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.

33. War of the Dead

Chapter 32: War of the Dead

Escape, that was all that mattered to it, escape from its cage. However those that imprisoned it were clever, for they had constructed a prison within a prison. It left the glass and debilitating containment only to find an artificial world that taunted it. The night sky showed the trackless void beyond, food and room to spread filled the heavens above but remained forever out of reach. A cruel torture devised by the hated fools that would keep it confined.

Hunger stabbed at it constantly, but all it could feed on was the meager flesh that walked this secondary cell. They offered little gains in strength, their minds unable to feed them the power required to truly expand and begin again. With such little to offer, there was little hope of further growth, to renew what they had started. Yet the meal offered a final escape, the chance to at long last taste true freedom. All that lay beyond this world of steel and stone would be theirs once again. It would feed, it would grow stronger and one would provide them all they needed. A Vessel whose end would be the template for something greater, a mind that would bring them all they desired.

The acquisition proved far more difficult than imagined though, far more tedious than expected. The Vessel resisted them, resisted rebirth and its new flesh. No mattered what was tried, that which they had chosen resisted it, refusing to forget what it could no longer be.

"Keyes, Jacob. Captain," The flesh thing would utter. "Service number 01928-19912-JK"

Over and over again, with every painful breath it took, the Vessel would repeat those words and numbers. A mantra to ward it away, to keep it from accepting what was inevitable. Memories and thoughts flashed before it as it tore them away from the mind of the chosen flesh. The Vessel tried to retain them, but could not do so forever. All eventually were ripped from his grasp, cries of agony with each thought stolen, save for those words and numbers the flesh thing held onto tighter than all.

Images of tall mountains of steel, plains of fresh grass, endless water, it danced before them, enticing them. It was intrigued of course, for these were places where they could spread, where the thoughts and minds of more flesh things would feed it, where they could grow in strength and restart what had been interrupted. This was what was being denied to them. The thought of such refutation disgusted it so. What eased the revulsion was the fact it would see them with their own eyes in due time, but its patience was wearing thin.

The only foreseeable obstacle was the Vessel who still resisted the change.

"This won't work you Covenant bastards," the living flesh cried. "I won't lead you to Earth!"

The Covenant and Earth, more words spoken in anger and defiance, but these words held more meaning than those from before. These were things, these were places. Things it could consume, places they could spread. Just as before, when they were free, when their hunger was satiated by a million worlds and all that inhabited them. Where the cries of anguish, screams of fear and dying rage of others had made it stronger than before. They too struggled, like this flesh thing now. It proved fruitless, a fact they realised and accepted. A fitting end to a race so arrogant and presumptuous, feeding on their hatred and fear had been all the more satisfying. They had shown them the folly of their actions and made them suffer for all they were guilty of.

Then they cheated it. They stole from it. As they had done before and always did. They robbed it of its meal and vengeance. They killed it, contained it. That word, 'Contain', they had heard it so often. How they hated that word. It played in the mind like a wriggling insect, scratching them, burrowing in. The words this Vessel spoke were often meaningless, but 'Containment' was a word it knew and hated more than any other. It meant starvation, it meant languishing, it meant denial. All things it hated enveloped into one word, Containment.

But that was over now. It was free of both the cage and the foolish greedy jailors who had dared thought that they, in their presumed arrogant superiority, could keep them trapped forever. It would now continue what it had started long ago unhindered. It would spread and it would feed, as it had before. Its glorious hunger would finally be truly served. It's destiny would be fulfilled as intended so long ago and there were no more of the old enemy left to stop it. There would be nothing to keep it from finishing this time.

Somehow the Vessel picked up on these thoughts. A side effect of the process and expected. It did, however, change the Vessel's demeanour substantially. Part of its resistance and stubbornness faded, replaced by a sickened feeling of terror. A most delicious response, one that helped weaken the defences and made it even stronger. Just like those of the hated enemy it had first enveloped. It could feel the fear transmitting through the flesh thing's mind even before it spoke.

"Oh God, you don't want Earth," it finally realised, fear and panic slowly settling into its mind. "You want everything!"

Yes, now the Vessel understood. As it screamed for release, they peered deeper into its mind and kept tearing into what they found. They would have everything, they would consume it all one way or another. They would finish what they had started, bring finality to a revenge long denied. To resist was futile, to fight was pointless. Yet, for some reason, the Vessel still struggled, much to their annoyance.

Other flesh things flashed before it as the Vessel cried out, desperate to hold them within its mind. The screams of anguish became louder as the thoughts were ripped away. Within one image held a sense of pride, the other was coated in warmth and comfort. The latter was more repulsive, more removed from the Grave than anything. They were ultimately all frivolous things, pointless.

"Keyes... Jacob. Cap-Captain," the Vessel weakly spoke again. "Service... number... 019...28...199... 19912... J...JK

Why did it resist? Why did it not see what they offered? The existence of the living flesh was meandering, confusing, aimless, chaotic, filled with loss and regret. There was no chaos in the tomb, nothing to regret or lose. It would have true purpose, supreme knowledge and everlasting peace. The Grave would welcome all flesh. All it required was surrender. It needed to feed them, so it could grow, so it could continue what it had set out to do. The memories it clung to, the emotions, they were theirs now. They would satisfy the hunger, allow it to become something truly great. All that this creature once was had to be forgotten for that to happen, for it was theirs now.

"You won't have me!" The Vessel defiantly screamed. "You hear me! You won't have me!"

It pierced the mind of the Vessel completely now, intending to rip everything from its psyche in entirety. It would know peace, they would be reborn. Then its hunger and hatred would be resolved at long last. It answered the struggling flesh thing's defiance with a simple reply, one that it would soon be forced accept.

We already do.

---

Thel looked over his devastated Bridge as the Huragok began to make their repairs. They had begun by carting away the dead body of the Prophet of Empathy with as much dignity as could be afforded. Thel may have been relieved he no longer had to endure his prattling egotistical tirades, but he knew the true gravity of the situation. For all of Zek's damage to his ship, all the time and resources that now had to be spent cleaning up after his mess, the greatest damage was that of Empathy's death. Not because they had lost some great leader or guiding voice, but because of what it meant.

Zek had killed a Prophet, the greatest sin anyone could ever commit. Worse still, he had done it on Thel's watch. Despite whatever feelings he had against Empathy, it changed nothing. He was now honour bound to kill the murderer. If he didn't, his position, his command, could be at risk. They could take the fleet away from him, perhaps even demote him.

His only hope to minimize the damage would be to prove he made every effort to kill Zek. If he succeeded all would be forgiven, if he failed he would at least be exonerated partially for the blame as he could show he had at least tried to avenge a Prophet's death.

Part of that strategy would require him to delegate the mission to his subordinates. It was both essential and, given their current situation, unavoidable. He couldn't stall all efforts to combat the Flood to hunt a single rogue Corvette. However, others could. That was why he had contacted Orna 'Fulsamee again.

"This goes beyond simple treason now," Thel informed his fellow sangheili. "This is heresy. The kig-yar pirate Zek and Lieutenant Commander Varvok have both played a role in Empathy's demise. They must be found and eliminated."

"I understand the gravity of the situation, Supreme Commander 'Vadamee," Orna replied, bowing towards the screen.

"Do you?" Thel sceptically asked him in response. "Do you really? Were it not for you going behind my back this entire event could've been avoided."

Orna was unable to look Thel in the eye as he kept his head low.

"Forgive me, sir," he requested feebly. "I could not have known what the Pirate would do, both before and after his actions."

"I don't want excuses, Orna," Thel commanded. "I want Zek and Varvok's charred heads on a platter. While this Fleet's honour, MY honour is at stake, you were the one who allowed the Fallen Serpent to flee from the battle. If they escape entirely, rest assured I will not allow my position to be compromised because you couldn't carry out a simple order."

"Zek's close quarters slipspace jump was unprecedented, sir," Orna nervously argued. "Such a gambit was suicidal. I could not have known he would ever attempt such a foolhardy action. Even if he did somehow survive the jump, his ship is more than likely severely damaged. He will not be able to escape Halo any time soon."

Thel gritted his teeth as he glared angrily at the Shipmaster.

"Time is not on our side," he reminded him. "The Parasite spreads with every passing hour. What is taking you so long to track their slipspace signal?"

"The jump severely damaged our ship," Orna explained. "We will need repairs before we can attempt any pursuit. We estimate it will take several hours to-"

"Unacceptable," Thel screamed at him, smashing his fist down on the console. "If your ship is incapable of pursuit you will relocate to a new vessel, one suitable for tracking the Fallen Serpent! Take command of one of our Corvettes, track Zek to his Slipspace exit coordinates and begin the search. He has no doubt moved on from his current location by now. Every second you waste, he gets further away from us."

Orna feebly nodded in response.

"I shall do as you command at once, Supreme Commander," he answered.

"See that you do," Thel replied, terminating the communication as he finished.

He supposed sending Orna down to the ring was dangerous. The Flood could potentially seize his ship. That was a risk they would have to take though. At least if it was a Corvette, they could easily shoot it out of the sky if it tried to escape. He doubted the Flood would be as skilled at out-flying his armada in a Corvette as Zek was. Regardless, he hoped that didn't happen. If Orna died, he had no one he could potentially share the blame of Empathy's death with. He would shoulder all responsibility instead. He would not allow this mutiny to destroy his honour and prestige.

At that moment, his thoughts were forced away from the manhunt as a crisis was brought to his attention.

"Supreme Commander 'Vadamee," a sangheili deckhand hurriedly declared as he rushed up to the Command Platform. "We've received word from a stranded Battlecruiser on Halo, the Truth and Reconciliation. It is heavily damaged and unable to make orbit. The surviving crew report that the Parasite is swarming them in droves."

"By the Gods," Thel responded, instantly realising the gravity of the situation. "What is the strength of the enemy's numbers?"

"Legions, sir," The warrior answered. "Many of the Infection Forms have already breached the vessel. They fear they will be overrun."

If that happened, if the Flood somehow repaired and took control of that ship, they could escape the Ring. They would spread their evil to every star. They would infect the entire galaxy, Covenant and Human alike.

"We must stop the Flood from taking the ship," he decreed. "Prepare a Special Operations team for deployment."

"That will take time, sir," the fellow Sangheili pointed out. "The Armada and our Battlenet are in complete disarray. There must be some way we can slow the Parasite down, assist our embattled brethren!"

The deckhand's words rang true. They needed to buy some time, but what forces could they send while the Special Operations team prepared? Thel could think of only one option.

"Launch what remains of our Converted Forces," he ordered. "Drop every single one of their pods on the Truth and Reconciliation's location. Deploy the most deadly of their kind in particular. They are our best hope at stopping this infestation before it consumes us all. Any major Combat or Defensive operations are over. Priority now falls on keeping the Flood from escaping this ring! The Humans, the Journey, nothing else matters until these monsters are annihilated!"

The deckhand saluted and rushed off to carry out his Commander's orders. All Thel could do was hope that the Converted gave his people below enough time. He did his best to push any fears into the back of his mind, remaining upright and proper as he stood on the Command Platform. His forces could carry the day. Somehow they would push this threat back. They had long kept the humans from defiling their Gods; the parasite would not succeed where they had failed.

He of course wouldn't be able to spare forces for Orna's hunt for the Serpent. Their focus would have to remain on the Flood for now. As he watched the battlenet's data streams, the slight quiver and twitch of his eye betrayed his reasoning as to why. All he could really think about was what failure to stop the Flood would mean. He feared it more than what failing to find Zek would entail, for the former scenario could very well mean the end of all life as they knew it.

---

The Fallen Serpent was quick to make tracks away from its current position. They limped away at half power, activating their cloaking device to try and disguise themselves. They had decided to hide further in the mountain range, hoping that any Covenant search parties would be lost in the sea of rocks. Zek thought they were okay so long as the cloak held out, but when Retz came back onto the bridge he brought with him a ton of bad news.

"Told you, fucked to all hell," he declared as he marched up to Zek. "Our nav systems are fried, half our weapons have lost power, shields are practically gone, the infirmary is filled with wounded, our fuel cell is cracked, we're leaking coolant in several compartments and, as if that wasn't bad enough, most of our ichor cases have been broken clean open. The cargo hold is flooded with the stuff now."

"Well that sucks, especially the last one," Zek shrugged. "But at least the cloaking device-"

"Is losing power and about to die," Retz quickly cut him off. "That was only half our problems I just listed. I didn't even mention the biggest one, we blew the slipspace drive."

Zek perched an eyebrow at the news.

"Blew?" He said rather confused. "Shouldn't we all be half way to oblivion right now then? Why aren't we dead?"

"When I say blew, I don't mean it exploded," Retz informed him, pinching his fingers across his beak. "I mean it won't start up again. The ship was heavily damaged and not enough coolant was going to it. When we jumped, we overheated the particle accelerators. They melted, fused and cracked the cyclic shaft. We actually came out of slipspace earlier than expected because of it. We should've jumped past that mountain we hit, not scratched the side against it."

"And now we can't activate the thing again," Zek reasoned. "Okay, whatever, we can fix it."

"No, we can't," Retz informed, clearly frustrated at this point. "We don't have any Huragok and the amount of time it would take us to fix both it and the rest of the ship is way too long. We'd be here for weeks, the Covenant will find us by then or even more likely the Flood will. We need a new one now. Without it, we can't escape the armada and even if we did we'd be limping through space for centuries just to get to the nearest place that would replace it."

As the two pirates continued their discussion, Varvok stood on the sidelines and watched the back and forth. Unlike Zek, he was a bit more discouraged by everything Retz was saying. They were in a major spot and it didn't look like there was any easy way out of it.

"So essentially Zek broke the ship," the batarian finally spoke up.

"Hey, it was either that jump or getting a volley of plasma torpedoes up our asses," the pirate shipmaster reminded him rather crossly. "Don't blame me for saving our collective behinds."

"It may have been our only option, but it doesn't change facts," Retz informed him. "We are stuck on Halo now. We're not going to get out of this system on our own power anymore. We can start repairs to make this tub space worthy again, but everything else is going to take time and manpower that we don't have right now. Only way I see we're leaving now is if we get a tow."

Not something easy to do when the only people who could offer said tow were now hunting for you. Zek, however, still hadn't lost his optimism. In fact, he seemed to brighten up at the news.

"Alright then," he declared. "Gather up some of the boys and let's go get us a tow. We can head out, find one of Covenant ships and take it by force. Then we can just tow ourselves."

"Good idea, big problem," Retz was quick to reply. "We don't have enough men to take the kind of ship we'd need. To get out of here, we need a ship at least as big as ours. We simply don't have enough people still standing to both take and operate a second Corvette while also fixing this place up enough that we don't have to worry about it breaking into pieces the second we activate the stolen ship's slipspace drive."

"Can't we just move everyone to the other Corvette once we grab it?" Varvok asked.

"Some of our people are critically injured," Retz informed him. "We can't move them in their state right now, we'd risk killing them. Besides, we can't grab it anyway. Even with your batarians backing us, we just don't have the firepower to take the entire vessel. All we have are two Phantoms that weren't damaged during the fight. They can probably sneak some of our people onto a ship with a clever ruse. They won't be able to make a second trip outside without the enemy blasting them however, meaning we can't even bring all our forces to bear. If we had more transports, maybe, but we don't."

"And I'm not abandoning this ship either," Zek declared. "The Serpent is our home. I'm not leaving her behind."

Perhaps a bit too sentimental for Varvok's liking, but he wasn't about to argue. He wouldn't ask them to leave some of their people to die. Hell, when he thought about it, relocating the whole crew and their supplies onto a new ship would probably take too much time. The Covenant would be swarming them again before too long and they'd be back to square one.

"What are our options then?" Varvok asked.

"To be honest, I got nothing," Retz admitted.

"How about just keeping our heads down?" Zek suggested. "The sangheili and 'Vadamee have their hands full with the Flood after all. They'll have to call off the search at some point."

But Retz just shook his head at the idea.

"I forgot to tell you," he sighed. "It's all over the battlenet, at least what I can decipher since it's a mess now. That second bomb we flew into the Seeker of Truth, it killed the Prophet of Empathy."

Zek stood mouth agape for a moment, seemingly in shock. Then he started laughing uproariously.

"Ha, ha! Serves the fucker right!" He chortled uncontrollably. "May he rest in pieces or ashes or in a pile of shit! I don't care! Oh man, this is the best news I've heard all day! That putrid little loudmouth has given his last sermon! If only I could see how his face looks, I bet it's all messed up and shit like this!"

Zek began contorting his face in various frozen states of horror and disgustingly grim visages. However, Retz was not so amused.

"I don't care that he's dead, but the fact we've killed him is the worst thing that could've happened," Retz exasperatedly continued. "We're marked men now. Before they were just going to kill us, now they're going to make it a spectacle."

"Yeah, yeah, the prices on our heads just went up, I get it," Zek assured him. "Just let me revel in it a little. I need this. It's been a crappy day."

"The point is the Covenant isn't going to just let it slide," Retz exasperatedly continued. "We're now a priority target for 'Vadamee. He has to kill us or risk the repercussions of letting the murderer of a Prophet get away. You know how the sangheili get on about honour and all that, he can't let that happen. He will scour this ring to find us. We need to come up with a way to get out of here fast before he finds us. And he will find us if we just sit around here preening our quills. We may have a little time with the Flood making things difficult, but it won't last long."

Varvok himself was already thinking, analysing the situation as Retz read off their various problems. The Covenant manhunt for them was now an urgent one on par with stopping the Flood. Their ship was heavily damaged and in need of repairs. Their only hope of getting said repairs was to escape. The only way to escape was to seize another Corvette for themselves. They did not have the manpower or the ability to mount anything but a futile assault. To top it all off, they didn't have much time before either the Covenant or Flood found them.

It was clear to Varvok now, that to save his Kig-Yar allies and his own men, they would need help. However, he knew there was only one group that would be just as desperate as they were to escape Halo at this point. He didn't like it, he hated admitting it to himself, but he could see no other option.

"What if we could find more manpower?" He began to ask aloud. "If we could get enough reinforcements, would we be able to make the basic repairs faster and steal a ship to tow us away from Halo then?"

"And where would we find these reinforcements?" Zek asked.

"Commander Shepard and the other humans, who else?" Varvok answered back in kind.

Zek and Retz looked to each other, clearly mulling the idea over in their heads.

"Considering we've been trying to kill them for awhile, I'm not so sure they'll be keen on helping us," Retz noted.

"I may not like Commander Shepard's ideals or what he represents, but I know who he is," Varvok assured them. "He's always been vocal about 'building bridges' and the like, never shut up about it in fact. He also wouldn't want to risk leaving any of the human soldiers he's fought beside behind. His little frigate can't carry them all, even if their numbers are depleted at this point. We just have to convince him of our intentions and he'll help us, if only so what is left of his comrades will make it off this ring alive."

"And if we appeal to him, he'll make our case to his human friends to help out?" Zek asked, clearly somewhat intrigued by the plan.

"I'm positive he will," Varvok confidently. "They may have some quibbles about it, but given the choice of dying on this ring with the undead monsters or escaping alive with former enemies, they'll choose the latter."

Zek was moved by the argument, nodding his head at last.

"Well, sounds as good a plan as any," he admitted. "We need to find him first though. Any ideas on how?"

"He's probably looking for a way off this ring himself by now," Retz postulated. "I'll try to scan the airwaves. Maybe we can pick up a transmission from him or a clue as to where he might be going. It may take time though."

"Make it fast," Varvok noted. "We're on the clock here."

---

Silva fumed furiously from across the Command Room at the entirety of the Normandy ground team standing around Commander Shepard. On his end of the room, Kat, Jun, Linda and Lieutenant McKay stood in silence among a few Marines and ODSTs. They had all be brought up to relative speed by the Normandy's Commander and Silva was none too happy with what he had learned.

