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The War Continues by Halomaster22



The War Continues: 1st confrontation
Date: 3 February 2005, 5:45 AM

~Author's note~

This is my first episode of my first series, Monitor101 showed me this site and the stories were so good i wanted to write one. I hope you enjoy it.

~Prologue~

Since the destruction of the first ring, there has been the constant reappearance of other of these such rings. The covenant armada has continuously visited these new rings in hopes of activating them and achieving their spiritual enlightenment.

The master chief, the lone survivor of the first ring's destruction, the last Spartan (or so they thought), has returned to the battle fields. After receiving upgrades in his armor and the recent advancements in the UNSC's weapon arrayments, he is ready for action.

~First Confrontation~

Private Chuck W. Jameson was sent down to the cryo lab with a message for Doctor Diamont.

"Sir, I am forwarding orders straight from the captain that the Spartans must be awoken and brought to the bridge immediately."

"Ok."

Doctor Alex Diamont was the cryo lab specialist. He was in charge of monitoring the Spartans' vitals. He was nervous to wake the Spartans, he had no idea who these Spartans were, and all he heard was that they were ruthless war heroes who were responsible for taking out more than a third of the covenant's forces in their time. There was one Spartan in particular there; his name was the Master Chief. He was credited to have virtually taken out the first ring world single handed.

The cryo tube hissed as the door opened, the doctor could not see through the dense fumes now coming out of the tube.

___________________________________________________________

Spartan 117 Master Chief awoke in the cryo tube; he felt a burning sensation all over his body, a feeling that comes with the process of "Defrosting". As he stepped out of the cryo tube his every bone ached. He felt as though he had fallen off of a ten story building repeatedly and then been tossed into a fire. The pain faded soon after, he found himself standing in the cryo lab of the Clayton 3, a ship much like the Pillar of Autumn, the ship that took him to the first ring. As he surveyed the room, he noticed 3 other tubes. All hissing and giving off the same foggy fumes as his did. This was odd, when he went into his tube; there was no one else to be in the other tubes. He pondered this a moment before he noticed a man standing next to his cryo tubes. He looked very nervously up at the Spartan, who stood seven feet tall, towering over the short scientist.

___________________________________________________________

As doctor Diamont looked up at the towering Spartan, he thought he was going to wet himself. The Spartan appeared more menacing than the covenant. Then it spoke.

"I am Spartan 117, Master Chief. Who are in these other tubes?"

The Spartan's voice was booming! The scientist tried to reply, but his voice just barely squeaked. He cleared his throat and managed to get out, "The other Spartans of course."

"What other Spartans? I thought I was the only one?"

The doctor was a little confused about this, but explained anyways.

"After the power of the rings was discovered, a man named Joseph McNeal Kick started the Spartan program again. He only had half the data left behind from the first Spartans creation plans, but the recent technology advancements proved to create even better Spartans. About A year after you came aboard this ship and were placed in the cryo tube, these three Spartans came and joined you in their tubes. They have been here for about a month now. Their names are Jacob, Mike, and Lisa. They are Iron Spartans; they have been trained in the best new programs available by the UNSC and should be at your skill level. You, as well as the other Spartans have upgraded MJOLNR armor. You now have two plasma swords implanted into your wrist guards. We have been able to mimic the covenants plasma capabilities, hence the swords. You now have an active cammo capability; it runs of your shields power, so as long as you don't take any hits you will be invisible. You now have upgraded suit capabilities so now you can run faster, jump higher, and the response will be more immediate."

The doctor began to feel a little more confident in himself as he was talking to the Spartan, the fact that he was educating the Spartan made him feel taller. that soon ended, because just then, the other three Spartans walked over to them, they all had dark brown armor, and stood just as tall as the master chief. He immediately felt like wetting himself again.

The three Spartans were sharing their dreams while they were in the cryo tubes as they approached. They stopped and looked at the doctor and master chief.

"You must me the Master Chief." Lisa said. "I'd shake your hand but this armor doesn't like to be gentle." she grinned inside her suit. She wondered how old this "master chief" was.

"My name is Lisa, codename "storm", this is Jacob and Mike, codenames "Samurai" and "Gear"."

