Guilty Sparks

by General Rage

Fleeing from the glassing of Reach in the belly of the Pillar of the Autumn, the crew of the SR-2 Normandy find themselves stranded with their UNSC allies on a strange Forerunner constructed ring world called Halo with the Covenant hunting them. But Halo holds a secret, one deadlier than both the Covenant and Reapers combined... and it's hungry.

19. Shafted

Chapter 18: Shafted

September 20th, 2552: 1203 hrs

It had been a long arduous hike up the mountainous terrain, but it was well worth the effort. Zek now found himself near the top of the overhanging arch that overlooked the human position. Soon, he'd have the perfect spot to start picking off the enemy defenders and when his men next attacked they'd have a far easier time.

It wasn't easy of course. He had been carrying a needle rifle on his back all the way, which was a bit heavy. Plus the slope didn't offer many good spots to grip on to. But Zek hadn't gotten to where he was today by groaning about something being too hard. He had gotten where he was by begrudgingly doing what he was told though, which unfortunately soon meant he had to answer Zuka again.

The sangheili called him up just as he neared the top, nearly taking him by surprise.

"Zek, report," the elite ordered him in a hushed tone.

"Are you calling to regale me with the tale of your victorious slaying of both the Shepherd and Demon?" Zek asked him sardonically, not at all looking forward to such a prospect.

"Silence, pirate," Zuka informed him. "Instruct your ship to send a few kig-yar down to the island pass. We need to reinforce it."

Zek almost asked why, before he heard a strange sound whistling through the air. He looked up across the island and saw what appeared to be a human dropship falling from the sky in flames. It disappeared behind the rock face, only for the sound of a terrible crash to come next.

"Hey, looks like a banshee squadron actually bagged one of those giant human birds," he reported to Zuka.

"I don't care!" Zuka shouted in a hushed yell. "Inform your ship to send more kig-yar to the island pass."

"Why are you whispering so much?" Zek asked him.

"I am in a cargo pod, if you must know, me and my unggoy assistant to be precise," Zuka replied. "Just do as I say, now!"

Zuka terminated the call then and there. It didn't take Zek too long to figure out the sangheili's brilliant plan had failed, whatever it was. The pirate honestly didn't care. He just wanted to get out of this without getting his head chewed off. As far as he was concerned, Zuka was going to get the blame for this, not his crew. So he'd go along with his plan, but that wouldn't keep him from committing to his own.

"Retz," Zek said as he contacted the Fallen Serpent. "Get some of our men to the center of the island via dropship would you. Zuka's throwing a fit."

"Ambush failed?" Retz asked.

"Seems as such," Zek shrugged in response. "I owe you a bottle of ichor... assuming any are left of course."

Zek then contacted one of his men downwind from his position near where the human aircraft had gone down.

"You boys see that big old metal bird go splat?" He asked them.

"The whole island saw it, boss," replied one of his mates.

"Good, I want you to get over there quick," he ordered them. "The Shepherd and that Super-Human in armour are going to be there shortly to retrieve their stuff. I want you to get a squad over there. Bring some batarians if they want to come. Oh! And don't forget some of the unggoy too. Just shoot a needle in their asses if they refuse. We're gonna need them."

Zek finally reached the top of the structure just as his fellow kig-yar replied to him.

"You're thinking this may be our shot to take out the 'False Shepherd' and this Demon thing by using the crash site as bait?" He asked.

Zek just stuck his tongue out the side of his beak and pretended to gag.

"No," he told him, his voice displaying a sense of disgust in the quill-brain's lack of vision. "I want you all there to start grabbing human shit for us to sell on the black market. You know how much that stuff goes for? I need you guys to get there before they retrieve most of the spoils for themselves. I'm turning a profit on this bullshit mission if it kills me... which hopefully it won't."

After terminating the call, Zek moved out along the arch. No sense in wasting more time when he had people to kill.

---

They emerged out of the structure and into the sunlight again. They had heard a terrible crash while still inside and assumed it was Bravo 022. Looking past an obstructing part of the structure, they beheld a clear view of the beach below. There, resting near the foot of a small rocky butte sticking out of the sand, lay Bravo 022, broken and still emitting smoke from its battered engines. Its supplies were scattered across the ground in front of the stone outcropping, including a Warthog.

What caught everyone's attention more, however, was the small squad of Covenant surrounding the crash site. They were mostly jackals and grunts, both on the ground and on top of the butte. There was also at least one batarian from what Chief could see through the scope of his pistol.

"It doesn't look like anyone survived the crash," The Master Chief observed, gravely shaking his head at the sight before them.

"They will not have died in vain," Cortana promised. "After I saw we were up against Hunters I sent a secure message to Bravo 022 to make a run to pick up some heavy weapons for us. I doubt that husk creature will be the last we see of them, regular or otherwise. We're going to need those rocket launchers if we intend to take the Cartographer."

"We could go back the way we came," Kasumi suggested. "But that seems a bit boring."

"Not to mention time consuming," Shepard added. "The site is right there and the Covenant are probably re-fortifying the Cartographer as we speak. Every second we delay is a second more they have to secure their position."

Chief looked down below them to see a patch of grass, dotted with a few trees growing up from the ground. It didn't look like that great a distance to him.

"Then I say we take the direct approach," he suggested. "We jump down from here and assault them from across the beach."

"That's a lot of open terrain," Shepard cautioned.

"I'll cover you while you make a run for the Pelican," Chief promised. "I'll take out their men on the butte first, that should even the playing field."

Grunt grabbed the assault rifle on his back and tossed to the Spartan, who easily caught it in his hand.

"Mattock, very stable semi-automatic," the krogan told him. "I added one of them DMR scopes to the top. It's got good accuracy, should help you take down the pyjaks easier than using a pistol."

"Thanks," Chief replied simply.

"I prefer a shotgun anyway," Grunt laughed, before his face turned slightly serious. "But I want it back, okay?"

Chief nodded in assurance, he was just glad to have a decent enough rifle to shoot with for the moment. Shepard gave him a few extra thermal clips to aid as well. Good thing too, chances were he'd run out of shots otherwise.

He stayed up on the ledge while Shepard and Grunt dropped down to the ground below first. Shepard was able to do it by using his biotics to decrease his mass, thereby landing at a far reduced speed as if he were a feather. Grunt just jumped and made a bit of a crater when he hit the dirt. Chief couldn't say he was at all surprised by the krogan's approach.

Kasumi got down by using the side of the building. She grabbed onto a ledge as she slid down the structure, stopping her descent. She then slid the down the rest of the way along the rock before jumping off and landing on the ground gracefully.

This left Tali as the only person still on top of the ledge. Without the necessary muscles to withstand an impact, the agility of a super-thief or the abilities of a biotic, she only had one option.

"You better catch me," she warned Shepard from on high as she prepared to drop off.

"You know I will," Shepard promised. "Now come on."

Tali took a breath and then stepped off the ledge. She fell a few inches before an aura appeared around her and gently floated her into the Commander's arms. The quarian opened up her eyes as her descent slowed and carefully removed herself from Wade's grasp.

"You know, it probably would've been more impressive if you hadn't used biotics," she teased as her feet touched the ground.

"You're never satisfied, are you?" Shepard said smirking at her.

"It depends on the occasion and activity, I think," She replied in a seemingly flirty tone of voice.

Kasumi brought their attention away from each other with a simple cough.

"Can we save that for when we aren't this close to bad guys with guns?" She asked them, pointing towards the downed Pelican.

The group refocused, just in time for the Master Chief to pick out his first target. He placed the crosshairs over the grunt's head and pulled the trigger. The little alien was thrown backwards, tumbling to the near edge of the butte. His fellow grunts panicked, as they often did, and sought cover behind the trees and small bits of foliage on top of the rocky outcropping.

The jackals among them stood their ground and tried to find where the shot had come from, keeping their shields up until they did. Chief took aim at their exposed feet and fired. He caught one, causing the alien to jump back in pain, holding his injured extremity. Chief then fired another shot that caught the alien in the head. At that point, it didn't take long for the second jackal to spot the Spartan and he directed the grunts nearby to shoot at him.

The jackals on the ground moved up to the Pelican along with their batarian friend. When they saw Shepard's team moving in, they quickly mobilized to face them. A second batarian appeared among the rocks near the end of the butte with a few more jackals and grunts by his side as well. Together, they shot at Shepard's group as they made their way to the Pelican for cover.

Seeing this, Chief shifted fire onto the aliens. He fired twice, killing a grunt through the top of his head and catching in his shoulder. The jackal looked up to him and prepared to fire, but Chief shot another round straight into his chest. Just then, more plasma shots struck his shields, fired from the jackals on top of the butte. He backed into cover slightly before taking another shot. He caught one of the grunts between his eyes and watched as the body fell to the sand below.

Shepard used his shockwave to disorient the Covenant on the ground. Grunt also fired a concussive shot that knocked down one jackal, creating a gap in their firing line for a moment. As they ran, Tali used her omni-tool's sabotage function to hack one of the batarians' rifles. The blast that resulted from the backfire not only injured the batarian, but the jackals nearby as well.

The combination of attacks allowed the team to reach the Pelican. With that done, Shepard laid down fire on the small Covenant squad. He fired two blasts from his shotgun as a jackal tried to move to a better firing position on their flank. Both shots hit the alien's shield, but were powerful enough to knock him down into the sand. This made him easy pickings for Kasumi to finish off with a few shots from her submachine gun.

Tali stole the shield off one of the batarians, allowing Grunt to fire a powerful shotgun blast straight into the four-eyed creature's head. The batarian collapsed dead upon the ground, his head obliterated. Grunt only let out a hardy laugh at the success.

The jackals now began to pull back, pawing at the ground as they made their escape. Shepard wouldn't let them though. He threw out a pull attack that forced one of the aliens into the air for him to pick off. Tali, in the meantime, let Chiktikka chase after the others before they could reposition.

