Hello again, and welcome back to my Halo - Terminator crossover. I apologize for not uploading on Wednesday and Thursday. I was helping out a friend with some things he needed and, as such, I wasn't able to upload a chapter on those days. Now that I am back, I am uploading the first chapter of the last story arc. Once this arc is complete, this story will be marked as 'Complete.' It's been a long and interesting journey, but I am glad that you have stuck with me all the way to the end. Thank you so much for your support, and I hope to see you in future chapters. As always, leave a review and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Halo or Terminator franchises. They are the respective properties and trademarks of Microsoft Game Studios, 343 Industries, Bungie, Carolo Pictures, Hemdale, Skydance Productions, 20th Century Fox, Lightstorm Entertainment, etc. Any material original to the franchises belongs to their respective developers, producers 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.
Epsilon Eridani
Forerunner Dreadnought
November 4th, 2552
Closing the COM with SKYNET, Chief looked around the chamber he was in to see what his options were. Now that they were approaching the planet of Reach, he knew that it was time for him to disembark from the Forerunner ship and make his way to the planet. I can't wait for it to land, he thought as he made his tactical analysis. Once we've landed normally, it will be infinitely more easy for the Covenant to get into here and kill and/or capture me, something that I can't allow to happen. Still, he knew that there weren't a lot of options left, so he decided to ask Cortana if she had any brilliant ideas. "Cortana, do you have any ideas on how to get out of here?"
"Yes," Cortana replied, "but you probably won't like it."
"We're out of options here. Go ahead."
"I did some scanning of the internal network before I downloaded myself back into your armor. During my probing of the Forerunner ship's computer networks, I detected what I deduced was some kind of artificial intelligence inside the ship. It's probably a fragment of a larger one, but it was fighting back during my attempts to access the ship. As for how all that ties into what I'm going to tell you, I managed to upload a program that will open up the entrance to the chamber we're in once we're at a suitable altitude. Once it opens up, we'll have to perform an orbital drop to the surface, where we should be rescued by UNSC or SKYNET personnel once we land."
That was a viable option, but Chief knew one problem with this plan. "I do not have a reentry pack."
"You won't need one," Cortana countered. "The UNSC fleet is attacking the dreadnought right now. If pieces of the hull start to come off, we can grab one of those pieces and use it to shield us from the heat of reentry. Once we're in the planet's atmosphere, we can safely discard it and crash land. I'll supercharge your suit's gel layer in order to allow you to survive the shock of impact. Any further questions?"
"No," Chief replied. Now that he knew what Cortana was planning, he knew that it was the best option that they had. It's either this, or being captured by the Covenant, he thought to himself. Looking at the entrance, he stumbled slightly as the ship shuddered, presumably from a UNSC MAC that was being fired at ship. COM reports indicated that the dreadnought was easily taking the hits in stride, though a number of Covenant ships that were in the area were being ripped apart by the same attack. "You ready for this," he asked.
"I've been ready," Cortana replied.
With that, Chief got ready for the chamber doors to open up, and widely at that. As soon as he was in position, the chamber doors immediately snapped open, exposing the area he was at to the vacuum of space. Air was sucked out of the chamber, along with him, propelling him out and over the planet of Reach; spotting a piece of the dreadnought's hull, he took a hold of it and placed it in front of himself, creating a makeshift shield against the impending plasma that would form once he began atmospheric reentry. For a brief moment, he caught a glimpse of Reach. While it was clear that the planet had been partially glassed, he could tell that it wasn't as bad as it looked. Portions of the continents were glassed, with those areas being a burnt brown and black on the portions of Reach that were in daylight, but there were even larger sections where the planet was relatively untouched by the Covenant invasion, with these areas filled with shades of brown, green and blue. Even the oceans didn't seem to be that affected, as they were still very much where they were before the glassing began.
