Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: Wonder what Skynet's up to? Well, so did I.
Just to warn you, there is some material that is
covered in a short story included in the new collection
Halo: Fractures. So spoilers ahead if you haven't read it.
Chapter 38
Too Easy...
February 25, 2558
(Eight days before Voyager arrival at Requiem)
Shield World (Dyson Sphere) Trevelyan
What was once the planet Onyx, used as a training ground for three generations of Spartan IIIs, had disassembled into trillions of Sentinels during the last days of the Covenant War.
After Halsey, most of Blue Team, some Spartan IIIs, and Chief Mendez had reached the core of the planet, they'd found a miniaturized Dyson sphere.
They'd escaped to it, and lived out the end of the war inside it before they were able to re-expand it to it's gargantuan size and be rescued.
Of course ONI had been interesting in studying and exploring it, hell, Infinity's own engines had been found there.
The Sangheili had also known about it's existence, and had naturally wanted a piece of the Forerunner pie.
Together they'd worked together over the past four years to study and explore the massive Dyson sphere to unlock its secrets.
Skynet had gleaned all of that information just by hacking the vessels entering and exiting the sphere. With all that it had learned from the Didact, reverse engineering the Narada, and the data it'd stolen off Sangheili ship computer cores, it had done so easily and covertly.
All of that had taught it a great deal about the Covenant and its subspecies, but also more about the Forerunners and the humans.
Using that information had made hacking their systems child's play; even their Smart AIs were oblivious.
However, Skynet was not about to provoke one either. The Didact had found that out the hard way.
It was studying them, their defenses, their protocols, and their weapons.
Covenant weapons were mostly irrelevant with the shields Narada possessed. Most UNSC weapons were as well. Only high-yield nukes and the MAC cannons were of any concern.
Still, there was strength in numbers, and ramming was still a vulnerability that Skynet would have a hard time defending against. However, it expected that once it was inside, most ships would be docked near the lock that the ships used as passage.
They, and Skynet, could not simply slip into the Dyson sphere using slipspace drives. It was protected against it.
Slowly, but surely, Skynet was catching onto the complex protocols used to enter and exit the sphere. There was no way Skynet could use the Didact's override it'd gleaned from his mind before someone mobilized a ship and alerted everyone else.
This had to be a surprise. Only then would victory be assured.
As it watched and waited, a new breed of Terminator was replacing the old; one that would be more effective than anything before it.
Tritanium and a new photon based processor were the key components of their make up.
The T-950 was far more advanced than the T-900, but its basic design remained. The same went for the rifles they would now employ.
Another ship signaled for entrance, and Skynet intercepted the message.
Each one was a step closer to figuring out the algorithm used to generate the key that granted entrance.
March 3, 2558
The sun never set here, not that it mattered to a grizzled old war vet.
He'd lived/worked/fought in almost every environment imaginable, even space. He was nothing if not adaptable.
That being said, sleep was something that hadn't come easily for more years than he cared to count. Guilt does that to someone with a conscience, even though it had never been a very good one.
Just good enough to rob him of his sleep.
His only consolation? His guilty conscience was a small price to pay for the peace they now enjoyed.
He rolled out of bed at 0530 sharp and made his bed in under 30 seconds. When he left the room, it looked as if he was never there.
The man's grey beard was trimmed and neat; his uniform impeccable as always.
Breakfast was quick and eaten alone. Then he reported to his post as head of security for the Onyx United Research Project. It was a joint op between the Sangheili and the human researchers.
Back in 2554, he'd been assigned the job after already and with the war just over the situation had been tense.
Things had quieted down quite a bit since then, but that didn't mean he became complacent. He was always vigilant, as was his Sangheili second in command and his two Spartans.
Things may be quieter, but that didn't mean they were alright.
Aside from the occasional incident with Forerunner tech, the researchers and their support hadn't needed much baby sitting.
However, over the last three weeks, the Sangheili were acting strangely; so were some of the ONI people he'd picked out among the humans.
He hadn't seen people this jumpy since the start of the Great War. It was disturbing to say the least.
