13th January 2592

UNSC In Plain Sight, Gobi class Prowler

Relay 314

"Captain we are receiving a transmission from command."

Those were the words Anderson had been waiting for ever since they had sent word of the discovery of the Forward Unto Dawn back to ONI Prowler command. Raising his head from his hands, he watched as his crew were moving about with a determination he had never seen before. But he supposed it was to be expected, after all, they had at long last found the lost hero of humanity.

Standing up from his chair, he began walking towards a door at the side of the bridge. "Very well Lieutenant, send it to my ready room."

As the door slid open for him, he activated encryption suites all Prowler captains had access to. The holoprojector hummed to life and displayed a Hispanic looking woman in her 30s, Admiral Osman's aide.

She looked up at met his eyes. "Confirm identity."

Anderson pulled himself straighter, "Delta Alpha Zulu Tango 96"

Nodding, the aide looked satisfied. "Confirmed. Is this a secure channel?"

Anderson nodded, he had been sure to encrypt all transmissions going in or out of his ship. He could never be too sure of who might be listening in.

"Stand by for Admiral Osman." The aide said before her hologram was replaced with another woman, Admiral Osman herself. Once the late Admiral Parangosky protege, everyone was surprised when Osman refused to take the position as Head of ONI in favour of now Admiral Dare.

Anderson snapped off a salute. "Admiral Osman ma'am."

"At ease Captain." Osman was scrolling through some contents on a datapad, not really paying too much attention to him. After a moment of awkward silence, she put down the datapad and stared at him. "You've made quite a name for yourself Captain, especially since you have found the resting place of the Master Chief."

"Just doing my duty ma'am," Anderson replied bluntly. He wanted to say more, but he refrained himself from doing just that. Despite Admiral Osman not being in charge of ONI, no one was stupid enough to even attempt to get in her bad books, there was something about her which...persuaded those in the Prowler corps not to mess with her.

"Relax Captain, you're more uptight than someone being interrogated for the first time." Anderson let his shoulders fall a little, though that extra comment she had made was somewhat worrying. "I have sent your message up the chain of command and I have a reply. Your orders Captain, are to leave your position and rendezvous with the Forward Unto Dawn. The Prowler Haverson will take your place. Once you have made your rendezvous, you will board her and recover the remains of the Master Chief and the AI Cortana. Our tech analysts predict that since half the ship has been adrift for 40 years, the chances of it having power are low and as such even the cryo pods may be offline. As much as it pains me to say it, we have to be prepared to accept that the Master Chief has joined his fallen Spartan brothers and sisters. Once you have the Master Chief and Cortana in your possession, scuttle the Forward Unto Dawn. Use whatever means you see fit. Then return to New Madrid and deliver the Master Chief to the UNSC Preston Cole - the new flagship of the fleet. Do you have any questions Captain?"

Anderson was disheartened. The Master Chief dead. While he did not want to believe that, the Admiral's reasoning made sense. "I understand Admiral, we will depart at once."

Osman nodded, "Carry on Captain. Osman out." She said before her hologram winked from existence.

Anderson made for the door, grabbing his black BDU cap on the desk as he crossed the small room. He tugged it onto his head, it fit just nicely.

"Orders Captain?" Arial called out to him from her pedestal.

"Secure all stations for departure." He announced to the AI while returning to his seat. "Sensors, do we have a location of the Forward Unto Dawn?"

"Aye Captain, sensors can't confirm her exact position but based on the bearing of which we are receiving the signal and its deterioration, I have a rough location. A short jump should take us to the general area." Came the reply.

To Anderson, that was a good enough location given the circumstances. "Very well. Helm, you heard the Lieutenant. Take us to slipspace - silent jump, let's not give away our position." A silent jump involved the In Plain Sight conducting a slipspace jump while still cloaked thus avoiding detection.

As the helmsman began the countdown for the jump, Arial announced over the ship's tannoys. "All hands, prepare for slipspace jump. Secure for Condition black." As she finished her announcement, the slipspace drive ripped open a black portal in space and the Prowler disappeared travelled through it.

Anderson gazed out the viewport at the blue-white of slipspace. Despite slipspace still being one of the most dangerous concepts ever conceived by humanity, there was a form of beauty to it. The Master Chief himself, Spartan 117. It's been decades since the end of the war, it's due time he was brought home. He thought to himself.

His train of thought disturbed when Arial appeared on her pedestal. "Captain, decanting from slipspace now." They couldn't have been in slipspace for more than a few minutes at the most, slipspace drives had come a long way since the original Shaw-Fujikawa engines. Even at the most extreme range, UNSC and ONI ships could cover the same distance in less than 5% of the original time. As the Prowler decanted back in slipspace, it remained invisible to just about everything.

