Alone adrift in the endless void of Space a small speck of Titanium composite armour tumbles towards its destiny. The last surviving crew lay asleep as they had for the last 976yrs but that would change in 5 hrs as they entered a decaying orbit over a planet.
Cortana had slumbered for 975yrs leaving programs that would warn her of any object that appeared artificial or planetoid size. But finally those programs after 975yrs of scanning had detected a large planetoid, and awakened her.
The subroutine programming started up, running security scans and starting up her main sub processors and processors; finally in a burst of light her avatar appeared glowing softly in the darkness of the unpressurized ship. Quickly scanning she discovered the planetoid that her programs had discovered and after calculating her trajectory and inertia came to the answer that the Star ship would enter atmosphere in only five hours. Running a more in depth scan she discovered that the planetoid contained five major continental masses and 3 smaller masses she also discovered that the land masses contained signs of civilisation though the society obviously had not advanced very far as no tachyon pulses or any other sign of communication by light or other sources. One milli-second later she decided to awaken Master Chief and Sergeant Greg Horad and inform them of their situation and ask them what they should do.
Searing light was the first sign that they weren't going to have a peaceful afterlife, then as their vision cleared they made out the interior of a darkened star ship. In a burst of nitrogen the cryo pods seals disengaged and the hatch slid open allowing them to step out of their home for the last 976yrs for the first time. Master Chief quickly engaged his boots magnetic plates and walked over to the data port that he had placed Cortana in before he went to sleep, he knew that to wake up Cortana must have done it but still what if Cortana had gone rampant? As he thought about it He was interrupted by a voice suddenly breaking the silence that had stretched for the last 976yrs
"What the Heck! I died I even remember it; I was cornered by a brute that had Plasma sword then stabbed through the gut! I was expecting beautiful women and food galore not some decrepit old wreck and a Spartan, I want out!"
"Now now Sergeant I don't think caveman will like you making such caustic comments about him, don't you caveman" Cortana half seriously and jokingly said to him as her avatar appeared on the holo pad.
"…" was the only reply of the Hero of Humanity
Alright so caveman won't talk, I think I'm alright with that… now on to more important matters how the heck am I still alive!" shouted the Irate Sergeant.
"now now sergeant if you must know you are still alive because Mendicant Bias thought that to repay his debt he would start with you, any way he has given you the abilities of a Spartan II and augmented your body with nanites that will heal you rapidly. Whilst you and caveman had a little nap I have been using the science and engineering labs to figure out forerunner tech!" replied Cortana smirking at the Sergeants incredulous face and The Master Chiefs' rapid double take of the Sergeant after hearing about the Spartan and nanite thing.
"Anyway, sadly we have only five make that four and a half hours till this ship crashes through the planet we are orbiting atmosphere and smashes into a large mountain range the ship should make it but this area will be mostly destroyed when crashing onto the planet alright any questions" chirped Cortana cheerfully.