Eve of Fate
Note:
Of all the chapters, this one wasn't really edited, at all. It turned out the way I had wanted, and I'm pleased with it. I made a few changes, not much, because, well, there isn't anything I felt like changing with this one. It had the action I wanted, it set up the character of the Master Chief...it was alright, even as I read it now.
Chapter 1: The Last Spartan
The Master Chief was in pain. His eyes burned like hell, and his body itched in minuscule pain. But what hurt the most was his head - nausea and headaches rang through his head and echoed off his skull. All he remembered was leading his team through a thick area of foliage, when a blue glow came out of nowhere and landed next to him. Fred told him to take cover. But when he did, his vision went all white, and suddenly, everything fazed out. He could no longer feel the weight of his Battle Rifle, nor his other weapons.
He blinked several times before his vision recovered. Feeling slowly came back to his body, now making him realize he was lying face down on the ground. The Master Chief slowly got back to his feet. His body was no longer in pain, and his vision had recovered.
The Master Chief scanned the room, soon realizing that this wasn't really a room at all; everything here, minus the Spartan, was white. It seemed to extend far beyond his current position, perhaps for miles. He turned around and tried to look for an exit, but to no avail. There was no way out, nor did there seem to be a way he got in. He was imprisoned.
Suddenly, he heard a shuffle. Quickly turning to face it, the Spartan saw a Gold Elite. The alien warrior was standing there, its lower mandibles clicking at the sight of the human. In its hands wasn't the standard plasma rifle, but instead a deactivated energy sword. The energy sword was going to be a problem. Many times the Master Chief has seen countless Marines get cut down by the devastating melee weapon. Attempting to reach for a weapon, the Spartan swore as he soon realized he was unarmed.
The Elite activated its weapon, and the blade of blue plasma formed. Growling its war cry, the Elite charged, ready to cut the Spartan down. The Master Chief charged as well, coming close to the Elite's weapon before he suddenly went low and slid for the knees of the alien warrior. He didn't stop; his momentum kept him moving, knocking the Elite off its feet, and onto the ground. Getting back up, the Chief rammed his elbow into the back of the Elite. Although the Elite's shield blocked most of the attack, the hit stunned the alien further, allowing to Master Chief to reach for the energy sword. He snatched it from the Elite's grip, and with a single quick slash, the Spartan cut the alien down at the waist.
As the purple gore spilled onto the white floor, the Master Chief's motion tracker began to pick up more movements around him. Before he could even acknowledge it, five Special Operations Elites appeared in a circle around him. Their jet black armor stood out against the white background. Three of the Elites held energy swords, while the rest were equipped with their plasma rifles. Combined with some plasma grenades and religious fanaticism, these Elites were very well armed and could even be considered unstoppable.
The Master Chief didn't waste any time; he lashed out at an Elite who just barely activated its energy sword. The Spartan's sword sliced the warrior in half. Snatching the other energy sword with his left hand, the Spartan ran beneath the shots of plasma. He then made a dash for the next Elite, who had activated its energy sword.
Rolling beneath a swipe from the alien, the Master Chief swung his other energy sword at the Elite's unprotected side. His attention turned to the three remaining Elites. Two of them with plasma rifles fired upon the Master Chief, his shield taking the hits. The other Elite with the sword stayed back, waiting to strike when the time was critical.
The Spartan heaved one of his plasma swords up and threw it with full force at an Elite. The weapon hit the alien square in the chest, purple gore pouring out of the wound. The Master Chief didn't stop there; quickly picking up a plasma grenade from one of the dead Elites, he tossed it at another. The glowing blue explosive device stuck onto the alien's chest, and blew up after the warrior yelled in anger. This now left the Master Chief with the remaining Elite.
The Elite fired his plasma rifle at the approaching human soldier, only to find the shots being absorbed by the Spartan's shield. The Master Chief swung his weapon, and the Elite yelled its final cry before it was split into two halves.
Looking back at the bodies and purple gore, the Master Chief felt relief that it has ended. Switching off his energy sword and tossing it to the ground, the Spartan looked behind him, noticing that part of the 'room' was opening up. It was leading into an endless dark abyss, something the Master Chief did not want to enter. But somehow it was as if it was calling out to him, wanting him to enter. Looking around at the other corners of the white space, the Master Chief sighed and moved into the dark abyss. Was this all a Covenant trap? Was it a dream? He could not be sure, but somehow he knew this was where he needed to go. As he walked farther in his vision rapidly went white, and then everything was gone.
