Chapter 7 – Jeweled Hull

1442 hours, October 20, 2552 (Military Calendar)

Aboard UNSC orbital defense platform Cairo Station, Geosynchronous Earth Orbit

"Captain Briggs, status report!" Admiral Hood barked as he marched across Cairo Station's bridge. On the large tactical screen, the Covenant fleet lurked ominously just beyond the range of the orbital platform's kill zone. Hood could understand the unusual Covenant reluctance to advance; their warships, while normally more than a match for any UNSC ships, were still vulnerable to the immensely powerful MAC platforms.

During the battle of Reach, twenty orbital MAC platforms had successfully destroyed dozens of enemy warships and had only been taken out once Covenant forces had neutralized their ground-based generators. The platforms defending Earth carried on-board generators, eliminating that particular weakness. And the fleet attacking Earth was a fraction in size of the one that had destroyed Reach.

The alien's weren't dumb. They knew the damage the orbital MACs could inflict. So it made sense that that they decided instead to use their boarding craft to target their particular cluster of platforms, no doubt intending to slip their warships past the bulk of the UNSC's defenses.

Why the enemy fleet was so small, and whether they had reinforcements inbound was still unknown to Hood. But it made no difference. They had to keep the bastards away from Earth.

"Admiral," came the response from Captain Briggs, the commanding officer of the Cairo's Marine detachment. "We have secured portside Commons Red and Blue, and both Pelican and Longsword bays are also secure. We've also cleared Covenant forces out of Habitats Alpha and Delta and are in the process of securing the Communications deck. The enemy still hold Portside Shipping, as well as the external loading docks. No enemy ordnance located, sir."

Hood gritted his teeth. The Covenant had to have brought a bomb to the station, as they had done to the Cairo's two sister platforms. Maybe they'd gotten lucky and the boarding craft ferrying the bomb had been taken out by the platform's defenses.

"Casualties?" Hood asked.

"We've suffered about sixty-five percent losses, sir. And roughly fifteen percent more are wounded."

Admiral Hood closed his eyes momentarily as he processed the grim news. More than two hundred twenty of the station's two hundred eighty-four Naval and Marine personnel were dead or wounded. True, most of the Covenant boarders had been wiped out, but they were still losses that humanity couldn't afford.

And if the Master Chief hadn't been on the station, their losses would have been even worse…

"Continue station-wide sweep and clear," Hood ordered. "We need to be certain the Covenant haven't hidden ordnance somewhere."

At that moment, as if on cue, Cortana chimed in, "Sir, boarders have breached the fire control center. They have a bomb."

Hood nodded grimly. Based on his own observation of the destruction of Athens and Malta stations, corroborated with Cortana's analysis, he had deduced that the Covenant had used antimatter charges to wipe out the orbital platforms, and it stood to reason that another of those weapons had been brought to the Cairo too.

Hood knew that such a detonation anywhere on the Cairo would take it out.

But the bastards had deliberately chose to use the fire control center to set of their bomb. They no doubt wanted to ensure that the station was completely obliterated. Between the antimatter charge and the Cairo's own MAC rounds cooking off, they would be little more than free floating molecules if the Covenant succeeded in their mission.

Maybe it could be deactivated remotely. If so, then Cortana was their only hope.

"Can you defuse it?" Hood asked, keeping his voice level. Inwardly, he was terrified.

"Yes, but I'll need the Chief's help to make contact with the detonator." Cortana responded. Hood cursed silently and turned to a nearby viewscreen which was monitoring the Spartan's progress. The Master Chief was moving across the station's external surface towards Portside Shipping.

"Chief, get to the bomb, double time!" Hood ordered.

"Yes, sir!" The Master Chief replied.

While inwardly rattled by the knowledge that the station could be obliterated at any point, Hood resolved to trust that the Master Chief would be able to get to the bomb in time. He turned his attention back to the tactical display in time to see the red dots representing the Covenant fleet entering the projected kill zone. He could see the smaller cruisers moving in formation ahead of the assault carriers.

