Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Tomb Raider. Halo belongs to Bungie or 343 Industries now, Tomb Raider belongs to Crystal Dynamics
New Author's Notes: Alright here is the re-written version of chapter 3. Now I made quite a few changes to this chapter, more changes than chapter 2 and 1. I hope fixed some errors from last time and make everyone happy with this chapter as well as understand it better.
I would like to thank WeepingCadver, Andir for helping on this crossover. They were a huge help and played a big part on improving this story. I couldn't have done it without them.
I would also like to thank toughraid3r37890 for graciously letting me use his amazing looking picture for this fic. It is hard to find a picture with both Master Chief and Lara Croft in a picture together. And toughraid3r37890 had the talent to draw the great work of art. It is definitely kind for letting me use his picture. All credit to the picture goes to toughraid3r37890.
Chapter 3: Faithful Encounter
*Above the mountains of Bolivia in the year 2006*
The burning wreckage of the UNSC frigate the Forward Unto Dawn streaked through the night sky of Earth. The ship was encased in a bright flame from the atmospheric re-entry. Without sufficient ceramic tiles, the hull began to glow red and boiled away. A tail of fire and smoke was formed in the wake of the plummeting ship as metal was ripped away from the frigate's superstructure.
Groaning from the tremendous pressure, the metal bulkheads began to screech as the ship shook violently.
Too much speed… no air breaks. Insufficient power.
They were coming in too fast. The smart A.I. inside the warship, Cortana, extended all flaps and drag fins; she diverted everything she had into whatever was left of the thrusters. But it wasn't enough. The ship's network was being severed by the intense heat. Sensors were being overwhelmed, rendering her deaf and blind to the outside world.
Her goal was to help direct it in a safe secure place that was inconspicuous. Now that the Dawn started to reach its destination, she eased down on the power of the thrusters.
Before she entered the atmosphere of the planet, she had to think,
Where would be a safe place to land the back half of the frigate, without anyone stumbling on the ship?
Cortana wanted to land the ship safely, where it would not be decimated or explode from impact. She also didn't want anyone to find the ship where someone would try to steal their superior technology. If someone was to take their tech, it would result in the unfortunate event of Chief... well killing them. After the A.I. looked at this world through the satellites that orbited it, she knew that the world was not ready for their technology nor were they ready for a Spartan super soldier like the Master Chief. If anyone would happen to find them, the results would be disastrous.
So it was then that she thought; the mountains. They would be an excellent place to hide the Dawn. Mountains were large, so there was plenty of room to land safely. It would also blend in well with the rocks around the summit, with its gray bulking form.
The location couldn't be well-known or popular like Mt. Everest. No doubt some youthful challengers would attempt to climb the impossibly high landmark, and then discover the frigate by accident. It couldn't be the alps in America, as the military would surely spot them. A good choice for a prominence that wasn't all that popular and in an impoverish country; it belonged in Bolivia.
Cortana shut off the thrusters of the Forward Unto Dawn, since the ship was in a safe distance for it to coast for a landing. The frigate's hull scraped the peak of the highest mountain, spilling tons of earth down into the valley below.
The frigate bounced off the ground a few times, where it left craters in its wake. Once enough momentum and inertia was gone, it skidded across the terrain, leaving a huge dirt covered trail. The large, bulky warship cracked and screamed as the flaming hot metal touched the rocky surface, which sent splinters of stones flying. The UNSC ship plowed through the ground, but its speed was greatly reduced as it continued to push through the mountain. Soil parted around the ship as she carved a trench into the ground. Eventually, the frigate came to a stop, her hull still glowing.
The Forward Unto Dawn still smoked and sizzled, with some of the parts still seething red hot from its atmospheric re-entry.
Everything was quiet once more, the earth stopped shaking and the creatures stopped running. But they were far too scared to approach the fiery behemoth that had crashed through their world.
