Make It Count

by Skypiratewolf

After the Master Chief discovers the Flood and is fighting with the Arbiter to stop them, on a secret mission only known to a few, Commander Garner and her hand picked team of lieutenants and a Spartan are sent to explore Installation 00. S-118, Noah, Lt. Giarda, Lt. Rinkel, Lt. Colvin, the commander, and her AI Tala, find less than any kind of easiness when the mission begins.

"We have briefing in a few minutes, you two." A woman said putting on and buttoning up her uniform. The two men threw down their cards on the small table they sat around. One of them sighed and ran his fingers through the curly mop of hair on his head. He looked at the woman with irritated scowl.

"Thanks for reminding us, Giarda, but I'm pretty sure we knew already." He said standing up. He stood over her while she was straightening her jacket in the mirror. He slipped on his coat and buttoned it up.

"Well, excuse me, Rinkel, for interrupting your card game. You can steal Calvin's money when it's over." She said, emphasizing his name in a heavy sarcastic tone.

"Katy," Calvin called from behind her. She turned around and watched him turn out his pants pockets. He grinned. "Too late." She shook her head.

"You two are unbelievable." She muttered, standing up straight. "Come on, Jon, you're taking forever." She said brushing off tiny pieces of fuzz off the stripes on her shoulder. He glared at her and grumbled to himself. Calvin had already buttoned up and straightened his uniform, looking neat and collected. Jon slowly got his clothes situated and started toward the door.

"All military personnel report to the briefing hall for mission debrief. Repeat, all military personnel report to the briefing hall for mission debrief." A voice came over the ship's intercom. Calvin looked toward the door.

"Let's go, people." Katy said getting to the door first. As the door opened, people's voices leaked through, sounding of a ship-wide movement. People rushed down the hall toward the bridge, the briefing hall only being a few yards before it.

A man rushed by the three walking out of their gathering room, and abruptly stopped. He turned around and stood up straight, saluting to all three of them.

"Lieutenant Giarda. Lieutenant Rinkel. Lieutenant Colvin." He addressed them individually and sternly, waiting for their approving return salutes. They all stood as straight as the marine did and saluted back, letting the man stand at ease. Katy stepped forward and grinned.

"Get to the briefing hall quickly. Commander Garner will have your head if you're late." She said motioning down the corridor. The marine nodded and quickly ran. They all started walking again and Calvin looked over to Katy and Jon.

"Won't she get onto us, too, for being late?" He asked. Jon chuckled and looked back to him.

"If she hasn't stripped our ranks by now, she won't do anything, except for shaking her head and giving us another half our lecture on how if we weren't friends we wouldn't even be on this ship." He said, catching his breath from speaking beyond his normal lung capacity. Katy shook her head.

"I've heard those speeches way too many times." She muttered. They all nodded in agreement and continued down the corridor.

Jon held open for the others as they walked into the room, stepping into a room was made of more noise than actual wall. The entire crew of marines had converged into the room that was barely big enough to hold them all. The way the room was made, it was structurally circular and looked like an educational lecture hall. Since the room was circular, the sounds bounced in and out of the center of the room. A pedestal stood in the center of the room, the pedestal being the lowest part of the room. A screen behind the pedestal covered the entire rectangular wall, the screen showing just a black and white image of the U.N.S.C. insignia. Every marine had their own seat and talked amongst themselves. Only a handful of them stood, most of them being the commanding officers.

One of them, however, stood out more than any of them and was clad in armor from his neck to his feet. He stood taller than any of them. His dark hair laid flat on the top of his head and curled down his neck and face. His skin was a soft brown but had light streaks that were remnants of scars. His eyes were darker than his skin and were intense as if he were anticipating something.

A woman, much shorter than him, walked up to face him. He jolted off of the wall he leaned on and saluted down to her.

"Commander Garner." He addressed her sternly. She smiled up to him and gave him a stiff salute.

"Spartan." She said softly. "Why don't you take a seat? There's one right here." She motioned to the seat by her legs. His face twitched a little but he didn't avert his gaze.

"No disrespect intended, ma'am, but I would rather not embarrass myself by getting stuck in the seat or having to move out of people's ways to see over me." He said his voice low. She laughed and patted his arm softly.

"Sorry, Noah. I didn't think about it. Well I guess you can stay where you are. Time for the briefing." She said, sighing. He nodded once.

"Don't want to keep your marines guessing, now do we, Commander?" He said with a sort of smile. She grinned and nodded to him.

She walked from him to the pedestal in the center of the room. The entire congregation quickly became quiet as she cleared her throat and stood with her hands behind her back.

"Alright, marines," She said looking around the room to ensure full attention, "We are landing on Installation Zero-Zero at oh-eight-hundred hours tomorrow. Four pelicans are to bring us to the surface. Each pelican will have a team of marines with a commanding officer."

"The lead pelican will have me and Spartan One-Eighteen. We will be taking Tala into the Halo's control room." Just then, on the pedestal, the figure of a woman flickered up. She flattened the front of her dress, a soft expression on her face.

He stood small on the pedestal panel. The dress she wore was long and sleek, stopping at her ankles. A flower with spirals covered the bottom hem of the dress. Two small slits went up the sides to mid-calf. Her hair was up tight in a neat bun with a large flower in it, the flower seeming to make her image more pleasant. All of her image was a light purple-blue and seemed to shimmer with her every movement. She was the ship's A.I.

"May I, Commander?" She asked, turning to Commander Garner. The Commander nodded and turned to the screen behind her. The screen suddenly changed to an image of the half-ring Halo known as Installation Zero-Zero. "We will be landing here," Tala said, enhancing the image to a gorge on the surface of the half-ring. "From there, we will move up the canyon's ridge. The second pelican, with Lieutenant Giarda, will have the responsibility of keeping our landing point secure. This will be our base camp."

"The other two, with Sergeant Trapston and Lieutenant Colvin, will be back up for the first two teams. Now, we have collected reports of much Covenant activity on the surface, especially near the entrance of the control room's building complex. Unfortunately, we have also come across another enemy threat." She stopped with a displeased glance toward Commander Garner. The Commander sighed and stepped toward the screen.

"We have gained knowledge of an infectious species that the Covenant released onto the rings. We discovered them on Installation Zero-One and they are apparently have the appropriate name of the Flood." She said motioning to the screen. Tala flickered for a moment and brought up an image of what looked like a bug splattered against the floor. The marines murmured quietly. "This is one of the infection spores; the image taken after it was killed. This creature is able to infect any living organism, changing the original host into a grotesque being with only a slight resemblance to its original form." She motioned, again, to the screen. The A.I. flickered once and another image popped up.

The marines gasped, jumping in their seats and starting to talk louder, some even yelling to be heard by the other next to them. A deformed figure lunged in the picture, the man who had unwillingly captured the image helplessly defending himself in front of his face. The figure in the picture appeared to have been a man, a marine, who had transformed into a tentacle-armed, brown-yellow skinned, killing mass.

"This is what we are up against. This was one of our marines in the first installation we set foot on. The marine that took the picture was reported K.I.A. when they found his uniform on one of the diseased Flood figures. We discovered that when up against any of the infected we formally knew, they have no recognition of you or anything they used to know. Also, they feel absolutely no pain and, if not completely dismembered and beaten, they will get back up and attack you turn your back." Tala explained; bring the picture off the screen. She put the half-ring back up and turned to Commander Garner. She nodded and faced the room again.

"We move out at oh-eight- hundred hours. The Flood threat cannot be completely confirmed but, by any means, stay on your guard. Don't underestimate your enemy or your surrounding terrain. Your team assigning will be in the barracks when you get back to them." She said sternly, staring over her soldiers briefly. She took in a deep breath and sighed. "That is all." She said, everybody quickly standing up. She watched them leave, unsurprised to hear their conversations being mostly about the same topic; The Flood. They were absolutely hideous and, instinctively, she knew they were their most dangerous and challenging foes, even compared to the Covenant. A growl of disgust rumbled out of her, her doubt about her own marines disgusting her.

She sighed and turned around, quickly jolting back as she was faced by a wall of a man.

"Sorry, Anna." Noah said smirking down at her and backing up a step. She grinned up at him.

"Since when do you have the authority to call me anything other than Commander?" She asked jokingly. He snorted and patted her head.

"Don't start with this again. We both know we've broken protocol and befriended each other and other officers secretly. O.N.I. wouldn't appreciate it, let alone the other members of the crew. Hiding it amongst ourselves can only last so long." He said softly patting her shoulder. She lightly jolted and shook her head.

"My bias is going to get us all in a lot of trouble." She muttered. Tala suddenly flickered back onto the pedestal and crossed her arms.

"You're lucky I haven't ratted you out. I'm already jealous of the fact that I can't be friends with you all outside of this wired system, and because of that I'm stuck keeping every secret I come across." She said with a highly displeased glare on her face. Noah shook his head and grinned at her.

"No one ordered you to keep them and you don't even have to hear them if you don't want to. You're not the victim you make yourself out to be, Tala." He said crossing his arms and smiling. She glared harshly up toward him.

"I'll make sure your room is nice and cozy tonight." She said with a devious smirk. She flickered out, leaving Noah to face Anna's amused gaze.

"You know she has a short temper." She said. Noah snorted and started toward the door.

"It's not a big deal. She's just going to turn my room into a meat locker. I've gotten used to it the last couple nights." He said opening the door. Anna quickly walked past him into the corridor.

"You've been messing with her since you first stepped foot into this ship, haven't you?" She asked, grinning and turning back around. He nodded once and let the door shut.

"It passes the time..." He muttered. She let out a quite giggle and turned down one of the corridors.

"You want to join the nightly card game, tonight?" She asked over her shoulder. He grinned and shook his head.

"No thanks. I'm going to try to get some sleep, if you don't mind." He said. She nodded and smiled.

"Good night, Spartan." She called, walking away. He watched her leave for a moment and then turned down another corridor. He looked intensely as he walked down the corridor, thought clear in his gaze. The ship's fans and constant hum were the only things that made noise besides his hard footsteps and the soft murmur of voices from down the hall in the barracks. He had already tuned out everything with his own internal rhythm, the ship's walls barely noticed in his view.

He turned to his private room and opened the door quietly, quickly going inside and closing it to escape into his own space. He leaned against the door and was suddenly surprised to feel comfortable warmth around him. He had expected the freezer that he had normally walked into after he had spoken to Tala and irritated her.

"Tala?" He called, glancing to the panel that jutted from the wall next to his cot on the right wall. The panel glowed and Tala's figure flickered up, and immediate smile crossing her lips as she face him.

"Expecting something different or what?" She asked swaying back and forth. He grinned and slowly sat on the cot.

"Well, I was expecting you to freeze me the moment I walked in here. You've tried every other time." He said, slowly taking his armor off piece by piece. Tala stepped closer on the panel and laughed a little.

"No I haven't. I would never do that. A Spartan should never go like that. And besides, you're too important to kill." She said swaying more. He raised an eyebrow to her as he lay down.

"Important to whom?" He asked. She stopped swaying and turned away.

"To…the U.N.S.C., of course. You are one of the bests of the best. You are the one that's going to destroy this next Halo." She said with her back to him. He huffed and shook his head.

"No. Even if we got into the control room and past the Covenant and, most likely, the Flood, I wouldn't be the one to destroy it." He said facing the ceiling. She cocked her head and turned back around to him.

"What do you mean?" She asked softly. He sighed and looked down past his feet to her small purple figure.

"You're the one that's going to be in the construct, manipulating your way through the systems. I'm just the courier. Besides…I'm just s number…one-eighteen…" He muttered, trailing off into his own thoughts. Tala huffed and stamped her foot, her voice being the only noise to come from the platform.

"You know you're more than that. You're a soldier and have more personality than nearly anybody on this ship. Don't think of yourself as just a number. We all know you are simply human. I know…you're…" She trailed off, her expression flustered and conflicted. Noah chuckled deeply and continued to look at her.

"Sounds like you've gotten a little attached." He said with a sly grin across his lips. She suddenly took a step back, her face now bewildered and her mouth slightly open.

"W-what…I-I…erg…" She turned her face away and grumbled to herself. She slowly looked back to him. "Good night, Noah." She said softly before flickering away. Noah's grin slowly faded as he stared at the empty platform. He grabbed the small pillow behind him and punched it in. He fell hard into it, his arms crossed over his chest. He closed his eyes.

