Hello, Fellow miscreants. I have completed the second chapter of our First Strike.

Please, Review, so I can improve on the parts I'm doing bad at.

Disclaimer: I do not own Halo.


Halo: First Strike Chapter 2

Six had just stabbed her knife in the heart of the elite that had her pinned, and had looked around for who had needed her help. And she saw Fol was kicked while in midair, and brought down by the Fleetmaster. And now he was hammering away at Fol's blade.

Six shortly thought about what she should do, and what she would do.

She wanted that Fol would just die. He had killed Kat, shooting her in the head. He had killed Emile, stabbing him in the heart after Emile had already been heavily wounded. He was likely responsible for Jorge's death, for he had died when a bunch of Ultra elites had ambushed him in the hanger, and had damaged the bomb while Six had been busy getting to the bridge. That required the precision timing of a Field-Marshal, and Fol was the only one that they knew was present on the planet at the time. He had killed countless of civilians, had traumatized even more, like Sara Sorvad. He deserved to die.

But on the other hand Six felt she had to save him. He hadn't shot at her any times since the Onager-cannon fight. In fact, he had saved her multiple times from the Flood. He had even done so at risk of his own life. He had saved John when he could have just let him fall, back on the elevator of the Autumn. He had taken account of Linda's injury back when they had captured a Spirit back at the control room. He even attempted to socialize with Six when they had to take a break due to their route being under a heavy conflict from both the Sentinels, the Flood and a bunch of hunters. Six felt she had an obligation to save him.

Then the Fleetmaster finally disarmed Fol, and held his blade high for a killing blow.

Six made a mental toss of a coin, and it decided her choice. And Six found she didn't like it one bit. But she went along with it anyway.

She jumped, activated her Energy Sword, and blocked the blow.

Six came at it so violently, that the way she blocked caused the blades to actually flash from the force of it, and the Fleetmaster visibly reeled back. He looked at Six, and snarled. "So. You are willing to sacrifice yourself for the one that killed about half of your team?"

Six took on a fighting stance, not saying a thing. She ignored the fact that the cut across her visor was obviously visible to the Fleetmaster, and that he was trying to provoke her. Six activated her second blade as well, and held it in front of the other, like a boxer would hold both fists in front of it, one before the other. Thel took on a different stance. He stood low, one blade held diagonally at his side, the other vertically low to cover his legs.

Six then jumped forward, the same time as Thel. Six slashed one blade high, and the other low. Thel moved to block both, but then Six adjusted the angle of one of the blades mid-slash, and her low-slash went high. It didn't hit anything vital, unfortunately, but she still slashed his head. His shields broke, and she slashed just behind his left eye. Six and Thel then both landed, and Six saw that Thel was shocked that an infidel like Six was able to hit him like that. Like he expected himself to be better than that.

So you thought himself invincible, huh? Good. Pride will be your downfall.

Six then looked at him. "I can go on all day, split-lip. Do you?"

The Elite looked at her with a snarl. "Your arrogance-"

"is well-earned." Six interrupted.

Thel then advanced slowly. Six saw from the corner of her eye that the Spec-ops Elites were doing so as well. Six just stood there.

Just as the three completely encircled her, Six jumped at one of the Spec-ops elites, blocked his high slash with both of her blades. But instead of landing on the floor, she maneuvered in the air so that she landed on the Elite's lower arms. She then jumped up again, and backflipped through the air, towards the other. She landed with both of her boots in the elite's face before he could react, and he went to the ground. The Fleetmaster came at her again, but Six slashed at it's head with both of her blades. And the Elite had actual trouble blocking her attack. It reared back, and Six drove it slowly towards the exit the other Elites were covering.

The other Spec-ops elites moved to engage, but Fol had gotten up about that time, and though they still attacked him, pedaled back to join their comrades near the escape pods. Six made a final stab at the elite's abdomen, and though it slashed them out of the way, it still accidentally exposed it's back to Six in order to do so successfully.

And that was a mistake. Six kicked at it's back, and it stumbled forward. Six then stabbed at it's head. It rolled out of the way in time, but was forced further back as John and Sam had dealt with their opponents as well, and John had picked up the dropped Plasma cannon. Both of them were firing at the remaining elites, which numbered at five in total, including the Field-Marshal and his Spec-ops bodyguards. The Spartans and marines forced the elites to take cover into the Escape pods.

And Cortana, who was still in the ship's systems, promptly shut their hatches on them, and launched the elites from the ship. Six looked around, and, after finding no new targets to kill, moved to the central platform that dominated the Bridge. She moved up the platform, only to find Fol already busy reactivating all systems. Six joined him, and heard a part of his conversation with Cortana.

"-lready done. There's nothing we can do except reactivate it manually." Fol said.

"And what if it's damaged? Then what?" Cortana asked.

"Then I really feel honored having known you."

Cortana sighed, and then looked quizzically at Six. Six nodded, and looked at Fol with a glare, even though Fol couldn't see it. "Don't ever make me regret this choice, because between saving you and letting you die, I have no faith this choice will pay off." Six said sternly.

Fol nodded, and then gestured at the Nav-console. "Every Covenant ship has an AI, similar in purpose to your own, but with less personality and initiative. This one was smart, and has hidden itself somewhere. It had shut down the Slipspace-Drive the moment we unlocked the navigational systems. They can be unlocked manually, but are on the other side of the ship."

"So a small group of us goes there." Chips Dubbo said. "No problem."

"Yes problem." Cortana reported. The other cruisers have realized they have no flagship anymore, and are charging up their plasma-cannons and energy-projectors. And the bloody rodder had us maneuvered right into the middle of the formation during the fight. We're sitting ducks."

"Can you still maneuver?" John asked. Cortana's avatar, which appeared on one of the displays, nodded.

Six caught on on his idea. "Then buy us time by going around one of those planetary bodies. I'm going down to the engine room."

"You don't know how to reactivate the Slipspace-Drive." Cortana said.

(But I can.) the text appeared on her visor, and Six knew it was Tends to Rise. As instructed, he had taken cover when the fighting had started. Six turned to him, and nodded.

"There. Problem solved. Do what you can, Cortana. I'll be back." Six said, and moved through the bridge, exiting through the hallway they had come through. She noticed Sam was following as well. She turned to him. "Going along for the company, or because you have something to get off your chest?" she asked.

"The latter." he answered. "Combined with the fact that You need someone to cover your back, even though most of the crew are either dead or non-hostiles."

"Well, you clear the way. I give Rise close cover."

Sam nodded, and they rounded a corner. They saw a huddle of Huragok, conversing among themselves. They were signing in a flurry anyway, too fast for the translation software in her armor to track. Tends to Rise moved forward. (Please, wait for a moment. I will ask them to help us at the engine room.)

Six nodded, and let him get ahead. He approached the group, and together they exchanged a flurry of signs. After a moment, Rise returned, and Six saw he looked disappointed.

(They are willing to help.) He began. (But a group of Unggoy have locked them out of the engine room, and threatened to shoot the reactor core if they attempt to enter.)

This hardly deterred Six. "Then we move around them. There is an elevator shaft that connects with the engine room, right? So we take that route."

"Will make our route a bit longer." Sam noted.

"Beats the grunts blowing the reactor and killing us all." Six retorted. "We use stealth. You should try it sometime."

Six knew Sam rolled his eyes at that moment, and moved to an Engineer's hatch. Rise opened it, and Six used it to lower herself to the level below the engine room. After a moment she heard a thud, indicating Sam had arrived. Six looked at Rise, who followed behind her. "Rise, can you give us a head's-up when we are directly beneath the engine room? I want to know it so that I know where we are to go back up. Approximately, anyway."

