Creon Asteroid Belt
Turous
Raxus System
1320
Three Days Later
Idaho sat in his ship that had just landed on a large asteroid. After Oregon had unlocked the door that held Idaho captive, Idaho had made his way to the nearby UNSC base of operation and hid on a cargo ship that took him into the orbital fleet, where he snuck aboard the space station, stole a slip-space drive and attached it to the engines on a Longsword-Class interceptor. Idaho had just left slip-space in the past hour, and was trying to find out where Agent California was. California had double-crossed Idaho by tricking him into helping him locate and recover the Zeta AI.
He had been tapping the UNSC communications channel, when out of nowhere, a small Covenant patrol fleet warped out of slip-space near the asteroid belt. Idaho had thought that while his main objective was to find Zeta, he wouldn't mind having some practice against the alien crusaders who glassed not only his home planet, but the home planets of thousands of men and women everywhere. These aliens brutally murdered thousands for a religious practice, and Idaho wouldn't miss a chance to make them pay for such a sin.
He was now waiting and observing the fleet. It consisted of four Battle-Cruisers, and seven Corvettes, that were flying in a formation Idaho recognised. The Battle-Cruisers would fly in a formation where the four ships flew in a diamond-like formation, and the ship at the rear end would fly slightly higher than the ones in front of it, with the corvettes flying in a sort of circle around the battlecruisers. He recognised this pattern as one often used by fleets on patrol or ones searching the stars for more human worlds to destroy.
Idaho shook his head to bring him back to reality. He was waiting for the right time to board the ship. His plan was to get aboard the Battle-Cruiser furthest to the end of the fleet, get inside and cause as much chaos as he could.
The time was drawing near as the Battle-Cruiser moved closer to Idaho's position. He hit the button that would open the door to let him out. When the door hissed open, the atmosphere inside was quickly compromised and the artificial gravity automatically deactivated. Idaho got out of his seat and floated to the exit. When he reached the exit, he then moved to position himself on the very top of the ship. He waited a few seconds as his Tactical Perception helped make his final calculations. If his timing was off by a microseconds, Idaho could miss his chance at an easy entrance. He quickly checked his weapons to make sure that they were fully loaded, not that he would be short on weapons in there.
The time was just right, and Idaho kicked himself of the Longsword that it pushed him through the air like a bullet, the sun shining light on his yellow-edged blue armour. Fortunately for him, the Covenant didn't bother to scan for anything bigger than the size of a car, so he would have the element of surprise on his side.
As he got closer to the ship, he prepared himself to land. He hit the hull of the ship with a thud. 'Great. Too bad that was the easy part.' thought Idaho to himself as he looked for a way to enter the ship. He sneaked along the path to the bridge, preferring not to fight his the way to the bridge from the engine room. He soon found a small maintenance shaft, which he opened by pressing a holographic pad next to the door, and as soon as it opened, he dived in head first.
He closed the door behind him which activated the artificial gravity and started to crawl to the next door. The hallways were dark, lit by only two small alien flood lights every six feet. He soon reached a entrance along the floor of the tunnel. He accessed it and it opened with a hiss. He looked around first to make sure it was clear. There was no one there. Nothing appeared on his motion tracker either, so he presumed that the area was clear. He jumped down and somersaulted in mid-air and landed with a thud.
He had to find a map which would take him to the bridge because Idaho had no idea which was port or starboard on a ship like this. He accessed a console on pedestal and it showed him some strange symbols. Luckily for him, all the Freelancer's suits were equipped with the UNSC's best translation software to help understand the Covenant's alien language; Idaho never knew how important that was until now. He touched the symbol which translated as 'NAVIGATION' on his HUD. It opened a diagram of the ship's layout and Idaho's current location. At the bow of the diagram of the ship was an area translated as 'CONTROL' which Idaho presumed was the bridge. He plugged a chip into the terminal to download the alien directories. In a few seconds, the map was downloaded and Idaho removed the chip and plugged it into the back of his helmet. The map soon appeared in the corner of his HUD and his virtual compass in his helmet helped him keep track of the right way.
Suddenly, he heard the door at the far end beginning to open. Idaho had no time to run to the other door and he could not make the jump to the maintenance shaft. His only option was to face his enemy and eliminate them as fast as he could. He ran to the door as it opened, screaming a war cry in his helmet as he did.
When the door opened, Idaho was face-to-face with two very surprised Jackals and four very scared Grunts. Idaho activated his energy daggers on his arms, which he stole from a Sangheili warrior in a previous encounter with the Covenant. He stabbed one into the chest of one of the Jackals and cut the throat of the other one. The two Jackals dropped dead on the floor. Idaho didn't stop however; as he quickly moved to stab the two Grunts standing in front of the group of surprised aliens, and quickly moved to smash the heads of the two other Grunts against each other. All four of the Grunts dropped to the floor and Idaho deactivated his alien daggers.
He wondered what to do with the bodies, whether to get rid of them or not to. In the end, Idaho decided they were all going to die in the end, so he just left the bodies where they fell and began to walk towards the door that would take him to the bridge.