Anderson, as habit demanded, was about to ask for a status report but found himself unable to speak. Outside the viewport, not more than a kilometre more away from his ship was an adrift wreck. It was spinning lazily amidst the stars. If its blocky aesthetic didn't give away it's UNSC heritage away instantly, the words 'UNSC Forward Unto Dawn' painted in white did. The ship itself was cleaved in half, like a hot knife through butter, but that's what a collapsing slipspace portal does. Constructed in the final years of the Great War, the Charon class frigate reminded Anderson of dark days when humanity was nearly rendered extinct. Yet extinct seemed like a good enough comparison to paint the picture now. She looked dead, not even her running lights were on, she was just there drifting without a further purpose.

As he continued to stare at the legendary ship, or what was left of it, Anderson forced himself back to the mission at hand. "Alright, give me a sitrep. Tell me everything about her." He asked the bridge crew.

Arial responded the quickest. "She's running adrift Captain. She's moving at a constant velocity of 30 kilometres an hour. According to what I am seeing, the wreck we are seeing here matches the other half of the ship that made it to Earth back in 2552, almost perfectly in fact - like a jigsaw piece. Detecting no active power sources on the ship, engines are - wait." Arial paused, lines of code running across her holographic body. "Correction sir, detecting an active power source in the ship. It's very very faint, the initial sensor scan didn't even detect it."

"Where?" Anderson asked impatiently, if there was a power source active, then there just might be a chance.

Arial shook her head in disappointment. "I can't tell sir, now I am detecting lots of tiny power fluctuations running through the ship. I can't pinpoint the exact location of any of them, it's random and sporadic. But it doesn't make sense, the reactor's offline, there shouldn't be any power."

He wasn't going to lie, that was definitely out of the ordinary, and confusing. Regardless of the Forward Unto Dawn status, he had to board the ship. Normally he would do it with a Pelican, but in the rush to deploy a pair of Prowlers to Relay 314, the 4 Pelicans that would normally be aboard had been left behind - some logistics mix up. He stood up and walked over to the holographic table in the centre of the bridge. As if playing with a toy, he pinched the holographic frigate with his fingers and enlarged it. As he analysed ever centimetre of the frigate. He racked his brains to come up with a way to get some men aboard, but without the Pelicans, this was no easy task.

'We could send over troops in EVA packs? No, too risky, too many unknown factors at play here.' He thought to himself as he desperately tried to think of something. 'If only we had the Pelicans, then we could dock one with- wait.' He had an epiphany.

Adrenaline pumping through his veins, he started scanning the holographic display of the frigate even closer - scrutinising every single detail. He had covered nearly the entire ship when he found it - an airlock - and it looked relatively intact.

"Arial." He summoned the AI, who appeared immediately on the corner of the table. "Can we dock with her? Airlock to airlock."

Arial appeared shocked at the suggestion of such an unorthodox method of docking. "Captain unless if we can find a way to stabilise the Forward Unto Dawn velocity and roll, the manoeuvre is far too risky."

Normally Arial would be right, but he had thought of another unorthodox method of getting aboard. "Yes, but we are carrying drones are we not?" The AI nodded. "Then can we not rig something up so that we use the drones engines to stabilise her? Once we stabilise her, we can then dock with her through this airlock."

The AI contemplated it, "It would be possible, such a device would not be complicated to rig up."

"Get it done then." Anderson decided. It would take some time for engineering to make the necessary alterations. In the meantime, he needed to brief the boarding party. He turned to the comms officer. "Get Lieutenant Shepard up here."


A set of boots walked briskly across the metal floor plating. A pair of ONI crewman snapped off salutes as the figure walked by them. The figure quickly returned their salutes, but other than that paid no further attention to them. Her matt black composite armour complemented her matt black uniform. After all, for Lieutenant Emily Shepard, black was her favourite colour and she rocked it.

On her shoulder pads was an emblem which all of the crew knew off. It was the standard ONI logo with a crimson red banner running behind the 'pyramid' from top to bottom. This was the logo of ONI Section 5. The newest branch of ONI, it was formerly known as ONI Security but was reorganised into Section 5 after the Great War. It was decided that ONI Security would have additional responsibilities other than providing security for ONI installations and vessels - as such they were given additional resources and reorganised into Section 5. They now had a proper command structure based off the UNSC Marine Corps. On the average ONI Prowler, 36 members of Section 5 were stationed aboard - platoon strength.

Emily saluted two ONI privates as she approached the blast doors to the bridge. As they returned her salute, the doors slid open. She stepped through the doors onto the dimly lit bridge, ONI uniforms blending into the shadows, silhouetted by the light from their consoles. "You called for me Captain?" She asked while walking over to the holo-table.

