Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to my Halo - MechWarrior/BattleTech crossover. Thank you for all the support that you have shown for this story. I deeply appreciate it and any feedback that I can get. I also have some good news here: we're getting to the end of this story arc. Once the next two or so chapters are complete, we will start the final story arc for this story.

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Disclaimer: I do not own the Halo or MechWarrior/BattleTech franchises. They are the respective properties and trademarks of Microsoft Game Studios, 343 Industries, Bungie, FASA Corporation, FASA Interactive, Catalyst Game Labs, Piranha Games Inc, etc. Any material original to the franchises belongs to it's respective developers and publishers. Any material not original to the franchises is of my own invention. I do not own any music listed in each chapter. Any music belongs to it's original composers and/or artists.

High Charity

Near the Mausoleum of The Arbiter

November 27th, 2552

The moment that Chief saw the Flood, he knew things were going downhill, and fast. Weapon primed, he made sure the others had boarded, before proceeding forwards, weapon at the ready. Once more, I am alone, behind enemy lines, he thought. It wasn't the first time that he had done solo operations; in fact, he could recall at least fifty times that he had completed a mission on his own in the past 27 years.

It was the first time, though, that he dealt with the Flood with no one to back him up. As such, he had to keep his awareness up at all times, while taking fights slowly while being in a hurry. Moving up the ramp, he kept his rifle trained on the Flood scrambling out of the wrecked Phantom, while scanning the area for other hostiles.

The Flood quickly spotted him, as one of the Combat Forms let out a horrid screech before they advanced forwards, shambling quickly towards the supersoldier. In response, Chief opened fire, his M42 barking loudly as he engaged the enemy. The first one exploded as HEAP shells tore into it's body, while another one leaped at him.

Responding in kind, Chief lashed out with his supporting hand, smashing the Combat Form over the edge of the walkway. It's screech echoed upwards as he continued to fire, slowly stepping backwards in order to give him breathing room. Another Combat Form exploded as he neutralized the Flood.

After two minutes of fighting, all Combat Forms had been reduced to shredded piles of decaying flesh, and putrid bodily fluids. As he proceeded forwards, he said, "Cortana, contact Chiv'Kir. We need intelligence on what is going on."

"Understood," Cortana replied. Keying the suit's MILCOM system, she said, "Cortana to Ship Mistress Chiv'Kir. Do you read me? What's the current situation?"

There was a moment before Chiv'Kir called in. "I read you," she replied. "Things are starting to become intense. I'm getting reports that Flood-controlled dropships are landing all over High Charity."

"I knew it," Cortana hissed. Speaking to Chief, she said, "That thing underneath the Library… that 'Gravemind'… used us. We were just a diversion. That Covenant WarShip that I detected while we were traversing High Charity was always its intended vector."

"Noted," Chief replied, frowning at how he'd been used for the second time on this operation. "Chiv'Kir, do you have any escape routes planned?"

"I do," Chiv'Kir replied, "but you're not going to like it. You'll have to board the Forerunner Dreadnought in order to escape. The others can't get you without risking the Flood getting to them. There's a conduit connecting this tower to the ship. Follow the waypoints. My specialists will lead you to it."

"Understood," Chief nodded. Reloading his rifle, he asked, "What about ammunition supplies."

"We've activated beacons that will inform you of where ammo dumps are at. Just head to each one if you're running low."

"Got it." With that in mind, Chief began to advance forwards, weapon at the ready. Moving towards a door, he moved inside of the place, whereupon two Jirahanae entered. Apparently, the Flood were in pursuit, as they were firing while rapidly retreating.

Unfortunately for them, Chief was right where they needed to be. Opening fire, Chief blasted the backs of both Brutes open, splattering blood and chips of bone all over the place. Seconds later, several Combat Forms appeared, with both meeting the same fate. Need to keep moving, he told himself as he advanced.

Reaching a Gravity Lift, he quickly entered it. "I'll disable this lift once we've reached the top," Cortana told him. "Hopefully it'll slow them down." As she said this, they reached the top of the lift.

Stepping out, he promptly heard a loudspeaker go off. It was Truth, and he was apparently angry that the Flood were present. "Shall we let the Flood consume our holy city? Turn High Charity into another of their wretched hives? No enemy has ever withstood our might. The Flood, too, shall fail."

