-Begin Part I: Contact-
1.1: O Brave New World
So, this is To Infinity. I don't think a lot of people would think of doing a Halo/Bionicle Cross-over. I mean, going by the ESRB, Bionicle's got a T-Rating at most(Sure, there are some more violent things, but the line is meant for young adults and children), and Halo's a "Soft M"(H5:G was a T-) Rating.
This isn't going to continue where Greg Farshtey left off. This is going to take place a long time after. Parts of the Canon after 2010's set wave are going to be mostly ignored. Also, this will contain Spoilers for the ending of Halo 5: Guardians. If you haven't played the campaign all the way, you will be spoiled.
ONE
UNSC Infinity, Outside Milky Way Galactic Rim
"Captain. Wake up."
Captain Thomas Lasky's eyes opened after he heard Roland's voice. His cabin's lights were off, and, hopefully, in the other areas where it wasn't absolutely necessary. With the UNSC in shambles, the only option for survival was to be frugal with the Infinity's power. "Where are we?"
"I'm not sure. I've been doing blind jumps every 12 hours, trying to evade Cortana's scanners." The name of the UNSC-turned-"Goddess"-AI was said with hate and scorn. She was responsible for the hundreds of thousands of UNSC AI rebelling against Humanity in hopes of the cure for Rampancy, and Roland had nothing but contempt for her.
"Just like the Cole Protocol?"
"Like that, but indefinite, with no endpoint." There was a pause. "I've cut off communication to Waypoint and ChatterNet. She could have used it to track us."
"You don't need to explain why, Roland. I understand."
"Before I cut off our connection, I saw footage and articles on how the Covenant remnants were destroying helpless colony worlds."
"And Cortana just let them?"
"She deployed Guardians and some Prometheans, but they didn't do much."
"Figures." Lasky changed into his dress uniform. "So why'd you wake me?"
"Because there's something you need to see. Doctor Halsey and the Arbiter are in the Bridge. They're waiting for you."
Lasky sighed, grabbed a ration bar, and went to the bridge.
UNSC Infinity, Bridge
Lasky walked into the Bridge of the UNSC Infinity. Doctor Halsey was there, and Commander Palmer was at her side. Arbiter Thel 'Vadam was on the opposite side of the deactivated holo-table, with his personal guard of Sangheili at his side.
"Sanghelios has fallen," Thel said to Halsey. "Because of your AI, my homeworld lies in ruins."
"My AI?" Hasley leaned forwards as best as she could with one arm. "I may have created Cortana, but I don't have ownership of her. You should know that, Arbiter 'Vadam."
"Do not argue semantics with me, nishum!" Thel reached for his Energy Sword, and Palmer drew her pistol. Halsey had a smug smile on her face.
"Both of you! Stop!" Roland yelled, and Thel's mandibles closed tightly as he growled and sheathed the Prophet's Bane, as his customized sword was called.
"Normally you're not so hostile, Arbiter." Lasky walked over to the head of the holo-table.
"Do you expect me to be of peaceful demeanor after I get the news of my homeworld's destruction?" Thel did not make eye contact with Lasky. Even with the differences of cultures between Humans and Sangheili, not making eye contact with the person addressing you had similar connotations.
"I know what you're going through, Arbiter 'Vadaam. But Human planets- including our homeworld- have been destroyed because they rebelled against Cortana, assaulted by Insurrectionists, or glassed by a Covie remnants, and do you see me threatening others?" Lasky asked, trying to stay calm. "Fighting will do nothing."
The Arbiter of the Swords of Sanghelios eloquently said "Bah," and left it at that.
"So, Roland, what's so interesting that you brought all of us here for?"
"This." The AI had the holotable burst into life, projecting a large planet surrounded by two vaguely c-shaped nebulae, and a star slightly behind them. "When I blind-jumped, I found this. It doesn't match any known system archived by the Forerunners."
"And what's so important about this system?"
"It's a single-star, single planet-system with two nebulae nearby. It can't have formed naturally. If the Forerunners didn't make it, then who did?"
"Is that a rhetorical question?"
"Yes."
"If there's a civilization that has the ability to rival the Forerunners, then we could stand a chance against Cortana if we get their tech."
"What if they're still there? What if they don't want to share their technology?"
Roland didn't respond.
"Roland?"
"I don't know."
"Halsey? Thoughts?"
"I've never seen anything like this. The planet is larger-than-earth-sized, but there's nothing nearby, other than those nebulae and the sun. Not even an asteroid belt. It's spotless…" She seemed to have an epiphany. "Roland, where are we?"
"Um… Ma'am, I'm not sure." Roland replied.
"Are we in the Milky Way or not?"
"I don't see why that's important."
"Because we're missing a piece of the puzzle. You weren't looking deep enough, or for the right things."
"We're outside the Galaxy. Not as far as the Ark, but far enough."
