Darkest Night: Saving Noble

Darkest Night: Saving Noble is the set in a Parallel Reality
== Prologue: The Last Hope ==
In a parallel reality, it is currently the year 2565, The Banished is winning the war at a worrying rate and Humanity is running out of options. Most colonies have been lost and the remaining ones are evacuating to the Sol System. With the help of the Xalanyn, the Banished have been able to decimate any offensive act that humanity makes and without the UNSC Infinity, naval fights have a 100% chance of a Banished victory.
Any civilians remaining in the inner colonies that are near Banished controlled space are focused on trying to escape them and flee to the colonies closer to Earth. However, there is one scientist on the planet Tribute in the Epsilon Eridani System, 10.5 lightyears away from Earth, the system that is home to the legendary planet Reach. He is one of the five hundred or so people remaining on the planet, all within the Capitol City, Casbah, that is still being rebuilt from the Covenants attack on the planet during the Human-Covenant War. Instead of fleeing, he has continued working on a machine that has been in the works since 2557. The machine would let a team of Spartans be sent to the past and retrieve something that could be of assistance in trying to win the new war. When HIGHCOM first heard of his idea they ignored it, but since then, they have become more desperate for effective tactics. This has led to them funding his project as this plan is one of the only ones they have left. Currently, his is finalising the machine and making sure it can be fit into a ship.
== Chapter 1: Departing for the Past ==
1837 hours, October 28, 2565 (military calendar)
ONI Research Site; Black Base
Casbah, Tribute
Experimental and Theoretical Physicist, Isaac McGraw and his team are desperately trying to get his machine, finished in time. His machine has been called the time displacement engine, or TDE. In recent years, recovery of Xalanyn technology has allowed McGraw to reverse engineer it and enabled him to finally get the TDE to work. It has been built in a way that enables it to be fitted into Fireteam Thunder’s personal Sahara Class Prowler. They plan to use the teams Prowler to send the Spartans back in time, to the year 2552.
Though there is an immense level of risk with attempting to travel through time, McGraw believes that the Spartans will be able to complete the tricky task. The team of five Spartans will be tasked with using the TDE to go back to the year 2552 and retrieve five separate soldiers, the members of Noble Team. The fireteam will have to retrieve the targets at precise moments in time, as to not mess with the timeline and then extract them all back to 2565. So that they can move around on foot without being seen, the Spartan’s Mjolnir armour has been equipped with advanced active camouflage and sound distortion modules, also created by McGraw.
On the evening of October 28th, McGraw is making the final adjustments to the TDE so that it can be installed into the teams Prowler. As he attaches the final bracket, Spartan 322 walks into the lab with his new, upgraded suit on. ‘Looking good there, Conor. Like the new gear?’ Conor nods, ‘it’s great man, thanks.’ His A.I, Odin starts to project himself and adds on, ‘Yes, it works well, and they will need it where they’re going.’ The Spartan puts his Mark V helmet on and activates the new camo. After a second, he completely vanishes from view, ‘This is perfect for missions that require stealth.’ His voice echoes around the room with the sound distortion module in his helmet. He comes back into view on the other side of McGraw, takes his helmet back off and leans down to look at the TDE. ‘Will it work?’ McGraw suddenly gets a worried look on his face, ‘We can only hope, there is no way of knowing if it can do a jump this far back in time.’ The two friends stare at one another, knowing that when they go through with this plan, and the Spartans leave for the past, they may never meet again.
Odin has a sudden look of concentration on his face, ‘Incoming.’ The next second, an alarm starts blaring around the base. A voice comes over the PA system, ‘The Banished Fleet of Striking Honour,’ has been picked up on our sensors, at the far side of the system. The fleet is heading towards Tribute and will reach us in 45 minutes. Prepare to evacuate the planet.’ McGraw’s face drops and turns pale, ‘We need to get this in the Prowler right now!’ Just then, Spartan 122 comes running down the hallway, ‘Sir, we need to leave while we still have an opening.’ Conor looks up, ‘I know Owen, come help me with this.’ Odin looks at McGraw, ‘You go get your mechanics to come fit the TDE in.’ ‘On it.’ he says as he runs off down the hallway, further into the base.
After a few minutes of carrying the TDE down long corridors, Conor and Owen finally get it to the Prowler awaiting them at the aircraft bay. They are met by the rest of the Fireteam along with Spartans, B233 and Mallery and the Sangheili, Xotan ‘Lofam. With them is McGraw and his mechanics. While the fireteam heads to the cockpit, Conor stays in the engine bay with the mechanics. ‘All done Sir.’ a mechanic says with one final bolt put in with his power drill. ‘Thank you, guys, go prepare for evacuation.’ McGraw says as the mechanics head back out and into the building. Conor walks McGraw to the Prowlers airlock, when they get there, McGraw turns to him. The two friends do a clasp handshake and start smiling, ‘Goodbye Isaac, see you on the other side.’ ‘Goodbye brother and good luck.’ Conor laughs, ‘We’ll need it where we’re going.’