"I am John; I go by master chief as you already know."

Then the doctor piped up and spoke.

"I am to send you to the bridge deck immediately, so let's run some diagnostics and get you up there."

All the diagnostics went as planned and the four Spartan's headed up to the bridge deck.

___________________________________________________________

The captain of the Clayton, Captain Greg Anderson, was a stout war hero who loved the feeling of control in his title. He was not one that most liked. He stood looking out at the ring world in front of him; this one appeared to be mostly desert, with the occasional body of water here and there. He knew this ring world would be tough to catch, 3 covenant ships waited on the other side of the ring, all that was left of their group. They started with 7, but the battle didn't allow that to exist for long. The UNSC also had a substantial amount of ships, 6. Though they were outnumbered, they held their ground; they were left with 2 ships after the battle.

The covenant had held the three ships back to send troops to the surface of the ring; the UNSC couldn't do anything because all their ships were in battle at the time. Once the fire fight was over, he decided that it was time to wake the Spartans. Those ground forces could not be allowed to activate the ring. Success was of the utmost importance.

Then the Spartans arrived.

"Have you all been acquainted yet?"

"Yes" Master Chief replied, looking the captain up and down. This wasn't the captain that was on board while he went into the cryo tube.

"The previous captain was killed in the battle; we lost four ships in the battle."

"Covenant losses?" Lisa inquired.

"Same. During the battle we picked up several covenant ships heading to the surface with full loads of covenant. We need to stop them immediately or they will activate the ring. That is why I chose this time to wake you up."

"What's the plan?" Jacob decided to insert himself into the conversation.

The captain looked at them and bit his lip. "Well I don't really know. I was hoping you guys would have an idea." The captain felt as though he had just been shot, his dignity had just been wasted by his own mental block. This didn't seem to bother the Spartans though; they liked to formulate their own plans.

"Ok, master chief, you will be the teams leader, these Spartans will be under your control."

The three new Iron Spartans frowned. This old guy was going to lead them? They knew they had to obey the orders, so they complied. They looked again at the master chief. He stood with a sort of aura about him, this man, or should I say Spartan, had been through a lot, and was a true leader.

"You will be shipping out immediately; you can further acquaint yourselves on the drop ship. Go find your weapons and kick some tail."

___________________________________________________________

The Spartans exited the bridge and headed towards the armory. Master Chief chose an M6D pistol and 5 extra clips, an MA5B assault rifle and 7 extra clips, and an S2 AM sniper rifle with 5 extra clips. Lisa chose an M19 SSM rocket launcher, also known as the "Jackhammer" and 4 extra rounds attached to her back, an MA7B battle rifle, and a pistol. Jacob took two M7 SMGs and attached them at his sides like pistols with 10 extra ammo clips, an M90 shotgun with 36 extra rounds, and an MA7B battle rifle. Mike grabbed an MA5B assault rifle, an M90 shotgun, and an M6D pistol. He carried similar amounts of ammo.

"Nice choice." Chief said, as he gestured towards the MA5B that Mike carried. "I prefer the older model too."

"Yeah, the new ones are too fancy." Mike said, grinning under his helmet
___________________________________________________________

The pelican neared the drop site. They were to go in, find the index and get out. They would first have to find the cartographer complex. There they would be shown where the index is located. It seemed like it would be a pretty easy mission.

The cartographer complex was positioned right in the middle of a vast desert. The Spartans' drop site was about a mile away from the complex. They would land and travel the rest of the way via wart hogs and foot. As the pelican lowered to the ground the rear hatch opened, the Spartans looked out and saw nothing but dunes. The four of them dropped out of the pelican and waited for their wart hog to drop. The four of them squeezed in. It was a tight fit, wart hogs were meant to carry four marines, not four Spartans. It had a driver's seat, a passenger seat, a small seat in between the driver and passenger, and a gunner seat. Lisa drove while Mike and Jacob sat next to her, their armor scraping against each other's. Master Chief took to the gunner seat. He didn't want to be crammed up with the other Spartans.

