Salutations to my readers! Sorry to say there's not too much left to go, but hopefully it'll be as good. Anyway, somebody's got a bit of a surprise coming to him--enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Halo: Combat Evolved or from any of the books.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Surprise!

The Covenant were closing in, and the rest of the staff were panicking, trying to escape. She looked at the elderly woman in front of her as she put on her combat armor.

"Mom, you have to lead them to safety. You know where they can hide. Get as many people there as you can."

"What about you?" she shouted.

"I'll try to hold them off, buy you time to get everyone out of here." Green armored gauntlets snapped into place, followed by an assault rifle, submachine guns, grenades, and a pair of sheathed combat knives.

"You can't do this! You'll never survive!"

"If I don't do this, no one will survive. There's no choice." She paused a moment, a look of regret in her eyes.

"Take the children. Get them out of here, get them to the shelter. If we survive this, he'll come looking for us."

"What about you? What if you don't survive?"

An armored helmet slipped into place as the Spartan finished her preparations and picked up her assault rifle.

"I've never failed before, Mom, and I won't now."

"Here they come," she muttered as she watched the alien horde advance: Jackals with their flimsy-looking energy shields, Brutes on all fours bellowing for blood. They were attacking Camp Hayes en masse, and seemed intent on a bloody victory. Why they'd come to this area she wouldn't know, maybe they were just trying to cause as much havoc as possible by keeping the Marines spread thin. In any case, it didn't matter: she was the last line of defense here, and she refused to let them through while she could still fight.

One of the Brutes in the horde caught sight of her, and let out a blood-curdling roar. He charged her, still bellowing, and from the sounds of things he wanted blood: her blood. She smiled grimly behind her reflective faceplate: no doubt they'd mistook her for a 'demon' because of the armor. At least the armor'll give me the edge I need, she thought, tightening her grip on the assault rifle. Now if I can only get the ugly bastards to come a little closer… Everything seemed to slow down as she waited anxiously for the horde to advance; in reality it only took a few minutes. Just a little more…Her thumb hit the detonator she was holding and she grinned inside her helmet as she watched the body parts fly. Perfect!

"Come and get me, you ugly sons-of-bitches!" she shouted at the alien horde as she opened fire, the speakers in her suit broadcasting the message and generally pissing off her opponents. Plasma fire began filling the air, but she stood her ground for a little longer, assault rifle blazing into the raging Brute advance. Sprinting to the side to dodge a round from a Brute-shot, she threw out a handful of her bladed disks, and started firing again as they flew forward. She knew she wouldn't be able to stop them all, but she had to try. Just a little more time, I need to give them more time! Momentarily pausing to reload, she noticed the absence of Elites, Grunts, and Hunters from the battlefield. Okay, that's really strange. Those guys never miss out on a battle, so what gives? There wasn't time to think of the answers, though, since the Brutes were closing in, weapons blazing. Above her was a bunch of flying things, too small to be fighters and much too large to be projectiles: vaguely insect-like, lightly armed with plasma pistols, needlers and very little armor. Great, now I've got those things on my ass, she cursed inwardly as she grabbed more bladed disks, dodging plasma fire from above; she hadn't had a lot of experience fighting Drones, but what she knew from hacking ONI's files would hopefully be enough.

"Target Drones," she ordered, glancing upward in time to see the diminutive weapons strike home; until there were no more Drones in the immediate vicinity the disks would keep going. One less thing to worry about. An ominous click indicated her rifle was empty, the Brutes were almost on her, and there wasn't enough time to reload; tossing the weapon aside and switching to submachine guns, she dodged and weaved, hoping to take out as many as she could. Pausing momentarily in her dodge-fire-reload routine to whip out a fragmentation grenade, she lobbed it in the general direction of several Jackals, who were using their shields to form a defense for some of the smarter Brutes; she didn't hear the explosion, but noticed the collapse of a wall of shields and fired several rounds into the unprotected aliens. Several plasma shots finally made contact with her armor, breaching her shields and knocking her to her knees; she felt the pain from the burns and cried out as she got to her feet. A couple of loud explosions alerted her to a pair of Wraiths nearby, and she barely moved in time to escape the ball of glowing blue light…

March 2, 2554

UNSC Reserve Base Camp Hayes

North America

The war was over, humanity was going to survive. The Covenant were gone, and now Humanity had a chance to rebuild. These facts were in every mind left alive, but they were not at the forefront of the Master Chief's mind as he picked his way through the rubble, looking for something he feared to see. Where is she? Did she survive? He reached a series of ruins that had once been a military base, and picked his way to what had been a bunkhouse near the southern edge. He had always assumed it was a standard bunk, but looking closer he noticed a depression in the earth beneath the house's foundations. A cellar, or a bomb shelter, he realized. Could anyone be down there? Could they still be alive? Feeling that he was being watched, he activated his suit's external speakers and spoke to what appeared to be empty air.

