--I know, I know, "Finally! He posted another episode! Freaking cockbite!" Enjoy. And please no bitching. See previous chapter for info on this one.--

Episode 111 – PANIC!!!

"Oh, crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!" The Zealot chanted as Gary pulled away from the Twilight Compunction. "Tell me this thing has a slipspace drive! Shaw-Fujikawa, ultraspeed, lightspeed, I don't care! Just get us as far away from that ship as possible!"

"Would you please calm down?" Gary replied. "I can get us away, just let me get acquainted with these controls. I've never piloted a Phantom before."

"Oh, well that's just great." O'Malley added. "Give the guy who can't pilot the Pelican for anything control of our only escape vehicle. What a great idea."

"Is there a mute function on him?" Kapyal asked from behind the Zealot.

"Were it so easy." Gary answered.

--

Tex felt good back in her body. It didn't take her long to get her bearings back. Medicant Bias now held refuge in her head. He was definitely not as annoying as Omega. She found his voice very soothing and calming, not anything like any of her old acquaintances from Blood Gulch.

She was back in the desert. Her boots sunk at least three inches in the grainy earth as she walked.

"What exactly are these things?" she asked Medicant Bias

"These are the ruins of the earliest of the Forerunners." Spoke the AIs melodic voice. "They were built before even I was created. Originally, they were to be a great temple where us AIs were to be stored. It was like a big apartment complex. The Forerunners abandoned it and evacuated the AIs after my defection to the Flood."

"Are you surprised?"

"Not really. I'm more curious as to why they didn't decommission me. They sealed me away in that lonesome prison of a temple with full control of it's functions. If they truly hated me, then they would have had me executed."

"Maybe they knew you were going to stay good."

"Not likely. My theory is that they believed I would die slowly over the years. Luckily, my system seems to have gone rampant and reached the fabled level of meta-stability." Tex thought about the word, knowing she'd heard it before.

"The closest an AI can come to being a human?"

"Precisely." Tex walked on.

--

"What are our coordinates?" O'Malley asked Gary. He had been growing increasingly impatient as the trio's trip got even longer.

"I can't read this Covenant text. I haven't downloaded that data yet."

"Worthless henchmen…" was O'Malley's only reply.

"I can read it!" said Kapyal behind the Zealot.

"What does it say?" asked the Zealot.

"We are currently within the Milky Way galaxy. The planet we just passed on our way out was Pluto."

"Earth is near here!" announced the Zealot.

"Brilliant deduction, Mr. Holmes." The Zealot did not respond to O'Malley's insult. He turned to Kapyal.

"Can we get to Earth?" he asked.

"There is a jump drive on this ship. If you activate it, we should be there in a matter of hours." said the little Grunt.

"Great, we need to regroup after this." said Gary.

"I'll drive." Kapyal said. "I know this ship better than most Grunts."

"Gary, switch to manual pilot." said the Zealot. "Let Kapyal drive."

"Okay." The Zealot pulled Gary out of the AI drive on the ship and allowed Kapyal to take the pilot's seat. The little Grunt was quick in finding the exact combination of buttons to activate the slipspace drive. The ship jolted forward and pulled its current crew across the universe.

--

The teleporter! Why hadn't I thought about it before? It's what took us away from Blood Gulch in the first place. Two years ago that damn teleporter took us all away from that goddamn box canyon. Now I was staring at another one in Valhalla. Why hadn't I even looked at it since we got here?

"How about another round of Grifball?" Oh yeah, that's why.I think we've played about twenty thousand rounds of Grifball since we had crash landed here. You'd think we'd be sick of it. But not really; every time Grif got hit with a Gravity Hammer, I felt a little warm inside.

"Don't answer that Church. Please for the love of god." Grif pleaded.

"Shut up dirtbag." Sarge was always quick with his insults.

"Actually," I began, "I think I've found a way out of here."

"Really? How?" Simmons asked.

"Well, last time we used the teleporter in Blood Gulch when O'Malley attacked us, it sent us all over the place. Caboose and Sarge got sent to Battle Creek, Grif and me went to Sidewinder, and Simmons got sent to that nexus of portals."

"I still think it was a janitor's closet." Simmons was quick with his contradiction.

"But that was only after Sheila busted it." Donut added. "Before that, the teleporter only sent you to the exit point in the middle of the canyon. Just like that one over there." Donut pointed over in the direction of the exit point where Tucker, Caboose, Doc, and Sister now stood. Tucker's insistence on throwing rocks through the teleporter again was what had spurred my current train of thought. They were now ogling over the burnt charred rocks that laid on the ground around the teleporter exit.