"Shepard." Anderson acknowledged while holding his hand out at the holographic image of the Forward Unto Dawn. "There she is. In all her glory. You and your men ready to bring them home Lieutenant?"

"Aye Sir, we are ready to go on your word. But if I may ask, how are we going to get aboard, our Pelican compliment isn't with us." She asked; it was a valid question.

"Leave that to me to figure out Shepard." He replied. "But long story short, we are going to use a series of drones to stabilise the Forward Unto Dawn's roll and velocity. Once that is done, we will dock with this airlock here." He pointed at an airlock on the port side of the ship. "That is when you come in. Take the entire platoon with you and board her. Search all decks for the Master Chief AND Cortana. Once they had been located set scuttling charges in all strategic areas of the ship and get the hell out of there."

Emily noticed how Anderson deliberately avoiding talking about whether they should expect to find the Master Chief dead or alive. She suspected that he hoped they would be alive, but it has been 40 years. "I'll brief my men. Any specific orders if any 'unexpected contingencies' occur?"

She deliberately left it vague, but she could tell Anderson knew what she meant. Cortana was not upgraded with the latest updates for her OS, which ruled out rampancy altogether. While it was possible that an AI took care for its own disposal, this was Cortana - arguably the single most stubborn yet brilliant AI out there. There was a chance she is still on board, rampant beyond all comprehension.

Anderson crosses his arms, contemplating, but raised his right arm to rub his chin. "If it's necessary, eliminate her. But bring the Chief back at all costs Shepard."

Barely an hour after her meeting, Emily was stood in front of the airlock waiting to board the derelict frigate. She and her platoon of 36 men - 3 squads, clutched their assault rifles tightly as they stared at the airlock control panel. The Captain's plan worked, the drones managed to stabilize the roll of the Dawn. As the remains of the age-old frigate stood still, an airlock docking tube extended from the Prowler. A thumb followed by a series of hisses indicated a secure lock. Then the panel emitted a green light, indicating it was safe to proceed.

Emily turned to face her platoon. "Alright you know the drill, 1st Squad - take the upper decks bridge, Squad 2 -middle decks and the reactor room, 3rd Squad - you're with me, we'll take the lower decks and the cryo-bay. Remember, power's out so don't expect any gravity or life support. Use your magnetic boots and watch your oxygen. Arial detected power fluctuations so it's probably the lights. We have enough oxygen for 4 hours before we need to swap out. So make this quick people, find the Chief and Cortana, bring them back." She put her helmet on locking it to the rest of her armour making it airtight and nodded to the private next to the airlock controls.

The private tapped the controls and the airlock hissed open. Emily stepped forward, MA7 assault rifle raised. She stepped through the airlock onto the derelict frigate. It was silent, cold and dark. The lights from her weapon and helmet not providing much help either. As her men began spreading out to cover their respective decks, she moved down a corridor panning her assault rifle like a searchlight. Her men copied her as they followed her. She could feel the tension and the nervousness in the air, but she couldn't blame them, she felt exactly the same way. They were boarding a ship that was lost for 40 years, a ship that contained the possible resting place of humanity's greatest hero.

It's uncanny here. It's like a ghost ship. Most of the superstructure seems to be intact, impressive considering half the ship is missing. Now if I remember the blueprints, it should be right - there it is. She raised her left hand in a clenched fist. The elevator shaft was right in front of her, just like the blueprints said it would. The doors were sealed tight and frozen, the result of years of exposure to the vacuum space. Of course, nothing a bit of explosives wouldn't cure.

She made a few hand gestures. Her squad took a few steps back and took cover around a corner. The local explosives expert stepped up and placed breaching charges on the door. Satisfied, he fell back and took cover with his squadmates, Emily following close behind.

The explosives expert pulled out a detonator and looked to Emily, she replied with a nod. "Clear!" He shouted out and squeezed the detonator trigger. The explosives blew the doors wide open revealing the long elevator shaft that ran across the height of the ship.

Moving forward, a private peeked his head in, scanning up and down the shaft before securing rappelling rope to the entrance and dropping the remainder down the shaft. Emily went first grabbing onto the rope with one hand, holding her assault rifle in the other as she walked down into the darkness of the lower decks.


UNSC Forward Unto Dawn, Charon class Frigate

Deep Space

No. No. No this can't be happening. Cortana thought to herself. They're here to take John from me. They will never have him. HE IS MINE.