"Laura, are you there?"

A familiar disembodied voice, one that he recognized as belonging to Laura's personal AI, replied, "No, Chief, she's not." After a brief moment's hesitation, the voice added, "You'd better come down here."

A concealed door opened to reveal a set of stairs leading down to darkness. John descended and found himself in a highly sophisticated area, which at first glance appeared to be a cross between an armory and a command center: there were weapon racks, blacksuits, body armor and powered exoskeletons, and reinforced walls, with rooms branching off in various directions. Computer terminals were everywhere, and there were even a few cryotubes along one section of wall. He noticed several people gathered around the room in various places: officers, doctors, civilians, Marines, Helljumpers, practically everyone on or near the base, including the Covenant POWs Laura had befriended and educated. In another room he swore he heard children crying. While John was still wondering at this, he saw General West heading towards him, a worried look on his face.

"Master Chief, it's good to see you. I've been listening to the chatter over the E-band, and its good news to everyone down here." He paused a moment and shook his head; the Chief noticed a half-healed gash behind one ear. "We've all been through hell down here."

"Sir, if I may ask, where's Blade?" He didn't dare refer to her by name in front of the Marines.

"This way, son." West led him to one of the cryotubes, where Dr. Gedeon and the Covenant warriors were clustered nearby. The little Grunt named Yipin was attempting to climb atop the cryotube, scrabbling frantically to try and view the occupant. They parted, and John saw a figure in green battle armor lying inside. The armor was charred, cracked, and broken; he could see blackened skin in places. The helmet covered the face, but there was a slight tilt to the head as though the soldier had died in defiance. He didn't need to see her face to know this was Laura: the tilted head and the combat knives strapped to the armor's waist gave her away. A frown crossed his face inside his armor, as he remembered how much Laura had hated the Mjolnir suit.

"She put on the armor to give herself a better chance of success," her mother whispered. "I wanted her to rest, but they were all around us. She bought us time to get here, and then the prisoners came and stopped the Covenant from killing her completely. If she hadn't been so weak she might've pulled through."

"What happened, Dr. Gedeon? Why was she weak?" John was puzzled; Laura had always kept herself in the best of shape.

"You mean she didn't tell you? No, that's right, she couldn't tell you." Dr. Gedeon wiped away a tear as the children John had heard earlier cried again. "You'd better see for yourself."

She led the Chief into the other room, where Laura's best friend and sister-in-law were each rocking an infant in their arms, something he'd never seen before. Each child wasn't much more than a week old, and so small they both might have fit easily in one of his armor gauntlets. Looking closer, John swore he saw Laura's face in one child's large eyes. The other one was a bit larger, but he saw the same resemblance to the other infant. He turned his head to look at Dr. Gedeon, and found himself asking the impossible.

"She was pregnant?"

"Yes. Twins, one boy and one girl. It was a difficult delivery, twins usually are, and two days after they were born the Covenant attacked the base. She told me to get them to safety, and went out to buy us time." Picking up the little girl, she rocked her in her arms. The child reached out one closed fist and touched the elderly doctor's cheek, bringing a smile to her grandmother's face. John wished he could hold the child, apparently his daughter, but wished even more that he could hold her mother.

"Can you save Laura?" he whispered.

"Chief, I don't know. I don't have the files or the expertise to perform such extensive repairs. ONI certainly isn't going to provide the data, even though she's saved their lives thousands of times. At this point, she'd be better off dead, but no one here wants that anymore. I can't save her, not without the knowledge ONI has, but as long as she stays in cryo she'll still have a chance."

A familiar voice came out of a speaker, as Lorienna materialized at Dr. Gedeon's elbow.

"I can obtain the data, Dr. Gedeon; in fact I possess it already. Laura slipped into my programming when she created me, just in case it was ever needed."

"Why didn't you say anything before?" the doctor demanded, a sharp edge in her voice; it reminded John of all the times Laura had been angry.

"You didn't ask" the AI replied coolly. "Be that as it may, I have the knowledge you need. However, given the extent of the damage and the lack of appropriate facilities, we may not be able to give her more than a forty-five percent chance of survival."

"Then I'll do what I can with what we have," Dr. Gedeon stated bluntly, her voice hardening with her resolve; John now realized where Laura had gotten many of her personality traits. "There's a field medical kit here, and you have the files we need, so let's get to work. I won't thaw her until her replacement organs are ready and the surgical field is up. I'm not giving up on her yet."

