A/N: A colony infested with Flood, a lone Spartan, only on chance to stop them from reaching the rest of the galaxy. Sounds familiar doesn't it?
I own nothing
X General POV X
The pelican reentered the hanger and touched down on the deck. Chakwas was already there with the rest of the team to help the survivors of Zhu's Hope.
Shepard and Kat stepped off last. The Commander looked around the hanger until she spotted the form of Tali in the large group. "Commander, where's Xero?" she asked approaching. Shepard sighed. "We got attacked when we were taking off. He saved Ash from falling out, but he fell out himself."
She looked at the young Quarian with regret. "He told us it was too dangerous with the Gravemind being there. So he told us to evac without him."
Tali was silent for a moment, before letting out a wail of anger and sorrow. "You left him down there! With those rotting creatures!" "Tali, he told us he'd be alright. And if I know Xero, he's got a plan." said Kat
Tali growled ferally, "I don't care what that bosht'et said! He shouldn't be down there without backup!" She started to breakdown, but a heavy hand on her shoulder distracted her. "He'll be alright Tali." said Jorge. "If there's anyone who could take on the Flood, it's him."
"Have faith in our brother. He became Noble Six for a reason." said Kat smirking. Tali relaxed a little. She looked outside the shield that seperated the hanger and the vaccum of space. "Come back to me."
X Xero's POV X
I ran, vaulting over everything in my path in an attempt to put as much distance between me and the Gravemind as I could. I ran out into the skyway tunnel where the Mako was parked and stopped dead.
There were three dozen Flood combat forms in the tunnel. The Mako was flipped over and on fire. "Shit." I said aiming the assault rifle I picked up. "RUNNING WILL NOT BRING YOU FREEDOM. YOU WILL BE CONSUMED." "Why the hell have you allied yourself with the Reapers? They aim to wipe out all organic life, much like the Halo rings did." I said looking from target to target.
"I AM AWARE OF THE MACHINES' MAIN OBJECTIVE. HOWEVER, UNLIKE THOSE BLASTED RINGS CREATED BY THE FORERUNNERS. WE ARE GIVEN IMMUNITY FROM EXTINCTION BY THE MACHINES, IN EXCHANGE FOR OUR MIGHT." The Gravemind explained.
"Their feeding you lies! The minute you are of no use to them they'll wipe you out too!" I exclaimed. The Gravemind chuckled darkly, "WE DISAGREE. BECAUSE IT WAS THE ONE CALLED HARBINGER THAT BROUGHT US HERE." My stomach sank.
"I won't let you do to this universe what you have done to countless others." I said having Prophet activate all of the plasma grenades that were attatched to the small of my back. "YOUR DEMISE WILL BE SAVORY." The combat forms attacked.
I lashed my hand behind me and back out throwing all of the plasma grenades. They all exploded taking out all but a few of the combat forms. I reaimed my rifle and emptied the clip into the remaining Flood, the large slugs tearing through the rotten flesh easily.
The rifle ran empty. I slapped it on my back and drew my energy swords, slicing a combat form in half as it lept at me. Spinning around, I stabbed one of the blades through another that was trying to sneak up on me.
The large tunnel was silent once again. I deactivated my swords and reattatched them to my waist. "Prophet, options." I said heading back into the area where the survivor once were. "Two options are avaliable. Finding a safe landing zone for a pick up is the safer route."
I cracked open a crate and saw UNSC weaponry and ammo. I filled up on ammo for the assault rifle. And grabbed a shotgun, a magnum, and two M7 SMGs. "What's the other option?" I asked loading all of the weapons. "Dealing with the Flood threat directly. The UNSC ship's wreckage is three clicks North-East of your position. Your idea of overloading the ship's reactor is the most plausable way of stoping the infestation."
I strapped all of the weapons on along with a bandolier of frag grenades before heading out of the room and to the mongoose I saw earlier. "We're going with the second option. Patch me through to the Redemption." I said starting up the motor.
"Signal jammed from an unknown source." "Great. Can you tell me where?" "Scans show the signal jammer is located at the crash site." I smirked, "Good thing we're headed there." I gunned the engine and the ATV shot off onto the road toward the Exogeni facility.
I knew full well that this could be considered a suicide mission. The Flood had me outnumbered hundreds, maybe even thousands, to one. But this had to be done, the Flood had to be stopped before they could spread anywhere else.
If they got off of Feros, the galaxy would be doomed before the Reaper's got here.
