Vandread Fan Fiction ❯ VanDread - Halo ❯ Heroes ( Prologue )

AlVanDread - Halo

Disclaimer: I do not own the Halo Universe series or VanDread. They are owned by Bungie and Gonzo respectively, I'm just a guy who loves both of them.

Prologue

Heroes

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It was over…

The nearly 30 years War between the United Nations Space Command and the Covenant was now at an end. Three decades where the human race was nearly brought to the brink of extinction by the combined might of several races bound by religion and faith. The UNSC Navy, and it's fellow military entities, the UNSC Army, and the UNSC Marine Corps lost countless numbers of it's soldiers, crew, equipment, ships, bases, outposts and more…colonies such as Harvest, Reach, Paris IV, Sigma Octanus IV, and countless other human colonial worlds were glassed by the massive fleets of the Covenant.

It was not always this way nearly half a century before though…

The United Nations Space Command, the exploratory, scientific, and military arm of the Colonial Administration Authority, and the United Earth Government, was founded by the United Nations when the over-population of Earth grew in the 22nd Century, and was under the jurisdiction of HIGHCOM. The UNSC saw action in the years of 2160 and 2164 when a series of brutal inter system wars filled the Sol System…including the Jovian Moons Campaign, the Rain Forest Wars, and the series of Battles in the Colonies of Mars, all during the time the United nations dealt with dissident political groups, namely the neo communist faction known as the Koslovics, who formed under the teachings of Vladimir Koslov, and their enemies, the neo fascist movement known as the Frieden.

The war began when both factions launched separate but lethal attacks on UN advisors in the Io colony, but the supposed isolated attacks spread to Mars, then to the Rain Forests of South America and then to the Jovian Moons, which was known to be the home base of the Frieden, leading to the Jovian Moons Campaign, the Rain Forest Wars and Battles of Mars,. These wars and events led to the reformation of the UN from a purely diplomatic organization into a permanent military power with various countries merging it's forces into the UNSC military. The consequences of the wars led to the formation of a united government on Earth to lead the human race into the years to come at the beginning of the year 2170. The wars also served to point out the massive over population problem along with the problematic food and resource distribution. The famines that were there in the past four year war along with the vast social problems revealed the need to change the political nature of governance on Earth and elsewhere, this system of governance also would later be used to govern the soon to be born colonies.

The events of the wars and the pressures they placed on the governments and populations also served to show the attraction and need to begin massive space colonization, a bill made by the United Earth Government in the year of 2310 to help ease the burdens on the already taxed Earth and it's own resources, however the colonization efforts didn't begin until the discovery of Slipspace and the invention of the Slipspace drive engine in the late 2200s by two scientists named Shaw and Fujikawa. The two had made the theory that the universe was in a seven non-visible infinitesimal quantum dimensions, making alternate physical laws exist and allowing for faster than light travel. The basic function of a Slipspace Drive was to use particle accelerators to rip small black holes into the normal space time to enter Slipspace, the magic of the program was how the engines manipulated the holes in order to squeeze through ships that were weighing thousands of tons into Slipspace, thus cutting the time needed for travel and shortening the distance between the stars , though travels between star system to star system was sometime inaccurate in terms of relative time that made it necessary for all UNSC ships to have cryo-tubes for it's crew for even short Slipspace jumps could take two months, while long jumps could take six months. With this discovery and the subsequent development of the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine or the SFTE or known as the Slipspace drive…the human race could now colonize new worlds that were once out of reach as no ship in the past could leave the Sol System.

The colonization efforts had to wait for 52 years with the development of the first Slipspace drive equipped colony ship known as the Odyssey, and formation of what was known as the Inner Colonies was not completed until the 24th Century in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way, and the residents of the Inner Colonies symbolized the elite of the Human race in many senses including the best in the physical and mental traits of human beings. The apex of the UNSC's colonization efforts was reached in the year 2492 when Humanity now ruled over 800 worlds, with the Outer Colonies forming the main resource node and these colonies provided the raw materials to fund and support the Inner Colonies that formed into the main economic and political block of the new emerging human empire.

During this period of colonization, the planet of Reach became the primary garrison world of the UNSC in the Epsilon Eridani sector, acting as the metaphorical doorstep to Earth's location. It was more than a garrison world as it was also the primary naval yard and training academy for the UNSC forces needed to police and protect the Outer Colonies, and to build the many colony ships and military warships as well…due to the massive and lucrative veins of titanium found on Reach, it naturally served as the training grounds for many of the covert and special forces units of the UNS, including the ODSTs.

This boom didn't come without a cost as the vast difference between the two parts of the human empire gave rise to ideological and political causes that began to spread, resulting in many brush fire wars happening on the Outer Colonies resulting in some of the worlds going into open rebellion against the UNSC. These brush fire wars continued and while they were silenced by the might of the UNSC Navy and the UNSC Marine Corps, there was the threat of hundreds more getting ready to be spread all over the Colonies, analysts in the UNSC determined that by the year of 2517, in twenty years all out rebellion would occur and it would be uncontrollable, overwhelming, and massive. They realized that while they could contain it, using overwhelming retaliation would be a negative action due to unnecessary civilian casualties in open warfare, plus the negative public opinions and more on the UNSC would further the cause of rebellion in the Outer Colonies. Thus, in order to create a special counter insurgency force to deal with these insurrections before they grew, avert civil war, costly conventional solutions were avoided, and reduce or eliminate unnecessary civilian deaths, the UNSC decided to Spartan II program, the successor to the Orion Program begun in 2491.

The Orion Project or the first of the Spartan-super soldier project, thus named the Spartan-I Program was to test genetic enhancements on selected volunteers from the armed forces of the UNSC. The program had failed due to the high mortality rate of those selected for the injections. Those who did survive the injects had a high amount of mental problems later in life. It is unknown on how many soldiers had been part of the Orion Program, but it was known that several of the soldiers had children who would also possess the results of the genetic enhancements and they were selected to be part of the next program. The program however garnered enough positive support, consent, and funding to have a second phase program to begin, aptly named the Spartan-II Program.

The Spartan II Program began in the year 2492 under the leadership of Dr. Catherine Halsey of the UNSC's Office of Naval Intelligence known also as ONI and by Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez and AI Déjà of the UNSC military. The program began by finding children who possessed superior physical and mental attributes…at the year of 2517, at least 150 suitable candidates for the Spartan II program were found, but due to budget constraints, only half of the children were conscripted into the program…many of them were at the age of 5 to 7, they were kidnapped from their homes and replaced with Flash Clones to maintain the secrecy of the program.

They were taken to Reach and began their long years of training under the eyes of CPO Mendez, learning the use of weapons and vehicles in the UNSC arsenals, military tactics, strategy, team work, combat doctrine, hand to hand combat and more. To marginalize their civilian lives, their family names were discarded and replaced with serial numbers. In the seven years that passed the children were subjected to the newly upgraded medical enhancements that had it's roots in the first Spartan program. These augmentations would make them the truly unique Spartan super soldiers they were needed to be.

The augmentations were divided into five types.

Carbide ceramic ossification - advanced material made from a combination of special metals and ceramics made into layers that are grafted on the skeleton to make the bones virtually unbreakable. The coverage of the material had to not exceed to 3 percent of bone mass as the risk of white blood necrosis was high.

Muscular enhancement injections - protein complex is injected intramuscularly to increase tissue density and reduce lactase recovery time.

Catalytic thyroid implant - platinum pellet containing human growth hormone catalyst is implanted in the thyroid to boost both skeletal and muscular tissue growth. This is known to suppress the sexual drive.

Occipital capillary reversal - submergence and boosted blood vessel flow beneath the rods and cones of the subject's retina, this would result in a dramatic increase in the subject's perception.

Superconducting fabrication of neural dendrites - alteration of bio-electrical nerve transduction to shielded electronic transduction. The results included a three hundred percent increase in the subject's reflexes, and anecdotal evidence of high increase in intelligence, memory and creativity.

The procedures did not come without significant risks for the young soldiers in training, as there was a high fatality rate for the children. The first augmentation procedure had the risk of massive growth spurts in the children that could lead to irreparable massive bone pulverization. The second augmentation had the subjects suffer a 5 percent increase of a fatal cardiac volume increase. The third augmentation had a rare yet high risk of elephantiasis. The fourth augmentation had risks of retinal rejection and detachment, along with permanent blindness. And the fifth augmentation had a high risk of Fletcher's Syndrome and Parkinson's disease.

Out of the 75 Spartans who took the augmentations only 33 survived without complications and the risks mentioned and recovered well, 10 survived but had suffered the complications and risks and were no longer fit to be in combat and were relegated to tactical and administrative duties due to their still increased mental capabilities, the rest perished. After the funeral made for the Spartans who did not survive the augmentations, the surviving 33 continued to train after recovery and adapt to the augmentations.

The results of the augmentations on the Spartans were amazing as they combined together to create unexplained and unexpected synergistic effects.

Spartans could run up to 55 KPH (34.155 MPH), one Spartan named Kelly-084 could run at a much higher speed of 62 KPH (38.502 MPH), these abilities were totally independent of any support.

They could lift three times their normal body weight due to increased muscular density and strength.

Virtual unaided night vision.

Reaction time of 20 milliseconds, but this time is in normal conditions, in combat, the numbers are far higher.

Capable of unprecedented teamwork and unit cohesion bordering on telepathy.

Unlike the first Spartans, the Spartan IIs had no physical or psychological problems.

All these results were seen in only a few months after their full recovery of the augmentation procedures. And their teacher CPO Mendez stated that they all would grow even better once they were fully accustomed to their augmentations, the only true one would be that the Spartans can exceed the speed of 55 KPH (34.155 MPH). All these abilities were totally independent of the coming Mjolnir Armor Series, and it's introduction to the Spartans' arsenal of tricks and equipment only boosted these unprecedented abilities.

One of the Spartans proved to be a cut above the rest, his name and serial number was John, Joh-117 born on the planet Eridanus 2 in the city of Elysium, with brown hair, freckles, and a gap between his two front teeth, and like all the Spartans, he was stronger, faster, smarter and tougher than the normal human being, a good indication was at the age of six, he was already larger and a foot taller than other children his age, he had been selected by both Dr. Catherine Halsey and a young Lieutenant Jacob Keyes after he had been seen to have phenomenal reflexes and accurately predicted the side of a coin that the doctor had flipped would land on, he however was not always a team player. Like all the Spartans, he had been assigned to work with a team, and his group comprised of two other Spartans, Kelly-084, and Sam-034. The training course that the three of them first traversed was a network of ropes, beams, and bridges to reach the top to ring a bell, the team that reached the top to ring the bell would be given a lavish meal, while the last team to ring would not eat dinner at all. John was not agreeable with the concept of team-work and left his two team-mates behind and rang the bell himself, Kelly and Sam came at later times to follow John.

However, CPO Franklin Mendez was not impressed and told the team that they had lost the competition, and explained the reason in simple words.

“You're team loses, you lose. You don't win until you're team wins.”

The night after, the rest of the Spartans ate lavishly while John, Kelly, and Sam ate nothing, but it became a lesson that the three young Spartans took to heart, John most of all and the next day….they as a team were the first to ring the bell. And it was the start of a long friendship between the three Spartans.

John's leadership talents came to the fore when in the Military Wilderness Training Preserve located in the Highland Mountains on Reach, he and his fellow Spartans were dropped off, their object was to reach the extraction point on the map and make it back to the base before night time. However, they only had a piece of the map with each of them and time was against them all. John-117 picked a rally point for the Spartans and in time they were able to rally and move as a cohesive unit under his leadership and spot the Pelican Drop-ship that was their ticket off the area…however it was guarded by Marines sent to act as the last obstacle to the ship. Using non lethal tactics, the Spartans were able to over-power the Marines and get to the Drop-ship, John stayed behind as long as he could to make sure than all the Spartans were in the Drop-ship. He then accepted responsibility for being the last of the Spartans to be on the ship and be punished for his actions. However, CPO Mendez had observed his actions and not only allowed him to continue his training, but make him the full squad leader of all the Spartans.