"I know, but you seemed to be pretty good at rewiring t Simmons. Maybe you could do it again." I was hopeful that I would hear the answer I wanted. And I was not at all surprised at the answer I got.

"I don't know. It looks much more complicated that the teleporter in Blood Gulch." Simmons replied. Alright, new plan.

"Maybe Grif could do it. He seems to be much smarter than you Simmons." That oughta do the trick.

"What!? I'll show you!" Simmons was prying the maintenance panel of the teleporter off within seconds. Sarge was suddenly laughing.

"Nice use of reverse psychology Church. Not too shabby."

"You know I actually think Grif could do it. He's just too lazy to actually do it." I think Simmons heard that since he suddenly sped up his work after I said it. Sarge began to laugh harder.

"That may be the most hilarious thing I've ever heard, Grif being good at something. That's rich."

"I'm serious, I think he may act-"

"I appreciate the effort, but dude, I wouldn't keep going. He will never believe you." Grif said, cutting me off. It would probably be for the best.

--

The Forward Unto Dawn II, one of many UNSC frigates built after the end of the Halo wars. Only months after its completion it was given a captain, Master Chief Petty Officer John-117. It was Master Chief's first time in the captain's seat. Lord Hood stood to his left, the Arbiter to his right. The Twilight Compunction was in a standing orbit in front of the frigate. It had taken the Forward Unto Dawn II only an hour in slipspace to reach it. Gravemind was on that ship.

"Do you think this will work Spartan?" asked the Arbiter.

"It better." Cortana said. "We don't have much of a choice. The Flood can't be allowed to live. Not in this galaxy."

"Call all other UNSC frigates," Master Chief ordered. "Position them around the Compunction. Enforce caution and arm their MAC guns."

"Aye, Aye, Master Chief." The Captain of In Amber Clad II responded. The captains of the Aegis Fate, Midsummer Night, Vostok II, Gorgon, Meriwether Lewis, and Gettysburg followed suit. All the captains ordered their men to arm their MAC guns.

"Exercise caution, men." Hood added. "After the Compunction is destroyed, consider the target area to be in biohazard lockdown. The Arbiter's men will take it from there."

"Glass the debris my brothers. The parasite will not be allowed to leave the Compunction alive." Master Chief looked up at his friend. He was a true leader to his people.

"The Arbiter's will be done." Rtas 'Vadum's voice came over the intercom. Old Half-Jaw seemed just as optimistic as ever. He had remained the Arbiter's trusted friend since the end of the Halo Wars.

"You cannot stop me. My Flood will slaughter you with glee." The Gravemind's ever present use of rhyming warnings had become annoying to Master Chief. It was time to end this.

"All units ready MAC guns. Lock on target. Fire on my mark." They were ready.

"Aye, Aye." Hs troops announced. "MAC guns locked on target and ready to fire."

"On my mark. 5…4…3…2…1…" The Arbiter, Hood, Cortana and Chief shouted the last command in unison.

"FIRE!!!"

--

An explosion of light suddenly blinded The Zealot. It cascaded through the slipspace around them and almost knocked the crew to the floor.

"What the hell is that!?" the Zealot yelled.

"It looks like an explosion went off somewhere nearby." Gary said.

"If that light's from an explosion, where's the force it caused?" O'Malley wondered aloud.

Then, as if by some cosmic insult, the Phantom was suddenly rocked with a massive force from its port side. Kapyal was all but knocked unconscious by the explosion's push. The Zealot was knocked unconscious as his skull bashed against the wall of the Pelican.

"Wake up you fool! Wake up!"

"Zealot, wake up!"

The Phantom drifted into the far reaches of space. Kapyal disabled the slipspace drive as soon as he could.

--

"Hey Tucker, what's that?" Caboose asked. Simmons and the Reads were still at Blue base tinkering with the teleporter. I decided to go back to Blue base earlier, where Caboose and Tucker were now lounging on the top deck. I lifted my sniper rifle to see the object in the sky Caboose was now fixated on.

"I don't know, it kinda looks like a purple meteor." What an idiot. Through my sniper rifle, I could clearly see that it wasn't a meteor. It was a purple ship. A big purple ship that was falling from the sky. A big purple ship that was falling from the sky at an increasingly alarming rate. A big, purple, falling ship that was (gulp) headed right for this canyon! I clicked on my radio and broadcast to everyone in the canyon.

"EVERYBODY HIT THE DECK!"