays located here."
"Who's our inside source, anyways," Cortana asked.
"It is the T-1000B known as Kalinda," came a familiar voice. Turning around, Chief and the others watched as Parsons, the Terminator, came over to them. "During our time at the Forerunner artifact on Reach, Dr. Catherine Halsey introduced us to the T-1000B. During that time, she took on the appearance of a female Sangheili in order to infiltrate the Covenant's military ranks."
"T-1000B," Chief asked. "Is that a Terminator like you?" While he'd gotten the briefing on the T-8xx series of Termiantors, he hadn't been informed about ONI's latest technological achievements.
"Not like me," the Terminator replied. "She is a T-1000B, a production variant of the prototype T-1000 and T-1000A. She is significantly more advanced than my current combat chassis. She is primarily composed of nanite saturated mimetic polyalloy."
Chief was about to ask Cortana what that meant when she said, "What Parsons is saying is that Kalinda is composed of metal that behaves like a liquid thanks to the nanotechnology inside of her chassis. In essence, she can mimic the appearance of any living organism she makes contact with, that is if they're the same size, or close to the same size, as she is."
"I take it she can't form complex machines."
"Correct. Guns and explosives have chemicals and moving parts that a T-1000B can't imitate, but Kalinda can form solid metal shapes like knives and stabbing weapons. In addition, she can use her nanites to copy and absorb the memories of any Elite that she mimics, allowing her to maintain the perfect cover."
"I see," Chief remarked. He could immediately see just how useful a T-1000B could be in an espionage/infiltration role. Machines that could almost perfectly imitate actual, living organisms would allow ONI to find the location of the Covenant's homeworlds, and neutralize high ranking Covenant officials and military personnel, effectively sowing chaos throughout the Covenant. After a moment, he asked, "Do we know of any personnel that we can capture?"
"Yes," Carter replied. "According to Kalinda, the ship is currently being manned by the Sangheili Ship Master Lat 'Ravamee. Records indicate that he is a highly experienced enemy captain, and is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of innocent civilians. He is also a high ranking Sangheilian Zealot, and was personally responsible for attempting to neutralize Noble Team. Capturing him will not only shake up the Covenant, but will allow us to find out what the Covenant are planning to do here."
"Agreed," Cortana confirmed. "That should give us a major advantage in any future encounters with the Covenant. It might also allow us to find out what they are looking for on this ring."
"Agreed," Carter replied. "Master Chief, I want you ready by 0700 hours tonight. We'll rescue the Captain around 0900 hours and get him back to Alpha Base. Once he has been returned to this base safely, we'll go ahead and begin planning for the next phase of this operation. Dismissed." With that, Chief began walking out of the CIC, while Carter turned back to the holographic projector to determine what else he needed to do.
Outside, in the maintenance bays, the Terminator was getting some much needed maintenance. During the mission to rescue the survivors and get to Alpha base, it had taken some damage from a Covenant plasma grenade. It wasn't major damage by any means, but the Terminator's subsystems recommended a full, maintenance overhaul in order to repair any damage that might compromise it's directives later on.
As a result, the right arm and part of the right torso on the Terminator was currently missing, exposing the internal structure of the Terminator in the process. So far, the damage that had been found was negligible, though there were enough spare parts on hand that the Terminator decided to replace the damaged parts anyways. Nearby, a few Repair Drones that SKYNET had designed for this kind of purpose were busy at work, repairing any negligible damage while replacing any components that had more than negligible damage, of which there were few.
Hearing some movement, the Terminator turned it's head to see Jorge walking over to it. His helmet was currently off, revealing a slightly concerned expression on his face. "Looks like you got roughed up," he remarked, sitting down next to the Terminator. "Is this maintenance, repair or what?"
"A combination of both," the Terminator replied. "Some of my components received damage from a Covenant Plasma Grenade. They are currently being replaced right now."
"I see," Jorge remarked. "Well, it's a good thing that you are. Just make sure that you don't get too badly banged up out there; spare parts are going to be hard to come by in the future and we can't afford to replace lightly damaged components all the time. We'll have to ration them."
"Affirmative," the Terminator replied. Moments later, the Repair Drones returned, with each one replacing the components that had been removed for maintenance and repair. Once fully attached, the Drones allowed the nanites in the living tissue sheath to begin sewing up the skin, allowing the Terminator to get up and move around.
"Want to come see how the others are doing," Jorge asked the Terminator.
"Yes," the Terminator replied. With that, they walked towards the mess hall, where the others were located at.
. . .
Onboard the Seeker of Truth, Fleet Master Thel 'Vadamee was worrying a mandible as he looked at the AAR (After Action Report) that the Zealots that had boarded the Autumn had sent to him. The Sangheilian Fleet Master was currently reading the report in his private quarters, both eyes darting to and fro as he carefully read the report to make sure that it was being truthful. So far, what the Zealots had written was true.