X
The skyway was littered with Flood. I sped right past them without so much as a glance. I didn't have time. The more time I wasted the more time the Flood had to spread. And if they spread too far then they could get out of the blast range of the Damn's explosion. And if that happened, then we were in trouble.
Another thought hit me as well. If both Master Chief and Cortana were on that ship, we might have a chance at stopping them better. I'd find out if they were or not if I managed to get there in one piece.
A Combat form stood infront of me. I quickly drew one of the M7s and gunned it down before flying past. The Exogeni facility was roughly a click away, but I had to slam on the breaks. The front of the building was blocked off by a large group of Flood. The enterance way was covered in growth preventing safe passage inside.
"Scanning...Tactical Options Avaliable." Two options appeared on my HUD. I could either activate my cloak and climb the growth and enter the building using stealth. Or I could blast my way through the blockade. I had managed to see a few fuel tanks stuck amongst the growth and had an idea.
I revved the mongoose's engine. These things killed a lot of innocent people. I was going to enjoy this.
The small engine roared as I flew down the road toward the front of the building. The Flood saw me coming and fired a combination of spikes and bullets from weapons they got from their victims. I grabbed one of my frag grenades and jammed it into a small space close to the gas tank before jumping up and standing on the seat.
"Maximum Armor." I drew my magnum and lept off the ATV. The small vehicle continued to zoom closer to the blockade while I zoomed in the magum's scope and sighted the grenade I had placed.
When the mongoose reached the Flood, I fired three rounds. The ATV went up like a brick of C4. The flaming shrapnel that was launched struck the fuel tanks and caused them to explode.
The combat forms and the growths all lit up in the blaze. Loud shreaking echoed as they burned. I had started running after the tanks had exploded. Sprinting past the still burning corpses and into the building with my assault rifle drawn.
I fired a small burst into a carrier making it explode, another burst destroyed the infectors that came out. A combat form leaped at me from a corner and was met with the butt of my rifle knocking it to the floor. I emptied the rest of my clip into it's body before slamming in a new one and moving on.
Entering the first corridor I started talking to Prophet again, "How far to the jammer?" "Approximately 20 meters due West. 10 meters above." I entered a small cavern like space and lept up onto a crumbling balcony. I swapped my assault rifle for the shotgun and slowly walked toward the next room.
There it was. In the back corner of the room stood a Geth signal jammer, "Guess the Flood figured out how to use the Geth's equipment." I muttered walking up to it. "Maximum Power." I raised my fist and put it right through the jammer causing it to before explode in a shower of sparks.
"...Come on Xero come in." Joker said through the now clear lines. "I'm here Joker. Sorry about the scare, the Flood was using a Geth signal jammer to knock out communication." I said back. "Good to know your not zombie chow. The Commander want's to talk to you ASAP." said Joker. "Patch her through." I replied
"Xero, what's your status?" asked Shepard. "Green. For now. I'm at the Exogeni facility close to Forward Unto Dawn's crashsite. I'm gonna overload the engine core and blow this place sky high." I said laying out my plan.
"What about you?" asked the Commander. "It'll take a while for the engine's to overload. I need someone ready with an evac on my signal." I heard Shepard sigh, "You realise that this plan is suicidal at best right?" I smirked even though she couldn't see it, "Dealing with the Flood is always a suicide mission. But like I said before, I don't plan on dying here. Just be ready with that evac before the fireworks start." I said with finality.
The line was quiet for a moment, "Alright Leutenant, good hunting. But before you start, someone wants to talk to you." Shepard went quiet, then I heard a voice that my my heart both warm up and drop into my stomach. "Xero...your in big trouble you bosht'et!"
I chuckled, "I know Tali. And I'll be back to face your wrath soon. Just have faith in me." Tali sighed, "Just becareful and don't do anything stupid." I smirked again, "I'll do my best."
The line went quiet just as Prophet spoke. "Proximity Alert. Enemies closing in on your location." I looked back at the door before quickly ducking down. "Cloak Engaged." Several combat forms ran into the room and stood still, searching for my presence.
A few minutes later they skulked back out. "Better play it safe from here on out." I whispered to myself as I crept out of the room.
X
The Forward Unto Dawn's wreckage was practically a stone's throw away from the Exogeni facility. But it didn't help that there was dozens of Flood between me and the crashed ship.
Luckily, my cloak had held out long enough for me to get inside and hide so my suit's energy could charge.
