Chapter 2: Every Action Has A Reaction

"Men!" I exclaimed pacing in my quarter's.

After my encounter with Spartan, I had become very frustrated with him. Had I actually been looking forward to meeting the famous Spartan 117, that had saved Earth countless times. But now, I realised, he was just plain selfish. He had told me that he didn't want me as a part of his team. But the good thing was the General had already decided that I was going to go on the mission whether Spartan liked it or not.

I started pulling on my armor. It was a darker shade of green than Spartan's armor, good for hiding in darker foliage. I was a better sniper than a hand to hand combatanest. I reached down under my bunk and pulled out a long, thin, dark blue gun. It's ammo glowing a bright purple. It was a Particle Beam Rifle. An alien sniper rifle. I had found it on a mission to retrieve alien technology from an abandoned Covenant drop ship called a Shadow. Many weapons had been taken in for examination, except for this gun. If anyone found I had "borrowed" it, I was in big trouble. I ran my hand over the smooth gun lovingly. I had modified it extensively because its ammo depleted too quickly. It generely ran on pure energy, but after hunting around for another energy source called slatia (A more commonly used ore for energy and lasts 5 times longer than pure energy) which I found. I made it a much more powerful weapon than before.

Beep Beep

I quickly stashed the gun under my bunk and watched as the hologram pedestal fizzled to life with a blue light. Cortana appeared smiling.

"At least you're ready, the Chief hadn't even gotten into his armor when I just talked to him," she laughed.

I paused. Thinking about how he was going to treat my when we did start our mission.

"Nervous?" asked Cortana with a look of worry on her face.

I looked up at her. Did even computer programs express feelings?

"No, just... why doesn't Spartan like me?" I asked faltering.

She gave a casual smile and replied, "He is not used to being teamed with someone as his equal. Especially a woman."

I jerked my head away and replied stiffly, "He doesn't have to come on this mission. I accepted it first and was willing to do it on my own. I can look after myself."

A small thought came to her. Was she willing to do it on her own?

"He will most likely keep you away from danger, but critisize about you not doing anything," Cortana interrupted my thoughts, "It's a male thing. Anyway, report to the West Hanger where a ship is waiting for you."

The hologram pedestal turned off once Cortana disappeared. I quickly reached under my bed and pulled my rifle out and stashed it in a bag before walking out the door with it.

"What took you so long?" asked Spartan when I had arrived in the hanger.

I ignored him and boarded the ship. I found a seat close to the back of the ship, away from the Marines and Spartan.

I liked my privacy.

I strapped myself in and pulled a small, round, silver hologram pad out. After pressing a few buttons, a map of the planet we were heading too appeared. I held it tightly as I felt the ship move. Once we were far enough away from the station, we entered hyperspace.

I placed the pad on the seat next to me and pulled a book and pen out and wrote down some notes of the planet's terrain and weather.

I felt as if someone was watching me. I looked up. The Marines were too busy chatting about how many aliens they had killed. Spartan was sitting next to them but seemed quiet. Not looking up once.

I shrugged and began looking for any structures on the planet's surface.

I noticed the whole planet was entirely made up of water. But because of the cold climate in the Nebula, it had frozen it over becoming a frozen wasteland.

Looking again, I found two separate ruins joined together by a bridge.

I stopped looking. I had translated some alien text from a temple, worshipping something called an "Ark."

I flicked back through my book looking for the right page. Once I found it, in my mind I read:

Oh holy Ark,

Cleanse our worlds,

Rid us of Flood,

And burn those unworthy for the journey.

Two ruins,

One bridge,

Light and Darkness,

Find Answers..

What on earth did that mean? I read it through several times.

Oh holy Ark

Cleanse our worlds...

I tapped my pencil on the paper.

Ark? As in Noah's Ark maybe? And cleansing our worlds? It didn't make sense.

I continued reading..

Rid us of Flood

And burn those unworthy for the journey...

Flood...water. Rid us of water?
And burn those unworthy.

I looked up to the ceiling thinking deeply.

Since it was obviously an alien that had written it, those unworthy looked like it was us.

I looked back to the page. The next two lines seemed to match the structures on the planet's surface.

Two ruins

One bridge...

Then the last two?

Light and Darkness

Find Answers...

Looking at the hologram pad featuring the planet's terrain, I pressed a couple of symbols on the hologram. The picture changed to show an infrared picture of the planet.

Deep blue in colour meant the coldest temperatures and white/red meant the hottest.

The entire planet was a deep blue. It was deserted.

"How can thinking so much not hurt you?" a familiar voice asked.

I jumped at the sudden friendliness the voice had. Looking up, I found myself looking at Spartan's bright orange visor.

He took a seat next to me and started looking at the hologram.

"No life signs heh?" He asked leaning back, "Will make my job easier."

Not looking at him, I replied, "If you call trudging through thick ice and snow easy."

I pulled my helmet off, starting to feel a little warm in the face.

He leaned forward and pointed a finger at my neck.

"Nice cut, how did you earn that one? Blowing up a lab?" he joked.

I shook my head. "No. When I landed in the East Hanger, the Covenant Ship had already docked. We were attacked and an Elite came this close...," I said indicating a small space with my thumb and finger,"...too having my neck broken. It only scratched me."

His shoulders seemed to suddenly droop then straighten again. (Was that pity he just showed? It couldn't of been.)

"It's alright though, we killed them all," I continued, "You've probably suffered worse than a minor scratch."

He shrugged and leant back, not saying anything.

I placed my helmet back on as we felt a bump.

"We are entering the planet's atmosphere. Hold on!" announced the pilot.

I quickly grabbed the hologram pad, my pen and paper and shoved them into my bag.

Spartan strapped himself into the seat.

"We're coming in too fast! Brace yourselves!" yelled the pilot.

I quickly braced myself thinking, save us.