EPILOGUE
1247 Hours, August 17, 2553 (Military Calendar)/ Two light-years from planet Raiek in the bridge of the UNSC battle cruiser, Constitution
"Captain, what's that?"
Leaning over the low-ranked officer on radar duty, Captain Martin shrugged his broad shoulders and ran a hand through his short, brown hair. "Who knows? Try and bring it up on the large screen," he said, placing himself in the Captain's chair.
In front of the whole bridge crew, a large image of an aircraft leaving the moon known as Orean could be seen, in complete tatters but obviously flight-worthy nonetheless. "What is that, sir?" Murmuers could be heard, often this one, throughought the bridge. No one could even begin to guess what the gigantic object floating across the screen was. It was just as big as the Constitution itself.
"Holy—!" Martin breathed, ending with a swear. "It's the Pillar of Winter!"
On the bottom edge of the Constitution, dragged there by Foehammer itself just before it left Orean, was a single infection form Flood, the only survivor of the disaster at planet Raiek and its moon. The sole survivor clung to the bow of the ship, latching its twenty-one tendrils into the sheetmetal and slowly dragging itself towards an exhaust port. As they were in space, this was not used, so the infection form slithered in, squeezed around various equipment, and eventually found itself in the ventilation system, able to move freely about the ship. While the humans thought they had eliminated every single Flood monstrosity, they missed one...
1247 Hours, August 17, 2553 (Military Calendar)/ Two light-years from planet Raiek in the bridge of the UNSC battle cruiser, Constitution
"Captain, what's that?"
Leaning over the low-ranked officer on radar duty, Captain Martin shrugged his broad shoulders and ran a hand through his short, brown hair. "Who knows? Try and bring it up on the large screen," he said, placing himself in the Captain's chair.
In front of the whole bridge crew, a large image of an aircraft leaving the moon known as Orean could be seen, in complete tatters but obviously flight-worthy nonetheless. "What is that, sir?" Murmuers could be heard, often this one, throughought the bridge. No one could even begin to guess what the gigantic object floating across the screen was. It was just as big as the Constitution itself.
"Holy—!" Martin breathed, ending with a swear. "It's the Pillar of Winter!"
On the bottom edge of the Constitution, dragged there by Foehammer itself just before it left Orean, was a single infection form Flood, the only survivor of the disaster at planet Raiek and its moon. The sole survivor clung to the bow of the ship, latching its twenty-one tendrils into the sheetmetal and slowly dragging itself towards an exhaust port. As they were in space, this was not used, so the infection form slithered in, squeezed around various equipment, and eventually found itself in the ventilation system, able to move freely about the ship. While the humans thought they had eliminated every single Flood monstrosity, they missed one...