Remnants

by General Rage

From Halo's ashes, a mismatched Alliance is born. UNSC soldiers now serve alongside both Batarian deserters and shifty Jackal Space Pirates. Now Shepard and Master Chief have to keep these strange bedfellows from killing one another before they can stop an emergent new threat to the galaxy. The Next Swashbuckling Chapter of the Wormhole Chronicles.

11. The Grave of the Dauntless

Chapter 10: The Grave of the Dauntless

My Name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair.

-Ozymandias

Tali exited the briefing room, her mind still reeling from the news Liara brought. She honestly wished she could've helped more, but the situation was greater than her current knowledge. If only she weren't a whole universe away. At that moment she felt so incredibly useless and there was nothing she could do about it. She knew Shepard would feel the same way, which was why she dreaded explaining it in detail to him. Sadly, he was right there at the door waiting for her. She didn't need to say anything for him to guess it wasn't good news though.

"Is it really that bad?" He asked her.

She was far too akin to an open book to him. She always clutched herself when deeply troubled, a coping mechanism she had formed. She liked to think of it as an attempt to hug herself, trying to pacify the fear. It never worked, but she didn't anyway. Made it harder to hide anything from Shepard though, so she had practically stopped trying. He needed to know this in any case.

"Liara's team encountered something... different," she tried to explain carefully. "It was aboard a Covenant ship they attacked. Liara wanted my opinion on it because, well, it's synthetic."

Shepard instantly guessed what this was about.

"Geth?"

"Worse if what she's saying is accurate," Tali cautioned. "You're not going to like hearing this. It's a Heretic, or at least it used to be."

Shepard stepped back a moment, uncrossing his arms, shocked at the news. Tali wondered what his first question would be. She considered two likely ones, he surprised her by asking a combination of both in a way.

"I killed them all, Legion and I killed them all," he reminded her. "Are you saying they found a way to survive the virus?"

"Just a small percentage, and then they found a damaged AI the Covenant had captured," Tali clarified gravely. "It's not friendly, not in the slightest. Worse, it claims it's a true AI and it sounds like it has some sort of plan."

Shepard shook his head and sighed. Yeah, he was not happy about this. Shepard's reasoning behind killing the Geth Heretics had been difficult one. It was either kill them or brainwash them. Neither option seemed particularly moral in Shepard's eyes. He chose the former only because he decided that the Heretics had made their choice. If he valued free will, if he valued the ability of sapient beings to make their own decisions, then he could not violate their free will. So, he killed them, as a consequence for siding with the Reapers and all the innocent lives they chose to take. He wasn't entirely happy about it, but he could live with it.

Now it stood revealed he had missed a few and they had come back from the grave.

"Liara is on it," Tali assured him in small attempt to ease his conscience. "If anyone can handle this it's her."

"Yeah, but it's not any less easy knowing a friend is in danger and it's probably your fault," he explained.

He sighed again and then asked the inevitable question that Tali had already asked herself a few times by now.

"Do we tell Legion?" He asked her bluntly.

"We should, but after today's mission," Tali reasoned. "I'm not sure how this news could affect their glitch. I need them working at full capacity if we're going to make any headway down there."

"Fair enough, but do tell them when you can," Shepard insisted. "The Heretic issue was a big deal for them. And they could offer some insight on how Liara can fight this thing."

"My thoughts exactly, but let's just get through today first," Tali reiterated.

They began to leave the connecting corridor through the armory, speaking as they went. There was quite a bit to cover after all. Today was a rather important day after all.

"Have they got a team ready?" Tali asked him.

"A modest unit of ODSTs and Marines, they're already massing in the hangar," Shepard informed her. "Taq is going to meet us all there. She's chomping at the bit to get this started."

"Makes sense, in her mind this is her dig," Tali acknowledged with a shrug. "She pretty much figures she's the boss."

"Well, besides you she's the only one here who knows a ton about the Forerunners," Shepard said as they exited onto the command deck. "Holland knows that, it's why she's been given special authority over the operation."

"Some people aren't going to like that," Tali noted nervously.

"That's why we're going down there with them," Shepard told her as they got inside the elevator. "This needs to go smooth, for all our sakes. It will shed some light on what the hell the Inquisitor and the Covenant are planning for us. That and it's not everyday you uncover an ancient spaceship wreck."

They had entered the system during the first sleep cycle for the ship. As per Holland's orders, directed by the information from Taq's study of the data module, they began scanning within a select area. The Ascendant Justice was actually equipped to locate Forerunner-based energy sources. If there was even a residual trace of energy or alloy they'd find it. They also did a fly over with the Crusty Chorka and the Normandy for a more direct observational scan. Their job was to decrease the search area by finding evidence of crash. Thanks to Taq focusing their efforts considerably, it didn't take long to accomplish that task.

On a small dirt-clod of a planet, orbited by two reddish-orange moons, they discovered a huge chunk taken out of a mountain. It didn't look like natural erosion, but as if something had slammed into the side of it and kept going. They tracked the suspected trajectory to discover a trench in a small mountain range, cutting clean through it. There was no water on the planet's surface, so it wasn't your average canyon. Not far from that they found it on the scanners. Sticking out of the side of a cliffside, rested against the ground, was what appeared to be the backside of a ship. One that matched the ship detailed in the data module.

They had found their crashed Forerunner ship.

After that, everything went into overdrive. The planet's thin atmosphere meant they'd all have to be in spacesuits for the duration of the mission. A deep scan of the crash site gave them more details on their target. The ship was mostly intact beneath the surface, but parts of it had apparently broken off, specifically the nose section. It amazingly was not flattened, as you'd expect from diving head first into solid rock. Forerunner engineering was apparently more sturdy than your average ship. There was also an extensive cave network honeycombing the inside. Perhaps underground rivers that had dried up eons ago? It wasn't clear at the moment, but they did go in and around the whole of the ship. That gave them ample room to move around down there.

A reconnaissance and survey team moved in first. Comprising of a number of technicians, Jackal Pirates, Batarians and Army personnel, their mission was to secure the site and set up a preliminary operations base. Within an hour, they had gotten everything ready on the outside. All that remained, was getting the excavation team groundside. They would enter the ship and begin the investigation into what exactly happened to it. The chief goal of which, was the recovery of the suspected Forerunner Relic of Power currently residing somewhere within. Given the general size of the vessel though, that was going to be a tall order.

"You have Halsey's Journal on you?" Shepard asked as they descended.

"Yes and it at least has some information about Forerunner artifacts that we can use," she said, pulling the little tattered book out to show him. "A lot of the later entries were centered around the one we found on Reach after all. Plus there's a page on the rudimentary alphabet the Forerunners used. Although I suspect Taq already knows how to translate all this. At least this way I can assist her in some form."

"You just worry about the artifact," Shepard told her. "If this thing is a weapon or could be used as one, we need to find out exactly what it does. Any clues you find down there can speed that process along."

"I'm not too worried," Tali assured him. "The ship's datalogs should have all the information we need. It's just a matter of accessing them. I'm more concerned about you, honestly. Varvok is going to be with us, right?"

Shepard grimaced at the name.

"Yeah, he is," he grumbled. "Thankfully, nothing is going to be shooting us down there, so we don't have to worry about him abandoning our flank."

Tali suddenly hit a button on the lift, stopping it dead. Shepard looked to her surprised, and already saw her returning a rather serious expression.

"We're not going to get anywhere if you keep this grudge going," she warned him.

"I'm not the one with the grudge, Tali," he insisted. "He's the one with issues."

"I don't exactly like Varvok either, but we do need his support if we're going to make this Alliance work," she stated firmly. "I know, he put the squad in danger, it put me in danger, but you can't let that continue to make things difficult."

"If this was just about how he almost got you killed, I'd be a hell of a lot angrier, believe me," Shepard informed her. "I admit, that is part of the reason, but it's bigger than that. He acted on his own judgment and went off half-cocked. That might have flown when he was in charge, but he's not anymore. He should've contacted me, he should've let me know what he was doing. He shut down that distress signal, good. I wish he had bothered to inform everyone else what he was doing in advance."

"To be fair, we've done that a lot ourselves," Tali argued.

"Never when other squads were involved and never without first trying to inform the rest of the unit," Shepard clarified. "Acting on your own accord is feasible when you're the only people in danger. Varvok didn't think to consider that his actions might have repercussion for the entire operation, beyond just his men. That's the problem, Tali, he doesn't really care about the rest of us. At the end of the day, he will do what's best for his men, even if it's not good for us. It's hard to trust someone like that."

She supposed he was right. Varvok's own interests didn't exactly align with theirs. He was against the Covenant, he wanted to see it fall. However, his motives were not about saving humanity. They were about freeing the batarian people from being subjugated. If that meant he could destroy the Covenant without having to save Earth from getting glassed, he'd probably do it. Like it or not, it was hard to trust someone who didn't seem to care how he got to his goal, just so long as he got there. At the same time though, they did need him and Tali knew Shepard felt the same.

"You're going to have to find a way to trust him," she explained. "That is not going to happen if you don't settle things with him. You're not all that different when you think about it. You're both military-minded, you're both leaders. There has to be some common ground."

"I'm not opposed to finding it, Tali," Shepard replied. "Part of me wonders if he wants to come to an understanding. He stills sees me as a symbol of everything humanity has done to his people. Commander Shepard, the guy who totally foiled the attack on Elysium. That's what I am to him."

"Well we both know it's more complicated than that," Tali said shrugging slightly. "Take it from me, it's hard re-evaluating everything you thought about an enemy. You and Legion helped me reconsider my stance on the Geth. This situation is practically the same. If you two can just get to the heart of the matter, I know Varvok can at least knock the chip off his shoulder for awhile. You don't have to become friends, just hash this out. Otherwise, this whole alliance is going to fall apart."

"I know, I know," Shepard admitted reluctantly. "If I can't even get along with him, the UNSC never will. I want us to reach an understanding, I do. I'm just not sure how to get there."

"You'll figure it out," she said encouragingly. "You're Commander Shepard after all."

Tali pressed the lift button again and they continued their descent to the shuttle bay.

"I'll try and have a talk with Varvok as soon as possible," Shepard promised. "If nothing else I'll at least open a dialogue."

He then turned to her directly.

"Thanks by the way," he told her.

"Don't mention it," she replied. "I'm the girlfriend after all. Part of the job description is making sure you don't make an ass of yourself."

Shepard let a short chuckle.

"Sometimes I wonder what I did to deserve you," he said with a warm smile.

"Well, saving me from assassins and killer Geth if you want to get technical," Tali answered. "I'd be sorta dead otherwise."

---

The Pelicans and Phantoms were already warming up within the massive hangar of the Ascendant Justice when the expedition force assembled nearby. Two squads of Marines and one squad of twelve ODSTs made up the UNSC's portion of assembly. At the head of the unit was Lieutenant McKay, fully decked out in her armor. On the other side, the Jackals had two full squads themselves, accompanied by a single Batarian squad. Zek, Retz and Varvok were all there in person. Varvok himself was busy checking his weapon over once more and trying to avoid eye contact with any humans. Hard to do, considering how often the two sides seemed to leer at each other. The tension was as evident as clear divide between both groups, they did not want to be close to each other. It was like a high school dance filled with nervous wallflowers, only it was more a case of resentment causing the separation than being shy.

Shepard arrived at this scene with Tali, Legion, Samara, Jack, Zaeed and Thane in tow. A larger than usual squad, but the ship looked pretty damn big in any case, so Shepard decided they might need the extra hands. Shepard had expected to find an awkward situation of a sort, he didn't expect a figurative canyon between the two sides.

"Well this just looks like the happiest little get together ever, don't it?" Jack asked, huffing at it all. "We might as well just have them start shooting at each other now. Get it out of their systems."

"Let's try not to antagonize the situation further," Shepard requested. "I think we all want this to go smoothly."

"And some of them want to start trading bullets and shit," Jack clarified. "I'm just stating the obvious."

Shepard sighed and filed into the middle of the assembly. He quickly caught Varvok's eye as he moved in. The Commander approached the batarian slowly, offering a small appreciative nod.

"Varvok," he began, noticing the four-eyed alien fiddling with his weapon. "Anything wrong with your gun?"

"It's fine," he responded. "I'm just checking the modifications. I don't exactly know what we'll find down there."

"I doubt it will be anything alive," Shepard told him. "It's a wreck that's been sitting in the rock for eons by now."

"So was Halo, length of time doesn't mean a thing," Varvok countered. "There could be anything down there."

"Just saying that with any luck you won't need to use it," Shepard tried to clarify.

"I don't value luck as much as preparation," Varvok replied.

The batarian pulled out a bayonet and stuck it to the end of the rifle. That was Shepard's cue to just back off already. Varvok didn't want to chat right now.

"I should go, I guess," he admitted.

"You should," Varvok sneered. "You're a rather annoying distraction."

Shepard sighed and walked away. He didn't get far though before he had his own distraction. Zek was quick to rush up to him, chattering away as he did.

"Isn't this exciting, Commander?" He asked. "A real live treasure hunt! You, me, Varvok, the whole damn crew, all after one goal in mind, Forerunner junk. Really sweet potentially dangerous Forerunner junk. Hopefully this time it is sans parasitic monsters, am I right?"

"We can hope," Shepard admitted. "Where's Taq by the way? I figured she'd be here."

"She's on her way," Zek assured him. "Had to talk to Holland about some things. She is working for him after all, so I'm guessing she has to brief him first. Quick question, by the by, you think the Forerunners had any cool long range rifles? I've been looking to add to my arsenal a little."

"Couldn't say, honestly," Shepard admitted. "We've never come across any Forerunner guns."

"Well, guess we'll just have to crack that wreck open and see for ourselves then," Zek admitted. "It's like a hatchday present, a surprise! I do love surprises. Surprise attacks, surprise ambushes, they're all good fun."

Shepard shook his head and rolled his eyes. He had stopped being surprised how quickly these conversations turned weird with Zek. He wasn't about to let himself get led astray though.

"Just remember why we're actually here, the Forerunner Artifact that might be inside that ship," Shepard reminded the pirate. "Everything else is just extra."

"I still want something for myself," Zek explained. "What's the point of treasure hunting if you don't get something out of it for yourself?"

"You'll get your cut of the spoils," Shepard told him assuringly. "Just keep in mind there are bigger stakes here than profit."

