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THE QUEST FOR FREEDOM by ThASuPaMaN8
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THE QUEST FOR FREEDOM Prologue
Date: 21 September 2002, 8:08 pm
On the flight down to what was San Diego, two marines whispered to each other.
"So were just supposed to go down, capture the jewel and come back to Alpha base?" asked one marine by the name of Jebbs.
"Yeh... we ain't got much of a chance though," said Drake as he looked out on the war barren landscape of the once beautiful city. "I just hope to god that if we don't get it some other platoon will."
"ALRIGHT TROOPS, HIT THE FLOOR AND KILL THOSE BASTARDS" said a staff sergeant when a pelican touched down on the barren landscape.
As soon as touch down, the marines were barraged with white hot plasma fire from the palm trees 250 yards ahead. All the marines rushed off as quickly as they could with the sergeant screaming in their ears. They then dived into what were sewer pipes now war trenches to evade the incoming fire. They layed hard on their backs against the wall until the fire ceased and everything was quiet. The wail of the banshees could be heard from above and the chatter of multiple grunts was heard from the trees. The sergeant ordered electronics expert Drake to look over the ridge with a fiber optics wire. Drake got out this long wire with this small camera and inched it over the wall.
Looking on the t.v. screen on his wrist, Drake then reported, "Two elites in elevated positions in the trees, I estimate from the chatter there are about six grunts around the base of the trees, we need one jackhammer missile probably"
"Alright Jebbs get on it," replied the sergeant.
Demo specialist Jebbs popped up from behind the barrier and aimed with his scope and waited for the elites to fire to see where they are. Two shows came from one tree and both missed him. He let a rocket fly and it struck the base of the tree sending it flying 50 feet into the air along with the elite. Four of the grunts went hurling through the air, one got his head smashed from a nearby tree, two went straight into a wall behind them and the other flew over the marines leaving a smoke trail over head.
All of the sudden a green plasma bolt hit the arm of a rookie cadet, sending the plasma into his face and burning off his whole arm. He screamed with pure agony. The sergeant looked up and saw a banshee over head and another in a not too far distance.
"BROKEN ARROW, BROKEN ARROW!" screamed the sergeant.
The banshee turned around and made another pass with the other one right behind it. They let another two molten shots out, one killing Drake, eating away at his chest and the other hit a car tire nearby melting it down into the street. The banshees screamed past the platoon. As the banshees started to turn to make another pass two missiles whizzed over head, one stuck a banshee on the jet and it exploded half the ship. Metal could be heard wrenching as it fell into a flat spin into the palm trees crushing the two grunts and elite. The other missile struck the banshee dead on and flaming debris went everywhere, while what was left of the banshee fell into a nearby department store. The sergeant looked up and felt rain began pour on his face. He saw one P-898 peregrine falcon flew over head and smiled with pride but then the plane was hit by six shots of plasma at one time jolting the plane off course and it hit a fire station. All the sergeant could think about was "hunters..." He sat there for a minute evaluating the situation and figured there were at least six or more hunters a kilometer from them.
"Alright men, lock and load, were in roughneck territory, there are about six hunters a kilo from us. Get in eagle formation, move out..."
The marines filed out into two lines, one on one side of the street, the other on the other side. They moved silently down the road looking for any signs of hunters approaching. All of them were looking for anything suspicious, and then the scout issued the command to stop. The sound of clanking metal could be heard. He crept forward and saw the glint of blue metal from the hunter patrolling the area.
The scout hurried back and said, "There are seven hunters up ahead and six jackals. One red elite is standing guard of the jewel."
The sergeant surveyed the territory and he could see a three story warehouse, a playground, and a pizzeria.
"Ok Johnson, Mahumet, and Raelech, get into the warehouse, fire at will. Notha, Sanchez, Christon, and Lennox, take cover in the playground. The rest, file out into the pizzeria. Fire when enemy fire hits the warehouse, move out."
Everyone crouched towards their positions. After a few minutes everyone was set.
The sergeant watched the squadron of covenant and waited for the signal from the snipers. He readied is assault rifle as sweat beaded on his forehead. He anticipated the oncoming battle, he was sure his platoon was going to be obliterated, but he was ready to die in the name of freedom, and so were his men.
