-1The chief stood stock still as he waited for the torpedoes to hit the carrier. He'd seen battle records of naval combat, when covenant ships exited slipstream space, they were disoriented and powered down for several seconds. Hopefully, the torpedoes would hit the ship just before its shields came on. If not, then they would at least hit before they were at full power. The Chief stared at the covenant displays, watching as his weapons tracked in on the massive carrier. Cameras tracked them, as the streaked in towards the target. "Three, two, one…impact!" Cortana said. The cameras overloaded, so bright was the blast. But when they cleared, what remained was half a carrier, the other half vaporized, leaving the great hulk of (half) a ship burning and being consumed by secondary explosions. "Not bad, nice shot Chief." Cortana said. The camera zoomed into the wreckage…but was it wreckage? The Chief somehow doubted it as a pulse laser turret on the ventral side of the carrier began to rotate towards the cruiser. "Cortana. All available plasma weapons and pulse lasers. Finish them." he ordered stiffly.

The Fate of Impossibility lashed out in space in a fusillade that would impress anyone. All her laser weapons fired beams of searing light to stab into the carrier's hull and armor plates, plasma torpedo tubes fired again and the result was truly devastating. The lasers caused melted armor, burns, minor damage unless it punched into a section. The torpedoes however went far beyond that. The first one slammed into the turret itself, blowing a gaping hole in the side of the carrier. This hole was further exploited by a laser blast from a turret on the cruiser that ripped into the internals of the ship, causing catastrophic damage to everything inside, and plenty more outside as well. The barrage continued as more torpedoes hammered the already battered bulk of the ship, pulverizing metals and beings within. It was like a silent opera of death on the camera, and the Chief was enjoying the show. Explosions consumed the vessel as laser turrets carved up what little remained. The battle was over, and it had lasted all of two minutes. "Chief…I'm going to continue with our original mission. Attempting to access the covenant navigational computer now." she said. The Chief stiffened. Their home world? This was insane. "Cortana, I did not go through all THAT," he indicated to the screen "just to be killed by your suicide mission protocols. Discontinue and set course for Earth." he said. There was no reply, so he simply yanked her out of the terminal. "What the…you IDIOT! This mission is of the utmost importance to…wait." she said. The Chief raised an eyebrow inside his helmet. "Wait?" he asked, confused. "Chief, I'm still connected to the covenant computer system…" she mused.

The Chief was completely baffled. "How is that possible?" he asked. "Oh for God's sake Spartan, surely you know what wireless is? This is a MJOLINR armor, not an action figurine," she teased him. The Chief shrugged his shoulders. "So why the 'wait' then?" he responded. Cortana was silent for a full five seconds before answering. "Because something in the engine room powered up…and its not stopping. I think, somehow, we've set off a self destruct sequence." she whispered. The Chief wasted not one nano second and began strolling for the door. "Cortana, find me the fastest route to any escape vehicle, shuttle, drop ship, phantom, Banshee, anything. Then pressurize and lower security fields that take me on the most direct route to the exit. Make it fast." he ordered. A door swooshed open. "Done." Cortana said. "There's a Scarab in a launch bay in the stern of the vessel. Get moving." she said. The Chief started running, his armored boots smacking the hard deck plating with clangs, a nav point burning in his HUD. He focused on speed alone, not the timer Cortana had conveniently put up to show him her 'estimated' time until detonation. He just ran and ran and ran until he ran into an obstacle. The doors to the launch bay were sealed. Completely. "Cortana…" he began. She didn't respond, but the door slid open. The Scarab was intact, at least externally. The Chief grappled his way into the one-man fighter and simply started flicking switches. "Chief, put me in the Scarab," Cortana demanded. The Chief only grinned. "Haven't you heard of wireless? This is a MJOLINR suit, not Bluetooth." he replied sarcastically. Cortana was just about to snap at him when he jammed her into the access port.

