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Chapter Text

"North! Get over here now!" Carolina shouted over the chaos. "We have a problem!"

North stopped loading his rifle and looked up at Carolina. "What now? I thought we already had a problem."

"We have ANOTHER problem!" Carolina snapped. "There's a breach of the Cole Protocol on the Space Dock."

"What the hell! How'd that happen?" York asked from behind North.

"I have no clue," Carolina answered, "but somehow, the Corvette Circumference still has it's Nav data. Most of the SPARTANS are coming Planet side to help with the fight down here, but a few are going to purge that data."

"Why are you telling me this Carolina?" North asked.

"Because we're sending a team up for support, and you're leading that team."

"I figured it was something like that." North said. "Who do I get?"

"First off, you get York here--"

"What? Why?" York interrupted.

"Because you've got technical knowledge. You also get Georgia, CT, Wyoming, and Florida."

"Wait, Carolina," North said, "are you seriously sending both Snipers up top?"

"Yes North, I am." Carolina answered. "York, CT, Georgia, Florida, and the SPARTANS will need as much cover as possible."

"That makes sense I guess." North agreed. "How many SPARTANS will be there? And which ones?"

"There are currently three Spartans inbound for the Circumference." the Director answered North's question from the entrance of the command tent, causing all three of them to snap to attention. "At ease. Agent North Dakota, I left the personnel decisions for this particular mission up to Agent Carolina, and I agree with her choices. You will lead Agents York, Connecticut, Wyoming, Georgia, and Florida to the Reach Space Dock, from there you will meet up with three SPARTANS, specifically SPARTANS James-005, Linda-058, and their leader, John-117. You will assist them in the mission of purging the Navigational Data aboard the Circumference. Four-Seven-Niner will fly you up to the station, and stand by for air support and extraction. Do you both understand your mission?"

Both North and York answered almost immediately "Yes Director."

"Excellent. Now, you both are dismissed. Gather your team, get into the Pelican, and go."

Chapter Text

North Dakota

Less than five minutes after the briefing in which North and York had been told of their mission, all six of the assigned Freelancers were running into the Pelican piloted by Four-Seven-Niner. Wyoming was still checking his sights as the bay doors closed and North ran up into the cockpit and took the copilot seat. "I assume you've been briefed?" he asked the pilot.

"Of course." Four-Seven-Niner answered as she turned around to yell into the cargo bay. "We're gonna come into the station area real hot everybody! Make sure your packs are tight, and you have enough juice to get back! I can only get so close with all the covie attention the station is gonna have! I'll give you some cover going in, but seeing as how you'll need a ride out as well, it won't last long! STRAP IN EVERYBODY! WE'RE MOVING!"

Niner turned back towards her controls, radioed to the command then that they were taking off, and then slammed down on her controls, forcing her Pelican in to the air. "Hey North!" she called behind her as she steered the bird up and forward.

"Yes?" he responded.

"Mind if I ask a question about this particular team? It seems a little...odd"

"Not at all." North answered. "And I think I know what you mean. The squad for this mission is two snipers, a former Bullfrog, a martial combat specialist, a locksmith, and Florida, who's Wyoming's spotter, as well as a Demolitions guy. Is that what you mean?"

"Sort of." Niner answered as she swerved around a slower Pelican. "My real question is about Florida and York. If you're providing support, why bring a locksmith and a Demo guy?"

"Don't ask me." North said. "This team was Carolina and the Director's choice. Do you need me up here?"

Four-Seven-Niner checked her flight-plan, considered how short this flight would actually be due to how fast she was flying, and said "Nope. Go get your team ready. We'll be hot in less than five."

North got up from the copilot seat, spun around and walked back into the cargo bay. On the left side, Florida and Wyoming were bent over a map of the station, trying to figure out where Wyoming should set up to use his rifle. On the right, CT was giving York a reminder crash-course in zero-G combat. Near the doors, standing by the jetpacks, Georgia was re-calibrating his own jetpack to make sure he could control it in the bursts that he was used to.

"Hey Georgia," North said, "you know, those are calibrated to a standard for a reason."

"North, it's fine." Georgia reassured him. "I used, and recalibrated, my jetpack daily when I was with the Bullfrogs."

"Alright." North said. "Just don't mess with any of the others."

North waited about thirty seconds for CT to finish reminding York how zero-G combat worked, and then addressed the whole team, both directly in the room, and over the team radios. "Everyone listen up, Niner, this is relevant to as well."

"Listening." Niner responded over the radio from the cockpit.

"Depending on what the area looks like, I like to drop Georgia off first as we fly by, then, as Niner turns around, we jump out, using the change in momentum to help us along. Georgia, there will probably be Elites with packs out there, so see if you can outmaneuver them to confuse them."

Over the radio, Niner asks for clarification, "So we're dropping the old Bullfrog out first, and the rest of you get out with a slingshot?"

"Yes please." North answers, then addresses the rest of the team. "From here, we get to the station, and get in contact with the SPARTANS. Wyoming, I want you to find a spot on the outside that's incredibly well covered, and pick off the Elites packing towards the station."

"I've already got a spot in mind." Wyoming interjected.

"Good. Florida, York, once we find the SPARTANS, stick to them." North instructed. "My best guess is that you two are here as a backup plan incase the SPARTANS method of purging the data doesn't work."

"Hey, makes sense to me." York stated.

"Mighty fine idea." Florida said as he adjusted his bandolier.

North looked over the CT, "CT, you're with me. I'll be alternating between sniping and fighting inside, and we're gonna keep the path behind everybody clear, while watching each other's backs."

"So we're gonna kill all the aliens in the hallway behind us?" CT asked.

"That we are." North answered, then he asked Niner over the radio, "How close are we?"

"We've got about a minute left before..." Four-Seven-Niner hesitated for a moment, "well, come up here and I'll explain."

North turned around and rushed back in to the cockpit.

"See that Covenant Frigate parked between us and the station, right up next to it?" Niner asked as North walked in. "It's running dark, and we'll have to go under it."

Suddenly, the space around the Covenant ship warped and bubbled. "Damn, here comes more." North said as two more alien ships dropped out of slip-space around the first ship.

"Well, shit just got a bit more complicated." Niner said, and then, as she notices something else on radar, "What the hell is that?"

On the radar, approaching the station at high speed, is a small blip that looks about the size of a Pelican. Suddenly, in front of them, North and Four-Seven-Niner see a Pelican trying, and failing, to slow itself, ram and embed itself into the side of the station.

"I wonder if that's our SPARTANS?" North says.

"Thirty seconds people!" Niner shouts. "Georgia, get ready, I'm opening the bay doors, we're gonna be coming in hot!"

As Four-Seven-Niner says this, North sees three SPARTANS emerge from the wreckage of the crashed Pelican, one first, followed by two others. One of them, presumably their leader, the Master Chief, gestured towards the crashed ship, and another one began to jetpack towards the nose of the downed Pelican.

Suddenly the Covenant ships were active, and charging their plasma weapons. In response, the stations MAC cannon turned and fired upon the newly active
threat, and the energy shields of the original frigate shimmered before the ship shattered.

North got onto the radio on the channel he'd been told the SPARTANS would be operating on. "Attention Master Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN-117, this is Agent North Dakota of the UNSC Special Research Division's Project Freelancer. We have been instructed to assist you in the matter of the Cole Protocol violation aboard the Circumference."

As North radioed this message, multiple things happened at once. Four-Seven-Niner opened the bay doors of the Pelican, and a large number of Elites with jetpacks began flying out of the alien frigates. Towards the end of his transmission, North saw the third SPARTAN fire four rounds from sniper rifle at one of the airborne Elites, causing a breach in it's armor and suffocating it. As this happened, North turned around to go back into the cargo bay.

North entered the cargo bay just as Georgia was jumping out the back of the Pelican, and because of this, he unfortunately arrived just in time to see Agent Georgia activate his jetpack, and be jettisoned, at what must have been the incorrect velocity, in a direction that was above the station.

"Georgia, what're you doing?" North asked in a slight panic over the radio.

The response he got from Georgia over the radio was very short, and considerably more panicked than North's question. "My pack is malfunctioning! I CAN'T TURN THE THRUSTERS OFF!"

Then the line went dead. Georgia had either been shot, or he had rocketed out of range on a badly calibrated jetpack. Either way, he was gone.

Damnit! this is starting off great! North thought sarcastically as he got a radio transmission in response from the Master Chief. "Agent North Dakota, this is the Master Chief. The assistance will be greatly appreciated. I assume that's your Pelican on approach?"

Before North could answer, he heard the Chief yelling for one of his fellow SPARTANS over the radio. "Blue-Two! Come in!"

Over the radio, the SPARTAN who North assumed was Blue-Two answered. "Can't...control...they're...everywhere..." with static spaced in between each word, and then the SPARTANs line clicked dead, in the same way that Georgia's had.

After a second of stunned silence from losing both a teammate and a SPARTAN to malfunctioning jetpacks, the Freelancers readied themselves for the impending slingshot maneuver that Four-Seven-Niner would use to throw them all at the station.

"HERE WE GO! GET READY!" Four-Seven-Niner shouted as she switched the thrusters, forcing the Pelican to spin it's tail end around towards the station, jettisoning the Freelancers out.

As they flew towards the station, North saw two SPARTANS inside a Covenant drop-pod, and one of them fired one shop towards their own downed Pelican, presumably at some explosives, and the Pelican exploded.

As the explosion cleared, North radioed the Chief. "Yes Master Chief, that was us, and now we're packing to your position. Do you have any orders?"

"Yes." the Chief responded. "We've created a way in, please follow and provide the planned assistance."

North looked at the rest of the Freelancers, "You heard him, let's go!"

At this order, Wyoming banked up towards his intended sniping point, and the rest of the Freelancers dived down towards the new hole in the side of the station.

The Freelancers landed in the hallway inside the hole just as the SPARTANS climbed in.

The SPARTANS approached the Freelancers, and the larger of the two, standing over seven feet tall in his dark sage armor, nodded towards the Freelancers in both acknowledgment and thanks before pointing down a hallway and saying, "Bay nine and the Circumference should be three-hundred meters to port, let's move."

As the group started to move, the Freelancers running with Mag-boots, the other SPARTAN pulling herself along the rails in the hall, the Chief pulled out a Lotus anti-tank mine. He set the sensitivity, placed it on the deck, and pulled himself along with the rest of the group.

"Nice doormat." York said to the Chief as they moved down the curved hall towards flashes of automatic gunfire.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Master Chief John-117

As he pulled himself along the hallway with Linda and the Freelancers, John took a few seconds to scan each Freelancer, and the equipment on them. The man taking point is in standard MJOLNIR armor, dark purple with green accents, and John correctly assumes that this is agent North Dakota as the Freelancers Friend-or-Foe tags are integrated into his HUD. North Dakota has a pair of high power SRS99 Sniper Rifles on this back, as well as a modified M45 shotgun with a sawed off barrel strapped to his thigh.