Guess whoever's in charge doesn't want to wait any longer. Two out of three platforms down must be good enough. They're going to try and brute-force their way past us. Suicidal bastards.

The entire Covenant fleet moved towards the Cairo, engines burning hot. If they weren't stopped, they would be able to easily destroy the station and then there would be nothing between them and Earth.

"Cortana, prioritize targets and fire at will!" Hood barked.

"Registering all hostile vessels inside the kill zone. Thirteen cruisers, two assault carriers." The AI paused for a moment before stating, "I'm going loud!"

Admiral Hood watched out of the bridge's transparent canopy as the MAC gun's loading arm slid up the length of the massive cannon, an ominous charging-up sound accompanying it as it did so. Once it reached the top, it suddenly slammed downwards and a moment later a yellow-white explosion erupted from the apex of the cannon as the weapon fired it's enormous, multi-ton ferric-tungsten payload at a fraction of the speed of light towards the advancing Covenant fleet.

The MAC round shot across space and connected with one of the approaching enemy cruisers. The vessel's energy shielding did nothing to protect it and the cruiser's prow splintered as the round punched all the way through before exploding out of the ship's aft end, and the once-formidable cruiser exploded in an azure fireball.

The rest of the Covenant force pushed onward, heedless of the destruction of their fellow vessel. The lateral lines of every Covenant ship began to glow with hellish red fire as the enemy charged up their plasma torpedoes.

"Admiral Harper, you are clear to engage!" Hood ordered.

Immediately, Harper's Fifth Fleet began to move as the Admiral gave his own orders, "First echelon, blanket those cruisers, take the out one by one. Second echelon, keep those carriers busy!"

Seconds later, seventy-five more MAC rounds, fired from the cruisers and frigates of Harper's fleet, flashed towards the Covenant armada even as the enemy unleashed their plasma torpedoes. Archer missiles erupted from the UNSC fleet in a tidal wave of flaring fusion engines. The shells and missiles separated, all of them careening toward the enemy while the blazing torches of sixty plasma torpedoes descended upon the UNSC force.

Hood watched intently as the initial exchange of fire crossed, a handful of Archers consumed by passing plasma torpedoes.

Individual MAC rounds smashed into the powerful shields of the cruisers but were unable to breach them by themselves. However, the sheer volley of fire poured into the enemy formation ensured that most of the Covenant ships took multiple impacts, and several of them had their shields battered down before more shells struck, pounding through their nanolaminate hull plating.

Archer missiles swept in behind them but thin beams of purple light – Covenant point-defense weaponry - intercepted many of them. The missiles that survived plunged into the weakened Covenant vessels, punching through hull plating and detonating within the Covenant warships in a shower of incandescent destruction.

When the flares of light faded, the Covenant fleet had been reduced to seven cruisers, one of which shattered and flew apart an instant later as the Cairo's MAC gun fired again.

Twenty of the Covenant plasma torpedoes began to break down as the magnetic bubbles sheathing them lost cohesion, the ships controlling them destroyed. However, the dissipating waves of plasma still rolled over Harper's fleet, burning off the armor of a half dozen unfortunate frigates. The remaining torpedoes plowed into the UNSC fleet, tearing frigates apart and gouging massive holes in cruisers.

Admiral Hood looked upon the fleet report on the main viewscreen and tried his hardest to hide his grimace. In a single barrage, the vastly smaller Covenant fleet had destroyed forty-one frigates and three cruisers, and badly damaged a half-dozen more ships. Over half of Harper's fleet was lost.

The remaining Covenant warships bore in, the cruisers screening the larger assault carriers as they closed in on the remaining vessels of the Fifth Fleet arrayed around Cairo Station. Even as the station's MAC cannon raged again, shattering another Covenant cruiser into a million pieces of destroyed metal, Hood lamented the losses of the other platforms in the defense cluster. If they had been active, most of the Covenant fleet would have been destroyed by now.

