Hey all. Sry this chapter is so late, been having so much school work. I've been seeing some other crossovers between stories and stuff; I'm just glad no one has copied me. If you have any thoughts or comments, feel free to write a review. Yes, I know I accidentally put 'Spartan 119' instead of 'Spartan 117' last chapter. Be warned: this is a long chapter.
Chapter 3-The Battle of Races
As the Kendoran came into view, the bridge personnel got ready to board it.
Miranda looked out at space; it was an endless place, with gas balls and solid planets. It was so beautiful, with its galaxies and systems. Each with its own name, environment, and climate; temperature and sights, and that's what made space amazing. It would go on forever also, and humans wouldn't be the only race out there.
She was brought back to her conscious self, for someone persisted in tapping her on the back.
"'Scuse me ma'am, but it's almost time to leave." A sand-color haired man politely said.
"Thank you," she replied.
The walk down the hall to her quarters was long and boring with no one to talk to, so all she did was stare at the ground. The hallway was scorched with plasma burns and dinged up by bullets.
The Covenant had attacked not long ago, or what was left of the Covenant. The Elites, Grunts, and Hunters had turned to the humans' side, leaving only Jackals, Brutes, Drones (Buggars), and the Prophets; lower-class ones anyway.
That was good, especially the Hunters because they were the worst Covenant enemy to face. After the defeat of Tartarus, the Brutes died or went into hiding. Jackals were relatively easy to kill with a grenade and the Drones were an annoyance.
The doors to her quarters slid open silently and she stepped inside. Her bed was unmade, her dresser was overflowing with clothes, and recent reports of Covenant and others were scattered lazily across the floor. A smell of freshly picked strawberries filled the air, while an aura of military appeal countered. No bathroom was present; everyone shared the same one.
She hurriedly packed her things to a case and rushed back into the hallway. More Marines were coming out with their cases, but only a few noticed she was there. A Marine stood salute and she waved him off formally.
"Captain on deck," one of them shouted.
They all halted, dropped their things, and stood at attention. "As you were," she answered curtly.
She was halfway across the hall when a buzz sounded in the area. Thinking that there were Covenant borders coming in, from instinct, she ran the rest of the way. Miranda stopped after realizing that all it was just a preliminary ship-to-ship alert. Her eagerness had brought her to the bridge though, so she set her things down and went back to her seat.
A panel glowed when she touched it, emanating a purple air into the midst. Her mind quickly and instinctively turned off all engines to prevent any clashing.
The Chief examined his surroundings; they were much tidier than any UNSC quarters he had seen. The same white paint was on every thing, save the bed and bathroom. The bed had one cover on it, accompanied by one pillow; the bathroom had a shower, toilet, and other hygiene essentials. Both were pale blue.
Cortana emerged from her playtime in the ships' systems, only to tell him that they would be docking with Keyes soon. He slipped his armor back on, glad to have the extra cover back. His alien-like skin disappeared from view after the last of the MJOLNIR was placed in its respective spot. His helmet lay on the desk diagonally placed from the bed.
As he grabbed it, and started to slip it on his head, he noticed how much he had changed from his reflection in the visor. It was a wonder McKay didn't think he was an alien at first sight, save every able body in the UNSC that got the chance to see the super-soldier with no armor. His hair was now more of a gray, due to lack of contact with any sunlight of the sort. His eyes were piercing even to himself, as their cold gray gaze wove in and out of his soul. But other than that, nothing much had changed.
Relieved that this time instead of going to the bridge for orders, he was going there to meet up with old friends.
He took a deep breath, then stepped outside.
Another siren sounded now, this one varying slightly from the last. Its high-pitched, short-burst ring got annoying, even as it seemed to stop.
Miranda sighed and waited until the final preparations for docking were complete. She toyed with her hair absent mindedly, as she hummed a soft lullaby tune.
For once in her military career, she was going to a bridge to meet up with old friends, not orders.
