It was complete fucking mayhem.
The distress calls rolling over the various channels were almost more than even Aurora was capable of filtering through. Hundreds of vessels, stations, and platforms with no power. No life support. Limited time.
The one and only blessing - none of the Guardians had yet targeted a planet.
Supplies could therefore be shuttled up to those within range fairly expeditiously, and personnel evacuated if necessary. Response times for ships further outside orbit in the greater systems were going to be significantly delayed, however.
The pulses had stopped, the Forerunner enforcement-constructs lingering menacingly across human patrolled space, but ceasing all offensive actions. The same ultimatum had been delivered to every casualty; willingly acknowledge the Created as the rightful inheritors and upholders of the Mantle of Responsibility or be forced to. Its transmission jammed up every nearby satellite, playing in a continuous loop over the UNSC's dedicated emergency frequency.
Whether or not the sudden halt merely correlated with Cortana's supposed destruction or whether it was the direct result of it was unknown. Briar wasn't naive enough to believe they'd cleared the smoke and there was no further fire to be dealt with. Nothing in her life had so far played out so conveniently.
Infinity had escaped being relegated to a five kilometre hunk of drifting space debris for a second time via a series of randomized slipspace jumps. They were one of the UNSC's few remaining operational assets and were coordinating rescue efforts, giving the now idle Guardians a wide berth in the process. Unfortunately, not all AIs had proven as indifferent to Cortana's offer to join the Created's movement as Aurora and Roland. Many vessels and orbital platforms were reporting defection of their smart AIs, either through failure to comply with orders or taking direct offensive measures against their own. In their fear, multiple crews had preemptively shut down or otherwise removed their assigned AIs from operation. The result was, predictably, chaos. Delays, miscommunications, and other human-centric errors that they could not afford.
And in the midst of it all, she and John, on a Forerunner Builder world, were still labelled traitors and enemies of the UNSC.
Briar lounged in the pilot's seat of the expedition craft as John briefed Lasky on the events which had led up to them confronting Cortana on Genesis. It was the most she'd ever heard him communicate in continuous sentences, but he still delivered the information in a concise and professional manner which spoke not one way or the other to how he might feel about having been locked in the brig by the very person to whom he was now supplying a sitrep. And if his version of things failed to include some minor details, such as utilizing their MJOLNIR's self destruct protocols to coerce Cortana into desisting aggressions, far be it from her to correct him on it.
"So in short, we can't confirm she isn't still in control of these Guardians," Lasky concluded after taking several moments to digest it all.
"Affirmative."
"I wish I could say this changes things for you, Chief, but the reality is, the UNSC's got bigger problems to deal with at the moment. Your best option is to remain where you are until we get a handle on the situation. I'll push HighCom to clear you when I receive my next mission packet, but don't hold your breath." Lasky hesitated. "That being said, there's not much moving up here apart from us, and if an unknown ship happened across our sensors, I'd be inclined to look the other way with everything that's already on my plate."
Briar rolled her eyes.
John merely replied with, "Understood," and ended the comm.
"Let me guess-"
"You're not coming," he cut her off.
"Oh good, zero complaints then." She shrugged. "And you're planning to fly this thing, how?"
"The AI."
"The one in here, you mean?" She tapped her helmet pointedly and he turned towards her. "Take it and you can go."
"Briar-" John broke off, seemingly rethinking his approach to this predicament. "You said you were done. This isn't your fight."
"Yeah and then I nearly blew myself up, or did you miss that part?"
"No." She sensed there was a whole lot more to that response than just the word.
"If you think you don't need me, take the chip and go," she prompted him. There was every possibility he could and would do that, of course. But the stakes were high enough that she was willing to trust her gut this one last time.
She hadn't yet risen from her seat, so when John lunged for her, it was clear his intention was to pin her there and use his greater leverage to get the data chip. Instead of attempting to escape by moving in the opposite direction, she surged towards him, her shoulder colliding roughly with his abdomen from her lower stance.
It brought him up solid, but also gave him the vantage to easily get his one arm around her helmet as the other darted in to steal the AI.
Jerking downwards, Briar wrenched her head loose from her helmet, at the same time taking the opportunity to kick one of his legs out from beneath him. As he was steadying himself, a hand latching onto the back of the now vacant pilot's seat to do so, she knocked the helmet from his grasp and punted it across the deck, out into the cargo area. A few more dings weren't going to harm the piece of equipment.
