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Part 16 - Arrival
"The slip space jump is scheduled in ten minutes, prepare yourself." Came the Arbiters wizened tones.
John sat up from Johnson, and pondered upon where they were headed as he walked to the ship's observation window. A hum in the air told him Mendicant Bias was behind him.
"What troubles you John?" It asked, rotating around to face him.
The Spartan gave out a sigh, a long, drawn out one.
"I feel empty. Without Cortana. She stuck by me through all of this, Reach, Halo, High Charity....The Ark. And now she's gone, forever. I know I shouldn't get so attached to a machine, but it's hard not to." When he finished, he lowered his head in slight embarrassment.
Bias gave out what seemed to be a sigh too, and the golden glow illuminating him dimmed.
"Loss is a tough thing. Most of the time, we have to deal with it and move on, lest the worries of the past affect the happiness of the future. However Reclaimer, that is not always the case. I know what you house in your pocket, bring it out."
Slowly, trying to keep his hopes down, John reached and drew out the burnt out metallic chip he had found on the dead Kaidon, K'zath. He held it up to the light for the monitor to see. In the centre of it was a small hole 2cm in diameter.
"I believe you were correct in your initial assumptions, this is indeed Cortana. However, her chip is hopelessly damaged, I cannot fix it."
It was as John thought, and with a sigh, he removed the chip from sight.
"However Reclaimer, there may be one upon Onyx who can. It all depends on whether safety protocols were followed by him."
"Then....there's hope?" The Spartan asked, a undetectable smile creeping across his face.
"Perhaps." Was all he received.
Sergeant Johnson had perked up at the mention of Onyx, and from his chair shouted.
"What the hell is this Onyx eh Tinkerbell?"
It took a few moments before Mendicant Bias realised it was him being spoken to.
"Are you speaking the me? Ah, I wish you would rid yourself of the adversity you have to calling me Mendicant Bias. It really would make things a lot easier." The Monitor explained. John had held enough interrogations of both Rebels and Covenant to know that the monitor had just subtly changed the topic. Johnson wasn't daft either.
"Oh no, you're not changing the subject again! I want an answer Mendicant Bias, and I want it now!" Avery was stood up now, a look of irritation upon his rough face. Bias sighed.
"I'm afraid I cannot tell you Reclaimers. It would be against protocol. You shall just have to wait until we arrive. Which should be in about a minute. If I were you two, I would suggest strapping in."
*************************
<Just outside of Onyx's orbit>
The ONI prowler Whisper of the night cut through space as it continued to try to find out what had happened. Inside the ship, the ship's AI, Dark Harvest, ran more analysis checks.
"Dark, it's been months and we're still no closer to understanding the Onyx incident. What the hell happened? I'm under a lot of pressure here." The Captain of the ship spoke. To call him a Captain would be inaccurate though, he was actually a Commander. Sector three only accepted the best of the best to their ranks.
"I am unsure sir, however, from the Sentinel debris scattered all over the place, it can be assumed that a) The Sentinels destroyed the planet, and were somehow killed themselves afterwards, or what I think is a more likely option, b) The Sentinels were the planet, and were killed in an explosion of sorts. The radiation we find suggests some kind of Nuclear weaponry." The AI spoke.
It was currently wearing the appearance of a hooded character with straw in it's mouth and a scythe in it's hand. Some of the ONI AIs took their names much too seriously, Sam thought to himself.
"What kind of person would blow it up though? Ah, screw it. I'm gonna go make some coffee, stay alert Dark." He said, and the AI gave a mock salute.
Sam walked through the corridors of the ONI Prowler, and grumbled to himself. He and the AI were the only ones on board the ship, and it was pathetic, he realised that the only thing keeping him from loneliness was a computer program.
He reached the kitchen, and put on the kettle to boil, pouring in finely ground Coffee beans over thirty years old, from Harvest. The food grown there took an incredibly long time to spoil.
The reason there was a limited crew was because ONI didn't want the news the Onyx was destroyed, not just glassed, to get out. So it was decided that only him and an AI would observe; they could be supervised easier.
Sam looked in the corner, and saw the photo of his wife. She was smiling, a perfect pose for the perfect picture. But he knew how she really felt about his descision to join the Navy. If she knew he was actually ONI, she'd probably leave him. To her, Sam was just a normal Commander risking his life every day to save innocents. If only she could see him now, tucked up in a dark corner of UNSC space.
As he was pouring the boiling hot water into an antique mug, he felt a rumble course through the ship. The intercom flared as the AI spoke.
"Commander, we've got a slip space rupture to the right, your orders?`
Sam was confused, this area of space was off limits to everyone. Could the Elites have decided to attack?
His worst fears were realised as he looked out the window and saw a Seraph fighter, larger than the usual, emerge out of the rift. It was a UNSC shade of green, due to the fact that the Elites had coloured most of their ships this way to distinguish them from the Covenant loyaliststs.
But only one ship? Why would they attack with such a pitiful force? Maybe it was a scout. Regardless, Sam rushed to the control room, taking care not to trip on the countless boxes lying around, and hit the panic button on the wall. At least he'd alerted everyone else, they'd be here within less than a day.
"Prepare to open fire!" Sam ordered, and he heard a noise as the triple MAC cannons warmed up. He'd seen it all before, the huge Cannons mounted on the ship would fire hundreds of tons worth of metal at the target, accelerated by magnetic coils. He braced himself for the shockwave, and was glad he didn't have his coffee, it would have gone everywhere.
Dark Harvest began the countdown.
"Firing MAC rounds in 5-4-3-"
Suddenly, a voice rang over the intercom, one Sam remembered from the adverts shown around to boost morale. The computer registered that it was coming from within the Seraph...
"This is Spartan 117, do not open fire!"
Sam's body acted before his mind. He made a lunge for the cancellation button, but it was too late. Just before his suddenly sweaty hand clasped around the ominous red button, the Prowler rumbled as three gigantic bullets were fired out of the cannons, towards the Seraph.
Sam's stomach curled, and he cried out with horror as the metal rounds smashed into the "enemy" ship, crushing it to oblivion. Blue plasma flashed as the Seraph crumpled on in itself, removing all traces that it had ever existed.
"Hello?" Sam's voice quavered over the intercom, desperately hoping for a reply. "Hello?" All he received was static.
"Oh my...What just happened?" Dark breathed in shock, the hologram which represented him dropping it's scythe in surprise.
The Commander took a deep breath, fighting back tears. His eyes were moist, his breath shallow.
"I-I think I just killed the Master Chief..."
[Edited on 05.23.2009 11:04 AM PDT]