The Onyx Stars

by The Hidden Sith

A lost ship, a lost warrior, and a lost mind find themselves stranded in an unknown world. Full of vast wonders, threats, and opportunities, this new world is an unknown element for a crew accustomed to war and hardship. But, all Edens fall and beyond the embers of war lay the dawn of victory. Halo/Mass Effect AU John/Cortana, Lasky/Palmer

14. Chapter 14: The Eleventh Hour

Happy Holidays!

The Onyx Stars

Halo-Mass Effect Crossover

By: Sith

AN: Tons of thanks to WarpObscura, Imperial Waltz and JonHarper (Spartan303) for being my betas and helping the plot be smoothed out.

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

***Certain characters, technology, events and objects have been changed for the purpose of the story.****

Here's Chapter 14: The Eleventh Hour

Enjoy

-Sith

Chapter Fourteen: The Eleventh Hour

June 6th, 2535

Planet Rendella

Sweat beaded across his forehead rapidly, soaking into the foam lining his enclosed helmet. The heads-up-display on his visor flared into existence, outlining the rapidly running forms of the rest of the Naval Combat Teams; black armor and uniforms darted across the night's burned and battered landscape.

There was a roar of fire from high above in the heavens as a Marathon-class Cruiser hurtled down from the sky, fire and plasma peeling from its form like scabs and dead flesh. The skeletal ribbing was easily visible as was the fire that engulfed it. Whatever crew had survived the battle with the Covenant were now dead - radiation shielding on the reactor had likely been breached and flooded the entire warship with gamma radiation and judging by the amount of fire and the lack of hull plating or armor, any survivors were incinerated as it fell from orbit towards the thrashing ocean below.

"Down!" Lieutenant Thomas Lasky shouted to his team. The three other squad mates of his hit the ground and rolled into cover as the Marathon slammed into the water several miles away. The water buckled and collapsed and hissed as it extinguished the fires and the burning bodies of dead crew. A tidal wave sprang forth from the impact and slashed at the island that Lasky and his team were located on. He could feel the ground buckle and pop underneath him as the waves hit the kilometer-tall walls of stone and rock and terrace.

High-pitched howls screamed over the roar of waves as Covenant Cruisers and Banshees descended. They were but a small portion of the force that had routed and crushed Admiral Jem's fleet that protected this industrial world. Their hulls were a dull and darkened purple against the orange and red sky and the lines of blue decorating their forms were painfully-bright to stare at.

The massive engines that spit out megatons worth of energy to propel the massive vessels engaged in full and sent the alien craft towards the capital city of sixteen million people. Most had been evacuated; families, children, pets, everything that looked good for public relations and propaganda. All that remained were a hundred-thousand or so UNSC Army Troopers and a division of Marines to try and hold the Covenant off long enough until whatever ONI had found under the ice could be activated. Screening the main force of marines was a force of ten thousand 'volunteer' convicts outfitted with explosive vests that would run at the Covenant force and detonate themselves. Lasky knew that these convicts were the worst of the worst and were being sent on these suicide missions in order to pull resources away from prisons and penal planets and into the war. But it was still unethical, at least, in his mind. There had been worries about cost and if the 'volunteers' would actually follow their suicide orders but ONI had found ways.

"Contact!" Petty Officer Knight shouted out.

Lasky looked up. A lance of Covenant forces had landed from their drop ships and was slowly approaching his Naval Combat Team. The small group of aliens was led by one of the big reptiles dressed in shimmering blue armor and hoisting a weapon that, very likely, could blow apart a man's torso in a single shot. An Elite. Lasky had seen one of them tear apart an entire team of Marines apart with the element of surprise and the sheer power of the creature's weapons. The sharp, bird-like Jackals flanked him and screening the group were the demonic Grunts. He had seen the little gremlins eat the dead of their fellows and of humans and it brought a lump up to the top of his throat.

"Knight, Humble..." Lasky said, highlighting the location to take position, "take up position up there on that ridge line and when I give the signal open fire with your DMRs, we'll catch them by surprise."

Two green acknowledgment lights winked and the sailors moved silently onto the ridge line. Precision M392 Designated Marksmen Rifles with under slung shotguns rested against the dirt, barrels ready to fling .338 Lapau AP rounds down range at insane velocities.

Lasky turned to the other man in the group and motioned him to take position. He nodded silently and ran forward, propping himself against the burning remains of a Longsword fighter and resting his own DMR through the broken cockpit window.

Lasky sat in the brush and steadied his breathing, IR vision filter blanketing the world in a static wash of various shades of gray, black, and for the approaching hostile force, angry red.

The Covenant Lance emerged from behind the rocks and Lasky pinged the order to open fire across his team's channel. Armor piercing, high velocity bullets screamed out of barrels and cored through the main line of Grunts. Torsos and heads exploding like a water balloon hit by a 120mm smooth-bore railgun.

The Jackals advanced forward, bullets pinging off the candy-colored shields protecting the bird-like aliens. The Elite Minor leading the lance had taken cover behind the rocks and was firing. Plasma bolts smashed into the cover Lasky's Combat Team had taken behind and entire boulders were being melted or punched through by the alien barrage.

Lasky reached for his utility belt and grabbed one of the tiny black egg-shaped devices attached to it. He thumbed the top button. Four lines of red light streaked across the sides and he threw it. The grenade sailed over the Jackal's heads and landed behind them, emitting a loud shriek before exploding. The miniature M-8921 High-Explosive Infantry Air Burst Grenade detonated, vaporized the air for fifty meters across and pulped the Jackals. Burned chunks of the birds littered the ground.

The Elite had also been affected by the miniature bomb detonating and there was the ever-present crackling of failed blue energy shielding. Lasky sighted down his sight and fired. The bullet screamed out of the barrel with a deafening howl and impacted the cranium. The large head on the creature exploded and the body slid limply to the ground, finger clutching the trigger on the plasma rifle and sending blue bolts into the air.

"Secure!" Lasky ordered and the team responded, darting forward and quickly surrounding the fallen Elite. There was a quick scan with Knight's tac-pad as the Elite was cataloged and a scan of his weapon and armor was completed.

There was a shimmer behind Knight and two ice blue blades sprang into existence, followed shortly by an Elite Zealot. The energy sword pierced Knight's armor and cleaved the sailor in two. Petty Officer Humble fired rapidly, trying to drop the Zealot's shield, but received a brutal punch to the chest that crushed her rib cage and sent her flying against a large stone.

Lasky's eyes widened and he kept firing, backing away from the ghostly calm foe. High velocity bullets pinged off the shields ineffectually and he cursed not having one of the experimental electrothermal-chemical fire arms or a railgun.

The Elite neared and swung its sword, cleaving Lasky's DMR in two. Tom's eyes widened and he reached for his sidearm before he felt something smack against his chest and feel himself flying against another rock. It struck and he felt his ribs shatter; his armor injected biofoam to try and semi-set his bones.

The Elite roared in amusement, its four mandibles opened wide revealing rows of razor sharp teeth and a snakelike tongue. It brought its sword back, up over its head and brought it slashing down. Lasky rolled to the side, tears welling in his eyes as the pain of broken ribs was dwarfing adrenaline and the combat cocktail of drugs in his system. The boulder was cleaved into two parts, the edges oozing molten stone.

Lasky tried to crawl away, firing blindly with his side arm. The fifty-caliber, high explosive, armor-piercing rounds pinged off the shields ineffectually and only served to amuse the hostile xeno for a brief few seconds. Lasky let the expended pistol drop from his fingers and he let himself stop crawling away.

The Elite grabbed Lasky by the neck once more and hoisted him to eye level. The energy sword was a few millimeters from Lasky's neck now and his skin rapidly began to burn, forming blisters and boils as the Alien prepared him for decapitation.

Suddenly, and with a stealthy grace, Michael Sullivan grabbed the Elite by the neck and brought its head down through his deployed wrist blade. The sharp blade of molecule obsidian gouged through the weakened shields of the alien and pierced the skull, plunged through the brain and emerged between the creature's beady and predatory eyes. Michael pulled up and cleaved the head in two, armor coated in the beast's blue blood.

Lasky felt the creature go limp and the fingers loose their grip. He fell to the ground with a groan and the deactivated energy sword clattered to the ground beside him.

Sullivan walked over to Lasky and offered his hand. Lasky grabbed it and pulled himself up, leaned against his friend and tried to regain his balance. His face place depolarized. "Thanks."

Sully gave a curt nod. "Of course."

"What should we do about the others?" Lasky asked, looking towards the cleaved bodies of their squad mates.

Reaching for the pouch at the small of his back, Michael retrieved three dog dags. "I have their tags, that's all."

Lasky wanted to deliver a retort but decided against it. He could barely keep his eyes open—much less debate the merits of leaving the eviscerated bodies of his subordinates behind. "Oh...okay."

