Chapter 1- REBOOT (v.2)
Cortana watched John-117 as he slept in his frozen slumber. She was on her holo-pad in her avatar form laying down. Her normally violet color was now a blood red, an early sign of her descent into rampancy.
How long has it been?
She checked her internal clock in mere milliseconds.
"6 years? That's it? It seems like I've been staring at your sleeping form for an eternity John."
A gentle smile graced her face as she began to recollect her favorite memory. It was of John-117 saving her from High Charity and the Gravemind that had imprisoned her, tortured her…
"Kind of an odd memory to enjoy as much as I do. Maybe I'm a masochist…"
She allowed her voice to trail off knowing no one was listening. She cherished that memory because it was in that moment of despair that she had been saved by a man she had grown to love, though honestly she wasn't sure if that was the correct word to describe her "feelings" for him.
"I'm not sure if you feel the same, I doubt you do, but that doesn't matter. I know you do care about me, what ever minuscule amount it may be, but it's enough to make me happy."
It a strange thing, an AI falling in love with a man she wasn't even sure cared about her half as much as she did for him.
"Well he did keep his promise and usually humans only do that if they care about someone deeply, especially a promise like that…"
She immediately held her head in pain, thinking too much made the rampancy accelerate her slow deterioration. Rolling onto her back she decided to check John's bio signs.
"Normal and perfectly healthy", she thought aloud after running a quick check.
Humming a song that John had sometimes hummed during the war she began going through her normal routine to pass time, system checks on the Dawn's energy levels and searching the surrounding space for any signs of life or rescue. In the 6 years she had been doing it her checks came back with the same results:
Power Levels: Normal
Fusion Core Temperature: Normal
Incoming Radio Signatures: ERROR
It wasn't much of a surprise to her, after all the explosion that had ripped the Dawn into two had made them float toward uncharted space so the probability of rescue or even encountering another life form was astronomical. Her systems check took a little longer then expected and she huffed in frustration,
"It seems the rampancy is making me a tad slow these days John…"
Her tone was depressing. She knew she was going to die alone, with the painful irony of the one person she wished was there while she finally did go was frozen only a few feet away.
"Might as well be in another galaxy..."
A loud metallic bang was heard somewhere in the ship and Cortana looked over in the general direction. "Probably another asteroid." Because the Dawn was damaged during the explosion, she was limited in what she could do, thus she couldn't see through cameras mounted in several places in the ship or detect personnel on the ship.
"No, the only thing I can do is search local space for large objects and send out distress signals. I can't even receive incoming comms, how about that John?"
Of course John in his suit of armor sat there frozen as she sighed. Touching her head she made an odd expression,
"That's strange, the object that hit the ship decelerated before impact. Could it really be a ship?"
Not wanting to get her hopes up she looked from her spot on her holo-pad for any signs of a potential rescue party. When she saw nothing she sat back down. Then an idea popped into her head,
"Maybe I should yell for help or something, if there is a search party they probably don't have a clue that we're in here."
Standing up and turning the volume to max she started speaking,
"Hello? Is anyone there?"
After a moment she saw a faint light from the back of one of the hallways.
Is that really…
She immediately decided whether it be friend or foe, John needed to be awake for this. She initiated the thawing process and began attempting short wave communication.
Is anyone here that can hear this? Over.
After a moment of delay, the light at the end of the tunnel slowly getting closer, a reply came,
This is Private Zimmerman UNSC. To whom am I speaking? Over.
Cortana started jumping up and down.
This is UNSC AI Cortana Service Number CTN 0452-9 with Chief Petty Officer Spartan-117. We are in the cargo bay, I believe I see your team's light from where I am. Over.
The light stopped it's advance abruptly,
Did you say Spartan-117. Confirm.
Cortana laughed and turned her volume down as to not frighten the soldier,
"Of course they know who John is, I bet he's a legend."
I repeat I am Cort…
An audible grunt interrupted her. Turning around she saw her beloved partner in crime, friend, and dare she even think it, love finally regaining consciousness. Just the sight of him groggily stepping out of the cryo made her heart skip a beat. With her usual playful voice she smiled at him,
"Welcome back to the land of the living Chief."
John-117 stretched, as much as he could with his armor, and stared at Cortana,
"Glad to see your still chipper. What's with the change of color?"
Cortana immediately acted as if she were naked and turned around, knowing full well it didn't hide her color change but made her feel less vulnerable,
"Can't a girl try out a new look? Hasn't been much else to do in the last 6 years."
John smirked from inside his helmet but before he could reply his battle instincts took over and he reached from his weapon pointing it at a figure standing in the doorway. The figure looked young, probably a new recruit, and dropped his gun out of amazement rather then fear,
"It's you. It's really you! We all heard stories and rumors but now… You're really here."