McGraw exits the Prowler and stands at the bases entrance. ‘Colt, Mallery and Xotan, you guys stay here with Odin and help with the war in case we don’t make it back.’ Conor says, as he hands Colt Odin’s chip. Colt nods his head, ‘Understood, good luck Conor.’ He steps out of the Prowler, walks to where McGraw is and then turns to watch them take off. Conor closes the door and walks up to the cockpit. When he gets there, Spartan 622 turns around in the weapons station chair, ‘Are we sure this is the best way that we can help, by going back to those hellish, final days of Reach?’ Conor sighs, ‘It’s our best shot Kate, and I know you’d rather forget about those days, I would too, but we have to try, we don’t have any other solutions.’
Spartan 222 flicks a switch to start the engines. ‘We need to get off planet fast Liam.’ Conor says as he sits down in a spare seat. ‘I know, I’ll get us off-world before The Banished arrive.’ the Spartan replies as he lifts the ship off the ground. As the Prowler starts to head up into the clouds, its sensors pick up the Banished fleet. ‘They’re here!’ Spartan 522 yells to the rest of the fireteam. ‘We know Wade, we see them.’ Owen says as he stares out the window.
About three hundred and fifty klicks away is a fleet of fourty-two Banished ships heading straight for the city. A CRS class Light Cruiser exits the CSO class Supercarrier and heads towards the Prowler. It starts firing its Plasma Turrets at them. ‘Kate, return fire while I start up the TDE’ Owen yells back as he runs towards the engine bay. While fleeing from the Cruiser and returning fire, the Prowler is pointed in the direction of Reach. Suddenly there is a loud humming sound echoing through the ship. ‘That’s the engine, let’s get going,’ Conor says to Liam. ‘Alright, setting time to the 14th of August, 2552 and jumping in three, two, one!’ As Liam flicks the switch, the ship starts to shake as it opens a purple slip-space portal and goes into it. Everything becomes pitch black and silent for twenty-four seconds and then they burst back out of a portal right next to a massive Covenant CSO Class Supercarrier!
== Chapter 2: First Extraction ==
1254 hours, August 14, 2552 (military calendar)
ONI Prowler Black Knife
Reach Orbit
‘Go stealth mode now, before it spots us!’ Conor shouts at the sight of the gigantic twenty-nine-kilometre-long Carrier in front of them. Liam engages stealth mode, and the Prowler starts to fade into its surroundings, and its engines dim to a low hum, ‘Alright, they can’t see us, we should be good.’ ‘Are we where we need to be?’ Kate says as she gets up out of her seat and walks towards the window. Wade replies while staring at the panel that is reading the TDE, ‘August 14, 2552. We made it, we’re back to the Fall of Reach.’
Liam flies the Prowler underneath the Supercarrier and towards the Planet Reach, ‘So this must be The Long Night of Solace, glad we have stealth in this thing.’ After a minute a small dot appears on the radar, ‘Picking up the target.’ ‘How far Wade?’ ‘500 klicks and closing fast.’ ‘Then we need to hurry, our window is closing. Stay in stealth and take us towards it.’ Conor says as he heads to the weapons bay, ‘Liam and Kate, you stay here, Owen and Wade, you’re with me. The three Spartans gets down to the weapons bay and Conor walks over to the weapons shelf. He picks up his custom shotgun and magnum, a few frag grenades and a jetpack. Soon Owen and Wade join him, they both grab a jetpack and frags, then Owen grabs his Assault Rifle and his shotgun, while Wade grabs his DMR and his Spartan Laser. Conor then grabs and extra jetpack to extract the target.
Liam’s voice comes over the ships PA system, ‘Five klicks until intercept. I’m going to hold position and turn us around.’ The engines dim further until they turn off as Conor depressurises the airlock and opens the door. As the door opens the three Spartans see a Covenant SDV class Heavy Corvette heading towards them at immense speed. As the ship gets nearer, they jump and use their jetpacks to boost them towards it. They land on top of the ship next to a number of YSS-1000 Sabre Fighters and enter through the shield door into the centre of the ship.
