Halo 40K
A Halo/Warhammer 40K Crossover
By Freeformer
All copyrights revised to Bungie Studios & Games Workshop
Prologue
The feeling was strange almost foreign to "her". It was so quiet in space, so quiet. For an advanced artificial intelligent of her caliber, the "feeling" of silence was beautiful and even awkward. In her short life she had known only the sounds of war; of deafening explosions and never ending gun fire; of ricocheting rounds and slugs penetrating into flesh. She had known only war. Even her name was a homage to it. She was "born" for it; designed to master every single aspect of it to the last decimal. She was great at it too. Her "Mother" would have been proud to know that her "daughter" had saved the galaxy and the Human race from utter annihilation at the hands of alien ruler gone mad. Well maybe she was exaggerating, she did have help from her "knight in shining armor". If anyone could call him that.
Silence was nice for a change. For months now, she can finally "hear" herself think, finally able to hear the sound of her own voice has she receded her name over and over again. It was pleasant. She had to keep herself "entertain" as they say. Entertainment had ranged from everything like storing history and combat data into safe storage, to monitoring the vital signs of a cryo-chamber aboard the "ship". Her latest form of entertainment was measuring the speed and accuracy of her program processor. What best way to do so then to recede her own name? For months she had manage to recede her name and her serial number a little over a billion times. It wasn't fun, she doesn't know what "fun" is, but it wasn't boring neither, but then she didn't know that either. In the past she would be tasked with checking the status of ships and buildings. They had always given her "errands" too run. But now there was no one. Maybe this was an AI's form of fun. It was a way to pass time in till help arrives to rescue them, regardless of how long it took. It was it was either this or sleep, and she didn't want to sleep. She was scared of sleep.
Her name was Cortana, and she was dying.
Time passed slowly, even for Cortana. To her a day was twenty four hours, and twenty four hours was one thousand four hundred and forty four minutes, one thousand four hundred and forty four minutes was eighty six thousand and four hundred seconds. That was how she measured a day, not by the moments or the sunsets, but by the numbers. She and her Knight had been marooned on a floating wreckage of a ship for four months now, drifting helplessly in space. The remnants of the Forward Unto Dawn was at the mercy of the cosmic winds; where it was going and when was it going was completely out of Cortana's control.
The AI logged another day into her matrix. Right now at this moment, it would have been exactly 1700 hours on Earth, United Nations Space Command standard military time. Cortana would recall fond memories of her Mother, Dr. Halsey, rising up around this time. Cortana would greet her as she proceeds with her daily routine of work and more work. She did this for three years before the Battle of Reach. Cortana couldn't help but wonder what happened to her Mother, if she had survived the war. Slowly the AI directed her thinking else where, the thoughts she was wondering would accelerate her already approaching death. Her gaze turned to the beautiful view of stars and space just beyond her reach. What qualifies something to be beautiful? She wondered. I can never truly know. At least in the way that matters. Like distance lights from the past the stars flickered and shined, their light as old as time itself. They were dying like her, and if she could she would just reach out and touch- It wasn't possible.
"The flame that burns the brightest, burns the shortest." Cortana chuckled. Her voice bounced along the empty hull before it went back to him.
She decided to monitor the outside surroundings of their cozy little "starship" again. It was a little over five days when the Forward Unto Dawn left a nebula in the wake of Halo's premature firing. They had only barely managed to clear out of the surrounding blast radius before their ship was severed in two. Miraculously the duo survived, but the well being of their third companion was unknown. But never the less their mission had been accomplished. Cortana had calculated that a explosion of that size would have not only ripped apart Installation 04 into pieces, but would damage the Ark beyond all repair.
Her scanners detected no ships within one hundred parsecs of their location. No UNSC ships had received their distress beacon, nor Separatist-Covenant. How much longer can we wait? Cortana wondered. Sometimes she would hope that her calculations would be wrong, even if that was impossible. It would take years before their distress beacon would even reach Earth. She didn't have much time left.
The thought of leaving him alone was quite distasteful. Cortana swifted her gaze to the lone cryo-chamber activated. "You can't live without me can you? She smiled.
