HALO: The New World

A voice spoke over my comms, indicating that Fireteam Crimson was wanted down at the hangar. I lifted myself past the chin-up bar one last time, before dropping down the five feet to the floor. I might have augmentations, but that was no excuse to not exercise.

As I walked down one of the many halls, I admired the view of space through the windows. The UNSC Infinity was a huge warship, but it could be scenic. Once I reached the hangar, or at least one of them, technicians immediately led me to the area where we had our armor put on via machine. This never happened, so the situation must be pretty bad. Had the Covenant come back? That was impossible, it was broken up at least a year ago.

I didn’t have time to ask about it, because as soon as I was suited up I was called over near a squad of Pelicans. Fireteam Majestic was there, as well as some others that I didn’t know. Then I noticed who we were gathered around: Commander Palmer. Her helmet was in her hand, as she strode back and forth, waiting for the rest to arrive.

As soon as I came, she stopped pacing and told us our mission. There was an unknown planet below us, and we were being sent down to investigate. I was to be sent to a zone known as “The Cauldron,” and I was supposed to grab a present for the eggheads back on board. The fact that I was only one Spartan, sent after a science artifact, made the others grumble. Commander Palmer cut that off at the head, stating that they’d have their fair share of fighting.

All I did was nod as I received my orders, then climbed into the passenger seat of the Pelican gunship that I was to be in. The pilot climbed into their seat, strapped in, and we took off for the planet below.

I dropped out a good ten meters above the ground, due to my drop zone being a small canyon, and the Pelican was just too big to fit. I landed with crouched knees, a quarter of my shields left, and my Battle Rifle and Magnum with me.

I waited a few seconds for my shields to charge, then exited the canyon. What greeted me was metal. Lots and lots of metal. A shimmering gray stretched before me, rising in geometric shapes, with reddish orange sections glowing with an inner heat. The sight was absolutely beautiful. I was standing before a massive structure, apparently in its courtyard. Ramps led to my left and right, rising up with corridors down below them.

“Crimson, do you read me. I’m placing a NAV marker on your HUD now, that’s your objective. Grab it, call for evac, and get out. Eliminate any hostiles.” Commander Palmer said through my comms. ‘Hostiles?’ Was all I thought, as the transmission ended. ‘I don’t think I’ll find any...’

No sooner did I think that, than red dots started appearing on my motion tracker. They were blocking the path between me and my objective, so I figured they were protecting it. The question was, what exactly was ‘it’...

The answer to that had to wait, because a strange sound was heard. It sounded like gunfire, but more electronic and computerized than like good, old bullets. I felt impacts on my shields, and snapped out of my reverie. The shots were a glowing orange, and were definitely solid, but were light. Literally, light.

I dodged a second later, only to come face to face with my attacker. It looked like a canine, but was made out of the same metal as the structure, and had more of the orange light for joints, eyes, and mouth. It was much more angular, as well. The glowing spines coming out of its back were enough to set me off, they looked eerily similar to those of a Hunter.

I had bad memories of Hunters, having lost my squad to them on earlier missions. Once more I was running through dark streets, firing my rifle, only to watch in horror as my comrades were engulfed in a raging green inferno. Hulking monsters roared, rampaging through the battle, slicing men in half with their shields. And our bullets simply bounced, the only weak spot was the back, and even thinking of attempting to get behind the Hunters was suicide. A massive helmeted face flashed before me, and I brought my elbow down hard in an attempt to buy time. The memory faded, and revealed the metal dog, which was shaking its head, before sprinting at me.

Its guns had already lowered my shields quite a bit, and I figured that being hit full force would cause damage to my being. I thruster packed up and over it, confusing it long enough to nearly assassinate it. It sensed what I was doing, and whirled around only to get stabbed in the face with a combat knife. Its glowing joints exploded, flinging metal pieces around, and leaving a strange, silvery gun.

Spartans were encouraged to pick up new technology in the field, so I grabbed the ovoid weapon and attached it to my back via magnets. I wondered why it too, was the same metal as the building I was at, like the creature, which I dubbed the Crawler. It made sense that it was defending something, but it couldn’t be the structure. It was clearly between me and my objective, so it must have definitely been important.

Twenty Crawlers later, after which I named my first one an Alpha because it was rarer than the others, which lacked spines, I made it to my objective. The NAV marker vanished, leaving a blue diamond in it’s place, signifying I had to remain there. I found a control panel nearby, which was holographic. It seemed familiar, and reminded me of the stories of the Master Chief’s adventures on the Halo ring. He had encountered panels like this, which were said to be instinctual.

I immediately understood that feeling, and touched two fingers to a certain point on the panel. The glass-like ground beneath the objective diamond slid apart, and a large, rectangular object slowly rose out. as soon as I did this, more Crawlers started coming after me, along with new, large bipedal creatures that seemed insectoid, with large light swords on their left arms and guns on their right.