‘We’re in, no sign of live Covenant forces on board, clear to advance.’ Conor says to update the others back on the Prowler. The team of three make their way through the ships curved corridors and to the hangar bay to locate their target. They get to the entrance to the hangar, activate their camo and walk towards the D77-TC Pelican that is on the far side of the room. They walk to the back of the aircraft and start to hear Spartan 052 talking to Spartan B312, ‘…Tell em to make it count.’ He then throws B312 out of the hangar shield door. Once B312 is out of sight, Conor, Owen and Wade turn off their camo. ‘Spartan 052?’ Conor says to Noble 5 trying not to startle the Spartan II. The 7ft 4 spartan turns around and swings his magnum to aim it at them, ‘Who are you three and how did you get here?’ ‘That’s classified sir, but since we won’t be here for long… I am Spartan 322, and these are my colleagues, Spartans 122 and 522, we are a part of Fireteam Thunder, a special operations squad of five Project 22 Spartans.’
Jorge lowers his magnum and holsters it, ‘I’ve never heard of Project 22 Spartans.’ ‘Just six of us Sir, off the books entirely.’ ‘Well, why are you three here? This Corvette is on its way to-’ ‘We know Sir, that’s why we’re here, we need you to come with us.’ Wade says as he holds out a device. Jorge takes it out of his hand, ‘This is a remote detonator! How did you know that the slip-space bombs timer is fried?’ ‘Let Wade fit it to the bomb, and we will explain everything back on our Prowler.’ Conor says pointing to the hangar door. Kates’s voice comes across their comms system, ‘Four minutes until Corvette reaches the Carrier.’ ‘We need to go now Sir.’ Conor says to Jorge while handing him the extra jetpack.
After Wade attaches the new timer, the four Spartans exit the Corvette and head towards the Prowler that was following alongside them. They get in as Liam turns the ship to flee the blast radius of the bomb. They then close the door and repressurise the room. Liam puts the ships thrusters at full speed causing the Spartans to stumble. Once they are in the cockpit, Liam slows down and turns the ship around to give them a view of the blast, ‘We are at a safe distance.’ Wade hands Jorge the detonator and they all watch as the Corvette docks at the Supercarriers refuelling bay. Jorge activates it and instantly a roughly twelve-klick-wide slip-space portal rips the massive ship in half.
‘Beautiful ain’t it?’ Jorge says while watching the ship rip apart and fall into atmosphere. The fireteam all take off their helmets and their faces look grim. ‘Sir, I hate to spoil this win but, you officially died on that ship.’ Conor says to him while handing him a file. ‘What do you mean Spartan?’ Jorge opens the file to find that it’s a file on him. He spots a highlighted section reading; Spartan 052 - Date of Death: August 14, 2552. He gasps, ‘How did you get this… how is this even real?’ ‘You might want to sit down for this Sir.’ Conor says as he offers Jorge his seat.
== Chapter 3: The Wait ==
1305 hours, August 14, 2552 (military calendar)
ONI Prowler Black Knife
Reach Orbit
‘We have travelled here from the year 2565. In our time, the Covenant was eventually defeated, four months from now, in December 2552. Since then, many other threats have come and gone but then a new threat, the Banished, rose to power. The Banished is a mix of species from the Covenant that have joined forces under a Brute called Atriox. They cannot be stopped; humanities forces have failed time and time again to stop their advances. Almost everyone had given up but then one scientist, my close friend, put forward his idea to try and turn the tide in our favour. The plan was that my team and I would come back to this year and pick up five specific targets, you being the first one, the others being Spartans that you know: A259, B320, A239 and B312. Sir, in the time I come from, you died along with the entirety of Noble Team, apart from Spartan A266, while trying to defend Reach from the attack of the Covenant. Although our efforts were mighty, Reach fell sixteen days from now as a result of the largest Human-Covenant confrontation in the war.’
Jorge’s face is filled with dread at hearing this. Conor gives him some time before continuing. After a minute, he continues, ‘We have been tasked with coming back and collecting fallen Spartans, Noble Team being are first collection. It may be our only hope to win this hopeless war.’ Jorge stands up, ‘I understand, you need me and my team to help win your war because our fight is- ‘He takes a deep breath, ‘Our fight is already over. But I am wondering how you’re going to get the others. Do you know where to find them?’ ‘That’s the easy part, we have files on each one of you that include details of your deaths. The hard part is that we must get them just before they are meant to have died, which will be tricky, as nobody other than us can know about it.’ Wade stands up from his chair and walks towards them, ‘Our next target is Spartan B320, her death is on the 23rd of this month, nine days from now.’
