Chapter 18: Prepare to Drop

Authors Notes- The Halo 2 section of the book is done, and now we begin with Halo 3. This has always been one of my favorite games, except for Reach. This chapter will be very long and original, save for a few spots where I draw on the game for knowledge. But for now, rate, review, and enjoy. Off Topic, sorry for the large gap between updates, this chapter was very long and tedious and hard to write.

Earth Defense Platform Cairo, Coordinating defense of Earth. December 25, 2552 (Merry Christmas… NOT!)

As the Battle for Earth raged in orbit above the planet, and the Covenant secured the ruins of New Mombasa, the Forerunner Ship emerged from Slipspace and raced towards the planet. On the bridge of the Cairo, one of the officers turned in his chair to face Lord Hood, who was looking out of the viewport at the battle. "Sir, new contact, Unknown classification!" "Then it isn't one of ours. Destroy it!" "Yes, sir." Another officer informed him of an outbound communication from the ship. "Patch it through, Lieutenant." "Aye, sir." The speakers on the bridge buzzed to life. "This is Spartan 117. Can anyone hear me? Over." "Lieutenant, isolate that signal, now." "Already on it sir. Establishing link to Sierra 117 now. Go ahead, sir." "Master Chief, you mind telling me what you're doing on that ship?" "Sir, finishing this fight." The first officer told him that another new contact had been found. "What is it, Ensign?" "Too far away to tell, sir. Maybe the Chief can tell us." "Master Chief, we just picked up a new contact. Do you see it?" "Yes, sir. Jun, what is it?" "Looks like one of the old Phoenix-class colony ships." "That can't be right. The only two that survived the war to date are the Crossroads of Sol and the Spirit of Fire, but both are reported MIA." "Sir, transmission, from the ship." "Patch it through, Jun" "On it." The comm unit filled with static with only a few breaks. "Mayday ~~~ This is ~~~ of the UNSC ~~~ request ~ assist ~~~~." "I can't clear it up, sir." "Alright, Jun. Chief, send one of your Spartans to secure the ship." "On it, sir."

John-117 was surveying his remaining Spartans to decide which to send to the Phoenix-class ship, when Six stepped forward. "I'll go, Chief. I'm the only one with a thruster pack to help get there." "Alright, Six. Jun, can you get a lock on the ships position and an outbound trajectory for him?" "I can try, but I'm no whiz at this stuff like Kat was." "Well, at least give it a shot." "I've got a lock! I'd guess about 60% accuracy. That's the best I can do." "I'll take it. Chief, if this goes south; it's been an honor to serve with you again." "It's been an honor for me too, James." James-005, one of the last remaining SPARTAN II's, took a running start, and with the help of his thruster pack, took a giant leap off of the back of the Forerunner ship.

Jorge skimmed through the public roster of all the SPARTAN-II's, and found that all but a few were listed as MIA or WIA. He closed the roster, and opened up the ONI logs, and found that only a handful were truly MIA, with most being KIA. One of the truly MIA Spartans was James-005, and his CSV had a file attached. Jorge opened it, and found a video from John's last mission on Reach. It showed James' EVA pack taking a hit from a Needler and the fuel venting violently when the projectile shattered, throwing James into space. He closed the file, and opened up a log of all KNOWN SPARTAN-II missions. He found the file, and opened a private com channel to John. "John, James is reported as MIA, says on the logs that he went missing on Reach." "I'm well aware of that." "How is he here then? This seems awfully suspicious." "It did for me too, Jorge. Then Cortana told me that Six was James just before we left High Charity." "Alright, but this still seems a little odd to me." (Here comes a really long part. Longer than Chapter 5.)

