Dust and Echoes (RWBY/Halo)

Chapter 1: You Ever Wonder What's Out There?

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Oum System, Remnant

Sanus, Kingdom of Vale, Patch

November 15, 2540 23:48 Hours

Laying atop their house's roof, two young sisters, one barely past the age of five and the other two years older, stared up into the night sky. It was well past their bedtime, and they knew that if either their father or uncle found them up this late at night, they'd be in for it. But the night air was perfect, not too hot or too cold, and there was a nice autumn breeze to ruffle their hair. The light reflecting off of Remnant's shattered moon lit their surroundings, allowing the two girls to gaze up at the starry night sky in all its glory.

"Hey, Yang?" the youngest of the two asked, her silver eyes still glued to the stars above.

"Yeah, Ruby?" Yang replied, resting her blonde head on her hands.

"You ever wonder what's out there?" Ruby innocently asked, a small smile gracing her lips.

"Hmm?" Yang hummed, breaking her attention away from the night sky to focus on Ruby. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Ruby clarified as she continued to look above, "do you ever wonder if there's someone out there? Not from Remnant?"

"You mean an alien?" Yang asked. When Ruby nodded, Yang smiled and nodded back. "Is this because of that movie with the alien and the bike we just watched?"

"Yeah, I know, but still," Ruby petulantly complained with a slight pout, causing Yang to chuckle.

"Heh heh," Yang laughed lightly, then returned her attention to the stars. "To be honest, Ruby, I guess I hadn't put much thought into it. I imagine there's something out there. Uncle Qrow says space is big."

"Do you think we'll ever meet them?" Ruby immediately asked, having taken Yang's ambiguous answer as agreement. Yang thought her response over, pursing her lips and scrunching her nose. If Ruby was looking, she probably would've laughed at the expression Yang was making. Finally, Yang relaxed and smiled, turning her head to face Ruby once again.

"Yeah, I think we will," Yang answered as firmly as a seven-year-old girl could. "Do you?"

"Definitely," Ruby confirmed, her smile growing wider. "And I just know that, whoever they are, we'll be friends. I'm sure of it."

At Ruby's declaration, Yang couldn't help but laugh.


Beijing System, Beijing III

Ching Mountains

A lone soldier laid prone among the craggy rocks as he watched the battle rage along the mountain pass below. Through the scope of his SRS99 sniper rifle, he saw marines fire their MA5s from behind cover, ducking as molten bolts of plasma retaliated. The slow and unlucky were struck, the intense heat melting away their armor and sending them screaming to the ground. As the firefight continued, none of the marines could afford to pull their fallen comrades into cover, leaving them to the mercy of the Covenant. It wasn't a fate he wished on anyone, and so he leveled his rifle towards the fight below and waited.

The first targets to enter his sights was a small lance of Grunts, waddling towards the human soldiers with plasma pistols and needlers at the ready. Green bolts joined purple homing spikes in firing towards the marines, and the sniper centered his sights on the head of the group. He fired a single shot, and a white contrail stretched out across the valley, connecting with the head of the lance. Bright blue blood splattered against the mountainside, causing the rest of the Grunts to stop firing and whirl around in a panic. Seizing his opening, the sniper fired three more shots, each one striking the head of another Grunt. By the time he reloaded, the Grunts were running around in a panic, allowing the marines to regroup and return fire much more effectively.

"Chief, we're in position," the sniper heard a female voice call out to him.

"Copy," Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 replied, still remaining prone as he waited for the lance's leader to reveal itself. Soon enough, he saw a blue armored Elite Minor emerge from behind a rock, barking orders at the panicking Grunt survivors as it fired its plasma rifle at the marines. This seemed to galvanize the Grunts as they turned around and fired back at the marines, forcing them back into cover. The marines returned fire, their bullets ricocheting off of the Elite's shield ineffectually while the Grunts advanced cautiously. John, meanwhile, steadied his breath and aimed at the Elite's head, then fired a single shot. The energy shield broke as soon as the round made contact, followed by the alien slumping over with a large hole in its head. Now the Grunts were completely panicked and leaderless, allowing the marines to cut them down and finally advance.

"Covenant lance eliminated and marine fireteam en route. Proceeding to next objective," John called out over his internal comms, rising up to his feet and continuing his trek up the small mountain ledge. It was barely two feet wide at the widest point, forcing him to shimmy along with his back glued to the rock. Occasionally, small rocks and debris would fall off the ledge and into the valley below, reminding him of just how high up he was, but he didn't let it bother him. Instead, John let his thoughts turn towards the purpose of this entire operation.

Operation: ZHUGE LIANG, as Admiral Preston Cole called it, was something the United Nations Space Command Navy had been putting together for months now. It started when Office of Naval Intelligence personnel uncovered an ancient artifact buried underneath the crust of Beijing III, a recently settled world founded back in the late 2490s. Knowing that the Covenant would be itching for the chance to recover it, the planet was discretely evacuated and replaced with several divisions of UNSC Marines and Army Troopers. When the expected Covenant fleet finally arrived, the Third, Fifth, and Ninth fleets ambushed them on their approach to the planet. It was a sound plan, in John's opinion, but as with many plans, it hadn't completely survived contact with the enemy. Out of nearly a hundred vessels, only half remained by now, and the Covenant had only lost ten of their own.

John's thoughts were broken as he heard the distinctive warbling of Covenant artillery being fired. Steeling his gaze, John edged himself to a wider area of the mountain and hauled himself to the top, where he joined the rest of Blue Team to overlook their objective. Linda-058 was aiming her sniper rifle at two pairs of Type-48 Weevils emplaced on mountain tops, firing their plasma barrages at UNSC forces below.

