Guilty Sparks

by General Rage

Fleeing from the glassing of Reach in the belly of the Pillar of the Autumn, the crew of the SR-2 Normandy find themselves stranded with their UNSC allies on a strange Forerunner constructed ring world called Halo with the Covenant hunting them. But Halo holds a secret, one deadlier than both the Covenant and Reapers combined... and it's hungry.

35. Light Fuse

Chapter 34: Light Fuse…

Lasers traced the room, cutting into the grimy steel with deadly precision as the Sentinels menacingly hovered just inches outside the shattered remains of the main window. Shepard kept his head lowered behind what little cover was at the front of the Bridge, the solid metal railing leading to the lower portion of the deck to be precise. The Master Chief still held his position behind the main control console as the Sentinels laid their fire on thick. The rest of the team was scattered about the Bridge, seeking cover behind debris or corners just to avoid the deadly lasers streaming across the room.

"This Guilty Spark fellow really doesn't like you," Zek noted, backing away from the corner in fear of his quills being burnt off.

"Considering he's found out we're about to blow up his home, I think he's past not liking us," Tali corrected him as she readied her omni-tool. "He's probably settled on outright despising us now."

"And all because you won't flick the 'End All Life Everywhere' switch," the Jackal commented with a sarcastic smirk. "Truly you are a most unreasonable and unfeeling group of people."

Zek then began charging up his plasma pistol, an ominous grin on his face.

"I'm gonna go break his toys now," he declared happily.

Zek leaned out of cover and fired the overcharged plasma bolt at the Sentinels. The bolt almost hit its intended target, but the machine strafed towards the side just enough for the bolt to hit a hanging piece of debris instead. The near miss killed the Sentinel's shields, but left the robotic attack dog intact. It then nearly took the cocky Jackal's head clean off with a blast from its laser. Luckily, Zek pulled back as soon as he saw the machine aiming for him.

"Is it just me or are they learning?" Zek asked Tali.

"Within the confines of their limited programming, yes," Tali explained to him, sounding a bit bored by the question. "Guilty Spark may also be transmitting personal directives to them in order to improve their chances of success."

"Well we still outnumber them," Zek declared. "Maybe we can split their attention a bit."

He activated the previously inactive shield device on his arm, materializing a yellow shield into existence with the flick of a switch. While Zek seemed to prefer sniping, that didn't mean he wasn't prepared to get up close and personal though.

"I'll distract it," he told the quarian. "You take it apart!"

Tali decided to let the pirate try his plan, at least he was showing initiative. He rolled out into the open, keeping his shield in front of him. He popped up and began firing quick burst at the Sentinels, gaining their ire. His shield held up against the laser attack, although only just. The defensive measure was straining under the red hot beam.

As that was going on Tali looked to Legion, who was taking cover behind a monitoring console a few feet behind her position. The geth was already looking in her direction and seemed to understand what she wanted instantly. Legion aimed its Widow in the direction of the Sentinel, while Tali fired her pistol at the distracted flying machine.

The laser beam ended its assault on Zek's shield and turned to Tali, maneuvering into a positon past the initial bits of hanging debris that obscured Legion's shot. The geth now fired, hitting the machine across its front. Tali followed the solid attack with an energy drain that spiked the damaged robot's systems. Zek himself got enough hits on the thing with his plasma pistol at the same time. The combined assault utterly destroyed the Sentinel and its' now burning husk plummeted out of view moments later.

The Sentinels gave the others equal amounts of trouble. Their deadly beams saturated the Bridge, making getting a clear shot surprisingly difficult. The bits of debris hanging from the exterior of the ship itself provided the robots some cover as well. That did not deter the Master Chief or anyone else though. They had beaten these machines before and could do so again.

Chief let loose a quick burst of bullets on one of the Sentinels targeting Commander Shepard. The machine's shields held out, but it was forced to change targets. Chief ducked down as a beam sliced at the air near his head.

"These guys got us pinned pretty bad," Shepard shouted over to the Spartan.

"Just get those shields down and keep them off me," he assured the Commander.

Shepard nodded in response. With one less Sentinel aiming at him, he made a run down the nearby steps to the lower part of the Command Deck at the front of the Bridge. As he ran he fired bursts from his pistol up at the Sentinels from below. The machines oriented themselves to target him, giving Miranda a clearer shot at them.

"Lawson! Overload, now!" Shepard called back up loudly.

With a swift activation of her omni-tool, the Normandy XO fired an overload shot at the Sentinel flight. The tech attack hit the machines hard and removed their protective shields with ease. Chief instantly popped back up out cover and fired a full burst of bullets at the nearest Sentinel. The shots tore through the robot and quickly took their toll. The machine exploded and plummeted from the skies.

The two remaining Sentinels took aim at the Master Chief, who nimbly rolled to the side as the beams cut across the ground. He kept one of the Machines in his sights as he backed up, firing his Assault Rifle continuously. Miranda added her own shots from her pistol, succeeding in throwing off the Sentinel's aim. Before long the synthetic guardian exploded under the barrage and dropped out of sight.

The final Sentinel tried to continue its attack by moving in, only for three projectile omni-blades to stick into its chassis. Varvok had stood up from his cover to fire the blades and moments later they exploded. The Sentinel pitched and whirled before smashing against the side of the Autumn's window frame and dropped below their range of vision.

"That was bothersome," Varvok stated as his posture relaxed and the others regrouped. "Can we get moving before more come?"

"We need the fastest route to the Engineering," Chief insisted. "Cortana, any ideas?"

"Cryo Bay," the AI instantly suggested. "We can get to it through the armoury just outside the Bridge. We head through there and we'll be at the Reactor in no time."

Then there was no sense waiting around here any longer. The team rushed off the Bridge and back into the ship proper. The Armoury Cortana had suggested they cut through was indeed not far, in fact it was just down the hall. Chief remembered passing through here in fact when he had woke up. Unfortunately, instead of injured Marines inside, something worse was waiting for them.

The gargling shrieks alerted them to the danger before they even stepped foot inside. Lurching out of the Armoury appeared a Flood Combat Form. It aimed its weapon at them, but the Master Chief managed to fire first. It wasn't long before the entrance to the armoury was crowded with Flood though. Everyone began pouring lead into the opening, hoping to stem the tide and breakthrough. It was only when Mordin activated an Incineration Blast did they burn a path inside.

"Go!" The salarian called out. "Hold them back only momentarily!"

The team rushed into the Armoury, guns still raised. There were more Flood inside and they clearly had no intention of letting them reach Engineering. Not as they were at least. Even if this was a shortcut, the Master Chief knew cutting through these monsters, and whatever else lay in their path, was going to take a while. If there was any upside to that it was only in that their comrades in arms now had a bit more time to pull off that Corvette Takeover.

---

When Silva's orders came down, Garrus had noticed a lot of ODSTs nearby giving him rather suspicious looks. They had all heard by now about where he stood on Silva's plans, which meant he was a potential threat to the Major. He had quickly started moving to get out of their line of sight and made his way to one of the Storage Bays near the Hangar. He told Samara to meet him there with as many Marines as she could get to follow her. He radioed Johnson and Jun next with the same request. They couldn't send the message out on an open channel, they'd risk tipping off anyone sympathetic to Silva. They had to be cautious about how they moved forward.

It took longer for Garrus to get to his destination than expected, the ODSTs were out in force and patrolling the halls feverishly. Ditching potential tails proved a bit harder and for once Garrus wished he had Kausmi's stealth tech. Once he was sure the ODSTs were no longer following him, he arrived at the Storage Bay. There he found several squads of Marines standing about the area alongside Jun, Samara and Johnson. There were more people than he expected, so at least something was going right.

"We gathered up as many Marines as we could find on our way here," Johnson explained. "The Drop Troopers looked suspicious but I was able to throw them off. Said we were adding to the security detail to watch for more Flood incursions."

"My group was more or less forced to stay out of sight best they could," Jun added. "I think Silva's people are a bit more worried about the Spartans than regular Marines."

"I encountered similar difficulties," Samara concurred. "However, I was able to escort enough soldiers here without incident."

At least that meant they had enough people to make this work. Between them and Holland's men they'd make their fair contribution to the mission. Question was, were they prepared for what it entailed?

"Have they been briefed?" Garrus asked them. "Do they know what we're asking of them?"

"They have," Johnson assured him. "I won't say they're happy about the idea. But between the options of allowing the Flood to escape Halo or helping the Jackals get us a non-infested ship, well, it's not much of a contest. They prefer the Devil they know to the monsters who have been eating their friends."

Garrus supposed they could argue with that, but he wanted to ask one of the Marines himself. He picked out one of them near Samara, Ellingham as he recalled. He was with the rest of his squad from before.

"So, you're prepared to work with Covenant Deserters then?" He asked him.

"Not really," Ellingham admitted with a scowl. "But I'll be damned if I spend the trip home with a bunch of those fucking parasites in tow just waiting to burrow into my gizzard."

Kowalski pushed himself past Ellingham at this point to interject his own thoughts.

"Those undead bastards killed our squad leader," Kowalski stated vehemently. "We don't want to give them a free ride, we want them exterminated."

"Well put, Private Kowalski," Samara told him. "I wish the Major shared your sentiment."

"Question is, how are we getting off the ship?" Corporal Pearson asked next. "ODSTs have the place on lockdown."

A considerable problem, but Garrus and Kat had already considered a solution.

"We're going to escort you to the roof of the ship," he explained aloud to everyone. "There's a maintenance access airlock we can use. Once there, we'll send some Pelicans to pick you up. We're low on time now, so they'll be flying you straight towards the designated target the Deserters intend to assault. That means you better be ready for a fight, so gather whatever weapons and ammo you think you'll need now. We moved some weapons crates in here before so open them up and get to it."

"Wait, who's flying the Pelicans?" Asked Kowalski. "Are some of us going to have to sneak back to the Hangar?"

