Chapter 40: Midnight

This be it! The end of SND. Never thought I'd get this far. I'll start rewriting soon, maybe condense a few of the earlier chapters, update the style of my writing, but nothing major. Okay… time to go kill a Forerunner.

As the Didact's ship flew through space towards Earth, six UNSC Broadsword fighters streaked in behind it.

"Approaching the Didact's ship in two hundred kilometers." Cortana announced.

"Form up on me." The Chief instructed.

"Roger." Carter responded.

Five of the fighters closed in on the lead one.

"Once we get onboard, we'll need to find the bridge."

A Slipspace portal opened up in front of the Didact's ship.

"He's on the move. Again." Emile said.

"The fighter's shields aren't rated for Slipspace!" Cortana told them.

"No. But the Didact's are." Kat said.

"Go. Get under those shields before he hits Slipspace. We should be able to ride it out safely."

The fighters opened up on their throttles and shot off towards the Didact's ship. As it hit the portal, the shields flared, and the Broadswords were in the envelope.

"Nice work, Noble. We're in." Carter reported as the ship hit slipspace.

"Broadsword's hull integrity is stable. We'll be safe as long as we stay below the Didact's shields." Cortana told them.

"Where's the Composer?" The Chief asked.

"Close. I should be able to guide us to it."

You have not been Composed. Such inoculation should not have been possible. The Didact said.

"Locking onto his transmission… he's at the Composer. We can take them both out at once."

The Broadswords dipped and weaved around obstacles, and shot turrets that deployed to take them down.

"Whoa! Shit. The whole damn ship is rearranging itself!" Emile said as his Broadsword narrowly evaded a moving piece of hull.

"Open stretch. Hit the thrusters." The Chief instructed.

"Cherenkov radiation fluctuating. We're coming out of Slipspace."

As if on cue, Earth came into view above the ship.

"At current velocity, hostile will achieve Earth orbit in approximately four minutes." FLEETCOM Watch announced.

"Roger. Battle Group Dakota, close on the Forerunner vessel."

That was Infinity. They had made it back to Earth.

"Infinity must have warned them." Cortana told them.

"Sierra-259 to Infinity. Captain Del Rio, do you read?" Carter hailed.

"Spartans! It's Lasky. You read?"

"Affirmative, sir. Where's the Captain?" The Chief asked.

"FLEETCOM didn't take too kindly to his abandoning you on Requiem. I'm afraid I'll have to do."

"The Didact's got the Composer. We're in Broadsword fighters carrying a Havok-grade payload, on approach to deliver."

"I'll see if we can grease the wheels a bit for you. All ships, prepare to engage!"

"So… Captain Lasky, maybe?" James asked over the team comm.

"Doesn't matter right now. Let's just find the Composer and stop the Didact."

The fighters flew in perfect formation through a trench filled with defense turrets, seamlessly destroying all of them as they went.

"The Battle Group's moving to intercept, but at the rate the Didact's ship is advancing, he'll reach the wire in T-minus two minutes." Lasky reported.

"Commander, direct all your ships to the Composer."

"Copy that, Chief."

The next area was a small corridor filled with power couplings that the fighters had to fly through.

"Time it right, Spartans. Go." Carter ordered.

"Break formation." The Chief added.

"Orbital Defense Command, this is FLEETCOM. Hostile inbound. Proceed to Condition Red."

"This is Earth Orbital Defense. MAC defenses ineffective against enemy vessel. It's still approaching."

"Infinity to FLEETCOM. Battle Group has reached the Didact's ship."

"Captain Lasky, you are clear to engage."

The Spartans kept flying for the Composer, bobbing and weaving around turrets and moving pieces of hull. The hull became a tunnel which got slowly smaller.

"Single file. Hit the thrusters." The Chief instructed.

"On your six." James reported.

They came out to a pitched battle between Battle Group Dakota and the Didact's ship.

"There it is. NO WAIT!" Cortana said.

"Infinity, the Didact just closed off our entrance to the Composer."

"We can try punching a hole in that hull plating, but Infinity won't be able to get a clear shot with all that flak." Lasky reported.

"We'll take care of the guns. Four groups. Go." The Chief said.

They split off to take care of the guns.

"Gun one down." Emile reported.

"Gun two down." Carter reported.

"Gun three down."

"Copy. Weapons! Prepare firing solution! I promised to get Noble Team inside that ship, and I am not about to let them down!

"Gun four… down." Jun said.

"That's the last one. Infinity, you're clear." The Chief reported.

"Roger that, Chief. You guys might want to back up a little." Lasky told them.

"Main battery… Fire!"

Twin energy projectors, like those on CCS-class battleships of the Covenant, streaked from the warship to the Didact's ship, and slammed right into the shield preventing Noble access to the Composer.

"Clean hit. We're proceeding to insertion." The Chief reported.