James reflected his last time using a thruster pack in space. He, John, and another Spartan, Linda, who ironically shared Jorge's service tag, were sent to destroy an unsecured navigation database during the Fall of Reach which would have led the Covenant straight to Earth. As the three were hunting for the ship, a Covenant carrier had deployed EVA troops, many with Needlers or Needle Rifles. The Covenant troops opened fire, filling the void with needles, one of which had hit James' EVA pack, causing the fuel to vent quite violently. He had ditched the pack, but not before being shot into orbit around Reach. He had drifted for about an hour before something had grabbed his leg and proceeded to pull him down to the planet's surface, which he found to be another Spartan, NOBLE Six. Six had been looking "up" for a while, and James followed him to find another Super-Carrier being torn into three pieces by a Slipspace bomb. The two had crashed near the city of New Alexandria, which was currently under siege by the Covenant. In the city, they learned of an ongoing evacuation at Traxus Towers. They had ventured through the sub-levels of a nearby building, and found them infested with Suicide Grunts. One of them blew up near Six, which put him flat on his ass, and weakened his shielding and disabled his motion tracker. The pair found their way out and linked up with a group of marines trying to reach the evac site. "Kilo Dispatch, this is Kilo One-Seven, we've picked up a pair of Spartans." "Kilo One-Seven, I have ONI brass bitching and carrying on in my ear about God-knows-the-fuck-what. Please repeat that." "We picked up a pair of Spartans just now." "Good to know... Sergeant, I have a Spartan Commander requesting the service tags of those two. He says that he has two Spartans that are MIA." James tapped into the chatter. "Kilo Dispatch, this is Spartan-005 along with Spartan-312 of NOBLE Team. Tell the Commander that he lost one on the Covenant Super-Carrier that they destroyed in orbit." "Will do, Spartan. Help those marines however you can. There is an ongoing evacuation at Traxus Towers. They could use your help." "Got it, sir." The fireteam had fought their way to an adjacent building to Traxus when an ODST approached the Spartans. "Spartans, I'm Sergeant Edward Buck, second-in-command of the 35th Air Tactics Squad of the 105th Drop Jet Infantry. We could use your help clearing a path to the evac site. There's a pair of jetpacks back this way." James noticed a bullfrog insignia of Buck's shoulder guard as he led the pair towards the jetpacks. Once James and Six had retrieved the packs, Buck led them out to a nearby ledge where another ODST greeted them. "Welcome to the Bullfrogs! We're gonna jump to the other building way over there. Try to keep up, swabbies." As the Spartans and their new allies were jump-jetting across to their destination, a Brute with a jumppack launched into the air and tackled James to the ground. The Brute ripped off James' helmet and promptly beat the living shit out of him. The Brute also damaged several components of his armor before Six executed it with an M6G Magnum shot to the head. James' helmet had been thrown off of the platform and down to the city streets several hundred stories below. Six helped James up and the pair made it to Traxus Towers without any more incidents. As they finished clearing the building for evac, Kilo Dispatch contacted them again. "Spartans, this is Kilo Dispatch, there's another ongoing evac a few klicks due west of your position, but they can't start because that Corvette over the city is destroying all of the transports. There's a pair missile batteries nearby that will drive off that corvette, but they're offline. I need you to get them back up and running, Spartans." "We're on it, Dispatch." A Falcon landed on the pad, and an ODST started barking orders. "Alright, boys and girls, the Spartans are leaving us to go activate the missile batteries in the nearby park. Sergeant Buck, I want you to go with them." "Sir? Wouldn't it be better if I stayed and helped keep the pad secure?" "DO NOT QUESTION MY ORDERS, SERGEANT, OR I WILL MAKE YOU GO ALONE!" "SIR, YES SIR!" "Now that's what I like to hear, marine!" James, Six and Buck climbed into the Falcon. "Buck, are you okay? You don't seem like you want to be here." "I don't. The reason I ended up with the Bullfrogs is because my old unit got slagged trying to defend the very battery we're going after." "Great… how long ago was that?" "About 48 hours ago." As they neared the park where the batteries were, a marine on the ground started briefing them. "Spartans, I'm Staff-Sergeant Augustus Cole, with the 22nd marine QRF. We're here to help you get those missile batteries back online, but we need to punch a hole into the park first. Covies have the place secured, so it's gonna be a fight." "Roger that, Staff Sergeant. Is there any armor in the area we can use?" "Negative, but there are a couple of Gauss Warthogs here with us." The Falcon landed practically on top of the marine QRF, and the Spartans, plus Buck, jumped out shooting, taking down a Jackal patrol pinning the marines down. A marine, presumably Cole, jogged up to them. "Man, am I glad to see you guys. Come on, the 'Hogs are this way." The trio jumped into one of the Gauss 'Hogs, while a trio of marines jumped into the other and sped off towards the park. James took off after them, and found the 'Hog a smoldering wreck after it was hit by a Wraith mortar round. "Damn, no survivors. Six, first missile battery's over there, you and Buck go activate that one, I'll get the other." "Roger." Six and Buck jumped out, and James sped off towards the other missile battery. When he got there and activated it, Six pinged him, indicating that he and Buck had done the same. "Spartans, it's Cole again. There should be an activator in the main building due north. Head on over and get those batteries firing again." "Roger that. Six, I'll meet you at the main walkway. Do you still have your jetpack?" "Of course I do, and so does Buck." "Good." A marker appeared on James' HUD, indicating where the activator was. Six and Buck joined him beneath the window where the marker was, and the trio jumped up to it. "Evac Control, this is evac transport Echo One, I got Covies all over my transport. I need to take off NOW." "Hang on, Echo One; Spartans are gonna clear the skies for you. It's now or never, Spartans. Hit the button and blow that bastard out of the sky." Six ran up to the activator, but before he could push the button, an Elite Field Marshall charged and stabbed him through his heart with its Energy Sword. "Weak and fragile Demon. Now you die." The Elite removed its Sword from Six's heart, ripped off his helmet, and decapitated Six. James, in a fit of rage, increased the thrust on his jet pack, and rocketed towards the Elite, tackling it to the ground and punching its face until it was a bloody pulp. Buck dragged him off of the mess and activated the missile batteries, driving off the corvette and allowing the evacuation transports to leave. "You saved many lives today, Spartans. Thank you. Echo One out." James heard Six's helmet comm burst with static. He walked over and put Six's helmet on. "…Noble Two. Noble Six, this is Noble Two, do you copy?" "Noble Two, this is Spartan S-005. Six is KIA, as is Noble Five." "How do you know?" "Six was just decapitated by an Elite Field Marshall, and Noble Five stayed behind on the Covenant Cruiser to detonate the bomb manually." "Alright, Spartan. We're sending in a dropship to bring you to the ONI building. Bring Six's body and armor as well." "Will do." James took off Six's helmet. "Buck, regroup with the Bullfrogs, I'm going to the ONI building to link up with his team." "You're not just going to leave him, are you?" "No. they want the body." "Okay. It's been an honor to fight with you, Spartan." "Likewise, trooper." James picked up Six's body and helmet, and walked towards the shore of the beachhead, dropping a flare when he got there. A Pelican dropship landed shortly thereafter and took him to the ONI building in the heart of the besieged city. When the dropship landed, James disembarked and another Spartan walked up to him. "I'm Carter, Noble Team's leader." "I'm James, probably one of the last Spartan II's on Reach. I'm sorry about Five and Six." "You did all you could, Spartan. For now though, let's get Six to the ONI scientists. They want to take a look at his helmet for any details they can use." James hefted Six's body over one shoulder, picked up his helmet with his free hand, and hauled both to the medical wing of the ONI building. "Put his helmet here, Petty Officer. We're anxious to retrieve the data from the Corvette that he destroyed." A little while later, the scientist walked back up to him. "Petty Officer, there's a message in the helmet that appears to be directed to you." James put on Six's helmet, and played the audio file. "James, I know that your armor is damaged beyond repair, but mine isn't. I ask that you make the scientists at ONI repair my armor and give it to you, so that you can be the soldier that I was meant to be. I'll see you on the other side of life, Spartan." James turned to the scientist. "Can you repair his armor?" "It's already done, Petty Officer. We just need to remove yours and put his on you." "Alright, do it." "Follow me please." He took James to a lab where his armor was removed and Six's was put on in a matter of minutes. "Alright, Petty Officer, take a quick walk around the lab and join me at the energy shield testing station when you're ready." After all of the tests had been run, James was called back to the top floor for the team's next mission. (The rest you already know, so I'll stop there. FINALLY!)