"Colonel Holland is sending what Pelicans he can spare to help ferry us," Garrus informed him. "Noble 2 is contacting pilots here. When she gives the order, they'll head up top to pick you up. This is not going to be easy, rest assured of that. Silva is going to figure out what is going on pretty quick so we need to be ready for when he does."

The Marines were quick to follow Garrus' advice, gathering what weapons and ammo they could from the assorted crates. When they were done, Garrus took point to lead the assembled Leathernecks to their destination. It was a large group though and he didn't think they'd be able to move very quickly if they all stayed together as such.

"Okay, we're going to have to take different routes to the target, so we need to split up into teams," he stated. "I'll take a few squads, so will Samara, Jun and Johnson. We each have our own omni-tool with read-outs of the entire ship so we should be able to get to where we need to go pretty quick. We'll split up at the first crossway outside, come on."

Once the squads had decided on who to follow, Garrus led the large group out into the halls. They soon came upon the crossway a short time later. But before they could split up, three ODSTs bounded out from behind a corner towards them. For a moment, Garrus thought they had been discovered and pointed his weapon. However, the ODST quickly put his hands up and summarily removed his helmet. It turned out to be Buck. In the tense atmosphere, Garrus hadn't recognized his friend and his squad.

"Relax, Vakarian, we're not here to fight," he tried to assure him.

"Well, that's a relief then," Garrus answered back, slightly lowering his weapon. "What are you here for then?"

The Sergeant seemed rather offended by Garrus' question, tilting his head in disbelief and frowning slightly.

"Come on, Garrus," Buck grumbled. "We've seen what the Flood have done first hand and heard what your Professor found out. Silva is kidding himself if he thinks he can find a cure for these things. And going against a Colonel's orders, that just a line we can't cross."

"Besides, from what we've heard about these supposed Deserters, we can handle a bunch of Jackals if things get ugly," Romeo stated. "It's not like they're Brutes or Hunters. Hell, we've been scouring the whole deck trying to find you. We were hoping you had a plan."

"You do have one right?" Dutch asked. "Because that's a lot of people with you if you're just wandering aimlessly."

Garrus lowered the weapon completely, he could trust Buck and his team. Hell, he was prepared to trust a bunch of Covies. If he could trust former enemies but not friends then he had even more mixed priorities than Silva.

"We're headed to the roof," he quickly explained to them. "We're splitting up into teams and we could use some more escorts if you're willing. The only way we're getting to this ship the Jackals intend to assault is if we go now."

"Well, no sense in dawdling more," Buck shrugged. "Let's book it, people!"

With that, the group split up and began working their way towards the same goal via different routes. Garrus wasn't sure if they'd completely avoid any firefights, but he was somewhat hoping Silva would soon be more preoccupied by other matters.

---

Linda walked down the hall, her hand clutching her pistol in its holster. She approached the ODSTs' security checkpoint slowly but without fear. The Troopers responded by looking to her and pointing weapons. She tried diplomacy, not her strong suit but she wanted to give her fellow soldiers a chance.

"Hold it right there, Spartan," the first ODST ordered. "You ain't going to the Bridge."

Linda did not stop, she kept approaching.

"Major Silva has disobeyed the direct orders of a superior officer," she declared as she strode forward. "His actions are in violation of the Cole Protocol. I am here to remove him from Command as per ordered by Colonel Holland. I have been authorized to use lethal force if necessary. Stand down, now. I will not ask again."

"We're trusting the Major on this one, Spartan," Another ODST replied vehemently. "We're not about to sign up with a bunch of Covies, so back off!"

The trooper fired a shot in Spartan's path, momentarily distracting the Trooper staring Linda down directly. She wasn't about to wait for a second shot. She rushed forward, grabbing the gun from the lead Trooper's hand and smacking him across the face. As the ODST fell face first into a bulkhead, his men opened fire.

Linda let her shields absorb the initial shots, but some of Silva's men were a bit too far away to risk relying on them to keep her safe. She raked the floor near her attackers with the submachine gun she had stolen from the first trooper, trying to scare the rest back into cover. It didn't work for everyone, but enough that she could rush up and bulldoze the one that didn't back-up with her shoulder. She raced up behind another one who was still moving back to cover and grabbed him by the back. She tripped him over her leg and punched him to the floor. His friend to the right tried to aim his gun at her, only for Linda to charge at him suddenly. She grabbed the man's gun, easily pulling it from his grasp as it went off harmlessly against the floor. She then punched him into a wall to knock him out.

However, there were still more ODSTs at the checkpoint and they were far enough away that Linda couldn't so easily beat them to the ground. Still trying to avoid casualties, Linda was soon forced to seek cover as those who could still shoot back kept pelting her with bullets. Her shields wouldn't hold out against the onslaught. Luckily, she had some back-up.

As the ODSTs tried to advance on the pinned Spartan, Noble 2 came racing up an adjacent corridor to their side. She slammed her the metal fist of her artificial arm straight into one Trooper, then grabbed another and kicked him into a third. She then turned her pistol on the remaining ODSTs to suppress them as Linda rushed up to her side.

"Keep pressing," Kat ordered as they forced their forward.

Kat punched one wounded ODST out before he could reach for his gun. She then used her arm to fire an electrical shock at another, forcing him to the floor. Unfortunately, not even this display forced the ODSTs at the checkpoint to stop shooting. They kept on firing, even though the Spartans were effortlessly blowing through their defence. Linda kicked down a small barrier, toppling it over onto an ODST. That now put them inside the barricades now, but the ODSTs weren't letting up.

They huddled down and offered sporadic fire in response to the two Spartans' attack. When one Trooper popped up and fired a string of bullets that depleted Kat's shields, he forced their hand. Linda saw him aiming at Noble 2's head and reacted. She fired two shots, hitting the trooper in the shoulder and chest. The Trooper fell to the ground and his fellow ODSTs looked on in shock.

"You fucking bitches!" Screamed one, arming his shotgun and firing it off.

Kat turned her sights on the Trooper and shot at him, hitting him in the neck. As he dropped to the ground, the other Troopers finally started pulling back. As they abandoned the barricades they fired back on the two, hoping to keep their heads down. They weren't about to get into a close-quarters firefight Spartans. They weren't that foolish.

As the Spartans stood over the carnage, they could only shake their heads.

"Such a waste," Kat growled. "I was hoping they'd see reason. Now next time we face them we may not even get a chance to talk them down."

"From what I hear, maybe Commander Shepard could've," Linda suggested.

"Well unfortunately, Shepard has his own problems," Kat reiterated. "We're stuck with this job now, unsavory as it may be."

Linda knew she was right, she didn't like but she was right. The Drop Troopers had always looked on them with disdain. When the others heard about this they'd probably see this as the final straw in the rivalry. Petty pride was the last thing on her mind though. All she cared about was stopping this ship. The hatred of the ODSTs for Spartans was only relevant in how difficult it might make things.

It was at this time McKay moved up to survey the aftermath. Whatever difficulties Linda thought she had with this, they couldn't compare to how McKay was probably feeling. She looked over her wounded and fallen comrades as she marched through the area.

"How many?" She asked, dreading the answer.

"Two," Linda stated. "They were going for kill shots. They didn't give us a choice."

"Damn it," McKay growled. "I was hoping they'd think first. I'll detain these guys first, see about their wounds. Then I'll catch up with you at the bridge."

"I'm sorry it came to this, Lieutenant," Linda apologised.

McKay just shook her head at her with a scowl.

"Don't apologise," she informed her. "Just stop Silva and end this before we lose more people."

Linda knew what she meant. They probably couldn't save the Troopers up ahead of them, but now the cat was out of the bag. Silva no doubt knew by now what was going on. He'd send most of his remaining ODSTs to guard the bridge, but a few would probably run into the others before that happened. Garrus would be forced to defend himself and the Marines from the ODSTs. Even if he didn't want to kill them he probably wouldn't have a choice. Silva would need to be stopped, and soon, if they had any hope of preventing more good men and women from dying over this damn ship.

---

Kowalski's group was one of the first to arrive at Garrus' designated escape route. On their way here he heard Silva giving orders over the intercom. He kept shouting about how the Spartans were committing treason and needed to be put down. Kowalski only cared about getting out of here in one piece and put the thought of humans killing humans out of his mind. He rushed to the airlock with the others and crammed himself inside it.

"We'll stay here and cover the exit," Dutch told them all. "Good luck out there. Make sure you don't forget about us when you nab that ship, alright?"

"We will return," Samara promised him. "Rest assured of that."

The airlock doors closed shut as Dutch turned. After a lot of hissing and flashing lights, the opposite doors opened to reveal the roof of the Covenant Ship sprawled out before them. Rushing into the outside air, they searched the skies for their Pelicans. It took a moment for anyone to spot anything.

"There!" Agley said, pointing to the sky. "Pelicans, inbound!"

The large dropships landed a few feet in front of them. Quickly, everyone split up into their squads and got aboard. Johnson did his best to traffic the crowd into the ships.

"Move your asses, people! Double time! We got a ship to snatch!" He declared.

There weren't enough Pelicans to take everyone right away, but there were enough to get quite a few squads airborne. Kowalski scrambled into a Pelican with his squad, Johnson wasn't far behind and neither was Samara.

"I hope they haven't started the fight without us," Ramirez stated as they began to lift off.

"Don't worry," Johnson informed him. "We're not about to let those ugly little birds show us up. We're going to show them freaky featherbrains how we do things in the Corps. Now let's get to it!"

The Pelican took off, leaving the Truth and Reconciliation behind. Whatever was happening down there wasn't Kowalski's problem anymore. That didn't make things any easier though.

---

Orna kept his eyes glued to the console screens. So far, nothing. They had picked up a distress signal for a few brief moments. Long enough to get a general sense of where it had originated from. However, they hadn't pinpointed the exact location. The pirates may have managed to save themselves for the moment, but it would not last. He would locate them, he had to. He would not return to the safety of the blockade above until he had. For now he would continue to search and wait for the pirates to make another stupid mistake like that distress signal.