John was very much devastated by the deaths of his fellow Spartans, namely those who died when subjected to the augmentations and wondered at their funerals on if he truly spent their lives well and properly or did he waste them for nothing, it was those teachings from his trainer that stuck with him…as he and the other Spartans considered Franklin Mendez as a leader and authority figure in their lives…and most of all… a father figure. And he and his comrades considered Dr. Catherine Halsey as close to a mother figure as she always looked out for their well being and even let them play simple games when they were not training, and despite their annoyance, she could tell them apart in the same way they could when wearing their armor.

The very first actual combat mission undertaken by the newly promoted Master Chief Petty Officer, John-117 was to deal with the Eridanus rebels in the Eridanus System, his home system, he and his fellow Spartans' object was to capture the traitor Colonel Robert Watts, leader of the rebels and after sneaking into the base, they succeeded in capturing the traitor with minimal losses on the side of the citizenry, and no losses on their strike team. John himself was slightly wounded and gained a Purple Heart for the mission.

However, all that changed as he and his fellow Spartans were debriefed in Reach by Admiral Michael Stanford and the AI Beowulf as they were now told to shift their priorities…they were no longer a covert counter insurgency force dedicated to quelling insurrection and rebellion in the Outer Colonies…but to combat a new menace…one the UNSC…and Humanity was not prepared or equipped to face…

The alien combine known as the Covenant…

In the year of 2525, on October 7, a day that would live forever in UNSC history as the dawn of a brutal cycle of war, a UNSC battle-group arrived at the Human Colony World of Harvest in the Outer Colonies…the officers, crew, and soldiers of the battle group were stunned and horrified to find that the once lush world had been brutally destroyed… it's very surface burned and charred into glass, all forms of life, animal, plant, and human were no longer on scanners, it's biosphere wiped out, rendering the planet to lifelessness and unable to sustain life, and the cities in the colony were also reduced into nothing but rubble. They then detected a single ship of unknown but undeniably alien design hovering over the decimated world.

Before any form of communication was to be done to identify the unknown intruder, the ingle ship attacked the UNSC battle group, destroying all ships save for one badly damaged UNSC ship…intercepted communications from the now designated enemy ship identified it's affiliation with the Covenant, a caste driven, theological organization comprising of several alien races. And in it was a message in perfect English that would become the phrase that would truly show the danger the UNSC and Humanity faced.

“You're destruction is the will of the Gods…and we are their instrument.”

With that…the UNSC-Covenant War began...

A war that would last for 27 years…

Out of all the 800 worlds colonized by the UNSC, over 260 of those worlds were invaded by the Covenant and those worlds were utterly obliterated, reduced into lifeless balls of glass by the orbital bombardments of the Covenant battle fleets, leaving only 540 worlds still in the rapidly declining grip of Humanity. The Covenant also proved successful in invading and devastating several Inner Colonies' worlds as well as smaller parts of the frontier, and even John-117's own home world of Eridanus II was destroyed…utterly reduced to glass, the other worlds that fell included Jericho VII, and all the Outer Colonies were completely obliterated. And the assaults on the Inner Colonies began.

It was Humanity's darkest days, outnumbered and out gunned, by the vast horde before them, and unable to match the higher levels of technology of the aliens before them, their fleets were decimated by the armadas of the Covenant Fleets, forcing UNSC Fleets to go closer to the Inner Colonies to protect them and to defend Earth. Only when the battles took place on the planetary surface that the UNSC had the upper hand, relying on their time honed tactics, strategy, luck, and fire power to even up the odds, and though they had gained several key victories…they suffered horrendous losses and were still losing ground.

The Marines and their special forces group, the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers were doing all that they could to stem the tide and halt the Covenant…they were the best of the best…but they were still human and their casualties were high…and no matter how many of the Covenant races they have killed in combat there were still more ready to fight.

However, the UNSC morale was kept high by the introduction of the Spartans, who now wore the signature Mjolnir Mark IV Armor that became their symbol. Deemed as the luckiest of the Spartans, John-117 was the very first to test the first manufactured suit of the Mjolnir Armor Mark IV and wore it in the 27 years of fighting the Covenant.

John-117 was also considered by Dr. Catherine to be the best candidate to for the protection of the `smart' AI Cortana, she had reasoned that while the Spartan leader was not the best in terms of strength, speed, or smarts as the others were better in those fields than him, he had equal measure in them all, being the most balanced of the Spartans, and also the bravest of them all, and was naturally the luckiest as well…due to surviving amazing odds that would have killed even the most reason UNSC soldier.

The introduction of the Mjolnir Armor Series started under the banner of ONI and Dr, Catherine Halsey, and had undergone changes and redesigns over the long years of it's development…named after the legendary war hammer of the Norse God of Thunder, Wind and Rain Thor, The Mjolnir was both a defensive system and a weapon of war and it proved to be the hallmark symbol that was associated with the Spartans.

The first Mjolnir Mark I unit was the first of the UNSC Navy' attempts to created powered exoskeletons for combat use. The mark I battle suit was a bulky exoskeleton that improved the strength and stamina of the user. A user of the suit could lift at least 2 tons (4, 409 pounds) and could run at 32 KPH (19.88 MPH). The armor proved to be impervious to standard UNSC light weapons fire, and it's main weapon was a 30-millimeter mini-gun that could change it's munitions loads which were stun rounds for training and light rounds for combat missions. They could be fitted with sensors and infrared scopes, and it used a powerful hydraulic system with hydraulic fluid to move the suit. The suit consumed massive amounts of energy and had to rely on a fusion reactor in order to provide the needed power for it's operation through a large cable…however this hindered movement and limited it's operational range. The lose of the either the cable, the reactor or both left the suit powerless and thus it was never seen in combat. However, it did see you in docking facilities and as mining units in Reach's titanium mines. The team under Dr. Halsey then scrapped the first design and rebuilt it from the top up. The Spartans themselves could out perform this version quite easily.

The second Mjolnir version had a more slimmed down profile but was still unsuitable for front line combat and therefore was not seen in battle service in the UNSC armed forces, regardless of that, it was still the toughest form of combat suit armor that the UNSC had in service.

The third Mjolnir version now had a more human form profile and did away with the cable and now relied on power from a power transmission-receiver so that power can be sent to the Mark III in the same fashion as power from planet borne generators was sent to the Orbital defense Platforms on UNSC held worlds. Despite the changes, the design was still dropped for two key reasons, the first was that despite the new changes to power supply, the suit still had a limited operational range as moving such a generator would be too expensive and unwieldy to move to different theatres of war, and the second was that if the generator was somehow destroyed, the users of the Mark II would be trapped in powered down worthless metal shells.

It was with the advancements of technology and design that the Mjolnir Series took a turn for the better…with the arrival of the Mark IV. The first attempts of making powered armor suits for front line service were failures, but under the increased funding to Dr Halsey, the Armor series changed as it took advantage of the many technological leaps in the years that passed after the Mark I to Mark III were developed by the UNSC. The Mark IV was the first armor suit to fully conform to the human form and plugged directly to the soldier's nervous system through a basic Neural Interface implant, allowing the soldier's thoughts to control the suit's functions, namely the communications, environmental systems, hydrostatic gel levels, and more systems, and movements.

The Mark IV was also the first to utilize the newly created Reactive Metal Liquid Crystal that allowed locomotion. The Reactive Metal Liquid Crystal flawlessly boosted the power and speed of the wearer of the Mark IV Mjolnir Armor Suit, which was a big contrast to the Mark I, Mark II, and Mark III that relied on hydraulic motors to allow soldiers mobility, due to this development, the Mark IV took a far more human form and was more of a suit of human sized armor than a powered exoskeleton, in short terms, the soldier moved the suit, and the suit moved the soldier, allowing a very compact design than the original models.

However, the success of this version of the Mjolnir Armor was due to the parallel development of the Spartan II program which Dr. Halsey also handled. This was due to the fact that previous non-augmented UNSC Marines and personnel who attempted to use the suits were either killed or severely injured by the extreme reactivity of the suit. When the Spartans tried the suits on however, things turned around as the Spartans, due to their augmentations had the needed physical and mental prowess to handle the Mark IV's abilities…further adding weight to the name of Mjolnir, for in legend, the war hammer could not be wielded by anyone except the one with the strongest mind and body.

The Mark IV had an integrated advanced computer system which could constantly monitor weapons, biological function, and motions from outside forces through a special motion sensor radar system built into the helmet in the HUDS (Heads Up Display).

The suit itself was designed for multiple combat environments on any planet and even in the deep vacuum of space itself as it was air-tight and hardened in vacuum. It was armed with built in air-filtration systems that allowed the Spartans who wore them a full 90 minutes worth supply of clean oxygen. The helmet also came equipped with a standard UNSC flashlight with a recharging fusion pack that was independent of the fusion pack that powered the Mark IV. It also had concealed compartments in the thigh plates to store grenades and ammunition.

The refractive luminous green titanium alloy plating that made up the outer shell of protection of the Mark IV was designed to fight the Covenant and their advanced plasma based weapons and more, allowing a Spartan soldier to withstand up to three times the plasma damage a UNSC Marine could manage with the use of standard Marine Combat Armor…the alloy plates also provided basic protection from Human based projectile weapons…though only to a degree higher than the marine Combat Armor.

The other features of the Mark IV included built in recoil compensating actuators, hydrostatic gel which was used to control and regulate temperature and dampen impact force, and biofoam injectors and medical care systems. The biofoam injectors and medical care systems of the Mark IV however had to rely on an outside source of the healing substance and the needed antibiotics, medicines, and stimulants to heal the user, namely from the standard UNSC Marine Medical kit as the Mark IV was not equipped to manufacture or store it's own supply.

One of the greatest flaws was that while powerful and nearly indestructible, the Mark IV didn't possess the shielding technology the Covenant had, and this left them vulnerable to overwhelming attacks from plasma weapons.

John-117 and his fellow Spartans fought with all that they had learned both on Reach and on the battle-fields and for the past 27 years, they all gave all that they had to keep the Covenant from winning over the UNSC utterly. He and his Spartans became the stuff of legend among both the UNSC military and the citizens of the UNSC held worlds. The stories of the Spartans winning victories over impossible odds against the mighty armies of the Covenant inspired the UNSC troopers to fight on and to resist the Covenant forces…and kept the morale of the UNSC troops and citizens high in the years that passed.

This was a boon and a curse to the UNSC, a boon in the sense that it kept hope alive among the citizens and Marines who fought and resisted the Covenant…and a curse to the UNSC' ONI branch as they had hoped to keep the Spartan IIs out of the public eye, but had to consent to allowing the Spartans to go public to boost the morale of the people. As such, the ONI did their best to regale the public and armed forces of the supposed invincibility of the Spartans to help inspire them to fight no matter what.

John-117 and his Spartans won countless awards for their actions in various battles over the course of the 27 years war with the Covenant, with John-117 now nicked named Master Chief or Chief by the UNSC personnel, Marines, and Cortana who worked with him the most winning every military award in the UNSC, except the Prisoner of War medallion and fighting in over 207 combat engagements and had killed more than 1000 Covenant troops of the various races, and thousands more with his fellow Spartans. However, John-117 knew that despite the stories that were circulated around his fellow Spartans and himself…he knew that he and his fellow Spartans who he treated as brothers and sisters were far from invulnerable.

During one operation to destroy a Covenant battle-ship over the planet Chi Ceti IV in the UNSC ship Commonwealth to enter the Damascus Testing Facility to retrieve the Mark IV Armor after moving to the Roosevelt Military base under the guise of a cover mission. However, before they could move out with the new suits to fight the Covenant…a Covenant frigate came from Slipspace and attacked the Commonwealth with all the Spartans onboard it…heavily damaging the ship and would have killed all their fellow Spartans and the crew had the three of them, himself, Kelly-084, and Sam-034 not taken off and took a Pelican to the hole in the ship caused by a MAC round and landed there. They were able to reach the ship's engine cores, but Sam saved his life by moving him out of the way from an overcharged plasma globule from a Jackal's Plasma Pistol. The bolt hit Sam and pierced through an area of his Mark IV suit that was not fully protected. He, Kelly, and Sam managed to leave behind several `hot' ANVIL-II ASM missiles on the fusion generator of the ship, and their only means of escape was to leap into space…having lost the Pelican to the Covenant…however, while Kelly and himself could escape…Sam could not…as his suit was breached and if he attempted to leap into space, he would be killed by rapid decompression. John-117…faced with the choices, the first, staying behind and dying with his friends, but depriving the UNSC of their support, and the second to leap into space with the rest of his friends and watch Sam be killed by decompression and to say that it was not easy was an understatement. Forced with a painful choice…he decided to order Sam to remain behind to make sure that the warheads exploded. He had let a good friend due…Sam was only 14 at the time…and it would not be the last. Sam was the first Spartan to be truly Killed In Action.

