Chapter Twenty

A little less than a month later, we arrived at Installation 04.

Blue Team was being sent out to scout the place, and see if we could disable it in any way. Or if we had to destroy it.

I was standing in front of Professor Anders, who handed me a sleek black helmet. I was already wearing the rest of the suit she'd made. And she hadn't lied; it felt like I was in a giant brace.

It wasn't too tight - it didn't mess up my circulation or anything - but I could feel the extra support in my joints. It made me want to bounce.

"Good luck out there, Tawny." Anders offered me a brief smile. "I'll be keeping up with you from the bridge."

I pulled the helmet on. "Thanks, professor."

"Go on, they should be in the hangar by now."

"Right. " I nodded and walked out into the hallway.

My HUD lit up as I walked. Blue Team was below me, almost directly so, in a hangar bay.

My heart panged when I thought of John.

We still weren't talking. My comment had hurt him deeply, and I didn't know how to fix it.

But I had more important things to focus on at the moment; I could lament what we'd had later.

I walked into the hangar and met up with Blue Team. They were standing just outside a Pelican, loading their weaponry. I noticed that none of them were as nervous as me by far.

Kelly's voice came through the comms. "I like it."

Fred nodded in agreement.

"Let's load up." John's voice was decidedly neutral.

He didn't even look at me as we climbed into the Pelican.

It was just us. They were sending Blue Team in to investigate the ring, and since I had Forerunner related powers, of some sort, they decided we'd probably be alright on our own.

That was a lot of pressure for my first assignment, but I felt like I could probably handle it.

"Alright, Blue Team, you know your orders. Get in, scout the place, report back. Let's keep this clean." Captain Killian was commanding from the Pillar of Autumn's bridge.

The Pelican shot off.

I tried to keep my gaze ahead, but it kept wandering back to John. Just seeing him, so close and yet so deeply hurt by me, tightened a vice around my chest. I bit my lip to keep the tears at bay, looking down to the floor.

After a few tense minutes we landed in a grassy area surrounded by rocky cliffs, and the ramp lowered.

John was the first one out. "We've got two hours to evac. On my mark. Three, two, one, mark."

We set our chronometers.

John jerked his head. "Let's move out."

We made our way through the gulch, coming out over a huge valley.

My breath escaped me as I looked up and saw the ring world extending forever upwards. Even though the place reeked of danger, what with its ability to destroy all life in the galaxy, it was gorgeous.

"Tawny, you feel anything?" Fred asked as we walked down into the valley.

I shook my head. "Nothing yet. Ma-maybe we need to find a Forerunner structure."

Linda pulled her rifle, which was as long as I was tall, off of her back. "Isn't this entire planet a Forerunner structure?"

"Y-yeah." I chewed on my lip.

I couldn't understand why I wasn't getting the normal wealth of information that flooded me when I was surrounded by Forerunner tech. Linda was right; something should have happened by now.

"Pillar to Blue Team." Captain Killain came over the comms. "We've been engaged by Covenant forces. Evac's been put on hold until they're dealt with."

I turned to Kelly. "The Covenant is here? What does that mean for us?"

"It means radio silence. No more comms until they're gone." John's voice was still neutral.

My gaze turned to the edge of the valley. Beyond it was another drop off. There was an intricate metal structure of some sort at the bottom of that drop off.

I felt a blessedly familiar pulse, like the one in the ruins of Arcadia, or the Trove.

I pointed to it. "We-we need to go there!"

John held his fist up, pumping it twice. Kelly had taught me SPARTAN signals, and that meant, Get ready.

We didn't know if there was any Covenant on the ring world, but if there were we'd quickly become easy targets.

We were going to sprint across the field.

I tensed.

John held up two fingers and cut them towards the structure, Move in.

We tore across the valley. I didn't stand a chance on the ground, considering how fast the SPARTANs could run, so I lifted into the air a bit. From there it was easy to match their pace.

The SPARTANs slid down the steep incline like it was nothing. They each had one hand dragging the dirt and stone above them. Their other hand kept tight hold of their guns.

I floated alongside them, praying my powers wouldn't give out. We hadn't tested my limits yet. If I fell, at this speed, and at this angle, it would be pretty painful.

I might even die.

I landed as they stopped just outside the building.

