Chapter Fourteen

2033 hours, November 5, 2552 (Military Calendar) \
African Desert, Kenya, \
Earth, Earthian Sol System

You ever wonder what's up there? Maybe someone up there is wondering what it's like here...

John heard a scream.

Chief, leave me.

Thoughts swirled through his mind. He heard a hollow din as the spinning in his head began to slow down. He opened his eyes as blurred visions of his past stirred him. Visions of his boyhood flashed and memories of those left behind echoed in his aching head.

The Spartan raised his gauntlet toward the pain in his head. He narrowed his eyes to find blood had stained his gauntlet – his helmet was missing. He searched the ground as the noise began getting clearer. He located it and heard radio chatter as he placed it back on his head.

Is anyone out there

The muffled transmissions became clear as the MJOLNIR's neck seal locked into place. John looked to his left and found a Battle Rifle. He picked it up and checked it while listening to the chatter.

"…Chief? Any sign of the Chief?" asked a gruff voice. The Chief recognized the voice – Lieutenant Mario P. Griffith.

"Negative, sir, I think we lost him," replied another voice.

"Not yet," John replied.

The Spartan looked up to his dismay. Wraith mortars had been lofted at his current position, and he had not noticed. The battlefield was aglow in a strangely blue-white, iridescent light. The Wraith mortars combined with what looked to be a nuclear blast to create daylight conditions. The moon was unusually large and bright overhead, and there was what seemed to be a vortex of dark clouds in the distance to the northwest.

Damn

His shield was offline. John thought about running, but the odds of him avoiding vaporization were slim. Two human vehicles flanked the Chief, but they had been rendered inoperable during his crash. He pulled out his last resort.

ONI had been busy since John's stint on Alpha Halo, or at least they decided to roll out all the new technology at the same time. While re-supplying for his current mission-gone-to-hell, John was briefed on what ONI termed a portable 'super shield', the SG-2B. Again from years of scavenging Covenant technology, Section 3 had crafted a portable shield generator that would temporarily envelop a small area with a pseudo-invisible shield. John had yet to test the device, but now was a good time. He flipped the gadget 'on' and threw it at his feet.

The Spartan held his breath.

The device whirred as it was buried into the desert ground. John planted himself as a translucent globe encircled him. Plasma mortars began bombarding his position. John tensed as he felt the heat through his suit from the blasts. He was nearly deafened when a mortar scored a direct hit on his position. The MJOLNIR's temperature alarm blared as John's skin blistered. The shield held, though, and the barrage began to die down. ONI's new toy proved useful, but drained its charge as the last of the mortars impacted several meters away.

The Mark VI's shield system had rebooted and begun to charge as John began sprinting toward the edge of a miniature cliff. An explosion rocked him as he narrowly averted a stray mortar blast, and he continued on his sprint. The Master Chief pulled out his weapon as he jumped over the edge – right toward a contingent of Brutes. The surprised bunch leveled their weapons as the Chief crashed into their leader.

The hammer-wielding Chieftan toppled over as John rolled and continued on his sprint. He did not want to engage the group with his limited resources, so he jumped into the nearest Wraith tank. Years of simulations and live combat use had given John enough knowledge about Covenant craft that he could easily pilot almost any Covenant vehicle.

The machine roared to life as the lumbering beasts began peppering it with plasma fire. The vehicle took a moment to ready its firing mechanism as the Chief backed it away from the group. He switched the auto-cannons 'on', to no avail. Apparently there was a friend-or-foe failsafe that prevented the Wraith from firing on the Brutes. It was no matter, as the main weapon came online and John began firing his BFG.

Plasma explosions turned the desert ground into glass as Brutes flew from the mortar blasts. John kept firing as smoke filled his screen. The Brute Chieftan emerged from the smoke on a full sprint toward the unwieldy tank. John fired once more at the beast. He began to turn the Wraith as the Brute hurdled the blast and landed on the vehicle's nose. The beast bellowed as it hefted its hammer. The weapon's blow crushed metal inside the cockpit. John had ducked just in time to avoid the hammer's blow. Its plasma charge and sheer force knocked the Wraith dead, though, and the Chief sprang from his seat back onto the desert.

Luckily, John had obliterated the Chieftan's battle group. The Spartan raised his battle rifle and began firing at the Brute as it lifted its weapon from the cockpit which he occupied just seconds before. The gunfire did little to slow down the beast as bullets pinged off of its over-shield. It charged John with a roar, and John was barely able to sidestep the hammer's fall as he slammed his last clip of ammunition into his rifle. John fired a few bursts at the Brute's head, which only served to anger the beast further.

John plucked two plasma grenades and lobbed them at the Jiralhanae Leader. The first flew over its head, but the second hit its mark and stuck to the beast's arm. The grenade exploded, but that simply served to enrage the beast.

"Nice shield," John muttered.

The Spartan spotted a Brute's grenade launcher that had survived his mortar assault and ran toward it as the Chieftan sounded another charge. John dropped his rifle and turned to face his enemy as he pointed the launcher at the beast.

Two grenade explosions barely fazed the Brute as it continued its charge. John began a sprint toward the Chieftan as it raised its weapon. John fired his two remaining grenades at the beast as it viciously lowered the hammer. John leaped as the hammer fell inches below him. He launched himself from the hammer's handle as the final grenade impacted and the beast's over-shield flickered out. John landed on the Brute's shoulders and slammed the weapon's blade into the back of its neck. He jumped off and ran to his battle rifle as the enemy warrior howled and sank to its knees.

Master Chief knew better than to approach too closely. He zoomed in with his rifle and examined his enemy. The Brute was bleeding profusely and breathing heavily. It staggered back to its feet and began clumsily walking toward the Spartan. John crouched until he had a good shot and fired two three-round bursts into the beast's face.

It finally fell.

"Chief, where are you?" said Griffith over the COM.

"Come find me."