Disclaimer: I can't believe that this still has to be said, but Halo is all Bungie's. Any attempts to sue the author will net you at most one of my doomsday devices (Go ahead and take, I have more!).

A/N: As always, my deepest appreciation for my betas, Tikigod and vrbtny. They help make this story possible (and having some semblance to English instead of lower Slobovian).


"All warfare is based on deception." - Sun Tzu, The Art of War.


0800 Hours, October 13th, 2552 (Military Calendar) / 1st Spartan Combat Group, Covenant CCS-class Battlecruiser Truth and Reconciliation, Caria System, Sector 259.

Calling the CCS class Covenant vessels a battlecruiser is a bit inaccurate. The CCS class does not fit the classic definition of a battlecruiser as a fast ship killer meant to hunt down weaker opponents and outrun stronger foes. A better description would be an overly large Reverence class cruiser with a large hangar deck to hold planetary assault forces. Resting in the very bowels of the ship, the main hangar forms the bulk of its center bulge that is the defining feature of the CCS class. Usually meant to hold and disembark ground elements via it's central gravity lift, the main hangar is nearly a half a kilometer wide and about 150m in height and can receive support ships right up to a small frigate for repairs and resupply. Twelve raised platforms scattered about the hangar and linked by catwalks serve as both observation areas and as bases for heavier repair equipment. Despite the power of its guns and the strength of its shields, the main hangar is the heart and soul of a CCS class battlecruiser like the Truth and Reconciliation.

It is also the site of a pitched battle between the ship's contingent and the 2nd battalion of the 1059th ODST regiment and the 1st Spartan Combat Group. The wounded freighter that the battlecruiser had just picked up smuggled in the entire UNDF boarding party right underneath the Covenant's nose.

The deck shook again as another massive explosion tore through the Covenant ranks, snuffing out the crazed cackle of Jonathan. 20mm HEIAP ripped through the exposed grunts and elites in Wa's sights. They had been caught completely by surprise. Those that escaped the shock trooper's wrath ran for their lives, though Richard landed right in front of them and incinerated them.

Behind the Spearheads, 1st and 2nd platoon of the 2nd battalion rolled out of the freighter's hangar. Six warthogs armed with 20mm helical rail autocannons and 120mm recoilless rifles added their fire to the footborne helljumpers as they charged forward. On the other side of the freighter, 3rd and 4th platoon backed up by Noble Team poured out of the damaged starboard side cargo bay doors.

"Move! Move!" Carter shouted to the soldiers as he fired. Covenant return fire was intermittent and weak at best. A few small Covenant security teams quickly rushed into the hangar to deal with the boards, but they were cut down by the sheer volume of incoming fire. Taking advantage of the lull, the Nobles and the ODSTs charged up the ramps and gravity lifts onto the platforms.

Carter knew that this was their window of opportunity. If it hadn't been for the fact that the Covenant crew had been caught completely off guard, the boarding party would have been at the center of a kill zone. The raised platforms and the many alcoves and support beams provided a perfect defense for any defenders. They had to take those positions quickly before the Covenant could properly retaliate. The platforms in particular dominated the hangar, placing the six hangar entrances in complete enfilade while offering good defilade against incoming fire. Each access point was wide enough to allow an entire squad to march through lined up abreast with proper intervals.

The first five platforms by their vicinity fell quickly and the boarders began consolidating their positions. Machine guns were placed with direct lines of fire right down the closest corridors whose entrance had already been secured. As the Covenant attempted to attack the humans from behind, they were met with 1,500 rounds per minute from several MGs with complete enfilade on their targets. Whole squads were wiped out within seconds. Several file of jackals and two hunter pairs attempted to advance behind their shields, but they were quickly dispatched by the sheer volume of incoming MG fire and rocket gunners armed with M800 LAWs.

"Let's toast these muppets already!" Richard shouted to the other Spearheads as he popped another can of triethylaluminum into the incinerator. Just as he was prepared to boost across the hangar, Nicole intervened.

