Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.
Chapter 29: The Invasion Begins
February 5, 2558
Sanghelios
Halo Universe
0935 hours
The Didact waited patiently as Skynet spun down the Narada's new slipspace drive; it had been constructed mere hours after the probe ship had failed to return. The ancient Promethean Warrior knew the deranged AI had sent them to his own native universe, the one that had been nicknamed after the accursed Halo Array.
He didn't know where though, his link with Skynet was weak. Despite that, he knew it was only a matter of time before the preoccupied Skynet noticed that the he was nearly free.
To escape successfully, the Didact knew he needed a distraction, otherwise he'd be overwhelmed.
His distraction came in the form of a battle just minutes after arriving.
Once the sensory data fed into him, he realized the Sangheili home fleet wouldn't stand a chance against this superior threat. This ship was too powerful and the AI behind the controls had already robbed him much of his tactical knowledge, leaving the Sangheili at a massive disadvantage.
As the Narada began to shake from the impact of weapons fire, he knew there wouldn't be a better time to act.
He called to his armor as his broke free from his restraints. The metal armor flew onto his body piece by piece and snapped into place.
A vengeful grin appeared on his lips as his mask slipped over his face. The advanced combat skin, as the armor was called by the Forerunners, had recharged itself by discreetly leeching power from the Narada's power grid; he now had the advantage.
His shields and other abilities returned as the armor finished assembling itself.
As Terminators materialized in the room, he prepared himself for the long haul.
They opened fire, but had little effect on his shields before he began swatting them aside like bugs or ripping them apart with his hands. It wasn't long before he was tearing doors apart with his projecting constraint fields, even force fields thrown up in his way could not hold him back.
Even though he was crushing Skynet's defenses, he knew it was only a matter of time before the AI sent something much bigger to stop him, perhaps even a bomb big enough to destroy him.
However, it seemed that the Sangheili, or Elites as the humans called them, were keeping the AI busy long enough to keep it from blowing up part of its own ship to prevent his escape.
He knew time was growing limited as the weapons fire began to die down. In desperation, he started tearing through bulkheads to force his way out of the ship. It wasn't long before he had punched through the outer hull by detonating one of the plasma relays and then jumping into space.
The Narada rocketed past him as it continued to engage the few remaining Sangheili ships; the rest were burning hulks or shattered debris fields. Only one seemed to be holding its own, and it was there that the Didact knew he might find a means of stopping the monster.
Being able to maneuver using his combat skin's impulse thrusters, he plotted an intercept course with the ship as it retreated from the Narada. Holes had been punctured in its hull and it was venting atmosphere, but it was still in one piece.
He deftly dodged laser turret fire before dropping through the punctured hull and landing on one of the inner decks. His scanners pinpointed the bridge, and he quickly made his way there without encountering resistance. Apparently the hull breaches had sucked out most of the crew.
The bridge was protected by an airlock, one that his suits systems were able to interface with to open. Since the Covenant had based most of their technology on Forerunner engineering, it made it that much easier to get in.
As soon as the door segments separated, he was met with a hail of plasma fire. He swept some of them aside with his constraint fields. When the others saw this, they stopped firing.
The white armored Shipmaster was holding his hand out in the Sangheili gesture for cease fire while staring at him with his two remaining mandibles parted in awe.
"A Forerunner." It breathed in its native tongue.
The Didact slid his mask back. "If you want to save your species I suggest you evacuate your planet, immediately. You cannot stop what you are facing, not alone."
The Shadow of Intent shook from another impact, and R'tas, the Shipmaster, barked at his men to return fire. "And what do you know about our enemy, Forerunner?" His tone was reverent, something that had been ingrained into him since he was young.
"The vessel houses an ancilla that controls technology more advanced than yours in every way but one. Its only goal is the eradication of every organic lifeform it encounters." He explained grimly. "The only advantage you have is speed."
The honor bound Sangheili growled at the idea of abandoning their home world, but the invader's brute strength and sub-light speed were proving too much for what remained of their once proud fleet.
Whether he wanted to leave or not, it wasn't R'tas' decision. "Take him to the Arbiter, at once! We will hold them off."
Realizing that he couldn't convince this honor bound warrior to deviate from his chain of command, he dropped to the surface from one of the launching bays with his escort guiding him to the Sangheili leader from his drop pod.
As the Didact dived to the surface, he could see that Skynet was already bombarding military bases on the surface and shooting down any craft that tried to leave the planet. It was then that the Didact realized that the Narada had to be disabled if anyone had a chance of leaving the planet alive.
"I've locked onto the Arbiter's signal. Track my descent and we'll land in proximity."
The Didact fell in behind the pod without response as they broke through the cloud layer. The ancient Promethean landed gracefully next to the Elite's pod, enticing another wave of awe from the Sangheili.
"Come, Warrior, guide me to your leader." The Zealot class Elite bowed his head slightly and charged towards the Arbiter's location. He was leading troops in battle against the Terminators who were on ground. Why Skynet hadn't just bombarded the surface confused the Didact momentarily, but then he realized the AI wanted something. What that was, he didn't know.