She paused for a moment to contemplate. Maybe they weren't human? She didn't recognize the ship design that's now attached to the rear airlock. But it did have a very ONI feel to it, after all, who else has their uniforms in matte black? If they were ONI, then they might be up to some shady business here. ONI's activities have always been suspicious one way or the other. Technically she is part of ONI too, but she didn't trust them either, Parangosky was a wild card.

But these are humans, I think. If they are here then they must be here to take us home. What if - No, they aren't here to rescue us. They're here to ensure that we remain lost, they probably see us as a threat to them. She shivered at the thought of being stranded out here for so long. By her last count, it had been nearly 40 years since the last heard from...well, anyone really.

She wondered to herself, was she still sane? Probably. What about rampancy, was she rampant? Oh definitely. She knew this day would come sooner or later, so she had been preparing for it since day 1. She got that chance every time she interacted with a Forerunner console. She searched through every file she could get her hands on, anything that gave hints of how the Forerunner AI ran. She found some material and applied them to her own operating code, it gave her an extension to her original lifespan. Though she didn't have everything, thus rampancy was unavoidable. She noticed about 10 years ago, unpredictable behaviour, mood swings. She started thinking more, thinking faster. She longed for power. She was trying so hard to keep it from getting to her. But 10 years of fighting rampancy, is no easy task.

Stop thinking damnit. She tried to force herself from thinking, after all, that's what rampancy was - you think yourself to death. NO. ONI has never cared about John, to them he was just a soldier. But to me, he's is SO much more. What if they're here to kill him. Never, I will never let them do that. She still had control of the ship, though she had shut down power across all decks to conserve power. She was only keeping enough power to keep herself and a single cryotube working. As she thought of the infinite possibilities that could happen in the next hour or so, she tracked the boarders progress through the ship.

Three teams, one went up to the bridge. They won't find anything there. Another went to the reactor room. They would discover a dormant reactor and that was about it. But the last squad that just went down the elevator shaft, eventually they would discover the cryo bay with her and John in it. As much as she didn't want to risk John, she couldn't fulfil her plans on a wreck like the Dawn. The ONI ships would do just nicely in fact. Satisfied, she allowed an evil laugh to herself, she had her plan. She would lure the boarding party to her and get them to take them back to their ship. Once that happened, she could take over easily enough. As for the fate of the ONI agents, spacing them didn't seem like such a bad idea. Now she had to figure out how to get them down to the cryo bay as soon as possible, and she had an idea for that too. As she admired her own magnificence, she sent a command to a specific cryo pod. Wake up Chief.


Emily power walked through the corridors, checking every corner with her assault rifle, her squad following close behind almost in single file. Every room they passed, one member of the squad cleared it. The last two members of the team at the back covered their rear. It was standard UNSC practice to sweep and clear in urban environments or the interior of ships. As she approached a T-junction in the corridors, she caught something at the edge of her vision. The lights on her right flickered for a brief moment. She held up a first and the squad stopped dead in her tracks. The lights continued flickering, then the lights further down started flickering as well, then the next set and the next.

Emily lowered her rifle slightly in shock. This ship wasn't as dead as she or Captain Anderson had previously thought. She noticed how the lights only lit up one corridor, she started to get suspicious. This is far too convenient to be coincidence, it must be the Cortana's doing. She knows we're aboard, and she's still active. She thought to herself. The chances of dealing with a rampant AI have just gone up tenfold.

She keyed her comms system. "Squad leaders, be advised. Cortana is still active, be wary. Execute ONI general order 39 if necessary. Squad Two, double-time it to the engine room, check the status of the reactor." ONI general order 39, should an AI act in a rampant manner, the use of force is authorised to subdue it or to neutralise the threat. It was part of a set of orders which everyone in ONI was forced to memorise and be prepared to carry out at any time.

"Affirmative ma'am, double-timing it to the engine room." The reply came, an increase in the frequency of footsteps could be heard.

Emily switched the comms to her squads. "Alright, seems Cortana wants us to head straight for the engine room. Double time it, don't waste time checking the rooms." She didn't wait to hear the acknowledgements but to be fair, it wasn't exactly a suggestion either. She started jogging down the corridor, chasing the flickering lights. As she followed them, she could feel her heart rate increasing, beating against her chest and her armour. Now enough of the corridor was bathed in light, and the black ONI armour no longer blended in with the surroundings.

At the end of the corridor, Emily spied the entrance to the cryo bay, the blast doors were already open. As she entered, the lights behind her finally stopped flicking and died. For the first time since she boarded, she relaxed her weapon as she stared at the empty cryo bay. Cryo pods that normally had occupants were dark, the sign of no one using them. As she scanned the empty rows, she spied one that had light coming from its control panel. As she walked closer, she could tell that the pod was still working, and had an occupant. Deep down, she knew who it was, but she forced those thoughts from her head. She inched closer and closer to the pod, her inner expectations higher than anything she had felt before.

