Long story short, the reason this update took so long is because life has been tearing me a new anus the last few months. Go check my tumblr if you want details.
…
0026 Hours, March 22nd, 2683
SSV Normandy Comm Room
Pax System, Horse Head Nebula
…
"What's our next move, Master Chief? Head for the Mu Relay?" Ashley asked before yawning. It was no surprise she yawned. It was getting late and it had been a very long night for Blue Team. Once the Rachni Queen was dealt with, they escorted the surviving scientists through Peak 15 and eventually back to Port Han'Shan. Everyone was now back on the Normandy, out of their combat hard suits and in their casual dress, ready to hit the hay as soon as the Master Chief said 'dismissed.'
The Master Chief, himself still wearing his armor, thought over Ashley's question. Eventually, he shook his head. "Whichever star cluster the Mu Relay takes us to, Saren or the Conduit could be anywhere in that cluster. Additionally, the star cluster could be very large. Unless we know their exact locations within that cluster, we could be searching that area for weeks and not find anything. It could potentially be a waste of time and resources."
"The Master Chief is right." Liara commented. "We cannot rush off blind. We still need to learn more about Saren."
Ashley leered at the Asari. "Who put you in charge? Did the Chief resign when I wasn't looking?"
"What about the Alliance? Or the Council?" Kaidan suggested, likely to defuse a confrontation between Ashley and Liara by keeping the discussion on-topic. "We could pass this information along to them. Unlike us, they've got enough ships to sweep a whole star cluster in short order."
Chief shrugged. "I'll pass it along to them, but I don't know how much good it will do. Cortana corroborated the Mu Relay's coordinates with the galaxy map. Turns out, the relay's location borders the Terminus Systems. Doubt anyone would want to send a fleet there."
"So we're on our own." Wrex commented. He huffed. "What else is new?"
"Additionally, there's something else besides the Conduit that Saren is looking for. Halo." Chief went on.
"I still do not understand why Saren wants to find Halo." Liara thought out loud. "He already has the coordinates to the Mu Relay, as well as both a Prothean vision and the Cipher. What more does he need?" Ashley was leering at Liara again.
"That's what I wanna find out. I've been on Halo more than once." Chief said. "Trust me. We do NOT want Saren to have anything to do with that ring."
"Except we don't know where Halo is, nor do we have any leads. Just like the Conduit. So what do we do in the meantime?" Garrus asked.
Chief sighed. "It's been a long night for all of us. We'll figure out our next move in the morning. What we all need right now is some shut-eye. Blue Team dismissed."
Exhaustion was the only reason Blue Team weren't more enthusiastic about rising out of their chairs and heading to bed. "Noveria report is away, Master Chief." Joker reported over the comm. "You want me to patch you through to the Council?"
Chief sighed wearily. "Affirmative." he replied before turning to face the holographic projectors.
The images of the three councilors appeared, none of whom seemed particularly pleased with the Spartan. "Is this report accurate, Master Chief? You found Rachni on Noveria?" Tevos began, skipping all formalities and cutting right to the chase.
"Yes Councilor." Chief replied.
"Found them and wiped them out." Sparatus all but hissed. "Do you take pleasure from committing genocide, Chief?"
"I wasn't going to risk a repeat of the Rachni Wars." Chief steadfastly replied. "I'm not proud of what I did, but it was necessary."
"We understand your reasoning." Valern said. "But in the future, we'd like you to refer to us before making decisions like this."
"Understood, Councilor." Chief replied. "Are there any new leads on the Conduit or Saren?"
"Not at present, no." Valern replied. "We'll contact you when such a lead comes up." And with that, the Council disappeared. The Spartan released a breath he didn't realize he was holding in. The debrief thankfully didn't go as bad as he feared. Still, it left a bad taste in his mouth all the same.
While he had left out certain details in mission reports before, this was the first time in his entire military career that he flat-out lied in a report.
…
Iann: He let the Rachni Queen go?
Cortana: Eeeyup.
Iann: Hoo boy. Council's not gonna like that.