Something big had gone down somewhere in the galaxy, and both ONI and the Sangheili were keeping quiet.
Whatever it was, he got the feeling he was going to be dealing with the consequences.
His second in command, a Sangheili female, was at another part of the security command center.
Her name was Kasha 'Hilot, and she too had been acting strangely, but it was more of a sad change than an apprehensive one.
It wasn't his nature to pry, and she hadn't shared what was on her mind.
That left him to do what he normally did: keeping order in this ever growing research project.
Reading his underlings reports, it seemed everything was quiet.
It was a good thing too; the researchers had requested security at the site of a Forerunner relic that had already been documented. Said relic had become active a few days ago, and the researchers wanted to know why.
What had worried them was the fact that it was one of the Forerunner's long distance slipspace teleporters, and that meant anything could come through and compromise security.
After everything was squared away at HQ, he rendezvoused with the Spartans on the Pelican that would transport them to their destination.
The Spartans were Beta class IIIs; two of the very few that were left. These two were survivors, and they were familiar with this place just like he was.
They were Tom-B292 and Lucy-B091.
Both were waiting next to the transport and quickly snapped off a salute at his approach.
"Chief Mendez, we're ready," Tom said as his commanding officer stopped in front of them. Lucy stayed silent, as she usually was.
Chief of Security Franklin Mendez acknowledged them both with a small smile, "Let's go then."
They boarded the craft and left the base behind.
The flight was short, and no one spoke. They'd already been briefed the previous day, but the researchers hadn't required them until now. The pilot circled the researchers camp before landing at the marked landing zone.
They were greeted by the lead researcher for the humans.
The man greeted him as he walked down the ramp, "Chief Mendez, glad your here. We've been eager to get to work."
He nodded and turned to the Spartan duo, "Secure the perimeter, Tom, then meet us inside."
The Spartan acknowledged and began their patrol as Mendez followed the scientist inside.
He was surprised by how small the chamber was. Normally the Forerunners went for big and grand.
It was a short walk to the portal itself. It was about fifteen feet tall and currently active. While this wasn't out of the ordinary, it's design was more robust than those that could be used for teleportation inside a planetary system.
"Doctor Lessnau, what makes this one so special?" His even tone had a curious tone to it that the fifty-something researcher noticed as he pulled up a file on his data pad.
"It's active, and it seems to be in perfect working order."
He wasn't satisfied, and he didn't like being talked down to either, "I can see that. What else?" he groused.
Blinking, the doctor quietly whispered, "It's capable of sending someone halfway across the galaxy, that's why it's important."
Mendez was glad he brought the Spartans instead of normal guards.
Tom-B292 finished the perimeter check at same time as Lucy. Both silently communicated an all clear to one another before entering the portal chamber.
"Never seen one like that." He commented over their private comm.
Lucy shrugged. It wasn't all that interesting to her, but the Huragok was.
The Forerunner engineers were extremely useful for whomever possessed one or more. They could repair any technology and were perfect for interfacing with Forerunner equipment.
They were also non-aggressive and were friendly as long as you were to them.
Lucy especially liked them, and this one was her favorite: Prone to Drift.
They'd met when Mendez, Lucy, Tom, Blue Team, and Halsey had all been trapped here at the end of the war. This Huragok had helped them escape and aided ONI in recovering the first artifacts found here.
One of the researchers was about to protest when Mendez stopped her, "They know each other."
The woman said nothing and returned to her work.
Tom and Lucy soon joined him, "Perimeter is secure. There's nothing for miles around."
Lucy nodded to convey her agreement.
Mendez took a long look at the portal, "According to Dr. Lessnau, any threat is likely to come from there. It's terminus could be almost anywhere."
It was a bit of an exaggeration, but it got the point across. They were to keep an eye on the portal without getting in the way of the researchers.
After they discussed the details, Mendez left the chamber. He pulled out a container holding the one and only vice he allowed himself:
Sweet William's cigars.
The tip fell to the ground as he flicked open his lighter.
