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The Trials of a Displaced Master Chief by stan
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The Trials of a Displaced Master Chief Chapter 1: Ritchie
Date: 6 December 2003, 1:32 AM
Sunlight streamed through the open window, illuminating a million tiny particles of dust as it reached across the filthy room. Bottles were strewn across the floor amongst containers of takeout Chinese and old pizza boxes. A handle of Captain Morgan rum lay bottoms up in the sink, and a strong odor of rotting food, stale beer, and dirty socks hung over the area.
Sitting amongst the trash, snoring loudly was a tall lanky man dressed in a badly worn Adidas jogging suit with matching shoes and headband. His hair was long and hung over his eyes, as was the fashion of the times. The man's name was Richard Smeltz, but to his friends he was Ritchie.
Suddenly, the muffled voice of a news radio weatherman drifted up from under a large pile of laundry. Ritchie awoke with a start, and began slapping at the dirty clothes. The weatherman, determined to complete his daily forecast, would not be defeated that quickly and continued to drone on about a low pressure system that was settling over the area. Finally, Ritchie stood slowly, walked over to the pile of clothes, and extracted the offending clock radio. With a grunt he hurled it across the room where it shattered on the jagged edge of a kitchen counter. With the disturbance taken care of, he collapsed into the laundry pile and quickly fell asleep.
A short while later, a loud banging roused him once again from his alcohol induced coma. Ritchie whined, yawned, rolled over, and feel asleep again. After a moment the knocking returned; this time louder and more persistent. Ritchie, realizing that like the clock, he would have to take care of this loud interruption if he wished to sleep any longer, stood and walked on shaking legs to the door. As he reached the door and laid his hand on the deadbolt, the knocking ceased abruptly. From behind the door Ritchie heard the unmistakable sound of a pistol's slide being pulled back and released. Without any further encouragement, he jumped quickly from the door.
Fully alert now, Ritchie bounded through the discarded food containers and empty bottles that served as the rooms only furnishings to the kitchen. There, he opened a cupboard above the sink, reached up, and pulled a large semi-automatic pistol from it's hiding place behind a false back in the cabinet. Emboldened by the heft of the gun in his hand, he crossed the room once again and, with considerably more caution, approached the door. When he had made it halfway across the room, the knocking noise began again. This time the sound was less a polite, but urgent, knock but more the sound of someone pounding on the door with a large object. Ritchie froze, scanned the room for any cover he could utilize and, finding none, dropped to a knee with his gun aimed at the door.
Suddenly the door gave way around the deadbolt and flew inward banging loudly against the wall. Standing in the doorframe was the biggest man Ritchie had ever seen. At least he thought it was a man. From what he could tell the figure stood at least 8 feet tall and was clad in what looked like futuristic green armor. As Ritchie sat open mouth gaping in shock at the monstrous aberration in front of him, a conversation he had had earlier in the week with an friend of his suddenly came back to him.
He had been eating dinner with his friend Eddie Nine Toes when conversation changed to Ritchie's current business associate Alfredo Maluchi. According to Eddie, Maluchi had a new enforcer on hire, and while that wasn't too interesting in itself, the rumors about the man where. Apparently, from what Eddie could gather, the man (if you could call him a man) had shown up one day about 4 months ago at the main offices of Maluchi Macaroni Importers, the headquarters of Alfredo Maluchi's wide ranging and powerful crime syndicate. Within weeks the Green Giant, as he was soon being called, was roaming the streets cleaning up any problems that Maluchi sent his way.
At the time Ritchie wasn't sure if he could trust everything that Eddie had told him, but from what he was seeing he was now sure ol' Nine Toes wasn't lying. In any case, the thing standing in his doorway was not something you wanted to have over for Sunday dinner, and was best dealt with, Ritchie figured, with a few rounds from his semi-auto. Ritchie drew the gun, aimed at what he thought was the weakest looking part of the armor, and fired. To his amazement every round he shot bounced off the man and ricocheted harmless around the room.
The giant intruder, now surrounded by a slowly fading golden glow, stepped into the room, raised his pistol, and blew off Riche Smeltz gun hand clean off.
Ritchie fell to the floor clutching what was left of his demolished left hand to his chest, all the while screeching in a voice that was 3 octaves higher than what a man should produce. The green clad man quickly scanned the room for any other threats, and then walked casually over to where Ritchie now lay whimpering in a fetal position on the floor. He reached down, grabbed Ritchie by the arm and effortlessly dragged him to a standing position.
"Don't fall over again, I need to ask you some questions and I don't want you passing out before I'm finished." The man spoke in a low, gruff voice.