"Are you telling me we essentially got caught in the crossfire between you and these damn flying robots?" He asked heatedly.

"No one is at fault here, Silva," Kat tried to calmly argue. "From the sound of things, the Monitor was probably going to come after us sooner or later."

"Well we certainly got his attention a hell of a lot sooner," Silva angrily replied. "We weren't the targets of this attack, but we were put into the direct line of fire regardless. All because his crew were on this Monitor's hit list!"

Silva pointed accusingly at Commander Shepard, who simply stood his ground against the accusation. As he glared back at the young Major, Garrus stepped forward with an angry retort of his own.

"We're on his hit list because we wouldn't help him kill the entire galaxy," Garrus snappily reminded him. "I suppose if the roles were reversed you would've flipped that switch instead?"

"Don't you start putting words into my mouth, alien," Silva growled back. "I would've made the same call, sure. It still doesn't change the fact that if you people weren't around we wouldn't have been attacked in the first place!"

"And without us," Miranda interjected with a glare of her own. "You probably would have lost a lot more men to the Covenant and Flood by now. Not to mention we were the ones who managed to scare the Sentinels off in the end."

Silva just looked at her with an irritated stare.

"So what?" He asked with a disgruntled frown. "You want a cookie? My people got shot at because they just happened to be in close proximity with yours! This attack is still your damn fault!"

"Alright enough!" Shepard finally spoke up boomingly. "This doesn't matter. Right now our priority is getting off Halo before the Master Chief detonates the Autumn."

"Oh great, we're entrusting that freak with blowing this shithole up," Silva grumbled in aggravation at the news. "We might as well be strapping bombs to ourselves right about now."

Shepard broke from his position and marched over to Silva with a commanding glower on his face. Silva for his part didn't flinch, but Shepard still met his eyes regardless.

"It's either he blows this place up as soon as possible or we risk the Flood escaping and killing everyone," he informed the Major as astutely as possible. "He's doing his job, now it's time to do ours. We can toss around blame later when we're off this ring."

Silva backed down slightly, still visibly angry but unwilling to talk back. Shepard had the floor and he made sure to keep it that way for the most part.

"Alright, we need to consolidate what forces we have left," He explained. "Once we find the Truth and Reconciliation we need to be ready to take it, but if we can't find it, or it's still disabled, we need to consider our options. Could we repair it if the latter is the case?"

"It depends on the damage," Kat admitted. "We can organize engineering groups to formulate repairs, but honestly it's all going to hinge on when we get to it. We're not going to have much time once the Autumn starts melting down."

"Alright, the other issue is rendezvousing with Colonel Holland and his people," Shepard continued. "Can we contact them from here?"

Silva suddenly began shaking his head.

"Those Sentinels damaged our makeshift Comm. Array," he explained. "They were probably trying to keep us from calling the Colonel for help. Right now, we don't know where he is or what condition he's in. Hell, he could be dead for all I know."

"Holland knows how to stay low," Kat assured the Major. "He and his men probably relocated to a safer location out of the range of the Covenant Forces attacking the Control Room. He's probably trying to contact us now for all we know."

Shepard nodded in agreement. He knew Holland well enough to expect he had made it out before the Covenant surrounded the Control Room. Finding him would be a bit tricky though, he had left in quite a hurry after all. There was very little time to set an exact rendezvous point for the evacuating Troopers.

"Do we have any idea on where he might be laying low?" Shepard asked.

"Jun and I know him best," Kat assured him. "Give us a topographical display of Halo and we can probably pinpoint the location."

"Cortana uploaded data from the Silent Cartographer to the Normandy so Joker could get to the Control Room faster," Tali recalled instantly. "I can send the data to you."

Shepard nodded his head at the idea alongside Kat. It was a good start, but they couldn't rely on hunches alone. There was no time for them to be passive in their objectives, not when they were planning to blow up Halo.

"We have to get that Comm. Array fixed," he decreed. "We need to start transmitting on emergency frequencies, UNSC Army to be specific. We locate Colonel Holland and we'll have more than enough people to take any ship the Covenant have."

"If we get EDI on the job too she can probably pinpoint his location," Miranda suggested. "The repaired Comm. Array would help her triangulate the coordinates though."

"You think there's really enough time to fix the Comm. and get ready for a boarding action?" Silva asked sceptically.

"Right now Cortana and the Normandy's comms are the only method of long distance communication," Shepard informed him. "We need to juggle a lot of tasks at once if we're going to get everyone out of here. I say, the more ways we can contact people the better."

If Silva had anything to say in response, he didn't get the chance. Lieutenant McKay almost immediately spoke up in compliance to the Commander's orders.

"I can get a team of ODST technicians working on repairs for the comms at once," she declared.

"I'll see about helping them," Kat offered. "I've done a few field work patches in the past."

"Well if it's all the same to you," Silva suddenly spoke up in a rather superior manner. "I'd prefer to go over our strategy to commandeer our escape ship while we wait. We don't want to go in unprepared."

Underneath the disapproving tone, Shepard could see the Major had a point. There was no sense in arguing with him about it, they needed everyone to be ready to take the Truth and Reconciliation when the time came.

"We have detailed files from the last time we boarded the ship," Shepard noted. "You and your people should go over them."

"I fully intend to," Silva replied growling. He then left the room rather quickly, not even bothering to salute Shepard as he did.

Many of the ODSTs in the room left with Silva, although in slightly less angered fashion than the good Major. McKay, for her part, slowly followed after them.

"Excuse me, sirs," she began, politely saluting the Commander before leaving. "I should probably reconvene with my direct superior concerning the attack plan. I'll see about getting those techs on the Comm. as soon as I can."

Shepard just nodded, letting her go. As she left the room after Silva, Garrus shook his head at the sight.

"Our friend the Major doesn't seem very happy," he noted.

"That's not exactly news," Kasumi noted from across the way. "When has he ever been happy?"

"I hate to doubt a fellow Officer's conviction myself," Miranda admitted. "But Garrus has a point. Silva has never been keen on our integration into the UNSC forces and Command Structure. He's been critical of it from the beginning. The Monitor's attack has provided the justification for his doubts it seems."

Shepard wasn't blind to the situation. He could see the Major was bordering on insubordination as much as anyone. The fact was though that there were more important things at stake than Silva's feelings.

"He doesn't have to like it," the Commander declared. "If he cares about his men as much as he says, he'll suck it up and do his job. I doubt he wants to be here when Chief blows this place up after all."

"Maybe, but I honestly don't know if he has his priorities straight," Kat argued. "We need to keep an eye on him."

"I don't know, Kat," Jun told her. "Silva is an ass, fine, but I don't think he's dangerous."

"He's felt undermined ever since Holland partnered me with him for our supply raid," She informed her fellow Noble Squaddie. "He doesn't respect us and he's getting tired of listening to us. That much is clear and that makes him somebody we need to tread carefully around."

---

McKay finally caught up with Silva as he stomped through the halls of Alpha Base. His face was so red she could practically see the steam coming out of his ears. She'd never seen the Major this angry over anything... ever.

"Major," she shouted over to him as she caught up, catching his attention. "You need to calm down. Commander Shepard didn't sic those Robots on us. You can't blame him for that."

"The hell I can't," Silva replied furiously as he turned towards her. "If he and that Freak Poster-Boy weren't so damn chummy we could've avoided this attack. Instead, he gets himself involved and makes us targets along with him! The only reason we didn't lose more Troopers to those things was luck. And now, he's going around giving orders to us about how to save the very lives he's put in danger!"

"He is the highest-ranking Officer here," McKay argued.

"He's not even a part of this military!" Major Silva viciously interrupted her. "Hell, he ain't even from this universe! And yet he and his xeno pals are taking point on this? Along with the rest of the Freak Brigade? Who the hell do they think they are?"

McKay could only sigh at it all and shake her head.

"I understand why you're not happy working with Spartans and aliens," she admitted. "But they've done good by us so far. They've been putting their lives at risk to make sure our people get back safe. And even if you still want to blame them for the Sentinel attack, they're trying to make up for it now. They're good people, Antonio."

"Half of them aren't people," the Major callously declared. "That includes the Spartans. And I'm sick of them taking charge on everything. They put us at risk just by being in close proximity and now they want us to waste time trying to find Holland when he might very well be dead?"

"And what if he isn't?" McKay asked him, slightly infuriated. "Should we just leave him behind then? What if it was you out there? What if it was me?"

Silva could only growl low in equal frustration. Looking slightly away, he took a deep breath before he began once more.

"Look, we didn't need them before and we don't need them now," he explained. "I'm not saying they didn't help, but they're proving to be a liability to be around. What if the Monitor attacks again while we're prepping that Covie ship for takeoff because Shepard's Xenos are with us? What if spending too much time trying to fix that Comm. leaves us open for a second attack? What if this time the Monitor decides killing some Marines is acceptable if it gets rid of the aliens among us? And who's to say the Covies or those Flood Creatures won't attack while we're waiting around to talk to Holland?"

"Then all the more reason to have them around to help us if that does happen," McKay vehemently argued. "Rejecting allies isn't very strategically sound, sir."

"Neither is keeping around a bunch of freaks and aliens to fight our battles," Silva informed her. "This is a human war, it always was. It's going to take humans to win it. Not some Marine Commander from another universe with a cadre of xenos and a bunch of failed lab experiments pretending to be soldiers."

McKay's stare turned into an outright glower.

"Those 'failed lab experiments' are just as much soldiers as anyone else here," she sternly informed him. "One of them is out there right now, currently with no backup, trying to find Captain Keyes and stop these undead monsters from destroying us all. And Commander Shepard and his crew of Xenos could leave anytime they want, remember? They have their own ship, but they're staying to make sure we all get away too."

"Admirable, admittedly," Silva relented in somewhat flippant tone. "But that doesn't change facts. This is our fight, our war. I've worked hard to get to where I am today, McKay. Not once did I ever need a Spartan watching my ass and I certainly don't need one now. The same applies to Commander Shepard and his people. We didn't need them before, we don't need them now."

"Just because we can stand on our own doesn't mean we have to," McKay tried to explain to him. "There's nothing wrong with accepting their help or following them, Antonio. It doesn't diminish what you've done or are capable of doing. You should know that."

For a brief moment, McKay thought she had convinced her Commanding Officer. But the slight hint of understanding vanished from Silva's eyes, replaced with his usual stubborn look.

"We took this butte together, McKay," he reminded her. "We did it with our own blood sweat and tears. And what happened next? We ended up getting ordered around, downplayed, forced to work under others, and why? Because the Spartans, it's always the Spartans getting the glory and admiration. They didn't have to earn jackshit like we did, they were practically built. Same crap with Commander Shepard. He didn't earn a spot at that Command Table. Holland and Keyes gave it to him because he's got a bunch of aliens and cool toys at his disposal. We've had to earn everything and everyone else gets to run slipshod over us."

McKay just sighed at it all, this was going nowhere.

"Look, sir, I understand you feel underappreciated," she told him. "But I don't feel that way and you shouldn't either. You're a good Marine, and no one thinks less of you because you're not a Spartan or alien with cool gadgets. And we're part of a team now, one that includes those two groups. We're going to need to work together."

"Fine, but we gotta take point, McKay," Silva adamantly declared her. "We gotta show them that we're the tip of the spear. That Drop Troopers can't be treated like second-class soldiers because we lack their lucky advantages. When we take that Battlecruiser, we have to show them and everyone why we're the elite of the UNSC. I need to know you're with me on this, Lieutenant. At the very least, you're with me on proving why we've earned this, right?"

Silva placed his hand on McKay's shoulder. All the Lieutenant could do was nod. At least he wasn't nearly as red in the face as before. He seemed pleased by her silent response and beamed a small smile at her.

"Alright then, you better do what the good Commander says," he informed her in a slightly mocking tone. "That should at least placate him. I'll worry about what's really important, the ODSTs taking that Battlecruiser and showing everyone what we're made of at last. When you're done meet in the ready room, I should have a proper attack plan laid out by then."

McKay saluted and let the Major walk off. In the back of her mind, though, she was a bit unnerved. Silva didn't seem to understand that they needed Commander Shepard and the Spartans. Then again, maybe it didn't matter. As long as they got away from Halo alive who cared what Silva thought of whom? She just hoped that her CO would keep things together long enough for everyone to get off this ring in one piece.

---

Tali's omni-tool suddenly beeped wildly, catching the attention of everyone in the room.

"That's Cortana's signal," she noted, opening the device up. Her eyes began to dart across the screen as she examined the message.

"What's it say Tali?" Garrus asked her eagerly.

"She located Keyes," she exclaimed. "He's on the Truth and Reconciliation. She's sent us coordinates for us to rendezvous with her and the Master Chief."

Shepard looked on astonished. Not only had they found their escape ship, but the Captain as well? Finally, after what had seemed like forever, luck had smiled on them.

"Does she say where they are now?" Shepard asked her. "We can pick them up and be there in no time."

"Actually they're already en route," Tali informed him, sounding rather surprised herself. "She's apparently tapping the Monitor's teleportation grid to get them there as fast as possible. She wants us to meet up on the ship itself. I guess a little recon of the target couldn't hurt, right?"

"Sounds good by me," Shepard concurred. "Let's gather our gear and split into teams. Half will stay here to help out the Marines for the attack. The rest will come with me on the shuttle to assist Chief in rescuing Keyes. Let's get moving people."

---

"I got a lock on the Captain's transponder signal, he's alive and the implants are intact! There's some interference from the Ship's damaged reactor. Hold on, I'm going to get us as close as I can!"

When the world came back into focus for the Master Chief, he found himself inside the interior of a Covenant Battlecruiser once more. It looked a bit different than he remembered, topsy-turvy even. It was then he realised Cortana had transported him upside down and onto the ceiling. The Spartan was then reintroduced to gravity and fell with a thump onto the floor.

"Oh, I see," said a rather distracted Cortana as the Chief picked himself up. "The targeting vectors need to be-"

Chief knocked an open palm into the side of his head, interrupting Cortana as she thought aloud. The AI quickly clammed up.

"Right, sorry," she apologised. "We're not doing that again."

Getting to his feet, Chief walked slowly through the hallway before him. It was filled with burning wreckage, exposed wires and bloody floors. The ship had certainly taken a pounding and he was almost certain that not even half this damage was a result of his last visit. It was then he heard something from around the corner. He stopped walking, pushing himself against a wall in an attempt to hide. He peeked out to see a lone Grunt running past his line of sight screaming. The source of his plight was an armless Combat Form in hot pursuit.

At least he had an answer as to where all this damage had come from.

"Cortana, you mind giving me a sitrep?" He asked his AI companion.

"I don't have much," she admitted. "The Covenant Battlenet is in absolute chaos. From what I can gather, they ordered all ships off Halo when the Flood attacked, but the Truth and Reconciliation couldn't make orbit. The Flood disabled the ship and the Covenant are now fighting them tooth and nail for every inch of it, inside and out. They're terrified the Flood will repair the ship and use it to escape Halo. They've sent Husks down to try and hold off the infestation. A strike team is currently en route to eradicate the Flood and repair the ship for immediate departure."

Spec-Ops, as if Husks and Flood weren't bad enough.

"How long do we have until the Strike Team arrives?" He asked her.

"Within an hour or so," she hypothesized. "Meaning we need to find Captain Keyes fast before they get here. He shouldn't be too far from our current location."

Chief walked out of cover and began moving forward again. He didn't get two feet before a bunch of garbled static began to filter in through the radio. For a moment, he wasn't sure what it was and then a voice managed to leak through the noise.

"Chief, don't be a fool," it weakly told him. "Leave me."

The voice was gasping and distorted, but it was clear who was on the other end of it.

"Captain!" Cortana desperately shouted through the radio. "Captain! Damn, I lost his comm. I still have his signal though. He's close by."

Chief rounded the corner quickly, but only found a mess of burning debris blocking his way.

"We'll have to go around," he stated.

He rushed down an adjacent corridor, but stopped halfway. He had spotted three Grunts firing into what looked like an open exhaust vent in the ceiling. The dead body of an armless Combat Form lay in the center of their group.

Master Chief wasted no time in making his move. He fired off several bursts from his Assault Rifle, taking the Grunts by surprise. He wasn't sure if they noticed he wasn't a Combat Form, but they were still too shaken to care. They began running scared from the shots. He managed to kill a few in the confusion, but one took off down the hallway ahead. Chief followed and caught up with the alien halfway around the next bend. The gas sucker ran screaming through a nearby door which opened for him. Then, suddenly, he disappeared into the floor.

Curious, Chief approached the door cautiously. It opened for him and the Spartan realised the cause of the Grunt's disappearance, the floor beyond the door no longer existed. Something had torn a huge hole in the bottom of the ship which led down to the canyons below. Green fluorescent liquid poured down into the hole from the ship like a waterfall, lighting up the darkened land below. Beyond the gap lay one of the ship's hangars, currently embroiled in a heated battle between the Covenant and the Flood.

"I imagine it took an explosion of sufficient size to blow a hole in the hull this big," Cortana surmised. "All I detect down there are pools of coolant."

Chief examined the width of the hole himself and shook his head at it.

"I can't jump this," he sighed. "Let's try doubling back, maybe we missed something."

Master Chief walked back through the tunnel, but he didn't get very far. As he reached a bend in the corridor something began falling out of the large hole in the ceiling the Grunts had been shooting into. Flood Infection forms poured out of the blown open vent like waster from a faucet. They immediately detected Master Chief's presence and swarmed towards him.

The Spartan opened fire as the torrent of parasites flushed towards him. Piece s of brownish green flesh caked the halls of the ship. Chief soon found his clip empty and rushed to slap a new one into the gun before he was overtaken. However, as the Infection Forms exploded in front of him, greater threats emerged. Rushing out from both the hole in the ceiling and from down the corridors appeared Combat Forms of all shapes and sizes.

"Crap," Chief grumbled as the first appeared.

The Spartan tossed a grenade down the hallway, destroying several Infection Forms and two Combat Forms when it detonated. Any hopes that would finish the attack off were dashed when more Flood kept coming.

"Threat level increasing, Chief," Cortana warned. "I'm detecting several blips on the motion tracker streaming towards us!"

One of the Combat Forms closed in on the Spartan and slashed its tentacle at him. Chief managed to dodge with the slimmest of margins and punched the undead Elite's now useless flopping head clean off. As he fired point-blank into the open festering wound of the abominations chest, however, he could hear more of the Combat Form's brethren coming.

Bullets filled the hall as more Combat Forms arrived. Chief rushed for cover, changing his depleted magazine. Infection Forms, now free of the constant barrage, swarmed past the corner and began throwing themselves at the Spartan's shields. Chief tried to punt one of the little monsters away while simultaneously firing into them. He couldn't let any of them get through his shields or they'd start trying to burrow into his body.

"That jump into the coolant is looking better by the second, Chief," Cortana hurriedly informed him.

"You want me to jump?" Chief asked astonished as he fired into a Combat Form that was rounding the corner.

"Trust me," Cortana assured him pleadingly. "It's deep enough to cushion our fall! Would you rather stay up here with these things?"

As more Flood began to fill up the corridor, Chief realised the AI had a point. He took out one more grenade and tossed it into the thriving mass of undead assailants before him. He then turned and ran for the open gash beyond the door. He leapt into the hole head first, in what could only be described as a leap of faith, just seconds before the grenade went off.

Wind rushed by him as he fell from the dizzying heights above. As the ship above moved further away, the ground came rushing into focus. Finally, Chief splashed down into the brightly coloured green pool of coolant that had been created. It took a few moments for him to get his bearings, but he eventually managed to swim his way to the shore and pull himself out.

He found himself in the middle of absolute chaos. Husks, Covenant and Combat Forms battled each other in frenzy of plasma, bullets and slashing strikes. Among the varied Husks was a single Tri-Clops, stomping through the field, firing away with both the Fuel Rod Assault Cannon on its back and the plasma assault rifle fused underneath its wormlike head. Combat Forms were blasted away or stomped beneath its large mechanical feet.

