Chapter 3

"We're going too fast!" said Cortana as the ring's surface came into view

"Damn! The engine's been jammed! I'm losin' her! I-" said the pilot

BOOOOOM!!!

"Chief…? Chief? Chief!" called a voice

"Chief can you hear me? Oh God…" said another voice

The Chief had slowly regained consciousness. At first he thought that he was dead until he felt his chest slowly moving up and down informing him that he was still breathing. His head throbbed from the impact of the crash. As soon as his vision cleared he saw two SPARTANs hovering above him and recognized them as Will-043 and Evan-049.

"Are you injured?" asked Will

"No… I'm fine." said the Chief standing up

He looked around the pod to see if there were any more survivors. Unfortunately, all of the soldiers were stiff as a diving board and they showed no signs of breathing. In other words; they were dead. The SPARTANs headed out of the pod only to find dozens of more corpses of UNSC marine soldiers along with health kits and weapons scattered around. Their arms and legs were twisted and their bones were shattered. A small pool of blood surrounded their heads like an angel with a halo. The Chief shook his head and sighed sadly.

"The others… the impact." said Cortana somberly

"There was nothing we've could've done." said Will

After a long pause, Cortana spoke again.

"Warning, I've detected multiple Covenant drop-ships approaching our current location."

"What direction are they coming from?" asked the Chief

"South I presume," said Cortana "I recommend immediate evasion."

"Alright men grab what you need to defend yourself and head on over to those hills." said the Chief to Will and Evan

"But we can take them!" said Evan

"There's too many of them. We would surely be dead shortly after the battle started," said the Chief "Until we find survivors, I'm not taking any chances. Now let's move!"

The three SPARTANs ran across the grassy foothills where the pod had crashed and headed over toward a smooth, sturdy metal bridge that at first looked like it was stone. While crossing the bridge, Evan-049 glanced around his surroundings and saw a tall water fall and many pine trees that in a way reminded him of Earth. In fact, it reminded him of Earth so much that he just had to start a conversation about it.

"Hey, do any of you guys get the feeling that we're walking on a replica of Montana?" asked Evan

"Montana? I was thinking it was more like Jericho VII." said Cortana

"No, it kind of looks like Colorado." said Evan

"Colorado? Are you kidding me?" asked Cortana as the trio fully crossed the bridge

"Well, I know in the Rockies they got pine trees, mountains and whatever the hell is in Colorado."

"Have you ever even been to Colorado?"

"No, but I've seen pictures."

"Pictures? On what Google 29.2?"

"No, some UNSC Gunnery Sergeant I used to work with showed me some pictures of his kids on vacation…"

While Cortana and Evan-049 were getting acquainted, Will-043, silent as the grave as usual, was looking out for any suspicious activity. So far, there were no signs of survivors or Covenant soldiers near by. Suddenly, he heard the roar of the engine of a drop-ship heading towards the crash site. They had already arrived.

"…So wait a minute, have you ever been to Colorado?" asked Evan

"Uh, well," said Cortana "No, I haven't."

"Then how would you know about-" started Evan

"Covenant drop-ships!" said Will

"Take cover!" ordered the Chief

The SPARTANs took cover behind the closest large rock near by at the bottom of a steep hill. A large, violet, Spirit-class Covenant drop-ship had soared over head and landed down by the crash site. Hordes of Grunts, Elites and Jackals poured out of the ship and began to search and destroy any survivors from the crash while the SPARTANs waited for the right time to move.

Thanks to the fact that his MJOLNIR armor has a neural interface that can allow the user to access communications, maps etc. mentally, the Chief turned the SQUADCOM on and off twice in order to get the other two SPARTANs attention. Once he did get their attention, the Chief instructed his comrades by making a series of hand signals.

'Formation Beta' said the hand signals 'Stay cool and stay hidden.'

Will and Evan nodded understanding the orders. Then one at a time, each SPARTAN moved from one rock or tree to another almost completely separated from each other. As soon as they got to the top of the hill they were on, they stopped hearing a noise echoing in the distance. The noise was rapid if not constant. The SPARTANs quickly exchanged glances at each other.

"An assault rifle…?" said the Chief "Johnson and the other marines."

"I'm picking up a life boat beacon on the next hill. It's most likely that they're some survivors." said Cortana

"And with them, of course, some Covenant soldiers." added Will

"Alright, time for Operation: WEDDING CRASHERS," said the Chief reloading his gun "Let's go kick some Cove."

The SPARTANs followed the sounds of gunfire over to the next hill where a massive military base that appeared to be made of steel stood in the middle of a grassy field which was inside of what appeared to be a canyon. A Spirit-class Covenant drop-ship was parked in front of the base where the battle was being held. The blaring noises of gunfire from both human and Covenant sides were desperately trying to overlap each other. Bodies of dead soldiers that were covered in pools of their own blood were scattered everywhere across the field. Soldiers on both sides were running left and right, up and down shooting each other with whatever weaponry they had.

The SPARTANs quickly took action. Will pulled out his assault rifle and covered the Chief and Evan as they went straight into the battle field. The Chief pulled out his assault rifle as well while Evan pulled out two BR55 battle rifles. As they approached the field, many Covenant soldiers turned their attention away from the marines and began firing at the SPARTANs. As the bullets (or lasers so to speak) penetrated the Chief's armor shields, he began firing his assault rifle and took down several Brutes, Elites and Jackals. After dealing with them, he quickly looked around for any survivors while shooting at several Grunts who apparently were shooting at him.

Meanwhile, Will (who came into the battle just shortly after covering his comrades) was taking cover behind a bashed up UNSC Warthog jeep searching his armor compartments for extra ammo but unfortunately he ran out. He saw a blood-stained rocket launcher lying in front of him with several unused rockets. He assumed that the person who was using it was shot in the hand and was forced to drop it. Will quickly picked it up, loaded it and looked from behind the Warthog to see if he could find any targets.

It was then that Will-043 saw several Covenant Banshees firing at Evan-049 and several surviving marines who were trying to best the Covenant's foot soldiers. Will carefully aimed the rocket launcher at one of the Banshees which was moving at full speed. Will push the button on the top of the rocket launcher and watched as the rocket shot out of the launcher leaving behind a puffy trail of smoke. In a matter of seconds after soaring through the air, the rocket had hit its designated target triggering a giant cloud of flames and smoke. The remains of the Banshee plummeted straight into the ground. Will took aim and fired again. One by one, the Banshees fell from the sky and crashed onto the field covered in flames and smoke.

About twenty minutes after the SPARTANs had joined in the battle, the battalion of Covenant soldiers were quickly defeated. The marines and SPARTANs quickly re-grouped and the celebration for their victory was short-lived; for there were important matters to be discussed.

"Master Chief!" said a tall African-American marine known as Sergeant A.J. Johnson stepping to the front of the crowd "Would you mind telling me where the hell you've been?"

"Long story," replied the Master Chief "What's our status?"

"It's a mess sir," said Johnson "The life boats are scattered all over this ring. While we were tryin' to call for evac, the Covenant ambushed us. Until you guys showed up I thought we were screwed big time."

"Any word from Captain Keyes?" asked the Chief

"Negative, sir," said Johnson "The damn sons of a bitches kidnapped him along with a few other survivors."

"Damn!" said the Chief "Alright everyone, here's the plan: when the evac plane comes, we're going to ask them to drop some Warthogs for us then we're going to go look for some survivors and get some answers as to what the hell is this place. Now, what're you waiting for? Grab some ammo and let's move!"

"Sir, yes sir!" replied the marines