EDITED 2/9/2014
-CHAPTER START-
Earth
Sydney, Australia – Current headquarters of United Nations Space Command
November 22nd, 2552
"Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, it is my great pleasure to bestow upon you the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, as well as to present you with this Congressional Medal of Honor."
"Thank you, Fleet-Admiral, sir."
"Sergeant-Major Avery Johnson, it is my great pleasure to bestow upon you the rank of Sergeant-Major of the Marine Corps, as well as to present you with this Colonial Cross."
"Thank you, sir."
"Commander Miranda Keyes, it is my great pleasure to bestow upon you this Navy Cross, as well as a promotion in rank. Congratulations, Captain Keyes."
"Thank you, sir."
"Warrant Officer Grade 3 Teana Lanstar, on behalf of the United Nations Space Command, I would like to personally thank you for all the help you have given in the months since you arrived in this dimension. It is my great pleasure to bestow upon you the rank of Warrant Officer Grade 4, as well as this Distinguished Service Cross. Also, may I say that, through analysis of records held in your Device's memory, the UNSC refuses to accept the TSAB's ridicule of your departed elder brother, and formally condemns those officials who insult his memory. We measure a man by his accomplishments, not his failures, and to speak ill of the dead is a grievous offense in our eyes. Considering that he had a hand in saving half a dozen planets during his career, he'll be regarded as a hero in our records. Lastly, on a relatively minor note, as a result of recent tests of your skills the UNSC has decided to mark you as fully qualified to wield the M99 'Stanchion' Special Applications Scoped Rifle; your training in its usage will commence tomorrow."
"Th… thank you, Fleet-Admiral, sir."
The old man smiled warmly.
"It is my great pleasure to know each and every one of you. Good job, soldiers."
He saluted them, and the crowd followed his example.
-SCENE BREAK-
UNSC Base
Voi, Kenya
January 5th, 2553
Teana leaned against a metal wall, looking at her new team. Back on December 15th, each of the four girls had come from another realm like her, and like her they were looking to leave their old lives behind and start anew. Thanks to their sharp minds, a spell auto-casted by the Starshot, and her own knowledge-transferring ability inherent in her new eyes, they had been gifted with the necessary knowledge and skills to make a good Spec-Ops team, and had spent most of the time since studying & training to further their skills. She and they had quickly gotten to know and understand each other, and the UNSC had recently agreed to officially register them as a Special Ops squad called Gamma Team… with Teana as leader, Gamma-1. She'd been apprehensive of this last part, feeling that she wouldn't measure up to Carter's standards, but the Master Chief himself reassured her.
19-year-old Mai Kitagawa, Gamma-5, was a kind and gentle soul (not that this detracted any from her new skills as a soldier), with shoulder-length light brown hair (topped by a red bow) and gold eyes. Her passive, cheerful attitude upon her arrival belied her history. Mai possessed extraordinarily potent regenerative abilities, enough to survive things no normal human could hope to, which had been further supercharged by the trans-dimensional trip to Wolverine levels. Her history absolutely horrified those who learned it: on her home Earth, before being 'chosen' and rescued by the Starshot's AI, she had been a sexual slave, with her owner renting her out to clients in order to be brutalized, butchered, and otherwise 'killed', put through things that her healing factor allowed her to survive… but that ability did not in the slightest decrease the horrible, indescribable pain and terror of the things she was put through. The UNSC had issued a full psychiatric workup, and in the process had accidentally awakened suppressed memories: of losing her only friend and being forced by her owner to watch her body decay, and of having her unborn child ripped out of her, defiled, and brutally murdered right before her eyes. It had taken a solid week of work to put the poor girl's mind back together to the point where she could be allowed out & about, and only two days ago was she finally allowed to go without escort keeping an eye on her. Needless to say, Mai was now very happy with this chance of a new life, with friends and a noble purpose, free of the mind-shattering tortures of her life so far.