The surviving vessels of the Fifth Fleet turned, letting loose another barrage of MAC rounds and Archer missiles as the Covenant fleet closed in on them. Alien shields shimmered and dissipated under the barrage of heavy slugs, and Archer missiles punched deep into their hulls before exploding, ripping through their armor and the systems underneath. Two more cruisers began to burn with bluish-purple flames as the assault took its toll, before buckling and exploding in plumes of superheated plasma.

Even as they pushed past the UNSC fleet, the remaining Covenant vessels fired another barrage of plasma torpedoes, and blue pulses of fire illuminated space as the cruisers unleashed salvos of fire from their plasma cannons. Human warships weaved and dodged as deadly bursts of red and blue plasma closed in on them, but another half dozen frigates and two more of the valuable Marathon-class cruisers were obliterated by the enemy barrage. In moments, the space around Cairo Station was littered with the shattered, cracked hulls of UNSC warships.

The Cairo tilted as it changed itsorientation to match the Covenant fleet's approach vector, and Cortana fired the cannon again, blasting yet another cruiser into fragments. All the while, pinpricks of fire traced through space as UNSC Longsword and Broadsword fighters engaged in combat with Covenant Seraphs and Banshee interceptors.

Even as the screen of cruisers was whittled down, the two enormous assault carriers closed in, their immensely durable energy shielding shrugging off every attack, one slightly ahead of the other. The gigantic enemy battleships began to grow rapidly in size through the bridge's canopy.

"The carriers are breaking through, sir! They're heading straight for the Cairo!" Harper's voice came in through FLEETCOM, and while the Admiral did his best to hide it, Hood could hear the panic in his voice.

"Cortana, concentrate your fire on the first carrier!" Hood ordered, "Admiral, do what you can against the second."

"Everyone, form up. Follow my lead!" Harper commanded. On the tactical display, the remaining warships of the Fifth Fleet arrayed themselves in formation with Harper's flagship, the Marathon-class cruiser UNSC Canberra. As Harper gave his own orders, the vessels diverted their attention to the trailing assault carrier. Meanwhile, Cortana unleashed another MAC round at the lead carrier, but the warship, moving at an oblique angle to the station, managed to avoid the heavy shell, and by the time the MAC gun had reloaded, the carrier was too close, and the entire station rumbled as the enormous Covenant ship accelerated past, its prow smashing through the shattered remains of Malta Station as it pushed down towards Earth's surface, heading for eastern Africa.

"The first carrier completely ignored us, sir!" Cortana sounded incredulous, and Hood was similarly shocked; it would have only taken a single plasma torpedo or plasma cannon bolt from the carrier to wipe the Cairo out. Hood realized he had been holding his breath, and he exhaled.

"It blew through the Malta's debris field and headed straight for Earth!"

The Covenant tactics in this battle confused Hood. They didn't have the numbers to overwhelm the UNSC's orbital defenses, and they had to know that but rather than pulling back or waiting for reinforcements, they were instead feeding themselves into the meat grinder, all in the hopes of slipping some of their forces planetside. But why? He knew that the Covenant Elites were fanatical fighters, but they weren't stupid, and they had to know that even if some of them made it to the surface, they couldn't hope to overwhelm any part of it for more than a few hours.

Hood's thoughts were interrupted when he noticed activity around the lead carrier. He highlighted the warship and zoomed in, cursing as he understood what he was seeing. In front of the carrier were clouds of Phantom and Spirit dropships, as well as Banshee fliers, and along the hull he spotted the tiny detonations of orbital drop pods containing Elite commandos launching towards the East African Protectorate.

It was a display similar to what the aliens had attempted at Reach. Hood shook his head, knowing what the enemy was doing, but he still couldn't believe they were this suicidal.

"They're invading Earth," he growled.


