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Section I: Vagrant

Prelude: Alone

When he crawled out of the mud, he didn't yet know he was alone. A feeling of deja vu came over him seeing that no one else was alive. He tried to take his experience on Halo out of his memory. He had to think of the task at hand. There was no one else around. He was beginning to remember when happened. Yes. It was all coming back to him.

Back on the Vagrant, he was a high-ranking naval personnel. Although he was only and ensign, he commanded all the weaponry on the huge military ship. In the midst of an alien attack, they were called back to Earth to help in the fight in space. It was true the humans were losing the battle; they needed something to save them. It was known that the Covenant were starting to be defeated on the surface battles, but few knew the real secret. A rumor was around that some of the Spartan cybernetic soldiers had survived the battles of Reach and Halo, but it was only a rumor among the navy. Moreover, navy rumors grow very easily, and are sometimes huge letdowns. That is the reason they were there in the first place. The rumor that, if there were enough human ships, the Covenant might retreat. They were wrong. More ships were destroyed by the Covenant plasma cannons. They had even destroyed the orbiting MAC guns. They then had their lasers targeted on the Vagrant, the third-largest ship in the fleet. Its two superiors had already been destroyed, so it must have been next on the Covenant's list. A few well-placed plasma shots later and the whole crew was being evacuated. Lifepods and Longswords were being destroyed just as fast as they were shooting out the sides of the ship.

"Ensign Ardonza!"
"Yes sir!" Lieutenant Mendon was Ardonza's ranking officer. That meant he had to do anything the "LT", as the crew called him, said.
"Get on that lifepod before the Vagrant blows away. We're the only ones left on this ship." They jumped into the last lifepod just before it flew out of the ship and the last plasma cannon was fired.
Away on another lifepod, Captain Stand was watching, as his ship was lost to the Covenant. He wanted to grieve for his ship but he had no time, three teardrop-shaped Seraphs shot the pod out in one shot each.

This is where Ardonza was now. Covered in mud in the middle of eastern Africa. Alone.

Chapter One: Reinforcements

"Cortana? What kind of reinforcements could you possibly have? The entire fleet engaged."
"Don't worry, Lieutenant. Just let them land."
Cortana was on radio with Lieutenant Anderson of the UNSC Navy. The Covenant were slowly destroying Earth's naval fleet and were starting to let off Phantom dropships to land on Earth. This was where He came in. The Master Chief, one of the Spartans. They were the greatest soldiers in the universe. No one could beat them in ground combat situations, but up in space, he felt helpless. He had no control over his own life. He had to get back to Earth, but his first mission back was on a Covenant cruiser. He had to go fast so he could get back to the ground battles. He had to capture one of the Prophets. They seem weak in appearance, he thought, but their telekinetic powers could lift over five thousand times their own weight. He had to capture one. The fate of the world, no, the human race, depended upon it. He walked back to the latch to open the outer doors. He was going to jump. He took a good grip on a nearby pipe as the airlock doors slid open and all the air in the docking bay flew out into the nothingness. He looked down from the corvette-class Abe; he saw the Covenant cruisers and the flagship in perfect formation as ship after ship from the humans was destroyed. As the flagship was moving under the tiny Abe, he prepared to jump.
"What if you miss?" questioned Cortana in side of the Chief's head.
"I won't" he replied just as he flew out of the corvette down to the flagship too fast.
"We're going to hit...!"
"Don't worry," he assured her, "we'll be fine."



Section II: Gamma 608

Chapter Two: Rescue party

The sound of the Warthog's humming engine was slightly reassuring to Ardonza, but seeing no one in the gunner position put his feelings back down in the mud. Everyone on his lifepod had died, including Lieutenant Mendon, who he had been talking to just a few hours ago. He could not believe everyone was dead.

