The Battle of Installation 02

[angelzeromatt]

(Halo story. Yeah yeah, I'm not a big Halo fan, but the idea danced around in my head so much that I couldn't leave it alone. For Halo fans, remember that this is non-canon and may involve some poetic license)

Chapter 1: "Bigger than a Bread Box"

"Why would you do something like that?"

"You are different."

"Commander. Commander Hilbert." A pair of emerald green eyes peered up at the ceiling. "Sorry to disturb you, Commander, but you asked to be informed of our arrival." The voice was coming over an intercom within the quarters of the man lying in the bed. He slowly sat up.

"Thank you, crewman. Relay our status," he commanded, getting up from the bed and standing up straight, his head quite close to the ceiling.

"Yes sir," the voice continued. "We are currently docked with Cairo Station. Apparently they had a run-in with some Covenant forces not too long ago. John-117 assisted in removing them and followed the remnants onto Mombasa, where the last Covenant ship initiated a jump inside the atmosphere, leveling the entire city." The Commander was slipping on his formal commanding officer's uniform, a large number of ribbons decorating the left breast. "We're scheduled to resupply the ship's essentials- mostly weapons, ammunition, and rations- in 0200 hours. Lord Hood has already been notified of our arrival and is asking for you and your second to meet with him for debriefing and a new mission." The officer sighed a little.

"The man doesn't believe in cutting us slack, does he?" He shook his head. "I'll be there presently. Let Lieutenant Ramius know to meet me in the airlock, full dress. I'm on my way there now," he added, picking his hat up and securing it over his short, light-brown hair.

"Understood, sir." The intercom shut off and the Commander left his quarters. Some ways from the living area, the airlock was quite a hike from one end of the ship to the other. The Commander chuckled lightly to himself.

I wonder how far I'd go running before I'd have to take a break, he thought to himself comically. Doing something like that was funny in itself, but trying it in his uniform would probably make the crew laugh as well. Not that it would lessen their thoughts of him.

A long, healthy walk later, he was waiting inside the airlock, whistling a quiet tune to himself while staring upwards at the stars. "Is that the only tune you know, Allen?" The Commander turned his eyes towards the voice, a woman in full uniform just like his. "After a while, it gets annoying." The Commander cleared his throat.

"Pardon me, First Lieutenant. You know that it is against regulations to speak to your superior officer on a first-name basis." He turned and headed for the airlock. "Besides, it's my favorite song. It used to be yours, too... Susan." The woman shook her head and caught up quickly, walking alongside the man named Allen. "Looks like Hood wants us to pull a rabbit out of the hat. Calling us up for debriefing and then to assign us to something else. We're scheduled for resupply at 0930 Greenwich Mean."

"So I heard. I also heard that John got himself swept into more trouble. They call him such a big hero, but he's a trouble magnet, no matter how you look at it. Devil's luck, I guess you could say: a gift and curse at the same time." The two officers halted in front of a large hatch.

"The devil's luck, huh? I guess all of us have it." The hatch opened and the two of them stepped into the control room of the Cairo Station. Swiftly marching towards the giant screen, they halted and saluted to their own commander, Lord Hood. The undaunting officer saluted and nodded his head.

"At ease." The two officers moved from attention, turning their eyes to Hood. "I have to say, Commander, you sure are a miracle-worker. Though, a preliminary report says nothing to details from the commanding officer."

"Sir, permission to speak freely," Allen requested, gaining a nod to continue. "I would think the details worth mentioning are the success and that there were no casualties." Hood chuckled.

"Noble and honest." He looked to the Lieutenant. "And I heard you were instrumental to the security of ground troops. It was your strategy that kept the Commander here from putting the suit on again."

"I would not be able to take the credit if not for the marines and their skills. My men were all very capable and brave. I am fortunate that not one life was lost."

"Well, word will spread quickly to the rest of the human race. Liberating Reach from Covenant hold is quite a feat with zero casualties counted up. Most fleets we have can't boast such feats, much less a single UNSC Frigate." After a moment, Hood adjusted his hat lightly. "Though, I apologize that we can't hand out any medals at the moment. We have been scrambling around ever since the attack on the station and on Earth. That is why I have called both of you here." He turned and approached the screen pressing a single button that showed a map of the galaxy and a blip on the far edge. "We've recieved Covenant transmissions pointing out these coordinates within our system. It's on the rim and well outside of our controlled space. Now, I'm sure you two are aware that the UNSC Frigate In Amber Clad, under command of Miranda Keyes, jumped with a Covenant vessel to unknown coordinates. We don't know if this area is where they arrived, but it is worth a look." He shut off the screen and turned to the officers. "Commander Allen Hilbert, First Lieutenant Susan Ramius." The two officers stood at attention. "I want the Distant Utopia to head to those coordinates and ascertain what exactly is so important about that place."

