"... N... ohn...!"
... A young man's eyes flickered open. In front of him, a teal Heads-Up Display activated, showing on the top a bar of Energy Shields, on the top right, what seemed to be weapons and on the bottom left, a Radar. The heavy armored suit on his personage didn't feel like armor at all. Instead, it felt like a second skin to the man wearing it. He heard the faint pitter-patter of rain as it fell onto his visor.
"John!" A female voice erupted in his ears... She was alive and well, it seemed. "Can you hear me?"
The man slowly straightened up, then spoke calmly "Loud and clear... Status?" as he stood up, drawing the bulky rifle he had on his back and racking the bolt. Its holographic ammo counter showed 60 rounds in the magazine. He flicked its flashlight on, then gazed around. Grass lay below his armored feet and around him, mountain peaks rose high, with trees and shrubs and debris. Chunks of metal, charred by the heat of re-entry.
"Thank God... We're at 100%, I think... I couldn't wake you up in time, John. The Dawn entered the orbit of this planet randomly. I'm sorry..." The woman spoke. John hummed, scanning the surrounding area and looking ahead, to a set of bright-burning fires a kilometer ahead and above. Half a Frigate lay, embedded into the slopes of a mountain, its hull half-dug into the ground, lower hangar missing. One of the engine nacelles had been severely damaged. Around him, faint blips appeared on his HUD's Motion Tracker. Small animals moving about and not-so-small animals following them.
The man... Spartan-117, or the Master Chief himself, stared at the Forward Unto Dawn's battered aft section as it hanged there. The fires were dying under the heavy rainfall that plagued the area they'd landed in. "Any idea what planet we're on?" He asked absentmindedly, finger beside the trigger, but not on it. His rifle was lowered to his chest, but the safety was off.
"Unknown and uncharted... Wherever the Ark Portal sent us..." Cortana noted. She hummed "Let's head for the Dawn. Maybe we'll find shelter along the way..."
The Chief nodded, then began to walk, rifle ready just in case. He walked through the shrubbery and around the trees toward the ship's final resting place, keeping an eye out for any kind of threat out of instinct. As the Spartan and his AI Companion strolled through the rain-struck valley, the faint sound of running water echoed to his right. A river must've been nearby, if not a small stream. The bushes around were also full of ripe berries, most of which the Armor's automated systems identified as edible, non-poisonous and possibly similar to Earth berries. As they continued to walk toward the ship, with the wet sound of John's boots hitting the mud and the rain as their only companions, the Spartan decided to ask "Is the Dawn's Beacon still active?"
"And transmitting." The woman said, focusing on whatever Data she could get. "From what I'm getting, she's lost her cargo hold and hangar. Not like there was much in it to begin with, after our sudden exit from the Ark..." The woman quipped. "The reactor's surprisingly not breached, so we could probably draw power from it if we wanted to... Though, for now, I'd suggest leaving it as is."
"We're only grabbing ammo and MREs." Chief said "The rest, we blow..."
"So it doesn't fall into anyone's hands. Right..." Cortana hummed "Tell me, did we see any locals, John?"
"... Aside from local wildlife, no." The Spartan returned, knowing full-well what Cortana was going for "Doesn't mean there aren't any, though..."
... The AI sighed "Fair point... I'd rather not bet our lives here..." And then she smirked "Counterpoint:What about the beacon, though?"
"... Right." John sighed. "That..." And he looked ahead, to see a cave opening into the side of the mountain they were going toward. He noticed, from a better look, that the Dawn was thankfully hidden behind a set of rock embankments and a mountain in itself. And, gazing back, the Spartan saw that, aside from the sprawling debris field, the Valley he'd landed on only had a few hills. The only one that gave a clear picture of the ship herself was the one he'd landed on. And it had no way through, as it too was only rocks without caves.
Entering their cave, the Spartan sat himself down farther inside, to dry himself off, before taking out a flare from his back pocket and lighting it. The darkness around receded as the Spartan looked at his soaking armor and said "We can leave the ship for now. If anyone comes to try and take it, we either kill said someone or destroy it after retrieving vital supplies..."
"Sounds good to me, Chief." Cortana said happily. "How're you doing?"
"Good... How long were we out?" He asked, checking his AR and taking it apart to clean it up.
"Accounting for it... Around 2 years in flight." She hummed. "I'm also detecting a lot of weird interference. The planet's ecosystem is pretty messed up..."
"Oh?" John raised a brow.
"I'm... Gonna need a few days to parse through all of this." She murmured, making John uneasy... She sighed, then added "Until then, we should probably start salvaging whatever fell and landed near our little hidey-hole." Cortana noted. "After the rain stops." And the Chief nodded. He took his rifle off of his back, then looked over it, making sure it was still in working order. Thankfully, as it looked, yes, the gun was in working order. As was its ammo.
