Spartan 118 (Halo Based)

Chapter 36

Sorry for the long update, had a plane flight, packing, etc. Btw, my little sister is turning 14 July 4th. Wish her a Happy Birthday! Enjoy!

I sat in the pilot seat of the pelican and flipped a few switches on the control panel, prepping the pelican to leave the atmosphere. The rest of the team strapped themselves into the back. I checked the airspace for anyone near us, and turned on the engine. It roared to life. Satisfied all was well, I eased back on the throttle.

I pressed a button to close the hatch and the pelican rose, slowly at first but gaining speed as I followed a half spiral pattern. I broke pattern and flew in an angled ascent towards the sky.

I took a moment to look back and saw the base, half melted to nothing. The city was gone, a single skyscraper near the ocean standing above the disfigured ruins of the other three buildings. As we rose higher I could see a small town milling with refugees and another large city to the East of Fort Cause completely glassed.

How could they do this? Why would they do this? What are they after? I know that before they were hunting for me, like the incidents in Fort Cause. What if they were still after me? Is this all my fault?

I shook my head and looked forward at the darkening sky as we approached the outer atmosphere. It's probably not my fault, they wouldn't do a full scale invasion just for me and they would have only destroyed Fort Cause. Unless they didn't know where you were. If they had knowledge that you would be the next Master Chief, they would feel like an invasion is worth stopping the destruction of entire fleets of covenant. My subconscious whispered.

I shook off that thought, thinking like that would only lead to me losing focus. It could be the difference between rescuing Kyle and losing him, either by death or slipspace. The pelican rumbled and for a minute I pushed the thought away to make sure our ascent was steady. It slowly stopped and we passed the final layer of atmosphere.

Suddenly a call on my Com cut through the silence. It was Silas's voice. "Senior Chief, re-direct to the UNSC frigate you recovered on. There is something urgent you need to see regarding Spartan 201."

Sift! "What?" I asked.

"It's not safe to say over these channels, especially with you piloting a pelican. Report ASAP. Silas out." The Com clicked off.

I sat there a full minute before angling the pelican towards the nearest Frigate. Was Sift alive? I didn't want to get my hopes up but the message suggested it. It's been so long, how will we be a team again? And if she was recently revived then she will only be 12, and without augmentations or training. And why does it seem like everyone is trying to delay us as long as possible?

I pushed that thought aside and returned my attention to space. There were multiple carriers, covenant and UNSC in the surrounding space. Two of them were linked in a battle to my right. Missiles were flying out of each and dealing terrible damage. The UNSC carrier had a shield on but it was weakening with each blow. The others were separated by miles of space and seemed to be unwilling to be the first to engage.

I flew in a wide arc around them to our destined carrier so that we were not caught in the crossfire. "This is Sierra one-one-eight of Fort Cause, requesting permission to dock." I pinged to the carrier.

There was a pause. "Permission granted. Please direct to hangar nine, space five."

I adjusted our trajectory down and to the right thirty degrees. I called back as we approached, "We are making a detour, leave unnecessary equipment but stay prepared. Prepare to board UNSC frigate."