Sword of Change
Chapter 4
The pull of the invisible Guidance Beam was very powerful, dragging down the 2.5 kilometre long Olympic Voyager, even with her engines at full power she was unable to break free. Captain Fletcher was soon forced to put the engines on idle or risk burning them out. He had no choice but to allow his ship to be pulled down into the interior of the Shield World. The first five kilometres was just simply a very wide hexagonal tunnel, the only sources of light for a few seconds were the small headlights of the Sentinels scanning the ship with highly advanced scanners, searching for any sign of Flood Infection. The Olympics' floodlights came on, illuminating the tunnel as bright as day, though for the moment there wasn't much to see except for the long tunnel.
They continued on down the 'Rabbit Hole' for a few more minutes then came to a vast open space, ten kilometres wide it was a like a void between two different layers of an onion. Tall buildings, taller than the tallest skyscrapers on Earth, jutted out from the two layers, Cortana identified them as piers for Forerunner Warships. This section was only a small part of the vast planet sized complex that made up the Shield World. They continued on their way through another tunnel, still in the powerful Guidance Beams strong grip. A light appeared at the end of the tunnel after another ten kilometres, they were about to enter the interior of the Shield World.
"Captain, I suggest we power up the engines, if we don't we may end up crashing on the interior surface," suggested Luna.
"Agreed, bring us into hover mode, then deploy the Pods, we'll set up firebases close by the entrances, Colonel Franklin you'll handle that."
The big African American Colonel merely nodded his assent and got to work. He had the number of entrances into the Shield World from Cortana before they had even set out on this mission.
There were two main entrances, which were more than big enough to admit an Assault Carrier, which they just flew through, and dozens of smaller entrances which were, for the moment, sealed. The Olympic Voyager raced out of the tunnel, flying fast enough to escape the gravity of the interior surface for a short time. They soared a kilometre into the air, then began to descend, the only thing stopping the troopship from crashing on the surface was the ships antigravity engines, while not quite powerful enough for high speed atmospheric flight on their own, they were very useful for bringing ships of all sizes into a hover.
"Master Chief, get your team onboard your Pelican, find that control Centre and get control of this facility."
"Aye sir," said the Chief as he pulled out Cortana's chip from the holo-tank. He moved swiftly off the bridge to the Starboard Pelican launch bay where his team was waiting. He boarded the Pelican and took a standing position behind the cockpit, like he usually did; the seats just didn't have the strength to take a Spartan in full Mjolnir Assault Armour. The Pelican launch bay was one of two such bays on the Olympic Voyager, one on each side. Each housed twenty Pelican Dropships, in two rows of ten they hung suspended over the launch bay doors, just waiting for the order to drop. The doors underneath the Master Chief's Pelican opened up and the clamps released, dropping the Pelican down into the interior of the Shield World, followed by a pair of Sparrowhawk Fast Attack gunships, which had an elongated fuselage, a pair of stubby wings with a pair of Ducted Air fans built into the rear of the wings and a powerful ion thrust engine built into the top of the gunship for high speed pursuit.
They flew high above the clouds, following Cortana's lead to the floating platform which housed the main control console for the Shield World. Flying as if time was of the essence they reached the platform in record time. It was roughly fifty meters long with what looked to be some sort of landing pad on one end with a small structure on the edge, a thin section with overbearing arches like a bridge, the other end was smaller than the landing pad, but had a domed structure with a small entrance facing the bridge.
Surrounding them on all sides were what appeared to be tall free floating structures, bearing a slight resemblance to an Ankh. As they flew in Cortana told the Chief what they were.
"Those are Forerunner Warships, built during their war with the Flood; they are centuries, possibly millennia ahead of us in technology."
"You think that they may be worth salvaging?
"Quite possibly, but it would take time to learn their secrets. It would most likely take centuries before Humanity learns how to properly control and replicate the technology."
"Then let's concentrate on the present, are you sure that this will work?"
"Yes John, it will work, unless something catastrophic happens."
"Great," John wasn't as confident as Cortana was, having been on enough missions to know that nothing ever goes exactly as planned.
The Pelican landed on the Pad, the ODSTs taking up positions and checking the platform for any hostiles. Finding none they began setting up some defences, bringing out several M19-B SAM launchers, and a few M41 AA guns, just in case the Covenant came knocking. They would soon find out that their preparations were going to pay off handsomely. The Master Chief went into the domed building, looking over the various consoles, a sense of déjà vu came over him, as if he had been here before, but he chalked it up to his experiences on other Forerunner Installations.
