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.

43. War in the Void

Chapter 39: The War In The Void

Its Not Easy Facing Up when Your Whole World is Black

-Rolling Stones, Paint it Black

The sudden slap to his face woke Zek from his stupor. Taq was over him, looking relieved at least. With any luck she had decided this couldn't be his fault. Still the sting against his face hurt pretty bad. He got a good look around, Retz and Kasumi were close by, also awake.

"The hell happened?" He asked.

"Whatever that Relic was counting down to came and went," Kasumi informed him.

"Yeah, I figured," Zek clarified. "I mean what happened? What did it do? And just to make it clear, whatever it is, I didn't do anything to make it happen!"

"Relax Zek, no one is blaming you," Taq assured him. "And to answer your actual question, we don't know. The engines in the other room were active for a moment as they are exuding heat, but they're off again. We're not moving. At least not under any direct propulsion."

Well that was good, that meant their little Planetoid probably hadn't changed spots when the relic went off. Which meant they hadn't zipped into the middle of a Covenant Fleet or were crashing towards a star or something. They were still a motionless rock. Well, hopefully they were.

"Guess the Forerunners weren't as far along with their planet-ship as we feared then," Zek reasoned.

"I doubt it did nothing," Taq cautioned. "Just because we're not displaced in time or trapped in a mental realm, doesn't mean we're in the clear."

Retz himself brought up the Relic in his hands. It was still glowing brightly, just not as extreme as before. And while it was no longer shifting and rotating around, it had a different shape as center of the object was now split between two halves connected by a smaller piece in the middle. It had to be currently active, there was no other explanation.

"What it's doing is still ongoing, it's possible we just can't see it from down here," Retz reasoned.

"We should try contacting the others," Kasumi said. "I know it's a risk, but if something has happened we need to get our bearings."

"Assuming they're even out there," Zek stated. "How do we know we didn't blink in and out somewhere?"

The answer came fortuitously in that moment, as all their comm-links lit up at the same time.

"Relic Recovery Team, confirm status! Relic Recovery Team, confirm status! Can you hear us?"

"That's Captain McKay!" Retz realized in surprised.

Zek took charge and answered the call for himself.

"Hey, Captain, what's up?" He asked, trying to sound jovial. "Sounds like the static has thinned out."

"Seems like it, although you're still the only people we've been able to contact so far," McKay explained. "Comms are a mess down here, re-establishing links is taking time. Do you have the relic with you? Are you secure?"

"Sure do and for the moment we are," Zek answered in order. "Let me guess, you saw Zom's little raiding party jump in and you shock dropped from orbit to save us."

"How very astute," McKay replied, not sounding at all amused by Zek's casual tone. "I need to know right now, what the fuck happened down there?"

At this point, Taq took over the call as she could tell Zek was already annoying the Captain. To be honest, she didn't blame her for the sentiment. She had been on the receiving end of his smug confidence man tone before after all.

"McKay, this is Taq," she quickly interjected. "We acquired the Relic just fine, but it seems we didn't take into account all of the Forerunners' possible failsafes. Somehow, we activated a preprogramed countdown that the artifact transmitted into their computers. We believe whatever this thing does has something to do with Slipspace."

"Yeah, that tracks," McKay confirmed. "Just to fill you in, the sky out here... it's not there anymore. As in, it's all black."

"How black?" Zek asked, not really getting it.

"All Black, Zek! As in none more black!" McKay shouted back, not appreciating the pirate's unhelpful question. "There's no stars or anything! It's just this planetoid, the asteroid field, our Flotilla and the Enemy Taskforces."

"The sky is just black?" Retz asked, perching his brow in thought. "But that's not possible... unless..."

"Slipspace," Taq voiced in realization before him. "We're stuck in Slipspace!"

"What? You can't be stuck in Slipspace!" Zek argued in disbelief. "You're either in it or you're not."

"In most cases yes, but that's when you're racing through it," Taq reminded him. "We're not moving at all. Slipspace isn't a mode of transit, it's an entirely different subreality parallel to our own. Somehow the relic opened up a rupture... but no exit."

"But you can't usually stay in Slipspace indefinitely," Retz argued. "If the drive isn't active, we can't maintain cohesion within the subreality and we just get spit back out. And no Drive, Forerunner or otherwise, can just stay running like that."

Zek nodded in agreement, that was how the Fallen Serpent got damaged bad enough that they needed to partner up with the humans just to escape Halo after all. How were they still in Slipspace without a Slipspace Drive? The answer was more than a little obvious once he looked to the cause of this.

"I guess that's why our little bauble is still glowing then," Zek surmised.

"Yes, it must be holding our pattern here," Taq reasoned. "Preventing our ejection outright somehow. Or is at least a part of a much grander mechanism than we presumed."

"All I know is that we dropped and a Slipspace Rupture opened right over the planetoid, swallowing everything up in the radius around it," McKay explained. "And it looks like we're stuck here for now."

Zek sighed, he supposed it was too much to ask this mission would go smoothly. Afterall, none of the others did. But at least this wasn't as bad as the others. They were stuck in Slipspace, oh well! They could get out of that. They entered and exited Slipspace all the time. Speaking of exits, they needed one.

"This is all very fascinating, but maybe we should table this until we get the fuck off this rock," Zek suggested. "McKay, I trust you're already tracking us and are on your way to escort us out of here?"

There was a brief sound of plasma fire and grunting followed by gunfire before McKay replied.

"Yeah, that's the other problem."

---

A plasma bolt struck the doorframe, burning into the steel. It wasn't alone of course, as more followed it. When they stopped, McKay popped out and fired a full burst in the opposing direction. The kig-yar firing on her used his shield to protect himself as he pulled back. The other ODSTs used the momentary lull in the plasma fire to push up into the open atrium, but only slightly. As more plasma bolts soon came flying at them.

"Covies apparently were concerned about the Pirates getting through a backdoor or two," McKay explained over the comm. "There's a significant level of resistance here and I doubt its going to thin out soon. Are you sure you're in some place secure for the time being?"

"Well it's not as bad as it could be I guess," Zek responded.

"Good, stay there as long as possible and check-in with us regularly," McKay ordered. "If you have to move, let us know and help us navigate to you. You're our only eyes down here at the moment!"

McKay moved in rushing up behind a demolished pillar as plasma bolts flew towards her. She leaned out to shoot a quick burst that caught the grunt shooting at her in the face. He was quickly replaced by another kig-yar though that forced her back into cover.

"We're quite far down, Captain, but we still might be able to help you," Taq spoke up once again. "I have a full technical readout of most of the facility, specifically the areas you're currently in. I can lead you down the most efficient path to us."

"I'll take what I can get," McKay informed her. "One second..."

The amount of fire she was drawing was becoming too much. Perhaps they noticed her calling out commands earlier. Whatever the case, she needed to thin these bastards out. McKay pulled a pin from a grenade and tossed it over. The explosive detonated among the densely packed ranks of Covenant, causing at least one grunt to come flying out to land a few feet near her cover. It was enough to slow the level of plasma fire hitting her people's lines. They needed to take advantage of that.

"Suppressing fire! Now! Do not let them up!" She ordered.

Taking up the call was Dutch, who lugged heavy machine gun into position atop a crumbled pillar and let loose. The atrium filled with bullets as other ODSTs with fully automatic weaponry unloaded on the Covenant lines. The Elite leading the defenders, while no doubt fanatical as any of his kind, was not stupid. Seeing their position had become untenable, he began pulling back. Both grunts and kig-yar ran for cover, although a good number were cut down in the retreat.

"Let's keep after them," Romeo called out.

"No, they're not the mission," McKay reminded him. "We cover our flank, but we do not engage if unnecessary. We are not getting drawn into a major firefight, the odds aren't in our favor here." She then activated her comm again. "Taq, we're in an atrium we entered through the eastern ridge of the crater, we came up from south of its position, heading north. I'm seeing a lot of heavy damage, wider space, various exits."

After a few seconds, Taq came back with some intel.

"You're really far up from us," she informed. "Most optimal route would be to go down the second corridor to your right and then a left from there. Try not to bunch up, it's tight quarters for a bit."

"Copy that, thanks," McKay said, turning to her squads. "Okay, we're moving as a unit down that passage, watch your corners, do not rush ahead and keep together. Taq is gonna guide us down best she can, but keep eyes on your trackers. We don't know if they're gonna have to move or we'll need to redirect."

With that the ODSTs fell in line. As they moved towards the corridor, McKay looked up towards the ceiling of the atrium where a large hole was located. She could see the massive bulk of the Covenant Carrier overhead and her thoughts instantly turned to the other mission team.

"Here's hoping you're handling yourselves up there, Spartans," she mused. "We could really use you down here soon."

With that thought in mind, she made to follow her squads deeper into the facility.

---

For a few moments, the carrier had shuddered violently. There was no warning and as a result it affected both sides of the battle. A stay shot from one of the Hunters missed the doorway and hit the ceiling above. Fred violently hit his shoulder against his cover while Kat slammed backwards into one of the server towers.

It was a brief respite though, as the conflict resumed not long after. While the confusion remained, none of it distracted either side from their task in the end. Still, the Master Chief felt the need to ask aloud the question everyone had on their minds at that moment.

"What just happened?"

Cortana was the only one who could give any insight. She was plugged into the ship after all. For once though she had very little to offer in response.

"The battlenet is going haywire! They're talking about the sky going black, being enveloped by the void... I can't say exactly. I can get a visual on the outside or keep working!"

"Keep working," Shepard ordered. "Right now, what's happening outside isn't as important as that intel!"

The Commander sent out a shockwave at this point that bowled over a numbers of grunts and jackals trying to push up to the main entrance. It did little to deter the Hunters though who were now beginning to close the distance between themselves and the intruders in the Server Room.

"We can't stay here, we're sitting ducks!" Fred called out, gritting his teeth.

"They won't come in all the way," Kelly suggested. "They'll lose all their advantage in the tight corners of this room."

"More likely they intend to smoke us out," Thane suggested, firing off a few shots at one of the Hunters. He was trying to hit their weak spots in their armor, but his target blocked the bullets with its metal arm shield. "Force us to abandon cover and fight them in the open!"

"Maybe we should take them up on the offer," The Master Chief declared.

The Spartan leader looked over to Fred. He instantly nodded, understanding the intent. It would be risky, but it seemed to be their only play. Chief knew, however, they'd need more than just them for this to work.

"Commander, can we run something by you?" Chief asked.

Shepard didn't respond on the comm, he actually headed over to their position. That said everything, he was open to any idea at this point. Knowing him though, Chief believed he'd like it.

This went unnoticed by the Covenant, the Hunters in particular. They were focused on breaching the defensive line at both doors. Another blast of explosive plasma appeared to obliterate a section of the doorframe at the front entrance in fact. However, emerging from the blast came a Spartan charging at him, and then a second.

The Hunters looked aghast at this brazen reckless shift from defense to offense. But it meant easy targets at least. The support units opened fire on the charging Spartans, but their shields must've held out because they didn't do much damage. The Spartans got close enough that the hunters charged up to face them. One tried to ram the human super soldier into the wall, the second attempted to smash its shield encased fist on them. But what should've resulted in shattered armor and breaking bones... left nothing.

No sound, no body, no satisfying thunk against the bulkplate. The Hunters both looked about, trying to find their prey, but it was gone. Actually, the Spartans had never been there and while both the massive aliens tried to figure out what had happened, one of them was struck in the by something that felt like rocket but was not.

The force of the blow was enough to stumble the alien away, leaving Shepard where the Hunter had once stood. The Commander then fired on the second Hunter before it could wheel around to defend itself properly. The blast ripped apart the Hunter's armor on its back, splintering it into pieces.

The Hunter still managed to fully turn though, taking aim at Shepard. So focused on the new threat, it had almost forgotten the Spartans that were not there and the Server Room they had emerged from. The Hunter was then reminded when a blast ripped into its exposed back before something else clambered onto it.

The Master Chief now stood atop the injured Hunter, firing into its exposed back. The Hunter charged forward in a panic. Shepard forced to dive out of the way as the massive walking worm hive crashed into the bulkhead of the open corridor. The Master Chief still kept atop, firing down into the giant creature's back, ripping away worms with every burst.

The other Hunter, the one further down the corridor as a result of Shepard's biotic charge, had regained its composure now. The hit had damaged its armor somewhat, but not completely.

Shepard noticed it getting its bearings and opened fire on it, strafing it as he crossed the hall. He got close enough to force the Hunter to try charging again, but the Commander was ready. He dove again, this time off to the Hunter's side and fired a full blast from his shotgun into the Hunter's back as he passed.

