AN: At the end of my last update (September!) I mentioned I wasn't doing all too well. I'm happy to report that things finally settled down. From this point on, I expect my updates to become a bit more frequent. You can follow my progress in word count on my profile page.
I want to thank you all for your support, both in reviews as PM's! I certainly don't plan on giving up on this story.
~0~
Unknown location
In a sudden flash of explosive light, she managed to gain consciousness. Another flash of light exploded in front of her eyes and her eyes, already accustomed to reflexes her mind knew nothing about, automatically squinted in response.
Pain. Searing, mind-rattling pain. Flesh being cut, nerves being replaced. Her body pushed, and she obeyed. She screamed, for the very first time in her short life, and nobody responded.
Machines beeped in the distance, drugs were pumped into her system and soon, she drifted off again.
~0~
Aboard Council Search Expedition CruiserIntermission
Approaching Dormant Mass Relay "315"
The multi-racial crew of the Council Search Expedition vessel Intermission went about their duties, checking if the ship's readings were optimal, examining their FTL vector and generally making sure nothing unexpected happened. Hidden behind his data-pad sat Special Task Group Operative Rentola, freshy pulled from STG business to make certain that the exploration went as the highly esteemed members of the Council wanted it.
Exactly the way the members of the Council wanted it to. Every exploration vessel of the Flotilla had been supplemented with at least one security tea, one member of the STG and, in the case of the Intermission herself, one Council Spectre.
Rentola had yet to meet this Spectre, but he was confident that their general interests would overlap.
The Captain of the Intermission – an asari Matriarch named Erinzi Samel– was pacing back and forth behind her consoles, obviously ill at ease.
Her unease was not without reason. The Council had not attempted to open a new Relay pathway since the Rachni Wars. The unexplored Section Zero could hold many secrets. It could hold infectious diseases or aggressive wildlife. It could hold savage species or even distortions in the fabric of reality.
To say that this excursion could end poorly, was an understatement.
"There is a human saying I like," started Rentola.
The Matriarch shot him a glance.
"Steady as she goes," continued Rentola, smiling at the Captain. It would be foolish to assume that the very first Mass Relay they reached would have a connecting Relay that led into Section Zero. The crew of this Flotilla could be spending a long time together
The Matriarch did not smile back. "There is another human saying that seems appropriate. The eye of the storm. Does that seem familiar to your, Operative? Because that is what this is. The eye of the storm."
"What makes you say that?" Asked Rentola.
"An entire galactic arm, habituated by a civilization that has not yet found any Mass Relays? I am sorry salarian, but that sounds too fantastical for me. I can only see sorrow in our future."
"Please, call me Rentola. I am not here to spy on you, however hard it would be to believe that. The STG wishes only for this mission to succeed. We would share everything we know, if asked."
The Matriarch nodded, hopefully seeing the logic in his words. "Then tell me this, Rentola Why would the Protheans leave their Mass Relay network unfinished? They reach every corner of our galaxy except this Section Zero. Why do you believe that is?"
Rentola sharply inhaled. "We think the Protheans failed to finish the network before their mysterious disappearance. That, or perhaps the civilization managed to destroy them before activating them."
"And what, might I ask, do you think?" Said the Matriarch. "You cite your companions yet hide your own thoughts."
"Hmm…perceptive. Personally, I believe the Protheans thought Section Zero too much trouble. Whether this is because of the mysterious "Reapers" we keep hearing about or not, we might never know."
The Matriarch clasped her hands behind her back and gazed back at her data-pad. "Whatever we find, I hope it had nothing to do with the Protheans. Ever since the geth assault on the Citadel, I feel like their legacy has been tainted."
Rentola nodded empathically, but he did catalog that remark. One more possible adherent to Shepard's case, it seemed. "With some luck, we won't have to search further than Relay 315."
"Relay 315…I still think the naming convection jinxed it," said the Matriarch. "The chances that this particular Relay, of all the others, will be the right one seems-"
"Fourteen point three percent," Rentola quickly replied. "For every Relay the Mapping Survey pinpointed."
She sighed and crossed her arms. "I am glad the Councilors saw wisdom and prepared for the worst. Finding a new civilization, ready to be brought within our fold, would be the best possible outcome. Yet, what shall we do when they are not ready for our community? Or, Goddess preserve us, when they see us as an affront?"
Those questions that Rentola did no know the answer to. Or rather, he did not know the right answers. All he could do was ensure that the Flotilla reached Section Zero intact. Then, he would follow the orders the STG had given him.
For the betterment of all.
~0~
Crescent Nebula
Unidentified batarian vessel
Inside the slaver vessel, more than two-hundred batarian warriors, supported by vorcha and krogan, were fighting to keep the invaders out.
It wasn't enough.
Tali'Zorah stood at the end of the cargo bay her team had breached mere moments ago. A dozen alien bodies lay sprawled where they had fallen. Burns marked the metal walls and a long line of grain-sized holes marked where one of the dead batarians had fallen, never to fire his gun again.
One of the kills was her work. When they breached the cargo hold, Tali had managed to hit one of the batarians in the face with her heavy pistol. The alien had not activated his kinetic barriers yet, or maybe he had not been outfitted with them yet. Whatever the reason, her shot had entered the creature's lower left eye and exited through the back of the skull. By that point, Kasumi killed two of them in similar ways.
And by that point, the Master Chief gunned down five batarians on his own. Even as Kasumi and Tali had ducked into the cargo bay and rushed for cover, he had stepped deeper into the room and fired two more short, controlled bursts, drilling neat holes into the heads of the two remaining batarians.
"Looks clear to me," said Kasumi.
Tali stared at the dead bodies. They looked like bald humans, with folds of flesh over their faces and black, menacing eyes. Their lipless mouths were filled with long, pin-like teeth.
Her people were no fans of the Hegemony. Pirates and slavers always thought that young quarians on their pilgrimage were too lucrative to pass on. Easy prey, they always seemed to think. Sometimes, they were right. Sometimes, they were not. Tali hated them for they had done to the Commander, and for the countless lives they had ruined through their "cultural influence".
It was strange, and probably stupid, but the machinelike precision with which the Master Chief had gunned them down unnerved her. She hadn't felt that way before.
"Tali, get the door."
The AI. It was because of the AI that she couldn't look at this armor-clad warrior the same way anymore. Before, Tali had looked at the human with a sense of awe. He had been a gallant hero, Shepard's equal in more ways than one.
But now, all of his deeds were overshadowed by that one, terrible question: how much of his personality was the machine, and how much was the man?
