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.

37. Hitchikers may be Escaping Convicts

Chapter 36: Hitchhikers may be Escaping Convicts

Plasma Bolts cascaded along the bulkhead and filled the doorway ahead of them. No one could even stick their heads out, let alone return fire. The Spec-Ops Elite was fully committed to killing them it seemed, refusing to let up on the trigger. Shepard could barely see him out of the corner of his eye, and even then he eventually pulled back from the corner as the plasma fire intensified.

"Doesn't that idiot know the ship is exploding!?" Tali shouted aloud in anger.

"I don't think he cares," Shepard responded to her with a grimace.

Zek tried to get into the corridor with his shield, but it was pelted with so much plasma fire he had to pull back. The defensive measure was glowing red now, on the cusp of shorting out. Annoyed, Zek used his Needler Rifle to look around the corner and then peered through the scope when the plasma shots pulled away from his corner. He was able to get a good look at their enemy's face, but not a decent enough shot to try to take him out.

"Something familiar about that sangheili," he stated aloud.

The kig-yar didn't have enough time to figure out exactly what was familiar about the Spec-Op, as the turret was swinging back his way. He jumped back as plasma bolts cut across the hall. Zek grumbled as he tried to discern matters.

"Do we know any crazy Spec-Ops guys, Varvok?" He asked the batarian.

"You were on that island helping one as I recall," Varvok noted. "Can't remember the name myself, it's been awhile."

"Oh I forgot about that," Zek managed to recollect before shrugging his forgetfulness off. "It's been a crazy couple of days to be honest."

Shepard didn't really care about the identity of this Covie, only that they find a way to get rid of him now. He looked to the Master Chief hopefully.

"You got any rockets left?" He asked him.

"One more in the tube," Chief shouted to him over the blazing plasma bolts. "If you can get him to stop shooting for a second or two…"

A tall order from all outward appearances no doubt, the Elite was hell-bent it seemed on saturating the area with plasma. They needed to force him to pause. Luckily, Cortana had an idea.

"I still have control over the lift system," she assured them all. "Let me drop him down a bit, should give you some time to send a rocket down his throat."

The AI did so. The lift shuddered as the alien's shots started going wide from the sudden drop. Taking the opportunity, the Master Chief rushed out of the corner, bent down on one knee and aimed down the scope of the launcher. He pressed the trigger down hard and let the rocket fly through the air. It slammed into the turret and exploded in a violent burst of flames.

Smoke filled the lift, obscuring their view of the aftermath. The Master Chief, being the closest to the carnage, moved up first to check things out. As he entered the room, reaching its center, he could see just enough through the smoke to realise the Shade turret was completely demolished. All that remained was wreckage. He turned to report the good news to the others, when his motion tracker picked up something.

"Chief!" Cortana shouted in his ear. "Look out!"

He turned back just in time to see the still living Spec-Ops Elite jump out of the smouldering lift. Chief fired his weapon on the Covie, but the Elite was able to jump him regardless and tackle him to the ground. Knocking the gun away and closing his hand on the Chief's neck, the Elite went to stab his plasma dagger through the Spartan's heart.

Instead, the Elite took a hit to his shoulder, delivered by Miranda Lawson and the M6D she was still packing. The extra second of time was all that Cortana needed. She used the electrical shock trick from before once more, forcing the Elite back enough to allow the Chief to kick the alien clean off him. Chief got to his feet, but the Elite tried to charge again, his plasma dagger out once more. This time, the Spartan was ready and delivered a haymaker to the Elite's left before kicking the dagger out of the alien's hand.

"Shields back up," Cortana informed him as he took a fighting pose.

The Elite didn't seem to care that he had been disarmed, he went to attack the Spartan in hand-to-hand combat. Gutsy, fearless, but still reckless nonetheless. Chief was apathetic to the bravado, he blocked the Elite's punch and delivered a body blow of his own. The Elite came back swinging, hitting him on the side of the face and blocking one of Chief's hits in return. As the Elite knocked back a kick, Chief delivered a backhanded punch to the Elite's face, spilling blood from the alien's mouth.

"Kill that fucker already, human!" Zek cheered on from afar. "Bust his stupid skull open!"

What did he think he was trying to do, the Spartan thought. He threw another punch, but the Elite blocked it. He then grabbed the Elite's fist as he tried to hit him and bent it backward. The shriek of pain was followed by a roar as the alien used his free hand to punch the Spartan's helmet, trying to bust open his visor. Eventually, Chief just sent an uppercut into the alien's chin and sent him reeling backwards.

As the Elite hit the ground he swept the Spartan's leg and forced him to tumble as well. The Elite got back up to try and pound the Spartan's face into the floor with his foot, but Chief rolled out of the way. He got behind the alien and kicked in the back. The Elite reeled, but did not fall. He turned violently, trying to slash at the Spartan with his hand. Chief ducked and moved to the side to try and deliver a body blow.

He scored a hit, but so did the Elite as he punched the Spartan in centre of his visor. As Chief reeled backwards though, a biotic shockwave struck the Elite, sending the Spec-Ops soldier into a far wall. Chief looked to the side to see the Commander standing in the doorway.

"Sorry, was this one of those one-on-one things?" He asked jovially.

"No," Chief assured him. "Appreciate the assist, sir."

"Good, I was worried I was breaking a fight rule or something," the Commander joked.

The Elite roared again as he tried to deliver a running punch at the Spartan, only for Chief to turn and punched him in the nose. He then kicked the Elite back into the lift he had appeared from before tossing a grenade into the alien's lap. The explosion ripped through the Elite and sent his body hurtling backwards against the wall. What was left of the Covie was nearly unrecognizable and not something anyone would want to look at for very long anyway. The Master Chief was finally able to catch his breath.

"Well that was a whole lot of random," Cortana quipped. "Where did he come from? And how the hell did he know we'd be here anyway?"

"Coincidence," Chief suggested.

"You don't ride down in a turret on a lift just for the hell of it," she was quick to counter. "No, he was waiting for us. And from the look in his eyes he really wanted to kill you for some reason."

He supposed that wasn't too far-fetched. A revenge seeking Elite? Possible, but he couldn't think of any Covie who'd want him dead more than any other. In the end, it didn't really matter as Cortana herself pointed out.

"Well whoever he was, he's dead now," she declared. "Everyone in the lift, we need to get the hell out of here!"

"Sounds good to me!" Zek shouted happily as he scurried to the lift.

They ran into the now gore splattered and wreckage strewn lift. The doors closed as a fiery blast consumed the area they had just been in. It had been a close a shave that was for sure. They weren't scot-free yet though, they still needed to escape the ship. Cortana was already working on that end of things.

"Cortana to Echo 419, come in Echo 419!" She pleaded over the comm.

A few seconds later, as the lift continued to rise through the shaft, Foehammer responded.

"I read you Cortana, five-by-five," the Pelican pilot declared. "What's the situation? Over."

"The Pillar of Autumn's engines are going critical, Foehammer," the AI hurriedly explained. "Request immediate extraction! Approach the crash site and be ready to pick us up at external access Junction 4C on my signal!"

"Affirmative," Foehammer replied dutifully. "Echo 419 on station."

---

Kat used her metal arm's built in omni-tool to speedily hack the door to the bridge. She could've been more careful and opened it quietly, but Silva knew they were coming. There was no sense in being subtle. The door's lock sparked and sputtered before it blew off with a small blast. The doors than screeched open and Kat, Linda and McKay rushed inside. They found Silva standing atop the Command Platform with at least four ODSTs at his side. They stared the Major down as he and his men pointed they weapons at them.

"It figures Holland would send Spartans to take me down," he growled. "A final insult, it is just so predicable of him."

"None of us wanted this, Silva," Kat argued. "When you decided to mutiny you left us no choice."

"The alternative being siding with the enemy," he countered. "For supposed defenders of humanity you Spartans are quick to sell her out."

"We didn't side with the Covenant, we're using a bunch of deserters to get off this ring without the Flood hitching a ride," Kat growled back at him. "The fact you can't make that distinction is already apparent."

Silva looked past Kat to McKay now, his anger now seething in his eyes.

"I expected this from the Freaks, Lieutenant, but not you," he informed her. "I told you if we just stuck together we'd both make it. Why throw in with them? Why help the Covies?"

"This isn't about the Covenant, Major," McKay pleaded. "This is about the Flood! Don't you see that? While we're busy fighting each other, they're running about the bowels of this ship just waiting for us to take off! We can't let them escape, Antonio. We'd just be leading an even greater threat to Earth. You need to realise that!"

"And potentially leading the Covenant to Earth is somehow better?" Silva questioned with a chortle. "That's essentially what you're doing with these Jackals."

"Don't act like we're breaking Cole Protocol," Linda shot back. "These Jackals are deserters and there aren't enough of them to pose a threat to Earth. One Flood Infection Form on Earth escaping will start doomsday! Right now, you sailing off with a plague ship is the greater threat here."

Silva only gave a single mocking laugh.

"If you think I'm going to be scared of those little parasites you're mistaken," he declared. "You may not think they can be contained, but you're wrong. You've all let this fear compromise your better judgement."

"They're scared for good reason," McKay countered vehemently. "You didn't see what happened when we first encountered them. They overwhelmed our position in seconds and we couldn't even slow them down. We were able to beat back a Covie Spec-Ops Unit just hours before, but those things forced us to retreat in less than a few minutes."

