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Halos and Rings - 1
Date: 19 August 2003, 3:19 PM

Halos and Rings

Author: Jillybean
AN: This story was originally posted and fanfiction.net - it's really just to rectify the lack of female characters in Halo (I don't count Cortana, she annoys the shit out of me)
Level Locale: Assault on the Control Room
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Halos and Rings

"Yo Ringo, gonna keep us off the menu!" One of the marines shouted.
"Oh I'm sorry - do you wanna drive?" Daxia Ring shouted over her shoulder, fighting with the steering column of the drop ship to keep it relatively in the air. To either side of her a couple of Banshee's started to reconfigure their guns for close quarters battle.
"Aw feck off wouldja?" She snarled, snatching her pistol out of her holster and sending one banshee spiralling out of control. Her co-pilot Rogers glanced at her nervously.
"What, the ship's goin' down, a smashed window ain't gonna make a difference." She replied. "Oh shit." A quick snatch upwards of the controls let them clear an outcrop of black granite dusted with snow. An explosion behind her heralded the Pelican's mad dive sideways.
Once more Daxia was glad of the stiff seatbelts holding her firmly into the seat. She jerked at the controls, trying to stop them from digging twenty metres down into the snow. Around her the controls were going crazy, a wild, loud halo of red and (fewer) green lights just outside her line of vision. Just as they levelled off the ground beneath them dropped into a canyon.
"Ringo, set us down!" Shouted the Sarge. Daxia didn't reply, fighting to keep the Pelican from crashing into one of the bridges that spanned the canyon. She heard Rogers shouting a mayday, but that wasn't what she was interested in.
One of their Banshee's disengaged and veered off to attack a purple blip on her radar.
"The Master Chief! And we led these buggers right to him." She groaned, slightly distracted by a green figure running the length of the bridge.
"No time now Ringo - get us outta here!" The Sarge bellowed. Daxia ducked the Pelican under the second bridge and then gasped.
"Oh my God, look! There's a Wraith, Banshee's and Ghosts!" Rogers screamed for her. Daxia gritted her teeth.
I can't get us away. She'd meant to say it aloud but her voice stuck. As it was, there was no way she could escape the Wraith. And if they landed near they'd be pureed by the Covenant.
"Get your men ready for a bloodbath." Daxia said what she meant to think and sent the Pelican veering towards the cliff side. When it became clear the Pelican was going to be smashed into the granite their escort of Banshee's and Ghosts dropped back, fleeing from what they thought would be a huge explosion.
Daxia disengaged the Warthog and sent the Pelican into a nosedive. The G pushed her so hard back into her seat the controls were ripped from her hands. The clumsy Pelican ploughed through yards of the powder, before becoming rear ended when it finally hit the granite.

***

"Wake up!" The Marine shook her shoulder roughly. Daxia felt her head roll back. There was a dampness in her helmet, it was sticky and hot and felt suspiciously like blood.
"Ringo. We need to get out. Now." The Marine repeated, unfastening her harness and pulling her arm over his head. He started to lug her out of the seat.
"Rogers." She muttered, struggling a little and making the Marine sprawl on the walls. Or was it the floor? Why did the hallway to the exit lead to the sky?
"Dead. Move it Ringo! Or we'll be joining him!" The Marine shoved her roughly as she started to scramble over the seats, using them as a ladder to freedom. The whirr of an angry ghost heralded the approach of the Covenant.

"Your little trick brought us some time." The Sarge shouted to her as she dropped to the soft white cushion like snow. "The Covenant are coming in fast though." He said, taking an aim through the small copse of trees that were their only defence. The Warthog lay a little away from them, helpless on it's back.
Daxia reached for her pistol the remembered she'd dropped it on the floor in the cockpit. Don't dwell over spilt milk. She snatched a machine gun from it's open grave in the snow. Slamming the magazine in she cocked it and waited as the enemy came racing towards them.

"Look! It's the Chief!" Cried one of the Marine's. Daxia could make out his green armour as he came out of a door. He paused for a second as he took in the hellish surroundings.
"What's he waiting for? Get over here!" The Sarge bellowed. He pointed to two marines and waved them at the Warthog. "Move it girlies! I want that Hog operational!"
"It may have suffered some damage, just be gentle with it!" Daxia shouted as the two made their way through the snow. The MC was pelting across the plains, his destination intent. The Sarge gave her a look.
"Ringo, what are you?"
"A mechanic." She retorted, skimming along the rock base. In her opinion the safest place to be was with the MC. She wasn't a Marine, she hadn't ever fancied the sheer insanity of them.

"Move outta the way!" The MC was shouting, pushing his shoulder under the seats and pushing the Hog up and over. Daxia fired a spray of bullets at the Ghost approaching from behind. She grabbed hold of the bar and swung into the passenger seat, flicking the ignition switch and just as she feared the engine stalled. The MC was ensuring their continued breathing by keeping a couple of Jackal's at bay. Daxia grimaced and kicked her legs in the air, sticking her head under the seats to check. Just as she'd suspected, the circuit breakers were all out.
"There, there baby." She cooed, slapping the large grey switches back into existence. The Hog roared to life and the MC jumped in as she righted herself. The yellow visor stared at her for a second before the Hog leapt into action.

"Wow!" Shouted the Marine in the back, swinging his gun around in a mad slaughter of everything around them. The Hog doughnutted its way around and headed straight for the Wraith on the ice. Daxia slid a glance at the MC. Perhaps this wasn't the safest place to be?
"Hold on." He grunted, perhaps to himself as the Hog skidded around the Wraith then started to reverse around in dizzy circles. The Wraith followed them, trying to keep it's vulnerable backside off of them. The MC skidded forward, the Hog hit into the Wraith and both vehicles jerked to a halt. Daxia felt pretty sure a second concussion was imminent. But the MC was already on top of the tank and back in the Hog. A tell tale hiss gave away the grenade implanted in the Wraith's shell. They skidded away, tires screeching as they did an about face and headed for the other marines.
"Grab a Ghost." The MC grated, leaping out of the car and heading for the upturned one that lay on the ice. Daxia blinked a few times then took his advice. Lying waiting for her was one of the purple Ghosts, and it looked so inviting . . . she could well imagine the kind of ride that baby would give.
"Keep up or get left behind!" The MC shouted as his Ghost hummed into life and made for the pass. He did not wait for the Marine's to keep up with him, that was there's to do alone, and Daxia was very glad of the Ghost in her hands.

***


As with most battles it seemed to stretch for hours in a mere matter of minutes. The passion of every emotion tided them over as they struggled to keep up with the MC. When he left them to head deeper into the Covenant complex, he left them awed.

Daxia knew she was vital to the Marines, she could pilot them anywhere, any vehicle. She was a mechanical whiz. So the should be goddam treating her like one!
"Ringo!" Shouted the Sarge as she took a break on a fallen log. They were setting up a stronghold in the tunnel, desperately clinging to life and strength until a Pelican could pick them up.
"It's. Ring." She snarled. Standing and peeling off her helmet. She hated the nickname, but normally let it pass.
"Yeah? Well round here we don't like that name." Snarled the Sarge. He glanced at her short blonde hair, matted with blood and gestured to one of the Marines. "Clean her up. Then. Ring. I want you out there with the others. We need everyone out there."
"Thank you sir." Daxia drawled. Standing while the Marine fused the small cut on her head.
"You're good to go." The Marine told her. She nodded her thanks and gingerly placed the helmet back on her head.

"Didja see the Chief? Like a man possessed he was." Said one guy to his friend as she passed. Daxia resisted the temptation to tell them that he was Genetically Engineered. Not that they didn't know. But sometimes they seemed so forgetful.
"He's a madman. I think he's nuts." Said the other guy. Mendoza she thought his name was. "Hey. Ringo. What did you think?"
"He seemed ok." She said, leaning against a tree and letting her guard down. "I don't know. I mean, he's a supersoldier, he's meant to do this kinda thing."
"Yeah. But still, it's like he's taking the Covenant on himself." Mendoza shook his head and looked up at the Halo above them.
"Maybe he's the only one who can." Said Mendoza's companion. Mendoza grinned.
"Look - a Pelican!" He shouted. They all looked up, Daxia had never been so glad to see the ugly lumbering ship setting down before them. A voice came over her comm.
"C'mon Marines. Hop aboard." She knew that voice.
"It's Mark." She breathed happily. Mendoza gave her a funny look and she shook her head laughing. "Mark, my friend." She sighed.
"That Ring I hear down there? Glad you made it girl! Got a space for a Co-Pilot if you're looking." Mark called over the radio. Before she could answer the huge Covenant blast doors slid open. Every weapon spun in that direction, facing the Master Chief as he walked out.

"Stand down." He said lowly.
"Glad to see you sir!" Shouted Mendoza. The Chief nodded, then his vizor might have looked in Daxia's direction for a while, or it might not have. It was difficult to tell.
"You a pilot?" He asked, walked along beside her. Daxia assumed he was talking to her, it was difficult to tell.
"Yes sir. I am. I'm also a fully qualified mech."
"Yes. Yes I remember, you fixed the Warthog." He stopped and the vizor pointed in her direction. By the casual stance and silence Daxia guessed he was contemplating something.
"I did." She said after a while, to break the silence. The Marines were loading onto the Pelican. The MC's visor swung in that direction then back to her again.
"Yes. You did." He mused. Daxia was beginning to bore with conversation, and it seemed to her that all she really wanted to do was to lie down and sleep.
"You're injured." He said abruptly, his helmet cocking and one gloved hand tapping the side of her helmet very gently. "And here." He indicated her side.
"How did you . . . ?"
"I can see the heat spots." He replied. "You should get that seen to. I think I'll be needing a good Mech in the future. What's your name?"
"Ring. Lieutenant." She replied.
"Right. Daxia, if I remember my crew list correctly. I'll talk to you later. Cortana says Halo is some sort of weapon . . . I'll definitely need a good Mech."
"A weapon . . ." Daxia began, but the MC was already stalking off. "Bugger. I didn't volunteer for this." She muttered, pulling herself into the Pelican. She made her way through the cabin and into the cockpit. Mark turned around and nodded to her.
"Take off in three, two, one." He began. Daxia glanced back as she sensed someone over her shoulder. The MC was breathing down their necks literally.
"Take us to the marshes." He told them.

Swamps, Marshes & Keyes [H&R 2]
Date: 21 August 2003, 5:50 PM

Halo's and Rings

Author: Jillybean
Level Locale: 343 Guilty Spark and beyond
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Swamps and Marshes

"Are you ready for this?" The MC asked, holding his assault rifle casually in one hand, the side of the Pelican in the other. The Marines around them were hyping themselves for the coming battle. Daxia nodded, checking to see her plasma rifle had a fully charged battery. The smell of the swamp was rising into the Pelican, making her stomach rise.
"As I'll ever be. Didn't Cortana even give you the smallest of hints as to what kind of weapon this will be?" She asked, securing her helmet on her head. The MC shook his head and then flung his hand out towards the marsh.
"Let's go!" He shouted, leaping from the Pelican. Daxia rolled her eyes and dropped to the water. It leaked in around her boots and instantly made her feel dirty. She ignored it and stuck close to the green MJOLNIR armour. The Chief set a quick pace, through the water straight towards the Covenant. She grimaced and started firing, trying to make every shot count.

Let's arm a friggin big weapon together. It should be fun. She ducked from the plasma bolts coming from one of the Stationary Guns. She glanced down at the readout on her gun, it didn't look too healthy.
"Ring, on the log there, run across it." The MC announced, appearing behind her and shoving her onto the slippery fallen tree. Daxia ran straight across, firing randomly until the gun overheated. She rolled into a collection of bushes and lay there, panting. The MC was causing havoc outside, keeping them away from her. She glanced at the weapon and started crawling away from the MC, his location often turned into a battlefield.
"Whooo!" She screamed involuntarily as she fell down the sharp hillside and into water that went up to her waist. Spluttering upwards she was confronted by an Elite.
"Humans." It grunted, aiming a Needler at her. She went for it's legs, leaping into them and knocking it downwards. The Needler went sailing, but Daxia was bringing the butt of the Plasma Rifle down onto the soft tissue around it's neck. It gasped a little and then twitched before dying. She kept low as she searched for the Needler, finding it and discarding her spent Plasma Rifle. Now armed again she looked up into the mouth of an installation. A few Grunts saw her and started to run around like headless chickens. A splash beside her heralded the arrival of the MC.
"Are you okay?" He asked, spraying the Grunts with bullets as he talked. Daxia wiped her face clean of mud and nodded.
"Fine thanks. How are you doing?" She started to make for the entrance, the MC following a little belatedly.
"Um . . ."
"It was a joke. Did you learn humour in that . . . place you lived in?"
"Uh - sorta." The MC scouted the perimeter around the lift. Daxia rolled her eyes and walked on. The MC shook his head and headed for the control panel.
"Wait a sec - take this." He handed her a Plasma Pistol from one of the Grunts. Daxia did and checked it's charge. It was doing okay. "You'll need it." He said ominously. The lift started to descend and Daxia felt rather ill.
"Listen to me, your job is to figure out how the weapon works. No heroics."
"How come you get all the glory?" Daxia asked with a grin. The MC cocked his head then put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. He held his rifle in his hands and tensed as the lift slowed.
"Show time." He whispered.

The amount of Covenant the encountered was surprisingly few for their approach to a major weapons installation. In fact, they encountered very little resistance.
"Must have been the Marines that got here before us. Mendoza was on that team." Daxia murmured as they looked around a deserted room. The large channel in the middle was scattered with Needlers and ammunition, Daxia restocked eagerly and changed her Plasma Pistol for fresh one.
"Must have been. I wish Cortana had reminded me to take her with me." The MC said, picked up some ammunition and reloading his rifle. Daxia laughed.
"See, you do have a sense of humour."
"Never said I didn't." The MC leapt onto one of the crates and then onto the small raised platform that led to another door.
"I've a feeling we're gonna be running circles if we don't keep a track of what we're doing." Daxia said, following him nimbly.
"We'll be okay." He replied. "Come on, the quicker we get there . . ."
"The quicker we get out." Daxia finished for him, feeling rather glum.

"What happened here." Daxia murmured, not really asking, more stating that there was something seriously wrong. The MC crouched in the blood covered corridor, then ran along the small circuit and coming to her.
"It's definitely Covenant . . ."
"No - it was definitely Covenant." Daxia corrected. The MC nodded, regarding the wreckage. He looked at her.
"You spooked?"
"Damn straight." She said, looking inside the room that dripped icky goo.
"Yeah, me too." The MC admitted. "Let's move on." He headed for the door and when it whizzed open he ducked just in time as a pistol blew a hole in the wall behind them.
"You'll never turn me in to one of those freaks!" Yelled a Marine, crawling away from them and firing randomly. "Keep away! Keep away!" He shrieked as the MC came closer.
"He's nuts!" Daxia yelped as another shot nearly caught her. She ducked away and took in the state of the room. The fire, the wreckage . . . something was very wrong.
"Marine! Marine come back to me!" The MC was snapping at the delirious man. Daxia pulled out her pistol and fired. The MC sighed and picked up the pistol and ammo.
"Take this, it's stronger."
"Good thing I'm not superstitious." Daxia said, flinging the Plasma Pistol away and holstering the Marine's.
"Let's not walk under any ladders." The MC told her, leaping up the crates and rubble onto the second level. It took Daxia a little longer, but she got there too. The MC gave her a hand then led the way to the next door.

"I have got a very bad feeling about this." Daxia murmured, seeing the HackPad sitting on the door's lock, used, but locked again.
"Me too. . . so let's open it." The MC said, stepping forward and tapping a few commands. Daxia spun around, hearing the sound of someone walking. The MC's hand was holding on to her sleeve, both of them frozen.
"No one's home." Daxia said after a second. The MC tapped out the last few commands and the door slid open.

They both shrieked in surprise.
"Shit!" Daxia hissed after she'd caught her breath. The MC held the body of the Marine that had fallen through the door and backed into the room. He dropped the Marine and crouched beside him.
"Chief . . ." Daxia whispered, pointing to a helmet. The Chief stood and retrieved the helmet. Daxia reached her hand inside and pulled out the small holo-viewer. She glanced up at the MC then pressed 'play'.

The footage left them breathless.
"Oh God . . . oh God." Daxia whispered. The MC jerked around, the sound of lots of little legs clacking was growing louder and louder.
"Holy fucking shit." The MC muttered, he grabbed her roughly and pulled them both onto the slightly raised area. The hydraulic hiss of doors opening heralded the arrival of tens of spores, flooding towards them. the MC opened fire, but some of them came even closer.
"Fuck off!" He shouted, punching those that he could, Daxia started close quarters firing with her pistol, feeling immensely satisfied when each little bugger exploded.
"Turn around!" She shouted, hearing them from the other direction. The spun and continued shooting.
"They're relentless." The MC grated. They were beginning to be swamped by the hideous creatures.
"Run for it - I think." Daxia looked around, totally disorientated. She shut her eye for a sec, trying to remember where they'd come from.
"Oh shit!" The MC grabbed her and whirled her behind him, just in time as a tentacled zombie thing launched at her. The MC opened fire, killing everything in sight. Daxia grabbed one of the grenades sitting in his belt and flung it at them. The explosion killed most of the spores around them, but sent the rest on an accelerated path towards them.
"Oh . . . bugger." She muttered, shooting at everything that moved.
"Move it - this way." The MC shouted, then he paused. "Sorry, this way!"

Outside they encountered more of the same. The more they tried to escape, the thicker these creatures came at them.
"What about the weapon -" Daxia paused, looking back at where they'd just ran from. The MC stared at her.
"Screw it Lieutenant - we're getting out of this death trap, we'll think about that later!" He told her, leading them into a room full of the tentacled creatures.
"Okay . . . I see where our Marine was coming from." Daxia murmured, backing up a little. The MC turned to her.
"Listen to me, just run. Don't stay and fight, these things just keep coming. Just run!" He shoved her down onto the second level.
Daxia shot at everything in sight, hating the way the creatures kept coming. One of the Spores attached itself, she could feel it's clawed feet digging in to her back. She shot it, ignoring the heat of the bullets so close to her. she managed to get to one of the door, glancing back to see the MC running for her. She entered the corridor, heading through the blind corners to get out.
"Wah! I hate this." She cried, grabbing a shot gun up and firing at the tentacled Flood coming towards her. The MC glanced around.
"This way - follow me!" He shouted, taking her along more corridors till they reached the lift. Feeling waves of gratitude Daxia called for it, then watched as it plummeted in flames.

Had there not been so many Flood around she would have fainted. The MC roared something incoherently and leapt into the melee.
"Master Chief! Chief!" She shouted as he started to be overwhelmed. "Chief! There's another lift! Chief!" She screamed. He broke away and together they started to run.
"Sorry about that." He muttered. She shook her head.
"No problem. Just remind me never to piss you off."
"Sure thing. I hate these bloody Covenant. Holy war my ass." He kept them running through a room of generators and then finally to the other lift.
"Do you think Cortana knows?" Daxia yelled over the sound of gunfire. The MC made it to the lift.
"I dunno - get on -quick!" He shouted.
"Wait- no!" Daxia was too late as he activated the lift and it headed where it had last been programmed to go: down into the deep belly of the complex.
"Um - oops?" The MC offered with a shrug. Daxia glared at him, reloading her shotgun.
"Idiot. Now I know why you needed me along."
"Heh heh." The MC fired at the creatures below. "Let's go. It could be worse."
Daxia didn't reply, she was too busy fighting a Flood monster that had once been a Marine. Stealing his Assault Rifle she sprayed the room around her with bullets before picking the more effective shotgun up again and starting to make her way through the complex.

They did not talk much as they went as far as they could. Daxia's failure to fix the light bridge prompted the MC to swear casually, but that was as far as their conversation went. They didn't talk again until finally they got to the next lift.
"That was a nice morning wake up call." She muttered, rubbing her forehead. "Sorry about the light bridge thing."
"Don't worry about it." The MC told her, looking up at the rapidly approaching panel. "Listen, when we get to Base Camp I want you to have a look at my MJOLNIR armour - it's been a little sluggish."
"Sure. But I'm not a tech."
"Exactly, you might give it back." He said. She laughed and aimed her shotgun as they reached the level.
"Chief!" Shouted the sarge. Daxia thought she might hug them. The MC even went so far as to clap a hand on the Marine's shoulder.
"Master Chief, is that you? We lost your signal as soon as you went into the installation!" Foehammer shouted over the radio's.
"Yeah it's me. We need an extraction. Like nowish."
"There's a tower a little east of your current position, I can pick you up there. Foehammer out."
"You heard the lady!" Shouted one of the Marines as they ran upwards.