The second Freelancer he noticed specifically because he had said something to the Chief. After John had placed the Lotus mine, this man had made a joke about the mine, saying, "Nice doormat." This man, designated as Agent York, is also in the standard MJOLNIR armor, it's tan with white trim, and his weapons include an M45 shotgun and the standard issue Magnum. Strapped to the back of his armor, near the waistline, is a pouch of some sort, as well as a data pad on his left arm, so John assumed that York is a specialist of some sort.

The third Freelancer he looks to is obviously a combat specialist based on their armor and weapons. The agent, designated as Agent Connecticut, is wearing a suit of EOD armor modified to have the shoulder plates of the Scout armor, that is dark brown with a lighter brown trim. Connecticut is armed similarly to Agent York, except that they have multiple large combat knives strapped to their armor.

The fourth Freelancer, designated as Agent Florida, is wearing a dark blue set of ODST armor with a large grenadier style bandolier strapped around their chest, complete with the grenadier ammunition. Florida is armed with a standard issue Magnum, and an MA5 Assault Rifle, which John assumes has been modified to fire the explosives on the bandolier.

Then John notices that there is a fifth Freelancer on his FOF tags, but is not with them. This agent is designated as Agent Wyoming, and the Radar on the Chief's HUD places this agent somewhere on the roof of the station. Chief makes the assumption that this agent is some form of marksman, and has been placed outside to lessen the amount of Covenant that can make it inside the station.

As they moved down the curved hallway, John noticed flashes of automatic gunfire ahead of them. "Blue-One, North Dakota." John said. "Ahead, ten meters, there's a pressure door open."

John and Linda took positions on either side of the door. John then placed an optical probe attached to his HUD around the corner of the door.

This room was the docking bay. Between the two levels, there were a dozen ship berths. John noted a few damaged Pelicans, a service bot, and in Berth Eleven, there was a slick private craft being held in place by service clamps. Where the ship's name would normally be, there was just a painted circle. This ship had to be their target, the Circumference.

Two berth away, there were four marines wearing vacuum suits stuck under fire from Plasma and Needler rounds. A quick move of the probe showed him what was firing on them. A group of Jackals hiding behind their energy shields, about thirty strong, was advancing on the marines.

The marines tossed a few Frag grenades towards the Jackals, who hid behind their shields in response. Three quiet explosions went off in the vacuum, and not a single Jackal had been injured.

Suddenly a fourth, much larger explosion went off behind them, shaking the whole station. The Lotus mine had gone off, the Covenant were coming into the station.

John readied his assault rifle, preparing for the immanent attack. As he did so, he saw agent North Dakota signal to agent Connecticut, and the two of them faced the way that the group had come from. North Dakota readied his sniper rifle, aiming it down the hallway, and Connecticut pulled out a pair of knives.

"Take out those Jackal, Blue-One." John ordered to Linda. "I'll make a break for the Circumference."

Linda gripped the door, propped her rifle across it's edge, and prepared to fire. "There are a lot of them," she responded. "This might take a few seconds."

As Linda was about to fire, John's motion tracker showed movement down the hallway from which them came. Agents North Dakota and Connecticut obviously noticed it too, because North Dakota tensed, and pulled the butt of his rifle against his shoulder, and Connecticut raised her combat knives in a fighting stance. John raised his rifle and looked down the hallway, but he couldn't see anything. "Hold on Blue-One," John said. "I'm gonna check our six."

As John said this, he signaled to agents North Dakota and Connecticut that he was doing so. John got an acknowledgement light from Linda, and a nod from both Freelancers. The other two freelancers were now on edge a well, prepared for anything.

John walked slowly down the hall about ten meters, but there was no sensor contact, just dim lights and shadows.

Then one of the shadows moved. In the instant it took for John to realize this, the Covenant Elite had stepped towards him, and raised it's Plasma Rifle.

At this range, John knew that the Elite couldn't miss. He also knew that the plasma weapon would cut through his own energy shields, and then burn him alive, long before his own Assault Rifle could even penetrate the Elite's shields. John didn't like this match up, so he did something about it.

He pushed himself off the wall, and at the Elite, slamming himself into the creature before it could shoot. The two tumbled back and forth into the walls, wrestling around in zero gravity.

As the aliens shields began to falter from the struggle, John heard three shots from a precision rifle, and noticed a second Elite hit the wall behind him. He made a mental note to thank agent North Dakota.

Amidst this gunfire, John also hammered his fist down onto the Elite's Plasma Rifle, causing the alien to howl in pain and drop the weapon.

The Elite proceeded to kick John in the chest, forcing him to spin away from the alien. John grabbed the wall to dodge under the Elites following charge, and as he tried to grab the alien, it stopped moving and it's shields went dead.

John looked up, and saw one of agent Connecticut's combat knives embedded into the alien's head, underneath it's mandibles.

John reached up and pulled the knife from the Elite's skull. He then pushed off of the wall towards the Freelancers and Linda.

"Here's this." John said to Connecticut, handing the knife back to the Freelancer. "And thank you both."

"Not a problem." Connecticut said back. Connecticut's voice let him know that she was a woman.

Suddenly there was more sound, as well as movement on the motion trackers, down the hallway. Agent Connecticut began to slowly walk down the hall, her knives at the ready, and agent North Dakota behind her leveled his rifle to provide her with cover.

John returned to Linda, who was shooting at the Jackals in the docking bay. "There are more Elites on the way behind us." he informed her.

"They've already gotten reinforcements in the bay as well." she informed him. "And they're learning. They've overlapped their shields, and I can't get a clean shot in."

As Linda finished explaining how the Jackals were evading her, the radio cracked with some static. "Master Chief, this is Captain Keyes. Did you get the NAV database?"

"Negative sir." John answered, "But we're close."

"We’re bound in-system to retrieve you. ETA is five minutes. Destroy the Circumference’s database and get out ASAP. If you cannot accomplish your mission … I’ll have to take out the station with the Pillar of Autumn’s weapons. We are running out of time."

"Understood sir." John answered, then the line went dead.

Behind him, Agent Florida walked up and said, "Excuse me, Master Chief, but would I be able to help with the Circumference in some way?"

John looked at the Freelancer, then to his Assault rifle and Bandolier filled with explosive ammunition. "I assume you've got those loaded into your rifle, Agent Florida?"

"Of course sir." Florida answered in a tone that was slightly unnerving. "And I'd be thrilled to fire them into the Circumference for you, once the shot is clear."

As John was about to respond, his radar suddenly filled with more hostile contacts, both behind them in the hallway, and in the docking bay as well."

John radioed to the marines in the bay, whose FOF tags identified them as SGT. JOHNSON, PVT. O'BRIAN, PVT. BESENTI, and PVT. JENKINS, and said, "Listen up, Marines. Your lines of fire are sloppy; tighten them up. Concentrate on one Jackal at a time—or you’ll just waste your ammo on their shields."

"Master Chief, " Sgt. Johnson replied. "Sir, yes sir."

John then turned to agent York. "Agent York. I'm assuming you all have a ride out of here standing by?"

York looked up from the data pad he had been using. "Yes, we've got a Pelican standing by. Do you want me to have her pick up our other sniper and come get
us?"

"That I do, Agent York." John answered. "Florida and I are gonna blow up the Circumference, and we'll need extraction ASAP once it blows, for all of us, and those four marines."

"You got it." York replied, and then over the radio, he called to his pilot and said, "Four-Seven-Niner, this is Agent York. We're gonna need extraction of our team, two SPARTANS, and four marines in the bay on level B real soon. Pick up Wyoming and wait for the light show, we're gonna blow some stuff up."

John didn't hear the pilots response, because he then turned to Linda and Florida and said, "Blue-One, cover us, Florida and I are going it. We're gonna blow the Circumference, then our extraction will be in the bay."

"Got you covered sir." Linda said, as she primed two Frag Grenades. She then tossed the grenades behind the crowd of shielded Jackals.

John and Florida rushed forward as the grenades exploded, coating the inside of the Jackals' wall of shields with blue blood. Behind the pair, Linda and the rest of the Freelancers edged their way through the doors, constantly firing behind them. While they were moving, John radioed to the marines and said, "Sgt. Johnson, move those marines. I've got a demolitions guy about to shoot explosives into the Circumference."

Johnson quickly responded, "Understood sir."

As the marines moved farther away from their target, Florida fired his first couple shots, intending to blow a hole into the hull of the craft.

Just as Florida managed to create a hole, Linda shouted, "Master Chief, I'm picking up thousands of signals on the motion tracker, inbound from all directions. The entire station is crawling.”

As Linda said this, John saw a Pelican lower itself near the bay doors, and fly in at the other end of the room. Over the radio, a very angry woman shouted, "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR! BLOW THE DAMN SHIP AND GET ON!"

As the Pelican's rear doors opened, Chief threw the remainder of the C-12 explosives he'd retrieved from his own Pelican into the hole in the Circumference. As he turned around, Agent Florida fired a few more grenades into the hole behind the C-12, and after a few seconds the Circumference exploded in a blast of shrapnel in the vacuum.

"Let's move!" Agent North Dakota yelled to the Freelancers, as well as everybody else that was present.

Together, the SPARTANs, the Freelancers, and the Marines all ran towards the waiting Pelican, Linda was bringing up the end in order to cover the marines, and because of this, John didn't have time to warn her of the Elite that appeared behind her.

The alien rolled on the ground to get directly behind her, and lunged with it's sword. As it happened, John ran past the marines to try and save her, and from behind, Agent North Dakota fired a pair of rifle rounds right into the aliens skull. It was too late though. "Grab her!" John yelled to the marines. "Get her inside the Pelican!"

They ran up the ramp into the cargo area, and from the cockpit, as the bay doors closed behind them, the pilot screamed, "Strap in everybody, this is gonna be a shitstorm!"

Hearing this, the Marines laid Linda's body down and all strapped in, as did most of the Freelancers, including Agent Wyoming, who was wearing an all-white standard MJOLNIR armor. John and Linda grabbed hold of the walls, and Agent North Dakota ran up to the cockpit as the Pelican raced out of the station.

John followed North Dakota to the cockpit, where he had taken the copilot seat. In the pilot's seat, there was a woman wearing what was fairly standard pilot gear, swearing profusely as she flew. John addressed Agent North Dakota, "Agent North Dakota, I need to return to the Pillar of Autumn."

The pilot, designated as Four-Seven-Niner, interrupted, "Great, I have a destination now, instead of just 'Get the hell out'."

"What about getting back to the Mother of Invention?" Agent North Dakota asked.

"Not gonna happen in all this shit." Four-Seven-Niner answered him. "SPARTAN, get me in contact with your captain."

"Yes ma'am." John answered. "I'm radioing him now, please take the signal."

John then radioed to the Pillar of Autumn. "Captain Keyes, this is the Master Chief. Our current extraction pilot wishes to speak with you."

"Understood Chief." Captain Keyes answered, then to Four-Seven-Niner, "Pilot, what's your designation?"

"Echo Four-Seven-Niner" she replied. "I have a SPARTAN, five Freelancers, and four marines on board, and I can't get them to the Mother of Invention. Requesting permission to rendezvous with the Autumn and join your crew until further notice."

"Permission granted pilot." Keyes said. "Sending you coordinates."

