Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter sorry for taking so long to get this next one up. Hopefully you'll like it, it took me a long time to figure out how i was gonna do this. So anyway without further adieu, on with the story!
Chapter 14
The Phantom drop ship, a new Covenant model that was replacing the old U shaped ones, lurched as it left the hangar and entered space. A Covenant destroyer had dropped them off outside sensor range and they were now on their way to High Charity, the Covenant city that now orbited a Halo construct. The dropship, piloted by Cortana, picked it's way slowly and deliberately through wreckage from several derelict Covenant ships that had drifted away from the massive city.
Realistically, city was something of an understatement. High Charity was really more of a mobile civilization. It consisted of a massive dome, perhaps half a moon or very small planet, sitting like an umbrella overtop of a massive spire perhaps a thousand kilometres long. Around the massive city/ship/planet lay destroyed Covenant ships, some Flood controlled that were destroyed trying to escape, some Covenant ships that had spent their last hours fighting to hold back the vicious horde. The dropship slipped between two floating wrecks and approached the city.
"Okay," Cortana said, "here's where we find out if these codes are still good." For a moment nothing happened, then suddenly three plasma turrets on the city swivelled towards them. "Apparently not." Cortana said with some dismay. "Hang on."
Cortana punched the engines and the dropship accelerated towards High Charity, rolling and weaving to provide a difficult target. Suddenly, two of the plasma balls forming over the turrets suddenly burst and dissipated, while the third one launched and turned to track the small dropship.
"It's our lucky day," Cortana said, "looks like two of those turrets were damaged."
"Oh good," Xander added sarcastically. "Only one massive plasma ball is chasing us, I should have bought a lottery ticket today."
Cortana dove in, skimming along the spires that made up the massive skeleton of High Charity. The plasma ball dove in behind them, but could not follow the dropship through a tight set of jinks and slammed into one of the spires, which sizzled orange and released a jet of atmosphere as the plasma melted through the skin. Around them, Xander noted that more points of light were beginning to form, other plasma turrets beginning to charge.
Xander was not the only one who noticed. "Cortana, just get us down, I don't care if we can't get to the landing site!" John ordered.
"Wait one," Cortana replied. "I'm getting a transmission from the other Cortana, the one still in the High Charity computers. She's managed to de-activate the turrets in a nearby sector. It's not our landing site but it's better than crash landing here."
The dropship swerved and accelerated towards the sector that the other Cortana had managed to safety for them. The ship swung around and as fast as was safely possible, connected to an airlock and equalized pressure. Xander collected Cortana from the ship's computer while John moved to the door. He indicated for Fred, Linda and the Arbiter to cover the door, and when they were ready he pressed the release and the door swung open.
They were greeted only by an eerie silence and a dank, dimly lit passageway. The air seemed heavy and thick, almost as though the Flood was altering the atmosphere somehow. On a signal from John, the fire teams spread out, covering the hall in all directions with the long-range shooters in the centre of a loose circle.
"Head down this hallway," Cortana said. A waypoint appeared on the HUD of every soldier in the group, and the team moved down the hallway, always keeping a lookout and a weapon in every direction. They moved like this for five minutes and still the halls remained silent, High Charity a giant tomb floating through the void. Then, all at once, they began to hear the skittering. It grew quickly in intensity and seemed to come from all around them. A faint green glow began to creep into the dank corridors ahead and behind.
"Fire teams stand ready." John said with all the calm of a seasoned warrior who has faced death and knows he will live to face it again.
Suddenly, bursting from the darkness of the corridors all around them, Flood infection forms began to pour forth. First dozens, then hundreds of the small glowing creatures clinging to the walls, the floor the ceiling all began to converge towards the fifteen soldiers sent to destroy High Charity.
The fifteen soldiers stood fast and calm, what more would you expect from Spartans, or those who would fight beside them?