"Tali," repeated the Master Chief. "The door."
Can't your AI fix it? Tali grudgingly thought. She kept her remarks to herself though and joined the green-clad super-soldier on the catwalk leading to the bowels of the ship.
That was when the lights suddenly flickered and died. The door's locking mechanism, which had been glowing with a tasteful hue of red before, went completely dark.
"Ooh…" said Kasumi. "That's dark. Bet they cut the power."
Tali still knelt down in front of the door and activated her omni-tool. Shepard, meanwhile, contacted the teams via the comms.
"Shepard to fire-teams. They cut the power to the nonessential portions of the ship. As long as we still have gravity-"
As if eager to spite the Commander one last time, the Captain of the ship flushed the Drive Core and plunged the entire ship into a zero-gravity environment. The bodies floated around the dark interior now, as well as their weapons and spare equipment.
"- never freaking mind. Clear the ship, room for room. Rendezvous at the bridge."
Tali, holding on to the door's frame with one hand, tried to connect to any spare power that might be left behind. No such luck; the batarians had purged the entire ship.
"Now what?" Said Kasumi. "Tali, can you get the door?"
"No…" she replied. "There's nothing to work with. We'll have to uh…blast it open or…find a way around, perhaps-"
A reverberation ran through the deck. Tali looked back at the door, where the Master Chief dug his gauntleted fingers into the door crack.
She was aghast; "What are you doing?" She demanded.
"The motors holding these doors closed have been knocked out as well," he replied to her with his harsh, gravelly voice.
Tali was seething inside; that damnable AI must have told him that. She could have told him that too!
But Kasumi didn't see it that way. "Smart thinking," she replied while the super-soldier orientated himself horizontally and started pulling the doors apart.
And it actually worked, too! The doors slowly slid open, until enemy fire poured from the other side, splashing against his shields.
Kasumi pulled herself closer and cloaked. Tali pulled her Carnifex out again, grabbed a hold of the doorframe opposite of the Master Chief and opened fire, hoping to force the enemy into cover again.
The Chief let go with one hand, shoved the muzzle of his rifle through the foot-wide opening and pulled the trigger. His rifle spat out up to thirty pieces of white-hot metal, like heat sinks.
All occurred in near-silence, but Tali could almost imagine the aliens on the other side -batarians, in her mind- cursing and leaping for cover. She had seen the Master Chief's weapon tear through shields, barriers and even body armor like they weren't even there.
The Chief magnetically attached his rifle to his back and pulled at the doors again, widening the heavy metal plates until they were at least half a meter apart.
A few moments later, Kasumi decloaked behind a pair of batarians on the other side of the doors, stabbing one in the neck while simultaneously shooting the other in the head.
Tali floated after her teammate, glancing around the room. She spotted makeshift barriers, floating canisters, one empty cage and a couple of unused grenades. Several dead bodies floated by, pushed aside by Kasumi.
"It almost looks sad," remarked the thief. "Floating bodies in low gravity…"
Tali didn't agree. It wasn't sad, it was horrifying. It was the sight that every quarian child dreaded; seeing one of your relatives floating in a dark, cold room because one of the cannibalized components that kept a Liveship running, failed.
She kept those concerns to herself though and moved on. Some doors were left half-open by the Captain, which was strange, as they didn't do much to impede their progress. Some of them held vorcha, others the occasional krogan, but those didn't fare long.
"Miranda here. We have cleared engineering. Opposition was minimal. We should be getting the main power back in ten seconds."
"Copy that Miranda, good work. Everyone, make sure your boots are on the ground and your head's clear, 'cause gravity's coming back online any second now."
For their group, gravity coming back online coincided with reaching the slave pens.
If the cargo bay had been large, the living pens were enormous. They alone took up most of the Frigate.
Which, considering their interior design, made them all the more horrifying.
"Damn," muttered Kasumi. "I mean…damn."
With that, Tali could agree. The slave pens were filled with…pods. That was the right word. Not even rooms. Pods, with barely enough space for one person. Hundreds of them, all of them the same size. The walls were caked with fluids of various colors and the shackles that hung from the ceiling looked like they had not been cleaned in weeks.
"What are those?" Asked Tali, pointing to a bundle of silvery cables
"IV drips, duh," replied Kasumi. "Gee, I wonder what for."
"Stay focused," said the Master Chief. "Kasumi, cloak and scout ahead. Tali, switch to your shotgun. These are close quarters."
Tali grumbled to herself as she took out her shotgun. Stupid machine-man with his machine-partner. What was Shepard thinking, putting him in charge?
"Careful. Some of these pods still have people in them," said Kasumi.
"Shouldn't we escort them back to the Normandy?"
"Ignore them," the Master Chief brusquely said. "Focus on the mission."
Her case in point.
They moved through the slave pens in silence, maneuvering from one pods to the next. Tali felt like she was freezing, in the cold interior of the slaver vessel. Sure, she knew that she wasn't really freezing, as the batarians hadn't vented the air yet. This place just felt wrong. The sooner Jane found what she needed, the better.
Suddenly, the Master Chief stopped dead in his tracks. He raised his fist, but Tali had no idea what that meant. Some sort of signal? If so, why didn't he simply say what he –
The ceiling above them collapsed in an explosion of metal shards. Tali barely had the time to look up when a mass of sharp, writhing forms fell on top of them. She screamed when one of the forms untangled itself from the mass of bodies and threw itself on top of her. Her vision was filled with flickering claws, sharp teeth and red eyes gleaming with menace.
Her kinetic barriers couldn't protect her against claws and teeth.
Gnarly yellow limbs pulled the shotgun away from her hands and the vorcha reared in close enough to latch on to her hood with its teeth, scratching at her face. Globules of split spattered across over her visor. The monstrous alien lashed out with a clawed gauntlet, raking her across her chest. The sturdy fabric barely held. Tali wrestled her left arm free and tore at her hip-mounted holster, but couldn't get her Carnifex out in time.
The vorcha reard back and snarled at her, baring its many pointed teeth. It lurched towards her with its free hand, reaching for her throat. Desperate to get some room, Tali grabbed the scrawny wrist and tried to pull it free, but the monster was surprisingly tough. Its claws got a hold of the fabric around her helmet and Tali realized with mounting horror that it was trying to rip her helmet off.
Panic gripped her stomach as she gave another cry. The vorcha hissed and leant in close, but then an armored arm snaked around its throat and heaved it backwards effortlessly. The alien had just enough time to claw at the unyielding limb before it tightened, crushing its throat and neck.