By this time, Chief had cleared out the top of the butte from afar. Grunt bodies littered the top of the rocky landmass. The only remaining jackal soon fell to earth with three bullet holes in upper chest when he had tried to move. The opening was small, but big enough for the Spartan to land a hit.

Master Chief then dropped down from the ledge, grabbing onto the cliffside as he descended. It was enough to slow his fall and allow him to rush off towards the Pelican crash site with little delay. He was now on the direct flank of the remaining Covenant and began firing his Mattock at them as he closed him. The jackals tried to respond by shifting their fire onto the charging Spartan, but Chief was ready for that.

Arming a plasma grenade he had stolen off the body of an elite inside the security centre. He lobbed it towards the Covenant lines within the small rock garden near the foot of the butte. The jackals and their remaining batarian ally fell back, but it was too late for one of them as the explosive went off near his feet.

The plasma grenade kicked up enough sand that it allowed the Master Chief to get in close. His pistol in one hand, the Mattock in the other, he shot at the disoriented jackals from point blank range, sticking the barrel straight past their shields. He was so quick, they couldn't respond fast enough, their partially charged plasma pistol shots flying off into the distance as Chief practically ran through them.

He barely had to aim with the Mattock. He simply pointed the rifle towards the batarian and fired off a few shots. It killed what was left of the batarian's shield, and when Chief was close enough, he slammed the butt of his pistol into the alien's head. The batarian, now bleeding and without the jackals to help him, pulled out a knife and tried to engage the Spartan.

It was a big mistake.

The Master Chief pushed the hand aside as it came to stab him and delivered a gut punch straight into the alien's solar plexus. The batarian coughed once and fell backwards onto the sand. Chief pointed his pistol at the downed alien. Seeing no option, the batarian went for his own pistol, but again, he was too slow. Chief fired one round into his head and it was over.

"If only you had stuck him with the grenade, then we could've avoided all that," Cortana mentioned.

"Let's just get those rockets and get out of here," Chief told her.

Chief returned to Shepard who was already looking among the supplies strewn about the ground. When he saw the Spartan approach he stood up to look towards him.

"We may have taken this place quickly, but the Covenant will have reinforced the Cartographer by now," he reasoned. "We'll need to think about a new plan of assault. We don't have the Hammerhead with us after all."

"But we do have that second Warthog now," Chief reminded him, pointing to the vehicle itself. "We can use it and the one we have further down the beach."

"Someone is gonna have to go on foot though," Shepard reasoned. "We still have two other Marines minding that vehicle and there are five of us for the remaining four seats."

Everyone instantly turned to Grunt, who merely shrugged.

"Meh, I hate sitting in those things anyway," he said. "The seats aren't big enough."

Chief just put his fingers up to his helmet.

"Call in the other Hog, Cortana," he told the AI. "We need to get back to the Cartographer ASAP."

---

Everything was quiet now on the beachhead, no new attack from the Covenant. That didn't mean that people had stopped remaining vigilant. Linda, in fact, seemed even more wary than the rest of the group. She kept peering down the beach, while tilting her head slightly back to listen from behind. For the most part, all she could hear were the others gabbing about crap that wasn't important. That and the old mercenary's war stories.

"I once had me a job on a beach once," Zaeed explained. "We took this little island, not by boat though, we had to swim. Middle of the night too, caught them all by surprise. That is, until some idiot lit off their damn fuel depot. I had to fight my way out of that camp, only one that made it."

"I am hardly surprised at this point that you were," Thane informed him.

"Well at least when I get nostalgic I don't go all creepy monotone all of a sudden," Zaeed shot back.

"I suppose my own sense of storytelling is a bit more... peculiar and involuntary," Thane admitted. "Apologies, I meant no offence."

"Yeah whatever," Zaeed shrugged. "You want a smoke or something?"

Thane declined with a simple gesture of his hand and Zaeed just went back to his job.

Linda had noticed that about the Normandy Crew, so open and talkative with each other. Even among Spartans that had been rare. There was never really much to say she supposed, they already knew everything about each other. That and they really never had much time to chat. When they could, it was always about the current mission, rarely about themselves.

That didn't mean Linda didn't miss what few talks they had had. What few things they could confide in each other were always deeply personal, special to them. You got to know your fellow Spartans more than you expected you would. It made them the perfect team, because they only had each other. But now, each other meant her and Chief. She wasn't sure how well she was adjusting to that, but she had always been somewhat of a loner to begin with. John though, he wasn't like her.

He was the Spartan II poster boy, the leader, who had always been a part of some kind of team, always knew another Spartan had his back. Now all he had was her, two other Spartans from, apparently, a different program and an AI in his head. It was a bit of an adjustment to make, and she could only guess how great the loss of the rest of the team had weighed on him. This was because he wasn't talking to her, or anyone, about the deaths of the others at all. She couldn't blame him, but a part of her wished he would. If not her, then someone.

As her thoughts returned to the matter at hand, she saw one of the Marines moving about the beach slowly, his head down. Then, suddenly, three pink blurs shot through the sky. They hit his shields and then embedded themselves in his neck.

"Needler," She shouted aloud. "Everyone down!"

The whole beach quickly duck to cover as more shots rang out, more Marines went down as pink needles cut into them. Most got hit in the leg, but one got it in the head. Linda recognized where the shot had come from, behind, but there was nothing past the arch. Then, she looked up and saw what was going on.

"Top of the arch!" She called out. "Enemy on top of the arch!"

---

Zek hummed an old pirate shanty from the days of yore as he took aim at the humans below. No sense in doing a job if you didn't have a little fun while doing it. It felt relaxing thinking about the old days of kig-yar piracy. Back when the seas were the great unknown and the Covenant were unheard of. Of course, he remembered to quickly etch a few more kills onto his armour as he racked up his score.

"Tis' a glorious life we undergo," he sang as he took aim. "The wenches be many, the ichor doth flow. But be wary young fledgling for before you know, your life be cut short in the undertow."

He fired a shot, cutting down another human as he tried to take aim. Wasn't a kill though, he got through the shield, but only hit the human in the shoulder. Shame, he supposed if the primate bleed out he could count him as half, but then his whole system would be messed up. Thankfully, one of his friends rushed over to stop the bleeding.

"Oh to be gunner aboard a dreadnaught, like dear old Farizi of Zaphinkaught," Zek hummed low, firing three more shots at one of the humans. "He nay fear his wife's nagging whilst in bed, he need only worry about Razorfins instead."

He fired several shots in succession, all of them hitting square on one of the humans. The explosion of pink mist surely counted a kill, but it also meant Zek had to reload.

"A praise to the Shipmaster, wherever he be," Zek said as he etched a new mark for his score. "Perhaps be sipping way his drink with a bountiful hen or three. Lest not us forget his kindness that so many misconstrue, for the last ship we assaulted only half of the men aboard he slew."

Zek placed in more needles and prepared to fire the rifle again, but by now the humans had caught onto his position. Bullets flew up at him, forcing him to step back a bit. As he did, he looked through the scope once more and then spotted an unfortunate sight. It was a human in green armour, very familiar green armour. It wasn't the one Zuka said they were after. This one's helmet was slightly different from description, which meant only one thing.

"Oh not this one again," he thought aloud.

---

Linda spotted the Covie through her scope and directed fire onto his position to the others. Jun, Zaeed and Thane all fired up at him, forcing the Jackal to back away. Linda doubted he was gone for good though.

"Garrus!" Linda called over to the turian, taking cover with some of the soldiers. "Get your friend in the armoured vehicle over here and lay some missiles down on him!"

Garrus acknowledged, motioning to the Hammerhead to move up. Suddenly, the Jackal appeared again and fired at Thane. The drell was able to quickly dodge away before the shots hit him. The needles embedded themselves into the sand instead. Zaeed fired his own shot from his rifle and it seemed catch the jackal, throwing him back. But through her scope, Linda could see the truth.

"You only got him across the arm," she warned. "He's not done yet."

Sure enough, the Jackal appeared again and aimed his rifle down at them, but Linda was able to fire first. Her powerful Widow rifle rang out across the beach as its round travelled up to the arch. Looking through her scope she saw she hadn't landed a killing shot, but she hadn't been aiming for one. In lieu of a proper body or headshot, she went for the next best thing and had managed to score a big hit.

Zek starred in awe at what was before him. His rifle, his precious rifle that had been by his side for so long, was now torn in two. Its barrel had taken the brunt of the human's rifle shot and had been completely blown off like it was glass. All that was left was a pitiful smoking bent pipe, no longer of any use to anyone.

Zek was not one to take things personally, he more or less let things come as may, very little really bothered him in the end. This, however, was just too far. He could handle being killed or outshot by a superior marksman, but to have his gun torn away from him? That was unacceptable. That was poor form at any rate.

"You miserable shaved monkeys," he shouted aloud, his rage boiling. "That was my favourite gun!"

He tossed the smoking corpse of his weapon down to the humans and pulled out his back-up guns, his plasma pistols. He'd show these little primates what happened to anyone who messed with a kig-yar's rifle.

---

"He looks mad," Jun noted aloud, staring through his scope.

Seconds later, a ruined needler rifle embedded itself into the sand nearby.

"I'll say," Linda concurred.

"Perhaps mad would even be an understatement," Thane suggested.

It was only a few seconds more before green plasma bolts started raining upon them from on high. Green light coloured the sky across the beach, but was specifically targeted towards Linda's position along with the others. While not particularly accurate at this range, Linda didn't want to chance getting hit by a plasma pistol bolt in any scenario. She hunched down into cover, making her an even smaller target. The others did the same.

"Ah, he is indeed furious, not just mad," Thane calmly reasoned.

"Damn it," Zaeed winced as the bolts came at them in rapid succession. "Someone kill this asshole!"

Linda and anyone else with a rifle opened up on the Jackal, lighting up the archway with gunfire. The Hammerhead soon joined in the attack. With Legion targeting every inch of the top of the Archway through the computer, the geth sent a dozen missiles flying towards the Jackal's position. Linda managed to land another hit, this time along the alien's shoulder, forcing him to stop his bombardment. As Linda saw missiles closing in on the alien, she knew it was all but over now.

