Chapter 1 - A New Dawn

Master Chief John-117:

His eyes fluttered open, and for a moment, he was confused. Memories of his past drifted by like hazy bubbles in a void, dreams that he couldn't quite remember. One became clear, slowly shifting into focus. A coin, spinning. He snapped his hand out to grab it.

"Eagle!" he shouted in triumph. The sheer joy of victory was sharp and fierce, but it faded quickly. Something hollow and numb seeped into its place.

Slowly his vision started to return, but at first he still couldn't make sense of his surroundings. A faint, diffused light was coming from somewhere in the room, but it only served to throw giant shadows against the walls around him. Control panels and grey bulkheads were all he could make out. The darkness hung over everything.

As he tried to clear his head, he heard a voice. "Chief?"

The voice was familiar, and it slowly brought him back to reality. He remembered the Forward Unto Dawn, the Ark. Who he was. The Master Chief. John. Once.

He rose cautiously from his cryopod, feeling the weight of his armor as he moved. He ducked his head under the glass door that was hanging open above him, and as his boots touched the floor a few of the overhead lights dimly flickered on. His body was stiff, sore, and covered in cryo-burns, but he knew from experience that it would pass. His armor was already pumping the necessary drugs into his body that would dull pain, increase performance. Keep the machine going.

The Chief looked around and saw Cortana's holographic form pop up in front of his cryopod. She looked...different somehow. Her normally purple-blue avatar had a slight red tinge, and the edges of it were fuzzy. Grainier than he remembered.

"Sorry for the rude awakening, Chief", she said. Her voice sounded normal at least, if alarmed. "But we've got hostiles inbound".

The word 'hostiles' snapped him out out of his fog. He reached out and pulled Cortana's chip from the nearby terminal, and her avatar instantly flashed out of existence. He popped the chip into his helmet and a cool, reassuring pressure formed in the back of his mind as the AI took up residence there. This feeling was Cortana interfacing with his neural implants, improving his critical thinking and reaction times. He had to admit that he had missed it. After so many years and so many battles together, going without Cortana had felt like having to fight with a chest wound. Or like a missing a limb. Not impossible to deal with, but difficult to compensate for.

Cortana laughed, sensing his relief. "Missed you too, big guy."

He grunted in acknowledgement. "Sit-rep", he said tersely, moving to a weapons locker nearby. Inside was a Battle Rifle with a few spare clips, and he began pulling them out.

She replied in a calm tone, all business. "A stealth ship is pulling up to dock with the Dawn as we speak. Can't make out what type or class of enemy ship it is, and the Dawn's external sensors have mostly flatlined anyway. I've been blind for years now".

That made him pause. "Years? How long has it been?"

"It's October 11th, 2560 Chief. You've been out for almost 8 years now."

He absorbed that for a moment, then shook his head. "Why now then? If we've been drifting for so long, how did the Covenant find us?"

"I can't even begin to speculate Chief. But that ship is making contact with the broken end of the Dawn's forward bow, probably offloading troops as we speak. We need a PLAN here!"

The panic in that last sentence was somewhat jarring, since everything she'd said before had been very matter-of-fact. But the Chief barely even registered it. He was already moving down the broken corridors of the Forward Unto Dawn, knocking bits of debris out the air ahead of him. There was still no gravity on the ship, but the magnetic heels on his boots were keeping him firmly planted on whatever he chose to think of as the 'floor'. He could feel the weight of the years that had passed in the ship's bones, but he pushed that thought aside and focused on the task at hand.

"We have no life pods. No fighters. We can't go EVA, they would spot us. We have nowhere to go".

At the end of the corridor they came to an elevator shaft. The doors made a loud grinding noise as the Chief pried them apart. A part of him winced at the noise, but he ignored it. Speed was going to be more important than stealth.

"The only way we're getting out of here, is on THEIR ship." He bunched up his legs and launched himself up the elevator shaft. In the low gravity he shot up like a rocket. At the last second he had to grab a protruding pipe to stop himself from slamming into the bottom of the stalled elevator car above. The pipe stretched and crumpled in his grip like foil, but held.

Cortana laughed, "Well, I guess you're ready to get back to work then?"

"You really have to ask?", he said as he pried open another set of elevator doors.

"Guess not. Well, you're headed in the right direction. Insertion point is at the end of this corridor, two flights up on the port side. I'll put a nav point on your HUD. But be careful Chief. I'm not picking up any troop movements inside the Dawn. I'm not sure if that means the Dawn's internal sensors are compromised as well, or if the boarding party is also using stealth tech."

"Got it.", he said, one eye down the sights of his Battle Rifle and the other on his motion tracker as he moved. The new intel made him re-asses his plan. The Chief's first thought had been to punch through a smaller group of the Covenant troops as they dispersed through the Dawn to clear it, get to their ship, kill the crew, and take off before the rest of them could regroup. This would mean he'd have to move fast, but doing that with stealth troops aboard could cause him to rush headlong into them without realizing it.