While the doctor viewed the files, John asked the AI a question that had been plaguing him ever since he'd gotten down there and seen his children.

"How did she…I mean, how could I have impregnated her? The augmentations we received were supposed to prevent this."

"Incorrect, Master Chief. The procedure to which you refer indicates a risk of repressed sexual drive, not an actual elimination, and certainly there was no mention of sterility." Lorienna flashed an evil grin. "I would have thought you would have discovered that by now, especially after all those nights in her company. It would still be quite possible for a Spartan to bear a child. And if you're worried about whether or not they're really yours," the AI finished, a touch of sardonic amusement in her voice, "trust me, they are. She refused to even look at anyone else the whole time you were gone, let alone be intimate with them."

Two days later, the Master Chief sat in one corner watching his children sleep. According to Dr. Gedeon, Laura had pulled through the surgeries just fine, or as fine as possible. She wouldn't be ready or able to receive visitors for some days, though, so John contented himself with getting to know his children. No names had been chosen for them yet, but that didn't matter; he wanted Laura to help him choose their names, because they were as much hers as they were his. Ours, our children, he thought again, strangely happy with the idea. He happened to turn away for a moment, thinking he heard something, when one of his children began to cry; when he turned to see them he saw a slender female figure standing beside one crib, holding his daughter. The figure swayed gently back and forth, whispering soothing sounds to the child until she quieted; the robe she wore made a gentle rustling noise as she swayed. The Chief couldn't see her face in the shadows, in spite of his biochemically-altered eyesight, and waited to see more, half hoping for the impossible. Once the child was asleep again, the figure turned and went to the other crib; there was something familiar about the way she moved…

"Laura?" The figure turned and moved a little closer; her dark hair was tangled and matted, and she seemed to limp, but she was alive. She spoke, and it was her voice, though full of doubt, "John?"

"It's me, Laura." She moved a little closer, and he saw the burns on her body where it peeked through the robe.

"What happened?" he asked gently, or as gently as his harsh voice would allow. Laura smirked wearily, the pain twisting it into a sort of half-grimace.

"Plasma burns, and a close call with a Wraith's plasma bomb. I was damned lucky the Covies were content to just kill me and let me live—either that, or they were too busy massacring whoever they could. I tried to get them to safety…"she swayed dangerously, nearly toppling over.

He crossed the room and took her gently in his arms, knowing how much pain she must be in; hell, when he'd captured the Ascendant Justice and used it to save his team he'd received similar injuries. She rested her dark head against his shoulder, taking comfort in his strength.

"It's over, alaya," he whispered. "The war's over."

"Finally. But what will happen now?"

"It doesn't matter. We're together now, and we're the only ones left. Fred, Will, Linda, they're gone; they went out on a mission and never came back. It's just us." She heard the pain in his voice.

"Don't worry, John. I think they'll be all right." She could think of only one way to comfort him; reaching up, she caressed his face, her gentle touch saying everything she couldn't. John scowled suddenly.

"You shouldn't be up yet. Your mother said—"

"And since when have you listened to a doctor's advice?" she returned, the old spark returning to her eyes, reminding John why he loved her in the first place. "Besides, I've been away from you for too long; would you deny me the chance to be alone with my children and their father, who just happens to be the one person I can't live without?" Her voice, though hushed, was rising rapidly, so John silenced her in the best way possible. When they finally broke apart, Laura smiled, ignoring the pain she was feeling.

"I knew you missed me," she grinned as her lover pressed her against him.

"Almost as much as the battlefield," he grinned back, deliberately trying to bait her. No doubt he would have taken her right there, had one of his children not started crying. Laura broke away and picked up his son, rocking him gently until he was asleep again.

"We still need to name them," she whispered softly. "I had names picked out, but I wanted to ask you first."

"What names?"

"Samuel and Kelly?" she asked, hesitating over the names. "He was your best friend, after all, and Kelly was almost my friend. It seemed fitting…" her voice trailed off.

"Samuel Frederic, and Kelly Linda," John whispered, gently wrapping his arms around the mother of his children. "I just wish I knew what happened to the others."

"John, I promise one day we'll find them, or at least find out what happened to them. For now, though, all we can do is believe that they're safe." Putting Samuel back into his crib, she turned and wrapped her arms around John's neck, whispering into his ear as he held her close.

"Besides, Spartans make their own hope."