---

Pain shot through Zek's right arm as he dropped the pistol. Regaining some of his focus, he looked to see missiles hitting against the arch and headed his way. As if the bullets hadn't been enough. Realising that he had overstayed his welcome within enemy lines, Zek took off running for the edge of the arch. Missiles trailed behind him as he dashed forward. He knew he was about to run out of road, but at this point he could hardly argue.

"This is gonna really hurt," he chuckled nervously.

---

He leapt off the side of the structure and closed himself into a ball as an explosion erupted behind him from one last missile. He fell down, wind gushing past at a rapid speed, before he finally hit the cool blue water below.

Linda watched the water where the jackal had fallen, but nothing came up. She fired at least two rounds into the water to be sure, but quickly put her gun down.

"Well, even if he lived through that, he won't try that again at any rate," she concluded.

She hoped John was almost at the Cartographer. If any other Covies started showing more of that kind initiative they'd be in real trouble.

---

Shepard sat beside the Master Chief as they made their way back towards the Cartographer. The other Marine had taken up the machine gun on the second Hog and the Commander had taken his seat. Kasumi had opted to drive the second Warthog while Tali rode shotgun, literally as she had propped her shotgun into firing position as they drove.

Grunt, true to his previously stated intentions, stayed on foot, although he wasn't nearly as fast as a Warthog he wasn't too far behind. However, that was probably due more to the fact they were driving to their target at a slower speed, so as not to alert the Covenant to their approach.

With nothing much else to do until they got there, Shepard decided to try and strike up a conversation with the Spartan. He did it with everyone else in down moments after all, why not now?

"You got any ideas what Halo does?" He asked him.

"Cortana has a few I imagine," Chief replied candidly.

"Yes, and while I mean no offence to her," Shepard clarified.

"None taken," Cortana assured him.

"I was asking you." He continued.

Chief gave it some thought before considering a possibility.

"I suppose those towers we saw when we landed could power some sort of beam," he posited. "I'm not sure to be honest. Right now all we have our theories and hunches, nothing solid."

"That seems to be always the case with these big unknown ancient doodads," Shepard agreed. "I thought this thing called the Conduit was a weapon and turned out to just be a real fancy back door into the seat of galactic power. I ended up having to use it to save the galaxy, but not the way I envisioned. I had to drive into it and zap me and my whole team clear across the galaxy in a little IFV... which didn't survive the trip of course."

"I can't imagine the fight afterwards being much better," Chief reasoned.

"I suppose walking up the side of a tower with an inverted sense of gravity and a ton of enemies bearing down on you is not exactly an easy task, no," Shepard answered, trying not to sound like he was boasting. "I wouldn't have made it even halfway without my team backing me up."

Chief's head perked up at that last remark. His head was suddenly raised slightly higher than it had been before. It was a few seconds more before he could answer.

"If the past few days have been any indication, I can see why," he told the Commander. "They're good people, know what they're doing and you've somehow managed to keep them together despite the odds. I wouldn't have imagined all of you operating together so well. Aliens and humans I mean, especially with your disparate backgrounds."

Shepard was quick to shake his head.

"Nah, I just found good people, got lucky more than anything," Shepard admitted humbly. "There are tons of people I could name that have done better in even tougher circumstances. I mean, look at you. Kidnapped as a kid, forced into boot camp, that's a situation that would've broken most kids. Yet you rose to the challenge, survived and became their leader in the end. Don't sell yourself short there. Whatever faults or problems I may have with Halsey's methods, I can't deny you're capable."

"That's appreciated, Commander," Chief answered back humbly. "But again, as with you, I think it was more down to luck than anything else."

"Well, you're both really lucky to have me along," Cortana interjected. "So I guess we can't deny either of those statements."

Chief shook his head a little, speeding up slightly on the car's accelerator. However, the conversation had stirred a question in Shepard's mind.

"Something has been bugging me about the Spartan Program though," he admitted. "With all the training, the enhancements, access to weapons and everything else, I can't help but wonder... why didn't you try to escape?"

Chief just stared straight ahead, although he could feel Shepard's gaze on him.

"You don't have to answer," Shepard relented politely. "It's just something that's been on my mind for awhile. I mean, given the circumstances, I'd be surprised to hear no one tried."

Chief was silent for about half a minute and Shepard thought the Spartan had dropped the discussion completely. But then, to the Commander's surprise, he suddenly spoke up.

"Someone tried," he admitted. "Someones to be accurate, but the idea was from one person alone."

"Who?" Shepard asked.

The Spartan's response was stoic and yet tempered with a slight sense of deeper emotion, the closest Shepard had really heard from him besides the odd little joke or two he had made since they had met.

"Daisy," he replied.

---

The Planet Reach, 2525

They had told him the situation was under control. They said that he should stay in bed and recover from the latest round of surgery, but he knew better. They were Spartans, even if they apparently didn't want to be. He had trained with them, fought with them, he knew them better. They could outfight anyone in here and he knew exactly where they'd go.

He managed to get himself there before them of course, between them and the motor pool's great big door separating them from the wilderness. Separating them from the forest beyond that stretched all the way to freedom. He didn't know why now, after coming so far, that she was doing this, but he hoped he could stop them. They were still his Spartans, still his friends, still his team. He wasn't about to just let them leave like this.

So there John stood, waiting for the inevitable meeting to come. Bursting through the doors she came, Daisy and the four others appeared, still armed, still frantic, still racing towards their perceived escape. They only stopped when they saw him. Daisy immediately pointed her gun at him, her hand only slightly shaking.

"Out of the way, John," she commanded. "You're in no condition to fight all of us."

He didn't budge, nor did he flinch. He just stared back at them with his piercing worn eyes, through the bandages covering parts of his face.

"Where exactly do you think you're going?" He asked her.

"Anywhere but here," she declared. "Anywhere but back to those damned tests and drills and needles and experiments. I'm sick of this place! I never asked for this! None of us asked for this! We're not their toys, John. Not anymore."

John looked over past Daisy's shoulder to see Ralph near her, along with Joseph near him.

"You too, Ralph?" He asked, before turning to Joseph. "And I didn't even expect you to be here, Joseph. You're one of the better candidates, top scores and everything. I thought you were adjusted better."

"Oh shut up, John," Joseph shot back. "You don't know me at all. You don't know any of us. Just because they made you leader, it doesn't make you one."

"Yeah," Ralph added. "You think just because you're Halsey's favourite, that Kelly, Linda and everyone else looks up to you, somehow that makes you our big brother? Well fuck that, John. I have a real family, we all do. You may have given up on them, but not us."

John shook his head. If they honestly thought that, then they really didn't understand anything. They didn't see the importance, the sacrifice, what this place meant. Regardless of everything that had done to them, horrible as it was, there was a purpose to it. More importantly, they weren't as alone as they seemed to claim.

"We've known each other longer than our real parents at this point," he told them. "We are family, whether you like it or not. We've grown up together, outfought those ODSTs together. How can you just walk away from all that because you're tired of it? Tired of us? Besides, you know why we're here."

"Don't feed us that horseshit, John," Daisy insisted. "You keep talking like them, but you're just an experiment to them, we all are. Even to Halsey. They don't love us, not like our real moms and dads did, not like my mom did."

Daisy and John looked at each other intensely for a few more fleeting moments.

"Do you even remember what yours looked like?" Daisy asked him.

This time, John didn't answer her. He honestly didn't have one. He couldn't be sure. When he dreamed of her it was foggy, unclear. He couldn't be sure of what he remembered at times. Besides, Daisy didn't give him much time to answer in any case.

"I barely do, every time I try to think about my Mom all I see is Halsey now," she told him. "They took our childhoods, John! I don't care about their damn reasons! I'm done, we all are, and we're leaving!"

"There's nothing out there for you, Daisy," John cautioned her. "You have to know that."

"Maybe not for you," she replied coldly, giving him a look of revulsion.

He could see it in her eyes at this point, how resolute she was when she had said that. He knew then that there was no convincing her to stay. She wanted out and he wasn't sure if he could stop her. He wasn't even sure if she'd shoot him or not in the next minute.

"This is a mistake," he informed her.

"At least I'm choosing to make it," she derided him. "Now step aside."

She didn't even offer him the option to come with her. She knew where he stood as much as he did her now. There was nothing neither of them could do to convince the other, nothing anyone could say. Stalemate, as Halsey would probably say. The only real choice he could make would get him killed, and that wouldn't help anyone.

He stepped aside and they all rushed off. They barely even looked back at him when they did. No parting words, no gestures, not even anything said behind his back that he could hear. They just left. Despite all he had done for them, everything he had tried to do, everything he thought he knew about them, they still wanted to leave him, leave the team. He wasn't as important to them as they were to him. He was the "pet" in their eyes.

Maybe Halsey had been wrong, maybe he wasn't destined for this. If he couldn't keep them here, what good was he to them? He wasn't sure. All he knew for certain was that there were several other kids back inside the facility. He wasn't leaving them.

---

"Did they ever catch her?" Shepard asked him.

"They caught up with her, she made it all the way home only to find out someone had taken her place and had lived her life," Chief explained. "She went back willingly. Joseph didn't get that far. Guess it wasn't really in him after all. Ralph ended up breaking down when he saw his clone. The other two decided to end it when they saw theirs. Ralph and Daisy told me everything when they came back. She admitted that I had called it, that there was nothing for her out there. I wasn't happy about being proven right, but at least she accepted it."

And he had also learnt about their replacements in the process. Shepard imagined that the revelation hadn't been very comforting either, knowing your own parents thought you dead and had probably moved on. In a way, it was like his experience first waking up after two years being dead. But he only lost two years, whereas Chief lost a lot more than that.

"Did it bother you?" He asked him. "Learning the truth about your replacements?"

After a few short seconds of silence, Chief finally answered.

