Infinity

Samus doesn't speak in sentences longer than six words this time. It could be attributed to the thickening jungle they're working through as they approach Infinity, but Chief can feel that's not it. She's more focused on killing the Pirates than telling him about their tactics. Cortana and he silently agree to prepare for the worst when they come across them, knowing that the Bounty Hunter is probably going to be a different person when they appear in her sights.

Samus' debrief makes the Pirates seem like a modern version of Huns without a clear Attila leading them. They're a massive group that tries to conquer anything they can, claiming planets as well as trading routes and cargo ships. They're obsessed with being the strongest faction in the galaxy by any means necessary, including genetically modifying their own bodies extensively and possibly turning the populace of captured planets into more soldiers. No one in the Federation is sure if there's one race of "original" pirates that's been converted into the variety they've been fighting for decades, or if it's a catch-all term for everyone they've turned to their side.

They're dangerous, no matter what their origins are. Most have size and strength comparable to Elites, as well as energy cannons and scythes for close range. They don't use shields, but their durable armor and bodies make up for it. They're organized, ruthless, and beyond loyal to each other: none of them will flee like the grunts do. And there is never a shortage to their numbers.

But the biggest problem is their adaptability. If they land on a planet with acidic water, half of their soldiers are modified to swim in it within a week. The Pirates always change their genetics and armor to fight best in the new environment. And they often have a few modified into quadrupeds to keep their enemies off balance in a fight. Considering this portion of the planet is a thick jungle, they'll be modified to climb trees and ambush from above sooner rather than later.

By the time they get close to Infinity, the Didact's forces have already begun laying siege. His orb is hovering in front of the ship and scanning it. Chief's memory flashes back to when the same was being done to him on the Dawn. He finds himself slightly more anxious to kill the Didact now.

"Your ship looks intact," the Bounty Hunter comments as she watches the attack from the top of their hill.

The Spartan doesn't visibly react. "Something tells me that's only because the Didact wanted it that way."

"This is Lasky to UNSC Infinity," their radios suddenly crackle. "We're up to our necks in bad guys down here. Does anyone read?"

"This is Sierra 117 of the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn. We're on station, ready to assist," Chief immediately reports calmly. Samus wisely stays silent.

The soldier on the other end comes back on. "Negative copy. Sounded like you said, 'Forward Unto Dawn?' Come again-" Their radios die as suddenly as they came on.

"I'm going to guess you can't get back in touch with them," Samus says plainly.

"The signal's bouncing in and out," Cortana sighs.

"So, no."

Chief starts following a small path down towards the Infinity. "Light up their friend-or-foe tags. We're going to need something to zero in on."

Cortana does so in both of the humans' visors, using the connection she established to Samus' suit when she was plugged in. The Bounty Hunter grumbles under her breath but doesn't demand it be undone. They make their way through the jungle as quickly as it will allow. But the foliage, fog, and uneven terrain makes it a slower process than either wants it to be. Especially when they find a path made from the bodies of Lasky's fallen Marines, all eviscerated by Promethean blades.

As they approach the thickest cluster of bodies so far, yelling sounds from the other side of a thicket. Chief rushes through just in time to see the last Marine being impaled by a Knight. He gives a final defiant shout as the grenades strapped to his chest detonate, taking the construct with him. The Spartan grits his teeth a little harder, hoping there's a few more Prometheans around here for him to tear apart.

"Hey, that looks new," the AI points out, highlighting something in the puddle of human gore.

As Chief moves to examine the strange piece of tech, Samus pushes past him. She takes position just ahead and tries to look through the thick fog and jungle.

It's actually a piece of the Promethean's visor. Chief plugs it into his suit, and Cortana quickly does the necessary firmware adjustments. Everything in his vision gains a blue tint before his helmet gives off something like a sonar pulse. A virtual red circle grows around him, then highlights several humanoids at the bottom of a ravine in front of Samus.

"This must be how they're seeing through the fog," Cortana guesses. "But I don't think those are Prometheans."