"Profit is the biggest stake there is, Shepard," Zek slyly told him. "Hell, one would say it's the only stake, period. Your war effort profits from this venture, Taq profits from it, we profit from it. That's how the universe works. Everything has a price tag, everything is worth something to someone."

Zek's little philosophy lesson would not progress further than that. For it was just then that Taq arrived, Colonel Holland by her side. He was flanked by Haverson, Master Chief, Linda and Kat. Jun was already on the surface of the planet with the Army Troopers, maintaining the perimeter. Taq was quick to step in front of the assembly. The UNSC personnel stood at attention, along with the crew of the Normandy, as Colonel Holland moved in beside her. The pirates and the batarians did not copy the gesture. Holland didn't seem to care.

"At ease," the Colonel began. "You all know why we're on this rock. We're doing a little... treasure hunting for lack of a better word. Inside the wreck we discovered is a Forerunner artifact of potentially dangerous and immense power. We cannot risk the Covenant finding it, so we're extracting it before they can locate this vessel. While they are not in orbit or near this planet in any capacity, they could very well be on their way for all we know. Along with anyone else who is after this wreck. That is why the perimeter base we've set up is down there right now, securing the area. And it is also why we need to be as efficient as possible in executing this operation. For that reason, I will now turn you over to Taq, who will explain our operation plan in detail."

Taq stepped forward and activated a small holo-module in her hand. A large image of the massive wreck appeared above their heads. It was clear that it had been pieced together through the information on Taq's data module as well as the deep scans performed earlier. They therefore had a more complete picture over what they were dealing with at the moment.

"This is the overall layout of the ship itself, as you can see, it is mostly intact save for the front end," she began to explain. "While the vessel is no doubt loaded with precious artifacts, our primary concern is the Relic of Power as detailed in the ship's manifest. It could be anywhere aboard the ship, including the front end near the bridge. Luckily, the caverns around the ship provide us with a means of getting to it. In order to find what we're looking for, we need to cast a wide net."

Lines started forming on the image, moving through the ship as Taq kept speaking.

"We are entering through this service hatch located near the stern," she explained. "That should get us into the maintenance levels, close to their engines and power supply. From here, I will find a terminal and attempt to access the ship's logs. Colonel Holland assures me that the Master Chief's AI Cortana should be more than capable of handling that and, with luck, should also be able to reactivate other core systems. Forerunner tech is capable of surviving for long periods of time and their power supply is more resilient than anything either of our species have been able to create. So that shouldn't too problematic. The real challenge will then come as we begin the search proper, splitting into teams to perform a thorough search of the ship."

That was when Lieutenant McKay's hand shot up. Taq looked to it and nodded. The ODST leader didn't skip a beat.

"What exactly are we looking for?" She asked. "What does this relic look like?"

"I can't be certain, Relics of Power are relatively unique," Taq admitted. "However, it should readily stand out. Given its importance, it was probably kept in a high security area. That will make getting to it potentially difficult. Which is why you should all have ion cutters in your gear. Otherwise you are probably not going to get anywhere. Even with power restored it is likely some passages will be closed off regardless due to typical security protocols. Bypassing them will take time, we don't exactly have that much."

Her face than grew more dire, her eyes growing narrow as she looked out onto the crew.

"Now in regards to any other items that aren't the relic that you might come across in there, weapons, tech, cultural artifacts, I want one thing made clear," She stressed rather sternly. "Do not play around with them. Catalog and record anything significant you might find, but do not remove them from the scene. Wait until someone smarter than you, namely me, is there to make sure you don't blow your hand off. Forerunner tech is dangerous, even if it isn't a weapon. If you don't know what something is, don't expect it to be a toy. I cannot make this more clear... don't fuck with things if you don't know what they are. You are here to find us that relic, we can handle gathering up anything else once that's sorted and the ship secured."

She then looked directly at Zek's crew. In fact, she managed to somehow pinpoint Zek in the crowd and glared directly at him. The pirate leader looked a bit put-off, rubbing his hands together as his ex stared him down.

"So save your grave robbing please until you know exactly what you're stealing from these dead aliens who aren't actually Gods but do have some freaky shit you don't fucking know jack about like I do," she declared. "Just be extra sure, I've asked Retz to head up Control while we're inside. He'll be on the surface, making sure you're all checking in when you're supposed to about everything to find. I'll say this layman's terms. No souvenirs, 're all adults, try not to get distracted by shiny shit. That's all I ask."

Zek shifted slightly in his spot.

"I almost forgot how super serious she gets when on a dig," he told Shepard in a hushed whisper. "It's kinda hot, also scary."

"I can sorta relate to that actually," Shepard admitted.

Taq continued with her briefing.

"I will be heading a team that will be targeting the cutoff forward section," she explained. "It is possible the Relic could be stored there. If not, the bridge and Captain's logs should have information on exactly where the relic is being held. That will make our job easier if we haven't found it by then. Once the Relic is secured it will be transported back here to the Carrier and placed under the watch of a select group of technicians, and myself, for study. Then we can begin the greater process of taking anything else of value from the ship and downloading the logs. All in all, should be easy to do so long as everyone does their jobs. Any questions?"

There was a short patch of silence before anyone spoke up. It was broken by another ODST raising his hand and then starting to speak.

"Yeah, I got one," he began rather curtly. "Why the hell are we taking the lead of some fucking alien bird bitch on this?"

"Trooper!" McKay shouted. "Can it!"

But Taq waved her hand about.

"No, no, I'll answer that," she explained, an angry chuckle in her voice. "I'll answer that with some questions of my own. Show of hands, who among you people has spent the better part of their lives studying the Forerunners? Who went to a big high priced school dedicated to the research of their culture, history and technology? A Covenant sponsored school, mind you. A school that eventually prevented her from studying anymore after she got her doctorate, because they didn't want to deal with her questioning the established curriculum or the so-called divinity of the Forerunners themselves. Who among you made it a career to research and study the Forerunners? Who among you has explored countless Forerunner temples, installations and even one or two lost cities? Do any of you even have a rudimentary sense of the Forerunner language? The codes that their systems run on? Have any of you written a thesis on their art and cultural works? Have any of you even seen something Forerunner related before you ran across that ringworld you later blew up? Anyone?"

There was a long, silent pause. No one raised their hand, no one said a thing. Even the Trooper who asked the question in the first place could only look at his feet in shame. Taq just looked out among them, a smug grin of satisfaction growing across her face.

"That's what I thought," she declared. "That's why I'm running this show. That's why Holland made me chief researcher on this. I got us here, it's my claim, it's my hunt. You don't like it? Too fucking bad. I suggest you get over your bullshit xenophobia already and man the fuck up. When we're inside that wreck my word is God because you people are blind otherwise. Do what I say and you'll be back on the Carrier before you know it and you can return to being simple minded isolationists on your own time. For the moment, you're on my time. So deal with it. Do not question why I'm here again. Now, any real questions?"

No one spoke up.

"Good, get your shit together then," she ordered. "We'll be heading down shortly."

Taq walked away and Holland replaced her at the front of the assembly.

"Well, you heard her, people," he told them. "I want this done and I want that relic aboard this ship. Set any other thoughts you have aside for the moment and act like the soldiers we trained you to be. With any luck, this relic is the key to turning the tide in the war. Keep that in mind. Now move out."

The assembly began to head to their designated transports instantly. Zek was the only one standing still beside Shepard.

"Is this how a lot of her expeditions start out?" Shepard asked him.

"Eh, more or less," he admitted. "She doesn't fuck around with this stuff. Just stay on her good side and listen to what she has to say. Now we better get going before she cracks another whip at us."

With that bit of good advice in hand, Shepard moved to the nearby Pelican with the rest of his team. It was time to get this treasure hunt underway.

---

The camp surrounding the downed Forerunner ship was already in the process of setting up temporary defenses. While no one thought Snarlbeak or the Covenant were just going to randomly show up out of nowhere, they didn't want to take the tiniest chance of being wrong. In a galaxy of infinite possibilities, even a ten percent chance of things going south was enough reason to prepare for the worst. The expedition team arrived to see a perimeter already being set up. A number of Wraith tanks appropriated from the Carrier were lined up alongside Plasma Turrets. Everything was more or less operated by Army Troopers, although they were being instructed in some cases by the Jackals. Shepard caught the eye of one exchange as his team walked past. One Jackal was hanging off the side of a tank with a Trooper in the open driver's seat.

"No, no, that's going to lock the turret up," the Jackal explained. "You need to disengage secondary and charge up the coil."

"It's not my fault you people made this shit so fucking complicated!" The Trooper shot back.

"Hey, I've seen the inside of one of your tanks, bucko," The Jackal countered. "What you need six pedals for? Don't go throwing stones in glass nests here."

"Whatever," the soldier growled. "Just hurry this up already."

Shepard shrugged, at least they were somewhat cooperating. It was better to see them getting angry over this junk than the usual stuff. In any case, the tensions between the factions weren't the issue of the day. The big wrecked Forerunner ship looming over them all was.

They approached the maintenance airlock to find Holland's soldiers had already finished cutting through the sufficiently sized door. Big enough for two squads to go through at a time. That would make insertion easy at least. One of the soldiers in charge walked up to Shepard and saluted.

"Commander, it's all set up," he assured him. "Techs say the airlock is more or less still functional. Guess the Forerunners built them to last. Normally that wouldn't matter, but the ship's atmosphere still seems to be intact and constantly generated by some sorta field."

"Excellent," Taq spoke up. "I was hoping that the ship was still in some functional state. The systems must be still running on an emergency life support system. I've encountered similar fields on less than hospitable worlds."

"Point is the ship likely has power," the soldier continued. "So we don't have to worry about you suffocating if you remove your helmets. I'd advise keeping them on to be safe though. I'm not sure it's wise to entrust everything to ancient technology."

"It's Forerunner tech, we should be fine," Taq was quick to add. "Now can we please get inside already. I didn't come this far to gawk at it."

Shepard just nodded and circled his hand in the air.

"Alright, move it up people," he ordered. "Two squads each, quick and simple, maintain perimeter in the entryway until otherwise informed. Let's go."

The insertion was as quick and painless as he had hoped. This was because they made sure there was as little tension as possible between the squads that went in. Even when some Jackals had to move in with the a squad of Marines, they mostly kept to their side of the lock. Finally, Shepard's team moved into the ship alongside the Spartans and Taq herself.

Inside they found a wide open hallway, opulent and magnificent. It looked a little like what they had seen on Halo, but different. Forerunner aesthetics did little to differentiate much from each other. It was sterilized, yet seemingly sanctified appearance. As if in the lowly inner workings of this ship had some higher purpose to relate to others. Was it any wonder the Covenant had turned the Forerunners into their Gods? The things they built seemed to carry a holistic meaning or look to them.

As much Shepard, and in fact everyone else, was fascinated by the inner devastated beauty of the ship, Taq looked positively elated. Even slightly slanted as the floor was, she circled about, taking the entire ship with utter amazement. Her eyes just seemed to glow at everything around her.

"I'm actually in one of their ships," she said, almost giddy. "All those years hoping and wondering, and I'm finally inside one of them! Every single one of my colleagues back at the University would be so jealous right now. They'd also probably call me a heretic for working with humans, but screw'em. I'm here, they ain't. That's a victory in and of itself."

"Isn't this just a rinky dinky cargo ship?" Jack asked, not nearly as fascinated as everyone else seemed to be. "Wouldn't you prefer finding one of their badass battleships or something?"

"Please, any one of their ships is a treasure trove," Taq answered readily. "It doesn't really matter the function it served in life. What matters is what's inside and how much can be made off it."

"Well that's the part I can get behind," Jack seemed to agree. "Where's the high price stuff then? Or their armory at least. I got dibs on the cool ancient rocket launchers."

"Jack, remember what we're here for," Shepard reminded her. "The relic first, everything else second."

The ex-con just huffed as she slung her shotgun over her shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah, just got to suck the fun out of fucking everything," she grumbled.

"Oh don't worry," Zek spoke up suddenly, as he edged over to Taq's side. "If my time with Taq taught me anything, it's the Forerunners had some pretty cool junk. You won't miss out on any of it, trust me. More accurately, trust Taq. This is her element after all."

Zek looked directly at the female Jackal now, his head leaning slightly towards her.

"And I have to say, it's good to be back in it with her," he said, trying to ratchet up the charm. "Just like the good old days. Makes you feel nostalgic, don't it?"

Taq shoved Zek's head away from her in disgust.

"You are not ruining this for me like you do everything else, Zek," she declared. "You sorry excuse flirting is not going to distract me in the slightest. Not when I'm standing inside the very pinnacle of my career."

"Come on," Zek insisted. "It wouldn't feel right if I wasn't here. You got to admit that."

"I'll admit it wouldn't stink nearly as much," Taq snarled. "Now, shut it already, we have work to do."

Taq scampered off as Zek raised one of his arms and sniffed under it. He eventually just shrugged in befuddlement and followed Taq with the others. The female Jackal had soon set her sights on what appeared to be some kind of terminal on the wall. She dusted off the control panel and spread her fingers across the console. She beamed at it brightly, nodding her head. She tapped a few button and soon the terminal sprang to life, perhaps for the first time in who knew how long.

"This will do," she declared, before looking over to the Master Chief. "Hey, big guy, get you little synth friend over here."

Chief obliged, lumbering over to the console himself. He pulled Cortana's chip out of the back of his helmet and plugged her into the terminal. Cortana's form soon appeared over the holographic display, as data swarmed all around her.

"Mostly damage reports, hull integrity, atmospheric control, functional systems, lots of technical stuff," she listed off casually. "Security protocols are engaged though, can't access most of the systems off the bat. Data streams are a mess too, so that's a hurdle. The disconnection from the bridge is probably not helping either. I did find our mystery ship's name though. Welcome aboard the Dauntless, everyone. Rough translation, but that's basically it."

"Anything on the relic at all?" Chief asked her.

"Like I said, I'm locked out of many of the systems," she replied. "If we find their main security console, we can deactivate it and speed up the process. Chances are though that a lot of the intel we're looking for, is not on the public channels. And... yeah, the bridge itself is locked down. Can't access it from here. Someone has to approve me access."

"We were going there anyway," Taq said rather plainly. "Just keep pooling through the data you got on hand for now. Let us know if you find anything we can use."

"Already on it," Cortana assured her. "This isn't my first time infiltrating a Forerunner system. Just find me that security room and I can get this done much faster."

