Disclaimer: I don't own halo or any other TV show or book mentioned in this story
Chapter 8: betrayals and revelations
John was sitting in a chair in the hololab; it had been 10 hours since Cortana collapsed. Her full sized form was lying on a table equipped with a holoprojector. Her program was in a state of suspension, in a way it was like an AI in cryo sleep. Commander Collins along with Dr Halsey and colonel Carter had written a program to temporarily stabilize her system, but this was only a stop gap. It wouldn't prevent a total systems failure. The program needed a another day at least to repair her and bring her back online until then he wouldn't leave her side.
Tarinus woke up in the medical bay of his flagship; his second in command was standing next to him.
"Chieftain, he said "I am relieved you survived. We managed to rescue you and get away from the repository before the humans destroyed it, but we were able to recover the reclaimers".
"This is good news!" he replied "we will now be able to crush this human scourge and their heretic allies once and for all" he said sitting up and walking for the exit.
Dr Halsey was approaching commander Keyes's quarters on the Gettysburg, she had been wondering how to approach her ever since she saw her on the forerunner instillation. Halsey had of course herd about her death on the ark and she decided it was time for Miranda to know the truth. She walked up to the red double door and hit the call button. She herd a "come in" and Halsey walked inside as the doors parted. Keyes was seated at a glass desk, opposite the couch underneath the view ports.
"Ah, Doctor, its good to see you. Please sit down" she said pointing to the seat opposite the desk.
"Thank you" Halsey said, sitting in the chair.
"I wanted to tell you what a good job you did in the sphere. You really helped, but you might still have to answer for your actions prior to operation first strike. I don't think anyone will care so you're in the clear. Oh by the way, how's Cortana?"
"Fine" Halsey replied "she might be back online by the time we reach Earth. John is still holding vigil at her side. You know, you look like him".
"Pardon?"
"Your father I mean, I uh… I knew him, along time ago".
"Oh I see, he was the only real family I ever had besides my aunt sally. I stayed with her when my father was away on duty. She was his cousin but she passed away a few years ago so... I have no one now".
"What about your mother?" Halsey asked.
"She died giving birth to me".
"Listen Miranda, your mother didn't die in childbirth".
"What!" said Keyes "what are you talking about my father told me that she died".
"No it's the truth. Your father had to tell you that, in order to protect your real mother".
"Who is she then, and why would my father confide in you with this?"
"Miranda" she said slowly "your mother is sitting right in front of you".
Miranda stood up suddenly taking in what she said.
"I see you're not convinced, here" Halsey said, handing her a photograph she removed from her coat pocket.
Keyes took it and looked at it, the date on it was her birth 28 years ago. There were two people in a hospital room. One of them she recognized as her father, he was standing next to a woman lying in a hospital bed. It was Halsey and she was holding a baby. It was her.!
"My mother's name was Miranda, so that's what we decided to call you".
She looked up at Halsey "why did my father lie to me?".
"He lied because he was ordered to do so, otherwise they would have taken you away from us. The deal was that because of my position in the SPARTAN II program. ONI thought if I had any family, they would become a liability and could be used against me by another power. So we had to cover it up, and it was of the hardest things I ever did in my life".
Halsey had tears in her eyes, then Keyes did something Halsey didn't expect she ran up and hugged her and for the first time in a while Miranda didn't feel alone in the world
Vice Admiral Margaret O. Parangosky was sitting in her office at ONI headquarters holding a file folder and briefing another person in her office. She was pushing 100 years old and held the position of director for almost 50 years.
"Listen up, son" she began "we've intercepted a message from the Gettysburg to lord hood. Apparently, there were Spartan survivors in that forerunner complex on onyx. There were of course SPARTAN IIIs that survived, and now it seems our project is going to be exposed. Ackerson didn't do a through enough job covering up his program so now we're left to clean up his mess. There is also the matter of that AI the Master Chief has, this 'Cortana'. From the reports I've read, she's become a liability and must be taken care of. Am I understood".
"Yes, sir" said a male voice.
"Good. Now our plan is to disable the Gettysburg so you can get aboard. Now in order to get you on that ship we've reversed engineered some forerunner transporter technology recovered from a crashed ship found on Eridanus II. Using this we'll be able to insert your team and get you out before they know what hit them. We also plan to send engineers to recover specimens of their technology. Your secondary objective is to protect my people. But your primary objectives are: to erase any evidence of the Spartan III program, neutralize Cortana, then find a way to destroy the Gettysburg. Make it look like an accident.
"I understand, sir"
"Good, dismissed"
And with that the figure encased in SPI armor, turned to leave. Petty officer first class, Timothy-G022, head of gamma company, was about to go into his hardest mission yet.
