- Rare_Spartan
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- Exalted Legendary Member
Chapter 19: 73h 7ru7h
The squad entered the hanger, peaking at the far end of the chamber, where the one remaining Phantom was parked. They each aproached the vessel, and prepared to enter.
"Alright then, lads. Let's find a cruiser that we can use to get off of this ring.", Sparky said.
"Yeah, that reminds me: Why don't we just use this ship instead of finding a different one?", the Grunt sargeant asked.
"An excellent question there, mate. You see, after I examined how big this cruiser was, I realized that I haden't the time to create a form large enough to pilot it."
"Then why don't we just use this here Phantom?", the sargeant asked.
"Simply too small for enough of my men to escape this ring, let alone pilot it."
"Ah, you needn't worry 'bout a pilot. We've got Pillow here.", the red-armored Grunt answered, pointing at the soldier behind him.
"Be that as it may, I would prefer it if we had a cruiser with the right size.", Sparky said. The sargeant shrugged, while each of his men (and 'Latume) entered the dropship through the grav-lift hanging from below it. With all but two of them inside of the Phantom, the Grunt sargeant grabbed onto Sparky with both of his hands, as he and the parasite entered the grav-lift, followed by the ship itself.
Eventually, each of the soldiers were seated on the two comfortable couches at the end of the room (with Silco, Fisca, and Moshpit on the left couch, and the Grunt sargeant-with Sparky in his lap-and 'Latume on the right one).
"Alright! Everybody ready?", Pillow asked from the pilot's seat. As he looked backward, his four (Grunt) companions gave him what the squad called the "thumbs-up" signal, meaning Yep. Pillow nodded as paid his attention back to the ship's controls. The engines roared, and the grav-lift at the bottom of the ship faded away. With that, the Phantom blasted away, and eventually away from Infinite Succor's range.
The dropship continued its search around Halo for hours, and suprisingly, found no sign of any Covenant cruiser. "C'mon, guys. We've been searchin' for hours, and my fingers are gettin' numb. Can we please take a break?", Pillow whined.
"Oh, alright, alright" the Grunt sargeant said frustratingly.
"Thank you." Pillow exhaled, dancing his fingers across the ship's controls. The dropship descended, and the grav-lift formed back to life with its purple glow. The squad sprang from their seats, entered the grav-lift, and gently floated onto a piece of hard, stone flooring.
"Let's get in that b-b-building. It's f-f-freezing out here." Pillow stuttered. The Grunt sargeant whiped some of the snowflakes off of his armor plating, as he aproached the holo-panel standing to the right of an enormous blast door. The red-armored Grunt flipped his left hand across the material, causing the square light in the middle of the door to change from red to green; the door began to screech as it whidened like the mouth of a hungry whale.
Still freezing, the squad entered the building, closing the door behind them with the holo-panel placed inside. For nearly five minutes, the squad continued walking through blast door-to blast door, until finally, they entered a room that looked different from all of the rest. It was a large chamber with glass flooring, and at the end of the isle infront of them was an enormous holographic image of Halo.
"What the fu-"
Suddenly, a small beam of yellow appeared infront of the squad. Whether it was a sign of danger or not, they could not tell. "Unggoy, hide!", 'Latume whispered. 'Latume hid behind the large pillar to his right, while the Grunts (and Sparky) just barely fit behind the pillar to the left.
When the beam faded, the faceless structure of the Master Chief appeared, who was accompanied by a small, floating machine.
".....Which means that any organism with sufficient mass and cognitive ability is a potential vector." the blue-lit machine said. The Chief examined the chamber. The machine then replied, "Is something wrong?"
"No, nothing.", the Master Chief answered.
"Splendid. Shall we?", the machine replied cheerfully, as it and the Chief then walked foward, humming its little tune. They quickly came to a stop at the control panel near the hologram.
"Unfortunately," the 'bot replied-hovering over the control panel-"my usefulness to this particular endeavor has come to an end. Protocol does not allow units of my classification to...perform a task as the reunification of the index with the core."
The machine hovered next to the Master Chief. "That final step is reserved for you, Reclaimer."
"Demon is here!", Moshpit whispered. The others put their fingers over their mouths as a sign of Shut up!. The Chief looked backward for a brief moment, then back toward the panel, yanked the T-shaped object from the 'bot, and placed it into the console infront of him. A loud Whoosh occured, causing strange symbols to flow throughout the area in between the ring.
