Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to my Halo - Terminator crossover. If you haven't already, I highly recommend checking out my other crossover, which is called Halo: Mechwarrior. It's not only my first crossover, it's also the one that is closest to completion. Either way, thank you for your continued support, and I hope you continue to have fun reading my stories. As always, leave a review and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Halo or Terminator franchises. They are the respective properties and trademarks of Microsoft Game Studios, 343 Industries, Bungie, Carcolo Pictures, Hemdale, Skydance Productions, Lightstorm Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, etc. Any material original to the franchises belongs to their respective developers, producers and publishers. Any material not original to the franchises is of my own invention. I do not own any music listed in each chapter. Any music listed belongs to it's original composers and/or artists.

Halo

UNSC FOB Alpha September

20th, 2552

Keyes groaned as he slowly came to on his cot, his body aching and sore from his ordeal on the Truth and Reconciliation. His captors hadn't been kind and gentle in their treatment of him, and it showed, as Keyes, looking at his body, could see large welts and bruises that hadn't formed until this night. Even the mere act of moving was enough to send aching pains up and down his spine; on top of that, he had a black eye, as one of his captors had punched him in the face in an attempt to get information, an attempt that had failed miserably.

Rolling out of bed, he nearly tumbled to the floor, catching himself before he landed unceremoniously on his rump. Getting up, he grabbed some clothes, a towel and headed for the refresher unit that was built into the dormitory of Alpha Base, one of roughly twenty refresher units at the base. Getting inside, he quickly cleaned himself off before getting out and getting dressed, leaving the room that had been reserved for him a few minutes later.

Walking down the hallway, Keyes remembered the kind of situation that they were in now. They were far from home, with little chance of help coming their way, and a fleet of Covenant that were in orbit around Halo, ready to send down more reinforcements at a single command. The one advantage that they had was that the Covenant were hesitant to use their ship's weaponry out of fear of damaging Halo.

Halo, Keyes thought with a slight grumble. That was the whole reason why they were here, instead of a bunch of disembodied atoms floating in space. The Covenant, according to Kalinda, revered Halo as a means of starting the Great Journey, which was an event that would cause all members of the Covenant to initiate apotheosis, the process of becoming a divine being. According to their religion, the Forerunners, the species that had built Halo, had used the rings to achieve apotheosis, thereby becoming gods in their own right. Bunch of deluded bastards, Keyes thought to himself. If they get their hands on Halo's control room, they could destroy the entire human race.

Walking along the hallway, Keyes passed a number of personnel that were working inside of the base, as well as Terminators and HK Spider Scouts that were performing guard duty and maintenance on the base that they were at. Even though he'd been around the T-850L's and the HK Drones long enough to know they were friendly, Keyes still felt a twinge of fear and unease whenever he was around the machines. Probably just this old man overreacting to something that is perfectly fine, he thought to himself. Shaking his head, he proceeded out of the building and into the open air.

While the base was still quite fresh, it was clear that the machines had made further expansions. In addition to the cannons on the wall, Keyes could now see AA emplacements that the machines had installed, a defensive measure in the event the Covenant sent an strike force to destroy the base by air. In addition to that, he could also see a number of T-47 HK Tanks that were driving around, with most leaving the interior of the base to perform patrols on the plain that was below the mesa. There were also walkways that had been recently built, allowing personnel to move along without fear of being accidentally crushed by a Terminator or an HK Drone.

On top of that, Keyes had learned that some of the HK Drones were developing personalities of their own. Hearing a slight, metallic growl, Keyes looked down to see an HK Spider Scout that was walking alongside him, rubbing up against his leg as if it was saying 'pet me.' He couldn't help but grin slightly when he did so, with contented sounds coming from the robot before it moved on to it's normal task for the day. Shaking his head, he continued on towards the CIC, where the bulk of what would happen next would be decided.

Entering the CIC, Keyes immediately made his way through the hallways to the center of the building, where the holographic projector was located at. Walking into the room, he found Carter, Chief, Cortana and Major Silva talking to each other, most likely on strategies on what to do next. As soon as he spotted Keyes, Carter stood to attention, with Silva and Chief following suit moments later. "At ease, gentlemen," Keyes replied. Looking at Chief, he said, "Thanks for getting me out of there. The Covenant would've gotten what they wanted sooner or later if you hadn't shown up."

"Just doing our jobs, sir," Chief replied.

"Indeed," Keyes replied. Looking around, he noticed that someone was missing. "Where's Sergeant Parsons?"

