A/N Ok, so i made some personal revisions to this part of the story. For one, the covenant didn't knock all of the orbital MAC cannons fusion reactors out, just about half. Only reason is that that means that the Humans didn't get wiped out on the ground. Well, here you go. Chapter 2

Parallel Humanity

Chapter 2

Reach

[1252 Hours July 31st 2552(Military Calendar) Epsilon Eridani System]

MAC rounds and Plasma bolts sailed through the space around the Planet Reach. The deadly weapons slammed into both human and covenant ships alike. The furball battle had been raging for days for control over the human stronghold Reach. The scales had been tipped in the covenants favor ever since half the orbital MAC platforms guns had been silenced by ground forces.

The only forces left were around thirty covenant ships and twenty Humans.

"Hikowa, fire the MAC at the cruiser at heading zero-two-eight." Captain Keyes commanded. The lieutenant complied, firing three tungsten rounds in quick succession at the covenant cruiser. The rounds through the already damaged shields and blew the ship apart.

"Sir, unknown communication intercepted." Dominique said.

"Human or Covie?" Keyes asked.

"Sir... It's neither. It's in english, but its not on any known Human or Covenant frequency." He said.

"Lets just hope they're friendly. Play the message."

The crew heard a voice come out of the speakers. "and our Slipspace blew. Find whoever screwed up this ship's maiden voyage and put them in confinement until I get back. They better hope they didn't break it too bad or they'll be in there for a long time."

"Where was this message broadcast from."

"Unknown sir. When we tried to trace the signal it came from every direction."

Keyes thought for a moment. "Continue with the defence of reach, we can deal with this later."

All of a sudden they heard a voice coming from the speakers. "Signal backtrace complete sir. Coms are open now."

"Next time, open the communications after you tell me that you found them. They can hear us talking." The bridge crew immediately recognised the voice as the one from the unknown message. "Now, I know you can hear me, so why don't you tell me why you were trying to trace our signal."

"We wanted to find where a non-human or covenant signal originated from. We don't want to accidentally fire upon a neutral party because we didn't know you were there."
"Obviously you didn't know we were here. We just dropped in from slipspace five-hundred Kilometers behind you."

"Bring up rear view cameras!" Keyes commanded. The cameras came up on the main screen to show... nothing. Just space and stars. All of a sudden, three ships materialised behind them. Not coming out of slipspace, but almost like decloaking. The Captain's eyes widened as he looked at the ships. The one in the lead was huge, at least three times the size of a human cruiser, and almost looked to have three MACs. The ones on the the sides of the large ship were around half the size of the bigger one. They had only one main weapon, but they looked like they could carry fighters, if the hangers on the side were any indication. All of the ships looked very angular, almost like stealth fighters.

Without warning, a video feed came up on the captains monitor. He looked from the cameras the now showing mans face. He had an angular face, almost like the ship he commanded. He had jet black hair and black eyes with spikes of red in them. "Captain John Fox, at your service. And I think I'll lend you a hand."

Before keyes could respond, the MACs on the ship angled slightly by themselves then shot out one shining object each. They flew forward at incredible speed, tens of times faster than any MAC round Keyes had ever seen. They each impacted one ship, and cut through the shields like they weren't even there. One round hit a ship head on, and pierced right into it. Not too far into it, an enormous explosion ripped the front of it, then another further in, then another, and another. The round flew out the back and impacted another ship's shields, exploding and taking a chunk out of the hull.

The only remaining parts of the first ship were tink fragments. The other ships that had been hit had been blown in two. The fighting temporarily stopped as every Captain, crew member, and other being looked between the angular black ship and the spot where the first ship used to be and the other two ships that had been ripped in half. Every covenant ship in range turned and fired a plasma bolt at the largest ship.

"All shields to front!" As at least thirty bolts of plasma screamed at it, the ship released a good hundred missiles that flew at the incoming weapons. They struck each other and disappeared in flashes. The three or so bolts that managed to get through struck the shields. They flickered for a second, then held.

All three of the new ships fired at covenant ships, taking paths that would break one ship in half and strike another. One round even went through three ships. Before the covenant ships could fire again, the human ships all fired their MAC cannons, striking multiple of the covenant. At the same time, the two small ships jettisoned hundreds of small objects. When plasma bolts came streaking across the empty space, the small objects shot forward, firing even smaller objects at the larger streaks of plasma. After around three hits from the small fighters missiles, the bolts of plasma lost definition, scattering into fields of plasma and gas.