"I count fifteen lances on each artillery platform," Linda recalled, still aiming through her scope. "Mostly Grunts and Jackals, but a fair number of Elites as well."

"Leadership?" John asked, already tallying the number in his head. If each lance had one to two Elites, that meant there could be upwards of thirty Elites in each platform. He frowned, not liking the sound of that.

"Ultras," Kelly-087 replied. "I was able to get in and out before they saw me. There's a pass underneath where we can sneak in. After that…"

"We'll make it work," John cut her off, swapping out his sniper rifle for his MA5B. He checked the magazine, a small box on his HUD appearing above it and showing that it housed the standard sixty rounds, and reinserted it back into his weapon. John then turned back towards his fellow SPARTAN-IIs and rested on his knee.

"Here's what we'll do," John said, resting his assault rifle on his raised knee and drawing a quick map in the dirt with his free hand. "Each of us will take a separate platform at once. If we try to do it sequentially, the Covenant will catch on to us and try to take us out with their guns. Once inside, make your way to the plasma core and overload it, then exfil before the Weevil explodes. Understood?"

"You got it, Chief," Fred answered, nodding his head as he slotted a fresh magazine into his M392 DMR. Kelly, meanwhile, brought her M90 shotgun to her chest, signaling her acceptance of the plan. Linda said nothing, instead tracing her finger against her ARGUS helmet to form a smile. John nodded back, then together the members of Blue Team began to crawl along the mountain top, each going in separate directions to their own individual targets. John crawled towards the nearest, careful not to make too much noise lest he caught some unwanted attention.

As the Master Chief crawled, he heard more and more plasma mortars fire into the valley below. Large explosions followed, and John knew that numerous more soldiers were dying. He scowled but forced himself to keep steady. If he allowed himself to be spotted by the Covenant, there was no guarantee that he'd be able to destroy the Weevil in time, and more marines would die.

After nearly thirty minutes of crawling along his belly, John found himself hiding behind a large rock barely hanging off the ledge. He gripped the rock with one hand tightly, preventing himself from falling off the mountainside, while his free hand leveled his rifle forward just in case any Covenant patrols came across him. He flicked his indicator light within his helmet green, telling Blue Team that he was in position and ready to move. Fred and Linda soon responded with green lights as well, but when Kelly didn't respond, John began to worry. It proved to be for nothing as Kelly's light flicked green a few minutes later. Now that they were all in position, John peeked his head out from behind his rock and waited for an opening. Standing in front of an open entryway into the Weevil, John saw a pair of Jackals chatting between themselves in a series of squawks and barks. His MJOLNIR Mk. IV's internal systems couldn't translate the alien speech, but John was most concerned about the round energy shields being emitted from the Jackals' gauntlets. From this range and angle, he wouldn't be able to put them down without compromising his position, and he considered his options.

An idea soon popped out into his head, and John carefully pinned his MA5B between his body and the rock in order to pull out an M9 fragmentation grenade. He tested the weight in his hand, moving his thumb over the trigger button, and peeked his head from behind the rock one last time.

"Engage," John ordered, throwing the frag grenade from behind the rock towards the Jackals' feet. The avianoids stopped their chatter to look at the round object in surprise, and they squawked frightfully once they realized just what it was. It bounced just behind them and exploded before the Jackals had the time to move their shields to defend themselves, causing their bodies to fly away as the explosion riddled their bodies with shrapnel. Orange blood splatted the purple Covenant metal, and John was already sprinting inside the Weevil by the time alarms began to blare.

Rounding a corner as fast as he could, John-117 kept his assault rifle facing forward just as a trio of Grunts and a pair of Jackals came through a door to investigate. John threw a frag grenade at their feet, not pausing to rest as it exploded among them. He gunned down the stunned survivors then went through the same door they came through.

"Contact. Eliminating hostiles," John heard Fred calmly report over the team comms, punctuated by distant gunshots of his DMR. Before he could respond, John encountered another file of Grunts. They were armed with plasma pistols, and more importantly, they were waiting for him just as he opened another door. The Spartan threw himself into cover just as the Covenant soldiers began to fire, filling the doorway with green fire.

"Acknowledged, Blue-2," John finally said as he poked his assault rifle from behind cover and began to fire in short, controlled bursts. He brained one Grunt, forcing the rest to duck behind cover lest they suffer the same fate. Seizing his opening, John sprinted through the door and threw himself behind a Covenant supply case. A few brave Grunts attempted to fire at him as he did, but their shots went wide and hit the wall behind him instead. The other Grunts then decided to rejoin the firefight, pinning John down as they focused fire on the supply case. Seeing how the Spartan wasn't in the mood to move anytime soon, the Grunts began to bark at each other in their alien tongues, and a few tentatively began to step forward while others covered them from the back.

John, meanwhile, kept his eyes on his motion tracker, grabbing another frag grenade from his pouch and priming it for activation. Once they got close enough, he threw the explosive over his shoulder and the supply case. A trail of smoke followed the explosive as it arced towards the Grunts, who immediately noticed it. A few managed to dive away just as the grenade landed on the floor, while the rest weren't so lucky as they were killed in the ensuing explosion. As the survivors picked themselves off their feet, John broke cover and fired a few bursts into them, putting them down and allowing himself to advance.

As he moved up a ramp to the second floor, John checked his rifle's ammo indicator to see he had thirty-two rounds left in his magazine. He took the chance to reload, swapping it for a fresh mag and bringing him back to a full sixty rounds once again. John was glad that he did, for he was assaulted by plasma fire as soon as he poked his head over the top of the ramp. This time, the plasma bolts were blue, telling him that they came from Elites wielding plasma rifles.

