Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to my Halo - MechWarrior/BattleTech crossover. Thank you all for your support. I hugely appreciate the feedback that I've gotten so far.
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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.
Halo
UNSC/SLDF Pillar of Autumn
September 21st 2552
For Keyes, the sight of seeing the flagship that he had captained in this state was saddening. Poor girl never got the chance to shine with this tech, he thought as he looked down the hallways, the powerful lights on his armor illuminating the interior. I would've bet a million credits to see how she would've fared against a whole battle group of CCS-class Battlecruisers.
Returning to his current situation, he looked around at the interior of the WarShip. The Pillar of Autumn's interior was in better condition than he thought, at least when it came to the core. The portions of the WarShip closer to the hull, however, were in far worse condition. Here, the walls had been warped and blackened and any tech that was left was barely functional, if at all. As for the hull, it had survived, but the armor was completely gone, as the impact had wrenched off all the Lamellor Ferro-Carbide plating that had survived the firefight.
Still, at least she'll get one more hurrah, he thought as he brushed an armored hand against the walls of the hallway he was in. Not only will we destroy Halo with her help, we'll destroy the Flood and any Covenant that are within the blast radius. I can't think of a finer way for a ship like the Autumn to go out.
As he walked around, he thought he heard a noise. Immediately, all sense of nostalgia vanished, replaced by the cold, calculating logic of a soldier. Almost immediately, Keyes snapped up his weapon, a heavily modified shotgun, and advanced forwards, checking each corner as he advanced. Hearing the sound again, he turned the corner, ready to blast any Covenant or Flood that were present.
Fortunately, he didn't have to worry. As soon as he gazed around the corner, he heard the faint, electrical crackle again, before something appeared out of nowhere. He relaxed when he saw the familiar olive-drab armor that was consistent with MJOLNIR Powered Armor.
On the other end, however, Chief wasn't as lucky. One moment, he was at the phase pulse generator, the next, he was in the Autumn, only something was wrong. Just as he realized what had happened, gravity kindly reminded him of what was wrong, as he promptly fell ass over teakettle onto the deck. "Ugh," he grunted.
"Oh, I see," Cortana frowned. "The coordinate data needs to be -" She was promptly interrupted when Chief whacked the side of his head with a hand. "Right… sorry."
"Don't be sorry," he told her. "Be better." Looking up, he spotted Captain Keyes walking over, prompting him to salute. "Ready for duty, sir," he reported.
"At ease, Chief," Keyes replied. Once the Spartan relaxed, he said, "Good to see you intact. I wasn't too keen on what would happen with you and Halo's teleportation grid. I'm still wrapping my mind around the fact that teleportation is possible."
"What's the mission, sir," Chief asked, "aside from what we know?"
"Simple," Keyes replied. "We're going to activate the Autumn's self-destruct sequence, but we can only do so from the bridge. Once we're there, I'll input the overrides and allow Cortana to activate the self destruct sequence. That will give us sixteen minutes to reach minimum safe distance and rendezvous with the DropShips. Once we do so, the Farragut will take us back to Reach."
"Did you find out how they managed to find a way here?"
"As a matter of fact, I did. They placed a locator beacon onto the Autumn so that they could lock onto the Autumn's location with an FTL communicator. Once they got the info, which took until recently, they were able to map out a route to Halo and send the Farragut to get us out. We've already explained the situation to the Captain, so he knows what's going on." Tossing Chief an M42D and some ammunition, he asked, "Ready to get to work?"
"Affirmative," Chief replied.
"Good." With that, the two moved out, weapons in hand as they headed for the bridge.
As they moved through the corridors, Keyes led Chief to a maintenance access way that had it's doors permanently open, with the two moving inside. Unsurprisingly, the lights in this area were completely out, forcing them to rely on their helmet lights as they advanced. Eventually, after a few twists and turns, they reached a ladder that led down to another deck of the ship.
As soon as they saw it, however, Infection Forms slithered up the ladder and into the corridor. Chief was about to fire when Keyes beat him to the punch, blasting the entire group with buckshot. "I hate those things," Keyes frowned. "I don't usually get nightmares, but I'll be seeing that shit in my sleep."
He was about to advance down the ladder when Chief said, "Sir, if I may?" Sensing what Chief was going to do, Keyes allowed him to advance. The Spartan pulled out one of the grenades he had and, after activating it, gently dropped it down the ladder well before backing up. Moments later, the deck, and maintenance corridor, shuddered as the grenade detonated. He repeated a second time before he dropped down the ladder.
