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.

32. Breaking Stuff to Look Tough

Chapter 31: Breaking Stuff to Look Tough

The Sentinels swarmed the fleeing Normandy, lasers lashing out against its armour and shields. The attacks cut deep along the hull, scorching the metal of the ship. Joker was able to manoeuvre out of the way at times, but the Sentinels kept hounding them no matter where they turned. Shaking these tenacious machines was not nearly as easy as the crack pilot had hoped.

"Can we get some kind of weapons lock on them, Joker?" Shepard asked, gripping the bars on his command station.

"I'm using the Point Laser defences, but it looks that little flying light bulb increased their shields," Joker informed him. "We're shooting some down, but the majority are readjusting their flight patterns to avoid taking hits. I'm arming the Missile Pods the UNSC installed now, but I don't think we have enough to shoot them all down!"

Then they would need some more firepower to shoot the rest of them down. Luckily for them, Shepard knew where they could get more missiles. It did require doing something pretty damn risky though.

"Zaeed, Legion," he shouted as he activated the intercom. "Meet me down in the Shuttle Bay. Unhook the Hammerhead, position it in the middle of the room and grab your rifles."

"You're not thinking what I think you're thinking," Joker began to ask. "Are you?"

"You said you needed more missiles," Shepard shrugged as he moved to the elevator.

After a few minutes, the elevator arrived. Stepping through the doors as they opened up, Shepard hit the button for the hangar. As it sped down through the decks, he tried to get a sit-rep of how everyone was doing.

"Engine room, how are we holding up?" He asked through his communicator.

"Fine, for now," Tali answered back. "But we're taking damage to our main thrusters. They're trying to slow us down. We haven't detected any breaches yet and we're pushing power to the engines, but if we don't shake these things soon..."

She didn't have to finish, Shepard knew what lay in store for them if they didn't lose the Sentinels. If those things broke through the hull, they'd rampage throughout the ship. He imagined the Drive Core would be their primary target. If that was destroyed then the whole ship would go up with it.

"How are we on the cyberwar front, EDI?" Shepard hurriedly asked the AI next.

"The defences of the Sentinels are significant," she informed him. "I will require more time."

"We'll give you it," Shepard assured her. "Just find a chink in their systems so we can get rid of them!"

The doors to the elevator soon opened wide and Shepard rushed out into the hangar. Legion and Zaeed were already there and the Hammerhead had been lowered to the floor proper. Zaeed approached the Commander as he neared the armoured vehicle.

"You mind explaining why you wanted us to prep this thing for a drop?" He asked Shepard.

"We're not dropping it," he informed him as he got on his comm-link. "Open the hangar doors, Joker."

"Seriously?" Joker asked in return, only slightly surprised by the Commander's strategy. "I know Johnson did something like this on Reach, but we were way closer to the ground and-"

"Just do it, Joker," Shepard ordered as he opened the Hammerhead up and got inside. "I know what I'm doing."

Shepard got into the turret section of the Hammerhead, just as the hangar doors opened. Wind poured into the ship through the opening, but not for long. The ship would need to turn around in order to target the Sentinel pursuers.

"Hang on everyone," Shepard warned, moments before the Normandy turned hard.

Joker's manoeuvre nearly caused Zaeed and Legion to trip over themselves, but it did work. It turned the Normandy's nose a full one-hundred and eighty to where the stern had once been. This allowed the missile pods to target the Sentinels that had been on its tail. Joker fired the pods instantly and allowed their deadly cargo to stream towards the Sentinel swarm.

The projectiles tore their robotic pursuers apart. Explosions lit up the sky as metals pieces fell back to earth. The Sentinels themselves looked for another way to attack the ship and found it when they detected the open shuttle bay doors. The Sentinels sped towards the underside of the ship, only to be greeted by sniper fire and even more missiles.

"Don't let them inside!" Shepard ordered.

Zaeed used disruptor ammo to tear through the shields of the Sentinels and likewise them. The synthetic guardians weren't able to withstand the devastating rounds of the high-powered assault rifle. The same held true with Legion's Widow. The geth was quickly able to determine the Sentinels' weak spots in fact, the very weapon that gave them their power. A few clean shots on their laser beam cannon eventually caused them to explode into a fiery mess before falling to the ground below.

The Hammerhead was the most effective though. The tracking function allowed the barrage of missiles it fired to smash the Sentinel swarm to pieces. Shepard found his finger was soon practically glued to the trigger as shot after shot flew towards the enemy swarm.

However, even though they had damaged their numbers, the Sentinels weren't so easily perturbed from their mission. They soon closed within range of the Shuttle Bay, through sheer number and determination alone. They opened fire on Shepard and his two companions instantly, their laser beams scorching the deck.

Zaeed jumped and rolled backwards as a beam came close to his head. He fired up at the offending Sentinel, unloading into its belly. Legion took cover behind the Hammerhead itself and quickly switched to its Geth Assault Rifle for a more rapid fire solution to their current situation. The geth rattled off several rounds at the Sentinels as they approached, destroying them quickly. There were still more though, and they had targeted the greatest threat out of the three of them.

Laser beams cut at Hammerhead's armour, specifically around the turret itself. Shepard quickly turned the gun to fire on the Sentinels, blowing them up and watching their burning husks slip off the cargo ramp into the abyss below. More hounded him, however, and he wondered how much the Hammerhead could really take. He could hear the warning alarms going off already, signalling imminent destruction.

Then, suddenly, the Sentinels veered away from them. Electrical sparks spewed from their bodies as they twirled about haphazardly. Some slammed into walls, even more slammed into each other. Eventually what was left of the synthetic attackers whirled back out the door they had come in. As they pitched and weaved chaotically into the distance, Shepard knew who he had to thank for their sudden reprieve.

"That your work, EDI?" He asked as he left the Hammerhead.

"I was able to successfully shut off their navigation systems," the AI reported. "However, I do not know how long it will last. The Monitor more than likely will purge my hack from their systems in time."

"Agreed, we best not stick around then, full Speed out of here, Joker!" Shepard ordered over the comm-link.

The Normandy sped away from their present sector of the sky and hoped that Guilty Spark's sentinels would lose the trail. After awhile, their sensors still read all clear, so they surmised that EDI's little hack had given them enough time. They were back on course for Alpha Base now and Shepard was even more eager to get their sooner rather than later.

"Spark has made it very clear we're on his hit list," Shepard grumbled as he, Zaeed and Legion walked to the elevator. "It's only a matter of time before he picks up our trail again."

"All because he thinks we screwed with the Master Chief's head?" Zaeed rhetorically asked in amazement. "What makes him think killing us is gonna solve that somehow?"

"We concur," Legion interjected. "The Monitor's logic is unsound. Even if our interaction with Spartan 117 affected his choice to not activate Halo, it is unlikely our destruction would undo such damage."

"I doubt Guilty Spark is capable of realising that," Shepard countered. "Nor is he capable of realising that no one in the UNSC is going to do what he wants them to do. He thinks we're preventing him from activating Halo and in his mind that's all that matters. We're all targets now and I do mean all of us.."

Zaeed stopped in his tracks the second he realising what Shepard was getting at.

"Wait, if we're all on the list of that one-eyed maniac now," he slowly reasoned. "That means..."

"Everyone at Alpha Base is danger," Shepard finished for him. "And they don't have the luxury of a big old spaceship to keep them safe. I'm contacting Jacob, he needs to get them to lock that place down before it's too late."

---

It didn't take much to turn the Ghost right-side up again, a simple grab of one of its wing-like stabilizers was more than enough to flip it. The seat was covered in the blood of the Elite who had died driving the vehicle, but other than that it was little worse for wear. The Master Chief climbed into the seat and took up the control. The engine of the alien transport sprung to life almost instantly.

"Diagnostic says the weapons are online," Cortana informed. "So are the boosters. Just keep the pedal to the metal and we should speed right by that Covenant and Flood brawl."

"I'm more worried about the Wraith," Chief informed her.

"Don't worry," Cortana assured him. "I can use your suit's heat detection software to pinpoint any plasma mortars it fires on us. As long as the tank's operator can't get a proper lead we should be okay."

Properly assured of their course now, Chief gunned the engine and sped out of the ravine. He once again stared straight into the ongoing battle between the Flood and Covenant soldiers. He hoped they could just keeping driving by without them realising he was there. Unfortunately, one of the Elites did spot the Ghost approaching. He must've realised it wasn't a fellow Covie soldier riding it, because he instantly opened fire on the speedy little transport.

Chief returned fire with the Ghost's plasma cannons, trailing shots up through the snow towards the alien. A few of the bolts hit him, damaging the shields of the Covenant Officer. As Chief closed in, doubling his speed with the Ghost's boosters, the Elite jumped out of the way. Normally, Master Chief would've turned to keep shooting, but the alien wasn't his priority right now. He needed to get out of this canyon.

The less nimble participants of the battle were not as lucky as the Elite. The Ghost mowed down one Grunt when the tip of its stabilizer crashed into his head. A Combat Form, more focused on shooting at the Wraith, turned just in time to see the Ghost slammed into him. As the undead creature's body went tumbling over his head, Master Chief realised he had earned the ire of a greater foe.

"The Wraith is charging up!" Cortana warned.

The Covenant mortar tank's turret came awash with blue light as it let off a single shot. Chief turned hard to the left as the arcing attack cascaded down towards the snow. The blast missed him by several yards, but he knew the Covie would correct his aim soon enough.

Cortana warned Chief of yet another shot preparing to fire and skidded the Ghost to the side. The shot was aimed closer to the ground this time, hitting just feet away from them. Master Chief struggled to keep the Ghost from flipping over from the near miss and pushed it forward. The rapid transport leapt off the edge of the small cliff near the end of the canyon and landed at the bottom with a slight thump. As Chief edged the Ghost towards the tunnel that led to their escape, the sound of another Wraith Plasma Shot echoed through the air.

Chief gunned the engine, staring dead ahead at the tunnel entrance. He managed to get the vehicle through just as the giant blue ball of plasma crashed down behind him. This time, the shockwave upended the Ghost, catapulting it forward and forcing its nose into the ground.

Chief let himself fly off and tucked into a sideways turn. His shoulder hit the snow first and Chief pushed his body momentum into a spin. As he rolled along the ground, the Ghost flipped itself into a nearby wall. The sound of metal crashing against stone reverberated throughout the small tunnel. Master Chief eventually came to a stop a few feet away from the Ghost, facing down in the snow.

"You okay?" Cortana asked. "Your vitals look stable at least."

Chief slowly sat himself back up, letting the snow drop off his armour and helmet. He looked back to see the smoking crater of the Wraith's final shot as well as his crashed Ghost. At least he had landed on something soft instead of staying inside that tumbling Covie vehicle.

"Just happy that this suit is insulated," he stoically informed Cortana as he brushed the rest of the snow off. "Let's keep moving. Hopefully we'll find another ride."

"A Banshee would be preferable," Cortana advised. "The next Pulse Generator is rather high up. Lucky for us, the Covenant Battlenet chatter suggests they've established a small Air Operations Field in the next canyon to coordinate Air Support for the entire operation. We should be able to find some Banshees there."

