Here's another chance to read my fan-fic from beginning to end, most of the minor mistakes have been taken care of, as well as the canonical issues, enjoy.

P.S This will be a longgggggggggggggg post!

                       Chapter 1

2552

Thompson estate-New Mombassa

The bright sun beat down on his surroundings. He crawled through the underbrush, twigs and low branches scratched against his skin, but he kept going he then saw his target, a small island of brown, poorly hidden in a small bush 10 meters in from of him. He pulled his weapon close, aimed and fired; the shots flew and landed straight into the bush.

A loud 'OWWW!' was heard and a small black boy emerged, the small paintball marks on his head. He was 7, quite tall, but very skinny, he had a calm and friendly demeanour and came towards him and lent out a hand, and an equally small hand took it. The second boy was white, but years of the scorching African sun had given him a brown tint, like he had been partially burned. He had short brown hair, had a light build and was shorter than the black boy.

This was Kyle Anderton, son of the famous Captain Jack Anderton, who's ship The Heart of Gold had fought many battles in the war with the covenant. Kyle smiled at the black boy and said ' I got you there didn't I Shen?' The boy replied 'Well that wasn't fair you caught me of guard, next time fight fair!'

Shen was also the son of a navy officer, his father served with Kyle's on the Heart of Gold and when they were first introduced as toddlers they had formed a strong friendship. Kyle looked at the sky, knowing his father was up there, part of the fleet above earth, so he didn't feel worried. With his dad up there not even the covenant could get him.

A 30 year old woman, with fair blonde hair came out and called' Kyle? Shen? You out here? Kyle, your father's here.'

Kyle rushed to the woman with Shen close behind. Kyle then asked 'Really? He's here; your not kidding are you Mom?'

She laughed and beamed down at him 'No Kyle, he's here and he's be looking forward to seeing you so don't keep him waiting. Shen, you can wait out here, Kyle will be out in a few minutes'

Shen said ' OK, See you in a minute Kyle' and then sat on a chair and twiddled with his thumbs.

Kyle then rushed inside and ran straight into a tall man in navy uniform.

'Hi dad'

'Hi Son long time no see.'

End of Chapter 1

 

   Chapter 2

October 2553

UNSC Orbital defence platform Cairo orbiting earth

The war was over.

This is what the man kept telling himself as he stood out and looked at the blue orb below, shimmering in the sunlight.

Earth was safe. The covenant was gone and the flood, well the flood were stopped.

He took off his cap and wiped his sweaty, wrinkled head, a slight ping as he touched the neural interface at the base of his skull.

A young man approach in dress uniform, carrying a steam mug of coffee and handed it to him.

'Thank you lieutenant'

'No problem Lord Hood sir' as he stood to attention, saluted and return to at ease.

Lord Hood drank the coffee, the stale taste of the coffee beans which had been in storage the last year, tasted as bad most coffee he'd had the last six months. And what an eventful six months....

The lieutenant still stood at attention staring at his superior, waiting for him to finish his coffee. 'Is there something else son?'

'Yes sir there a Dr Chandra Singh who wants to see you, he said it was urgent.'

'No doubt, send him in lieutenant.' Hood grinned to himself. Dr Singh was one of the UNSC's most respected research scientists, almost as Dr Halesly.

At this point he came in, wearing the typical lab coat, which was stained with god knows chemicals. His hair was unkempt and it look like he'd been up most of the night, the dark rings around his eyes, were even darker than his brown skin. He saluted Hood and then said

'Good morning Admiral'

'Likewise Doctor, my lieutenant said you had something urgent to tell me, and you weren't one to mince words, what is it?'

'Well that is true, but I get down to the bottom line: I want to start another Spartan program'

'Need I remind you that we don't have the resources to fund this right now, we just finished a terrible war, a war that pushed humanity to the brink of extinction, we barely have enough resources to keep this station operational, so how do you expect us to be able to afford another project?'

Dr Singh hesitated, thought for a second and replied, 'Sir, that is exactly why we need them, humanity is weak, and even when we regain our strength, there is a big wide galaxy out there, and we might run in to more aliens, more unfriendly species, which will make the covenant look like pushovers, we need elite protectors to guarantee the survival of our race!'

'Enough! I will think about your proposal and summon you when I have made my decision.'

Dr Singh, angrily stormed out, almost knocking a wayward officer of the deck. Hood watched him storm out the door and thought. Do we need more Spartans? Was it worth the cost?

Humanity was just recovering, by the end of the year the UNSC would return control to the Earth government and they would have to do there bidding. But on the other hand, he thought of those brave defenders who gave the life to turn the tide of the war, Johnson, Keyes, John. He stopped at this point and thought of John-117 the Master Chief, and how much that one Spartan had influenced the outcome of the war, how his sacrifice saved humanity.

So difficult, so difficult, but he knew what his decision was, even before Singh had entered the bridge.

He'd tell him his decision tomorrow.

 

End of Chapter 2

 

        Chapter 3

September 2552 

Anderton Estate-New Mombassa

The dazzling sunlight crept in the bedroom, and quickly roused the small boy in it. Kyle squinted and looked outside, another beautiful day.

His father had left late last night after talking with mother. He had heard some of the conversation, but he didn’t understand what they were saying but he had seen his father's expression. He was worried, and Jack Anderton rarely got worried. He tried to shake it from his mind and decided to think out what he was doing today: tutoring in the morning, then he would over the Shen's house to play, and this thought pleased him.

A call came from the stairs 'Kyle come down and have breakfast'. He quickly got dressed then ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. It was large like most of the rooms in the estate, with creamy-white walls and completely tiles, with black granite surfaces.

His mother was there with two plates: One with cereal and the other with some buttered toast. She handed him the cereal and they both sat down at one of the work surface and looked up at the sky.

His mother then calmly said 'Odysseus are you online?'

A shimmer on a small circular terminal and a holographic man appeared. He was tall wearing a toga and strong features. He then replied 'Yes, what is it you require ma'am' He was they called a 'Dumb AI' and was one of the many perks of his father's profession.

'Can you tell me the temperature outside and the predicted forecast?'

'Retrieving...40 degrees Celsius, with a forecast of clear sky and low humidity. Anything else ma'am?'

'Yes, prepare for teaching activities and when you are ready go to the study.'

'Of course'. He vanished as he went to complete his allotted tasks, his mother turned to Kyle, and said ' Make sure you listen to Odysseus, you are very lucky boy to have and AI teaching you.

'I know.' He said the taste of the cereal still in his mouth.

'And make sure you have fun and learn something new'.

'I will, see you later mom.' Kyle then entered the lobby and the automated wooden doors silently closed behind him.

Odysseus grinned a wide smile at Kyle then said 'Good morning Kyle, shall we begin?'

'Ok.' As he sat down at the mahogany desk, a holographic image formed around the board on the far side of the study and depicted a large city, full of people in togas, and going about there life.

''Today we are going to learn about the Roman Empire'

'Is that why you look like that are you a Roman fable? Kyle asked curiously.

'No, Odysseus was a Greek hero who travelled the seas and had many adventures, now lets begin the lesson.

Then next few hours were fascinating, as Odysseus explained how this ancient culture, using tactics and strategy, conquered most of Europe and brought so much to their culture. After the lesson was done, he left the study and started getting ready to go to Shen's but then his mother rushed into his room.

He had never seen her this worried, she was pale, almost white and her usual cheery demeanour was replaced by a terrified look.

'What is it mom?'

'We need to leave now, pack some clothes and some food and met me at the car honey'

'Why? What's happening?'

'The covenant, they're here they are attacking Earth.'

End of Chapter 3

        Chapter 4

Evacuation checkpoint 33 A- outside New Mombassa.

The covenant were attacking. Kyle still found this hard to believe, until Odysseus, had shown the warnings and the live  satellite pictures of the organic-looking bulbous craft in formation just by the moon, waiting.

They had been driving for the last hour, Odysseus giving constant updates on traffic and where they should go. Kyle started out of the window as frantic people grabbed what they could, got into whatever transport they could find and get out of Mombassa, they all had the same expression: Fear.

Kyle was scared, but he have faith that Heart of Gold and the rest of the fleet, would be able to stop them. His mom hadn't spoken since she had told him that the covenant were attacking and she was focusing on the road ahead. A hastily-made military checkpoint was up-head, two soldiers armed with MA5C's and Pistols stood admitting vehicles with proper identification.

The reached the checkpoint the first solider said' Identification'

His mother gave him a handful of documents; he stared at the pictures on the papers, then at the face looking at him 'Claire Anderton right?'

'Yes'

'And this is your son Kyle?'

'Yes'

'Ok, you’re clear, please take your car to Camp Foreman up ahead; they are offering shelter for any civilians leaving New Mombassa’

'Thank you, you got the coordinates Odysseus?'

'Punched in and on your satellite display'. He said calmly. They then drove down towards their destination, a large base up ahead. It was large, with automated turrets on top of a 20 meter wall of metal, a large assortment of Warthogs, scorpions and other UNSC vehicles were around the base, with sniper towers inside. Many tents were set up and a small area, entitled 'Civilians' in the far west corner. They drove to it and got out.

The area was full of people, cowering families and scared children. People were crying and shaking all around; five large tents were ahead almost bursting with similar people, just with a few marines standing to attention in the area. Kyle looked to the centre of the base where a 30 foot tall pole stood high with a UNSC flag proudly flying on top of the mast.

Then all of the sudden a loud cry came out 'Look!' Above New Mombassa, a huge covenant ship flew down form the heavens and hovered over the city menacingly, a purple glow came from the ship, and small craft flew out in all directions. Kyle heard a marine say ' ***, they got a carrier over Mombassa, they be on us like wasps soon.'

And then a someone shouted, 'Marines atten-hut!' Then marines instantly stood at attention. 'Well you can see those covies scum over there, well your job is to stop them, ever leaving, we are holding ground here and if we die we make hell sure those bastards don't live long enough to tell the tale. AM I RIGHT MARINES!'

'Sir Yes Sir!' They replied.

'Here they come get ready people!'

And sure enough they were, hundred of small purple craft, with larger more curved ones behind swarmed towards the camp.

'Fire at will, make them regret they ever came to Earth!'

'Bullets whizzed around Kyle as he and his mom quickly moved to cover in behind a stationary car, explosions going of as the covenant returned fire, tearing through some infantry and blowing the automated turrets to shreds.

Scorpions and warthogs drove firing everything they had, the small craft known as 'Banshees', as his father had told him blew in pieces as bullets and rockets impacted on them. But the larger crafts were unphased and dropped infantry and vehicles on the ground.

A massive battle broke out around them, as the two armies met head to head, tearing each other to shreds, explosions and screams of the dead and the dying rang in Kyle's ears, as he shook in fear.

Then he saw them, Three large figures heading towards them, and they weren’t human, they were taller and had four mandibles and worn strange armour, Two were blue colour, the one in front was a crimson colour, and drew a strange weapon which looked like a sword, and pointed to the civilians, the two blue ones moved off and fired their weapons killing them with no mercy.

The red alien came towards them, his mandibles quivering, he saw Kyle's foot and sneered and advanced.

'Run Kyle run' His mom shouted as she stood up and distracted the alien who turned to his new prey, and then did a stabbing motion with his weapon. The blow hit his mom straight in the chest and she fell, blood trickling from her mouth.

'NOOOOOOOOOOOO!' Kyle screamed in sadness, then the alien turned and grabbed him, and raised his sword...

End of chapter 4 

 

        Chapter 5

September 2552

Ruins of Camp Foreman-a few miles from New Mombassa

The alien grinned at Kyle, his hand tightening around his neck.

Kyle's vision blurred, the world around him started to fade into darkness as he started to black out. He could just see the alien raise his weapon for the final blow.

Then behind the alien a massive explosion, knocked the alien over and he released Kyle. Kyle's head was still spinning from lack of air but he frantically try to get to his feet, the alien was stunned, energy crackled from his armour, as he lay stunned.

Kyle knew he didn't have much time; he looked for some way to defend himself, just as the alien rose wearily to its feet, looking around for him. Then Kyle found it: a 25cm jagged piece of shrapnel, which looked like it once was part of a warthog. He grabbed it quickly, just as the alien came at him again, but this time Kyle was ready. He quickly jabbed his make-shift weapon into the aliens, left eye. It let of an inhuman howl of pain as purple blood gashed from the wound.

Using this opening, Kyle ran, and hid beneath an overturned car. Ironically, this was there car, as he recognised the licence plate. He then suddenly remembered, Odysseus was still there, he wasn't removed after Mom had left the car. He whispered, 'Odysseus are you still online?'

'Barely.' A small flicker of blue light and he was there, but his image wasn't as bright and there were flickers in the image.

'I don't have much time Kyle; I took extensive damage when this car was overturned. I estimate that I have only about 2 minutes left.' He said this with sadness; know his short life was nearly at its end.

'Please I need to get out of here, the covenant soldiers will find me soon, I need to get somewhere safe.' Kyle pleaded desperately, as he could here the footsteps of something moving closer.

'Scanning area....complete, Ok Kyle there's an exit 30 meters to the north, past the flag pole, its a camouflaged back door, but there are many covenant between us and the door I can distract them, but only for a few seconds. Good luck Kyle.'

'Goodbye, I'll miss you.' Kyle said, tears in his eyes.

'As will I, know go!’ his image flickered and went dim. Kyle nodded, to a breath and ran, he jumped over some wreckage and landed and kept going. Several more of the big aliens and some smaller ones with big energy shields turned and pointed at him, and then there was a large BOOM!!! As the car he had just been hiding blow up. Kyle Knew what had happened; Odysseus had overloaded the engine to distract them; he felt a moment of sadness for his death then continued running. He rushed pass the large flag pole, now knocked down with the UNSC flag on fire, and came across the back door.

It was small, little more than a crawl space, clearly disguised as a fuel depot. He entered the crawl space and didn't stop, fearing the covenant were right behind. Finally, after nearly a eternity of crawling, his saw a bright light and emerged out in the middle of a field, about 3 miles away from the camp he took a breath and for the first time cried for the death of mom and Odysseus, then looked at his surroundings.

A smoke rose from the remains of the camp, as the purple craft took off and headed back to New Mombassa. Kyle turned his attention to his former home; the carrier was on the move, trying to get back into orbit. He wondered why the covenant were leaving, and if they had been beaten in space. Energy then crackled at the front of the ship then it disappeared, and left a blinding white light, which quickly covered the entire city and he was knocked down by a concussion wave.

He blacked out.

End of Chapter 5 

 

Chapter 6

October 2553

Dr Singh's private quarter's-ONI base C11, Pakistan.

Dr Singh sat in his spacious apartment and worked furiously on his terminal.

How dare that pompous fool turn him down! Humanity need there elite protectors, so is another enemy like the covenant attacked us we would be ready.

He had been working most of the night since he had left the Cairo, and looked at why he had turned down and he had pulled all the information on the previous Spartan projects his clearance would allow. He stopped when he came to Dr Halesly's name. He had first meet her at Oxford university when they were both young undergraduates, she had been brash and fiery, with a first for knowledge, and the two had become friends and helped each other, as they both were in the same field.

After university, though they had drifted apart, Halesly had been propelled to a senior research team, while he had been stuck without proper work for two years. She then came to him and offered him a job, which he had accepted on the spot.

The next 3 years were bliss, the two of them working on secret projects for ONI, till one day she just left. The day before she had shared with him plans for a super solider project, he though it was a good idea, but impractical and almost impossible, they argued and he never saw her again.

He then threw himself completely into his work and tried to forget her, working on multiple projects, and working well into the night.

He never anticipated the news that there were Spartans, working near impossible missions, all the brainchild of Dr Halsley. So he contacted her and she, at first was condescending and basically said 'I told you so.' But she came round eventually and agreed to show he soldiers in action. Later that week he had seen he Spartans, in one of there routine training exercises and he were amazed, they were so fast, so strong.

He was impressed with his friend and they set aside there differences and he decided to help her, and joined up to the SPARTAN-II project. Again the partnership was superb, but it was her project and he respected he wishes, so all there successes we in her name.

He had been on Earth, seeing his dying father, when the news of Reach's destruction came. He cried for his friend death, and the death of her dream.

Luckily, she didn't die, and she appeared a few weeks later, only to disappear again. He miss her, but he decided to focus on his job, its what she would have wanted he constantly told himself.

And now, he had decided to bring try back the Spartans, her greatest achievement, as he saw the value of those few brave men and women who sacrificed themselves to ensure humanity's survival.

He took a moment to sigh, the pain of what had happened, still on his chest; he checked his watch 8.00 AM. He'd been working all night. He decided to get some sleep, or he wouldn't be in a state to confront the Admiral again.

He just settled down when the terminal beeped. He got up and sat down.

'What is it?' He said groggily, rubbing his sore eyes.

'Lord Hood for you doctor.' Said the marine.

'OK take the transmission in my quarters'

'Very good Doctor.' Said the marine.

He took a second, and then activated the transmission.

'Admiral? I thought we were meeting on the Cairo at 12.00 hours' He asked curiously.

' Yes but there has been a change of plans, I am the first to inform you,  that the top brass at UNSC command has unanimously decided to support your proposition of a SPARTAN-IV project, the resources you will require are being transferred to your facility now. Hood grinned, the first time he had seen the admiral happy since the war.

‘And good luck Doctor'

'Thank you Admiral, I have much to do, goodbye.'

'I'm sure you do, we will talk later when command asks for a sit-rep next week. Goodbye Doctor.'

Singh was exhilarated, he had done it, and the SPARTAN-IV project had been approved.

He took a deep breath and smiled.

He had a lot to do.

End of Chapter 6

 

   Chapter 7

November 2553 

Saint Mary's Orphanage- Capetown.

Dr Singh hated these places. Every time he went to these orphanages, he always felt lucky and thankful he had a place to sleep at night, while most of these children were lucky to get to sleep on the floor.

Still he had a job to do. For the last few weeks, he had been looking all over the worlds orphanages, looking for potential candidates for the SPARTAN IV project. Results so far had been average, and he had about 100 candidates, but he needed more before he would be satisfied.

The orphanage was dank, and unpleasant, the putrid smells wafting from the poor drainage system, was nearly enough to make him and his two aids gag. Singh, moved into the central lobby, where he got one of the staff to line up the children, so he could inspect them. Though they disagreed, they wouldn't say so, the ONI insignia on their uniforms made sure of that.

50 children lined up, all in tatter rags, which were once clothes, they were all filthy, and looked as bad as there surroundings. Dr Singh walked from one side of the line to the other looking at each child closely. One child stood out particularly, as he was staring right out him, with such intensity it was slightly unnerving.

He approached the boy and said 'What's your name son?'

'Kyle Anderton, what’s yours?'

Singh was surprised by the fire in that voice, the sound of poorly contained rage spewing out when he spoke.

'I am Dr Singh; I am looking for special little boys and girls.'

'Really? Well what does it take to be special then?' Kyle retorted.

'Well you've got to be strong, determined and a keen mind.'

The boy seemed to take this in for a second, then replied: 'I see, well that's not me then, I'm just a normal kid.'

Singh saw something in the child, and saw his potential, something about this child was different, and something he needed if he was to succeed.

'Maybe, maybe not, goodbye Kyle. Perhaps we will see each other soon.' He turned to the staff and said 'I'm done now, you may now tend to the children, and we’ll let ourselves out.'

Later that day, back in his office, he looked at the candidates he had and smiled to himself. These we his Spartans and he was looking forward to seeing them grow into the soldiers the UNSC and humanity needed.

They didn't know it yet but they had a big day ahead of them.

End of chapter 7

 

   Chapter 8

November 2553 

ONI Training facility C-88- Keyes Island.

Kyle woke groggily, as looked around. Where the hell was he? He was sure this wasn’t the orphanage, as he knew that place brick-by rotten brick. He was in a large hangar of dark coloured steel. Floodlights were shining down from the ceiling, blinding him with there glaring light. As his vision adapted to his environment, he noticed them. Children. Loads of children, all about his age, and all as equally confused as he was.

The lights dimed slightly, and at a podium at the front of the children, with a gilded cloth, emblazed with the UNSC and ONI insignia, became more visible. The man standing there was Dr Singh, the doctor he saw yesterday. Today though he was in a proper lab coat and looked like he had shaved and washed the stubble on his chin was evidence of that.

He approached the podium as said ‘Children, do not be alarmed. This is may be scary for you, but this is the start of your new lives. Lives that will shape the coming future. He paused, waiting for his words to sink in. They were cries and some children were shaking. Kyle looked up at Dr Singh, wanting to here more, his absolute attention on him. Singh continued

 ‘You are not like normal children, you are special, and this is why you are here, as we need children with your talents, to help humanity to expand and prosper once more. I would like to welcome you to the SPARTANS, the best fighting force of humanity.’ He let out a smile when he said this. Very few returned this smile.

‘I would like you to meet your instructor, she will teach you, and be your example of what you can accomplish’.  He gave a slight nod, and a figure approached. She was tall, taller than any woman Kyle had ever seen, with a muscular build and short dark hair. She towered over the small kids, and let out smile. ‘Hello kids.’ She said in a calming voice. Most of the children had stopped crying and were looking at her. ‘I am Maria-062, but you will call me Chief-062, understand?’

‘Yes Chief-062’ the children said in unison.

‘Good.’ She let out another grin and said, ‘I’m looking forward to teaching you, we have a lot to do tomorrow. Know, if you look at your uniforms.’ A group of stern-looking marines appeared behind her all will navy-coloured clothes. ‘These will be your new names, and you will be referred to by these names, you must be  exhausted, now head to your bunkers and rest up. You have a long hard day ahead of you.’

At this point, the marines, gave the uniforms out, moving to every single child, literally throwing the uniforms at them. Finally, Kyle got his, it had the UNSC log on one side and on the other it said KYLE-112. So this was his new name. After the uniforms had been distributed, the marines herded the children into number order and moved them out, in groups of twenty. They reached the bunks, which were outside the huge hangar, deeper into this place, passed some training rooms  and in a small section of the base. There were 8 rooms, numbered 1-8, Kyle was put in room 5. He found a bed with his name on it and looked at the military locker, it had three uniforms, a book called ‘Your role as a SPARTAN.’ And a few sets of shoes.

He rested on his bunk and tried to get to sleep. This was all so sudden, so fast, his mind could barely keep up. Hopefully it would be better tomorrow.

End of Chapter 8

 

   Chapter 9

November 2553

ONI training facility C-88-Keyes Island

Kyle was woken by a loud siren, early the following morning. Still drowsy, Kyle rubbed his eyes and looked around, at the other children do the same.

Three marines entered the small bunk room, and the one in the centre, with a sergeant’s rank on his shoulder. 'All right kiddies rise and shine, time for morning training.'

They were lead to washrooms where they were lead into separate cubicles to wash and get dressed into their clothes: a hooded top with the UNSC logo and there names on it with, military trousers and boots.

After they were dressed, they were lead out for the first time. Kyle looked around at the strange surroundings. It was dawn, with the sun just rising over the tall trees. It was hot, almost as hot as it was back in Mombassa, but it was a more humid kind of heat.

Chief-062 was standing there, by a large circular track; she was flanked by two more marines and looked at the children sternly.

'To become a Spartan, we must train your bodies for the trials ahead, so today we'll start by a ten kilometre jog around the track move out.'

They started there jog, Chief- 062 easily moved faster than them, and they struggled to keep up the pace. Kyle had never seen anyone move that fast before. After about a half-hour of going the track, Kyle was out-of breath, as were many of the children, but he kept going, determined to prove he could do it. Finally, Chief-062 stopped, turned round and said 'That was an impressive start, now we need to do some exercises, first some push-ups, then star jumps, try to keep up the pace.'

And for the next hour, they did these exercises, Kyle struggled to keep up, the pain from an ever-growing stitch, his left shoulder was in agony and he could barely breathe.

Eventually it was over, and the tired group of children were herded into a massive classroom, were most of the children lay their heads on the desk. A small circular terminal, flashed and a purple figure appeared. Kyle instantly recognised it was an AI; similar to Odysseus, but it was female figure, in a large flowing dress, and short hair.

'Greetings children I am Cynthia, and I am your teacher. We have much to learn, so let us begin. Please take your notebooks and take notes.'

The next hour, the AI told them the story of the Greeks and there greatest warriors: the Spartans. Kyle looked up in fascination, so they were being trained to be like these people, so strong, so powerful, it enthralled him.

After the lesson, they were again lead to another area: the cafeteria, were they were given some foul-looking meat and stale crackers. Kyle then saw him, passed a few heads, it was Shen. He was alive! Almost jumping with joy, ignoring his tiredness and rushed to him. Shen saw him and he let a howl of joyous laughter. They then exchanged stories and what had happened. Apparently, Shen had barely made it out of Mombassa, and his parents had been killed in the slipspace incident. He had lived in the ruins, till he had been found by a passing patrol, and put in an orphanage in Europe.

Kyle was glad his friend was alive, and he saw his name was SHEN-073. Shen introduced him to three other people, CASPIAN-142, ALEXANDRIA-034 and PETER-065. Kyle said 'Hi, I'm Kyle nice to meet you'.

They all replied and they shared stories. After lunch, they had more exercises and another lesson, and then they were herded back to their dormitories. Kyle, again had difficulty getting off to sleep, but he was happier than he had been yesterday, now his friend was still alive and he had made new friends.

He was looking forward to the challenges ahead.

 End of Chapter 9

                     

            Chapter 10

March 2554

ONI Training facility C-88-Keyes Island

It was warm, today, as the Spartans had been told to meet outside the facility, where the track was. Kyle was confused by this, as they had had the same routine for the last few months since he came here. He turned to his friends. Alexandria, or Alex as she preferred to be called, shared his confusion, her deep green eyes, filled with slight concern. Like Kyle, she was of average height, and had slim build. She had short blond hair and a small scar by her right eye, which she had got from a passing brute patrol.

Peter as usual, was quiet. He was always quiet. Kyle knew he had good reason, as his family had been killed right in front of him, as he hid in a closet. Kyle felt for him, having seen his mother die and the two talked, to ease their shared pain. He was tall, with jet black, hair and eyes, and had pale, white skin, as if his skin had had the colour partially drained from it.

Caspian was his usual cheery self, his features in a wide grin. Not long after meeting him, they had formed a small group, with him as the leader. He was charismatic and brave, usually putting himself in harm's way to protect them. Kyle respected him.

Over the last few months, Kyle and his new friends had become a team, with the constant regime of exercise and lessons. They had learned how to survive and how to rely on each other and had proved to Chief-062 and the other marines; they all were dedicated to the cause.

As they got outside, they stood at attention, as Chief-062 was waiting for them.

'Greetings Spartans, today we are doing something different, It's time we put what you have learned these last few months to the test. Today you will be dropped into the jungle, with only a compass, and a flashlight. Your goal? Get back to base before sundown.' She paused for a second, and then continued 'You will have the best of the best pursuing you, with the orders to shoot on sight.' Some of the Spartans tensed, then relaxed. Spartans should not show fear. 'They will be shooting you with these.' She held out a small gun with to electrodes at the tip. 'A stun gun, not lethal, but it *** hurts if it gets you. My advice? Don't let them. All right Spartans, get to the pelican.' 8 pelicans sat on the landing pad, there jets just stirring. Kyle with the rest of children leaped into the transports and sat in the seats. Chief got there pelicans and began a short briefing.

'You are going to be separated into teams, these will  in blue team, red team, gold team and green team, which will be split into groups of five within your selected team. This won't be easy but with what you have learned, I'm confident I'll see all of you at sundown, good luck.'

The pelicans roared, the engines, slowing down as they reached the drop off. The hatch opened and the Spartans moved out and stood outside. Chief and the marines split them into teams. Kyle was put in blue team, as was the res of his friends. Caspian was made team leader, and the Chief gave them a nod, and re-entered the pelican and it speed of. Now it was up to them. As most of the teams filed out of the clearing they had landed in, blue team remained, as Caspian, decided to keep them together.

‘Right, what’s the plan?’ Kyle asked, crouching in the small underbrush.

‘Well, the marines are probably blocking the roads and will have dogs to find us.’

‘***, I hate those flea-bitten muts!’ Alex said.

‘So, I say we stay in the jungle, I was looking out the port as we were in the pelican, I say the base was to the north-west.’

Kyle looked up in that direction: a steep valley lead down, until it rose up into a steep gorge, and the sky beyond.

‘That’s quite a trek, can we make that before sundown’ Kyle asked.

‘We’ll make it if we keep up the pace and stick together, lets move.’

And the small group of children set off, leaving the clearing and venturing deep into the jungle. Vines and bushes blocked the way, but the Spartans kept going, Kyle ignored, the pain in his leg, which he had cut from a spiky bush he had unfortunately went through.

Then there was a noise. A vehicle motor, Kyle guessed it was a warthog. Caspian signal for the group to hold.

‘I need two men to-‘

‘Hay sexist!’ Alex said trying to contain her laughter.

‘Very funny Alex, fine. I need two men OR women to scout up ahead, happy now Alex?’

‘Very. I volunteer! I have good eyesight, I should be able to see them.’

‘Good now who else?’ Caspian asked.

‘I’ll do it’ Kyle said.

‘Right go ahead, we’ll wait here, if you don’t come back, we’ll assume you were captured or stunned, be back in half an hour.’

‘Righto, sir we’ll get on it.’ Alex said, her face breaking out into a smile.

‘Well with an attitude like that, I doubt you be discovered, see you later.’

Kyle and Alex, quietly moved off, till the reached a peak that looked down into the valley below.  The trees had an almost completely field of green, will only a few  wholes, for roads and clearings, then he saw it, a large clearing, with a small grey building, it wasn’t the base, but he was sure that was were the marines were staging from.

‘You see that?’ He asked Alex as he pointed to the structure.

‘Yeah, and five warthogs and about 20 marines by it.’

‘***, your eyesight’s good.’ Kyle was impressed.

‘Well they didn’t bring me along for startling beauty.’

‘We better go tell Caspian, he could use this to our advantage. What’s the time?’

‘About 2.30, we need to get back.’

They returned, to find Caspian, waiting, pacing, as quietly as he could. The rest of them, were taking a breather.

‘So what did you find out.’  He asked, he looked concerned, but happy to see they were alright.

‘They have a base in the centre of the valley, with five warthogs and 20 marines guarding it.’ Kyle and Alex said in unison.

‘Right, so that’s there hub, if we can disrupt there communications, it would disorganise them, and there search parties would have a hard find finding us.’

‘So you want to have a raid on the base. Are you crazy!’ Some of the children asked.

