Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto or Halo
(Year, 2559. Month Five)
"You should get some rest Captain."
Standing on the lock pad next to the door inside Naruto's bunk Isabel watched with worried eyes as the man who had probably saved her and all of her friends lives act like what happened today had no effect on him. She wasn't a war veteran like him, and he had probably lost more people he cared about than she had ever met but, she was sure the deaths of everyone he had tried to protect was weighing on him more than he let on. She just needed to get him to open up instead of locking everything inside.
"You can talk to me you know."
"There is no point Isabel." Naruto scrolled through another month of history he had missed while asleep on the Ark. He had meant to catch up on what was going on but had been preoccupied the past couple of months. Now though there wasn't much else to do
"Everybody is gone Isabel and wasting time talking about my feelings isn't going to help anyone."
"It will help you."
Naruto tossed his data pad onto his bunk realizing she wasn't going to let him read in peace. "I. Don't. Need. Help." He stressed glaring at the A.I avatar. Even if he did she couldn't help him anyway.
"You're not even actually here. Ramirez has got you and is god knows where. The banished could be trying to hack your systems right now and there's nothing I can do but sit here and wait for you to die like the others."
Ramirez.
Naruto's fist tightened at just having to say the traitor's name. The bastard had escaped when one of the Blister back missiles hit close to the brig killing the guards and creating a hole that allowed the only prisoner on the ship to escape.
If he ever found the doctor he was going to put a bullet in the man's head. Something he should have done months ago instead of wasting food that one of the others doctors or Marines who needed it on a traitor that only sat in a cell and wasted space.
"I may only be only a part of the original Isabel but I'm still her. And as long as I'm here it means the real me is still alive somewhere. And I'm sure Doctor Ramirez wouldn't get caught on purpose. He's still a good guy. He just didn't want his work-"
"Our job as soldiers is to protect humanity, whatever the cost. We spent thirty years fighting the Covenant, keeping them from finding Earth and if anything in their research that he let the banished have on a silver platter re-opens the portal." Naruto let the threat hang in the air. Isabel had to know that if a Covenant Assault Carrier got past the Orbital defenses and just appeared right above New Mombasa there was no telling how much damage it could do or how many lives would be lost trying to stop it.
Grabbing the data pad he laid back down on his bunk. "There's nothing I can do right now Isabel. Not until I get a lead on your original."
XXXX
(Two weeks later, In Orbit over Earth)
"Chief, Commander you to will be Halsey's escorts to the artifact." Admiral Lasky said as the three mentioned stood in front of him. The Master Chief and Commander Palmer both suited up in the Gen I and II armor respectively.
Palmer snorted her helmet hiding the look of disdain on her face as she spoke. "I think we all know the war criminal can't be trusted to keep her findings classified. Remember Requiem, Admiral."
"Orders are from HIGHCOM Palmer. Halsey's are leading expert on Forerunner tech if anyone can reopen the portal it's her."
"Thank you, admiral," Halsey said sardonically. "I'm glad I will have at least I will have one capable guard."
"Halsey," Lasky warned glaring at the one armed woman. "Guess it's too much to ask for them to get along."
He understood the resentment between the two women. Halsey because Palmer shot her and the Commander because she didn't want to work with a criminal who experimented on children but they were both professionals and needed to start acting like it. The smart remarks they made at each other during mission briefs and constant arguing in the field when Halsey was looking at Forerunner ruins couldn't continue. Especially for Commander Palmer as she had the Spartan IV's under her command who were starting to treat the Doctor the same way she did.
Especially for Commander Palmer as she had the Spartan IV's under her command who began to treat the Doctor the same way.
"Chief, make sure they don't try and kill each other." He asked the armored Spartan.
"Yes, Sir." Chief nodded as Lasky dismissed the group.
"Working with two ladies who hate each other. I do not envy you, John."
"You'll be down there with us Cortana. We have our orders it doesn't matter if they like each other or not. As long as they get the mission done."
Cortana sighed at her Spartans answer. Many would have just dismissed Johns opinion as a stiff answer but she had been with him long enough to be able to see the truth hidden underneath his words. "Are you talking about Halsey and Palmer, or yourself and the Commander?"
"Cortana."
"I'm just saying Chief she did try and kill Doctor Halsey, who you see as your mother. You know the Spartan Corps has a few of the surviving Spartan-III's that serve alongside the IV's. But none of the Spartan II's have joined, why do you think that is?" Cortana asked.
