I needed to get this posted before this weekend because I won't be around for a while and I wanted this up before I left. So enjoy and I'll update ASAP!

Let's see how Kalder's doing, shall we?

(CHAPTER 28) THE DARK SHIP

(LOCATION) – COVENANT HEAVY ASSAULT CARRIER, THE PURIFYING FLAME –

-3 HOURS BEFORE THE UNDERGROUND ASSAULT -

A lone Phantom cruised through Aurora's orbit. Off in the distance in all directions, orbs of orange and blue light from ship to ship battles pinpricked the blackness. Kalder sat in the pilots chair and cautiously maneuvered the Phantom towards the Prophets Heavy Assault Carrier. His A.I., Mitsuki stood on her holo pad running a multitude of calculations through her head.

"Their not just going to open the doors for us on this ship you know." He said calmly to his A.I. Mitsuki looked over at her Spartan. She replied, "I know." as she kept going over her calculations. Kalder continued, "What are the odds of you getting us aboard?" She stared back out of the front view port towards the approaching Covenant Capital Ship. She said, "Only the higher ranked Covenant troops are allowed onboard that ship. We're going to need some sort of special access clearance to even get near it. Given our current situation, I'm giving us a 60% chance of a success of even getting aboard." "It's better than nothing." He said back.

Out of the front view port, Kalder could see the UNSC ships surrounding the Prophet's ship. All were pointed towards it in case they detected it trying to make a slip space jump. Mitsuki quickly sent a private message to the Raven to let General Smith know of her and Kalder's mission. She wanted to make sure that the situation went unchanged and that no suspicious maneuvers were made. She wanted this mission to go as smoothly and as quietly as possible.

The Phantom neared the Prophet's ship. As expected she received an incoming radio transmition as well as the ships plasma cannons sighting on them. "I hope you have a plan for this." Kalder said with concern. Mitsuki gave her usual warm smile and said, "Don't worry, let me handle this." She heard the harsh voice of a brute say, "Pilot, your Phantom is not authorized near the Holy One's ship. Change course or we will open fire." Mitsuki quickly transferred herself through the radio contact as the brute was speaking and with lightning quick speed, easily hacked the ships access code to land in the shuttle bay. Before the brute had finished its first breath she was back aboard the Phantom and preparing a transmition of her own.

The brute on the ship that had been communicating with them sat at a small holo terminal. He saw an icon flash on his screen indicating an incoming transmition. He tapped the claw of his finger on the symbol and received a message back from the Phantom. It read in Covenant text…

"My apologies for not responding sooner. My Phantom's communications were damaged during an aerial assault and I need to land for repairs. My pilot designation is Alpha 762-34B and the access code to my hanger bay is GUIDANCE OF THE LIGHT."

The brute quickly looked up the pilot's information and found it to be an accurate fit to a pilot that was indeed stationed on this ship as well as his correct access code to board. The brute replied back harshly. "Access has been granted; proceed to your designated shuttle bay." The transmition cut out and Mitsuki ran her fingers through her long neon green hair. She looked at her Spartan and said, "You see, hacking onto one of their capitol ships is a breeze." Kalder replied, "That was the easy part. We still have to locate Izumi and get her out of there."

The Phantom approached the ship and headed for one of the shuttle bays. The Prophet's ship was massive up close. It was easily five miles long. As Kalder maneuvered closer to the ship he asked, "I don't suppose you have any idea where she might be located?" Mitsuki replied, "Unfortunately, the terminal I hacked into to get us in here only had information regarding access codes to board the ship as well as cargo information and deployment records. I would need to be interfaced with one of the ships main terminals to accurately pinpoint her location."