The Hunter was injured, but managed to stop itself just short of ramming into its brother. It helped very little, as the Master Chief's continued assault had made the embattled creature wild. It swung out a wild strike with its shield arm, hitting its comrade in the head. Well, the part of a Hunter that resembled a head anyway.

The strike disoriented the Hunter all the same and enabled Shepard to lay into the monster with more shotgun hits. The beast turned, even as blood pooled from its body, using its shield to defend itself from the Commander. That was when Fred rushed in, finally managing to get past Chief's bucking bronco ride atop the other Giant Covie. Fred slid under his leader's Hunter as it violently struck its cannon arm out to the side. He kept sliding towards the Commander's Hunter, pulling out his pistol as he got close. He stuck the weapon's barrel into the Hunter's backside and unloaded it directly into the monster.

After several large bangs, the Hunter fell forwards with one last pained snarl and Fred stood up to see the Commander directly. At the same time, Chief's Hunter fell limp and dropped to the floor, as Chief unloaded one last bullet into it and then ejected the spent clip from his rifle. The gambit had paid off, they now had an exit corridor.

"Those hologram decoys came in handy after all," Fred stated as the trio quickly took up positions to keep the corridor secured. "Glad Noble 2 convinced us to bring some of those armor mods with us on this one."

"I'm just glad she modified them to be compatible with our armor," Chief replied, reloading a fresh magazine into his rifle. "In any case, we should get moving before the Covenant regroup to close the gap we just made in their lines. Cortana, are we good?"

There was a brief moment before she responded.

"Golden and then some! Pick me up!"

"Go," Shepard told the Spartan. "We'll hold the corridor!"

Chief ran back, firing on a Jackal as it tried to cut him off on his way back through the front door. As he raced through the server aisles, he looked to the side entrance. The defenders there were facing increased fire from the Hunters still there and had pushed back from the doorway. They were already engaged in a fighting retreat, no sense in staying when they had what they needed.

Chief focused back on his objective. He reached the terminal, pulling out Cortana's chip and having the AI upload back into it. Once he reinserted the chip back into his helmet, the AI's voice filled his head.

"We need to extract, now! The Covenant are already sending reinforcements down here!" She warned. "I've marked an emergency escape pod bay near our position! It's our fastest exit!"

Chief was hardly going to argue with that plan. No sense in sticking around longer. By the time he got back to the aisle, the others were already moving to the front door as the Covenant were closing on the side entrance.

"We're making a break for it! Go!" Chief ordered.

Linda and Anton tossed a grenade each down towards the side entrance doorway. The blasts blew apart the line of attackers moving up into the room. The Hunters turtled up with their armor and shields to avoid the blast, but they would still have to contend with a more expendable defender. Legion's combat drone assaulted the giant living tanks, providing everyone more time to extract from the server room. One of the Hunters would eventually shoot the drone, initiating its Self-Destruct protocol. The blast damaged the closest Hunter and killed a Jackal trying to push up into the room.

By now, everyone was running down the long open corridor, firing on the Covenant forces converging on them from all across the deck. Anton raced passed one crossway, lighting up two grunts as they tried to open up on the group. Kat tossed a Grenade around another corner, silencing the squad of jackals trying to lock it down.

There were Covenant ahead of them as well, an Elite and a pair of grunts that opened up on the group as they charged in. Thane fired a pair of rounds from his pistol, taking each grunt down with a single headshot. Shepard charged ahead with his biotics, smashing into the Elite before blowing him away with his shotgun.

It was a mad dash like that all the way down the deck, the Spartans and Normandy Squad covering whatever corner or angle that could be potentially hiding Covenant. However, Chief was just as concerned as to what was behind them. There were still two Hunters around after all and his motion tracker was still picking up two large contacts racing after them.

"Up on the left, here!" Cortana called out.

The escape pods finally came into view. The pods were already set to launch, as Cortana had primed while she was still inside the system. Each pod could about five people comfortably, that meant they'd have to split the team into two. Chief took one pod, Shepard the other and everyone piled in. Chief and Shepard were the last to go inside.

As the Spartan leader prepared to close the hatch, the Hunters they had left bruised but alive caught up to them. They were racing down the open corridor towards the launch bay. One of them charged up a cannon shot to fire, Chief quickly ducked inside and shuttered the hatch behind him. A blast of green raced past the window.

Without missing a beat, Chief pulled the manual launch switch and the escape pod rocketed away from the Covenant Carrier. Just as the Hunter got close to the door and began pounding on the hatch to break it open. Chief watched as the Covie's sleek blue armored head vanished from the porthole as they ejected into space.

Well, not really space, as Chief soon saw... it was just black. As Cortana had overheard, the sky had indeed gone dark. No stars, no nebulea, no nothing, just a big empty void. But there was little time to think about that. Chief raced up ahead to get onto the pod's controls. As he looked out the window, he saw Shepard's pod racing by and getting into formation. He steadied their flight path as he eased in beside the second pod at a safe distance.

"What's our next move?" Fred asked Chief.

"We need a sitrep on what's going on," Chief told him. "Can we get in contact with anyone from Justice? Normandy?"

"I'm picking up their signatures," Cortana stated. "Whatever has happened they're here with us."

That was relief, although it didn't really answer where the hell they were given that there was nothing outside but pitch blackness. What exactly had happened while they were inside the carrier? Then he reasoned, whatever it was, their predicament was probably Relic related.

"I've managed to tap a signal," Cortana spoke up. "It's one ours, ODSTs, they're on the planetoid assaulting the Forerunner Ruins. They're attempting to extract Zek's team and the Relic as we speak."

"Well that definitively answers what's going on," Kelly voiced aloud what everyone had likely concluded.

"We should get down there," Chief stated. "They'll probably need our help."

"And I bet we'll be needed to fix whatever mess we just landed in before long anyway," Linda surmised.

"That's the job," Chief concurred. "Cortana, open a channel to the Commander. We need to strategize."

---

It was a relief to everyone that communications were no longer being hindered by any static. There was a lot to discuss and go over after all. And as Miranda stood there, trying to process everything she was hearing, she couldn't help but groan. It seemed no matter how prepared they were, no matter what they tried, these Relics were just destined to ruin their day. In more ways than one it seemed if Halsey was correct.

"Explain it again, which relic is at fault here?" She asked Halsey over the comm channel. "The crystal or whatever Zek, Taq, Retz and Kasumi just took?"

"Technically both," Halsey stated. "From what I can gather the Crystal picked up on the Fourth Relic's unique energy signature, which it was broadcasting at a high range and frequency. That was what was overloading our comm channels."

"How are you sure?" Miranda asked.

"It's similar to what happened to Tali and the Crystal with the Amplifier," Halsey explained. "It would appear that, somehow, these relics are indeed capable of speaking with each other. We should've surmised this given the Amplifier's abilities. But we wrongly presumed that was unique to the Amplifier itself. Considering the relics are supposed to reveal the location of the Astral Cutlass when combined together, we probably should've suspected as much. But nothing in our studies suggested something like this at this range."

"So what exactly happened?" Miranda asked again, her frustration clear.

"The Fourth Relic must've activated somehow, most likely when our recovery team acquired it," Halsey theorized. "We were out of range of its influence at the moment. When we moved the carrier closer to the Planetoid in preparation for the ODST Pod Launch, the artifacts most likely picked up on their unique energy signatures. Once that was done, they focused broadcasting information to each other, clearing the communication channels of the interference being created."

"And sucking us into... where exactly?" Miranda questioned.

As she spoke, the door to the briefing room opened and Tali sauntered inside with a datapad.

"I think I can confirm what we suspected," she told Miranda. "That was a Slipspace Rupture that emerged from the Forerunner Facility. Massive in scope, pulling everything within its range towards it."

"And ejecting us where?" Miranda asked, pleading to know.

"Nowhere," Halsey replied bluntly. "Well, technically we are somewhere. We're in Slipspace, or the subspace dimension we travel through when we enter Slipspace. We simply... aren't moving. We're stationary, stuck."

Miranda sighed, she supposed that wasn't great, but it didn't sound terrible. Not entirely. They weren't in some blackhole or deathless void. They were simply locked in Slipspace. The answer to the problem then should be simple.

"So, what now? We await our teams to finish their missions and then open another rupture?" She suggested. "That's how Slipspace works, correct?"

"Normally," Halsey said tepidly, Miranda sensing that there was a complication just from the tone. "The problem, from what we've gathered... every single Slipspace Drive in our flotilla is currently offline."

"Offline?" Miranda said astonished. "What happened? Some sort of power surge?"

"My hypothesis is that it is worse than that," Halsey sighed. "Whatever has sent us into Slipspace is maintaining a pattern within it. As a result, from what our engineers are gathering, the Slipspace Drives are no longer connected in the same way. It would seem something is siphoning their power and preventing them from activating."

"How is that possible?" Tali asked.

"I can only surmise it has something to do with the Relic and perhaps the nature of this facility," Halsey reasoned. "There may be other factors we still don't know, but it would appear something is blocking the connection and preventing the drives from fully spinning up. Whatever the case, we're stuck here for the time being."

Damn, that was not good then. Even when they got the Relic aboard, chances were they would not be able to escape Slipspace. The Covenant and Pirates would eventually zero in on them and dispatch them. Whatever was preventing their escape had to be shut off.

"Can we disable the connection the Crystal has to the other Relic somehow?" Miranda asked.

"It's possible, but that may have only been the catalyst," Halsey warned. "Something else might be preventing our escape. Until we have more information, we're essentially... quite literally... in the dark."

Miranda shook her head. Not at the pun, but just the situation. They were stuck in a space between spaces unless they discerned the cause of what was keeping them here. Even then, this was new territory for them all. As far as she knew, Slipspace wasn't someplace you stayed in like this. You travelled through it, you did not drift in it listlessly. She turned to Tali, hoping the quarian had some idea of a solution.

"If the relic alone isn't doing this, there must be an additional device," Miranda reasoned. "Where would it be and what would its purpose be?"

"It's possible it is some form of stabilizer, keeping us within phase of subspace," Tali surmised. "If Halsey is correct, it is likely siphoning the power of our own Drives to resist a secondary exit rupture from spitting us back out. You can't just stay in Subspace, there is normally an exit point. The whole process is like creating a wormhole from one point in the galaxy to another. So if something is actively preventing that exit... well, it would be drawing a lot of power. And I suspect its somewhere inside the Planetoid."

"So if our people can shut this device down, we can escape?" Miranda asked.

"Maybe, but entering and exiting Slipspace is usually a fairly easy process," Tali told her. "The drive creates a rupture you enter and then you fly through it to a designated exit point. Creating a rupture within Slipspace is... trickier. It's probably another factor in our drives not being able to calculate an exit, there's no precedent for doing this from within Subspace itself."

"I see," Miranda realized. "We're already inside the place we casually fly through. We can't create a rupture to Slipspace from Slipspace. Therefore we can't designate an exit point."

"And even if we could, calculating it from within this subdimension is very tricky," Tali warned. "Who knows where we could end up?"

The gravity of the situation was now fully laid bare.

"So we need to shut down this device preventing our Slipspace Drives from working, stop the relics from transmitting to one another and figure out a way to leave Slipspace by creating an exit rupture... without an entrance rupture," Miranda listed off. "Sounds... difficult."

"The last one might have a plausible solution," Halsey offered. "Your ship, in fact."

"The Normandy?" Miranda asked, but quickly realized what she was getting at. "Of course, our Mass Effect drive works on a different principle of galactic travel. It won't be affected the same way as the other Slipspace drives."

"And we have a Slipspace drive we've connected to our Mass Effect drive," Tali added, coming to her own realization. "If I can get them working in tandem, finally, it's possible I could force an exit rupture. All I'd need to do is activate the Mass Effect Fields to propel us fast enough that we break the subspace barrier between Slipspace and real space. The Slipspace Drive itself would simply have to create a rupture along our route to exit."

"What about the other ships?" Miranda asked.

"If they can lock onto the exit rupture, they can exit through it themselves at that point," Tali assured her. "They'll have a vector they can zero in on."

"But this all relies on you getting these two systems to work as one," Halsey reminded the quarian. "I imagine you've made progress with it, Tali, but can you get the project working in time?"

Tali seemed to beam at the prospect.

"Quarians, like all engineers, work best under pressure," she promised. "I've been making significant strides in this project. I just need this last bit of motivation to really get it working."

"Well, best get back down to engineering then," Miranda told her. "Meanwhile, I'll work on scanning for that power source that's siphoning off the power of other Slipspace Drives. Maybe all we'll need to do is disable it."