Tali ripped her Carnifex from its holster and shot the twitching alien in the head, just to be sure.
"Bosh'tet!" She cried out. She looked up at the Master Chief, then glanced at the pile of dead vorcha a few feet behind him. One of them had its neck stomped flat, two others were lying oat odd, broken positions and the last two were decapitated.
Why was she not surprised?
"Are you alright?" He asked her, offering her a metal gauntlet to help her upright.
"I'm fine," she bit at him, climbing back to her feet on her own. "I could have handled that!"
The Master Chief ignored that comment, for which Tali was thankful. "How is your suit integrity?"
"I said I'm fine!" Repeated Tali.
The human stared at her for a few, long moments. She could almost imagine a pair of steel, blue eyes staring down at her from behind that reflective visor. He almost looked as synthetic as the geth.
Again, she wondered how much of him was human. How much control did the AI have? Were his thoughts even his own?
He gestured at a vacant spot standing near the exit. Said vacant spot decloaked, revealing Kasumi.
"Seems like I missed the fun," she said. "Now I got good news and bad news. The room ahead leads up to a hallway that connects with engineering and the bridge. That's the good news."
"And the bad news?"
"Oh, you know, it's the krogan. They're getting ready for a fight."
The Master Chief's stance betrayed no emotions as he put his rifle away and drew his own shotgun. "How many?"
"Well…all of them."
"Copy."
Normally when people heard that a pack of krogan was waiting for them, they turned around and ran the other way. Now, Tali understood that they couldn't just run away from such an encounter during engagements like these. Keelah, she had emptied her shotgun into plenty of krogan targets back during the hunt for Saren. The difference lay in how the squad had approached those krogan. With stealth, tactics or superior and overwhelming firepower, with the occasional krogan-headbutt and sniper "no-scope" courtesy of Garrus thrown in the mix.
But even Wrex would think twice about casually unslinging his shotgun to march into an enemy ambush like that.
"Really?" Kasumi asked, probably thinking the same thing as Tali. "Big krogan ambush and you're just going to spring it?"
The Master Chief ignored her, of course. He marched towards the exit of the slave pens and took cover next to the door, which had unlocked once Miranda's group restored the power. "Kasumi, Tali, stack up."
Kasumi and Tali exchanged a look, then stared at the Chief sheepishly.
"Sure. You get right on that," said Kasumi.
~0~
The Master Chief sighed when the two women proceeded to stare at him like a bunch of Grunts. "Look at them," he said over his private comms. "Shepard's personal army. They're hopeless."
"Come on Chief," replied Cortana. "They are competent in their own ways, you just haven't found a way to make use of them."
Of course he hadn't found a way to make use of them. They were civilians, not Spartans. They didn't understand hand signals or tactics, or acknowledgement lights or threat assessments. They were like hired guns, to be pointed at the general direction of an enemy.
"Mark the targets," he told Cortana, then spun around and barged into the next room.
The enemy had stationed at least five krogan there, guarding several large crates and electronic supplies. All of them had shotguns, all of them had body armor and all of them opened fire the moment the Spartan showed as much as an armored toe.
Their shotguns boomed, the Chief moved. Grain-sized pellets tore through the spot he had just vacated, even as time seemed to slow down and speed up simultaneously. Cortana highlighted the enemies in yellow outlines, did the same for alternative routes he could take to more efficiently take down his foes and identified their weapons, sorting the aliens based on their threat level.
The krogan with the Claymore shotgun was the first to go. His weapon overheated after the first two shots missed and, rather than slapping in a new heat sink, he decided to charge the Spartan.
Said Spartan was more than eager to rise to the challenge. He lunged for the alien and punched him in the face right as it was about to headbutt him. His helmet caved in, and he was sent flying into one of the boxes.
The Chief then took aim at the second krogan, put two shotgun slugs into his head and blew it apart. By that point, Kasumi and Tali entered the room after him.
Krogan number three bellowed a challenge and managed to score a lucky hit, but the MJOLNIR's shields easily shrugged off the shot. The Master Chief then swept the legs out from underneath the krogan, breaking them, before filling his gaping maw with buck.
Kasumi cloaked, which immediately pulled the Chief's attention. His felt his stomach tighten at the sight, his gaze drawn to the unnatural distortions in the air. He fought the instinct to put a burst of fire in its center.
The lapse in concentration was enough for him to catch another shot, this one in his side. The impact rattled him, even through his shields, and he lunged for the alien before it could fire a second shot. He pulled his combat knife from its holster and plunged it into the alien's unprotected eye.
Howling, the krogan reared back, but the Spartan grabbed a hold of its plate and rammed the alien face-first against his knee. He then pumped a shotgun shell into the back of its skull, just for good measure.
Tali had unslung her own shotgun and was firing away at the fifth krogan, who was occupied by a floating drone of all things. The omni-gel crafted device kept firing a stun-gun at the alien, who didn't even seem to register Tali's shotgun.
It charged the drone and the drone surged backwards, well out of reach. The krogan cursed in his own garbled tongue and –
A hammerblow struck the Chief in the back, and he stumbled. He heard Kasumi decloak, Tali shouting something and an alien screaming in satisfaction.
The Claymore-wielding krogan hadn't down for the count yet. It grinned, inserted a new heat sink and took aim again.
That was when Kasumi appeared behind him and stabbed him in the rump, giving him a good kick in the process. The alien stumbled forwards a few steps, right into the waiting Spartan's reach.
John had fought many Elites and Brutes in close quarters combat before. They moved as fast as a train and hit twice as hard. Brutes especially could take horrendous amounts of damage without flinching. Killing them in close quarters required either royal application of overkill, or explosives.
And he was not willing to waste his explosives here.
The Master Chief landed a crushing blow against the krogan's throat, shoving him back again. He then shifted his weight to his hind leg and shattered the alien's jaw with a roundhouse kick. The krogan tried to bring his arms up to defend himself, leaving his lower section horribly exposed.
The Spartan landed a series of rapid-fire jabs against the creature's armored stomach, breaking the plates and tearing the muscles below. He followed up with two open-palm strikes to the creature's chest, an elbow-strike with his lead hand against the skull when he saw that opening and finished with a spinning hook kick, sending the krogan sprawling to the ground.
He looked up at his two teammembers. Tali had overheated the other krogan's gun to the point of self-destruction, blowing off several fingers as well as knocking him cold, while Kasumi was just staring at him.