Ritchie let out a quiet whimper, but stayed on his feet.
"Good. Now, first off, do you know who I am? I know who you are and I feel we should be properly introduced before we continue."
"You, you shot my hand off." Ritchie replied. "YOU FUCKING SHOT MY FUCKING HAND OFF."
"You're right, I did. But it's not that bad. I mean, yeah you'll lose some blood but you'll live. However, if you don't answer my questions, then my next shot is going to be aimed a little bit lower. Got it?"
Ritchie shuddered and let out another small groan, but nodded his head.
"Good. Now, I'll ask again: Do you know who I am?"
"Yes. Er, no. I mean, I've heard of you ok?"
"Well then, I should introduce myself. It's only polite." Replied the Green Giant. "My name's John. Most people call me the Master Chief. That was my rank, before in the military, but we don't need to get into that. I am what you could call a tracker. I find things. And right now I'm looking for something that belongs to my employer and I have reason to believe that it is in your custody. Am I right in thinking that?"
"Look man, John, or chief, whatever. I don't know what you're talking about, I've got nothing alright."
"Ritchie, I don't believe you I think you are lying."
"I'm not, really, I've got nothing." Ritchie whined. "Look around man, I don't even got furniture."
The Master Chief saw that at least the man was being truthful about that; besides the trash the place was empty. Even so, the Chief knew the package had to be here. Somewhere. He had done his homework, and as yet he had never failed a test.
"Cortana" Asked the Chief in a low voice.
"Yes?" A woman's voice answered.
"Do a scan of the room. See if there is anything matching our package."
"Affirmative, initiating scan now."
Ritchie watched in confusion as the big, green, gun-toting son of a bitch stood there in his living room talking to himself. Ritchie knew he must be losing a lot of blood, but he didn't think he was imagining things. He figured the only explanation was the guy had some sort of internal radio in that big visored helmet of his.
"Scan complete. I found an anomaly that fits the profile of our package." Announced Cortana, "It's located in the kitchen in the cupboard above the sink."
"Got it." Replied the Master Chief as he stepped around Ritchie into the kitchen. When he reached the cupboard and looked inside, he found it to be empty.
"The cupboard is empty Cortana, are you sure it's here?"
"Yes, I can see that it's empty but I'm sure that it's there. There must be a hidden compartment, try the back."
The Master Chief tapped along the back wall of the cupboard with the butt of his pistol and was rewarded with a hollow thud. He felt along the edge of the panel with his fingers until he found a small crack. He wedged his gloved fingers in to the crack and pried. The entire back wall of the cabinet popped off revealing a small hidden compartment about the same size as the empty cupboard. Currently the compartment was filled with stacks of dirty bills, a small bag containing a white substance the Chief guessed to be cocaine, and a medium sized black attaché case.
The Chief grabbed the case and set it on the counter. He dialed in the combination that had been given him by his boss, and was pleased to find that ol' Ritchie One Hand hadn't changed the combo as the case popped open.
"It's here Cortana, let's go."
"What about our friend in the living room?"
"I think Ritchie has been living in this shit hole long enough don't you? I figure he deserves a move up, or down as the case may be." The Chief replied grimly.
In the living room Ritchie watched as the guy calling himself the Master Chief located his hidden stash and pulled out the brief case. He knew that his time was limited and that if he didn't act now he'd soon be dead. After hearing the conclusion of the Chiefs seemingly one-sided conversation, Ritchie knew he had to make a break for it.
He made his move while the Chief was still in the kitchen with his back to the living room. As the Chief closed up the case, he made his way slowly towards the still open door. His instincts screamed for him to move more quickly, to run for the door, but he didn't want to accidentally kick over an empty beer bottle and betray his escape. He had made it across the room to the door when a large, cold hand grasped him by the shoulder and, seemingly with out effort, lifted him off his feet. Before he was fully aware of what was happening, Ritchie felt himself flying across the room. He slammed into the far wall and slumped down into a crumpled ball.
Drawing his pistol, the Master Chief watched as Ritchie slowly tried to right himself. He strode across the room and leveled his pistol at Ritchie's now bleeding head.
"Where you going Ritchie?" He asked. "If you were headed over to the macaroni shop to offer your apologies to Mr. Maluchi, I can save you the effort. He doesn't accept apologies, and neither do I."
With that, he cocked his weapon and fired.
Now that matter was out of the way, the Master Chief knew he had to move quickly. It was only a matter of time before somebody called the cops to come investigate the gunfire. He made his way quickly around the room canvassing it for the two casings from the rounds he had fired. Though he had only been a criminal for a few months, he knew a few things about covering his tracks.
