Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is purely for my, and my reader's, entertainment.
Chapter 41
Waking Up
Spirit of Fire
Opposite Side of Requiem
Captain Cutter didn't like sitting on the sidelines, and neither did his crew. It made him feel like an ONI spook; always standing on the sidelines while good men died in battle. The only consolation was that there was plenty of enemy left to fight.
For now all he and his crew could do was keep up on the progress reports, and so far things had gone according to plan, up until word arrived of Skynet's attack on the Dyson Sphere had reached them.
Serina kept an eye on their still newly refitted ship while Anders was busy studying data from the stream John Henry was sending them via a slipspace transceiver.
The only hiccup had been the Chief's near death, but it seemed Voyager's medical team had things well in hand.
What had worried the Captain had been the sudden appearance of a damaged assault carrier that nearly collided with Infinity. At least that's what their sensor buoys were telling him. Similar to the ones the Infinity had deployed, but the SOF's had stronger transmitters tuned only to their ship. That made sure that the SOF could stay out of sight while keeping an eye on things outside of Requiem.
He was in the middle of reading the live updates when Serina sighed behind him. "Is something wrong, Serina?"
Her slender form joined him at the holo-table. It was still a little disconcerting having an AI with a solid body. For someone who'd lived as long as him, he was used to AIs being part of the installations they controlled. Ships, bases, bunkers, research facilities and other monolithic structures.
It was strange having one's perspective forcefully shifted in such a subtle, yet profound, way.
"Sir, the timeline laid out for us is beginning to change. Skynet's interference is growing."
Cutter frowned, "I read the report."
"It's worse," her voice remained steady, as it usually did, but her face betrayed growing concern, "The Elite home world has been destroyed, some of the survivors have just arrived and they're in contact with the UNSC."
"Is it just one ship?"
"So it appears," she responded.
Rubbing the stubble on his chin, he felt his gut churn. Something wasn't right. Why come here?
"If they aren't with 'Mdama, why are they here?"
Serina shrugged, "I would assume they're here for something. A weapon to use against Skynet."
The pit in his stomach grew. There had to be other places to get what they wanted without risking confrontation with the Remnant and the UNSC.
They were here for something specific, and he had a feeling they were about to find out what.
"Serina, bring us back up to full combat readiness."
As small smile spread across her lips, "Aye, aye, sir. Bringing defenses online; charging shields to maximum; spinning up FTL drive."
Cutter turned back to the view port where Requiem's surface shown through. The Spirit hummed beneath him as plasma surged through the ship's arteries. He'd spent many hours rethinking his tactics. He'd learned his ship's new strengths and weaknesses. He thought about the shields, the weapons, and the new reactor that powered them; not to mention the power boost that the Forerunner slipspace drive offered them.
With potential allies on the other side of the planet, he had to be careful not to inflict casualties on them. He knew how bad it was going to look to the UNSC when they saw the refit the ship had undergone.
Whatever was about to happen, he felt confident they could handle it. They'd faced worse odds before, and the Spirit of Fire had always come through.
Time passed slowly as the crew waited with baited breath for the call to be given.
Cutter leaned back in his chair as Serina stood beside him; patiently waiting for something to happen.
He expected Serina to calmly inform him that it was time to intervene. Instead, she gasped.
"Captain! Cortana's identified a Forerunner signature heading for Requiem! It's the Didact!"
He looked at her with alarm, "I thought the Master Chief killed him?"
"It seems he and Cortana met the same fate; only the Didact ended up with Skynet instead of John Henry!"
His reaction was immediate, "Serina, get me Commander Keyes on the horn," he ordered while bringing up live sensor feeds of the opposite side of the planet.
"Aye, sir," she responded just before Keyes accepted the transmission.
"Captain Cutter," Keyes began as her face appeared on one of the monitors, "Has Serina briefed you on the Didact?"
"She has, Commander," he answered, "What's your plan?"
He had his own opinions on the situation, but he was testing her.
"Seven of Nine proposed using her implants to contact the Didact directly. That way we can keep ourselves concealed and distant until we know his intention."
That sounded fine to Cutter, "And if he turns hostile?"
Her eyes hardened, "You'll blockade the maw while we move in from behind. Between the both of us, we should be able to nullify the threat."