"The people who built this place had to kill themselves and the entire galaxy just to stop them," Kat urgently reminded him. "And that was after who knows how long fighting them. What makes you think we'll do any better containing them if we bring back live specimens? It's not worth the risk, Major. It's why we're blowing up the ring in the first place. If you leave Halo with Flood aboard then everything we've done here will be for nothing."

Silva just looked at her unflinchingly, his gun still trained on the small band.

"Put down the gun, Antonio," McKay pleaded. "Call off the others and halt the launch. Put aside your pride and work with us instead of against us. We can still all get off this ring together."

For a moment Silva slightly lowered his gun, his mind contemplating the situation. However, as soon as his gaze fell upon the two Spartans his gun shot back up.

"You think I can be swayed because you tricked my Second into following you? No, I'm tired of kowtowing to you Spartans and the stupid officers who use you," He declared defiantly. "You just want me to surrender so you can shut me up. You'll turn me into the mutinous Major and take away everything I worked for while you join up with the bastards who glassed Reach. Your beloved Master Chief got away with murdering my men. I won't let you help him sell us out to the Covenant. We're leaving, I'm going to expose you for the bunch of traitorous rogue lab rats you are and there's nothing you can do to stop me!"

Silva rushed back and slammed his palm down on the controls. The ship lurched upwards suddenly, almost knocking over everyone standing aboard the bridge. Silva turned about and pointed his weapon at the group once more.

"Take them down!" He ordered.

The ODSTs opened fire and the three women scattered. Kat activated the hologram to confuse the four troopers even more. While her clone ran one way, she ducked behind a pillar. She opened fire on the ODSTs as they marched down the ramp towards them. They didn't get very far before one of them took a shot to the neck, courtesy of Linda who had ducked into a doorway. McKay had jumped into the trench surrounding the Command Deck and was firing at her former comrades as they swarmed the floor. She managed to hit one of them in the chest, taking him down quickly.

"God damn freaks," Silva shouted, firing on Linda's position as she watched the scene. "How the hell did you turn her on us?"

"You're the one who turned on us, Mutineer," Linda replied firing a single shot from her pistol in his direction.

Silva took a hit directly to his hand. Bleeding profusely, he was forced to drop his submachine gun. He pulled out his sidearm instead, firing back as he made his way to the control console. Linda's shot earned her the ire of the two remaining ODSTs. They turned their backs to Kat, allowing her to rush up and slam her metal arm into the back of the first trooper's head. She was about to do the same to last Trooper... when they heard the sound of gurgling coming from under the Command Deck.

A vent broke open and dozens of little Infection Forms started swarming out. McKay jumped up out of her trench and started shooting at them. The remaining ODST did the same, blasting his submachine gun at the intruders. Some of the swarm broke off to engage them, but enough kept climbing to the top of the platform. Once there, they went for the wounded Silva. He fired back at them, managing to kill a number as they closed in. However, not all of them were attacking his front. One scurried up behind his back and crawled onto his shoulder. Hissing ferociously it bit down into the Major's neck, eliciting a terrible scream as he pulled the thing off him.

"Major!" The Lone ODST cried.

The Drop Trooper rushed up to the platform, the others close behind. He fired at the Infection forms in his way, but one jumped onto him. Screaming in agony, the little monster burrowed into his chest, spilling gore and blood everywhere. The Trooper dropped to the ground, only to begin to twitch moments later. Growths began to form over his body. Pieces of flesh were changed and altered in moments. Before long the ODST stood up once again, towering over the wounded Silva and screeching like a mad man.

"Kill it!" Linda shouted.

McKay was the first to answer the order, firing her submachine gun into the newly born Combat Form with reckless abandon. The creature tried to swing its arms and fight back, but once Kat and Linda started shooting the abomination it wasn't long before it was nothing but a pile of meat strewn about the ground.

Silva looked at the mangled corpse before him in shock, still clutching his neck as he tried to stand. The Infection Form that attacked him was gone, but it had left a terrible wound. McKay rushed over to him and tried to help him stand.

"Don't worry," she tried to calm him. "I have bio-gel."

Kat and Linda kept staring at the dead ODST Combat Form.

"I didn't know they could change that fast," Linda stated. "I thought it would at least be a few minutes."

"They spread a lot faster than we thought," Kat observed.

Stepping over the corpse, Kat went to the control and tried to find a switch or something to stop the launch. Instead, she found herself interrupted by an incoming call over the Internal Comms Channel.

"Major Silva! Major Silva come in!" pleaded a voice as she answered. "This is Squad Seven! Lower Decks! Do you read?!"

"This isn't-"

"Flood Forms!" The man screamed, not even letting her finish. "We got Flood all over the deck here! Just came out of nowhere! They just came out of nowhere once the ship took off!"

The faint sound of gunfire could be heard in the background as well as the screams of other men.

"They're slaughtering us! Cut us off from the lift up top! Oh God! We gotta, AHHHH-!"

The panicked screaming ended and the communication line went dead. Kat, fearing the worst, activated the feeds for security cameras across the ship. It wasn't long before her worst fears were confirmed. Emerging from every darkened corner of the Truth and Reconciliation were Flood Forms of all shapes and sizes. They were attacking ODST patrols and any remaining Marines still aboard the ship who hadn't gone with Garrus and the others. They shrugged off bullets as they ran throughout the ship, slashing and killing any poor humans who got in their way. One poor ODST was beaten down and slammed against a wall like a ragdoll.

Had they been waiting all this time? Waiting for the ship to be repaired? Waiting for their ride off-world to lift off so they strike and take it for themselves? Kat couldn't be sure, but in the grand scheme of things it didn't matter what their reasons for showing themselves now were. They could not take this ship. She turned to Silva, who was being propped up by McKay staring at the screens himself.

"This is what I was warning you about, Silva," she informed him. "You have to stop the takeoff sequence!"

But Silva, awestruck by the terror on the screens and still reeling from the terrible pain, could hardly answer. He watched as his men were torn apart by the rampaging monsters among them. The screens were silent, but he could hear every scream his people were making.

"I... I can't," he finally admitted. "It's set on automatic I... I didn't want you to shut it off if you overpowered me or..."

Silva broke down clutching his head in abject horror.

"What have I done? Oh God, what have I done?" He asked wistfully.

Kat shook her head, if the takeoff was set on automatic then that only left them with one option. At their rate of ascent it wouldn't be long before they reached orbit. They needed to prevent that from happening, but luckily they had a way to stop it. The only problem was that it was going to make escape rather tricky.

"McKay," Kat said, turning to the Lieutenant. "The explosives are primed right?"

"Yes, ready for remote detonation," she stated. "But what about the Prophet in the brig? I thought we were going to try-"

"We're out of time," Kat explained hastily. "We need to send this ship crashing back down with every Flood Form aboard it before it escapes Halo's gravitational pull. If we're not on a Pelican when that happens we're as good as dead."

Kat activated her omni-tool to contact the others.

"Garrus, where are you?" She asked hurriedly.

"In a hallway, we had to go outside the ship and get back in to escape a bit of a situation," the turian responded. "We got back in through a hole in the hull just before the whole ship started lurching. What's going on? Did you stop Silva?"

"No, the ship is launching and the Flood are counter-attacking," She explained anxiously. "We're out of time, Garrus. We have to scuttle the ship. Get to the shuttle bay, grab as many Pelicans as you can and get out of here. We'll try to make it, but we can't risk the ship escaping Halo. We're detonating in ten minutes, one way or another. That's how much time we have until we're all dead."

"So we just have to fight through a whole bunch of Flood to escape this ship before you send it crashing down?" Garrus asked rather exasperatedly before sighing. "Great, even when I'm not on one of Shepard's missions there's a ticking clock. Anything else I should know?"

"Just hurry," Kat insisted as she closed off the omni-tool.

Just as she terminated communications with Garrus, her radio went off. It seemed to be a wide broadcast signal because she noticed both Linda and McKay putting their own hands up to their ears to listen to it.

"This is Colonel Holland to all surviving UNSC personnel," the message began with grave sense of tone. "I am transmitting to you from a secure location aboard a captured Covenant Corvette. I can confirm our vessel is free of any Flood presence and is making preparations for departure. I am sending all ships capable of carrying troops to the Truth and Reconciliation in order to facilitate evacuation. We intend to pick up as many as possible, but do not wait for us. It is my understanding that the Master Chief is about to destroy Halo, I repeat, Halo is about to explode. Therefore, any and all that do not reach us within ten or so minutes of this message I advise you to head for space. Activate your Pelican's vacuum-seal for space-travel and get to a minimum safe distance away from the ring. I repeat, Halo is about to explode, get to a Pelican and head for space. I will have this message repeat so as to allow you to hone in on its signal. Colonel Holland, out."

As if one ticking clock wasn't enough. They were officially out of time, they needed to move now.

"Alright, McKay, pick up Silva and let's get moving," Kat ordered.

"No," Silva demanded weakly. "You'll never make the Shuttle Bay in time if you have to carry me. Besides, if what you say about the Flood is true… I think I'm dead already."

Kat looked closer at Silva's wound and saw it was already heavily infected. Green veins were pouring from the skin and there was a festering scab growing over it. McKay refused to even entertain the idea.

"No, I said we leave together and I meant it," she shouted at him. "We can get you out, sir."

Silva shook his head sadly.

"I screwed up, Lieutenant," he stated weakly. "I let my pride get the best of me and I've put Earth, probably the whole Galaxy in danger because of it. You were right, we can't let the Flood off Halo. I see that now. I can't undo what I've done, I can't stop the ship's automatic launch sequence, but I can see about slowing the ascent down long enough for you to get enough people off this ship."