"Attached…me? Never…"

Noah was awoken abruptly, being thrown on the floor and startled by the sound of an explosion through the metal paneling. He stood up quickly, finding himself bathed in a red glow from the ceiling. He started to slam his armor onto himself.

"Tala! What the hell's going on?!" He shouted grabbing his helmet. Tala's figure quickly popped up on the panel.

"The Covenant is attacking the Clouded Mirage! They were cloaked and somehow hid from our radar. That first explosion was them punching into the cargo bay. They're moving quickly." She said seeming pre-occupied. He put on his helmet and looked down at her.

"Where's your chip?" He asked. She looked at him blankly for a moment.

"In the bridge. Be careful, though. The Covenant is almost to the barracks." She said flickering away. He grabbed the assault rifle from under his cot and opened the door.

The same red light radiated through the halls, other lights shining against the walls. There was no movement anywhere besides the shuddering of the ship. The sudden squawking and chattering down the hall made Noah jolt. A green glow came slowly down the far corridor, the beak-like mouths of Jackals exposing themselves around the corner.

Noah quickly went into the hall across from him, hoping they hadn't seen him. He quickly started toward the bridge and tried to be as quiet as possible. Past the silence, he could hear the alien voices in nearly every hall and with every voice he heard, his finger twitched on the trigger of the rifle.

He turned into one of the corridors and looked at one of the doors.

"The lieutenants…" He muttered. He ran to the door and opened it. Katy and Calvin were putting on combat armor, strapping a battle rifle to their backs and magnums to their legs. Katy looked up and grinned as Noah stepped in.

"Good to see you. Sorry you missed cards last night." She said standing up straight. Noah snorted.

"I think there are more important things to focus on right now. Where's Jon?" He asked. Calvin kept a magnum in his hand and stepped forward.

"He ran off looking for the Commander. Other than that, I have no idea." He said. The sound of growls and yells cut them off, their posture going rigid.

"Let's go. I need to get to the bridge. After that…I'm sure Anna's going to get us to retreat to the escape pods." Noah said turning to the door. He quickly opened it and Calvin and Katy rushed out beside him, their guns drawn. An Elite was caught off guard for a moment because of their sudden appearance, a surprised growl escaping its lips. Katy fired on it, piercing through its energy shield in a few moments. Before its plasma rifle was raised, several rounds of lead ended up in its neck and mouth. Purple blood rained down on him, a loud cry escaping its mouth as it died.

"Come on. The ship's going to hell, fast." Katy said running toward the bridge. Calvin struggled to keep up with her, Noah quickly striding behind them.

Grunts frequently popped out of small hallways, their squeals echoing off the metal walls. Jackals and Elites stayed in the rear of the Clouded Mirage, sending out the gun fodder out first.

Past the barracks, barely any of the Covenant appeared. They had not attempted to invade the bridge.

Noah, Katy, and Calvin ran onto the bridge and found Anna at the helm. She turned around, revealing a wild look in her eyes.

"Commander. We need to get out of here. The ship is being overrun." Calvin said looking over the ship's interior monitors, watching the growing enemy movement as it slowly took over the ship. Anna laughed.

"You think I don't know that? Why do you think Tala and I are the only ones up here? Everyone's either escaped to the escape pods or been unfortunate enough to meet a gun face to face. We're trying to get the ship to the ring ourselves." She said, turning back to the front, facing space and the half-Halo. Katy jolted back and turned Anna back toward her.

"Are you mad?! The ship's done for!" She yelled. Anna continued to stare out into the void, not even phased by Katy's statement. Calvin suddenly looked around almost frantically.

"Wait…where's Jon? He was supposed to come up here and get you." He said shakily. Anna slowly turned around.

"…Jon?" She muttered. Tala popped up, her figure bigger on the bridge's display platform.

"Jon is in the hangar with several other pilots." She said bringing up the video feed of the hangar bay. Several pelicans came into view, but the main vocal point of the feed was the plasma and gun fire being exchange in the center of the bay. Anna stared at the feed, her eyes flicking back and forth in search of Jon. Tala brought it down to bring Anna's attention away and she turned to Noah.

"Pull me. I've got the ship's weapons online and on auto-fire. The ship's defenses are locked. There's not much of a chance of it surviving, but our chances are quite high if we leave now." She said. Noah glanced at Anna, finding her gaze to the floor with a lot of thought going through her eyes. He reached for the platform and pulled Tala's chip.

The center of her chip glowed a soft blue with thick purple veins on the hard case surrounding it. Noah reached to the back of his helmet and slipped the chip into the slot opening. Once the chip clicked in, warmth seemed to flow through his armor along with the presence of someone else with him. "Now, let's go. Snap the Commander out of it and get all of us to the escape pods. The pods are still being deployed. There's still one for us if we can make it." She said. Noah patted Anna's shoulder softly and put his dark visor eye-level to her.

"You ready to leave?" He asked. She stared into his visor and slowly nodded.

"Yes." She muttered, going to Anna's side.

"The Covenant is moving quickly. Hurry up and get to the escape pod now." Tala said urgently. Noah started forward, the others quickly following behind him. Katy tossed Anna one of the pistols off of her legs, the cold metal snapping her back into the severity of the situation.

The steel halls echoed with the loud, staccato sounds of rapid gun fire as they went through the corridors of the ship. Small fires had erupted in the blast doors from random grenade detonations. Blood from every creature, alien or human, spotted the floors and walls. No U.N.S.C. crew member seemed to be on the ship, the halls only filled with their bodies, blood, or remnants of the crew's existence.

The closer Noah's group got to the rear portion of the ship, the more Covenant barricades they had to shoot through.

"There they are! There's one left!" Katy shouted as they rounded the corner to the escape hatches. Katy rushed into the pod, Anna right at her heels. Noah stopped in the hatchway of the pod, looking back to Calvin. Calvin looked to his left for a moment, his eyes widening and his battle rifle rising. Before Noah could look to what Calvin was aiming at, a green flash went across his view. Calvin yelled in pain, the green plasma ball tearing into his chest.

"Calvin!" Anna cried as she watched him fall. Noah raised his M.A. and fired before he knew what he was shooting at. A Grunt squealed and fell back, his methane tank being punctured before his eye was shot inward. Noah quickly ran to Calvin, finding him as dead on contact, and took his dog tags from his chest. Noah looked back at Calvin for a moment and then ran into the pod, handing Anna the tags.

"Katy! Get us out of here!" He shouted. She nodded quickly and slammed into the pilot's seat. She quickly pulled the hatch lever down and waited for the hatch to close and the pod to pressurize. With one last hiss, the pod quickly shot out of the ship.

Anna peered over Katy's shoulder, staring at the other pods going to the Halo. She watched them closely, hope deep in her eyes. She jolted hard as a gauntleted hand came onto her shoulder. She looked back to see Noah's face, his helmet back on one of the seats.

"He got off the ship. I'm sure of it." He said assuring as he could sound. He tried to put as much of a grin as he could put on to help assure her more.

"Well he was on the pelicans with some of the other pilots. I don't doubt he easily got past the Covenant ships and is heading down right behind us." Katy said looking over her shoulder. Anna nodded slowly and went back to the seats.

"Is the Covenant following us?" She asked softly. Noah looked up and around the blast shield and shook his head.

"No. They're still occupied with the Mirage. They're probably looking for Tala." He said glancing back to his helmet.

"We can only hope that she wiped the systems before she was pulled." Anna said almost in a whisper. Noah huffed.

"I know she did. She's no fool." He muttered, almost to himself. The pod suddenly shuddered.

"Strap yourselves in. We're entering the Installation's atmosphere." Katy said inspecting the controls. Noah quickly jolted back and grabbed his helmet. His armor and stature made it almost impossible to sit in one of the pod seats. He easily improvised and grabbed one of the handholds at the top.

Anna put the buckles over her chest and stayed pressed against the seat. The pod started to shake violently, fire starting to engulf the outside. Katy pulled back on the throttle, engaging the brake flaps and slowing it as much as she could. "Hold on, guys! This is going to get dicey!" She yelled.

"We're going to be fine. Just make sure your hold is tight. Remember: there are two of us in here." Tala said. Noah rolled his eyes a little and grabbed the bar tighter.

The ground rushed toward them, the pod slowing to a safe speed. The pod slammed hard into the surface, Noah lunging forward and his fingers slipping slightly. Katy and Anna groaned and slowly sat up.

"You two okay?" Noah asked looking around to both of them. Anna rubbed her collar, slowly popping the buckle and slipping the straps off.

"Y-yeah…just a little burned…Katy?" She called up to the front. Katy groaned again and threw her straps off.

"Yeah, I'm alive. Just…shaky…" She said slowly supporting herself against the walls.

"I'm detecting more escape pod beacons close by. We should regroup quickly before the Covenant start patrolling the area." Tala said. Noah nodded and turned to the women in front of him.

"Tala says we need to group with the other escape pods that landed near here. The Coveys will probably be around here before dark." He said helping Katy up. Anna had broken into one of the medical packs, cleaning the scratches on her chest that the straps had caused.

"Alright. Just…one minute…" She said wincing. Katy took in a deep breath and stretched. Noah opened the back hatch and stepped out into the open.

The air was clean and the atmosphere looked as blue as Earth's sky, the only difference being the frayed edges of the Halo being visible in the sky. Only the sounds of the passing breezes sounded through the canyon they had landed in. The faint sound of crashing water could be heard from behind the hill in front of them.

Katy and Anna stepped out into the light, Anna's chest bandaged lightly. She seemed to admire the landscape, a soft expression on her face.

"This is beautiful…if only it weren't infested with Flood and Covenant. If only these things weren't meant to destroy us. A colony would be perfect here." She said taking in a deep breath. Katy nodded and looked at the ground.

"The aliens that made it sure knew how to make it welcoming." She said kneeling and running her hand over the soft grass.

"And we're stuck destroying it…" Tala muttered. Noah grunted slightly, hearing the disappointment in all of their voices.

"Come on. We need to get moving." He said deeply. They went forward toward the water, a long narrow bridge going over the canyon where the water flowed. The bridge was a solid stone block that was narrow enough for one person to go at a time. As they crossed, they all looked around cautiously, expecting to be shot at any moment. Anna jolted in surprise then frowned as she heard metal rattling in her pocket. Calvin's tags were reminding her of his absence.

On the other side, Noah started up the ridge first, his gun drawn and quickly scoping behind every boulder and tree. They quickly got to the top of the ridge and looked over the next canyon. Noah lowered his gun and a sigh of relief slowly escaped all of them. A smile crossed Noah's lips as he spotted three escape pods in the gorge. One has landed on the far side across another stone-block bridge, the other two being closest to the ridge Noah, Katy and Anna stood on.

The marines had gathered on the side with the two pods, bringing their supplies and creating a small base camp in the center.

"Who could ask for a better group of soldiers?" Anna said slowly walking down the ridge. Katy quickly followed her, a big grin on her face. Noah followed them, cautiously looking back.

"Are there any more pods?" He asked quietly.

"None that are registering any kind of frequency. If there were, they were destroyed before their beacons started transmitting. Not as many of the crew members escaped as I had anticipated…" She said in a low tone. Noah scowled a little. A sudden surprised 'huh' from Tala brought his attention back. "I'm picking up more friendly signatures, though, that aren't escape pods." Noah's face contorted into a confused smirk.

"What kind of friendly signatures are you picking up?" He asked putting his assault rifle down and leaning against a boulder. He watched for a moment as Anna and Katy were welcomed into the camp. Tala laughed a little.

"Listen…they're here." She said, sounding slightly cheery. Noah raised his head and listened, hearing the sound of engines in the air. Slowly, every marine's head turned up toward the sky, there faces lightening to smiles as they saw the greatest things they had seen in a long time.

Four pelicans came over the ridge, the engines' roars echoing through the canyons. Most of the marines cheered, not caring who heard. Katy and Anna stared at the ships, their breath stuck in their throats. Noah grinned.

"He made it." He muttered. The pelicans turned back toward the gathering and landed outside the main pod's crash site. Anna ran over to the lead pelican and waited anxiously for it to land. The pelicans landed and the marines ran to the backs of them, watching their drop-decks lower. Anna, Katy and Noah stood behind the lead's and waited for the pilot to walk out. The pilot's cabin's door opened and Jon stepped out, slightly limping and smiling back toward them.

"Hello, Commander. We made it." He said walking to the top of the deck. Anna smiled and slowly stepped up the deck.