Kate turns to look at them, ‘Keeping her alive and getting her out is going to be the hardest task to pull off. As her file said, the remainders of Noble saw the Needle Rifle shot, pass clean through her head, but Liam and I came up with an idea.’ ‘Yes, we did, our plan is very technical. We will use Kates silenced dart rifle to shoot Kat with a dart that will have a toxin in it. The toxin will make it look like she is dead by putting her in a temporary coma and slow her heartbeat to almost nothing. Its effects will start to work on time for her to be shot by the Elite Zealot aboard the Phantom. Then we are also going to have to sneak a micro-overshield emitter onto her after the glassing beam hits, so that she will still have some shields to stop the needle rifle round.’ Conor butts into the explanation of their plan to explain the final part, ‘We will also have a micro-hologram emitter to project a hologram around her helmet that will imitate the hole in her helmet and the round passing through. Then we let Noble Team get extracted along with Kat three days later and then, when she is unsupervised in the infirmary, we will get in, get her and her armour and get out. Then Kate will use an anti-toxin to bring her back to consciousness.’
‘That sure is a complicated plan, are you sure it will work?’ Jorge says while looking at the toxin handed to him by Kate. ‘It’s the only shot we have, otherwise, she really does die and our chance of rising against the Banished becomes even smaller.’ Owen explains. ‘That, or our future selves come back and stop us from trying because we messed something up. Yep, time travel is a little confusing.’ Conor says while taking off his helmet. ‘Anyway, I’m Conor, pleasure to be of service Sir.’ ‘Pleasures all mine Spartan, the name’s Jorge, thank you all for saving me and letting me have another chance at helping save humanity.’ ‘These are my colleagues and close friends; Owen, Kate, Liam and Wade.’ The four Spartans all nod their head to say hello and Jorge nods in response. Conor sits back down, ‘Might wanna get comfy, cause it’s gonna be a long nine days of sitting on the side bench and letting everything play out as it should.’
== Chapter 4: Memories of Reach ==
1317 hours, August 14, 2552 (military calendar)
ONI Prowler Black Knife
Reach Atmosphere
For the next nine days, Fireteam Thunder, accompanied by Jorge follow Noble Team around the city of New Alexandria, while in stealth mode and keep a watchful eye on the time. They follow from above the buildings while dodging Covenant and UNSC aircraft. During this time, they spot their past selves not too far from Noble, tearing their way through waves of Covenant forces and helping any Marines and civilians along the way. As he watches, it brings back a bad memory for Conor. He remembers the mission that his team’s on, they are on their way take out a squad of Elite Zealots that have been wreaking havoc on UNSC forces. The mission intel that was given to them was missing information and instead of eight Zealots, there was twelve. This led to the mission going from an assassination to a fight for survival as they were ambushed by the overwhelming might of the Zealots.
While they tried to escape, a massive Zealot rushed Conor, tackling him to the ground and knocking his helmet off. As they struggled it clawed at his face and caught his left eye, damaging it beyond repair. He remembered how scared he felt when he realised it was the same Elite as on the planet Meridian. While on Meridian, the Elite was the one that sliced his arm off. Conor didn’t want to come back to the Fall of Reach because he knew it would bring back painful memories of the old war, but he knew he had to for the sake of humanities survival in this new one.
While watching Spartans and UNSC forces struggling with Covenant forces, he begins to remember the times he and his fireteam met Spartans Colt and Mallery throughout the destruction of the Planet. At the time, Mallery was still an ODST of the 105th Shock Troops Division, and was the last surviving member of his squad. Near the end of the Fall of Reach, he and his fireteam were pushed to their fallback position of Logistics Base Gödöllő. There they found Mallery. While fighting alongside Mallery, Conor saw how good of a soldier that he was and, after the war, helped him get into the Spartan IV Program. Mallery has been a valuable asset and close friend since then and has helped the fireteam many times on various missions.
Colt-B233 is a Spartan III of Beta Company. Near the beginning of the Battle for Reach, he was introduced to the fireteam when he was tasked with securing important data from Orbital Defence Generator (ODG) Facility A-331 to keep it out of the Covenants hands and was joined by the fireteam. He has helped the fireteam in various missions since.
Both of the Spartans have gone on missions with Conor, without the rest of Fireteam Thunder for a variety of missions.
== Chapter 5: Playing Dead ==
1921 hours, August 23, 2552 (military calendar)
Olympic Tower Rooftop
New Alexandria, Reach
The day of Kats extraction is has arrived. Conor and Kate were dropped off on the roof of a building and are making their way down it to where Noble Team will be. They have their camo activated so that they cannot be picked up on Noble’s radar, when the five Spartans arrive. They reach the floor where Noble will be while trying to communicate to Captain Keyes and Kate sets up her rifle. The first round is the dart with the toxin, the second round has the micro-overshield emitter and last one has the micro-hologram emitter.