"How?" Linda asked.

"The control console," he said pointing with his head. "I can decrease speed and rate of climb if I take the controls. I can't stop it altogether, but I can stall the autopilot long enough to increase the window you have before you'll be forced to blow this cruiser."

"You don't have to do that," McKay insisted.

Silva made her look at his wound on his neck by eyeing it, forcing her to see the festering growth creeping into his body.

"That thing didn't change me, but I think its bite is just as bad if it goes deep enough," he explained sternly. "I'm not making it out of here, not anymore. And you're wasting time arguing about it. You didn't listen to me before, so listen to me now. Get off this ship. That's an order."

McKay turned her head down and shook her head.

"Yes, sir," she relented mournfully.

Silva walked, or at least stumbled slightly, over to the console and took up the controls. The others watched as he did.

"I'm not sure how much I can give you since we've been climbing for a while," he admitted. "All the more reason to get moving now. Don't worry about me, just get out of here."

"Silva," Kat started.

"You already said 'I told you so, Noble 2,' do you really need to rub it in more?" He asked slightly scornfully.

"I wasn't going to," she assured him. "I just wanted to say, I wish it could've been different."

"Yeah, me too, I guess," He replied distantly, tapping his fingers on the console.

The group rushed down the platform ramp and towards one of the doors. Only McKay looked back for a moment. She saluted him, although he didn't see her do so.

"It's been an honour, sir," she declared with a whisper. She then turned to the door and left the Major to his final mission.

---

Explosions erupted along the shaft as they rose up the service lift. Fire and broken bits of metal rained down on them, their only protection the lifts upper structure itself. Thankfully the explosions always seemed to be a few feet higher than them and did nothing to prevent their ascent. That was little comfort though when they remember what was about to happen in a few short minutes.

Before they even got to the top, the felt the shaft shake violently. The vibrations resonated from down below. The explosions from above hadn't been enough to knock anyone down, but this was. The group tumbled about the lift, catching themselves or falling flat on their faces as Zek did. There was little doubt in anyone's minds as they stood back up that the source of the quake had been from a particularly large explosion. Something had just gone, luckily it hadn't been the reactor, but it was something plenty big regardless.

"Echo 419 to Cortana, things are getting noisy down there," The Pelican pilot radios as the lift neared its destination. "Everything okay?"

Cortana took a few moments to respond, the doors to the lift opening up as she did. Everyone piled out as fast as they could, desperate to leave the potential death trap of the lift. What the AI had to say as they did though didn't make things any more comfortable.

"Negative, negative, we have a wildcat destabilization of the ship's fusion core," Cortana declared in a panic. "The ship's engines must've sustained more damage than we thought!"

Chief wasn't sure what that meant and from the look Shepard had on his face he didn't either. He knew though that it probably meant things were a lot worse than they appeared. More because that was just how today was going. He just didn't know how much worse it was exactly?

"What's going on, Cortana?" He asked the AI as they ran into the next room.

"At the current rate of decay we have a little more than six minutes before the reactor goes critical," she exclaimed in a panic. "We need to evac now!"

"No shit," Zek shouted in dismay. "How the hell are we supposed to do that in six minutes on foot!?"

The answer was soon revealed to Zek when they rounded the corner. Lining the walls of the room were several Warthogs, parked in specially designated alcoves. Some were damaged, some overturned and on fire, but most looked to be in working condition. The prospect of getting out of this exploding death trap alive had just doubled.

"Right, everyone get into a Hog now!" Shepard ordered ushering them all forward.

Miranda jumped into the driver seat of one of the vehicles, Mordin took up the passenger seat beside her. As she started up the car, Legion scrambled onto the turret and took hold of the massive machine gun.

"We shall assist in providing cover for exfiltration," it assured the XO.

"Just keep whatever is out there off of us, Legion," Miranda told the geth.

Varvok and Zek scrambled into their own Warthog, with the batarian taking up the wheel himself.

"You know how to drive one of these?" Zek asked as he plopped down into the passenger's side.

"How hard can it be?" Varvok asked, not sounding entirely sure of himself. "I mean if stupid two-eyed humans can do it…"

He fiddled around with the dashboard a bit until he managed to start the thing. He moved the wheel a bit from side to side, trying to get a feel for it.

"Okay, I can do this," he assured himself nervously. "Just remember basic training. First, push on the pedal and then-"

Varvok didn't realise until the last second that had forgot to put the vehicle in the proper gear. The Hog backed up into the wall behind them. Zek jostled in his seat as the vehicle bashed against the steel bulkhead.

"Whoops, I got it now, don't worry," Varvok stated, getting the Hog in the proper gear now. "Guess I'm a bit rusty. I didn't get much time at the wheel of the APCs back home."

Zek just stared off into space with a deadpanned resigned expression.

"This is how I'm gonna go out," he said. "I'm gonna die because you flunked your driving test."

"I did not flunk," Varvok growled back. "APCs are entirely different from four wheel drive vehicles! Give me a break here! This is a very stressful situation!"

Shepard himself was going for the driver's seat of his Warthog, when Tali stopped him by getting in front.

"Oh no!" She declared unfalteringly, her arms outstretched. "We've discussed this before. You never drive… ever again!"

"Tali is this really the time?" He asked, only slightly saddened by her refusal to let him hop behind the wheel. "We're kinda in a hurry here."

"And if we want to live through this you will let the Master Chief drive," Tali emphatically ordered. "Because the last time we were in this situation with the Mako we almost all died."

"Hey that was the Conduit's fault," Shepard countered sharply. "You can't expect to be blasted through space clear across the galaxy at any speed and not crash!"

During this time, the Master Chief had already gotten into the driver's seat. The minor discussion between Shepard and Tali was then interrupted by Cortana as the Hog pulled up to them.

"Can you two sort this out when we're NOT standing inside the exploding Halcyon-Class light cruiser?" She asked them.

The two dropped their argument once they were reminded of that fact. Tali scrambled into the passenger's seat and Shepard took up the turret on the back. After thinking about it for a bit he decided it wasn't too much of a loss in that regard.

The Warthogs now loaded they all made a beeline for the exit, speeding out in the larger passageway. They found a small squad of Elites firing on an advancing horde of Flood. The abominations were charging down a large ramp that led to the service corridor that would lead them to safety. Chief gunned the Hog towards the Flood, the other drivers doing the same. The Elites were smart enough to jump out of the way, but the Flood didn't really have the same sense of self-preservation. Chief rammed into one Combat Form along the left side of the bumper, while the wheels of the Hog crushed the Infection Forms that crossed its path.

"I'm activating the final countdown timer," Cortana informed him as a small clock appear in the corner of Chief's visor. It started counting down from six minutes. "When it reaches zero the engines will detonate. The explosion will generate a temperature of almost one-hundred million degrees! Don't be here when it goes."

As if she needed to clarify the urgency of their situation.

They drove off the ramp and into a large open space. There was a large curving tunnel directly in front of them that went down and exited out. Chief chose to swerve around it, while Miranda took her Hog through it. She exited out the other side with Flood Forms flying off her front bumper. Varvok and Zek banked in the other direction. As they did, a swarm of Infection Forms scurried towards them. Most were squashed beneath the heavy tires, but one managed to climb up on Zek's side. The kig-yar noticed the squirming creature and fired his plasma pistol into its face.

"I really hate these stupid little tentacle faced assholes," he grumbled. "Try to run over as many as you can before we're out of here, Four-Eyes."

Meanwhile, out in front of the pack, Chief kept his hands tight on the steering wheel. On a small bridge over their heads, several Combat Forms fired down on them as they approached. Shepard opened the turret up on them, cutting through the abominations with a hail of bullets. The walking corpses were quickly dispatched, clearing the walkway of their presence.

Chief just let the Commander handle the shooting while he aimed the Hog for the large ramp up ahead. He drove up the incline and managed to jump the small gap between the ramp and the top of an overhanging structure. This gave them a straight shot for the exit, but it was also a little bumpy. That and there were a few explosions that detonated in their path. Everyone ducked their heads down as a fireball erupted out of the ceiling above them while they jumped another gap along their path.

"Drop ahead!" Tali called out, pointing to their front.

Their straightforward path was indeed ending and the Hog soon plummeted head first into a large tunnel below. Luckily, the Master Chief was able to keep their nose straight enough that they only landed with a thump and didn't flip over.

Meanwhile, Miranda was zigzagging through the pillars beneath the structure the Chief's Hog was riding on. Her vehicle's rear end clipped several Combat Forms trying to assault the Hog, while Legion let their machine gun rip through the enemy trying to take shots at them as they passed.

"I didn't think this service corridor would be so full of these things," Lawson thought aloud as they swerved through the pillars.

She rear ended another Carrier Form as it tried to get behind them. The hit sent the gas bag soaring through the air to explode against the wall just a few feet away from Zek and Varvok's Hog. One of the Infection Forms splattered against their windshield, prompting Varvok to look for the wipers switch. He found it, but still wretched at the disgusting sight as the gooey inwards of the Infection Form were whipped away from their view.

"Nasty bugs in this neck of the woods, huh?" Zek laughed slightly.

Varvok just momentarily grimaced at him.

"Hey, chances are we're both about to die in the next couple of minutes," the kig-yar reminded him. "I would rather go out on a laugh than screaming in pain when the extremely hot explosion goes off. Let me have this."

