Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to my remastered Halo - MechWarrior/BattleTech crossover. Thank you for your continued support and feedback. I really appreciate it. A reviewer also noted a minor mistake that I made, one that I will be rewriting in the near future, so thumbs up to that reviewer.

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Disclaimer: I do not own the Halo or MechWarrior/BattleTech franchises. They are the respective properties and trademarks of Microsoft Game Studios, 343 Industries, Bungie, FASA Corporation, FASA Interactive, Catalyst Game Labs, Piranha Games Inc, etc. Any material original to the franchises belongs to their respective developers and publishers. Any material not original to the franchises is of my own invention. I do not own any music listed in each chapter. Any music listed belongs to it's original composers and/or artists.

UNSC/SLS Pillar of Autumn

Near Forerunner Artifact

September 19th, 2552

With his new sidearm in place, Chief began to walk back down the hallway that he had come from, weapon at the ready. He was about to turn down the hallway when Alex handed him some magazines. "For your weapon," he explained. "A good soldier does not go anywhere without ammunition for his comrades."

"Thank you," Chief replied as he took the magazines for his new weapon. Loading the mag in, he watched as the weapon smart-linked with his HUD. Moments later, it displayed the number 15 for the mag, while he had 45 rounds in reserve. Three reserve magazines, he thought. I'll have to be careful. Ammunition might not be easy to come by later on.

Continuing on ahead, Chief spotted another modification to the Autumn's internal structure. Just off to the right of the door, he spotted what appeared to be a weapon rack that was stored inside the wall. Moments later, a Marine opened it up, showing a few rifles, mostly the M42D Federated-Barrett Caseless Automatic Rifle that the SLDF had as one of it's standard issue weapons. Walking over, he grabbed the rifle, as well as the two spare magazines that were inside of the concealed weapon rack. Now, he knew he was ready.

With his armaments ready to go, he proceeded through the door to his left. The door led to one of the numerous mess halls that were located aboard the Pillar of Autumn, with long columns of tables, support pillars in the ceiling, as well as food dispenser kiosks. The room was being converted into an chokepoint, with SLDF Marines assisting their UNSC counterparts in setting up barricades. Walking over to one of the Marines, he asked, "SitRep?"

"We've got almost all of the barricades set up, sir," the UNSC Marine replied. "A minute more and we'll be all set. The Covenant haven't made it in all the way yet, however, so we, and the other squads ahead, are digging in."

"Good," Chief replied. "What's the status on the Covenant boarding parties?"

"I can answer that for you," Cortana cut in. "We've got enemy boarders moving towards Engineering and the Bridge now. From what I can tell, they finally overwhelmed the automated defenses. SLDF And UNSC Marine and Army forces are performing coordinated retreats. We're making the Covenant pay for every meter of ground they take."

"Noted." Turning back to the Marine, he said, "Continue with your preparations. We'll continue moving ahead."

"Roger that," the Marine replied. "We'll dig in and keep the Captain and Colonel safe and sound." With that, Chief and Alex continued onward.

Just as the Marine had put it, the Covenant, thanks to the upgraded internal defenses, hadn't been able to get this far, as the corridors were hauntingly empty. As they proceeded forwards, however, the ship rocked again. "What the hell?," A Marine shouted. "Did something hit us?"

"Move it! Back to the airlock," another Marine shouted.

Moving towards where the airlock was, Chief and Alex spotted the airlock entrance. It wasn't hard to miss, as the actual doors were plainly visible, and the area around the airlock was painted in red, making it easy to spot. Two UNSC Marines were present at the airlock, weapons ready as they looked inside. Spotting something, one of the Marines shouted, "Shit! Move!," before he and his partner scrambled to get away from the door.

It was too little, too late. Before the two could even get away, the airlock doors were blasted inwards, with metal shrapnel being flung everywhere by the blast. The two Marines were immediately disintegrated, their bodies ripped apart by the blast of plasma and ionized particles that marked the use of a plasma charge. Once the plasma dissipated, two Elite Minors, and a large number of Grunts, moved in, eager to capitalize on this new foothold.

