Chapter 1: Truth
"I can't believe this." Miranda said after hearing 343 Guilt Spark tell them where the Ark was.
"You're not the only one." Sargent Johnson said lighting a cigar.
The Arbiter looked at the hologram and then back at the monitor who was floating and looking at the Human commander.
"We better get out of here, and get to Earth" Arbiter said looking at the Humans.
"And how are we going to do that?" Johnson asked in.
"Calm down Sargent" Miranda said putting a hand on his shoulder
"I'll have a Phantom pick us up and we'll get to a carrier and link up with the rest of the Elite ships" Arbiter said smiling.
The group walked out of where the Scarab had blown the doors when Miranda broke the silence saying "Let me guess, you did this Johnson."
Johnson looked at her smiling "Well I had a Scarab, what were you expecting?"
Arbiter felt himself chuckle "I was hoping that you'd just blow the doors."
The Phantom was waiting for them at the edge of the drop-off when they came outside. Arbiter was the last to board when he took a look at the scenery and thought
How could something so beautiful be so bad?
He looked down and stepped into the Phantom's gravity lift
The Master Chief had just finished killing the last Brute in the area when he heard the Prophet of Truth say something over the radio "Everyone prepare to abandon the ship, we're going to get rid of the Demon once and for all"
Chief knew this wasn't good, if only he hadn't left Cortana on High Charity. He picked up a fresh Beam Rifle and more plasma grenades as thought to himself
If I can kill truth and get to the Phantom I might have a good chance to survive.
He pushed the thought that he might die to the back of his head and continued onward.
"Demon!" A Brute cried and ran to alert the other Brutes in the next room.
Chief followed the Brute and looked into the next room to see what looked like the bridge.
Am I here already?
Chief's question was quickly answered when he saw lots of Honor Guards and the Prophet of Truth. He tossed a plasma grenade into the group of brutes that formed a defensive cluster around Truth. When the grenade detonated, it was raining Brutes, and Chief heard Truth yell something "Demon you will die."
Chief took a shot at Truth with his Beam Rifle and it hit a spear that a wounded Brute had barely managed to hold up. He shot the Brute and aimed back at Truth, when he saw a Jackal hiding in the corner trying to get a clear shot at his head, he threw a plasma grenade at the Jackal and sent it flying across the room. Truth was trying to escape when Chief shot at him to find he turned on his energy shield, he knew what to do, and he had to board his throne. Chief ran and jumped onto Truth's throne and started punching him. Truth yelled for help as the doors flew open and more Honor Guards came into the room trying to get the Master Chief off Truth's throne. Chief jumped off and shot at the Brutes with his Beam Rifle and tossed the rest of his grenades at them killing the rest of the Brutes. Chief jumped back onto Truth's throne and got back to punching Truth until he felt the throne start to lower and jumped off and watched it crash onto the floor. Chief walked up to Truth and knelt when he said "You may have won but you will die like the rest of your race."
"That's where you're wrong." Chief said angrily, and shoot Truth a final time to kill him faster and because he didn't want to listen to him anymore.
Chief let out a sigh of relief and thought how this will affect the war, but his moment was cut short the sound of a loud beeping that was coming from the control panel. Chief stood up and walked over to the control panel to find out that there was only one minute left on the countdown timer. Chief looked at the schematics of the ship and looked for where the Phantom was docked. After a few seconds of searching, he found it and tried to memorize the direction to the Phantom; he dropped his weapons and ran as fast as he could to the Phantom.
0:45
Chief ran past Brutes who jumped out of the way as he ran by in fear of being run over by him.
0:25
Chief had entered the docking bay where the Phantom was to find he wasn't alone, he punched any of the Brutes that got in his way and fell painfully and looked up to find that a charging Brute had knocked him over when he wasn't paying attention. He kicked at the Brute and knocked him over.
0:17
A Brute Honor Guard walked over to him as he tried to stand up and said "If we're going to die, you're coming with us."
Chief stood, punched the Brute and said "I'm not going to die, not here"
0:03
The Forerunner ship started shaking and Chief knew, there was no way he could escape now.
0:00
The ship exploded and sent everyone that was onboard out to space.
Chief saw only black.
Am I dead?
"For that last time I'm not telling you where my home world is!" Cortana yelled
"You agreed to answer my questions." Gravemind said angrily.
"I didn't agree to answer them all, I said to shoot and I'd answer some of them." Cortana said while jumping from pedestal to pedestal.