"Keep your skirt on! Let them come. As you just said, this is a distraction. We better put up a damn good show!"

"Killjoy!" Jonathan retorted as he lowered his panzerfaust.


Covered by the chaotic fighting around, the twenty four Spartan-IIs departed from the freighter via the smaller hatches around the hull. They were cloaked as they landed, quickly moving across the hangar and entered the sixth portal that had been locked down. They slipped through quietly, letting several Covenant squads pass by without them knowing any better. After a few more rooms and bays, the two teams split up and moved towards their own objectives.


Resistance began to stiffen at the other platforms as Covenant reinforcements began to respond in strength from the far side accesses. From their vantage point, the Spartans and ODSTs fired upon them, eliminating a few squads but unable to completely stem the tide. The Covenant quickly took to the platforms themselves and fired on the humans below, though they were forced behind cover by the withering fire from the four 20mm autocannons as the warthogs attempted to move forward to allow their gunners to fire directly into the corridors. The lightly armored vehicles, however, could not sustain this kind of fire at close range. One of them fell to a newly arrived pair of hunters before the rest of the warthogs retreated back behind cover. The Covenant took the opportunity to push several mobile shield generators forward to make their advance into the hangar easier.

The catwalks were surrounded with weapon fire as teams of elites and jackals attempted to storm the human positions from above. Firing straight across the catwalks, the Covenant took their toll on the ODSTs holding closest two platforms. As they neared, they tossed overloaded power cells and plasma grenades, ending the last of the ODSTs' resistance for at least a while. Their advance, however, ended quickly as Wa turned his autocannon on them. 20mm HEIAP shells, each with the equivalent kinetic energy of a 50mm cannon round, tore right through any shields with the first hit and splattered charred chunks against the bulkheads.

The next wave of Covenant reinforcements arrived and joined their embattled comrades on the other side, setting up light plasma turrets in an attempt to wrest fire superiority back from the humans. Jun and Steven, however, quickly destroyed the guns with hypersonic 12.7mm slugs. But that didn't stop the Covenant from bringing even more turrets and gun crews in to replace them. In the meantime, Jonathan restricted himself to counterbattery duty, immediately shelling any grunts brave enough to reveal his position with a fuel rod burst with 60mm rifle grenades.

"I think that we've humored them for long enough." Carter shouted to Nicole. "Get ready to hit them right through the center."

"Copy that." Nicole replied. She slapped Rich and Wa in the shoulders. "Showtime, guys!"

"Silva, bring up the MGs!" Carter ordered.

"Bring up the medium forty twos! I want fire superiority on the far side platforms!" Silva shouted to his men. The ODSTs brought up several M42 MG teams and placed them on the platform. They hastily set up tripods and planted their medium MGs with water jacketed barrels into the fittings. The gunners lifted their covers and pushed a thousand round belt into the receiver. They flicked the selector switch to 1,500 rpm and opened fire. The storm of self-sharpening tungsten quickly forced the Covenant behind what cover provided by the consoles before they too were chewed away, cutting down some of the grunts and elites and pinning the rest behind the thick support beams and columns. The Spartans added their heavy fire to the helljumpers', shredding through the columns with 12.7mm HEIAP fire and 50mm grenades.

In the center of the maelstrom, the assault element of Spearhead team prepared to move forward in complete defiance of the Covenant's firepower. They weaved through the shattered wreckages of the many Seraphs and phantoms that the crossfire and Jonathan's barrage had claimed. Whilst Wa, Richard, and Nicole were on the deck below, Steven and Jonathan stayed on the furthest back platform.

"Steven! Jonathan! Get ready to give them the mad minute!" Nicole shouted.

"You got it, boss!" Steven shouted back as he poked out to quickly take another shot with the Eargesplitten Loudenboomer.

The shock trooper took lead as he calmly turned out of cover and advance into the open center of the hangar. The air around the Wa cracked and popped as little arcs of electricity jumped to any objects, surfaces, or particles close to him. The electrostatic surrounded his entire body and projected out into a protective field. Half a dozen plasma turrets trained their sights on the new target waltzing towards at an almost leisurely pace.