It wasn't long, though, before the view began to change, as the hull piece he was holding before himself began to rub against the molecules and atoms in Reach's atmosphere. A faint blue nimbus of plasma began to envelop the front of the hull piece, prompting Chief to move himself behind the piece of hull to the thickest point, which would offer him the most protection from the fiery heat of reentry. He was just in time too, as soon, the blue nimbus turned green, then yellow, then a fiery red-orange as they began reentering Reach's atmosphere. He could feel the piece of hull vibrating in his hands as they fell towards the planet; sound as also returning as well, as he could hear a sound similar to that of a flamethrower or a loud fan being used. Soon, he could hear a howling gale as the fragment of hull began cutting into the planet's atmosphere. Looking to his left, he could barely see the Forerunner Dreadnought, which was fully enveloped in the fiery plasma of reentry. Looking at his suit systems, he could see the temperature rising, prompting his suit's automatic systems to begin flushing the excess heat into the environment, not an easy task given what was going on. At the same time, he could see parts of the hull fragment he was using beginning to glow a dull red-orange, with pieces beginning to tear off of the fragment he was using. Almost time, he thought to himself.
As they continued to fly downwards into the atmosphere, he could tell they were past the danger point, as the plasma around them began to die down. As soon as it had mostly died down, he immediately pushed himself off from the hull fragment, which was now just under half the size that it used to be. Angling his body, he could feel the atmosphere rubbing against his suit as he flew towards the ground. "Chief, get ready," Cortana shouted. "I'm overcharging the gel layer!" As soon as she said this, he could feel the gel layer stiffening as she supercharged the system, getting them ready for a major impact against the ground. As soon as she did, they burst through a layer of clouds that was in the way, revealing a conifer filled forest that was beneath them. Locking his armor, Chief prepared himself for the crash landing. The last thing that he saw before impact was the ground rushing up to meet him, then everything went black.
. . .
Several Hours Later
While the heat from the sun wasn't very much, if at all, as Sergeant Johnson and the other marines began cutting their way through the brush that was ahead of them. Sweat dripped off his upper lip as he advanced forwards, cutting through some brush with a titanium hyperalloy machete as he moved through the thick undergrowth barring their way. Behind him, a Marine grunted as a tree branch that was bent backwards snapped forwards, smacking against his armor with nothing more than a loud TAP. After a moment of listening for any hostiles, they proceeded onward, cutting through the alpine forest as they headed towards their objective.
It had been several hours since Johnson and the others had returned to Reach after leaving Delta Halo behind. After the Brute known as Tartarus had been silenced by Kalmiya, some of the Sangheili had gone their separate ways, though this was due to the fact that the Arbiter needed them elsewhere. One of the younger Sangheili, the one that had shape-shifted, had left because he, as he so eloquently put it, needed to warn his people of the Brute's treachery, necessitating his departure from the battlefield for the near future. Johnson hadn't protested, since he knew he had done the same thing after he had helped Cygni-al Julani evacuate Harvest the first time the Covenant had attacked. Once they had left, the Arbiter had agreed to come with them aboard the In Amber Clad.
When it came to the In Amber Clad, it was clear that the Flood had attempted to board the ship and take it over, as he could see decontamination crews that were busy destroying any trace of the Flood that could infect other people on board the ship the moment they came aboard. From what he had learned, the AI on board the In Amber Clad had detected the impending attack and, activating quarantine protocols, had activated experimental plasma field generators that were built into the various bulkheads of the ship, a technology that had been inspired by a scene from the classic sci-fi series known as Star Trek. The result was an almost invisible barrier of plasma that would prevent anyone from getting through to other sections of the ship. Installed at the airlocks and at strategic points throughout the ship, these PBG (Plasma Barrier Generators) had allowed the AI to, effectively, contain the Flood in the cargo bay and airlocks. Any that attempted to get through were disintegrated by the plasma field generated by the PBG's. After a short, but intense battle, the Marines and Navy personnel on board had managed to neutralize all invading Flood and sealed off the ship, with decon crews going to work cleaning up the resulting biohazard.
Once Miranda was back on the ship, they had activated the Slipstream Space Drive that SKYNET had installed onto the In Amber Clad before it left dry dock back at Tribute, an experimental version that increased the travel speed from 5ly per day, to 500ly per day. This had allowed them to get to Reach in a very short amount of time, with the ship reaching the planet shortly thereafter. When it came to Reach, it was clear that SKYNET had been busy getting the planet back onto it's feet, with AI controlled drones going to work replacing destroyed ecosystems, rebuilding military fortifications, as well as bringing more ODP's into orbit around the partially glassed planet. All of this was due to the fact that Tribute had mostly survived the Battle of Epsilon Eridani intact, with only 15% of Tribute being glassed. During the time period before the Battle of Earth, SKYNET had sent a construction fleet that rebuilt most of the destroyed shipyards and manufacturing facilities, allowing Tribute to begin manufacturing ODP's and UNSC warships at an accelerated pace, thanks to new manufacturing technologies. By the time the Battle of Earth had happened, most of the ODP's that had been destroyed had been replaced, though there were still gaps in the defense grid, gaps that had allowed the Covenant to land on the planet.