"Or Covenant. Samus, targets at one o'clock." Chief already has his rifle trained on the thickest grouping of them and is moving in.

The Bounty Hunter steps forward until she's on the valley's ledge. She dodges a sudden energy blast with a side step, then leaps down at the shooter.

Two of the red outlines in his vision are in pieces before Chief can catch up on the valley floor. The swamp doesn't seem to slow her down at all as she sprints, jukes, and fires at the enemies trying to swarm her. Chief empties his magazine into two of the closest outlines, but only one falls. The survivor rushes him with a glowing blade. He ducks under the swing and slams his gun's stock into its chest. It hisses once before he puts the rifle butt through its head.

Another Pirate, this one more like a frog than a human, leaps at him from the trees. Before he can swap his magazine, it explodes. Chief quickly finishes reloading through the raining organic matter, then uses his visor's scanner to find a new target. There's only one thing still standing: Samus.

He looks around at her handiwork. There were two more than he expected and judging by the lack of new scratches on her armor, that didn't slow her down. Chief keeps his sarcasm to himself and simply says, "Assuming these are your Pirates?"

She nods before draining energy from one of the dead's weapons. "This is a small squad. The Prometheans probably thinned their numbers before we found them."

"Will the rest of them fight like this?" he asks, examining the one he beat to death. It reminds him of a tall crab, especially with its weaponized pincers. One is a plasma cannon like Samus', while the other is a cutting energy weapon. The outer shell looks as durable as standard UNSC armor and roughly the same color as the swamp. There's an absurd amount of muscle underneath, especially for something hardly taller than a human. It's not what he imagined, but close to what she described.

"Mostly. But the longer they're here, the more they'll adapt. It won't be long until they can see through the fog and maneuver around these trees like natives."

"Huh..." Cortana comments to Chief. A few diagrams and scans of the creature's body flash across his visor. "I need to get a proper reference of one of these Pirates to tell how much of it is natural or synthetic. I can't tell from the scan, which is unusual. They must be really good at modifying themselves."

"Remind me to capture one alive so we can ask it," he jokes dryly before looking to Samus. "Let's keep following the friend-or-foe tags. Lasky can't be much further ahead."

Cortana sets a marker on the nearest tag, and Samus takes point. The Spartan follows, activating his visor every few meters to scan for hostiles. The IFF is on the far side of another small swamp, next to another dead marine. As they approach, Samus spots movement just ahead in a clearing. Chief quickly grabs the tag and activates it while following. The body's not Lasky's, but the timestamp shows they didn't miss him by more than a few minutes.

Samus is rushing another batch of Pirates before they realize she's there or warning the Spartan. He takes a DMR from the fallen soldier and provides cover fire on the leaping ones up above. She's a barely recognizable blur in the firefight, but she kills anything she aims at almost before it can shoot back.

Chief takes his time to watch the Pirates as he fires on them. They don't move like the Covenant, the Flood, or even the Prometheans. These aliens have their own maneuvers and tactics he has to adjust to. That means for now, he's killing one of them for every three Samus puts down.

The skirmish is over in less than a minute. The Bounty Hunter seems irritated she has to keep slowing down for her partner to catch up, but she doesn't say anything.

"I've got another IFF tag ahead, but as far as I can tell, we're moving into a choke point," Cortana tells them both before marking it. "This may end up as a dead end."

"You can find the next one from there if it is. Or point us toward the Pirate's ship so we can deal with this problem at the source," Samus says bitterly as Chief reaches her.

He gives her a stern look that's likely lost in his visor. "We're not leaving Infinity stranded, especially if they're trapped between the Covenant and the Pirates."

"Then let's move with a purpose." She steps over her latest kill and continues towards the way point.

"I thought the aliens were supposed to be the hostile ones," Cortana says with an eye roll.

"Just keep the IFF tags lit," Chief orders. "Killing these things will keep her busy."

The humans are almost on top of each other as they move through the bottleneck. Fallen trees surround them and form a ramp leading high above the ground. Right as it opens up, a half-dozen energy blasts greet them.