The Scarab powered on seconds later. The Chief gripped what could only be the primary piloting interface and gingerly pressed it forwards. The Scarab lurched slightly, but otherwise didn't move. The Chief muttered, and saw something else that looked like a throttle, and simply slammed it forward. Cortana had lowered the bay's shielding, and the Scarab shot off into the infinite void of space. The little fighter streaked away from the cruiser, and the Chief got a first hand view of how much damage he had actually done to the carrier. "Cortana, any chance of enemy single ships?" he asked. A screen lit up to his left displaying several blips, much like a radar screen, only far more detailed. The Chief winced. A full flight of covenant Seraphs was closing on him. But they were on the far side of the Cruiser, and the little timer was on about one minute. "Cortana, calculate their velocity, my velocity, and your closest estimate to the speed of the shockwave when the ship detonates. Show me a safe distance point, and tell me if those Scarabs will be destroyed." he said bluntly. "Done. Adjusting your course now, increasing power to engines. It'll be tight, but I think you'll just clear the shockwave. I've established a remote access to that cruiser, this should give them something to worry about," she said, sounding bemused. The Chief didn't need to see the laser blasts coming from the cruiser to know that Cortana was taking shots at the Seraphs. "Well, these turrets aren't very good, but most of the fighters have broken off. Looks like you'll have five Seraphs still on you, two of which might not make it through the explosion. Ten seconds until detonation." Cortana informed him.

The Chief checked his safety harness and gripped the controls tightly. "Detonation, now." Cortana said. The result was a surprising anti-climax. Space was silent, so there was a great flash of light, but no noise at all. The ship was just clear of the shockwave as it passed through the rear of two of the tailing fighters, destroying them utterly, instantly vaporizing every molecule into oblivion. That left three Scarabs. The chief decided to press the advantage of the explosion, and slammed the controls to starboard. The ship heeled over and arced through space, coming about hard. Very quickly, his crosshairs were glowing red, and his fingers mashed both triggers. Fighter-sized fuel-rod guns cut loose a heavy volley, and his high output plasma beams lanced out into space, carving up the lead fighter's shields with ease, the fuel-rod blasts immolating the forward half of the vessel, which exploded brilliantly against the disquieting background of a dying carrier. The other two fighters broke formation and swooped out to flank him. The Chief, in theory, should have gone for one of them, possibly destroyed him, but in turn been shot from behind. He had no such plan in mind. He simply came about as hard as he could, just as they finished circling. The result was a head-to-head collision course. The Chief jammed his triggers and his plasma weapons lashed out, carving into the shield systems of both of the enemy fighters, but not doing enough damage to drop them. They returned fire, but the Chief was faster than your average Elite, and flicked the ship away, so that his starboard beam cannon raked a tiny bit more damage onto the other fighter's shields as he banked hard. The Chief went into erratic evasive action, and the other two followed, spraying plasma everywhere. Bolts of searing blue energy sizzled past his fighter as he rolled and side slipped, almost throwing the controls around at random.

One plasma beam landed squarely on his aft quarter, and alarms blared as the fighter's light shielding nearly gave way. The Chief didn't stop though, going into a booster climb, rolling the ship and then arcing it back into a lateral swing. At the apex of the swing, as the two other Seraphs turned to follow, he mashed the throttle into reverse and then threw the ship into a counter-clockwise sideslip motion. The effect was perfect, and one of the Seraphs was broadside right in front of him. The Chief mashed all his triggers, and fuel rod cannons and plasma beams carved the little ship into a molten fireball, silently exploding in space. The second Seraph had responded a little better, but only slightly. His ship had gone into a dive, avoiding the shot, but putting him in an easy firing position…for the Chief, who was promptly on his tail. This time, it was the reverse. The Chief sprayed plasma as the other fighter bobbed and weaved, rolled and yawed, and generally played havoc with the Chief's firing solution. But again, the Chief showed his superiority, and stopped trying to stay directly behind the other ship, he simply positioned himself, and fired his fuel rod cannons. As predicted, the erratic evasive maneuvers of the other Seraph combined with the velocity of the fuel rod bursts worked perfectly, and the enemy fighter flew sideways into the pair of them. The damage took off the starboard side of the ship, and it began to spin out of control, consumed by blue plasma fires.