16-year-old Marie Swanson, Gamma-4, was the only American of the group. In her past, she'd been a typical bratty teenager… until her younger sibling had found some reality-altering device that changed her into a 3-year-old while altering everything so that only she and her now-older sister ever remembered her being a teen in the first place. Eventually, a mishap caused by a second magical artifact had restored her to her original form, but had two other effects: first, it did not alter reality and memories, so her mother, sisters, and now-younger-again sister's boyfriend suddenly found their toddler member as a near-adult. Second, it hit Marie with every negative emotion and opinion people ever had regarding her and her actions – young and old – all at once, along with putting her through an Evangelion-Instrumentality-style psychoanalysis that broke down her deep-buried self-loathing and lack of self-esteem or empathy. The incident had changed her profoundly, but instead of choosing to remain on her home Earth (incidentally, the same as Mai's only on the opposite side of the Pacific) and make amends for past dealings, which she did wish to do, she instead felt that nothing she did could ever make things right. Thus, after she and her younger-again sister had explained things to the other three, she had bid them all farewell and stepped through the portal that had opened during the incident, despite her family's calls for her to stay and that they forgave her. She had arrived in this new realm, and had agreed to assist Teana in her future travels, righting wrongs and continuing to reinvent herself. She was now infinitely more pleasant than her old-old self, paying close attention to people's feelings and how her actions affected them. She was now, by nature, somewhat boisterous and seeking to get involved in things, and trying to be outgoing, shunning her old reclusive, harsh, sarcastic, manipulative nature. It took Kelly-087 quite a bit of work to convince and show Marie that sarcasm could be used in a non-hurtful way.
16-year-old Kaede Fuyō, Gamma-3, was still recovering from a "minor" psychotic break. On her home Earth, where angels and demons had lived peacefully among humans for quite a while, she had fallen deeply in love with a boy, and had also come to rely on him for emotional stability. So when the boy had fallen for and started spending nearly all of his time with another girl, to the point where he ignored and neglected Kaede, she had snapped, first trying and failing to kill the other girl and then spiraling into a depression. Shortly after she had, in desperation, curled up next to him in his bed… naked… and he had promptly run off, she had been offered the chance to join this new adventure. Convinced that there was no longer anything on her homeworld for her, she accepted, leaving a video log for her friends (including the boy and his new girl) explaining how she was taking a chance to travel other realms… and that they would never see her again. She did not witness their heartbreak, as the boy and the girl ruthlessly beat themselves up over their decisions and actions that led to this, and the other three girls of the group were nearly consumed with sorrow at losing their friend (who they had also developed some 'attraction' to).
Teana's second-in-command, Gamma-2, was a green-haired 17-year-old named Shion, and the only member of the group whose breast size rivaled Teana's… not that that meant anything, really. The girl had revealed precious little of her story. She hailed from a village nestled between small mountains, where she had been part of a group of friends that also included, in her words, "a charismatic brown-haired boy, an orange-haired girl obsessed with cuteness, my mischievous, blond-haired surrogate little sister, her cheerful, prophetic little friend, and another person I'd rather not talk about." Apparently, Shion had suffered multiple grave injustices at the hands of her clan throughout her life, living as a second-class outcast of the family, and the clan's condemnation of the pure-hearted boy she'd fallen in love with, to the point where she barely avoided being tortured by them for trying to defend him. And then he'd vanished without a trace. On her Earth's April 10th, a month and a half after the brown-haired boy had arrived in the village and become part of the group, Shion had done… something… that deeply angered her clan. So they tortured her for it by ripping out the nails of her right hand's middle, ring, and pinkie fingers. They expected this to cow whatever sense of self-worth she had left. Instead it pushed her over the edge, to the point where she methodically severed all ties and connections to the clan, even discarding her surname, becoming 'Shion the Nameless'. This had deeply shocked the undescribed other member of the group, and enraged her clan. She had promptly taken the chance to hop worlds, arriving here to join Teana, leaving her home and friends behind for good (she hoped), despite her friends' protests. Upon arriving, she'd had the ripped-out nails replaced with titanium-a prosthetics that could extend to form monomolecular-edged claws.