The blast door slid open, and John once again found himself in zero-gee. Grunting inwardly, the Spartan quickly took in the scene ahead of him. He was on the far side of one of the MAC gun's massive recoil arms. As Cortana pumped shell after shell into the Covenant fleet, the structure rose and fell with each round fired. Straight ahead, latched onto the base of the cannon like a bloodsucking tick was another Covenant boarding craft.

John heard Admiral Harper's warning about the Covenant assault carriers. A moment the station shook violently as the one of the gigantic ships tore past the station, it's three repulsor engines glowing blue-white in the void of space as it rapidly dropped past the Cairo on its way towards the Earth's surface. John knew that he would be needed on the surface when the Covenant made landfall, but there was nothing he could do about that yet. One mission at a time.

His more immediate concern was the two Elite Rangers visible in the space between him and the external elevator that connected to the MAC's firing control room. One had placed a portable plasma cannon on an elevated platform and immediately opened fire once it spotted the Chief.

As bolts of plasma streaked towards him, John ducked behind one of the two large battery units that was planted on the deck nearby. He wheeled around the side of his cover, taking aim at the second Ranger, who fired its dual plasma rifles in short bursts at the Spartan. John fired his rifle in three round bursts, quickly punching through his opponent's energy shield.

Before he could finish the Elite, a bolt of plasma struck his battle rifle, instantly deforming the weapon and rendering it useless. John quickly threw the ruined rifle aside. His hand dropped to his thigh before snapping up an instant later, M6C sidearm raised. John emptied the twelve round clip as fast as he could pull the trigger, and the slugs tore through the Ranger's weakened shield, ripping into its environmental suit causing purple blood to spray out in boiling globules. The mortally wounded Elite spun away from the deck.

John didn't have the firepower to tackle the Elite operating the plasma cannon from his current range, so he waited for the MAC cannon's recoil arm to rise back into position. Spotting a series of metal girders framing the span of the arm, John darted forward, plasma fire spattering against his energy shields but they held as he made it into relative safety.

The Master Chief unslung his shotgun and leapt at the wall beneath the plasma cannon before the recoil arm suddenly slammed down because of the MAC gun firing. He released the magnetic bonding on his boots as he jumped, twisting his body so he landed on the wall before reactivating the bonding and running up the wall. The Spartan found himself looking "down" at the Elite, who itself seemed to be crouching at the edge of a sheer wall.

The Elite had barely registered John's unorthodox flanking maneuver when it found itself staring down the barrel of the human soldier's shotgun. The weapon boomed silently in the zero gravity, and the point-blank buckshot shell punched straight through the alien's energy shield, faceplate and face, launching it off the platform and into the starry void.

A quick glance towards the service elevator told John that it was unguarded save for a single Ranger Elite standing watch just outside. The sound of John's encounter with the other Rangers had not carried across space, but the Elite had noticed that its fellows had stopped reporting in. As it began to move away from the airlock, John stepped out of cover, a plasma grenade glowing brightly in his hand.

Before the surprised Elite could do more than raise its arms in surprise, the burning blue orb had adhered to the center of its chest plate. The doomed alien screamed as it tried to yank the grenade off, to no avail.

Before the explosion had even dissipated, John was already in the elevator. The pressure doors closed, and the elevator descended, taking the Spartan down to the fire control center. Cortana's voice came in through his suit's COM, "Just so you know, there are quite a few Elites guarding the bomb. You may need to get creative."

John frowned and brought up the data on his HUD from the fire control center's sensors. He quickly tagged five Elites and six Grunts. One of the larger aliens was clad in the ornate, pearlescent white armor of an Ultra. Such Elites were some of the Covenant's most skilled warriors.

"Nothing I can't handle," John replied calmly.


"How long until the warhead detonates?" asked Evocati Toro 'Nuvamee.