As the Spartan maneuvered the Phantom around the Prophet's ship, he saw the shuttle bay come into view. The purple energy barriers keeping the ships atmosphere inside glistened against the dark vacuum of space. He did a quick visual inspection of the shuttle bay to try and see how many troops he would have to deal with. He activated the Phantom's zoom feature on the front view port. Inside he only saw a few grunts in black armor waddling around on the hanger floor doing various tasks and looking over holo screens. "Good." He thought. This would leave him plenty of room to sneak around. The Phantom glided into position for docking and slowly pushed through the energy barrier. Mitsuki quickly transferred part of herself through an undetectable radio frequency and interfaced herself with the hanger's computer system. She quickly made a false message for the crew to check on several of the ships systems in another area of the hanger opposite to where Kalder would be landing. Much like him, she wanted her Spartan to go through this ship as quietly as possible with as few shots fired as possible.

Out of the Phantoms view port, Kalder could slowly see the grunts waddling away to another location. Good, then he would have nothing getting in his way once he landed. The small ship slowly hovered down and lowered its landing gear and killed its engines. Kalder quickly held his hand over Mitsuki's holo panel and she quickly transferred herself back into her Spartans armor. He quickly went to the back of the ship and grabbed his weapons and extra ammo and quickly attached a silencer to his Battle Rifle. He lowered the rear hatch and cautiously sighted around the ships hanger and saw no targets. Once he was sure he was clear, he quickly leapt off the rear of the Phantom and crouched against the walls of the ship taking advantage of any cover he could find. He checked his surroundings. This shuttle bay was huge. A ten leveled ship hanger meant for holding a large storage of drop ships and equipment. The room when full would easily be able to hold sixty Phantoms.

Kalder crouched behind a small uplink crate that was used for long range surface to ship communications. He asked, "Any idea which way we should be heading?" Mitsuki replied, "You're going to have to interface me with a terminal that will allow me to access the ships main frame. Once I'm in there I can guide you." Kalder looked around for some sort of computer system. All he saw were small holo panels used for operations in the shuttle bay. "Where's the closest terminal?" Mitsuki did a quick scan and said, "The closest one I'm picking up is one level above us." A red NAV marker appeared on his HUD. Kalder looked around and saw a door leading into the maze of hallways in the ship. He knew the basic grounds on a Covenant Destroyer and the Frigates but he had never been aboard a Heavy Assault Carrier before, let alone one of this size. He quickly double checked to make sure that all of the shuttle bay crew was out of his range then cautiously made his way over to the door.

With his Battle Rifle held at the SWAT position, he snuck his to the opposite wall of the large shuttle bay. The door sensed his presence and made a dull toned noise as it slid open. He quickly crept into the hall and looked around. He saw no troops. The NAV marker was aimed to his left and above him about twenty feet. He took his most obvious direction and headed down the left side of the hallway.

"While I'm going stealth, I want you to track any and all movement you pick up. I want to know exactly where it is and what direction it's heading." He said quietly to his A.I. Mitsuki replied calmly. "Don't worry; I was planning on that from the start."

Up ahead Kalder saw another door. He quickly neared it and readied himself to step through. Mitsuki quickly said, "Contact heading in our direction, take cover." Kalder quickly saw a stray supply crate sitting in a dark corner of the hallway of the ship. He quickly ducked down behind it and sat absolutely still. He heard the door tone sound and heard heavy footsteps. He sat quiet and slowed his breathing all the while with his finger hovering over the trigger of his Battle Rifle.

A few moments later he saw a lone brute walking down the ships corridor. It wasn't in any sort of armor and didn't even have a weapon. It groaned and stretched its muscles as it walked past, almost as if it looked bored. He thought about rushing up and meleeing the alien in the back of its head but he didn't want to risk another Covenant soldier discovering the body. He sat still and waited till the brute was completely out of sight. Shortly after, he again stood and headed through the next door which led to a ramp.