If they thought that it was going to be easy, then they had another thing coming to them. As soon as the Elites were through the door, Chief and Alex got into cover, before firing their weapons. Chief could hear the loud roar of his rifle as it spat 7mm SAPHE rounds directly at the Elites.

The rifle, despite using a smaller caliber, was more effective than the MA5B. The first three rounds that impacted the first Elite Minor detonated against it's shields, with the third round shattering the shield. The next three penetrated the armor, before detonating inside of the Elite in a manner similar to the ammo the M6D used.

The Elite fell to the ground, screaming in pain as the shrapnel from the SAPHE rounds tore through it's internal organs, while liquefying them from the concussive blasts. The other Elite was targeted by Alex, who fired his M96IV at it's center of mass. The laser beam cut through the shield faster than a ballistic weapon could, with the beam cutting through the armor and into the Elite's body. As such, it took one second less to kill the Elite.

With their command structure down, the Grunts did the one thing that their brains said to do: panic. They immediately scattered, screaming and shouting as they tried their damnedest to avoid being hit. Unfortunately for the Grunts, Chief and Alex capitalized on this, along with the Pulse Laser Turret that had deployed from the ceiling. Within just five seconds, the Grunts were cut down, with the turret remaining deployed in the event more Covenant came out.

Moving forwards, Chief looked inside the airlock door to check for more hostiles. Fortunately, the interior of the boarding craft was empty, though he did spot an Energy Supercharger, nicknamed an 'Overshield' by members of the Spartan Corps, in the back. Moving inside, he plugged the module into his armor, watching as the shield bar registered the increase in energy.

As he moved back outside, Cortana threw in her own piece. "They're using our lifeboat airlocks to attach their boarding craft! We got out and they come in! Clever bastards…"

"Tell me about it," Alex growled. "Those Covenant stravag are intelligent and opportunistic. They will no doubt do whatever it takes to defeat us. We will show them who they are dealing with."

As they left, a Marine shouted, "Go ahead, Chief. We'll secure this area."

Proceeding on forwards, Chief and Alex continued to maneuver through the WarShip's hallways, with broadcasts on the PA from Keyes every so often. Moving through a partially closed blast door, they spotted two crew members that were running from something. "Help," one shouted. "They've got us cornered!"

As soon as Chief and Alex moved through the blast door, two squads of invading Covenant personnel barged in, weapons at the ready. In reply, Chief and Alex opened fire, peppering the Covenant with weapons fire as they advanced. The Covenant squads weren't prepared for a cohesive resistance, with the two squads moving backwards.

In response, Chief took the left hallway, while Alex took the right hallway. Both men quickly went to work clearing out the Covenant and neutralizing them. Chief advanced into his group of Covenant, killing the Grunts with precise shots to their heads. Dodging a blow from the Elite Minor leading the group, he retaliated by smashing the stock of his rifle into the alien's face. The Elite's mandibles were shattered from the blow, but it never got the chance to scream from the pain, as the same blow imploded a portion of it's skull. It fell to the ground dead, without so much as a sound.

In the other hallway, Alex was approaching things in his own way. Tossing in an EMP grenade, he waited for the grenade to detonate before advancing inside, firing his M96IV rapidly. Two Grunts went down, while the Elite remained standing. Dropping his weapon temporarily, Alex charged forwards, knife in hand as he bull rushed the Elite. Before the Minor could react, Alex's blade buried itself into it's stomach, before he wrenched to the right.

It was a disgusting scene. Blood and viscera spilled out of the Elite's torso, along with it's internal organs. The Elite roared in agony as it attempted to push it's guts back inside, only for it's head to become fully acquainted with ferro-steel. With one move, Alex cut off two of it's mandibles, while plunging the blade into it's head. Once he was certain it was dead, he removed the blade.

Picking up his weapon, he proceeded over to where Chief was. "All contacts eliminated," he reported. "How about you?"

"All good here," Chief replied. With that they continued to move through the WarShip, heading for the nearest lifeboat area they could get to.