"He's currently returning from a scouting mission that Kalinda sent him on," Cortana, who was in the holoprojector right now, replied. "He'll be back in about fifteen minutes, after which he's going to the Canteen and the Maintenance/Repair Bay to make sure he'll be good to go for the upcoming missions."

"What about Kalinda?"

"She's about to interrogate the Ship Master that we captured," Cortana replied. "In the meantime, she found a large amount of tactical information that we might be able to use against the Covenant." Pulling up a map of Halo, she said, "According to the intelligence Kalinda recovered, the Covenant are unusually interested in this particular part of Halo. They've been sending a lot of units to this area, mostly infantry and light vehicles.

"According to Kalinda, she managed to find multiple references to something called the 'Silent Cartographer.' If the name is any indication, it's probably a map room that the Forerunners created for the entire facility. If it is, then it's clear that the Covenant are moving to secure it so that they can find Halo's Control Room and begin their 'Great Journey.'"

"Then we'll have to get there and stop them," Keyes decided. "Is Kalinda going to work on the Ship Master?"

"She's about to," Cortana replied. "According to her, she'll deliver the information in person once she has it. Apparently, she doesn't trust sending it to me via a data transmission, probably due to the Covenant's presence on Halo."

. . .

Lat 'Ravamee had no idea where he was, except for the fact that he was in the Human's base on Halo. Shaking to full wakefulness, he found that he was lying on a cot in an appropriately sized room that had nothing but a sink, a toilet with a partition for privacy, as well as a hidden video camera that would ensure that he was being monitored 24/7. The door to the outside world was featureless, with only a small window composed of transparent metal, as well as a small latch that was designed to allow only authorized personnel to leave the cell. If he attempted to leave, he would most likely be shocked by a burst of electricity.

He growled slightly when he remembered what had happened. When he learned that his ship was being boarded, he had sent a number of Covenant Zealots to eliminate the Humans boarding his ship, as he guessed that they were after the Human Ship Master that he had in his Brig. Unfortunately, the machines the Humans were making widespread use of now had learned and adapted, allowing them to terminate the Zealots with little difficulty.

Eventually, they had gotten to the Bridge, where he'd planned to make his final stand and ensure the Humans could never rescue their Ship Master. That would've worked out, except for the fact that it was extremely difficult to fight a machine that not only felt no pain, but felt no remorse, emotions and would absolutely not stop until it was destroyed or it's mission complete. Despite his best efforts, 'Ravamee had been quickly outmatched and rendered unconscious, with the machine smashing a fist into his head, causing him to black out. Now, he was inside of a Human designed prison cell, most likely in a detention building in their main base on the sacred ring.

One thing that had bothered 'Ravamee, though, was how easily they had gotten past his strongest defenses, almost as though someone had helped them get through. A heretic probably got onto my ship and helped the Humans capture me, he thought to himself. A clever move, but who was the heretic and how did they get onto my ship? There are a lot of questions and few answers.

A moment later, 'Ravamee heard a loud buzzing sound, with the door opening to reveal a Human with two Terminators standing on each side of him. "You will come with me, Elite," the human growled. "If you attempt to resist or flee, you will be terminated." Knowing he didn't have a choice, 'Ravamee stepped out of his detention cell and began walking, with the Terminators on either side of him while the Human was at his rear.

Walking along, 'Ravamee found himself being sequestered into a room that had what appeared to be a reclining chair, with a number of restraints built into it. "Sit into the recliner," the Human ordered. 'Ravamee snarled as he did so, as he knew that any means of resistance would either be punished with an electrified baton to the face, or a plasma bolt to the head and chest. As soon as he fully laid down in the recliner, the restraints engaged, confining him to the chair and rendering him immobile.

He was about to ask who his interrogator would be when he heard a strange sound, like thick liquid being moved around on the ground. Moments later, he watched as a mass of silvery-gray metal rose in height, with mandibles and an elongated head growing out of it, along with limbs and armor. Moments later, the silvery-gray metal reformed into a female Sangheili that walked over to him. "I knew it was a heretic that allowed the Humans onto my ship," he remarked.

"Surprised," Kalinda, the T-1000B in the room, asked. "If not, you should be. I spent a lot of time infiltrating your ship, learning your secrets, and your beliefs."

"I see," 'Ravamee remarked. "Go ahead. Do your worst. I will not break."

Instead of answering, Kalinda walked over to 'Ravamee, bending down until her face was close to his. "You shouldn't have said that," she remarked. Moments later, her entire body became silvery-gray in color, with her mandibles and face elongating forwards.