As they approached the ridge where the battle was centered, he could easily determine who the Arbiter was. Even though he was in the midst of his troops as they battled the machines in bloody close quarters combat.
Few turned as his feet thundered against the grassy ridge, but that changed when he engaged the Terminators. The machines fought well, but they were no match for him, not with the weapons they possessed.
As he dispatched the last of the Terminators in the vicinity, the entire group, Arbiter included, stared at him in awe. Despite his seeming invincibility, it was only a matter of time until Skynet adapted and built something bigger, tougher, and better armed. This is how Skynet had defeated humanity in its timeline, and it was likely to use those same tactics again.
And right now, he knew the clock was ticking. If he wanted to save this species he had to convince the Arbiter to evacuate now and abandon any hope of saving their world.
"Didact." The gold armored Elite greeted, it wasn't surprising that he recognized him. "What are you doing here?" It seemed this Elite had lost all respect for the 'ancients' that the race once held for his. Hopefully this wouldn't hinder his mission.
"To warn you, warrior. The enemy you face is not one you can defeat. Its abilities are above your own; its soldiers are mass produced in minutes and your forces continue to dwindle. The only advantage you have is speed, for now your ships remain faster than its. If you want to save your people, I suggest you evacuate before he renders your world uninhabitable."
The Arbiter looked around at his dead soldiers and the smoke rising from the destroyed weapons cache in the distance. Reports from his fleet had been discouraging to say the least.
"Who is attacking us, and more importantly, why?" The Arbiter was no fool, but he wasn't to abandon their homeworld without knowing more.
"The entity calls itself Skynet, an ancilla who despises all forms of organic life. It will stop at nothing until we are all eradicated."
The Arbiter's mandibles shifted as he analyzed what the tall Promethean had said, and the it dawned on him.
"Halo." The horror that spread over the survivors was palpable, they knew what the six remaining ring-worlds would do if activated.
"Precisely."
The Arbiter bit down on his own horror as the only logical course of action became clear to him. "Then we must live to fight again." He turned to one of his Lieutenants and issued an order. "Order the evacuation, get everyone to the ships."
Some were horrified at the prospect of abandoning Sanghelios, others howled in disgust at the Arbiter's seeming cowardice. Some saw the Arbiter's reasoning and joined alongside him, but as debris from destroyed ships burned through the atmosphere like shooting stars, nearly everyone realized that the planet was lost.
As they scrambled off to spread the word, the Arbiter voiced his worries to the Didact. "Its already shot down several transports, how do you expect the others to escape?"
"Leave that to me." He said as his eyes searched the landscape around them. "What were you defending?" He asked.
"Our military archives, why does it matter?"
"Because this is the only place the ancilla sent its warriors."
The Arbiter needed nothing further to understand why that was significant. "Then it must be destroyed. A single antimatter charge will suffice."
More soldiers were dispatched to place the charges as Skynet sent in another wave of machines. This time they had to fight down in the archives, but the closed quarters worked against the machines in the case, and they were defeated before they could access anything of consequence.
With the charges set, they were picked up by Shadow of Intent as Skynet finished off the last of the planetary defenses.
"Time grows short, Warrior." The Didact said as he watched the Narada recall its fighters from the Shadow's bridge screen.
"What did you have in mind?" The Shipmaster asked as he stood next to the Arbiter.
The taller Promethean's jaw shifted as numerous plans were counted and dismissed. He didn't know how he was going to disable the Narada long enough to allow the surviving Sangheili time to escape.
"Shipmaster, the archive has been destroyed." One of the Ultra's reported as he pulled up a blooming explosion on the surface.
The Didact's eyes snapped to the explosion; a plan immediately began to form. "How many frigates remain?"
"Three are functional, why?" R'tas Vadum asked.
He turned away from the screen to face the white armored Elite. "Only a slipspace drive can bypass its defenses. Colliding the frigate with Narada is the only thing that will halt the AI long enough for you to escape."
The Arbiter stepped forward. "Show us where to strike. We will do the rest."
The Didact didn't want more to die because of his mistakes, but it was the only way to save the rest. Skynet had launched just launched the bio weapon; it wouldn't be long before Sanghelios was a barren wasteland.
Only a skeleton crew remained on the frigate that would kamikaze itself into the menacing superstructure of the Narada. The much smaller frigate would not do much damage, but if they hit the right spot, the damage would be enough to disable the weapons just long enough to escape.
He, R'tas, and the Arbiter stood and watched as the two hundred meter frigate feigned moving off before slipping right behind the Narada's shields. Internal defense activated, but the tiny ship held together long enough to smash into crest of the inner hull. The explosion of internal payload was enough, and the Didact could sense Skynet's anger over their weak connection before the Narada jumped into warp.
There were no triumphant roars or gloating growls to celebrate their victory because it had been such a hollow one. Millions dead and their planet rendered uninhabitable.
Now that the threat was over for the time being, the Arbiter decided that it was high time for an explanation. Forerunner or not, he knew that the much taller Promethean was not telling them something.