The short-range fire team dropped to a knee, giving the medium and long-range shooters in the centre a clear firing line, and then every gun in the group was suddenly barking flames. Little fleshy explosions occurred all over the corridor as bullets lashed out and punched through the weak infection forms, sometimes causing chain reactions with the other infection forms that were unfortunate enough to be too close. Thanks to the ranged fire teams and overlapping fields of fire, no infection form got any closer than perhaps twenty feet from the outermost members of the group.
After perhaps ten or fifteen seconds of shooting, the hallways were empty and silent again.
John looked at the centre of the circle where Linda, Will, and three Elites stood. They made up the long-range fire team, and had perhaps had the least work due to the suddenness of the attack.
John pointed to Will and one of the Elites. "You two, you're now part of the short range team. The next group won't be so… fragile."
Will and the Elite nodded and moved to the outer edge of the circle. The group continued down the hall. Lumps of hideous grey flesh that glowed with a faint iridescent green glow clung to the walls and the floor, almost as though the actual city itself was slowly succumbing to infection. Xander checked the distance to their objective, the lab that contained the Nova bomb. It was more than four kilometres away and Xander had no idea how much twisting and turning would be involved in getting to the lab. Suddenly a voice sounded over the speakers of the hallway.
"Hi, Master Chief, I knew you'd be back for me." Cortana said smugly. "I'm doing my best to lock down the city and give you straight line access to the lab, but you're going to have a hell of a fight to get there. Gravemind knows you're here. Expect heavy resistance."
As if on cue hideous Flood warrior forms surged into the passageway. Unlike the normal mixed group of Flood infection, warrior and carrier forms only warriors were present in this group and all seemed armed. A hail of bullets and plasma flew through the air towards the formation of soldiers.
Immediately Linda and the long-range group opened fire along with the medium range group, while the short-range fire team deployed Jackal shields to cover everyone. The warrior forms fell before the assault, while the shields soaked up the rounds they had sent at the Spartans and Elites. Firing away with his battle rifle, Xander thought how fitting the theme of this battle was and laughed out loud.
"What could possibly be funny at a time like this?" Cortana asked.
"It's just kind of fitting," Xander replied. "Totally outgunned and outnumbered, we force our opponents to fight in narrow corridors, where their numbers count for nothing."
"Wave after wave of attacks smash against Spartan shields," John quoted.
"You got it," Xander nodded. "It's our own personal Thermopylae. So, in keeping with that theme I suggest we stick with the Phalanx approach."
The group of soldiers slowly advanced, using the ancient Phalanx tactic that had helped the original Spartans inflict such incredible losses on the Persian armies of Xerxes. The short-range shooters, shoulder to shoulder, covered the group from damage while the medium and long-range shooters picked off attacking targets. Cortana continued to seal the passages behind them so they only had to look ahead for attackers. Everything was working perfectly, and the group was slowly making progress. That was at least until the Hunters showed up.
Another group of warrior forms had been dealt with when suddenly the wall of the corridor just behind the formation exploded. The massive, twisted body of what used to be a Hunter came through, followed by a second. Immediately the Hunter swatted with his shield, knocking aside an Elite, sending Linda flying into the wall of the corridor and scattering the remaining soldiers. At the same time, another wave of warrior forms surged down the corridor from the other direction, pinching the Spartans and Elites between them.
"Break lines!" John shouted. "Engage at will!"
Immediately following John's order, Xander back flipped up and over the first of the two Hunters, landing between them and crouching protectively over Linda's body. He ignited his sword, spun and slashed at the second of the two Hunters, who was slowly lumbering towards him. The plasma blade cut effortlessly through the Hunter's large arm, slicing off the deadly fuel rod cannon. It did little to slow the monster down though. With his shield arm he swatted at Xander.
Xander jumped, trying to dive over the shield and come up on the Hunter's undefended side. Unfortunately he just wasn't fast enough. Though the huge slab like shield did no damage, it did clip him, sending him spinning off balance into the wall of the narrow corridor. Instinctively Xander spun away and was just narrowly missed by the Hunter, who had jammed his shield like a spear into the wall where he had been just a second before.
