Purpose Of Existence Chapter: 37: Another Type Of Control Room
"Sarah I need a status report right now. You are about to enter the dark zone and we have to be ready to leave as soon as you find our spartans".
Palmer's gaze turned from the back of the pelican to the small holotransmitter standing in the middle of the pelican. Upon it a small clearly nervous Lasky. Tom tried to hide it but she had known him for far too long and could read him like a open book
She gave him a cocky smirk "You sure you have the situation under control Captain Lasky?" Her shit eating grin was ironically, exactly what the captain needed right now and after taking a deep breath, he gave Sarah one of those goddamn trademark gentle smiles of his that most definitely did not belong to UNSC. "I'm on the top of my game, Commander" emphasizing the her title.
Sarah rolled her eyes and gave him a mock salute. "We are about 15 minutes out from both Blue team's and Red team's tracking beacon. They seem to be heading deeper inside High Charity and are to run into the believed crater caused by a possible generator discharge". Palmer checked her weapons and inserted them to their rightful place at her hipp.
"Once we touch down, it shouldn't take too long to reach them. Taking into consideration that they should have already cleared the path for us…" With this Palmer stopped and turned her gaze back to the wast landscape rolling past them. With a deep breath she continued "and hopefully, it stays empty".
Tom Lasky's kind, maybe even naive eyes scanned her. It seemed like he was trying to memorise every single detail about her. Their relationship was complicated, they both knew this. Frad regs could get one thrown out of military faster than Master Chief fell from earth's orbit and neither of them could afford that right now. She was a spartan, he was a captain. Both had sworn an oath to protect the people of earth and its colonies...Yet how can it sometimes feel so wrong?
The silence only lasted for a moment, yet for them it was eternity. "Sarah let me tell you this right now. You are going to get those spartans, you are going to bring them back to Infinity and then we are going to end this whatever the fuck you want to call it". This surprised her. Tom never cursed, even when he lost his temper he barely yelled, much less cursed. Yet here he was, going full on sailor slang rant. Sarah couldn't help but break a small smile and salute once again saying a quiet "aye aye captain" and ending the call.
ooOOoo
"We are nearing the believed chasm created by the High Charity's violent crash. I should warn you reclaimer, even I cannot get sensor readings from this particular sector. I believe the crash destroyed all of ARK's monitoring equipment and it will take time to get sentinels to repair them". Bias had been busy. The ARK's network was in shambles after the supposed "death" of Guilty Spark and there had been no one to repair it.
This however was completely expected and the digital chaos didn't surprise him at all. What however did, was that the sentinels had lost multiple cameras, motion sensors and other surveillance equipment for unknown reasons. He also had some suspicions about this so called "crater" the UNSC technicians kept blathering about.
"So you are telling us that we are going in blind?" Jerome quizzed.
Biases avatar popped up in the corner of his hud, his face had a deep scowl and the tone he used when addressing the spartan sounded like one a father would use when scolding a child. "As I just explained spartan, there is nothing I can use to get surveillance footage, besides I'm confident that this is not the first time you rush into battle blind young one".
"His right, we are going in, we have a job to do and a spartan never leaves anything half-finished. You should know this". Chief cut in, clearly trying to cut the argument before it happened. With this he kept marching ahead, knowing no matter what, his spartans were professionals if anything and…
Wait where did that come from. "My spartans" he muttered underneath the green/orange mask. Were they even his spartans anymore. He has not commanded a spartan squad since...Before Reach? Yes that's right, blue team was the only command his had, even Cortana was more of a friend than a work partner.
Goddamn they had they really grew so far apart? Why had he realised this only know. It was ironic really, all the time his brothers and sisters got injured and died around him but during his years of service, Chief had grown accustomed to everyone dying around him. This was one of the major reasons for his anti-social behaviour. Only very few ever got past his mask of incompetence and uncarines. Cortana had been the first after Halsey.
Now there were so little left, apart from blue and red team, Chief only knew few spartans that still lived. Most of them were reintegrated to civilian life, with varying success.