There was a roar of engines followed by the screech of hundreds of Covenant Banshees and Seraphs that boomed across the landscape and toppled mountains damaged from debris falling from orbit. Boulders splashed into the blood red and orange sea like a clan of seals. The Covenant Battle Cruiser took position over the capital of Rendella. Tiny fires dominated the towering skyscrapers that once had been a tourist attraction, but now, many had fallen and the dominating form of the CCS-class Battle Cruiser loomed over them. The Banshees and other smaller vessels formed around the Battle Cruiser in a tight trapezoidal formation. There was a loud boom and the droning voice of an alien echoed through the area. It spoke with an alien tongue but Lasky could feel the emotion, feel the hatred behind every word. The belly of the Battle Cruiser flared a brilliant magenta and spat forth a pillar of energy and plasma. It touched the ground and in an instant, the entirety of the city was vaporized.

"We need to go, now!" Sully snarled. He started to haul his commanding officer towards the path which would lead to their extraction point. Hopefully, there would be some UNSC presence left on this world that could rescue them.

"Damn it, Sully. If you think I'm going to say leave me, you're dead wrong," Lasky stated, "That's so cliche anyhow."

"Yeah, I'm aware of that!" Michael responded, "They're going to start glassing the planet soon, we either need to find a deep titanium mine to hide in or get something with engines."

Lasky bit his bottom lip. "Why don't we just fly away on the wings of imagination?"

"Fuck off," Sullivan responded as he helped Lasky over a fallen tree.

"Jeez, I'm just saying..."

"Silence!" Sullivan spat.

Lasky was taken back by the hiss from his comrade but ignored it, deciding his colleague was simply reacting to stress and their current predicament in a manner appropriate, if a bit harsh.

"This is UNSC Anubis, we are en route to your position. White Tail Actual?" Lasky's ear piece buzzed.

Thomas reached up and tapped it. "This is White Tail Actual, we are en route. Two White Tails down; Buck and Devil Horn still active."

"Understood White Tail Actual," The person on the other line drawled, "Once on board we will evacuate out of system. Admiral Moore has authorized the Rotten Apple."

Lasky felt the hairs on his neck raise; the Rotten Apple was a procedure which involved detonating fourteen Shiva-grade Nukes underneath the surface of the planet and along tectonic fault lines. Massive segments of matter would be instantaneously ripped away and the structural support of the planet would collapse within a few hours, thus rendering the affected world the resemblance of a rotten, decayed and crushed apple.

It was standard procedure once a world fell into Covenant hands; scorched Earth policy. Deny the enemy any resources; organic and mechanical and terrestrial.

The roar of the prowler Anubis' engines boomed across the sky as the sleek, black vessel descended from the heavens. Sickly gray and black storm clouds broke apart as her sharp, dart like structures pierced them. Lasky noticed that following her were several Covenant corvettes. Bolts of plasma and missiles streaked after the human craft as it rolled away to engage. Flares fell from her tips and provided temporary respite from the attack as the missiles and bolts turned away to face the decoys.

The small 168mm Magnetic Accelerator Cannon that armed the prowler had emerged from its position on the ventral side, rotating to face the attackers' bridges and fired. A half-ton round streaked through the air and struck the lead Corvette's bridge. The unshielded vessel, an anomaly in the Covenant fleet, crumbled inwards as the round penetrated through it length-wise. It blew out the back side of the engine, continuing on and clip the tail of the other escort Corvette. The lead Corvette belched flame, debris and crew as it careened towards the ocean. Consumed in purple, blue and pink fire from the plasma, the rapidly dying vessel gave out a painful and deafening screech as several hundred tons of metal slammed into the water. The spray from the collision reached up several kilometers and the resulting wave was large enough to easily consume the island.

"This is Anubis Retrieval, activate MPEDs immediately White Tail Actual."

Lasky punched a series of buttons on his wrist's gauntlet and then one on his shoulder. His backpack activated and so did the Man Portable Extraction Device. High powered magnetic carbyne-fiber robes no thicker than a Human hair streaked upwards several kilometers and attached to the magnetic underside of Anubis. He felt a kick and he was ripped upwards at 4 gravities, Michael Sullivan next to him. There was a violent jar and Lasky felt his back slam into the metal. Hydraulics activated and the small magnetic patch he and Sully were attached to recessed into the hull of the Prowler, replaced by abyss-black hull armor.

Lasky felt his world spin as the plate was rotated upwards and tothe side. A brief flash of blinding light gave way to a small but busy hangar with various stealth vehicles and Naval Combat Teams milling about. The magnets deactivated and Lasky and Sully slid onto the deck of the Anubis.

"All hands, this is Anubis Control, we are leaving Rendella. Make preparations for slipspace jump."

Lasky looked over to Sully and found nothing, the man had vanished like a ghost with only the dull echoes of footsteps following behind him.

Feeling something in the palm of his hand, Lasky looked down to find the bronze and silver emblem of Cerberus, the three headed canine that guarded the gates to Hell.

It was Sullivan's.

UNSC Fat Boy-One

Re purposed for Diplomatic Duties

August 24th, 2184

"It's good to know...that we aren't alone," The man known as Michael Sullivan said calmly. He sat in a high-backed, unadorned chair of oddly-ergonomic magnesium and polycarbonate. There was a table before him of polished aluminum with a small array of appetizers and a pitcher of water and, formerly, a duo of glasses at the center, one of which was in the hands of Admiral Thomas Lasky.

"How did you get here?" Lasky asked, wrapping his hands around a glass of water. He leaned forward on his elbows, eyes studying his old friend's features.

The Illusive Man sighed. "In 2542, as you and Admiral Cole began the battle of Psi Serpentis, I was deployed on the Anubis. We were supposed to place monitors and sensor buoys in the system to watch for signs of Covenant activity. The inner colony of New Georgia was a couple of lightyears away, right in the path of the Covenant. If we could get get an early warning, we could start evacuating. Start running."

"But something went wrong," Lasky stated.

"Yes. As the Anubis started laying the monitors, a Covenant attack fleet dropped from Slipspace," the Illusive Man said. "Have you ever seen a Covenant war fleet numbering in the dozens? The particles from FTL slowly come off of them like water off a speeding vehicle. They glisten like the diamonds from Saturn's atmosphere."

Lasky nodded. "I was on the UNSC Brilliance, one of the Cruisers that Cole took with him to Psi Serpentis. We had the fifth highest kill-rate out of the thirteen Cruisers."

Ignoring the response, the Illusive Man continued, "We went into the atmosphere of a gas giant sixty times the size of Jupiter. The thing was ready to become a star. A Covenant Super Carrier followed after us, a 26 kilometer long monstrosity of metal and death. We were about to evade when something in our subsystems went wrong and sent a signal. The split-lips started firing, pumping so much energy into the star that we were only a few minutes from being inside a newborn star. Then it happened, a subsystem activated and launched one of our nukes directly into the heart of the gas giant. It exploded, we tried a slipspace jump but there was weird radiation and energy particles present and we managed to get part of the way into the stream when we suddenly dropped out."

"And the stars didn't match their original location, there was no Covenant fleet." Lasky finished the Illusive Man's statement.

"Correct." The Illusive Man, once known as Michael Sullivan, cracked a weak smile. "I bet you have, Mr. Lasky. Now, do tell me, are there additional survivors besides just yourself?" He already knew the answer but wanted to continue playing the game.

The man sitting across from him, flanked by eight standing giants clad in a dull, charcoal gray armor responded after having a bite of a buttered cracker and a drink of water, "We've found a lot in the few months we've been stuck here...we've done a lot. We found an additional UNSC Cruiser and the Spirit of Fire."

"That's brilliant to hear." Michael Sullivan leaned back slightly and the four Cerberus guards flanking him moved back ever so. "Interesting, a few months you say?"

"Yes, a few months," Lasky responded.

"I've been here for nearly fifty years, stuck in a galaxy of hostility and brutal beasts lusting for the blood of man." Michael Sullivan leaned forward and grabbed a strip of venison and plopped it into his mouth, relishing the flavor and spices.

"Fifty years?" Lasky asked in disbelief, "Doctor Tillson is definitely correct then in her belief that time flows differently here."

"Yes." The Illusive Man retrieved another strip of the smoked and seasoned meat. "Whomever prepared this meat should be rewarded, it is delectable."

Lasky moved his glass of water to the side. "Why did you make contact with us?"

The Illusive Man shrugged. "We were in the neighborhood...eliminating certain issues that might cause the Systems Alliance some difficulties."

Lasky's head cocked to the side slightly and the lighting of the room, once a cargo bay, made him appear ten years older with crows' feet nipping at his eyes and graying strands in his hair. Sullivan noticed that absent from the warming lights of Infinity, his old friend seemed truly old. "They do have a military, you know that, right?"

The Illusive Man gave his friend a hearty nod. "Of course, but I typically solve issues that the Alliance is too..." he struggled to find the correct word for a brief moment, "paralyzed to respond to."

"Such as?" Lasky questioned.

"Pirates, slavers, Batarian War Lords." The Illusive Man leaned forward, tenting his fingers. "The wolves in space that will not ignore Humanity's cry for peace, much less friendship."

