Hello to all my faithful readers! My apologies for the long hiatus--I didn't mean it! Exams, papers, and Christmas break all in one! Wasn't too bad, though--I got a good haul, good food, and a few mildly amusing stories which no one wants to hear. :D At any rate, the long awaited continuation of Halo: The Return Home--not too many chapters left!

Disclaimer: I don't own Halo.

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Truth Revealed

July 3, 2558 0238 hours

Forerunner Dreadnaught Petrarch's Glory

En Route to Sol System

A lone figure sat at a data terminal, scowling thoughtfully at the message displayed in floating holo-glyphs, a message that had been staring at her ever since she'd plugged in an encrypted datapad she'd received from Stronghold.

CONTENTS SECURE, DECRYPTION REQUIRED…

PASSWORD?

Arisaya sat in front of the terminal, staring intently at the glowing characters before her. She'd been at this for several cycles, and the mystery was no clearer than it had been previously. Rubbing the bridge of her nose in an attempt to lessen the headache building there, she once again contemplated the cryptic message she had been given.

"Alaya is the key."

What does that mean? Try as she might, Arisaya couldn't come up with a reason, an answer to the riddle that would unlock centuries-old secrets. The data had come with a price, though—the woman who had retrieved it had almost died bringing it to her. Now her body had been placed in cryogenic suspension, in hopes that she could be saved upon their return journey.

"Alaya is the key." These were the last words she had whispered, choked out in one last desperate moment before she had collapsed completely. Arisaya had taken the reference to refer to Alaya herself, and had tried every name connected in their histories to the legendary scientist. Shaking her head, she retried some of the more obvious ones—the names of those who were close to Lady Alaya, and who had influenced her life in some way.

PASSWORD: ALAYA

ACCESS DENIED

PASSWORD: CORIN

ACCESS DENIED

PASSWORD: MARIN

ACCESS DENIED

PASSWORD: NARYSE

ACCESS DENIED

PASSWORD: THADDEUS

ACCESS DENIED

PASSWORD: FARA

ACCESS DENIED

PASSWORD: MYRNIA

ACCESS DENIED

Alaya's family and dearest friends weren't the key to the data encryption—and there were safeguards in place so that the password was the only way to get to the data. As frustrating as the encryptions were, she couldn't help but admire the level of defense Laura had put in to keep the data safe. Laura may have been a soldier, but she knew far more than they guessed. Shaking her head, Arisaya left the terminal, thinking a walk might provide an answer.

"Arisaya, are you all right?" Dr. Halsey, Fred, and Arynris were passing as she stepped out into the corridor. She smiled to herself in spite of the situation; Arnyris had finally dealt with his ego and zeal to reclaim their ancient home.

"Merely tired, Doctor Hal-see. I have been trying to retrieve the data from Stronghold, and have had no success. Never would I have thought a soldier could be so clever with her encryptions."

"Not every soldier has Laura's experiences and memories," Fred pointed out. "And Laura herself has been hacking into computer systems for years—encryption would come quite easily to her."

"What codes have you tried, Arisaya?" Arnyris asked, his tone of voice beginning to suggest admiration for…someone; Arisaya wasn't sure exactly who, but she guessed it would be Laura and her encryption skills.

"I have tried the names of everyone connected with Lady Alaya, but none of them are the password. 'Alaya is the key' she said, but what could it possibly mean, if none of those work?"

Unknowingly, the group had made its way to the cryogenic chambers, and stopped short at what they saw: a Spartan was sitting there, one armored hand resting atop a certain cryogenic pod—Laura's pod. They looked up once and nodded, then returned to studying the frosted interior of the pod.

"John." Dr. Halsey stated, moving forward to the pod itself; Arisaya and the others followed suit, and she caught her first glimpse of Laura since she had arrived, broken and bloody, covered in both her own blood and the green slime of the Flood. She was still covered in the gore, but her face…it looked like she had accepted death, and had prepared herself for it. There was no pain, no grief, just serenity and peace.

Arisaya heard a hissing noise, and looked over to see the Spartan remove his helmet; John's face looked worn and sad, a look she'd never seen on a Spartan's face before. It looks as if he has broken, as if his spirit has died.

"She wouldn't let us follow her, it was like she knew she was going to die. I should have gone with her, she shouldn't be dead." The gravelly voice was quiet, and she had to strain her ears to catch it.