James was still a ways off from the Phoenix-Class cruiser when he received a clear transmission from it. "Mayday, mayday. This is Captain James Cutter of the UNSC Spirit of Fire, requesting assistance from any UNSC forces in the area." "Spirit of Fire, this is Spartan-005 on course to intercept. How's the ship doing?" "Spartan, we've been drifting through space for 20 years. The ship is a wreck: hull breaches galore, Slipspace drive thrown out the window and the reactor has failed. I'm using my personal communicator to talk to you, so any assistance is appreciated." "Alright, Captain. I need a place to land." "The docking bays are all open, Spartan. I'll transmit the layout of the ship so that you can come to the bridge." Alright… shit. Captain, you've got a Covenant Corvette on an intercept course, starboard side. Looks like they're going to deploy boarding teams to take over the ship."

"Alright. Lieutenant Mathery! See if you can bring the reactors online at all, then ready the fireteams to defend against incoming boarders." "Yes, sir. Reactors can be pushed to 30%, no more, and even then, they'll have to be shut down in 15 minutes to prevent meltdown." "Then give me 30%." "Reactor is online, sir." "Mayday, mayday. This is Captain James Cutter of the UNSC Spirit of Fire to all UNSC ships in the area. We have a Covenant Corvette approaching, and our MAC system and all Archer missile pods are disabled. We need assistance now." "Spirit of Fire, this is the UNSC Gettysburg, we'll arrive in 2 minutes to assist, hang in there." "Much appreciated, Gettysburg."