"Six and one-third centals," replied Major Nuza 'Karnulee. The red-armored Sangheili stood next to the antimatter charge and consulted the control panel on the top surface of the rounded explosive. Less than four minutes until this human installation was torn from the skies. The battle above the human planet had begun in earnest, as the room's central shell loader had come to life, feeding ammunition into the station's massive cannon, the booming report of its firing audible to the Covenant boarders. Only moments ago, 'Nuvamee had watched the Prophet's flagship bypass the station through the large window that occupied the entirety of the room's far wall, tearing through the human defenses.

"Very well, let us hasten back to the transport-"

"Commander!" Shouted 'Vonamee, "the external elevator approaches!"

"The humans have finally come to wipe the rest of us out, it seems," 'Nuvamee growled. During the last half unit, he had observed through his ocular projectors as the rest of his forces were wiped out by the human defenders on the station. Disturbingly, most of the Covenant's losses were at the hands of a seemingly unstoppable, green plated creature which 'Nuvamee recognized as one of the cursed demon Spartans.

And the last time he had checked, it was coming their way.

"Defensive positions!" 'Nuvamee shouted. "Defend the warhead at the cost of your lives!"

A second later the elevator door slid open, and 'Nuvamee caught sight of a green-armored blur as it dashed into the room. A blue-white fireball arced through the air, and Sangheili dove aside as the plasma grenade flew amongst them, sticking to the methane tank of one of the Unggoy. The small creature screamed and tumbled backwards before exploding, the combined grenade and methane tank detonation wiping out all but one of the Unggoy and draining the shields of both 'Vonamee and Minor 'Tecamee.

'Tecamee gurgled as his upper chest and neck was lacerated by shrapnel from the shattered methane rig and the warrior fell to his knees, purple blood flowing freely from his many wounds before human gunfire erupted from the corner of the room, striking the mortally wounded Sangheili in the face and knocking him backwards onto the deck, dead.

Another burst of gunfire struck 'Vonamee center mass, gouging holes into his red-armored combat harness. The Sangheili stumbled backwards, firing reciprocal bursts from his plasma rifle but a second precise burst from what the Evocati recognized as one of the human's usually horribly inaccurate submachine guns slashed through 'Vonamee's face, rendering it a tattered mess. The Sangheili Major hit the deck a second later.

The final remaining Unggoy yelled in panic, igniting a plasma grenade in each hand but before it could begin its suicidal charge at the enemy, it shrieked in pain and fell as projectiles punched through its waist and the plasma grenades detonated

'Nuvamee's shield flared, the Evocati caught on the edge of the blast. He spotted their attacker, a single foe, crouched behind a crate near the open elevator door. "The Demon!" he declared to his surviving troops.

The two remaining Sangheili sprang into action. The first, Minor 'Klasamee, brandished a pair of needlers and he poured a merciless barrage of pink crystalline needles at the demon. The human reeled back into cover and the needler shards, while possessing a degree of target tracking, were unable to turn the sharp corner and instead embedded themselves into the side of the larger crate that the human cowered behind.

"Commander, we must close and crush it!" declared the other Sangheili, the ever aggressive 'Favanamee, breaking from cover as he spoke and charging at the human's position. 'Nuvamee was about to agree when the armored creature spun back out of cover, this time with one of the human's nastier weapons, a shotgun, gripped in its hands. The Evocati had no time to shout a warning before the shotgun boomed, a primitive yet fearsome report. 'Favanamee's energy shield was unable to stop such a powerful round fired at point blank range and the Sangheili's head was transformed into a torus of disintegrated flesh, bone and metal.

'Klasamee roared in anger, firing another barrage of needler rounds at the now exposed human but instead of retreating into cover, the alien monster leapt at the Sangheili, ignoring the needles that shattered on its energy shield, and it lashed out with a kick to 'Klasamee's midsection that caused the Minor's own shield to flare, knocking him backwards. The Evocati unsheathed his energy blade. He was confident that his higher-grade energy shield would be able to take whatever punishment the demon could inflict before he ended the creature's miserable existence.

