Author's Note
Sorry for the wait, hope it was worth it.
Uploaded
09/21/2023
LEGEND BELOW
"Chief, that's not a good idea..." = Normal speech.
''You're you, don't let it control you...'' = Normal thoughts/Receiving coms.
Chapter 31
When plans fall apart, decisions must be made
Rated-M
M rating for blood, and language, and violence.
Music of the day
Halo 4 - Awakening
The heavy metal door slid open for the Spartan, his form cast in shadows as he stepped into the Doctor's lab. Having known he was coming, the older woman had run to meet him, hands shaking as she spoke the first words that came to her rattled mind.
"I desperately hope you know why this is all happening, Because, to be honest, my objectivity isn't doing me a whole lot of good right now…" Tilson ranted, voice shaking as she backpedaled, leading the Spartan to the control platform that seemingly hung over the massive open space that housed the Composer.
As the big green soldier approached the viewing window, he got his first glance at the device in person, and one look at it told him that it was far more impressive then he'd originally given it credit for. The Forerunner device was massive, probably over two hundred feet tall, and made out of the signature Forerunner grey steel metal material, the core of the device glowing a bright blue.
"Hold on, I'll start us down." Tilson pulled his attention again, running to the controls. The platform the Spartan suddenly realized he was standing on shifted as it began moving downward, approaching the first floor of the facility.
As she busied herself with that, he found his attention drawn to the Composer once more. "The device you recovered was a Forerunner Weapon. The commander of that ship wants it back." He pointed out gruffly, not raising his voice.
Tilson paused at the words that left the Spartan's mouth, turning to face him, bewildered. "Wants it back…?" She questioned quietly, head tilted to the side, eyes widening slightly. "You don't think you can remove…" She started, stepping closer to the man. "…it can't leave this station, you know that, right?" She asked, stunned by what the man was suggesting.
Chief sighed, knowing that she'd probably try and talk him out of it. He faced her again, gazing down at her. "We don't have any choice, Doctor." He stated clearly.
She shook her head, taking a step back. "I-It's not a matter of choice." She rebuked, as if speaking to a toddler. "It took three months, a-and the biggest starship the UNSC could throw at it just to relocate it here." She explained, pointing out the window to the giant device. "Unless you're a lot stronger then you look, it's not going anywhere." She finished, turning back to him.
He paused for a moment, glancing at the Composer again.
If he couldn't remove it from the station…
"Can you give Cortana access to the station's supply manifest?" He asked suddenly, glancing at her.
She looked confused for a moment, before turning to access the terminal on autopilot. "What for?" She asked quietly, curious.
"If we can't move the Composer, we have to make sure the Didact can't either." He stated.
Tilson's hands froze over the keyboard, eyes widening as she took in what the Spartan was saying. She turned back to him, eyes wide as she felt the weight of the situation slamming into her with the subtlety of a bomb. "Oh wait…" She breathed quietly, slowly approaching him. "W-We have YEARS of work invested here…" She emphasized, practically begging now.
However, Cortana had already gained access, and decided then to speak up. "Inventory lists seven excavation-grade Havok mines. Just one of those would turn this base into a piñata." Cortana explained, both to the Spartan, and the doctor.
"I'm sorry Doctor. Keep routing your people to the evac centers. Once we take care of the Composer, you won't have much time." He apologized, thinking for a brief moment. "Samus has already cleared out her side of the facility. Most of your staff have safely made it off the station and have been rerouted to a nearby UNSC secret base." He explained.
Tilson seemed to struggle with the weight of everything coming down around her all at once, the reality that she would have to forever say goodbye to the years of blood sweat and tears that had been poured into this station and it's research…
It was too much to handle all at once…
"I'll…" She started quietly, voice hitching from the stress. "I'll make sure the nukes are primed so you can detonate them remotely." She said quietly.
The Spartan didn't stand around, convinced that he'd finally gotten her to do what he wanted her to, and turned to leave. "Maybe next time you rescue us," She started quietly, on the verge of tears.
The Spartan paused by the door, turning to face her one last time. She stared at him for a long moment, absentmindedly licking her lips as a nervous breakdown tickled the back of her mind. "-you can give us more time to pack?" She asked, eyes searching him.
Chief stared silently at her, the weight of her words heavy, as was the reply he was going to give her. "Next time." He said, voice deep.
He was under no misconception that there was a very strong possibility that there may never be a next time, that his promise would fall onto a list of promises that he'd been unable to hold up to.
