Chapter 8 (fanal part)

Chapter 8

Unbreakable

Disclaimer: I do not in any way shape or form own Halo. It belongs to Bungie, 343 industries, and Microsoft. Shouldn't have to say this but just in case.

Here are your comments and my responses to them

-edboy4926: I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter. Also, I appreciate the advice and the thoughts on the story.

-jmknz777: Thank you very much.

-nliochristou: A few of them will survive.

-Tom2011: You are correct. It will begin soon.

-Bui Trong Phuc: Casper did manage to get the activation index for Installation 04. How he did it acquire it and keep it out of Guilty Spark's possession, well let's just say it was a big offscreen moment of awesome.

-Imperial Guard 1337: Here you go. Hopefully it satisfies your hunger. FOR THE EMPEOR!

-Precursed: I apologize, but I'm not going to switch to the Covenant's point of view. The focus will be from the humans and Spartan's point of view. Again, I'm really sorry.

Also, to answer you question as to how Casper saved Cal-141, he was deployed alongside her during the operation to assassinate the prophet and killed the Brute Chieftain before it had the chance to critically injure her which later led to her death. The ODST fireteam was there as backup for them, with Six being the primary shooter and Cal being the secondary shooter. Furthermore, he did not save Daisy-023, he was not even around at that time as she died pretty early in the war. If I'm wrong, than feel free to let me know.

-Mythic Imagination: I really appreciate that you enjoyed the story. I'm trying my best not to follow down the same path as the games and do something different. If you have any suggestions or ideas of the story, than I am all ears.

-dspendragon125: Thank you. Here is another chapter. Hope you enjoy.

-TheWizardofOzbourne: Thanks, I'm glad that you think that this story is well done so far. I'll try to do better on the dialogue sections in future chapters.

So, this chapter and the next few are going to take place between Halo Combat evolved and Halo 2, showing what happened. As always, I hoped you enjoyed the chapter.

"How much longer?" Emile questioned Casper and Kat, who were both currently working on the underside of the pilot's console as they looked through it for any signs of damage from the explosion.

"Should be good to go in about four or five more mikes. The Phantom took on more heat from the explosion than we originally thought." Kat replied as she placed the panel back.

"Luckily there wasn't too much damage to its engines or systems. If we were any closer to the detonation the engines could have been completely fried and we would be left floating through the void." Six chimed in as he stood up after crawling out from the space underneath the console.

"Keyes is still waiting for us at the rendezvous point. He deployed a few salvage teams to recover anything that may have some use that was jettisoned from the Autumn, per standard protocol. "Cortana chipped in from a pedestal on the console. "They're keeping out of scanning range of what's left of the Covenant fleet, which is heading towards what is left of the ring."

"Not too happy about Halo's destruction, I take it?" Carter asked

"That's putting it lightly." Cortana said with a scoff. "Though the Captain still asks that we get there soon. Don't want to overstay our welcome."

"Understood. What about the Monitor? Any ideas on what happened to him?" Chief inquired. Just in case if Guilty Spark decided to go after them for the destruction of the ring.

"As of right now. I have no clue whether or not he made it off before detonation or not." Cortana replied.

However, Casper already knew that 343 Guilty Spark did in fact survive and that their paths would soon cross again.

Once they had made it back to the captured Covenant vessel, Keyes had gathered them in a small weapons storage area to give them a debrief. Major Silva was placed in command of the bridge during the briefing, while First Lieutenant McKay was helping to oversee the final salvage operations from outside of the ship.

"Excellent work Spartans, we all owe you our thanks." The Captain said as the super-soldiers finished recapping what happened. "We should now figure out what our next course of action should be. Preferable before the Covenant find us out here."

Suddenly, John asked a question. "Sir, should we continue on with our previous mission now that we're off Halo?"