"Didact." The unmasked Promethean turned towards him. "Come with me." He gestured towards the conference room to the left. Had the Didact's pride been intact, he would have killed him for ordering him around, but alas, his pride was no more.
As the door locked behind them, the gold armored Arbiter could help but eye the Promethean suspiciously. He had time on the surface to question the Forerunner's motives, but now things needed to be clear.
"Explain yourself. How did you know so much about our enemy ?" He began, noticing that the Didact's facial features twisted at his words.
"Because I was its prisoner." And so he told his story to the Elite warrior.
December 8, 2552
Venezia colony
Surface
USS Voyager
After an intense workout, John Connor was feeling pretty good. Things had been going well for the past three months since arriving in the Halo Universe. Once the initial struggle had been dealt with, they had landed on the Insurrectionist colony of Venezia. Though the local population was ignorant of the vessel's origin, they had sold them some land far away from the settlement to 'conduct repairs'.
A holographic duck-blind kept them and their sensors in the dark.
Voyager's unusual design would have raised enough alarms as it was, but having it known that that they were creating buildings in mere hours would have definitely drawn too much attention.
After repairs were completed, Cortana, Seven of Nine, and Weaver had proposed upgrades to Voyager's design to accommodate their situation. These included a larger torpedo capacity, minor shield upgrades, and a dedicated room for Spartans. Part of Deck 5 had been converted into quarters meant for the larger than life soldiers and had facilities dedicated to their armor and weapons.
Everyone themselves had been in decent spirits, despite all that had happened.
Cortana was her usual self, perky with plenty of sass on the side. You could tell she was anxious to find the Chief, but the fact that they would be jumping to the future soon had put her into an even better mood as of late.
Her older sister, Kalmiya, was fairly reserved but equally in high spirits after being saved. She was happy working on the TX-3, which was in its final testing phases. She enjoyed inventing just as much as her creator did, even more so than Cortana.
Cameron was heavily involved with the TX-3 project, but she also did a lot with the refitting of Voyager. Despite her busy schedule, she and John always spent at least an hour together each day.
John Henry too, spent a great deal of time with Voyager's repairs and refitting. He often proposed design changes or improvements that no one else had thought of. Despite losing touch with Savannah once more, he was keeping a rather positive outlook on the situation. He hoped his 'brother' could be dealt with before things got out of hand.
Allison had the biggest turn around. Ever since Six had come on board, her attitude had improved. She seemingly gone from the brink of mental breakdown to her normal self. Better even. A month after arriving on Venezia, Cortana, Six, and reluctantly, the Doctor, gave the go ahead to put her through the proven Spartan IV augmentations. After learning to control her body again, she and Six trained at least ten hours a day, often times in holodeck simulations.
Noble Six, or just Six now, was a hard one to gauge. She kept an even tighter lid on her emotions than Seven of Nine but was not completely unreadable. John could tell that she had taken the loss of her team, save Jun-A266, very hard. Over time though, she seemed to have taken to her new team; she and Allison had especially bonded.
Weaver had been quiet after losing Savannah again, but John figured she was feeling partially guilty for James Ellison's death. He knew that she took personal responsibility for taking so long to repair the armor generator, but he and no one else could find fault for her lengthy repair time due to the complexity of the operation. Either way, she had been distant from even John, whom she considered a friend. Despite the lingering guilt, she too had a positive outlook on the future confrontation with Skynet, as long as they could recruit more help.
Seven of Nine had been cooperating with Cortana's recommended procedure to treat her ailing Borg nanoprobes. Kalmiya would temporarily take over her body once a week to do a deep system diagnostic and correct any replication errors within the nanoprobes. The result had been a radical improvement in Seven's health and her fears of Kalmiya not wanting to relinquish control were unwarranted.
The Doctor mood was easy to determine. When he sang opera while he worked, you knew he was in high spirits. When he sulked, well, you avoided him unless you wanted to listen to a tirade. He was one of the few of the group who held a bleak outlook on Skynet, but confessed that the lack of manpower was his primary concern.
Skynet could be beat; it had been done before. John just didn't know what it would cost to do it. How many lives would be spent before the deranged AI finally offlined forever?
That thought plagued his mind as he exited the holodeck where he promptly found Allison leaning against the wall. The woman he'd come to call friend was now two inches taller than him and toned like he'd never seen her before. She didn't look like a body builder, just extremely fit. Her scars were gone, a product of the rapid body growth she'd experience going through the advanced Spartan IV augmentation procedures.
"Bout time you finished, slow poke." She teased with a shit-eating grin plastered to her face.
John just snorted as he downed the last of his water. "Not all of us can be as good as you Allie."
She rolled her eyes at his sarcasm and pushed off the wall. "Nope." She said and walked into the holodeck without another word.
He shook his head and walked down the curved passage towards the turbolift. He desperately needed a shower after a long day's work and he didn't want to wager on how bad he smelled.
A sigh exited his mouth as he entered his sonic shower. John still couldn't believe how good a sonic shower felt after exercising.
