Chapter Ten
I was so cold. So, so cold. Like there was a layer of ice over my body, needling into my skin.
I pulled into myself, my arms around my body, and shivered.
Why was it so cold?
Why was I weightless?
I opened my eyes, looking around. I was in a tube. I barely had three feet to move in any direction.
Hey, I was getting warmer.
Oh, yeah, cryo sleep. I'd been in cryo sleep with John. We were floating, out in the middle of nowhere, hoping for rescue.
We were awake now.
It would only wake us up if someone had boarded the remains of the ship. So that meant someone was aboard right now. We weren't alone in here. Someone had found us!
Unless six years had passed, of course.
I pushed against the glass door. I could see the cryo bay, but I couldn't get out.
Wasn't this door supposed to open on its own?
A thrill of fear slid down my spine; was I trapped in here? Was John trapped in his own tube?
I wanted to get out.
To my left, I saw a cryo pod open. John had gotten out, thank god. He floated over to me.
I pressed my hands against the still-cold glass. "I-I can't open it."
I didn't know if he could hear me or not, but he must have known what I meant. He pressed a button on the pod's panel and my door hissed open.
I pushed myself out, floating into his arms. He was cold, too, but he was warming up.
My finger hurt, I noticed. I had a garnet ring around the middle finger of my right hand, it had been a gift from my grandmother several years ago. I didn't want to risk losing it; freezer burn was worth it.
I pressed my face into John's chest. "We're okay."
He wrapped his arms around me, glad to be awake. "How long were we out?"
"I don't know." I floated towards the holotank, pushing my mind into the ship's system. My heart sunk. "It's June tenth...2534. Two years, seven months, and five days. That's...that's a long time."
"We need to find out who's on board."
"Right." I floated over to the cryo pods that we'd stored our armor in.
I tugged my biosuit on in sync with John, though he got his on quicker. I found it hard to maneuver in the zero gravity, and I ended up entirely upside down to John.
I looked down - up? - at him. "Who do you think it is?"
I was personally hoping it was someone from the UNSC. Maybe they'd sent someone to find us?
I knew, though, that it wasn't. Something was whispering to me...whoever was onboard, they weren't friendly.
John sensed it, too. "We need to get ready. Then we can find out."
As he spoke he helped me put my armor on. I would have to help him with his, and I wasn't strong enough to do it on my own. He, of course, had no problems putting my armor on with his bare hands.
I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little jealous.
When I was all armored up I magnetized my helmet to my thigh and set to work suiting him.
It was, again, a very tedious process. Everything had to be put on just right, or it wouldn't work properly. Fortunately, John knew where everything went.
When he was armored up he said, "We need to get to the observation deck. We can see who's boarding us there."
He stuck a rifle to his back as he spoke. Then he loaded his handgun.
I didn't want to have to fight, but I knew it was inevitable. We weren't being boarded by friendlies.
The ship rattled. A bright orange wall of light moved through the room, scanning everything. From the sound of things, it had scanned the entire ship.
"What was that?" John's voice was uncharacteristically unnerved.
"I don't know." I pressed closer to John. "B-but it was Forerunner."
He nodded. "I felt it too. Can you turn on the gravity?"
"Not at the same time as life support."
"Get your helmet on, we need to move."
I nodded, pulling the dark blue helmet over my head. Then I accessed the ship's system, turning off life support and turning on the gravity. An emotionless voice informed the whole ship that the air wouldn't be breathable for more than a few minutes.
After that happened, our suits would automatically switch to rebreathing. We would be fine.
The gravity came on next. I landed harshly on my butt, wincing at both the pain and the loud metal clang.
John landed lithely on his feet. "Are you alright?"
I nodded. It was weird to feel gravity again, but not unwelcome.
He stepped towards the door. "Let's go. Where's the observation deck?"
I closed my eyes and felt around the ship. "I-it's four floors up, right above us."
We moved together out into the hall. I was reaching out for any living things nearby, and John had his handgun out. He was ready to unload it at a moment's notice.
We walked through several hallways. There was a sealed door in front of us.
John tilted his head. "We need to go up."
I held a hand out. "Want me to open it?"
He nodded.
My mind slid in between the doors, shoving them apart. We were sucked abruptly into the shaft, towards endless space. It had been cut open, it wasn't pressurized.
John grabbed a stray pipe, throwing his hand out beneath him. He couldn't reach me, but he did surround me in ultrasound. I looked up at him, straining to keep me from flying out into space, and back down the shaft.
I really didn't want to fall.
I used my own powers to push myself onto the wall, and took hold of a stray piece of metal.
"I'm okay," I called up in a shaking voice.
He released his hold on me, and I forced myself to climb up to him. Maybe we should have left the gravity off.
Debris rained down on us, heavy and unforgiving, as we climbed up.
John grunted. "The observation deck is right above us."