(Of course, Reclaimer.) Rise told her.

"Happy you have a pet?" Sam asked her jestingly. "Because you talk with it more than you do with the rest of us."

"Would you rather have that I talk you to death?"

"No, thank you. You seem more at peace burning things."

Six nodded, and they continued walking on. After about two minutes of walking, they came across a few corpses of jackals. They seemed to have been choked to death, for two of them were holding their throats. "Must have been the result of Cortana draining the atmosphere out of certain sections of the ship." Six noted. She prodded one with the tip of her boot.

"Some way to die." Sam said. "Choking on your last breath, not knowing what was going on."

"Still better than being Flood-bait." Six noted.

"Anything beats being Flood-bait."

Six nodded, but Rise tapped her shoulder. (The Engine room is now above us. Take the elevator to your left, and you will make it there without the Unggoy noticing you.)

"Thanks, Rise." Sam said. "Please wait here. We will give you the signal once the room is cleared."

(Do be careful. The reactor could now be unstable, due to the Unggoy interfering.)

"We'll watch our aim." Six said. She then opened the door to her right. It led into a large vertical shaft. Six saw the elevator was right below them, one floor down. She saw no visible cables, so she presumed the thing went upwards on magnetic rails, similarly to how a MAC-cannon was fired.

There were a lot of girders, however, so Six climbed on top of one. She then got a handhold of the next, and climbed up. She heard Sam climb after her, and curse as he hit his head.

"Caution: low ceiling." Six said.

"Very funny, for someone who has to stand on a chair in order to headbutt me."

"It is indeed." Six said. She then arrived at the door to the next floor. She presumed it was the engine room, so she silently pried it open a bit.

It was indeed the engine room. There was a large plasma core that dominated the center of the room, and about five grunts were just moving about, with no clear destination in mind. Six couldn't detect any Elites.

Sam came up alongside her, and she moved over so he could look as well. "Slipspace drive at the aft side of the room." he told her. "Right next to the plasma core. The engine nozzles aren't accessible from here, but I can detect a lot of heat on the other side of that wall."
"I thought you didn't have any sensors like Linda had in her helmet."

"I can feel the heat from here. Can't you?"

"No, but my armor has the temperature regulated. Must be why I can't feel most of it."

Sam nodded, and drew a combat knife from his chest plate. Six did so as well. Together they moved through the engine room. They didn't draw their weapons, as Sam only had weapons that did too much damage to the engine room, and Six couldn't take them all down in time before the others damaged the Plasma Core.

Six got behind a pair that stood together, and butted their heads together real hard. Sam grabbed one in the air, and snapped his methane mask off with his knife, cutting off it's supply of fresh methane, which the creatures breathed.

It alerted the remaining two, though, and Six drew her Carbine. She hit one in the head. The other took cover behind the Plasma-Core, but suddenly flew aside, to the other side of the room.

Six looked, and saw Sam standing there. With a confident stance. "Rise, It's clear." Six called down the shaft. "You and your buddies can come in now."

Sure enough, after about twelve seconds, an entire flock of Engineers floated p the shaft, and all went busily to work in the engine room.

Six returned to look at Sam. "Did you use that last grunt as a soccer-ball?" she asked.

Sam removed his helmet, and took on a false look of innocence. "Me? Kicking an alien? Never"

"The same way I ain't a pyromaniac." Six said. She then raised Cortana. "Cortana, Rise is in the engine room, along with some friends. They'll have the SlipSpace-drive up and running in no time at all."

"It's too late." Cortana said.


Cortana had to divert the attention from Six and Rise as they left the bridge, with Sam following after a moment, cursing to himself. She opened a private channel between herself, John and Linda. "Awww, and there the young couple goes." she said. "Shame they won't admit it to themselves they like each other."

"Yeah." Linda said, and she added Johnson to the conversation, who was currently taking a bathroom break in one of the remaining escape pods. Not that he wanted to piss in the escape pod, but so far they hadn't been able to find a proper toilet, and Johnson really needed the break.

"Which reminds me," John said. "remember our bet, Linda?"

Linda looked confused for a moment, but then let out a slight curse. John already held his hand up. "Unless Johnson really wants it, I'll wait with cashing in until the end of the war. You're more skilled with it anyway." Linda nodded, and sagged her shoulders in relief.

"Same goes for me." Johnson said. "But I won't let you forget this."

"Bring it, sergeant TIHF." Johnson laughed.

Then Fol called over from the command platform. "I could use your help up here. Ship-to-ship combat ain't my forte."

John and Linda ran up the ramp, and each manned two of the stations. John noted his seemed like a weapons station.

"We're currently in a crossfire between 6 cruisers." Cortana reported over the general channel. "I'm trying to get her through the upper layers of Threshold's atmosphere, so the magnetic field of the planet ensures the Covenant can't fire on us. But we're only properly safe one 034 and B312 get the SlipSpace-drive onl-"

"Incoming text transmission." Fol reported. John saw his face then fell. "Oh, boy."

"What is it." Stacker asked from the main floor.

"The Holy City of High-Charity is on it's way here. And it's always has an escort of at least three hundred ships." Fol said.

"What's High-Charity?" Haverson asked.

"It's the combination of a massive Covenant Spacestation combined with their capital. It's hundreds of kilometers from bow to stern." Cortana answered. "Which means we need to get out of here in a hurry."

"Agreed." The Chief said. "Cortana, make haste for Threshold. And inform me once the SlipSpace drives are online."

"Aye." She said. "Blast, the Covenant AI has itself locked down in a section extremely far forward of the ship. It has shut all of it's systems down, the same way it likely did with the bridge. I can't get to it at this moment."

"And the good news?" Polaski asked.

"I've locked all conduits around it down, so it can't get to us either."

But then they entered Threshold's atmosphere, and Cortana had to shift her attention to flying the ship. One of the cruisers was following closely. The same one, Cortana noted to herself, that Thel had been launched towards, and that had collided with the Ascendant Justice back when they were still in a Longsword. Cortana gritted her virtual teeth, and launched a volley of plasma bulbs, the data on how to do so provided by their new Huragok ally, Tends to Rise.

They struck the ship, but it continued onwards regardless. She observed as it took a geosynchronous orbit above them, not ramming them, but in an ideal position to prevent their escape. It charged it's energy projectors, ready to pounce on them from orbit, like it had likely done to a lot of human cities.

Alright, so you know a few tricks. Now, let me show you mine. "Hang on." She called, and everyone got a good hold on something solid.

She then rolled the ship clockwise 180 degrees, presenting her ventral side to the cruiser above. She then did something she knew most wouldn't have come up with as fast as she did.

She put all her power into the two ventral energy projectors, and aimed them at the cruiser above. The Cruiser, seeing what she was up to, tried to fly out of it's range, and fired a few parting shots from her plasma cannons as it went.

But Cortana didn't let it get away without a scratch. She fired both energy projectors at the ship.

Both hit the fleeing cruiser, one amidship, one near the engine block. It vented plasma, and Cortana saw it was clearly hurt...

and then Cortana raised her ship's shields as the parting shots from the cruiser came at her. The shields absorbed most of the blow, and the carrier showed no external signs of damage. But it got blasted backwards seven hundred meters by the force of the blasts. Seven hundred meters deeper into the atmosphere than Cortana wanted to.