"Thank you sir," Niner said. "Fair warning, we're gonna come in hot."

"Understood pilot." the captain acknowledged. "Just get to the Autumn, and we'll finally be able to jump system."

"On my way." The pilot clicked off the radio, and then increased the speed of the Pelican past what most normal Pelicans are capable of. "Strap in SPARTAN, this ride won't be friendly."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Four-Seven-Niner pulled into the docking bay of the Pillar of Autumn, John felt the cruiser accelerate. As the door of the Pelican opened, he looked at Sgt. Johnson, and asked, "Can you get Linda's body to cryo for me, I need to take the Freelancers and report to Captain Keyes." John was hopeful that she might be able to be resuscitated. It was a long shot, yes, but she was a SPARTAN, and one of his team.

"Yes sir, Master Chief." Johnson responded. "Marines, let's get this SPARTAN on ice."

As the marines picked up Linda's body, John turned towards the cockpit, where North Dakota and Four-Seven-Niner were waiting in the door. "I'm assuming you need all of us to join you to meet the captain?" North Dakota asked.

"Yes, Agent North Dakota." John answered, then, directed at Four-Seven-Niner, "You may stay, and attend to your Pelican if you wish."

"No sir." Four-Seven-Niner answered. "I need to meet the captain as well."

"Alright then." John said. "Let's move."

As John walked off the Pelican, Agent North Dakota signaled the rest of the Freelancers to follow suit, and all seven of them stepped off the Pelican behind John.

"This way to the bridge." John said, as he rushed towards the elevator.

As the eight of them stepped into the elevator, they felt the Pillar of Autumn shift left, and then right, which John recognized as evasive maneuvers.

As the group stepped off the elevator onto the bridge, John announced, "Reporting for debriefing, sir."

Captain Keyes turned to look towards the elevator, and was surprised to see seven other armored figures, albeit shorter than John, standing behind him.

"The NAV database was destroyed?" Captain Keyes asked.

"I would not have returned otherwise." John answered.

"Of course, Master Chief." Keyes said. "Very good."

"Sir," John began, "may I ask that you scan for active FOF tags in the region? I lost a man out there on the station, he may be floating out here, somewhere."

Agent North Dakota interjected, "We as well lost a man to a jetpack malfunction, sir. We would be grateful if you could check."

"Lieutenant Hall?" Keyes asked.

"Scanning." the Lieutenant said. After a moment, she shook her head.

"I see." John replied. He realized that there could have been worse deaths, but for a SPARTAN, the nothingness would have been unbearable. "Sir. When will the Pillar of Autumn rendezvous with my planetside team?"

Keyes turned to look at John and said, "We won't be picking them up. They were overrun by Covenant forces. They never made orbit. We’ve lost contact with them."

John heard an audible gasp behind him from one of the Freelancers, then took a step closer and said, “Then I would like permission to take a dropship and retrieve them, sir.”

“Request denied, Master Chief. We still have a mission to perform. And we cannot remain in this system much longer. Lieutenant Dominique, aft camera on the main screen.”

Covenant ships were flying across the Epsilon Eridanis system in five ship formations, chasing human vessels towards the edge of the system. John had seen this before. They were moping up the area before glassing the planet.

Captain Keyes walked over to John. "Dr. Halsey's mission is more important than ever now. This may be the last chance for Earth. We have to focus."

As John watched the Covenant begin to glass Reach, he knew that Captain Keyes was right.

Keyes then turned to his bridge and called out orders. “Ensign Lovell, give me our best acceleration. I want to enter Slipstream space as soon as possible.”

As he finished his orders, Cortana interjected, “Excuse me, Captain. Six Covenant frigates are inbound on an intercept course.”

In response to this information, Keyes added to his previous orders. “Continue evasive maneuvers, Cortana. Prepare the Slip-space generators and get me an appropriate randomized exit vector.”

"Aye sir." Cortana said, as astronomical symbols flashed across her holographic body. "Generating random exit vector per the Cole Protocol."

“Jump to Slipspace, Ensign Lovell,” the Captain said. “Get us the hell out of here.”

Captain Keyes then turned to John and the Freelancers behind him and said, "Now, Master Chief, please introduce me to our new friends."

Chapter Text

Captain Jacob Keyes

“I would introduce them if I could, Sir.” the Master Chief said in response to Keyes’s prompt for introductions, “But I know very little about them myself, other than the fact that the mission aboard the Space Dock could have gone much worse without them.”

“Really?” Keyes pondered that statement for a moment, then said, “Well, in that case, I’m glad to have them aboard for the moment.” Keyes then spoke to the Freelancers themselves, and not just to the Master Chief in front of them. “We’ll get you all back to where you need to be eventually, but until then, you’re a part of the crew here on the Autumn.” Keyes stopped talking for a moment, trying to gauge the reactions of his new crew members, which was incredibly difficult due to the fact that, similarly to the Master Chief, four of them were wearing power armor, and the other two still had their helmets on.

When he got no reaction out of them, which, in hindsight, he should have expected, Keyes turned back towards his command chair, started walking, and said, “Would you six be willing to introduce yourselves? I’m sure most of the bridge crew would like to know who you are.”

As he walked back to his chair, Keyes noted that, having mentioned them, he now had the attention of his bridge crew. He noted that his assumption of their interest was most likely correct due to the looks on some of their faces. Thirdly, Keyes noted that, similarly to the SPARTANS, he did not hear the group of heavily armored soldiers follow him to his chair. In fact, the only reason he did know that they were following him across the room was the fact that their pilot moved with such confidence that it seemed like she was trying to make noise. Although that could have actually been the case, seeing as she had worked with the soldiers before,
and understood that the lack of noise could be strange.

Sitting down at his command console, Keyes looked back, and sure enough, all seven members of the group that had walked out of his elevator moments before had followed him to his chair, and were standing at attention about ten feet away. Letting out a small sigh, Keyes said, “At ease, soldiers. Please. Personal introductions can be convoluted enough as it is without having to stand at attention. Make yourselves comfortable, and tell me and my crew who you are.”

In accordance with the request, all six of the newcomers visibly relaxed. One of them, wearing what looked like a Purple and Green version of the MJOLNIR armor that the Master Chief and the rest of the SPARTANS wore, stepped forward and said, “Permission for the group to speak freely for the purpose of these introductions, sir?”

“Just a moment son, let me introduce myself and my crew to you all first.” Keyes told him. “I am Captain Jacob Keyes of the UNSC Halcion Class Frigate, Pillar of Autumn. My officers here on the bridge crew are Ensign Lovell – Navigation, Lieutenant Hall – Operations, Lieutenant Hikowa – Weapons, and Lieutenant Dominique – Communications.” As Keyes introduced them, he pointed each one out, and then he gave the Purple Freelancer the answer to his request, “Permission granted, son.”

“I’ll start then.” the man in purple said. Stepping forward by another step, he continued, addressing the entire bridge. “I’m Agent North Dakota, of the UNSC’s Special Research Division’s Project Freelancer. Due to the fact that Project Freelancer is not technically a military operation, none of our primary Agents, such as myself, and most of the group behind me, have an official military rank. That being said, most people view us, and our supposed “ranks,” to be similar to the SPARTANS.”

Keyes could tell that Agent North Dakota seemed as if he was being very careful with how he was phrasing his general introduction of himself and his teammates. His voice audibly tip-toed around the statement in which he compared his teammates to the SPARTANS, as if trying not to offend. However, the intent behind the statement was clear. His team, himself included, were to be treated with the same amount of respect and authority that ranking officers gave to SPARTANS.
Moving past this obviously unpleasant clarification of command structure, the purple Freelancer continued with his introduction. “Project Freelancer is a project designed to study, test, and implement the use of AI and various armor enhancements in the field of battle. Due to the experimental nature of our program, we unfortunately are not often allowed to join the fight against the Covenant, and are, instead, often forced into engagements with remained factions of the insurrection.”
At this statement, Keyes saw many members of the bridge crew react with what seemed to be surprise, and, before Agent North Dakota could explain for them, Keyes interjected into the conversation. “While unfortunate, that actually seems quite reasonable. The insurrection, while mostly eliminated, is still a noticeable problem on some planets, Reach having been one of them. Command doesn’t want this testing done on the real battlefields until they know that it’s ready, but that testing needs to be done before such trials and deployments can actually occur. This is just their way of making those tests useful.”

Upon hearing Keyes’s assumption, most of the bridge crew agreed that this explanation made sense, and their unease at the mention of the insurrection melted away.

Agent North Dakota looked directly at Keyes and said, “That is, almost word-for-word, the explanation we were given on the Mother of Invention, sir.” Agent North Dakota seemed impressed with Keyes’s ability to guess how command thought, but then again, maybe not. The Freelancer might have been bluffing to get the bridge to stay calm, and not ask questions, and Keyes might have been wrong. However slim, the possibility existed. However, Keyes believed that he was right.

“May I continue, sir?” the Freelancer asked.

“Of course.” Keyes replied.

“Okay.” the Freelancer said. He then reached up, and thumbed the release on his helmet, pulled the gear off, and revealed his face underneath. The man looked much older than he sounded, and yet, at the same time, he didn’t. His face, and more noticeably, the tired look in his eyes, made him seem as if he were, at minimum, in his late thirties, if not older, but that often came with military experience, and Keyes could attest to. However, his voice and the condition of his pale blond hair revealed that he was most likely in his late twenties, maybe early thirties.
North Dakota continued. “As I said earlier, I am Agent North Dakota. I will also answer to just “North.” I am one of my team’s two snipers, specializing as a combat marksman, and my armor enhancements include a domed energy shield, and an enhanced motion tracker system.” He then turned to look behind him and asked, “Who’s up next?”

Almost immediately, one of the Freelancers behind North Dakota, specifically the one in tan armor that was in the same configuration and North Dakota’s, stepped forward, reached up to thumb the seal on his helmet, and exclaimed with full charisma, “Why not? I’ll go next.”
As he pulled off his helmet, Keyes gave the soldier a quick once over and realized that this agent must be a technical specialist of some kind, as he had a com-pad on his left arm, and what looked to be an equipment pack on the back of his waistline.

After removing his helmet, the Freelancer tucked it under his right arm and began introducing himself. “Hey everyone, I’m York.” The nonchalant manor in which he spoke, even in the face of what the team had just escaped at Reach, surprised Keyes, but there was a deeper emotion behind this speech patterns that Keyes recognized in a heartbeat.

“I’m Project Freelancer’s lock-pick.” York explained to the bridge crew, revealing that Keyes had been correct about his specialist theory. “My armor enhancement is a prototype healing unit, designed to be used in the field, which has actually proved to be quite effective.”
Keyes interest suddenly spiked a bit. “That actually seems quite useful.”

“It’s certainly saved my ass a few times.” York shot back. He then looked behind him, as if done with his introduction, and looking for someone to step forward.
In response to this, from the far right end of the line, as opposed to where North Dakota and York had been on the left, an agent wearing a brown suit of modified EOD armor stepped forward. Like the two agents before, this agent removed her helmet as she stepped forward, revealing her rounded face, and her short, brown hair, that had a long lock parted to the right of her face. Strapped to multiple spots on her armor were combat knives of different sizes.

