"Son do you know how expensive this equipment is", the technician questioned the green armoured giant. Chief slid his helmet back on his head, with a hiss, the vacuum sealants attached themselves to the base of his helmet.
"Tell that to the covenant", he said with finality.
"Hey gunny, is my boy ready?", a familiar black man walked in, " I don't see no training wheels".
"Chief you're free to go". Chief nodded and walked over to the elevator with Johnson following close behind.
"Hey Sergeant, when are you gonna tell me about the mission?", the technician asked curiously.
"Sorry Gunny, that's classified", he replied. The elevator began moving up.
"Well you can forget about your upgrades to the…", the elevator cut the technician off.
The elevator trip was uneventful, and Chief just stood still until they got to the top. Instantly camera drones swarmed both John and the Spartan.
"You told me there wouldn't be any camera's", Chief expressed displeasingly. He clenched his fist restraining himself from smashing a drone.
"And you told me you were going to wear something nice!", John admonished humorously, "Folks need heroes Chief, to give 'em hope. So smile would'ja! While we still got something to smile about!". He flashed a cheeky grin at Chief before looking at the crowd and drones.
[Major memory sequence]
Boom!
The scorpion tank rumbled down the bridge of New Mombasa, machine gun firing continuously whilst the main cannon reloaded.
Boom!
Another banshee exploded in mid air, throwing debris everywhere. The tank drove victoriously to the other side, gunning down covenant troops left and right. The Spartan focused on the wraiths attempting to take a shot at him. Pressing the button, the first wraith went up in a ball of plasma and fire, whilst the second one fired off it's shot. Chief leaped out of the cockpit just in time to hear the sound of an exploded tank.
He quickly sprinted to the wraith, snatching a grenade from his belt and priming it. Leaping on the cobalt tank, he smashed a hole in the cockpit and stuck the explosive there before performing a backflip off the armour plating. The wraith exploded moments later in a similar fashion to it's companion tank.
Chief walked away from the explosion ready to taking on some more covenant.
The inner part of New Mombasa was wrecked, the tremors of a scarab crawling was heard throughout the city. Chief followed the colossal war machine around the city, taking a warthog and flights of stairs in order to catch up to it. He finally made his way to some ledges where the scarab was directly below.
Chief jumped and landed on the armoured platform roughly, though he was able to stay standing. The surrounding hostiles engaged him almost immediately attempting to catch him off guard.
However, they made a poor choice in attacking. Within minutes, the scarab was empty save the Chief. He tapped on a nearby hologram and activated the self destruction feature. The machine shook and shuddered as he calmly strolled out of the cockpit walking to the front edge. Jumping off the scarab, he watched as it shuddered and finally exploded into a ball of blue plasma.
[Major memory sequence]
The ancient structure was in chaos. Chief shot through the elite honour guards.
"Stop the demon, it must not disrupt the ceremony!", a frail looking alien screeched. The other aliens charged at him, all reason disappeared as they fought the Spartan relentlessly but sloppily.
Soon the prophet was the only alien alive at this point, on his knees held by his throat. "Demon, a thousand hells await you in the afterlife", the prophet said defiantly, "the Gods have judged you and your pitiful race unworthy of the…"
Chief tightened his grip on the prophets throat. "I charge you with committing a genocide of humanity, you have been found guilty and wanted, your punishment is this", Chief held up an energy sword before plunging it into the prophets back in a fashion that similar to elites stabbing their victims. The alien, screamed in pain before slumping down.
"Chief you better get outside", Cortana urged, "something's happening to the space above us. He did as he was told and stopped dead still when he witnessed what was above him. A massive fleet, bigger than any he had seen circling what looked to be a gigantic purple space station. A ship broke off the fleet and headed towards him. It was a super carrier and by the looks of it's underbelly, it was going to glass him.
Chief broke into a mad dash using every muscle and fibre to push himself to the limits, he reached the edge of the temple when the glassing beam struck, sending him over the edge and into the water unconscious.
[Major memory sequence]
His head was throbbing, and he felt as if there was a ridiculously large rope wrapped around him tightly. He opened his eyes to view a large tentacle looking object wrapped around his torso, it was green, peeling and what looked to be a shocked face inside of it.
