Yes yes, I know, I'm overdue for a new chapter. But waiting for something only makes it sweeter when you finally get it. Oh, and a big thanks to Pink Skittles for my first review. XD
Disclaimer:
Sergeant Johnson: 'Bout time! You been keeping everybody waitin' for this damn chapter!
Nemesis: Well, by everybody, I guess you must mean all the people who read this fanfic . . . the number of which I can count on one hand.
SJ: Don't be talkin' back to me, boy! I'm doing my job!
Nemesis: Yelling at me?
SJ: If you give me any more lip, I swear . . .
Nemesis: Swearing? You? Impossible.
SJ: That's it! Drop and give me 50!
Nemesis: I'm not a Marine! You can't make me!
SJ: Wanna put some money on that bet? Points his thumb at the Master Chief, who is standing behind him and cracking his knuckles suggestively
Nemesis: . . . . . . Drops to the ground without a word and starts doing push-ups
SJ: That's the spirit. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot to mention that this sorry excuse for a human being does not own Bungie, Halo, or any related trademarks.
Nemesis: Huffs and puffs Hey! You don't need to remind me!
SJ: That's funny. I thought I heard a useless lump of flesh speaking back to me when they're supposed to be doing push-ups! I think I might just have to have a certain cyborg beat the living crap out of him!
Nemesis: Starts going faster
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Chapter 4
1143 hours, June 19, 2556 (Military Calendar)/
UNSC Vessel Aurelius, Salusa Primus System, near planet Solitude
Warrant Officer Tom Phillerson sat at his console, Weapons Station One, on the bridge of the Aurelius, thinking. Scarcely two hours ago, he had discreetly watched as the near-legendary Master Chief had stood not more than three feet from him, studying the planet through the front viewport. Even though most people would have automatically assumed he was studying it for tactical purposes, Phillerson had the slightest feeling that there had been other things on the soldier's mind. He thought of himself as having an intuition for these kinds of things.
He sat there, wondering what the man (Unlike most people, he thought of the Chief as a man, and not a thing) could possibly have been thinking about, when the brightly lit controls before him emitted a loud beep. He immediately snapped out of his wandering thoughts, and studied the display in front of him. His eyes widened as he saw the readings, and quickly turned in the chair. "Morgan!" he yelled to a woman sitting at another station, the only other person on the bridge at the moment. She was the Officer in charge of ship communications, Morgan Lancing. She turned in her chair to look at him, and he said "Get the Captain on the line! We need him up here now!" She gave a slight nod, and turned back to her console, tapping some of the keys.
"Sir, this is Officer Lancing." She spoke into her screen, or rather, the audio receptors installed next to it. "We have an urgent situation on the bridge, and we need you up here now."
"I'm on my way." Came Captain Gerittsen's voice out of the speakers, and the line clicked as it closed. Lancing turned back to Phillerson once more, and asked "What did you find?"
"See for yourself." He said grimly, and motioned her over. She left her seat, and walked over and bent over to look at the screen. He punched a few keys, and it switched to the viewpoint of a Clarion spy drone.
"I don't see anything." She said, confused because all she saw on the screen was black.
"Just a second." He said, and hit another one. After a few moments, she saw that the drone was moving, and had been looking at the dark side of one of Solitude's moons.
"I still don't see what's wrong." She stated as she watched the drone look at the sun rising over the planet.
"Look closely." He told her. She stared intently at the screen for a few more seconds, and then she saw it. There, on the edge of the bright ball of light coming around the side of the planet, was a speck of darkness. He punched some more buttons, and the scope zoomed in and applied a UV filter, shutting out most of the light and providing a better look at the object. Lancing gasped as she recognized the all too familiar sleek and bulbous shape of a Covenant cruiser. Its lateral lines glowed brightly with plasma ready to fire. "Looks like these guys are better prepared than we thought." He said quietly.
She hurried back to her seat, and began work on the things she would inevitably need to do once the captain gave her orders. Roughly a minute later, the captain walked through doors of the bridge, heading straight over to Lancing. She gestured at Phillerson, who in turn briefed him on the problem. After taking a few moments to think, he turned back to Lancing and told her "Sound the ship alarm, and make an announcement telling all crew on board to prepare for ship to ship combat."
"Aye, sir." She said, and tapped the necessary keys. The rapid beeping sound echoed throughout the superstructure, quickly followed by her voice booming through the speakers. Captain Gerittsen turned and looked through the front viewport, watching as the cruiser turned and moved in their direction. He was only partially worried by the prospect of battle. Unlike engagements during the war, this time they were on equal terms because of the ships new technology, stolen from the Covenant years ago. However, he knew they would not walk away from this unscathed. He could only hope the wounds weren't too severe.
In the corridors far beneath Solitude's surface, bright blue plasma splashed over flesh and stone. When the door had opened, the Chief and three of the ODSTs had made the split second decision to drop to the floor. The other two, the one standing nearest to the door and the one second from the rear were immediately cut down as the enemy warriors opened up. Fortunately for the John and the Helljumpers who had been spared, the harsh light and noise from the plasma discharges and the sheer chaos ensuing from all of them firing at once, none of the Elites had quite realized that not all of the bodies on the floor were dead, and kept up the continuous fire.
The Chief's shields already lit up like a Christmas tree, all four humans opened fire on the foremost soldier, whose shields flared for a split second under the assault of a quadruple burst of bullets before failing. The Elites standing immediately behind him were splattered with purple blood, and he crumpled to the floor. This notified the rest of them to their presence, and they stopped firing for a moment to train the deadly weapons on John and the other three. With yet a second lucky break, the doors between them slid shut just as they were about to obliterate the four of them, and didn't open again. John wondered for a moment what had caused the doors to close, when Cortana's voice emitted from his COM link.
"It looked like you needed some help there Chief." She said smugly.
"Thanks for the assistance." He replied in his rough voice.
"You're welcome." She responded. John quickly stood up, and tried to radio the rest of the group and warn them that the Covenant was aware of their presence. However, because of the thick stone walls, all he got was static. He checked the bodies of the fallen Helljumpers, and after making sure they were indeed dead, he listed them on his roster as KIA, and went to check on the living ODSTs when sparks suddenly started shooting from the closed door. He whipped around, and saw that the Covenant were trying to cut through it. Quickly formulating a plan in his head, he pulled a frag grenade from his belt, along with a strip of EB Green, and taped it to the door in the path that the sparks were slowly moving. Then, borrowing a can of C7 from one of the still living soldiers, he sprayed half the can on to the ceiling overhead and stuck a detonator pin into the hardening foam. "Let's go." He told the other three, and started moving down the corridor. They followed him, one of them limping slightly.
After a couple of minutes of walking down the quiet hallway, they heard a loud bang echo from behind them as the grenade detonated. The Chief quickly pulled out a detonation trigger, and after flipping a couple of switches, pressed the button. There was a resounding boom, followed immediately by an even louder rumbling as that part of the corridor caved in. He tossed the trigger away, and continued on. They soon reached the fork where the group had originally split. He tried them on the radio once again, but still received no response. He hoped that it was only because they were still getting interference, but knew that was unlikely. He hurried down the right fork, wanting to help the rest of them if they had indeed been ambushed as well. His worries were soon realized as his helmet speakers soon started emitting the faint and familiar sounds of gunfire and plasma discharge, along with the cries of both humans and aliens. He ran at full tilt towards the sound of battle, knowing the others would catch up later. He hoped he could get there in time.