Chapter Twenty One
I watched as the Pelican took off.
Linda was being tended to inside, and she would get even better care back aboard the Pillar of Autumn. Whenever that happened, since the Pillar was actively engaged.
But at least she would be safe from the Flood while the Pelican flew around the ring world.
John returned his full attention to the mission. "We need to disable the ring. What's the easiest way to do that?"
"There's something here called the Index," I said. "It's...it's the key to the ring. If we destroy it, the ring won't be able to fire."
Fred pulled his rifle off of his back. "We need to find that Index."
I pointed to the building below us. "The Monitor can take us to it, but he can't know that we're trying to destroy it."
John nodded in understanding. "Let's move."
We picked our way down the side of the plateau, keeping an eye out for stray Flood forms. There didn't seem to be any, though, and we reached the construction without much hassle.
I tensed. "They're all inside."
"The Covenant?" Fred asked.
I bit my lip. "The Flood."
John readied his gun. "Kelly, flank 'em. We'll herd them in, and Tawny can take them out."
I nodded. "I-I can do that."
"Ready, John." Kelly got down into a running stance.
John waited for just a moment. Then, "Go!"
Kelly shot off into the open building.
I had to admit, I was surprised at how quickly she could move. I could barely track her as she shot past the Flood, inside the building, and began shooting at them from behind.
John turned to Fred. "Flank left."
They set off on either side of the Flood forms. As I watched, the pseudo-organisms were caged in by the SPARTANs.
John turned on his comm. "Now, Tawny!"
I ran forward, sending out a massive wave of pulses. They washed over the room like inescapable waves.
The stronger forms collapsed, but didn't die with their weaker brethren.
A staggering form, what had once been a Sangheili, launched itself at me with an unholy shriek. Fred shot through it. The bullet tore just past my head.
Just past my head.
I pushed my terror down and nodded to him in thanks. Then I turned my attention to a half-dead form that used to be a Kig-Yar.
Another possessed Kig-Yar lurched towards me. I pushed it back with a pulse, then changed the frequency so that it shredded the being to ribbons.
It was gory, and I'd probably have nightmares about both the sight and the stench, but overall killing the Flood felt good. It freed the universe from their twisted burden.
When they were all dead, I turned to the SPARTANs. "There's more below us."
"Can you call the Monitor?" John asked.
My eyes widened. "I-I can!"
Somehow I'd forgotten that I could contact 343 Guilty Spark. I'd gotten spun up in the rush of things; I needed to focus.
I closed my eyes, reaching into the Forerunner system. I called out to Guilty Spark and sent him our location.
He appeared in a blue flash above a mutilated and dead Unggoy.
"Oh, my. How unpleasant." He looked up at us. "Are you prepared to eradicate the Flood?"
I nodded. "Take us to the Index."
A happy thrill went through the little construct. "At once. Come."
We were teleported to some place deep below the surface, in a huge metal room.
I looked around. "Where is this?"
"As a safety precaution I cannot take you directly to the Index. Follow me and I will lead you to it at once."
John and Kelly shared a glance. He turned his palms up, silently asking, What do you think.
She nodded to the floating construct.
It was decided, then.
We set off after the Monitor, who was humming a song of sorts as he bobbed above us.
I didn't trust him.
I could feel him; he was shifty. His one and only duty, in his mind, was to this Installation. To activating it. To destroying all sentient life in the entire galaxy.
That was what he wanted.
He was leading us to our deaths, for all he knew, and he was fine with that.
We made our way through several rooms and passageways, and I was partially familiar with all of them. This knowledge was so strange and foreign, and yet as if it had been with me my entire life and longer.
The Monitor babbled on above us, talking about various things. How interesting we were. How ill-adapted the SPARTANs' armor was for their task. My physical frailty.
By the time we were halfway to the room with the Index I was about ready to leave the construct and never come back for him.
I switched my external speakers off, talking only to the SPARTANs and hoping Guilty Spark hadn't hacked our comms "I don't trust him."
"I don't either." Fred was just ahead of me. "He has to know what Halo really does."
"He-he does, but it's in his programming to get it up and running. To contain the Flood." I felt some sympathy for the Monitor as I realized, "He doesn't- he doesn't know what else to do."
Another door.
Another elevator.
Finally, we arrived. There was a massive blue platform in the center of a towering shaft. There was a blue shield surrounding the center, where the Index was.
Something in my mind whispered, "Library."
I walked across the hardlight bridge and onto the large round platform. "I can get the shield down."
"Hurry." John turned to the door. "Something's out there."
I took a grounding breath, walking towards the shield. It fluctuated with power and shot up into the sky, trapping the Index inside.
Guilty Spark whirred. "You must hurry, Reclaimer, the Flood is approaching."
I found the generator's frequency and sent out a harmonious frequency of my own. The shield came down.