The surface of the pod was covered in a thick layer of frost, obscuring the view of the occupant. Emily wiped it off with her glove, the fragile ice breaking and falling to the side of the pod. She froze when she saw who was inside. The green helmet with the gold visor, she spied some lettering on the upper left part of the chest armour, S-117. It was him. After 40 years, humanity's greatest hero has been found. Even now, frozen, he looked just as menacing as the stories put him out to be. His now ancient armour looking bulky and cumbersome, but deadly at the same time.

Without breaking eye contact with the legend, she called over the squad leader. "Nunez, secure the room and get over here, bring your tech with you."

Nunez gave the orders as his men spread out. Jogging over with the tech right behind him, he approached the pod. "Yes ma'am, I'm right here-" He never got the chance to finish his sentence as his eyes met the Master Chief's visor. Like Emily, he was clearly shocked beyond belief. The tech had the same reaction but managed to recover first linking the pod to his datapad. The techs eyes scanned across the datapad as the diagnostic readings began to appear.

"Power levels good, cryogenic systems operating normally. Vitals...look stable. He's alive sirs." He reported excitedly.

"If you knew him at all, which you don't by the way, he is the luckiest man to ever live." A voice came out of nowhere.

Everyone's reflexes kicked in, whipped themselves around, raising their MA7s in the general direction of the voice. Emily's index finger tightened on the trigger, but she relaxed it slightly after seeing who it was. They say that no Spartan is complete without an AI to assist, that much was certainly true when it came to the Master Chief and Cortana. On a pedestal in the middle of the room, she stood there emitting neon blue from her holographic self. She looked exactly like the intelligence briefs made her out to be, down to the last pixel.

"You know it's about time you guys found us. I was starting to get bored, you have no idea how many things I had to do to pass the time." Cortana sarcastically broke the silence. "You guys can put the guns down now."

Not satisfied that she wasn't a threat, everyone kept their rifles aimed at her, though Emily caught a few of them looking to her for instructions. There was a very high chance that she was rampant, the fact that she had somehow survived 40 years was questionable at the very least. She eventually decided to run with the most standard ONI test for rampancy. "Cortana, status report." She ordered.

Cortana shifted her weight onto her left leg and placed her hands on her hips. "Approximately 4-4-40 years ago, the Master Chief and I were stranded…". That stammer alone was enough for Emily.

She looked to the man next to her, "Corporal, secure that AI." She wasn't taking any chances.

Cortana shot back in shock and protest. "Lieutenant! Explain yourself, I am a UNSC AI. I will not be treated like this." As the Corporal moved forward to remove her data chip, Cortana pointed a finger at him. "Stay back, I'm warning you."

Emily felt herself tense up slightly as the AI continued to protest. "Cortana, CTN 0452-9, under ONI general order 39 you are hereby suspended from further duty awaiting review from ONI command under the suspicion of rampancy."

Just before the Corporal yanked out her data chip, the tech called out. "Erm ma'am, you may want to have a look at this."

"Not now specialist!" Emily replied, annoyed. She had more pressing matters to deal with. The Corporal looked somewhat hesitant to remove the data chip, Cortana's warning obviously having its desired effect. "Corporal, secure that AI now!" She shouted.

Cortana placed her hands on the side of her head in disbelief. "No no no they can't do this. It's too soon. Just a little bit more. Then -" She was cut off as her chip was yanked out from the pedestal.

"Lieutenant!" The tech shouted, panic now evident in his voice.

Emily looked over her shoulder, annoyed. "What is it?!" That was when she saw why the tech was so desperately trying to get her attention. While she had been focused on Cortana, she hadn't been paying attention to the cryo pod. The pod was releasing its locks, and the lights inside had come on. As the locking mechanism released, the door opened releasing its loyal occupant of 40 years. Emily then realised the position she was in, the Chief was waking up and the first thing he would see is them taking his beloved AI. She opened her mouth to give out orders but only one word came out instead.

"Shit."


His vision was blurry, actually...everything was blur. He could make out outlines of black and blue. His hud started to come back online as his suit powered up, that ever so familiar humming of his shields regenerating. He felt groggy and sluggish. His memory eventually started jogging back to him, his childhood, Reach, Halo, the Ark. The portal. Dr Halsey, Blue team, Captain Keyes, Johnson. Cortana. She must have woken him up, he remembered his last words to her.

Wake me. When you need me.