Chief's Hog bulldozed out of the tunnel with a Combat Form gripping onto the front of the hood. When the car came down, the infected warrior was shaken free and crushed beneath the Hog's wheels. All three vehicles converged on the exit and speedily entered a tighter, more constricted section of the corridor. The small tunnel dipped down and then rose up into another wider section. There, they were greeted with a wall of Flood and crisscrossing Sentinel laser beams blocking their path.

Tali shirked slightly away from an incoming laser, before leaning out and firing her Shotgun at the enemies ahead. She killed a Combat Form and shot down a Sentinel in two shots as Chief drove straight through the crowd of Flood. The abominations standing in front of the Hog were turned into roadkill with relative ease. At the same time, Shepard used his machine gun to rake fire across the flying Sentinels floating about the area. With supplemental fire from Legion as they drove through the horde, the dual machine guns cut down a substantial number of the Sentinels.

Miranda and Varvok drove their Warthogs through the Flood horde as well. They then drove their vehicles to going right and left of the room respectively to take advantage of the wide walkway space on either side of the room. Zek managed to shoot down a Sentinel with his plasma pistol as they sped by. Explosions beneath the walkway rocked their Hog slightly, but did not deter their forward resolve.

Another Sentinel tried to keep pace with Miranda's Hog as it hurried up onto the right side walkway. Mordin noted the machine's pursuit and propped his foot on the dashboard. Raising his head out of the top of the Hog he took carful aim at the Sentinel and fired a full clip into it with his pistol. One shot hit the robot in the eye and caused it to spin out of control. It smashed into another piece of the corridor's architecture.

Legion in the meantime was firing back at the pursuing Flood that had survived the initial engagement. They were significantly faster than imagined, but not fast enough to escape the mounted machine gun. Legion raked bullets across the entire pursuing group of Flood as their Warthog sped across the walkway.

The Master Chief had opted to keep on the straight and narrow. He headed for the large ramp like structure in the center of their path. There was no upper level for them to land on though, just a very long drop. As they launched off the incline an explosion erupted beneath them, jostling the Warthog slightly. The vehicle came down and bounced slightly off the ground.

Tali was briefly lifted out of her seat, but thankfully was only slightly dazed by the experience. She had had worse falls in the Mako, no thanks to Shepard of course. She soon spotted a worse problem then the jumps and drops they had faced so far. Firing on the Hog from a few away were two Combat Forms. Their shots were peppering their vehicle as Chief drove by. Tali quickly aimed her shotgun at them as the two charged towards the car, blowing them both apart as the rushed in for the kill.

The Warthogs once more converged on the exit. This time it led to a winding tunnel currently filled with combatants. Covenant, Flood, Sentinels, they were all inside the twisting passage, engaged in a running battle amongst one another. There was no reason in engaging all of them, the Master Chief and the others drivers had to keep driving.

Shepard and Legion fired their machine guns only at those who decided to attack them. That only happened when they garnered some kind of attention, however. Like the Master Chief running over a stray Elite who was too busy engaging a Sentinel to notice the incoming vehicle before it was too late. The Elite was crushed under the wheels of the speeding Warthog and the Grunts under his command started firing on them as they fled. Shepard fired back with his Machine Gun as the Warthog sped around the next corner.

"Wait," Cortana shouted in Chief's ear. "Turn a sharp left here, there should be a shortcut!"

Chief looked to the left and saw an open maintenance door that cut through the winding passage.

"I spotted it on the schematics," Cortana explained.

"Good eye," Chief told her, banking the Warthog sharply to the left.

The military jeep rolled into the maintenance tunnel. Seeing this from behind, Varvok and Miranda chose to follow him through the narrow shortcut, Chief was leading the way after all so he'd more than likely take care of anything that was ahead of them. Of course if his Hog blew up they'd be trapped, but given their time limit it was a risk they'd have to take.

Shepard kept his head down as the low clearance of the maintenance tunnel made it hard to stand up without getting your skull shaved off by the ceiling. They rolled through the tunnel at high speed, as fires licked around their car. They weren't alone in here either. Besides the two other Warthogs behind them, there were Combat Forms ahead as well. They charged at the lead Warthog, firing and lashing out with everything they had. Chief simply put the pedal to the metal and let the Hog roll them over.

That should've been the end of it, but not every Combat Form was crushed under the vehicle's chassis. One had grabbed onto the side and scrambled up to the driver's seat. It roared in the Master Chief's face as it slammed its fist into him and tried to take the wheel. It would take more than a sucker punch from a corpse to knock a Spartan out though. He pulled the wheel left and started scraping the car against the wall, he then punched the Combat Form in the open wound on its chest repeatedly before its grip finally loosened. The body of the creature was shredded against the wall.

Tali had her own problem two, as a second Combat Form jumped up against her side of the car and took a swing at her. She just barely dodged it in time and was able to fire a shotgun blast into its chest. The creature fell back and was crushed under the back wheel as it fell.

"Bosh'tet!" Tali called back at the ugly creature's remains.

Meanwhile, Shepard encountered his own problem when something grabbed his foot. He looked to see a Combat Form had somehow grabbed onto the undercarriage and was trying to climb up into the gunner's seat. Shepard grimaced at the monstrosity and sent a biotic punched in its direction. The hit forced the creature off the undercarriage and onto the floor. Seconds later, Miranda's Warthog ran it over.

"Sorry for the road bump, Lawson," Shepard apologetically waved at her.

He thought he saw Miranda glower at him slightly, but only for a moment.

They exited the shortcut back out into the hall, managing to shave off a few extra seconds. It was only a few more feet before they reached the exit of the enclosed tighter section of the corridor. Once more they entered another open area in the Service Corridor as they drew closer to the waypoint marker.

Their path forward was blocked by a small wall, so the Warthogs were forced to drive along the sides of the room along walkways. As Chief drove the Hog along, fire erupted beneath them as small explosions ripped apart the deck. Several feet, away a group of Covenant soldiers spotted the fleeing vehicles and opened fire. As the vehicle started getting hit by Plasma Bolts, Shepard turned the turret around towards the enemy and began firing. The stream of shots forced the Covies to seek cover as bullets rained down on them. The Grunts weren't as nimble as their Elites masters, three died before they could get to safety. Shepard was just satisfied that he had stopped them from shooting at them.

The Warthogs made their way through another tunnel at the end of the room, one that dipped sharply downward and then shot just as sharply upward. Chief's Hog was going so fast it lifted into the air slightly and when it came down it was forced to drive straight into a nearby tunnel. The Hog slammed into a group of Infection and Combat Forms as it landed. The Spartan kept his foot on the gas, he didn't want a repeat of what had happened just a short while back. They popped out of the tunnel Flood free, the other Hogs joining them at their side.

"Try not to bunch up," Shepard ordered over the radio. "Tight corners up ahead."

Turning around the corner of a piece of architecture, the escaping team surprised a small squad of Grunts. The little gas suckers jumped back in fright as they saw the Hogs barrel towards them. With few other options, they opened fire. Chief just kept his foot on the gas, he wasn't breaking for anything until they reached the extraction point. He ran down one of the Grunts and just kept driving. Miranda did the same, moving her Hog into a skid to bowl over another of the gas-breathers. She then slammed hard on the pedal and sped after the Master Chief's Hog. Varvok moved for the opening the other Hogs had made, while Zek fired on the Grunts still alive.

"Dumb stupid methane sucking ingrates," the Pirate growled aloud as he shot one of the Grunts with a plasma bolt to the back. "You're all going to die in here! Do you just not realise that?"

Zek shook his head as they began to speed along towards the waypoint, he pressed his head back against the seat and huffed. Varvok just let the Kig-yar vent, he did have a point after all. The Covenant were wasting time fighting. They should've been trying to flee, like they were. Perhaps they didn't yet realise the danger they were in. It mattered little to him though, Varvok just hoped that Pelican pilot would be there when they reached this waypoint.

Meanwhile, up at the front of the pack, Chief's Warthog passed under a small overhanging bridge. As they did, a Combat Form jumped from above and landed on their Hog's roof. It pounded on the roll cage above Tali's seat and then shoved its arm towards her. The quarian was forced down into her seat to avoid the attack, her shotgun being used to block the attacks. Shepard tried to aim the turret at the creature, but hesitated to fire. He didn't want to shoot Tali by accident.

A second Combat Form dropped onto the Hog from above. This time it tried to attack the driver's side, but the Master Chief had other plans. As the creature aimed its weapon downward to fire, Chief turned the Hog to enter the upcoming tunnel with the low ceiling. As they dipped down into the shaft, the Combat Form was knocked clean off the vehicle. The sudden bump as the Hog dropped into the chute caused the first Combat Form to pull back. That gave Tali the time she needed. She took her shotgun, turned it towards the abomination and fired two shots into it. The creature was blasted off the roof and rolled off into the side of the tunnel where the high speed of the car caused its body break apart on impact.

Outside the tunnel a shadow loomed over the other Warthogs. A spirit dropship sped overhead, firing plasma bolts as it chased them. What it was doing inside the service corridor was anyone's guess, right now it was trying to kill anyone not Covenant. Miranda managed to get her Hog away from its line of fire, but the dropship kept its crosshairs centered on Zek and Varvok's vehicle. Zek kept his head down as the plasma shots rained down around them.

"Oh get fucked assholes!" The kig-yar shouted. "Just head out to space already! Honestly, are all of you people just brain-dead?"