Cortana: They won't know. The Chief has already told them that he killed her instead. We talked about it on the way back to the Normandy, and we agreed that it was better that the Council didn't know that there was now a Rachni Queen loose in the galaxy.
Iann: Gotta say, I'm surprised. Your golden boy didn't strike me as the type who'd be especially kind towards alien bugs.
Cortana: She was the last of her kind, a second chance for her species. In the end, John just couldn't bring himself to snuff out a whole race. I'm honestly proud of him.
Iann: Interesting. I'll pass this report along to the Assembly. I suspect they'll get somebody to track down the Rachni Queen and keep an eye on her, make sure she doesn't cause any trouble. I know she says her intentions are peaceful, but you know the old saying; 'trust but verify.'
Cortana: About that. I think I actually have a theory regarding the Rachni. The queen said that a 'tone from space hushed one voice after another, forcing the singers to resonate with its own sour yellow note.'
Iann: The bloody hell does that mean?
Cortana: I think it means that the Rachni didn't go to war with the Citadel Races entirely of their own volition. It sounds like some outside force influenced the Rachni into it.
Iann: You really think that?
Cortana: It's a possibility. I'll do some more research on the conflict, see if there's anything to it that the Council races missed. I'll get back to you.
Iann: You want me to fit you for a tin-foil hat?
Cortana: Ha ha.
Iann: Take care out there, bug woman.
Iann logged out.
….
Ashley was still rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she waited for her coffee to brew in the Normandy's mess hall on deck two. The previous night's mission was a doozy. It was something of a miracle that Ashley got as much sleep as she did without having nightmares of giant, man-eating bugs.
It was then that the med bay doors opened, from which Dr. Chakwas emerged to grab her usual breakfast; a cup of coffee and a nutrition bar. It was all she usually had time for, busy as she was. "Hey Doc. How's N'tho?" Ashley asked as the doctor stood next to her, waiting on the coffee as well.
"Still in bed and not too happy about it." Chakwas answered. "His right lung has collapsed completely, so I'm in the midst of flash-cloning him a new one. He'll be out of commission for a day or two while it grows."
"So, he's gonna be stuck in med bay for a while?" Ashley asked.
"Indeed." Chakwas replied. "He's lucky. From what I understand of the mission reports, the Rachni were capable of inflicting far more damage than what N'tho suffered."
Ashley winced and nodded, remembering the scientist that was impaled through the chest in the Hot Labs. Privately, she believed that releasing the queen was a mistake on the Chief's part. The Rachni were dangerous. They were dangerous two thousand years ago, and they were dangerous now. She understood that it was the Chief's call and that he ultimately didn't want to wipe out a whole species, but still.
She shook her head a little as she went back to her coffee, pushing such thoughts out of her mind. She was just a jarhead. Thinking about the long-term implications of her CO's actions was way above her pay grade. She was just a cog in the Human Systems Alliance machine. Let the more complicated parts worry about stuff like that.
It took about ten minutes for the full pot to brew, which was nine minutes and fifty seconds longer than Ashley would have liked. Once Chakwas poured her cup and headed back into the med bay, Ashley poured herself two cups. One for herself, and one for Joker.
Joker was one of the select few non-Blue Team crew members with whom Ashley had become good friends with in her time aboard the Normandy. It was probably because they both shared a cynical sense of humor. Her weapons drills weren't scheduled to start for another two hours, so she thought she'd spend a little time up in the cockpit in the mean time.
A trot up the steps and a stroll down the bridge later, Ashley was in a seat next to Joker's, handing him his coffee. The pilot gave the marine a grateful nod before sipping it. Ashley looked out the window and saw the inky blackness of space beyond. "I see we've pulled out of Noveria." she noted.
"Yup." Joker replied. "Glad to be out of that place, I'll tell ya. I didn't know which was worse; the cold or the Kig-Yar. One will freeze your balls off, the other will take 'em out from under you and sell 'em back to you for three times their original purchase price."