As unfortunate as the reality was, he was all too aware that this universe, in all its expansiveness, was unexpectedly unfair…
After leaving Tilson behind, he made his way down to the base floor of the facility, finding himself in the wide open expanse that held the Forerunner weapon. He knew it was big, but seeing it from the ground truly gave him perspective on the device.
As it stood now, however, the Covenant had yet to breach this sector of the station, which meant that he still had time to complete his plan. If the location of the Composer was compromised before the bombs could be detonated, their situation would become far worse than it already was.
And they were currently living in a scenario that no one thought could happen as it was anyway, so he'd hope for the best and put his all into the limited time he had left.
"You think a nuke will destroy it?" He found himself questioning the digital woman in his mind.
"I don't see any w-world where it doesn't. If, by some unfortunate logic that it does survive the blast, it w-won't be useful to the Didact." Cortana mused thoughtfully. "But let's not plan on him getting his hands on it at all…" She trailed off.
He nodded, looking around the area.
He realized that if the Covenant were to stumble upon the Composer before the bomb was prepared, Tilson and her team would have no chance to protect themselves. "Are there any base defenses online in the area?" He asked, tapping into local coms once more.
The line was quiet for a moment, before the lab director responded. ''E-Err, no. I've lost control of the defense grid, I can't do anything…'' Tilson's skittish voice echoed over his radio.
"Can you send me the coordinates for the control tower? Cortana can take it from there." He asked quickly.
''Um, yes… Hold on, one moment…. Got it, I've sent it your way. Please, be careful Spartan.'' Tilson rambled on, voice tense.
The moment the information came through, Cortana had a ping set on his HUD, and he was off. Unfortunately, the weapon control tower was on the other side of the facility, so he was going to have to run for it.
A minute or so later he'd managed to cross the field that held the artifact, finding a doorway that had been sealed shut by a group of soldiers.
"S-Spartan? Here?!" One exclaimed in surprise, while the other saluted dutifully.
"How can we help sir?" The second asked, hand held to his head for a brief moment, offering the Spartan the respect given his position.
"I need access to the weapon's control tower." Chief stated in no uncertain terms.
The soldier pointed a thumb over his shoulder to the door behind him. "This door is sealed shut, we've got Covenant ground troops not too far behind it. But there's a secret access tunnel that'll take you through here without much trouble." The man explained, quickly leading him to an access doorway. He punched a few numbers into the keyboard before the door opened.
Stepping through, the Chief glanced behind him. "Seal the door. We can't afford the Covenant finding that artifact." He ordered, before taking off.
"Yes sir!" He heard the soldier echo, before his voice was lost in the sound of the door slamming shut once more.
"Cortana, how long do you think we have?" He found himself asking his companion as he snaked through the secret back tunnels of the facility, hidden in the shadows, bypassing most of the fighting. Soon enough he'd have to burst into the room and engage with the Covenant, lest they find the Composer, but time was limited.
"Before either the Covenant or the Didact finds the Composer? Probably n-n-n-n-" Cortana mused, before her voice vanished entirely into a fuzz of noise, her malfunction gotten to the point that it negatively impacted the Spartan, his HUD flashing neon colors as he lost all of his heads up display.
"Cortana?" The man called out, the fuzz that overtook his visor more than a little distracting and concerning. She'd never disappeared on him like this before.
A few moments passed like that, before his head up display rebooted. "I-I'm…. I'm sorry!" She snapped, sounding like she was trying to hold back tears. "It's like a thousand of me a-a-a-are yelling at me all at o-o-o-once!" Her voice echoed all around him, all her, yet not at the same time.
"It's ok." He muttered, but even his own voice sounded unsure.
"How? How is this OK? How is putting you at risk because I can't hold it together, OK?" She snapped, before going quiet. "Chief, do you even understand what rampancy is? We… we don't just shut down. Our cognitive processes begin dividing exponentially according to our total knowledge base. We literally think ourselves to death…" She explained pointedly, but she felt somber.
"You know I won't let that happen." He was quick to try and reassure her, hoping that she could place her faith in him. And, more than that, hoping that he could place his faith in himself too.
"And if it happens a-anyway?" She found herself asking before she could stop it. He tried to think of something to say, but nothing came to mind.
Perhaps that thought scared him more than anything else.
Nevertheless, he punched his way through the vents, entering into the control tower. He ran in, sliding to a stop as he peered out the window to the rest of space. Floating just a short distance away was the Didact's ship, continuing to scan the facility for the Composer.
