Chapter 9: A Walk In The Park

Date: April 08, 2554 / 1030 Hours

Location: Aboard 1 Way Shuttle / Docking Bay

"You must be excited. New suit, new weapons, and license to kill. I am also eager to try out some new subroutines in the field, like the 'Auto Translator', which automatically translates anything you hear into English, whether it be a Covenant, or an Eternal speaking." Said Cortana.

The Master Chief was in no mood for mild mannered chat. His mind was focused. He replied without the slightest thought. "Yeah, that's great. Can't wait."

"You say that now, but you wait. It'll come in handy sooner or later." She snorted back at him.

The Master Chief sat down and buckled himself and his new suit into a seat, and prepared for the takeoff. After a minute the auto pilot kicked in, and they were on their way to the surface. The main objective was to deactivate or destroy the first shield generator. There were other objectives, such as investigate a device that the covenant had been working on for the past 2 years, but nothing else came above the main goal. It didn't take long for him to reach the surface, and the shuttle computer to sketch a rough map of the area near the shuttle, as well as a path to the generator. The Master Chief unbuckled himself, and loaded up. The time had come to kick ass.

After loading up, and setting a perimeter for the shuttle, he set off towards the generator. It was about a mile through thick jungle, but the Master Chief strolled through it like melted butter. He didn't feel any of the bushes that got in his way. One half grown tree made him tickle, but he bent over and snapped it in half. He took the tree in his hand, and chuckled at his strength before pressing onward.

After about 15 minutes of the jungle hike, he came to the brink of an open clearing. It was flat, and coated with a purplish tinted glass all the way to the edge of a building. From the center of the building sprouted a beam of light that broke at a point and fed the shield which spawned around the planet. The Master Chief surveyed the area around the compound and found it to be severely underguarded. One half asleep blue elite stood next to the only door on that side of the building. He was sure that every side had an entrance such as this. Using his enhanced vision, he looked at the weapon of the elite. It was a standard issue plasma pistol.

There was no easy way to get around the guard, but it looked as if he were dozing. The master chief seized this opportunity and slowly, and silently crept up to the guard. The soles of his feet were the perfect material to walk on glass, and he slid along the glass palate as a knife through butter. Upon arriving next to the guard, who was still napping, the Master Chief noticed a small plastic chip hanging from the elites chest.

"It's probably an ID chip, I may need that later." He thought. Then with the utmost silence, he reached up, put his hand around the elite's neck and picked him up. The elite awoke in an instant, and began to struggle. Not wanting to attract attention, the Master Chief squeezed, and snapped the elites neck. He dropped the body, and took the chip from him. He opened the door and continued inside.

After walking inside the complex, the Master Chief looked around. He had entered a long hallway, with the occasional door. To his immediate left, there was a computer terminal. The chief turned, and analyzed the device. "It appears to be a security terminal. Wait a moment so I can translate." Said Cortana. After a moment, the letters changed on the screen into English.

ENTER SECURITY CODE…

The Master Chief took the chip and inserted it into a slot that looked appropriate.

CODE ACCEPTED.

SECURITY CLEARANCE LEVEL 1

ROOT DIRECTORY . . .

"Give it a command." Said Cortana. "Tell It to shut off the generator."

The Master Chief entered the so command.

ACCESS DENIED

YOU ARE NOT A VALID USER
A LEVEL 3 SECURITY CLEARANCE IS REQUIRED

ROOT DIRECTORY …

"What now."

"See if you can draw up the plans for this place, and even if you can find someone who has a level 3 access code."

After doing a search, the screen read…

SECURITY CLEARANCE LEVEL 3 CHIPS BELONG TO… and the computer listed several names and races. After another moment, a map appeared on the screen. Cortana stored it in her memory banks, and the Master Chief removed the chip. He proceeded through the hall cautiously, looking for cameras, and other security precautions. There didn't appear to be any. But who could blame them. No one expected for anyone to be on the homeworld of the Covenant without them knowing. Small letters on each door he passed described what was behind each door. After about 5 minutes of shadow dodging, he came to a door that was slightly larger than the others, and was colored red. The tag read Underground Generator Access Shaft. The Master Chief, expecting anything, opened the door slowly. The space inside the room was black, and then the he realized that this was a back way into the underground complex. He had seen it on his map. The Master Chief hastily closed the door, and began to descend the ladder.