Then four consecutive shots could be heard from the warehouse and smoke came raining down on the on the hunters, three dropped over dead and the other keeled over. The hunters looked around guns ready fast but couldn't tell where exactly the sniper fire originated from. The luminescent glow from the cannons on their arms brightened as they charged up. Another five shots rang out killing four hunters and finished off the last hunter; the jackals then rushed out and started firing at the ware house.
"AT THE EXPLOSION FIRE AT WILL!" screamed the sergeant.
He then tossed a fragmentation grenade out, most of the jackals nearby dove out of the way but one was hit. The force of the explosion knocked him on his ass but tore his shield of his body, arm and all. The jackal cried out in pain, the wail from the jackal was like nails on a chalkboard. Seeing this as their opportunity of attack, the marines ran out screaming guns blazing, taking cover wherever they can get it. Three more shots from the snipers came but couldn't penetrate the shields of the jackals. Bullets and plasma was all that filled the air.
A faint THUMP could be heard from the playground, and then two mortars hit three jackals all of them were sent flying. The marines started closing in, the sergeant thought "Were gonna make it, GOD DAMN WERE DEFEATING THE COVENANT!!" Then the red elite made some kind of signal and a squadron of blue elites rushed out from behind a building. The elites were dodging oncoming mortars and sniper fire and began to unleash torment upon the mako platoon. Marines were dropping left and right. The sergeant couldn't think of anything but "This is the end, were dead, we had them too.... At least we died for what was good"
Then a covenant drop-ship came down from space. The marines stared in horror at the thought of more covenant coming and the red elite getting away with the jewel. The marines looked up and all of them roughly said the same thing, "oh shit." The sergeant sat down and looked up to the sun behind the clouds and tried to enjoy life for the last couple minutes he had left.
Then about 500 yards off the ground, the whole back end of the drop-ship was torn off from a massive explosion, knocking down ALL the units fighting on the ground. The flaming drop-ship then nosedived into the street; pavement was sent flying in all directions and finally stopped at a courthouse. Most of the elites died from the crash, all of the troops stood in awed silence. Then the red elite screamed and all of the blue elites and started fighting again. The marines were caught off guard and got pounded in even more, looked like almost all was lost within this battle. Then Jebbs ran over to the sergeant.
"SARGE! LOOK AT THE DROPSHIP, SOME OF THEM SURVIVED!! MORE ARE COMING OUT!" exclaimed Jebbs.
The sergeant stared and did notice movement from inside the drop-ship and screamed, "RETREAT! WERE OVERWHELMED HEAD BACK FOR ALPHA BASE, LETS GET SOME SUPRESSING FIRE HERE!"
Then from the drop-ship, jumped out a single man. The man was holding an assault rifle and was donned in brand new metallic green armor with a reflective visor.
THE QUEST FOR FREEDOM Chapter 1 Return of the Lost Spartan
Date: 27 September 2002, 2:19 am
"Holy shit.... A SPARTAN!" exclaimed the sergeant. "MARINES, LETS SHOW THESE COVIE BASTARDS WHAT WERE MADE OF!"
"SIR YES SIR!" screamed the marines in unison.
Fighting with renewed vigor the marines started pushing back the remaining elites. Every few shots they took a step forward, pushing the elites that much backwards.
John took a couple shots with his new assault rifle and pegged two elites in the head. One had his shield on, he survived the shot but his shield was gone, the other took a head shot and collapsed on the ground. As the other elite wheeled around to go after John, he caught three pistol shots in the neck and fell right beside his partner. John and the marines were unleashing unholy hell on the remaining elites and started closing in on the jewel. All the while more and more mortars were coming from the playground.
