Humanity's Worst Fear

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Halo or Halo related characters.

A/N: Here's chapter 6! Enjoy!

Chapter 6

After the Cairo has self-destructed, the tide of the Human-Flood war was turning into the enemy's favor. More and more ships were passing through the defense grid, and were crashing on every continent on Earth. The Spartans were doing their best, but it was hopeless. Only about the half of the civilian population were evacuated, but the other half was lost to the Flood, and thus, the Flood population was increased drastically. The Humans and URF were losing soldiers/warriors by the dozen. This war is worse than the Human/Covenant war.

Back in the Glory's Field, technicians were "tending" to Jake, the AI from the Cairo. Jake was acting like a regular "dumb" AI. He was telling lies about what happened at the station. He would have to wait until the timing was perfect…

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"Chief. I have new contacts." Cortana informed MC, as they were in slipspace, heading towards Charlie Halo.

"What is it, Cortana?" Chief asked.

"I'm detecting numerous whispers at our destination. It's the Covenant." Cortana said.

"Well, you know what to do, Cortana. Prepare to give them a warm welcome." MC ordered. Cortana nodded, and then disappeared. A few seconds later, the sound of MAC guns activating, and torpedo bays charging could be heard throughout the ship.

"Cortana, give me a full report of the ship's weapon. I want to know how every single weapons are doing."

"I thought you'll never ask". Cortana responded. She liked people that acted smart, like her. "All 10 MAC guns have been successfully charged. The 4 plasma torpedo bays are at 100 percent. Anti-boarding weapons are fully activated. Archor pods A through Z are ready to fire. Combat alert has been activated. In other words, we're ready." Cortana finished, almost breathless.

"What's our ETA?" MC said.

"About 15 more minutes." Cortana responded.

"Get those MAC guns, and plasma cannons on-line double time!" MC ordered.

Cortana nodded, then disappeared. MC walked over to the communications station, then pressed the ship wide announcement button. "Sergeant Johnson, please report to the Bridge immediately."

Shortly after, Johnson appeared on the Bridge, panting. "What is it, Chief?" He asked.

"We'll be in battle in 15 minutes. I suggest you get ready to go."

Johnson didn't like the Chief ordering him around, but who was going to stop a 7-foot tall, heavily armed, walking tank with armor? He just nodded and headed toward Armory A, which was about a half mile jog from the bridge.

"Get us out of slipspace, weapons blazing." He ordered. Cortana nodded, then disappeared to get firing solutions at the target that'll be there. She reappeared moments later. "We're ready." She simply stated.

MC nodded, then said, "Get us out of slipspace."

The Fate's Mercy shot us out of slipspace with weapons blazing. 10 Covenant ships were immediately destroyed from the MAC rounds. 4 more didn't even have a chance to look at who the intruder was before they were destroyed from the plasma torpedoes. A few more only managed to get turned around to get a hail of Archor missiles to their "face". The remaining group tried to flee, but were cut down by another 10 MAC rounds that were reloaded immediately after they fired. In a few seconds, the battle was over.

"That was easy" MC commented.

"You tell me." Cortana responded.

"But why was the Covenant here?" MC questioned.

"Beats me." Cortana said grimly. "UNSC's long range probes should have detected space way beyond here, of course including here. But oddly, it didn't."

"Cortana, can't you contact the Cairo?" Johnson asked.

"No, but I can contact the Glory's Field, another MAC station in the defense group." Cortana responded.

MC nodded. "Contact them. Tell them what's going on here and ask them why we can't reach the Cairo."

"Done." She said. The Fate's Mercy slowly drifted in orbit around Charlie Halo, 10,000 kilometers in diameter. What was to become of the Halo, nobody knows.

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Back on the Glory's Field

"Sir, we're getting a transmission. It's from the Fate's Mercy!" A bridge officer reported to Admiral Comb.

"Get it on the main view screen." He ordered. There was a burst of static on the screen, and then it cleared up. Cortana was seen facing the screen.

"Admiral Comb, I presume." She greeted him. The Admiral only grunted.

"What is it, Cortana?" Comb asked.

"Sir, I can't seem to contact the Cairo. Is anything going wrong there?" She asked.

Comb answered, "Cortana, I'm afraid I have bad news. The Cairo has self-destructed. Right before that, she tried to fire a MAC round at us. I don't know what the heck happened in there, but it did. No one survived. But luckily, no SPARTANS were in there." Comb had a favor for those behemoth super-soldiers.

Cortana was silent for several moments, then said, "Sir, we have contacted and successfully eliminated the Covenant who had been stationed around Charlie Halo. It was well in the UNSC and ONI sensors. Didn't you detect it?"

"We've should have detected it. I'll contact on top Brass. I'll see what they'll have to say.

"Yes, sir."

"By the way Cortana, good luck." Comb said soothingly.

"Same to you, sir." Cortana responded.

Comb nodded in approval. "Comb out."

The view screen flickered, then it returned to show the battle at hand. Admiral Comb sighed. It was going to be a very long day, and battle.

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Cortana relayed Admiral's Comb information to the rest of the crew. Most of them were in shock. All of them had friends onboard the MAC station.

"That's why we need to work hard, crewmen!" Johnson barked. He had quickly gotten over the shock. "If we work harder, we will win this damn battle once and for all!" He shouted like the kings in ancient Human history. They all cheered and headed back to their stations, ready for any damage the ship might received. They were all determined to help avenge their fallen friends.

Johnson was busily arming himself with his favorite weapons when the Chief stepped in.

"How did the battle go, Chief?" Johnson asked him as the Chief went straight over to the weapons rack.

"The battle was over in 10 seconds," He said. "I'm just glad we brought the strongest-classed ship available in the UNSC." Chief purely detested space battles. He didn't have control over it, as he did on solid ground. He had to rely on the ship for dear life.

"Yeah, well, it figures," Johnson responded, knowing the Chief's only weakness (space battles). "No one can destroy this son-of-a-bitch. Heck, it's made of purely Titanium A material, enforced with the Forerunner's ancient walls. It's completed with the newest version of energy shielding!"

"Uh, Sergeant, don't you think the Chief already knows that?" Cortana said over the intercom.

"I just wanted to make a point." He replied.

"Anyways, we'll be over the target in about 10 minutes. Do you want pelicans or phantoms?" She asked.

"The phantoms, if you can." Johnson promptly replied.

Cortana nodded. "Then I suggest you double-time it to the pelican bay."

They both nodded, and after quickly triple-checking that they have all the gears they need, they ran to pelican bay A. When they arrived, a phantom was already in the air, with the gravity beam activated.

"Let's go." Chief said. They heaved the gears into the beam, and the anti-gravity took over immediately. They were last to go inside the spacious phantom. The phantom turned, and blasted out of the hanger bay.

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Meanwhile inside the Glory's Field…

Jake was slowly changing the station's data, but not too much so the engineers would notice. The research data was slightly changed, so the scientists were puzzled at why their experiments were not working. They rechecked their results from the last experiment and retested, but to no prevail.

Jake was having fun tampering with the ship-wide systems. He made sure the technicians were not suspicious of him. The Admiral of The Glory's Field had replaced the old AI with Jake, which means he had full control over the station. He was going to act soon… very soon.

A/N: I had a major writer's block, so sorry if it was shorter and more boring than the last chapters. I'm getting busier with my stupid school… (growl) Anyways expect way more fun and action in the next chapter!