Into the Maw

Telek pressed a few buttons and pulled up a star map that showed the location of every Covenant ship that was still in the area. Cracking his knuckles, he commanded his cloaked ship to head for the cruiser known as the Seeker of Truth. He gave his fingers a wiggle and then glanced back at the image of Cujo.

"We ready for this?" he asked

"Ready," Cujo replied. "I'll fire first."

"Make it sharp and very disabling," Telek rumbled. "I want him limping back to High Charity with his tail between his legs when this is over."

"After we're done with this and the destruction of Halo," Cujo began. "Otto will be lucky to get sentenced to a mining colony. Because allowing the destruction of such a sacred artifact to the Covenant would be detrimental to his career."

"Oh, they'll fire him for this, I know that," Telek nodded. "He will be discharged—very dishonorably. Almost seems like what we're doing pales in comparison to what Truth will do to him after he learns of what happened."

"Letting a heretic escape," Tekn began. "Failing to stop said heretic from helping the humans destroy Halo. Otto will be in for a bad ride."

"So, basically, you guys are saying 'I wouldn't want to be in his shoes right now' right?" Tom asked.

Telek chuckled: "Yep."

"Couldn't put it more crystal than that," Cujo chuckled. "Okay, I am going to do a little bit of coding here and see if I can take out the shields."

"Coding?" Tom asked.

"Cujo knows how to hack into the various Covenant ships and disable things," Telek replied. "He's sneaky that way."

"Yup," he said.

As Cujo's fingers flew across the holo-panel he sent out his message through the ethers. On the ship known as the Seeker of Truth, Otto glanced at his lavender holo-screens, noticing that they were beginning to flicker. Code raced up and down their length as the projectors began to spark. His golden-flecked brown eyes lit up in shock and system after system of the ship's defenses began to shut down one by one. Then, an image of a human skull with two crossed swords below it on a black field appeared on his screen. The skull was laughing at him.

"Telek!" he cried just as his ship began to shake.

"Sir, our hull has been breached!" cried a voice over the intercom from engineering. "The shields are down."

"Bring up the auxiliary shield then!" cried Otto. "And find where Telek's ship is! I want that accused carrier reduced to scrap!"

"He's—jamming our instruments and he's cloaked," said the engineer. The ship jolted about violently as the outer hull began to take on another beating from the attacking ship behind it. Then Otto felt another jolt that came from the front.

"What was that?"

"We're being attacked from the bow as well as the stern," said the engineer.

"Fire randomly," Otto called. "If we get lucky we might hit something."

"Uh—yeah…" the engineer replied. "Our own ships, Excellency."

Otto glanced up when he saw the image of Telek appear before him on the screen. The Sangheili defector was grinning at him.

"Telek!" Otto cried. "You bastard!"

"Heehee!" Telek laughed. "Feeling a bit shaky tonight, Otto?"

"What in the Prophets' names are you doing?" Otto asked.

"This!" Telek bellowed as he tapped his finger on a button. Otto heard the sound of a crash as sparks began to fly from the ceiling. He fell backwards as the slick floor beneath him began to move under his hooves.

"Telek!" Otto cried again.

"Uh, sir," Otto heard the human standing beside Telek began. "Did we just sideswipe the Seeker of Truth?"

"You did what?!" Otto cried. "Are you drunk?"

"I have shields, my old friend," Telek grinned back. "But as I could read on my screen, it seems you don't."

Otto got to his feet and let loose a roar, spreading his mandibles wide. He snapped his head back towards Telek: "I'm going to melt that ship of yours down to slag when I'm done blowing it into space debris!"

Telek let loose a boisterous laugh, taking hold of his sides as he did so: "You couldn't hit the broad side of Threshold with your poor aim, Otto! From 50 paces no less!"

Otto growled, pressing a button on his holo-panel: "All ships, report to my location. We've got a heretic to destroy! Fire at will."

"Uh…that won't work either," Telek giggled. Then Cujo's face appeared on the other side of the semi-circle of screens.

"Yeah, I disconnected your link to the other ships," Cujo laughed. "The only thing you can get on your radio—is PBS. And us."

"Yeah, us," Telek laughed. "And we're much more entertaining than Tomas the Tank Engine."

"He's right, Excellency," began one of Otto's helmsman. "All communications have been disabled except for our communication with the Shade of Darkness and the Righteous Fury."