‘Yes, but not all of us, a group about 4-5 of us can slip by them undetected, and disable their communications and vehicles. Any volunteers?’

‘Count me in!’ Alex said enthusiastically, Kyle didn’t know how see could be calm to be cracking jokes at this point.

‘Me too.’ Shen said ‘I’ve been itching for some excitement, you in Kyle?’

‘Of course Shen, I couldn’t let you have all the fun.’ Kyle replied with a grin.

‘Ahh…fine I’ll come to, you need someone to what you backs.’ Peter said, almost reluctantly.

‘Then it’s agreed, we will head to their base and disable their communications, David-031, you take command, I lead the raiding party, get as close as the base as you can we’ll keep them busy.’

The raiding team moved of, head to where the base was. It was a quiet journey, though Kyle wouldn’t admit it, he knew they were scared, these were trained marines. The best of the best. But he was sure there training and his friends wouldn’t let him down, he hoped he wouldn’t let them down.

They reached the base and his in the jungle canopy, just by the clearing. The base was well guarded, marines in groups of two were patrolling the edges of the base with guard dogs, and the warthogs were all in one corner, which was visible to the entire base. This was going to be difficult.

‘We need a distraction, Alex, you think you can run into the open, and lead them away form the base?’  Caspian whispered.

‘No problem, I just hope I can outrun the dogs, as I don’t want those pouches touching me.’ She said with a shiver. ‘Man I hate those things.’

‘I’m sure you’ll be fine, as if you can’t outrun them, I sure your sense of humour will win them over.’ Caspian replied.

‘Oh ha ha, fine I’ll get on it give me a minute.’ Alex speed of into the jungle.

‘Give her a minute, then move up.’

There was a tense few minutes where nothing happened, Kyle worried that they had captured Alex, or she was hurt, he was about to say he was going after her, when she appeared and yelled’ Hay, you marines, were you looking for me? Try And catch me suckers!’ And she speed away, back into the jungle. Most of the marines and dogs, pointed at were Alex just was and ran after her, leaving 3 guards at the base’s door.

‘Now that as a distraction! Let’s get moving.’ Caspian said, and they moved up, putting them selves in the way of the warthogs, so the guards couldn’t see them. They crouched underneath them, and Caspian whispered’ Shen you think you can disable them from here?’

‘It shouldn’t be a problem, give me a minute.’ Shen got to work on them, cutting the accelerator and brakes with a pair of wire clippers he had stolen, back at the orphanage, it was a bit old and rusty, but it did the job. Kyle kept a look-out, the marines, looked bored, unresponsive, and open. For the first time Kyle thought they could do this.

‘Ok done, now what Casp?’ Shen asked, grease covering his dark fingers.

‘We need to get pass those guards.’ Caspian said ever the planner, Kyle didn’t know how he could be so calm.

‘I have an idea ‘ Peter said.

‘I’m all ears, go ahead.’ Caspian said.

‘I say, we go to the back and I distract them with this.’ He held a large rock in his hand.

‘Ok I like it, but are you sure they won’t find you?’ Caspian looked concerned, as he didn’t know if he could do it.’

‘Trust me I can do it, I’ve lived this long, and they only have stun guns, should be a piece of cake.’ Peter let of a weak smile and Shen, Kyle and Caspian, moved of to the rear of the  base. The was a loud ‘Ahhhh, Jesus! What the hell!’ As the rock made impacted with the marines’ skull.

Using this opening the found a back entrance and snuck inside. I was quite small, only a little bigger than there dormitories,  with high tech equipment, all over the place. Caspian looked to Shen, and he silently moved to the equipment, and started to dismantle it, until he got to the wires and cut them cleanly. With the objectives complete, they crept back out side and rejoined Peter underneath the hogs.

‘You ok?’ Caspian asked.

‘Yeah fine, they got pretty close though, and guess who decided to rejoin us?’ He smiled as he said this as he moved so they could see. Alex was there to, and she was covered in dirt and leaves. Her hair was all over the place and she was covered in small cuts.

‘Did you lose them?’ Caspian said looking around, trying to see if the marines had returned.’

‘Yep, that aren’t that good, the dogs got bored and started barking at the birds, kinda funny to watch.’

‘ Know doubt, let’s get out of here and get back home’. And the small group disappeared, as if they have never been there.

After about an hour, they saw the facility on the horizon, at the top of the gorge. And with the sun just setting behind them, they arrived. Chief-062 was there as well as blue team, and some of the others, with some supporting stun gun shocks.

‘Finally, I was starting to think you hadn’t made it, which would have been disappointing.’ Chief said. She continued

‘You the last lot to come back the rest are either inside, recovering for the stun guns or in the dormitories getting some rest. What took you so long?’

‘Ma’am, we lead a raid on the marines base, disabling their communication and vehicles, it was my idea, and I take full responsibility.’ Caspian looked down, expecting punishment, Instead chief  came towards him and took his had and looked to all of them.

‘I had heard reports that the marines’ base had been sabotaged, but I’d assumed it was a technical failure. Leading a raid to distract and disorganise your opponents, was brave and stupid, but it got most of you team back unharmed, nice thinking 142, and the rest of you. You are to be commended, not get inside and get some sleep you’ve earned it.’

She lead them to there dormitories. Kyle felt proud and happy. They had proved themselves, and the Chief was impressed. He was now certain that with his friends they could overcome any obstacle ahead.

End of Chapter 10

                         Chapter 11

 

September 2559

Maria-062’s private quarters ONI training facility C88-Keyes Island

Maria, looked around the round that had been her home for nearly ten years, it was modest, bland and Spartan, just the way she like it.

For the last ten years she had trained these hopefuls into the Spartans. She had done everything Chief petty Mendez had ever taught them. They had grown and the learned, did everything she had asked and more. She was so proud of them; it hurt her deeply, of what lay ahead. Tomorrow, they were scheduled to receive their augmentation, which would truly make them super-human. She remember when she had received hers, the amount of good friends she had lost, through it and the pain she felt, it was one of the reasons she wanted to get away from it. She knew things had improved in the time, but there was going to be casualties, everyone knew it except them.

She thought of them all on how she would miss them if they died. She could barely bring herself to think about it, this must have been how Kurt and Mendez must have felt at these times. She decided to be like them, and not let it show and just pray for the least amount of loss of life. She thought of them again, and hoped that blue team survived, as they were the best, and had proved themselves over and over in training exercise, from the first to the last. She looked at the names, Kyle-112, Caspian-142, Peter-65, Alexandria-034 and Shen-073.

They were so like the blue team she had known, John, Sam, Kelly and the rest, so dedicated, so caring to each other they and had been so successful. She hoped they service didn’t end like they did, it  was unfair, they didn’t deserve to die, the way they did, none of the Spartans did, but they did there duty and died so humanity could live.

There was a chime at the door. ‘Come in.’ Maria said hiding her inner torment, as Dr Singh strolled in. He looked as nervous as she felt, and he looked to her with a look that you would have expect if he was going to tell a terminal patient they are about to die.

‘Maria, it’s time do you want to say anything to them?’

‘I’ll try, but this is hard for me, but even more for them.’ Maria said, trying hard to hide the sadness in her voice.

‘I know, but it has to be done, there were always risks, but they have to be acceptable, if the UNSC, hell humanity is to stand a chance to have any Spartan protectors.’ He said this with a heavy heart, knowing that he was going to lose good growing young men and women, but the sacrifice was necessary. ‘Let’s go, well met them in the med-bay.’

Kyle and the rest of the Spartans stood in the med-bay, waiting patiently for Chief-062 to arrive. Kyle, wondered what this was about, scratching, his short military haircut. Alex looked at him, and said ‘any idea what this is about?’

‘Nope.’ He replied.

They waited for another 20 minutes until Chief and Dr Singh arrived. They looked nervous, and slightly depressed, Kyle wondered what the matter was. Before he could ask, Chief spoke.

‘Today is an important day for you Spartans, today; you will receive the augmentations, which will truly make you a Spartan. She paused, as if she found it difficult, and then continued. ‘This process is very dangerous. Some of you may die in the process, if any of you do not want to go through with this, it is perfectly understandable. I you do not want to do it, step forward please.’ Not one of the 160 Spartans moved, the fear of death didn’t even faze them.

‘Very well.’ Chief said ‘I wish you well and hope I will see you after the process is over.’

The Spartans, where then lead into the med-bay in groups of ten, in numerical number. Finally, it was Kyle’s turn. Dr Richards was waiting for, him, his small grey stubble and short greying hair, with his intense brown eyes stared at him closely. Kyle had only seen him several times over the years, when he broke a few bones during training. He was flanked by about five nervous assistants who looked as worried as everybody else did today.

‘Ah, Kyle-112 at last.’ Dr Richards said. ‘This will be quite painful, but you shouldn’t feel much as we will do it under sedation, are you ready?’

‘Yes doctor let’s begin.’ Kyle said with a mixture of excitement and fear.’ He was lead onto a table and he was injected with the sedative. The world around him faded and he blacked out.

After what seemed like a life time, he awoke. He felt strange, like he could feel all the nerves in his body, and feel more responsive.

He looked around, everything looked strange, like he had a different perspective of the room. Dr Richard appeared and for the first time today he looked pleased.

‘At last you’re awake! How are you feeling?’ he asked with genuine concern.

‘I feel like I was run over repeatedly by a scorpion, but other than that, I’m fine.’ Richards smiled and said ‘Good, it seems the augmentations were successfully integrated, I’m sure the Chief and Dr Singh will be glad to know.’

‘How many else made it?’ Kyle asked, as he knew he was okay, but what about the rest of his friends, and brethren?

‘Well out of the original 160, most are okay but-‘

‘Stop stalling doctor! How many of us are left?’

’50 are still able to fight, 18 are critical wounded or disfigured and can never fight again. The rest are dead.’ he said in a sad defeated voice.

50 of them were left, 92 of his friends had died and 18 were going to live in pain and never be able to fight again. So many good soldiers and friends lost. But he shouldn’t dwell on them, they will have a memorial service and will be remembered, but the important issue now was to find out about blue team.

‘How many of blue team made it through?’ He asked worried at what the response would be.

‘Caspian, Shen,  Alexandria, Peter and about half of the rest of the team made it through.’ Dr Richards said, but he still seemed mournful, like their deaths were his fault.

This bit of information helped Kyle, as it least the team were still alive, and still together.

‘Can I see them?’ he asked.

‘Yes but I wouldn’t advise it, you’re still weak from the operation, you need rest.’

‘I’ll rest later doctor, where are they?’ He asked, the doctor fumbled with a pen in his coat and finally gave in.

‘There in the gym, mind yourself though, it’s going to be strange over the next few days, till you get use to the augmentations.

He got up, and for a second thought he was going to fall right back down again, then tentatively headed to the door and towards the gym. The was right t was strange, all his muscles felt attuned to his every will and even the slightest thought would send a limb out incredibly fast. Getting used to this may take time, but he somehow managed to make it to the gym.

In there he saw them all at work, training and  talking with each other. Kyle moved to join them.

‘He look who’s finally woken up.’ Alex said with glee. ‘So how you feel sleeping beauty?’

‘A bit rough, but this all feels so strange.’ He said, struggling to control his movements. ‘How long was I out?’

‘About 18 hours, we didn’t think you would be waking up anytime soon.’ Peter said

‘*** it Peter why do you have to be such a downer?’ Alex said looking at him as if he had just hit her mother.

‘Because we just lost 98 of our friends, that’s why.’ Peter retorted angry as he lashed out and punched the wall in a sudden, quick motion. The blow left a large dent in the steel and  Kyle was taken aback.

‘Calm down you two, we may have lost some good friends, but we are still here, so we have to make the best of it.’ Caspian said. As usual Caspian was the mediator and calmed them down.

‘So what’s happening?’ Kyle asked, curious to know what had happened in those 18 hours he was out.

‘Well, Caspian was made squad leader, we are going to get our armour in a week, then a week after that we’re going on our first mission.’ Shen said

‘Just another busy month in the life of a Spartan, now can I fit it all in my diary?’ Alex said.

‘I hope so, with those augmentations, you’ll be lucky if you can even write in one with out tearing it to shreds’ Caspian replied.

‘Oh come on Caspian, you of all people know how subtle I can be.’

‘About as subtle as a covenant fleet!’ Kyle chimed in.

At this point Dr Singh and Chief-062 came in, they still carried a mournful expression.

‘Spartans, it’s good to see you already getting used to these changes, I’m glad to see you all up and ready.’ Chief said, as she looked at each remaining Spartan.

‘Tomorrow, we will have a memorial service for our brothers and sisters, who have died today at 0800. She paused for a second and continued. ‘Though it was a tragic loss, we need to keep going, to do there sacrifice proud, in less than a week, you will be given you MJONLIR armour, which is the final piece you need to make you identifiable as a Spartan.’

‘But for now, you should return to your dormitories and rest.’ She said and left the room. After about a minute, they head there.  Kyle couldn’t sleep, the sheer amount of his friends who had died, weighed heavily on his mind. For the first time, he wept for them, sobbing just as he had when that elite had killed his mother. He had come to see them as his extended family, and with there deaths, he had lost them, just as he lost his mother.

At least his team, were still together, and this gave him comfort. At last he got to sleep. He would mourn for them tomorrow with the rest of his family.

 

End of Chapter 11

                                        Chapter 12

 

 

June 2561

Abroad UNSC destroyer Fall from Grace

 

 

Kyle stood uncomfortably on the bridge of the Fall from Grace tensing as much as he could in the MJONLIR armour would allow.

 

For the last two years, they had been getting used to the augmentations, and the loss of the friends who did survive. He had been there with the rest the day after as they laid down his comrades to there final resting place. The other survivors were there, most confined to wheelchairs and life support machines, crippled and with a horrible life a head of them. Kyle felt sorry for them, but he decided long ago to go on, as there as no point dwelling on them, when he could become a Spartan, and continue. It was best for humanity and the greater good.

 

They had been trained to use the augmentations, and he had noticed how much he had changed due to them. He was now six feet tall, and if you saw him, you would have thought he was an eighteen year old, when in fact he was still only fourteen.  He was lean, muscular, and looked like a regular marine under that armour. They had been introduced to it a few weeks after the augmentation process, the towering green armour, looked almost godly towering over the children.

 

Two years later, he was wearing that armour, with the rest of blue team standing on the bridge, almost unreadable in their armour. The captain moved up the closest Spartan and said ‘were almost at Hydra gamma II, I hope your ready.’ He looked into the Spartan’s Visor, seeing a reflected version of himself staring back.

 

‘Understood Captain Nelson, were ready, if you need us we’ll be in the Hangar.’ said Caspian. He had really become a good leader over the last two years, and the augmentations, had made him as a good a soldier as the rest of them.

 

The Spartans vacated the bridge and made there way down to the hangar.  They activated their private com channel, so only they could hear each other.

 

‘So what do you think about the mission?’ Caspian asked, moving passed two astonished marines.

 

‘Look like a milk run, just head onto the planet and find out why the colony isn’t responding, simple.’ Shen said.

 

‘Oh, come on Shen, how many movies, have you seen, we they think it’s a blue milk run, and suddenly a big tentacle comes out of nowhere and then monster picks everybody off, it’s such a cliché’ Alex replied.

 

‘I have to agree with Alex there.’ Peter added.

 

‘What? About the monster is going to get us?’

‘No, that there is something bad happening at the colony, and we could be heading towards a nasty surprise.’

 

‘One, wait two, no three, big monsters! ’Alex replied.

 

‘Calm it, Alex we could be heading for a nasty surprise, so keep your eyes out when we touch down.’ Caspian said as they entered the hangar.

 

At this point Kyle thought about the mission, their first real deployment. It was simple, find out why a colony on the edge of human territory had stopped communicating. The colony was one of humanities first new colonies after the war and was protected by an orbital defence grid, similar to the one on Earth.

 

As they picked up their weapons, and headed into the pelican, Kyle to a deep breath, as a sense of fear and excitement hit him. He checked his MA5C, strapped it to his back and sat in the seat, two marines either side of him, looking at him with awe.

 

The bay opened and they dropped towards the planet, a shimmering orb of blue and green, but now it had a red glow as fires burnt out of control on the planet. This looked bad.

 

‘We’ll head to the centre of the city, head towards the outpost and try find out what happened. Caspian said his voice roaring over the engines of the pelican.

‘What about survivors?’ Kyle asked.

 

‘We’ll lay down a beacon and drop them off there and the pelican can pick them up. Our main priority is to find out what happened. Understood?’

 

‘Yes sir!’ The marines and Spartans said in unison.

 

‘Landing in five’ the pilot said. They was a loud whining noise, as the thrusters, lowered the pelican to the ground, the door opened and the Spartans filed out taking defensive positions. Kyle looked around. He had seen pictures of the colony in vids in the briefing, but it looked beautiful, now it looked like a warzone. Broken buildings, the foul stench of death in the air, it unnerved him for a second. He then put it out of his mind and focused on his job, and his training.

 

‘Looks clear Caspian, let’s move up.’ Kyle said raising his weapon and looking for hostiles.

 

 

‘Agreed. Shen! Alex! Move up and take point.’

 

‘Yes sir!’ They said in unison as they headed forward deeper into this ghost town. Caspian turned to the marines and said ‘We’ll go on ahead and scout the area, set up here and we’ll give you the all clear.’

 

‘Understood sir.’ The marines said, saluted and took up defensive positions around the LZ.

 

They headed deeper into the city; a nav point was put up twenty meters ahead of him, towards a building with the UNSC’s insignia. The outpost.

 

‘Shen. Alex. Sit-rep.’

 

‘All quiet around the outpost, nothing, no sign of any people.’ Shen said.

 

‘No signs my side either, this is creepy Caspian, I think Peter may be right for once.’ Alex said, sounding a little nervous.

 

‘All right you to meet us at the front of the outpost; we’ll stick together and cover each other’s asses.’

 

The met up at the front and the marines were given the all clear and moved up. They entered the building and looked around. The once clean tidy barracks was dirty, with lockers on the floor and bullet holes in the walls. They moved towards to the com-centre. They moved quietly, carefully, and Kyle kept one eye on his motion tracker.

They reached the terminal. Caspian gave a nod and Shen got to work and Alex and Peter moved to cover him.

 

‘It’s been locked down tight, give us a sec…. Got it we’re in.’

 

‘Go to the last recording; see if it has anything useful.’

 

‘Got it, you might want to hear this.’

 

‘Put it on audio, so we can all here it.’

 

Shen put in a command and the recording started.

 

‘This is Corporal Jason Williams, we are under attack! They came out of know where, launched drop ships…can’t hold out long….Oh God there here! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!’

 

‘It just stops after that sir, no com messages after that.’ Shen was obviously shaken, they all were.

 

Caspian took command of the situation and said ‘Spartans focus! Let’s get looking keep an eye out we don’t want anything creeping up on us, let’s move!’

 

They moved deeper into the outpost, where they started o find bodies, lots of bodies, they all looked like they had been dragged there. Then there was movement on Kyle’s sensor, something big, it was heading right for them. A wall to the rear of them was smashed to pieces, knocked two of the marines nearby to the ground.

 

It looked like a massive gorilla, in blue body armour. Kyle recognised it a brute.

 

‘OPEN FIRE!’ Five MA5C’s opened up, tearing into the creature, ripping his armour to shreds. Blood poured from it as it collapsed. Kyle’s sensor, buzzed with contacts. Hundreds more moving to their position.

 

Caspian open a com link and said ‘Captain? Do you read me this is Caspian-142, we are under attack by brutes, we need evac know!’

 

 

Captain Nelson replied ‘we know, three covenant capital ships just dropped out from slipspace, they dropped phantoms inbound on your position.’

 

 

End of Chapter 12

 

 

 

 

                                                    Chapter 13

 

June 2561

UNSC Destroyer Fall from Grace –Orbiting Hydra Gamma II

 

Captain Charles Nelson looked out the blue and green planet his ship orbited. He mopped his wrinkled brow and thought. He was an average height, with greying hair, and stubble. He was from a privileged family, who had a tradition of joining the navy. The were also rumours, that his ancestor was the great Admiral Horatio Nelson, who had been such an important role in the sea battles against Napoleon. He had never believed this illustrious heritage, but it was comforting to know he may be related to one of the best. He hoped it would help know.

 

Outside the main viewport, he could see them: Three bulbous ships bearing down on them. He knew what they were. Every member of the UNSC would recognise them; the distinctive shape of a covenant capital ship, flanked by two destroyers had been seen so many times in the war.

 

Nelson had fought these kinds of ships before, but never on his own, with the numbers on his enemies’ side. He took a moment to asses the situation, and gave out his orders.

 

‘All hands, battle stations, get the MAC online, and prep the missiles.’

 

‘Aye sir.’ Numerous members of the crew replied, rushing to their tasks.

 

 ‘Get us in range, but move to the right, at point 0-45’

 

The ship roared underneath his feet as it accelerated to meet the ships head-on, then at the last second, it turn and dived to the right, putting itself between the destroyers and the capital ships’ line of fire.

 

The ships in their eagerness to eliminate their prey had already charged there plasma batteries, the colours changing from blue to scarlet red as the plasma arced from the ships. The blue fire turning to hit the slender ship. But the plasma met with one of the destroyers, its shields glowed red, failed and the plasma hit home, and ripped the ship in two, fire spraying from it as it sped out of control. The plasma from the ship narrowly missed the Fall from Grace and missed by inches.

 

‘***, nice move sir!’ One of the lieutenants said.

 

‘It’s not over yet, fire the MAC right into that Capital ship!’ Nelson replied.

 

The MAC fired the round slammed against the Capital ships shields and they held. It replied by firing another volley of plasma torpedoes.

 

‘Evasive action!’ 

 

The Fall from Grace dodged and weaved as it danced dangerously close to the barrage, as the two remaining ships let out a huge barrage of torpedoes.

 

‘MAC Recharged and ready at 90%’ the weapons officer said.

 

‘Return fire, once the shields are down open up an archer strike at the wound.’ Nelson stared unblinking at the two ships, daring them to get him.

 

The MAC fired again and this time it did the trick, the shields glowed once more, but they collapsed and it hit home tearing into its silvery hull and left a gapping hole in the side of the ship. They open up and Archer missiles flew into the hole and twenty small explosions impacted the unprotected hull, right in the hole. It tore into the hole making it wider and opening more of it to space. The Capital ship moved away from the barrage, turning uncontrollably towards the remaining destroyer. The two ships collided the shields on the destroyer, rippled as they met the hull of the other covenant vessel and the ship exploded, sending shockwaves they shook the entire ship under Nelson’s feet. When the screen cleared from the blast, they was only the one crippled destroyer, and it was retreating.

 

‘Pursuit course Captain?’ The navigator asked.

 

‘No. We need to get our men of the ground first, send out the pelicans and send out some hawks and longswords to support them.

 

‘You do realise we need to be in the atmosphere to deployed the hawks and this ship isn’t rated for atmospheric flight. The science officer said.

 

‘I’m a where of that but if we don’t move now, those soldiers are dead, so they need all the help they can get. Plot a course to get us into the atmosphere now.’

 

‘Yes sir!’ The navigation officer said as the ship dived towards the planet.

 

They had done their part; know he just hoped the Spartans had done theirs.

 

 

End of Chapter 13

 

 

 

 

Chapter 14

 

June 2561

Hydra Gamma II- In the ruins of the UNSC command post

 

‘Time to go!’ Caspian said as he started running, pushing the marines to keep up. Kyle’s motion sensor was clogged with contacts; he couldn’t believe there were so many of them.

 

They made it outside and took up defensive positions at the LZ. Caspian put down the flare and a pillar of smoke rose to be seen by the patrolling pelican.

 

A dropship could be heard as a phantom whooshed overhead; its cannons send the marines scurrying to better cover. The doors opened and Brutes poured out followed by more coming out of the command post. The Spartans opened fire, the co-ordinated fire of there MA5C’s tore through the armour of the closest brutes. They collapsed under the fearsome barrage, but more filed in behind them. Alex threw a grenade, which landed in the middle of the advancing column. The blast sent brutes flying, and the survivors were stunned, there armour smoking and blackened.

 

The marines took this opportunity to take some down there weapons dropping these brutes in seconds. Yet still more came, walking over the bodies of their former comrades without a second glance.

 

Kyle took cover as a barrage of spikes whizzed passed his head, taking out half his shields. He reloaded, what for the meter to read fully charged and popped back up, taking another two brutes by surprise, giving him the chance to fire the armour-piercing rounds into them. He checked his ammo count. 3 bullets in his MA5C, and two more mags left. He cursed under his breath as he reloaded again, timing it with firing of the marines.

 

‘We can’t hold out much longer Caspian, what should we do?’ Peter said and he rolled to avoid a nearby spike grenade.

 

‘Hold the line! We just have to hold out a little longer… *** it!’ As the brutes turned there attention on the marines and threw a volley of spike grenades, devastating their dwindling numbers.

 

Kyle made a mad dash to the marines’ position, with Shen and Alex, giving covering fire, taking out a few brutes along the way. He checked them. Only two of the original twenty were still standing, firing everything they had. Five were injured. The rest were dead. He took a moment to gather ammo, and then opened fire again.

 

As many brutes fell to the steam of bullets, there always seem to be five more behind them, rushing in from the cloud of smoke surrounding them. Kyle made a dash back to the other Spartans, as the brutes let of another volley of spike grenades.

 

‘Watch out, big guy coming in!’ Alex shouted over the gunfire, dodging enemy fire.

 

She was a right. A large brute in black armour with red around the joints appeared. It had an elaborate headdress and a massive hammer charged at them.

 

‘Chieftain! Focus your fire on him, take him down.’ Five MA5C’s tore into the armour, but he kept coming, as he roared a fearsome battle cry, even as bullets shot passed him. He was almost on top of them when a large 50.Cal machine gun opened up above them. The bullets ripped into the brute, dropping it in a matter in seconds. The pelican had returned, firing everything it had at the advancing brutes, mowing them down.

 

‘To the pelican, go go go!’ Caspian said as they ran to the pelican, leaping inside and keeping their weapons trained on the brutes. Shen took the 50.Cal and kept them at bay as the pelican roared into the air, two hawks shot by, engaging two banshees that had risen up to pursue them. For the first time since he had seen the brutes, Kyle relaxed a bit.

 

‘***, that was to close. Any idea what those big apes wanted?’ Alex said, taking off her helmet and inspecting it, looking for damage.

 

 

‘No idea, but they weren’t very happy when we showed up, so it can’t be good.’ Caspian replied looking at all of them.

 

The pelican left the atmosphere and flew towards the Fall from Grace.

 

Kyle wondered what the brutes had wanted, and why they had attacked the colony, he had a bad feeling about this.

 

 

End of Chapter 14

 

 

Chapter 15

 

 

September 2568

UNSC High Command-Washington DC, Earth

 

 

Lord Harper stood and looked up the UNSC logo up in the Central lobby of the building. The Golden flag and Insignia shined in the morning light. He straightened his uniform and took a deep breath. Today would decide the future of not just him, but the entire UNSC.

 

After the disaster at Hydra Gamma II, patrols have been sent to investigate and secure the system. For some reason the brutes had not returned, as long range sensors indicate the remaining ship jumped into slipspace shortly after the battle. Since then, they have had no reported sightings of any brute or covenant ships. This had worried the brass, but they left it for seven years. Now however they had intercepted a covenant communication directed straight at them. It instructed for the leaders of the UNSC to meet and be ready for a second communication today at 15.00 hours. Harper looked down at his watch. 14.30 It read. ***, he was going to be late.

 

He made his way down to the meeting hall and sat at his place at the circular marble desk which they all sat. Harper sat up and started the meeting.

 

‘Afternoon gentlemen, as you all know why we are here, we have no need for an explanation, and I hope you are all prepared.’

 

There were muffled replies and grumbles from the senior staff, but Harper could see it in their eyes, they were worried just as he was. After a 15 year silence, if you didn’t count Hydra Gamma, the covenant had been silent, forgotten. But now they were back and wanted to talk. Harper and the rest the brass were worried what they wanted to talk about.

 

‘It’s 15.00 sir, communication intercepted and relayed to our position.’ Said one of the marines guarding the doors.

 

‘Understood private, put it up on the main viewer.’ Harper replied

 

The viewer shimmered to life and materialised into the view of a covenant ship. On the viewer a tall elite in elaborate armour got of his command chair and stood closer to the screen. He was old, older than any elites they had ever seen. There were wrinkles in his reptilian skin. One side of his mandibles were missing, and his piercing green eyes stared down at the humans.

 

‘Greetings humans, I am R’tas Vadum.’ He said.

 

‘Ship master? Is that you?’ One of the admiral’s spoke up. ‘I haven’t seen you since we destroyed the ark all those years ago.’

 

 

‘Fleet master now, but yes I remember old friend, that was so long ago.’ He paused for a second, and then continued ‘But the past is no important, only the present. I come with a warning.’

 

‘What kind of warning? Is this a declaration of War?’ Said another Admiral looking with hatred at the alien.

 

‘No we are not at war, but we soon will be. For the last fifteen years we have shielded you, as the brutes have sought to destroy you, but now we need your help.’ R’tas said this with almost sadness.

 

‘Why now after so many years? Why haven’t you talked to us in fifteen years?’ Harper asked.

‘For your safety, you didn’t need to know what we were doing, we too were rebuilding form the war, but we took the fight to the brutes when we were ready. We knew you were not strong enough for another conflict, so we let you recover, your species were almost destroyed after that last battle, the arbiter thought it best to give you time to heal, we thought we didn’t need your help. We were mistaken.’ R’tas said, looking down for a second sounding disgusted at himself.

 

 

 

‘What happened?’ Harper asked finding new respect for the elite’s actions.

 

 

‘The brutes have been disjointed and broken since the war, and have mainly been fighting with each other, so we thought it would be easy to eradicate their filthy hides, but we did more damage than we anticipated. The *** son of Tartarus, Drakus has taken his fathers hammer and unified the brutes against us,  and they are preparing to fight, and they will not stop till they wipe our species from the galaxy!’ R’tas said this with genuine urgency, like he thought they were coming right now.

 

‘With all due respect how can you be sure? And how can they be a threat to you, or us in that matter. You have beaten them with three to one odds against you, what suddenly has turned the tide?’ Harper asked curious at this turn of events.

 

‘The scum Drakus has found something, some kind of a forerunner battleship.’ R’tas said

 

‘What like the one Truth had fifteen years ago?’ Harper replied

 

‘No that ship seemed to have no weapons, but this ship was built for war, and even though it’s an ancient vessel, it is more advanced and powerful than our entire fleet.’