"Then we should get under way ourselves," Shepard concurred. "Let's form into our search pattern and check this ship over top to bottom. That relic is in here somewhere and we're gonna find it."

---

Jackals usually scampered all over the place, but Taq seemed almost possessed. She couldn't stop herself from running between the various terminals strewn throughout the halls. She had Cortana attempt to activate each one and she started reading whatever preliminary information came up. The Master Chief just tried to keep up. They couldn't have her just suddenly run off without them after all. Thankfully, the ever prudent alien archaeologist did slow down to keep making notes for her.

"Log entry seven-zero-six-delta, my theory on propulsion is all but confirmed," she said jubilantly, speaking in her wrist recorder. "This ship's systems have records concerning the function of their reaction drives, detailing the harnessing of virtual particles as a means of rapid transit. Even without a Slipspace drive active, they could travel the length of an entire cluster in mere days. Not weeks, days! Just on their main propulsion systems alone. It lends credence to my other theory concerning this ship's construction. If they can harness that kind of energy, they must have had an extremely advanced manufacturing method. One capable of uniformed interchangeable design. Must consult old thesis later, right now, I need more information."

Taq moved over to another console and began pulling up whatever files she could. Chief could only stare at her and try to figure out what she was attempting to accomplish. They were here for the Forerunner Relic, right? Did it really matter how this old ship could fly? Then again, he wasn't the expert on this, as she had made very clear earlier.

"She kind of reminds me of Halsey," Linda suddenly spoke up beside him. "She's thrown herself completely into her work."

"She's a lot more animated than Halsey," Cortana argued as she appeared on a nearby console's display. "I can't remember ever seeing her acting excited over anything."

"That is true," Linda admitted. "She was a lot more analytic than this."

Chief did not want to dwell too much on Halsey. It just made him think about Reach, which he really didn't need right now. He and Shepard would figure that out later, right now they had to focus on this mission. To get his mind off it, he tried to ask Cortana another question that was burning at the back of his mind.

"Have you found anything else concerning this ship's stated mission in the system?" He asked her. "Other ships in the fleet, who sent them, who might have shot them down?"

"Nothing I can access," Cortana admitted. "In fact, I'm not entirely sure the ship was shot down. What damage reports I'm bringing up show no signs of outward hull damage in the records before the actual crash. Then again, I'm still not able to access all the systems. A lot of it is still locked off. I've requested EDI to help me run extra probes into the network, but nothing is budging. This place is locked up even tighter than Halo. They really didn't want to risk anyone finding out what they were doing on this boat."

"If that's the case, then this relic is probably as big a deal as we're all thinking it is," Linda reasoned. "You don't turn your crash site into a black site if you don't have something really important to hide. I bet you they activated those advanced security protocols when they hit the ground."

"Well, given how they seemed to know they'd be abandoned if they went down, that's very likely," Chief concurred, turning back to Cortana. "Can you at least access any crew logs? They could probably give us an idea of what happened."

"I've found some, Taq asked me to transfer them over to her files for further study," the AI confirmed. "However, most of it is of a personal nature and highly cryptic. It seems the Forerunners were big on talking in riddles a lot. I should've expected as much when I was hanging out in their big death ring. A lot of it falls in line with Shepard's theory on why they were headed for the Wormhole. They're mostly talking about their species dying, doom and gloom, how they'll never see home again. Not in those exact words, but given what we know thanks to Halo, it's not hard to figure out what they're referencing."

Their fight against the Flood, their losing fight. Chief supposed they had at least something in common with the Forerunners in that respect. That was why this mission was so important. If the relic was a weapon, as everything seemed to suggest, then maybe it could give them an edge. Chief suddenly thought that maybe he could suggest testing it out on the Covenant over Reach, an excuse to go back there. He quickly rejected that thought. He still didn't know what kind of weapon it was. He didn't want to get his hopes for an easy answer just because of this mission.

He still did not like that they didn't know how or why this ship crashed. Sure, the perpetrators could be long dead, but that was the problem. In the back of his mind he kept worrying that it was possibly the result of the Flood catching up to these ships. Maybe that was just paranoia, but after Halo it felt warranted. You couldn't be certain what this place was hiding.

Chief was so lost in his thoughts, he almost missed that Taq had moved on to a nearby door. She had pulled out her energy axe and stuck it in between the slit in the middle. She had pulled it slightly open, but she just couldn't seem to manage it the whole way. She quickly looked over to the two Spartans and motioned them over with her head.

"Well don't stand there gawking, help me get it open!" She demanded.

Chief and Linda just looked at one another, nodded and moved to assist. They grabbed at either side of the door, placing their fingers in the slightly open slit. They then pulled hard towards them and within moments, the doors were forced clean open. Taq offered a quick words of thanks before rushing inside the small dark room beyond. The commotion had garnered the attention of Tali, Shepard and Kat who had only been a few feet away when the whole display started.

"Did she find something?" Shepard asked as he approached.

"Sure sounds like it," Chief said with a simple shrug.

The group piled into the room, crowding around Taq as she looked a large console near the back. Chief turned his rifle's flashlight on to take a quick view around the darkened room. He could see what looked to be some kind of resting place next to the wall, similar to a cryotube, a small sitting area of sorts on the opposite side and the work desk with the console that Taq was currently lording over.

"That terminal over there gave me a directory," Taq quickly explained. "This room belong to the ship's equivalent of a chief engineer. Our first significant crewmember's living space, no doubt loaded with information. Synth, can you get connected?"

"I have a name," Cortana said, appearing on the console somewhat peeved. "You could use it. But to answer your question, yes. Give me a moment to re-route power to it."

"Yes, yes, fine, just hurry," Taq insisted. "This has potentially valuable data I need."

"Will it tells us where to find the relic?" Kat asked.

"Maybe," Taq said, picking up what looked to be some small modules strewn across the desk. "But more likely it will impart on us something of near equal value."

Chief suddenly realized that this was detour from their main mission. He probably should've suspected that, given Taq seemed hungry to research every nook and cranny of this ship. Shepard was clearly a bit more annoyed than he was though.

"Taq, we need to stay focused on why we're here," he told her. "We'll have time for sidetracks later, after we secure the bridge."

"Commander, relax," the Jackal replied. "This is important. We need to know more about this ship if we're going to effectively navigate and study it. Besides, these data modules are worth the effort alone."

"What's in them?" Linda asked. "Weapons schematics? Ship designs?"

"Stories," Taq declared with an near giddy attitude. "Forerunner reading material! A terrific find!"

She opened one of said modules to reveal a small blaze of light. It twisted itself into knots, flared brightly, twirled around like a vortex. Taq almost seemed entranced, but was quickly torn away from it. She handed it towards Tali.

"Here, have the synth in your omni-tool data transcribe that one," she ordered. "It looks like a creation text. See if the robot can pull any substantial images from it when he's done with that download feed on the console."

Tali looked at the Jackal a bit incredulously. She then looked at Shepard.

"Wade," she said with a snarl.

The Commander instantly got the message of the tone and he agreed with it.

"Taq, we're here help you, but you can't just order us around," he explained to her. "That's technically my job."

"Your job is to help me," Taq replied. "Forerunner texts go for insane amounts on the artifact black market. Plus, after I digitize and copy the record, I can use it for my personal studies. Once I figure out whether it's mythology or a historical document of course."

"I respect your passion for the job, but we're not here so you can line your credit account," Tali informed her. "If you want me to get DOT to help you with this, the least you could do is say please."

Taq sighed greatly at that and finally turned around to face them all.

"Listen, I get it, this is a military operation to you people," she relented. "To me though, it's the culmination of a lifetime of work. Skulking in ruins, out-running Covenant officials, breaking my back opening tombs, it has all led to this. I'm in a Forerunner ship, every piece of this place is valuable. Not just in credits, but in knowledge. Which also can get you a lot of credits too, but that's beside the point. You want the relic, I do too. I haven't forgotten that, but this is my chance to look at Forerunner technology and finally prove so much about who they were. I need to take every opportunity I get in here. You'll get your relic, I promise. Just let me work."

There was a moment of calm as the group silently contemplated the female Jackal's words. Chief himself didn't doubt her abilities, or her clear zeal for this sort of work. However, she did need a bit of prodding if they were going to keep on schedule.

"We can give you your room to work," Shepard finally stated. "And we will work with you, but not for you. On my watch, we act as a team. Understand?"

"Fine, just so long as we remember this is still my show," Taq said putting her hands up slightly. She then turned to Tali. "If you find time, can you please have your... DOT data transcribe that module for me?"

"We will see what we can do," Tali answered somewhat graciously. "I wouldn't mind being able to do some of my own research on this tech."

Taq seemed a bit surprised at that.

"Really? You have an interest in the Forerunners too?" She asked inquisitively.

"Somewhat," Tali said with a slightly shrug.

"And for the record," Cortana spoke up suddenly. "My AI matrix was based on one of humanity's leading Forerunner experts. So there's quite a few people more than capable of keeping up with you on this mission, even if one of them is just a synth."

That was when the console itself powered on and Taq's childlike grin returned.

"Well in that case," she told the quarian and the AI. "This might interest you both then."

Cortana reappeared on the console as Taq began opening files.

"The logs on this terminal aren't as protected as the others," she explained. "I have general full access. It should help me in speeding up the process with the rest of the systems. For now, I think I've found what Taq is looking for."

"Yes, you have, thank you," the Jackal quickly replied as she pulled up an image on-screen.

What they now found themselves looking at were a series of three-dimensional images detailing the ship. Pieces of it slowly came into existence as the image rolled around. In the corner, a glowing bright flash of light resonated. As Taq pressed it with her finger, the light appeared in the center, with text surrounding it. The image of the ship slowly emerged from the light, bit by bit. Taq seemed ecstatic. Tali in the meantime began trying to transcribe the text.

"It... it says something about digital construction," she said, trying to decipher it. "Some sort of location, production unit, I'm not sure. I think it's describing how the ship was built."

"Right on the credit chip," Taq assured her. "What you're looking at is the ship's construction work log. Possibly uploaded to record the precise details of it's creation for future reference on behalf of the Chief Engineer. The text describes used material, hardlight constructs, formation and potential design reconfiguration. In layman's terms, it's telling you how the ship was made. What's important is the big glowing thing it's coming out of."

"Why?" Linda asked. "Isn't that just some funny graphic."

Taq shook her head.

"No, look at these text letters here, at the bottom," she said pointing. "Translation is rough, but it's a directive serial number for what created this ship. I've been looking for confirmation of this for awhile, now I have it. The Design Seeds existed."

"What's a design seed?" Tali asked.

"Forerunner technology, one of their most advanced pieces," Taq explained eloquently. "I've found references to it in Forerunner ruins, but never discovered a proper confirming source. This proves it, the Forerunners didn't just create ships out of nothing like the idiots in the Covenant claim. No, they reformed matter. They used design seeds to quickly and efficiently build their fleet and their structures. Enabling them to spread out across the stars in record time. They could manufacture whole ships, like this, in days. Not years, days. Maybe sometimes hours, depending on the size."

"Wait a second," Kat said raising her robotic hand. "Are you telling us that the Forerunners were able to convert matter at will to build ships with? Massive ships in fact? This whole place took days to build?"

"How else would you explain their ability to manufacture massive structures and vessels in any conceivable amount of time?" Taq questioned. "The Forerunners needed a process that could convert any matter they found into what they needed to build their empire. The Design Seeds were this method. This data shows detailed information on the precise construction of the ship and potential reconfiguration settings based on that very construction process! It wasn't magic, it wasn't divine will, they had the most powerful form of technology in all he cosmos, period!"

"It's just a little much to take in," Kat explained. "The power required to convert matter on that scale would be enormous."

"You blew up a ringworld capable of apparently killing all life in the galaxy," Taq reminded her. "Is it really that hard to believe they found a way to do this very thing?"

"Not really, I'm just wondering the full implications of this," Kat informed her. "I don't suppose this Design Seed would be our relic?"

"Hardly, far too commonplace for this much secrecy and security," Taq answered. "The only reason we probably haven't found one ourselves is likely because they were all destroyed more or less."

Chief could understand why that would be the case. If these Seeds could create ships from any material en masse, you'd be in some big trouble if the enemy ever got their hands on one. An enemy like, perhaps, the Flood. Who would then use the Design Seeds to make their own fleet to challenge you and infect more worlds. Easier to destroy them rather than take the risk of one being captured.

"My people would probably give anything to have a device that could just make ships out of raw material," Tali noted aloud. "If it's true, Forerunner society must've been incredible at it's peak. They had technology we can scarcely dream of."

"Didn't help them much in the end though," Linda quickly added.

"I'm assuming these Design Seeds could create anything?" Shepard asked.

"As long as it was programmed with the proper schematics, yes, it could create anything," Taq confirmed. "The fewer materials, the easier and faster the construction. I'd like to upload these files to our computers for further study if possible. I kinda want to know more about these configurations it seems to be talking about."

"You'll have a lot to go over," Cortana cautioned. "I was doing some cross-referencing during your history lesson. Apparently, whoever was working here had a lot files concerning your design seed on hand. I think they were studying up on it."

Cortana brought up said files and there were quite a lot of them. Taq leaned in over the console to get a better look, grimacing as she did. There were several images of what one could presume were Design Seeds, but they were different in size, shape and even appearance. Chief supposed it made sense, depending on what you were making, the seed would probably look different.

"There's a lot to go over here, it will take me too long to translate it all," Taq informed them. "Syn- ... Cortana, could you upload this to my personal files? I'll need to figure this all out later. I'd like to know why a Forerunner was doing research on Design Seeds."

"Same," Kat added. "Why would someone need that much information on a piece of technology that sounds like it was used in everyday common life?"

"School project? Hobby?" Shepard suggested. "You know, like building bird houses."

Everyone just slowly looked to the Commander. Even through their helmets, you could guess the expression on their faces ranged from incredulous or puzzlement. Shepard instantly got a bit defensive.

"Don't look at me like that, people still build those," he argued.

"Yeah, in the boy scouts," Cortana said sardonically.

"Could be worse," Kat suggested. "Could've compared it to scrap-booking."

"I'd have said stamp collection myself," Linda added.

"Playlists," Tali suddenly chimed in. "He really likes making playlists."

"Fine, I'm a dork, I admit it," Shepard groaned. "Are you all quite done?"

Before the discussion could go further, Legion saved the Commander from further embarrassment. The Geth lumbered into the doorway, it's big blue eye attracting immediate attention.