Chief moved out of the tunnel, shotgun at the ready. He was fully expecting to come across some Covenant patrols soon enough with this outpost of their so close by. Moving out onto the frozen river within the next canyon, the Spartan saw the snow fall had begun to pick up. Even with the decreased visibility though, Chief already knew where he was headed.

He had been in these canyons not too long ago and recalled the large stone pillar within the next pass. If the Covenant really had set up a small airfield of sorts there, it would likely be set up around or on it. He was already thinking of the possible enemy defences he'd encounter and ways he could overcome them. Cortana had other thoughts on her mind though.

"I'm still searching for information on the Captain," she informed him. "Either the weather or these canyons are making it hard to pinpoint his signal though."

"You'll find him," Chief assured him. "You just need a little more time. Maybe if we get high enough in a Banshee you can better pinpoint his postion."

"Worth a shot, I just hope he's okay," Cortana noted, sounding rather concerned.

He supposed she had reason to be worried for the Captain's safety. The last he saw of Keyes was in a video where he was getting mobbed by Infection Forms. The odds of finding him alive didn't appear to be in their favour. Keyes was a tough officer though, if anyone could fight off these things it was him. Still, Chief wasn't expecting much in the way of miracles, not with their luck so far.

Suddenly, something appeared on the motion tracker. Chief ducked behind a stone as they neared. The snow somewhat masked his presence as he watched three Jackals walking along the frozen river. He didn't want to risk getting into a prolonged fire fight, not when he had a job to do. So he waited for the moment to strike.

"Remind me, how long can one of those Jackal shields hold out under sustained fire?" Chief asked Cortana.

"Against bullets, indefinitely," she explained. "With energy bolts, about three to four shots depending on strength of charge."

That was all he needed to know. As one Jackal passed near his rock, Chief lunged out, firing his shotgun into the alien's unprotected side. He then grabbed the alien's shield carrying arm as it went limp and held it upright. The remaining two Jackals opened fire, their dead friend's shield protecting the Spartan momentarily.

Master Chief suddenly charged forward, using the energy shield the knock his way past the second Jackal. He discharged his shotgun into the Jackal as the blow forced it to lower its shield. He then tossed the first Jackal he had killed, which he had still been carrying, into the final Jackal. The bird-like alien used its shield to block the falling corpse, but it knocked him off balance enough for the Master Chief to fire off another spread that cut the legs right from under the Jackal.

Chief now quickly moved up the river, leaving his fallen enemies behind. As he reached the foot of the path that would take him up to the next canyon passage, he spotted an overturned Warthog. Supplies were strewn about the ground beneath it, along with the bodies of its driver and passenger.

"Probably from one of our earlier patrols," Cortana observed.

Unfortunate for the Marines, but it was a lucky stroke for them. Chief stocked up on what ammunition he could find and then overturned the Warthog back onto its wheels. He knew the Covenant would have turrets in place around the stone pillar. This Hog was probably their best bet at getting in close enough to engage the defenders and attempt to steal one of their Banshees.

Of course, stealing the Banshee would be the easy part of all this. Getting to the Pulse Generator with it was likely a different matter altogether.

---

Kat rushed up topside, slamming in a fresh clip for her pistol. She wasn't sure why the base was back on alert all of a sudden, but she had no intention of letting more Covies catch them off guard again. As she marched through the halls, Linda appeared at her side. She seemed to be just as clueless about what was going on as the rest of them.

"Since we're going outside and not down into the catacombs," the Spartan-II reasoned. "I'm guessing this doesn't have to do with the Flood."

"Unlikely," Kat responded. "I'd grab someone to find out what's happening myself, but if we're about to be attacked I'd rather not be wasting time interrogating Marines in the corridors."

As they came outside, they spotted Jacob looking out onto the horizon with a shotgun in hand. He turned to see them approaching and waved them over.

"Good to see you girls," he said to them. "From the way things sounded we may be in trouble."

"Mind filling us in then?" Linda asked.

"I told Silva to put the base on alert. Shepard just radioed me," he explained. "We got incoming, unsure how many. According to the Commander though, they're flying synthetics of some kind and they're pissed off at us, as in anyone who is a crewmember of the Normandy."

"Why?" Kat asked curiously. "What did you do to them?"

Jacob could only shrug.

"Shepard said that wasn't what was important right now," he informed her. "Only that we need anti-synthetic weaponry and fast. I'm not sure when they're showing up, but-"

At that moment, a strange whirling sound could be heard off in the distance. Looking up into the sky, they could see several objects speeding towards them. As they came closer and their features became more defined, there could be no mistaking that they were synthetic in nature.

The metallic flying objects suddenly seemed to narrow in on their position specifically. One of them got dangerously close to Jacob. Suddenly, it fired a red hot laser beam at him. Kat grabbed him and tackled him to the ground as the laser cut across the plateau. Linda wasted no time in unloading a shot from her Widow rifle. The powerful shot blasted through the machine's shields and killed it instantly. However, the other robots quickly rushed in to follow up the attack.

"Move back!" Linda shouted as she fired another shot.

Kat picked up Jacob and they rushed to some nearby cover behind a Warthog. The Lasers slashed at the vehicle, slicing into one of its tires. Both Kat and the Normandy's armoury officer then stood up and fired back on the offending machine. They blew its shields away under a hail of fire, but more of its fellows quickly took its place.

Before long, the skies over Alpha Base were completely clouded by the influx of flying death machines. As Marines opened fire on them, the machines fired back. However, from what Kat could see from their position, the attacks against the Marines seemed to be more designed to force them into cover or wound. Meanwhile, the machines near them were going for the kill on Jacob and seemed determined to finish the job. They were even ignoring Linda, who was blowing quite a few out of the sky, to continue the pursuit of Jacob.

"We have to get you somewhere secure," Kat suggested. "If you're the target like Shepard suggests, we need to move you to an area where these things can't follow."

"I'm not worried about me," Jacob assured her. "I'm more worried about the others."

Another laser beam cut through the top of the Hog and Kat returned fire. She noticed the robots were starting to circle around in an attempt to flank them. She was worried about the other members of Shepard's crew as well, but she couldn't do anything about that. She needed to focus on the one crewmember she had with her. That didn't mean she was about to abandon them though.

"Linda!" She called over to the Spartan II. "Find the other Normandy crewmembers! I'm taking Jacob to a defensible position! Direct the others there! I'll tell you where exactly once we're secure!"

"On it!" Linda assured her, firing off one last round before taking off.

Kat and Jacob now took off towards the main portion of the base. The metallic invaders predictably followed. Using the omni-tool embedded in her mechanical arm, Kat fired an overload charge alongside Jacob. The dual tech attack collided with a portion of the robotic swarm, taking the shields of some offline and utterly destroying the others. It was only a brief reprieve, as more of the robots swooped in and began firing their own Lasers.

"Bastards are gonna overtake us at this rate," Jacob stated, firing back at one of the synthetic attackers.

He managed to hit it in the eye, where the laser was coming from. The machine exploded in midair, damaging the shields of three of the synthetic hostiles around it.

"We just need to get some place where their flight advantage will be useless," Kat told him as they ducked behind a set of boxes.

Lasers slashed into the container, melting metal and scorching the ground. Kat activated a grenade and chucked it out at the machines. She then took careful aim and fired at it as it flew into the path of the robots. The airburst destroyed two of the synthetic assassins and seemed to make the others back off slightly.

"Let's move," Kat ordered. "We're still too exposed out here."

"No argument from me," Jacob replied.

The two were on the run once more. However, Kat was still worried about the others in the back of her mind. She hoped they were at least with good Marines or out of harm's way for the moment. She knew they could handle themselves well enough, but these machines seemed really focused on killing Normandy crewmembers. That put a lot of heat on them all of a sudden.

What in the hell did Shepard do to piss these things off?

---

This ring was going to be the death of them. Kowalski just knew that now. The Covenant, the Flood and now a bunch of flying killer robots with laser eyes! What was this damn place going to throw at them next?

Keeping behind his cover, Kowalski prepared his pistol's disruptor rounds while Agley fired off the machine gun at the incoming machines. The machines fought back, firing lasers at their cover, slicing into the sandbags. Agley ducked his head down as the beams went whizzing by.

Kowalski was quick to pick up the slack, firing on the robots with his disruptor rounds. The shots managed to damage one machine's shields enough that it turned its sights towards him. Kowalski pushed himself into cover just as the machine's laser sliced at the air close to his head.

"Why can't this place just give us a fucking break already?!" Agley screeched aloud.

"Just get back on the machine gun, Agley," Kowalski told him. "We gotta keep them out of the base."

Agley reluctantly followed Kowalski's lead. He took the machine gun up again, blasting into the swarm of metallic attackers above them. The sustained fire managed to rip apart the shields of one machine before filling the robot itself full of lead.

As the burning husk collapsed to the ground, Kowalski spotted the rest of their squad rushing to their position. Pearson was ahead of the pack, while Ramirez was in the rear. Ellingham was a little off to the side of them. The robots were hot on their heels the whole way.

Pearson slid over a container as one laser beam cut into the ground near his legs. Ramirez swerved to avoid another shot the slashed across the ground sideways. All three of them eventually reached the machine gun nest, leaping into cover.

Ellingham made it as well, but just barely. He caught the tail end of a laser beam slice to his shoulder. He collapsed onto the ground, clutching at the burning sensation running up his back. He pushed himself into the sandbag screaming aloud at the pain. Pearson quickly took a look at the spot he had been hit carefully and nodded.

"Don't worry, the back armour caught most of it," he assured. "Doesn't look like too bad a burn. You should be fine."

"Just get some morphine or something in there," Ellingham demanded. "Still hurts like a motherfucker."

Ellingham had been lucky though, another inch of two to the side and he'd be in even worse condition. For now, he was just wounded. In fact, that seemed to be the case everywhere. The machine attacks all seemed to deliberately miss them. It was as if these things were just trying to keep them suppressed. The shots that did hit were rarely to kill. The first causality of the attack was some poor sap whose feet weren't fast enough and ended up getting shot through the lower leg by a beam.

It felt like the synthetic invaders were just keeping them off balance, distracting them from something. What exactly, Kowalski had no idea. That is until Grunt came running out into the open. The krogan super-soldier burst through a pile of supply crates as the machines fired their lasers at him. The angry reptilian of course fired back, shooting off his rifle and tossing anything he could at the machines circling above him. He was eventually forced to duck into cover as more of the robots began to move in for the kill.

Kowalski watched as the krogan soon found himself pinned down under heavy laser fire. The attacks on Grunt were different from what he saw before. These shots were direct, calculating and never wide like they were when his squad was running for cover. The lasers peppered Grunt's little piece of metal barrier while he tried to fire blindly back at them.

"Looks like our surly space-dino buddy could use a helping hand," Ramirez noted in kind.

"Agley," Kowalski said, lightly slapping his fellow Private on the arm. "Lay down fire on those things swarming him. Maybe we can get a few off his tail."

"Good idea," Pearson concurred. "Ramirez, come with me. Let's see if we can reinforce his position with a flanking manoeuvre. Rest of you, stay here and thin them out!"