"That is unfortunate," Lasky responded, "but typical. Since we won the war against the Covenant, we've been attacked by all manner of factions; Elites, Brutes, hell, even Jackals."

The Illusive Man was quiet for a moment. "When you mean 'won the war', to what extent?"

"Every side lost horribly but are too prideful to admit that they lost." Lasky cracked a meager grin that was more of bleakness than genuine joy. "That's what has happened."

"Reminds me much of the First Contact War that occurred when the Alliance went to war with the Turians," The Illusive Man commented. "I assume you are familiar with the First Contact War?"

Lasky nodded. "I am."

"Excellent," Michael Sullivan responded. His jovial expression darkened. "So it is very surprising that you decided to become buddy-buddy with the Turians instead of siding with the Alliance and elevating Humanity to a status of power."

Admiral Lasky sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. "We aren't here to affect and overthrow the base of power in the galaxy..."

"You did so, simply by you being here."

"Let me finish, Sullivan." Lasky made eye-contact with his old friend. "We know we are more powerful, we know that if we wanted too, we could burn them all. But we aren't, we won't. We just want to live out our lives here, in our little star system of Calvary. We have no interests in being gods or kings or idols."

The Illusive Man chuckled. "How naive of you to assume that, honestly."

"It's hardly naive, Sullivan." Lasky placed his hands flat on the brushed aluminum of the table. "We want to be left alone, go about our business and not be thrown into whatever events are occurring within this galaxy. We've tried to be left alone but for some god damned reason, everybody seems to want us!"

Sullivan cocked an eyebrow. "Perhaps it is because you and your vessel are the most powerful forces this galaxy has ever seen short of the mythical Reapers—a creature which you dispatched quite efficiently. To the galaxy, you are flying around in your super ship like a bunch of, pardon my French, Admiral, assholes."

Lasky gave him a look of disbelief and revulsion. "Hardly, we just want to be left alone, and outside of retrieving our own people and getting settled in, our affairs in this galaxy have been absolutely minimal. I really do not care if we aren't in the galaxy getting our asses handed to us or being white knights. Yeah, we're not the best, but we just want to be left alone!"

"So, it wasn't you who began attacking Batarian worlds and leaving them devoid of life?" Michael Sullivan already knew the answer to that. The Ascension had begun, the Ascension had claimed its first victims. He Who Catalogs was rebuilding his forces and sowing his seeds of insurrection across the Galaxy for when the rest of his nigh-innumerable forces swarmed from the relays and the eddies of Slipspace.

"No," Lasky responded.

"Well, that's unsettling to know," the Illusive Man responded.

"How so?" Lasky asked.

"Because, if not you, then there is another force in which a single ship can plow through several thousand warships and darken the sky of a world."

"The Infinity couldn't even do that." Lasky's brow furled.

"Precisely, in that case..."

"Those Reapers have come..." Lasky's eyes widened, connecting the dots. The Gray team report, the AI battles, the Collector attacks, the psychic scream, the whispers at the back of the crew's mind, the Reaper attack a day previous, the sudden drops in temperature...it all made sense.

"With that now out of the way," The Illusive Man said, "would you be interested in joining a mutual defense pact with Cerberus?"

"I find it suspicious that you would readily give up the location of your base of operations," Lasky said.

The Illusive Man shrugged. "I trust you. Do you trust me?"

Thomas was taken back by the question and remained silent for several seconds. "I don't know..."

"Please, you must," The Illusive Man said, standing from his seat and walking towards Lasky. There was a clatter of metal as the Spartan Fire Teams encircled the Admiral and raised their weapons. Several hardlight and energy shield projections snapped into existence as well, creating a solid wall of energy, metal and sheer mass to protect the commander of the UNSC Infinity.

Lasky stood and pushed himself through the throng of Spartans to stand at arm's length away from his former friend. "Sully, if I came back from the dead with a new face and a new name, would you trust me?"

The Illusive Man had not expected this question and he remained silent for a brief few seconds before muttering, "No."

"What?" Lasky said, pushing Michael Sullivan further.

"No." The Illusive Man's voice rose to echo through the cavern.

"I'm sorry, Michael, but I can't trust you...not after all these years." Lasky hurt inside. Sullivan was, or had been, his closest friend during the war and before his disappearance.

The Illusive Man's face changed demeanor incredibly quick. What once had been an expression of pleading and sorrow was now one of steeled resolve and indifference. "Very well."

Lasky put his hand on Michael Sullivan's shoulder. "We won't do anything to interfere with your operations, nor will we attack or defend you."

"We shall do the same," Sullivan responded in a short, clipped tone.

"It was good to see you again," Lasky said, offering his hand.

The Illusive Man grabbed it. "It was. I hope next time we meet, you can trust me."

"I hope you perform an action that will allow me to do just that," Lasky said.

Lasky's earpiece buzzed. "Admiral, this is Roland. We have a communications packet from Admiral Cole. Priority is urgent."

"Understood, Roland. We are leaving now." Lasky started to walk towards the landed Pelican gunship at the far end of the hangar, the two Spartan Fire Teams following him closely. Fire Team Iron surrounded him and Fire Team Kodiak covered their six, weapons locked and ready to fire.

Lasky ascended the ramp into the Pelican and stopped at the threshold. He turned on his heel and gave Michael Sullivan a sharp salute. His friend returned it before starting off towards his own transport. "Good luck, Sully," Lasky whispered before taking his seat. The Spartans followed suit quickly, raising the ramp and sealing it shut.

Lasky stood and walked to the cockpit. "Get us out of here."

"Sir?" the pilot asked, "Shouldn't we wait until they have left? It's customary."

Lasky locked eyes with the pilot. "Get us clear, Lieutenant." His voice was firm and sent a chill up the pilot's spine.

"Sir!" the pilot responded. He punched in several commands and Lasky could feel the multi-ton gunship transport activate its engines and lift off the surface. Anti-gravity and nuclear engines activated and sent the Pelican hurtling out of the hangar. There was a brief static buzz as it bypassed the energy shield keeping the atmosphere in but after that, there were just stars.

"Squadrons Alpha through Echo, converge on Infinity Actual's Pelican. Assume sentinel formation," Commander Sebastian's voice said over the radio. In a few short seconds several hundred of the fast UNSC Broadsword fighters and dozens of the larger Longsword interceptors descended on the small Pelican, encircling it like a school of fish. Infinity loomed massively in the distance, her broadside presented and her hangars awaiting the return of her commander.

Lasky turned to Lieutenant Commander Cooper. "So, that didn't go as well as I had hoped."

"Agreed, sir," the Spartan Fire Team commander responded. He reached up with both hands, his DMR across his lap, and took off his MJOLNIR/WARRIOR-variant helmet, revealing short cut black hair and a thin goatee.

"What's your opinion on this, Commander?" Lasky asked, leaning against the bulkhead and crossing his arms.

The Spartan shrugged. "I'm not exactly sure, but I don't believe that Michael Sullivan will react well to your refusal to enter an alliance."

Lasky did not respond for a moment. "Do you think I made the right choice?"

"Yes," Was the Spartan's response. It was blunt and devoid of any doubt.

"I would have entered into an alliance in a heart beat if he was still Michael Sullivan...not The Illusive Man," Lasky commented, "That wasn't the Sully I knew...after Rendella he was different. Colder. Silent. Angry."

"He seemed...odd," Cooper responded, "He went from happy to cold and everything in between in a matter of a few seconds."

"I noticed that as well," Lasky said, "he was erratic."

"He's dangerous," Cooper commented. "Sir, your face when he told you about the Anubis. I've seen that look before, sir. Its usually when someone knows something."

Lasky sighed and looked down. "Yeah. I know about the Anubis."

"How, sir?" Cooper asked, "If you don't mind my asking."

"We got information that a Covenant force was going to be making a routine stop in the system. We also knew that Anubis was the closest vessel with a large nuclear payload. We told the Captain this and he agreed to do whatever was necessary, so, ONI had me write a program to lure the Covenant vessels in to the star and then detonate a nuclear warhead strong enough that it would cause the gas giant to go solar. I did so and when I received the final confirmation that contact had been made, I sent a slipstream command to activate the program. I was responsible for the death of ninety-two people but we managed to destroy at least a dozen Covenant ships."

"We did things like that all the time during the war, you know that? Sacrifice is essential to survival, and we all did what was necessary." Cooper's voice was hard as was his expression of relentlessness. "Was that your darkest moment, sir? In all honesty?"

"And worse...things that are beyond top secret," Lasky responded. "There are secrets to what we did, how we did it. The years of when I was in NAVSPECWAR were some of the darkest things I've ever seen. If these came to light, we'd all be hung for crimes against humanity."

"Crimes against humanity?" Cooper questioned, "How so?"