He and his Spartans fought and gave their lives…their numbers dwindling, however, the Spartan MIA Protocol stopped them from telling the truth of the deaths of their fellow Spartans…as doing so would have severely depleted the morale of the UNSC. The wars progressed and despite the few yet significant tactical victories the UNSC had over the Covenant, the tide of war was still against them…until he and his fellow Spartans were recalled to Reach and were equipped with the new version of the Mjolnir Series…the Mark V.

The newly manufactured Mark V had hundreds of minor technical advancements but had two major defining ones that stood out against the Mark IV.

The first was a much larger fusion power pack, while this was making the Mark V a bit more bulky, it was for a good reason. The UNSC scientists, while unable to reverse engineer the highly advanced recharging shield system used on the armor of the Covenant's best warriors and leaders known the Elites, were able to reverse engineer the shield systems of the Jackals, the avian scouts of the Covenant who wielded shields on their forearm. This newly reversed shield technology proved to be a serious boon to the Spartans as it now allowed them a version of protection enjoyed by the Covenant Elites. The newly constructed shields provided protection from both solid and plasma based projectiles, but the process of stretching the Jackal shields to cover the whole human body had weakened it…leaving it weakened to UNSC based projectile weapons. Nevertheless it was a vast improvement.

The second was the installment was a special weave of memory processor super conducting material, the very material that made the core an AI system. This gave the Mark V the capacity of a ship borne AI, this along with the upgraded standard issue UNSC neural implant allowed an AI to inhabit the suit and the mind of the Spartan wearing it. This gave the Spartan wearing the Mark V the massive benefits of the AI's incredible information processing capabilities. Therefore the Ai would be able to assist the Spartan in real time by monitoring communications, computer information relays, and friendly combat updates…along with informing the Spartan of threats that might even evade the senses of the Spartan.

Unlike the Mark IV, the Mark V had special magnetic pads that can not only hold weapons in selected areas on the suit such as the back, thighs, and belt…but could carry far deadlier ordinance for operations, such LOTUS Anti-Tank Mines and HAVOCK Tactical Nukes, just in case the Spartans would be ordered to take out vehicles, ships, or bases.

With these new suits, he and his Spartans were told of their new and very risky mission, their task was to hijack a Covenant battle-ship and if possible, kidnap a Prophet, the race that apparently were the overall religious and political leaders of the Covenant, this was to either halt the war or bargain for a truce…with Cortana being assigned to serve as tech specialist and hacker for the operation. They were to be on a rejuvenated Halcyon-Class cruiser known as the Pillar of Autumn under the command of Captain Jacob Keyes, the very same Jacob Keyes who helped Dr. Catherine Halsey with the Spartan II Program… and they had very little time to do so…

However, things didn't go well at all as barely two days had passed during their preparations when a massive Covenant battle-fleet appeared over Reach and laid siege to the planet. He and his Spartans did whatever they could possibly manage in order to keep Reach from being destroyed alongside the UNSC Marines, the ODSTs, and the Navy…while the officers and the sector commander of Reach began to initiate the Cole Protocol.

The Cole Protocol was established after the battle between one of the Covenant's battle-fleets with a massive fleet led by Admiral Preston Cole…the battle was horrific and casualties were high…and while the UNSC fleet had won a significant victory, the casualties their forces had suffered made it very bitter.

Thus was the establishment of the Cole Protocol, which ordered all Commanders, AI, and high ranking officers to purge and destroy all databases pertaining to UNSC force deployments, weapons research, rally points, garrison-worlds…and most important of all..the location of Earth. The second article in the Cole Protocol forbade any retreating UNSC ship to Slipspace towards the Inner Colonies and Earth, instead, they were ordered to make `blind' Slipspace jumps in order to lead the Covenant away from Earth. The last article was the need to ensure that the destruction or capture of a ship borne AI by the Covenant was prevented at ALL costs. Any officer, regardless of rank or position who clashed with the Cole Protocol was to be charged with high treason and either imprisoned or executed.

The battle proved long and decisive as he and his Spartans worked two teams to ensure the survival of the people on Reach and to ensure that no trace of data could be found by the Covenant to locate Earth and wipe out the Human race. However, they all were losing ground fast as the battles progressed, however in space the UNSC Fleet were able to keep things in a stalemate, with the Orbital Defense Platforms and the Super MACs evening up the odds in the fight, but with loses on the UNSC side along with the Covenant.

When the Covenant Fleet pulled back, the UNSC thought that they had won, but the others in the of command thought otherwise…the leaders of the Covenant forces and fleets, the Elites were very honor bound and were not the kind to retreat from a fight, and their suspicions proved true as hundreds of Covenant boarding craft were detected and the Covenant Fleet came back in full force. Many more of his fellow Spartans were killed or he had lost contact with them as they tried as best they could…until he and his friend Linda-058 who had been wounded but could be revived, along with Sergeant Avery J. Johnson, Private O'Brien, and Private Bisenti, and took off in the Pillar of Autumn, just as Reach was glassed by the Covenant and the order for all surviving forces in Reach to retreat. As before, he and the crew of the Pillar of Autumn made a blind jump but were pursued by several ships including the ship known as the Ascendant Justice, which was the flagship of the Supreme Commander who led the attack on Reach.

It was at this very moment, that he and his fellow UNSC soldiers and officers found themselves in front of an unknown world and before them was a massive artificial ring that was of a design that none of them had ever seen before…but the Covenant forces that followed them and engaged them. He was awakened from cryo-sleep and then met up with Keyes to make the arrangements to land the Pillar of Autumn on the ring and get Cortana off the ship to prevent her capture or destruction…and like Dr. Halsey had requested, he was the one charged with this duty and did so as he and the Marines fought valiantly to repel the Covenant boarders that attacked them after the Covenant had destroyed the Fire Control System for the MAC cannon of the Pillar of Autumn. However, he and Cortana, like the rest of the crew were forced to abandon the ship and head for the surface under the order of Captain Keyes.

Once they were on the ring world, he and Cortana struggled out of the downed Bumblebee escape pod, salvaged what they could from the wreckage and the dead bodies of the marines who did not survive. He and Cortana then found pockets of other Marines and formed a resistance with the other survivors of the Pillar of Autumn, and when Cortana heard that Keyes and the other surviving command crew and their Marine escorts were captured by the Covenant, he and the ODSTs and Marines staged a rescue on the cruiser that held their comrades…the Truth and Reconciliation.

He led the ODSTs and Marine strike force that fought their way through the valley to the Truth and Reconciliation's anti-gravity lift with the use of a sniper rifle and assault rifle, gathering whatever supplies he could use along the way and taking the Covenant weapons that he might need and eliminating the forces that stood in his way, along with the supporting reinforcements of Marines and ODSTs that came in when they were needed. They managed to fight their way to the lift and ambush the Covenant and managed to slay even the Hunter pair that were sent down to stop them. Though casualties were considerable for the raiding force and the battles with the Elite Stealth forces and the Zealots, John-117 was able to free Captain Keyes and his escorts, there he told the Chief and Cortana what the ring world they were on was, it was known to the Covenant as Halo…and why the Covenant were far more concerned with it than them. They also realized that there was a chance that Halo was a weapon that could control the fate of the Universe, Captain Keyes then ordered him and Cortana to go to Control Room of Halo and prevent the Covenant from attempting to activate Halo and use it to destroy the human race. After fighting their way back to the bridge, where he had left behind his fellow Marines to guard the entrance, he found them all dead after eliminating the Stealth Elites that made the attack on the Marines…realizing from communications from the Pelican pilot Foehammer, that pick-up was impossible, they fought their way to the shuttle bay and commandeered a Spirit Drop-ship, they were nearly stopped by two Hunters, but the Captain rammed the arms of the Spirit, crushing the Hunters.

He and Cortana then led a strike force of Marines to secure the Silent Cartographer, the map room that led to the Control Room for Halo. They had to secure a beach head and fought with a strong Covenant garrison and landed right into a serious fire fight, they managed to take the beach though casualties were considerable, thankfully reinforcements were present and they were able to fight their way to the Silent Cartographer, however, the Elites and their allies had further hardened the location and also sealed the doors which were very strong, forcing him and Cortana to find the Security Control Room to disable the lock-down.

He and Cortana had to deal with the Covenant security force outside of the building and the Hunter pair that guarded the outer courtyard/entrance…and fought past the remaining garrison and fought with the next Hunter pair and the remaining Covenant Grunts, and Elites that guarded the Security Control Center, and the two of them deactivated the Security system and after dealing with several Stealth Elites, the Grunts, Jackals, and Elites inside the Map Room and the next groups of Hunters there. They were able to get to the Map Room and locate the Control Center for Halo and head off to intercept the Covenant under orders from Captain Keyes who had his own mission as well.

The two of them accomplished the very first aerial insertion…from under-ground and fight their way to the Control center, rescuing as many UNSC Marine Fire Teams as they could, with the support of the Marines they were able to fight their way through most of the Covenant garrisons that dotted the area that lay between them and the Control Room, which was located in some sort of temple/shrine. They were able to defeat the massive Covenant garrison in the area and allowed the rescued Fire Teams the chance to return to Alpha Base to recover, rest, and heal…while they went on ahead…further defeating small to large pockets of Covenant resistance until they arrived at the temple and over powered the garrison there and accessed the Control Room, it was there that Cortana changed somewhat and accessed the data, identifying the structure as Forerunner artifact dubbed a Fortress world and it was to study…something, something that horrified Cortana and the Covenant and she quickly ordered him to stop Captain Keyes from getting to the supposed Covenant Weapons cache that Cortana told him in a panic was not what they thought it was, but something far more horrible.

As soon as he arrived to the sight, he found a downed UNSC Pelican and a garbled transmission that cycled over and over saying that something had attacked them and had not been the Covenant, and Captain Keyes had been taken by the unknown hostiles. As he made his way through the swamp like lands, he encountered pockets of Covenant forces who were apparently frightened by something…and when he arrived into the site and fought his way past the light resistance left over, he went down into the underground facility, he witnessed bloody sights as blood from the Covenant forces decorated the insides…though why there were no bodies made him even more wary, he then found a UNSC Marine who seemed to have a suffered massive mental break-down as the Marine screamed out in fear and fired at him with a pistol, he left the Marine alone and heard disturbing descriptions from the insane Marine about monsters attacking them, taking the live ones and how he avoided being taken by pretending to be dead, he heard the names of private Mendoza, Bisenti, Sergeant Johnson being uttered in agony, and how the Marine had seen them all dead and turned into monsters. He realized that there was no way he could help the soldier and as much as he hated to leave a man behind, he moved on and entered the area to find a UNSC Spoofer, and was about to access it when he heard strange sounds behind him…almost like a creeping sound, he looked about with his weapon ready and finding none, opened the door and caught a dead Marine…Mendoza in his arms, wasting little time, he made his way into the room and spotted the combat helmet of a UNSC Marine…their weapons were there as well, but their bodies were not there at all. He placed down Mendoza's own body and got the helmet that was worn by Private Wallace Jenkins, he couldn't help but feel even more saddened and managed to retrieve the Helmet Recorder's Recorder Chip and began accessing the data to find out what happened.

What he saw the indeed foreboding as he watched Sergeant Johnson, Mendoza, Bisenti, Dubbs, and Jenkins land and move out to the supposed Weapons cache. The rest of the squad held the entrance while the Sergeant and his team went in. There they found a brutally mangled and buttered Covenant force, blood all over the place. He listened to their conversations about the attack as Captain Keyes entered the scene. He then watched as the Marines, along with Captain Keyes enter this room and while they scanned around, something happened as the squad left behind in the top of the structure called in and reported that they were under attack and the attackers were not Covenant and the communication was cut with a bloody scream, Johnson was about to order Mendoza to head up their and find out what happened, but then they were all hearing sounds that forced them to get ready for a fight…and then the attack happened. He saw strange jelly fish like creatures burst through the doors en masse and attack the squads and he watched in shock as the Marines and Keyes were overwhelmed and killed…that was when the recording ended…he realized what happened and quickly fought off the incoming waves of the creatures that attacked him.