Rain started pouring down even harder, making the destroyed street of balboa into a mix of mud and gravel. So when the mortar hit the ground by Jebbs, the explosion didn't get him but the jagged edges of the gravel pieces lacerated his face making it full of blood, sweat, and dirt, He was hurt bad, but his arms and legs would have to be missing for him to stop fighting. So in retaliation, he let out a battle cry and charged forward. With all his might he ran for the jewel at top speed, dodging the plasma fire left and right from the oncoming elites. Then a shot from a plasma rifle got him on his ankle, burning away at the flesh leaving only bone. After that an elite came running towards him and raised his rifle to deliver the final blow to Jebbs, but a glint of metal rushed passed Jebbs and swung around the elite. The elite flashed and fell on top of Jebbs. He peaked over the carcasses shoulder to see the back of the crouching master chief steadying his gun as he switched to shredder rounds.
John turned back around and said to Jebbs, "I'm not letting you die here, I leave no men behind."
He picked up Jebbs and threw him over his shoulder, and he ran at full sprint behind the pizzeria. He set him down on the ground and pulled out a small medikit from a fastened pouch on his side.
"Here, use this" John said giving him the medikit. "It's all I have but it's better than nothing." John ran around the corner and more shots from his assault rifle could be heard, followed by angered screams of the covenant.
John saw that the marines had only a couple elites to go and took the opportunity to throw a grenade at one of the elites. The elite didn't even see the frag grenade and kept fighting. Just as the elite realized what had happened, the grenade exploded and the elite's legs went into different directions and the upper torso flew towards the marines. The pain from losing his lower half was excruciating and he let out two shots from his plasma rifle, hitting a private in the head. Both the elite and private let out their final breaths at that moment.
Seeing that he was no greatly outnumbered with only one defending elite, the red elite took the jewel and ran off in the other direction.
"Uh.... I STRONGLY SUGGEST you go catch the elite, he has a jewel that we can't let him get away with," said Cortana, calling it to John's attention.
To the sergeant, the chief screamed "STAY HERE AND FINISH OFF THIS ELITE I'LL GET THAT JEWEL!"
The sergeant then nodded and focused on his assault rifle. John then took off like a bat out of hell, when he rounded the drop-ship he saw that the elite was already about a half kilometer from him. But John pressed on down the street trying to catch up. The elite then rounded a corner, but John kept running.
John was almost there, then Cortana said, "I'm picking up some huge activity around the next bend, be careful."
The elite came back around the corner in a ghost. The ghost came after him head on, but John and his new Mark VI suit quickly jumped out of the way. John switched to automatic and unleashed a flurry of bullets on the ghost, but to no avail, there was a shield around it. The ghost started firing at John, taking his shield down almost all the way. Looking quickly John tried to find a place to take cover but he saw nothing but buildings. He then dodged another melee attack from the ghost and punched out a wall. The ghost rounded out and hit him with more plasma shots taking out his whole shield. Just as the ghost tried to run him over again the master chief dived through the hole and laid there for a second, letting his shield recharge. He sighed as he saw his shield recharged, but a blue flare then soared overhead and landed five inches from his face. He quickly pushed himself back up and jumped back through the hole. In mid jump the ghost cross sectioned him and hit him in his side, sending him flying twenty feet down an alley. As the ghost started to move again, the wall exploded sending debris flying at the ghost. One particularly large chunk of cement hit the elite in the side knocking him off his floating mount.
John got up, realized his and the elites shields were gone and started running at the elite full force. He succeeded in tackling the alien as he was starting to get up. He started pummeling the elite in his four jawed mouth, letting blue blood ooze out the cracks of the armor. John then grabbed for the jewel but was cold cocked in the side of the helmet and was stunned for a second. The elite picked him up and threw him against another wall. John grunted from the pain, he couldn't get up that quickly from the attack.
The elite got back in the ghost and started moving full throttle at John to sandwich his head. John stared in horror as he saw the ghost coming; he tried moving but his stomach and back pounded with pain. Then a trail of smoke zoomed from outside the alley followed by a moderate blast right behind the ghost and it flipped over Johns head and crashed into the wall. Through the dust and debris John realized that the elite landed beside John, he saw he was still alive but stunned. John pulled the elite up to him and put one arm under the elite's neck and the other over his head and twisted. A loud CRACK could be heard and the elite went limp. John looked over to his left and saw Jebbs leaning on a tree with one leg, and a rocket launcher over his shoulder. He gave the chief a smirk and limped off back towards his platoon.