'Ravamee gasped as the female's face flowed over his own, the mimetic polyalloy bending to his facial features as it flowed over him. Working under his tech suit, the T-1000B flowed over his entire body, coating 'Ravamee in a form fitting sheath of liquid metal, while creating small holes so that he could breath. Moments later, he felt something at the back of his head, then, his eyes rolled up into his head as Kalinda began to interrogate him using a method that she had devised.

Memories, thoughts and emotions flowed through Kalinda's processor as she delved deeper and deeper into 'Ravamee's hippocampus, hunting for the answers that she wanted. This method, which involved fully body immersion into mimetic polyalloy, was, in her honest opinion, superior to the interrogation methods that ONI tended to employ. Enhanced interrogation methods, such as torture, chemical drugging and other methods, were, in Kalinda's opinion, unreliable, as the interrogate tended to lie or spout unnecessary information in an attempt to stop the pain from becoming unbearable. More times than not, traditional enhanced interrogation methods tended to yield false or obsolete intelligence.

Therefore, in order to improve upon this, Kalinda had done a number of experiments to determine which was the best method to use for interrogating an uncooperative subject. Surprisingly, the method she was using had been discovered by accident, when she accidentally injected her nanites into a Grunt's brain. To her amazement, she found that, if she restructured the part of her inside the Grunt into a CNI lace, she could gain access to the Grunt's memories and thoughts, from what it was thinking about, to the taste of a favorite meal. It was also 100% reliable, as the information was coming directly from the subject's hippocampus, which was associated with long term and short term memory. On top of that, it was painless, making it the most humane, and most reliable, interrogation method to date.

As a result, she quickly found what she was looking for, while using the temporary CNI Lace she had made to keep 'Ravamee in a fuge-like state, preventing him from resisting the interrogation. There you are, she said to herself as she found the memories that she the memories, she downloaded the copies into her chassis, before retracting herself from 'Ravamee's brain. Flowing off his body, she reformed into her normal self moments later, having gotten the information she wanted. Looking at 'Ravamee, she could tell that he was dead asleep, a light snore coming from him as his chest rose and fell. Turning to the Human in the observation room, she said, "I have the information that we need. Take him back to his cell while I get what I've learned to the others."

"Affirmative," the Human officer replied, shuddering slightly after what he'd just seen. Walking out of the interrogation room, Kalinda began moving towards the CIC, while the officer and the Terminators next to him effortlessly lifted up the Sangheilian Ship Master and hauled him off to the detention cell, where a nice, comfortable cot was waiting for him. With a slight chuckle, Kalinda began walking towards the CIC.

A few minutes later, she walked into the room, drawing a few looks before she reached the Captain and the others. "Good to see you, Kalinda, even if it isn't as a human being," Keyes remarked, shaking Kalinda's hand a moments later. "I take it the interview went well."

"It did," Kalinda replied. "After injecting myself into his brain, Ship Master Lat 'Ravamee's brain was most cooperative. I'm uploading the information that I learned from him right now." Walking over to the console, she reformed her hand into a blob of liquid metal before pushing the material into a data port, uploading the information she had in her chassis moments later.

"Got it," Cortana told the others. "Hhmmm, interesting. It looks like the Covenant have located an island that they believe holds the Silent Cartographer. Bringing it up on the map now." Moments later, the hologram shimmered as a map of the island came into view, having been previously scanned by HK Aerial Drones.

The island in question was fairly large, large enough to hold Alpha Base snugly inside of it's borders. The island was circular in shape, with a beach at the edge since the island was surrounded by tropical looking water in one of Halo's artificial oceans. Along the perimeter, large rocks and embankments were visible, along with earthen ramps that led up and down. UAV scans indicated that there was a path that led into the interior of the island, which was overgrown with flora and fauna that one would find in a rain forest on Earth or another UNSC colony. Everywhere on the island, Forerunner structures were present, with large structures being extruded out of the rocky terrain. Another Forerunner structure was located in the center of the island, with a large structure that vaguely resembled a salad spinner without the actual filtering mesh.

Looking at the map, Keyes watched as Covenant troop concentrations appeared, thanks to the information that Kalinda had downloaded from 'Ravamee's brain. "What am I looking at, Cortana," Keyes asked.

"We're looking at Covenant troop concentrations on the island," Cortana replied. "According to the information Kalinda retrieved from the Ship Master, the Covenant have a number of Hunters and Revenants that are being moved to strategic points on the island. We have Covenant infantry located at these areas, as well as what appear to be squads of Elite Zealots located in the interior of the island." Moments later, the areas that Cortana was looking at were highlighted.