"If only you knew," Cortana quietly whispered. Moving through the door ahead, Chief found himself entering a larger chamber of some kind. Looking down, he realized it was the upper section of the Mausoleum, though the presence of mist down below made it hard to see the bottom. Looking up, he noticed a central column that had an array with odd colored pieces of what looked like glass.

"Chief," Cortana said to him. "I just scanned those pieces of glass. Those came from the worlds the Covenant have glassed, including our own."

Insult to injury, Chief thought as he looked around. From what he could tell, parts of the room were accessible via platforms that had gravity bridges connected to each one. Moving towards one, he was levitated into the air, before moved along through the air and set down on the next platform. As he landed, he heard a familiar, unwelcome buzzing sound.

Looking around, he spotted a swarm of Drones flying around, but it was clear they weren't focusing on him. Instead they appeared to be attacking a group of Brutes, who were assaulting a group of Flood that had made it into the Mausoleum. "I think we should sit this one out, Chief," Cortana suggested. Chief nodded in agreement; sometimes the best way to defeat an enemy was to let another one wear them down, then move in.

Eventually, after two minutes of intense fighting, the Covenant had worn themselves down, leaving only a few Drones, one Brute and a few Flood to manage. Taking aim, Chief exploited the long range of the rifle, blasting the remaining Drones into pieces of chitin and gore. The Brute, hearing the gunshots, turned around, only to receive a HEAP round to the face.

Once all hostiles on that platform were down, he got onto the gravity bridge and proceeded to the other side. Looking around, he was about to reload when he heard a loud screech from up ahead. Dropping his primary weapon, he whipped out his sidearm before opening fire, blasting a Combat Form that got too close to him for comfort. Decaying flesh and putrid fluid splattered onto his armor as he fired the entire mag into the thing's chest.

As soon as it collapsed, he picked up his primary weapon and reloaded, the mechanism inside clicking shut as it chambered a new round. Aiming down the sights, he found no more hostiles coming directly at him. With that, he got up and began to proceed down the hallway.

As he moved forwards, weapon in hand, he heard his COM ping. "Yes?" he asked.

"Chiv'Kir here," came the reply.

"What's the situation?"

"Not good," Chiv'Kir replied. "We got some help, but the Flood is greatly complicating matters. We're having to pull out. Our specialists are doing what they can to stall the Forerunner Dreadnought's launch sequence but…"

"But?"

"There's something inside of that thing that's fighting back. We think it might be a fragment of an AI that's unusually more advanced than your own. It's unusually formidable."

"Do what you can. I'll get onboard as soon as possible."

"That we will do, Demon. You can be certain of that." Closing the COM channel, Chief continued to move forwards, weapon at the ready.

Once he passed through the door up ahead, he immediately noticed that something was off. For one, all the lights had gone out, casting the entire hallway up ahead of his position into pure blackness. Another change that wasn't good was the presence of what looked like mist in front of him.

"Don't take your helmet off," Cortana warned him. "I'm detecting Flood spores up ahead of us. You breath those in, and we both know what happens."

Instead of replying verbally, Chief nodded, before switching on powerful lights installed into his helmet. A ninety degree cone of area in front of him was promptly lit up by the powerful lights, turning pure blackness into something almost like daytime. The new light showed another change that was not good: large lumps of sickly tan to feces brown material that were clinging to the walls. Flood biomass, he recalled a moment later. Just like on the Autumn at Halo.

Proceeding forwards, he made sure that there wasn't anything up ahead that was going to ambush him, before proceeding forwards. In addition to the biomass that was starting to grow on the walls, there were signs of intense fighting. Everywhere Chief looked, he found Flood Combat Forms that had been reduced to charred lumps of ruined flesh, along with corpses of Covenant that had been blasted apart. The scenes of death and destruction reminded him of some of the bloodiest battles of the Covenant-UNSC War.

He was about to proceed forwards when he heard a very strange sound. Looking towards a particularly large clump of Flood biomass, he was surprised to see that it was starting to move. Taking cover, he peered around one of the metal columns to see what was happening.