He considered sending out Seraphs to search the surrounding area as scouts. They would certainly cover the area faster. Before he could attempt to do so, however, one of the Unggoy on a console called out to him.

"Phantoms, approaching from the southwest," it cried over to him.

What were dropships doing out here? He surely thought that the Supreme Commander's focus would be on the parasite and there were none of their number in the immediate area. Could they be lost? No matter, he would find out soon enough who they were.

"Scan for the ID signature," he ordered.

The unggoy obeyed, but his answer was rather perplexing.

"No ID, computer can't find," it declared nervously.

"What? Someone check his console, make sure the idiot hasn't misread something," Orna ordered.

A sangheili pushed the unggoy aside, looked at the screen and grunted.

"Signature appears to be missing," he answered. "Possibly scrambled. Scans indicate the ships have sustained damage of some sort. Perhaps it has been disabled."

"Hmm," Orna grumbled, annoyed at the news. "Send out a communication, demand their identification."

The sangheili officer did so, activating the communication console near him.

"Phantom Flight, you have entered our restricted airspace," he announced. "We are on an important mission. State your business immediately."

A rather scraggily, distorted voice responded in kind.

"Thank the gods," the communication crackled. "We've been flying for hours just trying to find someone! Our team was attacked by the Parasites! We lost many. We managed to get aboard our Phantoms, but we have wounded. Our Commanders, the monsters hit them pretty hard. I think they were deliberately targeting them even. How can the dead be so smart?!"

The hysterical soldier, presumably the pilot of one of the Phantoms clearly sounded in distress. What was worse though was the news that fellow sangheili officers were aboard and badly wounded. However, they had been attacked by the Flood. As much as Orna wanted to help his fellow brethren, the fact they had encountered the Parasite put them on edge. They would need to be careful.

"Ask if any of them are infected," Orna ordered.

The officer did so and the pilot answered in kind.

"I think I know an infected sangheili from a non-infected one," he declared. "Half a dozen of them tried to kill me! Listen, I have four officers down, two on each ship and other wounded soldiers with them. We need medical treatment or they're not going to last long."

Orna contemplated the news. The danger of infection was clear, regardless of what the pilot said. But, if there was a chance the sangheili could be saved, perhaps they should take it. They needed to be wary though.

"Tell them they can dock at the Shuttle Bay," he ordered. "Have a contingent of soldiers ready. Any of their number appear to be infected… you know what to do."

"Are we certain they're not just lying to get aboard our ship?" Asked the sangheili officer. "They could simply be cowards fleeing battle and searching for a way off the planet."

"If that is the case we'll deal with it in time," Orna assured him. "If so, perhaps they can earn back their honour by helping us slay the pirates. Now hurry, we have no time to waste. We must get them aboard and continue the search for the Fallen Serpent as soon as possible."

---

The Phantom flew into the waiting Shuttle Bay, followed closely by its twin. The two ships hovered above the central landing area before lowering to the floor. A small group of sangheili, unggoy and kig-yar stood by, ready to take on any potential parasitic infection. They kept a close eye on the Phantoms, which did not open their compartment doors upon landing.

One of the sangheili approached the back of the ship. He walked up the ramp and into the Phantom itself. It was darkened and he could see several sheets covered what looked to be bodies. There was one lone kig-yar, covered in armour from head to toe. He sported a helmet that obscured his face and shield gauntlets on his fore arms. The sangheili looked about the interior as the kig-yar greeted him.

"Ah, good, you're here," he stated. "We can get started."

"Where are the injured sangheili?" The Covenant officer asked. "They are priority over all others."

The kig-yar stared right at him although the Sangheili was too bust scanning the area to notice.

"Well I'm looking at one really badly injured one right now," he insisted rather mockingly.

The sangheili turned as he heard the powering up of dual plasma pistols and saw the kig-yar pointing both of them directly at him.

"I don't think he's going to make it actually," the kig-yar declared sinisterly.

The sangheili went for his plasma rifle, but the kig-yar had already fired. The Covenant soldier's shields were ripped away by the double blast and his body was horrendously scorched. A second kig-yar stood up and fired his own plasma pistol rapidly at him. The sangheili stumbled out of the craft, burns all over his body and smoking.

The compartment doors of the Phantoms opened now, revealing batarians and kig-yar within. They had their guns pointed out and trained on the unsuspecting Shuttle Bay personnel who had gathered around. Retz turned off his helmet's visor's tint and got a good look at the scene himself.

"Surprise!" He shouted aloud.

That was the signal for everyone to start shooting. Both Kig-Yar and batarians opened up with a furious barrage. It sent the Covenant Forces running for cover as several of their number were mowed down by the opening assault. They returned fire onto the Phantoms as the attackers within advanced. One of the Phantoms even began to lift of and turn itself towards the enemy, bring all its guns to bear down on them.

"Smoke'em boys!" Retz cried out, signalling the Phantom to unleash its fury.

A barrage of plasma cut through the air, bombarding the tightly packed Covenant forces within the Shuttle Bay. The unggoy were among the quickest to be cut down, or the quickest to flee. The kig-yar on the side of the Covenant shielded themselves best they could but either fell back or dropped to the ground dead as their shields failed. The sangheili fared better, seeking cover before the fight. The plasma barrage pinned them down, however, allowing the invaders to flank around their protection.

Using his gauntlets to protect himself from incoming fire, Retz pushed forward against the ship's defenders. With rapid fire pouring out of both plasma pistols, he opened up on one sangheili officer taking cover behind a large crate. The sangheili relied on his shields to withstand the blows and returned fire in kind. Retz crossed his gauntlets across his face to deflect the shots. He then fired rapidly with one hand while charging the other. Closing the distance on the crate he suddenly rolled to the left and popped back up on his feet on the sangheili's direct flank. One fully charged bolt later and the Covie Officer's shields were down. Retz then let loose a barrage of bolts on the unprotected sangheili as he tried to pull back to better cover. He only made it a few feet before he plopped down dead on his back.

As other Covenant soldiers opened fire on him, Retz quickly jumped behind the nearby himself. His fellow kig-yar and a few batarians took up positions close by as the battle in the Shuttle Bay continued. The sangheili still had the high ground, taking up positions on a platform overlooking the hangar. One batarian armed his kishock harpoon gun and aimed it at one of the Covenant Officers. The shot sliced through the sangheili's shield and the Covie toppled over to the side of the platform and onto the ground floor of the shuttle bay.

Plasma fire raked across the batarian's position as he ducked down, he took a hit to shoulder, but didn't go down. Retz knew that kind of luck wouldn't hold out if they didn't take out the sangheili up top. He looked to two of his fellow kig-yar and ushered them over. They ran towards them, their shields pointed at the enemy above so they could avoid the incoming fire.

"We gotta get up those stairs there and hit them from behind," he informed them as they reached him. "The others will keep their attention best they can, just keep those shields pointed ahead of us."

One of the kig-yar pirates, armed with a needler rifle, opened up on the top platform alongside two batarians with assault rifles. Not seeing any better moment to seize, Retz ushered the two shield carrying kig-yar ahead of him. He kept behind them, protected further by their dual shields, while a batarian joined them in their assault. The two kig-yar up front let loose with needler rounds as they rushed for the stairs, sticking two unggoy not smart enough to run away. There was a lone sangheili blocking their way up the stairs however, a far greater threat indeed. The Covie took one look at them before tossing a plasma grenade towards them.

"Block and bump!" Retz ordered.

The two kig-yar knelt down to the ground, placing their shields on an angle. They then thrust them forward as the plasma grenade hurtled towards them. It sent the grenade flying back, but the sangheili easily dodged it. The device exploded several feet behind him, but it barely phased him. The two shield carrying kig-tar then charged at the sangheili, bashing their shields into him. The Covie bashed back, threatening to deactivate the shields. The batarian with them armed his ballistic blades and fired them at point blank range. They stabbed deep into the sangheili's body and forced him back. The batarian then fired on the Covie, peppering him with constant shots as Retz did the same. The sangheili eventually collapsed onto the stairs.

With the way free, Retz pushed them on. They reached the top of the platform and saw the Covenant defenders residing atop it were still preoccupied with those below. They were totally exposed. The batarian soldier tossed an inferno grenade among them while the shield carrying kig-yar opened up on the unprotected back of their Covenant aligned counterparts. The explosion from the grenade set the platform ablaze, torching two unsuspecting unggoy and their sangheili leader. The Covenant kig-yar were blown off the platform as the needles stuck in their bodies detonated.

Retz opened fire himself now, intending to finish off what remained of the resistance above. The sangheili officer staring him down fired a furious barrage of plasma at him. Retz blocked the shots with his gauntlets and then rolled out into the open, leaving the protection of his shield carrying crewmates. He didn't want to risk them losing their shields, they were already under heavy fire. He had to lessen their burden somehow.

He rolled across the deck, as plasma fire followed him. He kept unleashing bolts back at the Covies, but he could only avoid for so long. Suddenly, something rolled out onto the platform floor and detonated at the foot of the sangheili shooting him. It let off a bright blinding flash that Retz had to quickly look away from. When his eyes adjusted, he saw the Covenant defenders struggling to see. The sangheili he was fighting against was then suddenly stabbed in the stomach with an omni-blade, swiftly delivered by one hooded human materializing out of nowhere.

"Hey there," she greeted. "Mind if we borrow your ship?"

Kasumi grabbed her pistol and fired it into the sangheili's head. As she pulled her omni-blade out of the alien's stomach and jumped back towards Retz's side, the other remaining Covenant were already being overwhelmed by the cavalcade of weapons fire levelled at them.

"Well, so far so good," Kasumi noted as the last of the Covenant on the platform fell.

"This is only the first stage," Retz reminded her. "We got a long way to go and we still need your human friends. Despite your Colonel's assurances, they seem a bit late."