It sounded good to him, so he continued, "What're the chances of her succeeding?"
"This is Seven of Nine were talking about, sir. If there is anyone who can get it done, it's her."
"And he's a Forerunner, Commander. If anyone can resist her, he can."
Miranda crossed her arms, "Then I hope you're weapon's officers are as good I hear, because he won't go down without a fight."
Perhaps she put a bit too much faith in the cyborg, but that was his own opinion. He didn't know her exploits as well as Keyes did so he gave her that.
"We'll be ready should things go south, Cutter out."
He ended the transmission and then stroked the stubble on his chin as he began thinking about the Didact and how much Skynet had learned from him. The possibilities were frightening, and it made the urge to find and destroy the Halos even stronger.
"Sir," Serina interrupted, "We're ready to initiate the jump on your command."
"Not just yet; I want to see how this plays out."
She cocked her head a little as her eyes narrowed slightly at him, "You're testing them?"
"Some of Voyager's crew are still wild cards, Serina, I want to see what they're capable of."
She'd assumed as much, but it was assuring to hear him say so. "Aye, sir."
The bridge fell silent once more as they waited for the call to action.
USS Voyager
Sick Bay
Several Minutes Previous...
Lucy's world was upside down.
Everything had happened so quickly. The machines, Tom, and these people that were somehow connected to it all.
She was trying to process all of this while dealing with the emotions of her companion's demise. Connor's promise had yet to be fulfilled as Tom lay still on a medical bed.
When they'd been transported instantaneously onto this mysterious ship, sickbay was already busy. Another Spartan had one doctor's attention, but there seemed to be only one.
There had been two AIs in the room at first, but Connor had taken the blue one with him; leaving the pink one to assist the balding doctor.
The man, at least he seemed to be a man, had briefly turned his attention to them just after arrival.
His hands were strangely clean of the blood and bits of charred flesh spattered on his uniform, but she didn't dwell on it as he picked up a scanning device and folded it.
He quickly passed over Mendez, who was mostly healed at this point, and then onto her.
"Several broken bones and torn ligaments. Minor internal injuries but nothing critical." His voice was steady and professional, but it also had a caring tone to it. He quickly moved over to Tom and assessed him.
"Severe lacerations, concussion, multiple broken bones, torn ligaments, various internal injuries..." he sighed before quickly typing instructions into the terminal near the bed.
A field went up around Tom's bed. She immediately tried to touch him, but was met with resistance.
"It's a stasis field. It'll keep your friend from deteriorating until I'm ready to operate. In the meantime, I suggest you rest. There's nothing more you can do right now."
She removed her damaged helmet and locked eyes with him. "Will he be okay?"
"I'm confident he'll make a full recovery." Certainty radiated from his face, "his brain is intact, and that's all I really need," he explained before spinning on his heel and returning to his other patient.
Mendez had drifted closer towards the other operating theater and seemed almost transfixed by what he saw.
It was at this point that Connor entered sickbay and retrieved the shell shocked AI, leaving behind an old friend.
Prone to Drift had paid little attention to the others and floated straight over to them. After grabbing some of the tools lying on a cart, he floated next to Lucy.
"You're damaged. I can fix you," his translator said as some of his cilia brushed against her armor.
She looked to Mendez for approval, but he was still staring at the wounded Spartan on the operating table. Doubting he'd mind, she surrendered to the Huragok who made short work of disassembling her armor.
As the armor pieces began falling to the floor, the sickbay doors opened again.
This time a grey Spartan entered, and the way she moved struck Lucy as familiar.
She immediately turned to the nameless doctor, "Where do you need me?"
The voice sounded calm, but Lucy could see the tension from how she stood.
"We have the Chief handled; I need you to prep our other Spartan casualty for surgery on bio-bed 4."
The grey Spartan took one last look her wounded comrade before turning their way. She stopped when her visor met Mendez standing a few feet away.
After taking a few steps she stopped and saluted him, "Chief Mendez," she greeted which snapped the man out of his trance.
Lucy watched as surprise spread across his face.
"I was told you died on Reach, Lieutenant," he responded with his own salute, "What're they calling you now?"
It was a callback to her classified name. Ever since ONI had learned of her relation to a John-117, they had made sure that no one could put the pieces together about one of their darkest secrets.
