Chapter 2: Pillar of Autumn

Planet Reach, August 30, 2552, Azzod Shipyard

Noble Six saw a comm channel open in his HUD; it was from the Pillar of Autumn, "Noble Four, this is Captain Keyes of the UNSC Pillar of Autumn; I can't wait much longer for that package, what's your ETA to the shipyard?" "We're here, Captain. Just say where we need to be and we'll be there."

He didn't hear Captain Keyes' response because an Elite General blindsided him. The General pulled an energy dagger and prepared to stab him, but a blade appeared through its throat and the Elite was unceremoniously thrown aside. Emile had saved his life. "Come on Six, we have to get to Platform Delta ASAP."

He noticed that the container holding the AI had broken. He put the chip in his helmet, remarking, "The captain won't be pleased to see this." "He'll be pleased to see me in one piece." He heard the voice through his helmet speakers, but couldn't find the comm channel. "Who said that?" Emile looked at him and cocked his head questioningly, "who said what?" The voice spoke again, saying "Me, of course. I'm Cortana, the package Dr. Halsey gave you." "Good to know." He looked at Emile, "it was the package, an AI called Cortana." We need to get moving, Six."

When Six looked at the General that had nearly killed him, he saw Emile's kukri sticking out of its throat. "Don't you want your knife?" Emile walked over to the Elite and pulled his kukri from its resting place. "I do, now let's go." Six noticed a comm channel in his visor, but heard nothing. Emile looked at him, "Six, what's up?" "Nothing, just a comm channel with no one on the other end." "Strange, but we need to keep moving, the Captain's already at the platform. We're not."

They hurried to the platform and found Keyes waiting on a Pelican. "Good to see you, Spartans. I'm sorry about the deaths of your teammates. They'll be remembered. Where's the package?" Before Six could pull the chip out of his helmet, the comm system in the Pelican chimed, "Pillar of Autumn to Captain Keyes, we've got a CCS Class Cruiser moving to intercept our escape." Captain Keyes pulled out a small pipe and twirled it in his fingers. "Alright then. Spartans, there's a Mass Driver Cannon on the other side of this complex, one of you needs to man it and take that Cruiser down."

Before Six could say anything, Emile walked up and put a hand on his shoulder, "I'll man the Cannon, you get to the Autumn and get out of here." Emile sprinted to the Cannon and manned it before Six could say anything. Six keyed the comm channel to Emile. He used the team frequency even though no one else was alive to hear it, "Good luck, Emile, Six out."

The ghost channel popped up again, except this time Six could see that it was on the team frequency. It sounded garbled and filled with static, but it was there, "…One to…Six …read?" "Cortana, can you trace the source of that transmission?" "Already on it. I'll mark it on your HUD when I find it." About ten seconds later, an arrow appeared on Six's HUD. He overlaid a map of the area on it, and found that the signal was coming from a position just south of where Carter had sacrificed himself to destroy the Scarab.

Authors Note- Sorry for the short first chapter and lack of AN on 1st chapter. I did not know how to add AN's until after I had published the chapter. On the topic of the short chapter, I was going to add more but I didn't want to give anything away, but if you read the summary, you may have already guessed what was going to happen anyway. I will try to update at least once every 2 weeks but I don't have access to the internet all the time. Again, sorry for the short chapter and lack of author notes.