As soon as they landed, Keyes saw why Chief had done what he'd done: several Carrier Forms, as the large bulbous creatures were called, had been present. Thanks to the grenades, however, they were now practically harmless. "Good call," Keyes beamed.
"Thank you, sir," Chief replied as they advanced. Spotting some Sentinels, the duo opened fire, blasting the Forerunner constructs with buckshot and SAPHE bullets. It didn't take them long to go down.
Advancing to the right, they spotted Combat Forms that were in the hallways, each one a grotesque mass of infected flesh and tentacles. Both men didn't hesitate for a moment, as they opened fire with their weapons, blasting the monstrous creatures with their weapons. "Where are they coming from?" Keyes asked as he blasted an infected Elite in half. "I certainly don't recall them being here before."
"They must be coming in from outside the ship," Chief inferred. "They wouldn't be here otherwise." With that decided, the two continued to advance, until they reached one of the mess halls onboard the Autumn.
It was here that they found out the Flood weren't the only ones onboard. Spotting contacts on his Motion Tracker, Chief peered inside before coming back behind cover, frowning as he did so. "Two Hunters," he reported. "We also have SpecOps Elites and Grunt Ultras. We'll need heavy weapons for the Hunters."
"We've got a plan for that," Keyes beamed. Spotting movement, Chief watched as Major Silva, fully decked out in SLDF body armor, came out of the hallway they had moved through. "What?" Keyes asked when Chief looked at him. "Did you think I was coming alone? Major Silva practically refused to allow me to go alone, so he came along."
"And a good thing I did too," Silva nodded, hefting an SRM Launcher in his hands. "Gotta admit, the SLDF makes some good shit. I saw what this could do to those Hunters back at Alpha Base. The SLDF gets the really good toys, and now I get to play with them." The tone of voice he had at the last part made it clear that he was eager to let loose.
"Alright," Keyes continued, clearing his throat, "this is the plan. Chief and I will engage the Elites, while you, Silva, will neutralize the Hunters. Once we've eliminated all resistance, we'll push up and clear the bridge. Understood?"
"Yes, sir," the two replied, prompting them to glance at each other.
"Good," Keyes nodded. "On my mark, we'll toss in some flashbangs, and assault those bastards." Nodding, they team moved to the entrance, with Keyes and Chief taking the left side of the door, while Silva took the right. Counting down, they threw in the grenades on three and immediately burst into the room after the flashbangs had detonated.
As soon as they were inside the room, Silva fired off a missile from the launcher he had. The SRM zipped through the air at high velocity, flying straight into the back of one of the Hunters. Said Hunter was promptly blown apart like an overripe melon, with worms and gore flying everywhere. The second Hunter turned around, confused as to what happened. It soon found out, courtesy of an SRM in the face.
At the same time, Chief and Keyes engaged the Covenant that were inside the room. The surprise attack had caught the SpecOps Elites off guard, allowing Chief to neutralize the shields on the first one, allowing Keyes to knock it backwards with a blast from his shotgun. The second Elite that spotted them opened fire, with Chief replying in kind with fire from his rifle.
Having disposed of the Hunters, Silva dropped the SRM Launcher and got his own M42D out, laying down covering fire as they advanced. A loud roar caught his attention, prompting him to roll backwards. Before he could fully do so, an Elite slammed into him, sending his rifle flying against a food dispenser.
He grunted as he held the disgruntled Elite at bay, straining as he kept a plasma dagger from going into his chest. As he struggled, he remembered that he had a backup weapon inside his hip holster. Bringing his legs in, he kicked the Elite off of him, before pulling out the autopistol that he had been given. Just as the Elite recovered, he fired off the handgun, pelting the alien with eight shots, killing it. "Stupid bastard," he growled. "Next time, shoot at me, instead of charging me." He kicked the corpse as he went to retrieve his rifle.
While this was going on, Chief and Keyes were busy neutralizing the rest of the Covenant. Having gunned down the Grunt Ultras, they moved through the hallway and into the area just behind the bridge. "Look out!" Chief shouted as he yanked Keyes backwards, saving him from being decapitated by an Energy Sword. Before the Elite could recover, Keyes blasted it with his shotgun, shattering it's shields. Pumping the rack again, he fired, killing the alien as it staggered from the first blast of buckshot.