"I found the plasma core," Kelly called out just as John began to return fire towards the pair of Elite Minors, who he just saw were supported by several files of Grunts and Jackals. "Chief, we have a problem."

"What is it, Blue-3?" John calmly asked, continuing to return fire despite the plasma bolts buzzing by his MJOLNIR Mk. IV armor.

"The plasma core is shielded. I'm going to have to find a way to bypass. Will notify once I find a solution."

"Acknowledged," John replied, swapping out his empty assault rifle for his sniper rifle. Normally, he wouldn't advise using a long-ranged weapon in close-quarters combat, but right now he needed the extra penetration. With only the top of his head visible, John poked the barrel of his weapon over and aimed at the first Elite he saw, then fired a single shot into its head. The Elite fell, forcing the other to dive-roll into cover and preventing John from following through with another shot. Without saying a word, John swapped his weapons and reloaded as he vaulted the ramp's edge onto the second floor. Green and blue fire was surrounding him, now, firing at him from all sides, but John kept his attention focused squarely on the Elite.

'There you are," he thought as he saw the Elite's head briefly poke out from behind a supply case. With his enhanced speed preventing the Grunts and Jackals from hitting him, John fired his weapon towards the Elite, peppering its shields and causing it to break under the sustained fire. The rounds tore through the alien's flesh, causing purple blood to splatter around it as it tried to fire a few shots from his plasma rifle. It was too late, however, as John finished emptying the clip into the Elite and killed it. With their leader dead, the Grunts began to panic and run around blindly, but the Jackals were able to keep their focus. From behind their rounded shields they fired towards John, forcing him to take cover behind the purple-stained supply case.

Knowing that his MA5B was useless against the Jackals at this range, John holstered it alongside his sniper rifle and detached his M6D Magnum from his hip. He aimed it towards the gap in the side of one of the Jackals' shield gauntlets, where they were firing their plasma pistols, and shot through it. The first round struck the avianoid's hand, causing it to recoil in pain and move its shield to the side. With its head now exposed, John fired a second shot into it, causing the alien to slump over to the ground. Its comrades ignored this, although they drew close together in an effort to overlap their shields. The tactic worked, as John found himself unable to get an accurate shot. John checked his HUD, and to his displeasure, he found that he only had one frag grenade left. Seeing how he had little choice, John threw it behind their shields, the grenade exploding not long after and causing the Jackals' bodies to fly away as a mess of broken limbs and bleeding flesh.

"I'm out of grenades," John advised, scanning the room for further hostiles.

"Do you need assistance?" Linda asked, despite the fact that John could hear the Covenant fire from the background of her comms.

"Negative," John replied as he knelt down to the Elite he had just killed and began to search its body. He soon found what he was looking for, a pair of plasma grenades that were ripe for the taking. The Master Chief then moved towards the second Elite, where he found another pair of plasma grenades that brought his stock up to four. He prepared to move on, but then he had a thought once he caught sight of all the scattered Covenant tech littering the ground.

"Blue Team, be advised. New secondary objective. If able, secure Covenant tech for reverse engineering," John ordered as he grabbed a relatively undamaged shield gauntlet and strapped it to his wrist. He worked to remember how to turn it on, but soon the memory came back, and he activated it. An orange shield erupted before him, and with a silent nod he turned it off. He then took the opportunity to grab a fallen Grunt's plasma pistol, strapping it to his other hip's magnetic holster and bringing back up his assault rifle.

"Acknowledged, Blue Leader," Fred said, followed by the rest of Blue Team repeating the same acknowledgement. John nodded, then moved towards a large door which automatically opened for him.

"Proceeding to primary objective," John called out as he ran through the door. When a file of Grunts came into an intersection ahead of him, John gunned them down with fully automatic fire and kept running, barely acknowledging their still bleeding corpses. He soon came across another ramp, only this one was guarded by several Elites, Grunts, and Jackals. Most of the Elites were minors, but John could see a few Majors wearing their trademark crimson armor. His attention, however, was on the Grunt currently manning a plasma turret, and John felt an idea pop into his head.

"Chief, I have a solution to our shielding problem," Kelly called out as John holstered his assault rifle, pulled out his magnum, and activated his captured shield gauntlet just as blue and green fire rained on his position.

"Don't keep us in suspense, Blue-Three. Let's hear it," Fred replied. John, meanwhile, began picking off Grunts one after another with careful headshots, using his shield to protect himself in the relatively coverless room.

"An overcharged plasma pistol shot can overload the shields surrounding the core, and a plasma grenade should do the rest."

"And you know this how?" Linda asked over the crack of her sniper rifle. Internally, John wasn't surprised by the fact that Linda, of all people, was using a sniper rifle in close-quarters combat, but then again she was skilled enough with it to make the tactic work. So, he stayed silent, making his way towards the plasma turret while firing his pistol at the gunner.

"Because I just did it." Kelly's statement was followed by the telltale sound of a plasma grenade exploding, and John could hear the Weevil's emergency alarms begin to blare. "Extracting now."

"Good. Standby," John announced as an Elite Major rushed him, intending to use its plasma rifle as a club. John blocked it with the shield gauntlet then slammed the rim into the Elite's head with enough force to make the energy shield flare bright blue. Bringing the Elite close, John unloaded the rest of his magnum's magazine into its gut, causing the alien to slump to the ground dead as a doornail. He quickly reloaded and fired another shot into the gunner's head, allowing John free reign to leap over another charging Elite, kicking it in the head at the same time to break its shields, deactivate his shield gauntlet, grab hold of the plasma turret, then rip it off of its mount. Holding it at his hip, John began firing his heavy weapon into the aliens around him, shredding through the Elites' shields and turning their bodies into charred messes soon after. The Grunts and Jackals fared no better, and soon John was alone once again. He checked his HUD, showing that his turret still had a fifty-percent charge, and he nodded to himself before making his way up the ramp to the final floor.