Pearson was already off, Ramirez following close behind. Ellingham picked himself off the floor and levelled his battle rifle at the machines and took a few shots. Agley then opened up the machine gun on the strange flying machines while Kowalski took aim with his pistol once more. The combined heavy fire tore the shields of the assaulting robots apart. Some turned in an attempt to fire on the offending Marines, but the machine gun nest by itself was proving too much for their shields to handle.

Before long, Ramirez and Pearson had reached Grunt. They opened fire on the partially distracted laser-packing hunks of metal and gave their krogan ally the chance he needed. The scaly warrior rushed out of cover and grabbed one of the robots from below. He smashed the machine onto the ground and then tossed the broken remains into another of its kin.

He then wrestled another of the machines from the sky as it swooped at him from above. He pointed the head of the machine up just in time for its laser weapon to rip into another of its fellows. As red hot metal from the sky, Grunt ripped the flying automaton apart right down the middle and smashed the broken pieces into the rock beneath his feet.

"Stupid robots," He grumbled, kicking one spare piece away, snorting at the air.

For the moment, the majority of the synthetic enemies had cleared out. That gave Grunt, Ramirez and Pearson the chance they needed to regroup with the squad at the machine gun nest. They needed to figure out their next move and fast before more of these things showed up.

"Alright, this is turning into a clusterfuck fast," Pearson noted. "These things are swarming us. They seem more interested in Grunt here than us though."

"Shepard said they were targeting everyone on the crew. They probably know they need to kill the biggest threat first," Grunt suggested, beating a single fist on his chest proudly. "Stupid flying tin cans are just volunteering to get junked."

Kowalski doubted that was really the reason, but he wasn't about to argue with the super strong bloodthirsty alien.

"Can you contact your crew?" Kowalski asked them. "Maybe they can tell us what's happening."

"Or at least let us know where they are so we can hook up and fight these bastards off," Ellingham added.

Grunt was about to do just that, when a laser shot rang out. Agley jumped back in a fright as his machine gun was struck dead centre by a red hot light. He tried taking up the gun again, but the gun barrels wouldn't move.

"Damn, they melted the shaft," he grumbled. "I can't shoot with it."

"They just took down our biggest gun," Pearson frantically informed them all. "Come on. Let's get to a better position before they swarm us. We can contact the others for details on the way."

The squad moved out, just as a fresh crop of the hostile machines rushed in for an attack. Kowalski still wasn't sure what this was all about, but to honest that was par for the course on this ring. He just hoped he'd find out before one of these machines decided to actually try to kill one of them instead of just wounding them.

---

The Elites circled their patrol area as the snow battered them hard. They couldn't see very far in front of them, but they luckily had a Shade turret atop a small incline behind them that could. No one was going to sneak up on them, not even in this deplorable weather.

As they kept watch, they suddenly heard a strange motorized noise getting closer and closer. It sounded like some kind of combustible engine, which only meant one thing... humans. Sure enough, charging across the frozen pond appeared a greenish-grey four-wheeled vehicle headed straight for them. Almost immediately they began firing at it, as did the Shade turret above and behind them.

The plasma bolts flew through the air, melting the falling snow as they sailed to their target. The Warthog swerved hard to the left and right, but never once lost its heading. The plasma shots of the Shade turret struggled to keep up with the vehicle as it slalomed across the ice and snow, dodging its plasma blasts with ease. One volley did manage to hit the vehicle in the engine, but by then it was too late.

The Warthog came flying at the Covenant position at a curved angle. One Elite managed to jump out of the path, the second was not so lucky. The front bumper smashed into the ribcage of the Covenant Officer, carrying towards the incline's wall where the alien's body was crushed against the stone. The car then continued driving up the wall, hitting the turret at the top and knocking it over through sheer momentum alone.

The Warthog's driver had jumped out shortly before the warthog hit the Elite though. Master Chief tucked and rolled as he hit the snow, taking his shotgun in hand as he forced himself into a kneeling position. Snow that had been pitched up from the ground by the Spartan's roll now fell back to earth, somewhat obscuring Chief's vision. He ignored the white fluff that had been churned up around him and focused his sights on the remaining Elite.

The alien was still distracted by the Warthog's carnage, giving the Spartan the opening he needed. He fired three shots from his shotgun, blowing away the Covie's shields and then the Elite himself before he could react. As the alien fell back into the snow, its dark blood staining the white ground, Chief rushed to his feet and turned to the left.

"There they are," Cortana stated. "Just where I said they'd be."

Two Banshee fighters had been parked off to the left of the defensive position. They had probably even belonged to the Elites he had just mowed down. Cortana had spotted them from across the way, with the help of Chief's Helmet's built-in magnifier. Now they had a way to get to the next Pulse Generator.

Chief climbed inside one of the Banshees quickly. The commotion he had caused had no doubt been heard or seen by now. Getting into the air was their most immediate priority. Sure enough, seconds after starting up the controls and taking off from the ground. They began taking fire from an enemy Banshee already in the air. Chief pulled up high in an attempt to lose the pursuing craft, but both he and Cortana knew their best chance was to take the enemy pilot out, along with any of his friends in the vicinity. That way they could continue to their objective unmolested.

"He's increasing speed to catch up to us," Cortana observed. "Lay off the throttle at the height of the climb, let him pass us. You'll be able to get him right in your crosshairs."

"On it," Chief replied.

Pulling back on the controls, Chief slowed the Banshee. As Cortana predicted, their attacker sped by them, unable to adjust to the sudden stop in time. Lining up his crosshairs on the enemy craft's underside, Master Chief unloaded into the opposing fighter. The Covie Pilot tried to turn to engage, but the Spartan kept out of his crosshairs and on his tail. Before long, one of Chief's shots hit the Banshee's power supply. The enemy craft exploded moments later. Burning pieces of it twisted about in the air and broke off as it tumbled towards the ground.

Chief then started taking fire from above as another Banshee raced down towards him. Pushing the controls forward, Chief managed to loop the craft away before the enemy fighter could ram into him. Quickly turning the fighter hard, Chief got on top of the enemy. He fired on the Covenant Banshee, raking plasma bolts across his path.

The Covie swerved and rolled in an attempt to lose the Master Chief, but the Spartan kept on his tail. They circled about the stone pillar, climbing higher with every rotation. Every time the Covie tried to make a move to break Chief's pursuit, the Spartan countered. He would not allow the alien pilot to get the better of him.

They remained locked in that stalemate as they closed to the top of the stone pillar. When they neared the summit, the enemy Banshee suddenly pulled a one-hundred and eighty degree turn in mid-air, catching Chief by surprise. The Covie now raced towards the Spartan, firing like mad and seemingly intending to collide with the hijacked Banshee.

With only seconds to think, Chief pulled a hard right on the controls, pushing his craft out of the direct path of the enemy fighter just before they hit. Now upside down, Chief pivoted the Banshee's crosshairs ahead of the now passing Covenant craft. He unloaded every plasma bolt the guns could fire, raking the enemy Banshee's side. Chief's foe was soon pouring smoke from its side as a piece of its landing strut came flying off.

"He's bleeding," Cortana observed. "Let's finish him off."

"Already working on it," The Spartan assured her.

The Covie pilot soon turned around, intending to finish the Spartan this time. Chief took aim at the approaching craft and then flew the ship upwards. He kept his crosshairs on the enemy aircraft as it got closer and when he was in range let him have it. He perforated the top of the enemy's canopy and watched as the offending Banshee exploded into a fireball.

They weren't done just yet though. Master Chief continued his upward climb, passing the summit of the stone pillar. Atop the giant plateau rested the miniature airbase Cortana had told him about before. The Covenant were already scanning the skies for potential enemies with their Shade Turrets while more Elites raced for their Banshees to take flight. Chief had no intention of letting them get off the ground.

He fired a blast from the Banshee's fuel rod cannon, destroying a pair of grounded Banshees as two Elites neared them. He then raked fire across the plateau and ripped the nearest Shade turret's gunner to shreds. Now the Covenant knew where and what to shoot though, which would make the rest of this fight a bit more challenging.

As Chief strafed the area, the skies filled with plasma bolts of every colour and calibre. The remaining Shade turrets were the biggest threat of course, but the small firearms were still a concern. Chief tried to keep his distance to make minimize the risk as he prepared to fire another fuel rod blast.

"Aim about an inch over that furthest Shade," Cortana advised.

Chief listened to the AI's advice and fired. The giant green bolt of incendiary gel cascaded through the air before colliding with the Shade turret with a direct hit. The turret broke into pieces as it tumbled over the side of the pillar, its gunner still in his seat.

Chief next raked the ground with more Plasma Bolts as he waited for the fuel rod cannon to recharge. The Elites ran for cover as the Spartan targeted the remaining grounded Banshees. He had no intention of letting the Covenant catch him off guard once he had dealt with the Pulse Generator. He still found himself swerving hard to avoid the final Shade turret's wrath.

However, as the fuel rod cannon recharged to full, Chief knew that wouldn't be a problem much longer. He turned to target the final turret directly and fired one last blast. This one smashed into the top of the turret, killing the gunner instantly and blowing the top of the weapon clean off.

"They won't be flying much out of here any time soon," Cortana noted as she observed the carnage from above. "We best move to the Pulse Generator now. No sense in wasting more time with them."

Silently agreeing, Chief flew towards the platform sticking out of the far side of the canyon wall. He noticed a lone Grunt there, hefting a fuel rod cannon of his own onto his back. Chief pivoted the Banshee to the left as two green blasts rocketed towards him. After dodging the attack, he fired off several plasma bolts, raking them across the platform. The Grunt soon keeled over dead onto the ground, his cannon dropping to his side.

With the landing zone cleared, Chief took the Banshee in. Touching down on the platform, the Spartan climbed out of the craft and entered the large doors embedded into the canyon wall. He fully expected to find the Sentinels waiting for him in some capacity when he reached the Generator proper. When he arrived, he found they were there... but so was something else.

Combat Forms had infested the room and they were currently engaging the Sentinels in a full on brawl. Master Chief watched as the Sentinels sliced the undead creatures apart, their lasers tearing through their decayed flesh with ease. The Combat Forms fired back in response, but few of the weapons they possessed were very effective against the Sentinels' shields.

That didn't mean the Sentinels were winning, however. An overcharged plasma bolt did manage to completely decimate one of the Sentinels with a single shot. The heavily damaged Sentinel soon fell to earth, its power supply detonating upon impact. As an upside, the machine's explosion death did lead to the destruction of two Combat Forms who were caught in the blast radius.

Soon enough, however, the Flood returned the favour. Hobbling through the streams of laser fire, a single Combat Form armed with a rocket launcher pointed his weapon towards the ceiling. He fired moments later and the rocket flew directly into the belly of a Sentinel overhead. The blast heavily damaged two other nearby Sentinels, sending them tumbling into a nearby wall. The other Combat Forms quickly jumped at the wounded Sentinels and began ripping them apart.

"Why would the Flood show up here?" Chief wondered quietly as he watched the scene unfold.

"I can't be certain," Cortana admitted. "But whatever the reason, it shows how deeply infested Halo is becoming. It's probably only a matter of time before the all of the ring's infrastructure is overrun."