Within the vessel, in the hallways devoid of light, a pedestal flickered to life. A holographic image of a free female form took shape – Cortana's avatar. She turned to face the hushed casket, covered in a thin layer of ice. The heat may have burned away the outer hull, but the holds within were still below freezing.
"Time to wake up, Chief," she whispered.
A tired and forlorn expression crossed her features. She wanted him to rest, he had done his part, and he deserved that much at least. Activating the remaining repair drones, Cortana needed to boost her ship's communication signal so she could hack the satellites.
~o~
*Several hours later in the mountains of Bolivia*
The sun shone bright through the clear azure sky, its soft rays dancing on the back of a grateful climber. She scaled up the walls with near effortless grace, as if she knew where every foothold on the mountain side was. But there was no rope holding her, no axe to help her climb, her only equipment was her bare hands covered in chalk.
For many, scaling a mountain without any gear was insanity, but for the 28 year old Lara Croft, it was pure adrenaline. To her, it felt like moving without restraint and everything done by her own accord.
Lifting herself onto a small plateau, the British woman tucked a stray strand of brunette hair behind her ears and turned away from the rocks. Beyond her, stretched a beautiful valley carved by gentle hands of nature.
Beautiful, she surmised.
"You know I think you forgot your climbing gear on purpose." Zip said over the hands free com unit attached to her right ear.
"Now what would give you that idea?" she replied jokingly as she kicked back for an extra push and jumped for a narrow ledge above her. "Really Zip, it's like going up a set of stairs only far less boring."
"Yeah, but I want to throw up every time you look down." Zip complained. There was a brief moment of silence from Zip, but then there was some shuffling on the com. "Hey Alister's back. Pull up a head set, man."
Lara leapt for another handhold, but this one gave way beneath her grip. Relying on years of training, she jetted herself away and into a more secure hold. What would be a near death experience for most normal people, was just a casual fluke for her.
"Back so soon, from Florence was it?" the young adventuress asked, the newly arrival of the British male over the headset.
"I decided on Geneva the last minute." He corrected her. "Although at this rate my dissertation will never see the light of day." Alister was studying for his Masters in ancient civilizations at Oxford, and making little headway into his dissertation topic of Pre-Roman Northern Italian society.
"What are you doing in Bolivia anyway?" He asked.
As he spoke Lara launched herself in a graceful swan dive, toward a river carved plain that extended back into the cliff face and into the valley proper. Unfortunately, she slightly misjudged her trajectory and hit the cliff face just below her destination. Dangling over the side with one hand, she set herself by latching on with both palms.
"Ascending." Lara replied to Alister as she flipped up into a handstand and over onto level ground. She rubbed the dirt from her hands and examined the area before her.
"Alister, meet Tiwanaku a lovely Pre-Incan civilization, currently in ruins."
"Delighted." he answered.
The tomb raider scouted her surroundings to see how she can maneuver through the mountainous area to get to the ruins on the other side. Through her keen eye, she discovered that the only way up into the valley was through a small cave behind a waterfall. From there she should be able to get to the shallow river that had over the past thousand years or so cut its way into the rock face.
She planned out her route up following it with her brown eyes and her mind made a series of mental checkpoints. Then she turned for one last look over Lake Titicaca. She briefly imagined what it would be like to be down there swimming through those clear waters, she always felt so at ease and peaceful when she was swimming.
Going for the next best thing Lara turned and in a graceful leap dove into the waterfall's pool. For a moment, she enjoyed the motion of swimming, letting the crisp water clean the dust and sweat from her body. The wonderful sensation cleared the worries and doubts from her mind. Sadly, it couldn't last forever, and she surfaced again and swam for the farther shore.
Lara clambered up from the slough and reached behind her to ring the water from her brunette hair. Her long, brown hair was tied in a neat ponytail, and it still reached a bit below the mid section of her back. She never bothered to cut it much as the rushing wind blowing against her scalp was always a delightful feeling.
"Hey, do me a favor and check your PDA?" Zip asked over the headset.
