All's fair in Love and War (A Halo, Metroid story)

Loss

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Halo or Metroid

Many people have many ways of coping with personal loss. Some shut themselves away from the world, some lash out and some just can't handle it. Chief's way off coping with losing Cortana is by working. He took every mission the UNSC gave him without a minute of rest. Some of the soldiers were starting to get worried for his health. Naturally being the emotionless killing machine that he is, his every response to any question regarding his health would be "I'm fine." He couldn't let them see how broken and torn up he was inside. His pride would never allow it.

Sanghelios, the planet of the elites, was under civil war. On one side there is the old remnants of the Covenant and on the other there was the Swords of Sanghelios. The Sword of Sanghelios were former Covenant troops who realized the lies the prophets has been telling them and they rebelled. The SOSH was lead by none other than the Arbiter himself. Once again Chief and Arbiter fought side by side against the remnants of the Covenant. He was only there for a short period though, but in the short time he was there he had brought down almost half of the Covenant armies.

He quickly emptied clip after clip into the bodies of countless enemies with countless types of weapons. Promethean? Covenant? UNSC? You name it, he's fired a shot with it. During his campaign of terror he had fought so fiercely that even the prideful elites ran with their metaphorical tails between their legs. They built a statue in honor of his kills in the battlefield. They literally built a monument to his sins.

Chief had worked himself so much that command center forbid him from taking a mission for an entire month. Eventually he got bored and talked to Command, reasoning with them to give him some missions he can do. Command refused and he was left to his thoughts. He rarely took showers, even taking off his MJOLNIR armor was a rare occurrence, as a result he smelled like something died in his suit and was left to rot there. He had Command set up an armor removal machine in his private room so he could maintain his secrecy. His skin was pale as the moon as a result of the lack of sunlight in the suit. He was bald as he was when he was a child, before he was augmented.

A month of doing nothing and resting had passed and he was already heading back to Command to get his missions. Minor UNSC soldiers stared in awe as the green clad giant strode strongly to Command. His hard boots clanked against the metal floor. Chief walked into the command center and strode over to the current commander.

"Ah. Chief, glad you could join us. How was your rest?" Asked the commander.

"It was fine sir. You wanted to see me?" Chief asked in his low gravelly voice.

"Yes, i have a mission for you. There has been a large energy signature detected on a planet in uncharted space. We fear that it may be a Halo ring that was activated by the covenant in order to win the war. Your mission is to go there and investigate it." He said in a stern voice.

This commander was one of the nicer ones in the UNSC Armada. Most commanders instilled fear and inspiration in the soldiers they control. His name was Commander Jules. He served the UNSC since he was a teenager and, slowly but surely, climbed the ranks. He works the standard commander outfit over his brown skin.

"Right away sir." Was all he said before leaving the room to pack up his stuff.

He packed all the essentials, food, water, rifle ammo and on this one special occasion, since it was in uncharted space, he packed a shot gun instead of his usual secondary pistol. Just in case.

The com-link buzzed to life as he received a transition from the commander. "Chief" he said "before you go, we have something special for you. Head down to the tech bay to receive it."

To which chief replied "right away sir."

His metal boots clanked against the metal floor of The Andromeda. The tech bay wasn't far from the mess hall, in fact they were right next to each other.

The leader of the tech wing approached him as he entered the room. "Chief," he said as he hands a small chip over to John "meet your new AI." He pressed a button on the chip and a hologram of a girl game out.

"This is Athena," said the tech leader. "She has the most advanced AI the UNSC has at its disposal. She is equipped with latest in technology, war tactics and hacking tools. She can hack and gather information from even the most protected places in the galaxy! She will come in very handy! I also took great care in designing her appearance and personality!"

Chief could tell that the tech leader was excited, a little too excited for his taste. Something wasn't right with this guy, he was acting kinda suspicious. Chief took the chip and bid him farewell.

He checked one last time for supplies before embarking on his journey. He wouldn't have back until a month from now. Most of the soldiers were sent to help the SOSH fight off the Covenant. The UNSC leaders wanted to make a strong relationship with the other races for future times when their help will be needed. Blue team was currently on Sanghelios now blowing off some steam.

He was ready. During his trip he decided that if he was to complete the mission he might need the AI, so might as well get acquainted. He pressed the button to activate the AI.

A pink hologram girl appeared in front of him in. She had patterns on her body like Cortana but instead of her hard straight lines Athena had curvy patterns. Her hair fell down smoothly to her back, her bangs were cut in a straight horizontal line covering her forehead. She looked like a teen somewhere around the age of 17-18. Her face looked like a face an anime character would have. It was also worth noting that the tech leader was Japanese and apparently had a sense of humor the Chief did not share.

"What are you looking at?" Athena chirped. She was spunky, not a personality Chief would get used to anytime soon.

"Nothing" Chief replied.

"Oh, so I'm nothing?" Athena said clearly offended, "because I know for a fact that you were looking at this hot bod!" She said as she pointed her thumbs at herself, smirking. Great she was a narcissist too.

"We're going to be stuck together from now on so we better get used to each other." Athena said as she started to get serious.

"Fine" John replied. They started to get to know each other for the duration of the journey. Who knew an AI would be so interesting to talk to.