Chapter 3 - Majestic

Captain Thomas Lasky:

Endless valleys and chasms were laid out before him. Jungles and swamps that would have covered entire continents. Snow-topped mountain peaks that would have been tall enough to punch through the Earths atmosphere. Oceans as vast as space. A mosaic of greens, blues, yellows and browns, stretching out as far as the eye could see in every direction. They were so close now that the scene covered the entire viewport on the Infinity's bridge. The Meta-Halo had blotted out even the stars themselves. Besides him, Roland was spitting out numbers that were supposed to give context to the awesome sight before him, but ended up being essentially meaningless.

"The ring has a surface area of 1.6 × 10^15th power square kilometers, a circumference of 9.7 × 10^8th power kilometers, the rim walls along its habitable surface are 1,800 kilometers tall, from the top of those walls to the bottom of its outside edge it has a thickness of-"

"So its..." Lasky spread his arms out to the side, indicating the viewport, "Big."

Roland blinked up at him. His avatar was shrunk down and displayed over a holoterminal at Captain Lasky's workstation. The AI scratched his head through the soft cap he wore, "Well, yeah. It's big."

The mess on the bridge from before had been cleared up, gear secured and shorted-out circuitry replaced. The fire on Deck 6 extinguished. The UNSC Mortal Reverie, Diamond in the Rough, and the rest of the Strike Force were back on assignment, escorting the Infinity as they orbited the inner surface of the ring. The nerves of the crew had been shaken though, and that could be dangerous. Knowledge of just how haywire things had gone with the Covenant War's most famous heroes was a blow to the ship's morale. He'd considered trying to order the bridge crew to not speak of it, but knew that it would just make them whisper in the corners all the more furiously.

In the immediate aftermath of the episode, when Locke had held his hand out to take Cortana's datachip from the Master Chief, the Chief had stood up and brushed Locke's hand aside. Pushed past him. Captain Lasky's heart had seized in his throat. The thought of these MJOLNIR-clad armored titans duking it out on his bridge would've been a disaster beyond contemplating.

Instead, Locke held back just long enough for the Master Chief to step towards Lasky. Handed over the chip. Made him promise to have Halsey take a look at her, and that nothing drastic be done until they could get back to UNSC space and he could lobby High Command. Lasky had agreed to this, gladly. Not only to keep the Spartans from duking it out either. He had nothing but the utmost respect for the Chief AND Cortana. He'd had no desire to see her like that, and if there was something that could actually be done about it, all the better. But he had the suspicion that sooner or later the Master Chief might have to face a hard reality, and he feared what would happen when that day came.

But the Captain considered himself a simple man, and could only focus on one looming, ominous threat at a time.

"Jesus", he said, almost whispering, "If the other Halo's are able to destroy all life in the galaxy...then what the hell can THIS thing do?"

Roland was silent for a moment, then said, "I guess its our job to find out."

Captain Lasky snorted and shook his head, "Yeah, well..." he waved his hand over another display, bringing up an image of a Zealot ship, "Our intel said that Covenant Zealots were supposed to be swarming over this system. They had at least a week or two with the artifact that brought us here before Locke captured it. We came armed to the teeth, ready to fight tooth and nail for this thing."

He waved the image away, brought up a holographic display of the system in its place. "But we got nothing. If they landed somewhere on that ring, we'll never find them. If they're out here on the float, we're not seeing them, and they're not making the effort to see us. 'Securing' this thing is like telling a colony of ants to 'secure' a mountain."

Roland sighed and looked out at the viewport, "Well, you're not wrong. But I would say our first step would be to try and identify some critical infrastructure, secure that, and go from there."

Captain Lasky was silent for a minute, considering. He brought up some topographical maps they had made of the local slice of the ring and enhanced a part of the image. "Lets head for the rim wall then. It's likely there'll be some form of technology there. Maybe we'll find something useful."

"Aye, Captain", said Roland, "Setting a course now."