Outside the Flood were living up to their name, they swarmed the Marines as they escaped, their weapons blazing. Daxia kept firing blindly. She was almost becoming numb to the hideous creatures.
That was - until the laser's started up.

Her first instinct was to try and shoot at the flying guns, but that meant the Flood could swarm her. She felt herself being backed into a corner, one of the younger Marine's beside her.
"Oh my God, we're all gonna die, we're all gonna die, we're all gonna die!" He was shouting, firing randomly.
"Stop it - you're wasting bullets!" Daxia shouted, seeing the MC fight his way towards them. A shrill laugh penetrated the sound of the battlefield, Daxia paid it little attention, trying to escape the unwanted attentions of Mendoza. She watched as his body finally hit the water. She swallowed roughly and looked up, the MC had made it on to the splayed legs of the tower. Her breath caught as she saw a bright blue orb suddenly appear before him.
"MC!" She shouted. The young Marine beside her dropped his spent gun and curled into a ball. Daxia watched in horror as the MC was taken by the blue spark.

"Chief! Chief! Where are you, I've lost your signal. Chief!" Foehammer shouted over the comm.
"He's gone Foehammer." Daxia said, her voice catching.
"Oh shit!" Foehammer shouted back. Daxia made her way to the Foehammer, the Pelican was hovering above the marshes, trying to get as many of the Marine's inside as possible, before being destroyed. She ran for it's open belly and then grabbed the offered hand into the Pelican. Then Foehammer took off.
Daxia made her way to the cockpit and nodded at pilot and co-pilot.
"Without the MC, we're gonners." The pilot said, shaking her head. Daxia watched as the Zombie's swarmed the few remaining Marines. It was the Pilot who chose to take off, Daxia had seen those she'd not managed to save be killed by the enemy before, but the sight stuck with her nonetheless.
"Those . . . zombies, what are they?"
"The weapon . . ." Daxia answered the co-pilot's question almost absently. She didn't know it for sure - but she was pretty certain this was what it was. The Covenant had been almost reluctant to fire upon them. Were these the Gods that the Covenant killed for? Daxia wasn't sure, and her head hurt. The Marine's hadn't done a good job of patching her up.
"Wait - isn't there a stockpile of Banshee's that we've captured close to here?" Daxia said. The pilot looked at her in surprise.
"Yes - but why?"
"Just take me there. Now!"
"Why?" The pilot persisted as they changed direction. Daxia reloaded her guns and held on to the seats of the pilot and co-pilot.
"Because, there's someone I need to talk to. When you get back to Base Camp, tell them I'm recovering Cortana."
"What!"

The Banshee's were easy to pilot, but they were temperamental little buggers and in the cold they often stalled. Most of the Covenant didn't like the colder parts of Halo, the Grunts were often sent to sleep by the temperature drop. Something the doctor's had remarked upon when it was first observed.
The Banshee was able to sneak in quietly, when she hailed Cortana, the AI created a few distractions to allow Daxia to creep in to the Control Room without being noticed.
"Cortana - did you know. . ." She was stopped when Cortana raised a hand to quiet her. Daxia climbed out of the Banshee and walked towards the display panel Cortana was concentrating on.
"Remind me to never let him forget me again." She said, folding her arms and shaking her head. "A soldier, though super intelligent and super strong, even without that goddamn MJOLNIR armour, is nevertheless, a soldier." She sighed and brought up a map of the Chief's progress for Daxia to stare open mouthed at.
"He's alive?" She asked. Cortana nodded.
"Yes. He's rather difficult to kill, although that might not be beneficial right now." She said. She turned to focus on Daxia. "He's going to activate Halo when he gets the Index with that 343 Guilty Spark."
"Who now?"
"The Blue orb, it's an AI. But I'll be damned if I let them. If you activate Halo, it will destroy the galaxy, thus destroying the Flood."
"That's not a weapon then . . ." Daxia said, walking forward and watching as the MC rose another level in the complex he was in. Cortana shook her head.
"It is a weapon, just not in the sense that John was hoping for."
"The MC's name is John?"
"Yes." Cortana chuckled. She sighed, sounding a little happier than before. "How are you? I'm surprised you survived through one of John's little 'escapades'."
"I'm fine. Those creatures are horrible, but I was very brave." She said self mockingly. Cortana smiled at her.
"Why did you come here?"
"I thought the MC was dead - I knew you were here, the MC didn't tell anyone else."
"Well thanks. Here he comes, we'd better hide."
"Don't worry about me." Daxia pulled herself into the Banshee and hid under the bridge.
"Wait for my cue . . ." Cortana told her, before her image shrank away. The sound of shrill laughter heralded 343 Guilty Spark and the MC.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cortana's signal was to loom ominously in front of the MC and 343 Guilty Spark. She ranted for a few moments, catching the chief up on a few facts. Daxia could hear even from inside the banshee under the bridge. She concentrated on what the MC was saying, and not on her radar.
"But if that is your decision. I'll just have to destroy you." 343 Guilty Spark was saying, his high pitched voice becoming inaudible over the hum of the lasers that started up around them.
"Get us out of here." Cortana hissed, once again safe inside the Chief's head. The MC suppressed the retort that sprang to mind and levelled his gun. He backed up to the control deck, unsure quite how to proceed. An eerie whine beneath him announced the start up of a banshee.
Great. This too?
The banshee rose from beneath them, it's purple hull heavily scored with laser blasts. It towered above him then turned in a slow circle and let fire with some heavy duty blasts from the plasma cannon attached to it's nose. It landed with the laser mites crashed and the cockpit opened.

"Hey - don't shoot." Daxia said, grinning at him, her hands raised in front of her. She removed her helmet and scrubbed at her short blonde hair, some crusted blood falling away from it.
"Man, war is ugly." She said, putting the helmet back on and walking towards him. "How did you get here?" She asked.
"It's a type on instant transportation, similar to grav. lifts." Cortana's voice emitted from the Chief's helmet. "It uses natural energy from Halo to reconfigure molecules, then it uses the electrical systems to transport the molecules, and then Halo's own energry again to reconfigure them at the other end." Cortana finished, sounding smug. "I was analysing it while John was off galavanting."
"Hey!"
"It's untraceable because it uses Halo's own systems."
"So 343 Guilty Spark wouldn't know if we used it?"
"I don't think so." Cortana replied. "But it would take me an hour at least to work out how to use it. In the mean time we should destroy the generators on Halo, then we're buying some time."
"Right - lets do that." Said the MC, heading for the door. Daxia grabbed his arm and walked over to the control panels.
"Hold on there soldier." She murmured, staring at the panels thoughtfully. "Destroying the generators . . . you could do that by a power surge."
"Yes. John's armour should do the trick." Cortana said.
"Or . . ." Daxia pulled up a few diagrams on the screen. "If we created a power surge in Halo."
"How would you do that?" The Chief asked. Daxia shrugged nonchalantly.
"Cortana just said it, if we use Halo's own systems against it."
"I didn't say that." Cortana protested.
"No? Well I wasn't listening. You see, I imagine Halo's pretty much operated by one big computer." Daxia said.
"Who isn't?" The MC asked, tapping his helmet pointedly.
"No - I mean Halo is pretty much automated, Guilty Spark is only to take care of the Flood. Half a ship's systems are automated, we use things called 'Black Boxes' to record every electrical impulse that's sent through a ships systems."
"That's right." Cortana said. "They can be recovered in an accident to find out what happened. You see, every system has a seperate black box, then you'll have another black box that moniters a cluster of lower level boxes. Then another, higher level black box, to moniter a bunch of those ones. That way, if I need to find out something about the ship and it's not in conventional records, I can go to a black box. It's takes longer, but it's the real deal."
"A Pelican alone has about fifty central black boxes. Halo will have millions." Daxia said, her fingers still working at the control panel.
"Assuming her technology uses them." The MC said, glancing warily at the blast door behind them, the noises were of someone trying to cut through.
"It will. If I set just one of the boxes out of alignment then the monitor of an upper level black box will try and compensate. Enough of a misalignment and we should cause one helluva power surge."
"How do you know all this?" The MC asked. Daxia gave him a dry look.
"I'm a mechanic John. That's what a degree is. You know things." The corners of her mouth twitched when she found what she was looking for.
"Let's hope it works." John muttered, looking to the door. It was beginning to heat up, the Covenant were breaking in with lasers.
"It's all right. I know how to work the transportation now." Cortana reassured him quietly.
"Got it! Surge in five - four - three."
"Grab hold of something." Cortana called cheerfully. The MC did so, grabbing Daxia as the familiar golden circles appeared in his line of vision. The last thing he saw was the control room going red.
"Power surge."

***

"Where have you taken us exactly?" The chief asked when he picked himself off of the floor, it looked like a Covenant cruiser.
"This cruiser couldn't leave with the others. Now the Covenant are trying to destroy it so no Flood get off Halo." Cortana announced.
"Gee - I gotta love 'em. They're just so thoughtful." Daxia said sarcastically, dusting herself off.
"The captain's neural transmitter is transmitting from here." Cortana continued. "We have to rescue him, he knows the location of Earth - if the Covenant find out . . ." She trailed off, sounding panicked.
"They won't." The MC told her. He nodded to Daxia. "Stick close. This is going to be hellish."
"It's never been nice." Daxia replied.

The Longsword[H & R 3]
Date: 22 August 2003, 3:42 PM

Halos and Rings

Author: Jillybean
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They reached a hanger bay by the skin of their teeth - any ideas of avoiding the Covenant and Flood were soon perished at the sight of the Hanger. It was a Battle Royale, one Daxia didn't think she had any place in.
"Follow me." The chief grunted, running along the sides of the walls. Daxia did, trying to pretend that no one was actually shooting at her. The strange clicking and clacking of Flood spore filled her ears and a sharp, blinding sting on her left leg told her she had been glanced by a Needler.

If they survived this there would be endless psychological repercussions. A detatched portion of her mind thought. After all, they had all witnessed something so completely alien that it couldn't even be rationalized. She wanted to pretend that none of it was happening and she was doing pretty well considering. The chief stopped at a bunch of crates and she had a moment to register the fact they were surrounded. He shoved her roughly between the crates, blocking her with his body and firing. She grimaced and turned, covering his back with pistol fire. A little away from her sat a plasma rifle, next to it's dead elite. The Flood were coming closer and the chief sounded like he was struggling. She leapt forward, rolling as she grabbed the rifle. Emerging into a crouch she shot at everything coming at her, hitting most of them. The rifle started to overheat and she ceased firing, ducking back into the meagre shelter the crates offered.

"Come on!" The chief yelled, grabbing her shoulder and starting to run for a large bay door. She stumbled at first, but found her footing. They kept going, though a blast from a grenade caused them both to fall to their knees.
"Move!" Daxia grunted, to no one in particular. The chief was already on his feet as she struggled to comprehend why she was suddenly on the ground. Crawling at first she managed to get to her feet, making it to the bay doors in time. The chief hit the controls and they slammed shut on the battle behind them.

She wanted to breathe, but her chest had iron bands around it. The chief was moving already, the smell of fire and burning rubber was driving him forward. It was simply choking Daxia.
"Here come more of them." The chief murmured as they heard the Flood spore approaching.
"The Captain's signal is just down this corridor." Cortanna spoke to them both. Daxia grimaced, 'just down this corridor' was exactly where all the Flood were.
"Time to go." The chief spoke calmly, starting to walk forward.
"Wait-" Daxia hesitated, looking down the other side of the corridor. There seemed to be a pattern in the Covenant ship - she was pretty sure that going the other way would lead them around to the next big room. "This way." She said, the chief followed her without hesitation, stepping in front to aim better.

They punched their way through a wall of Flood and reached the big control room on the other side. Cortana said something about the Captain's signal being strong but Daxia was a little more concerned with preserving her own life at that moment. She ran away from the Flood and Covenant that had besieged the chief and up to the control panels. She hid behind an organic mass, picking off the Flood from her vantage point with her rifle.
"That's the last of them." The chief announced with some pride as he shot the last Flood to smithereens. "Now, where's the captain?"

But Daxia had found him. Swallowing deeply she stepped backwards from the organic mass. Had she thought her chest was tight before? Now she dropped to the ground, completely unable to breathe. The chief gasped, retreating a good few steps as he saw the captain's face, melted into the green flesh of the pod. Cortana said something that Daxia didn't register. The chief seemed to come to a decision. He plunged his hand into the pod, ripping out the neural transmitter. The pod twitched, it's death throes were only tremors along it's mutated body. The chief crushed the neural transmitter under his boot.
The metal splintered in front of Daxia's eyes and it broke the spell. Her body took one huge quivering breath, another breath and she managed one sob for her dead captain. The chief crouched beside her.
"We have to go Daxia." He whispered. She nodded, blinking and allowing him to help her to stand. She leaned for a second on him, feeling dizzy, hot and cold all at the same time.
"We really have to go chief." Cortana said. He started moving, gripping the shotgun in his hands tightly. They began the old rigamarole of forcing their way through the Flood.

The hangar bay battle was starting to tilt in favour of the Flood. They were everywhere, but they were also impossible to shoot. Maybe being on the winning side spurred them on, but a missing limb was no longer a deterrant. Daxia cried out as one long tentacle sent her flying across the hangar. The chief spun, shooting at the creature, trying to get to Daxia at the same time.
A long, pained whine announced the start of a Banshee and suddenly two laser blasts knocked the Flood out. He glanced back, seeing the Banshee hovering just in front of him.
"Get in!" Daxia called from her cockpit. Though he was a little startled at her recovery he climbed into the cockpit, lying beside her as she drove them out into Halo's atmosphere.

***

"You're coming in too low." Cortana said to him as he took them the last stretch. "We're not gonna make it!"
"We'll make it." The chief assured her. Daxia glanced at him, a small movement in such confined quarters.
"This thing's falling apart." Cortana pointed out. "Pull up John! Pull up!" The chief's helmet took on a mischievious glint to Daxia's eye and he wrapped one armoured arm around her side. Just a second before the Banshee hit the wall they jumped out.
"You did that on purpose." Cortana huffed as he pulled them into the Pillar of Autumn.

The ship had only been delirict a day or two, three at the most. Yet it looked completely dilapidated. It's mass was poised over a huge canyon in the middle of the desert, Halo rose up around it on either side like some sort of cradle for an injured baby. Daxia felt her heart strings being tugged.
"Flood." The chief said very softly. Sure enough Daxia could hear them.
"There are maintenance tunnels along these corridors." Daxia told him. "I think they might be safer."
"Everything's relative." Cortana muttered. Daxia grinned. The chief shook his helmeted head and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Are you okay?"
"No." Was Daxia's honest reply. "No I'm not. But we'll deal with that later."

When they finally reached the bridge Daxia felt like she was truly home. Some very colourful Covenant characters had joined their battle with and against the Flood, and the chief had discovered stashes of the assault magazines, which kept him happy. On the bridge Daxia found what she liked best - ship controls. She started to access the ships systems as the chief loaded Cortana.
"You leave home for a few days . . ." Cortana trailed off. Daxia flung a grin at the AI over her shoulder.
"The ship's useless." Daxia concluded, pulling away from the panel and shrugging at the chief. "I mean, there's power but apart from that . . ."
"Not completely useless." Cortana corrected. "It can still be used to strike the final blow." She looked to the chief.
"Meaning?" He asked. Cortana glanced at Daxia, knowing the mechanic wouldn't like it.
"The Autumn's self-destruct could trigger a chain reaction in Halo. It could destroy Halo and destroy the Flood."
"You want to destroy the Autumn?" Daxia asked, the chief and Cortana watched her warily. Daxia's initial surge of denial washed away and she was overcome with exhaustion. "Ahh why not." She muttered. "What's one more ship?"
"What we'd need is a couple of big blasts in the exhaust vents. But what would cause such an blast?" Cortana asked. The chief tossed a grenade in his hand.
"I'll think of something."
"Neanderthal." Daxia retorted.
"Well we can't all be AI's." Cortana mused. The whine of a cutting laser interrupted them, soon followed by 343 Guilty Spark's high pitched laugh.
"Time to go!" Daxia cried as the chief pulled Cortana from the Autumn and started back through the ship.

"You know this deck well?" The chief asked as they broke into engineering. Daxia nodded her head, well she knew it vaguely anyway. She led him up the back staircases to the upper levels.
"You can open the vents from here." She told him. He nodded.
"You do it. I'll make things go boom."
"Yessir." She rolled her eyes, opening the port. The chief leapt from the platfrom, turning to fling a grenade inside the fired orange exhaust port. The ship rocked with an explosion and again Daxia found herself on her knees. She made for the next vent control, out of the corner of her eye she saw the chief leap to the next port. She opened the vent and the chief set it burning.
"You'll have to go down and up the next side!" Daxia called to him, cocking her shot gun. "I'll meet you there!"

She started down the corridors, hoping that if she went fast the Flood wouldn't get a chance at her. No. Such. Luck.
"Damn." She clattered to a stop as she saw the Flood barring her way. She levelled the shot gun at him, firing repeatedly. The Flood jerked each time a shot hit him, but did not stop. He kept taking resilient steps towards her. She grunted, flinging the empty gun at him. It bounced off, falling down the side of the stair case.
"Damn damn damn." She looked down the gap between the wall and the flight of steps. It was going to hurt to fall that far - but her other option was being Floodified.
There was no option really.
She dropped the length, absurdly pleased at the Flood's confused roar. She hit the ground painfully and things cracked. She wailed as she tried to put weight on her left leg, it just would not support her. Limping, she struggled for the door, pulling out her pistol as she went.
It was terrifying to have to move as fast as she physically could and know the chief was on the other side of the deck. But fear gave her the strength to ignore the pain and she reached the next vent control, putting both hands on her pistol to shoot the grunt clean away. She tapped into the controls, breathing in relief as the chief flung himself onto the port. He shot a rocket at the exhaust port and jumped to the final one.
Daxia opened the port, sinking to her knees beside the panel. The fourth and final explosion rocked the ship, breaking deck plates and sending entire sections caving in on itself. The chief was by her side, lifting her by the arm.
"Come on Daxia." He insisted, dragging her to a elevator. She let herself be dragged, falling to the floor of the elevator pad as soon as they started heading up.
"We get to the top of the ship and then Foehammer will pick us up." The chief was saying to her, kneeling beside her. He shook her shoulder and she whimpered a little. The pain blurred her eyesight. "Lieutenant Ring. You will accompany me off this ship." He shouted at her.

The elevator shuddered to a stop, causing the MC to swear. Daxia shut her eyes, enjoying the cool metal under her face.
"We'll have to take the long way." Cortana worried. The MC grabbed Daxia's arm and lifted her easily over his shoulder, taking her through to a hanger bay. A power line exploded and sent a Warthog bouncing along her field of vision. The memory of her first encounter with the chief flickered in her head and she stirred.
"Urr - you need me." She grunted, wriggling on his shoulder. He dropped her into the passenger seat, reversing out. "No!" She said, shaking herself awake. "John I'm the better driver."
"Daxia you can hardly walk." Was the MC's reply as they went spinning into a wall.
"Go be a gunner." Daxia pushed him out of the drivers seat, settling into the Hog's controls like it was made for her. The Hog purred under her hand and they went flying.

The spine of the Autumn led the whole way along the ship, leading them upwards. Daxia pulled the most incredible stunts manouvering them around bulkheads and bridges. Under one or over the next, it made no difference. She took each obstacle as it came and left the Flood to the MC. The finally reached the long curving corridors that led them upwards. The Hog flew over the crests and it was only the MC's weight in the back that made them land on their back axle, bounce and continue driving.
"Stop here! Foehammer's picking us up." Cortana called as they reached a bridge spanning two large compartments. The MC paused in his gunning.
"Foehammer doesn't look too good." He murmured. Daxia looked at the smoking Pelican.
"I'm hit! I'm hit!" Foehammer was yelling, with a sinking certainty Daxia started the Hog again, pelting down the track as Foehammer crashed into oblivion.
"Foehammer . . ." Cortana was shocked, but Daxia was beyond the emotion. Now there was her, the Hog and the road. "There's a gap up ahead. You'll need to pick up speed." Cortana managed to say. Daxia put her foot down, grinding the pedal into the floor of the Hog. They went sailing over the chasm, landing on the next compartment. Daxia veered a hard right around a bulkhead and swung them around again to avoid a fallen support strut.