Noble begins to arrive in the building separately and meet on the floor that Conor and Kate are set up on, as planned. As Kat takes off her helmet, Kate lines up her first shot. She waits for Kat to turn side on to her and then takes the shot. The rifle fires with such a small sound that it is drowned out by background gunfire. The dart lands on point, hitting her neck and instantly injecting the toxin that will have effect in one and a half minutes. Kat swats at her neck, as if to try and hit a mosquito. ‘Stage one complete.’ Kate notifies the team. She loads the micro-overshield emitter into her rifle with a timer, set to start emitting in one minute. She aims for Kats lower back and fires. The emitter sticks to her armour and continues to count down. ‘Stage two successful.’ Kat sets a timer for thirty seconds and loads the hologram emitter.
Conor hears Kat shout out about the sudden radiation spike, ‘Kate, hurry, the glassing beam is about to-’ As he says it, a large beam of energy shoots down past the building, making everything almost blindingly bright and rocking everything. The violent shaking shatters all the glass in the building as well as dropping a beam into Kate making her drop her rifle. Conor rushes towards it, through the broken glass and slides to pick it up. He lifts the rifle up and it aims at Kat as she starts to run towards the elevator. He takes a deep breath and allows himself to be steady. Kat reaches the elevator as Conor squeezes the trigger. The emitter races towards her at great speed as she gets in the elevator. Conor only just sees the emitter stick to her armour and continue to count down as the doors close. He lets out his breath as he looks up from the rifles scope, ‘Let’s get out of here.’
Conor and Kate start to run for the roof of the building to get extracted by Liam, who is piloting a Falcon that was brought in the Prowler. They look out the missing window and see the Covenant Phantom race towards the lower part of the building with the gap in the roof, where Noble is about to be. ‘I hope this works.’ Kate says while watching the Phantoms side door open to reveal an Elite Field Marshall. Carter, Jun and Emile run past the gap and then seconds later, Six and Kat are in view. The Elite takes its shot, the needle round hits Kat in the head is destroyed on impact with the shield. The toxin takes effect at the same second and Kat faints. The hologram emitter projects a fake hole in her helmet and the round passing through on the other side.
Conor and Kate stop watching and continue to the roof. When they reach it, they see Liam racing towards them in his Falcon with two phantoms just past him, gaining. ‘We have to be quick and precise; we cannot engage the Covenant.’ Conor says as he steps onto the ledge of the roof. Liam nears the building and maintains his incredible speed. As he flies past the roof, the two Spartans leap into the aircraft. ‘Aaaaah!’ Kate’s jump isn’t far enough, and she hits the side of the aircraft. While she hangs onto the landing bar, Conor leans down for her. They clasp hands and he quickly pulls her up. The two Spartans get in their seats, ‘Let’s go!’ Kate yells over their comms. Liam pushes the Falcons forward thrusters up to max speed and they race off towards the Prowler that’s waiting for them two kilometres away, in a large open field of grass.
‘We need you to be ready to go.’ Conor says over the comms to Owen who is waiting in the pilot’s seat of the Prowler. ‘Already on it.’ He replies as he turns the Prowlers engines on and lifts it up off the ground. As the Phantoms get close enough to the Falcon, they start firing at them. Conor starts throwing smoke grenades to help their escape as they race for the grass field where the Prowler is. They arrive at the Prowler and Liam flies it into the ship’s aircraft bay. They quickly dismount the Falcon and start to close the door. As the doors close, some plasma rounds shoot through the opening. The team run for cover and as the door closes, they hear thudding of continuous fire, raining on the outside of the Prowler. The three Spartans head to the cockpit while Owen heads up, into the clouds. The Phantoms follow for a while but then loose them as Owen activates the camo.
Three days later, they head over to the infirmary where Kat has been taken to, and land Liam lands the Falcon in a near carpark. Conor and Kate get up to go and retrieve Kat. ‘Can I help you get her?’ Jorge asks while walking after them. Conor turns back to him, ‘I’m sorry Sir, but if somebody sees you, everything is ruined, you aren’t meant to be alive.’ Jorge nods his head in understanding and slowly walks back to the cockpit. A few minutes later, Conor and Kate are outside and entering the infirmary through a back door while cloaked. As they make their way through the facility they have to sneak past multiple medical staff. They finally find the door with the number mentioned on Kat’s file. They enter to room to find lines of body bags with tags. Conor finds one with the tag said B320, ‘This is her.’ ‘And this is her gear.’ Kate says as she finds Kat’s armour in a storage container. They carry her back out to the Falcon and put her in. Liam pilots the Falcon back up to the Prowler while Kate, takes Kats helmet off and uses an anti-toxin to slowly wake her up.