 

‘Then how are we to stand against such a powerful ship?’ An admiral asked, ‘Aren’t our ships going to be devastated by this single ship?’

 

‘True the monster is powerful, but if you cut of the head the body it will wither and die.’ R’tas replied grinning, at least that’s what Harper thought what he was doing.

 

 

‘What are you suggesting?’ Harper said, keen to hear R’tas’ idea.

 

‘Send me some of your best warriors, and I shall lead a strike team onto the mongrel’s ship and kill him. With Drakus dead, the brutes will return to civil war and we can avoid the rising storm.’

 

‘Interesting, alright Fleet master we’ll send the best we got; Spartans.’ Harper said, pride of the Spartan IV’s in his voice. They had saved him and most of the brass several times over the last few years.

 

‘Excellent, I will give you the co-ordinates to my ship; I will meet your Spartans there, goodbye.’ R’tas’ image flickered as he vanished from the viewer.

 

Harper looked around the room at the rest of the brass, this was bad, but they had a chance to stop before it could escalate.

 

‘Get blue team these co-ordinates; we need our best to do it.’ Harper said.

 

‘Yes sir.’

 

‘And wish them good luck; they’re going to need it.’

 

End of Chapter 15

 

 

 

Chapter 16

 

September 2568

Abroad UNSC Halcyon class cruiser Stairway to Heaven –at covenant rendezvous point

 

Kyle looked out the viewport at the darkness of space beyond. He and the rest of blue team had been told of R’tas’ transmission, and the mission ahead of them. The plan was simple: rendezvous with the elites and infiltrate the forerunner ship. Then with the Fenris they had brought along, they would plant it inside the ship and detonate it, destroying it from the inside.

 

Kyle felt worried, as he knew this would be the hardest thing he and the rest of the team had ever done. It was almost impossible as many elites had tried and failed, which had also be in the communication. But he reassured himself that they could do it. Many Spartans had infiltrated enemy ships before; this was just be another one.

 

At this point the rest of blue team walked in, looking almost identical in there MJONLIR armour. Caspian walked forward and joined Kyle at the viewport of the Cargo bay they had requisitioned for the Spartans’ gear and to store the NOVA.

 

‘Worried Kyle?’ Caspian asked his expression inscrutable in his armour.

 

‘About what?’ Alex said, moving towards the Fenris ‘The army of brutes on a ship more powerful than the entire UNSC fleet put together.’

 

‘And that is why he’s probably worried’ Peter replied taking of his helmet and placing it on a table, with many other parts of MJONLIR armour, and the tools to repair them.

 

‘What I don’t understand is how could the brutes fly this thing?’ Shen said checking his MA5C by taking it apart and examining every piece for faults.

 

‘Maybe they have a knack for forerunner technology we didn’t know about.’ Caspian said.

 

‘Or maybe they tested it out on one another till they got it just right.’ Alex said.

 

‘Either way it doesn’t matter, so long as we blow that ship to hell.’ Peter said.

 

‘Amen to that.’ Shen said.

 

Captain Winchester walked in at this moment and the Spartans snapped to attention.

 

‘At ease.’

 

Captain Winchester was a veteran of the fleet. Over 30 years he had seen many battles and lived to tell the tale. He was the perfect choice for this mission, as if it went bad, he was the only person who would have a chance to get them out of it. He was short, with thin white hair and deep wrinkles. His eyes were light blue and seemed to pierce the soul.

 

‘Status Spartans?’ He asked in a clear even tone.

 

‘Green sir, we’re ready, any sign of the elites?’ Caspian asked, in the background Peter put his helmet back on and looked on silently.

 

‘None so far, but they’d better show up soon, I’ve got a bad feeling about all of this. I’ll let you know if they decide to arrive.’ He strolled out and the Spartans relaxed.

 

‘Those sure do have great time-keeping skills don’t they?’ Alex said ‘Never miss a rendezvous do they?’

 

‘They’ll show up, they dragged us out here, and they wouldn’t talk to us if it wasn’t urgent.’ Caspian retorted.

 

Kyle looked out of the window, when he noticed something, a white light, growing, until it subsided and a sleek purple and sliver ship appeared. Another appeared and other. Soon the viewport was crowded with covenant ships.

 

‘Jesus, they sent there entire fleet!’ Shen said looking out at the massive armada of ships.

 

The COM in Kyle’s helmet beeped as Captain Winchester contacted them from the bridge.

 

  ‘Well as you can probably see they’ve shown up, I been instructed to tell you to take a pelican to the nearest carrier. The fleet master is waiting there to meet you.

‘All right Spartans, we got our orders, move out!’ Caspian said and motioned to the door. They grabbed their gear and headed for the hangar. They all were silent as they made their way through the ship and into the pelican. The pelican roared as it left the hangar and flew into towards the covenant fleet. They drove straight to the nearest ship: a massive covenant carrier.

 

The shield doors on the hangar of the carrier faded as they let human dropship pass. The pelican wined as the engines shut out and it landed. The ramp opened and the Spartans stepped out. They surveyed their surroundings. The purple and sliver walls were lined with seraphs and there were three phantoms parked above them, with a catwalk leading to them. There were five elites in front of them with plasma rifles strapped to their sides. Two of the elites were red, majors, as well as two blue minors and a golden zealot. The golden-armoured elite moved forward to greet them.

 

‘Welcome Spartans, I here to escort you to the bridge. The fleet master is expecting you.’

 

Here turned and motioned for one of the minors to open the door at the far end of the hangar. He then motioned for the Spartans to follow him as he moved to the door. They spent a quiet few minutes following the elite through the ship. They moved through purple corridors, lift to higher levels and an armoury, filled with covenant weaponry. A few elites stood there practicing on shielded dummies. They turned and eyed the Spartans wearily. Kyle looked forward and tried to ignore the piercing stares of the elites. He assumed that some of the elites still had a hatred of humanity and this fragile alliance was the only thing stopping them from killing them right now. Kyle kept one hand near his sidearm, just in case.

 

After they left the armoury they finally reached the bridge, it was big, with purple light covering most of terminals. Elites were posted at they manning there stations, while others were behind them guarding the door as it shut behind them.

 

The golden-armoured elite moved forward to a large floating chair in the centre of the bridge. It swivelled around and elite in white and grey armour turned to face them, nodded to the golden elite and got of his chair and moved towards them. He let out to hand in a human gesture of greeting. Caspian took and they shook hands.

 

‘Greetings Spartans, it is an honour to finally meet you in the flesh.’

 

‘Likewise fleet master, what’s the situation?’ Caspian replied.

 

‘Not good, the brutes are getting bold, I fear soon they will attack our inner colonies, even Sanghelios may not be safe!’ R’tas paced as he said this. Kyle saw that this worried the fleet master.

 

‘So what is your plan to stop them?’ Caspian asked crossing his arms, waiting for the elite to respond.

 

‘Ah straight to the point Spartan good. We’ve tracked the brute fleet to a remote planet not far from here. We will engage them in battle, and while the fight ensues, you and my strike team will infiltrate the forerunner ship and destroy it.’ R’tas grinned as if he looked forward to the coming battle.

 

‘Come we shall prepare for the fight ahead, the fleet will leave in 2 hours.’ R’tas said

 

‘Good we’ll wait in the hangar until you are ready.’ Caspian said and motioned to them to move back to the hangar.

 

‘Very well Spartan, we will be there shortly, my blood thirsts for battle, soon we will destroy the mongrels-’ R’tas was suddenly silenced as an elite at the navigational terminal bellowed

 

‘Slipspace ruptures! Brute ships, they are dropping out all around us it’s an ambush!’

 

End of Chapter 16

 

Chapter 17

 

September 2568

Aboard Covenant Carrier Shadow of Intent-At covenant rendezvous point

 

‘All hands battle stations get the fleet in a defensive ring with the bigger ships in front.’ R’tas barked out as elites rushed around the bridge to the designated posts.

 

‘Weapons and shields online, plasma torpedoes charging, we will be ready to fire in three cycles.’ The weapons officers said.

 

Three cycles to long, R’tas knew by the time they were ready to fire, the brute ships would be upon them. He needed to buy some time.

 

‘Send out the seraphs, get them to engage the nearest cruiser, get them to attack them same piece of shielding’ He indicating to cross section on the ship. ‘Bring auxiliary power to the pulse lasers and energy projectors.’

 

‘But sir at this range will barely scratch their shields’ the weapons officer said.

 

‘That shouldn’t be a problem, prepare to fire on my mark’. R’tas watched on as the two fleets moved towards each other, their weapons charging. The nearest brute ship, a destroyer drew ever closer, heading straight for the Shadow of Intent. The ship was being harassed by seraphs, swooping and diving letting every thing they had at the destroyers shields. They shimmered sliver, and held.

 

Then, R’tas saw what he had been waiting for. The brute captain was to overconfident and had diverted power to pump up their forward shield to take the first barrage of the larger carrier, giving them a chance to return fire. The area he had his seraphs attack had very little protection as the shield started to flicker and evaporate under the barrage.

 

‘Fire on my target….Now!’

 

A lance of energy shot from the Shadow of Intent and straight into the shield hole the seraphs had created, the shot pierced the destroyer’s hull and cleanly tore a boring hole through the ship. The destroyer arced back, riddled by internal explosions, as the beam hit its target, the plasma reactor. The ship bent as it tore itself apart from the inside, plasma flying from it. It erupted in a ball of blue flame that filled the display.

 

‘By the gods! What a deed Fleet master!’ The elites roared on the bridge, impressed with the flaming hulk of the brute ship before them.

 

R’tas appreciated it but there was no time to celebrate, there were plenty more brute ships out there, they would be time to celebrate. If they survived this.

 

Kyle ran through the labyrinth of corridors of the Shadow of Intent. A left then another right as sparks flew from the cables on the walls, as the mighty covenant ship took a blow. The lights dimmed as the ship returned fire and shook as the plasma torpedo shot into space.

They made it into the armoury they had passed earlier and a squad of about fifteen elites stood there.  Fourteen of them were in dark purple-coloured armour, with the closest elite in white armour. Kyle instantly knew that they were the spec-op team that were accompanying them to the forerunner battleship.

 

The spec-op commander moved forward, he was of a reasonable age, younger than the Fleet master, but older than his team, he looked at the Spartans with distain as he hated the fact humans were onboard. He stared with his one as the other was…wait. Kyle’s heart nearly stopped. It couldn’t be. It just could be. The elites left eye was milky white and had a deep scar. Memories came flooding back. I t was him! The elite that had killed his mother, and nearly killed him in the process. His gauntleted fists tightened as far as they could. The elite finally spoke.

 

‘Ahh humans, what took you so long?’ He barked at them, venom in his voice

‘We have been waiting for you for ten cycles, any more, and I would of left you behind. Come, to the dropships.’ He turned, nodded to his elites and they filed out. He left without a second glance at the Spartans and stormed out.

 

‘Well he was cheery.’ Alex said sarcastically.

 

‘Well we have work with him whether he like’s it or not.’ He paused and turned to Kyle ‘You alright, you seem unusually tense.’

 

Kyle could barely speak, the hatred was swelling in him, it took all his training and conditioning to remain calm when he spoke ‘That elite, the leader, I recognised him, he was the elite that killed my mother back on Earth.’ He had told them of the attack at Camp Foreman and of how he had barely survived.

 

‘***.’ Shen said, knowing how his friend must be feeling right now.

 

‘Kyle, listen to me.’ Caspian said slowly, as if fearing he was about to explode ‘I can even imagine how you are feeling now but you got to stay focused, there are more important things at stake than petty revenge.’

 

‘I know Caspian. Don’t worry I won’t become a liability.’ Kyle said, trying to focus on the mission and clear his mind.

 

‘I know you won’t, now let’s go Spartans move out double time.’

 

They ran down to the hangar and dove into the pelican. Caspian moved into the cockpit and turned to the pilot

 

‘Time to go lieutenant’

 

‘Yes sir.’

 

Lieutenant Reginald Copper, known more as ‘Reggie’ was one of the UNSC’s best pilots. He had been hand-picked for this mission due to bravery and skill.

 

The pelican flew out of the covenant carrier, closely pursued by two phantoms.

‘Hang on guys, this one’s gonna get bumpy.’

 

The pelican dodged and weaved as it flew through a mess of ships. Plasma shot by at every angle as Reggie desperately avoided the downpour. Then they saw it. The forerunner ship. They had seen archive footage of the ship that had come to Earth but this was nothing like it.

 

 

It was huge, about twice the size of the Shadow of Intent. It was the same shape as the other ship, but the top of the tripod shape was thicker and the tripod shape attached to it was at a tighter angle. On this thicker surface, were strange looking vents, which were about a two meter diameter semi circle and the ship had hundreds of these things. A plasma torpedo shot by them and impacted the ship and a golden shield glistened as it suddenly appeared were just before there was nothing. It retaliated and at the tip of the ship a golden glow appeared, then unleashed a massive beam of energy, that ripped into the vessel that fired on it. The covenant ship’s shield didn’t even shimmer, the beam just ripped straight through it. It exploded a second after that.

 

‘Well this is going to be difficult.’ Caspian said.

 

End of Chapter 17

 

Chapter 18

 

September 2568

Abroad Pelican dropship-at covenant rendezvous point.

 

The pelican flew straight the giant ship; it was growing ever larger in the cockpit’s window. The vents Kyle had noticed glowed with golden energy and unleashed beam after beam of golden energy at them. Reggie wrestled with the controls, frantically trying to dodge them.

 

Then Kyle noticed something coming from the ship. He couldn’t make them out form this distance, but they were radically getting closer.

 

‘What are those things? Missiles?’  Reggie asked turning to Caspian.

 

‘No they’re moving to slow, there something else.’ Caspian stained to make them out, as did Kyle, then he suddenly realised what they were. A flotilla of sentinels was heading straight for them. Behind them were other forerunner machines, they were a central sphere with three outer boons. The central eye was glowing golden, as if charging a shot. He noticed that several of these machines had joined together, into a single unit.

 

They headed directly for them.

 

‘This is bravo flight; looks like you need a hand.’

 

A squadron of ten longswords soared over them and formed a protective ‘V’ with them in the middle.

 

‘Bravo leader, we’ve got sentinels in bound, as well as enemy fighters, he motioned to the right and sure enough, they were twenty seraph fighters bearing down to the human ships.

 

‘Roger that lieutenant, Bravo two, keep those fighters busy. Bravo one you’re with me let’s clear the way.’

 

Five longswords veered off heading to the closing covenant fighters. At three to one odds it was suicide. Kyle appreciated the men’s bravery at overwhelming odds. The other five charged forward opening up on the incoming sentinels, ripping the first line to shreds in second, and their shields were no match for the 110mm rotary guns.

 

The second group, the odd joined ones, opened up with beams of golden light. The beams hit one of the longswords and its right wing was instantly blown off. It span out of control as they fired again, this time dead centre. The shot breached the ship and it erupted in flame and drifted away as it exploded.

 

The remaining fighters returned fire, but these machines took the blow, golden shields appearing to stop the 110m guns.

 

‘The main guns don’t work, switch to the ASGM’s.’ Said the bravo leader.

 

The missiles shot out of the ships, tracking targets and impacted. This time the shields flicker and the combined sentinels shuddered under the blast.

 

‘Were hurt them, boys! Give them the guns.’

 

The rotary guns opened and the shields on the sentinels once again rose to stop the barrage. This time however the shields fell and the rounds tore though them. There was a mass of small explosions and then the area was clear.

 

‘Thanks for the assistance Bravo flight.’ Reggie said over the com.

 

‘No problem, no lets get you inside that ship.’

 

They went ahead dodging the cannons on the ship. Golden light surrounded them. The two phantoms behind them broke off and headed to the back of the ship. The humans followed suit and saw that there was a hangar, and it looked like they were scrambling fighters. The protective shield dropped to allow them through. This was their only chance.

 

‘Bravo leader clean out that hangar ASAP!’ Caspian said

 

‘Yes sir’

 

Rounds and missiles flew into the hangar, destroying the rising fighters, and tearing into the hangar itself. Bravo flight must have hit something sensitive on the deck as the whole hangar erupted in blue flame, then subsided as it was cooled by the vacuum of space. The human and elite dropships touched down with a loud metal clang.

 

‘Thanks bravo flight good luck out there.’ Caspian said.

 

‘You too sir Godspeed. ’Bravo leader signed off.

 

‘All right Spartans suit up, make sure they’re airtight.’ They quickly checked their armour for any gaps or holes, as even a tiny hole could be fatal. Satisfied their armour was secure; they popped the hatch and stood out into the hangar.

 

 

It was a mess. Broken ships and debris was every where, while the smaller pieces shot into space. There were burn marks on the floor were the missiles went off. Oddly most of the walls, with there Forerunner glyphs were still intact, with hardly any damage on them. What looked like a terminal was ahead, just behind were the fighters had been.

 

‘Shen, reactivate the shield and get some air in here.’ Caspian said surveying the area, weapon drawn.

 

‘On it.’ He took a small tool of his own creation, and put a lead into the terminal.

 

Shen was an electronics expert, he could hack almost any terminal in the UNSC fleet, and the covenant’s for that matter. They often joked he was as smart as an AI and start acting as such. Shen always replied he was following protocol.

 

‘Got it, the Golden shield shimmered back to life and air hissed in from vents at the top of the walls. The elites leaped out of the phantoms as it was now safe for them. The spec-ops leader strode towards them, assessing the damage.

 

‘Not bad, if your pilots weren’t human I’d be impressed.’

 

Caspian ignored this and got straight to business. ‘Where is the best place for us to put the Fenris where it will do the best damage?’

 

‘The engine room, I’ll upload them to your technician’

 

‘Got them, uploading them to our HUDS now.’ Shen said, fiddling with another device.

 

 

Kyle’s HUD flicker for a second and a waypoint appeared about 10 kilometres north.

‘That’s quite a way into the ship, there’s no way we can haul it there undetected.’ Caspian said pacing as he thought. ‘Peter Alex, stay here and guard the bomb. Shen, Kyle and me will go with the elites and clear the way.’

 

‘Yes sir’ they all answered.

 

Peter and Alex went to take defensive positions by the Pelican, while Caspian, Shen and Kyle moved to the door. Before they could reach it however the doors blew out wards and the Spartans were momentary blinded. When Kyle’s Vision cleared he saw two large figures blocking the door. They had bluish armour, with sections were the orange under layer was visible. The spines on the back rippled as they took positions raising a massive limb with a metal shield on it.

 

‘Hunters!’

 

End of Chapter 18

 

Chapter 19

 

September 2568

Aboard Forerunner Battleship-at Covenant rendezvous point.

 

Foolish Humans! Spec-ops commander Rondo Davum thought to himself, as he watched the Spartans scramble back from the pair of Lekgolo in from of them. He eyed the creatures with an animalistic respect.

 

Lekgolo or ‘Hunters’ as the barbaric humans called them had been great allies to the elites back when they had served the covenant. When the great schism had occurred, the Hunter had sided with the prophets, fearing there planet would be destroyed, or they would lose the privilege of space travel. After the war, they had retreated back their home world Te. The elites had offered the mighty beasts’ protection and honour on their side. Some had joined, but the others rejoined the Brutes, as they had offered them forerunner riches.

 

Rondo cursed the continued deception from the brutes, but now was not the time for contemplation. The humans had blown the element of surprise, and they had two Lekgolo to deal with. This would be a worthy challenge for his warriors; he just hoped the humans were up to the task as well.

Kyle ducked and rolled as the hunters aimed their fuel rod cannons and fired, releasing beams of green energy at him.  They narrowly missed as they impacted on the far wall of the hangar. The nearest hunter roared and charged at him, shield arm raised. It jabbed, the tip of the huge chunk of metal skimming Kyle’s armour. His energy shields took the blow and dropped to one third.

 

Caspian and Shen opened fire; the combined fire of their assault rifles bounced of the hunter’s near impenetrable armour but a few bullets hit home, into its exposed mid-section. Orange blood poured out of it and it roared more in surprise than pain and it turn to face the two Spartans, aimed its weapon and fired. They scrambled for cover and hid under the blackened remains of a seraph. The shot hit it dead centre and dissipated.

 

The other hunter meanwhile had turned to face the elites, and had crouched down to make itself a harder target. Plasma bolts hit the shield and armour, but it still slowly advanced on them its weapon glowing green as it charged another shot. Suddenly the spec-ops commander let out a cry:

 

‘Now my brothers!’ All the elites primed grenades and threw them at the approaching hunter. Five grenades stuck to the front of the hunter and detonated. The explosion ripped the front of the hunter’s armour of and the orange goo that had once been the worms inside it oozed to the floor, forming a sickly puddle. The elites roared in victory. One down one to go.

 

Kyle charged at the remaining hunter, which was still aimed at Caspian and Shen. He opened up on its exposed back and it wheeled to face him. Shen jumped form cover and jammed his fist deep into the hunter’s middle. He dived and rolled as the hunter swung its arm missing him by inches. The mid-section expanded outwards, as an internal explosion blew the hunter in two.

 

Kyle looked at Shen, who had just got to his feet; orange blood covered his right arm.

Caspian got out of cover, as did the elites and they all huddled together as Caspian checked their bio signs. Green but still slightly evaluated from the fight. The spec-ops commander strode over to them, his mandibles quivering as he glared at them. Kyle guessed he wasn’t happy.

 

‘Foolish humans, you have ruined the element of surprise! Now they’ll be waiting for us. If you jeopardise our mission and my elites, I will kill you myself.’

 

Caspian remained almost unnaturally calm when he replied ‘We wouldn’t have had it for long anyway, they knew there was a breach, so they would have sent some to investigate eventually, it just means we lost it a little earlier than expected.’

 

Kyle couldn’t fathom how Caspian remained so cool, so calm. Kyle restrained the urge to rip out the spec-ops commanders’ throat out, but again his training and conditioning stopped him. Just.

 

The elite looked like he wanted to argue the point, but thought better of it.

‘Very well, we shall scout out ahead; we have come to kill the accursed brute Drakus and I don’t intend to leave till the creature lies dead at my feet.’

 

‘Very well, we’ll leave two Spartans here to guard the bomb, while the other three will clear the way to the engine room good luck commander.’ Caspian said his gaze more than a match for the elite’s.

 

‘Luck? Ha I do not need it Spartan, I have the Gods on my side, and I will not fail!’ He bellowed and turned to his elites.  Two remained in the hangar, looking rather dejected, while the rest turned and marched out.

 

‘Confident isn’t he? I’m starting to like that guy less and less.’ Alex said, crossing her arms, looking at where the elites had just filed out.

 

‘I agree there’s something rather slimy about him, I don’t trust him’ Peter said, turning to check on the bomb.

 

‘I’ll admit, that if he had the chance, I think he would kill all of us in a heartbeat, but he’s our ally for now, so we should try to be civil, he is helping us after all.’ Caspian said looking at his team.

 

‘Its not that simple is it though, is it? He is going on this mad ‘holy’ mission to kill the leader of the brutes. He’s going to get him and the rest of the elites killed.’ Shen said thoughtfully.

 

‘True, but we need to focus on our mission, not theirs.’

 

Kyle stayed silent during the conversation, still resisting the urge to kill the commander and the rest of his elites.

‘Right Alex, Peter guard the bomb.’      Caspian said.

 

‘Why do I always get sided with the manic depressive?’ Alex said, Peter turned and glared at her.

 

‘Because, he’s the demo expert and you’re the best person to get out of nasty situations, so I need you here as I get the feeling this one’s going to get bad’ Caspian said with almost a laugh in his voice.

 

‘Ok fine, you’ve made your point, just try to cheer up a little. Your such a downer sometimes’

 

‘Well at least I not an eternal optimist, I always ready when things hit the fan’ Peter retorted.

 

‘Enough, save it for the enemy, take cover by the pelican. Shen, Kyle. You’re with me.’ Caspian waited as they all confirmed his order green lights winked on their names showing that they understood their orders.

 

‘All right move out, watch the corners, and keep your eyes peeled.’

 

Kyle held back for a second looking out the hangar and the battle beyond. Fire raced as plasma flew and collided with ships, the blows causing their hull to buckle and burn. He turned and moved deeper into the ship with Shen and Caspian.

 

 

End of Chapter 19

 

Chapter 20

 

September 2568

Aboard Forerunner Battleship-at Covenant rendezvous point.

 

Today he would prove he was a warrior. This is what Rondo told himself. After all the failures and the dishonour, today he would prove his mantle as a spec-op commander.

 

It all started so well, when they had been part of the covenant, Rondo had been a rising star in the elite ranks, being one of the youngest ever to become a major. That all changed when he went to the accursed humans planet. The shame of being bested by a mere human child had made him a laughing stock and he had been hastily demoted back to a minor domo.

 

During the great schism he was on one of the frontier worlds in a dead end posting. He took the opportunity and proved his worth by quickly eliminating the brutes on the planet, putting him back in favour. He had spent the last few years slowly climbing back up the ranks, pushing himself, till he got to the rank of Special Operations commander. Some of the senior elites, and even some of his command, questioned him, still uncertain if he was worthy for such an honour. This angered him and today he would dispel his critics no matter what the cost.

 

He looked at his team. They were the best of the best, handpicked by the arbiter himself for the mission. They all knew how important this was and what was at stake should they fail. It filled Rondo with fear and pride that he was given such and other.

 

His officer Manvm Trasm looked on wearily as they hid in one of the service vents above the bridge. He turned to Rondo and asked:

 

‘Do you think this wise commander? They could be waiting for us or we might not be in the right place.’

 

‘The schematics of the ship were clear; this vent is directly above the bridge. As for a trap below, that is more than likely, but those animals can’t make a trap that could stop a Sanghelli.’

 

Some of the other elites nodded in approval. Manvm gave a respectful huff. He won this round, now to win the one below.

 

 

Kyle crept through the labyrinth that was the forerunner ship. He stopped and looked down the next corridor. He saw two jackals, flanked by two brutes. Jackals, like the hunters had sided with the loyalists during the civil war. Also like the hunters, they had left the covenant after the death of Truth. Unlike them however, they had become mercenaries for hire, fighting for the highest bidder. The covenant info that they had read back on Stairway to Heaven went vague at this point, so Kyle had just assumed neither side had bothered to employ them. It appeared that the brutes had the highest bid.

 

He motioned for Caspian and Shen to move up. They silently moved up to his spot and saw the advancing enemies. Caspian pointed to them and they silently acknowledged his order and hid in the shadows. They waited for them to pass and when their back was turned they silently took them down. Kyle broke the neck of the closest brute, while Shen fired a suppressed burst into the brute’s head. Without even a subdued howl it crumpled. They quickly moved up and took out the jackals. They looked around checking for anymore hostiles. Satisfied the area was clear, Caspian lowered his weapon. And they quickly followed. Kyle looked around. The corridor was slightly angular, being the same shape as the door which was an irregular pentagon. The walls were a dull grey colour and were covered in forerunner symbols.

 

They moved to the door and stacked up by it, weapons drawn. Caspian nodded and Shen moved to the door and placed it on the door. It beeped once and the door slid open. They filed into the room covering it each other’s and scanning the room for motion. They then took cover behind a few covenant crates and looked up.

 

The engine core was huge, as it rose up into the ceiling, which was barely visible. A huge column of metal, with energy crackling from it. It reminded him of the covenant engine, just on a much grander scale. In the room their were engineers, bobbing up and down as they carried out maintenance on the core. Their pinkish skin glowed blue, in the illumination from the core.

 

Also there were brutes, around thirty walking around inspecting an overseeing work: barking orders at nearby jackals and grunts. Kyle was surprised to see the little five foot tall creatures walking about and grunting to each other. Also at all the other entrances to the room were hunters looking on wearily. They were outnumbered and outgunned, they needed a plan.

 

Caspian sensing that the other two Spartans were looking to him he said

 

‘Any ideas guys?’

 

‘None sorry, Casp’ Shen said

 

‘Wait, look.’ Kyle said and pointed upwards. There was a catwalk about 20 meters up, which was covered in plasma storage tanks.

 

‘Nice, now how do we get up there?’ Shen asked.

 

‘Got it covered look up to your left.’ Kyle replied. The other two looked to the left and saw the familiar blue glow of a grav lift.

 

‘That lift is pretty exposed; we’ll have to time it right.’ Caspian said looking to the army around them. They waited getting ready to run.

 

‘All right now!’

 

They ran as fast they could their armour quietly clunking as they ran. Kyle reached the lift first, Caspian and Shen right behind him. Kyle landed at the top of the shaft and rolled and brought his rifle up, looking for enemies. Shen and Caspian did the same. It looked clear so they holstered their weapons and moved to the storage tanks. As one the threw them down at the covenant below. The first tank exploded, sending grunts and jackals flying and stunning the nearby brutes. The next hit the brutes’ dead centre and took out fifteen of them. The remaining brutes and the advancing hunters moved forwards, when the final few tanks hit them. The resulting explosion momentarily blinded Kyle, until he polarised his visor to asses the remaining forces. None had survived. Their bodies were lying at unnatural angles and smoke rose up on them. Caspian said

 

 ‘All right Peter, Alex get here ASAP, we’ve cleared the way for now but we need to set the bomb before more covenant show up.’  

 

‘Got it we’re on the move give us a minute.’ Peter replied.

 

After a tense minute of scanning the area for any brute activity, Alex and Peter arrived, carrying the metal oval to the base of the core. They found a way down and walked over to them. Alex cheerfully traced a smile with one finger. With no covenant in sight, Caspian activated the private COM.

 

‘You two alright?’

 

‘Yeah just bored, all we had to fight were two brutes and about five grunts, well you got all of this.’ She motioned at all the dead bodies around them ‘It’s just not fair.’

 

‘Well I’m sure there will be plenty of brutes left for you, but for now lets focus on getting this bomb set up.’

 

They nodded and took up positions around the bomb while Peter crouched down and activated the display and started punching in arm codes.

 

‘How long do you need?’ Caspian asked without taking his concentration from one of the nearby doors.

 

‘Three minutes, maybe four.’ He said his expression almost impossible to read under his helmet. But Kyle knew he was worried, one mistake and they’d all go up along with this ship.

 

Then suddenly over the comm. ‘AHHHHHH!’

 

‘Spartans, this is Rondo Davum, we ran into an ambush on our way to kill Drakus, we need your assistance. We are taking losses here, we need help-’ the transmission cut out and they was a moment’s silence.

 

‘What do we do Casp?’ Shen asked. Another tense silence, then Caspian said

 

‘Me and Kyle will go after; you stay here and arm the bomb.’