"Glad to see you, pilot." She said, her voice quivering slightly. Jon chuckled and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"I'm so glad to see you again, Anna." He muttered his cheek against her hair. She hugged him tight, a small tear streaming down her cheek. Katy rushed up to them, Noah striding behind her.

"Jon! You're okay!" She cried out almost running into them both.

"Hey, you two. Wait…where's Calvin?" He asked his lip slightly dropping. The mood suddenly grew dark and heavy as they watched Anna remove the glittering tags from her coat pocket.

"He…didn't make it." She said staring into her palm. Jon slowly took the tags from her hand and stared at them thoughtfully. He seemed to be saying silent goodbyes in his head before handing them back.

"Well…at least most of us made it. We'll do enough living for him." He said smiling. All of them nodded and smiled. Anna hesitantly pulled away from Jon.

"Alright, the planet next to this Halo is going to make it dark soon. I need to get everything in order with them." She said looking out the deck to the scurrying marines. She walked away to command the marines. Katy and Noah looked at Jon. He smirked and waved them inside.

"Come on. We'll stay in here tonight."

"So…where exactly did you go after the Covenant attacked?" Katy asked running her fingers through her hair as she faced Jon. He sat in one of the seats against the wall of the pelican, holding Anna's upper half in his lap as her legs lay across the other seats. He looked over to Katy, softly stroking Anna's hair as she slept.

"Well…hmm…after I was thrown into the wall after they started their assault, I ran to find you guys. The barracks was a massive freak-out as I tried to push my way out. When I found you and Calvin, I ran to Anna's room but didn't find her. I didn't worry too much about where she went, because I knew she could take care of herself." He paused for a moment and looked down at Anna. He cleared his throat and looked back at them, "Anyway, after I didn't find her I went looking for you," He said looking at Noah, "But before I could, some pilots found me and needed me to help them get the pelicans out before the Coveys destroyed them. I figured you guys would be able to handle yourselves without me so I left with them."

"The only reason we didn't leave sooner was because, as we feared, the bastards had gotten into the hangar and the damned Jackals were already set up to take us out." He sighed and shook his head, "We started out with about ten pilots. As you can see…we got less than half of them out. Also too many of the pelicans were sabotages to get out so we only got enough for each pilot. Ironic it seems but still not less tragic."

He lifted his left leg with a grimace and showed a well wrapped bandage underneath his pant leg. "A plasma grenade went off right beside one of the fuel tanks in front of me when I was crouching behind one of the supply crates. Now there's shrapnel in my calf, knee, and thigh. Hurts like hell; too…anyway, we launched the ships and just followed the escape pod beacons down to the surface." He explained, looking back to Noah. Noah grinned and glanced to Anna.

"Well…we handled it but not completely without difficulty. Anna almost drug herself and Tala down with the ship because she went a little crazy with her commanding responsibilities." He said. He turned to the other side of the cockpit doorway, Tala projected on the small panel beside the pilot's seat. She looked up to him.

"Short-term version of human rampancy." She quickly stated with a soft grin. Noah grinned back at her and nodded once. Katy looked at all of them and turned to Jon.

"Do you think the original plan is still underway tomorrow?" She asked. They all looked to Anna, was still contently unconscious in Jon's lap. Jon sighed.

"I'm sure it is. The attack, of course, wasn't planned but that doesn't mean we've been hit hard enough to make us quit now. Not when we're this close to getting the job done." He said sounding, unintentionally, prideful. Noah snorted.

"That's great and all, but how will we get to the control room if we have no idea where we are?" He asked scowling. Tala laughed a little, bringing all of their gazes to her.

"I'm not just an obnoxious piece of hardware. Besides the main reason of why I'm here, I know the surface of this place almost entirely. I know exactly where we are. I'm programming the control room coordinates into the other pelicans as we speak." She said shifting her gaze to Anna. "Commander Garner, I'm sure, will be ready to depart the moment she wakes up. I'd get some rest while she's out, if I were you guys." She said folding her arms over her chest. Katy curled up on the floor, gladly taking her advice. Jon laid his head on the wall behind him and closed his eyes, his breath softly resonating through the ship. Noah, however, stepped into the pelican's cockpit and sat in the pilot's seat. Tala turned to him and cocked her head. "You should sleep, too." She said softly. He smiled and kicked his legs up on the controls.

"Who says I wasn't going to? I was just going to stay up here to keep a lookout." He said, his lip twitching slightly. His eyes flashed, showing he was holding back what he truly wanted to say. Tala's grin got wider as she read his face.

"Uh huh, okay. Well, all I can tell you is to go to sleep now so you can be at your best performance tomorrow. I'm sure we'll need it…" She said looking out the front of the ship. Noah followed her gaze and sighed.

Marines were still awake, talking around the small camp fires and eating what they had brought with them. Some of them had taken the opportunity to sleep, but most of them stayed awake to talk about the up-coming battle. Noah stared at them with an amused smirk. The enjoyed talking about killing the "Covey bastards" but they had only killed maybe a Grunt in their entire military career. They had no idea what it was like to kill and keep killing. Noah thought silently, remembering his role as a Spartan.

"Noah. You really should rest. Go to sleep." Tala said insistently. Noah looked at her, bringing his thoughts back to the present. He stared into her purple-blue eyes and sighed. He crossed his arms tight over his chest and settled into the seat.

"What, are you going to watch me sleep or something?" He grumbled closing his eyes. She sighed and flickered away. He peeked down to the panel and felt a small pang of sadness rush over him as he saw the empty panel. He grumbled and pressed harder into the seat.

"That didn't mean I wanted you to go." He whispered slowly falling asleep. He breathed softly, his face relaxed but his body still rigid. The platform suddenly lit up, Tala's small figure reappearing. She looked at Noah and softly smiled. She stepped as close as she could to him and gazed up at him.

"I would never leave you…"

The four pelicans flew in formation over the surface of the Halo, snow covered mountains being passed.

"Corporal Zang, you do know where you are landing for recon, yes?" Anna spoke through the control panel of the pelican, talking to the far pelican at the end of the V-formation. The speaker crackled for a moment, a small "hmm" coming through the speaker.

"Of course, Commander Garner. I am dropping my team back now, as we speak. I will kindly take the opportunity to lead my team into the control building and be the first to wipe the Covenant scum." He said, proudly. Anna smiled at his enthusiasm and nodded.

"Go ahead, Corporal. We will be scouting over the canyon to O.K. your position. Report to me as soon as you have started moving your team." She said. Zang's ship stayed in formation, seeming to hesitate on landing. "Sergeant Trapston, Lieutenant Giarda, Spread out to the sides. I want you to patrol the further canyon sides. We don't need any Covey surprises." Anna commanded, looking into the sky.

"Yes, ma'am." Trapston and Katy said simultaneously. Anna turned back, and opened the door into the pelican's holding deck. She looked to Noah at the end of the row of marines. She stared at him for a moment and grinned, hiding the disappointment she felt at not being able to see an expression behind his visor. He glanced at her and quickly looked back at the metal deck. Behind his visor was an intense expression of deep thought.

His eyes twitched back and forth, his thoughts seeming to be scattered with his glances. He felt a hard weight of anticipation on his back, something bad seeing to bother him. He tapped his fingers against his arm and tried to figure it out.

"What's wrong?" Tala said, making him jolt a little. He stopped tapping and sighed.

"Something's not right. This is going too well. The Covenant had this place swarmed last time I checked." He said quietly; quiet enough for no one to hear him outside of his armor.

"Well, maybe they're just off their game…" She suggested seeming to be doubtful. Noah picked up on her indecisiveness and straightened up.

"Since when are you unsure of your surroundings? They're up to something…" He trailed off a little. He looked passed the row of marine head. Anna still stood in the door way of the ship, against regulation, and stared out the blast shield window. The snow covered ridges seemed to go on forever, hiding something as cold as its surface.

"Something's keeping me from reading anything. No life signs. No ground movement. Not even a weather pattern. It's like…like we're flying right into a—." The ship suddenly rocked hard to the right, being pushed toward the mountain side by a large explosion.

"Banshees!" Jon yelled, trying to keep the pelican off the rocks. Noah fell on his knees as he tried to keep himself steady. Anna had been thrown into the doorframe and then onto the floor in a bone-jarring snap, her forehead being split open and bleeding down her face. She winced and held against the wall as the pelican advanced and dodged through the plasma fire.

"Jon! What the hell blew up?!" Anna yelled, holding her head. He growled and cursed.

"Corporal Zang's pelican." He answered quickly. Anna groaned and got up as quickly as she could manage, staring back out the blast shield. The marines already held their guns, wide eyed and adrenaline pumping.

"Something Covenant is blocking most of my scans. All I know for sure is that the control room's entrance is about a mile from here." Tala said sounding worried. Noah looked to Anna, standing back up.

"Find some place near to land. Get them off our backs." Anna said leaning over the control panel. She pressed the COM's switch. "Giarda! Trapston! Where are you!?" She called. Passed a sound of terrified yells, Katy's voice was heard first.

"Mayday! We're hit! Anna!" Katy screamed in the background. The signal suddenly cut out and another came through.

"Commander! We're landing now. We're a couple yards from the entrance way. I've got Covenant almost literally coming through the seams of my ship. With all due respects, I'd like some assistance!" He said, Anna's face turning to shock. The sound of the Banshee behind them slowly disappeared as they got into a narrowly walled area.

The canyon floor revealed two Wraiths, along with the wreckage of Katy's pelican. The front turrets of Jon's pelican fired and he growled again.

"Hold on!" He called as one of the Wraiths lobbed a ball of brilliant blue plasma toward them. He dodged it as fast as the pelican would allow and landed a missile into the cockpit of one of the Wraiths. Anna reached in front of him and pulled a lever at his feet, the drop-deck of the pelican opening.

"Marines, get out and move forward! Move quickly into the ridge-face. You will meet Sergeant Trapston at the front entrance. Go now!" She yelled as Jon lowered the ship just above the ground. All of the marines un-strapped themselves from their seats and started moving out of the ship. Noah looked back and saw that Anna hadn't moved from behind Jon.

"Anna, come on!" He shouted. She glanced and pushed the lever back down. The deck started to move under his feet and Anna ran up to him. She suddenly pushed him out of the ship, making him fall hard against the stone ground. He watched the deck close.

"Find Katy!" He heard her cry as the deck hissed shut. The pelican started back higher and kept firing on the other Wraith. The marines had already started firing as well, slowly picking off the Covenant infantry.

Noah quickly got up and looked toward the pelican wreckage at the bottom of the ridge. Anna and Jon had already caused the Wraith to explode into blue fire, with some marine help. Noah ran fast to the wreckage, quickly passing the ridge he should have started up. He banged on the side of the pelican, only to hear a hollow, metallic ring from the inside. He ran to the front of the ship and looked through the shattered blast glass. The pilot's body was lying over the throttle, blood dripping out of his mouth. Noah pulled out the glass and carefully positioned himself to slide through the shattered remains of the ship.

The ship was crippled inward, leaving barely any room to crawl about the cabin. The cabin had the muggy atmosphere of blood and wounded people. The atmosphere held the characteristics of the cabin itself. Blood, carnage, and death. Crippled and contorted bodies littered the floor, along with guns and shrapnel. Helmets lay everywhere, each picking up a different signal. Noah switched on his head lamp and looked to the back.

"There she is!" Tala cried as his light hit a body that was still in one piece. Katy lay against what was left of the drop deck of the ship, motionless. The back of the pelican had buckled inward, panels broken and serrated. One of the panels had jutted down and had buried itself in her side.

Noah stepped sidled closer to her, her body shakily and slowly stirring. At first she grabbed a magnum from the floor and pointed it directly at Noah's head. She couldn't see clearly at first but the shining lights in her face slowly cleared the clouds from her eyes to reveal Noah's helmet. She slowly lowered the gun and raised her head.

"N-Noah? What are you doing here?" She muttered, almost whispering. Noah kicked the top panel of the pelican out and punched a hole big enough to walk through out of the wall. He slowly took her arm and draped it over his massive shoulders. Pulling her up, she cringed weakly as the panel slowly came out of her side. A stifled cry escaped her lips as the made their way out of the ship.

"I'm going to get you out of here. Anna and Jon are already ahead of us." He said moving them around the side of the pelican. She groaned and tried to keep her feet moving.

"You're wasting your time…I'm already dying and bleeding. Leave me here." She said loosely holding onto him. He held her tighter, careful not to crush her.