Chief felt disgusted, the need wretch up his stomach was great, but the logic in his mind fought back, especially when he saw the face of the creature.
A gigantic looking plant that with riddled with dead skin, fungus and bumps, made it look grotesque. The head was split into three triangle shaped appendages that resembled a maw.
A few minutes later of observation, another tentacle dropped from the ceiling carrying what looked like an Elite in ancient silver armour. He was struggling, desperate to wretch himself out of the tentacles decaying grasp even though it was futile.
"Relax, I'd rather not piss this thing off", Chief gave the Elite some advice, in which he retorted, "Demon".
"This one is machine and nerve, and had its mind concluded", he directed at Chief. "This one is but flesh and faith and is the more deluded", It said to the Elite.
"Kill me or release me parasite! But do not waste my time with talk", the Elite yelled. The creature of rotten flesh growled at the comment.
"There is much talk, and I have listened, through rock metal and time!", it raised it's voice, "Now I shall talk and you shall listen".
The creature produced two tentacles, each holding something in them. One was a monitor and the other was a prophet impaled on one of the tentacles.
"Greetings I am 2401 Penitent Tangent Monitor of installation 05", the machine introduced itself quite cheerfully, despite the fact it was surrounded by flood.
"And I am the Prophet of Regret, counsellor of the most high… hierarch of the Covenant", the alien forced it's words out his mouth. The monitor turned and face Chief, almost looking ecstatic to see him.
"Reclaimers? Here? At last!", it joyfully whirred, "We have much to do, this facility must be activated if we are to control this outbreak".
"Stay where you are! Nothing can be done until my sermon is complete!", the prophet admonished forcefully.
"Not true", 2401 retorted, "this installation has a successful utilisation record of 1.2 trillion simulated and one actual. Ready to fire on demand". The prophet just shook his head at the red eyed monitor.
"Of all the things our lords left us, non have been so worthless"
"And you know nothing about containment! You have demonstrated complete disregard for even the most basic of protocols!", the monitor aggressively retorted.
"This one's containment...and this one's Great Journey are the same. Your Prophets have promised you freedom from a doomed existence. But you will find no salvation on this ring", the giant beast explained, at the monitor and the prophet "Those who built this place knew what they wrought. Do not mistake their intent, or all will perish as they did before".
Chief nodded his head. "This thing is right. Halo is a weapon. Your Prophets are making a big mistake".
"Your ignorance already destroyed one of the Sacred Rings demon. It shall not harm another", the Arbiter zealously defended his beliefs.
The maw of the thing coughed out a cloud of green spores. "If you will not hear the truth, then I will show it to you. There is still time to keep the key from turning. But first, it must be found".
"You", he directed at Chief, "will search one likely spot'". the Gravemind then stared at the Elite, "You will search another", he continued.
"Fate had us met as foes, but this ring will make us brothers", and he sent Chief and the Elite away with a bright blue flash.
[Major memory sequence]
Chief was falling to the earth, quite rapidly in fact. The friction produced flames licked at his green worn armour. His shields went down and the only thing that kept him cool was the metal armour plates and black body suit. The ground approached quickly and the landscape became clear. He blacked out as soon as the metal hit the ground.
"…bring the heavy lift, we're not leaving him here", Sergeant Johnson's voice pierced through the blackness of unconsciousness.
Chief opened his eyes and grasped the black man's arm in a firm grip. "Yea, your not", he spoke pulling himself up.
"Crazy fool, why do you always jump?", he exclaims with mirth, "someday you gonna land on something as stubborn as you are, and I don't do bits and pieces". Chief pulled the AI card out of Johnson's hands and stared at it. "Where is she Chief? Where is Cortana?".
A brief memory of what she said came back to him; 'Don't make a girl a promise if you know you can't keep it'. "She stayed behind", he replied, sliding the chip back into his head without the feeling of cool mercury filling his head.
"Corporal make it quick", Johnson ordered.
"Sorry sir, your armour is still in partial lockdown", the young NCO apologised.