Idaho made his way around the ship's corridors very stealthily, trying to avoid any more confrontations to avoid alerting the entire ship, needing only to strangle a Grunt that caught a glimpse of him making his way through a bend in the hallway. As he walked, he used pillars and racks of weapons as cover.
He opened the next door, backing away as it did. He peered around and saw he would need to cross a catwalk. There was one Elite standing watch along the catwalk, so Idaho would require killing him before he would be able to continue. Idaho quickly sprinted to a rack of weapons as cover. However, the Elite had heard his footsteps and went to investigate. As soon as Idaho caught sight of the Elite, he jumped at it and stabbed it in the throat, letting only a squeal of pain to exit the alien.
The Elite had its weapon in its hand and as Idaho had killed it, so it slid across the floor and was now about to fall off the edge of the platform. Idaho quickly jumped and grabbed it just as it fell. But as Idaho got up, he realised that a Jackal on the opposite platform had seen him and was now trying to reach the alarm. Idaho quickly discarded the Elite's weapon and was reaching for his carbine. In one fluent motion, he drew his rifle and shot the Jackal in the head. Unfortunately, the sound of the gunshot had alerted another Elite on the opposite lower catwalk to his presence, and the Elite ran to trigger the alarm. Idaho shot the Elite in the head three times and killed it, but it was pointless. They knew he was here, and he had to move.
Idaho now sprinted to get to the bridge shooting down anything in his way. As he opened the next door, he was met with two very large, very angry Hunters. They both fired their Fuel Rod Guns at him at the same time. Idaho quickly dodged them by dolphin-diving to a nearby pillar. He got up and quickly primed two grenades. He ran around the pillar, but just as he did, the Hunters had already prepared their next shot and fired the second the caught a glimpse of him. He dodged both the explosive rounds using his Tactical Perception to step to one side and run up against one Hunter. The Hunter attempted to bash Idaho with its shield, but Idaho quickly dodged it and once he got around it, he punched the two frag grenades into the Hunters back as hard as he could. He quickly ran away as the Hunter turned to hit him, groaning with pain. Just as he turned, the grenades exploded and blew chunks of the Hunter out of it's back. Idaho smirked under his helmet but was cut short as the other Hunter tackled him to the ground. Idaho quickly got back up and ran straight towards the Hunter. Just as the Hunter tried to hit Idaho again, Idaho quickly jumped into the air and grabbed onto its armour, where he vaulted over the Hunter and grabbed the back of the armour. He let himself hang by one arm as the other had removed his submachine gun and was emptying a clip into the Hunters back. His gun was almost empty, but just as he thought he would need to regroup to finally kill it, the ammo depleted and the Hunter fell lifeless to the floor with an agonising groan. Idaho quickly ran to the next room, switching magazines as he did.
He finally reached the door that would take him to the bridge, but it was guarded by two Brutes. One was holding a Gravity Hammer, the other had a Spiker. Idaho quickly drew his Carbine and they both fired at the same time. He fired four times and the Brute fell to the floor, but Idaho dodged it quickly enough so that only one spike hit him in the shoulder. But while he was distracted by the first Brute, the other one had been able to get closer to Idaho and in a split second, hit him with the hammer and knocked him to the floor. The hit had crushed his left kneecap and Idaho was clenching in pain. The Brute was charging at him, about to smash him with the hammer.
With all of Idaho's will and strength, he got up and stumbled to the side clear of the hammer, still clenching his knee as he did. The brute however, used the momentum of the hammer to knock Idaho down again by swiping the hammer to the side. Idaho didn't get off the floor knowing it would take a while before he could get up again. The Brute slowly walked over to him, put one foot on Idaho's chest and brought the hammer up, but just as he was about to bring the hammer down, Idaho drew both his Magnum and his SMG, and fired all the bullets into the Brute's chest. This caused the Brute to scream in pain, stumble backwards and fall over. After that, Idaho quickly got back up, threw his weapons aside and picked up the hammer near fallen Brute. He then brought it up above the Brute, and then swung it down.
The door to the Bridge opened and the pilots driving the ship turned to look at Idaho with shock and fear. Idaho, dragging the hammer in one hand and the Brute's body in the other walked into the room. The pilots seemed ready to die, simply of shock. But the Prophet Commander just stood and watched. He turned to look at one of his pilots and nodded at him. The pilot nodded back and pressed a button. The door closed behind Idaho. 'Guess there's no turning back.' Idaho thought, breathing very heavily after the last fight. Two Elite's joined their commander as he walked down from his chair. One had two Energy Daggers, one had an Energy Sword and the commander had two swords. The commander looked to the other Grunt and Elite pilots and said in their alien language, "Shoot him!" They all got out of their seats and drew their weapons to shoot Idaho. Idaho quickly used the Brute's body to protect him as bolts of plasma hit the body. Peering around the body, Idaho dropped the hammer, reached for his Magnum and shot all of the pilots in the head, firing twice for the Elite pilots. They all dropped to the floor lifeless. The Elite pilot smirked and spoke, "You dare attack a Prophet of Creation. Who do you think you are?" the commander growled. Idaho dropped the Brute's body and responded in English, "My name is Idaho, you fucker." The Elite Commander screamed the words "Kill him!" in his alien language, and as he did the two Elites charged at Idaho.