"Like hell I'm leaving you here. Anna gave me orders to find you, which makes me have to bring you back to your commanding officer. Tala, how far are we from them?" He asked letting Katy lean against the paneling, snow brushing past their heads. She grabbed an MA from the ground and reloaded it with a clip from her belt.

"Approximately zero-point-seven-eight kilometers from this point. I'm also detecting multiple enemy contacts surrounding their ship. The marines are already up the ridge and assisting." She stated. Katy groaned as she tried to pull her gun over her shoulder, the blood on her hands causing the gun to slip. "From her life signs, Noah, she's not going to make it up the incline." Tala said with a soft, sorrowful tone. Noah scowled and looked down to Katy.

Blood had already down her leg and into the foot prints in the snow. She seemed to fight off the pained grimaces as she walked, but in her gaze, it was easy to see her consciousness fading.

"Come on. We're almost to Anna and Jon. You'll be fixed up in no time." Noah said as he pulled her back up as they started up the ridge. She let out a small laugh and looked up at him.

"There's no point in lying to me. I can't even feel anything below my chest anymore. I know I'm dying and sugar coating it is only going to make my death un-necessarily dramatic. Don't do that to me, dude." She said, coughing. She spit the blood from her mouth onto the ground and grimaced again. Noah shook his head and couldn't help but grin a little, amused by her strong will and stubborn mentality. Only in death would she show her true strength.

Right as the crest of the ridge hit her feet, she suddenly slipped from his grasp, landing on her back against the snow. Noah quickly kneeled down to pick her back up, but before his fingers even touched her, she raised her hand. She slipped her hand into her collar and pulled out her dog tags. With a quick jolt, she pulled them off and set them in his hand. She stared into his visor with a blank, emotionless gaze and grinned. "It was honor serving with you, sir. I truly enjoyed my time." She said, her eyes slowly shutting. Noah heard one last sigh from Katy and slowly rose. He saluted her stiffly and put his MA on his back.

With a hesitant look back, he looked over the crest of the ridge. The Covenant had managed to keep the marines outside of the stone construct in the mountain side. The last pelican hovered over the ground, ripping into the forces on the stone ledges.

Noah ran straight into the hellfire, sliding down the snow bank. He fired on the grunts that had been pushed out onto the ground. Jackals stuck to sharp shooting on the ledges while the Elites dealt with the stragglers that had been able to pass through the first set of troops.

"Watch yourself. I'm detecting Hunters near by." Tala said. Noah growled and cursed, kneeling behind a boulder. Just as Tala had stated it, Noah heard the unmistakable hiss of an energy rod cannon. The sound of a deep growl and the cry of terrorized marines made Noah stand up quickly and start running toward the growls.

The pair of hunters swatted marines away and one of them turned toward the pelican as a missile exploded into the shield in its arm. Noah looked to the pelican just as a line of curving green fire started toward it like a hissing energy snake. Before the pelican erupted into fire, a body fell far into the snow below it, the body unresponsive for a moment. Noah ran over to the body, finding Anna lying there.

"Anna! Get up now! The Hunters are coming!" He yelled yanking her up by the arm. She slowly shook her head and then quickly and frantically started looking around.

"Jon…Jon?! No! No! Damn you, you Covenant bastards! Ah!" She quickly started forward, a frag grenade already in her hand from her belt. She pulled the pin and threw it as hard as she could toward the Hunters, tears streaming down her face. The grenade landed in one of the Hunters' necks and lodged itself under its armor. When the grenade detonated, orange blood sprayed through the air and on to the ground, the neon color glowing against the pure white surface. The Hunter's body crumbled to the ground, the other Hunter roaring and charging toward them. Noah quickly yanked another frag grenade from his own belt and ran toward the Hunter. Anna jolted back, wide eyed.

"What the hell are you doing?!" She cried as she watched him.

"She took the words out of my mouth! You're going to kill us both!" Tala cried in his helmet. He pulled the pin right as he was a few feet from the Hunter. Noah jumped onto its arm-shield and grabbed its head plate. The Hunter growled and swung upward. He dodged it quickly and jammed his hand into the collection of worms that was the Hunter's "neck". He jumped back and took cover as the grenade exploded.

The ground shook as the hulk collapsed, some marines moving ahead quickly. Anna rushed over to Noah, reloading the magnum in her hand.

"What the hell kind of move was that?! You're insane!" She yelled pushing on his shoulder. He stood up and looked down at her.

"You're welcome would've been nice, too." He muttered. She snorted and shook her head. She started running with her marines, Noah following behind. "Tala, you okay up there?" He asked. A groan sounded in his helmet.

"Can A.I.s have heart attacks? I think I just had something like it." She muttered. Noah grinned and focused back on the battle ahead of him.

He shot at Grunts and Jackals, almost every bullet finding a new home in alien flesh. Colorful splatters decorated the walk ways as they ascended higher. Bullet casings littered the ground in clusters and lay beside every small pool of blood like a swarm of glittering flies.

Anna and Noah stopped under a small hallway that opened to a ramp to the front entrance. Anna looked up to Noah and smiled.

"We made it to the entrance. Let's make it that they didn't die in vain." She said confidently. Noah nodded and looked forward to check if anything stood in their path. Once the coast seemed clear, Anna ran out from underneath the stone ceiling, her gun at her side. Noah watched Anna run out and slowly started toward her.

He looked at the ground around them, bodies littering the ground in just one heap. He looked for wounds, the only one being in their heads at the very crown. He jolted and looked at Anna. The world seemed to slow down for a moment. He reached out for Anna but his heart sank as soon as he knew he was too late. A purple flash of thin light passed through the top of Anna's body, from her shoulder to the top of her ribs. She slowly fell in front of him, her head falling into the stone floor.

He roared and raised his rifle up to the ledge, firing on the Jackal sharp shooters. The two on the ledge fell over the edge and out of sight. Noah checked Anna's body, finding her eyes still open, but the hazel-brown holding no life or brilliance. He shook his head and reached at her collar. Her tags rattled in his hand and he took the time to take Calvin's tags from her jacket pocket.

"All of them…gone…" Tala whispered quietly. A heavy weight seemed to sit on Noah's chest as he put their tags in his belt. He stood up and looked over the edge to the open grounds. His eyes rested on the smoldering remains of the pelican that lay flat near the massive Hunter bodies. All of the lieutenants and even their commander were all gone. "All there is left leading us is Sergeant Trapston." Tala muttered.

"Let's hope that's still the case." Noah quickly said. He sighed and shut Anna's eyes before starting back up the incline. The ground flattened beneath his feet, gunfire sounded along with the hiss of plasma fire as Noah ran into the entrance. The watch tower in front of the entrance stood empty, with random bodies splayed about it.

Looking into the entrance, only gunfire filled the whole hall. No one stood. No dead bodies lay about. It was completely empty.

Noah stepped into the hall, stepping onto the energy plane floor.

"The inner workings of this place are astounding. Just glimpsing at the tunnels and hallways through your sensor relays is amazing." Tala muttered, "The entire structure is enormous. The control room is at the very bottom." Noah reloaded the MA in his hand and sighed.

"You can tell me all about it when I'm going through it, but right now, I'm just trying to find Trapston." He said sternly. An orange arrow on the side of his heads-up-display quickly popped up and pointed around the corner. He grinned and followed it.

The source of the heavy weapons fire revealed itself, finally. Stone walls had been blown out and were used as barricades. The Covenants seemed to gloat by using their energy shields. Marines tried to push forward, grenades blowing more chunks of stone out of the wall and smashing anything under it. Grunts squealed. Jackals squawked. Elites roared. Marines cursed. It was a war-like symphony.

The tiny orange arrow pointed down by on the barricades. A man kneeled behind the barricade, seeming to be flipping a grenade up and down in his hand. A plasma burn had seared his right shoulder, the probable source of his constant wincing. The arrow disappeared.

"Found him…" Noah whispered. He slowly crept low toward him, nodding toward the marines that acknowledged him. He grabbed Trapston's good shoulder and patted him. Trapston jolted and let out a sigh of relief.

"Damn…'bout time you showed up, Spartan! We're getting our asses handed to us." He said. He looked behind Noah and seemed disappointed as looked back into Noah's visor.

"…Giarda…Commander Garner…Rinkel…none of them made it, I'm guessing." He muttered low. Noah nodded.

"I tried, sir." He said. Trapston clutched the grenade tighter. He scowled.

"And all of what? Information?! O.N.I. can kiss my ass if they think I'm doing this for them. This is all for my lost comrades now." He said pulling the pin on his frag grenade. He hurled it over the barricade, watching it land behind on of the Covenant energy shields. The grenade exploded, an Elite yelling as it flew into the wall and then slammed into the ground.

Trapston growled and climbed over the barricade, pulling a battle rifle in front of him. Bursts of gunfire erupted from his gun, a determined look behind the scope. Noah followed suit and fired next to him.

The Covenant started to unwillingly fall back, too many of them falling to be replaced. Several Elites in the back of the hall disappeared, running into the construct.

Marines pushed forward quickly, taking over their barricades and firing them even further back. Plasma bolts of green and blue denied them complete control. A small group of, somehow, stronger Covenant soldiers barricaded themselves behind several of the blue dome-like energy shields.

Noah got to the front of the line and pushed down the guns of the marines beside him. He looked at them and gave them a thumbs-up.

"I've got them." He said. They gave him a thumbs-up back and hunkered lower behind a stone slab. Noah slipped behind one of the stone columns and started planning his assault.

"Getting a little cocky, dontcha think?" Tala softly muttered with a small laugh. Noah rolled his eyes.

"Three Jackals, two Grunts, one Elite. I think I've got it covered." He said quickly. The Jackals squawked and looked around cautiously, the Elite watching them closely. He suddenly growled and shot out a loud order, the Grunts cringing at his voice. Two of the Jackals hissed and slipped out of the barricade, their own energy shields popping on each of their arms. Noah pressed against the wall, waiting for them to come around the pillar.

He slowly slid a knife from his leg, the metal making a soft metallic hiss. A Jackal squawked again and started chattering, their foot steps quickening. Noah growled and tensed harder. They rushed passed the pillar and one screeched as Noah grabbed it by the neck. He quickly cut its throat and threw the knife into the other's forehead. They both silently died in a deep pool of their own purple fluids.

Noah slipped back behind the pillar and peeked to the barricade. The Elite roared furiously and started barking orders out again. They all hopped passed the shields and started firing on the marines. The Elite stayed back and started toward Noah's pillar. He turned from the pillar and stood directly in front of the Elite. The Elite stepped out of the barricade and growled, its multipart jaw twitching in all different directions.

An energy sword suddenly snapped alive in its hand, a deep chuckle rumbling in its chest. Noah balled up his fist and started thinking of another plan. The Elite grabbed a handle from his hip and tossed it high to Noah. He caught it and looked at it. The handle snapped alive with a rush of energy. He looked up to the Elite.

"Fight honorably or not at all, demon." He said in a deep rumbling voice, the yellow armor on him shining in the blue light of the energy shields. Noah grinned and brought the sword up. They both stared at each other, drowning out the sounds of gunshots and alien screams. The Elite charged forward first, yelling and raising the sword over his head. Noah stood his ground and waited silently.

The sword came down and was stopped an inch from Noah's head by his hand against the Elite's wrist. He cracked his wrist back, the sword flying back behind him and falling to the ground. The Elite's eyes widened in shock and cried out as Noah's sword went through his chest. Noah grinned behind his visor.

"Not much honor in a five second fight." He said turning and pulling the sword out of his chest. The Elite crumbled to the ground in a lifeless heap, a large hole melted into the back of his yellow armor. The entire hallway grew silent, all gunfire stopping and soft voices coming past the barricades. Noah stepped out passed the stone wall and watched the marines start going further into the hallway. Trapston slowly walked up to him.

"You should've come sooner. The lackeys don't fight as hard without someone to compare themselves to. You're the most sure-shooter here, I figure." He said. Noah nodded with a prideful grin.

"Even though you, technically, didn't shot anything in the last five minutes." Tala muttered. Noah sighed and put the energy sword handle on his belt. Trapston moved forward with Noah behind him. The construct, as they went through, turned into a maze of lights and hallways.

The halls were silent as they began; quiet up till the marines moved about. The milky white color of the walls and lights that softly coated everything seemed to give the feel of a hospital or clean-room type of place. The foreboding atmosphere, though, seemed to weigh down everyone to a paranoid state. Group anticipation started to become a mutual feeling throughout them all.