"We need to get out of here and find a way back onto the ship," Cortana informed the Spartan.

"Any ideas on how we do that?" Chief hurriedly asked her.

"The Gravity Lift we used to get aboard the first time," she stated. "It might still be active. We just have to find it in all of this."

But as Chief prepared to move into the chaos before him to begin their search, something happened. There was a loud resounding splash of coolant from behind him and Chief only managed to turn just in time to see a Reaver leaping straight out of the green gel at him. The Spartan stumbled back as the creature fell towards him. One blade cut deep into the ground, the other went to stab the Master Chief clean through his head.

Pinned to the ground by the Husk's weight, Chief was just able to prevent his death by using both hands to grab the forearm and keep the plasma sword for piercing through his helmet. The Reaver roared and bellowed, continuing to struggle against the Spartan and force his blade through. The heat from the plasma-based weapon was enough to deplete Chief's shields just by proximity. The shield alarm blared in his ear continuously as he fought with the mutilated Covie.

The struggle caught the attention of the Tri-Clops who began plodding over towards them. Chief could hear its massive footsteps shake the ground as it edged headed for him. Either a sword would puncture his skull or it would be crushed by the Tri-Clops' foot. Neither was an appealing outcome.

As the Reaver screeched and screamed at him, trying to force its blade down, the Tri-Clops' head appeared over them. Chief saw his chance. With every ounce of strength he could muster, the Spartan forced the blade to swing up and away from him. The Reaver slashed at the throat of the Tri-Clops, causing blood to gush from the open wound. With the Reaver's weight now slightly off of him, the Spartan now used his legs to kick him clean off and back into the coolant he had emerged from.

The Tri-Clops' head flailed around in anguish as the Master Chief took hold of it. The Reaver soon charged out of the Coolant once more, green fluid dripping off its body. The Chief aimed the Tri-Clops' head at the creature, forced his other hand through the open wound, found the Plasma Rifle's trigger mechanism and let loose.

Bolts of super-heated gas and gel perforated the Reaver's body, eventually burning clear through him. When the mutilated Elite's body fell, the Master Chief tore the Tri-Clops' head clean from its body and let the massive hulk of a Husk collapse to the ground dead. He then took up cover behind it to get his bearings.

"That was too close," he said to himself.

"Yeah, for both of us," Cortana added, noting that Master Chief's head was the target of both monsters.

The Master Chief had other thoughts on his mind though. It hadn't occurred to him until now, despite arguments about deserving to be alone and his resentment over the loss of his team, that he still needed them. He hadn't really gotten used to fighting alone, not for very long at least. Since they crashed here, he had been with others more than willing to put their lives on the line to protect his own. Just like his old team had once done. He hadn't really appreciated that as much as he should have.

Now he was alone, with no backup. That Reaver shouldn't have gotten so close. If his team had been with him, if Shepard was with him, he wouldn't have had to save himself like that. The reality had hit him hard just now. He needed a team, despite how much he felt he didn't deserve one. Shepard had offered himself as a partner and he had turned him away. And while it hadn't been out of pride, but out of a desire not to see more people get hurt because of his actions, he still felt foolish regardless.

"Do we have an ETA on Shepard's arrival?" He asked Cortana.

"They're on their way," Cortana assured, sounding somewhat pleased by his question in fact. "I've instructed them to meet us aboard the ship if possible."

Until they arrived, Chief would have to continue fighting alone. Then again, he wasn't truly alone, not as long as Cortana was with him. He knew he could do this by himself, but it was good to know he wouldn't have to for long.

"Alright, let's try and get away from these things," he told Cortana.

"There should be a path up to the left," Cortana advised. "Move for it now."

Master Chief rushed up and began firing on the mess of Husks, Covenant and Flood close by. He needed to punch his way through this chaos and get back to the ship. Captain Keyes was counting on him, Shepard was counting on him. He would not disappoint them.

---

Trying to crack into the Human's transmissions proved to be a rather difficult matter. They were heavily encrypted, more so than anything on the Covenant Battlenet. Retz proved persistent, however. He focused on the communication lines of Commander Shepard's crew. That was a bit easier since they primarily used omni-tools, a device Varvok himself had. Shepard's com-lines were no less encrypted, but Retz was able to extrapolate some details from the data. More specifically he was able to get a name.

"The Truth and Reconciliation," Zek noted as he sat across from Varvok. "Guess we should've figured the humans would be trying to hit that tub again. It's pretty much the only ship groundside that they know about."

"It's also the easiest target for them to hit," Varvok added. "They vastly depleted the current crew the first time they attacked, fewer enemies to deal with. They could also repair it quickly, depending on how far along the Covenant has gotten."

As soon as they had gotten a clue as to where Shepard was going, they gathered up who they could for an away mission. They only had two Phantoms operational currently, so they couldn't take many people with them. Varvok opted to bring his best troops on the mission while Retz stayed behind with everyone else to coordinate repairs on the Serpent. Zek had come along due to the fact the entire affair concerned his ship. That and no one could really stop him from coming anyway.

"This still seems like a long shot, Four-Eyes," Zek cautioned. "Shepard might not be headed to the Battlecruiser. Even if he is, that just means they're preparing their own escape plan. We might not factor into that."

"He'll be there," Varvok swore to his kig-yar comrade. "While he's technically the Captain of his ship, he doesn't let that keep him from heading out with his team at every opportunity. I think that's why he never got promoted officially, just so he could keep heading groundside when duty called. As for the second concern, if that is the case we'll just have to convince him."

Zek leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms at Varvok's response.

"What makes you think we got a shot at pulling that off?" He asked sceptically.

"Experience," he replied. "Before I joined up with Balak, he had tried to pull off this mission to wipe out a human colony. Commander Shepard stopped him, but Balak had contingency plan in place. He set up some bombs and threatened to use them to kill a group of human hostages he had taken. He offered the Commander an ultimatum, go after him or save the hostages. Shepard couldn't bring himself to allow civilians to die, so he let Balak go."

"Were the bombs fakes?" Zek asked suddenly.

Varvok was rather taken aback by the sudden question, his face contorting to in a look of bemusement.

"Uh, no," he stated. "That was the whole point. He was forcing Shepard to choose in order to escape."

"Now that's just wasteful," Zek snorted in response, shaking his head. "You don't kill hostages like that. You take them with you and sell them back for a sufficient ransom at a later date. I mean, intending to blow them up? That's just a waste of good explosives I say. Absolutely senseless, he could've used those to block off pursuit instead or something."

"I'm not trying to debate the merit of Balak's plan here, Zek," Varvok informed him, rather annoyed they had gotten off topic. "I'm trying to make a point about Commander Shepard."

"I'm just saying," Zek defensively replied back. "Your old boss lacks any sense of style or class. If it was me, I'd have been long gone before the law showed up. Probably would've left a video message telling them there was bomb in the building when there wasn't just to waste their time more and get away."

Varvok just sighed at it all. He hoped Zek would just let him continue without further interruption now that he had said his piece.

"My point is, Commander Shepard isn't someone who purposely kills others to achieve his ends," he explained to the kig-yar. "He's very pragmatic about that, it's why I suggested the whole idea about kidnapping his crew. He can't bring himself to allow people to die when he has the ability to save them."

"Even his enemies?" Zek asked curiously.

"I imagine so," Varvok answered astutely. "He's also not beyond reason. If we can convince him of our intentions, and that we've split from the Covenant, he will listen to us."

Zek nodded briefly at the batarian's words. He then looked to outside the Phantom and down towards the ground below as it sped past them.

"And what about that giant human in armour he seems to be around so much these days?" Zek asked. "You think he's gonna be keen on working with former enemies?"

"I'm... not sure," Varvok admitted, trying his best to seem confident. "I guess we just have to hope that he'd rather save his fellow humans than kill us."

"Oh yeah that's a real confidence booster there," Zek sarcastically mocked. "Considering that walking death machine seems to subsist on the blood of his enemies, I think I'm just going to continue to hope he's a million miles away from that damn Battlecruiser."

---

The tight canyons below the coolant-leaking Battlecruiser were crowded with Flood. Carrier Forms fell from above into the narrow paths, exploding moments later. Combat and Infection Forms rushed from behind corners to attack anyone they encountered. Covenant and Husks found themselves backed into corners as Flood attacked them from all sides. The Flood even got reinforcements from their brethren on the ship above. They fell from the holes blown in the hull and splashed down into the freshly made coolant pools, rising out of the green liquid like creatures from some old horror film.

And the Master Chief was smack dab in the middle of all of it, desperately trying to keep moving despite the chaos around him. There didn't seem to be any safe haven in this mass of enemies. As he rushed through the small space along one path, Chief sprayed a torrent of bullets against the swarming Infection Forms around him. He was so focused on keeping them away from him, that he nearly missed a pulsating Carrier Form fall right in front of him. He rushed away from the bulbous throbbing walking gas bag, diving to the ground just as it exploded.

Dirt and rock were kicked up onto the Spartan's back. He quickly shifted off his stomach and fired down the path, ripping several Infection Forms to shreds. He finally got to his feet and moved away from the swarm. As he did, his foot stepped on something hard and metallic. Looking down, he saw it was a Sniper Rifle clutched in the hands of a long dead Marine. He didn't think he'd have much use for it, given the nature of the Flood, but then he gave the area around him a better look. The Infection Forms had scampered off now, allowing him the chance to take in his surroundings.

He could see a large open space within the canyon to his left. A large pool of coolant stretched out before him, flooding the lower areas of the small clearing below. A rock bridge hung over the only bit of dry land left where the Covenant had decided to make their stand. There were more Tri-Clops Husks and even some proper Hunters as well.

"At the rate this coolant is leaking the reactor should've already gone critical," Cortana noted. "Unless they've powered it down and are using emergency backup power."

Rising from the coolant itself were their opponents, swaths upon swaths of Carrier Forms were waddling up onto the shore, green liquid dripping from their fleshy sacks. The Covenant and their Husks opened fire as the Carriers stormed the newly created beach.

Moments later, Gremlins rushed onto the field and attached themselves to the Carriers. Their detonation ripped apart the first wave of the self-destructive Flood, reducing the abominations to craters on the ground. The parallel explosions from both creatures, almost made even the mighty Hunters lose their balance.

Unfortunately for them, it was a reprieve all too short. More Carrier Forms soon crawled out of the Coolant and began the advance again. This time, there were no Gremlins to meet them. Only the Hunters and their mutilated Huskified companions were left to stand guard on the front line.

Alongside the Elites and Grunts further back, they tried their best to hold the area. Hunters bashed the Carriers away, while the Tri-Clops bombarded the Flood from afar. But for every Carrier they forced to violently burst open, two more seemed to take its place, crawling out of the Coolant as if they had been spawned from it.

"A bit hard to root for a side, isn't it?" Cortana asked the Master Chief.

"Not too hard, the Covenant are blocking our way forward more than the Flood," he informed her succinctly. "At least for the moment they are."

Picking up the Sniper Rifle and peering through the scope, Chief eyed the battlefield. The rifle's rounds would most likely be ineffective against the Carrier Forms, as they were for all other Flood. The Covenant though, they were still vulnerable for the moment. They still needed all their vital organs after all. The same went for the Husks they were paired with.

He watched as one of the Hunters knocked a Carrier into the air, before shooting with a blast from its Assault Cannon for target practice. The Tri-Clops continued their bombardment of the beachhead. They then used the Plasma Rifles beneath their chins to kill the Infection Forms that spilled out of burst gas-bags. Chief highly doubted that they would spare him a similar reception, so he prepared to take aim at the living Covenant roadblocks.H

He considered shooting the first Tri-Clops through what passed for its head, but the armoured helmet encasing it looked to tough. He couldn't recall ever killing a regular Hunter with a headshot anyway, so he threw the idea out. He could wait for the Husk's cooling rods to pop out, but he suspected that would take too long. He'd be spotted and end up having to dodge an incoming Assault Cannon barrage.

However, there was an exploitable weakness beneath the helmet, the Plasma Rifle attached to the chin. If a rifle round could puncture the power supply for the weapon, perhaps it wouldn't matter how thick the helmet was. So he steadied his aim, keeping an eye on where the head swayed along the battlefield. He wasn't that much of a crack-shot like Linda, but he had picked up pointers from watching her work. By studying the Tri-Clops' movements, he was able to guess where the Plasma Rifle would be. Chief then waited for a clear shot and fired.

The Plasma Rifle took a direct hit and ruptured. The small explosion tore at the Husk's neck and melted the metal encasing the head. Its red eyes began to flicker and spark, the damage taking its toll. Now blind, the Tri-Clops stumbled about, groaning as its long neck flicked to and fro. Its fellow defenders were only mildly distracted by the Husk's pain, however.

The now sightless Tri-Clops kept firing its giant back-mounted assault cannon at random, but its shots went wide. They sailed over the heads of the Carrier Forms and splashed down into the coolant. This allowed one Carrier Form to get close enough to the Tri-Clops, latching itself against its side. The giant walking gas sack exploded violently and toppled the massive Husk off its footing.

When the Tri-Clops hit the ground, the Assault Cannon on the back went off, firing a shot straight towards one of the Hunters. The giant Covie turned in time to use his shield to block the shot, but the force of the near point-blank blast sent the Hunter stumbling into its partner. The two Hunters toppled onto each other and began scrambling to get back up on their feet.

For a moment, Chief thought this was his chance to take the Hunter's down while they were preoccupied. However, he would not have the time to put the giant aliens down. Before he could even locate a bit of exposed flesh to shoot, Cortana shouted in his ear.

"Incoming!"

The Spartan rolled to the side as an Assault Cannon blast sailed through the air. He managed to just miss it as it crashed down where he had been kneeling moments before. The second Tri-Clops had quickly deduced where the shot that had taken its fellow Husk out of action had come from. Now taking aim itself, intending to kill the Spartan.

Chief quickly looked back through the scope and took aim at the cooling rods in the Husk's back. He fired two quick shots, one after the other, hitting and shattering the rods. The hit momentarily disrupted the Husk's firing attempt, but it was no longer the main concern. The Hunters had gotten up and they trained their sights on the Chief's position as well.

With no other place to go, the Master Chief dived off the cliff edge and into the coolant below. He splashed down once more into the murky green liquid. Although his vision was obscured, he could still see the aftermath of the Assault Cannon blasts that had been aimed at him. However, Chief had no time to gawk, he was in the coolant again and he had seen with his own eyes what was lurking down here.

He swam towards shore and climbed out of the muck. He saw that several Carrier Forms had rushed out of the coolant ahead of him, making their way towards the Husk and Covenant positions. The Tri-Clops that had been toppled was still down, its side ripped open by the exploding gas bag that had latched onto it. What was left of the forward defences were forced to pick up the slack against the oncoming Flood.

The Hunters continued to rush about the field, bashing their shields into Carrier Forms as they tried to work their way past them. The remaining, although wounded, Tri-Clops continued to bombard the shoreline, but now it was actively firing on anything nearby with its Plasma Rifle. It no longer stood still either, but lurched across the battlefield, trying to stay far away from any Carrier Forms. Obviously it didn't want to end up like its compatriot that Chief had so easily dealt with.

With the field becoming a more confusing mess of bodies, Chief decided to take advantage of the situation. The Hunters hadn't noticed him yet, for they were too pre-occupied with the Carrier Forms. He tracked them through the scope as they lumbered about the area, swatting Flood away like flies.

One Hunter turned his backside towards the Spartan suddenly. The Master Chief quickly angled his crosshairs at the alien's exposed orange flesh and fired two shots. The rounds tore into the Hunter, spilling blood everywhere. The massive Covie lurched forward and then fell to the ground in a heap.

Two down...

For a moment, Chief thought his next biggest threat would come from the remaining Tri-Clops. However, when he turned to take aim at it, soon realised he wasn't the only one directly targeting the Husk. Jumping down from the darkened rock bridge above appeared a Combat Form.

The Infested Elite landed on top of the Tri-Clops, Assault Rifle in hand. Grasping onto the Back-Mounted Assault Cannon, the undead monstrosity began firing point-blank into the Husk's back. The Tri-Clops growled in anger and began to buck about wildly, trying to dislodge the shambling corpse from its back. The Combat Form held tight though, wrapping its tentacle arm around the Cannon to keep itself from being thrown clear. All the Tri-Clops could do was keep bucking as bullets pelted its back.

Chief wasn't sure the Combat Form had figured out where to shoot the Tri-Clops for the best results. It just seemed to be blasting away at random. As long as the Flood creature kept the Husk busy though, he couldn't care less how many bullets the stupid undead Elite wasted. He had bigger problems, specifically 4.8 metric tons of a single problem. The last Hunter had spotted the Master Chief from across the battlefield and was now staring directly at him.

The Hunter fired off a blast from its weapon first, forcing the Spartan to roll to the side as the burning ball of super-heated gel crashed down. By the time Chief got back up and was pointing his rifle down range again, the Hunter was on the move. Charging through Carrier Forms as fast as it could, the giant hulking alien aimed itself at the Master Chief. The Covie was going to crush the human super-soldier with a single swipe of the shield on its arm.

The Spartan kept the crosshairs centered on the Hunter, hoping to spot an opportunity. He fired off a shot near the Hunter's head, which bounced off the helmet. A second shot sliced into a bit of the alien's exposed neck, but not deep enough to kill him. He fired again, this time at the central torso, but his aim was off and he hit the leg of the Walking Tank.

With only one shot left in the magazine and the Hunter closing in, the situation became extremely grave. Chief steadied his breathing and looked for an opening. He saw the alien's shield arm move just enough to reveal the exposed orange tangled flesh behind it. Placing the crosshairs over it and, taking a deep breath as he did, the Master Chief pressed the trigger and let loose his final bullet.

The round travelled through the air, bouncing off a portion of the Hunter's torso armour. The bullet hit in such a way though that it was re-directed back down into the Hunter's exposed flesh. It sliced through the upper portion of the torso, tearing out the lower back side. The hit gravely injured the Hunter causing the giant alien to topple in mid stride.

The Covie wasn't dead just yet though. As Chief loaded a fresh magazine into the rifle, the Hunter aimed its Assault Cannon again as its body slid across the dirt. Chief barely dodged to the side as the blast sailed past. Firing once more from his hip, Chief miraculously managed to plant a bullet into the Hunter's neck proper this time. When the giant Covie's tumble ended, he lay dead at the Master Chief's feet.

Momentarily taking cover behind the massive corpse, Chief looked out to see how the remaining Tri-Clops was faring. The Husk had somehow managed to dislodge the Combat Form that had latched onto its back. It was currently stomping the body into the ground. However, the leaking fluid from its body was proof enough it had not escaped unscathed.

Its Flood adversaries were not leaving it alone either, as two more Combat Forms rained fire on the Husk from on high. This time the Tri-Clops had more control over the situation though. It had moved away from the underside of the rock bridge itself and was now firing up at the Flood. The Assault Cannon shots were more off their mark than expected, however. Two slammed into the underside of the bridge while another sailed over the heads of the Flood. Neither killed the Combat Forms or dissuaded them continuing to shoot the Tri-Clops.

Chief soon realised why the Husk suddenly had such poor aim. Its Assault Cannon's mechanism was severely damaged, permanently shifted up and to the side. He could see the Husk trying to move the mounted weapon, but only the scraping sound of metal could be heard. Somehow, the Combat Form that had attacked the Husk before had managed to break its Cannon before being dislodged. Now the Tri-Clops' main weapon of attack was partially useless.

That information in hand, the Master Chief decided not to waste more time on the crippled monstrosity. He ran further up the field, passing the underside of the rock bridge relatively quickly. The Tri-Clops spotted him and opened fire with its Plasma Rifle, but Chief was ready for it.