"There's one Longsword left in the bay." Cortana told them, the MC started firing at the Flood ahead of them. Daxia was flung forward as the Hog hit a fallen strut and she rolled onto the hood. The MC was beside her instantly.
"We don't have the time!" He called.
"Leave me!" Daxia muttered, the Hog was past it's useful life span. So was she. Redundant equipment, she needed to be left behind. The world around her moved as the MC flung her over one shoulder and started running. Flood, Covenant, ship - all these things passed her by in a lazy spiral. The spiral was brought to an end abruptly as she hit the deck of the Longsword. The MC slammed the door shut and made for the cockpit. She rose groggily, her head clearing as she saw them lift out of the Autumn's bay and into the Halo atmosphere one last time. She pulled herself to a seat, her eyes fixed on the retreating world below them as it ignited into a barren waste-land. Then, finally, it shattered into a million pieces.

"They're gone." Cortana whispered. "All of them. We're the only survivors."
"We got a long way to go." The chief replied, taking off his helmet. He turned to look at Daxia and she tilted her head to the side.
"I always thought you'd be . . . ." She began.
"Another helmet?" He asked, blue eyes sparkling.
"Older." Daxia replied, taking her helmet off too. Her head pulsed. "And with brown eyes."
"Sorry to disappoint." The chief pushed Cortana's chip into the Longswords computer and then turned back to Daxia, but she was sleeping at last, her head resting against the pillowed co-pilots chair. The chief smiled a little and let Cortana handle the Longsword. He stood and felt his muscles creaking. Slowly he went for the first aid kit and begun the clean up.

Dust and Echoes [H&R 4]
Date: 14 September 2003, 10:58 PM

Halo's And Rings

Author: Jillybean
AN: If you want more frequent updates - blah blah - go to www.fanfiction.net where the entire story is hosted as I write it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dust and Echoes

Daxia awoke on a bunk, facing the wall. Initially her mind didn't register this and all that raced through her head was the endless clicking and clacking of the Flood. They were coming closer - louder and louder-

She cried out and fell from the bunk, her sudden movement caused the lighting to come on, lighting every corner of the cramped sleeping quarters. The noise of the spore receded as she saw where she was.
"Are you okay?" The MC hovered at the door, half hiding behind the bulkhead. Daxia ran a hand through her hair, snagging where it was matted with blood and sweat. She swallowed, trying not to cry.
"I need a shower." She sniffed, looking up at him.
"There's one on board." The MC replied, he looked a little uncomfortable and made the short journey through to the cockpit. Daxia pulled herself together, standing and crossing the corridor to the tiny little bathroom on board. She switched on the Resonance Shower and stripped her jump suit off.

The Resonance Shower thudded against her skin, lots of little sound waves beating the dirt and grime off her. The constant throbbing of the engines under her feet was like a lullaby.
After a long time she knew she couldn't waste the power anymore. With a sigh she slapped the shower off, running a hand through her short cropped blonde hair and delighting in the fact she could. The MC had left a clean jump-suit at the door, which she changed into, gratefully. She cleaned her boots in the shower and but them back on, glancing in the small mirror. She looked human and that was enough for her.

"Hey." John said as she entered the cockpit. He had a long scar running up the back of his head, visible only as a bald line in his short hair. She nodded and sat in the co-pilots chair, checking a few things about their course and settings.
"Mechs." John said, but not without affection. He leaned back in his chair, scrutinizing the stars outside. "We got a long way to go and the Longswords aren't built with cryo-stasis.
"I guess a few recuperative days aren't going to kill me." Daxia replied, shifting a little, feeling her ribs ache. She sneaked a glance at the chief out of the corner of her eye, he was watching her doubtfully, as if he thought she was going to break at any moment.
"John?" She asked.
"Yeah?"
"I'm okay." She promised, smiling at him. "Really." She stood, but didn't dare stretch and crack another rib. "Where's your armour, you said you wanted me to have a look at it."
"It's in the left compartment." Cortana replied for the Chief, who was at loathe to put Daxia to work.
"Are you sure you wanna -" He began, she glanced at him.
"I'm not an invalid." She snapped, taking the armour out and setting it on the deck before her. "Why don't you catch up on some sleep?"

John watched for a while as Daxia started on the armour, she ran the usual pre-system checks, but while they were running she inspected the armour, noting each dent and patch and inspecting the wiring for anything physical. By the time pre-system check had come up with all the flaws it could find, Daxia already knew where most of them were.
John yawned, standing and heading for the bunks. He took the top one, lying down and closing his eyes, but he didn't sleep. Instead he regulated his breathing, cleared his mind, delved deep into a centre of calm inside his mind. Finally, when he was so closed to the world he could have been dead, he drifted into a dreamless sleep.

Daxia worked easily, allowing herself to be lost in wires and systems. By the time she was finished the suit was as good as she could make it. She looked up at the stars and sighed.
"Something wrong?" Cortana asked. Daxia smiled a little.
"No - yes. Oh I don't know." Daxia sighed, her smile becoming wry. "Sometimes it hits me - we're all that's left. We'll never Mendoza or Stacker or . . ." She trailed off. "It hits me and I can't take it any more."
"We did what we had to do." Cortana said firmly. "We saved hundreds of life by destroying the Covenant armada and the Flood. Imagine what would have happened if the Flood had been allowed to get off of Halo?"
"No." Daxia said softly. "I don't want to imagine that Cortana." They were silent, but Daxia could still hear the vindication of Cortana.

***

So for the next few weeks Daxia slept, ate rations and toyed around with the chief's armour. In the same manner the chief trained, ate rations and ran battle simulations with Cortana. Thought processes weren't too good for either of them, nor was the loneliness.
Daxia's secret was that she never let there be silence. She played music from Cortana's files or she talked nonsense. Anything but the silence, because she heard the clicking of Flood Spores growing in the distance.
Noise was good. Noise made sure she wasn't alone.

"We're nearly at Earth." Cortana said, breathless with excitement. The MC gave Daxia a reassuring look as she helped fit the last piece of his armour on.
"Home at last." He said, Daxia nodded and stepped away from the chief, sitting down in the co-pilots seat.
"Cortana, how long?" The chief asked, sitting down. Cortana hesitated.
"Uh - guys?" She asked. "We might have a problem."

Daxia looked out of the window, seeing the battle scarred face of earth and she wanted to cry.
"Let's just turn around and leave." She murmured. The chief didn't reply.
"Let's see what the our troops are talking about." Cortana said, tapping into their controls. The MC slammed his helmet on, jamming it tight.

Pilot: "Sir! They just folded in--inside our formation!"
Admiral: "Son, I need you to calm down."
Pilot: "...look, additional contacts - moving to engage [static]"
Admiral: "[static] ...and get your picket back to rally point Alpha."

General: "Admiral, you can't let them maintain orbit."
Admiral: "I'm trying, general, but we've lost advantage within the lunar perimeter."

Admiral: "My frigates are combat ineffective, and the fighters... they don't have enough punch to take out a Covenant assault carrier."
General: "Your pilots let up, and down here its the goddamned apocalypse!"

The MC handed Daxia a space suit. She didn't question his decision, but quickly got in.

General: "I'm asking you to retarget the orbitals!"
Admiral: "And let more of them slip the kill zone? That's insanity!"
Admiral: "There's nothing more I can do!"

Pilot: "The core defence is too intense. Our grid is maxed, I don't think we can last another run!"

Cortana decided it was time to intervene. The Chief was marching through the spine of the Longsword, Daxia following. He took a gun from the rack and Daxia sighed deeply. Cortana opened a channel.
"Admiral, tell your men to hold their positions. Reinforcements are on the spoke."

Admiral: "The entire fleet is engaged, Cortana. With respect, what the hell sort of reinforcement have you got?"
Tech: "It's passing below your position ma'am. proximity zero ."

The chief grabbed a magnetic line, hooking it between himself and Daxia. The mech gave him a very evil look through her helmet.
"Need I remind you that I'm only human?" She asked as he started to pull the emergency release.
"Could have fooled me." He replied. "Get behind me."
"What if you miss?" Cortana asked curiously. The Chief pulled the emergency release and the docking bay doors slid open. The pull of the stratosphere on Daxia, even crushed behind the MC as she was, was enough to make her gasp.
"I won't." The MC replied and he flung all three of them out into space.

Mendoza had once told her that she hadn't lived until she'd stratosphere dived. She'd told him that any past time that had a 40% survival rate was not her idea of a good time. And that was when you were landing on a specially prepared ship - not a Covenant assault carrier.
Still she had to admit, watching the earth hurtling towards her was somewhat fascinating, if not downright scary. And the assault carrier - it looked too far away. It was never going to pass beneath them in time.

The MC knew exactly what to do, he manoeuvred himself to land first, feet scraping along the carrier. Daxia would have continued out into space if not for the grav line - as it was she jerked to a stop, grabbing at the smooth metal of the carrier.
"Do you know what the odds of that jump were?" Cortana said speculatively.
"If you tell me I will scramble your code up so much you won't be processing anything." Daxia grunted, pulling herself along the grav line to stand with the MC. Her grav boots held firm to the carrier.
"You're a programmer too?" Cortana asked in surprise.
"You'd be amazed the things a single faulty wire in a MJOLNIR suit could do."
"Ladies." The MC said calmly, pointing to the ship beneath them. "We have work to do."

They broke in to the ship, entering the familiar purple corridors. Daxia wished to God she wasn't here.
"Okay." If Cortana had hands Daxia was sure she'd be rubbing them together. "Let's get down to business. I think a core overload would be fun, don't you?"
"Why mess with a winning formula." Daxia muttered, the MC patted her shoulder, detaching the grav line.
"That's the spirit."

The Covenant did not expect them, some of the Grunts were even sleeping. Cortana led them firstly to the hangar bays, which the MC secured. Daxia picked up a plasma rifle, tossing it between her hands.
"Do you see that?" She asked, nodding towards what looked like a big souped up Banshee. The chief looked at it.
"Could you fly it?" He asked. She turned her helmeted head towards him.
"Do I look stupid? Of course I can fly it."
"Look out! Incoming!" Cortana called.

Daxia dropped and rolled, coming up underneath the souped up Banshee. She aimed her plasma rifle at the Elite's coming at them and fired. The MC ran straight at them, punching one and shooting another at close range. His shielding glowed as he was attacked, but he made short work of them.
"Dax! Come on!" He called, waiting for her as they ran for the engineering room.

The MC shoved her unceremoniously to a control panel the second they entered the Covenant's version of an engineering room. He then proceeded to shoot anything and everything that moved, keeping her alive long enough to do the job. By now the Covenant were on to them but in a sort of hazy way.
They don't know about Halo. That's not who these guys are. We're new to them. She realized, working feverishly as she tried to interpret and arm at the same time. Cortana was helping as best she could by calling up relevant files, but even she was struggling with a completely foreign system.
"Ah - chief?" Daxia said, her eyes catching sight of a purple bar that was fluctuating when she pressed a certain button. "When I say so - shoot that big green tower thing."
"Is that a good idea?" Cortana demanded, freaking out a little as Daxia slammed the button.
"Do it!" She cried. The chief fired into the tower and the ship shook violently.

"This is Cortana to all human task forces in the area - please evacuate area as soon as possible, thank you." Cortana said as the chief and Daxia belted down corridors, ignoring the panicked Flood.
"Minutes left minutes left minutes left!" Daxia chanted as they broke into the hangar bay once more. She made a dive for the souped up Banshee and took out the Grunt on guard duty with a quick blast from her laser pistol.
"Let's go!" Cortana cried as they powered up. They soared from the attack cruiser and Daxia cut all engines.
"What are you doing?" The MC asked as they started to plummet thousands of feet per second. The cockpit started to heat up. Behind them the carrier exploded, causing a chain reaction in any nearby plasma engines. That were on.

They crashed into the pacific ocean with an almighty slap. Daxia thought it was probably the best belly-flop ever. She deserved a medal. As the souped up Banshee floated to the surface again the Chief opened the cockpit. He climbed onto the roof of the ship, pulling Daxia up too. She took off her helmet to watch the explosion debris from the Covenant ships above, and possibly some of the human ships too, fall around them.
"They'll burn up on re-entry." Cortana said. "And here come the cavalry."
"A pelican." Daxia mused, grinning at the Chief. "Didn't think I'd see one of those again." They watched the ugly ship skim the water towards them and raised their hands to show they were peaceful.

"Put your hands on your head!" Shouted a marine, aiming her rifle at them. "Don't move!" She roared as they begun to do so.
"We're friendlies." The Chief assured the marines who were proceeding to cuff their arms in front of them.
"You'll wait till debrief Spartan." The marine snapped at him. She looked at Daxia. "And you - whatever you are. You'll wait too."

Debrief [H&R 5]
Date: 14 September 2003, 11:00 PM

Halo's and Rings

Author: Jillybean
AN: At this point people started asking for a romance. So . . .yeah
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Debrief

Daxia had expected a long debriefing, to some extent she'd even expected the hostility. After all, they were all that was left and that was difficult to believe for those who hadn't seen it.
What Daxia had not expected was Captain Agata, sitting with the therapist going over every detail of Daxia's report with a comb so fine a flea couldn't get through it.

"So tell me Lieutenant Ring, this . . . ship you speak of."
"The structure." Daxia said patiently, though her patience was wearing thin. "Halo was a structure." She hid a grimace as Captain Agata and Dr Harrison shared a look. The friendly doctor shifted in her seat and leaned forward.
"Structure then. You have destroyed it?"
"Yes." Daxia grimaced. "I have, John and I did with Cortana's help. It's all in my report." She added, tapping the port folio that sat, opened, on Agata's desk. The captain looked high sceptical as she read a few more lines.
"I have read this . . . report." Agata wasn't impressed. "So if you have destroyed it the threat is over, no?"
"No!" Daxia leapt from her seat and paced the small office.

Since their pick-up they had been debriefed once and then they'd handed in their reports. Before anything else could happen though they were separated and Daxia had spent the last two hours confirming everything in her report. Twice. Now she was getting sick of it.
"No." She continued, calmer again. "343 Guilty Spark spoke of more installations. More Halo. That could mean more Flood and also mean that the Covenant still possess the ability to release the Flood." She turned on the captain and the doctor. "The Flood cannot reach earth." She hissed.
"Sit down please." Harrison spoke as if Daxia was relating the weather. She shuffled through some papers and then turned to Daxia with a serious, yet compassionate expression.

"Mark Walters. He was your friend, right? A one time lover - I hear you were even engaged."
"Once." Daxia replied shortly, folding her arms.
"Is he dead?" Harrison asked curiously. Daxia stood and headed to the other side of the room, breathing deeply.
"When I say: Everyone's dead. I mean: everyone. John and I escaped by the skin of our teeth." She turned back to them. "Why don't you believe me?"
"Oh we believe you." Agata assured her, tucking grey hair behind her ear. It sounded as if she was pacifying a child. "So you are the only survivor, with Spartan-117?"
"Yes." Daxia grated.
"And the AI construct Cortana could verify this?"
"Yes!" Daxia wailed. "If you'd talk to her!"
"She is going under a system check. We will verify your statements afterwards." Agata said with a hint of foreboding. Daxia put her face in her hands.

"Now - talk to me about Spartan-117." Harrison said thoughtfully.
"John." Daxia clarified resentfully.
"Yes . . ." Harrison mused. " 'John'." She leaned forward, trying to be Daxia's friend. "A Spartan, pretty intimidating aren't they?"
"He's a big fluffy bunny." Daxia enunciated clearly, talking to Harrison like she would a child. "Unless you piss him off." She added with a small smile. Harrison took this in and nodded. Agata spoke up.
"Did he go overboard - on this . . . 'Halo'?"
"No." Daxia assured her. "He did what he had to do. We all did. It was kill or be killed."
"You believe he was justified in his actions, blowing the Pillar of Autumn up?"
"There was nothing else we could have done!" Daxia exclaimed. Harrison shushed her with a raised hand.
"It's okay, it's okay." Harrison said comfortingly. "I know you believe that."

Harrison shifted, folding her legs in the other direction.
"Have you heard of Stockholm's Syndrome?" She asked. Daxia chuckled.
"I'm not suffering delusions in order to protect the Chief." She told her. "I'm telling you what I saw and experienced on that ring." She realized that Harrison wasn't convinced.
"Spartans can be a little . . . rough." Agata was choosing her words carefully. "He didn't hurt you - did he? You can tell us, Lieutenant, we're here to protect you. It's safe here." She spoke quietly, conspiritally.
"No!" Daxia burst out. "It's not safe here! It's not safe anywhere! The Covenant, the Flood and the Forerunners are all on our case! We need to fight back! To prepare now!"
"Did Spartan-117 make any sexual advances Lieutenant?" Agata asked as if Daxia's outburst hadn't happened.
"No." Daxia said levelly, shaking with rage. "John's a gentleman."
"None at all?" Agata sounded surprised, as if it was a routine part of a mission. "After all, you're a very attractive woman."
"A Spartan's training does not allow for emotion in combat situations." Daxia replied, outsmarting her.
"Yes . . ." Agata slid a sheet of paper towards her. "Yet here your statement says that he singled you out."
"I'm a bloody good mechanic." Daxia gritted her teeth.
"And here again, it says that he took you with him through a Covenant Battle Cruiser, then again to the Pillar of Autumn where you commend him on his bravery and 'loyalty to his comrades in face of danger'. He saved your life at the risk of his own." Agata looked vindicated. "Interesting, a Spartan's training doesn't allow for that either. In extreme situations, which you insist you were in, a Spartan should prioritize."
"In his opinion he could make the final run to the Longsword." Daxia replied levelly.
"But it wasn't yours at the time?" Agata asked.

"Look!" Daxia exploded from her seat, grabbing the lapels of Agata's coat. "He saved my life because we were all that was left! You can't imagine what it was like - fearing silence because then you'd hear the spore coming for you! Wanting to kill you! You've not seen your friends and allies twisted into . . . into things! You've never put a marine out of his misery because he's half Flood already and it's all you can do for him. You. Weren't. There." She let go and jerked her arm out of Harrison's grasp.
"I think you should rest Lieutenant." Agata said to her, looking furious. "We shall resume this later."

***

Daxia was escorted through the city to a deserted crew barracks. While she had access to beds, showers, entertainment and food dispensers there was no one else there. And she was locked in.

And the noise of Spore was growing in the distance, from each corner of the room. Frantically she ordered the computer to play music, to fill the room with noise. She leaned against a wall, her breathing shallow as the bass thudded through her spine. She slid to the floor, keeping her eyes open to reassure herself there was nothing sneaking up on her.

I am
Little bit of loneliness
A little bit of disregard
A handful of complaints
But I can't help the fact
That everyone can see these scars

Daxia stood, feeling like she was made of lead. She showered and ate and then she slept, not knowing when she'd get another chance.

***

"It's all right John, we're all friends here." Captain Margrave was saying. He patted John on the shoulder as he circled the seated Spartan. "You can tell us what really happened.
"With respect, I already have sir." John said. The doctor sitting on the other side of the desk looked doubtful, he glanced through John's report once more, pulling out Daxia's crew picture.
"And this is . . ." He asked, though John knew the doctor knew, John explained as if he hadn't explained before.
"Lieutenant Daxia Ring, mechanic first class, pilot first class - Reach's First Distinction." He quoted from the crew roster of the Autumn.
"You know a lot about her."
"I memorized the crew roster of the Autumn, sir." John replied. The doctor glanced at Captain Margrave.
"And Ring and you are the only survivors?" Margrave repeated.
"Yes sir." John answered as calmly as he had the first time. "And the AI construct Cortana."

Margrave walked around to stand over the doctor's shoulder, he looked at the picture thoughtfully.
"She's pretty I suppose." He said, looking up at the Spartan. "I'd be tempted if I was stuck in a Longsword with her for days on end, especially after being through you what you say you went through."
"Lieutenant Ring and I have a working relationship sir." John said, trying not to clench his jaw. "She would give you the same answer, sir."
"And you never once wondered about her?" The captain sounded very sceptical.
"My training does not allow for-"
"But you are human after all." Margrave pressed. John's head snapped around and he stared the captain straight in the eye.
"Barely. Sir." He said.

"Tell us John." The doctor interrupted smoothly. "Before you went to debriefing you were recorded to say 'It will be okay Dax'. I presume Dax is Lieutenant Ring?"
"That is indeed one of her nicknames sir." John replied affably, not wanting to know where this was headed.
"So you are attached to her, if you are to use a nickname." The doctor thought over this. "Dax." He said again. He said it wrong, he said 'Dacks' when really it was softer, 'Dacsh'. Daxia would reem him for it.
"And her conduct on Halo - it was acceptable?" The doctor asked.
"I couldn't fault it. I know marines who would have failed under similar circumstance sir."
"You wouldn't be protecting her, would you?" Margrave asked. "If so, we can protect you John. Tell us what really happened."
"The Pillar of Autumn made a blind jump to escape the Covenant attack on Reach. We did this to avoid leading the Covenant to earth. They followed us and we discovered the Halo structure . . ."

