The Crossover

The Crossover


“Chief, Chief, are you ok, can you hear me?” No response. Cortana tried rechecking the Master Chiefs vitals. They all seemed in the green. He just would not wake up. She had to keep trying. She went back to scanning the area. What ever it was that we passed through, it must have done something to the instruments. None of the starts matched any known systems I have in my database.

“What’s going on” the chief finally spoke. “Where are we and what happened” he added, still groggy.

“Lie still chief, you’ve had a rough time of it” She replied, while scanning more systems. “You’ve been out for the last twenty four hours, and I’ve been worried about you.”

“You, worried about me, that’s a change” he responded. At least his humor was intact. That meant he would be alright.

“Well, while your were napping, I ran a scan of the area, we are not even in our galaxy, in fact, I haven’t a clue, as to When we are as in time frame.”

“Well, lets get out of here and try to get back to the Pillar of Autumn II, we have to report in soon” Chief said, knowing they were going no where anytime soon.

Two days later, we were headed towards the nearest system. There had to be come kind of traffic, even if it was covenant traffic. They would just have to be prepared for it, but, a pelican would be no match in a firefight. So we kept a low profile and locked in on what was a high energy signal.

The truth be told, the Chief was more interested in what happened to us than I was. I just wanted to get us back to safe ground. There was no telling who we could run into out here. I had not told the Chief that I had dropped a monitoring buoy back where we emerged, from what ever brought us here. I didn’t want to take any chances that we were followed. Now, though, I was getting a warning message, a really bad one. Uh, oh, not good, not good at all. A covenant cruiser popped into our area. It would probably be fully loaded. I had to get us a way from here and now.

I laid a course in for the signal. Yes, I knew the covenant would find it as well, but, we had to get some help.

The Signal turned out to be a large ring, but not like Halo. A lot smaller. It seemed to be a travel devise of some kind. I ran a scan on it and found a code that seemed to activate it . I glowed with energy and I moved our ship into and was launched faster than we could normally travel. It was amazing. This beat the slipstream method. It was only a matter of moments, when we came to the end of the little trip, but, we were closer to the planetary source that I had scanned. And, there was a bit of interstellar traffic as well.

As we neared the planet, three small fighter sized craft neared us and asked us to submit to a search, something about artifacts. As we had nothing to hide, we allowed them to search. One, a female stated they found nothing and we could continue on out way. The planet was called Manhattan. Strange name for a world. Never the less, our hail for landing permit was allowed and we headed down through the docking gate to the surface of the planet. We followed the guide path that took us to the landing platforms.

After the Chief secured the craft, he uploaded me into his armor and we set off in search of answers and for help. His being in armor might attract too much attention, but it would have to be risked. He needed me to assist in getting what we needed to know.

After checking the usual places, I suggested heading to the bar. It seemed to be the best gathering place of the locals. The looked like humans and I could interpret thier speech for the Chief to understand. We did notice a lot speaking about something called “Credits” which I discovered was a form of payment. That would create a little difficulty, as we had none.

I was able to work with the Chief, to get us some work, hauling supplies to another base, for credits. That way, we could obtain the information we needed, and maybe, enlist the help that would soon be needed. The Covenant, would be a force to be reckoned with here.

Our cargo, was basic supplies of water, food and machinery. It would fetch a fair price, and hope fully get us some one willing to answer questions. We were able though, to get an advance to add some weapons to the ship. That way we could at least defend ourselves. There was talk of Rogues that tended to attack traffic in between worlds. The trade lanes would get us to Pittsburgh easy enough. After getting settled in, we lifted off and made our run.

The run turned out to be uneventful. After landing and making the necessary transaction, we headed to the bar with some credits this time. I had to get the Chief to mellow a bit and let me field the questions. After an hour, we were given the name of a man named King, that might be able to help us. He was said to be on a battle ship, called Missouri. We were given the coordinates to the ship and paid the source about half the credits we had. I was able to find out that the Battleship was in need of supplies and we purchased some with the remaining credits to exchange when we arrived. This seemed like it was going to take a lot of time, time we did not have.