That was when the oddest thing began to happen. Near the ruins of the city New Alexandria, SKYNET designed drones had detected a massive increase in seismic activity, with large sections of the city tumbling down into what quickly turned out to be a massive caldera of some kind. At the same time, Covenant warships had begun using their Energy Projectors to excavate large sections of what appeared to be a Forerunner artifact of some kind. It was massive, with the device being roughly 100km in diameter, far larger than New Alexandria had ever been. Due to the device's placement, roughly half of the city had fallen into the caldera once the device had been fully excavated in that area. Johnson would've been sent with several battalions of Marines to investigate, but SKYNET had detected a SPARTAN-II distress beacon coming from an area near the ruins of ONI CASTLE Base, more specifically in the alpine forest that surrounded what was left of the mountain holding the base, and the area the Covenant had effectively strip mined during one of Chief's earlier ops.
All of this had led to their current predicament. Despite the fact that it was still quite cold here, the Marines and the Terminators that were with them were having to cut through centuries of undisturbed undergrowth, as the ONI base had been far away enough that the forests were, relatively speaking, undisturbed and untouched. It was hard, back breaking work, as this undergrowth was healthy, with each branch, root and twig being very difficult to break as a result. More than once, Johnson had tripped on a root that happened to be hidden by the undergrowth, with the Master Sergeant falling flat on his face every time, much to the entertainment of a few Marines. Those same Marines, however, had their own misfortunes, as one Marine happened to slip on a patch of ice, causing the man to tumble ass over teakettle down a 45° drop in front of them. While he was alright, he definitely had his fair share of bruises by the time his barely controlled tumble came to a stop. On top of that, the fact they were working through brush meant that they were all getting fairly sweaty. Thankfully, the Terminators did most of the heavy work, as they were able to chop and cut through thick debris and undergrowth with minimal difficulty.
Still, by the time they were within twenty meters of the distress signal, Johnson was hot, sweaty, and grumpy. Cutting through some more undergrowth, he took a step forwards, only to shout when he nearly fell on face again, with the Master Sergeant barely catching himself from falling. Looking up, he could see that he had nearly tumbled headlong into what appeared to be an impact crater, with a small impact trail that he was just about to walk into. The woods in this area were slightly burnt, though the fresh snowfall meant that the fires had quickly gone out due to how wet everything was. Looking up, he thought he saw a familiar shape in the dirt. "Mendoza," he shouted, "get over here, now!" As the Marine in question came over, Johnson moved forwards to see what the shape was. His breath caught slightly when he saw the familiar armor that he knew only one Spartan wore all the time. "It's Chief," he noted a moment later. Turning to Mendoza, he asked, "What happened here?"
"If I had to guess, I'd say he fell from orbit," Mendoza answered. "It would make sense, given how deep the caldera is."
"Is he alive, boy?"
"Still working that out. Gel layer could've taken most of the impact if it was supercharged. His armor's locked up still. Let me see if I can get it unlocked." Pulling out a data pad, he linked it with the MJOLNIR suit's systems before pressing in a few commands. Moments later, the armor unlocked, with Chief's body slumping into a more natural position. "Computer's acting up somewhat," Mendoza reported. "I can't tell if he's alive or not. Hopefully, he is."
Walking over to the Spartan, Johnson took out his cigar and lit it, taking a few puffs before blowing out some smoke. "Get a Pelican in here," he ordered. "Heavy lifting equipment. We're not leaving him here." With that, he reached over to pull out the AI chip in Chief's helmet.
He nearly jumped a good two feet into the air when an armored gauntlet reached up and took a hold, with the Spartan standing up none the worse for wear. "Yeah, you're not," Chief replied.