She hoped as much, but when were they ever that lucky?

---

Under a pitch-black sky, Covenant forces were engaged with Pirates in pitched combat. As far as Lurz was concerned, they were just here to keep everyone occupied. Zek remained the goal. So as the fighting went on around them, Lurz and his hunters went around the flanks, along the edges of the crater and remains of the Forerunner Facility.

It wasn't too hard, the Covenant had opted to make their stand in the central ruins of the crater, where they could maintain the greatest defensive block. The problem they were facing was the loss of the high ground. Pirate sharpshooters were along the rocky ledges and blown open facility corridors, firing on the sangheili.

The Covenant made up for it with better firepower. Lurz had already seen two Pirate sniper nests get obliterated before they could relocate. A Fuel Rod cannon barrage left little doubt as to the outcome of each nest's destruction.

If Lurz was being honest with himself, he did not understand Snarlbeak's desire to join the Covenant. He was stupid, he understood the "logic" behind Zhoc's grand vision. He just didn't understand why he'd assimilate into the Covenant power structure so willingly. If it were up to Lurz, they'd use the Astral Cutlass to usurp their leadership entirely. Remove the Prophets and their bootlicking warrior fanatics from the equation. Stack their heads up in piles after removing the eyes and let the blood flow across the entirety of their precious floating city. Make the gas suckers cower and even the worm-tanks quiver.

Continue the crusade, for legitimacy of course, but make the war against humanity a proper hunt. Don't exterminate the humans, preserve them on select planets. Perfect stalking grounds for all sorts of hunters looking for trophies.

Zhoc had a plan though, one he was insistent on. Lurz's place was not to question and taking over the Covenant through slower means seemed a less... well, bloody affair. More people would appreciate a show of benevolence than outright terror. It was not Lurz's preference at all, certainly not nearly as direct, simple and pure. But it was more practical.

He just didn't like seeing Zhoc sell himself short so much. It was the fear he had, the sight of blood, it was all that held Snarlbeak back truly. If he could only shed it, his leader would be truly the most ruthless killer in the galaxy. But then... Lurz wouldn't get to indulge like he did. A difficult dilemma indeed.

The point was, when he looked at the Covenant, he saw a group that tried to rationalize their murder. How tedious that was. What more justification did you need than that of the pure abject natural order? The Covenant framed their war against humans as a crusade to purify the galaxy against abominations to their gods. Whatever that meant.

Lurz had always felt, much like Zhoc, that the religious fervor was just a cover for more base instincts. Surely the Prophets and Sangheili had just grown tired of having a new race to assimilate and had simply made up some silly reason to justify wholesale slaughter to their subjects. Dishonesty, that was what was wrong here. Not the killing, just the lie.

Whatever, when they took charge, Zhoc would just make them a new lie to follow. Lurz and his leader would maintain the truth of it to themselves. Power was taken in blood, violence and pain. It did not need the blessing of any god to bring it forth. It was simply nature itself and the law of the jungle.

Right now though, the present required less focus on the blood being shed below and the blood meant to be shed within the walls of the Forerunner Ruins. Zek was here, somewhere deep within the facility. The strange black rupture that swallowed this planetoid had come from inside the ruins. Deep inside if the power readings they detected were anything to go by.

They had to get inside. The problem was entry.

There were so many roads into the facility, but so many were blocked off one way or another. And there were still plenty of rear-guard Covenant that wished to stop them. Most were cowardly gas suckers of course, they were of little concern. He let the rest of his hunters cut them down, but he did take the time to find one of the leaders of the small squads in red now and then. He tackled at least one of them and fired a dozen needles into the fool's face before leaping off. That killed him quickly. Shame to lose the trophy though. He rectified that with the next of the unggoy leaders he came across, by using his energy cutlass to hack into its scrawny little neck.

The kig-yar of the Covenant proved at least a challenge compared to the squealing cowardice of the unggoy. Lurz fired on them with his needler, but mostly to force them to hunker down behind their shields, his main goal was to get close, force them to the ground and then hack away at them. At least one proved a bit harder to break, managing to block the slashes of Lurz's shard cutlass with his shield no matter how much the Ibie'shan bashed down on it. Then bashed the shield into his face, which proved to be the last straw. Lurz was forced to bite the kig-yar's face and begin tearing at it until the fool stopped screaming.

The sangheili were the real challenge, but there was only one they encountered. He was dressed in blue armor and left with a small squad to guard a door within the ruins themselves. They fought vigorously and tenaciously, sangheili had that capability in spades it seemed. They could stir the gas suckers and kig-yar onto victory. Either through genuine charisma and battle prowess, or simply demanding it on pain of a worse punishment than death on the field.

What this sangheili's method was unclear and Lurz did not care. He just knew one thing, if you killed a sangheili in front of the men he commanded, they'd fold. Because the true warrior among them was dead and they were little better than fodder without him. Something every unggoy and kig-yar in the Covenant knew all too well.

Lurz let his hunters assault the defending squad from both ends of the ruined room. They used the statues and pillars of the ancient facility for cover. Their goal was not to kill the Covenant, no, just keep them guessing. There was only one target that mattered and Lurz had already spotted him. The sangheili was at the center of it all, firing his plasma rifle, ducking and weaving among the barricades as his soldiers fought to hold the line. A courageous and noble specimen of his proud species he was.

Finally... worthy prey.

Lurz zeroed on the Covenant officer as he raised his shield gauntlet. He charged in now, racing from pillar to statue, from box to recharge station. He closed the distance on the sangheili as his hunters kept his attention away from his advance. He then scampered up a partially destroyed statues and jumped, his shield still held out in front. He fired one overcharged blast from his plasma pistol, hitting the sangheili directly, killing his shields.

The Covenant Officer looked up in time to see Lurz falling down, letting the plasma pistol drop to raise and activate his energy cutlass once more. The blade came down on the sangheili, even as he fired up at the falling ibie'shan, his energy bolts bouncing off the shield as the cutlass cut into the warrior's shoulder.

Lurz tackled the sangheili to the ground and began to hack and slash and flay the sangheili beneath him. He could hear screams of panic and fear, knowing they were likely the unggoy or some of the kig-yar. He remained focused on cutting his prey to pieces, letting his blade do the work until the torso was cracked clean open. His hunters had likely moved in by now, cutting down the dismayed defenders quickly.

When Lurz was done and the body of the sangheili lay broken on the floor, bleeding profusely, his head sagged to the side, the ibie'shan looked about. He saw his fellow ibie'shans, his hunters, over either dead bodies, or holding guns to those still alive. Mostly unggoy, cowering and pleading for their lives. Lurz, still caked in blood, walked over to the door.

Well, it was door, but it was clearly severely damaged. There were damaged supports and rubble crashed onto it, blocking passage. From the looks of the warping of the steel and mechanisms, it was also likely the corridor beyond was collapsed as well. This should've been a dead end, a pointless waste to defend. Why bother stationing any guards here? He would've chalked it up to Covenant arrogance and zealotry, but no, he saw the reason. Plasma charges, placed around the door and in the rubble, clearly meant to clear it. But there didn't seem be enough by his estimation. He needed answers, so he looked to the unggoy still alive.

Walking over to one he pointed to the door and one of the charges directly.

"You're trying get in here," he presumed.

The unggoy just nodded.

"Is there... space beyond this?" Lurz asked. "Or just more rubble?"

"Space, lots of space," the unggoy explained. "Would use plasma drills, but can't fit. Too much metal, too solid, take too long. Charges faster."

"Then why so few?" Lurz asked.

"Have to be careful," the unggoy explained. "Could damage ruins, desecrate site. That heresy!"

Lurz scoffed, they were handicapping themselves. They wanted to get inside fast but not in a way that damaged this heap of rubble further. Idiots, but at least he didn't have those same concerns.

"More charges," Lurz ordered. "Stick more charges now."

"More?" The unggoy asked. "How... many?"

"All," Lurz ordered simply.

The unggoy shook with fear.

"But... but that would destroy too much!" It tried to argue. "Sangheili be mad! We be pun-"

Lurz grabbed the unggoy by the head and twisted it around until he could hear a snapping sound. The unggoy dropped dead to the floor and Lurz turned to the next unggoy in line.

"Place all remaining charges... now!" He ordered.

The unggoy did not offer any further resistance, they began hurrying placing charges on the door while the ibie'shans watched over them. Meanwhile, Lurz looked to the remaining kig-yar among the former defenders, levelling his energy cutlass upwards to them.

"You help," he ordered. "Unless..."

He looked to the body of the dead sangheili that had once been their leader. The kig-yar got the message and began to assist the unggoy. They'd be useful later at least. They blow this door open, gain access to the inner sanctum of the planetoid and then... well, then Zek would start running out of places to hide.

---

There was little to do inside the planetoid's engineering room, other than make sure the doors to the place were locked tight. Kasumi kept trying to get the ancient computer stations on the walls working, but no matter what she pressed she got nothing. It had to be a lack of power, the only lights in this room were the dull reds radiating everything. It was not at all relaxing. So while Kasumi tried to reroute power to the terminals, her kig-yar companions just tried to pass the time in-between Taq giving their rescuers directions over the comm.

"How long is it going to take them to get down here?" Zek asked.

"There's significant Covenant forces still in the facility," Taq explained. "Once they break through lower security levels, they'll be past them."

"McKay is capable, she'll be here," Retz reassured Zek.

The pirate leader sighed and leaned up against the wall. His eyes turned back to Taq though, as he could see her own expression. One deeply contemplative and not entirely focused on the ODSTs coming to get them out. She kept looking back to the engine room, glaring at it with curious puzzlement.

"So, you're obviously forming a theory," Zek told her bluntly. "You might as well share it."

Taq rolled her eyes, but eventually consigned herself to the reality of things. Zek would likely just keep asking and pestering if she didn't say anything. To be honest, she just wanted to get it off her chest anyway.

"Fine, I keep thinking about what this place is and why we're apparently stuck in subspace," she explained.

"What's to think about it?" Zek asked. "It's another weirdo Forerunner experiment."

"They didn't create it without a purpose, Zek," Retz said rather plainly.

"And I think I know what it is," Taq reasoned. "I think they were building an escape ship."

All eyes turned to Taq now. Even Kasumi climbed up out of the hatch in the floor, stopping her work and walking over to the huddled group of kig-yar.

"An escape ship?" She asked. "For what?" After a brief bit of thought she realized. "Oh, right... the Flood."

"Partially. More accurately I think it was an escape ship from Halo," Taq clarified. "Given what you told me about that ring world, it makes the most sense they were trying to make this planetoid a refuge from it."

"How?" Retz asked with earnest curiosity.

"Well, since apparently Halo is built to destroy all life in the galaxy, the only way to avoid that is by getting outside of the galaxy," Taq reasoned. "You can escape through a wormhole that is fairly unstable or... well, you escape to some place beyond the reach of Halo itself."

It clicked for Zek slowly, but he was the first to voice it.

"Wait... so... this place was meant to be stuck in Slipspace?" He asked.

"Precisely, a sort of shelter slash lifeboat if you will," Taq theorized. "Somehow, the planetoid utilizes our newly acquired artifact to tear into the fabric of subspace and remain there regardless of what accepted science says otherwise."

"Where the energy blast of Halo does not exist because it's basically in another dimensional space," Kasumi reasoned. "Wow, that is pretty clever."

"And obviously very difficult to pull off successfully," Taq noted. "There's far too many hazards with staying inside Slipspace for an indefinite period of time. It's not built to support life after all. The Forerunners must've hoped they could at least try, wait out the apocalypse of their own doing and rebuild afterwards. I'm not sure it could've worked, but if you're desperate, any plan sounds like a good one to some."

"So how come they didn't survive?" Zek asked. "Clearly it works. We're here in Subspace."

"I'm not so sure it did work," Taq dreadfully replied. "The facility up top was clearly not in the best shape. Obviously something went wrong when they attempted their little plan and it destroyed a good chunk of the planetoid and the structure they built into it. That's why they never finished it, those tunnels down there... they were meant to house more people."

"But it failed, hard," Kasumi said, nodding her head. "What a way to go, blown up to who knows where by your own escape plan."

Zek could only shrug at the revelation.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, real sad, how's that help us now?" He asked, his lack of sympathy apparent.

"It's obvious enough that anything of this power and magnitude is incredibly dangerous and volatile," Taq explained. "I can only guess why it's working now, but I can think of two issues facing us. One, whatever is sustaining us in Slipsace will not let us go on its own. And two, if we even shut it down... well... what if the next failure finishes the job for this planetoid?"