She did as instructed and pulled the small yet exceptionally expensive device from her backpack. She checked its display, which currently showed the Wikipedia entry for the Tiwanaku culture.
"It still works if that's what you're wondering." Lara said while she pressed a few buttons on the gadget.
"Cool!" Zip said obviously impressed and excited. "They said it was waterproof. You should be ok to swim with it with no problem. Unless you eat…"
But suddenly, static came on the screen of the PDA.
Lara's face cringed in a look of annoyance. She shook and tapped the hand-held contraption to see if that would somehow fix it, but luck wasn't on the adventuress' side… well technology wise that is.
"Looks like it has some bugs, Zip." she spoke through the headset, but she didn't get a reply from her trusty technician.
"Zip…Zip are you there?" the familiar static buzzed on the headset too.
"Bloody Hell." Lara swore quietly.
She usually spent a large amount of funds on expensive, but high grade technology. Something that did not actually work... well it showed that she did not get her money's worth.
Out of nowhere, an unknown female voice spoke through the headset.
"Hello?…Hello is this Lara Croft?" the feminine voice asked.
A frown grew on the British beauty's face, she was in a situation that she did not like. It was painfully obvious that this person was some sort of advanced hacker, but it was shocking to find that someone was able to bypass Zip's systems so efficiently.
He was considered one of the best technicians and hackers of their time. No doubt the man will be furious.
"Who is this?" The tomb raider growled. "How did you get access to my PDA and headset?"
She carefully scanned the area around her with her keen brown eyes, to see if anyone was around, particularly the person that was causing her trouble.
"I am Cortana. How I found you is irrelevant, but I do need your help. It's a matter of life and death," the voice said gravely.
A breathy sigh escaped her chest. This was something that she did not need. Her original plan was just to find the stone dais that her friend, Anaya Imanu, told her about, and leave. But Lara knew she could not ignore a plea for help. It still bothered her that someone who needed assistance was able to hack into her headset and PDA. Knowing her name though, was more possible as she did build quite a reputation of herself. The situation however, almost sounded like a trap.
"Alright," Croft agreed. "But I need to know your location."
"Coordinates transferred to your PDA, I need you here asap."
"Okay, I'll be there shortly."
She looked down to her PDA and saw the coordinates, which said the position was just a few clicks away. She stared at the coordinates on the PDA with intent, but quickly mesmerized the set path.
The young adventuress shoved the handheld contraption back into her pocket; the device was slim enough not to break the line of her khaki shorts. But probably not robust enough to withstand being sat on. Lara then started to run to the location of the downed ship.
~o~
*On the frigate the Forward Unto Dawn*
"The first step is in motion." Cortana said to herself out loud.
She was able to land the ship safely on the mountains of Bolivia, where nobody could find them and steal their technology. She hacked into some satellites and observed the area around them. After some serious thought and examining other data, she was able to figure out that they were not in their reality, but an alternate reality.
In the beginning, she thought that they were in the past being that the date was 2006, but then she discovered that some of the events that occurred in this world were a little different from their own.
At first, the discovery almost overwhelmed the smart A.I. There was just too much to comprehend.
Being in such a low tech reality she knew that there was no solution that could save her from her short seven year lifespan. An even worse thought that plagued her mind was that she knew that there would be no possible way for Chief to get home. There was no UNSC to retrieve them, no slipspace drive on the Dawn to leave the alternate reality… there was nothing. All hope of ever returning home, vaporized within the distraught A.I.
Despite the grim news, she looked at the positive side. There were no Covenant or Flood forces to pursue them here. She also thought that this might be his chance to live somewhat of a normal life and to finally be happy.
She looked over to the Spartan that slept peacefully in a cryo-slumber. She wondered how he could adapt to a world like this with no wars or battles to be fought. Where no super soldiers were needed. He would be lost in a place like this.