"I accepted that my real parents had probably given up looking for me by that point," Chief replied plainly. "Knowing they believed I had died of natural causes was a bit more comforting than the thought of them frantically searching for years and never getting an answer."

A part of Shepard wanted to believe that at face value, but the pause from earlier made him unsure.

"I'm guessing you don't regret not going with them then?" Shepard asked.

"It was a bad idea from the start," he replied assertively. "And I wasn't going to abandon the others."

Chief finally looked over to Shepard.

"Would you have abandoned your team, your family, just to reclaim something that was already gone?" He asked. "I was their leader. Leaving them behind intentionally, like Daisy and the others tried to, was something I could never do."

Shepard could only admit to himself that the Master Chief had a point. In his place, with a whole team of kids looking up to you as their leader, how could you leave them? How could anyone just leave them?

"So what happened to Daisy?" He asked at last.

"She went through the remaining augmentations, but Ralph had suffered a psychotic break and was discharged," Chief explained. "A few years later, during Harvest... I found her body in the aftermath of a Covenant ambush. What was left of it at least."

Chief shook his head as silence returned to the Hog for another minute.

"Not much more to say about that I guess," he relented. "She wasn't even the first Spartan we lost. It didn't make it any less easy though."

"It never should get easy," Shepard added.

They rode the rest of the way in silence.

When they arrived at their destination, they parked the cars just behind the bend in the beach, so as to keep out of sight of any Covenant watching over the area. Kasumi ventured out into the open while cloaked to try and get a better view of what they were facing. She returned moments later with a rather bleak reconnaissance report.

"Bad news first, two hunters are guarding the entrance on top of the platform," she warned.

"And the good news?" Shepard requested.

"Besides the fact they're not Husk Monsters? None." She replied rather bluntly. "They look like they got the place locked down pretty tight. I suppose the rockets at least give us an advantage."

"We still need to be close," Chief warned. "They're more nimble than they look."

Shepard gave the matter some thought. He looked briefly at the cave entrance they were close to, the same entrance the Hammerhead had used to surprise the Covenant before. He came up with an idea.

"What if we take them from the flank again?" He suggested. "They're expecting just one Warthog by now. They must've seen that the Hammerhead went back to the beachhead when it passed here. They won't think we're using two Warthogs."

"But they're probably thinking we'll try to flank them again the same way," Cortana warned. "We'll need a distraction of some kind, lull them into a false sense of security."

A concern the Master Chief shared, but he saw a way around it.

"One Warthog could draw their attention to the beach and fire up at them," Chief recommended. "That could get them to defend the forward position and leave the back unprotected. We could then drive up and hit them from behind."

"So then, all the second Hog has to do is just drive around, avoid getting shot with plasma cannons, all the while waiting for you to charge into them from behind?" Kasumi sarcastically reiterated in response. "Sounds absolutely riveting, potentially dangerous and life threatening, but what isn't for us?"

"The second you catch their attention we'll charge in," Shepard assured her. "We won't leave either of you hanging."

Kasumi sighed, resigned to her mission.

"I just don't like being the target all that much I guess," she reasoned. "I'm supposed to be invisible."

"Well, you can go with Chief and I'll drive," Shepard suggested, sounding genuinely honest.

Tali suddenly looked nervous at the suggestion, memories of a previous vehicle with wheels that the Commander had driven no doubt bouncing within her head now. She pushed Kasumi towards the Warthog herself.

"We'll be fine, absolutely fine," She insisted frantically, her eyes growing deadly serious when she looked to her thieving friend. "Won't we Kas?"

Ms. Goto could only nod in reply and the two hooded women jumped into their Warthog. Shepard just grinned, although he could see Tali giving him a bit of an eye as she looked back at him. It was seemingly saying "That was low, don't do that again." He could be a jerk sometimes, he admitted to himself, but it in this case it was necessary.

"Keep an eye on the hunters for now," Shepard ordered. "We'll get in position and attack when you're ready."

Shepard began walking back to his Warthog with Chief, still wearing that smile he had. Tali's little outburst hadn't faded from the Spartan's mind though.

"What was that about?" Chief asked him.

"It's very complicated," he answered. "Let's just say there is some bad blood between me and particular six-wheel drive vehicles."

"I seem to recall hearing you were a decent enough driver with the Hammerhead," Cortana chimed in.

"That doesn't have wheels," he explained. "And I still kinda crash into things with it."

Putting the topic to rest, the two got into their warthog and slowly moved into the cave. Grunt followed them, preferring the dirty his hands with more hunter blood if possible no doubt. They turned the headlights off as they went in, not wanting to give away any indication that they were here. They stopped in a large space just a few feet away from the exit. There, they waited for Tali and Kasumi to go ahead with the distraction.

"So how you wanna play this when we go out there?" Shepard asked the Spartan.

"Separate them," he suggested. "We keep them from coordinating and we'll have more room on that platform to work with."

"How do we do that?" Shepard asked him.

It was then that they all heard the sound of a machine gun chattering away. Chief put the Warthog into high gear.

"Follow my lead," he said.

The Spartan rammed his foot onto the accelerator and raced the Warthog towards the exit. Speeding out into the sun light, they could see the two hunters near the edge of the platform, lobbing assault cannon shots down from on high. Their intended target, the second Warthog driven by Kasumi, was skilfully avoiding the attacks by zigzagging all over the beach.

Chief zeroed in on one hunter that was further back than the second and sped towards him. As their gunner fired a torrent of bullets, the hunter turned to face them and waddled back away from the edge. Chief now aimed the car directly at the mass of alien muscle. He then pulled himself out of his seat.

"Jump!" He shouted.

No one questioned the Spartan's command. They all leapt from the vehicle, rolling away from it across the ground. The Warthog kept going and slammed into the hunter, just as he was preparing to fire another shot. The hunter was knocked off his feet and sent crashing across the floor.

The momentary shock of seeing its brother tossed back like a ragdoll had stunned the second hunter. He turned back to face the offenders. Only to find Chief kneeling a few metres away, his rocket launcher aimed at him.

The Spartan fired two shots before the hunter could charge at him. Both shots struck the alien in the chest, ripping him apart. The broken smoking body of the alien fell to the platform, dead. Shepard had almost forgotten how devastating those rockets could be.

"We need to carry those things around more often," he noted.

The sound of wrenching metal brought his attention back to the first hunter. The alien pushed the warthog that had crashed into him off his body and stood back up once more. Flaring his spines in a rage, the hunter charged his weapon up to maximum. Shepard ducked, along with the Marine Gunner, one way while Chief rushed off to the cover behind the entrance. A powerful plasma beam ripped into the side of the rocks as Shepard and the Marine stayed down.

"I need to reload!" Chief shouted out to him. "Just give me a few seconds!"

"Sure, no problem," Shepard replied, somewhat exasperated.

He suddenly heard footsteps approaching them fast. He looked up to see the hunter charging at them at full speed. Shepard pushed the Marine out of the monster's path before ducking away himself. They both narrowly missed the powerful swing of the hunter's shield. The alien turned to charge again, only for a loud blaring horn to catch its attention. Speeding up the left slope of the entrance way, the second Warthog attempted to ram the alien themselves.

"Look out for the speed bump guys!" Kasumi cried out.

The Warthog slammed into the hunter and forced him back, but the alien wasn't so easily felled a second time. It grabbed the sides of the Hog and planted his feet into the ground firmly.

"Looks more like a roadblock to me, Kas!" Tali frightfully shouted.

Everyone abandoned the Hog just as the hunter tossed it aside. The vehicle cart wheeled across the platform, narrowly missing Tali and Kasumi as it toppled through the air, slammed down a few feet behind them and kept on going before crashing into the other Warthog.

Tali quickly got up and began unloading into the hunter with her shotgun. Kasumi joined in, firing her pistol wildly at the alien, trying to hit his orange weak spot. The hunter remained vigilant, however, raising its shield up high to block the incoming shots. It roared at the two of them in anger, but had forgotten about its initial targets.

Shepard rammed into the alien's back with a biotic charge. The hunter stumbled forward from the hit, but was far too big to be sent flying. Shepard wasn't looking for that though, he just wanted to get in quick and land a few good shots into the alien's back. He fired a shotgun blast into the hunter's back and quickly rolled away as the monster tried to smash him with his shield.

By now, Grunt had gotten to the top of the slope and unloaded a blazing of assault rifle rounds onto the hunter from his flank. The giant alien roared again and aimed its assault cannon at the krogan to fire, but he wasn't nearly fast enough. Chief had reloaded the rocket launcher. Stepping out into the open, he pulled the trigger and sent a rocket careening into the hunter's head.

The shot exploded against the already injured hunter. The blast was powerful enough to knock him off the platform he was so close to teetering off of in the first place. His smoking husk slammed into the sands below.

Chief ran over to confirm the kill for himself. The sand was stained orange within the small crater the alien had left behind.

"It never fails, does it?" Cortana asked him. "You kill their partner and they just go feral on anything nearby."

"Well, now he can be with him again in wherever it is they eventually end up," said the Master Chief in response. "I guess we all win."

Chief marched back to the others and looked around to find the Marines among them.

"Get those Warthogs into a defensive position near the entrance," he told them both. "We need you to cover our backs while we're in there."

"No problem, Master Chief," promised one Marine. "We got your backs."

Chief looked to Shepard and the others.

"We best get inside then," Shepard told him.

"Yeah, let's finish this mission already," Chief declared.

The team entered the structure as they had before. They travelled through the corridor and down the ramp at the back. They soon re-entered the small room where they had engaged the small Covenant squad before being locked out. The door was open this time, but there was no sign of the golden elite who had shuttered it.

"Let's be careful," Cortana advised. "There are bound to be more Covenant waiting for us inside. Particularly more Zealots, like the ones who were here before."

With that in mind, Chief kept his assault rifled leveled in front as he entered with the Commander. They turned down one way to find themselves on a ledge. Below them, the dark abyss that was Halo's underground. Chief saw a small stone of some sort near the edge and kicked it off the side into the darkness. There was no sound of it hitting the bottom.

