A/N: Yeah, I've nothing . . . except that IloMilo is a beautiful game. Seriously. Buy it. Enjoy. Both the game and this story.

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Microsoft, Bungie, or 343 Industries. This is for my enjoyment and, hopefully, the enjoyment of others. I do not receive a profit.

A Thorney Situation

Arianna tossed and turned in her bed. Well, it wasn't really a bed. Just her bunk aboard the Infinity. But that didn't change the fact that she wasn't going to get any sleep tonight. She was becoming resistant to the drugs. She took them nightly to get to sleep without dreams, because sleep with dreams was no sleep at all.

She had taken sleeping drugs for years, claiming insomnia. But it seemed as though her SPARTAN augmentations had included the ability to build up a resistance to the drugs. So she regretfully dragged herself off of the bunk and peeled off her nighttime clothes. A silent stroll around the ship would do her some good, she decided, but her pyjamas wouldn't do. If someone on the "night" shift (even though space didn't technically have a night, the ship still had a fourteen hour active cycle and a ten-hour sleep cycle run by a skeleton crew) saw her in just her camisole, it would raise serious questions. So she crossed to the wardrobe and put on her black elastic undersuit, struggling to keep her blonde hair out of the collar line. After a small victory, Arianna went to the door and punched in her code.

Without a destination in mind, she wandered. She stopped at the mess hall, but it was too early for the staff to start cooking. The lights were dim and the tables were silent, unlike any other time she had seen the kitchen area. The War Games rooms were all locked. The bridge was always off-limits. Arianna eventually found herself staring at the cool light of the engines from the observation room. Something about the way the blue light washed over the burnished metal of the Infinity and danced about the large chamber calmed her.

Apparently, it calmed Captain Lasky, too. A few minutes after she had lowered herself to the floor, the door slid open and admitted him. Although he seemed surprised, he quickly shook it off and sat down next to Arianna. There was a quiet, companionable silence.

At last, Lasky opened his mouth. "I read your file. Insomnia." Arianna shook her head. Lasky guessed again. "Bad dreams?"

Arianna corrected him in a quiet voice, violet eyes filled with pain. "Memories."

Lasky nodded. "Madrigal."

In an effort to change the subject before it went too far, Arianna asked, "And why are you down here?"

"Fireteam Crimson."

"What about them?"

"During a standard op, they recovered SPARTAN Gabriel Thorne's IFF tag, but no body. Other fireteams have gone missing, but they have always been doing ops. The fact that someone could go missing from the ship is troubling.

"So I sent them, the best of the best, to look into it. And they got captured. I have Roland looking for them, but I doubt that anything conclusive will turn up for a while, considering that he is also looking for all other missing fireteams and has found almost none."

"Do you want me to look for Thorne? I'm guessing that if you sent Crimson to look for him, there was some sort of trail that the other missing fireteams didn't leave behind."

"Yes, actually. The tracks suggest a couple possible locations, but after Crimson's disastrous rescue attempt, I didn't feel it would be safe to send another fireteam in."

Arianna nodded in understanding. "I volunteer. If you send in a small strike force tonight, well, we might catch them by surprise. Plus, I can fly the dropship. Fewer people will have to be woken up."

Lasky slowly uncrossed his legs as he said, "I'll have Roland wake up your team and brief you on possible locations. The override code for your hangar is 37-JW-99M. Get dressed and get to your bird." Arianna nodded and stood up.

Fifteen minutes later, four SPARTANs dressed in the trappings of war were gathered in hangar 10, listening to Roland speak. "Currently, I believe SPARTAN Thorne to be at coordinates 84 degrees, 33 minutes, North latitude and 72 degrees, 19 minutes, East longitude. Translation: Covenant cruiser in geosynchronous orbit above Requiem's tundra area. Although not the closest to the location of Thorne's IFF tag, the in-atmosphere ship is highly suggestive. However, that will mean you will have to land your Pelican a ways away to avoid detection.

"Good night, and good luck. This is Roland, signing off." His avatar flickered out. Pearlman dashed into the pilot's seat and strapped in. She waited for the three green lights to indicate that the others were ready, and then she pushed the throttle to full. It felt good to be behind the contols.