Xander continued his spin out behind the Hunter and slashed into it's unprotected back with his sword. The huge beast dropped to the deck, seeping a thick green fluid from the wound. With no time to celebrate, Xander turned to face a scene of utter chaos. Over two dozen warrior forms were engaged in close quarters combat with the Elites and Spartans. Normally it wouldn't have been a huge problem save for the remaining Hunter that was wading through the battle, swatting away soldiers wherever he could. Suddenly a loud crack filled the air, and the Hunter dropped to the ground dead. Xander looked over to see Linda, still slumped against the wall but holding her sniper rifle. From a sitting position she had fired a perfect shot through a crowd one handed. She struggled to rise and waved Xander on ahead.
Xander lunged into the battle, sword drawn and started hacking away at the warrior forms. Without the support of the huge Hunter, the warrior forms fell quickly to the swords and shotguns of the group, and soon the hall was silent again. Xander surveyed the carnage. Flood bodies littered the floor, but three Elites had joined the ranks of their fallen brothers, and Linda was limping badly, slow to make her way back to the group.
"Go ahead," She said. "I'll stay here and cover your flank." She tossed John, Fred and Will a Spartan smile and turned her back, crouching against the wall and covering the hole against further Flood.
Xander looked at the waypoint. There were less than five hundred meters from it.
"Chief, the lab's just down the hall. Cortana and I can handle it," Xander said. "Get everyone else out of here."
John looked at Xander for a moment, considering.
"I will assist him," The Arbiter added. "The two of us together will be able to fight off any more Flood we come across."
John nodded. "Alright. Cortana, get us to a hangar and let's get out of here, now! Fred, get Linda."
Xander and the Arbiter turned and ran full speed, leaving the rest of the group to find their way out of the monstrous labyrinth. They encountered no more Flood as they ran down the hall, and in less than a minute they were outside the lab. Xander pressed himself against one side of the door and motioned for the Arbiter to do the same. He clicked the mike on his radio once and Cortana opened the door.
The Arbiter and Xander entered the small lab, guns leading the way. There was no sign of any Flood though, and they made their way to the table on which the Nova stood. Considering that it was a bomb capable of literally cracking a planet, it was pretty unobtrusive. A simple metal box about eight feet long, four feet wide and two feet high, only the nuclear symbols on the side gave it away as any kind of weapon. Xander made his way over to the console on the top of the box and lowered his glove to the access port. "Cortana, do your stuff." A yellow light flew from his glove to the weapon and data appeared on the inlaid screen.
"You chose to do this alone so the others could save Linda," The Arbiter said. It was not a question.
"That's right," Xander replied.
"It is a noble thing to do. I am honoured to have fought beside you, Xander." The Arbiter gave a quick nod without looking away from the door he was guarding.
"While I appreciate it, hopefully we'll have to do just a bit more fighting beside each other before the day is out." Xander replied.
The light flew back to his suit. "All done. Smash the console so they can't stop the counter," Cortana ordered. Xander slammed his fist down on the keyboard, screen and wireless port, smashing all of them. "Chief, we're all done here," Cortana called over the radio. "You have twenty minutes to get clear." A radio click was their only reply.
"Okay let's get the hell out of here," Xander called, moving towards the door with his shotgun ready. As soon as it opened, the Arbiter and Xander were out running, sprinting down the hall as fast as they could towards another point on their HUD that marked the closest hangar. It seemed like out of every opening, be it a crack in the wall, a vent or a door, Flood were suddenly coming out of the woodwork. Xander and the Arbiter didn't stop running and just fired as they ran, doing their best to stay dead in the middle of the hall and clearing a path ahead of them. Flood warrior forms and carrier forms trying to block their way fell in a hail of bullets. But even their dead bodies accomplished something, slowing down the advancing soldiers. Xander could tell that John and his soldiers were meeting similar resistance. On the side of his HUD, blue lights denoting two more Elites and Will had winked out, indicating that at the very least their armour had stopped transmitting.