“I’m CT.” she introduced herself with a small wave. “I’m a combat specialist, and I have a holographic projection enhancement on my armor that allows me to create a projection of myself. I mainly use it to confuse the hell out of the enemy.”

“Works a little too well, I think.” York interjected from the left. “I’ve accidentally given your hologram covering fire before, and damn near got shot for it.”
CT’s only response was a single word, shot back at agent York in what was obviously a teasing tone. “Baby.”

Keyes couldn’t help but chuckle. This team obviously knew each other well.

CT then turned around and directed her next statement to the agent wearing what looked to be a pure white standard suit of MJOLNIR armor. “You’re up, Wyoming.”

As CT turned around and said this, Keyes couldn’t help but chuckle as he realized that all the agents’ codenames were the names of states from the old United States on Earth.

From the middle of the line of Freelancers, Agent Wyoming stepped forward. This agent also removed his helmet, and the entire bridge crew was momentarily struck dumb by the man’s facial hair. Agent Wyoming was clearly of English decent, meaning the England from the Earth Continent of Europe, Keyes could see this in his facial structure alone. However, the extremely thick handlebar mustache that stood out among the man’s facial features seemed to make the agent look like a caricature from the old England of the early 20th century. The man because even more interesting by the second as he spoke, revealing a thick accent that sounded just like old English, from the 21st century, forcing Keyes to wonder just what colony the man was from, and why the colony would have adapted that particular accent.

“Hello chaps.” Agent Wyoming greeted. “I’m the other sniper from Project Freelancer. I am usually a sniper for reconnaissance missions, and am particularly proficient with assassination style shots. I always get my man.” Wyoming paused for a moment after this rather comical line, and then said, “Unfortunately, the armor enhancement that I will eventually have cannot be operated without an Artificial Intelligence designed specifically for its use, so I currently have no notable enhancements.”

As Keyes stopped to ponder just what kind of experimental equipment Wyoming could have been describing, a disturbingly cheery voice, that sounded like a man somewhere in his forties, came from behind Wyoming, specifically, from the man in the dark blue ODST outfit with the grenadier bandolier around his chest. “I guess that means I’m up next, eh buddy?”

Keyes could only assume that this question was directed towards agent Wyoming, but he couldn’t actually be sure.
As the agent in blue stepped forward, he, unlike the others, did not remove his helmet, and said, “I’m Agent Florida. Former ODST, demolitions specialist, and Agent Wyoming’s usual mission partner and spotter. Pleased as punch to meet you, sir.”

The man’s demeanor was by no means sour, which was part of what made the former ODST creepy. Almost every ODST that Keyes had ever met had at least three things in common. A vulgar mouth, a volatile attitude, and a disposition that was almost constantly sour unless they were working an op. The man in front of him seemed to have none of these three, and it was slightly off-putting. However, the man still had the confidence that most ODSTs carry, and that spoke volumes as to his potential.

As the ODST retreated back into the line, Keyes’s eyes fell onto the pilot that had somehow managed to dock in Reach’s dead Space Dock that was crawling with Covenant, extract the Master Chief, four Marines, and the Freelancers, and then maneuver herself back to the ship. Call-sign Echo-Four-Seven-Niner. Keyes knew already that she was one of the best pilots on board the ship, alongside the ship’s flight-leader, a Pilot that the crew called Foehammer.

“My turn already?” she asked, seeming somewhat bored. “I’m the girl who chauffeurs these idiots around, which, let me tell you, they’re not bad at clearing LZs, for what they have to clear…but, honestly, I don’t think I’ve had a truly clear LZ in years thanks to these assholes.”

This “introduction,” if it could really be called that, caused both Keyes, and his newly appointed Navigations Officer, Ensign Lovell, to burst into laughter. Seeing as both of these officers had a large amount of experience piloting for the UNSC, this description of the Freelancers, from their pilot, told Keyes more about them than any of the other five could have done, and raised his already high opinion of their pilot to new levels.

“Well pilot,” Keyes said to Four-Seven-Niner, still recovering from the laughter, “You have my respect, as both a Captain, and a fellow pilot. Thanks for bringing back my SPARTAN.”

“Not a problem, sir.” she said, then asked, “Is there anything else you need from me, sir? I’d like to get back to my bird, and then meet your Pelican Crew.”

“Go ahead.” Keyes told her.

Upon hearing Keyes’s answer, the Pilot promptly saluted, turned towards the elevator, and exited the bridge.
Keyes then turned to Ensign Lovell, and ordered, “Send Flight Officer Rawley a message, Lovell. Tell her she’s got a guest pilot heading to the bay to check on her Pelican and meet the pilots. I want Four-Seven-Niner to have a nice welcome down there.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Captain Carol Rawley “FoeHammer”

“Hey Captain!”

Carol turned towards her copilot, Lieutenant Frye. “What now, Frye?”

“Message from the bridge Ma’am.” Frye answered.

What did Keyes want now? Carol jogged across the docking bay from her ship to the main terminal. “What do we got?”

“It’s a message from Captain Keyes by way of Ensign Lovell. Says we’ve got a guest pilot on the ship that might be making an extended stay. She’s on her way down now to check on her bird, and meet the Flight Crew.” Frye explained. “Based on this message, it sounds like Keyes respects her, and he’s asking us to be “nice”. What’d you make of that?”

“I was just about to ask where that bird in bay five came from. Guess that answers one question. Maybe she’s a damn good pilot.” Carol answered. “I hope so. It’s always nice to have more experienced flyers.”

“Damn right, Boss.” Frye said.

At Frye’s response, Carol turned around to address the whole of the hanger, and shouted, “Everyone, we’ve got a guest pilot on the ship, and Captain Keyes wants us to give her a warm welcome! Meet me over by her bird at bay five in two minutes!”

As Carol turned to start walking towards bay five, and the unknown Pelican, Frye turned with her, and asked, “You do know we have a PA system in the hangar, right Boss?”

Carol’s only response was a short laugh, and the statement, “Not loud enough, Lieutenant.”
Thirty seconds of walking down the length of the hangar, and Carol found herself, Frye, and her three other pilots standing around the Pelican marked as Echo-479 that was docked in bay five. This was followed by a few minutes in which the group of pilots just stood around the ship and waited. Eventually, about five minutes later, the doors to the docking bay from the ship opened, and a singular woman wearing a Navy flight suit and pilot’s helmet walked through the doors. She turned towards her Pelican, and subsequently, the group of pilots that Carol commanded, and stopped.

After a moment’s hesitation, the pilot that Carol could only assume was the guest that Captain Keyes had referred to, began walking towards the group, moving slightly faster than Carol expected. After a moment, Carol noticed that angle and speed at which the pilot was moving, and gave an order to the rest of her pilots. “Back up everyone, it seems that she might not want us so close to her bird.”

As if on cue, the incoming pilot approached the group and asked, “Why is everyone camped out by my Pelican?” However, the pilot’s voice was not filled with anger and possessiveness, as Carol had heard many pilots become possessive of their birds. No, her voice was more intimidating than expected, but in a softer tone. It was protectiveness. This pilot was worried for her bird, and that automatically gained her some respect from Carol.

Attempting to reassure the worried pilot, Carol answered, “We’re here to welcome you aboard, on partial orders from Captain Keyes. I’m the Flight Officer here on the Pillar of Autumn, Captain Carol Rawley, pilot of Echo-Four-Nineteen, call-sign: FoeHammer.” Carol then turned to her copilot. “This is my copilot, Lieutenant Frye. Behind me are my other pilots. I’ll let them introduce themselves.”

At Carol’s prompting, the rest of her pilots began introducing themselves, starting with Cookie. “I’m Lieutenant Peterson, pilot of Echo-One-Three-Six, call-sign: Cookie.” Carol noted that the man was considerably more jittery than usual, which she assumed had everything to do the previous engagement on Reach, and the loss a fellow pilot. “You’re up next Hale.”

“Alright.” Hale said. “My name is Lieutenant Rick Hale. I pilot Pelican Charlie-Two-Seventeen.” Apparently having nothing else to say, Hale turned to Polaski and said, “You’re turn.”

“Pardon the Lieutenants ma’am.” Polaski started. “They don’t talk much. It’s weird.”

At this assertion, Carol couldn’t help but chuckle. Polaski wasn’t wrong.

“I’m Sheila Polaski.” she introduced herself. “Petty Officer Second Class. I fly Pelican Echo-Two-Zero-Six. I do great with hot drop zones, and low-flying runs. I’d rather not be good at those, but hey.”

“Heh, I know what you mean there.” the newcomer said. “The team I fly for can’t clear an LZ for shit.”

“We’ve all had our fair share of shitty LZs,” Cookie said, “But something tells me that your team does this constantly. Mind if we ask your name?”

“Not at all.” the new pilot said. “Can’t give that much though. I’m the Flight Leader for Project Freelancer, and all the primary staff, myself included, legally drop their names while in the program. No joke, there are two agents that I fly all the time, they’re twins, and I’ve never heard them use each other’s names. It’s all code-names and call-signs at Freelancer.”

“Yikes.” Hale said. “That seems a little odd. Any reason why?”

“Not quite sure…” the pilot said, “But it might have something to do with certain missions. Some of them don’t seem entirely legal…but hey, it’s an experimental
program. I’m not gonna ask any questions there. Anyway, this bird behind you, Echo-Four-Seven-Niner, she’s all mine, and she’s my call-sign in the Project.”

“Nope.” Carol said. “We’ve all use call-signs or names here, except with official command transmissions. Any ideas crew.”

“I don’t know…” Four-Seven-Niner said, somewhat reluctantly.

“How about Free Bird?”

It was Polaski. Carol liked it. It didn’t say too much about her, just in case the personality behind the name didn’t fit, but it identified her as the Freelancer pilot. Evidently, Four-Seven-Niner realized this as well, and came to the same conclusion.

“I can work with that.” she said.

“Alright.” Carol said. “Welcome to the Flight Crew of the Pillar of Autumn, Free Bird. I’ll let the rest of the crew know you’ll be using that call-sign. In the meantime, let’s get you acquainted with the ship, and restock your bird.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cortana

Cortana’s programming was all over the place, as was the norm when she was plugged into the Autumn. Among the multitude of things that she was currently taking care of however, was the specifics of the Master Chief’s Cryo Tube. Both herself, and Captain Keyes, wanted this particular Cryo-Sleep that the SPARTAN was starting to have the potential to be stopped quickly if need be. This meant that Cortana had to personally see to the settings on his Cryo Tube, in order to make sure that the temperature was ever so slightly higher than was standard to allow for a quicker thaw.

“The Chief’s tube has been set, Captain.” Cortana reported to Captain Keyes. “If need be, we’ll be able to have him thawed and ready to move within a twenty minute period of sending the order to Cryo.” Cortana double checked a few calculations from her “random” jump away from the Epsilon Eridani System, and subsequently, away from Reach and the Covenant Fleet parked on top of it. “Unfortunately, that will most likely be a necessity. The Covenant will probably be able to follow us through Slipspace.”