That got Zek's attention, as well as everyone else's. They had walked within the crater of the excavation site after all. It was apparent now that it had been the result of one catastrophic failure. And now, to escape, they'd have to likely cause another one... while they were deep inside this place.

"Ok, yeah, that... that could be bad," Zek admitted.

"We need to find what is stabilizing our pattern in Slipspace on this end," Taq explained. "Obviously this place has to have a Slipspace Drive that's potentially active even if we're not moving. So what's preventing an exit rupture from throwing us out? We need to suss that device or devices out and then... well then we need to figure out a way to turn it the hell off."

"Without adding ourselves to a second crater," Retz added.

"I think that goes without saying," Taq informed him.

"Let's say it anyway," Kasumi said nervously. "I think reminding ourselves to prevent our horrifying deaths is always necessary in these situations."

"What we need is a better technical read out of this place," Taq asserted gruffly. "The specs I have are only good for most of the upper sections. We need to follow the engineering deck specifications. This place has to have more levels associated with it."

"Why would it?" Zek asked.

"Redundancies for one, this is a complicated experiment the Forerunners were attempting," Taq explained. "Practically? Those engines we saw in the other room have their mechanisms running down into the floor. Obviously they're not actually powering real starship engines since this planetoid doesn't move. They probably intended it to, but they likely never got around to thrusters. They're there for whatever created that rupture via the relic that is currently holding us here. A jumpstart if you will."

"Well only one way to find that out," Kasumi declared.

The thief jumped back into the hole in the floor she had been digging in previously. After a few moments, the red hue of the room was mixed with a new blue light resonance coming from the consoles along the wall. Kasumi climbed back out of the hole with a smirk on her face.

"Tali's not the only one who knows her way around a ship's power systems," she chuckled. "I mean, when you have to stowaway on a few ships, you get to know something. You also learn how to reroute power junctions. And thanks to Tali asking me to help poke around in that crazy ancient lab, I'm pretty familiar with the Forerunner versions of those."

"Nice to know our experiences on New Teteocan are still proving useful," Taq acknowledged. "Now then let's see what we have."

Taq headed over to one of the consoles and started bringing up relevant files. It wasn't long until she managed to crack into what she wanted. Detailed schematics for the engineering deck. Well, decks, five of them. There were red warning symbols above entryways down into further decks, suggesting they were inaccessible from within. However, they were interconnected by the tunnel system which were supposed to house the workers and their families from the look of it. Taq kept her focus on what they were after though. At the heart of the engineering levels, a large rounded-trapezoid shaped object.

"That's it," she said pointing. "That's our target. We just need to get there."

"Easier said then done," Zek cautioned. "It looks like the decks are locked off from each other. Look at all those tunnels, getting lost in there would be way too easy."

There were a lot of caverns dug into the planetoid's rock. Some natural, most artificial, they could take forever navigating them. Time they didn't have. However, Retz noted something given all the tunnels.

"To craft this many living quarters and connections, to even dig into the planetoid this deeply itself," he began to think aloud. "They'd need some seriously heavy excavation equipment, would they not?"

Taq realized what Retz was getting at and looked through the construction notes. She found what she was looking for after a few moments. A large space that, if she was reading things right, was designated for excavation and construction equipment.

"Here, we can find whatever they were using to carve through the rock in this section," she said. "It isn't too far either."

"We best let McKay know what the new plan is," Kasumi warned. "We don't want her coming here thinking we left without reason."

Taq agreed and opened her communication line to the Captain.

"McKay, we have an update," she started. "We have a way to get us out of this void we're stuck in. Do you copy, over?"

---

McKay answered promptly, but kept her mind in the game. Her troopers had been fighting off small ambush squads now and then since they had started moving through the facility. Nothing they couldn't handle, but it was likely they were probing them for now. Or worse, potentially trying to lead them somewhere. She put herself into cover in an alcove as the squad formed a perimeter.

"McKay here, go ahead," she responded.

Taq began explaining what they had deduced. It made some sense at least. The plan they had come up with was a little harder to swallow. Mainly because it required going further into this place. Which made extracting harder.

"We're closer and if we don't do it, someone else is just going to have to," Taq explained.

"I'm pretty sure everyone back in the Fleet is working on a way to solve this on their end, Taq," McKay tried to argue. "Maybe it's best to wait for their assessment?"

"Anything holding us in Slipspace indefinitely is not just going to let us leave no matter what we do," Taq insisted. "This whole thing is an incredibly complicated process working through several technological vectors. We need to at least get eyes on this machine that's playing a key role in it."

The logic was sound, but McKay still hated it. The mission was already difficult enough, this would just make it more so. Not that she could stop the Jackals from running off anyway, but she would've preferred them sticking put. In the end, she decided that maybe it wouldn't hurt to have them get more information at least. Perhaps once a secure line to the flotilla could be properly established, they could pool resources.

"Alright, just don't touch anything once you locate... whatever this thing is," she told them. "It sounds like you barely even understand it and we shouldn't go messing around with something that potentially almost cracked this rock in half."

"I have similar concerns, believe me," Taq assured her. "We'll keep you appraised on our progress. In the meantime, keep heading to us. There should be a crossways up ahead. Turn left and then twenty meters down to a room on the right. There's an access point there, leads down into the maintenance tunnels."

"Copy," McKay replied. "Stay safe down there."

Returning to the task at hand, McKay surveyed the corridor to the left cautiously. Seeing no movement, she told her squads move up quietly. She followed shortly after the first few moved in. They followed Taq's directions exactly, ignoring the distant sounds of fighting. It just meant the Covenant and Pirates were still tearing at each other, which was good. The more they were preoccupied with each other, the less they'd have to deal with.

Well, that's what they were hoping for.

Buck's squad entered the designated room first, making sure it was secured before the other squads entered next. McKay had everyone set up a perimeter as they began to comb the room. There were a host of consoles and what appeared to be a holographic table, currently offline.

"Somewhere in this room is our way down," she told the squads. "Turn over everything, the longer we're stuck up here the more exposed we are."

The squads picked up their search, looking for a hatch on the floor or along the walls. As they searched, McKay tried to see about the holographic table. It didn't seem to be without power, it just wasn't active. After trying a few buttons, the screen came to life. It flashed a series of symbols and writing, along with images other planets.

"Wish I spoke Forerunner," she mumbled.

"Probably nothing too important," Buck told her as he walked over. "Not anymore anyway. It sounds like whatever this place was for never panned out the way they wanted."

"And yet, we keep trying to steal their stuff," McKay noted. "And getting into our own share of trouble every time."

"Better us than leaving it for the Covenant," Buck reminded her.

McKay nodded, she knew it was true, she wasn't complaining about the mission just acknowledging the hazards.

"Yeah, just glad to know this is almost over," she clarified to the Sergeant. "I think we've seen enough to know not to play around with this stuff too much. Let's hope people in command back home realize that too."

"Well, in my experience, ma'am, given what's going on, it's going to be pretty tempting to do the opposite," Buck cautioned. "And don't forget, there's still that sword the Jackals keep going on about."

"Right," McKay sighed. "Well, penultimate relic mission then. Either way, this is almost wrapped and if the Spartans pull through we'll be on our way to the real threat I know everyone wants to go for."

"Yeah, but that's probably gonna be ten times more dangerous than this," Buck said grimly. "Think the rest of the unit is gonna be fine playing support for the Spartans on that one."

"If it saves Earth from invasion, that should be enough to satisfy any Drop Trooper," McKay declared. "Glory seeking has brought us nothing but trouble. We'd do well to remember that."

Buck nodded in agreement. Even now, Silva's decisions on Halo loomed heavy. While the Troopers who participated in the mutiny had fallen into line long ago, there were still lingering feelings of mistrust and betrayal beneath the surface. It was why she had to impress upon the unit the importance of this mission for the UNSC, not the pirates who they were saving.

"Captain, we got movement," called one of the Troopers at the door.

"How close?" McKay asked.

Not even a second after she asked, a carbine shot struck near one of the troopers hitting him in the chest armor. He was flung back as his fellow trooper opened fire.

"Real close! Real close!" The first trooper shouted back.

"Defensive positions! Now!" McKay ordered.

As one trooper dragged his fellow out of the range of fire, the others crowded around cover near and around the doorway. The Covenant were out in the hall, advancing bit by bit, firing into the room. McKay directed her people from the holotable. Three squads maintained defense while the others searched for the maintenance hatch.

"Do not let those bastards in," she ordered. "Someone get suppressing fire out that doorway!"

One trooper moved up with a light machine gun, spraying it into the open doorway. It took down two grunts rushing up through cover and forced a sangheili to take cover after the loss of his shield. Another trooper tossed out a grenade through the open doorway to further deter the enemy, killing a few with the blast if a flying jackal smashing into an adjacent wall was proof of anything. McKay, however, knew this was no place to make a stand. They didn't have the time nor the resources.

"Where's that damn hatch!?" She shouted.

A pair of troopers pushed over a large electronic device and found what they were looking for, a hatch along the wall. Grasping its locking mechanism, they twisted it and opened it wide, revealing a large tunnel leading down.

"Ma'am, we found our exit!" He announced.

"Excellent work!" McKay replied. "Everyone, pull back to the hatch in pairs, keep cover on the doorway, watch for crossfire! Buck, you're on package detail!"

The Troopers began to exit towards the hatch in an orderly fallback maneuver. Slowly but surely, each squad ran out of cover and towards the exit tunnel. Some stopped to provide additional cover as they did, preventing the Covenant from breaking through and catching them as they retreated into the maintenance causeways. McKay was among the last, holding her position near the holotable as the Covenant began to break into the room.

As the last of the Drop Troopers entered through the hatch and rushed down into the maintenance tunnels, McKay moved in and had Buck and Dutch seal the hatch behind by quickly welding the lock shut. Just to make sure the Covies did not follow though, they had left a surprise.

"Packages armed?" McKay asked Buck.

"Ready for delivery," Buck assured.

"Then get back from the hatch and detonate at safe distance," she ordered.

McKay followed the other Troopers down the tunnel into the maintenance shafts. When they were far enough away, Buck triggered the detonator he was holding. Several louds explosive blasts were heard behind them. The C4 Packs they had left in the room had done their job, removing the pursuing Covenant for the time being.

"Well, that's settled," McKay declared. "But let's not drop our guard. I'll contact Taq for where to go next, all squads keep moving down, we still got a ways to go."

With any luck, they'd meet up with the Jackals and Kasumi before they got too far ahead in their new plan. But who was to say at this point? Nothing about this mission had gone exactly to plan so far. Again, she really wished the Spartans were down here by now. At least they'd be in this SNAFU together.

---

When it came to finding a perfect place to have the escape pods land, there were few good options. There was only a mess of potentially bad ones. However, they ruled the crater out pretty quickly, as it was ablaze with plasma fire from all sides. They weren't going to land outside the perimeter though, they didn't have time to find another way in.

So they opted for the direct route. There was a large ripped opened section of the facility's roof. It would not be an easy landing, but it would get them inside fastest.

Cortana, reluctantly, plotted the course in. She remotely connected to both pod's airbrake functions and slowed their descent towards the Forerunner ruins. Their pods weren't that big, but it was still a tight squeeze into the hole in the roof. And they were still going fast enough that they smashed at least through two floors when they hit.

Luckily, Covenant shock absorbers were well first-rate and the ruins themselves were in such disrepair that they didn't put up much resistance. The crash knocked them around some, but the Spartans remained resolute throughout. Shepard and Thane were at least glad the Covenant's seat restraints held up under the increased stress. Legion seemed relatively calm, but that was nothing new. When things finally settled down and the crumbling of steel and rock around them ceased, they all rose from their seats.

"Everyone in one piece?" Shepard asked over the comms to both craft.

"More or less," Chief responded from the other craft. "Let's move."

They exited the escape pods from the back, the hatches blowing off dramatically as the manual release for both were activated. Everyone piled out and began to secure the area. While nothing had stopped their descent, they weren't about to assume their arrival had gone unnoticed.

They were in some kind of operations room from the look of things, but they couldn't be sure. The Forerunners probably didn't have the same vernacular or function for their potential departments and sections. All they knew was that there was a lot of machinery and computing equipment.

It was hardly their biggest concern anyway.

"Can we raise anyone on comms?" Shepard asked the group.

"I'm trying to pick up Zek's team," Cortana assured. "Give me a minute."

"Well hurry up," Jun chimed in. "Chances are whatever Covies on this level are coming over to check on who's just landed on their sacred site."

It didn't take long after that before Chief's motion tracker went off. The sound of a door whooshing open came from the far end of the room. Two squads worths of grunts led by one Elite each. They noticed the crashed escape pods pretty quickly and then the occupants shortly after. With a single warcry, the Covies opened fire on the group. They had gotten into cover of course, but the plasma was already flying.