Smoke puffed out of his mouth as he gazed upon the reverse horizon. He could even see the city of Paxopolis shining in the distance nearly two hundred miles away.
He could even see the passage way used by ships to enter and exit the Dyson sphere. That giant hole was fifty miles wide; Forerunner ships could be quite large.
Just as his eyes were about to pass up the maw, something caught his eye. A tiny light moving out of the hole at incredible speed.
Too small to be any kind of vessel and moving too fast to be a Pelican or Covenant drop ship; it was a missile.
His cigar fell to the ground as it arched toward the city.
The algorithm was complete. It had been validated after comparing its generated key to one sent by the previous ship entering the sphere.
Now it was ready.
Weapons and shields were at 100%, sensors were calibrated, and the troops were finished.
The AI itself had prepared billions of scenarios based upon available information. It would take less than a second for it to decide upon the proper course of action once inside.
It transmitted the code, making it appear that it was an ONI prowler under cloak, and the Narada was cloaked.
The entrance opened like a giant mouth. The doors were almost four miles thick and made of a dark material that was most certainly a Neutronium alloy.
At one quarter impulse, it would exit the passageway in ten seconds, but before it emerged, it needed to know it surroundings. The passage walls blocked scans, and thus what awaited it on the other side.
A modified graviton torpedo would take care of that. It would scan the region, report its findings, and then crash into the area with the greatest population.
Half-way through, it fired the torpedo.
Its propulsion's plasma exhaust gave the torpedo an eerie green glow as it shot out of the maw at 250,000 mph. It quickly scanned the area once it was two hundred miles above the surface, and then promptly changed course for the city nearby.
No one in the air had time to react, nor did anyone below.
Moving as fast as it was, neither the human destroyer nor the Swords of Sanghelios CSS class battle cruiser tasked with guarding the entrance could lock onto it with their point defense.
It was unlike anything they'd encountered before.
Franklin Mendez, over two hundred miles away, watched in horror as the torpedo detonated 600 feet above the pre-fab city of nearly five thousand humans and Sangheili.
A graviton torpedo first caused an implosion that acted like a momentary black hole before its deuterium payload was crushed far beyond the the point of nuclear fusion.
First everything in the city was sucked toward it, then it was either vaporized or obliterated by the massive explosion that followed.
It had come as such a shock, that Skynet had little trouble in locking on and launching twenty asteroid busters at the human vessel positioned above the Narada.
The human ship had shields, but they were first gen tech. Humanity's first steps beyond armor plating.
Twenty was more than enough.
Normally a UNSC destroyer would be able to lock on with its auto turrets and destroy most, if not all, of the incoming missiles. 50mm cannons were not to be taken lightly, unless said missile was designed to penetrate and destroy metal asteroids.
That, and they'd been enhanced by Borg technology.
Only two of the missiles were destroyed before the first wave slammed into the shields. They lit up from the detonations, rippling like water disturbed by a cannon ball.
They held though, but only enough to withstand one more hit before that section would fall, and there were still fourteen left.
The next wave hit two seconds later, obliterating the ventral shields and causing damage to the plating underneath, but no hull breaches. At least, until the third wave hit one second later.
They punctured the hull like a dart into cork driving ten feet in before detonating and ripping the bottom of the ship apart.
UNSC ships were meant to take this type of beating, but not this much.
The shields were gone, the MAC cannon was barely functioning, and most of the missile pods were disabled.
The ship board AI was frantic; it knew nothing of this threat it couldn't even see. All it could do was watch in slow motion as the last wave slammed into the bottom once more. Only this time, there was no armor to soften the blow.
Missile number twenty punctured the reactor core.
Anyone left alive on the destroyer was instantly vaporized as the reactor tore the ship apart in a violent explosion. What was left of the bow fell like a rock towards the Narada, which was waiting for it.
Skynet grabbed the burning hulk with tractor beams and let it crash into the dozens of smaller inner arms. The AI immediately began dissolving it's red hot remains into fuel and raw material.
As the Narada exited the maw, Skynet dropped the cloak and shifted power to the shields and disruptors.