"Good." My arms were shaking with the effort to pull myself up. "What then?"
He didn't respond.
When we reached the level of the observation deck, he held a hand out. "Step on."
I did, letting him hoist me up through the doorway. When I was standing on solid ground I turned to watch him pull himself up. He stood to his full height, placing a hand on my shoulder.
There was someone behind us, full of wrath and bloodlust. My heart dropped. "John!"
John turned just in time to see a massive Sangheili charging us. He shoved me away, further into the hallway, and met the Sangheili head on. He punched the alien across the face and threw him down into the shaft.
I could hear the Sangheili's screams as he was pulled out into space.
John turned back to me. "I thought we had a truce with the Covenant."
"So did I." My heart was thumping heavily in my chest.
"He's probably not alone."
"Oh, he's definitely not. There." I pointed to the observation deck, where we needed to be. "Covenant."
He checked his handgun. "Stay behind me."
I nodded, letting him take the lead into the observation deck. It was a massive, open room with a staircase leading to the observatory controls right in front of us. To the left and right were staircases leading down, into the more open main area of the deck.
On the control bridge was a Sangheili, with various Unggoy and Kig Yar in the main part of the room. None of them saw us as we crept up the staircase.
John walked up behind the Sangheili, stabbing him in the throat and tossing him to the ground. A small collection of Unggoy opened fire on us from below. I turned, throwing my hands out, and sent them flying with a pulse.
John turned to the left side of the platform, firing down on the Covenant soldiers over there. He threw himself down and kicked an Unggoy so hard his neck snapped.
He turned without missing a beat, stabbing through a Kig Yar's neck from the side and slicing around to the front.
I splintered my mind, invading all of the soldiers to the right of the platform. With a single jerk, they all died. As instantly and painlessly as possible; I did what I could to ease my guilt.
John walked back up, having taken care of all the Covenant soldiers on his side. "They aren't outfitted like standard military."
I tried to hide my wince as my elbow moved. It wasn't hurt...any more than normal.
"So maybe the Covenant really did collapse," I offered as I worked my elbow.
John pressed a button on the control panel, lifting the blast shields. The massive floor-to-ceiling windows revealed an entire Covenant fleet in front of us.
My heart fell. "Oh, my god. Or maybe they didn't."
"Maybe they haven't recognized us," John suggested.
I pointed. "I hope they do soon."
There were Phantoms soaring towards us. I had a hand on John's back, pressing myself against him. What if they attacked us?
Something was telling me this wasn't just a rogue group of loyalists.
The room depressurized for a moment as the landing craft stabbed their proboscis-like tunnels into the windows on either side of us. As soon as its doors slid open, John launched a grenade into the tunnel on our left.
With the majority of the troops on that side incapacitated, he turned his attention to the right side. His rifle was out, mowing through them.
My head shot up. "I need- wait!"
"What?"
I watched as the last soldier died. "Nevermind."
I'd been hoping to see what their deal was, but I couldn't enter the mind of a dead man.
Wait. They weren't all dead. There was a Sangheili...right beside John!
I scrambled around John, shooting my hand out and wrapping around the Sangheili. He flickered into view, hissing down at me.
"What do you want with us?" My voice was hard.
"The Didact's Hand shall have Requiem, not the humans."
I tightened my fist, making it uncomfortably tight around him. "What is the Didact's Hand?"
He growled, trying to break free.
I closed my eyes and needled into his mind. If he wouldn't tell me, I would find out on my own. I didn't like barging in on peoples' minds, but I also didn't like not knowing what was happening.
My eyes shot open and I sent him flying back into the wall. His body broke against it, I'd thrown him so hard.
I stumbled back, fighting my terror. "'Mdama."
"What?" John's hand was on my shoulder. "What is it?"
"Jul 'Mdama." I struggled to keep the whimper out of my voice. "He's...there's a new Covenant under Jul 'Mdama."
"What are they doing here?"
I struggled to even out my breathing. I'd faced 'Mdama, yes, but I'd been running on anger and a healthy lack of sleep. And he'd been behind bars.
To know that he was running free, and in charge of the new Covenant no less, was deeply disturbing.
I forced myself to focus. John had asked a question, and he needed an answer. "He said, 'The Didact's Hand will have this planet.' B-but I don't know what that means. We must be near a planet, a-and from the sound of things, it's Forerunner."
He looked back at the viewport, where the Covenant fleet could be seen. "Are any of the ship-to-ship defenses working?"
"I can check." I looked up at him. "What a- what are we going to do?"
He ran his hand down my arm. "What we have to."
I ignored the dread in my gut, grabbing John's hand and closing my eyes. I entered the ship's mainframe, scanning the defenses.
"Okay." I opened my eyes. "There's something called an M4093 Hyperion nuclear delivery system. They're not destroyed, but I can't fire them from here. There should be a place to fire them in the missile bay."