As soon as her Pelican had made it out of the Infinity's hangar, Pearlman twisted the Pelican so that it dove nose down into Requiem's gravity well. She felt the G-force build and her suit increased its pressure in an effort to keep her safe. It was exhilarating, but dangerous. The pressure made her light-headed. The light-headedness made her reactions slow down. The slowed reactions could lead to crashing the ship, but Pearlman hadn't been a pilot in the Rubble for years for no reason. And the augmentations only made her mental calculations and reaction time more accurate, now that she had got a handle on the changes.

As Pearlman swooped out of the dive at the singular moment that would give her the most thrust, she thought she heard Reynolds, the one-time ODST not afraid of anything, scream in terror (or maybe excitement). But it could have been her imagination.

The slingshot effect sent the Pelican rocketing across Requiem, skimming just above the skin of the planet. As she neared Requiem's northern tundra, Pearlman slowly let up on the accelerator. After a moment, a purple dot appeared and started to grow into a Covenant ship. Pearlman swooped into the terrain as it grew hillier, eventually resolving into mountains. Pearlman wove carefully around the mountains until scanners showed that the cruiser was situated around the next mountain. Pearlman lowered her Pelican onto a fairly level stretch of mountain and cut the engines.

She climbed out of the pilot's seat and walked into the main cabin. Reynolds translated her words. "All right people. The cruiser is floating above the valley at the base of the other side of this mountain. Our goal: get in, get Thorne, get out, all under the noses of a ton of sleeping Covenant, so mum's the word." Pearlman walked out of the bay door, Kahn, Quin, and Reynolds following.

Four SPARTANs spread out and walked through the piney forest as they crept around the side of the mountain. The snow fell gently through the needle-like leaves, coating the deep green trees with a layer of powder white and blanketing the ground. The crisp, unburdened snow muffled the heavy footsteps of the SPARTANs and their MJONLIR armour.

The muffling allowed them to sneak up on the few Covenant standing guard over the site. Quin had snapped the neck of a Jackal Sniper as though he had some personal vendetta related to sniping against it. Kahn had stumbled upon a sleeping Grunt and simply unhooked its methane pack. Pearlman had scaled a tree to jump onto the back of an unsuspecting Jackal Major. Her weight had broken its spine, and she had stolen its Point-Defence gauntlet. Reynolds had opted for the more confrontational method of throwing a snowball at his own Grunt, who was not sleeping. The Grunt, clueless as it was, failed to understand that the snowball was just a ruse until Reynolds bashed its skull in.

At last, the group broke through the forest. Requiem's "moon" shone brightly down into the valley, illuminating a well fortified Covenant base, and, far more immediately, a squad of Jackals. Reynolds, who was closest, darted out from behind his tree and proceeded to knife it in the back. Unfortunately, the strangled scream it gave alerted the other Jackals, who whipped around, guns pointing.

Without thinking, Pearlman drew her DMR and fired twice. Once into the unshielded hand and once into the head as the Jackal flinched back. The noise echoed around the valley, but gave the Jackals pause. Reynolds used the moment to scoop up a pile of snow. He threw it as he ran. The flurries momentarily obscured the Jackals' vision, and Reynolds took the opportunity to run up to the group. His hand closed over the nearest Jackal's and he twisted. A sharp crunch indicated a broken wrist, and, after a moment of fumbling, the Jackal's needler appeared in Reynolds's hand.

He pulled the trigger, and a swarm of angry hornets flew out the mouth. The last two Jackals tried to roll away, but the purple bees simply adjusted and buried themselves into the Jackals. Quivering and humming, the needles were still a moment. Then they detonated, burning the Jackals to death. The explosion threw one of the avian beasts down the mountain, where it landed, broken. Dark purple blood contrasted sharply with the crystalline snow in the moonlight.

Four SPARTANs peered down at the dead body. They also noticed activity at the base of the mountain.

Kahn said what they were all thinking. "Well, it couldn't be helped."

Pearlman just groaned and Reynolds said, "Suddenly, though, our mission is far more difficult. It's not like we can just make the mountain fall and crush the base."

Everyone was silent for a moment, but Pearlman could swear she saw a glint in Kahn's eye through his Solar visor and red E.O.D. helmet. Sure enough, a moment later, Kahn spoke. "Or maybe we can. Did you know that breaking the sound barrier in the mountains can cause avalanches?"

Pearlman shrugged, even though she suspected that her motion was lost in her purple and white armour. "Well, I guess it makes sense, although I've never really thought about it."