"Commander Palmer's mission was classified, Cortana. Only the crew of the Infinity knew about it." Chief answered. No Spartan-II's except him and Blue team knew why their mother had lost her arm. That wasn't the reason none of his brothers or sisters joined the Spartan Corps.
Cortana giggled her face popping up on the bottom left of the Chiefs HUD. "It's because you all were fighting before she was even born. She doesn't have the right to command real Spartans."
Maybe it was a little bitter of her but she was very aware of everything the Spartan II's and III's did for humanity. Operations PROMETHEUS and TORPEDO where casualty rates stood at almost 100 hundred percent. Noble teams sacrifice on Reach to get her to John, and everyone knew of her Spartans accomplishments. The Halo rings and the Ark. He had saved humanity from extinction twice. Yet the UNSC gave Command to Palmer. She wouldn't have let John be bossed around by some
Yet the UNSC gave Command of all Spartans who joined the Spartan Corps to Sarah Palmer. A wannabe Spartan playing dress up and following Serin Osman's orders like a puppet. No, she wouldn't have let John join that clubhouse even if he wanted to.
"John, are you ready?" Halsey asked getting the super soldiers attention.
Pulled from their conversation John nodded to his mother and the Commander. "Let's go."
XXXX
(In Orbit above the Ark)
"We didn't drift out of the galaxy in twenty-eight years, Professor."
James Cutter, Captain of the Spirit of Fire stared out the bottom window of the observation deck at the massive space station that looked to have an artificial surface. Twenty-eight years in cryo and his crew might have woken up to something worse than the shield world where Sgt. Forge lost. Tapping the needed buttons he brought up the record of the ship on the holo-table.
Tapping his fingers on the needed buttons he brought up the records of the ship. "Sensor records say we arrived via slip space less than an hour ago?"
"Our slip space drive is gone. However we got here, it wasn't us that initiated the trip." Pulling up a grid of the station below them she moved the hologram to the table where Cutter was standing.
"Something down there...must have opened the portal from this end and pulled us in."
"Captain Cutter, Sir. We've received a signal from the surface. It's UNSC!"
"Signal to my location Lieutenant. Let's hear what they have to say." Cutter met Professors Anders eyes, her mirroring the same disbelief he felt. Twenty-eight years of drifting without being found and a slip space accident is the cause of their rescue. "What are the odds?"
The Lieutenants voice came back on the intercom the excitement gone from is voice replaced by an apologetic tone. "I'm sorry Captain. I can't play it for you, sir. The message has an encryption scheme we haven't seen before."
"Security measures would have advanced without us." He reasoned not willing to give up on their chance at a rescue just yet. "It is coming through on a UNSC frequency. This is good. When we left, the war wasn't going well. This signal means the UNSC is still fighting. Or maybe we even won."
It was a long shot and probably wishful thinking on his part. The Covenant had better technology, leagues beyond what the UNSC was capable of creating. Their bigger ships could take on multiple UNSC vessels without so much as a dent before destroying its attackers with devastating plasma weapons. On the ground, they were evenly matched.
The Covenant had numbers on their side with multiple races fighting against the humans who stood alone. Just like in space the aliens also had better technology both shields and smaller plasma weapons that burnt through marine armor. The war should have been a slaughter but humanity's foes underestimated their fighting spirit.
"What's the source of the transmission?" He asked Professor Anders, tabling his thoughts of the war for a later time.
"We don't have the surface yet, Sir," Anders answered expanding the view of the world they did have. The outline was right but the surface was unreadable. "Something down there is blocking our scans and without Serina..."
Anders paused as Captain Cutter closed his eyes momentarily.
"But..." the Professor zoomed in on one spot of the artificial world they were orbiting."We do have a rough location. Should be simple enough to triangulate once we pick up the signal from the ground."
"Cutter to Jerome," Cutter said as he opened a line to the Spartan-II.
"Reporting, Captain."
"Prep Spartan Red Team and a small recon squad. Professor Anders will send you coordinates." Cutter looked to Anders who nodded grabbing the coordinate from the holo-table. "Find out who's sending that signal. Be on the ground within the hour, travel light."
"Roger that, Captain. Recon only." Jerome confirmed.
Shutting down the communication line Cutter looked down through the glass at the strange world again. "Twenty-eight years professor. Let's see what kind of galaxy we woke up to."