Chief's shields take two hits before he gets clear of the salvo. Samus charges with her own cannon fire. Two of the frogs fall out of the tree in a burning heap, landing on the humanoid at the base. Her missile ensures none of them get back up. The Spartan presses forward while firing on one moving to a better position. He anticipates its side step and smiles as he puts two DMR rounds through the head.

The Bounty Hunter is almost on top of them, already vaporizing another. Chief realizes she's about to be in his line of fire and dashes to adjust. His shields yell as they absorb more blasts from the concealed snipers. He finds cover behind a tree trunk just as the equipment goes down. His visor pings two with an angle on him, and he brings them both down with the last of the magazine.

He swaps to his magnum. Six targets left, ignoring the one Samus just killed. A crawler leaps onto the tree above him, then dies from his magnum fire. He pushes forward while reloading. The nearest sniper has no time to prepare for the charging Spartan and dies with minimal resistance.

Another ping reveals only one left. As he aims, Samus steps directly into his path. Her cannon takes its head off with a small blue explosion. She quickly blasts the arm wielding the rifle off and drains the energy from it while moving towards the IFF.

Chief sprints across the fallen trees to catch up. At the top, they see the tag is coming from the entrance of a small Forerunner structure. It's laying in front of the sealed doors, along with several discarded weapons. It looks like someone tried to make it a defensible position.

Samus reaches it a moment before Chief does. "What was that?" he questions.

She looks away, back toward a thicker portion of the swamp. "What did it look like? I killed Pirates and kept you alive."

"You kept running into my line of fire. You used to be smart enough to avoid that."

"I won't apologize for being better at this than you are." There's almost a snarl in her voice as she turns to him. "Are we going to continue wasting time?"

He steps towards her. "Rescuing allies is wasting time? Or ensuring we have a way off of this planet?"

"Every minute they're here is a minute they get to become stronger, to accomplish whatever they came for, or to kill everyone in their path. We need to cut them off at the root before it takes more than just us to kill them." She accents every point with a finger pointed at the rough direction of the Pirate's crashed ship. Chief can almost feel her glare through the opaque visor.

"And what if you're dead because you charged into a grenade? Or if I shoot you when you jump in front of my targets again?" he growls, getting further frustrated.

"I've beaten worse odds. They'll be better if I cut the dead weight."

"Will both of you grow up!?" Cortana shouts. She proves her point by amplifying their radios to ear splitting volume.

The humans pause in surprise. She takes the moment and runs with it. "Guess what: all you're doing right now is making it easier to get shot in the back while the two of you bicker like children."

Chief takes a slow breath to settle himself. Samus steps back and visibly relaxes. Both of their visors light up as they detect the multiple IFF tags on the other side of the door.

"Now, can we behave long enough to meet Lasky and come up with a plan? Or they going to come out and see me putting a Spartan and an intergalactic bounty hunter in time out?"

Chief grits his teeth to get a better grip on his emotions. After a moment, he says, "Open the radios, let them know we're friendly."

"That we're partners," Samus grumbles. "For now."

"Thank you… This is UNSC AI Cortana with Sierra 117 and reinforcements. We're clear out here," Cortana relays calmly over the radio.

Almost instantly, the door comes open. Several Spartans rush out around them. They're fourth generation based off their armor, with only one of them lacking a helmet. That one nods to Chief, but keeps her rifle pointed in Samus' direction. "A friend of yours?"

"Friendlier than anything else on this planet," the Bounty Hunter says calmly. "Samus."

Chief only nods. "She's fine."

An officer approaches with a relieved smile. "Afraid we're gonna have to give you an IOU on that welcome home party. Tom Lasky, First Officer of the Infinity. Never thought I'd see you again."

The pair shake hands, and Lasky leads them inside the small structure. The unmasked Spartan orders the others to seal the door behind them. "I thought you'd be taller," she jokes while following Chief.

A marine in the corner is busy fighting with his equipment. He waves to the new arrivals. "Commander! Radio's hot!"

"Finally," Lasky sighs while taking the microphone. "Infinity, this is Commander Lasky. Pelican teams are down, repeat, all birds are down. We've got numerous casualties and require immediate assistance, over."