As they did, they heard gunfire coming from up ahead. Moving through a corridor, Chief spotted a squad of UNSC Marines that were firing their weapons at a squad of Covenant in another part of the hallway. Spotting a means by which to flank the enemy, he motioned for Alex to follow him; moving to the right, they passed through a hallway that curved to the left, which exposed a squad of Covenant personnel.

"I've got this," Chief replied, pulling out a Frag grenade. Engaging the detonator, he hurled it into the small space where the Covenant were at. Due to the confined space, the blast wave and shrapnel ricocheted around the interior. The Grunts were dead in an instant, while the Elite was severely injured, with one of it's arms nearby being severed by the blast. Capitalizing on this, the Marines pressed the attack, killing the Elite quickly.

"Thanks for the help," one of them shouted. Nodding, Chief continued on ahead, with Alex in tow. As they did, they heard even more gunfire from up ahead, along with some flashes of light. Rounding the bend, they found some Marines that were using a pair of barricades, while getting some support from a Pulse Laser Turret that was in the ceiling.

It was also where they found one of the Spartans that had come with them from Reach. Jorge was laying down suppressing fire with his HMG, the weapon barking loudly as he prevented the Covenant from getting any deeper into the WarShip. Spotting Chief and Alex, he shouted, "Take them out! I've got 'em pinned!"

"Got it," Alex replied, tossing a variable grenade over the Spartan-II's head. Detonating on impact, the blast forced the Covenant squad to move out of cover, making them easy pickings for the defenders. It wasn't long before the invading Covenant had been reduced into a pile of perforated flesh and armor.

"Thanks for the assist," Jorge said to Chief and Alex. "I was about to run out of ammo for this thing. So what's the plan?"

"We're evacuating the WarShip," Chief replied. "The Covenant have heavily damaged the main gun, and Article 2 of the Cole Protocol's been initiated."

"Damn," Jorge growled. "Well, that explains why everyone's moving towards the life boat bays. Alright, I'll escort these Marines to the lifeboats so that we can get the hell out of here."

"Any tactical information that you can spare?"

"Yeah. The Covenant have taken the landing up ahead. You'll have to kill them to get to the lifeboat area up ahead. Also, there are maintenance tunnels that you can use throughout the entire WarShip. If you use those, you can get around a large number of Covenant that you would otherwise waste ammunition on."

"Good." After a moment, Chief said, "Continue with your operations, but remember, we have to escape this ship. Understood?"

"Perfectly," Jorge nodded. Turning to the Marines, he said, "Alright, people. Time to get off this sinking ship." Not wanting to be told twice, each of the Marines began moving out, grabbing whatever weapons, ammunition and supplies they could before heading out.

As Jorge and the Marines continued to get their supplies together and move out, Chief and Alex continued on ahead, weapons at the ready as they advanced. More gunfire rang out from up ahead, along with a sound that Alex recognized. "That is an infantry Gauss Rifle. I believe Ward is up ahead."

As soon as he said that, they entered one of the larger rooms inside the Autumn. This section of the Autumn was one of the more spacious ones, with a stair well that led to the deck just above the one Chief and Alex were standing on. Blast Doors were present on each wall, with each one leading to another section of the joint SLDF/UNSC WarShip.

Right now, it was the scene of a massive battle between the SLDF/UNSC and Covenant forces. Plasma bolts, SAPHE rounds and laser beams cut through the air as both sides fought for superiority in the room. Pulse Laser turrets deployed from ceiling mounts fired down on the enemy, though sparks came from two of the eight ports in the room, indicating that those turrets had been destroyed. SLDF and UNSC Marines were present on the lower level of the room, while Covenant forces were firing down from the upper level.

Coordinating the effort to retake the room was Ward, the only other Clan Wolf Elstar that was present onboard the Autumn. Even as he fired his bullpup Thunderstroke IV Gauss Rifle, the Clan Warrior was barking out orders. "Move to the southern portion of the room," he shouted. "Troopers, get anti-personnel mines set up immediately. The turrets and I will provide covering fire."