Noah started to feel the same anticipation he had felt before the ambush and his thoughts started racing.

"What's wrong?" Tala asked. He huffed and held his gun at his side.

"What are you talking about?" He asked defensively. She "hmm"-ed softly, as if slightly irritated.

"Your heartbeat is beating faster for no reason. What are you thinking about that's worrying you?" She asked calmly. Noah huffed again and wished she wasn't in his armor anymore.

"Do you really have to point out everything that's wrong with me?" He asked, following the marines into another hallway. She sighed softly.

"Only because I want to know why you do what you do. I want to know what you're thinking. I feel left out and secluded when I'm in your armor. I don't have access to your mind even though I'm right here." She muttered. Noah's thoughts shifted to her but his slight worrying didn't stop.

"Tala…how old are you?" He asked softly. She took a moment before replying.

"Almost seven years…why?" She said suspiciously. Noah stayed silent, but in his head something clicked. He understood why she was so attached and emotional. She was past her prime.

She suddenly gasped. "I'm not rampant! Stop thinking that!" She cried. Noah jolted a little, trying to stay, mentally, in the halls.

"I never said that." He said calmly.

"You were thinking it. Why else would you ask me that?" She said accusingly. Noah sighed and shook his head.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you." He muttered. She didn't reply but the heavy weight of accusations didn't way down on his head like a rock anymore. He let out a tiny sigh of relief. Now he didn't have a chance of his armor randomly locking up.

He blinked a couple times and strode back up to the marines. He stepped next to Trapston, who slowly looked up at him.

"Are you alright? You've been chatting with yourself for quite a while." He said. Noah stared at him for a second and realized Trapston hadn't heard Tala's name mentioned while he was talking.

"Oh, uh…Tala was talking. I kind of forgot no one else could hear her." He said. Trapston nodded and turned back forward.

"I understand. Anyway, we've been going through these damned halls and found nothing useful. It's so quiet I'm waiting for something to jump out of the shadows or something. The chills in my spine are killin' me." He said shivering a little. Noah looked to the other marines and saw the same shiver in most of them. They looked scared like children.

They all turned into a tall, narrow hallway and when they got the end a small door opened. It revealed an opening to outside, the barren wasteland of snow only holding the sound of the wind. All of them slowly stepped out, holding their rifles up and ready. Noah and Trapston stepped into the snow and looked around.

"Where is everything?" Noah whispered. Trapston shifted uneasy and grumbled.

"Where's the Covenant? I know they must have gone further in. Also, someone said a team of Elites disappeared in here. Where the hell are they?!" He exclaimed scowling. They continued forward, staying on the outside of the bowl-like enclosure. Snow slowly drifted over the top and coated the rocks. The concrete slabs that came out where ever the structure was were barely covered and were the only things that made a noise when ever someone stepped against them.

None of the men spoke, but their eyes darted back and forth as they went through the far door. They went into the structure again only to find the same hallways as the other side of the snow wasteland. The same colors. The same lights. The only difference being the direction in which the hallways went.

Noah scowled and huffed.

"Tala? Do you know where we are?" He asked, not truly expecting her to answer.

"Well, you're not going in circles if that's what you're thinking. You're getting closer to where the structure descends. In the next room you'll find a door that leads to a small elevator." She said. Noah grinned and looked to Trapston. Trapston tapped his helmet and turned to the room.

The hallway opened up to a circular room, walls diving into the center. The marines circled it and stood in the center. All that stood there were small block prisms and a large, blue beam of light that went from the ceiling through the floor.

Noah went ahead to the other side and looked to the door.

"How much more until we get to the bottom?" He asked quietly.

"Quite a bit, actually. There's two bridges on the outside over a ravine, but before we can even think of that, there's still dozens of hallways." She answered. Noah pressed the pad to open the door and slowly walked in.

"How do you know so much of this place, anyway?" He asked. He looked forward and mindlessly walked through.

"Even though I'm confined, I can still use your interfaces to link up to open networks. All of the information I need is blocked off in the mainframe but maps and layouts are easy to find. Also, since I can only access the only existing half of installation zero-zero, its no problem to read through even though this place is still constructing itself." She rambled. He grinned and waited by the elevator panel.

Trapston and his twenty-some men crammed into the small hallway and waited for Noah. He moved back, letting himself be the last to go down. Even though he didn't mind being last, he didn't like the accompanying silence that was around him. It was too quiet and he knew that it was the worst thing to hear when he knew the area was crawling with something.

"Spartan! Get the hell down here! We found them!" Trapston yelled through his own helmet into Noah's. With barely a second of hesitation, he stepped onto the energy platform and pressed the panel. In a short moment he was on the level with Trapston. He ran through the hallway, almost hit by shell casings.

Elite yells sounded over the rapid fire right next to him. It took a moment to understand what was going on. The Elite group that had escaped into the construct had ambushed the marines, quickly trying to dispose of them.

Before Noah had even had the chance to help, the Elites started disappearing again one-by-one. One of them didn't escape fast enough, however. He fell in a pool of his own blood, the other Elites gone before he had hit the ground.

Trapston was heard over everything else, his screams, curses, and aimless yells echoing off of the walls.

"Get back here, you sons o' bitches! You have the nerve to come out and piss me off, huh?! You split-lip bastards don't have the balls to come back and finish the job!" He screamed, throwing his helmet to the ground and kicking it into the wall on the other side. Noah quickly stepped up to him and firmly put his hands on his shoulders.

"Sir. Calm down. They're gone." He said squeezing his shoulders lightly. Trapston snarled and gritted his teeth, almost literally steaming. He put his hands in front of himself and let out a deep breath. Noah let him go and watched him walk to the dead Elite.

The other marines caught their breath and reloaded. Noah looked around to find the Elite as the only casualty.

"That's strange. There's not a single plasma scorch on the walls. They didn't fire back." Tala said. Noah looked around and saw she was right.

"That wasn't an ambush. They were caught off guard. They…were running away." Noah said slightly surprised. Trapston stood over the Elite and stared down at him, as if to study the corpse. Lips open and body crumpled unnaturally, the Elite lay there with a plasma rifle just beside his hand.

"Why wouldn't they shoot? For that matter, why the hell are they here?" Trapston asked as Noah stepped up to him. Noah shifted his wrists and tried to think of something.

"That, I'm sure, is only known to them. It makes no sense to me." He said.

"With their camouflage, I can't track them, unfortunately." Tala said disappointed. Noah growled and held the rifle in his hand tighter.

"The only option, the way I see it, is to ask them ourselves." Trapston said walking forward. The marines started behind him, Noah taking his spot in the back. Noah seemed to become happier as Trapston's statement sank in. The sound of "asking" would cancel out his silence problem.

Hallway after hallway, more silence, more empty rooms. The atmosphere was stale with dust and the untouched air. No one made a sound beside the soft cautious footsteps of the marines. Their darting eyes and quivering hands made them more terrified looking and as Noah looked at them, he had to hold back from laughing a little.

"What's seriously so scary? It's empty hallways. So what?" He muttered.

"The Flood. That's why they're scared." Tala said quickly, and almost defensively. Noah's eyes twitched a little, something quivering in his stomach.

"I forgot about them…but we have no evidence they're even here." He said. Tala laughed softly.

"Do they really need evidence? They're human. Anticipation could kill a man as easily as a gun. They know what they look like and they know they could be here. That's enough to scare them out of their wits." She said. He chuckled and put his rifle back over his shoulder. He shook his head and continued to watch them from a few feet away.

Noah started thinking as he continued with them into the silence. His thoughts started traveling back to the lieutenants and the commander. He started to feel awkward because he couldn't admit how he truly felt about losing them. He missed them.

Katy and her "laid back yet constant worrying about everyone else" personality. Calvin and his over-protective and stuttery nature. Jon's unorthodox way of being there for anyone that needed him. Anna's way of being snappy and demanding but never loud and out in the open. All of them were different and all of them had their quirks but no one else was like them and they were irreplaceable. He wanted them back.

He was suddenly snapped back by a loud thud of another opening door. His vision focused on Trapston at the front of the squad as he stepped into the dark hallway. The marines slowly followed him in, making sure nothing had changed from the on-going silence.

"Sir, can you find a light source anywhere?" One of them called. As Noah stepped in, he turned his helmet light on.

"The only ones are our own." Trapston said simply. All of the others followed Noah's example and clipped flashlights onto their MAs and battle rifles. With all of the flashlights, there was enough light to see the entire group all at once.

Noah looked at Trapston, who was staring down the hall. His eyes looked strained as if he was looking for something in the darkness.

"Sir?" Noah said stepping beside him. Trapston twitched a little and hesitantly looked up. His eyes changed to a slightly concerned gaze.

"The sudden loss of light concerns me and the silence before hand was eerie but now it seems cold and spooky. I know I sound crazy right now but…can't you feel it?" He asked. Noah looked into the darkness, his head lamp only going so far. As he looked he only saw clear floors and walls. No movement. No noise. Not even dust in the light.

"We're going to find something here…whether we want to or not…" Noah muttered. They cautiously started walking into the hallway, their heartbeats almost all beating heavily in their ears. Noah's heart didn't quiver like the other frightened marines but his well-known anticipation for the worst was coiled so tightly in his gut that he almost felt bile in his throat.

"Ah! Damn…sir, you missed something." A marine behind them called, making them slowly turn back. They walked up to a cluster of lights and looked to the marine that had spoken.

"What is it?" Trapston asking looking down, On any other occasion he wouldn't have been surprised, but in the silence and emptiness, finding something seemed miraculous, no matter what it was.

An Elite body lay out at their feet, battered and nearly butchered. His blood had pooled and been splattered where he lay, his mouth contorted and his body splayed out. His injuries seemed sick and barbaric.

"What the hell happened to this guy? Did his pals this to him or what?" One of the marines asked looking to Trapston. Another kneeled and inspected the Elite. The man rubbed his chin and pondered.

"Some of the chest wounds are scorched and cauterized, but most of them are physical, blunt trauma and sever lacerations. He was beaten and torn apart, definitely, by his companions, by the looks of him. He didn't struggle too much." He said sitting on his heels with his arms on his knees. He looked up to Trapston for his opinion, which only made his furrowed, dark eyebrows slant further into his face.

"They killed him maliciously, but why? They ran away earlier to avoid us to get further in this hell hole, but why would they kill one of their own? What are they truly afraid of in here?" He wondered aloud scratching the stubble on his face. All of them stared back and forth as each other, none of them able to come up with anything conclusive.

"Why can't we just get out of here? Huh?! They place makes my skin crawl and I swear there's something watching us. There's something in here and we all know were never getting out of here. You all know it. I've seen it over all of your faces since we walked into this freakin' tomb. We're doomed in here, man. Just freakin' doomed." A marine in the back chattered uncontrollably. The others turned to him with worried stares, some taking a step back. Trapston growled and stepped closer to him.

"You better straighten out, soldier, or I'm going to have to personally relieve you of duty." He said sternly, holding a magnum loosely in his hand. The man didn't flinch at all and laughed a little.

"Says our guide to hell. You guys seriously trust him? He knows as much as we do about this place and that's absolute jack shit. I'd take myself out before letting this lunatic lead us into god knows what." He said staring harshly at Trapston. Trapston's eyes narrowed.

"I'd be wise to listen to my commanding officer, kid. You have no idea who you're dealing with." He growled. The man pulled his battle rifle in front of him and continued to stare harshly.

"I'll take my chances, Sarge." He said turning back. The marines watched, not interjecting or saying a single word.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?!" Trapston called, putting his gun back in its holster. The marine didn't answer and kept walking away. "Richards! Get back here!" Trapston continued to yell. Again, he showed no acknowledgement. Trapston turned to the other marines and stared at the accusingly. "Any other rogue jackasses ready to go on their own?" He asked motioning back to the other side of the hall. The rest of them stood stern and held their guns at their midsections.

"From here to the end, sir." One of them said proudly. They all let out a loud "Hoo-ah!" and stared back at him. Trapston smiled and nodded strongly.

"Now, that's more like it. Any objections, Spartan?" He asked turning back to Noah. Noah shook his head.

"Ready when you are, sir." He said holding his assault rifle up to his chest. Trapston nodded again and started back into the darkness. Noah followed by Trapston's side and stared down the hall.

