IV – Loose Ends
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Part I – Earth
Sol System
UNSC Titan-Class Cruiser Solemn Journey
October 24, 2552 (Military Calendar)
Approximately 1900 hours
In the dark void of space, on the far side of Earth's moon, Solemn Journey winked into existence out of a rippling black and purple tinged hole from Slipspace. It quickly fired its engines and accelerated toward Earth.
On the bridge, Miranda Keyes stood at the viewport observing her ship pass around the moon. Soon enough, the giant luminescent marble, Earth, came into view, bit by bit. There were still Covenant Destroyers and Cruisers engaging the fleet all around Earth, and small flashes of white blue light and explosions dotted the space around the planet. If they hadn't been connected with so many casualties and so much death, Miranda would have thought they were beautiful. Regardless, it was a grand and majestic sight.
"Hail HIGHCOM, Lt. Loveless," she said. Loveless, a man named Private Jansonns, and herself were the only souls currently on the bridge. Everyone else was sleeping, or trying to, as per her orders.
Loveless was still acting her NAV and COM officer, back from her nap, and looking much better than before. Jansonns was her weapons officer. Unlike Loveless, Jansonns had a horrible attitude. She had come very close to reprimanding him a number of times for insubordination, but had thought better of it. Like Loveless, he was very good at what he did. She had every confidence that, if targeting were left to him, he could put a few MAC rounds clean through a Destroyer.
Regardless of his attitude, Miranda once again thanked whomever for sending the both of them to her.
She overheard the woman speaking to HIGHCOM, requesting entrance into Earth's atmosphere without being blown to atoms.
"Commander?" Loveless said.
"Yes?"
"HIGHCOM has redirected me, said that Admiral Hood would like to speak with you."
The Commander's face wrinkled in concern. That meant new developments. And if they followed in her recent line of luck, they wouldn't be good.
"I'm putting it on the main screen now, Commander," Gemini's voice said.
"Understood." Miranda walked back to the screen just as Lord Hood's weathered face appeared in the top left corner.
"Long time, no see," he said derisively. "What in the hell happened?"
"You don't want to know," she replied simply. "Trust me. Now what's happening here?"
"Well… the situation's not good. Thousands of casualties, about half of the Grid is gone, and our fleet's numbers are… well, depressing," he said, then paused. "There are a few Covenant remaining here, and we're mopping them up now. I heard that the Arbiter was sending support." He paused. "Speaking of which… what a move. This war has shifted to new horizons."
"Tell me about it," she replied. "The Arbiter and his fleet should be popping out of Slipspace any time now."
As she said this, a soldier in the background of Lord Hood's transmission bellowed, "New Covenant contacts, Sir! Towards the center of the system! Should we –"
"No!" he stated. "Hail them, soldier."
There was a few moments of silence, then, "They're responding. It's the Arbiter!"
Lord Hood nodded softly. "This is just the sort of thing we need now. As soon as the rest of these asses are wiped up, meet me at Seongnam to discuss our situation. Lets say, 0200 hours?"
"Sounds good, Admiral. Sounds damn good."
"Oh, and welcome back. To you and all your crew."
"It's good to be back, Sir. I speak for everyone when I say that."
"Admiral Hood out," he said, and his image winked off the screen, replaced by a representation of Earth, and the current strategical situation, with overlays of all ships and the Orbital Defense Grid.
"Gemini, get me the Arbiter," she ordered.
"Understood."
It worried her that the Admiral hadn't so much as mentioned the Master Chief. She was hoping that he might know something about the Spartan. Perhaps… he had already been presumed dead? She hadn't wanted to ask, as he had more important tasks to attend to, but she had also thought that he would have updated her if he knew anything. Now wasn't the time to worry, however. The image of the Sangheili known as the Arbiter appeared on her screen.
"Glad to see you joined us," she said. "I thought you would have beat us, considering your ships are much faster."
"We did," he answered bluntly. "We waited, on the far side of the planet, closer to the center of your system. In your time, you are four hours behind." He paused. "Your people never even knew we were here."
This scared her. They had been waiting for four hours, behind her homeworld, and her people had never even known it. It once again hit home how much more powerful the Covenant was compared to them. It was a relief to know that the Sangheili were on their side now.
"Alright, then. We have new orders. We are to destroy the rest of the Covenant ships engaging us, and then return to these coordinates. Gemini, send the coordinates for Seongnam. I only want you and the uppermost of your hierarchy there. Leave the rest of your ships in orbit."
"Received," he said, "And understood. We shall begin now, and cleanse this filth. Sending reinforcements your way."
"Good luck. Let us know when the task is complete," she said.