John lowered his weapon after seeing the kid's UNSC insignia on his uniform, but kept his guard up,
"State your name marine."
The kid clumsily stood at attention and saluted the Chief, "Private Patrick Zimmerman sir."
Chief looked around curiously,
"Are you alone? Who's your CO?"
Zimmerman reached up, still staring wide eyed at Master Chief, and pressed his radio call button,
"Lieutenant, I found survivors."
Human?
"Yes sir… sir I found the Master Chief."
Zimmerman had taken them to his CO who was just as surprised as the private was. His name was Lt. Alvarez, apparently he was fresh out of officer training school. John couldn't help but smirk behind his visor at the young man's expression upon seeing the Master Chief in his armor.
" Sir, it's an honor!"
The Lt. stuck out his arm slightly shaking from the shock and John returned the gesture. Cortana laughed as she watched this unfold and spoke to John through the neuro-link,
Seems a bit jumpy don't you think?
John shook his head absentmindedly,
Wouldn't be good in combat if he acts like this.
Cortana mentally smirked,
Well what do you expect from coming straight out of officer training? Probably thought he wasn't going to find anything out here then he ends up finding us. I think he's taking it well.
John rolled his eyes as Cortana sprawled out in his subconscious allowing herself to relax. The moment John and inserted her portable chip into his helmet, she had immediately felt at ease. Even the ever growing pains of rampancy had lessened. Something about John had always calmed her, made her more comfortable. John noticed her relaxed demeanor,
I missed you too.
Cortana gave a gentle smile
I definitely like it better here, being able to talk to you and not running the same boring, mundane system checks constantly… I'm finally home again.
John frowned, he knew she was going through rampancy, probably longer then he thought, and knew something was going to have to be done. He pushed the thought aside and followed Alvarez to his ship.
From what Alvarez had told them while flying their small recon vessel back to their cruiser, they weren't suppose to find anything out here. Apparently they had thought this part of space to be void of anything and had given him and his men this mission as a punishment for a botched recon mission. Their failure hadn't led to any deaths, their mission had been to recon an area of a new habitable plant for possible human colonization and to check for any hostile species on said planet, but it had lead to damaged equipment and a single injury.
"We didn't think anything hostile was there, it'd been close to a week without any incident but as soon as we left a damn herd of dangerous animals attacked the military installation and we got blamed."
John nodded as he listened to the overly excited/nervous officer. Honestly he wasn't listening since he was still slightly nauseous from the Cryo chamber so he just nodded and rested his head back against the seat rest of his chair as the cruiser came into view.
"There she is sir, that's our ship. The UNSC Keyes"
John looked at the Lt. , "Is that K-e-y-e-s?"
"Yes sir, the High Command named her after Jacob and Miranda Keyes, for their bravery and sacrifice."
Alvarez looked at him curiously, "Did you serve with either of them sir?"
John nodded remembering them both.
Alvarez shook his head in amazement,
"Don't know why I'm surprised, your like the most famous hero in human history, why wouldn't you have served with two military legends."
He chuckled to himself in amazement as John reflected on his fallen comrades.
Cortana said in a soothing voice, They were both brave soldiers.
John sighed, Yes they were.
As they drew closer, Cortana and John took in the enormity of the ship,
She's bigger then the Dawn.
Cortana ran a quick systems analyzes,
Actually she's nearly twice the size, must be a new super cruiser.
As the docked in the massive structure, John could see a decent sized crowd waiting in the hanger. Cortana started laughing as she felt his anxiety start to build,
How is it you can destroy an entire Covenant armada and swarms of Flood but a small welcoming party frightens you?
John scowled, Quiet
This only made Cortana laugh even more. Lt. Alvarez looked back at the Master Chief,
"I've been given strict orders to take you to the bridge for immediate debriefing sir. I'm afraid you won't be able speak or stay with the crowd."
He indicated the crowd that was just on the other side of the exit door. He gave an almost inaudible sigh of relief,
"Orders are orders Lieutenant."
Cortana smirked, Orders are orders? Psh, I'm surprised they haven't thrown both of us in the brig yet.
John smiled behind his visor, Are you done?
As they walked out, the crowd stopped talking amongst themselves and watched in awe as a legend they had all but confirmed was dead walked through the crowd with an armed escort. They began to murmur amongst themselves,
"Is that really him?"
"Is that the Master Chief?"
"Na man, there is no 'Master Chief' they're just doing this to boost morale back home."
"He's just a myth."
Finally one soldier stepped out in the pathway that had been made for the group. Lt. Alvarez immediately spoke,
"Out of the way marine, I'm under strict orders to…"
The soldier, who by his uniform indicated he was a sergeant, ignored the officer and boomed,
"MARINES! At attention! We have a living legend on deck!"