"Yes sir!" The two officers saluted. They about-faced and headed for the door.

"Commander." Allen halted, waiting for a continuation. "If you find anything Forerunner..."

"Understood." Allen turned around, saluted once again, and left the control center. When the hatch closed, he headed for the airlocks without a word to his second-in-command.

"Well, looks like we get to clean up another one of John's messes," Susan commented. "He sure leaves a lot of them."

"'Anything Forerunner'..." Allen muttered, as if not hearing Susan speak at all. "'If it's bigger than a bread box, blow it up.'" Susan looked up at Allen, confused. He smirked. "Something an old friend said to me once."

[angelzeromatt]

Chapter 2: Majesty

"Under your new classification as Commander Allen Hilbert, you will take command of the UNSC Frigate Distant Utopia and be given your choice of command crew and whatever you deem is necessary beyond the marines that we will assign to you."

"All I request are two things: My second be Sergeant Susan Ramius, and my 'suit' comes with me onto the ship."

Allen watched as the marines tunneled through the training area on the Frigate. His second, First Lieutenant Ramius was shouting out at them in a classic drill sergeant style. It made him laugh that her style of drilling reminded him of an old twentieth-century movie he was particularly fond of.

A woman in her late twenties, Ramius was a strong-built woman with raven hair that was just starting to grow towards her collar. It was only allowed to grow out when she became an officer under Allen's command, something which she celebrated no different than any other occasion: running the marines twice as hard to show she wasn't getting soft.

Vacantly, a thought came up to him: were all marine sergeants this crazy? He remembered meeting a Sergeant named Avery Johnson who ran his boys much like Susan did. Also, he had the survival expectancy of a cockroach: he just couldn't die. Allen joked around about how the Chief's luck was rubbing off on him. Johnson just contributed it to his own "bad-ass" skills.

It was just a small time that Allen had met Johnson, a time when he worked alongside John-117, the man everyone knew as Master Chief. They fought together in the first battles of the Covenant War. The guy let Allen pull the leadership while he did all the really dangerous things, coming out by the skin of his teeth all the time. But at one point, Allen was stranded during one of their missions and called MIA for some time. John was the one who led the search party to find him. Expected of the guy, but something else happened that Allen had a hard time forgiving John about.

"Does this look like a playground to you?!" Susan shouted below to a soldier who'd tripped on his own feet. "Did I say you could take a nap?! Get on your feet, you--" Allen's laughter drowned out the swearing his second was throwing out at the marines. Obscenity seemed one of her strengths, especially when she was dealing with men. Susan ran a good track record as a soldier and kept her duties as a Sergeant, even with her promotion to Lieutenant. Not that it mattered. The marines followed her without question, having complete faith in her abilities.

Allen approached slowly. "You know, you never told me about that Charlie Hotel thing you put in your report," he shouted out to Susan. She turned and saluted. Allen saluted back lightly. "At ease."

"Well, I could get these guys to show you right now if you wanted." Allen nodded his head. Susan turned around. "Okay, boys!! Get over here! The Commanders wants a sneak-peek at our secret weapon!" The marines rushed in and lined up at attention. Though they'd been running for some time now, the bulk of them were keeping normal breathing and didn't seem to tired. "Alright. Charlie Hotel on Brady!"

A lone marine moved back while the other marines formed an entire circle around this Brady marine and knelt down, holding imaginary guns. Allen crossed his arms. "Ah ha. Makes sense. And the Romeo Alpha?"

"Commander Hilbert, please report to the bridge immediately." Allen sighed, shaking his head.

"Another time, perhaps." He saluted as the marines and Susan stood at attention once more, saluting back. "As you were." He turned and headed out of the training area, hearing the faint sound of Susan pulling more swearing at the marines to get them moving.