Fred rushed forward, snatching the Index up. "The Index is secure!"
"Come, we must get to the control room." Guilty Spark transported us to the surface again, just outside another building.
He suddenly reached out with a blue beam, trying to take the Index from Fred.
I shot my hand out, wrapping around the Index with ultrasonic waves. "What are you doing?"
"Protocol dictates I transport the Index. Your kind is vulnerable to infection." Spark tugged on the Index.
It was suspended in the air, caught between Guilty Spark's pull and my own.
"We can make it ourselves, Guilty Spark." I was trying to pull the Index to myself. "T-the Flood hasn't reached this place yet."
"I must keep the Index safe, Reclaimer."
The Index flew into my hands. I wrapped myself around it, keeping it away from Guilty Spark.
I switched on the private comm. "It won't be destroyed easily. We'll have to keep it and call for evac."
I cradled the Index, a big key of sorts, to myself as I spoke.
Fred stood between the Monitor and myself, trying to quell the construct's fears. "She can destroy the Flood, I doubt she'll get infected."
Covertly, while Fred talked to the construct, Kelly sent out a comm for immediate evac.
Then she commed the team. "Five minutes to evac. Top of the plateau. They've driven off the Covenant boarders."
That was perfect for us.
Now...how would we convince the Monitor to let us leave?
Fred had a plan.
"We should scout for the Flood," he said deceivingly. "We'll see better from the top of that plateau."
"It really would be best to continue on our way." Guilty Spark floated, almost covertly, towards me and the Index as he spoke.
John wrapped an arm around my shoulders, blocking the Monitor. And I'll admit I pressed into him more than was entirely necessary; I missed his embrace.
But this embrace was cold, and functional.
"We're going to scout it out," John asserted. "If we're walking into the Flood, we need to know now."
Guilty Spark sighed pettily. "I suppose you are right. Be quick, Reclaimers."
John helped me make my way up the plateau, since I kept my arms firmly around the Index. I knew that the Monitor would steal it away the moment he saw an opportunity.
The Pelican landed and Guilty Spark sputtered. "What is this? Where are you going?!"
"Sorry, Guilty Spark, but-but we can't let this ring activate." I climbed into the Pelican alongside the others. "We'll get rid of the Flood, though, don't worry."
He sputtered again.
"Do you want to come with us?" I offered.
At first Guilty Spark seemed affronted by the proposition. Then he took a moment to think about it.
With a reluctant bob, he started floating towards us. He was the picture of sorrowful acceptance; I felt for him.
Before he was fully inside the Pelican he sent out a beam of blue light. The Index was snatched out of my hands.
Guilty Spark was gone.
"No!" I cried. "He took the Index!"
John grabbed a handle as the Pelican lifted off of the ground. "Stand down, Tawny."
I shook my head. "I'm getting that key back."
I shot out of the ramp just before it closed, floating down after Guilty Spark. My face was contorted in rage. For some reason, him taking the Index filled me with boiling anger.
"Give me the Index, Monitor!" My voice sounded much more threatening through the helmet's speaker.
"I am afraid I cannot do that."
How dare he?
He was willing to let us all kill ourselves for his 'containment'. Completely unable to find another solution.
And he took the Index from me.
I held my hand out, making a fist and tugging it towards myself. In my wrath, however, I missed my target.
Instead of grabbing the Index, or the Monitor, I ripped an entire chunk of the ring world off.
I gaped as the slab flew towards the opposite side of the ring, on a direct collision course. It blocked out the sunlight as it soared right above me. All my surroundings shook so severely.
I'd destroyed the world.
The Pelican was there. The ramp lowered, and I threw myself in.
Fred reached out and plucked me out of the air before I could hit the far wall.
"I told you to stand down." John's voice was hard.
"I know!" I curled in on myself as the sound of the ring's collapse hit my ears. "I-I'm so sorry."
The Pelican made a desperate rush for the ship.
Fred's hand was tight around my arm, but I didn't complain. He was saving me a lot of pain. Especially considering the bumpiness of the ride.
The Pelican jerked one last time, almost pulling me out of Fred's grip, and barreled into the hangar. We tumbled out just as Anton announced that we were entering slipspace.
Kelly turned to look out the viewport, at the shattered world. So did the rest of us, in turn.
The missing segment had slammed into the part of the ring that had been opposite it, and now the entire ring world was split in half.
I had literally torn a world to pieces.
"At least Halo can't fire now," Kelly remarked.
oOOOo
We'd been in slipspace for about a two weeks, on our way to Reach. That's where Blue Team and myself were being put.
Dr. Halsey was already on the planet, chomping at the bit to continue her research with me.
I was hoping I could convince ONI to let me stay with Professor Anders; she was a xenobiologist, after all. Whatever was happening to me, it was most likely in her area of expertise.