"What original mission?" Emile asked the Master Chief. While Noble team knew that HIGHCOM was mobilizing the remaining Spartan-twos for some kind of major operation, they weren't privy to the details since they were assigned elsewhere. Even Kat couldn't get much info from about it either, despite Carter's orders to stop looking into it, all they knew was that it had the potential to end the war and that it was apparently the UNSC's last ditched effort to prevent Mankind's complete destruction.

Well, all of Noble team except Casper, not that they knew.

Keyes shrugged. "I don't see a reason to keep this information classified at this point, Chief."

"I agree." Cortana said. "Don't worry, I'll make sure there aren't any eavesdroppers."

"My team and I-" He paused for a moment." Our mission was to board and capture a Covenant vessel, infiltrate Covenant-controlled space and capture one of their leaders. Command hoped that by doing this we could force Charlie to open up negotiations, hopefully in achieving a ceasefire."

"And they didn't think to invite me?" Emile asked incredulously.

Carter rolled his eyes from behind his helmet before speaking up. "So you want us to continue on that Op? Find a prophet and take him into UNSC custody?"

John nodded. "Yes, we will have a much higher chance of mission success now that we have this vessel."

"Look, I like an opportunity to kill some more Covenant as much as the next Spartan.." Kat chimed in. "But, what's on this ship can help save Mankind from extinction. Let's return to Earth and let the Admiralty decide on what to do. I'm sure no one would question it considering how much has changed since you were given the orders."

Chief turned to the rest of us. "Are you up for it?"

"I'm down for it." Emile said as he leaned against the wall, fiddling with his Kukri.

Carter took in a deep breath before he responded. "Hate to say it but they're right. These orders were given when the circumstances were different and much of them has changed. You used to have a large team of Spartans to do this Op, now you only have four and what's left of the Autumn's crew to do it. And they are not trained or equipped for this kind of high-risk mission. Especially after the last four days."

"I hate to interrupt," Cortana pitched in. "But they are right. These orders were given when Reach still had an intact military presence and the UNSC still had a fleet. All of that has changed. We are now in possession of intact ship-scale plasma weapons and new reactor tech. If we went back and outfitted our remaining ships with this technology, we could actually have a fighting chance and maybe even win this war."

"Not to mention the fact that that we don't even know if the plan will work." Casper chimed in." For all we know, it could make Charlie put more effort into wiping us out to either free or avenge him."

All eyes turned to the Captain, as it was ultimately his decision. "I'm sorry Chief but they're right. Most of the troops are exhausted after what had just went down and I doubt we have enough equipment necessary to accomplish it anyway. We're going to head back to Earth and hand his vessel over to the proper authorities and see what we can reverse-engineer. That's the best play we can make right now."

After a moment of silence, John replied to the highest ranking officer on board. "I understand sir." Chief said as he nodded.

As that particular topic of discussion was now over, Keyes changed the subject. "Alright, we can't just set a course for Earth. Doing so would be in violation of the Cole protocol. Additionally, we can't just take any captured Covenant craft back to human-controlled space without a thorough search for tracking systems, it's too much of a risk.

"If I may sir, I have a suggestion, " John said. " I propose that we set a course for Reach."

"Reach?" Keyes asked as he looked at Chief with a quizzical look. "Master Chief, there is nothing left in the Reach system except for dust, echoes, and a Covenant armada."

"No sir," Chief replied with hesitation. "There may still be something left."

The Captain looked intrigued. "Go ahead."

"It is possible Charlie has already left the planet after already glassing it. There still may be serviceable, but abandoned UNSC craft that we could commandeer and repair that we can use to get to Earth. We can leave the Truth and Reconciliation in orbit while we return with additional ships and manpower in order to enact a salvage operation."

Soon as Chief finished his point, Kat chimed in. "There is also the likelihood that the Covenant would be reluctant in attacking of their own vessels is slim. Especially considering that we can fake transmissions. In both events there is no violation of the Cole Protocol 'Article 9 subsection 2' since Charlie already knows the location of Reach."

Finally, Six decided to pitch in one last possibility. "There may also be surviving UNSC forces stranded on the planet if the Covenant did in fact leave sir. If need be, we can launch a rescue mission to evac any survivors that are left."