"Well, that's probably because you've never been skiing. I went on a vacation to Switzerland when I was thirteen. It's an experience I won't ever forget, but the important part is that the skiing lodge I visited shot bullets into the mountains daily to cause small, controlled avalanches. This prevented uncontrolled ones from killing people."

Reynolds, who had been signing to Quin, cut in. "Quin says that he likes the plan. Just tell him when to shoot his rifle. His one problem is how we'll survive the avalanche."

Pearlman snorted in a very unladylike manner. "Oh good. Someone poked a hole in his ludicrous plan." She smirked behind her helmet, at least until she saw Kahn's head tilted as though he was looking at her arm. She followed his gaze and saw that he was looking specifically at the Point-Defence Gauntlet she was wearing. "Oh no. Whatever you're thinking, no."

Kahn looked up before replying. "And why not? There are three other Jackal energy shields lying around, and the energy projectors emit really slippery barriers. We all just stand on one and ski down. Or sit on it, if you're chicken."

Pearlman could see Reynolds scavenging around the Jackal bodies as though the matter were settled. Even though he was quite a bit more reserved than most former ODSTs, Pearlman just knew that the crazy in him (The same crazy that made it okay to descend from shit-ass insane heights with only a layer of ceramic and metal protecting you. Goodness knew that the ocean drop had only been tolerable because she was going to land in the water) loved the idea of sledding (who was she kidding? Of course Reynolds would stand) down an uncharted mountain as fast as he could to outrun an avalanche. She did have to admit that the idea was very SPARTAN, though.

So she simply muttered, "Boys," (even though Brady would probably have approved of Kahn's plan) and unhooked the Point-Defence gauntlet from around her arm. She bent down and snapped it around her left foot. She looked up to see Quin with his sniper rifle trained on something in the distance. At a signal from Reynolds, he fired.

Even as Quin's gun began to buck, the four SPARTANs leapt into the air. Pearlman tapped the "on" button with her right foot and heard the familiar sound as the shield activated. She landed and felt her weight shift unexpectedly. The slippery energy field didn't have her ability to combat gravity and Pearlman started flying down the mountain. After a moment, she got the hang of leaning forward, throwing her weight into the slope to both increase her speed and remain balanced.

Pearlman heard a rumble and glanced back for just a moment. A wave of white thundered down the mountain, closing fast. Pearlman glanced left and saw Kahn in a steeper stretch. He bobbed and weaved around the trees in the rift by throwing his weight left and right. He soon swooped ahead, outrunning the avalanche.

A spray of snow slammed Pearlman's helmet. She wiped her visor off in time to see Reynolds using his free foot to slow down, allowing Pearlman to catch up to him. He shouted, "We're outrunning an avalanche. Commit to the mountain; weave back and forth a bit, throwing your weight. You'll go faster." With that, he lifted his foot out of the snow, and the spray it was generating ceased. Pearlman watched as he leant left and cut a diagonal path down the mountain before curving around the other way, building up momentum as he shifted his weight.

Pearlman copied him, taking sharper, more daring curves in order to catch up. She caught up to him, and, in a moment of giddiness as she hit a mogul and went flying, she shouted, "See you at the bottom!"

The jump was much too short. Pearlman loved the feeling of flying without a plane. She had thought that three dimensions was enough, but three dimensions without being in a metal box was even better. So Pearlman hit another bump and went sailing.

A loud crack echoed below Pearlman, and she saw Quin's telltale ice-blue Deadeye armour. He seemed utterly at ease, cruising down the mountain with long, gentle curves. If he noticed the avalanche, he didn't show any signs of it. Instead, he simply held his sniper rifle up to his Midnight visor and pulled the trigger again. The barrel bucked and Quin leaned into both the shot and the slope, acceleration ever so slightly.

Pearlman couldn't see what happened next because she sailed over Quin's head. She landed and threw out her arms for stability. A moment later, Pearlman was cruising down the slope. She tried to copy Quin's stance on the energy shield and drew her DMR. Pearlman raised it to her eye and sighted down the scope, but the jerking as she skied down the slope was too much.

Pearlman had no idea how Quin could use a Sniper Rifle like that, but it didn't really matter. What did matter was the objective, which was closing fast. Pearlman glanced ahead and saw Kahn slide into the base. He tapped the off button and ran into a building. Pearlman heard shots, but she could also see a fair number of Covenant simply running. Grunts, Jackals, Elites, they all wanted to escape the avalanche, leaving the base fairly clear. Only the most zealous of the group must have stayed.