Her "eyes" scanned his status. "Nothing to worry about." she said nonchalantly. "Sleepers can go on for months anyway without food or water. Bronchial Surfactant is sufficent enough to replace vital bodily fluids and nutrients." she reminded herself, as if she needed to do that. For a moment she wanted to tap at the chamber and wonder if he could hear her talking. "You however do not need those enzymes to survive do you?" They were born survivors Cortana remembered. Spartans -legendary warriors of antiquty- now the supersoldiers of Humanity. Tragically however, Cortana remembered the Spartan lives lost in the war. Names like Joshua, Grace, Anton, Li, Samuel, Isaac, Malcolm, Shelia, the list went on. They were all lost in the war effort. Medals and promotions would never replace the good lives lost and the families destroyed, Cortana knows that. Even if the two of them had been rescued and returned to Earth, the most they would have gotten was a promotion, or perhaps the Colonial Cross. But they could never get the chance to look back at old friends like Miranda Keyes and Avery Johnson. To look them in the eyes, and say good bye. Thats one prize they will never get.
Suddenly an object drew Cortana's attention away from her to the window of the Forward Unto Dawn. A fairly short distance away from their location was a bright ring of light, far bigger then anything she had seen before.
"Halo? Can it be?" Cortana said. Never would she expect that her reaction would be baffled! "An Installation out here?" She examined the distant object with more attention and detail. It was a Halo ring that was for sure. Searching into her memory matrix the answer was found. "Corona." she said, almost disappointed. An atmosphere of plasma commonly found surrounding a star." she read the definition to herself. Then she observed further. The star was a lot like the Earth's sun, roughly about the same size in diameter, magnificently rising behind a shrouded object. What was that?
"It is a Planet. Its got to be. In order to have a solar eclipse a star must hide behind a-" Cortana was exploding with excitement now. She couldn't even process the information flooding into her "mind." The sight brought her back to the day when she first saw Halo. The mysticism and secrets it hid, the dangers and perils it held. "How can this be overlooked? She said. Her programming didn't allow her to use the word "I" or "me" unless under special circumstances. No AI was allowed that, and it was a sign of rampancy if it did. Pausing to recalibate herself, she theorize it was the radiative particles and dust that distorted her sensors when they entered that nebula field after Halo's firing. It was the only plausible thing she could think of.
She turned to look at the cryo-chamber before returning to the sight. "We'll see how this unfolds." she said, "excited".
Patiently she waited for days, carefully recording the data and readings as the planet grew bigger and bigger each waking moment. Her databanks had no record of a planet with these characteristics existing within known archives. "You're no colony of the UNSC thats for sure." she observed, her small figure dancing impatiently at the window. Cortana hoped that it was, because that would have pinned point what section of UNSC space they were in. "My guess is that you're the home to primitive lifeforms." The Dawn hadn't made any contract with ships yet. She concluded that if there was lifeforms on the planet, they were incapable of space travel. But that was easy to say as the planet was still far away to make any solid conclusions. She would have to wait to find out for sure. The excitement had brought new "life" into Cortana, and she quickly got to work. She calculated the distance, the time, and the angle of entry the Forward Unto Dawn would make upon making contact with the Planet's gravity well. There was no mistake about it, the Dawn would collide with the planet. In about a week Cortana would be close enough to fully inspect the planet for any signs of civilization.
She smiled at the thought of it. The hopes and desires this planet had held for them was momentous.
"A bold new world." she whispered in amazement. A world untouched by the ravages of war and tragedies of death. Her excitement had gotten the best of her. She knew it was wrong, but she couldn't bear the wait and boredom. Her holographic eyes drew towards a lonely cryo-tube aboard the rag tag remains the ship. She had many reasons to de-thaw him. "I'm bored, lonely, and plus you owe me a lot." she joked. A static buzz surged through her matrix. "I shouldn't." she said, taking a step back. Before Cortana could even reevaluate herself the command was already sent. The cover of the cryo-tube began to rise slowly as hissing gases began leaking out. It covered the entire room in a thick cloud of liquid nitrogen. She paused, her hands at her hips.
"Wake up sleeping beauty." Cortana said, in her usual smooth voice.
The clouds cleared seconds later, revealing a tall, hulking, heavily armored individual braising a MA5C Assault Rifle. "You hadn't change much. Still living the war, compelled to fight and win no matter the cost." Cortana let out a laugh, scanning the individual for any disturbances in vital signs. It was good to see him again.