"Thanks!" Keyes called out.
"Later," Chief replied.
With that, they moved inside the bridge. The bridge itself had been trashed. Consoles had been smashed from the impact with the ground, fires had broken out in various areas, and the deck was warped and bent. The viewports were totaled, the Ferro-Glass having shattered on impact. The only thing that was intact was the bridge viewscreen, and even it had a large crack that was plainly visible.
"The bridge," Cortana beamed. "We made it. Let's get to work. I need you to upload me into the control systems. The terminal is located next to the viewscreen." Nodding, Chief walked up to the terminal, which, miraculously, was fully operational, before stepping back.
"I leave home for a few days, and look what happens," Cortana frowned. "Captain?"
"On it," Keyes replied, brushing off the panels on the main view screen. "Wow, it's operational still. I guess us Humans build to last, don't we."
As he input the overrides, Silva came in. "Sorry I'm late," he said to the Captain. "I was held up by an asshole of an Elite. What did I miss?"
"Not much," Keyes replied. "We're about to set this tub to blow."
Moments later, Cortana was able to activate the self-destruct sequence. A timer that read 20:00 appeared, indicating they had twenty minutes before destruction. Moments later, it began to tick down. "There," Cortana beamed. "That should give us enough time for a Pelican to pick us up and put some distance between ourselves and Halo before detonation." Nodding at that, Chief reached over to retrieve her.
The prospect of a fully successful mission, though, was quashed when a voice said, "I'm afraid that's out of the question."
"Oh, hell!" Cortana frowned.
"Motherfucker," Silva growled.
"Damnit," Keyes groaned in a rare display of profanity.
I knew it, Chief frowned. That damn Monitor is back.
"Ridiculous!" Guilty Spark chided them. "That you would imbue a warship's AI with such a wealth of knowledge. Weren't you worried that it might be captured? Or destroyed?"
"Where's that asshole," Silva snarled. "I want to kick his robot ass into a black hole!"
"He's in my data arrays," Cortana reported, "a local tap!"
"He must've broken his way into the ship's computers," Chief deducted.
Right on cue, Guilty Spark's voice came over the COM. "You can't imagine how exciting this is! To have a record of all our lost time! Human history is it? Fascinating." There was a moment of silence, then, "Oh, how I will enjoy every moment of it's categorization! And to think that you would destroy this installation, as well as this record… I am shocked. All most too shocked for words."
Moments later, the countdown stopped. "Fuck," Silva snarled. "He stopped the countdown!"
"Why do you continue to fight us, Reclaimer," Guilty Spark asked, the question directed at Chief. "You cannot win! Give us the construct, and I will endeavor to make your death relatively painless and -" Moments later, the COM cut out.
"At least I still have control over the COM's," Cortana shrugged.
"Where is he," Keyes asked.
"I'm detecting taps throughout the ship, Sentinels most likely," Cortana replied. "As for the Monitor… He's in Engineering. He must be trying to take the reactors offline! Even if I could get the countdown restarted… I don't know what to do." She shrugged in desperation as she finished.
"I've got an idea," Chief suggested.
"Let's hear it," Silva shrugged.
"How much firepower would you need to crack one of the engine's shields?"
"Not much," Cortana replied. "A well placed grenade perhaps, but why -" As soon as she said this, Chief pulled out a grenade and began tossing it up and down, like he was a baseball player ready to make a pitch. "OK, I'm coming with you," Cortana agreed.
"Uh, oh," Silva shouted. "INCOMING!" As soon as he said this, he grabbed Keyes by the collar of his armor and threw him into cover. Moments later, the reason why became clear.
Suddenly, four Sentinels rose to eye level outside of the bridge. Taking the hint, Chief pulled Cortana out of the terminal and threw himself behind the view screen controls, just as the Sentinels fired. Heat warped glass shattered and flew everywhere as Sentinel Beams cut through the air.
Once they stopped firing, Chief and the others retaliated. "Eat this, assholes," Silva shouted as he fired his rifle, blasting a Sentinel out of existence. Keyes and Chief destroyed their own, before focusing fire on the last Sentinel in the area. "Alright," Silva beamed as he reloaded. "We have a plan, but how do we get to Engineering?"
"The ship was heavily damaged when it crashed," Cortana replied. "Head through the cryo-chamber. We should be able to reach the engine room from there."