Satisfied that any lawmen investigated the murder would find no clues as to who killed Ritchie Smeltz, the Master Chief exited the room. As he made his way down the stairwell too the parking garage below, Cortana spoke up.
"Chief, I'm really getting tired of this job." She said.
"We've been over this Cortana, we need the money. And really, can you think of anything else an 8-foot cyborg can do without attracting attention? Because if so I'm all ears, I'm not too thrilled with this line of work either."
"No, I know. It's just, we should be killing Covenant not street thugs." She replied. "We should be thinking of a way to get back home."
"Again, we've been through this. The fact is we're stuck here and you know it. I mean, look around you; it's 1981. 1981! Where you want to go is 500 years into the future! Look, I still don't know how we got here, but the reality is that we are here and that is just something we are going to have to deal with." Replied the Master Chief with a sigh. "The Covenant is no longer our problem. Survival is."
"Fine. Fine, I agree it is. For now. But we don't belong here and sooner or later somebody is going to notice that. We've got to get back home and I think I know a way."
"Fine. But tell me on the way, because pretty soon this place is going to be crawling with cops."
With that the Master Chief slid into the drivers seat of his massive Cadillac sedan, put the car in gear, and drove out of the garage.
The Trials of a Displaced Master, Chief Chapter II: Time Travel Can Be Such A Pain
Date: 16 December 2003, 2:41 AM
The Master Chief flicked his turn signal, and turned the Cadillac to the right, out of the parking garage. It was a 30-mile drive from the apartment of Ritchie Smeltz to the headquarters of Maluchi Macaroni Importers, and traffic would be heavy. There would be ample to time for Cortana to lay out her plan for their return to home. John checked his mirrors for any tails and then, detecting none, settled in for the drive. No car was designed to seat one and a half tons of armored soldier comfortably, but the roomy Cadillac at least allowed the Chief to fit in the driver seat.
"Ok Cortana, let's hear it."
"Well Chief, I've been reviewing our encounter with the Forerunner object we found directly before we arrived here. I've determined that the immense gravity well produced by the object at the time of contraction must have torn a hole either through the very fabric of space-time or through some previously hidden dimension and thus allowed our ship to travel backwards on the path of time. I imagine the process is somewhat similar to our slipspace engines. However, instead of widening a spatial dimension that leads to another part of the universe the ship is currently in, this object opens a hole through the dimension of time."
As Cortana discussed her findings on the nature of the mysterious object they had found on the outskirts of the Halo system, the Chief couldn't help but recall the four strange days after the destruction of halo and their arrival here.
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Halo was destroyed. Likewise, the flood and any Human or Covenant forces unlucky enough to be left on the construct had been vaporized. The Master Chief and Cortana were seemingly the only human forces that survived not only the encounter with the Flood, but also the clash with the Covenant over the planet Reach. So many lost in such a short time thought the Master Chief as he sat inactive in the Longsword space fighter that he and Cortana had used to escape the Pillar of Autumn and ultimately Halo itself. At least the past two weeks were not a total lose the Chief realized.
Cortana's databanks were packed full with information on both the Flood and the construct itself. The information could prove to be the most important weapon the Human forces had in their struggle for survival. Not only would the data be vital in quashing any future outbreak of the Flood that may occur, but the information on the Forerunner installation might lead to some ultra-advanced technology that could turn the tide of war in the favor of the Humans. There was enough data in Cortana's memory cells to keep the folks at ONI busy for years; that is if the Chief and Cortana could safely deliver that information to the proper authorities.
As of that moment the prospects of that occurring did not look good. The Longsword fighter that they were currently piloting through the debris field of the ruined ring construct was not equipped with any sort of slipspace drive. And under conventional power, Cortana had calculated, it would take millennia to return to the Earth.
The thought had crossed John's mind to capture one of the many Covenant cruisers or destroyers that had flocked to the system after the destruction of the Forerunner installation. After all, he had been ordered to do just that, and those orders still stood. Those orders, however, had been written up with John's entire squad of Spartans in mind. To attempt the task alone would not only certainly get him killed, but could ultimately prove fatal to all of Mankind if the data that Cortana held were to fall into the hands of the Covenant. And so John sat, inactive, as Cortana worked to keep them hidden from the Covenant scanners that probed every inch of the debris field that had already begun to pull itself into a ring around the gas giant Threshold. It was, John thought, ironic that even after destruction the ring world would maintain its intended shape.