His train of thought was cut by Bias "Reclaimer, the way inside the supposed crater is located under what could only be described as a destroyed large grey box. I believe it is supposed to resemble a ship but I cannot be quite sure".
As they rounded the next corner and saw what Bias described as a box Chief's eyes widened.
It was a ship for sure, a very specific ship to be exact, the side of the said vessel was decorated with giant letters "In Amber Clad" The A and D were missing but there was no mistaking that this was his former Superiors and dear friends ship. This was Miranda Key's second last command. The vessel that brought them through slispace to discover the first Halo array. It was barely recognizable and the last he had seen it, it was stuck in High Charity's monolithic dome.
The others kept walking for few more meters until they realised they superior wasn't leading them anymore and turned around. Seeing Chief frozen in place, staring at the giant husk of a ship lost so long ago.
Kelly was the first to notice Chief's turmoil and started walking towards him. She always was the spartan most attuned to different emotions.
She walked a few meters, stopping only centimeters away from him. "You alright?" It was simple question, not forcing him to explain why he was like he was but offering a shoulder if he needed one. He wasn't a talkative person for sure, yet he really wanted to share this memory with them. A memory from a time when everything was simpler. You see Covenant, you shoot, end of story. Now however...It doesn't matter he can't delay there mission anymore because of his personal feelings.
"Im fine Kelly, we have to keep going". Oh was it a lie? Well yeah I giant one and he regretted it inmidielty after in came out of his mouth but they couldn't waste more time and Kelly was sit him down for a stern talking no matter where they were if she knew what he was thinking. Family was everything to her, Always was.
"Well have to go through the ship if we want to reach our destination. Its structure might be unstable so I recommend extreme caution". Fred stated. Chief merely nodded and took the lead again.
They entered through a hall that split the ships cannon bay apart. It was barely recognizable and even Chief had problems navigating inside the former stalwart-class frigate. First they passed the engineering deck, it was empty like expected. Even during his time serving onboard there were only a few engineers posted here in none combat situations.
After exiting they climbed one of the ships ruined elevator shafts, using cables and holes in the walls as support for their half a ton battle armors.
Chief pulled Douglas from the shaft and made sure he was in one piece, after he turned around and continued down the dark corridor.
"It's blocked, have to make a detour through the mess hall". Chief camly informed them, turning left and arriving inside the ghostly empty halls of IAC's main and only source of food. It was a creepy sight for sure, empty cups and plates still decorated the tables, left there by marines called to action in the middle of they supper. There was no bodies, the ship was evacuated before the crash.
"Lets keep going, nothing but ghost's here". Fred said clearly wanting to get out of the ghostly room.
"We can use the drop pod bay as a way out. Some of the holes must have been forced open by the crash. Chief told them. It was quite tight fit, seven spartans in a small staircase ment for marines and officers.
"Agreed, the faster we get out of this ship...the happier I'll be". Jerome muttered, pushing past a stack of hanging wires. The bay only held a few drop pods now, most used in the attack against the groundside Covenant forces during the initial attack. This left more than enough holes for spartans to drop through.
"Should only be a few meters drop, we won't need cables". Chief told them. Bias was constantly informing him of things he might have missed but even his vision was limited since only Chief's Mjolnirs scanners were available.
One at the time the super soldiers jumped down landing on a solid metal walkway overhanging a giant chamber. Both spartan teams looked around in confusion and it was Linda who broke the silence by asking the question or more like stating it
"This does not look like a crater".
"Agreed". Jerome continued.
Kelly turned around and her eye's videned. "It's not a crater...It's a goddamn control chamber, but for what?"
Chief had turned around and was staring at the text empted to the chambers walls. Bias noticed his concentration and stated what the was thinking. "You know what this is, don't you?"
Chief turned his gaze to the rest of the spartans. "This is not a crater, it's a control room for the portal network linking ARK to various different planets".
"And we found our missing recon teams" Fred yelled, pointing at a pile of mutilated bodies.