Chief recognizes the voice on the other end, the same one he and Cortana fought so desperately to reach with the satellite. "Finally… Did you get the coordinates to that gravity well?"

"Affirmative, sir. But we're going to need a bus out of here," Lasky repeats.

"Make it happen!" the captain says and immediately hangs up.

Lasky's the most visibly shaken by the order, but the body language of everyone is clear. Not even the Spartans are happy about the lack of support from their CO.

"You were sent on a scouting run in the middle of an attack on the ship?" Cortana questions.

The officer shakes his head. "Captain Del Rio thought Infinity could provide us cover and hold off the attack at the same time."

As the unmasked Spartan approaches, Lasky holds a hand up and looks at Chief. "I know, Palmer… We're going to run out of breathing room here real quick. I don't suppose you and your friend are any good at clearing LZs?"

"On occasion," Chief nods. "We'll send an all-clear once the area's secured."

"What have you encountered out there?" Samus asks. "Are they the constructs, Covenant, or Pirates?"

"Covenant and those robots were starting to harass the Infinity when we left. Out here, I think it's Pirates. I didn't recognize them," Lasky explains with surprising calmness.

The Bounty Hunter nods. "Heavy hitting and energy weapons do the most damage. Your shotguns, DMRs, and anything from the Covenant are your safest bet against Pirates. The constructs are called Prometheans, and their shields are weak against their own weapons or anything rapid fire."

"Thanks. I'm sure we can talk more about that later, after we get the wounded out of here."

Chief grabs several fresh magazines for his weapons, then leads Samus out the back of the structure. All of the Spartans but Palmer join them.

Cortana scans the terrain and gives them directions toward a clearing big enough for a rescue craft to land. It's on the far side of a large cave system, and past no shortage of Pirate scouts. Spread out for recon, they aren't nearly organized enough to fight back against the squad of prepared Spartans. It's more of an extermination than a series of firefights as the humans push through.

Roughly a klick from their starting point, they come to the tunnel Cortana promises leads to an LZ. The path is so narrow they almost have to walk through in single file, begging to be ambushed. Chief finds himself quietly worrying about Cortana's deteriorating condition, if she can hold it together in situations like this, or if she's even guiding them the right way. But then the path angles up towards daylight. He relaxes some before chastising himself for doubting his partner.

A lone Knight stops at the mouth of the tunnel, waving its weaponized arm at something in front of it. The group trains their weapons on it, but no one fires as they approach silently. That's when they spot the real surprise: a group of grunts following directions from the construct.

"The Covenant are working with the Prometheans? This Didact organized them quickly," Cortana comments over the shared radio channel.

Roughly thirty meters behind the Knight, the path forks in two directions. Chief sees the right leads to an apparent ledge and takes the Spartans armed with sniper rifles that way, ordering the rest to stick with Samus. She nods and presses closer towards the Knight.

Chief's ledge gives them a decent view of the clearing and cover from the aliens below. There's at least two dozen Covenant, as well as three Knights ordering them. He lets his group settle into good firing positions, then gives a chirp over the radio.

Samus' squad riddles the Knight guarding the entrance with rounds to the back. It explodes, and then so do the nearest grunts. The squad rushes in and starts clearing out the defenders nearest to them.

The Spartans with the Master Chief give the Covenant a few moments react to their attackers. As expected, they take cover behind the few rocks the clearing offers and begin firing on Samus' group. Over half of them fall to sniper fire from Chief's soldiers before the Covenant realize how bad their mistake was. The Knights stand their ground and try ordering the panicked grunts to do the same but are quickly destroyed by the Bounty Hunter's cannon.

Just when it looks like it'll be an easy win, reinforcements arrive. A Phantom plows through the tree line to the south, dropping a dozen more Covenant under the constant human fire. Meanwhile, several more Knights teleport in at random locations, including on top of the snipers.