 

‘With all due respect Caspian, why should we go after them, they wouldn’t lift a finger to help us if we were in trouble.’ Kyle said, anger starting to creep into his voice.

‘I know you would rather leave them, so would I, but if we are to stand any chance of getting out of here, we’ll need their help, there’s too many between us and the hangar for us to take out. So we are going after them. That’s an order.’

 

Kyle reluctantly acknowledged and followed Caspian as he activated a NAV point, of the elite’s last location, and opened the door.

 

 

 

 

End of Chapter 20

 

Chapter 21

 

September 2568

Abroad Forerunner battleship-At covenant rendezvous point.

 

Kyle couldn’t believe he was doing this. He was going to save the elite that had killed his mother, on an ancient battleship, filled with gorilla- like aliens. If you thought about it, it was insanity. The only reason he was even doing this because of Caspian, he respected him enough to follow him.

 

They halted and looked around the corner, into the next corridor of the giant ship. It looked clear. At the end was a massive door, covered in yet more unreadable forerunner symbols. This door led to the bridge, and the last location of the elites. Kyle expected a trap on the other side of that door, and so did Caspian, they moved up wearily, and quietly looking for any sign of an ambush. Kyle kept one eye on his motion sensor as he moved up and stood one side of the door so he could pop out from cover when the door opened. Caspian stood on the other side, and in the slightest of nods, placed a charge on the door. It detonated and the door shattered.

 

Kyle and Caspian, then ran into the room, weapons raised, covering every fire angle, looking for contacts. The smoke form the explosion covered the room. When it cleared they looked at their surroundings. It was grand and fell like a cathedral, blue light, coming from pillars on either side. In front was a display of the space battle. Mini holographic ships with more symbols to identify them flew on the projector fire plasma bolts at each other. The most disturbing thing about this was the bridge was disserted; no brutes or any other covenant. It was all deadly silent. Kyle didn’t like this.

 

‘Lets find them and get out of here; I’ve got a really bad feeling about this.’

 

They searched the bridge, and then they found the elites, or what was left of them. On the other side of holographic screen were the elites, purple blood covered the walls, as well as some dark red. The bodies of dead brutes and elites littered the floor, their bodies riddled with plasma and spikes.

 

‘Look at this one, this can’t be good.’ Caspian pointed to another elite, who was crumpled by one of the glowing pillars. His armour was burned black and they was a large burn in his side.

 

 ‘Look at this wound, that’s not a plasma burn, looks like something else killed him.’

 

‘Could it be one of the sentinels?’ Kyle asked.

 

‘Possibly, but I don’t like it, lets move on.’

 

They looked through every body, till the strained breathing of an elite could be heard. That when they found the commander, he was still conscious and had a large burn on his side, his once white armour, was slightly tinted purple from the blood. He looked up at the Spartans and gave a respectful grunt.

 

‘Ahh… What took you so long?’ He said, giving out a strained chuckle. He spat purple blood on the floor.

 

‘What happened?’ Caspian said, crouching down to the elite’s level.

 

‘We were in one of the vents above the bridge.’ He pointed up wards and the small plasma hole above them. ‘As we landed, we were surrounded, and the mongrel Drakus and his brutes picked us of one by one. My men fought bravely but…’ He looked around and took a moment to speak again. ‘To no avail. When the liar appeared, he gloated at our misfortune and took the brutes with them.’

 

‘Liar? Who was that?’ Kyle asked, looking down at the elite, almost feeling sorry for the beaten creature. Almost.

 

‘The liar… ’ He coughed and more blood poured from his mouth ‘the liar, is of course one of those traitorous prophets.’

 

‘But we were told that they were all dead and they had died in the destruction of the ark.’ Caspian said, sounding concerned.

 

‘We thought that as well, but apparently, he is good at hiding, as well as spreading his lies.’

 

‘All right we’re getting you out of here, let me patch you up.’ He held up a can of biofoam and poured it into the gaping wound in the elite’s side. He grunted in pain and wiped his mandibles of blood.

 

‘Can you move?’ Caspian asked.

 

The spec-ops commander slowly got to his feet. His face grimaced with pain.

 

‘Yes Spartan I can move, and I can fight, let us leave this place.’

 

‘Good idea, we’ll rendezvous with the rest of the team, arm the bomb and get the hell out of he-’ Caspian never got to finish his sentence, as the ship lurched and tilted and knocked them all down.

 

‘What, the hell was that?’ Caspian said, getting to his feet.

 

‘Look at the display!’ The commander pointed at the holographic display.

 

Where a second ago, there had been the two fleets, fighting, there was the now the glowing tunnel that was slipspace.

 

‘Peter, Alex, abort, arming procedures and meet us in the hangar. I say again abort.’ Caspian said looking at the holographic image of slipspace.

 

‘We can’t use it till we get out of slipspace, of we won’t be able to get away as the radiation would kill us.’

 

The commander nodded and said ‘Save your weapon, I get a feeling we will need it for wherever this vessel arrives.’

 

‘Good idea, back to the hangar double time!’

 

The three figures ran from the bridge.

 

End of Chapter 21

 

 

 

 

Chapter 22

 

Abroad Covenant Carrier Shadow of Intent-At Covenant rendezvous point.

 

‘Hit them again and again!’ R’tas roared over the fires on the bridge. A plasma barrage flew out of the Shadow of Intent and impacted the brute ship, reducing it to burning debris. A minor victory, R’tas thought as the situation was far from ideal.

 

The ship was starting to fall apart. They had taken several hits and the shields were gone. The hull of the mighty carrier had taken some glancing blows, leaving it twisted and burnt.

 

R’tas stood in the chaos that had once been a functioning bridge; elites running about, trying to quell the fires and others fighting with their controls, trying to keep the ship fighting. He needed to restore order and get them back into the fight.

 

‘All hands, to your stations, weapons officer, what’s the status on the plasma batteries?’

 

‘1 and 3 are down.’ He said sternly, looking at his display. ‘4 and 5 have significant damage, the rest are fully functional.’

 

R’tas took in this information and thought. Their effectiveness in a fight was severely reduced, and they could only take a few more hits. He looked out at the battle around them. His fleet, the first fleet of the Vigilant Shield was holding their ground effectively, even though they had taken losses from the forerunner battleship. The brute fleet was not fairing well, taking major damage when they charged at the tight formation of ships, which made up the elite fleet. If they forerunner vessel was not there, R’tas would have said they were winning, but he knew the danger that ship presented, and he would not claim victory until that vessel was destroyed.

 

He looked up at the vessel, a grey blot out in the distance, behind the brute lines. He strained as he looked at it.

 

‘Full magnification on the forerunner ship.’ He barked to a nearby elite. The elite obeyed giving a clearer picture of the distant ship. Sparks flew of the front of the massive ship, and expanded.

 

‘Slipspace rupture, the cowards are running!’ one of the elites said behind R’tas.

 

R’tas was more sceptical, this was one of the most powerful ships, and could decimate their fleet if they sent it to attack, so why was it leaving? R’tas had a feeling that whatever the reason, it wasn’t a good one.

 

‘Signal the fleet, tell them to follow the slipspace wake, we are following that ship.’

 

Some of the elites looked at him in shock, until one, his communications officer Ono Sadvm spoke up.

‘But Fleet master, the brute fleet is exposed; this may be our only chance to destroy it. We can’t go on a wild goose chance after a bunch of cowardly brutes.’ Some of the elites grunted in approval.

‘Be that as it may, we can’t afford to let that ship escape, and I doubt they would leave the battle unless they had a good reason, they don’t retreat. So I want to find out why, so follow that ship, that’s an order.’

 

Ono seemed annoyed at this argument, but he sat back down and the rest of the elites returned to their stations. A second later, the fleet disappeared into slipspace, leaving flashes of white light.

 

R’tas hoped his hunch was worth it.

 

 

Aboard Forerunner Battleship-now in slipspace.

 

 Kyle jumped, shot another two jackals, landed and kept moving. Caspian was right behind him, with the commander limping as fast as he could. They had made their way through the ship, through a labyrinth of corridors and hallways. They had been attacked at almost every corner, and Kyle didn’t know how much more he could take, his shields barely had time to recharge before the next wave hit them.

 

He opened the door and ran out into the engine room, which was still covered in the bodies of the brutes they had killed earlier. They were some fresh bodies too, and evidence of a fight, spent clips and grenade explosions were every where. Also the bomb was gone, and there was a steady trail of blood of bullets leading to the door leading to the hangar.

 

Caspian moved up and assessed the carnage.

 

‘Looks like those two had a hell of fight here.’ Kyle said.

 

‘Yeah, it looks like they probably need our help.’ He played with the private COM for a second and said.

 

‘Alex? Peter? Report.’ There was a moment’s silence. Then a crackle as the COM came to life and Alex’s voice came over their helmet speakers.

 

‘We’ve got trouble, brutes attacked in force, we picked most of them off, but they just keep coming.’ The sound of gunfire could be heard in the background.

 

‘Were are you?’ Caspian asked, pacing.

 

‘The Hangar, we’ve stored the bomb in the pelican for now, till this tub gets out of slipspace.’

 

‘Roger that, were on our way.’ Caspian turned to Kyle and looked to the door. Kyle nodded silently and opened it, and moved into the corridor weapon raised. There were more bodies and spent clips. How they managed to transport the bomb all the way down to the hangar with all these brutes behind them was a mystery to Kyle.

 

He’d ask them later, but for now he needed to get to them. He sprinted down the corridor, and turned left, then right, then left again, thumping rounds into the exposed back of two brutes in font of him. They fell and Kyle’s MA5C clicked empty, He was out. He stooped and picked up a Type-25 Carbine, more commonly known by the name ‘spiker’.

 

After what seemed an hour of running and gunning through this ship, he made it to the hangar, a second later Caspian was with him and then the spec-ops commander, hobbled into view.

 

The Hangar was covered in brute bodies and in the far right corner were Alex and Peter giving every thing they had at a squad of ten brutes heading straight for them.

Kyle ran to his teammates and lay some fire on the approaching brutes. Two brutes when down, spikes in their necks roaring in pain. A chieftain with a gravity hammer pointed to the new targets and five of the brutes turned to face Kyle.

 

Caspian moved up and poured lead into the nearest brutes. Another two fell, while another, fell back injured. Kyle used the opportunity to fire his spiker to take the injured brute. The chieftain roared a challenge, and moved forward, and charged at Kyle, He ducked, barely missing the first swing of the brute’s hammer. He rolled to the side and fired a burst into the chieftain’s leg. It howled in pain and pulled the spikes out of its leg its face contorted in pain.

 

 The rest of the Spartans rushed to help him, bullets flying into the remaining brutes. The deadly barrage killed what was left of the remaining brutes, only leaving the injured chieftain. He charged, heading straight for Kyle. It was almost on top of him. Then it crumpled at his feet.

 

Shen lowered his still smoking MA5C and put two fingers on his visor and traced a smile. With the area clear, the Spartans moved closer.

 

‘Nice shot, where were you?’ Kyle asked Shen.

 

‘In the pelican, I was guarding the bomb. I heard the fight outside and thought you needed some help.’

 

‘So what now Casp?  Wait here then arm the bomb when we get out of slipspace?’ Peter asked.

 

‘No, I have a feeling that wherever we arrive, the bomb will be needed there.’

 

‘Did you manage to save any of the elites?’ Shen asked.

 

‘Only the commander, he was pretty beat up, but we gave him some biofoam, he should be fine.’

 

‘So much for the Gods being on his side.’ Alex said.

Kyle remained silent during the conversation, keeping a firm eye on the commander. He had taken position, by one of the Phantoms where the two elite he had left here stood. Kyle wondered what he was saying to them.

 

He was broken from his thoughts, when the ship shuddered and outside the ship, the glow of slipspace evaporated, and materialised into stars. Outside was a single planet. It was blue orb below, with tints of grey and green.

 

‘Any idea what planet that is?’ Alex asked.

 

‘No idea, but were landing on it, the Covenant came here for a reason, and were going to find out why.’ Caspian said.

 

The Spartans headed into the pelican and the elites entered the nearest phantom. The dropships shot out of the hangar and down to the planet below.

 

End of Chapter 22

Chapter 23

 

The First Age of Restoration

Abroad Forerunner Battleship-Orbiting the planet Plentiful Bounty

 

The large room was, grey like most of the ship, but had ambient blue lights, which came from the ten foot pillars that circled the room. In the centre of the room was a round disk, was a shimmering blue orb. Next to the orb, bathed in the blue light, was the High Prophet of Remorse. He was dressed in red and gold, similar to his predecessor, Truth. He was about the same age as Truth and his long neck stretched down as he looked at the spinning planet down below.

Plentiful Bounty had been a colony world, with some agriculture and mining before the war. During the Great Schism, chaos had broken out here, much like the rest of the Covenant Empire. I had been left to fend for itself as battle broke throughout the fleets. Now the planet’s greatest secret would begin the Journey and Remorse, the last living Prophet would become a god.

Remorse thought about his title as the only living Prophet. During the war with the humans, he had been the Minister of the Holy Archive. It had been his role to maintain the proper removal of Forerunner artefacts and to learn what secrets they had. He had been on the frontier of the Empire as the Great Schism happened. He closed his eyes, thinking back to those terrible times. All the other Prophets that had accompanied him were executed by the accursed Sangheili. He had barely escaped with his life. It was mainly due to the quick thinking of a young Brute Captain: Drakus.

At this point, he was disturbed from his memories as Drakus thundered in. He was a beautiful monstrosity; his white armour had golden forerunner glyphs on each side. His body seemed to be almost bursting with muscle. His orange eyes looked straight at him. He then bowed, lowering the massive hammer in his right hand.

Remorse looked at the vicious looking hammer, known by the brutes as The Fist of Rukt. Drakus had fought through elite patrols and armies of the parasite to retrieve his father’s hammer form the second holy ring.

He was very much like his father. He had a white mane of hair and his overall body was a patch work of brown and grey. As a young child, Drakus had been abandoned by his father, claiming he was weak and not worthy to take his place as chieftain. He had lived in the wilderness of Dosiac. He had quickly risen up the ranks and had been one of the youngest in his pack to become a captain. During the Great Schism, and the act of saving Remorse’s life, the two had formed a pact. Behind the scenes, Remorse had twisted and manipulated other tribes, until Drakus had taken control of all of the clans.

In return, Drakus had pledged his allegiance to Remorse and the Covenant. The two were a formidable pair.

‘Rise Drakus and report.’ Remorse said eyes fixed on his lieutenant.

 ‘The demons and the traitorous Sangheili have left the ship and have gone down to the planet; we believe the foolish commander told the demons about you.’

Remorse chuckled to himself when he here this. So now the Sangheili knew he was alive. For years he had fooled them, making it appear that he was dead like his kin. It was so easy to fool the arrogant creatures. They actually thought that Drakus was the leader of the loyalists. Fools! Though Drakus was smart by brute standards, he didn’t have the genius to run the covenant. It was amusing to him that the wool had finally out of their eyes. The last Prophet had fooled them all and he would transcend to immortality and there was nothing the Sangheili could do about it.

‘It is of no concern; they will not impede our progress.’ Remorse said to the report. ‘What of the relay?’

‘My mining teams are excavating it now; we should have it active in just a few cycles.’

‘Excellent.’ He said, grinning at the news. Drakus then moved to his side and looked at the holographic display of the planet below.

‘Soon the Great Journey will begin and only the faithful will survive!’

End of Chapter 23

 

Chapter 24

 

September 2568

Abroad Pelican Dropship-above unknown Covenant planet.

 

Caspian stood in the Pelican and looked out at the Forerunner ship, slowly disappearing into the distance, his face unreadable behind his helmet. If the Spartans could see his face, they would know he was worried.

 

Caspian didn’t know why he was doing this. He had disobeyed a direct order from one of the most senior officers of the UNSC and for what? To investigate the planet below. What was he thinking? The internal conflict raged in him. He had always done things by the book, followed every order. That was the Spartan way, the way of any solider. He just had an uncomfortable feeling about the planet, something that twisted deep in his gut. It made him uneasy. The covenant came here for a reason, and he knew that it was bigger than there previous mission.

 

He hoped he was right as he was jeopardising not only his life, but the lives of his squad. He looked at them, sitting there silent looking up at him. His burden of being their leader had weighed heavily on him in the early years. He thought he could never measure up to leaders like John-117 and Kurt-051. Over time he had learned that it was not important, that all he should concern himself, was the success of the next mission and the survival of his squad. He hoped this mission would be their last.

 

The pelican tilted suddenly as Reggie dodged a golden beam of energy that missed the dropship, by inches. Reggie came in over the COM

 

‘Sorry for the bump guys, these covenant bastards aren’t to pleased you just killed half their crew.’

 

Caspian moved into the cockpit and looked down at the planet.

 

‘How long till we hit the planets atmosphere?’ Caspian said.

 

‘Approximately three minutes.’ Reggie replied.

 

‘Any sign of pursuit?’ He asked looking down at the blue orb below.

 

‘None sir, they’re just trying to nail us with their lateral guns, it doesn’t make any sense.’

 

Caspian thought about this information. Why weren’t they chasing them? They had infiltrated their ship and had caused severe casualties. This was just another bit of information that added to Caspian’s bad feeling.

 

‘Scan for anything leaving the ship, even if it looks like a piece of debris, anything.’

 

‘On it sir. Got something, looks like they’re sending phantoms down to the surface.’

 

‘Then let’s beat them there lieutenant, get this bird down and we’ll scout of the area.’

 Caspian left the cockpit and returned to the other Spartans, who looked up at him, having heard what had just been said.

 

‘Looks like your hunch paid off Casp.’ Shen said.

 

‘Sure looks that way.’ He replied ‘Gear up Spartans; we’re taking this fight to the surface.’

 

They nodded and prepared for battle, checking their rifles and equipment. Caspian checked his own weapons. A full MA5C clip, as well as two spares, three frag grenades and his M6G sidearm was full. More than enough for a guerrilla insertion.

 

The pelican shuddered as it hit the atmosphere; it quickly subsided as they hurtled downward. The bay door opened and Caspian looked down at the surface rushing below them. It was mainly jungle, with a thick green canopy. Beyond the jungle, there was a large dusty plain, with a few shrubs and bushes. In the centre of the jungle was a large lake which broke the sea of green.

 

Behind them the two covenant phantoms that belonged to the elites, broke of heading to different parts of the jungle.

 

‘Where the hell are they going?’ Shen asked.

 

‘No idea, we’ll try to rendezvous with them later, take us down lieutenant.’

 

The engines whined as the pelican landed, and the Spartans moved out, Caspian talked to Reggie on the COM.

 

‘All right lieutenant, get out of here and be our eye in the sky, and keep your head down.’

 

‘Yes sir, call me if you need evac.’ Reggie said as the pelican speed off.

 

‘All right Spartans let move, Peter take point. Alex cover the rear while me Kyle and Shen take the middle.’

 

Four green acknowledgement lights winked on his HUD as they moved to there positions and they silently entered the jungle. The five super-soldiers crawled through the jungle, aware of every sound, every rustle. Caspian kept his eyes and ears open. The jungle reminded him of Keyes Island and all the training missions they had there. They had almost made that jungle their second home, they knew it so well. This jungle was alien, the calls of strange creatures reverberated in his ears. The air was thick with sweet aromas of flowering plants. It was almost peaceful.

 

Then he saw movement in the underbrush ahead. There was a patrol of four brutes, two in golden armour, and the other two in blue. The all held spikers high and where they seemed to smelling the air.

 

The Spartans closed ranks and took cover behind a fallen tree. They looked on at the advancing brutes.

‘Take them out Peter, nice and quiet.’ Caspian whispered.

 

Peter had always been the quietest of them, which is why he barely spoke in mission and only if he was being talked to or if he thought it necessary.

 

He moved silently to the left and fitted a silencer to his assault rifle. Caspian lost sight of him in the thick jungle. The brutes drew every closer, Caspian could heard them talking to each other.

 

‘How much longer must we search this accursed jungle? This is not worthy of me.’

 

‘We have our orders, if you disapprove, you can take it to Drakus. I’m sure he give you what you disserve.’

 

‘Enough chatter, I smell something, check over there.’

 

Caspian could hear the heavy feat draw closer. He readied his assault rifle just in case. Suddenly it went deadly silence, some subdued roars and a heavy thud as the nearest brute collapsed right by their hiding place.

 

Caspian stood up and saw Peter standing in the middle of the fallen brutes, cleaning a still bloody knife in his right hand. Peter looked up and gave him the traditional Spartan smile. He returned the gesture and motioned for the others to come out of cover and to follow him.

 

The jungle started to clear out and they stopped and looked out at the plain in front of them. In front of them was a large building, it was grey and had yet more forerunner glyphs on its entrance. It was about three stories high, with a single door at the front. Outside the buildings were brutes. Lots of brutes. Caspian counted at least fifty of them. He also saw five wraiths and ten ghosts parked outside. Banshees flew overhead and auto turrets lined the perimeter. He turned to the other Spartans.

 

‘Looks like they got a big operation here, we need to find out what they are doing here, but we need to get pass the defences, any ideas?’

 

‘Just one Caspian. But I think these brutes won’t know what hit them.’ Kyle said

 

End of Chapter 24

 

 

Chapter 25

 

September 2568

Abroad UNSC Halcyon class cruiser Stairway to Heaven- Currently in slipspace

 

Captain Winchester stood on the bridge looking out at the eerie blue light that made up slipspace.

 

For the last six hours they had been chasing the brute and elite fleets, by following their slipspace wake.  Winchester just didn’t understand why they had all just left. One second they were fighting for their lives. The next they were following a large enemy fleet that was faster than them, which could end up as a wild goose chase. Or another trap. Winchester had decided to keep all hands at battle stations, just in case. He assumed that wherever they where all going, at the end all hell would break lose.

 

He turned to his navigation officer, Lieutenant Alison Munroe. Her short brown hair and pale complexion had always made her sought after by some of the braver marines. For the most part she turned them down, saying work was more important than them. Winchester admired her dedication. She looked at him and her brown eyes pierced right through him and he said.

 

‘What’s the status on the trail lieutenant?’

 

‘The trail is starting to decompose; I would estimate that we will lose them in around fifteen minutes.’ She replied in a clear, simple tone.

 

‘Can we divert additional power to the Shaw-Fujkawa engine?’ He asked, moving closer to Alison’s chair.

 

‘Negative, were pushing as hard as we can right now, any more and it will overload.’

 

‘***. How long until we lose the trail?’

 

‘About twelve minutes Captain.’ Alison said.

 

‘All right. Prepare to drop out of slipspace, divert power to weapons.’

 

‘Aye sir’ said the majority of the crew on the bridge, rushing to their stations.

 

‘MAC cannons charging, archer missiles armed.’ Said the weapons officer Vladimir Trotsky, his stern expression glued to his weapons station.

‘Drop out of slipspace….now! Battle stations everyone.’

 

The ship jolted as it tore its way back into normal space. And straight into hell. Around them there were Covenant vessels, over sixty all firing deadly blasts of plasma at each other, which sailed above and below the Stairway to Heaven. Winchester knew that if they didn’t start moving, they would be ripped apart by a few stray shots.

 

‘Engines full forward get us out of their crossfire, head for the nearest elite ship, and use the ID tags.’

 

Before the fight had broken out, the elite ships had given the Stairway to Heaven an ID sensor that could distinguish elite and brutes ships. Alison activated the device and it bleeped once. The purple colour of the device looked out of place on the grey wall of the ship. Alison looked at the tiny display and reported.

 

‘All right it looks like the elite fleet is to… the right of us.’ She pointed out of the viewer at a large cluster of ships in a ‘V’ formation.

 

‘Then that’s our heading, full speed ahead. We need to get there as fast as possible.’

 

The ship lurched underneath and the roar of the engines almost deafened him. The ship speed to the elite ships dodging plasma and the hulks of destroyed ships. Winchester started to believe that they would make it.

 

Then straight in front of them, blocking the way was two destroyers. The headed straight for them, there plasma batteries charging. Winchester knew this was and uneven fight. They outnumbered and outgunned them. They would have to out smart them.

 

‘Direct our course starboard, put one of the destroyers between us and the other one, prepare to fire the MAC.’

 

 ‘Yes sir.’ Alison said expertly move the ship. On the main viewer the two ships as brute ships opened fire as they grew larger and larger until only one could be seen. There was then a large flash of light as the plasma torpedoes trailing the human ship smacked in the nearest destroyer. Its shields sparked for a second and failed and the white of plasma connected with its slivery purple hull and it melted and bent on the extreme heat. The torpedoes tore the ship in two and it span helplessly.

 

‘Fire now!’ Winchester shouted.

 

Through the wreckage of the first destroyer, came the Stairway to Heaven heading straight towards the remaining destroyer. The MAC fired it hit the ship dead centre, causing its shields it to shimmer, but they held. It returned fire, plasma hurtled straight for them. Winchester knew they couldn’t avoid it in time.

 

‘All hands brace for impact!’

 

The torpedo hit and tore a gapping hole in the side of the vessel. The lights dimmed and the ship groaned in protest.

 

‘Damage report.’ Winchester coughed over the smoke that filled the bridge.

 

‘Heavy damage, engines offline and weapons down to 5% efficiency.’ Alison reported.

 

‘So we are sitting ducks then.’ Winchester sighed. He had failed; the ship was crippled and straight in the enemy sights. The brute ship charged its batteries ready for the final blow.

 

Suddenly, the destroyer was ripped to shreds as plasma torpedoes smacked against its weakened shields. They failed and they hit the hull, tearing it to ribbons.

 

Winchester breathed a sigh of relief. Alison then said.

‘Sir Communication from the elite fleet.’

 

‘Put them on lieutenant.’

 

‘Not bad humans, but it appeared you need a hand.’ The voice of the Fleet Master filled the bridge.

 

‘We did thanks for the assistance. How goes the battle?’

 

‘The brute fleet has retreated and most of them have sent dropships to the planet below. Your Spartans are also on the planet.’

 

‘Then they will need assistance down there, get the marines to the pelicans.’

 

‘Good, I am sending phantoms as we speak, its time to end the brute threat once and for all!’

 

End of Chapter 25

 

 

 

 

Chapter 26

 

September 2568

Somewhere in the jungle-unknown Covenant Planet

 

Kyle looked round and sure everything was ready. For the last six hours they had been preparing, watching and waiting. Now was the time to strike.

 

Kyle’s and Shen’s plan was simple. The brutes were strong and in number, but they were bloodthirsty and quick to anger. Kyle hoped to use this against them.

 

He nodded to Shen, as he expertly swung himself into the nearest tree. The branch groaned a little, obviously in protest of the ton of Spartan standing on it, but it held.

Shen levelled his sniper rifle, took careful aim and fired. The crack round out and broke the silence of the night. The bullet bore straight into a pack of idle brutes and killed two of them, as the bullet penetrated their skulls.

 

The Chieftain roared a challenge a pointed to the jungle, just as a second shot killed another brute as he climbed up the wraith behind the chieftain. The chieftain played with a control on his right hand gauntlet and the auto-guns deactivated. This was the most important part of the plan. The auto turrets were strong and worked by detecting motion, with sensors near there base. The turrets fired concentrated plasma bolts that would do significant damage to an energy shield. Luckily they were slow and a smart Spartan could easily dodge one, but they were arranged to cover each other, so they Spartans could dodge one, just to be hit by the other.

 

So, Kyle came up with the idea to draw them out of their protective defence. They had watched them and discovered that the chieftain had active control over the turrets and could deactivate them. They had watched him as brutes had performed maintenance on one of the closer turrets.

 

So they waited until they had the advantage, with the Spartans superior night vision and the idea was to draw them into the jungle, where the Spartans had set up traps waiting for them.

 

The Chieftain started to advance, moving pass the turrets and leading the way into the jungle. At the last second, just as he was about to enter the thick underbrush, two shots came from above the tree above him, straight into the brutes head. The chieftain fell with a whimpered howl. With the chieftain dead, the turrets would stay offline. That was it for the turrets now for the brutes.

 

Shen leaped out of the tree and ran over towards to the rest of the Spartans, who had set themselves up in defensive positions. Kyle and Caspian were taking cover behind a fallen tree trunk. Alex was hiding in the underbrush and Peter was above them in a sniping position above them. Shen shouldered his sniper rifle and pulled out his assault rifle.

 

The jungle rushed and the roars of the brutes could be heard as they drew closer. Then there was the sound of several explosions and the cries of surprise as the first lot of brutes hit the trip wires. They had tied up their remaining frag grenades with some wire they had taken from the pelican. As they brute passed through the wire it pulled the pin and gave the brutes a little surprise.

 

The roars started to subside and the noise of them moving grew louder. Kyle could see them moving through the brushes.

 

‘Get ready, wait until you’ve got a clear shot.’ Caspian whispered keeping his eyes fixed on the movement in front of them.

 

The brutes got ever closer; there were almost twenty of them in the slight clearing in front of them. Kyle could almost see the whites of their demonic red eyes when Caspian finally said

 

‘Open Fire!’

 

Kyle rose from his hiding spot and opened up on the closest brutes. They almost looked surprised as the combined fire of four MA5C’s and one sniper rifle tore them to ribbons. Those who did survive were bleeding and crawled away, shouting for assistance. They were quickly silenced.

 

Kyle reloaded his rifle and waited. Angry voices could be heard as the brutes planned their next move.

 

‘Grenades get down!’ Caspian said as he ducked behind the tree trunk as a swarm of spike grenades flew into the clearing and sticking to the nearby trees.

 

They detonated and spikes flew over Kyle’s head. His shield flared with golden light then faded. He looked around. Caspian looked straight back, his shields recharging.

 

‘Is every one all right?’

 

‘All Green Casp.’ Shen said, pulling a spike out of his side. His shields had stopped its main velocity, so it only scraped his MJONLIR armour.

 

‘Gotta love those apes, what now.’ Alex said.

 

Peter leaped out of the tree and landed with a large thud. He took cover next to them.

 

‘Looks bad out there, the getting the wraiths ready to fire on us.’

 

‘Why won’t they just hit the trees? I know they’re not that cleaver, but that’s dumb even for their standards.’ Alex replied.

 

‘They’re going to burn up the forest around us, forcing us to retreat or go straight into them. Orders Casp?’ Peter said.

 

‘We’ll wade it out, as soon as they move their vehicles closer, we’ll detonate the lotus mines.’

 

They had set their five lotus anti-tank mines in a semi-circle in the centre of the clearing. They had made sure they were well concealed as they were half buried and had been camouflaged with foliage.