Which was why blowing this artificial world up was now even more important than before. Of course, they still had to keep it from firing before they accomplished that task. That meant getting to the Pulse Generator that was currently in the middle of the Flood and Sentinel fight. He could only think of one way to properly clear most of them out. He took out a frag grenade and tossed it into melee before him.

With the various Sentinels and Combat Forms so bunched together, the resulting explosion from the grenade decimated the ranks of both sides. The already damaged Sentinels close to the blast tumbled from the sky and fell to the floor. The other Flood were already finishing off what remained of the robotic guardians.

Most of the causalities were the Combat Forms themselves though, the blast ripping their flesh apart and sending pieces of them flying across the room. However, it didn't kill all of them so Chief prepared to clear the rest out himself.

He moved out into the open, his shotgun drawn and at the ready. He caught one Combat Form unaware, blowing a hole clean through his chest. He wasn't able to respond as quickly to a second one just a few feet away. His shields were raked by assault rifle fire and he was forced to strafe to the side to avoid more damage. He fired off two more shots as he moved across the room, hitting the monstrosity in the arm and then the chest.

As the Combat Form fell backwards onto the floor, Chief heard something coming at him from behind. He ducked as a Combat Form took a swing for his head and turned to fire a shotgun blast into the creature's leg. The Combat Form dropped to the floor but tried to push itself up to continue its attack. Chief fired one last shot into the creature, forcing his foot onto him to keep the abomination from squirming as the blast perforated its rotting body.

With the room seemingly clear for the moment, Chief walked over to the Pulse Generator. After a moment of preparation, he walked into the Generator's beam. The overload happened moments later, his shield warning alarm blared in his ear and he stepped away as fast as possible.

"Generator overloaded, one more to go," Cortana notified him.

Time to get moving again then, Chief didn't want to get caught off guard by more Sentinels this time. As he made his way towards the exit though, he heard a different sound coming from a large open vent in the wall. The very distinctive, gargling noise he had come to recognize as the sound of approaching danger. Looking to the floor, he found the Rocket Launcher one of the Combat Forms had been using. He pointed the weapon at the vent and fired just as several Flood Combat forms began to appear within it.

As the explosive projectile destroyed the approaching Combat Forms, Master Chief dropped the now empty launcher and took off running for the exit. The Combat Forms that had survived followed him, firing on the Spartan when they had him in their sights. Chief turned back as he was running, firing off several blasts from his shotgun, killing at least one of the attacking creatures.

"That won't deter them for long," Cortana warned.

He knew that, but it would give him enough time to get to the Banshee. He jumped into the cockpit and started up the machine at once. Turning the craft around he saw the Combat Forms begin to pour out onto the platform. Chief fired off a blast from the Banshee's Fuel Rod Cannon and killed the creatures before they could fire a shot. He then quickly pulled away from the platform and headed towards the canyon's exit.

"I've finished my energy reading scans for the Autumn," Cortana told him as they flew down towards the tunnel. "It appears her fusion reactors are still intact, so we're in business as soon as we find the Captain."

"How are we doing on that front?" Chief asked her.

"Everything was going fine for awhile," Cortana began to explain. "But the Covenant Network has gone haywire. The data streams are clogged with damage reports and something about locating an AWOL Corvette that split off from the Armada."

A Corvette deserted its post? That was practically suicide among the Covenant. If it was true, perhaps their long time enemy was starting to buckle under the pressure of the Flood assault. Although he wasn't sure if that was a good thing at this point, considering that Armada was probably the only thing keeping the Flood trapped here for the moment. Then again, it did seem a bit extreme that the Covenant was in disarray over one event.

"So one little ship goes off their radar and they suddenly can't coordinate?" Chief sceptically asked.

"It's not just that," Cortana informed him. "The assault on the Canyon is going badly. Reinforcements aren't being allocated properly and several units have been cut off from each other. I'm guessing whatever happened with that Corvette up there didn't help things either. Worse yet, what few positions they've maintained on Halo's surface are encountering Flood attacks of their own. They don't have enough people to hold the Flood back and many are requesting pick-up. I'm having trouble actually pinpointing the Captain's exact location at the moment, but I'm going to keep trying to break through all this noise, don't you worry."

"Best to just focus on the final Generator for now then," Chief reasoned.

Chief flew towards the cave at the back of the canyon where he soon witnessed firsthand the problems the Covenant was encountering. Below him, fighting along the tunnel's slope as he descended into it, a massive firefight was raging between the Covies and the Flood. Shade turrets were unleashing a furious barrage of rounds as plasma and gunfire were exchanged between both sides.

Elites ran from cover to cover, their contingents of Grunts and Jackals trying to stay close at all times. The Covenant had spread their forces wide, intending to keep the Flood contained below. The Flood in response just kept pouring out of the large tunnel entrance en masse, charging and leaping forward across the battlefield.

However the Covenant weren`t alone in their defence, the battlefield was populated by something else... husks. Specifically one variant of the Hunter Husks, which Chief had first encountered with Shepard when they assaulted the Truth & Reconciliation at the start of this whole ordeal. Chief could tell it was them from their use of biotic shockwaves that rippled across the snow and forced the Flood back. The husks also wadded into thick of the Flood swarms by themselves. Then they detonated their Nova attacks to further disrupt the Combat Forms attempts to charge up the tunnel's slope.

"Those things aren't going to effectively kill the Flood," Cortana noted. "The Flood is more resistant to biotics than living targets. At least not attacks that deal with throwing or pushing the enemy around."

"They can keep the Flood at bay long enough for the Covenant to kill them," Chief observed. "It seems to be working for now at least."

Chief tried to keep a low profile as they flew over the battle below. It was better not to attract much attention and there was no reason to fire on either side. The Covenant had their hands full already and would not pose a threat unless provoked at this juncture.

As Chief neared the entrance at the bottom of the slope that would lead to the underground proper though, he ran into some trouble of his own. One of the Combat Forms within the tunnel suddenly fired on the Banshee with a rocket launcher. A second Combat Form soon did the same and Chief was forced to turn violently to avoid getting hit by either. He quickly boosted the Banshee's speed and flew down the twisting tunnel, away from the heavily armed Flood, as fast as possible.

"I imagine we're headed deep into Flood territory now," Cortana noted as they left the battle behind.

"With any luck we can just keep flying and stay out of their way," Chief stated.

"When are we ever THAT lucky?" Cortana asked him rather incredulously.

---

Silva rushed along the makeshift blockades, laser fire slashing over his head as he ran. McKay kept close behind him, only taking a moment to look at their attackers as they kept moving. Some of the metallic intruders had breached the outer defences. Now they were inside the base proper and trying to push further in. The ODSTs responded immediately, setting up a barricade with what they could find to halt the machines' advance.

"Keep firing people," Silva ordered. "Push them out of this base."

Both Silva and McKay stopped when they found a good place to fire back at the incoming robots. McKay let loose with a burst from her DMR, keeping her sights on a single synthetic foe. It fired back, and McKay ducked to avoid the laser beam. She found she didn't really have to duck that much, since the beam was a bit wide. She resumed firing, eventually breaking through the machine's shields. She must've scored a direct hit on the machine's anti-gravity system, because before she knew it the metallic hostile fell from the sky and crashed into the ground.

"What exactly are these things?" McKay asked aloud. "What do they want?"

"No idea," Silva replied. "But we're not letting them through, that's for sure."

Silva let loose with his assault rifle, tearing apart one of the laser beam firing hostiles as it came swooping in. The machine's husk crashed into the barricade, but the cover held up under the machine's destruction. There were still quite a few of the robots left though, and McKay wasn't sure they'd be able to take them all down. They needed some help.

Thankfully, it arrived in just in time. Noble Two and Jacob, along with a couple of Marines, rushed in from an opposite corridor. They attacked the machines from behind, taking them by surprise. Jacob's shotgun ripped into the underbelly of one of the synthetic attackers while Noble Two fired an overload tech attack that sent several of the robotic attackers careening into the floor.

"Thank God," McKay stated as she watched things unfold.

Some of the robots seemed to turn from the battle and go after Jacob directly. The Armoury Officer took a glancing hit to his leg, but it only tripped him slightly. Noble Two was quick to rush in and punch the unfriendly synthetic away with her robotic arm. The hit was strong enough to dent the front of the machine and cause it to crash into a wall.

Noble Two helped Jacob keep his balance as the last of the robots were dealt with. Both the Spartan, the Normandy squadmember and the other Marines soon hooked up with Silva's group at the barricade. One of the Trooper medics quickly rushed over to help Jacob with some biofoam while Silva walked over to the Spartan.

"Nice to have some extra guns," he told her stoically. "So, do we have a plan on getting rid of these things?"

"Getting rid of them isn't really the priority," Noble Two informed him. "They're not attacking us, not directly anyway."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Silva asked, incredibly confused. "We've been holding them off by the skin of our teeth here."

But Noble Two shook her head.

"They were trying to keep you occupied and cut off while their friends searched the complex," She explained. "They're not trying to take the base back, that not their objective. They're after anyone from the Normandy. We're just in the way."

"Excuse me," Silva said rather shocked as he looked to Jacob. "Are you telling me that they're only interested in them? That's absurd."

"Ask yourself this," Noble Two replied. "How many of your people have been killed in this firefight compared to those wounded?"

Truthfully, McKay couldn't think of any fatal casualties in their sector. The worst they got were a few burns, but nothing catastrophic. That and the attacking machines did all seem to point themselves at Jacob the second they saw him enter the hall.

"But why are they trying to kill people from the Normandy?" McKay asked the Spartan. "It doesn't make any sense."

"I don't know, but we need to find Grunt and Samara fast," Noble Two responded. "We need to lock them down and keep them secure."

"And then what?" Silva asked, sounding rather exasperated. "Hope these things just give up and go home?"

"Shepard is on his way," Jacob assured him. "He says EDI can help disrupt these things and the Normandy can drive them off. We just need to hold out until they arrive."

It didn't feel right having to wait on reinforcements, but it seemed like their best bet. McKay could see Silva was disgruntled at the whole situation, his grimace was clear on his face and his demeanour had become rather surly. She could understand why, but they couldn't let it concern them right now.

"Major," she spoke up to him. "Let's try taking them to Central Command. There are only a few places they can enter that room. Those chokepoints might make it easier to take these things down."

"Let's hope so," Silva stated with a growl, turning to Noble Two. "Any ideas on where we can find the others?"

"We got a message from a Marine squad," the Spartan replied. "They're with Grunt. Samara is holding off some of the robots near the sleeping quarters. That's near the Central Command room, we can tell them all to try and meet us there."

Silva just nodded and motioned his troopers to start moving. They needed to get to Samara and Grunt before these machines did.

---

Watching through the eyes of his Sentinels, Guilty Spark shook his head in dismay. All the Reclaimers seemed to perceive them as a threat and some were actively protecting the Dimensionally Displaced Intruders. This was most unfortunate, he had hoped a few would realise the danger that they had been placed in simply by being in close proximity to the foreign entities. Alas, some sense of camaraderie had already been established.

