A silver orb with a purple light in the center floated out from behind Xarnin. "Him! Why I oughta..." The Master Chief slapped his helmet to shut Cortana up and then leveled his shotgun at the Monitor.
"343 Guilty Spark! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't blast you into oblivion right know," said the Master Chief.
"343 Guilty Spark? No. I am 342 Guilty Spark, his figurative 'brother.' 343 is on the other Halo," chirped the little robot cheerfully.
"He's dead. I blew up the other Halo. Now why don't you," The Master Chief pointed to Xarnin, "tell us the whole story."
"Okay. Millions of years ago, the Covenant and the Forerunner were at peace. We were technological brothers, advancing in science together. Our science had reached a peak. The Forerunner had become rich and wanted a slave species. So our scientists set to work. Their result was the Flood. They marveled at their own intelligence, until they discovered what the Flood were capable of. That's how they were named. Already we had built the Halos. They were research stations, where scientists could hypothesize and experiment without causing damage to our homeworld. The Flood were created on the Halo that you destroyed. Some Flood were shipped off the other three Halos. All the Halos were top secret. When the Covenant found out about the Flood, they were enraged. It violated their holy laws, and they declared a jihad. Meanwhile, there was a Flood outbreak on Halo 4. The precautions were taken and the Flood were put back into containment. They realized the Flood's power and the Halos had the giant weapons systems put into them as a failsafe. The Covenant reached our homeworld with a massive fleet and overran it, killing all of the Forerunner. Back on the Halos, there was a Flood outbreak, all of them except this one were wiped out. No one knows how the outbreaks occurred, but they did. Presumably, a single escape pod, filled with soldiers, not scientists, escaped and landed on earth. That is how Humanity was started. Once we learned about the outbreaks, and the Covenant attack, we ended our space-faring ways and settled on this Halo. We studied the Flood, and developed technology that would enable an outbreak to be contained extremely quickly. Our colony has been here ever since."
"That puzzles me. So there's two more Halos besides this one?" asked Sam.
"Presuming that Installation 4 was actually destroyed," said Xarnin.
"It was," growled the Master Chief. "I did it with my own hands. Our scientists wish to study this Halo. Is that okay?" he said, for lack of better words.
"It is fine, so long as you do not disrupt our own scientists or citizens."
"Well, if that's all, we'll be leaving." The Master Chief's Spartans tossed back the guards weapons and marched out.
"Do you trust him John?" asked Sam, who sounded slightly worried.
"Not one bit. We're moving our base location; most likely it'll be somewhere near the control room, as that ought to be what the scientists want to study.
"I'll have one of the boys radio up to command."
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It took them a week to find a suitable base. It was on a luscious island. It housed the Silent Cartographer, which the Chief used to find the control room. The island was a mostly open area, with some forests and a few caves and Forerunner facilities, like a security checkpoint for the 'Cartographer. After two days, the base was fully operational. A half of a division of Marine regulars had been deployed, to hold down the fort while the Spartans did the dirty work. Well, the dirty work of escorting scientists.
The Master Chief and Sam were constantly on Pelicans, going back and forth from various sights on the ring world.
One day, the Head Scientist, a little old man named Dr. James summoned the Master Chief. He was very pushy and the Spartans didn't like him.
"Master Chief reporting as requested, Doctor."
"Ah, yes, Master Chief. I would like you and a team of your...men to escort myself and some of my scientists to the control room. We wish to study its workings."
"We'll do it. Twenty of my best men will go. I'm just reminding you, however, that there is no way you'll be activating Halo while my Spartans are guarding it. Anyway, you couldn't activate it without the index." The Master Chief shifted his shotgun to his other shoulder.
"I understand completely Master Chief. I wish to depart immediately."
"My people will be loaded in ten minutes. I'm going to have Knight get 'hogs mounted on the dropship; as there's no telling what we may encounter."
"I believe Master Chief," said Dr. James haughtily, "that you're being overly cautious.
"There's no such thing as overly cautious, Doc, no such thing."
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On the Spartan's Pelican, Gunnery Sergeant Tom-235 expressed his discomfort about the mission to the Master Chief. "Sir, I got a bad feeling about this," he confessed.
"Quit your bellyaching Sergeant!" barked Sam.
"No Sam, he's okay. I feel the same way. Just an little bad feeling in the pit of your stomach, right Sarge?"
"Yes, sir. Though it could've been that mush I had for breakfast." There was general agreement throughout the dropship on that comment, as the meals weren't exactly five-star dishes. Still, John couldn't shake the feeling he had about the mission.
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The Control Room was huge. The Master Chief had ordered that the Warthogs be driven into the large room, in case a quick getaway was needed. The scientists worked all over the computer console. Secretly, before the scientists had gotten to the console, the Master Chief had slipped Cortana in, to make sure that the scientists didn't activate Halo. The Spartans mostly sat around, shared stories, a couple had gotten into a wild card game on the floor of the catwalk.
There was a banging on the large metal door. Dents started appearing as the Spartans leveled their guns at the door. "Spartan!" John ordered the Spartan closest to the computer. "Get me Cortana now!" The Spartan yanked the AI and brought the data card to the Master Chief, who slipped it into his helmet.
"What is it Chief?"
"Someone's at the door." He gestured with his M90.
"Somehow," said Cortana, "I have a sinking feeling it's not a social call."
Then a hole appeared in the door, about six feet across and twice that tall. Ten zombie-like creatures shambled in, carrying Forerunner weaponry. "FLOOD!" shouted a Spartan. They had all seen some of the video from the MC's helmet recordings. Hundreds or spores rushed through the door around the Worker/Warrior Flood. Then it was as if the heavens had opened up with laser fire. Every Spartan started shooting. One got in a 'hog's M41 LAAG turret and started ripping through the Flood spores.
"Get the scientists the hell out of here!" ordered the Master Chief. "Someone radio for Knight and his pilots to come pick us up!" Things weren't looking all that great, as Floodies kept coming. Who had released the plague of the Flood? John intended to find out as soon as he got back the base. If he got back.
The Chief pumped his shotgun again to chamber another round. There was a click as the shotgun ran dry. "Cover me. I've got to fall back and reload!" called the Master Chief as he backpedaled and crouched behind a 'hog, reloading his shotgun with some explosive shells. The shells produced a small explosion upon impact. He stepped out from behind the jeep and thumped a Flood warrior. The whole group that was clustered around it flew down. They were vaporized by more laser fire.
"Knight here! We can get you guys as soon as you blow that door. The hole's not big enough. Until then, we're stuck outside."
"Roger that Knight. Boomer!" John called to the demolitions expert. "Satchel charges! I want that door slagged now!" As soon as the MC stopped speaking, two high-explosive satchel charges flew overhead. "Now!"
"Acknowledged Chief!" shouted the large Spartan. He yelled, "Take cover Spartans!" Everyone dropped back behind the Warthogs. Boomer pressed a little red button on the detonator and the door blew in with a resounding crash, vaporizing all the Floodies within fifteen feet. The Pelicans swooped through the wreckage and around to the very back of the catwalk. Knight himself fired up his thrusters and came down right over the Floods, setting about half the remaining Warrior Flood alight. There was one last volley of laser fire and then the Flood were gone.
"What were those things Chief?" asked Knight as John clambered about the Pelican.
"Those were the Flood. They must have been let loose by someone and they've taken some Forerunner hosts. We've got to get back to base and get everyone back aboard the New Jersey now. If those things get a hold of a biological form, they can take it and use it. I don't want a half division of Marines turned into Floodie warriors."
"Aye, sir. Returning to base right now," Knight said as he fired up his thrusters and throttled up back towards HQ.