These past days have been a blur.

As we wait for confirmation on Chief's imminent arrival, me and Eido have been conducting private investigations on our situation.

In the end, Xur visited me yet again. It was the Starhorse. It brought us here for his own entertainment.

It was Savathun at first in my case. But instead of leading me back, it observed my interactions with the people of this universe and suddenly decided to throw in another variable.

If entities so powerful can nullify our efforts…

What the hell are we even fighting for?


It was all quiet.

Perhaps too much quiet.

"Clear!" He dusted some dirt off his armour. Unlike the UNSC marines, he was thankfully spared from the torture of insects buzzing in his ears or eyes. He looked up in the sky, remembering the satellite's image and perhaps expecting to witness the fireball flying again, as if it was a shooting star.

He lowered his gaze on the impact site. The unmoving armour was quite unnerving to see, especially when he knew just who was inside it. He allowed the corpsman to march ahead of him along with Johnson and the rest of the soldiers. Said corpsman kneeled and started a checkup.

"Hey, Guardian? Remind me why your alien friend ain't here yet?"

Jake interrupted his stare to glance from the corner of his eyes at the Sergeant. "Mithrax went scouting with some of his men, remember? Thankfully they have enough Servitors and resources to produce ether or else we would be having starving Eliksni back at the base."

Johnson puffed out smoke and hummed, stuffing the cigar back in his mouth.

"This ain't good." Remarked one of the marines.

"Damn, how far did he fall?" Replied another.

Johnson snorted. "Stay sharp! And quit your bitching." He nudged his head at Chief to Jake. "Guardian, mind calling out Ghost and helping this corpsman with his scan? We need to move fast."

The Titan crouched beside the young man. He visibily flinched at the proximity but calmed down as he remembered this giant was their ally. Jake opened his palm and Ghost chirped a greeting to the corpsman before settling to help him.

"Well?" Johnson pressed.

"His armor's locked up. Gel layer could have taken most of the impact…" He pressed a button and most of the frozen limbs fell on the ground, some dust flew here and there. …"I don't know, Sergeant Major."

"Ghost?"

"I'm afraid the corpsman is right, Sergeant. I can't detect life signs if his armour prevents me from scanning his faculties. Unless it's powered on and ready for duty, we can't be sure." His eye lowered, Jake rubbed affectionately rubbed his shell and called him back through his hand. Ghost sent Chief one last look before disappearing.

Johnson posed a hand on Chief's chest. He was directly staring at his eyes beneath the helmet, even if he couldn't properly see them. Jake raised from his position and sighed, marching away and planning to pay his respects later.

"Yeah, you're not."

He stopped and peeked behind his left shoulder.

"Heh, crazy fool! Why do you always jump? One of these days, you're gonna land on somethin' as stubborn as you are! And I don't do bits and pieces!" Johnson slapped Chief on the shoulder for emphasis.

Chief took the chip back from Johnson.

"Where is she, Chief? Where is Cortana?"

There was something in Chief's stance. It reminded him of his internal emotional clusterfuck when Cayde died. First grief, then emptiness… then determination.

"She stayed behind."

He waited for the Corporal to finish the checkup. When it was over, he marched straight to the Spartan.

They stared at each other, some of the marines whispered to each other about how they were probably telepathically communicating. In the end, Jake offered a, almost, imperceptible nod which was reciprocated.

Chief nudged his helmet to look behind the Guardian, he suddenly snatched a magnum from a marine and pushed him aside. The Spartan planted the muzzle directly under the Arbiter's chin. "Chief, wait!" Jake moved as Johnson talked, separating the human and Sangheili. "The Arbiter's with us!"

Chief lowered his magnum.

"Come on now!" The Sergeant sounded like a mother scolding two children. "We've got enough to worry about without you two trying to kill each other."

Thel 'Vadam (Jake recalled how he decided to change his last name to better suit the exit of the Sangheili from the Covenant) snorted. "Were it so easy."

Multiple footsteps. Mithrax had returned with his patrol of two vandals.

He whirled around and tightly gripped Master Chief's hand as it raised. "Don't even think about it." He spat and brought their visors together, not caring at all about the small difference of height. Chief slowly raised the palm of his other hand in order to pacify the Guardian. He let him go soon after.

"Mithrax? Any Brutes in sight?"

"They're close, very close."

"We must move then…" Thel proclaimed and stationed himself near the Eliksni. "…they surely have our scent."

"Then they must love the smell of bad ass!" Johnson retrieved an assault rifle for Chief to snatch.

"Sorry for that." The Guardian muttered as they all started marching away. "That's Mithrax. He's an 'Eliksni' from my universe. You could say he's our own Arbiter, we've been building up an alliance in the last months with his species. A tedious step, although necessary to resolve a crisis back in the City."