 

The ground rocked with plasma mortars as the wraiths opened fire. The super-heated projectiles hurtled into the jungle. Trees buckled and burned as the mortars smashed into them. The fire started to spread just as the second barrage hit the nearby trees. The forest in front of them was an inferno. Kyle knew that they could stay here much longer.

 

Through the flames came the brutes, seemingly unconcerned by the burning trees around them. Ghosts shot towards them and three wraiths smashed through the burning logs and straight into the clearing.

 

‘Just a little longer Spartans, stay down and the minute those mines go up, run back to there base.’

 

The wraiths and ghost escorts got closer; Kyle could here the whine of their engines as they got ever closer. Then five explosions rocked underneath the advancing armour. The blast ripping through the wraiths and sending their ghost escorts flying and blowing up in mid air.

 

As the last ghost smashed into a burning tree, ripping it in two and causing its brute driver’s spine to break. Kyle ran he leapt over the hulk of the central wraith and continued running, the others right behind him.

 

As he left the forest and enter the hard dirt between them and the auto-turrets he froze for a minute. Caspian nearly collided into him and had to stop at the last second.

 

‘What the hell are you stopping for Kyle, keep going!’

 

‘We’ve got problems, the other wraiths.’ He pointed to the door of the forerunner building and the two wraiths guarding it, moving towards them at speed.

 

‘Ah, well this may prove difficult, move Spartans, get out of their sights, we have to-’

 

Caspian never got to finish his sentence as the roar of a pelican engines could be heard over head. The human dropship fired a barrage of missiles into the oncoming wraiths, destroying them in seconds. A voice crackled over the COM.

 

‘Hey I saw the fire and I guessed that you guys needed a hand.’ Reggie said.

 

‘Nice thinking lieutenant, patrol the area while we enter this building.’ Caspian said. He didn’t say it, but reading his body language, Kyle knew that he was relieved.

 

‘Got it sir. Oh by the way the Stairway to Heaven is in orbit with the rest of elite fleet. They’re sending reinforcements down to the planet.’

 

‘Roger that, we’ll radio for extraction.’ Caspian turned of the COM and the pelican soared away.

‘At last backup. I thought I would have to take them all out myself.’ Shen said.

 

‘Yeah right, you couldn’t take them all.’ Kyle replied.

 

‘Move out Spartans, Shen open that door.’ Caspian said.

 

They moved to steel door and Shen put an unlocking device on it and it slowly slid open.

 

Just before Kyle was going to enter the building there was a rustle behind them. He wheeled round and brought his rifle to bear. A white-armoured elite appeared in front of him and smirked. Other elites started to appear behind him.

 

‘Greetings Spartans, I’ve have come to assist you. There are more brutes coming. They saw the smoke and they have marshalled a force to stop you.’ The Spec-ops commander said.

 

‘***, it will be better if we split up, Kyle go with the Commander and some of his elites down into the facility, find out what they wanted here. The rest of you we need to set up a defence here.’

 

Kyle was confused and motioned Caspian to the side and asked

 ‘Caspian, why me, you know what that elite did to my mother, why are you sending me with him alone. Can you get one of the others to do it?’

 

 

Caspian let out a deep sigh and said. ‘ I wish I could. The problem is I need them here. Also I have a bad feeling about that commander. I have the feeling he will double-cross us if he gets the chance. So I need our best solider, and the one most weary of him to keep an eye on him. Understood.’

 

‘Understood Caspian, I won’t let you down.’ Kyle replied.

 

‘I know you won’t. We’ll cover your rear find out what the hell the brutes wanted and what’s so special about this planet.’

 

 

End of Chapter 26

 

Chapter 27

 

September 2568

Somewhere inside a Forerunner building- On Covenant planet  Plentiful Bounty

 

Kyle walked down another grey corridor. Blue lights illuminated the floor and ceiling, painting over the elites armour. For the last twenty minutes he had been slowly moving deeper into the building, through corridor after corridor and down a few ramps leading down. Just how big was this place?

 

He was silent as the Spec-ops commander moved past him to the door at the end of the corridor, with the five spec-ops elites he had brought with him straight behind him. Kyle felt searing hatred for him, but he knew he had more important things at stake. Kyle knew that there was something, the size of this building was evidence of that.

 

The door slide open as the elites walked past it. Kyle moved up to take point. His rifle raised scanning the room for movement. It was a medium sized room with ancient terminals bleeping and humming. Inside were two brute captains working at the terminals and a pack of grunts. They wheeled round to face Kyle. He opened fire, his rounds pierced the brutes armour and they collapsed. The grunts ran in circles screaming. Kyle was about to shoot them, then decided it was a waste of ammo and broke their necks one by one. The last one primed a plasma grenade as he approached. He dodged and drove his foot into the grunt’s rebreather. It gasped and dropped to the ground gagging.

 

Satisfied it was dead he move more into the room and stared at the unreadable display on the nearest terminal. The elites moved in and the Spec-ops commander sneered at his handiwork. He motioned for one of the elites to close the door behind them and another to access the terminal. He stood behind the elite at the terminal staring at the display. He seemed pleased as he moved away from the terminal and then he said.

 

‘This place appears to have a map room, similar to the silent cartographer of the first ring. The map room is located three floors down and is heavily guarded, not that should be a problem for an elite.’ He smiled and continued ‘As for a human, that may be different. Open the door Fluka.’

 

The elite known as Fluka opened the door then left the terminal. The elites moved forward and Kyle followed taking the rear.

 

‘Keep up human; we’ll not wait for you, should you fall behind.’

 

Kyle was starting to lose his patience with the elite but he knew for the sake of mission and for his friends, who were risking their lives above, he had to rise above it.

 

He jogged and caught with the spec-ops commander and they ran to the end of another corridor and down a ramp to the next level. They went through another door and straight into the guns of three brutes. They roared as plasma rifles tore through them in a matter of seconds, their powered armour no match for the super-heated plasma.

The room they had just entered was large with catwalks above them and another door at the far end. Behind them the door slammed shut. It was a trap. From a centre pillar of metal, there was a hole that lead up to the upper levels of the facility. From this hole came drones. An entire swarm of them that rained plasma fire down onto them.

 

 

Kyle dived for cover and fired concentrated fire from his assault rifle. The elites sprayed plasma fire up at them, just as more brutes and jackal snipers appeared above them on the catwalks. From the far door, yet more brutes streamed through as well as a hunter pair. They were outnumbered. Kyle looked for something he could use to his advantage. Then he saw it. To the far right of the room was a heavily covered area that had a walkway leading up to the catwalks.

 

He shouted at the commander ‘Over here, there’s a safer way!’

 

He ignored him and continued to fire plasma bolts into the snipers on the catwalks, as the last of the drones was shot as it tried to escape up the shaft. Kyle knew he wouldn’t listen. Kyle moved keeping down as shots whizzed past his head as he made his way to the covered area.

 

He rushed up the walkway as fast as he could under fire the entire time. He quickly dropped the nearest two brutes at the top of the walkway. He reloaded and charged across the catwalk, priming his plasma grenades and throwing into the centre of the brutes. The first stuck the nearest brutes arm and detonated taking out most of the nearby brutes and stunning the jackal snipers. The second grenade stuck to the middle jackal and blew up the snipers.

 

Kyle finished of the remaining brutes with a quick burst from his MA5C. He looked down. The elites below had eliminated most of the brutes, leaving a few that were taking cover behind the hunters. Kyle scooped up two plasma grenades from one of the fallen brutes and leaped down, firing at the hunters.

 

Most of the bullets pinged of their armour, but some found their mark. One turned and faced Kyle, while the other kept the elites at bay. Kyle dodged a fuel rod blast and rolled under its flailing shield arm. He primed his plasma grenade and stuck it deep into the exposed area where its ‘head’ should be. It blew its head clean of and orange blood sprayed everywhere. Kyle turned to face the second hunter and fired a clip of his MA5C into the creature’s back. It roared in protest and charged at him.

 

Seeing their opportunity the elites also advanced, killing the remaining brutes and bring their weapons to bear on the hunter’s back. The combined fire ripped the back of the hunter’s armour of and it collapsed under the heated barrage.

 

Kyle stopped retreating and moved to towards the elites. They fired on the fallen hunter, making sure it was dead. The spec-ops commander crouched over the bodies of two elites, their bodies contorted and burned.

 

‘Rest brothers.’ He said as he closed there eyes. He turned and scowled at Kyle. ‘This is your fault, if you had come to our aid, we would not have lost them.’

 

Kyle was almost beside himself with rage, but he replied calmly. ‘With all due respect commander, it did tell you of a safer way and I did take out the snipers, not to mention the hunter. The dead of your men is regrettable, but there was nothing I could do, maybe if you lead them better it wouldn’t have happened.’

 

The other elites formed a circle as the commander replied ‘Are you questioning my leadership human?’

 

‘Yes, you’ve lead to mission and both had heavy casualties, which could have been avoid if you listened to your allies.’

 

‘Bah! Why would I listen to a human, your kind has always been weak. I remember back on your home world were I slaughtered you like the animals you are!’

 

‘What did you just say?’ Kyle said with a dangerous tone in his voice.

 

‘I said I slaughtered your kind on your planet. I remember when I stabbed this pathetic human woman who was crying like the snivelling coward she was.’ He sneered.

 

Kyle then lost it. With one gauntleted hand he grabbed the commander’s neck. With the other he brought his rifle deep into the elite’s side, right where the bio foam had been. The commander grimaced in pain, while the elites raised their weapons.

 

‘Don’t you dare say that!’ Kyle said anger filled in his voice.

 

‘What does it matter to you, she wasn’t important.’

 

‘SHE MEANT EVERYTHING TO ME! And you killed her and now I’m going to do the same to you!’

 

‘Wait that that must mean….’ The commander thought for a second. ‘YOU!’ He roared suddenly. ‘It was you who shamed me, when you stabbed me in the eye, when you were just a mere child. I have waited for this day for to long!’ He motioned for the elites to lower their weapons.

 

‘Come boy, it is time I restored my honour.’ He drew and energy sword and kicked Kyle back.

 

Kyle rolled and shot at the elite form the hip. The bullets impacted his shield and caused it to spark. He narrowly missed the sword as it nearly sliced his head off. He grabbed the elite’s sword and brought a gauntleted fist into his face. Purple blood flew from his mouth and the commander brought a hoof into Kyle’s mid-rift. It winded him, causing him to lose his grip. He fell and lay on his back for a second and rolled to avoid the sword again.

 

Now unarmed he dodged another slice and kicked the elite in his solar plexus. It stunned the attacking alien and using this opportunity Kyle scissor kicked the Commander knocking him over. He leaped onto the fallen elite and pummelled him, grabbing his sword and throwing it aside. He repeatedly punched the elite. More and more blood flew from his mouth. Kyle readied himself for the final blow. Then over the COM ‘Kyle are you nearly there yet? We could use some help up here!’

 

Kyle hesitated.

 

‘What are you waiting for human? Kill me!’

 

‘No.’ Kyle rose and recovered his weapons. The elites around them moved  out of the way.

 

‘Why have you spared me? Do you wish to continue my suffering?’ The commander asked.

 

‘No, it’s because of my mother. She wouldn’t have wanted me to kill her murderer in revenge.’ Kyle said, a strange sense of calm filling him, as if he was at peace.

 

‘How very human of you.’ The commander laughed. ‘You have bested me in battle, no matter how much I despise you. You have my respect.’ He rose and said ‘To the map room!’

 

The elite turned, nodded to Kyle and headed into the open door. Kyle took a deep breath and followed. It appeared the door the Brutes had been guarding was an elevator. It sped them down to the bottom floor. The door open and they were met by a holographic display all around them. They stood out of the elevator and it sped away and into the distance.

 

The commander moved to the central point and played with the controls. The images formed into to one and created a glowing sphere of the planet. It then zoomed into the room in which they stood. The commander fiddled with the controls and huffed.

 

‘This place, it’s a transmitter, to activate the rings. The Forerunners called it ‘The Relay’ it was a last resort if the Ark was disabled.’

 

The image spun to a giant structure, with a giant column heading upwards towards to heavens.

 

‘By the gods, they’re trying to activate the rings! We need to get out of here and stop them!’

 

 

End of Chapter 27

Chapter 28

 

September 2568

Inside the map room of a Forerunner building-On Covenant planet Plentiful Bounty

 

Kyle stood shocked at the last words the spec-ops commander said. They were trying to activate the halo rings. He had been told about them during training. Ancient Forerunner weapons that would wipe the galaxy clean of life. He knew he had to stop them.

 

Over his suit’s internal COM came. ‘Kyle have you found the anything yet? We could use some help.’

 

‘Understood. I’m on my way back.’ Kyle turned to the commander. ‘Can you get that lift back? My friends need help on the surface.’

 

‘I think so, give me a second. Got it let us go together Spartan.’

 

‘Oh by the way, I never asked what your name is.’ Kyle asked

 

‘It’s Rondo. Rondo Davum. Now come, our friends won’t wait forever.’

 

Kyle and the elites moved into the lift and it hurtled upwards. They re-entered the room where Kyle and Rondo had fought just twenty minutes ago. Kyle thought about it for a second and if he made the right choice. He felt it was. His mother, although she despised the Covenant and all it stood for, she thought petty vengeance was worse.

 

He remembered her tell him when he was young. ‘Revenge isn’t the answer; it just causes more pain and offer no peace.’

  

It felt like a lifetime ago that he had last thought about his life before the Spartans, there was always another mission, another fight to keep him occupied. Now that the past had come to him, it had brought back painful memories of the war and the suffering he saw. Camp Foreman, the destruction of New Mombasa. Odysseus and his Mother death. He had felt so *** angry, even through the years of mental training.

 

Now that he had dealt with the past, it felt like a heavy weight had lifted from him. He still felt a strange serenity and calm that made him feel at peace.

 

He shook himself from his reverie. Enough soul-searching, he had a job to do.

 

He rushed through the facility, heading back the way they came. The place was no eerily quiet as they ran through rooms filled with the fallen bodies of the brutes. It made him slightly uneasy, but he was more concerned to getting to the top.

 

After what seem like a lifetime, he made it to the entrance and ran out rifle raised. What he found surprised him. Around him were the bodies of hundreds of brutes, jackals and grunts. There were even a few hunters lying around.

 

Surrounding the bodies were hundreds of marines, elites and vehicles.  A base was sate up in the centre of the clearing, with covenant and human turrets lining its steel walls.  Caspian, Shen and Alex waited at the massive steel gate, with a few spec-ops elite behind them. Kyle moved to Caspian and he gave a slight nod.

 

‘You alright man?’ Shen asked.

 

‘Yeah I’m fine, what about you guys?’ Kyle asked

 

‘Peter got hit; he’s okay, he’s just slightly singed.’ Caspian said. ‘They came from the jungle, on masse, we held out as long as we could.’

 

‘We were basically holding them of with our bare hands near the end.’ Alex said.

 

‘Then reinforcements came just in time and finished them off.’ Caspian said.

 

‘They then set up camp and Captain Winchester touched down with the fleet master.’ Shen said.

 

‘They gave direct orders for us to meet with them when you returned; they’re in the command centre.’ Caspian finished talking and moved into the base. Kyle looked around. It was pandemonium in the base, marines rushing around, working on vehicles and checking on rifles and other tasks. They entered a central tent which was filled with computers.

 

 

Inside were several techs, as well as Captain Winchester in military fatigues, with a M6D pistol at his side. The fleet master was there also, with his arms crossed and staring at a holographic display in the centre of the room. It depicted the local area, and the base. Hundreds of green friendly markers covered it. They turned to the Spartans who saluted the Captain.

 

‘At ease.’ Winchester said. ‘All right son, tell us why these bastards came here.’ He motioned for Kyle to move forward and he said.

 

‘Its bad sir, on this planet is a slipspace transmitter called The Relay, which can activate the remaining Halo rings.’

 

The news shocked the Captain he almost staggered. The Fleet Master gave a concerned huff.

 

‘So that explains it. We’ve been monitoring what the brutes have been doing. I sent a few scouts to their main encampment. They said they were excavating something, but I would never have guessed it was this!’ He turned towards Winchester.

 

‘We need to stop them, we still have the Spartans Fenris warhead, if they could infiltrate the facility, destroy it from the inside.’ He stopped mid-sentence and looked to the Fleet master.

 

‘Of course, that will make sure the Relay is destroyed as well as any brutes, but how are we to get them inside; the area is swarming with them.’ The Fleet master said pacing as he thought.

 

‘We have to engage them, hit them with everything we’ve got and breach their lines.’

 

‘That would be a heavy way fight, many of your men would die, are you willing to have their blood on your hands captain?’ The Fleet master said.

 

Winchester was silent for a minute then said. ‘I don’t have much choice, let many of my men die, or let the entire galaxy. We have to stop them, no matter what the cost.

 

He turned and looked at Kyle. He looked tired and saddened, knowing what the cost would be for them. But he also looked determined, knowing the importance of that sacrifice.

 

‘Spartans take an hour to rest and resupply, we have to get to the Relay, or the rings will kill us all, we must not fail!’

 

 

End of Chapter 28

 

 

 

Chapter 29

 

September 2568

Inside UNSC/Covenant Hybrid base- On Covenant planet Plentiful Bounty

 

Kyle double checked his MA5C Assault rifle and his Battle rifle. Satisfied, he shouldered his weapons and moved over to Peter.

 

In the last hour, the Spartans had been getting ready, stocking up on supplies and getting mentally ready for the next battle. Kyle knew this wasn’t going to be easy. Between them and the Relay was a open dusty plain and a brute army.

 

Kyle went to Peter who gazed up at him from the bed he was laying on. His armour was to one side and he had a medical sheet covering his muscular form. Kyle looked down and said.

 

‘How you feeling Pete?’

 

Peter rose from the bed and brought his right hand across his chest, feeling the plasma burn that had been bandaged and treated.

 

‘Not too bad, felt better, but I should be ready for the mass suicide ahead.’

 

‘We don’t have much choice, they’re in the Relay right now and they could activate the rings at any time. I don’t like this plan either, but it’s the only chance we’ve got.’

 

Kyle turned and saw the rest of the Spartans coming over to the medical tent, their armour glistening in the early morning sun.

 

‘You have a point, but I get the feeling most of us won’t make it through this.’ Peter said looking at the incoming Spartans.

 

‘Come on Pete have a bit of faith, even if we do die, I rather die with my friends than alone.’

 

Caspian and the others entered at this point and Caspian said.

 

‘What’s your status Pete?’

 

‘I fine, will you stop asking me that!’ Peter said as he lifted himself of the bed and started to fit his armour back on.

 

‘Oh, is Petey getting angry? How cute.’ Alex said in a baby voice.

 

‘Well it did get hurt, so I think I have the right to be a little cranky Alex.’ Peter retorted as he put his helmet on and inspected his armour. There was a black mark were the plasma bolt had hit but it had been repaired while Peter was resting. Kyle would know as he helped fixed with a few of the technicians from the Stairway to Heaven.

 

‘Now there is no point fighting each other, save it for the brutes.’ Caspian said. Once again he mediated between Alex and Peter’s fiery relationship. Kyle thought one day their constant bickering would drive Caspian crazy, but apparently it wasn’t today as he stayed calm and almost motionless in his armour.

 

‘What do you think about the next mission Caspian; I think it could easily go bad.’ Peter said as he moved away from Alex as he turned his back to her, so he wouldn’t have to look at her.

 

‘It’s going to be tough, but we have to do it, for the sake of all life in the galaxy, so we all need to be at our best, so no more fighting you two.’ As he turned as glared at Peter and Alex.

 

‘Yes Caspian I leave the manic depressive alone, I’ll focus on the lovely brutes we’re going to have fun with instead.’ Alex sniggered to herself we she said this.

 

‘I’m ready Caspian; I’m spoiling for a fight.’ Shen said tensing his gauntlets.

 

‘Good. I know you do the Spartans proud.’ He let of a rare Spartan smile gesture with his fingers.

 

Outside alert sirens could be heard telling them, that they were ready for the attack.

 

‘Looks like they’re ready, lets go Spartans!’ Caspian said as they ran out into the centre of the base.

 

The marines and elites lined up, with the Spartans taking up positions behind the Fleet master and Captain Winchester who were facing the soldiers.

 

‘My warriors, today we shall end the threat of the brutes once and for all. They wait in the plain ahead, guarding a madman so he can bring ruin on us all. We must stop him. Together with our human allies we stand united and march to glorious victory!’

 

The elites roared in approval and raised their weapons high. The fleet master drew his energy blade and said ‘Attack!’ The elite and human force ran to their vehicles.  Warthogs and Ghosts, followed by Spectres and Banshees and Hornets flew out of the base and hurtled out to the open plain. Scorpions and Wraiths flied out of the base. Kyle was in awe at the massive force leaving the base.

 

Still inside the base were three Hornets, manned by pilots. Behind them were two pelicans and three Phantoms. The nearest Pelican was piloted by Reggie, and he had the Fenris warhead on board.           The Spartans mission was simple, push through the enemy forces quickly riding on the hornets and infiltrate the Relay, while their main force was preoccupied by the Human and elite forces.

 

Captain Winchester saluted Caspian and the other Spartans and said. ‘Good luck Spartans, we’ll hold them as long as we can, I be overseeing the battle from the control centre.’ He turned and with the two aids at his side moved into the command tent.

 

Kyle leaped onto the passenger seat of the Hornet, with Shen on the other jump seat. Alex and Peter got on the second one while Caspian went onto the final one. The Hornets roared as they took off. Kyle looked down at the ground rushing beneath him. The small shrubs and grass had been disturbed by the tires of Warthogs and the treads of scorpions. The plain went into a dip and Kyle looked down at the chaos below.

 

There were hundreds of vehicles were below him. They rolled across the battlefield, chasing each other. Kyle could see the flames coming from some of the fallen vehicles and the soldiers desperately taking cover behind them.  Around him, the sky was swarming with Banshees and Hornets. Kyle held more tightly to the edge of the jump seat as he looked at the battle below and around them. Kyle wanted to help his allies, but he knew they were doing their job: distract the covenant forces, so they could punch through and stop the Relay from activating.

 

Over the COM the Hornet pilot said. ‘Hold on to your lunch people, this is goanna get hot!’

 

The guns above Kyle’s opened fire, cutting through the nearby Banshees. Around them, seven Elites in Banshees lined up in a ‘V’ Formation.

 

‘Don’t worry Spartans; we shall clear the sky for you.’ The Banshees shot of ahead of them and fired their plasma cannons. They caught the brutes by surprise and their Banshees were rocked by the elites barrage. They retaliated with a barrage of their own, which quickly turned into a frenzy to get behind the enemy fighters.

 

Using this distraction, the Hornets and Pelicans charged through, shooting anything that got to close. They eventually got through the swarm of aircraft and the sky opened up a little. Kyle looked back to see multiple explosions as some of the Banshees were hit. Their burning remains fell into the battle below.

 

Plasma shoot past his head and he wheeled round to see three Scarabs land straight in front of them. The rear guns on the back of each Scarab fired causing the Hornets to dodge. Kyle held on more tightly. If these Scarabs entered the main battle, it would tip it in the brutes favour. Time to even the odds. He opened up the COM and said.

 

‘Caspian, permission to take out those Scarabs, if we don’t take them down the ground forces will be devastated.’

 

‘Agreed, they won’t stand a chance, which jeopardises our mission. Shen, Kyle, you take out the one of the right, Alex, Peter focus on the one to the left, I’ll take out the one in the middle.’

 

The hornets charged at the Scarabs, getting as close to them as they could. Kyle looked down at the massive walker below him. ‘You ready Shen?’

 

‘Born ready, let’s do this.’

 

Kyle took a breath, and then leapt of the Hornet. He was air for only a few seconds, but to a Spartan it felt like a lifetime. Plasma soared past his head as he fell. He looked to his left to see Shen right next to him in the air. Kyle brought his knees up and slammed onto the top part of the scarab. He started to slip, but he punched down into the purple metal and climbed back up. He levelled his rifle and killed the two grunts that were looking over the edge. The squeaked as they died. The back of their methane tanks being ripped of by the powerful rounds.

 

He turned to se Shen cutting through several brutes and Kyle ran to assist him. Together they cut through the crew on the Scarab. Satisfied they were all dead, they moved to the back to the power core. It glowed with a blue shield covering it, in the dim red lights. They shoot the shield; it glowed as it changed from blue to red then dissipated.

 

 ‘This one’s all yours Shen.’ Kyle said.

 

He nodded and primed a plasma grenade which stuck to the core. Orange goo came from it as the seal broke, sirens blared in their ears as it started to over load. They ran onto the open deck and Kyle yelled into the COM

 

‘Get us out of here now!’ Above them one of their Hornets dove, expertly landing on the front of the Scarab. They jumped in and it rose sharply. Kyle could see the other Hornets rising from the other Scarabs, all of them with alarms blaring. There were small internal explosions on the Scarab, getting more frequent. The whine of the sirens reached a crescendo, and all three Scarabs exploded, sending debris hurtling in all directions.

 

‘Good work people, now let’s stop that Relay.’ Caspian said, as the Hornets drew closer to the Relay.

 

It was a massive column of metal, now visible as the ground around it had been burned away. There were burned trees and plasma burns all around the edges. They really had excavated deeply as the ground when sunk into a large circular hole around 50 meters across and 40 meters down. They slowly descended into the hole and gently landed.

 

Kyle got out and surveyed his surroundings. The ground beneath was basically be turned to glass under the plasma bombardment. In front of them was a massive steel archway which led to an 8 meter tall set of double doors.

 

Behind him the Pelicans landed, and then two squads of ODST 103^rd Battalion came out, with four men dragging the Fenris Warhead. The 103^rd was the best group of soldiers humanity had, other than the Spartans. Kyle appreciated having them hear to watch their backs.

 

As they headed to the doors, the green phantoms belonging to the elites decloaking as they landed. Rondo and a squad of eight elites dropped out of the nearest phantoms, with another eight in the other one.

 

Rondo smiled as he approached the human forces.

‘Nice handiwork, I saw you vanquishing those scarabs as we went by.’

 

‘How is the battle going?’ Caspian asked.

‘Not well, though our brothers hold the line valiantly, I do not know how much longer they can stop the tide of the brute forces.’

 

‘So we need to get this done before they turn their attention to us, move out marines!’ The ODST’s and Spartans moved to the door.

 

Kyle hung back for a second and walked with the Elite commander.

 

‘And so begins the final battle. It is an honour to fight beside you human, as you have proven yourself to be excellent warrior. Come our destiny awaits us.’

 

 

End of Chapter 29

 

Chapter 30

 

September 2568

Outside Forerunner complex known as The Relay- on Covenant planet Plentiful Bounty

 

Kyle nodded to Rondo and moved to the door. The ODST’s had set a demo charge on the massive set of doors. Caspian gave a nod and they detonated it, the door bent inward, the force of the explosion causing to buckle. It left a 2 meter wide hole which they had to squeeze through.

 

The Spartans and elites used their combined physical strength to make the gap wider so they could get the warhead in. Kyle looked at his surroundings. The entrance lead into a massive pavilion, large metal columns rose up from the edges of the room. Next to these columns were strange plants that looked even more alien in the blue light coming from the ceiling. In front of them was a massive holographic display, showing what appeared to be a representation of the Relay.

 

Kyle walked cautiously, fearing that the brutes may be hiding behind the pillars whiting to ambush them. They formed a protective circle around the ODST’s carrying the bomb, making sure every angle was covered. They walked slowly towards the holographic display. Underneath it was a small terminal and another door, which was much smaller than the one they had entered from.

 

Shen moved to the terminal and taking a device from his belt hacked the system.

 

‘All right I’ve got the layout of this place, and access to security. I looks like the control room is at the very top, here.’ He pointed up at the image at the tip of the massive tower.

 

‘Where would the Fenris do the most damage?’ Caspian asked gazing up at the massive hologram.

 

‘In the generator room here.’ He pointed at the base of the tower.

 

‘***, I just got a security feed from the control room, listen to this.’

 

‘The Holy One’s ship is away Drakus.’

 

‘Excellent, what about the battle?’

 

‘The humans and heretics are closing sir; both our forces and theirs are taking heavy casualties.’

 

‘A necessary sacrifice, keep the tower safe I will go to the control room and begin the Journey.’

 

‘Jesus.’ Alex said.

 

‘We need to split up, me; Shen Alex and Peter will take the ODST’s and set up the bomb. Kyle go with the elites and stop them from activating the Relay.’

 

‘Understood, come Spartan we have work to do.’ Rondo said then asked ‘Which way up to the top of the tower?’

 

‘Through this doorway, go right on the second hallway and up the ramps, they’ll take you straight to a set of big doors, you can’t miss it.’

 

‘Understood.’ Rondo and the elites nodded as they headed for the door. Kyle turned back to look at his friends. He feared that he would never see them again.

 

‘We’ll radio you when we arm the bomb not get going.’ Caspian said.

 

Taking one last look back Kyle turned and heading down the hallway a brisk jog, the elites moving at a similar speed. The hallway was incredible long and seemed to go across the entire facility. The other thing Kyle noticed that there wasn’t any covenant presence in the facility. He guessed that most of them were fighting outside and only a few remained to activate the Relay.

 

The came to a T-section and went right. The door in front of them slid open and lead up to a series of ramps. Kyle looked up; the shaft was massive and went all the way up to the top, straight to their destination. They ran as fast as they could, skidding when they had to turn around a corner.

 

They had gotten up about halfway, when the place shook. For a moment Kyle thought they were too late. Generators whined as they came on line, after thousands of years of being silent.

 

‘They are powering up the Relay, we’ve got to hurry.’

 

Spurred this information they quickly got to the top and came in front of another massive door, with three Chieftains standing in front of it, two with plasma cannons, and the other with a hammer. Rondo roared as the combined fire of seventeen elite’s plasma rifles hit their target. The Chieftain on the left fell, its started brutes turning to their attackers. The elites focused their attention on the brute with the hammer, as did Kyle, taking out his battle rifle and repeatedly firing bursts into its head.

 

 

Its armour crackled and burned as bullets and plasma tore into its skin. It let out an inhuman howl and collapsed. The final Chieftain was ready for them. Firing bursts of his cannon to keep them at bay. Rondo smiled and threw a plasma grenade at the creature’s foot. It exploded and the Chieftain brought an arm to its face blinded by the blast.

 

Rondo let out a battle cry and drew his energy sword. He charged at the stunned brute and brought his blade down across its neck. It fell with a loud thump. Kyle nodded to Rondo and they moved to the door together.

 

On the COM, Caspian said. ‘Bombs in position and we’re arming it now, we’re reading power fluctuations all over the facility, I think they getting ready to send the signal.’