"They'll be here," Kasumi promised. "Right now, let's worry about clean-up and locking this hangar bay down."

The battle was still raging as Kasumi got to work on a terminal. Retz in the meantime scanned the area thoroughly. He could see the remaining unggoy start to surrender or the Covies still walking begin to flee. The Shuttle Bay was all but secured, although the battle was still raging. Even though they had been forced to launch before the humans arrived, at least this element of the operation was going smoothly.

Retz then spotted what looked to be a security camera on the wall, watching the battle unfold. He quickly walked over to it and grappled onto it with one of his hands while bracing himself against the wall with his feet. He then pulled out his energy cutlass and looked directly into the camera menacingly. For he knew who was most likely in charge of this ship and wanted to speak to him directly.

"Permission to come aboard, Shipmaster?" He asked the camera before taking his energy cutlass and running the surveillance device through.

---

Orna had watched the pirate stab the camera with his blade. If he wanted to intimidate him, the pirate would soon realise how futile that attempt was. He would not stand for a ship under his command getting taken by these traitors. All they had done was make his job easier. He'd slaughter them all, after finding out where Zek and Varvok were in all this chaos of course.

"Lockdown the ship," he ordered his crew. "Break out heavy armaments. Cleanse our righteous vessel of this heretic filth. See to it that their defiance is finally extinguished"

---

Shepard's incendiary rounds cut down another of the Combat Forms, but there were still more inside the armoury. Keeping huddled behind a large metal barricade as the Flood returned fire, Shepard looked to his fellows in similar situations as him. Chiktikka kept the Flood back while Tali and Miranda targeted them individually. Legion held back with Mordin, trying their best to support the efforts of the others. Zek used his energy shield to cover Varvok as the two attempted to push forward to the exit. Not too dissimilar from the Master Chief actually, who was cautiously doing the same.

Shotgun rounds echoed through the small room as the Spartan blasted at the Flood. When one of the abominations got too close, he used the butt his gun to force the creature back. The blow only managed to squash the now useless head of the creature, but it did give the Spartan the space he needed to fire a more effective shot into the creature's sternum. Plasma bolts soon forced the Chief to take cover behind a barricade similar to Shepard's, but he was now closer to the exit than any of them.

Shepard used a shockwave to push some advancing Flood back before jumping up and rushing out of cover. He slid behind a weapons rack in the center of the room, just a few feet away from the Master Chief. As he did, Tali and Miranda rushed up to join him with Zek and Varvok close behind. With Mordin and Legion taking up the rear, they managed to consolidate something of a defence for the moment. They kept fire on the exit just feet away from them, trying to keep the Flood bottlenecked there.

"Chief, Varvok, toss some grenades at their lines," he ordered. "The rest of us will rush them in the confusion and take the exit."

The two followed the instruction and tossed the explosives towards the Flood. The combined explosions ripped through and scorched the undead creatures. Although this was effective for most, at least one Combat Form refused to stop shooting even though his whole body was now engulfed in flames.

Shepard didn't wait for the fire to eat away at him, he just ran. Miranda used a warp attack to injure one Combat Form in his way, allowing the Commander to blast a hole clean through the creature with his shotgun. Mordin used his omni-tool's neural shock application to do the same with another Combat Form as it tried to get back up. Tali rushed over the screeching the monstrosity, shooting it point-blank with her shotgun as she did. Zek charged headlong at the Flood, Legion providing extra fire support a he did. The Jackal raced directly at the Marine Combat Form that was peppering him with pistol rounds, but the pirate's shield protected him. He eventually blew off the monster's limbs, burned a hole through its chest and kept running.

That left the remaining Combat Form who was still on fire. Shepard charged directly for it and in response the creature lashed out with its attack tendril. It hit the Commander and sent him flying off to the side. Although injured, Shepard quickly turned his gun on the burning Combat Form and pulled the trigger. The shotgun blast tore clean through the already heavily damaged Flood warrior, breaking off what little remained of its body with ease. The corpse crumbled back to the ground and Shepard picked himself back up.

"You okay?" Tali asked out of concern as she regrouped with him.

"I'll be fine," he assured her. "He missed my head, hit me in the arm. Armour took most of the hit."

"As if hitting you in the head would've made any difference," the quarian laughed briefly, before returning to the more serious business at hand. "At least we can keep moving now."

However, when they looked out the door and saw a huge green energy blast rocket past their view, Tali quickly reconsidered that statement. Shepard, with Tali cautiously walking up behind him, carefully peeked out the doorway. Now the reason for the sudden influx of Flood made sense, they weren't so much attacking as they were trying to get past two lumbering Hunters who were making mincemeat out of any Flood Forms they saw. They were already engaged with a small number of them and doing surprisingly well. Shepard and Tali pulled their heads back into the room and stepped away from the exit.

"Well at least they aren't some new kind of Hunter Husk," Shepard said, trying to sound optimistic.

"I'm still surprised we haven't encountered any Flood infected Hunters yet," said Tali with a curious look. "Are they immune?"

"More likely Hunters biologically incompatible with Infection Form," Mordin suggested as he walked up. "Despite sentience, lacking in central nervous system. Hunters only walking worm colonies. Several creatures appearing as one. Easier to create Husks out of individual pieces. Not so easy for parasitic life-form to infect."

Shepard wasn't sure if that was a good thing or bad. On one hand, no Hunter Flood forms. On the other, Hunters didn't die as easy against these things. That didn't mean they couldn't succumb to the Flood's numbers, not when they could use weapons that were effective against the Hunters. However, they didn't have time to wait for the Flood to kill them anyway.

"This place is an Armoury," Shepard noted aloud as look around the room. "Search the area and see if there are weapons we can use against those behemoths. Stock up on ammo while you're at, we're probably going to need it soon anyhow."

Searching the area they didn't find much in the way of heavy armaments. Although none of the Marines had made it up here when they first raided the wreck, this armoury was closest to the Bridge. Most of it had been cleaned out by anyone fleeing the ship when it had crashed. There was some stuff left behind though, extra shotgun shells, a few spare thermal clips and at least one thing they could use against the Hunters. Miranda found it, stuffed under one of the tables on the wall. She hefted the weapon in her hands for all to see.

"One of the UNSC's Grenade Launchers," she announced as she opened up the loading mechanism. "Loaded, that's good. And there are four other shells in the case I found it in."

"Five rounds isn't much," Chief cautioned. "We'll have to make the shots count if we want them to have any effect on the Hunters."

"Hitting them from behind is out best bet," Shepard suggested. "They can block the grenades otherwise. If we can distract them long enough we can hit one of them with enough shots to at least take him down."

"That hallway outside ain't exactly going to give us a lot of space to move though," Zek noted. "We want to get behind them, we need to go through."

"I can manage that," Chief confidently assured them. "Just be ready on that grenade launcher when they turn around."

Cortana instantly piped up.

"Oh no, we are not vaulting over another of those things again," she declared.

"Don't worry, I'm not pulling off any stunts here," he promised. "I'm just doing the basic evasive tactics me and the other Spartans trained for in this scenarios."

"Please, basic tactics by Spartan criteria are aligned with an entirely different standard altogether," Cortana argued, before eventually sighing. "You should be thankful I can't actually throw up. Let's just get this done."

Chief went to stand by the door to prepare to move as Varvok looked on slightly bewildered.

"That AI is rather informal for a military program," he noted.

"It's part of her charm," Tali jovially responded with a shrug.

Chief looked out for a moment to see the Hunters were still busy smashing or blasting any Flood Forms that got near them. He decided to open his attack on the goliaths by firing his Assault Rifle at them, an attempt to get their attention. It worked on at least one of them, catching the ire of the beastly alien. It pointed its weapon at the Spartan and fired. Chief tucked and rolled away as the green energy blast exploded a few feet to his side. He managed to escape any grievous harm, but the proximity depleted his shields.

"I'll get them backup, do what you gotta do," Cortana hurriedly insisted.

With assurances from the AI, Chief pushed forward with his plan. He moved forward, continuing to pelt the Hunters with bullets from his Assault Rifle. The Combat Forms that remained kept focus on the Hunters, but the giant Covies had to divide their attention between him and the Flood. The second Hunter fired another Assault Cannon blast at the Spartan. It sailed directly towards him, but the Master Chief ducked low at the last second. The blast passed over him and as it did he rolled forward. When he got back on his feet he kept shooting, agitating the Hunters more.

Finally, one of the Hunters got fed up. He batted away a shotgun wielding Combat Form that had been attacking him and then charged at the intruding Spartan like an out of control freight train. The Covie moved his arm into position to clothesline the human super soldier as he closed in. The Master Chief ducked low at the last second and ran forward as the giant metal arm tried to crash down on him in response. Chief avoided the attack, just barely and turned as he ran. He fired a few shots from his rifle at the Hunter unprotected flesh. The injury enraged the Hunter, he slowed his run and began to turn to retaliate once more. Once he had changed direction entirely, that was when Shepard's team struck.

Miranda moved out into the hallway and fired the grenade launcher at the Hunter. The shot hit the alien in the back, blowing off a few of its spines in the process. It wasn`t enough to kill the Hunter but it did hurt it. Miranda quickly shoved the next grenade into the launcher, took aim and fired again. This time the blast took a big chunk out of the alien`s armour and spilled quite a bit of blood.

The Hunter turned away from the Master Chief and took aim at Miranda with its cannon. Seeing what was about to come rocketing her way, Miranda darted across the hallway to the protection of a nearby support column. A terrible green beam trailed after her as she ran, but she reached the pillar before it caught up to her by the slimmest of margins.

Miranda had left her mark though and the Hunter`s back had been exposed. Chief fired into it with a furious barrage of shots. The Hunter was horribly injured, but it still had strength enough to fight. It turned to slam its metal fist onto the Spartan, who tucked and rolled out of the way just in time. However, Chief suddenly remembered the second Hunter when he saw a large shadow looming behind him. Instead of rolling to the side, however, Chief turned around to face the giant alien. He lunged at the Hunter as its shield arm came crashing down, missing him by a mere few inches.