From beside and behind hideously malformed appendages lashed out, only getting glancing blows on the two soldiers, but slowly picking away at their shield strength and giving it no time to recharge.
John's voice came over the radio, "Xander, we're clear."
Xander clicked his mike in acknowledgement and kept moving. He eyed the timer running on the bottom of his HUD. They had only ten minutes to get to the hangar, get a ship and get to a safe distance. A hundred meters ahead of him, several Flood carrier forms standing together were completely blocking the hall. The Arbiter quickly threw two grenades. Xander waited a second them threw one as well. The first grenades blew up, obliterating the carriers and releasing a horde of infection forms. Xander's grenade burst most of the little abominations before they could get clear, leaving a pretty much clear path. As the duo rushed through, the remaining forms leapt, slamming into the pair's shields and exploding. Xander's shield burst under the assault.
With no shield to protect him, the next warrior form to lash out at him connected solidly with his chest. Though Xander didn't slow, the impact rocked him and he could feel at least one of his ribs break under the force of the blow. He strained not to cry out or break his stride in any way.
Suddenly the next door in the corridor opened, and they burst into the hangar. By now they had been running full tilt for thirteen minutes. Along with the broken ribs, Xander was fairly certain he had frayed or torn the Achilles tendon in his left ankle. Every pounding step was agony but he didn't dare stop. They reached the closest Phantom dropship, and as the Arbiter climbed aboard to start the ship, Xander turned to defend against the closing horde. His shields had finally recharged, and he loaded his last few rounds into the shotgun he held. He threw his last two grenades into the oncoming mass of Flood. They detonated at the feet of a the group, blowing up three warriors and causing three more carriers to burst, which in turn did more damage to the group. Unfortunately they will still more than a dozen strong, and did not stop.
Xander fired and fired, emptying every cartridge he had into the horde then threw the empty gun at them for good measure. Bolts of plasma flew back at him, cutting away his shield. As soon as it burst he leapt on board the ship, slamming the hatch behind him. Before he got it closed, one last blast snuck through, catching Xander in his now unshielded face. The gold visor exploded under the heat. Xander, his vision now stained a deep red, struggled forward to find a seat as the Arbiter shot the ship forward through the hangar doors and headed away from High Charity as fast as he could. Motes of light began to form as the plasma turrets turned and fired at the escaping ship.
With no more HUD, Xander had no idea how much time was left before the bomb went off. He reached up to wipe his face, and his glove came away stained with a lot of blood. Just before he passed out, he felt the ship shudder under a huge shockwave.
At the same time as two tiny ships headed away form High Charity in similar directions, the counter on the unimposing box in the laboratory reached the end of its countdown. Across High Charity, Flood creatures and any remaining uninfected Covenant turned to see the source of the rumble shaking the city. They would see a white light and then, for them at least, the world would end.
If anyone were watching from a distance, they would see cracks suddenly appear all around the city, with white light pouring out of them. About three quarters of the way up the spire the light suddenly burst forth and the city blew apart. The Nova bomb was incredibly powerful, and vaporized most of the massive spire, but the dome was simply too large. Instead, it shattered into thousands of pieces, some as large as a hundred kilometres across. Many were sent into space but others were blasted in the directions of the Halo that High Charity was orbiting. A pair of particularly large pieces smashed into the ring, imparting even more destructive force than the Pillar of Autumn had inflicted on the first Halo. Fire swept over the ring from the impact, and just as the previous Halo, it shattered. Immediately all the artificial environment and atmosphere systems failed, turning each fragment into an airless frozen wasteland. Gravemind had no time to contemplate his fate as, just like everything else, he was obliterated.