As they neared the complex, within one hundred yards, they got out and proceeded on foot. They were still unnoticed, as the dunes provided cover. Master Chief brought his sniper up and surveyed the complex. The place looked huge, way bigger than the one Master Chief had seen on the first ring. As he looked through the scope, he counted the covenant positioned on the exterior of the complex. He turned to the others.

"I count three hunters, ten elites, four turrets with a grunt in each, five packs of grunts, around five in each group, and four pairs of jackals, each circling the perimeter of the complex."

"Impressive." Lisa said.

"I say it's boring." said Jacob.

Master Chief smiled inwardly, they reminded him of himself when he was fresh out of training. They will learn not to be so cocky in time he told himself. He turned and looked through the scope again.

"We are going to want to take as many out as we can from here, then we'll move in and pick off what's left." Master Chief said. "Lisa, you go left, Jacob you go right, when I give you the signal, start opening up with your battle rifles. Try to pick off the ones that won't be noticed, Mike, seeing as you don't have much of a long distance setup, you will stay here with me."

"Ok" they all stated in unison.

Master Chief sighted an elite that wandered a little to far from the group; he fired a well placed shot right into the elites head. His head just vanished and the elite shuddered for a second before falling to the ground, the wind blowing sand over the body. He went out unnoticed. Lisa sighted one of the pairs of jackals on the perimeter, she moved from head to head, getting the timing right, then she fired one three bullet burst from her battle rifle, moving her targeting reticule from one jackal's head to the other, so that one received one bullet to the head, while the other received two, both went down quickly. Jacob put his sight on two grunts that were talking on a ledge in the complex's front. They had left their posts on the turrets and continued to talk, two quick bursts took them out, but he aimed just a little too low. One of his bullets hit a grenade on the grunt's belt. The grenade detonated, sparking the other grenade on the other grunt's belt as well.

"Shit! Let's move in! Sorry about that guys."

"Sorry! Thank you! I was getting bored back here!" said Mike.

The Spartans regrouped and began to trek towards the complex.
___________________________________________________________

It was complete chaos in front of the complex. It was believed that the grenade had just malfunctioned, but the elites were skeptical. One elite had walked to the perimeter of the complex, he stood and looked out, and just when he was about to head back, he saw something in the sand, it was a jackal head, or what was left of it. The elite yelled an alarm, but his breath was cut short as a sniper round slammed into his chest. The elite looked down at his chest, there was a big hole in it, he looked up in disbelief and saw four Spartans running towards him. Then, he just slumped over.

"Nice shot chief." Lisa said, impressed with his shooting. "Maybe he isn't as outdated as I thought he was," she said to herself.

Just then, a large whooshing sound came up.

"Duck!" master chief yelled. The whole team of Spartans dove out of the way just as a shot from a fuel rod cannon slammed into the ground where they had previously stood.

"They know we're here." Mike said.

"Let me see your rocket launcher Lisa." Chief said. She handed it to him.

Master Chief went down on one knee and took aim; he fired one shot at the hunter. The lone rocket sailed through the air towards the hunter. The rocket tore right through the soft tissue in the hunter's abdomen and slammed into a group of grunts that stood behind it. Scattering grunt all over the place.

Jacob and Mike smiled a smile of approval at each other.

"You missed." Lisa said with a grin.

Just then two of the grunts affected by the rocket got back up and started to run. Master Chief quickly pulled out his sniper and took him out.

"Better?" He asked.

"Much." Lisa replied.

The four Spartans advanced on the base. Lisa fired a rocket, annihilating three elites. Master Chief was using his sniper to pick off the covenant who tried to flee. Mike and Jake ran ahead with their weapons blazing, creating massive damage to the ranks of the covenant. Only two hunters, eight grunts, and five elites were left. The team moved in, guns raised and firing. Two elites immediately went down, the other three's shields flickered and they hid behind a couple communication consoles. The eight grunts began to fire their weapons, the Spartans split up, avoiding the fire and firing their own weapons. Half the grunts went down. The elites reappeared and began firing, all three of them roaring as they charged in. Lisa activated her wrist swords, and two long aqua marine colored plasma swords came out of her wrist guards. She ran out and immediately took the first elite out by cutting it in half at the waist. Its legs toppled forward while its shoulders toppled backwards, dead on the spot. She turned and stabbed both swords into the other elite's chest. She lifted up and the swords traveled through the elites shoulders and he dropped to the ground. The third elite turned and tried to run, but Lisa saw this and picked a plasma grenade off the fallen elite and hurled it at the retreating one. It stuck to its hand and he howled and tried to shake it off. Too late. It exploded in a cloud of blue plasma and purple elite blood. The last four grunts retreated behind the remaining two hunters.