For the first time, the humans of this universe laid eyes on the terror that had wreaked so much havoc in less than 45 seconds.
More than one Ensign wet their pants.
Those on the CCS-class battle cruiser, however, were prepared for vengeance. They'd known about the threat; they knew about Sanghelios.
The best weapon they had was the ventral glassing beam, and it was currently pointed directly at the Narada, but what they didn't know was that Skynet already had a contingency in order.
As the weapon charged up, the Narada's weapons were locking onto the projector. Just before the battle cruiser fired, Narada left fly another graviton torpedo accompanied by ten asteroid buster missiles and distracting disruptor fire.
The Sangheili ship master gave the order to fire, but it was the single worst thing he could have done.
To fire the glassing beam, they had to open a small hole in the shield, a weakness Skynet was going to exploit.
As the shield opened, Skynet changed the course of the graviton torpedo at the last instant.
They never knew what hit them.
The detonation not only destroyed the ventral glassing beam, it consumed the plasma it was about to eject, making the torpedo's explosion that much more powerful.
Skynet watched the cruiser destroy itself as it's plasma reactor breached. There'd be little left to salvage.
What remained was captured by the Narada as it leveled off ten miles above the surface.
Now it turned its weapons on the remaining ships that were 'docked' at a makeshift space port made out of an old Covenant cruiser too damaged to be used for war.
These vessels were undermanned mostly small transports or research vessels. Only one was any kind of warship, and it was only a corvette, less than three hundred meters in length.
Needless to say, it was a slaughter.
By the time the destroyer and battle cruiser were defeated, Mendez was running back inside yelling over the comm from anyone in the security force to respond.
All he got was static.
Tom and Lucy met him at the entrance; they'd heard the explosions with their sensitive hearing.
Just seeing the look of horror and desperation on their commander's face, a man who rarely showed emotion at all, left them deeply unsettled.
"What's the situation?" Tom asked with a slight edge as Lucy tensed beside him, "Covenant?"
He didn't answer and just pointed out the carnage in the distance.
Despite the distance, it was easy to see the massive green-glowing ship attacking the makeshift port with a ferocity and firepower they'd never seen.
As the last of their ships were destroyed, Mendez's face set hard as the scientists began to panic.
He knew that the scientist might be only ones who might get them out of it. All of the ships were destroyed, the portal behind them was likely the only way out of this.
Mendez could look fearsome if he wanted to, and if he wanted to keep some form of order, he had to get everyone's attention. He took his sidearm and let off four rounds into the sky getting everyone's attention, including the Sangheili who looked a lot less surprised than they should be.
And one particular human.
"Listen up," His gravely voice echoed across the small camp, "I think it's pretty obvious help's not coming, and we can't escape in a pelican."
The Sangheili ignored him, even though most present were scientists, they'd all trained in warfare, even the females.
The humans, on the other hand, scrambled into the chamber with what equipment they could carry, but one of them stayed. It was the one that Mendez had pegged as an ONI operative a while back.
Mendez confronted the man, who was wise enough not to resist when Mendez grabbed him by his collar.
"You spooks and the Sangheili have been on edge for weeks. You knew this was coming!"
The man said nothing and just looked at the lead Sangheili scientist.
He had little more patience for the hinge-head than he did the spook, but he didn't have to repeat himself before the Elite told him what he wanted to know.
It seemed to be the only thing on his mind.
The Sangheili, whose name escaped him, told all he knew, "Three of your weeks ago, our home planet was attacked by an unknown entity in a ship as big as an assault carrier. Our ships were no match for their's. Only one ship escaped, and our planet..."
Mendez didn't need him to elaborate on that, "What about their ground forces?"
"They were metal men and wielded plasma weapons. Beyond that, we know very little."
That wasn't much to go on, "Nothing about how were they deployed, or what kind of weapons their drop ships have?"
The Sangheili shook his head; his quad-hinged jaw quivering in what was a mix of sadness and anger, "They said nothing about drop ships, only that they deployed before anyone knew what was happening."