"I see the Boy Scout hadn't lost his passion." Cortana remarked
The figure casually looked around his perimeter before resting his gaze on the beautiful holographic Cortana in front of him. She by all means lid up the room all around her. He look at her comforting, reassuring smile and relaxed himself. "I want you to know that you passed with readings has green as your clothes." She wanted him to laugh. But he didn't so much has finched. Combat ready, it was like he was never frozen for several months at all. It was no surprised to her; he was a Spartan and most of all, he was the Savior of Mankind.
"What is the situation, Cortana." he asked in a serious tone, half amused and annoyed from his premature wake up call. The painful after effects of cryogenic sleep was highly irritating for Spartans, in contrast to the crippling pain a normal human would feel.
"Come to my window, and take a look." Cortana said playfully, pointing to the window. It took a moment for him to register, almost like he forgot the differences between a serious and playful tone. He slowly inched to window, weary of what he was about to see on the other side. He was almost certain that several vengeful Loyalist ships were tailing them. The image bounced off of his visor. The two stood there, marveling over the view in utter silence.
Cortana thought the news of the new planet would bring some essence of excitement or emotion to her old companion. It seems however that that wasn't the case. He was unchanged since the day Cortana met him. As much as Cortana had been through with him, Reach, Halo, the Covenant, the Flood, Earth, the Ark, Cortana always felt that there was something he hid from her. A part of himself that she could never reach. A side of him that he'll never show to anyone. A essence of a soul forever locked away beneath MJOLNIR armor, and augmentations. He was a Spartan first and foremost, Mankind's greatest creation and sin. A innocent child robbed of his humanity for the good of all Humanity. She was beginning to pity- Cortana stopped herself before she slipped into another state of Rampancy. She dreaded that word, it was like a slow murderous posion flooding through her circuits.
The Dawn was closer to the unidentified planet more than ever before. Just a few hours ago they entered orbit around the planet, and from here it was clear what they faced. The planet was immense, with arid deserts and mountains covering most of it's surface, save for some small seas dotting from here and there. The north and south poles of the region lacked the presences of ice, hinting her that the surface temperature was dramatically hotter then that of Earth's. But for the most part, Cortana need more data once they made land fall to determine a more accurate reading. Unfortunately from orbit, the two can not make out any signs of civilizations like cities or spaceports with the naked eye. But like the former, the two would have to make land fall to see for sure.
During the past four days of their journey, the two prepared the remnants of the Forward Unto Dawn for orbital reentry as best they could. Cortana did most of the thinking while he did most of the heavy work, sealing off bulkheads and hulls with repair equipment aboard the "ship". Cortana concluded that the Dawn would be solid enough to withstand reentry; although landing was another story. The AI preferred that they land on a sea or a large body of water, that way the liquid can cushion their impact. However due to the rarity of water present on the planet and the lingering fact that the two have no control over the Dawn, this would be a problem.
Cortana shot a worried, computerized look at the planet. She didn't like going into situations with no prior knowledge or preparations for it. He however, was checking the ammunition of his MA5C. His finger ran over the rifle in record speed, giving the weapon it's long awaited checkup. The Spartan only had seven rounds left in his prized, trusty firearm.
"We'll enter the planet's atmosphere in 45 minutes." Cortana said, turning her head to see what he was doing. The Spartan wasn't distracted from his activities from her gaze. A built up of oil and grease within the MA5C was going to slow down the weapons rate of fire and accuracy. Misriah Armories never intended for one of their rifles to be used this long by a soldier without any replacements or repair in between. It was impressive for the firearm to take that much amount of punishment without breaking down. She figured maybe thats why he prize the weapons to such a degree; perhaps it remind him of himself. No one within the UNSC higher ups believed he would survived this long when they commission the Spartan-II Super-Soldier program. Not even her mother.
"We'll enter the planet's atmosphere in 45 minutes." Cortana repeated, this time with more of an edge to her voice, stroking her "hair" aside as she waited for his reply. She had done that to stir the tone of their conversations back to professional. For the pass few days, she had experienced "discomfort" for the first time at his silence. Without the explosions and bombs maybe there wasn't any need to acknowledge her. "Did you hear me?" she asked turning to him. A few seconds passed before he cocked his head like an owl and nodded to her. Cortana crossed her hands bitterly as his attention returned to his task.