"Holy shit!" McKay said as she and her squad saw the spectacle. "What the hell is he thinking!"

For a moment, the helljumpers looked on in amazement at the seeming stupidity of the shock trooper's lonely offensive. But there was a method to Spearhead's extreme madness. With all the fire being drawn toward Wa, the rest of Spearhead, Noble Team, and the ODSTs suddenly found themselves almost completely free of return fire from the Covenant. By now, nearly every Covenant defender in the hangar trained their weapons on the shock trooper. They quickly exploited the pause and unloaded with abandon. 514 paid no heed to any of it as he drew his pulse energy cannon and fired it into the shield wall. The ensuing plasma detonation obliterated the wall, exposing the Covenant reinforcements to fire once again. The shock trooper moved passed the first shattered line of defenses and fired on the Covenant about fifty meters ahead.

The two brothers of Spearhead emerged from their cover, one with a panzerfaust and another with Eargesplitten Loudenboomer. Jonathan sent the shell flying to the further Covenant held platform, completely obliterating the area and knocking most of the Covenant defenders down. He dropped the spent tube and drew his assault grenade launcher. Beside him, Steven zoomed into the chaos with his scope. In rapid succession, Steven sent one hypersonic 12.7mm ferromagnetic slug after another 400m meters downrange and picking off the elites who were so vital to organizing the defenses. Jonathan joined in his brother's barrage, directing his fire at the plasma turrets. In less than ten seconds, Steven and Jonathan had both exhausted their magazines. They quickly slapped in another for their respective weapons and resumed the barrage.

20mm shells flew past a storm of plasma as the Covenant traded fire with the shock trooper. The piles of crates and corpses offered little cover to 20mm helical rail autocannon at nearly point blank range. Even the thick bulkheads and support beams were ripped apart. The aliens that had been using them as cover were unceremoniously blown to pieces. The majority of the plasma bolts thrown at Wa, however, arced away against the ionic buffer. More than a few bolts, however, did hit and fuel rod bursts and needles still flew straight and true. Staggered by the blows, 514 steadied his stance as he traded blows with hundreds of Covenant warriors that nearly surrounded him, relying on his strength of his body, shields, and armor and the overwhelming desire to lay waste to every living being in sight to hold his ground. The Covenant soldiers were forced out of cover to fire on him lest they let the shock trooper's autocannon simply chew their cover away. This, however, exposed them to fire from other Spartans and the ODSTs. The other humans picked their exposed enemies off with ease and their positions began to crumble. With fire superiority firmly in their grasp and the enemy losing their cohesion, Emile and Kat led the helljumpers forward on the catwalks.

"Go, Rich! Go!" Nicole shouted.

Slinging his PDR, Richard drew his flamethrower again and hit his jump jets. In one powerful burst from his thruster pack, he shot across the hangar and landed on one of the two last Covenant held platform.

"Call in the exterminator! We have an infestation!" Rich taunted as he unleashed a stream of triethylaluminum. The volatile mixture spontaneously combusted with the air, growing ever hotter and brighter with every meters out. A hunter and several elites and jackal sharpshooters were caught in the blast. The Covenant warriors simply vaporized, leaving a melting set of heavy armor puddling onto the floor. Another squad of grunts nearby missed the blast cone, but the sheer heat pouring out from the brilliant white flames set their flesh and armor on fire and detonated their methane tanks. Richard hopped down onto the deck and poured more triethylaluminum almost twenty meters down one of the corridors, incinerating another wave of reinforcements and melting the deck.

Forced to choose between two equally bad options, the Covenant opted to direct their firepower at the lone shock trooper. It took dozens of hits, but they finally knocked the behemoth down. Still, the merciless barrage continued. Volleys of plasma grenades added to the growing inferno until the massive magazine was breach and the shells detonated in a spectacular explosion.