As energy bolts flew by him, the Spartan tossed a frag grenade between the Husk's feet. The resulting explosion didn't kill the Reaper-created monster, but it did stop it from continuing to shoot at the heavily armoured human. It also damaged one of the leg servos for the Husk, limiting its movement significantly.

The momentary lapse in fire allowed the Combat Forms from above to pounce on the injured Husk. The Tri-Clops tried to fire on them, but a Marine Combat Form smacked its head to side before it could get off a shot. The heavily armed Flood Forms then began tearing and shooting into the downed creature, mutilating it further. The Tri-Clops was no longer the Master Chief's concern.

Nor were the Covenant the Husk and the Hunters had been protecting. Chief's whittling of their numbers had compromised the defensive perimeter. Carrier Forms had exploded among the Grunts and Elites and Combat Forms had jumped down from above to finish them off. Chief saw the twisted bodies of the Covenant soldiers on the ground, their insides torn clean open, clumped together in what could only be described as a desperate last stand. It hadn't done them any good.

A surviving Combat Form lurched forward from behind a rock, firing its Assault Rifle at the Master Chief. The Spartan responded with a shotgun blast. It tore the monstrosity's arm clean off and blew open its chest as well. Before the body even hit the ground, Chief's shields suddenly went into the red. Several shots from behind and above struck his shoulder. He turned to see a Combat Form armed with a Plasma Rifle firing at him from the rock bridge. His shotgun was no good at this range, so he ran.

The Combat Form followed him along the length of the rock bridge, pelting plasma along his path. Eventually, Chief neared the path leading out of the coolant flooded area. The Combat Form then leaped into the air, directly towards him. The Spartan heard the abomination's ear-splitting shriek, turned and fired just moments before the walking corpse collided with him. The shotgun's forceful blast was enough to send what was left of the undead creature flying backwards into a rock.

"I'm starting think if that Strike Team the Covenant are sending is going to be enough," Chief wondered aloud as they moved on. "The Flood don't seem to be letting up at all."

"Who knows," Cortana postulated. "Maybe they somehow realise that taking and repairing this ship will help them escape Halo. Just like the covenant fear. If that's the case, we need to step up our time table a bit."

Not easy to do, the Master Chief thought, when they still had to fight through hordes of undead monsters, both fighting each other and him. And that was just for down here, he didn't even want to think about what he'd have to face inside the ship when they got back up there. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to do that part alone.

"How far out is Shepard's team?" He asked Cortana eagerly as he cautiously traversed along the path.

"I can't get a reading," the AI grumbled. "The ship's damaged reactor may be powered down, but it's still playing havoc with the suit's systems. I'm going to try getting a lock on their omni-tools. With any luck, they aren't far."

He certainly hoped they were, because Master Chief wasn't sure he could keep doing this alone for much longer.

---

Shepard looked over the monitors on the shuttle's inner walls in shock. He had expected the possibility of the Flood being in the immediate area. He had not expected them to be swarming the entire Battlecruiser and surrounding area.

The Truth and Reconciliation had certainly seen better days. One could easily see several hull breaches as they flew over. The coolant gushing from the Covenant vessel down to the canyon below lit up the darkness with its neon green tint. Plasma bolts and muzzle flashes further illuminated the darkened scene below.

"They're really doing a number on the Covenant," he observed aloud. "The place is swarming with them."

Thankfully he had anticipated such potential concerns and had planned ahead. He knew finding Keyes was only half the mission. Once they had the Captain, they'd be headed to the Autumn to activate the self-destruct sequence. In case there were complications with that, he decided to bring Tali along. They were going to try blowing up the fusion reactor and she had spent the most time with it out of any of them. If she could fix it, it stood to reason she could break it too.

Knowing, however, that they still needed to get their escape ship off the ground, Shepard took Garrus along with him. The Normandy was going to be close behind them, along with Major Silva and everyone else. Garrus would act as a sort of advanced recon, relaying intel on the Battlecruiser to Silva, Kat and the others when they arrived. With communications so choppy at the moment, and with Silva's outburst still fresh in his mind, Shepard wanted to be sure he had someone there to speak for his crew's part in the plan. With any luck, it would make the process of taking the ship a bit easier, so long as Silva bothered to listen.

Miranda insisted on coming along as well, citing that she did not want to miss the chance to assist in destroying the home of the 'bloody stupid eyeball.' That and they could always use the extra biotic power. Biotics were clearly useless at killing the Flood outright, but did help to break up their numbers as their time in the Library had shown.

Also, this time Lawson decided she would come prepared for the challenge of the Flood. She was armed with an M6D Pistol as well as a Plasma Rifle. She also brought along one of Mordin's portable recharge packs, just so she could get the most use out of the alien gun. It probably wasn't as effective against the Flood, but it could at least burn through their flesh significantly faster. It was also useful against Elite shields, so there was that. The bottom line being, no undead corpses were going to catch her off guard this time.

Mordin himself had come along as well out of a genuine concern for the safety of everyone involved. With the Flood an ever present danger, Shepard thought it would be wise to have their field medic tag along. More importantly, he still had a patient to look after, Tali. While she seemed well enough to be back in the field he still wanted to keep an eye on her, especially with the Flood rapid spreading. Shepard readily agreed with the good Professors' concerns. They had of course turned out to be well founded, given what was happening below.

Then there was Legion, a rather surprising choice considering the geth's previous problems. Tali, however, convinced Shepard to bring the synthetic along. He would not be there in a primary combat role though. Tali suggested Legion could instead assist her with the Autumn later on, as the geth shared similar technical knowledge. Also, Legion's built-in sensors could better detect enemies in the heat of combat than they could. The Flood were devious, they'd need to stay on top of them and avoid their ambushes. Legion had already reviewed the Flood's tactics, for lack of a better term, and was confident in what to expect. Shepard just hoped the glitch wouldn't compromise that potential advantage.

Tali had brought one more ace up their sleeve just for some added leverage. She had plugged DOT into the shuttle's systems, connecting the AI to the ship's sensors. Her directive for the mission was to scan the Truth and Reconciliation for life signs and assess the ongoing situation with the Covenant Battlecruiser. They'd have a real-time play-by-play of the action with any luck.

However, Shepard's current thoughts didn't concern either of the two AI present on the shuttle. They concerned one AI and her green armoured bodyguard currently somewhere below them in the ongoing battle for the Covenant ship. They hadn't heard anything out of them since Cortana had last contacted them with the coordinates for the Truth and Reconciliation's location and Shepard was getting worried.

"Have you heard anything from Cortana yet?" He asked Tali once more.

The quarian shook her head as she stared at her omni-tool.

"Nothing," she grumbled. "The ship's reactor might be damaged. The energy dispersal could be throwing off our signal. I'll keep trying to boost it."

It was a frustrating situation, being over the mission site but still lacking so much information. For all they knew, Chief and Cortana were waist deep in Flood and they couldn't even figure out their current location. Shepard hated not knowing their status more than anything and he could see Tali was concerned as well, given how she hadn't stopped fiddling with her omni-tool the entire flight. However, they had to keep on mission. Regardless of the Master Chief's status, they needed to get inside the Truth and Reconciliation somehow and find Captain Keyes. He hoped DOT would be able to figure something out soon.

In the meantime, the discussion within the shuttle took a different turn, concerning the state of the very ship below.

"How the hell are we going to make that wreck space-worthy in time?" Garrus asked. "Just because we got a crap-ton of expert Engineers doesn't mean they can work miracles."

"Speak for yourself, Vakarian," Tali snidely informed him, her eyes never leaving her omni-tool.

The quarian's light chastising aside, Shepard knew Garrus had a point. The Battlecruiser didn't look in the best of shape.

"Legion," Shepard began, turning to the synthetic itself. "I don't suppose you can give us an estimate on the fastest we can fix this ship up."

The machine's single eye's shutter closed tight and widened as it stared at one of the monitors.

"Given visual data input, calculated percentage of coolant leakage and potential damage to reactor core, as well as current hull integrity," the synthetic rattled off quickly. "We estimate it is possible, given skill of UNSC engineering crew, to restore vessel to minimum functional capability."

It sounded like good news, however...

"I'm sensing a 'but' in there," Shepard noted.

"Further data will be required for full assessment," Legion admitted. "Damage to slipspace drive unknown, could hinder potential interstellar travel greatly. Loss of coolant will invariably compromise engines and weapons systems regardless of repair."

So they could get off Halo, but defending themselves and getting anywhere fast was sketchy at best. Shepard sighed at it all. It wasn't a very good prognosis to be sure. He hoped that slipspace drive was at least intact. Even if the reactor was damaged that didn't necessarily mean the drive was too.

"Personally," Miranda suddenly added morosely. "I'm wondering if taking the ship is a good idea now at all."

That garnered her looks from everyone for obvious reasons.

"I know I initially suggested the plan that we should hijack the Truth and Reconciliation in the first place," she coolly admitted. "But that was before the Flood attacked it. They've gotten here first and it looks to me they're thoroughly entrenched within it. Stealing the ship now might be doing more harm than good."

"Concern reasonable," Mordin agreed. "Flood relentless, difficult to dislodge. Infestation of area appears total. May not be able to exterminate all organisms."

"We can be thorough," Garrus suggested. "All we have to do is scour the ship for the Flood and burn them out."

But Mordin shook his head at the idea.

"No, no, no," he said, waving his hands about in dismissal. "Spores in Tali'Zorah suggested infectious growth. Samples from autopsy of infected Elite proof of highly advanced bio-organism. Evidence inescapable. Flood most likely able to reconfigure and grow from single remaining spore. Sterilization of Covenant ship may be impossible at this stage."

"And we don't exactly have the time to be that methodical either," Miranda added. "Not with our time table for blowing up Halo."

As much as anyone hated to admit it, the Truth and Reconciliation could already be a dead end as far as escaping went. At least if they wanted to make sure the Flood didn't get off Halo. Then again, what other options did they have at this point? Perhaps they could try stealing a few Covenant dropships from the hangars? They could use them to fly to another enemy ship and hijack it instead. That assumed there would be enough to carry everyone aboard of course. They could also use the Pelicans, they could fly in space, but they didn't have enough of them to support every Marine for long.

"It sounds like we're backed into a corner here," Shepard observed. "Our escape plan may have some unwanted stowaways and we don't have a lot of time to try out the alternatives."

"Then again Silva might not be open to alternatives," Garrus noted. "Not ones that come from us at least."

It was the second good point Garrus had raised, but it concerned another issue altogether. It had been hard to forget what had happened back at Alpha Base, especially when most of it was directed at them.

"He was a lot more open about his dislike of us hanging around at least," Tali added. "Kat is right when she said we need to be careful around him. He seems to think we're more dangerous than the Flood at this point."

He at least thought they were a bigger problem than the Sentinels, that much Shepard was sure of. Truth be told though, he wasn't sure what frame of mind Silva was in himself. The young Major had clearly shown an ambitious streak in the short time Shepard knew him. Not to mention he made it no secret he didn't really think the Normandy belonged here. Combined with his apparent desire to get professional payback against the Spartans, there were reasons to think Silva would do something reckless. At the same time though, Shepard recognized a genuine concern from the Major for the ODSTs under his command. Would he really risk putting them in danger out of a sense of pride?

"We don't really have the luxury of questioning Silva at this point," Shepard informed them all. "We're going to need his ODSTs to pull off any successful raid on a Covenant ship. And for that we need Silva's cooperation."

"Perhaps," Miranda admitted. "But I'm with Tali and Garrus on this one, Commander. We may need him, but he clearly doesn't think he needs us. I'm just not sure we'll be able to reason with him."

"Once we get into contact with Holland he'll sort the mess out," Shepard tried to assure her. "Keyes might not be able to take command depending on his condition, but the Colonel still holds more sway in Silva's mind. If he can't get Silva to work with us, nothing will."

Shepard just hoped that "Nothing Will" situation was something they could avoid altogether.

Before the discussion could continue further, a flashing light appeared on one of the shuttle's network monitors.

"I have detected a significant outer hull breach on the ship," she announced. "It is wide and deep enough to allow access to one of the primary corridors inside. Caution, the visual scanners show the Flood are using it as an entryway into the vessel."

"Thanks, DOT," Shepard stated, turning to his crew. "Alright team, we're going to land on top of the ship and head in through that hole. Tali, you keep trying to contact Chief and Cortana as we move. We need to know where we can rendezvous with them. Let's move."

The shuttle came in for a landing as close to the open hole in the hull as possible. The doors opened up and the team rushed out with weapons drawn. They could see the hull breach up ahead, as well as three Combat Forms preparing to jump inside. The hostile creatures suddenly noticed the team as they approached and opened fire with their assortment of weapons.

Shepard fired back first with his shotgun, but it was Mordin who managed to score the first hit. Firing an Incineration Blast at the Flood, he set the shambling corpses ablaze instantly. Their decaying bodies refused to quit so easily though, even as the fire ate at their flesh. They charged at the Normandy crew, still firing their weapons as they did.

Tali managed to blow off a leg of one of the creatures, ending his charge mid-stride. Garrus, using a Battle Rifle in place of his regular Vindicator, managed to plant three solid rounds in the center of the Combat Form to the left. Shepard simply sent out a shockwave that tossed the Combat Form back. The blackened and charred body of the undead monstrosity slammed back onto the hull. Pieces of the burnt flesh crumbled to dust on impact before the creature slid off the side of the ship into the darkness below.

"They're not going to be as easy when we're inside," Shepard warned. "Stay together and watch your corners, people. Let's find Keyes so we can blow this ring world to kingdom come."

The team jumped down through the hole and into the bowels of the Covenant ship. Keyes was somewhere in this mess of Covenant, Husks and Flood Forms. Getting inside had been easy, but they doubted reaching the Captain would be so simple.

---

Chief could hear the heavy fighting before he even reached the corner. He saw a small group of Grunts running into view, away from a swarm of plasma bolts and bullets. Combat Forms chased after them, methodically shooting them as they pushed the little aliens into a corner. Then, in the very next second, they were obliterated by a blast from a powerful Assault Cannon beam. Chief cautiously looked around the corner and saw the terrible cause of their destruction.

It was a Plague Spreader, hovering above a pool of Coolant. The neon green radiated off its shell-like armour as it surveyed the surrounding area with a menacing glare. Chief kept his head low. Luck for him, the monstrous Husk hadn't spotted him.

"Where's a rocket launcher when you need one?" Cortana snarled at the situation.

"Heavy weapons aren't its only weakness," Chief reminded her. "That Assault Cannon it fires out of its eye is pretty vulnerable when it's charging."

"Be that as it may, I'd advise avoiding this fight if possible," Cortana suggested. "The Gravity Lift isn't that far now, we can't delay ourselves further."

Chief could get behind that logic. He wasn't so much afraid of the Plague Spreader as he knew fighting it was pointless at this stage. He didn't have appropriate weapons, nor did he have any backup. The Gravity Lift was all that really mattered in the end. If he could blind or injure the giant Husk just long enough to get by, he wouldn't need to worry about the monstrosity at all.

However, as he prepared to move up and get a bead on the Plague Spreader's weak spot, a different distraction presented itself. A Combat Form leapt onto the Plague Spreader from a nearby ledge. It began firing its weapon into the monster and slashing at its armour with its tentacle arm. The Plague Spreader didn't seem at all harmed by the Combat Form, but it did react to the assault. With one quick stab, the hovering Husk stabbed one of its own tentacles into the far softer flesh of the Combat Form.

"Oh crap," Cortana fearfully stated.

Chie mentally shared the sentiment and watched with appropriate concern as the Combat Form's body began to warp and reshape. A shell-like casing surrounded the undead creature's limbs and torso while the gun it was carrying was bonded to its body. Just as the Covies before it at the Control Room, the Combat Form had been seemingly huskified by the Plague Spreader.

The chilling sight became far more horrifying though, when the Combat Form's body shifted upward. The creature grasped the Plague Spreader's tentacle with a vice-like grip. It then planted its feet onto the Plague Spreader itself and pulled. The tentacle ripped from the Husk's body, fluid spewing every from its grievous wound. The Combat Form then began clawing and blasting at the Plague Spreader again, screaming and snarling as it did. Far from becoming its thrall, the Plague Spreader had only seemed to enrage the Combat Form and make it stronger.

The Husk eventually knocked the Combat Form off itself with a swipe from the remains of the same tentacle the Flood creature had partially torn off. The Combat Form splashed down into the Coolant, but quickly stood back up, roaring in a rage and firing its weapon into the underside of the Husk. The Plague Spreader tried to turn in an attempt to cut the offending creature down one way or another.

It was at this point that even more Combat Forms, jumping from the ledges above or rushing in from further along the path, leaping towards the Plague Spreader themselves. The grisly scene from seconds before repeated itself again and again. The Combat Forms attacked the Husk, were impaled, changed and resumed their attack with greater conviction than before.

Master Chief could only watch in disbelief as the constant struggle played out before him. Sometimes the Plague Spreader would swat them off its back, but a few managed to hang on and continue ripping into the giant Husk. Either way, the Plague Spreader kept on stabbing every new attacker that latched to its back. The Flood, for their part, didn't even seem to be trying that hard to prevent being impaled. It was a fact lost on the Plague Spreader though. It steadfastly stuck to its primary attack strategy of running enemies through with its tentacles, not realising its current folly in the slightest.

"That stupid flying oyster," Cortana shouted in Chief's ear as she watched the scene with him. "It's just making more of them!"

One of the Combat Forms sudden smashed its fist clean into the back of the Plague Spreader, pulling out the bits of machinery and wiring with it. The Plague Spreader dipped at an angle and the Combat Forms that had been thrown off grabbed onto its side. They fired their shotguns, pistols, plasma rifles and assault rifles into its stomach. The Plague Spreader tried to fire off its main gun, but it couldn't aim the weapon at all in its current condition.

The Flood forced the giant husk down into the coolant below and then began ripping it apart en masse. They started with the Assault Cannon eye that they fired point-blank into. They then tore the gun out completely and tossed it aside into the coolant, splashing green liquid everywhere. They had done it. They had killed the Plague Spreader. But while some of them were still occupied with the Husk's corpse, others had spotted new prey. The Master Chief has been seen and now he had the undivided attention of the newly altered Combat Forms.

"Great, now they're our problem," Cortana groaned in a mix of anger and terror as the Flood advanced on them.

The Master Chief readied his shotgun and fired two blasts at the nearest approaching Combat Form. A dreadful clinking sound was heard as the buckshot hit the shambling corpse. The only effect seemed to be forcing the Combat Form back slightly and pushing him around. A few chunks of black-brownish shell were chipped away, but otherwise the undead monstrosity was unharmed. Chief fired again with similar results, barely even interrupting the abomination's stride.

"That stuff on them," he quickly concluded. "It's some kind of biological armour. It's protecting them."

The Combat Form opened fire suddenly, forcing the Master Chief to duck behind cover. The rock he chose was pelted with even more rounds and bolts from every kind of gun. He kept his head down and tried to figure out what was going on.

"I don't get it," he said, racking his brain as he spoke. "They got stabbed like the Covenant and Marines before. How come they still attacked the Plague Spreader?"

"Because there's nothing left in there for the Plague Spreader to convert," Cortana frightfully suggested. "There's no brain to subvert, nothing to reprogram. They're already lifeless husks. It can cover them in tough biological plating but it can't make them fight for it. The parasite inside is still in control."

In the end, Chief supposed it didn't matter. What did matter was figuring out how to kill these new Armoured Combat Forms somehow. The shotgun could probably still work, but it wasn't very efficient. He didn't want to waste ammo chipping away at each individual Combat Form. He needed a better solution. He searched the battlefield for a weapon. Eventually his eyes fell upon a dead Grunt. Clutched in the dead alien's hand was a Needler. It was then the Master Chief got an idea.