James landed in one of the hangar bays and found three other Spartans waiting for him there. "Let's get to the bridge, James." "Lead the way, Douglas." The Spartans of Red Team took him to the bridge, where Captain Cutter was standing at a tactical overview of the ship with a marine and a civilian scientist. "Spartan, this is Sergeant John Forge, he'll be going with you to secure the ship." "Alright. When I was outside, the corvette was about 5000 kilometers off from the ship, so they'll probably be launching transports within about 15 minutes." "The Gettysburg is also on station now, and they've deployed Longsword interceptors to take out some of the transports." "Sir, Covenant boarding craft have been launched! ETA is about a minute." "Scramble combat teams throughout the ship, Lieutenant. Ensign Havers, what's the status on the MAC and Archer systems?" "Archer pods 7-30 are destroyed, and all others but 1-6 are still offline. MAC system can only fire 2 rounds before critical shutdown is necessary, sir." "Remove safeties on Archer pods 1-6, and load a heavy round into the MAC system. Lieutenant Mathery, push the reactors to 50%, and divert all the power you can to charge the MAC system." "Yes, sir! Reactor at 50%, primary coolant will overheat in 5 minutes, sir." "Ensign Havers, get me a firing solution for the MAC, and fire when ready." "Yes, sir. Covenant boarding craft ETA 30 seconds." "Prepare firing solutions for the Archer pods to target those craft, Ensign." "Firing solution in 2 seconds… acquired. Firing."

The ship barely rattled as 180 high explosive missiles burst out of the pods, then shook like a tall building in an earthquake as the MAC fired its 600 ton solid depleted uranium round. James was thrown to the floor along with Sergeant Forge. James sprang to his feet and helped Forge up. "Sergeant, I need a weapon." "So do I. Let's find an armory." "Captain, permission to leave the bridge?" "For what purpose, Petty Officer?" "Weapons check and final preparations to defend the ship against boarders, sir." "Granted. I'll be in touch to give you locations on the boarding craft." "Thank you, sir." James, Forge, and the three other Spartans left the bridge to find an armory.

"Petty Officer, it's Captain Cutter. Multiple boarding craft about to impact, estimated strength at 7 craft, with 3 platoons in each." "How many were shot down?" "More than double the number about to hit." "Didn't the shipboard AI take care of the point defense, sir?" "Our AI, Serina, degraded just 3 years after we went MIA. There is no AI to mount point defense." "Oh…" A bang resounded throughout the ship. "They're latched on deck 3, near port hangar bay 5. Get down there now." "On it, sir." On the way, the group found an armory, and Forge took only an M90 Tactical Shotgun, while James took an M395 DMR and an MA5B Assault Rifle, and the Spartans of Red Team, Jerome, Alice, and Douglas, took a Spartan Laser, a Machine Gun Turret, and a Shotgun, respectively. They each also grabbed a full load of ammo and grenades, and left for port hangar 5.

Back on the Forerunner ship, the other four Spartans were trying to find a way to leave the ship before it landed and without dying on hitting the ground if they jumped off. "We could jump off onto one of the Platforms, and then take a Pelican down." "No… too much risk of missing, Carter, and we don't have thruster packs like James to correct our approach." "How about locking our armor on the way down and aiming for water?" "Jun, that's a terrible idea. First of all, we have no idea where we will descend, so we could land in the middle of a desert where there is no water. Second, there is a gigantic risk of death on impact since we don't have anything to cushion a fall from orbit. We may be crazy, but we're not ODST crazy: we don't jump from orbit with just a thin skin of armor to protect us." "Sorry I put the idea out, John." "What about hijacking a Covenant ship and stealing a Phantom down to the surface?" "That's not a half bad idea, Jorge." "Okay, now you're just playing favorites, John." "His idea is genuinely good, Jun." "Riiiiiiight." "Okay, what if the Covenant detect us and vaporize us before we even get near the ship, and even if we get on, we would need to find the hangar bay. And also, I don't expect them to just let us in and take a Phantom from them." Their comms buzzed to life. "Hey guys, it's James. That Phoenix was the Spirit of Fire, and I found a couple more II's and a Pelican." "Wait, the ship is secure, right?" "Yeah, of course." "Okay. If we jump off the back of this ship, can you swing in and pick us up?" "Sure, John." "Okay, we'll jump and drop a beacon for you." "I'll wait for your signal, boss." John cut the link. "Let's go, Noble Team." "Okay, if we're going to reform the NOBLE, then I think I'm the CO." "Fine, Commander." "Well, what are you waiting for, Noble? Let's get going!" The unofficially reformed Team NOBLE, or at least the members that were on the ship, jumped off the back, and John dropped a beacon for James to find. A few minutes later, a Pelican flew up beside them and the back door dropped open. Four Spartans stood in the doorway. "Master Chief, sir!" "Good to see more Spartans alive and kicking." "Sorry we can't accompany you any farther than the surface, sir. We're needed elsewhere on Earth. "Understandable. Tell James that he's a crack pilot." "Actually, that's not James." The intercom buzzed to life. "Yeah… name's Sergeant John Forge. UNSC marine." "Well, I'll be damned." "Let's get going. Where to, Master Chief?" "I'll be able to answer that one for you, Sergeant." "Who the hell are you?" "Name's Sergeant-Major Avery Junior Johnson. Just call me Johnson." "Okay. So where are you, exactly?" "Look behind you." The Spartans turned and found themselves staring… at a Covenant Carrier.