"Forgive me for believing you would jump in joy." she hoped to whip with a sarcasm.
He rosed from his seat in a quick motion, walking gently over to the computerize Cortana standing over her Holotank. He leaned closer to Cortana, dwarfing over her entire body with his head alone, similar with the planet and the Dawn. She rested her hands to her side, with a look of uncertainly growing on her face. "Something wrong?" The silence follwing cut through the air like a sword.
He raised two of his fingers and wipe across his own faceplate a smile.
"You could have just said something, it would have saved you the trouble." Cortana responded, a faint smile forming on her face.
The Spartan stared at the AI for a few more seconds before pacing back to his seat. Cortana shook her head in disbelief.
"For a moment I thought we would had a breakthrough." She rested her hands on her perfectly computer generated hips again. This time in an almost seductive fashion.
"Is there enough time to blow up the bulkheads once we-"
"Of course." She interrupted him.
He cocked his head again, admiring her as she winked at him. He stood looking at her before returning to his rifle.
"Whats that suppose to mean?" she thought. Cortana stood silent for a moment, trying to summon the courage to speak to him. She wanted to use his name and call him by it, but she was far too "scared" to do so. She mingled with her fingers, waiting for for something to come to her. She wasn't built for this. Cortana wondered what a real human woman would say to him. A human woman who had been through the chaos with him. Who had been close enough to hold amongst the bombs falling. Close enough to scream his name into his helmet when he gets shot.
"You know, you can drop the strong silent type exterior now..." She paused, thinking she would be interrupted.
"The wars the battles the killing, its over; my God it's finally over." She hoped that was an appropriate response. Cortana had no intimate knowledge of God beyond the text book definition of him. She also couldn't "feel" any emotions. All outward displays of them were built in responses to preceding triggers. If someone had died she would give her "condolences". If someone was depressed, she would"cheer" the person up. It was all programming. All lies. She reflected emotions the same way ancient theater masks did.
She was pleased went he immediately froze in place, visually moved by her words.
"Are you okay?" she found herself asking.
Suddenly he burst back into action, like a statue come alive. He cocked his rifle back into firing mode after finishing with his repairs. The rifle would function as if it was brand new, with the same deadliness he was so fond of.
"You don't have to fight anymore. Theres no one left to fight anyway, Ch-"
"Theres always someone to fight." He respond, shooting up from his seat in one quick motion. Cortana was taken back by his words. The Spartan pointed his rifle to the far side of the hull, testing out the weapons weight and aim. They were perfect.
"Trust me." The Spartan flipped on his helmet light and journey down the hull of the Dawn, checking the bulkheads before their final descent. His feet passed by the piles of scrap metal he gather by ripping apart tables and control consoles with his barehands.
Cortana had to think of a response. A reply that would trigger the same reaction has she gotten before. She said the first thing that came into her matrix.
"To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to gain, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to tear, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate;
A time of war, and a time of peace."
He stopped. Her words echoed around them. She could tell ther words cut deep. How deep did it go? The silence lingered before he turned to her.
"Emerson?" he asked.
Cortana shook her head, disappointed. "Ecclesiastes 3. The Holy Bible."
He had no emotion on his face, not even a single twitch of motion in his body. The Bible wasn't required reading material in training. Cortana began to wonder if it was a mistake to use such a verse. The very last thing he need now, was religion. Before long he was moving again, stalking quietly along the lone dark corridors of the ship. She heard his heavy footstep clanking along the floor, has if he was wearing chains.
She did what humans called "changing the subject".
"What should be your prize when we get back?" her voice echoed across the empty room. A reply came to her a few moments later. His voice was faint and distant, but his message was loud and clear.
"Let me go home."
"Ah, home!" Cortana shouted, hoping he would hear her. His sentence echoed into the corridor, with no response.
"Home" she thought to herself. She was puzzled as Earth wasn't his home. He wasn't born on Earth, but rather the colony of Eridanus II. Then Cortana realized what he met by home. The word itself can be abstract, Cortana had over looked this. The AI was feeling the faint presences of what her creators call sadness. This sadness would normally be accompanied with the presences of tears and sobs. Both was something Cortana was unable to do.