The chief got back up and saw his shield recharging. He shook off the cement on his suit and he looked in the building with the undamaged shielded ghost. Right beside the undamaged shielded ghost, was the big red ruby they were after. John picked it up and put it in the fastened pouch on his side
With a sigh of relief, John saw that the platoon had defeated the last elite. He then walked back to Alpha Base to be debriefed from the long and arduous mission on HALO.
"Finally... home..." said Cortana.
"This isn't home... Reach was," replied the Master Chief
"Well there's nothing we can do about it now," sighed Cortana.
When John entered Alpha Base, he was greeted by USNC Captain Johnson. He was a little stunned about seeing the Chief, seeing that the last they heard from the Pillar of Autumn was when it made the hyperspace jump out of the Reach system.
The Captain gave the chief a well deserved salute and said, "Well Master Chief, we didn't expect to see you whatsoever. We... We thought you and the rest of the Pillar of Autumn were destroyed by the pursuing Covenant battleships. What happened when you made that jump? How in holy heaven did you survive that entire fleet of Covenant?"
John replied with his story on HALO.
The Captain then said, "Well Keyes was a good man, it was a real loss for him to die. He will be missed dearly... But you DID manage to obliterate an entire armada of Covenant. I am deeply surprised by your story, and I can't help but be in awe of what you did, we are in deep debt to you Master Chief. By the way, how DID you get here?"
John answered, "Well we were in a swordfish bomber when a civilian frigate picked us up and flew us to Earth. I then jumped out of the frigate and boarded a Covenant cruiser. I planted a time bomb in the decks right before a drop-ship was ready to disengage from the cruiser. I stowed away in the drop-ship until it was about to land. I then corrupted the plasma generators and blew the ship in half. Where I met the Eagle Platoon, and completed the mission for them by getting this..."
He took out of his suit a red ruby the size of a baseball. The Captain took it and examined it for a minute.
"Ah, good work Master Chief, you got the first part of the Jewel of Isaiah. We don't know why the Covenant want it, but it's important to their siege on earth for some reason. We must not let it fall into their hands, AT ALL COSTS. I'm going to contact the admiral to give him a status report. He will be very pleased that you have returned. But now get some rest, we got work to do."
"Sir, I also have this, it might be useful to you," said John as he pulled out Cortana and gave it to the Captain.
"Ah yes, the AI construct. I'll review this later. Goodbye Master Chief."
The Captain gave John a crisp salute and began to walk out of the room when John said, "Sir?"
"Yes?"
"What's the situation on the Arians system?"
The Captain sighed as he turned around, "From what we've heard, 100% casualties... Reach has been glassed... I'm sorry; I don't think any other SPARTANs made it out alive..."
"Ok then..." sighed the Chief as he gave another salute to the Captain. The Captain returned it and walked off.
John then entered the living quarters and sat on his cot. He thought for awhile, he was the last of his kind, and he and this one last world, would have to defeat a race of superior beings. In response to that he thought two words, "Bring it..."
THE QUEST FOR FREEDOM Chapter 2 Memories of Reach
Date: 4 October 2002, 3:29 am
AUTHORS NOTE: for those who like pure action novels will not like this series, this series will display the human side of the Master Chief. A lot of questions will be answered, weather you want them to or not. But don't count this novel out, its still going to have plenty of action. :)
Kelly ran with all her might from a hurricane of plasma shots. The heat of the shots zooming by her head was singeing her hair. She looked back and twenty elites were on her tail but she was gaining ground. Her quickness was unlike any other. She looked ahead and saw a human bunker about 200 meters away. She started to sprint even harder trying like hell to get to the bunker. When she was about a football field away the bunker opened and streams of bullets were aiming at the elites, but they easily dodged them. John opened up the front door and tried to lay down suppressing fire. She was so close to the bunker John could easily make out the whites of her eyes. Then a plasma shot got her right in the back of the head and she collapsed at John's feet.
John sprang out of his cot, tense as a praying mantis ready to feed. Beads of sweat were forming on his brow, he wiped it off and he looked around and saw the dark rooms and halls of Alpha Base. He sighed deeply as he sat back down, his chin buried in his hands. All he could think of was, "I should have been there, I should have been there to lead my men."