When he reached the top, John heard a large explosion echo from across the valley, followed by a large shockwave that toppled over several loose containers. He himself was unaffected, but a few Grunts that were waiting for him weren't so lucky as they lost their footing. This allowed John the opportunity to gun them down, allowing him to continue towards the final chamber.

"I'm at the plasma core," John announced, eyeing the large mechanism. It was underneath the Weevil's main gun, and each shot caused flaps to open next to the core that expelled the hot gasses. The core itself was a clear cylinder, with strips of purple Covenant metal running up the side in curvaceous patterns that gave it an almost elegant appearance. John knew better. The Covenant liked to make their ships and weapons look elegant, but they masked their sinister purpose that humanity had come to learn quite well. He moved around the core, finding the only opening that was covered by a thick energy shield veil. Remembering what Kelly said, John took his left hand off the plasma turret and grabbed the plasma pistol he grabbed earlier.

"Overloading the shields now. Standby," John announced as he held down the trigger. The small, green glow at the end of the plasma pistol began to grow bright and large, and the pistol itself began to shake wildly from the energy it was storing. Just as he prepared to fire, however, John's motion tracker showed a lone red dot appear at its edge, and the Spartan turned around just as a white-armored Elite Ultra entered the room. The Elite roared challengingly, only for John to respond by releasing the overcharge shot straight at it. The Ultra dove to the side, causing the homing shot to narrowly miss him as it curved through the air and burst against the wall instead.

"Contact with Elite Ultra," John announced, gripping his plasma turret with both hands again and firing it towards the alien, who kept strafing to the side while firing explosive bolts of plasma from its concussion rifle.

"Do you need assistance?" Linda asked.

"Negative. Focus on primary objective," John replied, dropping the plasma turret to escape a barrage of explosive bolts. He evaded to the side, pulling out his MA5B to fire at the Elite. The rounds, however, proved ineffective against the Elite's shields, who merely laughed as it charged against the fire to attack John head on. He tried to back away, firing as he did, but the Elite kept coming and managed to cut him off. Despite his massive weight, the Elite easily lifted the MJOLNIR-clad Spartan and pinned him to the wall, ripping the assault rifle out of his hands and throwing it to the side. Before the Elite could do anything else, however, John immediately pulled out his magnum and began to fire it straight up into the Elite's head. This time the Elite staggered, allowing John to pry the four-fingered hand off his throat and kick it away. He fired the remaining rounds into the Elite, but to his alarm, the shields still held.

"Core's overloaded. Exfiltrating now," Fred announced as John continued to fight the alien. In the bottom corner of his HUD, John could see more aliens making their way towards his position, and he knew that he had to end this quickly. The Elite threw a punch into John's helmet, whipping it to the side and causing John to spin away. The Spartan followed through, however, adding the blow's momentum to his own as he rounded back to punch into the Elite's jaw. The blow finally broke the Elite's shield, and crackling wisps of energy sparked off the Elite as it backed away and nursed its wound. Not wanting to give it a chance to recover, nor having the time to reload his magnum, John instead pulled out his combat knife and lunged at the Elite. The alien managed to grab his wrist just before the blade could be stabbed into its eye, but John kept pressing all of his weight forward into it. Looping his leg around the Elite's, John tripped it and threw the Elite onto the ground. Now on top, John kneeled on its chest and pressed the knife down. It was proving to be a slow, tedious process as the powerful alien struggled to keep it away. With his other leg pinning its free arm, John placed both of his hands on the knife's hilt and increased the pressure. As the knife's tip neared the Elite's eye, he could see it begin to panic.

Then, with a heavy punch to the top of the knife, John plunged the combat knife into the Elite's head all the way to the hilt. The body twitched and struggled for a moment, but then the arms fell limp and the body went still. Satisfied, John pulled the knife out of the corpse with a wet squelch. Seeing the purple blood staining the metal, John wiped it against his armor before sheathing it, then walked back up to the plasma core and aimed his plasma pistol at the energy shield covering it. He overcharged it, then once the weapon was ready he released the shot straight into the shield, exposing the core to the world.

"Shielding's gone. Overloading the core now," John announced as he primed a plasma grenade and threw it into the core. It bounced off the inner wall, settling on the ground and hissing as it prepared to explode.

"Same. Master Chief, would recommend immediate extraction," Linda declared. John nodded, then they heard the sound of Fred's Weevil exploding just as the plasma grenade John threw in detonated. The plasma core contained the explosive blast, amplifying it and causing the internal walls to warp and expand outward from the pressure. Alarms began to blare from inside the platform, and John felt satisfied with his work as he turned towards the nearest door and began to run. Covenant troops came through just as he passed them, but he paid them no heed as he hightailed towards a balcony he saw connected to the end of the corridor he was traversing. Any Covenant that got in his way he gunned down with his assault rifle, and soon he found himself exposed to the fresh mountain air once again. The Weevil began to shake, and hot gas was venting from all along the main gun. John didn't stop, instead leaping off the balcony and descending towards the sloping mountainside below. He landed against the rocks, but his momentum kept him going towards the cliff.