"I will smite you, Demon!" 'Nuvamee roared. Even as the creature fired its shotgun again, blasting a large hole through 'Klasamee's chest, the Evocati scythed his sword downwards, splitting the ugly weapon apart. The Sangheili then swung his sword horizontally, attempting to rend the human's head from its shoulders but the alien monster dove under the arc of superheated plasma.

The armored human's right arm snapped up in an elbow strike to 'Nuvamee's face, dazing him even with his energy shield active while its left hand clamped over his sword wrist, holding it tight. The alien bulled him backwards with shocking strength, all the while staring into his eyes with its blank, soulless face. 'Nuvamee was caught off guard by the sheer strength that the beast possessed.

This creature is not any weak human!

'Nuvamee dug his armored boots into the deck, metal screeching as he attempted to push back against the beast's unnatural strength. But as he did so, the creature's helmet loomed closer, and his head was snapped backwards as the Demon's helmet smashed into his face with such force that his energy shield broke, and he felt two of his mandibles crack under the impact.

The alien used 'Nuvamee's disorientation to launch another strike, this time with its hand clenched in a fist. The blow struck the side of 'Nuvamee's head, and his crested helmet fractured under the blow. He felt more teeth break and as his vision blurred, his right hand loosened its grip on his energy sword. Sensing his vulnerability, the Demon snatched the energy sword from 'Nuvamee's grasp and inverted it.

What followed was the most intense pain the Sangheili had ever and would ever feel as the blade of superheated plasma speared him straight through his gut, burning its way through his internal organs before exiting through his back.

'Nuvamee's eyes widened in surprise, and the Demon let go of him, allowing the Sangheili to slump to the floor. With his last few seconds of life, he noted with satisfaction that at least he had delayed the beast long enough for his antimatter charge to detonate. He could hear a whine emanating from the warhead, telling him that it was seconds away from detonation. In the end, he had won. He had earned his Great Journey.

With indescribable pain arcing through his entire body, the Evocati weakly looked up, finding himself staring down the barrel of the human's sidearm.

A loud bang and flash of light was the last thing the Sangheili ever saw.


"Me, inside your head, now!"

John turned around and spotted Cortana's holographic avatar standing on a holotank near the Covenant bomb. The Spartan could hear a steadily increasing tone emanating from the warhead indicating that it was about to explode. The Spartan ran over to the holotank, placing a palm over the top of the small console. Instantly, Cortana's form decoalesed into a shower of blue particles that was absorbed into his armor by means of the interface integrated into his gauntlet. He felt the familiar sensation of ice-cold mercury in his skull as Cortana linked with his neural interface.

Without stopping, he covered the distance between the holotank and the bomb in two strides, placing his hand on the raised activation pad which was flashing an ominous red. Instantly, Cortana interfaced with the warhead's circuitry and there was a deep mechanical noise as the bomb shut down before it went silent and the brightly glowing cyan and yellow lights on the bomb's topside surface dimmed and went out. The primary threat to the station was neutralized.

"How much time was left?" John asked.

"You don't want to know."

John didn't respond. He had been living his life on the edge almost constantly over the last few months since the Covenant attack on Reach, and so moments of near-death like this were the norm. But he took comfort in knowing that he wouldn't be taken out by something beyond his ability to control.

He felt the station shake, and he looked out of the large window in time to see the second Covenant assault carrier pass by, its enormous form momentarily blotting out the view of the Earth. John could see the carrier's shields flaring as it was assaulted on all sides by UNSC warships.

After a moment, John opened a channel to FLEETCOM and listened to the chatter. The first words that he heard sent the beginning of a plan spiraling through his mind. It was what others would call an insane, but if it worked...

"Cairo, this is In Amber Clad," came the voice of Commander Miranda Keyes. The carrier's shield is down. I'm in position and ready for immediate assault!"