"Noble Six was my last official designation, sir," she explained while making her way over to Tom's body, "Now it's just Six."
For Lucy, the pieces finally came together. She remembered a young freckle faced girl with an attitude the size of a super carrier. She'd never been part of a team, but participated in group exercises. She'd always been one of the best. Lucy hadn't known what happened to her, until now.
Six held Mendez's gaze for a moment before turning her attention to Tom, and Lucy wasn't sure why she'd hesitated.
As Six snapped into action, Mendez remained still a moment longer as his eyes twitched between the two operating theaters. Lucy had never known Mendez to hesitate, but clearly something was weighing on his mind.
Whatever it had been didn't stop the man for long before moving to help Six remove Tom's armor.
Lucy instinctively moved to help, but Prone to Drift gently pushed her back as her finished unlatching her breastplate, causing it to fall to the deck with a clang. The backplate he set aside more gently.
With the power cut to muscle layer, Lucy was much less inclined to move now that her Mjolnir armor was a burden. It tore at her not being able to help him. She hated, above all else, being helpless to save the ones she cared about.
More pieces fell off as Six and Mendez began doing the same to Tom.
When the final one fell from her tiny frame Prone to Drift gently pushed with his tentacles until she was sitting on the bio-bed behind them.
She had weakly resisted, but still being disoriented by the whole ordeal made it easier to treat her. Using his cilia to remove the bio-suit from her battered body before using the medical instruments to repair the damage sustained in the battle.
Her broken bones were mended soon after as her singed flesh and bruises turned to flawless white skin under the glow of the dermal regenerator. Her internal injuries took only a short time more before Prone to Drift was satisfied with his work.
By now, Tom was in the same state of dress as Lucy was. Both were naked as the day they were born, but it bothered her little. Her focus was still on her friend as Six and Mendez began preparing his corpse for whatever the Doctor was going to do to it.
After she put back on her bio-suit, she went to Tom's side as they waited for the Doctor to finish with his other patient.
It was then that Six tensed up even more than she had before.
"What is it?" Mendez asked, noticing her change in stance.
"The Sangheili flagship showed up a few minutes ago, apparently they were attacked by Skynet."
Six had just heard the news herself, after being informed by Cortana.
"Where are we?" he asked, still not having a clue.
"Requiem, former home of the Didact," she answered tersely, "We were retrieving a Forerunner artifact."
Lucy didn't comment on the matter, and Mendez didn't ask any more questions. Instead they cleaned up the mess of broken armor between the two and put it aside out of the way.
As they were finishing up, Six's stance changed again. Kalmiya, too, paused a moment.
Lucy's trained senses didn't fail her, nor did her instincts. "What's wrong?"
Six's fist clenched as her posture became ramrod straight. "The Didact's coming home," she said as she turned on her heel and left sickbay.
Prone to Drift, true to his name, drifted involuntarily at those words. He knew about the madness that had consumed the Promethean.
The Doctor ignored the news and continued his work on the Master Chief. None of that mattered to him as long as the ship wasn't under assault. The man on the table was a mess the Doctor was uncertain he could fix with traditional Starfleet medicine. Lucky for him, he and Cortana had long ago set up flash clone vats and had replacement organs for everyone but the newest crew members. This also included several meters of Skin and muscle to be used in such a situation. Thanks to Cameron and John Henry, they'd improved upon the UNSC's methods of rapid tissue growth.
Life support was holding, but without most of his organs, the Master Chief wouldn't live long.
As they remove charred muscle and bone they immediately grafted new ones in their place so the organs would have something to attach to. It would take many more hours to replace his organs, but for now he would settle repairing the heart and major blood vessels first.
He and Kalmiya had barely begun when Seven of Nine and Catherine Weaver materialized in the middle of sick bay.
The sounds of the transporter made even the Doctor turn their direction. Had he not been in the middle of an operation he would have dropped what he was doing and helped her with whatever she needed.
"Seven?" He asked over his shoulder as she moved towards the stasis pods built into the wall opposite of the bio-beds.
The cyborg did not answer him, instead she began opening the pods. The first one yielded the burned body of a man, and she quickly shut the door upon realizing who he was.
