Chapter 33: Dawn

WELCOME, GUEST! PLEASE SIGN IN TO CONTINUE. USERNAME: (REDACTED) PASSWORD: (REDACTED) PLEASE INSERT 5 DOLLARS TO CONTINUE. PROCESSING… WELCOME, RECLAIMER! YOU HAVE ONE UNREAD MESSAGE.

FROM: ALPHAGUARDIAN.

SUBJECT: SND CHAPTER 33.

From now on, I'm using the level names for the chapter names. Just thought I'd let you guys know. Also, expect updates to be tapered down to one a week, at least in theory. Lastly: I'll be posting up my Halo-Mass Effect crossover simultaneously with chapter…36, which corresponds to the level Infinity on Halo 4. So there you go! Enjoy, meatbags- uh… friends. (Smiles nervously at reader.) (Oh shit. Hope they didn't notice that. [Reassuring Statement: Of course not, Master. The meatbags are too busy reading to catch one little slip-up.] Shut up, you stupid droid.)

UNSC Forward Unto Dawn. Cryo Bay. Unknown date, 2557. In orbit around unknown planet.

For 4 years, the gutted remains of the Dawn had floated lifelessly through space. Now its only occupants, the three Spartans, were woken up by their AI companion, who had watched over them the whole time.

"Wake up." She pleaded as they slowly came back from their long sleep.

"I need you."

To her left, a cryo pod swung open and Emile A-239 fell to the deck, removing his helmet just before throwing up the nutrient surfactants from the pods.

"I will never get used to quick-thaws." He commented between heaves.

Two other pod doors opened, and John S-117 and James S-005 stepped out, unaffected by the cryosleep.

"We still on the Dawn?" James asked.

"Yes." Cortana replied.

"Why did you wake us?" John asked.

"Intrusion alerts on multiple decks. Yank me and let's go."

John did so, and the three left the cryo bay. Unfortunately, four years in the cold vacuum of space does not do a weapon good, so the Spartans had to scavenge what they could.

"Our best bet to find out who's boarding us is the observation deck; 4 floors up." Cortana informed them

"Rescue team, maybe?" Emile pondered.

The hull rattled as what sounded like a boarding craft latched on.

"I wouldn't put much money on it, unless we happen to be in some crazy alternate universe." James said.

"How long were we out?" John asked Cortana.

"4 years, 7 months, 10 days."

"Someone should have found us by now." Emile commented.

"No one knows where we are. If they did find us, it would be on accident."

They reached the ops center, and whipped around as a terrible screeching filled the space. A wall of orange light ran through the room.

"What's that?!" John asked.

"Sensor scan, high intensity, doesn't match any known patterns!" Cortana reported.

"This day just gets creepier and creepier." Emile commented.

"How close are we to the observation deck?" John asked as they entered the elevator bay.

"It's directly above us." Cortana said.

She marked the elevator that would take them to the observation deck. The Chief latched onto the doors and began to pull.

"Chief, be careful!" Cortana began to warn as the doors groaned in protest.

He threw the doors the rest of the way open, and was blown out into the shaft by the force of the atmosphere venting.

"Because some areas might have lost pressure!" She finished.

"Right." He groaned as he began to haul himself up the shaft.

Emile and James jumped out into the shaft right behind the Chief, following him up and out.

"I didn't realize that the ship had deteriorated so badly!" Cortana said while they climbed up, having to jump out of the way of 'falling' debris.

The three Spartans hauled themselves out of the shaft, and through the mist came… an Elite, of all things, wielding an Energy Sword and skulking towards them. John met its charge and wrestled it until he was able to throw it down the shaft.

"I thought we made nice with the split-lips?" Emile asked.

"First of all, they're Sangheili, and second: a lot can happen in four years." Cortana pointed out.

"He's probably not alone, be on guard." John said, raising his scavenged MA5D Assault Rifle and taking point.

"Really wish that you would have killed it up here. That way, I could take its sword." James said.

"Too bad. Let's go." Emile rebuked.

The three Spartans came to the Observation Deck, which was crawling with Covenant, though it was mainly Grunts, with only one Elite at the center console.

"I'll take the Elite. James: you go right. Emile: left. Grab an Assault Rifle on the way." John whispered.

The two merely nodded in acknowledgement, and they all went their separate ways. John sprinted up the ramp at the Elite, who was facing away from him, completely silent even though he weighed ½ ton. He unsheathed his combat knife and drove it down the back of its neck, making sure to clamp its mandibles shut so it didn't shout. Emile and James, once they saw John dispatch the Elite, opened up with their AR's, each killing three Grunts before having to reload. John joined in, raining lead down on the hapless little fucks. The room was clear in less than 20 seconds.

"Nice work. The console up top should retract the blast shields so we can see what we're up against." Cortana told them.

The Chief hit the command to open the blast shields.

"The good news is that these Covenant aren't outfitted like standard military. It could be we just came across a rogue salvage ship." Cortana told them.

The blast shields finished retracting, revealing at least 4 Covenant ships around the Dawn.

"Or… we might have stumbled into an entire Covenant fleet." She said, fear creeping into her voice.

"Maybe they haven't recognized us." The Chief said.