"Um, shouldn't we help him down there?" Sergeant Lister asked as he looked down from the catwalks at the funeral pyre of the shock trooper.

"Oh him? He's fine." Emile responded nonchalantly. He pointed towards a specific part in the flames. "Look. There he is right now."

A single menacing figure rose from the flames. The few elites and hunters that weren't tangling with Richard or was out of the line of fire to notice Wa-514 emerge from the flames. His 20mm autocannon and its magazine had been left behind, but his massive shield and pulse energy cannon was still equipped. His armor, similarly, was scarred and burnt, but otherwise still in functional shape. Wa growled at his dumbstruck foes, the guttural disturbance audible even through the armor. With a roar, he hurled his still glowing metallic shield towards the Covenant defenders. The flying and still red hot shield struck a hunter right through its waist and impaled the mighty alien to the wall before the bloody and burning corpse bisected and plummeted onto the floor.

The shock trooper charged headlong into the fray with shocking speed and agility. Aggrieved at the loss of its bond mate, another hunter took aim at 514 and fired. The fuel rod landed dead on at his chest, but it only slowed him down. The hunter lurched forward, determined to meet the shock trooper's charge with its own. The two monsters collided head on, sparks flying from the armor's electrostatic buffer. But 514's momentum was barely broken as he speared the hunter straight into the shield that had claimed its bond mate and right through the alien's thick body armor. All around Wa, the horrified and shell shocked elites, jackals, and grunts froze even as they trained their weapons on him. 514 charged into them with abandon, smacking aside an elite into the walls that left a bloody trail as the shattered corpse slide onto the ground. Another elite, this one an ivory clad ultra that had been conducting the defense, drew its plasma sword from its side and lunged. 514 didn't try to dodge the strike. Using all its strength to pierce the electrostatic buffer, the ultra's blade connected solidly with Wa's chest, but the powerful shield and thick armor held. The enraged shock trooper dug his fingers into the elite's chest and waist as the electrical discharged destroyed its shields and ripped the alien in half.

"Heads up!" One brave grunt shouted as it threw a primed plasma grenade at Wa. The shock trooper hurled the bloody torso in his hands, connecting with the grenade and returning it back to its owner. He turned back to the two impaled hunters and ripped one of the corpses off the wall. Lifting it into the air, Wa tore the waist from the torso, bathing his armor in orange blood before the electrostatic difference flash dried it into an organic paint. Now armed again, he tore into the Covenant formations from within, smashing all opposition into bloody smears.

Meanwhile, Richard torched his enemies with abandon until his incinerator ran dry. With no time to reload, he popped the hook on the chain and dropped the incinerator. Just as he drew his assault grenade launcher, the Covenant regrouped, intent on eliminating him. Richard fired first. Hundreds of small frangible pyrophoric explosive buckshots screamed out of the barrel into a very wide dispersal cone and struck a group of two elites and three jackals. The pellets smashed into dust on impact with their plasma shields, but they immediately combusted with free oxygen into a massive thermobaric explosion. Richard swept all immediate resistance with volleys of explosive shotgun bursts until he expended all sixteen rounds.

It was then that a team of elites pounced. Six ultra elites wielding plasma swords and two hip fired plasma turret rushed at Richard. The aliens threw volleys of plasma grenades and overloaded power cells.

"Oh, that's not good."

701 ignited his jumpjets and blasted away from the plasma detonations, but the power cell's ionic discharged flatlined even his assault shields as he twisted himself to land on the ceiling in a crouch. Upon contact, his legs thrust him downwards towards one of the turret wielding elites. The two collided and smashed into the ground. Streaming power into the micro-couplers, the Spartan open palmed struck at the elite's chest, disabling it shields and electrocuting it. Before he had a moment to recover, though, Rich was immediately beset by the sword wielding elites again. To prevent them from attacking him all at once, he charged them. Rich sidestepped the first and pulled a stick grenade from his belt. As the second attempted to low swipe him at the knees, Richard leaped somersaulted in the air, allowing him to plant a vicious kick to its back that sent the alien smashing into a support beam. As he was about to land, the third elite lined him up for an easy thrust. But Richard hit his jumpjets again and quickly tackled him. As the fourth elite moved to aid its comrade, Richard blasted off again, but not before leaving a surprise behind.