Mendez frowned and left the Elite to finish preparing for the inevitable confrontation. Tom and Lucy were scanning the area, he knew they'd overhead the conversation, now all that was left was to talk to Dr. Lessnau.
He needed to know if there was any hope of them getting out of here. Inside the cave, people were on the verge of panic, but it seemed they had it under control. Most of these people had been vetted by ONI, or even worked for them.
"Doctor," he address the man who was yelling at his subordinates to finish setting up the equipment. The Huragok helped as best he could. Even he sensed the danger.
The man turned as Mendez stopped next to him, "I know what you're going to ask, and I don't know if we can verify that it's safe. Prone doesn't even know where it terminates."
Prone turned his snake-like head towards them, the translator on his neck vocalizing his hand motions. "I know that it was activated recently. Someone must have activated it from the other terminus. Wherever that may be."
"Whatever turned it on," Lessnau sighed, "It can't be any worse than being vaporized."
"How long until you know it's safe?"
Lessnau shrugged, "Ten minutes, fifteen at the most. The Huragok will certainly help in that regard." His jerked his thumb at Prone as the Engineer finished hooking up the humans' equipment.
"We'll do our best to give you that time, but..." he was interrupted by gun shots outside, "we may not have ten minutes."
With all primary threats eliminated, Skynet set about the grisly business of exterminating the survivors. It's new terminators were doing their namesake justice as they swiftly handled what little resistance was being put up.
Then there was the matter of the smoking ruins of the city. There was still plenty of raw material to be harvested, and so the AI parked the Narada directly above the city's ruins and began transporting the wreckage into its material processors.
The dead would be fuel, nothing more.
After the enough of the radiation from ten exploding fusion reactors had dissipated, Skynet began doing detailed long range scans in attempt to find any research posts.
It identified over thirty active sites within a thousand mile radius of the city. Beyond that, there was nothing but Forerunner tech.
Little time was wasted in deploying troops via transporter.
As it's troops reported in, it knew that any resistance would be short lived. That included the site with two Spartans. Their outdated weapons barely scratched the T-950's endo.
Despite their disadvantage, Skynet hoped that they would defeat it's machines. This would help it improve the design and programming immensely. The AI was smart enough to know that it could only improve with their failure.
There were more Spartans out there, and the more prepared it was, the fewer complications there would be in the future.
In essence, Skynet was kicking back and watching the show, just as it had done countless times in the past.
Lucy had fought many battles in her 25 years. Maybe not as many as the Master Chief or even some veteran Marines, but enough.
She'd watched all but one of her friends die, and ever since she wondered just how long she and Tom had before their number would be called.
Watching her armor piercing rounds not even scratch their attackers brought that thought up once more.
The hinge-heads were having slightly better luck; their swords and plasma grenades could deal great damage when they targeted the less armored areas. Whatever these metal men were made out of, it was not only extremely strong and hard but its heat resistance was incredible.
If that wasn't enough, she, Mendez, and Tom were the only members of the joint security force present; the rest were scientists.
That meant coordination was nearly non-existent.
They decided to stay out of the Sangheili's way as they engaged the machines while they stepped back and assessed them more closely. They still provided cover fire, but didn't engage.
As the Elites fought and fell to the machine's strange energy rifle, the Spartans took a moment behind cover.
"We need better weapons," Tom said as he slapped home his last magazine.
She nodded and did the same.
Tom scanned the battle field as another Elite was blown to pieces.
As the gore from the exploding Sangheili spread out, it disintegrated leaving nothing behind.
Definitely not a plasma based weapon, and one that left no apparent evidence behind.
However, the Elite's energy sword had been left behind and not too far from Lucy. Tom set his eyes on another one ten feet farther than that.
"On three." He said before counting down the his fingers.
Then they sprang into action.
Lucy snapped up the sword and leaped onto the back of one of the metal monsters before slashing the thing's weapon to pieces.
The machine dropped its worthless weapon as it tried to grab her, but she jumped off before its metal digits found her.
It faced her as she recovered; both spent the second after deciding their next move. The machine lunged forward with unnatural speed forcing Lucy to side step its attack. She followed up with a slash at it's left arm, the one it had tried to punch her with.