Hearing noise behind himself, he whirled around, expecting an enemy, only to hold back when he spotted Alex and Chief. "Star Commander, you are a sight for sore eyes," Ward breathed. "The Covenant are keeping up suppressed, which is no small feat on their part. Can you provide us with assistance in driving them out?"

"Aff," Alex replied. "Chief, it is time to introduce ourselves to the Covenant. I will take the lower deck with Ward. You handle the upper deck. Quiaff?"

"Yes, sir," Chief replied. While he knew the meaning of that word, he didn't know the correct response, so he went with what he knew. Nodding at that, Alex joined Ward in retaking the lower level of this area of the Autumn.

Where before, the SLDF/UNSC and Covenant forces had been evenly matched, the battle now swung in favor of the former faction and against the latter faction. Firing his M42D, Chief drove the Covenant back, noting how there was an excessive number of high ranking Elites on this level of the WarShip. Supported by Pulse Laser turrets that were still operational, he advanced, firing his weapon while using the Compact Grenade Launcher to thin out the enemy forces.

A moment later, he spotted the reason why the Covenant were advancing en masse in this area: an Elite Zealot was masterminding the entire assault, and had been directing the Covenant to fight as craftily as possible. Neutralizing him and the other Elites will break their resolve, he determined. With that in mind, Chief used his COM to signal some of the Marines to assist.

As the UNSC Marines were pinned down, the SLDF Marines were the only ones that could respond. Firing their weapons with as much accuracy as they could, they quickly charged up the steps, something the Covenant forces didn't expect them to do. Seizing the initiative, Chief charged directly at the Zealot, firing his weapon at the alien, while the Elite drew an Energy Sword and charged.

Ducking underneath the blow, Chief smoothly shoulder tackled the Elite, sending the alien sprawling to the ground. This Elite, however, was an experienced one, as it quickly got to it's feet before lashing out at Chief. Moving quickly, Chief disabled it's shields, but not before the alien tackled him to the ground. Pulling out a plasma dagger, it made to stab downwards.

Before the blade reached it's destination, Chief rolled to the right, with the plasma dagger embedding itself into the deck. Before the Elite could react, Chief responded with his own blade. The hard and sharp nanocomposite blade cut into the Elite's neck like butter, severing muscles, veins and arteries in a single fell blow. The Elite crumpled like aluminum, with it's body falling to the ground as it's spinal cord was severed. Purple colored blood spewed from the wound as Chief got up, making sure he was unharmed before checking on the others.

While this duel had been going on, the SLDF Marines had quickly pushed back the other Covenant. Thanks to the superior training of the SLDF Marines compared to their UNSC counterparts, the Covenant quickly found that engaging an SLDF Marine was much more difficult. Working as a team, the SLDF Marines took down Grunts on their own, while working in teams to neutralize any Elites that were present.

Down on the lower deck, Alex and Ward neutralized the Covenant forces present with the skill and precision that only a Clan Wolf Warrior possessed. Elites fell as pulse lasers tore into their chests, while bullets tore holes into their bodies, with blood being spewed everywhere. Grunts that were either unfortunate enough or dumb enough to stay out in the open were killed instantly.

As they fought, Alex heard a loud, beeping sound. The Covenant must have overridden the door controls, he realized as the blast doors began to retract upwards. His trepidation was replaced with some relief as he spotted the tell-tale signs of anti-personnel mines that had been placed in the room. As soon as the doors fully opened, Covenant surged into the room, intent on regaining any territory they had lost.

It turned out to be a fool's errand. Explosions rang out as the anti-personnel mines detonated; mines designed to shred Advanced Armor and advanced infantry kits tore through nanolaminate with ease. Elites were blasted apart, while Grunts were practically disintegrated by the directed blasts. Refocusing their efforts, the Marines, under Alex and Ward's guidance, gunned the Covenant down.

"Whew," Ward whistled as the last of the Covenant were neutralized. "That was a very close shave. Thank you for assisting, Star Commander. I do not want to know what would have happened if you had not arrived when you did."