"Laura knew—and she accepted it," Arisaya answered. "We were watching through the uplink—that message was for Alaya alone, or anyone who held her memories. Laura was the only one who could go; had you followed, who knows what might have happened?"

"She might still be alive, that's what would have happened," John glared. "She might not have had to face the Flood alone. She might not have collapsed as soon as she got back through that doorway."

"But she did, and we can't go back and change it now," Dr. Halsey interrupted, placing one hand on John's armored shoulder. "All we can do is hope."

Arisaya moved closer to the pod, searching the face of the woman inside. "What did you mean, Laura? 'Alaya is the key' you said—what does it mean?"

"Alaya?" John's gravelly voice interrupted her. "What are you talking about?"

Arisaya flinched; the way he was staring at her made her a bit uncomfortable. "She told me, before she died, she told me 'Alaya is the key.' I assumed that she was referring to the data she had found and encrypted on Stronghold." Before she could continue, John lowered his head, resting it on the cryogenic pod before them. If Spartans could cry, Arisaya half-fancied that tears would be streaming down his face at this point.

"It was my name for her, once we found out…It was our secret, we never told anyone." He looked up, and Arisaya could see the pain in his eyes. "She died trying to get that data to you, she trusted you enough to put her name in the clue—don't let her down."

Arisaya nodded, and placed her hand over Laura's frozen head, or as close as she could to it through the pod, in a gesture of respect. She turned and walked slowly back to her terminal, mulling over the possible passwords once again.

She put her own name in the clue, he said. Laura? No, that would be too obvious. Spartan? No, that cannot be it. Forerunner? No, that would not be right—and I have already tried that. What… She stopped for a moment as something else John had said came to mind.

"It was my name for her, once we found out…it was our secret…" A small smile formed on her face as she raced to her terminal. There were the familiar glowing characters blinking at her.

PASSWORD: JOHN

ACCESS GRANTED

The files were open and available to her eyes: thousands upon thousands of files of scientific data, research logs, personal journals, supply requirements, technical schematics. Arisaya skimmed through them quickly, searching through the piles of data until her blue eyes found the one that Myrnia herself had marked as important, the file that could have saved their ancestors, if they had only known.

'Our communications relays are down, and there is no means available to us of sending this data to the rest of the Empire. I fear we will all fall to the product of our own genius. It is my hope that soon, someone will come looking for us, and find this data. Please, when you find it, bring it to Alaya—she will know what to do.'

Blue eyes widening in horror, Arisaya began to read, her mind absorbing the secrets that had led to her people's destruction.

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Arnyris and Dr. Halsey found her later, sobbing in front of the terminal. Dr. Halsey deactivated off the terminal, and Arisaya looked up.

"We killed ourselves, Arnyris," she sobbed. "Our ancestors created the Flood—they gave it the means to grow, to evolve, to destroy. We destroyed ourselves."

"What? How? You must be mistaken," Arnyris shook his head violently, refusing to believe it. How can this be?

"No, I only wish I was," Arisaya choked out, her voice cracking from her tears. "It's all here, all of Stronghold's research. They turned a parasite into a weapon, hoping it could be controlled…it turned on them, it destroyed them all, destroyed us!"

She would not be this upset if she were lying, a voice told Arnyris in the back of his mind. And since you do not know what she has found, you should not condemn her. Ironically, it made sense in a twisted way: nothing could have destroyed the great Empire (so he thought, since he had very little practical experience in war) from outside of it, so the Forerunners creating the Flood was the only logical conclusion. Still it was hard for him to take in; after all, weren't there safeguards in place to prevent this from happening?

A hiss from a hypodermic reached his ears as Arisaya's sobs quieted, and he looked up in time to see Dr. Halsey pocket a spent hypodermic. "She is simply sedated, Arnyris," the doctor smiled. "She needed to calm down, but couldn't do so on her own. If you would be so kind as to carry her to her quarters so she can rest?"

Arnyris nodded, trying to fight the unease—since he had feelings for the young scientist but wouldn't admit it, he was afraid of what people might say, especially if they saw her being carried through the corridors like this. Oddly enough, though, he met absolutely no one as he carried the unconscious scientist to her room—and her door was unlocked and open. A swirl of sparkles over a holopad formed into a familiar avatar: Lorienna.

"Is she all right?" the AI asked in the Forerunner language.

"Sedated, and upset," Arnyris answered, laying Arisaya on the bed; she stirred briefly, and he had a feeling Dr. Halsey's sedative was wearing off. "You knew about this?"