He hesitated before the main control console, not quite willing to send his long time partner into danger again, especially into such an old computer system.
"John, I know that last time we dealt with a Forerunner Installation it almost killed us, but you still have to touch that console if I'm going to upload myself into the mainframe and take control of this facility."
"Can't you just tell me what to do and I'll open the portal, how hard could it be?"
"It's not that simple, the portal won't be big enough for anyone to walk through so at the same time I would have to activate the Teleportation system to bring them out, and since I'm the one with the most experience on these sorts of systems I should be the one to do it."
With an inaudible sigh the Master Chief touched the console and with a slight blue flicker of energy she transferred herself into the Shield Worlds mainframe, infiltrating and systematically scanning it, searching for any and all information on this structure and how it operates. It wouldn't be long before she had control of the entire Shield World.
Meanwhile Covenant Forces had broken through the Iowa Battle Group to the Shield World and at this very moment the massive forms of the Assault Carrier Fires of Retribution, two CCS Battlecruisers and five Covenant Destroyers, were coming down through the second primary entrance to the Shield World. Spotted quickly by one or the recon UAVs launched by the Olympic Voyager the alarm was sounded.
"What's going on?" asked Captain Fletcher, never liking surprises, especially surprise 'visitors.'
"We have incoming hostile ships approaching; looks like an Assault Carrier, two CCS class Battlecruisers and five Destroyers."
"Helm, move us as far away as you can from the enemy, but keep us in a line of sight for the MAC gun."
The helm officer nodded and expertly piloted the 2.5 kilometre ship away from the enemy. As the Olympic Voyager was manoeuvring away from the enemy fleet a large number of Seraphs and Banshees were quickly approaching them, they had been spotted.
"Sir, enemy fighters closing in fast, Banshees and Seraphs, time to intercept, five minutes," a sensor tech reported.
"CAG, you'd better get your aircraft in the air," said the Captain to the ships CAG, Michael Moore down in the CIC. Two minutes later several squadrons of Skyhawk attack fighters were launched, moving to intercept Covenant forces. In total eight squadrons were launched from the topside hangar bay of the Olympic Voyager, the ship's complement of Shortswords were also readied for launch, armed to the teeth with mostly ground attack munitions.
The Skyhawks intercepted the Covenant air forces, launching their pairs of Phoenix cluster missiles. Launched from their magnetic rails they accelerated to mach ten, reaching deployment range in seconds, panels blew off and five missiles split off from their carrier vehicle, leaving behind an empty husk. The Seraphs stood no chance against the Phoenix missile strikes, being terrible fighters in an atmospheric environment. The Banshees however were able to outmanoeuvre the missiles for the most part; several were shot down but most survived. The Skyhawks closed in and launch another wave of missiles, this time short ranged Sidewinders, blowing several Banshees out of the sky. They flew past the Banshees at mach 2, their first attack run on the Covenant fighters successful. Executing tight 7G turns they made another run for the Banshees, this time with both Sidewinders and 50 millimetre guns, shredding them and sending all of them crashing to the ground, none of their Brute pilots survived.
Captain Fletcher was slightly surprised that the enemy had not attacked them with any of their heavy weaponry, like a Plasma Torpedo or an Energy Projector strike. He then realised that they wanted to keep this facility intact as much as possible and a burning wreck of a big warship, like a Destroyer or bigger may cause irreparable damage to the Shield World.
"Luna, has the Covenant begun landing their troops yet?"
"Yes sir, they are heading for a Forerunner Teleportation site." She showed him the site on the holo-tank. Covenant Loyalist forces were closing in on the site, Phantoms were dropping off dozens of troops and tons of armour at a time and Banshees were flying top cover. There were thousands of Grunts down there now, all miserable and waiting for death, being more afraid of what their Brute masters would do to them if they failed.
"Is this the only sight where they have landed troops?" questioned Captain Fletcher.
"Yes sir, reading over five thousand Grunts and Jackals, and hundreds of Brutes."
"Colonel Franklin, I believe you know what to do?"
"Yes Captain," said the heavy Colonel. He had been in the process of setting up a Firebase very close to the mouth of the second entrance, the other one guarding the entrance they came through.