"This is Pelican Gamma six-oh-eight, is there anybody reading me. Repeat, any UNSC personnel respond."
"Ensign Fred Ardonza, I'm here. Everyone else on this lifepod died in the crash.
"As did many others. I've been around this area; I've seen twenty lifepods, only three survivors so far.
"Whoa, didn't know it was that serious."
"'Whoa' is right. I haven't seen anything this devastating since...Reach."
"Reach? You survived Reach?"
"Yea, there were some ships that escaped away without the Covenant knowing. Like the Pillar..."
"...of Autumn," the Ensign finished the pilot's sentence.
"Yea. Anyway, I'll land and we'll load all those weapons from your escape pod onto the Pelican."
"The weapons? Why? There's not that many here."
"Have you been to New Mombassa lately? We'll need it."

Chapter Three: Caught Stealing

"Well, we made it," whispered Cortana as the Master Chief ran stealthily down the flagship's large, purple hallways. He got lost in similar hallways on the Truth and Reconciliation, but this time he seemed to know where to go.
He ran through corridor after corridor, and finally came to the docking bay. "Okay Chief, just climb up the side of the wall and get up to the third floor. Your enhanced suit abilities should help you keep hold." He followed Cortana's directions and as he was coming up, he saw two Jackals and an Elite. He instinctively whipped out his pistol to snipe him, but something was wrong.
"Crap! Why did they have to take out the pistol scope?!"
"Why don't you just use your Battle Rifle?"
"Yea.... I know." He took his rifle back out and he shot three shots. The Jackals fell and the Elite was shot right between the eyes. He just turned stiff and fell to the ground. The Chief ran through door they came out of and there were at least five gold Elites and maybe fifteen grunts. They did not notice him until three grenades rolled under their feet.
The Master Chief picked up a Carbine and a Plasma Sword from their bodies for the obvious Brute fight ahead. He knew the Brutes were the private bodyguards of the prophets, so he knew he had to prepare to battle them.
"Okay, the prophet's right up here." He went up to the door to try to open it, but it just flew right open. Just as it happened, three Brutes jumped on him. He stabbed one with the sword and knocked out one with a Carbine melee, but then he just couldn't move. He started to float towards a floating chair in the center of the room. "Well, it seems the Prophet has captured us.

Chapter Four: New Mombassa De-Militarized Zone

As Ardonza's dropship flew towards a large open area, with a fenced in area in the center with a small building, he saw the entrance sign. "Emergency De-Militarized Zone," and under in slightly smaller print, "All UNSC personnel radio in, or be prepared to be shot on sight.
"Wow. A little paranoid, huh?"
"Well, you know the brass, they always are." Then on radio, "DM zone, this is Pelican Dropship Gamma six-oh-eight, coming in with a survivor of the Vagrant crash."
"Welcome back, Omani, found another marine, did you?
"He's navy sir."
"Oh not marine? Ah, well, maybe we...."
"I'm a weapon specialist, sir," interrupted Ardonza.
"Ah. So we may be able to use you... Just don't interrupt me again!"
"Sorry, sir," apologized Ardonza as they landed on a makeshift landing pad.



Section III: The Prophet of War

Chapter Five: The Cure

"So I, the Prophet of War, am the one to capture the great Master Chief," the prophet said slowly in a strange accent Chief could barely understand, "and I have also captured the great artificial mind X-7."
"X-7?" exclaimed Cortana.
"Yes, X-7. That is your designation."
"Well you can take your designation and...."
"Cortana!" the Chief interrupted as he was unable to move floating in front of this old-looking alien sitting in a floating chair, "What are you going to do with me?"
"I'm going to use you to get into the Earth's mainframe and shutdown all your communications and other transmissions."
"That's it!"
"I didn't say you could talk!" screamed the War Prophet as he used his powers to hurt the Chief. "You humans are so annoying. Everywhere I go there are annoying humans. You move into an area, suck it dry of all possible resources, then just move on to another area, leaving the other in the dust. There is only one other organism in the entire universe that follows this same behavior. Do you know what that is?" the Prophet's chair floated so close to the Chief that he could whisper, "It's a virus. That is right, the human race is a virus, and we are the cure.