Some chatter broke out among the bridge crew as preparations were made, and Captain Lasky used the opportunity send a comm link request to Spartan Commander Jun. An avatar of Jun's face appeared above his holo-terminal moments later.

"Captain Lasky, sir?"

"How's our guest of honor doing down there, Spartan?"

In the background, gunfire erupted. He heard a loud crash, and a groaning of metal.

"Oh, he's doing greeat. We're introducing him to the new generation. Letting him test out some of our toys. Play with some new upgrades to his armor."

More gunfire. Another crash. Cheers.

Jun chuckled, "He's loving it."

This didn't exactly ease Lasky's mind, but he supposed it was for the best, "That's good. Let him stay there as long as he wants, give him access to any equipment he requests. He's had alot on his mind, and we don't need any more distractions on this ship."

"Crystal clear, Captain", said Jun, and Lasky severed the link.

The fleet made the calculations necessary, and the formation homed in on their new course. The Strike Force consisted of numerous corvettes, frigates, destroyers, cruisers and carriers, the largest concentration of naval power gathered since the Covenant war, with the Infinity at its center.

And it was on his shoulders to lead this power. If Lasky was being honest with himself, the pressure of that responsibility was weighing on him a little bit. He had displayed what had been categorized as 'tactical brilliance' in engagements with both the Zealots and the Banished during the course of this new conflict, either bringing in unexpected victories or mitigating what would have otherwise been devasting losses. But many whispered that his appointment to the UNSC Infinity, the newest and most advanced warship ever built by the human race, was due to his family's long history of service and deep connections within naval command. Including an uncle who was a member of HighComm itself. It caused many grumblings among senior officers, veterans of the Covenant War who considered themselves more deserving.

Captain Lasky knew he earned this command. But the doubts played in the back of his mind, nonetheless. At the end of the day though, he just didn't have time for the luxury of letting those self-doubts consume his thoughts. Especially here, so far outside of known space, with potential threats at every corner.

"Um, sir. We're getting some strange readings here...," said a crewman.

"Roland?", queried the Captain.

Roland appeared back over his terminal, "Multiple slipspace ruptures Captain, all within our formation!"

"NEW CONTACT! FORWARD BOW!"

In front of them, a blue-white ripple appeared in space, and through that ripple an enemy warship came through. It had none of the graceful curves that the UNSC had gotten used to seeing among Covenant ships during the previous war, and which was more-or-less what the Zealots still used as well. This was a Banished warship. A cobbled-together hunk of gray and red metal, all harsh angles with no thought at all to aesthetic and crammed to the teeth with weapons. And, of course, the battering ram at the front of the ship. The Banished's favorite weapon of all.

"ENEMY SHIP IS ACCELERATING!"

"ALL HANDS TO BATTLE-STATIONS! BRACE FOR IMPACT!" yelled Captain Lasky, as the Banished craft grew larger ahead of them.

Spartan Commander Jun-A266:

"Master Chief, sir!" shouted a chorus of Spartan's, all in unison.

They were assembled in the armory, all 60 Spartan IVs of Majestic Company, suited in the latest MJLINOR armor. Most had their helmets off. They represented a good slice of humanity; faces of all colors, hues, and creeds. Jun stood off to the Master Chief's right as the Company presented themselves, with Palmer at his side. Locke had run off to go do whatever ONI spooks did in their spare time. Probably crouched in a dark corner with his active camo on, watching someone take a shit, writing notes.

The image amused him.

Shortly after the Covenant war had ended, when details of the first Spartan programs had come out, the public outrage had been overwhelming. But so was the demand for Spartans. Just one Spartan, albeit one hell of a tough, determined, single-minded and lucky son-a-bitch Spartan, had been enough to turn the course of an entire war. The UNSC was simply NOT going to give up that potential advantage, not even when things seemed relatively peaceful, not with so many enemies still lurking in the shadows.

