Author's note 1:
TheLandMaster: To be honest I always wear the Europa set, so canonically in this story the Titan wears that.
Edboy4926: No, simply because the two games are not in the same universe and neither in this crossover :/
Ksgrip: I embraced the meme. Saint says and I quote (more or less) to Mithrax: "You make me feel dumb."
And I don't think Shaxx really does anything else than shouting or punching stuff.
Just two examples.
The meme is more or less canon here.
Guest: Titan race or Titan class, to me are the same thing.
Rook435: Young Wolf was main character even in Shattered Dimensions lol
Oh, you'll see for Halo 2. He needs to be charismatic. VERY charismatic.
YoungHellsta: I try to improve each time.
Enjoy!
Another Taken portal opened. And from there came the spinning ship of Jake and his Ghost.
"Grrrrr!" The Titan clutched the console to prevent a possible eject from his seat. He quickly tried to stabilize the high speed of his vehicle, but the force of which they were thrown out blocked each attempt.
That is until Ghost took the task upon himself and gained direct control.
Diverting energy to the engines, he pushed the thrusters to go back and soon enough the speed lowered.
Jake gasped and coughed, slumping in his seat.
"That… almost killed me."
"I would have revived you anyway, but I decided against it." Ghost chirped from his right.
He narrowed his eyebrow at the lightbulb before shaking his head. "Set a route for Earth, those damn Taken portals must have changed our location. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a prank from Savathun…" He paused and then breathed. "…damn bitch."
When the navigator didn't pop up, he glanced at Ghost and noticed him wide eyed. "Are you alright?"
…
"Maybe you should look ahead, Guardian."
He followed his companion's stare. "What the fuck?"
The closest geometrical shape would be a circle, though the fundamentals and appearance made Jake think about a ring.
The center was of course empty, but he could see something strange: the outside was of metal while the other side looked like the surface of a planet, with green ground and water.
Though he didn't know if it could sustain life at all…
"Scan that thing…" He finally said. "…see if you have anything in our records and check the atmosphere for eventual life signs."
As Ghost did that, Jake quickly snatched the notebook from the ground and started writing.
That Taken portal clearly spit us out in the middle of space.
But now me and Ghost have a giant ring in front of us, unbelievable.
Who made it? Was it the Cabal? The Vex? Or the Hive like they did with the Dreadnaught?
I guess we should plant a beacon and make sure to remember the coordinates in case the Vanguard wants my fireteam to investigate it.
Especially if it can sustain life…
He closed the page with the pen in it, before transmatting everything away.
"Ghost?"
The child of the Traveler beeped. "The readings show it is indeed habitable, but there are no records in our archives about an artifact as this. I'd dare to say it is as much known as the Traveler, meaning we have no informations of its origins or how it truly works."
"Paracausal energy?" He placed a finger on his helmet, as if tapping his lips.
"None detected, it is of civilization's making. We shouldn't encounter dead Guardians or Nightmares."
He pondered his options for a moment.
"Call Commander Zavala, we will report this to him…" The Titan suddenly raised a finger. "…and send a message to Mithrax too, maybe he'll know what the hell that thing is."
He checked the ship's status and made sure that every system would properly work.
"There is no channel…"
Jake stopped his task and turned to stare at Ghost. "What?"
"I said… that there is no channel. I can't contact Zavala or the Vanguard itself, not even Mithrax is responding to my broadcast and-"
An icon flipped on the screen. "SLIP-SPACE RUPTURE DETECTED."
DRIUM!
"Holy shit…"
That, in front of them, had to be one of the biggest ships they'd ever seen.
An insigna with the name "Pillar of Autumn" painted on it.
It passed with a parallel trajectory near them, Jake made sure to not crash into it as he took a hold of the commands, still in wawe.
"Can't be of alien's making…" He mumbled. "Readings?"
"Scans show human life inside." His Ghost simply answered as he followed the giant ship's movements.