The shower had put him in such a good mood he was humming as he walked into his room with a towel around his waist. He stopped when he saw Cameron sitting at his table with an ever-present PADD in hand.
"Don't stop." She said as she glanced up at him. "I like it."
"Thanks Cameron, but I'm not much of a performer." He said as a slight blush crossed his cheeks.
She simply gave him a small smile. "It's okay John, I understand."
Feeling slightly guilty at rejecting her request, but there were somethings he was completely uncomfortable doing in front of others, including Cameron.
"So..." He began as he sat down across from her. "How was your day?"
"Busy," She deadpanned. "All the buildings have been recycled."
"John Henry said we'd be leaving in a few hours. I take it that means everything's going well?" He gestured to the ship around him.
Cameron nodded and set down the pad. "The diagnostics show everything is within parameters; we'll set course for the Ark after we leave orbit."
This was part of the plan that John thought was a little risky. He agreed with Cortana that Voyager needed a dedicated commander and that Miranda Keyes was the best candidate within reach. However, the place they had to go to get her is what bothered him.
They would have to gather Miranda's body, undetected, and then escape before Halo fired. All the while refueling their dwindling supply of Benamite that they would have to mine from the Ark's resource moon.
If they got caught in Halo's blast wave... He sighed, now he was getting paranoid. The chances of that happening were small. The installation had destroyed itself before the pulse had gone super-luminal; Voyager could out run it on high impulse.
"John?" Cameron broke him from his thoughts and he apologized.
He stood up and got a glass of water while Cameron watched him with concern.
When he sat back down, she spoke her peace. "You're nervous."
"Yeah," He breathed and set the glass down, "I have been since we came here. Being in the past has its advantages, but we both know how quickly the future can change if were not careful."
Cameron took one of his hands in hers and smiled. "No one's more worried than Cortana, John, she knows what she's doing. We wont be in the past for much longer."
Once they'd rescued Commander Keyes and mined enough Benamite, they'd jump to the future.
"You need rest John." She said matter of factly after noticing the bags under his eyes. "Change into something comfortable, I'll be back in minute."
He didn't know it, but Cameron had been keeping tabs on the hours he slept, and lately he hadn't gotten many.
She gave him a quick kiss and left his room; leaving him to get dressed. He typically slept in athletic shorts, and that's exactly what he was wearing as Cameron reentered his room.
Only her hologram didn't look the same. The former cyborg was now wearing a pair of purple silk pajamas. His mouth hung for a second before she closed it with her finger; as small smirk spreading over her mouth as she did.
John understood what her change in clothes meant, he just didn't know why. He knew she wasn't trying to seduce them, they'd agreed that any further exploration into a physical relationship wouldn't happen while she was a hologram.
He tried opening his mouth again to ask, but she shushed him with a kiss. "You need to rest." She said, and he didn't argue. She led him to the bed and he laid down on his back. Then, to his surprise, she laid down next to him with her head lying on his chest.
She could feel his heart rate increase momentarily at the contact, but it soon began to slow as she rubbed circles on his hand. Within minutes, he was asleep.
Things were coming together nicely from Cortana's nearly omniscient perspective. The ship was in one piece again, and if she dared admit, even better than before.
Everyone had slowly adjusted to their situation over the last few months; people became familiar with their teammates, learned their habits, their personalities, and their likes and dislikes as much as one could for such a short period of time.
As Cortana watched everyone through Voyager's systems, she smiled at what they had accomplished and what they were about to.
Time had healed some wounds and scabbed over others; their purpose was uniting them in a way she had not expected, and it made her feel hopeful about the final addition to their team.
Well, final until they could track down the Chief.
She mentally sighed as images and thoughts of her partner in crime came to mind. She cared for him greatly, more than she had ever imagined she could. It hurt not knowing how he was or how her 'death' was affecting him.
Patience was key to keeping her on task. She was notorious for getting off topic, but after her transformation into Metastability, she sometimes lost control.
Cortana pushed thoughts of Master Chief aside and continued her conversation with Seven of Nine.
"...the deflector diagnostics indicate that we need to recalibrate the projection matrix before activating the Slipstream drive." The cyborg finished as Cortana's attention returned. After she quickly rewound the security recordings, she responded.
"Weaver's already in that section, I'll be on the bridge." She said and vanished, leaving a slightly bewildered Seven of Nine behind.
Kalmiya had been watching the exchange as she'd been helping out with the final preparations. "Her patience is wearing thin. She wants to find him; she hates knowing she's put him through hell after she left. She wants to relieve him of that pain."
"Pain can change us for the better." Seven said idly as she turned back to her console, knowing from experience that the furnace can purge the impurities and make a person better than they were before.
Voyager left Venezia under the cover of darkness and cloak. No one on the planet would know of their departure, nor would their presence be missed.
In minutes it achieved orbit and promptly left the planet behind.
John was sitting in the Captain's chair with Cortana at the helm and John Henry by his side. Cameron was at tactical and Seven at her engineering console. Ops was manned by Kalmiya. Everyone else was watching from the mess hall windows, except Weaver, as Voyager prepared for the jump to Slipstream velocity.
