Just a quick note, this section takes place almost five years after the last chapter. *points at time stamp* As always, I'd love to know what you think! :D :D

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1120 hours, July 21, 2557
Forward Unto Dawn, UNSC Frigate
Location: UNKNOWN

There was no heroic welcome for the Master Chief after he opened his eyes from his extended slumber.

John had little time to consider what would be waiting for him when he entered the cryotube after the failed escape back to Earth. A rescue, perhaps, but Cortana hadn't seemed too optimistic about that possibility as the lid closed on him.

So, when his heart started pounding in his chest and he had heard the muffled sounds of Cortana's voice calling to him, he had thought he had prepared himself from whatever awaited him when he was awakened.

He had been wrong.

Explosions shook the Dawn as he emerged from the cyrotube. Cortana stood in the middle of the room, emitting from the holotank with a worried look. Relief flooded her face as he floated towards her. "Chief!"

Her voice sounded a little different and her appearance had changed throughout the time of his slumber. Her once vibrant blue color seemed more muted. The mathematical calculations that had effortlessly slid over her body now moved sluggishly over her frame.

"I'm here."

Her hologram flickered as another explosion caused the ship to shudder. "Yeah, well, so are some unexpected guests. A standard Covenant boarding party as far as I can tell."

John frowned at Cortana's words. "A boarding party? Are you sure?"

Had the Arbiter and Lord Hood been unable to keep peace between their peoples?

Another tremor shook the ship. "I'm pretty sure they're not here to say hello, Chief." She looked away briefly. "I've tried opening a comm channel to their vessel when the attack first started. They aren't in a chatty mood, it seems."

John tried to grapple with all that Cortana was telling him. It was never an easy transition to enter a cryotube one moment and exit it, not knowing what had happened in the interim time. "How long has it been?"

"Too long." John was taken aback by the bitterness in Cortana's voice. She let out a frustrated sigh. "Four years, seven months, and ten days. Welcome to the year 2557."

Unexpectedly, John suddenly dropped to the ground as gravity pulled him downward. His legs were sprawled in front of him, looking nothing like the coordinated Spartan he was.

"The Covenant have extended their ship's artificial gravity around the Dawn," Cortana explained. She looked almost amused as John pulled himself to stand, but made no comment. "You need to get down to the armory and get some weapons before the Covenant find you unarmed."

He glanced back at his assault rifle hanging on the wall. There was only one bullet remaining in the clip.

He reached for Cortana's chip. "I'll stay here," she said. "I'm going to need the Dawn's sensors - as limited as they are - to keep an eye on what's going on."

John wasn't comfortable with the idea of leaving Cortana alone, but she had a valid point. He was outnumbered and had nothing to fight with; Cortana's guidance would prove helpful. "Understood," he reluctantly agreed.

John took advantage of the gravity to sprint through the ship. He raced down the corridor and down a flight of stairs towards the armory.

"At least they have stopped shooting at us," Cortana said via their comm channel. She paused. "I'm sorry I didn't wake you sooner. I was a bit...distracted."

The idea that Cortana was too preoccupied in a ship floating in deep space with nothing to do seemed absurd to John. There had been only a couple of times when she had seemed overwhelmed by the demands pressed upon her. In those situations, she had been pushed to her breaking point.

This, John knew, was something different.

"What's your status?" he asked as he turned a corner.

"I'm going rampant," she quietly admitted.

John guessed that was the most likely scenario, but it didn't stop her words from feeling like he had the wind knocked out of him. He had known about her short life span - Cortana herself had brought it up when they were stationed on Cairo station - but he hadn't expected to wake up and have that uncomfortable reality stare him in the face.

"I don't have much time left. A couple of weeks, probably less with all this data that is pouring into my systems," Cortana replied. "But, I survived an encounter with a Gravemind and the destruction of a couple of Halo rings...a few Elites shouldn't be a problem."

Her words sound like something she would say, but they were lacking their usual confidence.

John didn't have time to second guess her stability. She was functioning well enough to communicate with John and that was enough for the Spartan. For now.

"Do you know where we are?"

"No. We were currently drifting by an unknown planet when we were attacked. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that the Covenant were waiting for us to show up."

John's brow furrowed. What would the Covenant want with them now? Why would they have waited to attack their defenseless vessel after four years?

His questions were squelched when he heard the sounds of footsteps coming from the T-junction ahead of him. "I need an alternative route."

"Processing." A marker appeared on his HUD a half-second later. "You're going to have to go through the access tunnels to get to the other side."