 

‘We’ve reached the control room and are about to enter.’ Kyle said as they stacked up either side of the door.

 

‘Good luck Kyle.’ Caspian said.

 

‘You too and if we don’t make it out of this, it was an honour to serve with you.’

 

‘You too, now stop them before it’s too late.’

 

Kyle turned off the COM and opened the door and the elites filed inside.

 

 

End of Chapter 30

 

Chapter 31

 

September 2568

At the Control room of the Relay-On Covenant planet- Plentiful Bounty

 

The door hissed open and Kyle walked in. The control room was similar to ones on the halo rings that he had been taught all those years ago. There was long wide walkway that lead to a circular ring with the controls at the end of the circular ring nearest to them. The only real difference that instead of a large hologram showing the ring, they was a beam of light heading straight upwards and the room was smaller, about half the size of Halo’s control room.

 

 At these controls were three brutes two in black and red armour. The other was in white armour and had golden Forerunner glyphs on the lapels. He was taller than the other two and was grey colour, unlike the customary brown colour of most brutes.

 

‘Drakus we meet again.’ Rondo said raising his sword.

 

The large brute turned and sneered ‘Rondo Davum, the foolish commander who thought he could assassinate me, but this time you have one of the human demons with you.’

 

‘The Great Journey is at hand, and not even your treachery to the covenant and to your oath can stop it.’

 

He raised his right paw revealing a thin metal cylinder. It was slightly jagged and had a thin strip of blue at the centre.

 

‘With the key left on the human world Hydra Gamma II all those years ago, we can finally reach glorious salvation!’

 

 

‘So that why you attacked Hydra Gamma II… you were going for the key!’

 

‘Yes demon, I remember that battle well, your pitiful race fell to their knees at my feet, until your accursed kind arrived and nearly ruined our plans.’

 

‘Where is the liar you call a Prophet, I thought he would be here to see the beginning of the Great Journey himself.’ Rondo retorted his eyes focused in hatred at Drakus.

 

‘Unfortunately, the Holy One had heard word of another holy site and he had to depart.’

 

‘A shame, I was ready to put my blade between his neck and end his lies.’

 

‘Enough talk! You shall die by my hand and then we shall activate the Relay. Kill them!’

 

The two chieftains at his side charged at them, roaring as they charged. Kyle and half the elites focus on the one on the left, while Rondo and the others focused on the one on the right.

 

Blood flew from their mouths as their armour failed and they collapsed just as they reached Kyle’s boots.

 

‘Incompetents. I will kill you my self.’ A he let out a battle cry and charged.

 

Even under the combined fire of the elites and Kyle, he kept coming, his armour taking the blows easily.

 

‘His armour is tougher than the other, move!’ Rondo said as Drakus swung his hammer. The blow killed to elites to Kyle’s left as he rolled and ran down the walkway towards the Relay’s controls. The elites turned and fired at the charging brute. Again plasma was harmlessly absorbed by his powered armour.

 

‘Aim for the joints, try to find a weakness!’ Rondo shouted.

 

More plasma bolts hit the charging brute, but several bolts hit were two plates joined and hit the flesh underneath. Drakus let out a howl of anger and smacked several elites out of his way. They landed with a sickening thud on the floor. With half of the elites down, they fell back to the circular area, still firing at the soft points in his armour.

 

Drakus headed straight for Rondo, who drew his energy blade. He ducked under Drakus’ first attack and stabbed him in the chest. The second attack hit Rondo straight in the face, and he was sent flying backwards and fell in a heap at the door into the control room.

 

Kyle kept fighting, trying to find a weakness, even as more of the elites fell to the Fist of Rukt Drakus’ hammer.

 

It was then that Kyle noticed it. Where Rondo had stabbed him, Drakus’ armour had buckled and looked very thin there. Kyle pointed to it and he and the remaining elites focused their fire on the spot. The armour glowed red under the barrage then melted away. Blood poured from the wound as the hole grew larger and the plasma and bullets ripped into him.

 

Drakus let out one final charge then fell. Blood oozing from the cracks in his armour. Kyle let out a sigh of relief and moved over to Drakus’ body, he turned it over and looked at his contorted expression. He grabbed the slender piece of metal from his belt and crushed it with his fist. It was done; they had stopped the relay from firing.

 

Kyle moved over to the crumpled form that was the spec-ops commander.

 

‘Hell of a fight human.’ He smiled and coughed up purple blood as he tried to laugh.

 

‘Let’s go, we need to get out of here before the bomb goes off.’ Kyle said crouching down to Rondo’s eye level.

‘No, I’m afraid that was my last battle, my wounds are to grave to continue, I must remain here with my fallen brothers.’ He was covered in blood. His armour was stained purple from all the bleeding.

 

‘Spartan, before you leave this place and I joined my father in the after life there is something I would like to say. I’m sorry for all the pain I’ve caused you. I’m sorry for killing your mother. I wish to leave this existence with my conscience clear.’ Rondo coughed more violently and more blood came from his mandibles.

 

‘I forgive you Rondo, and thank you.’ Kyle said.

 

‘Goodbye and I will meet you again in the afterlife.’ His eyes dimmed and his body went limp.

 

Kyle rose and let a sigh and headed to the door. Caspian came in over the COM

 

‘Bomb’s armed Kyle, detonation in 3.00 minutes, you need to move now!’

 

‘Understood, I’m on my way.’ Kyle took one last look at Rondo and left, the remaining elites behind him.

 

His muscles aced, every nerve was on fire, but Kyle kept running, the internal clock on his HUD was counting down. 2.30. He leapt off the final ramp and sprinted full speed down the corridor. 1.40. He reached the entrance and with the last of his strength jumped out into the open air. His armour sparked as he slid out. His vision started to go dark but he kept going, he could see Caspian and the others, even with his fading vision. 0.50.

 

He somehow remained standing as he heard Caspian say.

 

‘Reggie we need evac now!’

 

0.30.

 

Kyle thought they weren’t going to make it. Then out of the sky came the welcome shape of the Pelicans, which arced down to them. They opened the rear hatch as they descended and they quickly got inside. Kyle wearily grabbed hold of the support rail and looked at the rear of the pelican, just as it rose into the air.

 

0.10

 

Kyle looked at the retreating form of the Relay as the Pelicans sped away.

 

0.00

 

The Relay exploded, as a massive orange explosion erupted from its base. The large tower twisted and fell, as the entire complex started to collapse. The Fenris must have hit something sensitive as there was a blue explosion on the side of what was left of the Relay that tore through what was left of the facility. All that was left was a pile of steel wreckage.

They had done it; Kyle took a deep breath of relief and tried to clear his fatigued mind. The pelican headed up into the sky to the Stairway to Heaven and home.

 

End of Chapter 31

Chapter 32

 

September 2568-Two weeks later

ONI training facility C88-Keyes Island

 

Kyle slowly woke up.  His eyes adjusted to the darkness and he slowly rose. His muscles felt stiff.  He stood up and paced around the room, thinking.

 

After the destruction of the Relay, they had returned to the Stairway to Heaven where they had been congratulated by Captain Winchester and the Fleet Master. They had told the Spartans of what happened during the battle. Despite heavy loses; they had eventually pushed the brute forces back, and defeated them. After they picked up Caspian’s communication that the bomb was activated, they had hastily gone up to orbit. Most of the Pelicans barely getting it out of there in time.  Captain Winchester recalled his own experience, as the pelican came to the base just in time; he had watched the base be reduced to atoms, merely a few minutes later.

 

The Fleet Master had praised the human’s bravery and thanked them. He had then departed to his ship, saying that the prophet of Remorse must be found, as he still posed a threat to Elites and humans alike.

 

The journey back home was uneventful; Kyle had been unconscious for most of the trip, the last battle and then the escape from the Relay taking a lot out of him. When they had got home they had been commended by the UNSC brass, and Lord Harper had personality thank them for their bravery.

 

They had been given a few week R&R back on Keyes Island.

 

Kyle thought back over all what had happened over the last few weeks, the warning from the elites, the assault on the Forerunner battleship and the landfall to Plentiful Bounty and the discovery and destruction of the Relay. They had how they had all pushed beyond their limits, and they had come out of it. An entire brute army obliterated and preventing the death of all sentient life in the galaxy. This was truly the Spartans role and what they would be remembered for.

 

Kyle had also found some personal peace, having finally put to rest the ghosts of the past. The surprise of the spec-ops commander, Rondo Davum being his mother’s killer and how at the end of it all he forgave him, closing the final part of his life before joining the Spartans. He felt more at peace now, as well as being more determined and confident in his abilities.

He looked forward to the challenges ahead of him

 

 

 

The End.

 

 

---

Vigil is watching you

Halo: The Unlatched Casket- The horror is released........

dude it doesn't show after half of chapter nineteen

Rectifing that problem.

 

Chapter 19

 

September 2568

Aboard Forerunner Battleship-at Covenant rendezvous point.

 

Foolish Humans! Spec-ops commander Rondo Davum thought to himself, as he watched the Spartans scramble back from the pair of Lekgolo in from of them. He eyed the creatures with an animalistic respect.

 

Lekgolo or ‘Hunters’ as the barbaric humans called them had been great allies to the elites back when they had served the covenant. When the great schism had occurred, the Hunter had sided with the prophets, fearing there planet would be destroyed, or they would lose the privilege of space travel. After the war, they had retreated back their home world Te. The elites had offered the mighty beasts’ protection and honour on their side. Some had joined, but the others rejoined the Brutes, as they had offered them forerunner riches.

 

Rondo cursed the continued deception from the brutes, but now was not the time for contemplation. The humans had blown the element of surprise, and they had two Lekgolo to deal with. This would be a worthy challenge for his warriors; he just hoped the humans were up to the task as well.

Kyle ducked and rolled as the hunters aimed their fuel rod cannons and fired, releasing beams of green energy at him.  They narrowly missed as they impacted on the far wall of the hangar. The nearest hunter roared and charged at him, shield arm raised. It jabbed, the tip of the huge chunk of metal skimming Kyle’s armour. His energy shields took the blow and dropped to one third.

 

Caspian and Shen opened fire; the combined fire of their assault rifles bounced of the hunter’s near impenetrable armour but a few bullets hit home, into its exposed mid-section. Orange blood poured out of it and it roared more in surprise than pain and it turn to face the two Spartans, aimed its weapon and fired. They scrambled for cover and hid under the blackened remains of a seraph. The shot hit it dead centre and dissipated.

 

The other hunter meanwhile had turned to face the elites, and had crouched down to make itself a harder target. Plasma bolts hit the shield and armour, but it still slowly advanced on them its weapon glowing green as it charged another shot. Suddenly the spec-ops commander let out a cry:

 

‘Now my brothers!’ All the elites primed grenades and threw them at the approaching hunter. Five grenades stuck to the front of the hunter and detonated. The explosion ripped the front of the hunter’s armour of and the orange goo that had once been the worms inside it oozed to the floor, forming a sickly puddle. The elites roared in victory. One down one to go.

 

Kyle charged at the remaining hunter, which was still aimed at Caspian and Shen. He opened up on its exposed back and it wheeled to face him. Shen jumped form cover and jammed his fist deep into the hunter’s middle. He dived and rolled as the hunter swung its arm missing him by inches. The mid-section expanded outwards, as an internal explosion blew the hunter in two.

 

Kyle looked at Shen, who had just got to his feet; orange blood covered his right arm.

Caspian got out of cover, as did the elites and they all huddled together as Caspian checked their bio signs. Green but still slightly evaluated from the fight. The spec-ops commander strode over to them, his mandibles quivering as he glared at them. Kyle guessed he wasn’t happy.

 

‘Foolish humans, you have ruined the element of surprise! Now they’ll be waiting for us. If you jeopardise our mission and my elites, I will kill you myself.’

 

Caspian remained almost unnaturally calm when he replied ‘We wouldn’t have had it for long anyway, they knew there was a breach, so they would have sent some to investigate eventually, it just means we lost it a little earlier than expected.’

 

Kyle couldn’t fathom how Caspian remained so cool, so calm. Kyle restrained the urge to rip out the spec-ops commanders’ throat out, but again his training and conditioning stopped him. Just.

 

The elite looked like he wanted to argue the point, but thought better of it.

‘Very well, we shall scout out ahead; we have come to kill the accursed brute Drakus and I don’t intend to leave till the creature lies dead at my feet.’

 

‘Very well, we’ll leave two Spartans here to guard the bomb, while the other three will clear the way to the engine room good luck commander.’ Caspian said his gaze more than a match for the elite’s.

 

‘Luck? Ha I do not need it Spartan, I have the Gods on my side, and I will not fail!’ He bellowed and turned to his elites.  Two remained in the hangar, looking rather dejected, while the rest turned and marched out.

 

‘Confident isn’t he? I’m starting to like that guy less and less.’ Alex said, crossing her arms, looking at where the elites had just filed out.

 

‘I agree there’s something rather slimy about him, I don’t trust him’ Peter said, turning to check on the bomb.

 

‘I’ll admit, that if he had the chance, I think he would kill all of us in a heartbeat, but he’s our ally for now, so we should try to be civil, he is helping us after all.’ Caspian said looking at his team.

 

‘Its not that simple is it though, is it? He is going on this mad ‘holy’ mission to kill the leader of the brutes. He’s going to get him and the rest of the elites killed.’ Shen said thoughtfully.

 

‘True, but we need to focus on our mission, not theirs.’

 

Kyle stayed silent during the conversation, still resisting the urge to kill the commander and the rest of his elites.

‘Right Alex, Peter guard the bomb.’      Caspian said.

 

‘Why do I always get sided with the manic depressive?’ Alex said, Peter turned and glared at her.

 

‘Because, he’s the demo expert and you’re the best person to get out of nasty situations, so I need you here as I get the feeling this one’s going to get bad’ Caspian said with almost a laugh in his voice.

 

‘Ok fine, you’ve made your point, just try to cheer up a little. Your such a downer sometimes’

 

‘Well at least I not an eternal optimist, I always ready when things hit the fan’ Peter retorted.

 

‘Enough, save it for the enemy, take cover by the pelican. Shen, Kyle. You’re with me.’ Caspian waited as they all confirmed his order green lights winked on their names showing that they understood their orders.

 

‘All right move out, watch the corners, and keep your eyes peeled.’

 

Kyle held back for a second looking out the hangar and the battle beyond. Fire raced as plasma flew and collided with ships, the blows causing their hull to buckle and burn. He turned and moved deeper into the ship with Shen and Caspian.

 

 

End of Chapter 19

 

Chapter 20

 

September 2568

Aboard Forerunner Battleship-at Covenant rendezvous point.

 

Today he would prove he was a warrior. This is what Rondo told himself. After all the failures and the dishonour, today he would prove his mantle as a spec-op commander.

 

It all started so well, when they had been part of the covenant, Rondo had been a rising star in the elite ranks, being one of the youngest ever to become a major. That all changed when he went to the accursed humans planet. The shame of being bested by a mere human child had made him a laughing stock and he had been hastily demoted back to a minor domo.

 

During the great schism he was on one of the frontier worlds in a dead end posting. He took the opportunity and proved his worth by quickly eliminating the brutes on the planet, putting him back in favour. He had spent the last few years slowly climbing back up the ranks, pushing himself, till he got to the rank of Special Operations commander. Some of the senior elites, and even some of his command, questioned him, still uncertain if he was worthy for such an honour. This angered him and today he would dispel his critics no matter what the cost.

 

He looked at his team. They were the best of the best, handpicked by the arbiter himself for the mission. They all knew how important this was and what was at stake should they fail. It filled Rondo with fear and pride that he was given such and other.

 

His officer Manvm Trasm looked on wearily as they hid in one of the service vents above the bridge. He turned to Rondo and asked:

 

‘Do you think this wise commander? They could be waiting for us or we might not be in the right place.’

 

‘The schematics of the ship were clear; this vent is directly above the bridge. As for a trap below, that is more than likely, but those animals can’t make a trap that could stop a Sanghelli.’

 

Some of the other elites nodded in approval. Manvm gave a respectful huff. He won this round, now to win the one below.

 

 

Kyle crept through the labyrinth that was the forerunner ship. He stopped and looked down the next corridor. He saw two jackals, flanked by two brutes. Jackals, like the hunters had sided with the loyalists during the civil war. Also like the hunters, they had left the covenant after the death of Truth. Unlike them however, they had become mercenaries for hire, fighting for the highest bidder. The covenant info that they had read back on Stairway to Heaven went vague at this point, so Kyle had just assumed neither side had bothered to employ them. It appeared that the brutes had the highest bid.

 

He motioned for Caspian and Shen to move up. They silently moved up to his spot and saw the advancing enemies. Caspian pointed to them and they silently acknowledged his order and hid in the shadows. They waited for them to pass and when their back was turned they silently took them down. Kyle broke the neck of the closest brute, while Shen fired a suppressed burst into the brute’s head. Without even a subdued howl it crumpled. They quickly moved up and took out the jackals. They looked around checking for anymore hostiles. Satisfied the area was clear, Caspian lowered his weapon. And they quickly followed. Kyle looked around. The corridor was slightly angular, being the same shape as the door which was an irregular pentagon. The walls were a dull grey colour and were covered in forerunner symbols.

 

They moved to the door and stacked up by it, weapons drawn. Caspian nodded and Shen moved to the door and placed it on the door. It beeped once and the door slid open. They filed into the room covering it each other’s and scanning the room for motion. They then took cover behind a few covenant crates and looked up.

 

The engine core was huge, as it rose up into the ceiling, which was barely visible. A huge column of metal, with energy crackling from it. It reminded him of the covenant engine, just on a much grander scale. In the room their were engineers, bobbing up and down as they carried out maintenance on the core. Their pinkish skin glowed blue, in the illumination from the core.

 

Also there were brutes, around thirty walking around inspecting an overseeing work: barking orders at nearby jackals and grunts. Kyle was surprised to see the little five foot tall creatures walking about and grunting to each other. Also at all the other entrances to the room were hunters looking on wearily. They were outnumbered and outgunned, they needed a plan.

 

Caspian sensing that the other two Spartans were looking to him he said

 

‘Any ideas guys?’

 

‘None sorry, Casp’ Shen said

 

‘Wait, look.’ Kyle said and pointed upwards. There was a catwalk about 20 meters up, which was covered in plasma storage tanks.

 

‘Nice, now how do we get up there?’ Shen asked.

 

‘Got it covered look up to your left.’ Kyle replied. The other two looked to the left and saw the familiar blue glow of a grav lift.

 

‘That lift is pretty exposed; we’ll have to time it right.’ Caspian said looking to the army around them. They waited getting ready to run.

 

‘All right now!’

 

They ran as fast they could their armour quietly clunking as they ran. Kyle reached the lift first, Caspian and Shen right behind him. Kyle landed at the top of the shaft and rolled and brought his rifle up, looking for enemies. Shen and Caspian did the same. It looked clear so they holstered their weapons and moved to the storage tanks. As one the threw them down at the covenant below. The first tank exploded, sending grunts and jackals flying and stunning the nearby brutes. The next hit the brutes’ dead centre and took out fifteen of them. The remaining brutes and the advancing hunters moved forwards, when the final few tanks hit them. The resulting explosion momentarily blinded Kyle, until he polarised his visor to asses the remaining forces. None had survived. Their bodies were lying at unnatural angles and smoke rose up on them. Caspian said

 

 ‘All right Peter, Alex get here ASAP, we’ve cleared the way for now but we need to set the bomb before more covenant show up.’  

 

‘Got it we’re on the move give us a minute.’ Peter replied.

 

After a tense minute of scanning the area for any brute activity, Alex and Peter arrived, carrying the metal oval to the base of the core. They found a way down and walked over to them. Alex cheerfully traced a smile with one finger. With no covenant in sight, Caspian activated the private COM.

 

‘You two alright?’

 

‘Yeah just bored, all we had to fight were two brutes and about five grunts, well you got all of this.’ She motioned at all the dead bodies around them ‘It’s just not fair.’

 

‘Well I’m sure there will be plenty of brutes left for you, but for now lets focus on getting this bomb set up.’

 

They nodded and took up positions around the bomb while Peter crouched down and activated the display and started punching in arm codes.

 

‘How long do you need?’ Caspian asked without taking his concentration from one of the nearby doors.

 

‘Three minutes, maybe four.’ He said his expression almost impossible to read under his helmet. But Kyle knew he was worried, one mistake and they’d all go up along with this ship.

 

Then suddenly over the comm. ‘AHHHHHH!’

 

‘Spartans, this is Rondo Davum, we ran into an ambush on our way to kill Drakus, we need your assistance. We are taking losses here, we need help-’ the transmission cut out and they was a moment’s silence.

 

‘What do we do Casp?’ Shen asked. Another tense silence, then Caspian said

 

‘Me and Kyle will go after; you stay here and arm the bomb.’

 

‘With all due respect Caspian, why should we go after them, they wouldn’t lift a finger to help us if we were in trouble.’ Kyle said, anger starting to creep into his voice.

‘I know you would rather leave them, so would I, but if we are to stand any chance of getting out of here, we’ll need their help, there’s too many between us and the hangar for us to take out. So we are going after them. That’s an order.’

 

Kyle reluctantly acknowledged and followed Caspian as he activated a NAV point, of the elite’s last location, and opened the door.

 

 

 

 

End of Chapter 20

 

Chapter 21

 

September 2568

Abroad Forerunner battleship-At covenant rendezvous point.

 

Kyle couldn’t believe he was doing this. He was going to save the elite that had killed his mother, on an ancient battleship, filled with gorilla- like aliens. If you thought about it, it was insanity. The only reason he was even doing this because of Caspian, he respected him enough to follow him.

 

They halted and looked around the corner, into the next corridor of the giant ship. It looked clear. At the end was a massive door, covered in yet more unreadable forerunner symbols. This door led to the bridge, and the last location of the elites. Kyle expected a trap on the other side of that door, and so did Caspian, they moved up wearily, and quietly looking for any sign of an ambush. Kyle kept one eye on his motion sensor as he moved up and stood one side of the door so he could pop out from cover when the door opened. Caspian stood on the other side, and in the slightest of nods, placed a charge on the door. It detonated and the door shattered.

 

Kyle and Caspian, then ran into the room, weapons raised, covering every fire angle, looking for contacts. The smoke form the explosion covered the room. When it cleared they looked at their surroundings. It was grand and fell like a cathedral, blue light, coming from pillars on either side. In front was a display of the space battle. Mini holographic ships with more symbols to identify them flew on the projector fire plasma bolts at each other. The most disturbing thing about this was the bridge was disserted; no brutes or any other covenant. It was all deadly silent. Kyle didn’t like this.

 

‘Lets find them and get out of here; I’ve got a really bad feeling about this.’

 

They searched the bridge, and then they found the elites, or what was left of them. On the other side of holographic screen were the elites, purple blood covered the walls, as well as some dark red. The bodies of dead brutes and elites littered the floor, their bodies riddled with plasma and spikes.

 

‘Look at this one, this can’t be good.’ Caspian pointed to another elite, who was crumpled by one of the glowing pillars. His armour was burned black and they was a large burn in his side.

 

 ‘Look at this wound, that’s not a plasma burn, looks like something else killed him.’

 

‘Could it be one of the sentinels?’ Kyle asked.

 

‘Possibly, but I don’t like it, lets move on.’

 

They looked through every body, till the strained breathing of an elite could be heard. That when they found the commander, he was still conscious and had a large burn on his side, his once white armour, was slightly tinted purple from the blood. He looked up at the Spartans and gave a respectful grunt.

 

‘Ahh… What took you so long?’ He said, giving out a strained chuckle. He spat purple blood on the floor.

 

‘What happened?’ Caspian said, crouching down to the elite’s level.

 

‘We were in one of the vents above the bridge.’ He pointed up wards and the small plasma hole above them. ‘As we landed, we were surrounded, and the mongrel Drakus and his brutes picked us of one by one. My men fought bravely but…’ He looked around and took a moment to speak again. ‘To no avail. When the liar appeared, he gloated at our misfortune and took the brutes with them.’

 

‘Liar? Who was that?’ Kyle asked, looking down at the elite, almost feeling sorry for the beaten creature. Almost.

 

‘The liar… ’ He coughed and more blood poured from his mouth ‘the liar, is of course one of those traitorous prophets.’

 

‘But we were told that they were all dead and they had died in the destruction of the ark.’ Caspian said, sounding concerned.

 

‘We thought that as well, but apparently, he is good at hiding, as well as spreading his lies.’

 

‘All right we’re getting you out of here, let me patch you up.’ He held up a can of biofoam and poured it into the gaping wound in the elite’s side. He grunted in pain and wiped his mandibles of blood.

 

‘Can you move?’ Caspian asked.

 

The spec-ops commander slowly got to his feet. His face grimaced with pain.

 

‘Yes Spartan I can move, and I can fight, let us leave this place.’

 

‘Good idea, we’ll rendezvous with the rest of the team, arm the bomb and get the hell out of he-’ Caspian never got to finish his sentence, as the ship lurched and tilted and knocked them all down.

 

‘What, the hell was that?’ Caspian said, getting to his feet.

 

‘Look at the display!’ The commander pointed at the holographic display.

 

Where a second ago, there had been the two fleets, fighting, there was the now the glowing tunnel that was slipspace.

 

‘Peter, Alex, abort, arming procedures and meet us in the hangar. I say again abort.’ Caspian said looking at the holographic image of slipspace.

 

‘We can’t use it till we get out of slipspace, of we won’t be able to get away as the radiation would kill us.’

 

The commander nodded and said ‘Save your weapon, I get a feeling we will need it for wherever this vessel arrives.’

 

‘Good idea, back to the hangar double time!’

 

The three figures ran from the bridge.

 

End of Chapter 21

 

 

 

 

Chapter 22

 

Abroad Covenant Carrier Shadow of Intent-At Covenant rendezvous point.

 

‘Hit them again and again!’ R’tas roared over the fires on the bridge. A plasma barrage flew out of the Shadow of Intent and impacted the brute ship, reducing it to burning debris. A minor victory, R’tas thought as the situation was far from ideal.

 

The ship was starting to fall apart. They had taken several hits and the shields were gone. The hull of the mighty carrier had taken some glancing blows, leaving it twisted and burnt.

 

R’tas stood in the chaos that had once been a functioning bridge; elites running about, trying to quell the fires and others fighting with their controls, trying to keep the ship fighting. He needed to restore order and get them back into the fight.

 

‘All hands, to your stations, weapons officer, what’s the status on the plasma batteries?’

 

‘1 and 3 are down.’ He said sternly, looking at his display. ‘4 and 5 have significant damage, the rest are fully functional.’

 

R’tas took in this information and thought. Their effectiveness in a fight was severely reduced, and they could only take a few more hits. He looked out at the battle around them. His fleet, the first fleet of the Vigilant Shield was holding their ground effectively, even though they had taken losses from the forerunner battleship. The brute fleet was not fairing well, taking major damage when they charged at the tight formation of ships, which made up the elite fleet. If they forerunner vessel was not there, R’tas would have said they were winning, but he knew the danger that ship presented, and he would not claim victory until that vessel was destroyed.

 

He looked up at the vessel, a grey blot out in the distance, behind the brute lines. He strained as he looked at it.

 

‘Full magnification on the forerunner ship.’ He barked to a nearby elite. The elite obeyed giving a clearer picture of the distant ship. Sparks flew of the front of the massive ship, and expanded.

 

‘Slipspace rupture, the cowards are running!’ one of the elites said behind R’tas.

 

R’tas was more sceptical, this was one of the most powerful ships, and could decimate their fleet if they sent it to attack, so why was it leaving? R’tas had a feeling that whatever the reason, it wasn’t a good one.

 

‘Signal the fleet, tell them to follow the slipspace wake, we are following that ship.’

 

Some of the elites looked at him in shock, until one, his communications officer Ono Sadvm spoke up.

‘But Fleet master, the brute fleet is exposed; this may be our only chance to destroy it. We can’t go on a wild goose chance after a bunch of cowardly brutes.’ Some of the elites grunted in approval.

‘Be that as it may, we can’t afford to let that ship escape, and I doubt they would leave the battle unless they had a good reason, they don’t retreat. So I want to find out why, so follow that ship, that’s an order.’

 

Ono seemed annoyed at this argument, but he sat back down and the rest of the elites returned to their stations. A second later, the fleet disappeared into slipspace, leaving flashes of white light.

 

R’tas hoped his hunch was worth it.

 

 

Aboard Forerunner Battleship-now in slipspace.

 

 Kyle jumped, shot another two jackals, landed and kept moving. Caspian was right behind him, with the commander limping as fast as he could. They had made their way through the ship, through a labyrinth of corridors and hallways. They had been attacked at almost every corner, and Kyle didn’t know how much more he could take, his shields barely had time to recharge before the next wave hit them.

 

He opened the door and ran out into the engine room, which was still covered in the bodies of the brutes they had killed earlier. They were some fresh bodies too, and evidence of a fight, spent clips and grenade explosions were every where. Also the bomb was gone, and there was a steady trail of blood of bullets leading to the door leading to the hangar.

 

Caspian moved up and assessed the carnage.

 

‘Looks like those two had a hell of fight here.’ Kyle said.

 

‘Yeah, it looks like they probably need our help.’ He played with the private COM for a second and said.

 

‘Alex? Peter? Report.’ There was a moment’s silence. Then a crackle as the COM came to life and Alex’s voice came over their helmet speakers.

 

‘We’ve got trouble, brutes attacked in force, we picked most of them off, but they just keep coming.’ The sound of gunfire could be heard in the background.

 

‘Were are you?’ Caspian asked, pacing.

 

‘The Hangar, we’ve stored the bomb in the pelican for now, till this tub gets out of slipspace.’

 

‘Roger that, were on our way.’ Caspian turned to Kyle and looked to the door. Kyle nodded silently and opened it, and moved into the corridor weapon raised. There were more bodies and spent clips. How they managed to transport the bomb all the way down to the hangar with all these brutes behind them was a mystery to Kyle.

 

He’d ask them later, but for now he needed to get to them. He sprinted down the corridor, and turned left, then right, then left again, thumping rounds into the exposed back of two brutes in font of him. They fell and Kyle’s MA5C clicked empty, He was out. He stooped and picked up a Type-25 Carbine, more commonly known by the name ‘spiker’.

 

After what seemed an hour of running and gunning through this ship, he made it to the hangar, a second later Caspian was with him and then the spec-ops commander, hobbled into view.

 

The Hangar was covered in brute bodies and in the far right corner were Alex and Peter giving every thing they had at a squad of ten brutes heading straight for them.