The Chief was already pulling away, finally free of the mess and catastrophe that the ring had been. He almost felt relief, until a Covenant stealth ship shimmered into existence before his fighter, at less than 3,000 meters. The Chief didn't even bother to move the ship. "Chief…what are you doing?" Cortana asked. "I told you Cortana. I'm not running from anything anymore. We're going aboard, and we're going to take THAT ship back to earth." he stated, full of confidence. Cortana only sighed. The landing bay opened, revealing a force of grunts and elites. The Chief didn't just land the ship though, he opened fire, spraying high-energy plasma beams and firing micro-capital grade fuel rod cannons. The result was devastating. The shots he managed to get off before the covenant engaged a suppression field killed almost everything in the bay, and cause severe structural damage. The Seraph was being pulled down, but the Chief had a better idea. A small jetty like structure divided the bay, so the Chief climbed out of the top of the fighter, and leapt on top of it. The covenant troops, still recovering from his final fusillade, didn't even notice as he slipped into cover on the upper deck. "Cortana," the Chief whispered, "calculate the crew compliment of this vessel based on its size." he said. Unarmed, he was still powerful, but an entire covenant ship was a force to be reckoned with. "I estimate anywhere between 50 to 100, total." she responded matter-of-factly. The Chief screwed up his face, but stayed focused as he kept ghosting from cavity to cavity in the bulkheads along the corridor. The alert sounded quickly, and he knew they'd be on him. "Cortana…" he began. "Already got it Chief. Nav point is up, that's your command center." she told him. The Chief said nothing, and focused on moving.

He came around a corner at a major junction and found exactly what he DIDN'T want to run into. Hunters. Of course, the Chief had his MJOLINR armor and had learned a few tricks, but there wasn't much maneuvering room. So, he tried something else. He blurred forward, not caring what happened, hoping, relying on the idea that they wouldn't be foolish enough to try fuel rod guns. His fingers found the edge of an armor plate, wrapped under it, and he pulled. The plate was torn from the body with a snap, but just as he pulled it free, he twisted it, and slammed it into the flesh, penetrating a fine grey mesh underneath the plate. Blood poured from the open wound as the Hunter flung his arms every which way. The plate had jabbed deep into him, and the Chief followed it up with a hard punch. The impact slammed the plate almost completely into the alien's body, blood pouring from the wound at an unbelievable amount, the Chief must have penetrated some organ.

The second hunter, however, was not going to simply let this human kill his comrade. He swung his giant shield arm, and smacked the man into the nearest bulkhead with a thud. The Chief rolled when he hit the floor, the big creature lunging over him. He ended up behind the creature, and he spun and dove. His tackle had been aimed at the leg, and it was right on target. He grabbed hold and rolled forward, taking the giant lumbering beast down onto its back. He then stood, still holding the leg, and leapt backwards. It worked, and with a roar, the creatures leg snapped like cannon shot. The Chief didn't so much as flinch, and followed up with a few heavy punches to the head, leaving bloody dents in the armor. Two down. Ninety eight to go. He kept charging towards the nav point, until he burst into the command center, unarmed. Oddly, only one elite was present, the rest were grunts. The one nearest the chief had his back turned, so the Chief snuck up behind him and in one swift blow, severed the creature's head from his spine, its blood oozing out slowly. The chief policed the grunt's pistol, and managed to whip around the corner just as the alarm was raised.

Klaxons blared, covenant barked orders, and weapons were primed. The Chief overcharged the pistol and rolled into the room, firing. The huge blast of green energy ripped into the chest of a grunt, who was flung backwards into a wall, a scorched hole of burnt flesh the size of a baseball in his chest. The Chief let the weapon cool as he ducked around a corner from incoming fire. He bobbed back out and squeezed out five shots, all of them wrecking the face of another grunt, who made a gurgling noise as its melted lips attempted reflexively moved. The Chief ducked and continued his assault as plasma blasts flew over his head. His next volley ripped into the right knee of the last grunt took the leg off at that point. The creature fell over, screaming at the molten stub of flesh. The Elite had at first ducked around a corridor, to ascertain the situation, and ascertain he had. The creature roared in defiance, his golden armor gleaming as he charged at the Chief, plasma rifle ablaze. The Chief managed to get seven solid hits in before the creature's rifle fire had drained his shields significantly. He ducked around the corner and held down the firing stud. The Chief whirled, thinking the elite was still at a distance, but found himself incorrect as a knee smacked into his face.