"Just doing my job," Alex replied. "Besides, you are a Warrior of Clan Wolf. We always look out for each other." As he said this, he subconsciously tapped that part of his armor that covered where he wore his pendant.

With the Covenant in the area dead, he quickly regrouped with Chief. Spotting the dead Zealot, he said, "I take it he did not give you a hard time?"

"No," Chief replied.

"Good to hear. Let us move." With that, they began moving towards where the escape pods were. More Covenant clashed with them as they moved past another room, but any that got in their way were quickly terminated. We must have killed their highest ranking officer here, Alex thought as he slit the throat of an Elite that got too close to him. They are not as coordinated as before. That is good news.

As they proceeded through one of the sections of the WarShip that had viewports, Keyes came in over the PA. "All hands, this is the Captain speaking. Prepare to abandon ship! Combat Teams, repel boarders until all Ops personnel are away. Good luck, Keyes out."

As they moved, Chief spotted an area of the ship they could look out at. While the Pillar of Autumn had a number of lifeboats, it was large enough that it also had some Advanced Docking Collars, allowing DropShips to dock to the Autumn. These new collars were designed to be strong enough to allow a WarShip to perform combat maneuvers while DropShips were docked. This was a feature that had been designed into the McKenna II-class of WarShips when they were designed in 2950 and improved upon for the Pillar of Autumn.

As such, Chief spotted some Leopard IV DropShips that were currently docked to the Autumn still. By some sheer stroke of luck, or due to the WarShip's design, the DropShips were undamaged, with their armor having suffered some minor-moderate ablation. A moment later, the two DropShips he could see undocked from the Autumn, their ramjet fusion engines flaring as they sped away towards the Forerunner artifact the Autumn was nearing.

At the same time, the armored doors for the lifepods opened up. "The lifepods are launching," Cortana shouted. "We should hurry." Nodding at that, Chief and Alex advanced towards the lifepods. Spotting some Grunts ahead, Chief decided it would be a good time to try out the Hawk Eagle that he had been given. Pulling out the handgun, he fired off four shots in rapid succession.

Compared to the M6D, he noticed that the recoil impulse was greatly reduced, roughly the equivalent of an Old Earth 9mm. The effects the 12.7mm handgun had on the Grunts, however, was devastating. All four heads, and parts of the torsos, of the Grunts exploded, showering the area up ahead with gore.

Just as they entered the lifepod area, each one launched off. Two of the lifepods managed to accelerate quickly enough to avoid being hit. The third, however, was blown apart by a Covenant Pulse Laser. "The Covenant are destroying the lifepods," Cortana observed. "They really don't want us on that ring."

I wonder why, Chief thought. He knew from personal experience that the Covenant would hurl soldiers at the UNSC in order to recover Forerunner artifacts, as it seemed that they worshiped the Forerunners as gods. Could it be the same here, he thought.

Alex, who was just as curious, said, "It could be that ring we found holds considerable religious significance to the Covenant. I can say that we would do the same if the Inner Sphere invaded Strana Mechty. That planet is revered by the Clans as the planet where the Clans were born."

"That might be the case," Cortana nodded. A moment later, an alarm klaxon sounded off, with the blast doors closing behind them. "Warning: blast doors closing," she warned.

As they did so, Alex said, "Chief, Jorge mentioned the presence of maintenance access ways onboard the WarShip. If they are the same dimensions as SLDF maintenance access ways…"

"We can use them to maneuver around locked down areas," Chief finished. It was a brilliant plan, and he knew it. "Cortana, can you get us a NAV marker for the nearest access way door?"

"Already done," Cortana replied. As soon as she said this, a NAV marker appeared on Chief and Alex's HUD's. Following it, they moved past the dead Grunts to a small door that was set into one of the walls. The door, and the access way it lead to, was just barely tall and wide enough to allow a single Spartan or Elemental through. Once it opened, both men went inside.