"T-There! That's the main defense console! Chief, put me in!" Cortana jumped suddenly, directing him to a terminal to his side. Then, to his immense displeasure, she began laughing maniacally. "Hehe… Insert me into the defense grid…" She giggled in the back of his mind, her voice the sound of more than just one woman.
Shaking his head, he reached back and pulled her data chip, plugging it into the console. Although she was heavily malfunctioning, she still directed her focus onto bringing the site defense systems online.
"Doctor Tilson, are you there?" He called out quickly."
''I'm here, any luck?'' She responded.
"Cortana's bringing the defense grid online now!"
''Okay, I hear it. I'll broadcast the final evac orders.''
"The nuke?" The Spartan thought to ask suddenly.
''We're rigging it now. Meet us back on the upper platform and we'll help you get it to the artifact.'' Tilson added, before the line closed.
With the grid back online, he wasted no time in grabbing Cortana before making a beeline for Tilson. There wasn't much time left.
His boots kicked up sparks across the ground as he ran, skirting around corners, tearing a path back to the control center with Tilson.
"C-Chief… If we actually manage to pull this off and make it back to Halsey… Please don't tell her how bad I got…" Cortana whispered as he ran.
"I won't say anything." He said, focusing on the mission at hand.
Eventually he managed to make it back to the center of the facility. However, upon reaching the Composer once more, he'd made a terrible discovery.
The Covenant had found the Composer.
"Doctor Tilson, the Composer's location has been compromised! I need that nuke down here now!" Chief called out, rushing down to the main deck.
He needed to stop them from informing the Didact of its location, and if any of them escaped, this whole plan was going to be shot to hell.
''It's not ready yet! W-We need more time-'' She responded frantically.
"Ready or not, I need it down here now!" He snapped, sliding into the control seat for an ONI grade Mantis war-mech. The moment he had control over the weapons, he began unloading highly explosive rounds into the fleeing Phantoms. If he could prevent their escape, Tilson may have enough time to prep the bomb.
"Chief, they're deploying Wraiths!" Cortana exclaimed, pulling his attention to the Covenant tanks that had just entered into play.
He immediately drew his attention to them, taking lock on their slower moving forms, before firing off a barrage of missiles from the other weapon arm.
But there was simply too many to handle all at once, the waves of them too much.
But that didn't mean he was going to give up.
But, in that moment, his companion that had left to deal with the survivors reached out to him over a private line. ''Chief, do you copy?'' Samus's voice suddenly echoed in his helmet.
He was quiet for a long moment, focusing on getting out of the way of the incoming plasma bombardments, before he responded. "Samus, I'm here. What happened, are you alright?" He quickly called out, audibly distressed.
''I'm fine. I've evacuated the survivors on this deck to the shuttle with little resistance.'' The Bounty Hunter called back in response, the sounds of her footsteps echoing through her communication systems as she ran.
"Good, good. Get to my position quickly, we've got to destroy the Composer before the Didact finds it!" The Spartan responded sharply.
''He doesn't know where it's at?'' Samus couldn't help but ask in bewilderment.
"He knows it's somewhere on the station, but not where exactly. He wouldn't dare destroy the station with the Composer inside of it, so he's scanning it instead. I don't think we have much time before he finds it…" He responded quickly, the sounds of heavy gunfire in the background pulling her attention.
''Where are you now? What's going on?'' She asked back, concerned.
"I'm in the middle of the station. Got a couple Wraiths who-" He paused as another explosion rocketed out, his coms picking it up. "-don't seem to like me all that much…" He finished dryly. "I've got a plan. Once we secure the area, I'm going to set off all the site's Havoc's, turn this asteroid into a dust storm."
''You're going to use nukes?'' Samus asked, eyebrows raised.
"Remote detonation, of course. Just one would be enough to level this facility, but I'm not taking any chances, not here, not now." The Spartan explained sharply.
''I don't blame you.'' Samus grunted, having picked up the ping the Spartan sent her way, her suit tracking him down through the ruined halls of the UNSC facility.
''Where's Tilson? How many are still aboard?'' Samus asked urgently.
"There are a few soldiers that haven't evacuated. Most of Tilson's crew were in the bunker. The Doctor is still in her tower." He explained. "Samus, I need you down here asap! If they get word to the Didact…" He trailed off, not needing to explain.
''I'm on my way, I'll be there shortly!'' Samus responded sharply.
The line cut a moment later, allowing the Spartan to focus on stopping the Covenant long enough.
An explosion rocked the mech as a plasma mortar landed dangerously close to him, the super heated plasma scorching the outer armor.