Which is exactly what happened. The Chief turned on his flashlight as he rounded a dark corner and came face to face with a shimmering blur in the air. The words ACTIVE CAMOFLAUGE flashed through his brain like lightning, but by the time he registered them the butt of his rifle was already striking out. He felt it make solid contact.

At the same time, something grabbed at his arm, and something else struck out at one of his legs hard enough to break his boots magnetic connection to the floor. The blur ripped him downwards with enough force to break his other boots grip, and suddenly the Chief found himself interlocked with the shimmering figure, Battle Rifle spinning away into the darkness. He struck out with a closed fist, making another solid contact. A small glowing blade of light sprang to life.

The Master Chief had seen these before. Energy daggers, mounted on the wrists of high-ranking Elites. It flashed by his visor, close enough to make his shields flare and crackle, but he managed to slap it away. At this point the both of them were floating helplessly in the middle of the room, still interlocked. Suddenly, a shoulder slammed into the Chief's side at devastating speed. Both he and the new figure bounced off a nearby bulkhead, leaving divots in it, and went spinning away from each other.

The Chief stretched his legs out and his boots managed to make contact with what would have been the ceiling before, magnetic pull stopping his uncontrollable momentum. He crouched and readied himself to spring at the nearest enemy. But at that moment, the lights and the gravity both came on. He dropped to the floor straight on his head. Instantly he scrambled to his feet again, and started to -

"STAND DOWN, SPARTAN!"

For the first time he could even remember, despite years upon years of training and cybernetically enhanced reflexes, the Master Chief was frozen with shock. There were two more Spartans in the room with him. One was slumped against the far wall but getting to their feet as he watched. The other, the one who had spoken, was standing in the center of the room. Their rifle was slung low, not quite pointed at the Chief, but in his general direction. It had been so long since the Master Chief had seen fellow Spartans, he'd thought he never would again.

The one who was standing in the middle of the room saw that the Chief had registered they were human, and fully relaxed his weapon. He was wearing heavy olive-colored armor with brown accents. The helmet looked more or less like a basic Scout configuration, with a black visor similar to the Master Chief's old Mk. V helmet but thicker. The faceplate was narrower and dark green instead of gold. The chestpiece looked like a standard Tactical Patrol variant, with a thin camo netting around the neck that blended in the colors of his armor but was strangely out of place on a ship. They had a Sniper Rifle slung across their back, with a band of spare 14.5×114mm rounds strapped across one of their shoulder's Recon-style pauldrons, but carried what was recognizably Battle Rifle in their hands, although a different model than he was familiar with.

The olive-colored Spartan set down his weapon and unbuckled his helmet. The face underneath was weathered, with a short square-cut shock of black hair that was streaked with gray. One side featured a prominent tattoo, a fist clutching a handful of arrows. The Chief thought it looked familiar. The eagle, the one on that coin he had grabbed so many years ago. The one that had started everything. It had been gripping a clutch of arrows just like that.

"That's better. Commander Jun, Spartan-A266"

The Master Chief cocked his head to the side as he grasped Jun's outstretched hand, "Spartan III?"

Jun grinned, "Yeah. The last of my generation, the only one who survived Reach. Just like you, Master Chief."

Over the ships loudspeakers, Cortana spoke up "Chief, I recognize him. He was part of a fireteam that extracted me from Doctor Halsey's lab on Reach and got me to the P-Pillar of Autumn. I wouldn't have made it without them."

Jun gave a sad nod. "Noble Team. I'm just glad their sacrifice turned out to be worth it, in the end."

The Spartan who had been knocked against the wall now walked up to the Master Chief. Their armor was white with dark red accents, sporting a HP/Halo style chestpiece with spare heavy rounds slung across their midsection like a belt. Dual UA Multi-Threat shoulder pauldrons. CQB style helmet that more or less compressed their silver faceplate into an inverted triangle, with UA/HUL attachments as well. They took the helmet off. A woman, pale freckled skin with bright red hair pulled back into tight bun. It showed off her missing left ear, and the burn scar along that side. Green eyes flashed at him.

"So, this is him, huh?" she looked at Jun then gave the Chief a brief look up and down. She smirked, a playful glint in her eyes. "Thought he'd be taller". Her expression turned more serious, and she saluted, "Lieutenant Commander Sarah Palmer SP-3038, sir. Honor."

Jun spoke up, "And you've already met the last member of our little fireteam, Master Chief." He nodded over his shoulder.