Samus and Chief both end up spectacularly killing their closest targets. The Spartan quickly turns a Knight into scrap by spraying its chest with a Promethean rifle and sticking a plasma grenade to the head. The Bounty Hunter dances with hers, ducking under its frantic swings while shooting off its limbs. The displays almost seem to invigorate their squads, and they tear into the invaders even faster.

A minute later, the reinforcements are just as decimated as the original defenders. The Spartans spread out across the LZ to secure it while Chief and Samus regroup at the center.

"That went better than I expected," Samus admits. "Thanks for the cover fire."

The Spartan nods. "Thanks for helping them stay alive."

"So, the Covenant and Prometheans have joined forces?"

"Looks that way," Cortana pipes in. "The Covenant worship the Forerunners: no surprise they started following a live one. I hope the Pirates don't do the same."

Samus shakes her head. "They want to be the dominant force, not partners or slaves. They'll fight the Didact as hard as we will."

"Hopefully we can use that. Cortana, tell Lasky the LZ is clear," Chief orders.

"Cortana to Lasky. Your LZ is secured," she says merrily on the shared radio channel. Her episodes of rampancy seem to be fewer and shorter now that they're away from the planet's core. Hopefully that's a good thing.

The officer comes back across the comms. "Roger that, Cortana. I'll get you the coordin-"

"Mayday, code red!" Captain Del Rio interrupts. "Hostile elements are attempting to gain entrance to the Infinity bridge! All units return to Infinity immediately! That's an order!" The sound of gunfire punctuates the end of the call.

Lasky comes back on. "Damn it. Chief, I'm redirecting the Spartan-IVs to rally point Alpha Sierra Foxtrot. Until we catch up, you have tactical command. Help take back that ship!"

"Yes, sir," Master Chief answers.

A Pelican air ship lands in the center of the clearing moments later. Chief is the first one on, followed by the remaining Spartans, then finally Samus.

"Were you thinking about leaving us?" Cortana asks over their radio. Her tone is evenly split between joking and seriousness.

Samus sighs. "I prefer to avoid working in large groups. I don't like relying on someone else to not make a mistake."

"You're welcome to take them on yourself while we wait here," the AI snarks pleasantly.

The UNSC members use the first few minutes of fly time to load up on fresh magazines and buckle in for the landing. Once everyone is settled, Samus clicks on the private radio between her and Chief.

"Whatever it's worth, I'm sorry for what I said. And for ignoring that we're stronger when we're working together." Her voice gives away almost no emotion, but Chief can tell she's sincere.

"Just try not to do it again," he says with a nod.

"Why do you hate them so badly?" Cortana presses. "I've never seen anyone as trained as you ignore that because they wanted to kill someone. Not without a pretty big reason."

Samus pauses for a moment. The other two can almost hear her thinking over her answer before she softly says, "I was only a child when they destroyed my colony."

Neither Chief nor Cortana speak a while. He knows that's the kind of wound that won't heal because of something a stranger says. Almost nothing he can do will even help.

Almost a minute later, the best response he can think of is, "As long as you're with us, we'll help you fight them."

The Bounty Hunter only nods. She doesn't say anything further, but she seems at least slightly more relaxed than before. He's not sure if that's real or just wishful thinking.

No one onboard has any doubts when they arrive at the Infinity: it's impossible not to hear the war raging for the crashed ship. The Pelican only touches down for a dozen seconds, long enough for everyone to disembark before flying off as fast as it can.

Bullets greet the unloading soldiers like parade confetti. Dozens of other marines are pushing toward the burning ship, firing on the Covenant forces trying to breach the hull. The aliens have the numbers, but the humans have the firepower to make them work for it.

Chief and Samus begin working as a pair again, ignoring the general chaos to focus on the targets in front of them. They charge the thickest cluster of Covenant and cut the group down to size. Several Elites order their squad to deal with the particularly effective attackers. All it does is speed up the process of getting themselves mowed down.

Working their way down the crater and through the horde of Covenant, they amass a following of Spartan-IVs and marines behind them. They focus on dealing the most damage they can as fast as they can while letting their companions clean up the stragglers. It works well, and they reach the ship's hull in record time.