"It would appear a sense of kinship has already been forged," he observed. "Most disappointing, I had hoped the damage had been minimal."

While removing the presence of the so-called Normandy and its crew still remained a priority, it was starting to look less likely any of the real Reclaimers would be willing to follow protocol. The way they fought off his Sentinels, it just suggested that they were too inflexible and stubborn to follow their assigned role in the plan. He watched as one of them distracted a Sentinel with sustained fire while the large reptilian creature smashed the machine against the wall, destroying the camera in the process.

"You were supposed to accept the responsibility," he sadly stated as he watched. "You were supposed to understand the gravity of the task. Do you they simply not understand the purpose of Protocol? Do they not see none of them would be here without it?"

He briefly thought that perhaps it would be best to just relinquish the order he had assigned the Sentinels. Perhaps these humans were simply too far gone, too removed from their responsibility, too corrupted by the foreigners. He quickly backed away from that thought.

"No, I still require them," he reminded himself. "Protocol must be adhered. Only they can fire the Installation. It is their responsibility, just as it is mine to enforce and guide it."

He suddenly sighed, realising he was once again speaking to no one. Talking aloud to himself like this was somewhat disturbing. It certainly emphasized the oversight of being left alone on the Installation for all these years.

In a way, he wondered if the one called Commander Shepard had been somewhat correct in his argument. At least as far as it concerned to repetitive thinking. The lack of outside stimulation from his fellow Monitors had placed considerable strain on his mental capacity. If he had been given a companion then perhaps they could've devised a better strategy towards fulfilling their assigned protocol together. Relying on his instinct alone was rather taxing.

"It would at least be nice to actually have someone to talk to," he admitted to himself.

This hadn't been the first time he thought so either. It was foolish to even consider though. There was no companion. He had no second opinion. He was the Monitor. It was up to him alone to discern the best course of action. At this moment, he had to consider whether he would have to activate ring himself somehow or discern other potential options outside of assigned protocol.

He had no intention of doing the latter if it could be avoided, but the conversation with the Commander Shepard had reminded him of some things. Specifically, the other options the Council had conceived. He had had a lot of time to think over their proposals, all of them, a million times in fact. It staved off boredom for a few hundred years at least.

"So many other plans," He wistfully recalled. "Some clever, some desperate, all grand in scope and scale, but none were as practical or as efficient as the Halo Array. Even that wasn't able to be fully implemented. The full twelve rings never saw use. Even the Librarian eventually concluded there was no time and perhaps that they were unnecessary. She was right, of course. The fact the mere seven rings completed their task is evidence of that."

As he recalled all of this aloud to himself, he suddenly remembered the counter idea, HIS idea. It was strange that he had brought him up to the Commander Shepard. Perhaps the discussion had simply forced the recollection, but it was curious that he recalled him now of all times.

"He never did get to go through his proposal," Spark admitted. "No, she saw to that personally. I am still unsure if it even would have worked. It was, after all, a plan clearly born out of prejudice. Still..."

Guilty Spark's mind raced with the unthinkable, another option, outside Protocol. He now seriously considered the ideas of another, the intricate plans of one so brilliant and cunning. He knew why it hadn't been done, why it was stopped, but his mind now wondered if things had gone differently.

"What if the Installations had failed," he thought aloud. "What if something went wrong? Could he have succeeded at a smaller cost? If he had been given the chance..."

If nothing else, the Non-Reclaimer, Commander Shepard, had forced him to consider the possibilities. But a tick in the back of Spark's mind ended his internal discussion. Protocol could not be overridden, not when there were still ways he could achieve it. All he really needed was the construct and the Index she now possessed. If he could obtain a willing Reclaimer, it would just make things easier.

But even though he had stopped thinking about, he still wondered in the corner of his mind.

"Long plans, indeed."

---

Kowalski was on point as they moved towards the Central Command room. Grunt was currently in the middle of their formation, much to his disapproval. It was standard VIP protection protocol, but the krogan only begrudgingly agreed to it. He wanted to be up front where he could do the most damage and admittedly he probably could take care of himself. No one wanted to take the risk outside of Grunt though. His skin was tough, but Kowalski doubted it was laser proof.

"I still don't get what you guys did to get these things riled up," Ellingham told the big reptile.

"Shepard probably pissed them off by stopping them from doing or killing something," the krogan stated. "It's happens all the time, you get used to it."

"Did any of those times involve killer robots?" Ellingham crassly asked him.

"Yeah, a few times actually," Grunt casually responded.

Ellingham just looked at the back of the alien's head dumbfounded.

"Seriously?" He said aloud. "What kind of universe do you live in where shit like this is a regular occurrence?"

Kowalski shushed Ellingham suddenly at that moment because he thought he had heard something up ahead. Listening more closely, Kowalski realised it was laser fire accompanied by shots from regular small arms fire. They had friendlies in trouble up ahead.

The team stacked up along the edge of the hallway while Kowalski peeked out into the open. He spotted Samara in the middle of fending off three of the attacking machines. She fired her pistol repeatedly at them, but could only manage to damage their shields slightly before she was forced to duck behind her cover once more.

"Sam's in trouble," Kowalski reported to the others.

Grunt pushed himself forward a bit to take a peek himself. At that moment, Samara caught one of the robots with a biotic attack. She slammed it into the ceiling and then smashed it into the floor, destroying it utterly.

"You still think she's in trouble?" He asked cheekily.

"Well I think she'd still appreciate the help," Kowalski countered back.

"She's getting it either way," Pearson informed them. "Ramirez, cross the hall and open fire on one of those things. Take Agley with ya, we'll catch those things in the crossfire."

Ramirez nodded once and moved across the hallway with Agley in tow. Kowalski stayed and stacked up beside Ellingham and Pearson. Grunt stayed behind for the moment, but had his shotgun prepared to go into action. Samara kept the machines from spotting them as they set up, using her powers in an attempt to damage their armour with Reave. Kowalski took aim with his pistol, fully loaded with disruptor rounds.

Pearson then gave the signal to open fire and the Marines opened up. Ramirez and Agley laid into the back of one of the robots with a heavy barrage of automatic rifle fire. Kowalski's pistol ate away at the shields within a few shots, allowing Pearson and Ellingham's rounds to rip into the machine wholesale.

The Machines turned themselves around, even as several dozen bullets cut into their metallic frames. They fired their laser beams at both sides of the hallway, forcing them to back into cover for a brief moment. Kowalski didn't step too far back though, he knew now that these things weren't here to kill him. He popped his head out again and rained fire on the offending machine, aiming for its laser eye specifically.

Unfortunately for the robots, their attempt to get the Marines off their backs had given Samara the opportunity she needed. Jumping out of her cover, the Asari Justicar rushed underneath the nearest of the machines. A powerful biotic punch sent the machine straight up into the ceiling. A following pull attack forced the robot to crash into its friend.

At the same time, Kowalski kept firing at his target and managed to score a direct hit on the machine's eye. The top of the robot's head, for lack of a better word, blew clean off as the laser core detonated. The long piece of metal embedded into the underbelly of the second machine that had just crashed into the now burning robot. Both robots soon fell to the floor, sparking and smoking as they hit the ground.

"We're clear, good job team," Pearson called out.

The group moved out into the hall now where they met up with Samara. The asari was slightly preoccupied, examining the wreckage of the now demolished robots.

"Centuries of hunting the evils of the galaxy and now I find myself the target of someone else's ire," Samara observed aloud. "Few dare to risk seeking out and attacking a Justicar willingly, but I suppose these machines lack the fear of reprisals most organics would. That and my fellow Justicars are not here to assist me in avenging this deliberate assault."

"Well you got us," Kowalski noted pleasantly. "UNSC Marines are better than nothing, right?"

"Indeed," Samara replied with a slight smile as she stood up. "I am in your debt for you and your squad's prompt arrival, Private Kowalski. Synthetics are always somewhat of a challenge for biotics of all walks of life."

"Why are you all the way down here anyway, Samara?" Pearson asked her.

The Justicar's slightly smiling face turned back to its usual serious and monotone position as she answered.

"I came to the sleeping quarters when the alarm went up," she informed them. "I was concerned the machines would attempt to harm the Marines resting there. However, as I provided the soldiers cover to escape, I soon realised the synthetics were ignoring them in favour of attacking me. I managed to fight most of them off and was moving to the Central Command hub as instructed by Noble Two, when those three blocked my path and pinned me down."

"I'm guessing you don't have any ideas as to why these things want your head anymore than we do then, huh?" Ellingham asked, his exasperated tone indicative of the fact he already knew the answer.

"No," Samara admitted. "Only that the Code demands retribution. Synthetic or otherwise, no one assaults a Justicar without incurring severe consequences. I imagine Commander Shepard will share my view, considering how the entire crew has become a target."

At that moment, Grunt turned back down the hall they had come from. His eyes grew wide as he pointed his gun down the corridor.

"We got company!" He called out, firing the shotgun.

A Sentinel raced into their hall, trying to ram Grunt. The giant reptilian smacked the machine away with his shotgun causing pieces of metal to fly about the room.

"We need to double time to the Central Command hub!" Pearson ordered. "Move people!"

The squad took off yet again as the whirling sound of more of the killer machines flooded the corridors behind them.

---

Chief stood at the newest obstacle to his progress, a very large metal door. He had almost forgotten they were here last time, he had just hoped they would be open. When he landed the Banshee and went over to the door's command console nearby he expected it to open wide and let him through.

Instead it screeched open, the sound of grinding metal against metal blocking out all other sensation. The large door fragmented in several spots and eventually stopped moving as parts of its mechanism exploded or broke apart. The door was still opened wide enough to walk through, but not enough to fit the Banshee through.

The distressing reality that they wouldn't be able to fly the rest of the way was made worse when Combat Forms started pouring out of the opening. Perhaps the Covenant had damaged the door themselves in an attempt to keep the Flood locked in. Given they were currently engaging them further down the path that plan had obviously failed somehow. Whatever the reason the barricade had failed, what was important now was that Master Chief would now have to fight through the underground on foot.

"Crap," he grumbled as he pulled out his shotgun once more.

These Combat Forms were unarmed, so taking them down wasn't too difficult. The fact they only had a small opening the squeeze through made killing them even easier. As the bodies piled up and chief approached the opening, a Carrier Form tried to squeeze his way through the small opening himself. Chief fired his gun before the bulbous walking sack could get very far. The abomination exploded, taking out at least one other Flood Form near him.

Master Chief now entered the gate proper, walking into the center of the underground itself. He looked about the area and saw it was clear. Staring across the way, he spotted the bridge he and Shepard's team had crossed the first time they were here. Now he lacked a tank though, something he was sorely missing about now.

"Are you getting a bad feeling about this too?" He asked Cortana.

"Since the second that door caved in on itself," the AI replied. "Let's be careful."

Chief moved out, heading towards the bridge proper. They just needed to get across it and they'd have a clean shot towards the final canyon. He kept his shotgun ready as he neared the foot of the bridge. He started walking across the spanning structure slowly, keeping a careful eye on his motion tracker as he did. Before he had even made it half way, red dots started popping up on the scanner out of nowhere.

"And here we go," Cortana indifferently droned.