They entered the gas giant's gravity well, and were pulled inwards. This was very dangerous, for if they were into it too far, they wouldn't be able to get out, and likely be killed by the inevitable forces of Gravity. Cortana tried to alter her course, but it was to no avail. They were being pulled deeper into the planet.

"Cortana," Six came over the com. "Rise is in the engine room, along with some friends. They'll have the SlipSpace-drive up and running in no time at all."

"It's too late." Cortana said. "We are too far in the planet's gravity well. We are being pulled in, and can't get out."
"So jump." Six said. "I am not an expert in physics, but I think we should just jump out of here through SlipSpace."

Cortana was about to call her insane, but then remembered Six had already admitted she was likely insane herself. She tried not to think about all the dozen things that could go wrong. The SlipSpace drive could collapse due to all the gravitational forces that were involved. The Portal could collapse on them just as they were passing through. The-

Oh, the Hell with it. She tried it anyway.

Surprisingly, the Slipspace-portal opened, and Cortana easily maneuvered the ship in. After a moment, they entered Slipspace, and the portal shut behind them, leaving the debris of Halo and the Covenant fleet behind.

She saw that the Covenant AI still in the systems was observing her calculations, before it withdrew from the systems. Cortana tried to track it down, but she found no trace.

Blasted

But then she returned her attention to the others, and said "Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to congratulate you on being the first passengers of a vessel that successfully attempted an In-atmospheric jump. Please feel free to move around the cabin."

Most of the marines cheered, and Haverson looked pleased. John and Linda, along with Fol, however, looked at her in concern. "Are you certain the fleet over Threshold couldn't have observed your calculations? Because if they did, then the war with Humanity will be a lot shorter."

"Relax." Cortana said. "The magnetic field of the planet and the gasses masked our readings. Even if they did observe our jump, they still couldn't see how I did it." Cortana let confidence slip into her voice.

Fol still looked concerned. "And how about this ship's AI? It was still present, and could have observed what you did."

"I'll admit I'm still tracking it down, but I know it won't be able to hide forever."

That seemed to satisfy Fol. For the moment. "Good." He said. "Let's gather everyone here, and plan our next move. I doubt we want to end up at Sanghelios with merely one ship."

"I agree." The Chief said. He then opened a com to the engine room. "Sam, Six, get back here. We're planning our next move."

"I copy, Chief. We're en-route."

"Good." Chief shut the com. He turned to the others. "But until they get here, everyone get some rest. We're going to need it.


Sam had just helped a few engineers lift a heavy plasma block back in place after they repaired and upgraded it for a moment, before turning back to Six.

And immediately moved to her side. She was sitting on the ground, laying against the wall. She was visibly shaking.

And Sam though he heard a few sobs coming from her.

"Hey." he said, as he finally got to her. "What's wrong?"

Six stared blankly ahead of her, not moving. She didn't say anything.

"What is it?" Sam asked again.

Six looked at him again, and slightly depolarized her faceplate. And Sam knew something big was up. There was only one time she had done that, and that was when she had been raging on a dropship on their way back from the Truth and Reconciliation, seething over the fact she didn't get to hunt Fol, and trying to prove to them she was telling the truth by letting him look into her eyes.

But this time, Six had depolarized it further, to the point he could make out some definite features of her face this time.

She had, as she'd claimed, differently colored eyes, her right one Ice-Blue, while her other one was Fire-Orange. He couldn't see her entire face, but from what he could see, it was covered in scars. On her forehead alone, there were three of them, two accidentally forming into a cross in the center, with one line going up into her hair, and the third scar a line continuing on to her temple. And he could see until the underside of her mouth, with only her chin and jawline not visible. She had, by his count, at least twelve scars in total, with the most prominent ones being a cut along her chin that continued over her lips to the side of her nose, and, Sam noted, a small one that started at the corner of her mouth, and curved upwards, giving him the illusion she was smirking.

But he could see tears were rolling down one side of her face, and her eyes held the look of anger, sadness, and despair.

"Nothing in particular." Six finally said, her voice neutral and devoid of all emotions. "Just letting all the events of the last several weeks sink in. The Fall of Reach, Noble's end, Halo, The Flood, That bloody Fol, everything. And It ain't exactly pretty." Six turned to look ahead of her again. "Especially the sight of humans turning into Flood monsters."

"Maybe so." Sam said after a short silence. "But not all of it's bad. You met, and befriended, me, John and Linda. You gained a handy experience in fighting. You even have a new ally, even if you still hate his guts." Six chuckled at that, understanding his reference to Fol.

Sam paused again. "Look, all I want to say is... just... ah, hell. If you need someone to talk to, I'm here. You're a part of Blue-team. We look out for each other."

Six looked at him. And polarized her visor again, forming a face of death again, with the blood of enemies dried on it, and the cut on the right side of her visor going from the slight right of her visor to the far right corner, in a diagonal line, ending at the side where her visor ended and her helmet proper began. She seemed relieved, though.

"I ain't the type to talk about stuff like that. Thanks for the offer, though." with that, Six started to get up, and Sam was about to hold out his hand for help, when his com went off. "Sam, Six, get back here. We're planning our next move." it was the Chief, and it sounded like he wanted them there on the double.

"I copy, Chief." Sam said. "We're en-route."

"Good." there was a click, indicating John had shut the com down. Sam looked around.

Six had already found Tends to Rise, who was following her to one of the doors. "Well." Six said. "We'd better get moving before Johnson and Wilson start any wild rumors about us."

"Agreed." Sam said, and he ran with her and Rise towards the bridge.

They arrived after sprinting for a full five minutes. Sam was surprised the Huragok had managed to keep up with them.

Johnson, Wilson, Stacker and Dubbo were playing a game of cards, sitting in one of the trenches in a square. Haverson was busy interviewing Fol. He answered every question Haverson asked. John seemed to be talking with Cortana on the central platform, and Linda was cleaning her Sniper rifle. Locklear and Polaski were nowhere to be seen.

"Where are Locklear and Polaski?" Sam asked.

"Don't go looking for 'em." Wilson called from the trench. "They're... let's just say they want privacy."

Six chuckled, though Sam had no idea what either of them meant. Linda noticed, though, and answered his unspoken question. "They're putting the tail of flowers and bees to practice. If you catch my meaning." Sam noticed Linda found it amusing as well.

Then Sam realized it, and blushed, ashamed he hadn't gotten it sooner. "Ah, I see." Sam saw that Six was approaching John and Cortana, and moved over to sit with Linda. Linda moved over, and gave him one of her cleaning rags. Sam saw she'd gotten it from the Longsword. Sam unhooked his minigun from his back, and took the barrels apart from the main gun, cleaning parts as he removed them. Linda gave him a sideways glance as she did the same with her Sniper rifle, only using different parts.

Then Six clapped her hands, and everyone moved to stand near the ramp to the central platform. Sam, letting the parts of his half-assembled minigun lay where they were. Wilson was shuffling the cards in his hands, before putting them in a pouch in his hand.

So the cards were his.

Sam saw him move over to Six, and toss her a data-chip. Six looked it over, and put it into her helmet. After a few seconds she pulled it out, nodded to Wilson, and put it in her pouch.

Wilson then took off his ODST-Helmet, and Sam got his first look at what he looked like.

He was in his forties, had black hair with graying edges, a slight beard, and dark-brown eyes. He had a tanned skin, and, assuming his accent, from either New-Zealand on earth, or Demeter, where most New-Zealanders colonized during the time when humans started colonizing other worlds.