Allen hadn't known Susan before the military, but he figured she was just about the same before she came to the UNSC. That kind of personality could only be home-grown, never planted by the military. He was rather fond of it himself. Most women soldiers he met ended up as either dropship pilots or, rarely, footsoldiers. Meeting one who ended up Sergeant, and a well-respected leader at that, was pretty encouraging. Something Allen wouldn't admit to anyone aloud was that she was exactly the type of woman he liked.

Entering the bridge, Allen went right to the front, near the helm. The helmsman looked back at him. "Sir, we're about to exit slipspace." Allen nodded and sat down in the captain's chair. He watched as the brightness around them suddenly turned into black. What the crew then saw made them all silent. Allen stared. "That's definitely bigger than a breadbox..."

Floating in an orbit around a dark blue planet was a large ring, gyrating at what seemed like a slow rate from afar, but it was definitely moving fast. A ring world. "Sir? What is that?" Allen stared.

"That... Is a Halo..." He saw the report that Lord Hood sent to him about the ring John and the late Commander Keyes found, but now that he saw the thing up-close... It reminded him of how he heard of it before then. "Scanners. What's the surface like?"

"Near-freezing temperatures, arctic surface. There are some bodies of water, glaciers." The helmsman looked from the computer panel to the ring itself. "It's like they took Arctic Circle and literally made it a circle."

"Notify Lieutenant Ramius. Tell her to come to the bridge."

"Yes sir!" Allen watched the ring while the crewman called on the intercom to the training area. He thought about the 'breadbox' rule a moment. You and your sarcasm, John... He shook out of his stupor, forgetting something very important.

"Any Covenant forces in the area?"

"No, sir. Nothing on the sensors. All we're picking up is that thing and... Wait... There's a beacon coming from the ring. Distress signal. It's Covenant."

"Source?"

"Tracing... Got it. An inactive cruiser, currently on the six o'clock of the ring."

"Good God..." Allen turned his head, finding Susan staring at the Halo ring in wonder. "That thing's huge. Forerunner?"

"Yes. I have a mission for you." Susan turned and stood at attention. "I want you to take three Pelicans down there and secure the crash-site of the Covenant cruiser on the ring. Secure a landing zone and then search for survivors." She saluted and headed for the bridge door. "Lieutenant!" She halted and looked back. "If there are any survivors..."

"Understood. I'll treat them as you would." She saluted with a bit of a smile and continued at a run. Allen sat down in the chair again, sighing. He wanted to go himself, but his place was on the ship, after all. At times, he missed being a part of the infantry. Other times, he thanked the higher-ups for the strings they pulled.

[angelzeromatt]

(Gah, haven't done a chapter of this in a while, but really I think only one person reads this silly thing. Anyways, here's Chapter 3)

Chapter 3: Derelict

"You know, you must be one crap silver eagle for a lowly Sarge like me to be saving your ass."

"Even heroes need backup sometimes."

Three Pelican dropships plummeted from the belly of the Frigate Distant Utopia, falling towards the giant ringworld one at a time. "Brace yourselves. We're entering the ring's gravity." There was the almost-sudden pull of gravity inside the cabin, tugging at the Marines who were belted tightly to the seats. Within the lead Pelican, Lieutenant Susan Ramius was watching the red flames of re-entry licking at the ship's hull as the pilot guided it into the ring's atmosphere. Once the flames had ceased and the white landscape had come into view, Susan knew they were ready to go.

"Zulu-06, set up base camp straight below. Tango-552, follow us in and land outside of scanning distance of the vessel."

"Aye, sir!" shouted both pilots on the radio. One Pelican tilted and turned about for a landing while the other moved into the lead Pelican's right flank. The snow in their path was falling in thick clouds, making visibility low.

"The cold will make it easier to heat-track," Susan commented aloud. Eventually, the other Pelican pulled off to the side, disappearing quickly into the white. The lone Pelican approached the marked coordinates. Susan's eyes now watched her control panel for any ground activity. Seeing nothing, she was extremely confused. They should have stationary guns or sentries this close to the ship. So why...?

"We're coming up over the ship now, sir!" The pilot sitting in front of her in the cockpit called up to her, making her view shift to the cockpit window. The clouds of snow broke, revealing a wide canyon where the Covenant ship was at rest, its nose facing down the canyon. "Thermal scan... No heat sources detected." Susan raised an eyebrow.

"Say again?"