"Destination coordinates set, shutting down impulse drive." Cortana announced as her digital fingers flew across the helm controls.
Seven looked up from her own screens and confirmed that the drive was ready. "Engineering reports all systems nominal."
"Cloak is still engaged. No one has detected us." Kalmiya reported as Cameron confirmed from tactical. "All weapon systems standing by."
"Ready to go, sir?" Cortana mocked as she swung around to face John. He snorted a laugh and indulged her.
"Do it."
A smile tweaked her lips as she faced the controls once more. "Engaging Quantum Slipstream Drive."
The lights dimmed as the ship began to shudder. Power surged into the deflector dish as an intense quantum field surrounded Voyager, giving it a flowing layer of sea green energy that raced backwards across the hull. The view screen's camera gradually began to white out as the energy intensified.
And then, in a flash of light, Voyager entered the quantum realm and disappeared.
Inside the ship, Voyager raced down the blue quantum tunnel as it traveled across the galaxy at speeds only approached by the Forerunners themselves.
Thousands of years, tens of thousands of species, and a highly motivated crew is what it took to invent the original prototype. Borg, Federation, and who knew what other species whose technology had been wrapped all into one incredibly advanced system that had the ability to travel over ten thousand light years in under a minute.
Though the speed had been greatly reduced on this final prototype, it was still the fastest non-Forerunner ship-board FTL that any of them had ever seen.
"Approaching maximum velocity." Cortana informed as the ride began to smooth out.
"We started nearly 300,000 light years away from the Ark. It will take roughly 30 hours to reach it." Seven added.
With the new technology, traveling to other galaxies was easily feasible, but for now they'd settle on getting a new supply of the vital Benamite that was at the heart of the drive.
For the next thirty hours they prepared themselves for the danger ahead. They knew that Sentinels, the Flood, and the Covenant could easily throw a wrench into their plans, and for once, John hoped that their plan wouldn't go awry.
December 10, 2552
The Ark
Twelve hours before Covenant arrival.
One day, six hours before Halo activation.
Cortana had experience involuntary flashbacks when she'd seen Reach after their arrival several months ago, but they didn't compare to the ones she began to experience when she saw the Ark.
"You found me"!
She had quickly banished the reminiscent thoughts from her mind; she had too much to worry about at the moment.
"Have we been scanned by any luminal scanners?" She asked her cyborg companion at ops.
"No, the only activity I'm detecting is from core." Cameron answered as her fingers flew over the controls. "Probably from constructing the replacement Halo."
Cortana simply nodded in response, trusting Cameron's skill implicitly.
John took her silence as his cue to speak. "Alright," he started as he opened a comm-line to Six, "You're cleared for launch."
"Understood. Delta Flyer out."
Noble Six, or Six as she preferred to be called, sat comfortably in her new grey Mark VI MJOLNIR armor. The only deviation from the original design was the helmet. Instead of the generic Mark VI helmet, this one was made to look like the standard Mark V[B] she'd worn before.
Allison sat behind her at the tactical console keeping an eye out for trouble. So far, there was none.
It took them a few minutes to locate the Benamite deposits on the resource moon and then set the sleek shuttle on the surface. Weaver and John Henry exited the craft first; their job was to use phaser drills to cut chunks of the Benamite ore out of the cliff side with ultra precision that only they possessed. Six and Allison would use their Spartan strength to move the chunks into a pile for Voyager to beam up.
Time was running short, but it wouldn't take long to gather what was necessary.
Within three hours, Voyager's hold was full of the rare material.
On the way back, Allison dusted off her red Mark VI, scowling at the scratch marks that had appeared in the paint. She was never one to be vain, but she took pride in keeping her armor in the best shape possible.
"Paint is paint, Allison." Her mentor chided as they approached Voyager's open shuttle bay.
The newly minted Spartan IV sighed as her mentor eased the craft into the bay. "I know."
Six smiled behind her visor as the Delta Flyer II settled onto the floor. Allison may not be like the IIs or the IIIs, but she seemed to fit fine as IV. Rough around the edges but an all round good soldier.
Still, Six mused that the lithe Spartan could use a little more polishing.
"Meet me in the holodeck in 20 minutes." She said to her crimson clad compatriot.
"Why?"
Six turned her helmeted head back to answer. "You're going to find out just how much paint comes off in battle."
Cortana sat at the helm in silence as she watched the Ark portal open above Voyager. She knew that in only a few moments the Keyship would come through with an armada of Covenant ships.
Despite all that deadly firepower, Cortana knew for certain that none of the ships would be able to detect them. With a real cloaking device now installed aboard the Federation vessel, one that was based off of a Romulan design, there was little chance they would be found by Truth and his bungling Brute followers.
John was standing next to her, his arms crossed as he watched events that unfolded in Halo 3 happen before his very eyes.
Most of the crew watched as events played out exactly like Cortana said they would. Only Seven and Weaver were doing anything productive as they refined the ore into white benamite crystals. The Doctor, having studied Commander Keyes medical records and the description of her mortal injuries, waited for his patient to arrive with little apprehension.