"Sounds like a plan," Keyes agreed. "There will be a lot of Covenant and Flood between us and there. Let's move. I don't want the Monitor to get anymore bright ideas." No one argued as they advanced out of the bridge and towards their destination.
As soon as they entered the corridor, however, the Flood were on top of them. Spotting a veritable horde, Chief and the others hunkered down, firing their weapons at the horde that was charging at them. Combat Forms littered the ground as their bodies were blasted apart and shredded, while Infection Forms popped like pustules and warts. After a couple minutes of fighting, the Flood had been neutralized.
With that accomplished, they advanced forward, weapons in hand as they moved through a storage room and through another corridor. Throughout the entire way, they had to deal with Covenant forces that were moving inside to cleanse the Flood. Moving through a hallway, they barely ran quickly enough to avoid being targeted by a group of Elites that were in the corridor, with plasma bolts narrowly missing them. Spotting a door panel, Silva, who was in the back, hit a button, with the door sealing shut behind them.
On top of the Covenant, the Sentinels were making life hard for them as well. "Watch it," Keyes shouted as Silva neared the bend of a corner, having heard the sounds of the Sentinel's anti-gravity engines.
"I see 'em," the ODST Major replied. "Chief, I think they've got energy shields! Get up there and hammer them into shit!" Nodding, Chief advanced, firing his rifle at a cluster of Sentinels that were in the corridor. Their shields were tough, but thanks to support fire from Silva and Keyes, the automatons were quickly neutralized.
"We're near the cryo chamber," Keyes said to Chief. "Be careful, though. The interior lighting isn't in the best shape, so expect pitch black conditions in there. If you spot any hostiles, kill them."
"Agreed," Chief nodded as he moved for the door. The door had been broke half open, forcing Chief to kick the door open. Under the blow from his augmented strength, the door segment that was open bent inward, allowing the team inside.
It was a literal firefight in there. The pitch black interior was lit up by the strobing flashes of gunfire and the faint, constant light of incineration beams. From the flashing alone, Chief and the others could see that the Flood and Sentinels were locked in a mortal battle against each other, with each side vying for supremacy. They were so occupied with each other that they failed to notice the three man squad moving up the ladders and into the observation chamber.
Moving on through the hallways, they passed through maintenance access ways before entering another corridor. "Fuck," Silva growled. "Two Hunters, some Elites and some Flood. They're in the way of our immediate destination."
"The Armory," Chief finished.
"And we don't have any SRM's," Keyes frowned. "Damnit!" Pacing around, he was about to recommend a detour when his foot hit something. Looking down, he beamed when he saw their fortune turn around. "Looks like the Covenant dropped something," he beamed, tossing Chief a Fuel Rod Launcher.
"Ready," Chief replied as he prepped the weapon. "On the count of three."
Three seconds later, the team advanced into the corridor, with Chief firing the Fuel Rod Launcher at the two Hunters. Both Hunters were neutralized, their nanolaminate armor failing to stop the high intensity detonations. Once the blasts stopped, the team advanced, firing their weapons at the Elites before advancing to the armory.
Entering the armory, Keyes said, "Silva, cover the other entrance. I'll bet the Covenant will try to ambush us in here. Chief, let's load up!"
Nodding, Chief looked around for what he needed. It was here were some of the Autumn's SLDF loaned hardware was located at. Missiles, grenades, magazines, shells, all manner of weapons and munitions were stored here. Picking out some grenades, Chief armed himself with a missile launcher before making sure his M42D ammo was topped off.
As he loaded up, he heard Silva firing his rifle once, then twice. On the third time, he walked over to see what was happening, just as a dead infected SpecOps Elite tumbled to the ground. "Good catch," he said to the ODST Major.
"Thanks," Silva beamed. "Ready to go?"
"All ready," Keyes shouted. "Let's move!" With that, they left the armory and moved towards Engineering.
Moving through the corridor, they advanced through a narrow door and into a large space. Looking around, Chief could see the massive space that was Engineering. The room towered over their heads, with the room itself roughly one and a half times as tall as a Leopard DropShip and roughly two and a half times as wide. Nestled in the middle of the room was the reactor core, while four cooling vents were visible overhead. The interior space had gray colored floors, while everything else was painted yellow and black.
"Engineering located. We're here," Cortana reported. As they moved upwards, she said, "Alert! The Monitor has disabled all command access. We can't restart the countdown."