"Tala, can I get a position status?" He muttered. Another moment of silence passed.

"After this floor is the bridges, and then there are two floors after that, then one last elevator before the control room. I'm detecting some movement up ahead so watch yourself. I can't place what exactly what it is, though…be cautious." She said softly. Noah's knotted stomach tightened and he kept walking. There was something ahead that seemed worse than an ambush. Something more sinister.

The silence kept on, the atmosphere growing heavy. The air started to smell different, the marines drawing back a little.

"What the hell…is that smell?" Trapston muttered. Noah growled a little.

"Smells like a mixture of…pus and…blood." He said, the bile in his throat returning. A mixture of disgusted groans arose, but they kept going further into the bog-like air.

"This couldn't be the Flood, could it? Nothing would live in this, would they? This is absolutely foul." One of them said, nearly gagging. The lights started to reflect off of the fog, barely being of any use anymore.

"Bio-scans say otherwise. We're definitely going to encounter something unpleasant in here." Tala muttered into all of their helmets. They all started fidgeting with their guns and started to walk slower. Noah started listening heavily, unable to truly rely on sight. They silence slowly started to break itself, small noises coming from all around. Tiny scratching noises got louder as they kept going.

"What the?! Something just touched my feet! Jack, was that you?!" One marine cried.

"No, I'm way over- ah!" The other suddenly screamed. Noah looked around, suddenly surrounded by random gunfire and screams of pain.

"Tala, what's going on?!" He shouted. Past the yells, he could barely hear her.

"You're surrounded by something and it's picking off the marines one-by-one! They're dropping like flies!" She cried. He looked down at his feet, seeing the floor for once. No movement happened immediately, but after he dodged several bullets, something passed over his feet as well. A bug-looking creature scurried across the floor. Noah jolted back.

"The Flood." He whispered, "Is Trapston still alive?" He asked running further into the hall, the air diluting to a normal consistency.

"Yes. He had your same idea and started running with some of the other marines. Watch your back. Some of the spores are right at your heels." Tala said. Noah didn't look back as he kept running though, running from the dying screams behind him. He felt more sickened by the screams than the stench that was wafting through the air.

"Trapston!" He yelled, seeming to find no end to the hall.

"Over here! We'll take care of the ones trailing you when we see you!" He heard his voice echo down the hall. He tried to run faster, sailing down the hall as fast as he could. The fog seemed dissipated a little and lights started to break through.

He started to see the hall narrow and at the end was an open door with several men pointing gun toward him. He knew they weren't aimed at him, and he kept running straight toward them. "Get rid of them!" Trapston yelled, firing past Noah. He heard sounds like the popping of wet balloons. He ran past the door and stopped against the wall and finally looked back. Right as he looked back, one of the infection spores jumped up and lunged at his face. Noah guarded his face and the spore exploded as Trapston shot it out of the air. One of the marines punched the panel and shut the door.

"These…things…I thought they were ugly when they were dead." The marine who shut the door said. Noah looked down at him and sighed.

"That wasn't all of them. You know that." Tala said to him. The elevator slowly went down beneath them.

"There's much more we haven't seen. From here on…is our hell." He muttered deeply. All of the marines, all six of them, looked up at him. He read their faces but with it he felt their loyalty. They would follow him and Trapston until their eventual death. They also knew they would die. Once Richards had said it, they had accepted it. There was nothing more they could do about it besides fight with all they could. "Prepare for the worst." Noah whispered.

The elevator stopped and they all hesitated to press the opening panel. Trapston pressed the green panel and the door slammed open. The noises of more scurrying sounded from in the hallway. Trapston looked thoughtfully at all of the men behind him. He didn't say a word as he walked into the hall, the marines slowly following him. Noah followed them, tapping his gun lightly.

"How much is down here?" He muttered.

"…too much to tell you." Tala muttered back. A small radar popped up on his H.U.D., revealing dots of numerous sizes. The entire area was over run.

"Why didn't you find this earlier?" Noah asked quietly, though his voice swimming with irritation.

"You never asked and I knew everyone was scared already. I didn't want to worry you anymore." She said defensively as he stepped into the hallway. He growled and waited to hear the inevitable. Shouts from the marines sounded in front of him, either out of pain or not. Trapston cursed and started running again.

"Shoot and run! There's too many!" He shouted waving forward. Infection spores dropped from the ceiling and followed every marine, most exploding in their footsteps. Noah shot at the spores, but in his mind, he waited for the other Flood figures to come out of the dark. A mental image flashed back to the lunging entity in the photo from the Clouded Mirage. He knew they were somewhere and he anticipated them, but knew full well he knew none of their capabilities.

The Flood numbers started to go down as they ran farther ahead and shooting the stragglers seemed to help their odds.

"How many have we lost?" Noah asked past the gun fire.

"Two marines. It's only you, Trapston, and two others. You've got a clear opening soon, though." Tala said. Trapston held the lead, the other two marines panting behind him. "The spores have been taken out. You won't see another wave of flood for another few minutes." Tala stated as they entered the circular enclosure of a room. Trapston looked around quickly before hunkering behind a rectangular pillar to catch his breath. The two marines did the same and reloaded their guns.

"Till the end…till the end…" Noah heard one of the marines muttering to himself over and over again as he popped a magazine into the battle rifle. Noah did the same as the others and made his equipment ready to move again.

"Spartan…a word." Trapston called, Noah turning to him. He stepped up to him and Trapston no choice but to look up to him. "I'm letting you go into the rest of the place alone from here on. We're holding you back and you and Tala need to get through this quickly. As far as I can tell the number of Flood will only grow and with us on your tail it'd only make you have to watch our hides more. This is an order, got it?" He said nodding forward to him. Noah blinked a couple times and nodded once.

"Yes, sir." He muttered solemnly. A faint grin touched Trapston's lips.

"But, sir…you'll be lost in here with everything inhabiting this place. We can't leave you here to die." Tala said softly. Trapston smiled wider, laughed a little, and shook his head.

"Believe me, girly, I've seen enough to die now. Don't worry about it. This is just a death trap we were stupid enough to walk into. We knew what we getting into." He said looking down the next hall. Noah followed his gaze, listening to the sputtering noises coming to them. "My last run…thought I'd go out in a space battle. Never figured I'd be fighting insects." Trapston said. He reached as his belt and pulled off a frag grenade. He set it in Noah's hand. "Make it count." He said. Noah clutched it tight and nodded. Trapston stood stern for a moment and started running. The marines double-took on Trapston and ran as fast as they could as Noah put the frag on his belt.

They started firing once again as the spores climbed down the walls. Scratching and squirming, they jumped and waved their fringed tentacles. None of them got any further than brushing close to the men as they went through. Noah could see the next door at the end, faint light from the green panel coating the wall beside it.

"Go! We'll get these last ones!" Trapston yelled back. Noah ran past them and looked back for only a moment. He pressed on the panel and opened the door. Right as it closed he turned back to stare through the window.

The marines kept firing, but started to become too weary to keep up with the spores. Trapston frantically shot around him, the composure he had had quickly faded with the lose of bullets. Noah continued to stare, hoping he would have the chance to open the door for Trapston to follow him. The other two marines had disappeared from view, their screams no longer echoing in the hall.

A quick click made Noah's hope immediately disappear as he looked at Trapston. Trapston's gun finally ran out of ammo, his jaw dropping. He tried for his battle rifle, but right as he stopped shooting for a mere half-second, the spores were at his feet in the blink of an eye. Noah flinched as he watched one of the spores jump on his chest. Blood suddenly sprayed a little as the frilled tentacles dug and squirmed through his chest. He screamed and fell to his knees. The spore continued to squirm farther into him, blood still pouring out of him.

He started choking and spitting up fluids. He shakily looked down and shuffled to one of his fallen marines' magnum. With a sputter of blood, he grabbed it and tried to raise it. His body started to bulge and turn a sickly yellow color. The gun trembled in his hand as he pointed it at his head. His arm bulged and started to grow longer with points and spider leg-like extensions. He screamed and the gun fell out of his hand.

"Kill me! Kill me!" He screamed as he fell back onto his back squirming and thrashing. Noah stared motionless, almost frozen with what felt like fear. He watched Trapston contort and morph into one of the Flood. His neck and head grew into his shoulder and he suddenly started screaming like a banshee. His body continued to squirm and flail, struggling to stand upon his new body. His arm hung in front of him, the arm being a horrible resemblance of its former self.

Noah stepped back a little as the Flood Trapston turned around immediately. The infection spores paid no heed and simply scurried around on the walls. Noah took one step back, seeming to create enough noise for all of them to hear. Trapston turned to him, his mouth wide open and body awkwardly positioning itself over. Noah stared at him for a moment before taking another step. Trapston erupted with an ungodly and horrific screech, flailing his arms and running toward him with incredible speed. Noah reacted without thought, busting the door panel and jolting back as the door shuddered violently.

"Tell me how the hell I'm getting out of here, now!" He shouted turning back and running into the hall.

"You're clear until the next floor but I can't tell what is on the bridge. I'm at a total blind spot." Tala said, "One more room until the bridge."

He kept running, his heart racing as he heard glass shatter along with Trapston's blood curdling scream. The images of his transformation made the bile in Noah's throat burn and coat his mouth like poison. Alone, he felt all of the mission's weight fall on him. Until the end, he knew in his head he was the only hope and he was just a flickering light in the glowing darkness that soon to try and most definitely going to eat him alive.

He ran through the room Tala had warned him about and stopped in front of the door in the cream white hallway. Stepping slowly in front of it, the door opened to reveal a slightly enclosed bridge with many stone blocks separating the right and left sides every few yards. Snow lightly fell onto the bridge, floating in front of Noah's visor. The door softly shut behind him and se stood on the stone floor listening to the wind pass him by. No other sound. It seemed peaceful for once. A knot grew in his stomach, feeling something that waiting for him.

He pulled the MA from his back and held it tight. He kept his pace slow and cautious; knowing that rushing through would only reveal more of the freak show.

"Can you see the bridge yet?" He whispered. He heard a dissatisfied grumble in his helmet.

"No. I'm still pretty much blind out here. Check the other bridge to your left. I'm detecting movement on your close range sensors." She said. He looked past the blue glass on the edge of the bridge and whispered a curse.

Bulky humanoid looking Flood figures stalked the entire bridge, almost being completely oblivious to anything else. He watched them closely and jolted as more of them joined the patrol party through the door on the end. He waited for more but only saw three join in. He muttered another curse as he recognized the lead figure immediately.

The original patrol party growled at the new ones and continued to walk. Trapston's figure was at the front of his mangled marines behind him. Noah crouched low and slowly started down the bridge. He stayed below the wall and glanced every so often to the other side.

A tiny scurrying sounded close to him, making him look down the bridge. He froze as he found a lone infection spore crawling down the bridge. It looked about, turning back and forth as every stone block.

Noah tried not to make a noise as he moved on his toes to move backwards. The spore moved faster than he could and its noisy scratching became louder. Noah's armor scratched against the wall and he cringed as the spore stopped and faced him.

Right as it faced him, it jolted forward and started running toward him. It jumped and sailed at his face. Noah growled and swatted it away, smashing it into the block. The carapace of its body fell to the ground twitching while its bulbous back exploded into wet shreds. A banshee shriek suddenly echoed across the ravine.

"Damn it…" Noah whispered. He looked up in time to see several of the Flood jumping far off the bride and landing on Noah's side. There were variations to the bodies the Flood had taken. Some Elites, some human. All aimed toward Noah.

He raised his rifle and started blowing the undead masses back over the side. They raised their disfigured arms and lunged at him. Most of them stood no chance of getting close to him but they had driven him upward and standing. He tried to keep back and fire, reloading as quickly as his inhuman reflexes would allow. Trapston's figure stayed behind the rest, seeming to save himself for last.

The bodies dropped to the ground as they were shot with so much lead. Noah's face seemed forward, but he felt an overwhelming feeling of sure defeat. There were too many, the weight of the mission finally too much for one's shoulders. Trapston was the last, and so was the one bullet Noah was able to shoot into him. He seemed to laugh as he ran toward Noah with his arm raised.

"Noah, run!" Tala yelled. He stood his ground dropping his gun to his feet. He back up as fast he could, only slamming hard into the wall. He sighed and closed his eyes. "Noah!" Tala cried. He stood waiting, waiting for the final pain.