Turning himself around, John quickly pulled out his knife and plunged it into the rock, stopping himself just as his legs went off the side. A few Covenant poked their heads over the balcony and spotted him. They aimed their weapons to fire, only for the entire platform to erupt in a massive, fiery explosion that engulfed everything in sight. It was followed by another explosion as Linda's Weevil suffered the same fate, and as John pulled himself back onto the mountain, he saw four smoldering wrecks in the place of what used to be Covenant artillery. Fred, Kelly, and Linda were already jogging towards him, and once they were all together, John stoically nodded.

"Good work, Spartans," John said. Before his team could respond, however, John heard his radio crack to life, and the voice of the UNSC Everest's AI came to life.

"Spartans, thanks for the assist," the AI declared. John took the moment to look down off the mountain towards the valley below, where he saw the UNSC Army engaging the Covenant head on. Without the fear of plasma mortars raining on their position, they were able to advance much more boldly.

"Don't think you can rest just yet, though," the AI continued. "We have a new objective for you all. There's a Type-27 Mantis AA gun tearing our air support apart. We need you to take it out, give our pilots some reprieve."

"We'll get it done, Hannibal," John replied, nodding towards his team as his armor received the telemetry data from the Everest. To his slight displeasure, the Mantis was more than thirty clicks away, so he didn't have time to waste.

"Do we have transport?" Fred asked as they began to head down the mountain towards the AA gun.

"A pair of Warthogs are en route to your position. They'll be waiting for you at the base of the mountain. Good luck, Spartans," Hannibal announced, then the transmission cut off as the AI undoubtedly returned his full undivided attention towards the space battle above.

"You know, I always loved the scenic route," Kelly joked, and Fred shook his head in amusement. John, meanwhile, released a small smile, while Linda chuckled softly. But he couldn't afford to slow, however, especially as he saw a large green blast fire from across the valley, shooting down a Vulture gunship as though it was made of paper.

"Let's move, Blue Team," John ordered, and soon all four Spartans were racing down the mountain, where they saw Warthogs waiting for them below.


"Archer pods J through L are dry!"

"MAC charge at fifty percent!"

"We've lost half our Longsword wings!"

Around him, Vice Admiral Preston Cole saw and heard the crew of the UNSC Everest bustle about, barking status updates towards him that he absorbed immediately. He had to, otherwise this entire operation would be a disaster. At the same time, a deep scowl was marring his face, but it was one that he'd grown accustomed to. On the screen before him, Cole was watching a dual readout detailing the battle taking place both on the surface of Beijing III and in orbit. To his pleasure, the battle on the ground was going well, albeit with heavy losses. The problem, however, was that the battle in orbit was an entirely different story. The Covenant fleet was slaughtering his own, and out of the one hundred vessels he originally assembled, only thirty-five remained.

The only consolation he felt was that the Covenant fleet had been reduced down to five ships of their own. One CAS-class assault carrier, two CCS-class battlecruisers, and two SDV-class heavy corvettes. The bulk of his attention was on the assault carrier and battlecruisers, but at the same time he couldn't afford to dismiss any Covenant warship. Even the smallest of them outclassed their UNSC equivalent. If he wanted to win this battle, he'd have to play it smart.

Cole saw a flash of light, and his scowl deepened as yet another UNSC vessel was destroyed by a plasma torpedo. His screen tracked the torpedo's source, and he saw that it came from one of the heavy corvettes. Immediately, his mind raced, and he began to relay orders to the rest of the fleet.

"All ships, focus your fire on the heavy corvettes," Cole ordered, moving his fingers through the screen that divided his remaining thirty-four vessels into two equal groups of seventeen. He ordered each group to concentrate fire on a separate vessel, and the fleet complied as they moved into position. Through the glass windows of the Everest's bridge, Vice Admiral Cole saw frigates, destroyers, cruisers, and the few remaining carriers he had aim their MACs towards their respective targets. Their bows exploded into light as each fired multi-ton tungsten rounds that crashed into the Covenant's shields. They flashed bright blue, but the force was too great and each failed. Behind the MAC rounds was a barrage of Archer missiles, which punctured through their hulls and detonated. The two alien vessels blossomed into balls of purple fire, leaving only broken chunks where once were two mighty vessels.

Despite his tactic being a success, Cole couldn't let himself celebrate just yet. Three more ships were destroyed during the attack, and that didn't even begin to include the number of Longswords destroyed by Covenant Seraphs and Banshees. Still, he had to keep calm, and he turned his attention towards the two battlecruisers.

"Repeat on those battlecruisers. Focus fire on one, then move on to the next," Cole ordered. The two halves of his fleet complied, scattering away from the plasma torpedoes while firing their point-defense guns at Covenant fighters. Small fireballs joined the larger explosions, and two more ships were destroyed before the fleet was able to angle themselves at one of the battlecruisers and fire. As the shield buckled, Cole was happy that he didn't try to take them both out at the same time, like he did with the corvettes. It took all their fire just to break one. As another salvo of Archer missiles streamed towards the battlecruiser, finishing it off, the rest of the fleet turned their attention towards the second battlecruiser. It and the assault carrier were firing their weapons into the fleet, forcing them to scatter like flies.

A loud crash and groan rocked the Everest, forcing Cole to cling to the station in front of him for support. Other members of his crew weren't so lucky as they were knocked off their feet, and sparks flew about the room from short-circuiting electronics.

"Hannibal, report!" Cole barked. Beside him, a small cylindric podium lit up, revealing a blue tinted holographic man with a full beard, wearing a tunic over chainmail and a Thracian helmet on top of his head.

"Admiral, one of the battlecruiser's plasma torpedoes struck one of the Everest's aft launch bays and we are venting atmosphere," Hannibal revealed. "I am sealing the bulkheads now."