"Acknowledged. We'll be on station if you need us. Make sure to give the Didact our regards."

"Infinity out."

The six fighters burned starlight into the ship, rushing to the Composer as the hull started to close in on them.

"Look out!" Cortana yelled.

The fighters bobbed, weaved, barrel-rolled, and streaked onward.

"I have a really bad feeling about this!" James yelled as the hull closed in almost to the point of crushing them.

The fighters were crushed, but the Spartans were fine, as only the back parts were crushed.

"Now what do we do?" Cortana asked.

The Chief pulled the warhead off of the nuke on his Broadsword and attached it to his back.

"Plan B." The Chief said as he led the Spartans off.

"Chief, I know I'm supposed to know what to do, but…" Cortana started.

"We'll have to deploy the warhead manually. How and where?" The Chief demanded.

"I always know what to do. I always know what to do!"

"Just give me a second."

"Keep scanning for the Composer, we'll figure it out on the way." Carter said.

"Just like the old days." Emile said.

"Wouldn't be a Noble mission if it were easy." James added.

Promethean fliers inhabited the next room, and spawned a turret to stop them. It didn't stand a chance, and neither did the fliers. More fliers equals more turrets, and all went down as the team rampaged through, trying desperately to get to the Composer before the Didact could use it.

Where reason does not stop you, perhaps force can at least delay you.

The Promethean Knight that warped in front of them suddenly turned green, instead of orange.

"You know, for a Forerunner, you sure are forgetful!" James shouted as his armor pulsed and his shields cycled.

"What did you do?" Carter asked.

"Embraced my heritage, tapped into the Domain."

"So you can control the Prometheans?" The Chief asked.

"Not really. Only a few at a time."

"Better than nothing. Let's move."

With the help of a few Promethean Knights, the team pushed on and to a gravity lift deeper into the ship.

"I won't leave you. I promise." Cortana said in a bout of rampancy.

"Still good for something, I guess. I detected an energy signature ahead. I think it's a transit system like on Requiem. Find a way to access it."

They went through the next door, and found themselves in a large room occupied by a large platform to the team's right, and an AI pedestal on their platform.

"I'll try to get us to the Composer. Put me in the system."

Is this the secret you've kept from me? This… evolved ancilla?

The Didact knew about Cortana now.

"Didact knows I'm in the system. Hurry! Go!" She told them.

They all went through the portal, without Cortana's chip. They came out in a small corridor defended by just a pair of Promethean dogs.

"Portal…" Cortana said as they approached another terminal.

I sense your malfunctioning companion, Humans. And yet she eludes me.

They came out on the platform adjacent to the one they had been on originally.

"Can't… fight… Didact… and… myself… simultaneously…"

"Opening another portal…" Cortana told them.

They fought their way up, with James controlling a pair of Knights, one of which had an Incineration Cannon, which made the fight a lot easier. They found the portal as James destroyed his Promethean allies.

"I hate doing that." He commented.

"Controlling them, or destroying them?" Carter asked.

"Both."

They went through the portal, and found a supply stash.

"I can't control what my processes are doing. The stronger threads keep reprioritizing themselves over me."

"What about the Didact?" The Chief asked.

"I can't hide much longer… I'll try to get you to the Composer again."

They all grabbed new weapons, and went through the portal on their left. They came out, and James immediately charged forward, wielding a Covenant Gravity Hammer.

"JAMES! SMASH!" He said as he slammed the hammer into a Knight below them.

"Portal open! Far side of the room." Cortana told them.

James led the way with his Gravity Hammer, recruiting another Knight to their cause as they went, and letting it kill its comrades while they went through.

You impress me, half-breed. You can overwrite my control of the Knights. I applaud your progress. But it shall soon come to an end. The Didact said to James.

"Bite me, asshole."

"Where are you?" Carter asked Cortana.

"The Didact's cloaking the Composer from me."

They dealt with the light enemy resistance, and then started off through the walkways.

"Reinforcements! Hold them off while I locate the Composer!"

More dogs came in, and James smashed them with his Hammer while the rest blazed them with Forerunner or Covenant weapons.

"I've taken control of the local defense turrets." Cortana told them.

More and more dogs, or Crawlers, as James learned from the Domain, poured in, and almost overwhelmed the Spartans.

Almost.

The Chief jumped into the air and slammed one to the ground as it leaped up to their platform, crushing another in the process. The rest went down under an inhuman amount of firepower from the rest of the team.

"I got it. I've locked him out of the system, but I don't know for how long."

The Chief grabbed Cortana's chip and the team took off for the portal.

"The Composer's on the other side of that portal."

On the other side of the portal was a gravity lift that took them to a small platform that connected to the Composer. But the in-between was non-traversable.

"How do we get over there?" Carter asked.