"Think it exits out into space at some point?" Kasumi asked.

"Maybe at an atmosphere junction or vent," Tali presumed. "I don't want to fall down there to find out."

"Well, we ain't getting to the map room this way anyhow," Cortana added. "Best try the other hallway."

The team moved back along their route and found themselves in the twisting halls of the facility once more. They could hear Covenant just beyond the next door. Chief peered out into the open and saw an elite at a nearby pod of some kind. He looked to be working on something. Perhaps he thought the hunters upstairs had taken care of the enemy, or he just hadn't heard the fighting.

Chief slowly walked up behind the alien and battered him over the head with a swift punch, busting his skull with ease. Chief kept his gun raised as he motioned the others forward. He could hear other voices just ahead.

"Sounds like a lot of bad guys," Shepard stated as he listened intently.

Chief looked to one side of the room and saw a ramp that led to a second level. He looked to the left and saw a doorway exiting out onto the flank of the Covenant no doubt.

"I'll take the high ground," Chief stated. "I'll draw them out and you can take a few from the side."

"Good idea," Shepard nodded. "Grunt, Tali, with me. Kasumi, go with him and thin out the ranks on top a bit for us."

Kasumi nodded and followed Chief up the ramp. She beat him to the top and looked past the corner.

"One gas-sucker, coming towards us," she warned. "I just need a second."

Kasumi disappeared behind her cloak. Shepard peered out to see her reappear behind the Grunt and stab him through the neck with her omni-blade. She then rushed over to do the same to another grunt patrolling in the opposite direction. With the top side mostly secure, it was time to give Shepard his opening.

The Spartan stepped out and let loose with his pistol on the aliens below. He fired bullet after bullet, planting shots in the heads of grunts across the floor. Their elite leader tried to rally them to fire back, but Shepard had already rushed in with a throw attack to send a few of the grunts flying. Grunt, in the meantime, rushed out with his shotgun blasting away on the Covenant's direct flank, while Tali took shots from the doorway with her pistol.

The elite backed into cover from the onslaught, and the Master Chief exploited his sudden problems. He dropped down from above, smashing a grunt beneath his weight and grabbed the little alien's plasma pistol. He charged the weapon to full blast and then fired it at the elite. The shot killed the alien's shields and alerted him to Chief's presence. With little time to act, Chief switched back to his regular pistol and fired three shots at the alien. Two found his head.

But it was only a single elite in a structure full of Covenant. They had a lot more work to do before this was over.

---

Zek dragged himself up onto the beach, thankful he had taken some extra medi-gel with him for insurance. He had been shot plenty of times before, but never that much. He was lucky to still be breathing. As he coughed up sea water he lumbered further onto dry land, passing the butte before him.

"Well, that didn't turn out how I hoped," he spoke aloud to himself. "Wonder how my other venture worked out?"

He soon got his answer as he arrived to see the bodies of his men sprawled out next to the crashed human ship.

"Awww! Guys!" He groaned in aggravation. "Really? Fucking really? Was it really that difficult to pick up some shit and run? Ugh, I'm so embarrassed. Now I have to do it."

Zek began grabbing what he could from the crash site. Those little lead cartridge things used for ammo, the grenades, he even found one med-pack he could still use. He even grabbed one of the famous assault rifles the humans always carried. Well, it was better than nothing.

Zek suddenly winced at his injuries.

"Ugh, gonna need a lot more of that medi-gel," he thought aloud. He then quickly contacted Retz. "Hey, buddy, I'm gonna need you to direct some of our batarian buds here. I've been shot... the usual places."

Retz just seemed to sigh.

"I'll be sure to tell the medic to get your transfusion ready," he grumbled. "Just try not to lose more blood by doing something stupid."

"No worries," he promised. "I'm done with stupid today. I think I'll let our sangheili friends handle that end of things for now on."

He had done his part as far as he was concerned. He had held out a good long time and had taken some initiative in fighting back and doing everything that was asked of his people. Zuka couldn't blame any failure on his part.

"Speaking of doing something stupid and our beloved Commanding Officers," he spoke up to Retz suddenly. "Have they killed the Shepard and that Human in armour yet?"

"Well, Zuka keeps calling us and he sounds very angry," Retz noted.

"Ah, so that's a no then," Zek reasoned.

"I'd wager so," Retz agreed.

---

Plasma bolts flew across the room, forcing the Master Chief to hide behind one of the support beams for protection. Cortana was working to bring back his shields, but in the meantime he had to consider their situation.

There were several jackals and grunts on either side of the room, one Zealot left after the initial attack. They weren't the real problem though. It was the two hunters blocking their path downward. The Cartographer was merely a few levels away and they couldn't get to it with those hunters standing guard. They kept blasting out shots from their cannons at anything that entered their line of sight. This made it almost impossible to get a good bead on them. He could fire the rockets at them, but he knew they could easily side step away at this range. He needed to fix that somehow.

He ducked his head into cover more as a barrage of needles hit near his head. He pinpointed where they had been fired from and opened up with his pistol. The jackal responsible ducked behind his shield and retreated.

"There are a lot more Covenant here than expected," Cortana noted aloud.

"Agreed," Chief concurred, noticing movement approaching from behind. "At this rate I'm going to run out of bullets for my pistol."

Chief turned just in time to fire two shots into the heads of two grunts that had popped up from the corridor behind him. Their attempt at an ambush ended, Chief walked over their bodies and into the corridor proper. He moved into cover again as the remaining Zealot unleashed several blasts from his plasma rifle and then ordered the troops near him to push up.

"What I mean is it's like they were expecting us," Cortana continued. "Someone anticipated us coming here. Us specifically I mean. They wouldn't put these many people on guard for a Marine squad."

"But a Spartan and Commander Shepard would warrant it," Chief finished for her.

"It would explain the batarians being here," Cortana reasoned. "Not to mention the ambush at the Security Centre. That's too many coincidences in one day for my taste."

Chief looked through one of the open spaces along the corridor and spotted the Commander himself from across the way. He was sending out shockwaves at the enemies on his side of the battlefield while Grunt tried to lay down fire on them. He wasn't sure how successful they were though.

Suddenly, Tali and Kasumi rushed across the room, avoiding shots from the hunters as they ran for Chief's corridor. Tali dropped Chiktikka down to draw their fire, while Kasumi tossed a flashbang to disorient them for a moment.

"How do we know they're not just after Shepard?" Chief asked Cortana.

"After saving the Captain, do you really think they didn't notice us with him?" Cortana asked him. "The point is we're being hunted. That's not going to make our jobs any easier from here on out."

"One thing at a time, Cortana," Chief replied.

Tali pressed herself into cover with Kasumi nearby.

"Shepard is trying to push the Zealot to us," Tali explained to him. "He's going to bust through the Covenant in his corridor so we can trap him between us. We just need to get rid of these guys in front of us."

"Way ahead of you," Chief assured her.

The Master Chief pulled out a grenade, activated it and tossed it towards the Covies. The explosion ripped apart the grunts and left the jackals vulnerable as they tried to keep their shields up.

"Move up!" Chief shouted at Kas and Tali.

The Spartan moved forward, firing his pistol at the jackals to keep them bottled up. Kasumi raced across the corridor and bounded off the wall. She closed distance with one of the jackals soon after, kicking him square in the beak with her foot. She then activated her omni-blade and stabbed it downward into the alien's head.

Tali's shotgun's was powerful enough to knock the second jackal back, even though he had his shield up. Before he could get up, Tali managed to fire her shotgun downward into him. She then looked up to see another jackal aiming his plasma pistol at her.

He didn't get to fire it, one flick of a command on her omni-tool and she was able to overload the gun. As steam poured from the overcharged weapon, the jackal quickly ducked behind his shield to avoid another shotgun blast. It pushed him back, but he was able to keep standing. Tali rushed over before he could pop up again and smacked the back of her shotgun into his skull.

Chief has rushed ahead, weathering the shots from the plasma bolts fired at him. He was quick enough to close the distance and kick at the jackal's shield, sending him stumbling backwards onto his ass. Chief pointed his gun at him, only for the jackal to fire off a charged plasma shot that hit him. His shields drained, Chief had to dodge the next couple of bolts aimed for his head.

As the Spartan ducked backwards, the Jackal stood back up and kept his shield held high. The Spartan rolled before another bolt could hit him and he fired four shots from his pistol. Three of the bullets hit the shield, pushing the jackal back with each impact. On the last shot, it hit him in the trigger finger. The injury stopped the jackal's assault. It gave the Spartan the chance he needed to deliver a haymaker to take down the Covie with a single hit.

Finally past the jackals, Chief stood up. He heard the faint sound of a burst of energy from the corridor next to them. Shepard no doubt had resolved his Covenant situation with his usual close range approach, a Nova blast most likely.

Soon, he could hear gunfire coming from up ahead. He turned the corner to find the Commander and Grunt opening fire on the elite from across the hallway. The elite was taking cover behind a cargo pod, but he had left his rear completely unprotected.

Tali and Kasumi both activated their omni-tools and overloaded and drained the alien's shields at the same time. Although alerted to the presence of the group behind him, it did little to save him. Chief fired several shots from his pistol alongside Tali and Kasumi, peppering the elite zealot until he was filled with holes. He growled in anger and pulled a plasma grenade in a final bit of defiance.

He was about to lob it, when Chief took aim at his wrist. He fired the last bullet he had in his pistol's chamber and the shot cut clean through the Covie's wrist. The plasma grenade dropped to the alien's feet and exploded moments later.

"The hunters won't be so easy to kill," Cortana warned. "Neither will the rest of his friends."

"Like I said Cortana," Chief repeated, "one problem at a time."

Chief moved back to the corridor, his rocket launcher drawn. The hunters had pulled out of cover to take the main floor of the room for themselves. Chief fired one of the rockets through the opening, striking one of the hunters in his side.