“Damn.” Keyes said, verbally expressing how Cortana felt with each new set of calculations. “Let’s hope you’re wrong for once, Cortana. For all our sake.”

Chapter Text

Cortana

After the Freelancers left the bridge, Keyes asked Cortana to keep an eye on their FOF tags, just to make sure she knew where they were. Whether or not the request was done out of distrust, or a want to be able to call on them for aide, Cortana didn’t know.

What she did know, in accordance with these orders, was where each of them were.

The Pilot, Four-Seven-Niner, was still in the docking bay, assumedly acquainting herself with the Flight Crew. According to the records, the crew had already come up with a call-sign for her, and she was now marked as “Free Bird” within her FOF tag.

The other five were spread out across the ship in two pairs, and one on their own.

Agent CT was in the room that had been designated as her sleeping quarters. Cortana however, assumed that the agent was not sleeping. Most likely, this agent was sharpening her knives, or something similar.

Agents Wyoming and Florida were together, in the Mess area, presumably eating.

Agent’s North Dakota and York were together in another section of the ship, and their location interested Cortana. The pair was in the Armory, and Cortana wanted to know why.

Luckily for Cortana, they were near one of the many holo-pads set up across the ship designed for AI communication.

“Hello boys” Cortana said, as she materialized on the holo-pad. “What are you up to?”

“Hello yourself, Ma’am.” Agent York responded, with almost no hesitation. Had they been expecting her? “We wanted to see what equipment you had on board? I asked Captain Keyes about it earlier, but you might have been busy with something.”

“I understand, I just wanted to check.” Cortana said. At the same time, she had asked Captain Keyes about it on the bridge, and he’d confirmed what the Freelancers had said. “I was most likely doing Slipspace calculations. Do you need any assistance?”

“It would speed things along, which I’m not against.” Agent North Dakota answered. “Where might I find the sniper equipment?”

“About fifty meters behind you, Agent North Dakota. I’ll put it on your HUD.” Cortana answered, updating his North Dakota’s HUD with information as to the location of the stockpile of long-range rifle ammunition and equipment.

“Thanks…” he began, then paused before adding, “We were never formally introduced to you, Ma’am.”

“My name is Cortana. I’m the AI assigned to this ship.” Cortana answered, avoiding the information that the Freelancers were not cleared for.

“Well Cortana,” Agent York started, “You wouldn’t happen to know where I can find all of this stuff, would you?”

As he said this, Agent York swiped the data pad on his armor against the holo-pad, and uploaded a list of the equipment that the Freelancers on board used on a regular basis. Most of these items were fairly standard; weapons, ammunition, bio-foam, and a few pieces of equipment that were, while not standard issue, fairly innocuous for a request made by a Special Forces squad. However, there was one piece of equipment that generated some confusion. On the list that Agent York had sent her, there was a supply of backup batteries for suits of power armor, as well as equipment designed to recharge said armor and/or batteries. Such a request wouldn’t be odd, considering that four of the six Freelancers were equipped with some form of MJOLNIR armor, except that the number of batteries and charging systems that he was requesting seemed to be enough to leave a squad of more than twenty SPARTANs in a remote location for over a month.

“Can I assume that you suits use considerably more power than the standard MJOLNIR armor, Agent York?” Cortana asked. “The amount of battery equipment you seem to be looking for is much more than I expected, especially for a squad that only had four people wearing MJOLNIR armor.”

Agent York gave a nervous laugh and said, “Not quite. It’s our armor enhancements. Without the assistance of an AI, they’re forced to run off of the suit’s computers, which drain the batteries fast. Depending on which enhancement is being used, some of them are only marginally effective, or have certain risks, and others haven’t been given out yet, because they absolutely need an AI to work. That’s why Wyoming hasn’t gotten his enhancement yet, or so he says.”

Cortana understood that certain equipment, especially experimental equipment, required the use of AI in some manner to be effective in the testing stage, so she sent York the information he needed, and didn’t ask any further questions about the batteries. She did however, have other things to do. “Need anything else? Or should I leave you two alone with the toys?”

“Not that I can think of.” York answered, and Cortana disappeared immediately, returning her primary attention back to the bridge.

“Well that was interesting.” Cortana said aloud.

“What was interesting, Cortana?” Captain Keyes asked her, sounding potentially worried.

“Nothing really.” she answered. “Two of the Freelancers were in the armory, like I asked about just now. The stuff they were looking for was the interesting part.”

“Interesting how?” Keyes asked. “What were they looking for?”

“About the same stuff that the team of SPARTANs were looking for when they geared to go back to Reach, with a few alterations. Specifically, a large amount of the spare MJOLNIR batteries, and the recharging equipment to go with them. Apparently, their armor enhancements use up a lot of energy.”

“Cortana,” Keyes said, and by his tone of voice, Cortana could tell he was about to ask a question. “Do you happen to have any data about Project Freelancer? It’s not that I don’t trust our new friends...” Keyes paused, then continued, “I just know that experimental projects can cause strain on those involved with them.”

As she began searching through the massive amounts of data that she’d stolen from ONI while she’d been on Reach, Cortana said, “I’m not sure, let me chec – OH, well that could be something.”

It had taken Cortana a full five seconds to even find a mention of a Project Freelancer among the files she had from ONI’s experimental sections, and after finding it, she realized why.

“What is it Cortana?” Keyes asked.

“It seems that Project Freelancer is not completely a military project, and ONI actually has very little control of the organization.” Cortana began, starting with what she thought was both the most interesting point, and the point that was most likely to calm Captain Keyes. “The man in charge of the program, a Dr. Leonard Church, is a civilian.” Cortana stopped.

Leonard Church…she’d heard that name before…

It took Cortana a full ten seconds to realize when she’d heard the name before. Almost three weeks ago, Dr. Halsey had met with a man named Leonard Church, on Reach. Dr. Halsey had specifically had Cortana erase his name from her schedule, assumedly due to the nature of their meeting.

“Cortana?” It was Captain Keyes. He’d noticed that she’d stopped.

“Sorry about that.” she said. “I just realized that I’d heard that name before. Once. Dr. Church met with Dr. Halsey on Reach a few weeks ago.”

“So he runs in the same scientific circles as Dr. Halsey?” Keyes asked. “That’s certainly reassuring.” Cortana noticed that his second statement was laced with sarcasm, but didn’t comment. Instead, she corrected him, based on data she had in her files.

“Hardly. Apparently his work is primarily focused on experimentation with Artificial Intelligence, which is what the official purpose behind Project Freelancer, along with the testing of other experimental battlefield equipment.”

“Well that could certainly be helpful, if it works.” Keyes said. “How about the project itself? Anything interesting?”

“Well,” Cortana said, “Apparently all the agents legally dropped their names for the duration of the project when they entered. And, while not actually a Military project, the information is protected to almost the same degree as the SPARTAN-II project. Because of that, I don’t have anything else.”

“That means that Dr. Church is either incredibly secretive, or that he’s working with some extremely high grade tech.” Keyes said. “Cortana, mark the Freelancer’s FOF tags to read similarly to the SPARTANs. I want the crew to treat them with the respect they deserve.”

“Change made.” Cortana said. “Anything else?”

“Yeah.” Keyes answered. “How much longer do we have for this jump?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

York

As York and North were leaving the Armory, with about five bags of equipment and ammunition in tow, York’s mind was filled with thoughts that he’d managed to escape from while busy gather equipment.

Of course the Covenant had to attack Reach while the Director had brought them all there so he could chat with one of his scientist friends. Of course Carolina sent him up with the others to help out the SPARTANs on the Space Dock. Of course they couldn’t get back planetside to help out the others. Of course Carolina decided to stay and lead the ground team. Of course the Covenant just glassed half of his team, and Carolina.

“God damnit!” York shouted, with a mixture of anger and regret.

“York?” North asked, sounding worried. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” York asked him incredulously. “What’s wrong? I figured that you of all people would feel the same way I do right now, North. South was down there!”

“O-oh…” North stuttered.

“How are you keeping calm, man?” York demanded.

“I’m not!” North snapped. “Of course I understand what you’re feeling. Carolina...South…” North went from being somewhat aggressive due to emotion that York had managed to release, to stuttering for the very same reason. “All of them.”

“What the hell are we doing here, North?” York asked. “We’re not technically military personnel, and we both just lost…” York stopped. He couldn’t get the words out, so he cut himself off, and started up again about three words later, “all because we couldn’t go back down to Reach.”

At this point, the pair had stopped in the hallway, dropped their bags of supplies, and leaned against the wall.

“York, you know that we couldn’t have gone back down to try and save them.” North said, attempting to reassure him. “And maybe they’re not…” now North couldn’t get the word out, so he skipped it too, “Maybe they managed to get underground. There’s plenty of places on Reach to-“

North’s sentence was cut off by York slamming his fist into the wall. “You don’t know that.” York said. “You can’t know that. You’re just hoping, like I am, that we’re wrong.” Then York turned to North, “How the hell are you keeping so calm anyway?”

“Because we have to right now, York” North answered, with obvious distaste for the statement. “The Covenant are probably following us through Slipspace, and god knows we’ll need to fight, wherever we end up.”

“That’s bullshit. It’ll come back to bite you in the ass, and you know it, North.” York said. “Whenever we don’t have something else to worry about, it’s gonna hit you man.”

“Oh I know that.” North replied. “However, in the meantime, we’ve gotta be ready. You should head to the med-bay. See if they can mellow you out for a bit. It might even help you get through this.”

“You’re probably right.” York said, turning away from the wall. “Any idea which way that is?”

“Yeah.” North said. “One floor up.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Four-Seven-Niner “Free Bird”

Four-Seven-Niner was quickly becoming friends with the other members of the flight crew, specifically with their Captain, FoeHammer, and another pilot name Polaski. She could tell just by the way that these two talked about their birds, as well as what they said about flying, that these two really knew what they were doing, and were at home in their Pelicans.

“Hey, Niner.” North said over the radio on the channel that the Freelancers used, from somewhere else in the ship. “I’ve got some supplies from the armory that we’ll need, just in case. Do you mind them if I store them in the Pelican?”

Now, usually, Niner would have just flat out told North no. But given the situation, and that her bird was the only place that belonged specifically to the Freelancers on this ship, she could understand why he asked, and was willing to cooperate. “Sure North, just make sure it’s not in my way.” she radioed back.

“Alright.” North said. “I’ll be there in about five.”

Granted, North storing their equipment in the Pelican meant that there would be less space in the Cargo bay for the Freelancers themselves, but Niner knew that North understood that. From day one of flying for the Freelancers, she’d had a rule that nothing was to be stored where it would get in her way, especially not in her bird.
About five minutes later, Niner was giving Polaski a tour of her Pelican, because every pilot’s bird is different, and the girl had seeed interested. While this was happening, North showed up, stepping into the cargo bay of the Pelican, carrying five, fully loaded bags of equipment.

“Damn North.” Niner said, turning to look at him. “How much shit did you get?”

“Not entirely sure.” North said curiously. “York had the shopping list.”

“Well, put it up against the wall,” Niner told him. “And strap it in. I don’t want those bags flying around the next time I need to fly.”

“Understood.” North said.