***

No matter what I do
I can't convince you
To just believe this is real
So I let go
Watching you
Turn your back like you always do
Face away and pretend that I'm not
But I'll be here
'Cause you're all I got

Daxia was woken by someone switching off the song. She jerked into a sitting position, reaching for a gun or anything she could use to defend herself.
"Relax lieutenant." A wry voice said. Daxia gasped, tears stinging her eyes as she was confronted with a young blonde woman, long curly hair and bright brown eyes.
"Aislinn." She murmured and the younger woman flung herself into Daxia's embrace.
"They told me you were dead." Aislinn sobbed. "They said the Autumn had been gone too long."
"I know. I know." Daxia pulled away from her sister and wiped her eyes on the back of her sleeve. "Everyone else is gone." She said. Aislinn looked at her.
"Everyone?" She asked. Daxia nodded.
"I'm sorry kiddo." She said, brushing a strand of Aislinn's unruly blonde hair off of her face. "I know how much he meant to you."
"I've still got you." Aislinn replied after a beat. She wiped her brown eyes and headed for the food dispensers.

"They said you might be a little unstable, that I wasn't to mention it." Aislinn said as she brought back two trays. She sat down on the other side of the bunk and took a forkful of noodles. "I have to treat you with care."
"They think I'm mad." Daxia replied, toying with her food. "Because we found something that's scary."
"What?" Aislinn asked. Daxia stabbed the fork into the a section of meat and looked at it. "Daxy - what did you find?" Aislinn asked.
"I want you to get off of earth." Daxia said. "I want you to leave."
"And go where?" Aislinn asked. "The Covenant have destroyed everywhere else. The war is and the war is now. We all have to do our part."
"Oh and the part of a failing college student is that important is it?" Daxia snapped. "Listen to me! They're coming and they are not going to make distinctions."
"Who's 'they'?" Aislinn ignored the slur on her behalf.
"Mrs Jenkins?" A crewman entered, Aislinn looked up. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave." He continued. Aislinn looked her sister in the eye.
"Who?" She pressed.
"Mrs Jenkins." The crewman took her arm.
"The Flood." Daxia told her sister, watching as she was led away.

***

A crewman entered Captain Margrave's office and spoke quietly. John could hear it though, and the captain had pissed him off so much he listened to it.
"The scans on the AI construct are complete. She's not been tampered with." The crewman whispered. Margrave nodded and turned to John.
"Why don't you take a break John?" He said. John stood and nodded.
"I wish to speak with Lieutenant Ring, sir." He said boldly. Margrave glanced at Dr Loyd who paused.
"I'll have to speak with my associate Dr Harrison about that John." The doctor said, if Lieutenant Ring is fit for visitors I'll consider it."

The doctor was true to his word, finding his colleague and comparing notes.
"They believe everything they're saying." Harrison rubbed her temples. Dr Loyd nodded in agreement.
"As far as I can tell Spartan-117 has suffered extreme trauma, he's falling back on protocol."
"Lieutenant Ring doesn't have the luxury." Harrison replied. "She's lashing out - she's dealing with it in her way."
"I think it might be beneficial to let them speak with each other." Loyd suggested.
"You'd be giving them a chance to corroborate any stories they've concocted." Harrison pointed.
"Ring's barracks are being monitored anyway, it may give us a chance to hear what's really going on - at least until we get the confirmation from the AI construct."
"Ok." Harrison agreed.

I am
A little bit insecure
A little unconfident
'Cause you don't understand
I do what I can
But sometimes I don't make sense
I am
What you never want to say
But I've never had a doubt
It's like no matter what I do
I can't convince you
For once just to hear me out

Daxia looked up when the door opened again, she was sitting on her bunk, not listening to the song that was playing. Two crewman escorted John in then left them. She stood, quickly looking him up and down.
"You're ok." She breathed in relief.
"Right back atcha." The chief replied. He headed for the food dispensers and ate the meal he was given ravenously. While he ate Daxia didn't talk, she shut her eyes and rested on the bunk, feeling safe again.

"What did they ask you?" John asked after he'd ate and had a shower. Daxia opened her eyes and sat up.
"They don't believe a word I say, I might have been talking to a brick wall. Did you have any more luck?"
"No." John looked pensive as he stared into his mug of coffee. Daxia tilted her head to the side, she'd never have put the chief down for a coffee kind of guy.
"My sister visited." Daxia said. "The moment I started talking about the Flood they took her away." She leaned her head against the wall of the bunk, remembering. "What if they never believe us?"
"Cortana." John replied. "I have faith in her." He sat down on the floor, his legs crossing at the ankles. He put his back against the metal frame of the bunk and let his head fall backwards on the mattress.
"And if she doesn't pull through." Daxia murmured, so quiet she hoped he wouldn't hear. For a while it seemed like he didn't, but then he answered.
"Then we'll just have to save the world again." He turned his head so he could see her. She had her knees up to her chin, her arms curled around her legs.

The door opened and Captain Margrave walked in, Captain Agata following. John stood but Daxia remained where she was. She would not stand for these bastards.
"The AI construct Cortana has confirmed your account." Margrave said into the silence. "Spartan-117 we need a tactical analysis from you."
"Lieutenant Ring." Agata said. "You have a days shoreleave, then we need back on the front." She left and Margrave waited for John. The Spartan glanced at Daxia who shook her head ever so slightly.
"Just go." She said. "You don't need me for this." She watched the Spartan walk out and stood, intent on tracking down her sister for her one day of shoreleave.

The Preserver [H&R6]
Date: 14 September 2003, 11:02 PM

Halo's and Ring

Author: Jillybean
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Preserver

"Name?" The commander sitting at the desk said.
"Ring, Daxia, Lieutenant." Was Daxia's reply, accepting the swipe card she got from him that would enable her access to all the Kheezheekoni's systems. The Kheezeekoni was a Platform ship, something for fighters and and marines to launch off of. She circled Earth constantly at the moment, lazily deploying troops to intercept the Covenant assault teams.
"You're on drop duty Lieutenant." The commander said. "Pelican Tango-Alpha 451." The commander said and Daxia was filed into the mess hall with all the other new blood.
But there was no new blood in this war.

She had been on a new ship before, she had been able to mix and mingle with her fellow pilots, mechs and marines before. But before she had never been on Halo, felt the desperation that clung to her.
She hesitated at the notice board, trying to delay meeting anyone. She read the notices, one in particular caught her eye.
Did you join for ill-fitting boots?
Loud bangs, bad pay
And watching officers take the loot?
Stand up and say
Marines! Open mouth insert foot!
I'd quit for a lay
Daxia smirked and signed her name underneath with all the others. She didn't believe these things damaged morale, she believed they strengthened camaraderie and she knew that was important.

And she couldn't put off finding a table to eat at any longer. She sat down at the edge of a long row and accepted the tray from the young member on mess duty. She started eating, hoping no one would notice her.
But it was not in the crews nature to let someone sit alone. Two women and four men eased themselves along the benches to sit with her.
"Hey." Said the first guy, a pilot by the looks of him. "Eddie Cruso." He extended a hand. "That's Bill Trenton, Annie Groves, Craig Rhymes, Sarah O'Neill and Alex Flanders." He grinned at her. "Now you know us and you're not a loner any more. Where you from?" He asked, the others grinned at each other, waiting for an exciting story.
"The Pillar of Autumn." Daxia replied, shovelling the unidentifiable mush into her mouth. The others glanced at each other, now very curious.
"The Pillar of Autumn?" Annie Groves asked, she was a marine judging by the buzz cut and muscles.
"The very same." Daxia said, staring into the empty air between Bill and Eddie opposite her.
"So. Is it true, the rumours?" Craig asked, sitting forward in his seat.
"I don't know what those rumours would be." Daxia told him. "What I do know is that me and the Spartan are the only ones left." She dropped her fork to the tray. "If you'll excuse me, I'm not hungry."

She walked out of the room, heading towards the crew quarters. The sergeant assigned her a bunk and she lay there, trying to sleep. There was only so much sleep she could manage in a day though, and the relative quiet atmosphere of the crew quarters brought the sound of Flood Spores to her ears. She sat and headed back through the Kheezheekoni's corridors, not sure where she was going.
"Hey!" It was Annie's voice. The burly marine caught up with her. "I had friends on the Autumn, I deserve to know more." She demanded, slamming Daxia into a wall.
"I'm not authorized to give you that information." Daxia replied levelly.
"Goddamnitt!" Annie shoved her against the wall again. "I want to know!"
Daxia kicked the marine in the shins, her fist driving forward and hitting her in the vulnerable spot where the shoulder plate of her armour would meet with the chest plate, of course, Annie wasn't wearing armour so the blow was all the more forceful. Annie stumbled back in the narrow corridor, hitting the opposite wall. She grinned viciously.
"Oh come on girlie." She purred. "You gotta have more than that in you."

"Hey look!" Someone shouted in Daxia's peripheral vision, on either side of them a small crowd was forming. Daxia ran at Annie, missing deliberately and using her momentum to send her flying up the wall, in the small area it was possible to run up the wall and land on Annie's back. The marine landed on the floor and Daxia slammed Annie's face into the deck plate.
"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" The chanting began, echoed eerily by the clicking of Flood. Daxia made to slam Annie's face into the deck one more time but the Marine hadn't lived this long for nothing. She drove her elbow upwards and into Daxia's ribs. She rolled, kicking Daxia off her, following with two punches to the chest. Daxia hit the wall again and Annie drove her fist into Daxia's face.
Daxia hadn't live this long for nothing either, she ducked and ran into Annie, colliding both of them into the opposite wall.
"That I learned from an Elite." She muttered, driving her palm underneath Annie's chin and forcing the marine's head back.
"That I learned from a Jackal." She spoke louder now, grabbing Annie's neck with her hand and bringing the marine's face down onto her knee.
"That I learned from a marine." She kicked Annie to the deck and drove her boot into the small of Annie's back.
"That I learned from a Spartan." She was shouting now, Annie leapt to her feet, to be confronted with a pistol. The muzzle fingered Annie's face and everyone went dead silent. Daxia smiled calmly.
"That I learned from the Flood." She finished, her voice carried to the entire crowd. "They're coming. They killed the crew of the Autumn, they killed my sisters husband, they killed my friends - ultimately they killed Captain Keyes." Daxia pulled back a little, slipping the pistol back into the waistband of her jogging pants. Annie was bleeding profusely, her nose looked broken. Daxia met her eyes. "You want to know what happened to your friends? If they were lucky the Covenant killed them. If they were really lucky they died instantly in the blast from the Autumn's reactions. You don't want to know what the last option was."

"Lieutenant Ring!" Captain Agata snarled. The crowd parted instantly. "Accompany me to the bridge at once!" Her voice shivered with rage. Daxia nodded formally to Annie and followed the captain.

***

"What did you think you were doing!" Agata roared, spit flying from her mouth. Daxia concentrated on the a charred mark on the floor of the bridge.
"Well Lieutenant! What did you mean by brawling on my ship!"
"I was preparing them, sir." Daxia replied.
"I'm sorry - I failed to notice 'captain' or 'admiral' on your resume!" Agata was screaming now, right in front of Daxia.
"Sir, with all due respect-"
"Shut up." Agata snapped. "You are hereby demoted to the rank of ensign. You are also on mess duty. God help me Ring, I'll see you never pilot again."
"That would be a great loss to the fleet sir." Daxia pointed out calmly.
"If we weren't at war I would put you in the brig." Agata hissed. "You even look over the line, and I will confine you there. And I know how much you like silence." Agata felt vindicated at the flash of panic in Ring's eyes.
"You have no idea what's coming Captain." Ring murmured. "If there are Gods, I pray they look out for you more than they did for Keye-" She was cut off by a sharp slap. Agata stood, quivering. The entire bridge was silent as Daxia slowly turned her head around. The ensign refused to pay attention to the slap. Agata swallowed.
"Captain Keyes was a great man." Agata said. "I won't hear you say a word against him. Mess duty. Now."

***

"Is there something wrong Chief?" Cortana asked as they headed for a Covenant drop point. Their mission was simple, secure the moon base area and eliminate all Covenant in said area.
"Nothing." The Chief replied, launching a grenade into a cluster of Grunts. The Grunts went flying, one knocked an Elite out cold. The Chief leapt from the crater he was hiding in and ran forward, grabbing a plasma pistol as he simultaneously discarded his spent Needler. He crouched and overloaded the pistol, taking out an Elite and burning his hand.
"You seem off your game." Cortana replied as he punched a Jackal's shield out. He had reached the compound wall of the moon base. He flung a plasma grenade at the nearby Hunters, pleased when it stuck and blew the already injured Hunter to pieces.
"Marines! Follow me!" He called out to those still sheltering in the craters. "I'm not off my game." He added to Cortana. He pulled the shotgun and fired rapidly at the blur in front of him. A cloaked Elite fell to the ground, dead. One marine managed to get to the door panel, hacking it and commanding the door to open. The Chief covered him from two approaching Jackals.
He entered the Moon Base, firing two shots at an Elite and finding another Hunter hiding behind the storage crates. He spent the shotgun, ducked underneath the Hunter's shield and spun, overloading the plasma pistol into the soft flesh at the small of the Hunter's back.
"Base secure!" A marine called.
"Maybe I am a little off my game." The chief admitted to Cortana.
"Any ideas on how to rectify that?" Cortana asked as he took a quick sweep of the room. The Chief hesitated, wondering if there was. "Well?" Cortana asked.
"We have work to do Cortana." He replied.

They secured the moon base without much trouble. The Chief returned through the hastily set up triage centre, he conditioned himself not to pay too much attention to the young men and women that lay, waiting for treatment or . . . something worse.
"We should report back for further orders." Cortana said softly, intruding on his thoughts. He nodded, starting for the command area when a young marine caught his eye. One arm had been blown off and she had burns up the left side of her face. A doctor was trying his best to ease her pain, but every time she moved she hissed between fractured teeth.
"Chief?" Cortana pressed.
"I'm going." The Chief said, walking briskly past.

"Ah - yes Master Chief." Captain Margrave turned to see him. "The Covenant are making a temporary withdrawal from this section, they're redoubling their efforts on the Jupiter Moon colonies, we'll be heading there in a few hours. You did well today son."
"It's my job sir." The Master Chief said, slinging his gun over his shoulder. Margrave nodded.
"The Kheezheekoni took down a Covenant transport before it got to Earth in the last hour." Margrave did not notice that the Spartan became a whole lot more attentive. The Kheezheekoni was the ship Daxia was on. "And they captured a Prophet."
"Good for them sir."
"Trouble is, the Prophet is refusing to speak to us. He's in the Kheezheekoni's brig and the Kheezheekoni is coming to Jupiter with us. The Prophet keeps saying Captain Agata is not worthy for him to talk to, we hope he might see you as more worthy and talk to you."
"Why not ask Lieutenant Ring to talk to him, she knows about Halo. She might be able to taunt him out."
"Ring?" Margrave sounded doubtful.
"I'll talk to the Prophet sir, but in the mean time - what harm is there in trying?"

***

"What are you doing? Don't play with that!" Bill exclaimed, jerking back from Craig at the table in the mess hall. Craig turned the dormant plasma grenade over and frowned.
"It's not working." He said.
"It might start working if you're not careful." Sarah pointed out, leaning back to allow the crewmember on mess duty to put her tray on the table. She noticed it was Daxia Ring and glanced at Annie, just a few seats down. The marine didn't seem to care.

"How do these things work anyway?" Craig asked, still turning the blue ball over and over again. "I mean - I've the Covenant use them but I really don't understand how."
"What are you doing with a plasma grenade anyway? And in the mess hall?" Alex asked, he was from Australia and it showed in his accent.
"I got it off of one of the Covenant we got from that carrier ship." Craig answered. "Feel it - it's soft."
"Ew." Sarah said, prodding the side of the grenade and retracting her finger quickly.

"It's a chemical membrane." Daxia said, on her way back up to the kitchen. She stopped, unable to stand their wondering any more. "The very specific amount of kinetic energy released first by a throw and then an impact triggers a chemical reaction which breaks the membrane and ignites the plasma."
"Huh." Craig said, regarding the blue ball in a new light. "Cool."
"How does it stick to humans but not the walls?" Sarah asked, curious.
"Actually it sticks to objects with kinetic and heat energy. A moving vehicle can be targeted too." Daxia blushed. "Sorry to eavesdrop."
"No biggy." Annie said. Daxia grimaced a little.
"And I'm sorry for - you know."
"No biggy." Annie repeated. "You're pretty messed up right now, I understand that." She teased. Daxia scowled at first, but then laughed with the others.
"Oh yeah." She said. "I'm really messed up right now."

"Ensign Ring." Agata snapped from behind her. Daxia spun.
"Yes sir?"
"Report to the brig. We received a transmission from command, they want to try you with out Prophet." Agata did not sound happy about it.

***

The brig was a well lit area with security heavier than the bridge. The Prophet sat on a low bench, surrounded by bars and forcefields. He pulled his tattered robe around him, his huge head was bowed. He looked up when Agata and her commander entered. His large head shivered, revealing spikes and blobs at intervals over his skull.
"Ah-Ghata." He growled in his sketchy Common. "You may ask but I still not tell. You not worthy Ah-Ghata."
"Stow it prisoner." Agata snapped, levelling a gun at the Prophets head, just for fun. "If I had God's they'd hate you just as much as your Gods hate me." She stepped away and nodded to Daxia. "Get him to talk Ring. If you can."

Daxia stepped a little closer to the cell, the Prophet looked at her and laughed gravelly.
"My kind not let females work. No point." He laughed again. "Ah-Ghata not worthy - why should you be? You are still Suckling. How is it you say? Child. A girl child." The Prophet rustled the spikes on his head. Daxia supposed he was laughing.
"This was a big waste of my time." Agata muttered sullenly. Daxia looked to the men in control of the force field.
"Let me in. I want to talk to him in the same cage."
"No-"
"Let her." Agata interrupted the officer. "It doesn't matter."

The forcefield deactivated and Daxia stepped inside the first wall. Then the bars slid open and she stepped into the Prophet's territory. He looked at her, curious despite himself.
"Eager to prove yourself. But Girl-Child you remain."
"I'm 29. Don't tell anyone." Daxia said, staying close to the door. The Prophet snorted, it sounded like an explosion.
"My kind live thousands of years."
"Not the ones on Halo." Daxia said calmly. The Prophet stood instantly, towering above her. The guards outside leapt into action, ready to shoot the Prophet, Agata waved them down.

"You speak not of what you know." The Prophet coughed. Daxia raised an eyebrow.
"I know about Halo. I know more than you."
"Lies! You Girl-Child deceive!" The Prophet lunged for her, wrapping a hand around her neck. "I could crush you now."
"Is that what your gods decree? I know about Halo. I was on the Truth and Reconciliation. I met the Flood and I survived." She said, wondering about the wiseness of this idea. Why was no one intervening - surely Agata didn't hate her that much?
"Lies! Lies!" The Prophet was becoming quite frantic, he leaned so close to her his salmon pink lips were brushing her nose and forehead. "You know nothing!"
"I know you were scared of your Gods own weapon." Daxia choked, trying to move her face away from him. The Prophet dropped her abruptly, slithering away back to his bench.
"What is the name of . . . the thing that thinks but does not live . . . what is it's name that that guarded Halo?" He asked, trying to judge if she was really telling the truth.
"343 Guilty Spark." Daxia replied. The Prophet whined loudly, piercingly.
"And on Halo - you were with the cyborg?" The Prophet asked, looking like he knew the answer.
"I was." Daxia rubbed her throat a little nervously. The Prophet shook himself vehemently.
"No! Yes some said the cyborg was indeed He but no! Not a Girl-Child! I can not see it!" He moaned for some time in this vein, while Daxia turned to Agata.

"Get me out of here." She said.
"You're getting through to him." Agata was smug. "Keep talking." She prompted. Daxia swallowed then looked back to the Prophet.
"The cyborg." She commanded, trying not to let her voice shake. "Tell me more about him."
"Some . . . no, I will not tell you." The Prophet said.
"Tell me or I will order these people to shoot your head off." Daxia said, though she doubted she had any authority whatsoever. The Prophet looked at her.
"Some believed the Cyborg to be the Reclaimer." The Prophet said reluctantly. Daxia nodded.
"343 Guilty Spark thought so." She said.