"Shepard-Commander, we have completed designated task," it announced. "After running deciphering program, we have uncovered something of interest."

"What is it, Legion?" Shepard asked in kind.

"Final diagnostic report from vessel's systems indicates a catastrophic engine failure," Legion explained. "Shortly after, mayday and distress signals were activated. It is highly possible this was the cause of the vessel's crash landing."

"It walks, it talks and it can even do archaeological analysis," Taq warmly chuckled in delight. "The wonders of technology never cease. I should've started hiring synths sooner."

Aloof as she seemed, Taq did sound interested in Legion's find though. Chief felt the same way, they needed to know why this ship crashed in the first place. If the clues led them to the engine room, then that was probably where they'd find their answer.

"Did the logs say anything about what caused the failure?" The Spartan asked aloud.

"Negative, not in precise terms," Legion replied. "However, diagnostic suggests damage was not from an external source."

That left two possibilities, mechanical failure or sabotage. Chief wasn't sure which one he'd rather it be. He did know though that it was best not to let this go unexplored.

"We should divert one of the search teams to check out the engine room, sir," Chief told Shepard. "Figure out what exactly happened in there if possible."

"Agreed," Taq added. "We need a complete history of this ship's lifespan if we're going to get anywhere with this excavation. Also, it might help us find the relic of course."

Shepard just nodded and activated his comm-link. He knew the general search pattern after all, he'd have the best idea of who to divert.

"Samara, this is Shepard," he began. "We might have found something. I need your party to divert to the engine room, it's closest to your position."

"At once, Shepard," the asari answered.

Shepard acknowledged the reply and returned his look to the others.

"Alright, we should go," he told them. "Taq, finish up here, then let's get back on schedule. The bridge is still a ways from."

"Don't worry, this won't take but a minute," the Jackal assured. "Promise."

They piled out of the room, with just as many questions as answers still buzzing in their minds. Chief tried to comfort his thoughts with the knowledge that the further they went in, the more answers they'd uncover. Of course, he also kept wondering if they'd like what they would eventually find.

---

The engineering decks were a mess, massive amounts of what appeared to be scoring damage across the walls. Kowalski had seen enough of that in his career to recognize it wasn't exactly from a plasma gun. He supposed he shouldn't be too surprised, the Forerunners probably had an energy source that was a lot more efficient than plasma. He couldn't exactly tell if the scoring was from a weapon or perhaps some kind of overload though. All he could say for sure, was that something had gone down here.

"You know, when I signed up, they didn't tell me we'd be pulling ancient alien ship detail," Ellingham said grumbling. "This xenoarchaeology stuff is usually ONI's wheelhouse I hear."

"Well, they're a billion or so lightyears away right now, so we're it," Kowalski reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah," Ellingham relented. "Don't get me wrong, dude, this is pretty fucking cool. But after Halo, I get a little freaked concerning anything involving the Forerunners. Also, the company ain't exactly great either."

Ellingham pointed over his shoulder to a group of Jackals pecking and pawing at various bits of junk on the ground.

"Is this valuable?" One asked his friend, picking up some kind of tube.

"The fuck do I know if it is?" The other replied. "Just put with the miscellaneous pile. We're not after scrap here, we're looking for their killsticks and shit."

Kowalski couldn't deny that the Jackals did make him uneasy at times. Especially when kept talking about how they wanted to find some Forerunner guns. Sure, he kept reminding himself that the birds weren't out to kill them and that they were already armed anyway, but he kept worrying about one of them activating something that shot their head off. That female Jackal's speech about the dangers of that at the briefing had gotten that possibility stuck in his head.

Thankfully, they weren't too rowdy. Partly because of Zek being around. Whenever he was nearby he started micro-managing to the nth degree. It didn't take long for Kowalski spot him near a door organizing a Jackal technician crew.

"Come on, come on," he pressed. "How long does it take to re-attach some wires?"

"It's not wires, sir," the technician said. "It's like... micro-fibers and diodes and transistors and other shit I don't even have a name for."

"Just tell if you're close already," Zek insisted.

As if on cue, the door slid clean open, making both Jackals jump.

"Uh, apparently I am," the bird-brained engineer answered in disbelief.

"Solid work there, bud," Zek congratulated, patting him on the back. "See? You don't really need a Huragok after all."

"Would still make my life easier," the techie grumbled.

The Pirate Leader either ignored or did not hear his lackey, as he quickly turned to the other Jackals nearby.

"Alright, let's get in there," he ordered. "Taq says these storerooms are full of all kinds of neat electronic stuff. Catalog and sort, people. And no taking anything for yourself just yet, okay? Retz will know, believe me. He's scary good like that."

The Jackals filed into the storeroom in a strangely more orderly fashion than Kowalski had come to expect from them. Zek was clearly keeping them more directed, on task, obeying Taq's strict guidelines. From what he had heard, the female Jackal had once been Zek's girlfriend and the pirate still carried a torch for her. Maybe he was trying to impress her by finding something cool in all this junk.

"You know, I used to find them scary when we ran into them," Ellingham spoke up. "Now? They're like a walking comedy club. Only the joke is mostly on us and it's getting really old."

"Better than getting shot at by them," Kowalski argued. "Either way, I wouldn't worry too much about them."

"Because their boss is here and is keeping them in check?" Ellingham asked.

"Nah," Kowalski assured him, pointing off to the side. "Because she's here."

A few feet away, standing at attention, was Samara. Currently she was focused on the efforts of the Marines cutting through the door to the main engine room. However, she occasionally looked back and glared at any Jackals nearby. If they saw her doing this, and they usually did, they instantly scuttled away to escape her gaze. Zek and Retz had made it very clear to their men that Samara was "crazy" and should be avoided. After hearing what she had done on the Hollow, none of them decided to test that statement for themselves. Kowalski wondered if Shepard had asked her to go along with their search party to keep the Jackals in line for that very reason, or if Samara had volunteered to do it herself.

To Samara's credit, she had not outwardly threatened any of the pirates. Her look seemed to say everything she needed to say. Basically, I don't trust any of you and I'm looking for an excuse. That's at least what Kowalski read in her eyes whenever he caught her staring a Jackal down. Kowalski knew why she felt the way she did, even if she had supported the plan to team-up with them to escape Halo. She had explained it to him as they were preparing for the mission just that morning.

"They are criminals, they are unjust," she had told him. "Were I not bound by my code to Shepard they would be dead. Them and the batarians. They have killed, plundered or enslaved innocents, They have lost the right to mercy. The fact we require them to fight a greater evil sickens me, I bear it only in the hopes it lead to the end of the Covenant. It does not change the reality, lesser evil is still evil. The Code is clear on this. I will work with them so long as we are required to achieve justice for those the Covenant have murdered, nothing more."

It was the cold grim black and white morality that Kowalski had come to expect of Samara. There were no grays in the Justicar's world. Even she sounded like she acknowledged things weren't always so simple, it didn't change what the Code told her. Kowalski wasn't always sure whether that was stubbornness or conviction on her part. All he knew was that he wanted to better understand it. She had shown signs of conflict concerning her Code, but stayed steadfast in her belief her interpretation was just. Sometimes he wished he had her resolute sense of purpose.

"Yeah, her being around does ease my mind a bit," Ellingham admitted. "Her and Johnson, between them we're okay. Again though, it's a Forerunner ship. As annoying as the birds can be, they're not the biggest thing I'm worried about."

No one wanted to say the other F-word, but they were all thinking it. Halo was still fresh in everyone's mind. So when they heard they were visiting another Forerunner made thing, well, the images of undead friends coming back to kill you poured back into the forefront.

"Try not to worry," Kowalski insisted. "We got half the Normandy down here and every Spartan to boot, both inside and out. We got this."

"Sure, sure, just keep an eye on the motion tracker is all I'm saying," Ellingham suggested. "Alright, I'm going back on console duty. Let me know when we crack that door. I wanna know how they flew this pile of shit back in the day as much as anyone."

Ellingham walked off, leaving Kowalski by himself. With no one else to talk to, he decided to see for himself how the door was coming. He walked up to Samara and Johnson, as they over saw the door cutting.

"Forerunners built their gear to last," Johnson observed aloud. "We should've been through by now."

"Perhaps we would if Holland had authorized the use of the Engineers," Samara suggested.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Johnson concurred. "His call though. Guess he didn't want them so close to the Jackals."

"I understand that concern, but I alone am more than adequate a precaution," the asari insisted. "These pirates would not escape my sight should they attempt foul play of any kind."

"It's not that he doesn't trust you," Johnson assured her. "I think that whole business with them stowaways still has him on edge."

Kowalski thankfully did not have to interrupt them to get into the conversation. It didn't take long for Samara to notice him.

"Private Kowalski," she greeted. "How are you faring?"

"Good, Sam, good," he assured her. "Ramirez found a data module of some kind plugged into one of the consoles. He's helping the techs unplug and catalog it now I think. How are things with the door?"

"Slow, but we're getting there," Johnson assured him. "Near as we can tell, everything is fused. Motors, power, whole deal. My guess is whatever went down in that room seriously screwed with all the surrounding systems."

"Any ideas on exactly what happened to the engines?" He asked them both.

"I presume mechanical failure unless proven otherwise," Samara answered. "There is nothing as of yet that concretely proves sabotage. What is certain is that beyond this door is the cause of this ship's untimely end."

Good, then they'd get a few answers on how exactly a ship this damn advanced ended up face-planted into the rocks. Maybe that would ease some of the concerns Ellingham and others had. With any luck, maybe the Relic was in there and had caused the engine failure itself. It sounded like the simplest explanation to him. Then they could pick it up and just go back to the carrier. No more skulking around the creepy ship.

"Any trouble from the birds?" Johnson asked him, chomping down on his cigar as he did.

"Nah, they're mostly keeping to their search vectors," he answered plainly. "If you ask me, Zek is keeping them focused on searching every nook and cranny for something that can make him a crap ton of credits. They don't have time to bother us."

"Well, I don't mind them staying out of the way, but I also wouldn't mind them sparing a helping hand to our side," Johnson responded. "They got quite a few bodies they could spare. Probably better this way though."

Kowalski just nodded, he didn't want to dwell too much on that.

"You ever been in a place like this before, Sam?" Kowalski asked the asari.

"More than a few times," she answered. "My travels across the galaxy inevitably led me to a number of exotic locations. Although, nothing seems to compare to this place. For what should be a mundane cargo vessel, this ship is built with a great deal of regal purpose."

"You'd think they'd just grab any old ship and run for the wormhole though," Johnson noted. "I mean, if the whole point was just this one little artifact, why not go smaller?"

"Given what Liara T'Soni has told us, it was not so simple," Samara informed him. "They probably meant to carry more than just this relic of power. Their civilization was ending, perhaps they hoped to start anew."

"What, you mean like they were going to colonize your dimension?" Kowalski asked inquisitively.

"I believe it is not out of the question," Samara answered astutely. "Their technology rivals that of even the ancient Protheans from our galaxy. It would have been fairly simple to start fresh. However, they clearly failed. One wonders at the cause, I imagine the Reapers played some role."

Johnson gave a knowing grunt at that remark.

"Yeah, your freaky killer dark space robot friends," he said, recalling what the asari was referencing. "You really think that these relics of power are what they're after? I mean, they're big time bad muthas, as I understand it. What they need with this old junk that they can't do themselves?"

"Shepard has disrupted their plans greatly," Samara noted. "Perhaps they seek to balance the scales once more in their favor."

"Sounds like they're scared of the Commander then," Kowalski said grinning. "Going out of their way like this just to get themselves an ace to play."

"I am not sure if the Reapers feel fear or desperation," Samara corrected him. "But if they do, it would be wise of them to fear Commander Shepard all the same."

As Samara spoke, the welding torch behind them ceased. The Marine kneeling beside the door with the cutter in hand looked up at them.

"We're through, sirs!" He reported.

"Good, stand back if you please," Samara requested.

The Marines did as asked and Samara placed her hands within the door's slit. Biotic energy suddenly surged through her limbs, extending out her fingertips. In one swift motion, she forced the doors aside. As she peered into the engine room, her gaze grew more concerned. She turned to Johnson with a grave expression.

"You best get some people in here, Sergeant," she told him. "There is much to see."

Johnson didn't ask what she meant, he just followed her orders.

"Ellingham, Agley, Pearson, Ramirez, get your butts over here," he ordered. "We got something!"

Kowalski could see his teammates moving through the crowd to join him at the door. Save for Ellingham who seemed to be lagging. This did not go unnoticed by Johnson of course.

"Ellingham! Move it!"

The Private finally got it in gear and rushed over to Johnson.

"You weren't listening to BBR on full volume again, weren't you?" The Sergeant asked.

"Uh, no."

Johnson clearly didn't believe him and was soon proven right in that assumption. He pulled up on Ellingham's helmet. When he did, music instantly began to pour out of it.

"Rolling Stones, 'Satisfaction', 1965," the Sergeant listed clearly. "Good song. You know what will satisfy me though? You getting your ass in there already! Turn it down or shut it off, you hear me?"

"Yes, sir," Ellingham answered frantically.

Johnson pushed him forward by the shoulder, while Kowalski had to keep himself from laughing too much.

"That man is scary," Ellingham stated flatly.

"You were asking for it," Kowalski told him. "Be more careful, or he's going to rescind listening privileges for everyone while on duty."

They walked into the engine room and found themselves in what could best be described as a crime scene. What they assumed was probably once the engine had more holes in it than one could count. Hell, it was little more than melted slag. Whatever the engines once looked like before were, no one could really recognize them now. No wonder the outside was such a mess, the core had seemingly just blown up. It didn't overload though, it was torn apart and wrecked.

"Think they just had a loose screw?" Ramirez asked as he looked the engine over.

"No," Pearson answered. "Hell, I think they long evolved past screws at this point. This is something else."

Samara was over near the edge of the platform they were on, her eyes focused squarely on a series of consoles. Each of them looked fried and bore similar energy scoring marks that peppered the walls outside. Kowalski looked past her to see other pieces of machinery strewn about the room, all of it slag, burnt through, smashed.

Mechanical failure suddenly seemed less likely.

"Someone wanted this ship on the ground bad," Kowalski lamented.

"The damage does seem far too extensively directed to be of a simple malfunction," Samara concurred. "The critical machinery is destroyed, but the room's walls and ceiling are relatively intact. This was deliberate, focused."