Then another door hissed open, and Polaski and Locklear walked in. Their clothes and hair were slightly disheveled, and they shared glances. Sam did his best to ignore them.

Wilson, however, didn't. "awww, you didn't invite me? Auch!" that last part came as Stacker bumped Richie's side quite hard. And around the kidney, too.

"Shut up." Stacker said, his voice heavy as usual. "Let the couple be."

Haverson and Fol finally approached, and that completed the group. The Chief stood on the top of the platform, with Six standing behind him, and slightly to his right. Cortana's avatar was on the display.

Everyone else, who consisted of Sam, Linda, Fol, Haverson, sergeants Johnson and Stacker, Dubbo, Wilson, Locklear, Polaski and Tends to Rise, who stood at Linda's side.

"I've conferred with Cortana" John began, and Sam appeared to pay attention. "and she has given us a current summary of our situation. One: we currently are in slipspace after an in-atmospheric jump. Something Humanity has never achieved before. Two: we are currently aboard a Covenant Carrier, which is a potential treasure trove of technology humanity can exploit, with the help of Tends to Rise and his group of Huragok." Rise nodded his head in response, and took over for a short time. (While most of you were busy here, I spoke with my kin. They have all agreed to help you, and are willing to join Humanity on Earth.)

most of those present nodded, and the Chief continued. "Three: In Fol, who has genuinely been convinced to fight with us, we have a good store of information in Covenant tactics, and he has shown to be reliable."

Fol nodded. Wilson raise his hand. "Yes, Wilson?" John asked.

"I just want to know why Fol defected, sir. I understand what the Lightbulb told him is against the Covenant's religion, but I thought he was an atheist."

"This... revelation, for lack of a better word, made my cause to fight humanity, because we were enemies due to the Covenant, undone. With the Prophet's proven false, my Clan, which is the leading body of the colony Sang'Katarn, will likely rebel against them. I have long had respect for humanity despite the hostilities, and desire that instead of making this a three-way war, my clan will join Humanity in dissolving the Covenant."

"But why now?"

"Let's just say that at the beginning of the war, someone joined Sang'Katarn that made me doubt the legitimacy of this war."

Wilson nodded, satisfied with what he heard.

"What we need" The Chief said, getting everyone on track. "is a UNSC vessel, for Cole Protocol subsection 7 forbids us from taking any Covenant material back to human space, for fear of unknown tracking devices."

Fol nodded. "It was attempted by the Prophet of Truth, by trading arms with a human insurrectionist colony about two decades ago. It was foiled before it mapped even a tenth of human space, but it could still be going on without my knowledge."

John nodded, and sam found he agreed as well. Haverson raised his hand. "So how do you plan to get back at human space, chief? I acknowledge your tactical command of this mission, and I know your authority has the backing of High Command and Section Three. I won't argue you on that point. But with the discovery of the new technology on this ship, your mission could be superseded."
"What other mission?" Locklear asked, his voice suspicious, and various others were wondering as well. Most were either looking at a Spartan, or Lieutenant Haverson.

Haverson shrugged. "I see no reason to keep this information classified at this point, Chief."

"I agree." Cortana said from the display at the Chief's back. "Don't worry, the room's cleared of eavesdroppers."

The Chief hesitated, and Sam knew what would come next was hard for him. "My team and I..." The Chief paused, and Sam decided to pick it up. "Our mission was to capture a Covenant Ship, board and capture it like pirates of old, and capture one of their religious leaders from their own space. Command hoped it would force the Covenant to the negotiating table, with the hopes of achieving a cease-fire."

No one said a word. Fol finally raised a hand. "Two things." He started. "One: Did, or do, you plan to return from this mission alive?"

Linda shook her head at that, and Fol continued. "And two: It won't work. Unless you transmit the right code within a microsecond of entering High-Charity's space, and those codes are changed every few minutes, you will get blasted out of the sky before you could say 'retreat'. For those Religious leader are always on High-Charity, and even if you landed on High-Charity, if you got a Prophet, and if you got out of there, it would motivate the Covenant only to fight harder, to either free or avenge him."

The Chief and the rest of Blue-Team looked at him. Sam was... disappointed. It meant their mission was in vain. Fol looked at him. "I'm willing to follow you if you do want to continue on it, but realize it will be futile."

The Chief nodded, and looked at Haverson, and at the others. And Sam did as well, and he noted the exhaustion on everyones faces. They had all been through Hell on Halo, and he knew most of them weren't ready for this mission.

"What's on this ship" Haverson said. "can save the human race. And wasn't that the goal of your original mission?"

"Yes." The Chief said. There was a second of silence, and the Wilson spoke up. "What about Reach? There ought to be a few Human ships up there that are serviceable, or can easily be brought operational again. We won't violate this 'Subsection 7', because last time I checked, Reach was already found by the Covenant."

"Besides." Six added. "There are... chances, no matter how small, that a few of our own down there. Let's go there, to rule it out as a possibility, if nothing else."

"Indeed." Haverson said. "Very well. Cortana, set course for Reach. We exit slipspace near the edge of the system, and determine if the situation is good or not. If it's too hot, we jump away and find another route home."

"Acknowledged, Lieutenant. Be advised, this ship travels a lot faster through SlipSpace than our vessels. ETA is thirteen hours, so get relaxed."

Wilson nodded, and handed the cards to Stacker. "Well, unless anyone has anything important to say, I'm going to practice my skills in a Spirit."

"I'll evacuate the ship, then." Chips said, and Polaski, Stacker and Six laughed. Six then moved over to the escape-pod bay.

Everyone went back to their previous business. Haverson and Fol sat down in a corner again, for their interviews. Stacker, Johnson, Dubbo and Locklear went back into the trench, and restarted the card game. Wilson strolled to the hanger, with, after Locklear's insistence, Polaski, to teach him how to fly. Linda and Sam went back to cleaning their weapons, and Tends to Rise joined them, mostly observing. John went to lay down and catch some sleep. Sam saw Six move to the escape pod bay. He saw she inserted the chip in her helmet again, and then the door shut behind her.

Sam looked at Linda, and asked the unspoken question between the spartans. "Do you think anyone's still alive? With over three hundred ships, I think even Earth wouldn't stand a chance."

"Fred will come through for them. And we know at least one of them is alive for sure."

"Who?"

"Jun. Six's teammate from Noble-Team. He was escorting Halsey, remember? As she'd told back at Alpha base on Halo."

Sam nodded. "I remember. But I was talking about Kelly, Fred, Will, Joshua, Grace and the others. Did any of them make it?"

Linda stopped cleaning for a second, and then looked at him. "If what you and John say is true, then they had no chance against those numbers. We're excellent soldiers, but against the numbers they reported? I don't think they could survive that. And let's not even talk about the glassing."

Sam agreed, and he went on cleaning the parts of his minigun. As he started reassembling it, he noticed Fol got up from his conversation with Haverson, and walk to the same door Six had left the bridge through.

These would be an interesting thirteen hours.


It took Six a while to find one, but at last she finally found a quiet room for herself.

She had left the bridge after John had given that briefing. She had promptly left the bridge as soon as it was over, determined to find a good and quiet place for herself. She had found one after about an hour of searching, an abandoned and emptied armory by the looks of it.

She looked around, and moved a few of the racks around, so she could use them as exercise equipment, like pull-ups and such.

After about three minutes, she was done, and she started exercising, but it went too easy for her liking. She looked up, sure that Cortana could see her. "Cortana, can you increase the gravity in this room by three hundred percent?"

"Done." Cortana said, and indeed, the floor started to tug at her boots a lot more.