They arrive in the airlock and are greeted by Jorge, who helps carry Kat out of the Falcon. Kat slowly starts to open her eyes and Jorge smiles at her, ‘Jorge!? What happened?’ ‘Welcome back to the world of the living ma’am.’ Jorge helps Kat get to the cockpit, explains to her; how he is alive, everything about the current and future situations and why Fireteam Thunder is here. For the next four days, they follow the rest of Noble once again as they go to Sword Base, and then collect a fragment of the A.I Cortana form Dr. Halsey. The same A.I that went rogue and attempted to rule the Galaxy in the year 2558. They watch as Jun leaves them to escort the Doctor. ‘Where is he going?’ Jorge says as he watches Jun and Halsey leave in a Pelican. Conor replies to him, ‘He is escorting Halsey to Castle Base.’ They then follow Noble to the next location, Asźod. ‘Next extraction is in a few hours.’ Conor says as he checks Spartan A259s file, ‘Be ready.’
== Chapter 6: Crash Course ==
1652 hours, August 30, 2552 (military calendar)
ONI Prowler Black Knife
Asźod, Reach
Boom! A Banshees Fuel Rod blast echoes in the distance. ‘That’s them! Let’s get going.’ Conor says as he heads to the airlock. He picks up his jetpack and an extra for Carter along with active camo equipment. ‘As soon as Nobles four and six are out of view, I’m going to drop onto their Pelican, you need to be ready for extraction.’ Conor says over the comms. He will be doing this extraction by himself to be as fast as possible. Wade tracks the Pelican as it is followed by a Phantom and two Banshees, ‘Liam, they’re just ahead in the canyon.’ ‘Got it, heading there now.’
Conor opens the door and watches Emile and Six jump out of the Pelican and land on the ground. ‘Okay, I’m going down.’ He activates his camo and jumps down onto the top Carters Pelican. He uses his jetpack to manoeuvre around to the back and enters the aircraft. He waits until Carter shakes the remaining Covenant pursuers and then uncloaks himself. Carter hears him walking towards him and looks back, ‘Who are you Spartan?’ ‘Spartan 322, Sir, and I have come to extract you, but first we have to take out a Scarab to save Four and Six.’ ‘What do you mean, ‘take out a Scarab?’ As Carter says this, a scarab drops down just ahead of them, just ahead of  Emile and Six.
‘You’re going to set this bird on a collision path with that thing, pretending to be on a suicide mission and then jump out with me using these. But you have to wait until Emile calls in about it.’ Conor hands him the jetpack and the active camo. ‘Alright, what happens after that?’ ‘You will come with me.’ ‘No, I need to help them deliver their package to the Pillar of Autumn.’ ‘Sir, I’m sorry but after this, you are officially KIA, but don’t worry, they will deliver the package, just trust me, I know and I will explain later.’ ‘Fine, but you better explain everything after this.’ Conor nods in response. Emile comes over the comms, ‘We can’t get past it, Sir!’ ‘No, you can’t, not without help.’ ‘Commander, you don’t have the fire power!’ ‘I’ve got the mass.’ ‘Solid copy. Hit em hard boss.’ ‘You’re on your own, Noble. Carter, out.’ Carter turns on his camo, aims the Pelican at the Scarab and punches the thrusters to max. He then runs to join Conor in jumping out the back. They both leap as far as they can.
They fall towards the ground and use their jetpacks at the last minute to break their fall. They look up to see the Pelican and Scarab falling down the cliff face towards them. They both turn off their camos and sprint out of the way of the huge vehicles and get blasted forwards by the explosion. After the dust settles, they see a Revenant driving towards them. ‘Turn your camo back on Sir, and do not engage!’ ‘Why not?’ ‘Sir, please listen, I will explain soon.’ Carter turns his camo back on and soon after, Conor does too. The Revenant gets nearer but stops about 20 meters away and two Elite Ultras get out. They search the crash site of the Scarab for any survivors but find none.
Once the Revenant leaves, Conor leads carter towards the pickup zone, and they wait for the Prowler. While waiting, Conor explains to Carter, why must come with him. Carter looks in disbelief but says he understands and is willing to go with him. Suddenly Liam’s voice comes across Conor’s comms, ‘We see you Conor, coming in on your left.’ After getting aboard the Prowler, Carter reunited with Jorge and Kat, ‘How are you two alive?’ Jorge takes his helmet off, ‘It’s all thanks to this team of Spartans.’ ‘But I saw Kat get shot.’ Kate walks over, ‘It was all perfect timing and holograms.’ As Kate explains everything, Liam pilots the Prowler towards the Pillar of Autumn.
== Chapter 7: The Final Two ==
1733 hours, August 30, 2552 (military calendar)
ONI Prowler Black Knife
Asźod, Reach
Just half an hour later, they are near the Railgun that Emile is operating to protect the Pillar of Autumn. Conor looks to Carter, ‘Sir, can you and your team stay here while my squad and I go down and extract Emile?’ ‘Whatever you need Spartan, as long as you get him up here safe.’ ‘Alright, Fireteam Thunder, let’s head down. Conor grabs his Shotgun and Magnum, Owen grabs his Assault Rifle and Shotgun, Wade grabs his DMR and Spartan Laser, Kate grabs her Sniper Rifle and Magnum, and Liam grabs his Hydra Launcher and Magnum.