"So where we headed now?" Ashley asked.
"Fortuna System." Joker answered. "Looks like the plan is to do a little survey work there while we wait for the Council to come up with a new lead."
"Survey work?" Ashley asked.
"Alliance Geological Service is always willing to pay a pretty penny to anyone willing to plant little flags in the dirt." Joker elaborated. "Plus, not like we got anything better to do until another lead pops up."
"Ah." Ashley replied. The two sat in silence for a moment. "So, how's Liara holding up?" she thought to ask.
"Wouldn't know. She never comes up here." Joker replied with a shrug. "I mean, she barely ever leaves Dr. Chakwas's closet, let alone deck two. Only person who would know for sure how she was holding up would be the Chief."
"Yeah. I hope he'll be talking to her about her mom today." Ashley said. "She has to be hurting."
"I thought you didn't like her." Joker commented.
"I don't." Ashley admitted. "But…..considering what happened last night, I'm willing to cut her a little slack."
…
The doors to the med bay opened as they always did and Chief walked through. Dr. Chakwas was working at her PC, same as usual, while N'tho was lying on one of the medical cots. Well, 'lying' might not have been the most appropriate term. More accurately, he was strapped there with leather belts. N'tho raised his head as the Spartan entered, giving him a pleading look. Chief looked over to Dr. Chakwas. "Is that really necessary?" Chief asked as he pointed to N'tho.
"I've treated Sangheili before." Chakras replied without even breaking eye contact with the screen. "As a general rule of thumb, they make the worst patients, often by insisting that their injuries aren't as bad as they actually are, moving around when they should be in bed. And considering N'tho has a history of bucking authority…."
"Ah." Chief replied with a nod of agreement. "Good call."
"I'm pretty sure this violates the hippocratic oath, FYI." N'tho commented.
"The oath means 'Do No Harm.'" Dr. Chakwas quoted. "I'm not harming you, N'tho. I'm merely keeping you from harming yourself."
"…You could have at least left one of my arms free." N'tho said. "You know, so I could watch something on my omni-tool."
"How's Liara doing?" Chief asked as he looked at the closet door.
"She's been keeping to herself. More so than usual, I mean." Chakwas replied. "I haven't heard any weeping or anything like that from her."
Chief paused, unsure of how to proceed. "You can talk to her, if you want." Chakwas said. "Just be gentle."
The Chief nodded and walked up to the door to the med bay's storage room, N'tho mercifully staying silent about him seeing Liara. He was about to knock on the door, only to have it open before him like usual. The Spartan leaned in and saw Liara sitting in front of the PC, same as usual, as though the last mission never ended with her mother's death. It seemed odd to him at first. At the very least, he was expecting the door to be locked. Perhaps the Asari weren't as private about their grieving as Humans were. Or maybe Liara was just one of those people who got over their problems by returning to their daily routines, seeking comfort in familiarity.
By all rights, he shouldn't have stepped into the room with her. In all likelihood, the Asari probably wanted to be left alone for the moment. But for some reason or other, he couldn't bring himself to leave the med bay without making absolutely sure that Liara was alright. He walked inside and the door closed behind him, locking it for privacy's sake. The Asari sighed before standing up and facing the Chief.
"If you are here to talk about Benezia's death, you need not bother. She brought it upon herself." Liara stated.
"She was still your mother though." Chief replied.
"She was…..but she was not." Liara replied. "I prefer to remember Benezia as she used to be, before she was corrupted by Saren's power."
"Good way to remember her." Chief said with a nod, not knowing what else to say. He paused awkwardly for a minute, trying to think of something better to say. "Just what exactly was Benezia like before she met Saren?" he decided to ask.
"She was…wise. And determined. And strong." Liara answered.
"Well, you're all those things too." Chief said. "Apple didn't fall far from the tree."
Liara smiled warmly. "That is kind of you to say. I appreciate your concern, but I am fine. Really. Benezia chose her path." She then took a deep breath and stepped forward as she grabbed the Spartan's hand. "Just as I have chosen mine. I am with you until the end, John."