"Crazy bastard," Johnson growled. "Why do you always jump? Sooner or later, you're going to land on something that's as stubborn as you are, and I don't do bits and pieces!" While he sounded angry, it was clear to the Marines that Johnson was happy to see that the Spartan was alive and well. After a moment, he asked, "Chief, is Cortana in there still."
"Of course I am," Cortana remarked. "What? Do you think I would be still stuck on High Charity, without so much as a way out? You wound me, Sergeant." While she sounded indignant, it was clear that Cortana was joking.
"Good to hear that you're doing well still," Johnson beamed. "There's one more thing, though. SKYNET said that there was a Terminator that was with you guys on that Covie space station. Did she come with you?"
For a moment, Chief remembered the words that Sangheili Terminator had told him. After a moment, he said, "She stayed behind on High Charity."
"I see," Johnson remarked. "We'll have to tell SKYNET that, but I'm certain she wouldn't stay unless she had a good reason to do so." Clearing his throat, he said, "I'm certain you're curious as to what's going on, so I'll fill you in on the details. The Covenant are attacking Reach once again, though we've been able to destroy most of their ships. Thing is, they came with one big ship that managed to get through a gap in our defenses. It's landed in some kind of Forerunner device that New Alexandria was built over partially. Now, they're digging a mighty big hole, and no one knows what that thing does."
Once Johnson finished speaking, Chief knew what was going on. Apparently, that Forerunner device was what the High Prophet of Truth was looking for, and had just found. It that was the case, then it was likely that it might pose an extinction level threat to Humanity, the Sangheili and any other people that were allied against the Covenant. We have to stop him from activating whatever it is. Looking at Johnson, he asked, "Is it designed to activate Halo?"
"SKYNET doesn't think so," Johnson replied. "According to it, the Halo Array can't be activated unless it's done locally, or if all of them are turned on. Yes, I said 'Array' because there's more than one. Apparently, the Forerunners designed the entire system so that it can be activated from some fancy smancy place called the 'Lesser Ark', whatever it does. That's probably why that cocky bastard came here in the first place: he's trying to find a way to get to the Ark."
"Noted," Chief replied. It would make sense as to what the device would do, and it was likely that SKYNET had figured out that part already. "I'm fit for duty." As he said this, he began to walk forwards, but then he noticed that he couldn't move very well, as his range of movement was quite limited.
"Oops," Mendoza winced. "Sorry about that. Your armor's still in partial lock-down. Cortana?"
"Working on it," Cortana replied. Moments later, there were some silent clicking sounds as the rest of Chief's armor unlocked itself. Moving his legs and arms around, he made sure none of his limbs were broken before reaching over to grab an MA5E and an M6E from one of the Marines. As he did so, he thought he spotted a slight shimmer in the air, just barely visible to the enhanced eyes that a Spartan had. The silhouette was all he needed to know, however, as he promptly rushed forwards, sidearm in hand, and jammed the muzzle of the weapon where the jaw would be. Moments later, a Sangheili wearing ornate, steel gray and black armor faded into visibility, with the muzzle of Chief's weapon planted firmly against the underside of his helmet.
"WOAH," Johnson shouted. "Easy, Chief! He's on our side! Come on now, we don't need you two trying to kill each other."
At that, Chief remembered his encounter with N'tho, back on High Charity. If N'tho was willing to defect from the Covenant, then it was likely that this Sangheili was working with the Marines as well; the recent regime change in the Covenant probably meant that all Sangheili were cut off from their former allies. Instead of pulling the trigger, he slowly lowered his weapon, though he kept it unholstered in the event that he needed to use it. Fortunately, he didn't need to, as the Sangheili moved his mandibles somewhat before saying, "Were it so easy…" Turning to Johnson, he said, "We must leave. The Brutes have our scent."
"Then I guess they like the smell of badass," Johnson smiled. "Let's move out. If anyone sees any Covenant, holler and we'll take 'em out. Chief, you do what you do best. Just like old times." Nodding, Chief put away his sidearm before pulling out his MA5E. Once he was certain that it was ready, he advanced forwards, moving through the thick, alpine brush with ease.
He was about to exit the clearing when he heard a familiar voice. "Master Chief, are you uninjured." Turning to his left, he could see a very familiar Terminator walking into view.
"Yes," he said to Parsons.
