INTO THE VOID    

CHAPTER 1

    The year, 2160, the UNSC space cruiser Royal Journey, is preparing for its next voyage, it is a refitted military vessel. Once designed for keeping soldiers safe in the midst of battle, now used to transport civilians on the most luxurious trip through the stars possible. However, what the newest passengers on this ship didn't know was that the government had a little surprise for them. They were going to be testing what happens when a ship flies into a black hole."I can't believe I'm finally getting the chance to go on the Royal Journey!" exclaimed James, a marine for the United Terran Government. "I wonder why they needed more marines for this trip?""I don't really know, maybe they found aliens?" replied Samus, his best friend.James laughed and they walked to board the ship.

LATER

    James, Samus and all the other occupants of the UNSC Royal Journey were gathered in the dining hall of the ship. A glowing representation of a woman in a naval officer uniform appeared in the middle of the crowd"Hello everyone, I am Sarah, UTG Artificial Intelligence number 1158, and I am here to ensure that you have a safe trip. First there are some important rules to get out of the way..." it was your standard airline safety briefing, except in space, so there were about a hundred more rules."Now I will be taking questions," stated the AI after about 30 minutes of rules. Unfortunately for Sarah, half the audience was now asleep."Because there appear be no questions, I release you to your rooms." The audience was still snoring. Sarah smiled and told all awake audience members to rise, and then she promptly sent a small electrical shock through all the chairs. That woke the sleepers up real fast...

5 MINUTES TILL TAKEOFF

    James was patrolling the C-2 corridor of compartments, prior to takeoff, when he saw one passenger who was not in his cabin yet."Sir, you need to get to your cabin." said James "if you are out of your cabin when this ship takes off, you will go splat against the back wall." The passenger, an old, wealthy English gentleman, who hastily concealed a portable communicator exclaimed: "My, my, what terrible manners! I indubitably was planning on getting back to my cabin soon young whippersnapper!""Well get back there faster!" said James."Fine then.""Yah, yah, kudos and good job!" James concluded as he started walking away."Found a new friend did you?" laughed Samus."Shut up..."

CHAPTER 2

    "On your left, you can see the planet TYFG-998, it has a sizable colony where our crew will be taking shore leave. Any tourists who would like to depart and stretch can be shuttled down." said the captain. "There is some hostile wildlife, but not much in the more developed areas. Therefore if you are going for a short stroll, you will be provided with a tranquilizer pistol if you desire. However, if you plan to go trophy hunting in the wilds then there will be a mandatory marine guard in case you run across any 'dinosaur's'"    "Let's hope no one wants to go trophy hunting!" joked James.    "What, are you afraid that you're that butt kicked by a giant lizard?" replied Samus.    "No, I just want to get to that shore leave as soon as possible."    "Yah, I get it, don't-" Samus was interrupted by a chiming sound that signified an incoming message on their helmets HUD's (Heads up Displays) "SAMUS RIVAS AND JAMES WILDER PLEASE REPORT TO THE SHUTTLE BAY IN FULL COMBAT ARMOR." said a Sarah in their headphones."Well, there goes our shore leave!" said James as he walked into the shuttle bay. "Let me guess captain, you want us to escort someone while they attempt to shoot Godzilla?" asked James. "No need for sarcasm James, and no, they want to go on a nature hike to see the local wildlife. Stupid hippies refuse to even take a pistol.""So... what if the hippies refuse the guard?""Then they will be refused a shuttle down to the planet."

    "So... where are they?" asked Samus. As if on cue, an engine sounded and all marines heard in their helmets: "ATTENTION, UNAUTHORIZED SHUTTLE LAUNCH IN BAY TWO."

    "I guess that's where the hippies are..." said Samus.

LATER

    After a thorough scan of the ship, it was found that not only were the hippies gone, they had apparently take some other people with them, and due to the fact that they didn't know why those passengers had gone, whether they had gone on their own, or if they had been kidnapped, the stakes were considerably higher than normal. As James and Samus suited up they talked about what might have happened until: "ATTENTION ALL MARINES, BACKGROUND CHECKS INTO THE QUOTE 'HIPPIES, SHOW THAT THEY WERE FOLLOWERS OF AN ANCIENT CULT THAT OFTEN SACRIFICED HUMANS, YOU ARE AUTHORIZED TO SHOOT THEM IF NECESSARY, SARAH OUT."  "Well, this just got a whole lot more interesting." said James."I wouldn't call having to rescue 4 civilians from looneys interesting James." said Samus."I didn't say fun, i just said interesting.""I hope that they are okay." James put a hand on Samus' shoulder.