Crawling onto the bridge, several Infection Forms swarmed towards them. Three Carrier forms shuffled up the bridge from behind cover themselves, plodding towards the Spartan with deadly intent. Master Chief began firing into the swarm, blasting apart several infection forms. He moved back as they pushed forward only to soon see he had bigger problems when one of the Carriers burst into flames and exploded seconds later.

The culprit behind the Carrier's demise was revealed as the flames died. A Spitfire Husk, molten metal dripping from its ghastly mouth. The creature scuttled after the Carriers and was followed by two more of its ilk. They spewed their liquid flames at the parasite swarm, obliterating their numbers quickly. Chief knew though, that when they were done with the Flood the Spitfires would turn on him. Better to take care of both problems as fast as possible.

Firing his shotgun at one of the Carriers, he managed to puncture the walking explosive sack as a Spitfire scuttled by him. The resulting explosion knocked the ugly little mutilated Covie over and punctured its own flamethrower tank. The volatile chemicals that created the deadly molten flame erupted, killing a few more Infection Forms nearby.

Chief saw an opening and rushed for it, one of the Spitfires tracking him as he did. The husk spewed out a blast of molten fire, but Chief dove away just in time. The attack instead hit the last Carrier Form. In retaliation, the Carrier's last act was to throw itself onto the Spitfire as it tried to scuttle past. The resulting explosion ended them and sent the final Spitfire hurtling over the edge of the bridge into the abyss below.

However, they were hardly the only Flood and Husk forms down here. As Chief neared the end of the bridge he watched as Combat forms came out of hiding to initiate their own attack. It was at that moment as well that another crop of Reavers alongside even more Spitfires rushed in as well. One combat Form holding a rocket launcher was torn in two by a Reaver from behind. The Flood Form pressed the trigger on the launcher at the last second, sending a rocket straight towards Master Chief.

"Shit!" Cortana shouted as the Spartan dove for the deck.

The rocket said over them harmlessly, colliding with the far wall of the cavern. Chief Picked himself up off the floor and watched as the Flood and Husks tore into each other. Reavers slashed at the onslaught of Combat Forms, slicing limbs from torsos, torsos from legs. In this case numbers proved the better, as the Combat forms poured on the fire from all sides. One combat form delivered a powerful swipe at a Reaver and the others piled onto the husk, shooting and beating it into the ground.

The Spitfires thrust themselves onto the Combat Forms, spewing molten fire down on their rotting flesh and burning them alive. Combat forms quick enough were able to swat the attacking fire breathers away with their combat tentacles before filling them full of lead from the weapons.

Chief rushed forward at the melee, intending to either push his way through to the other side of it or kill every last one of them if necessary. He blew away a Combat Form as it turned to fire on him then ducked under an oncoming Reaver's slash. He batted the deformed Elite away with a blow from the back of his Shotgun and then fired off three blasts into the creature before could react.

He shield alarm rang suddenly as he took plasma fire from behind. A Combat Form had targeted him, shooting off its Plasma Rifle. Chief dove backwards, firing three more blasts his shotgun off at the decaying creature. The shots managed to tear of the Combat Form's arm and leave him open to attack from one of the Reavers, who quickly sliced him apart.

Chief landed hard with his back on the floor. He felt something hot near the top of his head and rolled to the left. His instincts had just barely saved him from a Spitfire's molten breath. He grabbed at the creature as it was still spewing flames and pointed it towards the brawl. He managed to set one of the Reavers on fire, alongside two more Combat Form in the process. The Reaver remained alive for a few brief seconds, flailing about like mad and screaming an ear piercing bloody shriek. Chief blocked it out and kept the Spitfire pointed towards its dying comrade.

With the squirming Grunt-Husk still grappled in his hands, the Master Chief stuck a plasma grenade to the fire-belching monstrosity's back. He then chucked explosive-laden creature into the middle of the Flood and Husk battle and backed away to a safe distance. The husk landed in the middle of two other Spitfires. The resulting explosion engulfed what little remained of the ongoing battle between the Husks and Flood.

Chief blocked his eyes with his arm, shielding them from the brilliant fireball before him. When the light vanished, Master Chief looked upon the devastated battlefield. Pieces of both combatants lay in either charred ruins or were scattered about the smoking floor. And he just stood there on the edge of the blast zone, unflinching at the sight and in silence.

"Be honest with me," Cortana asked him. "Is this one of those times I should be grateful I have no sense of smell?"

"Let's just say the helmet's olfactory filters are helping," The Spartan replied. "Now we better get moving before more show up."

Chief started reloading his shotgun as he turned and walked away from the grisly scene.

"You know it's probably going to be even worse out there than in here, right?" Cortana asked him. "The Battlenet is suggesting as much."

"You worried we're not going to make it to the generator at this rate?" He asked her, his tone only slightly more upbeat compared to its usual near monotone pitch.

"Not at all," Cortana assured him. "Just hoping you have more tricks like that up your sleeve when the crap hits the fan."

"I always do," The Spartan assured her in kind.

---

The Normandy arrived over Alpha Base to find it completely swarmed. Laser beams and tracers slashed through the air as the ship's outer cameras monitored the situation from on high. Shepard immediately set off for the Shuttle Bay where most of the squad was waiting for him.

"EDI, get your cyber-warfare subroutines ready," he ordered as he made his way to the shuttle. "Screw with their navigation or offensive systems whatever way you can. We need to break up this attack of theirs, convince Guilty Spark to back off."

"I shall try, Commander," EDI replied.

Shepard returned his focus to the mission at hand, climbing into the shuttle with the rest of the away team. The Hangar door opened wide moments later and the shuttle took off speeding towards Alpha Base below.

"Shepard to Normandy personnel in Alpha Base, do you read?" He asked as the shuttle rocketed through the air. "We're coming in on your position hot."

After a few seconds there was a response.

"Good to hear from you Commander," said Jacob's voice. "I was starting to wonder if you'd ever show up. Me and the others are holding down the fort in the Command Hub, but those things are still swarming the base."

"They're called Sentinels and don't worry, we're going to clear them out," Shepard confidently assured him. "You just hold them back long enough for EDI to work her magic. I'm going to try and get most of them to go after me and the rest of the crew, get a few of them off your backs if we're lucky."

"Whatever you're doing, Commander, just do it fast," Jacob told him. "These things are relentless."

As the shuttle approached Alpha Base, the Sentinels started swarming it. They slammed into the little ship, trying to knock it off course. They scorched laser beams across the hull in an effort to cut through the armour. Luckily, the shuttle's offensive cannons were able to blow a few of the attacking machines out of air, blasting at least two as the ship came in for a landing.

"Alright," Shepard told the others as the doors prepared to open. "We just need to get their attention. Priority is getting these things away from Jacob and the others. We're the bigger target right now, Spark can't ignore that. Form a perimeter around the shuttle and watch each other's backs."

Shepard and his team dropped out of the shuttle and onto the ground. The Commander was the first to attack, charging into a Sentinel before firing into its body with an assault rifle at point blank range. Miranda used an overload to disrupt the Sentinels shields while Garrus picked them off from afar with his sniper rifle.

That initial attack was more than enough to get the attention of the other Sentinels. They soon shifted their attacks towards the newly landed away team, just as Shepard had planned. Firing his shotgun loaded with cryo rounds, he managed to freeze one of the sentinels in mid-air. It crashed to the ground and broke into a million pieces on contact.

"They're just like any other mech or synthetic out there people," Shepard assured them. "I don't care if they're thousands of years old, we can take them."

"Hell yes we can!" Jack concurred wholeheartedly.

The Ex-Con then turned her attention to three of the Sentinels now firing on their position. She sent a powerful biotic bolt flying at them that hit one of them square in the nose and slammed him into the ground. She then started shooting at the others with her pistol, trying to hit them in the optics where their lasers were coming from.

The Sentinels soon closed in on their position, surrounding the shuttle. All the Normandy crew could do was find cover and take what shots they could through the barrage of laser fire. Tali sent out Chiktikka into the battlefield while she stayed in cover. The little drone couldn't attack any of the Sentinels higher in the air, but she could partially fry the circuits of those lower to the ground. That gave people like Kasumi the chance they needed to land a few good shots on the machines while they were trying to recover from the energy blast.

As the Sentinels closed in, a Pelican raced from out of the clouds. It landed a few feet away from their position. The back doors opened wide and out rushed Sergeants Buck and Johnson into the fray.

"Get the hell off our plateau, ya laser spewing flying rust buckets!" Johnson ordered as he fired off his shotgun straight into the belly of a Sentinel.

Those two certainly had great timing, Shepard thought. However, even with the reinforcement, he knew they couldn't keep this up forever. That fact became clear when a Sentinel flew right over his cover and tried to shoot him in the face. Shepard dove to the side as the laser nearly cut across his temple. He could feel the heat coming off the beam as he fired his shotgun in response. The cryo rounds stopped the Sentinel dead in its tracks. Its frozen form fell to earth and shattered apart near Shepard's feet.

"EDI! Disrupt their navigation systems now!" He ordered through his comm. "They're going to swarm us!"

A few seconds later the Sentinels began to spark and jitter in their air. They pitched and tumbled, just as they did before, slamming into each other or the ground. Their shots missed wildly, slashing harmless across the ground or blasting at each other.

"This won't last long," Shepard reminded his team. "Take them down now, before they can recover!"

Shepard opened fire on the helpless Sentinels, hoping to create a big enough dent in their numbers before they recovered.

---

Guilty Spark fumed at his monitors. His Sentinels were taking more time to accomplish this task and it was costing significant resources. Now the rest of the Alternate Dimensional Intruders were at the location and it was splitting his rapidly depleting forces.

"If the Enforcers weren't so busy keeping the majority of the Flood Infestation at bay this would be a different story," he grumbled.

And this wasn't the only dire situation he was facing either. According to his other screens, another of the pulse generators had gone offline. No doubt the actions of the Reclaimer and his most disagreeable Construct.

"As if dealing with this Commander Shepard's corrupting influence wasn't enough, now the Reclaimer is damaging key systems," he growled. "This is a blatant act of disrespect towards several Protocol guidelines! It will take me at least a day, maybe more to fix those systems. If he overloads the third Pulse Generator the Installation's Firing Mechanism will shut down completely and it may take over a week to fix! Who knows how much damage the Flood could do in that time? It's almost as if they WANT it to escape Halo!"

The whole situation was so infuriating, but he had to consider his responsibilities above his ire. As much as he detested the inter-dimensional aliens for influencing the Reclaimer's actions, the more pressing matter at hand was the repair of those Pulse Generators and the prevention of further damage.

"You have earned a reprieve for now, Non-Reclaimers," he declared towards the monitors. "But it shall only be a brief one. You have violated Protocol and I shall see to it your recompense is delivered in due time."

---

Suddenly, the Sentinels turned from the fight. They stopped firing or attempting to flank and began to pull away. They turned from Alpha Base and began flying back out in the night air. Shepard wiped his brow in relief as he heard the joyous cries of Marines from all across the plateau fill the air.

Shepard only had one thought on his mind though, and it wasn't sharing in the reverie of victory.

"Jacob," he said as he contacted his armoury officer. "What's your status?"