"Major, make ready to change our heading, set us down here." He pointed down to a position on the map projected in the holo-tank on the bridge of the lead Landing Pod, three kilometres away from the enemy. "We will attack as soon as we land, deploy our artillery. Captain Fletcher, I'd be grateful if you could deploy your Shortswords for a few bombing runs."
"You'll have them Colonel, Godspeed." Captain went off the channel, only the normal com chatter remained.
The Landing Pods changed their course; the entrance they were headed for was now guarded by two of the five Covenant Destroyers. They landed three kilometres away from the Teleportation site and deposited their cargo of prefabricated buildings, the beginnings of a TA Marine Corp Fire Base. Soon the main building, barracks, generator building and motor-pool were all set up. Minutes later several squadrons of Pelican Dropships and a small number of Albatross Heavy Dropships flew over the base, depositing eight Marine Infantry Battalions and four Armoured Battalions, consisting of mostly Scorpion II MBTs and a small number of Grizzly HBTs, Heavy Battle Tanks, as well as several SP42 Cobras, a mobile artillery weapons platform armed with a pair of artillery railguns.
They rolled off their transports and proceeded to do battle, tanks formed battle lines and Cobras took up position behind the formation, preparing to lend heavy fire support. Charging ahead of the tanks were several Warthogs, racing at 125 mph, they arrived first at the Covenant Loyalists position. The Warthogs gunners fired their turret mounted chain guns, mowing down dozens of Grunts in seconds. They circled around them, corralling them in one place. A few were armed with Gauss Cannons, destroying some of the light Covenant Armour, like the Ghost recon vehicles and the few Banshees that still flew.
Next the Scorpion IIs and Grizzlies blew apart the Covenant Wraith tanks with their own 90 millimetre and 120 millimetre high velocity guns, their own mounted chain guns ripping into the Covenant lines of Grunts, Jackals and the Brutes that commanded them. It was a bloodbath, the combined arms doctrine at its most effective. The Cobras then opened up with their artillery Rail guns, heavy explosive shells dropped on the Covenant Loyalists, the shells detonated twenty meters from the ground, and shrapnel from the shells shredded hundreds of troops. Flying at treetop height a number of Shortsword bombers came in, dropping bombs on the Covenant army, further reducing their numbers. Soon the numbers advantage fell from the Covenant Loyalists and the few surviving Grunts and Jackals tried to surrender to the Humans, but the Brutes would have none of that, killing the few voices that stood up to them. This was soon stopped by Marine Snipers, taking out the Brute Commanders with their Sniper Rifles from the top of a nearby hill. Soon there were no more Brutes on the ground left standing, and the surviving Grunts and Jackals surrendered.
In the Command Centre Colonel Franklin heard the news that the Teleportation Site had been taken and the Marines were quickly digging in.
"Major, get the Olympic Voyager on the line, tell him we're going to need some help with moving the Fire Base."
"Aye sir," replied the Major and got the ship on the com line, making the requisition for the ships Landing Pods to pick up the prefab building. Within minutes the Fire Base was picked up by the Pods and deposited right next to the Teleportation Site, setting up their own batteries of fixed artillery and pill boxes. If the Covenant Loyalists were going to try to take the site they were going to have to fight them for it, and they would get more than just a bloody nose in the attempt.
Meanwhile onboard the Covenant Loyalist Flagship the Prophet of Retribution was seething in rage, his ground forces had failed to gain control of the Forerunner Teleportation Site, leaving him with only one option, to send troops up to the free floating Control Platform in vulnerable Phantoms where they ran the risk of being shot down by Human Fighters.
"Molok, take what warriors you can to the Control Centre, seize it and take control of the installation, and try to capture a human, you will need one to initialize the system and gain access to it. I will join you shortly after you have secured it."
"It will be done, Prophet," the Silver backed Brute Chieftain said, Gravity Hammer in hand and a Spiker at his side.
He walked out of the Command Bridge and headed towards one of the Ship's primary launch bays where his Phantom was waiting for him, along with twenty of his best Brute Warriors under his command, all of them were bloodthirsty and ready to tear apart anything that got in their way. The Phantom and several others like it carrying Grunts and Jackals, along with dozens of Banshees lifted off the deck and took off, heading straight to the Control Platform.
On the Control Platform things were starting to get interesting. The Forerunner ships docked with the Dry Docks had been released from their moorings and were now just floating there serenely. O'Brian looked on with a curious eye, hoping that those ships were on their side. Next a sound came that he hadn't heard in a while, the distinctive sound of Covenant Banshees and Phantoms closing in on them.