Two Phantoms descended into view, and then took off towards the sides of the room.

"That's one possibility. Landing craft, flanking us!"

The two Phantoms extended docking tubes through the side windows of the Dawn, compromising the atmosphere inside. An Elite led a squad of Grunts out of each one. The Spartans decided to take on the Covenant one side at a time, so as to, in theory, minimalize the risk of injuries. The left side was first.

The Spartans all opened fire with their AR's, downing the five Grunts and weakening the Elite's shields. The Elite roared in anger and charged at the Spartans as they reloaded, getting in way too close before they began to fire again. They brought it down as it lashed out with at Emile, its fist barely scraping his visor.

The Covenant on the right side had already begun to migrate all throughout the deck, and the Spartans quickly dealt with the Grunts, as usual, and then focused on the Elite. It roared in anger as it was hammered with bullets, and charged as its shields broke, aiming for James, as he was the closest. It slammed into him, knocking him to the ground, and then fell on top of him as it succumbed to its wounds.

"Really, guys?!"

He shoved the corpse off of him, and then got back up, noticing the obscene amount of hinge-head blood on his armor.

"We need to make like birds and get the flock out of here. And by that I mean 'we need to get off of this ship.'" James said.

"First of all: Really, Sherlock? I never noticed. Second: we've got bigger problems. We've got a cruiser on an intercept course." Cortana replied.

"Do we still have weapons systems?" John asked.

"Yes, but we'll need to fire them manually from the outer hull. You know, since the ship was torn in half."

"Point us at the closest airlock."

"There."

A blue diamond appeared on the Spartan's HUD's, marking the airlocks.

When they found the airlock, James noticed a box on the ground.

"What's this?"

He picked it up and opened it. Inside there was a disc.

Halo 4.

"What the hell is 'Halo 4?'" Emile asked upon seeing the disc.

"Nothing shows up in the database." Cortana replied.

There was more writing on the disc.

Xbox 360.

343 Industries.

Microsoft Studios.

"Now I'm really confused. When we get back to Earth, I'm gonna find this. And this 'Xbox 360'." James said.

"Doesn't matter. Let's move." John cut in.

The three Spartans cycled through the airlock and went to the outer hull.

"Uh... I'm sorry. Did I miss orbiting a Forerunner planet at some point?" Cortana said pointing out a giant metal sphere in front of them.

"One thing at a time." The Chief replied.

There were a few Covenant on the outer hull, but nothing that three Spartans couldn't handle. The trio found the missile controls and activated them.

"Thar she blows!" James said.

The blast door opened, but the missile didn't fire.

"Fucking perfect! The damn blast door's jammed! We gotta clear it before the missile can fire!" Emile told them.

The Chief jumped out of the control booth and sprinted over to the blasy door. He kicked the jammed lock into place and the silo lit up in green.

"You did it! Get back!" Cortana told him as the missile streaked out if the silo and towards the cruiser. It gutted the ship right in the center. The Spartans regrouped near the Chief and another orange light came out of the planet and scanned the trio.

"The Covenant weren't the ones scanning us." The Chief said as the beam retracted and the planet opened up.

"Okay, so, NOW can we worry about the giant metal planet?!" Cortana said as the ship was slowly sucked into the planet.

"Where are the closest escape pods?" James asked.

"Aft vehicle bay. Painting the closest airlock. GO! The second we cross the dome's event horizon, it's atmosphere's going to tear us apart!"

The three took off for the airlock as the ship drew closer to the planet. They started to wait as the airlock cycled them through, but Emile ripped the door open, abruptly finishing the compression of the room.

"No sense waiting for an airlock if the ship is going to be torn apart anyway."

They ran for the bay as the ship deteriorated further around them. On the way, they suddenly got the feeling of near weightlessness.

"All but one of the gravity generators just went dark!"

"Just keep us pointed at that vehicle bay." John said.

They found the bay, but when the door opened, the three were pulled forcefully into the room by the decompression. They all grabbed the nearby railing and held on for dear life.

"Fuck! Hang on!" Emile shouted.

"Why does shit always hit the fan so fast for us?!" James asked.

"Because we're Spartans: When we get called in, shit has already hit the fan!" Emile responded.

The railing gave way, and the Spartans were flung into space, unable to find the escape pods.

"We're caught in the gravity well!"

"Can you track the escape pods?!" The Chief asked.

"Negative- LOOK OUT!" Cortana yelled as giant pieces of debris hurled toward the Spartans. They deflected them with ease, but were separated in the chaos.

The Chief threw his hands in front of him to block an incoming piece of the Dawn, and when he looked back, another smacked into him, knocking him out.

WELCOME TO HALO 4! THIS FANFICTION BROUGHT TO YOU BY GEICO (Not Really). DID YOU KNOW THAT I HATE SOCIAL MEDIA WITH A FIERY PASSION THAT SHALL BURN FOR ALL OF ETERNITY? (I bet not. I bet not.)

God… I need a break from this. I just got done with a 5 page paper for English class, and now I'm trying to do this… FUCK. I'll be taking a day or two to rest my hands, get the blood flowing again, and maybe play more ME3 and H4. But I'll probably get bored and start writing again. Ah… boredom. Well, for now…

BYE!