He then saw forms of creatures that resembled Elites, but were horribly mutated and distorted, along with Human forms that were also mutated and distorted horribly, he shot them down with his weapons, but had watched as the mutated beings got up and attacked once more…forcing him to use whatever methods, no matter how brutal to utterly destroy them. He watched as the creatures ripped through the Covenant forces and then tried his best to save several Marines but they too were killed by the creatures…who he saw could wield both UNSC weapons and Covenant weaponry. As he managed to find another way out of the facility he was able to contact survivors from the squads and with the call from Foehammer, they moved out to try and escape for pick-up at a large structure…they moved as fast as they could, but they were surrounded by the mutated forms of their former Human comrades, the Covenant Elites and the jelly fish like creatures, many of the Marines were killed and a few survivors were left and then from the structure came strange floating machines and before he could figure out just who these units were, he was teleported to the top and met a floating construct known as 343 Guilty Spark, who told him about the creatures known as the Flood and that the only way to stop the Flood from spreading was to activate Halo's systems, however, they would have to retrieve the Index, the key to activating Halo.

In the Library he would have to climb ten levels filled with the Flood's forces and Combat Forms, along with massive bloated forms known to him by the Construct as Carrier Forms, remains from what appeared to be Grunts and Jackals that exploded violently and released more of the Flood, namely the jelly fish like Infection Forms. He was told the function and the intelligence of the Flood despite their parasitic nature as they were already attempting to repair the Pillar of Autumn. He fought his through them holding his position as the Forerunner machine opened the doors and guided his movements while being supported by the Sentinels, the same type of units that helped him before. As they reached the Index, they were able to avoid the Flood and teleport back to the Control Center.

It was there that he was told by Cortana the true purpose of Halo…yes, it was a weapon to stop the Flood…but not by killing them alone…but to starve them to death, and that was accomplished by wiping out ALL sentient life in the Universe. She took the Index and it was there that 343 confirmed Cortana's words and told him to give her to him so the Rings could be fired. Realizing his mistake, he refused and after defeating the Sentinels had to destroy Halo from being fired. They however had to deal with the Covenant and the Flood as both factions fought each other all over the Ring, as their commanders had ordered them to exterminate the Flood.

Cortana then told him that the only chance they had was to detonate the fusion reactors in the Pillar of Autumn and it would destroy the ring completely, yet they had to locate Captain Keyes to deactivate the safety locks that prevented them from doing so. Every UNSC ship's computer had fail-safes that not even smart AI like Cortana could override without the codes from a high ranking officer such as Captain Keyes, who could either say the codes, input them into a console, or use his neural implants.

But before they did so, they had to prevent 343 and his Sentinels from firing the Ring just in case they could manage without the Index…they retraced their steps and used any weapon and vehicle they could find to win the battle, but he had to commandeer the Banshees in order to reach his target destinations and he came close to getting killed and damaging his shields as Cortana rigged his shields to fire EMP pulses to disable the plasma pulse generators that powered Halo's transmission systems. After they succeeded, she was able to use the teleportation grid on Halo to reach Keyes in time.

They arrived as the Flood and the Covenant were fighting their absolute best to get into a Covenant cruiser, the Flood intended to repair the ship and move away from Halo, while the Covenant were there to eliminate the Flood and repair the ship for departure…and Keyes was on that ship. Cortana managed to teleport them to the cruiser and they tried to find a way to the bridge where Keyes' was located, they knew what they had to do, despite orders given to them by Keyes to leave him, as he was being turned by the Flood. They had to abandon the cruiser when they were suddenly attacked by a massive wave of the Flood. They then had to fight their way to the Covenant ship's gravity lift and when they were in the ship had to fight through hordes of the Flood and the Covenant to reach the bridge…he and Cortana hoped to find Keyes alive…but they were too late as Keyes had been turned into a Brain Form by the Flood, and they were forced to kill him and retrieve the neural implants to get the codes…then they had to fight through the Flood once more and the Covenant Spec Ops forces that arrived to commandeer a Banshee and make it to the Pillar of Autumn.

Once they arrived, they had to face more of the Flood and the Spec Ops Covenant that tried to reclaim the ship and prevent the Flood from using it to escape. He and Cortana made it to the bridge, and had set the Pillar of Autumn's reactors to detonate at 17 minutes, but then 343 came and deactivated the count-down and was about to deactivate the fusion core. This then forced the two to improvise and remove the coolant rods to open the access shaft to the core. John-117 then used his grenades to cause the reactor to go critical while fighting through the numbers of Flood and Sentinels that tried to stop him and Cortana, along with a last ditch attack by the Covenant. He then took a Warthog and rushed through the ship to be picked up by Foehammer as Pelicans could be made space flight worthy, but before they could do anything, the Pelican was destroyed by Banshees and that forced him and Cortana to ride through the ship to reach one Long-sword fighter still docked in the Hanger Bay section and with only seconds to spare, they were able to make it while leaping over the massive trench below. He boarded the Long-sword and punched it's engines to full power, and as the ship exploded behind them, he and Cortana shut down the engines to cool them and watched as the ring was destroyed, she thought that it was over, but John-117 suspected it had only begun.

Later, they were able to gather survivors from the UNSC forces that managed to escape the destruction of Halo and he was stunned to see Sergeant Johnson still alive despite seeing him being among those attacked by the Flood and had come close to killing him until Cortana told the Spartan that Johnson was very much human. There he let the human Sergeant live and they then planned to take over a Covenant flagship to assure their escape. After doing several dangerous but very effective maneuvers to lure away several Seraph fighters, he and the small force infiltrated the Ascendant Justice, fought their way to the bridge and Cortana killed most of the Covenant crew when she was sent into the ship's core systems, using the confusion to their advantage, the group managed to escape and make their way out of the remains of Halo, the group argued on their next move, but he decided for them all to head off to Reach, since according to Cole Protocol, they were not to use a Covenant Ship to go to Earth as the ship would be tracked by the Covenant and they would reveal Earth's location directly, the second was that he wanted to find out what happened to his fellow Spartans.

He and the other UNSC forces then locate several cryo-tubes that apparently were jettisoned from the Pillar of Autumn, and found one of his fellow Spartans, Linda-058, while they used the Pelican, he stripped off parts of the drop-ship to reinforce a Spirit Drop-ship they would use to land in Reach, as he and Johnson watched their Pelican Drop-ship pilot Polaski train to pilot the Spirit, they soon arrive to see Reach glassed, and only a small Covenant fleet remaining in the area and a single spot was missed, the Fleet, comprising of at least three squadrons of Seraphs, a dozen cruisers, two assault carriers, naturally were confused as to why a flagship was in their location, and it was only when they hear an odd UNSC E-band distress call known as Oly Oly Oxen Free…none of the UNSC forces recognized it, with the exception of Master Chief as he knew that phrase and part of Spartan code, that he and his fellow Spartans had learned in their youth on Reach.

Though there was some debate as to whether they should go down, he and the others did so even when the cruisers surrounded their ship once Cortana determined a good landing zone, John-117 then said the code for the signal of Oly Oly Oxen Free with the order to find a safe spot to look for survivors, and he would be the first, just in case of a trap and to spring it himself, Haverson, the ONI attaché to the Pillar of Autumn followed him for support and they were able to meet up with one of the surviving Spartan IIs, Anton-044 who deactivated his FoF tag to prevent Covenant attack, he led the others to the mines where they met the other surviving Spartans of Reach, Grace-093 and Li-008 who operated defense with a pair of chain guns bolted to boulders, John-117, Grace-093, and Anton-044 entered the base and found Vice Admiral Danforth Whitecomb who was working on the plans on the table for Camp Independence. The Vice Admiral then asked Master Chief exactly what he was doing here instead of leading the covert mission with Captain Keyes.

The Spartan squad leader informed them of the events in Halo and it was there that the rest of the party learned that the Admiral stayed behind to ensure the safety and activation of his new NOVA weapons, his Marine Company of Charlie Team was supposed to do that, but they were all killed and only Spartan Red Team helped him in the mission of arming the NOVA bombs and to give the Covenant headaches with hit and run tactical strikes, but the Spartans were trapped under CASTLE Base and they would soon be found by a Covenant force. The groups then rallied and took the drop-ship to the sight and rescue their comrades, and eliminated the Covenant force in the area trying to clear a cavern cave-in to enter the underground base. There, they met up with Kelly-087, Fred-104, and Will-043, all of them Spartans, Whitecomb asked if there were others, and Fred replied that there was one more, and it was Dr. Catherine Halsey who carried a fist sized crystal that the seemed to be what the Covenant had come to Reach for…suddenly, they detected massive Covenant signals and then found themselves surrounded by literally thousands of Covenant troops, Grunts, Jackals, Elites, and several Hunter Pairs. The UNSC group tensed up and got ready for anything…then the Hunters roared and open fired…and a split second later the Covenant forces attacked.

In space, Cortana had to guide the Ascendant Justice, under the Command Vice Admiral Whitecomb into Slipspace and out into a gas cloud to evade the Covenant who had found out about the fact that the Ascendant Justice was no longer on their side, with a dissected Covenant AI to help her and her tapping into the communications systems of the Covenant, Cortana realized that the Covenant had found Earth and that was the ultimate danger she now faced…making her plan out a risky gambit to both free the others on the surface and escape the battle intact.

On the ground, the Covenant were actually shooting at the Hunters, as the lumbering but deadly warriors had disobeyed orders to take the crystal intact, and they risked it's destruction when in their anger they fired at the master Chief and the others around him, namely Dr. Halsey. The Covenant then converged on the group after dealing with the disobedient Hunters and it was when Whitecomb ordered Polaski to evac them, and they managed to escape towards the grav-lift, but the Covenant tried to force them back down while manipulating the grav-lift. Much to the shock of the others, the crystal changed shape and they were then sent upwards and were able to evac, but as soon as they arrived at the pick-up point, Cortana was no longer there.

It was then on the Ascendant Justice that Cortana had used the Engineers on the ship to combine both it and another UNSC Frigate, the Gettysburg, which was badly damaged but relatively intact and usable with the needed repairs as she needed at least two reactors for the deadly and risky maneuver she was about to attempt. And that was to attempt two Slipspace jumps, one into the Covenant Fleet to get to the others in the evac point, and to Slipspace out…however such a move was near to impossible to accomplish with only one reactor, and even the Covenant had not done such a thing, namely in the amount of time Cortana had to work with, thus she used the reactors of both the Ascendant Justice and the Gettysburg. As soon as she did so, she was able to evac the others and attempt the second Slipspace jump…however, it turned out that her gambit had dragged the entire Covenant Fleet with them and they were not in `normal' Slipspace either. The Fleet fired at them, but the unique Slipspace made their plasma weapons miss the ship and fly around in a very erratic pattern, curving, looping, and even more amazingly…teleporting. During the fight however, a band of Elites who had escaped the purging of the Ascendant Justice made their move and caused an explosion to breach the hull…further endangering the ship. The Spartans and Polaski made an effort to deal with both the Elites and fixing the hull breach, however, both Anton, Li, and Polaski were killed by a ship weapon based plasma bolt and Kelly badly wounded. However, Cortana was able to make the needed calculations and managed to escape the abnormal Slipspace they were while leaving the Covenant Fleet trapped.

John-117 was told by Dr. Halsey that despite the injuries Kelly had suffered she would live and it was then that she showed the Master Chief Sergeant Johnson's medical files and pointed out that due to his Boren's Syndrome, which he had gotten in a previous battle with the Covenant with heavy exposure to plasma energy, the Flood were unable to control and mutate him, explaining why he was still alive. She then gave the Master Chief two data crystals, one was the data on the Flood and the potential technology needed to eliminate and contain them, and the other had all that, plus the video from Jenkins' Recorder Chip and Johnson's medical files. She left the decision to him on which crystal to give to UNSC HIGHCOM, it was there that Halsey and Cortana discussed the artifact the Covenant had glassed Reach to find, it was powerful Forerunner artifact that could alter gravity, space, and even time itself, they realized that when Cortana had the combined Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice jump into Slip-space, the crystal had actually sent them through time.