"Odd. That wasn't supposed to happen."
Suddenly, an enormous, purple-colored figure-with humanlike traits to the look of its body- rose from the panel. "Oh really?", it said. A large flash of light occured, blinding the Covenant soldiers for a few split seconds; it also sent the machine next to the Master Chief to collapse onto the ground.
"Cortana?", the Chief asked astonishingly.
"I've spent the last twelve hours cooped up in here, watching you toady about, helping that thing get set to slit our throats!", the human-like figure shouted.
"Hold on, now." the chief said, "He's a friend."
"Oh, I didn't realize. He's your pal, is he? Your chum? Do you have any idea what that bastard almost made you do?!", Cortana shouted.
"Yes.....activate Halo's defenses and destroy the flood, which is why we brought the index to the control center."
"You mean this?", Cortana asked, now holding the T-shaped object in her right hand.
"A construct in the core?! That is absolutely unacceptable!", the 'bot shouted.
"Sod off!" Cortana replied.
"What imperitence! I shall purge you at once!"
"You sure that's a good idea?" Cortana snickered.
"How, how.....how dare you! I'll-"
"Do what? I have the index. You can just float and sputter!"
"Enough!" the Master Chief shouted, spreading his arms between the two of them. "The flood is spreading. If we activate Halo's defenses, we can wipe them out."
"You have no idea how this ring works, do you? Why the forerunners built it?" Cortana replied agressively, "Halo doesn't kill flood. It kills their food: Humans, Covenant, whatever. We're all equally edible. The only way to stop the flood is to starve them to death. And that's exactly what Halo is designed to do; wipe the galaxy clean of all sentient life. You don't believe me? Ask him."
The Chief turned around, facing the blue-lit machine. "Is it true?", he asked.
"More or less.", it answered, "Technically, this installation's pulse is a maxium radius twenty-five thousand light years. But, once the others follow suit, this galaxy will be quite devoid of life, or at least any life with sufficient biomass to sustain the flood. But you already knew that. I mean, how couldn't you?"
"Left ou that little detail, did he?" Cortana asked sarcastically.
"You were with me each step of the way as we managed this crisis.", the machine said.
"Chief, i'm picking up movement."
"Why would you hesitate to do what you've already done?"
"We need to go! Right now!", Cortana exclaimed
"Last time you asked me, if it were my choice, would I do it? Having considerable time to ponder your query, my answer has not changed. There is no choice. We must activate the ring."
The Master Chief quickly took hold of the chip inside of the panel, placing it (along with the AI of Cortana) into his helmet.
"Did he just-nah, he couldn't have." Fisca chuckled under his breath.
The green-armored beast then reached his left hand backward, taking out his assault rifle.
"Get us out of here.", Cortana whispered, as a pair of four silver-coated 'bots rose from below the glass flooring.
"If you are unwilling to help," the machine said, "I shall simply find another. Still, I must have the index. Give your construct to me, or I will be forced to take it from you."
"That's not going to happen.", the Chief replied softly.
"So be it. Save his head. Dispose of the rest." Another yellow light flashed over the blue-lit machine, causing it to vanish completely. A few seconds later, the six Covenant troops (and Sparky) left their position, and through the blast doors behind them. They didn't care if the Chief saw them, as he obviously had bigger problems to deal with.
"Dang, it all makes sense now." the Grunt sargeant sighed. "This whole Great Journey that the Prophets have been talking 'bout is a freakin' lie."
"So what do we do?", Fisca asked.
"I say we let 'im destory Halo."
"Incase you've forgotten, lads, I can still kill you right now.", Sparky interupted.
"And plus, we'd be charged for heresy.", Silco said.
"Like that hasen't happened before?", the sargeant said sarcastically, thinking back towards the Grunt Rebellion.
Sparky coughed under his breath, still trying to receive the Grunt sargeant's attention.
"Alright, Sparky. We'll find a cruiser for ya, and hopefully give ya enough time to get off of this ring."
"Splendid! But, which cruiser did you have in mind?", Sparky asked.
"The only one I can think of right now," the Grunt sargeant said, "The Truth and Reconciliation."
[Edited on 04.21.2007 11:05 PM PDT]