Thoughts like these helped to keep him calm as they drifted closer and closer to the edge of the system. The events of his five day stay on Halo had rolled through his mind so many times as to have become almost one continuous stream of death and destruction. And in the end, his thoughts always returned to the same image: that of the infected form of former Captain Jacob Keyes. Keyes had been a friend and, along with all those who had fallen to the vile Flood, did not deserve such a horrible death.
"This is interesting." Cortana muttered to herself, snapping the Chief out of his sad recollections. "Chief, I'm picking up a strange anomaly at the edge of the system. It seems quiet large, and not of natural origin."
"Another Halo?" Asked the Chief.
"Not likely. It's hard to tell, but the structure can't be more than a small fraction of the size of Halo."
"Why do you say 'hard to tell', the scanners seem to be functioning normally."
"It's not the ships scanners, it is the object itself. The scanners are picking up a hard contact, but the size is not static; it's shrinks and expands. However, there doesn't seem to be any pattern to these cycles. From what I can tell, the average size seems to be that of a small planetoid, maybe 400 kilometers. "
John pondered Cortana's remarks. A "hard contact" meant that the ship's scanners were picking up solid material, not merely a cloud of gas or a region of dense interstellar dust. The technology to construct such a large, deformable object was far beyond that which even the Covenant possessed. John could only assume that the structure was in some way connected to the ring construct further in-system. If that was the case, the object had been built by the mysterious Forerunner, and John knew from experience that all such things were worth a closer look.
"Cortana, plot a course to the object. If this thing has anything to do with Halo or the flood, I think it would be a good idea to check it out. Anyways, it's not like we have much else to do."
"Acknowledged. Changing course now. ETA to our new destination is 14 hours." Replied Cortana.
With the prospect of some action to break the monotony of their travel, the time passed quickly for the Chief. Reflections of the events of the last few days turned to speculation on the strange structure that Cortana had discovered.
As they traveled closer to their destination, Cortana was able to assemble a clearer picture of the object they were heading towards. Her initial calculations had been correct, the object was about 400 kilometers in diameter. This, however, was not a constant size as the object would occasionally expand to almost twice it's average size, and then rapidly contract down to a mere handful of kilometers, before slowly expand once again to it's equilibrium size. The cycles of contraction and expansion occurred seemingly at random, and each contraction was accompanied by a burst of high-energy particles that Cortana had difficulty classifying.
They were now within 10,000 kilometers of the object, and its structure was visible on the ships view screens. At this distance it was hard to determine much of the object's nature, however it seemed to be constructed from the same blue-gray material preferred by the Forerunners.
More details became apparent as the longsword powered closer to the enigmatic object. Roughly spherical in shape, it was covered with triangular protrusions that were spread along its body. Though the space immediately surrounding the sphere was completely clear of any material a flattened disk of rocks, ice crystals, and other material left over from the creation of this system slowly orbited the object. John was reminded of the accretion disk that formed around many black holes.
"It's expanding again." Commented Cortana.
On the screen, the object slowly began to increase in size. The triangular protrusions that covered its body began to flatten and spread to accommodate the growth. As John watched, an opening formed at the sphere's equator, and soft blue-white light washed over the accretion disk.
While the object and the opening at it's center continued to grow, the material in the disk surrounding it began to orbit at a much higher speed. The debris closest to the object began to spiral inwards until it was engulfed by the massive opening that now spread almost 100 kilometers in diameter. Tidal forces near the sphere broke down any larger rocks, so that soon the object was consuming a uniform stream of material.
"Cortana, put us in an orbit around the sphere, but keep us at a safe distance. I don't want to be drawn into that opening."
"Acknowledged. But be aware, the gravitational pull from the sphere has increased by a factor of almost 1000. I've never seen anything like this. We will have to keep quite a distance to stay out of its gravity well."
Suddenly, as abruptly as it had opened, the mouth on the object's face spiraled shut. By this point, the sphere had swelled to a diameter of close to 800 kilometers. The face of the object was now completely smooth and complex patterns of light and shadow swarmed across it, glowing from some internal source.
Just then, a brilliant white light flooded the cabin of the longsword. John's visor could not accommodate for this sudden change in light level, and he was forced to turn his head. His over-shields sparked and crackled as a stream of high-energy radiation washed over the ship. The contraction had begun.
In it's orbit far from the object, the ship was buffeted by powerful gravity waves that rolled through spaced like a stormy sea. The ship shook violently, and John was suddenly afraid that the little space fighter would not hold together through this onslaught of turbulence.