He slid his rifle onto his back and pulled out his sidearm, keeping one hand around mine. "Let's go."
We walked back out into the hallway.
He turned towards an elevator shaft on our left, opposite the depressurized one we'd climbed through. "Is this one safe?"
"I-I can't tell." I reached out, anyways, just to see if I could. "It's still got power, so maybe."
He stepped forward, pressing the button. Sure enough, the doors slid open. It was an intact, pressurized elevator.
He jerked his head. "Come on."
We climbed in, and I set it to take us to one of the lower levels.
My breathing was shaky as I leaned back against the wall. "This planet...something's going to happen. Something big."
"Any idea what?"
"I don't think it's going to be good."
John straightened up as the elevator stopped. "Me, either."
Something was there, around the corner. I reached out, barely managing to brush his arm.
"John," I whispered harshly.
"What is it?"
"Sangheili."
He tensed, almost imperceptibly. "Where?"
I closed my eyes. "Down the hallway, to the left. Two Sangheili and an Unggoy."
He crept down the hallway. It was empty. There was a door, at the end and to the left.
He jerked his head towards it and made a circle in the air with his hand. It was a silent question, a language few outside of the SPARTAN ranks understood. He was asking, Are they in there?
I nodded.
He pulled a small grenade out, activating it, and let the door open. Before the Covenant soldiers could react, he'd rolled the grenade towards them and ducked back behind the door frame.
The explosion shook the floor. I felt all of the soldiers die as soon as it went off; at least none of them suffered too badly.
John glanced around the corner. "Come on."
I kept my eyes up, away from the dead soldiers. Knowing the Sangheili, the Unggoy had been forced into servitude once more. And now this one was dead.
There was nothing I could do. Forced or not, the Unggoy would just as readily kill us. We couldn't let that happen.
If it came down to them or us, I would make sure it was us who walked out.
We made our way down a set of stairs. There was another Sangheili and a squad of Unggoy. John pulled out his rifle, shooting a spray of bullets at the Sangheili.
I noticed an Unggoy running towards us, two active grenades in his hands. I threw my hand out, snapping his neck and surrounding his body in a bubble. When the grenades went off, they stayed inside the bubble.
I released the sphere when the explosion died down, turning my attention to an Unggoy firing his gun at us. A large pulse rippled from my hand, slamming him and three others into the wall with enough force to break their necks.
John shot an Unggoy through the skull, piercing his methane mask in the process. As the soldier fell, the last soldier, he turned to me. "How close are we?"
I pulled up a holographic map of the ship on the palm of my hand. It zoomed in, showing us where we were. I illuminated a blue pathway to the missile bay, on the outer hull. We only had one more room to get through.
"It's not very far, but…" I then illuminated the placement of every Covenant soldier on the ship.
There was a host of little red dots in the room in front of us. Beyond them, in the missile bay, were even more.
"We can take them," John insisted.
"I hope so." I let the hologram fizz out and clasped my hands together nervously. "Because, I-I feel like this is just the beginning."
"I think you're right."
I really hoped I wasn't right. Even though I knew it was several years ago, the battle on Installation 00 felt like only a month ago. I was growing weary of combat.
So was John, and he'd seen much more of it than me.
We walked down into a large room. There was a walkway going around the rounded room in the center, almost like a roundabout on a road. Inside the middle room was a large group of Unggoy, which we could see through the glass walls. John aimed his rifle.
"Wait," I whispered, reaching up to touch his wrist. "There are three Sangheili on the other side of the walkway. They don't know we're here yet."
He ran a few quick calculations. "Can you handle the Grunts?"
I nodded.
"Good." He jogged to the left, towards the Elites, and pulled his rifle off of his back.
My attention turned to the Unggoy. They noticed John loping past and scrambled for the doorways, trying to shoot him down. I couldn't let that happen.
I reached my hand out, blowing three guns out of three hands. Their attention turned to me as John engaged a pair of Sangheili.
Plasma fire right towards my head. I ducked under it, throwing my hand towards the Unggoy. They all fell backwards as a massive shockwave hit them. I ran over to the nearest doorway into the room, invading the mind of the Unggoy nearest me.
He ran in front of me, shielding me from any plasma bullets that could come my way. The others refused to fire on their brother, so neither of us were injured.
There was a brief standoff, during which I could hear gunfire from John's rifle. It was clear even over my rapid heartbeat.
I closed my eyes, splintering my mind, and sent all of the Unggoy to sleep. I tried, but I couldn't bring myself to kill them. I'd killed enough.
Just as they collapsed, almost all at once, I heard something behind me. My hand shot out, wrapping ultrasound around the soldier. It was the third and final Sangheili.
oOOOOo
Author's Note: It felt like so much longer than a week for some reason? Idek anymore my sense of time is screwed lol.
Anywho I love all of you so much!