They then arrived at the Eridanus Secendus asteroid belt and there, found the Eridanus Rebels and despite the fact that the rebels were enemies of the UNSC, they were able to force them to repair the ship as best they could. However, it didn't take long for the Covenant to show up as they tracked the radiation emitted by crystal once it was out of Slipspace, despite the damaged and malfunctioning plasma turrets on the ship, the crew of the G.A.J fought off the Covenant, to make up for the damaged magnetic coils on the ship that inhibited the plasma turrets on the Ascendant Justice, the Chief told Cortana to use the magnetic coils of the MAC gun on the Gettysburg to shape the plasma. It was then that Dr. Halsey, discovering very important files from her rival Colonel James Ackerson previously along with star-charts took Kelly on a special mission and left the crystal to Private Locklear to protect it, the Marine did just that and destroyed it to make sure the Covenant would never get it intact.

While the remaining crew of the G.A.J were able to gain several shards of the crystal after they were forced to retreat, leaving the rebels to be slaughtered, much to the regret of the Vice Admiral, they had other things in mind as they had to find a way of stopping the coming Covenant invasion of Earth, all they knew was that all ships of the massive Covenant invasion force was meeting on the Covenant battle-station, the Unyielding Hierophant. The Master Chief then proposed a daring plan, and that was to infiltrate the station with a modified drop-ship and blow up the reactors, destroying both the station and most of the Fleet, and this was approved by the Vice Admiral, they did so with a special copy of Cortana and were able to infiltrate the station without incident.

But all that changed when they had to pass a temple complex and there they would fight the Brutes for the first time, John-117 grappled with his first Brute and barely made it, while Grace was killed by the Brute Shot, the favored weapon of the Brutes, and John-117 detonated the fusion pack of his fallen friend and that killed many Grunts, Elites as well as a few Brutes. They were able to reach the reactor cores and with the copy of Cortana rigged all 512 them to explode, but when they escaped the station, they found only the Gettysburg, and it was there that they learned the Whitecomb and Haverson had taken the Ascendant Justice and used the shards as a trap to lure more of the Fleet to the Unyielding Hierophant and with the detonation of the reactors on the battle station as the Gettysburg, which had been outfitted with the Slipspace engines of the Ascendant Justice, making it now the fastest ship in the UNSC Navy, with all the survivors, namely the four Spartans and Sergeant A.J Johnson left the scene. The destruction of the battle-station resulted in a massive blow to the assembling Covenant Fleet….wiping out over 488 of the 500 ships preparing to strike at Earth, reducing the numbers that would soon come to attack Earth itself, while severely damaging the same remainder, forcing them to seek out massive repairs.

It was the greatest UNSC raid in history and despite the short lived success, had severely damaged the Covenant War Fleet heading for Earth.

It was at the arrival in Cairo Station, main command center for the Earth Defense grid that the Master Chief donned the newly completed Mark VI Mjolnir Armor.

The Mark VI had several new features in the systems. Armed with an improved reactive metal liquid crystal layer for improved physical performance and enhancement, allowing him to move faster, jump higher and hit both harder and faster in hand to hand combat, along with increased physical strength. It was also streamlined to remove excess weight and while the armor was less bulky, they were thicker…offering much further protection for the Spartan wearing it. The protection was boosted even further than before with a new and better improved shielding system that was far stronger and more resilient, and could recharge at a much faster rate.

The data transmission relays installed into the Mark VI and connected to the memory-processor super conducting material weave that was also upgraded, allowed Cortana to be transmitted into any system with just a touch, it also had increased pressure limits for the hydrostatic gel layer, further improving the performance and increasing the damage tolerance of the Mark VI in falls and could do so instantly and has a lockdown mode to harden the gel in case of heavy trauma impact to lessen injury to the wearer, the suit also had special off hand data sensors to allow the wielding of two weapons simultaneously. And it had a special built in factory of biofoam and medical supplies…thus the suit could treat minor to moderate wounds, keeping the Spartan in the field for longer periods of time, boosting the combat effectiveness of the Spartan…though critical injuries required greater medical assistance and support.

However, there was only one Mark VI due to budget restrictions and the Master Chief got to wear it, after it had been tested by one of their retired Spartan comrades, Maria-062 who lived on Earth. It was there also on Cairo station that the Master Chief and Sergeant Johnson were awarded the Colonial Cross for their heroic deeds, while Miranda Keyes accepted the Colonial Cross for her father. Then the First Battle began as the Covenant Fleet appeared and began to strike at the UNSC Defense Grid with only 15 ships, these, while powerful in their own right, puzzled the UNSC HIGHCOM as to why the Covenant would send a fleet that was small compared to the Fleet that attacked Reach. Hundreds of Covenant boarding craft were launched as the shooting match between the UNSC Earth Defense Force and the Covenant Fleet went at full tilt.

The Master Chief fought alongside the UNSC Marines who were the defenders of the Cairo station and he and his forces were able to hold the fort, killing the Covenant forces for every marine they killed, until the Covenant had left bombs in the Super MAC Platforms of the Athens and Malta, destroying both stations and opening a gap in the defense grid, this meant a bomb was in the Cairo as well…namely in the Fire Control Center.

The Master Chief fought his way through the Covenant in the area and out through the airlock and he entered the Fire Control Center and killed the Elites guarding the anti-matter bomb. He then heard that one of the assault carriers the Covenant had was no longer shielded but the UNSC had no ships powerful enough to take on the behemoth…until he asked to give the Covenant back their bomb…which he was allowed to by Fleet Admiral Terrance Hood. He then made it to an airlock and opened it, he then grabbed the bomb and guided it towards the Covenant assault carrier and he was shielded by the AI of a damaged UNSC ship and several Long-sword fighters cleared the way and he was able to reactivate the anti-matter bomb deep in the engine core of the ship and leap out as the ship exploded behind him, he then landed on the hull of the In Amber Clad and then headed off to the surface to intercept the Covenant forces that landed in the African city of New Mombasa.

There, they realized that the Prophet of Regret was in the Covenant ship and he and the rest of the Marines and ODSTs were ordered to find and capture the Prophet and find out what exactly he was doing here on Earth and in New Mombasa of all places. The Pelican he was in was then shot down by a Scarab Walker, and had to hunker down for extraction. The UNSC then began to counter attack and the Master Chief fought in every corner of the city with the Marines and ODSTs to make sure that the Covenant were not victorious in New and Old Mombasa, from the streets, to the buildings, and the sewers, while Johnson coordinated armor and troop reinforcements. He also made sure to rescue and reinforce trapped UNSC Marine forces in the area, including ODST Marine Sergeant Peter Stacker's forces in Hotel Zanzibar. The Master Chief then was ordered to try and hunt down the Scarab before it did massive damage to the city and UNSC forces…including the 405th Marine Division out of Diego Garcia, they too are rescued by the Spartan with the 105th ODST Helljumpers and hold the city square to break the Covenant offensive and they were able to hunt down the Scarab once it was trapped physically and could not escape, there, he slew the pilots and their leader and destroyed the Scarab.

However, he and the rest of the troops, including Sergeant Major Johnson had to make it back into the In Amber Clad as the Covenant ship entered Slipspace right in the city of New Mombasa itself, the city was obliterated, but they were not going to give up and let the Prophet of Regret escape now.

There, they discovered another Halo, and realizing that the scenario they each had faced in the past Halo Ring and what dangers it represented, The Master Chief, Johnson and Cortana worked out the ground assault plan to hunt down the Prophet of Regret before he had the Index in his hands to activate Halo and he led the strike with members of the ODSTs and they all hit the beach within Human Entry Vehicles, while being supported by reinforcements and vehicle support. Commander Keyes and Johnson then led the attack to get the Index, while he dealt with the Prophet of Regret. As he fought his way to the temple where the Prophet had his sermon, he then faced off with the Honor Guard Elites and slaughtered many of them in combat and then managed to slay the Prophet despite his hidden arsenal of weapons.

However, he and Cortana had to evac as quickly as they could as the entire Covenant Fleet appeared with the Covenant Capital City of High Clarity. The Covenant then fired a massive plasma beam that obliterated the temple and sent him into the water, there he was found by the leader of the Flood…the Gravemind.

There, he was able to meet the Covenant's version of him, the Arbiter as they both faced the Gravemind, the full scale symbolic leader of the Flood who then told them of the activation of Halo, and there, he tried to convince the Arbiter of the mistake the Prophets were going to make if they activated Halo, along with the words of both the Monitor of Delta Halo and the newly assimilated Prophet of Regret.

Afterwards, he was able to be teleported to High Clarity as the Flood began to attack the city…just as the Elites and Brutes began to fight each other in the Covenant Civil War. He managed to free a good number of UNSC Marine captives, he was to hunt down and kill the Prophet of Truth, but the Prophet escaped in a Forerunner ship and he was forced to abandon Cortana, but not without promising her that he would come back for her.

He then returned to Earth and attempted to take out Truth, but was captured by the Covenant Loyalists and was about to be interrogated, but he was able to resist and fight his way to freedom and killed many of his foes, before the Prophet once more escaped his grasp…forcing him to escape as well into the jungles of East Africa.

There, he was rescued by Johnson and his Marines and was uneasy with the new alliance between the UNSC and the Elites, he was still not trusting of the Arbiter. But they worked well together as they headed to the river for evac, recovering whatever UNSC supplies they could and rescuing as many scattered Marines as they could.

The two former enemies then worked together and freed the Marines from a Covenant Base and then met up with Commander Miranda Keyes and outlined the plan to enter the occupied city of Voi to take out a section of the Prophet's anti air defenses, but they were forced to evacuate the base when the Prophet of Truth broke through the communication system and the base was soon attacked by the Brutes as he and the strong marines held the line as Johnson and the Arbiter defended the Operations center to ensure full evacuation of the wounded. Though the base fell, he made sure that the Brutes and their allies paid dearly for every marine they killed.

Later, he and the Marines rallied to strike at the Brute blockades and broke through them and began to attack the city of Voi which was held by the Brutes and were supported by their fellow Marines, ODSTs and vehicles, they were also able to combine their attack efforts on Mongoose ATVs to attack the Scarab Walker that the Brutes tried to use. The Master Chief and his fellow Marines destroyed the Scarab and watched as the UNSC ships and fighters appeared to attack the Prophet's ship but the Forerunner structure was activated and it seemed that they were too late…however, it did not activate the Halo Rings, but opened a massive and yet very stable and advanced Slipspace portal, before they could weigh their options to pursue the Prophet, the Flood came in one of their infested Covenant ships and landed in Voi…forcing the UNSC and their forces, including the Master Chief and the Arbiter to fight them all off before the Flood could infest and conquer the Earth. They were able to stem the tide until the arrival of the Elite Fleets that quickly glassed the area to sterilize and kill the Flood, with the forces they managed to assemble, they had to hunt down the Prophet and stop this madness once and for all.

They then arrived at the Ark and found it to be far beyond the Milky Way and there, they saw that the only way to the Control Room of the massive Ark was through a shield that they all, the ODSTs and the Spec Ops had to break through by taking out the shield complex that was heavily guarded by the Brutes and their forces. Once the complex was down, they mounted a last strike on the Control Complex to stop the Prophet from completing his goal with the Sergeant Major in his hands.

It was there that Commander Miranda Keyes met her death by the hands of the Prophet as he attacked her from behind with a Spiker. It was there that the Flood assisted both the Master Chief and the Arbiter one last time, allowing the Elite to gain his revenge by slaying the Prophet. But the Flood then betrayed them and took over the Ark as it had come into the battle-zone with the infested High Clarity. Though they were able to fight their way through the battle-zone with the aid of none other 343 Guilty Spark, they knew that they had to ewnd this threat once and for all, and they learned of a new Halo being built which while incomplete could be primed and ready to fire when they got the Index…but since the installation was the same as the one that Master Chief had destroyed, only the Index from the original was compatible, and the Spartan knew who had it…

Cortana…who he had been forced leave behind in the now infested Covenant City.

Without hesitation, he and the Arbiter launched a man strike into the City, slaying the Flood Forms that tried to stop them and he moved on until he found Cortana and freed her from the control of the Gravemind and with that complete, he, the Arbiter and the AI construct detonated the reactors of In Amber Clad, destroying High Clarity, hoping to finally kill the Gravemind. However, they later learned that the Gravemind was now infesting the new ring and they had to fight their way to another control complex.