There was a sudden loud whistle from behind. Everyone looked to see Zek flanked by two of his crewmates taking in the scene for themselves.

"Someone did a major number on this place," he said, sounding a bit disappointed. "So much for stripping their engine for parts."

"I am sure we are all saddened by your inability to profit off this one room," Samara informed him, her tone the closest to sarcasm that Kowalski had ever seen with her.

"Hey just pointing out the obvious," he stated. "We aren't going to find anything of much use here. Taq is going to be so disappointed. I bet she'd have loved to study their propulsion systems up close. They're probably fried too though, given the state of everything."

There was a sudden crash, as Agley bumped backwards into a console. Bits of electronic equipment fell to the floor below, as he pointed his weapon upwards.

"The hell is that one's problem?" Zek asked, as confused as anyone else.

"Agley?" Pearson spoke up. "Something wrong?"

Agley lowered his weapon slowly, his composure returning ever so slightly.

"Uh, I uh, I thought I heard something from that vent," he explained. "Least I think it's a vent."

Zek motioned one of his men to take a look. The pirate looked into the open crawlspace in the wall, his plasma pistol pointed down into the darkness. The bird poked his head back out again and shook it.

"Nothing," he claimed. "Jumpy human is hearing things."

"I am not jumpy," Agley argued. "I thought I heard something."

"Relax, human." Zek cut in. "Creepy old wreck from a bygone era. "No shame in being a bit scared at every shadow. Is still a bit funny though. What with all the armor and shit you wear. You'd think you;d feel a bit more secure in your skin."

Zek chuckled lightly as he walked off, his fellow pirates joining him as they conducted their own search of the engine room. Samara glared at them as they walked off. Keeping her eyes on them, she activated her comms.

"Cortana, this Samara," she stated. "I'm sending you a feed of the engine. It was likely sabotaged, some kind of fight erupted. Best you inform Shepard."

As Samara reported in, Kowalski looked to Ellingham.

"Guess Agley's nerves or working up again, huh?" Kowalski asked.

"Maybe," Ellingham answered. "Lord knows he's a bit paranoid, but he's still a Marine. He's got good sense of heightened awareness, same as the rest of us."

"Sure you ain't just saying that cause you're creeped out by this place too?" Kowalski questioned skeptically.

"Okay, I'll grant you that, but it's not without reason," Ellingham informed him. "With all this poking and prodding we're doing about this ship, none of us seems to be asking the fairly obvious question here."

"Which is?" Kowalski asked, not entirely sure what he was getting at.

"This ship crashed eons ago and hasn't been disturbed since, right?" He stated bluntly. "So, where the hell is the crew? Why aren't we seeing any bodies?"

It was a good point, you'd think they'd find a skeleton or something. Then again, there was a potential, fairly logical reason for that.

"Maybe they just crumpled to dust," Kowalski suggested. "I mean, it's been how many years since they all died? Or maybe when Halo activated it disintegrated them."

"Probably," Ellingham relented. "Or maybe something else got to them first."

"Okay now you're being paranoid," Kowalski told him bluntly.

"Let's hope you're right, bud," Ellingham responded. "Let's really hope you're right."

---

The batarians moved through the cargo compartment methodically, their omni-tools scanning for any spike in energy. Taq explained the artifact would put out a constant unique signature. Varvok watched as the zeroed in on one such signature which resided in a container. Using low-yield breaching charges, hey blasted the locks off the container and threw open the lid. They did not find the relic within, but just more strange machinery. The energy from their dormant power systems had been what sent the scanners wild, not the supposed Artifact they were searching for. Another container, another false lead. It was becoming predictable.

"What exactly are we looking for, sir?" Asked one of his men.

"Taq claims we'll know it when it see it," Varvok said groaning. "It should stand out among the rest of the clutter."

The closest they had found to something matching that description were several boxes full of crystal-like objects. However, considering there we so many, they were probably not unique. They were probably a power source, given how much energy they gave off. They had also found robotic parts, various pieces of strange angular machinery and a great many pods that probably served different purposes. Varvok had no idea what any of it was, although he imagined Taq did.

He did his best not to complain too much. That would get them nowhere. As of now, he was just going to follow Taq's request. They'd search the compartments, they'd catalog everything and then leave it to her to figure out what it was all for. They were soldiers, they had a job to do, they'd leave the mystery solving to people who knew more about this Forerunner junk than him. Besides, after Halo, he had gotten his fill of lurking around the extinct species' old tombs. He wanted to get his men out of here as soon as possible. The quickest way to accomplish that was by working as fast as possible.

He had to admit though, he was curious. If this cargo ship was just supposed to be transporting that relic, why all this extra stuff? The fellow batarian beside him, one Sergeant Kragfor, voiced his thoughts for him.

"I'm starting to think, what with all this material they brought along," he began cautiously, "that the Forerunners had other motives than just escaping the Flood. Seems like they wanted to restart their Empire, colonize new worlds for their own."

"If they did, their exodus did not prove so fruitful," Varvok told him. "I won't fault them for thinking they could accomplish it though. Their technology certainly would've given them the edge over any species they encountered."

"It just makes me wonder what would've happened if they pulled it off," Kragfor elaborated. "Would we all be their subjects or something right now?"

"Best not to dwell to much on what might have happened, especially considering how long ago this ship crash in the first place," Varvok said rather plainly. "Right now, we should focus on the hope that their failure to escape may give us a chance at defeating the Covenant. So long as this Relic of Power is everything they claim it to be."

Given the massive destruction Halo had apparently been capable of, he had little reason to doubt that it was. Varvok's only concern was if it was usable or if they could even figure out how it worked. As much of an expert as Taq seemed to be, she had never run into one of these things from the sound of it. Determining how it functioned was not going to be an easy. Still, better they had it than the Covenant.

"I'm still hoping we find their weapons cache," Kragfor claimed. "I want to see if their guns can give us the edge we need."

"They probably won't be down here," Varvok told him. "More likely they'll be stored separately, away from the rest of the cargo."

"Why don't we go track it down then, sir?" Kragfor asked. "We could get first dibs on all that ancient weaponry."

Varvok quickly shook his head at that.

"We would inevitably have to share it, Sergeant," he reminded him. "Remember, we are working with the humans at this juncture. Everything we find, we share. That is pretty much the deal."

"I wish you wouldn't remind me," Kragfor huffed. "This whole situation sickens me."

"You and many others," Varvok assured him. "But we have few options. To stop the Covenant's tendrils from strangling our people, we must defeat them here. For now, that means assisting the humans. If I had a better option, believe me, I would take it."

"I know, sir, I know," Kragfor relented patiently. "It's just at times I wonder if we're making any real progress. If we're having any effect. The Covenant just seem powerful and the humans are already struggling as it is."

"Many of the Hegemony's enemies have seemed powerful yet we have endured," Varvok told him adamantly. "This is just one more trial, one we shall overcome as we have all obstacles."

"The men believe in you, sir," Kragfor insisted. "It's just, well, it wouldn't hurt to know we're having effect of some kind. Hell, knowing we have method to reach our goal would be something."

Varvok couldn't argue with that. He wished he had a better plan, a better means of getting to where they wanted to be. Right now, it was mostly relying on doing what the UNSC asked of them. He didn't like that, not one bit. They needed something bigger to push for, to aim for. His men were behind him, he knew that. He just wish he had more to offer than just words, some way to reward them for their faith. He'd have to provide something soon or risk losing the confidence of his men entirely.

He was suddenly stirred from his thoughts when they heard a terrific crash. Varvok and Kragfor rushed towards the origin point of the sound. They discovered several metal containers smashed open on he ground, the mechanical contents within strewn about he area. One batarian was helping another up to his feet as they approached.

"What happened?" Varvok questioned them.

"We don't know," one of them admitted. "Suddenly the whole pile just fell on top of us. We barely managed to avoid getting crushed."

"We need to be more careful, this whole ship is a little off kilter," Kragfor noted. "Us stomping around probably isn't helping."

Maybe, Varvok thought, maybe, but it all seemed a bit strange. Varvok looked to where the boxes had seemingly fallen from. Some kind of shelf above them with a railing along the side. Said railing had been damaged, so clearly the boxes had no opposition left to keep them in place. It just felt off that such a thing had so randomly happened. And then there was a strange smell about the place, a burning sensation. He looked closer to the railing itself and thought he saw a bit of smoke rising from it.

It couldn't have been cut though. No one else was in here but them. Perhaps the railing just gave way. What other explanation was there? And yet, he couldn't help but feel uneasy. It was far too similar to Halo, to the quarantined zones. Now he had another more immediate fear, one that resounded far greater than the dread of them losing their faith in him. Had he led his men right into the jaws of yet another horror?

---

She had never been one for this kind of creepy crap the Normandy seemed to constantly get itself involved in. Jack hadn't forgotten how their infiltration of the Collector Ship had gone down after all. She doubted there were any killer bugs in here, but she'd seen enough derelicts by now to decide she hated them. Nothing good ever came out of exploring one. She probably would have felt better about all this if she was was working with the Marines on this one or if Garrus was down here instead of handling things on the surface with the Cheerleader. Instead, she was stuck with the ODSTs again, the asshole brigade as she had come to know it.

Yeah, there were decent guys among them, Buck for one. Most everyone else pissed her the fuck off. The bullshit protocol and jackbooted personalities were one thing, reminded her too much of Cerberus. The more important part to her though was that most of them were just looking for an excuse. Said excuse being that the second they found a reason to leave her to die, they'd take it. There was a time when she could've accepted that, but that was before she had found a real crew. These Drop Troop fucks reminded her too much of the dipshits who had used her all her life in one way or another.

They were all a bunch of ungrateful shitheads in her mind. Just because Shepard accepted help from some aliens to escape Halo, suddenly the Normandy and everyone aboard her was a race traitor. Fuck them, for whatever the batarians and Jackals were, at least you knew where you stood. They were self-serving pricks, but at least they were honest. The ODSTs in general all talked like they were playing ball, but they were looking for an out. She didn't trust any of them. When the bullets started flying, she didn't want any of them watching her back.

Thankfully, she did have some of her crew with her, so it wasn't like Shepard had sent her off with these assholes alone. Zaeed was scary enough to keep the Troopers in check if need be. Thane was, of course, a goddamn assassin, and Jack knew he'd have her back. It was a strange feeling knowing that, maybe even comforting. All she knew was that she could rely on him, had since the damn swamp and the Flood. If anything went wrong in here with the Drop Troopers, Thane could handle it. Well, so long as she was there too, of course. She was the better biotic after all.

Right now they were in some sort of living space. At least she assumed it was anyway. It was a big open atrium with a lot of rooms off to one side or the other. With how big all this shit usually was, Jack was starting to wonder how tall the Forerunners were. Were they giants? Ten whole feet of creepy superior alien muscle? If so than maybe they couldn't blame the Covies too much for thinking they were Gods.

The ODSTs were conducting their search pattern, moving in and out of the nearby rooms. They were mostly cataloging what they found, personal items and the like. Strangely, no guns yet, but maybe they should've expected that. This was just a cargo ship, not really military. Maybe they didn't have guns. Then again, Jack supposed their guns would be unrecognizable to them.

"I was expecting we'd have found something cool by now," she stated, waiting for Buck to be done with the door. "Sweet armor, badass laser swords, hell, maybe some ancient vid game. All I'm seeing is a bunch of junk."

"To be fair, in a thousand years they're probably going to say the same about the stuff we use," Buck cautioned. "That and we're not the experts here. Taq's the one who knows all about this stuff's value. We're just doing the grunt work."

Another reason to hate this assignment. You were basically bored off your ass until something bad happened. Said something always involved you running for your life as well. Not that she didn't mind a good fight, but she liked knowing what she was getting into. Here, she didn't. She only knew that this place had some really terrible, shitty secret that was probably gonna get them all killed.

Buck finished cutting through the lock. He then forced the door open with the butt of his gun and the weight of his back. He flicked the light on his weapon and flashed it inside. Jack took a peak, only to see yet another private room of some kind. Tube of some kind in the corner, small desk, that was it. Not even a bunch of racy looking posters or discarded drinking bottles. Forerunners were either prudes or were just plain boring as fuck.

"There a body in that stasis pod?" Jack asked, hoping for something good.

Buck flashed his light over the pod expectantly, but soon shook his head.

"Nah, empty," he answered.

Jack groaned and knocked her head back against the wall.

"Worst shipwreck ever," she declared. "They didn't even have the decency to die in their fucking beds so I could know what they look like."

"I'm pretty sure they weren't really thinking about that at the time," Buck told her. "You want to take a look around? Might be more of those datadisks around with the cool pictures."

"I can get that just by getting high or looking at my omni-tool's screensaver," she told him. "You knock yourself out, I'm gonna see if Zaeed or Thane have found something before my brain dies."

Jack left Buck to his work, backed up by a few of his fellow ODSTs as she left. She passed by several search parties, already digging into every room they could open. She supposed that artifact could be anywhere, but she suspected it was nowhere here. Forerunners were as smart as everyone said than it was probably locked up tight somewhere on the bridge. They sure as shit wouldn't stick it with the working stiffs in their private rooms.

She found Thane and Zaeed not too far away, already searching another room. Thankfully it wasn't another stupid empty sleeping quarters. It looked like some sort of room full of bio-tanks, still filled with green fluid. Finally, she thought, something interesting for once in this stupid wreck.

"What's all this about?" She asked aloud.

"No idea," Zaeed admitted. "They sorta look like our food vats, but I don't think this is their kitchen."

Vats of unknown green stuff did not exactly offer much comfort. Luckily, Thane guessed her fears and alleviated them.

"There's nothing alive in it," he assured her. "The scanner picked up nothing. It's not holding any biological contaminants."

"Oh good, so no freaky science experiments or evil parasite monsters then," Jack noted. "That's one paranoid fear off my mind."

"Flood, no," Thane stated. "But it's possible some form of experiment was run here."

Jack expression morphed into a grimace.

"You have to ruin everything, don't you?" She asked.

"I'm just being truthful," Thane replied. "The scan shows this fluid contains properties similar to anti-biotics and our own medigel. It is possible this room served a medical purpose."

"Ah, so it's the infirmary," Zaeed presumed. "Makes sense it would be close to the main living space."

Jack looked to the vats once again, about five in total.

"Seems like they kinda overstuffed the room with these things," she noted. "Why? Were they that sick constantly?"

