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The Discovery: Chapter 1 The Longsword interceptor blasted away from the burning, shattered remnants of Halo, which Master Chief had just escaped from moments before. Inside the fighter, the Spartan II thought about all the good soldiers he had lost on the Forerunner installation. However, he knew he had to do it, because of the Flood. There was just a small bit of worry in the corner of his mind, because the Monitor had referred to the Halo he had just destroyed as "installation 4," that could mean there were more Halos still intact within or near human space that the Covenant could use. He shoved these thoughts into the back of his mind and left Cortana to pilot the Longsword while he prepared the cryo tube for himself. "Cortana, set our course for the nearest human colony. Make sure nothing is following us. Alert me if you detect any Covenant presence near our exit point. Don't try engaging them, either," he ordered the AI. Her image flickered on over the holoprojector in the cockpit. "Don't worry, I can take care of this ship by myself," she said dryly as the Chief entered the cryo tube. 2 weeks later- Cortana hurriedly wakened MC from cryosleep as soon as she exited Slipstream space and discovered a strange vessel nearby. The AI had confirmed the shape to be exactly like that of a Covenant cruiser. When the tube hatch hissed open, MC sat up amid the fog that seeped out of the cryo tube. He choked on the cryo inhalant as it flowed out of his mouth. "Please swallow, sir. That inhalant is nutritious." Cortana's voice said. How many times have I heard that? he thought as he tried to follow the AI's instructions. He walked over to the pilot's seat and drew in a breath shakily. Cortana's image appeared on the holoprojector as the Chief asked his question. "What's going on? Is it the Covenant?" Cortana looked at him with an obvious expression on her face. "Why else would I wake you up?" she answered. "It's a Covenant cruiser. I wonder why it hasn't detected us by now. Wait a moment-" she paused, calculations running across her body. "Interesting. It appears to be powered down. Maybe we should go in for a closer look," she suggested. "Hold on. It might be a trick!" exclaimed the MC suddenly. After about a few minutes of arguing, he finally gave in and went along with her plan, although first doing a check of the vessel. "Cortana, scan that ship for lifeforms," he ordered. "Scanning-only 30 lifeforms detected," she reported. "They appear to be of the Elite class. If you want, I can fly us in one of those shuttle bays. One of them is open," the AI explained. "Do it." he said. The Longsword accelerated towards the bay. Upon landing, the MC grabbed his MA5B assault rifle and M6D pistol before exiting. Fortunately, the Longsword held several crates of 7.62mm rounds for the assault rifle and 12.7mm rounds for the pistol, so if he got into a fight with one of those Elites, he would not be limited in ammunition. He took 3 packs of each and grabbed the chip containing Cortana before heading out. He stepped into a large shuttle bay identical to the Truth and Reconciliation's, a cruiser that had held Captain Keyes prisoner on Halo. Just thinking of the Captain brought back memories of the Flood. He remembered what Chief Mendez, his trainer back on Reach, had told him: never get distracted in a dangerous area. Kill first. Everything else comes second. Feeling foolish, he ducked down behind a crate of some sort and loaded his assault rifle. "Activate motion trackers," the MC said. Activating. Cortana's voice said inside his helmet. The Chief watched the motion tracker display pop up on his HUD. It showed that everything was clear. He knew better than to trust it completely, since the Elites could be resting. Normally they would be patrolling, but since they were unaware of the human on board, they would think all was safe. There was probably only a few Elites piloting the vessel in the control room. "Cortana, scan for nearby lifeforms." Scanning-all clear. Cortana reported. Satisfied, he headed toward one of the bay doors, then stopped. "Cortana, you know the schematics of a Covenant cruiser, right?" MC asked the AI. Of course, Master Chief. We've been on one before. Why? answered the AI. "I need a nav point marking the control room's position." Acknowledged, Chief. Just give me a moment to access the schematics. Cortana said. In a few seconds, an orange-red dot appeared on his HUD. It showed the distance, 503.2m. "503.2 meters-that's not too far." the Chief said, reading the display. But what about those Elites Cortana detected before? he thought. "Cortana, one last thing-set another nav point, if you can, marking some sort of resting area for Elites." Marking now, Master Chief. What would you do without me? the AI reported. He watched another dot pop up. It read: 371.4m. He decided to go there first, since it was closer. Making sure his weapons were fully loaded, he went off silently. In the familiar purple halls of a Covenant starship, he made his way towards the nav point. All the doors were unlocked, so he progressed fairly quickly through the long hallways. Suddenly, he entered a cargo bay of some sort, where a black-armored Spec Ops Elite was standing in front of a control panel. Sneaking up behind it, he whacked the alien in the back with the butt of his assault rifle, killing it instantly. After checking to make sure the room contained no more enemies, he shouldered his assault rifle and headed towards the nav point once more. Checking his HUD, he saw that it was only 43.2m away. He walked through several more corridors before reaching his goal. The door to the Elite quarters slid open as the Chief slipped in noiselessly. There were about 20 inside, all slumbering and unaware of him. He smacked the nearest two Elites in the back, killing them all. Stopping to look around, he noticed that most of the Elites were Spec Ops, although there were two Commanders. I wonder why these are all high-ranking Elites? he though as he proceeded to the next alien. This is probably a team sent on some special mission. Cortana read his thoughts and provided a logical answer to the question. As Master Chief prepared to whack another Elite, in the dim lights of the room he did not notice he was hitting its face, not its back! He only realized his mistake when he heard the Elite howl and clutch its head, with a large dent in its combat armor. Although its shields were not on, the Spec Ops armor could take at least one hit, even from the Master Chief. Its shields flickered on as it grabbed its plasma rifle and began to shoot at the Chief. This awakened the rest of the Elites. Oh, shit- he thought as he shot at the Elite. He was surrounded by a group of 18 snarling, pissed off aliens. Four moved to cover the door, and the Commander grabbed a plasma sword. In a cramped room like that, he could not use a grenade and he only had an assault rifle, plasma rifle and pistol. Not nearly enough firepower to take down 16 Spec Ops and two Commanders with plasma swords! Hopelessly outgunned, he crouched for cover behind a crate when he saw one of the Commander Elites leap at him, plasma sword at the ready! The Discovery: Chapter 2-A Brush with death That hole looks like an ideal escape route! Cortana yelled urgently. Without a look back, he jumped down, landing onto a lower deck. He placed a grenade on the floor and took cover. The Elites that had followed him down were blown to bits. No more came down, but the MC didn't want any more Elites harassing him, so he chucked another grenade up into the Elite quarters. He then jumped up, grabbed hold of the edge of the hole and hauled himself up. There were only a few wounded Elites left, which he dispatched without much trouble. Noticing what looked like a weapons rack, he grabbed a plasma sword and ran towards the other nav point, leading to the control room. After more hallway trekking, he finally reached the large door to the control room. As it slid open, he noticed eight Spec Ops Elites and a Commander waiting for him. They obviously had noticed the commotion and knew that he would come for the control room. The huge barrage of plasma cut down his shields in an instant. He rolled to one side and let it recharge before stepping out and throwing a grenade. All the Elites rolled out of the way, but it provided a distraction. He grasped the plasma sword, found and pressed the activation button and charged as the smoke cleared. He reached the first Elite and chopped downwards with the sword, slicing right through its shields and armor. As the other Elites opened fire, he threw another plasma grenade, sticking it to the Commander. Unfortunately, it charged right for him. He rolled to one side to get out of the blast radius, but was still hit, although minimally. Without any shields, the plasma from the remaining seven Elites burned away at his armor. He could taste blood in his helmet. "What's your suggestion, Cortana?" he yelled as he slashed at a nearby Elite. I suggest throwing another grenade to distract them, and then dive into that hallway. That'll give your shields a chance to recharge. the AI replied over while the Chief rolled to avoid being fried by another volley of plasma. "But I only have one left! If I use it now, I won't have much more to fight them with when I come back!" the Chief emptied his assault rifle clip into the nearest Elite. Well, maybe you can go back to those Elite quarters. That weapons rack where you got that sword has a bunch of grenades. Hurry up, before you're dead! The Chief took the suggestion, throwing his remaining grenade into the group of enemies and sprinting for the main door. He fired as he went, to keep their heads down. When he got into the hallway, he gave a sigh of relief. "We're safe now," he said, heading for the Elite quarters. Or is IT? Look at your motion tracker! When Master Chief looked at the tracker, he froze in his tracks. The Elites were following him! He would never make it to the quarters without getting turned into alien mincemeat. Suddenly, a plan came to his mind. In these tight hallways, I can use my plasma sword to cut them down, one by one, the Chief thought. With that idea, he took out his plasma sword and powered it up. I hope this works, he thought as the Elites approached. As the enemy drew nearer, he ran back behind a corner in the wall. When the aliens were within striking distance, he leapt out and chopped downwards at the nearest one. The next dodged, and the rest opened fire. In the tight hallways, MC had little room to run but this advantage was also a double-edged sword. Sometimes the Elites would