Chapter Six: Ardonza's Thought

"Lay low soldier!"
"Contacts! Lots of Contacts!"
"Sarge there are too many! Ahh!"
Ardonza could hear screams coming from all around him as he walked down into the underground D.M. zone. He did not know what Colonel Neglands had in store for him. All he knew is that they just went down and down and there didn't seem to be an end, "We're here," announced Neglands as he opened a door labeled "Armory and Strategy".
"This is, as the sign says, the armory. It is also where our mission strategy is usually planned, but in this time of crisis, we're just hoping to survive."
"So why am I here?"
"We need you to build a weapon."
"A weapon?"
"Yes, out weaponry is too balanced with that of the Covenant's. We need an edge. We need something to eliminate them. We need a super weapon."
"Like a nuke?"
"Nuclear weapons are too destructive to both the environment and we can never be sure that there are no humans in the vicinity of the bomb. We have for a small, one-person plane that was going to be used for civilian flying, but with a few weapons on it, it would be a great military aircraft. We need your help to build the weapon system for the Eagle, as we have named it. We already have vehicle-homing rockets and gauss guns planned for it. We need a new weapon. Please can you think of anything?"
"I may have an idea...."
"Good. Get on it then." He shut the door in Ardonza's face signaling the beginning of the long process of Ardonza creating the Eagle.
"Well, better get started," Ardonza thought aloud, "Now, what are the dimensions of this aircraft...



Section IV: The Escape

Chapter Seven: The Drop-pod

Colonel Neglands walked back up the stairs into the main hall. "Okay, General, Ardonza has started work on the Eagle and..."
"Yes. Good." General Peniten sat firmly next to Lieutenant Verol, another naval commander from the Vagrant, "We have been waiting for a weapon specialist for awhile. Good thing he came in when we did. We got reports that the Covenant have found a way to shut down the Super MAC guns orbiting the planet and that they plan to land troops on Earth."
"Well then we better get started on..." He was interrupted by the sound of an alarm. "Don't I ever get to finish a sentence around here?" he complained as he heard the bittersweet female voice's pre-recorded alarm warning.
"All personnel to stations, Covenant vessel approaching."
"Covenant vessel? There attacking already. Put it on screen."
"Just one drop-pod? One Elite is going to try to infiltrate our base? Or just kill us all?"

"Prepare for Gold-ranked or SpecOps Elite." General Peniten announced over the intercom. All of the soldiers, except Ardonza who had been cut off from all outside contact, rushed to where the drop-pod was landing. It flew at such high speeds; Ardonza could hear its impact from the deep basement Armory he was confined to.
"I wish I could go see whet that was. But I have to get to work on this weapon." Ardonza thought about leaving for a long time, but he could not leave his work. He had to work on the Eagle's weaponry. He tried to get it out of his mind, but he couldn't, like he had to do it. He once again thought about what he would do when he got there, then he decided not to go and he got back to his work. It never came to his mind again.

By the time the drop-pod had landed, at least half the base was there, the other half were coming. The UNSC Marines huddled around the pod.
"Okay men ready your weapons. Don't open fire until I give the signal." General Peniten gave orders as the pod door began to open. He could feel the chilly mist coming out of the hissing door as it started to rise.
"Ready men...."

Chapter Eight: Brilliance

"So, Chief, how are we getting out of this one?"
"Don't worry, everything is going according to plan."