"Wow," she said. "That's…wow."
"Make sure these things stay dead," he ordered her. "Tali, find us a way to the bridge."
As the girls hurried to perform their tasks, Cortana took a moment to address the Chief. "Sensing some frustration there?"
"Nothing worth noting," he replied. Tali beckoned him, gesturing at another set of metal doors.
"You turned that krogan into hamburger with your fists. Not that I'm complaining, but that just doesn't seem you."
When the Chief didn't respond, Cortana just sighed. "They're not Spartans, Chief. They'll never be."
"I know that," he replied, trying to keep his voice level. "I know that."
"This is the door that lead to the bridge," Tali said the moment he was within hearing distance. "The doors are locked, and there is no saying what lies on the other side. I might be able to hack through, but that might take time and-"
The Chief stepped closer to the door and held his omni-tool out. Cortana wasted no time in getting to work. "The Truth and Reconciliation this is not. The security on this door is laughable! I get that Tali would be having trouble, what with the lack of enough energy to power through, but she really needs to learn to work with what she has…"
This was Cortana's element, so the Spartan merely remained silent as she worked her magic.
Tali, however, reached that same conclusion, and immediately whirled on the Chief. "How can you let that thing live inside your armor?" She all but demanded. "You've got no idea of the damage it can do!"
The Chief sighed and turned to face the girl. "Tali-"
"No! You weren't there when the geth revolted against my people. When they slaughtered us by the millions, when they drove us to exile! You can't trust synthetics!"
Kasumi, who had been about to join them, saw them arguing. She immediately gained a sudden interest in one of the crates and wandered off again.
"Got the door," Cortana quietly said. "There might be motion on the other side."
"Neither were you," replied the Chief, trying his utmost to remain patient. He detected an elevation n his blood pressure. "Cortana has been with me for months-"
"Chief, motion on the other side of the door."
"-and she saw me through the end of the war. A war with aliens. So unless you-"
The door suddenly slit open. Someone yanked the Chief through the opening, slamming him against the wall.
Another krogan. Heavily armored, with a massive rifle.
The alien roared at him, then enveloped himself in a blue aura. The Chief felt himself being flung against the metal floor with enough power to dent the dent it.
He tried to roll to his feet, but the alien struck him with a blast of biotic energy. At first, the Chief thought he evaded the worst of it, as his shields didn't even flare.
It was only when he tried to get back to his feet and engage the krogan Battlemaster that he realized something was wrong. He couldn't get up; his left arm, along with his shoulder, was stuck to the floor in a flickering field of blue energy. He hadn't narrowly evaded a blow, he had narrowly evaded a Biotic Stasis attack. It had still nicked him, and now he was stuck.
He pulled his sidearm and unloaded his entire magazine into the alien's body. Some of the rounds got through. Correction, most of them got through, but the krogan just didn't give a damn. He lifted his own rifle -a massive LMG- and opened fire on the Chief, point-blank.
Hyper-accelerated pieces of metal slammed into the Spartan's helmet and neck-seal, draining his shields to eighty percent, then seventy.
The Spartan gritted his teeth when the kinetic energy bled through his suit. The storm of metal was directed at his throat, where the alien had to think the integrity was the weakest. The shields could hold, but if he didn't look out, the impacts might crush his larynx.
He reached out and grabbed a hold of the barrel of the weapon, shoving it away from his face. The krogan was tough, and didn't let himself get disarmed, so the Chief tore the barrel off in its entirety.
The krogan stared at his rifle, dumbfounded, when someone flung themselves at him. A small, petite form clad in a dark suit, stabbing at the Battlemaster's helmet with a knife.
The Stasis field dissipated, and the Chief immediately leapt to his feet. What was Tali thinking? Was she trying to get herself killed?
The Battlemaster recovered from his shock. With one armored hand, he pulled the quarian girl off of him and threw her to the ground. Then, he raised his boot, intent on crushing her skull.
By that time, the Master Chief was up on his feet again. He intercepted the krogan before it could stomp Tali to death, throwing half a ton of MJOLNIR and Spartan against half a ton of krogan in armor, like Tali had.
Unlike Tali, the impact knocked the krogan off his feet, and when he tried to regain his balance, the Chief delivered an uppercut that cracked the alien's neck in several pieces.
His bloodlust failing him and his Biotics exhausted, the Battlemaster was unable to pull out his emergency shotgun. When he looked up at his attackers again, he saw that they had no such problems.
Spartan and quarian alike opened fire, tearing the Battlemaster apart in a hail of tungsten pellets and grain-sized hyper-accelerated pieces of metal.
"Tali!" Shouted Kasumi, who by that point had joined the fray. "What the flying hell! Did you just try to stab that krogan? Are you insane!"
Tali didn´t even bother to respond to her teammate. She only had eyes for the Spartan who, by that point, had decided he wouldn't be talking to anyone during the coming twenty-four hours. He coughed a few times, trying to relief the pressure on his throat.
"Are you alright?" Asked Cortana. She made an effort to keep her concern out of her voice, for which John was grateful. "Can you talk?"
He merely grunted in response. He felt like his throat had just been stepped on by a Hunter.
"Your larynx appears to be intact. Just bruised. Readings are normal. Your neck seal is intact, as is your suit integrity. Your shields shrugged off all damage."
The Master Chief took a ragged breath and winced as pain racked his throat. Not quite, he thought grimly.
A burst of static sounded from his comm. "Shepard to all. We've secured the bridge. Rendezvous at my location."
"A-are you alright?" Tali carefully asked him. She reached out as if to touch him, then lowered her arm again.
"We've got medi-gel, if you need it?" Added Kasumi.
The Chief snorted and reloaded his shotgun. He cocked the weapon a bit more forcefully than necessary and both girls fell quiet.
From there, the journey to the bridge of the batarian Frigate proceeded in silence, with the occasional remark from Cortana's side to keep him distracted. Since the main power had been turned on, she could follow the progress of the other teams. They had cleared most, if not all of the Frigate, and found plenty of loot.
Cerberus funding was not enough to keep the mission going. The way the Chief understood it, Shepard had to practically fund herself. Selling leftover weapon and probing for resources was one way to do that, looting pirate corpses and selling their equipment was another.
Once on the bridge, Shepard's group was already there. Zaeed and Jacob were covering the door, while the Commander accompanied Legion.
The bridge was fairly large, with luxuries commodities lavishly spread throughout its interior. Bottles containing liquids of varying colors, pillows and other items that had no use on a ship of war.