"117, this is Lasky," says the familiar voice on the radio. "We're touching down just north of your position. Proceed to starboard hangar 2-19, and we'll link up with you there."

"We'll see you soon," Samus acknowledges before pointing back up the crater. "Were you trained how to use one of those?"

Chief looks up to see a Scorpion tank rolling past. "Climb on the side, above the treads. I'll drive."

"I guess that's a yes," she says, following Chief as he runs to the vehicle.

He quickly climbs into the tank while it continues towards the Covenant. All he has to do is say, "move," and the marine driving takes the passenger seat. He settles into the controls while the Spartan-IVs find positions on top of the Scorpion. Cortana marks the clearest path toward Lasky's hangar, and Chief punches it that direction. He smiles to himself as he runs over a few Covenant along the way.

Samus, perched on the side of the Scorpion, uses her cannon to fire on the foot soldiers not grouping together. Chief keeps the nose pointed forward and the main gun firing on the vehicles stupid enough to charge him. The other Spartans, armed with DMRs and rocket launchers, make short work of the groups foot soldiers trying to organize an attack.

Even when the Covenant start attacking with Wraith tanks, nothing can stop the UNSC behemoth. The only thing that gives them anything resembling trouble is the Covenant troops using hovering platforms for better firing angles. But even those can't take salvos of Spartan-IV grenades and rockets for long.

They reach the hangar designated by Lasky and find two surprises. First, all but one of the doors are sealed or too damaged to open. And second, a group of Pirates are defending the remaining entrance against the Covenant.

"What are these guys doing here?" Cortana asks as Chief continues firing the cannon on non-humans.

The Bounty Hunter joins in on the extermination without moving from her seat. "They're probably trying to get control of Infinity, use its weapons against us and the Covenant," she guesses.

"At least we know they aren't getting along. Cortana to Commander Lasky, the hangar bay doors are sealed tight. Repeat, the hangar is a no-go for your men."

"Roger, Cortana," he responds quickly. "We'll find another way inside and free up one of the mooring platforms. XO out."

The one free entrance is a vehicle lift large enough to carry the Scorpion inside. Chief casually drives in and is greeted by a massive squad of Pirates trying to find a way to the bridge. Everyone riding the tank dives off and uses the cargo containers for cover. Chief begins firing on the clusters of Pirates, killing at least three of them per shot. Samus and the others flank them on the sides, flushing them out of cover or shooting them outright.

The process only takes a few minutes. The smoke hasn't even cleared when Del Rio's voice comes across the radio again. "John-117, Lasky just radioed. You picked a helluva time to rejoin us."

"Sir, what's our status?" he asks while climbing out of the tank.

"That satellite took down the ship's defenses and is extracting data from the ship's mainframes as we speak."

"Can we break the connection?"

"Main point of contact's on the ship's upper hull," the Captain says as Samus rejoins the Spartan. "The fastest route is through the maintenance causeway. There's a Mantis docked inside the door. Take it: you'll need the firepower. Del Rio out."

Chief nods for Samus to follow, then walks towards the maintenance causeway. "There's no room for passengers in a Mantis."

"I'll manage. Just try not to shoot me."

As promised, there's a Warthog-sized mech waiting for them in the next hallway. Chief climbs in, ignoring the warnings from the ship about its proper usage. When the next doorway jams, Samus simply backs away from its controls and gives an "after you" wave to her partner. Cortana laughs as Chief casually blows the door to pieces with a cluster of missiles.

Samus is through the door almost before it finishes exploding. By the time the slow weaponized suit catches up, half of the Pirates at the opening are already dead. Chief finishes the group with anti-material machine gun fire while the missile launcher reloads. The path turns left up ahead, and the Bounty Hunter actually waits for her partner before charging the waiting Pirates. Two dozen separate weapons fire on them as soon as they come into sight.

The path has several turns and changes in the layout, but both soldiers fall into a rhythm. Chief stays on the lower sub-level, drawing most of their fire and controlling the crowd with explosives. Samus sticks to the side on the catwalks, quickly taking care of the snipers and foot soldiers trying to shoot the Mantis from cover. It's a good system, one that takes them all the way to the lift without complication.