Just then a shimmer outlined a moving figure, which slowly revealed the shape of an elite. Chief reacted instantly, pulling out his pistol, he sprinted up to the shape and jammed the weapon into the maw of the alien.
"Chief wait!", Johnson yelled, "the Arbiter is with us!". Chief didn't budge. "Come on now", the Sergeant mumbled, "we don't need you killing each other anytime soon". The Spartan finally relented and holstered the pistol.
"Were it so easy", the Arbiter spoke in his baritone voice. "We must go quickly. The brutes have our scent", the elite stalked off.
"Then they must love the smell of badass", Johnson presented an assault rifle to Chief, who promptly snatched it away.
[Major memory sequence] (Cue Music 'This is our land')
They were in the town of Voi, though mostly in the industrial section, close to the edge of a cliff made by the excavation from the loyalists ships. AA wraiths wandered the grounds looking for UNSC aircraft to shoot down.
Chief turned his helmet to the closest one and sprinted to it. A plasma grenade was primed in his hands. Jumping on the wraiths cockpit, he punched the drivers cover and planted the blue orb on the brute pilot, whilst jumping off simultaneously. The familiar pitched whine sounded before a massive explosion went off, sending purple metal debris everywhere.
Chief destroyed the others in a similar manner before his radio crackled to life. "Scarab, find some cover!", Johnson sound frantic.
Seconds after the Sergeant spoke, vibrations were felt and heard by the Chief and marines. Thump, Thump, Thump… A large claw like appendage smashed into the ground, throwing up dust. Another fell, then the rest of the body was shown. It was different, than the previous one he had destroyed in New Mombasa. It was smaller and more manoeuvrable, an added top turret followed air targets and shot them down. In short it was more improved, except for the fact that it had a low body, with easy access to the behemoth.
Looking for something to disable the war machine, Chief spotted a missile pod on a stand. Grabbing the black handle he ripped the weapon off the stand and fired at the legs of the scarab.
After the missile pod was spent, Chief search for another alternative before hitting his metal boots on a rocket launcher. Checking the ammunition, he found was just two rocket primed to fire. Steadying the heavy weapon on his shoulder, he fired the two rocket in quick succession finally bringing the main body to the ground.
The Spartan tossed the now useless piece of metal aside and scrambled onto the purple hull with the intent of bringing it down. Without too much trouble he dispatched the war machines assorted crew; Grunts, Brutes and Jackals. Chief ventured around the machine trying to figure out a weakness. His mental query was answered when he found a circular shielded core.
Quickly and viciously, he pounded the surprisingly weak shielding with success and burst it. The core blinked red as a warning, but Chief paid no attention to it, instead tossing two grenades to it. The result was something akin to the Pillar of Autumn escape, except on a miniature scale compared to the formidable cruiser.
Chief jumped off the self destructing body just as it erupted into blue searing hot light. The scarab was for a lack of better terms 'wrecked', a couple of marines cheered and jokes were exchanged between them.
"Scarab you just got wrecked!", a younger marine bantered jovially.
"Hey! Marines focus. We got a job to do here", a warrant officer reprimanded his soldiers. Chief just turned to the nearest way to the objective.
[Minutes later]
The explosion and the destruction of the massive covenant AA battery brought relief to the Spartan. The sound of whooshing passed over his heads and into his field of vision, revealing hundreds of Longsword fighters with half a dozen of Charon class frigates led by Lord hood.
The resulting flashes and fiery explosion would have destroyed any other vessel. Except that the strange tripod ship was not like other vessels.
A sudden power surge sucked the UNSC ships until a few seconds later it exploded outwards. A dark, blue portal appeared in the sky. Chief stared at it before noticing another vessel coming just out of slip space. It was smoking and what looked like organic material, was spread all over the ship. It flew down into the town of Voi before disappearing with a earthshaking rumble.
"What is it. More brutes?", the Arbiter questioned. Chief just shook his head.
"Worse".
Hey guys Xenongaf here,
I'm so sorry you faithful readers have been waiting, but I'm back in the game (pun not intended). This year I plan to fix up the plot so that the releases will be more frequent. I currently wish to have a Beta (one that doesn't criticise harshly), if any of you are or know beta's, pls message me so I can improve the story.
Have a great year.