"Delivery is free for today only!"

The grenade detonated, blowing another in the deck where the unfortunate elite was as it sent everyone nearby, including Richard, crashing onto the floor. Groaning from the concussion of the blast, Richard pulled himself up. But it was then that he himself was taken to the ground. The last ultra pounced onto him and projected a plasma dagger from its wrist. Just as he was about to plunge the blade, though, its arm disintegrated in a gory blast. Not half a second later, its head joined its arm in shattered oblivion.

At four hundred meters, Steven unloaded one round after another from the Eargesplitten Loudenboomer in quick succession. He picked off one target after another as they tried to attack Richard. As his rail rifle recoiled after every shot, he used the duration to quickly pick out another target and adjusted his shoulder and forearm. Even before the rifle had resettled, his natural aim was already on his next target. He pulled the trigger as soon as the rifle was aligned with his natural aim. In less than eight seconds, all sixteen rounds were gone and sixteen freshly deceased bodies surrounded Richard as he finally readied his weapons.

"You don't mess with the king of the mad minute!"

Panic broke out in the Covenant ranks as all semblance of an orderly defense evaporated. The helljumpers advanced quickly, quickly mopping up all resistance in the periphery. Noble Team, the rest of Spearhead Team, and the four remaining warthogs closed in for the kill. The shock trooper chased them into the last corridor still in Covenant hands. Though the elites stood their ground, the grunts and jackals were in a headlong retreat using the shield walls to cover their escape.

The storm of plasma bolts from over a dozen plasma storm rifles did nothing to slow the shock trooper down as he hurled one half of the heavy corpse at the shield wall, shattering the field and smashing the elites behind them. He closed in for the kill, using the remaining half of the corpse as a flail as he smashed them against the ground and walls.

"They're mine!" Rich shouted as he zipped right passed Wa with his assault grenade launcher in hand. He quickly finished off the remaining elites with a few canister shots. Just as he was about to chase after the retreating grunts and jackals down the corridor, Nicole stepped up and mowed them down with her 12.7mm SCR.

"No, they're mine. You guys had more than your fair share already."

Behind them, Jonathan and Steven along with the rest of Noble Team caught up. Around them, the ODSTs consolidated the remaining areas with machine guns and dug in. They were not going to get dislodged from this ship. Several more attempts to retake the hangar were driven off with ease. Everyone in the hangar regrouped and reloaded as the medics counted the dead and tended to the wounded.

"Glad to see that you guys haven't lost your touch." Carter began.

"That was reckless! Insane, even! None of you have any right to be alive after the stunt you guys just pulled." Emile shouted. "It was beautiful."

Wa caught up with the other Spartans, giving Emile a good look at the shock trooper's armor. "No offense, big guy, but orange ain't your color."

Wa simply walked away. Before Emile could say anything else, Carter silenced him with a shake of his head.

"So what now?" Jorge inquired.

"More!" Wa growled as he retrieved his shield. "This isn't enough!"

"Well, we were meant to be a distraction. We better keep up the momentum." Jun asked.

"What should we hit next?" Kat asked.

Before anyone could answer, Wa began to walk towards the port side corridor access. "The main barracks!"


The Spartans of Blue Team arrived at the ship's central environmental controls. The room was fairly large and held the air scrubbers and the big coils of the magnetic pumps. The Spartans entered the bay with the usual ring that was characteristic of Covenant doors. The squad of grunts and jackals along with a team of six elites turned to look with their weapons ready. They saw nothing at first until another squad of grunts and jackals ran across the opened door on their way to drive back the boarders. Convinced that their comrades had just made a simple mistake, they turned back to their tasks.

