Just wanted start writing something that takes place after Halo 4. My own storyline I guess. And it's going to be a lot of fun.
Chapter 1: What Lies Ahead?
July 21st, 2559
Klaxons whirred angrily; red lights flashed intensely, illuminating my visor. I stirred groggily as I awoke from cryo sleep.
Where am I?
As if in response to my thoughts, a rich female voice entered the cryo tube. "Wake up Spartan... We need you."
I opened my eyes and instinctively placed my hands against the glass barrier. Blinking repeatedly, I tried to recall why I was here and again, where I was. I placed a hand on my visor as I was hit by a sense of vertigo.
Disorientation. Common side effect of cryo sleep.
Again I opened my eyes, using my surroundings to try to recall my location. I was inside of an extensive white room filled with numerous cryo tubes. None of the tubes of the tubes that I could see, however, were occupied.
Am I the only one here? I decide it was time to find out what was going on.
"Where am I?" I asked. My baritone voice reverberated through the room and up to the control booth where I assumed the woman who had spoken to me was situated.
The intercom popped as it was activated, but the speaker hesitated for a moment. "Earth. Sydney, Australia to be precise. But we need to get you out of there before I explain any more."
"Why?" I prodded.
"There's not much time to explain," she responded as the cryo tube depressurized and opened up.
I stepped out of the chamber stiffly and stretched my under used muscles. Again my thoughts returned to our location. I still had no idea what I was doing here. It'll come back to me soon enough.
Looking around, I tried to find out where this lady was. The door to the control room slid open. Too my surprise, out came a Spartan; yet, she wasn't the kind of Spartan I was used to. She was short at around 6'4" tall, and was very slender. In her arm she held her helmet--which looked to be of alien, yet familiar, design to me--allowing me to gaze upon her young gentle features.
Her face was white, though not pale like that of a Spartan II, but more had more color in it. Soft blue eyes peered out from under blonde-brown eyebrows. Her blondish-brown hair was tied in a neat bun at the crown of her head. Everything about her features seemed calm and loving to me; they were not akin to the rugged features of my female comrades I had grown up with.
This led me to assume that she could not be a Spartan of my generation, leaving me to wonder at the prospect of other Spartans.
As she approached, I noticed the insignia of a first lieutenant on her arm. I snapped to attention immediately.
"Ma'am! Jacob, Spartan 071 at your service."
She flashed a look of annoyance at me for a split second, then it was gone. But I had seen it and I could now see she lacked the discipline of my generation. I almost shuddered at that word. We're no longer the only Spartans. What a thought.
She returned the salute crisply and motioned for me to follow her. We began down the row of empty cryo pods towards the exit.
"My name is first lieutenant Elizabeth Moenay, I'm a part of the class IV Spartans. But, before you ask what I'm talking about, I have some other things to explain. Everything I'm about to say is extremely important, so listen up." Elizabeth paused for a moment, then smiled as she studied the me. "Though considering you're a class II, I figure you're already listening closely."
I nodded in response and allowed her to continue.
"Earth... is going to be assaulted soon-"
"Covenant?"
She shook her head. "The Human-Covenant War ended six years ago." I raised my eyebrows in surprise but remained deathly silent as we she continued. "We have a truce with most species that had been a part of the Covenant now. No, I fear the threat to Earth is far greater than anyone expects..." she trailed off.
The door slid open as we neared and we passed through it into a compact elevator which groaned under our combined weight. The walls were made of mostly reinforced glass, but the elevator was dimly lit by a fluorescent light. At Elizabeth's command, it began its ascent.
"There's a lot you don't know, I know. You've been on ice for a long time, so I'll give you the low down on everything that's happened since you've been out."
At that, she plunged into a timeline history of the war against the Covenant. Eventually she Fall of Reach--and the death of most of my childhood friends--which I could scarcely believe. After that she told me about the discovery of the Halo arrays, the battles for Earth, the Ark, and the defeat of the Covenant. Then she got to events that had happened on the planet Requiem and what had happened with the Didact. And finally she mentioned John.
I grinned. "Chief's alive?" I asked, struggling to control my excitement.
She nodded. "Yes. He was the savior of Earth. He neutralized the Didact and his ship and stopped Earth from being composed."
I looked at the ground solemnly.
"Where is he now?" I asked.
At that point the elevator was illuminated by sunshine. I turned and looked out at Earth, my home planet. Australia was still a desert, but Sydney had remained a bustling city. The place I remembered to be the headquarters of ONI had grown rapidly. It looked like it had endured dramatic growth since whenever it was that I had been placed on ice. I still couldn't remember.
"That's just it," she said, shaking her head violently, "we don't know. One moment he was here, the next he gone on mission in search of Spartan Grey Team."
I furrowed my brow. "How do you lose the UNSC's most important soldier?" Anger crept into my voice as my words became more concise and deliberate. I noted too that she had been talking about Gray Team: Jai, Adrianna, Mike. What had happened to them?
Elizabeth whipped her head towards me and spoke defiantly, her face scrunching up in frustration. "I don't know," she said, lifting her hands up reflexively. "All I know is that he was sent with the Infinity in search of Gray Team. We lost contact with them three months ago and have been scrambling to reinitialize communications with them."
The elevator slowed at the top floor and we stepped out. the top level was octagonal in shape and housed a number of D-77 dropships. We were leaving.
"And you're sending me after them." I conjectured.
Elizabeth inhaled shakily and nodded. "Direct orders from the Office of Naval Intelligence. You're being transferred to Sparta Station with me, then you'll be fully briefed." She pointed at an army green armored pelican. "Over there. That's our ride."
Direct orders form the Office of Naval Intelligence. The words had a resounding effect on me for reasons unbeknownst to me. For several minutes I said them over and over again in my head. There was something so familiar about those words. But what? I'd heard them many times before, but this time there was something more to them.
The back hatch of the pelican popped open as we neared it. Its engines hummed as the pilot started up the bird. Elizabeth strode into the "blood tray" and sat. I sat down next to her and continued to wonder why the words she had said just a moment ago seemed so significant.
Beside me, Elizabeth's face took on a more somber gentle expression. She glanced at me.
"Look, I'm sorry," she admitted. Again I raised my eyebrows; this girl was an odd one. "It's been a stressful day and I've had hire-ups breathing down my neck about this mission. It's not really fair that I take out my anger on you." She sighed. "Not to mention, you've been on down in cryo storage for years. You don't have any idea what's been going on; you've been out of the loop for a long time."
I grunted. "Acknowledged." I stopped, started into the sunset in thought. A million thoughts were running through my mind. But one in particular still was bothering me. "Ma'am, how long have I been out?"
Elizabeth took on a look of confusion. "Don't you know?" I shook my head and stared at her in anticipation of the answer. "It's been twenty two years."
And with that everything began trickling back to me.
Last edited by Doctor Jensen on February 6th 2013, 11:49 am; edited 1 time in total