The main problem that ran through her head was, who was going to take care of the Master Chief? Who was going to guide him through this reality? What or who was he going to fight for? The bad thing was that Cortana knew she had a long time think about their drastic situation.
As the day went on, she discovered via satellite, that a rich boy named James Rutland was here near a temple with a lot of men, all carrying primitive guns. It was an easy assumption that they were mercenaries. It was obvious that this Rutland guy was very wealthy, as he had expensive clothes on and his own personal helicopter to arrive at some nearby old temple's site.
Cortana had a bad hunch about this wandering rich boy, so she looked up this James on his file and found out that he was a Senator's youngest son, but also a corrupt man who had some not so friendly dealings with the black market. She couldn't trust this Rutland. She hoped that he and his mercenaries would just pass by and not disturb them. Otherwise, a Senator's son might just disappear.
Then by pure coincidence another person came, but this one was female. The A.I. used the satellites to zoom in on the female to get a good look at her. This woman was young brunette, estimated in her mid twenties, with tight brown sleeveless tank top, light brown shorts, calf-high boots, long white socks, fingerless gloves, and a utility belt. The woman was armed with two pistols encased in holsters.
But what really got her eye was that this woman escalated an impossibly high mountain with no climbing gear whatsoever. The woman did some amazing flips and jumps to get to higher points on the mountain, that normally would terrify the average climber, especially without safe climbing gear. The mysterious woman's motions were so fluid and done with such ease and grace. Her acrobatic moves could definitely make some Olympic athletes jealous with envy. Cortana had never quite seen a non-Spartan that was so well balanced as the athletic brunette female.
The smart A.I. hacked into some more files and found out that this girl was named Lara Croft. This Lara Croft had an interesting life, she's the foremost expert in anything to do with archaeology and also with occult artifacts, served as an adventurer, mercenary, treasure hunter, explorer, had a stint of running away from the law due to a series of murders aimed at her. She was incredibly talented too. She was an expert in hand to hand combat, marksmanship, athleticism, weapons skills, tactics skills, acrobatic skills, speaks fluently in several languages, a pilot and capable of driving many other vehicles, and had some other talents.
She looked at some of the more personal files, she was London-born daughter of a Lord Richard Croft and Lady Amelia. She had been raised as an aristocrat. Lara attended the Scottish boarding school Gordonstoun and a Swiss finishing school for a few years until she was tutored by her father. A plane crash had left the British girl stranded in the Himalayas for two weeks; the experience spurred her to shun her former life and seek other adventures around the world. Her father had then disappeared while looking for his wife. Croft had written books and other published works based on her exploits on her adventures and careers which got her a pretty good income.
She had contacts with the upper society members and had some contacts in the military and intelligence community, as well as others in darker areas of the world. When exploring, she often carried two pistols, but was still exceptionally great with other weapons.
Cortana smiled, this Lara Croft had a phenomenal life, she accomplished so much in such a short time. She got a good feeling from the one known as Lara Croft, it was a familiar feeling that she felt within someone very close to her. Suddenly, she was struck by inspiration; it was luck! Cortana could tell that Lara Croft had a similar feeling she got from John, and it was luck. Her smile only brightened when she realized that both John and Lara had an extraordinary amount of luck on their side.
But then the A.I. frowned. Lara had no idea that there was a group of deadly mercenaries encamped nearby. The mercenaries would no doubt, shoot the woman on sight the first chance they get.
Cortana knew she had to prevent from any harm coming to Miss Croft. She was an innocent bystander that was walking into a corrupt rich boy's plot. Despite the idea of hiding, she had to intervene. She had to wake up Master Chief. But she couldn't simply wake up John and then find Lara and kill off the mercs. The tomb raider would most likely re-act in a negative manner.
This Lara Croft was the perfect candidate. When she is gone Lara could show the world to Chief, teach him how to live a good life, be there for him when he needs somebody, keep him busy on adventures, guide him through society, and give him a purpose to fight once again.