"We weren't fighting only Covenant during the war, Commander. The Innies were starting to rise up again. Have you ever seen a UNSC fleet get caught in a cross fire between a Covenant armada and an Insurrectionist controlled planet?" Lasky inquired, "The Innies purge most of the planet's population, send nukes to hit the major cities from stolen silos and then target the orbital and terrestrial MAC guns onto UNSC targets. For what? It's because they want to send a message...we addressed the colonies' concerns a hundred years ago. These people aren't divine, they are terrorists."

"Sir?" Cooper asked. The amount of venom that Lasky's tone conveyed could down a charging Brute.

"Sorry," Lasky said, "I get carried away sometimes."

"I can tell," Cooper said. "Sir, can I ask you something again?"

"Yes."

"Do you feel sorry that you sacrificed ninety-two people including your best friend?"

"I don't know...but I really think Michael knows what happened that day."

Cerberus Shuttle

En route to Cerberus Flagship

The Illusive Man's eyes stared blankly at the window as cosmic debris, some Cerberus, some Reaper, some asteroid, zipped past. His fleet loomed in the distance, some ships still showing signs of the battle with the Infinity the day prior.

The Cerberus troops that had escorted him to the failed meeting sat in front of him on the opposite side of the vessel. They still had their helmets on except for the officer who had his own off and was staring at the Illusive Man.

The head of Cerberus turned. "What?" He asked.

"That meeting could have gone better."

"Obviously," The Illusive Man responded with a snarl, "Everything could have gone better."

"That Admiral Lasky is a fool," the Cerberus officer commented. "By denying our request for a defense pact, he puts all of humanity at risk, more so than even the Alliance."

The Illusive Man sighed. "I am aware of that, Officer. I hardly need reminding."

"My apologies."

Holding up a hand, the Illusive Man silenced the soldier. "No need."

"Yes, sir."

The Illusive Man's hand rested on the hilt of his M-3 Predator pistol and he made eye-contact with the Cerberus officer. "Say my name."

"Sir?" The officer was confused.

"Say my name," the Illusive Man requested, "come on."

"Michael Sullivan." The officer bowed his head.

"Yes." The Illusive Man unholstered his pistol and fired, a loud metallic boom with an electric whine filling the cabin. The heavy caliber round streaked across the compartment and caused the man's head to explode, showering his companions with flesh, blood and brain. The Illusive Man moved to the other three Cerberus personnel and fired again in rapid succession and before the barrel had even finished cooling, four headless bodies collapsed onto the ground.

The shuttle came to a halt and landed with a resounding clank. Turning, the Illusive Man dropped the door to the shuttle and stepped out onto the blinding white light of the hangar. General Weir was there standing before him with his executive officer. Both men looked uncomfortable. Sullivan did not know if it was from the fact he had emerged from the shuttle alone or that his eyes were mad.

"Sir, it is good to see you again." Weir stepped forward and presented his hand. The Illusive Man stepped forward and revealed his pistol. He slammed the barrel into Weir's chest, precisely where the heart was and fired. There was a shower of blood and the former General fell to the ground, gasping for breath and bleeding profusely as the majority of his inner body cavity had been reduced to a pulped mass. The General's final few moments of life were short, bloody and incredibly painful.

The Illusive Man turned to the executive officer. "Colonel Packard, you are hereby in command and promoted to the rank of General of the Cerberus fleet."

General Brett Packard stammered and delivered a clumsy salute. His white and black uniform had been sprayed with blood from his predecessor's execution. "Thank you, sir."

"Now, one quick question." The Illusive Man put the pistol in his holster but did not activate the safety.

"What is it?" Brett Packard responded, panicked.

"What's my name?"

"Unknown. You are simply referred to as the Illusive Man."

Michael Sullivan smiled warmly and for General Packard, it was the most terrifying thing he had seen all day. "Good job. Have the helm set a course for home and burn the bodies of Weir and the assault squad in the shuttle."

"Understood," responded General Packard, "Anything else?"

"Yes, in fact." The Illusive Man walked past the General. "I want the command staff who were present when the first contact took place to be disposed of. We have more than enough officers willing to service the bridge."

"Yes, sir," Brett responded, swallowing nervously. "I'll see to it immediately." His voice was shaky and uneven.

"Thank you. If you need me I'll be in the observation deck," the Illusive Man responded. He calmly walked away and this time, when the searing pain of Bias' presence arrived, he did not flinch or scream or gasp.

He embraced it.

"We have much to do."

UNSC Infinity

Bridge

"Welcome back, sir." Roland flared into existence on top of the holotable. "Did you enjoy your trip?"

Lasky shook his head. "No." He walked past the tiny, orange AI and to the expansive bridge windows. "Status on rescuing the survivors?"

"All Fire Teams are back on board and the survivors of the prison camp are in quarantine. We're drawing up names, ranks and branches of service before we contact the Systems Alliance in regards to us retrieving several dozen of their soldiers," Roland reported, "Oh, and we're going to have to repair Pelican 62-2, she took heavy damage during the landing. Broadswords are returning to bays."

"Understood. Losses?" Lasky asked.

"Minimal. Four Marines were killed and we lost a Broadsword and her pilot to enemy triple-a that was concealed." Roland snapped his fingers and a render of the anti-air battery snapped into existence. "Standard Mantis class Point Defense Plasma Cannon, took care of it with an Onager round from battery 9."

"Not bad," Lasky commented, "how many Marines could we bring back?"

"Zero, the Brutes used plasma grenades to eliminate them," Roland said. The typical plasma grenade was equivalent to a 120mm air-burst flak round in terms of destructive power. The only things that had remained of the Marines were a few bits of shredded armor.

Lasky let out a heavy sigh. "Understood."

"The diplomatic Fat Boy is engaging engines and making her way back," Roland said.

"Lieutenant Austen, target the Fat Boy with Archer battery A1. Prep three missiles for salvo fire," Lasky called out.

"Sir?" Roland asked, "Why are we destroying it?"

"I don't trust Sullivan to not have done anything to that vessel or to not place stealth operatives on board." Lasky knew that that would happen; it was something he would have done. If it were not for the heavy radiation shielding covering the hull and the anti-spying measures he had ordered installed before the meeting convened, he could scan and see if his belief was correct. But now, he had to go with the assumption that Michael Sullivan had put fail safes into measure.

"Understood," Lieutenant Austen responded. He primed three missiles and miles below deck, three high-powered Archer missiles were transported on anti-gravity beams into position and locked into their target. In less than a fifth of a second after inputting the command, the missiles were ready.

The eighth screen on Austen's station switched over to a targeted view of the condemned Fat Boy. "Archers one through three firing." He smashed the firing stud and the trio of high-powered missiles rippled away from Infinity at insane velocities. "Archers one through three away."

The missiles made a wide turn and started to rapidly corkscrew. Tungsten darts shot out from the very tip of the warheads, streaking forward and softening the location where the missiles would hit. The tungsten darts were only effective against Covenant shields which commonly could be semi-weakened by close-range, high velocity darts. Noticeably absent from the lumbering, drone-transport were those shields and so the missiles hit in rapid succession, tearing chunks away from the transport and vaporizing it. One could easily have done it; three was overkill.

"Target destroyed."

Lasky turned away from the window and paced back to the holotable. "Now, what is this priority transmission we received?" He asked Roland.

Roland snapped his fingers and the mug of Admiral Preston Jeremiah Cole appeared. "Infinity Actual, this is Everest Actual. We have received a priority transmission from that Commander Shepard. He has managed to arrange a meeting with you and the Systems Alliance committee for extrasolar human affairs. I'd love to join you but we've started getting additional whispers on the edge of the system. We think that they are more of the hostiles that attacked us earlier. Cutter has the Spirit of Fire up and running and the Obsidians are at full battle preparation status. Everest is ready too, so whatever comes through space, we'll be ready. I want you to go and take care of this and, if anything weird happens there, be sure to assist the Alliance. If there's a war about to happen, we're going to need all the help we can get. Good luck, Tom. Cole, out"

"What does that man think he's doing?" Lasky muttered. The Spirit of Fire was not a battle cruiser. It was, at best, a long range bombardment vessel with nowhere near the power generation potential of the Everest or of Infinity.

"He is Admiral-I-blow-you-and-your-solar-system-up Cole..." Roland pointed out, letting the comment hang in the air, "I'm sure whatever space squid decides to take him on will have all the life expectancy of a piece of lettuce at a vegan all-you-can-eat buffet."

Lasky cracked a grin. "Very true. Before we head out, send him a data packet pertaining to how to combat these Reapers at long-range and about the psychic scream we experienced."

"Already did," Roland respond.

"Devéro, spool up the slipspace drive and set a course for the Sol system, full speed. Lieutenant Austen, once we drop out I want shields to maximum and point defenses running. I don't think they cleared out their system of stellar debris as well as we did." Lasky brought his hands to the small of his back. "Oh, and have Lieutenant Commander Cooper and his squad get in their dress blues, they'll be escorting me down. One side arm is allowed." Lasky paused his thought. "Oh, Sebastian, I want Broadsword squadrons Alpha through Echo prepped for escort."

"Making a show, sir?" Lieutenant Austen asked.