After ensuring there's no Pirates left behind, they ride up to the ship's exterior. Covenant and Promethean forces rain down plasma on them the moment they reach daylight.

"At least we still have the mech," Samus says while sprinting to cover.

"The Pirates must have gotten in after the Infinity's defenses were brought down, but before the Covenant could get a foothold," Cortana speculates aloud.

Chief ignores the chatter and focuses on vaporizing the invaders. A few of them brought Ghosts, but they don't last long against the Mantis' anti-material rifle. Combined with steady whittling down from the flanking Bounty Hunter, they make short work of the boarding party and press on towards the jamming devices.

The Covenant are using small towers to disable the Infinity's weapon system, and the Didact's satellite is scanning the ship from a safe distance. A few meters taller than the Mantis, the trio of jammers have no obvious defenses without their solider guardians. Chief blows two of them to pieces before a squadron of Phantoms bring reinforcements. The dropships deposit almost a dozen Ghosts while bombarding the mech. Samus uses her cloak to dodge their attention and approach the final tower. Around the time Chief finishes off a third of his attackers, she destroys the jammer with a small bomb she was apparently saving for a special occasion.

"Del Rio to John-117," the Captain says over the radio. "The rate that thing's searching our systems just doubled! I think it knows what you're up to."

Cortana responds for her human partners. "The Didact's not letting go without a fight. Hold them off, and we'll see what we can do!"

"That's tough talk for the only one not helping," Samus jokes while shooting a grunt out of a Ghost. She takes the vehicle for herself and uses it to distract the ground vehicles circling Chief, freeing him to focus on the Phantoms above.

It takes them a few more minutes to wade through the Covenant, but when the last aircraft falls, no more fly in to the replace them. That only leaves the satellite still siphoning data from the mainframe.

Lasky tells them the outer guns need to have their relays reset. Samus quickly jogs to the control console and follows Cortana's instructions to get the system running again.

Del Rio comes across the radio again as the guns start warming up. "Forward MAC batteries, get that damn orb away from my ship!"

The cannons obey instantly, their massive shells slamming into the exterior of the Didact's satellite. It shudders in its flight but doesn't show any outward damage as it flees the Infinity's airspace. The few Covenant ships still intact follow their leader in a panicked sprint.

"The Didact's retreating!" Cortana cheers.

The radios chirp on again. "Del Rio to Infinity All Hands. We are in Condition Yellow, stand down. Section heads report in and begin damage assessment."

Samus collects an armful of Covenant weapons and drains them while jogging toward Chief. He steers what's left of the Mantis back toward the lift.

"Your ship's safe, for now," she says, tossing the final dead pistol. "It won't stay that way for long."

The Spartan parks the smoldering mech in the center of the elevator before climbing out. "Let's head to the bridge. We need to brief the Captain."

She nods. "Hopefully it won't take long to convince him to help us. We hurt the Pirates and the Didact pushing them back. The Infinity can help us finish them off."

"We'll see what plan we come up with."

It takes them a few minutes to get all the way to the bridge. A few of the deck hands stare, but none are brave enough to question the new arrivals. The trio meet with Palmer, Lasky, and Del Rio at a holodeck on the bridge that's currently displaying a rough map of Requiem. Cortana replaces it with the more accurate diagram she got from the cartographer when she's close enough.

"So, let's start from the top, people: where the Hell did these crab things come from?" Del Rio asks plainly, staring mostly at Samus.

She gives the group a condensed version of the speech she delivered to Chief on the way to Infinity. They're a group of modern-day pirates from the Federation's region of space, probably here to steal Forerunner tech. They'll kill everyone that isn't them, and they need to be exterminated before they find something worthwhile.

Lasky is the most animated listening, nodding along and raising his eyebrows when he hears something he didn't expect. Del Rio and Palmer maintain their stoic demeanors that reveals nothing. At the end, the Spartan leader asks, "It's some coincidence you both landed here when we did."