He continued on up to the next level and saw that his NAV marker was directly down the hallway in front of him. He crept up towards the door and Mitsuki said cautiously, "Be careful, I'm detecting movement inside the room. I'm guessing that it's from grunts due to the size I'm reading." Kalder crouched right next to the door. This one wasn't automatic. He saw two small red dots on his motion tracker and then tapped a red symbol on a small holo panel on the wall. The door slid open and the Spartan quickly rushed inside and silently brought the butt of his weapon down on the skull of the one grunt and quickly repeated the process on the second. The grunts fell limp to the ships floor and died. One's leg gave a few silent twitches before going limp. He quickly pulled the bodies into a small wall compartment to hide them and then went to the room's computer system.

"Hold out your hand." His A.I. instructed. Kalder held the glove of his armor out and Mitsuki's figure appeared in his hand. She quickly looked over the computer system and said, "This is one of the ships small control centers. There's probably dozens of these rooms scattered all over this ship that watch over its various functions." "Can you get her location from this one?" Her Spartan asked. Mitsuki's figure leapt out of his hand and seemed to jump into the computer system. Instantly, Mitsuki disguised herself to show Covenant system traits. She didn't want any of the ship's crew to detect a piece of UNSC hardware in their ship. He saw her reappear on one of the small holo monitors. She replied with excitement. "This is incredible! There are so many new systems that I've never encountered before." She paused and then grinned a rare sly smile. "Oh I'm going to have fun in here." Kalder sighed and said, "Look, I know this must be fun for you but I really need that location." Mitsuki sighed and said, "Relax, I'm going through the ships files now. I'll have her location for you in a second."

Even for a Starship's A.I., she found this ship rather difficult to navigate around. The Heavy Assault Carrier's systems were much larger than any of the UNSC's ships that she had ever been on. Not to mention the trouble she had navigating herself through the ships complex circuitry. She eventually found her destination and quickly hacked through the access codes and searched for Izumi.

She came across a file with Covenant text that translated to the human word for Chancellor. Good, she had found it. With lightning quick speed she studied the entire file and read over every last detail. There was a list from everything as small as her food rations, guards on duty for her location and other information such as her visit to the Prophet as well as a scheduled interrogation. Mitsuki quickly erased the Interrogation schedule in hopes that it would buy the Chancellor some safety until Kalder could reach her. She then took notice of her location. Izumi was located in a detention block near the bridge of the ship, most likely for easy access to the Prophet. Her location was slightly over four miles from Kalder's position on the ship. It would be far too risky for him to navigate that distance and go with minimal shots fired. Mitsuki quickly scanned an entire map of the Prophet's ship for the best possible rout.

She found a tram system that ran the entire length of the ship that was used for transporting troops and supplies. That would be his best bet for a quick route. She immediately found a location to one of the trams stops that was closest to Kalder's current position and saved it to her memory as well as the map of the entire ship. She immediately transferred data to Kalder's HUD. He saw a layout of the ship and a blue dot that marked his location. "Alright, you're here." Mitsuki said calmly. She zoomed out the image of the ship and continued, "And you need to get all the way over here." Kalder sighed, "Are you fucking kidding me!? She's at the complete opposite end of this ship!" "Relax." Mitsuki told him calmly, "You're going to get aboard a cargo tram which will take you near her location, so all of the ships midsection will be completely bypassed. However, the end of the ship she's being held on will be heavily guarded by the higher ranked brutes and Honor Guards." Kalder held up his rifle. He said sternly, "I could care less what's over there. It's their own fault for getting in my way."

Kalder quickly set his Battle Rifle to single round bursts and then said, "Are you ready?" Mitsuki replied calmly, "I can't go with you." Kalder looked at his A.I. "What do you mean?" Mitsuki calmly said, "I need to stay in the ships system. It will be much easier for me to track troop movements and locations from in the ships system. Don't worry, I'll still be able to communicate with you over your radio and I'll also be able to use this location to my advantage." Kalder laid his rifle against his shoulder. "What sort of advantages?" Mitsuki again made a rare sly grin and said, "Just some little things." Mitsuki snapped her fingers and the lights in the room went out minus the computer she was currently in. She continued with a smile, "Like running dark for example and shutting down the ships drive reactor." Kalder quickly looked around then said, "What did you do?" His A.I. replied happily, "Nothing special, just caused a black out through the entire rear section of the ship and immobilized the reactor so they can't get away. Don't worry; all of the doors will still function on motion tracker so you won't have to pry them open. Just activate the night vision on your visor and you'll be fine." "You're amazing Mitsuki." Kalder said as he readied to head out into the ship. "I know." She chirped happily.