Kyle ran to his teammates and lay some fire on the approaching brutes. Two brutes when down, spikes in their necks roaring in pain. A chieftain with a gravity hammer pointed to the new targets and five of the brutes turned to face Kyle.

 

Caspian moved up and poured lead into the nearest brutes. Another two fell, while another, fell back injured. Kyle used the opportunity to fire his spiker to take the injured brute. The chieftain roared a challenge, and moved forward, and charged at Kyle, He ducked, barely missing the first swing of the brute’s hammer. He rolled to the side and fired a burst into the chieftain’s leg. It howled in pain and pulled the spikes out of its leg its face contorted in pain.

 

 The rest of the Spartans rushed to help him, bullets flying into the remaining brutes. The deadly barrage killed what was left of the remaining brutes, only leaving the injured chieftain. He charged, heading straight for Kyle. It was almost on top of him. Then it crumpled at his feet.

 

Shen lowered his still smoking MA5C and put two fingers on his visor and traced a smile. With the area clear, the Spartans moved closer.

 

‘Nice shot, where were you?’ Kyle asked Shen.

 

‘In the pelican, I was guarding the bomb. I heard the fight outside and thought you needed some help.’

 

‘So what now Casp?  Wait here then arm the bomb when we get out of slipspace?’ Peter asked.

 

‘No, I have a feeling that wherever we arrive, the bomb will be needed there.’

 

‘Did you manage to save any of the elites?’ Shen asked.

 

‘Only the commander, he was pretty beat up, but we gave him some biofoam, he should be fine.’

 

‘So much for the Gods being on his side.’ Alex said.

Kyle remained silent during the conversation, keeping a firm eye on the commander. He had taken position, by one of the Phantoms where the two elite he had left here stood. Kyle wondered what he was saying to them.

 

He was broken from his thoughts, when the ship shuddered and outside the ship, the glow of slipspace evaporated, and materialised into stars. Outside was a single planet. It was blue orb below, with tints of grey and green.

 

‘Any idea what planet that is?’ Alex asked.

 

‘No idea, but were landing on it, the Covenant came here for a reason, and were going to find out why.’ Caspian said.

 

The Spartans headed into the pelican and the elites entered the nearest phantom. The dropships shot out of the hangar and down to the planet below.

 

End of Chapter 22

 

---

Vigil is watching you

Halo: The Unlatched Casket- The horror is released........

Chapter 23

 

The First Age of Restoration

Abroad Forerunner Battleship-Orbiting the planet Plentiful Bounty

 

The large room was, grey like most of the ship, but had ambient blue lights, which came from the ten foot pillars that circled the room. In the centre of the room was a round disk, was a shimmering blue orb. Next to the orb, bathed in the blue light, was the High Prophet of Remorse. He was dressed in red and gold, similar to his predecessor, Truth. He was about the same age as Truth and his long neck stretched down as he looked at the spinning planet down below.

Plentiful Bounty had been a colony world, with some agriculture and mining before the war. During the Great Schism, chaos had broken out here, much like the rest of the Covenant Empire. I had been left to fend for itself as battle broke throughout the fleets. Now the planet’s greatest secret would begin the Journey and Remorse, the last living Prophet would become a god.

Remorse thought about his title as the only living Prophet. During the war with the humans, he had been the Minister of the Holy Archive. It had been his role to maintain the proper removal of Forerunner artefacts and to learn what secrets they had. He had been on the frontier of the Empire as the Great Schism happened. He closed his eyes, thinking back to those terrible times. All the other Prophets that had accompanied him were executed by the accursed Sangheili. He had barely escaped with his life. It was mainly due to the quick thinking of a young Brute Captain: Drakus.

At this point, he was disturbed from his memories as Drakus thundered in. He was a beautiful monstrosity; his white armour had golden forerunner glyphs on each side. His body seemed to be almost bursting with muscle. His orange eyes looked straight at him. He then bowed, lowering the massive hammer in his right hand.

Remorse looked at the vicious looking hammer, known by the brutes as The Fist of Rukt. Drakus had fought through elite patrols and armies of the parasite to retrieve his father’s hammer form the second holy ring.

He was very much like his father. He had a white mane of hair and his overall body was a patch work of brown and grey. As a young child, Drakus had been abandoned by his father, claiming he was weak and not worthy to take his place as chieftain. He had lived in the wilderness of Dosiac. He had quickly risen up the ranks and had been one of the youngest in his pack to become a captain. During the Great Schism, and the act of saving Remorse’s life, the two had formed a pact. Behind the scenes, Remorse had twisted and manipulated other tribes, until Drakus had taken control of all of the clans.

In return, Drakus had pledged his allegiance to Remorse and the Covenant. The two were a formidable pair.

‘Rise Drakus and report.’ Remorse said eyes fixed on his lieutenant.

 ‘The demons and the traitorous Sangheili have left the ship and have gone down to the planet; we believe the foolish commander told the demons about you.’

Remorse chuckled to himself when he here this. So now the Sangheili knew he was alive. For years he had fooled them, making it appear that he was dead like his kin. It was so easy to fool the arrogant creatures. They actually thought that Drakus was the leader of the loyalists. Fools! Though Drakus was smart by brute standards, he didn’t have the genius to run the covenant. It was amusing to him that the wool had finally out of their eyes. The last Prophet had fooled them all and he would transcend to immortality and there was nothing the Sangheili could do about it.

‘It is of no concern; they will not impede our progress.’ Remorse said to the report. ‘What of the relay?’

‘My mining teams are excavating it now; we should have it active in just a few cycles.’

‘Excellent.’ He said, grinning at the news. Drakus then moved to his side and looked at the holographic display of the planet below.

‘Soon the Great Journey will begin and only the faithful will survive!’

End of Chapter 23

 

Chapter 24

 

September 2568

Abroad Pelican Dropship-above unknown Covenant planet.

 

Caspian stood in the Pelican and looked out at the Forerunner ship, slowly disappearing into the distance, his face unreadable behind his helmet. If the Spartans could see his face, they would know he was worried.

 

Caspian didn’t know why he was doing this. He had disobeyed a direct order from one of the most senior officers of the UNSC and for what? To investigate the planet below. What was he thinking? The internal conflict raged in him. He had always done things by the book, followed every order. That was the Spartan way, the way of any solider. He just had an uncomfortable feeling about the planet, something that twisted deep in his gut. It made him uneasy. The covenant came here for a reason, and he knew that it was bigger than there previous mission.

 

He hoped he was right as he was jeopardising not only his life, but the lives of his squad. He looked at them, sitting there silent looking up at him. His burden of being their leader had weighed heavily on him in the early years. He thought he could never measure up to leaders like John-117 and Kurt-051. Over time he had learned that it was not important, that all he should concern himself, was the success of the next mission and the survival of his squad. He hoped this mission would be their last.

 

The pelican tilted suddenly as Reggie dodged a golden beam of energy that missed the dropship, by inches. Reggie came in over the COM

 

‘Sorry for the bump guys, these covenant bastards aren’t to pleased you just killed half their crew.’

 

Caspian moved into the cockpit and looked down at the planet.

 

‘How long till we hit the planets atmosphere?’ Caspian said.

 

‘Approximately three minutes.’ Reggie replied.

 

‘Any sign of pursuit?’ He asked looking down at the blue orb below.

 

‘None sir, they’re just trying to nail us with their lateral guns, it doesn’t make any sense.’

 

Caspian thought about this information. Why weren’t they chasing them? They had infiltrated their ship and had caused severe casualties. This was just another bit of information that added to Caspian’s bad feeling.

 

‘Scan for anything leaving the ship, even if it looks like a piece of debris, anything.’

 

‘On it sir. Got something, looks like they’re sending phantoms down to the surface.’

 

‘Then let’s beat them there lieutenant, get this bird down and we’ll scout of the area.’

 Caspian left the cockpit and returned to the other Spartans, who looked up at him, having heard what had just been said.

 

‘Looks like your hunch paid off Casp.’ Shen said.

 

‘Sure looks that way.’ He replied ‘Gear up Spartans; we’re taking this fight to the surface.’

 

They nodded and prepared for battle, checking their rifles and equipment. Caspian checked his own weapons. A full MA5C clip, as well as two spares, three frag grenades and his M6G sidearm was full. More than enough for a guerrilla insertion.

 

The pelican shuddered as it hit the atmosphere; it quickly subsided as they hurtled downward. The bay door opened and Caspian looked down at the surface rushing below them. It was mainly jungle, with a thick green canopy. Beyond the jungle, there was a large dusty plain, with a few shrubs and bushes. In the centre of the jungle was a large lake which broke the sea of green.

 

Behind them the two covenant phantoms that belonged to the elites, broke of heading to different parts of the jungle.

 

‘Where the hell are they going?’ Shen asked.

 

‘No idea, we’ll try to rendezvous with them later, take us down lieutenant.’

 

The engines whined as the pelican landed, and the Spartans moved out, Caspian talked to Reggie on the COM.

 

‘All right lieutenant, get out of here and be our eye in the sky, and keep your head down.’

 

‘Yes sir, call me if you need evac.’ Reggie said as the pelican speed off.

 

‘All right Spartans let move, Peter take point. Alex cover the rear while me Kyle and Shen take the middle.’

 

Four green acknowledgement lights winked on his HUD as they moved to there positions and they silently entered the jungle. The five super-soldiers crawled through the jungle, aware of every sound, every rustle. Caspian kept his eyes and ears open. The jungle reminded him of Keyes Island and all the training missions they had there. They had almost made that jungle their second home, they knew it so well. This jungle was alien, the calls of strange creatures reverberated in his ears. The air was thick with sweet aromas of flowering plants. It was almost peaceful.

 

Then he saw movement in the underbrush ahead. There was a patrol of four brutes, two in golden armour, and the other two in blue. The all held spikers high and where they seemed to smelling the air.

 

The Spartans closed ranks and took cover behind a fallen tree. They looked on at the advancing brutes.

‘Take them out Peter, nice and quiet.’ Caspian whispered.

 

Peter had always been the quietest of them, which is why he barely spoke in mission and only if he was being talked to or if he thought it necessary.

 

He moved silently to the left and fitted a silencer to his assault rifle. Caspian lost sight of him in the thick jungle. The brutes drew every closer, Caspian could heard them talking to each other.

 

‘How much longer must we search this accursed jungle? This is not worthy of me.’

 

‘We have our orders, if you disapprove, you can take it to Drakus. I’m sure he give you what you disserve.’

 

‘Enough chatter, I smell something, check over there.’

 

Caspian could hear the heavy feat draw closer. He readied his assault rifle just in case. Suddenly it went deadly silence, some subdued roars and a heavy thud as the nearest brute collapsed right by their hiding place.

 

Caspian stood up and saw Peter standing in the middle of the fallen brutes, cleaning a still bloody knife in his right hand. Peter looked up and gave him the traditional Spartan smile. He returned the gesture and motioned for the others to come out of cover and to follow him.

 

The jungle started to clear out and they stopped and looked out at the plain in front of them. In front of them was a large building, it was grey and had yet more forerunner glyphs on its entrance. It was about three stories high, with a single door at the front. Outside the buildings were brutes. Lots of brutes. Caspian counted at least fifty of them. He also saw five wraiths and ten ghosts parked outside. Banshees flew overhead and auto turrets lined the perimeter. He turned to the other Spartans.

 

‘Looks like they got a big operation here, we need to find out what they are doing here, but we need to get pass the defences, any ideas?’

 

‘Just one Caspian. But I think these brutes won’t know what hit them.’ Kyle said

 

End of Chapter 24

 

 

Chapter 25

 

September 2568

Abroad UNSC Halcyon class cruiser Stairway to Heaven- Currently in slipspace

 

Captain Winchester stood on the bridge looking out at the eerie blue light that made up slipspace.

 

For the last six hours they had been chasing the brute and elite fleets, by following their slipspace wake.  Winchester just didn’t understand why they had all just left. One second they were fighting for their lives. The next they were following a large enemy fleet that was faster than them, which could end up as a wild goose chase. Or another trap. Winchester had decided to keep all hands at battle stations, just in case. He assumed that wherever they where all going, at the end all hell would break lose.

 

He turned to his navigation officer, Lieutenant Alison Munroe. Her short brown hair and pale complexion had always made her sought after by some of the braver marines. For the most part she turned them down, saying work was more important than them. Winchester admired her dedication. She looked at him and her brown eyes pierced right through him and he said.

 

‘What’s the status on the trail lieutenant?’

 

‘The trail is starting to decompose; I would estimate that we will lose them in around fifteen minutes.’ She replied in a clear, simple tone.

 

‘Can we divert additional power to the Shaw-Fujkawa engine?’ He asked, moving closer to Alison’s chair.

 

‘Negative, were pushing as hard as we can right now, any more and it will overload.’

 

‘***. How long until we lose the trail?’

 

‘About twelve minutes Captain.’ Alison said.

 

‘All right. Prepare to drop out of slipspace, divert power to weapons.’

 

‘Aye sir’ said the majority of the crew on the bridge, rushing to their stations.

 

‘MAC cannons charging, archer missiles armed.’ Said the weapons officer Vladimir Trotsky, his stern expression glued to his weapons station.

‘Drop out of slipspace….now! Battle stations everyone.’

 

The ship jolted as it tore its way back into normal space. And straight into hell. Around them there were Covenant vessels, over sixty all firing deadly blasts of plasma at each other, which sailed above and below the Stairway to Heaven. Winchester knew that if they didn’t start moving, they would be ripped apart by a few stray shots.

 

‘Engines full forward get us out of their crossfire, head for the nearest elite ship, and use the ID tags.’

 

Before the fight had broken out, the elite ships had given the Stairway to Heaven an ID sensor that could distinguish elite and brutes ships. Alison activated the device and it bleeped once. The purple colour of the device looked out of place on the grey wall of the ship. Alison looked at the tiny display and reported.

 

‘All right it looks like the elite fleet is to… the right of us.’ She pointed out of the viewer at a large cluster of ships in a ‘V’ formation.

 

‘Then that’s our heading, full speed ahead. We need to get there as fast as possible.’

 

The ship lurched underneath and the roar of the engines almost deafened him. The ship speed to the elite ships dodging plasma and the hulks of destroyed ships. Winchester started to believe that they would make it.

 

Then straight in front of them, blocking the way was two destroyers. The headed straight for them, there plasma batteries charging. Winchester knew this was and uneven fight. They outnumbered and outgunned them. They would have to out smart them.

 

‘Direct our course starboard, put one of the destroyers between us and the other one, prepare to fire the MAC.’

 

 ‘Yes sir.’ Alison said expertly move the ship. On the main viewer the two ships as brute ships opened fire as they grew larger and larger until only one could be seen. There was then a large flash of light as the plasma torpedoes trailing the human ship smacked in the nearest destroyer. Its shields sparked for a second and failed and the white of plasma connected with its slivery purple hull and it melted and bent on the extreme heat. The torpedoes tore the ship in two and it span helplessly.

 

‘Fire now!’ Winchester shouted.

 

Through the wreckage of the first destroyer, came the Stairway to Heaven heading straight towards the remaining destroyer. The MAC fired it hit the ship dead centre, causing its shields it to shimmer, but they held. It returned fire, plasma hurtled straight for them. Winchester knew they couldn’t avoid it in time.

 

‘All hands brace for impact!’

 

The torpedo hit and tore a gapping hole in the side of the vessel. The lights dimmed and the ship groaned in protest.

 

‘Damage report.’ Winchester coughed over the smoke that filled the bridge.

 

‘Heavy damage, engines offline and weapons down to 5% efficiency.’ Alison reported.

 

‘So we are sitting ducks then.’ Winchester sighed. He had failed; the ship was crippled and straight in the enemy sights. The brute ship charged its batteries ready for the final blow.

 

Suddenly, the destroyer was ripped to shreds as plasma torpedoes smacked against its weakened shields. They failed and they hit the hull, tearing it to ribbons.

 

Winchester breathed a sigh of relief. Alison then said.

‘Sir Communication from the elite fleet.’

 

‘Put them on lieutenant.’

 

‘Not bad humans, but it appeared you need a hand.’ The voice of the Fleet Master filled the bridge.

 

‘We did thanks for the assistance. How goes the battle?’

 

‘The brute fleet has retreated and most of them have sent dropships to the planet below. Your Spartans are also on the planet.’

 

‘Then they will need assistance down there, get the marines to the pelicans.’

 

‘Good, I am sending phantoms as we speak, its time to end the brute threat once and for all!’

 

End of Chapter 25

 

 

---

Vigil is watching you

Halo: The Unlatched Casket- The horror is released........

 

Chapter 26

 

September 2568

Somewhere in the jungle-unknown Covenant Planet

 

Kyle looked round and sure everything was ready. For the last six hours they had been preparing, watching and waiting. Now was the time to strike.

 

Kyle’s and Shen’s plan was simple. The brutes were strong and in number, but they were bloodthirsty and quick to anger. Kyle hoped to use this against them.

 

He nodded to Shen, as he expertly swung himself into the nearest tree. The branch groaned a little, obviously in protest of the ton of Spartan standing on it, but it held.

Shen levelled his sniper rifle, took careful aim and fired. The crack round out and broke the silence of the night. The bullet bore straight into a pack of idle brutes and killed two of them, as the bullet penetrated their skulls.

 

The Chieftain roared a challenge a pointed to the jungle, just as a second shot killed another brute as he climbed up the wraith behind the chieftain. The chieftain played with a control on his right hand gauntlet and the auto-guns deactivated. This was the most important part of the plan. The auto turrets were strong and worked by detecting motion, with sensors near there base. The turrets fired concentrated plasma bolts that would do significant damage to an energy shield. Luckily they were slow and a smart Spartan could easily dodge one, but they were arranged to cover each other, so they Spartans could dodge one, just to be hit by the other.

 

So, Kyle came up with the idea to draw them out of their protective defence. They had watched them and discovered that the chieftain had active control over the turrets and could deactivate them. They had watched him as brutes had performed maintenance on one of the closer turrets.

 

So they waited until they had the advantage, with the Spartans superior night vision and the idea was to draw them into the jungle, where the Spartans had set up traps waiting for them.

 

The Chieftain started to advance, moving pass the turrets and leading the way into the jungle. At the last second, just as he was about to enter the thick underbrush, two shots came from above the tree above him, straight into the brutes head. The chieftain fell with a whimpered howl. With the chieftain dead, the turrets would stay offline. That was it for the turrets now for the brutes.

 

Shen leaped out of the tree and ran over towards to the rest of the Spartans, who had set themselves up in defensive positions. Kyle and Caspian were taking cover behind a fallen tree trunk. Alex was hiding in the underbrush and Peter was above them in a sniping position above them. Shen shouldered his sniper rifle and pulled out his assault rifle.

 

The jungle rushed and the roars of the brutes could be heard as they drew closer. Then there was the sound of several explosions and the cries of surprise as the first lot of brutes hit the trip wires. They had tied up their remaining frag grenades with some wire they had taken from the pelican. As they brute passed through the wire it pulled the pin and gave the brutes a little surprise.

 

The roars started to subside and the noise of them moving grew louder. Kyle could see them moving through the brushes.

 

‘Get ready, wait until you’ve got a clear shot.’ Caspian whispered keeping his eyes fixed on the movement in front of them.

 

The brutes got ever closer; there were almost twenty of them in the slight clearing in front of them. Kyle could almost see the whites of their demonic red eyes when Caspian finally said

 

‘Open Fire!’

 

Kyle rose from his hiding spot and opened up on the closest brutes. They almost looked surprised as the combined fire of four MA5C’s and one sniper rifle tore them to ribbons. Those who did survive were bleeding and crawled away, shouting for assistance. They were quickly silenced.

 

Kyle reloaded his rifle and waited. Angry voices could be heard as the brutes planned their next move.

 

‘Grenades get down!’ Caspian said as he ducked behind the tree trunk as a swarm of spike grenades flew into the clearing and sticking to the nearby trees.

 

They detonated and spikes flew over Kyle’s head. His shield flared with golden light then faded. He looked around. Caspian looked straight back, his shields recharging.

 

‘Is every one all right?’

 

‘All Green Casp.’ Shen said, pulling a spike out of his side. His shields had stopped its main velocity, so it only scraped his MJONLIR armour.

 

‘Gotta love those apes, what now.’ Alex said.

 

Peter leaped out of the tree and landed with a large thud. He took cover next to them.

 

‘Looks bad out there, the getting the wraiths ready to fire on us.’

 

‘Why won’t they just hit the trees? I know they’re not that cleaver, but that’s dumb even for their standards.’ Alex replied.

 

‘They’re going to burn up the forest around us, forcing us to retreat or go straight into them. Orders Casp?’ Peter said.

 

‘We’ll wade it out, as soon as they move their vehicles closer, we’ll detonate the lotus mines.’

 

They had set their five lotus anti-tank mines in a semi-circle in the centre of the clearing. They had made sure they were well concealed as they were half buried and had been camouflaged with foliage.

 

The ground rocked with plasma mortars as the wraiths opened fire. The super-heated projectiles hurtled into the jungle. Trees buckled and burned as the mortars smashed into them. The fire started to spread just as the second barrage hit the nearby trees. The forest in front of them was an inferno. Kyle knew that they could stay here much longer.

 

Through the flames came the brutes, seemingly unconcerned by the burning trees around them. Ghosts shot towards them and three wraiths smashed through the burning logs and straight into the clearing.

 

‘Just a little longer Spartans, stay down and the minute those mines go up, run back to there base.’

 

The wraiths and ghost escorts got closer; Kyle could here the whine of their engines as they got ever closer. Then five explosions rocked underneath the advancing armour. The blast ripping through the wraiths and sending their ghost escorts flying and blowing up in mid air.

 

As the last ghost smashed into a burning tree, ripping it in two and causing its brute driver’s spine to break. Kyle ran he leapt over the hulk of the central wraith and continued running, the others right behind him.

 

As he left the forest and enter the hard dirt between them and the auto-turrets he froze for a minute. Caspian nearly collided into him and had to stop at the last second.

 

‘What the hell are you stopping for Kyle, keep going!’

 

‘We’ve got problems, the other wraiths.’ He pointed to the door of the forerunner building and the two wraiths guarding it, moving towards them at speed.

 

‘Ah, well this may prove difficult, move Spartans, get out of their sights, we have to-’

 

Caspian never got to finish his sentence as the roar of a pelican engines could be heard over head. The human dropship fired a barrage of missiles into the oncoming wraiths, destroying them in seconds. A voice crackled over the COM.

 

‘Hey I saw the fire and I guessed that you guys needed a hand.’ Reggie said.

 

‘Nice thinking lieutenant, patrol the area while we enter this building.’ Caspian said. He didn’t say it, but reading his body language, Kyle knew that he was relieved.

 

‘Got it sir. Oh by the way the Stairway to Heaven is in orbit with the rest of elite fleet. They’re sending reinforcements down to the planet.’

 

‘Roger that, we’ll radio for extraction.’ Caspian turned of the COM and the pelican soared away.

‘At last backup. I thought I would have to take them all out myself.’ Shen said.

 

‘Yeah right, you couldn’t take them all.’ Kyle replied.

 

‘Move out Spartans, Shen open that door.’ Caspian said.

 

They moved to steel door and Shen put an unlocking device on it and it slowly slid open.

 

Just before Kyle was going to enter the building there was a rustle behind them. He wheeled round and brought his rifle to bear. A white-armoured elite appeared in front of him and smirked. Other elites started to appear behind him.

 

‘Greetings Spartans, I’ve have come to assist you. There are more brutes coming. They saw the smoke and they have marshalled a force to stop you.’ The Spec-ops commander said.

 

‘***, it will be better if we split up, Kyle go with the Commander and some of his elites down into the facility, find out what they wanted here. The rest of you we need to set up a defence here.’

 

Kyle was confused and motioned Caspian to the side and asked

 ‘Caspian, why me, you know what that elite did to my mother, why are you sending me with him alone. Can you get one of the others to do it?’

 

 

Caspian let out a deep sigh and said. ‘ I wish I could. The problem is I need them here. Also I have a bad feeling about that commander. I have the feeling he will double-cross us if he gets the chance. So I need our best solider, and the one most weary of him to keep an eye on him. Understood.’

 

‘Understood Caspian, I won’t let you down.’ Kyle replied.

 

‘I know you won’t. We’ll cover your rear find out what the hell the brutes wanted and what’s so special about this planet.’

 

 

End of Chapter 26

 

Chapter 27

 

September 2568

Somewhere inside a Forerunner building- On Covenant planet  Plentiful Bounty

 

Kyle walked down another grey corridor. Blue lights illuminated the floor and ceiling, painting over the elites armour. For the last twenty minutes he had been slowly moving deeper into the building, through corridor after corridor and down a few ramps leading down. Just how big was this place?

 

He was silent as the Spec-ops commander moved past him to the door at the end of the corridor, with the five spec-ops elites he had brought with him straight behind him. Kyle felt searing hatred for him, but he knew he had more important things at stake. Kyle knew that there was something, the size of this building was evidence of that.

 

The door slide open as the elites walked past it. Kyle moved up to take point. His rifle raised scanning the room for movement. It was a medium sized room with ancient terminals bleeping and humming. Inside were two brute captains working at the terminals and a pack of grunts. They wheeled round to face Kyle. He opened fire, his rounds pierced the brutes armour and they collapsed. The grunts ran in circles screaming. Kyle was about to shoot them, then decided it was a waste of ammo and broke their necks one by one. The last one primed a plasma grenade as he approached. He dodged and drove his foot into the grunt’s rebreather. It gasped and dropped to the ground gagging.

 

Satisfied it was dead he move more into the room and stared at the unreadable display on the nearest terminal. The elites moved in and the Spec-ops commander sneered at his handiwork. He motioned for one of the elites to close the door behind them and another to access the terminal. He stood behind the elite at the terminal staring at the display. He seemed pleased as he moved away from the terminal and then he said.

 

‘This place appears to have a map room, similar to the silent cartographer of the first ring. The map room is located three floors down and is heavily guarded, not that should be a problem for an elite.’ He smiled and continued ‘As for a human, that may be different. Open the door Fluka.’

 

The elite known as Fluka opened the door then left the terminal. The elites moved forward and Kyle followed taking the rear.

 

‘Keep up human; we’ll not wait for you, should you fall behind.’

 

Kyle was starting to lose his patience with the elite but he knew for the sake of mission and for his friends, who were risking their lives above, he had to rise above it.

 

He jogged and caught with the spec-ops commander and they ran to the end of another corridor and down a ramp to the next level. They went through another door and straight into the guns of three brutes. They roared as plasma rifles tore through them in a matter of seconds, their powered armour no match for the super-heated plasma.

The room they had just entered was large with catwalks above them and another door at the far end. Behind them the door slammed shut. It was a trap. From a centre pillar of metal, there was a hole that lead up to the upper levels of the facility. From this hole came drones. An entire swarm of them that rained plasma fire down onto them.

 

 

Kyle dived for cover and fired concentrated fire from his assault rifle. The elites sprayed plasma fire up at them, just as more brutes and jackal snipers appeared above them on the catwalks. From the far door, yet more brutes streamed through as well as a hunter pair. They were outnumbered. Kyle looked for something he could use to his advantage. Then he saw it. To the far right of the room was a heavily covered area that had a walkway leading up to the catwalks.

 

He shouted at the commander ‘Over here, there’s a safer way!’

 

He ignored him and continued to fire plasma bolts into the snipers on the catwalks, as the last of the drones was shot as it tried to escape up the shaft. Kyle knew he wouldn’t listen. Kyle moved keeping down as shots whizzed past his head as he made his way to the covered area.

 

He rushed up the walkway as fast as he could under fire the entire time. He quickly dropped the nearest two brutes at the top of the walkway. He reloaded and charged across the catwalk, priming his plasma grenades and throwing into the centre of the brutes. The first stuck the nearest brutes arm and detonated taking out most of the nearby brutes and stunning the jackal snipers. The second grenade stuck to the middle jackal and blew up the snipers.

 

Kyle finished of the remaining brutes with a quick burst from his MA5C. He looked down. The elites below had eliminated most of the brutes, leaving a few that were taking cover behind the hunters. Kyle scooped up two plasma grenades from one of the fallen brutes and leaped down, firing at the hunters.

 

Most of the bullets pinged of their armour, but some found their mark. One turned and faced Kyle, while the other kept the elites at bay. Kyle dodged a fuel rod blast and rolled under its flailing shield arm. He primed his plasma grenade and stuck it deep into the exposed area where its ‘head’ should be. It blew its head clean of and orange blood sprayed everywhere. Kyle turned to face the second hunter and fired a clip of his MA5C into the creature’s back. It roared in protest and charged at him.

 

Seeing their opportunity the elites also advanced, killing the remaining brutes and bring their weapons to bear on the hunter’s back. The combined fire ripped the back of the hunter’s armour of and it collapsed under the heated barrage.

 

Kyle stopped retreating and moved to towards the elites. They fired on the fallen hunter, making sure it was dead. The spec-ops commander crouched over the bodies of two elites, their bodies contorted and burned.

 

‘Rest brothers.’ He said as he closed there eyes. He turned and scowled at Kyle. ‘This is your fault, if you had come to our aid, we would not have lost them.’

 

Kyle was almost beside himself with rage, but he replied calmly. ‘With all due respect commander, it did tell you of a safer way and I did take out the snipers, not to mention the hunter. The dead of your men is regrettable, but there was nothing I could do, maybe if you lead them better it wouldn’t have happened.’

 

The other elites formed a circle as the commander replied ‘Are you questioning my leadership human?’

 

‘Yes, you’ve lead to mission and both had heavy casualties, which could have been avoid if you listened to your allies.’

 

‘Bah! Why would I listen to a human, your kind has always been weak. I remember back on your home world were I slaughtered you like the animals you are!’

 

‘What did you just say?’ Kyle said with a dangerous tone in his voice.

 

‘I said I slaughtered your kind on your planet. I remember when I stabbed this pathetic human woman who was crying like the snivelling coward she was.’ He sneered.

 

Kyle then lost it. With one gauntleted hand he grabbed the commander’s neck. With the other he brought his rifle deep into the elite’s side, right where the bio foam had been. The commander grimaced in pain, while the elites raised their weapons.

 

‘Don’t you dare say that!’ Kyle said anger filled in his voice.

 

‘What does it matter to you, she wasn’t important.’

 

‘SHE MEANT EVERYTHING TO ME! And you killed her and now I’m going to do the same to you!’