The Spartan grabbed onto the Hunter`s other arm and forced himself on top of the giant alien. He shoved his Assault Rifle into an open space in the armour between the neck and the shoulder. He fired what was left of his clip into the Covie and then jumped off the titanic creature`s back.

"Well at least you didn't play chicken with it this time," Cortana muttered somewhat playfully.

Further up the hallway, Miranda was still pinned behind the support column. The Assault Cannon shots rocked the support pillar terribly, keeping her stuck behind it and unable to even retaliate. Thankfully, she was not alone. Tali quickly sent Chiktikka out into the open to attack the offending Hunter. The drone was able to get close enough to send an electrical shock right into the wound the Master Chief had made before. The Hunter bellowed in pain and turned to attack the roving ball of light, taking its attention off Miranda.

With little time to act, she took aim with the grenade launcher and fired again. The shot hit the giant alien in the side. The resulting explosion caused him to lumber about in pain. They couldn't waste more grenades on one Hunter, so Shepard motioned Legion to move up. The synthetic moved up to the door while the Commander headed into the hallway.

Shepard next sent a shockwave at the Covie, pushing him back slightly. That caught the alien's attention and the Hunter charged at the Commander. Shepard darted away at the last second and let the Hunter follow him as he ran down the hallway. As the Hunter charged his Assault Cannon and prepared to fire, Legion placed the crosshairs of its Widow on the exposed flesh on the Covie's back. With a single shot, the Hunter's insides were shredded and pieces of its wormy flesh exploded out through the gap in the armour's neckline. The Hunter dropped to the floor, dead.

Shepard, in the meantime, used his biotics to charge into the second Hunter's backside. It was currently trying to smash the Master Chief, who had been ducking, weaving and shooting at the giant walking worm colony. Shepard's hit didn't really damage the Hunter, but it did set him off balance and left him open to attack. Shepard fired an incendiary round from his shotgun, hurting the giant Covie badly.

As the attack burned at its flesh, the Hunter hefted his arm and tried to strike Shepard down. Luckily, the Master Chief was still pestering the Hunter. He fired his own shotgun at the Covie, hitting him in the back of the head. The distraction gave Shepard enough time to move away, as the Hunter turned to attack the Master Chief instead. It was then an explosion erupted near the Hunter's shoulder. Miranda had fired the second to last grenade in the launcher. The Hunter groaned in anger at the hit, but remained focused on the closest threat to him.

Shepard regrouped with the Master Chief as the Hunter did its best to recover from Miranda's hit. They both turned to each other, nodding at the same time and split up once more. Shepard went one way, throwing a biotic shockwave to upset the Hunter's balance. The attack threw off the alien's aim and its Assault Canon blast exploded against the ceiling instead of harming anyone. Chief in the meantime, had switched back to his Assault Rifle and kept tracing fire along the alien's side. The Hunter, disoriented and confused already, kept shifting between targets. Shepard, who was further away, and the Master Chief who remained closer.

In the confusion, Chief rushed up behind the Hunter and punched it hard in the grievously bleeding wounds he had made before. The Hunter instantly turned to retaliate, only for Shepard to fire a Shotgun blast into the very same wound when the Covie turned his back to him. Finally, the Hunter was spent and it collapsed onto the ground, almost crushing the Master Chief under its weight. Luckily the Spartan ran clear of the titanic alien's falling girth.

"That took a bit of doing," Shepard observed as the Master Chief approached him.

"At least they took care of the Flood for us," Chief complimented, staring at the dead Covie. "Nice work throwing off its aim by the way."

"You too," Shepard replied with a grin. "Although honestly, I think we should get back into the habit of bringing heavy weapons along more often. These crossfire manoeuvres are getting a bit too tense for my liking."

The team regrouped outside once more and continued along the corridor, past the dead Hunters and the Flood corpses that littered the area now. It didn't take them long, however, to find their next obstacle. In fact, they heard it before they even saw it. The unmistakable laser beam sounds gave away the Sentinels up ahead. Peering around the corner, Shepard spotted three of them attempting to contain a group of Flood Infection Forms skittering about the place.

"Ugh, these things again," Zek grumbled. "I know the AI said they were all over the ship but I don't want to have to run into them every two feet."

"Get used to it," Cortana informed the Jackal over the Chief's external comm. "Wherever there's Flood, the Sentinels will be close by. The Monitor is still trying to keep this outbreak contained long enough to fire Halo after all."

"This Monitor guy certainly has a one-track mind, doesn't he?" Zek noted curiously.

"You don't know the half of it," Miranda remarked, the annoyance in her voice overtly apparent.

She was already recalling the Library and the less than ideal company Guilty Spark provided while she had been trapped there. The memory recall sparked a bit of ire in her at that moment. She picked up the grenade launcher again and loaded it with the final round. It wasn't going to be much use against a pair of Hunters if they came across them again, they might as well make this new problem go away quicker.

"Excuse me a moment," she requested, passing the Commander and the others.

Stepping out into the open, she held the grenade launcher up and fired it towards the Sentinels themselves. The shell exploded under the hovering robots, killing a lot of Infection Forms and two of the Sentinels themselves before they could take evasive action.

"There, much better," Miranda said, sighing happily at the sight of the two burning Sentinels.

One Sentinel still lived, however, and it soon turned on Miranda. She was about to rush back to cover when Zek ran out into the open to block the incoming laser beam attack with his shield. The beam hit the shield instead and Zek fired off an overcharged plasma bolt at the robot. The bolt hit the Sentinel and caused it to explode in a ball of fire before falling to the ground in a heap of scrap metal.

"Thanks," Miranda told the Jackal, although the word still held a bit of resentment.

"Just being a team player," he sincerely stated. "Besides, I really enjoy watching those things explode for some reason."

"Look out!" Tali suddenly cried out.

Skittering from under a large damaged half closed bulkhead door were a dozen or so more Infection Forms. They had been waiting or the Sentinels to be dealt with and now they had. Miranda fired on them as Zek and her pulled back. Tali sent Chiktikka out once more to attack the individual little parasites, while Shepard sent out a shockwave to deal with the larger groups. Mordin and Varvok tossed some fire into the mix, with an Incineration Blast and Inferno Grenade to mop up what was left. Infection Forms were dangerous but in such small numbers they were manageable and they were able to clear the area out rather quickly.

"Area sterilized," Mordin commented as the team moved towards the damaged bulkhead door.

"Head under the door," Cortana advised. "It should take us to Cryo."

"I would hope so," said Varvok, clearly worried. "It seems every corner in this blasted wreck is merely hiding another enemy for us to combat. We'll be lucky if Cryo isn't crawling with all three factions at this rate."

"At least our guys on the Corvette only have to deal with the Covenant," Shepard noted aloud. "With any luck, that means they've already secured it by now and are getting as far away from this ring as possible."

---

Kasumi remained true to her promise from before, she was able to get into the Corvette's systems rather quickly. Through her efforts, they managed to lock the Shuttle Bay off from the rest of the ship. All security cameras went down first, giving them much needed privacy. The hooded human was also able to activate security protocols that locked every door in and out of the shuttle bay for the time being. That would give them enough time to set up an appropriate defence.

Retz know, however, that everything would go down in flames if they didn't have the humans helping them. Not to mention they still needed the main weapons offline if they intended to allow them access to the ship. On both accounts things were running behind what they had been hoping for. EDI and Kasumi were doing their best, but Orna had apparently thought a bit further ahead than Retz anticipated.

"How many layers of encryption does this this ship have?" Kasumi asked out of frustration. "The battlecruiser I raided with Shep didn't have this much security guarding its weapons."

"It would appear the Corvette's Shipmaster has placed additional firewalls and access reroutes within the system," EDI explained, her voice speaking through the terminal. "Re-establishing a link between us and the weapons systems is proving more difficult than first expected."

"Probably figured we'd try to disable their weapons somehow," Retz growled. "Orna ain't the most imaginative Sangheili, but after our last engagement he probably suspected we'd try to fight dirty. Beefing up ship wide security in an attempt to keep us from hacking it was probably one precaution he took."

"Well he only expected he'd have to stop you Jackals from hacking in," Kasumi stated confidently. "We're a whole other ball game. Me and EDI are still searching for stray code to re-establish access to the weapons, but we'll figure it out. And when we do, this Corvette is gonna lose its teeth."

Retz wished he could say he felt more comfortable about their chances now, but even if Kasumi and her AI friend did pull that off they were still short on hands. They needed the humans and soon, especially with what he was seeing. Although Kasumi had shut off all security cameras in the Hangar, Retz had worked on hacking into the feeds for the rest of the ship. He could already see the Covenant were massing at the gates, preparing to retake the hangar. Humans or no humans, the counter-attack was inevitable so Retz had ordered them to get defences ready. It was just with the humans aboard it would split the Covenant's focus a bit and they could overtake the ship.

Luckily, they did have some luck. There were a number of spare plasma turrets in the hangar itself. They set up as many as they had at every entrance they could find. The other doors they had to barricade with whatever they could find. Holding the hangar was vital, it would be where the main thrust of their assault would come from. Plus, once the weapons were down, their Phantoms could circle back to their ship and pick up their remaining forces that couldn't fit on the first flight. There were many of them, but they needed every able bodied crew member they could get into the fight.

Suddenly, Retz heard one of the plasma turrets start firing. Retz looked and saw it was all the way over at the far side of the hangar. He radioed the position on his communicator.

"What's going on over there?" He demanded to know.

"Probing attack," a batarian voice replied. "Unggoy and a few sangheili officers. We've got them pinned down, but there's no doubt we're going to have more soon."

They were running out of time. He was honestly wondering if the Normandy's allies were as committed or trustworthy as they were hoping. To say he was getting nervous would be an understatement.