Before he headed back out into the ships halls, Mitsuki continued, "And don't worry, I'll be watching you the whole time, and if you absolutely need me back in your armor, just find another one of these control centers and I'll link back up with you." Kalder nodded and the holo panel Mitsuki was on went dark. She came on over his radio, "Don't worry, I'm going to run dark as well." Kalder activated his helmets night vision and then opened the door leading back out into the ships halls. And as Mitsuki had told him, the ship was completely dark in his area. His A.I. continued, "One last thing, I bet you can't make it to the tram without getting seen." Kalder grinned under his visor. "You're on!"

(IZUMI'S LOCATION) - 5 MINUTES EARILER –

She had only been back in her holding cell for a little over an hour when the Prophet had again summoned her back to the bridge of the ship. It was the same routine as before. A group of brute Chieftains put her arms into the energy braces and led her through the maze of corridors and back up the large lift towards the Prophet.

Once on the bridge and the brutes left the two alone, Izumi said with sarcasm and hate, "You rang?" The Prophet's hovering throne slowly turned to face her. The hunched alien replied, "Come forward, girl." Izumi frowned and slowly walked forward towards the Prophet. He was sitting close to the large curved window at the front of the ship. He motioned her to look out towards Aurora. Down below, she could see the sky, as well as the aurora's glowing blood red. She could also see a glowing orange circle near the southern end of Eclipse. "Do you see?" The Prophet said calmly, "The drilling is complete. We can now begin to unearth the secrets of the gods!" Izumi frowned, "I already told you, I'm not leading you to, Them."

The Prophet scoffed. He slowly turned to face Izumi and said, "I was hoping that you would see things are way. Even now I see that you will remain to stand firm and not change your foolish mind. However…" The Prophet tapped a small button on his throne and a small holo screen appeared. He tapped a series of symbols on the holo screen and a large image projected on the front viewport of the bridge. The Prophet continued, "I have other ways of… convincing you." Izumi felt her pulse begin to quicken. "What are you doing?" She asked frantically. Redemption tapped his long wrinkled fingertips against one another as he waited for the ships computer to calculate. A series of text and symbols scrolled across the front view port. Izumi turned and looked. She was able to depict Covenant symbols after learning to read them when the war became more serious. The text that flashed on the screen read, "ACQUIRING TARGET" "The Prophet continued in his aged voice, "We could make this so much easier by simply removing the rest of your city from our path. Perhaps even some of the other surrounding metropolis's?" "You can't!" Izumi yelled.

The text again changed and read "TARGET ACQUIRED… CHARGING PLASMA TURRETS 7-24"

"You made your choice." The Prophet told her. "It was a simple task appointed to you, and you chose the more difficult way." Izumi fell to her knees and broke down. Tears streamed freely down her cheeks because she knew that she allowed her planet to again suffer another attack from the Covenant. "Your tears will get you no mercy on my ship." Redemption said slowly. "This decision was made on your own account." The Prophet readied to press the symbol on his holo panel to give the order to fire when a red emergency light popped up on his view port.