"The Tower hasn't worked on a secret project, have they?"
He was met with a shake of a frame. "We cannot afford building something like this, Jake! Not even the faction would produce something like this if united, they would be noticed."
"…"
For now, they didn't notice them or if they did they were weighting their options.
But the answer didn't wait to arrive…
"I detect a signal coming from the vessel, I'm fairly sure they're trying to contact us."
The Titan sighed. "Open up a channel."
The signal was very scrambled with interferences bouncing on and off, though he could make up a sentence through the transmission.
"…this is Captain Keyes of the Pillar of Autumn... yourself or you will be labelled as a threat and… down."
He clenched his fists and breathed deeply. He had to try.
"We heard you, Pillar of Autumn. This is Guardian Jake, class Titan, above Hawk seven-two-three of the Last City. Do not engage, I repeat do not engage."
Silence…
"Unknown vessel… say 'Last City'? What do you mean by th-"
SLIP-SPACE RUPTURE DETECTED.
It looked like the human ship wasn't the only one directed towards them…
Because apparently an entire fleet was behind them.
Jake's eyes widened and he quickly sprinted away.
If those unknown ships were looking for the Pillar of Autumn, he and Ghost would not get in the crossed fire.
"Cortana, all I need to know is did we lose them?" Captain Keyes' voice echoed through the control room as he overseed the operation of the two pilots, staring at the space surrounding them.
"I think we both know the answer to that."
Keyes sighed and tiredly rubbed his face with a hand, slowly feeling the exhaustion of the last few days. "We made a blind jump. How did they-"
"Get here first?" The AI interrupted. "The Covenant's ships have always been faster. As for tracking us all the way from Reach, at light-speed my maneuvering options were limited."
The Captain huffed and walked to a console, a few technicians saluted and he waved them off. "We were running dark, yes?"
"Until we decelerated. No one could have missed the hole we tore in sub-space. They were waiting for us on the far side of the planet." Cortana finished as she appeared.
Keyes approached her. "So, where do we sta-"
One of the technicians interrupted. "Sir! We detected a strange energy trace not too far from here and a new contact appeared on our radars."
Keyes straighted his spine. "Cortana?"
"Scanning… data shows the new contact is a ship."
"Then I believe we will bring back the ship to combat alert alpha and-"
"Sir, if may I…" The AI placed a fist on her hips, the Captain motioned for her to continue. "…the ship is not of Covenant design and it is so small only a handful of people could lead it, if not a single person. Though it is not from our formations of fighters."
A look of confusion washed upon Keyes' face. "Can we open up a channel?"
"No channel has received an answer yet. Whoever is piloting that small ship, either has lived under a rock or they truly don't know of our type of transmissions."
He hummed for a moment and crossed his arms. "We'll do it the old way. Trace the signal and open up a direct communication, it'll be scrambled but we can see if they're the enemy or not by ourselves."
Cortana nodded and went to work.
Keyes watched the contact on the monitor. "You're not Covenant but we're not sure if you're Human. What the hell are you?"
"Channel opened, sir. You are free to talk."
The Captain cleared his throat. "Unknown vessel, this is Captain Keyes of the Pillar of Autumn. Identify yourself or you will be labelled as a threat and taken down."
Silence followed, Keyes almost thought the pilot had no intentions to communicate.
"We heard you, Pillar of Autumn. This is Guardian Jake… Hawk seven-two-three of the Last City… I repeat do not engage."
Keyes raised an eyebrow. Guardian? Last City? What was this pilot talking about?
"Unknown vessel, did you say 'Last City'? What do you mean by th-"
"I've isolated approach signatures for multiple CCS-class battle groups!" Cortana cried, drawing Keyes' attention immediately to her. "Make it three capitol ships per group and they'll be over us in about 90 seconds!"
The connection was already severed by the time the Covenant ships appeared on the radars. "Bring the ship back to combat alert alpha…" He then smirked. "…and Cortana? Let's give our old friend a warm welcome."