I brought up a 3D map of the Damn's wreckage and looked through it with a close eye. After a brief moment, I marked the two locations I needed to get to. "First it's the cryo bay. Then engineering. Let's see...the best way to get to cryo is through the sevice ducts."
Peering out of the store room I hid in, I started to make my way to the nearest service hatch. The power was very dim inside the destroyed frigate, it was hard to believe that the power was still active at any level on this thing.
I reached the service hatch and ripped it open to allow me inside. "Six, how's everything going down there?" asked Kat over the comm. "Still alive if that's what you mean. I'm traveling through the service ducts to avoid detection, heading to cryo first before hitting up engineering." I replied.
"You really think they're in there?" she asked. "Let's hope they are. We could use both of their help right now." I said jumping up into another duct and turning a corner. The sound of Flood infectors resounded in the small space. I drew an M7 and pressed my body against the wall.
At the end of the duct, a small group of the little creatures scurried by not even seeing me. With the SMG leading, I started moving again. After turning a few more corners and climbing up several levels, I kicked out another hatch on the level that cryo was suppose to be on.
"So far so good." I said drawing my assault rifle. The ship was a complete mess. The metal walls and ceiling had caved in from the crash, loose wires, hoses and debris covered the floor as I stepped over it.
I came to a corner and stopped, taking out my knife and peering around the corner with it. The reflective metal showed two combat forms milling around infront of the door that would take me to the cryo bay. Putting my knife and assault rifle away, I drew the hilts for my energy swords. "Cloak Engaged."
Now cloaked, I silently stepped around the corner and toward the Flood soldiers. The small tentacles sticking out of their chests waved gently infront of them as I drew closer.
They stiffened. I froze with the hilts of my swords clentched and ready to activate.
"WE SENSE YOUR PRESENCE. YOU'VE COME IN SEARCH OF THEM HAVEN'T YOU? WE EXIST TOGETHER NOW. THREE CORPSES...IN ONE GRAVE." Spoke the combat forms.
My swords activated and I quickly sliced them in half down the middle. "Not if I have anything to say about it asshole." I deactivated the swords and forced my hands into the small gap in the door infront of me.
"Uh, Xero? I don't know what you did, but those Flood freaks are heading for your location." said Joker. I grunted as I forced the doors apart. "How many?" I asked drawing my rifle again.
"All of them." said the pilot.
Dread crept up my spine like a serpent under my skin. "Fuck, then I better make this quick. Just keep me posted on the horde's location." I said sprinting down the damaged hall. "Aye aye." replied Joker.
I rounded a corner at top speed and saw faded writing on the wall reading 'Cryo Bay' with a blue arrow pointing farther down. A combat form came out of a nearby door way. I aimed my rifle and severed it's legs at the knee with two short bursts, running past it as it dropped to the floor.
The doors leading into the cryo room were right infront of me, but were sealed tight and didn't have power. "Prophet, can the suit give me enough strength to get this open?" "Negative. The suit's maximum strength would not effect the highly dense metal." I cursed to myself. Then I had an idea.
X
Honestly...I hoped this would work.
I had taken all but two of my grenades and stuck them to the door with omni-gel. I had also managed to gather four flamable canisters from nearby rooms and set them close to the grenades. Five in all forming an X pattern with the center grenade over where the doors seperated.
Down the hall, I leaned around the corner and drew my magnum. "Warning. The sound of the explosion will alert all parasites within the crashed ship." "I know Prophet. But I need to get in there." I aimed down the sights and targeted the grenade in the center of the X.
I fired one shot, and took cover as the whole deck shook from the explosion. When the dust settled, the door to cryo had been warped inward in the middle making a small hole. "Good enough." I said as I ran back to the door and started to force it open. "Maximum Power."
The door started to creak when I heard the loud shreaking as Flood combat forms headed to my position. "Come on!" I said as the doors started to seperate. "Proximity Alert." "Not helping!" I shouted putting more strength into it. The door started to open wider.
"Xero, the Flood is closing in on your position." said Joker. "I know!" I exclaimed forcing the heavy door open wider.
The gap in the middle was just large enough for me to squeeze through when the first of the combat forms started running down the corridor. I drew an M7 and started to go through the opening while firing on the Flood.
I was halfway through and I had already taken down three when my clip ran dry. A combat form latched onto my arm and tried to pull be back making me drop the SMG. I raised my foot and kicked it hard enough to send it crashing into it's friends and knocking them over.
Just barely making it through. The Flood started to try and wrench the doors open. Two pure forms and three carriers had shown up and added their strength.