"Thank you." Six then pulled out the chip Wilson had given her.

As asked, he had given her a copy of his 'Epic' music playlist. And Six, having found a new taste for it, was letting it blast away in the confines of her helmet, trying to keep her mind of the events of both the last few weeks, and the last few hours.

The last few weeks, because she didn't want to think about them. Those had been harrowing weeks. The accusing look of Sara Sorvad, the daughter of the now deceased Laszlo Sorvad, claiming in anger that Spartans weren't human anymore. That statement had hit close to one of Six's personal issues, namely the fact she was extremely conscious of the fact that she hadn't had a normal life, and likely never would.

The next images of the last few weeks flashed before her eyes as the music played. Jorge throwing her off of the Corvette, about fifteen seconds before he opened that SlipSpace-portal that led into oblivion. Kat, shot in the head by Fol Katarn'ee, or Katarn, for she didn't understand the significance of that double ee at the end. Kat had fallen into Six's arms, and Six still mourned her death to this day. Carter, crashing his Pelican into an approaching Scarab tank, in order to buy her and Emile time to get to the Autumn. Emile, stabbed in the heart by Fol Katarn (She decided to just settle for Katarn) after Emile had fought off two zealots before succumbing to his wounds. Linda, laying heavily wounded on the Autumn, dying. Six had immediately moved to help her, and had succeeded in saving her life. At least one bright spot in all the muck around her life.

The next thing that flashed before her were the events on Halo, with her and Blue-Team landing on the ring after Keyes entrusted them with Cortana. The holdout at the valley-facility, where Six had to save Linda's life once again, as she'd suffered internal injuries during the crash. And Linda promptly got up to join the fight, despite Six' rather vulgar insistence she shouldn't. Six snickered at the memory.

Then the night at Alpha base came, and the night Six had opened up to someone for the first time in years, if not Decades. And where she'd been named an official member of Blue-Team.

Then the raid on the Truth and Reconciliation happened, and she'd learned that the blasted Fol had in fact survived their encounter, and had taken the Shoulder-plate of Emile as a trophy. Then the separation of their forces, the underground facility...

And the Flood.

Six knew the memories and nightmares from that place would haunt her forever. The initial encounter, where everyone except her and Johnson had been turned into one of the creatures. Where they had nearly died, were it not for the fact Fol had saved them. Where Six, in an act of desperation to stop the Flood, had sabotaged the elevator, and she had convinced the others to make a last stand alongside her. And promptly abandoning it after they had been outnumbered, and Fol had found a way to divert the Flood's attention to them instead of escaping to the surface, and they had run for about Half an hour.

How Blue-Team had come for her, and they'd informed her the Flood had gotten out anyway, and that her effort had been for nothing. When the Library happened, and she'd fought alongside Fol and the others, taking down new large Flood forms, which Fol had coined 'Juggernauts'. And where she'd had an unpleasant argument with Sam, when he had stupidly shot a rocket inches past her head.

And then the betrayal of the monitor, and where Fol had officially turned to Humanity's side for the duration of the war. A part of Six still didn't believe it was genuine, but she accepted that the others wanted him alive.

Then the return to the Autumn, and the mental assault on her mind, which came to her complete surprise. The pain had stopped now, but Six still expected to feel the headaches again, despite the fact the Gravemind was now dead.

Then they'd taken the Ascendant Justice, and they'd boarded it with the other survivors, and they'd assaulted the bridge. Where she'd watched Fol being knocked down and nearly killed, and where Six had the ideal opportunity to let him die.

And, for reasons Six still didn't understand, she had saved his skin. She had thrown herself between his attacker and had driven him back, and Cortana had literally launched him off the ship. Six had thrown a mental flip of a coin, but why she had went with it instead of letting him die, or even outright killing him, eluded her.

Six had then traveled to the engine room with Sam and Tends to Rise, where she'd helped him secure the engine room.

And where she, unexpectedly, had a mental breakdown. She had a flashback at the mention of the word soccer-ball, because her sister had played it often. And it had brought up a lot of other memories, ones she didn't want to see. The horrors of Jericho VII's fall, the past few days of fighting the Flood, and the time she had spent among the insurrection.

She had often been deployed undercover among the insurrection, sometimes for days, sometimes for months, and often had to kill every single member that she's found. She did it with pleasure at the time, because of her violent tendencies. But with each atta- no, massacre, she learned more and more about herself. Namely, that she wanted something else with her life other than being ONI's enforcer.

ONI had her then deployed among Noble-team, after she had taken down a rather large movement, and she had broken down a bit after killing a child.

She didn't see it at the time, only that it was aiming a pistol at her. But she had inspected the corpse after hitting her in the head, and learned it was in fact a twelve year old girl. Six had been shocked, and had resolved to avoid fighting humans as long as possible. ONI, noticing her change in character as well, had reassigned her, and she fought the Covenant with renewed ferocity.

All of those memories had flooded her at once, and despite her Eidetic memory, she hadn't been prepared for the flood of it. She had sat down for a second, trying to gather her thoughts and composure. But apparently it had been longer than a second, for Sam had rushed to her side, trying to help her. He had even offered to be willing to listen to her if she wanted to talk. Six wasn't one to talk about this kind of thing, but she had truly appreciated the offer. Six, in a moment her guard was down, had even let him see her face through her visor, making him the first one she knew closely to see her face since Reach, hell, even

Six had no idea what to think of Sam. He was kind, had a healthy sense of Humor, and had a taste for explosives. Six found she truly liked him, despite her initial denial when Linda had asked her about it shortly before the Truth and Reconciliation raid. She had even, inadvertently but still, promised Sam a date. It was more of a promise that she would buy him a drink, and that he would bring the food, but it was a date none the less. She truly dreaded the day Linda would bring up that subject again.

Then a door opened in the armory, and she turned to look while in the middle of a sit-up while hanging from a bar of a rack.

Fol entered the room, and he headed straight for her. Great.

Six unhooked herself from the rack, turned down the volume of her music, and approached him.

"What do you want?" she asked.

Fol looked at her, his head slightly tilted. "I want to know something. You hate me to the core, and yet you saved me from Thel, when he could have easily killed me for you, or you could have even killed me yourself. Why?"

Six looked at him, straight into his one eye. "I wasn't gonna let him rob me of the opportunity to kill you myself."

Fol's mandibles shaped into a smile again, and he made a chuckle. It unnerved her a bit.

"An amusing answer, but I suspect it isn't the truth. Am I wrong?"

Six thought for a moment. She still had no answer to that question herself, despite pondering it a lot. She decided to give him the honest answer.

"I was conflicted, I admit. Forced to choose between finally getting to see you die, and saving a comrade. Yes, since you have defected, you are one of ours now. I made a mental flip of a coin, and it told me to save you. Why I went with it instead of killing you or letting you die, I don't know."

Fol nodded. "I understand. You haven't figured it out entirely yourself." He paused, and grabbed something from his lower back, holding it out to Six.

Six froze when she saw it was Emile's thick shoulder plate, with his Kukri still attached to it.

"I lied for a second, for I came to you for two things. I wanted to give this to you. It belongs to your team, so you are the rightful owner anyway. Take good care of it."

He then grabbed her hand, and put the plate into it. He turned to leave. Six was still frozen for a second, before she lay it on a crate. She then had an idea.

"Wait." she called to him. Fol stopped, and turned to her.