"Any casualties?" Cole asked, turning his attention to the second battlecruiser just as it was destroyed, along with several other ships of his own. He bit down a curse. They had only twenty ships left, many of which were venting atmosphere.

"I count 286 lost souls," Hannibal relayed. "Sir, I do not believe the Everest will be able to survive another blow."

"I know," Cole said, closing his eyes and sighing while shaking his head. "Damn waste. Hannibal, chart a course for all surviving ships. I want to flank that assault carrier from all sides."

"Of course, sir. Plotting pincer movements now," Hannibal revealed. Soon after, transmissions were sent from the Everest to the rest of the UNSC fleet. The orange glow of their engines intensified as they moved around the larger alien vessel in wide arcs, trying to prevent their destruction by its plasma weaponry. The Everest, meanwhile, faced towards the assault carrier's bow, Cole keeping an eye on the MAC's charge. It was at seventy percent, but even then he knew that with all the ships he had, a single salvo wouldn't be enough. It would take several, and he didn't know how long that would take before that carrier would destroy them all. He had to think of a way to overcome this, but how?

Then, as he saw more Seraphs fly out of the assault carrier, Admiral Cole felt an idea pop into his head.

"Hannibal, how many Longsword fighters do we have left?" he asked.

"I count 10 currently in operating condition," Hannibal replied.

"That'll have to do. Load them up with one SHIVA each. We're going to fly them straight into the Covenant hangar, destroy that monster from the inside," Cole ordered. Hannibal smiled and nodded, then began to issue Cole's commands to the rest of the Everest's fighter pilots. At the same time, Cole felt the bridge shudder as the MAC gun fired alongside the rest of the fleet. As he suspected, the assault carrier's shields held, which was enough for another of Cole's ships to be destroyed.

"Where are those Longswords?" Cole asked.

"Launching now, Admiral." True to Hannibal's words, Cole saw a flight of Longswords jettison out of the Everest's launch bays and stream towards the assault carrier. Cole nodded, then directed his attention towards the battle still unfolding.

"All forces, cover those Longswords," Cole ordered. He received several calls of acknowledgement, and soon the UNSC vessels began laying down covering fire to escort the Longswords. It seemed, however, that the Covenant were catching on to their plan, and soon he saw the purple contrails of Seraphs and Banshees race towards the Longwords while firing their plasma cannons. The human pilots swerved away, a few not doing so in time and exploding as the plasma ruptured their hulls.

"Dammit," Cole cursed. Not willing to wait the battle out, the fleet fired their MAC guns again, yet still the assault carrier's shields held. It was shimmering much more noticeably now, which told Cole that it likely wouldn't survive another salvo. But, as yet more of his ships were destroyed, he felt a sinking feeling form in his gut. They wouldn't have time to launch another salvo. He had to end this now.

"Fire all remaining Archer missiles at the assault carrier," Cole calmly ordered. He knew that, normally, Archers weren't effective at destroying Covenant shields, but with the MACs taking too long to charge and the fleet running out of time, he had to take that risk. Once again, the surviving ships complied with the order, and soon the space surrounding them became filled with hundreds of missiles all racing towards the assault carrier. Explosions rocked the alien ship, and at first the shields held. Cole felt a chill shiver down his spine, but it dissipated as soon as the shields finally buckled and exposed the ship to the void.

"There's our opening!" Cole heard one of the remaining Longsword pilots say over the radio. Sure enough, he saw four racing towards one of the open hangars, dodging oncoming plasma fire to the best of their ability. Seraphs, Banshees, and Covenant point defenses were locked on to them, but it was to the testament of the human pilots' skill that they weren't shot down all at once. Still, the wall of Covenant fire was too much, and Cole began to see the remaining Longswords be shot down one by one until there was only one left.

"Dammit!" the Longsword pilot cursed as plasma bolts struck its wings. Smoke began to trail from the engines, and its flight path became noticeably wobbly. Cole began to fear for the worst, but he continued to see the Longsword bob and weave between enemy fire to the best of its ability. More Seraphs and Banshees were streaming in, replacing the ones shot down by UNSC support, but to Cole's relief, it proved to be enough. The pilot crashed his Longsword straight into the alien hangar, not even trying to get away. Silently, Cole and his bridge crew offered their thanks just as the SHIVA nuke exploded from inside the assault carrier. White hot fire spread through the vessel as cascading explosions engulfed it, and soon the assault carrier was no more.

Cole sighed and sat down in his chair while his bridge crew cheered at their 'victory.' It was a Pyrrhic victory, at best. He mentally tallied his remaining forces, and he winced. He entered the Beijing system with one-hundred vessels. It appeared that he'd leave with a little over twelve, half of which would have to undergo extensive repairs just to be operable. If his math was right, he'd guessed nearly a hundred-thousand souls died over the past forty-eight hours. The only consolation he felt was that all of it was military casualties. At least he was able to evacuate the civilians in time.

"Hannibal, what's the status on the ground?" Cole asked, turning towards the appropriate monitor.

"I'm detecting the complete destruction of the Covenant ground forces, Admiral," Hannibal relayed.

"Casualties?"

"Fifty-percent, sir."

Cole sighed and shook his head. The results of the battle were beginning to weigh down on him. It wasn't that its result was a surprise. Far from it, in fact. It was that battles such as these were both far too common and all too rare at the same time. It had been for over fifteen years, now. Seeing that the bridge crew was staring at him, Cole straightened himself and crossed his arms behind his back.