"Now it gets interesting." Mike said as he eyed the two hunters.

"Let's move in." Master Chief said.

They all went from cover to cover to avoid the deadly fuel rod cannons attached to the hunters' arms.
"How do you do the sword trick again?" asked master chief.

"You just make a fist and cock you wrist, then they will pop out." replied Jacob.

"Ok."

Then master chief made fists and cocked his wrists and two, thirty-five inch swords protruded from his wrist plates. He grinned at the others and then asked for a grenade to be thrown for the grunts. He signaled and then charged out towards the hunters. Mike pulled the pin on the grenade and tossed it perfectly into the middle of the grunts. There, it exploded, filling the grunts bodies with shrapnel and sending a few flying.

Master Chief ran towards the hunters, dodging explosions left and right. As he came to the first one, it lowered its battle shield and lunged at the chief, Master chief dodged and continued on to the second one, knowing that his team would take the hunter out. Sure enough, a short while later he heard a shot gun blast and saw Jacob standing over the dead hunter, the shotgun in his hands still smoking. He looked back ahead and approached the second hunter. It too lowered its shield and began to advance. The chief slowed down and took his fighting stance. As the hunter reached striking distance, it roared and swung its shield up over its head; Master Chief saw his chance and rolled right under the hunter's raised arm. The hunter brought his shield down hard, but was stunned to see that the Spartan was not under it. Master Chief came out of the roll directly behind the hunter. He planted both swords in the ground and pushed off with his feet outstretched in the air. His feet made contact with the hunters shoulder plates and he fell flat on his face. Master Chief landed neatly on his feet and brought both swords down into the hunter's exposed back. It gurgled for a short amount of time before it died. The other Spartans gave a sarcastic applaud.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Master Chief said, as he withdrew his swords. "So uh, how to I put these away?"

"Just release your fists." said Jacob.

"Thanks." There was a small static crackle as the swords retracted into the wrist plates.

"Ok, let's see if we can't go save us a universe!" said mike.

As they neared the doors, the sensors picked up their movement and the doors opened. Inside it was dark and quiet, too quiet.

TO BE CONTINUED.....
by Halomaster
(aka: Luke Skywalker)



Second Confrontation
Date: 25 April 2005, 5:50 PM

"Activate your cammo." said Lisa

Three of the Spartans immediately became virtually invisible. The Master Chief however, did not.

"It's the black button on your belt." said Mike.

All four Spartans were now virtually invisible. They walked down the small ramp that led into the complex. It appeared as though most of the covenant had retreated into the center of the complex. The Master Chief led the way. He had been through the cartographer complex on the first ring, and he knew his way around. As they continued down the ramp, they saw there was a turn ahead. Jacob peaked around the corner and saw just a plain old door. Just as he was about to step around the corner, he noticed a small shimmer next to the door, then another on the other side. Two elites in cammo stood on either side of the door.

"I count two elites, each in active cammo on either side of the door." said Jacob.

"Take care of it." Lisa said.

Jacob nodded. He got out his battle rifle and one grenade. He pulled the pin on the grenade and hurled it around the corner. It landed right between the two elites. They gave a yelp of surprise as they comprehended exactly what it was. By the time they realized it, it was too late. The grenade exploded and their active cammo and shields went out. Jacob side stepped around the corner and fired two quick bursts into the elites' heads. Both went down immediately.

The team of Spartans continued through the complex. They encountered no more resistance through the hallways down into the complex, but then they reached a door to a large room where the Spartans expected to encounter a covenant defense team. No doubt the covenant were just beyond the door, weapons trained on it, waiting for it to open.