Pearlman slid into the base and immediately felt her shields begin to drain. An Elite Ranger stood, pumping plasma into her with a storm rifle. Pearlman whipped out her DMR and fired, conscious that she had only a minute or two to get out of the way of the avalanche. She guessed that the Ranger wouldn't have to worry about that, being able to fly.

Her bullet fizzled against the Elite's shields, and she fired again, jumping and deactivating the Jackal energy shield that she had been using. Her second DMR bullet hit well before she was through with her jump, but before she could fire another shot, the Elite collapsed, a depleted uranium sniper round embedded in its skull. Quin came sailing in and crashed into the wall. He fell. A moment later, he got up and yanked the Point-Defence hauntlet off of his foot and threw it to the side. Reynolds slid in and expertly turned the shield off, allowing him to simply step off his "snowboard". He ran up to Quin and signed something. Quin replied right as Kahn ran through one of the doors leading to other parts of the base.

"Come on! I just killed the Elite guarding the gravity lift. We may have outrun the avalanche, but it is closing fast. Look!" A quick glance showed the white snowy breakers closing. Kahn ran off and Pearlman followed him. He stopped at a translucent purplish beam and gesticulated as though he were an eighteenth century butler. "Ladies first." Pearlman just sighed and stepped into the beam. She floated up, seemingly weightless and looked down to see Kahn, Quin, and Reynolds enter the grav-lift below her. A moment later, snow rushed down the mountain and covered the purple buildings. The dots in the distance that represented the fleeing Storm Covenant were soon covered in a layer of what appeared to be pristine new-fallen snow.

Pearlman then shifted her vision up, looking into the hold of the ship. She could see burnished purple metal gleaming as the moonlight reflected off of the snow. The sky around the hole into the hangar was obscured by the ship, whose underside was covered in reflective purple hexagons.

Pearlman felt the gravity lift accelerate and spit her out into the ship's hold. She move out of the way, allowing Kahn, Quin, and Reynolds to land. As soon as Reynold's boots touched the floor, the grav lift shut down and the hole spiraled shut like the lens on a camera. The doors all slammed shut. Kahn raced over to one of the consoles embedded into the side of the wall and began tapping furiously.

A moment later, and he looked up. "It's no good. Whoever ordered this did it well."

"Ordered what?"

Kahn gestured towards the panel. "See for yourself, Reynolds. The most I could pull out of it was the fact that this was planned."

"What was planned?"

"Locking us in. And . . . dispensing nerve gas. That was pretty much all that I could pull off of this computer. It's smashed, but not in the way you'd think. That, I could fix. But this, the Covenant appear to have ripped out the wiring that connects these things to the actual components, and unless I can get to the wires, we're stuck."

Pearlman asked a question. "So it was a trap?"

"Appears so. And the nerve gas that is currently being dispensed is bufotoxin. Just be glad that they aren't using botulinum toxin. They just want to capture us, probably for ransom or something."

Reynolds cut in. "And how can you tell that?"

"Well, bufotoxin is an incredibly potent hallucinogen. I've already sealed my suit, but that only has two hours of air. The Covenant knows this, I bet, so it may just be easier to pass out and enjoy the hallucinations until the Covenant come to pick us up and put us in some sort of holding cell as opposed to using the entire ship to trap a SPARTAN fireteam."

Pearlman nodded. "Well, that makes sense, but what is that other toxin you mentioned?"

"Botulinum toxin is an incredibly poisonous neurotoxin. A single gram of it can kill a million people if it were evenly dispersed and inhaled. It works by disrupting the axons of neurons, causing complete paralysis. Indeed, the paralysis is so permanent that people back in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries used it under the name 'Botox' to paralyse the skin and avoid wrinkles. Why they would want to inject themselves with even minute quantities of something so toxic, I don't know."

Pretty much as soon as Kahn finished his explanation, Pearlman began to feel the effects of the bufotoxin. It felt like she had stepped into a Dalí. She held up her hands, and she could see her fingers melting right out of her armour, but all she felt was a quiet, orange feeling. And Pearlman found that she didn't give a lamppost.

A/N: Remember, tank beats everything (except reviews).

Yes, parts of this chapter were simply for the awesome effect (I know full well that you cannot outski an avalanche [unless Forerunner snow is special or Requiem's gravity is far less than Earth's]), and, full disclosure here, biathlon was most definitely the source of Quin's sniping skiing.