"Copy that." Honestly he expected the Chief to leave the conversation at that, but he wasn't over yet. "Much has changed since we've met the Gravemind, right? Mind giving me a SITREP?"

For one moment, he thought why Chief didn't just order him to report. But then he remembered Admiral Hood giving him the same authority and clearance while not assigning him a proper rank. "Battles here were fought hard. A Ketch with Mithrax was transported in your universe by an anomaly known as the 'Starhorse'." They jumped over a log, Chief sent him a glance. He shrugged. "We've managed to convince Hood they aren't a threat and that they can be allies. Miranda has offered to house half of the hundred Eliksni civilians while the Captain is busy repairing the dents in it and the food supply generator. He couldn't with all the space covered."

"So you trust him?" Chief nudged his helmet at the Eliksni. Who was talking with the Arbiter.

"Like you trust Cortana."

That comment shut him up completely.

"Sergeant Major!" A marine hissed. "Phantom inbound."

"Get down!" Jake barked.

They crouched and the vehicle flew above their heads. It didn't spot them.

"We stick together, we're gonna get spotted. We'll split up, and meet back at the LZ. Chief, Guardian? Go with the Arbiter and Mithrax, head towards the river. 2nd squad! You're with me."

Thel 'Vadam and Mithrax led 1st squad up on some rocks around a pile of fallen logs, a few barks alerted the humans and aliens alike. They quickly spread out and took cover, Jake chose to stay with Chief behind a giant rock.

"Spread out, you whelps!" A Brute snarled. "Find them!"

"Up ahead! Single Brute, plus backup!" Was whispered on the comms. "He's got a modified version of their power armours too."

"Mithrax? You take the lead, see if your rifle can pierce through the armour. Aim for the helmet. We'll jump in then."

"I understand."

The Kell crouched and peeked from his tree. He whipped his scope up and held his breath.

BANG!

The Brute's helmet was a long forgotten memory. He roared but was immediately shut up by Jake and Chief's united firepower. The Guardian still used his trusty Fatebringer and Found Verdict as backup shotgun. Thel rushed out of the cover with his carbine and headshotted two grunts.

The last remaining two were cut down by the marines and vandals.

"Missed how deadly we are together, Chief."

"Acknowledged."

The path was broken by a waterfall. A Phantom suddenly raised with a grunt wrapped around a plasma turret.

"Spread out!"

They rolled out of the way as the grass beneath their feet burned by the heavy temperature.

Another Brute and a squad of grunts were released, Jake noticed by the corner of his eyes another far Phantom doing the same. He channeled arc energy in his palm and sent a pulse grenade to impact on the ground near the Brute. The pulses, other than destroying the armour, dazed the mammal, giving the 1st squad time to eliminate the little pests first.

He got out of cover and pumped Found Verdict in the leader's face.

The Titan quickly summoned a barricade and motioned for the others to advance.

He was quite surprised to witness the last grunt throwing a special device on the ground and creating a yellowish bubble shield similar to his Ward of Dawn. The shield was less spherical and taller. Still, he considered it a knockoff version.

"Ha!" The grunt pointed a finger at them. "You can't harm me anymore! I'm invincible! Kneel before your new Lord!"

They all exchanged glances. "Can I take care of him?"

No one protested.

He sprinted towards the grunt, who uttered a 'What?'. Once inside the bubble, he shoulder-charged the small alien, sending him into oblivion, his body atomized.

"If only we could fight grunts instead of Hive or Vex. I can just picture their cute and pathetic attempts at harming Guardians. They're bold, I'll give them that."

Thel shook his head. "The Grunts' new found courage is but fear. When we are victorious, all who serve the Prophets will be punished."

"Sometimes punishing isn't the correct way of resolving issues." The Sangheili turned to Mithrax. "You will just fuel their inner desires of revenge and more blood shall be spilled. Treaties and pacts are the only way to peace."

"Talking from experience, uh?" A marine commented.

The Kell seemed hesitant. "You could say so. Although the humiliation Germany received in World War 1 by France only proves my point." That actually made the humans wince. Even Chief stopped walking to stare at the Eliksni. "Oh yes, I tend to expand my knowledge of species through history too."

"Ouch, what was the expression humans used in 21th century? He's 'Swag'!"

Jake grinned. Way to go, Mithrax.

They crept inside cave like structures, red flares adorning the grass and letting them see in the looming darkness. There was a massive forested expanse, a marine hissed through his teeth about hating these 'Grunt camps'.

"Sleepers! Take 'em out, nice and quiet!" The soldier paused. "Jackals, on the ridge! Stay low, looks like they've got Carbines."