The Doctor had moved things around since she'd last worked in sickbay.
Opening the next one reveled the secure containers filled with Borg implants, most of them removed from her body long ago. She only needed one piece: the neural transceiver. Her's had long been destroyed, but there were several others that were removed from other former drones.
Seven removed the box-shaped container quickly and didn't bother closing the door as she typed in the security code. The box fell to the floor as the transceiver was freed from it containment.
Wasting no time she handed the device to Weaver. "Prepare yourself while I reprogram the nanoprobes," she instructed while reaching for the container holding vials of the infamous assimilators.
Lucy and Mendez watched as Weaver's hand turned liquid and absorbed the transceiver. Both of them tensed, but they had no weapons to defend themselves. The Huragok, on the other hand, was fascinated.
Prone to Drift moved toward the mysterious liquid machine with tentacles extended, but she saw him coming. She swung out her other arm at the creature with a cold look in her eyes.
"No," she deadpanned as she lengthened the arm into a sword. The threat was clear: touch me and I'll poke you full of holes.
Prone to Drift wisely backed off.
The two humans regarded her with tempered fear and suspicion, but said nothing.
"Seven?!" The Doctor asked again as she began writing the nanoprobes instructions with haste.
"I'm trying to contact the Didact, Doctor. He has Borg implants. We must know his intentions before he reaches Requiem," she explained while pouring over the code.
The Doctor wanted to say many thing about that plant, but in the end, he couldn't stop working on the Master Chief just to debate. It also didn't help that she was right, but that did nothing to dismiss the numerous concerns running through his mind.
Seven, however, was relieved when he didn't press the matter. She didn't need reminded of all the things that might go wrong with this.
She did not know what control the Didact had over his implants, nor did she know if trying to connect him would scramble her brain. All she knew was that the Didact was more formidable than any enemy they'd faced before, save the Borg themselves.
"I'm ready when you are," Weaver said as her entire body turned silver.
Weaver was acting as a subspace antenna to boost the power of the tiny transceiver she'd absorbed.
With the nanoprobes, Seven would force her body to absorb and integrate the foreign transceiver so she could contact the Didact.
Less than a minute passed before the cyborg finished the reprogramming. Upon completing it she put the vial in a hypo and injected it at the base of her skull.
Pain exploded beneath the skin, but it far from the worst she'd endured. Gritting her teeth she told Weaver to press the transceiver against the injection site. The nanoprobes reacted instantly to the device's presence and burst through her skin and latched onto it before reeling it in close to her spine.
Seven's knuckles were white as she curled her fingers around the console's edge in death grip to manage the pain.
Suddenly the burning sensation dulled and then the rest of her senses followed quickly after as well. Everything else became like background noise, including the Doctor calling out her name in concern once more.
Memories of her time as part of the Borg were dredged to the surface as she lost her sense of self and expanded beyond her body. She concentrated on the transceiver as it searched for anything Borg-like to connect to.
She was about to call out that she'd found the Forerunner when her mind was overwhelmed by memories that were not her own. Suddenly the rush of images and emotions was cut off, leaving her momentarily disoriented from the rapid shifts in perspective.
"Who are you?" asked a rumbling voice. Virtual tendrils prodded her consciousness, but they were clumsy at best and she shrugged them off with little effort. Despite the easy deflection, the Didact had gained some insight on her, and to her great surprise, he recognized her.
"You... It taunted me with your image."
It made sense, if you unraveled the logic. Seven already knew that Star Trek existed in the Terminator universe, so Skynet would know about her. Since the AI possessed him using Borg technology, Skynet had, for whatever reason, used her and other characters transformed by the Borg to taunt him.
"Then you know who I am."
He appeared in front her, armored and menacing, but she didn't fear him in this domain. He could not hurt her.
"Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero-One."
"And you are Shadow of Sundered Star, the Ur-Didact. It was you Skynet used to advance its technology and gain access to the transdimensional corridors."
The Didact stopped moving towards Requiem and searched for her. It didn't take his armor long to find the cloaked vessel and her signal origin within.
"Why are you meddling where you don't belong?" he asked tersely.
"Because technology from my universe is in the hands of a genocidal AI. We mean to end that threat, permanently."