John could hear the anticipation in Keyes' voice, and he frowned at the officer's aggressiveness; a UNSC frigate couldn't even begin to damage a Covenant assault carrier, even without its energy shield.

"Negative, Commander. Not against a ship that size. Not on your own." Admiral Hood replied, agreeing with John's assessment.

"Sir, permission to leave the station." John said.

"For what purpose, Master Chief?" The Admiral's voice was completely nonchalant, as if John was asking permission to enter the bridge.

"To give the Covenant back their bomb."

It only took a moment's consideration before Hood replied,

"Permission granted."

John grabbed two of the large spikes adorning the body of the alien warhead and began to slowly drag it towards the elevator he had used to arrive at the fire control center, sparks erupted as it scraped across the metal deck plating. John hauled the bomb into the elevator and hit the button to descend. There was a Pelican hangar several decks below the fire control center…

"I know what you're thinking, and it's crazy." John could hear a hint of admonishment in Cortana's voice as the service elevator descended the spine of the station.

"So, stay here," John stated.

"Unfortunately for us both, I like crazy." Cortana replied, playfulness evident in her tone.

The elevator came to a stop and the door opened, and John dragged the Covenant bomb out of the elevator and into the hangar. The large room was empty, its complement of Pelican dropships having since departed the station. John walked forward, pausing by a support strut in the center of the room for a moment to observe the battle taking place beyond the station.

Plasma bursts and missiles crisscrossed the vacuum over Earth as UNSC warships traded fire with the alien assault carriers. A Covenant Seraph fighter rocketed past the bay window, closely pursued by a pair of UNSC Longswords.

The first assault carrier was too low in Earth's atmosphere to do anything about, but the second one was a lot closer, and was still under heavy attack. And its course was going to put it right where John needed it to be…

John turned away from the scene in front of him and strode over to the central column, hitting a square button as he took cover behind it. The button turned red and there was a mechanical hiss as a section of the metal frame slid upwards and a small handle, the bay door's release mechanism, dropped down above him.

"Just one question," Cortana began as John gripped the release handle. "What if you miss?"

The question made John pause for a moment. What if he did miss? Would he fly wildly out of control into the starry void of space, with no hope of rescue, and succumb to an excruciating death in vacuum; losing to an enemy that cannot be fought?

Would he get crash through Earth's atmosphere at terminal velocity, igniting in a ball of flame before smashing into the planet's surface, dead on impact, body warped unrecognizably within his MJOLNIR coffin?

Or would he vaporized by the Covenant warship's weaponry? Erased from existence before he even knew what had happened by plasma fire capable of rending capital ships asunder and burning entire planets to char?

"I won't." John replied firmly, and he pulled the handle down.

The bay doors cycled open, and instantly the entire room decompressed. Small pieces of debris and machinery were pulled out into the void of space and the bomb began to move, its spikes scratching sparks as it dragged across the deck towards the open door. As it began to pick up speed and leave the deck, John leaped towards it, grabbing a hold of one of one of the warhead's spikes an instant before it was launched out of the station.

Within moments, gravity began to take effect and the bomb, along with John, descended towards Earth, curving gently in the zero gravity. John was careful to minimize his movements; any exaggerated motion could throw off his approach completely, and he'd miss his target.

He glimpsed the first carrier, miles below him a second before the second one filled his entire view, its vast form seemingly unending. Explosions blossomed along its hull as UNSC ships and fighters continued to assault it, and John could see that the ship's energy shielding was still down. He just needed to find a hole big enough to slip inside with the bomb.

As if she had read his mind, Cortana's voice spoke to him, "Hang tight, Chief. I'm going to get us a way in." Cortana scanned the orbital battle, and quickly tagged a flight of UNSC Longsword fighters that were close enough to provide support.