The Spartan and the Arbiter held the line as the Sergeant major walked with Cortana to activate the ring…however, they were betrayed by 343 when it went mad at the mention of the destruction of both the Ark and the new Halo Ring. The Arbiter was unable to help, and despite his regenerative abilities, the UNSC Sergeant Major was mortally wounded by the upgraded Sentinel laser that the Forerunner construct had. The Spartan was able to defeat the deranged construct with the aid of Johnson and with the renegade dead…the Spartan bade farewell to his longtime friend and promised to honor his order to never let Cortana go ever again. With that…both he and Cortana activated Halo.

The trio then rushed on the Warthog as fast as they could back to the Frigate and barely made it to safety and took off in the ship from Halo and the Ark to the Slipspace portal…but the portal closed and only a portion of the ship made it back to Earth…

But it was truly the end of the war as of March 3 2553, the UNSC and the Covenant Separatists declared a victory. A memorial on a barren hill was held for all those who died in the final battle including Miranda Keyes, and A.J Johnson, along with all the ODSTs and Marines who followed them. It was there that the alliance between the Elite and the UNSC did not end but was assured. The Arbiter and Lord Terrance Hood shook hands as despite the Fleet Admiral saying that he would never forgive him and his kind for beginning this war, he was happy that the Arbiter was with him to his last days, stating that the Master Chief had died, and Cortana was deemed lost as well.

The end of the UNSC-Covenant War was celebrated in very Inner Colony world and on Earth…and in time, Humanity began to rebuild…but it's heroes were never to be forgotten.

************

June 12, 2558…Earth…

UNSC Fleet Admiral `Lord' Terrance Hood looked over at the incoming reports that told him of the sighting of more UNSC ships that carried many civilians and refugees from the colony planets that had been glassed by the Covenant and then by the Covenant Loyalists. It was a hard five years since the end of the UNSC-Covenant War in March 3 2553, and things were still getting organized. The Inner Colonies were intact, but were quite the mess, and the Outer Colonies were lost completely…almost all those worlds were no longer habitable…and with the newly arriving refugees, it would make things worse.

He looked over the data and walked over to the windows to look at the city of Sydney, Australia, the heart of the UNSC HIGHCOM, he sighed as the newly completed Museum of Humanity was ready for the opening. He was the guest speaker after all and he knew that he was going to have to go there. Despite the fact he still had tones of work to do, he had to do this occasion as well, but instead of getting angry, the current head of the UNSC accepted it…today was a very important moment in the history of the Human Race, and the UNSC and the museum would be the symbol of it.

The Museum of Humanity was established with the blessings of the United Earth Government, the Inner Colonies, and the survivors of the Outer Colonies and it would commemorate not the victories in battles, the defense of a nation or nations, or conquest of other nations…but the enduring survival of their species. They truly had been pushed to the brink of Extinction and countless billions of their fellow Humans, civilian and soldier alike had died in the defense of their civilization, they had faced the Covenant who had destroyed their colonies and killed their people, and yet had survived, though barely, and then the battles with the vile and horrific Flood.

The aged Admiral was happy that his race had survived those bloody and nightmarish 30 years of war, and despite his oath to never forget or forgive the Elites for their part in the War before they separated from the Covenant, he was thankful that they did and helped them push the Covenant back. Though many of the survivors of the Outer Colonies wanted blood for their destroyed worlds, he was not going to have another war spring up between them and their allies all for the sake of revenge.

The Museum had all the needed relics and artifacts to fill it. There were replicas of the real life UNSC weapons that their Marines, Naval personnel, Army, and the ODSTs used, even their vehicles and armor were also there as well. And the weapons left behind by the Covenant Loyalists were there as well. This Museum also had the life-like statues of every hero who had fought, bled, and died in the 30 years of fighting.

There were statues of heroes such as the heroic Captain Jacob Keyes, the leader of the Pillar of Autumn, who even when being converted by the Flood refused to surrender and give them the location Earth, even if it meant his death, his daughter Commander Miranda Keyes, the toughest female officer in the Fleet who helped prevent the firing of Delta Halo with the aid of the Arbiter and Sergeant Major A J Johnson, a statue of the deceased Admiral Whitecomb, who's sacrifice destroyed not only the Unyielding Hierophant, but a vast portion of the Covenant invasion force, there was also a statue of the said Sergeant Major who had fought against great odds alongside his comrades and allowed the firing of Halo to finally kill the Flood well away from killing all sentient life, and finally…Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan John-117, the greatest of his kin and had done many feats that even the most seasoned of the UNSC Marines and ODSTs found to be near to impossible to pull off. There were other statues as well of those who gave their lives in the battle with the Spartan's statue in the forefront

He himself had great respect for the Master Chief and his fellow Spartans, not just because of their records and abilities…but he owed them their lives as they had saved him and his staff on more than one occasion.

A part of him still couldn't help but wonder if the Chief was truly dead, due to the Arbiter's words years before. Though he admitted that he didn't want to think that the Master Chief was truly gone, there had been no reports from the still active UNSC Prowlers of any sighting of the section of the Frigate `Forward Unto Dawn' that the Master Chief, Cortana, and the Arbiter had been onboard of when they had fled the destruction of Halo, the Ark, High Clarity and the death of the Flood. As much as he wanted to believe that there was a chance that the Master Chief was still alive along with Cortana, but considering all that was before them and the possibility that they could anywhere in space, especially uncharted space made the idea of the being found alive all the more uncertain.

“Lord Hood, you're car has arrived to pick you up.”

The Admiral's new AI assistant, Churchill appeared in the holo-tank to inform his commander that the transportation he requested to take him to the opening of the Museum.

“Thank you Churchill, have all the reports and data arranged for me to look up once the ceremony is over.”

“Yes Admiral.”

Later…

Lord Hood stood in front of the podium as he looked at the large collections of people before him as the Museum was now soon to open. All over the area were large numbers of people, camera bots, and in front of the crowds were three large columns of veterans of the UNSC armed forces, Marines, ODSTs, Army and Navy personnel, both young and old. They wanted to be the very first to enter the Museum and to recall what they had been in since the beginning to the end of the war.

The UNSC HIGHCOM allowed access to civilian contractors on the combat data and recordings, along with weapon and vehicle designs, along with the city plans of both New Mombasa and Voi to make every detail of the battles as perfect as possible…only the veterans were the ones who knew far more intimate details of the battles.

As soon as everything was ready, he began to look at the all the assembled people and spoke to them all in a voice as strong as he could muster.

“For countless years since the dawn of our race…we have made monuments to commemorate our heroes, and the defense of nations or conquest of others. It has been part of our culture and heritage. Today however, for the first time in our history we are here to bless and open a monument not dedicated to those things…but to the enduring survival of a species…ours.”

“Nearly 35 years ago, we were invaded by the collection of races we knew then and now as the Covenant, and we had been pushed to the brink of extinction, and we were then faced by the arrival of the Flood. We were out gunned and out numbered, our fleets defeated many times, and our ground forces losing many of our fellow soldiers, and yet we fought on, until on March 3, 2553, we won a major victory along with our Covenant Separatist allies over the Covenant Loyalists and the Flood, and while we still have many years to rebuild our shattered civilization, we now have something that all of us in our hearts wished to have ever since the beginning of this war…peace.”

“This museum also commemorates not just our survival…but to commemorate those who gave their lives willingly and honorably to make this peace possible. They who gave their lives with courage and fortitude in those days to the end of the war. For those of you enter these doors, I bid you welcome…to the Museum of Humanity.”

************

Light-years away on the Elite Home-world of Sanghelios…

“Arbiter, we have received word that the Humans have completed that…'Museum' of theirs. It had taken them some time but it is done.”

A single Elite, dressed in the ornate and functional golden Arbiter Holy Armor faced another Elite who wore the golden armor of the Ship Master of the Covenant Navy. The Arbiter looked at his old fried Rtas' Vadum, or half Jaw as he was known to the UNSC soldiers, as he showed the images of the newly finished museum on the human home world of Earth.

The two Sangheili watched as Fleet Admiral `Lord' Terrance Hood spoke about the long history and the commemoration of the Museum of Humanity and both listened well to the words of the supreme leader of their former enemies and now allies the UNSC, as he recounted the events that led to the construction of the Museum, commemorating the survival of the Human race, and both Elites nodded as the tours began and several older men…UNSC Marine veterans who survived the battles with them and the Covenant Loyalists.

Rtas then turned to his friend and now supreme leader and spoke.

“They deserve to have that place made, they have earned it well.”

“True my friend…”

“To think that nearly 30 years ago…we all considered them weak and inferior, with those thoughts we waged war with them and while we had nearly defeated them, they had proven to us that they were our equals for all the many battles we have with them. The Humans may be weak and not as advanced, but they are brave, tenacious, gifted with tactical and strategic brilliance, and honorable, all these qualities and their fighting spirit were enough to make them rival us and become our equals. They were truly worthy of the Forerunners' generosity and protection, as were we all…to think that we had been fighting them for no reason and nearly wiping them out… all for the sake of those deceitful and foolish Prophets and walking straight to our own deaths blindly…it shames me to think of it all now.”

The Arbiter nodded silently as he knew the truth in the words of his friend. He knew that in the beginning of the war with the UNSC… his people, when they were still on the side of the Prophets, saw humans as weak and inferior and were to be destroyed like the vile affronts to the Gods of their faith the Prophets told them to be without mercy or pity. And they did so with their faith, their former blind, and misguided faith, guiding them as they killed the human soldiers, civilians, their fleets, and glassed their worlds…he himself held most of those attacks. And when they thought that they would be able to win the ground wars, they attacked…expecting quick victories over the UNSC Marines, ODSTs, and Army on the ground.

But the humans proved them all wrong…there on the ground, their victories were more uncertain, as despite the staggering casualties they had inflicted on the humans, the humans fought back with impressive tactical and strategic brilliance, and an unwavering bravery and resolve that slowly and surely began to gain their attention.

In the past 27 years of combat, his people, while still hating the humans as they were their enemies, began to respect and admire them. The humans were indeed physically weak, but they were indeed tenacious as several of his fellow Elite commanders would comment on the fact that even the smallest of the humans would charge at their defenses with unwavering honor, and it made them state that they wished that the Unggoy (The Grunts as they were known in the Human tongue) were as committed and dedicated as the UNSC Marines in combat.

There were even stories from other Elites who said that even when about to die, wounded and dying human Marines would not beg for their lives and would fight still until they died…defiant to the end. Though not all humans were like that…the majority of the UNSC Marines were truly defiant even to the very end, preferring to die fighting than to be captured alive.

Even their lower ranking brethren commented that while the UNSC weapons technology was inferior, limited, and primitive, some of the technology was surprisingly useful and deadly in the hands of the UNSC ground forces, and their battle strategies and tactics were very impressive and effective. And it was even said that some of their kin had wondered on why the Prophets had not given Humans the option of honorable submission and absorption into the Covenant. Ever since the war's beginning, the Prophets had never told them of the crime that Humans had committed to warrant their extinction, and that was before the destruction of Halo, but even then, there were others who questioned the so called crimes of Humans and asked why the Prophets still do not welcome the Humans into the Covenant for they have more than merited their place to be part of the Covenant for having survived this long against them.

They also commented on the Spartans, namely the one who destroyed Halo and how he defeated legions of their comrades and fellow Covenant members in every battle he has been in, though they killed some of these Spartans, and dwindled their numbers, the Elites state that they are like a new class of Human soldier and how the Spartans were like them…being able to inspire discipline, bravery and ferocity in their fellow humans with their fighting prowess and their presence on the battle-field.

And now…after all that has happened, he admitted that things had changed for their race and that of the Humans.

Rtas then looked at the Human Marines who saluted the statue and began to look at what they had seen and experienced in the wars, and civilians were there as well, and the Elite Ship Master saw the emotions that were there on the faces and eyes of the Humans. He then looked at the Arbiter and asked a question that had bothered him for some time.

“Do you think they will one day forgive us Arbiter? For all the lives we have destroyed and the worlds we have reduced to glass, because of our blindness to the lies the Prophets have shown us?”

The Arbiter shook his head at that statement.