XXXXX
(On the Ark)
Silent as a street cat Naruto moved through the night his black ODST armor hiding him from view. The SPI armor he had been gifted was trashed during Atriox's bombing of the 'Will of Fire' and while he missed the shielding it was good to be back in ODST gear. In his hands, he held a silenced Magnum, a sniper rifle strapped to his back and his SMG attached to his hip just in case he was spotted and had to go loud.
Lowering himself softly to the ground he crawled the last few feet until he reached the edge of the cliff that overlooked the western research outpost. Isabel's copy had picked up the originals distress beacon originating from this spot half an hour ago, right before a UNSC ship exited slip space above the Ark. He had broken protocol by not contacting them immediately, deciding to go after Isabel instead.
"She's more important." He thought as he pulled the sniper rifle off his back setting it up so the barrel wasn't over the ridge but he still had a clear shot on anything in the valley.
Pulling off his helmet he looked down the scope just as headlights lit up the valley. Zooming in on the vehicle he put his sights on the driver frowning as he saw the green armored helmets. "Spartans?"
Moving to the passenger and the gunner the frown on his face deepened as he saw they were Spartans also. Spartans were great in a firefight but if Ramirez sent a distress beacon Isabel would have made sure information about the banished was attached to warn anyone that came to help of the danger. "So why only send three Spartans?"
The super soldiers were strong and well trained but they should have been sent with a squad of marines or ODST's as back up.
Naruto moved his crosshairs to cover the outpost as the Spartans exited the warthog and entered the base. This wouldn't be the first time he had covered a Spartans ass so they could complete their mission.
"Hopefully this won't be as big a clusterfuck as that was."
It only took a minute for that hope to go up in flames as Naruto saw flashes through the windows of the outpost and gunshots broke the silence of the night.
Two minutes later the Spartans emerged from where they entered two standing and one being carried.
XXXX
(Spartan Red Team)
"Do we have a plan?" Alice-130 said as she set her teammate Douglas-042 in the shotgun seat of the warthog they had driven to the outpost carefully so not to aggravate his wounds.
Jumping on the back of the hog she manned the turret aiming it at the Ghosts that were charging down from the ridges at them their thrusters glowing bright red in the dark. That damn brute had used the distress beacon as a trap. Glancing at Douglas who was still unconscious and bleeding his broken arm hanging lifelessly at his side she pulled the triggers on the turret firing on the Covenant drivers.
That damn brute had used the distress beacon as a trap. Glancing at Douglas who was still unconscious and bleeding his broken arm hanging lifelessly at his side she pulled the triggers on the turret firing on the Covenant drivers.
"I've got one," Jerome-092 answered as he jumped into the warthog. "Jerome to Spirit of Fire actual."
"Cutter, her. Status?"
"Sir. Requesting danger close. On our location, trailing north. Commence five seconds." Pushing the hog into drive Jerome stepped on the pedal slamming it to the ground.
"Understood Archer missiles inbound."
"Interesting plan," Alice remarked over the gunfire as killed another brute pilot only for it to be replaced by two others. "These guys are like cockroaches." She thought as she aimed at another Ghost driver.
"What the hell?"
Before she could begin shooting again one of the ghosts abruptly stopped firing and slowed to a stop as the elite who was driving its head exploded in a shower of purple.
"What is it, Alice?" Jerome questioned as he kept his foot on the gas jumping the ten-foot cliff below them. "What's going on back there?"
"We're not alone out here," Alice warned as another ghost was stopped followed by another and then a third. "Someone else is on the planet with us and it isn't one of our guys or the Covenant."
"Whoever they are they're not firing at us so we can deal with them later," Jerome said hitting the breaks as they came to a light bridge which had been deactivated. "Alice the bridge."
Alice jumped down from the warthog ripping the turret off its stand carrying it with her to the bridge controls. "Get going I'll cover you."
XXXX
"Idiot." Naruto muttered as one of the Spartans stayed behind. Crouching down in the woods he set his sniper on his back and unhooked his SMG. Flicking the safety off he ran forward jumping from the ledge as the Banished forces surrounded the Spartan.
"That other one better keep Isabel safe."
Another Chapter complete. Thanks for reading and I hope you guys enjoyed it.
Leave a review with what you think:)
PS. I got a PM about pairing and if there will be one in the story. I don't really have an answer for that right now so it's up in the air. Maybe Vale from Locke's team or Sarah palmer. I know people don't really like her but I'm not sure why. 343 does seem to try and shove how awesome she is down everyone's throat and she shot halsey but if there was a pairing it'd probably be her. Still nothings set in stone so let me know what you guys think or if you have any suggestions.