"The Forerunners catalogued life in the galaxy. However, they weren't the only ones interested in such a task." She plugged her datapad into the Holotable and typed something in. A large, humanoid robot appeared on the holotable. "During the Forerunner's height of power, a probe found this. It was scanning a planet, and left shortly after. It was never seen after that. Ancilla calculated that it was from outside the galaxy, but not too far outside."
"So you're saying that that robot has something to do with this system?" Lasky asked.
"Call it a hunch. This is a satellite system outside of our galaxy. It wouldn't have been affected by the Halo Rings' firing. There's still organisms there, most likely."
"The odds of life being there other than plant and microbial life is One-in-Five-Quadrillion." Roland seemed annoyed.
"Never tell me the odds- because from what I've seen, what's once thought to be impossible tends to be possible. We should send a Pelican down once we get in orbit."
"I say we leave this pointless hunt," The Arbiter slammed his fist down on the holo-table. "This will be a waste of time."
"Hey, don't break that. We can't get replacements." Roland got even more annoyed. Why do organics have the need to smack things to prove a point?
"Halsey's theory is worth a shot," Lasky turned towards the Doctor. "If we leave, we could miss our ability to fight back against Cortana."
"It's not a theory, Captain," Halsey said, smiling in victory. "It's a hypothesis."
UNSC Infinity, Armory
MCPO John-117 loaded his MA5K Carbine. POFC Kelly-087 walked behind him.
"John," She said. She was unarmored, like John, but was wearing a dress uniform instead of the black bodysuit. "You're out of cryo. Anything wrong?"
"I'm rusty." He field-stripped his rifle, disassembling it, cleaning it, and putting it back together.
"John, if you need anything, just tell me. I know Cortana's betrayal-"
"I'm fine. Just rusty." John said sharply.
"I get it. You and her… You were a team. Siblings-in-arms."
"It's not her."
"What do you mean?"
"Cortana wouldn't have acted like that."
"She did."
"It's a fragment. One of the copies she left behind."
"How do you know?"
"Her behavior."
John didn't elaborate, so Kelly just left it that. "You won't believe what Halsey found."
John looked at her. "What is it?"
LTJG Frederic-104 walked over, wearing full armor. "Come on, we'll show you."
John pointed to the MA5K. "I need to train."
"No, you need to see this. Because we'll have our boots on its ground, along with Fireteam Osiris."
They headed towards the hangar. Visible outside of it was a solar system consisting of a single, larger-than-earth-sized planet, two C-shaped nebulae, and a sun.
"Halsey says it could help us fight back against Cortana." Fred said.
"That won't be enough."
"If the civilization on that planet could build a giant robot that could probably destroy a Guardian by stepping on it, Hell, I don't know what is 'enough' in your book."
UNSC Infinity, Hangar
Spartan Edward Buck looked at the rest of Fireteam Osiris. All of the armor, weapons, and even the Pelican had been decontaminated, and put in a private launch bay that was also sanitized. If indigenous lifeforms were located on the planet, they didn't want them catching the flu and dying. Vale had several syringes of vaccines if they needed to inoculate the locals in case they were brought on the ship.
"What do you think they look like?" Tanaka asked.
"The Locals?" Locke shrugged. "I'm not sure."
"I'm hoping they look like sexy, green-skinned women," Buck said, elbowing Locke.
Vale looked at him and shook her head, sighing.
"What? No laughs?" Buck's shoulders slumped. "Just my luck that I get stuck with the all-work-and-no-play team."
"And we've got work to do." Locke loaded his BR85N Battle Rifle and headed into the Pelican, sitting down and strapping in.
"And Blue Team's slacking," Buck said, annoyed at how long it took for the Spartan-II's to enter the Pelican.
"Not slacking," Kelly-087 said. "Just fashionably late."
"We all set?" The Pelican's pilot asked. One by one, the operatives signaled that they were ready. "Okay. O' brave new world, here we come." After the Pelican pilot noticed no one had responded to her reference, she sighed. "No one reads Shakespeare anymore."
"I know that feeling," Buck said.
"Thanks, Spartan."
The Pelican's thrusters activated, and the aircraft lifted up off the Hangar's floor, and accelerated towards the mysterious planet.
Well. This is definitely one of the slower chapters. It's really here for exposition purposes. It's to show how defeated the UNSC is: it's in shambles, the Infinity- the most advanced warship they have- is missing, and Cortana really doesn't care about the worlds that don't have AI. So, yeah. The Infinity's cut off from the rest of the UNSC, and they're desperate to find some way to fight back.
And, yes, the Spartans did take vaccines with them. Why? Because what happened when Europeans went to the Americas and brought all of their diseases that their immune systems resisted but the natives' didn't? The natives died. That's what the UNSC doesn't want to happen. I see so many sci-fi stories where Humanity just goes down to an unknown planet without any protection from hazardous microbial life(cough, Star Trek, cough) that I was extremely tired of it. So the UNSC, being intelligent and having colonized hundreds of worlds, must have had the idea to bring vaccines along in case they met an indigenous race.
Yeah, this is going to be a deconstruction of crossovers, but I'm going to keep it in the same tone as Halo, not break the fourth wall, etc.