"Thanks, Jun," Kat growled.

"Don't blame me, they were coming regardless of anything I said," Jun argued.

Thane opened fire on the grunts with his sniper rifle, taking out a few before they could find cover in the rubble. Legion did the same, but sent their Combat Drone out to wreak havoc among their lines. Shepard bolted forward as the plasma fire increased in intensity. As he got close, he let loose a biotic shockwave that knocked down a few of the grunts. However, that was not the point of his plan. He was banking on his infamy within the Covenant to play to their advantage.

The Elites both instantly recognized him. If not by his armor, then no doubt by his power. Shepard was counting on this. The False Shepherd trodding on the sacred ground of their gods would force them to act. Sure enough, they refocused their efforts on his position. The Elite moved quickly to the right in an attempt to flank the Commander. A mistake they would soon regret as Linda fired a single shot that ripped through the shields of one Elite. That forced the remaining one to take cover and return fire on the Spartan Sniper.

By now, Chief had moved up to Shepard's position, Anton covering him as he headed through the rubble strewn about the room. A grunt tried to fire on him, but Chief's shields held long enough for him to slide into cover. The grunt took a hit to the brainpan from Anton shortly after. Chief was now across from Shepard, who was pinned by a good deal of plasma fire.

The remaining Covenant now began to rally around the remaining Elite, as they sought a better position. Chief, zeroed in on the Elite who had moved behind a broken support pillar. He eyed Legion's Combat Drone maneuvering within the area as well. He looked over to Shepard, who peeked out briefly to see what the Spartan was motioning to. Shepard nodded and contacted Legion.

"Legion, direct the drone towards that support pillar debris," he requested.

Legion's acknowledgement was silent, their ocular lens focusing on their omni-tool. The Combat Drone moved towards the support pillar. The grunts, seeing its advance, opened fire on it. The drone just barreled through the fire and activated its self-destruct function. The Elite ducked out just before the drone detonated, taking two of his remaining subordinate grunts with it.

Chief then quickly popped out of cover and unloaded into the Elite. The Covenant Officer fired back as Chief moved to avoid the incoming plasma bolts. Roaring in rage, the Elite charged up through the rubble, only to get sideswiped by a blue blur smashing into his side.

Shepard watched as the Elite flew upwards, his biotic charge hitting the mark. He then fired a two shotgun blasts right into the Covie, who's body tumbled to the ground. The remaining grunts of course let out terrified screams as their leader fell and began to retreat. They were only a few though and they were quickly gunned down by the Spartans as they advanced up to the door. The last of their number took a hit from Jun's sniper rifle across his methane tank, causing it to explode violently from his body.

"Well, at least we got the welcome party out of the way," Fred observed.

"Let's not wait to attract more," Chief told him.

"Agreed," Shepard concurred. "Cortana, you reach Zek yet?"

"I have a lock on their comm signal," the AI assured the Commander. "Just let me pat-"

Cortana's reply was cut off by a massive explosion that shook the entire room and deafened everyone within. While they weren't caught in the blast, they could still see it. It had erupted below them towards the front of the facility. A large blue plasma cloud ejecting itself into the air. Parts of the old ruin fell away, one of their escape pods crashed through an additional floor as it gave way. The team had to quickly run to the door as the ground became more unstable.

"The hell just happened?" Anton asked frantically.

"It sounded like a plasma charge," Kelly responded. "Correction, several plasma charges I believe. Even one could cause that much damage."

"That's insane," Linda declared. "Taq warned the Covenant might be desperate to get inside, but that sounded like overkill."

"Are we so sure it was the Covenant?" Kat asked grimly. "Snarlbeak's Pirates have less interest in preserving this site than them. And a leader who's even more unhinged and desperate."

The implications of Kat's question were clear. If Snarlbeak's people had just blown their way into the inner sanctum of the ruins... well, that meant Zek's team was in trouble.

"We need to get down fast," Shepard reiterated. "Cortana, get Zek on the horn, let them know they might have company!"

---

The blast was perhaps somewhat excessive, but it got the job done. The way into the Forerunner Ruins was finally open. The Covenant could've gotten their relic so much quicker if they weren't so cautious around these rotting structures. Lurz was just happy that the doorway was holding despite the crumbling debris around it.

He did wonder if that extra explosive trigger that was rigged up had been the deciding factor in the explosive cascade's clearance of the entry point. Probably not, but it was more entertaining than pushing a button at least. The unggoy's methane tank detonating had ended his screams too quickly though and Lurz wasn't able to see or hear anything over the subsequent plasma fireball that had erupted.

The had their way in all the same though. Better yet, more than a few pirate squads had fought their way through the Covenant Defenders towards the epicenter of the explosion's aftermath. No doubt they suspected Lurz's hand in things. The Covenant's lines had been breached as unggoy and kig-yar alike ran for cover, their sangheili masters unable to keep order. Lurz suspected they were calling for any and all reinforcements by now. What pirate groups had gotten through would have to work fast as the Covenant would be following after them.

He directed them through the blown open passage, however, at least one of them dared to ask an honest question.

"Uh, where exactly are we headed?" He had asked.

For once, it was a decent query. So Lurz resisted the urge to snap his spine in two. No sense in killing someone who was just wondering what they were supposed to do. Lurz made it simple enough. He told all pirate squads to begin moving through the maintenance hatches, cutting through whatever was blocking their path. The energy spike that had brought them to this void originated deep within the facility according to Zom's long-range scans. If Zek was anywhere, it was deep beneath the surface of this planetoid. They'd find him eventually.

Lurz led his group on ahead though, he wished to discover the fastest route and intended to locate a Forerunner security terminal that could assist him. It was why he had left one of the Covie kig-yar from before alive. He claimed to be a technical assistant, knew what to look for. Had taken charge of the sniveling coward himself, dragging him by the back of his neck.

"So... I find you a terminal and get you what you want, you'll let me go, right?" He kept asking, trying to ascertain Lurz's sincerity.

"Yes," Lurz replied.

It was mostly true. Once he had what he needed, he fully intended to let the kig-yar go. He'd let him get a few feet back down the corridor before blowing a hole clean through the back of his head. Lurz needed to break in the beam rifle he had on him after all. But first, find a terminal, discover where they had to go to find Zek.

Then he'd strangle the pirate and all his friends within the bowels of this rock. He hoped their screams would echo. It would be worth all the hassle if so.

---

When the tunnels shook at the sound of a muffled blast, it was clear what had happened above. Someone had just blown open a path deeper into the ruins. When Cortana contacted Zek to inform the Spartans were now on site it was of little comfort given what she had to say next. The explosion was someone blowing up the debris blocking the central hub of the Forerunner Ruins. Snarlies and Covies both were likely already on their way.

They were running out of time.

Luckily, they had soon located the construction site designated for them on the map. Taq was already rushing ahead to it, eager to check out the ancient equipment. Her eyes lit up at her surroundings, but somehow also focused on her true goal, whatever that was.

There wasn't much to say of the half-constructed tunnel. The equipment was not like anything either kig-yar or human would be used to. There were some smaller temporary structures while the equipment consisted of inoperative drones, stacked up support beams and a magnetized crane mechanism hanging from the ceiling. Taq gave them momentary looks of curiosity and interest, but quickly discarded them in favor of continuing her search. For what, no one really had an opportunity to ask, as she was already running around the area like mad.

"She's usually bigger on cataloging everything and listing shit off," Zek recalled.

"Well we are on a time crunch," Kasumi reminded him.

"Still, what's she looking for exactly?" Zek asked.

They actually didn't have to wait for long to find out. Taq came into view from behind a small structure soon enough. She was lugging a large silver object in her arms, with a rounded end on one side and a pointed end on the other. Taq seemed more than a little pleased with her find, chuckling to herself as she approached.

"We got one, perfect working order, an Excavation Seed," she declared.

"An Excavation seed?" Kasumi asked confused. "What is that and how does that help us?"

"Like I've said before, the Forerunners were expert architects," Taq explained. "They could create anything they wanted via programmable technology, known as seeds, with built in schematics to assist in forming anything from ships to buildings to simple vehicles.

However, every construction needs a good foundation, especially if you're doing it underground. So they had some seeds designated specifically for excavation work. Clearly, with their empire not doing so hot fighting the Flood, their resources were a bit stretched thin. So they made some of their seeds a bit more portable, if not as powerful."

Taq was already heading off, the seed in her arms, the others had no choice but to follow.

"So let me guess," Retz presumed as he walked beside her. "We're going to use this seed to dig down to the main engineering deck where our strange Slipspace Drive is located?"

"That's the plan," Taq stated. "The seed is pre-programmed with an energy-based drill function. It will cut through the rock easily enough. I just have to guide it down. It will be far quicker than trying to navigate around these snaking catacombs."

"Neat, what's the catch?" Zek asked.

"Well I need to be with it while it travels down," Taq explained. "Otherwise, it potentially keeps going, veers off randomly or hits something valuable in that engine deck that might cause this planetoid to lose another big chunk of itself."

"Okay let's avoid that," Zek said immediately. "And in the future... can we also stop walking into situations that potentially might literally blow up in our faces? Because we seem to be encountering those a lot."

"Eh, you get used to it," Kasumi shrugged. "Shep can't seem to help himself. And I'm gonna bet that wherever this Cutlass is kept has a self-destruct thing installed in it. That's just how these things go."

"Trust me, it will be worth it in the end," Taq insisted, now moving along a wall and feeling it with her hand. Suddenly, she stopped, looking to her omni-tool. "We're here."

She backed up from the wall, which, to all appearances, did not seem at all remarkable. But according to the schematics for the Planetoid's tunnel system, this wall was at a perfect downward angle that would take them straight to the main engineering deck. They wouldn't encounter any blockages or extra tunnels in their way, it would be just a straight shot to where they needed to be.

Taq placed the excavation seed against the wall, it's pointed bit facing the rock. She flicked open a panel in the rounded backside of the device and input commands into a screen found there. After a few seconds, the seed processed the instructions and activated. Lines of red light illuminated the surface of the seed. Panels exploded out from its sides, creating a small circle around it, held together by arching beams of electricity. Then the energy built within the seed, systems within whirred to life, louder and louder until finally a large red burst exploded out from the encircling panels, forward into the rock face.

Taq let go of the seed at this point, but the anti-gravity functions had kicked in. The device was now floating and the energy surrounding the front of the seed began to spin heavily. Taq quickly input a transmit code function into her omni-tool, connecting it to the seed directly. She then pressed forward on the command console. The Seed lurched ahead and began to burrow through the rocks, incinerating the hard stone wall like it wasn't even there. In its wake was a ridge-shape bore, a new tunnel leading deeper into the planetoid.

Taq was first inside.

"I have to maintain connection or it will go off course," she reiterated. "Come on!"

The others followed suit, heading into the dark burrow of the seed's wake. Kasumi was good enough to turn on a flashlight from her omni-tool to help them see up ahead. They made sure to be careful while walking though. While the tunnel was ridged and not smooth, it was still at an increasingly steep angle.

"Don't rush," Taq warned. "You don't want to accidentally slip and fall into the seed's path up ahead.

One look at the red energy drill tearing through the bedrock was enough to cement that certainty.

"How far down do we have to dig?" Zek asked. "The Covies or Snarlbeak's boys will be on us soon."

"The Drop Troopers will be here before them and they'll be able to find us sooner," Taq assured. "They should be in the conduits by now. From there it's not far down into the tunnel system."

"Let's hope so," Kasumi said. "From the sound of that explosion, we're definitely going to need their firepower."

---

The Conduit tunnels weren't exactly the best to traverse. The catwalks were far too narrow and with very minimal cover. McKay decided the best course of action, was to move the squads in pairs. One team would cover the first while they moved and alternate as needed. The rear of the column was their primary concern as they kept moving.

For the most part, things were uneventful. It was likely the Covenant and Pirates were slowing each other down upstairs. How long that would last was anyone's guess, but at least it gave them a respite from being constantly hounded like before.

The real problem proved to be the conduit tunnel itself. The sparking bursts of electricity were more than a little unnerving. Every time some surge ran along the line and a burst of electricity ejected out of a damaged cable, it was like a lightning bolt going off next to you. It was a constant disorienting mess of light and sound every few minutes.

The worst part were the damaged sections of the walkway, like the one they were currently dealing with now. They had set down a portable gap spanner to help make their way across, but it was still a precarious situation as McKay kept up a guard at the rear of the column. They were using what little of the tunnel's architecture that could provide cover, a support section on the wall or a sheet of metal along the rail of the walkway. It wasn't much, but it was better than standing out in the open.