John walked back several yards to where a narrow access door was. He pushed the button.

Nothing happened.

"Cortana?"

"Give me a second, Chief. I'm diverting power from the Dawn's core now."

Moments later, the door opened. John slipped inside as several Covenant started walking in his direction. He made his way through the maze of passageways. A single Grunt stood at the end of the passage, blocking his exit.

He crept in the shadows as he approached the aloof soldier. Then, before the Grunt could let out a cry of alert, he slammed his gauntlet into his skull. The Unggoy slumped to the ground, no longer a threat. John pilfered the plasma pistol and the pair of plasma grenades the Grunt had.

Cautiously, he walked to the door leading to the main hall. His radar showed no signs of any Covenant movement; the halls were silent. Satisfied that there was no one waiting to ambush him, John stepped out into the open.

"You should know that I've been busy while you were taking your nap. I'm sure you've noticed your upgraded HUD," she said as he progressed through the halls of the Dawn. "I also created a portable holoprojector on your gauntlet and added a video feed to interact directly with my data crystal. A girl starts to feel lonely after drifting in space for years." There was a wistfulness to her voice.

"Any other upgrades?"

"One more, but I'll save the surprise for later."

"Understood."

"And Chief? It's good to hear your voice again."

He sprinted down the hall and up a flight a stairs to where the armory was. A plethora of weapons were at his disposal. John kept the plasma pistol and selected his weapons of choice: an assault rifle and several frag grenades. He grabbed spare ammo as Cortana's avatar appeared from the holotank in the corner of the room.

"I've detected about a dozen Covenant on board. It seems as though they are headed to one location."

John loaded a new clip into the rifle. "Where?"

There was a long pause followed by a reluctant answer. "To the cryobay."

Without a word, John turned around and began backtracking to where he had awakened from his long slumber.

"Are they looking for me?" he asked.

He couldn't help but to think back to when the Elites had tried to catch him helpless in the cryotube when they boarded the Autumn.

She didn't respond.

"Cortana?" he prompted.

"No," she admitted. "Based on the transmissions I've intercepted, it seems as though capturing me is their primary objective. Though, killing 'the demon' is still a priority."

John frowned. He knew he shouldn't have left Cortana behind.

Don't let her go.

He flinched as Johnson's words replayed in his mind.

Much had changed from the attack on Reach. Then, Cortana's abilities and knowledge had been unknown to the Covenant. Throughout the Halo campaign, however, her skills had become nearly as infamous as John's.

"I'll be right there."

There was no point to hide in the shadows any longer.

He plowed down the hall. Two Jackals stood guard at the end of the hall with their shields activated. The Spartan paused his run long enough to aim and shoot out their defense screens. Then, he sprinted and knocked them out with a strike to each of their skulls from back of his rifle.

John stepped over their bodies and turned the corner. He jogged up the flights of stairs, his rifle ready to take out any other threat that was waiting for him.

"Hurry, Chief! They are almost here."

The fear in her voice propelled John to move faster. As he crossed through an intersection, a bolt of plasma sailed over his head. He ducked and rolled, turning his body towards his attacker. With one fluid movement, he switched his rifle for the plasma pistol.

He scanned the area. It took almost two seconds, but he finally caught sight of the ship's light bending in an unnatural angle. With his left hand, he reached down and took hold of a plasma grenade. He activated it and lobbed the grenade at the target.

It stuck.

The Elite howled as he realized he had no escape. John waited for the explosion. A burst of blue plasma exploded and smoke filled the corridor.

As he proceeded down the corridor, a tremor violently shook the ship.

"Cortana?"

"Looks like we have another problem. Thanks to the warm welcome we got, the Dawn has fallen into a decaying orbit. I calculate we have less than ten minutes until we crash land on the planet's surface," Cortana replied as a countdown timer appeared on his HUD.

"Understood."

He couldn't begin to consider an escape plan until Cortana was safely secured. He glanced at the timer Cortana had uploaded; he had just over nine minutes to get them off the ship.

John turned another corner where an Elite was waiting for him, energy sword drawn.

"Demon!" he roared.

John greeted him with a smattering of bullets and a fist in his face. The Sangheili slumped forward, but his body never hit the ground. John began to float towards the ceiling.

The artificial gravity had been lost.

"The Covenant vessel has moved away," Cortana explained. "Guess they're not into crash landings as much as you are."

John pushed himself off the wall towards the cryobay.

"Enemy contact in fifteen seconds."

He would be there in twenty.