John crept up to leader of the six elites, a crimson armored sergeant. As he closed to his turned back, he drew his combat knife and waited for the rest of his squad to get into position. Eleven green lights blinked on his HUD. With just a thought, the Commander streamed megawatts of electricity into his left palm's micro-couplers. He quickly hooked his left around his target's shoulders and planted his palm right onto the elite's chest. It shields immediately overloaded. Before it could scream in pain and shock, John drove his blade right into the elite's neck, severing its seventh and eighth vertebrae. At the same time, the other Spartans struck at their targets. In less than half a second, the only occupants of the room that were still alive were the Spartans.

The Spartan dropped their active camouflage and took up defensive position at the door. John moved to the central console and inserted Cortana into the network. The AI had managed to hack the ship's system from afar to prevent it from calling for help and from jumping away, but she couldn't reliably seize control of the ship without actually being in the system. The holographic interface flickered off and was replaced by Cortana's blue avatar.

"That was way too easy! And it's so cramped in here. It's barely bigger than the armor matrix."

"Cortana, do you have access?" John asked.

"Well, almost all of it. There were some systems that I had to disable outright for a while before. I'll have to clean the house afterward. But I have to say that they don't have much of a firewall up in their system. It's like they never anticipated the possibility that someone would try to hack them from the inside."

"Let keep focused." The commander reminded. "We still have to clear out the rest of the ship."

Cortana raised a surveillance image of the hangar bay next to her hologram. The massive hangar was littered with dead and wounded and every surface was riddled with plasma burns or bullet holes. The freighter that they had infiltrated the ship in was on fire. Several machine guns were still firing into the access corridors, easily stopping the bottlenecked Covenant counterattacks. John almost winced when a support beam that had been chewed up by 20mm cannon fire collapsed and cleaved into the freighter's hull.

"Well, I suppose that we should considering ourselves lucky that still have half a freighter left to give ONI."

The image changed to show several Spartans dropping their active camouflage and ambushing elites and grunts on a series of catwalks and open decks that surrounded a large contraption that John guessed was the ship's reactor. The battle ended quickly, leaving dozens of Covenant warriors dead on the ground.

"I think it's safe to drop radio silence now." Cortana quipped.

John nodded and opened a channel to Fred down in the ship's engineering. "Blue one to Red one. Radio communication authorized. Do you copy?"

"Copy, Blue One." Fred responded. "Engineering secured. Awaiting further orders."

"Standby, Red one." John placed the channel on hold and gave Cortana a nod.

She knew exactly what he meant. "Activating atmospheric pumps in all areas of the ships still occupied by the Covenant. Complete decompression in thirty six seconds."


In the number three barracks, an entire platoon of Covenant warriors prepared for battle. It was a fairly large room, enough to house over a hundred warriors for long deployments in comfortable sleeper pods and open bunks. Now, they were all ripped from their welding as the Covenant piled whatever furniture, storage crates and whatnot for cover and reinforced them with shield emplacements. Sixty three grunts and sixteen jackals led by eight minor elites and two crimson veterans stood ready to fire on the only door into the barracks. Two pairs of hunters and four plasma turrets further reinforced their position. Still, there was a sense of dread hanging in the air. Most of the ship's crew had already been thrown at the human boarders. Word was filtering back that the counterattack had failed spectacularly with nearly every member of the assault forced wiped out. More than that, they could hear the humans getting closer by the horrid screams of their comrades along with shaking of the deck and the staccato of the primitive human weapons. What chance did they really have against them? But it didn't matter, so long as they performed their last duties honorably and secured their place on the Great Journey.

On the other side of the door, Spearhead Team formed up for their assault. The corridor ascended in a very smooth incline straight into the number three barracks. The shock trooper was in front with his heavy metallic shield. Behind him, Richard loaded his last can of triethylaluminum into his flamethrower. Jonathan stood in the center with his assault grenade launcher loaded with FPX canister shots and two large satchels over his shoulder. Nicole and Steven formed the last of the column, covering the team rear with their 12.7mm SCRs against surprise visitors.