"Cortana to Whiskey Three-Five, I have tagged Sierra One-One-Seven's position and current path to intercept the Covenant carrier. Can you open the door for us? Over"

A human cruiser, which John's HUD identified as the UNSC Feeling Lucky, passed below him, itself dwarfed by its Covenant counterpart. Suddenly, a white-hot beam of plasma erupted from the Covenant warship, so bright that John was momentarily blinded even with his helmet's visor polarized to its darkest setting. The shot, from one of the assault carrier's multiple energy projectors, speared the UNSC Feeling Lucky through its belly, cutting deep into the ship.

Explosions erupted throughout the once-formidable UNSC cruiser, huge chunks of Titanium-A plating launching into space as flame wracked the doomed vessel. John rocketed by as the cruiser's fusion engines failed, the illumination of its exhaust nozzles dimming and going out.

"Sierra One-One-Seven, this is Whiskey Three-Five," a male voice came in over the COM, "We're coming up on your six. Let us get the door for you, over." A moment later, a pair of Longsword fighters zoomed past John, plunging down towards the hull of the enemy ship before unleashing a barrage of ASGM-10 missiles at a spot towards the rear of the carrier ahead of John, where a blue light was emanating. The missiles exploded in a plume of fire, tearing a deep gash into the hull.

"Whiskey Three-Five, door is open, over." John reported as the Longswords arced away from the carrier.

"Have a good one, Sierra One-One-Seven," Three-Five's pilot replied.

John plunged into the column of flame, his internal suit temperature skyrocketing as he soared through the blaze, still holding tightly onto the bomb while inwardly hoping that the intense heat didn't cause the warhead to detonate prematurely.

Fortunately, the charge proved to be armored enough to withstand the fire, and within a few seconds, John emerged into an enormous, darkened chamber within the Covenant warship. The center of the cavernous expanse was dominated by a massive purple structure, which John presumed to be ship's fusion reactor, the center of which glowed with an enormous white light. John's visor automatically polarized and he pulled himself along the bomb's surface towards its activation pad.

He briefly wondered how much time he really had. Cortana's words on the Cairo indicated that the bomb had been extremely close to detonating when he had disarmed it, and there was a very good chance he could be atomized before he was able to escape from the carrier.

He pushed his discomfort aside. The carrier needed to be taken out now, before it could join its sister warship on the surface. He was willing to give his life to allow the UNSC forces a greater chance to repel the threat.

He placed his palm on the panel, and it immediately began to glow red and the top surface of the bomb came alive with blue and yellow energy conduits. A high-pitched whine began to emanate from the warhead and John quickly rotated his body on the bomb, pulling his legs in close underneath him before pushing off hard, launching him towards a tear in the warship's hull beyond which he could see the surface of Earth.

As he soared out of the ravaged hull of the assault carrier, Cortana hailed the nearest friendly vessel, "Cortana to UNSC In Amber Clad, we are exiting the Covenant assault carrier. Requesting pickup, over."

"Cortana, this is In Amber Clad, we have your trajectory locked and are moving to intercept, over," Commander Keyes replied over the COM.

Behind the Master Chief, a bright blue-white explosion erupted in the heart of the carrier. Within moments, more detonations flashed along the length and breadth of the warship, tearing the Covenant ship apart.

John soared away from the destruction, plummeting towards the Earth. Below him, the blocky shape of a Stalwart-class light frigate came into view. As the Spartan approached the vessel, he turned his body so that his feet were aimed at the frigate's hull. He landed on the top of the In Amber Clad with a loud clang, his boots magnetizing to the ship's hull.


The arrival of the Master Chief was heard on the bridge of the frigate, and both Commander Keyes and Sergeant Johnson, standing behind her and now wearing a full set of Marine battle dress uniform, looked up.

Johnson glanced at Keyes, "For a brick, he flew pretty good!" he said, grinning.

Commander Keyes allowed a small grin of her own, and she hit a button on a nearby console, opening the closest airlock to the Spartan's position, "Chief, get inside and gear up. We're taking this fight to the surface."