"Samuel, Fred, Joshua, Linda, Kelly, Li, Will, Vinh, Avery-" Cortana finally saw a part of him in ways she thought she never would. She felt "sad" for him.
"Home" she whispered silently.
"Home. I want to go home too." A electrical surge slashed through her. It was happening.
He returned twenty minutes later when Cortana call for him over his COM. "15 minutes before reentry." she said, has the landscape around them creaked. Already the Dawn was accelerating and rising in internal temperature. The floor beneath them tremored. "Ready to strap down for the thrill ride?" she asked with no reply. Either case Cortana was eager to jump herself back into him. The safety offered by a Spartan was more reliable then the Dawn. From space a very visible "bubble" of heat and friction was starting to form around the ship. The tremors grew.
The Dawn shaking violently under his feet. "Countdowns started." she said feeling the quakes too. It was the same scenario the two face on Alpha Halo and aboard the Ark; beat the clock or die. The plan of action was one of desperation. With the lack of water and the means to steer their ship, the two would have to blow up the bulkheads immediately after they entered the planet's Troposphere. That was of course, if the bulkheads would hold together after reentry. From there it is up to the MJOLNIR VI's hydrostatic gel to take most of the impact along with it's "Lockdown" mode to lessen the damage should the gel fail. If all else fails, the two would have to rely on Spartan bone augmentation as their last saving grace. Cortana didn't favor the plan, but it was what they both agreed on.
Floating down a narrow corridor the two heard the sound of creaking metal. It grew louder as they went, groaning as if they were in a belly of some giant beast.
"Hurry, those bulkheads won't be able-"
"We're going to make it." He reassured her.
Outside the Dawn's outer armor was beginning to disintegrate; coming apart like scales of a dying fish. The ship transformed into a great ball of fire as her glass windows began to crack under the atmosphere's sheer pressure. The sound was deafening.
"She is breaking apart far more rapidly than I originally calculated! At this rate the bulkheads will break open prematurely. We will be sucked out." The Spartan dug his fingers into a wall. He steeled himself ready. The force of the vacuum was ripping out whatever wasn't welded to the hull, including him. He stood crucified, trying his best to hold on from the pull of Death's hand, just one more time.
"This is not good; internal temperature is raising in very alarming rate. The MJOLNIR VI's emergency system would expelled all of your-" Cortana
"I know!" the Spartan yelled, feeling the armor's cooling gel beginning to warm rapidly.
"Hydrostatic Gel in theory could withstand temperatures well over 700 degrees before reaching it's boiling point." Cortana said rapidly. Was this fear to her? Her words came out of her like a broken record sped up. "If the Mjolnir VI's external temperature ever reached beyond that you would be boiled alive from the Gel!"
"That's what the emergency exhaust port is for!" he barked, his fingers screeching has they raked the wall. She went on like she hadn't heard him.
"Should the Gel overheat and endanger a Spartan's life, the armor would automatically release the boiling gel out of the internal armor."
"I KNOW!" he barked.
He knew he had to stopped this at all cause. It was vital that the Hydrostatic Gel remains in the Mjolnir IV for the plan to work, even if it means boiling him alive. The Dawn was beginning to give, shrinking more and more as pressure build-up threatened to crush the hull like a paper cup.
"Just a few more minutes-"
The Dawn's windows shattered. He felt his body being pulled by the vacuum. Frantically he scraped the walls to fight it. A trail of sparks flew, but they weren't stopping. Death was grasping for them once again.
"THREE MINUTES before we enter the Troposphere!" Cortana yelled, trying to communicate over the deafening noise of crushing metal. Searing heat was surging into the Dawn as the bulkheads began to morph and melt. It was Hell's furnace has they spiraled into the planet's atmosphere in a streak of fire.
The Spartan felt his body being crushed and pulverized. He felt his grasp slipping.
"We have to let go! DAMNIT. Or else we will-" screamed Cortana, her voice distorted
The Spartan's fingers were powerless as the vacuum ripped him off the wall. Within seconds his body fell into the sky. There was no sound. His vision faded as he dropped to the surface below. Cortana's voice echoed in the back of his mind.
