Chapter 23: The Ark-Part 1
AN's: Now we begin the Battle of Installation 00 (The Ark). I'm splitting this into two parts to cover both NOBLE Strike and Recon's perspectives, in that order. This part will follow the first part of the level "The Ark" very closely, but part two will be almost entirely original, following Carter, Kat, and Jun's journey to find the Cartographer. On a side note, does anyone know how to make your character in Reach look like a SPARTAN-II in MJOLNIR MK. 5 (A) PAA? I just bought the helmet (God, that took a while!) and wanted to know. OH SHIT! I just realized: I never gave a description of Six/James armor, so here it is. Helmet: Pilot (CNM), Left Shoulder: CQC, Right Shoulder: ODST, Chest: HP/ Parafoil, Wrist: UA/Buckler, Utility: Tactical/Hard Case, Visor Color: Silver, Knee Guards: FJ/Para. Sorry about that. Next chapter I'll reveal a little more about what's going to happen after the destruction of Installation 04B. Last but not least, check out my profile, I have some story ideas I've been thinking of, and I'd like to see what you think of them, and which ones I should start on.
The back hatch of the Pelican dropship opened as the craft neared the drop zone. The Master Chief, Emile, Jorge, and James, flanked by 4 ODST's specializing in covert insertions, jumped out of the back. "Whoa. Guys, look in the sky. Is that what I think it is?" "Yep. We're outside the galaxy now." "Think about this: We're the first humans to set foot outside of the Milky Way galaxy. That's big." "Yeah, we get it, James. It's a big deal. But we have more important things to do right now, like saving that galaxy from a megalomaniacal Prophet who wants to exterminate all life. Now let's go."
The team climbed up a sheer cliff face to get a good view on the nearby Covenant Loyalist outpost. The ODST's had climbed up as the Spartans discussed their location in the universe, and now they followed. "Got a good angle here. You get first shot, Chief." John put his AR on his back and loaded a clip into his SR99C-S2-AM Sniper Rifle. He set the crosshairs of the scope on a Brute Captain's mouth and fired. The 12.5X114mm Armor piercing round tore through the Captain's mouth and severed its spinal cord, killing it and the two Grunts that happened to be walking behind it at that moment. Then, all hell broke loose: Jorge, who had abandoned his preferred HMG in favor of dual-wielding an MA5C AR and a BR55 Battle Rifle, and Emile jumped down off the cliff to engage the aliens in a more gruesome fashion, while John, James and the ODST's stayed on the cliff ledge, taking pot shots at the aliens that Jorge and Emile missed or didn't get to fast enough.
A minute later, all the Brutes and Grunts were dead, and Emile was finishing off the last Jackal sniper. "Will you just kill it already? You've been slicing its arms and legs for the last 5 minutes." "You denied me this the last time, and I'm gonna make this thing suffer." "Fine. Catch up with us when you're done, okay?" Emile had already gone back to torturing the poor Jackal, so the rest of the team left to find an LZ for Commander Keyes. "You think that was smart?" "His problem." "Carter's gonna be pissed." "Emile's done this a few times, which is why he isn't allowed to run counter-insurgency ops anymore; made the Spartans look bad." "Wait, then why did he go to Visegrad Relay on Reach if you were expecting Innies?" "Don't ask me. I don't know. Wait… how do you know about Visegrad?" "ONI never erased Six's video files, so I looked through them when we weren't doing anything else." "Those missions were classified top secret, James." "I know." "Then why did you look at them?" "I don't know. Wanted to see where ONI had sent you guys before I met Six in space."
Emile caught up a few minutes later, as the group neared the crash site of a Pelican dropship. "We spotted a good LZ before we went down. If we can get to our vehicles, we'll show you." There were 5 Brutes and 4 Jackals surrounding the crash site, with a pair of flipped Mongoose ATV's behind them. "Here's the plan: Emile and Jorge, hang back until me and James start firing so that we don't give away our position early. Troopers, see if you can sneak around behind them and then wait for my signal." The ODST's lay down in the sand and crawled off to get behind the Brutes and Jackals, while Emile, Jorge, and the two surviving marines crept back behind a pair of large rocks. "We're in position, Chief." "Roger… go." The ODST's jumped up and sprayed the Covenant bastards with lead from M7S SMG's and MA5C Assault Rifles, while James and the Chief opened up with DMR and Sniper Rifle fire. "WEAPONS FREE!" Emile and Jorge jumped into the fray as well, mauling down 2 Brutes before they even knew that there were Demons attacking them.
In the span of 20 seconds, all of the Jackals were dead, and Emile blew the head off of the last Brute. "What the…" "Relax, he don't mean nothing. He's in his element right now." "Which is…?" "Those times where I get to show you jar-heads how to run a CQC op." "Sometimes, I think he should have led a CQC squad." "He probably was going to, until he was pulled from Alpha Company and assigned to NOBLE." "Damn right, I was. But I don't mind being transferred." John and James grabbed a Mongoose, while Emile took another and an ODST joined him. Jorge jumped in the driver's seat of a Spectre LRV and the three other ODST's joined him. "Let's roll!" The team took off towards the crash site of a Longsword interceptor, but found nothing but Brutes and Grunts and the hull of the fighter. "Damn!" The Chief took off towards a nearby cave, and found the LZ that the now deceased marines had told him of.
There were two AA Wraith tanks shooting at a midair battle between UNSC Hornets and Covenant Banshees, while a pack of Brutes and a regular Wraith guarded them. John gunned the Mongoose towards the Wraith while James readied a rocket launched he had found at the Pelican crash site. He emptied both tubes, destroying the Wraith before it knew he had fired. James jumped off the back and sprinted to the first AA Wraith, jumped on the back, and slammed a plasma grenade into the core, he then jumped off before it went off and was on the second AA Wraith before the grenade detonated. The second followed the first, and soon, the area was clear for the Dawn to enter. "Uh… Guys? Is the Dawn rated for orbit?" "I guess we'll find out, Corporal. Here she comes!" The UNSC Forward Unto Dawn streaked over the horizon and came to a stop over the LZ. "Thanks, Spartans. I don't know if the Dawn would have lasted much longer up there. Come to the back of the frigate. A platform slowly came down from the ship, containing three Scorpion Tanks and two Gauss Warthogs. "NOBLE Strike, this is NOBLE Recon." "NOBLE Strike. Go ahead, Carter." "We've found a structure that matches Cortana's description of the Cartographer on the first Halo. But the door's locked." "That is not a problem, Reclaimer. I would be pleased to open it for you." "That's great. Get here soon, Chief. Recon out."
