Note: I am very happy that I got reviews and I'm not trying to sound greedy but…four? Come on kids, I worked hard on this story. Give me some credit and motivation. Here's a math equation: n# of reviews …..n(day)n(hours spent on writing). It means, forevery review I get, I shall spend one more hour writing this. PLEASE…I seriously need motivation. Though I do thank you guys for the very kind words you put in your reviews. I feel happy to truly feel that I got REAL reviews and not those reviews where they use it as a chatroom. That's not manly. So, I want to thank all my fans, and I want more reviews. Every review I see in my mail puts a bounce in my step and a thrust ( wrong word?) of energy in my soul. PLEASE write reviews. I'm trying not to beg…juts asking insistently. Now read my cool story.

Ch. 12 The Secret of the Ruins

Most of the tanks had already entered the compound during the Spartan's little battle. He quickly entered the tank and drove back while raining shells on the unlucky targets in his view. Waves of grenades flew over his head as they exploded upon impact with the ground, killing any Covenant who had neared the Gate.

As his Scorpion slowly rumbled through the doors he took out his SMG and blasted the control panel that lay to the side. The doors slowly began to close as the last of the vehicles entered the city. A few shimmers near the door indicated the efforts of the Covenant to get in but sabot rounds from the Gold team pierced the air, leaving a small warzone in the gap of the Gate. Finally, the Gate sealed shut, and muffled pounding and roars could be heard on the other side.

All the marines stood in awe as the Master Chief climbed out of the Scorpion. New of his actions to bring down the Elite in the Scorpion had spread quickly once the battle had ceased and even the Hell jumpers made a small path as the Spartan passed by them. A few even gave him compliments.

" You go Chief!"

" Did you stick the Covie?"

" You brought the pain to the foe yo!"

He silently acknowledged the remarks and walked towards the Admiral. The Admiral was holding Toto's chip in one hand and scrutinizing the dead body of an Elite that had gotten through the gate but had been sniped. The bullet had pentrated through its neck and left a lot of blood residue onto its dark black armor.

" Master Chief, check out this Elite," said the Admiral as he indicated at the Elite's armor. A symbol of a white halo was visible on its shoulder.

" I also took pictures of the dead bodies of the Covenant that had attacked us during the battle with the Hunters. Their symbols had the symbol of a white skull on their shoulders as well. My intel reports that all Elites wear the same symbol on their armor to honor their Prophets and the Gods. Any who dare defy this religious act are usually punished and executed."

" So what are you saying?" asked the Chief.

" Well, I've done my history homework and I've concluded that the Special Operations sector of the Covenant was not created until their discovery of Halo. So, unless I'm very mistaken I think we've just battled the same Covenant that we had first fought in space. They must have gotten caught in the Kerr hole as well."

" Great!" exclaimed the Admiral. " Now we've got two different Covenant forces attacking us! SIFT!"

" Uh…Admiral," inquired the Sergeant. " In all due respect, what in howitzers is a SIFT?

"Shit Is Flying Today," muttered the Admiral. " And I am thoroughly sick of it."

" Then why did they attack the Hunters as well?" asked the Spartan. " Those are their allies."

" Spec Ops is a division in which they must put all loyalties aside to accomplish the most dangerous missions. They must have determined the Hunters as an obstacle when they were attempting to kill us."

" That must have explained why the grunts had fuel rod cannons. The Covenant were only able to create these guns by modifying the structure of the Hunter's. And in this time, they hadn't even tamed them yet," concluded the Master Chief.

" Oh joy…," muttered the Sergeant as he grabbed a cigar from his pocket.

" If those Covenant break down that gate, we're gonna be in the same position we were in before we got into this fortress," muttered the Admiral. " I say we head into that construct and prepare an opposable defensive position. Sergeant, you're in charge of the organization."

" Yes admiral," saluted Hanson. He turned to the soldiers and began barking orders. Vehicles hummed to life as marines began to head into the construct.

A large dome encircled most of the space made by the fortified walls. Droplet shaped and in various cool colors of blue and purple, the construct also had two large oval-shaped buildings connected to the sides of the long dome. Large vines wrapped themselves across the sides of the figure, yet it still had a shiny gleam to it as the sun shown on its surface. The Master Chief felt he had seen this object before, but couldn't seem to put his finger on it. The soldiers warily entered the compound.

The inside was humongous. A huge path made of dark metal branched into different rooms or ramps. The first two rooms seemed to a resting place for the inhabitants, rotted food stanching the small space. More rooms seemed to be a weapons storage due to the racks that lined the area. As the marines arrived at the middle part of the ship, mouths dropped and eyes bulged at the next room.

It was a large room, with monitors and controls spread through it. A huge chart hung on the wall with mold slowly crawling on its symbols. A huge window gave a view of the mountains beyond the ruins and had several cracks in it. Next to this view was a large platform, with a tall seat in the center. It too looked weared down and old, and the Master Chief felt another similar familiar feeling with this architect. The constant fighting for three days and with only an hour of sleep was getting to him.

" Scanning area…" said Toto as he emitted a faint blue light that began to flash over the ship and its object. Several minutes passed before the light disappeared and the A.I. broke away from its revere.