"Where is Holland already?" He asked angrily at Kasumi.

"He'll be here," she tried to assure him. "Trust me."

Retz used his terminal checked one of the hacked cameras and saw a squad of Covies beginning to burn through one of the doors. They were going to get hit by these bastards soon. That much was clear. If they were going to survive they needed those human reinforcements.

It was then that the Normandy's pilot, Joker, contacted them.

"Guys we got a transmission, putting you through," he informed them all.

"This is Colonel Holland of the United Nations Space Command," an authoritative human voice announced over the radio. "To any friendly forces aboard the Covenant Corvette, we are nearing the target. Are the ship's weapons offline?"

Retz let out a sigh of elated relief and replied to the Colonel.

"Colonel, thank you for arriving so promptly," he replied, doing his best to sound relaxed. "I am Retz, First Mate of the Fallen Serpent and in charge of this little takeover. Please, give us a few moments more. We are in the process of disabling the ship's weapons for your approach."

"Best make it fast," Holland insisted. "We have a substantial number of Pelicans loaded with Army Troopers and several with Marines. We had to regroup with them on our flight in, that's why we were late. Our Pelicans can't ferry more forces to the fight until we drop these ones off, so the sooner you get those guns offline the better."

At that moment there was an explosion from further down the hall. The Covenant must've blasted through one of the locked doors and were making their way towards the hangar. Within seconds a second Plasma Turret started opening fire. The counterattack was starting.

"Don't need to tell me twice," Retz informed the Colonel. "Just have your men ready to go."

The kig-yar pirate turned to Kasumi with a hopeful look in his eyes.

"Please tell me we're golden," he pleaded.

Kasumi didn't answer at first, her gaze unflinchingly focused on her task.

"One… more… second," she slowly stated before pressing down hard on a command. "THERE! Access granted, EDI! Do what you do best!"

It took another moment or two, but the AI soon spoke up herself.

"I've disabled power to anti-air systems and main weapons," she declared. "The Corvette's defences are offline. The Pelicans can begin their approach."

Retz immediately informed Holland.

"You have a go," he radioed. "Get your men in here and help us kill our former colleagues."

"With pleasure," Holland stated. "Heading to designated airlocks and entry points now. I'm sending some of my forces your way to bolster your position."

"Jacob's heading to the shuttle as we speak," Joker chimed in next. "You'll have them in the hangar within the next few minutes."

"Just hurry," Retz hurriedly ordered. "We're not going to hold out long if they get past our defences here."

---

This would be a simple and efficient end to Zek and Varvok's band of traitors. Even if they weren't among their men, the loss of their people would leave them with nowhere to turn. At worst, they'd try to launch some suicidal attack of revenge afterwards. He'd deal with that when it came, for now he set about finishing off the enemies currently among them. The counterattack had begun and although there were reports that the pirates had already set up formidable defences this did not concern the Shipmaster. There were still more soldiers aboard than their pitiful band could defeat. They only had two Phantoms full of soldiers after all. This mission was suicidal.

That was what Orna had thought when the attack initially started, then things started going awry in rather unexpected ways. A report from one of the unggoy on the consoles was the first problem that revealed itself.

"Shipmaster, weapons are all down!" He cried up.

"Down?" Orna growled at the news. "Impossible, we have safeguards in place to prevent such-"

Before Orna could even finish, one of his officers reported something else.

"Sir, we've detected several small craft approaching the ship," he announced.

Orna's eyes went wide at the news. The pirates had reinforcements? How? More importantly, who?

"More Phantoms?" He questioned, rather frustratingly puzzled. "What traitorous fools have aligned themselves with these heretics?"

"They're not Phantoms, sir," the sangheili assured, sounding shocked as he tried to explain. "Their designation seems to match that of… human craft."

Orna gaze turned from shock to rage within an instant. They wouldn't dare. Not even these pirates would dare.

---

The sangheili officer rushed out in front, his squad of unggoy and a few kig-yar close behind. They were needed down below to assist in the counterattack on the main hangar. Their comrades in arms were already ahead of them and they needed to catch up if they wished to be a part of the battle against the traitors. As they made their way forward though, they heard something.

The sound was coming from one of the maintenance airlocks, as if someone was coming back inside. The sangheili stopped, curious as to what was going on. Was it malfunctioning? He moved towards it, preparing his weapon as he did, unsure of what he'd find. Perhaps the Pirates had gotten into the ducts somehow and were sneaking into the ship through there.

He looked to his comrades further down the hall and called to them. As he looked away for the briefest moment, the airlock doors flew open and on the other side of them appeared several humans armed to the teeth. One was aiming a shotgun square at the sangheili's head.

"Semper Fi, Motherfuckers!" Ellingham shouted, unloading several shots into the Covenant Officer.

The eight-foot alien tried to raise his gun in retaliation, but at this close range the powerful shotgun ripped through his shields and sent his body flying into the opposite wall. His charges scattered in fear, seeking shelter as the Marines filed into the hallway. Kowalski fired after the fleeing Covies with his assault rifle, nailing one Jackal as it tried to turn and shoot him.

"That wasn't one of ours, right?" Agley asked nervously as he looked on.

"All our turncoat friends are still stuck in the Shuttle Bay," Sergeant Johnson informed the Private as he marched into the hall. "It's our job to take the pressure off'em."

The Covenant up ahead turned when they heard the gunfire and began shooting back down the corridor. The Marines rushed into what little cover they could find, firing back at the ship's defenders. Johnson fired off his battle rifle into the alien ranks, picking apart the shields of the Elites. He managed to score a decisive hit to one of them with a shot straight through the Covie's eye.

"Get tactical, Marines!" Johnson ordered. "Push forward and secure the area! We need to linkup with the other squads!"

Pushing her way past those still in the airlock and unable to fire within the confined space of the hallway, Samara readied her weapon. She fired a few bursts from her assault rifle as she walked into the center of the corridor. Then, powering up her biotics, she unleashed a powerful shockwave at the Covenant lines. This sent several flying through the air, mostly Grunts and Jackals. The Elites were only pushed into walls a bit, but the attack gave the Marines the momentum they needed to charge forward.

Kowalski covered Pearson as he tossed a grenade down the hall at the Covenant forces, killing one Elite with the blast. Samara continued to use biotic throws and pulls as she pushed up with the Marines. One Elite mustered up enough blind courage to power up his plasma sword and charge towards the asari through the incoming bullets. Samara merely stared the alien down and delivered a powerful biotic punch just moments before he got in range of her head. The Elite was tossed backwards and Samara fired a full burst from her Vindicator.

Samara's powers and combat experience were the extra push the Marines needed to reach the wider corridors of the ship and push on. They took casualties, that was inevitable given the tight corners, but they were able to break out of their initial point of entry regardless. Kowalski could only hope the other Marines who did not have an asari Justicar with them were doing just as well. This fight would be over pretty quickly if they ended up being the only squad to actually get inside.

Taking cover in a small alcove, Kowalski found Ramirez with Samara as a small group of Grunts opened fire on them. Ramirez returned fire, but the little gas suckers were using a hastily deployed energy shield to protect themselves as well as a few of the Covenant Loyal Jackals to add extra protection.

"I received a radio message from Jacob," Samara explained to the two Privates. "They've arrived in the Shuttle Bay with some of Holland's soldiers and are assisting the defectors in breaking out. He and Zaeed are preparing to reposition with another Pelican in order to assault Communications."

"Good to know," Kowalski noted, somewhat relieved to hear things were going well on the main front. "Anyone have an idea where exactly we are though?"

"Somewhere near one of the main gun batteries, I think," Ramirez suggested. "That's where our first linkup is."

A barrage of plasma bolts flew into the bulkhead, forcing Ramirez back to avoid the searing heat.

"We can do nothing but press onwards and hope the others accomplish their objectives alongside us," Samara suggested.

The asari then tossed out a reave attack that assaulted one of the attacking grunts severely. A single shot to its head then ended its life quickly and sent his friends running of to better cover. There were a lot more of them between them and the Bridge. This was going to be one hell of a fight and Kowalski was starting to wonder who was having the easier mission. Him, or Garrus and the others trying to stop that Battlecruiser from taking off.

---

Buck set up a defensive position further down the corridor. He knew it was the most likely direction any of Silva's men would come from. The Major was probably looking through the security system to figure out exactly what was happening aboard the ship. He'd spot the evacuation point sooner or later. They'd need to be ready when he sent people to intercept the Marines.

"You ever think we'd be stuck in an alien ship protecting Marines from our own?" Dutch asked aloud as dug his back into a wall.

"I didn't think I'd be helping Spartans stop a superior officer from breaking Cole Protocol because he's gone glory hound," Romeo replied rather casually. "But to be honest, what about this little cruise of ours hasn't been completely FUBAR."

They were trying to cover it up, but Buck could tell what his men were thinking. Dutch' fingers were slipping between the grip and the trigger of his gun. Romeo couldn't stop himself from staring down the corridor ahead of them, his eyes darting from end to end in a feverish scan. Chances were fellow ODSTs were about to engage them. People they had dropped onto this ring beside, good people. Ever since he joined, Buck had been taking out Covies and maybe the odd Insurgent or two. He never fired on a fellow Trooper and he honestly wondered if he could. If he felt that way, chances were so did Dutch and Rome.

As they waited for the inevitable, the screech of the ship intercom sounded through the halls.

"To all UNSC personnel," Silva's voiced boomed. "I am disappointed in the actions of Colonel Holland and, by extension, those among you who have sided with him out of an irrational fear. A fear that has been trumped up by the Spartans and Xenos among us. I am here to assure you that this… Flood, is not the grave menace they claim."

"Yeah, tell that to the guys we lost in that Bog," Dutch grumbled. "Hell, tell it to Captain Keyes while you're at it."