He could feel her mind prodding his. Gently, granted, but he still hated it. After having his mind screwed with multiple times, he wasn't about to let anyone else in.
"You wan't to know why I'm here."
"Your intentions are suspect. You were already compromised before Skynet found you. The chances of you working in our favor are slim."
He only half believed her veiled threat, "And yet you haven't destroyed me. Why?"
"I was once given a chance to redeem myself. I wanted to see if you were doing the same."
It didn't take a genius to figure out her meaning. They wanted him away from Requiem because they feared what other secrets lay there. Secrets he knew about. What the Didact didn't know was their knowledge about Requiem's teleportation range.
Deciding not to take any chances, he did not resume his advance toward the shield world.
With just his armor, he didn't stand a chance against the Federation starship closing in on him. A few thousand Terawatts was unsurvivable even for a Keymind. He couldn't count on his allies defending him either. In their state they wouldn't stand a chance. Negotiation seemed to be only option at this point.
"What do you propose?"
Her response was instantaneous, "We share what we know, through our memories."
The slight tremor in her voice spoke of her discomfort at the idea, and it was an emotion he shared.
"You know not what you ask."
Her response came with waves of disparaging emotions, "I do, more than you know."
Taking the initiative, Seven let down her guard, if only enough for him to experience her memories. It was a deeply intimate thing to do, but gaining the Didact's trust was an opportunity she could not let pass.
For the Forerunner's perspective, he thought her action foolish, yet brave. Still, he let her life-song wash over him.
Hints of her early life were fragments at best, but they told the story of a little girl with parents who were foolish enough to chase a monster. When the Borg took them, he felt her fear and her pain. It was if an old friend were embracing him.
His mind had been subjugated more than once. As such he didn't dwell on that large chunk of memories and moved onto her post-drone life. These were much clearer than the others, and they all took place on the same ship approaching him now, USS Voyager.
Many years had passed since then, so he reached forward and found what he was looking for. He watched as John Henry recruited the cyborg to fix the star ship's FTL drive, and through her conversations with the others, saw how they'd been gathered together.
By accident, it seemed, and from there he saw how things had devolved to this point.
That small ship held hope, he realized quickly. With both John Connor, John Henry, and a metastable Cortana, they might yet stop Skynet before it was too late.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" He asked her after releasing the barrier to his own mind. She was somewhat breathless after being drowned in his twisted and dark memories, but she was better off than he'd imagined she'd be.
"Yes," she answered between breaths, "I understand now."
"Indeed," he replied, "Those gathered on your vessel are the key to stopping this menace. We must join forces if we are to minimize the casualties."
"Agreed," her voice was steady now, "We'll meet on Infinity after you deal with the Covenant."
She could feel his confidence right up until she signaled Weaver to cut the connection.
The pain from having the receiver ripped out of her head left her collapsed upon the console surface. She kept her mouth sealed to stifle the painful gasps trying to rip past her lips. The Doctor did not need to worry about her at the moment.
The T-1001 was swift to patch her up and soon the pain subsided enough to activate the comm, "Commander, the Didact is free of Skynet control. Let him pass."
"Are you sure? Once he gets to Requiem, we won't be able to stop him."
"I experienced his memories, and he mine. I'm sure."
There was a momentary pause before she answered, "Alright, we're standing down."
Breathing a sigh of relief, Seven stood to her full height and observed the people around her. Weaver was already back to her default form and was giving her a questioning stare.
Kalmiya glanced over with a concerned expression, but said nothing.
Mendez wasn't so tight lipped, "The Forerunner who wiped out New Phoenix? You let him go?"
"You've never been Borg. You cannot understand," she rebuffed, "The Gravemind tortured him, and the Master Builder drove him insane by making him relive it. The Librarian hoped he'd recover in the Cryptum, but the Halo's destroyed the Domain, leaving him alone for 100 millenia."
"This is known," Prone interjected, "I doubt being subjected to such conditions once more have improved his sanity."
"Skynet was unable to suppress his mind entirely, allowing him to reflect and heal in a way the Cryptum could not. He was also shamed by his defeat at the Master Chief's hands. The transference to another universe was considered a high crime in the Forerunner Ecumene."
Doubt lingered in their eyes, but she didn't care. The newcomer's opinions didn't matter, and she had more important things to do. With the pain now a dull throb she marched out of sickbay with the LMT behind her.