So, policies for the recruitment of Spartans were drastically changed. Only servicemen and women of the UNSC who consented to the augmentation procedures were allowed the opportunity to become Spartans, and only if selected by HighCom's head-hunters for the Spartan IV program. Advances were made, making the augmentation procedures faster. Less invasive. Less prone to result in fatality. But not completely. And there were side effects.

Jun had been given charge of training the first company of these Spartan IV's. They were the best from all corners of the UNSC, hardened by 30 years of war with the Covenant, and dedicated to the cause. True, they weren't raised to be soldiers. They chose to become soldiers, and they'd had lives before that. Jun thought this gave them a little more...personality than the older generation of Spartans. Perhaps a touch less disciplined, but a little better at 'outside-the-box' thinking as well. He found it endearing. He had a habit of going off-script himself.

Palmer had been his star pupil, the one to rise quickest and highest in the ranks of the Spartan IV's. He had tapped her to train the next company of Spartans. She had picked a successor to train the company after. And so on. Now there were multiple Spartan IV units deployed across the multiple fronts of the war, never larger than company-sized but most often broken up into smaller fireteams and such.

Locke was different. He hadn't been selected by HighCom's headhunters. He'd been selected from within the ranks of ONI, trained by ONI, given the best technology available to humanity by ONI. As far as he was concerned, Locke wasn't a Spartan, just an augmented spook with fancy MJLINOR, and Jun didn't appreciate his purpose for being here. He'd already proven he was willing to turn on them.

"At ease, Spartans", said the Master Chief. Instead of giving a speech, he began working his way down the rows of Spartans IV's one by one. Asking their names, exchanging a quick word. Jun approved. You might die in battle for these soldiers in the field, and they might die for you. You should know who they were.

At Jun's signal the company started dispersing, gearing up and gathering weapons. Jun pulled the Master Chief away from Spartans Stone, Griffin, and Horvath, who had him cornered and were attempting to weasel out war stories.

"So?" said Jun.

"They seem like good men and women, fine soldiers. It'll be an honor to fight with them."

Jun couldn't help but feel a swell of pride in his Spartan IV's, "Of course they are Master Chief. I wouldn't let them be anything less".

The Chief looked at him, "Their armor?"

"Mark VII", Jun chuckled, "Think you'd be left out? Come on." He gave the Chief a pat on the back and started walking.

"We have a fabrication machine," said Jun as they entered the lab. White surfaces, gleaming consoles. The machine took up the entire back wall, glass-encased with a hovering ball of golden light in middle, mechanical arms positioned around it, curved magnetic braces orbiting around the light, keeping the matter-composer encased. Underneath was a conveyor belt, and dispenser at the far end.

"It's not easy to make MJLINOR. We usually just use the fabricator for repairs, print spare parts, whatever. Printing a whole suit is another story. Compared to the old days, they're practically chucking Spartans off an assembly line. But armor is still the bottleneck. The Infinity's tech's had to print out each individual component and assemble them. I had to pull some strings to get this done."

The Mark VII sat in a rack near the machine's dispenser. Heavy sage-green armor plating, with black accents showing on the armor around the shoulders and shins. Patches of the darker black mesh-underarmor were visible around the thighs, belly, and joints of the suit. The helmet looked pretty much the same as the Mark VI helmet, but with a black visor as well similar to the old Mark V. Gold faceplate. Chestpiece looked like a basic UA Security configuration, with sturdy shoulder pauldrons that also recalled traces of the Mark V designs, although larger. Heavier Grenadier-style kneecaps and legpieces. But this armor also carried the sleeker, more compact but somehow sturdier look that the new Mark VII MJLINOR suits had evolved into.

"We'll give you a minute, Chief", said Jun. He and Palmer stepped out, as the techs who had been hovering at the edges of their group moved in.

Shortly after, the Chief came out of the lab. Standing tall in his MJLINOR, armored green plates of his suit refracting the light with a golden sheen. The Master Chief had never been some wilting flower, but in this new armor, he looked truly daunting. The Chief held up his right forearm to Jun. It was bulkier than the other, with black metal compartment built in; the compartment had a metal spike nestled into a groove along the top.