hit each other, providing him with a diversion as they were momentarily stunned by the friendly fire. After a minute or so, there were only three Elites left. They had cornered him and were all striking MC with the butts of their plasma rifles. As his shield was smashed to nothing, he kicked out at one of the Elites. With the Chief's enhanced strength plus the added power of the MJOLNIR armor, the Elite went flying and hit the wall with a dull thud, a huge depression in his armor where the MC had kicked him. The other two Elites growled and smashed him harder. Two more sword slashes and they were silenced. The other Elite stirred. MC dragged him to one of the brigs on the ship, binding him with the plasma chains he had found in the Elite quarters. It wriggled and growled, but could not break loose. Satisfied, he closed the cell doors and headed back to the bridge, picking up grenades from the Elite bodies as he went. The Chief stared at the huge array of symbols, control panels, and displays that surrounded the control room of the ship. Wait a moment, there seems to be some sort of AI plug-in slot over there. I suggest putting me in. I have considerable knowledge of a cruiser like this. Without much argument, he walked over to the slot, took the chip containing Cortana out of his helmet and plugged it in. Cortana's image appeared in the center of the room. Calculations ran all across her body as she accessed her databanks. After a minute she managed to get the ship moving, and they rumbled off towards the nearest human settlement. The Discovery: Chapter 3-Return to civilization I've done a thorough scan of the ship, Cortana replied. I'm sure we're untracked. "But what about cryo chambers? The trip could take weeks!" the Chief argued. Covenant ships have always been fast. I estimate it will take two days to reach the nearest human colony. Besides, you can use one of the Elite cryo chambers if you prefer that to standing around. After that, Cortana spent a few minutes figuring out how to send the ship into Slipspace. When she finally found out how, the ship disappeared in a flash of green light. MC had a hard time deciding what to do for two days. The weapons and shields of the cruiser however, fascinated the Chief. He had long hated ships for being cannon fodder for the Covenant. But with defenses similar to that of his suit, he could feel safer against the plasma bombardments. Besides, the scientists would be interesting in an intact Covenant ship, not to mention a live Elite. He also toyed around with the weapons, which were obviously more powerful than the UNSC's. Suddenly, he remembered Reach, were he had left all his teammates and friends. They were probably all dead by now, so he tried to shove those thoughts out of his mind. Cortana was busy with her own projects. She had mastered controlling the vessel and was itching to fire a weapon or two. The form of FTL travel that the aliens used intrigued the AI. It allowed more pinpoint adjustments in Slipspace, unlike the sometimes inaccurate Slipstream generators the humans used. It was also much faster. After she grew bored of doing that, she accessed the ship's coordinate databank. Suddenly she remembered the mission the Chief was really sent on. Chief! CHIEF! Did you forget our original mission? We were supposed to board a Covenant vessel to find their homeworld! I think we just did that accidentally! MC jumped up suddenly, as if hit by plasma. "You're right! We could do it now!" NO, we couldn't! First we have to get back to human civilization. We can tell someone first that we're still alive and what happened on Halo! Also, if we were destroyed, I have lots of information, you, well, you're the Master Chief, and this vessel and the Elite could be interesting for the researchers! We could develop ship-based shields, our own plasma weapons- "All right, we'll go back first. But we have to do it someday. We have the information, and it has to be used," the Chief interrupted. After a while spent exploring the ship, MC decided to try out the Elite cryo chambers. He remembered the disgusting "nutritious" inhalant and decided not to ask Cortana about it. He climbed into the tube and had Cortana activate it. *** The cryo tube hissed open. Rise and shine, Chief. How did you enjoy your alien sleep? "Not much difference," the Chief replied. "One thing I like about it-none of that sickening mucus-flavored inhalant. Well, are we near a colony yet?" Yes, we are near the colony Sigma Octanus IV. You've been here before, haven't you? "I have. Oh, and before landing, identify us to avoid any confusion. It's not every day that humans pilot Covenant cruisers into a colony!" he suggested. Affirmative, Chief. They've confirmed our identity. Unfortunately, there aren't any docks big enough to fit this cruiser. I propose we pilot a Longsword down. Before long, the Chief was back on solid ground again. The commanding officer in the area was a Captain, Richard Jones, who rushed up to greet the Chief. MC saluted. "At ease, soldier. I thought all the Spartan-IIs were destroyed when Reach fell. And what's with the Covenant ship?" the Captain asked curiously. "It's a long story, Captain. I need to get in touch with the existing command group of the UNSC," the Chief cut through the questions. "Well, FLEETCOM was destroyed, along with Reach-let me see here-from what I see, the current command center is a cruiser, the Maw, which is in orbit around Earth with the remnants of the UNSC fleet. I'll send them a message. Follow, please." The Captain ran off to the COM station. Inside the station, Captain Jones patched a message through to the Maw. He relayed the responding message to the MC's Longsword. "Chief, the commanding officer is Admiral Stanforth. He has commanded a cruiser before, the Leviathan, so he has considerable experience. He was one of the few who escaped from Reach. He requests you rendezvous with him in the Earth system as soon as you can get there. He was also surprised that you captured an intact Covenant cruiser and is eager to see it. Jones out." The Longsword's viewscreen shut off as the Chief took off, heading for the cruiser. Upon arriving, he rushed up to the control room, where Cortana waited. "Cortana, our orders are to-" I know, Chief. I was listening in on the message. I've finally figured out how the COM systems on this ship work. Anyway, I'll send a message to the Maw to let them know we're coming. "So, how long will it take for us to arrive?" the Chief wanted to know. "I mean, whether or not I have to get in a cryo tube again." I estimate five, maybe six days. I think you should get in a tube. I also found out that their cryo tube does not require inhalant to keep your nutrients up, so you can be happy about that. I'll wake you when we arrive. Once again, MC clambered into a cryo tube as the cruiser shot in a flare of green light. Five days later- The Chief awoke and headed up to the brig to check on the Elite. It was still alive. The Chief found food and drink for it, and left it in the cell. Bound by the plasma chains, it glared at him as the cell doors activated back on. Running back onto the bridge, he watched the image of Earth on the holographic display screen. Around it, three cruisers, six cruisers and ten frigates orbited, along with 15 Mark VI Super MAC guns, which had even more power than the Mark Vs that had defended Reach. On the moon, he saw two enormous guns, each the size of a cruiser. What powers those things? wondered the Chief. My analysis indicates there is a large fusion reactor that feeds them with power. "Oh, ok. Cortana, put this ship in orbit with those other ships. Then we'll take the Longsword and dock with the Maw," MC ordered. Suddenly, a large explosion rocked the ship. "What's going on? Did that Elite break loose and do something weird?" They saw all the MAC guns in orbit and the ones on the moon glow red as the magnetic accelerators powered up. He realized that it was the small fleet, firing at him! The Chief turned on the COM channels to stop them, but instead he heard, "What the hell is THAT doing here? Blow that SOB to pieces. NOW!" "No, wait! It's me, the Chief! And Cortana! We're sending identification data now. Hold your fire!" the Chief yelled urgently into the COM system. "WHAT? I thought you were dead! And you come back? WITH A COVENANT SHIP?" the voice of a Captain. "Aw man, I'm never eating mess hall meals again, they're giving me hallucinations!" "It's NOT a hallucination, it's real! I got a message earlier, and I told you it WASN'T an enemy! Master Chief, report to the Maw as soon as possible." Admiral Michael Stanforth's voice could be heard on all the COM channels. Cortana maneuvered the cruiser into orbit with the other ships. The Chief yanked out the chip, placed it back in his helmet and ran to the shuttle bay. Within minutes he was on the Maw, standing in the Admiral's office. He was relieved to be in there, because he passed hallway after hallway of gaping Marines and crew. "Well, Master Chief, you're still alive. It's a good thing you captured that Elite and cruiser. We might get a lot of good things out of it. We already have scientists working on engineering shield tech for our own ships. Oh, and there's one thing I should mention-" Another Spartan, wearing the same suit as the Chief, stepped into the room. MC recognized him immediately, even though he was in armor. "James? What? I thought you were dead when your jetpack got hit over Reach-" his voice trailed off as he looked at his long-lost teammate. James smiled beneath his helmet. "Me? Dead? That's an insult! I was picked up by a passing dropship before my oxygen supply ran out. I probably would have died in the next few minutes, since I was already unconscious. So, what's your story?" The Chief sat down and took a deep breath, then told them all. About their escape from Reach, Halo, the Flood, the battle for survival, the fate of Captain Keyes, setting off the Pillar of Autumn's reactors, the capture the Covenant cruiser, and the return to civilization. The Discovery: Chapter 4-Plans *** Following an hour of toying around with their new suits, everybody filed back into the briefing room for information on their mission. Admiral Stanforth was waiting for them. When they all settled down, he began. *** "We have more good news, people. Success has been made with experiments on plasma weapons. Here I have the MA5BP assault rifle. It looks pretty normal on the outside, but there is an extra battery pack on the outside. It charges the bullets with plasma, making it much more powerful. You will still need ammo clips and battery packs for it. We also have the M19P SSM Rocket