“I do not think so…it is not easy for them to forgive, or to forget us for our attacks on them, and we cannot blame them for that, thankfully no such thing has happened yet that would spark a war between us and the Humans…and I would like it to remain that way. They are now our allies and…friends, and we may at least do our best to heal those wounds we have caused to their worlds and their kind.”

Rtas then looked at the statue of one being in the UNSC who proved to be one worthy of attention, a former mortal enemy and turned valued ally. He recalled how much he had hoped to end the threat the Spartan had been to the Covenant in the past, before he was told the truth about what the supposed sacred rings were…now that he knew that the Spartan was right in the fact that they had to be destroyed…his anger began to lessen, and knowing that the Spartan had been lost in the destruction of the vile parasitic Flood and their evil leader the Gravemind, his opinion on the Spartan had changed a great deal, and he saw the former enemy as the best symbol of the fighting spirit, tenacity, and resolve of the Humans, along with the UNSC Marines…it was a great shame that one of his caliber had died, but he died with honor and in the defense of his people…still it was not easy to know that one as great as he was no longer among them in this universe.

“It is hard to believe that…the Spartan is dead, he truly deserves to be among the remembered for all he has accomplished.”

“Were it so easy…”

Rtas was a bit surprised at that statement and looked at the Arbiter as they walked towards the terrace and looked at their city to see their world in the process of being rebuilt and their kin who now walked in peace. The Sangheili had lost many in the Wars and though some of his kin were still angry towards the Humans of the UNSC, namely for the NOVA bomb incident, many of them were no longer listening to the lies of the Prophets and there was indeed a movement of their youth who admired the audacity and fighting spirit of the Humans. The Arbiter saw them as the new future for his people and encouraged it. The UNSC and his people had an alliance and he intended to keep it strong in these days of rebuilding for both their cultures and civilizations.

“You do not believe that the Spartan is truly dead Arbiter?”

The Arbiter turned and looked at the statue dedicated to the Spartan. He recalled long ago that he had once carried a hatred for the Spartan, after all, during his days when he still served the Prophets, he had been stripped of his rank and title and the Mark of Shame placed on him due to his failure in stopping the Spartan from destroying it. He became the Arbiter afterwards and first began to doubt the Prophets when he had killed the Heretic Leader, who gave him clues as to what was going to really happen once the Rings were fired, and met the Oracle, 343 Guilty Spark.

He then helped retrieve the Sacred Icon to activate Delta Halo when he and his forces came to it and he yet again felt anger at the Spartan when he learned that the Prophet of Regret had been slain by the Spartan. This led to the removal of his brethren from their position as the Honor Guards of the Prophets, and when he had retrieved the Sacred Icon after killing the Flood that infested the place…he found himself betrayed by both the Prophets and the Brutes, namely by their Chieftain Tartarus, and while he was supposed to die, he was rescued and fooled by Gravemind and found himself facing the Spartan himself, he challenged the Gravemind and disagreed when the Spartan told him about Halo's true purpose. It was when the Gravemind told him the whole truth…it was then that he truly saw through the lies of the Prophets.

He allied with both the Gravemind and the Spartan to stop Halo from being fired and while the Spartan went to High Clarity to stop the Brutes, he also made his way to the Control center to prevent the Brute Chieftain from arriving there with his prisoners, Commander Miranda Keyes and Sergeant Major Johnson to use them to activate the Ring. He rescued as many of his brethren as he could, sparing them death from the hands of the traitorous Brutes who had murdered their leader with the blessing of the Prophets and met up with Rtas and helped rally his kin, until he and the human Sergeant fought their way to the Control Room to stop it. However, they arrived too late as Tartarus had now the Index, Keyes and 343 with him. He tried to convince the Brute Chieftain that the Prophets had lied to them all and there would be no salvation for them if Halo was activated, only death, but even his words and the data provided by 343 were not enough to convince Tartarus to stop and the Ring was activated. He and his Elites, with the support of the Sergeant Major managed to overpower Tartarus and slay him and his Brutes, though the Chieftain killed many of his kin, with the death of Tartarus, the human female Commander was able to recover the Index and stop the detonation, while his kin held the perimeter. But they had to rally and stop the Prophets and their Brute followers, along with whoever among the Covenant who sided with them from finding the Ark, the one place where all the rings could be fired once they were on stand by firing mode. This made him come forward to the UNSC HIGHCOM and tell them that they were now Separatists from the Covenant and told them of what he had learned…and despite the reluctance of his kin, they aligned with the UNSC to prevent their former comrades, the Prophets and their Brute followers from finding the Ark and firing all the Halo Rings…ushering the death of all life in the Universe.

He recalled meeting the Spartan again and how he had been threatened by the green armored warrior with a pistol. After the Sergeant convince the Spartan to let him go, he and the others fought to evacuate from the area, but the Brutes and their allies were there and wasted little time in preventing their escape and Johnson and his Marines were taken hostage. There, he and the Spartan fought together and were able to free the captured Marines and were able to arrive in the hidden outpost. There he heard Marines comment on the arrival of the Spartan and say they were going to be all right, making him see just how much the Spartan meant to his fellow Humans as a symbol of hope and courage…lessening his anger towards the warrior.

The Prophet of Truth then interrupted their communications with Lord Hood and that was a sign of an incoming attack, he and the Sergeant defended the operations center as the wounded were evacuated and they were getting ready to leave, but was separated from the Spartan as the base was destroyed. He then recalled watching and lending support to the Spartan and Marines as they punched through the Brute blockade forces and into the city of Voi, and their defeat of a Scarab in the area where the artifact that the Prophet of Truth had been digging for was found. Their forces attacked the Prophet's ship and tried to destroy him at last…but the Prophet and his Brutes had escaped through a massive Slipspace portal, they then had to face the Flood as one of the Covenant ships the parasites had infested landed in the city. He and the Spartan rallied their forces and fought to reach the reactors of the ship to destroy the Flood and prevent them from spreading all over the Earth…they succeeded despite losses and with the aid of the Elite Fleet, glassed the city to kill all the Flood in the area.

They gathered their forces and took their best fighters and headed after the Prophet and the Brutes to end it once and for all. They then find the Ark, a massive complex outside of the Milky Way and would be beyond the firing range of the Halo Rings once fired. They arrived and then gathered their respective forces, the ODSTs and the Spec Ops, along with 343 itself, who would aid them in the battles ahead, to launch a full scale twin strike on a shield complex that protected the Control Room of the Ark, though losses were high, they were able to make it through and move to the Control Room to rescue Johnson before the Prophet could force him to activate the Ark and fire all the Halo Rings, Miranda Keyes took matter into her own hands as she crashed her Pelican into the Control Room to free Johnson, but she was surrounded and was about to kill both him and herself to stop Truth, but she hesitated and was killed by the Prophet with a Spike Rifle. The two of them were assisted by the Flood and it's Combat Forms and barely succeeded in stopping the Ark from firing all the Rings. He then personally executed the Prophet with his Energy Sword and they watched as Johnson took the body of Miranda Keyes with him to the Pelican drop-ship, but that was when the now Flood Infested High Clarity came and took over the Ark and began to infest the structure…forcing them to fight their way through the area. Once they did so, 343 informed them that a new Halo Ring was being made and while incomplete, it was primed and ready to fire. They knew that if activated, the weapon would truly kill the Flood forever and without risk to the UNSC and the Covenant Separatists and with both the Ark, High Clarity, and Halo destroyed, there would be no means of escape for the Gravemind and it's Flood Forms. However, they had to take a great risk and infiltrate the now infested High Clarity to retrieve Cortana who had remained behind a long time ago…for she alone had the one thing needed to activate the new Halo…the Index from the Ring the Spartan had destroyed, as the Index was still compatible with the new Ring.

Both he and the Spartan fought their way into the now corrupted and twisted city and the Spartan, with intense strength of body, mind, and will made it in time to free Cortana and with them once more side by side, he supported them as they made it back to the UNSC Frigate `Forward Unto Dawn' and headed for the new Ring…but not before activating the detonation of the In Amber Clad's fusion reactors and those of High Clarity…destroying the former Covenant capital and supposedly the Gravemind, making it seem that the plan they had before was not that badly needed…

They however found out that the Gravemind still lived and had managed to gather it's forces and began to infest the new Ring, the three of them fought their way to the Control Room, and they were now ready to activate Halo to wipe out the Flood forever, he and the Spartan watched the entrance while Sergeant Johnson took Cortana to activate Halo, but they were betrayed by 343 as it had gone mad and wanted to preserve `his ring'. The Forerunner machine mortally wounded Johnson and he was unable to aid the Spartan as he was sealed away from the Control Room, but he watched as the wounded Sergeant fired his Spartan Laser and aided the Chief in slaying the traitorous machine, he watched the two share last words together and watched as the AI and the Spartan fired the ring and rush out as the doors opened.

He felt sympathy for the Spartan as he knew that he and the Sergeant Major were good friends. They then managed to make it in time to the Frigate and he moved to the ship's controls and with Cortana's help, they were able to escape and enter the Slipspace portal to return to Earth…but as they were nearly out, the frigate was cut in half as the portal collapsed in on itself.

He recalled being in the memorial service in Africa for all those who died in the final battle after he had been found as the frigate landed into the sea and he was rescued. On the fragment of the ship was the oath of the UNSC Armed Forces and the pictures, and names of all who died, including Miranda Keyes and Sergeant Major A. J Johnson, he was there to hear the speech of Lord Hood and the orders to leave this place barren as a reminder for all those who died. It was there that Lord Hood told him how he remembered how the war started, and what his people did to Humanity, for that, the Admiral could never forgive him, but he was grateful that he was there with the Spartan in his final days, and they shook hands that day, though when he heard the Admiral say that it was hard to admit that he was dead he still had doubts about that.

And he doubted the death of the Spartan even more up to now.

“I do not believe that one such as him would die so easily Ship Master… In the times I had seen him fight and survive, to the times I have seen records of his past battles, and fighting alongside him, I know that what they say about his sense of…luck, luck that defies any odds is very true…he has survived far worse and he will not die so easily. No, despite how long it has been, I do not believe that he truly is dead.”

The Arbiter looked out towards space and nodded.

“I believe that he is still out there somewhere…and he will be heard of someday soon.”

Rtas shook his head at that.

“But we have found no trace of him…even our most seasoned scouting fleets have not found the section of the UNSC Frigate that had broken off when the Slipspace portal collapsed, and even the Humans' own fleets as few as they are…have not found the section themselves. Pardon my words Arbiter, but he must be dead.”

“No…I do not know why I still will not believe that he is truly dead old friend, but I do. If there are truly Gods in this Universe Ship Master…I highly doubt that they will let one so skilled as him die so easily…they would have other plans for him. To me…the war between the Covenant, the UNSC, and the Flood may already be over for us, the Humans, and him…but for him, there will be even more battles yet to come…if not here…then somewhere else…far beyond our universe.”

The Arbiter then laughed a bit.

“I only hope that those who he will face are prepared to face him. It would have been an honor to see him fight once more.”

Rtas laughed a bit at that as well as both Elites looked on to the stars.

************

In the vast realm of space…

Cortana looked in the data records as she looked over the cryo-tube where the Master Chief was currently resting in. And she had already released the distress beacon. But she had no idea when of if they would be found…after all, they were in unknown space and were in half of the Forward Unto Dawn UNSC Frigate, thankfully, the fusion reactors were still providing residual power, enough to keep everything running, including life support for the cryo-tube.

She then looked at Chief as the Spartan lay there in the tube in cryo-sleep. His vitals signs were all good and he was dreaming somewhat. She was tempted to find out what he was thinking about but did not disturb him…after all that had happened between them and how many things have changed as well. Despite this…she was glad that they were still side by side…even if the Spartan was sleeping.

She remembered the time that she had met him, nearly two years ago before the battle on Reach, when she had been asked by her `mother' Dr. Catherine Halsey to pick the Spartan that she wanted to be paired with. Like all UNSC smart AI, she was modeled after the thought patterns of a person and she was modeled from Dr. Catherine herself.

When she had seen a picture of the Master Chief, she commented as a joke that he was attractive in a primitive animal sort of way. She had done her research on him and noted his records and skills, along with the many awards he had earned over the years, he was a natural leader…but she saw something none of the others, with the exception of Dr. Halsey, did with John-117…luck.

