Interlude: William

William didn't know how long it had actually been, but he hadn't left the alien facility since the day he was given permission to continue his attempts to communicate with the intelligence, other than the times he needed to relieve himself. He hadn't seen any ancient alien bathrooms down there, and he was sure the intelligence wouldn't appreciate him shitting in its facility.

He'd had the two Army troopers, Ryan and Moulton, continue to bring him food and water. He only had spare MREs to eat, nothing fancy like he was used to eating in the city. But he didn't care. All that mattered to him was finally being able to talk to whatever was running the planet.

All of the other scientists had left when the civilian evacuations had begun; even his girlfriend, Alena Hillis. William knew the risk of staying down there, he knew he probably wouldn't be making it off the planet alive, if he even made it out at all. He knew that the last time he saw Hillis was the last time he'd see her for good, and she knew that too. As much as they loved each other, they both knew this mission was too important. Him staying behind could be all humanity needed to beat the Covenant, or at the very least get the upper hand against them.

William had been given clearance to review the reports on the battle of Installation 04, otherwise known as Alpha Halo, in his time down there. They told him that the people who had built both Halo and this place were called the Forerunners, and that they were the focus of the Covenant's worship.

If the intelligence down there was indeed Forerunner, he found it funny that it was trying to help humanity against the Covenant. There's nothing more hilarious than your greatest enemy being hated by the thing they loved. William couldn't help but laugh, which ended up startling him. It had been so quiet for so long that he had scared himself with his own voice.

William returned to the projector room, where he and the UNSC had discovered that the planet was hollow. And as soon as he did, his instruments began picking up a massive buildup of energy just outside the planet's inner surface. This wasn't the first time it had happened, but it was becoming more and more frequent.

He placed his hands on the surface of the projector, and called out for the intelligence the same way he had time and time again. Every time he thought it would work for some reason, and it never did. But to his surprise, something did happened that time. The projector activated, and he was shown a view of Kujo City. Though William had only ever seen Covenant ships in news feeds and recruitment posters, he recognised the two Covenant warships that sat directly above the city.

One of the ships, the smaller one, held still. But the larger of the two slowly moved over the city, in the direction of the mountain. William felt his heart start racing in his chest. Either the Covenant were coming directly for him, or it was simply a coincidence that they were headed in his direction. Either way, if they got to him he would most likely be dead.

"God damnit," William cursed to himself.

He let go of the projector and looked around the room for anything that could possibly be different. The projector hadn't activated at any point since the UNSC was there, so why was it activating now? He gave up when he realised that everything was the same, and he returned to the room's entrance. That was when he noticed that something actually was different.

The UNSC soldiers had used explosives to get through the door before, causing massive damage to it. He hadn't noticed it when he entered the room as he was preoccupied with his readings, but the door was now fully repaired and intact. And it didn't open for him this time when he tried to leave. He wasn't sure whether he should be excited that something had actually changed, or if he should be scared that something had locked him in there.

His fears were put to rest when he heard the word again, the word that the intelligence had said to him when he first encountered it. Reclaimer.

"Hello?" William called out. "Are you there?"

"I am here," the voice of the intelligence said. It came out of the room's walls in a way that made it seem like it was everywhere at once. William let out the biggest breath of relief in his life, and he rushed back to the projector.

"I've been trying to talk to you for so long," William said.

"I am aware, and I apologise," the intelligence said. "I have been preoccupied with other matters."

"I see," William sighed. "But right now your planet is in danger. A Covenant fleet has arrived to try and take it for themselves."

"I know," the intelligence said. "I have been working to find a solution."

"Have you found one?"

"I have."

William's instruments came to life once more as there was another massive buildup of energy underneath the planet. This energy spike was bigger than all the others, and it only continued to increase in size.

"This isn't going to kill me, is it?" William asked.

"No. I would not intentionally hurt a Reclaimer without reason."

"Reclaimer? Why do you keep calling me that?"

"Because you are a Reclaimer."

William didn't have time to ask what that meant before his ears were filled with a deafening boom. The energy readouts were off the charts, to the point where the instruments had just stopped working. He felt the world shake below his feet, so much that he had to fight to keep his balance.

He ended up losing that fight, and he fell onto the ground. When the shaking stopped, he pushed himself back to his feet as he wondered what the hell just happened. He looked at the projector and noticed that the larger Covenant ship was gone, and that the smaller one was retreating. Wait, it's gone? Where the hell did it go? William wondered.

The ground shook again, this time William was able to stay on his feet. A distant rumbling told of something large crashing into the ground, and that answered William's question of what happened to the carrier. But his question for the intelligence still remained.

"Hey!" William shouted. "What does 'Reclaimer' mean?"

No answer came. William shouted again to try and gain the intelligence's attention, but he was left ignored once more. The intelligence was gone, and he wasn't sure if he would be able to communicate with it again. At least I got to communicate with it at all, he told himself.

He grabbed his radio, and gave Sergeant Nagata a call to tell her the good and bad news.