The later revelation by a UNSC medic that removed fingernails would eventually grow back left her utterly flummoxed. Of course, Shion's three wouldn't now, as the prosthetics' presence would ensure.
This new squad, Gamma Team, was quickly shaping up into a surprisingly adept and close-knit group, as Teana used everything she learned from her experiences in Noble Team to mold them into a proper Spec-Ops squad. Their first assignments had been helping the Spartans in hunting down Brutes hiding around on Earth and Mars, an assignment in which they'd succeeded marvelously.
Right now, the group was finishing up in readying their dress uniforms, in preparation for the memorial ceremony to be held in 50 minutes. Outside, the Sangheili Spec-Ops soldier Erohn Kilkar waited to escort them. Back on November 24th, the UNSC/Sangheili Alliance had arrived at a desert world called Crassus, providing much-needed assistance to the colonists and stranded Sangheili there, including Erohn's father Rukth. It had been Erohn who'd revealed to the UNSC an interesting little tidbit: the average Sangheili natural lifespan was far longer than the average human's. A Sangheili who took care of himself and didn't die in battle could expect to live over 275 Terran years, and the oldest Sangheili on record had been 320 upon death of natural causes. Erohn himself was 183, while his father Rukth was 240, and Erohn's son back home on Sanghelios was currently 14. It turns out that in addition to being warm-blooded and giving live birth, Sangheili young go through an equivalent of puberty, starting on average around 16 or 17 Terran years of age and lasting about a decade.
He had also given brief data on Sangheili non-sapient ancestors. Where humans evolved from grassland-dwelling apes, Sangheili evolved from forest- and river-dwelling creatures that could best be described as warm-blooded crocodilians with somewhat less size disparity between the sexes. That lived and hunted in packs. And the Sangheili species' current closest-living non-sapient evolutionary relatives were still the apex predators of their domains, capable of near-effortlessly killing an unarmed (and incautious) Sangheili with the same ease that a full-sized saltwater crocodile could kill the average civilian human.
Four days ago, the group had gone to southern California, to attend the 665th annual Rose Parade, welcoming the start of 2553. Even after so many centuries, and so much war, people still put their all into the festivities, with marching bands and flower-crafted floats and whatnot.
Teana's reflection on things was interrupted by the arrival of Yayap. He informed them that they were to make final preparations and head outside as soon as they were ready. Teana inspected her armor, which the press had insisted on her wearing, and then made sure the other four were spic & span. With a nod, she walked out and they followed.
-SCENE BREAK-
"For us, the storm has passed. The war is finally over."
Fleet-Admiral Lord Terrence Hood stood in front of a monument, made from a plate of armor from a UNSC frigate. On it were painted the words "IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO DIED IN DEFENSE OF EARTH AND HER COLONIES. JANUARY 5, 2553", and pictures of several fallen heroes adorned the bottom.
"But let us never forget those who gave their lives in this long conflict in the defense of their future… our present. For their decisions required courage beyond measure, sacrifice, and conviction that humanity… is worth fighting for."
The setting sun cast a red-orange light on the hillside and on the people standing on it, reflecting off of the starships hovering above.
"As we rebuild our tattered worlds, this hillside will remain barren, as a memorial to heroes fallen. They ennobled all of us… and they shall not be forgotten."
He placed his hat atop his head and saluted, and everyone else followed his lead. Gunnery-Sergeant Edward Buck, leader of ODST Sigma Squad, turned to his team – Taylor "Dutch" Miles, Kojo "Romeo" Agu, Michael "Mickey" Crespo, James "Rook" Dante, and two brand-new additions, tossed in right before the final battle aboard the Ark. He called out "Present arms!", and he & they raised their single-shot rifles, pointing them up at a 55-degree angle. Each of the seven soldiers fired once, then again, and then once more – a three-volley salute. As the gunshots echoed across the city, across the closed Ark Portal, the Arbiter walked over to the memorial, standing beside Hood and the Master Chief.