She remembered their battles over the first Halo Ring after escaping the Pillar of Autumn, and how she had witnessed the Master Chief in action and how skilled and lucky he was…surviving odds that had even her scared. Plus he saw the humanity in him as well as he did his best to save as many of his fellow soldiers' lives as he could manage and the guilt he felt when they died in combat. She recalled her anger at him at times, namely when he had nearly helped 343 activate Halo, and how they had worked together to find Captain Keyes and to destroy Halo, and how they worked together in both the battle on Cairo Station, then on New Mombasa and then to the Delta Halo…until their alliance to the Flood Gravemind.

She recalled how they had been unable to stop the Prophet and the spreading of the Flood in High Clarity when the parasites had infested the In Amber Clad and crashed on High Clarity. She stayed behind to detonate In Amber Clad' reactors and the promise made to her by the Master Chief that he was coming back to get her, but she was unable to do so as the Flood and the Gravemind stopped her cold.

She then recalled the pain and guilt she had for telling the Gravemind what she knew and then was stunned that he came for her regardless of what would happen to him and how he stated that she should know him well, when he made a promise, he would keep it no matter what.

<I was right in choosing him…>

The AI looked at her protector as he slept and then pondered another question that was on her mind for so long now ever since they drifted into space. With the Covenant Loyalists defeated, the Flood obliterated, and the Halo Rings now permanently disabled…the War was now over…both for the Covenant Separatists, The UNSC, and naturally for her and the Chief.

<No…I think I should call him by his name…John. John-117, I always wanted to call him by that name.>

The question in her mind was…what would they do now?

Even if they were found, which was very much uncertain due to where they were drifting, there was no war left for her and John-117 to fight in. She knew that the Spartans were trained for war all their lives, John as well…so in an age of peace…where would he go? All he had known was a life of combat? What would be his path now that the war was over?

She pondered it over and over, even if there would be eventual rebellions, Humanity would not be willing to start another war anytime soon, and it would be a long time before they would no doubt be found…a lot can happen in that much time.

There was also the fact that as a smart AI, she had a limited life span due to thinking to the point of crashing her systems and would cease functioning, she didn't know why, but the thought of leaving John alone was a very painful feeling that made her wish that she would not…die now. She may joke about her having a relationship with the Spartan…but in truth…she cared more than she cared to admit for him. She had felt and seen his guilt and human nature despite his military life and harsh years growing up. She suspected that her feelings were due to the fact that Dr. Catherine Halsey had deep affections for John-117 which while it was true that she had feelings of affection to all the other Spartans, her feelings for the Spartan leader were at a slightly higher degree, and since she had her thought patterns based from the Doctor, she might have those feelings…but hers were now deeper than before…she didn't want to leave now, but there were so many things that made her death a certainty…but despite her fears…she was happy that at least…he would be there with her when the time did come.

<He said to me…Wake me, when you need me…For all you have done John…thank you…sleep now, it's my turn to watch over you now.>

With that thought…Cortana kept her scans of the areas of space.

Unknown to Cortana, things had changed greatly, as while they were in space…they were in the SAME universe they had come from.

The Forerunners were highly advanced and their use of Slipspace technology was vast and great, even more so than the Covenant, before and after they were wiped out when they fired the rings nearly 100,000 years ago. Their empire was vast and powerful before their deaths and though the Covenant was highly advanced, they used only salvaged Forerunner technology and had not yet fully grasped the secrets the Forerunners took to their graves when the Halo Rings were fired.

They knew a lot more about Slipspace than either the UNSC or the Covenant did, and it's myriads of hidden secrets. And she and the Master Chief had just been subjected to that, as when Halo had been fired…the energy that was unleashed had not only made the portal collapse, but had slingshot the section of the Frigate they were on through all the dimensional barriers in their universe and Slipspace itself…and had sent them into another universe…so similar to their own but of a completely different history.

And while they drifted, they were now going to enter into another arc of human history in this alternate universe.

In the past in this universe, the people of Earth had finally reached the limit of their planet's sustainable population and resource limits, and the rising amounts of pollution began to make the planet uninhabitable…and the space cities established, along with the occasional asteroid mining complex could no longer provide the needed materials and resources to feed the ever hungry populace of the planet.

Like the UNSC, they too realized that they would soon have to develop technology and expand far beyond their solar system…however, despite their own advanced technology, they did not develop Slipspace drive technology and instead developed a new and very experimental power source known as the Paeksis. This was possible due to the discovery of a large deposit of energy releasing crystals that was found on a routine asteroid mining operation in deep space

The power source could unleash massive amounts of power that had to be regulated in order to prevent a disaster. Over the years that passed, the Paeksis was refined well enough as both and resources would allow…and in the spanning of a few years, the first wave of Colonial ships took off from Earth in what was known to the humans in this Earth as the Colonization Era.

In the years that followed the Colonization Era, and the years spent by the crew in cryo-stasis and many of the ships landed on several habitable planets, and in time it seemed that the Human Race in this universe would flourish and grow.

But like the UNSC's expansion days and the formation of the Inner Colonies and the Outer Colonies, the colonists, one group in particular had now found a new enemy…

Each other.

The Colony Ship known as the Ikazuchi had traveled to a system through a massive debris belt filled with dust, asteroids, and energy storms, and for some reason, the crew of the Ikazuchi got into a deep argument and in that moment, both factions, male and female separated the Ikazuchi and yet on with their own plans to colonize the worlds in the system.

The men landed on the desert world and the women landed on a lush world and with the technology that they had gained from both sections of the Ikazuchi, they created two totally separate societies.

The men founded the Tarak Empire and this empire was ruled entirely by the eight men who were part of the original crew and were populated by men who were born through the use of artificial birthing machines and cloning, despite this rather unorthodox method of conception, the men grew into a society that valued strength, practicality, honesty, honor, bravery, and keeping a promise.

The men grew up in a world where practical knowledge, survival training, physical strength, practicality, endurance, proper use of resources, and utility were prized above aesthetics, beauty and wasteful uses of all resources…valued traits for them in such a deadly and unforgiving world where death came in many forms and the land itself could kill the unwary and ill-prepared.

However, like all things, places, and people…they too had flaws. The men of Tarak viewed women as nothing more than monsters who ate their livers, and even looking and speaking to one would result in the man who does so to lose his eyes and hearing as women were supposed to be ugly beyond measure and their voices could cause men to rot. They also dedicated their resources and technology to warfare and never for the betterment of their fellow men, every new discovery was tested for the potential for warfare.

Their society, while strict and effective treated those of the lower classes as worse than dirt. The First Class Citizens of the Tarak Empire were considered to be the elite and got the best of everything, food, water, education, resources, medical care, and more. They were the members of Government, held military positions, and were the leaders of every military, social, and industrial positions on Tarak. The Second Class were the middlemen, higher than the Third Class, but were lower than the First Class Citizens, they served as merchants, lower government officials, lower ranking officers, scientists and designers. The Third Class were the menial laborers, forced to work the most menial tasks and were provided the worst medical care, treatment, education, food, and more. They also do not celebrate other holidays except the birthdays of their leaders.

Nevertheless, that is the life led by the Tarak men and all that they want is to prove their manliness to their foes, the women.

The women who landed on the lush world founded their own society known as the Megele Kingdom. And this kingdom was under the rule of the eight women who were part of the original crew of the Ikazuchi, they populated their world through cloning as well, but in a more unique manner as they all were capable of reproducing internally, unlike the men who used artificial means to have children, they were able to populate the world in the same year as the men did on Tarak. The world the women lived in had a society that prided beauty, technological advantage, competition to be the best, and advancing further in various fields.

That plus the fact that their world is lush and fertile gives them the supplies and materials to do just that. They also celebrate important human traditions such as Christmas, and due to these qualities, they tend to be more open emotionally than the men of Tarak.

However, though they did not have a strict caste system like the men of Tarak did, they had their own flaws. They fight each other in order to be the best at any field, to the point they would use underhanded tactics to do so and consume vast resources from both Megele and their colonies on many trivial matters, to the point of near saturation. This, plus their harsh attitudes to those who fall due to their conspiracies, plots, and schemes had led to more than one city being stripped of power, food, water, and the basic amenities. This has been the cause that some women chose to become pirates, preying on both ships from Megele and Tarak.

As of now, the men of Tarak were in the process of launching one of their new battle-groups…including a newly reconstructed Ikazuchi, the colony ship was retrofitted with new sections, living quarters, training halls, armories, manufacturing stations, and launching bays for their latest achievements…powered armor suits known as Vanguards…these mecha were to be their finest weapon against the women. And the battle-fleet had one purpose.

To stop the pirates who have raided their ships for a long period of time and many of their Third Generation sons were now ready to go into combat. And they were all eager to finally get the chance to show women their place, and to show their manliness to the universe.

In the asteroid belt that was forming the barrier to the outside world on Tarak and Megele, the said band of female pirates were getting ready to land the biggest catch of their careers, though they had made some last minute roster changes, leaving behind most of their veterans and taking a large number of new recruits to give them some experience in combat and to make this a quick run. This was going to be a cakewalk, despite the rumors of a new weapon being made by the men.

They all had no idea that while their civilizations flourished along with other colony planets, the situation on Earth had deteriorated for that past century and the planet had been completely rendered barren. Their former kin who managed to survive in the now ruined home world of humanity began to lose their sense of morals and sanity…and now considered themselves the true inheritors of humanity and they wanted to survive no matter what…and they now had initiated a plan that would ensure their survival…no matter the cost.

However…as the Ikazuchi took off into space and was soon to be followed by it's escort fleet and the pirates began to make their move, and the plan of the former Earthlings now in motion…

They all had no idea that there was going to be two new players in the galactic scene as the section of the UNSC Frigate `Forward Unto Dawn' which housed Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan John-117 and UNSC AI No. 0452-9 - Cortana, came into sight of the now orbiting fleet of the men.

It seemed that the Arbiter's words about Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan II John-117 were going to come true after all.

************

To be continued…

Author's Notes:

This is my latest project to date this year and as you can see, this is a crossover of Halo 3 and VanDread. And as far as I can figure, this will be the first of it's kind in this website. I have managed to see the ending of Halo 3, along with Legendary ending…and it has inspired me to make this crossover between Halo and VanDread as there was tons of potential there.

I will not replace Hibiki with the Master Chief, the youngster will be there and he will be the Vanguard pilot, but as to how he will act around the Spartan once they meet, that is still very much a surprise, but you can bet that they won't be enemies.

It's also up to me on who the Master Chief will be paired with, so be nice and try not to badger me too much on those details, you can send suggestions, but be civil about you're opinions on the topic.

The reason I added the history of both the UNSC and the Covenant and the Flood, was to make it a more unique experience and to make sure that when I get to work in the rest of the story. I have also added the overall events of the Halo series to make it a bit more unique as well.

If anyone asks if I might have the Chief piloting a Vanguard in this story, then the answer is no…I had planned on doing the same thing as to what had happened to the Vanguard Hibiki wanted to steal in the original series…and changing the Vanguard the Chief will pilot in the story to have the very same functions and appearance of the Mjolnir Mark VI, including the shields and more…but a friend of mine, a childhood friend told me that doing so would be going against the very essence of the Halo series, and it would be too much.

Therefore, in keeping true with the spirit and essence of the Halo series, the Master Chief will fill a very important role…and that will be as ground operations specialist for the pirates. This will also mean that the Harvesters in the VanDread Universe will have more than just the Cube Fighters, Seed Ships, Space Urchins, and their Battle-ships now that this show is crossed over with Halo…but as to what new additions they will have…ah, that would be telling. Suffice to say, I will make sure to have the Chief have some serious battles with Harvesters and their forces as soon as he meets them...in space, in ships, and on the ground.

The weapons and vehicles in the Halo series, both on the side of the UNSC and some of the Covenant will make their own appearance there as well as Cortana will have their design specs in her data stores and will be able to manufacture them as I will make some very significant changes to the Nirvana to make all that possible and you can bet that things in the VanDread Universe are about to get a serious overhaul!

Not to mention the reactions of the Nirvana crew to this new addition to their roster…how will they act…namely the women pirates when they see his combat records and his data files?

Things are about to get very dicey in that side of the Universe, that's for sure!

See you in Chapter 1 - The Awakening!

Comments and Reviews are very much welcome.