The maintenance access way was dimly lit by red emergency lights set into the wall-ceiling junctions of the hallways. With a glance at a spot on his HUD, Alex engaged his helmet's Light Amplification Mode. Moments later, the hallway brightened, with a phosphor blue tint over each surface. "I will take point in these access ways," he informed Chief. "The sensors in my armor can detect hostiles at a greater range than yours. Once we are out of here, you will take point." Nodding in agreement, Chief allowed Alex to proceed.

The decision turned out to be the right one, as Alex moved them through the maintenance access ways quickly and quietly. Moving through the area, they quickly entered a darkened room, but it was clear that there had been a fight here. Dead UNSC Marines were present, their bodies scorched and their armor dented. A single door was present in the room, though it had been damaged by an explosion.

Cortana was about to speak up when Chief smashed his right boot into the door. Weakened by heat and stress, the door panels bent outwards from the blow, with the two halves folding around the frame like paper. Checking the corridor for movement, he signaled an all-clear before proceeding through, with Alex following behind him.

As they moved through, he spotted contacts on his Motion Tracker. Using his private COM channel, he said, "Enemy contacts ahead."

"Aff," Alex replied. "Sensors indicate a number of foot mobiles ahead of our position. The variable grenades have a stun mode. If we use that, we can disorient the hostiles long enough to move through while terminating them."

"Good plan," Chief replied. "Get ready." Moving forwards, the duo advanced until they reached the entrance to the corridor. Leaning out, he said, "Mostly Grunts, but we've got two Elites in the back, a Minor and a Major."

"Aff," Alex replied. "Priming stun-mode… Ready to throw on your command."

"On my mark," Chief replied. Counting down, he waited a few seconds before saying, "Now!" Just like that, Alex hurled the grenade through the air and into the corridor, before throwing another one in for good measure.

The one-two punch proved to be effective, as the grenades dazzled the Grunts, blinding them with the intensity of the blast. The Elites were more fortunate, thanks to their helmet's use of polarizing lenses. Still, since these were SLDF stun-grenades, they were also partially blinded.

With the enemy disoriented, Chief and Alex moved through, firing their weapons as soon as they had line of sight. Without saying a word, Chief moved to engage the Elites, while Alex engaged the Grunts. Within just twenty seconds of the initial attack, the enemy forces were dead. "Nice work," Alex remarked as he saw the corpses of the Elites.

"Thank you," Chief replied. Moving on, they entered a hallway that slanted downwards. As they did, Chief recognized the room they were moving into: it was the observation chamber for Cryo Bay 2, where he had been at during the journey.

"Well, looks like Sam pissed himself," Alex remarked when he spotted a puddle of light yellow liquid on the ground. "Given his unarmored condition, as well as the shock of the detonation, I do not blame him for doing so. Poor freeborn was caught off guard."

Chief, however, wasn't concerned with the state of the floor. Looking through the viewports, he could see a cluster of Elites, particularly Zealots, clustered around the cryo-tube that he had been in earlier. "It looks like the Covenant wanted to catch you napping," Cortana remarked. Just as she did, the Zealots looked behind themselves, spotting Chief and Alex in the observation chamber. Even though they fired, their plasma weapons had little effect against the view ports, with the Zealots leaving moments later.

Not wanting to linger, Chief began to move forwards, with Alex behind him. Up ahead, they moved into another corridor. This one, however, was lined with fuel tanks, with some having been knocked over due to the WarShip's earlier shuddering. "Careful," Cortana told the others. "One well placed shot will destroy this entire room."

"Noted," Chief replied. Spotting another access way door, he quickly moved inside, with the two men moving quickly through the darkness. Spotting a door, Chief headed towards it.

As soon as he exited, he found himself inside of another combat zone. The Covenant were locked in mortal combat with SLDF and UNSC Marines that were courageously holding the line against the boarders. "Look out," Cortana shouted as a Frag Grenade flew through the air. Ducking back into the corridor, Chief narrowly avoided the blast, though his shields took a hit. "Be careful," she shouted. "There's two of us in here now. Remember?"