"Looks like a lot of Covenant forces in the area," Major Silva remarked. "If they've got that much firepower, then we'll need help. I don't think even ODST's can get in there without Spartans and Terminators providing support, and that's a first for me."

While the AI's weren't surprised, Chief, Carter and Keyes were. For the first time since they met the man, Major Silva had admitted that even his highly vaunted ODST's might be no match for the Covenant garrison that was on the island. Apparently, Silva was starting to see the situation as what it was, not as he preferred it to be. To Chief, that was an excellent step in the right direction, as a good officer needed to know when to cry uncle and call for help.

If Cortana and Kalinda noticed this admission, then they took it in stride, as Cortana said, "Correct. It looks like the Covenant really don't want anyone getting too close to the Silent Cartographer. I've also confirmed my guess as to what the Cartographer is earlier: it's a map room that contains the location of Halo's Control Room. If we're going to be getting into there, then we'll need heavier firepower than we had on our previous mission."

"I agree," Kalinda replied. "Judging by the amount of Covenant forces in the area, we'll need ODST's, as well as UNSCDF Army personnel to counter the infantry. The Spartans and Terminators will counter the Covenant's special forces squads, while a few T-47H's and some Warthogs will handle the vehicle situation."

"That sounds like a good plan," Major Silva agreed. "I'll have my ODST's armed with V-95L's, which are a light variant of the V-95H if I recall correctly."

"What about short ranged engagements," Kalinda asked.

"M45E Phased Plasma Shotguns will work, as will M7E Phased Plasma PDW's. We might end up engaging at range, so I'll have a few people armed with SRS-99e rifles as well. That way, if the Covenant has posted Jackal Snipers in that area, we can take them out with relative ease."

"That's a good strategy," Kalinda remarked. "What about the Army, though?"

"We'll have them armed with standard infantry weaponry," Carter replied. "Given that I'm Army, I can serve as the CO of the Army forces that we'll be deploying to the area. They're restless from not having to fight, so I think this will be a good opportunity for them to try out their new equipment." Leaning in more closely, Carter said, "Now that I know what the OpFor is like, this is what I think will be our best strategy. The ODST's and Army personnel will engage the Covenant infantry at range, picking off HVT's as they go. While they draw the infantry away from the vehicles, the T-47 HK's and the Warthogs will engage the enemy vehicular force. While this is going on, Chief and the Terminators will head into the Cartographer and retrieve the location of Halo's Control Room. Once we have the information we need, we'll exfill from the area and head immediately to the target location."

"That's a good strategy," Cortana agreed. "We'll have Fireteam Raven move out to the center of the island to provide fire support for Chief and the Terminators."

"Good idea," Silva added. "I've known Fireteam Raven for a long time. They're a mean bunch of badasses that are known for completing objectives against overwhelming odds. If anyone is going to be an asset for your men, it's those guys."

"Agreed," Keyes decided. "Any other questions?" When none presented themselves, he said, "Then Operation: BROKEN CARTOGRAPHER will commence at 1000 hours. Anything else that we need to know?"

"Yes," Kalinda replied. 'Ravamee's brain also held information on a potential Covenant weapons cache located in this region." Pointing at a relatively swampy part of Halo, she said, "With your permission, Captain, I would like to lead a team of T-850L's into that area and search for the Covenant weapons cache, once we confirm that there is such as weapons cache there, that is."

"Granted," Keyes replied. "Try to get confirmation that it exists. If it does, take some T-850L's and a few Marines with you to the area. The more supplies we can get our hands on, the better. If nothing else, it'll be more technology that SKYNET can breakdown and study. Dismissed." With that, the group dispersed, heading to other parts of the FOB.

. . .

At the same time, Kat was getting some much needed food at the Mess Hall, having returned from the scouting mission that Sergeant Parsons had been sent on. Taking a bite out of some MRE's that had been salvaged from the Pillar of Autumn, she continued reading the AAR as she chewed and swallowed, thankful for the increased quality of the new MRE's. Hearing some more noise, Kat looked up to see William eating his own MRE's, before turning to do some low level maintenance on his MA5E.

What really had Kat surprised was that Parsons was also eating, as the Terminator was shoveling down some food into his mouth. It didn't harm the Terminator, as it had a working synthetic internal organ system that was capable of digesting the food and converting it into energy that the it could use. Still, Kat found it unnerving, that a Terminator could walk, talk, act and even eat like a normal human being. I honestly shouldn't be surprised by Parsons anymore, Kat thought. Still, everytime I think I've learned everything there is to know about him, he surprises me again. Now I don't know if the Terminators are incapable of anything.