"That means that detonating the fusion reactor is the only way left," Keyes frowned. "Cortana, do you have access to all the reactor schematics?"
"I still do," Cortana replied. "I'll walk you through it."
"What do we do," Chief asked.
"First, we need to pull back the exhaust couplings. That will expose a shaft that leads to the primary fusion drive core."
"That is if these fucking Flood will leave us alone," Silva growled as he fired on some Flood that were in the corridor they were in. Gunning them down, they advanced to the top of the room. Two control panels were on their side, located over the exhaust couplings. Spotting the retract button, Chief slammed a fist into it. A loud beeping sounded off as the exhaust coupling was retracted, while he jumped onto the retracting coupling.
"Good," Cortana beamed, "step one complete! We have a straight shot into the fusion reactor! We need a catalyst explosion to destabilize the magnetic containment field surrounding the fusion cells!" Nodding, Chief took out a grenade and hurled it at the shaft, just as the shutters inside fully opened.
The grenade flew in perfectly, zipping down the shaft and inside the fusion core. A gout of fire, the result of air combusting from the heat, gushed out of the shaft in question, with the coupling extending moments later. "Analyzing… Fusion reactor one destabilizing. Use explosives on the remaining reactor cores. That should be enough to trigger a wildcat explosion of the engines."
"Got it," Chief nodded as the reactor coupling engaged. Pulling himself up, he said, "Captain, Major, cover me while I destroy the other ones."
"You got it, soldier," Keyes replied as he fired at an infection form, killing it. "Silva, let's move!"
Following Chief's instructions, they covered him as he rinsed and repeated on the next two, destabilizing them with his grenades. Grabbing one more from Silva, he heard Cortana say, "Keep it up! Only one more fusion reactor to go."
As they moved, Guilty Spark flew in front of Silva. "No!" the Monitor shouted. "You will not destroy this -!"
"SHUT UP," Silva shouted, smashing the but of his rifle into the Monitor, disorienting it. "I'm sick and tired of assholes like you trying to kill me. Swallow this." Pulling out a primed grenade, he shoved it into the Monitor's chassis before kicking the stunned Monitor away like a soccer ball. "Stupid ass robot."
As he said this, Chief tossed the last grenade into the last reactor core. Another gout of superheated air indicated success, with a loud klaxon sounding off. Moments later, the automated PA made an announcement. "Warning! Warning! Critical Damage Sustained! Evacuate Immediately!"
"That did it!" Cortana shouted. "The engine's gone critical! Based on the current rate of decay, we should have fifteen minutes to get off the ship; we don't have much time! We should move outside and signal for evac. Accessing schematics… There's a service lift at the top of the engine room! It leads to a Class Seven service corridor that runs along the ship's dorsal structure. Hurry!"
"Don't have to tell me twice," Keyes shouted over the klaxon. "Move it!"
With that order, the entire team made a break for it as they raced to get off the ship, running as fast as they could. Moving through a corridor, Chief shouted, "Look out!", just as a door exploded inwards. Fortunately, the blast wasn't that powerful, and they soon found themselves near the service lift.
Unfortunately, it wasn't vacant. A SpecOps Elite, as well as some Grunts were present. "Take them out," Keyes shouted, the team opening fire as soon as the aliens were visible. The Covenant put up a fight, but they were taken down quickly. Tackling the Elite, Chief hurled it down the shaft as the lift began to move upwards.
As it did, explosions rang out, causing the entire ship to shudder from the blasts. "Cortana to Echo-419," Cortana called out over the COM. "Come in, Echo-419!"
"Roger, Cortana," came Foe Hammer's reply. "I read you five by five."
"The Pillar of Autumn's engines are going critical, Foe Hammer. We request immediate extraction! Approach the crash site and be ready to pick us up at external access Junction 4C as soon as you get my signal!"
"Roger, Cortana. Echo-419 going on station." There was a particularly powerful shudder, then "Echo-419 to Cortana. Things are getting noisy down there. Everything OK?"
Cortana's reply, though, indicated something was wrong. "Negative, negative!" she shouted. "We have a wildcat destabilization of the ship's fusion drive core! The engines must have sustained more damage than I thought!"
"Shit," Silva shouted as they reached their destination: a Warthog garage that still had the legendary UNSC vehicles inside. "Oh, WHAT NOW?!"