"Upgrade", Jun tilted his head, "Let's head back to the training yard and you can test it out."

Palmer elaborated as they made their way back, "Not all Spartan's are created equal these days, Chief. You get evaluated for suit upgrades based on your performance in the field. Usually, command assigns you a specific upgrade module based on your skill set, but if you've got enough juice sometimes you can pick and choose."

Jun said over his shoulder, "You don't lack juice, Chief, but you arrived on short notice. This is the best of the upgrade modules we had available. I think you're gonna like it," he said with a grin.

"Do you have one?" asked the Master Chief, as they entered the training yard.

"Not anything as exciting, but it suits me just fine", Jun flipped over his own forearm to reveal a small, retractable projectile launcher underneath.

The training yard was a massive sandpit, made to look like a battlefield. Half-destroyed Warthog's and Scorpions were dotted around, sandbags and barriers breaking up the lines of fire around them. A two-story concrete bunker dominated the middle of the yard. A red flag was planted on the bunkers roof. Around the edge of the sandpit was a strip of metal flooring, where spare weapon racks and target dummies sat. Above them, there was a wrap-around observation deck encased in bulletproof glass.

The Spartan's had been doing some basic drills and using a firing range that was at the far end of the yard. But as the three of them stepped out they started to gather around. Jun pointed his wrist at the bunker. A small metal orb with a glowing blue light shot out, into a window on the bunkers ground level. It emitted a holographic light bubble around it, and suddenly Jun could see through the bunker. Inside, an upended weapons rack was tagged on his HUD, and he knew that it contained 3 Battle Rifles and a pair of pistols, with a dozen spare clips for both weapons. Jun linked his telemetry data with the Master Chief so he could see what Jun saw.

"If there was an enemy inside, he'd be tagged too, and I'd get stats on their weapons, armor, and weak points", Jun made a gesture with his fingers. Inside the bunker, the orb spread a portion of its outer shell and revealed wings, like beetle. The drone made a loop around the training yard, camera feed showing up as a small window on Jun and the Master Chief's HUD. Jun held out his hand and the drone came back to him. He flipped over his arm and reloaded it into the projectile launcher.

"Got about a dozen of 'em, all reusable. Give me a 360-degree field of vision at all times, at night, behind cover, wherever."

The Master Chief held up his forearm, "And this?"

"Grappling hook. But more than that. It's a chromium-alloy blade with a compressed carbon fiber cable. Basically supposed to be the toughest stuff you can make this with. Self-sharpening nanobots. It'll penetrate most surfaces outright, but if not, it can either mag-lock or fuse itself to whatever it hits. They told me they got the idea from Covenant plasma grenades, little computer in the tip sends a pulse through whatever it hits, figures out whether to stick it or not. Another computer in the compartment adjusts the tension in the line. Can deliver an electric shock, too. Lots of nifty features."

"Want to give it whirl, Chief?", said Palmer. She gave him a grin and put her helmet on, nodding to the bunker in the training yard. "How about a game of capture the flag?"

A ripple went through the watching Spartan IV's.

"You're on", said the Master Chief.

They started at opposite ends of the training yard. The Master Chief had selected a Battle Rifle as his weapon of choice, with an Assault Rifle mag-locked to his back. Palmer had her standard weapon set. Shotgun and SMG. That girl had no patience, onery as a damn Brute. The only thing that made her happier than getting close to an enemy and blowing their face off was using explosives. Unfortunately for her, that wasn't an option here. Non-lethal ammunition only, stun rounds.

Jun stood on the upper balcony of the training pit, behind a control panel. The rest of Majestic Company ringed around the upper balcony as well, chattering excitedly, placing bets. Each opposing Spartan was within a holographic square at their end of the yard, the Chief's being blue and Palmers being red. That was their 'home base'. Objective was to capture the flag at the top of the bunker and bring it home. Simple, timeless training exercise.