Just as the shaking and vibrations grew do their highest point, the light flared, and then faded. The cabin of the longsword was left in darkness, illuminated only by the flash of warning lights from the control console. Those too were quickly extinguished as Cortana struggled to return power to the ships reactors that had been knocked offline during the contraction.
On the screen, John had trouble making out the structure. The disk of material orbiting it still roiled from the effects of the violent contraction. John spotted the sphere at the center of a large portion of space that had been blown clear by the expanding gravity waves. The sphere had already begun to expand to its equilibrium size, and from John's vantage point looked like some exotic, dull-gray fruit. The triangular protrusions that had been completely flat before the contraction, now covered it's surface completely. All in all, the object showed no ill effects from the violent events that had just occurred.
"I'm getting some very odd readings here chief." Announced Cortana. "Before the contraction, the ship's scanners had been measuring the expansion of the sphere with their laser range finders. The instruments were functioning properly all the way up the contraction. However, at that point, all reading ceased. It seems the beams aimed at the object were not returned. Actually, from what I can gather, all forms of electronic transmissions in the vicinity of object simply died as they entered." She continued, "I've deduced that the contraction event must have created a massive singularity somewhere within the object."
"Singularity, you mean like a black hole?" Asked the Chief.
"Correct. However, given the duration of the instrument malfunction and the fact that the object has not completely imploded in on itself, the structure must somehow limit the sphere of the singularity's gravitational influence. The engineering is mind-boggling. Even the Covenant are hundreds of years away from this amount of control over gravity."
The Cheif had a decsion to make. He knew that any information on Forerunner technology, especially technology as impressive as this object, would be important to the Human effort against the covenant. However, the data that Cortana already carried was of equal if not greater importance, and had to be delievered to Earth intact. Sticking around to observe this strange obeject may lead to some important information, but John had a feeling that it might also lead to trouble. He made his decision.
"Cortana, record as much data on the structure as possible, and then plot a course out of this system. I've got a bad feeling about this mini black hole, and I have no desire to be in its vicinity when it starts up the next cycle."
"Affirmative, Chief. Plotting course change n-, wait, the object is expanding again."
The Master Chief glanced at the screen and noted that the sphere had indeed begun to expand; and at a much more rapid pace then they had ever observed. In the fifteen hours that they had observed the structure, it had completed nine cycles of expansion and contraction. The average time between those cycles was about one and a half hours, with the shortest time being fifty minutes. It had been now been only fifteen minutes from the last cycle. John was not one to believe in coincidences, and the fact that the object had deviated from it's somewhat established routine directly after they arrived within it's vicinity did not sit well with him.
"Cortana, get us out of here now!" he instructed.
"I'm trying chief! The radiation from the last contraction overloaded the ship's reactors. We are operating at only 70% power."
On the screen, the sphere continued to expand at a rapid rate. At its center, the gaping mouth had opened and was quickly swallowing an enormous amount of material. The ship was once again bathed in soft blue light.
"50% Chief." Announced Cortana. "I don't think it'll be enough though. The object has passed the point of its largest observed expansion, and is still growing."
To John it was as if the sphere was reaching out to swallow them. All around the ship, boulders of various sizes sped past them towards to massive object. John now felt the tug of gravity as the object began to pull in the longsword.
"We're losing power Chief! At this rate we won't be able to break free from the structure's pull!"
It seemed the ultimate irony to the Chief. He had fought Covenant soldiers, and the vile infectious flood to destroy Halo before it could destroy him, and had succeeded against all odds. And yet, it now seemed that in the end the long dead Forerunners would be victorious as he again faced death at the hands of one of their constructions.
All his life the chief had been a man of action. To sit here cramped in this powerless ship being inexorably drawn to this mysterious structure, and most likely to certain death, was the most maddening thing he had ever endured. There was no enemy to defeat, no feat of strength or ingenuity that would save him from this situation.
As he sat in the light of his pending doom, his thoughts went to those friends that he had lost in his lifelong career as a professional soldier. Also, he thought of the Earth, that small planet that he had pledged to defend, though had never yet seen.
"One kilometer and closing. Brace yourself chief, I think we're in for a rough ride."
The distance between the ship and the object closed quickly. At the moment they should have entered the massive mouth of the object, the ship was drawn quickly upward along the face of the object. John watched as a smaller opening, similar in shape to its more massive cousin, opened about 300 meters above them. The ship was drawn towards this new opening, and within a matter of moments they were within the structure. The world became a soft but persistent blue light, and John once again thought of humanity's home planet. He was sorry he would never live to see it.
The door closed.
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