"Excellent. We are leaving for the rendezvous point. A Pelican is coming to retrieve us at the nearby hydroelectric dam that is still intact in this region. Once we have been retrieved, we are going to head to the newly constructed FOB near the ruins of New Alexandria."
"Is there anyone else coming?"
"General Connor is present on the planet. He is coordinating the ground effort against the Covenant."
With that, the group proceeded forwards in silence, moving through the brush as quietly as they could. It was a task easier said than done, as most of the branches had no snow, thanks to Chief's crash landing in the area. Fortunately, the snow that was on the ground muffled most of their movements, and once they were backtracking out of the area, it was easy for them to muffle their movements, now that they didn't have any branches and other things to worry about. As they moved along, he could hear some more grass rustling in the area around them, as well as Motion Tracker contacts on his HUD. Fortunately, the dots were not red in color, but were actually white, indicating that this was the local fauna in the area. Still, he had a feeling that he was being watched, and by someone that was less than friendly. As they proceeded forwards, he spotted a contact on his Tracker, with this one being a bright red color. "Get down," he whispered to the others. Hearing his order, the others quickly got low to the ground, while he advanced ahead to see what the contact was. Moving through some brush, he found himself looking at a Brute that was up ahead, it's body mostly covered up with what appeared to be powered armor of some kind. If the color scheming was still the same, this Brute was most likely a Major, as it's color was brass in coloration. "Brute Major, up ahead," he reported. "Has a few Grunts around him."
"Most likely the leader of a squad in the area," Johnson replied. "Arbiter, what's your take on it?"
"The same as yours," Thel agreed. 'Be careful. If we alert him right now, we run the risk of being killed before we can reach the dam."
"Agreed," Chief replied. While he knew it was their duty to fight, he knew that sometimes the best way to accomplish an objective was to do so quietly. Instead of engaging the Brute immediately, the squad began to quietly move around the Brutes that were in the area, using the dense foliage to their advantage. Since most of their armor was olive drab, with winter camouflage in this case, it was easy for them to quietly sneak around the group, though the brush made it difficult to keep quiet. They had a close call when Mendoza stepped on a twig, with a loud CRACK echoing in the clearing. That had prompted the group to remain still until they could determine that the Brutes hadn't found them. Once it was certain they hadn't been detected, they continued on without further incident. It was when they were halfway to the dam that things began to heat up, and considerably so at that. As they moved towards another clearing, Chief could see what appeared to be a large number of Brutes that were in the area, as well as a lot of Jackals, Grunts, and some Drones that were in the area. Most of the aliens were concentrated around a number of sheds that were near the river bed, most likely storage sheds for equipment for maintenance workers. A small dock was in the area, as well as a few boats, though they had been intentionally sunk at this point. Looking around, he could tell that there was no real way of bypassing the group without casualties occurring. "Fifty targets," he reported. "Five Brutes, and an assortment of Grunts and Jackals. We've also got some Drones in the area as well."
"Copy that," Johnson nodded. "We'll have to go through 'em if we're going to get to the dam for extraction." Reaching into his satchel, he pulled out a more cylindrical grenade than the standard M16 HE/P grenade. "Flash-bang," he explained. "Should blind them long enough for us to take them down without getting a scratch. Just make sure your helmets are ready to cancel out the flash and blast." With that, the Marines made sure their helmets were ready, with Chief doing the same, while the Arbiter simply covered his eyes with a hand, allowing his helmet to handle his earholes. As soon as Chief gave the signal, Johnson pressed the button and tossed the grenade towards the Brutes. As soon as the grenade landed, there was a loud, concussive BANG as the M24 Disorientation Grenade detonated, combined with an intense flash of white light that lit the area up somewhat. The effect was immediate, as the Jackals and Grunts stumbled around, their senses assailed by the loud sound. The Brutes were only slightly better off, as their armor shielded them from some of the effects, though it was clear that they were disoriented as well. While the enemy personnel stumbled around, Johnson and the others opened fire, spraying the group with phased plasma. In the short amount of time that they had, all the Brutes were killed, most of the Jackals and Grunts were dead, and the Drones hovering over the group had been wiped out. "Hah," Johnson laughed as they neutralized the last of the hostiles. "Didn't see that one coming, did they!"