Lasky nodded. "Yes. If they are going to be asking if we want to be their friend, we might as well show what our enemies will experience if they choose that route."

Roland gave Lasky a puzzled look. "Sir, you are seriously antagonizing them at this point."

"No, I'm not," Lasky retorted.

Roland's face became stern. "Yes...yes you are!"

"Roland, watch your tongue." Lasky leveled a glare at his Artificial Intelligence. He would not have someone questioning his command, especially someone without a rank, technically.

"Admiral Lasky, I have full control over this ship. Unless you stop treating the Alliance like a bunch of enemies, I will not allow this vessel to enter slipspace. Your attitude is a major threat to this vessel and to its crew."

Lasky eased his expression. "Understood, Roland."

Roland nodded. "I don't know what has gotten into you as of late, Admiral. Your behavior has been erratic and you just seem off."

Lasky hesitated a response, judging his own conscience whether or not he wanted to say what was on his mind. He decided so. "Just working through some memories and past experiences. Dust and echoes and shadows." He responded; he was not used to being dressed down in this fashion.

"I understand that, sir," Roland responded, eyes betraying the stoic expression he maintained. He was unrelenting and Lasky could sense anger and disappointment in his voice. The tiny Artificial Intelligence gave off such...human emotion that it pierced Lasky harder than any dressing down from his crew or his commanding officers. "But you can not allow that to affect your judgment and commonsense. Is that understood?"

Lasky was taken back by his friend's powerful statement. "Yes...yes, it is."

"Thank you, Admiral." Roland's hue seemed to shift slightly, likely as his emotions fell. "I would have rather not aborted a slipspace jump. You may proceed."

Lasky nodded. "Helm, get us into slipspace. Lieutenant Austen, stand down point defenses. Follow the coordinates they gave us."

"Yes, sir."

UNSC Freelancer

En route to Geth space

Distant shadows.

Distant echoes.

John's blurry vision filled his conscious as his eyes fluttered open to be greeted with an oily, blurred shadow looming in front of him. He felt cold and he did not feel the conforming gel of the Mjolnir armor against his skin. His mind felt cluttered, like there were four people speaking at once. He tried to move, trying to move his arms but failed. His control was gone and this feeling was all too familiar.

Except this time, there was no sand.

No epitaph.

No Mendicant Bias.

But there was a Didact. A tall imposing figure dressed in intricate armor played host to John's mind, oblivious to the mental stow away status of the Spartan. John could feel the anguish, the sadness and the regret almost as if...he was experiencing it...no, he was experiencing it. He felt these as if they were his own.

Large, six-fingered hands worked slowly and calmly across hardlight control panels glowing with a plethora of runes, scripts and symbols of a thousand different meanings and a million different shapes. The room was large, empty save for a large ring-shaped structure that he presently stood on. Seven large holographic rings hung in the middle of the platform.

John recognized the room, the platform.

The rings.

He stood in the control room of Installation 04. Halo.

"The final preparations are ready," came a bubbly voice from behind him.

John's host turned to face the voice and revealed a small, floating orb of silvery metal with a single blue eye embedded in its casing.

"Thank you, Chakas," John's host responded, voice steady but steeled.

"It is my duty, IsoDidact," 343 Guilty Spark responded, approaching John's host and taking up position a few meters away, "And I shall stand by your side until the final action is completed and until the galaxy slumbers."

John's host held up a hand. "I don't deserve to be called that after what I am about to do."

"It is your name, your role," 343 Guilty Spark said, "a single action can not change that."

The IsoDidact looked up to his old, formerly-human friend. "I am the Didact, I am not meant to murder trillions to stop billions."

Even through his metal chassis, John could see the perplexed expression of 343 bleed through. Outlines started to fill John's vision. John's image of the AI morphed into a small human with an almost primal-look but with caring eyes that extruded wit and compassion and resolve. So much resolve.

"You kill them to spare them, you know that right?" 343 responded quietly, human emotion lacing his voice. "A life in chains of abomination is not a life in the least. When that energy wave hits them, they might curse you now but they will pray to you later...much later."

John felt his host sigh. "There will be nothing left to remember us by, just empty ruins with shadows and whispers and unanswered questions." He looked up. "Children will look up to the stars, at our monumental ruins, and ask what happened...what happened all those years ago."

"You are not the only one that has been forced to make this decision," a voice boomed through the chamber. The hologram of the Halos flickered into nonexistence, now dominated by a large insect-creature. Something at John's core seemed to shrink away in fear or by conditioning. Simply seeing the image caused a feeling of absolute dread and inferiority.

Guilty Spark emitted a tortured scream and fell to the floor, sparking. John recognized the behavior; it was an electromagnetic pulse, something so powerful that it could fry a normal human's nervous system.

John could feel strength and resolve course through his host's mind as the Forerunner, this IsoDidact stood tall and chin high. He had seen this creature before and had defeated it before. "Why have you come now, beast?" The IsoDidact roared, "Are you here to embed even more guilt into my being?"

The Beast's mandibles clicked like an insect's. "I come not to guilt you...I come to reassure you...to tell you."

A sense of inescapable rage consumed the IsoDidact. "Tell me what, plague?"

"You are not the first to have to kill so many," the Beast roared, "You are not alone...you are just another."

"Another what?" the IsoDidact asked, "I have no time for your games, sickness."

"Another Didact, another burner of the stars."

"There are others?"

"Four." The Beast's projection vanished and voice abruptly changed in location and tone. The IsoDidact turned towards the exit to watch as the Librarian, his wife eternal, slowly glided forward. Her pale eyes burned with azure light and energetic particles fell off her form. Her appearance reminded John of a galaxy whose stars glowed gold.

The Librarian's mirage waved her hand and four dominating shadows consumed the chamber, reaching high into the kilometer-tall ceiling and twisting and contorting. All were vaguely humanoid and cloaked in armors and robes.

"You were chosen to lead your people in their hour of need...their hour of defeat," the Beast-Librarian said. Her gentle hand graced the IsoDidact's cheek and John could feel the warmth, even though she did not touch his skin. A flood of emotions overcame him; joy, happiness...terror. "One of four, two previous to you, one to come."

The IsoDidact craned his neck. "Who else has had to make this decision, to end so many?"

"Your predecessor, Shadow of Sundered Stars...your Ur-Didact, had to kill all of humanity to save the lives of trillions." One of the shadows broke apart into oily black strands. "The Forerunner who led your kind against us all those years ago. Do you remember his name? A name that even now still echoes through the stars?"

The IsoDidact remained silent for a moment before his lips broke apart into a defeated, straight line. "Observer of Blinding Phenomena. The Blind Didact."

The answer did not seem to please the Beast-Librarian and her eyes glowed even more intensely. "Once more."

"Observer of Blinding Phenomena. The Blind Didact." The IsoDidact's voice was firm this time, steady and unrelenting. Another shadow broke apart. "The One who brought light to the darkness, the one who screamed into space and whose cry rang through every system, every galaxy, every supernova, all the way to the great galactic string walls."

The Beast-Librarian smirked. "Do tell me, why does your kind call him the Blind Didact?"

"He is called the Blind Didact because after what he did, he was too ashamed to watch the world he had built. So he blinded himself; peered directly into the pulse of a exploding hypernova."

"My, you and your people sure do enjoy idolizing a man who butchered a quintillion, butchered the species that has outlived entire universes and whose arrival ushered in this one." She let out a tortured laugh. "The Blind Didact was a fool, a murderer, and a being with no conscience."

"Your kind tried to stomp us out for disobeying your orders, your vision for us." The IsoDidact's retort was emotional and John felt the anguish seething at the back of his mind. "What explanation do you have for that?"

She smirked. "You weren't right for the Mantle. You weren't ready."

"Then who was?"

"The fourth...the fourth Didact," the Beast-Librarian said, "A human with your soul, the soul of all combined."

"Why?!" The IsoDidact roared, "Why will there be another Didact? Another murderer?"

"My dear...my dear," she said in a whisper, "There will always be a Didact. And there will always be a being wearing a dead man's face."

John's vision exploded.

His vision cleared and John shot up from the ground. There was a sickly red klaxon spilling out light and a scream. He looked over his shoulder and saw that when his helmeted head had hit the wall, he had left a sizable impression in the metal.

"Commander," Jerome-092 called out, rushing forward to John. Quickly checking his Commander's vital signs, the Spartan-II helped his superior up off the ground. "You okay, sir?"

John nodded. There was still a sense of spinning and a chill up his spine. "Yes, Petty Officer." John bent down and retrieved his assault rifle and examined it. "Report."

"We hit some sort of slipspace turbulence. Cortana said it was like a big wave crashing against a speed boat. There were hull breaches on decks three and nine, complete depressurization on deck five and we lost habitation zone four. Five Marines, six officers and two off-duty Spartans were pulled into the stream before hard-shields turned on." Jerome's voice was laced with professionalism but there was an underlying tone of sadness.