"They can and will be contained," The Major assured. "They are simple animals, vicious animals with peculiar abilities I will grant, but animals nonetheless. They can be controlled, this I promise you. I have never steered my men wrong before and I am not starting now."

Buck just grimaced at the declaration. Calling the Flood a simple animal was deplorable misunderstanding of what these things were. He'd seen the evidence first hand, in the field and in the lab. They weren't dumb rabid dogs, they were smart. You ignored that at your own peril. Why the Major couldn't see that he just didn't understand.

"The real threat is one we have been fighting for close to thirty years now," Silva continued up roariously. "A threat that scorched the colony of Reach to glass, that forced us to flee here in the first place, that has killed billions of our people. Commander Shepard and Colonel Holland would have us ally with them out of fear, to simply forget what they have done to us. I have not forgotten and I would hope none of you have either."

"Oh, trust me, I haven't," Rome whispered out of annoyance. "I'd just prefer to be dead from a plasma bolt than used as a meat puppet by ugly little space bugs, thank you."

"I offer you this one chance," the Major declared with a sense of finality. "Lay down your arms, do not attempt to leave the ship and do not assist any remaining members of the Normandy crew. Do this and you will be forgiven for your lapse in judgement. Refuse and I will be forced to act."

Buck flipped the safety off his Submachine gun and pressed himself into the broken piece of bulkhead he was using as cover. Rome and Dutch did the same. They knew what was coming.

"For those who have not shirked their duty, I only have this to say," Silva spoke proudly. "You are the greatest of humanity, not the Spartans. No one will tell you differently after today. Now, let's be done with this quickly."

The intercom turned off. The sound of Silva's voice was instantly replaced by that of pounding boots running up towards them. Buck steadied his sights and waited alongside his men. Moments later, the black armour of their fellow Drop Troopers appeared. There were about seven of them in total. They darted around the corner and pressing towards their chokepoint. If they got through them, the Marines behind them would be next.

Buck lined up a shot, intending to hit the legs. If they saw him shoot to wound, maybe they'd back off. However, it turned out they were past that point. One of the Drop Troopers tossed a grenade at their little fortification. Romeo saw it start to bounce towards them. Without hesitation, he fired his gun at the explosive device. His shotgun blast managed to score hit and the grenade burst in mid-air. The others ducked to avoid any shrapnel from hitting them.

"They just tossed a frag at us!" Dutch shouted in disbelief.

"That does it then," Buck declared, readjusting his sights. "Fire at will!"

Buck let loose with his submachine gun, this time aiming higher than the leg. They had shown they weren't interested in negotiating. Buck's first few shots hit one Trooper along his left side. That caused the others in the group to seek cover where they could. Using the debris strewn about the battered corridor, they returned fire on Buck's squad.

Romeo's shotgun wasn't ideal in this situation. While they were technically in close-quarters, the attacking ODSTs were too far away for him to hit with it. He fired off a few shots to keep their heads down, but he quickly switched to his pistol in order to compensate for the increased range. The shots from it were more accurate, but the ODSTs were well dug in. Romeo's shots only bounced off the broken bulkhead plating and overturned Covie weapons lockers.

Dutch wasn't having much luck either. His constant spray of bullets forced the ODSTs to keep their heads down, but they weren't hitting anyone. Normally, you'd just assault the position from the flank, but they didn't have that luxury. It was just one long corridor with no room to manoeuvre. Like trench warfare without the trench, the only way to kill the enemy was to charge him head-on. Neither side was going to get anywhere with that strategy, that was for sure.

"Sarge, I think we need a better plan than this," Dutch informed Buck as he changed magazines.

"Don't need to tell me twice," Buck assured him. "I'm just not seeing many options."

Romeo managed to score at least one hit, catching a Drop Trooper in his shoulder when he popped up to shoot. Buck knew luck wouldn't help in this situation, there were three of them against at least five and more were most certainly coming. They couldn't pull back or the Marines would end up facing them and they couldn't charge or they'd be cut down. The best they could do was slow them down some, but how?

---

Garrus fired on the assaulting ODSTs with his assault rifle, backing up into cover as he did. In his mind he had hoped some of the Drop Troopers were like Buck and hadn't sided with Silva. So far though it looked like most of the Major's battalion had. They were pouring through the section of the hallways that he had designated as a crossroads. It was a lot more open than other corridors in the ship and was connected to a good chunk of it. There were at least two squads worth of Drop Troopers, all determined to break through to the escape hatch. Or maybe they were just determined to kill him and Jun, the turian and Lone Spartan who encompassed the two things Silva hated most right now.

"Really wishing we had a machine gun right now," Jun told Garrus as he lay flat on the ground next to his bit of cover.

"I know there's a lot of them, but doesn't that seem a bit much?" Garrus asked as huddled behind his debris, bullets slamming against it all the while.

"They may not have shields or genetic enhancements, but they're still some of the best soldiers in the UNSC," Jun reminded him. "They trained the original Spartans, remember?"

Jun had a point, these guys were coordinated, he could tell just by watching them. They were spread out along the width of the crossroads, refusing to bunch up. They knew they outnumbered the two of them and they weren't afraid to press that advantage. The only reason they weren't charging was because they probably felt they could force them out in due time.

Garrus aimed down the sight with his Battle Rifle, searching for a decent enough target. He spotted one Drop Trooper spraying bullets with his head partially out and took a shot. The Trooper's head fell back and out of sight. Garrus ducked down as a feverish assault of fire hit his position. Grimacing he leaned out on the edge of his cover to spot one Drop Trooper attempting to move to another position. He fired off a concussive shot at him as he ran. The attack hit and sent the Drop Trooper flying into a wall. Garrus was then forced back down into cover as bullets peppered his shields, threatening to cut through.

"We're barely making a dent in their numbers," he growled.

"I noticed," Jun added, firing off three shots at their attackers before putting his head down. "We're not going to hold. We need to shut them out."

Garrus saw one way they could accomplish that. They needed to lock the door they were guarding. It led straight to the escape hatch, if they could shut it down it would slow the assault. The problem was it was out of power, it wouldn't lock. To solve this, they'd need to find a manual override of some sort. Garrus looked over the ship's specifications he had on his omni-tool. There was a manual override for the crossroad, in the very center of it. That put it in No Man's Land for the time, right out in the open. Garrus would need to get there, force open a panel and activate a button that would force the doors shut. All without getting shot.

"We need a way to get us some cover," Garrus told Jun urgently.

The Spartan looked about and spotted a Covie Weapons locker laying on its side.

"If you can reach that, could you push it?" He asked the turian.

"Think so," Garrus replied confidently. "Okay, cover me. I'm going for it."

Jun fired off a few shots, managing to hit one of the ODSTs in his chest twice. That earned him enough the ire of the other troopers and gave Garrus the opening he needed. He made a running dive for the Covie weapons locker. Forcing his back into it, he felt the punch of bullets slamming against the metal as he sat up. Slowly but surely, he began to push it forward to where the override was located. Bullets kept striking his position as he did. It wasn't hard to miss a large piece of equipment scraping against the metal floor as it moved.

As he closed in on his target, Garrus noticed an ODST in a corner to his right. His gun was trained squarely on him as the weapons locker moved. He was preparing to make a shot when Garrus' head got into view. The turian grabbed his sidearm and fired several shots at him before the Trooper could let off a round.

With his flank secured, Garrus went prone to work on the panel. It was a little harder to take off than he expected, he had dig his talons into the crease while the sounds of gunfire reverberated around him. He was entirely focused on getting to the override.

One ODST, seemingly sensing the turian's plans, tried to rush out to take him down while he was distracted. He broke from cover in a mad dash, rushing to the other side of the locker. Jun, however spotted the man as he was about to round the locker itself and fired two shots square into his head. The trooper went down right in front of Garrus, who almost jumped at the sight.

Finally, Garrus got the panel off and found the glowing blue button beneath it. He slammed his fist into it. Almost immediately, the doors to all the hallways connected to the crossroad atrium began too close. With little time think, Garrus bolted up from his cover and made a run for Jun as the doors started to lockdown. If he didn't make it before they closed, he'd be locked in here with a lot of angry Drop Troopers.

The ODSTs fired on Garrus as he fled. The turian shot back blindly with his pistol, but his shields were going. As he got close to the doors he took hit to his upper shoulder. Although in pain he forced himself to dive through the doors just as they slammed shut. When Garrus was in the clear, Jun forced his hand into the door mechanism and pulled out some wiring.

"Hopefully that will keep it locked up," he optimistically said.

"Maybe, but let's just add some insurance," Garrus stated, trying to fight off the pain by activating some omni-gel. "We need to make them hurt if they open that door."

Standing up, Garrus activated one of his proximity mines and stuck it to the door. If they tried to get through, the mine would detonate and take everyone nearby with it. It was considerably underhanded, but the lives of other Marines were on the line. They couldn't afford to play fair. The explosion would also alert them if they got through so they could hightail it back and stop them from getting further.

As Garrus finished up, his communicator went off. It was form Buck.

"Vakarian, good buddy, we got trouble," he said nervously. "Silva's people are pounding us hard. We've taken out about four, but we got more joining the fight. We can't make a dent fast enough and they're not about to start pulling back from the looks of it."

That was not something Garrus wanted to hear. He had just plugged one hole, he didn't need to know another one was about to open up. From the sound of things he had to work fast.

"I got your back, Buck," he told the Sergeant. "Where are you exactly?"

"Near the ramp leading up to the escape hatch about one deck below you," Buck informed him. "If you got a way to shut this passage off I'd love to hear about it."

Garrus checked the schematics for the ship as fast as he could. He looked at Buck's position but couldn't see any doors to close or anything. However, giving the blueprints a look he did have one idea.

"Buck just hang in there," he tried to assure his friend. "Me and Jun are going to see about cutting that route off. Just try to stay back from the center of the hallway."

As he took off, Jun followed closed behind.

"Mind explaining the plan exactly?" He asked as they ran.