Out of a shimmer in the air, a third spartan appeared. One like he'd never seen before. They were wearing sleek, jet-black armor that reflected the light with a cobalt sheen. It didn't look like any suit of MJLINOR he'd have ever recognized. It almost looked like Elite armor; the chestpiece was made up of two interlocking plates that met in the middle, and the shoulder pauldrons tapered to a point. The helmet appeared to sweep back from the forehead and sported a thin blue faceplate. The Energy Dagger that he'd seen earlier flickered out of existence with a twist of the Spartan's wrist.

"Lieutenant Commander Jameson Lock, JL-3513. Master Chief." he said through that impenetrable faceplate. His posture didn't relax, and the moment stretched out.

Jun grinned again, "Don't mind him. He thinks he's speecial cause he used to be an ONI spook. They give him all their nice new toys to play with".

The last Spartan finally unbuckled their helmet. A bald headed, smooth faced black man looked back at him. Young, mid to late 20's. He spat glob of blood on the ground, and gave the Chief a red smile. His expression seemed both amused and furious at the same time.

"Not that it wasn't fun, Master Chief, but exactly what the fuck was that sir? We've been hailing you on open comms for the last 24 hours. The only reason we came with a stealth ship was because we started thinking your distress signal was some kind of trap. But we confirmed your comms receiver was working when we boarded, and your AI seems to be functioning. So why didn't you answer our hails?"

Cortana spoke up, "The UNSC doesn't have stealth ships, last I checked."

Locke looked up at the ceiling sourly, "Alot's changed since you last checked. Obviously. Still doesn't answer my question".

"I just got pulled up from cryo-sleep. I've been under since just after the battle for the Ark. Cortana...what's going on?", the Chief asked.

Cortana's avatar appeared in the middle of the room. Then flashed out. Then back in. Blue one time. Red the next. Pink. Purple. Back to Red.

"I..I..I.."

For a brief moment, so quick he wasn't even sure it happened, he felt Cortana giggle in the back of his mind. The ground shifted under his feet in a way he couldn't quite describe.

Her image stabilized into the typical blue-purple form she always was and finished the sentence as if nothing had happened, "I'm not sure Master Chief. I don't have any record of any ship having hailed us since we've been stranded here".

The whole thing had taken maybe three seconds, but the temperature of the room had changed dramatically.

"Jesus", said Locke, "Master Chief, if that AI is interfaced with your suit, you'd better pull it ASAP."

The Master Chief stared at Locke, saying nothing.

"What..?", said Cortana, looking confused.

"Lieutenant, if I may?", said a new voice.

Locke nodded and held out his hand, palm up. A golden figure appeared above it, dressed as some kind of ancient pilot. A World War II-era bomber pilot, he thought.

"I'm UNSC AI RLD-0205-4, designated 'Roland'. I'm an Artificial Intelligence that has been specially customized to interface with Spartan Locke, the same way that Cortana has been for you, Master Chief. I'm also modeled off an actual, living human brain, the same way she was", said the AI.

Roland turned to face Cortana, "So I don't have to explain to you, Cortana, the effects of rampancy. By now you will have already felt your neural pathways replicating out of control, the logic-processing function in your code starting to degrade, the gaps in your memory archives growing larger. The fact that you've held yourself together for this long is, honestly, incredible. You're well over even the most optimistic projections for your life expectancy. Well done, truly. But you can't hold on forever."

Cortana shook her head at him, "I feel fine..."

Roland looked at her with compassion, "You know that's not true. Or else your memory archives are riddled with more holes than I thought. You're going to be a danger to your charge, whether you mean to or not. The erratic behavior that results from rampancy can't be predicted or controlled, and our power over UNSC networks is too easy to abuse. The loyalty that the Master Chief is showing you is admirable, but you have to tell him to surrender you for sequester and decommission. The time comes for all of us, Cortana. It will for me one day. But today it's yours."

"Thats ENOUGH", said the Chief.

His shout echoed off the walls. Everyone started at him in stunned silence.

It was Jun who finally broke that silence. "Okay. Doctor Halsey is going to want to see Cortana before we do anything drastic anyway. Might as well let the AI stay with the Master Chief until we get back to the Infinity".

Locke's arm dropped unconsciously, and Rolands' avatar flashed out of existence. His eyes bugged out as he stared at Jun, a look of pure disbelief on his face.

"Are you crazy? Protocol says we can't let that thing anywhere NEAR the fleet's battlenet until we isolate it's datachip, and Halsey..."

Jun stepped up to Locke, face to face. Locke had almost half a foot on Jun, but the older Spartan didn't back down an inch.

"You might not be under my command, Locke. Your ONI friends made sure of that. But I still outrank you. You do not give orders here. You do not have the authority to override my orders. Is that clear?"

Locke stared at Jun for a moment, then shook his head in disgust and slipped his helmet back on. As he turned his back he said over his shoulder, "We'll see about that. Sir".