It was calling to me so temptingly. There was something important in there.

We walked tentatively into the building, the SPARTANs' guns up and ready.

I paused as a revelation hit me. "Oh, my god."

"What?" Fred didn't turn his head to look at me.

"This planet...the ring world is full of honeycombs under the surface."

John lowered his gun when nothing attacked us. "Can we use them to get around undetected?"

"Probably. I...I think there's an elevator this way."

He nodded me ahead.

I led the way through the structure, the pulse guiding me to a huge lift. The shaft seemed to go down forever.

Linda glanced down, noting the lack of anything to ride on. "What now?"

The pulse was shoving at my mind, pushing me into something. I match the frequency and my mind was met with an intense wealth of knowledge.

It flashed brightly before disappearing back into the recesses of my mind.

I shoved myself away, shaking my head at the strange sensation of something almost buzzing inside my head.

That had been a living being; a network. A Domain.

A wealth of knowledge...some of it had lingered. Instincts, like I'd received on the shield world.

My head shot up. "I can call an elevator up."

"What?" Kelly asked incredulously.

"I-I don't know what just happened, but I was inside a Domain. I think I can get us a way in-into the honeycombs."

"Do it." John nodded.

I closed my eyes and followed the pulse as it led me back to the Forerunner mainframe. I weaseled in, finding the controls for the elevator shaft by us.

A massive plate shot up, stopping in front of us.

I jerked my head. "Come on. We need to get a few levels down."

"Why?"

I looked up at Fred and confessed, "I don't know. We just do."

"That's not good enough." Linda stepped forward. "You have to tell us why."

"Do you want me to meditate on it?" My voice was vicious. Something was waiting for us and we needed to get down there. "We don't have time for this, we need to go."

John was doubtful.

"Please, John. You have to trust me." He couldn't see my beseeching eyes from under my helmet, but my body language was also pleading.

He looked down at me. I could feel his emotions fluctuating as he argued with himself.

"Listen, we can't stay on the surface anyway," I argued. "The-the Covenant will find us. Even if there's nothing down there, we can use the tunnels to get around."

John lifted his helmet to the hallway we'd entered from. Then he stepped onto the platform with me.

The others followed.

I nodded, feeling a bit embarrassed at my outburst. "A-alright, let me see if I can get us lower."

I reached into the system again and lowered the elevator. I was feeling along as we descended, waiting for the pulse to tell me to stop.

Several floors down, five minutes later, it did.

My eyes snapped open. "Here. We need to go this way."

I walked towards a large hallway. Its ceiling towered a hundred feet in the air with mostly-decorative columns up the sides.

John was there in an instant, his hand firm on my shoulder. "There's something ahead."

I reached out and felt for any living beings and realized, "It's the Covenant. They're a few floors above us."

John turned back to the others. "They're moving in fast. We have to move."

I followed as he ran into the hallway, hearing the other SPARTANs behind us.

The pulse was guiding me. We had to keep going down this hallway.

I heard something whispered in Unggoy.

"Surround them."

I glanced around with wide eyes. "John?"

"I heard it. Defensive positions."

Kelly took point, aiming her shotgun ahead. Fred and Linda were on her either side, their rifles pointed out into the branching hallways.

John and I were in the rear, side-by-side. I crept backwards, reaching out with my mind.

There were fifteen Unggoy skulking around us in the branching hallways. Five Sangheili, eight Kig-Yar.

I didn't really like those odds. I'd never been on an official assignment before; I wasn't supposed to get shot at yet!

What if someone got hurt? What if someone died?

A tiny, blinking ball rolled to a stop between us. Then two more.

Kelly shoved herself up. "Grenade!"

"Move!" John hooked an arm around my chest and ran down the hall, into a separate, smaller path that branched off from the main passage.

We pressed against the wall. My heart was beating out of my chest; would the others be okay?

An explosion rocked the place. The sound of a shattering collapse made me wince in time with each crash. Some of the collapses were so loud they shook the room around us.

I poked my head out and saw a hole too massive for even John to traverse. It must have been at least forty feet across. It went down a hundred feet, the floor beneath us visible.

A fall like that wouldn't be too bad for the SPARTANs, but it would kill me.

Fred, Linda, and Kelly were on the other side of the pit. They were looking at us.

