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Epilogue-Farewells
Posted By: Ultra Sonic 007
Date: 31 March 2003, 1:28 PM
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The Chief sat on the back seat of the Pelican dropship as the Marines began attaching the Scorpion to the Pelican's 'tail'. The Marines were more than eager to get home now, but he knew this was most likely to be the hardest of the Haloes to destroy...due in part to the intervention of the Space Pirates.
After this, the other five should be easy.
But before he would leave, he needed to take care of one more thing...
He walked over to Samus' Gunship, and he let the gravity lift pull him in.
When he entered, he was surprised, needless to say...but somewhat thankful that his plan would be a tad less complicated now.
The Monitor was gazing at Samus, then Adam, and then he finally turned his head to the Chief. "Ah. Reclaimer."
Cortana scowled. "Why in the world are you calling the Chief 'Reclaimer'?"
"I am aware now that you are not the same one that I knew upon the last firing of Halo."
This threw the Master Chief for a loop. Cortana as well. "What are you talking about? Previous firing?"
"Many centuries ago, upon completion of Installations 01-07, we decided to test out their firing mechanisms. We had to enlist the help of a biological organism so that we in case something went wrong, we wouldn't be the ones to suffer the consequences."
"And how does that relate to us?"
"You see, I enlisted the help of a biological organism clad in Class 6-Armor, which looks remarkably similar to yours, despite the fact yours is not as advanced. A simple misunderstanding."
"But then what happened?" Cortana said this with a mocking tone, as if the Monitor were somehow inferior.
"The backlash generated by several civilizations was indeed very great. The Reclaimer fled, and I had presumed he died during the war that took place between the Forerunner and the other civilizations. I was quite surprised to see one of a familiar status, but I had no time for questions back then, which brings me to why I'm here. I need the Index, now hand it over."
Samus looked at the Chief, who nodded back. She then held her Arm Cannon right next to the Monitor as she said, "Why should we?"
The Chief tapped the side of his head, then Cortana sighed as she took on a tone of defeat.
"Fine then, if it'll keep you out of our hair once and for all, then take it. Chief?"
The Chief remained silent as he handed the Index over to the Monitor, who immediately took possession of it in a flash of energy.
"Now, to activate the Installation."
The Monitor teleported away, finally having the Index in his possession.
All was silent in the Gunship before Adam broke the silence. "You do realize that this will mean the end of your race, won't it Master Chief?"
Cortana then laughed harder than the Chief had ever heard her laugh before as she replied, "On the contrary Adam. Samus planted power bombs in each of the firing mechanisms around the Control Center. I simply...'rewired' a few things in the Control Center, so instead of firing its pulse lasers, the power bombs will explode and the reaction that follows will destroy Halo."
"Clever indeed."
The Chief nodded. The plan worked. Now they needed to leave before the Index could be reunited with the core.
Samus nodded as she looked at Adam, then back at the Chief. "You need to get back to your ship."
"What about you Samus?"
"Adam and I are going back. I think we have plenty of information for the Galactic Federation, wouldn't you agree Adam?"
Adam's green 'eye' blinked in approval.
"Well, I should say this is a farewell then," said the Chief.
Samus nodded as she slowly pulled off her helmet, revealing her head. Her blue eyes were sharp and keen, and her blonde hair was wrapped in a ponytail. Her face had an angular beauty to it. In a way, she reminded the Chief of his old teammate Kelly.
And she had some bruises and a small cut on her lip from Ridley's collision with her.
The Chief chose to be courteous as well.
He took off his helmet. His brown hair was ruffled and messy, and his blue eyes were a bit weary from lack of sleep. He also had some bruises on his face, and he had some cuts along his cheek.
He held his helmet in his left arm as he extended his right hand. "It's been a pleasure working with you Samus."
Samus held her helmet with her left hand before shaking the Chief's hand with her other. "The pleasure is mine."
The Chief had a small grin tugging at the edge of his lips for a split-second before he put his helmet back on. He entered the central tube, and slowly descended to below the ship.
Samus remained silent as she sat down in the cockpit chair. "Adam, lift off and prepare to activate the FTL engines.. We're heading home."
"Very well Lady."
The Gunship's stands retracted into the main body of the purple-colored ship, and it slowly lifted into the air as the three Pelicans prepared to lift off.
Samus let Adam drive the Gunship out of the atmosphere as she thought about their plan...she hoped it would work.
----
The Monitor appeared in a bright flash of orange light, right inside the Control Center.
"Now, to end the threat of the Flood in this part of the galaxy."
Despite the fact that protocols stated that he was not to insert the Index into the core, there was no one left to do so.
With a crackle of energy, the Monitor inserted the Index into the core. Green lights appeared in the room before the sound of a machine being shut down was heard, followed by blaring alarms.
"Hmm?" Now what?"
He then looked at three new readouts on the screen, indicating an anomaly in the pulse laser cores. Then, it finally dawned on the Monitor as the Index activated the firing mechanism.
"Clever."
----
Normally, the powerful pulse lasers would emit their wave of energy, which would eliminate all life within its reach.