The creature roared in pain and fired a blast from his assault cannon. With little time to spare, the Master Chief leapt through the window and rolled to the side as the blast careened towards him. He just narrowly avoided getting hit by it, the shot sailing over his back.

He also narrowly avoided the follow-up attack, the hunter charging at him as he rolled across the floor. The Spartan leapt away at the last minute before the attack crushed him. Now at a minimum safe distance, Chief fired another rocket straight into the alien's back. It left a smoking crater behind amongst the creature's spines.

"Chief! Look out!" Cortana cried out.

The warning had come none too soon, the second Covie sliced through the air towards him. The attack missed him directly, but caught him along the shoulder. Chief was forced to drop the rocket launcher as pain shot through his arm, the sharp tip of the hunter's shield cutting into his armour. The Spartan rolled away best he could and quickly sat up in a kneeling position. He went for his pistol, only to find it bone dry.

"I just had to say I'd run out of ammo, didn't I?" He asked Cortana.

"Less talking, more attacking the killer bag of worms!" She screeched at him.

As the Hunter turned to fire on the Spartan, however, a biotic warp attack struck him in the back. Chief looked behind the hunter to see Shepard standing in one of the openings.

"Chief! Heads up!" He called out.

The Commander tossed his shotgun through the air, over the hunter's head. The alien pointed his cannon back and fired a shot, forcing Shepard duck into cover. The shotgun cleared the hunter's back in any case and the Master Chief reached up to grab hold of it tightly. There was only one way to take out this alien now.

He charged at the hunter, who turned back to him to try and smash him with his shield. He narrowly missed get struck scraped a second time and slid past the alien's attack. He reached up to grab onto the back space of the hunter's armour and plugged his gun into the monster's orange spot.

He then unleashed every remaining shot Shepard loaded into the shotgun, which was still set on Inferno rounds of course. The fiery blasts ricocheted through the hunter, setting the alien ablaze from within. The hunter collapsed into a burnt sizzling heap and Chief stood over the dead body, still injured from the hit he had taken, but standing.

"Wow," Cortana told him as he stared at the still sizzling body. "That was an unexpected way to kill a hunter. I mean, burned alive with incendiary shotgun rounds at point blank range and with a weapon from another dimension no less. That's one for the books."

"Not even my most creative kill," Chief told her. "I had to kill one with a grenade once, also point blank."

"Now THAT is a story I need to hear," Cortana said cordially. "First things first though, let's get to the Cartographer."

Shepard's team joined up with him near the winding ramp that descended further into the complex.

"Thanks for the save," he told the Commander.

"He had moved too far away for an effective shotgun blast and I was worried he'd let off a shot at me before I could finish him off," Shepard explained. "I couldn't leave you hanging without a decent weapon."

Shepard and the Chief traded their guns, the Commander handing back the launcher he had retrieved and the Master Chief returning the shotgun. They then began to descend down the winding ramp to the final few levels. They careful scanned the rooms as they walked forward, their eyes watching every corner.

"The Cartographer should be just ahead," Cortana told them all.

But as they neared their target, grave news came over the radio for Foe Hammer.

"Echo 419 to ground teams, I'm picking up a lot of Covenant Signatures headed in your direction," she warned. "Looks like dropships to me."

"Damn it," Sergeant Waller's voice crackled over the radio. "Alright people, we got company coming, let's set the table. Engage enemy forces on sight!"

From the sound of things, that wasn't going to be enough though.

"It will be easier to hold them off inside the structure," Cortana told them. "Can you pull back to the Cartographer entrance?"

---

Plasma fire rained down from on high as Covenant dropships descended from the clouds and unloaded on the beach. Anyone caught out in the open didn't last long. The Marines hustled to what cover they could find as the dropships descended towards the island.

"Negative! They're coming in too fast! Negative!" Shouted Waller over the Coms.

The Hammerhead fired up at the dropships as they closed in. At the very least, the missiles managed to force them to take evasive action, but it wasn't enough to take them all down. It did give everyone enough time to pull back behind the arch, where Garrus made the only move they could at this point, call for back-up.

"Joker, we're gonna need your help down here," he radioed the Normandy.

"I hear you Garrus," Joker assured him. "Cover your ears, this is gonna be loud!"

The Normandy barreled out of the clouds and made a beeline for the incoming dropships. The frigate fired all its secondary cannons at the transports, blasting them apart as they made their way to the island. Spirit Ships spiralled into the sea as their limbs were ripped off, the Phantoms outright blew apart under the barrage. The first pass had reduced the incoming dropships by a third.

"We gotta keep moving," Kat told Garrus. "Normandy won't be able to keep them at bay long without becoming a target itself. Let's get to the structure."

"Where do you think I'm headed?" Garrus asked her with a bit of good-natured sarcasm.

Zek could see the disaster unfolding and he shook his head in disbelief. He wasn't about to sit by and let the human ship get such an easy time. Not when there were probably other kig-yar on those ships at least. He called up Retz.

"Decloak the ship and move in to cover our approaching friends," Zek ordered. "We need to keep these humans on their toes."

"Aye, sir," Retz obliged.

The Fallen Serpent descended from the clouds, its cloak vanishing as it did. The vessel fired several plasma blasts across the Normandy's second attack run. This forced the Frigate the veer off or run head long into enemy fire.

"Keep on them," Zek ordered. "Don't destroy them though. We'd probably make more money capturing her later then selling her for scrap now."

"Wouldn't the Supreme Commander appreciate us taking out a potential enemy asset?" Retz asked.

"That assumes I even give a shit about what a sangheili wants," Zek reminded him. "If they give the Covenant more trouble because we don't blow them up, then no feathers off my head. Like I always say, Retz, this ain't our war, we're just stuck in it."

The Normandy was forced to fly off in the opposite direction as that Covenant Corvette continued shoot at it from afar.

"I'm gonna have to try and shake this Corvette," Joker radioed in. "Sorry guys, you're on your own again."

"That's okay Joker," Garrus assured him. "You've given us some time."

Of course, time didn't mean that getting to better cover was any easier. The dropships followed them up the beach, dropping soldiers off as they kept moving. Using the main gun on the hammerhead, Legion targeted the enemy, firing at them as they dropped from above.

The explosions burst against the sides of the dropships as they impacted. It forced them back as Covenant Soldiers tumbled from above, explosions ripping through them. That didn't stop many more, mostly elites, from surviving the drops from their moving transports down onto the beach. From there, they started chasing after the humans as the retreated down the beach.

Samara used her biotics in conjunction with Jack to try and force the elites back. However, no matter how many they tossed into the sea or into the rocks, many more were willing to take their place. Linda kept her eyes on the incoming elites as well, firing round after round through the heads of the Covenant Officers while she moved down the beach.

Suddenly, a plasma gunner on one of the Phantoms opened up on Samara and Jack. The two biotics were forced to fall back before they were eviscerated, but Linda wouldn't let the Phantom continue to follow them. Aiming her Widow at the cockpit, she fired one round from a kneeling position. The shot slashed into the pilot's face and the phantom began to pitch forward.

"Damn, he just had to land on his controls, didn't he?" She said in irritated reference to her target.

Linda took off running as the Phantom began to plummet. Samara noticed the falling transport and pushed a powerful biotic wave towards it. The attack slammed into the Phantom and the transport fell back onto the beach away from them. The Phantom landed hard onto the sand and exploded amongst the Covenant forces. However, with more dropships coming in, that would only be a temporary roadblock for them.

The Marines ran through the foliage of the small clumps of trees for protection as they rushed down they passed the bend and rushed further down the beach towards the Cartographer entrance. Waller took up residence behind a small log as he tried to report in on their situations.

"Chief, Cortana, You got to find the Cartographer!" Waller shouted through the radio as he covered his men. "We'll hold them off as long as we can!"

"Give them hell, Marine," Cortana told him.

Just as Waller finished his reply, Kat slid into the cover of one of the trees nearby as plasma bolts chased her.

"We're still sitting ducks," she told him. "Get your people over to those rock formations in the middle of the beach. I'll bring up the rear."

Waller obeyed, while Kat fired back at a group of grunts moving their way around the wreckage of the Phantom. She was able to kill three of them with precision shots, but their elite leader wasn't so easily felled. He pried off the plasma turret from the down phantom and then began firing wildly at the retreating Marines. Kat could only watch as three good soldiers were added to steadily growing body count.

Activating her metallic arm's built in omni-tool she sent out an overload charge that wrecked the alien's shields. The elite remained resolute in the face of his lost protection and turned his attention to the Spartan III. Kat rolled across the beach as plasma fire was flung her way, better he take shots at her than the Marines who, even with brand new shields, could only last so long against a Covenant plasma turret.

As she rolled, Kat fired several shots at the elite, hitting one of his kneecaps. The Elite stumbled, but still kept firing. That wasn't extent of her assault, however. Her omni-tool had more functions attached to it. She switched to another function and sent out a cryo blast that hit the elite at centre mass. One more shot to the head and the frozen Covie shattered into pieces.

Kat rushed back into the rocks with the others, as the Hammerhead took up defensive positions near the Marines. Zaeed was on the frontline, firing away with a UNSC assault rifle he had taken off one of the injured soldiers. Private Kowalski and Ellingham were nearby, trying to offer support as they hid amongst the rocks.

"Seriously, do they ever back down?" Ellingham asked. "Why are we so important anyway?"

"Think, kid," Zaeed shouted at him over the carnage. "We're the Commander's and the Chief's only support out here. If they take us out, they have a clean shot straight to 'em."

Zaeed activated one of his inferno grenades and tossed it into the mass of Covenant chasing them. He then fired a shot that prematurely detonated the grenade over the heads of the Covenant, setting the jackals directly below it ablaze. Not that it mattered in the long run as there were plenty more Covies to replace the ones that died.

"We gotta move back to the treeline," Kowalski shouted out. "They're gonna swarm these rocks."

"I hear ya," Zaeed agreed. "Follow me."