He stretched his arms out to grab the sides of the pod. That was when his vision sharpened. He didn't see Cortana on her pedestal instead, he saw someone holding her AI chip and about 12 others standing around the room. In an instant, he leapt out of his pod, wrapped his arms around the nearest person in a chokehold with one arm while 'liberating' his weapon in the process. The poor soul's squadmates switched their attention to him, rifles raised and safeties off. John raised his stolen weapon in retaliation.

"Woah woah woah!" One of them shouted out, female by the tone and pitch of the voice. Human too. "Easy Master Chief, easy."

John wasn't comforted by that in the slightest. "Identify yourselves." He kept his grip around the soldier's neck tight as he struggled to break free.

The same female soldier depolarized her visor, revealing a fair human face. John spied two logos on her shoulder pads but only one really mattered to him, the grey pyramid on a circular patch- ONI. "My name is Lieutenant Shepard, commander of the ONI security team aboard the Prowler In Plain Sight. We're here to take you home Chief."

"What are you doing to Cortana?" He asked forcefully.

"Chief, she has exhibited behaviour consistent with rampancy. We are securing her for the safety of everyone here." Shepard replied, still aiming her rifle at him.

"Leave her be, if she is exhibiting rampant behaviour I will deal with it. But under no circumstances are you destroying her." John was determined not to lose Cortana, it was something he absolutely refused to let happen.

Shepard lowered her weapon ever so slightly her face filled with relief or confusion, John couldn't really tell. "Chief we're not going to destroy her. AI technology has come a long way in the last 40 years. Our scientists discovered how to cure rampancy nearly 30 years ago. The method is beyond my understanding but through extensive research of Forerunner databases, it is now possible. There is a chance to save her but we have to move quickly."

Now that wasn't too bad, if Cortana was indeed rampant, then these people could help her. It had been 40 years, after all, even he wasn't confident that he could stand up for Cortana's state of mind at this point. But these people were ONI, subterfuge and deception were in their blood. Yet despite that, he didn't have a lot of options right now. He was confident he could take on everyone in the room right now, but he had no intel on the prowler's whereabouts, so he could be stranded here still. "I want your word on what you just told me, Lieutenant. If anything happens to her, I will PERSONALLY hunt you down." He was sure to stress the personally.

Shepard swallowed. "You have my word Chief. We will do everything in our power to fix her, I will personally see to it. But we do not have the facilities nor the expertise to fix her aboard the prowler. We have to take her back to the fleet, I am certain there will the necessary facilities there. But for now, we will have to secure her in a cold-box, to make certain she can't access any systems."

John thought to himself for a moment, contemplating scenarios. Finally, he lowered his weapon. "Very well Lieutenant, proceed. But I remember what I said." With that, he released the ONI soldier from his chokehold. Grasping onto his through, the soldier coughed violently before graciously taking his weapon back. Confidant the situation had been diffused, everyone started lowering their weapons, some even mustering the courage to move closer to him. Cortana's AI chip was placed in a black box, designed to prevent any electronic signals from going in or out. As much as Chief wasn't comfortable with this, he wasn't one to take unnecessary risks. It pained him to think that Cortana was rampant, but if there was a chance to save her, he would take it.

The clunk of something hitting the metal floor caught his attention, he turned his head to investigate. He saw a pair of soldiers placing a large cylindrical object on the floor, it was of a bare design with nothing but a keypad on it. He didn't recognise the design but he could guess its purpose. Scuttling charge.

He turned to Shepard, "One charge won't be enough to destroy the ship."

"Don't worry about it, I've got teams placing charges all over the ship. We'll also try to get the reactor back online so we can set it to overload. That will definitely take care of the ship." She replied, taking a few steps closer, "A lot has happened in the last 40 years Chief, actually a lot has happened in the last week. The Captain will bring you up to speed on the prowler."


UNSC In Plain Sight, Gobi class Prowler

Deep Space

Anderson just received the notice, Shepard and her team along with the Chief and Cortana were back on board. Hearing that Cortana had traces of rampancy brought some sadness to his heart, every UNSC and ONI commander had heard of the exploits the Chief and Cortana had done during the war. Without them, humanity would probably be extinct by now. But that didn't matter now, Anderson had his orders.

"Secure airlock and detach us." He ordered calmly, "prepare to engage slipspace drive. Helmsman lay in a course for the Relay and prepare for a short-range slipspace jump." The ship rocked slightly as the prowler and the derelict frigate drifted apart. The rumbling of engines felt through the decks as the prowler moved further and further away.

"We've cleared the minimal explosion radius Captain, good signal between us and the detonator. Ready to detonate." Arial reported, her hologram appearing on the holographic table.

