"While you do what? Go down with the ship?" 

Your POV 

"Vala delse, vala delse, vala delse." I repeated for what seemed to be the thirty second time tonight. 

"What are you even saying?" The ODST next to me asked. "Callin them split lips in their own launguage." I answered. The helljumper nodded before laying back. I looked at the rest, each wearing the same ODST armor Silva did. 

Why was I not with the spartans? Well, we thought it best I arrive with the third and fourth pelicans. "Alright ladies! Spartans cleared the grav lift, time to deploy!" The pilot yelled back, the doors opening wide. "Go go go!" I ordered, GPMG at the ready. 

The Spartans and Bravo Squad already stood aboard the grav lift. Sadly, Alpha Squad's bodies were around it. I looked to see Echo-419 dropping off Charlie Squad. I returned my attention to the grav lift and the spartans on it. 

"Delta's ready to kill some vala delses." I said to Chief. "So you have been praticing." Cortana spoke through Chief's helmet speakers. "YAHOOOOOOOO!" A marine yelled as he was sucked up into ship. Marines and ODSTs alike had their own quips as we were dragged up one by one. 

"And here I thought we went to hell feet first!" I yelled as I was the third to last dragged up, the Spartans following suit. The floating feeling in my stomach left as my feet hit ground. "Form up! Keep eyes on those doors and watch for anything out of the ordinary!" ODST Sergeant Mack Ordered. 

The Spartans landed behind me. "We're in. I've got a good lock on the Captain's CNI Transponder. No Covenant defenses detected." Cortana said. "I don't buy it. Keep an eye out for anything trying to be sneaky!" I said. 

A door then opened, but nothing visable came through. "What the-" A marine asked, but got cut off as his body split in two. "Open fire!" Bullets flew into the direction of the dead marine, revealing an elite using cloaking. It charged forward, but fell dead as twenty people with automatic weapons dumped lead into him. 

We then got fired upon from the other doors. "Contacts! Lots of contacts!" A marine yelled. "Spread out!" Another said. "Don't cluster!" I yelled running atop a nearby wraith, then proceeding to shoot down upon a group of grunts that came out another door. 

It was a tough battle. Cloaked elites came every once in awhile, managing to get at leat one kill before the Spartans ripped their heads off. Of the twenty of us than were carried up here, only seven of us were alive when finally a giant door opened up. 

And two jackles came out, shields raised. Linda shot the foot of one, forcing it to drop down and get shot by Chief. I unloaded on the other, a bullet catching it's hand and then the rest of it when it's shield flinched away. 

"Area's secure ma'ams." A marine stated. "We need to keep moving. How about those blast doors?" An ODST asked. We moved through the door and down a ramp before coming upon another door. 

"Door's locked. No way through." I told the group. "We can use the side passages to find a way around." Cortana said over comms. 

"We'd be sitting ducks in that narrow space. Me and the men will hold this position. LC? Think you can the Spartans can find a way around and open that door?" A marine sergeant asked me. "Not much choice sergeant. See you soon." I replied before following the Spartans back up the ramp. 

We entered the passage, killing a squad of covenant along the way. We made it into a big room, finding more covenant, and ourselfs on the top floor. I immediately took cover at behind a covie crate thing as an elite and two grunts opened fire. 

Chief and Linda took cover behind a pillar opposite of me. "Wait, that's the locked door down there. Must be the controls next to it. Think you can cover Chief while she opens it?" Cortana spoke over comms. I peeked out and opened fire, gunning down the grunts. 

"Will do!" I replied, watching as Linda peeked out with her sniper and put a new hole in the elite's head. Chief jumped down as Me and Linda took positions next to the ledge, shooting down at covenant. It took a few seconds but Chief opened the door, allowing reinforcements to flow in. 

After another firefight, the room was secure. "All clear, sir!" The sergeant informed Chief. "We need to keep moving." I chimed in. "Alright, everybody stay cool! Yell if you see anything!" An ODST said. I looked down. "Uh, I can't fall that-WHOA!" I yelled as Linda put an arm around my waist and jumped down. 

We landed and she let go of my waist. The others snickered at me as I did a light backhand to Linda's shoulder. "Tell me before you that again." I said. I could almost feel  that shit eating smirk under her helmet. 

We then joined the rest in entering another passage. We navigated our way until we reached what seemed to be a hanger. A spirit took off, hitting a grunt with it's gun. We murdered our way through squads of covenant until we reached the opposite side of the hanger. 

"Hey, which way should we go now? All the doors on this leven are locked." A marine asked Cortana. "Wait a moment. I'm going to access an overide code to open a door." Cortana spoke though comms. "You better hurry up Cortana, we can't hold them off all day." The marine responded. 

"Working on it." Cortana said. Just then two hunters came though a door. "Hunters! Shoot their back! Throw nades! Just dont stay still!" I yelled as everyone scattered. Getting an idea, I ran atop a nearby wraith and opened it's hatch. I jumped inside and tried getting it started. 

I could hear explosions and gunfire as I tried to at least bring the main gun online. "Cortana! How do I get this fucker on!?" I asked. "Anti-grav crontrols are offline. Pull that lever to your left to open the main gun, the opposite to fire. I'll have the last hunter right where we want them soon." She explained over comms. 

I pulled the lever the said to, a single screen coming online. Chief was right in my crosshairs shooting a hunter as it ran towards her. I gripped the other lever with bated breath. The hunter raised it's shield, prompting Chief to move back. The hunter brought it down where Chief was, and I pulled the lever. 