The black ships fired again, and seven more covenant ships broke apart.

"Sir, incoming contacts, they look like single fighters. Also, we're out of temporary ammunition, the particle accelerator can't work fast enough for that rate of fire." A voice came over the speakers.

The captain turned to someone off screen. "Tell the Eagles to break off from main defence and engage."

"Sir? All of them?"

"That's a lot of contacts. Now relay the order."

"Yes sir." All of the small objects that had been shooting at the plasma bolts suddenly rocketed off at a number of equally small ships launched from the remaining covenant ships. The space between the two forces quickly filled up with small explosions that were quickly snuffed out from the vacuum of space.

More plasma bolts streaked across space from the final five ships.

At this point Master Chief spoke up from behind captain Keyes. "Sir, Captain Fox, I am Master chief John Spartan-117. I have been assigned a mission to capture a covenant ship, and I think that this would be a perfect opportunity to do so. With you advanced technology, it must be possible to disable a ship. If you could do so it would be greatly appreciated."

Captain Fox raised an eyebrow. "...Ok, we can do that. We'll send a boarding party and jam their slipspace drive. Captain Keyes, if you would be so kind to tell the human forces not to fire upon the remaining carrier please."

"Right, Dominique, tell all human forces in the area to not target the covenant carrier."

"Yes sir."

John spoke up again. "Sir, i believe that I and my team would be best suited for the takeover of the ship. For the entirety of this war, my team has fought countless battles, and yet we've only lost five people. We have twenty-five on this ship, and I think that that would be more than enough to take over a covenant carrier."

The other ships captain looked over John, standing at two and a half meters tall in his MJOLNIR armor. "Very well, you'll assist the first combat trail of our SAMURAI program."

Inside his helmet John frowned. "With all do respect sir, rookies should probably be tested somewhere else. They could become a nuisance on the battlefield."

Captain Fox chuckled. "I doubt that the SAMURAI will be a nuisance. You'll see what I mean when the dropship lands. As if on cue, there was the thunk of a plane landing in the Pillar of Autumn's hanger bay.

[1321 Hours July 31st 2552(Military Calendar) Epsilon Eridani System]

The Master Chief looked over the dropships other occupants. The twenty five Spartans, and what the Captain had said where Samurai, barely fit into the main compartment. The so called Samurai looked similar to the Spartans, but also different. They were even taller, standing at about three meters tall. They also wore armor, but theirs was completely black, and much smoother than MJOLNIR armor. They carried weapons that looked to be a larger caliber, and seemed to be reminiscent of guns from the late 23rd century.

John sat patiently and waited, waiting for the dropship to land on the cruiser, and show him just how good the Samurai were.

[1331 Hours July 31st 2552(Military Calendar) Epsilon Eridani System]

There was a loud clank as the ship attached to the covenant carrier, which was currently offline from an EMP blast fired by Captain Fox's ship. They had been given a time frame of thirty minutes to clear the ship of all covenant personnel. 'Easy.' John thought.

There was a hiss as the compartment slowly lost air, as did the part of the covenant ship they had just drilled into. All of the Spartans and Samurai clambered out of the ship and threw themselves to the hole the dropship just made.

Once they were all inside, the dropship put a temporary patch over the hull and flew off, leaving the soldiers on their own.

John turned to the Samurai. "Who's your commanding officer?"

One of them stepped forward. "I am. Junior Lieutenant Jack Sparks. And you are Master Chief Spartan 117, correct?"

John nodded. "Are our rank systems the same?"

"Unless yours have changed in the last two hundred and fifty years." When John shook his head he continued. "In that case, I'm the highest ranking soldier here. And in that case, I relinquish my control of this operation to you, Master Chief."

Master chief blinked inside his helmet. "Are you sure sir."

"Positive. You have much more battle experience then me, considering I've never seen real combat. I was trained to take the path that would have the highest survival rate for the men and woman under my command, and I believe that in this point in time, you can do that better than I can."

John nodded, gaining new respect for the man. He knew of many officers who would rather get men and women killed than relinquish control of an operation to someone of lower rank. "Alright, in that case, we're going to split into four man teams. Try to get a three medium to close range fighters and one long range fighter in each group. There will also be two groups of three, if you are in one of those groups, still attempt to bring a long range fighter with you."

