The 'Hog lurched as it smashed into an unfortunate Grunt. The timer now read at eight seconds and counting.
Up ahead, he could see the rest of the convoy. The hauler was left behind, though, and a Warthog was missing.
Three seconds. Two....
"Shield your eyes!" He barked into the COM. He polarized his visor filter to its darkest setting.
The world became yellow. The light of it burned through his filter. He heard the driver grunt, as it dazzled his eyelids.
The bomb had cut straight into the fusion engines, and the roiling energy impacted on its own shields rebounding chaotically inside the bubble. Finally, the pure heat collapsed the shield.
John's helmet automatically depolarized when the brilliance had faded.
He looked more closely, and saw the smoking wreckage of the Covenant destroyer. Those Covenant who remained seemed blind from the flash, by the way they were clutching their eyes, and staggering around.
"Where's the nearest military airport around here?" He asked his driver.
"San Falenza port, sir. About a mile thataway." He pointed.
"Okay everyone...head to the San Falenza airport. Due east," John said, over the COM channel. Then, in a quiet whisper to himself:"Mission accomplished."
AUTHOR's NOTE- Oh hell...the ship he was supposed to be running away on towards Halo is blown up. Yep, I'm stupid, ain't I? Guess I'll have to adapt somehow.
They arrived at the airport, but was greeted with a display of smoking vehicles, and a large battle.
John took in the situation at a glance. Up ahead, he could see another Covenant ship, a carrier. It was starting to wobble, which meant it was getting ready to disengage its gravity locks, and run away. The latter convfused him...John had known the Covenant for their sheer tenacity, and they never ran from a battle. Unless....unless they were looking for something, such as Forerunner technology. But there was no remnant of Forerunner technology, or artifacts on Earth.
Was there? Maybe that was why they were running away. They had searched here, but hadn't found what they were looking for, and decided to sit back, and leave the area without further delay. Which was probably why they had sent soldiers to destroy the massive shipyard, so that they weren't followed.
Like hell, He thought. But the Covenant horde were proving successful so far, having disabled two destroyers and a frigate. The only compatible craft they had left was an undersized frigate, named the Icarus.
Cortana must have also been assessing their situation, because she immediately implanted a NAV point, on the Icarus, and transmitted the coordinates over a secure COM channel to the rest of the team, and the marines half a kilometer distant, holding off the Covenant tide at bay.
"Can you jam their controls?" John asked Cortana, and looked at the carrier.
"Well, I can try." Her presence slipped out of his head.
He opened a COM channel to the marines. "Marines, fall back. Formation Delta..we're not letting the idiots run away from this one, if we can help it. Cortana has already sent the NAV point to you."
"Step on it." He ordered his driver. "Get us there, best speed you can."
"Affirmative."
A distorted, but tangible voice crackled in his helmet speakers.
"Johnson here," The uncanny Major replied."We're pushing back the assholes as best as we can. Miranda's here, too. She's a damned good shot, especially for a brat Navy ship driver."
John shook his head. Johnson was inflappible, keeping his head cool at all situations. He had a good sense of humor, and usually kept the squad on a high note. He, and others like him, would be needed, if Earth was to survive this conflict.
"Good work, Johnson. Get aboard the frigate, if you can. Good luck."
The vehicle sailed over a damaged Ghost. He looked up, and saw the Covenant ship freeze in mid-air. A few moments later, Cortana's prescence filled his head again.
"Good job, Cortana."
"Thank you, Chief."
"How long until they're functional again?"
"Approximately fifteen minutes."
A Wraith lumbered out from behind a large cargo module. Damn it, they had a big opportunity to chase that ship down, but this thing was right in the way.
"Slow down, Corporal!" He called to the driver.
"Are you crazy, Chief? If we slow down, that thing blows us all to atoms!"
But John stared at him, until he did. The Spartan leapt out, and yelled."Drive! Straight toward it!"
If they had a bit of luck, the Warthog would close the distance between them, and could reach the "safe" zone, where the Covenant tank, couldn't drop energy mortars on them.
The Master Chief circled around the Wraith, and automatic plasma weapons on the hull blasted at him. He sidestepped, so that he was in one weapon's blind side, and shot the other plasma gun until it slagged. He dropped one plasma rifle, and tensed.
The Wraith started to turn.
At the right moment, the Chief leapt aboard the hull. Immediately, the Elite driver inside activated a gravitic speed boost, and the Spartan was nearly thrown off the tank. However, as luck would have it, he grabbed a grooved rim, which happened to be right outside the cockpit. He looked inside, and saw the Elite draw a plasma weapon at him, the muzzle glowing green.
He rolled back as it discharged, stuck his own plasma rifle inside, and shot the Elite before its weapon recharged.
The Cheif smashed the cockpit protection canopy open, hurled the dead Elite from the controls, and dropped himself inside. The 'Hog stopped firing the chaingun on the back, and the Chief heard it coming alongside, in an escort position. As soon as it did this, however, the one remaining automatic plasma weapon blasted at the Warthog, and the driver swore.
Without thinking, he smashed his fist through a holographic control. The plasma cannon stopped firing.