"Conveyor lift, end of the ramp. If we time it right, our momentum should carry us right through the low gravity."

They ran and hit the lift, and started flying.

"Once that warhead is primed, the window for getting out of here will be slim." Cortana told them.

"We know." The Chief answered.

And so… you come at last. The Didact told them.

"Activity! Slipspace event building under the Composer!"

"He's powering it up!" Emile said.

The second they landed, they took off, running and gunning their way through. When they found the Composer, they also saw the Didact inside.

"The Didact's shielded himself inside the Composer. The nuke won't do us any good unless we disable that barrier. Find me a terminal."

The Chief put Cortana into the system via an AI terminal, and she hesitated for a second.

"I've got to do something you're not going to like."

She screamed and two of her split off from the main.

"What the-" Emile began.

The Chief pulled the chip as the clones started dividing.

"What was that?" James asked.

"I ejected my rampant personality spikes into the system. If I do that at each of those beams, the copies can overwhelm the Composer's shielding."

They hit another lift, and as they flew, a platform materialized in front of them.

"Get ready!"

The fight was hard, and frequently came to a standstill as the Spartan's shields recharged. The Prometheans here were much stronger and hardier than anywhere else that they had fought, and that posed a problem for the Spartans. They activated a lightbridge to go across to the next beam, and handled the Crawlers with relative ease.

"Now, before they send reinforcements." Cortana said as another terminal came up in front of them.

The Chief put her chip in, and she split her rampant personalities as the Spartans waited impatiently. When she was done, the Chief quickly grabbed the chip, put it back in his helmet, and they all left for the next beam.

"That's it. It's working." She reported.

You humans sought the Didact. You will have him. The Didact said.

"His ship's in range! Once the barrier is down, you'll need to get the nuke in there fast." Cortana told them.

They went for the next beam, bypassing all the enemies to get to the platform, and repeated the process over again. Eliminating the Prometheans little by little, with help from James' new Knights, and then activated the lightbridge to get across. When all the enemies were dead, the terminal rose, and the Chief put Cortana into the system once more. This time, the barrier went down.

And yet, still you fail. The Didact said as he activated the Composer.

The beam went straight down, decimating the city of New Phoenix. As the Chief went to recover Cortana's data chip, a blast of hardlight struck the terminal, disintegrating it and the AI's chip.

"CORTANA!" The Chief shouted.

"Chief! We have to go! We need to get the nuke to the core! NOW!" Carter shouted as the rest of the team left.

He was searching the pedestal's remains, trying to find some remnant of his AI. There was none.

Cortana was gone. And she wasn't coming back.

He heard whispers as he ran.

Get to the core. Destroy it.

That had to be Cortana, the Chief pressed on. For her.

I'll always take care of you. Cortana whispered.

"Prime the nuke. Save them. Destroy the Composer." Cortana said.

That interference, concurrent with Cortana's rampancy, appeared on the Chief's HUD, along with a message.

It's alright, but you need to hurry.

The team rode the gravity lift up to the Didact, and James and the Chief approached together while the others stayed back. When they looked up, the Didact was gone, so they continued walking.

"You persist too long after your own defeat." The Didact said from everywhere, and yet he was nowhere to be seen.

As they continued on, the Didact appeared behind them.

"Come then, Warriors. Have your resolution."

Both of the Spartans turned as one, and the Didact threw the Chief telekinetically, along with the nuke, while James engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Didact, who easily beat the Spartan.

"You are weak, Humans."

The Chief was instantly up, and ran for the nuke, but the Didact caught him with his telekinetics.

"So misguided." The Forerunner said as he held John in the air, and had James pinned under his boot.

Then a shot rang out, and the Didact lurched over. Jun stood tall, with his SRS-99 Sniper rifle smoking at the barrel.

"That shot wasn't misguided." Carter said.

"High-velocity, armor piercing rounds. They can take the hat off an Elite at two thousand yards." Emile said.

"And they ain't cheap." Jun added.

The Didact kept his grip on John, but James was able to get up, and get the nuke as the rest of the team closed in on the wounded Forerunner.

"Humanity's imprisonment was a kindness."

He began to crush The Master Chief telekinetically, and then looked around as so many clones of Cortana appeared on the bridge.

"In that case, you won't mind if we return the favor." The clones said as one.

"Your compassion for mankind is misplaced." The Didact proclaimed.

"I'm not doing this for mankind!"

They all turned into little sprite-like dots of light, and imprisoned the Didact with hardlight restraints. The Chief fell, barely catching the edge of the bridge, and the team helped him up.

The Chief ran for the Didact, and slammed a grenade onto his chest, and he was slapped away. The Didact struggled out of Cortana's restraints, and telekinetically lifted the Chief, only to be slammed in the gut by James, who went over the edge with the Didact.

"JAMES!"