"We evacuate now," Chief replied as he got into a Warthog. Keyes and Silva got into the passenger seat and gunner turret, respectively. "Cortana?"
"Analyzing… We have five minutes before the fusion drives detonate. We need to evac, now!" Moments later, a five minute countdown appeared on Chief's HUD. "Activating final countdown timer. When it reaches zero, the engines will detonate. The explosion will generate a temperature of over 100 million degrees. Don't be here when it blows."
"Wasn't counting on it," Chief replied as he gunned the engine. The Warthog roared as it zoomed out of it's holding cage, with the vehicle racing out into the service corridor. Driving past some Covenant, he said, "Silva, keep the Sentinels off of us!"
"Got it," Silva shouted, priming the mounted MG. As the seconds ticked down, the Warthog roared, with the vehicle quickly reaching top speed. Keyes kept an eye out while Chief maneuvered down the long corridor.
It wasn't easy at all. One reason was due to the presence of obstacles and pathways throughout the corridor. The second was due to the fact that explosions were going off, along with the ever present danger of Covenant, Flood and Sentinels. Despite this, they were making good time, with Chief expertly maneuvering the vehicle around obstructions and enemy personnel. Whenever a shortcut presented itself, he took it.
As they drove through another wide open area, while dodging a Spirit VTOL, Cortana said, "Cortana to Echo-419. Request extraction now, on the double!"
"Affirmative," Foe Hammer replied. "Echo-419 on – Shit!"
"Foe Hammer!"
"Damnit! I have Covenant on my tail, Cortana. I can't pick you up! I have to pull out!"
"Get out of there!" Closing the COM, Cortana said, "Damnit! That was our extraction!"
"Any alternatives," Chief asked as he drove through Junction 4C.
"Calculating alternate escape route… The WarShip's inventory shows one Longsword fighter still docked in Launch Bay 7. If we move now, we can make it!"
"Let's go," Silva shouted. "We've got three minutes on the clock, and I don't want to loiter any longer!"
With that, Chief gunned the throttle, the engine of the Warthog roaring as the vehicle sped down the corridor. "Chief, up ahead, there's a gap in the trench," Cortana informed him. "At top speed, we should be able to clear it!"
"Hang on," Chief shouted as they neared the gap. Moments later, they zoomed out into the air. There was a brief moment of weightlessness as they fell, before they slammed into the deck below. Silva, unprepared for the drop, nearly fell out! "Shit! HELP," he screamed as he slipped.
Just as his grip on the Warthog's chassis failed, Keyes reached out behind himself and grabbed the Major. "I've got you," he shouted. Roaring from the effort, he pulled Silva onto himself as the Warthog made another jump.
"Thank you," Silva shouted.
"Don't thank me yet," Keyes grunted as he made sure Silva was not going to fall out. "Thank me once we're out of here!" More quietly, he added, "I'm getting too old for this shit."
The vehicle continued to roar down the corridor, until it reached a large, wide open space. Past some fuel canisters, and a long bridge, was a large platform up ahead. Resting on top of it was the Longsword Fighter, it's flying wing-like shape clearly visible.
"That's the ship!" Cortana shouted. "Move! We need to get aboard now!"
"Everyone out," Chief shouted, leaping out as Keyes and Silva tumbled to the deck. Springing up almost immediately, they ran as fast as they could to the massive AeroSpace Fighter, not minding that there was a horde of Flood behind them.
Racing up the ramp to the platform, they ran as fast as they could towards the fighter, which still had it's hatch open. Running inside, Chief waited until everyone was in before hitting a button, with the hatch closing moments later. "We're cutting it close," Cortana shouted.
There was a shudder as an explosion rang out, causing Chief to stumble. Steadying himself, he, along with Keyes, got into the pilot and copilot's seat, with Chief hitting some controls. "Here we go," he announced as Silva buckled into another seat.
Moments later, the engines on the Longsword came to life. They wined as the vehicle engaged it's VTOL mode, rising upwards into the air as it turned towards the open sky. As soon as they were high enough, the engines flared to life, with the AeroSpace Fighter shooting forwards through the air.
Explosions rang out along the hull of the Autumn as it's engines continued to destabilize. Ablated armor panels and sections of the hull were blasted out of their mounts. Debris flew everywhere, while internal corridors were filled with fire as the ship continued to break apart. Flying through the air, the Longsword Fighter arced upwards, the engines screaming as they accelerated the vehicle past escape velocity. Within seconds, it broke through the atmosphere
"T-Minus one minute," Cortana announced as they broke past the atmosphere, with the fighter flying faster and faster.