He spun the mech around, firing round after round into the Wraith and the Phantom that had dropped the tank off.
Red warning signs blaring from the control until informed him of damage sustained from other weapons, Grunts on the ground having been loaded up with Fuel Rod cannons.
He promptly dealt with them via a stomp that flattened the runts underneath a few tons of metal.
"Chief, you've got Banshees incoming!" Cortana cried out in alarm.
He cranked the controls to the side, bringing the aim up to the small fighter craft that had just flown in. They took note of him immediately and began assaulting him with a barrage of plasma. The attacks very quickly began to wear down the shields on the Mantis, and began digging into the armor of the mech. He attempted to evade further attacks while taking them out of the air with the mission cannons, but the damage was already done.
"Chief, this thing's n-not going to last forever!" Cortana warned.
Her statement was true, but he had no chance to take on an army that size on his own. If he lost the Mantis, he'd be out of options.
But, hopefully he didn't need to make it last much longer.
Coming running like a bat out of hell, the last Banshee was fully unprepared for the super suit covered alien woman that came flying at it from the ground, launched up into the air via use of her highly advanced technology.
Samus came soaring up to the fighter, reaching out to imbed her claws into the ship, she rapidly absorbed both it and its occupant in a bright flash of pink.
Her thrusters kicked on, using them with assistance of her wings, keeping her in the air even though one was greatly damaged.
"Chief, I've got the air! You worry about the ground units!" Samus called out, taking aim as she began firing off vastly superior plasma rounds at the fleeing Covenant.
With her by his side, his chances of stopping the Covenant long enough for the nuke to be primed had increased.
She continued to fly just out of reach of anyone on the ground, raining down hellfire onto them without mercy.
The station shook as the Didact scanned it once more, but he was still unaware of the location of the Composer.
At least, that's what he'd assumed.
"Chief… no, one of them got away!" Cortana pointed out, watching as a Banshee that had been hiding away suddenly made a break for it. She only noticed once it had made it out of range.
He felt his stomach sink. "Doctor Tilson, where's the warhead? Doctor Tilson!?" Chief called out, but his voice seemed to fall on deaf ears as a response from the site director did not come his way.
"Head back to the elevator platform, I'll k-keep trying to raise her!" Cortana exclaimed frantically.
"Damnit, Chief! What's the call?!" Samus called out from the air.
"Meet me on the platform, we've got to get that nuke down here now!" He exclaimed, having abandoned the ruined war-mech behind, running on foot to the platform.
They were out of time.
Samus glanced back at the towering Composer that loomed over her, wondering if she'd be able to destroy it with her conventional weaponry, but quick fire scans of it informed her that it would take far too long to properly destroy with any force she could produce. She could try absorbing it, but it was producing a self sustaining energy shield that stopped that plan from working either.
The only feasible option was the nuke, and it wasn't down there.
"On my way!" She called out, thrusters flaring to life as she launched herself across the battlefield, quickly landing beside the Spartan as she joined him on the elevator.
"T-The nukes should be stored in the next bay over, start up the elevator!" Cortana ordered. The Spartan's fingers slid over the controls, the hydraulics of the platform kicking into action, raising them up.
"What happened? Where's Tilson?" Samus asked, glancing at the Spartan from her position by the viewing window.
"I don't know. I've lost contact with her, something is-" The Spartan tried explaining, but as the elevator began to rise, offering them both a clear view of the field that held the Forerunner artifact, something began to happen.
"Chief! Immense casimir wave building outside the atrium!" Cortana warned suddenly.
The man barely had enough time to turn his attention to the window, before the entire other half of the facility was completely blown away, the debris thrown right towards them.
"Get down!" Samus dove at him, tackling him out of the way as the support beams that held up the atrium were thrown into the elevator shaft, slamming through the window and completely obliterating the area where they had both stood. The base shook underneath the catastrophic damage it had just sustained, and the elevator shaft barely seemed to stay stable.
They crashed onto the ground just shy of the doorway, a fair few feet from the support beam that nearly hit them. Samus was quick to get to her feet, offering the Spartan a claw, which he promptly took as she pulled him to his feet.
However, their attention was immediately pulled to the window, or, what was left of it. And, what they saw on the other side was…
Open space.
The facility's other half had been wiped away entirely, and hovering just outside, was the Didact's ship. And a moment later came the blinding flash of red as the Didact's ship took hold of the Composer, and began lifting it free from the ruins of the station.
"Cortana, see if you can raise Tilson. Get me status on the rest of the station." Chief ordered frantically, watching helplessly as his foe took the ancient weapon away.