"Alhye ahie bue kuya Gorrrhy." The Prophet dropped to the ground, prostrating himself in front of Daxia. His stream of gibberish confused her.
"What's he saying!" Agata yelled.
"I don't know!" Daxia cried frantically. "I don't speak - Prophet."
"I apologize, oh Preserver." The Prophet said. "I beg your forgiveness."
"Uh . . ." Daxia glanced at Agata who urged her on. "You'll be forgiven if . . . if you can explain yourself."

"Preserver I did not understand. The Prophecies say your form is always that what we would expect - who better to destroy the humans than an innocent? I did not see at first, I beg forgiveness."
"You think I'm one of your Gods. You think John and I are your Gods. To destroy the human race." Daxia laughed.
"No. The Reclaimer is the vengeful force, he will destroy the universe. The Preserver is the peaceful force, he - she, will save our race." The Prophet corrected. "This is done by the destruction of the humans."
"Let me out." Daxia said very quietly. The guards aimed their weapons as Daxia escaped from the cell.

"Well then Preserver." Agata said. "Bit of a step up from ensign, isn't it?"
"With all due respect - I'm a little freaked right now to take jokes." Daxia shivered, rubbing her arms.
"I'd be freaked too." Agata said darkly. "You got the rest of the hour off. When we get to Jupiter we'll need you as a pilot."

***

Reclaim Me . . . [H&R 7]
Date: 18 September 2003, 5:58 PM

Halo's and Rings

Author: Jillybean
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reclaim Me Oh Reclaimer My Warranty Is Void

"Master Chief?" A young soldier interrupted the Chief's light sleep like a mouse would wake a sleeping lion. "Uh - we've reached the Jupiter Moons. Captain Margrave wants you on the Bridge." He said. John nodded, rubbing his head and catching his hand on a thin metal line in his skull. He grimaced and pulled his helmet on, reattaching his gloves and sealing the armour.
"Did your half hours nap do you any good at all?" Cortana asked darkly. The Chief grinned.
"It did actually, yourself?"
"Oh yeah. 34 minutes of nothing really got me going." Cortana said sarcastically. "You could have survived without the rest you know."
"Yeah but then I would have had to think." The Chief replied mysteriously reaching the Bridge.

"Sir?"
"Ah - John." Margrave turned. He gestured to Jupiter's moons below him. "Do your thing." He said.
"Yes sir." The Chief said, turning from him and wishing the captain had just let him go straight from crew quarters to the drop ships.
"Let's give 'em Hell Chief!" Cortana said enthusiastically as he flung himself into the nearest Pelican. The marines clustered in with him, cheering themselves on. The Chief took a deep breath, wishing he didn't need to sit through another bunch of young men wanting to go out and 'Fight For Her'. Yet, it was the blood of young men that kept Earth and humanity safe. He didn't have any choice - the death of the Covenant were the only thing that would save them.

***

Daxia jogged through the Kheezheekoni, reaching her docking bay. She grinned at the marines suiting up outside her Pelican and jumped up, grabbing the frame of the Pelican door and swinging in to the cockpit. Her co-pilot entered beside her, checking his controls.
"Pre-flight systems check." He said. Daxia nodded, jamming her helmet on and flicking a line of switches in front of her, she eased the engines on and double checked the atmospheric shield on the Pelican.
"Okay Marines!" She called over her shoulder. "The time is 06:00 hours and this is your Captain speaking. In your all inclusive Jupiter Moon Colony package you can expect a fun filled day of field sports, including Hunt the Grunt, Eliminate the Elite and Jack those Jackals." She grinned as she saw the Marines loosen up. Her co-pilot gave her a half-hearted grin and she stepped up the charade as they were given the clearance to go.
"Our in-flight movie today is the Amazing Evasive, if you look closely you'll see cameo's from our very own Kheezheekoni. In case of emergency the Emergency Exits are blocked by an atmospheric forcefield. If we start crash put your head between you knees and kiss your ass goodbye. We do expect some Covenant induced turbulence on the way in so you might find it better to strap yourselves securely into your seats."

Daxia had to stop talking to manoeuvre the clunky Pelican through the moon's stratosphere and past some hasty Covenant defences. She saw a large crevice open out into a rocky cliff that faced an abandoned town.
"Hey Sarge." She called. "That work for you?"
"Yup." The Sergeant called back. Daxia hovered above some rocks then touched down, letting the Marines get out.
"Calling Anduril, Anduril come in." A male voice said over the radio, the instrumentation on the Pelican said it was Fiveson, the AI on the Red Dawn.
"This is Anduril, we hear you loud and clear Fiveson." She said.
"We need a drop ship in this area now Anduril!"
"Anduril, Anduril, come in Anduril." The AI of the Shadow Chaser came in. "We need transport."

Daxia glanced at her co-pilot. "Which one's closer?" She asked.
"Uh - the crew Fiveson called in." He said, looking a little flustered.
"Sorry Shadow Chaser, we have a previous engagement, will try and get round to you." Daxia called.
"Calling any drop-ships in the area, repeat, calling any drop-ships in the area . . ." A new voice said.

***

"Monitoring all these transmissions makes it difficult to think!" Cortana exclaimed as the Master Chief took shelter in a house from an Elite. He glanced at his shot-gun and grimaced, he had no more bullets. His plasma pistol was far too weak to break through the Elite's armour and he had no grenades. He prepared himself as the Elite stepped through the door. The Chief launched himself upwards, driving his fist into the Elite's jaw and then bringing the butt of his shotgun onto the fragile cranium. He stooped and picked the plasma rifle up, discarding his plasma pistol.
"Sorry Cortana, I was busy. You were saying?"
"Very funny." Cortana said.

"Chief - this area has been secured." Cortana said. "We should head up that ridge there and prepare to take on the last settlement."
"What's the damage elsewhere?" The Chief asked as he picked up a steady pace up the rocky ridge. Cortana hesitated a little.
"The other AI's report major damages. Almost a third of our troops have been decimated, the remainder seem to have found places to survive in. All the fighting has slowed down, now it's a siege."
"Then lets invade."

***

"I want coffee." Harry, Daxia's co-pilot said. Daxia grinned and backed the Pelican against a cliff to pick up the injured soldiers and drop them off to the infirmary that had been established on Loose Canyon.
"Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen." She said. "It's 20:58 and we are currently on our way to the fabulous five star health spa on Loose Canyon." She had kept up her charade for the whole day, she was becoming famous for it.
"Anduril come in, are you busy?" Dotty, the AI synchronizing the troops on this side asked.
"We have a package Dotty." Daxia replied. "If you can wait twenty minutes I can get round to it."
"That'll be too late. Thanks anyway." Dotty signed off, calling the next drop-ship.

"Calling all UNSC forces! Calling all UNSC forces in the area! We are in need of desperate assistance!" Cortana's voice suddenly screeched through the radios. "Underground . . . . . . UNS- . . . . . . Covenant forces! All available . . . . . . Makers Ridge."
"Say again Cortana, you're breaking up." Mitra called, the AI responsible for co-ordinating the AI's with the orbiting battle cruisers.
". . . akers Ridge! Reinforcements! Send Rein- . . . . Can anyone hear me?"
"We read you Cortana." Mitra insisted. "Reinforcements on the way."

Daxia increased the speed of the Pelican, racing for Loose Canyon.

***

The Chief was flung against the bulkhead, hit by a vicious punch from a Hunter. The large blue spiked monstrosity roared in delight and raised it's shield one last time to bring it down onto the Chief's bruised and battered body.
The Chief kicked his legs in the air, using a quick headstand against the wall to evade the Hunter. He dropped to the ground and crawled away as the Hunter struggled to pull his shield out of the concrete it had been embedded in. The Chief found a plasma pistol and overloaded it, sticking into the vulnerable orange spots. The Hunter died with an anguished roar.

"Yo Chief - you in here?" A marine called, running into the underground bunker. They stopped and stared at the carnage in front of them.
"What in the name of fuck is that?" Asked a private, poking a large dead Covenant with his gun. The Chief sighed deeply.
"A Brute." He said. "There were five of them." He winced, trying to breathe without hurting.
"And about twenty Hunters. Jeez Louise!" A female marine exclaimed. "You did all this yourself?" She whistled when the Chief managed to nod.
"Hey what's this?" Asked a marine, coming across a small case. "Were they guarding this?"
"DON'T TOUCH IT!" Cortana and the Chief bellowed at the same time. The Chief made a lunge for the crate but was brought up short by a stabbing pain in his side. The last blow from the Hunter had bent the armour into his ribcage. Moving was painful.
"What is it?" The female marine asked again, staring at the small squid like thing sitting in a vacuum.
"A Spore." Cortana said and the female marine drew back sharply.
"A Flood Spore?" She asked. "Jesus christ, they're real."
"Of course they're real." Cortana muttered. "Calling any drop-ships in the area, we need a transport."
"This is Anduril." A well loved voice said. "I'm approaching the compound, is it secure?"
"That depends, what do you define as secure nowadays?" Cortana asked cheerfully. Daxia laughed over the radio.
"I'll take that as a 'yes' Cortana. You two okay?"
"All the better for hearing you Daxia." Cortana replied.

"Is that thing coming with us?" The female marine asked as the Spartan lifted the crate.
"For research purposes." Cortana clarified. The marines escorted the Chief out of the compound, finishing off the last few Grunts and Jackals. A large Chimera class shuttle hovered by them, capable of escorting troops between planets.
"Look what we found." Cortana said as John limped into the small hold that would carry the marines. The co-pilot stepped out of the cockpit and made a disgusted noise.
"Daxia you should see this!" He said. "No wonder Mitra transferred us to a Chimera, we need to get this to a research vessel. Really Daxia - you should look at this!"
"I think I've probably seen it." Daxia said, glancing up as John eased himself into the cockpit. He sat in the chair behind her, his helmet obscuring his pained expression.
"You'd be right." He said, Daxia concentrated on flying them past a few Covenant patrols.

***

In the Shadow Chaser's docking bays Daxia landed the Chimera class shuttle and watched the marines unload. The Master Chief was leaning by the gangplank, whether he was too tired or physically unable to support his own weight Daxia didn't know. She didn't want to find out.
"Captain Margrave." She acknowledged as the captain strode up to them.
"Ensign Ring." He nodded. "Take the Chimera to the UNSC science ship orbiting Venus, the Prophet is being transferred there as we speak. Take the Master Chief and the Flood Spore."
"Aye aye sir." Daxia said, relieved that she was in charge of the Flood Spore, she didn't want someone who didn't know what they were dealing with in charge.
"Marines!" Margrave shouted, turning to them. "You three." He said, pointing to Annie and two others. "Accompany the Chief and Ensign Ring, guard that spore with your life. We need to know all we can about the Flood." He turned back to Ring and winked.
"Look after the Chief for us Ring, you're in charge." He said, marching off. Daxia sighed and took a deep breath, turning to face the marines.
"Load up. We're going now, Harry start the pre-flight and get us a flight clearance from Mitra."
"Aye sir." Harry said, returning to the cock-pit. Daxia hesitated as she got to the Chief.

"You okay?" She asked, seeing him climb gingerly back into the Chimera.
"I'll live." He said, which didn't really answer her question. She noticed Annie watching her curiously and found time to be all business again.
"Cortana, how many Covenant patrols in the area?"
"A few, most are engaged in the moon system." Cortana replied. "Once we get past the asteroid belt we'll have relatively clear sailing."
"Huh." Daxia snorted, securing herself into the pilots seat and taking the Chimera out. "Everything's relative nowadays."

***

The UNSC science vessel, the Fukayna was like a fortress. Her hull plating could withstand extreme proximity's to super-nova's, her laboratories were top class, she had shields that could deflect asteroids - and like all other science vessels she was resigned to circling the sun, hiding from the Covenant cruisers. The Fukayna could not fight the Covenant so she was ultimately rendered useless.
Everything for humanity was focussed on the fight for survival.

"Fukayna, this is Anduril, requesting approach." Harry said as they matched orbiting height.
"Anduril this is Fukayna, good to hear you. Approach granted. Continue on this vector." The radio replied.
"Daxia can you handle the Spore once we get there?" Cortana asked, her artificial voice laden with worry. "I think we'll be heading to the infirmary."
"Cortana-" The Chief began to grunt.
"Oi!" Daxia snapped. "Listen to the AI Chief, get to the infirmary. The marines and I can handle a frozen Spore." The Chief did not reply.

They landed and were besieged by scientists, Daxia fended them off and ordered the marines to carry the Spore to the labs.
"So what is it we have here?" Asked a wiry little scientist once the case was left in his lab. Daxia took a deep breath, wishing Cortana was around to help her explain.
"This is the Flood in it's spore, or infectious, form. These little buggers infect a host, implanting themselves into the nervous system, as far as I can tell." She indicated the long feelers. "Once it's seized control of the host then it starts to . . . evolve . . . for the lack of a better word. If the body is not suitable for fighting, or if there is a shortage of spores, then the host will become a Carrier. It's upper torso swell as the growing Flood spore eat all that's there, including brain matter. Then when they're ready the spore explode out of their host, looking for a new one. If the host is suitable as a warrior, then it becomes a monstrous fighting machine."
"Interesting." The scientist said. "I'm Dr Kings, pleased to meet you." He said absently, looking the Spore up and down. "I believe this Spore is damaged, see these striations? It's been dissected."
"What? Impossible - the Covenant are scared of these creatures, like Christians fear God's wrath." Daxia exclaimed.
"Yes but it has definitely been dissected and these marks are consistent with plasma scoring."
"Is it still alive?" Daxia asked. The Dr nodded.
"Yes I believe it is."
"Then be very, very careful." Daxia instructed, leaving the lab.

"Annie." She said as she found the three marines waiting outside. "I want you guys to watch that thing and those scientists like a hawk. If it moves, if it looks like it's going to move - if they're going to make it move - you must kill it." She said. They nodded.
"Where are you going?" Annie asked.
"To find the Chief." Daxia replied.

***

The Doctors removed John's armour with care boarding on reverence. They had to pry his chest plate off, one doctor exclaimed over the mass of bruising on his rib cage. From where Cortana sat in a holo-emitter, the AI emitted a low whistle.
"Nice bruising, Chief." She teased. "The way you were going on I thought you were on the brink of death or something." She stopped when his arm was revealed to be bleeding profusely from a piece of shrapnel. His mechanically enhanced joints had kept him going, but the Doctors tutted unhappily, cleaning him up. The Spartan sat on the thin hospital bed, allowing the doctors to do their work. He hadn't hurt this much since the mission to the Destroyer class Pioneer.

"Ouch." Was Daxia's first words as she entered, the Doctors looked at her, tempted to forbid her from entering.
"Daxia, how did it go with the spore?" Cortana welcomed, her tone just daring anyone to try and send Daxia away. The woman approached the AI, unable to take her eyes off of John's injuries.
"Uh - the marines are under orders to kill it if it tries anything. I don't think the scientists will be pleased, but there we go."
"Scientists." John grunted, wincing as a doctor moved his bad arm. "They never think about the consequences."
"That looks really bad." Daxia winced for him as she saw the mechanical implants exposed along with bones and tendons. John glanced down at the wound, he didn't think it was that bad.

"Daxia." Cortana interrupted. "The commander wants you in the brig, they have the Prophet, how did that go anyway?"
"Uh - you'd better come with me Cortana." Daxia said.

***

As soon as the Prophet saw Daxia enter he collapsed on the floor again. There was an Elite, a Jackal, a Grunt and a severely sedated Hunter in the place as well. When they realized what the Prophet was doing they lay flat out on the floor.
"Give us the word, oh Preserver." The Prophet was saying. "And we shall destroy these defouling humans!"
"I'd like to see you try." Cortana spat. Daxia approached the cell bars, aware of the forcefield fluttering just beyond them.
"Prophet." She instructed. "How do you intend to destroy these defouling humans?"
"By your own creation oh Preserver. As you and your kind have done before - you created the Halo's to preserve the creations! It is as it has always been, the Reclaimer will purge the galaxy with the creations and the Preserver shall save those who are worthy! Our Gods have decreed this, Forerunner."

"He thinks you and John are Forerunners?" Cortana asked, suddenly something changed in the AI's face.
"What?" Daxia asked, sensing the AI's distress.
"Something makes sense, 'as you and your kind have done before'. 343 Guilty Spark seemed to act like John had activated Halo before." The AI slapped a palm to her forehead. "Unh! I've been so stupid! How could I not have realized!"
"Realized what Cortana?" Daxia asked, the AI shook her head.
"I need to take some processing time." She said, looking up at Daxia. "I am so sorry." She added in a whisper, disappearing. Daxia glanced at the guards, all of whom were looking a little edgy.

***

"Hey. Where's Cortana?" John asked as she came back into the infirmary. Daxia shook her head, hopping onto the next bed down. John was still sitting, his arm strapped up now and there was wire attached to a metal interface on the back of his skull, feeding data into some display.
"She said she needed processing time. The Prophet called me the Preserver and it freaked her out." She said, taking off her helmet for the first time. She ran a hand through her short blonde hair, thinking about Cortana's unnerving exit.

"So - you're an ensign now?" John asked, Daxia grinned.
"Brawling in the corridors. Not a good idea on Agata's ship."
"Brawling." John repeated, almost looking proud. He was quite for a moment before asking: "Did you win?"
"Of course." Daxia pretended to be insulted.

"Ensign Ring!" Annie ran into the infirmary. "The Scientists thawed out the Spore- it escaped."
"Shit!" Daxia leapt to her feet, grabbing her helmet. She looked around, wondering where all the guns were - they were at war goddamnitt!
"Do you hear that?" John asked, standing beside her, Daxia hesitated, but could hear little above her racing pulse and heavy breathing. Annie tried to speak up but she and the other Doctors were hushed by the Chief.
John turned slowly, looking around, Daxia took Annie's standard issue pistol from her, loading it slowly and handing it to John. He took it in his left hand, looking down on her. He nodded to the middle of the floor, and then to her. With a rising feeling of dread Daxia took the bait position as John hustled the others to the edge of the room.

She heard it now alright, the clicking and clacking of a Flood Spore. It was so noisy or echoey as it had been on Halo, which made her think there wasn't as many. The noise stopped for a second and John crouched, pointing the pistol at a bench. Daxia exhaled slowly, extending her hand to the Spore. It was tempted by the presence of live flesh, she could tell. She wondered, in a moment of abstract pondering, if it could smell her. It crept out like a feral cat, or a bird tempted forward by a crumb of bread.
Just as it reached her it exploded and Daxia jerked backwards. John spun the pistol in his hand, giving it back to Annie. Daxia leaned over to inspect the Spore and sighed in relief.
"It's the original Spore, it didn't get a chance to breed." She said, feeling John's uninjured hand rest on her shoulder.
"Thank heaven for little miracles." He said.

"That thing is freaky." Annie murmured, calling in her radio to stand down the alert. John helped Daxia to stand, turning to the Doctors.
"Spartan-117." One of the doctors reprimanded. "I'm going to have to look at your bandages now." Sure enough, John had re-opened some of his wounds. Annie poked the Spore with her boot and looked at Daxia.
"Did one of these kill my friends on the Autumn?" She asked. Daxia shrugged.
"I hope not." She said, taking her helmet off again. The adrenaline was coursing through her, she needed to do something now or she'd explode from the tension.
"Coming to the mess hall with us?" Annie asked, Daxia glanced back at the Chief, feeling sorry for him.
"No." She said. "I'm staying here."

"You don't need to stay you know." John said after the doctors had finished with him and the scientists had cleared away the Spore's corpse. Daxia smiled at him, starting to work on his armour.
"Doesn't it ever get lonely inside this suit?" She asked. "I figure you need to talk more."
"Cortana talks enough for both of us." John lay down gingerly. "And people get nervous around a Spartan."
"Hey - you're Gods gift to man kind." Daxia grinned. "My sister's failing a course at college about the Spartan project. There are posters all over earth singing your praises. You guys were our last hope." She smiled as John grimaced. "They're nervous because they have to meet their heroes."
"Cybernetic implants and a lower than average IQ." John said, shutting his eyes. "Some hero."
"Just because you're a soldier doesn't mean you're stupid." Daxia told him, prying a piece of shrapnel from a bunch of wiring in the armour. "It just means you're somewhat barbaric - as Cortana would say."
"Do you know how many Spartans died after the cybernetic enhancements?" John asked quietly.
"I didn't know any did." Daxia replied.
"31. 12 more were permanently disabled. There were only 32 successful adaptations. That's barbaric."