The Fireteam use the Falcons to drop down behind the building with the Railgun. While cloaked and head up to below the gun and wait for their moment. After ten minutes of Emile shooting down Covenant aircraft and Six fighting off ground forces, a Pelican arrives down near Six to collect the package from him. While this is happening, Conor climbs up to Emile, ‘Spartan A239?’ ‘Who’s askin?’ ‘Spartan 322, Sir, you need to come with me right now.’ ‘I gotta keep using this for covering fire.’ ‘Don’t worry about that Sir, just come with me.’ Emile is reluctant at first but follows Conor just in time for the Phantom to arrive.
Two Zealots drop down next to the Fireteam. Conor places a hologram emitter in the railgun, and it starts to project a hologram of Emile and the two Zealots. While the fireteam fights the real zealots, the holo-Emile kills one of the holo-Zealots, I’m ready, how ‘bout you!’ It is then stabbed in the back by the second holo-Zealot but stabs it back, causing both to fall off the gun. Conor finishes off the last Zealot and then along with Owen, moves their bodies next to the gun. ‘Emile, can you lay next to them and act like you’re dead until Six leaves. ‘Why would I do that?’ ‘Please Sir, just follow what I say, its important.’ ‘Fine, I don’t know what you’re up to, but if I have to, I’ll do it.’ He lays next to the Elites and waits for Conor’s signal while Thunder all cloak themselves.
The Pelican returns to pick up Six and take him to the Autumn, but he decides to use the gun to help them escape, as expected. As he makes his way to the building, another Phantom drops off more Zealots next to the gun. He fights his way up to the railgun and starts to use it. He fights off waves of Phantoms and Banshees, destroying one after another, but in the sky, a Covenant Battlecruiser comes into view. Six waits until it charges up its glassing beam and then fires right into it. The round pierces right through it, conflicting major damage and destroying the Battlecruiser.
As the Battlecruiser falls to the ground, this gives the Pillar of Autumn a chance to get off world and escape the Covenant. After watching the Autumn leave, Six heads out into the ship graveyard to make his final stand. As he walks off, Fireteam Thunder turn off their camo, and Wade helps Emile get up. Conor walks over to Emile, ‘We need to follow him but not interfere until I say, alright?’ Emile does a slight laugh, ‘Man you’re crazy, but I like your style, it’s effective.’
After following Six for a couple minutes, they reach a few small, destroyed buildings with dead Spartans around them. As a Phantom dropship arrives, the Fireteam hides with Emile in one oof the buildings while Six grabs drop shield from a weapons case that the dead Spartans would have had. Six starts to fight off Grunts and Elites as more and more Phantoms come in. Emile stands up, ‘We gotta help him!’ ‘We can’t, not yet, not until it’s safe.’ Conor says as he gets Emile to crouch back down.
Suddenly, Six takes off his helmet and starts to fight advancing Elites. Six gets thrown to the ground by an Elite and as one is about to kill him with its Energy Sword a sniper round passes through its head. The remaining Elites all turn to look where the shot came from and see a team of five Spartans running towards them. Six takes this opportunity to get up and tackle an Elite. While he struggles on the ground with it, the other Spartans take out the remaining ones.
Six gets up after killing the final Elite with his combat knife, ‘Thanks for that.’ ‘Just doing our job, sorry we’re a bit late.’ Replies Conor, only its not the 2565 Conor but the 2552 Conor and Fireteam Thunder along with him. ‘We were tasked with helping you deliver the package you had to the Pillar of Autumn but we got held up by some Covenant Forces.’ ‘That’s alright, the package is on board the Autumn and off-world.’ ‘Well, now all that’s left is to get you off-world too.’ ‘I’m not leaving Reach, I will stay here and kill as many as I can before I go.’ ‘You sure, humanity could really use you in the rest of this fight.’ ‘Yeah I’m sure, you lot go ahead and evacuate this doomed rock.’ ‘Alright Sir…. Good luck.’ Fireteam Thunder swiftly heads to a Pelican waiting for them not too far away and evacuates.
2565 Conor then signals for Thunder and Emile to advance towards Six. They get to him and get his attention. ‘Sir, don’t be confused but we need you to come with us.’ ‘Didn’t you just ask me-‘ He is cut off as he spots Emile next to them. ‘Emile…. You’re alive? But-‘ ‘Yeah, this lot helped me survive those Zealots and made it look like I died…. Crazy shit’ Conor steps closer to Six, ‘I know you said you would stay here but a second Cruiser is about to come over hear and glass the area, killing you, we need to leave now.’ ‘Where are we going then.’ ‘We will go back to our Prowler; we have a few others that are eager to see you two.’