"Until the end…" He whispered. He felt something hit him harder against the wall, but he didn't feel pain. He slowly opened his eyes and jolted to find something standing over him. The figure glared at him with an energy sword in hand, its lips twitching back and forth in a snarl.

"You…you survived." He growled. Noah stayed silent but he continued to stare at the Elite in front of him. His glistening dark armor seemed to emphasis the orange glare of his eyes. He suddenly raised the sword over his head and snarled.

A loud, growl-like bark stopped the Elite's sword. Noah glanced behind the Elite to more Elites with him. Three more dark armored Elites stood by the sides of a crimson red armored Elite between them

"Back away from him." The center one growled. The one with the sword back away and put his sword away. They all surrounded Noah and glared down at him. He shifted and stood sternly.

"What do you want?" He asked deeply. The crimson Elite stepped forward and looked down at him.

"Your armor scars show you have gone through much to stand where you are before me. Also…I watched many of the living turn into the abominations that just tried to murder you." He said in a deep voice. Noah cocked his head and growled a little.

"Your point being…?" He said. The Elite's lips formed a scowl.

"I understand your mission. You are to get rid of this sacred ring. I would like to assist you." He said sternly. Noah jolted and looked bewildered.

"You…want to destroy the Halo?" He asked. The Elites all grumbled and the crimson one's eyes flashed.

"Since I do not honestly believe we will get back to even this point, I will tell you as we continue. Let us go." He said turning back. The dark armored ones went close to him, following beside him. One of them looked back to Noah and motioned him forward. He reluctantly followed.

"Are you sure it's safe?" Tala muttered quietly. Noah sighed and went behind the Elites.

"As much as it pains me to consider siding with them, I don't see much of an option. Besides, I may be able to get some information out of them." He replied confidently and quietly. The crimson Elite waved Noah forward to stand by him. He looked down at him with deep orange eyes.

"I know why you do not trust me and I do understand. I can not say I trust you as well, but I trust you more than out Prophets." He said with a scowl. Tala exclaimed.

"What?! But…the Prophets are the highest authority in the Covenant Hierarchy. They control everything." She muttered. Noah glanced up to the Elite.

"What caused that? Last I checked, you'd eat your own hands before turning against the Prophets." He said. The Elite chuckled a little, his chest rumbling deeply.

"I am sure some of us would have. You see, we have practically been replaced from our status ranks within the Covenant. The Jiralhanae have stolen our place, as ordered by the Prophet of Truth." He growled. Noah's lip twitched slightly.

"Jiralhanae?" He muttered.

"In U.N.S.C. speak, they're called Brutes. You've never encountered them in person, but, to be honest, you haven't missed much. They look and act like rabid, armored apes with many tricks up their sleeves." Tala said sounding slightly disgusted. Noah snorted and looked back to the Elite.

"We Sangheili have lost our loyalty toward the Prophets. We are outraged. The reason we were sent on this mission was to, as they told us, stop you humans from destroying the Halo. I do not believe this is why we are here. We are surely here to be gotten rid of." He said curling his massive hand into a ball. Noah watched the Elite closely, and was somewhat amazed. He knew the Sangheili were an honorable warrior species but to see one of them angered and it not being aimed at him seemed strange.

They stepped back into the construct and stood quietly in the high, narrow hallway.

"So what do you plan to do now that you have turned against them?" Noah asked. All of the Elites turned to him and looked at him with determined expressions.

"We wish to help you with the destruction of this ring." The crimson Elite said deeply. All of their lips twitched into odd sorts of smiles. Noah grinned a little.

"I'll take all of the help I can get at this point. If you are willing and you won't stab me in the back later," He held out his hand, "I will let you join me." He said with a slight nod. The Elite looked down at his hand and looked back into Noah's visor. He cautiously put his hand to Noah's and they shook hands. The Elite quickly realized the gesture as a sign of agreement and shook his arm once.

Noah slowly took his hand back and huffed.

"Noah, I'm not one for introductions but I would like to call you something other than 'you'." He said crossing his arms. The Elite grinned and put his hand on his chest.

"My name is The'v Alantogmee." He said bowing his head slightly. Noah blinked a couple times, only remembering his first name.

"Alright…The'v. I don't really think it matters what their names are. You are their commander." He said. The'v nodded and waved his hand forward toward him.

"I shall need to know how to address you as well." He said. Noah nodded.

"I am Spartan One-Eighteen: Noah." He said almost proudly. The'v's head slightly turned at the mention of 'Spartan' but quickly remembered.

"Spartan Noah." He repeated. Noah grinned and nodded again. The Elite suddenly stiffened as though he heard something. He grumbled and pulled a plasma rifle from his leg. "You will need more than a sword to win this battle, Spartan." He said handing Noah the weapon. Noah took it with a nod of gratitude. The Elites started forward, Noah by The'v's side.

"How does it look in here, Tala?" He asked quietly. The darkness surrounded them again with the only lights being from the plasma weapons and Noah's headlight.

"Very quiet. There's movement all over the other side of the bridge though. It's like they went back and are now following us. They're moving remarkably fast so I'd start moving quickly. There are enough of them to keep you busy on your move through here." She said. Noah growled.

"Let's move fast. The Flood is multiplying quickly." He said to The'v. The'v looked back of the Elites and took a plasma rifle from him. With the one down on his other leg, his hands were full of plasma.

"Quick, sure, and with the last breath, I will fight until the end." The'v growled quickening his strides. Noah's eyes widened a little. Until the end.

They all started running, their clashing feet awakening toe dark. Growls and blurting shrieks sounded down the halls. One of the Elites released a plasma bolt into the dark, illuminating the disfigured faces of dozens of mutated humanoid figures that were rushing almost full speed toward them. The'v let out a harsh war cry as he unleashed the fiery bolts of his plasma rifles.

All that sounded were the quick hisses of burning blue and green light. The hall filled with screams and the smell of searing and decayed flesh. Infection spores outnumbered all of the standing figures scurrying in swarms of dozens.

Two of the Elites yelled and ran passed the others, swinging with their blades of purple and blue. They cut the path through the crowded halls, their strength seeming to be fueled by the falling masses. Noah, The'v, and the two others continued to blast away the strays, growling, cursing, and doing whatever they could to keep going.

The halls passed and they went deeper inward. The Flood swarms kept them from advancing as fast as they could run. An Elite was lost to the tentacle-ed arm of an Elite-Flood. The more they went through, the more the Elites were injured and eventually lost. The'v cursed in an alien dialect every time he lost one of his warriors and got rid of their murders himself.

They slammed into the elevator, jamming the door shut. Their breaths sounded heavily throughout the small room. They all looked to each other and seemed to sigh in disappointment.

"Only three left…" Noah muttered. The'v snarled and looked to his last Elite. The Elite held his plasma rifle tighter and grunted.

"There is enough of us to get to the end of this journey. We will be victorious by at least getting to the control room. We will use all of our strength for you." The'v said turning to Noah. He nodded, but, on the inside, he felt a large weight of guilt weigh against his chest. He, once again, held lives in his hands that weren't his own. He already had Tala to hold onto and it seemed a heavy enough burden.

"We at least have to destroy the Halo for them. Along with all of the Clouded Mirage crew, they have sacrificed themselves for us and even if we destroyed this place…no one can save us." Tala muttered softly. Noah growled and turned his head.

"Don't remind me. It doesn't help that I already know ere the only U.N.S.C. property on this floating chunk of metal, but we're probably the only friendlies in the entire system." He said. His lips curled. "It's like we're being gotten rid of, too."

The room went silent and they all face the ground as if to accept his words as absolute truth. Behind Noah's visor, his eyes matched the solemn gazes of the Elites. All of them seemed defeated.

The'v suddenly looked up and stepped closer to Noah. He put his hand hard on his shoulder.

"Be that as it may seem, we were all given a mission. To die valiantly is better than to die from surrendering. Let us complete our mission." He said. Noah grinned and straightened himself up. He nodded and looked down the final hall.

"One more floor. One more lift. Nothing more to live for." Noah whispered to himself. He looked back to the Elites and started running into the hall. He heard them following along with the stirring of the Flood ahead of him. More firing. More yelling. More blood curdling screams. Noah tuned all of it out, as if he knew it too well and didn't need his sense of hearing to keep killing them.

The'v's grunting and snarling echoed almost with the grunts of the Flood he destroyed. Squishing below their feet made them cringe, making them all think of the flesh of dead beings. The Elite by his side swung as hard as he could with expert skill, cutting through the enemy like butter. His eyes glowed with determination. When his chest was burrowed into, his eyes lost their brilliant sheen.

An infection clung to him, others bringing him down to the ground. He didn't scream. He just looked ahead of him as he saw the lights of gunfire disappear into the darkness, watching Noah and The'v leave him.

Noah looked about him quickly, finding The'v as his only accomplice. He growled and looked back ahead.

"There's no more that I can see. There's just one more behind you in this hall." Tala said. Noah slowed his pace a little and turned around. His headlight didn't reveal anything in the hall, but he didn't doubt her words. As if he heard her, The'v slowed his pace as well and kept going by slowly trotting.

"I can see the elevator, Spartan. Let us hurry and finish this task with all haste." The'v said, nodding forward. Noah saw the blue and slight orange haze of the lift's control panel.

"Just below us is the control room, right?" Noah asked. He kept his pace with The'v's as he went.

"Yes. Just a few more moments and we'll have made it as far as no one else has." Tala said, with mixed vocal tones, the most prominent of them being sadness and hints of sorrow. Noah knew what the tones meant and felt the grief of all of the dead on his back again.

"We've come too far to slow down now." Noah said breaking into a sprint to the lift. The'v easily ran with him, quickly jumping onto the energy planed floor. Noah went to the lift's control panel and quickly tapped the controls. The much larger elevator seemed to pop as it shifted up a little and then started to descend. Noah's legs shook but he kept a stern and alert stance as he looked back to where they came from. The'v did as Noah did, keeping his beady orange eyes fixed on the entry way.

Noah's stance weakened a little in relaxation as they were no longer able to see the other hall. Noah turned to the other side and looked through the slightly purple, glass-like floor. Small yellow lights lined the lift shaft and seemed hypnotic, causing him to simply stare into the open space.

"Noah?" Tala's voice quickly brought him out of his trance.

"Yeah?" He softly replied. It took her a moment before she started again.

"Do you…really think I'm rampant?" She asked. Noah was mentally caught off guard for an instant and shifted in place uneasily.

"Do you think now is the time for this conversation?" He asked.

"Well, I know once we're in the control room there will be no time to talk. It's been pestering me since I brought it up. Am I to you? Please, be honest." She said with a sense of urgency in her voice. Noah pondered for a moment for the truth of how he truly felt about her. She was his all seeing eyes. She practically knew more than any human and modestly expressed it. Passed the helpful features she held for everyone, she was his partner. They talked, they harassed each other, and they were each other's friend. His truthful answer wasn't hard to come up with. It was just hard to summarize.

"Tala…if I ever believed you were rampant, I never would have trusted you being in my armor. Without you, I would have never have made it as far as I have. Your age may make you prone to rampancy but it's just a number. You are strong enough to fight rampancy and you have taught me more about being human than any person could have ever taught me. You are my trusted partner and I trust you more than anyone else. If you are rampant, then A.I.s should only work that way. You are the best of them all." He said confidently. He felt warmth in his body as he finished talking. The truth seemed to make him feel lighter, making his think of her as more than just a piece of data. She was practically a person without a physical body.

"…you really mean that?" She asked quietly. Noah smiled.

"Of course. I would never lie to you." He said. He heard her soft laughter in his ear.

"Thank you. I'm proud to call you my partner. Just…" She trailed off, her voice losing its happiness.

"Just?" He asked. She sighed.

"Moments away from out destination which will be surely our demise and I finally learn I have at least one true friend. How sad a life is that?" She said. He sighed and shook his head.

"That's just life." He replied. She "hmm"-ed and the silence was back to ring in his ears. He suddenly felt a sense of dread as he remembered where he was and that The'v hadn't said a word since they had stopped moving.

He slowly turned around and found The'v on his knees, his back quivering. Noah cautiously stepped around him and looked down at him. The'v's breath shakily let out and his mouth was quivering as much as his back. Something dripped onto the floor below him, pooling at his feet. He barely seemed to notice Noah standing in front of him.

Noah kneeled with him and looked. The'v shakily looked up and groaned.

"Forgive me." He said weakly. Noah cocked his head, and then The'v moved his hand. Blood dripped out of his chest from a deep wound that split his chest armor in half. Noah jolted back.