These trade lanes, turned out to be a good thing, yet in a time of war, would prove to be a detriment. When we dropped out of them at the battleship, I realized we were in trouble. These capital ships, were one third the size of the covenant ships. They would be no match for them, if they encountered them in battle. This changed things. I needed to come up with an alternative plan, and soon. The transmission from the beacon, showed the covenant ship was beginning to search the area it entered here in this place.

After docking and the Chief loading me up again, I had him grab a holo base to take to the meeting. This King, turned out to be a hero here of a war with some beings called, The Nomads. The data base was easy enough to secure. The encryptions here were little to nothing. It seemed they had just been through a battle against an invading force themselves. I really hated to be the one to bring them more bad news. This group will make the others look like child’s play.

When King arrived at the meeting room, the Chief uploaded me into the holo base and explained who and what I was. Talk about the indignantly of it all. I just shook my holographic head and waited for him to finish.

“Now that I get to talk directly” glaring up at the Chief, “ I will get down to it. We have a very big problem. Not only do we not belong here in this place, but, our enemy is also here”.

King asked who and what they were and how big a threat they were. I replayed a bit of the battle at Reach, when it fell. King cringed at the site of it. I told him, that the covenant is ruthless and would show his people now no more mercy than ours. He sat back in his chair for a moment. Then reached for the Com system and put a call in to some people. After speaking, he told us they would be here in twenty four hours.

Just before the arrival of the people in Kings communication, he received a report that made him pale. He called all of us together to see a replay of a tracking camera that had been mounted on a trade lane ring. It was pointed on a station, called Detroit Munitions. The camera showed a large dark shadow approaching from the asteroid fields near where we arrived from. The ship dropped out of slipstream. It’s hull shimmered as the shields activated and the red pinpoints of the plasma lasers activated. The base Apparently activated its communications system, but no response came. It then launched 5 of its ships, that approached the alien ship. The Covenant ship launched its fighters which over whelmed them in a matter of mere seconds.

The large craft, estimated to be three times the size of a standard battleship, turned broad side and open fired. The crimson red plasma charges, arched their way over to the station. Lives now in peril, sought to flee, but would never make it to even the docking bays. The first of the plasma, burned holes through the base, making it look like Swiss cheese. By the time the fifth shot hit, it was nothing more than a boiling red mass that began to drift from it original position. The camera recorded all until a sixth shot hit the ring and destroyed it and the only source of the ship and its intended destination. There had not been one survivor of the encounter.

I suggested putting all planets in the system on top alert and to activate any military available. King concurred and sent the messages out and another to President Jacobi as well, asking for a state of emergency being issued for several systems as well. They would need all the help they could get.

With in the hour a battleship de-cloaked and the Osiris docked with the docking pylon. As soon as the people could transfer to a shuttle, they arrived on Manhattan. They were escorted to the briefing room. They were Orillion, Edison Trent, Tobias and Junko Zane. I took and immediate dislike to Junko, or Juni as she was known. They sat at the table as the Chief uploaded me in the holo base. I surveyed all here. I hoped they would be of help, or another world would be destroyed and glassed like Reach was.

Orillion listen as I laid out the Covenant and the Spartans and our world in general. I provided some data as to the weapon types that the Covenant had and their tactics. They seemed to relish the killing of people. I also gave a short presentation of Halo and the Flood though, they would have little effect on thier current situation. It did not look promising. An hour into the meeting, another woman arrived where all the humans stood for. “Be seated please and lets get to it, shall we” she spoke. President Jacobi it seemed. She seemed to be on top of things already and did not need to be brought up to speed.

I laid out some ideas, based on tactics and the available weapons these people had. It would be difficult battle, if it was waged only in space. We needed to get the Covenant to commit a large number of its crew to a surface battle, then to attack the ship. Fully crewed, would give them too much of an advantage.