"I want all ground forces recalled to available ships," he began, the crew immediately relaying his orders to the fleet. "Launch recovery crews immediately. They have one hour to collect any bodies and Covenant technology that they can. Hannibal, ensure that the destroyed UNSC ships have their navigation data wiped. After that, initiate fleetwide Cole Protocol Article One, Subsection IV."

"Random slipspace jump?" an ensign wondered aloud. "Why?"

"Despite our victory here, I'm not willing to take any chances. There could be Covenant scouting craft watching us as we speak," Cole answered. To be honest, he wasn't sure if that was actually the case, but that uncertainty was enough to mandate caution. The Cole Protocol was perhaps the greatest weapon the UNSC had utilized against the Covenant, preventing them from finding human colonies for as long as possible. He'd be damned if one of his vessels led to the discovery of Reach or, God forbid, Earth itself.

"Of course, sir," the same ensign replied, turning back to his station to coordinate recovery efforts. As Preston Cole watched recovery and demolition teams scour the debris field, he was once again reminded of the true scope of the war humanity found itself embroiled in.

The UNSC wasn't fighting for territory or power or even resources. They were fighting a war for the very survival of their species. A war for the right to simply exist and live. A war that they were losing. Preston Cole ruminated over this thought for the rest of the hour, solemnly watching as the surviving vessels retrieved the UNSC ground forces. Army, Marines, and even a fireteam of the clandestine SPARTAN-IIs. They had immediately gone into cryosleep onboard the Everest, and once his orders were fully completed, and the bridge truly empty, Cole turned away from the glass windows and walked solemnly towards the cryobay. Hannibal had already inputted the complex calculations needed to jump into slipspace, and so when he finally entered his personal cryopod, the UNSC Everest disappeared into a bright blue oblivion.


Unknown System, Outer Oort Cloud

November 28, 2540 06:15 Hours

Even after decades of military service, Admiral Cole never liked the sensation of entering and exiting cryosleep. It was cold, uncomfortable, and he always felt just so tired. Despite the name, he didn't feel as though he had slept at all. Still, he ignored his discomfort as he made his way towards the bridge. Instead, he focused on why Hannibal had deigned to wake him up in the first place. They were supposed to jump into a random system then immediately jump again, this time towards the shipyards at Reach. Something had happened, and Cole could only hope that it could be dealt with.

When he arrived at the bridge, it was empty save only for Hannibal's activated podium. The Smart AI was staring out into the void, focusing his attention on two dwarf planets, one vaguely gold in color and the other purple, orbiting each other.

"I hope you didn't wake me up just for some stellar phenomena," Cole spoke aloud. Hannibal, meanwhile, shook his head as he turned around.

"Not at all, Admiral. I was just admiring it," Hannibal noted. "These two planets are fascinating. They're both equally massed, and their orbits are centered around a singular point perfectly placed between them. I haven't seen anything like it."

"Hmm," Cole hummed. If he was being honest with himself, that was interesting, but as it wasn't of major concern he walked to the front of the bridge to stare out into the void.

"Hannibal, why'd you really wake me up?" Cole asked. Hannibal nodded, then turned his attention away from the phenomena to face Admiral Cole directly.

"It's the system itself, Admiral," Hannibal revealed. "As I exited slipspace, I followed standard UNSC protocols and immediately conducted a scan of the surrounding space."

"What did you find?"

"We are outside the edge of explored human space, nearly forty lightyears away from Earth in an uncharted system. I estimate that, had the Insurrection and the Covenant not divided our attention, it is likely that we would've found this system decades ago."

"How come we never did?"

"We are higher up on the galactic z-axis than we've ever been. Our sensors never pointed in this general vicinity before."

Cole couldn't help but chuckle. "That's anticlimactic."

"I felt so, as well," Hannibal joked, then he returned to a more serious expression. "The system itself is orbits a G-type main sequence star. The same mass and energy output of Sol, actually. In fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd say this star was Sol."

"That's…odd." Cole frowned, as did Hannibal. Something didn't feel right. "What about the rest of the planets?"

"Not including the two dwarf planets we are currently orbiting; the system has four planetary bodies. Two rocky, two gas giants. Oddly, no asteroid belt. My concern, however, is with the second planet."

"Clarify."

"The planet is in the system's habitable zone. In fact, it had the exact same distance between it and its home star as the distance between Earth and Sol. I was intrigued by this coincidence, and so I began to investigate further."

Something was screaming at Cole that this wasn't a coincidence, but he allowed Hannibal to continue.

"As I did, I began to pick up odd radio signals coming from the planet's surface. They're too weak for me to decipher from this distance, but I can hear their echoes."

"You think people are down there?" Cole asked, and Hannibal nodded. He felt his mind race over the possibilities. The first, and most alarming, prompted immediate response. "Is it Covenant?"

"No, I can determine that much. It more closely matches those of human make."

"Hmm." Cole hummed and brought his hand to his chin. Immediately, his mind drifted over the information he had regarding this system. It was just outside the edge of human space, which meant it wasn't unfeasible for someone to have arrived in-system first. Perhaps a lost colony, or more worrisome, an Insurrectionist outpost from which they could launch attacks against the UNSC. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he couldn't simply leave it be.

"What's the status of the ship?" Cole asked.

"Structural integrity of the UNSC Everest stands at seventy-five percent. We've exhausted our Archer missiles, but the MAC gun is still operational. We have one-thousand, seven-hundred and thirty-three Marines and Army Troopers, and four SPARTAN-IIs all currently in cryostasis," Hannibal relayed. Cole nodded, running the information over. Finally, he came to a decision and nodded.

