Authors note below story
Halo: The Ark
Chapter 2 Lost Time
Mombasa, South Africa
12/25/2552 (Military Calendar)
UNSC Constitution
Master Chief walked to the elevator which was the only way to enter the storage hold. The Grunt leader walked beside him, they entered the lift and pressed a button the lift dropped quickly startling the Grunt.
" Who's this Dr. Halsey that you keep mentioning?" The Grunt asked curiously.
" Well she was like a mother to me….she was my mother….to an extent."
" Oh…I see." The lift came to a halt and the duo exited the elevator.
" Stay here please!" He said to the creature. The Chief peered behind a box concealing himself from the humans behind it.
" John? What about him?" Kelly and Dr. Halsey were chatting in the corner of a storage room. Kelly glanced at him as they talked.
" He's here on the Constitution."
" Really?" Dr. Halsey asked. The Master Chief coughed to get their attention.
" We know you're here John we're not blind!" Kelly said. Dr. Halsey suddenly realized his presence and approached him with a salute.
" Yes…but I'm not sure Dr. Halsey knew." He walked up to them.
" Yes well I'm in my old years son." She had a bright smile.
" Anyways we have to think about the current situation." Master Chief told them. " The Covenant are going to attack us with a Brute army of about one thousand soldiers. Containing their elite fighters….I'm not sure if we'll survive this one doctor. This will be the most intense battle we've witnessed." Dr. Halsey stared and looked away nervously.
" Maybe we could…." She mumbled Kelly and Master Chief couldn't here her.
" What?" The two Spartans asked simultaneously.
" Nothing!" She yelled." Where's Cortana?" She still had the nervous look on her face along with sweat rolling down it.
" High Charity."
" What's High Charity?"
" The Covenant Holy City."
" Really…." She then cursed.
" Cortana's in peril. She can learn something that could lead the Covenant to her…John there's something I've been hiding." Master Chief looked at her curiously. " Do you remember when we received that transmission about Harvest falling….It was partially my fault….I was monitoring radio waves out in space to find traces of pirates and rebels so the UNSC could have them tried for seceding from Earth's government…." Dr. Halsey stopped.
" Go on." The Spartans said.
" We picked up a Covenant transmission…a prophet spoke to us about how we are the Forerunners the ultimate race and their gods."
" What!" They both yelled.
" At first we thought it was a prank, but then they began to speak in a dialect similar to Egyptian language….but we did some research on it and we found out it was really an ancient English dialect with just several different sounds for a letter. Like our language. It would take an advanced race such as the Forerunners to develop such an advanced language."
" Doctor are you saying that you're the one who discovered the Covenant!"
" Yes…but at first they came kindly to us…..but after the incident we messed up….the Covenant were heading to Harvest to make sure we are what they thought we were…and we didn't know a captain located on Harvest attacked the leading Covenant flagship and then they attacked us…I was lucky to escape…if Cortana found out she would be petrified."
" Why didn't you tell us before!" Master Chief yelled.
" It was classified….I'm sorry…" Dr. Halsey began to cry. " I'm a murderer….I'm a…." Kelly calmed her down tears completely covered the lower part of her face.
" Doctor…you weren't at fault…the Covenant overreacted to the attack." The Grunt waddled over to their spot and interrupted them.
" You're the Forerunners?….. I knew the Prophets were afraid that's why they absorbed the Brutes… that's why millions of my brethren…and Elites died…I will get those scared bastards out of their hiding and kill them with every shot from my rifle! " The Grunt yelled with dark anger, kneeled on it's knee, and bent it's head down to pray to them.
" We're the descendants of the Forerunners…we're Humans not some ancient race." Dr. Halsey said.
" The Forerunners died one hundred thousand years ago doctor ….we can't be the descendants….can we?" Master Chief asked.
" You didn't learn anything from Cortana on Halo did you…nor its protective construct?"
" Is there something your not telling us doctor?"
" Yes…Cortana isn't a hu….." Alarms went off in the storage room red lights gave the metallic floors a red shine and the sound ricocheted off the walls being heard from every angle.
" They're attacking….Chief get up here now and bring your Spartan lass and your pet." The two of them cursed at Captain Johnson. Chief ran to the elevator. Kelly and the Grunt ran along side him and entered the elevator.
" Be careful!" Dr. Halsey yelled.
" Will do!" Master Chief yelled across the room. The elevator door closed and the lift lowered.
" Kelly…pick any weapon you want we have Covenant weapons and ours."
" I'm taking a battle rifle I customized while I waited…for you to return. I'm also taking a plasma rifle just incase." Kelly said.