But, a problem would be, these people have no ground combat experience, which meant the Chief would have to handle most of the combat, with a few of the security force providing limited back up. Trent, Juni and Orillion would lead the fighter and ship attack on the cruiser. They would have to do a hit and run attack, to draw the fire of the Plasma weapons, or they would be destroyed. Thier ships and shielding systems were no match. I tried to help them integrate a few ideas, but without giving away all out tech work. That could create more problems for them, after we were gone.

Juni piped up, “Why should we trust them”, waving a hand in my direction, “they are the ones responsible for this ship being here in the first place.”

“Listen missy, I have more knowledge and experience dealing with these creatures than you will ever get, I can out think you any day of the week and then some.”

“Settle down Cortana, we have to work together to survive this, eliminate the Covenant and find a way home” the chief said. He did have a way of defusing things, even though I would never let him know I though that. I smirked and turned away from Juni.

“We have to come up with a workable plan and soon.” the president spoke up.

A intercom message interrupted us and a message flashed on all screens. A system wide alert sounded and the screens tuned to the disturbance. It was from West Point. They had sited the ship in question and that it was moving towards them at a rapid pace. They had evacuated all non-essential personnel. The station had all positions manned and had to squadrons of heavy fighters on alert and to inbound cruisers preparing to defend the base.

The Captains of the Cruisers, prepared to come about, with their main guns to trained on the Alien ship, once it dropped out of slipstream. They would do their best to punch a hole through that hull. The fighters were active and circling the station. The shadow then shifted and sparkled. It materialized, behind the cruisers. They had miscalculated badly and it would now cost them. Both captains ordered their ships to come about and all turrets to open fire.

The first salvo from the alien ship, tore open the first cruiser. A boiling red mass of hot metal. A distress call went out, but, the captain knew it was futile. No help would reach them in time. The smaller guns of the alien ship opened up. They cut the aft section near engineering completely in two. The reactor, separated from its cooling systems, went critical and exploded. The explosion too out half a dozen fighters that had held close for support.

The second cruiser was able to bring it’s main gun to bare on the ship and the captain gave the order to fire. The first salvo, hit the shielded ship, causing a glimmer to ripple down the hull. But, the shields held with no apparent damage done. The fighter support that remained, were ordered to fire at will with every thing they had.

The wing commander gave the orders for two strafing runs. The first, had no effect at all. The second, caused the same ripple in the shield, but no other damage. “Alpha one, fire your Starkiller, Now!” came the commanders order. Alpha one swung around to line up his shot. A this range, nothing would survive, including him. But there was no other way to take out this monster.

On West Point, they saw the destruction of the first cruiser and the torpedo as it hit the alien ship. As the fire ball died down, only the alien ship remained. The shields rippled again and dropped. But only for a moment. They were back up as the craft turned toward the station. The base commander ordered all to life boats and prayed they would live through what was about to happen. He then loaded all video and records on a probe and launched it away. Hopefully some one would get it and make some use of the information. They had a weakness, and it would be there only hope.

The remaining hulk that was West Point, burned in space for two days. Only one life boat was ever found. The others were presumed destroyed. There was no siting of the alien ship, now called covenant 1.

The Osiris, cloaked and hold position just off the port side of the remains of West Point, waited while Trent and Juni scanned the area for the probe. They had received the com message about it and set off in search, with the hope of getting valuable information to help defeat this new enemy.

In the ward room, King, Orillion and the newcomers were meeting. King still had a hard time getting use to seeing this hulk of a being. At over seven feet tall, he was imposing to say the least. The MasterChief laid out a printout of the covenant ship. He had made notes on it, as to weak point that could be exploited. But, he noted, that was using his technology on it, not current weapons. He also pointed out to location, that if a breach in the shield and hull could be made, he could enter the ship and disable it.

Orillion looked up at that comment. His eyes showing disbelief in what he had heard. He was as hard line as they come, but he thought this was suicide and he said so. “I can’t see any way one person could even make it inside that ship and survive.”