Thane looked over the pods himself, rubbing his chin a bit as he pondered. Jack waited for a bit longer, expecting him to just blurt out what he was thinking already. She got annoyed fairly quickly.

"What?" She asked, snapping at him. "Spit it out. I know you're just dying to."

"Forgive me, I'm not entirely certain," Thane explained. "But to me, it appears as if the extra Pods were not originally part of this room. The spacing between them, it appears... off. As if it was added later."

"What? Like after the crash or something?" Zaeed questioned.

"Possibly," Thane relented. "I cannot be certain. It is just that, this ship's design seems symmetrical in most cases. Here, it feels almost altered."

Jack gave the vats another look. On a second glance, they did seem a little off near the end. They were either too close together or too far apart, she couldn't tell for sure. That was good enough for you.

"If you think they're off I believe you," she told Thane. "Why'd they install extra in this room though?"

"Probably a lot of wounded after the crash," Zaeed suggested. "They probably got some extra out of storage, hooked them up in here and used them to speed the healing process along for some."

"Possible," Thane agreed. "But it still feels strange to do that when they're aware what Halo is about to do. They knew no rescue was coming, why do this at all? Something else was at work here."

Jack usually only relied on her own instincts, but she trusted Thane's almost as much at this point. He was an assassin after all. He had to have a good nose about these sorts of things, it was how he did his job. Plus, now someone else figured something was wrong with this stupid ship. So good, she didn't have to feel too paranoid if Thane didn't trust this place either.

"Maybe we should tell McKay about-"

Jack didn't get to finish her thought, as she heard something outside. An ODST shouting something aloud, calling people to his position. The trio left the room and rushed to the man's aid. Currently, he was standing in the middle of the room, his eyes locked on his wrist where his motion tracker was.

"What is it? What happened?" Buck asked him.

"I don't know, sir," he stated. "I got... I got a bunch of unidentified blips out of nowhere. They looked like they were around us, but, there was nothing there. And now, nothing is showing."

Buck looked at his own tracker, but saw nothing. However, where he or anyone else might've just shrugged it off as broken tracker before, this was a post-Flood world for them. Buck instantly took action.

"Check to see if that thing is working right, I'm calling McKay," he ordered.

The Sergeant clicked on his omni-tool and contacted the Lieutenant.

"Ma'am, we might have a situation here, seeing things moving that we can't see and all that," he informed her. "I'm suggesting we move up out of this sector and onto the next, preferably closer to you."

"Better safe than sorry," McKay agreed. "I'll report this to Shepard's team. Keep your eyes on your trackers, report any other movement. Stay together and move to my sector."

"Copy that," Buck replied before cutting the comm. "Everyone pack up and move, we are not staying here."

Now even more people were freaked out about this ship. Jack was suddenly feeling a lot better now that she didn't feel like the only one who had walked into a death trap. She still didn't like the stuff about the moving things that no one could see. That meant they were either beneath you, over you or invisible. None of those were good things. Especially the last one, that implied ghosts. That would probably be appropriate given their surroundings, but you couldn't really punch a ghost. So if it was that, she'd be at a real disadvantage.

"Please be something solid," she secretly whispered to herself. "Please be something I can rip apart like a ragdoll."

---

McKay helped force open the door alongside the team of ODSTs. It screeched loudly as they pushed their way inside. It finally locked in place with metallic clunk, allowing them entry at last. McKay switched on her flashlight to illuminate the darkened room, revealing a number of consoles and electronics equipment scattered about the area. By now, McKay was used to the look of Forerunner computer systems. This place was no different, especially with the large flat space in the middle of the room surrounded by the consoles. She assumed it was another one of their holographic image pads, similar to the ones they had found on Halo. It more than likely had an outline of the ship for them to look at, but with Taq's module and their prior scans, they really didn't need that.

No, they were here because of what the room was more than what was inside.

"We sure this is a security room?" Gilfolye asked.

"According to Taq's little map it is," McKay responded. "According to her, the Forerunners had very sophisticated defense systems, even aboard their cargo ships. We figure out how to get into this one and we might pinpoint their high security sections on the wreck."

Thus giving them a better idea of where to look for their little supposed super weapon. However, they first needed to solve the obvious problem, the lack of power in this room. You couldn't look at what was on a computer if it wasn't plugged in after all.

"Fan out and see if there's an on switch somewhere," McKay ordered. "I want to know what they knew."

The ODSTs quickly got to work, but McKay didn't want to fumble around in the dark looking for an answer to this. The sporadic reports she had been hearing of odd things going on around the ship in the search sectors made her uneasy. She imagined a few people were thinking Flood were involved, but she doubted that. Forerunner Security though, that could be the issue. Perhaps there were some Sentinels still floating around causing havoc and waiting for a signal to attack. If they could get into the security systems, maybe they could just shut them all down or, even better, prove that they were all just jumping at shadows so they could get on with the mission.

To do any of that though, they needed to get this place working. They had restored power to a lot of the ship when they got in here. Why was this place still turned off? McKay knew only one person who could answer that.

"McKay to Cortana," she said, opening a channel. "I'm in the ship's security room, what's left of it anyway. The power isn't on though. Can you help us out?"

"One moment, Lieutenant," Cortana offered in reply.

Things were silent for a few moments, but the AI soon returned with an answer to dilemma.

"It looks like the security room is on a different power grid section," she explained succinctly. "I'll have to investigate why. Taq and Tali should be able to help. Hold position for now, we'll get back to you with a solution."

"Copy that," McKay replied as a question suddenly popped into her head. "While I got you, how's your end of the search going so far?"

"We've found a lot of empty rooms with a lot of old junk Taq claims could be worth a fortune," Cortana mused. "No sign of the real prize though. Shepard's team is closing on the break in the wreck though. It's just hop, skip and a jump to the bridge from there. We'll notify all teams once we reach it."

"I know you will," McKay jovially assured her. "Good to know I'm not the only one stumbling around in the dark though. McKay, over and out."

As she closed the channel, Buck's team arrived outside the door. The Sergeant was quick to move to her side as his squad scanned the room with the others.

"Still nothing on the trackers," he told her. "Maybe it was just a malfunction."

"I'd really like to believe that, Buck," McKay informed him gravely. "But it never seems that simple when you're dealing with old Forerunner junk."

"Same," said Jack as she walked by. "Although I consider any alien ship that looks this fucking creepy bad news by default. Trust me, this kind of crap never ends well."

"We still have a mission to complete," McKay told her firmly. "I'm not bailing out now because of potential danger that might not even exist."

"Wasn't saying you should," the Ex-Con assured her. "I'm just letting you know, when this goes to shit, point me in the direction of said shit. Probably your best chance at surviving really."

"I'll take that strategy under advisement," McKay assured her. "Carry on."

Jack gave a very aloof salute and continued to prowl the room. McKay let it go, in her experience Jack didn't respond to any direct authority beyond Shepard's. That and she somewhat agreed with the former criminal. This would more than likely go bad, it was just a question of how and when.

"Has anyone else reported any disturbances since your motion tracker issue?" McKay asked Buck.

"Nothing involving their own trackers at least," he answered. "I figured we'd have picked something up on the scanners though."

"We weren't really scanning for life forms or movement," McKay explained. "We just wanted a layout. Besides, it's possible that whatever was in here was dormant before we stepped inside."

"Yeah, that doesn't really make me comfortable," Buck told her.

McKay raised her hand in a calming gesture.

"It's probably not as bad as you think," she tried to reassure him. "I'm thinking this is, at worst, a few Sentinels flying around. You know, those robots we encountered on Halo. We crack this room, we shut them down and we're good."

"Well, let's hope it's that easy then," Buck said with a shrug.

"Probably be better off if we were doing this by ourselves."

McKay recognized the voice instantly, Lendon. For whatever reason, he saw fit to inject himself into the conversation. McKay resisted the urge to shut him up before he got further, even though she knew what he was about to say. She did not want to look like a petty tyrant in front of the men, not after what had gone down the other day with the grenade investigation.

"All these Jackals and their Batarian friends running around, I bet it's them causing trouble," Lendon suggested. "Or at the very least they're stepping on our toes while we look around."

"We needed the extra hands and they have a claim to this ship themselves," McKay reminded him. "We couldn't cut them out of this operation, we need them."

"That keeps coming up constantly, that we need them for these things," Lendon growled. "I don't remember needing any of them before. We managed just fine, better even, since we didn't have to keep watching our backs."

"Enough, Sergeant," McKay commanded, finally giving into her frustration. "You've made your point, I've noted it. You don't like working with aliens, everyone knows that. But that's the job right now, so suck it up already and stop complaining because I'm getting tired of hearing it constantly."

Lendon didn't respond right away, but he eventually reluctantly nodded.

"Yes, ma'am," he grumbled. "Shutting up, ma'am."

He walked away, getting back to what he was supposed to be doing. McKay let out a disgruntled sigh. She honestly, in some small way, hoped Lendon and the other former mutineers would drop this shit already. That what had happened with the grenades would get them to accept they weren't helping anything. Instead, the whole incident didn't even seem to phase them. They still hated the Alliance and they still didn't trust her command. She was starting to wonder if they ever would.

"Couldn't help overhearing," the gruff voice of Zaeed Massani stated. "Still trouble in Drop Trooper land, eh?"

The old mercenary walked up beside Buck, his gun slung over his shoulder.

"It's a daily problem at this point," McKay grimaced.

"If you want my advice, you may want to take a page out of Shepard's book for this," he suggested. "When I first joined my usual sense of professionalism got lost a bit. The Commander had punch it back into me, both literally and figuratively. Sounds like some of your people need the same."

"I wish it were that simple," McKay told him. "They got it in their heads at this point that I'm the traitor, not them. I can try disciplining them, but that only seems to reinforce that I'm the enemy. I'm not sure how I'm going to win their loyalty back."

"For now, maybe it's best to get their respect more than anything," Zaeed suggested. "Loyalty can follow later. They need to remember that you're in charge first. How you do that is up to you."

The old man made sense, maybe she did need their respect first and foremost. That didn't mean they'd suddenly like her, but at least they would stop questioning her position. She had their respect before, when she had trained and led them on missions. Building all that back up was clearly going to be a challenge. She had to remind them why Silva made her Second-In-Command of the unit. She knew she had to do that, she just didn't know how to do it.

Before she could ponder further on the subject her communicator activated and Cortana's voice filled her headset.

"Okay, we got something," she began. "It seems the separate power grid was set up some time after the crash if the records are correct. My guess is that the grid was damaged and they had use a different power source in order to get it back online."

"Why would they bother?" McKay asked.

"Possibly a precaution, I imagine this ship might have some form of security in place to prevent anyone from just taking anything they want, namely the relic," Cortana answered. "Interesting to note though, that while the power is off in the room, security is active. I imagine the security protocols are also separate from the actual controls. They're running even without direct commands from the main console. I think the Forerunners set up the security protocols and then shut the room down to make it harder to shut them off."

"So you're telling me that even without power it's still running a security program," McKay surmised. "And that there could still be active security measures to prevent us from getting the relic."

"It's more than likely running in a sort of standby mode," Cortana elaborated. "Until certain parameters are met, we're okay. I imagine one of those parameters is someone stepping onto the bridge without authorization, namely us."

That made things clear enough. If there were security measures aboard this wreck, then they were just lucky they hadn't set them off. She wondered what could trigger them to switch into high gear.

"What if us tampering with their security console signals these protocols to start making trouble for us then?" Buck asked. "Should we just leave this place alone?"

"Pretty much anything we do might set it off," Cortana reiterated. "We need to get into the security node itself to shut it all down. I can't do that with it shut down like this."

"Then we take the risk and hope we don't set it off," McKay decided. "Cortana, can you walk me through how to power this place up?"

"Taq, Tali and I can do that, yes," Cortana assured. "First off you need to find a power node. I'll let Taq explain."

Within a few seconds, the female Jackal was on the line.

"Okay, here's the deal," she began abrasively. "Forerunner power modules are very compact, but very powerful. They can light up a small building just on their own if they had to. Right now, you're looking for a cube shaped object. Don't bother searching for wires, it doesn't work like that. It will most likely be in the floor somewhere. Look for a panel that seems altered, it should be somewhere around the main consoles."

McKay did as told, scanning the floor with her flashlight. Buck had his own squad do the same. It took about a minute of fumbling around in the dark before Romeo shouted up at everyone.

"Hey! I think I got something!"

They all rushed over to his position, his lighting shinning on a floor panel that seemed off symmetry from the rest of the floor. McKay bent down and forced the panel open with the help of Dutch. Inside, they found what Taq had told them to look for, a strange cube locked into place within the floor.

"We got it, Taq," she reported. "Now what?"

"Very simple, just touch and hold the top of the cube for a few seconds," she directed succinctly. "That will disengage the top. There should be a small interface inside, just activate it and you got power."

McKay followed the Jackal's instructions, touching and holding the top of the cube. Sure enough, it opened with an otherworldly whirring sound. A small interface was revealed beneath it. McKay cautiously touched it and a chime rang. Suddenly, light was restored to the room and consoles activated. McKay jumped up and rushed over to the central control. It didn't look to be doing anything beyond just being on, so it was probably still in standby.

"Okay, we're activated but that's about it," she explained. "Ideas?"

"McKay, this is Tali," the quarian engineer spoke up. "Halsey encountered similar security interfaces in her studies. I have a detailed read out she scribbled down in her journal with me. I can walk you through this easy. Find a symbol that looks like two circles within two other circles with a line passing through it. Push that and then activate another series of symbols in this order when they appear on the interface. Triangle with an X, Rectangle on it's side inside a circle, octagon with a line passing through it."

McKay followed Tali's instructions to the letter. She searched the panel until she found the first symbol, activating it. A second interface soon appeared beside the symbol, revealing a sort of holographic keypad. She input the symbols that Tali had listed. Within seconds, the console seemed to light up and then a holographic representation of the Dauntless appeared in the center of the room. She could see the various status reports outlined on the display. She ignored them for now, this was Cortana's job.

"Okay we're online," she reported. "Now what?

"You got to give Cortana a pathway in," Tali explained. "The system will refuse new outside input if it can't recognize the source code. Halsey tried it once with a few AI of her own and it took weeks of bludgeoning the data just to get in. We need to make this easier. There should be an interface close to you, a sliding series of holographic readouts. Bring them all down, then press and hold two symbols nearby, an oval with two lines on either end and an arrow pointing down inside a triangle. That should lower their equivalent of a firewall and allow Cortana access."