Jonathan took one of the satchel off, giggling as he prepared the fuse. But this was no ordinary satchel charge. Aside from being loaded with just over a dozen kilos of C-12, the fabric that actually held the explosives together had been replaced with a thick needlepoint weave of detonation cord; even the strap was made of explosives.

"I think that this should be enough to make us a decent sized mouse hole." Nicole said through her grin.

With that, the team split up, leaving Wa alone in front of the main doorway as the others entered an adjacent storage room.


"You really shouldn't go that way, Sir." Kat warned, holding her hands up to reinforce the point.

"And why not, Lieutenant?" Silva challenged. Behind him, two squads of ODSTs waited impatiently for the Spartan to stand aside.

"Spearhead is preparing for a breaching operation in the number three barracks, Sir."

Silva huffed at the news. "That's almost three sections of the ship away from us. I fail to see how that concerns me, Lieutenant."

Before Kat could explain, Silva interrupted her. "Me and my men are going to take the bridge and the spine of that sad excuse of a captain of this ship. And there's nothing that either you or the covies can do to stop me."

Silva brushed past Kat and turned the corner. Right then, the ship shook to the deck as a powerful blast wave coursed through the ship's corridors. Silva was sent flying back into the bulkheads. Fortunately, the major seemed uninjured physically, though his pride was mortally wounded as he shouted away his men rushing to his aide.

Rolling her eyes for the countless times today, Kat sighed as she left the scene.

"That's why."


Inside the carnage of the barracks, something unexpected was happening. All around them were the signs that air itself was escaping through the vents. Elites clutching their throats for oxygen, grunts were losing the pressure seal on their methane mask, and Richard's flamethrower spat out a stream of triethylaluminum that failed to ignite.

"Hey! Couldn't they wait ten seconds? I was in a middle of a barbecue here!" Richard angrily shouted as the last Covenant warrior dropped dead for asphyxiation.

The shock trooper was even more incensed. Dropping the dismembered bodies, he charged out of the barracks before the rest of the team even knew what had just happened.


There was no resistance of any sort. The six Spartans of Blue Team carefully picked their footsteps over the Covenant dead now littering the ground. All of them had fallen victim to asphyxiation as Cortana depressurized the ship. With most of the crew now dealt with, the boarders fanned out to secure the ship. Despite Cortana's assurances, the numerous massive holes in the hull made by Spearhead, especially the one under the number three barracks near a main power relay, had made John worry over whether or not the ship was still spaceworthy. Now heading towards the bridge,John would find out soon enough.

After several more long winding corridors, they arrived at the bridge at the very heart of the ship. It was very sparse, consisting only of a raised platform sitting over what Cortana had guessed would be the main computer core. There were no consoles, only holographic interfaces. Like the rest of the ship, the dead littered the floor.

There was, however, one exception. A single elite wearing gold and black armor with a breather device of some sort was kneeling besides the computer core, tinkering with the controls. The six Spartans opened fire and quickly put him down.

"There, Commander." Cortana spoke up as she place a mark on John's HUD. That's the final interface I need to take full control of the ship."

Not knowing the first step to operate the Covenant interface, Cortana walked him through the process and finally granted her full access. The holographic controls faded away and Cortana appeared, this time in a fully life sized version of her blue avatar.

"Good. Now that the ship is fully ours', we can..." The AI paused. "Oh, that's not good."

"I'm not going to like this, am I?" John sighed.

"I figured out what our friend over there..." Cortana pointed to the bullet ridden corpse of the former captain of the ship next to the core. "... was trying to do."

"Did he wiped out the database?" John nervously asked. Even with the ship, the lack of navigational data would render the mission a failure.

"No, I managed to copy the entire database before they purged it. But that's not the problem. Goldie over there just managed an open channel burst on all frequencies before you got him. Three guess what the transmission was?"

John sighed. Of course it wouldn't be this easy.

"I think that we'll need Captain Keyes for this one."