so here I am again, hopefully not as long a wait as before…
and here is my completely random disclaimer to the best game in the world.
"You sure you don't need back up? I can spare a few marines." Foehammer asked. Gina jumped out of the pelican and clicked the COM.
"I got it handled, Foehammer. Those Covenant patrols look like toys compared to that parasite." she said. The Pelican lifted away from the ground.
"Give 'em hell for me." Foehammer's voice crackled and then the connection was cut. Gina lifted her pistol and magnified the scope to x2. The Covenant had retaken the Control Room, or at least the outside of it. Jackal pairs were patrolling the ramps up the structure and Gina could see that the shades were manned again. She was surprised she hadn't been seen yet. She quickly marched across the snow and up the ridge. Sighting with her pistol, she took out one Jackal patrol and a Grunt, who was operating the Shade. She jogged up the ramp to the shade, reloading her pistol. Two more Jackals had heard the commotion and were running towards her, shields up. Knowing normal fire couldn't burn down the shields, Gina quickly swung herself into the turret and sent blasts of plasma at the Jackals. They reeled backwards, but kept their shields up. They glowed bright red, then dropped with a sizzle of plasma. The remaining plasma blasts scorched the vulture-like aliens.
With that taken care of, Gina hopped down and jogged to the next ramp. The Grunt on the Shade opened up before Gina had fully turned the corner. She shrunk back around the corner and primed a grenade. She ducked around the corner and tossed it under the movable turret. She was rewarded with a flash of fire and smoke. The Shade flipped and landed with a crunch of metal. Satisfied, Gina made her way to the top level.
Peeking around the corner, she saw that two Shades had been set up and were in the process of burning down the door. A couple of Elites stood nearby, monitoring the situation. There were also two Jackals, one on either side of the door. A unit of Grunts were chattering and barking a good ways away from the Elites, right near where Gina was hiding. Gina quickly withdrew and primed another grenade. She chucked it into the middle of the group and hid around the corner again. There were a few barks of surprise and panic, but were quickly silenced by a small explosion. There was a second crash, telling Gina that the explosion had also taken out one of the Shades. There was a roar from one of the Elites and Gina quickly grabbed her shotgun, knowing that the blue-clad Elite, signifying it rookie status, would run headlong into any attack. Just as she suspected, the warrior ran around the corner, its plasma riffle leveled. Gina shot it in the chest, and then again in the head once his shields were down.
Stepping over the fallen Elite, the Marine primed a plasma grenade and tossed it a Shade, where it stuck to the Grunt operator. The closest Jackal shot at her with its plasma pistol, but Gina quickly evaded the bullets and kicked its arm, sending it sprawling. With its shield lowered, Gina had a clear shot at its head, which she took gladly.
The remaining Shade quickly swiveled and fired at her. Gina ducked and took cover behind the other turret. Lying on the ground, she shot the second Jackal and tossed a second plasma grenade under the Shade. The Elite, clad in the red of the veterans, primed a plasma grenade and tossed it her direction. Gina dived away. A second later, the Shade she had been hiding behind erupted in a plasma explosion. The Elite wasted no time firing at her, although being careful not to over heat his weapon. Gina took that to her advantage. Whenever he stopped firing, she quickly moved in closer and tried to get a shot off. Soon, he was lying on the ground with the other fallen aliens.
Gina checked the door, finding them securely locked, most likely by Cortana. Gina clicked on the COM.
"Gina to Cortana. Do you read me?"
"Loud and clear. It's about time you showed up. I'm unlocking the doors now." the AI's voice rang out clearly over the COM channel. There was a hiss and the door opened. The soldier quickly marched to the Control Room, the large door closing behind her.
Cortana's image had her back to Gina as she walked down the platform to the control panel. Characters scrolled down Cortana's body as she changed colors from purple, to blue, to green and back to purple. Gina had little, if any, involvement with AI's during her lifetime, so Cortana amazed her. She didn't let the smart AI notice that, however.
"So what's going on?" Gina demanded. "Why didn't you tell us what was in that building?"