McKay did as asked, locating the interface easily. She pulled the gauges down with her finger tips and then pressed down hard on the two symbols Tali had mentioned nearby. There was another low chime and the console glowed bright blue. As McKay was about to report her success, Cortana suddenly appeared on the console itself.

"You're a natural hacker, Lieutenant," the AI told her. "Now, let's see what we got here."

Cortana was already quick at work, accessing files and the larger security network. McKay just kept quiet and watched he AI do her thing. She couldn't help but notice the AI's face seemed to be rather annoyed after a while though and that's when she felt the need to ask a question.

"Everything alright?" She asked.

"I'm being careful here," the AI answered in a disgruntled manner. "But whoever was in charge of security left a lot of checks and balances in place. It's hard to circumnavigate this network's systems. It does seem like they have an active protocol running in low threat mode."

"So we're not in trouble yet?" Dutch asked curiously.

"Keyword: Yet," Cortana expressed. "It seems every second we're in here we're getting closer to upgrading our status."

"So? Just shut it down," Zaeed stated plainly. "Turn it all off and let's be on our way."

"Wish I could, but I can't find the deactivation codes here and-"

Cortana stopped speaking for a moment, her gaze steeling, before she let out an angry growl.

"Damn it, they transfered all security authorization to the damn bridge," she angrily informed them. "It was the last action before they shut this room down. All this place does is run the protocols. I'd need access to the bridge to shut it all down."

"What can we do from here then?" McKay asked. "Can we at least discern their protocols? Are we dealing with Sentinels or what?"

"I don't see any reference to Sentinels in the code," Cortana replied exasperated. "There are whole sections redacted from the code and I can't get into them. It's ridiculous what they went through to keep everything classified when they knew they were all gonna die anyway."

"They really didn't want us knowing their secrets, huh?" Buck asked.

"Obviously," Cortana grumbled as she tried searching through the files. "There must be something in here, some kind of information we can use."

After a few more seconds of searching, Cortana stopped. Her anger dissipated into curiosity once more, as something on the status screen began to flash.

"That's odd," she exclaimed. "According to this, there was an activation sequence as the ship crashed. It started but it wasn't fully completed. They were trying to separate the bridge from the rest of the ship. As if they wanted it to be harder to reach when they crashed."

"Why would anyone want to damage their own ship like that?" Buck asked confused. "Wouldn't you want it intact so you can try to fix it?"

"Sounds like they didn't intend to," McKay reasoned. "And that this procedure was part of the ship's design."

"I good assessment," Cortana concurred. "They want the bridge to be harder to reach, they transfer the security authorization to the bridge and from the looks of it a lot of the security protocols refer to the bridge section specifically. I think Taq was right, I think the Relic is there. They were trying to protect their most precious bit of cargo!"

This was a breakthrough, they knew where to go now. Or at least they had a very good idea of where they needed to be. Their objective was aboard the bridge somewhere, they just needed to get to it. McKay was more than thrilled at this, they could wrap this mission up easy now and get the hell out of here. So long as they didn't trip any of security protocols of course.

"I'm going to download a list of security parameters for the bridge I can see on the system," Cortana explained. "I should be able to use them to get us into the bridge with little difficulty. Now if I can just locate a pathway to the bridge's systems I can-"

Suddenly the room went red and terrible alarm sounded. The ODSTs inside grabbed their ears in pain. Jack brought out her shotgun and activated the warp ammo function, as Thane moved to her side.

"Well, shit in the fan time!" She shouted aloud, her tone almost excited.

"Cortana! What's going on?" McKay demanded.

"A hidden search function!" She cried out. "Underneath the lines of code, crap! The second it saw I was looking into the Bridge it heightened security! The network knows we know where the Relic is! It's trying to stop us from reaching it! High level security protocols have been engaged!"

"Well what does that mean?!" Buck shouted.

Something suddenly burst from the ceiling and landed in the center of the room, disrupting the holographic image of the ship. McKay pointed her rifle at it, only to see it was a small, four legged metallic creature, like a dog of some kind. It had an arched back and three pronged toes. It's face was strange forked shape, two large pointed prongs sticking out with a third smaller one in the middle. It then opened up to reveal an orange light in the middle of it's head. It screamed loudly and then shot some kind of energy pulse at McKay. She jumped back as the blast hit the console and then fired on the strange metallic creature. Three direct hits struck the robot and it crumpled to the ground.

Whatever sigh of relief McKay might have felt was shattered when more metallic screams were heard and more of the weird four legged robots popped out of the ceiling through vents and open panels. They opened fire on the ODSTs who returned it in kind. Some of the Troopers were hit, their amor singed slightly, their feet struck with blazing hot energy pulses. The machines themselves couldn't take a lot of hits, but there were a lot of them and more were coming.

"Pull back!" McKay ordered "Everyone out of this room! Defensive formation! Keep it tight!"

The machines continued to fire as the ODSTs moved out of the room. Jack for her part threw her biotic powers about, sending the machines flying in the walls. Zaeed opened up with a torrent of fire from his assault rifle, the disruptor rounds easily forcing the ravenous robots back. Thane also returned fire, backing up Jack as she retreated with the others, his sniper rifle easily tearing through the various swarming synthetic creatures.

"And here I was starting to think this would be a boring mission after all," Jack chuckled, firing her shotgun point blank into one of the machines. It had been racing along the wall, crawling towards and charging it's weapon, before one simple blast from the Ex-Con's weapon tore it apart.

McKay tried to report her situation to the other teams, but when she tried, her radio was suddenly filled with voices expressing fairly familiar scenarios to the one she was now facing. Machines pouring out of the woodwork, attacking any squads they saw. Said squads were being forced to pullback, Jackals providing cover with their shields, Batarians laying down heavy fire as they pushed out of the cargo compartments. These things were everywhere. They had been lying in wait, anticipating the go ahead from the computer to attack. Now they were swarming all threats aboard the vessel.

"I gotta get back to Chief and the others," Cortana explained as they fled the room. "Get to cover, Lieutenant! Keep your head down!"

Cortana's form vanished from the console, just as one of the machines scrambled up it and smashed the terminal with one of it's claws. McKay lit the synthetic up with a burst of rounds from her rifle, tearing it apart with ease.

"Troopers!" She shouted at her people. "Fall back to defensive positions! Move it people! Kill anything that scurries around on four legs, but do not stop! We are not getting overrun!"

As they fled the security room, the machines followed, still firing at them like mad. McKay kept firing at them, spewing out bullets on the little bastards, but they just kept coming. The only good news was it looked like they had no interest in burrowing into their chests and parading the corpses around like puppets. That was a small comfort though, at least the infection forms couldn't shoot back on their own accord. They needed to find some ground to hold and fast, lest they be completely overtaken by the swarming robots. Problem was, where did you go to make a stand when you literally inside the enemy's house and they could come from anywhere?

The only strategy she could think of was to find the other squads. They had to pool their resources, match the swarm's numbers. For now though, all they could do was run and hope they didn't run out of ammo before the little freaks caught up to them.

---

This had not been how Kowalski expected things to go wrong. At worst he thought there was a monster in the catacombs surrounding this wreck or maybe there were booby traps like Taq claimed. Instead, killer robot dogs with laser guns for faces. Sure, why not? It made as much sense as anything else. At the moment he wasn't sure what was worse though. The fact a bunch of killer machines were trying to murder him or Ellingham's ceaseless shouting of "I told you so" every couple of seconds. Granted, it was basically a panicked cry more than anything, but it was still annoying.

One of the four-legged synths jumped over a line of Jackals trying to defend their retreat. It made a beeline right for Kowalski, powering up it's weapon as it darted for the Marine. The Private slammed his finger down on the trigger and ripped the freakish machine apart with a torrent of bullets. As bits and pieces of the demolished robot crumpled to the floor, Kowalski heard something smash against the wall. He looked to see Samara, using her biotics to rip through the swarm of the crawling robots while Ellingham and Pearson backed her up.

"We will be overrun within the confines of this vessel," she warned. "We must exit the ship and enter the caverns!"

"How is that any better?" Ellingham asked, as he reloaded his rifle.

"Hey, at least we'll have more places to hide and we won't be inside their damn house!" Kowalski argued. "I think it's our only chance!"

Kowalski remembered the scans from the briefing. They were a lot more open than the inside of this ship. He imagined some of the other teams either had the same idea or were trying to get back to the staging area outside if possible. If they did head for the caves though, maybe they could link up with the other teams and organize some sort of stand.

"Yeah, staying in here is suicide either way," Pearson declared, agreeing with Samara as well. "Where's our nearest exit?"

Samara activated her omni-tool, but did not abandon the battle. As she searched the scans of the wreck, she pulled out her pistol and began firing at the encroaching machines. Her first three shots ripped through the robots with ease, blowing their heads clean off.

"We should be able to leave through a breach in the hull down that hallways and to the left," she claimed. "We must cut a path through the enemy to reach it."

"Okay then, let's find Johnson and see if he wants to-"

Pearson didn't finish it, as a grenade went off ahead of them. The Jackals jumped back slightly at the explosion, but it was not meant for them. Most of the crawling robots now lay in smoking heaps as Sergeant Johnson moved up to fire a few more shots into the leftovers.

"Damn metal bastards," he growled, turning back to Samara and the team. "We gotta move before they reinforce, people. Any ideas?"

"We believe a quick exit into the caves is in order, Sergeant," Samara expressed. "I have located a potential exit we can use, but we must move now."

"Not a fan of staying in here anyhow," Johnson declared. "Alright, let's move then. Ramirez, on point! Agley, Kowalski, let's tell the bird-brains the plan and get them on board. We're leaving together!"

Ramirez moved up on point, Samara backing him up. Kowalski followed Johnson with Agley in tow as they headed towards the Jackal's position within their defensive perimeter. They were faring decently, but the machines were not bound to the floor. A few of them were crawling up the walls and trying to bypass the wall of shields the pirates had set up. At least one of the poor birds had gotten hit and was getting dragged to safety by one of his mates.

They found Zek in the thick of it, using his Needler Rifle to take out the ones crawling along the walls and ceiling. Small pink bursts exploded into existence as the little robots were blown to bits. Even with Zek's expert marksmanship though, there were still more of the machines scrambling their way. One nearly took Zek's head off with an energy blast. The pirate managed to duck just in time and returned fire with at least two more needle shots than needed to kill the little machine.

"Fucking stupid synths," he growled as the robot exploded.

He then noticed Johnson moving up from behind with Kowalski and Agley. He took a moment to acknowledge them before he reloaded his weapon and continued sniping the incoming hostiles. That didn't stop him from carrying a conversation though.

"I trust you got a plan, Sergeant," Zek stated as he kept firing on the robots. "I really do not want to die in here to be honest."

"That's why we're not staying," Johnson told him. "We got a way out, into the caverns, but we need you to cover our flank on the way."

"Well, beats this shithole," Zek agreed. "Get your people moving, we'll fall back as you go forward."

Zek was quick to rally his men, ordering them to fall back on the defensive perimeter as the robots kept scrambling towards them. They kept their shields high, blocking the incoming shots and returning fire as they traveled down the corridor after the Marines.

As this was going on, Kowalski followed Johnson to catch up with the rest of his squad. Ramirez was still on point, blasting away with his assault rifle along the walls and floor. Samara was sending out periodic shockwaves to keep the waves of machines back. They kept pushing towards their intended exit all the while, never once stopping. Johnson ran out of bullets in his rifle along the way. Instead of reloading, he instead start whacking at the machines with the butt of his gun. Kowalski could even see something similar with the Jackal's further back. One used his shield to smash a robot against a wall before shooting a blazing torrent of purple needles.

That was when they reached where they were supposed to turn, but they found no turn. They just found a wall. Samara looked at it confused and checked her omni-tool again to see if she had been mistaken. But the scan didn't show any obstruction.

"What is going on?" Ramirez asked. "Where's the hallway?"

"I do not know," a bereaved Samara answered. "It should be here."

She quickly searched the scan again, desperately seeking another exit. She believed she located one, an airlock further down their corridor along with a second path that led to the previous hull breach from there. It was better than nothing and it just required a short walk or so. With a new plan, they quickly moved down the corridor, the sounds of the machines still chasing them.

They did reach the airlock soon enough, finding it was blown open, probably from the crash. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, only two people at a time could seemingly get through and there were a lot of people that needed to escape. Johnson wasted no time in directing everyone towards it. The machines were still closing in, they could hear the Jackals still trying to fight them back.

"Come on, come on," he ordered. "Push through!"

The Marines began to plow through the open airlock, rushing through to the caverns on the other side. As they continued to run through, the Jackals themselves began to enter the room and set up a perimeter around the entrance. Zek was with them, firing his plasma pistol as he retreated into the room.

"I'm over this fucking ghost ship," he growled. "When the fuck are we leaving?"

"We're moving out steadily, this thing is cramped," Johnson explained. "We can start funneling you guys through as soon as-"

"I can't fit!"

Johnson looked to see Ellingham trying to push through the airlock. Kowalski did the same and he could swear the hole seemed smaller than before. It was as if the metal around the airlock had converged together.

"The hell is going on here?" Pearson shouted. "First our hallway disappears, now the hole is smaller?"

"It doesn't matter, we need to move," Johnson ordered. "Head down the secondary corridor, the one that leads to that breach, we can still get out."

As Johnson spoke, the vents at the back of the room broke open. Spilling out of them came more of the four-legged robots, swarming towards them. Zek looked at this and quickly moved a few of his people to block their path.

"They're surrounding us," Zek screeched. "Come on! Run people!"

Zek was first to rush down the corridor towards the hull breach. A few of his men rushed after him, trying to stick with their leader. Samara ran after them in kind, charging after the swarm of fleeing birds. Kowalski followed best he could, but the cramped corridor made a long sprint impossible.

They did reach the atrium and saw the huge in the side of the ship. Kowalski had almost expected it to be closed up, like the airlock, it would've been just their luck if it had been. Zek was standing by the breach, waving his fellow pirates through, slapping some on the back as the past, pushing them forward.

"Run, run, we are not going to get killed by fucking synths!" He screamed at them. "We're gonna regroup in the caverns, come back, kick them out and get our goods later. But first we gotta survive!"

Suddenly several energy blasts came from their right in an open doorway. Zek jumped forward and activated his energy shield to block the shots aimed at his men. He tossed a plasma grenade over at them as he tried to push forward, letting the explosion rip the little bots apart. As he stood near the doorway he laughed and kicked one of the busted heads of the bots away.