"Is it?" Daxia asked after five minutes of silence. John opened his eyes and looked at her. Daxia smiled ruefully at him. "You know that Private we found right before the Flood? He was my sisters husband. We were losing this war before we found the Flood - we were desperate. Maybe what they did bordered on . . . prophetic."
"You're starting to sound like a Covenant." The Spartan sat slowly, taking a good look at her and the armour that was scattered around her. He was struck by how battle-worn she looked, there was grime under the collar of her army-issue tank top and jacket. Her hands did not use a tool, they wielded it - ready to make into a weapon if she had to. Her blonde hair was forced off of her face, cut short and messy, if it grew out it would be a beautiful golden mane, but she didn't have the time to care for it. There was the stain of Covenant blood on her jacket and what was probably human blood too. In a line of soldiers she didn't look out of place, in the clean infirmary she looked like a killer.

"What?" She asked, glancing behind her to see if someone was sneaking up. "What were you gawking at?"
"Nothing." John sat up, smiling a little. Daxia raised an eyebrow.
"Maybe you hit your head harder than you thought, you were staring at nothing?" She asked, she hopped off the bed she was sitting on, relinquishing the MJOLNIR armour. She stepped closer to him, pretending to be concerned and checking for injury. "Is our big bad Spartan going crazy?"
"Maybe I was just being barbaric, thinking about how best to incapacitate a human." He leaned back a little, disconcerted at how close she'd gotten.
"I can think of far more barbaric things - things Cortana would not approve of at all . . ." Daxia raised her head, standing on tip-toes. The Chief leaned down suddenly so his face was barely a hairsbreadth from hers. His uninjured hand snapped out and caught her right one, pinning it behind her back and pulling her up to his lips.
It was breath-takingly scary at first to be kissed by a Spartan, the smell of antiseptic and heavily exercised bodies overwhelmed her. She was immobilized by his arm at her back, held up off the floor. However, his almost tentative first kiss, followed by a more desperate pulling at her lips melted her, relaxing her into the strange war-time embrace. She kissed him back just as feverishly as he kissed her.

"Ahem." Cortana interrupted and Daxia panicked. John set her down on the floor and turned to the holographic AI, almost growling his reply.
"What?"
"Miss me?" Cortana asked, she sounded a little pissed off, a little amused and also a little confused.
"Like a voice in my head." John replied sarcastically.
"Cortana." Daxia stopped what was about to become a battle. "Are you going to clear up your little statement earlier?"
"Not yet." Cortana said darkly. "Pack your books class, we're going on a field trip."
"Where to?" John asked.
"Halo."

Sparked and Guilty [H&R 8]
Date: 18 September 2003, 6:09 PM

Halos And Rings

Author: Jillybean
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sparked and Guilty

"Remind me again Cortana. What are we looking for?" Teddy said over the radio. He and the other two marines were following the Chief in their environmental suits, wandering through pitch black abandoned corridors.
"When you'll see it - you'll know." Cortana replied.
"How will I know?" Teddy persisted, touching a floating plasma pistol and sending it spinning. As Halo was now broken into a million little chunks there was no artificial gravity anymore, everything inside this hulk of rock and machinery was preserved from the second the Pillar of Autumn had gone up in smoke.
"Because you'll say 'Cortana, what's this?' and I'll say 'that's what we've been looking for'. Get it Teddy?" Cortana asked.

Daxia was in the cockpit of their commandeered Longsword, Harry sat in the pilots chair, watching her pace the length of the cockpit.
"Come on." He said. "Wouldn't you rather be up here than down there?" He asked, gently taking the Longsword out of the way of a spinning piece of debris. Daxia shot him a dark look.
"I'd rather no one was down there." She said, leaning against the window to look down on the rubble. "But . . ." She trailed off, her hand touching the glass. "I wish I could see it again. Just once. Look it in the eye."

"Cortana to Longsword." Cortana spoke through their radio connection. "Any hostiles up there?"
"No Cortana. Everything's cool. I don't think the Covenant care about the structure anymore." Harry said. Daxia folded her arms and leaned over him to speak to Cortana.
"Any hostiles where you are Cortana?"
"Dust and Echoes." Cortana quoted herself.

The Chief glanced to the inside of his helmet, a habit he'd picked up from having Cortana in there so long. He didn't want to disturb the AI, but he could make out Flood bodies floating up ahead. He knew the spore had survived vacuum packing . . .
"Hold tight marines." He said, levelling his gun at what used to be an elite.
"Oh my God." Bill murmured. "What is that?"
"The Flood?" Daxia asked over the radio, sounding concerned.
"Neutralized." The Chief reassured her. "As dead as a Flood can get. The warriors can't sustain themselves in a vacuum, interesting." He poked it with his gun and send it spinning out of his way.
"Cortana, what's this?" Teddy asked shakily, the Chief turned to look and grinned.
"It's a piece of rubble Teddy." Cortana said dryly. "And no we can't go home."
"Damn, that was my next question." Teddy said, the Chief could just make out a grin beyond Teddy's visor.

"Your signal's getting weaker Chief." Harry was saying. "You're going somewhere that's heavily shielded."
"That means we're getting close." Cortana said.
"Be careful." Daxia whispered, the Chief smiled a little, pleased at her concern.
"We will be." He said, heading in to what appeared to be some sort of lab.

"We've lost them." Harry said to Daxia, watching the woman curse under her breath. "What can go wrong, the thing's deserted?"
"Halo made me look at the Covenant as if they were a kid having a tantrum." Daxia told him. "I'll not underestimate it again."
"Uh- Ring?" Harry said, his attention drawn to a blinking screen. "I think we got company."

***

"Where are we Cortana?" The Chief asked darkly, looking around a vast room filled with shelves upon shelves.
"I hope I'm wrong." Cortana replied, half to herself.
"Hey Cortana." Teddy said, lifting a vial from one of the shelves. "What's this?" He asked, knowing what she was going to say. If Cortana had a head she would have hung it.
"That's what we were looking for." She said softly.
"Yeah but - what is it?" Annie asked, taking another vial off the shelves. The Chief glanced at the inscriptions, his gloved hand running over them.
"It's almost the map of a human chromosome . . ."
"Almost." Cortana agreed. "It's what we call a Foundation DNA map. What our base ancestors evolved from."
"Cortana." The Chief tried to remain calm. "What. Is. It?"

"The story of our evolution is not as clean cut as we tell it to the school children." Cortana explained. "There are a few gaps, evolutionary leaps that scientists can't explain. Some have theorized that perhaps an alien race, or a God gave humanity a helping hand."
"This one's completely different." Annie said, sending another vial floating towards them.
"That would be a base Jackal map." Cortana said once the Chief had let her see it. "I was right. Damn it."
"Cortana what were you right about?" The Chief pressed.

"The Forerunners are our ancestors. But not just ours, the Covenant's ancestors too. And any life in this galaxy. The Forerunners watched life evolve - but then they made a mistake. They chose a certain race, gave them power beyond the others. The 'helping hand' helped too far. This race grew too strong, enslaving the other races in the galaxy. The Forerunners mourned their loss and engineered a creature so ravenous it would destroy all life. The Flood.
"They released the Flood and it wiped out all life, but not before the Preserver took a sample of each lifeform and hid it in the Halo institutions. Then the Reclaimer activated the Halo's and destroyed everything. The Preserver deployed life again in the galaxy - repopulating it. One day the Forerunners will return, but not if the Flood escape."

"So why do the Covenant call us an affront to their Gods?" Bill asked.
"The Forerunners wanted to warn their 'children' of what would happen, but their messages were too cryptic. We barely understood them to be messages at all, bits of rock and stuff. The Covenant were given a more direct message and they took it the wrong way. We are an affront to their Gods, as far as they know, and their Gods are very real."

The Chief glanced around suddenly, sure he'd heard something in the corridor. He reloaded his gun, just to be on the safe side, and walked towards the doorway.
"Chief?" Annie asked - but the Chief was pushed backwards, sent spinning into the room.
"Ambush!" Teddy shouted as the Sentinels floated in.

***

"What do we do?" Harry asked, leaned back as Daxia buckled into the pilots seat. She sent the Longsword veering away from the approaching ship, circling around the large hulk of Halo.
"We'll never outrun that!" Harry exclaimed, staring at the unknown ship. "It's moving so fast!"
"I noticed Harry!" Daxia gritted her teeth, bringing the Longsword down to Halo's charred surface. They skimmed the broken land, dodging rocks and flotilla.

"It's not coming down - and it's not firing." Harry said, checking the instruments. "Why isn't it firing?"
"It's not Covenant." Daxia suggested, bringing the Longsword around for another hair raising run of the piece of Halo. The ship above them turned on a dime, coming after them.
"That is unnatural." Daxia muttered, bringing the Longsword closer to the surface.
"Watch it." Harry warned. "We're not as manoeuvrable as they are - what the!" He broke off, shocked as a golden light seemed to spring up around Daxia. He stared as suddenly she disappeared.

***

Daxia stumbled backwards the second the transporter let her go. In front of her the little blue orb hovered, watching her.
"Welcome." He said in his high pitched voice. "This is quite the surprise, I had not intended to take you at all. But you shall do." He hummed and started to hover down the long silver corridor.
"Wait!" Daxia exclaimed, pulling her pistol. 343 Guilty Spark turned, registering the pistol pointed at him. "You survived a nuclear explosion - so this probably doesn't worry you. But I'm gonna give it a shot." She said.
"That would be very unwise. I would be forced to harm you and I would be guilty of a horrendous crime."
"What?" Daxia was confused and 343 Guilty Spark hummed loudly.
""If I harmed you the Forerunners would be very displeased. As would the Reclaimer. It is not wise to disple-" 343 Guilty Spark was cut short by Daxia's gun firing. The bullet hit the AI, sending him flying. She followed up with two more bullets.

"Who are the Forerunners?" She demanded of the shaken up little construct.
"Well really - I'm quite shocked." He muttered to himself. "How rude." He faced her. "I have defended your installation for years and you go and shoot me."
"Answer my question or I'll shoot you again." Daxia said. "Or worse, I'll get the Chief to shoot you." Her statement seemed to alarm 343 Guilty Spark. He hovered directly in front of her and hummed nervously.
"Who are the Forerunners? I do not understand, why would you ask this question?"
"Humour me." Daxia threatened, cocking the gun.
"You are." 343 Guilty Spark said apologetically. "The Preserver and the Reclaimer are the last of the Forerunners."
"I'm human." Daxia contradicted. 343 Guilty Spark soared into the air.
"Not for long."

***

"Chief! Chief!" Harry cried as soon as he caught sight of the Chief's signal again. "Chief we got problems up here!"
"There are problems down here too!" Annie yelled. "We need you to pick us up! Daxia, use your magic!"
"That's part of the problem!" Harry yelled angrily. "Daxia's gone! That ship took her!"

A sentinel exploded nearby and the Chief spun around, looking up at the Longsword.
"You'd better have a very good explanation." He gritted. Harry laughed hysterically.
"Look - you think I can land this thing on a floating hunk of rock? I'm up here and you're down there and that's another of our problems."
"Got any more?" Annie asked dryly.
"I'm tracking 343 Guilty Spark, he's definitely nearby." Cortana said. "Hold on Harry, I'll take over the Longsword's systems. Chief, relax. Annie, Bill, Teddy - you guys secure the area."
"Area secure Cortana."

***

"Excuse me?" Daxia repeated, taking a good few steps back. A Sentinel rounded the corner of the ships corridor, coming from what was obviously the cockpit. It was unlike most Sentinels in that it had a long robotic arm, and a a frightening looking needle attached to that.
"I need to activate the dormant genes in your DNA. It won't hurt. Much." 343 Guilty Spark spoke soothingly.
"You'll have to kill me first." Daxia shot the Sentinel down. 343 Guilty Spark screeched in outrage.
"If that is your opinion I shall simply find another - I hardly think-" The ship shook violently. "What was that?"

***

"That was smooth." Cortana said appreciatively as the MC clung to the wing of the intruder ship. The jump from the bow of the Longsword to this ship had been risky, but Spartan's had been taught to factor in all sorts of variables - and in space everything was simple. There was your force and the force of everything else - nothing else. No wind, no unexpected terrain - just vacuum.
He pulled himself along to the airlock, taking a quick look at the mechanism.
"Cortana?"
"Gimme a sec - I'm interfacing with the ship's systems, it's ancient . . . and so advanced! It's capabilities are . . . got it. Door unlocked."

Daxia leapt from the corridor into the cockpit, she slid into a control panel and slammed her hands on the controls, just trying to piss off 343 Guilty Spark. The ship lunged forward and the instrumentation went crazy with bleeping. 343 Guilty Spark struggled to regain his bearings and Daxia took the opportunity to look at what she was doing.
It was not completely unfamiliar to her, she had a nasty suspicion that the airlock had just been unlocked. With a flash of inspiration she slammed the cockpit shut, saving herself from the vacuum of space. The lights changed their sequence and the ship shuddered again, she guessed the airlock had been opened.
"Cortana can you hear me?" She called into her helmet.
"Hold tight Daxia." Cortana replied. "We've met an old friend."
"Give him one for me." Daxia said, looking over the ships systems. There was a small explosion and the ship rocked again.

"Maybe grenades weren't such a good idea." Cortana said as the MC was flung across the cargo hold. He landed roughly and flung the second plasma grenade at 343 Guilty Spark.
"Now really." The AI construct said. "I survived the destruction of Halo, I can survive a simple grenade." He said as the plasma stuck to him. The Chief grinned.
"Who says I wanted to destroy you?" He asked. The force of the plasma explosion sent 343 Guilty Spark rocketing out of the cargo hold.
"Daxia! Close the airlock and lock it down!" Cortana cried.
"Yeah Cortana cause it's really obvious how this whole thing works." Daxia muttered through the radio, nevertheless finding the right controls. "Hold on until the pressure stabilizes."

The cockpit unsealed and Daxia glanced round at the Chief. She grinned.
"You showed up in the nick of time. Again." She said, smiling up at him.
"I'll try to avoid making a habit of it." He said, a gloved hand on her shoulder. She sighed and leaned against his chest, after all she'd been through a little encounter with 343 Guilty Spark could still unnerve her.
"Touching as this reunion is we do have marines and crewmembers aboard the Longsword." Cortana said.
"Bring them on board." Daxia ordered. "This ship's faster and I think I can figure out how to work it. Harry?"
"Yes ma'am?" Harry said over the radio
"We're coming around, prepare for docking procedures."

***

"Do you think this is a Forerunner ship?" Annie was asking her fellow marines as they lazed in the small, but comfortable crew quarters. Daxia walked past, catching a snippet of their conversation.
"Whatever it is - it's better than the Longsword."

Speaking of, the Longsword was in the cargo hold. It was a tight fit and Daxia had put all her skills to the test getting it in there, but as Cortana had said, the UNSC could not afford to leave a Longsword behind.
In the cockpit Harry was monitoring the ship, though he didn't really understand it yet and with Cortana in the systems there was absolutely no need. She smiled at him.
"Go join the others, I'll take over here." She promised. The Chief looked up from where he was running a diagnostic on the armour. He waited until Harry was gone before speaking.
"Couldn't wait to have the ship all to yourself?" He asked. Daxia ignored him, running her hands over the controls lightly. Cortana appeared from a nearby holo-emitter.

"Beautiful, isn't she?" The AI said softly. "I've never seen anything like it, closest thing was Halo."
"Does she have a name?" Daxia asked, not noticing that the Chief was standing over her shoulder.
"As far as I can tell she's called Avalon. The mythical resting place of King Arthur."
"Coincidence?" Daxia asked. "She's definitely nothing we could build." She glanced at the Chief, he had put a hand on her shoulder and another on her waist, interrupting her awed worship of the ship. "What?" She asked irritably.
"Nothing." John said with a sigh, retreating to the crew quarters. "Mechanics." He muttered under his breath.

I Fight For You [H&R 9]
Date: 18 September 2003, 6:15 PM

Halos and Rings

Author: Jillybean
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I Fight For You

"Nice ship." Margrave cooed as the Chief, Daxia, Harry and the Marines exited the Avalon.
"I'll brief the engineers on her, her technology is far superior to that of the Covenant's, or anything we've seen." Daxia said, getting a nod from the captain she left in search of some engineers.
"Cortana wants to be taken to the Earth Government." The Chief said, handing Cortana's chip to Margrave. "She has some information for them."
"Right." Margrave took the chip. "I'll do that. Marines, Lieutenant, go to Mitra and find out where she wants you." He said. "Chief, you ought to get to one of those drop-ships. The Covenant are crawling all over North America."
"Yes sir." The Chief turned away.

***

"Ensign Ring?" A marine approached Daxia as she finished with the engineers. "Mitra says she wants you flying point in the next drop." He said. "Come on, I'll take you to the Pelican."
"Listen, how could I track down my sister?" Daxia jogged to keep up with the marine's long strides. He smiled at her.
"All civilians have been tagged and are kept in community centres in each secure city." He said to her. "Most of our troops are situated there. We may not take over a Covenant controlled area doing that - but at least the Covenant don't take over an area we control."
"Great motto." Daxia said dryly. "Trench warfare, what else kills as many people?"
"You got a better idea?" The marine asked, grinning down at her. She grinned in defeat.
"That's why I'm just an ensign sir."
"Damn straight." The marine grinned, pretending to hold the gangway of the Pelican open for her. She winked at him.
"Don't go getting any ideas marine." She said saucily, sitting down and nodding to her co-pilot, her tag said Lieutenant O'Flynn.

"Pre-flight systems check." O'Flynn said. "We're ready to rumble."
"Okay - you marines buckled up back there?" She called over her shoulder, smiling to the sarge who stood behind their shoulders.
"Sir, yes sir!" The marines shouted back at her. Daxia grinned and took the Pelican out.
"Today on our tour of the world we're going to visit the Covenant Controlled Areas. Be aware the locals have had some recorded levels of hostility, keep your passports and wallets safe on you and watch out for pick-pocketers or the plasma rifles."

"So how did you get caught up in all this?" O'Flynn asked in a moments respite of flying back to base. Daxia glanced at her, taking the Pelican out of the way of some mean Covenant fire.
"Oh you know, the usual. I got a degree in engineering and then went and trained to be a pilot with the UNSC. Got posted on the Autumn at Reach, promised my sister I'd keep a close eye on her husband. He was a marine."
"Nice." O'Flynn said. "You had a marine?"
"This is wartime girl, do you know how much the rate of illegitimate pregnancies soars during war? I've had a marine, a sergeant, a commander . . ."
"Had a captain?" O'Flynn asked mischievously. "I have. Very nice. Quite . . . stoic." She laughed with Daxia. "So - you got posted on the Autumn, you were there at the fall I take it?"
"Yeah." Daxia sighed. "We escaped, trying to lick our wounds and we found ourselves by Halo. We evacuated the ship, my life-pod survived re-entry, just. I was one of those who went back to the Autumn's crash site, trying to salvage as many Pelicans, Warthogs and Scorpions as we could. So I spent the first twenty-four hours trying to build up a main base camp, dropping marines off here and there and everywhere. Then we got shot down and the Master Chief kinda . . . . I dunno . . . picked me up and didn't put me down until we got off of that God forsaken rock."

"You know the Spartan?" O'Flynn asked after they'd tactfully avoided a string of Banshee's. Daxia nodded.
"John. I know John." She said thoughtfully. "A lot of people forget that. His name's John."
"You sound kinda close." O'Flynn noted. "I guess the uh- what are they called? The Flood? I guess the Flood would do that to you."
"They do." Daxia glanced at their read-outs.

"Phantom interceptors." She said. "I'm bringing her around, we don't want to be noticed."
"Agreed." O'Flynn was unbothered, Daxia couldn't say she was particularly concerned either. The Phantom's usually left them alone. "Hmm." O'Flynn said. "Better pick up the pace, they seem to be turning."
Daxia glanced down at the instrumentation and picked up speed. She was starting to worry now, the Pelican couldn't go much faster.
"Shit. They're gaining." O'Flynn said. "Damn I hate Pelicans. Why do drops on a completely unarmed vessel?"
"We don't have anything else." Daxia looked at the instruments again, the Pelican engines were straining. "Ok - I'm bringing us down, we'll never outrun that thing."

The lumbering Pelican turned around the canyon outcrops. This area was known as the Rockies, a slightly more manoeuvrable ship paired with Daxia's skills could have led the Phantom's a merry chase, but not a Pelican.
So the Pelican doubled back around the rocks, skimming the surface of the mountains. It landed in a stream, hidden by a canopy of trees. It's pilots waited, shutting down all the engines, praying the Phantom didn't see them.
"Shit." Daxia grabbed her pistol, scrambling out the back of the Pelican with O'Flynn.