"Come on, baby," Silva encouraged the Longsword. "Fly!" The ASF's engines continued to roar and scream as they pushed the vehicle faster through the void of space. Looking at a console, Silva let out a breath of air as they pushed past the minimum safe distance.
Soon, the counter went down to thirty seconds, then Cortana announced, "T-Minus ten… nine… eight… seven… six… five… four… three… two… one!" As soon as Cortana said one, it happened.
Inside the Pillar of Autumn, the destabilized fusion reactors could hold themselves together no longer. Atoms fused faster than the reactors could handle, with the magnetic fields containing them vanishing entirely. The temperature climbed and climbed, until all hell broke loose.
With a sound that would've killed instantly, the Pillar of Autumn, and it's fusion reactors, detonated. In an instant, a tiny star was born on the surface of Halo, with a gigaton's worth of energy in TNT being released in an instant. The atoms and molecules of anything within a twenty kilometer radius were ripped apart, disintegrated by the massive fireball that instantly formed from the explosion. Further away, the air was immediately combusted, adding to the already massive fireball that was forming.
At the same time, a powerful shockwave tore through Halo's superstructure. Under the stress of such a powerful detonation, Halo simply shattered. The Forerunner installation was ripped apart into 24 separate pieces, with each piece beginning to slowly drift away into the void. Systems onboard the ring struggled to save the installation, succeeding in only teleporting away one segment as the blast continued. Within a minute, the fireball faded out of existence, having depleted it's fuel source.
In the Longsword, Keyes covered his eyes as soon as as the countdown began, sparing himself from being temporarily blinded by the flash of light. Silva did the same, while Chief's visor polarized, protecting his eyes as he piloted the VTOL away. As the flash faded, he heard a beeping, with a voice saying, "Heat Critical." Looking up, he spotted the engine temperature red lining.
"I've got it," Keyes replied. "The Engineers integrated SLDF cooling tech into this fighter. They must've forgotten to switch it over to that." Once Keyes hit a switch, Chief watched as the engine temperature quickly dropped down into the green again. The beeping promptly stopped.
"Fancy a look," Cortana asked. Nodding, Chief got up and looked outside of the view port, both eyes glued on what was happening. Keyes and Silva soon followed.
Outside, Halo continued to fragment, it's structural integrity compromised by the Autumn's detonation. One fragment, hurled inward by a couple when they fragmented apart, flew towards another section of Halo, smashing into it seconds later. Both pieces silently broke apart, with silent explosions and fires raging on either end of them. A moment later, Chief asked, "Did anyone else make it?"
"Scanning," Cortana replied. A moment later, she said, "All personnel, aside from those that were KIA over the past few days, are alive. The DropShips have made it to the Farragut and I've plotted out an intercept course. Aside from that… we're all that's left."
As Cortana said this to Chief, Keyes looked at what remained of Halo. Now that he was seeing a grave threat destroyed, he was reminded of the words that people said once they saw something like this happen. Unbidden, he remembered a quote that a famous physicist had once said. Now I know how he felt when the first atomic bomb was detonated, he thought. Now I have become death… the destroyer of worlds.
Guessing what Keyes was thinking, Cortana said, "We did what we had to do…for Earth. An entire Covenant armada obliterated and the Flood… we had no choice." As Chief sat back down, she said, "Halo… it's finished."
"No," Chief replied. "I think we're just getting started." Pulling off his helmet, he felt the cool air inside of the fighter on his skin.
"Chief's right," Silva agreed. "We beat the Covenant back, but we've also destroyed one of their so-called 'holy artifacts.' If I know the Covenant, they'll be furious that we've done this, but it might also stun them long enough to buy us time, time that we need."
"Agreed," Keyes replied. "Now, we have to make a first strike against them. If Chernenko's orders about a new mission are right, I'm guessing that's what he means. Either way, let's get to the Farragut. We have a war to win."
As Chief said this, Chief looked outside of the Longsword's view ports. Both his eyes settled on a nearby galaxy, which glowed in the void of space like an ornament. Silva's right, Chief thought. The war is far from over, but we now have a chance to win, as well as a chance to have a tomorrow.