Samus catches the insinuation. "I responded to the Dawn's distress beacon while it was still drifting. The gravity well sucked the three of us in when we got close. I had no idea there were Pirates anywhere near this system until they crashed with you. But I'm not complaining about the opportunity to kill more of them."

"For now, let's assume it's just bad luck they're here," Del Rio says, pushing the conversation forward. "What about those robots?"

Cortana brings up an image of the Knights on the holodeck. "It's possible they're native to Requiem, or whatever counts as native for a Forerunner AI."

"We haven't seen this kind of offensive reaction from any of the other installations," the Captain says curiously. When Cortana gives him an odd look, he points to Lasky.

The XO brings up the diagram of another Forerunner installation. "Infinity's mission has been to locate the remaining Halo rings and establish permanent bases to study and decommission them. Installations 3 and 5 are running, but there's been setbacks."

"The scientists got zapped digging up an artifact. All we saved were a set of glyphs that turned out to be coordinate data. I'll give you three guesses where they led us," Del Rio finishes bitterly.

A soldier hands Palmer a datapad, which she reads and immediately gives to her Captain. "Sir, Gypsy company is prepped and ready on your orders."

He nods at the same information. "Thank you, Palmer. Mr. Lasky, I want you on point and boots on the ground in sixty."

"Captain?" Chief asks questioningly, not sure what's going on.

Del Rio turns to him and starts using a distinctively authoritarian tone. "This is a first contact scenario. Priority is the free Infinity from Requiem's gravity well and file a threat assessment back at FLEETCOM."

"Meaning you're running with your tail between your legs," Samus comments loudly.

Chief thinks the same thing, but silently. That proves to be the smart choice when the Captain stands up to the Bounty Hunter. "We're pulling back so we can live to fight another day. Once we have support-"

"Once you've given them time to regroup," Samus interrupts calmly, but sternly. Then she steps up to the Captain so that she towers over him. "We hurt the Pirates and the Didact when we pushed them back. By the time you get the support you're so anxious for, they'll have licked their wounds and prepared for anything you throw at them."

"Are you going to be a problem?" Del Rio almost shouts, clearly losing his composure. "Because we have a cell in the brig with your name on it."

Samus leans down toward him. "Try, coward."

Chief is almost worried she's going to hit him, but she only spins on a heel and heads for the door. The Captain grumbles to himself before facing Palmer. "If she tries anything, shoot her."

The newer generation Spartan looks to the older one when her CO walks away. Chief holds a finger up for a pause, then chases after the Bounty Hunter.

It takes longer than expected for him to catch up with her down the hallway. Even walking, she's quick.

"Clearly I'm the only one here willing to deal with the problem," she says, eyes still focused on the exit.

"Willing and able aren't the same," Chief rationalizes. "Del Riolost a lot of men today."

She faces him without warning. "He's going to lose a lot more. Anything the Pirates find here will give them an advantage we can't afford to lose. And there's no telling what the Didact will do when he gets off-world."

"And you're going to stop both of them on your own?"

"I've beaten worse odds." She starts leaving again, almost knocking over a sailor carrying supplies.

Chief grabs her arm and pulls her to a standstill. "You don't have to. If we get the Infinity free, Del Rio will listen to us. Then we'll convince him to use the ship to deal with both of them."

"And when he blows us off? Again?" she growls.

Chief can almost feel her glare through her visor. He takes a gamble and says, "We'll cross that bridge if we get there. Together."

For a moment, he's concerned that anger at the Captain is going to be taken out on him. But eventually, she nods. "Fine."

ere's the latest chapter of the ongoing commissioned crossover of Halo and Metroid! Hope everyone is still appreciating this, and not just the wonderful commissioner. Everyone can thank MCHX-Raildex on DeviantArt for continuing to appreciate and fund the story.

And for anyone interested in commissioning me, whether it be a short story, a longer series like this, or editing existing work, shoot me a message here or through gvarchangelcomms at gmail (Yes, FF refusing to even allow links for emails is still only mildly irritating.)