"We'll have to go around." I glanced up at John.

He stepped out into the hallway, looking to the rest of Blue Team.

He cut his hand across his chest, Stay cool, and then held two fingers up, pointing past them, down the hallway, and slowly formed a fist, Scout it out.

"What now?" My voice was a whisper. "The Covenant is only over here, w-with us."

"They need to keep going. We can rendezvous-"

The chilling growl of a Sangheili filled the hallway and shook my bones. "Find the Demon."

I bit down a whimper. "John, they're looking for you."

"Hide," he murmured.

We ducked back into the smaller hall, hiding behind two sides of a massive metal archway.

A huge footstep shook the floor. Or, at least, it seemed to. It echoed around the metal hall.

My mind reached out. Counting our enemy; a group of Sangheili.

I pulled my helmet off, mouthing to John, 'Three of them.'

He pushed three fingers towards the ground, Stand down.

I nodded and pulled my helmet back on.

John didn't do anything for a moment. The ominous footsteps drew closer, my heart fluttering with terror each time they thumped against the ground.

He pumped his fist twice, Get ready.

I steadied myself and nodded to him; I was ready.

Two fingers, cut towards the Sangheili.

I jumped out and grabbed one Sangheili with my powers. I threw him into the others, knocking them all to the ground.

Before they could recover John pulled out his sidearm and shot through the shields of the one on top. The final shot pierced through his skull, splattering gore across his friends and the floor below them.

The others shoved themselves up, their eyes full of malice. "It's the Demon! Kill him!"

I snarled. "Don't touch him!"

As John tackled one of them, I grabbed the other one and shoved him into the wall. He wasn't dead, but he was stunned.

A purple crystal flew past me and I screamed, ducking back behind the metal. A Kig-Yar was in the juncture leading into our small hall, hiding behind a plasma shield as he took potshots at us.

I made a fist, lifting him up and bowling him into his companions.

John was on the Sangheili's back. As I watched he twisted his neck savagely. A sickening crack echoed, and the massive alien dropped dead.

Without a pause, John shot down four Kig-Yar attempting to come into the passageway.

There was silence. I felt my stomach twist.

John turned to me. "Let's move."

I nodded, steadying myself, and darted towards the main passage. There was a host of Covenant forces outside.

I threw my hands out and sent them all flying.

I ran to the left, back towards the elevator shaft. "There's a side tunnel, we can use it to find the others!"

John nodded me to lead the way.

As one Sangheili ran after us I entered his mind, making him forget he'd ever seen us. I blocked off the memory, and he wouldn't be able to get it back unless he focused really hard.

Destroying the memory entirely would be better, if morally corrupt. But, as I'd learned with Dr. Halsey over the months, memories could never be fully erased. Only covered up.

I crept down the side passage with John right behind me. He'd lost his rifle in the initial confusion, so he had his sidearm out and ready.

I felt horror flash quickly through the Covenant forces behind us, then they fell numb. Muted.

Fear chilled my body. I slowed to a stop, my hand on my chest.

"What's wrong?" John asked in a hushed voice.

I took a shaky breath. "It's the- it's...it's the Flood. They've taken over the Covenant down here."

"Do you think they got the rest of the team?"

"I-I don't know," I whispered. "We need to find them."

We continued forward.

I was keeping a nearly constant check on the Flood. They weren't close to us yet. A steady wave behind us, but never too close.

Some time later I felt something different. Something beautifully separate from the Flood.

It was Blue Team.

I could have cried with relief. "They're up ahead."

John's heart leapt, but he remained outwardly composed. "Are they safe?"

"Yeah, they're good. The Flood hasn't got them yet." My relief was so audible, but I didn't care. Blue Team was safe.

John pushed ahead, following their signals on his motion tracker.

We pushed out into a large room, and the pulse exploded into my mind. It was insistent.

I shoved it out, focusing on the situation.

Kelly and Fred were shooting down a group of Flood organisms. Linda was lying prone on the floor with several needler crystals sticking out of her back.

When John saw her, fierce anger and worry shot through his heart. He shot through the Flood, catching them from behind with vengeful determination.

I ran through, skidding on my knees next to Linda. "What happened?"

"Jackal caught her from behind," Kelly said in a worried tone. "She's breathing, barely."