The Spartan walked down the hallway through which he had came the first time to the bridge of the Kendoran. Oddly enough, the same monster he had seen earlier appeared from behind a pillar and blocked his way.
A cool, smooth voice emitted from within a corner, "Fancy armor you got there, bud. Mind if I take a look at it?" He banged his fist on his helmet, and the Chief caught his hand and bent it over, breaking his wrist. "Okay! Okay! I take that as a no. Well, let me introduce myself," he said while nursing his wound with a cylindrical tank full of a blue-gray liquid. "I'm Han Solo. This is Chewbecca."
The Chief shook both their hands before saying, "Sorry about your hand. I'm not used to anyone screwing around with my armor like that."
"No problem." The monster roared, "Chewy likes you." The man stepped out of the way and let the officer through.
He walked up the steps into the bridge before being greeted by Johnson and his ODST squad.
"Can you believe they don't know what coffee is, Chief? I guess our date is canceled," he said meaningfully. A few Marines chuckled.
"I think it got shot down when we didn't show back up at the rendezvous point, Zanzuu. I had a joyous time fighting two new enemies though." He quickly explained how the Empire ruled the Covenant, about Darth Vader and Sidious, and then about the white armored troops.
Sergeant Johnson snorted, "Well, I was getting kinda lonely with only the weak Covenant troops to kill." He shook his head, "I guess I can have some fun now!"
"Don't be too sure about it," Falcon's Eye commented.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that blade would rip right through your pathetic smart-aleck comments," BM said, but was cut off as Miranda entered the room.
The Chief had to admire her beauty and grace for what she was. It wasn't everyday you saw a girl in the army that looked decent. The faint lines of old age crept around her eyes, her black hair a little longer than UNSC regulation though no one seemed to care. Her bulging brown eyes, followed by slightly, bushy eyebrows and long slender eyelashes. It was like seeing the Greek god of Beauty, Aphrodite, in person at a time of war.
"Hello, Master Chief. Falcon's Eye, BM, Lars and Lars; it's good to see some old faces." She contemplated before adding, "And of course new ones as allies." She walked over to Captain Orsolen, "Hello. It's good to finally meet you in person." She stuck out her hand.
He took it politely, saying, "Yet again, the pleasure is mine." He looked at her with a glint in his eye that made Chief uneasy, but he didn't think Miranda would break UNSC regulation so bad as to go around sleeping with everyone. Then again, maybe she would, for she had that same glint in her eye. Chief shrugged it off and turned back to Johnson.
"So you played much of that video game yet, that—that one that you found they made about me? It was something thing like, 'Master Chief owns Johnson' right?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like you too, Chief." He spat on the ground.
Chief looked over at Miranda and Captain Orsolen. They were deep in conversation, though Chief couldn't read their lips due to them standing with their backs to him. Bored, he walked to the view of space and noticed something odd with the horizon. It was a bit distorted, and some of the stars were missing, and the source seemed to be this black blob not very clear.
The blob just sat there like a bump on a log. The Chief looked closer, realized something, and was taken aback. He shook his head, told himself he was dreaming, and looked again.
There were now 5 blobs distorting the stellar view. If they were ships, then the sensors should have picked them up already. Unless...Oh no.
The Chief ran back to the Captain, "Sir, you have to look outside. There are five enemy ships that are invisible." He finished, panting.
"Oh, oh...no," he said as he walked to the view point, "Why didn't the sensors pick them up?" He muttered to himself, "Never mind that, I have to get the ship up and running."
He ran up to his chair and ordered, "All officers to stations! Bring us up to Code Jawa! Someone get a Sonic-discharge out there, now! Alert all ships in system and tell them to saddle up for one heckuva ride!"