He punched the cot and the supporting pole snapped. The sound of the bed falling woke up a couple of the neighboring marines, but they shunned it off and passed back out with deafening snores.
He went into the mess hall and sat down at a table to have some coffee. He checked the clock, 3:00 A.M. John sighed and drank some more coffee. He sat there in silence for a bit thinking about how it used to be, with Sam, and Kelly, and everybody else from the SPARTAN program.
Then, John saw a dark figure on crutches come from the infirmary. It passed through the soft moonlight and John recognized his face. The face reminded John back when he was young.
He sat down across from John and yawned, "Can't sleep either huh?"
"No," said John and took another sip from his coffee. He had a blank stare on his face and sighed.
"What's wrong," said the man.
"Nothing"
"There's something wrong. Was it a bad dream?"
"Something like that yeah," replied John.
"What happened?" asked the man.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"It was those SPARTANs that went MIA in Reach huh," inquired the man. John looked down at his cup of coffee and nodded.
"If it is any constellation, I once lost my older brother. I wasn't even born, but I never got to meet him," said the man.
"What happened to him?" asked John.
"My parents don't know, he went to sleep one night and they woke up and found him missing. We think he was kidnapped, we don't know. But chances are he's dead now..."
"I'm sorry to hear that," John said in response to the story. "By the way, what's your name? You saved my ass from that ghost and I never even got a chance to thank you."
"Nathan Jebbonah, but people call me Jebbs for short. It's a weird name to most people, but I can't help it if I'm Eridanian. Anyways, I need to get back to my bed, my ankle is killin' me."
"Goodnight then Nathan."
"Goodnight Master Chief," Nathan said as he got up and walked back into the infirmary and disappeared into the shadows.
John sighed again and remembered his first training exercise, with Sam and Kelley. He didn't get dinner cause his whole team didn't make it. He smiled a bit, and finished off his coffee. He then got up and went back to his broken cot; he laid back down and went to sleep.
The ritualistic morning horn sounded and all the marines got up from their cots. John got dressed and went into the briefing room where Captain Johnson and a new Admiral were. A little surprised, John asked about the new Admiral.
"I'm Admiral Millen, I'm sorry to say my predecessor was killed by a Covenant mercenary ship a week ago," said Admiral Millen. "It is good to see you back, but we must proceed to the task at hand."
John sat down while some ONI advisors came in and turned on the hologram projector. In the hologram was overhead view of the rebuilt Roman Cathedral. It was the ground post of the Covenant and it seemed to be rather busy. Around it were about a hundred elites at guard. Inside there were about a thousand Covenant, grunts, elites, jackals, hunters, and one big Covenant in the middle with a huge head-dress on. It seemed to be holding something but it couldn't be revealed.
Then the entrance door opened and Dr. Halsey walked in with Cortana in her hand. She greeted John, and then said, "This, Master Chief, is not your usual mission. See that big alien in the middle? That's that we call a Prophet, it's supposed to be a leader of spiritual guidance and religion. What he is holding are the last two parts of the jewel you found yesterday. All three parts connected are labeled the Jewel of Isaiah. When they interlink with each other, iy creates an event, we don't know entirely sure, but the Covenant want it bad. We think it would be some kind of destruction device, we don't know. But you HAVE to get those remaining parts so we can study it. It's absolutely imperative to the human race that we get that. You again will be doing this job with Cortana, and with the help of Eagle Platoon. You ship out at 1600."
The hologram turned off and everyone exited except for Dr. Halsey.
She walked over to him, "I know how you feel John... I feel the same way you do. You lost your brothers and sisters while I lost my sons and daughters. It's going to be ok though," said Dr. Halsey. She hugged him and smiled, "I'm just glad I didn't lose all my children."
"Well if all the SPARTANs didn't die, the surviving ones would still have to defend Earth wouldn't they. I'm not done yet Dr. Halsey, we'll win this war."
"I just hope that's true..." said Dr. Halsey. She hugged him once more and then walked out the door.
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