The metal hand creaked at the exposure to million-plus degree plasma, but it didn't melt like most materials would. As she parried the machine's next blow, she noted the small cut the sword had managed to make.
As both machines and Elites fell around her, she lost track of Tom as she fought the machine that had singled her out. She was as fast as it was, but not nearly as strong or durable.
All Lucy had was her cunning, and when the opportunity came she struck the only thing that seemed vulnerable: the eyes. The dual bladed sword was perfect for poking out the red lenses and destroying the underlying optics.
It reeled while trying to compensate for the loss. She figured such an advanced robot would likely be designed to use other sensors to navigate, meaning she had only a momentary advantage. She did what the Sangheili did and went for the softer bits. The joint armor at the neck was her primary target. With a mighty thrust she managed to melt the armor, allowing the blade to do tremendous damage to the base of the skull.
It wasn't enough to kill it, as it still struggled, but using its flailing arm as leverage she twisted the machine as the blade severed the head.
As the head hit the ground, the body lost balance and fell over.
For safety's sake, she forced the sword through the skull until it's sensitive components flowed out the back.
The death of one of their comrades had drawn the attention of the rest, and Lucy quickly found her self scrambling for cover as energy rounds quickly drained her shields.
Just as she sought refuge behind a rock, one bolt clipped her, vaporizing part of her shoulder armor.
There was very little heat, but still it felt like that part of her body had been electrified. She gritted her teeth as the pain permeated down to her bones. Pushing aside the pain, she looked around trying to get her bearings.
Tom was doing slightly better than her, he'd downed two and was working on a third, but his armor had certainly taken a beating for it. The Sangheili scientists were mostly dead; none of them had nearly the experience that the Spartans had, nor were they as armored.
Mendez had also joined the fight, but at a distance. He was providing cover with a plasma carbine.
As her shields recharged, Lucy rejoined the fight. There were only three of the machines left, and with few allies she knew it wasn't going to be easy.
The closest one turned and fired on her, but using her sword as a shield she was able to block most of the rounds until she got close enough to make a move on the exotic energy weapon.
It was at that moment she realized these machines were more than just drones. It shielded its weapon with it's other forearm, allowing it to fire it at point blank range while it kept her blade locked against its forearm.
She was forced to abandon her attack before the machine riddled her with holes.
The last of the Elites were falling to the machines, and Tom's armor was taking a beating. He wouldn't last much longer with their weapons chipping away at it.
"Mendez! Take out their weapons!" It wasn't her place to give orders, but the situation called for it.
"Understood," he responded and immediately switched his aim.
Lucy focused on her own opponent's weapon while blocking its shots with the energy sword. It was not making it easy as it was constantly shielding the gun from her rather short reach.
The only other weapon she had was her sidearm, and she wasn't sure if it would damage the energy rifle.
With time running out, she didn't have much choice. She drew her pistol and fired the armor piercing rounds at the rifle. The rounds didn't seem to do much damage, but the final shot struck the tip of the barrel, prompting the machine to drop the weapon.
It appeared that the tip was vital to the weapon's operation, and she hoped Mendez had seen.
As she engaged the machine hand to hand again, her commanding officer quickly took out the remaining attacker's weapons.
Now it was a fair fight.
Lucy wasted little time in taking out her target's eyes, providing her an opportunity to drive the blade through the weak armor under the armpit and push it deep into the chassis.
The machine faltered, but did not fall immediately. It's right arm and legs went limp as the control circuitry was destroyed, and Lucy left it there as another engaged her.
Both she and Tom faced off with remaining two as they and the few remaining Elites fought for the precious time needed to get the portal working.
It was a tough battle, as the machines continued to learn and adapt they became harder to defeat. They didn't leave vulnerable spots open as often and their opponents were kept more and more on the defensive.
One by one the Elites fell until only the Spartans remained. Tom had a noticeable limp and his shield system was failing.
Lucy wasn't fairing much better; her visor was cracked and she was pretty sure her left arm had a hairline fracture. Her sword was nearly drained, but she knew there was enough to finish this one, and Tom was almost finished with his.