"Understood. Goodness and Purity out."
The Journey had been sitting at a safe distance from the action, but the Covenant had suddenly taken an interest in them and three Destroyers were moving in. Their sleek, chrome forms moved toward them like a couple of futuristic sharks gliding through space.
She was about to neglect the incoming reinforcements and make an in-system jump to the other side of the planet using Cortana's new algorithm that had been distributed throughout the fleet, but thought better of it when five of the Arbiter's ships did just that.
They winked into existence in front of the approaching ships, cutting them off, and with their lateral lines already heated with angry plasma. They turned, and fired. The superheated plasma streaked through space, and impacted the three Destroyers. Their silver shields rippled, shorted out, and soon the ships were boiling masses of fire.
This would be one more battle to win.
But the real battle hasn't even begun yet, Miranda thought to herself. It hasn't even begun.
---
Admiral Hood's face once again appeared and spoke to her.
"My sensors report that all Covenant ships have been eliminated, Commander. Good work. I request that – "
"New transmission, Commander," Gemini's voice interrupted.
Miranda cocked her head slightly and said, "Hold on, Admiral." She turned her attention to Gemini. "Is it a priority?"
"Top priority, with an emergency tag."
"Play it back for me."
"Ma'am, it's not an audio transmission. It's text."
This was extremely strange. Text messages were usually last resorts, and not used too frequently on account of their notorious nature of being decrypted quite easily.
As if reading her mind, Gemini said, "This message is encrypted three times. Working." There was a brief moment, then, "Got it. It's on the screen, now."
Miranda's eyes slid over the two-paragraph message from Cortana, taking it in slowly. Seeking to destroy High Charity? The Master Chief, onboard a Forerunner ship heading for Earth? So much information, so fast…
She was requesting pickup as well. Miranda sighed to herself. Cortana would shit if she had any idea how bad the situation was here. She would do her best to get her back, though.
"Admiral," she stated.
"Yes?" he said curiously.
"I've found Cortana. That transmission was from her. She's seeking to destroy High Charity and Delta Halo."
"High Charity? Delta Halo?" he said, genuinely concerned.
"Shit…" she muttered under her breath. She had completely neglected to remember that the Admiral had no idea about everything that had happened.
Gemini interrupted. "Commander? Why not simply have the Admiral review the report that Cortana compiled and sent with this message?"
"There's an attachment?" she said questioningly. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Gemini hesitated. 'Dumb' AI's weren't supposed to hesitate. "Well, firstly it's eyes only, and not only that, but it's for the Admiral's eyes only. I was going to notify him on a private channel but now doesn't exactly seem like the time for protocol."
This behavior was extremely erratic. Keyes was beginning to wonder if Gemini was nearing the end of her operational life cycle. AI's never went against protocol, except for Smart AI's like Cortana, which Gemini definitely was not.
"Show me," the Admiral said directly, "Now."
---
Approximately thirty minutes later, the skeletal pyramid of a Forerunner ship came into existence, on a vector headed directly for Africa. The ship in question traveled much faster than any Covenant or Human ship outside of Slipspace, and bypassed the Orbital Defense Grid in a matter of minutes. Unbeknownst to its crew, they hadn't passed completely unnoticed.
Aboard the bridge of the Cairo, a communications officer intercepted a long-range transmission on the UNSC E-Band.
"This is SPARTAN-117, does anybody copy?"
"Isolate that signal!" the Admiral yelled to his COM officer on the bridge of the Cairo. The Admiral was standing in front of one of the large viewports which provided a beautiful, clear view of Earth. He was searching the void endlessly, his eyes darting back and forth as if trying to isolate the source of the signal himself.
"This is Lord Hood. John, you mind telling me just what the hell you're doing on that ship?"
It was a rarity when a superior used a SPARTAN's real name. If they even knew their real name.
"Sir, finishing this fight."
---
Part II – The Beginning Of The End
Open Space, far side of Delta Halo
Covenant Seraph-class Fighter
October 24, 2552 (Military Calendar)
Approximately 1932 hours
Cortana was observing High Charity through one of the onboard sensors when she got her response.
She instantly opened and decrypted the text message in nanoseconds, and noticed that the encryption had the tag of Gemini on it. That explained the lackluster encryption job. Gemini had nothing on her.
She skimmed the message, and, satisfied, primed In Amber Clad's engines to detonate. She fired the Seraph's engines, and quickly flew the ship to the edge of the system. Personnel were on the way to pick her up, and they wanted to witness the fireworks.
Her orders had been to wait until her ride showed up, unless ordered otherwise. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that, because that would mean that it was too late. For everyone.