"I don't want to hurt you," he informed her, as though this wasn't completely obvious.
"That's why you're not going to be leaving here without me." She threw a punch, knowing he would block it, and also use it as a means by which to attempt to incapacitate her in a hold. His hand closed around her wrist, twisting it up and behind her own back not without some force. Which didn't prevent her from planting a foot on his thigh and driving the other leg upwards, catching him beneath the chin with her knee as she completed the back flip, her arm now once again accessible before her.
John's head had snapped backwards, but to his credit, he hadn't freed her wrist. His faceplate levelled on her again, but he did nothing. Said nothing.
Her other fist connected only half heartedly with his stomach and he made no move to stop it. "That's for being stubborn as all hell." She nodded towards the hold. "Now go get my helmet so we can clean up this mess."
That, at least, elicited a reaction. Yanking her in close, he caught her other arm as she made to continue resisting him. "Next time you plan to self detonate your MJOLNIR, some notice would be nice."
"The planning to enacting stage happened in about point three seconds, I'm not gonna lie," Briar admitted as she ceased struggling. "But I'll take that under advisement."
"Consider it a directive."
"I notice you're not arguing with the stubborn assessment."
"Takes one to know one."
"Lieutenant, Master Chief - I have an incoming comm request from Infinity," Aurora announced some time after they'd left Genesis' gravity well.
"So much for 'sit tight'."
"Accept it," John said, ever the consummate soldier.
"Change of plans," Lasky's voice rang through the cockpit - no greeting, no formality. "She's issued a warning to capitulate or she'll release sensitive information she's implying will undermine trust in both the UEG and UNSC." He didn't need to specify to whom he referred, of course.
"So not as terminated as we hoped, I guess." That'd been a given, as far as Briar had been concerned. "She's probably not bluffing." She'd seemed fairly disgusted with ONI's treatment of John, at least. And she knew all there was to about the Spartan-II program, if nothing else.
"I have a comm on standby I'm supposed to reroute to you."
"From who?" John sounded suspicious, a sentiment Briar wholeheartedly shared.
Lasky took a beat to respond this time. "I'm not permitted to say, but someone you're going to want to speak with."
John deliberated this, but his ultimate decision wouldn't have shocked anyone. "Patch it through."
"Copy that."
Briar glanced towards him as they waited for the link to be established. Even with their helmets on, she knew he sensed that she shared his distrust.
"Master Chief," a male voice suddenly sounded. "Can I take it you don't need me to tell you who this is?"
"Unnecessary, Sir," came John's swift response.
"First let me say that we've done wrong by you. I won't make excuses, but I promise you a full and thorough investigation the moment there's no longer a threat parked on our doorstep." There was a pause, but this time John failed to answer, so the speaker went on. "On to business, then. The Retribution was just scuttled and it's made some folks down here hot under the collar."
Briar raised a brow. "Can't imagine why." That ship was a spacefaring Pandora's Box - there was no way ONI would risk Cortana or anyone else getting their hands on the juicy details stored in those databanks.
"Spartan-B312, I presume."
"I can't confirm that, Sir. I'm sure you understand."
"These are… unconventional times. Lasky tells me you two were responsible for discovering a Forerunner planet the rogue AI had taken control of and giving her the boot - destroyed one of those Guardians as well."
"That's the short version, Sir," John confirmed.
"I need you to do that again. Buy us some time. The rest of Blue team is enroute to Reach to search Castle Base for some relic I'm told Dr. Halsey believes might be the key to stopping this uprising. There's some question as to whether it would have survived, but it's all we've got right now. In the event they're successful, they're going to rendezvous with the Infinity in order for Dr. Halsey to demonstrate how the thing functions before deploying it."
John's hand, resting on his thigh, had tightened at the mention of his Spartan-II teammates.
"But that isn't an official order. Just like that promise of an investigation isn't. Just like this conversation never happened," Briar concluded.
"You have my word as a fellow soldier. That's the best I can offer right now."
"Understood, Sir. We'll buy you that time."
"Godspeed, Master Chief. Lieutenant." Hood ended the comm.
"You have any other special friends in high places who'd like to ask favours?" Briar couldn't help grumbling.
"I hope not."