Cortana and Dr. Halsey had determined that the Chief was headed for the only ship docked, an Asguard cruiser named the Ballistic. The Chief was reported to have boarded the ship via ring platform and the crew departed to the UNSC headquarters by teleportation. John's life signs were the only ones visible on the ship, meaning that he had been expected to fly the ship by himself to wherever he needed to. Halsey wasn't about to let that happen without some interference.

Although the Halo data was moved out of her mind, Cortana still couldn't access the ship's computer, let alone a communication crystal. Halsey decided to convert some of her programming so she could reside in the ship's control systems, but only as a viewer. She still couldn't manipulate any of the controls. One of the upgrades was requested by Cortana. She wanted her hair to be changed to the original style, but spikier. Maybe by changing to a more recognizable form, the Chief would snap out of it. Halsey suspected that she was doing this to comfort herself more than the Chief, but she complied. They were finishing with the last upgrade when an alarm blared red.

Up in space, the Ballistic had begun launch procedures. Halsey put Cortana into a burst transmission and aimed it up at the ship. As the docking clamps moved aside and the ship fired sub-light engines, a beam of thin light arched up from the planet and absorbed into the ship's hull. If the shields had been up, Cortana would have died. The ship turned away from the Cairo and moved away at a sluggish pace. A frigate moved aside and skittered away from the more powerful ship. A hyperspace window tore open in the fabric of space and the Ballistic disappeared.

XXX

Cortana emerged in the ship's main computer. She looked into the bridge through the ship's sensors. John stood hunched over a crystal panel; hand in his hair, eyes closed. His breathing was shallow and strained. His hand sub consciously ran over the Earth glyph stamped into his neck. His Mjolner armor had become a pale green, the color beginning to fade. The Chief straightened up and looked at the swirling colors rushing by the window. He reached down and moved a crystal. A beeping warning came from the panel. Cortana got worried. Had she been discovered…?

John frowned and moved the crystal again. A glass screen dropped from the ceiling and colors appeared on it. Asguard text scrolled up the screen. The Chief sighed. He pulled a Zat and aimed it at the overhead conduits. His eyes flared. A bolt of blue lightning leapt out. Cortana felt a wave of pain and suddenly saw a bright flash of light. In a second, she saw she was standing about ten feet in front of the control panel…

…And the Chief was glaring at her.

She looked down at herself. She had become a life size hologram and she was clearly visible to the Chief. John walked around the panel, thundering strides getting closer and closer. Cortana lowered her gaze. She saw John's boots on the floor in front of her. She expected to be yelled at again, to be ridiculed or proven of one of her follies. The Chief's hand gripped her shoulder. She looked up. He stared into her eyes and remained silent. She really felt his hand's pressure on her shoulder. She had become a solid hologram. She involuntarily reached up and placed a hand on John's. He shook his head and ripped his own hand away, walking over to the window. He placed both hands on the glass and leaned against it. Cortana wanted to say something.

"Why did you do it?"

She stared at him, shocked and confused. She remained silent. His head whipped around and he glared at her, eyes turning silver.

"Why did you not detonate High Charity? Why did you send me to ONI Three? Why did you follow me!"

"John… I…" The Chief strode over to her and poked an angry finger into her chest.

"I did this for Earth! Do you know how many lives depend on this? You can only make it worse!"

"How? How can I…"

"If I told you that I needed to kill myself to complete the mission… what would you do?"

Anything to stop you…She thought. She didn't say anything. The Chief stepped away to the panel and placed a hand on the scanner. A wall of light engulfed the Master Chief. His armor was gone, replaced by a white tunic and robe. He suddenly stumbled and slammed into the floor. Cortana yelled and rushed over to him. He coughed up a speckle of blood and laughed weakly. She reached down and helped him up. He spoke softly.

"Look how pathetic I've become…"

"Don't say that…" Cortana whispered back. Chief laughed painfully and shook his head.

"Proclarúsh táonas… I refuse to let Earth become the next one…" Chief stood up taller and looked at Cortana. "Cortana… what's with the hair…?" She smiled warmly at him and the Chief smiled back. A bleeping alarm sounded back at the controls. The Chief looked back. He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small remote with a single button. He pressed it and stepped back. His armor came back. Cortana stood where she was. She felt alive. To hold the Chief like that for her, seemed to be an ecstatic feeling. Her inner voice was jubilant.