---
Slipspace
Bridge of the Covenant Cruiser Silence and Wisdom
October 25, 2552 (Military Calendar)
Approximately 2300 hours
Miranda had done nothing but stand around on the enclosed bridge of the Covenant ship as the Arbiter explained how the hundreds of holographic controls worked for the past three hours. Those weren't the limits of the conversation, merely the meat of it. She was fascinated with the workings of the Cruiser. She was interrupted, however, when the Covenant construct spoke in its chilling, monotone voice.
"Exiting Slipspace, now. We have arrived at the location of the Holy City and the Holy Ring."
"Understood," the Arbiter responded.
The trip had been much shorter this time around; that was why Admiral Hood had instructed Miranda and the Arbiter to take one of his Cruisers. Keyes was thankful for this, for she did not know how many long Slipspace trips she had left in her.
An outside view appeared on one of the holographic screens, displaying the same view that would be had through a viewport on a human ship.
"Scan for the Seraph with the designation provided previously," the Arbiter ordered.
Miranda knew that Cortana already knew they were there. Cortana was always ten steps ahead.
"Located," the hissing voice said. On another of the holographic screens, a map of the system and Atlanti showed up, with all significant objects shown with icons. The icon indicating the Seraph fighter was tagged green, and enlarged in the top-right of that screen.
"It is currently on a vector headed straight for us," the voice said again.
"Understood. Open a transmission with it."
Cortana's voice would fill Miranda with such unbelievable relief. Whenever Cortana was around, Keyes felt safe, as irrational as that was.
"Well, well, well," her voice rang out. "I never thought you would come," she said matter-of-factly.
Miranda laughed. "Don't get too excited, it's not that great on the other end of the universe."
"Really? You'll have to update me then, won't you?" she said, then paused. "I'm going to pilot this thing into one of the shuttle bays. I know that there is a Covenant AI on your ship. Once I'm docked, have it transmit me into the system. I'm not going to do what I had to do to get into this ship again," she said. "Long story. Cortana out."
---
Minutes later, Cortana stood on the center of the holographic panel on the bridge. She had double and triple-checked that In Amber Clad's engines were primed, then piloted the Silence and Wisdom as far away as she could possibly get while still able to provide a good view. This would be much different than the last time she detonated a reactor, when she and the Master Chief almost got fried.
"Ready for some fireworks?" she said.
"You have no idea," Miranda replied.
She engaged the long-range scanners and brought the image of High Charity and Delta Halo up close on the holo panel to her left, and then enlarged the size of said screen. The small group of Elites and Marines sent with Miranda and the Arbiter joined them.
"Detonating In Amber Clad's reactor in five," Cortana announced.
Those were the longest five seconds Miranda had ever experienced.
Suddenly, small plumes of fire began to explode outward from the half-circle-like bulb that High Charity consisted of.
A blinding white and blue explosion consumed the city, and the ring. Everyone was forced to look away from the screen as it turned entirely white. They felt the ship move slightly underneath them, and heard the detonation with their own ears, inside the ship.
When they returned to the screen, there was no High Charity to be found, and the Ring was falling apart, piece by piece. The explosion had consumed the nearest section of ring, which spun into another section of ring, and so on.
Cortana had seen this before. It brought back the memory of the first Halo again – and how much simpler that situation had been back then. She had been informed of the current situation on Earth, and seeing this caused her to long for the simpler days. She remembered when losing Reach had been a devastating defeat… Miranda's words interrupted her thoughts.
"Isn't it… hard… for you?" she said, looking first at the Arbiter, and then the rest of his Elites. "After searching for and worshipping them for so long…" Her words drifted away. A few seconds of silence passed as they watched the ring fall into pieces, and drift into the void of space.
"No," he replied simply. "The rings were a lie. The prophets were a lie. The rings mean nothing to me." He stopped, and then added, "To us," he said, motioning to his Elites. They nodded silently.
"We stand together, and we must crush the Covenant. What we once stood for, we now see to be nothing more than a lie…" his speech drifted off. "And when I hold Truth's head in my hand, and wear his blood on my armor, the Covenant will be no more than a distant memory, and they shall leave a flawed legacy behind."
Cortana designed a destination solution for Earth, engaged the Slipspace drive, and the Cruiser disappeared from the soon to be field of glittering debris.
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Update! 7.30.07
Hrm. I've been having trouble coming up with my epilogue, my fifth chapter. It's a hard one. Not to mention the fact that band camp now consumes my life… But it's coming. I promise.
Thanks for reading once again! Then next story I will be focusing on is my Silent Hill 4 parody, The Ridiculously Cramped, Cheap Living Space. If you dig that, then check it out. Bye!