Launcher, which, instead of containing explosives, can have its rockets charged in plasma. It will require a large power cell, however, making it 4 pounds heaver than the M19. The damage caused will be devastating, making up for that. Finally, there is the M6DP Pistol. It utilizes the same plasma power-up the other two have, and the battery is integrated with the clip. It will be much smaller, and will only last 10 shots, which is the same amount of bullets this new clip has. Larger versions of this plasma technology will also be mounted on all remaining UNSC ships and the orbital and lunar guns." A weapons tech walked around the briefing room, holding up various weapons. The Discovery: Chapter 5-Snags *** A few days later, the three ships, two human and one Covenant, emerged from Slipspace. On their viewscreens was a blue-green world, which was surrounded by- *** As soon as the three ships exited Slipspace, in perfect formation, the AIs wakened crews and did scans of the area. The Covenant had not attacked-yet. When the crew arrived on the bridge, the AIs told them the odds of winning against 200 Covenant ships. The Admiral ordered the ships to stay in orbit around Earth. All the ships were in full combat status. Everyone on the vessels, even the battle-hardened Admiral, was tense, expecting to Covenant to arrive in the next second. The Discovery: Chapter 6-Not another Reach *** The mission had to be delayed as ships were repaired in the Mars shipyard. Another orbital gun was being constructed to replace the destroyed one. In the shipyard, two new ships were being constructed. They both were destroyers and were also completely outfitted with two meters of protitanium, heavy shields and twin plasma-MAC guns. They also had 30 Archer missile pods, each with a dozen missiles. The new destroyers would accompany the original striketeam that would attack the homeworld. It would take another two weeks to finish them, so the elite ground force, which included the veteran Marines and the two SPARTANs, continued to train. Morale was higher than ever after the recent victory. The fleet patrolled the area in case the Covenant struck again. "Sir, our scanners are indicating 20,000 small objects on approach in Slipstream space, heading towards this system," the officer at the scanner station yelled to the Admiral. "What the hell? Can you identify them?" asked the confused Admiral. "No, sir. If they're Covenant, it's probably dropships, because of their size. But I doubt it can be 20,000 dropships," the officer replied. "I don't think anything that numerous would enter Slipstream space if it was natural," said the nav officer, who had been listening in. "Who asked you, now get back to-" the Admiral stopped as motes of green light appeared near Mars. Thousands of the familiar purple Covenant dropships emerged from Slipspace. "They're going to invade Mars. That's one of our last shipyards! Havoc, get firing solutions for the orbital and lunar guns, on the double!" ordered the Admiral after he recovered from the shock of seeing so many dropships. Sir, they're too close to the planet. We can't afford to fire; the chance of hitting Mars is too great. "Well then, get us there as fast as you can! At least we can shoot down some of them!" The Maw's engines rumbled to life, as did the other ships'. They watched as about half of the dropships broke off from the main group and headed towards the lunar guns. The plasma-MAC guns of the fleet tore through a thousand-odd of them. Salvos of Archer missiles brought down another 500, but it was not enough. The rest continued on towards their designated targets. "They're going to take out our major defenses and one of our last shipyards, just like Reach-it CAN'T happen again! Send in the Marines, pronto! Break out the vacuum-sealed suits for Green team, James's Marines. They'll protect the lunar base. Tell the Master Chief to get here with the Marines on the Aurora. That group will protect Mars with the Marines from the Maw. They'll be Blue team. Hurry!" the Admiral hurriedly rapped out orders through the COM channels. Inside the captured Covenant cruiser, the Chief departed with Cortana in his Longsword, heading for the Maw. James handed out the vacuum-sealed suits. The Marines put them on, checking weapons at the same time. "Oh man, this suit is even heavier than before!" grumbled one Marine. "Would you rather die of suffocation?" replied James calmly. The Marines stopped complaining and each grabbed a MA5BP assault rifle and M6DP pistol. Some hefted the M19P SSM rocket launcher. James chose the M19P, his own customized MA5BP and a long glittering combat sword. Everyone raided the crates of grenades and stuffed them in their suit pockets. They grabbed extra clips and battery pack and stood to attention. James briefed them on their mission. Inside the shuttle bay, there were Pelicans everywhere. Most of them had attached Warthogs that had their guns upgraded with the plasma charge. There were also two Scorpion tanks, also with the plasma upgrade. The Pelicans also had added shields. "Men, we've been assigned to protect the lunar base and guns. Without those, our defensive capabilities will be severely impeded. Those vacuum suits will protect you if those Covenant landers in destroy the artificial atmosphere. We'll be outnumbered maybe 100 to 1, so we'll need to use our brains more than raw power. Don't overestimate your suit's defensive capabilities, either. Keep under cover whenever possible. Only get damaged when there's no other choice. Well, are you all ready for this?" "Sir, yes sir!" Meanwhile, in the Maw, the Master Chief was addressing his group of Marines. They were more numerous than James's group, since the Marines were from both the Maw and Aurora. The Chief's group did not have the vacuum suits, either. After he finished briefing them, they piled into their dropships. The Chief sat with the commanding officers of the Marine squad. They watched in silence as their dropship descended down towards Mars. As they got closer, he could see Covenant dropships unloading huge groups of Elites. The forward plasma-chain guns shredded many of them, sending bluish-purple blood flying everywhere. More aliens piled out of the dropships. The Pelicans, numbering 50 in all, searched for a safer LZ. Four were shot down by the sheer amount of plasma fire from the Elites, Grunts, Jackals, and Covenant dropships. About four kilometers away, they found a relatively quiet spot, with about a hundred Grunts standing around. Plasma-chain guns ripped them apart, and the Pelicans began dropping Warthogs, Scorpions and Marines. The Chief climbed out along with the officers. They had heavy weapons like snipers and shotguns. Then he noticed a Warthog dropped from the dropship he had just exited from. It had a strange gun mounted where the plasma-chain gun usually would be. "What is that?" he asked the pilot of the dropship, a Lieutenant. "That's a new experimental type of gun. It's a mini-MAC gun. It doesn't have the plasma upgrade, but still, it's very, very powerful. Try it out!" he replied before lifting off. Suddenly, two giant plasma balls blew a Warthog apart. A Marine standing on top of a hill ran back down as another bolt disintegrated the area where he just stood. "Enemy has armor support! We better get moving!" he panted through the COM system. The 1,000 Marines scattered to avoid being hit. They started climbed in Warthogs and Scorpions. The Chief decided to test the mini-MAC gun. He got in the gunner's seat while a Sergeant with a sniper rifle climbed in the passenger seat. MC read the nametag on the Marine's uniform: Sgt. Andrews. Private Johnson climbed into the drivers seat, and they sped off, over the scorched hill. The Chief saw the four Wraith mortar tanks first. Taking careful aim, he fired the gun. The recoil almost flung him off of the vehicle, but one of the Wraiths had become a smoking, useless wreck. While his gun recharged, the Sergeant threw a grenade, straight into a Wraith's engine. It exploded in a huge plume of smoke. "Two down, two to go!" yelled Johnson over the noise of the engine. He turned to avoid a huge plasma shot. By now, a Scorpion had rumbled over the hill, with four Marines sitting on it. Its plasma-charged cannon destroyed another tank. The one remaining Wraith fired at a bunch of Marines before being hit by the mini-MAC gun. The Marines, despite their shields, were killed. MC sized up his force: 15 Warthogs, 10 Scorpions, and many other Marines still on foot. He had the more heavily armed Marines go on foot while the others would ride on vehicles to maximize their firepower. "All right, three Warthogs will go scout over that valley up ahead," the Chief pointed to a deep depression in the earth before continuing. "I will lead them. The rest, hold positions but be wary. I don't know what that huge group of Covenant we saw earlier is up to." As he finished talking, the growls of Elites and the high-pitched squeal of Grunts could be heard. A Marine holding binoculars pointed over to the right of the group. "Look at that!" he yelled. Thousands of aliens were storming directly for them! On the Moon- James and his group landed without any trouble. Walking cautiously forward, they relied on COM systems to communicate. "Marines, hold position here. I'll take a small group to investigate up ahead. I think I saw a Covenant dropship landing there," the SPARTAN told his squad. With three others, he crept silently over large craters to the spot. He found nothing there. As he was turning to go back, a voice broke through the COM channel. "Sir, we're under attack! There's so many of them! I think we found that group you were looking for!" He rushed back to the Marines. Elites that also had vacuum-suits had surrounded them. James snuck up behind a Commander who was about to skewer a Marine with a plasma sword and stabbed him in the back with his own sword, taking out its shields. The alien turned to face him. It brought down its sword with frightening speed. However, the special composition of metals in James's sword allowed him to block the Commander's sword. The confused Elite hesitated, giving the SPARTAN time to stab it. It crumbled to the ground with a huge gash in its side. The other Elites turned to face him. He pulled out his oversized MA5BP and fired. The plasma-charged bullets took down two Elites before he had to reload. The Marines opened fire, bringing down some more. They ran out through the gap in the Elite circle to join James and his three scouts. A sniper put holes in four Elite's suits. They fell, writhing and screeching noiselessly in the vacuum before the airless environment claimed them. A