"I remember how this war started" Hood said. "What the Brutes did to Harvest… what Truth did for his own ends… what he tricked your kind into doing. I'm not sure I'll be able to truly forgive you for some time, but… you have my thanks, for helping save our people… for seeing this through to the end, and for personally killing the man who started the whole thing."
"Hard to believe it's finally over" the Chief said.
"Were it so easy…" the Arbiter replied.
-NEXT MORNING-
The Starshot prepared for transit. The UNSC and the Sangheili Alliance had given it a top-quality bridge crew and 1,500 soldiers and support personnel, along with a small fleet of dropships and many vehicles. The ship's bigger-on-the-inside technology/magic helped in this. Several high-profile individuals chose to accompany Gamma Team in their travels. Yayap and Foehammer were coming along. Colonel Urban Holland would serve as Gamma Team's commanding officer, just as he had for Noble before them. The Ultra-rank Zhal Arum, younger brother of Crassus' newly-made-Zealot-rank hero Vtan Arum, was made Ship-Master of the Starshot, with Erohn Kilkar as his faithful second-in-command. Teana had received a hero's send-off, and had promised to return and visit whenever she could.
Now Teana and the squad – her squad - stood in the bridge, as the crew gave several reports that all said the same thing: the Starshot was ready to go. Dimensional coordinates were inputted, and the destroyer's trans-dimensional slipspace drive began to come online. As the ship moved, the five girls and the Sangheili captain all dwelled on their tumultuous pasts, and looked forward to their bright futures, and a single phrase came from their hearts, dominating their thoughts for that one instant:
"A new beginning…"
The Starshot passed by Cairo Station, flying between the ships of visiting Sangheili dignitaries, and disappeared into a rift, leaving the dimension behind and heading for its next realm.
-SCENE BREAK-
Epsilon Eridani System
Reach
July 7th, 2589
A red helmet with a cracked gold visor lay amongst grasses and flowers, underneath a blue sky.
"It didn't take long for Reach to fall. Our enemy was of great number, ruthless, and brutally efficient. But they weren't quite fast enough."
A white-feathered dove landed on the helmet, looking around, and then flew off.
"For you had already passed the torch. Thanks to you, we found Halo, unlocked its secrets, and started a chain of events that shattered our enemy's resolve and brought peace to our worlds once more."
A gentle breeze rustled the grass around the helmet.
"Our victory… your victory… was so close. …I only wish you could've lived to see it."
A flower petal, blown by the wind, landed on the visor.
"But you are a part of Reach now. Your armor… your body… just dust and echoes in the wind. Everything… except your spirit; your courage. That, you gave to us."
In the distance, a UNSC colony ship resting on the ground, people moving about near it.
"And with it, we can rebuild…"
And the last chapter of Jess' story leads to a new book in humanity's history.
-BOOK 1 END-
DISCLAIMERS FOR NEW ADDITIONS (kept down here instead of up-top to avoid spoiling):
Mai, from Mai-chan's Daily Life (and does not have a canon surname), is the creation of h-manga artist 'Waita Uziga'
Marie Swanson, from DeviantArt series Erika's New Perfume, is the creation of Deviant-Artist 'Lance the Young' and is used here with his explicit permission given to me
Kaede Fuyou, from the e-game and anime Shuffle!, is the creation of Navel (the game) and Asread (the anime)
Shion Sonozaki (who has discarded her surname), from Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, is the creation of 07th Expansion (original game) and Studio Deen (anime)
The planet Crassus and the individuals Rukth Kilkar and Vtan Arum, however briefly they are mentioned, are the creations of fanfic author 'Katsuhiro'