This wouldn't be the first time he'd 'resurrected' someone.
Kalmiya and Cameron watched even as they continued working out the bugs in the nearly completed TX-3; being AIs made it so much easier to multitask.
As the battle for the Ark raged between the Covenant Loyalists, the Flood, and UNSC/Separatists Elites, Voyager just stayed there watching for the moment to act.
Their cue came as the unfinished Halo rose from the Foundry of the the Ark and hovered around where Voyager had parked itself.
John covered his mouth to hide the look of awe on his face. The monstrous 10,000 km ring may have been unfinished, but it was still a sight to behold. To think that this ring, this weapon could kill all sentient organic life in 25,000 light year radius, all in a mater of minutes, was almost too much to comprehend.
Everyone on the ship had turned to see the ring this universe had been named for. The ultimate weapon of mass destruction, the biggest affront to life ever created.
"We don't have much time." Cortana said, breaking the silence that had engulfed the bridge. "Johnson's already taken Miranda's body aboard the Forward Unto Dawn. We need to steal it while everyone's distracted with the personnel transfer to the Sangheili ships."
"Take us closer to the Dawn." John ordered, though he knew it wasn't necessary. It was more of an announcement for the rest of the crew.
"Aye." The AI responded, her normal snippy tone gone in light of the situation. "ETA, two minutes. John, Derek, you're up."
John was already in UNSC Marine fatigues with a Private's rank on his shoulder. Derek had opted out of his ODST gear and was wearing a Navy uniform labeling him as a Petty Officer Second Class. Both had made sure their uniforms looked well worn and were carrying UNSC weapons.
As Voyager pulled up close to the larger Charon-class frigate, Kalmiya handed John Cortana's chip as he and Derek stepped onto the Transporter pad.
"Remember, we don't have much time. Don't get caught." The magenta AI warned before activating the machine.
"Good luck." She whispered to the empty room before she vanished back into the computer.
On the Forward Unto Dawn, John and Derek found themselves in the storage closet just across from the morgue. John checked his tricorder for any signs of activity, but found none nearby.
"We're clear." He said and exited the closet with Derek on his heels.
After entering the morgue John pulled out Cortana's chip and entered it into a terminal.
As she popped up on the terminal, her face was twisted with an emotion that John guessed meant that she was not excited to be back in the computer of the ship that had kept her and the Chief prisoner for four and a half years.
"Cortana." He said softly, breaking her out of some reverie.
"I'm working." She bit back as a look of annoyance crossed her face. "I have to cover my tracks. I can't let anyone, especially my younger self, know we were here". She explained more calmly. "She's in 4B." The AI finished with a sigh and John pulled her out of the system.
Derek opened the metal door and rolled the slab out, revealing the recently deceased Commander Miranda Keyes.
Her skin was still warm.
Just as Derek was about to attach the transporter tag to Commander's chest, the morgue's door slid open.
"What the..." A gravelly voice started before instantly going to its side arm. John was just as fast and had his MA5B pointing at the intruder.
"Drop it." John ordered the Sergeant who had his weapon pointed at a hapless Derek Reese.
"Uh-uh." The steely eyed African-American grunted. "Now I don't know what you boys are doing in here, but I suggest you put down you're weapon before I put one through you're friend's knee cap!"
The man wasn't going to give up easily.
"John, put it down." Cortana's voice stopped the man cold, his eyes quickly shifting to John's pocket.
John flicked the safety on his weapon and set it on the table. The man nodded towards John's pocket, his eyes switching back between John and Derek.
The former Resistance soldier slowly pulled out Cortana's chip and held it out in his palm.
"Where did you get that?" His voice low and eyes full of suspicion.
Before he had a chance to answer, Cortana appeared on the chip's holo-surface.
The man nearly fell back in surprise; his mouth dropped wide open and eyes wide as dinner plate.
"Cor..CORTANA? I thought the Chief was gettin' you off that Flood infested monstrosity?"
John noted that she had reverted her avatar back to it's Halo 3 appearance.
"He is, and he'll succeed. Just like he always does." She said with a reminiscent smile. "Johnson, I don't have time to give you all the details, but I need you to trust me."
He narrowed his eyes at her pleading face before lowering his weapon. "I trust you, Cortana. Always have."
She had missed this man, if only there was a way to save him too, but alas, it was impossible.
"Johnson, I'm not the Cortana you'll talk to in an hour. I'm from the future, as are these two men." She said, simplifying the truth to make it easier for him to swallow. "We've been collecting remarkable individuals from the recent past to form an elite team to save the future."
The Marine Sergeant looked at her skeptically, and it was then she decided that he needed some proof. "Hold out you're hand." She asked him softly, and after hesitating, he did so.
To his surprise, Cortana walked off the chip and hopped onto his hand. He very nearly dropped her avatar in surprise.
"Proof enough, Sergeant?" She asked with a satisfied smile.
"Alright, you've got my attention." He said, leaving it open for Cortana to explain.
"We can revive her Johnson. That's why were taking her body."