few Marines also threw grenades. Due to the difference between the Moon's and a Earth-like planet's gravity, most missed, but two plunked down in the group of charging aliens. They detonated, sending blood and body parts flying. A rocket killed the rest. James counted; he had lost seven Marines. Since he only had a hundred under his command, it was pretty bad. As they rested after the furious fight, a thousand Grunts popped out from various craters and attacked. The group leapt up, firing. Fifty Grunts fell. This caused the lower-ranking Minors to run around in fear. They were screaming for the Elites to come help them, but upon seeing the bodies of their fallen Elite comrades, even the Majors resumed in a state of mass panic. James and his group would have laughed, but this was war. Grenades, rockets, sniper rounds and plasma slashed through the air. Panicking and scattering did help the Grunts in a way, because they were not all in a big group any more. This made heavy explosives like rockets less effective. Even so, the once mighty Grunt army was now down to about 300. They realized that running around in circles would not save their lives, so they regrouped and opened fire, some throwing grenades. "Ahhh!" a Marine ran around with a plasma grenade stuck to him. He ran straight into the Grunt ranks, taking down a few with him. The angry Marines blasted the Grunts to pieces. James counted his group's losses. Only 83 left. He continued on to the lunar base, hoping it had not yet been overrun. Back on Mars- The Chief ordered the Warthog and Scorpion drivers to run straight into the mass of aliens and to fire as they charged. The massive Scorpion's 90mm plasma-charged rounds wreaked havoc. Its secondary plasma-machine gun was firing constantly. The speedy Warthogs had already reached the cluster of Covenant and squashed many of them flat on the ground. The Scorpion's main guns were forced stop firing because of the risk of hitting their own. Seven grenades landed on a tank. The driver and passengers leapt out before the three-second fuses ran out, but the Scorpion was reduced to slag. Plasma from both the Covenant and Marines was flying everywhere. Shields flickered and went out. Many of the Covenant were just smeared flat by the 66-ton Scorpions or 3.25 ton Warthogs. Before long, it was over. The Chief noted that he had lost 57 troops. He continued on with the remaining Marines, hoping that the Covenant had not yet reached the main shipyard. Admiral Stanforth stood in bridge of the Maw, listening to the reports coming in grimly. "Green team advancing. They had lost 17 men." "Blue team also advancing. Lost 57 Marines." "Lunar base under heavy assault. They can't hold out much longer!" "Mars shipyard sections E-G have been destroyed. They're in a tight spot!" "Send the Pelicans back in. They have get there in time!" The Discovery: Chapter 7-The battle for humanity Approaching the spaceyard, MC saw that parts of the structure were mangled and burning. As his dropship neared the ground, he could see thousands of Grunt and Elite tracks in the red sand of Mars. To one side of those tracks he could make out many more enormous footprints deep in the ground. Those could only mean one thing: Hunters. The Chief saw explosions and plasma streaking through the air near the undamaged sections of the spaceyard. "Pilot, put us down over by that battle," he told the pilot. "Aye, aye, sir. Should I tell the others?" the pilot, a Lieutenant, replied. MC nodded and the Lieutenant sent the message to the other Pelicans. They all changed course and headed for the battle below. He could see the Covenant pinning down a small group of security officers. When they touched down just six meters away from the Covenant forces, 11 green, artillery-style bolts erupted from the middle of the crowd, disintegrating half a Pelican. The Chief knew where those shots had come from. They were undoubtedly Hunter Fuel Rod guns. The shields would help keep his troops alive a little longer, but he knew he had to take them out soon. There was no time to get in vehicles, either; they were in immediate danger. Fortunately, he knew all their weak spots from long experience, so he told the Marines about them. Some of them already knew about this, but most had not encountered Hunters before. They spread out to avoid the shots as the Covenant turned to face the bigger threat. The security officers took cover and watched. They cut down the first few ranks of Grunts easily, but there was a wall of Elites guarding the Hunters. Their Fuel Rod guns could fire over the smaller aliens' heads. This method slowed the humans down considerably. The solution was rather simple, however. The Marines would throw grenades or shoot plasma rockets. The Elites would either have to dodge, leaving the Hunters vulnerable, or get killed standing in the blast radius of the explosives. Most of them rolled to one side instinctively. A few unlucky ones were caught in the explosion, which also took out two Hunters. Angry at being tricked, the Elites charged, growling fiercely. The Marines were ready. The front line of Marines fired in unison. The plasma-charged rounds were extremely effective against the shielded creatures and took many of them down in one go. However, the Elites' charge proved to be a good diversion, although they had not meant it that way. The Hunters charged their weapons and fired. Chief! Look out! shouted Cortana, inside his head. He rolled to one side just in time, watching the Hunter's shot blacken the area where he had stood a moment before. Many Marines were not so lucky. They were caught in the green explosions. Only a few survived, badly wounded. They were helped by their comrades to the medics, who were standing out of range of the guns. The 30 snipers in the group took up good firing positions behind rocks or in craters. The rest moved to cover them. Once again, they scattered to avoid being vaporized by the destructive guns of the Hunters. Sniper rounds whistled through the air. Some bounced off the shields or armor of the gigantic aliens, but several found their mark. Seven Hunters fell. Another three were badly wounded and could not fight. There were only about ten left. A few heavy weapons officers popped up behind a large rock, wielding their rocket launchers. The blasts were highly effective against the large creatures, who did not have the best of reflexes. There were still about 1000 Grunts left. Seeing all their superiors killed, they did what they could do best in a battle: panic. The Marines watched in amusement as the aliens swarmed around, all screaming. Everyone who had their translators on started to laugh as they heard the high-pitched voice of the Grunts loud screaming out various phrases. "They're gonna kill us all!" "Leaders dead! Run away!" "Mommy!" "AHHHH!" "Help!" "No more!" As the Grunts continued running around, the Marines tossed a few grenades into the moaning mass of frightened aliens. That, and a few more shots from the weapons of the group, silenced the Grunts. After the smoke cleared and the wounded were treated, the Chief took stock of their losses. About 650 Marines remained. They had lost almost 300 alone in that fight. Still, it was nothing compared to the Covenant losses. An estimated 25 Hunters, 300 Elites, and a few thousand Grunts lay upon the ground. Ignoring the carnage, he gathered up the security personnel they had saved. There were only about 40 of them. They all carried light protitanium body armor and M6DP pistols. Most of them were badly hurt, so he sent them off to the medics. He found the security leader, who carried a MA5BP that had an extra power pack and a shield in addition to his armor, which was similar to a Marine's. "What happened here?" asked the Chief. "Well, we were trying to prevent the Covenant from getting into the shipyard. At first, we were up at the perimeter of this complex, over there," he stopped to point at the edge of the burning buildings. "We took down hundreds of the Grunts and quite a few Elites too, but then things got bad. I used to have 300 men under my command, but those-those Hunter things you took down; they would vaporize 10 troops at once with one shot! I thought we were done for until you showed up," the leader replied. The Chief watched more Covenant dropships dropping out of the sky a kilometer away. "Well, we could use some extra help. Do your men have vehicle training? I mean, can they ride on one?" he asked. "Yes, they received a little training on that. Why?" answered the officer curiously. "They might have to ride on one if I lose too many troops. I'll call for a dropship to bring some better weapons and armor for your men. This is going to be a long, hard fight," MC said gravely. Meanwhile, in the lunar base- James and his squad were relatively happy. They had reached the lunar base and successfully defended it against the alien onslaught, helped by the numerous automated plasma-chain guns around the base. After a few waves of attack, the Covenant dropships that still had troops changed direction, seemingly retreating. James wasn't surprised when he found out they were actually heading towards Mars. His squad listened grimly to the static-filled reports on Blue team, the Chief's squad. "Lost sections E-G-Covenant forces-approaching-need assis-too many-more drop-coming-need help-can't hold out-longer." After this depressing message, James contacted the Maw. "Admiral Stanforth, sir, I am requesting that my team and I land on Mars and help Blue team," he said into the COM channel. "All right, James. Be careful. The Maw's scanners are picking up over 24,000 non-human lifeforms on Mars. Do anything you can to save that shipyard. If it falls-so does Earth, humanity-everything we worked so hard to accomplish would be destroyed. Good luck. Stanforth out," the Admiral said. All he could do in the Maw was shoot down some dropships before the got too close to Mars. James and his team readied for the fight. None of them had the standard issue MA5BPs or M6DPs. They all took weapons that could hit multiple targets. Most had rocket launchers in anticipation of huge crowds of aliens. Some also had shotguns and sniper rifles. The SPARTAN's modified MA5BP had an added grenade launcher, a computerized scope that would help to angle the launcher to hit his targets, and a large battery pack that would make the rounds even more deadly. They opened a few cratefuls of grenades and took six each. James took twenty and loaded them into his launcher. This preparation didn't take long and they were all armed within three minutes. The veteran team put on armor and powered up shields at the charging station before