Onyx, unidentified alternate dimension

Dr. Halsey, Senior Chief Petty Officer Mendez, Fred, Kelly, Linda, and the surviving SPARTAN-IIIs explored their new dimension, carrying the cryotubes containing their fellow teammates with them wherever they went. Every day they made a new camp, and while Dr. Halsey tried to find a way to open the cryopods, the Spartans explored the terrain, looking for anything they could use to get home. True to the doctor's estimates, the world was vast, and while it seemed barren they still felt like they were being constantly watched. As they climbed a hill, they realized they were right when they saw a strange mixture of Covenant and human soldiers, wearing highly-advanced armor and carrying weapons of a type they'd never seen before. The Spartans and Mendez raised their weapons, but Dr. Halsey motioned them down.

"Wait, look closer. These must be Forerunners. Look at the weapons, the armor. It's more advanced than even Covenant technologies."

"Are you willing to bet your life on that, doctor?" Mendez growled.

"Whether I am or not, we'd never stand a chance against those weapons."

"Then what do you suggest, Dr. Halsey?" Kelly asked.

"Communication."

She approached the soldiers, hands out to show she was unarmed.

Arnyris looked doubtfully at the group gathered on the hill. How could these be like us? They're primitives! He stared at the old woman approaching, hand out. She tried to speak, but though she was a human like him, her words were meaningless in his ears. His Elite comrade, Nosa 'Purimee, looked over at him.

"These are not Reclaimers, as we are."

"No, but they are here, and we must decide what to do with them. We cannot understand their language, and they probably cannot understand us. The Council should decide; we must get them to the city. Perhaps gestures will suffice for now." He pointed at the old woman, then at the group of humans behind her, then pointed a direction. The woman nodded, and motioned the group behind her to come forward.

Dr. Halsey looked at Mendez and her Spartans as they gathered around (by this time she'd 'adopted' the SPARTAN-IIIs) and swallowed the lump in her throat.

"They want us to follow them."

"Is that really a good idea, ma'am?" one of the older S-IIIs asked: Tom, she remembered.

"I honestly cannot think of a better option. With luck, they may lead us to a city, and perhaps to someone who can facilitate some means of communication."

"It could just as easily be a trap," Fred muttered. "We should make a break for it. We're fast enough—"

"But you also have no idea where you are," Mendez pointed out. "We have no choice at the moment but to follow them." Fred nodded reluctantly, and the group began to follow the Forerunner warriors.

Arnyris led the strangers to the city, and stopped them outside a small house. The woman who lived here was a descendant of the woman who had saved them all from the Flood, if the histories were true. Like her ancestor, she was a scientist—annoying as all of them were--and had a knack for technology. He stood outside the door and called her name.

"Arisaya! Arisaya!" There was no response. "Arisaya!"

"That scientist gets more annoying with each passing day," he muttered before bellowing: "ARISAYA!"

"I can hear you, Arnyris, no need to bellow like a vengeful Hunter," a sharp voice replied from behind him; while he'd been shouting her name to the heavens, Arisaya had dropped down from the roof where she'd been repairing an antenna and slipped behind both him and his platoon. Arnyris quickly banished his surprise—Arisaya had always had a skill for silence—and coldly explained the situation.

"We have found these on our patrol, but they do not know our language. We must take them before the Council, but it will do no good if they cannot speak."

"So you need me to find a translator? You are fortunate that a scientist like me has nothing to do in her spare time." Arnyris winced at her bitter tone, a precise, mocking echo of his own.

None of them could understand what the two Forerunners were saying, but when the woman turned her head, the Spartans caught their breath: a face they had seen many times before was staring them in the eyes. Other than her eyes being a deep blue, the face was Laura Morisson's back on Earth. It was also the face of the Forerunner scientist Alaya, who had been nearly an expert on the Flood.

"Laura? Or are you Alaya?" Linda asked. The woman looked at her sharply, and they saw that she was not either. She looked them all over, then turned to Dr. Halsey and beckoned. The soldiers tried to stop her, but she glared at them and they backed down. Looking at them again, she pointed at herself and said "Arisaya," then pointed at them with a questioning look in her eyes.

"Doctor Catherine Halsey," Dr. Halsey said clearly, pointing at herself. The woman tipped her head to the side in puzzlement, then turned and headed to the center of the city. Stopping after a few steps, she turned and beckoned. "Kai, kai," she said, motioning with her hand; apparently she wanted them to go with her.

"Well, there's a start," Kelly quipped. "Her name's Arisaya, and kai apparently means 'come.' Wonder what's going to happen next." That became clear soon after, when the group neared a small statue. The figure on it was that of the young woman leading them, but too weathered to be a recent creation. Dr. Halsey ran over and began studying the characters on the statue's base.