"I've already begun."
Shaking off the dizziness, Master Chief finally opened his eyes.
He was in his capsule and was awakened. And judging by the way the two technicians, one in his room and one in the control room, checked his status he already knew this was urgent.
"Alright, vital signs look normal and no freezer burns. Sir, can you climb out of the cryo-tube?"
He did that and popped his sore muscles, wiggling his arms around.
"Looks good! Can you walk to the optical diagnostics station?"
Master Chief looked at the man. "Skip it." He simply said.
"Sir? Sir, we must follow the procedure to check your status and-"
He held up a gloved hand. "I'm sure Keyes needs me, so skip that and let's get to shield diagnostics."
The two men looked at each other for a moment before the one in the room shrugged. "If that's your order, sir. Follow me."
A communication from Cortana rang through the room about inbound Covenant boarding crafts and Chief knew he made the right choice.
He positioned himself in the right way and waited.
"Okay, bring his energy shields online please."
They charged.
"Alright, shields read as fully charged."
The technician in front of him nodded. "Okay, sir, bring them down to test the automatic recharge."
Chief pressed a button and tested the regeneration, they seemed to function normally.
"Bridge to Cryo 2, this is Captain Keyes. Send the Master Chief to the bridge immediately." Keyes' voice came from the speaker in the room, something told Chief that he needed to get a move on.
"Captain! We'll have to skip the weapons diagnostics too and I-"
"On the double, crewman."
"Aye, aye, sir!" He turned to Chief. "The Skipper seems as jumpy as you, we'd better get moving. We'll find you weapons later."
"Okay, I'll leave the self-diagnostics running, at least." Louds bangs came from the door inside the room, the guy in there took a few steps back. "Oh, god! They're trying to get through the door! Securi-"
BOOM!
He screamed as plasma shots hit his chest, and he fell on the floor.
"Sam! Sam! Christ, we've gotta get the hell out of here, come on!"
Chief stared at the Elite that shot Sam for a moment before following the technician out.
An explosion forced him to retreat and the other guy was blasted by it, there was no need to check a pulse. No one could have survived that.
Spriting for a door, he found himself in the crossed fire between two crewmen and two Elites. Thankfully the blast doors closed and his shield took the shots coming.
It wasn't until he rounded the corner that he found an Elite in front of his face, he roared in anger and started shooting. But Master Chief quickly dove down and kicked him across the chest.
"Sir, over here!" He heard as heavy fire forced the alien to quickly retreat.
Chief approached the soldier and nodded. "The Captain needs you on the bridge ASAP, follow me!"
One of the crewmen armed with a gun noticed something on the ground. "Grenade! Get to cover."
The Spartan quickly slid on the ground and snatched the grenade before throwing it back to the Covenant troops as the doors closed, separating the two groups.
He brushed off the various thanks and continued to follow the soldier to the bridge.
"Captain Keyes, sir." He greeted with a nod.
Keyes turned around and offered a handshake, which Chief accepted. "Good to see you, Master Chief. Unfortunately, things aren't going well and Cortana did her best. Though we never really had a chance."
Just then said AI appeared. "A dozen Covenant superior battle-ships against a single Halcyon-class cruiser? With those odds I'm content with three… make that four kills…" She turned to him. "Sleep well?"
"No thanks to your driving, yes."
"Mmm, so you did miss me, uh?"
Their interaction was interrupted by a heavy hit to the ship, the whole deck crumbled as Keyes clutched anything to stay up. "Report!"
"It must have been one of their boarding parties. I'd guess an anti-matter charge."
"Ma'am!" One of the pilots roared. "Fire control for the main cannon is offline!"
"Captain, the cannon was my last offensive option. We're out of maneuvers."
Keyes closed his eyes for a moment and then nodded. "Alright then, I'm initiating Cole Protcol, Article 2. We're abandoning the Autumn…" He pointed a finger at the AI. "…and that means you too Cortana."
