Chapter 2
0951
hours, June 19, 2556 (Military Calendar)/
Salusa Primus System,
upper atmosphere of planet Solitude
The Master Chief was as rigid as a steel column as his Helljumper pod shot toward the planet surface below. Not many people jumped at the opportunity to ride a cramped titanium tube to the surface of a planet at several hundred miles an hour. That explained why ODSTs were known as both the toughest and the craziest bastards in the Marine Corps. Even John was slightly uneasy about it. But the others seemed to have no problem with it.
"YEEEEHAW!" someone yelled over the radio. It was followed by several other whoops and cheers. He even heard such things as,
"Hit something ugly when you reach the ground!"
Suddenly, he heard Sergeant Malkins shout, "Hey! I want this COM channel quiet! You might as well throw out a huge banner telling the Covenant we're here!"
The silence immediately after that was uncanny, with only the dull rushing and rumbling sound of their capsules' descent in the background. The Master Chief was surprised by and disapproved of the disregard towards security. It had been that way since the end of the war. He almost wished that the war was still going so these men would learn their lesson a bit more thoroughly. Almost.
They had been riding on in silence for a couple more minutes when the pod's outer layer started stripping off. The Chief didn't react to this because this always happened. It's only purpose was to protect the passenger from the intense outer heat until the pod slowed down by use of the large metal cross that was the primary parachute. Suddenly, Cortana's voice burst out of his helmet speakers.
"Chief, we have a problem." That quickly put him on full alert. She said, "That shield came off ninety-three seconds too early."
"Why?" he demanded.
She was silent for a few moments as she checked the Aurelius' records.
"This pod was scheduled to receive maintenance, but because of a data error, it never got it. That was over a year ago."
"What does that mean for us?" he asked.
"It means," she replied, "that this capsule is going to become an oven and a coffin at the same time."
"Send a message to Malkins now," he ordered. In mere milliseconds she adjusted the radio frequency, composed a short but detailed audio message, and sent it to the ODST Sergeant's capsule. The Chief waited anxiously for the Sergeant's reply though he doubted they could help him.
After a few moments, Malkin's voice, heavy with despair, burst over the radio. Almost as if he had read John's mind, he said, "Chief, there's not much I can do, except hope that you don't suffer. I'm sorry." John then heard a click that signified Malkins had cut off the signal.
"Cortana, how much time do we have?"
"About a minute longer," she responded.
John took a few moments to consider his options. If he stayed with the capsule, he'd burn alive. Even through his energy shields he could feel the temperature rising rapidly. Even now his shield bar was draining, very slowly but steadily. He thought of pulling a 'Fred' and abandoning the capsule, but there was a problem with that too. Fred had been heading in at an angle, and he had barely lived through it. John was heading straight down, and that meant he would have almost no chance of surviving the impact. Then he had it.
"Cortana, I need you to override the safety clamps securing the secondary parachute, but not release it," he instructed.
"Why? It'll only disintegrate at this speed."
"Just do it." he said.
"Fine. Jack me in," she said. He removed the chip from the back of his skull, shrugged off the feeling of emptiness, and inserted it into a slot. After a moment, he heard a heavy thunk above him as the clamps were released. Then Cortana said, "It's done. Bring me out."
He pulled out the card and re-inserted it into his head. Ignoring the feeling of ice-mercury, he opened his belt and began removing the frag grenades in it.
"What are you doing?" She queried. She seemed alarmed, but it sounded like she was more worried about John's behavior than their situation.
He replied by saying, "If I go outside with these grenades, the heat will detonate them." She took a moment to think about his actions. At that moment, if she had been in holographic form, her eyes would have gone wide.
"You're not going to do what I think you're going to do?" she asked, shocked. He didn't answer, but instead reached for the emergency hatch release. With his other hand, he gripped the frame of the pod with unbelievable strength, and warped the metal doing so. Then he pulled the lever.
The hatch was ripped from his hands and the pod was filled with a deafening roar. While he struggled against being ripped into empty space, he shut off his helmet speakers, and looked through the door. All he saw was blue sky fringed with bright flaring orange from the air friction. After taking a moment to steel himself, he began climbing through the door. Suddenly, everything was moving in Spartan time, where time seemed to race and crawl simultaneously.
His shields flared in the intense heat and his shield bar began depleting quickly. He grabbed on to the top of the door frame with one hand, and let himself be pulled out. He was flown out behind the pod and barely managed to hang on with his lone hand. He noticed that his shield bar was almost empty, and began to move faster. With his free hand, he pried open a hatch on the top of the pod. Because of the slipstream generated by it's the pod's passing, he found his free hand easier to move. He snatched a small titanium cube out of the pods 'trunk', and let go.
He flipped and tumbled through the air, and everything flew past his visor at once. He stretched out all his limbs except for the arm holding the cube, and within a few seconds he stabilized. Below, he could see the mountainous terrain and few black specks that were the other Helljumpers, still descending towards the mesa below. Suddenly his pod, which had raced ahead of him, was engulfed in a huge fireball as the grenades inside succumbed to the insane heat and detonated. Flecks of shrapnel were flung across the sky.
Because of his smaller mass, he slowed greatly. As a result he did not generate friction and his shield bar, with only a sliver of energy left, stopped draining and refilled itself. After a few more seconds of freefall, he reached his other hand beneath him and opened the cube. A plasteel parachute flew out of it and unfurled itself in the open air, nearly flying out of John hands. Holding on for dear life, he floated lazily toward the mesa below. Suddenly Cortana burst over his helmet speakers, startling him.
"So tell me," she said, "do you enjoy trying to kill the both of us?"
"I thought I turned these off," he replied wearily.
"I'm the best in software intrusion that the UNSC has to offer, and you're surprised that I managed to turn on your speakers? You don't expect much of me do you?" she asked mischievously. He decided not to say anything.
A few minutes later, he landed amongst a group of speechless ODSTs in the process of setting up base. After a few seconds of awkward stares and gaping mouths, Sergeant Malkins appeared from among his men and walked over to the seemingly invincible Spartan.
Still staring, he managed to say, "I- I thought you were dead."
"You're not the first," responded John.
The Sergeant realized he was still staring and composed himself. Then he barked out an order to his men.
"Someone get this man some weapons!" he yelled. "We can't send a soldier into battle without a firearm!"
Within seconds the Chief had a battle rifle, a Navy issue HE pistol, some ammo clips, and two grenades.
As he was checking the weapons Malkins said, "I'll say one thing about you Chief. You're one hell of a soldier." He paused as he checked his mission clock. "Well Chief, it's time to get moving. You ready to kick some Covenant ass?"
The Master Chief slapped a clip into the rifle, pulled the charging lever that loaded a bullet into the chamber, and said, "I'm surprised you have to ask."