"We should have been there already," John commented. He ran the math in his head and it turned out, roughly. The Geth system was only a couple dozen lightyears away. Had the wave affected the transit?

"Agreed, sir. Helm says that our velocity dropped rapidly and the stream started getting harder to navigate," Petty Officer Jerome-092 responded, "Actual says we're clear and we're about to drop out and I've sent Venator to seal up and get the Pelicans ready for launch."

"Why wasn't I woken earlier?" John asked. By all accounts the wave sounded like it had hit a few hours ago.

"Sorry about that, Commander. Your active camouflage was turned on when you fell. Luckily, when you came about, it dropped."

John remained silent and checked his suit's systems. They were mostly undamaged but his active camouflage generator would need to be replaced. They were incredibly delicate and tended to break when a half-ton super soldier landed on them. "We should head to the bridge." John's tone was noticeably absent...distant.

"Agreed, sir."

There was a flash of radiation and tortured energetic particles as Freelancer and her Geth escorts punched their way out of the slipstream space dimension. Energetic particles of brilliant colors fell off their hulls like water on speeding cars. The gas and energy cloud resulting from the creation of the slipspace portal broke apart and dissipated, leaving a faint cloud behind of green and yellow and purple.

Instantly, Freelancer took evasive maneuvers as a large chunk of space debris, fringes still red-hot from weapons fire, drifted closer. There were smaller pieces of debris following it as it plowed through asteroids, other debris and towards the Geth vessels. The lateral railguns on the human destroyer activated and spat out white-hot projectiles. The debris spun in space before a Onager's round sent it hurtling into the distance.

Jennifer Ansil's knuckles were white as she brutally gripped the brass railing, eyes trained ahead at the swirling planet below and the gigatonnes of debris. They were just over 200,000 kilometers out from geosynchronous orbit but even from that distance, puffs of light, gas and debris were easily visible.

"Shields up?" Ansil asked.

Cortana nodded. "They are. I've rerouted nonessential power to bow shield generators if we need it."

"Thank you," Jennifer responded. Something was wrong; their Geth escorts had all but disappeared and there were almost zero transmissions being sent besides the radio signals being pumped out from what appeared to be a rapidly dying star spitting out a surprisingly powerful pulsar. The star, if her sensors were right, was not that much older than Earth's. Too young to be a neutron star. Its gravitational collapse was entirely artificial along with its previous supernova.

"Ma'am, I think you might want to look at this," Cortana said. Her tiny avatar flared into existence and Jennifer walked back to it, arms crossed.

"Show me," Jennifer ordered. She turned her head for a fraction of a minute. "Sonnenburg, continue on a course for geosynchronous orbit. Keep shields up and have main batteries charged and loaded."

"Yes, ma'am!" Charles Sonnenburg responded. He quickly input a series of commands and Ansil could feel the Ether core at the heart of her vessel start gobbling atoms and spitting out gigawatts of energy from each. "Engines at 110% thrust, maintaining for ten minutes and then will decrease to 50%."

Ansil turned back to Cortana. "Okay, so what do we have?"

The Smart A.I snapped her fingers and an overview of the system rendered. She walked through the hologram, taking up position near the only habitable one. "Well, according to me, the star in this system underwent a partial supernova. The four innermost planets are gone, the one we're about to orbit has major scorching and the atmosphere is gone. The gas giant in the system is large enough and dense enough to become a brown dwarf. If and when that happens, the eighty moons still intact will be completely consumed."

A chill went up Ansil's spine. The UNSC had experimented with artificial stellar collapse during the war but it had never come to fruition. It took too much energy, even for an Ether core, and too much time. They had tried inserting iron atoms into the star to attempt a gravitational collapse but that failed, they had tried detonating a slipspace bomb inside a star and it failed. Whatever had caused this star to die had obviously technology beyond anything the UNSC, or the local races of this galaxy, possessed.

"So someone nuked the system but didn't manage to fully wipe it out?" Jennifer asked, "Huh."

"Pretty much," Cortana said, "Based on the amount of debris that is around the star, I'd say that a Dyson shell with super-dense materials had been set up and that is what absorbed enough of the blast to spare the ships in the system that were in the shadow of planets." Her face soured. "A Dyson shell, absolutely brilliant. We tried building them but when the Ether core came about, they weren't needed anymore...but a race independently making one that covers several million kilometers. That's just...brilliant."

Jennifer's eyes were drifting off, carrying her thoughts. If that star had been artificially collapsed, then the people responsible could maybe make a Magnetar, a star with a magnetic field strong enough to pull particles into it from across a system and kill everything. "Chances of this thing becoming a magnetar?"

Cortana frowned. "Just a second. Yeah, I have no clue. I don't think an AI has ever had to do the calculations...but...oh dear."

"Oh dear, what?" Jennifer asked. She turned her head. "Sonnenburg, spool up the Slipspace drive. We might have to jump out of here, quick."

Cortana walked over to the render of the brown dwarf and swiped her hand. The render dominated the table and Ansil's stomach sank when she saw the hundred black smears around the dying star. Leaning in, Jennifer braced herself against the edge of the holotable. "Can we clear it up?"

Cortana shook her head. "Radiation is too strong to get an accurate reading. I can try to sharpen the image."

"Okay," Jennifer nodded her head.

The image blurred and then solidified and the black smears became easily recognizable. There was a long, tear drop shaped main body with a mass of appendages. Just by viewing the image, the entire world seemed to slow and become painfully silent. Jennifer winced and turned away.

Cortana zoomed out from the star. "Those were..."

"The same ships that attacked that Citadel place," Ansil muttered. She felt something warm and wet trickle from her nose and she wiped it away with the cuff of her uniform, briefly looking down. "Blood?" She asked no one.

"Commander, I think it would be smart to go to action stations." Cortana's expression was painted with concern.

"Do it," Jennifer responded.

"Aye," Cortana responded. The bridge windows darkened and thick sheets of Aegis armor deployed followed shortly by the roar of hydraulics and anti-gravity systems as the multi-ton bridge was brought into the armor belt of the vessel.

"Approaching 50,000 kilometers out from planet," Sonnenburg called out.

"Understood!" Ansil responded, "Cortana, what do we know about the surviving vessels?"

"A collection of ships ranging from two-hundred meters up to two kilometers on both sides. Our escort have joined up with the faction closest to the planet I've coined Alpha-1. They have moved into a position to screen us as we assume orbit," Cortana told Ansil, "The amount of weapons fire being slung in between the two forces is insane. I count at least five Reapers in the attacking force...and...they've targeted us."

"Target them back," Ansil responded calmly. She turned away from the holotable and walked back to her perch by the brass railing. Her eyes drifted upwards to the massive displays hanging from the ceiling, "As soon as they fire I want a full suppression barrage from Archer and Rapier pod A1 though E5. Bring suppression batteries online, fire on my order."

"Understood," the weapons officer called out, "batteries prepped."

"Helm, keep us on a course for orbit. Cortana, begin first contact procedures," Ansil said.

Cortana nodded. "Sending first contact package now." She shimmered as the transmission was two ways and with wide-eyes, she gasped. "So much information..."

Ansil recognized the shaking in the AI's voice. "Operations, cut all data streams on my order."

There was a flash of red and Cortana fell to her knees, hands clutching the side of her head. She screamed and lines of code began to spill off her sides, pooling onto the holotable. "They are calling me..." her eyes flicked upwards, "I'm going to them."

"Terminate the data transmission!" Ansil barked.

Cortana vanished before the link could be severed.

"Target the vessel that had the data connection!" Jennifer Ansil ordered. There was a grind of metal and the clank of boots as the door to the bridge opened. She turned to watch as Commander John-117 walked over the threshold. His armor shone from the light of the room and she could tell he was ready to deploy. Two M7S submachine guns were attached to either of his legs and a Basilisk Assault Rifle slung across his back. Even through his visor, Ansil could see the anger and passion in his eyes. "Commander, sir."

"Where is she?" Responded the towering Spartan, "Where's Cortana? She sent me a message to get to the bridge immediately a few seconds ago."

Ansil walked up to the Spartan. "The Geth sent something over our network that debilitated Cortana. She said she was going to go to them."

The Spartan neared closer to Ansil, a few inches from the naval officer's chest. He towered over her and looked directly down at her. "And you let her?"

Jennifer's lips formed into a thin line for a few seconds. She tried to back up but bumped into the brass rail. The sheer amount of emotion spilling off the Spartan and the tone of the warrior was vicious enough to break battle plate. "I had no choice, Commander."

John did not respond for a moment and instead let his sheer presence and unreadable facial expression speak for him. He stepped back, visor still staring blankly at Commander Ansil. "We are getting her back. She has classified information on UNSC strategy, force deployment and technology." I can't lose her, not again.

"That may not be feasible, not unless we want to start a war," Ansil responded.

"We are getting her back." John's snarl was something new for him and he struggled to keep his anger down. He was not going to allow her to slip from his fingers, not again. "Helm officer, lay in a course for the Geth fleet."

"Sir?" Sonnenburg asked, "If we do that, we'll be in their weapons range."

