Fan Fiction Inspired by Halo

"Chief, Covenant ships 20,000 kilometers dead ahead. I'm picking up distorted signals but there appear to be three of them, Freighter class. Confirmed, it's a distress signal."

"Cortana, what are these other signals? It looks like a battle field out there."

"Not a battle field, Chief. I'd say it is more like a graveyard. I'm picking up more than a thousand signatures out there. Most are drifting in space with no power, a few with minimal life support. Several signatures are several hundred kilometers in length."

"Cortana, what about life forms? Are you picking up any life?"

"The signals are distorted, I can't get an accurate reading. But Chief, if the Covenant pick up that distress signal, this place will be swarming with them. Whether or not there's any survivors, we've got no choice."

"Right, power up engines, lock weapons on to targets. We'll come right up their ion trails, they won't know what hit them."

"Closing on first freighter, 19, 000 kilometers, 18,000 kilometers, 17... Engine power down 80 percent. Losing power."

"A trap, turn us around, full thrusters right back from where we came from..."

A long pause, lights dim to red.

"Cortana?"

"Sorry chief, it's too late. I've lost the helm and power draining."

Cortana's holographic image fades in and out. In almost a whisper, Cortana utters in desperation, "transferring to your battle armor, ship cannot support my life functions."

"Cortana, report. Cortana!"

[Silence... fade to black]

"This is Master Chief, Spartan class, ID number 225... well none of this really seems to matter. My name is John and that's it. John Doe drifting in space. At least that's what my grave will say if I'm ever found in this dead zone of a million corpses."

"If there's anyone out there that can hear me, stay away from this place. It's a strange place, kills your engines and weapons but leaves you just enough energy for basic life support and sending out short ranged communications."

"I don't need a translator to know that all the chatter on the com is the echoes of dead people. Warnings to stay away. Not distress signals as I first thought."

"I don't know what hell is like, but out here alone. Out of rations. Slowly dying. Gives a man time to think about his life. Reflect on all he has done. Try to make amends with himself and god..."

"I've got one chance, there's not enough power for the cryo-chamber to function properly. I'm going to shoot myself up with cryo-serum and lower the life support down. Try to simulate cryogenic suspension."

John to himself, "here goes nothing," as he injects the cryo-serum into his veins.

[Fade to black, echoes from the dead ships]

John once again enters the realm of dreams. A voice beckons him. "John, guardian protector. Seek the ark, the Ark of the Covenant."

"Princess Kira, is that you? John's spirit replies. "I hear you but cannot see you."

"John, you are caught in the web of Medusa. All are blind in her serpent tentacles. Go now, wake, wake John."

[Bright lights flash]

A deep but hurried voice, "ah, very good. You wake now. Drink this, give you strength. Give you much strength mighty Spartan."

John squints, then blinks. Towering above him is a brownish-green skinned reptile, like a giant gecko standing on its hind legs to me more specific. In one claw is a bottle of some florescent green liquid and the other an oblong device of some kind.

The room around him comes into focus, many colors drape down from above. John lies on a bed of pillows. Stripped of all but a pair of shorts.

John tries to utter words but his throat is so parched that all he can utter is a soft, "How?"

"Drink this man creature."

John drinks.

"You come here to the center of Medusa. It be like great sieve. Large ships filter through slowly, small ones like yours go through quicker. You be a drift for maybe a year in your stasis. I know your kind. Study for years. No one else know like me. I take care of you. Crack the code on your armor. Take it to workshop. Much interested. Lady though, she go. Mighty High Priest take her."

"Lady? What lady, tell me, uh, who are you, anyway."

"Oh, I forget to tell. Forgive little Croaker? Will you forgive me, mighty Spartan?"

"Thanks for rescuing me Croaker. Now tell me, this lady, was she human like, dark hair with strands of gold?"

"Don't know, only see faded hologram. Lady be an AI."

"Cortana. She lives?"

"Yes, Cortana was her name. She want to stay but High Priest take her to God Emperor."

"I must see her, take me to her... Wow, what is in this stuff, it's gooood!"

"No can do, only High Priest sees God Emperor. This stuff you drink is green ambrosia. Complements of the old ones that once lived here in this paradise."

"Bring me my armor and weapons, I'll find a way to this God Emperor."

"I bring you your armor, but not for that. You must now fight."

"Fight? Figures, what's all this about Croaker?"

"High Priest say you stay alive, may be useful. But Big Boss not care what High Priest thinks. Big Boss say only good Spartan is a dead Spartan. You die tonight in arena."

"Die? I thought you said I fight?"

"Mighty is Spartan, but you fight Max Rellius, great Covenant elite. Once Imperial Guard, before his fall from grace. You fight and then you die. Honor be with you."

John's now in Croaker's lab. A large pile of junk if you ask John, but he cares not of the mess, only about one thing...