Varvok could only keep the foot on the pedal, hoping they'd reach the exit tunnel in time. The Spirit would have to break off or risk crashing into the wall. The problem was that they were being blocked by a Shade Turret sitting in their direct path to the exit. Zek tried to use his Needler Rifle to shoot the gunner, even as plasma bolts battered their front bumper. Varvok's zigzagging steering, however, kept screwing up his aim.

Fate seemed to have another end in store for the Covie gunner though, as something came careening out of a nearby tunnel. It was the Master Chief's Warthog and rammed straight into the Shade Turret. The vehicle's front bumper smashed into the Shade. The turret was toppled as the Warthog smashed into the side of the Shade. The Warthog managed to keep on its wheels, only because of the Master Chief's expert handling, but the Shade was knocked onto its side. Now useless, Varvok gunned for the exit, running over the Elite gunner who was crawling out of his demolished turret. Miranda followed them and the Chief through the exit, as the pursuing Spirit had to break things off.

The waypoint was closing in now and they could see the junction up ahead through a door that led to the outside. Cortana contacted their ride as they approached.

"Echo 419, we need extraction now! On the double!" The AI shouted over the comms.

"I read you, almost there!" Foe Hammer assured.

The three Hogs pulled up to the junction, a wide platform now spanning two sections of the ship. They stopped in the center and looked to where they expected the Pelican to arrive. They still had that ticking clock in the corner of the visors though, the time closing in on the three minute mark. It wasn't exactly comforting, even if their ride was coming.

Then they saw it, the Pelican flew into view, but what was supposed to be a hopeful sight turned into one of horror. The aircraft's engines were burning, its wings on fire. Even as it listed towards them it was getting pounded upon from all sides. The cause, two Banshees closing fast from behind. Shepard quickly took the machine gun and began firing at the Covenant aircraft, Legion joined in. Cortana in the meantime tried to contact Foe Hamer once more as the Pelican closed in.

"Echo 419, Banshees are closing on your six!" Cortana screamed into the radio. "Evade! Say again! Evade!"

The static from the response made everyone's heart sink. The Pelican dipped below the bridge, fire spewing from it as it began to spin out of control. Black smoke obscured Shepard's shots on the Banshees and Foe Hammer's desperate panicked voice filled his and everyone else's ears.

"Mayday! Mayday! Airfoil structures shot to hell! I can't hold her! I can't hold her! Going-"

The radio cut out as the Pelican disappeared from view. The banshees didn't even give the warthogs on the junction platform a second thought, they sped towards the crashing silhouette of the Pelican as it fell out of sight. They were still firing at the burning carcass as the dropship fell from the skies.

Everyone's heart sunk, for more reasons than one. Shepard caught the Master Chief momentarily looking at the falling Pelican before he turned away. Shepard couldn't see his face, but he knew what the Spartan was feeling because he felt the same. Shepard couldn't help but feel sick. Foe Hammer was only here to help them escape and it had cost her everything.

Cortana kept desperately trying to reach the pilot, hoping against hope that she was still alive.

"Echo 419! Echo 419!"

But when no response came, they knew what it meant. And Cortana had to accept it herself. With great sorrow, she finally relented.

"She's gone."

---

Thel 'Vadamee stood on the bridge of the Seeker of Truth with a grim scowl across his face. Everything had seemed to be going wrong. What had started out as a mission that would lead them to final salvation had turned into the greatest disaster of his military career. He had wreaked havoc on the humans for years, glassing their planets and demolishing their Fleets. He had pushed further and further into their space, edging ever closer to where the filthy heart of their civilization resided. And yet now, despite all those triumphs, he was being undone by parasitic creatures from the past. All his strategies, all his plans, everything he had prepared and trained for, all of it was for nothing against the Flood.

Where did it all go wrong, he wondered. He had been annoyed at the constant redirection of his plans by Empathy. They could've destroyed that human ship before it even got close to Halo. That wouldn't have changed things with the Flood, however. Perhaps if they had been more careful in their excavation. But it was the Inquisitor who insisted they speed that up. He had to obey orders, even if they conflicted with what he preferred. There would be no Covenant if he did not. Where did the blame lay at the end of the day then? What was the cause of everything getting so out of hand?

This Demon, the one in armour that had made such a nuisance of himself. He was at the forefront it seem of every major catastrophe his warriors had suffered. And right alongside him, the False Shepherd, assisting him in every endeavour. Neither was really the mastermind of the madness below, they both played an equal role in how badly things had gone. The False Shepherd was indeed a leader of renown, capable of rallying those around him to his cause. They had been aware of that danger for a while now. It was the Demon though that posed a new problem altogether. He was a force unto himself, made even deadlier when allied with those of equal skill. Thel had not been ready for that and he regretted it now.

When this was over, when they had fixed this - and they would fix it - he'd hunt the Demon down himself. The False Shepherd would no doubt be by his side anyway. It had been folly to trust the non-believers with his death in any case. They were the chosen of the Forerunners, it was their responsibility. If it meant killing both threats with one strike, all the more reason. He'd make the Demon pay for all the trouble he had caused.

"Supreme Commander."

Thel was brought out of his thoughts by one of his deckhands. He approached the command platform cautiously and respectfully. 'Vadamee could already sense there was a new dire development. Of course there was, why wouldn't there be?

"Report," he demanded of the deckhand.

"We are receiving a communication from the wreck of the human ship," the warrior stated. "Their transmission is directed towards you, sir. It seems urgent."

Thel nodded briefly and clicked a few commands on the console. The garrison at the human wreck had been placed there to keep watch over the vessel's remains. Initially, Thel had been concerned about the humans using it as a base or recovering supplies. After they had proved his suspicions right, he kept the garrison there in case they tried again. Perhaps, out of desperation, the humans were attacking in an attempt to fix the broken ship and escape. But something told him that this was much worse.

"Supreme Commander 'Vadamee to Garrison, what is your status?" He requested.

"Sir, we don't know what's happening down here," a frantic sangheili warrior began, as distant explosions sounded in the background. "The ship it's… it's falling apart around us! Near as we can tell, someone has set the reactor to explode! Fires are raging everywhere! It's going to go up any minute!"

Thel's eyes went wide and his mandible jaws opened in astonishment. The ship was exploding? Human vessels like it had been recorded as having volatile engines. If the reactor was detonating on the ring then he was about to lose more than he thought. He needed to know who was responsible.

"How did this happen?" Thel demanded to know. "Who caused this!?"

"Scattered reports from some of the squads suggested a heavily armoured human and the False Shepherd are aboard, sir!" He anxiously explained. "They must've done it! If we stay we're all going to die! We need to evacuate the ring!"

Thel had momentary pulse of rage flicker through his body. His anger at the Demon and the Shepherd tore at him. How dare they. They had caused all this misery and now this! Wasn't the desecration of their divine inheritance enough?

But the rage subsided, replaced by loss and grief. For the sangheili's prayers could not be answered. He looked to the ring on one of the console's displays in anguish. His ultimate failure was inevitable now. He prayed for the mercy of the Gods, for a last minute reprieve. He knew it wouldn't come. There was no time left for those on the ground, only time to save what he could.

"Order all ships to seek shelter behind the gas giant!" He ordered.

"What about our warriors on Halo?" Asked the deckhand.

There was nothing they could do. It was too late. It was a harsh reality, but there it was. Their time was up and so was his. He could only offer a meagre prayer.

"May the Gods be kind to them."

---

Cortana was quick to recalculate their situation even as the Warthogs continued to race along the service corridor. Fires and explosions were raging all around them now, but no one seemed to pay it much mind. They were too focused on just pushing their Warthogs as hard as they could, hoping that Cortana had some kind of destination in mind. Luckily for them, she found one.

"Records show one Longsword fighter still in the hangar," she exclaimed frantically. "If we move now we can make it!"

"Alright then," Shepard concluded. "Chief, do not let up on the gas!"

"Didn't intend to, sir!" The Spartan assured.

The Warthogs raced through the tunnel, their growling engines only drowned out whenever one of the walls spewed out a fireball. Fusion Reactor's meltdown was quickly tearing the ship apart at the seams. With little time left, the Hogs and their drivers didn't want to risk stopping for anything. Not even a wall of flames that had suddenly exploded in front of Miranda's Hog.

"Shit!" Lawson shouted.

She and Mordin ducked down as they passed through the flames, the Warthog was singed but unharmed. Miranda made a mental note to look out for similar explosions. There were no doubt a few more to come before the big one at the end of the countdown.

That sort of obstacle was nothing compared to what lay down the twisting passage up ahead. For whatever reason, the Covenant had seemingly seen the writing on the wall. There were a number of the aliens running down the service corridor in a frantic pace. They were probably hoping to reach the Longsword fighter on foot, if they even knew it was there. Not that it mattered if they did know, they would never reach it in time without a vehicle of their own.

In fact, some wouldn't even be around for the final detonation of the reactor. The Master Chief had no intention of breaking for anyone and that included Covenant soldiers. The same could be said of all the drivers. The poor Spec-Ops grunt to their front was unable to get very far on his stubby legs while lugging a Fuel Rod Cannon on his back. He unfortunately got in the path of the Master Chief's Warthog and was crushed under the wheels. It wasn't an intentional kill though, just the unfortunate happenstance of the slow moving Covie's escape route crossing their path.

This was not the case for Varvok though, as his Warthog started to come out in front of the pack. As they jumped a small bump in the road, Varvok eyed two fleeing Elites rushing down the corridor. They were well out of his range, but all four of his eyes narrowed on them. He realised they were as good as dead anyway. However, when he thought of what his own men had probably endured in those excavation sites and how escape was denied to them, his anger overrode his logic.