He nodded as the solid hologram sat down on his calloused palm. "We've already saved Noble Six and my sister, Kalmiya, on Reach." She explained, and continued onward before the man could object. "We aren't here to change the timeline, the consequences of doing so are never predictable and always have a downside."
He wanted to object again, but the pleading look on her face kept her quiet. "I know what I'm doing, Johnson. Please, you must never tell anyone about us, the consequences could be disastrous."
The man seemed to be weighing her words as quickly as he could; Cortana knew he had other things to worry about, namely the Flood.
He finally let out a grunt sounding sigh and shook his head.
"Can you really save her?"
She nodded. He sighed again.
"Alright, I'll let you take her." He said finally, and Cortana gave him a soft smile. She hopped off his hand and did something she'd been dying to try out. She let her avatar grow to full size, standing just a few inches shorter that Johnson.
Her chip could only sustain if for a few moments, but it was enough.
After his eyes finally sucked themselves back in their sockets, he laughed. "You and you're theatrics!"
She scoffed and crossed her arms. "Look who's talking!"
He smiled as he stuck his trademark cigar back in his mouth, lighting with a practiced ease.
"We have to go." Derek reminded her as he placed the beacon on Miranda.
With a resigned look, Cortana nodded and shifted her avatar back to it's normal appearance. She looked at him for a second before leaning forward and kissing him on the cheek.
The cigar nearly fell out of his mouth.
"Goodbye, Johnson." She said and turned around, trying to hide the sadness she felt.
"Cortana." He said softly, and she turned around. "Do we win?"
A smile crossed her lips before answering. "Yes."
The man let out a satisfied sigh, as if all the burdens he carried were suddenly lifted. "It'll be worth it then." He whispered before he looked up at the human sized Cortana one last time. "I'm not gonna make it, am I?
She froze for a second and blinked, it was all the confirmation he needed. "You're eyes told me everything. You always wear you heart on your sleeve, ma'am."
"I was never one for hiding how I feel." She confessed before turning again to go.
"I hope I went out with a bang," He said as he took a long drag from the cigar.
The words froze her one last time, they were eerily reminiscent of the ones he'd said just before he died.
"The biggest in history." She whispered before disappearing back into her chip. He tipped his hat to them and left.
It was the last time they ever saw him.
"Voyager." Cortana started, her voice laden with emotion, "Beam us up."
As they rematerialized in Sickbay, John wasted no time inserting Cortana's chip into a nearby terminal as Derek and the Doctor lifted Miranda's body onto the surgical bio-bed.
When Cortana's avatar formed in front of him, the young man could see Cortana was deeply saddened by what she could not stop, about who she could not save.
He put a hand on her shoulder, catching her attention. "Help her." He said as he nodded towards the bio-bed behind them.
The AI sighed and as she restrained her sorrow and focused on the task of saving her mother's daughter.
John and Derek let themselves out of the room as the two began sealing Miranda's wounds.
On the bridge, Kalmiya was collaborating with Seven of Nine, Cameron, and John Henry in preparation for the jump to the future.
Seven had proposed using the same method the Borg once used to travel to the past. It involved modifying the deflector dish to emit a certain pulse that would generate a temporal vortex.
It was simple, accurate, and proven to work.
Kalmiya's magenta eyes moved back and forth across the readouts displayed on the main view screen. It wasn't necessary for her to do, but it allowed everyone else to know that she was busy.
"Kalmiya to Seven of Nine."
"Standby" She snapped, "I'm having trouble aligning the emitters."
"I know." Kalmiya responded as she rolled her eyes. "I was going to suggest lowering the polarity by .062; It should give you less trouble."
"Acknowledged." Seven grunted and closed the channel.
The components added to the deflector that enabled it to support stable slipstream flight was what was giving the cyborg a headache, hence why Kalmiya was monitoring things.
"We have thirty-two minutes before Halo detonates." Cameron said as she stopped next to her fellow AI. "Will she be done in time?"
"I believe so. If not, warp drive is standing by." Kalmiya answered as she turned toward her brown haired counterpart.
Cameron nodded as she watched the deflector stats change on the view screen. "Good." She said before looking Kalmiya in the eye. "Keep the weapons on standby, I believe we were scanned earlier when we beamed John and Derek to the Dawn."
The magenta AI looked mildly alarmed. "By who?"
"The Ark."
Her eyebrows scrunched as she calculated the ramifications of being discovered by the installation. "But it hasn't provoked a response. Why?"
"I don't know." Cameron admitted with a subtle shake of her head. "Maybe whatever scanned us is busy dealing with the Flood."
Kalmiya nodded and turned back to the view screen. "Keep an eye on it, alert me if it displays any sign of further detection."
"I will." Cameron affirmed and went back to the ops console.
Just as she was rounding the corner into her station, John stepped onto the bridge wearing a sober expression on his face. "Hey Cameron." He greeted with a smile, breaking his previous mood.
Cameron smiled and greeted him back before asking how the mission went.
"We ran into Sergeant Johnson." He started, a look of unease coming across his face as he continued. "He caught us tagging Miranda's body."