"Because," Cortana said, waving her hand in a dismissive manner, "I didn't fully understand what this ring was about at that point."
"And you do now?" Gina asked, setting her shotgun on the floor. She noticed the AI's eyes were moving back and forth, as though reading something that wasn't there.
"Mostly. Probably more than the Covenant do, at least." she replied. She pulled up a piece of camera footage. "I suppose you've been wondering what the Chief's doing." Gina moved closer to the frame. The Chief was fighting off the parasite in a darkened corridor. The floating blue orb was there too, although it wasn't doing anything to help.
"What's he doing?" Gina asked, watching him progress through whatever structure he was in.
"He's being used, mostly." the AI said, sounding annoyed. "He's in what's called the Library. There's an artifact, called the Index, that that orb wants him to get to activate the ring." A holographic picture of the artifact popped up next to the frame.
"And this is all a bad thing?" Gina asked, continuing to watch the frame.
"Of course." Cortana replied, as though it was easy enough to figure out. "Once this ring is activated, it will cause destruction on a galactic scale. Every sentient life form would be, lets say, history." Gina nodded, comprehending the information.
"So why haven't you gotten the Chief to stop?" she finally asked. Cortana sighed.
"I can't reach him over the COM channels. All we can do is sit and watch him." the AI replied. "Of course, the ring won't be activated without the Index. I plan to take it when the Master Chief puts it into the system."
"Right." Gina said. "Now tell me more about the ring and the parasite." Cortana dismissed the image of the Index and pulled up a stream of information. Rather than reading it all, Gina just listened to the summary from Cortana.
"The parasite you refer to is called the Flood. From what I understand, it's an accident the Forerunners made. They created Halo, and many others I suspect, to control the Flood. They contained them here on the rings, and whenever there was an outbreak, they would activate Halo and destroy all food source for the Flood, causing them to die out." Cortana explained. "The main threat with the Flood is the spores. They take control of their host and morph it into the creatures you've seen."
"What's the difference in all the forms?" Gina asked, turning again to the frame.
"Ah, yes." Cortana froze the frame and highlighted two different forms. "This larger one is what used to be an Elite, which is why it's much bigger than this one," she pointed out the second Flood form, "Which was what used to be a human." The frame continued until MC came face to face with waddling form with short legs and arms and enormous bulb protruding from its back and head. The AI froze the frame again. "This carrier, I believe, used to be a Grunt by the way it waddles when it walks. Of course, it doesn't look like a Grunt because of its enormous bulb." The frame then continued to play and the form dropped to the ground and its bulb exploded. At least ten tiny spores scurried out of the dead form.
"Gruesome." Gina commented. "How long until MC gets the Index? And how long will it take for him to get back here?" Cortana dismissed all the information and calculated an answer.
"At the rate he's progressing, it'll take another hour and a half to get to the Index. As far as getting back here, that orb is called 343 Guilty Spark and it's the monitor of all of Halo." Cortana began.
"All of Halo? Wouldn't it be kinda hard to get around?" Gina interrupted. Cortana nodded.
"Yes. I'm getting to that."
"Sorry."
"Now." Cortana paused for a short second. "The Monitor uses a power grid that runs all throughout Halo to transport himself wherever he wants to go."
"Gotcha. Can you do that?" Gina asked, turning her attention back to the frame. MC was riding a lift to another floor and the Guilty Spark was floating nearby.
"I'm hacking the system now." the AI replied. There was a long moment of silence. "I'm detecting a Covenant dropship inbound to the valley. Seems you've attracted visitors."
"Joy. I'll be back later."
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An hour later, Gina walked back into the Control Room, reloading a Needler she had picked up. Cortana turned her head to glance at her before turning back to the multiple things she had pulled up.
"How'd he doing?" she asked, walking up.
"Fine. He's almost to the Index." Cortana replied. "And I suppose you've taken care of everything outside?"
"Not completely." Gina admitted. "A bugged out after the tenth dropship." Cortana nodded absentmindedly.
"Good thing too. I suspect the Monitor won't take it lightly when I take his Index. He'll pose an uncomfortable threat until we get of this ring."