No one moved for a few seconds, then Kelly stepped forward. "Sir, do you mean Spartans and Samurai, or just Spartans?"

"I mean both, we're one unit until the end of this operation." He replied. Kelly paused for a second then stepped back, and John could tell she was confused. Linda walked forward to John and he immediately understood her meaning. He nodded then turned to Jack. "Lets say we work together on this one?"

At Jacks nod he continued. "In that case, get a close ranged man and bring him here." Jack motioned for one of his men to come forward. John shut off his external communications, and spoke just inside his helmet. "Cortana, do you think that-"

He was cut off as Cortana spoke. "Done, I've downloaded the ships schematics and sent them to all of your buddies. I've also disabled the computer and comms systems on the ship and destroyed the AI. Would you like a side of fries with that?"

"Fries?" he asked.

"It's a joke, John."

"Oh... well thanks Cortana." He turned his speakers back on. "Did everyone get the schematics?" After everyone nodded he continued, after pulling up the schematics and seeing that the AI had already divided the ship into thirteen sections, two slightly smaller than the others. "Team alpha, my team will take section..." John assigned a section to every team. After he was done, they all split off to clear their sections of covenant.

John, Linda, and the two Samurai were walking, crouched, down a corridor, with Linda hanging back to cover the group, if necessary. They continued walking along the corridor... until it ended. There was no sign of the covenant anywhere. John was about to ask Cortana to see if there was anything he should know, when a voice came over the com line.

"Lieutenant, sir! We're in the hanger, and it looks like the entire covenant force is here as well! We need backup!"

John and Jack looked at eachother, then john talked into his coms. "Attention, all teams rendezvous at the Hangar, be warned, there are a large number of covenant forces in the area!" Then his team ran at full speed, following the schematics to the hanger.

They arrived shortly, to find a team of three Samurai and a Spartan pinned down behind a support beam. The beam was rapidly being eaten away by five plasma turrets set up on a series of catwalks surrounding the hanger.

John checked his HUD to find no more teams close enough to get there by the time the beam gave way.

As Johns mind raced to figure out a plan, Jack called out to him over the sound of Plasma bolts. "I'm going up the catwalks!"

"I'm going with you!" John called immediately, and the other Samurai and Linda stayed back to provide covering fire.

John and Jack ran up the first incline to the next level of catwalks. As they turned a corner, a pair of hunters stood there waiting.

John stopped and reached for a grenade, then stopped in amazement as he saw Jack to something either incredibly brave, or incredibly stupid. He ran straight at them.

Before John could warn him, Jack was already right in front of the huge aliens. the one he was closest to took a swing at him with its shield.

Jack somehow grabbed the shield and allowed its momentum to carry him behind it. He quickly spotted the large gap in its armor. He quickly shoved a grenade inside, then kicked the hunters arm.

Jack performed a combat roll right as the grenade went off. The resulting explosion caused a round to go off from the fuel rod cannon on the hunters arm. The shot his the other hunters back, and they both fell to the ground, dead.

John just looked at him, amazed. "Wow... that... You can fight alongside me any time you want to." he finally said.

"Thanks, now lets go save some friendlies." Jack replied. They both stopped as the other Samurai from their team ran by them, yelling "Smertʹ ot vzryva!" he somehow pulled a satchel charge from nowhere and threw it out the door in front of them. The Samurai dove away from the door and it closed... just in time to be blown into the ceiling.

Jack sighed and out his hand on his helmet. "Eric... Your supposed to be providing covering fire, not making 'Alien Fondue'.

"Sorry boss, but you looked like you needed some help." Eric said. He spoke with a heavy russian accent.

John, meanwhile walked through the space the door previously occupied, and looked around. All he saw was Covenant Bodies... Lots of them. He saw Spartans and Samurai alike milling around on the ground floor of the hanger, and the support beam intact, if barley.

John opened a com channel with the Pillar of Autumn. "Sir, mission accomplished."

A/N: And there you have it, the next chapter of Parallel Humanity. I had to rewrote most of this chapter because I didn't actually plan to have the Spartans and Samurai board a ship, then I realised it needed to happen sometime, so why not now?