"Ah, here it is!" exclaimed the Prophet in his strange accent, "He keyed up the file he was looking for. It read "UNSC Earth Defense Weapon Mainframe".
"Okay, Prophet, I'll give you the codes."
"Good... hey wait a minute. This is some kind of trick isn't it? You're going to give me the wrong password. Then something's going to happen... no. You're not that smart. Or strong," he sent another bolt of energy into the Master Chief's body to remind him not to lie.
"The password is... UNSC DeZne, D-E-Z-N-E."
"Brilliance" echoed Cortana's voice inside Chief's head. "Complete Brilliance."
"Okay. Let's see." The prophet started talking in a strange dialect and he keyed on his monitor and nine strange triangle symbols jumped up on the view screen showing the Earth. Then the screen starting blinking orange. The Prophet had lost focus on the Chief and the second he was out of the Prophet's grasp he sprinted out of the room and jumped into an Elite's drop-pod and sent it out of the ship. He escaped just as three of the Earth's Defense MAC gun shells came swarming at the Covenant Cruiser and it was one ship crossed of the UNSC's list of enemy cruisers.
Chief's drop-pod flew through Earth's outer atmosphere and was flying down towards Africa. "We're going to land in New Mombassa, Chief. Luckily near the DM Zone.



Section V: The Mission

Chapter Nine: Dramatic Entrance

"HOLD YOUR FIRE!!!!!" screamed the General as he realized it was a Spartan in the drop-pod.
"Sorry for the welcome Chief. So why are you here?"
"I just jumped out of a Covenant ship just as it was destroyed."
"Ah, you destroyed the Aberrant Regnant. Great work. You Spartans are saving the human race."
"Yes. Sir."
"So I assume you're bored with space work. You want a ground mission don't you?"
"Yes Sir!" the Chief perked up in his specially fortified chair to hold the weight of him and his armor.
"We have been having problems in many major cities. New Mombassa, Los Angeles, New Boston, and even..."
"No. Not..."
"Yes. Europe City. The main hub of the eastern world. It is being overthrown. We need something to happen. Please Chief. Help us."
"I will. I'll go to Europe."
"Many of the navy brass will say they need more help in the sky, but they just don't like being overdone by the ground forces. We already have the plane ready for you."
"Plane?"

Chapter 10: The Eagle

"The names a little cliché, isn't it?"
"Yes, but we couldn't think of anything else at such short notice."
"So what kind of weaponry does it have? Looks like rockets and gauss cannons and some kind of... what is that?"
"That is a captured Covenant plasma cannon directly from a Seraph. It was melded on and painted. Goes well with the rest. This plane had very varied weaponry. It should work well. Hope it will help you get to Europe City.
"So do I." he said as he pulled himself up into the cockpit. "Goodbye sir. I hope we meet again."
"I hope so Chief. Godspeed." The General opened the bay doors with the controls that sat next to him and the Eagle flew out at a very high speed that soon came to mach speed. The Chief looked back for a fraction of a second to see the De-Militarized building melted in a huge bolt of plasma. He could not help but mourn for the General, Ardonza and all those good men just burned by a huge plasma blob. The building was gone. All that was left was a small plane of glass. Now he was alone.

Chapter 11: Quick Finish

Chief's new ride had its advanced weaponry and advanced technology, but the Master Chief still felt that he was not in control of his own life. He knew the weaponry would protect him enough in this small mission, which he found out happened to be just to destroy a group of Seraphs and a small battalion of Elites that had invaded the city.
"Maasttter Ch...Cheef. Come een. Are you therre?" A message came up on the radio.
"Yes. Who is this?"
"Thees ees Lootenant Jeerad. Doo yoo reed?"
"Yes, sir. There must be something wrong with your radio. Your voice seems distorted."
"Yees. Yoor meeshun has been transfored."
"Transferred?"
"Yees."
"Yes? But why?"
"Beecuz the sitchooashun has been already dealt weeth."
"It has been dealt with? What do you mean?"
"Take yoor Eegul and go into the space to these coordeenates."
"These are the coordinates of a ship."
"Yees. Go therre now. You arre needed more therre than herre."
"Yes, sir." He was both confused and disappointed. He wondered why he had been transferred to this ship in orbit of Earth and why the voice of Lieutenant Jirrad. He also was mad that he had to go back into the hands of some Captain of some ship. Maybe it was for the best. Maybe...

To be continued...in HALO 2.

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