"Shit" Mike said under his breath, looking around for another way in. It was then that he noticed a small ventilation duct near the ceiling next to the door. He walked over and hoisted himself up into the duct. The other Spartans followed suit. The shaft was surprisingly large, and the Spartans were able to crawl easily through. They took a left where they thought would lead them to the room. Sure enough, it led to the right wall of the room. The Spartans silently climbed down from the shaft, and made their way along the wall towards the covenant forces.

There were three small covenant teams, positioned in a semicircle around the door. All had their full attention on the door. Each group had two elites, four jackals, and six grunts in it. It would not be easy for the Spartans to do this quietly.

The four Spartans surveyed the forces, and began to formulate a plan....
____________________________________________________________

A small grunt, Linmee, one of the smallest in the covenant force positioned on this ring, was positioned in the team on the left side. He was small, and cowardly. He was watching the door when he heard a small shuffling sound in the direction of the door. Just then, out of no where, a Spartan appeared in front of the door. Surprise and fear spread through the ranks like a plague, soon to be replaced with the urge to shoot.
____________________________________________________________

Jacob immediately reactivated his cammo and rolled out of the shots from the covenant. Then he took a few steps further and deactivated his cammo again. Again plasma bombarded his position, but he reactivated his cammo and rolled out of the way again. He continued this process over and over again, drawing full attention from the covenant. Meanwhile, the three other Spartans began silently assassinating the covenant from behind. It wasn't until more than half the covenant were dead that they began to notice their fallen comrades. Grunts, elites, and jackals lay with broken necks and skulls along the ground.
____________________________________________________________

Now there was complete chaos among the ranks of the covenant. Linmee was scared shitless. He began looking around at his comrades who were firing all over the place. He watched as an elite's head lurched forward, blood spurting from his mouth. His body fell to the ground with a dull thud. Linmee then fled. He began to run towards the rear exit when he saw two dead grunts in front of it. He shifted his direction. Then he noticed a small opening in the ground in front of him. He dropped himself down into it and looked around. The opening above him closed, surrounding him in total darkness. He brought out his plasma pistol and fully charged it, creating a green glow that illuminated his surroundings. As he looked around, he heard a small shuffling sound somewhere in the surrounding darkness. He stood dead still. The only sound being his shallow breath and the slight hum of his charged plasma pistol. Then he heard it again, closer this time. He let out a small yelp as he saw a small shadow move into the light, then disappear as quickly as it came. He began to whimper and back towards the wall. Then, he heard a moan that chilled him to the bone.
____________________________________________________________

There were only three elites, two jackals, and four grunts left now. Jacob was no longer drawing any fire, because at this point the covenant were so confused they were firing everywhere. The four Spartans regrouped and began advancing on the grunts, dodging and ducking the random shots. Lisa got to the first grunt and struck him hard in the face with the butt of her rifle. The grunt somersaulted backwards and landed in a crumpled mess. She moved to the second and struck him in the back of the neck, spewing blood onto the floor in front. Mike reached the third grunt and swung his rifle across the grunt's face, breaking its neck in an instant. Master Chief reached the fourth and last grunt. He landed the butt of his gun right into the grunt's temple, turning the whole left side of his brain into mush. The four Spartans then focused their attention on the jackals and elites.

"Quiet time is over." Jacob said, as he tossed a grenade into the group of jackals and elites.

The grenade exploded, spraying shrapnel into the jackals' bodies, killing them immediately. The elites' shields were wiped out. Jacob pulled out his two SMGs and let loose on two of the three unprotected elites. Master Chief took out the third with a few rounds from his assault rifle. The Spartans continued their descent further into the complex. They left quite the mess. There were bodies and blood everywhere.
____________________________________________________________

One story below them, Linmee was running for his life. There were echoes all around him, his footsteps, his breathing, and the hundreds of creatures behind him. He ran and he ran, then he came to a corner, and as he ran around it, he saw it was a dead end. He began to whimper and yell, but it was no use. The creatures rounded the corner at amazing speeds and catapulted onto the grunt. Linmee let out a muffled scream that turned into a gurgle, and then faded to silence. The dull glow of the plasma pistol, still clutched in his hand slowly faded into darkness as it was overwhelmed in small dark shadows.





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