But I had more immediate issues, on the Pillar of Autumn's bridge. The view from the massive viewports tempted my concentration.
Reach was beautiful.
The mood in the ship was less so.
"I still want to know what the hell the Covenant was doing in an inner system." The Captain was pacing around the bridge.
Installation 04 had only been one system away from Reach, an inner system planet. That fact had everyone on the ship tense. A month later we were still looking for answers, and Captain Killian's mood was only getting worse.
Anton appeared on a holotable, a glowing orange form with short, curly hair and a beret. "Sir, now that the ship is operational I implore you to let me run a scan of the ship for trackers."
"Trackers?" Captain Killian looked at the AI with a doubtful expression. "How the hell would they have gotten a tracker on my ship?"
John looked down at him, unreadable in his armor. "You were on Arcadia. They could have planted it then."
"Arcadia? That was three months ago!"
"It's still a possibility," John respectfully insisted.
Killian sighed, waving a hand. "Fine. Anton, run a scan."
"Yes, sir. It will be complete within two hours' time. I will report back to you then."
Captain Killian turned to Blue Team and myself. "Dismissed. I'll call you back when we figure this out."
John walked off without a word.
He was headed for the cryo bay, where they had Linda. Her injuries were severe enough that they wanted to treat her on the surface of Reach when we got down there.
John was still upset at me.
Fred noticed my downtrodden expression, placing an armored hand on my shoulder. "He'll come around."
"H-how do you know?" My eyes were firmly on the floor.
He pulled his helmet off. "We all mess up sometimes. He gets that."
"I don't know." I chewed on the inside of my cheek. "I messed up pretty bad."
"Then it may take him longer than usual. Eventually, though, he will." He patted my shoulder. "Maybe you should meet him halfway."
I nodded. "Yeah. I probably should."
Fred walked off to catch up with Kelly.
I straightened my spine and walked towards the cryo bay.
It was relatively quiet when I walked in.
They'd stabilized Linda's wounds and taken her armor off, and in the cryo pod she could have almost passed for a normal soldier.
She was the only one in there.
John was standing with his back to me, looking at her. Massive waves of guilt were flooding off of him, and I couldn't help but wince.
"I-it wasn't your fault," I said eventually.
He turned, unaware that I'd been there.
When he realized who it was he turned back around.
"You would have stopped it if you could have, so it couldn't have been your fault."
His hands were in tight fists. "If we'd gone the other way…"
"You didn't know what would happen, John." I took a step closer. "But we got her out in time. That's...that's what matters."
"Did we?" He turned to face me, his voice hard. I couldn't tell if it was guilt or anger.
"She's alive, at least. They-they can help her on Reach."
John didn't say anything, half-facing me. His face was plastered with some negative emotion. Guilt, grief, anger...I truly couldn't tell.
I steadied myself with a breath. "John, I'm sorry. What I said was completely wrong. I didn't know what I was saying. And I-I didn't mean to hurt you."
He was silent. His heart ached. For Sam, and for Linda. If she died…
"I did hurt you, though. A-and I understand if you don't forgive me. But I wanted to apologize." I was biting back tears. "Because you deserve an apology. So here it is."
John was contemplative. He was still grappling with guilt, new and old.
Just as I felt he was about to say something, Anton's voice came over the intercom.
"Master Chief, Ms. Clark, you need to report to the bridge. Now."
John pulled his helmet on. "He sounded serious."
I nodded and wiped at my eyes. "W-we should go."
We ran together to the bridge. Well, I ran and he loped. Not quite a lope, either. A light jog?
Nonetheless we arrived at the bridge fairly quickly. The rest of Blue Team was already there.
"Sir," John acknowledged the Captain.
I was too out of breath to really talk without sounding winded, so I didn't say anything.
Captain Killian looked up at John, then down at me. His eyes were grave. "We've found the tracking device."
"Already?" Kelly sounded surprised.
"Already."
"Where is it?" She looked down at him expectantly.
"Not 'where'," Killian's gaze returned to me sharply, "'who'."
"What?" I reeled back when I caught his unspoken message. "You think it's me?"
"We know it's you."
"We detected a tracking device embedded in your ribs, mademoiselle." Anton sounded somewhat apologetic.
There was a Covenant tracking device in my body?
I looked from Anton to Killian. "H-how?"
"Most likely when you were in Covenant custody for a month." the AI paused. "But we have bigger problems, it would seem. Captain, look!"
We all followed his finger to see a Covenant fleet exiting slipspace beside us. Their ships loomed threateningly, too close to be "distant".
I felt sudden dread fill the room.
The Covenant was on Reach.
oOOOOo
Author's Note: This is the last chapter of Chipped. The nest book is Lost. Happy reading guys!
I love y'all!