Cortana started to form a plan on how the two should meet without them fighting each other. She would take control of her headset and PDA and guide her to the Forward Unto to Dawn. She would then reveal who she is and have her awaken the Master Chief from cryo-sleep. The plan seemed like it would work.
*At the Croft Manor*
"Lara? Hello?" Zip asked, his only response being dead silence, which was rather unnerving. "What the... what just happened?" He continued to stare at the monitor in surprise. "Did we just... Lose contact?"
He paused, hoping that it wasn't so. He could not hear Lara through the headset or see what she saw on the computer screen.
"Lousy piece of junk... I'm filing a complaint with the company." Alister complained.
"Hpmh, top quality." Alister spat with venom drenched in his voice. "Must mean something different for them." He muttered more to himself.
Alister watched Zip poke around the system for several moments before speaking up.
"Even if it was as top-quality as it seemed to be, it is absolutely impossible to find a piece of technology that is durable enough to withstand Lara's adventures."
Both men were seated in leather rolling chairs, by a large glass desk that held three different high tech computers. A few yellow sticky notes with various writings were plastered to each machine. The room was fairly big, surrounded by glass walls and a pair of doors similar to the glass architecture. It was a lot like an office from the CIA.
Zip leaned up in his seat, with a set of angry eyes and a frown sketched on his face. He pressed several keys on the keyboard and pressed many buttons on the computer, but it was to no avail as the screen and monitors were still blank. The African American made a loud groan and fell back in his chair from the failed attempt of fixing the computers.
Then an elderly man with snow white hair in a comb over, wearing the traditional butler tux suit with a black bow tie walked up behind Zip and Alister. This was Winston Smith, Lara's faithful and trusted butler that has been serving her family before she was born.
"Is there something you need, sirs?" Winston asked in a calm voice with a genuine smile on his aged face.
"Yeah, a screwdriver." Zip said, running a hand through his messy black hair.
"Oh, and a cup of tea sounds smashing right now, if its alright?" Alister asked as he hoped beverage would help settle the stressing situation.
"Right away, sirs." Winston said with a polite bow and then made his way to the tool shed and the kitchen.
The tech genius slouched in his leather chair and took a deep breath to help calm down. Zip then looked over to Alister from his chair.
"So you think she is okay?" Zip asked without needing to say their employer's name.
"Of course, it is Lara after all. She can handle just about anything thrown at her." Alister replied with a confident smile.
"Yeah, ain't that the truth." Zip agreed.
"What about the computers? Do you think you can fix them?" Alister pondered.
"I don't know, man. I haven't seen something like that happen to my babies." Zip replied a little depressed about his expensive technology that he loved as if they were his own children, then seemingly broke on him.
The tech genius sat back in his chair, and tapped the sides of the computers to see if he had the magic touch. But no luck, as the screens were still pitched black.
In a few moments, Winston came back carrying a silver tray that held an orange handled screwdriver, and two silver cups of piping hot tea.
"Your tea, sir." Winston gestured to Alister.
"Ah, thank you, Winston." Alister said graciously, while taking the hot drink.
Alister carefully blew on the smoldering tea to cool it down slightly, and then he took a slow sip. The warm, tasty liquid sent the man's taste buds for a whirl, and it started to help relieve some of the stress.
"Your screwdriver, sir." Winston gestured to Zip.
Zip got up and picked the screwdriver and cup of tea from Winston's tray, though he set the beverage aside on the desk for later.
"Thanks, Winston."
With the tool in hand, Zip went over to the computers and started to untwist the screws that connected the monitor to the computer.
"Will that be all, sirs?"
"Yes Winston, thanks again." Zip replied though still busy at his task.
"My pleasure, sir." Winston made a polite bow and walked away slowly to do a little cleaning around the manor.
"So what's your plan? I don't know if you can break the already broken computers." Alister commented when he took another sip from his tea, and saw that the computer's monitor fell off.
"I am going to try to get to the bottom of this." Zip said as he messed with tangled wires.