"Alive, sir," he replied. "Hunks of junk cleared out. We're all okay down here, but got some wounded. Silva's down here with us, he's really wants an explanation for all this."

"He'll get it," Shepard assured Jacob. "Stay in the Command Hub, I'm coming to you. We got a lot of things to talk about."

---

"The last pulse generator is in this part of the Canyon," Cortana informed him. "But we're still going to need a Banshee to get up to it. I'm getting scattered reports that the Covenant have two close by. They were forced to set down as the winds picked up and storm got worse. The bad news is they're all the way at the back of this series of canyons and if this snow storm dies down they may risk going up again and we'll miss our only shot at getting to the Generator."

"Then we have no time to lose," Chief declared a she picked up the pace.

Master Chief hurriedly trudged up from out of the underground back into the cold snowy canyons. As he walked up a small little incline, he could hear an ongoing battle up ahead. When he reached the top, he saw yet another pitched battle between the Flood and the Covenant. Plasma and bullet flew through the air as the two sides engaged one another. A Wraith tank circled the field nearby, trying to keep the parasitic monsters back.

The Covenant were not alone in their struggle though, the Husks were by their side. To be accurate, they were out in front taking the brunt of the damage while the Covenant hung back. Perhaps even the Covies didn't want to be too close to their misshapen and mutilated comrades.

Spitfires created a wall of fire between the Flood and the Covenant in an attempt to keep the creatures back. Rushing through the fire came Reavers, their bodies catching alight as they rushed towards the Combat Forms with suicidal abandon. Speaking of which, another Husk variant was charging alongside the Reavers, one Chief had heard about but not encountered personally until now.

Grunts were known to suddenly become suicidal in dire circumstances. These husks took it to the next level by being designed for that one purpose. Gremlins, as Shepard's team had named them, were loaded with explosives on their backs and inside their bodies. Each one was set to detonate when in contact with the enemy. By the estimations of Shepard's crew, a single Gremlin had the explosive power of at least ten plasma grenades loaded into it. Perhaps that was overkill, but it was effective nonetheless. And since husks weren't as easy to kill as living Grunts, they were a lot harder to kill before they went pop.

Now these Gremlins were charging at the Flood, jumping onto individual Combat Forms and exploding. They tore the Flood Horde apart, but it mattered little when others could just replace them. The Reavers were attacking any Flood Forms that got through the Gremlin assaults. Meanwhile, the Covenant tried to pick the Combat Forms off from afar. It was a decent enough defence, but Chief doubted it would hold off the Flood for very long.

However, the Spartan was only really concerned about how he was going to get through their crossfire. Before he and Cortana could come up with a plan though, Chief heard the distinctive noise of incoming Ghost Rapid Assault Vehicles. They crested over the small slope leading down towards the main battlefield and instantly charged at the Spartan.

Chief's shields began to fail as the bolts began hitting him hard. He dropped down into the snow just as one of the Ghosts tried to run him down. The Spartan grabbed onto the undercarriage of the Ghost as it drove over him. His added weight was a bit much for the anti-gravity boosters to handle, so the vehicle dipped slightly lower than usual. His armour kicked up snow around him, decreasing his visibility as he tried to hold on.

"Why is it that, even with packs of killer undead abominations attacking, WE somehow still manage to be more interesting to these guys?" Cortana asked as the Ghost continued to rocket along the field.

"Least of our concerns right now," the Master Chief told her, far more focused on keeping a grip on the undercarriage.

Forcing himself to scramble onto the side of the Vehicle, Chief tried to get a better view of the Ghost's driver. The Elite had noticed his machine was a bit more sluggish in its manoeuvres and was trying to peek over to see if the human he had run down was stuck under him.

He found Master Chief looking back at him, now holding onto the side of the Ghost. His fingers were gripping onto the hood tightly, bending the metal. One of his legs was still under the vehicle while the second was pushed into the Ghost's wing, keeping his position firmly planted. With his free hand, Chief raised his shotgun towards the Covie's face and fired twice.

As the Elite tumbled out of his seat and into the snow, Chief swung himself from the side of the Ghost into the driver's seat. He grasped the controls in his hands and took control of craft. His actions had not gone unnoticed by the other Ghost pilots. They had quickly turned to engage the hijacked vehicle and began opening fire.

Pulling a hard right on the controls, Chief strafed out of the oncoming path of the attacking Ghosts. He fired on the nearest one as he moved quickly to the left. He didn't give the Covie the chance to circle round and do the same to him though. As the alien passed, he stuck on his tail and kept firing. He managed to blow apart one of the enemy Ghost's wings before scoring a direct hit on the partial exposed plasma core. The opposing vehicle burst into flames and flipped over into a heap before resting in the snow.

The remaining enemy Ghost slammed into Chief's side at this moment, using the Spartan preoccupation with his now dead wingman to ram him. Master Chief activated the Ghost's boosters and pulled away from the enemy vehicle. The Covie kept on him though, firing shots at him as they sped towards the battlefield.

"This guy isn't going to just leave us alone, Chief," Cortana warned as plasma bolts hit their backside. "We need to shake him. Try getting alongside him, we can tip him over."

"Don't worry," Chief assured her. "I'm on it."

Chief swerved the Ghost back and forth, both trying to avoid the incoming shots and mask the fact he was letting off a little on his speed. He soon pulled in alongside the offending Covenant Vehicle, just as they were passing the start of the Spitfire firewall. The Spartan then slammed into the enemy Ghost's side hard enough to knock one of the stabilizing wings into the snow.

The wing dug into the frozen white fluff, causing it to upend and trip over its own nose. The Ghost itself then cart wheeled into the small sea of flame created by the Spitfires. The driver was engulfed by the inferno while his ride continued onwards. The tumbling vehicle smashed into one of the flame throwing Husks causing its flame sacks to rupture and suddenly explode. The individual Spitfires were spaced too far apart for this to create a chain reaction, but it did create a significant gap in the fire wall. That didn't really matter to Chief though. So long as the Ghost's pilot was dead he was happy.

As he got back on course, some of the Reavers turned to attack his Ghost. Chief opened fire on them with his plasma cannons, tearing through their shields with ease before blowing their mutilated frames to pieces. The momentary distraction on the part of the Husks, however, gave some of the Combat Forms the chance to catch the Reavers off guard. One Combat Form jumped onto the back of a Reaver, forcing him to the ground. The monstrosity began firing indiscriminately into the helpless Husk as lay in the snow, the Flood standing atop him and roaring loudly in triumph.

Chief soon had other problems far bigger than the undead horror around him. The Wraith had spotted him and was moving into position to block his route. It began firing its main weapon at him, forcing Chief to turn and pivot the Ghost rapid to avoid the incoming plasma mortars. The Ghost didn't have enough firepower to take that tank out head-on. Master Chief knew he would need to think of something fast.

Time was not on his side though, as he soon had an uninvited guest slam into the front of his Ghost. It wasn't dead though, as it climbed on top of the hood and grasped it in a deadly hug. A Gremlin now snarled viciously in his face as plasma began to vent from its orifices. It was going to explode.

With little time and no others options, Chief did the only thing he could. He aimed the ghost directly for the Wraith, pushed down on the booster and then jumped from the doomed assault vehicle. He fell down into the snow with a thud, but the powder cushioned his fall.

The Ghost continued onwards with its deadly passenger still holding on. It collided with the Wraith just as the Gremlin self-destructed. The Ghost was low enough at that point to get under the hovering tank. Meaning when the Gremlin exploded the majority of the blast impacted the rather defenceless undercarriage of the Covie Tank.

A terrific explosion soon filled the air as a blue ball of fire burst out of the top of the tank, sending its turret flying off in a random direction. As what was left of the Wraith crashed down into the snow, Chief picked himself up and took off. He had disrupted the Covenant defence strategy pretty heavily at this point and he did not wish to wait around for the Flood to finish the job.

Without a vehicle, Master Chief was forced to move on foot. Running through the now ankle high snow, he soon arrived in the next open space within the canyon. Yet another battle was raging here, the Flood had surrounded a group of Covenant in some rocks atop a tiny snow-toped hill.

Unlike before, there wasn't much in the way of Husks to oppose them. The Combat Forms had already killed them, probably not too long ago. Infested Elites and Marines stomped over dead Reavers and walked past scorch marks where Spitfires had once stood. The only defensive measure left was a single Shade Turret and it was taking fire from all sides. Nothing was left to keep them from their next meal.

The Flood rushed the Covenant as the fanatical aliens made a desperate final stand. Elites slashed and blasted the Flood as they approached. Even as the Combat Forms tried to pin them to the floor they kept fighting, using their plasma rifles at close range to burn straight through the infested monsters' torsos. They sliced off the tendrils that slashed at their heads.

The skill of the Elites was great, but it simply wasn't enough. The Flood tackled them from behind, blasted them at point blank range or knocked them several feet back with a single swipe from their powerful tendrils. It wasn't for a lack of courage or will. The Covenant Warriors just weren't able to fend off every threat coming at them.

Meanwhile, the Grunts were left to fend for themselves. The little gas-suckers ran for safety, but only found more Flood waiting. They used their arm tendrils to strangle the Grunts or simply smashed their tiny skulls against the rocks. They weren't wasting ammo on them. They were saving that for the Elites who they targeted relentlessly.

Master Chief didn't stop to look at the grisly battle for very long, he kept moving. He kept his head low as stray plasma and gun fire flew past his head. As he made a run towards a small crop of trees near the edge of the area, the Shade Turret exploded. As it flipped over, crushing a grunt beneath its weight, Chief looked ahead to see the cause. Three Combat Forms stood among the small cropping of trees. Each was armed with a Rocket Launcher. They were bombarding the Covenant with Rockets now, with little regard for whatever was caught in the blast.

Knowing they presented the biggest obstacle to his forward advance, Chief reloaded his Shotgun quickly. He reached the trees just as he got the last shell in and then slammed the gun into one of the rocket packing Combat Forms.

As the Infested creature twisted around from the blow, Chief plugged a slug right through its body. He turned towards the next Combat Form as it aimed its Launcher towards him. He fired again, just before the Flood monster could let loose a rocket. A third Combat Form was now targeting him though and he was much further away than the other two.

Knowing he wasn't close enough, nor that he had the time to get the creature in the crosshairs, Chief dove to the side. The Combat Form fired his rocket just as he did. The projectile sailed past where the Spartan had been just moments ago and collided with the canyon wall. The shockwave from the blast jostled Chief a bit as he landed on the frozen river below. He was still able to train his gun on the Combat Form and fire off several shells into the monstrosity before it could launch another rocket.

Picking himself up off the ice, Chief made a mad dash for the small ledge separating him final stretch of the canyon. He climbed up and trudged through the thick layers of snow. The storm was blinding now, but the wind wasn't nearly as strong as before. Fearing the Banshee's pilot would soon decide to take off, he pushed himself harder through the cold. They needed to get to their objective and fast.

"I'm boosting the armour's internal thermal systems," Cortana informed him. "The wind may be dying, but the cold isn't"

"Thanks," Chief replied as they rounded the bend. "Let's just hope the Banshees are still grounded."