Varvok turned the Hog sharply to the right, cutting off the Master Chief slightly as he did. Chief had to swerve to avoid the batarian as his Warthog rammed into one of the Elites and crushed them under the wheel. Varvok then turned the Hog towards the second Covenant officer and ran him down with his bumper. The Elite was thrown into the air by the impact and came down in the Master Chief's direct path. The alien's body in fact almost smashed onto hood of the Spartan's Warthog. Varvok just kept driving ahead, barely acknowledging what he had done. Of course, the batarian's actions had hardly gone unnoticed by his only passenger.

"You feel better now?" Zek asked in a rather deadpan tone.

"I will when we're in orbit watching this place explode," Varvok grumbled back as he glared at the kig-yar.

Zek, noting the specific wording of that sentence as well as the glare, decided to not push the matter further. The last thing he wanted was to be called out on any semblance of hypocrisy, especially since they were only a few minutes away from being roasted alive in a massive explosion. Besides, the pirate had found a bit of enjoyment in watching the little spectacle anyway.

The race through the service corridor continued unabated, the hallway practically on fire now with all the fireballs erupting around them. As they moved forward, Chief saw the remains of a destroyed Warthog blocking their path. He simply put their vehicle into full throttle and rammed straight through the burning husk of a Hog. Pieces of debris flew aside and fire sparked across the windshield. They got through though and that was really all that mattered. Of course, there were greater obstacles up ahead as Cortana soon revealed.

"There's gap in the trench ahead of us," the AI warned the little convoy. "At top speed we should all be able to clear it!"

Chief did not like the sound of "should" in that sentence, but it wasn't like he had much of a chance to argue the point. The aforementioned gap was fast approaching, Chief could see a long platform sticking out towards them as a potential landing spot for their leap of faith. Of course if they missed it then it was at least a mile long drop down into the ship's bowels. At least if that happened they'd avoid the painful, searing death of over one-hundred million degrees in the next two minutes.

Miranda's Hog attempted to take the lead, but was partially slowed down when it ran over a few Combat Forms that had suddenly ran right in front of them. As the Hog's wheels chewed up the abominations, Varvok and Zek took up the front of the pack. Zek clutching at his quills and rocking his head back and forth.

"We're not gonna make it, we're not gonna make it!" He worriedly cried.

Varvok kept the wheel steady and aimed for the centre of the ramp. His foot glued to the pedal and pressing down hard they launched the Warthog off the small ramp, through the open portcullis and sent themselves sailing into the air. By the slimmest of margins they managed to make it over the gap. They slammed down hard on the platform, bouncing as they landed and then careened into a large burning stack of cargo containers. The impact dented their hood and smashed their windshield, but they were alive.

"Ha! We made it!" Zek laughed happily. "I knew we would."

Varvok just groaned at the kig-yar pirate inwardly and he looked behind them to see if the others had already followed suit.

The Master Chief and Miranda's Warthogs now pushed towards the ramp themselves. The Spartan was out in front with Lawson picking up the rear. They aimed for the ramp same as Varvok and kept their pedals glued to the floor. They launched themselves into the air and towards platform and then… they fell. Their nose dipped just feet away from their landing pad and both Warthog fell from the dizzying heights above.

Chief's eyes widened in shock, but the tinge of fear was replaced with a spark of hope. Coming into view was a small tunnel shaft spanning the gap below. They were headed right for it in fact, not in perfect alignment but there was a chance.

"Lean forward!" Chief shouted to everyone.

Tali and Shepard followed the Spartan's lead, pushing their bodies towards the front of the Hog. The nose dipped a bit further and they were able to slide right into the tunnel without crashing into it. Chief, his foot still on the gas, kept on driving as soon as the wheels hit the ground. Shepard looked back as they landed and saw Miranda's Hog slide into the tunnel the very same way. Lawson must've gotten the same idea as Chief.

Both Hogs managed to use their high speed and the curve of the tunnel to launch themselves out again and span the rest of the gap. Their Hogs managed to fly through the air once more and this time they did not miss their intended landing spot. It was a very hectic couple of seconds and even Shepard felt he needed to take a breath after all that.

"Keelah," Tali exhaled, still shaking from the ordeal. "That was worse than the Mako ever was."

Shepard's mind was on other things than using Tali's admission to get back at her. He was already on the radio, trying to contact Varvok.

"Varvok," he started. "We're alive. We're over the gap and still headed for the Longsword. Where are you?"

Varvok was a bit surprised, when he had seen Shepard's Hog drop he thought for sure he was done for. Instead, here he was contacting him over the radio again. He wasn't sure if he was happy about that. Either way he responded to the Commander.

"We're still on our way to the Longsword, I think we're-"

"Look out!" Zek cried out.

Varvok saw what Zek was pointing at, the exit they were aiming for. Currently it was being blocked by something that had only just appeared, a Banshee. For whatever reason it had decided to show up now, of all times and started firing on their Hog.

With little time to do anything but scream, Varvok and Zek's Hog sped through the hole and crashed into the Banshee head first.

Shepard heard the crash, he heard the screams, but he didn't know what had happened.

"Varvok?" Shepard tried to contact the batarian again. "Varvok do you read?"

No answer came, just static. He looked into the corner of his HUD and saw they were past the minute and half mark. There was no time at all to think about much else but getting to their escape ship.

---

Screams of the dead and dying echoed through the halls. Garrus did his best to block them out and keep running. If they stopped they were dead. The shrieks of Flood Forms giving chase helped quicken his pace through the corridors, as did the frequent checks of his omni-tool. They were almost to the Shuttle Bay, so long as they stayed one step ahead of the undead monsters pursuing them they would be fine. Easier said than done though.

Suddenly, bursting out from behind a locked door in front of them, appeared a Combat form. It turned to them, armed with an assault rifle that it used to wreak fire upon them. Romeo fired off a blast from his shotgun followed closely by a second, tearing the abomination apart with ease. They barely stopped running, trampling what remained of the body as they continued moving.

The attack had called the attention of other Flood Forms, however. Garrus looked back as he heard the crashing of metal and saw a Carrier Form had broken its way through a large vent. It brought it several Infection Forms that started to swarm their little band. Garrus turned to the walking gasbag as it waddled towards them and fired a concussive shot. The impact was enough to rupture the creature's fleshy sack and cause it to explode, taking a large portion of the Infection Forms with it. Dutch used his assault rifle to clean up what was left, running backwards as he did.

"You think Noble 2 is at the Pelicans yet?" Buck asked Garrus as the turian turned back to his front.

"I'll be surprised if anyone is even inside the Shuttle Bay at this point," Garrus told him as tried to keep pace. "I wouldn't blame the pilots if they decided to just take off at this point!"

"I would," Romeo was quick to counter.

As they passed a nearby corridor, Garrus caught the glimpse of a legion of Combat Forms finishing off a stray Marine. He didn't stop running, but it didn't matter for one of the Combat Forms saw him and it only took one to see you for the rest to follow. The Combat Forms surged forward like a tidal wave. The first few crashed against the opposing bulkhead before regaining their footing and continuing the chase. Garrus could hear them screeching and shrieking as they pursued.

"Can't we just get one friggin break already!?" Buck shouted to the heavens as he grabbed a grenade from his belt.

"In my experience, whoever is charge of giving breaks is extremely lazy," Garrus grumbled, readying a proximity mine.

The two tossed the explosives over their shoulders at the same time. Buck's grenade clattered to the ground for a few moments before it exploded among the horde. Garrus' proximity mine was tripped moments later, killing even more.

Then, emerging from the smoke of the dual explosions, a lone Combat Form barrelled towards the fleeing group like a bat out of hell. It flailed its arms as it screamed, closing in on them with each hurried step. Jun stopped suddenly, if only for a moment and took at the chasing monster through his Battle Rifle's scope. He took careful aim as the Combat Form leapt at him, its arms stretched out to grab him. Pulling hard on the trigger, the Spartan let loose two bursts of shots that cut the creature down in mid-air. Jun then turned as the body collapsed into a heap on the ground and kept running.

At last they made it to the Shuttle Bay, rushing onto the top level. Garrus could see a number of Pelicans jockeying for position throughout the room. There were both ODSTs and Marines scrambling to board whatever craft they were close to. Among them were Combat Forms, trying to grab victims and a potential ride themselves. One Pelican raked fire across the central docking divider to clear out the Combat Forms occupying it. Their decaying bodies fell on top of one another like freshly cut logs. Garrus zeroed in on the Pelican as it made for the dock.

"That's our ride," he shouted to the others. "Follow me!"

The turian leapt off the platform edge and down to the second level, his compatriots close behind. They raced up the central dock towards the Pelican and what they hoped was their salvation. Then, suddenly, the dock shook with a terrible explosion. Garrus fell to his side and Buck nearly toppled onto him. Looking off to the side, Garrus spotted a Combat Form armed with a Rocket Launcher taking aim at them.

"Aw shit," he thought silently. "I really don't want another damn scar."

Suddenly, the Combat Form lurched backwards as shots hit it from afar. Garrus looked to where he believed the bullets had come from and saw Linda with a Battle Rife pointed forward. Kat and McKay with her, currently running towards their position.

"Thank the Spirits, they made it," Garrus mused as he stood back up.

"Hey, maybe the guy up there in charge of handing out breaks isn't so lazy after all," Buck chuckled.

Kat took lead as they approached, looking back to McKay as she did.