"Whether it's a lost colony or Insurrectionist outpost, we need to investigate," Cole stated. "I want the bridge crew and half the marines woken from cryo. Charge the MAC gun, just in case."

"Of course, sir. At once." With that Hannibal nodded, then disappeared back into his podium. Cole felt the engines of the Valiant-class super-heavy cruiser ignite, rocketing the vessel towards the life bearing planet. Luckily for him, the trip was dull. The only break in the monotony was when the groggy bridge crew entered the bridge and sat before their stations, calling out telemetry reports and crew statuses. The planet, itself, meanwhile, drew ever closer and he was stricken by its appearance.

It was very Earth-like. Even from this distance, he could see four vaguely dragon-like continents surrounded by oceans and islands, big and small. He could see mountains and forests, deserts and tundra. What most caught his attention, however, was the shattered moon orbiting it. He and the crew could only stare at it. A moon that broken should've fallen apart by now and sent its broken chunks hurtling towards the planet below, but instead it was oddly stable.

Still, Cole had to focus on the task at hand.

"Hannibal, what's the status on deciphering their transmissions?" Cole asked. Hannibal reappeared, but to Cole's surprise, a worried look was on the AI's face.

"I… I can't, Admiral," he revealed.

"What do you mean, 'you can't?'"

"I mean that, although I can confirm that these signals are not naturally occurring, I can't decipher the language that they're in. There's nothing in my databanks that match it, human nor Covenant."

"What? How could-?" Cole asked, only for one of his ensigns to call out in alarm.

"Admiral, I'm detecting signals being directed from the planet straight towards us!" she revealed. Cole marched over and leaned next to her to get a better look. True to her word, the Everest was now being bombarded by radio waves. At first, he worried that they were perhaps weapon systems locking on, but he soon began to realize that this was something different. Slowly, his eyes widened in realization.

"Sir, I'm getting more!" another ensign called out just as they passed the shattered moon. Cole immediately shot up and threw his pointed hand towards Hannibal.

"Hannibal, stop the Everest immediately!" Cole ordered. Hannibal complied instantly, and the ship's aft thrusters shut off. Bow, port, and starboard side thrusters began to activate as well, slowing the Everest down to where they were now orbiting between the planet and its moon. Seeing their position, Cole bit back a curse.

"Sir, what's going on?" another ensign asked, and Cole walked towards his chair and sat down.

"Hannibal, relay a transmission back to FLEETCOM," Admiral Preston Cole began. "Tell them this wasn't a lost colony or an Insurrectionist outpost. This is a First Contact."

[~][~]

Hey, everyone! I'm so happy that you guys enjoyed the first chapter of Dust and Echoes so much. We had a lot of fun putting it together, and we have a lot more to share with you guys. As before, special thanks to Jesse K and NaanContributor for their assistance bringing this crossover to life.

Now, onto the Q&A:

archive4465: Yep, Johnson himself, in the flesh. I'm glad that I managed to get his wonderful personality down for you all to enjoy. He's a major character in our story, and we expect to get a lot of mileage through him.

Lord Of Memory: I can't really delve into how accurate or inaccurate your predictions are, but I will say that we will be answering all of those questions in the story proper. Remnant's relation to the ancient civilizations that once ruled the galaxy, what Dust is, how Salem infiltrates the Covenant, and more. Also, we will be putting Dust and Echoes on Spacebattles. In fact, it already is, just in the dedicated RWBY Fanfic Discussion thread. I'm going to do one more chapter on that thread before moving it to a dedicated one.

Helljumper206: All will be revealed in due time, don't worry.

Leofire312: Thank you! I'm glad you got hooked into our story. A big focus is on how the RWBY characters deal with the Human-Covenant War, and I hope that you all will enjoy it as much as we enjoy writing it/bringing it to life.

Unsettling-A.I.R.: Don't worry, more updates are coming. Not as soon as this one, though. Chapter 1 was already finished by the time we posted the prologue/teaser. Chapter 2 will be a bit later, unfortunately, but I hope to have it done by the end of the month.

Matador: Thank you, much appreciated.

Nomquam: All of those reactions will be shown in due time, don't worry. You'll just have to wait and see.

CR4Z1: Thank you! I'm glad you liked it.

Gnaoh El Nart: Yep, specifically in 2540 when Yang was seven and Ruby was five. As for Dust working out side of Remnant, we'll be answering that question in the story as well. You are correct that RWBY canon says that Dust doesn't work outside of atmosphere, and we'll be taking that into account.

The True Skull: Well then, that means I did my job well. Glad to hear it.

DragonflyGaming: Don't worry, you definitely will. Johnson is one of the major characters of our story, and we expect to get a lot of mileage out of him. As I mentioned earlier. You'll get more. Trust me.

Pkd: Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it so much. We have a lot more to share in the future.

edboy4926: What the Two Brothers are in this setting will be revealed in the story proper. Same as to whether or not Earth Humans (ones that came from Earth and her colonies) can use Aura and Semblances like Remnant Humans.

I Am The Prophet: Nope, this chapter is the real start of the story. The previous chapter was simply the prologue/teaser of things to come. In fact, originally that teaser was going to be the only thing we post, but after further discussion, we came to the decision that we had enough material to make a proper story. So we made the leap and decided to continue. Actually, that's why Ruby didn't call an Elite and Elite or a Grunt a Grunt, even though in actuality she knew exactly what they were by this point in time. It was meant to come off as a surprise as to what this crossover this story actually was. Due to 's system, the whole Halo tag unfortunately spoiled it, but the arrival of Johnson was definitely meant to bring clarification towards the surprise.

That's it for this chapter. We hope you all enjoy, and we'll see you all next time!