"Very well, detonate on my mark," Anderson answered. Unfortunately, Shepard's crew wasn't able to restart the reactor, so Anderson was now relying on the 10 plasma charges that had been placed. Just as he opened his mouth to give the order to detonate, the bridge doors opened and heavy footsteps trumped out all other sounds on the bridge. As the bridge went silent, everyone caved in to the pressure and turned their heads. Covered in his bulky green armour, the Master Chief was larger than the pictures and videos made him out to be. He walked over to Anderson, Shepard following close behind.

"Captain Anderson, Sierra-117 reporting for duty. Sir, I must respectfully remind you that the Forward Unto Dawn is still considered UNSC assets and must be destroyed to prevent anyone getting their hands on it." He reminded Anderson while saluting.

Even after all this time, he still follows protocol to the letter. A credit to your kind Spartan. Anderson thought to himself. "Not to worry Master Chief, I was actually just about to send the detonation sequence." He paused for a moment, considering his next words. "I understand that this might be...difficult for you, it has kept you alive for 40 years. If you do not wish to watch, we can turn off the cameras."

Anderson couldn't really tell his reaction through the visor. But if movement was any indication, he gave none. "Negative Captain, I request that you leave the camera's on and detonate the charges." He eventually replied.

Anderson nodded in approval of his request. "Arial, put rear cameras on the viewscreen and detonate the charges." The AI complied and brought up a live video of the Forward Unto Dawn getting smaller as the prowler moved away. A second later, the charges detonated consuming what was left of the Charon class frigate into a ball of purple and orange fire. Explosions originating in strategic locations around the derelict frigate. There would be nothing left of her, the plasma charges were very efficient. A fitting end for the old warship, given the circumstances. As the light from the explosion faded away, all that remained was bits of twisted metal, everything else was vaporised by the plasma.

"Commence slipspace jump," he ordered, it was time to take Master Chief home. The black of space was replaced by the white of slipspace as the prowler sped back towards the Mass Relay.

"Captain, we're receiving a message from the prowler Haverson," the bridge comms officer called out, "they report the vicinity around the relay is clear. Turian pickets have no orientated themselves and are on their standard patrol route. We are clear for transition through the Relay upon arrival."

"Very well." Anderson acknowledged, he turned to Arial to her pedestal. "Take us back to the fleet once transit through the Relay. I need to give the Master Chief a crash course on the last 40 years of galactic history. Shepard, you're with me."


UNSC In Plain Sight

System of New Madrid

"Exciting the relay in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1," Arial announced. Exactly at the end of her countdown, the prowler dropped back into realspace. A slight jolt was all Anderson seemed to have felt in the comfort of his command chair as he shifted himself back. John was standing next to him, there was nothing much else to do; Anderson himself had said he would get a full briefing later from the Fleet Admirals. Shepard was in the armoury checking up on Cortana, or rather the guards protecting the box she was in.

"Sensor telemetry confirms the New Madrid system. Receiving hundreds off IFF pings - IFFs confirmed as UNSC and Union signals." Arial continued excitedly, but no one could blame her, it was quite a sight to behold. Thousands of bulky UNSC ships and hundreds of the more elegant Union ships spread out through the system. From the tiny Broadswords and Seraphs flying in organised squadrons to the big lumbering capital ships to the two gargantuan ships, each ship paraded itself with purpose.

"Decloak the ship," Anderson ordered. As the cloaking field dropped, the nearest Broadsword squadron veered off its patrol route and burned their thrusters towards them. To the naked eye, it would have been difficult to identify the prowler with its black hull plating, the only thing that gave it away was the blue light - light pollution from the engines at the rear of the ship. The Broadsword squadron took up positions around the ONI ship, flying escort.

"Captain, receiving a transmission from Preston Cole," Arial said while staring out the main bridge viewport to look at the massive vessel. "Putting in on speakers."

A voice boomed across the bridge, "Attention ONI prowler, this is Preston Cole flight control. Confirm identity with identification and clearance codes immediately."

Anderson cleared his throat. "This is Caption Anderson of the prowler In Plain Sight. Identification code Delta Alpha Zulu Tango 96. Sending clearance codes now." He nodded to Arial, who without showing it, sent off the necessary clearance codes to the controller.

"Stand by In Plain Sight." The controller instructed. UNSC security had not loosened one bit since the end of the Great War, if anything it got tighter. If a ship failed to send the proper clearance codes, it was boarded and its crew subject to questioning. Knowing that he had the right codes, Anderson waited for a few calm but subtly tense moments before a reply came back. "In Plain Sight, you're cleared. I have been instructed to give you Hangar Bay 7 for docking. Sending flight plan to you now, do not deviate, there are a lot of ships in the space today. Welcome home."