Continuing on, they began approaching a series of narrow pathways that would take them to the hydroelectric dam that was in the area, with those pathways moving up the side of a cliff, leaving them somewhat exposed to the elements. Since they were in mountainous terrain, most of these paths were quite narrow, enough that they had to travel in single file to avoid falling off the side of the mountain. As he walked along the cliff, Chief watched as a Marine up ahead accidentally dislodged some rocks, with the pieces falling down towards the ground, which was a good 400m below them. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he turned around to see the Arbiter holding onto him for support. Since he was larger, Thel was having a difficult time navigating the terrain, and the size of his hoofs meant that he had to watch where he stepped, otherwise he risked tumbling off the path to a very grizzly end. "Be careful," he advised the Arbiter, who replied with a silent nod. While the path was narrow, they moved quickly in order to avoid being targeted, since they were out in the open.
Eventually, they reached the hydroelectric dam that was ahead of their position. It was probably the largest hydroelectric dam on the planet Reach, reaching a similar size as the historic Hoover Dam back on Earth. The damn was shaped in a convex pattern, with the polycrete structure extending into the artificial lake somewhat. The structure was anchored to the walls of the canyon they were in with massive polycrete structures that were reinforced with titanium beams. A small roadway traversed the top of the dam, with buildings that served as access centers for the turbine controls. Covenant forces were present here, with a Phantom dropping off Covenant reinforcements, with a number of Brutes on the dam as well. "Looks like the Covenant are occupying our LZ," Johnson growled. "We're gonna have to take 'em out before we can get extracted. Any ideas, anyone?"
"I've got one," a Marine suggested. "We can have SKYNET deploy some incendiary bombs and incinerate the enemies on the dam. It shouldn't cause the dam any harm at all, and we'll be able to move through without any trouble at all."
"Sounds like a good idea," Johnson agreed. Keying his COM, he said, "SKYNET, you there?"
"Yes," came the reply.
"Good. We need a fire support drone to deploy some incendiary devices on the dam ahead of us. Target grid is Whiskey-0-1-4."
"Affirmative. Napalm D bombardment inbound. ETA: 2 minutes."
"Affirmative. Johnson out." Closing the COM, he said, "OK, people. The bombing probably won't kill all of 'em, so get ready to take 'em out as soon as the bombing is finished. Understood?"
"Understood," Chief and the others replied. With that, they continued along the path, eventually reaching the service road that led to the hydroelectric dam. As soon as as they were on the road, the bombardment began. Chief watched as a SKYNET HK Aerial deployed a clear colored substance into the air. Apparently, it was pyrophoric, as the moment it became small droplets, the flammable substance ignited. In one second, the entire dam's traversable length was covered with blue-white flames as the Napalm D immediately went to work. Jackals, Grunts and Brutes alike screamed in agony as the flames began licking at and consuming their bodies, with the aliens stumbling around in a futile attempt to put out the flames. Even a pair of Hunters on the Bridge were roaring in agony, as the fire began eating through the colonies of worms that composed their bodies. Within a half-minute, most of the Covenant forces on the dam were dead. Those that survived were either very badly burned, or were choking from the fumes generated, though they still had the will to fight. Once the flames died down, Chief and the others advanced forwards, moving around still burning corpses and the charred remains of others. The intense heat generated by the fire had caused the body suits of the aliens to melt, with the remains bubbling on the ground, while the nanolaminate armor they wore was red-hot in color. Spotting some Covenant that were still alive, the team began to open fire, weapons blazing as they cut down the survivors of the attack. Spotting a Brute Chieftain, Chief narrowly dodged a swing from it's Gravity Hammer, before using said Hammer to run up and kick the alien in the face, disorienting it long enough for the Arbiter to impale the ape-like alien with his Energy Sword, killing it instantly.
As they disposed of the last Covenant, Chief looked up to see a Pelican inbound. "Wow," the pilot remarked as he pulled the VTOL in for a landing. "That's one really cooked up dam. Get your asses on board. General Connor needs you back at the New Alexandria FOB. They're calling it 'Resistance HQ.'" Nodding in agreement, Chief got onto the VTOL, followed shortly by the Arbiter and the others in the area. As they took off, he knew one thing: the war was escalating, and fast.