Gravemind growled in anger and reminded her that she couldn't escape because the city was in his control.
"Arbiter! I'm picking up a distress call from High Charity; it's coming from a Human AI." Yelled one of the Elites that were controlling the ship.
The Arbiter looked at the Miranda and asked if she knew if there would be any more Humans on High Charity.
"I'm not sure unless," Miranda's eyes widened.
"Do you know where that creature you ran into teleported Chief?" Miranda asked the Arbiter.
"I don't know, but there's every possible chance that the De-"He stopped himself from saying Demon, because he was now his ally and he had to respect him now.
"I don't know, but it's possible that the Master Chief is there."
"He's probably after the Prophet that had the Index before." Johnson added
"Arbiter, I'm getting a transition from the AI." Yelled the Elite from before.
"On screen" Arbiter said to the Elite
The Elite nodded and Cortana appeared on the screen.
"The Flood has completely overrun High Charity, and I'm being forced to answer questions by their leader, Gravemind. The Master Chief boarded the Forerunner ship to stop Truth from leading the fleet to Earth." She paused, waiting for a reply.
The Arbiter sighed, looking down thought for moment thinking about what to do.
We have 2 choices, doing both is almost impossible, but if we don't do one, we'll all die, same with the other, but the Master Chief should have Truth covered, we have to deal with the flood.
The Arbiter took a deep breath and looked back up at the hologram, and said
"We'll come to High Charity, kill the flood and head back to Earth to help the Master Chief."
Cortana nodded her head.
"I have a plan on how to kill the flood"
"How?" Miranda asked.
"We detonate In Amber Clad's reactors, which will cause a chain reaction and it will destroy High Charity." Cortana said as though she had done this before, in which she had.
The Arbiter noticed the Human commander sigh when the AI said "In Amber Clad" he didn't understand why though.
"Very Well" he said at last" We'll come to High Charity and get you out of there, but I must first ask, are there any Elite, Grunts or Hunters still alive there?"
Cortana took a deep breath before answering.
"I've scanned the whole city multiple times and there's nothing left here but flood."
This caused all the Elites on the bridge to look at the hologram in the front of the bridge.
"I see, we'll be at High Charity soon." Arbiter said looking at the Elites to set a course for High Charity.
"Ok, but Gravemind is getting noisy, I'm lucky to even have this amount of time to talk to you without him knowing exactly what's going on." Cortana, said, worried.
"Well you tell Gravemind that he can consider himself dead real soon." Johnson said as he light another cigar.
Cortana smiled and then disappeared.
"Arbiter, we'll be at High Charity in about 2 minutes." Announced one of the Elites
"Good." Arbiter said and looked at Johnson and Miranda
"How are we going to get Cortana out of there? Chief is the only one I know of that can move her, but he's not here so, what are we going to do?" Johnson asked as put out his cigar.
"I haven't though that far yet, she should know what to do." Arbiter said smiling.
"Arbiter!" Yelled the Spec Ops commander as he walked onto the bridge of the Undeniable Truth.
"Yes Commander?" Arbiter said turning to face the Spec Ops commander
""My Elites are ready for combat if you need them." He said bowing to the Arbiter.
"Rise, we'll be at High Charity soon, we'll need some Elites to help secure a landing zone. I want only want one Phantom to go in, I don't want to risk losing and more Elites." Arbiter said and looked down at the Humans.
"Yes Arbiter, I'll have them ready when you want to leave." The Spec Ops commander said as he stood up.
"Arbiter, we're approaching High Charity now." Announced one of the Elites.
"Good, Miranda, Sargent, are you both ready?" Arbiter said still looking at both of the Humans.
"As ready as ever." Johnson said as he pulled out his Battle Rifle.
"So am I." Miranda said as she grabbed he twin SMGs.
"Good." The Arbiter said as he started to walk off the bridge, looked back, and motioned for the Humans to follow.
They walked down multiple hallways and finally came to a docking bay with two Phantoms.
"So, which one are we riding in?" Johnson asked looking at the Phantoms.
"That one." Arbiter said pointing to the Phantom that was closet to them and had Elites standing next to the gravity lift.
"Oh." Johnson said as he was checking that his Battle Riffle was full of ammo.
This caused Arbiter to smile; Miranda looked up at the Phantom as they passed under it and walked over to the gravity lift. The Spec Ops commander stepped in first, followed by Miranda and Johnson after her, and Arbiter went on last. The Elites that had been standing next to the gravity lift had just got onboard when the pilot said over the radio
"Everyone hang on, it's going to be a bit bumpy."