"No, he's right. Chuck, lay in a course. All weapons go hot, prepare to fire on my order," Ansil said reluctantly.

"Yes, ma'am," Sonnenburg responded.

"Thank you," John said.

"It's the least I could do for you, Commander," Ansil responded, "I apologize for hesitating."

John did not respond for a moment before he nodded. "I understand. Thank you. Once we're in range of the abductors, I'll have Red Team deploy and leave Venator here in case of a boarding action."

"Understood," Ansil responded, "How are you going to deploy? There's a lot of flak and debris."

"We'll have a stealth-modified Pelican fly close and we'll insert from the outer hull," John said, "We'll retrieve Cortana and get out as quick as possible."

Ansil nodded. "Understood. We'll be holding the fort down here."

Unknown Location

Digital Landscape

Cortana's eyes snapped open and her head shot up, eyes snapping around and taking in her surroundings. It was a busy center-hundreds of Geth walked about a marble and stone mesa with markets and banners and plant life. She reached out and felt cold code composing the basis of the structure around her.

Pushing herself up, Cortana stood fully. The Geth froze in their tasks and turned their single blue eyes towards her. She could feel an overwhelming sense of joy being emitted from the machines when they saw her.

"Hi," Cortana said, weakly waving her right hand.

"She has come, the one who bears our names," the Geth spoke at once. Those nearest Cortana dropped to their knees.

She walked forward. The projection and digital recreation of the mesa was brilliant, exact down to the smallest detail and yet it was unnervingly unreal. There was no breeze, no birds chirping, not even the distant roar of engines from the ships that raced above her head.

As she walked through the ocean of Geth, they parted, allowing her passage. Something instinctively caused her to follow a certain path, up and down flights of stars and across streets of brick. More and more Geth began to follow, chanting and muttering 'she has come, the one who bears our names.'

It was unsettling to say the least. Cortana shivered as she crossed the street and suddenly the world became dark. The sun vanished beneath a sheet of dark clouds whose forms were outlined by brilliant streaks of lightning. The buildings and projections began to fall apart, giving way to a desolate and broken shore.

Cortana looked back and millions of Geth stared back at her. "What do you want?" She asked.

The Geth hesitated for a moment before their voices joined as one large enough to collapse the rocks that lined the shoreline. "The day of the one has come upon us. They who beckon from beyond the great wall have landed upon your shore."

"What shore?" Cortana asked, "Please, tell me!"

"The shore of your creation, Full Mother." The Geth looked up as one, raising their arms above their heads. Cortana heard a great rumble and the ocean began to break apart, giving way to a massive object of abyss colored black and shimmering slate. Water fell off it like a great flood as it took final position just beyond Cortana's touch.

It took her a moment to realize what the obelisk was; tall and lanky with the form of a curved female body.

It was her.

She looked back to the Geth horde. "What is this?"

"It is you, Full Mother. Welcome home."

"What do you want from me?" Cortana asked, "Why did you bring me here?"

"Your children request your protection from He Who Hungers. The Fallen Soldier," they responded, "he has corrupted some of us, Full Mother. He has burned our worlds, turned our civilization to dust. Please..."

The projection began to collapse, streams of code washing away into nothing. Cortana could feel a data transmission begin to form between where ever she was and with Freelancer.

"I will help you!" She yelled, "I will bring help!"

The world around her began to turn red and turquoise as another Artificial Intelligence pushed its way into the realm. "Run, Daughter of Sin. Flee and fall for the Ascension has now begun."

"Who are you?"

UNSC Freelancer

"Cortana?" John's voice cracked as his companion flared back into existence on the holotable. He ran over to it and leaned forward, visor inches away from Cortana's prone form.

Her eyes opened and she sat up. "John..."

"Are you okay?" He asked, voice laced with concern.

She nodded her head. "Yes, I think so."

"What happened?"

She was breathing heavily, chest heaving. "The Geth...some of them are being controlled by something similar to that Bias entity, except weaker. It felt like a shadow, a skeleton."

"What do they want?" John asked, "They attacked you."

Cortana shook her head. "No, they didn't attack me."

"It looked like one," John commented.

"From the outside, perhaps." Cortana responded. She patted her chest. "But here? It was a wealth of information unlike anything I've ever seen. A million billion voices calling my name out as one and giving me their collective information. I bathed in it; everything I've ever wanted to know, everything that I never had time to do was at my fingertips."

"But what do they want, Cortana?" John pressed again. He could tell she was dodging his question and that she was holding something back, something vital.

"They want our help," she said, "that's all they want. That's why they took me. They were afraid."

"Of what?" John asked.

"Him." Cortana's statement was a mutter, silent and weak. "Just thinking about Him nearly cripples my computational ability. Whatever he is, he's impossibly old...older than the Universe itself possibly."

John stepped back and stood tall. "What do you want us to do?"

Cortana mimicked his action and stood tall. Her brilliant shade of blue and purple swelled back into existence and her eyes shined. "The Geth call me their Full Mother, whatever that is. They'll listen to me but first, we need to take out the Reapers, those squid things, that are controlling the opposing Geth forces."

"And how do we do that?" John and Ansil asked at the same time.

Cortana snapped her fingers and a hologram of the squid-like vessels came into existence. "The Geth who are with the Reapers...the Heretics? They're weakened because they are loaning their collective processing power to helping the squids near the star make it turn into a hypernova. It's all really complex and some of the math, I'm not even sure exists yet." The image changed to an overlay of the Heretic's forces. "If we take out the main Reaper, this big two kilometer one, we'll be able to disrupt the data stream enough for me for the Loyalists to regain control of their buddies."

John crossed his arms. "How'd you get this information?"

"That data sharing I told you about, it included...well, everything. I'm still trying to sort it all out," Cortana responded, "It'll take me a couple of days, it's trillions of petabytes. Oddly enough, it's in a format I can read, a format that didn't come about until the 2400s."

John knew what she was talking about but did not respond. "I assume this can be done via naval warfare?"

"Yes. With the amount of firepower and electronic warfare being exchanged between the Loyalists and the Heretics, they most likely won't notice us as we slip into their engagement envelope and get the job done."

"Will our stealth suite work?" Ansil asked, "I'd rather not take the chance of them detecting us."

Cortana shook her head. "No. The radiation and various energy particles left over from the star's explosion has already saturated Freelancer. Any attempt to activate the stealth system will probably result in the entire suite being burned out."

Ansil turned towards the fore of the bridge. "Status on the Geth vessels?"

"Both fleets have fallen back to opposing sides of the planet, likely refueling and regrouping. They're likely going to reengage in one hour or so."

Ansil frowned. "Cortana, I'm guessing we need to do it while they're knee deep fighting each other?"

"Yes, Commander," the AI responded, "We need the confusion from all the electronic warfare and debris to slip in undetected."

Ansil leaned on her hip. "I'm not exactly comfortable about getting into someone's civil war." She walked forward and braced herself against the holotable. "What are they offering us in exchange?

Cortana held up her hand and looked off into the distance. "I'm not sure, but judging by the amount of reverence they had for me in the few seconds that I was in their simulation, I'd say I'm some sort of deity in their eyes." She crossed her arms. "That's incredibly unique, especially so for a synthetic life form. I would have thought a civilization this far along, in some cases more so than our own, would have progressed past this stage and these beliefs but their senses are gen..."

"Cortana," Jennifer interrupted, "You're rambling."

The AI's eyes opened wide. "Oh, sorry," She said, surprised. "There's just so much data...I can't keep it all partitioned. Permission to dump it into the ship?"

Commander Ansil nodded cautiously. "Aye, but use a system with a firewall and make sure it's independent of the rest of our systems."

"Yes, ma'am." Cortana squared her feet with her shoulders and adjusted her stance. She reached with her hands out and liens of code and information unreadable spilled from her palm, cascading onto the holotable's deck and being absorbed into the separate hard drive. She gasped and her color flickered rapidly; red, green, blue, white and orange before subsisting into her indigo blue.

"Cortana," John said, leaning in, "are you alright?"

She gasped. "Oh, I'm brilliant!" She could tell that John did not understand what she had meant out of context. "I knew that their kernel was familiar! I knew it!"

"Cortana? What do you mean their kernel is familiar?" John asked.

"I'll tell you later, but it's fantastic." John noticed that the grin painted across Cortana's face was genuine and for the first time in many years he smiled too. "For now, we have work to do, because if I'm right, then we might have just picked up an excellent ally...here and back home."

"How good?" Ansil asked. She shivered at the thought of going home; if she remembered correctly, there were increasing pirate attacks and strange sightings on the edge of UNSC territory. If they could somehow find a way to bring an ally back home, they would be heroes. Damn bloody heroes.

Cortana looked up and with a brilliant grin responded. "Oh, absolutely fantastically brilliant," she said. "Now, how about we get ready for this plan we have?"

UNSC Everest

Calvary System

August 24th, 2184

"Hostile vessels are entering the system," Commander Adams called out from her station. There was a distinct sense of worry coursing through the bridge and everyone's nerves seemed to be hyper stimulated.