"Incoming." He called out as soon as his mind recognised the sound for what it was. The men got on the portable Gauss Cannon and Chain Gun Turrets, while several others brought out shoulder mounted M19-B SAM launchers to bear. As soon as the Banshees and Phantoms got within visual range the Marines with launchers called out, "Clear behind," and seconds later several SAMs flew off the launchers and streaked off towards their intended victims. Multiple Brute piloted Banshees were eliminated, smashing into their thinly armoured hides and breaching their power cores, lighting up the sky like tiny suns, buffeting other Banshees and the Phantoms they were escorting.
The Phantoms simply shrugged off the missile impacts, their hull hugging shields protecting them from harm. Molok allowed a very satisfied smile, knowing that the Humans were powerless to stop him from landing on that platform, and he relished the opportunity that he had been given to personally tear apart a few Humans himself, perhaps even feast upon a couple whose flesh hadn't been completely ruined. He so loved the taste of Human flesh.
"Target the damned Phantoms, don't let them land their troops," shouted O'Brian as the Gauss Cannons and Chain Guns opened up. The Chain Guns tore apart a few more Banshees and relentlessly fired at the Phantoms, but their bullets just didn't have the stopping power of a Gauss Cannon. The short thump, thump, thump of the Gauss Cannons sounded, wearing down the Phantoms shields, concentrated fire from three of them managed to bring down one of the Phantoms, but there were still ten more and they were closing fast. The Pelican Drop Ship and the two Sparrowhawk gunships quickly lifted off and engaged the remaining Phantoms and Banshees.
They unleashed a wave of missiles, taking out most of the surviving Banshees. The Pelican's nose mounted rotary gauss cannon tore apart another Phantom and the Hawks' took out a Phantom each with their chin mounted Spartan Lasers, burning through their shields and coring straight through their thin armour.
Seven Phantoms managed to get past, landing their troops on the platform, twenty Brutes and several more Grunts jumped off of them, landing on a few hapless Marines that were supporting the ODSTs. An ODST picked up a Chain Gun and unleashed a hail of bullets, bringing the shields of a Brute down in a second then tore the unlucky Brute to shreds along with most of the Grunts that had accompanied them. Another, this time a Marine, picked up a Gauss Cannon and fired, blasting an ugly Brute away and over the edge of the platform, screaming in rage all the way. The ODSTs and Marines brought their weapons to bear, mostly the new MA5D Assault Rifles, a few had M90 shotguns and used them, blasting away at the Brutes, quickly bringing down their shields and since they were so close the Marines got, more often than not, headshots, blowing the Brutes brains out all over the place.
Hearing the weapons fire the Master Chief came out of the control Centre, raised his Assault Rifle and let loose a fury of high speed projectiles, taking down three Brutes in quick succession. The Silver backed Brute Chieftain watched as the Master Chief killed more of its kind, and made a grab for his Spiker, firing several superheated shots at the Spartan II. John quickly sidestepped the shots and returned fire, his bullets kinetic energy absorbed by Molok's armour shields with very little difficulty, though the impacts did make him stagger. Molok let out a terrifying roar, swinging his Gravity Hammer around himself, crushing and knocking several Marines off the platform. He then made a charge for the Master Chief; Gravity Hammer raised high for an overhead strike. John jumped back out of range, aiming his Assault Rifle in mid-jump, letting loose another hail of bullets at the Brute Chieftains head. Molok's shields held for a while, but as the last bullet impacted his shield shorted out. He swung his Gravity Hammer again and again, denting the metal surface of the platform. John closed the distance with the Brute, running as fast as he could and punched Molok in the stomach, making him puke his guts out, which just made him angrier. He swung his hammer again, only hitting the deck plate. John got up close and personal with Molok again, this time punching the Brute where, if he were human, his kidneys were located, followed by a hit to the head with his armoured elbow, cracking the Chieftains helmet and rupturing several blood vessels behind his left eye, turning it red. John followed up with a roundhouse kick, again to the head, dazing Molok even further, and staggering back towards the platforms edge. A loud shot rang out, red blood spewed out of Molok's head from a pair of recently made holes. John followed the shot's contrail to Master Sergeant O'Brian's Sniper rifle who gave a very satisfied smile as he watched Molok's lifeless corpse fall off the platform and down to the surface.