“And tell that asshole to bring a shorter shopping list next time.” Niner said. “Any more, and I might have made you put some back.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Captian Jacob Keyes

“Captain Keyes.” Cortana said. “Non-essential personnel are now being moved to Cryo. I’d advise that the bridge crew go as well. We’ve got a ways to go, and I can drive while we’re in Slipspace.”

“Understood Cortana.” Keyes said, then, directed at the bridge crew, “You heard her, it’s time for a nap.”

As the rest of the bridge crew began to get up, Keyes turned back to Cortana and said, “Wake me before we exit Slipspace.”

“Understood Captain.” Cortana said. “Anything else?”

“Yes.” Keyes answered. “Have the Freelancers go into Cryo as well, and wake them up about the same time as me.”

“Acknowledged.” Cortana said. “I’ll see if I can find anything else about Project Freelancer while you’re out.”

Chapter Text

York

“Agent York…Agent York.” A woman’s voice was trying to wake him. “Agent York, we will be exiting Slipspace in approximately sixty minutes, you’re being taken out of Cryo-sleep.”

As York awoke inside his Cryo-tube, he realized that the voice trying to wake him was Cortana, the Ship-board AI on the Pillar of Autumn.

Suddenly the events on Reach, and those that followed, came rushing back to York. However, he was much calmer than before. Maybe his mind had worked through some of the grief during Cryo.

“Cortana…” York began, as he lurched forward out of the Cryo-tube, expelling the fluid used to keep him is cryo-stasis. After coughing up said fluid, York continued, “By Military Calendar, what’s the date? How long have we been in Slipspace?”

“Calendar shows that it is currently September 19th, 2552. Time is 0017.” Cortana answered. “Captain Keyes wanted you and your friends to be woken up before we enter real-space.”

“Understood.” York said. “I assume that you’re waking the others up?”

“Yes.” Cortana said. “So far, you’re the only one out though. The Captain wants you all on the Bridge, ASAP. I’ll let the others know, just go.”

“All right.” York said, standing up, and starting towards the lockers. “Just need to get dressed.”

Ten minutes later, York was in full armor, aside from his helmet, which was in his hands, and the rest of the Freelancers were at their lockers getting ready. “I’m heading up.” he said. “See you there.”

York started out, and a few minutes later, he was in the elevator on his way up to the Bridge.

“Agent York.” Captain Keyes began, turning towards the elevator as York stepped out of it. “I’m glad you’re the first one up, at ease. After everyone else shows up, I’ll be sending you in different directions for specific tasks. As soon as I start giving those orders, you are to report to Cryo Two and assist in the revival of the Master Chief. We’ll likely need him, as well as the rest of the Freelancers, after we exit Slipspace. Cortana is certain that the Covenant were able to follow us, and that they’re probably waiting for us. I’ll send orders down to Cryo Two as to where I want the both of you.”

As Keyes finished, the elevator again appeared on the bridge, bringing the other four Freelancers with it. They walked out to where York stood, and stood at attention.

“Good.” Keyes started, “You’re all here. At ease. We’ll be coming out of Slipspace in about half an hour, and I’ve got some stuff I want you all to do. According to Cortana, the Covenant have probably followed us through Slipspace, and beat us to our destination.”

“Well that sounds just great.” This interjection came not from North or CT, or even from himself, all of whom York would have potentially expected that statement of sarcasm from. Instead, it was Florida who said it, and as usual, York wasn’t sure if he was being sarcastic or not based on his tone. York assumed he was, but there was no way to be sure.

“I’ll agree with that sarcasm, agent.” Keyes said, making the same assumption that York had made. “Agent Florida, I want you to rendezvous with Major Silva and his group of ODSTs.

He then turned to Wyoming and North, and said, “I want you two to go with him. I’m sure that Major Silva has a use for two expert snipers.”

“Understood, sir.” the three of them said together.

Keyes then turned to CT and said, “Agent CT, I want you to go with Agent York to Cryo Two. The two of you are to make sure that the Master Chief gets out of Cryo, and then make sure he gets up here if we need him. If that’s the case, I’ll have orders for all three of you.”

“Will do, sir.” CT said.

“All right.” Keyes said. “Dismissed.”

At this, all five of them walked back out of the bridge, York and CT moving towards Cryo Two, and the other three presumably moving towards the section of the ship that the ODSTs had claimed as their own.

Considering that the walk to Cryo Two was relatively short, and that they had just come out Cryo sleep themselves, York and CT didn’t have much to talk about, so the walk was silent.

As the pair entered Cryo Two, they realized that the Cryo-tube that was occupied by the Master Chief was the only active tube in the room.

York looked up to the control room and saw two men sanding over the controls. He checked the clock on his HUD, and the clock showed the time as “0116”. As he checked his clock, a message from Cortana came over the radio on the frequency that the Freelancers used, “We’ll be entering normal space in thirty seconds. Be prepared for anything.”

York activated the acknowledgement light that was adapted into his neural interface, and he saw that the other members of the team had done the same.

“It looks like they already started to thaw him out.” CT said. “Just in case.”

York looked at CT, and then at the Master Chief in his Cryo-tube. She was right. The frost that normally covered the glass of an active Cryo-tube wasn’t there. “Well, if Cortana’s right,” York began, “There’s a shitload of Covenant waiting for us.”

“Why not just thaw him out earlier then, like with us?” CT asked.

“Not sure…” York thought for a moment, and then said, “Maybe they didn’t want to wake him unless they needed to. Who knows?”

As York finished his sarcastic comment, he felt the ship lurch slightly, which he recognized as the ship exiting Slipspace, and entering normal space.

There was about sixty seconds of silence, in which York and CT looked back and forth to each other, and then to the two men in the Cryo control room. Then York felt the Pillar of Autumn begin to turn.

Suddenly, everything changed at once. As York was looking at the two men in the control room, they began to react to a message that appeared on their screen. Immediately after this, a message appeared on York’s HUD, stating that the ship was being brought back to Combat Alert Alpha. This was then followed by the ships warning lights activating and Cortana saying over the shipwide intercom, “Attention all combat personnel. Please report to your action stations.” It seemed to York that these messages happened as if to prove the truth of the message he’d just received.

“Seems like Cortana was right.” CT said.

“Unfortunately.” York answered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

North

As the warning lights began to spin, and Cortana’s shipwide announcement finished, North, Wyoming, and Florida rounded the corner and found themselves looking into a room filled with a mass of ODSTs readying themselves for combat.

Before North or Wyoming could react, Florida started walking into the room, looked around for a moment, and immediately started walking towards a man at what must have been the “Command Center” for the ODSTs aboard the Autumn.

“Major Silva, I presume?” Florida asked.

The man that North assumed to be Silva turned his head to look at Florida and said, “That’d be me. Are you the Freelancer that the Captain told me about?”

“Yes sir.” Florida answered, “And I’m pleased to be reunited with my fellow ODSTs.”

“Oh.” Silva said, stunned for a moment. “You’re an old ODST?”

“Yes Major.” Florida answered. “But I haven’t been for at least three years. I was told to report to you and your team, and my friends here,” Florida then gestured to North and Wyoming, “are a pair of expert Snipers. Captain Keyes said that where they go is up to you.”

“Well boys,” Silva started, “There’s always use for good snipers around here. Can either of you drop?”

North looked to Florida, then to Wyoming, and then to Major Silva. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to drop. It wasn’t a type of insertion that he was trained on.

As North was about to answer the Major, Wyoming answered for the both of them. “I’ll be able to drop in, sir. Our friend in purple though, he’s been trained on different styles of insertion. He might be capable of dropping if need be, but he’d be better suited somewhere else.” Wyoming turned to North, “Right chap?”

“That’s about the best way to put it.” North answered. Then, turning to Major Silva, “I’m prepared to go where needed, but dropping might not be the best option. If you’ve got another place for me sir, I’m the sniper for the job.”

“In that case, son,” Silva said, “I want you to head towards the hangar. If we end up having to leave he ship, which seems likely at this point, considering that Keyes sent you boys to me, then I’m sure the pilots will try to get their Pelicans off the ship. I’m sure that they’d appreciate a sniper.”

“You two will be with me.” Silva said, directing the statement towards Florida and Wyoming. “Who are you anyway?”

“Agents of Project Freelancer.” North answered. “I’m Agent North Dakota, or just North. That’s agent Wyoming.” North said, gesturing to Wyoming, then, pointing at Florida, he said, “That’s Agent Florida.” Then, assuming that the introductions were done, North asked, “May I head towards the hangar sir?”

Major Silva began to answer, but was cut off when a boom echoed through the ship as the Pillar of Autumn was hit by some form of Covenant weaponry. “And so it begins.” Silva said. “Go ahead North, you’re dismissed.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CT

“Sounds like we’ve got contacts.” CT yelled over to York.

“So I hear.” York answered.

“We’ve got the code from Cortana.” one of the techs in the control center of Cryo Two yelled out. “Let’s thaw him out.”

As he yelled that out, the tube that the Master Chief was in began venting its pressurized air. About a minute later, the hatch on the pod lifted open.

As the hatch opened, the other tech from the control room came through the door into the room. “Sorry for the quick thaw Master Chief.” he apologized. “But things are a bit hectic right now. The disorientation should pass quickly.”

As the tech continued to talk to the Master Chief, CT could tell that he, like herself, wasn’t listening. The Chief was flexing his limbs, making sure he still had full mobility, as most people do when they exit Cryo. After flexing for a few moments, the SPARTAN reached up, grabbed the side of the tube, and pulled himself up and out of the tube.

“I’m bringing his health monitors online now.” the tech that was still in the control center said over the com speakers.

As the Master Chief began to walk around the room to the various diagnostic stations, and to get his shields online, there was an announcement over the shipwide intercom from Cortana. “Sensors show inbound Covenant boarding craft. Standby to repel boarders.”

“Well this ought to be fun.” York said, his voice laced with sarcasm.

“I might get to knife another Elite.” CT shot back. “That’s fun.”

Then, before York could respond, the intercom crackled. “Bridge to Cryo Two, this is Captain Keyes. Send the Master Chief, as well as the Freelancers York and CT, to the Bridge immediately.”

The tech that was in the room with them began to object, saying something about more tests, but Keyes stopped him and said, “On the double, Crewman.”

“Aye aye, sir.” the tech answered. Then, he turned to the Master Chief and said, “We’ll find weapons later. Let’s get moving everyone.”

As he said this, an explosion rang out from the control room above. The door behind the other technician was blasted inward, and the man inside was attacked by an Elite, who shot him in the head with plasma.

“Sam!” the other technician yelled out, but then he must have put his fellow crewman in the back of his mind. He ran for the door, keyed the pad and called, “Come on! We’ve gotta get the hell out of here!”

“York!” CT called as they ran for the door. “Bring up a map on your pad, just in case.”

“Done.” he answered, obviously still doing it.

As the four of them rounded a corner behind the door with the technician in the lead, an explosion blasted the door ahead of them inward, killing the technician.

The Master Chief paused for a moment, as if to figure out a new direction to go, instead of through the blasted doorway. After a second, York called from behind them, “This way! There’s a maintenance hallway just over these pipes!”