The Chief was tossed backwards hard, releasing the firing stud. The effect was pure luck, as with a pop, the commander's shields failed. The Chief rolled backwards and opened fire…he got off three shots before the weapon died. The elite was bleeding from a wound in its shoulder and left arm in two places, but still armed, and still very angry. So the Chief did what he did best, and changed the rules. He hurled the weapon as hard as he could as he charged forward. The gun bounced harmlessly off a parrying forearm, but it closed the distance easily. The Chief tackled the giant alien and began to mercilessly pound him with every available appendage. His fists and boots, shins and knees, elbows, and even his head rained blows down on the creature. Armor was dented, bones were broken, and ultimately Death collected its due. The Chief stood slowly, and picked up the dropped plasma rifle. It had a 53 charge left. But really, he wouldn't need it now. An eerie quiet settled over him as he moved to the control consoles for the stealth ship. He slipped Cortana into the console, and she did exactly what she had done on that cruiser…the Fate of Impossibility. She sealed off the control room, and decompressed the entire remaining ship. Minutes later, the Chief was the only one left standing. He stood quietly on the deck while Cortana silently adjusted their course. The stealth ship rotated silently in space, and prepared to travel to Earth. "Chief. There's no way to put you into stasis for this trip…" Cortana said.

The Chief nodded, and scooped up the plasma rifle. He attached Cortana into his helmet, and then turned the rifle on himself. The shot bounced off his shields just as the world went white again…

The Chief awoke, head spinning. He wasn't sure how, but he was in a small cell, and his body ached. He was connected to an IV drip and what appeared to be highly primitive life-support. He was clothed in absolutely nothing, but he knew full well that he was very well protected. He gingerly removed the IV drip, and placed pressure on the wound. He was wired to heart monitors, but he managed to find some gauze laying on a small table near his bed. Given the nature of the equipment on it, the chief surmised he was about to be operated on. Change of plans, then. He stood, and forcefully ripped the cardio sensors from his naked torso. There was nothing to clothe himself in, but that had been part of his training when he was very young. Become comfortable and used to being unclothed, as fighting unclothed if you are captured may well occur. The Chief breathed deep, and moved for the door. It was solid, very solid. Reinforced titanium, with a heavy electronic lock. Of course, it didn't matter. The chief's full strength could easily flip a sixty-six ton scorpion battle tank. He simply breathed.

It was the breath of destruction. He sucked in his breath and focused on his arms. Then, he lunged forward and performed a double lunge, his twin fists slamming into the door hard enough to send the heavy door into the wall of the corridor. Guards had been posted, the Chief took pride that he warranted four armed men to guard him. Not that it mattered, as before they could react to the door he was in the corridor. Two stood to either side of him, the other two directly across from the other two. The chief simply snapped his arms out. The force of his blows snapped two spinal cords as two men dropped, helpless and paralyzed from the neck down. The other two men were beginning to raise the sub-machine guns they were armed with when the chief lunged forward and close lined each of them across the neck. The two men were left bleeding and unconscious, sitting perfectly in the indentations in the wall. The Chief policed a weapon. He had two primary objectives for this duration into the little dream land he had somehow come across. He would find himself a quiet place to live and avoid detection at all costs until he could be revived from the dream state he was in.