I pulled out a grenade and tossed it through the opening in the door. It bounced and rolled under the feet of one of the carriers. I dove aside just as it went off, the sounds of the carrier's exploding along with their little travelers followed by the sounds of bodies hitting the walls hard.
Looking back through the door, I saw a the corridor pained with green blood. Various limbs laid everywhere and fleshy chunks dripped down the walls. "Damn, where's a janitor when you need one?" I said before heading farther into the cryo bay.
X
Unlike the rest of the Dawn, the cryo bay looked mostly intact. I swept each room with my assault rifle using my nano vision so that I could remain unseen. I kept having Prophet scan for any signs of life, but it always came back negative.
I entered the last room and found it worse than the others. All the cryo tubes had been smashed in, except the one that was farther down the row. That one had been opened.
As I got closer, I saw signs of combat. Shell casings, bullet dents, and red and green blood covered the floor and walls. And at the vary end was another door, it looked like it had been smashed inward by something huge.
The sound of sobbing caught my attention. I stepped quietly toward a pedistal where a small blue light was visible. I removed my helmet and knelt down infront of the pedistal and saw a tiny blue woman curled up in a ball and shaking.
"Cortana?" Her head snapped up and she looked in my direction. "X-Xero?...Is it really you?" I nodded and smiled, "Been a while huh?" I said chuckling. She smiled, but it quickly vanished, as did my own. "What happened Cortana?" I asked seriously.
She shuddered, "After the Ark was destroyed, we just drifted through space. I had no way of knowing that we had been sent to another galaxy. Days turned to weeks, then months, then years. The Dawn's power started to run out. I had to shut down the non-essential parts of the ship. Until all that was left was the one cryo tube and the beacon I dropped."
The AI looked up at me, "The ship crashed on this planet by accident. By that point we were almost completely out of power. In order to get John out safely...I had to wait for what power we had left to drain into the cryo bay." She turned her head and starred off into nothing. "Then...the Flood started to wreak havok on the colony. I had no idea that a few of them had managed to get on board. I worked faster at trying to get John out of cryo."
She started to cry again, "But it was too quick. When he woke up his nerves had been damaged, the quick thaw had all but fired them. It made him slow, his reaction time not even half of what it was before...Then..." Cortana broke down and cried into her knees.
I wished there was someway I could comfort her. But she was just a hologram avatar...so I just listened and waited.
"The Flood started to break in here. John worked as fast as he could to arm himself and fight back." Cortana shuddered. "But they overpowered him. Beat him down...I've never seen him so...so..." she trailed off. "Where's the Chief now?" I asked.
"The Flood took him...I don't know where...It's all my fault..." she said burying her head into her knees again. I shook my head, "This wasn't your fault Cortana. Even for an AI there was only so much you could do...But right now I need your help."
Slowly, she looked up at me. "The Flood have completely taken over the colony. The people I'm working with managed to save what survivors made it. But we can't let them off this planet...you know what they're capable of." I said seriously.
Cortana just starred, "I'm useless Xero. I went rampant shortly after the Chief was taken...AIs aren't suppose to have emotions. Anger, fear, sorrow, regret...guilt..."
I looked at her softly. "Cortana...would you hurt me?" She looked up at me in shock, "No, never." she exclaimed. "Would your hurt the innocent?" I asked again. "No." she said more gently this time. "Then that's all I need to know. Emotions don't make you defective, they can make you stronger. You just have to make sure you don't lose control of them."
I smiled, "And I know for a fact that you are the most controlled AI I've ever met." The data that ran across her form sped up, and her eyes changed from blue to pink, "Thank you, Xero." she said standing up on her pedistal.
"What do you say we kill some Flood and find the Chief?" I asked pulling my helmet back on. "What took you so long to ask?" she said putting her hand's on her hips.
I removed her chip causing her avatar to vanish. "Prophet, you got room in there for one more?" I asked. "Affermative. Reconfiguration of nanosuit is required so that transportation of AI construct, Subject: Cortana, can be done safely." "Do what you have to." I said preparing myself.
A sudden pain errupted in the back of my skull. My HUD went haywire for a few moment's before coming back online. "Reconfiguration...complete. Nanosuit has successfully connected with UNSC nerual implant. Construct Cortana can now be inserted."
Reaching my hand back and feeling the back of my head. I felt a small slot that wasn't there before. I looked down at Cortana's chip. "Well...here goes something." I inserted the chip into the back of my head.