"
You wanted to see me, Doctor?" said Anderson, walking into the doctor's office off of sickbay.
"Captain, I was examining our new guests, specifically the SPARTAN IIIs. Take a look" pointing to a display on the wall, he hit a few buttons on his desk and brought up a readout of one of the Spartans.
"From what I can tell their augmentations are pretty much the same, but I found these compounds in their system, this one", he taped some controls and its chemical structure appeared, "appears to be a mutagen that alters their brain chemistry allowing them to tap into their animal instincts during times of great stress or danger. There's also these two", the doctor brought up two more chemicals. "These apparently counter the side affects of the mutagen. I've only found this in three of them, according to the other two Spartan IIIs , those three are from the most recent company. And from my readings, those three are only between 12 and 13 years old".
"What!" the captain said "are you telling me they're kids! But they look like teenagers. What about the other two?"
"They are about 19 years of age, but I'm guessing they went into combat at about the same age as the others. The girl appears to be suffering some form of post traumatic stress".
"It would seem that these SPARTAN IIIs raise more questions than answers" said Anderson.
"Captain, according to my analysis the counter agent is breaking down, it apparently needs to be regularly administered. I've been able to create a retrovirus that will repair the damage done and destroy any traces of the mutagen. I would need your permission to give it to them."
"Is there some kind of risk with these Spartans?"
"Even if they continually get the counter agent, the mutagen will continue to erode the reason centers of their brain. If they don't get the retrovirus then in a few years... they'll be too far gone to help."
"I suppose you have a plan to give this to them?" The captain asked.
I'll have our guests come in for inoculations against Teluvin fever that a member of the crew contracted. I'll give everyone else placebos but the three Spartan IIIs in question..."
"...would get the retrovirus" said Anderson "I'll give you the green light on this doc."
Tarinus walked into the prophet's chamber and saw retribution sitting in his hover chair, looking at the pod his people had recovered.
"Come, chieftain" he said.
Tarinus walked over to join him; he looked inside one of the pods and saw a human encased in a green armor wearing a helmet with a large yellow faceplate.
"What is the meaning of this!" he said "why are they're humans in the reclaimer's pods?"
"Tarinus, the humans are the reclaimers".
"What! But what you say cannot be true. The forerunners must have made a mistake".
"Silence" retribution yelled "I know how this must sound but gods do not make mistakes. We have been fighting the very species the forerunners left to reclaim their empire. We must seek a truce with the humans. We have defiled the very gods whom we worship".
Tarinus could not believe what he had herd if it had come from anyone but the prophet it would be heresy, and he would have killed them on the spot how he was going to deal with this revelation was anyone's guess.
John was sitting in the same chair when blue team, Dr. Halsey and Commander Keyes entered the hololab.
"Hey, John" Kelly said walking over and putting a hand on his shoulder "relax, I'm sure that Starfleet program will have her up and about in no time" she said, trying to raise his spirits. But she knew it was no good. They all knew it wouldn't stop her program from degrading, this bought her another month at least. He continued to just sit there, looking at her holographic form.
"John, listen, you need to get some rest" said Fred.
"I'm fine" he replied in a hoarse voice.
"Like hell" said Kelly "even we need rest".
"I won't leave her side" he replied.
"Do I have to make it an order" said Fred.
John knew he couldn't fight them on this so he decided to get some rest and he returned to his quarters the captain had assigned. He wasn't used to such a spacious and luxurious cabin but he wasn't complaining. The spartan removed his armor for the first time in weeks, used the sonic shower, got a meal from the replicator and finally collapsed on the bed. But he couldn't fall asleep, all he could think about was Cortana. John finally dosed off though.
--
The shadow of intent dropped out of slipspace a few hours later, near Cairo station with the Gettysburg only. Odyssey had undocked and was waiting at another set of coordinates. They didn't need to surprise the UNSC with another stray ship. The Gettysburg undocked and moved toward the station. On the bridge, Anderson was talking to lord hood about what he had just learned.
"So the covenant want to talk?".
"Apparently so, their new prophet is contacting us now, I would like for you monitor".
"Agreed" said Anderson then the viewscreen changed to show the prophet sitting in a levitating chair.
"You are the leader of the humans?" he said.
"No, but I speak for him" came hood's voice
"Very well, I have called you because I wish to seek a truce with your people. You may have your doubts but I give you my word we do not have a hidden agenda"
"I find that hard to believe, especially coming from you!" hood said
"We have realized the mistake we have made we did not know that humans were the reclaimers of the forerunners. Killing the reclaimers is one of the greatest sacrileges of the covenant"
"He speaks the truth" said the arbiter from behind Anderson "it would seem they have realized their error".