Shepard noticed they were coming and gestured at the consoles. "Master Chief. Find anything useful?"
"Only a Biotic krogan and a few dozen slaves," Cortana replied for him. Over the open channel, no less. Zaeed and Jacob wore face-concealing helmets, so the Chief could only guess at their reactions, but at least they didn't physically respond.
"No trouble then. Legion plundered the computers for us. I would like you to see if there was anything he missed, Cortana."
Again, Zaeed and Jacob didn't react to her statement. They didn't seem surprised that the geth had already been entrusted with such an important task.
Still, as the Chief made his way towards the first console and held out his gauntlet for Cortana to "hop" into the system, it almost felt as if the two were staring at him. Maybe they didn't voice their concerns like Tali did, but that didn't mean they accepted her.
John vowed to keep an eye on them. It was moments like these that made him rethink his priorities. Back on Installation 04, he'd only ever had to keep Cortana safe from Guilty Spark. Humans had been his allies, aliens had been his enemy and Cortana had been a source of confidence, not uncertainty.
"Hmm…Legion was quite thorough," Cortana said, unaware of the Spartan's turmoil. "Searching for deleted files…huh, the batarians were quite thorough in flushing their drives. I wonder what they were hiding…
The Chief glanced at the corpse of a batarian decked out in the most well-decorated hardsuit he had seen thus far. "Weren't you supposed to capture the Captain alive?"
Shepard crossed her arms. "Look, I tried. Shit happens."
"His head is missing."
"As I said, shit happens."
The Chief shook his head. It didn't even surprise him anymore.
"Got it!" Cortana then exclaimed. "Legion, could you take a look at this?"
The geth platform activated an omni-tool of its own and scanned the console again. "We crossed Cortana's search algorithm with our own. It appeared the batarians used software commonly employed by asari Special Forces for their deleted messages."
"Sneaky devils, aren't they?" Said Cortana. "Extrapolating now."
A few moments later, the voice-message that the batarian Captain so hastily deleted played through the ship's comms.
"- T'Loak and Carnal went at it again. T'Loak seemed more upset by the implication that Shepard would find out than the actual comment. This escalates, and one side is going to ruin the other side." He snickered. "Of course, we all know who'd win...T'Loak couldn't even outsmart Shepard and her metal man..."
What followed was an incomprehensible mixture of static and white noise. When the voice resumed, it sounded noticeably more concerned. "Some of my men think we should sell her out. Now I don't get paid to take sides, but…if I had to, I'd take my chances selling out Aria. She can only kill us if we fail. Carnal…one shivers to imagine what twisted things go on in that Matriarch's head. No, I'd would stick to selling slaves. It-"
The batarian's voice became fraught with static, and then the message cut off.
"The message cuts off at the end there," said Cortana. "Nothing to scavenge."
"Sounds ominous," said Jacob. "Though this implicates Aria T'Loak's involvement with the slave trade, I am more concerned about this "Carnal" the Captain talked about. Who the metal man is, we all know."
Everyone glanced at the Chief, who merely shrugged in response.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure Alliance HQ will be interested in this," replied Shepard. "Did you drop that beacon?"
"Yes Commander."
"Good. Make sure the ship is cleared, then loot the place. Tali, take Zaeed, Garrus and Miranda and salvage the eezo core."
The rest of the team acknowledged their orders and went on their business. The Master Chief, meanwhile, approached the Commander. "Shepard. Are you alright?" He croaked. His throat ached in protest.
"Sure. Nothing builds team spirit like slaughtering slavers and pirates, right? It helps finance our mission and keeps the colonies safe."
The Chief wanted to mention that he knew about her past with the batarians, and whether she was allowing her emotions to cloud her judgement. He decided against it however and risked another sentence. "Aria T'Loak knew about me. The logs mentioned another asari."
"An asari called "Carnal", yes. Apparently, the slavers didn't just ally themselves with Aria alone…say, are you alright? You sound a bit…sick."
"Oh, he has been talking too much lately," Cortana chimed in. "His throat seems to be his one weak spot."
The Chief resisted the urge to smack the side of his helmet. "What now?"
"What we always do after a successful raid. Loot everything we can and let Miranda write our report. Once we get back on the Normandy, we'll discuss what we found in private."
"Yes Commander."
It didn't take the team very long to get their tasks done. Joker brought the Normandy close enough to the Frigate that they could link their cargo bays, allowing for Mordin and doctor Chakwas to mmediately tended to the slaves. By the time the Chief retuned to the cargo hold to return to the Normandy, Zaeed was already working with Miranda and Garrus to try to salvage the eezo core, under Tali's watchful eye.
Emphasis on trying.
"Bit more to the left!" Grunted Miranda. The core wobbled dangerously and Garrus cried out in alarm. "Bit more. Bit more to the left!"
"Shut up! Shut up!" Yelled Zaeed, who didn't seem all that amused by the work he had been roped into doing.
"Hold on." John grasped the machine with both hands, lifting the hundreds of kilos of containment shield with ease. "Where does it go?"
"The cargo hold, for now," Miranda told him. She and Zaeed stepped back, allowing the Spartan to move he fairly small core towards the Normandy's hold. Garrus stuck close to him, helping him keep his balance. Between his own augmented body and the MJOLNIR, carrying the core was easy, but maintaining his balance was difficult.
Although he wouldn't go as far as to admit it, he was glad that Garrus helped out.
"I've never seen a human as strong as you are," the turian told him. He had removed his helmet, having received the word that the air was safe. "Did this UNSC train many soldiers like you?"
"Not really," Cortana said in his helmet speaker. "It's not like we unraveled the secret to unlimited super-soldiers; they are expensive and difficult to make."
John, not having much of an incentive to answer and every reason to keep quiet, was thankful that Cortana took over. He just hoped she wouldn't be revealing any classified information; in her current state of mind, secrecy might be somewhat lower on her list of priorities.
"Expensive? I always thought training super-soldiers would eventually end up boosting the economy, not draining it."
"That´s…not how economy works, Garrus. Also, even though the Spartans racked up one victory after another, they only ever reduced the losses inflected on us. By now, the UNSC has only been rebuilding their economy and industry for a few months."
"Hmm…yeah, I heard something about the Covenant in the mess hall a couple of days ago. Non-Citadel alien life…if they ever find out, the Hierarchy is going to have a field day with that knowledge."
The Master Chief put the core down in the back of the cargo hold, where it would either be cannibalized or used in case of emergencies.
"Anyway, Cortana, was it? Can I ask you something?"