The Spartans knew what Casper was referring to. While Noble team didn't show it, they would like to head back to Reach to see if Jun and Jorge made it out alive. Chief also had a desire to see if Blue team and any other Spartan-two survived when Reach fell.

After all of the possibilities were listed out, Keyes made his decision. "Very well, Cortana, set a course for Reach. We'll hit the edge of the system, and if it's too hot, we'll jump out and find another way to make it home."

"Understood Captain," Cortana replied. "Be advised, this ship can traverse through Slipspace much more faster than our UNSC counterparts. ETA to Reach should be about thirteen hours."

Suddenly, a Johnson's voice came up over the radio. " / Captain, can you read me, over? / "

" / I copy. What is it Johnson?"

"/ Sir the last Pelican recovered something that I think you might want to see ASAP."

Everyone took a brief glance at one another at the statement. " / What is it Sergeant-Major? / " Carter asked.

" / Salvage teams managed to recover a few cryo-pods floating around in space and uh...there's another Spartan in one of them. / "

Chief wiped away the frost on the outer surface if the cryo-pod, revealing another green armored Spartan inside. He stiffened as he appears to have recognized her. Carter walked over to him once he did.

"Who is it?" He asked.

"Spartan-058. Linda." He responded with a small hint of sadness in his voice. "She was wounded during the Fall of Reach, during our Op, I placed her into cryostasis when we went onboard the Autumn."

Emile turned to Johnson. "What about the other two pods they managed to recover?"

"There was something wrong with them, some kind of energy discharge which deactivated them. They died cold frosty deaths." He replied somberly.

"She was unique, our best sniper-scout, and lone wolf. To see her like this..."Chief trailed off.

John felt a hand on his right shoulder which belonged to Six after he gave a quick glance. Chief could tell that he was trying to offer support and comfort in anyway he could, despite not having the best social skills it was clear he was doing his best.

"Don't worry, she's a Spartan. We're as tough as they come. She'll pull through." Was all Casper said before he removed his hand and took a few steps back.

There was a knock coming from the Pelican entrance, which belonged to First Lieutenant McKay as everyone turned to face first. "Uh...sorry to interrupt, but you got the air scrubbers? The remote COM? We need to get it on board and get to work removing these things."

Everyone nodded as they moved to the aft hatch, removing the air scrubbers and COM from the Pelican.

"You good Chief? Seeing anybody like that isn't great for anyone." Carter asked.

"I'll be fine sir. We're Spartans." He replied.

Once they were done, they walked out of the Pelican, but not before Chief took a quick glance as he looked back at the cryo-pod.

"Don't worry. She'll make it." Johnson said right before he closed the ramp.

"How is the rest of the crew?" Kat asked McKay.

"Most of them are grabbing some R&R, they really needed it after what went down back there." McKay informed. "Everyone else is standing guard or performing maintenance on the ship. Kinda difficult considering most of us don't have much experience with Covenant tech but it helps to pass the time." She said with a shrug.

Kat nodded as she went to go work on another nearby Pelican along with Six, while everyone else went around to find some way to help out.

As the two Spartans were making repairs to the dropship, Noble two took the opportunity to ask a question. "Casper?"

"Yeah, Kat?" Casper replied as he resupplied the Pelican's main chain gun with more .50 Caliber rounds.

"Are you sure you're alright? "

Six went quiet for a minute before letting out a sigh, knowing that she wanted to know more on what happened. "Look...Kat it's a long story ok? I really don't feel like talking about it right now. But I can assure you, I'm fine."

Kat wanted to press more but she could tell that Six wasn't in the mood. "Alright." Was all she said with a nod.

"Thanks." Casper said as he finished loading up the ammo into the Pelican. "I'm gonna go get some shut eye. See you in a few hours."

Noble two nodded as she watched Six exit the hanger bay and walked down a corridor before the door closed. Sighing quietly to herself once he was gone.