Zaeed moved back to the Hammerhead and tapped hard on the side of the vehicle.

"Jacob, cover our asses while we move the fuck back!" He shouted.

The trio was joined by other Marines as the Hammerhead turned around on its side to give them the most coverage while they hovered backwards. They headed towards the treeline and a hillside that would take them up to the Cartographer entrance. Garrus was already at the back of the line, shooting any Covenant he could spot through his scope while everyone jockeyed for cover amongst the trees.

"At least they're not getting to Shepard," he reasoned aloud, taking off the head of an elite officer as he rushed forward with his squad.

Jun, who was acting as his spotter, tapped the turian's shoulder suddenly and pointed up to the sky.

"Want to place a bet on that?" He asked.

Garrus looked up to see another wave of Covenant dropships behind them, headed directly for the Cartographer entrance. They were bypassing them and heading directly to their target.

"Up the hill! Now!" Garrus shouted out to everyone.

Jack and Thane jumped up first to assist, followed closely by Samara. They moved towards the hillside, ready to face off against the Covenant threatening Shepard's rear. Unfortunately, they soon found they were too late. Racing down from the high ground were more Covenant soldiers who had already landed atop the Cartographer facility. Now they were the ones being blocked from their objective.

As Jack sent a shockwave towards the enemy and Samara activated a warp among their ranks, Garrus pressed himself into the rock face and began firing on various elites, jackals and grunts bearing down on them. If they wanted to help Shepard, they'd have to beat back the Covies attacking them and push through ones keeping them at bay. A tall order to be sure, Garrus just hoped Shepard could hold out against the Covenant coming his way.

---

After a furious barrage from his assault rifle, Chief finally saw the elite tumble down along the ramp way. The room prior to them was littered with gas-sucker corpses and the firefight had practically bled them all dry.

"I'm running low on thermal clips, Shep," Kasumi cautioned. "Not sure if we're gonna have enough to make it out of here."

"Same with me," Tali warned.

"We're almost done here guys, stay frosty," Shepard informed them.

The team entered the Map Room at long last and soon found their objective just feet in front of them. The console was situated in a room similar to the security station in design. Chief quickly moved over to it and activated the map.

Seconds later, a holographic display appeared over their heads. It began to break into sections, highlighting key structures across the installation. Cortana quickly analyzed it and soon honed in on what they were looking for. Connecting to the systems remotely, she designated the location of their next objective.

"Halo's Control Centre is located here," she informed them all. "It appears to be some kind of temple or shrine if I'm interpreting this correctly."

Chief was just glad that they finally had a destination in mind, but Cortana apparently had other revelations weighing on her thoughts.

"Interesting," she said curiously. "A shrine is a rather unlikely place for such a significant installation."

"Regardless, we have our heading," Shepard spoke up. "I'll call in the Normandy. Hopefully they shook that Covenant Corvette that Joker was talking about over the radio. They can pick up the others while we get moving on the Control Centre."

"Agreed," Cortana concurred. "Just let me inform the Captain of our progress. Cortana to Keyes."

But the Captain didn't respond to her. Instead, it was Foe Hammer who answered back.

"The Captain has dropped out of contact, Cortana," she explained. "Near as I can figure, he may be out of range or having equipment trouble."

"Keep trying," Cortana told her. "Let me know when you've re-established contact and inform him that the Master Chief, Commander Shepard's team and I have determined the Control Centre's location. We're going to be heading there once we hit topside."

"Affirmative, Foe Hammer out."

But as Foe Hammer terminated communications, Grunt started sniffing at the air violently.

"Trouble?" Shepard asked him.

"Tons," he replied grimly.

They piled out of the room and it didn't take long for the Covenant to show up after that. They had started pouring into the room they had just cleared seconds ago. They were right on top of them. It was just grunts at first, but there was more just above them. Shepard flung out a pull attack that lifted both grunts into the air. He followed it up with a warp to cause them to both detonate in mid-air.

"Conserve ammo people," he cautioned. "If you have to shoot, make it count. We're walking out of here."

"Damn straight we are," Grunt agreed. "Walking out, right over their stinking corpses!"

Chief moved up with Grunt to where the gas-suckers had once been. It hadn't taken long to rush up the ramp nearby. They then moved along the landing to the next room where they could hear more Covenant bounding down the various winding ramps that led them down here.

Chief only had a few grenades left to throw. He tossed one at the wall, let it rebound on the doorframe and land in the corner of the ramp's wall. It exploded sending the jackals coming down the ramp tumbling off into the abyss below.

"That is a terrible safety hazard," Cortana noted. "It should at least have a railing."

The Spartan kept moving upward, Grunt by his side. They entered the next room in a small alcove, but the Covenant was here in force as well. They had occupied some of the upper landings and jackals prowled the ground floor. When one of the gas-suckers spotted them, they opened fire on the two, forcing them into cover.

Chief checked his assault rifle, noticing he only had a single magazine left. That last firefight had expended what little he had left in it. His pistol was already dry by this point, so no point going back to it. He'd need to improvise.

One of the jackals tried to round the corner, his shield pointed at Chief. He failed to notice the lumbering krogan behind him and ended up getting jumped on. Grunt pounded the little bird-creature into the floor, leaving a terrible mess in front of him.

"We can't kill them all like that," Chief informed him astutely.

"Speak for yourself," Grunt chuckled.

"Can I borrow your Mattock again?" He asked, ignoring the statement.

The krogan obliged, passing the weapon over once more while he switched to that oversized shotgun of his.

"I still got a few more rounds worth in this," he said. "Not sure how long it will last though."

Shepard and the others soon moved up behind them, noticing the fact the Covenant were still firing on their positions. Chief noticed an exit to their left, as he recalled, it led to a landing with a ramp that led up a level and directly on top of their current position.

"I'll keep firing from here," he told Shepard. "Me and Grunt will make them think we're pinned here and you can clear out whatever is on top."

"Don't take too long," Shepard told him. "Remember, we don't leave team mates behind."

Chief took a moment longer before he nodded in agreement. He then opened up on the enemy position with his remaining assault rifle magazine. He then tossed it and began firing away with his Mattock. Grunt added to the barrage by shooting concussion shots at the enemy.

In the meantime, Shepard did as the Spartan suggested and led Kas and Tali through the winding hall and onto the landing. There, against the ever present abyss that surrounded this facility, the team ran up a ramp to find another twisting hallway that led to the section over Chief's current position below. They could hear Covenant Soldiers just a few feet ahead.

"Okay, we'll hit them together," Shepard declared. "Move!"

Shepard rushed in, the others following close behind. Kasumi readied a flashbang and threw it ahead around the corner.

"Close your eyes!" She shouted aloud.

They shut them tight, before the blinding flash could incapacitate them. Shepard moved around to see a squad of grunts led by a single elite. He charged forward, slamming into the alien with such force it threw him against a wall. He then blasted a hole into the alien's head before he could recover, but it was his last shotgun round.

Tali pushed up next, firing two blasts from her shotgun. Both hits killed two grunts, throwing them into the wall, before Tali made it into cover. She set down Chiktikka to finish off the last of the grunts, while Shepard sent a shockwave rippling through their ranks.

Kasumi trained her sights on the Covies across from them, shooting her submachine gun at the second squad of grunts and their elite leader. Unfortunately, she only managed to kill one grunt before her gun ran dry.

"Damn it!" She shouted, ducking into cover as plasma bolts almost hit her in the face. "I'll need a new gun, Shep!"

Shepard grabbed a needler from off the floor as Chiktikka finished off the last grunt. He tossed it over to the hooded woman who grabbed it eagerly.

"Ooh, the one that shoots pink!" She grinned teasingly. "I hope this isn't some kind of gender profiling thing."

Shepard just rolled his eyes at the comment. Tali in the meantime grabbed two plasma pistols off the ground and gave them a once over.

"Best to save my last three shotgun rounds I think," she reasoned.

Chief showed up with Grunt, hurtling down the hallway. He then pointed his weapon up top across from them and fired. Two jackals collapsed as the Mattock's shots cut deep into them.

"Two more floors," he shouted aloud. "Cortana says there are even more Covenant signatures up top and closing fast."

Shepard reached down and grabbed the dead elite's plasma rifle.

"Then let's pick up the pace," he declared.

They moved up to the next series of ramp wells, for lack of a better word, to find only plasma bolts raining down on them. Jackals from above closed in, their shields held high. But they would last long against the Master Chief's rocket launcher. He switched to it quickly as the others returned fire and launched a single rocket that blew the Covies sky high and then straight down into the abyss below.

"That's it," Chief told them as he returned the weapon to its holster on his back. "Launcher is dry. We're small arms from here on out."

That didn't deter, they moved forward still. Grunt charged up the ramp the rest of the way to smash headlong into a jackal, crushing him against the wall. Shepard noticed gas-suckers to their left and opened fire. His plasma rifle took down one and caused the rest to flee.

"I'm picking up more Covenant in the adjacent corridors," Cortana warned.

"We'll handle it," Chief assured her. "Just highlight our exit for us."

Cortana did so, pinpointing the closest route down the right hallway. Tali looked out past the corner first to see what was waiting for them, a squad of Covenant headed by an elite.

"Should we try and sneak around from the left?" Tali asked.

"No, if they see us before we get through the door they'll just try and follow us. We can push through them," Shepard assured her. "We just need to hit them hard enough. Chief, take Kasumi. Head left then move out into the open and hit them from there. We'll keep them focused on us."

The Master Chief obliged and quickly took off with Kasumi in the other direction. Tali activated Chiktikka again and raised her dual plasma pistols up. She looked to Shepard once and, when he nodded, they both moved out into the open.

Shepard fired the plasma rifle at the enemy squad until it started to smoke. He managed to kill two of the grunts before they could move. At the same time, Tali followed Chiktikka in, firing off two overcharged plasma bolts at the enemy lines. One hit a jackal and turned off his wrist mounted shield. The second hit the elite and shut his shield down.

