Lost in the Wasteland

Halo/Fallout 3 Crossover

Chapter 1: "Something Tells Me I'm Not Going to Like This"

"Wake me… when you need me," The chief told Cortana as he entered the Cryo-chamber. Cortana felt both joy and sorrow watching her personally chosen Spartan begin his long slumber. On one hand, she was all too happy John had survived the great odds stacked against him in the Human-Covenant War. On the other side, she felt a sinking depression and a great sense of loneliness, having no one to talk to. She had just barely come back from the verge of rampancy, and she wasn't sure if she could fend it off again all alone. Lucky for her, it wouldn't be long before the need to wake Chief came up once again.

As the back end of the Dawn drifted through space, Cortana used the ship's damaged sensors to determine that they were on a collision course with a planet. Cortana was astonished at what could only be considered a miracle, despite not being programmed for religion. 48 hours after making the discovery, Cortana popped the lid off of the cryo-chamber.

"Chief! Chief, wake up. We've got a situation." John slowly came to. He felt a stinging sensation all along his body as he tried to regain control of his body. Having finally gotten his senses back, he stood up and scanned the immediate area.

"What's wrong Cortana?" asked John.

"You're not going to believe this. I used the Dawn's scanners to detect the nearby area. We're on a collision course with a planet," Cortana warned.

"Is it a mapped planet?" the Spartan asked.

"You could say that." The picture of Cortana on the pedestal disappeared, replaced by a hologram of said planet. "It's Earth Chief. We're on a collision course with Earth."

"How?" Chief questioned, always to the point.

"No idea. I didn't get to spend any time on the Ark, so I wasn't able to get into the system and learn how the installation's systems worked. My best guess, our piece of the Dawn was deep enough in the portal to shoot us back to Earth, just not connected with the forward half." Cortana's image came back on the pedestal. "There's something wrong though. There isn't any space debris from Orbital Defense Platforms or the UNSC fleet. None from the Covenant ships either. What's bothering me most is the radiation I've picked up in the atmosphere."

"The Covenant Loyalists reinforcements must have come while we were at the Ark," the supersoldier reasoned.

"Nuclear weapons aren't really the Covenant's style." Cortana rebuttled. "They're usually more…efficient, with their planetary destruction."

John-117 stood their silently, hoping that all his efforts to save humanity weren't for nothing. "So what are our options?"

"I've determined our trajectory. The Dawn will be entering Earth's atmosphere in about 2 hours, and it'll be crashing into the Atlantic Ocean. Then we can swim back to shore." Cortana sarcastically suggested.

"I'd rather not." Chief replied.

"Didn't think so. There's 3 undamaged drop pods left in the ship's rear. We can use one of them to drop down, fill the other two with supplies. I can set the pods to land near Washington D.C., that's where our best bet for making contact with any UNSC officials is going to be at the moment, if there's anyone still down there at all that is."

The Master Chief wasted no time in heading to the drop pods. Finding the last 3 usable pods, John plugged Cortana into the control console to set their landing coordinates as he filled the pods with supplies. Using the Special Forces armory conveniently located next to the pods, John loaded them up with an ODST survival pack in each, (the backpacks in Halo 3:ODST) carrying spare bio-foam canisters and all the MRE's available in the Dawn's mess hall. In his personal pod, John put an M7S Caseless SMG with all the amenities including a smart-link reflex scope, sound suppressor, and laser sight. For a sidearm, the Chief chose an unmodified M6C, and for heavy weapons, the very last "Spartan Laser" in the armory. In one of the other pods, John put in a SRS99D-S2 AM and his signature MA5C with spare clips. In the last pod, he placed a BR55HB and the always handy M90 Shotgun with ammo for both as well.

Finally prepared, Chief went to the console to retrieve Cortana and closed the pod doors. John settled himself into the seat and readied himself for a drop onto the human homeworld. The Spartan prayed for another soul to be on Earth, just so he knew everything he sacrificed was for something.

"Our window for dropping into D.C. is closing Chief….ready?" Cortana asked.

"Do it."