Upon reaching the bottom, the Master Chief seeked the shelter of a crates shadow, as he heard voices. The room he had entered was circular, roof and all, with a windowed pressbox type room near the top. Several creatures were talking back and forth to each other. He couldn't hear them, and he assumed that the room was sound proof. If it wasn't them he heard, who was it. He looked around again, and saw something move next to the crate he was hiding behind. He peaked around to see that it was a cage. Inside it was a furry ball of some kind, like a cat curled up. The master chief looked closer at the object, and realized that it was a cat. The voices were coming from the cat. The entrance to the backup ladder to the surface was an experimentation room. But how did the covenant do this to a cat, or was it a cat at all?

"I think it's ugly. Wait till those guys in the booth leave so you can kill it." Said Cortana. "O come on Cortana, what's gotten into you. This is marvelous. A perfect blend of nature to disguise…" the Master Chief's sentence was cut short. He looked at the door and saw it open. The creatures from the booth were coming into the room. One of them stood at the door with a notepad and writing utensil at his hand.

The chief hid behind the crate as the one of the creatures picked up the crate by a handle at the top, and exited the room. Seizing this opportunity, the chief decided to move. Darting between crates, and other objects, he reached the door. Seeing that there wasn't a handle, or unlock button, the chief thought he was trapped. "Chief, I have a way to get around this door, but it will require me to use your free brain cycles to telepathically manipulate the controls and.."

"Just tell me what you want me to do." Retorted the chief

"Free your mind. Just relax and let me do the work." Said Cortana

The chief did as he was told. After a second, an icy blue chill took over him, and he could feel the presence of another being in his mind. After another moment, the door slid open.

"How did you do that?" said the chief inquisitively

"Just a few new talents I learned from the eternals AI. We had some interesting discussions while we were together."

The Master Chief thought this to be a little odd, but at the same time helpful, so he ignored it.

"Jor Nirtrut Hobean'scu Norrein F gurggui." Shouted a PA like audio system.

"What the hell was that?" asked the chief.

"Working. Hmmm.. It seems to be some sort of announcement. Something about, Join us in our journey. The guardians will accept us if we stay true and holy to our Covenant."

"What does that mean" asked the chief.

"I don't know. Better keep moving though."

"Yeah, and you had better remind me to tell the eternal's that their translation software for me has gone to shit."

"Dually noted" said cortana.

Continuing through the outpost, he found very little resistance. No grunts or Jackels were here. Only standard issue blue elites stood guard every now and then. Some slept, making it easy to terminate them. Soon he came to what seemed to be the control room. No one was around and another security terminal was outside the door. While using this terminal the chief heard some voices coming from around the corner of the nearby stairwell. He hid in the shadows of a locker like object. The creatures coming down the stairwell were 2 red elites wearing special suits of honor, more like armor. They were talking to each other.

"Soon, we will have the possession of the final god's ring in our hands, and we can be united with our true destiny." Said one of them.

"Yes, indeed if only these annoying humans would get out of our way, we wouldn't have to kill them. But if they want to fight, then they picked the right race to mess with." Said the other

The Master Chief's blood boiled, and the suit grew hot. He noticed on their armor were another set of ID chips. He wanted them. The elites reached the bottom of the stairs, and then made a turn down a corridor that was next to the stairs. Then the Master Chief emerged from his hiding spot. Silent as a fly in a traffic jam, he walked up behind them, grabbed their necks, and snapped them to where the heads were facing him. He dragged their corpses to his former hiding spot, and took their security chips.

He walked back to the entrance to the command center, and inserted the security chip.

CODE ACCEPTED

SECURITY CLEARANCE LEVEL 3

YOU MAY ENTER

Then the door next to him opened, and he cautiously walked inside after removing the chip. There were dials and diagnostics everywhere, monitoring the generator. Inside the control room was a window. The chief walked to this window and his jaw dropped. A solid beam of light was coming out of a giant box in the center of the room the box had wires the size of warthogs going around through the floor. "I need to get in there, plant some explosives, then get the hell outta here." He thought

There were two sleeping hunters laying next to the box. "I'm going to need to kill those." He thought

"Wait, unplug me. I think I saw something you missed." Said Cortana in her seductively cool voice.