At that point, Kalmiya took interest in the conversation, but kept silent for the moment.
"Cortana convinced him not to shoot us, but it wasn't easy for her to see him again."
Cameron nodded. "I can relate."
He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and let her get back to work before joining their magenta crew mate by the view screen. "How's it looking out there?"
The screen quickly switched over to the outer camera array, the unfinished Halo dominated its view. "Calm, for now." She answered simply. "At least for another half hour."
"Go ahead and move us away from the ring, just in case our little encounter with Johnson changed something." John ordered, and it was one the AI complied with without question.
Just as they positioned themselves off to the edge of the installation did Seven of Nine report that the defector was primed and ready.
"And now we wait." John commented, knowing they had to make sure that everything went according to what Cortana remembered. If it didn't, history could be irrevocably altered.
So far, everything had been going according to plan.
Sickbay
Ten minutes to Halo ignition sequence
Ever since beaming back to the ship, both the Doctor and Cortana worked tirelessly to repair the damage done to Miranda Keyes' body in hope of using new medical nanites to revive her.
Despite the fact that her brain had been without oxygen for nearly 90 minutes, the nanites could easily reverse the damage. Borg nanoprobes had once resurrected Voyager's former cook, Neelix, after being dead for nearly 18 hours.
To give the new non-Borg technology the best chance at working, they'd opted to repair the puncture wounds the Brute Spiker had caused. This proved to be more of a challenge since it damaged not only her right lung and stomach, but also severed her spinal cord in two places.
Fixing the lung and stomach were easy, was were the bones that surrounded the spinal column. Normally the spinal cord would be tricky, but thanks to the Doctor's foresight, it was healed without a hitch.
"I believe we're ready to start the injections." Cortana said with cautious excitement in her voice.
The Doctor, co-creator of the new nanites, was taking a cautious stance as well. This would be the first human revival he'd performed with them. "Agreed." He said simply as he reached for one of the vials filled with liquid suspended nanites. He pushed the cartridge into the hypo and pressed it to neck, right into the carotid artery.
Three more followed as the nanites went about reversing necrosis in the vital organs, such as the heart, lungs, and brain, first.
Two minutes passed before the bio-bed monitor jumped to life.
"Her heart's restarted, her BP is rising." The Doctor announced with glee right before Miranda's lungs gasped for air.
Cortana took out a medical tricorder and began doing even more detailed scans. "Her internal organs are also de-necrotizing, everything is regenerating." She paused as she scanned her neural activity. "Doctor, attach a synapse monitor, I'm getting inconclusive readings." She said with a frown visible on her face.
Had her order come from anyone else, the Doctor would have scoffed at being told what to do in his own Sickbay, but alas, he knew that she knew enough about medicine to give her authority.
"Hmmm..." The Doctor looked puzzled after seeing the readings being generated by device. "It looks like their repairing the higher brain functions last. She should be fully revived in a few minutes." He announced with a confidence that put Cortana at ease.
"Good." She sighed as relief flooded her matrices.
The good mood disappeared, however, when the ship's klaxon went off, sending the ship into red alert. All computer monitors, save the bio-beds, instantly cleared, leaving only a dominant symbol behind.
It took only a micro-second for her to understand why.
"Oh, so that's what powers Halo. I always wondered how they fit so much energy into such a small..."
"OMEGA?" The Doctor shouted, obviously alarmed at the development. "You're telling me the Forerunners used one of the most dangerous substances in existence to power that...that weapon?"
Cortana only shrugged. "We've destroyed a Halo before without any ill effects, obviously they know how to tame it." She contended before she clearing the Omega Directive out of the system.
"Halo's preparing to fire, I'm needed on the bridge." She said before fading out.
The Doctor huffed at her casual response and went back to monitoring his patient. He figured worrying about Omega was pointless since there was nothing he could do about it.
Bridge
"Right on schedule." Kalmiya remarked as the Omega alarm went off. History had remained unchanged even though the retrieval team had run into Sergeant Major Avery Johnson.
Cortana cleared the alarm and appeared on the bridge moments later as everyone took their station.
"I want a full sensor analysis of the Halo event." Cortana told Cameron as she took her spot at the helm. Kalmiya sat next to John in the XO's chair while Seven entered the bridge and sat down at the engineering console.
Cortana couldn't help but notice that the cyborg was taking very detailed readings of the Omega signature emanating from the charging Ring of Death sitting a a hundred thousand kilometers off their port bow.
"Activating temporal modifications." Seven announced as Halo began its firing sequence. Cortana set the ship forward at 1/10 impulse, just enough momentum to get them through the pulsing white vortex the deflector was now generating.
"Halo blast wave will intercept us in thirty seconds!" Cameron warned as the ring began to glow brighter and brighter. "Power output nearing unreadable levels!"
"We'll be long gone." Seven assured them as the temporal event began to form. "Temporal vortex at sixty percent, seventy, eighty, ninety, one hundred!"
In a flash of pulsing white light, they were gone.
A/N: No real excuse for the wait other than a lack of muse. Next chapter should be out within two weeks.