Much to his surprise, something was growing out of the Flood biomass, with the air around that lump suddenly becoming clear. Tentacles grew out of part of the mass, while a pair of what appeared to be pike-like arms bulged out of other portions. Legs and a torso molded themselves into existence, before the thing began to stand up and move forwards. With sickly, squelching sounds, it separated from the material that it had spawned from, the air becoming clouded with Flood spores once more.

Just as Chief was about to ask Cortana what he was looking at, the Flood creature spotted him and let out a bellowing roar. Charging forwards, it swiped one of it's arms at him, with the Spartan moving quickly enough to just barely dodge the blow. "CHIEF!" Cortana shouted as he fired.

Taking the warning, he ducked down, with one of the arms flying towards his head. While he dodged the lethal, sharpened point, he wasn't successful in dodging the entire attack, as part of the arm clipped his helmet. While minor compared to what could've happened, the blow was enough that it nearly sent him falling over, with the Spartan rolling to the right to compensate as his shields shattered. "Cortana?!" he asked.

"I've found a possible weakness: it's mouth!" Cortana reported. "Shoot it there, or hit it with a grenade!"

Hearing that, Chief realized he had a solution that was already on hand. Moving backwards, he primed the Compact Grenade Launcher built into his rifle's fore-end and took aim. The Flood organism, roaring loudly again, charged. This time, Chief fired the launcher, with a 40mm grenade burying itself in the thing's mouth.

Moments later, the Flood organism was ripped apart by the grenade detonating inside of it's mouth. Bits and pieces of Flood matter flew everywhere, drenching the immediate area in putrid fluids and decaying flesh. Chief, who was further away, was hit by smaller bits, though it wasn't any less disgusting. For the first time in his career, he nearly gagged at the sight. "What was that thing?" he asked Cortana.

"Some kind of Flood form that's grown out of that material," Cortana surmised. "It appears as though the Gravemind can mold Flood bio-matter into new organisms. I think I'll start calling them Pure Forms as a result."

That's appropriate, he thought. Hearing more squelching sounds, he turned to see more masses of Flood biomass bulging out of the material. Not wanting to stick around any longer, he bolted forwards, moving through the door before it sealed shut behind him, locking itself moments later. "No looking back now," Cortana remarked, even as Chief proceeded forwards.

. . .

Outside of the space station, onboard the Penitent Freedom, Chiv'Kir was hard at work getting the Sangheili warships that had allied with her out of the immediate vicinity. In addition to the Flood causing mayhem as they arrived, they were still having to deal with Brutes that were causing trouble still.

It's becoming what the Humans call a 'clusterfuck', she thought as she continued to issue orders to her crew. The Brutes are still trying to destroy us, while dealing with the Flood at the same time. That leaves me trying to get the Sangheili out of there

She was about to issue more orders when, suddenly, the lights went out. Moments later, emergency lights came on, bathing the room in violet light. "What happened?" she asked.

"Power relay failure," one of the Sangheili on the bridge, Artisan-Engineer Evira 'Cuutamee if Chiv'Kir recalled correctly, reported. "Must have overheated. My crew's working on bringing it back online now." Suddenly, a powerful blow rocked the ship, with Chiv'Kir being knocked out of her command chair.

Her head hit the floor with a meaty CRACK that echoed inside of the bridge. Chiv'Kir watched as the world flashed gray for a moment, before becoming blurry. Her thoughts were muddled as she tried to make sense of what was happening. Wha-what happened, she thought, confused. She felt something warm and sticky on her head, which she dimly registered as blood: her blood to be exact.

A moment later, she thought she heard something, though she wasn't certain as to what had happened. Soon, that something morphed into muted shouting, before her sense of hearing fully returned. "Ship Mistress?!" 'Chuutamee from earlier shouted, her eyes wide with terror and concern. "Are you alright?! Ship Mistress?!"

"Wha-what happened?" Chiv'Kir asked, her senses fully returning to her.

"We've been hit!" 'Cuutamee reported. "The hull's been breached, and we have Flood boarding the ship! The Parasite is coming!"

Hearing that, Chiv'Kir immediately barked out orders. "Seal off the affected decks!" she ordered. "Lock down all doors and depressurize those areas! Do not let the Flood get control of the ship! Have any Sangheili onboard clear the Flood out! NOW!"