I looked up and shook my head. The chief was one that knew risks and never too foolish ones. If he said he could do it, he would do it. I had a smirk on my face, when Orillion asked what I thought. I told him, rather rudely, that the chief was more than capable of handling the mission, and would surprise him to boot. I gave him an over view of the Chief’s capabilities, without revealing any of the tech of the MJOLNIR armor. That I would not allow to be given out. I was bending the line as it was, revealing the Chief’s abilities as it was.

Besides, I pointed out, he would have me along as well. That got a double take from King. He never did understand me anyway. But, I could still enjoy making him uneasy.

We received word from a Dr. Sinclar, who was studying the area the we appeared in. She seemed genuinely interested in helping us get home. She sent a message saying she was reading charge particles that might could be reproduced, using the DomKavash article and the Nomad power source. I didn’t know what she was talking about, so I tapped into their data base, and hacked a few security screens and got the information. Talk about not understanding things, these people did not even understand the things they already had in their possession. I could use the items to get us home real easy.

I worked up an idea for a explosive that would be similar to C-12 we had. It would do for opening the hull, and provide a way to disable or destroy the Covenant ship. It could also have a timer devise set if needed. The Chief though that would be the better idea, to set the explosives and deal with the grunts at the same time. Then he would have more time to extract himself from the ship. Orillion spoke up and said he wanted someone to go along with the Chief. I advised that it would be a mistake as who ever when along, would have no armor or shield protection and would prove to be a liability as well.

It was hardly into the night rotation, when the alarm claxons sounded. The chief had just downloaded me and Was preparing for rest cycle. “What in blazes is going on now”he asked to no one in particular. I scanned the network and received the commands. The planet of Manhattan was soon to be under attack. A blip was seen that matched the size of the covenant ship. I alerted the Chief to this and he uploaded me in to his suit again. He reached for his weapon that had been constructed for him by Orillion’s tech people. It held one hundred rounds in the clips and were armor piercing. It would do for now. He grabbed another four hundred rounds worth and headed for the bridge.

The ship was under way when we arrived. It seemed that these people were finally getting with the program and had come to battle readiness. I was able to scan some of the monitors and gathered that the planet hat about thirty five navy fighters and about another fifty civilians willing to help protect the planet. Capital ships were at five with one of those a battleship. It would be a true test this time.

Orillion informed us that King and Trent were planet side preparing their ships with the torpedoes that they hoped would bring down the shields. If they could get them down, the Chief and I could have our chance to board the ship and take control of it. Junko can to the bridge about the time we were making planes to get aboard the pelican. She offered herself to come with us. The Chief was quick to decline the offer explaining that it could be a one way trip.

For her spunk, Juni agreed with it, but countered that we would need someone to position the craft while we attempted to get a hold of the hull and crack the egg. I finally agreed.

Three hours later, there was a general alarm. We met the others on the bridge of the Osiris. The Covenant slipstream jumped to Manhattan. They quickly dispatched three drop ships. This hanged our mission quickly. The Chief and I headed for the pelican and prepared it for departure for the surface. But just before the hatch closed, Trent, and Juni arrived. The Chief just said to strap themselves in. This had to be waged fast and furious as if the Covenant get dug in, they will hold the planet.

The explosions flashed all over the surface. They had landed in three different areas. It would be tough going. The chief and I took the first area and had Trent and Juni head to the others and scout it out, but not engage them.

Fire fights were all over, but the navy personnel were not up to the task. They lacked the armor to protect themselves and they lacked the tactics to fight this enemy. The grunts mowed them down, backed by four Jackals with shields. The Chief hit the ground running at top speed. He had two grunts torn apart, even before they saw him coming. Their barks and squeaks, unaided by a translator this time, rang out all over the area. The Chief swapped clips and sighted more fleeing Grunts. It seemed they knew of him and were not engaging in battle any more, but fled back to thier landing craft. I knew this could work to our advantage here, but not in space. A SPARTAN could send fear into most enemies, by their presence alone, but when in gaged in a fire fight, they found no equal.

