CHAPTER 1

John-117 awoke to small shudder. He slowly opened his eyes to see that his vision was blurred. His eyes gave a few quick blinks, and his vision returned to him, but the glass of his cryotube was fogged. Seeing movement outside of the tube he reflexively tried to reach for a sidearm, just to realize that he still couldn't move his limbs. At the moment, he felt helpless and could only track the blobs that were on the other side of the glass with his eyes.

Feeling a slight bit of panic, he reached into his mind, and he could feel the presence of Cortana. She was unresponsive. John hoped that she was still around, smart AI's had that lifespan issue, and Cortana had been put through enough rigors that he always had the small worry that she'd start to suffer from degradation soon.

What a way to die, forever entombed in a jar, with a corpse in your mind.

John quickly shook off the thought.

No, she had to be alive. That bitch was too tough to let a small thing like the finite AI lifespan stop her.

John immediately felt a piercing pain course through his mind.

Who's calling who a bitch.

John smiled internally, he was glad he wasn't by himself in this tube.

Cortana, I'm glad to know I'm not alone in here. Can you tell me what' s going on outside.

John, I'm unsure. The cryotube has been disconnected from the ship's systems. However, I can tell you that we've been in here for about 23 years according to my internal clock. Your suit appears to be functional, although how long it actually holds up with use I can't say. It might fall apart the moment this tube is cracked open.

Well, it could be worse, we could be dead right. John noticed that he was able to move his facial muscles in a smile this time at the thought.

John, the reanimation sequence is currently being undertaken outside of the tube. Whoever it is outside apparently knows how to operate the controls on the tube.

John started to feel the tube gradually warming up. The sensation was enjoyable, as being in the semi-frozen state was similar to having your entire body numbed, and it was uncomfortable in the same way that having a foot fall asleep would be. John then heard a small rumbling noise, as the fluid was being drained out of the tube. John then felt his ears pop as the air pressure in his helmet equalized with that inside the tube. With a hiss the seal of his tank broke, and the glass slid open. The chief then stepped out.

Old besse here still hasn't let me down. Well Cortana, I guess the suit will last me at least two steps.

Very funny John, but we still don't know the situation.

John took a moment to take in the scene. He stretched his body out, and could see the face of a man who appeared to be in shock.

"Master Chief, reporting for duty." John said with a salute. It felt good to be out of that tube. He'd rather be in a flood infested hellhole then spend another moment in there. Nothing bothered the Chief more than feeling helpless, hence why he despised space combat.

The man reached up and rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. He was staring at a living legend. There was no way that this could really be the chief. He thought it might be some poor soul who had in desperation frozen himself, but this was the real deal. The Master Chief.

The brown haired man, slammed his hand down on the intercom on the wall and said "Captain, I think we need you down here in Medical, your not going to believe who was in that tube on that wrecked frigate."

The brown haired man looked at John with his green eyes, and shook his head. "I can't believe that I'm actually looking and speaking to the Master Chief. To think I've seen you a thousand times on holofilm, and heard the stories, but to see you in real life is just overwhelming... I'm sorry, I should introduce myself. I'm petty officer first class Derek Sanderson I'm the only medically qualified guy on board this vessel, so I was the person who thawed you out. The ship power systems that kept you alive in that tube were nearly degraded, so we removed the tube and had no choice but to wake you up, as the back up power on the tube ran out before we had a chance to plug you into the Zephyr's power system. To think that a small UNSC scout vessel like ours would be put in this situation..."

The man cut himself off when he saw the presence of Captain Virginia Carolan. The Captain said "Is that really the Master Chief, Sanderson?" before the petty officer could answer, Cortana interrupted. "Captain, this the AI Cortana, and I can assure you this is Spartan John-117. If you don't mind I'd like to stretch my legs a bit so if you could direct me to the nearest data port, I'd really appreciate it." The Captain appeared to be in a state of shock. The middle aged woman merely nodded and pointed a hand towards the nearby computer console.

"Master Chief it truly honors me to be in your presence. I was only 19 years old when I had the pleasure of seeing you outside of Mombasa. I'm sorry that the amenities on my vessel are a bit lackluster. Your welcome to roam freely on this vessel, and you only need answer yourself to me and my first officer. Now that I know the situation, I'm granting you use of my quarters until we can find some where for you to stay. Then we are immediately going to report to the Sanghelli outpost of Kirukee, that's about three weeks from here." The Captain said.

John just nodded. Things seemed to be a bit different, the desperation that he remembered being so common in the voices of officers, didn't seem to be in the voice of Captain Carolan. "We found you when we detected a distress beacon a few days ago. When we investigated the signal, we were shocked to find a still intact cryotube in a derelict UNSC frigate. Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine that you'd be in there chief."

John walked over and offloaded Cortana onto the ship's computer. "Ahh.. Much better and so much more roomy than your head Chief. From what I can see here, we're about a light year from the ark."

The Captain interrupted "Hey, that's classified, how were you able to break all of our encryption so quickly"

Cortana's small holographic figure had a smirk on her face "Surely you'd think a 28 year old AI would have learned something in her old age."

The Chief just shrugged, removed his helmet, and felt the stale air of the small ship on his face. He could hear a collective gasp. He must have been looking pretty rough. "So you really are a man?" He heard Sanderson whisper. The chief just let small smile come to his face, and said "Where can a guy get a meal around here?"

The Captain immediately pressed the intercom "Dinner is going to be served early today. We've got a special guest on board that I think you all would like to meet." With that she let up on the button and said "Dinner will be served in the next 15 minutes. I hope you'd be willing to honor us all with your presence." With that the Captain saluted the chief, and walked back to the bridge. "Sanderson come with me." Sanderson hurriedly followed behind the Captain, while giving the chief a quick glance.

"You do realize that what you said is probably going to be forever chronicled historically. I'd have thought you'd have thought of something better than 'Where can a guy get a meal around here?'" Cortana said. The chief just shrugged and said "What can I say, I didn't have anything to eat for the entire duration of battle for the Ark, and I've been frozen for over twenty years. It was just the first thing that came to mind" Cortana put her small palm to her face, and just shook her head.

End of Chapter 1