Xander awoke lying on a bed in the infirmary of some UNSC ship. He was no longer wearing his armour, and his vision was no longer red. He sat up to look around, and one of the nurses noticed and immediately called for the doctor. He turned and quickly made his way over to Xander's bedside.
"Hello, Xander. My name is Doctor White. How are you feeling?" The doctor asked, looking at the monitors surrounding Xander's bed.
"Better," Xander replied simply. "How bad is the damage?"
"Not that bad," White replied. "Well, not bad for a Spartan at least. Two broken ribs and another cracked, some damage to the Achilles tendon in your left ankle, and lacerations, burns, a light concussion to your head, and, of course, substantial blood loss. I've mended the breaks and cleaned and regenerated the cuts and burns, but you'll still have to take it easy for a couple of days. I'd like to keep you overnight for observation, but I've treated Spartans before and I imagine you have different ideas."
"Got it in one, I want to see how my team fared," Xander replied. "Can I get some clothes?"
A few moments later Xander was dressed in simple fatigues with no rank insignia and limping slightly as he headed for a briefing room where he'd been told Admiral Hood as well as the remaining Spartans and the Arbiter were waiting for him. He knocked and from inside Hood's voice bid him to enter.
Xander stepped inside the briefing room and looked at the people around the table. Admiral Hood sat at the head of the table. One on side sat the Arbiter, Sergeant Johnson, and Commander Keyes. On the other side sat the Master Chief along with Fred and Linda, who was wearing a cast on her right leg. Will was not present.
"Ah, Xander," Admiral Hood said warmly, "Glad to see you're up and about. Doctor's cleared you for release?"
"More or less," Xander replied with a slight smile. "He'd treated Spartans before."
"Of course," Hood smiled in returned. "You'll be happy to know that the mission was a complete success. High Charity has been destroyed and took the Halo with it. We're tracking down and destroying any fragments or ships we think might be capable of supporting life."
"What about Will and Cortana, sir?" Xander asked.
"I managed to get Cortana out of High Charity," John answered. "Will… didn't make it. After we split up we lost another two Elites as well, and a third lost his arm."
Xander turned to the Arbiter. "I am sorry for your loss."
The Arbiter looked at Xander and nodded. "They fought bravely, and they were honoured to get the chance to serve beside you."
Hood cleared his throat to bring Xander's attention back. "So Chief Petty Officer, where do we go from here?"
"Sir?" Xander asked, looking confused. "Did you just call me a Chief Petty Officer?"
"Oh, that's right," Hood stood up and walked over to the surprised teenager. "On behalf on the United Nations Space Command I hereby bestow upon you the rank of Chief Petty Officer." He opened a small box, which contained a gleaming silver and blue medal. "The Navy Cross can only be give to military personnel, so we had to make you an officer to receive it. Congratulations."
A stunned Xander stood still as the Admiral pinned the medal on him. "I know this isn't a normal ceremony, but for the time being no one in the general population knows about you, Chief. I have a feeling it's going to stay that way as well." Hood stood back and, snapping to attention fired off a salute. Xander noted that behind him all of the Spartans, Johnson, Keyes and the Arbiter had followed suit.
Xander snapped to attention himself and returned the salute. He did his best to suppress his very not military grin but couldn't quite do it. "Thank you sir, thanks to all of you."
"No Xander, thank you." Hood answered. "If not for you, I think we can be certain at the very least Linda wouldn't be here today, and not many can say that their actions have saved the life of a Spartan. Now I think the question is, where do we go from here?"
"Well sir, I hope for me the answer is home," Xander answered, scratching his head. "It was suggested to me that this would be a pretty short tour."
"Yeah, and you came through for us kid." A voice said from behind Xander. He whipped around to find Whistler leaning against the wall. "Nice job." He said, throwing Xander a two-finger salute.
Xander waved down everyone who was getting up in alarm at the sudden appearance of the balance demon. "It's okay, well sort of okay. He's just the message boy for the PTB."