It read, "-CRITICAL POWER FAILURE- (SHIP SECTIONS 986 THROUGH 1500 UNDER BLACKOUT) (URGENT!) –REACTOR POWERING DOWN-

The prophet cursed in its native tongue. The entire rear section of his ship, as well as his ships main drive reactor was under a blackout. He quickly deactivated the ships plasma turrets and brought up the status menus for the rear of the ship. He was unable to access the security cameras for that portion of the ship due to lack of power. He opened up a personal holo communication to his ships workers. Izumi looked at the small holo screen the Prophet was looking into, she could see a grunt in black armor appear. The Prophet called out, "You there! Technician! I need to know the situation with the rear sector of the ship!" The grunt stuttered its reply towards the angry Prophet. "E-Excellency, we're working on the problem as we speak! We should be functioning again normally within moments!" The Prophet frowned and said, "You had better, or I shall have your head!"

Redemption severed the communication and turned to Izumi. "Stand, girl!" He ordered. Izumi slowly pulled her trembling body off of the floor and stood. The Prophet hit a symbol on his throne and several Brutes walked into the room. He continued, "You are to return to your cell! I shall send for you again when this is sorted out, and you WILL lead me to the realm of the god's, and if you refuse, it is you who will pay the price!" Izumi frowned, still with fresh tears streaming down her pale cheeks, "Kill me and you will NEVER even get near, Them! I suggest that YOU choose your actions more carefully in the future! You wouldn't want your key to your treasure to simply vanish now would you?" The Prophet snarled angrily at Izumi. He motioned his arm sternly at the brutes and yelled "Take her out of my sight!" As the door to the Prophet's chamber was closing, Izumi heard him yell, "And have the Drill return back to hyper space! It's no longer needed here!"

Kalder had been silently creeping down the dark corridors of the Prophets ship. He had a few close run in's with a handful of Jackals and Grunts. All of which were easily brought down with the butt end of his Battle Rifle. The NAV marker on his visor was constantly updating with new quicker routes to this tram line.

He had been walking down a long dark corridor for nearly three hundred feet. Up ahead in his night vision visor setting, he could see a door. He approached it and it opened as its dull tone sounded. Inside he stopped and froze. His night vision picked up two Hunters standing at the opposite end of a medium sized room. He didn't want to engage these two massive aliens. They were big, bulky, and loud. His cover would be instantly blown and all of the Covenant would be aware of his presence aboard the ship.

This room provided minimal cover. Only a few supply crates were scattered throughout the room. He quietly slipped through the darkness and crouched down behind a small supply crate. He looked back out and saw the two Hunters still standing at the opposite end of the room communicating in their native tones. Without paying attention, he felt the tip of his boot slip on the metal deck of the ship and tap loudly against the wall. He froze and heard the two Hunter's armor clack as they began to move and investigate the sound. "Shit!" He mumbled to himself. The door he came in was still open. He cautiously pulled out one of the spare clips for his Battle Rifle. He silently pulled out three rounds from the clip and held them in his hand. He took a hold of one of the rounds and tossed it into the hallway that he had just come though. He heard the Hunter's take interest in the sound and move closer to investigate. He quickly tossed another round into the dark corridor. The two Hunter's again moved closer. He finally tossed the last round and then sat completely motionless and waited.

He felt the floor shake as the two massive aliens approached. He sat and waited. In his night vision, he saw the pair of massive aliens stomp past him with their spines raised and their fuel rod cannons up and at the ready. When he was sure they were at a safe distance, he quickly slid out from his position and headed out through the opposite door.

Mitsuki came on over his radio. "You're almost to the tram. Be on alert, Covenant maintenance teams are heading towards your end of the ship." "Alright." Kalder told her back calmly. On his motion tracker he saw one lone red dot on the other side of the door he was about to pass through. He saw the dot was moving away from his position. He quickly put his Battle Rifle on the back of his suit and then approached the door. It opened slowly and in his night vision, he saw a lone grunt walking with a flashlight and looking over the ships wiring. He quickly sprinted forward and grabbed the grunt by its neck and snapped it. He quietly set the alien down on the ship's deck, deactivated its small flashlight, and advanced forward.