"I hate you, Telek," Otto growled.

"Aw," Telek gave a pout to his old commander. "And here I would think you'd be proud of me. I learned all of this from you, you know."

"And I never thought you'd be using all that I've taught you against me," Otto grunted, crossing his arms. He heard the sound of something attaching itself to his own ship. "Telek, what are you doing?"

"Having my ship eat yours," Telek chuckled. "Nah, I'm gonna tow it to where I want it to go and then I'm gonna watch to see if you can escape it in time."

"Escape what?" Otto asked.

"Oh, nothing," Telek replied. "But I'll tell you one thing; you'll get a bang out of it."

Just then, communications ceased between the two ships as Telek's ship towed the Seeker of Truth to just above the spot where the Chief had entered the Pillar of Autumn. Otto felt bile rise up into his throat and he could taste it at the back of his mouth. The two pirate ships were leading him to somewhere and it was not something he was going to enjoy. Then as soon as he felt his ship stop, he heard the clamps break away and once more communications were hailed between the two ships.

"Later," Telek said as his image flashed off and the shimmer of the cloak of his ship rippled like a heat mirage. Otto could not see the glow of the engines but he could sense that the two ships that had held his ship enthralled were now backing away. They set his ship adrift, allowing it to pass over the ring's surface.

"Get communications back on line!" Otto cried. "Telek's done something! Telek's done something horribly bad!"

"Yes, Excellency," said the helmsman.

"What have you done, Telek?" Otto asked as he glanced down at the surface of the ring. He was passing over a desert and the familiar human ship that his fleet had followed all the way from their planetary stronghold. He could see it on his main screen. "What are you planning?"

0

"Activating final countdown timer," began Cortana. "When it reaches zero, the engines will detonate. The explosion will generate a temperature of almost 100,000,000 degrees. We don't want to be here when it blows."

"No problem," the Chief said as he dove the Warthog through the tunnels leading out of the ship. They had already began the countdown to the detonation of the Pillar of Autumn. There were hordes of Flood and Covenant fighting each other as he streamed by them. He managed to bulldoze over several Grunts running for their lives but the Elites flipped and dodged out of the way. For once, the Chief was thankful that the Covenant was focusing their fire more on the attacking Flood forms than his jeep.

"We should radio the Captain and let him know he better come by and pick us up as soon as he can," said the Chief.

"No, his ship will be damaged once the ring blows up," said Cortana. "We better get on a Pelican first. Then, once we're off this ring after it's blown up, Telek can swing by and pick us up."

"I doubt the Captain will be able to, then," the Chief stated flatly. "He will have to deal with the Covenant to get to us."

"You want him to leave us?" Cortana asked.

"He may not have a choice," the Chief said.

"I'll try to find us a ride," Cortana sighed. "Cortana to Echo 419! Request extraction now, on the double!"

"Affirmative, Cortana," calledthe voice over the comlink. "Foe Hammer inbound."

The Chief sighed as he opened a channel up to the Shade of Darkness.

"Chief?" Telek asked. "What's the score?"

"Detonation sequence has been initiated, Captain," said Cortana.

"Good," Telek said. "I've made sure that a special person takes front row on the spectacular fireworks show you're about to display, Chief. Of course, I roughed him up a bit before the viewing. If he survives, what I've done will be nothing compared to what the Prophets would to do to him."

"Sir," began the Chief. "The ship is about to explode. It's best you get as far away as you can from it."

"Chief," began Telek. "I'm not leaving you behind."

"I appreciate that, sir," said John. "But we'll make it out on our own. Get your ship away from here."

"Alright," Telek sighed through the comlink. "Good luck, Chief. I know I've been saying that a lot to you, but I think it's working."

"Yes, sir," the Chief said. "Thank you, sir."

"Just make it back in one piece or I'm gonna keelhaul yah," Telek growled in mock amusement.

"Sir!" Chief nodded as the comlink shut off. They finally came to a platform that opened out to the desert beyond.

"Wait, stop!" Cortana called, causing the Chief to slow his jeep down. "This is where Foe Hammer is coming to pick us up. Hold position here."

As the Warthog pulled up to the edge of the ledge. Just as he pulled up a Pelican descended down from the air. Wind whipped up about the jeep, causing it to shake slightly. The Chief saw two pairs of Banshees flying about the Pelican, firing at it.

