The Sandlot

Exhausted, Spartan-117, sat down against the carrier’s bulkhead. He glanced out the view port just as the ship entered slip-space and accelerated away from the doomed planet. John had been in similar situations before, but this time was different, the hurt was so much greater. Earth, the last home world of humanity, had been obliterated by the ravenous Covenant juggernaut.

Some of the planet had been evacuated before the Covenant ships had glassed the surface. A handful of UNSC ships had also managed to escape, and now all were headed off into the unknown, with no plan and no place to run or hide. The Covenant had won.

John sat and thought about the past 48 hours of hell he had gone through. It made his dealings with the flood on halo look like a picnic. He had arrived back to Earth with the battle well underway. The orbital MAC cannons had been rendered useless after the groundside reactors had been compromised, just like at Reach, and the UNSC Navy had been all but obliterated. The few ships that had survived had jumped out of system to regroup and reformulate a plan. That’s when John and his Spartans had arrived.

After landing planet-side, they launched a counterattack and helped fight back the millions of Covenant soldiers sweeping the planet. Tens of thousands of Special Op Elites, hundreds of thousands of Grunts, Jackals, Hunters, and the new steel blade of the Covenant spear, Brutes. In the end, the numbers were just too great to overcome, even for the Spartans. John shuddered at the thought of the Brutes. Stronger and more vicious than Elites, they fought until their last breath, and stopped at nothing to destroy John and his remaining Spartans.

The plan fell apart almost instantly once the Covenant figured out their enemy’s intentions and began hunting down the UNSC ships and bombarding the UNSC fortifications from space. Once it was realized the planet would fall, John was issued new orders. Rescue any surviving members of the Earth government and evacuate them to safety. John had succeeded in that mission. His other Spartans, however, had not. They paid the ultimate price of combat; they gave their lives so that John could live to fight another day.

The thought of his dead teammates brought a bitter taste to John’s mouth. So did the thought of Kelly and Dr. Halsey, who were still nowhere to be found after they sped off to parts unknown. He wanted to believe there was a good explanation for it, but as far as he was concerned, Dr. Halsey was a traitor at best and she had kidnapped Kelly. He also felt a pang of sadness and emptiness where Cortana used to reside in his mind. She had “died” from over processing helping John and the handful of human survivors escape from the now Covenant choked system.

“Sir, Captain would like to speak with you in his quarters,” a marine interrupted John’s thoughts.

As John was lead through the ship, he had to marvel at its splendor. It was the first of a new class that had just started being produced when the Covenant attacked. It was a standard UNSC Carrier, but it boasted all the refinements and high technology that Cortana had stolen from the Covenant while taking over their ships. It featured the new engines and reactor, which allowed for pinpoint slip-space jumps, an energy shield, as well as the advanced plasma turrets in addition to the usual armament of Archer missiles, MAC cannon Shiva Nukes and Longsword squadrons. Had a hundred more of these been produced Earth might still be standing.

“Sir, reporting with the Master Chief as ordered.”

“Thank you corporal, dismissed. At ease Master Chief.”

“Sir.”

“I’m sure you know what has happened here today and what that means. However, some of our race has survived, and we need to think about that. We do not have enough supplies to stay on the run forever. I’m open to suggestions.”

John thought for a moment. “Have you consulted with the President or any of the remaining government members?”

A look of confusion “What do you mean Chief, everyone is dead.”

“No sir. As per my orders, I evacuated the remaining government staff before the planet was glassed. The president and some key military secretaries are on board as we speak.”
The Captain paused and took a drink then thought for a minute. “OK, I will go have a meeting with the politicians and then I will apprise you of the situation. There may be some hope yet.”

John bowed his head.

“You look like hell, go get some rest, that’s an order”

“Aye sir.”

John retired to his bunk and lay in bed reliving the nightmare. He also pondered what the future was going to bring. Humanity was all but extinct. They needed to find a new home to re-populate and rebuild their society. He just hoped the Covenant gave them a chance to do so. He also hoped the Captain and what was left of Earth’s military command and government would come up with a plan so that he could avenge his fallen comrades, or else he would.