The fight was over in less than fifteen minuets. No survivors. The dropships though, must have gotten word and were preparing to lift off. The Chief sprinted for the closest one followed closely by Mr. Trent. They just made it before the hatch closed. The chief puled his HE pistol with only two rounds left. He would have to do this right and on the first try. The Elite, turned at the sound, but was dead before he knew it. The chief yanked him from the pilots seat and tossed him back to the bay area. Trent did a little dance to avoid the impact. Once control of the craft was gained, we headed back into orbit. I readied the access codes needed to gain access to the covenant landing bays.

“You should have remained on the ground, Mr. Trent” the chief spoke as he neared the docking point, “You would have been safer and I would have one less thing to worry about.”

“You never know, you might need me.” Trent replied. If I had a holo head, it would be shaking right about now.

Space darkened as the dropship neared the covenant ship. At the moment, it wasn’t under fire. I scanned the area and saw why. Three cruisers were totally destroyed and a battle ship was limping from the area. There were no fighters left. We had to do this. There would be no second chances. I scanned the Chief and found all in order and his vital sins normal. He was as cool as ever.

The hatch open and the shields dropped for the time it took to brink the ship in and then reactivated. The bay was empty. Not even maintenance worker or guards around. So far, so good. The Chief found a marine helmet for Trent. They could communicate now, with out tipping off the enemy. “It’s time to go, follow my lead and my orders” the Chief said. Trent acknowledged, and a green light appeared in the master chiefs HUD. Trent smiled at the idea. He had to get one of these for Juni when this was over.

The far Wall, away from the ships hatch, thirty meters to a Mag hatch. The Chief pit the keypad with the code I gave him and the door slide aside. Two grunts were surprised. But it no longer mattered. Two rounds a piece in the head and both were a heap on the floor. They had to get to the bridge as soon as possible. I displayed a map of both thier HUD’s and high lighted the directions they would need, theat posed the least harm.

At the first corner, the Chief found a locker opened. It contained two plasma grenades and he borrowed them. He would give them back, later. For now, they would equalize things. Alarm lights strobed, but there seemed no movements in t corridor. Something felt wrong. I had the chief switch to cloaked motion detectors. There was movement, one hundred meters down the way. I signaled Trent to hang back twenty five meters. He held up and readied his weapon. The Chief puled the pin of a grenade and through it about seventy five meters down. As it exploded, a shadow moved forward and the chief fired. The clocked elite went down, spilling two more grenades. They were running out of time.

At that moment, a side door slide open, and a grunt ran forward, needler in hand. Trent opened fire and took it down. Surprise in his bio readings. But he held his own. He would be a good marine, in our universe.

Two minuets later, we neared the final area. There would be many more guards here. The risks increase a hundred fold. We had five grenades now and readied to use them. The Chief used a optical probe around the corner. Four jackals and six grunts. This wouldn’t work. Trent signaled the Chief about lobbing a couple grenades down the way and let it do some of the work. I agreed and calculated the angles to get behind the shields of the jackals. Two would do nicely, and the Chief lobbed them, banking off a wall. The grunts barked and squeaked, and died. The chief turned the corner, leveled his weapon and fired at the remaining grunts and took them down.

They had scant meters to the bridge. Motion detectors revealed only a handful inside the bridge. There would be more coming though. I calculated an escape route back to the landing bay. It would be difficult, ammo was getting short. We would have to use covenant weapons to make it back. For now, the mission to set the self destruct, was priority.

I gave the code that over road the door control. The hatch slide slowly open. The Chief ran his probe around the corner. Three elites and two unknowns. There would be no sneaking up and grenades were out. It wouldn’t do to wreck the console we needed to access the destruct program. So, the Chief have the count down to Mr. Trent to go in guns ah blazing. They had to make this quick and decisive. On the three count, and I had my fingers crossed, if I had them, and the counted down. Trent with two pistols and the Chief with a pistol and a MA2B with a full clip. 2, 1, GO!

