No excuses. Editing this sucker went on the back burner. The good news? I should have time to edit this sucker on a consistent basis. We're pretty much in the home stretch anyways. :D :D

Will walked into the transporter room.

Data and Worf were already there, standing next to the Master Chief. Captain Picard was standing behind the transporter controls.

"Commander," Picard greeted evenly. "Per the Master Chief and Cortana's request, you and your away team will be beamed directly to Halo's control center. The Chief will then upload Cortana's program in the mainframe. Mr. Data will remain with her to monitor her progress while you and Mr. Worf will accompany the Master Chief to the area called the Library."

Cortana's voice came from the Chief's speakers. "Unfortunately, your transporters are unable to penetrate through the Library's shielding, so be prepared to do some walking."

Will nodded. "Understood."

The four men moved to the transporter pads. It was strange seeing the captain behind the controls. Though he trusted Picard's judgment, he couldn't help but to feel like they were going to the surface unprepared.

"Energize."

Seconds later, they appeared in a vast room, full of colorful holograms and a large control panel.

The Master Chief walked past him towards the control panel. He reached around to the back of his head and pulled out the chip that held Cortana's program. Then, he slid it in an card reader.

Moments later, she appeared, clutching her head in pain.

"Cortana?" The Chief took a step towards her. His hand extended towards her.

She shook her head. "I'm fine. It's just...overwhelming." She paused a second. Will watched as calmed herself. "It's alright, John. I forgot to implement the data filter that I created the last time we were here."

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"Go." She gave a quick nod. "The universe isn't going to save itself."

Data took a step towards the Master Chief. "I will continue to monitor Cortana. If she shows any signs of destabilization, she has already given me permission to remove her chip from the control systems."

He nodded, then looked back at Cortana. But, in the end, he said nothing.

"I'll miss you too, Chief."

He didn't reply as he moved to stand next to Will and Worf. Will tapped his communicator. "Three to beam to Halo's Library."

They materialized in a room that was far more dark and narrow than where they had come from. "We need to move quickly." John started leading the group.

Will's brows furrowed. "Sensors didn't detect any lifeforms on the surface."

"The Monitor -Guilty Spark- is Halo's AI." John paused for a second. "He's a bit possessive when it comes to this Installation."

"And you're just telling us this now?" Worf sounded as pleased as Will felt.

"Cortana should be able to mask our lifesigns from Halo sensors," the Chief explained. "She will be overriding the door controls as we reach them."

"And what happens if she malfunctions?" Will wasn't in the mood to be left in the dark.

"She won't."

The Chief's reassurance didn't do much to improve Will's mood, but true to the Chief's claim, they encountered no resistance as they climbed the first floors of the building. The halls were quiet, the air was stale. Will started to wonder what kinds of creatures would build such a vast, thriving world on the outside, but something so drab and sterile on the inside of the building.

They reached the last door.

"The Index will be on the other side." The Chief still held the phaser rifle in his hand as if he was waiting for something to go wrong despite his earlier reassurance.

"Cortana's overriding the door locks now."

There was a hum and the doors started to slide apart like they had on the other levels, but almost immediately, Will knew something was wrong.

"Chief." Cortana's voice was projected from his helmet. "We have a problem."

The doors slid apart. On the other side, there was a floating sphere with a bright blue light in the middle of it. Next to him, on either side were flying objects, all taking aim at them.

"I am afraid I must stop you in whatever you hope to accomplish here, Reclaimers."

/*-/*-/*-/*-/*-

"Cortana, we've got a problem. Spark is here." The Master Chief's voice filtered through the control panel's speakers.

Moments later, she pulled up the video feed from the Library and displayed it so Data could see what was happening. The Master Chief stood with Commander Riker and Worf on either side of him. In the center, a floating orb hovered. There were several other flying objects -Sentinels- floating throughout the room, blocking their escape.

"I can see that. And I notice that he brought the welcoming party with him. Still as charming as ever."

Data saw her frown briefly. She had warned him that it was going to be difficult to mask not one, but three life signs from the Monitor. The android had done his best to assist her in her tasks, but in the end, they had been unable to hide their presence from Halo's superior systems.

"We don't have the Index yet."

"We'll figure out some way for you guys to get it. Just don't get yourself killed in the meantime."

"Understood."

Data continued to access Halo's control systems. He had never encountered this much information in one source at one place. It would take over ten Galaxy class starships' computers to hold all of the information it contained. His fingers flew over the holographic buttons. "I am attempting to override the Sentinel's primary programming."

Cortana shook her head. "That isn't going to work. Now that they've been activated, they won't be shut down until Guilty Spark is disabled. They are directly tied to him."

She let out a frustrated sigh. "If I could just go into the security systems, I could try to hack into Spark's programming and override it."

"That would be inadvisable." Already, Data had to warn her about her data consumption rate being too high. "If we work together, however, it could alleviate some of the data entering your matrix. Perhaps we can find another alternative."

"I guess that's the best we can do." She pressed her lips together. "We need to find some way of distracting Guilty Spark and lure him away."

"Agreed."

He proceeded to access the control systems. "If you do not mind me asking, why did you not simply disable the Monitor's program when we arrived here?"

"I couldn't even if I wanted to." The admission passed through reluctant lips. "His programming doesn't run through Halo's systems like the Sentinels'. Even when I was at my best, he was like an annoying fly that you can't quite swat away."

Her voice got quiet. "Actually, he is far more dangerous than that. A good man lost his life because of Guilty Spark."

"I am sorry for your loss."

"Me too." She sighed. "Let's try entering in through the side door." Another burst of data appeared on the console in front of Data.

As he accessed the information, Data wondered what how the away team was doing. Based on the readings he was able to access, the phasers that had come from the Enterprise were not as powerful as the weapons the Sentinels had.

They worked silently for nearly a minute. There were so many redundancies in the security systems, it would be nearly impossible for them to circumvent it. He hadn't seen a system this complex since the time Captain Picard was linked to the Borg ship.

That gave him an idea.

He looked up at Cortana. "What if we put them all to sleep?"

She put her hand on her hip, eyebrow raised. "What did you have in mind?"