"Stop! Right now! I said stop dammit!" Isis shouted, but Aurora ignored her. Everything was dark, the only illumination came from Aurora's flashlight and emergency lighting that wasn't broken. It was hard to tell, but this area looked similar to the other areas they had been to. It looked like a terrible struggle had taken place. Cubicles had been smashed and pieces of wood, glass and plastic littered the floor. At the end of the hallway, a collection of chairs, pieces of desk and cubicle walls was haphazardly stacked to the ceiling, as if to create a barrier. Aurora looked around and found a hole in the wall and poked her head through. This room appeared to be a conference room, with a large central table that had been broken in half. Broken chairs littered the floor and large marks had been gouged into the walls. At the far end, a door hung on one remaining hinge.
Aurora pushed through the hole and made her way to the open door, Once through the other side, she looked back down the hall and saw the other side of the makeshift barricade.
"Looks like whatever it was used this room to bypass the barricade," Aurora thought out loud.
"And what does that say to you?" Isis asked.
"Some measure of intelligence," Aurora replied. "This wasn't the work of just mindless savages. Intelligent and ferocious."
"Sounds like Covenant if you ask me," Isis said nervously. Aurora shook her head. "The Covenant may be a collection of various alien species, but even they have some manner of civility."
"Civility?" Isis asked, her ire growing. "Compared to what? Do you have any idea what the Covenant do to people?"
"Are we any different?" Aurora replied. "Humans have always subjugated those who we feel are inferior to ourselves. Human history is full of examples of those who kill, enslave, cheat, displace, and remove others who have different beliefs or disagree with their point of view."
"Just who's side are you on anyway?" Isis asked angrily.
"I'm not on anyone's side, just stating the facts," Aurora said. "It's no use getting upset over things that happened and will continue to happen, as long as sentient life exists in the universe."
"So by your logic, the only way to achieve true peace is to kill everything?" Isis asked. Aurora shook her head. "Not everything, just sentient life," she said.
"And just who decides what the definition of sentient life is?" Isis asked. "Are plants sentient? What about bacteria, insects, microscopic organisms?"
Aurora turned and continued walking down the hallway. Silently fuming, Isis looked at Aurora's biometrics and saw her breathing, heart rate, perspiration, and brain chemistry were all elevated. "Are you afraid?" Aurora asked cautiously
"No!" Aurora snapped, "This place is a bit unsettling."
At the end of the hallway was a large door. It was heavily dented and the edges had been peeled back, as if something had pried the door open from the other side. With effort, Aurora pushed the door open as far as she could and squeezed through the opening. The door opened into another hallway that disappeared to the left and right.
"Wait!" Isis called out suddenly and Aurora stopped. She brought her weapon up and glanced around. "What is it? Did you see something?" she asked.
"I really think we should turn around and go back," Isis said. Aurora sighed and lowered her weapon. "Why?" she asked.
"Because I am one hundred percent sure that Steve and Allen didn't come this way and it's our fault the alarms went off and something bad is going to happen!" Isis said. "And I can tell you are afraid."
"I am NOT afraid!" Aurora shouted and punched the wall as hard as she could, leaving a sizable dent. Isis was shocked at Aurora's outburst. "Look, it's okay," she said. "I don't want to be here anymore than you do."
"But this was my mission!" Aurora said angrily. "It wasn't supposed to be this way!"
"You keep saying that," Isis said. "What is your purpose here?" Aurora straitened and squared her shoulders. "I told you, that's classified."
"For the love of God, you stubborn woman!" Isis exasperated. "Fine. You want to play this game? I'll tell you what I think and you say if I'm right or not!" Aurora said nothing.
"This is a top secret facility where scientists research and develop biological, chemical, and radiological agents for use against the Covenant under military contract. This is all top secret, and only the top brass of the UNSC knows, in detail, what happens here," Isis said. "Some time ago, there was an accident and all communication was lost between here and the company under contract. Since that would look bad, the higher ups at the company kept this secret from the UNSC. At some point, the military must have known what was going on, and rather than confess, it was decided to make the problem disappear. And that's where you come in."
Aurora said nothing, but from the spike in her vitals, Isis figured she was close to the truth. And now for the dagger to the heart. "This is actually your first mission, isn't it?" Isis asked. Aurora didn't reply. "Based on what you told Steve earlier, the rest of your squad mates don't think very highly of you. And given your rank and actions so far, you've been promoted just recently, and only because your supervisors had to do something with you." Aurora sighed, but Isis wasn't finished. "They sent you here to investigate why the auto-destruct was never triggered and to perform this action manually." She paused, then said, "They're not coming back for you, are they?"
"No," Aurora whispered and sunk to the floor. Isis sighed. "I guess it doesn't matter if you complete your mission or not, since there's no way off this planet. Steve and Allen won't be happy to hear this."
"I just thought that if I did a good enough job, that if I went above and beyond the call of duty, I would at least be recognized as a Spartan, a useful member of the team," Aurora said. "I don't remember much before I was selected for the program, but I do remember people told me I would never succeed at anything."
Isis thought for a moment, then said, "I wasn't trying to belittle you. I seriously hate this place and want to get out of here as soon as possible. But right now, the only way I can do that is with your help. Whether or not you are a failure is up for debate, but right now, you are the only person I can count on." Aurora nodded in reply. "Where do we have to go to trigger the auto destruct sequence?" Isis asked. Aurora slowly stood and pointed down the dark corridor. "I was told during my briefing the remote access terminals were likely damaged and I would have to manually interface with the device."
Isis thought for a moment and asked, "If the device was down here, why were you back near the main elevator?"
"I was also instructed to gather any information on why this place was seemingly abandoned," Aurora explained. "Then I met you and your friends and decided I didn't need to investigate since that what you all seemed to be doing."
"And yet you never bothered to tell us this?" Isis asked. "Whatever, let's just go." Aurora set off down the corridor. As she continued forward, a glint of metal flashed in her headlight. Aurora knelt to investigate, her light revealing a shriveled corpse, twisted in rigor mortis. A ring on the finger sparkled brightly. "This what must have caused that flash," Aurora remarked. The skin was pulled taught over the bones and the body had wasted away to a mummified state. As Aurora checked the body over, Isis used her armor to take environmental scans. "Interesting," she said.
"What is it?" Aurora asked.
"According to your suit, the air is warm and dry with little humidity," Isis said.
"Meaning what?" Aurora asked.
"Meaning the conditions are favorable for this type of mummification, but for that to happen naturally, this body has to have been here for a few decades," Isis explained. "Also, notice how there is very little decay."
"So, something happened very recently for this to have happened," Aurora said. "What could dry out a body so quickly?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," Aurora said.
The hand of the corpse twitched.
The first thing that happened, Aurora jumped up in surprise.
The second thing that happened, the sudden movement caused Aurora's finger to jerk and she emptied half of her rifle's magazine into the corpse.
The third thing that happened, someone screamed. To this day, neither Aurora or Isis knows or will admit to being the one who shrieked like a little girl.
The last thing that happened, hands grabbed Aurora and dragged her into the darkness.