"HA! Fuck you, metal pricks!" He declared. "Whose the fucking bird? I'm the fucking bird! This wreck is as good as mine, you hear, fuckers?! Good! As! M-"

Without warning the floor beneath Zek suddenly opened up. He plummeted into the opening, his voice echoing as he fell. A few of his fellow Jackals rushed over to the hole and looked down it.

"Boss!" One cried. "Boss! You okay boss?"

There was no answer and they wouldn't have much time to receive one. The hole closed up as quickly as it had opened. Kowalski had no idea what was going on, only that suddenly the missing hallway and closed up airlock made a lot more sense. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw what looked to be wall growing over the breach.

"The ship can shift it's insides!" He fearfully shouted. "It can frickin change around!"

"Not if I can help it," Samara assured him, pulling the missile launcher off her back. "Everyone get back!"

Some of the Jackals scattered away from the closing breach as Samara fired her launcher. Three blasts smashed into the healing wall, reopening the breach once more. The Jackals wasted no time in rushing through it, along with a number of the Marines as they charged through alongside them. It looked like their troubles were over, for about five seconds. That was when the corridor they were using as an escape route to this room started closing as well. The doorway began to shrink, as if vanishing into nothing. It was going to cut off what was left of the unit still trapped inside the ship.

Samara rushed over to the entrance and, using all her biotic power, forced the door to remain open. Her hands braced against the closing wall, fingertips clawing at the edges as she forced the doorway to keep open. Kowalski tried to help her, pulling Marines through the rapidly closing exit. They all scrambled to the breach, fearful of it soon closing again as well.

Samara struggled to keep the wall from closing in as the last few Marines pushed through. The last one was Agley, but he tripped moments before he got through the door. Samara reached out to him with her powers, pulling him the rest of the way somewhat violently. Agley was forced through, falling to the floor near the breach with a thud. As he scrambled to his feet, Samara attempted to follow. As she did so though, the Asari's footing gave way as the floor opened up beneath her.

"Sam!"

Kowalski rushed over to grab the asari by the arm as she began to slip into the dark. He strained, trying to pull her up with him. Then, the floor beneath him vanished as well and they both fell into the dark. Kowalski thought he heard Ellingham screaming his name as he plummeted. He thought he could see Samara's fearful expression as they fell, the first time he had ever seen her looking even the slightest bit scared. Then he hit his head on the side of the wall and he couldn't hear or see anything anymore.

---

This wreck had suddenly become far more infuriating than Varvok imagined. He had quickly realized that these machines had the advantage in this closed space. They needed to get out into the catacombs beyond, it was their only chance. But every turn, every hallway, every potential escape route was gone before they could reach it. When he saw one hallway close up just as they reached it, he knew why. The damn wreck was able to shift it's innards. It was cutting off their attempts to escape. The damn cheating dead ship couldn't even fight fair.

Varvok fired his shotgun at machines as they charged up a new corridor. The little freaks were everywhere, blasting at their heels with their energy blasts. As he ran, he noticed the corridor itself seemed to be moving, bending with them. Now the cursed ship wasn't even waiting any longer to dash their hopes, it was deliberately toying with them. He wondered, was an AI behind this or was this just some complicated program making decisions on it's own? He had no idea, all he knew was his men needed to get out of here.

He saw a few vents up ahead in the new room the ship had led them to. Expecting the strategy the security system had in store for him, Varvok quickly moved into action. He would not let this wreck make a fool of him and his men any longer.

"Grenadiers, aim for the vents!" He ordered. "Blow them up! Kill them before they come swarming out!"

His batarians did as ordered, launching grenades at the vents. Sure enough, the machines tried to pour out of them and were met with a face full of fire and shrapnel. Varvok had his men keep firing at the vents with every bullet they had, forming a sort of defensive perimeter. He looked to his omni-tool once more, hoping that they had another chance.

This ship was capable of shifting it's internal layout, but it more than likely couldn't form parts from nothing. It needed to borrow or take away mass from somewhere. There had to be a way out they could reach in time before it could figure out what they were doing. He imagined other people were trying to escape too. So the security program or AI would probably be taxed a bit, giving them a moment or two to make a run for their escape.

That's when his eyes spotted it, the ship had overlooked something when it led them into this room. Stupid machine, it hadn't seen that one of the vents was broken, that it led outside into the cave system. They just had to slide along it and they'd be free! He had to move them now though, who knew how long it would take the computer to figure out what was happening.

He looked to the vent in question and forced the grate off it with his bare hands. He threw a grenade into it first, just in case there was an ambush waiting for them. After the explosion erupted, he turned to his men.

"This is our way out," he told them. "Quickly, move! I will cover you!"

He had no intention of being the first one through, he'd stand and face these robots by himself if he had to. The squad's safety came first. The batarians rushed through the vent, sliding down the whole way to the caves below. Varvok remained all the while, firing his shotgun at the now swarming machines, blowing one after the other away with frantic precision. He would not let one follow his men. They would not get past him. They would not be beaten by a stupid wreck that did not realize it was dead.

As the last batarian jumped through the vent, Varvok waited a few moments more. He fired his omni-blades at a group of the machines. They embedded themselves into one of the synths and then exploded, killing three more. Satisfied, Varvok jumped into the vent and began to slide down it to where his men were awaiting him. He had done it, he had beaten the wreck, he had beaten the great Forerunner's security system! He had beaten the damn machines!

But, as he slid down the vent, something suddenly felt off. The vent was curving in a way it shouldn't. The scan said it was a straight shot. There were no curves. Then, to his horror, he saw a sudden drop ahead of him. He tried to stop himself, slow himself down by gripping the sides of the vent, but it was too late. He fell into the hole and cursed the damn wreck as he did.

---

This had all gone to hell faster than Shepard was prepared for. These machines were coming out of the woodwork, swarming all over the place. That was bad enough, then the halls seemed to keep shifting on them as they moved. What was on the scan they had of the layout was different from what they kept running into. Worse yet, the new paths seemed to keep leading them into ambushes.

As they turned another corner, they were quickly beset upon by another group of the four-legged machines. They jumped up from panels in the floor, scrambling towards the walls where they began firing charged shots at them repeatedly.

In response, Tali fired an energy drain with her omni-tool, shorting out the machine before it plopped to the ground dead. She then unleashed her combat drone, to keep the others at bay. Legion sent it's drone in as well, detonating it's self-destruct function once it was among the hostile robots. Shepard sent out shockwaves to push the robots back, firing at them as they popped up into the air.

The Spartans were busy with their own task, fighting their way through the pack of robots towards a nearby terminal on the wall. Taq kep close to them, using her energy axe to knock back any of the robots that got close to her. As one rushed her from the side, she turned and slashed the blade into the robot's head, cleaving it in two. Meanwhile, Linda and Kat covered the Chief as he retrieved Cortana from the computer and snapped her chip back into his head. Chief then turned and fired his pistol upwards at two of the robots crawling along the ceiling. His shots easily blasted them apart before they could fire their energy blasts.

That was about the last of the machines within the room, for the moment. Chances were more were on the way. Right now though, they some time to think before the next skirmish erupted.

"Any idea what these things are Cortana?" Chief asked as he reloaded.

"No idea, everything about them was either erased from the computer, redacted or sent to the bridge probably," the AI explained. "If I could get into their systems there I could probably figure it out, but they locked it down after the transfer of the security codes. And I'm almost positive that all these twists and turns the wreck is pulling on us are deliberately designed to keep us from getting closer to where the bridge used to be before they disconnected it. They really don't want us going there."

"Fuck them," Taq growled. "That's where the relic is, that's where I'm going! No stupid security program is keeping me from my payday! We just gotta out do this stupid shifting protocol."

"How is it doing that anyway?" Shepard asked as he walked over to them. "How can it just shift it's insides?"

"From what I saw in the computer, Forerunner ships are apparently capable of altering their structure, both external and internal," Cortana explained. "The ship restructures its mass based on need. Right now, that need is keeping anyone from getting to the bridge."

As incredible as that sounded, Shepard could not appreciate the impressive technology that a ship would require to pull that sort of thing off. It meant that getting to the bridge was even more difficult now because the ship was actively fighting against them. That had happened a few times to them before, but this was on another. It did bring to mind a question though.

"Is an AI doing this?" Shepard asked. "One like Guilty Spark?"

"I don't think so," Cortana answered plainly. "If it was an AI it would've responded to our presence way faster than it did. This is pre-programmed into the system, protocols the computer is designed to execute under certain circumstances. If we get too close to the bridge it alters our path or directs these crawling bots take us out."

"So how do we beat it?" Linda asked grimly.

"We overtax the system," Cortana informed her. "We overload it's processors with a bunch of junk data, slow it's response time."

"Of course," Tali said snapping her fingers in jubilation. "We make it think it has more intruders to respond to than it actually does. Then it can't shift corridors around nearly as fast!"

"Even as a wreck this place is still Forerunner though," Cortana quickly explained. "I'll need some help overloading these systems."

Legion and Tali nodded in succession, both bringing up their omni-tools.

"I'm having DOT run a junk data execution protocol I've designed," Tali confidently stated. "That should help."

"This platform has several hacking streams suited for this task," Legion assured. "We require direct access to the system for total saturation."

"We need to find the right terminal then," Cortana told them. "There should be one with a direct line to the ship's data stream just in the next room. Let's get there fast before the ship decides to do another switcheroo."

They rushed towards the nearest exit, but Chief stopped them just as they reached the doorway. Shepard could tell why when he started looking into the room beforehand. It had been too long since they had gotten attack by the robots. Chances were there were more close by, waiting.

"Can you send in your drone?" Chief whispered to Tali.

The quarian just nodded and activated Chiktikka. The little purple energy ball rolled into the room and was quickly beset on all sides by the robots. They began shooting bursts at the drone, Chiktikka returned them in kind, sending an electrical pulse right into the face of one of the robots, causing it to explode. Linda motioned her Battle Rifle into the room, aimed down the sights and began picking off some of the bots from afar.

The team moved into the room, fanning out to create a perimeter as they pushed back their would-be , Tali and Chief moved to the console along the far wall. Shepard moved to cover their exit near a large pod of some kind, aiming his shotgun at the nearest vent. Chief had already plugged the AI into the console by the time he was set up.

"How long will it take you to jam up the system?" Shepard asked hurriedly.

"Depends on how fast we can generate junk data," Cortana speedily answered. "I'm launching the stream now."

"DOT has mine running too," Tali added. "She's boosted processing time by seventy percent."

Legion plugged itself directly into the console and was already well underway. It's head plates were spread backwards on it's head, it's eye wide open.

"We are generating excess data functions at maximum efficiency," the geth reported. "Total saturation in thirty seconds."

As Legion said that, Shepard heard something scampering towards the doorway. He repositioned his shotgun, turned on inferno rounds and aimed down he sight. The second one of the robots showed it's face, he fired a blast right into it, blowing it's head clean off. He followed up with a second blast, killing two of the bots as they tried to dart around the corner. Already he could tell they were moving into the room a lot slower than before. Cortana's strategy was working.

"Ten more seconds," Cortana shouted aloud. "We got this in the bag."

Shepard was glad to hear that and was about to congratulate the team on the success. Then he felt himself suddenly start to drop. He then felt the pod he was laying against begin to move away from him. Then he felt nothing beneath him at all. The floor beneath him had opened right up. As he began to fall down he tried to grab the onto the ledge, but his fingers slipped. Tali saw him start and dove to grab him. Shepard reached towards her hand... but missed.

"Wade! No!"

Shepard fell into the dark and watched Tali's panicked face fade from his vision.

---

He woke up in a heap, his head pounding. Clearly he had hit something hard. He was alive though, the pain was proof enough of that. He slowly rose to his feet, holding his head in hand. Shepard just thanked the N7 program for making the Alliance got the best helmets out there. He looked up to see what was probably the underside of the ship, quite a ways up from him in fact. One hell of a drop, but some of the rocky ledges and slopes had probably helped to cushion his fall.

Again, he thought, at least I'm alive. He tried to contact the team to let them know, but all he got was static. Great, the fall must've damaged his comms. He'd need to fix them. For now though, his armor's transponder should let them know his vital signs were still intact. If they checked on that they'd know he was okay. If nothing else, Chief would convince them all to continue the mission. They needed to find that relic and it was aboard the bridge. He'd try and see about making headway to it himself. He could rendezvous with them there.

As he began to walk though, he thought he heard footsteps. It could be other members of the expedition. Or it could be more of those crawlers. Unsure of which, he pulled out his pistol and took careful aim. He also charged up his biotics, getting ready to send out a shockwave should anything come at him. He slowly looked to the nearby corner, his flashlight aimed at the bend. Something then suddenly jumped out and Shepard aimed at it right in the face.

It was not a crawler though, it was someone else.

"Shepard?"

"Varvok?"

The batarian had his weapon raised as well, but he soon lowered along with the Commander's. The two eyed each other grimly for a moment, only their helmet attached flashlights illuminating the cavern. There was a tense moment of silence before either of them spoke.

"Ship separated you from your squad too, huh?" Shepard finally asked.

"Obviously," Varvok grumbled in response. "It also seems to have a sick sense of humor."

"Don't give it too much credit," Shepard told him bluntly. "It's still just an old wreck."

The sound of metallic screeching was heard echoing on the walls, prompting both of them to raise their weapons once more and point them into the dark. They saw nothing, but they could hear it. The screeches seemed to be everywhere and one could not tell if it was due to the echo of the caverns or if they were surrounded.

"Well, for a wreck it seems it still has some fight left in it," Varvok stated.

"Sure sounds like it does," Shepard concurred. "Ideas?"

"Stay out of sight and find my men," Varvok stated. "They're down here somewhere."

"Alright," Shepard replied nodding. "Let's get moving then."

They slowly moved into the dark, placing themselves on each other's flanks as they did. Usually, Shepard would appreciate the company in this situation. But deep down, at this moment, with Varvok by his side, he wished he was alone. He suspected his batarian companion felt the same.

---

AN: Well this might turn into a fairly interesting development. And Shepard and Varvok aren't the only ones stuck with one another. Come back next time to see who has to tolerate who as we go deeper into the caverns to discover the mystery hidden within the wreck of the Dauntless. Please do leave a review if you can. And check out the profile, I actually bothered to update it with links this time for the notes.