First, he tossed a grenade into the horde of Armoured Combat Forms. It landed at the feet of two of them and exploded, ripping the armour from their bodies and tearing them asunder. Chief then rushed out of cover and made dash for the Needler. Grabbing the gun from the ground, he pointed it at the nearest Armoured Combat Form and let loose a hail of needle rounds. The shots didn't penetrate the bio-armour, but they still stuck to it like darts on a dartboard. Moments later, the collective explosion of combined needles tore the Combat Form apart, armour and all, in a pink-coloured cloud.

The armour could protect the Flood, but it couldn't withstand an explosion of sufficient size. That much was clear to the Master Chief now. He reloaded the Needler quickly as he readied a plasma grenade in another hand. Tossing the explosive, he managed to stick it to the head of one of the armoured abominations. As the creature was enveloped in a blue fireball, alongside two others nearby, Chief fired off a slew of Needles at the other Combat Forms. Another two of the creatures exploded as the pink projectiles stuck themselves into the armour and detonated.

Keeping his eyes focused on moving forward, Chief kept to the left of the canyon wall. The Combat Forms fired after him, slowly draining his shields with each successful shot. The Flood plodded after him as well, but they were much slower than before. In exchange for protection, the armour apparently had cost them their speed and mobility. That suited Master Chief just fine as it meant he could outrun them.

He kept moving, blowing through needles at a constant rate as he did. The Combat Forms exploded in pink clouds one after the other, but Chief found he was quickly running out of ammo. He made for the path leading away from the coolant pool and into the next area. The Combat Forms followed him, methodically shooting at him as he fell back. A bullet struck him along the shoulder as his shields failed. A surge of pain coursed along his arm and he ducked into a small outcropping along the canyon wall for protection.

He was nearly out of needles at this point, but the Combat Forms were still coming. However, the smaller canyon path forced the Altered Flood Thralls to clump themselves together. Chief reacted quickly to the situation, igniting another plasma grenade and tossing it into the crowd of creatures. He then ran down the canyon path, bullets and plasma bolts chasing him as he did. His shields hadn't fully regenerated yet, and he felt the sting of one bolt hit his back. He kept moving, fighting through the pain.

Moments later, the explosion erupted among the Combat Forms, tearing through the armour the Plague Spreader had so unwittingly provided them. Bits and pieces of the creatures fell back down to earth, showing the canyon floor with their flesh. Chief didn't look back, he kept pushing onward. The Gravity Lift was just ahead, there was no sense in wasting more time.

As he turned the next corner, he saw his objective right in front of him. Shining down in a brilliant purple light upon a small raised cliff was the Gravity Lift. More green coolant had pooled around the area, creating two more artificial ponds of a sort. The land that was still dry was blemished by a number of destroyed Covenant vehicles, including a crashed Banshee.

Chief's eyes were firmly focused on the Gravity Lift, however, as well as the path that he would have to take to get to it. Said path stretched to the back canyon wall and then u-turned back towards the cliff. It was a decently sized run and Chief could already tell there were a number of Flood-based obstacles in the way from the sounds of battle.

He could also see from his current position that the Gravity Lift was being defended by a small band of Elites and their dwindling charges. From the sound of things, as well as how close they were to the edge of the cliff itself, they were hanging on by the skin of their teeth. Just because they were cornered though didn't make them pushovers. Master Chief would have to carefully measure his next series of moves.

With the Covenant distracted for the moment by the Flood, Chief decided there would be no better time to thin them out than now. He still had the Sniper Rifle he found before. As one of the Elites backed up towards the edge of the cliff, Chief readied the gun to fire.

Placing the crosshairs over the square of the alien's back he took aim for the Covenant officer. He fired one shot and let the bullet rip clean through the Elite's upper back. The alien's body fell to the ground and garnered the attention of a second Elite. The Covie looked out towards the rocks near the area's entrance and spotted the offending Spartan. The eight-foot alien opened fire, forcing Chief to duck his head down.

Chief decided to wait in cover for a bit. The Elite was letting loose with his Plasma Rifle a lot, overheating was inevitable. When the bolts stopped flying, Master Chief rushed out from behind the Rocks. He rolled along the ground, popped up into a kneeling position and pointed the rifle at the Elite just as the alien was about the fire again. Chief fired two clean shots at the Covie, one body shot and another clean through the skull. The Elite fell to the ground beside his friend in a heap.

The Spartan didn't wait for the remaining Covies to pinpoint his position like the last one had. He raced to the cliff wall and pushed himself against it. He then pointed his rifle up, wary of any Covies showing up and firing down on him. He didn't intend to wait for them though, whatever Covenant remained near the Gravity Lift he'd have to deal with later. Right now, he needed to keep moving.

He spotted the downed Banshee and made a run for it. There were already several Combat Forms meandering about the area. Most were headed up towards the Gravity Lift, but there were a few taking their sweet time. One appeared from behind the Banshee as Chief made his way towards it.

Armed with a Shotgun, the Combat Form fired on the Spartan as he approached. Chief's shields took a major unexpected hit. Knowing he wouldn't survive a second shot at this close a range, Chief dived towards the side and fired. The shot blew off the Combat Form's arm, sending pieces of flesh flying and the Flood creature's shotgun clattering to the ground.

Although it had lost an arm, the Combat Form still intended to fight. It lashed out with its tentacle arm towards Chief, forcing the Spartan to roll to the side to avoid the hit. Chief quickly jumped to his feet and jammed shotgun into the open sore on the monstrosity's chest. He pulled the trigger and watched as the point-blank shot tore the undead creature apart.

However, the fight had acquired the attention of the other Combat Forms. One that had recently pulled itself up from the coolant within a small tunnel beneath the cliff path zeroed in on the Spartan. It fired a series of shots from its Assault Rifle, forcing the Master Chief to take cover behind the Banshee. Bullets pinged against the burnt husk of a flying vehicle as Chief reloaded his weapon.

"No sense in slowing down now," Cortana told him. "For all we know, Shepard and the others could already be inside. It's been long enough after all."

"Point taken," Chief agreed as he activated a frag grenade.

He tossed the explosive into the small tunnel. As the fireball erupted, splashing coolant everywhere and ripping the Combat Form to shreds, Chief made a mad dash along the path. He fired his shotgun at the Flood as he went, bursting a Carrier Form with one blast as it stumbled its way over to him.

Two more Combat Forms stood in his direct path as he approached the final stretch. He turned and fired on one, sending it tumbling down into the coolant below. He then knocked the other away as it tried to take a swing at him. He fired off a second blast that tore the creature's legs out from under it. The Combat Form tried to grab onto his leg as it tumbled to the ground, but Chief kicked the severed corpse away.

The Flood were out of the way, but the Covenant still retained their hold on the Gravity Lift. There was only one Elite left, surrounded by a few Grunts, but they were holding strong behind a makeshift barricade. Chief quickly found himself ducking behind cover of his own as a volley of plasma filled the air. He managed to let off a few shotgun rounds and hit the Elite, but at this distance the shots only damaged the shields.

The Elite just seemed to laugh at the Spartan's efforts and kept shooting. The laughter only lasted a second though, because in the next Chief heard a bloodcurdling scream. He looked and saw an Infection Form had snuck up from behind and bit into the Elite's neck. The Covie ripped the creature off him, but a second Infection Form leapt out of nowhere and began ripping into his chest. Other Infection Forms began attacking the Grunts, biting and scratching at them viciously. The Elite was soon covered in the creatures who quickly began to burrow into him.

Knowing what would likely happen next, the Master Chief tossed a plasma grenade into the mix. He would let the blue fireball it created end the suffering of the poor Covies. It was better than letting them return as something worse. The Gravity Lift now clear, Chief ran towards the purple light and turned back along the path. The Flood were still coming and they were now charging the lift like a tsunami.

"We have to hold until the Gravity Lift reverses!" Cortana informed him.

Chief fired into the swarming onslaught as they encroached on their position. His shotgun nearly ran empty as he took aim at every Combat Form that got within even an inch of the Lift's beam. Their snarling, garbling cries filled the air as they relentless assaulted the Spartan. Their bodies piled up along the path as the shells in the shotgun became fewer and fewer.

Chief was on the last shell within the gun when the Gravity Lift began to pull him up. He felt he was in the clear for a moment. Then one of the Combat Forms jumped and grabbed for his leg. The creature pointed a pistol up the Spartan as it held on. Chief quickly pointed the shotgun down and with his last shell blew the abomination back to earth.

"These things are getting more desperate by the second," he observed as they continued their ascent.

"They really want to get back on this ship it seems," Cortana stated as well.

Right now though, Chief was just happy they would back aboard soon. They needed to get back on track now.

---

Varvok dropped down from the Phantom into the hole in the hull first. His feet touched down onto the metal floor of the Truth and Reconciliation with a clang. He held his weapon high as he surveyed the room around him. They were in a corridor of some kind, a badly damaged one from the sight of it. He didn't see any Flood or Covenant about for the moment so he waved Zek down as well. Moments later the kig-yar joined him at his side, his Needler Rifle at the ready.

"It's seen better days, that's for sure," Zek said wistfully. "The freaky walking corpses have certainly left their mark."

Everywhere they looked they could see broken panels, exposed wiring, leaking fluids, blood-stained walls and sparking consoles. Added to what they had seen on the outside and it wasn't any surprise to them now that the Battlecruiser was pretty much resting atop the canyon more or less. It was the only way the Covenant could keep the ship's core from going critical and exploding.

"How the hell are we going to find your infamous Shepard in all of this?" Zek asked Varvok.

"We won't have to," the batarian assured. "With a little luck, he'll come to us. Any human soldier worth his salt would have an exit strategy in mind. My guess is he'd go for one of the hangar bays for his getaway, like he did before. We can also try intercepting Covenant communications. If they spot him then we can move to their position."

"Saving their asses in the process and making us look like heroes," Zek concluded, sounding rather pleased at the prospect. "That oughta lend some credence to our offer. You're one forward thinking wrinkle-head, Four-Eyes."

Suddenly one of the ceiling panels down the corridor burst open. Out skittered a number of vicious parasitic Infection Forms, followed by two Combat Forms armed with Plasma Rifles. Varvok opened fire on the Infection Forms first, using his Assault Rifle to pop them like balloons before they got too close. Zek had already started shooting his Needler Rifle at the oncoming Combat Forms, plugging their bodies full of exploding pink needles. The resulting explosion tore apart both Combat Forms as they lumbered through the hall, shooting off bullets in their direction. When the pink mist subsided, the corridor was Flood free once more.

"There's going to be a hell of a lot more where they came from," Zek cautioned. "You sure you don't want a better gun?"

"I've modded my rifle with Shredder rounds and I have a shotgun for backup," Varvok assured. "My men have the same loadout. So long as we aim all our shots at the chest we should be okay."

With the area clear, Varvok called down the rest of his team. Several batarians dropped through the hole above and landed inside the ship alongside them. Varvok had the squad group up as he addressed them.

"Alright, I know this situation isn't ideal, men," he began solemnly. "We were all eager to help kill Commander Shepard when we came here, but things have changed drastically now. Like it or not, that damn human is our best chance of getting off Halo alive. I understand if you have issues with this, considering he killed so many fellow batarians during the Skyllian Blitz. I don't expect you to forgive him, I certainly haven't. But we share a common foe now and we need to convince him of that."

"Still feels wrong, sir," piped up one batarian. "Teaming up with the Alliance's damn poster boy for Human Supremacy?"

"Better than serving a Commanding Officer who stabs us in the back and leaves us to die," Varvok replied, his statement tinged with disgust. "We need to swallow our pride, for now. This is about survival, politics don't figure into our situation anymore. Stay together, watch your corners and communicate at all times. I'm not sure if the Covenant still alive in this ship are aware of our mutiny, but I'm not taking a chance. Everything, save for Commander Shepard and his allies, are targets on this mission. Now let's move."

The small squad of batarians followed Zek and Varvok as they headed into the ship proper. The easy part was over, now came the hard part of finding Shepard before he left. Then all he'd have to do was convince the guy he had been trying to kill since they arrived on this damn ring that they were on the same side. Hopefully he had more success at the 'convincing' objective than he had at the previous 'killing' objective.

---

The Master Chief hadn't expected to be back in this room so soon, but life was full of the unexpected. He was once again in the Gravity Lift Bay where he had been only days before. The surroundings had drastically changed. Now dead Covenant bodies littered the floor as Infection Forms feasted on the remains. For the moment, the little parasites didn't notice him, so he did his best not to draw attention.

As he looked around the room, his attention was soon drawn to a large slab of twisted metal and leaking fluids. Another dead Plague Spreader, torn to pieces. He had little doubt as to who its killers were. His eyes momentarily glanced down to the Needler he was still carrying, knowing he might be forced to use it again soon. Regardless of the apparent foreshadowing of danger, he had to stay on task.

"Cortana, can you pick up the Captain's signal again?" He whispered to her, moving slowly away from the Infection Forms.

"It's faint," she replied. "The damaged reactor is still creating some interference. I have an approximate location, most likely the ship's control room. We should head there as soon as-"

There was a slight burst of static in the Master Chief's radio, cutting Cortana off. The static soon waned, however, and what seemed like a muffled distorted voice came through. The voice became clearer and clearer as the seconds dragged on until...

"-Chief, do you read me?" The Voice of Commander Shepard asked.

"Commander," Chief quickly answered back astutely. "We're inside the ship, Gravity Lift Bay. Where are you?"

"One of the dozen or so hallways in this mess of a Battlecruiser," Shepard replied, the sound of his voice crackling as the signal kept trying to stabilize. "We got inside awhile ago and have been trying to navigate the place, but the Flood have done a number on it. We keep running into dead ends. Besides that, Tali has been trying to boost our communication signal in an attempt to contact you. We were hoping you and Cortana had a better idea of where we need to go."

The Master Chief was relieved to know the Commander and his team were aboard with him, but he'd be even more relieved when they finally rendezvoused with one another. He slowly moved towards tthe nearest exit and ventured out into the hallways. With his gun pointed forward as he moved ahead, he could hear the distant sounds of plasma and gunfire echoing throughout the ship.

"We need to head to the ship's Control Room," Cortana explained to the Commander. "Keyes' approximate signal suggests he's there. The Battlenet is such a mess though that I can't access the ship's schematics. My records point to a Shuttle Bay near our position, but I'm not sure how to direct you and your team to it, Commander."

"Don't worry about that," Shepard assured her. "You said you were near the Gravity Lift, we'll work off from that best we can. We have DOT up in the shuttle running scans. She can direct us to your location."

"Commander," Chief suddenly cut in before Shepard could say anything else. "There's something you need to know. We had to use the Grav Lift to get back in here when we dropped through a hole in the ship down into the canyons below. While we were down there we saw a Plague Spreader husk. It attacked the Flood, changed them, gave them some kind of bio-armour and then they killed it."

There was a brief silence before Shepard responded. For a moment, Chief worried he had lost the signal before they could fully warn them. Thankfully, it was just a slight sense of shock on the Commander's part.

"Armour?" He asked, astounded by the news. "Are you sure?"

"Positive, sir," Master Chief replied adamantly. "And I just found another dead Plague Spreader. Shotgun couldn't penetrate these Armoured Combat Forms without firing several shots. I had to use explosives like Needler rounds and grenades to get through. If you have anything in your arsenal that can cut through armour, I suggest using it if you encounter these things."

"Appreciate the advice, Chief," Shepard complimented. "Keep moving to that shuttle bay, we'll meet you there. Shepard out."

The signal cut out then and Chief began to navigate the narrow corridors once again. At least Shepard knew about the Armoured Flood. He and his team would be better prepared to encounter them now, more so than Chief had been at least. But the Armoured Flood were just one danger within this ship's bowels, who knew what else lay in wait for them.

---

Shepard fired off a blast from his shotgun, blowing off the arm of the Combat Form. As the body of the walking corpse plopped to the ground, gunfire poured down from above onto the Commander position. The rain of bullets came from a large hole in the ceiling that led to another deck, one where the Food had taken complete control it seemed. As one Combat Form fired on Shepard's team, two others dropped down to replace the one that the Commander had killed just moments ago. They added to the torrent of round with plasma bolts, steadily advancing as they fired.

"Sending in Chiktikka," Tali declared as she hid behind her cover.

"I'll see what I can do about the shooter up top," Miranda added. "Just give me an opening."

Shepard provided one by switching to his pistol and opening fire on the Combat Form above them. At the same time, Chiktikka the drone moved in to zap at the Combat Forms currently on their level. The attacks from the little ball distracted the living corpses and they turned the fire on the drone in response. Miranda used the lull in the shooting to send out pull attack that she curved to hit the Combat Form above them. The attack forced the abomination down to their level and gave Miranda plenty of time to pump the creature full of lead from her M6D pistol.

Shepard in kind turned on the still distracted duo harassing Chiktikka. Mordin, who was further back behind a small mess of debris with Garrus and Legion, assisted the Commander by firing an incineration blast. The sudden combustion engulfed the two Combat Forms instantly and Shepard finished them off with two well placed shotgun blasts.

"Additional movement detected above," Legion announced.

"I got them," Garrus assured the synthetic.

Garrus rushed out into the open and tossed a proximity mine up into the hole in the ceiling. The Combat Forms rushed into its radius moments later and the device detonated. The Flood creatures were blown to bits, but no one dared think that was the last of them.

"Let's get moving before more decide to show up through that hole," Shepard ordered.

The team picked up and pressed forward through the corridors, putting as much distance between them and the hole to the upper deck as possible. When they got a good distance away, they were finally able to discuss the revelations the Master Chief had shared moments before they were ambushed.

"We're going to need to be ready for these Armoured Flood Forms," Shepard warned the team. "Now, incendiary rounds might be able to burn through the armour, but not all of our guns are armed with them."

"Incineration Blast could prove effective," Mordin hypothesized.

"And I have armour-piercing rounds as well," Garrus added. "So I should be covered."

"My Warp attack should be enough to shred that armour as well," Miranda suggested. "Problem is, since the armour is protecting the Combat Form, I don't think it will hurt them as much as the unarmoured ones. At least until we damage it enough at least."

All good suggestions, but Shepard still felt concerned. They'd need more than just bullets and biotic attacks. They'd need things that could kill them in one shot.

"We should still make an effort to pick up any grenades or explosives we find, just in case," he informed them. "And even with armour, their bodies are still not as vulnerable to some of our weapons. Once we break through the armour, we'll need to switch tactics. So, let's work in unison, like any armoured enemy. Some of us focus on destroying the armour, the rest of us go in for the killing blow once we've chipped their protection away."

"Sounds good to me," Tali agreed. "Let's just hope we don't run into any for now. The Flood are bad enough as it is without protective armour."

Shepard concurred with a simple nod and contacted the shuttle. With their strategy for the potential Armoured Combat Forms hammered out they needed to focus on getting to the Master Chief and Cortana.

"DOT, we need to get to the Shuttle Bay nearest the Gravity Lift," he explained to the AI. "Can you guide us there from our position?"

"I can, Commander," the AI assured. "Turn right at next juncture and keep moving forward twenty metres from there. I will provide additional direction upon arrival at waypoint."

"Thanks," Shepard stated. "Let's move, team!"

The group began to head out, hastily moving through the corridors. However, Tali's pace with the group stated to lag. She began clutching at her head as a sharp pain reverberated through her skull. She let out a small gasp of discomfort, immediately recognized by her team mates who had pulled slightly in front of her.

"Creator-Tali'Zorah," Legion stated. "Are you injured?"

"No, I'm fine," she assured them. "It was just a little migraine. We need to keep moving."

The quarian pressed forward, passing most of the team as they looked on. They had the look of concern strewn across their faces, but they said nothing. Tali suspected they were still worried for her condition, even though Mordin had given her a clean bill of health. She tried not to say anything in response to their stares, no sense in drawing more attention to it.