boarding their Pelicans. The dropships' jets roared to life when all had climbed on. One by one, their hatches closed and they shot off towards the red planet. James could see minute explosions on the surface, close to the huge shipyard. The pilot did, too, and headed towards the battle, just like MC had done a few hours earlier. Only this time, there would be thousands more enemies. The Chief and his squad were fighting furiously. Plasma flew thick and fast through the air. Grenades hurtled from both sides. The humans, however, had the advantage of cover. They put up some barricades and portable protitanium walls that had small niches to shoot through. MC had also had the soldiers set up stationary energy shields for even more cover. This way, losses were minimal, but their enemies just kept coming. More of the purple dropships were coming by the second. The Chief was, despite all his experience, beginning to think this was a battle he could not win. With his 600 remaining soldiers outnumbered almost 50 to one, he felt that the battle for the shipyard, and humanity, had been lost. Still, he fought on. Suddenly, he saw several gray Covenant dropships descending towards him. He took a second look, squinting at the objects, which was still high in the air. They weren't Covenant dropships; they were Pelicans! The Chief heard a familiar voice over the COM system in his helmet. "Hey, boys! Looks like we made it in time for some action!" It was James and his team! "Wait a minute. If they're here, then-" the Chief was cut off as Cortana finished his sentence. The lunar base is safe. I was listening on the COM channels and I heard that the Covenant retreated from there to land here. James and his Marines joined in the battle. The 27 Warthogs were running over ranks of Grunts and Elites. The Scorpions were on a high hill, plasma-shelling the Covenant. Their plasma-machine guns were highly useful also. "Scanners are picking up at least 28,000 Covenant. Things won't be good down there. I've just radioed the Maw and Aurora. I asked for any reinforcements they could spare. They said they're sending down fifteen SkyHawks," the COM officer at the Mars shipyard said to the Marines and SPARTANs. The soldiers were too busy to answer, but they were relieved that they would get at least a little help. Six Ghosts cornered a group of Marines. Their shields were falling rapidly when a plasma-charged rocket ripped through two of them and a grenade took down another. The Marines opened fire, taking down the last three. Two of the Ghosts were still in operating condition; only the drivers had been killed. Two Marines commandeered the vehicles and went back to fighting. A few minutes later, the SkyHawks arrived. The 539 remaining Marines cheered before going back to the battle. The quad-50mm plasma-chain guns and twin plasma-charged Scorpion anti-tank missile pods of the fighters were devastating. The Covenant had already lost one-fifth, or 6,000, of their troops. Despite this, Marines could be killed almost instantly if they were out in the open, due to the huge salvoes of plasma from the Elites, Grunts and Jackals. The final 300 Covenant dropships to land carried Hunters. There were about 1000 Hunters. The SkyHawks concentrated their fire on those aliens. The added heavy shields and a quarter of a meter of protitanium protected the jump jet fighters well. About 50 of the fearsome creatures were felled in the first pass. But there were only fifteen of the fighters, and the Covenant still had many more soldiers than the humans. Can we hold them off? wondered the Chief. Cortana gave an estimation for him. My analysis indicates that the chances of holding them off are a 31% chance, she replied. Unless we get more reinforcements. 31%. To a normal person, that would seem bad. But the Marines and SPARTANs had seen far worse percentages. Once Cortana had even predicted a 3% chance of winning one battle the Chief had been in. Despite this depressing number, the humans won in that battle, because of some quick thinking on MC's part. Still, there was a 69% chance they could lose. Then humanity would almost certainly fall. Many of the Marines were feeling hollow as the battle raged on. Would humanity fall? The Discovery: Chapter 8-The last chance As the Skyhawks turned for another shot at the Covenant infantry, 20 small dots appeared on the horizon. As the dots became larger, the familiar whine of Banshee engines could be heard. The Banshees spotted the Skyhawks, and continued to increase speed as they came closer and closer. Within seconds, their plasma weapons lashed out, grazing the lead Skyhawk as the formation turned to face the new threat. The Skyhawk's shield flared for a moment, then cooled. The lead Skyhawk opened fire with its 50mm plasma-chain guns, shredding the hatch of a banshee, leaving the pilot exposed. The Skyhawk continued firing at the damaged banshee, and it erupted in a ball of flame, the wreckage spiraling to the ground. The Banshees retaliated with fuel-rod guns. The green plasma streaked toward four of the Skyhawks. The first few shots impacted their shields, each shield shimmering yellow when plasma hit. Several more fuel-rod shots streaked toward the Skyhawks, overwhelming their shields. The four Skyhawks dove down to the ground to avoid being shot down in their current state, but they had forgot about the ground forces. Ten Spec Ops Grunts hurled grenades into the air, straight at the jump jet fighters. Most missed, but some stuck onto the wings of the Skyhawks, reducing their agility and turning ability. The Banshees sped after the damaged fighters, spewing a huge stream of plasma. Their already severely damaged armor was melted away and the Skyhawks detonated as their ordnance exploded. The remaining 11 Skyhawks fired as many Scorpion missiles as they could before the jump jets were forced to veer away as they got too close to the enemy Banshees. There were so many blue streaks in the air that the Chief could not even count them. The plasma-charged missiles chased their target, and the fifty enormous explosions sent a shockwave through the air, knocking the Marines and most of the Covenant to the ground. The shockwave also ripped through the Banshees, tearing them to metal fragments. The Covenant were quite shocked at the defeat of their Banshees, but they regrouped and charged en masse. James saw that they charged in a delta formation to protect themselves. Jackals and Hunters stood in front, using their shields to protect the forces behind them. Elites followed them, as they were relatively strong and had shielding. Grunts trailed behind by the thousand, having no advantage except sheer numbers. James saw something behind the formation, so he pulled out his binoculars to get a clearer view. All the way behind the Grunts, there were 15 hunters and about 30 Jackals standing in a circle, surrounding-something. James adjusted his binoculars for a better view. It looked like a purple-armored Elite, but it was about four inches taller than a regular Elite, and had twin fuel rod guns, similar to the ones Spec Ops Grunts carried, on its shoulders. The circle of Covenant closed in, and the Elite disappeared from James's view. As the Covenant charged, the Marines all reloaded their weapons and prepared for the worst. They would shoot through small niches in their barricades, portable walls and energy shields before their cover would be melted away by the sheer amount of plasma the 25,000 remaining Covenant would be firing. Then they would just stand and fight. The Chief strapped himself in into the gunner's seat of his personal Warthog and ordered Private Johnson to face the Warthog straight into the charging Covenant to provide extra cover. A low rumbling became louder and louder as they came closer. The Scorpion tanks rumbled into position and the Warthogs turned to face the enemy. As Hunters and Jackals appeared, Sergeant Andrews and several other snipers fired, but most of the rounds bounced off the shields. The snipers continued a steady stream of fire, and sometimes a Hunter or a Jackal would expose its weak spots, allowing the snipers to kill them. For every Covenant they killed, however, ten more would take the place of the one that had died. The Scorpion tanks fired 18 rounds into the center of the charging Covenant. The Hunters raised their shields, but over 40 of them were killed as the plasma-charged rounds impacted in their tightly packed ranks. Orange blood flew in the air, landing on the humans and coating the ground. Jackals charged their weapons, and Hunters began to shoot their guns. A few barricades were destroyed in this first volley, but the stronger protitanium walls and energy shields held up. The Marines were mostly armed with heavy weapons, so they returned fire. Rockets, plasma and grenades hit in the front group of Jackals. They all fell, with the plasma-charged ordnance ripping through their shields like an ax through butter. The rest scattered and returned fire. Their plasma pistols peppered the area with shots, and several Marines who had their cover blown away fell. The Chief fired his Warthog's mini-MAC gun. It took out two Ghosts. The Covenant were finished deploying troops, and now they were landing vehicles and stationary guns for the Grunts. All these numbered 500 in all, with 200 Ghosts, 75 Wraiths and 225 stationary guns. Marines would have to hijack these whenever possible. About 30 more Banshees screamed by overhead. The Covenant knew that they could not destroy all of the Skyhawks, but at least they could distract the fighters from attacking their ground forces. Another fierce air battle ensued, and some Grunts, Jackals and Marines actually stopped fighting to watch as explosions rocked the air and wreckage spiraled down, sometimes landing in the packed ranks of Covenant. The Elites, Hunters, SPARTANs, and veteran Marines, however, continued fighting. Suddenly, by a stroke of luck, a Scorpion misfired, hitting a dropship carrying two Wraiths. An ordinary shot wouldn't have penetrated the shield, but the plasma-charged shot did. The crippled dropship spun around before it crashed into a group of Marines, killing them. The pilot was dead, but the Wraiths were relatively intact. James, in need of heavier firepower, jumped into one. Displays popped up around him when he sat down in a seat that was meant for an Elite. He had experience before using Covenant vehicles, so it wasn't too difficult. Because the large vehicle was slow and hovered a few feet off the ground, he could not run over any Covenant. Anyway, there were too many of them and he would probably be overwhelmed in seconds. The mortar shot was