The Chieftain was the last of the Brutes on the platform to die, and seeing him fall made the Grunts realise they now had a chance to survive. They threw down their weapons and in their squeaky bark-like language they surrendered to the humans, trying desperately to make them understand. Seeing their actions O'Brian called out, "Cease fire, they're surrendering."
The ODSTs and Marines ceased fire, but still kept their weapons trained on their new prisoners.
"Bring them to the Teleporter," said the Master Chief. "The Firebase on the surface can deal with them."
The new prisoners were herded onto the teleportation platform and sent down to the surface where they were greeted by several Marines that were waiting for their arrival. John went back to the Control Centre to check up on Cortana.
"How're you doing Cortana?"
Her avatar appeared in larger than life form above the main control console, her face looking like the spirit of mischief itself. er H"Oh, just peachy John, nice work out there by the way," she complimented. "Too bad you didn't get in the last shot." She said the last rather cheekily. John ignored the comment and decided to get more details from her.
"Have you gotten control over this 'installation' yet?"
"Almost, I've got control of the ships and internal defence systems, and I've started on getting the portal to Onyx charged up, but it's going to be a while before its open." She got a faraway look upon her face for a second, and then a look of dread fell as new information came in from the Shield Worlds many sensors.
"Oh no, that dirty rat bastard," she said, both angry and terrified.
"What's going on Cortana?"
"The Covenant warships are targeting the Forerunner fleet in dock and the Shield World itself, they're going to destroy it."
"Spartan 117 to Olympic Voyager we've got a situation developing here," he called out on his helmet com.
"What is it Spartan," responded Captain Fletcher.
"The Covenant has decided that if they can't have this place no one will, they're targeting the Shield World itself."
"We're on it, just sit tight."
"Sit tight? Captain those ships will be able to fire within seconds, you won't be able to get any kind of reinforcements down here in time, however I may be able to do something about those ships."
"What do you have in mind Cortana?"
"I have control of the Shield Worlds internal defences, permission to use them?"
"Granted Cortana," Captain Fletcher hoped that Cortana knew what she was doing.
Onboard his flagship the Prophet of Retribution was seething in rage, his Brutes had failed to secure the Forerunner relic, most of his fleet had been destroyed and he had lost his entire complement of ground troops to these thrice cursed humans. Now he had only had one option left. Destroy this Holy Relic, himself and everyone on it, even the Human Battle Group in orbit.
"All weapons, target the Forerunner Relic Fleet, destroy every last one of those ships."
Plasma Torpedo tubes opened up as Energy Projectors charged, their first target was the Forerunner Fleet still in dock. As one they fired, unleashing a terrible wave of destructive plasma directly at them. The Energy Projectors cored their way through three ships each, and continued on and impacted the surface of the Shield World, scoring deep holes into it. Next came the Plasma Torpedoes, which impacted repeatedly upon their thick armour. Since they were still locked in docking mode their shields were offline, Cortana had control over them, but the attack was so sudden she was unable to do anything before they were under fire. More and more of them fell under the Plasma barrage, falling down to the surface, creating massive tremors on the surface as they impacted. Cortana managed to get two of the free floating docking piers and the four ships previously docked with them to raise their shields in time, but not before they too suffered some damage, though it was only glancing blows.
Cortana instructed their AIs to activate their weapon systems and target the Covenant warships, at the same time she activated the internal defence systems of the Shield World itself. Massive machines rose up from hangars buried into the surface, looking like oversized Sentinels with two large Plasma Beam cannons on the arms. The Forerunner Warships got into an attack formation, energy beams connected them together then six beams converged at a single point ahead of them, then fired. The controlled plasma energy blast vaporized the Fires of Retribution in a matter of seconds, ending the rule of the Prophet of Retribution and his mad dreams of revenge. The Super Sentinels then added their firepower to the mix, destroying the Battlecruisers and Destroyers in seconds their shields were no match for the firepower that Cortana had unleashed upon them.
Watching from the Control Centre the Master Chief was just stunned, seeing those Covenant warships wiped out in seconds was just breath taking. All those years that the UNSC had been fighting the Covenant they never had it this easy. It was the Covenant that usually came out on top, burning their fleets and armies away as if they were nothing more than cockroaches.
He turned to Cortana, seeing her with that faraway look again as she concentrated on the tasks at hand. She went back to her usual self and graced the Master Chief with a shit eating grin.
"Am I good or am I good."
"Nice work Cortana, now how about bringing our people home?"
"Already on it Chief, the Portal will open in less than a minute."