"Ready?" said Jun.

Both Spartan's nodded. Jun hit a switch, and a light hanging above each of the Spartans home bases flipped from red to green.

The power pack on the back of Spartan Palmer's armor was larger than normal and had vents along the sides. Jun was pretty sure the Master Chief had already noticed this and had a good idea of what they were. Now she confirmed it as she used her suit's evasive thrusters to zip straight towards the bunker in short bursts. The Master Chief, still not used to his grappling hook, sprinted there. Palmer beat him by a good margin, leaped in the air, and used another burst of her evasive thrusters to skip the walkway that wrapped around the outside of the bunker and go straight to the top. Grabbed the flag.

This exposed her. The Master Chief, who was somewhat further out from the base of the bunker, half-behind a warthog wreck, snapped his Battle Rifle to his shoulder and fired several quick bursts. They ricochet off Palmer's shield, making it flicker. Having no ranged weapons to respond with, she retreated from the edge of the bunker behind and to her right, as the Master Chief sprinted behind bits of cover to flank to her left.

It was glaringly obvious that this was not going to be a cover-shooting affair. Both Spartan's had too much of an advantage in maneuverability for that. Staying still behind cover would be death on this field. The Chief and Palmer were essentially sprinting back to her base in parallel now, zipping between the different bits of cover as the Chief trailed pot shots after her. But she still had the thrusters, and she was going to beat them there.

As this was unfolding, he got a comm link request from Captain Lasky.

"Captain Lasky, sir?"

"How's our guest of honor doing down there, Spartan?"

Down below, the Master Chief finally figured out how to use his grappling hook. He shot the blade into the bulkhead behind Palmer's home base. Ripped his arm backward across his chest. And went flying towards it. As he flew, he managed to pivot in the air and get his legs between him and the wall. This training yard had been made specifically for his Spartan IV's. The walls were specially reinforced. But even so, Infinity's engineers hadn't anticipated a half-ton of Spartan being flung at them with such force. The metal groaned as it caved in. The Master Chief landed in a crouch against the wall and shot his legs out, launching himself to the floor and rolling to a metal crate nearby. One that was between Palmer and her base.

"Oh, he's doing greeat. We're introducing him to the new generation. Letting him test out some of our toys. Play with some new upgrades to his armor."

Palmer was seeing red. Her objective was right in front of her, and as far as she was concerned, she was going to barrel right through the Master Chief to get to it. She dropped the flag and unlimbered her shotgun in one smooth motion, blasting the air ahead of her with buckshot. But she made a mistake. As she activated her thrusters to take another zip forward, the Chief emerged from cover, leaped in the air, and shot his grapple. Jun had adjusted the settings before the Chief had gone out, so the grapple tip knew to deflect its angle at the last second and mag-lock.

The result pulled Palmer towards the Chief as much as it pulled him towards her, but once again the Chief pivoted in the air and got his legs between him and Palmer. His boots slammed into Palmers chest. She went flying. So far that she went through the corner support of the bunker where the flag had been. The bunker collapsed down on that end, the three other supports at the corners not being enough, tipping the bunker over at an angle. A cloud of dirt rose up and a crash sounded through the training yard. Around him, Spartans who had taken bets on the Master Chief cheered.

Jun chuckled, "He's loving it."

Now the Master Chief had picked up the flag that Palmer had dropped. She had still not emerged from inside the room at the bunkers base, where she'd landed, and the Chief started sprinting towards his own home base.

"That's good. Let him stay there as long as he wants, give him access to any equipment he requests. He's had alot on his mind, and we don't need any more distractions on this ship."

"Crystal clear, Captain", said Jun, as he severed the link.

Now Palmer emerged from a half-collapsed window at the bunkers base, and she had gotten wise. She'd ditched the SMG and slung her Shotgun across her back, carrying a Battle Rifle in her hands. She sprinted after the Chief, took a running leap, and used her thruster to gain even more height. She used this position to rain fire down on the Master Chief from above, bullets sparking and crackling off the shields covering his back.