These new hostiles were much larger than the Crawlers, and therefore more dangerous. Before I could make a move, one with an angled helmet with glowing markings seemed to fold into itself, before vanishing in a small blue orb. I had no time to contemplate this, as I heard an electronic hiss from behind me. I saw the same biped, but I noticed that it had a machete-style sword, and a massive cannon. It knocked me onto my back with a single blow from the flat of its blade, and its helmet folded back, revealing a shining, orange skull with black pits where the eyes would be.

The skull was eerily human, and seemed to be grinning, but then it let out a grating roar that was most definitely not human. It folded into itself again, leaving me to stumble to my feet. I turned around, to see it in front of the rest of the hostiles. Its helmet was back, leaving me strangely relieved. The skull had unnerved me, and that scared me. Spartans shouldn’t feel creeped out, but that monster scared the living shit out of me. I heard what could only be described as a vortex, and saw a violet portal to my side. It had purple edges, which swirled like smoke into a black center.

Looking from monster to portal, I couldn’t decide what to do. The biped chose for me, firing it’s massive cannon. I immediately called for the Pelican, and dodged by the orange orbs that were shot at me. They moved relatively slow, with one large center one and four others, with one pair moving left and right, mirroring each other, with the other pair doing the same but at a 90 degree angle.

I reacted on instinct as it fired again, diving into the portal. I felt extreme disorientation, as if I were in a HEV dropped into a hurricane, then nothing.

When I came to, I was in a forest. A very, very dark forest. The area around me was scorched black, centered around me. The portal was nowhere in sight, so I figured it must have ruptured. Training kicked in, and I called my comms for the Infinity. Static.

I tried again, and again, and again, receiving hisses, crackles, and pops every time. I gave up, and examined my surroundings. The grass was long and and flattened where I had lain, while the rest was bent away and still smoldering. There was a clearing up ahead, but I couldn’t tell for sure with just my helmets zoom function. I had to go there.

I crouched and snuck towards the clearing, because I didn’t know if there were going to be any hostiles. I named the bipeds Knights as I stole across the ground, due to the large blades they had. I didn’t want to face another one as long as I lived, at least until I had some therapy. And proof that it was real. I didn’t have my helmet cam active, so I had no video footage.

I reached the clearing, and found a dirt path. I had found the end of it, it appeared, with the path to my right completely covered with weeds and a patch of blue flowers. The flora just seemed sinister, as if it was grinning evilly at my predicament. I went along the left, and found the edge of the forest. The plains before me contrasted heavily with the forest, as light radiated onto the lush, green grass. Rolling hills hid everything else, so I followed the path between. It was all I had to go on, until I could call for evac.

I had no idea how long I spent walking, but I encountered a town as the day neared dusk. My chronometer showed that it had been about noon when I arrived here, and I had travelled for six hours. Extrapolating from that, I guessed the days here were the same as a 24 hour Earth day.

I had fond memories of my homeworld, especially of the beautiful city named New Mombasa. I had shed many tears upon hearing of its fall, and signed up for the UNSC. I quickly proved myself, and joined the ODSTs, before joining the Spartan IV program. I had little time to reminisce, because I was almost at the edge of the town.

Cobble roads lay before me, with wood and plaster houses to my sides. Thatched roofs and medieval-style architecture showed that this place was likely primitive with technology, and probably the same went for the residents.

Speaking of which, I couldn’t see any. The streets were empty, the market stalls I saw creaked in the low wind, and all the windows were shuttered. The only light came from the moon which started to rise, and lights shining from… A tree.

There was a massive oak tree, which was apparently hollowed out and converted to housing. A sign outside said Golden Oaks Library, and I heard the sounds of… Was that a party?

There was definitely some form of festivity going on, but I couldn’t tell without entering. I had a few seconds to think, as I heard the sound of steps coming to the door. I decided to hide, and sprinted halfway around the tree at half speed, which was a mere 30 kilometers an hour. Activating my helmet cam to capture video footage of the population, I snuck behind a bush and recorded.

What met my eyes-and camera lens-startled me. I swore I was hallucinating, that this was all a bad dream, a really fucking bad dream, but it was real. I was watching a bunch of Technicolor ponies walk out of an open door, with a lavender one waving its hoof goodbye. Then I noticed that some had horns, others had wings, and some had none.

“What the fuck?” I muttered, as the lavender unicorns horn glowed purple, and the door was enveloped in the same glow, shutting behind it. Suddenly, my motion tracker indicated an unknown right behind me, giving me a heart attack.

Whirling around, there was a bouncing, pink pony with a ridiculously curly mane and tail in front of me. On the sides of its ass were three balloons, and the image was completely symmetrical on both the left and right. When it saw my angled helmet with white slits whip around to see it, the pony jumped three feet in the fucking air, gasping impossibly hard, before darting through the doorway to the tree.

“That can’t be good. Especially for a first contact, because these things are definitely sentient. Impossible, and straight out of a fairy tale, but definitely sentient.” I stated, before turning off the helmet cam and saving the footage. “I hope to God that ONI doesn’t come after me about this.”

My worried musing was interrupted, as a golden glow bathed the immediate area, and I was knocked unconscious...