"Spartan, here is your armor. You see that I fix it up good."

"Thanks," as John dons his armor. "You know you're not a bad guy Croaker, under other circumstances, we might be friends."

Croaker picks up a small metal pipe, puts it down and then picks up a larger wooden lever and holds it above his head. Swings it around slowly. "Hit here, right below the my right ear toward the back." Then Croaker hands the lever to John.

Croaker turns his back to John. "I say I do understand humans."

John takes the lever. "Sweet [whack!]... dreams."

John moves through winding corridors. Strange how this place is built. Almost like the walls are alive. No sign of anyone else either.

[A chatter of voices, getting louder, then silence.]

John reaches a dark open area. Two loud thumps echo. John knows that sound well, blast doors closing fast. Then comes a grinding sound from above as bright lights turn on. Far above, the room is opening to reveal seated creatures of all different shapes and kinds. John is in an arena standing on a half-circular, jagged shaped platform about 15 meters wide and 30 meters long.

John's radar goes off, enemy 100 meters away. There, stands a figure on a similar platform, a Covenant Elite with silver armor. Blue and red light radiates in waves across two features not distinctive to other Elites John has seen. On each arm are shields and on top of the head are large spines much like what John would recognize as features of a Covenant Hunter.

[The crowd roars. Then silence again.]

"Let the execution begin!" A voice from above bellows.

The platforms begin to spin and spiral up. John cannot help but to look up. Far above floats a Covenant energy sword.

From across the arena shouts, "I Max Rellius, once honor guard, do proclaim justice for my fallen brethren. The only good Spartan is a dead Spartan!"

[Crowd roars.]

Now the platforms are only about 50 meters away from each other. Soon they will be together. Suddenly a voice comes on to John's com, "Spartan, you must proclaim yourself. You have a chance if you can get the crowd on your side."

John replies, "Who is this?"

[No reply, just static.]

Here goes nothing, John thinks and without really realizing what he is saying, shouts "I John the Spartan, guardian of human kind, sleeper of the Archons, do proclaim that I have killed many in the line of duty, maybe brethren to you. Necessity means I will have to kill again. I seek nothing from you, but know I still have a duty, a duty to find the Ark of the Covenant. In this duty I cannot fail. So bring it on, bring it all on, don't waste my time with petty matters."

[A few loud boos, followed by loud whispers from the crowd.]

The crowd whispers... "It must be a trick. It's a trick. Devils they are."

Just then the platforms collide into one. John leaps for the Elite. He would bash it over the side, but at the last possible moment the Elite gracefully bends over backwards and kicks John in the stomach as he flies over.

John flies passed the edge but taking on a Spartan isn't going to be that easy. With cat-like reflexes, John grabs the edge of the platform, swings around and flips to his feet.

John crouches down in a low combat stance. "Not bad, for a...?" John stops. The Elite is gone, nothing on the radar. Darn Elite has a cloaking shield.

John drops to his hands and kicks back. Snap, he's hit something that was coming up behind him. Only a glancing blow though - stupid arm shields. John feels his right ankle held in a vise like grip. John finds himself being spun around by his leg.

Whack! John's upper body slams against the platform, shields damaged. But the Elite never loses his hold and John is soon spinning around head first again.

"Spartan," says the Elite, "I could easily toss you down to the demons below, but I will give you an honorable death. By the sword you will die."

Whack! John slams down head first, shields gone. John looks up to see the Elite reaching for the energy sword that is nearly right above. With his free left leg, pow, John kicks the Elite in the face. One time, two times...ten times as the crowd chants, "...four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Whoooo!"

The Elite falls back. SNAP. Pain shoots up John's right leg. In falling back the Elite kept his hold on John's ankle and with a small contraction the Elite has ruptured the tendons around John's ankle. "Stupid human, can't you just die." With that the Elite tosses John's crippled leg aside and reaches up for the energy sword.

John stares up in disbelief and says, quite sincerely, "Stupid human? That would be an assumption. Hey spiny head, I'm talking to you. When you make an assumption, do you know what that means?"

The Elite pauses for a brief moment, to gloat over John and the pathetic last words of defiance from a dead man.

The world spins around John, everything is in slow motion. Few times in the legends of the arena has a champion fallen as if from a movie script. Happy endings are not for the arena. Or are they?

In one continuous set of moves, John springs up on one leg. With his bad leg he kicks the side of the knee of the Elite and springs up. Knees the Elite in the chin, reaches up and grabs the energy sword with both hands. On the way down, drops an elbow on the Elite's right collar, glancing off, then comes up with a head butt under the chin of the off balanced Elite. Left hook to the right side of the head, followed by a spinning uppercut movement with the sword, sweeping both of the Elite's legs. Thump, the Elite lands flat on his back. John slides the tip of the blade between two plates of armor on the Elite's neck, just drawing blood, but stopping from going any further.

