Disclaimer: I do not own Bungie, Microsoft, or Halo. This is the only disclaimer that I will have.

A/N: This chapter will probably not be rewritten, unless absolutely necessarily. This is a shorter chapter, but considering that most prologues are short, give me a break.

Prologue:

The Arbiter turned and ducked as Tartarus's hammer went through the space the Arbiter occupied a second before. The Arbiter jumped to the side and saw a human approach on the ledge above, with a beam rifle in tow.

"Do you need some help down there?" Sergeant A. J. Johnson chuckled.

"What do you think!" The Arbiter yelled.

"Heh heh, I got you," Johnson said as his finger hovered over the rifle's trigger.

Tartarus lunged forward towards the Arbiter as a particle beam hit him in midair. Two more shots followed suit, and then Johnson's beam rifle overheated.

Tartarus groaned as his shields flickered and yelled out, "Foolish human. Kill him, my Brutes!"

Before any Brutes could get to Johnson, however, a group of energy sword-wielding Elites emerged from the room behind him. One by one, the Brutes fell by the Elite's blades.

"We've got your back, human. Kill the beast," a Zealot shouted. "Kill the beast, before he destroys us all!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it. Arbiter, I can keep his shields down, but you have to deliver the finishing blow." Johnson instructed as he fired again.

"I shall hurry." The Arbiter muttered, "Because the fate of the universe depends on me." He dived under Tartarus's hammer, yet again, and rolled off to the side.

The Arbiter activated his active camouflage and jumped into the gravity lift, which propelled him up to the top floor of the structure. The active camouflage wore off just as he reached the top, and he quickly ran over to one of the Covenant weapon containers. He took a Covenant Carbine out of one of the slots, and grabbed a couple of energy pods for it.

Tartarus let out a sharp yell, which signaled that his shields were out. Quickly, the Arbiter slid and fell down to the middle level of the structure. He ran forward, jumped and shot him in the head four times. Tartarus let out a squelched gargle and slumped to the ground, dead.

"Go human!" The Arbiter yelled to the female human, who was resting on a rotating platform on the outside of the hierarchical structure.

"I'm on it!" The female answered. She jumped onto the middle level of the structure and grabbed the index from its glowing cradle. The ground shook violently as Halo disarmed. The female turned and looked upwards to see 343 Guilty Spark, floating downwards with Johnson holding onto it. A holopanel lit up and an image appeared.

"What's that?" The female asked.

"A beacon," 343 Guilty Spark replied.

"What's it doing?"

"Communicating, at super-luminal speeds with the frequency of-"

"Communicating with what?" the female interrupted.

"The other installations." 343 Guilty Spark replied.

"Show me," the female answered.

"Fail-safe protocol. In the event of unexpected shutdown, the entire system moves to standby status. All remaining platforms are now ready for remote activation."

"Remote activation? From here?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" replied 343 Guilty Spark matter-of-factly.

"Now listen here tinkerbell, don't make me-" Johnson yelled and pointed at it.

"Then where, where would someone go to activate the other rings?" the female interrupted, before Johnson really went off at 343 Guilty Spark.

There was a slight pause before the Monitor spoke again. "Why, the Ark, of course!"

"And where, Oracle, is that?" inquired the Arbiter.

The Forerunner ship creaked as it exited slipspace. The Master Chief stood and leaned against a wall.

A marine keyed his com and said, "We've got a new contact! Unknown classification!"

"If it isn't one of ours, take it out," Fleet Admiral Hood commanded.

"This is Spartan-117. Can anybody read me? Over." John announced through his com.

"Isolate that signal. Master Chief? You mind telling me what you're doing on that ship?" Admiral Hood inquired.

"Sir, finishing this fight," responded the Spartan.