Once they were in cover, Shepard fired another few shots from his plasma rifle. They grazed the elite, but other than that he seemed undamaged. Tali managed to score better, leaning out to finish off the jackal with three quick plasma bolts to the upper body and another of the methane breathers with two shots to the little alien's face.

Grunt moved up next, firing a concussion round into the enemy lines that toppled over a second jackal. He was too far away to attempt anything with his shotgun, but at least he was able put the pressure on them. The attack also gave Chiktikka enough time to close the gap and begin firing blasts of electricity at the grunts who tried to seek cover in the halls' alcoves. The little drone didn't last very long though, once the elite managed to zero in on her.

As the elite sought cover to deal with his low shields, Kasumi and Chief closed on his squad's flank. The thief held her finger down on the trigger and sent a barrage of needles straight into the back of one of the jackals. The explosion of pink killed the avian-alien and one of the grunts next to him. The elite changed the direction of his fire and opened up on Kasumi. The thief was forced to duck into cover before her shields ran dry.

Chief quickly took over, jumping out from behind the corner and laying suppressive bursts on the elite's cover. Seeing no way out forward, the alien decided to go out the opening along the hallway. It led him back into the open room. Now he was trying to flank the Spartan.

Chief quickly reacted as Cortana warned him of the alien's movements by pointing them out on his motion tracker. He moved back to the opening just in time to fire a few quick bursts from the Mattock on the elite. The elite fired back, forcing the Spartan to retreat into cover once more.

But not for long, when Chief heard the elite beginning to run, he moved out again. Firing shots as the alien ran. Tali had apparently heard the shooting and pointed her pistol out the window to fire a few plasma bolts of her own. The shots hit the elite in his hip and he spun around to fire back at Tali, but Chief had a quicker trigger finger. He landed a shot square in the elite's eye socket.

Moments later, a krogan's battle cry could be heard running up the halls, smashing one of the little gas-suckers into a wall and causing the rest to flee. The team reconfigured by the door and moved up the final ramp to the room they had first entered. They were almost back to where they had started. They just had to get through the dozen or so Covies who had been alerted to their arrival.

Shepard tossed a throw attack at the aliens up top and fired away with his plasma rifle to keep the ones on the ground back. They could all see the exit just a few feet away, no sense in wasting time now.

"Move! I'll cover!" He called out.

Chief took point, aiming his gun at the door as they approached. An elite soon stepped behind the frame, but Tali's energy drain caught him before he could fire. Chief rushed up to the elite as electricity jolted his system and delivered a devastating haymaker across his face. He skidded into the next room and opened fire on several jackals and grunts who had amassed near and on top of the ramp at the back. They were almost home.

"This way!" He called out to the others.

Shepard slowly walked backwards through the door they had just entered. He threw another shockwave into the room before he disengaged. The team rushed down the corridor they had previously entered, the Master Chief leading the charge. Then he suddenly stopped mid-run and pulled back. From out behind the next corner, the elite in golden armour appeared.

He thrusted his plasma sword forward, narrowly missing the Spartan's head. The blade stuck into the wall instead of its intended target and let the alien open for Shepard to unleash a devastating biotic attack that sent the alien flying down the hallway.

The elite managed to grab onto the floor, stopping himself from being thrown down too far. The attack had, however, pushed him near the ledge at the back. Chief readied his Mattock again and began to fire even as the elite roared at him. The Spartan approached casually, but quickly, slowly but surely bringing down the alien's shields. He was able to close to the point both he and the elite were close to the ledge.

The golden Zealot now began to run forward, plasma sword still in hand. The Spartan was more prepared this time. Before the elite could slash at him, the Master Chief smacked the alien in the face with the butt of his gun and then kicked him square in the chest. The elite stumbled back towards the very edge of the bottomless pit below, and Chief fired two more shots. They struck him in the shoulder were powerful enough to send the alien tumbling over into the abyss below.

"Guess nothing beats a good old fashioned non-mass effect powered kick, huh?" Cortana asked him.

"I do have strength augmentations," Master Chief corrected her.

"You can never just take a compliment, can you?" She asked despondently.

The team quickly exited the inner sanctum of the facility and arrived back in the entrance. They soon found a Covenant Spirit dropship hovering just outside, clearly visible through the main door. Kasumi look to her needler.

"I'm still stocked," she told them.

"Battery looks like it is going to go dead on my rifle," Shepard added. "Guess I should've brought one of Mordin's rechargers on this."

"I have my mine, but I've kinda used up a lot of my own juice here too," Tali added. "And they could be on top of us before these pistols are back to full power."

Grunt hefted his shotgun.

"I still got enough for a few more of them," he declared.

Chief pulled up a grenade himself.

"Last one," he said.

"Then we go out fighting," Shepard ordered. "On my go..."

Then, suddenly, the Spirit began to pitch and spin violently in the air. Explosions rocked its side and before long it was beginning to smoke. Gunfire could be heard just beyond the doorway. Soon, the dropship veered off, fire erupting along its side.

"Well, so much for Sundance and Butch Cassidy," Cortana observed, transmitting her thoughts to the whole squad.

"Who?" Tali asked sounding awfully confused at the reference.

"I'll explain later," Shepard assured her. "Let's go."

The team got outside to find what was left of the initial assault team standing at attention on the platform. The Hammerhead was close by, resting on the hill. Waller and the Marines that had made it were there as well, along with the rest of the Normandy crew.

"Saved your ass again, Shepard," Garrus grinned as the Commander exited.

"We had it under control," Shepard replied with a smirk. "Any trouble getting here?"

"It was touch and go," Jack added. "But we fucked them up pretty good."

"More are on the way though," Thane cautioned. "I'd suggest we leave before they regroup."

Shepard agreed and called in Joker, who informed him he had somehow managed to ditch the Corvette. Cortana contacted Foe Hammer to come in for pick up. The mission was a success, but at a heavy cost.

The initial attack squads had been severely bloodied. Waller was thankfully still alive, but only two squads were still in any kind of fighting shape. One of them was Sergeant Taylor's, whose team had managed to come out with only minor injuries, thanks to their shields of course.

As for the two Marines that had stayed to watch the front door for them, Master Chief found their bodies amongst the mangled wreckage of the Warthogs. They had fought to the end, but the Covenant had overwhelmed them. The Spartan could only shake his head as he looked over them.

"It wasn't your fault," Cortana tried to assure them. "You couldn't have known that many Covenant dropships were going to swarm this position. They knew what was at stake, that's why they stood their ground and didn't run. That's what they were trained to do."

"Doesn't make it any easier," Chief told her quietly.

"Like Shepard said," Cortana reminded him sombrely. "It's never supposed to be."

The Normandy's shuttle soon arrived to take every one who could fit on it back up to the Frigate. The Hammerhead would help seat the rest. Meanwhile, Linda, Tali, Kasumi and Commander Shepard gathered around the Master Chief as the Pelican began to descend.

"I guess you're coming with us to the Control Room," he reasoned.

"I'm not sitting out this fight," Linda told him. "I just got used to this new rifle and I still wanna use it."

"Besides, Captain ordered us to find the Control Centre together," Shepard reminded him. "Job ain't done yet from what I can see."

Garrus handed Shepard his remaining thermal clips, but as did Thane and Zaeed for the others. However, they were low on ammo too. Apparently, they were going to need to rely on some unfamiliar weapons for awhile, namely UNSC supplies. They could manage. After all, they had been able to survive with Covenant guns, hadn't they?

Shepard had decided to only take Tali and Kasumi with him, figuring a smaller team would be able to infiltrate Covenant territory a little easier. If the assault on the Control Room was going to succeed, they couldn't risk everyone slogging towards it. Better that they hang back rather than show the Covenant all their cards.

Everyone piled onto Echo 419 as it came in for pick-up. Shepard's Team, along with the Master Chief and Linda, took their seats. While the shuttle and Hammerhead sped off to link up with the Normandy, now hovering a few feet over the water, Foe Hammer took off on a new heading Cortana had set for her.

The coordinates, however, were a bit peculiar.

"Cortana, these coordinates are underground," Foe Hammer told the AI.

"The Covenant performed a very thorough seismic scan," Cortana explained. "My analysis shows Halo is honeycombed with deep tunnels – that circle the whole ring."

As the Pelican began to fly, it passed over the strange structure where they had encountered their first hunters. It suddenly began to open up before their eyes, revealing a large dark pit.

"Oh, it's a hatch!" Tali said, slapping her head at the revelation. "Of course."

The Pelican descended down into the underground, although foe Hammer was a bit nervous.

"I hope your analysis is on the money, Cortana," she warned. "This Pelican won't turn on a dime."

"Relax, Lieutenant," said Cortana confidently. "The last thing the Covenant are going to expect is an air insertion... from underground."

As the Pelican lowered itself further, the hatch began to close up once more. They were one more step to uncovering Halo's true purpose. Shepard still hoped this would be the turning point they all needed, but knew that this little battle had just been the prologue to the real thing. The Control Room awaited, and he just knew the Covenant intended to keep them from it.

---

AN: Ugh, so as you can see, with this thing being split into two chapters, I was unable to keep my promise to myself to keep it short. This is what you get when you overestimate your ability to squeeze the most popular and iconic mission from the Halo series into a single chapter.

Well, no matter. We're pressing on. For my thoughts on this chapter check my profile page, it should be cleaned up now as I have no doubt moved my lengthy postings within to a new place of residence. I luckily have a blog where I can store this stuff.

I'm going to upload the first round of Author notes to there to cut down on clutter. They'll be stored in two separate posts. You can find their appropriate links in the profile page. While you're at the blog, feel free to check out some of the video reviews I've made. You know, if you care about anything I have to say. I only assume that because you're reading this.

Next chapter, we head to the Control Room, which hopefully will only take a single chapter to finish up. Then, we'll get to see the results of the contest in full glorious action. Yep, the winning Hunter Husk premieres next time, so be sure to tune in for that. Do review the chapter and edit the Tropes page when you can dear beloved readers.