The thought of just trying to weather the fire and sprint towards his base must have been tempting, but the Master Chief was too much of an experienced soldier for that. He thrust the flag down onto the ground ahead of him, dove behind cover, and unslung his Assault Rifle. Predictably, Palmer had closed the distance, and took a fully automatic burst of fire straight to the chest. Her shields died and she dove backwards, rolling behind cover herself before any of the stun rounds could hit her.

Now there was nothing but clear space between the Chief and his home base. He sprinted that way, scooping up the flag as he went, while Palmer-

The metal around them didn't groan. It shrieked. The entire deck thrust upward at a severe angle and Jun was thrown up against the bulletproof windows. Then those windows shattered as the steel frames around them warped. Almost every Spartan in the room was thrust towards the wall where the Master Chief's home base had been, sand, weapons racks, target dummies, and crates clattering around them. Along with the Scorpion and Warthog wrecks, props that now turned deadly. The air was a howling storm, somewhere the atmosphere was venting, taking the sand with it.

Eventually, bulkhead doors came down in the corridors beyond, stopped the air from leaking, and things settled. Relatively. The floor was still slanted, rumbling, groaning and shaking. His Spartans were jumbled amidst the debris of the room. Spartan Oshiro had her leg trapped under a Scorpion tank tread; Lieutenant Vettel was lifting the tank off her while First Lieutenant Griffin pulled the injured Spartan out from under. Oshiro turned out to be one of five Majestic Company Spartans who were seriously injured in the chaos, with another three having taken minor wounds.

Alarms were blaring, and emergency messages were screaming at the crew to report to battlestations and prepare for boarders. Smoke from unseen fires was filling the air.

"Secure the wounded! The rest of you, report to your posts!" yelled Jun.

Jun found the Master Chief and Palmer, "You two okay?"

Both of their status lights winked green on his HUD.

"Alright, I'll-"

"Spartan's A266, 3083, and 117", said Locke. He appeared in a window on their HUD's, overriding the com-link request, "I'm here-by invoking Emergency Order 10211-J, Command Override. I've been invested with this power under the direct authority of UNSC High Command. We don't have much time. I'm taking control of Majestic Company. The three of you report to the bridge, immediately", he said as he severed the connection.

A red rage boiled up in Jun's chest. But they just didn't have time for this. The doc that he had just sent them along with his message looked legit, which made no sense. Jun had no idea how the slimy spook had pulled this off, and if he had, why he'd waited until now to play this card. But securing the bridge was his and Palmer's pre-assigned position anyway. He'd do his duty first, and deal with Locke later. The Master Chief came up to him.

"Jun", he said, as he linked their telemetry.

The Chief had pulled up a schematic of the Infinity. The brig was lined in blue. All along that portion of the ship, the sections around it were blinking in red. "They've cordoned off the brig. Letting the oxygen leak out because its too compromised to save. Halsey will die in there, and she has Cortana."

Dammit. "Chief we have to get to the bridge-"

"We don't know what that ring is. But whatever it turns out to be, we're going to need Cortana. We couldn't have defeated the Covenant without her. She's our best chance to protect humanity. I won't let her be lost, or fall into enemy hands. I'm going after her."

Dammit again. Jun had meant what he'd said before, when he and the Master Chief had first met. He was proud that Noble Team's sacrifice had been worth it in the end, that the AI they had rescued had helped turn the tide of the war. It had soothed some of the bitter edges of his soul, calmed the ghosts that lurked in his mind. And he wanted that sacrifice to be worth it still.

"Palmer, get to the bridge! Take an escort with you. The Master Chief and I are going on a detour."

Author's Note: All measurements for the Meta-Halo ring were drawn from Larry Niven's 'Ringworld' novel, as was the inspiration for the setting itself. All due credit goes to Larry Niven.