"If the Didact is aware of us, his allies will as well."
Seven slowed her pace until she and the machine were side by side, "Yes, both the UNSC and the remaining Sangheili will likely learn of our existence. We must contact them on our terms."
"If any of involves John Henry, I'll be with him," she stated adamantly.
Seven expected nothing less, "I expected as much," she replied coley, "For now, you're in charge of engineering until I've finished debriefing the Commander."
"John Connor should be there with you. I'll send Cameron to watch Fireteam Majestic in his place."
After Seven nodded in agreement, they went their separate ways near the turbo lift.
Since sickbay was on deck 5, the turbo lift had to pass deck 4 to reach the bridge.
At that moment Kelly-087 was dealing with an annoyed Naomi-010 and two overly curious Huragok. Besides trying to keep the floating creatures from tearing into Voyager's subsystems, she was also explaining what the hell was going on to her former classmate.
Needless to say, she was getting frustrated. Things were much simpler when you could just shoot your problems.
Finally, Kelly snapped.
Grabbing both 'gasbags' by their pink, slimy necks she forced them to look her in the eye, "Enough! Leave the tech alone or I'll drag your unconscious bloated bodies to a stasis cell!"
"Leave them alone," Naomi growled, "They're friends, not unruly dogs."
"I will when they stop trying to tear apart our power relays!"
"Then let me deal with them," she countered calmly, "Leaks, Adj. Leave it be."
The two grumbled through their translators, but followed their friend's advice.
Naomi, stripped of her weapons and armor by the transporter, turned her attention back to her fellow Spartan II. "Mind explaining why a dead AI kidnapped us?"
"We need all the Spartans we can get," she began, "There's an AI out there trying to destroy us all. Cortana saw an opportunity and took it."
"I take it she isn't a fan of ONI," Naomi surmised as they proceeded down the wide corridors of deck 4.
"You and Osman are the only ones," Kelly bit back, "Whatever possessed you to listen to Parangosky I'll never know."
Naomi, not in the mood to talk about ONI, forced the conversation back on track, "So you're after a rouge AI? Forerunner?"
"No, but it has access to Forerunner tech," Kelly explained as they approached the turbo lift, "We'll debrief you later. Things are a bit volatile, and I'm needed here should the Prometheans show up."
After hitting the call button, the lift opened almost immediately, revealing a stressed Seven of Nine on the other side.
"Kelly, and Naomi I presume?"
The platinum haired Spartan gave Kelly a confused look, but the Rabbit shrugged her shoulders in effort to tell her to roll with it.
When the lift resumed, Seven could feel the Spartan's questioning observation, not to mention the hungry looks the two Huragok were giving her.
"Back," Kelly ordered as one reached out for Seven's artificial arm.
Leaks Repaired grumbled through the translater, but he received no sympathy during the remainder of the ride.
Emerging onto the bridge turned the heads of those present.
Miranda Keyes was immediately on her feet facing Seven as she walked through the door. "Report."
Raising her eyebrow a bit at the order, Seven laid out what the Didact had told her and what she'd witness through his memories. While she was doing that, Halsey was taking notes and formulating theories while simultaneously eyeing Seven's physiology.
John Henry was adding the information to his predictive models concerning his brother while also analyzing the viability of Seven advice on their next course of action. Parts of it he was unsure of, but with the Didact seemingly on their side, and the appearance of the Arbiter, now would be the perfect time to introduce themselves to the UNSC.
With all of the UNSC personnel they'd managed to bring into the fold, they might be able to provoke a quick response. Having Infinity and a CAS class Assault Carrier on their side against the Narada certainly improved their odds.
During the tail end of Seven's debrief, John Connor appeared through the bridge entrance opposite of them. He paused at the sight of Naomi and the two Huragok before his attention turned Miranda. "Am I supposed to babysit her too?"
The only child of Catherine Halsey couldn't help but smirk, "I think Kelly's got it handled," she responded before her returning to the business at hand, "Seven made contact with the Didact. He's the one Skynet used to build a slipspace drive."
John inclined his head as he put the rest of the puzzle together, "He came with the Sangheili?"
"As it turns out, Skynet emerged near Sangheilios and proceeded to wipe it out."