Immediately I felt a cool presence in my head, before a slight headache in my frontal lobe that quickly disappeared. "Cortana? You there?" I asked. Silence. "Cortana?" I asked again.
"...I can't believe you went through all of that." she said inside my head. I chuckled, "I take it Prophet gave you the grand tour?" "You could call it that. But it's hard to believe all of that happened. Reach...you nearly gave your life to make sure Keyes and I got out of there." "You and the Chief were our hope Cortana. I was happy to fight so you could escape." I said heading through the smashed door.
"And the world we're in now...so many different species. And not one of them hostile like the Covenant were." "Actually, there are quite a few who would prove that wrong." I said honestly.
I suddently heard her giggle which caused me to pause. "What?" I asked. "Nothing...just...nothing." "Cortana..." I said seriously. "Your so smitten with that Quarian girl aren't you?" I hung my head and muttered about intrusive AIs as I moved us toward engineering.
X
It had been a while since we left the cryo deck, and there wasn't any opposition. "This is too easy." I said sweeping my weapon from side to side. "Me and Prophet aren't picking up anything. Where are they?" I hit my comm, "Joker, what's the status on the horde?"
"They've...just stopped." he replied confused. "What do you mean 'they've stopped'?" I asked, that feeling of dread slowly creeping back. "Joker's right Xero, the Flood have stopped moving. Their surrounding the ship's wreckage, almost like their waiting for something." said Shepard.
"With the Flood, who knows what they could be planning." said Cortana. "Xero? Who was that?" asked Shepard. "Her name's Cortana. She's a UNSC class smart AI, she was the one that helped the Master Chief stop the Covenant wars." I explained. "How do you know she can be trusted?" said Tali suddently coming on the line.
"Noble Six nearly gave his life so that I could help the Chief stop the Covenant and the Flood. If anything...I owe him a lot." said Cortana. "...Alright, I may have little trust in AIs. But if Xero trusts you then I will too. Keep him safe." said Tali. "Don't worry, I'll keep him out of trouble." I rolled my eyes, "So says the tiny woman in my head.
My left hand suddently snapped up and slapped me. "What the?" "You forgot that the nanosuit is hooked into your nervious system." she said with a smirk in her voice. "Moving on..." I said and just kept moving toward the engineering deck.
After going through the service ducts again. I managed to get into engineering with little trouble. "Still no sign of the Flood. Where the hell did they all go?" I muttered searching the large dark room. "Xero, activate that panel on the far wall. There might still be power for this room." I saw the panel Cortana pointed out and activated it.
There was a large rumble, and the lights above slowly flickered to life. The reactor for the ship was intact, and from the looks of it would still have enough juice to blow the Flood straight to hell. "Cortana, what's the status on the engine core?" I asked approaching the massive engine.
"The core is still very active, even after all the time. If you can crack the seals, it will start to overload." she replied. "How long will I have before it goes?" I asked leaping up to the catwalk three stories above. "Hard to tell given all of the damage that has occured to the ship. My best guess would be about 10 to 15 minutes." I sighed, "Shit, better make this count then."
I hit my comm, "Shepard, have a phantom ready to pick us up. According to Cortana I only got about 10 to 15 minutes before this place blows." "We'll get it ready now and let you know when we're on approach." said the Commander.
I looked up at the engine core. The vent's that helped cool it down where just a few feet above the catwalk. The problem was that there was no way for the vents to open. I'd have to rip them open by force, then fire my weapon directly into it to crack the seal.
Grabbing the first vent, I pulled until the small piece of metal snapped right off. I drew my shotgun and jammed it down the small hole and pulled the trigger.
The sound of the buckshot hitting the inside of the vent echoed...then an explosion rumbled followed by a jet of fire that shot out of the opening. "One down." said Cortana.
I moved to the next one to repeat the process...when the door at the end of the catwalk opened. In the doorway stood a hulking form that could barely fit through. But when it did, it started to skulk toward me. I aimed my shotgun, ready to fight whatever Flood form was coming at me.
Through what light there was, I could make out large spikes sticking out of it's back along with a few long tentacles. Both arms had the same long razor sharp claws where the hands were. And from the way it walked, the thing must have weighed a ton.
The creature stepped into the light...and I nearly dropped my shotgun. Cortana screamed in horror...and I couldn't blame her. Before us stood Master Chief, Spartan John-117.
And he had been infected by the Flood.
A/N:...Hell, even for me that is hard to grasp. And I wrote the chapter. With Master Chief infected by the Flood how will Xero and Cortana stop him and the rest of the infection?