Chief was briefly taken aback by Liara calling him by his real name. Yes, he had openly given her and the rest of Blue Team that right a while ago, but this was the first time the Asari scientist had chosen to exercise that particular privilege. Oddly, Liara's face seemed to change color when she said that. Chief wasn't really sure why or even if that wasn't a trick of the light. The room was dimly lit.
"I….looked into your history." Liara began with noted hesitation. "I know what you did on Halo. I cannot even imagine what that must've been like. The Covenant, the Flood, so many enemies and horrors out to kill you."
"You read about that, huh?" Chief asked.
"Yes." Liara replied.
"Could've just asked." Chief pointed out.
"I know." Liara replied. "But I was afraid I would say something stupid again." She paused for a minute longer. This time, Chief could was positive that Liara's face was changing color. Specifically, it seemed to be a shade of purple. "I…..I wanted to know more about you. To understand what made you into the man you are. There is something - "
"Master Chief to the comm room." Joker's voice said over the intercom. "Master Chief to the comm room. We got a priority transmission from Earth."
"Hold that thought." Chief said to Liara before leaving the storage room.
…..
The Master Chief marched up to the comm room, where the priority transmission was apparently waiting for him. "I'm here." Chief said. "Patch them through, Joker."
"Aye aye." Joker replied.
The holographic image that was projected before him wasn't quite what the Chief was expecting. The dress blacks of a high-ranking ONI officer made the Chief salute on instinct. The real surprise was the person occupying that uniform, a rather petite young woman who couldn't have been any older than thirty. She only came up to the Chief's chest (though to be fair to her, many people did), and kept her golden blonde hair in a bun near the back of her cranium. However, she more than made up for all that with her eyes, which were just as hard as any officer at her rank, maybe even harder.
"Ma'am." Chief said.
"At ease." she replied in a neutral tone. "I'd like to speak to the Master Chief."
"That'd be me, ma'am." he replied. The woman raised an eyebrow, a look of surprise briefly flashing across her face.
"You're not wearing your armor." she pointed out.
"Not in active combat right now." Chief explained.
"…..Hm." was all she replied with. "Well then, allow me to introduce myself. I am Major Danielle Ackerson, Office of Naval Intelligence Section-One. You may have been familiar with a Colonel James Ackerson in your time?"
"Yes, ma'am." Chief replied. The name did indeed ring a bell. Colonel James Ackerson was the UNSC Army liaison to ONI, and a notable rival of Dr. Catherine Halsey. Even more notably, he remembered how Ackerson actually tried to kill the Spartan once.
It was supposed to be a field test of the Spartan's then-new MARK V MJOLNIR armor with Cortana. Somehow or other, the Chief wound up going up against anti-tank mines, ODSTs fighting with live ammunition, and even a SkyHawk air strike, all of which the Chief was quite certain were trying to kill him. Ackerson tried to apologize to him, telling him that there must have been some kind of mix-up, but the Chief had always had his suspicions. The colonel's resentment of the SPARTAN-II project was well-known within ONI, and the Chief's death during a training exercise would've certainly discredited the project in the eyes of the brass.
"Well, I'm James Ackerson's great great granddaughter." Danielle stated.
Chief said nothing. Cortana was not going to like this.
"But enough introductions. There's a reason I'm calling you." Danielle went on. "My unit is currently slated to participate in a series of war games with Hierarchy Blackwatch aboard Pinnacle Station. The rules of the war games allow me to invite another unit to my side of the practice conflict, and I could think of no better candidate than Humanity's First Spectre and Last Spartan, the Master Chief himself."
The Chief was taken aback by Danielle's proposal. "I'm honored that I was the first person to come to mind, ma'am. But I'm not sure if my schedule will allow that."
"Really?" Danielle asked with a raised eyebrow. "I actually contacted Captain Anderson about your current missions prior to this call, and from what he's told me your schedule is currently clear in the absence of any new leads on Saren's whereabouts."