"And how have you come to this sudden change in judgment?" said hood
The prophet moved away to revel what was behind him; it was the slipspace field pods.
"What have you done to them?"
"Nothing I assure you, and I will return them I will also accompany them. I will be on a carrier manned by a very small crew, only one ship. Once I arrive we can begin peace talks".
"You must understand I need to talk with my superiors"
"I do but you must understand that I am coming anyway. What ever you decided to do with me I will not object", the channel closed and lord hood reappeared on the viewscreen
"Arbiter what do you think?" he asked.
"I believe he is sincere but we should not take the risk"
"I agree with him" said Anderson
"Well so do I but if there is the slightest chance for peace; I'll have to talk with HIGHCOM, we should still be prepared. Hood out"
--
John feeling rested enough decided to return to the holo lab but when he got there he found out blue team along with Halsey and Keyes never left, they stayed and watched over her while he was asleep.
"Hey John" said Linda as he walked in.
"What did I miss?"
"Well I'm pleased to report the program will be finished in two hours" said Halsey "she should be back to herself without any trouble, but as you know this will only buy her another month at least".
"I wish we could do more for her" said john sitting down in his usual chair.
Miranda was looking at one of the displays showing Cortana' higher thought process. "They look familiar" she thought to herself, then it hit her. She turned to face Halsey. "Hey I think I just got an idea, we can save Cortana".
John immediately stood up and faced her "if I may ask ma'am, what is your plan?"
"Well from what I understand an AI is created using a human brain, so the AI's higher thought pattern is practically the same as a human neural pattern".
"Ok, just what are you getting at?" asked Kelly.
"I'm saying we use the same process that revived me. I'm saying we make Cortana human".
Halsey looked at her daughter and smiled "she gets that intellect from me" she thought to herself.
"Could something like this be possible?" John asked Halsey, his heart was racing; he and Cortana could actually be together.
"It may require some research but I doubt we have time for that. I'll speak to the ship's Doctor, apparently he's some kind of expert on everything medical" said Halsey
"Well then it's settled. Cortana here is about to become human" said Kelly looking down at her holographic body, still lying on the table.
"This could actually work" thought john
Tarinus could not believe this was happening. He was there when he presented his proposal to the humans, he knew what he was going to do was right for all covenant.
"Ah chieftain, come in" he said as Tarinus entered the prophet's chambers.
"Prophet, I have herd about your truce with the humans. But is it really true?"
"Yes, it is a wondrous occasion. I will make my announcement to the entire covenant shortly. This will usher in a new age for us Tarinus. Do you understand what this will mean? We may be able to convince the separatists to make peace as well".
"Oh I understand" he said as he drew his gravity hammer. "I understand that you do not deserve to be called a prophet!" he yelled as he swung his hammer at the prophet. The gravitational force caused retribution to be knocked from his chair and on to the floor
"What are you doing, I am a prophet hierarch!".
Tarinus walked over and prepared to swing "No, you are a heretic and you will die as such!" his hammer was the last thing the prophet of retribution ever saw.
Commander Keyes had explained the plan to lord hood, he was puzzled at first but he agreed to send over the equipment to the Gettysburg. They were going to perform the procedure there because the Gettysburg was just so much more advanced. Fred was walking on a corridor on deck 8 when Ash ran up behind him.
"Lieutenant" he said, running up to him.
"Ash, what's going on?"
"Sir, I just wanted to talk to you about my team, I know that we were just temporarily assigned to your team. But I was wondering if we could make it official? I know that my team can help you and you could use all the help you can get".
Fred just stood there looking at ash thinking about what he said, true they were just kids but they've proven themselves in a combat situation before. Which proved what he already knew, they were Spartans.
"Ok I'll talk to lord hood about it, you know we still haven't told him about the Spartan IIIs but I think there shouldn't be a problem. So as far as I'm concerned your officially part of blue team".
"Thank you…" he was cut off as the ship began to rock. Fred thought he herd an explosion. The corridor lights began to flicker and red, flashing strips appeared on the wall.
--
"Report!" yelled Anderson gripping the side of his chair. The science station exploded in a shower of sparks and loose wires were dangling behind him.
"Sir, we were hit by some kind of high speed projectile" said his ops officer, "it cut a hole straight through the saucer. The hole wasn't that big but it went through an EPS relay. We have power fluctuations all over the ship".
"Where did that projectile come from?" yelled Anderson.
"Captain, Sensors indicate it came from an approaching UNSC destroyer. Our communications are also down, we can't call lord hood" said Baker.
"Sir!" Cheney yelled "I'm detecting unauthorized beam-ins all over the ship. We're being boarded!".