In this case, it wasn't that much of a comfort. Just a month and a half ago, his fleet, the Fleet of Particular Justice and another one of the Covenant's fleets had arrived at the Human colony known as Reach to devastate and destroy the UNSC's ability to fight. For the first half month of this operation, things had gone well, with the Covenant quickly setting up on Reach and spying on the Humans. Eventually, they had invaded, seeking to purge the Humans and their heresy from the system for good.
That was when things turned sour, really fast. Covenant ground units began to send reports of humanoid robots that were firing advanced plasma weaponry, weaponry that had quickly punched through nanolaminate armor and killed the individuals involved. On top of that, the UNSC gained access to autonomous ground and aerial vehicles that had quickly turned the tide in the UNSC's favor in many of their engagements. Formerly successful Covenant units had been quickly wiped out, reduced to just a fraction of their former strength in hours, or even minutes.
In an effort to find out what was going on, Thel's fleet had been ordered to go to Tribute, another Human colony in the star system, to find where this technological advantage was coming from and destroy it. That had proven to be disastrous, as Tribute now sported enough automated ODP's to tear apart half of his fleet within minutes. Without any alternative, Thel was forced to order his fleet to retreat, or suffer devastating casualties.
This clearly indicated that the UNSC had gotten a major, technological upgrade, with many of their ground units receiving energy shields, advanced armor plating and the aforementioned automated vehicles. As a result, areas of Reach that had once been held by the Covenant had been taken back by the UNSC, with many Covenant units being wiped out. While the UNSC eventually had to retreat from Reach, they had cost his fleet and the other fleet, a significant amount of their forces and had held Tribute successfully, forcing the Covenant fleets to leave the system in order to rearm and prepare.
On top of that, the UNSC Pillar of Autumn, had been significantly upgraded, with much of the armor easily withstanding Covenant Plasma Torpedoes and energy projectors. It was thanks to those upgrades, and the machines that had been placed aboard, that the Humans had succeeded in getting onto Halo. That, and the Minister of Etiology's constant meddling, which had Thel deeply angered when the Minister attempted to usurp his responsibility.
Now, he was having to constantly juggle forcing the Minister to listen to reason, while driving the Humans off of Halo. So far, that had proven to be a struggle, as the human's 'Terminators', as they called the humanoid machines, had ensured the Covenant forces on the Autumn had been terminated. Reports indicated that the Terminators were so terrifying that many seasoned Covenant had broken out into a cold sweat upon seeing just one Terminator.
As he mulled over the report, he heard a faint beeping to his left. Turning that way, Thel pressed the holographic icon hovering over his desk. "Go ahead," he said to the person on the other end.
Moments later, the holographic image of a male Sangheilian wearing an Infiltration Harness appeared over the projector. Thel didn't need to ask who this Sangheilian was to know who he was talking to. This was Special Operations Commander R'tas 'Vadumee, one of the most skilled Sangheilians that Thel had the privilege to know about. The two were also close friends. "Fleet Master," R'tas said a moment later, "I have completed my mission. The Humans are currently located on a mesa that our forces used to hold."
"I see," Thel remarked. "Any new developments?"
"Yes," R'tas replied. "The Humans are currently holding position on the mesa, and they have constructed a base on the northern portion of the mesa. They have also deployed their machines and Terminators in order to protect it. Scans of the area revealed a network of tunnels underneath, but the Terminators have those cordoned off. They're completely dug in."
"I see," Thel remarked, pursing his mandibles in a thoughtful expression. "Is there any word on the interrogation of this 'Captain Keeze?"
"Nothing new," R'tas replied. "The Human Ship Master is being as stubborn and resistant as ever. None of our methods have worked, thus far, and we are considering the possibility of using less… honorable means of acquiring the information we seek."
"I see," Thel remarked. "Continue to try to get information from the Human Ship Master. If you must use less honorable means of getting the information we seek, then do so. I want to know how the Humans knew of the location of one of the Sacred Halo's."
"It will be done," R'tas replied. After a moment, he asked, "What of the Minister of Etiology?"
"He's being as tiring and troublesome as ever," Thel replied, clenching a fist in anger. "He has constantly attempted to usurp my authority in this matter by sending important forces to guard worthless areas of Halo, while attempting to claim that this is no longer a military operation, but rather a religious one. The level of gall and nerve that Minister has to try to do what he is doing while there are heretics on this Sacred ring! If I had the authority, I would deem him unfit for duty and have him watch how a real military leader does things."
"I agree," R'tas replied. "The Minister has been rather tiresome and troublesome ever since we found one of the sacred rings. We will have to work with him, unfortunately, as he is the highest ranking political officer in this fleet. What we can do, however, is explain to him why the humans must be driven off of Halo first."
"That would be a good start," Thel agreed, nodding his head at the same time. "Either way, we have other matters to tend to. Return to the Seeker of Truth, R'tas. Should something else come up, I will need your skills to resolve any further problems."
"It will be done," R'tas replied, respectfully bowing while placing a fist over his chest in a traditional, Sangheilian salute. Then, his hologram fizzled into nonexistence, leaving Thel alone in his quarters. With that done, the Fleet Master turned back to the affairs of keeping his fleet running. He had a lot of work to do.