Mithrax, Thel, Jake and Chief took the lead. They snapped the necks of five sleeping Grunts, the Titan crawled towards the small river to the other side when a bullet struck a centimeter from his foot. The jackal snapped his jaws in frustration and aimed again. "Shot fired! Shot fired! They've spotted us!"

"I hate it when I'm right!"

A Brute grenade implanted itself on the ground near a group of three marines. It exploded and they were sent flying away, they crashed on the ground. They were dead even before the impact.

The Guardian exploited the opportunity of the group of Covenant distracted by his allies to circle the perimeter. Three shots of Fatebringer eliminated a Brute, the only Brute to lead this platoon, and another killed the jackal sniper. He grabbed a grunt and used it as shield against the upcoming plasma bolts, he threw the now dead body against the little aliens and they fell on the grass.

BANG! BANG!

He looked around, Chief, Thel and Mithrax had their fair shares of kills. In the end they were a perfect machine; he and Chief tended to jump right into the fight, bodying the danger; Thel preferred a stealthier approach but chose close quarter encounters regardless; and Mithrax stayed in the back with his arc rifle, taking out enemies from the distance.

"Pelicans are en route, Chief, but I can't reach Bravo. If you find 'em, get 'em to the extraction point."

"Understood."

They turned left. A Brute Captain held a Sergeant by the throat above a log. "Tell me its location!"

The Sergeant spat blood in the mammal's face. "Kiss… my… ass!"

Before the Captain could rip his spine, he and Chief opened and concentrated their fire on him. The Sergeant immediately broke free of the grasp and took cover; the same couldn't be said for the Brute as he was ventilated with bullets, tearing his armour apart. He weakly breathed before falling on his back. He hit the ground with a loud noise.

The grunts on the patrol were easy to eradicate.

While everyone scavenged for resources, he approached the Sergeant and looked at his name. "Reynolds? Are you okay?"

"Y-Yes, sir. Brute Chieftain. Phantom. Pinned us down… killed my men."

"We're gonna get to the extraction point, Sergeant. Hang in tight."

Thel 'Vadam seemed to recognize the cave they were in. "The river, hurry!" His speed increased, Mithrax and his vandals were the only ones capable of matching it.

They jumped down another section of the cave.

Chief suddenly stopped, Ghost sent him some data regardings his vitals. "Chief? You okay? Your vitals just went crazy."

The Spartan watched him for a few moments. "I'm fine. The river is near. Let's get out of here."

He clearly was hiding something. His tone matched that of someone not wanting to talk. The Guardian himself went through this type of stage countless times. He let it be, maybe the Spartan would eventually open up by himself.

The group heard the unmistakable sound of Pelicans' engines. They knew they had arrived.

Master Chief searched for ammunition and grenades among the three dead corpses of marines scattered around the battlefield.

"Pelicans are at the river. We've got company, so hustle up!"

"Grenades!" Yelled the Arbiter as they rounded the corner. "Blow them to bits!"

Chief had exchanged his magnum for the battle rifle and reloaded his assault one.

They opened fire from the strategic position up the hill they were on. They specifically targetted the more dangerous Covenant troops engaged in a fight against the Pelicans, which had miniguns out from their cargo bay. Johnson was maneuvering one of the beasts, cigar around his mouth and flashes and shells of ammunition dropping on the ground. A smirk on his lips.

"Hold on. Got a contact." A pilot said.

The familiar sounds of Banshees' engines were like thunder in the night. They pierced down their spirits. Because they knew how dangerous they could be.

"BANSHEES! FAST AND LOW!"

"Break off, NOW!"

An explosion. The two Pelicans' wingmen collided against each other.

"Watch yourself!"

"I'm hit! Can't control her!"

"Lost a thruster, hang on!"

"Get a hold of her." Johnson groaned.

"Negative, we're going down!"

One of the Pelicans crashed down the river, likely drowning its occupants. The other with Johnson in it attempted a futile attempt at controlling the systems. It crashed out of sight, maybe there could be survivors if they hit solid ground.

They cleared the hydroponic implant and proceeded down the road in the forest. "The Banshees will return. Hurry, back into the jungle!"

"Chief, Jake?" Static. "Can you hear me? My bird is down. Half a klick." Static again. "…downriver from your position."

Mithrax inhaled. "He has not much time left. We must reach Echo-51's location before the Brutes overrun them."

"We shall, my friend." Thel nodded. "We shall."

Movement above their heads caught his attention. He snapped Fatebringer up and the jackal stationed on the tree screamed. "Jackals on the trees! Watch out for tangos hanging above your heads!"

Chief's Battle Rifle and Mithrax's arc cannon proved to be the far more effective weapons against Covenant that far.