The three super-soldiers leapt over the pipes, turned right into the hallway, and went through an open doorway.

The next section of hallway had some of its lights out, and at the other end, there was a door with its security light showing green. York ran forward to open the door, and had to pull it apart slightly.

As they walked through the now open door, CT heard a woman scream down the hall, and immediately unsheathed two of her combat knives, holding them in a ready stance as they walked along.

Ahead of them was a halfway closed section hatch, leaving about five feet of clearance above the ground. Behind that door, CT could see a crewman shooting at something around the corner.

The three of them ducked under the door as the deck shuddered from some attack against the ship’s hull, and saw the crewman take a plasma bolt to the chest. The rest of the group of soldiers that the late crewman had been a part of returned fire, trying to push the boarders back, most likely into a section that could be closed off.

CT looked at the other two, and all three silently came to the same conclusion. They had orders to get to the bridge. The Master Chief was unarmed, and she and York only had close combat weapons. They were needed elsewhere. The three nodded, and then continued through a door across the hall, behind the firefight.

They crossed through the locker room on the other side of that door without incident, and then into the hallway behind. After that, they were only a few meters from the door to the bridge.

The group rushed onto the bridge and headed immediately for the front in order to report to Captain Keyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cortana

A small part of Cortana noticed the group of super soldiers run into the bridge while she was busy shooting at one of the Covenant battleships, but aside from that, she didn’t pay too much attention to the group as they entered the bridge.

“Captain Keyes.” the Master Chief said, from behind Keyes.

Cortana saw Keyes turn around and shake the Chief’s hand as he said, “Good to see you Master Chief, things aren’t going well.” Then as Keyes said her name, Cortana gave the conversation a little bit more attention. “Cortana did her best, but…we never really had a chance.”

Cortana materialized a hologram of herself on the pad next to the Captain, and said, “A dozen Covenant superior battleships against a single Halcyon-class cruiser. With those odds, I’m content with three,” she paused as she fired another shot that hit its mark, “make that four, kills.” She then turned her hologram to face the Chief and asked, “Sleep well?”

“No thanks to your driving.” the Chief answered, “Yes.”

This answer caused a chuckle from both of the Freelancers present.

Cortana herself noted the humorous tone of the answer, and said, “So you did miss me.”

This caused even more laughter from the Freelancers, specifically from Agent York. However, this laughter was cut short as a massive explosion rocked the Pillar of Autumn and caused all four of the humans standing there to stumble and catch themselves on the walls.

As Keyes caught himself on t railing in front of him, he called out, “Report.”

“It must have been one their boarding parties.” Cortana answered. “I’d guess an Anit-Matter carge.”

“Ma’am!” Lieutenant Hikowa yelled from the weapons station. “Fire control for the main cannon is offline!”

Damn. “Captain, the cannon was my last defensive option.”

“Alright then.” Keyes said. “I’m initiating Cole Protocol article two. We’re abandoning the Autumn.” Then Keyes stopped for a moment, looked up at Cortana’s hologram, and said, “That means you too, Cortana.”

“While you do what?” Cortana asked. “Go down with the ship?”

“In a manner of speaking.” Keyes said, which caused a confused head tilt from the two Freelancers. “The object we found, I’m gonna try to land the Autumn on it.”

“With all due respect, sir.” Cortana said, “This war has enough dead heroes.”

Keyes paused for a moment before saying, “I appreciate your concern Cortana, but it’s not up to me. The protocol is clear. The destruction or capture of a shipboard AI is absolutely unacceptable, and that means you’re leaving the ship.”

Damn, Cortana knew he was right. Keyes paused for a moment, and then said, “Lock in a selection of emergency landing zones, upload them to my neural lace, and then sort yourself for a hard transfer.”

“Aye aye, sir.” Cortana said, shutting off her hologram.

“Which is where you come in, Chief.” Keyes said, turning to the Chief. “Get Cortana off this ship. Keep her safe from the enemy. If they capture her, they’ll learn everything. Force deployment, weapons research. Earth.”

“I understand.” the Chief said.

Cortana reappeared on the holo-pad and said, “The Autumn will continue evasive maneuvers until you initiate a landing sequence.” She stopped for a moment, and then said, “Not that you’ll listen, but I’d suggest letting my subroutines handle the final approach.”

“Excellent work Cortana.” Keyes said. “You ready?”

Cortana took a few seconds to recheck all the remaining systems on the Autumn, and then, satisfied that she’d done everything that she could, she said, “Yank me.”

Keyes leaned over, keyed the console attached to her holo-pad, and then reached down to pull the physical media chip that now contained Cortana from the console. He then handed the chip to the Chief and said, “Good luck, Master Chief.”

The Chief took the chip from Keyes, reached behind his helmet, and slotted the chip into his neural interface.

“Hmm…”Cortana mused, “Your architecture isn’t much different from the Autumn’s.”

“Don’t get any funny ideas.” the Chief retorted.

As she integrated herself into the Chief’s system, Keyes handed the Chief a pistol and said, “I don’t keep it loaded, sorry.”

This statement caused a head tilt from both Freelancers, that, even in their armor, could only be described as befuddlement.

“Agent York,” Keyes began, “I want you to accompany the Master Chief.”

“Understood, sir.” York answered, his confusion at the fact that the Captain’s sidearm still in his voice.

“And Agent CT,” Keyes said, turning to CT, “You’re to stay here with the bridge crew.”

“Alright.” She answered. “Guard duty, I assume?”

“That’d be correct.” Keyes replied, then, turning back to the Chief and York, “You two are dismissed. Get Cortana off of this ship.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

York

York and the Master Chief gave Captain Keyes a salute, and then left the bridge the way they’d come.

“Hey Chief.” York said, holding a magazine that matched the pistol that the Chief was using, “I’ve got a mag to get you started.”

“Thanks.” the Chief said.

Suddenly Cortana’s voice came over his radio, on what York assumed was a frequency that only the three of them were using. “We’ve got contacts ahead.”

Sure enough, less than a second later, York could hear a series of short barks, yaps, and clicks, kind of like a small, angry, puppy.

The Master Chief took aim as a singular Grunt rounded the corner ahead of them, not yet aware of the presence of the two super-soldiers. However, the Chief hesitated with his shot. Then, as two more Grunts rounded the corner behind the first, the Chief shot three times, and nailed each one in the head.

On their way down the hall leading them out of the bridge, they came across a dead ensign, and respectfully took ownership of her ammunition.

Now thoroughly off the bridge, the pair crossed the hall towards the door into the locker room they’d went through earlier. At the door, the Chief quickly stooped to grab an Assault Rifle that was on the floor, and then the two stormed into the locker room.

Inside, the two of them found a firefight between a group of Covenant and a considerably smaller group of Marines. As if the appearance of two super-soldiers wasn’t enough of a shock for the Covenant in the room, the two immediately opened fire on the Elites in charge of the Covenant on the other side of the room, York with his sidearm, and the Chief with his assault rifle.

The distraction that this caused for the Covenant proved to be more than enough to give the Marines the opening that they needed to toss a grenade or two, and shoot the rest of the Covenant to clear the room.

“A few rooms ahead, there’s a staircase.” Cortana told them both. “You need to go up a floor to get to the lifeboats.”

York triggered his acknowledgement light, and he saw the Chief’s blink.

After a few more rooms, and a few groups of Covenant inhabiting the hallways in between, the pair reached a room with a large staircase in the center. As they entered, Cortana said, “Covenant, on the landing above us!”

As she had said this, York finished reloading his shotgun, and he and the Chief ran up the stairs, with York on the outer edge of the turn halfway up. When they rounded this corner, York fired off a shell into the back of an Elite standing too close to the edge of the landing above, and the Elite, now full of lead, fell from the landing.

As they reached the top of the stairs, the pair split up, York turning right, and the Chief turning left. This took York the long way around the hole where the stairs were, and there were fewer Covenant in his direction, which worked for him, as he was using a shotgun.

As York made it around the hole, the Chief was finishing off a pair of Elites with his AR, and the two soon ran through the door ahead of them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Florida

Major Silva had taken Florida, Wyoming, and the rest of the ODSTs to the engine room in the center of the Pillar of Autumn, where the group had been ordered to defend the reactors for as long as possible.

The engine room had two primary access points, connected by a section of catwalk, and both points had been kept under human control.

Eventually, the ODSTs had been ordered to pile up the Covenant corpses, both as a barrier, and to keep the large number of them from getting in the way. Yes, the humans had taken some casualties as well, it was primarily just injuries, with only three deaths.

“All right!” Major Silva called out from the center of the catwalk. “Listen up! Play time is over. Captain Keyes is tired of our company and wants us to leave this tub. There’s a construct down there, complete with an atmosphere, gravity, and the one thing Marines love like beer—and that’s dirt beneath our feet.”

Silva paused for a moment, and looked at his men. Florida used these couple seconds to get caught up in the moment. He knew what speech was coming, and it’d been a long time since he’d heard it.

Silva continued. “Most of the crew—not to mention your fellow jarheads—will be leaving the ship in lifeboats. They’ll ride to the surface in air-conditioned comfort, sipping wine, and nibbling on appetizers.”

“Not you, however!” he shouted. “Oh no, you’re going to leave the Pillar of Autumn by a different method. Tell me, boys and girls … How will you leave?”

It was an old speech, a sort of ritual, that ODSTs went through almost every time they dropped, and Florida answer, just as he would have in the past, in unison with the Marines, “WE GO FEET FIRST, SIR!”

“Damned right you do.” Silva barked. “Now let’s get to those drop pods. The Covenant is holding a picnic down on the surface and every single one of you is invited. You have five minutes to strap in, hook up, and shove a cork in your ass.”

Florida laughed along with the rest of the ODSTs at the cork joke, and he noticed that even Wyoming laughed.

The group made their way through the ship, fighting Covenant along the way, and eventually made it to what the ODSTs lovingly referred to as “Hell’s Waiting Room”, which was their name for the launch bay for the HEV drop pods.

Florida turned to Wyoming and said, “I haven’t used one of these puppies in years, buddy. They’re so much fun.”

He then turned towards Major Silva as if to ask where the extra pods were, and Silva, who understood immediately, pointed towards two pods that belonged to the ODSTs that they’d lost in the engine room.

“Wyoming!” Florida called, “Over here.”

“Well…” Wyoming started, “This ought to be fun.”

As they were strapping themselves in, a Lieutenant by the name of McKay checked everyone’s pods, including theirs, to make sure that they were strapped in, and then ran to her own. Florida made a mental note that this Lieutenant was probably second in command of the unit.

As the countdown timer to launch started at thirty, Florida got on the Freelancer channel and warned Wyoming, “Brace yourself. This ride can sometimes be too exciting.”

“I don’t doubt it, chap.” Wyoming answered.

A few seconds later, the countdown timer reached zero, and Florida’s pod was ejected from the Pillar of Autumn, automatically correcting its vector as to aim itself towards the circular construct below.