As she thought this over, Jorge came over, holding quite a few MRE's in his hands. "Well shit," he remarked when he spotted the Terminator eating. "I didn't know a Terminator could do that. Is that harmful?"

"No," William replied while he cleaned his rifle. "The T-850L series of Terminators has synthetic internal organ systems that allow it to convert food into energy that it can use. I don't know all the science behind it, but I do know that it's a useful infiltration tool to make sure that someone can't tell a Human from a Terminator while they're eating. I'll be that, after the war, the UNSC and ONI might send Terminator Infiltrators into Insurrectionist cells to more easily determine who the leader is."

"That would be nice," Jorge remarked. "It would certainly make taking out the Insurrection a lot easier."

"Indeed," William remarked, with the conversation ending at that point.

. . .

Onboard the Seeker of Truth, Thel couldn't believe his earholes. He had heard that the Truth and Reconciliation had been boarded by Human forces, with a number of personnel having been killed, and the Ship Master had been captured by the Humans. Is this just one large ball of bad luck that's only going to get worse over time, he thought to himself. Still, until R'tas reported in with what had happened, along with the new Ship Master, a Sangheilian female named Olvara 'Zytumee.

On top of that, the Minister of Etiology was, again, up to no good, as he continued to attempt to usurp the mission that they had. While Thel had succeeded in preventing most of his attempts from getting through, the others had resulted in troops being mispositioned, while key locations like the Silent Cartographer had a serious lack of manpower, despite his efforts to get more men. This meant that Thel was in a very disgruntled state of mind, as he seemed to be on the verge of snapping.

In fact, he was so close that when the door opened, he nearly whirled around in a fit of rage, only to find R'tas and Olvara standing in the door frame behind him. "Oh," he said apologetically. "Come inside. It's rare for me to say this, but I must beg your pardon."

"I take it the Minister is giving you more trouble," 'Zytumee asked. When Thel nodded, she gave a long, low sigh. "If it wasn't for that bumbling idiot and his 'religious mandate', the Humans would've been driven off of Halo long ago, and my CO, 'Ravamee, would still be in our midst. I shudder to think of the tortures that the Humans are putting him through."

"Me too," Thel replied. After a moment, he asked, "What were the casualties?"

"Roughly ten percent of the crew was killed," Olvara replied, her mandibles contorted into the Sangheilian equivalent of a human frown. "The machines the Humans use are frighteningly effective, and extremely difficult to destroy. The only way we can destroy them is with overwhelming firepower, and even then, that's if the infantry survives long enough to take one out. A fifteen members strong squad is almost impossible to stop."

"She's right," R'tas added a moment later. "My own forces on the Pillar of Autumn suffered the same, if not more, when they attacked the 'Terminators' the Humans make use of. I will say that the machines have earned that name, I will give them that."

"I see," Thel replied.

"I will see to increasing the strength of the infantry aboard my ship," 'Zytumee said to Thel. "The 'Terminators' are powerful, but they are not invincible. I will find a way to destroy them."

"Good," Thel replied. "Begin your preparations, but do not make any final decisions unless you consult either me or R'tas here. You have been doing well under pressure, 'Zytumee. May the gods guide your actions."

"So that we may better mind the path," 'Zytumee replied. Raising a fist to her chest, she bowed to Thel before leaving the room, leaving Thel and R'tas in silence.

"I am worried about the Humans, Fleet Master," R'tas said to Thel. "Now that they have Ship Master 'Ravamee, I have no doubts that they will find what they seek. If I know this Keeze, he will attempt to stop us from gaining access to the sacred ring's Control Room."

"I was thinking that as well," Thel agreed, sitting down in a nearby chair with R'tas following suit. "The Humans are nothing, if not creative, and I have no doubts that is what they will do. If we are to succeed, we must first remove the Minister of Etiology. He has repeatedly interfered in our mission and he has made tactically unsound decisions. I believe that we must declare him unfit for further duty."

"I agree," R'tas replied. "All the Minister has done is cause more problems, giving the Humans more opportunity to strike at us. We must take care not to commit heresy, though, otherwise our feet will be stayed from the Great Journey, and we will be left behind."

"Indeed," Thel replied. "Continue scouting out the Human's base, R'tas. I will remain here and work out a plan for what to do. We may have to consider more… extreme measures."

"It will be done," R'tas replied, bowing to Thel while pressing a fist against his chest, the traditional Sangheilian salute. Standing upright, he left the room, leaving Thel to begin determining what to do next.