"Cortana to Echo 419!" called Cortana. "Two Covenant Banshees are approaching on your six! Evade, I say again, evade!"

Just then, the green blast of a fuel rod cannon from one of the Banshees clipped a wing of the Pelican and Foe Hammer plummeted from the air itself.

"I'm hit!" called Foe Hammer. "Mayday! Mayday! Airfoil structures have been shot to hell! I can't hold her! I can't hold her!"

As soon as the Pelican disappeared below, the Chief could hear the sound of the aircraft explode on the sand.

"Echo 419!" Cortana called. "She's gone. Calculating alternate escape route. The ship's inventory shows one Longsword fighter still docked in Launch Bay 7. If we move NOW, we can make it!"

The Chief nodded and backed the Warthog up, revving up the engines and sped down towards where the nav point had been laid out before him.

"I'm afraid Telek's ship has now gone out of range of our comlink," said Cortana. "I can't hail him to tell him that we're taking an alternate route."

"We'll make it," said the Chief. "Without his help."

They pulled out onto a wide spans over a large trench.

"Chief, up ahead there's a gap in the trench!" she began. "At top speed, we should be able to clear it!"

The Chief floored the accelerator as far as he could go, diving down the ramp. The Warthog jumped over the large trench over the many sprays of plasma fire from the battle going on below. Both Covenant and Flood continued to battle each other over the control of the ship. The jeep landed and spun for a few yards as the Chief grappled the wheel. Righting himself, he spun the wheels and raced towards the final stretch and the docking bay where the Longsword rested. It was a magnificent aircraft, sleek, black, shaped similar to the old B-2 stealth bombers of Earth's past. Light glinted off of its polish hull. This aircraft, though shape like a bomber, could do something the ancient bombers of Earth could not—it could travel through space. This sleek bird was the Chief and Cortana's ticket off of Halo. The Chief glanced over as he saw several combat Flood forms race towards him. They too wanted the Longsword.

"That's the ship!" Cortana called. "Move, we need to get aboard NOW!"

The Chief jumped out of the Warthog and dashed towards the opening at the back end of the ship. Before the Flood forms could make it, the Spartan slammed his fist on a red button and the hatch closed behind him.

"We're cutting it a bit close, Chief," Cortana warned as the Chief made it to the cockpit. Tapping his fingers on the board, he activated the ship and heard the engines rev up.

"Here we go," he said as the Longsword took off, streaking its way out of the Halcyon-class cruiser and up into the atmosphere of Halo. Behind him a light began to appear around the hull of the ship as the engines ignited. The light intensified and spread outward over the sand in a bright and blue white, blinding blast. The blast carried on, rippling through the surface of the ring itself and the structure began to rip apart at the seams. A chunk of Halo flew off and collided with another part of the ring, breaking it away. From space, Telek watched the destruction and he could not help but to smile softly.

"It's done," he sighed. "Halo—it's done."

"The Chief…" began Tom. "We should go after him once the destruction has calmed."

Telek was about to say something when his ship's sensors detected a massive slip space rupture appearing on the far side of the planet. He knew what it was.

"No," he said. "I trust the Chief. He'll make it home."

"High Charity," said Tekn. "Excellency."

"Yeah," Telek agreed. "Yeah, I think we've worn out our welcome. We don't need to be here any longer. All ships, let's pick a random coordinate, check for any hitchhikers and then break for Earth."

"Aye, Skipper," said Tom.

"You better come home, Chief," Telek rumbled deeply. "I mean it."

1130 Hours, September 25, 2552 (Military Calendar) Earth\Orbital Defense Grid Station Cairo

No holograms, no meeting under some sort of view screen, this was for real. Telek crossed his arms, staring aimlessly at the gray carpeting on the floor below him. He did not know what to think now that he was meeting once more with the UNSC President. Right beside him was Fleet Admiral Terence Hood, nicknamed Lord Hood by many UNSC personnel. Telek did not wear his armor this time, only the slate gray uniform he was issued when he joined the service of the United Nation's Space Command. On his head was his gold helmet. Telek even wore boots that looked similar to something UNSC personnel would wear; only they were split at the toes to allow him more comfort for his cloven hooves. His leg was crossed over the other and he slightly let his foot sway. Lord Hood sat at the other end of the table and they waited for the President to enter the room. Telek did not see what this was about nor did he understand why the President had to be here for what he suspected would be his court marshal hearing. He knew why he would be punished, he lied about Halo, and he did not even give that information when it was asked of him. Telek had good intentions, but the outcome was bad on his behalf. Still, the result worked out, Halo was destroyed—well, at least one of them anyway. Now all he needed to do was destroy the other six and he would be happy.