As her crew frantically worked to keep the invaders from getting to Engineering or the Bridge, Chiv'Kir sat down on her chair, just as the lights fully came back online. Feeling her head, she felt that warm wetness, pulling her fingers back to see her indigo colored blood on her forehead. As she did so, she heard one of her crew shout, "Ship Mistress, the Flood have overridden the controls! We can't control the ship!

That settles it, she decided. Opening the PA, she said, "All hands, this is the Ship Mistress speaking. Abandon ship! I repeat: abandon ship! Get to the escape pods, Phantoms and any other transports you can find immediately! This is Ship Mistress Chiv'Kir signing off!" With that, she said, "Everyone out, NOW! I'll follow once everyone's off board!" Nodding at that, the crew immediately abandoned the bridge, though 'Cuutamee remained with her.

Working frantically, she made sure that everyone that wasn't infected by the Flood made it off of the ship. As she worked, she could hear something trying to break into the bridge. "Ship Mistress," 'Cuutamee called out. "We must go! There is no more time!"

"Not until everyone's off," Chiv'Kir shouted.

"Everyone is already off, Ship Mistress. We must go NOW!" Before Chi'Kir could protest, 'Cuutamee, using her strength as a Sangheili, grabbed Chiv'Kir by the waist before tossing her onto her shoulder. Grunting, she began to run for the last remaining lifepod onboard this deck. As she did so, she hit a command on the bridge console.

"Warning, Warning," a Sangheili voice said over the PA. "Critical Reactor Safeties Disengaged. Evacuate Immediately." Explosions rang out as power conduits overloaded, unable to handle the rapidly rising reactor output as it went critical.

Shouting as shrapnel bounced off her armor's energy shields, 'Cuutamee tossed Chiv'Kir inside the pod before closing it. Hitting one of the functions, she felt her movements becoming sluggish as the air inside thickened, the result of an stasis field that was designed to prevent passengers from being jostled around. Soon, she could only move her fingers, but that was enough for her to hit the launch button. Moments later, both individuals were fully paralyzed, unable to do anything except breath and move their eyes.

As luck would have it, 'Cuutamee was positioned in a manner that allowed her to look outside as the pod launched off, her body firmly immobilized by the stasis field that kept her and Chiv'Kir from being thrown around by the launch. Looking outside, she watched as the pod powered away from the ship, before coasting along as the life support system fully activated. A slight jolt, likely from hitting debris, caused the pod to move to where she saw the ship.

As soon as 'Cuutamee looked outside, she watched as the ship exploded. The window went to maximum polarization in order to prevent harmful levels of light from entering the ship, though she still saw the explosion. The Penitent Freedom was ripped in half by a powerful explosion that sent both halves of the ship flying in different directions. One flew past the pod, while the other flew towards High Charity on a collision course.

At this point, the stasis field reduced in strength, not enough to permit full movement, but enough for 'Cuutamee to move her mandibles, if only slowly at that. "Ship Mistress?" she asked, her mandibles moving in slow motion. "Are you alright?"

Chiv'Kir didn't say anything, but she moved her thumb in a way that said 'yes.' Relaxing, 'Cuutamee was about to relax when she heard a male Sangheili speaking over the BattleNet. "Imperial Admiral Xytan 'Jar Wattinree to Ship Mistress Chiv'Kir. Are you there? If you are still alive, please respond!"

Speaking up, 'Cuutamee said, "This is Artisan-Engineer 'Cuutamee to the Sublime Transcendence. The Penitent Freedom was boarded by the Parasite. We had to abandon ship and destroy it. Chiv'Kir is with me, but the lifepod's stasis field has partially malfunctioned. She can only breath, and I can't move anything other than my mandibles. Even speaking is difficult, as you can probably tell. We need immediate rescue."

There was silence on the other end, then she heard, "Understood. One of our Phantoms is coming to retrieve you and bring you onboard. One of the Huragok should help with the problem that you're currently having. Imperial Admiral 'Jar Wattinree out." With that, 'Cuutamee watched, despite being nearly being fully immobilized, as the Phantom in question drew closer, it's mere presence marked by a twinkle of light in the distance.

. . .