A dark look crossed the young man's face as he turned to John Henry, "What's your take?"
"Skynet knows it's vulnerable. Destroying Sangheilios was instinctive, and now he's trying to build his forces."
"And its technology profile," Halsey interjected, "Shield World 006 is one of the greatest repositories of Forerunner technology known to humanity. The longer we wait, the more advanced it becomes."
"Which means we need allies, now," Seven reminded pointedly, "The sooner we convince the UNSC the sooner we can uproot Skynet and end the threat once and for all."
Naomi, Kelly, and Palmer listened silently. While the Rabbit was already briefed on the matter, Naomi was still largely in the dark and wanted to get some answers, as did the Spartan IV sulking in the corner. However, Naomi had learned over the years that listening could often yield more information than she'd normally get by asking alone.
Kelly, ironically, gave her an interesting bit of info with just one question pointed at the plaid-shirted man sitting at the front of the room. Judging by the few readouts she could see, it was the navigator's position.
"John Henry," the Rabbit addressed and the cyborg turned toward her, "how long will it take Skynet before its troops become unstoppable?"
"My brother may limit their abilities but compensate with numbers."
"Why?"
"Because it fears its own creations. Ms. Weaver once told me that Skynet feared the T-1000 enough to keep it unfinished until it had no choice but to use it."
Kelly seemed a little more relaxed after his explanation, "That sounds like a weakness," she told him while offhandedly restraining an overly-curious Huragok hovering towards a control panel.
"It is," he confirmed, "one you and Ms. Sentzke will help exploit."
Naomi raised an eyebrow at the use of her family name. She'd been unaware it was public knowledge.
Little did she know there was a book series detailing her and Kilo-5's exploits after the War.
Miranda cleared her throat, "Make the announcement," she directed towards the AI, "I'll tell Captain Cutter it's time."
Naomi's eyes narrowed at the words 'Captain Cutter' but said nothing and let things play out.
Sure enough, the legend himself appeared on the viewing screen a moment later looking no different than when he'd disappeared. Like the other IIs, she was aware of the man simply because of Red Team.
Kelly gently bumped Naomi's hand with her own, "They're here with us."
"All three? Alive?"
"And not a day over 20. They've been on ice for almost 30 years."
After seeing Cutter, she'd assumed as much.
Meanwhile, Miranda had already laid out their intention to make contact.
"John Henry's kept us updated," Cutter reminded, "And to be honest, we'd like to clear our names and find out what happened to our families."
"Once we make contact, I'm not sure what will happen, but we have your back just in case."
"Likewise, Commander. We'll make our appearance on your signal."
After departing formalities, the transmission ended.
"Before we open Pandora's box," Keyes began, "I want an update on the Chief and our guests."
The question was pointed at Seven, "The Master Chief is still in surgery, both Franklin Mendez and Lucy-B091 are fine while their companion remains dead for the time being."
Connor leaned against the helm with his arms crossed, "We need a backup plan if they try to tie us down with red tape."
Miranda looked confident, "If I can convince the Arbiter and Admiral Hood, that should be enough to grease the wheels. Maybe they'll even thrown in the rest of the Spartan IIs."
Halsey, however, didn't share her daughter's opinion, "They certainly won't let you keep me."
Sarah Palmer stood up straight, "No, we won't," she affirmed with more than a little acid seeping through her words.
Miranda ignored her and addressed Kelly instead. "Sierra 087, find quarters for Naomi and the Engineers," she instructed before turning to Naomi herself, "Sierra-104 will brief you in the mean time."
The blonde Spartan gave a salute out of respect before being followed by Kelly and the Huragok out of the bridge.
"Doctor, it's probably best you remain hidden for now. Find the Halos and anything else of interest before the Didact returns. I have a feeling he'll want that back."
"Indeed," the scientist replied before turning toward the ready room, "If you get any updates on John, let me know."
The pleading look in her eye softened Miranda's demeanor for a brief moment, "I will."
With them gone, Seven, John Connor, John Henry, and Sarah Palmer were all that remained. Connor moved by Miranda's side as John Henry waited for Miranda's signal to open the channel.
The younger man gave Miranda a questioning glance before turning towards the screen with resolution cloaking his doubt.