President Kiryuu Knight came in, dressed in more traditional clothing, suit and tie ensemble. As Lord Hood had informed, the President was there. There was no hologram this time. Kiryuu would have the joy of shaking Telek's hand or hitting Telek over the head for not giving him information he needed.

"Mr. President," began Lord Hood as he stood up from his chair. Telek followed and waited until the cybernetic, mutated dinosaur sat down.

"Captain 'Herosee," began Kiryuu. "I see your trip home was smooth."

"It was," said Telek. "We did not find any bugs on my ship that would lead the Covenant here."

"Well, that's good," Kiryuu said. "Only—that doesn't matter now."

"I beg your pardon?" Telek asked.

"Intel has informed me that—the Covenant are heading here," Kiryuu began. "We're getting this from our informants on board a hijacked Covenant ship called the Ascendant Justice. Have you heard of this ship?"

"I have," Telek replied. "It was a part of the fleet Particular Justice. Who was the informant?"

"A particular Spartan you might know of," said Kiryuu with a grin on his face. Telek's expression soften and his eyes brightened. Kiryuu chuckled. "I knew that would mean something to you, Captain."

"Master Chief…" Telek began. "He—made it."

"He and a few others," said Kiryuu. "They've been skipping about the galaxy. They managed to get on board a Covenant station not too long ago and that's where they got their information. It seems the Covenant knew all along where Earth was."

"Sir, I assure you, it wasn't from me," Telek said in defense.

"I'm not blaming you," said Kiryuu. "No matter, we have our own defenses just in case something like this was to occur. We have the Orbital Defense Grid lead by our esteemed Admiral Hood."

"We'll stop the Covenant bastards before they even set one hoof on our planet," said Lord Hood.

"Telek," began Kiryuu. "I knew we couldn't keep the secret of Earth from the Covenant forever, which is why we built the Grid. Sooner or later, they would be coming to knock on our door. The Cole Protocol was only to buy time to figure our options. And it took us 30 years to do so. In that same time—we built this station and others like it."

Telek glanced about the enormous glass windows around him that looked out over the planet of Earth. He could see other stations similar to the Cairo orbiting the planet. There was the Athens and the Malta and several others along the chain that protected all latitudes and longitudes.

"It took some convincing from the industrial companies like Saeder-Krupp to build the Grid," said Kiryuu. "But even the likes of Lofwyr want to keep his hide safe from Covenant invasion. The Great Western Dragon doesn't see any profit in being glassed to ashes."

"How generous of him to help fund such a large project," Telek scoffed slightly.

"You doubt the Grid's defenses, Captain?" Hood asked.

"I know the Covenant," said Telek. "That's all I'm saying."

"We're calling in all ships to come here and defend Earth," said Kiryuu. "And we're not going to give up—no matter just how little you think our efforts are."

"I'm not belittling your efforts, Mr. President," the Sangheili began. "I'm just saying I know the Covenant."

"You knew other things too, Telek," said Hood. "Like this structure called Halo. Why didn't you inform us about it?"

"Because I feared you would use it in a manner that would doom us all," said Telek. "The same way the Covenant wishes to use it for. Halo is a weapon and a containment installation. The Forerunners died trying to keep that virus at bay, but Jacob Keyes unleashed it. To keep the virus from spreading, Halo kills off its food source—as in all of us biological life forms that could sustain it."

"So—it is a weapon that can't be used," said Kiryuu.

"By not telling you, I thought I was trying to protect you from making a mistake the Covenant was trying to do," continued Telek. "By activating it and killing us all."

"I see," Kiryuu began. "Admiral, would you mind leaving us for a moment?"

"Sir?" Hood asked.

"Please," Kiryuu said. Lord Hood sighed as he rose up from his seat and walked out. Kiryuu turned to the large alien, his tail patting the floor. Then, he walked around Telek with his hands behind his back.