They soon got a view of their objective through the fiercely falling snow. The sounds of Wraith Mortar Tanks firing echoed within the walls of the canyon. The blazing blue light of the plasma blast arched through the air and came down with a devastating explosion of fire. They were closing in now, that much was certain.

As Chief got into cover near a small butte, he could see several Combat Forms racing out from hiding and charging the Covenant positions at the back of the canyon. Shade turrets and plasma rifles illuminated the frozen canyon floor, while the burning plasma blades of Reavers slashed at the cold night air. Spitfires scampered across the ice and snow, spewing forth flame against the incoming Flood. At the far back, Hunters patrolled the area, firing their Assault Cannons at the incoming Flood horde.

As desperate as the situation seemed for the Covenant, backed into a corner with nowhere to run, they had the right idea. They needed to keep the Flood at a distance, the further from their lines the better. They had dug themselves in well. They were probably hoping against hope that rescue would soon come for them. Whether they could hold out long enough though was a different story.

Master Chief scanned the area for the only thing he cared about at the moment, a Banshee. Thankfully, Cortana's scanners picked up their unique plasma core energy signature. She highlighted them for the Spartan on his HUD. It pinpointed them at the very heart of the Covenant position, behind the Shade turrets, the Wraiths, the Hunters, the Husks and the Flood itself.

"I don't think we're getting to them the direct way," Cortana observed as a stream of plasma fire raked across a small advancing line of Flood Combat Forms. "I recommend we take the longer route around those rocks to the right. We can sneak under their guns and grab the Banshees before they know it."

Chief looked to the large rock outcropping to the right, as well as the small raised butte that masked a good portion of the wall. It seemed like as good a place as any to try to sneak past the defences. With only a nod of his head, the Spartan took off towards the rocks.

The battle raging nearby masked his approach. The Flood and Covies were too busy trying to slaughter one another directly to worry about a flanking attack. Chief managed to get behind their defensive line unmolested. There was a single Shade Turret close to where the rocks ended, but the little gas sucker was so focused on the approaching parasitic enemy he wasn't bothering to look behind him.

Chief let the gunner be and kept moving, keeping his head low as he snaked towards the Banshees. He could see more and more of Covenant moving up to defend the forward line. Elites shouted orders to their squads, to the Hunters scurrying back and forth among the defences. The Wraith Tanks never seemed to stop firing, blanketing the frozen lake with plasma. It was miracle the ice hadn't melted.

The Flood were acting as a perfect distraction regardless, allowing Chief to get really close to the Banshees. However just as he approached them, one of the Elites rushed into view. He was making a go for the Banshee. The alien hadn't seen him yet, so Chief quickly jumped up and got behind him. The Covie was just about to climb into the aircraft when the Spartan smashed his fist into the back of the eight-foot alien's skull.

He had kept the Elite from taking off with his ride, but the slight commotion caused attracted the attention of a nearby Grunt and two Jackals just feet away. They turned to see the Master Chief climbing into the Banshee and started screaming aloud.

"Demon! Demon here!" The lead Grunt shouted.

Chief fired off his assault rifle at the Covies, trying to disperse them before they fired back. He managed to force the Jackals to duck behind their shields, but the alarm had already been raised. Some Elites rushed back off the line towards the Banshees and one of the Hunters had turned towards the commotion as well.

"Time to get the hell out of here, Chief!" Cortana frantically told him.

The Spartan scrambled into the cockpit and took up the controls. As he lifted the Banshee off the ground he fired on the approaching Elites with the plasma cannons. The Elites who weren't hit returned fire, only mildly damaging the craft.

Master Chief was soon more worried about the Hunter that had spotted him though. The lumbering alien was already charging up his Assault Cannon. Chief attempted to disrupt the attack by firing off a Fuel Rod Cannon shot from the Banshee. The blast hit the Hunter along the side, but didn't kill him. He fired off his Assault Cannon at that moment, but his aim was slightly off. Master Chief pulled the Banshee to the side and managed to avoid the Hunter's attack with ease.

Boosting the engines, Chief rocketed into the sky, leaving the Covenant behind to fend for themselves against the oncoming Flood. He wondered for a moment if they'd waste a fighter following him, but he doubted the Elites would do something that foolish when they had just lost one fighter to the enemy. It soon became clear, as Chief flew through back through the canyon he had traversed on foot that the Covies weren't following. That meant all he had to worry about was what lay ahead.

The wind howled against the Banshee as Chief approached the platform that would take him to their last target. He expected the Sentinels to be there in force, Guilty Spark couldn't lose this last Generator or the ring wouldn't fire.

"The Monitor will pull out everything he can to stop us," Cortana said, reiterating that point rather clearly. "Be ready."

They now neared the Platform and within seconds of arrival they encountered their first obstacle. A small flight of Sentinels exited out of the door in the stone wall and began heading towards the incoming Banshee. Chief opened fire with a blast from the Fuel Rod Cannon. The attack killed two of the Sentinels with ease, sending their burning husks hurtling to the ground.

The Sentinels now unleashed their full wrath on the Banshee, cutting into it with their lasers. Chief did his best to manoeuvre away, but the robots were highly accurate. He unleashed the plasma cannon on them, unloading bolts into the vicious little machines. The plasma seared their circuitry and melted their outer shells. Their laser cores exploded as the fell to the icy river below, their anti-gravity generators giving out.

Chief charged the final Sentinel, striking it head on with his aircraft. The Banshee easily bulldozed the fragile Sentinel, but the Covenant fighter was now a wreck. Laser damage had torn open its side and Chief had to take the Banshee in for a hard landing as the engine gave out. The craft skidded along the platform, scraping the metal beneath it. Chief managed to jump out just before the Banshee went clean over the edge, falling back down to canyon floor.

"Well, nowhere to go but forward now," He noted aloud.

Chief entered the doorway and walked through the hallway that lead to the last Pulse Generator. As he entered the room, he could hear the metallic whirling noises of the Sentinels all around. He needed a way to kill them all real fast.

With his ammo running low on his conventional weapons, Chief grabbed the backup pistol that Shepard had given him once more. He activated the disruptor rounds and pulled out a frag grenade. Activating the explosive, he rolled it into the room. He didn't expect the grenade to kill all the Sentinels, but he wanted to catch them off guard a little.

The explosion only partially damaged the Sentinels shields, but it was enough. Chief ran out into the open, firing his pistol at the Sentinels above. The weapon worked beautifully, as it had before, cutting through the shields of the flying robots like they weren't even there. The shots sent electrical shocks through the Sentinels' bodies, causing internal damage.

The machines fought back though, unleashing concentrated lasers on the Master Chief as he moved. They ate away his own shields with ease and he was soon forced to find cover. It didn't help much as the Sentinels dogged him. One of their shots hit him on the left shoulder, but his armour absorbed the hit. Still burned pretty badly though.

Chief retaliated by unloading a full thermal clip into the Sentinel, causing it to overload from electrical discharge as the disruptor rounds did their work. The top of the machine's head exploded outward and Chief loaded a fresh thermal clip into his gun.

Chief then picked himself off the floor as the Sentinel collapsed and ran forward. He dodged another laser and got underneath the Sentinel who was firing it. He shot up into it, eventually kill it as well. The Spartan rolled away as the Sentinel's corpse crashed down near where he had been standing.

The Spartan then target the individual Sentinels, aiming for the place where their laser beams originated. The shots tore through the robotic enemies, blowing out their insides and mangling their machinery. As one Sentinel tried to get close to land an easy point-blank kill, Chief pulled out his shotgun and fired into the machine's unprotected face. Pieces of shredded metal fell about the room and the final Sentinel collapsed to the floor in a heap.

Master Chief wasted no time after that. He made his way to the Pulse Generator's beam and stepped inside. The final EMP pulse surged into the generator and overloaded it. Cortana confirmed moments later that their mission had been accomplished and the firing mechanism was now offline. That took care of Halo for awhile at least, now to work on making the damage permanent. That meant finding Keyes. Luckily, Cortana had made progress on that front at last.

"Alright, I've located the Captain," she declared. "It took some doing, but I've managed to use the Covenant Network to narrow down our search area. If I'm right, then the signal is pointing us to the very ship that might be the ticket out of here for the rest of the UNSC forces and Shepard's crew."

"Keyes is back on the Truth and Reconciliation?" Chief asked, rather astonished at the coincidence.

"Sure looks that way. It's a small ring world after all," Cortana jested. "Still, that's two problems solved. We've located our escape ship and the Captain. We need both to pull off this plan and escape from this ring before it blows. I can't tell if Keyes is alive right now, but as we get closer to him I can probably get a better lock on his neural implants and determine his condition."

At least they had an idea of where to look, certainly better than nothing.

"Let's call up Shepard then," he stated. "We can hitch a ride with him to the Captain, storm the ship together."

"While I support acting as a team on this one, that will take too long," Cortana informed him.

"Well, you got a better idea then?" Chief asked her curiously.

He should've known she did, but there was no harm in asking, right?

"The Monitor uses a teleportation grid to get around Halo," She explained. "When I was in the Control Room, I managed to tap into it. It requires quite a bit of power to do so though and I wasn't sure about using it until now for... obvious reasons."

"Something tells me I'm not gonna like this," Chief grumbled as he shook his head, he already knew where this was going.

"I should be able to manage this without permanently damaging your shields," Cortana assured him. "There's no other way I can get us the power we need to get us into the teleport grid otherwise. Needless to say we should probably only try this once."

He had already been through the process twice before with a crazy AI running the show. He supposed Cortana could handle it, at least for one trip. Besides, they were on the clock and he agreed they couldn't waste time waiting for Shepard to pick them up. Better to head in first and see if Shepard could meet him there for pick-up.

"Alright, send a message to Commander Shepard then, give him the coordinates and details," Chief ordered Cortana. "After that, teleport us to the Captain's position."

"Okay, done and done, hang onto your butt," Cortana advised. "Here we go."

And with that, Chief found himself enveloped in an orange light once more. With any luck, Captain Keyes was still alive and the Truth and Reconciliation was capable of getting them off this ring. For if what was happening in these canyons were any indicator, they were running out of time and fast.

---

AN: This took a bit longer to get posted because of a family vacation. Apologies, it couldn't be helped. I'm hoping the next chapter doesn't run into similar complications. Don't worry though. It's already underway so it should still be up in the usual amount of time it takes to come out.

I'm just glad that we're ready to move on as the coming chapters have some stuff in them I've been looking forward to writing for awhile now. I hope this chapter, which was largely set-up for things later on, was still fun. You got a huge dose of Husk on Flood action though, so it should even out.

I don't think the notes in the profile will be very big this go-around, but give it a look anyway. Please remember to review, honestly because I do appreciate constructive feedback and check out the TV Tropes page when you can. And just for some extra fun, and to make up for this being a shorter chapter you had to wait on, here's a potential creative writing question for you guys:

I've huskified a lot of Covies by now and I have more on the way, including Jackal ones so don't worry there. But, let's just say for the moment the Inquisitor ended up in another science-fiction/fantasy universe that wasn't Halo. What kind of Husks could be made from the races of that universe?

Thanks for reading and stay tuned.