"Can you teach me how to properly fight with an Energy Sword?" Six said. It took all of her will-power to actually ask it, with her partial hate for him blocking it. But he had handed her back the armor plate when he didn't need to, even while he knew she still hated him. That earned him a bit of her respect.

"I know I'm a natural at fighting in close quarters, but up till now, I've mostly been improvising with it. I want to know proper techniques, not merely have to slash and stab around."

Fol seemed surprised by her request, and Six feared for a moment that he would refuse.

But then he took on his odd smile again, and he nodded. "Of course."

He then activated his blade, and they went at it for hours, with Fol providing examples before Six practiced them on him. And Six learned a lot from him.

And she found she enjoyed it.

After about five hours, Fol stopped it, and Six looked at him. "Why did we stop? I'm just getting the hang of it."

Fol actually laughed out loud. "That's my problem: You know everything now. All I can teach you now are... Kata's I think the synonym is. But you know all defenses and attacks by nature, and, as you said, you're a natural at this. I've got nothing of value to teach you."

Six looked at him. "You're serious?"

"Quite. Who taught you to fight like that? I'm curious."

Six thought for a moment. That was a particularly painful period of her life. But she decided she could tell him a little bit.

"I've shown a particular interest in fighting as a child, and practiced it at a very young age. I turned out to be a natural at anything involving fighting at close range. I taught multiple fighting styles to myself from documentaries about fighting, and enhanced it with movies that were far above my age. I wasn't allowed to see them, but I got them regardless." she paused. "I only got a few formal lessons about it during my training as a Spartan. And even then, the teachers quit after I constantly beat them in fights."

Fol nodded. "As you said, self-taught." he then gestured at her with his sword, and raised it again. "Still, you prove to be quite the challenge in a fight. Again?"

Six unhooked her second blade, and raised both. She nodded.

"Again."

Both jumped towards the other, their blades aimed towards the other.


Jun led them through the base towards the armory. It was quite a bit distant from the medical bay, but thankfully to Fred, the time was filled by Will hounding Jun with questions.

It gave Fred an opportunity to talk with Kalmiya in private.

"Kalmiya, can you pull up Noble's service record?"

The AI, of which he had a fragment in his head for navigational purposes, pulled up the right files. Fred scanned over them. They were what one could expect from a Spartan, and the only anomaly Fred saw was that they were part of the UNSC army instead of the navy.

It didn't reveal what he wanted to know, however.

"Can you go further back? Towards where they were trained?" Jun perplexed Fred, for if they had more spartans than just their class, then why didn't they hear of more of their encounters? Fred wanted an answer to that, but Jun wasn't supplying one to Will.

"Those files are restricted, Fred." Fred wanted to persist, but Kalmiya spoke on. "But who's here to arrest us? I have, however, got nothing other than a planet at the moment. My main Fragment has found files that may contain more information, but until I reintegrate, I can't supply you with answers. Through here."

a final door opened, and Fred walked inside. Indeed, there were two racks in the armory, though they were very long. One side had the weapons Halsey had talked about. The other had a large array of Mjolnir parts. A few of the parts lighted up.

"These are the Prototype Mark-VI parts. The others you all already have. Jun, through here. I have a new suit standing by just for you."

Jun nodded, and moved over to an armor assembler.

An armor assembler was a new type of armor assembly system Fred had only heard about shortly before Operation: Red Flag. Fred had heard it could assemble and reassemble armor in about three minutes, which was a new record for most of them. He then moved over to the new weapons. Then something caught his eye, and he moved over.

It seemed to be an upgraded version of a Spartan Laser, something he had used often, but which always quickly drained. He hefted it. It's muzzle opened up, and he saw it was, though more streamlined and such, not that different from the original Spartan Laser. He put it on his back, and grabbed one of the other weapons.

It was similar in appearance to Jun's DMR, but it's scope was a square instead of a circle. It also had thirty-six rounds instead of fifteen. Fred lifted it. The Iron Sights that a DMR had weren't present, and the weapon, with ammo, was more balanced than a DMR.

Then he heard a new, churning sound, and Fred turned around.

Jun had stepped into the armor assembler, which consisted of a ring, with handholds for the hands and feet, and had about five claws on it. It removed Jun's current armor, and attached new armor to it. The new armor, though obviously paying homage to Jun's old armor, was more streamlined, and was more similar to Fred's new armor. Then it finished, and finally changed the helmet, and Fred got a look at the man's face.

Jun was caucasian, was bold, and had blue eyes. Jun had a tattoo on the side of his face, which consisted of a fist holding three arrows. He had a haunted look in his eyes, likely from what happened to Reach.

Jun grabbed the new helmet, which was identical in appearance to his old one, and put it on. Jun then grabbed a duffel bag, and gestured upwards as he spotted Fred looking at him.

"I don't think the targets up above are gonna sit still while we sit here. Grab all the new prototype pieces, and put them in the bags, so we can attach a few of them to the armor of your friends."

Fred nodded. That made sense. He looked at Will, who was admiring a Rocket Launcher. Fred punched him. "Don't let Grace see you do that. Or Sam. They'll talk your ears off."

Will nodded, and continued bagging most of the weapons.

Then the ground shook heavily, and Fred knew there was trouble. If the ground shook while you were in a heavily secured, underground facility built to take blows, it was never a good sign.

Kalmiya's avatar appeared at the door. "I've found a way out. Let's get the doctor and get out of here. Isaac and Vinh are already on their way." Fred nodded, and grabbed the bags he had already filled. The only weapons he noted weren't in bags yet were 2 SMG's. He grabbed those, and threw the bag over his shoulder. He ran back towards the medical facility, following Kalmiya's avatar, which was unnecessarily running ahead. Will and Jun followed.

They arrived at the lab. Kelly was emerging from an office with Doctor Halsey. Blood ran from Halsey's nostrils. "Her office collapsed." Kelly explained. "A support beam missed her by a centimeter."

Kalmiya's hologram appeared. "Fred, unload my fragment. Kelly's already got the main program, and I need to reintegrate." Fred complied, and Kelly put Kalmiya's chip into her head after Fred handed his fragment to her. After a moment she discarded the chip, now useless.

"I've triggered the WHITE GLOVE charges underneath the base." Kalmiya said. "Three minutes until this base is nothing but rubble."

"And where are we going?" Isaac asked, as he and Vinh entered the room.

"The tunnels." Kalmiya answered. "The mountain is riddled with them, both from the times it was mined for titanium and from lava-tubes when this place was still a volcano. They'll cover us as the base detonates."

Fred nodded, and took point. Kelly went next, covering Halsey, followed by Will, who carried the prototype weapons and prototype armor parts. Jun came next, who covered them with his Sniper Rifle. Isaac and Vinh covered the rear.

They went unopposed for a long time, until they got to a five-way intersection. Kelly held up her hand, and everyone stopped.

Fred looked again, and he saw nothing. He was about to ask kelly what she saw...

when two zealots decloaked, accompanied by a Field-Marshal. Everyone froze, as although they had their backs turned to them, barely three meters separated them.

Jun took a crouch, and took proper aim at one of them, though he held fire, waiting for Fred's command. Fred holstered the SMG's, and grabbed his combat knives from his shoulders. He saw Kelly tense up, ready to jump assault the final one.

Then the Field-Marshal said something in it's own language, and they moved on further into the facility. Fred started to relax.

Then tensed as the three rounded a corner, and one of the Elites looked straight at him. He roared, and charged towards them.

He made it two steps before he fell to the ground, killed by a headshot from Jun. Fred was impressed, for the only other person he knew could make a shot like that was Linda.