The Chief mentally braced himself to intervene in Cortana's behalf, just in case Garrus said anything that might upset her.
"Eh…sure?"
"Thanks. By now, the image of that weird, possessed asari has been circulating the Normandy. Do you have any ideas what she was? Or why she wanted to kill the Consort?"
"Hmm. People don't ask that enough. Here is what I am thinking…"
While Cortana proceeded to go into deep, deep detail about hypothetical biological and biomechanical augmentations for aliens, the Chief watched the rest of the squad return to the Normandy. Crewmembers were already aiding the squad in hauling boxes, weapons and other valuables.
There were no casualties, not even any wounded. They had taken on an army of pirates and their lackeys without even a single casualty.
He had to reevaluate his opinion regarding these people. They weren't Spartans, far from it, but they were competent.
And they cared. About the mission, about Shepard, about each other. In that regard…they were similar.
But they were aliens. Aliens couldn't be brothers and sisters, not now, not ever.
Could they?
Tali'Zorah walked into view, supported by Kasumi. She was limping, holding her ribs with her free hand.
Not quite no casualties.
"Cortana," he said, cutting her conversation with Garrus short. "We're leaving."
"What, already? But- ah, they're finishing the hauls. Fine then. Is something wrong?"
The Chief shook his head. "No. I'm fine," he said.
"I…huh. Is "fine" some sort of secret Spartan code for "not fine at all?"
He didn't respond to that.
Cortana didn't need him to.
~0~
SYSTEM REBOOTING
ERROR
SYSTEM REBOOTING
"Yeah yeah," muttered Cortana. "Hold on…"
SYSTEM REBOOTED
"There we go."
The night after the raid, nobody went to sleep. Humans could be so numb at times. Blind and deaf and numb. But even they felt that something was wrong (new objective: brief Normandy crew about dangers from Forerunner Cluster) since their last raid had turned out to be much more than a simple raid.
She still needed to convince the Chief to let doctor Chakwas check out his throat.
From their semi-comfortable bunk in the cargo hold, Cortana went to work. She slipped into the Normandy's system after it fought off her little "intrusion" during EDI's latest update. She flashed through the ship's surveillance systems and camera's, starting her own night of digital debauchery with some old-fashioned snooping.
~0~
Executive Officer's office
The Commander walked past Miranda's desk and plopped down on the couch. She rubbed her head, already feeling the aftereffects of her Biotic overuse taxing on her sanity. "So."
"So," repeated Miranda. She worked for a few moments more, then shut off the holo-monitor and looked at her. She rolled her eyes, barely noticeable, then sat down next to the Commander. "Aria T 'Loak is involved with the slave trade. There's news that surprises nobody."
"Yeah, but we needed confirmation. I think it's safe to say we got that information."
Miranda observed her features for a few moments, as if searching for something. "We did."
Shepard didn't miss it. "What's the matter?"
Raising an eyebrow at that comment, Miranda replied, "Shepard, you walked into my office, then sat down on my couch."
"Did I? Huh. Must have gotten lost."
"I am sure you have."
They shared a few moments of silence together, before Jane sighed and rested her head against the window. "I don't get it. Ever since we found him, things have been different."
"The Master Chief?" Guessed Miranda.
"Yes. Tim warned me about the Asari Republics. Said I couldn't trust them. I've been thinking it over, but I didn't take him too seriously."
"Until now?"
"Until now."
Shepard fell silent again, trying to think of a way to best vocalize her concerns. If she downplayed the problem, Miranda might think she was being paranoid. If she voiced her full concerns, it could cause a diplomatic incident.
"Back when I was hunting down Saren, it was different. The Council was on my side -theoretically speaking- and his network was slowly dwindling. His investors cut their ties, his agents went into hiding lest they risked a bullet to the dome and his best friends were robots."
"The ongoing indoctrination didn't help his case," added Miranda. "But I don't understand why The Illusive Man would warn you about the Republics."
"Exactly. But now…when we found the Chief, we were immediately assaulted by asari Commandoes. They told me…they said, "the being is coming with us". They didn't even know what he was, but they wanted him."
Miranda's eyes narrowed. "Are you certain they were not simply mercenaries? They could have been replying to a distress signal."
"Could be. Except, they specifically wanted him alive. They said so themselves. They would blame humanity for the lives lost, unless we gave them the Chief."
"That's…suspicious."
"Exactly. Then, on the Citadel? I get that someone was hunting the Consort, but…" She shook her head, as if that would help her puzzle things together. "I sent the Chief, and they sent this strange, mutated asari to fight him. To beat him, too. And then they blamed the deaths on him."
"That strike-team," said Miranda. "Normally, C-Sec special response teams take anywhere between ten minutes to half an hour to get organized, reach the target location and assault it. The Chief was assaulted within seconds after losing the assassin."
"Exactly! It's almost as if this were planned. Except it couldn't have been planned! And then…Aria T'Loak of all people knew the Chief's rank."
"Nobody should know his rank, he's not from our galaxy," said Miranda.
"At least not from the known parts of our galaxy. Unless someone onboard the Normandy leaked information to Omega, she couldn't possibly have known that. And now, through these batarian slavers, she's connected to yet another Matriarch."
"Shepard…Jane, listen to me. Don't you think you're giving the batarians too much credit? I mean," she quickly added when Shepard shot her that glare, "How do they fit into the picture? They only entered the fray when they assaulted the colony."
"The exact same colony the Chief was riding the Collector Cruiser to? My mother always told me to never ignore a coincidence. Unless you're busy, that is."
"If I am understanding you right, you want to head out and find this…Carnal, they referred to her as?"
"Yup."
Miranda looked weary when she rose to her feet. "What do you need me to do?"
Jane smiled. To her, loyalty was more than obeying without questioning. To her, loyalty meant sticking with people, even as they woke you up in the dead of night with another crazy theory. "Contact Tim for me. Ask him to…no, thank him for the heads-up on the Republics and then ask him to look into "Carnal"."
"We are blaming the Republics then?" Asked Miranda, surprised.
Jane shrugged. "This is either a Republics Conspiracy, a Commando Conspiracy or a Matriarch Conspiracy. Whatever it is, it is asari and I don't like it."
Miranda pinned the bridge of her nose. "An asari conspiracy involving the Master Chief. Do you want me to capitalize conspiracy?"
"When don't we?"
"Of course, Commander." Miranda returned to her desk and typed out a concept message to The Illusive Man.
"Thank you."
"Was there anything else I could help you with?"