"What did I miss? Replied the chief.

"Look along the walls, and if you don't still see it, I'll make you slap yourself." Blurted back Cortana.

The Master Chief turned around and looked along the side of the room and lost his breath. Huge anti-infantry plasma turrets were along the sides of each wall. The Master Chief, trying to regain his breath, unplugged Cortana, and inserted her core chip into the mainframe computer terminal.

After a moment, he noticed that the plasma turrets started to move. They turned to the ground, and shot the hunters. They awoke in an instant only to see their death coming at them. There was an loud explosion, and when the Master Chief looked back, blue blood could be seen plastered along the side of the box like object.

"Hmmm… it seems that I have found their plans. Ohhh, oh god no! Master Chief, it's aweful" said Cortana through a speaker.

Setting aside her worries, he focused on the mission at hand. He unplugged Cortana from her slot, and made his way to an elevator like object he had seen earlier. Upon reaching the bottom floor, the door opened into the enormous room that he had seen earlier. He thought that it looked a lot bigger from inside than it did from an Ariel view. He saw the blood dripping from all over the place from the hunters Cortana had destroyed. To his surprise, he had infiltrated one of the covenants most strategic power points, and was about to plant the explosives without a shot fired. He walked up to the generator box, and placed 2 balls under a tile in the floor right next to the box. "This should do the trick" he thought.

Upon setting the explosive onto the box, the lights dimmed, then returned in a flashing red light. The master chief, with his hopes crushed for an easy escape, reset the timer to 1 minute and began his extraction. Working his way back out of the complex proved more tricky than any other operation he had ever done. Red and Yellow elites stormed the massive halls, while groups of grunts gathered in corners overlapping shields. Still, the Chief was able to make it outside the complex with out a shot fired, or at least thus far.

Once he opened the door to the outside, he realized that he wasn't alone anymore. A red elite was there, his eyes gazing at him through his armor, as if he was waiting on him. The chief brought his weapon to a firing position, only to have the elite to swat it out of his control. The elite was challenging the chief.

"Alright ya groggy bastard. Come on." He said in reply.

The two of them embraced in an armlock, muscles tightening. Each of them pushed the envelope of their limits, neither willing to give in. The chief was fighting for his life, and the elite was fighting for what he lived for; his pride.

Finially, one made an error. A plasma shot sounded from around the corner, and the elite's eyes flinched, catching him off guard. The chief, however, was hardened to these unexpected circumstances and used this time to act. He stepped forward, and pushing his own envelope through the roof, snapped the elites arms backward. The elite screamed to the sky, as the master chief swiftly moved behind him, and snapped his neck silent.

He picked up his pistol, and moved to the sound of the plasma weapon earlier. Slowly and silently he approached the corner. Before rounding it however, he noticed a flicker of blurriness go by. A Camouflaged elite. He one round at the head of the elite, which caused him to become fully visible. He then shot the remainder of the clip into his stomach and with that, the elite fell over dead.

"I better get out of here before I get into more than I can handle." Said the chief.

"What? It's never stopped you before." Said cortana, as the chief ran.

"O shut the hell up. Just what are those plans you were talking about earlier anyway."

He felt the cold interface of cortana's AI get even colder. "Chief, the Halo's aren't just a weapon of mass destruction. They are, collectively, a doorway. A doorway to another dimension. Hell."

The Chief kept on running, and then suddenly the message on the PA system from before made sense. The guardians of hell would accept them into hell. But why would they want to go to hell. Or did they even know?

The master chief arrived at his dropship that had been dispatched and suited up for re-entry into space. He could hear the ships overhead shooting the remainder of the generators. After a few minutes of turbulance, he reentered space, and docked on the eternals ship.

"Well, we've done it. On to the homeworld." Said cortana.

But something was wrong. For an alien race as advanced as the covenant, they should have been more prepared. Masses of elites should have been on watch. He knew something was amiss, as he ventured deeper into uncharted territory.