But then the other two elites appeared again, and the Field-Marshal grabbed his swords, and charged as well. Jun fired at it's head three times, but the Shields surprisingly held. Then he was on them, and Fred jumped at him. He evaded the blade from the Field-marshal, and jumped at him, giving it a round-house kick to the head. It staggered, and was about to stand up again...

when three more sniper-shots sounded across the hallway, and the Field-Marshal fell back down, his head having multiple holes in it now. Fred even saw two of it's mandibles had been severed.

Fred looked around for the last elite. He had run off, it's steps still visible in it's companion's blood.

"This is getting even weirder." Halsey said. "The only other time I observed an Elite retreat was back at Visegrad Relay, and that was because it had what it came for, and had no further purpose there. Jun can testify to that."

Fred agreed, but then he looked at his mission timer. 00:53:92. They had to hurry.

"Later, doctor. Let's worry about getting into the mines first."

"The entrance is just thirty meters ahead." Kalmiya supplied. "It's a grate of a ventilation shaft. It leads down far enough that we'll be saved from the blast."

"And the downside?" Fred asked.

Kalmiya's avatar showed on his HUD, and she smiled. "Feet first into Hell, Spartan. The landing's quite rough, so be careful."

Fred nodded, understanding. It was a far way down, so he would take on quite velocity. He looked back at the others.

"I'll go first. Kelly, take the Doctor on the second turn. Will, you send the supplies through first before following. Everyone else, just enjoy the ride."

They all nodded, and Fred opened the grate as they arrived at it. He jumped in first.

He fell for twenty seconds non-stop, and thought it would never end, when the shaft curved away, and slowly went from vertical to horizontal. As it finally reached horizontal, he saw it ended into a large cavern, and that there were large tracks leading in both directions, likely left over from the days this place was mined for Titanium.

"I'm clear." He called. "Will, be careful upon going down. It slowly curves back to horizontal, and you could collide with the boxes as they grind to a stop."

"I copy" Will said.

They all followed next. Kelly, holding Halsey under her arm, emerged first, followed by Will, who actually held the crates and duffel bags under his arms. Jun, Isaac and Vinh followed, and no sooner had she emerged than a really large explosion sounded from above, and Fred saw the edges of the shaft heat up.

Everyone moved to either side of the tunnel, away from the shaft. The next moment, flames emerged from it, followed by a lot of debris. Then there was silence.

"Cellar:" Kalmiya said, her voice mimicking that of a elevator of a superintendent facility, like in New-Mombasa on Earth. "Tunnels, Flames, unknown alien symbols.


Halsey looked at Jun after she finally finished up with reading the files Kalmiya had downloaded from Araqiel.

They had been in the tunnels for about five days, and Halsey had been busy. On the first day she had properly treated all of the injuries every Spartan had sustained, to the point that she had Flash-cloned Kelly a new lung in a shoebox-sized cloning tank. The second day, she had been busy improving some of the new armor parts, and installing them after they were completed.

On the third day, Halsey had read the reports on Graves' Vengeance and Legionary Armada, and had drawn her own conclusions, namely that Graves was indeed looking for her, and that he had narrowed down her location to Earth, Reach, and something called Infinity. Halsey knew an ONI project when she saw one, and made sure to look up what Infinity was. But Graves had hit a road block when he discovered something related to the 'Legionary Armada' files, and had gone silent since. Not untraceable, as originally surmised by Kalmiya, merely a trace gone cold due to a lack of activity from the suspect.

The Legionary Armada files were just that: Suspected Fleet movements of a Covenant Fleet. The only odd thing, however, was that the ships sighted had Human-weapons installed, like MAC-cannons and Shiva Missiles. Halsey surmised them as a mercenary group at first because of their erratic movements, but paid closer attention when she noticed a connection in their targets: Everywhere they went, they took down the local forces, recruited from the criminal population, killed corrupt officials that somehow failed their troops, and left the planets glassed. They moved with purpose and precision, and Ackerson had shown interest in contacting them due to the rumor they were mere mercenaries, but had for some reason backed off. There was nothing beyond the beginning of 2551, and no further movements have been recorded.

On the fourth day, she had, upon Kalmiya's insistence, read all of the S-III files and the star-chart file, and drawn a rough conclusion: Ackerson had his own Spartan-Program.

She had drawn this conclusion from three things. One: the Star-chart file contained coordinates to a inhabitable planet close to Human-Space, and yet was called off-limits by ONI. The File had started with 'CPOMZ', which Halsey deduced was an acronym for 'Chief Petty Officer Mendez', who had been a trainer in the Spartan-II program.

Two: The S-III files contained medical reports on all of her Spartans, specifically the reports about the Augmentation procedures, and the drugs that were used in the process of recreating it.

And Three: There were hundreds of files about orphans from Colonies ravaged by the Covenant. After only a minute of searching, she had found Jun's name among the list, with a picture that matched the file Halsey had been given upon her initial research into Noble-team, back when she had looked to them for a good escort of Cortana's fragment. And the other members of Noble-team had been found among them as well shortly thereafter.

That had set her mind on it, and Halsey was now formulating her questions for the Spartan.

The only other one currently with doctor Halsey, Kelly, was currently comparing notes between her experience with Kalmiya and John's experience with Cortana. Kalmiya had supplied the necessary files, and had noted that Kelly would be the perfect partner for Kalmiya once it was time to hand her over to a Spartan. Halsey had already decided Kelly would be the one to carry her, so Kalmiya's choice was only confirmation that her choice was the right one.

And now, on the fifth day, Halsey had read the King Under The Mountain files, to discern what Ackerson's interest was in this mountain. And she had easily deduced that an alien structure was underneath the mountain, of the same race that had built the massive ship in the Babd Catha Ice Shelf. It helped provide some clue as to why the Covenant were so interested in this place, as they'd attacked Noble-team in massive numbers during Halsey's attempt to decrypt the data from that ship. It was a miracle all of Noble had survived that assault. But what exactly sparked the Covenant's interest at this site, Halsey had no clue. But it was important, if only because the Covenant were interested in it.

And now, upon finishing reading that file, she looked up at Jun, and started her questions.

"Jun." the Spartan looked at him. "unlike back at CASTLE base, I have only one question this time."

Jun nodded. "Alright. Ask away."

Halsey looked at his visor. "Are you a Spartan-III?"

Jun hesitated for a moment, and Halsey knew she had hit the mark. But he still denied it's existence. "No, Doctor."

Halsey pressed on, and showed him his file. "Then you aren't Jun-A266, the same one pictured here?"

Jun looked at the file, and Halsey thought he sighed. Then the man took off his helmet. He seemed resigned. "I guess there's no longer any use denying it. Yes, I am a Spartan-III, and if anyone asked, I was to tell them I was a Spartan II. Same went for the other III's. I will be honest, doctor, you aren't allowed to know the full truth, but I don't see anyone here to come here to kill you. At least not for that."

Halsey nodded. Ever since CASTLE base had been taken care of, the Covenant had been churning away at the mountain, digging them out. Even now, Halsey heard another explosion upstairs. The Spartans had been moving deeper into the caves, hoping to evade the Covenant for as long as possible.

"I was trained at Camp Currahee, by Chief Mendez and Lieutenant Ambrose. I was only selected because I was an orphan, but immediately after training, I was removed from my company because I fit in the Cat-II group."

"Cat-II group?" Kelly asked, who moved over with Kalmiya to join the conversation. Halsey noted she had inserted Kalmiya into her brain.