The ship dropped out of hyperspace and appeared over a gas giant. The Ballistic arched around the planet and emerged in sunlight. A giant ring of black metal spun in geosynchronous orbit above the gases. Geography was visible under the shadow of the inner ring. But this Halo had a black crevice running straight down the center of the inner ring. It also had nine giant triangles around the edge. This ring was also much, much thicker, strange glyphs in the metal. The Chief nodded and looked down at the panel. He held up three fingers in a countdown. One finger went down. Then the next. The final finger folded…

The giant Gate began to light up. Cortana was about to say something, but the giant Gate groaned and a vortex of impossible size shot out, filling space with water plasma. Cortana was in awe.

"Amazing… I'd have to meet the AI that made this possible…"

"Yeah… oh boy…"

A human ship, the Fire Stallion arched out of the event horizon and flew towards the Ballistic. The Chief looked over to Cortana and pressed a button. She disappeared and became lodged in the computer, able to talk, but not visible. There were six flashes of light and SG-1 along with Jack stood in front of John. Cameron Mitchell was glancing around the room, hands on a P-90. Teal'c was staring out a window, Jaffa staff weapon gripped in his large hand. Daniel and Vala were arguing over one thing or another like an old married couple. Jack was standing next to Samantha Carter, smiling at the Chief.

"Chief! Good to see ya. I told you about Carter, right?"

"Yes. I was looking forward to meeting the one who helped activate the Gate network…" John said, shaking the blonde woman's hand. She looked up at him with a nervous smile. Cortana spoke.

"You didn't say that the genius of the Stargate system was a human woman…" She said, materializing out of thin air next to Carter. Mitchell smiled and looked over Cortana's form. Vala and Daniel stopped arguing and looked at the Chief. John watched Cortana with the eyes of a hawk, waiting for her to say the one thing to set the room ablaze. Jack watched everyone with interest, Teal'c behind him. Carter and Cortana glared at each other.

"What does that mean…?" Carter asked. Cortana smiled.

"Nothing… I just didn't expect someone like you would figure out the Gate technology…"

"Excuse me?"

Jack and John looked at each other and sighed. Things were not to a great start. Carter looked ready to kill and John knew that the Asguard hologram could be physically manipulated, so there really wasn't anything stopping Carter from attacking Cortana. Mitchell whispered "catfight" into Daniel's ear. Vala took renewed interest in the confrontation.

"Uh… Maybe we should… uh… focus on the Gate…" John suggested. Carter blinked.

"For someone so cocky, you haven't even figured out how to run an Asguard cruiser…"

"Uh… Cortana… I need to speak with you… Jack! Do something…"

Jack shrugged his shoulders. He knew better than to get in Carter's way. John began to get mad. This was getting ridiculous.

"I heard that your race can't even generate a stable AI…" Cortana snapped back. John had enough. He rushed forward with incredible speed and pushed the two think tanks away from each other. Carter hit the floor, Cortana's hologram disappeared. John shook his head. He reached out a hand and a Zat sprang out of his wrist. He aimed it at the ceiling and fired a round into the wires. Cortana would be out of it for the next ten minutes. Carter got up and looked confusingly at the Master Chief. John shook his head.

"I gave her a time out… be lucky I didn't think so about you too."

"This is just a shot in the dark…" Daniel said. "…but was that the AI that you said would get in the way… What is she doing here…?" Chief sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"She is abnormally persistent. And don't worry about her, Carter… She's just a bit jealous that someone other than an AI could figure out more advanced technology… You really mustn't let her get under your skin…"John muttered.

"How are you holding up?" Jack asked. He stared at the Chief. John leaned against the wall. He lifted a hand and a tiny sphere of light appeared. He stared at it.

"The power is getting easier to control, but I feel weaker… and more pain…" He whispered. The ball disappeared. A light flashed on. John sighed, but did not look. A hyperspace window of incredible size had torn open nearby, but he thought it was an Asguard vessel. An explosion and rumbling threw everyone to the ground. The Chief hit the floor and swore. John got up and looked out the window. Something had come out of the disruption…

…but it was much worse than anyone could imagine…

A/N: Yeah, this one's short. So what... The next chapter is going to be twice as long and include some very random cameo appearences...