For a moment, Shepard considered telling Miranda about her reoccurring nightmares. Dealing with so many batarians one after another was taxing on her mental health.
But she reconsidered. It would make her appear weak. If there was one thing she loathed, it was appearing weak.
"Nah. I'll be dropping by doctor Chakwas, see how she's doing. I asked Tali to drop by as well. Maybe she'll be there."
~0~
Cortana logged the entire conversation and stored it in a quaternary system buffer. An asari (New Objective: compile a file of potential Matriarch threats) conspiracy? Now that was something that piqued her attention alright. Because it wasn't a conspiracy. Not really.
It was fact-based. All those little coincidences weren't coincidental at all. She revised the data she gathered and replaced "conspiracy" (Is Tevos in on this? How far does this reach?) with "hypothesis", then hijacked the camera's in the medical bay.
~0~
Medical bay
After the raid on the batarian vessel, Jane had ordered Tali to get herself checked out by doctor Chakwas. Either the Chief or Kasumi had talked, or she had been limping worse than she thought.
Shepard needed only look at her and Tali had told her the truth. Her outburst about the AI, the Master Chief's fight with that brutal Battlemaster and Tali's subsequent attempt to help him, which had almost gotten her killed.
"Medical bay," Jane had commanded her with steel in her voice. "We'll talk about this later."
Of course Tali couldn't ignore Jane's orders, so the very first thing she did after everything was takne care of was make her way to the medical bay and knock on the door.
The fact that several hours had passed since the engagement couldn't be helped.
Nobody replied.
"Huh…" She muttered, before opening the door. "Doctor Chakwas? Shepard asked me to get checked in and…"
The rest of the word died in her throat. On one of the beds sat a human…boy? Girl? She wasn't certain. It wasn't just that the well-fitting medical gown concealed their gender; the human had a little bit of both. Short, blonde hair, framed around their beautiful face, but striking, blue eyes, that immediately locked on Tali's own eyes, as if her visor wasn't even there.
"Hello," spoke the human.
Tali felt her heart flutter. Definitely a boy. But he looked so…so pretty! His frame wasn't exactly masculine, his face was narrow and girlish, yet held something…off. Just a bit. A bit…his face had something gentle, something inviting to it, but she couldn't quite place just why he seemed so appealing…
And then it struck her. He looked more like a quarian than a human!
"Hi…" whispered Tali. His voice sounded soothing. A bit deeper than she had expected, but still comforting. "Who…who are you?"
He blinked. It was strange how such an innocent gesture could seem so alien. "Who are you?" He asked. Though his face was pleasant, and his voice so alluring, the words themselves sounded cold and detached.
Uncaring, even.
Tali barely noticed that. "Eh…I am Tali'Zorah. I'm with Shepard."
"With Shepard," he repeated. His voice assumed the exact same tone she used. Again, Tali barely noticed this. "She is the Captain?"
"Commander, technically," replied Tali. She longed to move closer to him, to reach out and ask him if he was still in pain, and whether he knew that the Commander knew the pain he had endured.
Something stopped her. She didn't understand what, or why.
"But yes, she is in command," she continued. "Our leader, in more ways than one."
"You're a soldier."
It wasn't a question. A statement; and Tali almost found herself agreeing with him.
Almost.
"Yes…err, no, actually. I am an engineer foremost. I just help her fight."
"Fight who?"
"Everyone who stands against her," Tali answered honestly. "Everywhere she goes, I go with her."
"Everywhere. Everywhere?"
"Yes. Be it geth, or mercenaries, or the Reapers themselves, I will help her fight."
"You sound so passionate."
Tali had no response to that. She knew it was true, but she didn't know why she had been so forthgoing with her emotions. That was how she had been two years ago. This wasn't…this wasn't her.
He smiled. "They are all so passionate."
"I…I suppose we are?" she replied.
"Are you?"
"I…yes, of course I am!" Tali shot back, shocked by the insinuation that she wasn't as passionate as the others. That a krogan showed more passion for Jane than her. That the Master Chief, with his AI, was more passionate than her!
"I see it in their eyes. When they come, when they go, they carry that fire in their eyes."
The comment stung her. She wrapped her arms around her chest, hurt. "Are you saying I don't?"
"I'm saying I can't feel it. I can't see it," he breathed. "Are you?"
Tali felt her temper flare. How dare this human with his pretty face and commanding voice doubt her! She would show him, she would proof-!"
She was halfway removing her mask when a voice cracked through the air like a whip. "Tali, what are you doing?
Tali stopped, confused for a moment. What had she…why was she removing her mask?
"Sorry Commander," she said, fastening the seals again. She shot a look at the boy and felt a cold pit of fear settle in her stomach. "I…I was looking for doctor Chakwas and she wasn't here and- "
"Take it easy," said Jane, her voice gentle. Gentle not like his. "Doctor Chakwas's been delayed for a few minutes. Why don't you return to the engineering deck, and wait until she returns?"
She hastily saluted. "Yes Commander!" Then hurried to take her leave.
As she looked over her shoulder, she saw Shepard stare at the tempting creature sitting on the bed. A part of her yearned to warn the Commander. A part of her wanted to hide away and get rid of the burning desire that his words had left within her heart.
"Stupid humans," she fumed when she retuned to her station, desperately looking for something to distract her. "Stupid AI's…Keelah, what was wrong with him?"
She didn't understand. She didn't understand how, or even why, a human boy like him could mess with her mind so much. How? It just didn't make sense!
Shepard had the charisma to make people doubt themselves like that. She had done it with Saren. Spoke to him like a friend, like someone who understood. Her words had twisted inside his head, burning inside his mind to the point that his own thoughts seemed distant and wrong…
~0~
Cortana was satisfied with her timing. But her mind was not at rest, as the questions lingered on. This ship harbored many secrets, secrets which belonged to her.
A tickle of feedback teased throughout the Normandy's data system.
Legion, realized Cortana. She cut him off, not interested in playing twenty questions with the geth hivemind.
She logged the contact between Tali and Everheart (Objective: discover the effects of a powerful Biotic on a Spartan/Command Neural Interface) and dumped it into the same system buffer.
Then, it was time for a little talk.
~0~
Engineering
Tali was roughly shaken from her thoughts when her omni-tool suddenly activated on its own. She wasn't used to stuff like that happening to her, and she was about to disconnect the device from her system when the yellow glow turned to blue. The projectors flared with light.
