Author's Note: Wow, I actually have time between school and Karate to write this fic! I'm going to reveal what happened to the third SPARTAN in a later chapter, and by the way, the SPARTANS Rebecca and Luke are supposed to be symbolic of my sister and myself in Halo; I love using the "cheap" combo Plasma Pistol Overcharge/ Human Pistol Headshot, and my sister loves dual SMGS; all the quicker to mow down unsuspecting Grunts! And for those who said it couldn't be done, I have now taken the Alien AND Predator storyline and fused it with the Halo storyline! Flame me of you wish, but, I thought it would be appropriate for this to not be the first time humanity encounters Aliens or Preds. A special guest star from Alien will make an appearance in the later chappies, don't worry. Anyway, here's back to MC, where we find out this isn't the first time humans have seen Predators before…
Chapter V
Dr. Halsey's Surprise
The lift doors hissed open. The Master Chief, followed by the other SPARTANS, stepped into the medlab. A team of doctors poured over the wounded Marine; she was unconscious, and looked like she had lost a lot of blood. The Chief silently shook his head and moved on. That marine had saved him; just as the Demon was about to win, she had kicked it in the head, allowing the Chief the precious seconds he needed to finish it off.
The door in the back of the lab hissed open, and Dr. Catherine Halsey stepped through it. In surprise, she looked up at the Master Chief. He imagined what he looked like; his new Mark VI armor, only handed to him two days previously, now dented, bruised, perforated, and overall damaged, splattered with bits of human blood and green ichor from the fight with the Demon.
"Hello, John. It's good to see you again" she said. John moved forwards and shook her hand.
"Nice to see you to, ma'am. Would you mind telling me…," he began, but she cut him off.
"Telling you where I went? All things in time. But, first, I want to show you this" she said, walking through the open door behind her. She was racing against the clock; she had five minutes to try and save Kelly from an unstoppable force. It was with them in the room, but hidden, hidden so even AI's like Cortana could not find it.
"What the hell is that?" was Linda's startled cry. John visibly recoiled at the sight. He was instantly reminded of an…
"Egg. This thing is an egg," Dr. Halsey said, pointing her hand at the large, fleshy sac on the table. It was encased in a large tube; it looked like a small, transparent cryo-tube. Three minutes.
"Where did you find it?" John asked. His fingers twitched; even without a weapon, he was still ready to fight. Dr. Halsey paused for a minute, she figeted and looked uncomfortable. After what seemed like ages, she finally prompted,
"Well, John, do you remember the tunnel you found us in on Reach?" she asked. The Master Chief nodded. Twenty seconds.
"Well, I recorded some of the glyphs found in those caverns, and found that they led to an old abandoned colony, only designated as LV-426. Years ago, contact with this colony was lost. We assumed it was a Covenant attack, but now I'm not so sure. You see, John, the crypts told of invincible warriors that could possibly even defeat the Covenant! So, naturally, I took Kelly with me to investigate; I figured that if all else failed, I could simply return home. Unfortunately, the Covenant DID arrive in system, and I was only able to recover this;" she said, gesturing towards the egg. It was a small lie, true, but it would work until the...procedure was finished.Ten seconds to go.
"Kelly. Do you know why I subdued you? Do you know why we only lingered for three hours around LV-426?" Dr. Halsey asked, fearing how her SPARTANS might react when she told them. She knew full well the risks if this did not work; she could lose Kelly and the trust of all of her SPARTANS. However, if it worked, it would be extremely beneficial to the UNSC. Five seconds.
"No, ma'am. I thought you just needed my help to get this thing aboard the ship. Why, Doctor?" she asked. Before anyone could react, Dr. Halsey drew a small vial of serum from her jacket and stabbed it into Kelly's neck. She slumped downwards; quickly, Dr. Halsey pushed another button; a large steel shield slid into place, separating her and Kelly from the other SPARTANS.
"I'm sorry, everyone. You will know how this turns out in a few hours. If I fail…I'm sorry. I hope you can all forgive me" she said over the team COM frequency.
John punched the barrier. Surprisingly, it held. Luke and Rebecca fired their weapons at it; the hail of bullets and plasma didn't even phase the door.
"Strongest metal in the UNSC. Titanium plating reinforced with some of our new plasma technology we stole from the Covenant. What the hell could be that important that Dr. Halsey would steal Kelly fromus to do it?"
The large egg still resided on the table next to John. Glancing at it, he was surprised to see something moving inside of it.
"Don't touch it! It might be some kind of trap!" Linda shouted. John recoiled; he could swear something was moving around inside of the egg. Curling his fingers into a fist, he stood and stared at the silent barrier. Watching. Waiting. Hoping that whatever the Doctor had planned for Kelly paid off; he didn't want to lose another SPARTAN.
On the other side of the barrier, Dr. Halsey worked feverently. An incision there, a snip there…it was frantic. If she was too late or screwed this up, she and the other SPARTANS were going to die. She knew it, but the idea of one of these "Holy Warriors" at the disposal of the UNSC was too good an idea to let pass up.