"Get that detonator ready," she ordered the Lieutenant. "As soon as we're in the Pelican we're blowing the engine's connection to the bridge."

"I got it right here," McKay said, digging out the detonator from her pocket.

It was at that precise moment that a Combat Form jumped from the floor below and slammed into McKay. The Drop Trooper fell back into a wall, while both Kat and Linda opened fire on the ugly abomination. Suddenly, the entire ship seemed to shake as a terrible explosion rocked the whole room. The Combat Form was caught unawares, allowing Linda to kick it back down where it had come from. Kat quickly helped McKay up to her feet and soon discovered the source of the explosion when she eyed the detonator, now blinking bright red.

"Shit," the Spartan grimaced. "That fall made the detonator go off! The ship's engines are cut off from the controls!"

Already they could feel the ship start to lose momentum. As Kat's group got to Garrus' position. There was no time for hellos, the Pelican was waiting for them. They starting running towards it when the ship began to descend. The Pelican's pilot quickly shifted the controls to travel down with the ship's rate of descent, but those outside the dropship had to contend with freefall. They were forced upwards, floating against the shift of gravity for a few moments.

"Okay, the 'Break Hand-Out Guy' has a sick sense of humour it seems," Buck grumbled aloud as he floated in mid-air.

With little time to think, Garrus acted. He reached out to grab onto the side of the Pelican and pulled himself inside the ship. He turned back and stretched out his hand to the others.

"Grab on!" He shouted.

Buck grabbed Garrus' hand, Romeo grabbed Buck's foot, Dutch his foot and so on. Before long a small human chain had been formed and everyone was pulling each other inside. McKay and Kat were the last to get into the Pelican. Garrus slammed his fist down on the switch for the blast shield doors and turned to the cockpit.

"Go! Go now!"

The Pelican's afterburners kicked in and it rocketed towards the Shuttle Bay doors, scraping one of its wings against the side. It and other Pelicans raced out of the ship with all due haste, leaving the crashing Truth and Reconciliation behind.

"Pilot, can we get to orbit?" Kat asked in a panic.

"Wing is badly damaged, but I'm gonna try and coax her," the pilot called back. "Hang on back there everybody!"

The Pelican shuddered and groaned as its nose turned up and the boosters rocketed towards the sky. Garrus grabbed onto a seat along with everyone else. There was nothing they could do now, but pray.

---

Zek crawled out from the wreckage of their Warthog, now overturned and two of its wheels no longer attached. He had a lot of hangovers and bumps to the head over the course of his career, but this one felt a hell of a lot worse. He could see the destroyed Banshee they had rammed into a few feet away from them. It was nothing more than a burnt husk now. Covenant aircraft weren't nearly as sturdy as human land vehicles it seemed. Zek couldn't be sure, but he suspected the poor shape of the Hog was due to the fall from upper levels when they sped through the large portcullis they entered through. Which was now several feet above their heads and to their back. Zek wondered if that Cortana AI knew about that drop, not that it mattered. They probably would've stuck the landing if not for that stupid Banshee.

Eventually the sounds of plasma fire and bullets entered his ears. They had dropped down into the hangar and it seemed it was currently embroiled in another ridiculous skirmish. The Covenant were firing on Flood, the Flood were charging the Covenant, Zek could only shake his head. After all, the Longsword was right there, sitting on a little platform ready to be taken for a spin!

And that's when Zek remembered, right, the Longsword. That big black sleek human fighter bomber that had made a mess of so many Covie ships in the past was just a few short feet away from them. They had reached it with more than a minute to spare. Wait, they? That was right, Varvok! He had almost forgotten. Turning around to the Warthog wreck, he ran towards the driver side, now laying against a concrete divider. Zek put his shoulder against the broken upside down bumper of the Hog and started to push.

"Don't be dead, Four-Eyes," he shouted desperately over the sounds of explosions and gunfire in the background. "We still haven't plundered a cargo vessel together! You need to do that at least once in your pirate career before you go belly up!"

The Warthog scraped against the metal floor as Zek pushed the Hog away from the divider. Suddenly, Varvok flopped out of the driver's seat on his back, huffing, wheezing and covered in cuts, but alive. Zek pulled him away from the wreckage and tried to steady him on his legs as he stood up.

"Damn it, you're heavy," the kig-yar grumbled as he started to drag him. "You may want to consider losing a few pounds when we get out of this."

"Shut up," Varvok grumbled weakly at him.

Zek suddenly popped up his plasma shield, as several shots from an assault rifle's bullets nearly hit him. Thankfully his other arm soon became free when Varvok let go of him and dropped onto his hands and knees. Zek fired back on the offending Combat Form with his plasma pistol as the batarian took a kneeling posture.

"We need to get to the Longsword," he managed to wheeze out. "Only seconds left."

"What about Commander Shepard and his Spartan friend?" Zek asked. "They're right behind us. How's it going to look if we get out of here and they don't?"

Varvok didn't seem to have a response. It was a good point. Would anyone in the UNSC believe that they had to leave them behind or whatever? Honestly, Zek wouldn't believe himself if he tried to use that. Besides, it would be kinda shitty if they did that. Not that it mattered anyone, given the sound of the approaching engines.

"Ah, speak of the devil," Zek stated, chuckling slightly when he remembered what the Covenant believed.

---

The Warthogs charged through the fire spewing about the small enclosed tunnel around them. Explosions erupted on all sides as they ran over any Combat Forms that were somehow surviving the flames. Tali and Shepard kept their heads down, anxious to avoid the flames licking near their faces. Miranda and Mordin did the same in their vehicles. Only Legion and Chief braved the heat and kept their heads up the whole way through the passage. Legion because fire would hardly hurt it, Chief because he was counting on his shields and armour to protect him more than anything.

They rocketed out of the tunnel and dropped down a level. Right in front of them was the entrance to the hangar which both Hogs crowded into. Their vehicles were prevented from going further by a stack of containers blocking their path. It didn't matter, they could all see the finish line.

"That's the ship, we need to get aboard now!" Cortana shouted aloud.

Everyone piled out of the cars and dropped onto the ground. As they moved forward, Shepard spotted Varvok and Zek near their wrecked Warthog along the path to the fighter. Shepard ran up to the two and helped Varvok off the ground, steadying him on his feet.

"I thought you were both dead," he said, not entirely sure if he sounded glad or even relieved at the news.

"Ha, you wish it were that easy," Zek declared.

"Can we get to the ship already!?" Varvok shouted aloud. "We only got a little more than a minute now!"

Varvok ran up the path, following the others who had already passed by. Shepard and Zek followed soon after, making a beeline for the Longsword's landing pad. They barely stopped to consider the ongoing battle they were trapped in the middle of. Bullets and plasma flew by their heads as they ran, even a few Combat Forms tried to chase after them. Legion turned as it neared the Longsword and fired on the pursuing Flood attackers. Tali, in the meantime, fired shots at the spaces between the dividers on either side of the path. She managed to kill at least one Combat Form before it could make more of a nuisance of itself.

As the team clambered up the landing pad, Shepard back slightly to see a horde of Flood closing on them. He sent a shockwave hurtling back at them, hoping to delay them a few seconds longer. As the Flood Forms were catapulted away, Shepard ran up the ramp towards the Longsword with the Master Chief alongside him.

They all streamed towards the open hatch of the Longsword, Combat Forms close behind. Chief tossed a grenade back at them as they all entered the fighter, the explosion ripping the abominations apart. The Spartan then entered the fighter and slammed his fist on the emergency override for the hatch to close. The fighter sudden shook violent as an explosion from the lower decks rattled it. Chief almost toppled over, as did the others.

"We're cutting it close," Cortana noted.

Chief jumped into the pilot seat now, Shepard taking up the co-pilots seat. Everyone else just tried to find a place to hold on.

"Spartan training cover these things?" Shepard asked his friend nervously.

Chief simply flicked a few switches and dials before taking up the controls. He didn't really need to know, Cortana's wireless connection could fire up the takeoff sequence for him. He just needed to hit the start-up commands. He leaned back in the chair and gripped the stick.

"Punch it," he told Cortana forcefully.

The Longsword suddenly lifted into the air, slightly shaking about as it did. It oriented itself towards the hangar doors and then kicked in the afterburners. The ship blasted off from the doomed wreck of the Autumn. And catapulted itself into the sky like a reverse comet. Chief could only guess his knuckles were going white with anticipation of what was coming next. He kept his hands on the stick firmly and Shepard offered to help from the co-pilots seat.

In the corner of his visor the countdown finally reached zero just as they entered the dark void of space. For a moment there was a nothing.

"Huh," Zek observed. "I was kinda expecting an earth shattering ka-"

The Longsword rumbled violently, interrupting Zek and throwing everyone not in a seat to floor. There was a tremendous light radiating from behind them, forcing both Shepard and the Chief to squint as they flew ever upwards, keeping the stick back. Suddenly the shaking subsided, as did the light. Only to be replaced with an alarm of some sort.

"Engines overheating," Shepard noted, looking at the screen.

"Shut them down," Cortana advised the Master Chief. "We'll need them later."

The Spartan did so, flicking off the controls. They were well out of danger by now anyway. As Chief undid his buckle, he saw Zek rushing towards the window with an eager sense of anticipation. Others soon followed and Chief admitted his own curiosity got the better of him too.

"Fancy a look?" Cortana asked.

Chief got up, figuring why not? How many times was he going to see an ancient ringworld explode? He walked over to the window where everyone else was gathered and witnessed Halo's end first hand.