"Come on, you dumb apes! You want breakfast? You gotta catch it!"

The next few minutes followed each other like a blur with the group encountering another Captain and his platoon. A group of grunts tried to follow some retreating marines up a bridge, he and Chief cut them down, painting the ground with their disgusting purple blood. The Arbiter and the Kell combined their efforts in taking out the jackal snipers. Thel snatched a beam rifle from a dead jackal and discarded his less charged carbine.

The marines following them revealed themselves to be too hot-headed. Their bodies were ventilated with plasma energy. Some luckily died immediately, while others had their abdomens opened, organs and blood flowing out. Only the vandal Eliksni had the smart idea of staying in the back and providing minimal, but still useful, support through suppressing fire.

The four individuals approached the broken Pelican. A few marines survived and hid beneath the rubble, caches of ammunition and grenades were scattered around, along with more dead bodies. A transmission continued to echo in the silence.

"Echo Five-One, this is Crow's Nest. Echo Five-One, please, respond!" A curse. "Hocus, Five-One is down. Divert for emergency evac over."

"Again, the Brutes show their weakness."

Mithrax sighed. "We'll avenge this massacre. The Brutes were given a chance to see through the lies of the Prophets and they chose violence over cooperation. We must learn from their mistakes. From the past."

The bridge was populated with another Captain and seven grunts armed with needle firearms.

Chief and the Arbiter launched multiple grenades, human and alien alike. They stunned the Brute and destroyed his armour, allowing Jake and Mithrax to gun him down. Chief took the liberty of finishing off the littles pests, a burst of the Battle Rifle for each alien had been enough.

At the end of the caves, the six remaining individuals reached a low cliff from where they could observe the Brutes' operations in a taken dam.

Thel pointed a finger at a Brute pushing Johnson inside a room. "See how they bait their trap? I will help you spring it." The Sergeant stumbled on the ground inside.

The Titan jumped down the cliff and took cover behind an abandoned truck. The bridge above the water leading to the mini-prison was heavily guarded. If his companions were currently busy eliminating the snipers and aliens on advantaged positions, then he could, in the meanwhile, clear the path going forward.

He double jumped in the air and activated Fist on Havoc on two Brutes.

Jake rushed towards the other aliens and punched them one by one, their dying squeals and roars snuffed out by the Light. Before the super could finish, he jumped and crashed one last time on the ground, the earthquake enveloped multiple grunts and Brutes at once.

Mithrax's body languaged spoke of satisfaction. "The Light flourishes within you, Guardian. The Great Machine must consider you a great resource if it follows you through universes."

"I envy you, Guardian." He was surprised at the Arbiter's words. "Our Gods only acted and bestowed victory upon our conquests in special and few occasions. Yet, the 'Traveler' directly influences the outcome of the battle in your favour."

You have no idea.

He and Mithrax guarded the entrance to the prison while Chief approached the imprisioned Sergeant who chuckled. "This isn't as fun as it looks. Cut the power!" The Spartan quickly shut the alien device, it fell on the floor and emitted a few cracks of electricity. "We're even, as long as we're only counting today. Kilo 023, what's your ETA?"

Chief helped the other marines up. "Brutes were gonna gut us, sir."

"Grab any weapons you can find."

"Imminent, Sergeant. Find some cover. Gotta clear a path!"

"Roger that, Hocus. Friendly gunship, coming in hot!"

They retreated to the left side, behind concrete and hard to destroy columns of the dam. Jake and the others settled to cut down the newly deployed grunts, some started running away like frightened chickens much to the amusement of the entire squad and the rage of the Brutes.

"Shit!" Johnson spat. "Hocus! Phantoms! Two of 'em!"

"I see 'em! Standby. Going loud, everyone down!"

Hocus unleashed an entire squadron of missiles upon the first alien vehicle. It exploded in a bright blue light, the debries crashed everywhere, a few of them killing Brutes, grunts and jackals. It did them a favour.

"Scratch one Phantom!"

Hocus fires two more missiles barrages at the second Phantom, sending it crash in the river.

The Pelican hovered around and opened the hatch. Jake, Mithrax, Thel, Chief, the two vandals and the surviving marines all boarded. Luckily the space wasn't too tight and everyone had their own portion to freely move in.

Jake felt a pressure. Johnson patted his and Chief's shoulders with a smirk. "Good work out there, boys." He retreated inside the cockpit, but not before speaking one last time.

"Time to return to the Crow's Nest."


Author's note:

Just felt like kicking Halo 3's first mission as soon as possible.

Next chapter won't immediately follow canon, I wanna experiment with something. As well as placing more questions inside your heads.

Until next time!

Gino out!