He listened to the rainfall outside, watching the wall of droplets drape over the entire valley and the peaks of the mountains. The world they were on thrived with life. And it was not friendly in the least, as far as either part of this duo knew. Animals went about their business outside, eating, hunting and/or doing other things. The valleys, resembling of a greener Afghanistan from the History Books, were alive.
And as the rain finally started to die down, the next day, the Spartan walked outside first thing in the morning, rifle on his back and eyes open. The debris field wasn't far away from their little cave, so that made at least some sense... Chief had had to sleep on the ground, so he was thankful his armor was there to cushion his sleep. Considering what Cortana said, he was still running on wake-up mode. His mind didn't respond so quickly, thanks to cryo-sickness...
He'd be back in top shape in no time, though...
The Chief walked down, descending into the valley ahead of him, unsure of what he'd meet next. The valley was a place lush with life, with a forest covering much of its surface, save for areas near the steep rock walls. The shrubs were untouched by human feet, but trampled by the hooves and padded feet of the alien creatures. As he entered the virgin forest, unsoiled by man's touch, he pushed aside a branch, crouching under it and going forward. He kept his eyes both forward and on the floor, whilst waiting for signals from his Motion Tracker.
The walk continued, with Chief finding bits of Titanium armor scattered within the forest. He would keep the alloy for later smelting, should he have access to any facility that permitted that. For now though, his goals remained to find anything useful and take it back. The Chief had been in breakneck situations like this before, with little to survive with. He was the most thankful for his training at times like this-ah, there they were...
A dented metal crate lay ahead of him, its insides strung out across the floor. To the left of it, slammed against a tree, a second box with different content and a third to the third. Medical supplies, ammunition and MREs. Chief made a mental note to come back here... But for now, he put the boxes back together, put their lids back on and hid them in the shrubbery, only taking a medical pack, three extra mags and two MREs with him. Cortana had been awfully silent during the trip, but he figured she must've been busy figuring out... Whatever this place was.
He'd already found supplies to last him a while, so that was good news. He just needed to remember to come back for them after he completed his first sweep. He continued walking, his eyes scanning the tops of trees too... Some wires were strung between the branches. A section of an auxiliary generator's internal components was broken apart with the impact. Shards of high-tech components were impaled in the trunks of trees, or outright in the dirt.
Further ahead, he found a destroyed 'Hog. It was missing three wheels and half of its engine was blown clean off. It also had scorch marks linked to re-entry heat. Shame. He could've used something fast. But the forest got thicker ahead, so it probably would not have helped him... He passed by two weapons crates that were both torn to pieces, their contents broken. Spare parts for his guns, for when he came back...
... His Motion Tracker pinged... 300 meters ahead, ten feet below. Three unknowns. He drew his Rifle and ran for cover, sliding into position behind a pillar made of black stone. He took a knee as the first shot rung out, bouncing around the valley's many walls. He looked down, to gaze upon two... Very odd-looking humanoids. The creatures wore an armor of white and blood-red, with spikes pointing backward out of every facet of it. Their helmets had very narrow vision slits and their hands had four digits instead of the natural five... They moved nimbly, incredibly fast. And they held what looked like highly-advanced plasma rifles. The scarlet holo-targeters told him as much...
They were chasing a young woman, clad in what looked like a worn out black carbon fiber bodysuit with several attachment points. It was tearing at the seams, old and with a few decent holes here and there. She had cropped medium-brown hair and a pair of emerald eyes, one of which was closed, while the other stared down the iron sights of a finicky-looking pistol, almost resembling the energy weapons wielded by the creatures below.
She managed to fire off one shot. The small bolt of energy struck the plating of the semi-mechanical creature, only punching through a hole narrow enough to draw a bit of its black blood out. Two larger, more focused bolts of white-hot plasma washed over her cover, a fallen tree, leaving burn marks deep enough in the thick trunk. She poked the gun over the cover, squeezing the trigger. One bolt left again, but struck the floor and the two creatures returned fire once again. One round punched through the trunk and nearly gutted the girl, had it not been for her quick reflexes...
She ducked under the trunk, poking the gun through the hole and aiming... She squeezed off two shots, before her gun hissed and clicked... She gasped, eyes widening as she stared at the jammed pistol. She punched it once, twice and tried to fire, but it clicked again. All she could do now was simply stare at the approaching monstrosities as they trained their weapons on her...
But a burst of automatic fire erupted from above. Ten rounds. Three struck one creature, throwing its aim off and knocking off armor plating, while the other seven struck its buddy, hitting dead-center and penetrating through the armor. The second creature dropped to the floor, leaking the black, viscous liquid that was its blood onto the dirt below... The girl stared up and watched with awe as the Chief descended fast down the side of the wall, firing his assault rifle and taking the attention toward him. The living creature turned, trained its rifle on him and fired. The Spartan's shields flared, going to 26% from a single shot...