On the surface several miles away a huge half-circular arch arose from the ground, covered in Forerunner glyphs that glowed blue a bluish haze started to form, like a thin film of see-through silk, but fizzled with energy. As soon as it stood up straight the portal changed to a bright sheen for a few seconds, a short burst of energy connected the portal to the Platform, then it just shut down, all the glowing glyphs went dark and the arch lowered itself down to the ground. On the Platform several figures had materialized on the Teleportation Pad, a rather shocked looking man in the uniform of a UNSC Senior Chief Petty Officer, a woman in slightly dishevelled civilian clothing, and eight more people in armour. Five had customized SPI armour with bubble like helmets, while the three others had MK VI Mjolnir Assault Armour, similar to what the Chief wore. There were also five three meter long capsules containing more soldiers in SPI armour.
The armoured soldiers began to raise their weapons at the Marines and ODSTs when the Master Chief came out of the Control Centre. As the armoured soldiers released the safeties on their weapons he began to whistle a tune that immediately made all of the newcomers take notice. They all stopped mid-motion and just looked at him in shock. None of them had imagined that they would be seeing the Master Chief again. John did the Spartan smile across his face plate and the three Spartan IIs did the same.
"Well this is unexpected." The civilian woman stepped forward and looked up at the Master Chief, her head cocked to one side, "But then why am I not surprised to run into you again, John?"
"Doctor Halsey, it's nice to see you again," said John neutrally, though he was happy to see her again. "Who are these guys and what's in the pods?"
"This is Lucy-B091 and Tom-B292, Mark-G132, Ash-G099 and Olivia-G005, they are the 'new and improved' Spartan IIIs," said Doctor Halsey. "The pods contain a team of Spartans called Team Sabre. The pods are some kind of Slipspace stasis pods, similar to our own cryogenic freezers, but instead of freezing the bodies they are put into some kind of Slipspace bubble." A pair of Marine Medics began to approach the pods. "I suggest you two don't get too close to them," said Doctor Halsey. "The energy that these pods emit has a nauseating effect on anyone within a couple of meters." The two medics stopped in their tracks, deciding to wait for a suitable engineering team to get their patients out.
"It looks like you've been having some fun here, Master Chief." The old man said.
"Yes sir, the Covenant Loyalists wanted to take control of this installation for their own purposes."
"John you outrank me now, you don't have to call me sir," said Chief Mendez.
"Yes sir." John still wouldn't call him anything other than sir; he just had too much respect for the older NCO.
Master Sergeant O'Brian came forward. "Ma'am, would you allow my medics to check up on you, you've been through a lot and it would be unfortunate if you were to collapse."
"Yes of course."
The two medics approached the new arrivals with somewhat hesitant steps, they had obviously heard of the strength and speed of the Spartan IIs.
"Relax, they don't bite, much," said Cortana to the medics as her avatar flared to life over the platform from a holographic emitter embedded somewhere, appearing human sized beside the Master Chief.
"Doctor Halsey, how long would you say you were inside the Onyx Shield World?"
"No more than a week. Why?"
"Well, it's been over ten years since you entered, though Jolly Green Giant here was asleep in Cryo for most of that time."
"Ten years." The good doctor looked like she had just swallowed a lemon. Whole!
"I assume, by the presence of UNSC Marines and ODSTs, that we won the war?"
"Yes Doctor, and it's a very long story," said Cortana, who began to give the good doctor and the Spartans a rundown on what has happened in the last ten years. The Battle of Earth, the Battle of the Ark, the discovery of the Katana Fleet by the Master Chief and herself and the recent battle with the Covenant.
In the meantime Master Sergeant O'Brian organised the wounded into groups for 'beaming' down to the surface to the MASH unit that had been set up by the Firebase located right next to the Surface Teleportation Site. He also called in a pair of Pelicans to transport Doctor Halsey and her group to the Olympic Voyager, along with the Slipspace Stasis Pods. The Pelican Dropships, escorted by four Skyhawk fighters, made light landings on the Control Centre landing pad. Doctor Halsey and her group, along with the Master Chief and Cortana, who left a small copy of herself in the Shield Worlds mainframe, took off for the Olympic Voyager, the light from the sun glistening off the armour of the Dropships.
With this last known bastion of the Forerunners discovered many changes would come from what would be learned here, the people of the UTG would experience peace for another fifteen years, but after that all bets would be off, for there is a new enemy coming upon the horizon.