" I'm taking a plasma rifle and a human pistol." The Grunt said.
" Ok….I'm taking a Rocket Launcher, a Carbine, and two….secret weapons."
" What!" The two others quickly asked.
" You'll see." The door opened the trio found a room full of determined ODST Marines and high rank grunts carrying plasma rifles.
" Listen Marines this is an important battle they're hitting us with full force…that is their weakness….Scarabs and Dropships are coming out at all angles of the ship….that is their advantage…. We need to do as much damage to their forces as we can…and if we do well we may shift the war and we may win the war…..am I right marines!" The commander yelled.
" Sir, yes, sir!" The adrenaline pumped soldiers yelled.
" Damn right I am!" He yelled." Let's move now… we're the last stand against them…let's show them how deadly we are…..Engage shields marines!" They all touched a button on their arm which formed a yellow shield around them.
" Wow…Covenant technology…put to good use!" The Commander yelled.
" Yes…these shields are more powerful than the Elite over shields and are more stronger than the MJOLNIR Mark V over shield….Dr. Halsey helped me with the powering they should have an unlimited charge like the MJOLNIR armor….also they absorb plasma heat just like sugar and water giving our marines a needed advantage….but if there is too much plasma heat the shield will fail….that is a bug that we could never figure out." An engineer told them.
" Damn…why didn't we have these before the attack on Reach!" A marine yelled.
" I'm sorry…we couldn't understand how to implement forerunner technology to a simple ODST battle suit….and also how that shield would be powered….so blame the alien technology."
" Enough chitchat were late!" The Commander yelled. " Chief grab what you need."
" Yes, sir," He said and scavenged for his weapons. Master Chief had a massive rocket launcher on his right arm and a carbine in his other. Two other weapons were secretly concealed on him. " I'm ready. How about you two?"
" I'm ready…but I'm curious about your plan?" Kelly asked.
" I'm ready!" The grunt replied.
" Let's move Kelly your with me! Grunt your with your platoon! Let's move now!"
" Lower the Constitution!" The commander yelled up towards an intercom.
" Yes…commander!" A crew member replied back. The UNSC ship lowered down to the ground quickly, and a humungous door opened before them. A light dampened the darkness of the room and reflected off of the soldiers armor. The Grunts in the room gave their battle-cry which the humans were not fond of.
" Would you lot shut the hell up!" A British soldier yelled. The Grunts ignored them and readied their rifles. Scarabs were lining up to guard the Forerunner ship, and Dropships were dropping massive amounts of Brutes across the dead valley creating a massive line of apes.
" Landing in five! Four! THREE! TWO! ONE!" Master Chief and Kelly darted outside. Along the ship Warthogs were flying out like bees in a nest being provoked. Scorpions also came out but at a extremely slow pace. The human vehicles fired onto the Scarabs but their armor was too powerful.
" Sir, are reinforcements coming?" Chief asked Robertson who was hiding behind the safety of his lifting vessel.
" Yes…I think?"
" Damn it…you didn't call for reinforcements? You're a real Dumbass!"
" Watch your mouth son! I could easily kick your ass!"
" Right if you could do that then get your ass out here and help us….actually win a battle!"
" I heard that Jackass!" Chief ran toward the horde of Brutes less than five hundred yards away from him.
" Chief….here…..?" A static filled voice yelled.
" What?" He asked back.
" Chief can you hear me now!" Cortana yelled.
" Yes."
" Good…have you killed Truth yet?" She asked sarcastically.
" Funny… what do you want?"
" Brutes are raiding Truth's room where I'm at I'm trying to stay concealed but I have no clue how long it will take for them to find me."
" Radio the Sarge…Commander Keyes and himself will protect you."
" I can't I was barely able to reach you… High Charity is orbiting around Halo creating static in the com-link."
" Well I have to go I don't think this army of Brutes will come kindly to me!"
" What?" Chief halted the transmission and handed his rocket to Kelly. A dropship was coming closer to them and closer to the ground.
" Shoot me!" Kelly then understood. Master Chief ran and jumped into the air. A rocket flew out of the barrel of the launcher.
" I only have one shot at this!" He switched the shields to protect his lower part of his body.
High Charity
9th age of Proclamation
Truth's quarters
" Damn…Gravemind we entered Halo's orbit…High Charity is going to gain tremendous heat when we come close to that other planet."
" There's nothing I can do Cortana…unless…"
" What?"
"I'll need your power source along with your processing chip…I'm going to make you a body."
" Here?"