He wheeled his chair around to watch the 'Discharge flow out into space. It was miniscule so Chief had to squint to see it, even with his augmented vision. It broke apart and let out a small, circular explosion that let out into a burst of blue light. Two halos erupted from the center of the mass and cut through space like a spear. Chief saw the explosion hit all five ships to reveal them; one was cut in two, another got a nasty blow to the engines that paralyzed it.
They were long, scalene-type triangular figures, with a bow that was sharp enough to cut through a ship. A long, scalene triangle colored black, spanned from the inside of the bow and back behind their bridge, then disappeared from view. On top of their elevated bridge, sat two hemispheres with slanted edges that were vulnerable to any kind of fire. In the middle, laid a rectangular block with a stream of blue light, with a white line going around the path, in the middle following all around the outside of it.
Debris floated as the first part of the Imperial ship exploded. The other drifted out, silenced only by the orange flower blossom taking hold of its life. The other ships went into a formation and started firing green lasers at the Kendoran. The Pisidian and Ilithiam moved into attack formation on their right and left. On the Kendoran's six was the Wookley, operated by a race of Wookies.
The ships' shields fended off both enemy fire and borders, for now that is. A laser hit above the bow, in front of the bridge, causing the Chief to fall on his butt. Keyes hurried back to her ship, stopping only to brace as another laser hit the shield.
Outside tiny explosions between Imperial and UNSC-Rebel ships, emitted a powerful glow of red, orange flowers in the black. The Chief heard chatter over the comm channel as two X-Wings were destroyed. He knew he could do nothing, but sit and wait, helplessly. A flash in his eyes made him blink as a suicide bomber ran straight into the bow of the Kendoran, missing it's target: the bridge.
A slow moving craft caught Chief's attention and he asked what it was.
"That's an enemy troop transport. If they get that in here, we're doomed." The Captain told him.
"I'll take care of it." Chief said bluntly.
He jumped into one of the guns and started firing the straight beam of sheer energy. He hit one wing and the fighter was engulfed in a flame. Now I don't feel so helpless. He fired the beam towards a group of incoming fighters, killing one which hit another, and blew the squad up. The battle seemed to be turning tide.
Maybe they would actually win this one.
Miranda jumped down from the landing pad, sprinted to the bridge, turned on the engines, and initiated all battle sirens. Green lasers from the Imperial fighters appeared on the screen, and dissipated when hitting the shields (yes, they have shields now). She hit a panel to tell her officers to do anything to keep them alive, then sat back and issued orders.
"Launch missile pods A through E," she shouted. A trail of smoke appeared where the missiles went, and detonated on the enemy shields. "Get me a firing solution for the MAC Gun. Let's show these people just what kind of fire power we have!" Lieutenant Hirishmo nodded, tapped her computer, and looked up at Keyes, nodding her head. "On my count; 3...2...1...Fire!"
The bridge, along with the ship, was in silence, and then the MAC Gun fire resounded through the atmosphere of space. The blazing ball of super-heated metal ran through the chaos, only to hit Imperial shields and dissipate. Something hit the ship and sent Miranda flying. She tasted blood in her mouth after she got up from the deck.
"Report!" She commanded.
"Ma'am, you're not going to like this, but that blast came from inside the ship." An officer said half-heartedly.
Miranda's tan complexion turned pale. How could an enemy gotten on board? How did they get past the sensors and cannons? And what the heck were the Marines on board doing? Her mind was racing with thoughts and pessimistic ideas.
"Get me a squad down that sector. What was it?"
"Seven, ma'am."
"Get a squad of Helljumpers and repel those Imperial-Covenant off this ship." She paused before saying, "Now!"
"Yes, ma'am," the soldier said while turning back to talk on the comm channel.
"Negative, negative! I repeat negative! We have enemy hostiles in Sector 8 as well," came a man's voice, along with fire, screams, static and, "We're being overrun, we're being--," the officer cut the channel, so as not to hear the others death.
"Fire at will with the MAC Gun, Lieutenant Hirishmo."
This was not going well at all for the small UNSC cruiser. Not at all.