Of course, he needed to get out of wherever he was, first. The Chief just walked. Interestingly, he walked for over an hour, stumbling past an odd guard or two, encountering almost no resistance. Until finally, he noticed something. Slowly, he'd made his way in a big loop, and each time, different doors and entrance/exit points had been sealed. Someone was guiding him somewhere. The Chief took a minute to examine the aesthetics of the place. It was highly advanced looking, very bright overhead lighting, white tile walls and floors, heavy metallic doors everywhere, long corridors. Something straight out of a horror film. The Chief vaguely speculated it was a medical research facility, although that was just a wild guess. His guessing time came to an abrupt end as he entered a massive room, easily large enough to be a small hangar bay onboard a medium-size UNSC vessel. Spookily, there was only one man standing in the middle of it. The lighting was painfully bright and white, reflecting off the Chief's naked body. His muscles rippled as he entered the room, and the other man moved…no, almost glided towards him on his feet. That was the sign of an experienced fighter, and the Chief was ever so slightly wary.

The Chief walked forwards casually, on the balls of his feet. He simply moved to brush the man aside, which he learned instantly was a mistake. The man was tall, skinny, but not gaunt, and heavily muscled for his body's shape and size. His skin had a slightly brownish tan to it, one that suggested it was his natural skin color instead of his complexion. The man moved like a viper, his body arcing to the left as his right knee connected solidly with the Chief's chest. The Chief felt surprise as the impact didn't seem to have been stopped by his shielding. Before the Chief could react, the man readjusted his footing, and leapt, catching the Chief in the side of the head with his left knee. The Chief reeled as he was knocked backwards. He regained his balance quickly and dropped his weight. The man was DEFINITLY an experienced fighter and martial artist. The style seemed familiar but the Chief couldn't pin it in just two movements. This time the Chief advanced swiftly and directly in a low crouch. The fighter leapt at him, his simple black body suit shining in the lights as he aimed an aerial kick at the Chief. The Chief rolled smoothly to his side, then dived like a wrestler at the fighter. The spear connected solidly, but the man had reacted nearly quick enough, and was instead flipped over the Chief's right shoulder. The Chief spun and rolled over backwards at the same time as the man flipped in mid-air and landed firmly on his feet, dropping into a fighting stance the chief recognized. A dangerous martial art, muay thai. The Chief silently hoped he did not find himself in an arm lock, or else he would be minus one arm. The man advanced again, but this time the Chief tried something new. He faked a left jab, and found a right leg whirling towards his left shoulder. His super-human reaction time was the only thing that made it possible when he lunged with his right and caught the mans ankle. Severely stunned by the Chief's speed the thai fighter paused, for an instant. The next he threw his weight towards the Chief.

The Chief ended up with the fighter on his head, hammering him with elbows. Slightly dazed, the Chief managed to flail, landing a heavy blow to the man's ribs. The fighter was thrown five feet away from the chief, pin wheeling as he went until he smashed into the padding of the floor. He paused only momentarily before leaping to his feet. The man advanced silently yet again, but with far more aggression in his walk. This time, the fighter lashed out at the chief in a fury. A heavy right hand smashed into the Chief's forearm block, followed quickly by a sharp jab to the left side of the Chief's body with a shin. The man rained blows at the Chief, who was barely managing to parry them all. Finally, as the man went for a more elegant attack, the Chief saw an opening. As the fighter spun around and prepared to leap, the Chief lunged forward with a double cross arm smash from the right. His hands and arms hit with piston like force, and the man was knocked to the floor so hard and fast that he bounced.

It was a testament to the experience and prowess of the man that he didn't have any broken bones. He simply stood up, although lethargically. The Chief felt several bruises forming on his sides and arms, even on the sides of his knees where he had blocked some kicks. The man simply rushed at the Chief this time, in blind blood lust. The Chief decided to show the man that he wasn't the only one who knew a thing or two about martial arts. They were part of the Chief's training. He didn't really like to use any of them, as his felt it was awkward with his body type. Never-the-less, he learnt them off by heart. The Chief ran at the man as well, and leapt at the last instant to the right, spinning into a butterfly twist as he went. The Chief's right leg snaked out in mid-arc and caught the fighter squarely in the chest. The man landed on his back hard, but instantly rolled up to face the Chief. The Thai fighter attacked again, with long kicks and short, powerful knee thrusts. The Chief fought back with one of his favorite hand to hand styles, a Russian fighting system known vaguely as 'the system'. The Thai man surprised him with a jab from his right hand, but the Chief reacted fast enough to counter. His left hand grabbed the punch and rotated the whole arm in a circle to the left while his right hand rotate the head to the right.