 

‘Wait that that must mean….’ The commander thought for a second. ‘YOU!’ He roared suddenly. ‘It was you who shamed me, when you stabbed me in the eye, when you were just a mere child. I have waited for this day for to long!’ He motioned for the elites to lower their weapons.

 

‘Come boy, it is time I restored my honour.’ He drew and energy sword and kicked Kyle back.

 

Kyle rolled and shot at the elite form the hip. The bullets impacted his shield and caused it to spark. He narrowly missed the sword as it nearly sliced his head off. He grabbed the elite’s sword and brought a gauntleted fist into his face. Purple blood flew from his mouth and the commander brought a hoof into Kyle’s mid-rift. It winded him, causing him to lose his grip. He fell and lay on his back for a second and rolled to avoid the sword again.

 

Now unarmed he dodged another slice and kicked the elite in his solar plexus. It stunned the attacking alien and using this opportunity Kyle scissor kicked the Commander knocking him over. He leaped onto the fallen elite and pummelled him, grabbing his sword and throwing it aside. He repeatedly punched the elite. More and more blood flew from his mouth. Kyle readied himself for the final blow. Then over the COM ‘Kyle are you nearly there yet? We could use some help up here!’

 

Kyle hesitated.

 

‘What are you waiting for human? Kill me!’

 

‘No.’ Kyle rose and recovered his weapons. The elites around them moved  out of the way.

 

‘Why have you spared me? Do you wish to continue my suffering?’ The commander asked.

 

‘No, it’s because of my mother. She wouldn’t have wanted me to kill her murderer in revenge.’ Kyle said, a strange sense of calm filling him, as if he was at peace.

 

‘How very human of you.’ The commander laughed. ‘You have bested me in battle, no matter how much I despise you. You have my respect.’ He rose and said ‘To the map room!’

 

The elite turned, nodded to Kyle and headed into the open door. Kyle took a deep breath and followed. It appeared the door the Brutes had been guarding was an elevator. It sped them down to the bottom floor. The door open and they were met by a holographic display all around them. They stood out of the elevator and it sped away and into the distance.

 

The commander moved to the central point and played with the controls. The images formed into to one and created a glowing sphere of the planet. It then zoomed into the room in which they stood. The commander fiddled with the controls and huffed.

 

‘This place, it’s a transmitter, to activate the rings. The Forerunners called it ‘The Relay’ it was a last resort if the Ark was disabled.’

 

The image spun to a giant structure, with a giant column heading upwards towards to heavens.

 

‘By the gods, they’re trying to activate the rings! We need to get out of here and stop them!’

 

 

End of Chapter 27

---

Vigil is watching you

Halo: The Unlatched Casket- The horror is released........

Chapter 28

 

September 2568

Inside the map room of a Forerunner building-On Covenant planet Plentiful Bounty

 

Kyle stood shocked at the last words the spec-ops commander said. They were trying to activate the halo rings. He had been told about them during training. Ancient Forerunner weapons that would wipe the galaxy clean of life. He knew he had to stop them.

 

Over his suit’s internal COM came. ‘Kyle have you found the anything yet? We could use some help.’

 

‘Understood. I’m on my way back.’ Kyle turned to the commander. ‘Can you get that lift back? My friends need help on the surface.’

 

‘I think so, give me a second. Got it let us go together Spartan.’

 

‘Oh by the way, I never asked what your name is.’ Kyle asked

 

‘It’s Rondo. Rondo Davum. Now come, our friends won’t wait forever.’

 

Kyle and the elites moved into the lift and it hurtled upwards. They re-entered the room where Kyle and Rondo had fought just twenty minutes ago. Kyle thought about it for a second and if he made the right choice. He felt it was. His mother, although she despised the Covenant and all it stood for, she thought petty vengeance was worse.

 

He remembered her tell him when he was young. ‘Revenge isn’t the answer; it just causes more pain and offer no peace.’

  

It felt like a lifetime ago that he had last thought about his life before the Spartans, there was always another mission, another fight to keep him occupied. Now that the past had come to him, it had brought back painful memories of the war and the suffering he saw. Camp Foreman, the destruction of New Mombasa. Odysseus and his Mother death. He had felt so *** angry, even through the years of mental training.

 

Now that he had dealt with the past, it felt like a heavy weight had lifted from him. He still felt a strange serenity and calm that made him feel at peace.

 

He shook himself from his reverie. Enough soul-searching, he had a job to do.

 

He rushed through the facility, heading back the way they came. The place was no eerily quiet as they ran through rooms filled with the fallen bodies of the brutes. It made him slightly uneasy, but he was more concerned to getting to the top.

 

After what seem like a lifetime, he made it to the entrance and ran out rifle raised. What he found surprised him. Around him were the bodies of hundreds of brutes, jackals and grunts. There were even a few hunters lying around.

 

Surrounding the bodies were hundreds of marines, elites and vehicles.  A base was sate up in the centre of the clearing, with covenant and human turrets lining its steel walls.  Caspian, Shen and Alex waited at the massive steel gate, with a few spec-ops elite behind them. Kyle moved to Caspian and he gave a slight nod.

 

‘You alright man?’ Shen asked.

 

‘Yeah I’m fine, what about you guys?’ Kyle asked

 

‘Peter got hit; he’s okay, he’s just slightly singed.’ Caspian said. ‘They came from the jungle, on masse, we held out as long as we could.’

 

‘We were basically holding them of with our bare hands near the end.’ Alex said.

 

‘Then reinforcements came just in time and finished them off.’ Caspian said.

 

‘They then set up camp and Captain Winchester touched down with the fleet master.’ Shen said.

 

‘They gave direct orders for us to meet with them when you returned; they’re in the command centre.’ Caspian finished talking and moved into the base. Kyle looked around. It was pandemonium in the base, marines rushing around, working on vehicles and checking on rifles and other tasks. They entered a central tent which was filled with computers.

 

 

Inside were several techs, as well as Captain Winchester in military fatigues, with a M6D pistol at his side. The fleet master was there also, with his arms crossed and staring at a holographic display in the centre of the room. It depicted the local area, and the base. Hundreds of green friendly markers covered it. They turned to the Spartans who saluted the Captain.

 

‘At ease.’ Winchester said. ‘All right son, tell us why these bastards came here.’ He motioned for Kyle to move forward and he said.

 

‘Its bad sir, on this planet is a slipspace transmitter called The Relay, which can activate the remaining Halo rings.’

 

The news shocked the Captain he almost staggered. The Fleet Master gave a concerned huff.

 

‘So that explains it. We’ve been monitoring what the brutes have been doing. I sent a few scouts to their main encampment. They said they were excavating something, but I would never have guessed it was this!’ He turned towards Winchester.

 

‘We need to stop them, we still have the Spartans Fenris warhead, if they could infiltrate the facility, destroy it from the inside.’ He stopped mid-sentence and looked to the Fleet master.

 

‘Of course, that will make sure the Relay is destroyed as well as any brutes, but how are we to get them inside; the area is swarming with them.’ The Fleet master said pacing as he thought.

 

‘We have to engage them, hit them with everything we’ve got and breach their lines.’

 

‘That would be a heavy way fight, many of your men would die, are you willing to have their blood on your hands captain?’ The Fleet master said.

 

Winchester was silent for a minute then said. ‘I don’t have much choice, let many of my men die, or let the entire galaxy. We have to stop them, no matter what the cost.

 

He turned and looked at Kyle. He looked tired and saddened, knowing what the cost would be for them. But he also looked determined, knowing the importance of that sacrifice.

 

‘Spartans take an hour to rest and resupply, we have to get to the Relay, or the rings will kill us all, we must not fail!’

 

 

End of Chapter 28

 

 

 

Chapter 29

 

September 2568

Inside UNSC/Covenant Hybrid base- On Covenant planet Plentiful Bounty

 

Kyle double checked his MA5C Assault rifle and his Battle rifle. Satisfied, he shouldered his weapons and moved over to Peter.

 

In the last hour, the Spartans had been getting ready, stocking up on supplies and getting mentally ready for the next battle. Kyle knew this wasn’t going to be easy. Between them and the Relay was a open dusty plain and a brute army.

 

Kyle went to Peter who gazed up at him from the bed he was laying on. His armour was to one side and he had a medical sheet covering his muscular form. Kyle looked down and said.

 

‘How you feeling Pete?’

 

Peter rose from the bed and brought his right hand across his chest, feeling the plasma burn that had been bandaged and treated.

 

‘Not too bad, felt better, but I should be ready for the mass suicide ahead.’

 

‘We don’t have much choice, they’re in the Relay right now and they could activate the rings at any time. I don’t like this plan either, but it’s the only chance we’ve got.’

 

Kyle turned and saw the rest of the Spartans coming over to the medical tent, their armour glistening in the early morning sun.

 

‘You have a point, but I get the feeling most of us won’t make it through this.’ Peter said looking at the incoming Spartans.

 

‘Come on Pete have a bit of faith, even if we do die, I rather die with my friends than alone.’

 

Caspian and the others entered at this point and Caspian said.

 

‘What’s your status Pete?’

 

‘I fine, will you stop asking me that!’ Peter said as he lifted himself of the bed and started to fit his armour back on.

 

‘Oh, is Petey getting angry? How cute.’ Alex said in a baby voice.

 

‘Well it did get hurt, so I think I have the right to be a little cranky Alex.’ Peter retorted as he put his helmet on and inspected his armour. There was a black mark were the plasma bolt had hit but it had been repaired while Peter was resting. Kyle would know as he helped fixed with a few of the technicians from the Stairway to Heaven.

 

‘Now there is no point fighting each other, save it for the brutes.’ Caspian said. Once again he mediated between Alex and Peter’s fiery relationship. Kyle thought one day their constant bickering would drive Caspian crazy, but apparently it wasn’t today as he stayed calm and almost motionless in his armour.

 

‘What do you think about the next mission Caspian; I think it could easily go bad.’ Peter said as he moved away from Alex as he turned his back to her, so he wouldn’t have to look at her.

 

‘It’s going to be tough, but we have to do it, for the sake of all life in the galaxy, so we all need to be at our best, so no more fighting you two.’ As he turned as glared at Peter and Alex.

 

‘Yes Caspian I leave the manic depressive alone, I’ll focus on the lovely brutes we’re going to have fun with instead.’ Alex sniggered to herself we she said this.

 

‘I’m ready Caspian; I’m spoiling for a fight.’ Shen said tensing his gauntlets.

 

‘Good. I know you do the Spartans proud.’ He let of a rare Spartan smile gesture with his fingers.

 

Outside alert sirens could be heard telling them, that they were ready for the attack.

 

‘Looks like they’re ready, lets go Spartans!’ Caspian said as they ran out into the centre of the base.

 

The marines and elites lined up, with the Spartans taking up positions behind the Fleet master and Captain Winchester who were facing the soldiers.

 

‘My warriors, today we shall end the threat of the brutes once and for all. They wait in the plain ahead, guarding a madman so he can bring ruin on us all. We must stop him. Together with our human allies we stand united and march to glorious victory!’

 

The elites roared in approval and raised their weapons high. The fleet master drew his energy blade and said ‘Attack!’ The elite and human force ran to their vehicles.  Warthogs and Ghosts, followed by Spectres and Banshees and Hornets flew out of the base and hurtled out to the open plain. Scorpions and Wraiths flied out of the base. Kyle was in awe at the massive force leaving the base.

 

Still inside the base were three Hornets, manned by pilots. Behind them were two pelicans and three Phantoms. The nearest Pelican was piloted by Reggie, and he had the Fenris warhead on board.           The Spartans mission was simple, push through the enemy forces quickly riding on the hornets and infiltrate the Relay, while their main force was preoccupied by the Human and elite forces.

 

Captain Winchester saluted Caspian and the other Spartans and said. ‘Good luck Spartans, we’ll hold them as long as we can, I be overseeing the battle from the control centre.’ He turned and with the two aids at his side moved into the command tent.

 

Kyle leaped onto the passenger seat of the Hornet, with Shen on the other jump seat. Alex and Peter got on the second one while Caspian went onto the final one. The Hornets roared as they took off. Kyle looked down at the ground rushing beneath him. The small shrubs and grass had been disturbed by the tires of Warthogs and the treads of scorpions. The plain went into a dip and Kyle looked down at the chaos below.

 

There were hundreds of vehicles were below him. They rolled across the battlefield, chasing each other. Kyle could see the flames coming from some of the fallen vehicles and the soldiers desperately taking cover behind them.  Around him, the sky was swarming with Banshees and Hornets. Kyle held more tightly to the edge of the jump seat as he looked at the battle below and around them. Kyle wanted to help his allies, but he knew they were doing their job: distract the covenant forces, so they could punch through and stop the Relay from activating.

 

Over the COM the Hornet pilot said. ‘Hold on to your lunch people, this is goanna get hot!’

 

The guns above Kyle’s opened fire, cutting through the nearby Banshees. Around them, seven Elites in Banshees lined up in a ‘V’ Formation.

 

‘Don’t worry Spartans; we shall clear the sky for you.’ The Banshees shot of ahead of them and fired their plasma cannons. They caught the brutes by surprise and their Banshees were rocked by the elites barrage. They retaliated with a barrage of their own, which quickly turned into a frenzy to get behind the enemy fighters.

 

Using this distraction, the Hornets and Pelicans charged through, shooting anything that got to close. They eventually got through the swarm of aircraft and the sky opened up a little. Kyle looked back to see multiple explosions as some of the Banshees were hit. Their burning remains fell into the battle below.

 

Plasma shoot past his head and he wheeled round to see three Scarabs land straight in front of them. The rear guns on the back of each Scarab fired causing the Hornets to dodge. Kyle held on more tightly. If these Scarabs entered the main battle, it would tip it in the brutes favour. Time to even the odds. He opened up the COM and said.

 

‘Caspian, permission to take out those Scarabs, if we don’t take them down the ground forces will be devastated.’

 

‘Agreed, they won’t stand a chance, which jeopardises our mission. Shen, Kyle, you take out the one of the right, Alex, Peter focus on the one to the left, I’ll take out the one in the middle.’

 

The hornets charged at the Scarabs, getting as close to them as they could. Kyle looked down at the massive walker below him. ‘You ready Shen?’

 

‘Born ready, let’s do this.’

 

Kyle took a breath, and then leapt of the Hornet. He was air for only a few seconds, but to a Spartan it felt like a lifetime. Plasma soared past his head as he fell. He looked to his left to see Shen right next to him in the air. Kyle brought his knees up and slammed onto the top part of the scarab. He started to slip, but he punched down into the purple metal and climbed back up. He levelled his rifle and killed the two grunts that were looking over the edge. The squeaked as they died. The back of their methane tanks being ripped of by the powerful rounds.

 

He turned to se Shen cutting through several brutes and Kyle ran to assist him. Together they cut through the crew on the Scarab. Satisfied they were all dead, they moved to the back to the power core. It glowed with a blue shield covering it, in the dim red lights. They shoot the shield; it glowed as it changed from blue to red then dissipated.

 

 ‘This one’s all yours Shen.’ Kyle said.

 

He nodded and primed a plasma grenade which stuck to the core. Orange goo came from it as the seal broke, sirens blared in their ears as it started to over load. They ran onto the open deck and Kyle yelled into the COM

 

‘Get us out of here now!’ Above them one of their Hornets dove, expertly landing on the front of the Scarab. They jumped in and it rose sharply. Kyle could see the other Hornets rising from the other Scarabs, all of them with alarms blaring. There were small internal explosions on the Scarab, getting more frequent. The whine of the sirens reached a crescendo, and all three Scarabs exploded, sending debris hurtling in all directions.

 

‘Good work people, now let’s stop that Relay.’ Caspian said, as the Hornets drew closer to the Relay.

 

It was a massive column of metal, now visible as the ground around it had been burned away. There were burned trees and plasma burns all around the edges. They really had excavated deeply as the ground when sunk into a large circular hole around 50 meters across and 40 meters down. They slowly descended into the hole and gently landed.

 

Kyle got out and surveyed his surroundings. The ground beneath was basically be turned to glass under the plasma bombardment. In front of them was a massive steel archway which led to an 8 meter tall set of double doors.

 

Behind him the Pelicans landed, and then two squads of ODST 103^rd Battalion came out, with four men dragging the Fenris Warhead. The 103^rd was the best group of soldiers humanity had, other than the Spartans. Kyle appreciated having them hear to watch their backs.

 

As they headed to the doors, the green phantoms belonging to the elites decloaking as they landed. Rondo and a squad of eight elites dropped out of the nearest phantoms, with another eight in the other one.

 

Rondo smiled as he approached the human forces.

‘Nice handiwork, I saw you vanquishing those scarabs as we went by.’

 

‘How is the battle going?’ Caspian asked.

‘Not well, though our brothers hold the line valiantly, I do not know how much longer they can stop the tide of the brute forces.’

 

‘So we need to get this done before they turn their attention to us, move out marines!’ The ODST’s and Spartans moved to the door.

 

Kyle hung back for a second and walked with the Elite commander.

 

‘And so begins the final battle. It is an honour to fight beside you human, as you have proven yourself to be excellent warrior. Come our destiny awaits us.’

 

 

End of Chapter 29

---

Vigil is watching you

Halo: The Unlatched Casket- The horror is released........

Chapter 30

September 2568
Outside Forerunner complex known as The Relay- on Covenant planet Plentiful Bounty

Kyle nodded to Rondo and moved to the door. The ODST's had set a demo charge on the massive set of doors. Caspian gave a nod and they detonated it, the door bent inward, the force of the explosion causing to buckle. It left a 2 meter wide hole which they had to squeeze through.

The Spartans and elites used their combined physical strength to make the gap wider so they could get the warhead in. Kyle looked at his surroundings. The entrance lead into a massive pavilion, large metal columns rose up from the edges of the room. Next to these columns were strange plants that looked even more alien in the blue light coming from the ceiling. In front of them was a massive holographic display, showing what appeared to be a representation of the Relay.

Kyle walked cautiously, fearing that the brutes may be hiding behind the pillars whiting to ambush them. They formed a protective circle around the ODST's carrying the bomb, making sure every angle was covered. They walked slowly towards the holographic display. Underneath it was a small terminal and another door, which was much smaller than the one they had entered from.

Shen moved to the terminal and taking a device from his belt hacked the system.

'All right I've got the layout of this place, and access to security. I looks like the control room is at the very top, here.' He pointed up at the image at the tip of the massive tower.

'Where would the Fenris do the most damage?' Caspian asked gazing up at the massive hologram.

'In the generator room here.' He pointed at the base of the tower.

'***, I just got a security feed from the control room, listen to this.'

'The Holy One's ship is away Drakus.'

'Excellent, what about the battle?'

'The humans and heretics are closing sir; both our forces and theirs are taking heavy casualties.'

'A necessary sacrifice, keep the tower safe I will go to the control room and begin the Journey.'

'Jesus.' Alex said.

'We need to split up, me; Shen Alex and Peter will take the ODST's and set up the bomb. Kyle go with the elites and stop them from activating the Relay.'

'Understood, come Spartan we have work to do.' Rondo said then asked 'Which way up to the top of the tower?'

'Through this doorway, go right on the second hallway and up the ramps, they'll take you straight to a set of big doors, you can't miss it.'

'Understood.' Rondo and the elites nodded as they headed for the door. Kyle turned back to look at his friends. He feared that he would never see them again.

'We'll radio you when we arm the bomb not get going.' Caspian said.

Taking one last look back Kyle turned and heading down the hallway a brisk jog, the elites moving at a similar speed. The hallway was incredible long and seemed to go across the entire facility. The other thing Kyle noticed that there wasn't any covenant presence in the facility. He guessed that most of them were fighting outside and only a few remained to activate the Relay.

The came to a T-section and went right. The door in front of them slid open and lead up to a series of ramps. Kyle looked up; the shaft was massive and went all the way up to the top, straight to their destination. They ran as fast as they could, skidding when they had to turn around a corner.

They had gotten up about halfway, when the place shook. For a moment Kyle thought they were too late. Generators whined as they came on line, after thousands of years of being silent.

'They are powering up the Relay, we've got to hurry.'

Spurred this information they quickly got to the top and came in front of another massive door, with three Chieftains standing in front of it, two with plasma cannons, and the other with a hammer. Rondo roared as the combined fire of seventeen elite's plasma rifles hit their target. The Chieftain on the left fell, its started brutes turning to their attackers. The elites focused their attention on the brute with the hammer, as did Kyle, taking out his battle rifle and repeatedly firing bursts into its head.

Its armour crackled and burned as bullets and plasma tore into its skin. It let out an inhuman howl and collapsed. The final Chieftain was ready for them. Firing bursts of his cannon to keep them at bay. Rondo smiled and threw a plasma grenade at the creature's foot. It exploded and the Chieftain brought an arm to its face blinded by the blast.

Rondo let out a battle cry and drew his energy sword. He charged at the stunned brute and brought his blade down across its neck. It fell with a loud thump. Kyle nodded to Rondo and they moved to the door together.

On the COM, Caspian said. 'Bombs in position and we're arming it now, we're reading power fluctuations all over the facility, I think they getting ready to send the signal.'

'We've reached the control room and are about to enter.' Kyle said as they stacked up either side of the door.

'Good luck Kyle.' Caspian said.

'You too and if we don't make it out of this, it was an honour to serve with you.'

'You too, now stop them before it's too late.'

Kyle turned off the COM and opened the door and the elites filed inside.

End of Chapter 30
 
Chapter 31

September 2568
At the Control room of the Relay-On Covenant planet- Plentiful Bounty

The door hissed open and Kyle walked in. The control room was similar to ones on the halo rings that he had been taught all those years ago. There was long wide walkway that lead to a circular ring with the controls at the end of the circular ring nearest to them. The only real difference that instead of a large hologram showing the ring, they was a beam of light heading straight upwards and the room was smaller, about half the size of Halo's control room.

 At these controls were three brutes two in black and red armour. The other was in white armour and had golden Forerunner glyphs on the lapels. He was taller than the other two and was grey colour, unlike the customary brown colour of most brutes.

'Drakus we meet again.' Rondo said raising his sword.

The large brute turned and sneered 'Rondo Davum, the foolish commander who thought he could assassinate me, but this time you have one of the human demons with you.'

'The Great Journey is at hand, and not even your treachery to the covenant and to your oath can stop it.'

He raised his right paw revealing a thin metal cylinder. It was slightly jagged and had a thin strip of blue at the centre.

'With the key left on the human world Hydra Gamma II all those years ago, we can finally reach glorious salvation!'

'So that why you attacked Hydra Gamma II… you were going for the key!'

'Yes demon, I remember that battle well, your pitiful race fell to their knees at my feet, until your accursed kind arrived and nearly ruined our plans.'

'Where is the liar you call a Prophet, I thought he would be here to see the beginning of the Great Journey himself.' Rondo retorted his eyes focused in hatred at Drakus.

'Unfortunately, the Holy One had heard word of another holy site and he had to depart.'

'A shame, I was ready to put my blade between his neck and end his lies.'

'Enough talk! You shall die by my hand and then we shall activate the Relay. Kill them!'

The two chieftains at his side charged at them, roaring as they charged. Kyle and half the elites focus on the one on the left, while Rondo and the others focused on the one on the right.

Blood flew from their mouths as their armour failed and they collapsed just as they reached Kyle's boots.

'Incompetents. I will kill you my self.' A he let out a battle cry and charged.

Even under the combined fire of the elites and Kyle, he kept coming, his armour taking the blows easily.

'His armour is tougher than the other, move!' Rondo said as Drakus swung his hammer. The blow killed to elites to Kyle's left as he rolled and ran down the walkway towards the Relay's controls. The elites turned and fired at the charging brute. Again plasma was harmlessly absorbed by his powered armour.

'Aim for the joints, try to find a weakness!' Rondo shouted.

More plasma bolts hit the charging brute, but several bolts hit were two plates joined and hit the flesh underneath. Drakus let out a howl of anger and smacked several elites out of his way. They landed with a sickening thud on the floor. With half of the elites down, they fell back to the circular area, still firing at the soft points in his armour.

Drakus headed straight for Rondo, who drew his energy blade. He ducked under Drakus' first attack and stabbed him in the chest. The second attack hit Rondo straight in the face, and he was sent flying backwards and fell in a heap at the door into the control room.

Kyle kept fighting, trying to find a weakness, even as more of the elites fell to the Fist of Rukt Drakus' hammer.

It was then that Kyle noticed it. Where Rondo had stabbed him, Drakus' armour had buckled and looked very thin there. Kyle pointed to it and he and the remaining elites focused their fire on the spot. The armour glowed red under the barrage then melted away. Blood poured from the wound as the hole grew larger and the plasma and bullets ripped into him.

Drakus let out one final charge then fell. Blood oozing from the cracks in his armour. Kyle let out a sigh of relief and moved over to Drakus' body, he turned it over and looked at his contorted expression. He grabbed the slender piece of metal from his belt and crushed it with his fist. It was done; they had stopped the relay from firing.

Kyle moved over to the crumpled form that was the spec-ops commander.

'Hell of a fight human.' He smiled and coughed up purple blood as he tried to laugh.

'Let's go, we need to get out of here before the bomb goes off.' Kyle said crouching down to Rondo's eye level.
'No, I'm afraid that was my last battle, my wounds are to grave to continue, I must remain here with my fallen brothers.' He was covered in blood. His armour was stained purple from all the bleeding.

'Spartan, before you leave this place and I joined my father in the after life there is something I would like to say. I'm sorry for all the pain I've caused you. I'm sorry for killing your mother. I wish to leave this existence with my conscience clear.' Rondo coughed more violently and more blood came from his mandibles.

'I forgive you Rondo, and thank you.' Kyle said.

'Goodbye and I will meet you again in the afterlife.' His eyes dimmed and his body went limp.

Kyle rose and let a sigh and headed to the door. Caspian came in over the COM

'Bomb's armed Kyle, detonation in 3.00 minutes, you need to move now!'

'Understood, I'm on my way.' Kyle took one last look at Rondo and left, the remaining elites behind him.

His muscles aced, every nerve was on fire, but Kyle kept running, the internal clock on his HUD was counting down. 2.30. He leapt off the final ramp and sprinted full speed down the corridor. 1.40. He reached the entrance and with the last of his strength jumped out into the open air. His armour sparked as he slid out. His vision started to go dark but he kept going, he could see Caspian and the others, even with his fading vision. 0.50.

He somehow remained standing as he heard Caspian say.

'Reggie we need evac now!'

0.30.

Kyle thought they weren't going to make it. Then out of the sky came the welcome shape of the Pelicans, which arced down to them. They opened the rear hatch as they descended and they quickly got inside. Kyle wearily grabbed hold of the support rail and looked at the rear of the pelican, just as it rose into the air.

0.10

Kyle looked at the retreating form of the Relay as the Pelicans sped away.

0.00

The Relay exploded, as a massive orange explosion erupted from its base. The large tower twisted and fell, as the entire complex started to collapse. The Fenris must have hit something sensitive as there was a blue explosion on the side of what was left of the Relay that tore through what was left of the facility. All that was left was a pile of steel wreckage.
They had done it; Kyle took a deep breath of relief and tried to clear his fatigued mind. The pelican headed up into the sky to the Stairway to Heaven and home.

End of Chapter 31
Chapter 32

September 2568-Two weeks later
ONI training facility C88-Keyes Island

Kyle slowly woke up.  His eyes adjusted to the darkness and he slowly rose. His muscles felt stiff.  He stood up and paced around the room, thinking.

After the destruction of the Relay, they had returned to the Stairway to Heaven where they had been congratulated by Captain Winchester and the Fleet Master. They had told the Spartans of what happened during the battle. Despite heavy loses; they had eventually pushed the brute forces back, and defeated them. After they picked up Caspian's communication that the bomb was activated, they had hastily gone up to orbit. Most of the Pelicans barely getting it out of there in time.  Captain Winchester recalled his own experience, as the pelican came to the base just in time; he had watched the base be reduced to atoms, merely a few minutes later.

The Fleet Master had praised the human's bravery and thanked them. He had then departed to his ship, saying that the prophet of Remorse must be found, as he still posed a threat to Elites and humans alike.

The journey back home was uneventful; Kyle had been unconscious for most of the trip, the last battle and then the escape from the Relay taking a lot out of him. When they had got home they had been commended by the UNSC brass, and Lord Harper had personality thank them for their bravery.

They had been given a few week R&R back on Keyes Island.

Kyle thought back over all what had happened over the last few weeks, the warning from the elites, the assault on the Forerunner battleship and the landfall to Plentiful Bounty and the discovery and destruction of the Relay. They had how they had all pushed beyond their limits, and they had come out of it. An entire brute army obliterated and preventing the death of all sentient life in the galaxy. This was truly the Spartans role and what they would be remembered for.

Kyle had also found some personal peace, having finally put to rest the ghosts of the past. The surprise of the spec-ops commander, Rondo Davum being his mother's killer and how at the end of it all he forgave him, closing the final part of his life before joining the Spartans. He felt more at peace now, as well as being more determined and confident in his abilities.
 
He looked forward to the challenges ahead of him

 

The End.

 

 

Sorry for the quadruple post, but this is the only way the whole of the story will appear.

---

Vigil is watching you

Halo: The Unlatched Casket- The horror is released........

hey thanks dude... i can finall read my favorite bits without browsing through a lot of pages...

darthnish:

hey thanks dude... i can finall read my favorite bits without browsing through a lot of pages...

No Problem.

---

Vigil is watching you

Halo: The Unlatched Casket- The horror is released........

Awesome it is the best Fan Fic on this site, two thumbs up

---

Halo: TCW
"As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I have no fear because I am the meanest mofo in the valley

Spartan-G313:

Awesome it is the best Fan Fic on this site, two thumbs up

Thank you, I felt like this was being forgotten.

---

Vigil is watching you

Halo: The Unlatched Casket- The horror is released........

This is one of the best fan-fics on this site,it wont be forgotten in the hundreds of fics in the halowars.com archives

---

"Feet first into Hell!"

ODSTman:

This is one of the best fan-fics on this site,it wont be forgotten in the hundreds of fics in the halowars.com archives

Though it nice to see my first fan fic again, there was no need to necro it, this story is dead, and I and my readers have moved on.

It will sleep in the back pages of the library, never to be seen again.

I will be touching this story again in the future, but it will not appear on the forums again.

So I ask you, please let this die.

---

Vigil is watching you

Halo: The Unlatched Casket- The horror is released........

Idk why but im bored so Id like to return for 1 last msg, Vigil is the Best writer on this site hands down

---

Halo: TCW
"As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I have no fear because I am the meanest mofo in the valley

ok,it will die with all the rest of the old ones

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"Feet first into Hell!"