Bright hot plasma shot out above me, hitting the hunter dead on. It's scroched remains were shot out the hanger, falling to the ground below. I hopped on out, getting a thumbs up from the Chief. Linda was already back at the door as we approached. I also noticed the lack of the others. 

"They'll be remembered." I said as Cortana spoke again. "Door's open. Best we move though as I dont know how long it'll stay open." 

We entered the doorand navigated through another passage before coming out on the second level of the hanger. "If I ever board another covenant ship, it'll be too damm soon." I stated. "Open that hanger and Echo-419 will drop off some familier faces." Cortana spoke on comms. 

We did just that after slaughtering some more covenant. Echo-419 came in and opened up, allowing fireteam Charlie to jump on out. "Johnson? I though you were injured?" I asked the man himself. "I'm not sleeping when we're this close to the Captain. Let's move out!" He said. 

We did just that. After killing more covenant, guess what we did? Enter another passage. This time it brought us up to the top third level. We just killed more covenant before entering another passage. We entered a new room that had a bunch of grunts, and an elite in special armor. 

"Must be a command center. My hud's picking up the Captain's CNI, so he must be close." I stated. "This is a good spot. We'll mind the store here while you three go after the Captain." Sergeant Johnson informed us. 

"Alright. HUDs showing the signal this way." I said, leading the Spartans into another passage. We killed grunts and jackles along the way until we entered what looked like the brig. An elite in similar special armor at the back of the room saw us and opened fire. 

We took cover behind two pillars as grunt next to him fired too. "It's the Spartans and LC!" One prisoner yelled. "Helljumper! Let us out man!" Another pleaded. "Two are cloaked! Watch out!" A third yelled. I peaked out and fired, the constant stream of bullets killing the grunts and taking down the elite's shields. 

Two more elites appreared dead as Chief and Linda focused fire on the last lone. It fell dead with a yell, dropping it's needle rifle. We walked to the only control panel in the room and deactivated the cell doors. 

"Comming here was reckless, you three know better than this." Captain Keyes said as Chief helped him up. "Thanks." He added. Keyes adjusted his uniform before walking out confidently. "Marines! Lock and load your weapons, lets get ready to move." Keyes ordered. 

"Yes sir!" The three of them stood in formation with plasma rifles. "While the Covenant had us locked up in here I overheard the guards talking about this ring world. They call it: Halo." Keyes explained. "Of course it has an O in the name." I muttered to myself. 

"One moment sir, accessing the Covenant battle-net. According to the data in their networks, this ring has some sort of deep religious significance. If I'm analyzing this data correctly, they believe that Halo is some sort of weapon. One with vast, unimaginable power." Cortana spoke though Chief's helmet speakers. 

"Then it's true. The Covenant kept saying that whoever controls Halo controls the fate of the universe." Keyes said. 

"Now I see. I have intercepted numerous messages of a team scouting for a control room. I assumed they were looking for the bridge of a ship I disabled. But they must be looking for Halo's control room." Cortana informed us. 

"So if Halo is a weapon, and they find it's trigger, it'll be just like a Coughing baby vs a Hydrogen bomb." I said. The Captain paused in thought. "Spartans, Helljumper, I have a new mission for you. We need to beat the Covenant to Halo's control room. Marines! Lets move!" Keyes ordered as I handed him the needle rifle. 

"Spartans. You have point." Keyes said. 

Shut up and get behind me... Sir 

The door opened up allowing two elites to come in. We delt with them then entered the passage and navigated back to the control room. We entered to find a bunch of dead covenant, and Fireteam Charlie. "Wait what!? We didn't leave for but a few minutes!" I said. 

"Wait, where's Johnson's body?" I asked, only to be ignored. I almost got cut in two by a cloaked elite if it wasn't for Chief yanking me back and firing at it. It fell over dead as Cortana got on comms. 

"Cortana to Echo-419, we have the Captain and need extraction on the double." "Negative Cortana, I've been engaged by Covenant air patrols and having a hard time shaking them. You're better off finding your own ride. Sorry." Echo-419 explained. 

"Achknowaged Foehammer. Cortana out." Cortana ended the call. "Air supports cut off sir. No easy way off." I explained to Keyes. "Oh man, we're trapped in here! We're screwed man! We're screwed!" A marine had a panic attack, only to be slapped by the Captain. 

"Stow that belly aching soldier, and remember you're a leather-neck. Cortana, if you can get us to one of those dropships, I can fly us out of here. "Yes Captain. There's one ship still docked." Cortana explained. We entered a passage and faught our way to the hanger. 

Chief disabled the docking clamp on one ship which then floated up here. "Dropship's loose!" I informed. "Everybody mount up. Let's get onboard." The Captain ordered. We hopped in and the Captain went to the pilot's seat with me behind him operating the gun. 

"Give me a minute to interface with the ship's controls." Cortana said. "Ah, no need. I'll take this bird out myself." The Captain said. We were about to leave when two hunters came out of a door. "Sir! Hunters!" I yelled out, getting the gun ready. "Hang on!" Keyes said as he used the ship to ram the pair. 

"Nice one sir!" A marine said. "Time for a little payback" Captain Keyes said as he flew us out of the ship. "Once Cortana disables the tracker, I'll guide you to Alpha Base." I said as we flew off into the night sky. 

(2166 Words. So, is it early because I'm posting the day before Sunday, or late because I missed many Sundays? Anyways, I hope yall enjoyed. I also made the decision to include Reach's weapon and equipment sandbox since it does exist at this point in the timeline. Also, here's what a needle rifle looks like.)