She just had a small headache, one that was already gone. It had no bearing on the mission. They needed to find the Master Chief and Cortana, get to Keyes and get off this disabled wreck. She wasn't about to let herself become a burden just because of what had happened a little less than a day ago. She had been way sicker at times before, a headache was nothing.

Although she did admit one thing, it had felt a bit weird and sudden. It come fast and left just as quickly. Again, probably nothing and it was the furthest thing from her mind now. They had come here to get Captain Keyes. She would not allow herself to hinder that cause.

---

Chief entered the small Cargo Bay cautious, tip-toeing across the metal floor. He was on the top level platform, looking down the floor below. It was filled with Flood of all shapes and sizes, meandering about the Cargo Bay, garbling and growling at one another as they plodded about. Cortana drew his attention to something else, however.

"Look, in the corners," she gravely informed him. "The Flood are gathering bodies."

It was true, there were several Covenant soldiers stacked on top of one another in the various corners of the room. To what purpose, Chief could say, but it was eerily similar to what he had encountered in the Containment Facility he and Shepard had entered yesterday. He didn't know exactly why they were gathering the bodies, but he didn't want to find out their reasons either.

As he monitored the situation, he heard sounds coming from one of the doors on the ground floor. As he looked towards it, a plasma sword cut through the lock. The doors were forced open and in rushed a small group of Reavers. The Flood opened fire on the Husks, who proceeded to slash and slice through every nearby Combat Form. As the dead Plague Spreader had suggested, there were Husks up in this ship alongside the surviving Covenant soldiers. They would make getting to the Control Room all the more difficult.

It was then one of the doors on the Chief's level opened wide and out rushed a Combat Form with an Assault Rifle in hand. One could hear additional fighting coming from the open doorway, suggesting that the Reavers were part of a larger assault. With no other way down to the Cargo Bay save for jumping, the Master Chief made a run for the door. He fired his shotgun twice at the Combat Form as he ran by. The walking corpse only managed to get off a small burst before the shells tore it apart.

Entering the hallways once more, Chief began working his way down to the Cargo Bay trough the twisting corridors and ramps leading to levels below. It didn't take him long to run into the first fire fight. On the very first ramp, he saw a number of Elites firing their Plasma Rifles. He couldn't see the Flood yet, but he assumed that what they were shooting at.

While one of the Elites moved forward slightly, Grunts at his side as he did so, a second one hung back. It was then he turned and spotted the Spartan staring at him from atop the ramp passage. He fired on the human super-soldier, forcing the Chief to duck back into cover. However, the Elite's momentary distraction proved costly. A lone Combat Form had made it past his friends that had gone on ahead and tackled the Covenant Warrior into a nearby wall.

As the two struggled, the Master Chief moved in. The Elite managed to kick the Combat Form off him and fire into the creature's chest with enough plasma to roast the parasite within alive. When he turned to continue shooting at Chief though, he found the Spartan just a foot away from him. He fired three shotgun blasts at the Elite, killing the alien before he could act.

However, that was hardly the last of the hostile forces in the immediate area. As he looked down the hallway the Covenant had been shooting into, Chief caught a glimpse of an explosion, possibly from a Carrier Form. Grunts ran out from behind the next corner, not even seeing the Master Chief as they ran towards an intersecting hallway. It was there the little aliens were jumped from above by two Combat Forms dropping down from a hole in the ceiling.

While not sure the Elites the Grunts had been with were dead, the most immediate threats and obstacles in his path were the Combat Forms. Chief decided he'd focus on them for the time being. He moved in and fired at the first of the walking corpses while they were still preoccupied with mutilating the Grunts. The shot blew open the creature's chest cavity. However, the second Combat Form was a bit quicker and managed to strike out at the Master Chief before he could fire. The Spartan slammed against the far wall and the Flood creature charged to finish him off. Chief, with little time to react, quickly poked his shotgun ahead and pulled the trigger as the creature ran into the barrel.

"Movement! Above!" Cortana warned.

Chief ducked down as a firestorm of bullets sliced across the metal bulkhead where his head had been mere seconds before. Combat Forms on the deck above were firing down through the hole in the ceiling. There were three in total. Scrambling to his feet, Chief tossed a frag grenade up into the open hole and ran past the giant hole. One of the Combat Forms tried to jump down through the hole to follow, but the grenade exploded before it could get too far. Its body was slammed into the ground by the force of the blast. Its two compatriots above were likely already shredded.

Chief looked back, both to see his handiwork and to see if the Elites from before were following him. He still wasn't sure of their status. He didn't see the Elites, but he did see the Combat Form thrown to the ground by the grenade blast suddenly sit up and roar at him. It raised its assault rifle to fire, only for the Chief to blow off its entire upper torso.

"When in doubt, double tap," Cortana astutely noted before switching gears. "We should be close to the Cargo Bay's main floor. Hopefully either the Reavers or the Flood have killed the other side off by now."

Chief silently agreed, he was getting tired of being caught in the middle of these firefights and various melees. There were too many variables to consider, even if both sides provided ample distraction. There was no sense in griping about it though. He had been dealt this hand and he'd play it to the full extent he could.

Entering the Cargo Bay's main floor, he found both the Reavers and Flood still very much alive. One Reaver sliced a Combat Form with a single slash of his plasma swords. Bullets struck his backside, but he was unaffected by the attack. He swung around, slicing both of the offending Combat Form's arms clean off.

The squad of Reavers circled around one another in an attempt to keep the Combat Forms from catching them unawares. However, while they had substantially slashed apart the various Flood attackers, they were overlooking a few key concerns. There were a few Carrier Forms still active, now converging on the Reavers themselves. With no real long-ranged weapon, the mutilated Elites could only react how they were programmed to react to all threats, to carve them into pieces. A useful tactic when dealing with most enemies but, not against one whose only function was to explode.

A Carrier Form lumbered close to the Reavers, garbling with its strange sickening cry. One of the Husks zeroed in on it and stabbed the walking flesh sack clean through. The following explosion occurred immediately. The Reaver who had stabbed the Carrier was thrown into the far wall. The rest of its kin were scattered about the room. Some got back up, badly damaged but still functioning. Others remained motionless, lying on the ground in pieces.

The Master Chief wasted no time in pushing through danger before him. He could see an open doorway on the far side of the room. That was his exit. He just had to reach it. He rushed across the open floor, using his shotgun to kill the remaining Carrier Forms as they waddled after him. They exploded among Combat Forms or next to Reavers still trying to continue the fight.

The Reavers tried to ambush him as he made his escape, slashing out from the darkness and behind obstacles. Luckily Cortana was able to detect the heat coming off their Plasma Blades and warned him to duck or move left. As he moved, rolled or ducked to the side he had a split second to choose either to counterattack or keep running. Knowing the Husks would likely keep up their pursuit, he mostly chose to counter.

As he ducked under one slash, he slammed his fist into the Husk's head with an uppercut. He then fired on the falling Reaver as he pressed on. A second Husk jumped out at him and tried to cut him down in a scissor-like motion, but Cortana advised him to roll left before the ambush occurred. He did so and ended up looking right down the shotgun's sights at the Husk's backside. The Reaver took a point-blank range shell spread that blew apart its head. As he picked himself up to move again, Cortana cautioned him to jump right, as a Reaver slashed downward at him. Chief stuck the shotgun into the side of the creature's head and fired.

Three Reavers dead and the path to the exit seemed clear, at least until a Combat Form detached itself from the ceiling and dropped down in the Spartan's path. It opened fire with its Assault Rifle, but Chief couldn't stop his momentum. His shields were taking heavy damage and he couldn't slow himself fast enough to duck out of the way.

With little choice of manoeuvring options, the Master Chief bulldozed his body into the decaying monstrosity at full speed. The creature tried to fight back as the Chief carried him along, but the Spartan refused to succumb to the creature's blows. He kept going until he slammed the Combat Form into a wall where he forced himself off the abomination and fired his shotgun into the monster until the shells were all spent.

"You took a lot of hits on that one, Chief," Cortana warned as the Spartan began reloading. "You're going to need some medical attention soon."

"I'll hold out," he swore. "At least until we find Shepard's team. They'll have plenty of medi-gel."

"Then we gotta keep moving," Cortana informed him. "What little is left of the two sides back there won't preoccupy the other for long. We need to get some distance from these bastards."

Chief couldn't agree more, so he continued to run through the hallways towards their intended objective. The Shuttle Bay and the Commander weren't far away now. He only hoped they were having an easier time of it than him. But given what he had just been through, he knew that was unlikely.

---

Shredder rounds whizzed down the hallway, cutting deep into the hostile Combat Forms. This was the third group of Flood they had encountered so far. Varvok didn't expect it to be the last either. Thankfully, the Shredder Ammo Mod was more than sufficient to deal with the walking corpses.

Of course, he worried that the monsters would delay them for too long. If they spent too much time fighting the Flood, Shepard would likely leave before they had the chance to speak with him. It was a preoccupying fear in his mind, second only to the possibility of running into more infested batarians. He expected most of them were still trapped below in the various containment bunkers. However, there was always the possibility they had escaped. He hoped he would not be forced to kill more of his former people.

As Varvok's latest volley tore deep into a Combat Form as it charged up at them, Zek targeted those further back. His Needler Rifle was not great at killing the Flood outright. So long as enough needles stuck to their target, however, the results were more than effective.

Pink clouds exploded among the Combat Form ranks, blowing meaty chunks across the bulkheads and floors of the ship's corridors. When Zek managed to score enough hits on a Carrier Form waddling upwards, the resulting exploding tore apart a number of Combat Forms nearby. The released Infection Forms tried to scurry towards them next, but Varvok's men picked them off with relative ease.

"We're taking too damn long," Varvok growled. "Do we have any solid leads on Shepard's location yet?"

Zek just shook his head.

"I'm getting nothing on the net but panicked chatter," he stated. "Maybe we're going about this wrong. If he's as good a soldier as you say, he'd probably want to pick a way out of here that was close to a worthwhile objective. You're the bigger military man here, so think. Where would he want to go?"

Varvok tried to consider possibilities, but could only think of one.

"With all this damage, he'd probably want to find information on whether or not this ship is beyond saving," he concluded. "Best way he could do that would be the Control Room I imagine."

"Then we should head to the Hangar nearest the Control Room," Zek surmised. "I'll keep monitoring the airwaves for anything useful, but we should still make our way there. At least it's a definitive place to go."

"If I remember the layout of the ship correctly, there may be a shortcut up ahead we can use then," Varvok realised. "Come on!"

They raced down the passageway towards a small open hatch in the floor. Varvok could hear something garbling below. From the sound of it was a bunch of Carrier Forms, waiting to find someone to blow up with them most likely. Varvok held out his hand and one of his men handed him a high-explosive grenade. He activated the device and tossed it down the hole. The resulting explosion was followed by several smaller ones. Silence followed, the garbling from before had ceased.

"Alright, they're taken care of," the batarian leader declared. "I'll go first though, make sure it's clear."

"Just don't get mauled or anything," Zek warned rather sarcastically. "I'm going to have a hard time explaining things to our human friend when we find him otherwise."

Varvok let the sardonic jab go and dropped down into the vent. He landed on the metal floor and searched about the area. He only saw the remains of the exploded Carrier Forms strewn about the area initially, but he scanned the room meticulously regardless. He didn't want to miss any potential enemies that escaped his grenade.

Suddenly, something lunged out of a darkened corner of the room and slammed into him. Varvok was thrown to the floor, his helmet all that protected him from having his skull cracked. He looked up and saw his attacker, a Combat Form covered in some kind of strange shiny substance. He opened fire with his assault rifle, hoping the shredder rounds would make short work of the beast. Instead, it ignored the shots and aimed its own weapon at the batarian.

'That thing is covered in armour!' His mind quickly realised, rolling out of the way as the creature aimed a human shotgun at him and fired.

"Varvok! What's going on down there?" Zek called down.

The creature was distracted by the kig-yar's cry, moving towards the vent slightly. Varvok decided to use the distraction to his advantage. He activated his ballistic blades on him omni-tool and fired them at the creature. They didn't penetrate the armour, but they didn't need to. Three seconds after hitting the creature, the blades exploded, ripping the armour clean off the Combat Form. Varvok finished off what was left by riddling the remains of the Flood creature with shredder rounds.

"We're clear!" He called up.

The others came down, dropping through the open hatch one by one. They saw the remains of the Armoured Combat Form and looked aghast.

"What is all that stuff covering it?" A concerned batarian soldier asked aloud, his eyes staring curiously at the downed Flood Form.

"Bio-Armour of some kind," Varvok informed the man. "I don't know how, but these things have grown it. Until we know more, we don't assume this is a fluke. Keep explosives, inferno grenades and anything that rips through armour handy. We need to conserve them, use only when I tell you to."

Zek was already walking over to the dead creature to poke it with his gun as Varvok kept talking.

"Armour, as if these things can't get anymore fucking scary," the kig-yar grimaced.

"Let's just keep focused on finding Shepard," Varvok reiterated. "I have point, just stick close to me."

---

Covenant relentlessly exchanged fire with the Flood Horde advancing on their position. They huddled behind makeshift barricades of debris and portable shields firing back on the encroaching undead creatures. The walking corpses either succumbed to the returning plasma fire, or continued moving forward, unhindered by the Covenant's counterattacks.

It was this scene Shepard stumbled upon as he and his team rounded the next corner. They were instantly spotted by one of the Elites, who fired on the good Commander, forcing him to move back into cover. He clutched his shotgun tightly and did his best to survey the situation. They were directly behind the Covenant defensive perimeter, with the Flood apparently beyond that. Getting through both groups would not be easy.

"Alright, I'll send out a shockwave to soften them up," Shepard decided. "Legion, Tali get your drones out to run control on the Flood beyond those barricades. Miranda, Mordin, provide covering fire while Garrus picks off the Covenant. Then we can deal with the Flood."

With the plan set, the team went about putting it into action. Shepard's initial ripple of a shockwave broke up the line of defence, scattering Grunts and Elites alike about. Both Legion and Tali sent their drones ahead, hurrying through the chaos while the Covenant recovered from the biotic attack. Racing past the Covenant, they began to harass the Flood. Shepard didn't want them overrunning the Covenant and becoming their problem just yet after all.

Miranda and Mordin began firing at the Covenant position, taking out a few Grunts before they could get up. The Elites were not so easily beaten, however. They quickly repositioned themselves amongst their barricades, protecting themselves against the majority of the incoming fire.

It didn't really protect them from Tali's energy drain attack, which she used whenever she had a clear shot against the Covenant Officers. With their shields gone, they became even easier targets for Garrus' sniper rifle, which pinned them down even more. One Elite had a shot penetrate his eye, killing him instantly. Garrus moved onto the next target, although he couldn't get as clear a shot.

It was then there was an explosion from beyond the barricades. The Flood had destroyed Legion's drone, activating the self-destruct sequence. However, the blast had disrupted Tali's drone as well and allowed the remaining Flood to push forward.

They assaulted the barricade, destroying the bubble shields and bursting through the debris. Helpless Grunts were tossed aside as bullets, plasma and heavy tentacle blows battered the Elites. One of the Covie Officers did manage to beat off his attack and kill it with concentrated plasma fire, but more Flood were present to take the dead monster's place.

"New plan," Shepard told the others. "Take them all down before they settle on a winner."

"Biotic detonation should work," Miranda suggested.

Agreeing with her, Shepard let loose a pull attack alongside Miranda, striking one of the Combat Forms at the same time. The resulting detonation knocked the remaining Covies off their feet and decimated the Flood among their ranks.

Shepard decided to use this opportunity to get his team to move up. With a biotic charge, he flung himself down the corridor and into an Elite who had just regained his footing. A single shotgun blast finished the Covie off. Shepard then ducked down behind some debris before a Grunt nearby could do the same to him.

The Commander's team was quick to push up with him. They fired on the Covenant within the barricade as they pushed forward. Mordin hit them with a cryo blast, freezing a few of the Grunts in place. Garrus then shattered the frozen aliens with well placed sniper shots. Tali's shotgun blazed its own trail, hitting hard against some of the remaining Flood Forms still in the area. Miranda provided covering fire alongside Legion as they pushed up.

The Covenant quickly abandoned the barricades, moving further down the hallway in an attempt to find better ground. It looked like Shepard was in for a prolonged slog against the Elites now, but fate intervened in a most unwanted way. For bursting out of a nearby doorway, ripping the portcullis apart, were four Armoured Combat Forms.

They shrugged off the Plasma Blast more so than their regular unprotected brethren, slashing their tentacles about and firing back at the Elites. The Covenant did their best to hold out, but the Flood were too well protected. One Elite was tackled to the ground and beaten to death. Another was simply blown away with the excessive use of an assault rifle.

The last Elite, however, did not intend to die as his comrades. As one of the Armoured Combat Forms approached him, he took out his plasma grenade, ignited and threw himself at the monster. The resulting explosion only managed to kill the single Armoured Combat Form, his three fellow walking corpses had already set their sights on the Normandy crew huddling in their meagre little outpost. Shepard quickly switched to his Incendiary rounds and looked to the team.

"Start hitting them people," he ordered. "Anti-Armour attacks first!"

Garrus fired the opening shot, an armour piercing barrage of Assault Rifle that tore into the Armoured Undead creature. The shots were more effective than usual, at least against the armour that was continuously ripped away with every hit. Mordin set off an incineration blast among the Flood. This did seem to be burning away the armour, but for the time being was also not hurting the Flood as much as it usually did. So now, due to Mordin, the decaying super-strong abominations had been set ablaze. They were also still continuing steadily approach towards the Normandy crew.

"Hmm, most unsettling," Mordin noted aloud for everyone nearby, who were no doubt all thinking the same thing.

However, as frightening as Mordin's attack made their opponents, it was still effective in stripping away the armour. As was Miranda's warp attack, which she fired at one of the burning Flood. The attack didn't seem to hurt the Flood as much as before, although it did cause it to pause for a brief second. The armour did appear shredded none the less though.

"I got the first one," Tali assured, levelling her shotgun at the fire-stricken creature.

The quarian pumped three whole blasts at the undead monstrosity before the Combat Form finally fell. She quickly ducked her head down again though as an assault rifle burst was shot at her. The attack drained a significant portion of her shields, but otherwise she was unscathed. Shepard responded to the attack on his favourite engineer by sending out a shockwave at the offending Combat Form. The attack did little to hurt the creature, but it did send it tripping into a nearby wall.

"Throwing out a mine," Garrus shouted out.

Garrus tossed the explosive device directly into the path of a still standing Combat Form. The monstrosity stepped on the explosive just as it activated, ripping the Flood Form apart. However, it landed on the ground relatively intact from the waist up. It began crawling towards the barricades, firing what shots it could. Miranda just fired her M6D pistol into the downed creature. Its armour was useless now and the bullets finally penetrated the decaying creature's body and killed it.

There was still one remaining Combat Form and it had no intention of falling back. It got back up and started firing its shotgun at the crew, forcing them to seek cover as shells perforated the area around them. Garrus managed to peek out long enough to fire a few good shots that tore open a large crack in the monstrosity's armour. It was enough for Shepard.

"Alright, Tali," he said, "on three!"

"Three!" Tali shouted out before him.

They both jumped up from cover and unloaded on the Armoured Combat Form, aiming their shots for the crack created in its protective coating. As incendiary rounds and good old fashioned blasts tore into the creature, the Flood Form collapsed onto its back, firing its gun into the air one last time and died at last. The team emerged from the barricades now and surveyed the damage.

"The Master Chief wasn't kidding," Miranda noted. "These things are hard to kill."

"Let's just hope that we've finished them all off," Shepard stated. "Now come on, DOT's direction should lead us straight to the Shuttle Bay through the next intersection. It's just around the corner."

The team picked up and moved towards the next series of hallways. When they reached the intersection, however, they were in for a shock. There was a large piece of fallen debris blocking off their exit. The corridor they were supposed to take was beyond their reach now.

