Long Way from Home
Prologue
"Wake me, when you need me." That's all he said to her.
"Typical." She said. Not like there was anyone to hear. Cortana reviewed her video logs, trying to find out what happened, why the rift closed on them. She searched for a few minutes, reviewing the video over and over again, but still couldn't figure it out. She kept searching until she finally gave up, slamming her "fist" against the bulkhead.
The beacon she sent out would not reach Earth for years, decades even. Even if it did reach anyone, how would they even reach them? They were outside the Milky Way after all. To make matters worse, the gravitational pull of the planet the ark orbited was pulling them closer, and she had no way to break out it. The Half of Dawn was on life support; there was barely enough power to support Cortana.
On the bright side, however, it was finished. The covenant was in shambles, the chief, John, with the arbiter's help, had destroyed the Ark, and Truth was dead. And of course, the flood and gravemind. Cortana felt a very human chill just thinking about that monster, and what it did to her. It came at a heavy cost though. The entire crew of the Dawn, not to mention Johnson and Miranda were all dead. And, Cortana wasn't even sure if the arbiter survived the trip back either.
She was out of options, it looked like her and the chief's luck had finally run out. Cortana considered shutting herself down. It was likely that her life span was cut even shorter since the gravemind incident, not to mention all the information she gathered from high charity and instillation 04.
Suddenly, her built in motion sensor beeped, something was coming up behind them, fast. Cortana prepared herself for anything as she waited helplessly for the intruder to approach. From a hatch on the far side of the room a set of human like hands appeared. The hands pushed a slim figure through the hatch. The creature was vaguely human shaped, but with a pale, sickly skin and rather large eyes, along with several other differences. The newcomer looked at the chief, then Cortana curiously. Then, in perfect English it spoke, "Hello, are you in need of assistance?"