After a minute more of sparring they both managed to destroy their respective targets with only a few more dents and bruises to show for it.
Tom limped over to Lucy as Mendez disappeared back inside for an update from the scientists.
He put a hand on her shoulder after she let go of her spent energy sword, "You okay?" he asked.
She nodded while trying to catch her breath. That had easily been the most intense...her thoughts were interrupted by a humming noise; one that was growing louder.
Both of them turned towards it source.
It was the machine that Lucy had disabled, but not destroyed. It was looking at her with its burned out eyes as it pushed itself up on one arm.
Both took a battle stance, but the machine made no move. The noise continued to get louder, and the machine's chest began to glow, especially where Lucy had punctured it under the armpit.
It's power source was going critical.
They were no more than ten feet from it, and they could only guess at the blast radius.
As its breast plate began to arc bolts of electricity, Tom picked up Lucy and shielded her as he ran.
He got twenty feet away before it exploded.
Lucy shut her eyes as she was crushed against Tom's chest. Both were blown backwards as they enveloped in a white wall of blazing heat.
She took the brunt of the impact against the floor; Tom atop her as they slid down the tunnel. Finally they slammed into some containers as the heat dissipated and the winds died down.
Star clouded her vision and her ears rung. Tom was still on top of her, unmoving.
At first she thought he'd been knocked out, but as here vision cleared an alarm was visible on her HUD.
Tom had flat-lined.
Instinct took over before panic. She moved out from under him while keeping him still, but when she got clear it was obvious there was nothing she could do.
"No."
The words were a whisper, but if it was the sound of her heart breaking, it would be like thunder.
Her hands began to tremble, but before she could break down entirely a hand touched her shoulder. Lucy whirled around to face whomever it was, but it was only Mendez.
Half his face was burnt and cracked and his hair was gone. Blood was on his brow and he was cradling his right arm. It was then that she noticed no one else moving.
Everyone was dead.
The human scientists had been killed by the pressure wave as it smashed them into the walls like a bullet down the barrel that the tunnel made.
It was like OPERATION: TORPEDO all over again.
The death and destruction, the feeling of absolute hopelessness as everyone around you died.
Just as she was about to lose herself in those emotions, something brushed her forearm.
It was Prone to Drift. The Huragok had somehow survived even though he was a little worse for the wear. He'd been shielded from the explosion by the portal itself.
"Lucy", his vocalizer spoke calmly, "we must leave. There isn't much time."
She wasn't in the mood to care, but Mendez was. "Is it ready?" He nodded to the portal.
"Do we have a choice?"
Nobody argued that point. Death would find them if they stayed.
The sound of metal hitting metal echoed in the room as Lucy pulled the large bit of shrapnel that had pierced Tom's back through the armor. The heat of it had cauterized the wounds which wouldn't be a bad thing if they hadn't shredded most of his vital organs.
She stripped the destroyed breastplate and backplate off and slung Tom over her shoulder. She refused to leave him behind.
Mendez, despite his injuries, couldn't let her bear the burden alone. He slung Tom's other arm over his shoulder and began walking toward the portal. Prone lagged behind as he collected some of the invader's remains.
There was a mystery to solve, and while he didn't really care about the who, he cared about the how. He was an Engineer after all.
He caught up to them just as they were about to walk through the swirling blue and black storm.
Despite the risks entering an untested long range portal, he knew staying behind was unacceptable. The invaders knew too much as it was, and getting captured would only make things worse knowing what he knew.
Entering the portal, he hoped his brethren could keep themselves hidden.
He took one last look at his home for so many centuries and then followed his companions into an uncertain future.
A/N: The next chapter is typed out and undergoing editing, but don't expect it out before Christmas. Just finishing up college and getting ready for graduation and a full time job.
We'll also be returning to our main cast next chapter and finding out what happens to these guys. After that I will start bringing together all the Halo elements that I've been building up to in preparation for a big battle with Skynet.
Thanks for reading!
-OZ