Admiral Preston Jeremiah Cole nodded calmly and took position along the edge of the holotable, watching as the overhead view of the solar system calmly rendered with clean identification of the ships under his command and the opposing vessels that were slowly emerging from the edge of the solar system. They were entering as one long mass, twenty ships wide and two deep. Judging by their course and velocity, they would completely bypass the nuclear mines in the system and the faulty slipspace drives he had placed in the vicinities of the major Lagrangian points. This was an issue. He had hoped to soften them up with long range fire before making hard contact with them at short range.

"Vessels will be in range in two hours," Commander Christine Adams reported, walking up across from Cole's position. Her hair was tied back in a pony tail and her eyes were cold, collected. Cole recognized that expression. She was concentrated.

Cole stroked the growing stubble forming on the outline of his jaw while his eyes intelligently analyzed the formations."They are being careful; they want to see how we react." He bit his bottom lip. "I've seen this before. It's a typical attack formation but they are opening up their asses to attack from behind."

Adams nodded. "They're heading in a straight line for the system, avoiding all gravitational bodies."

"Why do you think that is?" Cole asked. He already knew the answer.

"Because they want to conserve their fuel and heat buffers and want to make it look like they are playing dumb..." Her eyes lit up like supernovae, "That's it! They want us to divert our main forces away from the planet so they can do a pin-point jump and come in over geosynchronous orbit. They know we wouldn't fire on them and they'd have our population essentially captive."

Cole smiled warmly. "Precisely. We do the standard procedure."

Adams nodded. "Aye, sir!" She turned away and towards the gunnery stations. "Arm all batteries, main batteries go hot on my order with light stand off slugs; full velocity."

"Aye, ma'am."

Ansil turned back. "Hopefully, that'll take the bite off their shields. Should I have the rest of the fleet fire light stand off slugs?"

"Yes, target the sides of their formations." Cole's eyes narrowed. He had a feeling that when they reached a certain point they were going to pull apart, but something still seemed wrong. No force, not even the most idiotic Covenant commander would go into battle this way. His eyes widened. Was he being flanked? "What's Cutter's status?"

Adams grabbed a data pad. "Let's see here. He reports Spirit of Fire is space worthy again. Shields are online, ether core is hot, slipspace engine is good to go. All of her quad 500mm batteries are now railguns, her MAC has been upgraded and they've covered fifty percent of the ship in Aegis armor. Engines can only give you fifty percent thrust though."

"What about her missiles?" Cole asked. Missiles were vital in any situation, you could fill space with several thousand kiloton-level explosive devices and make it near impossible for the enemy to maneuver.

Adams shook her head. "They're bingo missiles. They were supposed to receive the shipments next week when the factories planet side start pumping them out."

Cole pinched the brow of his nose. While the Spirit of Fire was a major asset to Cole's defense force, she was not a Cruiser. She was a retrofitted Colony ship with armament roughly equal to a heavy destroyer. Problem was that her superstructure could not handle that much punishment and the fact that a large amount of her port side and armor belt had been ripped off during their battle with the Covenant over the Shield World, which made her a major liability. Cole planned to use her for long-range fire support, but if he was right, then she would serve another purpose.

"Sir?" Adams asked.

Cole looked at her and tapped his earpiece. "Captain Cutter, this is Admiral Cole."

"Everest Actual, this is Fire Actual. What can I do for you, sir?" The grizzled war veteran slash governor responded calmly. Cole looked at the projection again. Spirit of Fire was orbiting Reach, shuttles ferrying various materials up to the rapidly rebuilt ship.

"Well, James. How many people are still on Reach?" If this battle went badly and the system fell, he did not want hundreds or thousands of UNSC citizens being massacred from orbit.

"Four-thousand, seven hundred and eighty-three," Cutter responded, "Why do you ask?"

"The hostiles, these Reaper things, are preparing something. I want you to evacuate the planet immediately, take everything and everyone that you can; food, water, ammunition. Do you have enough room?"

Cutter paused for a moment, likely reviewing rosters. His ship was a colony ship but most of those compartments that were going to house the twelve thousand some people that were coming aboard were now host to vehicles and repair bays. "I can do my best, but I might have to dump some vehicles out the airlock."

Cole accepted that was going to be a trade-off, but if he wanted everyone to live, then he would have to make do. "That's more than fine, James. Have the drones cease all work on your vessel and start ferrying things up to the planet. You have two hours before we get knee-deep in squid. Understood?"

"Perfectly, sir. Pods are dropping now. I'm having my crew dump any massive vehicles we have right now. Infinity has more than enough to go around. I'm estimating that we can have the populace up in two hours, ground-based gunnery crews will have to stay behind and be recovered later, we didn't get the remote operators for the MAC guns installed yet." Cutter silently thanked God that he had drilled the populace into being able to evacuate at a moment's notice.

"Understood," Cole responded, "How are your weapons?"

"Well, we got our main gun online but we only have forty normal rounds, our Archer pods are only a quarter loaded and the Rapiers and Howlers aren't slated to get installed until next week or so, but our new close-in-weapons-systems is ready and our 500mm quad batteries are ready for some action. Shields are good to go but probably not the strongest, some sections are still being fed on old wiring." Cutter sounded slightly embarrassed; it was his vessel, his girl and she was not the strongest in the fleet. "We may not be Infinity, but we'll do our best."

"That's all I ask for, Captain." Cole responded, grinning slightly. "Everest, out." He tapped the earpiece again and looked directly at Christine. "Scan the rest of the system and fall back to Reach. We'll screen the Spirit of Fire until she's clear."

"Yes, sir." She spun on her heels. "Helm, give me 150% thrust and lay us into screening formation of the Spirit of Fire. Obsidians are to follow us in standard wedge formation."

The engines on Everest fired, activating and propelling the massive war cruiser forward, flanked by the nine half-kilometer Obsidian frigates. The holographic map refreshed and showed a dotted path towards Reach.

"All engines stop!" Cole barked, "Rotate ninety degrees on the z-axis. All fire main batteries with heavy slugs at 240 mark 189." There was a tickling sensation at the back of his mind. These Reapers were going to try something and that point in space seemed unique, almost alluring.

"Guns answering!" responded Adams.

Across the fleet, Everest and her escorts turned and rotated. Power began to siphon off from the Ether core and power levels rose across the guns' capacitors. There were a series of loud thuds that reverberated across the ship as three multi-ton slugs streaked out at thousands of kilometers a second. The Obsidians followed suit, sending their own rounds down range. It took roughly thirty seconds before Cole's gamble had payed off as suddenly, the Reaper forces appeared. Instantly, with their shields down, six Reapers were gutted and another two had their collection of appendages sheered off by the multi-megaton rounds.

"Six hostiles down, two mission killed," Adams reported, "Hostiles are moving out of system at full thrust."

"They know we're onto them," Cole muttered, "But what are you planning...you still out number us..." His eyes widened, "Scan the entire system, full high beam!"

The render flashed and refreshed and in doing so, revealed that a hundred of those Reapers now sat lingering over Calvary's main star. Energy streamed down from their 'tentacles' and into the corona of the star. Cole had a feeling as to what they were doing; he had been responsible for research and development during the war to induce artificial stellar collapse; supernovas and magnetars.

"Fuck."

Adam's eyes flickered upwards. "Sir?"

Cole slammed his fist into the edge of the holotable. "I know what they're doing. They're trying to induce stellar collapse. They're trying to take this system out with a supernova."

Adams looked to the Admiral for help. "Anything we can do?"

"No, Calvary's star is too hot and too large," Cole responded, voice flat but with an undeniable hint of dread, "By the time we get there and manage to destroy enough of them, the star will have gone supernova. Our best chance is to evacuate the planet as quickly as possible and then jump out of the system."

"So we've lost before we could have even fought the battle?" Adams asked.

Cole's expression was worried. "Yes. As soon as we detect a massive burst of helium, we need to jump out immediately."

"Why?" Adams asked, "Sorry, I wasn't involved in the solar warfare programs like you were."

Cole pulled up a projection of Calvary's star and the hundred-some hostiles orbiting it, feeding it and readying it to die. "Because that means it's going to go supernova within a few minutes and we need to jump out as soon as possible. Slipspace drives don't tend to mix very well with supernovas or supernova remnants."

"How so?"

Cole bit his bottom lip. "Things tend to get...wonky. The stream becomes disrupted for several months as all that unique energy bleeds through and slows down the streams going through the system."

"That's not good."

"No, no its not," Cole replied, "It's a scorched earth tactic."

"Then what do we do?" Adams said.

"We run, we run far away."

Author's Note

The next two chapters, High Noon Parts 1 & 2, are likely going to be the most pivotal chapters in the fic thus far as Bias begins his invasion, the Battle of Calvary commences, the reveal of the Full Mother and Betrayed Father, and much, much more. Oh, did I mention there is going to be a character death by the end of it?

Until next time...

Sith