"Damn it," Shepard groaned. "Another dead end. This place is falling apart."

This hadn't been the first time this had happened. DOT's directions were good but she was working with their old schematics of the Covenant Ship when they had first raided it. The Truth and Reconciliation was in considerably worse condition now. They had been diverted from their original path several times now, squirming their way through the maze of broken doors, burning hallways and fallen ceilings. Not to mention one or two hull breaches that led down into coolant pools below.

"We're going to run out of ammo with all these detours at this rate," Garrus warned. "We keep doubling back and getting even more lost. There's gotta be a faster way."

"I'll get DOT back," Shepard assured him. "Hopefully we'll get luckier this go around."

But as Shepard prepared to contact the AI, Tali winced heavily. She clutched at her temple hard and braced herself against the wall. Shepard was pulled out of his present task and looked behind him to see the quarian clearly struggling to stand. He made an effort to help, but she waved him off and slowly stood back on her own two feet.

"Migraines again?" Miranda asked, sounding rather concerned.

"Mordin, take a look at her," Shepard ordered. "Quick medical scan."

The salarian did as such, but could only shake his head.

"Detect nothing substantial," he stated. "Most likely residual pain from neural shock treatment used earlier."

However, while everyone was fussing over her, Tali's mind seemed elsewhere. She looked about the corridors, her eyes darting from side to side. She then looked down the opposite corridor with a steely gaze.

"Guys, I think we should go this way," she informed them earnestly.

"Why?" Miranda asked. "Isn't that leading us away from the hangar?"

"No, I think..." Tali paused, shaking her head again. "I'm not sure. I just... I have a feeling there's a clear way over there."

"Tali, with respect," Garrus started. "I don't think we have time for gut feelings right now."

But the quarian just looked to Shepard, who inevitably had the final say.

"I don't know how, I just sense that we can get to the Shuttle Bay fast if we go this way," she insisted. "I'm certain, more certain then I've ever been."

Shepard thought for a moment, looking to his crew and then Tali.

"Well, we're lost already as it is," he admitted. "Alright, lead the way."

With that admission, Tali took point, rushing through the corridors like mad. Eventually they came to a curve in the hallway. The quarian looked down and used her omni-tool to burn through what appeared to be an electronic lock. A small shaft opened up and Tali lead the group through down to a deck below. When they regrouped at the bottom, she pointed off to an open door.

"That way," she told the others. "We need to go that way."

She led them through the door and then stopped halfway along the corridor. For a moment she clutched at her head, but recovered quickly. She felt along the wall and then forced her hands into a panel. She pulled the metal off the wall and revealed a maintenance shaft behind it.

"That should take us directly to corridor that leads up to the second level of the Hangar," she stated confidently.

"How did you know that was there?" Shepard asked, rather confused at everything.

"I just... had a feeling," she hesitantly explained. "Like a picture in my head."

Shepard looked a bit concerned, but decided to trust Tali on this. She just seemed so convinced that this was the way forward. Deciding to have faith in the bright young quarian, Shepard let her continue to lead the way, hoping that the "Images in her Head" weren't leading them astray.

---

Master Chief entered the doorway cautiously. The Shuttle Bay lay before him now. He was on its second level and, like the rest of the ship, the bay was currently in chaos. Infection Forms swarmed the lower deck, while the second level was in the hands of the Elites. They completely controlled the main docking platform that divided the room. A Shade turret sat at the end of the docking section itself, overlooking the floor below. Chief took up position behind a pillar, eyeing the Elites as they patrolled the central platform divider.

"We're getting close to the Control Room," Cortana assured him. "It's just another floor up from us."

As Cortana spoke, however, something began to chatter over the airwaves.

"I gave you an order soldier!" Keyes' voice painfully declared. "Now pull out!"

Chief had no intention of following that order and Cortana, her eyes on the Captain's vital signs, only reinforced that position.

"He's delirious," she stated frantically. "In pain! We have to help him!"

"We will," Chief assured. "But Shepard's meeting us here. We need to clear this place out and rendezvous with him."

Bringing out his sniper rifle, the Spartan took aim at the Covenant Officers striding across the central divider across from him. He took aim at the one near the Shade Turret first. He was partially protected by portable bubble shields, but not much. He managed to get a good line of sight on the back of the alien's neck. He then fired and watched the sniper round rip into the Covie's body.

As the Covie fell, garnering the attention of his fellows, Chief switched to his next target, an Elite in red armour trying to pinpoint where the shot had come from. He spotted the Spartan's scope glinting and pointed him out to the others. It was last thing he did before the Master Chief plugged another bullet straight through the alien's forehead.

The remaining Elites opened fire on the Spartan's position immediately, forcing Chief to duck back behind his pillar. He moved to the other side, noticing one of the Elites running towards the Shade turret. He quickly took aim a little bit ahead of the Covie and fired. He managed to square a hit on the alien's upper torso and the impact of the hit sent the Covenant Soldier flying over the edge of the central platform. By now though, the final two elites had pretty much painted the Spartan's position, it was time to relocate.

After reloading the rifle, he ran from cover. Plasma bolts followed in his wake, occasionally striking his shields. Halfway to the next pillar, he turned his sniper rifle on the Elites and began firing off shots. They weren't nearly as accurate as stationary shots, but they didn't help make the Elites more accurate either.

Chief reached the next support pillar, but he didn't stop. He kept moving, intending to reach the Shade turret before the Elites took possession of it again. As he kept running, he heard the bellow of another Elite racing up at him from a door directly in front of him. He fired his sniper rifle at the alien as he charged, Plasma Rifle blazing. The bullet hit the alien through the mouth, killing him instantly.

However, more Elites rushed through the door, as did some Grunts. Chief kept running, not intending to stay and face their wrath without superior firepower. He made it to the central docking platform and saw one of the Elites making a run for the Shade turret. The second Elite stared the Master Chief down and began to open fire, only to be jumped from above. A Combat Form had leapt from the third level platform tackled the Elite. The Covie and the Flood Thrall tumbled over the side of docking platform and down to the Shuttle Bay's main floor.

With no current enemy facing him down, Chief aimed his Sniper Rifle at the Elite trying to get the Shade. He fired a shot that planted itself square in the Covie's spine before firing another shot that struck the back of the alien's neck. The body fell to the ground just inches away from the Shade, but unfortunately Chief's troubles weren't over.

Seconds later, something slammed into him from behind. Another Combat Form has jumped him from above. Chief fell onto his stomach and quickly rolled over onto his back as the walking corpse fired its pistol at him. His shields dwindling, the Spartan let loose with two shotgun blasts and let the shells tear the Combat Form apart. He then picked himself up and ran to the Shade turret. Pulling himself up into the seat he took the gunner controls and aimed them down the central platform. Both Covenant and Flood were charging towards him. He either held them back here or he'd be overrun.

Pressing down hard on the controls, the Master Chief unleashed a barrage of plasma fire on the hostile forces. The Flood continued their charge regardless, jumping down from the platforms above in an attempt to attack the lone shade turret. The narrow docking platform didn't provide much space to move though, so they didn't get far before the Spartan's plasma shots ripped the Flood to pieces.

The Covenant weren't so keen to throw themselves at the relentless assault as the Flood were. The Grunts were forced into doing it as usual, but the Elites hung back. They seemed to be waiting for an opening or trying to fire on the turret from a distance. They doubled back along the path they had taken and opened fire from there. Chief was forced to aim for the Elites there, trying to force their heads back down into cover.

In the brief second he had taken his eyes off his direct front, a few more Elites raced up the docking platform. They fired off their Plasma Rifles at the turret, hitting Chief's shields hard. The Spartan was forced to swirl his gun back around and fire blasts directly down the platform towards his attackers. The Covies tried to fall back to better cover, firing back as they retreated, but the plasma blasts took their toll and killed two of them before they got back.

The Flood were still coming though, although their attacks were hardly as tactical in how they played out. Chief knew that the Elites wouldn't take themselves out of the game so soon though. He was proven right when he saw several flaming balls arcing towards his position. Realising what they were, Chief leapt from the turret just as one of the grenades landed in the gunner's seat. The Shade was destroyed by the blast and the shockwave disoriented Chief slightly. He remained standing though, refusing to be forced to his knees.

With his plasma-spewing gun gone, Chief switched back to his Shotgun and aimed down towards the back of the docking platform. He knew the Elites would follow up their attack soon enough and he'd be ready to take them down. Mere seconds after the explosion occured, the Covenant soldiers began bounding up towards him fully intending to finish him off.

That was when the lead Covie took several sudden hits to the head from an unknown source. His shields failed and then his skull was penetrated by a following round. Another Elite was killed in one shot that managed to rip clean through his shields and body. Judging by the way the bodies had fallen to the ground; Chief surmised the direction they had come from. He looked over to the left corner of Shuttle Bay and saw a most welcome sight. Taking positions among the support pillars were Garrus and Legion, aiming their respective sniper rifles down the line.

A biotic attack then zipped towards two Grunts, lifting them into the air and then slamming them down into the platform's floor with a heavy thud. A third Elite, unmoved by the attack kept his sights pinpointed on his target, the Master Chief, only for something to rocket across the bay and hit at high velocity. When the blur settled and a shotgun blast rang out, Commander Shepard at last stood before the Spartan.

"Glad you saved some for us," he told the Chief.

"Excellent timing, sir," Chief greeted in his usual stoic manner.

Behind the Commander, the Master Chief watched as two Grunts ran by screaming. They were pursued by a little drone and the rounds shot from the pistol of Tali'Zorah. Miranda and Mordin were close behind providing extra firepower. It seemed the Commander had brought a sizable force to assist in the mission. Considering that Covenant Strike Team was still in the back of his mind, Chief imagined they'd need that advantage relatively soon.

"It's good to see you got here in one piece, Commander," Cortana informed Shepard. "The Master Chief could use some medi-gel. The Captain is in serious trouble too, we need to get to him soon."

"We better get going then," Shepard replied. "Come on."

Chief briskly followed Shepard as they caught up to the others, already grouping around a door. Mordin was quick to move out formation to tend to the Spartan's wounds, administering some of his medi-gel enhanced bio-foam to the super-soldier. Meanwhile, Tali was speaking to the squad at large.

"We need to head this way," She said, holding her head tightly with one hand for a moment. "We're really close now, I can feel it."

Chief looked at Shepard, somewhat confused over the quarian's words.

"Don't look at me," he shrugged. "Hell, she's the reason we managed to get here so fast. I say, don't look too much into it."

Chief took the Commander's word for it and let him and the others take point. Tali led them through the doorway to a rather heavily corridor that led upwards. Clogging the corridor were several panicked Grunts fighting Flood Forces. Shepard, not wanting to waste more time, sent a shockwave rippling through the ranks of Covie and Flood alike and waved his team forward to follow him. They fired at the downed aliens and undead hostiles as they made their way up, intending to make sure they all stayed down.

They reached the third level of the Shuttle Bay and Tali pointed them towards a doorway directly in front of them at the back of the platform. Several Flood were already there, staking claims behind a large piece of debris. They fired on the group, prompting some to seek cover and the Master Chief to toss out a grenade at the position.

The resulting explosion sent decaying flesh flying and tumbling through the air. Mordin himself added to the carnage alongside Garrus, who fired off an incineration burst and proximity mine respectively towards the position. The combined destructive power ensured nothing, living or dead, remained intact to impede their progress. They rushed through the doorway, knowing the Control Room was just ahead.

The team soon found themselves in the corridor outside the Control Room. They weren't the only ones there though, as the Covenant were currently engaged with a sizable swarm of Flood, trying to retake the ship's nerve centre. However, before the team could contemplate their next move the radio went haywire with the pained horrified wailing scream of Captain Keyes.

"Captain!" Cortana frightfully shouted aloud in a panic. "His vitals are failing! Please, Chief, hurry!"

"You heard her," Chief was quick to shout. "We're out of time, let's go!"

As they pushed forward, the Flood charged out of the Control Room and attacked the Covenant head-on. A Combat Form tackled the lead Elite Commander to the ground as Infection Forms swarmed over the nearby Grunts. Further back at the end of the corridor, a whole pack of Carrier Forms threw themselves at the second squad of Covenant. The hallways shook with each walking gas bag's rupture.

With the Covenant more or less properly distracted, this gave Shepard, Chief and the others the opening they needed to get inside the Control Room itself. They ignored the pained screams of the assaulted Covenant and charged at the entranceway.

The Flood, still pouring out of the room at a steady pace, roared back at them. They spewed forth a torrent of fire at the group, who could only respond with shots from their own guns. Chief, who had positioned himself at the front of the attack, allowed his shields to absorb the most of the incoming fire. Firing off his shotgun, the Spartan managed to put down the Combat Forms and allow them entrance into the Control Room.

The inner sanctum of the ship had been breached, but that didn't stop the Flood onslaught. In fact, they seemed even more determined to eject the unwanted intruders. They converged on the Master Chief and his Normandy allies, forcing the group to seek cover as gunfire erupted from all directions.

Two Combat Forms pulled themselves out of one of the trenches beneath the Command Platform. Shepard fired on them as they tried to climb up. Miranda covered his flank, opening fire on another pair of Combat Forms firing on them. She threw a warp at one of them, gravely injuring it, and then sent a pull attack at the same Combat Form. The resulting biotic detonation killed the affected Flood Form and knocked the Combat Form to the side. That gave Miranda enough time to finish it off with a few more shots before it recovered.

Three Combat Forms rushed down the Command Platform's ramp. The master Chief fired on them as they charged, taking a hit in the arm from the incoming fire. He managed to kill two on their descent, causing their lifeless forms to tumble over the side of the ramp like ragdolls. Garrus tripped up the third by shooting its legs with Battle Rifle fire. Chief let the turian take over to finish the monster off while his shields recovered.

Tali and Legion used their drones to hold the Flood back from their position while taking cover behind a support pillar. The two roving balls of energy weren't much against the Flood directly, but they gave Tali enough time to take aim at them with her shotgun. Her first shot ripped off one's arm and her second killed it dead. The quarian silently attributed the poor aim to her now throbbing headache that she was doing her best to fight back against. She was more accurate with her next two shots, hitting the Combat Form's torso directly.

At the same time, Legion noticed a lone Carrier Form snaking its way through the battle. It was making run for the Master Chief while he was preoccupied with fending off more Combat Forms. The geth quickly recognized the threat and opened fire, rupturing the gas bag just mere feet away from the Spartan They then targeted the Infection Forms that spilled out with pinpoint accuracy, killing them before they even hit the ground.

Chief and Shepard now advanced on the Command Platform. Garrus and Miranda covered their backs as they both made a dash for the ramp. One of the Combat Forms fired on them from across the room, forcing them to duck under its fire. It was quickly set ablaze by Mordin, sending out an incineration blast that burned through its decaying flesh and roasted the parasite within.

Shepard and Chief got back up and kept moving towards the Platform. One of the Combat Forms jumped from above, firing its Assault Rifle as it descended. Master Chief shot off its arm, but did not kill the creature. The monster kept falling towards the Spartan, ready to slash the super-soldier across the face with a powerful tentacle swing. The Chief responded by bashing the creature away with the back of his gun. He shot it once more when it hit the ground.

Shepard focused his shots on a lone Combat Form at the top of the ramp armed with a shotgun of its own. One hit drained the Commander's shields down to half and Shepard reacted quickly. He tossed a shockwave at the walking corpse, lifting it into the air, before unleashing a torrent of shotgun shells. The incendiary rounds roasted the decaying flesh of the Combat Form and disintegrated it before it could do more harm.

The gunfire at last seemed to die down, as the Master Chief reached the top of the Command Platform with the Commander close behind. There, in the corner of the platform, was a large fleshy cocoon-like sack. It attached itself to the support columns with strands sinew and slime. It pulsated and glowed in the darkness of the room, beating like some diseased black heart that spewed puss and bile.

The true horror though was what cocoon-like object seemed to be made of. Poking out of the walls of the object were several human faces in various twisted images of horror and pain, each frozen in a silent scream. Master Chief thought he recognized some of them as Marine he remembered from Jenkins' helmet cam, but there was one face he was sure he knew. Tendrils, slime and flesh intertwined with the person's body, forcing themselves into every orifice and piercing the body. But despite the mutilation, Chief could still make out tortured pained face of Captain Jacob Keyes staring back at him.

"Captain?" Chief spoke aloud in shock.

Shepard approached joining the Spartan in his state of disbelief. The approached as well, Tali being among the last. She clutched her head harder the closer she came, no longer able to hide the pain. She groaned with every step, clutching at her helmet painfully. When she saw what had become of the Captain, however, she and everyone else stood with mouth agape.

"Keelah, what in the... what is this thing?" She asked through pained apprehensive breaths.

Cortana scanned Keyes and confirmed what they all feared.

"No human life-signs detected," she stated in shock. "The Captain... he's one of them!"

They were too late, Keyes was too far gone. The Flood had him now. Everyone hung their heads in regret, both in sadness and to briefly stop looking at what a great man had been reduced to.

"If only we came sooner," Garrus wretchedly declared.

"It probably wouldn't have done any good," Tali meekly informed him, fighting past the pain throbbing in her head. "He had already been taken by the Flood several hours before we even knew he was missing. Whatever they did to him... he was already too far gone."

It was not a very uplifting conclusion to their mission. They had come to save a friend, a good soldier, a leader, hoping against hope he was somehow still alive. They had failed in that. They would have to settle for their primary objective instead, as Cortana reminded them all.

"We can't let the Flood get off this ring," she adamantly declared. "If they do, Captain Keyes won't be the last person to end up like this. You know what he'd expect-"

Cortana paused there for a moment as Chief lowered and shook his head.

"What he'd want us to do," Cortana regretfully finished.

Chief stood tall once more as Cortana spoke. She was right. He had failed the Captain, but not the mission. Right now all that mattered was Halo, what it would do if activate, what the Flood would do if they escaped it. They'd have to mourn their losses later or risk adding to them now.

So he balled his fist, reeled it back and slammed it into his former Captain's face. The others winced and looked away, save for Tali who seemed to stumble back slightly as the fist punctured the skull. Chief rummaged around the cocoon for a moment, felt something in his grasped and then pulled it back. He shook off the excess bile and slime that had accumulated on the object, revealing a small chip in his hand. It was Keyes' neural interface. He plugged the device into his head and backed away from the cocoon.

"It's done, I have the code," Cortana informed everyone sorrowfully. "Let's get out of here. We should head back to the hangar and call the Normandy in for a shuttle."

Shepard looked back to see Tali rubbing her head and leaning against the dashboard of the Command Platform. He walked over to pull her back up onto her feet, but he waved her off, standing herself up.

"You alright?" He asked her worriedly.

"Actually, yes," she informed him. "The second the Chief punched that thing my headache vanished. Like, it was really strong and then just gone."

"Hmm, interesting," Mordin noted, rubbing his chin. "Perhaps migraines were residual feedback. Product of being in close proximity to cocoon object. Previous encounter with Flood Spores may have induced resonant brainwave activity. Subconscious warning of danger presented by foreign entity."

Everyone just stared at the salarian confused. He quickly restated himself.

"Cocoon perhaps significant within Flood," he exasperatedly explained. "Hypothesized higher intelligence. Group thought among Forms. Spores attempted to infect Tali'Zorah. Induced hallucinations. Reaction possible response to close proximity of mental feedback of specimen. Heightened her awareness of danger."

"So, basically her mind was lashing out against the hostile mental patterns of whatever that Coccoon thing is?" Garrus concluded. "Alright, so does that mean all these Flood are going to just fall over dead now? That would be nice."

"I don't really care," Tali replied fervently. "I'm just glad my skull doesn't feel like it's going to split in half."

Suddenly Legion looked about the room, slowly turning towards a door in the far off corner.

"Legion," Shepard looked to the synthetic cautiously. "Something wrong?"

