I wanted to share an excerpt from a fiction I’ve been working on which takes place during Halo 5, but all from the perspective of Linda-058 and Blue Team. This moment is my imagining of what takes place after Blue Team boards the Guardian in Meridian.
The Guardian let out a massive energy pulse, and I heard Kelly gasp quietly when the first of the shockwaves hit the planet. It seemed to short out every electrical system and sent debris flying every direction. We couldn’t see the extent of the damage as the Guardian rose alongside the space elevator, but I could tell the pulses were extremely destructive. As we rose higher into the atmosphere, the time between the pulses grew shorter and shorter. It seemed to be a countdown of some kind. Suddenly, I could feel the Guardian move back, as though it were being pulled. I could see the black and blue glow of a Slipspace bubble as we were pulled into it, and Meridian disappeared from view and was replaced by the inky blackness of space.
There was nowhere to sit in the empty rooms, but Fred sank down to the ground, back against the wall, and Kelly and I followed suit. I was clenching and unclenching my fist nervously. We were in such a vulnerable position and we weren’t accustomed to feeling so powerless. Chief stood by the viewing hatch, looking out into the stars.
“Chief, do you have any idea where she would be taking us?” Kelly asked. She did well to mask the concern in her voice, but I heard it, and I was sure Chief did as well.
“No,” he replied. He turned towards us, and we all looked up into his cracked, orange visor. “It will be ok,” he said. Chief wasn’t much for reassuring words, but his low voice sounded fairly certain and despite all my reservations, those three words actually did wonders to calm my nerves.
“What happened with the other Spartan?” I asked him, surprising myself with the impulsive question.
Chief turned back towards the window. “He tried to use an armor lock device on me,” he responded. “I was able to use it against him, but not before he did this,” He turned his head toward us so we could see the crack in his visor.
Fred shook his head in irritation. “I didn’t think they’d send a team of IV’s to arrest us just for going AWOL.”
The word ‘AWOL’ hung in the air after Fred spoke it aloud. It was the first time any of us had specifically said it, and now that it was spoken, I had to come to terms with the reality that was what we were. The Spartan had told us that hadn’t he? 'Yo**u are Absent Without Leave. This is your one chance to come home peacefully.’ It was…strange to say the least, being on this side of the UNSC. We had been called upon to serve from a young age, and all four of us had dedicated our lives to fighting for humanity, willing to pay the ultimate price at any moment, if needed. And I think it was fair to say that no one had done as much for humanity as Chief.
I looked at him. His posture was as sure and prepared as ever, and not for the first time, I wished I knew what was going on in his head. He used to give us more insight into his thoughts when we were kids, I felt. When he was chosen as our leader, it almost seemed as though he started to distance himself from us emotionally. It made sense I supposed, and Chief had always shouldered the burden of leadership better than anyone else could have, in my opinion. When he came back to Blue Team, he stepped back into the role of leader as if he’d never left. But when it came to Cortana, I had no idea what he was thinking. Was he trying to see what happened to her? Or if it was really her? I was beginning to think it must be her, with all this effort trying to bring Chief to her location. But did Chief see her as a threat to be neutralized? And was she? I shook off the mental image of the destruction on Meridian as I looked out the viewing hatch. I had to force myself to be patient. The one thing I did know was that I trusted Chief, as I knew Kelly and Fred did. We would follow his lead anywhere.