While Chiv'Kir and 'Cuutamee were being rescued, Chief was still working his way through the increasingly Flood infested hallways and rooms of High Charity. Rifle roaring, he cut down a Combat Form as he moved through one of the gardens in this section of High Charity. As he moved along, he heard Truth say over the PA, "The Parasite did not defeat the Forerunners… and it shall not defeat us!"

Apparently, the Gravemind had managed to hack into the PA, since it's booming voice came over the PA as well. "Arrogant creature!" it snarled. "Your deaths will be instantaneous, while we shall suffer the process of infinitude!"

"He did kinda deserve that," Cortana remarked.

"Not now," Chief interrupted as he continued to advance forwards. Passing through a door on the other side, he keyed his COM and said, "Chiv'Kir, do you read me?" No answer. "Sierra-117 to Ship Mistress Chiv'Kir, do you copy? Over." No answer.

"I'm not getting anything either," Cortana informed him. "Something's happened."

"Either way, we have to get off of High Charity. Where are we right now?"

"According to the map Chiv'Kir's specialists sent me, we're approaching the Hierarch's private quarters: the Inner Sanctum. We'll have to pass through another garden area, and then we'll have fully arrived there. Once we're there, we can exit through a lift on the other side of a room that's accessible from the Inner Sanctum via a lift. That should get us to one of the energy beams that's connected to the Forerunner Dreadnought."

"Got it. Anything else?"

"According to the specialists, the security in this part of the tower is unusually robust. Fitting, given that this is where the Prophet's stayed at." Nodding at that, Chief proceeded through the hallway into another garden.

Again, as he maneuvered past Flood that were unaware of his presence, the PA came alive again with Truth's voice. "Whosoever is gripped by fear, take heed. I am the Prophet of Truth… And I am not afraid. Noble Mercy is by my side. His wise council e'er in my ears."

Once again, the Gravemind cut in, humilating Truth. "We exist together now… Two corpses, in one grave." This time, the PA gave out, likely for the last time. Ignoring the broadcast, Chief moved to the other side, before sealing the door behind him.

Moving through the corridors, he went up a ramp before entering a lift that led to what the map indicated was the Sanctum. Exiting the gravity lift, he found a number of Brutes and Grunts guarding the area up ahead. One shouted before firing at him.

Ducking into cover, Chief opened fire with his rifle, the muzzle spitting 7mm bullets at the enemy. One Grunt was riddled with bullet holes, it's head exploding from a HEAP round, while another behind it was also gunned down. Firing off a grenade, Chief blasted another group apart, before focusing on the Jiralhanae. Once the Brute was dead, he moved forwards through the doorway, entering what the map indicated was the Inner Sanctum.

Spotting the lift door, he immediately moved through and into the gravity lift. It wasn't long before he reached the top. Looking around, he could see an emerald-green energy conduit that shot out overhead towards the Forerunner Dreadnought, supplying what appeared to be power to the rest of the place. Platforms up ahead were fulled with Covenant and Flood fighting each other.

"It's now or never, Chief," Cortana told him. "The Dreadnought is about to leave! We can't stay here any longer!"

With that, Chief bolted forwards, faster than he'd ever gone in his life. Myomers and force amplifying circuits strained as they were almost pushed to the breaking point. With a powerful leap, Chief entered the power conduit. Immediately, his body was suspended as he was accelerated forwards faster than he could run, courtesy of anti-gravity generators that kept the conduit aloft.

It wasn't long before it began to fade though, as he could see the beam terminating behind him. Before long, the end of the conduit whooshed over his head, leaving him drifting in zero g. Just as the doors to the Dreadnought up ahead would've closed, he slipped inside, barely making it inside. "That was too close," Cortana remarked.

"Agreed," Chief nodded. "We'll make it to Earth, though."

"Are you certain of that?"

"I promise."

"Don't make a girl promises that you can't keep."

"I always keep my promises."

As they said that, the Forerunner Dreadnought's engines surged, with the massive ship flying upwards and through the portal up ahead. Within seconds, it entered the vacuum of space, flying towards a Slipstream Space Portal that opened up. Within another few seconds, it disappeared inside, with the portal closing seconds later. Soon, the war would enter it's greatest crescendo.