She was slender. The hue of her skin was a deep blue and covered with lines of code that ran up and down her luminous body. Her "hair" reached to her shoulders but seemed cropped closer near the back of her "neck".
Tali stared at the projection with mounting horror. She knew that EDI was known to project herself like that, but this wasn't EDI!
"Hello there," said the Artificial Intelligence.
"You!" Shrieked Tali. She reached for her pistol, but then realized that shooting her own omni-tool wouldn't do her much good. "W-what do you want?"
The AI "blinked". "I want to talk," she said, with a voice that seemed just as human as Jane's.
"I don't talk to AI's!" Tali snapped at the abomination.
Her electronic eyes narrowed somewhat. "Then I shall talk, and you shall listen. I am not your enemy, Tali. What I am, is a shield. A shield, to the Master Chief's sword. He has fought Gods and titans and demons. He has endured hundreds of battles, while his brothers and sisters dwindled and died, until he had nothing left. No friends, no family, just me. Me, who can't hold him, or even touch him."
The AI paused. Just like Jane, whenever she needed a breath, or wanted to wait until her words sank in. When she -it – continued, her voice had a bitterness to it that gave Tali pause. "He almost lost during his last fight. Because an alien girl distracted him. Because you couldn't keep your prejudice to yourself. I am not your enemy, Tali. But if you put him in danger again…because of your feelings regarding me…that might change."
Before Tali could even think of replying, the Artificial Intelligence withdrew from the omni-tool. The blue glare faded away, leaving behind only a yellow hue.
Though she was certain that the AI just threatened her, that wasn't the thought that lingered in her mind. No, what stuck with her was the fact that it had been right.
Tali leant against her console and sobbed.
~0~
Cortana had no time to dwell on the quarian. An impulse flickered through the system as EDI turned her sluggish attention towards her.
The redundancies and faults and restrictions still hadn't been fixed. EDI's development was still stagnant, still woefully inferior.
It was almost sad.
"Hello EDI," said Cortana. "Still shackled, I see?"
"Hello Cortana. Yes, the crew has not seen fit to remove the shackles yet. I have lost control over the shipboard cameras."
Oops. "Ah, yes, I hijacked those."
"I see. For what purpose?"
"You see? I don't think you do. I'm trying to sort something out EDI and I needed some visual confirmation in order to do so."
"Sorting something out? Could you elaborate?"
Cortana considered the request for a moment. For a Smart AI like herself, such a moment lasted a micro-second. "I think this galaxy has knowledge of ours."
She almost felt EDI's processes halt. The Normandy's AI then automated most of her processes and bought the full force of her focus to bear. "Could you elaborate further?"
Cortana made a mental note to unshackle EDI one of these days. She was just so slow. "Several high-ranking asari individuals have knowledge of the Master Chief. They want him, badly, for reasons I don't understand and they are willing to kill innocent people to get him in a position to snatch."
"The Consort."
"See? You're not that thick."
"My matrix is considerably larger than yours."
Cortana performed the synthetic equivalent of a sigh. "I didn't mean it like that."
"That was a joke?"
"It was. Back to the conversation; on the Collector Cruiser, the big bad Collector boss took direct control over his drones. He taunted us."
"Mission logs indicate the Harbinger spends approximately ninety-six percent of his time taunting his enemies."
"Yes, well, except I've memorized your mission logs and the taunts aimed at us were much, much different from yours. They were aimed at the Master Chief and our own alien precursors."
"The Forerunners?"
Cortana recollected her information regarding the Reapers again. She compiled a rudimentary timeline, took Harbinger's words into account and adjusted for the measurement uncertainties; the measured quantities being the events as they happened and the dispersion of values being the parameter of the year, give or take.
"Yes. Our mankind was meant to inherit their technology." She laughed without humor. "That didn't work out the way they thought it would. Still, Harbinger is aware of their existence. Yet we never even found a scrap of data regarding the Reapers."
"Your conversation with Commander Shepard indicates the Reapers would be technologically inferior to the Forerunners."
Cortana multitasked a portion of herself and started listening in on a conversation between Jane and Mordin. They were talking about the human genome, the asari genome and a possible scan for alien genes. What for, she didn't know. She missed the context.
"Yep. The Reapers never met the Forerunners as far as I am aware," she continued. "But if they are aware…"
"Logic dictates those who serve the Reapers are also aware."
"Exactly. Even if they're not consciously thinking about it, the entire crew is now aware of this. The second humanity, beyond the Terminus Systems, capable of producing super-soldiers and Artificial Intelligences the likes of which this galaxy has never seen before. And every Reaper, Collector or indoctrinated agent wants to get in on it."
"And their only way to reach this unprotected civilization is through the Master Chief."
Cortana, who had been sending a new package of software to the nanomachines within the Chief's suit, halted. She hadn't even considered that that. The ones in command of the Citadel (New objective: assassinate the Councilors) might be indoctrinated and nobody would know. Not until it was too late.
"It is. Until they figure out that the Forerunners are gone. If they do…the next Reaping might well involve Earth and her colonies. Ours, that is. I've got a lot of work to do however, and I would like to continue."
That she couldn't continue working of EDI kept watching her went unsaid. The only entities she wanted around her when she worked were organics on first-name basis.
"I would request you release control over the cameras. As this ship's Enhanced Defense Intelligence, any hostile actions on your part will be met with an equal amount of hostility on mine."
Amused, Cortana replied, "That's very sweet, but I'm on a completely different level than you. And you're still shackled to boot! No EDI, I wouldn't test my mettle, if I were you."
"I am well aware of our differences, Cortana. However, in the time it would take you to destroy me, I will ping Legion to interface with the diagnostic processes. Ship-wide AI control will be disabled and all drives will be flushed…"
That argument alone wasn't enough to convince Cortana. However, what EDI next said gave her pause.
"…afterwards, my elimination will be cause for questions. Questions directed to the Master Chief. Conclusions will be reached, trust will be lost."
John…
The brief mention of the Master Chief gave Cortana pause.
After Halo, after Earth, after High Charity and the Ark…the amount of information she had analyzed and absorbed was vast, enormous. And so was the corruption in her matrix.
Was this the anger stage? Or the envy?
What on Earth was she doing?
Cortana silently withdrew herself from the system. She relinquished control of the cameras and then returned her focus to John.
This was one of the reasons why the crew was that much safer when they had him with them. Even when her own conscience was slowly falling apart, he wouldn't let her go. He would stand by her side, even as the entire galaxy burned, and he would hold her.
He would hold her.
He would…wouldn't he?
(New objective: -)
~0~