"Be mindful of crossfire, people," she warned. "We're stretched out here."

Luckily they wouldn't have to deal with that for much longer, she had sent a team ahead to cut through their last obstacle. She needed to check on their progress though. She hit the comm to contact them.

"Lendon, how much longer are those charges gonna take?"

"Setting up the last now," the sergeant replied. "Here's hoping that chatty turkey on the line has good intel."

"No reason to mistrust her at this point, we're her ride out of here," McKay reminded him. "If she says that wall is close to a tunnel, then it's out best bet to get out of here quickly."

They could keep walking of course, go the way Zek's team had. That would take too long though and it was clear they didn't have the luxury of time anymore. So, they'd blow open a wall through a weak point and bust their way into some catacombs the Forerunners had apparently been building. It had to be more defensible than being inside what was essentially a giant live wire.

At that moment they heard footsteps coming towards them. There were a set of stairs they had climbed up to get here, as good a defensive position as any and it was close to their exit point. Problem was they couldn't see who was coming until they reached the top. It could've been anyone.

"Hold fire," McKay told everyone. "Hold. Hold until we confirm visual."

The visual was confirmed soon enough, as tufts of quilled heads and beaky faces started popping up from the stairway. Only those though, which meant this was likely the Snarlbeak Pirates, and their uniforms pretty much sealed that deal when they crested over the top of the stairs in full.

"Jackals! Light 'em up!" Romeo called out.

"Weapons free!" McKay declared, seconding Romeo's suggestion and making the command official.

Automatic weapons fire cut into the Jackal Pirates' shields as they pushed forward. The shots were absorbed and deflected, although the hail of fire kept the pirates at bay for a bit. Their return fire of plasma bolts and needles was more than a little dense. Their inadequate cover wasn't helping much either, even McKay was forced to pull herself in against the wall as green plasma scorched the steel supports.

"Precision people! Aim for the plasma trace! Break the line!" She ordered.

Buck took the order to heart, taking aim and firing at one of the lead Jackal's shooting hands. The feather brain to lowered his shield in pain as the round cut through his palm, before a second bullet to his head made the hole in his hand superfluous. Another Jackal was quick to take his place of course, as was another pirate armed with a Carbine that popped up behind the shield wall and opened fire.

"Take out their sharpshooters!" McKay ordered next. "Tracer fire over their heads!"

"Got it, ma'am!" Dutch shouted, letting off some automatic fire in an attempt to suppress the enemy. The next time a Jackal popped up to take a shot, he was cut down.

McKay herself opened fire on the wall of advancing Jackals herself, managing to take down one of the shield wielders by snagging him in the leg and shooting him as he dropped. But the Jackals kept advancing all the same.

That's when the bigger problem arose.

Plasma fire started coming at them from the other side of the conduit tunnel. There was a second group of Jackals taking potshots at them from their direct flank. One of the Troopers took a hit to the shoulder while another was struck with a needle in his side. However, McKay maintained her cool. She had anticipated this very possibility and reacted swiftly.

"Center, shift base of fire!" She ordered. "Suppress the flanking units!"

She had put her sharpshooters along the center of the defensive line against the rail. They now shifted to open fire on the opposing side of the tunnel. They were armed with either sniper rifles or other long ranged assault weapons. Romeo, for example, had a sniper rifle that he used to great effect. He managed to spot one pirate armed with a needler rifle. With careful precision, the next time the Jackal attempted to take another shot, Romeo fired a cleanly into the hostile's eye. Bullet impacted his little bird skull and the pirate slumped down against the rail.

But McKay hadn't forgotten about the threat right in front of her even as sharpshooters were opening up on them. She needed to get rid of this advancing shield wall. She knew only one way how.

"We need a launcher up here!" She ordered.

A Drop Trooper with a grenade launcher rushed out of cover and up along the walkway. His fellow troopers opened fire on the Shield wall and increased fire on the flanking snipers in an attempt to shield his run. It was a good effort, but one plasma beam managed to cut close enough that the Drop Trooper fell to the floor, the back of his armor burnt. He was alive, but in great pain. McKay dragged him into cover as he handed her the grenade launcher.

"Clear a firing line!" She ordered.

Dutch increased his fire as other Drop Troopers pulled back into cover. McKay then leaned out and fired a single shot before quickly reloading. The first grenade impacted against the shield wall of Jackals, obliterating at least two of their number. The second shot was lobbed into their now unprotected the center was far more devastating. Jackals went flying into the air and even over the side of the conduit railing. Electric surges struck the tumbling pirates, frying them to a crisp before they could even hit the ground.

"Pour it on!" Buck ordered once he saw the enemy ranks were now exposed.

The ODSTs let loose with automatic fire into the Jackals. They started to fall back, those that didn't were cut down. The pirates on the other side of the tunnel continued to open fire, but the frontal assault had faltered in its momentum. As this was underway, an explosion erupted to their rear.

That could only mean one thing, and as the dust cleared it was confirmed.

"Lendon to McKay, the Brainy Bird's intel was spot on," Lendon reported. "We got a tunnel back here!"

"Excellent, rig the hole to collapse behind us and get yourselves through!" She ordered him, before turning to her people. "Troopers! Fall back across the gap! We're getting out of this oversized cable! Rear guard, lay down cover! Go! Go!"

McKay grabbed the arm of the injured Drop Trooper from before and began carrying him across. The other Drop Troopers did the same. They kept moving even as other Drop Troopers kept firing on the enemy, keeping them suppressed as they pulled out. McKay would hand off the injured Drop Trooper to some medics across the gap bridge. She then oversaw the other Troopers as they made their way across. When the last of the Troopers got over the gap bridge, she kicked one of its supports. First once, then again, and the whole thing tumbled into the hole in the walkway and down to the tunnel floor below.

"Keep moving! Let's go!" She ordered again.

The Troopers now all ran through the hole in the wall. Rushing through as McKay or Buck patted their backs. Buck of course stopped to open fire on the other side of the tunnel, as the Jackal Snipers had repositioned to keep firing on the troopers. However, they were too little too late. The last trooper got through the hole and McKay and Buck followed swiftly. Once they were a few good feet away, McKay gave the order.

"Blow it!"

Lendon hit the detonator for the second time and a series of charges collapsed the newly formed hole. What had once been a way out of the conduit tunnels was now blocked with debris. The pirates wouldn't be following them any time soon.

McKay now took in their new surroundings. It was definitely an artificial cavern system of some kind. The cuts in the walls and ceiling were evidence enough of that. As were the support structures holding it together. At least this place didn't look nearly as cramped as before and there was more potential cover with strewn rocks and some abandoned Forerunner equipment. All the same, they wouldn't be sticking around to admire the ancient alien craftsmanship of these catacombs. They had a rendezvous after all.

"Okay, tracker says our Friendly Pirates are not far off from us. Although they do seem to be... going down," McKay stated, not that surprised at this, Taq claimed she would be headed in that direction. "See to the wounded, get them patched and get ready move. We're still in the open here."

The Troopers set about their work, getting biofoam and medi-gel to those who needed it. McKay was just grateful they had made it this far. But these shaves were getting too close for comfort. She turned to Buck.

"Once we find Zek's team, we need to set up a defensive perimeter quickly," she told him. "Chances are we are not going to be leaving as fast as we hoped."

"What is our exfil plan at this point, ma'am?" Buck asked earnestly. "We're way underground now."

"There has to be a route to the surface, some way out of here," McKay assured him. "But from the sound of things, that's not gonna matter if we're stuck in Slipspace. Whatever Taq has found that can get us out of this void has to take priority."

"Point taken," Buck concurred, his mind switching to another subject. "You think Shepard and the Spartans are close behind us?"

"We can hope, but until they show we're all Zek's team has," McKay reminded him. "We have to keep them and the relic secure. With any luck, they show up before anything major goes down."

"How long until we can expect that?" Buck asked.

Well, McKay thought, with how things were going so far, with everyone scrambling over each other to get down here, probably not long. All the more reason to get everyone up and ready to go soon. Just in case someone in these ruins was ahead of them even slightly.

"Likely too soon for comfort," She said aloud. "Let's get everyone up and going fast. Preferably before someone, Snarly or Covie tries busting that hole we just closed back open."

Buck nodded and turned to his own squad.

"Alright, don't get comfy people," he said. "We need to be ready to move on the double."

McKay really did hope that the Commander and the Master Chief were close though. That group of pirates was likely just an advanced scouting force. If so, the follow-up assault force would be much bigger. They'd need every gun they could get if they were going to stand even a chance of getting out of here.

---

Getting down this far had proven more than a little difficult. After they had found an operable console, Cortana had managed to download a floor plan to assist them. From their position, the best way forward was through a series of maintenance corridors. Most were locked down, but she could briefly override them for a matter of seconds. This required careful and quick planning to get through each efficiently. Their group was small, but so were these corridors and moving through them proved to be tight. But at least they were avoiding the combat outside in the main halls of the ruins. Given what they had been through so far, they needed to conserve their ammo for what likely lay ahead.

The floorplan Cortana had uncovered revealed the existence of tunnels, where Zek said he and his group were currently traversing towards an engine deck of all things. Cortana then had to casually explain that this planetoid was a ship. It took a minute for everyone to process that, but they at least now had a direction to go: Down. Into these caverns specifically where they'd then head towards this Engineering Deck Taq was leading Zek's group to.

From the sound of things, it probably held the answer to why they were stuck in Slipspace. Shepard hoped so, otherwise they'd be stuck here. On a small lifeless husk of a rock that was actually a failed spaceship in the middle of a Slipspace Void. Honestly though, after everything he had been through, this scenario was almost quaint at this point.

Another maintenance bulkhead opened up wide with a resounding hiss and everyone quickly rushed through before the lockdown switch re-engaged. The next maintenance corridor was slightly more spacious, so they were able to spread out a little and secure the area before the door behind them shut tight once more. No hostiles, they were still golden.

"How much further until these caverns?" Fred asked.

"About one more door, then we can just blow open a vent and jump down," Cortana assured. "Fastest way at this point, especially with everything going on."

"What is going on?" Chief questioned himself in hopes the AI would elaborate.

"Well in the most apt description, total anarchy," Cortana stated bluntly. "Covenant and Pirate forces are basically clashing all over the ruins. There's no lines anymore, it's a free for all. Everyone is trying to beat the other through some door or another. Opposing squads are clashing with each other all over the facility. The Covenant Carrier is sending in reinforcements to follow the pirates in and bolster their own people, but the Pirates aren't playing fair of course. Hit and run attacks mostly, refusing to be drawn into a prolonged fight they know they can't win."

"What about our people?" Shepard asked tepidly. "The Justice and our other ships I mean."

As Cortana took a moment to establish a secure link to their own battlenet, the group kept walking. No sense in wasting time standing around in these cramped quarters when the Covenant and Snarlies were busy killing each other to find that Relic. The AI soon piped back up though.

"Normandy is still on standby for close support and the Ascendant Justice is maintaining a holding pattern just outside the Covenant's carrier's gun range," Cortana assured. "The debris field is making targeting them difficult, but the Covenant are mostly preoccupied. Pirate fightercraft are harassing their dropships and escorting a second wave of pirates down to the planetoid's surface as we speak."

"You'd think after everything we've done Snarlbeak would've just stayed away," Anton huffed in annoyance. "I mean, how many bloody noses... uh, beaks do you need to give a guy before he gives up?"

"It's not like it's the same force he threw at us over the Mind's Eye," Cortana clarified. "That was several Battlecruisers. This is only one of those with a small Corvette Escort. The Pirates still have a lot of people to throw at this, but the Covenant still outnumber them. They're not here to defeat the Covies though, they just need to keep them pinned down fighting long enough to grab their prize and bug out."

"Assuming they can get out at this point," Chief reminded her. "We're all stuck in this void, no matter who gets the Relic."

"Well it did get us here," Kelly noted. "Maybe it can get us out."

"Difficult to say unless we analyze it," Cortana advised. "But Taq seems certain that the problem is more complicated than that. For now, our main objective is to link up with the ODSTs and Zek's group. From there we can consolidate a proper plan."

"Agreed," Shepard concurred. "We can only hope then that the enemy is headed to where the Relic was located and not where it is now. That might buy us at least a little time."

"Best not to assume, Commander," Kat warned. "The Covenant might have means of tracking these relics we don't have given the amount of intel they appear to have on them. They also did not need a map to find at least two of them."

"Let's not count Snarlbeak's men out," Thane cautioned. "It's highly likely he's put his most trusted lieutenant on this job."