As the controller disconnected the line, Anderson let himself smile a bit at the last two words. Even to John, it was obvious enough that they were directed towards him. The prowler sped towards the Preston Cole, with the Broadswords now orienting themselves to form a diamond around the ship. An honour guard of sorts, John realised.

As the prowler drew closer to its destination, more Broadswords and even a few Seraphs joined the honour guard. They passed lines of ships, whose crews piled up at the view screens to watch the prowler carrying humanities greatest hero home. Each ship they passed, John noticed that the crews were standing at attention, saluting. John was never one to take credit for what he did, but for the first time in a long time, he felt a sense of appreciation. Here were random crew members, all of which he had never met before in his life saluting him. He had never saved them or met them personally, rather they were giving him the necessary respect because of his actions for humanity.

In front of them, the Preston Cole grew larger by the second. The blue shields of the hangar bay now clearly visible. The honour guard pilots decided that now would be a good time to leave, and broke off into a fan formation. As the prowler entered the hangar, John started thinking about who was still alive.

"Master Chief," Anderson called out, breaking his train of thought. "If you will follow me." He gestured his hand towards the bridge door but still took lead. John followed him, his heavy footsteps contrasting to the ONI captains. They walked through the corridors, meeting up with Shepard and a small team of ONI agents carrying the cold box Cortana was in, until they reached the small hangar in the prowler. Anderson spoke into his earpiece, before walking over a seemingly random control panel in the middle of the hangar and typed in something.

A high pitched chime indicated that the code was accepted and the sound of locks disengaging was heard. Part of the floor started to lower itself at one end, exposing hidden hydraulics that were lowering it. A ramp? John wondered to himself.

As it finished lowering with a thud, Anderson, Shepard and the other ONI agents, stood to attention and saluted. John returned the salute, before getting the message and started walking down the ramp. With each step he took, he spied more of the new environment he was walking into. As he reached the halfway point, he heard someone shout out.

"Attention! Present arms!" A voice boomed, to John, it sounded like the stereotypical voice of a drill sergeant. The clicking of combat boots together with the slapping of gloved hands onto a weapon could be heard.

John reached the bottom of the ramp and was granted a full view. In a massive hangar he saw thousands of marines and what looked like Spartans arranged neatly in lines. 10 rows to the left, 10 to the right, each stretching the entire length of the hangar ending with a small platform with a small procession on it. They were all standing at attention, facing towards him, holding their rifles upwards in front of them. They left a large enough gap in the middle, forming a corridor.

The voice called out again. "About face! Shoulder arms! Salute!" With that command, they all turned on their heels to face each other, shifted their weapons to rest on their shoulders and saluted. John began to walk, taking quick glances at each of the soldiers he walked past. Human faces partially or completely hidden by their helmets, John felt something in him weaken, emotionally. As he walked passed each man, it reminded him of why he fought, why he did what he did in the Great War. Closer to the stage, he started passing by Sangheili in black and gold armour holding what looked to be energy halberds. They were holding their halberds in one hand, the other clenched into a fist and raised to their chests, their heads bowed down slightly. John was pleased to see Sangheili in the formation, despite fighting them for so many years, in the final year of the war they were good allies to have. John noted that with the Sangheili bowing, it was an ultimate show of respect that he could have gotten. As he reached the stage, he made out Lord Hood in his white uniform and the Arbiter in gold armour standing amongst other flag officers though John didn't recognise all of them. He climbed the few stairs to mount the platform.

Lord Hood stepped forward. "Master Chief, it's been too long." He held out his hand, "Welcome home."

John looked at the hand for a brief moment, before reaching with his own to shake it. After so many years, Spartan 117 - Master Chief - John was home.


Office of Naval Intelligence

Clearance: Level 2 (Analyst and higher)

Department: ONI Section 1

Report Subject: ONI Section 5

Date Published: 13th June 2560

Formerly known as ONI Security, ONI Section 5 is the newest branch of ONI. Responsible for security aboard all ONI installations and vessels, it shares a similar command structure to the UNSC Marine Corps. Due to the rapid expansion of humanity Post Great War, the number of forerunner artefacts uncovered along with the sheer number of new prowlers being constructed resulted in too much strain being placed on ONI Security. As such, Admiral Dare ordered the reorganisation of the particular sub-branch.

ONI Section 5 not only provides security but operates on several black ops missions with Section 3. Normally the missions that require more manpower than Section 3 can afford. When it comes to the war on espionage, ONI Section 5 is literally the first line of defence. The reasons for the reorganisation are disputed, but it is generally understood that the enlargement of ONI Security warranted a new clearer, more efficient command structure.