Zip was one of the best hackers in the world, with great extensive knowledge on computers and top of the class in computer systems. He had set up impenetrable firewalls that put the FBI security networks to shame. The tech genius was very confident that he could fix the computers and get back into contact with Lara.
*Back with Lara Croft in the Bolivian Mountains*
Lara followed the directions on her PDA, it was a fairly easy, boring walk. There were no rocks, cliffs, vines, or anything to climb to make that could have made the trip even a bit exciting. And when she thought she reached her destination she took in the sight in front of her. The tomb raider's eyes widened, she really couldn't tell what she was looking at. From the way the large, metal object was embedded into the mountain side, it looked like it could be an excessively elaborate bunker entrance. But she knew it wasn't a bunker. Looking at the dark black scar that had carved its way through the forest and lead up to the base of the structure, Lara had the feeling it was a ship.
The young female adventurer felt like a speck compared to the huge size of the 'ship' in front of her. A lot of questions swirled in her head; like how did it get there, who made it, why was it in Bolivia, and what happened to it? But she had to put them aside as no one was there to answer them.
Maybe this, 'Cortana', was telling the truth. Lara thought to herself.
She walked to the left to see if anything was behind the 'ship'. She saw that there was a long dirt trail that dug pretty deep into the ground.
No doubt it was made from the crash. The globetrotter concluded in her mind.
Various trees, rocks, and bushes were ripped to pieces or destroyed, probably also from the crash. There were a few burnt patches on the ground, which showed that they made it past the atmosphere and had a nasty re-entry. But she did get a glance of the sides of what looked like a rocket ship's thrusters, but they were far bigger. The British adventuress then saw some writing on the side of the ship that was written in big, bold, white colors in the English language. Some dirt covered parts of the letters, but Lara was able to make out the words, Forward Unto Dawn.
She walked backed and looked at the perfectly sliced cut on the ship, again.
The tomb raider was about to get a better inspection of the mysterious cut, but her headset came on again,
"We are right inside. Just go in and I will guide you to us."
"Hold on! I am not taking another step until I find out what the bloody hell this thing is." Lara demanded. She could have sworn that she heard the woman on the line made a sigh.
"The crew and I on this ship were a part of a secret government project to attempt long distance space travel for the United States on this experimental ship the Forward Unto Dawn. Our ship malfunctioned and crash landed here. Most of the crew are dead besides myself and one other survivor. Now can you please come and help us… we need you." The voice known as Cortana said.
The tomb raider stood in her place, deep within thought. She was not entirely convinced by the story. Yes, the young adventuress did believe the part of the ship and its crew that tried to accomplish long distance space travel, as it was man's dream to achieve new heights. But what she couldn't place her finger on was the 'accident' that happened to the ship. Nothing could have made a cut that was as perfect on the ship in front of her of its sheer size.
I wonder where the other half of the ship is? Lara Croft asked herself.
But despite the fact that she didn't fully believe Cortana's story, she knew she had to help the strangers. If any of what the person said was true, then there might be someone who survived the crash and in need of medical attention. Lie or not, she knew that she could not leave someone like that.
"Alright, just hang tight." Lara said to her headset.
"As if I had a choice." Cortana sarcastically replied.
Lara walked up to the ship to see where she should enter, and it was then that she saw in the middle of the inside of the ship, there was a walkway of some sort. The tomb raider walked directly under the walkway and she reached for small grapple gun on her belt. She took aim at the edge of the metal walkway and fired a magnetic dart that latched onto the edge of the walkway. The magnetic dart was attached to a lengthy nylon cable that was strong enough to hold her light weight, and had an excellent use for climbing.
She tested the strength of the nylon cable with a few tugs and smiled when the grapple did not feel loose. She then started to climb up towards the metal walkway as the grapple also retracted itself as the adventuress climbed. When the tomb raider successfully reached the top, she placed her grapple hook back on her belt and made her way into the dark hall of the ship's opening.