He was worried about the darker parts of her society, and she didn't blame him. Time was running out, however, and they had little choice if they wanted to uproot Skynet before it's power grew beyond them.
With their path laid out before her, Miranda nodded to John Henry.
The AI knew what happened next would decide how this war would end, and how soon.
Elsewhere...
Admiral Osman was not having a good day. Not only had Halsey escaped, but things were happening on Requiem that couldn't explained. A CCS class battle cruiser being destroyed by an unidentified ship was only the latest instance.
BB had also lost contact with his fragment on the Port Stanley, which she'd be unable to raise on comms.
Then there was the sudden and total cutoff of communication from ONI Research Facility Trevelyan inside what most people called the Onyx Dyson sphere. All of that was topped by the mysterious force that had wrecked Sangheilios.
There were already teams scouting the lifeless planet and so far they'd learned little about who'd killed it.
A few Sangheili and had come back to salvage the wrecks of the home fleet for their own ailing ships while others came at the behest of the Arbiter to find and evacuate survivors. Some had found shelter in air-tight bunkers or possessed EVA suits from their time in the Covenant, but these numbered less than 10,000 by ONI estimates.
Osman had also used to opportunity to gather intel from various places across the planet, but most of it was irrelevant after the planet's demise.
What was relevant was the remains of several dozen metal androids built to resemble men. There were enough to complete two models of the machines save their superconducting neural net processors. The things were rigged to blow when the socket integrity was compromised in any way. Even those they tried to probe through the skull's circuitry failed as the AIs simply activated the self destruct when they became overwhelmed by ONI's own Smart AIs.
Lasky's report had shed some light on the subject, but Osman wasn't sure how truthful the Arbiter was being and how much control the Didact had over him.
Still, the thought of a rogue, unclassified AI with advanced technology was not a threat to be taken lightly. If they were to be believed, it was from another reality, as was it's fleet killing ship.
With so many things happening at once, whispers were beginning to leak back to ears she'd rather not have listening.
Deciding to head the tidal wave off, she tracked down Admiral Terrance Hood. They didn't get along very well, but they respected each other.
Like during the Human-Covenant war, ONI would need to work closely with the UNSC if they wanted to get ahead of this.
Being who she was meant getting into his office no issue.
The aging British noble was gathering his things and his uniform hat had just been placed upon his bald head. He glanced at her and let out a inaudible sigh through his nose. "I wondered when you'd darken my doorway."
"I take it you've heard?" she probed hoping to figure out the extent of his knowledge on recent events.
"About Sangheilios? Who hasn't is the better question."
"I meant Onyx and our research station. All contact was lost hours ago without warning."
Lord Hood's face remained stoic, "Again, who hasn't? At least at our level anyway."
For once the man was on top of current events. He was usually too busy dealing with the political side of things to be caught up with current military affairs. That went double for the the kind of work she had her hands in.
"It gets worse," she started, "Thomas Lasky's had a busy couple of days, culminating in Doctor Halsey's kidnapping by an advanced gynoid similar to the ones found on Sanghelios."
An holo-vid popped up on Hood's holotank of Cameron mowing down Prometheans enroute to Infinity's bridge. "And that's just the tip of the iceberg," she told him as more data poured out of the holo-tank.
She let him digest the intel for several moments before meeting her eyes once more.
"That's a hell of story, but it makes sense considering what intel we have so far," he replied calmly, "And Thel Vadam is no fool, and the Didact even less so."
"We need to get act before it gets away from us. I hope you didn't make dinner plans, because we're going to have to move fast."
"Then sit down and I'll put on the coffee."
It was figure of speech, she knew, as Lord Hood drank tea.
Still, she took the offered seat and got to work.
Together they planned defenses and fleet reassignments along with demolition teams that had their sights set straight on the two remaining Halos they knew of: Installation 07 and 03. Both would get a Nova bomb before the week was out.
A/N: Sorry for the delay. Lost my job, got a new one and have been busy ever since. I've also been working on a new story I'll probably end up releasing some time this year. This story, which has been written over 5 years now, is about 2/3 of the way over.
This chapter marks the end of third act. The fourth act will be the consolidation of our heroes and their allies followed by a series of confrontations with Skynet that will lead into the epilogue.