Fred, a few feet away, was silently tense. His focus was on Linda as much as he dared it to be in a combat zone.

I looked Linda over. She was lying face down on the ground with about five needler rounds poking out of her armor. Three of them were harmlessly embedded in the armor, but two had pierced through her biosuit. Below her ribs, and just below her head.

I sucked in a breath. "That must have...must have just missed her brain stem. We have to get her out of here, now."

"Our mission is to gather intel," Kelly asserted.

I looked up at her. "Don't worry, we know enough. If we destroy the ring now, it'll destroy the Flood. A-and whatever of the Covenant is left on it."

That wasn't the intel they'd wanted back on the ship, but with the Covenant here plans had to change. We could study another ring; this one needed to explode.

John looked down at me and nodded to Linda. "Can you carry her? And keep her stable?"

I nodded. "I-I should be able to. We have to get her back to the ship as soon as we can."

"We can't go out the way we came; the Covenant will be expecting that." Kelly slid her rifle onto her back.

A sudden knowledge hit me; a way to deactivate Halo without destroying anything.

I pointed across the room. "There's another elevator over there-"

"Isn't that the one the Covenant used to get down here?" John's voice was tight; Linda couldn't have had that much longer to live.

"I-it is, yes. But just beyond it is our target. There's a Forerunner AI, and he can help us get to the- to the surface quicker."

And snatch the activation Index for Installation 04, but I didn't go into specifics while Linda was slowly dying on the ground.

John nodded. "Let's go."

I lifted both of my hands, beckoning Linda to rise off of the ground. She was heavy, especially in her armor, but I wouldn't fatigue for awhile yet.

Theoretically.

We walked through the honeycombs, ever wary of Covenant forces. Most of them had been overtaken by the Flood, though, and a quick burst of gunfire took them down.

When we arrived in the room I set Linda down. "Monitor?"

The Monitor appeared in a flash of blue light. "Reclaimers! You have found me. I hoped you would. I am 343 Guilty Spark."

He was a little floating ball, with a big blue optic in the front. All in all, he was just smaller than my torso.

"The Flood has escaped, and it is my job to prevent them from leaving this Installation," he informed us.

"Yeah, I-I know. Listen, Guilty Spark, she's hurt." I gestured to Linda. "I can kill the Flood, but I won't do it until she's been taken back to the ship. Can you get us to the surface?"

"We really should focus on the Flood."

I shook my head. "I can handle the Flood-"

"It is my duty to ensure the activation of this Installation. Anything beyond that is a secondary-"

"Take us to the surface!" I snapped. I could feel Linda growing weaker.

Guilty Spark let out a sigh. "So pushy. Alright, I will take you to the surface. You must come with me, immediately, when you're satisfied with her condition."

"I will, just-just help us," I pleaded.

The Monitor puttered. "As you wish."

We were all surrounded by blue light, and suddenly we were on top of a rocky plateau.

John immediately opened a comm channel. "Pillar of Autumn, this is Blue Leader. Requesting emergency medical evac."

I held my breath.

"We read you, Blue Leader. Routing medevac your way."

I released a breath. "Oh, thank god."

But the man on the comms wasn't done. "Hostile elements have boarded the Pillar of Autumn. Medevac will remain in atmosphere until they're cleared out."

Hostile elements? They couldn't mean the Flood, could they?

I never thought I'd prefer our attackers to be the Covenant, but the Flood was a special kind of grotesque and dangerous. They weren't deadly, and that was worse.

Something chittered near us. I turned and yanked the Flood form out of the bush. It had overtaken an Unggoy, plastered haphazardly over the dead soldier's form.

My nose scrunched up as I sent out a pulse, effectively ending its life.

A Pelican landed near us and I sent Linda ahead of me to the ship. A team of medics wheeled out a gurney and I set her down, watching as they pulled her back onto the ship.

One of the men looked up at us. "You comin'?"

We would be safe from the Flood in the Pelican. And we would be able to make sure Linda was okay.

But, in the end, no one would be safe if Halo was activated.

John straightened his back and looked to the Forerunner structure. "We have a job to do."

oOOOOo

Author's Note: The underlined quotations means it's a comm. If both the text and the quotations are underlined, it's the Unggoy language.