"You're almost there!" Mitsuki chirped happily. "The next door leads to one of the Tram stations." Kalder looked behind him to make sure nothing was following only saw the dead grunt he had just killed and the eerie blackness of the corridor. He went through the door and stepped into a room that looked a lot like a Metro Station. The room was dark and was only illuminated by a few dull red emergency lights.

Kalder looked around and saw no one around. As he advanced forward he also noticed that there was no form of transportation at the station. He quickly opened up his COM. "Mitsuki, where's this Tram?" She replied, "Just sit tight, I'm tracking on that's inbound towards your station. I'd take cover though, it's loaded with a Covenant maintenance crew." Kalder saw a stack of supply crates stacked against the wall. He quickly slipped over to their location and crouched down with his Battle Rifle at the ready.

A few moments later, he saw what looked like head lights coming down the tram tunnel that ran the length of the ship. He sat completely still and waited. A few moments later one of the Tram's pulled in; the vehicle consisted of three sleekly curved transport cars meant for both crew and equipment. This one had a crew of five Jackals as well as ten Brutes. All wore what looked like equipment suits and all were armed with plasma weaponry. He watched as the crew stepped off of the tram and rolled off large equipment cases, most likely ones meant for repairs. The crew slowly headed towards the stations exit door. He watched as they slowly walked past.

One jackal walking on the outer edge of the group happened to take notice of the small hints of light coming from Kalder's location. The Spartan saw the jackal slowly approaching then realized the situation. The small lights on his armor that indicated his suit was fully powered and functioning had given away his position. The jackal screeched and pulled out its plasma pistol. The other troops hearing the commotion quickly turned in time to see the jackal's head blown from its body by Battle Rifle rounds. "So much for stealth!" Kalder uttered out as he began to open fire on his opponents.

The brutes immediately dropped their tool boxes to the floor and pulled out their red Plasma Rifles. Kalder felt a barrage of plasma strike his suit and immediately eat away at his shields. He switched his Battle Rifle back to three round bursts and began to pick off the brutes. A jackal ran over to one of the ships emergency alert systems. It punched through the protective glass barrier and pounded its claw like fist into a red symbol. An alert tone, much like a fire alarm, immediately echoed through the ships long dark halls. Kalder quickly sighted on the jackal and blew it away with a well placed shot to its back.

Kalder paused to reload. He expelled the spent clip and slammed in a fresh one and forced the bolt back into place. He found himself beginning to get over run and his shields were nearly dead. Mitsuki frantically contacted him and yelled, "Get in the Tram and get out of there! They know you're onboard now, no sense in trying to stay under cover anymore!" Kalder pulled out a Frag Grenade and pulled the pin. He quickly tossed it into the center of the Brutes. A few moments later, a loud WHAM! echoed through the room as the device deatonated. Two of the brutes were killed in the explosion and the rest were stunned or injured. Kalder quickly made a break for the Tram.

One of the brutes quickly shook off the effects of the grenade and again unloaded on the Spartan. His shields died and as he leapt aboard the Tram, he felt a hard slam to his back. He yelled out in pain and fell to the floor of the small train as Mitsuki quickly accelerated the tram into the dark tunnel.

"Are you alright!?" Mitsuki frantically asked. Kalder reached around to his back and ran his fingers over the source of his pain. He hissed in pain and pulled his hand back and saw that it was covered in blood. "Dammit!" He cursed. "Are you going to be alright?" Mitsuki asked with concern. Kalder felt his armor automatically inject Bio-Foam into his wound. The Spartan frowned in pain from the injection of the stinging foam. With Mitsuki away from him, he wouldn't have the luxury of the Nanites to repair his injury. It didn't matter, the Bio-Foam would keep him going for now. He looked into the deep tunnel and replied, "I'll be fine."

Mitsuki sighed and said, "I'll stop us at a station that's closest to her location. Can you manage against the Honor Guards with that wound?" Kalder cracked a smile and said, "This scratch is nothing. Their gonna need to throw a lot more my way to try and stop me."