A simple resistance fighter named Ben Geller was in hell. His teammates who were just previously standing right next to him were blown to bloody bits when plasma from a Wraith hit square on their position. Also next to him was a soldier in his young teens who was hit directly in his face by a plasma bolt. All along the line of a hastily constructed concrete cover and gun emplacements, many soldiers of the human resistance were being mowed down by the Covenant. The commander said this mission "will be cake." Sadly, he was killed just a few moments ago, thus leaving the rest of the soldiers in utter chaos. The mission was supposed to liberate this street from Covenant occupation, but then a leak from somebody inside the resistance ended up with the Covenant fortifying that street with armor and plenty of soldiers
Ben fired his submachine gun at the advancing Covenant lines, but wasn't able to score a hit. His weapon's recoil and inaccuracy at this range made it useless to fire now. He winced as a plasma bolt hit close to him, the small energy fallout fazing the side of his face. He was now sure that this mission was completely FUBAR.
"Ah! Screw this!" Ben yelled as he got up and ran like hell away from the frontlines.
As he ran, plasma zipped by his body, narrowly scraping his makeshift combat armor. His Battle Rifle shook on his back a bit as he ran. He had been meaning to get rid of the rifle and get something else, such as a shotgun or even another SMG, but he wasn't able to find any others.
The long concrete line was hastily constructed when they got onto the street; just as they planned. It was meant to protect the soldiers, but now a Wraith showed up and was now bombing the crap out of them. Its long arcing flights of plasma allowed them to easily hit the positions. Ben ran past debris and concrete, zigzagging to avoid being targeted. The other soldiers were still in the fight; Ben wasn't.
Suddenly, something blew up to the left of Ben; plasma from the tank. He was thrown in the opposite direction and then landed face down next to a building. Ben tried to move, but he stopped as pain shot up his leg. His leg must be broken. He tried again, and was able to flip himself over onto his back. He then saw an Elite standing in front of him. Naturally, the Elite was pretty pissed off; purple blood was bleeding from his wounds, its left arm was bent at a rather awkward angle, and his angry eyes were enough to make any soldier surrender. Ben raised his SMG, which he still held onto when he was thrown into the air.
His SMG clicked empty.
That sound echoed throughout Ben's mind and head. His SMG was empty, and the Elite was ready to fire. Ben closed his eyes, and hope he would die a quick and painless death. However, something didn't want him to die.
Ben heard several shots and saw the Elite's shield flicker and die. Then a trio of rounds passed through its head, which exploded in a cloud of purple blood. He looked behind him, and was he saw was unbelievable. It was a Spartan.
The Spartan fired his Battle Rifle at the advancing Covenant lines, all of his shots scoring hits on Grunts and Jackals. As he fired, the other soldiers were running away; their lines were broken. Several Grunts fell to the Spartan's fire, before his weapon was empty. Instead of reloading, the Spartan got down and picked up Ben as if the soldier did not weigh anything, and then retreated into a building.
Inside the room was unfurnished. There were no windows, and there was a small corner close to the door. The Spartan set Ben down and reloaded Ben's SMG with frighteningly fast and fluid speed.
"Protect the entrance. Kill any Covenant who walks through the door."
All Ben was able to do was stare in disbelief as the Spartan took his Battle Rifle ammunition and ran to the far door at the other side of the room. If Ben's memory served him right, the door lead to a set of stairs that allowed access to an enclosed balcony. With the Spartan's scoped Battle Rifle, that spot was excellent for sniping. Unfortunately, nobody in the resistance was able to figure that out.
Suddenly, Ben heard some high pitched yelling and barking. Two Grunts walked into the room. He fired his SMG, the 5mm caseless shells hitting the two targets, completely overwhelming them. The wall was now washed with blue blood. Ben heard more barking and shrieking. They were still coming.
The Master Chief got up the stairs and onto the balcony. Slapping in a fresh magazine for his Battle Rifle and putting the extra ammunition he got from the wounded soldier into the pouches on his belt, he looked through his scope at the Covenant positions. Stationary guns and shields were places all along the concrete line. They were immune to fire from street level, but from up here, they were like sitting ducks. He fired several bursts, hitting the Grunts on the turrets and an Elite hiding behind a shield.
Moving behind a wall, the Master Chief reloaded. He had eight magazines left, plus a plasma pistol, a plasma grenade and two fragmentation grenades. Popping out from his cover, he continued raining bullets down on the Covenant positions. As he did, his mind wondered what was going on. It wasn't the battle, but it was how both sides fought. The Covenant seemed lazier. When he picked up his plasma pistol, the patrolling Grunts did not seem to notice one of their comrades was missing. The Elites practically stood in plain sight, as if not imagining they'd be fired upon from a higher elevation. Was the war starting to get to them? Hopefully it was, since they were now far easier targets. As for the marines, he wasn't too sure either.