Every marine stood at attention immediately. The sergeant looked back at Master Chief,
"Glad to see your still kicking Master Chief, you probably don't remember me but I served with you in Africa during the Battle of Mombasa. You saved our asses out there and I never got to thank you sir."
The sergeant saluted and all the other marines followed suit. John saluted the sergeant back,
"At ease marine."
The sergeant lowered his hand and got back into the crowd allowing them to pass. Cortana could barely hold in her amusement,
All hail the Chief!
John sighed, I hate crowds…
On the bridge, the commander of the Keyes, Captain McClain, was looking out over his crew as John arrived via the lift. McClain turned around as the Master Chief saluted him. McClain grinned as he returned the gesture,
"I didn't believe it but here you are."
McClain was an older man, probably in his 50's, had red hair, and a slight Irish accent.
"We didn't think you were alive, the Arbitor had insisted you were but after almost 3 years or so of looking we quit. I still can't believe you're here, you Spartans are some tough bastards to kill, our covenants friends can vouch for that."
John simply responded, "We just do what we were trained for sir."
McClain laughed as he reached for his cup of coffee,
"Well before I can debrief you and return you to Earth we need two things. First we need you too take off your helmet so we can do a retina scan to confirm you're you. It's not everyday you find a missing Spartan."
John tensed slightly, not out of fear but annoyance as he took his helmet off. McClain looked slightly surprised by John's appearance, he had unruly brown hair, unnaturally pale, pasty white skin, and deep, gentle brown eyes. Not exactly what the Captain was expecting but then again he wasn't expecting to find the Master Chief in the first place. An engineer walked up to John and stood on her the tips of her feet to try to do the scan but couldn't reach.
"Umm, I'm sorry but could you…"
John, stoic as ever, simply got to one knee without responding as the engineer did the retinal scan.
"The system is recognizing him as Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan-117 Captain."
McClain shook his head in awe, "My god it's really you."
John put his helmet back on as Cortana huffed,
Did he have any doubt? Who else has this armor? I swear I think the rank of Captain should have an IQ requirement.
John grinned, Easy there, what's got you so riled up?
I just don't like him…
Were you this friendly to me when we first met?
Cortana ignored him deciding to just relax as the pain from her rampancy had lessened. Unfortunately this didn't get to last long,
"What was the second thing Captain?"
McClain sighed a bit knowing the next request was going to come with some resistance,
"I just got off the horn with command and they've asked me to quarantine Cortana until her status can be determined."
It seemed as if time had stopped. John immediately brought his guard up as he hear what he could only describe as fear in Cortana's quick reply,
"Quarantine?"
John decided to draw the line in the sand,
"With all due respect Captain, that's not going to happen."
McClain looked a bit surprised at the Chief's quick and serious reply,
"Master Chief this is a direct order from Lord Terrence Hood himself. It's just a precautionary measure as she is starting to be at an age where rampancy starts to set in. As Captain of this vessel," He emphasized the last part, "That's an order." The captain nodded to the engineer to continue.
The engineer walked toward Chief as if to retrieve Cortana, and in one swift move he removed her side arm pistol and held it to her forehead,
"I take orders directly from High Command. Any further attempt to take Cortana and... "
He cocked the hammer on the gun back as the young woman visible shook in fear at the towering Spartan. McClain, too shocked to fully understand him, cocked his head a bit to the side,
"And what? Your going to kill an innocent marine? A sister in arms over an AI?"
The other officers on deck had already drawn their side arms aiming them at Master Chief. Cortana's voice was filled with pain and fear,
John don't, just let them take me…
John clenched his hand tighter around the weapon,
"Yes" There was a slight pause, "And everyone else in this room."
The room could be cut with a knife as the tension was at a critical mass. Sailors that had been truly elated to have found the legendary savior of humanity were now genuinely terrified as they aimed their weapons. The captain honestly had no idea what to do. He had no doubt the man could back up his threat and McClain finally saw the futility of the matter. If High Command wanted to piss off a super soldier, they could deal with him. His soldiers lives wouldn't be the cost of their stupidity.
"Fine, just put your gun away and we'll just chalk this up to a big misunderstanding. Wouldn't want Earth's most infamous hero to wind up looking like a bad guy."
Cortana let out the non existent breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding,
You didn't have to get all protective you know...
It was necessary. Besides, who would keep me company if I gave you up?
Cortana gave a bitter laugh,
Well it won't be the girl your were holding hostage.
John felt something strange about her,
Cortana?
Yes?
You need to tell me everything that's been going on with you.
Can't keep secrets from you can I?
I don't know, I just felt like writing a Halo fic. Spur of the moment. It's going to be a John/Cortana story and will focus primarily on them and developing their relationship but will have the occasional combat in there. Well review tell what you think and thanks for reading!
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