As he was falling, over the ODST radio channel, Florida heard a fellow Helljumper insert a disk into their personal media player, and begin to broadcast the Helljumper anthem. Such was regular practice among ODSTs, and even though it was not permitted by multiple UNSC regulations, there had never been a single reprimand given to any ODST for doing so.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Petty Officer Second Class Sheila Polaski

Polaski, along with the rest of the pilots, had been in the lockers near the barracks reserved for the flight crew, readying their own equipment in case it was needed, when the evac order came through. In that moment, Captain Rawley had come up with an idea. Her idea was for the primary flight crew, as in, the pilots and copilots, to rush to the hangar, get in their birds, and fly down to the surface of the ring-world below. It was crazy, but so were most of the pilots, so it was a perfect plan.

Immediately after they’d come up with the plan, Captain Rawley had a realization, and turned to the new Freelancer pilot, and said, “Hey Free Bird, I got a message from Major Silva earlier. Said he was sending one of yours down to the hangar to help us out.”

“That could be helpful…” Free Bird mused. “Which one?”

“He said it was Agent North.” the Captain answered.

“Oh good.” Free Bird said. “He’ll actually be useful. I’ll give him a call.”

“Do it on the way.” Captain Rawley had said. “We’re moving now.”

And this is how Polaski had found herself in her current situation. She was running towards the front of their group, between the Captain, and the new pilot, and she overheard Free Bird’s side of the radio call.

“Hey North.” She started. “I hear you’re in the hangar.”

After a moment of silence, she continued. “Got a job for you from Captain Rawley, CO of the flight crew.”

Another moment of silence, and then she said, “We need you to keep the hangar clear. We’re gonna grab the birds on the way down. Set up on top of my bird, it might give you the best vantage point.”

Before Polaski could be shocked that the new pilot had just told her squadmate to set up his weapons on top of her own Pelican, there was a bolt of plasma hurtling past her from behind.

Polaski looked behind herself as she ran, and then called out, “They’re behind us! Run faster!”

As she said this, Captain Rawley turned and stopped for a moment, pointing her sidearm at the Covenant pursuing them, and then changed her mind as another bolt of plasma flew right by her head and hit the wall. “Screw this!” she yelled, and started running again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Master Chief Petty Officer John-117

As John and Agent York shuffled through the maintenance tunnel, closing in on the remaining life-boats, John realized that Agent North Dakota had been right when he said that the Freelancers were similar to the SPARTANs. While they were equivocally civilians due to the anomaly in their ranks created by the Project, the efficiency with which they performed in combat, or just in the mission at hand, was on par with his own squad mates. So far, in the mission to get Cortana off of the Autumn, York had proven himself invaluable in close-range combat, especially when using his shotgun, and he’d even managed to gather a bit of intelligence that Cortana had missed, much to the AI’s chagrin.

The Freelancers, or at least, Agent York, had his respect, and as the pair approached the end of the maintenance tunnel, Cortana warned them, “There’s a large group of Covenant just outside this door, a squad of Grunts and at least three Elites, maybe more.”

“I’ve got a way to flank them on my map, Cortana.” York said. “Do you know if this side tunnel is still usable? It might make this engagement easier.”

There was a brief pause as Cortana examined the information that York had sent her, and she replied, “It’s clear, and if you two time it right, maybe with a grenade to distract them from one direction, it might not even be a firefight.”

“Understood.” John said. He turned to York, “I’ll take this door, and you get the flank. I’ll toss a grenade through the door, and while their distracted, see if you can take out the Elites.”

“Got it, Chief.” the Freelancer said, as he spun on his heels and turned left to use the other exit.

“He’s good.” Cortana said.

“Agreed.” John said.

Twenty seconds later, York’s acknowledgement light blinked, letting John know that he was in position. John took a quick breath, opened the hatch to the maintenance tunnel, and tossed a quick Frag Grenade in the middle of the group of Grunts, where one of the four Elites was standing.

Three seconds went by, and then the Grenade went off. As soon as it did, John let out a burst of assault rifle fire to further draw the attention of the Elites, as well as try to kill the one furthest from York’s position.

The plan worked perfectly. York rolled out from behind the corner and immediately fired his shotgun twice into the back of one of the Elites. Before the next closest Elite could react, the Elite that John had been shooting at fell as well, riddled with holes from the assault rifle fire.

As the Elite finally reacted, it turned towards York just in time to get a pair of shotgun shells fired into its chest.

Once the Elites had been killed, the Grunts were no problem, or so John had though. As he and York were cleaning up the rest of the Grunts, one dropped down on top of him from a loose panel in the ceiling. John would have found the attempt that the small alien was making to be humorous, except that two more jumped down on top of him. One of them had a live Plasma Grenade in his hand, and the other two were trying to pry him helmet off. They were trying to drop the grenade into his suit.

Upon realizing this, John flexed his chest and shoulders, and then shook himself like a wet hound. As the Grunts fell off of him, all three of them suddenly had holes in their heads. York had noticed, and had taken the shots as soon as John had gotten himself clear.

John and York looked down the hallway ahead, and saw the hatches for the last lifeboats in this section. “Now!” Cortana urged them. “Run!”

As the pair ran for the lifeboats, a group of Covenant appeared out of one of the stations that the pods launched from. “They’re using our empty lifeboat hatches to board.” Cortana noted. “We go out, and they come in. Hurry, there’s only one left.”

John and York ran for the door to the closest lifeboat as it started to close. On the way through, John grabbed a Marine who had tripped by the door, and pulled him in.

As the door closed behind him, Cortana said, “Now would be a very good time to leave!”

Once the hatch had closed all the way, and the indicator light on the lock turned red, John turned to their lifeboat pilot and said, “Punch it.”

The pilot nodded and said, “Aye aye, sir.”, and then she slammed the throttle. The lifeboat launched, and the pilot said, “We’re disengaged, going for minimum safe distance.”

As the lifeboat began hurtling towards the ring-world that was their destination, York asked, “So what is that thing? Any ideas?”

Cortana gave York an anwer that surprised John. “No. However, I’ve managed to slice some data from the Covenant Battle-Net. They call it “Halo,” and it has some sort of religious significance to them…” she paused for a moment, “but your guess is as good as mine.”

After a few seconds, Cortana corrected herself, and John could feel the amusement that Cortana had through their neural connection as she said, “Well…almost as good.”

As soon as Cortana had finished her snide remark about their humanity, the Marine that had tripped yelled out, “The Autumn! It’s been hit!”

John looked out the window that was on the door and Cortana said, “I knew it. The Autumn’s accelerating. Keyes is going in manually.”

“Didn’t you tell him not to do that?” York asked

“Yes.” Cortana answered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Freelancer Pilot Four-Seven-Niner – Free Bird

As the group of pilots that consisted of herself, Captain Rawley, Petty Officer Polaski, Lieutenant Peterson, Lieutenant Hale, Lieutenant Frye, and Crew Chief Cullen rounded the last corner before the door into the hangar, Niner got on the radio again and to ask North if they were clear. “Hey North, we’re almost to the Hangar. Is it clear enough for us to rush in?”

She didn’t get a reply for a moment, and then, from the doorway into the hangar down the hall, she heard North’s sniper rifle fire a single shot. North then got on the radio and said, “We’re clear for now. Move fast.”

As they closed in on the door to the hangar, Niner said, “North says we’re clear right now. Let’s run!”

The seven of them rushed through the doors to the hangar, and Captain Rawley slammed the door shut behind them, engaging its locks.

The group of pilots immediately for their respective Pelicans. Captain Rawley, Lieutenant Frye, and Crew Chief Cullen all ran for the bird at the opposite end of the hangar from where Niner’s own Pelican was docked. Polaski ran for the one next to that. Hale and Peterson each ran to their Pelicans, in bays three and four, and at the other end of the hangar, in bay five, she could see her own Pelican, with North perched on tip with his Sniper Rifle.

As she started running towards her Pelican, North grabbed the rifle that he was using, folded the stand, and slung it onto his back with the second one. By the time she’d made it to bay five, North had jumped down, and was waiting for her to let him in.

Niner keyed the access code to the Pelican’s troop bay, and the two ran in towards the cockpit, North taking the copilot’s seat.

As she started the Pelican up, Niner could feel the Autumn accelerating, and a few moments later, the cruiser entered the atmosphere of the ring-world below.

Suddenly, from bay one, the guns on Captain Rawley’s Pelican fired out the bay doors, and moments later, there was a crashing noise as what must have been a Covenant ship that she’d fired at hit the Autumn. “Alright,” the captain said on the radio over the ship-to-ship frequency, “Let’s go down and meet our hosts. See you on the ground. FoeHammer out.”

As she ended her transmission, Captain Rawley’s Pelican burst through the open bay doors, and flew through the layer of fire that was beginning to cover the descending Pillar of Autumn. The rest of the pilots, Niner included, immediately followed her example, and slammed the throttle, forcing their Pelicans out of the hangar.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CT

Having fired the accelerators, and chosen one of the approach vectors that Cortana had given him, Keyes said, “That’s as far as we can take her, Delegate all command and control functions to Cortana’s cousin, and let’s haul ass off this boat.”

CT didn’t have to be told twice. This ship was now plotted for a course that would slam it straight into the ground, and she certainly didn’t want to be on board when that happened.

The lifeboat that had been reserved for the bridge crew, and subsequently, for CT as well, was very close. It was only about a hundred meters from the entrance to the bridge. Of the six marines that had been tasked with guarding it, three were dead. As the bridge crew approached, a corporal from among the three remaining Marines shouted, “Attention on deck!” and all three of the remaining Marines snapped to attention as their CO approached.

“As you were.” Keyes said. Then, gesturing towards the lifeboat hatch, “Thanks for waiting son. Sorry about your buddies.”

“Thank you sir.” the Corporal responded. “They took a dozen of the bastards with ‘em.”

CT saw Keyes nod, and then he said, “Everybody into the boat, on the double.”

Once again, CT didn’t need to be told twice, but she made sure that she was the last on to get on, continuing her duties of guarding the bridge crew.

When CT finally boarded the lifeboat, she shut the hatch behind her. Once it was closed, their pilot hit the throttle, and their pod ejected itself from the Autumn.

Once they’d passed the minimum safe distance from the Autumn, CT looked over the Captain Keyes, and noticed that he was acting strange, staring at one particular spot that seemed empty. He then leaned over to the Marine next to him, and said, “Excuse me, Corporal.”

“Sir?” the Marine asked.

“Hand me your sidearm, son.” Keyes said.

CT could tell that the Marine wasn’t very keen on the idea of parting with his weapon, but an order was and order, so he said, “Yes sir.” and Keyes grabbed the pistol from him.

Barely a second passed, in which CT figured that Captain Keyes hesitated to wonder if the round would penetrate the hull of the lifeboat, before the Captain raised the sidearm at the spot he’d been staring at, and pulled the trigger.

Where Keyes had shot, it had looked like there was nothing there, but suddenly an Elite wearing all black armor materialized, and fell to the floor of the lifeboat, dead.

This Elite’s cloaking device, CT noted, was better than the one that Agent Texas had been assigned.

Keyes then re-engaged the safety on the sidearm, handed it back to the corporal, and said, “Thanks. That thing works pretty well. Don’t forget to reload it.”