She simulated a scoff. "While you do what? Go down with the ship?"
Keyes took a swing from his pipe. "In a matter of speaking…" He gestured to the console. "…the object we found, I'm going to try and land the Autumn on it."
Cortana shook her head. "With all due respect, sir. This war had enough dead heroes."
The Captain chuckled at the answer. "I appreciate your concern, Cortana, but it's not up to me. Protocol is clear: destruction or capture of a shipboard AI is absolutely unacceptable and that means you're leaving the ship."
He cleared his throat and went back to a more serious tone. "Lock in a selection of emergency landing zones, upload them to my neural-lace and then sort yourself for a hard transfer…" His expression turned to a glare. "…we're not risking like we did on Reach."
"Aye, aye, sir." Was the quietly answer.
"Which is where you come in, Chief. Get Cortana off this ship and keep her safe from the enemy. If they capture her, they'll learn everything: force deployment, weapons research…" He looked to the side. "…Earth."
"I understand."
"The Autumn will continue evasive maneuvers until you initiate a landing sequence. Not that you'll listen, but I'd suggest letting my sub-routines handle the final approach."
And as expected by Cortana, Keyes did not listen.
"Excellent work, Cortana. Thank you… are you ready?"
She placed a finger on her temple, looking around before nodding. "Yank me."
Cortana was stored in a chip and offered to Master Chief, who secured it in his helmet.
"Hmm, your architecture isn't much different from the Autumn's."
"Don't get any funny ideas."
Once Keyes made sure that Chief was lucid, he offered his magnum. "I don't keep much ammo into it, you'll have the find the rest as you go, son."
Reloading the magnum, he already heard the sounds of grunts outside the control room.
He waited for the them to arrive by placing himself near a wall and then quickly rolled out, shooting each of them. The bullets went through their heads and helmets, killing them instantly.
He already liked this…
Chief picked up an assault rifle from a dead marine, taking as much magazines as he could.
"Chief! Those marines could use a little bit of help, do what you do best."
He didn't need to be told twice.
The Spartan first took care of the grunts scattered around the room, supporting the soldiers with his fire. Each of the small bastards either was mowed by his bullets or tried to escape from the room but was caught.
That only left the Elite of the squad.
He rushed for cover as hot plasma burns impacted with his previous position, he looked to the side and found a grenade near his foot. He launched to the Elite and the explosion managed to knock down his shields.
He switched to the magnum and fired a single shot to his head. He went down like a bag of potatos…
"Well… that was a bit overkill, Chief."
"You said to do what I do best."
Fair enough.
10 minutes later…
"What the hell are those things, Ghost?" Jake made sure to avoid any unnecessary conflict with the unknown ships. They all seemed interested in the Pillar of Autumn, he was fairly sure that they didn't even consider his ping on their radars.
"I don't know, Guardian. No archive shows results on these types of vessels."
His prays were soon ignored as a contigent of small fighters picked upon his presence, plasma shots missed him by an inch.
"I'm going to try and land on the ring…" He declared.
"What? Just because it is habitable it doesn't mean it couldn't have defenses around it's orbit or a hidden mechanism Jake! You're going in blind."
He smirked behind his helmet as he saw various capsules launching from the Autumn, one in particular passed near him and managed to push through the atmosphere of the ring.
"You were saying?"
"Alright, alright!" Ghost angrily beeped. "I'll try to keep up our shields just in case."
From being spit from a Taken portal, to travelling through the crossfire between two unknown armies, to landing on a giant habitable ring because one of said armies decided he needed to be eliminated.
He so needed to write that down on his notebook…
Author's note 2:
Alright, if you feel that it's rushed towards the end I feel it too.
I just wanted to show how the novelization of the story and fights would look like.
Because next chapter we are FINALLY going to see how these two unstoppable soldiers would fight together and not AGAINST one another.
I changed a few things in the dialogues I didn't like to make it more… "realistic".
Until next time!
Gino out!