The quick combination had the man spinning in mid air then sprawling on the padded floor, stunned. The Chief didn't hesitate to follow up. He rushed in like a football player and lashed out with his right leg. The sword tip of his foot smashed into the man's temple with bone shattering force. The man twitched once as blood began to flow from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. Then, he ceased to breathe. He was dead.

The Chief managed a large exhalation of breath. That had been the most challenging opponent he'd ever faced in hand to hand combat, and he'd fought with the best both humans and covenant had to offer. The chief reoriented himself, and walked to the sealed door the man had been blocking the path too. He heaved it open to reveal what appeared to be a decontamination chamber. He stepped in and sealed the door. There was a single red button in the room, so he pressed it. The lights went out, and he heard gasses hissing into the room. The gas filled the room for mere seconds before the opposite end of the chamber opened. The Chief stepped through into blinding sunlight. His pupils adjusted quickly, and he took a look at where he was. What he saw was fascinating, a skyline of massive buildings of a heavily populated urban centre. Of course that was fascinating, but it was also bizarre as he appeared to be standing in what was essentially a car parking lot. There were all sorts of land vehicles around him, from tiny, two person vehicles to massive truck like vehicles. The Chief noticed one in particular that he found interesting, it was black with large metallic wheels, it had the badge 'RS4' on the back. The Chief approached the vehicle and waited.

It took hours, but eventually a man in a suit approached the car. The Chief was sitting against the wheels, naked, and covered in bruises and cuts. The man immediately reacted the way the Chief expected. "Jesus, are you ok buddy? What happened?" he said, while opening up what had to be a portable communications device. The Chief lashed out rapidly with his head. The Chief's skull impacted solidly on the man's crotch, and he dropped, groaning. The Chief picked up the communications device, some kind of phone, and hurled it off the edge of the building. He then took the man's keys from his pocket and, with a whispered apology, took the man's trousers, which barely fit him. Then, the Chief got in the car. He put the keys in, and heard a very satisfying roar. He had assumed that RS4 was just a production number, but taking into account the aesthetics of the vehicle, and that roar that could only be a rather large engine, he suddenly had a better idea. There was a roar and a squeal of tires as the Chief floored it and peeled away from the parking lot. He went down several ramps, exited onto quiet urban streets. It was dark out, the vehicles chronometer told him it was 0200 hours, and there was almost nothing going on. The Chief managed to get the vehicle out of the city without incident, which city he didn't know. All he did know was that he would head south, and hope for the best.

He managed to get the vehicle onto a highway, which was equally barren save for large transportation vehicles with more than 16 wheels. He pushed the car as fast as it would go, the engine screaming as he slammed his way through the gears until the speedometer read 155mph. He shot through the night, as if he was in a trance. Time seemed to become fuzzy, and his next moment of clarity came when the sun was beginning to climb over the horizon and his head was pounding with dehydration. The Chief had no idea where he was, but his fuel readout was frighteningly low. So the Chief decided to test a theory he had thought up. He kept his speed steady at 155, and raced head on at a barricade. The RS4 smashed into the barricade, vaporizing the front end. The Chief was flung out of the rear window of the car, and just before his head slammed into a large oncoming vehicle, the world went white and fuzzy…

The Chief sat up in his armor. "Welcome back. We're approaching the orbit of Saturn, Chief. it's a good thing you woke up when you did, because it seems the Covenant are in system. They're sending a Cruiser to investigate ours. We've been taking some damage, and…"

"Cortana."

"Yes?"

"How far are we from Earth?"

"An hour or so if I increase power to the engines."

"Good."

"As I was saying, we're about to…"

"CORTANA."

"What IS IT!?"

"Shut up."