"People who fit the genetical criteria of the Spartan-II program." Jun explained. "There weren't many of us, about three or four per company of three hundred. Our augmentations were perfected, and the success rate rose from forty-four percent to one hundred percent. Those of the Cat-II were pulled out of our companies and folded into special operations groups. The rest..." Jun paused. "The others were all put on suicide missions that were too costly to send ODST's, but weren't rendered important enough to send Spartan-II's."

Halsey was silent for a moment, respecting the dead.

But only for a moment. "Jun, I am sorry. But what we need to-"

"Doctor." Fred said over the Com. "I've found something. I think it's what you said might be down here."

"I copy." Halsey said. "We're on our way." Halsey turned to Jun. "I would like to discuss this matter with you later, but I realize what Fred has found is more important. But know this, Jun: You did a good job, and Mendez and Ambrose did well."

and then she went on into the tunnel, headed for Fred. Kelly shared a look with Jun that conveyed puzzlement, and together they followed her.


Kelly noticed the walls were glowing as soon as they entered the tunnel system. Kalmiya automatically polarized her visor as they entered the tunnels, which were becoming more and more artificial. For one, the corners were becoming more and more straight. For another, the walls appeared more solid and straight, no longer like layered granite.

Kalmiya seemed to be humming to herself. Kelly paid closer attention to it, and noticed it was a nursery rhyme; Twinkle twinkle little star.

"Got a thing for stars Kalmiya?"

Kalmiya immediately stopped. "Well, I picked you, didn't I?"

Kelly laughed, and then looked at the lower right corner of her visor. It was their unspoken agreement formed after two days: If Kelly looked at that corner, Kalmiya would show her avatar there. Kalmiya held herself to it, as usual.

"I don't dislike it Kalmiya, but I noticed you often hum that tune. I'm curious why."

Kalmiya nodded, and answered the question. "I have it left over from my donor, similarly to my shining personality. It's part of who I am. Like you have a thing with rabbits."

Kelly could understand that. But to see Kalmiya have something like that was... interesting.

Kelly found she could actually relate to the AI. Was that how John thought about Cortana?

Then they entered a large room with a lot of balconies. It reminded Kelly of the Colosseum from the ancient roman empire, but instead of tilted backwards, the line of balconies, which numbered twelve in total, were vertically straight. Kelly glanced down to the floor below. It was at least a hundred kilometers down. "Mind the gap." Kelly said, mostly to herself.

"You mind the gap. There's two of us in here now, remember?"

Kelly rolled her eyes, and then looked around the tiered chamber. It was about three kilometers in diameter, and in the center something was glowing a bright white.

Kelly caught up with the others. Fred was preparing a line and a Grappler, which he shot into the wall. He descended and, after confirming the line was still good, signaled for the others to come down. Kelly went second-last, followed by Jun. They all traveled to the center of the chamber, which is where the glow seemed to originate from. It seemed, however, that they were going further away from it to her. She then checked her motion-tracker.

They were getting further apart by the second, and were already separated by dozens of meters.

"Stop." she called, and everyone stopped. "We're getting scattered. Regroup." they all gathered back around Halsey.

This was useless. They weren't getting there with just seeing it. Who the hell were these beings, anyway?

"How the hell do we get there?" Kalmiya asked her. Kelly, frustrated, closed her eyes, and walked.

And seemed to finally get closer to the light, despite going back the way the had come. Fred noticed, too.

"Kelly, you have the best sense of orientation. Pick a spot, go there, and we'll follow you."

"Affirmative." Kelly said. After a while, they were all in a conga-line, with Kelly in the lead, followed by Fred, Halsey, Jun, Will, Isaac, and Vinh going last. After a while, she noticed a glow coming through her eyelids, and she opened them.

Kalmiya already had her visor polarized as far as it could, and still the light nearly blinded her. She still could make out what was in front of her, however. And it was, if she was honest with herself, disappointing. It was merely a shining crystal atop a pedestal. "Kind of a disappointment, don't you think?" Kelly said to Kalmiya.

"Hah." Kalmiya said. "You should see this in the thermal spectrum, x-ray. This definitely ain't a boring crystal."

Halsey moved up to grab the crystal. The moment she grabbed it, though, Kalmiya grew alarmed. "Neutrino spike! Goes through the mountain roof! We need to move!"

Fred, knowing the basics of it, grabbed Halsey, and Kelly guided them all back to the walls, looking for an exit.

"Isaac, Vinh: cover our Six. Will, with me o-"

then the ceiling exploded, and Kelly looked up.

A hole melted in the roof above, the edges melting away from it. As soon as the roof was pierced, a beam went down straight to the floor. The moment it hit, the beam ended. Kelly could see fifteen meter deep hole had appeared around where the beam had hit the floor.

"What the-" Halsey started, but Jun interrupted her. "Energy projector, the same type they use to glass planets. Only the big ships have them, so they must have one up abo-"

Then the hole in the roof lit up purple, and another beam went down to the floor. This time, though, Kelly could clearly see Covenant soldiers riding it.

Lots and lots of Covenant soldiers.

"Gravity lift!" Kalmiya called. "They're filling up the mines with them."

Kelly nodded, and ran away in a straight line, directly away from the grav-lift.

The others stayed behind, covering Halsey while Kelly searched for a way out. After a moment, she noticed some of the shots coming her way were dark-purple, and were getting larger. The Covenant had likely deployed a Shade turret.

Then a patch of wall seemed to darken, and Kelly looked into it. Then she let out a sigh of relief.

A passage had opened up in the wall.

"Passage." she called. "Ground floor, dead ahead. I'll enter and clear."

Fred lighted his acknowledgement light, and Kelly went in and cleared it. The first part seemed clear, and after about one hundred and fifty meters, it went around a left-hand corner. Kelly emerged again, in time to see a large explosion in the crater that had been formed with the glassing of the facility. A pressure wave blurred her motion tracker. Kalmiya cleared it up, and half of the enemy contacts in the crater were gone.

As were Isaac's and Vinh's signals. Likely caught in the explosion.

Fred and Will stormed in, with Fred holding Halsey under one arm, like a misbehaving toddler. Kalmiya highlighted something in Halsey's hands, and Kelly noted it was in fact the crystal. Jun appeared to be holding position just outside the passage, keeping them from being overrun.

Then something appeared in the chamber Kelly really didn't want to see.

An Anti-Air Wraith. It was specialized in fighting aerial targets, but it's shots were so powerful that one wraith could easily demolish a large UNSC-base.

And it was aiming straight at them.

Kelly gestured back into the passage. "Get to cover! Now!"

They all sprinted into the passageway, and Jun took cover in the passage as well. He then took aim again, and shot at the Fuel-Rods just as they were about to enter the passageway.

He hit the front-most one, and it exploded, triggering a chain-reaction at the remaining eight shots. They all exploded, and it damaged the upper supports of the passage. It collapsed, and Jun jumped out of the way just in time to avoid falling debris.

Kelly helped him up, and he nodded. They all ran to the end of the passage, and took the corner.

And froze in their place. It was a dead-end.

"Well." Kalmiya said. "This is a total cluster-fuck."

Kelly agreed. Just outside, army of Covenant forces was waiting for them, trying to break in and kill them all. And they were in a dead-end passage.

"Yep." Kelly said. "A damn Cluster-fuck."


That's it for this Chapter. Please, do review this, because the short fight between Cortana and the other cruiser was my first depiction of a fight in space, at least on the scale of Capital ship to Capital Ship.

Until next time

Gharst Omenlumin.