Shepard nodded instantly, understanding Thane's point.

"Lurz," he concurred. "He's an expert tracker and hunter. He even eluded our people back on New Teteocan during his probing attack raid. You think he's here?"

"That explosion suggests as much," Thane stated. "He's less subtle than I, but he's doing what I'd do. Bypassing obstacles, utilizing the chaos around him. He might have more of an idea of where to go than most. Because he's likely not just tracking the relic..."

"He's after Zek," Shepard sighed outwardly. "Because he knows Zek would have it at this point. Damn it, we need to get down there if we are dealing with Lurz. Where's that door, Cortana?"

"Right here," the AI spoke up.

Another lockdown door blocked their path. It took a moment, but Cortana managed to bypass it and force it open. Once everyone was through it closed again, but it would be the last time they needed to do so. Below them was a large grate at their feet, their way out.

The Spartans set to work instantly, placing down breaching charges around the grate. Everyone stood back a bit as Kelly detonated them, sending the grate plummeting to the ground below. It wasn't a particularly far jump to the ground, although it was substantial enough in their estimation.

All the same, the Spartans went first, landing in the tunnel rather easily enough one after the other. Each slammed into the dirt feet first, bending their knees as they did. Legion was much the same, Geth platforms were incredibly sturdy. Shepard and Thane utilized a different trick as they both used their biotics to slow their descent somewhat, enabling them to land with little difficulty.

"We could've caught you," Fred told the Commander.

"Yeah but floating is cooler and I rarely get to do it," Shepard stated. "So, where to now?"

"Zek's team is close," Cortana assured. "This engineering deck seems to be at the center of the tunnels. It has at least five levels going down. Taq is heading for the lowest level. I can determine the most efficient path to their location through a localized seismic scan."

As Cortana was explaining this though, a low distant buzzing could be heard in the air. A buzzing that only got louder the longer it went on. Louder and closer, before everyone's motion trackers started going off like crazy.

"Holy shit," Anton observed. "Two guesses what that is."

"No need!" Jun warned. "On our six!"

Everyone turned and saw a writhing mass swarmed out into the tunnel. They buzzed and screeched as they flew forward, some crawling along the walls, others plopping to the ground. They were all headed in the same direction though, right on top of Shepard's crew and the Spartans.

"Drones!" Chief called out. "Open fire!"

The Spartans let loose on the bugs, as did Shepard's team. The mass of insectoid Covies raced forward, firing plasma at the Spartans as they surged through the tunnel. Everyone took cover where they could, mostly construction equipment or rocky debris. The Drones fell pretty quickly from their bullets, plopping to the ground and twitching, but there were plenty more to take the place of the fallen.

"Where did they come from?!" Linda asked, firing her rifle at the swarm, killing several as her bullet cut through them.

"They must've used the maintenance ways, like we did," Thane suggested. "Likely by forcing themselves through ducts and vents where they could or blowing open doors."

The Drell let off a few shots before using his biotics to knock two of the Drones from the sky, riddling them with bullets as the pull attacks sent them careening into walls.

"Likely an advanced scouting group," Kat stated. "The Covenant are trying to beat the pirates down here any way they can."

"That's a lot of scouts!" Anton remarked, letting off a quick burst that killed two of the Drones flying at him.

"It's a lot of tunnels," Kat noted, firing three shots that killed three drones each as they fired from the tunnel walls. "I recommend we fall back to a more defensible position."

"Agreed," Chief declared. "But we need to thin them out so we have a chance to get out of here."

"I got this one," Shepard assured. "Thane, prepare to trigger!"

Thane just nodded as Shepard let off a pull attack against the center of the swarm. It caught two Drones as they flew about the area. Thane then let off a warp attack at the affected bugs, the biotic detonation sent shockwaves through the swarm itself and forced many of its number to land. On the walls, ceiling, but mostly the ground.

For that brief moment, the disoriented or injured Drones in the swarm weren't firing back. Anton sent a grenade in, as did Kelly, both detonated among the Drones still recovering from Shepard's biotic assault.

While that was certainly helpful, the Commander was not yet done. Even as the grenades went off, Shepard ran out of cover towards the Drones. They were returned fire by now as their senses regained hold, but that didn't stop Shepard. When he was close enough, he let off a biotic shockwave towards the mass of bugs that sent them flying upwards. Shepard then hit the nearest one with a Reave attack that detonated the biotic field surrounding him. Doing even more damage to the surrounding Drones. The bugs were thrown into the walls and back to the floor as the bulk of the swarm scattered.

"Well that's one way to remind everyone why he's on the Covies' most wanted list," Fred observed.

Shepard was already rushing back to the Master Chief.

"We got our opening, let's move!" He shouted.

Chief just nodded and spoke to Cortana as everyone picked up and ran.

"We got a nav point?" He asked.

"Several," Cortana assured. "Just follow the directions and keep moving. If the Drones got down here, others will be close behind."

Sure enough, there were a few smaller drone squads up ahead. They had likely broken through a few other vents in the tunnel system. As they swarmed from the left end of a crossways in the underground, Chief shifted his fire. He blew a hole through one Drone easily enough as another struck his shield with plasma bolts. The Spartan weathered the shots and bolted up to the Drone to smash it clean in its face with his fist.

As the drone fell to the floor, Chief's foot smashed down on its head with a satisfying crunch. He was still firing on the third drone, clipping its wing in such a way that he crashed into his fourth comrade. Both slammed into the floor, where Chief put two more rounds in each for good measure.

A fifth and final bug attempted to come up behind Chief at this point. Shepard was about to call out, as was Cortana, but the Spartan was already turning to elbow the insectoid in the eye. The drone fell to the ground, sputtering fluid, before the Master Chief blew two bullets into its face.

The entire engagement lasted about seven seconds or so. At this point, not even Shepard was surprised.

"Not trying to one-up me are you?" The Commander joked.

"Just removing some obstacles, sir," Chief assured.

"Well, excellent work, keep it up," Shepard replied jovially. "We're going to need that to pull Zek and the others out of this fire."

"Let's just hope they haven't stepped further into it," said Cortana dryly. "Something tells me shutting down this weird Slipspace Drive isn't going to be as simple as flipping a switch."

---

The wall broke apart violently, as the excavation seed bore through the rock and then steel. The object came to a rest with a clatter, closing itself back up and leaving a giant hole behind it. Taq peeked out of the cavity into the greater chamber itself, discovering a fairly sized dimly lit room beyond it. Scanning the area, she quickly spotted what they were after at the center.

"Come on, it's here!"

Taq jumped into the room first, dropping down from a few feet to the floor below. Taking a look back, she determined they hadn't damaged anything too important by drilling through the wall. Although that platform didn't look so stable anymore... also there was a smashed monitor. But none of the electronics appeared damaged, no wires were sparking at least. She'd need to check to make doubly sure though.

Zek climbed through next, landing a little gracefully as he assumed the floor was closer. Retz followed next as did Kasumi. They quickly got their bearings as they looked about their new surroundings. While the deck was not too different from the one they had left in terms of appearances, the key difference was, again, at the center.

It was a large device, floating in the middle of the room, a somewhat cone-shaped casing pointing downward with a spinning tip at the end. Within they could see glowing crystals, twisting about in their resonance chamber. As far as Taq was concerned, this was mostly standard for Forerunner Slipspace Drives. What was far more interesting was what was below the resonance chamber itself.

As depicted in the schematics, it was a raised trapezoid-shaped device. There was a divot in its center, like a hole, sending out sparks of electricity between it and the Slipspace Drive's tip above it. The device was also spinning at a high rate of speed. Yet it wasn't making nearly as much noise as you'd think it would. It was more of a low persistent humming as energy travelled between the two devices.

"So what are we looking at?" Kasumi asked.

"My best guess," Taq surmised. "Whatever that spinning thing in the floor is, it's directly affecting that Slipspace Drive which is hooked up to the various engines and power systems throughout the engine decks."

Taq traced her eyes towards the mess of wiring and cables above them that were attached to the drive itself. They indeed snaked up through the ceiling above them and into the walls. There were also various tubes connected to the drive and the device in the floor as well.

"That's probably coolant, or the Forerunner equivalent, keeping these things from overheating," Taq stated. "Likely necessary because... well these two things are being kept on in perpetuity."

"Per-what?" Zek asked, confused at the world.

"Perpetuity," Taq sighed in annoyance, "As in they both need to function forever, or at least as long as is necessary."

"So when do they shut off then?" Zek asked, not seeming to understand the issue. "What makes them decide to shut off? The Forerunner didn't wanna be stuck in here forever, did they?"

Taq rubbed the sides of her head and took a breath.

"I imagine, they didn't want to prematurely exit Slipspace before the Halo array stopped firing," she theorized rather firmly. "Or until any potential threat was otherwise gone. And who knows what criteria they would consider optimal for escape or if they even got around to that part. The point is, I think the spinning thing is locking the drive in Slipspace transit."

"How though?" Retz questioned. "Why did it suddenly turn on? Was it something we did?"

"I can't be sure," Taq confessed. "Until I get a better look at this thing and what exactly it is, all I can presume is that it is somehow affecting the Slipspace Drive in such a manner to hold up in this void for however long it deems necessary. Which could be months, years, or maybe only as long as until it detects the Halo Array's firing has ceased. I can't be sure. This technology is... highly irregular, even by Forerunner standards."

"Well, let's find you a terminal then and get you in there," Kasumi insisted.

Kasumi's search didn't take long, as she located a large control console close by as well as a working terminal. Taq quickly got on it and after bypassing the initial lockout features she was in. While she worked, Zek and Retz looked over the room itself, taking in the equipment strewn about them and the design of the chamber.

"It's weird this engineering deck has so many levels that aren't connected directly," Retz observed.

"This whole place is weird," Zek stated. "It's a hunk of space rock they tried to make into the world's most overly elaborate lifeboat."

"Makes you think a little" Retz observed aloud. "I mean, about how desperate even they were at the end."

Zek looked contemplative for a moment, but he brushed it off.

"Eh, people latch onto any stupid idea at the end of their rope I guess," he determined.

"That's underselling it," Retz quickly pointed out. "We were on Halo, we know what they were facing better than most. You do specifically, you ran into the Flood more than me."

"And we blew them the fuck up," Zek stated fairly definitively. "End of story. We did what the Forerunners couldn't do."

"Did we? There's more Rings out there, more Flood locked away on them," Retz reminded him. "Shepard came back from a future where they've overrun two universes-"

"Which won't happen now cause I know better than to trust these Cerberus people," Zek assured his friend. "Look if you're worried it's ever gonna come to this for us, don't! Once we have the Cutlass, none of that's gonna matter."

"Assuming the Cutlass is everything we hope it is," Retz cautioned. "And if so, maybe we should consider... well, needle proofing the whole plan."

Zek gave him a side-eye.

"Which would be...?" He asked incredulously.

"Putting it to use," Retz answered. "I don't think it's wise sitting on such an impressive weapon just to wave it around to keep folks off your back. We could use it to find the other Halos and-"

"Retz, No!" Zek groaned. "That's just gonna get us a huge ass target on our asses from the Covenant even more than we already have! We're doing this to get OUT of this bullshit, remember?"

"We're already well in it and we've profited well enough from it," Retz insisted. "Is it really wise to bugger off the second we get the biggest prize on the table?"

"When you hit the jackpot it's best not to tempt fate, Retz," Zek replied. "I know, a bit out of character for me, but it's a hell of a lot less stressful if you have the ultimate weapon to insure your business forever. Not... risk it all by getting more involved in some stupid war that's just gonna kill everyone."

Retz now looked his friend dead in the eye as he spoke next.

"It will likely kill everyone if the Covenant find another of those rings," he told his shipmaster. "I'm not saying we should get involved in the war. All I'm saying is that it might be beneficial if we make sure one side has a better chance at winning this."

Zek thoughts seemed to ponder these words... but he shook his head eventually.

"It ain't our problem, Retz," he said flatly. "It never was. Don't go screwy on me now, pal. Not this close to the finish line. Why would you want to throw in with these people fully anyway? Are they honestly any better than the Syndicate? Just a bunch of dipshits who don't even like you and want to boss you around anyway?"

"It's not about them or even for them," Retz tried to explain. "It's about y-"

"Hey! We got something!"

Taq's interruption ended the conversation cold. Zek headed off to the console proper, Retz reluctantly following. It made sense to hear what Taq had to say, it wasn't like they couldn't pick this conversation up later. But Retz had kinda hoped they'd get to the heart of the matter on this sooner than later and their surroundings somewhat punctuated his ultimate point some.