"I suppose it is." Chief replied. Indeed, with the mission on Noveria complete, the Normandy didn't have much to do at the moment.
"Well then, if you're free, then can I count on you to meet me on Pinnacle Station?" Danielle asked. "If nothing else, it'll keep your team sharp."
The Master Chief had a sinking feeling that Danielle wanted more than a SPARTAN-II on her side for a few military exercises. She was ONI, after all. And that was the very reason he would have to agree to take on this 'mission' of sorts. It was ONI. What was he going to do, say no?
"I'll have the Normandy change course for Pinnacle Station." Chief told Ackerson. "Where is it?"
"Phoenix System, Argos Rho Cluster. Can't miss it." Ackerson answered. "I'm looking forward to meeting you in person, Spartan-117." On that note, the hologram disappeared.
…
"Major Danielle Ackerson?" Cortana asked incredulously.
"Apparently, she's Colonel Ackerson's blood descendent." Chief elaborated.
"Colonel Ackerson." Cortana said. "The same Colonel Ackerson that tried to kill you once? That Colonel Ackerson?"
"Looks like." Chief replied.
"Oh God." Cortana said as she covered her face with her palm. "I don't know what disgusts me more. The fact that we have to deal with an Ackerson again, or the fact that her existence is proof-positive that he successfully reproduced."
"The more things change, the more they stay the same." Chief said with a shrug.
"I'll do some research on her." Cortana said. "See if I can't get you a better idea of what you're about to step into. And trust me, if slime is genetic, you're gonna be stepping into something."
"Know anything about Pinnacle Station?" Chief asked.
"It's pretty much what it says on the box; a large space station on the edge of Citadel Space, used expressly for the training of soldiers via virtual war games, kind of like the arena you and Ashley went to on Reach." Cortana replied. "It's actually a really old station. It's been in service since the Krogan Rebellions. It's currently being operated by Admiral Ahern of the Human Alliance."
Chief nodded in understanding. "I've already ordered Pressly and Joker to change course. They say it'll be a couple of days until we get there."
"Another long, boring trip then." Cortana said. "Think you can find ways to keep yourself entertained in the meanwhile?"
"I'll manage." Chief said as he got up out of his chair. He walked out of his quarters and through the mess hall, back to the med bay. It seemed that Dr. Chakwas had acquiesced N'tho's request for a free arm as he watched something on his omni-tool's screen. Legends of the Hidden Tower. Some kind of gameshow, apparently. After exchanging a nod with the Sangheili, the Chief walked over to the storage room door, wanting to pick up where he left off with Liara. She was trying to tell him something before the call from Ackerson pulled him away, and he had the feeling that it was something important.
When he arrived back into the closet, Liara looked over her shoulder at him, then stood up. "Sorry about that." he said as she turned to face him. "Apparently we just got a new assignment."
"A new assignment?" Liara asked. "From the Council?"
"No. ONI." he replied. "They want us to join them for a series of war games at Pinnacle Station."
Liara looked a bit confused. "That seems…a bit strange to me." Liara stated.
"Yeah." Chief said with a nod. "I'm getting the feeling that ONI wants to do something more than just make sure our skills are sharp."
"What do you think they really want?" Liara asked.
"I don't know. But I guess we'll find out when we get there." Chief said. "Anyway, let's get back to where we left off. You were about to say something about me."
Liara paused. Her face turned slightly purple again. She was suddenly more hesitant to maintain eye contact with him. "I…was about to say…..how brave you were. To face the horrors that you faced on Halo. On three separate occasions, no less."
"It's what I do." Chief replied with a shrug. "Anything else?"
"….No." Liara replied. "There is not much else to say."
"Well, I'm here for you if there is." Chief said with a nod. He then left the closet, the door closing behind him.
Liara sighed, mentally cursing herself for her own cowardice, as she went back to work on her PC.
…
Sorry this chapter was so short, but really, its only reason for existing is to finally reveal what the Chief's decision was in the last chapter.
Next chapter will be a REAL one. Promise.