The marines, if he could even call them that, were ill-equipped. All of them had improvised combat armor, and most carried weapons that had possibly never been cared for; his Battle Rifle he picked off of a dead soldier was scarred and dented, and the scope's zero was off. Above all, the soldiers were fighting a battle against vehicles, and they did not even have any vehicles themselves. They didn't even have a rocket launcher, let alone any explosive ordinance.
He moved back into cover as a Covenant Spectre moved down the street, its turret firing on the Spartan's hiding spot. The concrete cover melted as the plasma bolts struck. The Chief readied his plasma grenade. He popped out of cover and threw the glowing blue ball at the exposed side seat. It landed and stuck to an unlucky Grunt. The explosion also killed diver, leaving the Shadow immobilized and the Elite at the gunner position confused. The Master Chief fired at the gunner, killing the Elite and leaving the Shadow as a roadblock. Unless it was moved, which was difficult at this point, the Wraith mortar tanks wouldn't be able to get through. Unfortunately, the tank was able to fire on the balcony, which was what it did.
The Master Chief got out of there. By the time he reached the bottom of the stairs, the upper floor along with the balcony was blown away by the plasma. Dust fell all over the Spartan's armor, and debris rolled around. Walking through the door, the Master Chief noticed that there were now about ten soldiers there. Three of them, including the wounded soldier the Master Chief picked up earlier, were guarding the door. Everybody else was either wounded or tending to the wounded.
"Who's in charge here?"
A soldier looked back at him and saluted.
"From the looks of it, I am. Fredrick Elias."
"Do you have any form of communications, like a radio?" The Master Chief asked. "We need to call for reinforcements, or evac, now."
Elias looked down at the floor and scratched the back of his head. He wasn't wearing a helmet, thus fully revealing his long dark oily hair. His hair was longer than the regulations permitted. His uniform had no rank or insignia.
"Uh, sir, do you know what day it is?"
The Master Chief looked at the soldier, wondering why he would ask the question. He thought about it, and managed to pick up the year, 2553. He was about to respond when a wounded soldier suddenly spoke out.
"Its thirty-five years since you ran away you bastard!"
Ran away? Thirty five years? The words echoed through his head. He had just woken up an hour ago, in a completely different place then where he last was, and now it was thirty-five years later? Elias whispered something back at the wounded soldier and then resumed talking.
"Sorry about that man, but a lot has happened since your…disappearance. I'd want to tell you, but we're holed up in here. Geller and Haughton are providing some of the defense, but it's not enough. We're gonna have to fight our way out."
"Are you THAT stupid! We've got too many damn wounded to move!" another soldier yelled back.
"Well what other choice to we have! If you have a better suggestion, I'd like to hear it!" Elias argued back.
Before the Master Chief could say anything, everybody in the room broke out into argument. From the wounded to the defending soldiers, everybody was yelling about something. The Chief then realized that he needed to take action.
"Quiet down soldiers! The more noise you make, the easier the Covenant will hear us."
"Well, you know what? Kiss my normal, unarmored ass!" the same wounded soldier responded back. "If it weren't for you running away, I would have STILL had a family to return to, instead of being here with half my arm burnt off!"
"Shut up! It wasn't his fault!" Elias yelled.
"Oh, so you LIKE the freak now, do you! Bet he likes you back!"
Everybody went back into argument. The Spartan couldn't believe this. Soldiers weren't supposed to argue with each other. Perhaps the war was having far reaching consequences on the soldiers. Suddenly, something came through the door: a single Grunt. Everybody was too busy arguing to notice it. Fortunately, the Master Chief wasn't. He raised his weapon and shot the Grunt in the head, blue blood washing against the floor. Everybody went silent.
"Listen. We need to get out of here. Do we have any methods of transporting the wounded?"
In the corner, a medic spoke up.
"Yes sir. We have enough stretchers for the critically wounded. The others aren't as wounded, so they can be carried by hand."
Inside his helmet, the Master Chief sighed. This might just work.
"The resistance must have some sort of base nearby, right?"
Elias nodded.
"Not really a base, but an entrance into a series of tunnels that run beneath the city. The Covies don't care about them, so we use them to get from place to place. There's one practically next door, but the Covies have fortified the street. We ain't gonna be able to get to it with them all around."
The Master Chief thought about that. Then an answer came.
"This is how it is going to work. Medics: get the stretchers and load the critically wounded onto them. Anybody else who isn't wounded, help carry them. Those still able to hold a gun, you'll cover them. Elias, where is the entrance?"
Elias moved to the door, and pointed at another door just across the street.
"Inside there is a basement with a trap door that leads to another basement. In that basement is the entrance. However, on both sides of the street are lots of Covie positions. They ain't budgin', so we ain't moving."