She landed in the stream, finding it was more of a river and was waist deep. She and O'Flynn struggled through the current, running into the forest. The Phantom's were scouring the treetops above them.
"Make for the mountains, the rock will mess with the scanning equipment!" O'Flynn yelled over the noise. Daxia paused, seeing something on the ground.
"Hey wait!" She shouted, grabbing the spent shotgun shell. "Marines!" She cried happily, taking off in the other direction.

They stumbled upon the stronghold of marines and were instantly folded into the ranks.
"Hold on to your guns men!" The sergeant shouted. "You got nothing to lose! Show them bastards who owns this planet!" He said. Daxia grabbed a discarded plasma pistol and hid behind a rock with O'Flynn.
"You clear us a safe passage to that river and we got a pelican waiting for you!" She told the sergeant.
"Easier said than done sugar!" He called to her. "Here they come!"

The covenant came all right, flying at them. Daxia got down to the nitty gritty and started shooting.

***

"Chief!" A corporal shouted, waving him over from the military base they had just secured. "There are marines out in the open down there - we're gonna have to get them out!"
"Shoot down one of those Banshee's." The Chief instructed. "Call Mitra, tell her we'll need some evac." He stocked up on plasma grenades, dropping his spent plasma rifle for a new shotgun.

"There's your Banshee sir!" Shouted a marine, pointing to a rather charred, but still usable one that was upturned on the base's walls. The Chief flipped it, taking time to check the base really was secure.
"This is Mitra. Master Chief, there is an evac in the area, once we get a lock on their position they'll be right over."
"Roger." The Chief climbed into the Banshee, taking it up for a ride.

***

"Look out! Banshee!" Someone shouted, Daxia spun, aiming for the vulnerable air fins that steadied the craft.
"Wait! Don't shoot!" The sergeant shouted. "It's the re-inforcements kiddies! Now you can see what a real soldier looks like!" The marines cheered as the Chief dropped from the Banshee, landing in a crouch. He started firing at the Covenant, running straight into them. A few melee attacks cleared a space for him to throw a grenade, he leapt away, sheltering behind a rock as the Elite's were scattered everywhere.

"Chief!" Daxia shouted. "Get that Phantom out of here and we can use the Pelican!" She gestured to the circling Phantom.
"Why do you gravitate towards danger?" The Chief called back, flinging a grenade at a Hunter, weakening it's shields enough to take it out with a melee attack.
"Oh I learned from the best." Daxia grunted, ducking a Jackal's blow and firing at it. The shield absorbed the blow easily and the Jackal did something unexpected. It used the shield to hit Daxia, sending her flying backwards. She landed roughly, rolling to stop the Jackal from killing her with another blow from the shield.
"Hey!" O'Flynn yelled, distracting it long enough for Daxia to blow it's head off.

"You okay?" O'Flynn ran over, helping her up.
"I'll be fine. He so copied that move from one of our marines." She added, brushing herself off. The Chief leapt onto the wing of the Phantom, sticking a grenade to it. He fell to the ground as it exploded.
"Get the marines to the Pelican." He said to her. "You okay to fly?"
"What's a few broken ribs between friends?" Daxia muttered, waving the marines to follow her.

"Pre-flight sequence . . . ah fuck it." O'Flynn cancelled the time-consuming checks and set the Pelican hovering. She waited until all the marines were on board with the Chief before taking the Pelican up.
"Wait." Daxia said. "I got a funny feeling . . ."
"Wait for what?" O'Flynn scanned the horizons - "I don't see anything. Do you? Master Chief?" She turned to the Chief standing behind them, looking between the Spartan and the sergeant she shrugged. "Maybe you should just rest up Daxia."
"Wait." Daxia gritted, staring out of the front screen. "John, look over there."
"What am I- oh." The Spartan grabbed the seat in front of him. "Oh . . ."

O'Flynn took another look out of the Pelican's window. She still didn't notice anything out of the ordinary - except a brightish tinge to the sky. She would have said it was just the sun but . . . the tinge was growing brighter.
"What is that?" The sergeant breathed.
"I don't know." Daxia turned the Pelican around. "But we're getting out of here."

Ten minutes and twenty two seconds later a huge explosion went off, destroying most of Northern America.

***

The Pelican limped back into port, confronted with not too many other Pelicans. It landed - rather it crashed into the docking bay and was met by commander Beattie.

"What the Hell happened out there?" The marine sergeant demanded. Beattie looked grim.
"We're working on that." She said. "Chief, the government wants you and Ring in Siberia. Now."
"We'll need a ship." Daxia said, taking her helmet off to run a hand through her hair. Siberia was where the government hid in the deep, heavily protected underground bunkers.
"Take the Avalon." Beattie said. "She's not doing any good sitting here."
"Yes sir." Daxia said, she and the Chief heading for the Avalon.

***

The Siberian bunkers were crowded and chaotic. There were marines, scientists, politicians . . . and loads of civilians who had realized that the safest place to be was where the big cheese's were. Daxia appreciated their intelligence.
They were told to take some time off until they were called for by one of the AI's - so the Chief manhandled her to the medics.

"You'll live, though you could use more sleep and less coffee." The doctor said to her, ignoring the hovering Spartan.
"Couldn't we all?" Daxia asked with a grin, the doctor winked back.
"Tell me about it - when this was it over we're gonna have a Coffee Anonymous group for every street."
"Count me in." Daxia said, hopping off the bed and glancing up at the Chief. "Hungry? I could eat a horse."

They ate in the mess hall, catching up on all the chatter. No one knew what the explosion in North America had been, only that the Brass knew and they were keeping very, very quiet about it. Someone said they knew that Cortana had been in with the Brass all day, which didn't surprise either Daxia or John.

It made sense to get as much sleep in as possible - but why they found some private quarters didn't make any sense at all. Or why John locked the door. Daxia didn't particularly care. She resumed what Cortana had interrupted back on the science ship, she had to stretch to reach John's lips, he was a lot taller than her. That was a Spartan thing, she guessed. She wondered if everything was in proportion.
Momentarily she thought about O'Flynn's description of the captain. Stoic wasn't the word that sprung to mind with John - fanatical devotion to the task in hand - perhaps.

For the first time since landing on Halo, she slept soundly, not haunted by the noise of Flood as she lay encircled by the Spartan's arms.

***

John woke from his light sleep, he knew something had happened to wake him and he thought quickly. There was an automatic rifle underneath the bunk with his t-shirt, pants and the rest of the standard issue clothes he and Daxia had been given. There was a plasma pistol sitting by the door and Daxia never moved without the standard issue pistol nowadays. It was likely to be under the bed too.
The door was the only entrance to the room and it was locked with a deadbolt, no fancy locks. If there was an enemy, or someone who really wanted in the room - they'd have blasted the door down by now.
There was nothing so sinister going on and he relaxed a little, listening out. It was probably just some marines walking past the door that had woke him. He looked down at Daxia, sleeping peacefully and was at loath to move her. Caught between the desire to find out why he'd woken up and the pleasure derived from just watching her, he moved a little. It was enough to wake her.

"Something wrong?" She asked, supporting herself on one arm and looking to the door anxiously. Her hand dropped to the floor to find her pistol, John caught it, bringing it back up to the bed.
"Nothing." He said. "I thought I heard something."
"Then you probably did." Daxia said doubtfully, relaxing when he kissed her again. "No." She tried to protest, pulling away as much as she could given their somewhat confined space. "You should check-"
"Daxia we're in an ex-Soviet bunker, re-inforced to protect Earth's government. Even I know when there's enough rock and concrete between us and the nearest battle."

"Calling all active troops, prepare for deployment." An AI said over the loudspeakers. Daxia smirked.
"Safe as houses." She said, reaching for her shirt.

***

"What's going on?" John asked as he and Daxia approached the council room.
"We have a slight problem." One of the governors said. "The AI construct Cortana has been kidnapped."
"What!" Daxia shrieked.
"By who?" John demanded.
"Captain Margrave." The governor said darkly. "He made a deal with the Covenant. They planted the Flood in North America so we bombed the place - he used it as a distraction to take Cortana."
"I'm going to get suited up." John turned to Daxia. "Get the Avalon ready to fly then get underground."
"You can't fly that thing half as well as me." Daxia replied. "Cortana's my friend too John, and this is my war as well. You're not leaving me here."
"Fine. Stock up on weapons." John said as he hurried off.
"The Covenant cruiser that Margrave is on is called the Grace and Glory." The governor told her. "Cortana won't be able to hold up for long under their probing."
"The Avalon's fast enough." Daxia replied, heading for the armoury.

The Chief climbed into the Avalon, taking a quick look at the pile of weapons place in her hold. There was also a Warthog, a nice touch. He reached the cock-pit and sat beside Daxia. The pilot barely acknowledged him, taking the Forerunner's ship up and out of the Earth's atmosphere.
There was no stopping them.

The Cortana Run [H&R 10]
Date: 23 September 2003, 3:28 PM

Halos and Rings

Author: Jillybean

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Cortana Run

"Reginald Margrave." Cortana said haughtily as the captain walked in to the control room. Cortana was in holographic projector, independent from the Grace and Glory's systems. The captain was escorted by two elite and three grunts, the grunts took up a perimeter around Cortana. The Spec-Ops Elite flanked Margrave as he stood in front of her.

"Traitor." Cortana spat with as much venom as she could muster.
"We are losing this war." Margrave smiled sadly. "History is written by the victors Cortana, and the Covenant are willing to allow a few humans to stand along side them."
"You're mad. The Covenant are going to kill you." Cortana spoke very clearly. "And I will enjoy watching."
"Ah - now Cortana, that's where you're wrong." Margrave looked truly apologetic. "I'm going to decompile you using Covenant technology. Kind of ironic really, an earth Ai being decrypted by a Covenant coder. Then I will find out everything they need to know. Then you will be reprogrammed-"
"I'll kill you first." Cortana spat. "So help me God I'll find a way."
"Then you will be reprogrammed to help them." Margrave finished calmly, he headed for the Covenant screen and started working. Cortana looked at the elite, it grinned at her, stroking it's plasma rifle lovingly. If she had a real throat - she would have swallowed.

***

"Bring us up alongside, you need to get to the docking bay long enough to drop me off." The Chief said, loading a rocket launcher. Daxia nodded.
"I'm not stupid. I'll try and distract them for as long as I can."
"Be careful - I'll need to escape on this ship." The Chief finished loading a shotgun and clipped an assault rifle to his back. Daxia nodded again, inching the Avalon closer to the hull of the 'Grace and Glory'.
"Remember Chief." She used his designation to distance herself. "If you can't reclaim Cortana, you'll need to destroy her."
"That's not going to happen." The Chief said darkly, heading for the airlock. Daxia sealed the cockpit and crossed her fingers as the ship made a mad dive into the 'Grace and Glory's' bay.

The Chief leapt from the Avalon and rolled when he hit the docking bay floor. He ducked behind some boxes as the Avalon took out as many Covenant as she could see. For his next trick he embedded a rocket into the thick hide of a Brute, taking cover when it exploded. Rocket launchers + ship didn't equal 'good idea' but he was willing to take the risk. He fired another rocket at the dropship above him, taking cover as it exploded.
His shields were fully depleted and he felt the searing heat of the explosion through his suit. He grimaced a little and flung the spent launcher away, grabbing the assault rifle and making a run for it.

The 'Grace and Glory' was a fast ship, smaller than the Truth and Reconciliation. She was not, however, a match for the Forerunner technology of the Avalon. The small, incredibly fast and agile ship danced in front of the Covenant Cruiser, ducking the plasma blows easily. The interceptors were being deployed, but they had no hope for keeping up with Daxia. She was having too much fun.
"Chief, I've got the Avalon tracking Cortana's signal, but it's kinda weak. When I get a chance I'll give you a nav point."

The Chief ducked round a corner, flinging a grenade at the approaching elite. An explosion and a scream gave him his cue. He flung himself around the corner, finish off the big elite with his shotgun. He swapped the gun for a Needler and kept moving.
"The resistance is thick - this would go a lot faster if I knew where I was going."

"Yeah yeah yeah." Daxia muttered, flipping the Avalon over the back of the Grace and Glory, hiding her behind the exhaust vents for a minute. "Programmed the nav point, she's in the control room. Hurry - I think her program's degrading."

***

"Margrave." Cortana pleaded. "Think about this. If you save me - you'll be a hero on earth!"
"Everyone on earth is dead Cortana. Sooner or later - they'll all be dead." Margrave turned to her. "What do you think one Spartan and a dozen odd marines corps can do to save us?"
"All we can." Cortana said resolutely. Margrave shook his head and went back to her programming. Cortana despaired, with his codes he could do anything to her. Anything at all.

The door blew open with the strength of three grenades. The elites rushed forward, not noticing that their grunt companions held back. The elites roared with fury in the smoke, not seeing that they had grenades stuck to them. The Chief leapt from the smoke and rubble as they exploded. He rolled on the floor, grunting in pain.
"Get him!" Margrave yelled, firing with a Needler. The Chief didn't aim, simply fired in that general direction. One grunt bit the lead, and Margrave fell, clutching his knee and swearing.
"Chief watch out!" Cortana cried as more elite ran in the broken door. The Chief lifted his gun and fired, backing up as he did so. "Chief!" Cortana yelled again. He ducked into the channel that surrounded the bridge and flung a frag grenade above him. It exploded, taking out the grunts and one elite.
"He's behind you!" Cortana warned. The Chief drove his elbow backwards, hitting the cloaked elite. He turned and took him out close quarters with a plasma pistol.

"Okay - yank me yank me!" Cortana begged, desperate. The Chief inserted her chip into his helmet and she breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay! Let's get outta here!"
"Wait!" Margrave clawed at the Chief's leg. "You can't leave me here! The Covenant! They'll find out my access codes - they'll-"
"You mean you'll tell them." The Chief replied. He switched a plasma grenade on and stuck it to the back of Margrave's neck. "You've got three seconds to find someone who'll help a traitor Margrave." He said, walking away.

***

"Daxia - can you meet us in the port docking bay?" Cortana asked. Daxia wrestled with the Avalon, spinning her 360 degrees on the spot.
"Jesus Cortana - I'm good, but not that good." She said, sending the Avalon into a dive, hugging the hull of the 'Grace and Glory'. She came up on the port side, correcting the Avalon's spin and chasing the interceptors to the docking bay. "It's madness out here Cortana - you'll need to clear me a space."
"We can do that." Cortana assured her.

The Chief privately doubted her words, faced with the 'Grace and Glory's' entire compliment of Spec-Ops Hunters, Brutes and Elites. He fired until all his guns were empty, he managed to steal an energy sword off of a nearby elite, but was forced to use it for parrying blows only.
"Okay Cortana." Daxia said in his helmet. "I'm coming in."
"Now would be a very good time." Cortana agreed.

The Avalon hovered just inside the docking bay's environmental shielding, it's engines were hot enough to roast those without shields. What had Daxia been doing to that ship?
The Chief struggled forward, but made little progress. There was no way he was going to get to the Avalon in time. He grimaced jumping on top of a Brute, he yanked Cortana's chip from his head and flung it into the open airlock of the Avalon.
"John!" Daxia yelled.
"Go! Cortana's the important one! Remember?" The Chief fell back under the mass of Covenant bodies. Daxia swallowed, shutting the airlock and zooming off into space.

The Avalon made one circle, desperate for a last call from the Chief.
"Tell me you made it. Show up at the right time - please." Daxia whispered, staying out of range of the guns and interceptors. But the Chief didn't call for back-up. Daxia shut her eyes, calling on all her training as a Pelican pilot to leave the last crewman behind - for the sake of the ship. To reassure herself she grabbed Cortana, inserting her into the ship's systems.
"The Chief . . ." Cortana murmured in shock. "He's . . . gone."
"Don't." Daxia warned, shaking. "Don't say it's what we had to do. Just don't."
"We're doomed." Cortana said softly. Daxia looked at her and the AI hung her head. "We're all doomed."

***

The Chief knew his shields were gone - the rain of blows above him made sense. The Covenant were delighting in dealing out the punishment, even the grunts were allowed in for a go.
I guess this is what I have to show for my life. A long line of souls wanting to destroy me.
Why - in the moment of his death, could he still hear that bloody little AI? 343 Guilty Spark - it's laughter was haunting him. If there was a hell and AI's who were bad could get there - If there was then when it 343 Guilty Spark's turn John would be waiting, fiery club in hand. If he had to make a pact with the devil himself, he'd have first go at that little bastard.
The laughter was growing louder, John wondered if perhaps 343 Guilty Spark *was* the devil. That made sense too.

The blows seemed to ease off and the Chief felt his battered muscles complain as he raised his head from his curled up position. Jesus - he was in Hell. There was that little AI, hovering and singing to himself. The Covenant were fading in a glow of fiery orange and the AI was singing. Singing - always bloody singing!

"The cyborg, ma'am." The AI said, hovering away from John's line of vision. The Chief raised his head a fraction, looking up at a tall, pale alien, dressed in white. Huh. John had always thought he'd have been going to Hell, not Heaven.
"Well." The alien said softly. "Very interesting. Take him to Li'Urk." She walked away, her long thin neck swaying as she walked. She had golden fur on the top of her head, swirling around and swaying in the light breeze - like a Halo.

***

The Avalon reached earth, but she didn't land right away. She started to pound on the nearby Covenant cruisers, taking them out with expert precision. When finally the engines started to overheat Cortana ordered Daxia to land.

Siberia cooled the engines instantly, the Avalon was parked in the docks with perfect handling. Daxia got out, taking Cortana's chip with her. The Governors were waiting patiently, looking anxiously for the Spartan. Daxia handed them the chip.
"Spartan-117 didn't make it." She informed them, ignoring their shocked faces. "Cortana was recovered with minimal damage to her programming, thanks to Spartan-117."
"My God." A female governor with white hair covered her mouth with her hand. "Was there nothing that could be done?"
"At the risk of destroying Cortana - no." Daxia looked at them, feeling tears well behind her eyes. "We did all we could." She choked, wiping her eyes with the corner of her sleeve.

***

"Spartan-117 was the last of the Spartans." Governor Mitchell was saying to the assembled, marines, delegates, pilots, scientists - anyone and everyone who could came to the underground ceremony to remember John.
"His bravery, strength - having a good head on his shoulders - these things rose him through the ranks. His devotion to earth, his love for the place that birthed him, these things kept him fighting!"
Daxia felt her eyes closing, her throat had a huge lump in it. It was difficult to still listen to the speakers, some people who had known John throughout the years. Beside her Aislinn took her hand, squeezing it firmly. She let Daxia see a small smile.
"Spartan-117 would not want the marines he fought for to lie down and accept the Covenant's regime." A general was saying, he was rallying the marines, bringing up the spirit of the world. "Spartan-117 would not want the scientists he defended to stop working! He would not want us to give up hope! He would want us to fight on - to do what we could!"

"Hey." O'Flynn stood on her other side, she took Daxia's hand as well. "Hey, it's gonna be okay." She murmured.

"Few knew Spartan-117 like I did." Cortana was saying, she stood full sized in front of the congregation, in front of the folded flag and in front of the camera's. "Even less knew John like I did." Cortana met Daxia's eyes for a second, shared a tiny smile. "He died protecting us, protecting his home. He did to protect me - and the others he loved. The Covenant may destroy our cities, so what? The Covenant may try and kill us, so what? The Covenant cannot take our spirit. They cannot take what we are truly best at - the Covenant cannot take our love from us. Our love for our planet, for each other, for justice and the truth. We will win. For those who have fallen and for those who will not fall."

"Propaganda. It's all propaganda." Daxia said to Cortana when they had a moment alone. Cortana nodded her holographic head.
"The people need it Dax." She sighed and regarded the human woman. "Maybe you should take some bereavement leave."
"For Spartan-117? He would never do that." She said sarcastically. "You don't get bereavement leave nowadays Cortana. We don't have enough people. Speaking of, I'm on drop duty with O'Flynn in twelve minutes."
"Be careful Daxia." Cortana said. "I'll be co-ordinating the west coast attacks."

***

John woke up, not sure where he was at all. He knew his guns were spent, and he was injured - where was Daxia? And Cortana - the nearest weapon was -
His brain caught up with his mind, reminding him he had absolutely no idea where he was. In fact, he last recalled thinking he was in heaven.