But instead, the explosion of the power bombs sent the pulse lasers back into Halo.
Blue lights began illuminating the small inlets and intricate geometric figures on the surface of the ring-world, and all of Halo's outlines began to glow blue. In a way, it was like a large jumble of neon lights coming on.
Then, it burst into flames.
The ring-world exploded into a million fragments, annihilating any and all life forms on the surface. Fragments spread outward, colliding into the Covenant ships stationed in orbit above Halo.
Master Chief watched as the ring-world exploded. Two down, five to go.
"Look on the bright side Chief. At least you won't feel so lonely anymore."
The Chief nodded as he leaned back and watched the Covenant ships burst into flame.
As he watched, he thought about Samus.
"She's quite an interesting person...she doesn't take any nonsense, and she's ready and willing to leap into death's jaws. Reminds me of my Spartans."
He pushed the last thought out of his mind. He only wished...that his Spartans were still here.
"I miss you...my Spartans..."
And as their Squad Leader, he still felt that he was in someway responsible for their death...
But he would avenge them...but destroying the Covenant.
----
Samus laid back in her cryo-tube, sleeping soundly as Adam piloted the Gunship on a vector towards Galactic Federation HQ.
"Well Lady, I must say this was quite a trip, even if it was short."
Adam was quite surprised at the similarities between the Master Chief and Samus Aran. They were completely alike, except in the matter of gender and the complexity of each other's armor.
"I wonder what awaits us now... but first, one last thing to take care of."
Adam sent an erasure data packet to the Flawless Cowboy, right as he activated the FTL engines.
"Well, let's go home Lady."
Samus was never seen in the galaxy again.
----
The Flawless Cowboy moved silently through space, with thirty content Marines on board, one Spartan, and an AI...who was very angry.
"AGH!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE HE DID THAT!!!"
The Chief knew it was futile to calm Cortana, but he had to try. "Think about it Cortana-"
"That data packet of Adam's erased all information regarding Samus and anything else about his galaxy! That cheap b-"
"Calm down. I know the information you had would've proven useful for the humans, but what would happen if the Covenant got a hold of it?"
Cortana paused her tirade. Then she sighed.
"You're right."
"There."
"So Chief, what are you going to do now?"
The Chief looked at Cortana's hologram as he replied, "Drop these Marines off on the nearest colony, spend some time in a healing tank, then head for the next Halo."
"You never relax, do you?"
"Not until my mission is complete."
"...do you think we've seen the last of the Monitor?"
"I doubt it. I think he'll be waiting for us on the next ring-world."
Suddenly, the screens and monitors blared wildly as a Priority Alpha transmission came through.
Cortana's symbols that floated over her body halted as she froze. "Oh no...no, this can't be...they've...they've found it..."
"Found what?"
The transmission packet appeared on Master Chief's HUD.
United Nations Space Command ALPHA PRIORITY
TRANSMISSION 05429J-97
Encryption Code: Red
Public Key: file /home-alpha-one/
From: Admiral Roland Freemont, Commanding Fleet Officer, FLEETCOM Sector One Commander/ (UNSC Service Number: 00745-16778-HS)
To: ALL UNSC warships in ALL Human-controlled systems and space vectors
Subject: IMMEDIATE RECALL
Classification: Classified (BGX Directive)
/start file/
Covenant armada en route to Earth. Ships detected at edge of the Sol System, vector Luna-Mars.
ALL, and I mean ALL UNSC warships are ordered to drop what you're doing and regroup at rally point EARTH at best speed.
ALL SHIPS are to immediately disregard the Cole Protocol. They know where Earth is, so disregard it...for now.
Now get back to Earth, ASAP.
/end file/
The Chief fell mute. He couldn't find anything to say.
"Chief...?"
"Well that settles it. You heard what Admiral Freemont's orders are. Get to Earth now."
"Shall I tell the Marines below deck?"
"Might as well."
The Chief sighed as he looked back once more at the destruction of Halo. Many Covenant were destroyed, the Flood were now becoming more of a bad memory to him, and the Space Pirates were long gone.
But now, the Covenant had struck back already. They had found the home planet of all mankind...Earth.
"Well Samus, I only hope you're having a more relaxing time than I am."
He leaned back into his chair as the Flawless Cowboy entered Shaw-Fujikawa space (Slipstream), and in a flash of green light, the Master Chief was off to save the human race from extinction.
The End
Well? What do you think?
And no, this is indeed not the end to the Bane of the Universe...I intend to do a sequel, where the Chief makes a trip to Samus' leg of the universe.
But before that, I wanna give my brain a break with a one-chapter story based on the Marines that fell trying to give the Chief some time to find Halo's Control Room during the Silent Cartographer.
Then after THAT, I want to do a DIFFERENT crossover...this time, a cross of Halo and Mobile Fighter G Gundam!
Then Bane of the Universe-the Sequel, will appear.
And that's it for now.
LET'S GET THINGS STARTED!
Gundam fight all set! Ready...GO!!!
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