As the first Elite with two Energy Daggers reached Idaho, he picked up the hammer and swung it as hard as he could. The hammer sent the Elite flying across the deck. Idaho had just enough time to recover and swing at the second Elite. It was smarter though, and dodged the hammer as Idaho brought it down and then, used it's sword to cut the hilt in half. Idaho quickly then used the hilt to hit the Elite in the chest and then, used his daggers to slit the Elite's throat. The commander then slowly walked to Idaho in a battle ready stance. Idaho looked at the hilt of the hammer and threw it at the commander. The commander easily sliced it in half and was able to get back into its position. Idaho activated both of his daggers and the two of them circle each other for a while.
It was Idaho who made the first move, running at the Elite. The commander easily blocked Idaho's quick jabs and slices. When Idaho started to weaken, it was the commander's turn to be on the offensive. The two of them parried each others blows for a few seconds. Idaho's perception was only matched by the Elite's mastery of the skill when Idaho finally was able to catch the commander off guard and twisted its left arm causing it to drop its sword. The Elite then pushed Idaho out of the arm-lock and activated a dagger. But this one was different, it glowed red. Idaho and the Elite blocked each other's blows for a while when they locked their blades. Neither of them was going to back down now. But then, Idaho's right dagger shattered. And he fell backwards. 'A dagger that can break other energy weapons, interesting.' Idaho thought. But right now was not the time for Idaho to be thinking. The dagger flickered on and off. Idaho tried to get up but he knew it would be pointless as the commander was standing directly above him. As the commander brought his sword up to deal the final blow, Idaho blocked it using his remaining dagger, knocking it aside so that the Elite stabbed the ships hull. Idaho took this chance and tackled the Elite to the ground. He quickly shoved his right fist into the hole in the bottom of his mouth. As he brought his fist back up, the dagger flickered, slicing the Elite's head in two. Idaho had finally won.
Idaho got up and as he did, he felt several shocks in his right hand. He quickly removed the dagger and threw it on the floor. It fizzed and surged and then exploded in a ball of blue and purple. He then looked down at the dead commander. He used his last dagger to slice off the Elite's left hand and to remove its dagger. He then strapped it to his right hand. He activated to test how it felt. It felt the same as a normal Energy Dagger. He sliced a nearby console with it and it destroyed it. Idaho grinned for a second, but then was cut off by the aching pain in his knee. He took the dead Brute's left knee brace that he had removed earlier and hooked it to his belt, removed the crushed kneecap, injected some Bio-foam, and using a welding torch that he brought along from the Longsword, attached it to his knee. It felt heavier than the kneecap, but he felt much safer with this one. 'You take from your catch what you need.' He recalled his grandfather telling him. Idaho's grandfather probably didn't mean it like that, but Idaho had his own way of seeing things.
He then heard the door open, a group of Grunts and Jackals walked in shocked by what they saw. Idaho quickly got up and shot them all with one clip of Carbine rounds. He then ran to the door and shut it but not before sticking a grenade to the door console on the other side. 'I need to get out of here.' Idaho thought. 'But not before blowing up this ship.' Idaho thought as he walked to the ships navigational console. He then set a course for the Battle-cruiser in front of the one he was in. He then walked up to the console to control the ships power balance to divert all the power to the ships engines. He felt the ships increase in speed. 'Now, how to get out of here?' he thought as he looked towards the door and saw sparks flying from the centre of the door indicating that the crew were trying to get into the bridge. Idaho then looked around the deck of the bridge. He then turned and looked at the fuel cells, and grinned.
Idaho had piled up all the fuel cells he could find onto one side of the wall and had found a fuel rod gun to ignite it. He stood against the opposite wall and just as he pulled the trigger, the door broke down and a group of Brutes were trying to understand what was going on while a group of Elite's were screaming. Idaho pulled on the trigger and in a second, as he, along with the Covenant were sucked out into space. He turned around to look at the hole in the hull he had made. It was still burning as the ship flew closer to the unaware Battle-cruiser. A group of jetpack propelled Elites continued to pursue Idaho as the ones that weren't wearing any form of protection from the vacuum of space struggled to not freeze and suffocate. He kicked himself off the body of a choking Brute and shot two shots into a Grunt. The jetpack Elites were getting closer and tried to shoot him, but Idaho was too out of control for them to be able to predict a pattern. Eventually, Idaho positioned himself and shot all the Elites, except for one, whom he shot in the jetpack, cracking the casing and causing it to explode in a ball of blue light. He kicked himself off a sheet of metal that broke off the ship when he blew the hole in the hull and headed straight towards the last Elite. The Elite was able to hit Idaho once with a bolt of plasma as Idaho came tumbling towards it and crushed its oxygen mask with his hand. As it suffocated Idaho removed its jetpack and attached it to himself as he propelled himself back to his ship, but not before watching the collision between the two ships and the wreckage flying in all directions, hitting other ships. A large chunk actually ripped apart one of the Battle-cruiser's starboard side. Idaho grinned again and stared at the sun. 'Yeah, just some target practice.' he thought as he flew towards his ship.