"Just get any explosives you have ready," the turian told him hurriedly. "We just need to delay them a little longer so all the Marines at the escape hatch can leave. That means cutting off Silva's access to it."

---

They had finally reached the Cryo Bay, they were now halfway to Engineering. Any hopes that meant the difficult part was over with were soon dashed, however. For as the doors to Cryo 2 opened wide their eyes fell on the sight of a pitched battle between Sentinels and Flood. The machines flew high above, their beams cutting Flood down below in scores. Combat Form retaliated by leaping up to the catwalks and platforms above to fire on the Sentinels and even the playing field. Zek took one look at the chaos, searched for the door's emergency override button on its main panel and slammed his fist into it.

"Nope," he simply declared as the door shut tight.

The others looked back at the Jackal with a disconcerting stares, none more disapprovingly than his batarian friend though

"Zek," Varvok growled at him.

"Nope."

"It's the only way we're getting through," the batarian insisted further.

"Nope."

"We don't exactly have a choice in this," Varvok reminded him sternly. "And we're running out of time."

"You wanna go in there, be my guest," Zek announced, waving his hand forward. "I know better than to get involved in that kind of scuffle. I say we wait it out, let them kill each other for a bit and head inside when they're done."

A small muffled explosion erupted from behind the doors, catching everyone's attention for a moment before turning back to Zek. The Jackal just sighed at the situation. He knew he wasn't winning this debate and he knew Varvok was right.

"Fine, but if you're all smart you'll stay far away from all that shit going down in there and just let them sort it out," he advised them insistently. "If this Monitor guy is as obsessed with Containment like you say he is, hopefully his robot buddies will ignore us."

"They should, it is part of their directive" Tali assured him with a glowering stare, before her voice became a bit more upbeat and mischievous. "You want to go first or should I?"

"Just open the door, okay," the Jackal grumbled at her.

The door opened once more, revealing the vicious battle waging beyond it. The group did their best not to place attention onto themselves as they moved in. They gave the massive brawl a wide berth, sticking to the left side of the room. Shepard quickly spotted a way off the ground floor, a ladder leading up to the catwalk platform on the room's left side. All they'd have to do was scramble up it and leave this fracas behind them.

As they approached the ladder, they could see Combat Forms above them. The walking corpses were firing on the Sentinels with impunity from afar. They would've ignored them for now, if only to preserve the fact they had not yet attracted attention, but then one of their numbers looked down below. It shrieked aloud at the small group and aimed its weapon to fire. The Master Chief answered first, shooting his shotgun at the Combat Form and blowing the upper portion of its body clean off. The Combat Form collapsed to the catwalk with a sickening smack.

The damage had been done though, their presence had been revealed. They rushed to the ladder as elements of the large Flood horde broke off to engage them. Shepard ushered the team up the ladder ahead of him, intending to hold the ground floor as long as he could by himself. The Master Chief ran up the ladder first, Miranda close behind. When they got to the top, one of the Combat forms above tried to charge them. Chief shot the creature point blank and let the body drop to the floor below.

"Watch out, we have a Sentinel moving in!" Cortana warned.

The Spartan turned to indeed see one Sentinel tracking the approaching Flood. It locked onto him and Miranda and fired short sustained beams at the two. Miranda hit it with an overload attack while the Master Chief opened up on the machine with his Assault Rifle. On the ground floor, Shepard kept ushering the others to head up the ladder as he did his best to cover them. One by one, the others broke off from the defence and rushed up to the catwalk as fast as possible. By now, Chief had killed the Sentinel, which crashed down on top of an approaching Combat Form.

As Tali reached the top, she turned to help Shepard. She saw a Carrier Form approaching him from the right as the Commander dealt with Combat Forms on his left. She quickly aimed her pistol at the bulbous walking gas sack.

"Shepard, Carrier to your left!" She called out before opening fire.

The quarian's shots punctured the Carrier Form's sack and caused it to explode. Shepard just looked up at Tali with a slight grin and nod in thanks. He then began to approach the ladder as more Combat Forms approached. As they neared, he balled one of his fists, permeating it with biotic energy. He then slammed it down on the ground and released a Nova. The biotic wave caused the encroaching Combat Forms to tumble over one another across the Cryo Bay floor and gave Shepard the time he needed to scramble up the ladder. Tali and the Master Chief pulled him up the last bit of the way.

Now they needed to get to the Cryo Control Room, just a little ways down the catwalk from them. Unfortunately, they had a few roadblocks. The Combat Forms were assaulting the catwalk, leaping up onto it in order to halt their escape. Chief took point and used his shotgun to take the leaping monstrosities out. Their withered bodies were either blown apart by the buckshot or smacked over the side of the platform and down to the floor.

As they all made a dash for the Control Room, one of the Combat Forms fell short of his goal. His hand grasped at the edge of the catwalk and tried to claw at the closest piece of meat he could fine, Zek. The Jackal jumped back as the creature made a lunge for his foot. In response, Zek kicked the creature in its flopping useless head and sent it back down to the ground.

"I'm getting real sick of these things," he grumbled as his foot punted the abomination in the face.

As they entered the small glass tunnel that spanned the length of the bay and led to the Control Room, two Sentinels charged up towards them. Tali attacked them with an energy drain attack before sending Chiktikka to discourage them further. The little drone zapped at the incoming Sentinels, allowing the others enough time to get behind the terminal inside the Control Room for cover.

They started firing back on the Sentinels, intending to keep them out of the room. However, they soon realised they had worse problems. The shrieking gurgling of the Combat Forms returned, this time to their right. The abominations were suddenly pouring out of the nearby corridor, making a beeline straight for them.

Tali fired her shotgun off at the first one that tried to get in, plopping its body down in the doorframe. Zek and Varvok moved up to the doorframe to keep the incoming monstrosities at bay. Zek had already switched back to his Needler Rifle to better keep the Combat Forms at bay, while Varvok relied on his rifle's shredder rounds to take them down. Mordin shifted his fire towards the door to help in the defence.

"Flood clearly attracted to ongoing battle," he observed. "Unlikely their numbers will decrease in time."

"Then we go on the offensive," Shepard declared. "Chief, with me!"

The Spartan followed the Commander as he raced outside the room. Blasting his shotgun at a Combat Form, he pressed forward until he reached the entrance to a small corridor leading to away from the Cryo Bay. The Flood were streaming down it like a tsunami, ready to swallow them up. Using both their shotguns in succession, they entered the corridor firing adjacent to one another. Their shells tore through the on rush of Combat Forms and exploded Carriers as they waddled up.

Shepard knew that wouldn't be enough though. He threw out a shockwave that rippled across the ground, sending the infected creatures flying back down the hall. At the same time, the Master Chief rolled a grenade down towards them. The explosion erupted among a few Carrier Forms, decimating the Flood ranks in a terrific blast.

"Everyone, move up before they fill the hole!" Shepard ordered.

Everyone raced out of the room, as both Shepard and Chief cleaned up what remained of the Infection Forms scurrying about the place. As they ran out of the cramped passageway they entered a larger hall and soon saw more Flood stumbling out of what looked like Maintenance Access tunnels. Varvok took the initiative this time, tossing an inferno grenade at the opening. The fiery explosion ignited the approaching Combat Form and set the Maintenance exit ablaze. Legion quickly gunned down the screaming monstrosity as it burned, keenly blasting it in the chest where the parasite resided.

"As suspected," Cortana observed. "The Flood are using the Maintenance Tunnels to spread throughout the ship. It explains why the Autumn is so saturated with them."

"Preferable hiding spot," Mordin stated, concurring with the AIs remark. "Dark, out of way. Perfect for ambush. Difficult to navigate without Flood's apparent extra sensory capabilities. Capable of gaining immediate access to any deck. Possesses... troubling considerations."

"Yeah, like how bad the Truth and Reconciliation is probably infested by now," Tali concluded. "They use Maintenance Tunnels too after all."

It wasn't a good thing to think about as far as Shepard was concerned. He really hoped Garrus had kept Silva from launching that damn ship. There was little they could do about it now though, they still had to worry about this wreck.

"We can likewise use the tunnels to our advantage," the Master Chief suggested. "The Flood use them to traverse the ship quickly, we can use them to get to engineering."

"My thoughts exactly," Cortana agreed. "Best use that one in the corner that isn't on fire right now."

The team walked over to the door itself and the Spartan pried the broken, scarred hatch open for them. Zek stepped back, a bit hesitant about the plan.

"We just saw these things popping out of there and now you want us to go in?" He asked, clearly put off by the idea.

"Come on, Zek," Varvok insisted as he began to enter with the others. "Think about the endgame. Blowing up Halo and all that."

Zek grumbled slightly, but again relented.

"You're lucky I really, REALLY, want to see this ring explode," he irately informed them all. "I honestly didn't think it would involve us having to slink through freaky undead monster hordes every five feet."

"Careful," Tali cheekily mocked. "You're starting to sound…"

The quarian contemplated her next words for a moment as she slinked into the tunnel. She then suddenly looked to her Commander.

"Shepard, what is that creature from your home planet?" She asked with a bit of sneering grin. "The flightless scared little bird humans says everything tastes like?"

"Chicken, Tali," Shepard jovially commented.

"Hmm, how appropriate," Tali noted, looking back to Zek.

The pirate was clearly not amused by the dig.

"I don't know what this chicken is," he declared unfalteringly. "But I certainly don't taste like it and I'm definitely not scared."

"But you are flightless," Miranda commented, joining in on the dig.

Zek growled one last time and entered the tunnel at long last, mumbling profanities under his breath.

"Gotta be honest," Varvok said with a slight chuckle. "You were kinda asking for this after that whole shuttle ride. And remember, you wanted to come along."

"Shut it, Four-Eyes," Zek grumbled, not wanting to be reminded of that fact right now.

---

AN: After these messages … We'll be right back!

Or, you know, you can just click to the next chapters, its right down there.