"I can't believe he just did that…" Cortana muttered lowly, voice cracking, deep, wrong.
Samus glanced over to them, surprised by the sudden change in the blue A.I.'s attitude.
"Cortana I need that info!" Chief exclaimed, before he sighed deeply. "Look, don't focus on the Didact, don't focus on the Composer, just focus on finding me Tilson…" He said with a surprising amount of calm.
"Tilson, Sandra K, female, fifty one years of age, Doctor of archaeology, Pegasi Instituti-" Cortana's rampant mind gibbered out sporadically, before clicking into focus. "Got her! Bio signature stable on 350-level, B-Deck!"
"Thank you… Cortana." The Spartan intoned, turning to face his companion.
For the first time in a while, Samus looked completely lost. "What do we do now…?" She asked, watching as the Didact slowly assimilated the Composer into his ship in the distance.
"We find Tilson, evac the rest of the station. We've got to get these people out of here, and get that nuke to the Didact's ship." He grunted lowly, already on the move as the elevator reached the desired level.
"How?! How are we supposed to do that? We don't have a ship that can rival his." Samus couldn't help but question as she ran alongside him.
To her, this was looking less like a loosing battle, and like one that was already lost.
"It's not over, not yet." He responded almost immediately. "I'm not going to give up, not until he's gone." He intoned.
Samus knew that their situation had gone from horrible to worst case, but she realized that he was right. It wasn't like her to give up, not in any of her previous battles. Although this mission had far exceeded her expectations, she wasn't going down without a fight. She refused to give up, even now.
That's what she found herself dwelling on as they managed to reach the control center once more, fearful people moving out of the way as both the Spartan and his alien looking companion rushed up towards Tilson.
"Samus, evac these people now!" Chief ordered as he rushed up to Tilson.
She didn't say anything, nodding as she tried to gather the attention of the terrified researchers. "Everyone, get to the nearest evac station now! There's no time, quickly!" She ordered, pointing towards the doorway she'd just come through. "Come on, go go go!" She ordered, ushering the people through the doors.
"The Didact's taken the Composer! Get these people to the evac centers!" He ordered as he brushed past a surprised Tilson, reaching up to pull Cortana from his helmet and insert her into the control panel for the station.
"Taken!? Taken how?" Tilson squeaked in surprise, but he ignored her, focusing on his task.
"Tap the flight deck, find us something that can carry a payload." Chief ordered Cortana, the A.I. already scanning through various systems, ones that were still online.
"Wait… Something's happening…" Tilson murmured, eyes widening in apprehension as the Didact's ship began charging up some sort of energy.
"Cortana, can you access the station's defense systems?" Chief switched gears.
"T-They're not responding…" She muttered.
An immense power began building up, focusing into the front of the ship. Chief suddenly turned around, gaze landing on Samus as he was hit with a terrible realization.
Everything seemed to slow down, eyes widening in horror as he realized with a planet shattering ferocity that Samus was not offered the same immunity to the Composer as he had been. The reality of that fact hadn't even crossed his mind, because he'd been convinced that the Didact would be stopped before it got to this point.
There was no backup plan, and now, Samus had no way of escape.
Seemingly reading his mind, she faced him, reading his body language without him even needing to utter a word.
It all happened so fast.
There was no time to debate her decisions, no time to decide.
Who would live, and who would die.
Within perhaps a couple seconds at most, the Composer was going to be fired at the base, and everyone that was still alive on the base was going to die.
John had the immunity.
But no one else did…
She was not even sure she was immune, if her suit would protect her from the impending attack.
But…
She knew one thing.
If, on the off chance this wasn't the end of the road, she was going to save someone else too.
In the blink of an eye she moved, appearing behind Tilson as she reached out and grabbed her, and she initiated the morph ball as a wave of red instantaneously washed throughout the remainder of the base.
John spun around as he watched the results of his failure disintegrated into ash.
First their skin, then their flesh. The sinew and tendons all turned to ash as their skeletons reached out to him, as if begging him, pleading that he reach out and save them. But he couldn't even reach for them before even their very bones were gone, vaporized as they were brutally and mercilessly composed.
He felt their ashes brush against his armor, memories wiped away in an instant.
He fell to his knees, moments away from collapsing in defeat.
As he fell to the ground, he found himself turning to look for Samus, using the last of his strength to seek her out, to know if she too had been composed.
The last thing he remembered before passing out, was the smoking green armored ball that sat eerily still a short distance away.
Then everything went dark…
Chapter
31
End