perfect for shooting while staying under cover. A large group of 30 Hunters broke off from the main charge, stopping to fire as fast as their guns would recharge. The green shots blew away several small squads of Marines. They continued keeping up a steady stream of fire, being careful not to expose their weak spots. This caused numerous casualties in the human defenders, and the lucky ones that would actually survive this murderous barrage had to be taken to the infirmary because of their serious wounds. The Hunters could not be stopped. They would not expose their weak spots and they were so far away any heavy weapon fired at them, such as a rocket, would be useless. James's Wraith shots were also much too slow, and even the clumsy Hunters dodged them, so he resumed firing at the Elites and Jackals, who were too busy fighting. The Scorpions were also busy hitting Covenant vehicles, and all the Warthogs were too far away. Except for one. The Chief saw the unstoppable crowd of Hunters and ordered Private Johnson to head toward them at full speed. "Hurry up, Private! Those Hunters will just blast our forces to pieces if you don't step on it!" he yelled. "Sir, right away, sir!" the Marine stomped on the accelerator and headed towards the aliens, who had their backs turned to them. Sergeant Andrews fired his sniper rifle, felling a few of the massive creatures. As they turned to face the new threat, MC fired his gun straight at them, killing five more. Andrews kept up a steady stream of fire, emptying three clips shooting at the Hunters. Johnson was making erratic turns with the Warthog to avoid being toasted by the Fuel Rod shots. "This is Warthog 13B, we have turned the Hunters' backs to you, defense team. Fire at will," Andrews said through his helmet COM system. The Marines back at the shipyard entrance started sending rockets and grenades at the Hunters. One rocket missed a Hunter and whizzed by, missing the Chief's back by a hair. "Watch your fire, Marines!" he said angrily into the COM channel. The Hunters were now being hit hard on two sides. Several of them were hit by a mini-MAC round and they dropped to the ground, groaning in pain. Several Hunters managed to surround James's Wraith and started to bombard it. A pillar of flame rose from the tank, and the ruthless Hunters smashed its armor, damaging it further. The Wraith was no longer hovering, and the whole thing erupted into flame. "Turn to the left, now!" The Chief ordered Johnson. The Warthog turned and sped toward the Wraith. Two Grunts stood in the way, firing their plasma pistols, but they were smashed out of the way by the speeding Warthog. I'll call a medic. It's a long shot, but we might be able to get there in time. Cortana said calmly. As the Wraith became larger while the Chief approached it in his Warthog, two Ghosts manned by Elites moved into his way. Four bolts of plasma tore through the air, and the temperature increased dramatically. The plasma hit the engine armor plate, and it boiled away. The Chief brought his MAC gun to bear on the Ghosts when the Warthog swerved to avoid a plasma bolt, and his shot completely missed the Ghost, streaking into the sky. Sergeant Andrews raised his sniper, and carefully sniped an Elite out of one of the Ghosts. However, the other Ghost refused to move out of the way of the incoming Warthog. The Chief would have ordered the Warthog to simply push the Ghost out of the way, but he would not take any chances, especially with an engine that had no armor. The MAC gun read 70% charge, but the Chief didn't need a full charge to destroy a Ghost. He fired the gun, and this time the shot tore a hole from one side of the Ghost to the other, also penetrating the driver. The Warthog stopped at the flaming Wraith, and the Chief jumped out of the gunner's seat and dashed to the tank. Master Chief tore off the hatch with his superhuman strength, and grabbed James's limp body from the tank. The Chief didn't know whether how injured James was, so he put him in the Warthog. He needed to get him to a medic, quickly. He asked Cortana for help. "Can you get us a dropship to bring James to a medic?" Negative. This area is not deemed safe for a dropship. The shipyard is 3 kilometers south. We might be able to find a good medic in the infirmary. Oh, and the Maw is sending its remaining 5 Skyhawks to escort us to there. I'm putting a nav point on your HUD. You can direct the driver that way. Cortana replied. The Chief pointed the directions to the Private, and he strapped himself back into the gunner's seat. James could be dead already, or just unconscious. The Marines were fighting the best they could, but the Covenant still outnumbered the Marines drastically. To the Chief, it was going to be a long ride back to the base. While the Chief headed to the base, a battle was still raging. A group of Marines had run out of rockets, so the switched to their assault rifles. Most had taken cover behind anything possible: pieces of the wall, barricades, protitanium walls, and shields. Three Warthogs charged a large group of Grunts and Elites, their plasma-chain guns slicing through the Elite shields and Grunt armor. Any remaining troops were killed when the Warthogs slammed into the group. The shipyard area was covered in blood, mostly Grunt, but there was also blood from all species in random areas. The snipers had taken cover in the nearby hills. Every several seconds a plasma-coated round would penetrate a Jackal or an Elite, forcing the Covenant to find seek cover for the sake of their lives. The humans had not given up yet, even though the odds were bad. Sometimes the Covenant would be lined up. If a sniper fired at the lead alien, the round would tear through several of them. "Get your asses down here! May I remind you that we're protecting the shipyard, not some damn hill!" a Sergeant yelled at them through the COM channel. "But Sarge, we are defending the shipyard, and besides, we can't snipe from-" the lead sniper's reply was cut off by his superior officer. "But nothin'! You can snipe from the main control tower! Now move!" The Marines found that they were running out of ammo. They fought on while the Chief listened to their reports. "We're low on ammo! Chief, can you make a call up the Maw or Aurora? Ask them to send down extra ammo and grenades! Also, if they can spare anything else, like vehicles just lying around, send them! We're being hit hard here!" a Lieutenant yelled through the COM channel. Screams and plasma blasts could be heard in the background. The Chief used the Warthog's high-power COM system to contact the two cruisers. He received a reply almost immediately. "Chief, we're sending down 20 Pelicans with ammo onboard. Nine of them are also carrying Scorpions and Marines from the destroyer Renown. ETA is ten minutes. The five SkyHawks that escorted you will also help fight, after making sure the dropships arrive safely," Admiral Stanforth's voice could barely be heard over the roar of the Warthog's engine. The drive to the shipyard was uneventful. As soon as he arrived, the Chief took James, still inside his armor suit, and ran towards the infirmary, which was surprisingly empty. A few Marines that had Fuel Rod blast wounds were in there. Soldiers with regular plasma injures could be treated by the 20 field medics. MC laid James's body on a bed. He explained the situation to a nurse before rushing back out to his Warthog and promptly continued battle again. The newly arrived supplies and troops helped a little. The humans managed to stave off the relentless Covenant charges, but they were far too numerous. Eventually, they would win if no one came up with a plan. Nighttime brought a small lull in the fighting. MC's exhausted troops took turns resting. The snipers, however, continued firing. They had night vision scopes and would pick off any Covenant that got in range. Empty shell casings were strewn all over the tower most of them were in. Cratefuls of ammo packs were beside them. The Covenant soon realized that they would have to retreat a fair distance before they were out of the range of the deadly plasma-charged rounds. Since the fighting had slackened off, the medics brought in some food for the tired soldiers. They ate, talked and rested, always watching the Covenant in case they tried another charge. The Chief walked into the infirmary to check on James. The SPARTAN had received injures that would have killed any ordinary soldier. The MJOLNIR suit and the augmentations he had received, as a member of the SPARTAN-II project, was what saved him. He lay sleeping, covered in burns and scorched skin. "Will he make it?" MC anxiously asked the doctor that had treated his friend. "Yes, there's an 80% chance he will make it. He's lucky that the Hunters didn't bash up that Wraith a little more, because it would have collapsed on him totally. Even for a SPARTAN, that would be fatal. It will take several weeks before he's ready to fight again, though," the doctor replied. The Chief was relieved and dismayed at the same time. He had already lost all his other teammates on Reach, and the fact that James probably would make it was reassuring. On the other hand, having a SPARTAN out of action for weeks was like having an entire squad of Marines out of the fight. The reinforcements from the Renown should cover him, though, the Chief thought. He was actually not so sure. *** The next morning, everyone readied for another Covenant assault. The Marines had been keeping watch in shifts. The snipers had been doing this also, scanning the darkened terrain with their scopes. It was a quiet night, however. The Chief figured that the Covenant were planning for a big attack in the morning, so Marines climbed into vehicles and loaded up their weapons. All of them were tense, waiting for the attack. It never came. "What the hell are those Covenant up to?" a Sergeant asked MC after two hours of waiting. Scanners show that Covenant movement in their camp is very low. They appear to be sleeping or resting. Only a few Elites are patrolling. Cortana told the Chief. He relayed the message to the Marines. Now it's time to do some attacking of our own, thought the Master Chief. He outlined his plan with the officers. "All right men, this is our last chance. If this attack fails, we'll be overrun. Now, as you've probably heard, the Covenant appear to be resting. Our mission is to take out as many of them as we can before being detected. If we manage to take about, oh, 10,000 of them, we might actually stand a chance. But it won't be easy. Not by a long shot. This will require a lot of stealth, skill, and of course, luck. Now here's the plan. I will pick a group