" No….an ancient planet called Terra."
" Alright… just promise that you'll also get Keyes and everyone else off of Halo…If High Charity over heats it will explode along with the fusion drives of In Amber Clad."
" Ok…Cortana." Cortana disappeared and Gravemind took her chip out of the pedestal. Gravemind glowed a bright yellow and disappeared. On Halo Sarge and Captain Keyes also glowed a bright yellow and disappeared along with a few surviving marines, the Arbiter, and the rest of the Covenant.
The group appeared in a city like street that was platinum instead of the human steel and tar. It still had the black look but it was more lustrous and had a shine. Up above buildings scratched the edge of space, and the sky was purple not the Earthly blue which the humans had known.
" Where are we Sergeant?"
" I have no clue…"
" This is the Forerunner city Last Forgiving." A mysterious man walked to them.
" Who are you?" Arbiter asked surveying the man's image.
" I'm Deathmind the creator of the parasite…that you call the flood…," The group stared at him awkwardly. " You should know my brother Gravemind…He helped you on installation IV…he was infected with the parasite and he became what he is now…a monster."
" Are you a Forerunner?"
" Yes…but I'm not really a living one…I'm now an Artificial Intelligence Chip put into an almost exact copy of my body created from the finest rubber materials and metal…you can say I'm in a way a machine..." Deathmind said.
" So you're a Forerunner…" The Covenant in the group kneeled before him.
" What are you fools doing…are you worshiping me…your pathetic."
" Your race are our gods….if it weren't for you our civilization would have never prospered."
" I am not a god… I don't have the power to create life…I don't have power to make anything stay alive….just to enhance the already given. I died several tens of thousands of years ago… I couldn't even keep my brother or myself alive."
" Gravemind's dead but how does he move… or think?" Arbiter asked.
" The parasite couldn't control this A. I. …that's how we get our names… I died of natural death…and my brother died so called after being buried alive… he threatened our very existence… with the parasite.," Everyone was stunned. " Him and myself are the only existing creatures who remember the using of the ARK…we survived because we didn't rely on calcium. If I had more time I could have made a cure…but my wife Catherine Halsey wouldn't allow it…I listened to her and then she died right in front of me after the quarantine… I had to rebuild her I created, a first for me an android which consisted of vital organs and a greater central A. I. Then mine. I called her Cortana and had her forget about the past."
" Wait are you referring to our human A. I. Cortana and Dr. Catherine Halsey." Keyes asked
" They are not who you think they are! Catherine Halsey and Cortana are the same. Catherine Halsey is the creator of the Spartan-II project is she not?"
" How did you know that?" Johnson asked.
" We have our own Spartans… more advanced then your so called Master Chief that Dr. Halsey has told me a lot about.," Commander Keyes looked at him in disbelief. " She's a brilliant woman… if only she would have listened to me and not have joined the human military she could have conquered your petty race easily…and yours." He pointed to the Arbiter.
" Watch your mouth? Or I'll shoot it off!" Johnson pulled his Covenant Beam Rifle and pointed it at Deathmind's head.
" I can't die…I'm invincible…you can try…but I can't guarantee your survival… If you notice my Spartan-I warriors are watching you I could call them off or I could demonstrate their power to you…either way I'm good…how about you?…Sarge?" Dark figures peered out of windows with weird shaped rifles. Johnson was shaking.
" Bring it on! Me against you…no Spartans…no help at all. Sound good?"
" No…you would lose easily…how about one of my Spartan's against you… a little game of cat and mouse."
" Deal! Get that Spartan out here…and we'll see who's petty!"
" Spartan-117 come here we have a challenge for you!"
" Master Chief?" He asked himself. A being fell from the top of a building and crashed into the street and left a small dent in it.
" I'm Spartan-117 my real name is John… you may know me…but you truly don't…I'm a machine like my creator…I'm just a Image of what you know…," The machine looked at the Sarge. " Johnson are you ready to fight?"
Author note: Dr. Halsey and Catherine Halsey are two different people... I'm sorry for the confusion.SPOILER Dr. Halsey knows Deathmind because of a past encounter which will be revealed later on.Catherine Halsey is Cortana...Deathmind erased her memories and just added her personality to the A. I. Also the Spartans metioned were conceived by Deathmind which Dr. Halsey copied and created the Spartan-II project for the military. These Spartan's are almost alike their S-II counterparts, but with a more advanced mind. So thanks to Yomiko the Hellbunny Slayer for pointing out the confusion and I hope you like the next chapter which will be out in the next month due to School and such.
