The Spartan felt a little guilty walking down the hallway. He was held by duty to uphold the military laws, and Gryphen had lied to his superiors. The fact that he withheld information about that ship changed everyone's view of him, except for the Spartans. They knew he was a good man, and already saw what he was willing to do to protect others. Marie seemed to also miss him being gone, though she didn't show it much. Spartans normally didn't get along well with everyone else, but for some reason both Gryphen and she got along well. The one thing Gryphen didn't understand were certain things Marie said sometimes, though the other Spartans certainly got the hint as to what she was asking of him. It appeared to John that maybe she had feelings for him, though with what was happening, he doubted Gryphen saw them. Now that he thought about it, Gryphen might have been interested in the AI/Organoid/Forerunner on board that ship. It certainly was a valid idea. The problem was keeping Marie in combat shape. Though she tried to hide it, she was showing sluggishness in training and exercises. Her accuracy with her rifle was lowering, and she seemed distracted at times. He'd have to talk to her about her situation later to remedy the problem.
"I've scanned all freqs, and I can't detect anything anywhere about the forerunner ship. Covenant certainly aren't talking about it, which also seems to be interesting. Chie… I mean major… are you alright?" Cortana asked. "What? Oh, yes. Fine." Cortana checked his vitals. The neurons in his brain slowed by a .02 pekicils and transfer of flux waves from one side of the brain to the other increased drastically, mostly in areas where dreaming occurred. "Thinking about what you did?" She asked quietly. "Did I do the right thing? We just lost a vital person to the defense against the covenant, we lost an ally, and the covenant have just regained their advantage over us. If I hadn't, he might have very well turned the power he had toward the wrong ends, and ignore orders and feed false information. It could have been deadly to others." She sighed, leaning against the wall as he sat reading a report on his small desk. It was a small room, but it was all his, and Cortana seemed to like it that way. "You did what you did. You can't change that. Hopefully, we can fix this and get him back. As for the council, I think they just gained one hell of an enemy. Dr. Halsey has officially left the council, so I think we're probably going to be in the dark for a bit before I can get the access codes to ONI net again. Their changing everything, and now keeping surveillance on her as well. This is one of the reasons I'm glad I'm not Cleo." Cleopatra happened to be the Smart AI used in the council, as well as answering questions from the press and keeping politics and information between civilians and the council. She didn't have the capabilities that Cortana had, and that suited her just fine. "Keep me updated. I'm gonna catch forty winks." He got up and laid down on his bed. She sat down on the chair he used to be in and stared as he closed his eyes. At that moment, she wished she could meet this Ilana that Gryphen had talked about, so that maybe she might get a similar body.
Rasha'jamee kneeled on the floor as the prophet floated in. His black armor faded in the light, trying desperately to keep it's owner as hidden as possible even in a full lit room. "What is it that you and the rest of this crew of your ship found that had me come here? I want this down quickly, as I'm needed elsewhere." Rasha'jamee apologized for the inconvenience and turned on a holo-screen. "I believe you will be interested in this high one. The humans have been quite busy with some new technology that they have found in a cache on the planet they call Valeius. The cache we tried to find. Now they seem to have an armor unmatched by anything we have, and capable of destroying fleets of our ships by itself. Furthermore, they have found a ship similar to make of the armor, and is also capable of similar feats." He showed recordings of the armor destroying tanks and the three ships on Arcturus, then had a video of it firing a barrage of missiles towards seraphs. The Nexus then came in, destroying a few covenant ships, and also protecting the mech. "That technology. I… I've… it can't be…" The prophet was shocked and stuttered. "Exalted one, is there something wrong?" Rasha'jamee asked. "It isn't possible! They couldn't have had this type of technology! Such effort they put in… we didn't destroy them all…" The elite raised his head a bit, looking at the prophet. "High one? Are you referring to the humans?" he asked. "What? No you fool! And don't ask such stupid questions you don't need to know the answer to! I want all the information you have about these given to me immediately." The elite acknowledged and bowed, then moved to grab all the data cubes. He handed all of them to the prophet, and without saying a word after, the prophet floated out a door. "I didn't know they had hidden technology on those planets. I thought we destroyed the last of those bases long ago. And now those humans have them…" He said to himself, floating down a hallway with guards in tow.
(I know this is a short chapter, but I have a crap load of stuff to do for a few days, and this was just to wrap up a few things. The major is still the good guy, and if everyone who has read the books knows, the Spartan questions what he does all the time to see if he made the right decision. Black out rounds: A shaped nanite round with a thin shell to contain the nanites within. Once the round hits its target, the out shell shatters, and does little actual damage to the target aside from creating a few cuts on the area, similar to glass cutting skin. The shell breaks down quickly, being used as an extra material to seal the wound once the nanites have entered. The nanites have built in packages of anesthetics and pain killers, as well as other drugs. They will head to appropriate areas of the body and hit critical areas that control motor functions and thought processing, usually nerve packets and the brain. Once subdued, the target usually falls asleep for quite awhile, usually between five and twelve hours. The nanites break down once they have fulfilled their use, and the parts degrade to be used as either minerals for the body to absorb so as to leave no trace of tech in the body, or excreted in bodily fluids or fecal matter.)