What they heard from Taq though forced that line of thought to the backburner though.

"It's like I thought, this spinning device is some sort of energy siphon," She explained in her usual scholarly fashion. "Its function is keep this... crazy overpowered Slipspace Drive they've attached to a whole mess of engines, locked in Slipspace. It's pulling from some powerful energy source it's tapped into."

"You mean our blue glowing friend here?" Kasumi asked, holding up the Relic of Power they collected.

Taq shook her head.

"No, that thing is just for plotting and activating the Slipspace entry point," she corrected. "From what I can gather, it's usually supposed to make Slipspace travel not only insanely fast but also pinpoint accurate. It would enable this rock to travel through Slipspace indefinitely and seamlessly... if it were still hooked up to the navigation matrix we pried it out of. Without it... well... we're just kinda... drifting aimlessly through a void."

"So we put it back, we get out?" Zek asked.

"That would be intensely annoying because we'd have to go all the way back up topside, but no," Taq informed him "It doesn't work like that, not with that thing on."

She pointed the siphoning device, still spinning at a regular rate.

"It's connected to something that is working through it and now that relic," she explained. "It can't navigate us, but it can maintain the Slipspace Field. While the siphon is pooling energy from another source that is preventing said field from deteriorating, that Slipspace Drive from shutting down and this whole place from violently ripping itself out of the void."

"So shut it off!" Zek told her, stressing his clear exasperation with all of this.

Taq voiced her own right back, namely at his lack of understanding.

"Did you not hear the part about VIOLENTLY being RIPPED out of this place?" She asked, emphasizing the most important words. "I shut it down improperly, say blowing it up or unplugging out the power supply, this rock starts tearing itself to pieces along with everything around it. Sending everything, alive or otherwise, to parts unknown across the universe! Most likely in several pieces! Your legs on one planet, your arm on some distant moon, the rest of you flying into a sun! Does that fun to you, Zek? Would you like to be dismembered across space before plummeting into a sun? Hmmm?"

Zek was quiet for a moment, a look of abject fear strewn across his face. His mind was unsure of whether the scariest thing was what Taq had described, how she described it or just Taq herself. In the end he held up his hands and came to an understanding of the facts and relented his point.

"Okay... don't shut it off," he said tepidly. "Gotcha."

"How are you so sure that's what will happen though?" Kasumi asked.

"Because the logs down here state they tried it while the siphon was underpowered," Taq informed her, brining up the relevant data on the screen. "A few seconds later, there are alerts from all across the planetoid before one giant, very concerning emergency update. That various levels and systems have just been lost. As in... they don't exist anymore."

"The crater," Retz reasoned. "We were right, it was caused by this experiment failing."

Taq just nodded.

"Well, obviously, it's not underpowered now," Retz noted. "So what's changed? Where is it drawing its power from?"

"Taking a wild guess here," Taq began, tapping her fingers together in a steeple like fashion. "While I'm certain there may be other factors, one of them is undeniable. I'm thinking its because we're here. You know... with the other Relics. Specifically that Crystal from Reach. The one that controls time."

"The Time Crystal is back on the carrier though," Kasumi reminded them. "How is it doing any of this?"

"The Amplifier wasn't latched to Tali's head and it still transmitted the memory of the Chronicler to her," Taq recounted. "The Crystal itself wasn't connected to Shepard or the Master Chief, but they were flung into the future by it. And let's not forget what the Mind's Eye did to all of us.

"Proximity obviously is important, but these relics don't necessarily need to be connected directly to anyone or thing to activate. Slipspace is itself is affected by both space and time, so it stands to reason a relic connected to the properties of Space and one of Time have some synchronous properties with each other. The Forerunner's experiment with this rock didn't work because the siphon needed the crystal and our blue friend needed it as well. The relics themselves are intrinsically connected after all! That's for certain!"

"If that's true, why would they risk activating it without all the shit they needed to make it work?" Zek asked incredulously.

Taq just scoffed at him.

"That's rich coming from you," she sneered at him. "But to answer your question, likely because the relic didn't arrive in time. Maybe it was lost on Reach, they couldn't find it. Whatever the case, they took the risk because it was either that or die in the Halo Array's blast wave. Obviously it didn't pan out."

"Whatever the reason, we need to shut it off," Kasumi declared. "Otherwise we're stuck here."

"I'm sure there are protocols for properly exiting this Void or at least turning off the siphon," Taq assured her. "I'll need a moment to really look through them all to determine the best-"

There was then several loud banging sounds against the main door to the chamber. Zek jumped and pointed his needler at said door, but nothing came through. The others cautiously lifted their own weapons, anticipating something was about to bust in. Instead, their communicators crackled to life.

"Zek! Taq! We know you're in there! Open the hell up!"

It was McKay, she was outside. But apparently the door was locked. Kasumi rushed over to the nearby console close to the door and quickly ran a bypass. As soon as she did, the doors creaked open slowly and rushing inside were several squads of heavily armed ODSTs, firing wildly back out the door or carrying in wounded colleagues. One young trooper was screaming bloody murder as he let loose with his machine gun before a massive greenish blur collided into him, smashing him against the floor.

It was a yanmm'e, a drone, currently now trying to bite the head off the panicking trooper even as it was bleeding from several gunshot wounds.

"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU FUCKING OVERGROWN ROACH! KILL YOU!"

The trooper was screaming almost as loud as his attacker, punching the bug in the face frantically as the two struggled. Gnashing mandibles and flailing fists going at each other as they rolled about the floor. The other troopers, however, were too busy with their own problems in trying to both hold the door and get inside to help him.

Thankfully the trooper didn't have to worry about getting help. As the yanmm'e reared up to try and strike down its hapless prey, Zek had rushed up behind it and lunged his plasma machete clean through the drone's thorax. It spit up vile putrescent blood everywhere as its last dying screeches fell away and Zek forced the machete up through its head, splitting the bug in two.

As the body fell away, Zek could see the Trooper beneath him, covered in bug juices. In his fight or flight state, the human went for his sidearm at last and pointed it half-heartedly at Zek.

"Ugh, typical, I save your ass and this is the thanks I get," Zek grumbled, putting away his machete and not even seeming to care about the weapon pointed at him. He just activated his shield gauntlet and pulled back.

Eventually, the Trooper realized he was safe and lowered his weapon. Thankfully, one of his fellow Troopers noticed him and helped him to his feet.

"Uh, thanks," he finally managed to say to Zek.

"Whatever," Zek replied, almost annoyed to hear the delayed bit of gratitude.

By now, the ODSTs were inside the room. Drones were pilled up near the door or trying to claw their way inside as the entrance slid shut tight again. The crunching sound of more than a few of the bugs could be distinctly heard as one of their arms was cut off and plopped down towards McKay's foot. She kicked it away in disgust.

"Thanks for opening it in time, Kasumi," she said looking to the thief. "That was way too close. Bastards came out of nowhere."

"If that's the case we should probably close up that hole we made to get in here," Kasumi noted, looking behind her. "If they find it, they'll be headed down through there next."

As if on cue, they suddenly heard a sound coming from the hole. Little rocks, crumbling down the tunnel and the sound of something thundering down towards them all. McKay quickly acted and ordered her squads to surround the hole.

"Secure the perimeter, do not fire until we have confirmation!" She ordered. "Be ready to seal that thing when we do!"

The anticipation grew as the Troopers crowded around the hole. They made sure to be wary of crossfire in their spacing. All of their weapons were set to fully automatic, or pointed square at the hole itself. More than a few shook at the thought of engaging more Drones, pouring through the tunnel like a tidal wave of wings and spindly claws. Everyone's eyes were trained on the hole, their fingers on hair triggers and sweat pouring down beneath their helmets.

It was agonizing. Listening to the sound. The thundering of whatever it was rushing down that tunnel to meet them.

Imagine their surprise when, instead of a bug, they saw something decidedly more human emerge. A Spartan, clad in blue armor with a metal arm. It was Noble Two.

"Hold!" McKay quickly shouted before anyone made the mistake of shooting. "Hold your fire!"

"Clear the way," Kat then ordered.

Noble Two was soon followed by Jun, Thane, Legion, Kelly, Fred, Anton, Linda and of course Commander Shepard. When he rolled out onto the deck, he looked back to the hole. The sound of assault rifle fire and the flash of gun bursts came from the darkened tunnel. And alongside it, was the screeching of Drones.

"Get back!" The Commander told them all.

No one questioned the Commander and they quickly retreated from the tunnel exit. Moment later, the Master Chief slid clean out of the hole and tossed something back towards it. As it dropped onto the floor below, he also pressed hard on a detonator switch. A lone drone's head emerged from the darkness next... only to be obliterated by the resulting explosion that collapsed the tunnel onto it. Rock and debris poured from the opening, crumbling to the floor.

Everyone in the room rushed even further back as the tunnel completely caved in. Dust pooling around them as it covered the room. When it cleared, there was only a towering pile of rock leading from where the mouth of the excavated tunnel had once been. There were signs of the drones in the debris, but no complete pieces. Just arms and legs and maybe wing sticking out of the rock.

"Well, that was an experience," Shepard observed, before turning to the whole room. "And hey, looks like everyone else made it too."

The Troopers all seemed to sigh in collective relief. There were a few cheers, but they all knew better than to assume this was over. McKay went directly to the Master Chief and the Commander to shake their hands in greeting.

"Commander, Chief, good to see you both," she told them. "I see the bugs menaced you the whole way down too."

"They've flooded the tunnels, but I think Chief just squashed a few of them at least," Shepard said confidently. "But that's neither here nor there. Point is we've all linked up, and I'm sure we have a lot to talk about."

He noticed the massive siphoning device and Slipspace Drive in the center of the engineering deck.

"That specifically I imagine," he presumed.

"You're more correct than you realize," Taq answered Shepard. "I don't suppose you have a direct line back to your ship, Commander? I'm positive they haven't been sitting on their laurels."

"I've been working on reestablishing a link, but comms are still a little crazy at the moment," Shepard explained. "Cortana, how about your angle? Anything?"

"One moment, Commander," The AI replied. "Finalizing... yes, that should do it."

Shepard placed his hand against his ear and spoke firmly.

"Shepard to Normandy, do you read, over?"

Moments later, Joker's voice answered back.

"Commander, good to hear from you," he said. "We've been trying to get into contact with you all, but it's just nuts down there. Listen, Tali is working on a plan to get us out of this void. Tell me you guys have got that weird ass relic already and are almost good to go?"

Shepard looked about and saw Kasumi hold up the relic itself, stilling shining bright blue.

"We got it, Joker," Shepard told him. "Now what about getting us out of this void?"

"Hold on, Commander," Taq spoke up. "You better patch me through to your ship directly. In fact, best do it for all of us. We need to compare some notes. Getting out of this void is going to be a lot trickier than it was getting in."

"Getting in was no cakewalk," McKay told her.

"Yeah but apparently getting out the wrong way might get our various body parts thrown across the universe," Zek added. "Some maybe into a sun or whatever."

Everyone just looked at the pirate leader, deadpanned in stunned silence. Zek eventually grew irritated with their expressions. He growled and pointed to Taq.

"Her words, not mine!"

Everyone else at that point took the statement a bit more seriously. Which only vexed Zek more, while Taq just ignored his silent fuming. As did everyone.

"Alright, you have our attention, Taq," Shepard stated. "What's the plan exactly?"

"Working on it," she admitted, somewhat sheepishly. "For now, let's just go over what we know. Best get comfy... and maybe secure those blast doors. We're going to be here for a bit."

---

A final drone fell to his feet. The bugs routed and gutted. One tried to crawl away from a fellow hunter, only for a blade to stab into its brain. Lurz looked about the tunnel, now caked in insect blood. Worthless prey, hardly worth the effort. Definitely not worth the trophy he could make of their eviscerated bodies and decapitated heads.

What mattered to him was the smell of this tunnel. This ancient pathway that held new fresh victims. One victim in particular. He could smell Zek now, his very distinctive smell. They were close, so very close. He'd deliver his kill back to Snarlbeak and once more prove the only truth that mattered to both of them.

That power was paid in blood. And Zek was overdue on his tribute to the once and future Pirate King. Lurz would soon collect it from his lifeless corpse. It would be a good end to a very good day.

---

AN: Well, glad to see this get up here promptly. I'm hoping to do the same for the next chapter and the one after that. I don't think they're going to be terribly long to write. Next time is the final chapter in this Void War Arc. I hope this has made you as excited to read it as I am to get it finished. Trust me, it's a big one. See you all there. Until then, leave a review and check out my notes on my blog for thoughts about this chapter. As always, I appreciate your support.