He drop-kicked the creature right in the head, snapping whatever stood for its spine, before he raised his rifle and emptying his magazine into it. Just to be safe...
Chief dropped his empty magazine onto the floor, before loading in a fresh one from his belt and sliding his rifle onto his back. He looked at the dead creatures, almost resembling Sangheilli in form, before turning to the girl. She still held that jammed pistol. And she was aiming it at him as she walked out from her cover... The Spartan's hand went for his own rifle again, but he paused as he watched a knife made of blue steel fly and strike the first creature to die between the eyes before it could once again raise its weapon to fire at him.
"... Have to aim for the head. Bions are tougher to kill than normal humans." The girl said, looking at the Chief still. The sheath on her hip was empty. So that was her combat knife... Okay, interesting, Chief had to admit.
"Thanks." He offered, lowering his hand away from his rifle. She lowered her pistol in return, but stared impassively at Chief. She was as pale as those who'd operated their entire lives on UNSC Warships. Usually ODSTs had this kind of complexion after months in flight. Them or Spartans. And going by the cropped-to-military-standard hair and the proficiency with which she'd avoided and fought those... Things... She must've been some part ex-military.
"Who are you?" She asked, maintaining trigger discipline. Chief had to observe the safety was still off on her handgun... And he couldn't take any chances.
... But then again, he couldn't exactly reveal who he was right off the bat... He hummed, then spoke "I'm an ally..."
A raised brow marked the only shift of her facial expression. Otherwise, her poker face remained perfect. She nodded. "Right... Uhm, thanks to you as well, for..." She motioned awkwardly to the dead creature. "... For dealing with those Bions."
"'Bions'?" He raised a brow.
"Federation Elite Units. Bred for war. Only there to kill." She noted, looking toward them.
"Familiar..." He spoke.
She snorted, a glint of sadness in her eyes "Yeah. Same..." Then she sighed. Turning her gaze to Chief, she introduced herself calmly "I'm Sara Reyner."
He nodded back "Good to meet you." And it was good indeed... They were making progress. First person Chief met that didn't shoot him on sight and wasn't UNSC.
"What's your rank?" She asked, sliding the pistol onto a makeshift holster on her hip. Chief tilted his head. The woman simply continued "Going by your gear, you aren't from around the bend. And with that knowledge and your hesitance to give me a first name, I figure it's best I directly ask for your rank, since you're more likely to give me that than your name. Because you don't trust me. You are military after all."
"Mhm..." John answered. She was smart, he had to admit. "Master Chief Petty Officer."
"Master Chief... Interesting." She nodded. "A pleasure to meet you too... Uhm..." And she rubbed the back of her neck, looking away, before noting "I'm sorry for keeping you." and walking toward one of the Bions. She took a knee, grabbed the plasma weapon off of its body, before turning to him. "You can take the other one and go if you wish... Thank you for the help again."
John hummed, then nodded in response, choosing not to say anything more. But the moment he walked away, Cortana poked in.
"Wow, Chief. Stop." She sternly ordered. "Seriously? You just met someone who was friendly for a change and only held you at gunpoint for three seconds... Ya seriously going to leave without asking more?"
"Thought you were busy." He whispered to the AI, turning his mic off and looking at the woman as she scrounged up her gear. Cortana chuckled, then shook her inexistent head at the Chief's denseness. He hummed, watching the woman grab the bodies and start dragging them toward the forest, before sighing. He knew what Cortana wanted him to do and he didn't like it. Working with unknowns like this didn't help their mission... Not yet, at least. But he knew she'd contradict that. So, he cut out the middle man, taking one of the bodies over his shoulder and looking to her, before speaking "I'm gonna need a local guide. Going by your damaged outfit and your way of acting, you'd probably be a lot of help around these parts." as they walked to dump them.
He saw her stare with awe at him, eyes glimmering with hope... He continued, offering a nod to her, then saying "And you will need people to help you fight those things off if they do show up again. We may want to cooperate if we want to survive for longer than a week." And extending his hand to her. She looked at the armored gauntlet, open toward her with friendly intent... A small smile appeared on her face as gripped and firmly shook.
"You got it." She held the smile. That was easier than she'd thought... "But... You don't know about the Federation?"
"... I was also hoping to get a briefing from you on them, yes." He nodded. "Let's go... It's gonna turn to night soon."
She nodded "Aye. Following your lead, Master Chief." And saluted promptly. Chief saluted back, then started forward.
He heard Cortana giggle and watched their newly-acquired party member holding her straight posture as she walked... Military through and through...Chief had a nagging feeling he had just been drawn into something he didn't like... Questions awaited back in the cave. And a great deal of them too. This girl could very well have been their ticket to getting off this rock. Cortana was right about talking to her for at least that chance...
... Damn Cryo-sickness...