Coming into the home stretch here. (One more chapter and an epilogue.) Hope y'all enjoy the crossover as much as I loved writing it.
The Monitor would not stop talking.
With each word that echoed off the walls, Worf felt his self-control slipping. Since it had stopped their progress, the floating orb continued to list various reasons why they were not permitted to proceed into the next area.
"...Therefore, I must ask that you exit this area of the Installation immediately. If you do not, the results will be most fatal."
It took Worf a second to realize it had finally gone quiet.
"I'm afraid we can't do that." Commander Riker's voice didn't waver. "We have a mission here and we intend on completing it with or without your help."
The Monitor floated close to the first officer's head. Worf's hand moved towards his phaser, but refused to fire unless they were first attacked. He stopped several inches above Riker, then asked, ""Tell me, are all Reclaimers as stubborn as you?"
The first officer shrugged. "Some." Worf knew Riker long enough that he knew he was stalling for time. "I take it that you haven't encountered any recently."
That caused the Monitor to start spouting all sorts of things that Worf immediately ignored.
He subtly scanned the area, looking for any advantages they could use. If they backtracked, the Monitor would lock them out of the room and retrieving the Index would be that much more difficult. Fighting their way to the Index wasn't going to be easy either. They were severely outnumbered; Worf counted over two dozen of the floating drones.
He glanced at the Master Chief who seemed impervious to everything that was happening, but Worf knew better. Under that armor lied the heart of a warrior.
"Then therere was one vessel that crash landed on this Install-" The Monitor stopped abruptly. "There is an AI. In the core? This is absolutely unacceptable!" The blue light flickered red for a half-second. "Kill these Reclaimers at once. I must tend to the control center immediately."
"You're not going anywhere." John's voice rumbled. Then, before the Monitor could float away, the Spartan fired the phaser rifle.
That caught its attention. It spun around, light red. "How dare you!" the Monitor sputtered.
Chaos rose around them. All the Sentinels started firing simultaneously at the three of them. Riker dodged behind a pillar, Worf rolled out of the way of incoming fire, and the Master Chief shadowed the Monitor.
"Get to the lift," the Chief shouted. "I've got Spark."
Worf had the clearest path. He ran forward, careful to dodge the Sentinels' fire. When he stepped on the bridge, a drone moved in front of him.
He raised his phaser and fired.
It took two full seconds of continuous fire, but finally, the drone exploded in a shower of sparks. He crossed over the bridge before any other Sentinels could get in his way and stepped on the lift.
Nothing happened.
"It only responds to humans," John shouted.
Now he told him.
Worf looked for Commander Riker in the midst of the chaos. He had disabled several Sentinels during Worf's attempt to activate the lift, but he had been forced to move away from the bridge.
The Sentinels had lost interest in Worf when the lift didn't respond to his presence. It seemed as if they no longer considered him a threat.
Which was a mistake on their part.
Worf wasted no time in taking aim at the Sentinels closest to him. They were facing away from the Klingon, moving towards the Master Chief who was surrounded by smoldering drones on the ground. Guilty Spark was floating high above the Chief's head.
"We are attempting to find a secondary system that will allow us to force the Sentinels into hibernation mode." Data's voice could barely be heard over the exchange of gunfire in the room.
Worf raised his phaser and shot at a Sentinel that was firing at the Master Chief. When the drone fell, the Spartan gave him a nod of thanks.
"Like you did with the Borg?" Worf was finally close enough to hear the commander's voice.
"Yes, sir. We will keep you posted. Data out."
"I will cover you, sir." Worf ducked behind the pillar where Riker was taking cover. "You need to get to the lift."
More of the Sentinels were now congregated around the Chief. Worf wondered if the Monitor was responsible for that since he felt like the Spartan was the biggest threat between the three of them.
Despite the concentrated attack of the Chief, it was not going to be easy for Riker to get over there; a half dozen drones hovered between their position and bridge.
Riker gave a curt nod and carefully crept forward as Worf provided covering fire. He couldn't take the time to destroy a drone; the others were poised to attack the commander. So, Worf was forced to alternate his target, randomizing which drone he hit.
It was a slow process, but the commander was slowly making his way to the bridge. Finally, when he was several feet away, he sprinted across the narrow platform and stood on the lift.
The lift started to move towards the bottom level of the Library. Worf fired at the Sentinel that was taking aim at the commander when it -and the other Sentinels- suddenly dropped from the air, hitting the ground with a solid thump.
"Impossible!" Guilty Spark shouted as the lift started to move. He shot some sort of laser from his eye, hitting the Master Chief square in the chest.
"The Chief, Worf!" Riker's voice faded as the lift moved him downward.
The Klingon rushed towards the Chief. The Chief staggered forward, struggling to raise his weapon as Guilty Spark took another shot at him. Worf fired his phaser at him, causing the Monitor to stop his attack.
The Chief wasted no time in adding his own firepower. Still kneeling on the ground, he fired the phaser rifle at Guilty Spark.
"Insolence!" the Monitor sputtered. "If the Forerunners had any idea the Reclaimers would behave in such a manner, they would have left the array in the power of the monitors, as they should have."
Worf raised the phaser's power level. The battery would overload in ten seconds, but if he could time it correctly, it would make for a good makeshift grenade. The heat of the battery burned his skin, but he refused to let go until he was certain that his timing was perfect.
Two seconds later, he hurled the phaser at the Monitor.
Combined with the continued firepower from the Chief's rifle, the explosion from the phaser was powerful enough to knock the monitor to the ground. Worf sprinted across the room.
The Monitor smoked. His now-red eye flickered. "He was correct. Reclaimers are savages." Then, his light blinked off.
Worf turned to the Chief who stood up slowly. He didn't ask if he was alright; if he could walk, Worf knew he'd be fine to complete the mission.
He looked down at the Monitor and nudged it with his boot. He looked back to Worf. "Let's go get the Index."