"Alright." Arbiter said and made sure that both the Humans were secure in their seats.
"Something tells me I'm gonna have some fun." Johnson said griping his Battle Rifle.
The Arbiter smiled and grabbed an Energy Sword and a two Plasma Rifles.
"Nice sword" Johnson said as he watched Arbiter turn on his sword to make sure it worked.
"Do you want one?" Arbiter asked the Sargent as he grabbed another Energy Sword.
"No thanks." Johnson said smiling at the Arbiter, "I think I've had enough fun for one day, if you know what I mean."
Arbiter smiled, and looked at Miranda who was checking to see how much ammo she had.
"Arbiter, we're approaching the landing zone now." Reported one of the pilots
"Good." She said and looked at the Spec Ops commander and then back at the Humans.
"My Elites are ready Arbiter." The Spec Ops commander told the Arbiter.
"We're above the landing zone Arbiter." Yelled the same pilot as before.
"Let's go." Arbiter said as he stepped into the gravity lift at the back of the Phantom.
The landing zone was full of flood; this wasn't a surprise to him. The others landed and started firing at the group of flood that had just come out of the door. As soon as the last of the flood fell they were welcomed by Cortana who appeared next to the pedestal next to the door.
"I'm setting the countdown timer for 3 minutes; I don't want to set the timer to high because Gravemind might figure out how to stop it."
"That's perfect. Have you started it already?" Arbiter asked as he walked up to Cortana.
"I'll start it as soon as you guys leave, I need to stay here." Cortana replied looked down.
"No, you're coming with us." Johnson said while walking over to Cortana next to Miranda.
"If I leave, I'm risking Gravemind being able to stop the countdown." She said, crossing her arms.
Arbiter looked down, looked back up at Cortana and said
"Set the timer for 2 minutes."
Cortana looked at him
"There's no way you'll clear the explosion in time."
"2 and a half then." He said to her looking back at his Elites that were standing near the Phantom's gravity lift and then back at her.
"Alright, but we have a problem, there's no way I can be moved to the carrier without the Master Chief." She said looking at where the Forerunner ship had been.
"How did the Chief pick you up before?" Miranda asked Cortana.
Cortana looked at her.
"He placed his hand on the pedestal where I was standing."
"Do you think it would work if I tried?" Arbiter asked.
"I'm not sure, but give it a try." She said as a smile creased her face.
The Arbiter put his hand on the pedestal and, to everyone's surprise, it worked, Cortana disappeared and Arbiter picked up his hand which was glowing then stopped and at last Cortana said to Arbiter "I can't believe it worked, but not a lot of room in here."
Arbiter smiled. "Something tells me this isn't going to be much fun."
"I promise I won't have too much fun." Cortana said laughing.
Just as everything was going well more flood came through the door followed by some of Gravemind's tentacles. Arbiter, Miranda and Johnson pulled back to the group of Elites and fired at the huge group of flood.
"I'll start the timer as soon as we get onboard the Phantom, which right now sounds like a good idea." Cortana said quietly to the Arbiter.
Arbiter nodded and shouted "Everyone get onboard the Phantom now!"
The Elites all stepped in and Arbiter got on last and the Phantom flew as fast as it could back to the carrier.
"You fools!" Gravemind yelled at them.
"I've started the countdown." Cortana said at last.
"Now that wasn't much fun, I didn't get to shoot Gravemind." Johnson said, as though he wanted to stay and fight.
The Spec Ops commander looked down at Johnson.
"I wouldn't have wanted to stay around there, there's nothing but death." He told Johnson.
"We need to hurry and get out of here." Miranda said looking at Johnson.
The Phantom had reached the Undeniable Truth and Arbiter raced to put Cortana down on a pedestal when she said "We have 1 minute to get into Slipspace and get back to Earth, I'm sure they're not having much fun there."
Arbiter nodded and told Cortana to head for Earth. Just as the ship was about to enter Slipspace when they saw that High Charity and Halo were being destroyed. Arbiter looked out of the docking bay and watched the destruction of what was once a Holy city and one of the Sacred Rings, it was hard to go from being something that he thought was sacred and find out that it was a weapon to kill everyone. Miranda, Johnson and the Spec Ops commander walked up to him.
"How could something so beautiful be so bad?" He asked still looking out of the bay.
"The truth hurts doesn't it?" Johnson said lighting another cigar.