Nodding, Chief waited for the SLDF and UNSC Marines to clear out the Covenant before advancing. "Hurry, Chief," one of the Marines shouted. "We've got one more lifepod left! We can't hold them back forever!"

With that, Chief and Alex charged towards the lifepod section in the area. True enough, SLDF and UNSC Marines were present, all of whom were engaged in a furious battle against the Covenant. "Get in that lifepod," one of the SLDF Marines shouted at Chief. "We'll hold 'em off! You get out of here, now!"

"There's another lifepod," Cortana told the Marines. "If you move quickly, you can-"

"Don't wanna hear it," the Marine shouted. "We'll move for it later! Get out of here! NOW!" Not wanting to argue, Chief moved towards the lifepod.

Just as he did, a UNSC Marine was flung towards it by an explosion. "Oh, no," the man shouted, panic threatening to overwhelm him as he struggled to get up and keep moving. "Oh no!"

Moments later, Chief, true to his code of honor, grabbed the man by the scruff of his BDU and tossed him inside, with the Marine yelping as he did so. "Now would be a very good time to leave," Cortana shouted. With that, Chief moved inside.

"Punch it," he ordered once the lifepod doors sealed shut.

"Aye, aye, sir," the lifepod pilot acknowledged. Sealing her eye visor, she hit the buttons to launch the pod. There was a shudder, before moments later, the lifeboat launched out of it's shaft, the engines screaming as the vehicle flew through space. "We're disengaged. Going for minimum safe distance."

"We're gonna make it, aren't we sir," the Marine Chief rescued asked. "I don't wanna die out here!" As a measure of reassurance, Chief patted the man's shoulder.

"We will make it," Alex reassured the others. "We have not come this far just to die now. By my honor as a Warrior of Clan Wolf, I have every reason to believe we will make it."

Outside, Chief watched as the remaining DropShips disengaged from the Autumn, with the larger vehicles quickly powering away from the WarShip. "Look," Cortana shouted. Moving towards the front of the lifepod, Chief spotted what she had.

It was the Forerunner ring. Somehow, thanks to the Captain, the lifepod's trajectory was going to take it towards the ring, where they would be able to land. Now that they were closer, Chief could see the intricate carvings on the surface of the ring, as well as sections of those carvings that glowed a beautiful blue color. On the inside of the ring's surface, he spotted atmosphere, as well as verdant green continents and blue oceans.

"What the hell is that thing, Lieutenant," one of the Marines asked.

"Hell if I know," the pilot replied, "but we're landing on it."

"The Autumn," another Marine shouted. "She's been hit!"

Dashing to the back, Chief looked out the rear of the lifepod. "I knew it," Cortana stated. "The Autumn's accelerating. Keyes is going in manually!"

Looking out the rear, Chief spotted the Pillar of Autumn. The WarShip's hull was crisscrossed with black scorch marks and craters in it's armor, a true showcase of the SLDF's engineering on display. Despite the horrific damage to the armor, the Autumn continued to hold out strong, even as CCS-class Battle Cruisers fired their weapons at the WarShip. The powerful engines in the rear pushed the Autumn forwards, with the WarShip surging past the lifepod with tremendous speed. As it passed by, Chief saw the blue-white fusion plume from the engines, with said plume extending out to roughly half of the Autumn's length.

He was jarred from his thoughts when the lifepod's pilot said, "Heads up, everyone, this is it! We're entering the ring's atmosphere in five." As she said this, a faint, blue glow manifested outside of the lifepod, with the glow quickly changing to a light yellow, before becoming an angry red-orange. A faint rumbling echoed inside of the lifepod, with the vehicle shaking as it plunged into the ring's atmosphere.

"You sure you two wouldn't rather take a seat," Cortana asked Chief and Alex.

"We'll be fine," Chief replied. Still, Cortana's suggestion was a good idea, so he and Alex buckled into spare seats that were available and got ready for landfall.

"If I still had fingers, they'd be crossed," Cortana remarked, even as the lifepod plunged into the ring's atmosphere.