"PTB?" John asked.
"The Powers That Be," Whistler explained. "Everybody relax, I'm just here to explain the travel arrangements for Xander, here. He did his job, now he gets to go home." Whistler looked at Xander. "In exactly forty eight hours a portal is going to open in orbit over the dark side of the moon. We've tried to put it out of the way so no one's going to notice your departure. As this ship drops out of Slipspace near Earth you take a Pelican and just wait back there. The portal will drop you in high Earth orbit and what you do from there is up to you."
"Why can't we just do it from the ground?" Xander asked.
Whistler shrugged. "Got me, I'm just the messenger. Anyways the Powers are gonna keep their word. No more Covenant bad guys, no more dimensional holes. Just be where they say to be and you get to go home. Take care kiddo, hopefully we won't see each other again any time soon." With that Whistler simply vanished into thin air.
Xander turned around to face the shocked inhabitants of the briefing room. "So Admiral, uh, can I borrow a Pelican?"
After some debate Xander was allowed the use of a battered old Pelican that wouldn't be missed. His armour, repaired and cleaned had been returned to him, and he had been issued the uniform of a UNSC Chief Petty Officer to take with him as well. Xander spent the majority of the time sleeping, and, at the request of Doctor White, returned for a follow up. He was cleared, though the doctor still urged him to try and take it easy for a little while.
The following day, an hour before the portal was scheduled to open, Xander stood in the hangar bay of the UNSC Midway, one of the last heavy cruisers in the fleet. He was once again in his armour, his Cortana in his head. The Spartans, Johnson, the Arbiter and the Admiral had bid him goodbye and he now loaded his small bag into the battle scarred Pelican and dropped into the pilot's seat. He allowed Cortana to remote control the ship out of the hangar and set a course for the dark side of the moon. Xander took a moment to look at the Earth before it disappeared behind the swell of the moon, then he leaned back and relaxed.
About half an hour after they reached the moon the portal opened, a swirling green vortex of energy easily big enough for the Pelican to fly through. Xander smiled in his helmet as they headed towards the portal. "You know what I'm going to do when we get home? Eat the biggest greasiest cheeseburger I can find and wash it down with a nice big Coke."
"Lovely," Cortana replied sarcastically.
The ship passed through the portal and appeared in high Earth orbit, on an unavoidable collision course with a satellite.
"Shit!" Cortana shouted trying to evade. But there was not chance. The Pelican slammed into the satellite at a collision speed of over three thousand kilometres per hour. The satellite was immediately destroyed and the Pelican careened toward the Earth, completely out of control.
The Pelican had not suffered serious damage from the collision but before Cortana was able to get control the ship entered Earth's atmosphere. The Pelican, though very tough, was hard pressed to stand up to such a violent and off angle entry into the atmosphere, and pieces of armour plating began to fizzle and melt away as the ship fell towards the Earth below. Anyone watching from the ground would have seen an impressive fireball burning it's way across the sky.
The left rear engine creaked, then broke off the Pelican, leaving almost no chance for gaining control of the re-entry. Still, Cortana gave it her at and at about 20 thousand feet managed to get the ship oriented in the direction it was travelling. But they were too fast a crash was unavoidable. As the altitude dropped off Cortana fired the front hover engines, pitching the Pelican up and creating a massive shockwave as the bird passed just under Mach 1. With just a few hundred feet of altitude left she pointed the nose as high as she could and fired all engines. "Hang on!" She shouted.
Every engine on the ship fired, slowing it but starting the ship rolling slowly to the left. The ship hit the middle of the desert at just under two hundred miles per hour. It dug a hundred foot channel in the sand, leaving smoking debris in its wake. Then the ship stopped, and the desert was once again silent.
End Chap 14
Will Xander survive re-entry? Find out soon (hopefully at least)! Thanks for reading and please leave a review!