He shook his head in amazement. When he was driving Covenant vehicles for the first time, he somehow always got the controls right the first time. He put his hand through a holographic semicircle with a "hilt", and twisted it to the right.
The mortar control came to life, and a targeting reticule appeared on the peripheral screen.
He twisted it to the left, and aimed at where a crowd of Elites were trying to rally a group of diminuitive Grunts. John did his best to eyeball a trajectory, and squeezed the firing stud.
A ball of blue-tinged hellfire tore its way toward the Elites, and impacted. When the smoke cleared, they were gone. Vaporized.
The Grunts were either shooting randomly, or running around in panic. He opened up a COM channel to the marines, and Johnson.
"Listen up, Helljumpers. I'm in a Covenant tank. You'll have probably noticed by now from the fireworks display...I'm going to need some vehicle backup to the Icarus, ASAP."
Two Warthogs drove up, and took a flanking escort position around the tank.
"How much time, now?" He asked Cortana.
"Fourteen minutes, five seconds, and counting."
"Use my COM channel to get aboad the ship's network...'warm up the car', before we leave."
"Roger that, Chief."
A COM channel opened, and closed.
The tank drove into the Icarus's vehicle bay.
"Johnson! Where's Miranda Keyes?"
A voice replied, not Johnson's iron-hard baritone, but a calm female voice, that strongly reminded him of Cortana.
"I'm on the bridge, Chief. Cortana's unpacking the operating software. Advise that you hold the Covenant bastards off, before we lift."
"Roger." He replied, and clambered out of the tank.
The Spartan drew his plasma rifle, and peeked around the corner. Where the hell was Johnson now?
As if on cue, the Sergeant Major jogged up from behind a drained fuel battery.
"Tell everyone to get on board." He told the Sergeant.
He nodded, and turned toward the scattering of cargo modules, empty fuel tanks, and spare ship parts. "Fall back!" He roared, over the noise.
"Fall back aboard the frigate, Helljumpers!"
The marines did, albeit unwillingly. Apparently they did not like backing away from a fight, which was the case with ODST's.
The Chief was about to yell, but the Sergeant winked slyly at him. Again, he opened his mouth.
"Come on, you idiots! If you wanna fight the assholes and to live another day, then please accept our special offer to get your sorry asses aboad this ship, and shoot some more bastards later!"
At once, they began to run backwards toward the deployment bay, shooting.
Johnson grinned at the amused Spartan."Worked like a charm."
John had his hand on the manual lock release switch, and he slapped it as soon as the last ODST's were in the troop bay. Several Elites stormed through the door, and laid down some smack with a heavy round of plasma fire.
The Chief dodged, ducked, and dived behind an emtpy fuel module. He lobbed an unarmed grenade over the gap, and heard the startled reaction, as the aliens tried to dive out of the way. He shot them as they tried to run.
Within scant seconds, the fight was over.
He felt the floor rumble, and knew that the ship had lifted off. Johnson apparently felt the same. "Thank god for Cortana."
Miranda Keyes had broadcast the transmission over the all-ship intercom. "Sir, the Covenant ship is about to jump. Permission to engage?"
The low voice of Admiral Hood sounded."Negative. I'll send two heavy cruisers to in-recon."
Apparently, Miranda had the intercom button depressed still, and John heard the navigation officer's voice.
"Ma'am, it's jumping!"
John leaped to the aft window, and saw motes of green light boil around the Covenant ship. The Icarus was dwarfed by it. It was a good thing that they were close. At far range, the slipspace bubble might collapes, with such mass on its edge.
"Sir, it's jumping, we've got no time!"
Hood's voice sighed, recognizing Keye's urgency. "Green light. Green light to engage!"
"Ma'am, without specific jump calculations-"
"We are not losing that ship!" The determination was clear.
**
As the Covenant cruiser disappeared with the tinier human Frigate, a huge slipspace explosion rocked all of New Mombasa.
SECTION TWO:
The Arbiter
Covenant Holy City
High Charity council chamber
"There was only one ship." Igna Vulcanmee said.
The Prophet of Mercy coughed."Only one? Are you certain?"
Vulcanmee looked around the caverous chamber, where Minor Prophets, and Elite Councillors sat gravely, listening to his testament.
They were here to debate what to do with him, since Igna Vulcanmee had failed to protected Halo from destruction.
He spoke up again. "Yes. They called it... the Pillar of Autumn. It managed to reach Halo, as we set fire to their planet. I commanded all the ships in my command to intercept this ship, but it still managed to land on Halo."
The council started muttering amongst themselves, but quieted once the High Prophet of Truth spoke. "Tell us more about the Demon, this...Master Chief."
"This human is more powerful than other humans. He managed to set off a chaotic explosion in the single human ship, which destroyed Halo."
Truth spoke again, his voice with an edge."Long have you led our fleets. Long have you commanded our warriors in battle. But your failure to safeguard Halo was a colossal failure."
Vulcamee hung his head. The Prophet of Truth did not raise his voice, but his mood was such that Vulcamee would have felt less nervous if Truth had shouted at him.
Instantly, the council rose, and started yelling. A Minor Prophet stood up.
"Nay, it was heresy!"
The council argued even louder, and the Prophet of Mercy raised his feeble voice. "There will be order in this council!"