"No heat sources coming from the ship. It's empty." She shook her head. This stunk of strange to her, especially considering it was the Covenant they were dealing with. Even without their advanced weaponry, they were smart as hell and had just as much pride. Never would they leave a ship of theirs completely abandoned if it was still intact, and Susan could see that this ship wasn't damaged at all... At least, on the outside.

"Find a landing zone nearby. Tango-552, this is November-91. Follow in to the Covenant ship. Looks like nobody's home, but we may need backup. Once we land, find a good spot at the vessel's aft and hold until further orders."

"Roger that." The Pelican descended into the canyon slowly, its engines firing up as it got close to the ground. The heat of the engines melted the fallen snow away to reveal solid, artificial ground. The landing gear opened up and touched down, the ship jerking a little. The Pelican was now situated with its tail facing the giant nose of the Covenant vessel. Susan unbuckled herself from her seat and headed into the cabin to give her orders.

"Alright, boys. We're going to sweep the area around the ship before going inside. Two squads down both sides of the canyon. Corporal Brady, you're staying with Katsuragi and me. We'll keep the Pelican safe." The soldiers were silent, but there eyes showed they understood and were ready to go. They were simply waiting for the last words that always followed orders.

"Move out!" Immediately, they all unbuckled, armed themselves, and exited the open hatch of the Pelican, save the Corporal. He pulled down a sniper rifle from the compartment above, taking out a shotgun as well and tossing it to Susan. Susan caught the shotgun with one hand and lowered it to her side.

"Lieutenant, permission to speak freely?" The Corporal spoke up without hesitation.

"Permission granted," she replied as firmly as he had asked his question.

"This is too weird for Covenant. Why would they abandon their own vessel like this? Especially when it looks in top shape."

"I thought the same, Brady. They aren't much for setting traps like this. At least, not the Elites. What I'd expect them most from are those Bravo Kilos, but they wouldn't sacrifice an entire ship just to take out one or two groups of us." The cockpit door opened and out walked the pilot. Taking off the helmet, he was a young Japanese man not too much older than Susan.

"Lieutenant, Tango-552 is having problems finding an L-Z," the pilot spoke in perfect English and without an expected accent. "Apparently there's a landslide or something on the other end of the ship that's created uneven terrain. She's asking permission to land next to us."

"Let her know to go ahead. It looks as if our only troubles will be if someone's hiding inside the ship." The pilot ducked into the cockpit for a quick moment while Susan's second checked the rifle.

"Is that even possible with the fact that there were no heat signatures? I don't know of any technology they have that can hide them in that way, and their Active Camo generates more-than-normal heat that we'd catch far too quickly in a cold place like this," Brady suggested as he worked, still speaking freely. Nevertheless, Susan welcomed the honest opinion of a subordinate. It saves lives to listen to these guys sometimes.

"We'll never know unless we search every inch," she replied, hearing the other Pelican coming in for a landing. "I'll have Bravo team go into the ship while ours are still perusing the area. Care to take charge of them?" Brady took one hand from the sniper rifle and saluted.

"Yes, sir." He turned and stepped off the Pelican, turning towards where the other had landed. Meanwhile, Susan waited until the pilot returned from the cockpit to speak with him.

"Commander Hilbert said to secure the crash-site. But, Katsuragi... It didn't look like a crash-site from above, did it?"

"No, sir. It looked to be a normal landing that didn't disturb the canyon or the vessel. Tango-552 said the landslide looked too old to be caused by the ship's landing."

"It still bugs me. The canyon is undisturbed, the ship is in perfect condition, and there are absolutely no heat signatures besides us here. If we don't find any traces of combat inside the ship, I'm going to get real suspicious of this ring." Susan lifted the shotgun up and placed it against her shoulder. "Radio the Frigate, tell them the current situation. I'll wait outside for Alpha team." Katsuragi saluted and returned to the cockpit, switching on the radio. Meanwhile, Susan stepped into the white snow-filled canyon, looking up at the sky above them. For a moment, she was awestruck at seeing the rest of the ring up in the sky amidst the clouds and falling snow. When it ended, she shook her head and cocked the shotgun.

"Keep focused, Susan," she reinforced herself aloud, her eyes narrowing to focus through the snow ahead of her while she waited for the return of her Marines. "The Covenant may not be the only things to worry about in this place."