The group gets back to the Prowler. Wade looks at Emile and Six, ‘You guys are about to get the surprise of your lives.’ They get in the Prowlers airlock. The inner door opens, and Jorge, Kat and Carter come walking out. Emile looks between Conor and the rest of Noble ‘Everyone’s alive, how can this be, who are you guys.’ Carter walks over to them, ‘They are Fireteam Thunder, a part of Delta company. They are our second chance.’
== Chapter 8: Leaving the Past Behind ==
2018 hours, August 30, 2552 (military calendar)
ONI Prowler Black Knife
Reach Orbit
As they get ready to leave the year 2552, Thunder and Noble sit in the cloaked Prowler and watch as the remaining Covenant ships glass Reach’s surface. Jorge turns to Conor, ‘I almost feel lucky.’ ‘Lucky, why’s that?’ ‘You saved me, and the fact that I only have to live through the fall of my planet once, you’ve had to go through this hell twice now. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.’ Conor continues to look out at the planet and a look of sadness takes over his face. ‘Take us home Liam.’ ‘On it, preparing for departure.’ The TDE is turned on and the ship starts to hum. The purple slip-space portal opens up before their ship and they go in. Once again everything goes pitch black and silent before they are shot out above the planet Tribute. Conor looks back towards the rest, ‘Welcome to the future Noble team.’
It has been sixteen days since they left for the past and as they get nearer to the City of Casbah Carter turns to Conor, ‘Is anybody left here?’ Conor looks down towards the city and say ‘I don’t know, we have been gone for over two weeks. Let’s head down and see what we can find.’ Liam starts to signal the base where McGraw, Colt, Mallery, Xotan, Odin and the others are, ‘Black Base come in, this is Fireteam Thunder, do you read me? Over.’ No response. ‘I repeat, Black Base come in, do you read me? Over.’ There isn’t a response for almost a minute causing Conor and his team to worry. Then suddenly a voice, broken by static noise, comes across the comms. ‘We read SHRRT Fire-SHRRT Thunder. The airspa-SHRRT clear, make SHRRT way to landing SHRRT three. ’As Liam lowers the Prowler below the clouds, they see that the centre of the city has been glassed by the Banished
A few minutes later Liam has set the Prowler down on landing pad three inside Black Bases perimeter. Conor opens the door and runs out to find McGraw and the others but when he enters the base, there is nobody waiting, and the power is out. He calls over his comms, ‘Owen, could you come down here, and bring me my gun?’ ‘On my way. What’s going on?’ ‘I don’t know but keep an eye out for any movement on your radar.’ A minute later Owen joins Conor, hands him his shotgun, and they advance further into the base. They make their way to McGraw’s lab and find bodies off the bases staff all over the place. Owen stares at the bodies, ‘Are we too late?’ Conor walks into McGraw’s lab, ‘I hope not.’
As he walks in, Conor hears a click of a Magnum next to his head. ‘Hey there friend.’ A voice comes from the dark corner. Colt comes out of the darkness and lowers his pistol. ‘Colt! Am I glad to see you, where are the others?’ Odin starts to project himself between the two Spartans, ‘Follow us.’ The group make their way to a secure room on the top floor where they find Xotan and Mallery guarding the door. ‘Good to see you guys.’ Mallery says as he opens the door for them. Inside they are greeted by McGraw and about twenty or so civilians, ‘You’re back! Was the mission a success?’ McGraw says as he rushes towards Conor. ‘Yes, the mission was a success, Noble Team is alive and waiting for us in the Prowler. Now, let’s get you all out of here.’
‘It’s no use, we were too late.’ McGraw says as he turns his head away. ‘What do you mean “too late”?’ Owen says from behind Conor. After the Banished fleet started attacking us, half a dozen more fleets showed up, it was a slaughter. They finished us off and then headed straight for Sol…’ Odin chimes in, ‘There’s nothing left, they destroyed everything. I have been trying to contact Earth for weeks but we have had no response apart from a Frigate just yesterday, telling us that we lost…. That we were some of the last survivors left.’
As the words leave his mouth, a shadow starts to shroud the building in darkness. ‘No, they must have seen you arrive and followed you here!’ McGraw exclaims as he runs to the window. He looks out the window to find a Battlecruiser sitting directly above the base. The ship’s glassing beam starts to power up. ‘Guys?’ McGraw says with a dim tone. Conor walks over to him, ‘What’s wrong? What is it? He looks up to see the ships beam charging up. ‘We need to go. Now!’