The ship that was known as the Forward Unto Dawn, unknown to Lara Croft that the ship was a frigate that was once used by heroes of a long and devastating war.
*A few moments later aboard the Forward Unto Dawn*
Lara trod carefully in the dark hallways of the downed ship. The sun provided some light in the dim areas, but the deeper the tomb raider went, the darker it became. She activated the small flashlight attached to her left shoulder strap that connected to her backpack. She would look in every direction as she took a step... to expect the unexpected, which was what she was good at, after all.
There wasn't much in the hallway that seemed of any danger. The only thing she could see in the empty hall was mechanical debris. There were a few that she could recognize such as pipes, screws, nuts, and wires, while others... well she wasn't even sure Zip would know. She was fairly sure that Alister wouldn't know anything either, as the ship did not belong to anything in the history books. Some pieces looked very strange, almost futuristic.
Miss Croft walked up to a wall, and brushed her fingers against the cold lifeless steel of the ship. She then brought her hand close to her face, squinted her eyes, and rubbed her index finger on her thumb.
No dust, so the crash must have been fairly recent. Lara Croft thought to herself.
She wasn't exactly comfortable in her current environment. The British woman felt more cozy when she explored ancient tombs or ruins from the long ago past. This lifeless machine was not part of her usual forte. She was more accustomed to old rocks with cryptic writing, not a highly advanced ship like she was in now. She could no longer hear the birds chirp, tree branches snap, or howls of local wild life. Instead she heard her combat boots echo with each step she took. Occasionally there would be a few mechanical creeks and groans, and electrical sparks burst. But the most that stood out were her footsteps that whispered within the mysterious ship, despite how lightly she walked.
It wasn't long before she stumbled upon a large, slightly opened mechanically door. The door itself looked as if it used to open and close on its own for the ship's crew, but judging from the crash it stayed exposed. But it was of no problem for the tomb raider to squeeze her slender form through the opening.
The next room she found herself in, made her raise a questioning eyebrow. She was in a circular room that had a railing around some sort of... well she didn't quite know. The object composed of metal, and shaped widely similar to a cone. Eight lights flickered around it, and it had a duplicate right above it.
I really wish Zip and Alister could see this right now, so they could warn me what this stuff is. Or at least guess what it is. Lara thought in precaution.
There were other steel miscellaneous tools that were on the ground. Each one looked like they belong to some part of the ship, but got shot out from the crash. They all varied in different shapes. Some were white and had a cylinder shape, some were oval, and there were few others. She was careful to step around and over the objects, incase they were of any danger.
But as she walked, she accidentally kicked a small hard object. The young British woman looked down, and was somewhat surprised to see a strange looking pistol. She bent down and picked up the odd weapon by the grip, and examined it. The sidearm looked like every other pistol with the standard grip and handle, but the muzzle on it had a large cylinder barrel on it. The gun felt somewhat heavier than her own, but it looked to be in great shape despite the crash. She aimed it a few times, but the large muzzle on the barrel obstructed her view slightly. She curiously twisted the strange oversized muzzle, and then learned that it was removable.
Lara looked at the weird muzzle in one hand, while the rest of the pistol was in her left hand. The tomb raider closed one eye to get a good look at the chamber. And what was strange, was that it appeared errily similar to of a grenade of some type. A few questions popped up in the her head, but she ignored them as she did not want to set it off by accident. She put the muzzle back on the pistol with a twist, and set the gun back on the ground.
Without warning, the lights came back on in the room of the ship, along with any working computers and technical systems. She reached for her weapons in their holsters, to be ready for any dangers that would jump out.
"Your almost there, not too much farther now. Just follow the arrow that says cryo-bay, it should be written on the floor." Cortana informed over the comms.
Lara slightly relaxed, as it seemed that there would be nothing to attack her, but she kept her hands ready to grab her dual Heckler & Koch USP Match pistols.