of veteran Marines to do the initial attack. We will use the "active camouflage" technology we have found and replicated on the Covenant cruiser I captured. We only have 100 of them, so I need the best troops to use them. There is also an "over shield" technology we will be using. Again, there are only 100. That much explained, here's what we do. I'll sneak in behind the camp, where the least Elites that Cortana mentioned as patrolling are. To kill them silently, I'll hit them in their backs. Once those have been eliminated, the Marines and I will plant a few caches of C-12 all around their camp. Then we'll creep off, whacking any Elite we see. The suit you Marines wear gives you extra strength and reflexes much better than your old one. It's not as effective as mine, but it'll give you enough power to crack an Elite's spine. I suppose you're all wondering, 'what will the other Marines be doing?' Most of them will be close by, under cover, just in case we need backup. About 200 of them will stay here to guard. The most important thing in this mission is to be as quiet as possible. We need to go now, before they wake up. Good luck," the Chief moved off to pick his squad while the officers readied their own troops. It was a thin thread of hope that they would complete it successfully, but at least it was something. They tensely waited to carry out the most dangerous mission any of the Marines had ever been in. The Discovery: Chapter 9-Winning is not everything "-bring only an assault rifle and a pistol if you have been chosen to be with my team. Your suit is only for augmenting your strength, so don't overestimate its capabilities. That could mean the death of you. All other teams will stay at the base, in case the Covenant try something strange. Heavy weapons team Alpha will cover us and help if something goes wrong. If we don't come back, do NOT try to send more troops. We are already short on men as it is, and any heroic effort will make the problem worse. I repeat, NO heroics. We're here to take back this planet, not to win medals." The Chief finished his speech, and headed off the briefing platform to converse with several officers. "Do you think this crazy plan will work?" a Marine nervously asked several of his friends. Most of them doubted that they would pull it off. "I think the Chief has gone insane!" Another Marine commented. "You all shut up! I don't want to hear any of you whining like this. Now do something useful, or all of you with be assigned to night patrol!" The Sergeant finished venting his anger at the Marines and walked off, mumbling something about bad discipline in the corps. The Chief was checking his weaponry and armor integrity when Cortana spoke. Maybe you should check up on James. By the way, you might want to inspect you team before you start. There are many people that a skeptical about this. Taking Cortana's advice, he headed off to the medical bay. James was still in a bed, and there was an IV line in his arm. Most of his body was covered with burns from the earlier fight with the Hunters. His MJONIR armor was hanging in the air, and several technicians moved about, inspecting sections of armor and repairing wires. "There is a chance to win this fight, and I am going to conduct a stealth mission to wipe the Covenant clean off this planet. It's risky, so I don't want you to come. If you try to help in your condition, you will only slow us down. I might not be coming back from this, and the UNSC needs every SPARTAN they have." The Chief meant every word he said. James struggled to sit up and salute in his weakened state. "Good luck," With those words, he collapsed into the bed, breathing heavily. The Chief patted his friend on the shoulder and said, "Don't overdo it. Get some rest now." James said one last thing before MC left the room. "Go-and kick their alien asses." Soon after, he fell asleep and the Chief went off to finish preparations for the mission. The Chief headed out of the medical bay to check up on his team. They were all sitting in the armory, choosing their weapons. Four large ODSTs walked up, shoving him hard in the face. "This is suicide. We've been fighting the Covenant for 10 years now, and we know there is no way that 100 troops will beat an army Covenant. Yes, they are sleeping, but the slightest error could doom the human race." one of the ODSTs said. "Stand down, or I will have you court marshaled if you do not stop this nonsense." The Chief replied. "Oh yeah, and you're going to stop us, meat. Get him!" the four ODSTs lunged at the Chief, three holding him down and one grabbing his throat. Fifteen other Marines also took the chance to beat him up and held him down. The Chief was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of Marines, and he didn't have his armor on, which made things worse. A very angry Marine charged the helpless Chief using an assault rifle as a ram, knocking the air out of the Chief. He was beginning to pass out from the lack of oxygen when a Lieutenant entered the armory. "Stop! This man has earned the right to some courtesy, even from you barbarians. After this, you're lucky that you get expelled from the corps, because you will be court marshaled if you don't." The Lieutenant ordered. The Marines backed off, some still giving glares at the Chief. They returned to choosing their weapons and checking their battle suits. The Chief headed for a small room next to the armory, where his MJONIR armor was being stored. The armor was being modified to generate an active camouflage field, to supercharge the shield for a short amount of time, and to increase general shield resilience. The last technicians finished the modifications on the suit, and walked away. He headed up to the armor to notice that there were not the scars of battle on the suit anymore. The techs also had repaired it. The Chief closed the door of the room and put the armor on. He grabbed Cortana's memory cube out of the base's computer and put her into the AI slot in the back of his brain. He then put the suit on, piece by piece. When he finished, he headed out of the room to the armory. The Marines outside were still quite furious at the Chief, but did not say anything. He picked up an assault rifle and a pistol off of a rack of weapons hanging on the wall. He also loaded up on grenades from a crate, just as back up in case the C-12 failed. Finally, in a corner, sat 1,100 pounds of C-12. Twenty grams of that stuff could make Swiss cheese out of a meter of Titanium-A battleplate. 1,100 pounds could easily turn a city into a smoldering crater. Each Marine would carry ten pounds of it on their backs. Thankfully, it would not ignite without an activation signal from a remote transmitter. The Chief held the remote that could activate all the C-12, as he was the group leader. Taking a quick glance at his suit's countdown timer, he suddenly realized that there was only ten more minutes before the operation began. Those ten minutes were reserved for driving to the Covenant base, so they had to leave immediately, or the Covenant would wake up, producing several problems. "Lets move, troops!" The Chief ordered. The Marines each picked up ten pounds of C-12 and headed for the vehicle bay. The Chief picked up his C-12 with his remote detonator from the weapons pile. He then walked out of the armory, heading toward the vehicle bay. The vehicle bay had 32 Warthogs modified for stealth travel. Each one had the engine covered in layers of soundproof insulation to dampen the loud noise. The headlights had also been removed. They had been replaced with infrared sensors, which projected the view onto the windshield. The Chief's Warthog even had an active camouflage device, although it consumed a lot of power. He climbed in and found Private Johnson and Sergeant Andrews inside. All around him, Marines were climbing into their Warthogs and starting their engines. They would use the Warthogs to go around the Covenant camp and park a few meters away from the patrolling Elites there. They would get out and silently kill those Elites. Everyone had silenced weapons to take down the Covenant that were awake. The Warthogs drove off almost silently, with only the soft sound of the tires crunching on the ground and the muffled engine being heard by the main group of Marines that were on guard in the base. The group of Warthogs split up when they saw the base. Half of them went around the left while the others went on the right. They met in the back. Silently, they got out of their vehicles and the five snipers in the group hefted out their rifles and took up positions. The coughs of five silenced weapons were barely heard by the Elites and the ones who did were dead before they could determine the source of the noise. A few more shots and all the patrolling Elites in site were dead. The Chief passed the order to power up the active camouflage devices. The dark shadows that were the Marines disappeared. If they were in daylight, an Elite could see the blurry area that was the squad if they got close enough, but in the dark, it was impossible. The Marines crept up to the slumbering camp, followed by the Chief, who carried 100 pounds of explosives. A few spiked their packs of C-12 into the ground where they entered, but most waited until they got farther into the mass of sleeping aliens to plant their explosives. When all the packs were planted, they quietly backtracked to their vehicles. As they exited the camp, a Marine sniper spotted two more Elites that were awake and walking right towards them! Hurriedly he whispered the news through the COM system. The Chief walked up behind the aliens and with a quick movement snapped both of their spines. The Elites crumpled to the ground soundlessly. The Chief joined his waiting squad and they walked back into their Warthogs. Back at the camp, the Marines on watch looked anxiously into the night for a sign of the Chief or his stealth team. In the tall sniper tower, a sniper used his night vision scope to look out for the squad. After a while they began to worry. Some were thinking that the mission had failed. Officers tried to reassure their troops but most of them were actually thinking the same thing. "I see something! It's the Warthogs!" yelled a sniper through the COM channel. The troops cheered. When all of them were safely inside the base, the Chief pressed the detonation button. Suddenly, the night became day with a huge flare of light from the Covenant base. A flaming ball rose into the air, taking with it debris and Covenant bodies. The roar of the explosion could be heard for miles as a wave of heat washed over the human defenders. The Chief looked though his