The room vibrated with the fire power. A needler went off wildly and one plasma round, but it hit harmlessly in the ceiling. The covenant did not know what hit them. In less than fifteen seconds, it was over. Al were dead. The door was secured and the Chief uploaded me into thier battle net. I scanned the communications and all data of their arrival here. It was compacted and uploaded into my net. We could analyze it later. Right now, though, it was time to rig the auto destruct and get out of here.

Three minutes later, all was rigged, all I had to do was set the timer, and we were gone. But, I hesitated and the Chief notice. He asked what the problem was, I was silent for what seemed like forever. The data I scanned was , I don’t even know how to describe it. It, was a new invasion plan, of Earth. I quickly uploaded it and ran a but in the memory and activated the timer. We had barely ten minuets to get out and back to the landing bay, or we go up with the ship. And, with what I now know, that can’t happen.

I activated the computer systems, that opened all the doors in our path. It also meant that the covenant knew we would be coming and provide them more personnel. But there was no other way. I sent a message to Trent’s heads up to pick up any covenant weapons he found and have a quick holo display on how to use them. There was little ammo left for him, and the chief was getting low as well. Ge was already scooping up a couple of the plasma rifles. “Lets move out” he gave the command. Trent, to his credit, took point. He was following the map in his HUD and knew what to expect this time. At the third turn, he held up a closed fist and we halted as he peered around the corner. He gave the signal of two large enemy. He would go low, while the Chief went high. Now!! Two more Elites went down before they knew what hit them. I just hoped there were no hunters on this ship.

Five more turns and three ramps downward, we neared the dock. . No one was guarding it. But, to our dismay, the ship was gone. Only two banshees were there. For the Chief, it was no problem, but, Mr. Trent had no environmental suit. He would die the moment he left the ship. I scanned the area and found a reasonable replacement. It would not last long, five minuets, at the most. He had to get off the ship and on the ground quickly, or die. I gave Trent a heads up on the controls, even as he climbed into the Banshee. We had less than five minuets to go before detonation. This was cutting it fine.

Both lifted off the deck, and turned toward the hatch. The star field was in motion. The ship was moving, though not fast. We had to get out of here now, if we were to make it. They hit the acceleration and were out. Trent, after getting his bearing, banked hard over to a space station rather than the planet. I had the chief follow is lead. The ship behind us was attempting to leave orbit as three more battle sips dropped out of jump drive. They attempted to open fire but stood down after receiving a message from Trent. The ship began to roll as explosions began with in it. All liberty traffic moved away from the planet and the docking rings. Then, like a nova, the chip exploded. The rings were heavily damaged and two smaller craft destroyed. We would have too, if we had kept our course for the planet. The docking area opened for our arrival and we settled in the bay as the doors closed and the area pressurized.

It was just as full pressure stabilized, when Trent fell to the deck. I scanned his Bio signs as the Chief picked him up and carried him to the medical facilities. After removing the suit, it was discovered that Trent had taken a needler round in the arm and it punctured his suit. That was the reason for his course change, but saved our lives as well, well, at least the chiefs life. He risked a lot in coming with us, but proved his worth to all.

Two days later, we met with Doctor Sinclar and Orillion. It was time for us to leave. The hardest part, was explaining that all covenant weapons had to be destroyed. To leave them, would cause no end of problems, as they did for us in our universe. But, the President agreed with this and they launched all in a small craft to the sun, as not to leave anything to chance, A blast almost as bright as their sun, confirmed it occurred. I calculated the method to get us home and began preparations for the task. It was a one way trip back and if we failed, we died. But, we had a war waiting on us, and with the new information, would help us now.

It went well, our goodbyes. They were glad in a way to see us leave, after all, we brought us a war they had not expected or asked for. But, we did leave them, with something’s to think about, like ground fighting, discipline of the Spartans and, me and AI. Now that, is a scary thought. I hit the settings and activated the alien energy devise and we were gone. Heading back to our time, to our universe. Little did I know what lay ahead for us.


To Be Continued In the Amazing Story Forum. ..........:D