"This is where I come in," the Master Chief said. "I'll draw them off the street and away from here. Once I'm done, you will be able to get across."
Elias stared into the Spartan's reflective visor.
"Hey, that crazy! It's practically suicide!"
"Heh, he'll die, right?" a soldier said.
"Just do it" the Spartan responded.
Before the Master Chief walked out, he looked back at Elias.
"Do you know what happened to the other Spartans?"
Elias face looked grave as he replied.
"They were killed sir, all of them. They were defending the last UNSC positions. I'm sorry man."
The Master Chief said nothing as he loaded his Battle Rifle and checked his Plasma Pistol; 52 percent charge. Good enough. Walking close to the door, he asked anybody for their sidearm. Luckily, a soldier had his pistol. The Master Chief connected a wire to the weapon and using the sidearm, peered outside. He couldn't help but think about his comrades. They had narrowly made it off of Reach and back to Earth. Now, they were all dead. Joshua, Kelly… They were all gone.
The Spartan shrugged and quietly continued his work. The Covenant had the street pinned down; two turrets at each corner, along with a lot of Grunts and a couple of Jackals. He watched their movements carefully. He concluded they were tired, thus making them not as much combat effective. He returned the sidearm and prepared a grenade.
"As soon as the Covenant presence is clear from this street, make a break for it. Don't forget to watch and make sure they're gone."
The soldiers nodded. Many were nervous, but confident enough to trust him. What other choice did they have?
Holding a frag grenade in each hand, the Spartan walked out and threw one to one end and the other to the opposite, then move back in. A few seconds later, two explosions came, along with several screams. The Master Chief popped back out with his Battle Rifle. He quickly gunned down two Grunts and a Jackal. Turning to the other end, he fired at the Jackals who were still alive. While was out there, he spotted a Spectre at one end, and the Wraith at the other. Due to the wreckage of the Spectre he destroyed earlier, the Wraith couldn't move, but was still able to fire clearly.
He went farther out into the middle of the street. He was lucky the Covenant did not place any snipers at high vantage points. He dashed for the position of the Spectre, firing several bursts from his Battle Rifle. When he got up to its position, he fired at the Spectre, the bullets bouncing harmlessly off its armored body. The Spartan quickly got back behind cover when plasma bolts were being fired. That caught the attention of the Wraith's pilot, who then decided to fire. The ball of plasma sailed through the air, finally landing and hitting the Spectre, clearing that end of the street of opposition.
While that was happening, the Master Chief ran back down to the other end, firing at the Grunts who had just appeared. His aim was true; the Grunts fell to his fire and another from the butt of his rifle. Picking up their plasma grenades he quickly armed and threw them at the Wraith, each on sticking and exploding near the pilot's cockpit.
Suddenly, he heard humming down at the other end; two Ghosts had just appeared. They fired at him and the Master Chief's shield flickered. Picking up another grenade, he threw it at one Ghost, smiling as it stuck onto the pilot. The explosion destroyed the Ghost, and sent the other into a wall. Quickly gunning down the pilot, the Spartan fired back at the now growing crowd of Grunts and Elites. They were running down the street, firing their plasma weapons at the Spartan.
The Master Chief back away and ran for the damaged Wraith. The Elite who was piloting it was crawling out of the cockpit. The Master Chief fired on him and then got into the Wraith. He wasn't familiar with the controls, but they looked easy enough to use. He backed away from the street corner and lowered the mortar. The targeting now indicated that the ball of plasma will hit somewhere near the corner. The Covenant poured out, slightly confused on where the human had disappeared off to. By the time they noticed the Wraith, it was too late. The tank had fired, and the whole ground was covered by purple gore.
Suddenly the Master Chief noticed a Phantom dropship fly overhead, firing its weapons at the tank. Warning symbols popped up on the tanks tactical display; it was time to get out of there. The Master Chief got out, and reloaded his Battle Rifle. In the distance, he heard gunfire. The soldiers must be moving now. He went down to the corner and watched. The soldiers had made it. They were now inside the other building, just steps away from safety. He'll be heading there as soon as he is finished.
Down at one end, he noticed the Phantom lift off the ground and fly away. Suddenly jumping into his view was a Brute. The huge, apelike creature growled its war cry as it caught sight of the human. Four others showed up, each of them jumping onto the damaged Wraith. The Spartan backed away. The Brutes jumped off the vehicle and aimed their weapons at the human. Some of them pulled out the grenades they carried on their belts. Raising his weapon, the Master Chief aimed for the lead Brute.
The war might have already been won and humanity defeated, but the Master Chief was still here, and he sure isn't going to give in without a fight.