binoculars at the former Covenant camp. Nothing remained at all: no vehicles, no troops, and no dropships. The Chief knew that a nuke instead would irradiate the area, making it absolutely useless. The C-12 eliminated the Covenant just as well as a nuke, without any side effects. He continued to ponder the outcome of the mission when a Marine sniper spotted something. "Sir, there are Covenant about 2 kilometers to the left of the original camp! They are about 2,000 of them and they are awake! I see some kind of elite, only that it is purple, not the usual Elite colors. It also carries some sort of fuel rod, but I can't really tell what. However, the Covenant aren't heading toward us, just yet." the Marine reported to the Chief. "Good job, soldier," The Chief commented. "Its time to bring the Elite" he said to no one in particular. After voicing his thoughts out loud, he ordered the Marine to take a picture of the Elite and he quickly opened a COM link to Admiral Stanforth. "Sir, I request that you send the captured Elite to the Mars shipyards. I have found a new type of Covenant Elite and I am trying to find out what it is." The Chief requested. "Right away, son. Just make sure that it doesn't escape. The scientists are sort of insane about that. Stanforth out." The COM link shut off as the Admiral finished replying to the Chief. Almost immediately, a dropship appeared in the sky. The dropship quickly descended, then swiveled its jets as it landed softly on a temporary platform. Five marines came out, carefully observing the area. The Elite came out, closely followed by two marines carrying high-velocity assault rifles mounted with grenade launchers. The Elite was bound with the plasma chains the Chief had used on it, and additionally bound with protitanium chains. The marines shoved and pushed the Elite into the briefing room and shut the door. I'll set up a translation program for it, in case it doesn't understand English. Also, I'm transmitting the picture from the marine's database to yours and the main computer's. From what battle reports indicate, Elite lives are valued in Covenant society, so a threat of danger should get it talking. Be wary, though, that the Elite may attack you. Cortana mentioned to the Chief. He walked to the briefing room, stepped inside, and took Cortana's memory cube out of his brain. Depositing the small cube in the base's computer interface, he headed on to the briefing stage. Two Marines walked up onto the stage and set a holographic projector in the center. The Elite sat in a metal chair, bound up by four protitanium chains. The scientist pressed a remote control and a picture appeared on the main viewscreen on the stage. It was the picture of the purple Elite the Chief had ordered taken earlier. The scientist left the room, allowing the Chief to interrogate the Elite. The Chief walked up to the Elite, then pointed to Cortana to start the transmission program. "What is this?" the Chief asked. Cortana closed her eyes for a moment, then repeated what the Chief had asked in the Elite's language. "Why should I tell you, human?" the Elite replied in perfect English. "You will die, and you will be sent to join your fellow warriors in hell!" the Chief yelled. "You are the one who will die." The Elite strained against the bindings that held it down. Quickly, the Chief pulled out his pistol out of its holster. He fired it about a centimeter above the Elite's head. The alien ducked, but it looked angry. The Chief yelled in the Elite's face, "I know that the Covenant value your life. So, tell me, or else your society will lose a warrior." "He is the Grand Priest. He has the power of the Prophets. The Grand Priest will soon free me." The Elite said unwillingly. "Take him away. He has no other information," The Chief pointed to the Marines. "Cortana, record this information. It may be valuable." The Chief strode toward the base's computer interface and withdrew Cortana's memory cube. He inserted it into the base of his brain. Quickly, Cortana's liquid presence filled his mind again. This Grand Priest is interesting. I'm going to use some of your brain's cycles to try and compare it to existing types of Elites. Cortana's presence in his mind disappeared as she finished speaking. The Chief headed out to one of the scout posts to check on the current status of the battle. "Marine, what are the Covenant doing?" the Chief inquired. "Sir, they are currently readying their forces. I count about twelve Wraith tanks and twenty Ghosts. No banshees, though. The current amount of infantry is hard to tell, but most of them seem to be Hunters. That Elite you saw earlier is moving about, and he is surrounded by ten Hunters that have their backs completely covered in armor." the Marine reported. "What about our forces?" the Chief asked. "We have mobilized all Marine troops. Twenty Scorpions are at your disposal. There are 41 Warthogs usable, including the ones from the stealth mission. Snipers are ready to fire, on your order. We have three advance strike Warthogs are engaging Covenant forces now. Sir, your personal Warthog is ready, and fully restocked with MAC rounds. The scientists have been able to extend the acceleration coil on the cannon, so the rounds go farther and have higher velocity. Also, the shots are charged with plasma, like the MAC guns mounted on ships. However, there is now a fusion reactor under the gunner's seat, so it might be a different configuration for the gun. You'll get used to it." The Marine returned to watching the Covenant. "Order the snipers to fire three rounds each at any targets they want. Have the Scorpions get ready to fire. They should fire at those Hunters guarding the Grand Priest. Don't hit the Priest itself, though. Whatever you do, don't kill it. Finally, have those advance strike Warthogs return," the Chief said to the Marine. He relayed the message to his superior officers and they sent out the orders. The attacking Warthogs retreated and the snipers started firing. A few Hunters and Elites fell. The Scorpions coordinated their fire against the guard Hunters. They spilt into two groups and fired one group at a time. This method kept up a continuous stream of fire. Some shots missed and hit the other aliens but the majority did. The guard Hunters were incredibly strong and resilient, but the non-stop fire soon dropped a few of them. More filed in to take their places. The Scorpions kept up their fire. The Covenant forces, undaunted by the murderous barrage, regrouped and charged. The Marines and Warthogs were ready. Fire lanced out from them and many aliens died in the first salvo. The returning fire was just as heavy, however. Plasma bolts flew thick in the air at the Marines. This time, however, it was the humans who had superior numbers. For every Grunt, Hunter, Elite, or Jackal, there were five humans. In just a few minutes, the Covenant group was lying dead or dying on the ground because of the tank fire. The Grand Priest and his had retreated out of the range of the tanks, and the snipers were preparing to fire when the Chief held up his hand. "Stop. Those Hunters can withstand a plasma-high-velocity round. I'll take my Warthog out to stop them. Besides, Cortana wants to see the Grand Priest." the Chief told the Marines. He ordered Andrews and Johnson to prepare the Warthog while he finished preparing his weapons. As soon as they were ready, Johnson slowly eased the Warthog out of the vehicle bay and drove off. The guard Hunters held their positions as the vehicle approached at high speed. They already had their special, more powerful Fuel Rod Guns charged and fired when the Warthog got in range. Johnson swerved to avoid being hit. The Chief swung his gun around, and fired it directly at a Hunter's shield. A supercharged round tore through the shield and knocked the Hunter to the ground, dead. The few remaining Hunters had surrounded the Warthog with their enormous bodies. A fuel rod bolt grazed the edge of the Warthog, burning off a side panel. They were trapped. He realized that he still had the grenades from the mission in a crate under the gunner's seat. The Chief set the timer on one grenade to 15 seconds and dropped the grenade into the crate. "Leave the engine on! Get out!" the Chief yelled. Johnson quickly leaped out of the driver's seat, but Andrews was having trouble with a safety restraint. The Chief ripped it off, pushed Andrews out, and leapt off himself. The Warthog continued speeding toward the Hunters as the grenade continued to count down. When the timer reached its end, a loud warning went off, and it exploded. The Warthog's fuel and the grenades also exploded, sending the vehicle flying into the air. All of the Hunters were killed in the blast by the force of the explosion. The Chief and Private Johnson were not heavily injured, but Andrews was the closest because he had gotten out last. He was thrown onto the ground, and a large piece of shrapnel had buried itself into his leg. Johnson was crawling away from the flames when an alien hand grabbed him. He was flung so hard that he disappeared from view. His body slammed into the ground, lifeless. The alien advanced out of the smoke. The Chief could tell that it was the Grand Priest. Andrews moved for his sniper, but two red plasma bolts engulfed him. He collapsed to the ground, two large holes in his body armor. The Chief had managed to tear off the mini-MAC gun with its generator, because it was expensive equipment. Moving quickly, he fired a round at the Priest. Amazingly, it had sidestepped the round and caught it. It dropped the round and continued to advance. You have to act first. This thing is unbelievably strong. Cortana yelled in his mind. The Chief grabbed his assault rifle off the ground and emptied a clip at the Priest. Every round bounced off its shield. The rifle did nothing but aggravate it. It sprinted up to the Chief. He punched at the alien as hard as he could. The Elite blocked every blow, and in seconds, it was squeezing the Chief's neck. "Well, bastard, just kill me now." The Chief kicked, but it just wasn't enough. "After many years, we have finally captured the humans best fighter. You are the ultimate sacrifice to the gods. I will bring you to the Prophets and they will sacrifice you on the homeworld, and your suffering, pain, and death will be watched by the whole Covenant race." the Priest replied. The world around the Chief spun as he ran out of air. Finally, he slumped to the ground, unconscious. The Priest began kicking the Chief into a dropship. It streaked into the air, with troops firing in vain from below. "Weak humans..." |
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