" The amount of vegetation and decay of the material shows that this base was built here quite a few centuries ago. I've also detected addition rooms below the surface, though the dirt and vegetation have amassed there to render it the passageways useless for mobility. It seems only to have its upper level intact."

As the marines wandered around looking at the various parts of the base the Master Chief wandered to a huge monitor that stood near the seat facing the window. As he glanced at it he noticed a small disk. He took it and wandered over to Toto, who was still scanning for any more areas of the base.

" Can you open this data?" he asked as he showed the dusty disk to the A.I. " I found it near the monitor near the center platform."

" Give me a sec," the A.I muttered and placed a thin concentrated blue beam on the disk. The beam moved back and forth as it slowly began to inspect the disk.

The Covenant had created their data disks specifically so that no other enemy would be able to open its contents. They had meshed the disk with active crystals and placed cooling slots in their main computers to cool the crystals and prevent its destruction. Other computers did not know the formula or order of the slots and did not have these "cooling" systems. If the disk was entered into the computer the heat from the main vent would irritate the crystals and cause the computer to implode. These "blue eyes" were focused scanners that allowed an A.I to scan a small file without having to place the data into a computer and possibly corrupting its data. The "eyes" could get an overall view of the type of information and the format that the file had taken. However, due to the amount of interface and "blocks" that were incorporated in the disk it was extremely difficult for the A.I to download the whole file without consequences.

" It's seems to be a documented holograph," said Toto as he gave the disk a few more checks. " It's format is in recording so it shouldn't be that hard for me to open it. Just give me a few…"

The Master Chief snatched the disk abruptly and inserted it into the computer on the platform. Toto gave a yell as the disk disappeared into the slot.

" Master Chief! That computer may not have the necessary slots to cushion the crystals of the disk! If you have just given me a bit more time…"

" We don't have time," muttered the Spartan as he watched the monitor flick on. Something was nagging at him and his groggy brain was beginning to wake from the sudden adrenaline. There was something not right in this building…

The Monitor showed the face of an old aging alien wearing white ceremonial robes and with a decorative headdress. It had black beady eyes and its voice was hoarse as it began to speak. In English.

" The Forerunners have brought me the Prophets a valuable gift," it croaked. " A spaceship filled with their technology and weapons landed on High Charity during the day of the Harvest."

The group stood in awe at the hologram of this creature. How was an alien able to speak in their home language?

" Good gravy," said Robert, " Is this some prank? Maybe its just a madman in his Halloween costume or something."

" As the Prophets searched the ship for more of its gifts I came upon a case that held green organisms with tentacles. Being in such a high security restraint, I knew that this species could be used for our benefit for our Holy Crusade. The other Prophets thought otherwise. They destroyed what could have been our greatest weapon in our great journey for purging."

The screen flicked for an instant, and suddenly changed to show a huge Covenant vessel docked near an old ruin. The ruins seemed more sturdy and intact, due to the lack of vegetation and the color that still showed on some of the walls.

" I drove the ship in secret to the ancient city of the Sangheli before they had joined our ranks. Unfortunately, due to some problem with the steering mechanism, I was unable to land the craft safely and crashed the ship into the middle of the ruins. However, this accident turned into a boom as I later learned how the ship's shields would be useful."

" I started my experiments in that ship. They were fascinating, and horrible. Faithful Elites and forced grunts died by this new parasite as it battled over the warrior's plasma guns and sucked the life from their limbs."

Hazy pictures on the projector displayed Elites and grunts with mangled bodies and faces that were contorted with pain. The Master Chief winced as flashes of moving bodies with strewn tentacles leaping at him and the fate of the former Captain Keyes leaped in his mind.

" I read the journal entries of how the Forerunners had discovered these vile beings during one of their trips near a planet called Threshold. They had escaped the organisms and captured one for examination. Unfortunately their bodies had disappeared during the crash. They had given the species a name. They called them the Flood."

" Augh!" cried the Spartan as he grasped his head. The memories of his experiences on Halo continued to pound at him as shook with agitation.

" Master Chief," exclaimed the Admiral. " What's wrong?"

Everyone stood watching the Spartan tremble. No one had ever seen a Spartan seemingly cower at the mention of an enemies name. It did bode well with their current situation.

Suddenly the Spartan stood up. His visor hid his face, but his voice once again changed into the monotonous and calm voice of Master Chief.

" I remember," he said. " This is the Covenant ship that the Prophet had driven. We are in the ruins of the Elite city. And the Flood are in here with us."

None of the group had ever seen the flood since no one but the Master Chief had survived the explosion on Halo. The pictures of the victims however, drew fear from each of the hardened marines. Even Sergeant Hanson was nervously chewing on his cigar as he heard the news.

Thunk.

" What the hell?" muttered Hanson. Immediately following his comment was the sound of movement below them. A faint sound of squishing and gurgling could be heard underneath the ship's floors.

" I hate bugs," muttered Chris as he cocked his rifle's bolt back. " and I especially hate bugs who bite back."

" Form a defensive perimeter behind the monitors!" yelled the Sergeant. " It's time to rock and roll!"

Guns cocked and magazines were slid into rifles as the marines prepared for the battle ahead. Pounding could be heard below them as the sound of movement passed under their feet and slowly headed towards the walls. Toward the air vents near the door.

" Oh shit." whispered the Master Chief softly to himself.