0208 hours, March 30, 2553 (UNSC Military Calendar) • Archive, Delta Halo.
The Arbiter gazed at the creature clad in bronze armor. It lay panting on the ground, bleeding from its chest.
Sergeant Johnson raised his beam rifle. "What the hell is that thing?"
"A Heretic," The Arbiter answered. "Their people are outcasts from the Covenant. They believed that the Prophets were deceiving the Covenant."
"And turns out that they were right after all," Johnson finished.
"Yes..." 'Nolomee said gravely. "They were wise to doubt the Prophets."
"Heretic, why are you on the sacred ring?" the Arbiter questioned.
The Heretic wheezed, clutching its chest. "We sought to prevent Tartarus from activating the ring. But there were too many Brutes... they overran our camp." It paused, catching its breath. "We fled and stumbled upon... this place. We hid... That's when they attacked."
"Who?" Johnson asked anxiously.
The Heretic pointed to a darkened corner. A Heretic corpse lay in a corner, its insides ripped apart.
"The Flood..." 'Nolomee whispered.
"Everyone is dead..." the Heretic managed, coughing blood out from its mouth. "Those who were not killed were infested. The parasite will fall... it will pay for its actions." The Elite's hand fell from its side.
The group stood silent, coming to the realization that they would have to fight the Flood once more. They entered through the door into the Archive's information center. Two columns of light slowly rotated a shaft, covered in strange markings. A panel stood at the center of the object.
The Arbiter slowly approached the control panel and randomly pressed a button. Nothing happened. 'Nolomee also advanced towards the panel with no response.
The Monitor chuckled.
"Shut up you Christmas ornament and tell us how the Archive works," Johnson barked. "We don't have time for this."
Johnson approached the control panel and suddenly it lit up. The two columns of light rotated faster and faster until an image formed between them, a starmap.
"What the-" Johnson said surprised. "How did that happen?"
"Why would you question that?" the Monitor asked.
Johnson paid no attention to the Monitor's past statement. His eyes lay fixed on the map.
"Wait a minute, this can't be right," Johnson said, taken aback. "This coordinates on this chart say that the Ark is in the Sol System, on Earth."
"That is correct," Guilty Spark answered.
"Earth?" Keyes asked, astonished. "That is why the Covenant are fighting this war. The Ark is on Earth, and they are waging a holy war to claim it."
"A war all fought in vain," The Arbiter said sadly, images of his dead brethren still in his mind.
0249 hours, March 30, 2553 (UNSC Military Calendar), UNSC Cruiser, high-orbit Earth.
Captain Lawrence Spaulding stood surveying the battle for Earth. A Covenant cruiser exploded in the distance, a MAC round torn through the side. Another was skewered through the middle, floating dead in space. Despite the tactical advantages of the MAC guns, the Covenant would soon overrun Earth.
Spaulding's ship, the Abaton, was formidable, sporting Archer missile pods and two MAC guns as armament. If need be, it could also arm one of its Shiva-class nuclear warheads.
"Arm Archer pods F through H," Captain Lawrence ordered. "Give me a firing solution!"
"Aye sir," Lieutenant Holt, the ship's firing officer answered.
"Fire when they charge their plasma torpedoes." Captain Spaulding commanded. The Covenant Destroyer charged one of its plasma outlets, glistening a bright red. The surrounding shields faded to allow the plasma strike through.
"Fire!"
Streaks of missiles crisscrossed across space, impacting the Covenant ship along its weakened shields. The Covenant raised their shields to negate the attack, but many Archer missiles got through when the cruiser's shields were down. The missiles exploded inside the shielding, and bright blasts flickered inside the shields, disabling them.
"Good work Lieutenant," said Captain Spaulding patting the young officer on the back. "Arm the MAC."
With the cruiser's shield down, it was a sitting duck. The MAC fired a high-powered tungsten round into the Covenant warship, ripping through its bridge and engines. With its motor systems disabled, the warship was effectively dead in space.
A blast reverberated the entire ship, and Captain Spaulding struggled to regain his balance.
"Damage assessment!" he shouted.
"Decks D through G depressurized. Fusion reactor took a hit! Our engines are running at sixty-six percent."
Spaulding heard thumps overhead, the sound of explosive decompressions. He turned to face the new threat. Another Covenant cruiser appeared on the sensors, its plasma cannons firing.
"Evasive action!" Captain Spaulding cried.
The plasma torpedoes maneuvered through space, steered by Covenant weapons technology. The Abaton banked into a steep turn. Two of the plasma torpedoes narrowly missed the Abaton, skimming by the ship's starboard side. The third directly impacted the warship, skewing it through the side.
"Decks H and I are now depressurized. Structural integrity is-" the damage assessment report was followed by an eerie silence.
"Where are our engines at?" Spaulding asked.
"Fifty percent." Holt answered.
"Give me fifty-five. Push the engines as far as they can go. Arm the Shiva warhead." Captain Spaulding hoped it would not come to this, but he thought of the old saying, desperate times called for desperate measures.
"Aye aye," was the response throughout the bridge.
"Plot a course to coordinates zero, five, two." The Captain ordered.
"Sir? That's a collision course," the Lieutenant answered.
"I am well aware of that Lieutenant," Spaulding spoke nervously, trying to at least appear in control for the sake of his grew. He was about to attempt one of the most daring maneuvers in the history of space warfare; the Keyes Loop.
The Captain felt his pulse spike and adrenalin fill through his body.
"Sir, I'm detecting high levels of radiation from the cruiser's plasma systems," a junior officer shouted. The Covenant were preparing to fire again.
Officers glanced at him nervously, doubting the Captain's orders. Spaulding looked for inspiration from Captain Jacob Keyes, the tactician who had invented the maneuver. The plasma weapons of the Covenant glowed bright red, preparing to fire
"Sir... course correction?" Holt asked.
"No, stay on course," the Captain answered.
The plasma torpedoes fired, bright streaks of plasma flashing across the air.
"Push the engine to seventy percent!" Spaulding yelled. There were only two outcomes; it would either work or it wouldn't.
"Evasive action sir?"
"No. Stay on course!" Captain Spaulding answered, his adrenaline pumping.
A plasma torpedo ripped through the ship's hull, then another.
"Sir, the structural integrity is in danger! The hull is about to collapse," Holt shouted.
Spaulding looked around at his crew. Some handled the tension better than others. Some were praying, others remaining calm under the pressure.
"Prepare to fire the warhead," the Captain said, trying to remain calm. "The firing coordinates are five, five, seven."
"Sir? Those firing coordinates are behind us," Holt said, closing his eyes.
"Didn't you learn in a military academy not to doubt your commanding officers?" Spaulding asked.
"Aye, sir." Holt responded, breathing heavily.
The Covenant cruiser was enormous; nearly three times the size of the Abaton. The captain briefly hesitated, wondering if the Keyes Loop was even possible. Spaulding chastised himself for doubting such a brilliant commander such as Captain Keyes.
"Fire!" the Captain shouted.
The Shiva warhead was launched from the back of the ship, still traveling forward due to the ship's high speed and momentum. The Abaton was almost upon the Covenant cruiser now, trailing fire and debris.
"Evasive action!" Captain Spaulding finally screamed. The Abaton banked into a steep upward spiral. Behind it, the warhead continued on its course, impacting the Covenant cruiser. A huge explosion followed, throwing the Abaton off course. Spaulding looked back onto the wreckage. A kilometer-sized hole was torn in the Covenant cruiser's side, both ends of the cruiser falling into the Earth's atmosphere.
Cheers erupted throughout the ship's bridge. Humanity had won this battle. But outside the ship a war was waging, a war that had hardly begun.