Quickly inserting a pair of gauntlets into the pulsating flesh, she extracted her prize; it wriggled and hissed, but was quickly deposited into a stasis tube. It grew silent and limp as the tube took effect. The stun gas coupled with the repulsors in the tube kept the creature suspended and unconsious; the fact that the gasses in the chamber took effect on the creature was good; one of these things let loose would spell certain doom for anyone aboard this ship.
Sighing in relief, Dr. Halsey began to stitch Kelly back up. She didn't deserve this, didn't deserve it at all; it was a shame. At least now Kelly was safe; she'd stay knocked out and healing for several hours, but after 24 hours, Dr. Halsey figured Kelly would be fine.
Hitting the button to open the door, Dr. Halsey wasn't surprised to be staring down the barrels of a sniper rifle, a human pistol, a plasma pistol, the long muzzle of a Battle Rifle, and three SMGs. She held her hands up.
"You mind telling me what the hell you just did?" Luke asked. He was always brash and aggressive; he was reluctant to be recalled from the front lines and back to Earth. Dr. Halsey sighed and flung off her gory gloves.
"Kelly will be fine. The operation was unpleasant, but it worked" she said. Rebecca pushed her lead SMG closer to Dr. Halsey's head.
"What. Exactly. Did. You. Just. Do?" she asked.
"Do you want to see?," Dr. Halsey asked, already guessing the answer. She held up the stasis tube. Even from the normally terse SPARTANS, she could almost feel the revulsion and disgust that emanated from them.
The thing in the stasis tube was almost snake-like, still covered in gore from it's last residence in Kelly's chest. It had large, sharp teeth, and beady black eyes. If it had been awake, it probably would have tried to attack; but it lay limp and silent inside of it's tiny prison. She set the tube down next to the egg, and turned just as Fred asked,
"What the hell is that thing?"
Dr. Halsey sighed again and hit another button on her console. Another stasis tube emerged; it held a small, crablike organisim with a long, whiplike tail. Next to it was a SPARTAN helmet…with a hole punched right through it. It was a clean, round hole. John was shocked; never had he ever seen something like this. Not even the most powerful Covenant warriors, the Brutes, could punch a hole that cleanly through a SPARTAN helmet. Dr. Halsey began to speak.
"I guess I must explain myself. You see, these 'Holy Warriors', as they are referred to, start off in those eggs," she began, gesturing towards the egg on the table, ", and out of those eggs comes one of these" Dr. Halsey continued, pointing towards the crab.
"This thing latches onto the face of a victim, paralyzing them and putting them into a coma. As you can see, it is even strong enough to pierce a SPARTAN's helmet."
"Next, while this thing keeps you in a coma, it lays an egg inside of your chest. This thing will then fall off and die. But it is not over then; the egg will grow until it has reached sufficient maturity, and will exit the host, usually in a violent manner" Dr. Halsey dictated, her face grave.
"So if you failed…" Luke began.
"Yes. Kelly would die. If I didn't remove this thing quickly enough, it would kill Kelly. If I removed it too early, it would die. I had to time this just right; three hours before the thing was scheduled to burst out of Kelly's chest. But this isn't it's final form; this is only it as a pupa" Dr. Halsey continued.
"It gets worse. This thing will continue to grow until it reaches maturity. Have you ever heard of the Sulaco debacle of 2319?" Dr. Halsey asked. The SPARTANS shook their heads.
"I didn't think so. This was when the UNSC was in it's infancy and the Halycron Class Cruisers were still in their prototype stages. A civilian hauler, called the Nostromo, landed on the planet I visited, LV-426. They reported encountering a 'strange ship' on the planet, and when one of their scouts ventured too far into the ship, he came out with one of these," Dr Halsey pointed to the crab, "attached to his face. The thing burst out of his chest, and devastated the crew. The only survivor was named Lieutenant Ellen Ripley, and she died fighting these things 200 years ago. She died on a prison colony, Fiorna 161," Dr. Halsey finished, looking at her SPARTANS.
"Ma'am, with all due respect, what the hell does this 'Ripley' person have to do with this thing you have in that tube? She's two hundred years dead!" Will said.
"Then it's time you met her. You may come in now, Ellen".
A middle aged woman strode into the room. She had shoulder-length brown hair, and wore, to John's surprise, the old dress uniform of the UNSC, from many, many decades ago.
"Hello. I'm Ellen Ripley, as Dr. Halsey here has probably told you. You're probably all wondering; what the hell is this thing? How can we stop it? And you're all probably wondering about me, too. But I know all about you. The famed SPARTAN super-soldiers; strength of steel, power to crush the mighty Covenant armada, supposedly invincible. 'SPARTANS never die'" she smiled, an almost wicked smile, at the battle-hardened warriors who stood before her.
"Well, I can tell you this; if you're going off to fight these things, you're all going to die".