---

Thel picked himself up off the floor. Warning lights blared and sparks flew. There were dead Unggoy and Sangheili spread across the Command Deck. Thel propped his head up and looked towards one of the main view screens where his eyes beheld a most terrible sight. He saw the dimming light of an explosion and a piece of Halo twirling off into the void. It hurtled towards the other side of the ring, crashed into and utterly destroyed it.

Halo was gone, nothing more than debris and space dust now. Eons hidden, eons to find, and now destroyed in but a few days of its discovery. Thel felt his stomach sink and hearts ache. The reality had fully sunk in. They had failed. He had failed.

"Sir," one of the sangheili warriors said as he limped up to the Supreme Commander. "We're getting massive damage reports from the rest of the fleet. Most of the ships were caught in the explosion. Survivors are heavily damaged. They're asking for orders, what do we do? What do we tell the Hierarchs?"

Thel looked down in sullen regret, turning his eyes away from the screen.

"All surviving ships are to continue to the rendezvous behind the gas giant," he solemnly stated. "I will contact the Hierarchs of this tragedy. This failure… is mine alone to bear."

There would reprisals, there would be punishment. Thel almost wished for when his position was merely at stake. Now, he was about to lose everything. He could only blame himself and one other person. No, not a person… a demon.

---

"Did anyone else make it?" Chief asked hopefully.

The Spartan's question interrupted Zek's hearty laughter at the sight of Halo breaking apart and burning. Suddenly, the jubilation of their survival was replaced with the grim reminder that they weren't the only ones who needed to escape. Everyone looked to Chief, or more accurately Cortana, to offer an answer.

"Scanning," she began stoically.

A few moments later, she broke the bad news

"Just… dust and echoes," she said in shock. "We're… we're all that's left!"

Everyone's mouths opened agape and they stood in shock.

"All that's left?" Tali finally voiced in horror. "No, no it can't be."

"No, fuck no," Zek stated just as adamantly. "They had plenty of time! Retz got that ship! They got out! I know they did!"

"Check again, Cortana," Shepard pleaded. "Please! You must've missed something!"

But Cortana couldn't offer anything.

"I'm checking every frequency, I can't pick up anything!"

Varvok slammed his fist into the side of the ship.

"Damn it!" He screeched in anger. "Damn it!"

The batarian turned, slammed the back of his head into the wall and slid down to the ground. Shepard couldn't help but feel like joining him. He hung his head dejectedly, along with the rest of the crew.

"It's Reach all over again," he said in a hushed whisper. "Fuck, I thought… I thought… fuck."

"Garrus, Kasumi, Kat, Joker, Chakwas," Tali said, practically on the verge of tears. "They're all… they're gone. I can't believe it. They're just… gone."

Shepard moved to comfort Tali as she started to break down. Miranda just dropped to the floor near Varvok, holding her long hair in a vicelike grip. Mordin just looked off distantly into space, trying his best to keep composed. Legion could not show emotion, but lowered its head in recognition of the news. Zek just kept shaking his head, continuing to deny it. Chief could only slink back to the pilot's chair in defeat.

"We did what we had to do… for Earth," Cortana tried to insist, not sounding too sure of herself as she did. "An entire Covenant Armada obliterated and the Flood… we had no choice."

"Doesn't make it better," Miranda growled under her breath.

Chief sat in silence for a few moments, contemplating the aftermath. He had gone through losing a team of brothers and sisters. Now, he had lost more than that. Shepard was right, it was like Reach all over again. Their victory felt more like a failure than anything.

But then, as the Master Chief leaned back in the chair, static started screeching into his ear. His head perked up at the sound and it didn't go lost on Cortana. In fact, everyone's radios were going off, static filling their ears.

"The hell," Cortana said in confusion.

Chief thought for a moment, static usually meant some kind of transmission. It was a longshot… but…

"Cortana… can you clear this up," he asked, sounding a lot more hopeful than any Spartan had ever sounded.

The AI did her best, closing in on the frequency and trying to clean the interference. A short rumbling noise started to be heard, then something that vaguely sounded like voices and the… singing?

"Oh typhoon weather, hurricane weather, no matter where the where the wind blows, sail for the eye boys, sail for the eye. Beat back the storm or give up the prize."

"Hey, I know that song," Zek stated, suddenly becoming rather jubilant at the news.

As the lyric repeated once more, Cortana opened a channel through the Longsword's radio. Zek quickly picked up the channel and spoke.

"Retz, Retz do you read!" He cried into it. "Come on you stinking lying jerk, talk to me!"

Mere seconds later, a voice did respond.

"Zek, there you are, I was getting a bit worried," Retz called out happily as celebratory shouts and hollers echoed in the background. "If you died I'd be stuck as Shipmaster after all. You know how much I'd hate that."

Zek laughed uproariously with glee. Varvok was already standing up, a smile returned to his face. If Retz had made it, so had his own people.

"Oh you magnificent son of a bitch! You pulled it off!" the pirate leader cooed. "You got away! I didn't doubt for a second, old friend!"

"Really? Cause I did," Retz chuckled slightly. "You with Commander Shepard? I got someone here who needs to talk to him."

Shepard pushed his way towards the dashboard and opened the channel.

"This is Commander Shepard," he began.

"Commander," Holland's voice spoke through the radio. "Good to hear from you. We were worried for a moment you didn't make it off the ring. I just wanted you to know that thanks to the Deserters, we managed to get most of our forces out in time. We've had some casualties, but we're no worse for wear."

"What about my crew, sir?" Shepard asked anxiously "Are they alright?"

Another signal suddenly cut into the conversation featuring a very familiar pair of voices.

"Did you really think a little exploding ring planet would kill us, Commander?" Joker laughed.

"It was a close call but we made it, Shepard," Garrus added. "A lot of us are still in some scattered Pelicans, but we're still kicking. EDI says the ring's destruction created a lot of havoc with communication so it was hard finding you. Our sensors are still wack but as soon as we get your location we can come pick you up."

There was a tremendous sigh of relief from everyone inside.

"Oh thank the Ancestors," Tali stated happily. "It's good to hear your voice, Garrus."

"Same to you, Tali," the turian replied.

Chief's personal comms suddenly got contacted as well by an old friend of his own.

"Nice handiwork, boss," Linda greeted. "Biggest thing you've ever blown up. You know, I was wondering if you may have needed me on that one, but you proved me wrong."

Chief just nodded, turning his head back slightly to the team behind him, their joy at the reversal of their fortunes clear for all to see. He noted Shepard in particular, hugging Tali close as the small group congratulated each other on the end of the mission.

"You needn't have worried," Chief told Linda. "I had a good team with me."

"Not the same as Spartans I imagine," Linda was quick to note.

He paused for a moment and thought over the statement. It was true, they weren't like Spartans. They could never be. Nothing could replace the people he lost. Nothing could make him forget them. That didn't mean he had to be alone. And truthfully, he didn't want to be. Not anymore.

"No," he admitted. "Not the same. Not better. But just as valuable."

"Good to hear it, John," Linda stated, her tone one of pride and respect as she did. "See you soon. Over and out."

Shepard walked over and took a seat beside the Master Chief in other pilot's chair.

"Ugh, long day, huh?" He asked the Spartan.

"Yeah," Chief responded simply as they both looked out the window at the demolished ringworld.

"Nice view though," Shepard added.

"Won't argue with that," Cortana concurred.

Shepard took another breath.

"I can't believe it, we actually pulled it off," he exclaimed.

"We did, better than we could've hoped for," Cortana added solemnly. "Halo, it's finished."

Finished? Was it? Chief knew better than to think that. This was a win, no one could take that away. But the Covenant were still out there, sans one fleet but still out there. They still had a long way back to Earth. They now had some rather peculiar bedfellows sharing said trip for the moment. And then Chief remembered what Guilty Spark had said in the Control Room. "Once the others follow suit." It was hardly finished, not yet anyway.

"No, I think we're just getting started," Chief proclaimed.

There were other challenges ahead, but the Master Chief knew he wouldn't have to do it all by himself. He had new team, new people to call his brothers and sisters in battle. Cortana, Shepard, the Normandy, perhaps he would never have the same kind of bond with them as they one he forged with his fellow Spartans, but that didn't mean he had to shut them out. He wouldn't call them family necessarily, not yet. But he was willing to give them the chance. He wanted to.

Chief reached up and loosened his helmet's seal. He pulled the thing off and set it on his knee. Shepard noticed the sound and looked towards the Spartan face. It was a pale worn face, with only a few spotted remaining freckles, clouded beneath faded scars and a near shaven head of what little remained of his red hair. It was a rare sight to be sure, but Chief felt the Commander had earned it in some small way. They were a team now, him, Cortana, everyone, for however long they had left to finish this.

"John," he said to Shepard with a nod, he didn't smile but that was hardly the point.

"Wade," Shepard responded, smiling for both him and the Spartan.

And two seconds later, the moment was interrupted as a certain AI Avatar started speaking.

"Is this some kind of guy thing?" She slyly asked. "Because I can't exactly go. I'm stuck in the neural lace."

Shepard laughed a bit, Chief didn't, but he did turn back towards the window. Just get another look at the ring and maybe, after just catch some sleep. Lord knew he needed it and he probably wouldn't get much in the foreseeable future. Like he had said before, they were just getting started.

---

AN: And finale done! Oh man, that was a lot of work guys, like you have no idea. So much stress to get this done before the zombie apocalypse or whatever. Anyway, we're not done just yet. We still have an epilogue, so tune in for that in the next chapter! Right now!