"Speaking of getting off, what are we doing after we take the Index." Gina asked, glancing at the frame. MC was taking the Index. She turned to Cortana.
"I'm still working out a few bugs in that plan. We're defiantly destroying the ring, how I'm not sure of quite yet. We have a number of possibilities. But whatever we do, we have to save Captain Keyes before we do it." the AI replied. "I'd rather not let the Monitor know I'm in the system, so I'm shutting off my image. We'll make our plan of action later." Cortana's image shrunk and disappeared from view, as did all the other things she had on the holo screen.
Gina checked her shotgun and Needler again out of habit and looked up just in time to see a flash of yellow and the Chief and Monitor appear out of nowhere. The Monitor was chattering about something, but MC didn't look like he was listening as he silently made his way down to the control panel.
"Where'd you come from?" MC asked. Gina smirked.
"I could ask you the same question, sir." she replied. The Monitor hummed and floated between them.
"Could we please stay on task! This installation must be activated if we want to stop this outbreak!" Its light pulsed.
"Where?" the Chief asked, holding up the Index.
"There, please." The Monitor replied, floating over to the slot in the holo panel. The Chief hesitantly pushed the Index inside. There was a loud hum and Gina held her breath. Suddenly, the humming stopped and the Index stopped glowing its ghostly green. The Monitor stopped humming.
"That wasn't supposed to happen." it mused. Cortana quickly magnified and Gina breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh really?" she demanded.
"What? What are you doing in there?" the Monitor reeled back. Cortana smirked.
"Stopping you, what's it look like?"
"What's going on here?" the Master Chief held up both hands. "Let's calm down and explain ourselves."
"He doesn't need to explain anything, Chief. I already know what he's been trying to do. Halo is not a weapon."
"What? Slow down."
"She's right, Chief." Gina stepped in. "If Cortana had let the Index activate the ring, we would not be standing her right now." The Spartan looked from Gina to Cortana to the Monitor.
"Is this true?"
"Yes." the Monitor replied simply. "Of course, I could not tell you this because there is the slight probability that you would not be willing to comply once you knew." The Monitor hummed. "O well. I can always find another."
"How can you when I've got the Index?" Cortana challenged, waving the icon at him.
"What? You…? You wouldn't dare!" the Monitor stuttered.
"She's already done it." Gina replied, leveling her gun. The Monitor quickly composed itself.
"If you will not comply, no matter. The ring will be activated." Sentinels began appearing all around them.
"Get. Us. Out. Of. Here." Cortana hissed. MC quickly jammed her chip inside his helmet and leveled his gun as well. The Monitor addressed his Sentinels, then left in another flash of yellow light.
Immediately, the Sentinels opened up. The two humans didn't waste any time either. Most of the Sentinels had hardly any time to hit them before they were blown out of the air. Gina smacked one's wing when it got too close, making it spin off and hit another. The Chief used his shotgun to his advantage, taking most of the floating targets out with one hit. The rest were mopped up with Gina's Needler fire.
"What's the master plan, Cortana?" Gina asked, quickly reloading.
"The Monitor may be able to activate the ring without the Index. In that case, Chief, you'll have to take out some power generators the Monitor will need to fire Halo." Cortana replied.
"And what about Gina?" the Chief asked, opening the doors. Sentinels were engaging Elites. The two ducked and fired at both enemies.
"I've found Captain Keyes, but it'll take awhile to get there. I can't transport both Gina and you in the grid, so she'll have to meet us there." the AI replied. Gina fired at an Elite, bringing it down.
"Okay." she replied. "Where is he and how do I get there?"
"I'm uploading a NAV point to your eye-piece. There's two Banshees in the valley currently. You can commandeer one and get there that way." A little green arrow appeared on the eyepiece in Gina's helmet.
"Meet you there, then." she said and made her way down the temple-like structure. MC followed at a distance, but the two were soon separated as they went to their different objectives.
I hope the last two chapters have made up for the wait. I'll try and get another one up as soon as possible. R&R!