"Telek," he began. "I am going to tell you that what you've done I have done many times over. I've kept secrets from humans in order to protect them. I feel that need, you know—to protect the humans. Though I've only been in office a few years, it seems I've been protecting them for much longer than that."

"500 years," said Telek.

"Yes," Kiryuu nodded, his green dreads brushing across his shoulders. "About that long. As you have kept Halo from the humans, I have kept another weapon from them as well. It is a weapon that even today they still cannot create. It was created by a man named Dr. Serezawa. This weapon was used on me in 1954—it killed me. Then 50 years later, I was made into this machine."

"I've—read the papers," said Telek.

"I wouldn't doubt it," Kiryuu began. "But you see, the information was hidden by the Japanese government, who I crippled in the wee beginnings of the 21st Century. I crippled them to get the information on the weapon in order to use it on King Ghidorah—a monster as you know I knew I did not have the power to destroy. This weapon is called the Oxygen Destroyer. I have inside my databanks the formula to create another one. And only I have this information. The humans know that a special weapon was used against me and against King Ghidorah—however, they don't know what the nature of that weapon is—even now they still don't know."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"To tell you that you weren't in the wrong," said Kiryuu. "But it seems that telling the Chief proved beneficial in the long run. Halo is destroyed."

"Only one of them," he rumbled.

"One?"

"There were 7 rings, now there are 6," said Telek. "Odd rings don't have the virus, even do."

"Why such a distinction?" Kiryuu asked.

"I don't know," Telek said. "I haven't translated the text fully to understand it."

"Text?"

"Forerunner text that told me about what the rings really do and what they contain," said Telek. "You asked me that day why I defected, Mr. Knight. Now you know. The religion I believed in, I found out was false and I tried to warn everyone. But they shunned me and labeled me a heretic. All because I knew the truth about the Halos."

"I see," Kiryuu began.

"Am I to be court marshaled?"

"No," Kiryuu replied. "Lord Hood did insist upon it, but giving light to the information, I did not want it to happen. The reason why I'm here is because you're here, Telek. I asked you to come in, so you are my responsibility. I handle all of your promotions. Normally I would not, but you are a special case. There was a promotion that was to be awarded to Captain Keyes. It is unfortunate that he would not be receiving it now."

"Yes, sir," Telek nodded.

"So, I have no choice but to give it to you," Kiryuu turned to Telek with a smile on his face. He opened a box containing four silver stars, two for each shoulder. "Congratulations, Rear Admiral Telek 'Herosee. Or as they say in Hebrew, mazel tov."

"You're promoting me to Rear Admiral?" Telek asked.

"I believe your previous Covenant rank was equivalent of that," said Kiryuu. "And I did promise to give it to you someday."

Telek took off the two silver birds from his shoulders and then penned the stars in place of them.

"Now all we need to do is get the bars on your sleeves to match the rest and you'll be set," said Kiryuu. "You've earned it, Telek. Wear them in good health. We need a leader of your caliber for the fight that will come."

"Yes, sir," Telek nodded. "Thank you, sir."

"And about the Oxygen Destroyer," Kiryuu continued. "That is classified information. Not even ONI knows about. Don't go uttering about it to anyone."

"Understood," Telek dipped his head.

"Well, Rear Admiral," Kiryuu continued. "Return to your ship."

0

Though Telek was promoted on Earth, back on High Charity, it was a different story for his former commander Otto 'Gamamee. Otto sat in a waiting room, waiting to speak to the Prophet Hierarchs about loosing the Ascendant Justice and loosing Halo. He knew that the outcome was not going to be to his favor. He sighed as he stared down at the floor. He could feel his hearts quivering. He knew he had to go meet with the Prophets with dignity and honor, but he could not see any dignity in loosing so horrendously. He had failed in his mission in keeping Halo safe. Still, he could not help but to wonder about his former subordinate and friend. Telek, during their final meetings, seemed almost foolish, like a madman or a lunatic. The way he was bashing his ship against Otto's, how he was laughing, the stunts that he pulled—they did not make any sense.

"Telek, my old friend," Otto 'Gamamee began. "Whatever you found—the truth or a lie—it has driven you to madness. You were an honorable warrior once—now you're barely even a Sangheili anymore. You're maddened degenerate, a rapscallion. Why, why have you let this madness get to you? It's like a disease. I swear, if I make it through this, I will end your suffering once and for all…"