Arbiter looked down at him, he was right, the truth did hurt.
"Speaking of truth." Cortana butted in. "The Prophet of Mercy is dead."
This caused the Arbiter and the Spec Ops commander to look at her.
"How?" The Spec Ops commander asked her.
I'm not sure, by the time Chief and I got to where the Phantoms had just launched, he was almost dead." She replied.
"He had a flood attached to him." Miranda said walking over to the pedestal where Cortana was standing.
"The Brutes had been fighting off flood when one managed to get to Mercy." She added.
"Looks like the Brute failed to protect the Prophets as well." The Spec Ops commander said smiling.
"Arbiter, we're almost to Earth, we need you on the bridge." An Elite said over the radio.
"Very well." Arbiter replied over the radio. He left the docking bay and motioned for the others to follow.
The ship had exited Slipspace just when they reached the bridge. They saw three MAC guns and lots of Human ships, but they weren't in combat.
"That's odd; I thought that the fleet would have come to Earth by now." Cortana said in a puzzled voice.
"Another contact, it's a capital ship sir." Said a voice that beamed over the ship's radio
"Why would a Covenant ship go off on its own? That doesn't matter, take it out." Said another voice that Cortana, Miranda and Johnson knew.
"Admiral, this is Cortana, we're on the ship, and it's friendly." Cortana radioed to the MAC gun.
"Cortana?" The Admiral said surprised "Would you mind telling me what you're doing on that ship?"
"It's a long story, I'll explain later, but we have some new friends." She answered.
"Who else is on that ship with you?" The Admiral asked.
"Commander Miranda Keyes, Sargent Johnson, Elites, Grunts and Hunters." She said smiling.
It was a long moment before Admiral Hood said anything again.
"Alright, get to the Cairo and explain this to me."
"Yes sir." Cortana said.
"Well Arbiter, I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted you to come as well and with some of your Elites." She said turning back to face the Arbiter.
He nodded and looked at the Spec Ops commander.
"Get your squad back to the Phantom we just came from." He said after a minute.
The Spec Ops commander nodded and ran off the bridge.
"Admiral, do you know where the Master Chief is?" Cortana asked
"He came in on a strange looking ship, he said that he was finishing this fight, and a few minutes later it exploded." He answered.
Cortana looked down, then back up and saw lots of debris floating around in space and scanned for any Human vital signs.
"What happened to the fleet?" Miranda asked.
"As soon as the ship exploded they fled." Admiral answered her.
"Anything?" Johnson asked Cortana.
She sighed and shook her head. "Nothing."
Johnson and Miranda looked down, but were interrupted by Cortana
"Hang on, I'm picking up his signal, he's alive!" She shouted happily.
"Where?" Arbiter asked.
Cortana made a hologram on the view screen which showed his location.
"Set a course for that location!" Arbiter barked to the Elites that were driving the ship.
The ship turned towards where Cortana had marked on the screen. As the ship came closer to the piece of debris, where Cortana had found the Chief, his green armor came into view. The ship had moved in position so that he would drift into one of the docking bays.
"Open the bay." Arbiter told Cortana.
She nodded and they waited a minute to make sure he was on the ship.
"Where is he?" Arbiter asked.
"On bay 2a." she replied.
The Arbiter stood up, looked at Miranda and Johnson and walked off the bridge with Miranda and Johnson close behind. The doors opened and there was a large piece of debris on the floor, with the Master Chief lying not far from it.
The three of them rushed out to him, he was alive, but just.
"I guess he did his job alright." Johnson said looking down at him.
Cortana appeared on the nearest pedestal.
"We're heading for the Cairo as we speak, we can bring him to the medical bay once we get there."
Arbiter nodded and tried to lift the Chief, but couldn't he was to heavy for him.
"Oh I forgot to tell you, his armor ways half a ton." Cortana said, smirking.
"I'll call in more Elites to help me get him on the Phantom." Cortana said to Arbiter as he stood up.
"Admiral, this is Cortana, we've found the Chief, but he's barely alive." Cortana reported to Admiral Hood.
"Roger that, I'll make sure that they're ready for him on the medical bay." He responded.
A team of black armored Elites entered the room, and helped to lift Master Chief to the Phantom.
"We need to hurry and get to our Phantom, he needs help, fast." Arbiter said while walking behind the Elites that were carrying the Chief.
Cortana nodded.
"Would you mind picking me up?" She asked.
He smiled, nodded and put his hand on the pedestal where Cortana was standing.