"Only to the extent that she was upset and clearing the way—I didn't look at the data." Lorienna shook her head, dark hair waving gently. "Honestly, I'm not sure I even want to know what Laura brought back. The only reason I'd look would be to try and stay ahead of ONI, but right now there's really no sense in it. They didn't go after her this time."

"So it was true? ONI was trying to kill her all along?"

"Yes." The AI brushed a lock of holographic hair behind one ear, her dark eyes holding a look of sadness that even a human would be hard-pressed to duplicate. "Too many times they've arranged missions for her to fail, and hoped she'd die in the attempt: she was a reminder of all the mistakes they've made with the SPARTAN-II program."

"Then, she is better than the others? Fred, Kelly, all of them are less than her?" Arnyris sounded shocked, but Lorienna shook her head sadly.

"No, not in the sense that you think. The only thing that makes her greater than them is her ability to show emotion: she remembers how to feel and react, while the others were trained to be cold, at least on the outside. Take away her ability to laugh, cry, smile, and show her feelings, and she'd be no different than them." Lorienna stopped speaking and turned to the unconscious form of Arisaya, who appeared to be waking up. "This is a discussion best left for later, young one. For now, I think it is time to see to your companion. Unless you are afraid to be seen here?"

Arnyris was about to leave when he remembered a conversation just before they had arrived at Stronghold, a conversation he had all but forgotten over the last few days:

"I…I wish to court her."

"Then why don't you? There is nothing to stop her, or you, from courting and wedding each other in time, is there?"

"In the laws, no. But Arisaya…I do not know if she returns my feelings."

"Does she know?" Laura asked gently. Arnyris looked down, watching the river flow by, and shook his head. "Why?"

"We grew up together, and when I was younger I was cruel, teasing her for her interests in the sciences, telling her she would never be bound to anyone, that no one would want her. And now…" the boy paused, and Laura could see this was painful for him to admit. "I felt myself being drawn to her long ago, but I kept up with the insults. It seemed foolish to suddenly change my ways, and I fear now I am too late."

A small smile formed on Laura's face, and she reached over, putting one hand on Arnyris' shoulder. "It's never too late, young one."

"Arnyris?" a soft voice murmured from the bed; the young warrior turned to find Arisaya looking sleepily at him. "Why are you here?"

"Dr. Halsey had to sedate you, I carried you to your rooms." He looked away, unsure how to proceed. This was a new situation for him, and while he couldn't say it was unpleasant, he wasn't sure it was good.

"Why did you stay? You brought me here, did you not? There was no obligation for you to remain."

Now or never, Arnyris, he thought. "I didn't wish to leave you, Arisaya." Moving to the bed, he sat down beside her and looked her in the eye, hoping she could see the truth there. "I do not wish to leave your side again. For too long I've been a fool and kept you away, and denied myself in the process."

Arisaya smiled, understanding what he really meant—she had never admitted it to anyone, but she'd been in love with the young warrior for a long time, but was convinced he felt nothing for her. It was a welcome surprise to see otherwise. "You are here now, Arnyris—that is enough."

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There must be something in the air recyclers, Lorienna thought with amusement. One part of her processors observed the young Forerunners, while another part drifted through the barracks cameras, stopping short when she saw Fred and Kelly, wrapped around each other and partially concealed by a support beam. Now that is something I wouldn't have expected! Her processors stopped when she reached the cryogenics chambers: John was still seated there, one hand atop the frosted pod where her creator lay motionless. A wave of sorrow rose up from her emotional subroutines, and she felt an urge to weep—or at least, if she had been human, she would have felt the urge. Rather, she felt the equivalent of sorrow, so much so that she almost turned her emotions off. No, better leave them be. It's emotions that complete intelligence, after all. Logic alone can only go so far. Besides, emotions were the key to understanding the humans and aliens around her.

She watched as John settled back against the bulkhead, obviously planning to sleep beside the cryogenic pod. Not a very wise move on his part—and she debated informing Dr. Halsey and the others—but she decided to maintain her silence. Everyone was upset by the mission in some way, and if sleeping in full armor next to Laura's pod helped the Master Chief feel better, then she wasn't going to disturb him. Settling herself into a more comfortable location in the ship's computer pathways, Lorienna decided to "rest" herself as well—while an AI never needed to rest, they still needed time to themselves every once in a while. Opening up one of the many Tetris program variations Laura had given her, Lorienna began to relax herself.