LAUNCH 

   As the HK Shuttle-Craft started to enter the atmosphere, it began to glow red until its wings were deployed. An HK Shuttle-Craft drops out of the ship like an old command pod in the Apollo program, but on its descent, it deploys four wings to make it pilot-able in an atmosphere. Usually, it is used to transport tourists to the ground, however, today it was serving a very different purpose. to transport 3 of the ten squads of marines, and their search equipment planet-side to search for several missing passengers.    Sergeant Jerry, the CO of squad 1, stood up and started to address the waiting soldiers. "Alright, I'm sure that you all know the stakes, so I'm not gonna waste time on saying them, unless absolutely necessary, you will be using less than lethal ammo, am I understood?""SIR YES SIR!" yelled the marines. One of the marines, Kevin began to say "I've got a bad feel-" but was cut off by everyone else 'SHUT UP!!!!" Kevin was known for jinxing things.CHAPTER 3    As soon as the shuttle touched down, all the marines filed out, a Bobcat ATV that was modified for search and rescue rolled out in between the two columns of soldiers. The Bobcat was fitted with an advanced radar, and extremely good heat detection cameras. Normally, it would be outfitted with a Specter Laser Gatling Cannon, however, this Bobcat had been modified for the occasion. As the marines jogged to Sergeant Jerry's marching cadence they checked their weapons one last time. The weapons and armor of the marines had improved significantly over the years, gone were the days where a marine could be killed in one shot, they now had personal shield generators, and armor made of a titanium, tungsten, and vibranium alloy. It could take roughly 20 plasma shots before becoming compromised and breaking. The assault rifles that the marines used could fire hard-light projectiles at a rate of 900 rounds per minute, and the magnums fired LB-29 mini plasma missiles instead of bullets, making it much more effective.    "Do you think that the civvies are okay?" asked Samus.    "I don't know Samus, I hope so... I really wasn't expecting to have something serious happen on my first trip, I mean, this is the type of stuff that happens to veterans, not rookies like us!" said James. Samus and James had just graduated from Corbulo military academy 2 weeks prior to their deployment on the Royal Journey. Kevin, who was a veteran of several insurrectionist battles told the two not to worry. "There is always a first time son" he said.

LATER

    "Hey, I found something!" whispered Jeff into his team chat, the driver of the Bobcat. Samus and James, who happened to be near him ran up, indeed, there were 7 heat signature on the camera, three appeared to be tied to the ground, while the other four were gathered in a circle, the sound of chanting could be faintly heard.     "Sarge, I think we found them." said  James into his microphone, but then, all of a sudden, the chanting stopped, and one of the signatures that was standing up reached for something on his belt. "Ummmm, Jerry, I think the end of the ceremony is almost here..."    "Well then move you idiot" hissed the Sergeant.    "Roger" James, Samus and Jeff sneaked up on the site and pulled out their guns. They charged into the area, taking the cult members completely by surprise. The man who had been reaching into hsi belt had a wicked looking obsidian knife. The marines opened fire with their rubber LTL (Less than lethal) ammunition and took down three of the four hostiles, however when they tried taking down the man with the knife, the bullets bounced off and disintegrated on a golden surface.    "He's got a shield!" yelled Jeff, "We need to get up close!" James threw his assault rifle to the ground and took out his six inch combat knife. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Jeff screamed, his voice sounding a bit high.    "Close quarters combat is the only thing I excelled at in the academy." James explained.    "I certainly hope you know what you're doing!" replied Jeff. James certainly did, his arm was a blur, years of knife fights in the slums of cities, coupled with the training and physical and mental augmentations that come standard as a marine. The hippy was quickly incapacitated. "Mission objectives complete Sarge." said James. They released the captives, and headed back to the ship, where James, Samus, and Jeff were awarded with medals for their actions.CHAPTER 4    As the ship continued on its voyage, its captain had to make a difficult decision, on board this ship were some of the marines best and brightest, however, his ship had been upgraded so that despite the fact that it still looks like a passenger ship, there were actually many hidden weapon emplacements, and many of the passengers were Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) spies. In the end, with ONI holding his family hostage unless he did what they wanted him to do, he decided to sacrifice himself, for his wife and children. Once night came, and there was no light to see in the system, he flew the ship into a black hole, most passengers felt a slight shudder, but any looking out of the window would have seen the space outside slowly disapear and turn into a completely different backround. One that was far away from UTG space.