Cortana scanned the system database, or what was left of it since the 'Dawn' was now in half. The weapons system was down and the engines were no longer operable since the reactor was in the other half of the ship, they were a drift in space.
When Cortana had frozen the Chief she had calculated how long it would take to run out of power. She calculated 10 years with just the cryogenic system running, but they had gone through the portal, somehow drifted out of slipspace and arrived back in what seemed to be human controlled space, so they wouldn't need ten years. She still shut every system down operable or not, except for hers, the AI (artificial intelligence) system and the cyro system.
Once she had done this she checked the weapon stocks, in the armoury. There were a few crates of frag grenades, 5 shot guns fully loaded with ammo, 5 battle rifles, 25 ammunition clips for the battle rifle, a rocket launcher with three rockets and a Spartan laser with 80% battery left. All of these weapons were only moderate defence against the Covenant. Since the war seemed to be over and the three prophets Truth, Mercy and Regret were dead means they didn't really need any weapons unless they ran into covenant stragglers or a new enemy.
Next Cortana checked the vehicles. There were three pelicans 1 of which was equipped with 25 archer missile pods, 2 longsword fighters, 2 warthogs one with a gauss cannon and one with a 50mm chain gun and 3 mongoose quads. Once again no need for these unless they ran into Covenant stragglers or a new enemy, but they could come in handy for remote recon or moving large objects or weapons, otherwise useless.
Cortana now put all her focus on finding out where they were, using what was left of the ships long range detection gear, which was very little, to determine where they were. Then she suddenly realised where they were, they were near Reach, a human military planet that had fallen to the covenant not that long ago.
They were drifting in to orbit, she had to wake the Chief and get off this 'ship' as fast as they could, otherwise they would be slowly dragged into Reach and they would crash. She started the unfreezing process and sped it up as fast as she could without harming the Chief. Once he was unfrozen he was still in deep sleep and Cortana had no other way to wake him, so she sounded the alarm which woke the Chief instantly.
"Status report Cortana" he said as he jumped up and out of the cryo tube landing heavily on the deck. Master Chief was sore all over but quickly pushed the pain out of his head before it got to him. "We are in orbit around Reach and are slowly getting pulled in by gravity" replied Cortana in a worried tone. "Well then its simple what needs to be done, we need to saddle up and get off this thing. Ready all pelicans, I will load them with weapons and you attach the vehicles" the Master Chief said in a flat tone. If he had any worry he hid it very well.
Cortana did as she was told and attached the vehicles. When she notified the Master Chief that they were attached and ready to go, Master Chief told her to send out a longsword fighter and find a safe place to land.
She did and what she found shocked her, the Covenant were still here fighting a war with the remaining factions of marines and ODSTs (orbital drop shock troopers). Obviously the marines and ODSTs had taken out the covenant long range communications and vice versa because there were elites fighting alongside the brutes.
Cortana took this as an opportunity and fired a couple of archer missile pods at the covenant, blasting them into the sky. Cortana then put all her focus back on the job at hand, finding a landing spot. As she was looking she received communications from the marines and ODSTs on the ground, but she ignored them and kept on looking. Then she found it, a scorched plateau near where the Reach orbital MAC (magnetic accelerator cannons) generators used to be. She landed the longsword fighter there and marked it with a nav point so the Chief knew where to land.
Once she had done this the Chief had already loaded all three pelicans with weapons and a mongoose each. Chief chose to fly the pelican with the archer missile pods, so at least he had some defence against the covenant. "I found a plateau near where the orbital MAC generators used to be, I have marked it with a nav point, it should appear on your HUD (heads up display)" Cortana reported. "Good" said the Chief, pleased with her work and their progress but they had to move fast if they were to survive.
Master Chief jumped into action moving to the nearest AI port and inserted the AI memory core. Cortana instantly moved on to it. "Yank me Chief now!" Cortana shouted. He did and once he had done that he inserted the memory core into the AI port on the MJOLNIR armour and felt the cool sensation rush through his mind.
The instant the Chief inserted Cortana into the port she activated the three pelicans and last longswords engines. This was just in time for the Chief to jump onto the first pelicans deck and feel the upward lift as they flew straight out of the 'Dawns' rear section. They flew out just in time to see it hit the ground and explode. Debris flew in all directions narrowly missing the pelicans, but the longsword wasn't as lucky as a massive armoured section tore through its engines triggering another explosion, sending more debris once again narrowly missing the pelicans.
They were half way to the plateau when they started picking up ground fire. Plasma bolts flew past. Cortana instantly put all three of the pelicans into evasive maneuvers. They dodged most of the plasma except for the occasional hit here and there.
When they landed Master Chief sprang from the dropship ready for oncoming fire but there was none, although he and Cortana both knew that soon there would be. Master Chief tried not to think about his Spartans that may have died here when Reach fell to the Covenant and focused on the battle that was to come.