They fell just outside the Composer's beam, so at least James wouldn't be Composed. They all saw the flash as the pulse grenade went off, killing the Didact. The Chief crawled to the nuke, seeing as the rest of the team was still shocked by James' sacrifice, and he armed it. Then he looked at Earth, and then at the rest of the team. Carter nodded, indicating that he should do it.

The Chief lifted his arm, and using every bit of strength he had, slammed his hand into the nuke, detonating it and blowing up the Composer.

When his vision cleared, he was on one knee, alongside the other members of Noble Team, minus James. They all stood, and looked around.

"Cortana." The Chief asked.

Silence as they stood up.

"Cortana, do you read?"

Still nothing.

"Cortana, come in."

They all turned to a humming noise, and saw the AI walking towards them. She was as tall as them now, and smiling.

"How…?"

Oh, I'm the strangest thing you've seen all day?" She asked.

The other Spartans stayed silent. This was a very personal moment for the Chief, and they would let him have it. Not as if there was much choice, as they disappeared a second later. But the Chief didn't notice.

"But if we're here…"

"It worked. You did it. Just like you always do."

The Chief looked around, searching for an exit.

"So how do we get out of here?" He finally asked.

"I'm not coming with you this time." Cortana said after a moment's pause.

"What?!" The Chief asked, shocked.

"Most of me is down there. I only held enough back to get you and the others off the ship."

"No! That's not… we go together!"

"It's already done."

"I am not leaving you here." The Chief enunciated.

"John…" She said as she put a hand on his chest.

"I've waited so long to do that." She continued.

"It was my job to take care of you." John said.

"We were supposed to take care of each other. And we did."

"Cortana… please."

She started walking back, signifying that this was the end.

"Wait…" John urged.

"Welcome home, John." She simply said.

And then she was gone. The Chief held his gaze as the ship around him crumbled and tore itself apart.

And then he too was gone. And a part of him would always be dead, along with Cortana.

As he floated through space, John couldn't think of anything but his lost AI. Then a searchlight hit him, and a radio broadcast came through.

"Infinity Actual? Pelican Nine-Sixer. We found him."

He was brought aboard the Pelican and it landed on Infinity. When he got out, the soldiers on the deck saluted, and the rest of Noble met him at the end. They said nothing, but conveyed their feelings through their body language. Sagged shoulders, Slumped heads, and deep breaths said that they all felt similar to the Chief, but nothing like he was feeling.

"Chief…"

They all turned and saw James, in scorched armor, missing his prosthetic arm, and with multiple holes in his visor and armor plates.

"I'm so sorry. I know it doesn't' help, but we're here. I'm here." He said.

Infinity Observation Deck A-3.

Three days after the Didact's defeat.

The Chief stared out at the human homeworld, Earth, silently as Captain Lasky walked up.

"Mind if I join you?" He asked the Spartan.

"Of course not, sir."

"At ease, Chief. It feels kind of odd for you to call me sir."

The Captain stood beside the Spartan.

"Beautiful, isn't she? I don't get to see her often enough."

Silence from the Spartan.

"I grew up on New Harmony, attended Corbulo Military Academy. Never saw Earth in person until I was an adult, but… I still think of her as home."

Yet more silence from the Spartan.

"You don't talk much, do you?"

Lasky paused, waiting for the Chief to answer, but he didn't.

"Chief, I won't pretend to know how you feel. I mean, I've lost people I cared about, but nothing like what you're going through."

"It's our duty as soldiers to protect humanity." John finally said.

"You say that like soldiers and humanity are two different things. Soldiers aren't machines. We're just people."

The Chief was silent once more, only turning a bit to look at Lasky.

"I'll let you have the deck to yourself." Lasky said.

The Captain walked away, and the Chief kept staring at Earth.

"She said that to me once, about being a machine." He said to no one.

Promise me you'll figure out which of us is the machine. A whisper in the air told him.

Every Journey, big, small, or Great, begins with a single step. This has been a hell of a ride. Thanks for sticking around, or if you're only just getting into it, thanks for having faith in me. You guys kept me going when I really didn't want to keep going, and you stayed with me even when I may have pissed you off a little bit.

Thank you. From the bottom of my heart. Thank you.

You are my Cortanas. You kept me going, watched my six, and helped me out when I needed it, and even when I didn't need it.

Now this road ends. But there are other roads that this one connects to.

I will be writing a sequel, if I buy an Xbox One and H5: Guardians. There will be no preview, as it will probably be wildly invalidated by Halo 5, and as such, I will be focusing on A New Battleground, and a few more books I'm going to start.

Extra special thank you goes to Winter's Sentinel for beta-reading. You've been an amazing help.

Next story will go up in a few days, or so. If you're interested in seeing it before then, give me a PM.

I'll see you all on the other side.

Greg.

They call me 'AlphaGuardian'.

Remember me.