"According to my translation software, this is a statue of the ringworlds' creator, a woman called Alaya. Apparently they attribute their survival to her."

Their guide stopped and noticed the data pad in Dr. Halsey's hand. She approached and gently took the pad, studying the characters on it. After a moment, she bent down and traced some glyphs in the dirt.

"My ancestor never wanted this glory," Dr. Halsey read. "She only wanted peace."

Arisaya looked at these strangers with renewed interest. They cannot speak our language, but the woman can read it with her primitive data pad. There is much we could discuss in time. She led the into the science lab, where she motioned the two Hunters on guard duty to stand down.

"There is nothing to fear," she told the bonded warriors, Ugada Maru Fosa and Inogo Maru Arus.

"These are armed," Fosa rumbled.

"Armed or not, they have tried no evil. They are here to learn, and you are here to protect, not attack in cold blood. Send for a medical specialist; there are people in those cryopods that must be removed." She rummaged through the shelves of machines and equipment until she found a slender circlet. As she brought it out, Arisaya almost swore she saw two of the strange armored warriors stiffen.

Fred and Linda recognized the delicate device: Laura had found it on the Covenant cruiser they had captured. It allowed the wearer to access memories both conscious and subconscious. Laura had tested it, and it had given them their first glimpse into the Forerunners, as well as a brief glimpse into her own life. Fred looked at Linda and Kelly.

"I'm going to try it out. I know a bit of what it does, and I'm going to take the chance." Linda nodded. While she began to explain the device to the rest of the group, Fred stepped forwards. The woman called Arisaya pointed at his helmet and motioned for him to take it off. He nodded and removed it.

Arisaya was quick to hide her surprise at the face of the warrior underneath; apparently he'd recently been through a hard battle, for his eyes bore a look of suspicion and weariness, and he was also human, something she'd never expected to see beneath the large armor. His skin was too pale, his eyes too sad, but there was a quiet dignity about him that fascinated her. Holding out the circlet her ancestor had designed, she saw recognition in his face; he made no attempt to remove it when she placed it on his head and adjusted the size, running leads to a console nearby. Immediately pictures flowed out, memories of a war that looked like her worst nightmares: their descendents were fighting each other. They have forgotten what once was, she realized sadly. Moving to a control, she began tapping buttons just as a new memory drifted out into the open: a memory of a young woman like these warriors, a woman who was hated because she refused to be controlled. Much like my ancestor, even in looks. She saw the lengths her enemies would go to try and destroy her, even threatening the ones she loved. This woman even tried the only thing she could to save them: suicide. It would have succeeded if some part of her hadn't wanted to miss, but her enemies were eventually found and punished. Arisaya continued to monitor the controls, and when the process was complete she moved back to the armored warrior and disconnected the leads.

"I hope it worked. Memory transfers are difficult for me to do; I lack my ancestor's capability."

"Memory transfer?" the strange human asked. Arisaya caught her breath. It worked!

Somehow Fred could understand the words that the woman said. That circlet transfers memories, he remembered finally. Somehow she transferred their language into my head! The thought was both intriguing and frightening all at once.

"Yes. Alaya built this device with the intent of swift teaching, and aiding those who no longer remember. I only understand a little of her work, but she was a brilliant scientist and a strong warrior: she is a legend among us now." She approached the others with the circlet, and was pleased when the old woman came forward. Once the transfer was complete, Dr. Halsey was just as surprised as Fred had been.

"This is an incredible piece of technology. I would be honored to examine it."

"You are a scientist as well?" Arisaya was pleased to hear this; there were so few people she could talk to about her ancestor's work, for no one wanted to hear. Continuing with her task, she still listened to the woman's words—for her, it was simple to divide her attention between tasks and still complete them with ease.

"Quite. I have so many questions about this place, your people, and of the Covenant."

"Covenant? What is that?" She seemed puzzled as she continued the transfer on yet another of the strange humans.

"A group of races trying to wipe us out," Fred replied.

Arisaya shook her head sadly. "Alaya feared this would happen. But all such matters go before the Council. As you are strangers, they must decide your fate; we have to be careful because of the Flood. This will help you make your case." She finished the transfer on the last of the newcomers and stood. "Come with me, there is nothing to fear." After a moment's pause, she added, "Perhaps it would be wisest if you left your weapons behind; I promise you will have no need of them here, and that no one will harm you." The Spartans hesitated for a moment, then put their weapons down at Dr. Halsey's nod.

"It looks like we're going to be here a while," Kelly commented.