"Humans can't fight on broken ankles, but Spartans can."

[Silence from the crowd - total disbelief of what just happened.]

Then chanting from the crowd, "Spartan! Spartan! Long live Spartan!"

[Flashes of energy]

Crashhhhhhhh! Screams from the crowd, a voice from above, "run for it, the High Priest is here!"

[A plasma rifle blast hits a control panel]

John's platform spins down into the abyss below.

"Spartan," speaks the Elite, "finish me now, I do not wish to die at the hands of demons."

"Demons? What do you mean? And don't try anything funny spiny head."

"The demons below in the tunnels. And I am not spiny head, I am Max Rellius, once honor..."

"Hold that thought! Can these demons be defeated? How do I get out of here?"

"Yes, they can. In fact that sword you hold is an ideal weapon against them. Most that fall in the pit are badly injured and have no weapons. We have a chance. I know the tunnels well from expeditions for the High Priest. Give me the sword."

John, pulls the sword away from Max's throat. "Call me John, not Spartan. I believe that you speak the truth about the demons down there because you spoke of them before. You might be better with this weapon and know how to fight the demons. Nevertheless, I'm keeping the sword, just the same."

"Stubborn, foolish. I would not give up a weapon either if in your position. All is not lost. I can still use my cloaking shield to evade past them. I'd cover your back, but I think you will slow me down too much. John."

"Just how far down does this pit go before we reach bottom?"

"Many kilometers down. At our present rate of decent, I'd say we have about an hour more to go? I bet you have many questions, ask away."

John tries to remember some of the Covenant cultural studies courses he took in school. "Max Rellius, what is your legacy that it comes for us to meet here?"

"Very well put, John. I am spawn of Orsirus Rellius, Priest of Thorth. I was once Maximus Rellius, Commander of the 7th Imperial legionaries, Honor Guard to the God Emperor whose name we do not speak. Many years did I serve in honor until the flood came."

"No, not here!" interjects John.

"You know of this flood? A plague on all living things. The great destroyers from the records of the forerunners."

"Yes, I think so, if they are the same things I saw on Halo. Please continue."

"Once this place was a paradise. I still can remember the day. Protected by the Medusa field, this system was hidden away in the eye of the storm. The field itself was created a long time before, maybe it is even older than the forerunners. It is some kind of defense zone, much like how we might lay a mine field. Ships get stuck in it and orbital mass drivers somehow target the vessels and destroy them. Only now the orbital mass drivers are in bad need of repair, with only a few of them functioning so I hear. All is in the control of our God Emperor whose name we do not speak."

"The flood came, and at the time I was so naive. Everyone was bringing up the prophecy of the Ark of the Covenant. You spoke of this. The ark to escape the great flood."

"The God Emperor declared there is no ark, no escape, and a great purge began. Those that did not have necessary functions were conscripted into military service against the flood. Those that defied the mandate were made an example of. I was given the order to purge a town that defied the mandate, I was just about to do it when myself and my father was approached by the town priest. The evidence that he had was impeccable. Everyone knows that ships move towards the center of Medusa, but nothing gets out. The priest had diagrams of a spaceship with light sails. The solar winds could carry us out of the field. This was the ark spoke of long ago. The priest had reason to believe that at least one of these huge ships had been built and was hidden somewhere. If this was so, we could leave this forsaken place."

"I stayed behind and my father, Orsirus Rellius, Priest of Thorth, went to see the High Priest about this discovery. I never saw him again. Next thing, I was imprisoned for disobeying orders and stripped of my command. I spent 10 years and 25 days in the slave pits here, down in the tunnels digging up things. Until I was brought up by the Big Boss to the Arena."

John interjects, "10 years, how long has the flood been here?"

"Some say about 20 years, but this is our time, I'm not sure the translation to your time. I can translate hours and minutes, but years, I don't know. I'm not even sure the conversion to space mean time."

[Growling and slurping noises from below.]

"John, we are approaching the bottom, I can hear demons. I sure wish that I had a CER (pronounced "sir") right now."

"What's a sir?"

"You're not the first of your kind to come here, our first effective mass produced weapon against the flood and demons too, and still one of the best is a combination of your combat shotgun and our plasma rifle. C.E.R. for Combat Evolved Rifle."

Note to reader: CER, pronounced "sir" by marines because that is what the enemy calls anyone who has one pointed in their general direction. Technical specification: Plasma Rifle, shots 45, cannot be reloaded in combat. Shotgun, shots 6. If target is greater than 6 meters distance, default mode is plasma rifle. If target is 6 meters or less, default mode is shotgun. If either mode is out of ammo, the default mode switches to weapon that has ammo left if any. Fully loaded weapon weighs slightly less than 2 kg.

[Slurping noise gets louder]

"John we are getting really close, only a few minutes left, here's a plan I have..."

-- Next chapter, Exodus Denied --