She walked around in the circular room, and went to the other metal door on the other side. When she approached the door, it slid open with a hiss. Though the power on the ship was re-activated, it did not ease her discomfort. She stepped through the door, and saw that the next room was a simple hallway. The tomb raider walked down the hall, and the door behind her closed automatically. As she walked closer to the end of the hall where another door was, she did notice that it had gotten slightly colder. But she pushed the sudden temperature change thought aside and continued towards the door.
She peered at the ground and found the green arrow that said 'cryo-bay', which pointed to a door. The young adventuress approached the door and it slid open automatically like the door from before. But Lara saw quite an unusual sight. She shivered slightly when she felt the freezing temperature in the room. Lara took a deep breath and exhaled, and saw the air in frost form. There were white specks that floated and fell around the room. She let one fall into her gloved palm, and felt the white droplets with her bare fingers.
"Snow?" The brunette adventuress muttered in question with a quiet cold breath.
She looked up from her hand and saw that there was a line of human sized tubes lined up against the wall with frost on the glass of each tube. There were piles of snow under each large tube.
The globetrotter stuck her head through the door and slowly walked into the room with her hands itching to grab her dual pistols. She kept walking when, suddenly, a blue light emerged from a little pillar in the floor. She could only guess that it was some sort of hologram as it had a human female form that was somewhat nude. The most peculiar thing about it though was that it was waving at her. She approached it carefully and hesitated in speaking.
"Uh…hi." Lara said awkwardly as she gave a half hearty wave back.
"About time you got here. We have been waiting for a while now." The hologram said with her holographic hands on her hips.
"Hold on… you can talk?"
"Yes, I am the one that brought you here. My name is Cortana, I am an A.I.; an Artificial Intelligence."
"An A.I.?" Lara asked, as she knew what an A.I. was but she just couldn't believe she was looking at one.
"Correct, a self thinking computer."
Lara raised her hand to her mouth to show that she was thinking, but still voiced her thoughts.
"A self-thinking advanced computer program? Interesting, that would explain how you were able to hack into my headset and PDA. Zip would go nuts over you."
"I'm flattered, but I still need you to rescue the other person." Cortana said as she folded her arms across her holographic chest.
"Alright, where is this person at?"
"He is right there." Cortana said as she pointed a finger.
The tomb raider traced the holographic index directed at one of the frost covered tubes, except this one had active lights inside. She walked up to the tube, leaned up on the tips of her toes and placed her fingerless gloved hand on the glass. The icy cold surface bit at her delicate touch, but that did not deter Lara's curiosity from wanting to see what was inside. She slowly rubbed her hand on the glass of the tube, to brush some of the frost off it.
After some successful wiping, Lara was able to vaguely make out some colors inside the tube and the what stood out the most appeared to be gold. She rubbed some more in effort and got a better picture of what was in the tube. Inside, she saw a dark green colored helmet that completely covered the person's head, and had a bright gold visor in which she could see her own reflection.
The tomb raider stepped back a little from the surprising sight, but she regained her bearings and brushed off more frost on the tube. Once most of the frost was gone, she could see that the thing inside looked to be a seven foot being in strange looking dark green armor in a frozen suspension. Lara wasn't completely caught off guard as she had seen stranger things.
"He's... big." Lara said slightly astounded.
Cortana had to stop herself from giggling from Lara's observation.
"Yeah, you can say that."
"You said 'he' earlier. So it is a human and...well a male?" The tomb raider asked without taking her eyes off of the occupant in the tube.
"That is correct, Miss Croft. But right now, I need you to press that button on the tube to open it and unfreeze him." Cortana gestured towards the big red button.
"Wait, how do I know he won't attack me when I open it? A stranger on a classified ship isn't exactly welcoming." Lara said in her British accent.
"He won't if I tell him you're not hostile, now can you please open it." Cortana said a little impatiently.
Lara went up to the tube and pressed the button. The tube made a hiss as it released some air and then the door lifted up.
...