Chapter 6: The Eternal Rest
T-minus 2 minutes till SpartanIIB arrivals…
The main landing pad had a feeling of anxiousness. Any marines who were free were waiting for the large drop ship. The first person to greet the new arrivals would be the Master Chief. Heat sensors were set up around all of the entrances to the pad to catch cloaked Elites. Large bore AA guns were pointed in all directions to destroy a Covenant drop ship if one did come to ambush the off guard Spartans. For the past five minutes there had been a deafening silence in anticipation. It was broken when an unknown marine pointed out the ship to no one in particular. The Chief wheeled around on his heels and saw a gray dot in the sky. He zoomed in and saw that it was in fact the drop ship. It made one pass over the base to bleed some speed and have a safe landing. A loud Boom echoed around the base as the jets on the bottom of the engines fired in unison. The small coat of red-black dirt that was on the pad went away in a cloud forcing many to try to cover their eyes and plug their ears at the same time. The MJOLNIR armor automatically dampened the deafening sound to a quiet rumble. The skids hit the ground and the noise and dust disappeared. The bottom jets were glowing orange and needed to cool down before the Spartans could disembark.
After about two minutes a hiss came out, as the main hatch was unsealed. A muffled thump came from inside the ship as the first, and highest ranking Spartan of the new arrivals, appeared in the hatchway. He had the same metallic black color as Karen. He stepped out onto the pad and saluted to the Master Chief. The new Spartans did not have the same rankings as normal UNSC forces they were between SP, which stood for Spartan, 1 to SP-10. An SP- 10 is someone who met basic requirements in Spartan training and nothing else. An SP-1, which is the Master Chief, has no real definition; they are people who have no second thoughts about dying to complete a mission and more.
"SP- 8 Jacobs reporting!"
"Thank-you," replied the Chief quietly and calmly. The other Spartans filed out of the ship and reported to the Master Chief. In all twenty Spartans made the journey. The rest either needed more training or had been injured before the trip. After the Chief dismissed the Spartan B's he made his way to the cargo bay and saw Karen's cryo-coffin. The Chief walked up to one of the Marines charged with moving her to a waiting Pelican.
"How long?"
"Oh, excuse me sir, I didn't see you. I was about to grab a hover lift and unload her once I checked the manifest," replied the marine smoothly.
"Thank-you, I'll be waiting at the Pelican on pad Gamma-One-Nine-Five." The Chief walked onto one of the bridges that connected the pads in the Gamma section together. He spied the Pelican waiting for him on Gamma-195.
"Do you want some marines to join us in case something goes wrong?"
"If you're hinting at another Forerunner or Karen not being rational, then no. But for protection from lurking Covenant, yes, just so I don't have to worry about too many things at once."
"Okay, I'll call a squad of Hell Jumpers and another Pelican for all of those reasons."
"You were going to call them anyways as a 'coincidence' weren't you?" replied the Chief.
"The million dollar prize goes to the Master Chief."
"Did I tell you that the Forerunner knows my name?"
"What is your name anyways? You always seem to avoid the subject whenever I ask you."
"Are you sure you want to know?" answered the Chief playfully.
"Yes I want to know."
"It's-." When he was about to say it he came upon the Pelican and kept his mouth shut, no matter how much Cortana prodded him. He saw the same marine he had talked to just minutes earlier coming on the same bridge he just passed over. He also heard a Pelican arrive on a nearby platform, most likely for the Hell Jumpers. For the first time in years he had butterflies in his stomach. The marine waved to him and the Chief moved toward him quickly. He fell into step with the marine and moved silently with him.
Once the cryo-coffin was in place the marine walked off and never looked back. The Chief waited for the Hell Jumpers to board their Pelican and get a quick head start before he told the pilot to head for the Covenant installation.
Throughout the ride the Chief stood looking over the scarred land leading to the former Covenant installation.
When the Pelican landed the Master Chief saw about twenty-five Hell Jumpers run inside or stand guard outside. Pushing the cryo-coffin, the Chief could see that Karen's face hadn't changed at all, thanks to the cryo freeze. After making his way through empty hallways he entered the large room that housed what Veras told him, was a machine that could bring anything back to life. He arrived at what; the semi-transparent schematic on his HUD, said was the machine that would revive Karen. Knowing that it could be a failure or success, he popped the coffins seal and let the nitrogen gas escape from inside. Karen's skin came back to a light brown tan color, her blond hair shimmering with the melting nitrogen pools. He took off her suit so that she had the under suit on. He lifted her up and engaged the gravity locks to hold her in place. He removed Cortana and put her into the holo-panel in front of him.
"Well it seems easy enough. Pretty basic. Close the door and the program should start."
The Master Chief sung the heavy glass door closed and waited in anticipation as the program started to work wonders.
Whe-…where am I? Gas swirled in front of her eyes. Karen tried to raise her arms but she didn't have enough strength. I was having pleasant dream a little bit ago. Whoever or whatever woke me up will pay dearly. Her eyes stung all over as she tried to move them. It felt as if she had a jackhammer in the back of her mind that was trying to drill to the front of her skull. Why am I here? She tried to move her head but felt like she had vertigo and fell forward.
"I've disabled the gravity locks because she should be able to stand." The Chief nodded, agreeing.
Karen felt something hard against her cheek as she fell to the ground. Her legs angled off to the side and her hands were out in front of her for stability. Her golden hair fell in front of her downward-pointed face covering it on all sides. Feeling the last ounce of strength being sucked away from her she looked up and saw the white gas disappear and felt a large olive green creature put it's arms around her and lift her right off the ground.