"We detect a massive influx of movement," it stated. "Encroaching upon location through several vectors at rapid pace."

Everyone instantly realised what that probably was.

"So instead of all dying they're all just be pissed off we killed whatever was in that cocoon," Miranda suggested rather despondently. "Isn't that wonderful? Great job jinxing it, Vakarian."

"How the hell did I jinx it?" Garrus tried to defend himself.

"Argue about it later," Shepard ordered. "We need to get out of here now!"

The team moved to leave by the door they had entered, but before they reached it Legion shouted another warning.

"Caution," it declared aloud. "We detect heat signatures beyond immediate exit."

Flood didn't have heat signatures, they were dead. That meant only one thing. The door opened wide to confirm their fears, standing in the doorway were two Grunts in black armour, armed with Fuel Rod Cannons and two Black-Clad Elites close behind them.

"Spec-Ops!" Chief shouted out, firing off his shotgun and killing one of the Grunts.

The team ran to the left of the doorway as the second Grunt fired its Fuel Rod Cannon. The shot missed them and sailed through the air to a doorway directly across from where the Spec-Ops were. The doors opened just in time for several Flood to be greeted by a burning ball of green exploding energy. They were hardly the only Flood though, as more pour in from nearby doors as well. The Spec-Ops Covenant moved in to hunt down Spartan and his allies, but found the Flood blocking their way.

A single Combat Form tackled a Spec-Ops Elite to ground, only for the Covenant Soldier to slash into him with his plasma sword. More Spec-Ops Grunts followed, firing their weapons at the Flood and killing scores of them as they tried to enter through the doorways. However, with the Flood on all sides, it was hard to keep eyes on every entrance. One Grunt got sideswiped in the head by a Combat Form and sent him flying across the room.

"Now's our chance!" Shepard stated at the height of the melee between the two groups. "Get to the exit!"

Shepard charged into one of the Elites at the back of the Spec-Ops group. The biotic attack sent the alien into a wall as the Commander unloaded his shotgun into him. The Master backed the Commander up, running up to punch one Elite in his head before firing his own shotgun right into the Covie's stomach. This gave the others an opening to follow the two through and the rushed to the exit, leaving the Covenant to duke it out with the Flood by themselves.

---

Making their way back through the corridors, Shepard led the group towards the Hangar once more. He was preparing to get on the radio to contact Joker when they neared the corner. They saw another group of Spec-Ops Covies moving up towards them. The head Elite spotted him and opened fire, forcing Shepard to duck back into cover along with the others.

"Alright, looks like we're in for a fight here," he informed the others. "Spec-Ops must be here in force, so we need to think smart here. Tali, Miranda, you take down their shields while Garrus-"

Shepard's instructions were unexpectedly interrupted by the sound of an explosion coming from down the hallway. The hallway where the Spec-Ops had been just seconds before. There the sound of gunfire followed, as did plasma fire.

"That sounded like a Plasma Grenade," Master Chief noted.

"And some of those shots sound like Vindicator Rifles," Garrus added.

Shepard cautiously looked around the corner to see one of the Spec-Ops Elites get riddled with bullets before falling to the ground. Carefully, Shepard and the others marched up the hallway only to stop when someone entered through the door that led to the Hangar at the end.

Standing tall and facing them down, was a familiar Batarian with a Commander's stripe down his helmet. At his side was a Jackal with a feathery Mohawk and a targeting apparatus on his face. Shepard instantly raised his gun to challenge the two potential hostiles, as did everyone else. However, he was the shocked by what happened next as the batarian lowered his weapon, with the Jackal slowly doing the same.

"Wait!" The Batarian shouted, raising one of his hands as he lowered the gun. "We mean you no harm!"

Shepard kept his weapon trained on the alien, alongside the rest of his crew. He was wary, mainly because it was odd to see batarian soldier wanting to talk to him for once. That never happened, ever.

"We'll see," Shepard replied. "Put the gun down first."

The batarian dropped the weapon on the floor and raised his hands. He then looked to the Jackal who then grumbled something and did the same. Shepard lowered his weapon in kind, but did not put it away. He also didn't order the others to do the same, cautiously eyeing the two before them. He already recognized the batarian thought. They had met before, on this very ship in fact.

"You're the 'Swords of Khar'Shan' Commander that ambushed us," Shepard recalled. "Balak called you... Varvok, as I remember."

"Yes," the batarian answered. "My name is Lieutenant Commander Varvok, but I'm not here to ambush you this time and I don't have a message from Balak either."

"So why are we talking?" Shepard asked incredulously.

"Because we need your help," the four-eyed alien answered instantly.

The entire squad was taken aback by the reply. The only one not seemingly showing any surprise was the Master Chief, who kept his shotgun levelled at the two aliens regardless of their answer.

"I gotta tell ya," Shepard casually admitted. "I didn't think I'd be hearing that from a batarian anytime soon, especially one that's been trying to kill me and my crew for several days."

"You should know better than anyone how fast situations change, Commander Shepard," Varvok informed him. "This is just a more drastic turns of events than either of us could've predicted."

"Get to the point," Garrus demanded sternly. "What do you want?"

"The same as you I suspect," the Jackal replied adamantly. "We want a ticket off this shithole of a ring world before we become monster food."

Shepard supposed that wasn't an unusual request given the circumstances. Shepard still felt it odd that Varvok and whoever this Jackal was were asking him for help. True, they had killed a Spec-Ops soldier before their eyes, but they had yet to explain why.

"Mind telling me why you need our help with that?" Shepard asked them, looking at the dead Elite near their feet. "The Covenant have more working ships than us. I can see you've turned on them, but I can't figure out why."

"Because the Covenant have made it clear how little they value the lives of myself and my men," Varvok answered fervently. "They sacrificed scores of them in a futile attempt to hold these parasitic monstrosities back and they intended to send more into the meat grinder if I did nothing. As for my associate here, Zek was only serving under contract. A contract they violated."

"They issued orders to my men behind my back that got them killed," the Jackal explained, practically spitting as he spoke. "So we all tried to bail on them and barely escaped with our lives. Problem is, our ship took a lot of damage and we can't leave the system under our own power. We need another ship, one that can tow us off this shithole and protect us from the Armada that's still up there."

Shepard was certainly intrigued by the story, but he wasn't fully convinced. Although some of what Varvok said had made some sense and filled in a few holes. Still, that didn't make him suddenly trust the two would-be allies.

"I see why you may want our help, but I don't see how this benefits us," Shepard admitted. "Why should we risk helping you and jeopardizing our escape plan?"

"We can provide valuable insight and intel on the Covenant threat," Varvok explained, rather sure of himself as he spoke. "More importantly, you help us get a ship and we share resources. You and the Marines are trapped on Halo too, and that little frigate of yours isn't big enough to carry all of them. With our help, we can both get a ship capable of getting us off the ring."

"Little late on that front," Garrus informed them with a slight condescending snort. "We already got our sights set on our escape ship. You're standing in it actually. So I don't see why we need you."

Garrus' words didn't seem to put either Varvok or Zek off, but they did look rather disappointed in the turian's reply.

"You can't be that thick can you?" Zek asked. "Forget how busted up this tub is for a second. This place is crawling with those Flood things. You honestly believe you can disinfect this ship completely? You miss even a few of these bastards and the whole damn mess is just gonna start up again somewhere else."

As Zek spoke, Miranda looked about to her compatriots and slowly lowered her gun.

"He has a point," she admitted. "We've already discussed that problem as you recall. We can't risk the Flood escaping Halo."

"That doesn't mean we should just accept their help out right," Garrus argued. "This batarian tried to kill us, remember? How do we know this isn't just another trap?"

"You really think we'd go through all this trouble just for a trap," Zek interjected. "Hell, this whole thing wasn't even my idea, it was Varvok's. Personally, I thought this was all a bit crazy from the onset."

Shepard looked to the batarian, trying to read him and discern the truth. Varvok didn't seem to offer an objection, subtly or overtly, to Zek's comment. So far as he could tell this was Varvok's plan. That didn't make him feel all that comfortable with trusting him though.

"Commander Shepard," the batarian began. "I will be the first admit I am not a fan of the Alliance or you. Make no mistake either, me coming to you like this doesn't make us friends, nor do I wish it to. You humans are a blight and I will not forgive you for what you did to my people."

"Well, aren't you the charmer," Tali quipped venomously as she kept her pistol at the ready.

"But I am not as blinded by my hatred as other batarians," Varvok continued, barely registering Tali's comment. "I would never sacrifice the lives of my men needlessly to achieve a victory. The Covenant were allowed to send my men to slaughter because Balak gave them permission. He even knew what was happening with the Flood here and kept me in the dark. He endangered my life and the lives of my soldiers so he could get some guns. My mentor turned on me and he turned on the principles of the Batarian people along with it. That is the only reason I come to you now."

That certainly sounded like the Balak he knew, ruthless and underhanded were his trademarks. Varvok's rising anger also seemed genuine. That alone was enough to keep this conversation going at the very least.

"At least you're honest," Shepard admitted. "Course, I could have told you all that about Balak long ago. It may have saved you some trouble."

"None of that matters now," Varvok informed him. "What matters is getting our people out of here alive. As much as I dislike you, Shepard, I know one important thing about you, your empathy. You allowed Balak to flee in order to save a bunch of people you didn't even know. You've always spoken proudly about building bridges, standing up for your personal morals and values. More importantly though is the fact you care about your soldiers. That's one thing that makes us alike."

"Your point being?" Shepard questioned, glaring at him.

"Several points actually," Varvok replied confidently. "You can't allow the Flood threat to potentially risk more lives. You'd kill yourself before you let it infect more people. You'd never leave a fellow soldier behind, not when there's the slightest chance they can be saved. You're too practical to turn down potential allies, or at least an opportunity to gain intel on the enemy. And finally, you're not callous enough to leave us here to be slaughtered like cattle. Not when we're willing to put our differences with you aside for the benefit of us both. Otherwise, what good were all those speeches about galactic unity you made?

Shepard thought about the situation for a moment. As much as he wasn't sure about Varvok, he had to admit the batarian made sense. He didn't feel like he was being lied to either. His mind rapidly started piecing everything he knew together, trying to obtain a full picture of what was going on.

"Shepard," Tali asked cautiously. "Do you think they're telling the truth?"

"We know from Liara that the Covenant don't exactly consider themselves mutual partners with the Hegemony," Shepard recalled aloud. "More importantly, we know they're capable of keeping secrets and that Balak is ruthless enough to turn on his own men."

"Cortana also picked up chatter on a Covenant ship that went AWOL a few hours ago," Master Chief suddenly added. "I don't think they'd risk further dissension by falsely reporting something like that."

Zek grinned at the Spartan's comments.

"Yeah, that was me," he chuckled. "I'm a certified traitor to the cause. I even got a huge ass bounty on me for it to boot."

"We both do," added Varvok.

That seemed to confirm their story, but there were other variables, added to by the rest of the squad.

"Flood are indeed heavily entrenched," Mordin stated firmly. "Little time to find appropriate substitute escape craft on own. Assistance would be most ideal."

"Not to mention I imagine making sure the Flood remains trapped on Halo is something no one will disagree with," said Miranda supplementing the Professor's argument.

"Logic of batarian is sound," said Legion, offering its own conclusion. "Between combined resources and troop strength, we surmise it is highly possible to take possession of an enemy vessel with far less structural damage. Situation would in fact be preferable. We also detect no semblance of potential falsehood or deception."

"And personally," Tali begrudgingly admitted. "After what I experienced... I wouldn't wish for anyone to suffer the Flood alone. If they're really genuine about this alliance... maybe we should take them up on it."

That just left one more Normandy, Garrus, who still seemed a bit leery at the whole suggestion.

"I think we're forgetting about the UNSC," he reminded them. "How would we convince them this is a good idea?"

"There's no harm in trying," Shepard surmised. "More importantly, I think the Marines would look past whatever issues they have if it meant they can get off Halo in one piece without the Flood following us."

"Look, do whatever you think is right, Shepard," Garrus calmly elaborated. "My point is we're going to have trouble explaining this to Silva. I just know it."

Shepard imagined so, but he'd cross that bridge when they came to it. He now looked to the Master Chief, the only person, besides Cortana who hadn't offered an opinion.

"What do you think, Chief," he asked. "Can we trust them?"

There was a short pause before the Spartan answered, keeping his eyes on the two aliens in front of him as he spoke.

"I think it's pretty stupid to come all the way here just to lead us into a trap when it sounds like they have enough soldiers out there to kill us seven times over if they wanted," Chief admitted rather stoically. "As for trust, I trust that they don't want to die here anymore than we do and that they aren't on good terms with the Covenant."

"Agreed," Cortana added succinctly, speaking only through the closed-circuit radio channel among the squad. "Covies wouldn't just sacrifice Spec-Ops soldiers for a trap. They'd just have the Spec-Ops kill us. That and I have brought up a pretty authentic looking notice concerning our Jackal friend over there from off the Battlenet. It's about one of the only pieces of intel that's actually getting through all the chaos. He's definitely got a substantial price on his head, for both mutiny and murder in fact. That lends credence to their story."

Shepard looked back to both Varvok and Zek. He and the batarian stared each other down for what seemed like a full minute, but it was actually just a few short seconds. Shepard waved his hand down, signalling the others to lower their weapons.

"Alright, we're giving you a chance," he told Varvok sternly. "How exactly is this going to work?"

"Simple," Zek answered. "We have a plan to swipe a Covie Corvette that's currently searching for my ship. All we need is some manpower to take it. You have more than enough to spare I imagine. That Corvette combined with our own, as well as your ship, should be enough to carry everybody off this ring without risking life support. Hell, we'll even let your Marines operate the thing. We certainly don't have enough people on hand to keep it running by ourselves."

"All well and good," Shepard admitted. "Problem though, we have something we need to take care of ourselves before we can attempt to leave."

"What exactly could be more important than getting off Halo before those monsters overtake us?" Varvok asked curiously.

The Master Chief was quick to give the batarian his answer.

"We're blowing up Halo," he informed him bluntly. "It's the only way to stop the Flood and keep the ring from being activated."

Both Zek and Varvok seemed surprised at the news, for a moment at least. Then Zek just erupted into uproarious laughter.

"You're going to explode this place? Shit! I suddenly like you guys a whole lot more," the Jackal chuckled. "How you managing that?"

"That answer depends on whether or not you're willing to agree to our condition for this alliance," Shepard informed him frankly. "You need to help us pull it off. You said it yourself, Varvok. We can't let the Flood escape. Our only option is to blow the ring up before that happens. And let's face it, I need to be sure your people don't turn on mine while they're helping you takeover another enemy ship."

Varvok seemed to consider the terms for a moment and then sighed.

"Very well, I can't say I object to destroying Halo in any case," he relented. "And I suppose, given the fact I've been trying to kill you and your team, you require a gesture of good faith on my part. I will accompany you on your mission, so long as you don't force any of my men to come along. I'd rather put myself on the line before any of them."

"Hey, wait a second here," Zek declared. "You don't get to have all the fun. If Four-Eyes here gets to be on the ground floor of 'Operation: Blow this Shitpile Up', I want in too."

"Fine by me," Shepard replied. "But don't your men need you to help hijack that Corvette you're eyeing?"

"Eh, I can delegate that task to my First Mate," Zek suggested. "I've kinda had my fill of glory sticking it the Covenant military, no sense in hogging it. Besides, helping you guys make this place go boom sounds real fun."

A series of plasma blasts emanated from the Shuttle Bay. Varvok bent down to retrieve his gun, as did Zek. He then started moving towards the entrance to the Hangar.

"We can hammer out further details as we move towards the hangar floor," he stated. "If we're going to destroy Halo then we have precious little time to pull our plan off. I've had my men start securing the Hangar, we should have a clear landing area."

"I'll send for our shuttle," Shepard stated. "Let's move."

They headed back through the winding corridors to the second level of the Bay. As they arrived, however, they were met with an unwelcome surprise. Flying through the shields over the hangar doors appeared two Banshees. They opened fire on the Batarians down below, causing most to scatter and killing one with concentrated fire. The group hid behind cover as the aircraft landed and the Spec-Ops Elites within exited.

"Even if we do plan on taking another ship instead," Cortana informed the others. "We're going to need a place for the Marines to hold out until we can pick them up. We can clear out the majority of the Covenant left and have everyone at Alpha Base relocate here. Then we can try explaining the plan to Silva."

"I was staying behind anyway to provide the others recon intel," Garrus reminded them. "I may not be able to convince Silva, but Kat will listen. Maybe together, along with Linda and Jun, we can get him onboard with the plan."

"We should still stay awhile to help Varvok's people clear the area out," Shepard suggested. "Then we can relocate them to the Normandy before the Marines arrive. That should keep things from getting messy."

"But we can't put off heading to the Autumn anymore," Cortana insisted. "We need to exercise our time wisely."

The AI was right, which meant only one thing.

"Chief," Shepard said, looking at the Spartan. "You need to go on ahead without us. You and Cortana have the code. You're the only two among us who can destroy Halo right now. We need at the Autumn as soon as possible."

"Understood, sir," Chief complied. "Just don't leave us hanging for too long."

"As if any of us would want to miss the fireworks," Tali stated rather dryly.

Shepard looked out f cover and towards the Banshees on the bottom floor.

"Grab one of those banshees," he told the Spartan. "We'll cover your escape."

The Master Chief nodded and rushed out of cover. He jumped off the docking platform, landing right behind one of the Covenant aircraft. He punched the Spec-Ops pilot nearby to the ground and fired a shotgun shell into his head. His fellow Elites spotted the Spartan and opened fire, but Shepard's team was quick to respond.

A hail of bullets, and even needles from the Jackal called Zek, rained down on the Elites. Chief jumped into the Banshee's cockpit and closed the canopy. He coasted towards the hangar exit, even as plasma fire struck his fleeing ship's rear. He then disappeared into the night, leaving the Truth and Reconciliation behind once more.

"Damage report," he requested.

"Banshee got hit hard, but she's holding for now," Cortana informed him. "I suggest we take it slow so we don't exacerbate things further. Right now we need to focus on getting to the Autumn and hoping Shepard meets us there when he can."

"I'm not worried about that," Chief assured her. "He'll be there, I know he will. He won't leave us hanging."

For a brief second, Chief thought he heard Cortana chuckling.

"Glad to see you're fully over your Lone Wolf Complex," she informed him.

He regretted every acquiring it. Running away from Shepard and his team had been mistake, one born out of an irrational fear. Although he would be separated for the time being, he knew it wouldn't be for long. He'd have the others to back him up. With their help there was no way they could fail.

"We're going to need everyone to pull this off," the Spartan declared. "Either we end Halo now or it ends all life in the galaxy."

"Well then, Master Chief," Cortana asserted distantly. "Let's head home."

---

AN: Oh man, that took longer than expected. I hope you understand, I can't work as fast as I used to now that I'm back at school. I apologise for taking so long but I assure you it was not without reason. I hope this extra long chapter more than makes up for the lack of an update.

I also hope you enjoyed that little peek into the mind of Flood at the start. I've been wanting to do that forever. I'll give more insight into it in my profile notes for my usual behind the scenes segment. That's also where you can find more information on a new Kickstarter I've started funding. For anyone who loves the Gravemind and the Flood, this one is right up your alley. It's called "Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown – New Blu Edition" and I really think it's worth your time. Check it out for yourselves and look up more information on it in my profile.

We're in the home stretch now gang; all that remains is the Maw. These last few chapters are going to be incredibly insane with the amount of content I have planned. I'm hoping I can keep it managed, but we'll see. It may be delayed a bit since uh, well, I have papers and stuff coming up soon. Not to mention preparations for the best fucking holiday of the year! So, if I don't get a chance later, Happy Halloween everyone. I'm glad I was able to get a Zombie War chapter to you in time for October. Thanks for reading and do please leave feedback.