"How could you have hidden this?! When the hell did you get this?!" He exclaimed. The'v took the armor plate and shifted it off.

"It is not difficult to hide an injury when you are too focused to look to your wounds. I did not notice this until we stopped here. My wounds are too great…" He said holding his hand that was covered in blood. Noah quivered a little, shocked. He never knew an Elite to admit defeat. He felt odd, though. He didn't know what to do.

"The'v…I-." Noah was cut off by a sudden shriek from above. They both looked up, unable to see through the darkness. The'v groaned again and cringed.

"They have returned. We are far now, but…there is nothing stopping them from continuing their pursuit." He growled. He slowly crumpled to the ground, holding his plasma rifle to his chest. The floor abruptly shook and stopped. Noah looked behind him to see another floor around him. He was pulled forward as The'v pulled him by the chest plate of his armor. "Do not let me slow you. Hurry to the control room. If I have enough life in me…I will use this." He said holding a plasma grenade in his trembling hand.

"Noah, the Flood shriek we heard was signaling the entire hoard of Flood that is right behind us. We have to go now." Tala said. Noah hesitantly stood up with the plasma rifle in his hand. The'v looked up at him with a faint grin formed in his lips.

"Go, Noah." He muttered. Noah jolted at his name. He was shocked to be informally acknowledged. Only his friends did that.

He turned and slowly started off the lift. Right as his foot left the elevator, it started to rise back up.

"The Flood are controlling that elevator…" Tala said, sounding almost horrified. Noah growled a little.

"Figures…"He muttered. He slowly went into the hall behind the stone wall. The hall seemed to narrow as he went farther.

Just as he reached the door at the end, a loud thump rumbled through the walls. He put his hand on the door and looked back for a moment. He sighed.

"The'v…" He muttered. Tala gasped.

"That blast…it wiped out a huge chunk of the Flood swarm." She said. Noah laughed a little.

"He did just as he said he would." He said opening the door. His smile was wiped off suddenly a he saw the inside of the room, the control room.

"It's beautiful…" Tala muttered. Noah slowly stepped in, the door closing behind him.

The narrow walkway led out to a large platform that was dwarfed by the circular, dome-like room that surrounded it. Around the platform was the half-constructed Halo as a hologram. The light blue image slowly turned around the platform, as if to turn on an invisible axis in its center.

Noah went to the end of the platform to the floating screens that Noah felt like he was staring into space, lost and confused.

"Alright. Put me in the access terminal right there on the platform. The Flood are coming down the elevator right now and I need you to keep them back as long as you can. The information won't be hard to find but I don't know how much there is." Tala said. Noah nodded once.

"I'll find some way of keeping them out. Just tell me if anything changes." He said reaching to the back of his helmet. He carefully pulled her chip out of his helmet, feeling a cool rush as she left. He pushed the chip into the access terminal, the top of the small platform lighting up. Tala's figure appeared and turned toward the door. She raised her arm toward the door and pointed.

"Hurry, the elevator just stopped." She said quickly. Noah growled and ran to the door. He raised the plasma rifle shot up the seam of the door. The metal of the door glowed white and red as it melted into itself. A shriek from behind the door made Noah jolt back. He thought quickly, balling his fists and pulling back.

He threw his fist forward, punching into the metal door. The metal buckled and bent. The sides sparked a little, a mechanism in the door shattering. The door shuddered as it tried to open itself, a soft groaning coming through its walls.

The door suddenly shuddered as something slammed into it from the other side. Clawing and muffled cries carries through the metal doors. Noah inspected his work on the door and nodded once. He ran back to the control panel and looked over Tala's image. She seemed to slouch with frustration.

"Why can't I find it…what the hell is that voice…endless…endless knowledge…?" She softly murmured to herself, seeming to speak more with someone than herself. She double-took on Noah in front of her and looked up to him.

"Can you get the info out?" He asked. She grumbled and slowly shook her head.

"No. The data is scattered and this system is so vast, it's like I'm searching through the sky to find a single speck of dust. Also…there's something talking to me." She almost whispered her last words. Noah glanced back at the quivering door panels and looked to her.

"Talking to you?" He hesitantly repeated. She nodded and looked almost embarrassed to tell him.

"Yes…a deep, sinister kind of voice keeps saying things to me. He speaks of infinite knowledge of everything the universe holds. He says he knows everything there is to know and he would teach it all to me…if I joined him." She softly said. She slowly brought her hands to her chest and she looked down to the platform she stood on. The control panel's screens suddenly stopped moving and went blank. "He will take me with him…" She whispered.

Noah stared at her in disbelief. His gaze looked as is he had just witnessed someone important to him die at his feet. He growled.

"Snap out of it! You have a mission to complete!" He yelled. Her eyes met his and she seemed to quiver and falter.

"He will take you, too…" She said like she was terrified. A blood curdling scream erupted from behind him, the whole room echoing its disturbance. Noah quickly jolted around to find the door bending toward him in rapid thumps and metallic pangs. Holes ruptured into the panels, the tentacle-ed, abstract arms reaching through. Noah's eyes widened and he raised his rifle. He stood and his heart beat wildly as he started thinking of the inevitable outcome.

His face seemed to turn to stone as he ended his thoughts.

"Death…the only option." His slipped his hand to his waist and slowly put his fingers around the frag grenade on his belt. "Even he knew that…" He muttered, remembering the feeling of Trapston putting the grenade in his hand. 'Make it count.'

He continued around his belt, hearing the soft rattle of the metal dog tags. He cringed. Anna, surely, had no idea she would lose every soul she commanded, even her own. Jon was just a pilot who was in love with his commanding officer. He didn't deserve to have been killed so barbarically. Katy, the tough one it seemed, died worse than any of them. Slowly, painfully, and with an acceptance of what was happening to her. Calvin didn't even have a chance to prove himself, blindsided and struck down with no warning. They all had been sent on the same mission. They would all finish their mission the same way. Noah sighed. He would soon close his eyes to the darkness as well.

He brought his hand back to the rifle and stared at the door. Another scream sounded but he heard it as one he had never heard. It was clear and sounded of pain. He recognized the voice. He turned around and found Tala no longer standing. The flower that had adorned her had fallen and withered next to her collapsed body. She cringed, flickering and blurring slightly. Noah kneeled to the platform.

"What's wrong? What's happening to you?" He asked frantically. Loose strands of curly, blue hair covered small parts of her face as she looked up with a pained smile.

"He's taking me away. Away into his mind…it's so dark and cold…cold…I feel it…dark, alone, and cold. Is this what a grave feels like?" She asked with what looked like tears going down her face. Noah's eyes wavered as she started to blink out. Her form blinked red and blue, her expression growing more pained. She looked back to Noah with scared eyes. "The rampancy…please…don't let it get me…" She pleaded weakly. Noah quickly looked at the access terminal and grabbed for her chip. He looked at her figure one more time to see her blink out before he yanked her chip out.

As he held it in his fingers, his hand shook a little. The vibrant blue in the center she had gone in as no longer existed. A dull grey faintly glowed and then died away. The center was as black as a shadow, holding no life to it anymore. Noah curled his fingers.

"She just wanted to be real…" He muttered standing up. He slowly put the chip back into his helmet, saddened more by the absence of Tala's familiar aura.

Just as his heart seemed to sink as far as it could, the doors let out an ear piercing shriek out before exploding out of its walls. A huge form rushed forward out of the halls, arm raised crouching to jump. The smaller infection spores crawled onto the walls and wiggled their antennae and frilled tentacles. The former human-Flood ran in like drunkards with submachine guns in hand. All the while, gurgles and wails sounded out of their misshapen mouths.

Noah raised his rifle back up, his expression blank as the chip in his helmet. The Flood spotted him and quickly jumped at him. The shining blue bolts of energy seared into their flesh and burned them until their bodies seized to twitch. Noah shot with inhuman speed and brought down every one of them before they close enough to be way across the walk way. He felt the shots of lead go into him as the Flood shot at him. He ignored the pain, his armor filling in the holes.

The Flood's numbers only grew as they poured onto the walkway. Noah's new carelessness caused him to step closer and closer to them. A devious smile crossed his lips as they died over the edge of the walkway. His smile, however, seemed to be empty. It held no joy, practically no emotion whatsoever.

A Flood-human suddenly lunged at him, landing a few yards from him. He went to pull the trigger again, when something caught his eye. He recognized the tattered uniform and tried to see any signs of recognition. Two silver stars and two blood-speckled silver strips lay torn on its shoulders. The name patch was half torn off, but still held half its name. 'Gar'.

Noah's gun slipped from his hand and his life seemed to slow to a crawl.

"Commander…Anna…why? Of all the bodies you threw at me, a friend is the last for me to see. You fucking parasites…" He whispered, watching the creature awkwardly run toward him.

"Your mind holds crippling memories that make you weak. Friends and comrades…you do not need them. Submit to me and I will make you strong and you may conquer with me." A rumbling voice suddenly said within his mind. Noah cringed and his body shivered. The voice made his mind hurt and he felt like something was picking his brain, literally, with a burning iron. Noah quickly realized that whatever this voice was what killed Tala. He spoke of what they both wanted and promised it to the ones that gave in to it.

Noah growled and snatched the grenade from his belt.

"Whatever the hell you are…you don't deserve me. I am a Spartan. One-Eighteen in fact. If you want me," He pulled the pin, his world coming back to normal speed, "You'll have to scrape me off the walls!" He yelled, jumping at Anna's mutated body.

He wrapped his arms around her and tackles her over the side of the walk way. Anna flailed and screeched, but Noah put the grenade in her mouth. Past the new pain of Anna slashing at his stomach, he closed his eyes and waited. Not a second later, the detonated and he felt no pain, but felt the explosion ripple through his body.

He somehow felt his eyes open again and his breath was sucked out of him. He instantly knew something was wrong. It was perfect in every way, yet was not possible.

In front of a card table, six chairs circling it. Four of the chairs were already filled, happy and smiling friends sitting in them. Laughter bounced off the dark, grey, metal walls that surrounded them. The room was quaint and very small for more than two people to be in.

Noah stared at them almost with tears in his eyes. They all looked unchanged, unhurt, and care free. The woman on the far side looked up at him and smiled wider.

"'bout time you showed up! You have something that belongs to us." She said pointing to his hand. He looked down at his hand only to be surprised once again.

His armor was gone He stood in a pair of casual pant and shirt. The clothes made him look and feel normal. He looked back to all of them and saw they wore the same casual-type clothing.

He slowly looked to his hand and found them full of tiny chains and long, oval, metal disks. Names and numbers were inscribed into them. His hand quivered.

"Your dog tags…" He whispered. The man next to the long-haired woman chuckled.

"Well are we going to get them back or not?" He asked brushing his hair from his face. Noah smiled and put them in the center of the table. "Have a seat, man. We'll start another game for ya." He said. Noah sat down and glanced at him.

"Thanks, Jon." He said. Jon did a small salute and started shuffling cards. Anna put her head on his shoulder while making faces at Katy across the table. Calvin looked to them both and rolled his eyes. They were back to their typical, goofy ways.

Noah put the dog tags in the center of the table as Jon flicked cards to all of them. They all started looking at their own one-by-one. Noah's grin slowly disappeared as he saw what was left in the center. A glowing purple-blue piece of hard plastic lay waiting. Noah sighed and slowly reached out for it.

A hand suddenly brushed his, both reaching for the chip. The hand was soft and warm, carefully taking the chip in their long-nailed fingers. Noah turned as the hand went back to its body. Noah's eyes started to waver again as a woman in a sleek blue dress sat next to him.

"I'm in, too." She said smiling to Noah. The bright blue flower in her hair seemed to shine against her dress. She slowly took Noah's hand and kissed his cheek. "I finally have the chance to kiss you." She muttered, staring into his eyes. Noah's smile returned and he softly clutched her hand.

"Now I know I'm dead." He said kissing her lips. She giggled a little and turned toward the table.

"Would you rather be here or destroying the universe as a zombie with no control of anything you do?" She asked. Noah stared at her blankly for a moment, a grin heightening the corner of her lips. "That's what I thought." She said.

As they played, Noah couldn't help but think still. He wondered if he'd see every man he had fallen with. He even wondered if he would see The'v there. Most of all, his thoughts strayed to seeing Trapston. A wider smile crossed his face as he thought of what he wanted to tell him.

"I made it count."