John sat up, looking around the clean lilac tinged room. It was bereft of anything apart from the bunk that sat in the middle of the room, more a table with padding really. There was a door in front of him, but that was all. Odd. Very odd.
Someone had taken his suit as well, he was now dressed in a simple white robe - kind of like the ancient garb of a martial art master. Except it was looser, hanging on him really.
He went for the door, wishing he had something to wear on his feet. He was prepared to fight the second the door opened - but all it was was another pale corridor.

"If this is Heaven, I'd hate to see Hell." He murmured, walking through the corridor. The first door he reached led to what seemed to be bridge of a ship. It was vaguely reminiscent of the Avalon.
"Ah - you are awake!" 343 Guilty Spark was hovering behind him. "Ni'Yeu will be very pleased. She has been waiting to meet the cyborg for some time now."
"Where have you taken me!" John demanded.

"Relax cyborg." The tall, pale alien from before entered the bridge. Her voice was female, but she had no breasts or a particularly female face. Her long neck was lined with the same golden fur that was on the back of her head. Her arms and legs had one too many joints and her long, spindly hands must have been at least a foot in length. She towered above him by at least half a metre, her white eyes looked him up and down.
"We had to modify one of our garments to fit. We thought you may have been cold, our temperature is not yours." She said, sweeping past him. The long, spider-like hands brushed his shoulder as she passed.
"I'm fine. Thank you." John said calmly. "Where have you taken me?"

"You are on - the translation would be Camelot. In our language it means roughly, Mythical Court of Kings." She sat on a bizarre looking stool, regarding him with those milky eyes.
"Like the Avalon." John stayed where he was. Ni'Yeu smiled.
"Like the Avalon." She agreed. "You are smarter than your cranium capacity suggests. Of course, we always underestimate the humans. It was our fault last time as well." Ni'Yeu sighed. "What you lack in intelligence and ingenuity - you make up for in . . . I believe the human term is 'luck'. One of the marines we studied called it 'God-be-damned-stubbornness'. I rather like the term."
"One of the marines?" John quoted. Ni'Yeu stood.
"Perhaps you are hungry? We healed you and also corrected the residual damage from your previous battles, but I am sure you are-"
"Tell me about the marines." John insisted. Ni'Yeu looked thoughtful.

"You humans are odd." She said. "Of course, you are not really even human which makes you all the odder."
"I had noted this in my reports." 343 Guilty Spark pointed out. Ni'Yeu nodded.
"Yes. You did." She approached John and gripped his shoulders, lifting him up. "You're far taller than the average human." She said. "Genetic enhancements after birth as opposed to in vitro. And the radical cybernetic attachments." Ni'Yeu sounded impressed. "How very interesting."
"Put me down." John ordered and was obeyed. Ni'Yeu smoothed her robes.
"At the offer of food most of our Covenant friends leapt for it. Even what you call the Hunters - though they tended to be far more single minded. Humans insisted upon knowing everything before catering to their own needs. Foolish."
"We don't like being in the dark." John said. Ni'Yeu turned and walked through the ship, bidding John to follow her.

"It is interesting that one human is a formidable opponent - two humans is even more dangerous. But when you become millions of humans and you need to co-ordinate each others movements - you become a horde. A mob. You do not like taking orders, as a general rule, and you do not like conceding another human's victory. To pull you together to become a unified force - that is a difficult task." Ni'Yeu was saying. She opened the door to what appeared to be a dining area. A second alien stood, with a bowl in his hands.

"Try this. It is protein filled and will help you recover." The alien's voice was male. "My name is Li'Urk. I healed you."
"Thank you." John said, sniffing the grey soup discretely. He wondered how he was supposed to eat it.
"You are currently our only subject." Li'Urk was saying. "However, we did have an elite and a marine in the same room once. That was a mistake."
"Did the marine win?" John asked casually. Li'Urk and Ni'Yeu turned to him, surprise in their faces.
"As a matter of fact, he did." Li'Urk told him. "I believe his words were 'where's your bloody armour now?' As he beat the elite into a pulp."
"Every one down is one less to fight back home." John said. Ni'Yeu laughed.
"Humans are so odd!" She sounded delighted. "They believe these things."
"That elite could have been the one to break through our defences. Now it's definitely not." John sipped the soup and was surprised to find that it had absolutely no taste at all.

"Interesting philosophy." Li'Urk said. "But ultimately flawed. Like the human race in general."
"Is that why you told the Covenant to destroy us? Forerunners?" John asked sharply. Li'Urk sighed.
"We do not wish destruction upon you. " Li'Urk said. "But we are the Forerunners."
"Or we are now." Ni'Yeu said. "I am the Reclaimer. I was previously human. Your genetic code is the simplest, so 343 Guilty Spark chose you to recreate us."

"This is what you were going to do to Daxia?" The Chief turned to the AI.
"And yourself - but you refused and I could not adapt your DNA with the cybernetic implants. So I chose another, as I said I would." 343 Guilty Spark said. Ni'Yeu took another step towards John.
"This war has gone on too long - humans and Covenant, they cannot live together and we will not allow our creations to be thus destroyed."
"It's not your place to choose!" John shouted, backing up. Li'Urk sighed.
"We wish to keep you cyborg, you are . . . unique, interesting. Further research on you would be fascinating. Perhaps to see what the Flood would do to you - they would likely evolve you higher." Li'Urk turned to Ni'Yeu. "What do you think?"
"You should be honoured cyborg." 343 Guilty Spark said. "Of all your race you have been chosen."

John backed up some more, his mind racing.
"Why not see how the war ends?" He suggested. "Perhaps something good can come of it?"
"We have seen it end before." Ni'Yeu said. "The Covenant have found the Flood, they plan to release it. Would you not prefer to start again?"
"No." John said flatly. "I and all of human kind would prefer to fight."
"Please - we do not wish to harm you." Li'Urk said. "But we will activate the Halos whether or not you are in our possession."

So John ran. He pelted down the hallway back to the bridge, slamming a few of the controls. The cockpit sealed, but John didn't think it would hold for long against 343 Guilty Spark. He fought with the ship's systems for a minute, finally finding the lab and the location of his armour. He took what appeared to be a plasma pistol from under the control panels and went out the other door.

"That was not very polite at all." 343 Guilty Spark transported itself to lab as John pulled his gloves on. He grabbed his gun, shooting the little Spark, pleased when it knocked the little thing out of the air.
"Why do you insist on shooting me? It will not harm me."
"It makes me feel better." The Chief placed his helmet on his head and heard the hiss of the suit's systems sealing itself. He ran past the AI, sure a ship this size had to have some sort of lifepod . . . or something.
Unless the lifepod had been the Avalon.

"Cyborg!" Ni'Yeu and Li'Urk had beat him to the docking bay. He saw a tiny shuttle behind them . . . it looked like it could move if it had to.
"This is foolish." Li'Urk said. "Preserve your own life - but you cannot hope to save the rest of your kind. Let yourself be a memorial to them."
"You want to infect me with Flood." The Chief pointed out, overcharging the plasma pistol behind his back.
"In a purely scientific capacity." 343 Guilty Spark said. The Chief nodded and flung himself to the side, firing the pistol at Ni'Yeu. The alien fell backwards, landing on the floor - stone dead.

The Chief took heart in the thought that they could be killed. He fired twice at Li'Urk - leaping for the shuttle. 343 Guilty Spark rebounded off the closing shuttle door, screaming blue murder. The Chief coaxed the shuttle into life, bringing it around. He opened a channel.
"Need a new pair of Forerunners?" He asked. "I'll be waiting for you."

A Really Big Ring, Just What I Always Wanted [H&R 11]
Date: 25 September 2003, 7:01 PM

Halos and Rings


Author: Jillybean
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A Really Big Ring, Just What I Always Wanted

"You've got to save me!" Cortana wailed. Daxia grinned at her co-pilot and brought the Pelican down to pick up the marines in South Africa. "This co-ordinating business is driving me nuts! Do you have any idea how . . . how boring these other AI's are!"
"What do you want me to do Cortana?" Daxia asked through her laughter. O'Flynn giggled.
"Storm the place and take me away?" Cortana asked hopefully.

"Hey is that Cortana?" The sergeant of this particularly company asked, leaning forward to hear the radio better. Daxia nodded. "Hey Cortana! How's it going?" The sergeant called cheerily.
"Just fine Sarge. Though I'm bored out of my mind!" Cortana added darkly, for Daxia's benefit.
"Oh Cortana - this is for earth." Daxia said sincerely, slapping at O'Flynn to stop her laughing. "This is what you have to do." She said, but then she broke down into giggles.
"You want propaganda?" Cortana asked. "I have a list of lines to tell doomed Pelican pilots - wanna hear some?"
"You're alright Cortana." Lara O'Flynn said. "Hang on a sec, we have some enemy fire from below, we'll be taking the long way around."
"Copy that." Cortana replied. Daxia steered the Pelican further away.

"Is it really all that bad Cortana?" She asked sympathetically.
"Yeah." Cortana said.
"I'll drop by as soon as I can." Daxia promised. "You get me the clearance and I'll be at your location in my next free shift. Don't say I'm not good to you."
"Would I ever?" Cortana asked.

***

Siberia was always cold, but today Daxia really shivered. Working in Africa always brought home just how cold Siberia really was. The regulars in the bunkers nodded to her as she walked the corridors - she visited Cortana often.

She was allowed into Cortana's 'room' a large holographic emitter that had some of the basic controls for modifying Cortana's program. There was more than one AI housed in that room, in fact there were several - but Cortana was right. They were all as dull as dishwater. Cortana appeared the second Daxia entered.

"Daxia!" She cried cheerily. "How are you?"
"I'm good." Daxia admitted, looking up at the indigo and lilac AI that stood infront of her. "I'm . . . coping. Lara's been great, I know you've been trying to keep us posted together."
"Least I could do." Cortana said. She tipped her head thoughtfully. "You know - there are rumblings round abouts here."
"Rumblings?" Daxia repeated.

Beside them Mitra flickered into view. She glared at Cortana and the younger AI sighed irritatedly.
"Nothing you need to worry about Lieutenant." Mitra said. Daxia had been promoted to lieutenant after returning Cortana, two long months ago.
"I beg to differ." Cortana said.
"I WILL overrule you Cortana." Mitra warned. "Don't make me do that Cortana."
"Stick around though." Cortana said to Daxia, the lieutenant smiled and nodded.
"I will Cortana. So - what do you want to know about?"

***

The crew quarters in Siberia were vast and mixed. There were long racks of bunks that the marines were often herded into. There were more private quarters that the brass had the good sense not to assign anyone to. The old adage about love and war held true, private quarters were in much demand. Daxia was walking through them right now, trying not to think about her last time in one of these rooms.
She got to the barracks and found her assigned bunk. The quiet chatter of marines soothed her to sleep.

And as always she woke up to the noise of Flood. She jerked awake, breathing heavily.
"You okay lieutenant?" Asked a nearby marine. She nodded, heading for the showers. She wasn't 'okay' exactly, but it was normal for her.

***

The call to Governor Mitchell's office was a surprise. Especially when Cortana and General Henderson was there too. She entered and stood to attention, sneaking a glance at Cortana.
"Please." Mitchell waved her to the spare seat in the room. "Sit down lieutenant." He waited until she was seated to continue. "How do you think the war is going, Daxia? May I call you Daxia?"
"Uh - yes. Sir." Daxia said. She frowned as she thought about the second question. "I'm not sure I see enough of the overall picture to comment on the war, sir." She said. The general laughed and clapped her on the shoulder.
"You're a good girl." He said. "But don't bullshit us. What do you really think?"
"I think we're losing sir." Daxia replied with blunt honesty. "Our marines are tired - we're all starting to lose hope. There are hardly enough civilians left to repopulate the colonies anyway. If we don't do something soon there are going to be big problems."

Mitchell stood from his desk and paced worriedly.
"You see lieutenant - that is our conclusion too. Now we, the uh 'Brass' - as those in the field call us - have thought of a solution."
"Really sir?" Daxia couldn't help sounding sceptical.
"Yes . . . we have liaised with Cortana and we believe we know the location of another Halo."

Daxia glared at Cortana who shrugged.
"What?" The AI asked.
"The Halos are not a solution to anything." Daxia said coldly. Cortana shook her head.
"Hear us out Daxia."

"You see lieutenant, with your knowledge of both the Halos and the Flood - and your proven tactical ability, we think you would be a perfect candidate to lead an expedition to the nearest Halo." The general said to her. "With two warships-"
"Two!" Daxia exclaimed, there was no way the fleet could spare that many! They had to be pulling her leg.
"We think it's the bare minimum that should be allowed on such a dangerous mission." The general told her. "We are taking this very seriously Ring. We need to do two things. Firstly: Secure the Halo and establish a base on it. Secondly: Transport as many civilians as possible to our new base."
"This is crazy." Daxia said.

"As *Commander* of such a mission, you would be privvy to all our information." Mitchell said.
"You can't bribe me with a promotion." Daxia snarled.
"You got the promotion Daxia because, despite what you think, we know everything you've sacrificed for this war. You got the promotion because we know you can handle it." Mitchell told her calmly. "We need someone with first hand knowledge of the Flood."

"Even if we get past the Covenant and find that the Covenant don't have a presence on the Halo - we still have to contend with the monitor there." Daxia pointed out. She turned to Cortana. "You can't seriously be endorsing this? Can you?"
"The Halos are a paradise." Cortana said. "And earth physically can't sustain humanity for much longer. They are fortress's. A Halo could support a selection of humans, ones that could farm and produce weapons, vehicles - everything we so desperately we need. It's going to be difficult Daxia, but we really don't have another option."
"If - and I do mean if - I took the mission." Daxia said. "I'd want my sister to be on one of the transports out of here."
"That would be done." Mitchell agreed calmly. "And Cortana would be, of course, with you every step of the way."
"Then - who would be my Captain?" Daxia asked.
"There would be two captains, and although you rank below them - they would answer to you." The general told her. Daxia exhaled shakily.
"Let me look at the mission specs - in detail and-"
"I'm afraid you'd be confirming the mission specs." Mitchell told her. "In brief and in detail."
"Shit." Daxia murmured. "You guys really are desperate, aren't you?"
"Yes." Was Mitchell's reply.
"Then I'll do it." Daxia said.

***

"Assume that all Halos are built the same." Daxia instructed Cortana, removing her jacket and hanging it on the back of the chair. The small office she had been given to use was almost taken up with everything that had been found out about the Flood and Halos - which went to show that the office was very small indeed. Now dressed in UNSC standard issue tank top, khaki's and boots she paced the room.
"It would be best to get me into the Control Room as quickly as possible." Cortana suggested. "From there I could likely attack the monitor of that particular Halo. I've learned a lot since the last one, I could probably put my mind to hacking the codes."
"There's a lot of 'probably' in there." Daxia said.

The newly made Commander ran her hands through her hair [which was needing cut] and thought about how best to tackle the problem.
"Most of the offensive we found on Halo was Covenant -right?" Daxia asked. "This other Halo, do you think they've found it?"
"I don't know." Cortana replied, then she looked up - suddenly sparked. "But I imagine the Avalon does! It's a Forerunner ship, it should have data about the Halo's - shouldn't it?"
"Start hacking." Daxia ordered.
"Yes ma'am." Cortana said with a grin.

***

The Chief was starting to get bored. There was only so long one could be in a tiny life-pod and not be bored. He had put all his energy into working out and battle strategy, but the tiny confines of the pod were starting to weigh him down.

What more could he do? Apart from star-gazing endlessly. The meagre rations in the life-pod, though capable of sustaining him if he was careful, were about as appetizing as the soup he had been given on the Forerunner ship.
Why hadn't he just stolen the Camelot? That would have been a much better idea. Imagine the expression on Daxia's face if he came back with a ship like that!

He missed her. He missed Cortana. He missed humans. He missed things outside this goddamned pod.

At least soon he would be coming into Covenant controlled territory - then he might be able to hijack a faster - and bigger - ship.

***

"This is Captain Tyler and this is Captain Lewis. They will be in command of the Nightwing and the Gauntlet respectively." General Henderson introduced her to two men in their mid-fifties. Tyler had ebony skin and a warm smile, he shook Daxia's hand, gripping it firmly.
"Pleased to make your acquaintance Commander." He said in a thickly Australian accent. Daxia smiled.
"You too Captain Tyler." She said, turning to Lewis. Lewis had the sort of calm, quiet confidence that made him instantly attractive. He shook her hand too.
"Commander." He said politely.

"And these are the sergeants in charge of the marines." Henderson waved his hand over the row of eight sergeants. Daxia nodded at each of them. "Do you want to give your debrief now?" Henderson asked. Daxia nodded again.
"Yes I do."

"Gentlemen!" She called as she stood in front of them all. "I don't know what it is you think you've signed on for - but rest assured - this will be like nothing you've ever faced. And I'm not just talking about working with Cortana." She added with the trademark humour that made the marines fall in love with her.
"Hey." Cortana grinned.
"We are talking about an evac mission on the biggest scale." Daxia continued. "Not only that but we got scary fucking zombies - one wrong move and we are all dead. Not just us, not just humans - but all of us." She walked up and down the line of men. "You need to do what I tell you. When I tell you. Cortana and I will try to keep you informed of any situation - but if we say 'jump' - you don't ask how high - you just do it. Do I make myself clear?"
"Sir! Yes sir!" The marine sergeants called effectively. Tyler grinned at her.
"When d'ya want my job?" He asked.

"We leave at 06:00 hours." She told them. "We're making a few blind jumps to try and loose the Covenant before we get there - the Covvies haven't found the Halo yet, and I'll be damned if we lead them there."

***

"Hey Lara." Daxia caught up with O'Flynn in the mess hall. "Ready to leave tomorrow?"
"Yeah." Lara said, spooning some noodles in her mouth. "So get you Commander, giving out debriefs and everything. I might get jealous."
"Shut up." Daxia grinned. "Listen - thanks for agreeing to come along."
"Hey you can't do it without me." Lara winked. "I've saved your butt more times than you can count. Besides, going to a Halo? After all you told me about it?" She softened the sarcasm with a smile. "I wouldn't let you do this alone."
"You're so sweet." Daxia drawled. "You should catch some sleep though, we've got a long mission ahead of us."
"Plenty of time to sleep when you're dead." Lara replied. "I'm getting me some of that marine booty before we leave."

Daxia did what she was not supposed to do - she went outside. It was dangerous, she could freeze to death, she could be shot, she could have fallen down a crevice and no one would have known. But she did it.
She wanted to see stars.
The cold night air showed her tiny diamonds glistening in the deep navy sky, occasionally a brighter one would catch her eye - probably a ship or something. She exhaled and watched her breath mist up. This was probably the first time since Halo she had actually sought to be alone, but there was something she had to do.
"This is so crazy." She murmured, laughing a little. "But if you can hear me, please - help me out here. I'm so scared." She looked back up at the stars and retreated inside the base.

***

"He's here!" A little grunt wailed just before the Chief slammed his gun into the back of it's neck. He fired off a round at the nearest Elite and finished it off with two uppercuts.
"They're everywhere!" Another grunt shouted, the Chief swung around, flinging a grenade at the approaching elites. He jumped into the fast little Covenant shuttle, turning and cleaning up the few remaining jackals with some rounds from his Needler.
The Covenant shuttle took to the air.

Home Is Where The Halo Is [H&R12]
Date: 30 September 2003, 3:12 PM

Halos and Rings

Author: Jillybean
AN: I am aware Banshee's don't work any poorer in the snow - I took artistic license
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Home Is Where The Halo Is

"Thought you'd want to see this." Captain Tyler said as Daxia walked onto the bridge. She was groggy from the cryogenics - but the sight in front of her was like a bucket of ice-cold water.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Cortana said, appearing in the holo-emitter. Daxia couldn't stop the tiny smile that crept over her face.
"It is." She admitted. The Halo twirled lazily in front of the Nightwing and Gauntlet, it's waters gleamed underneath them, it's mountains stood proudly reaching to space, the cold mechanical underside was the only hint of danger.

"I thought it would be smaller." Lewis mused from the COM channel on the Gauntlet. Cortana met Daxia's eyes for a second and the commander turned to the pilot.
"Bring us closer, see if you can get us inside the circumference."
"Is that wise?" The pilot asked, nevertheless doing what he was told. Daxia nodded, folding her arms against the chill in the air.
"It's the safest place to be. The Halo has few defence systems other than it's main firing mechanism." She explained.
"Sir, yes sir." The pilot said.
"The Gauntlet is matching our path." Cortana reported. "Fiveson has all systems monitored, he reports nothing out of the ordinary."
"Good." Daxia turned to the captain. "We have to hit hard and fast if we want to get the upper hand, let's get the marines ready."

***

"Uh huh! That's what I'm talking about!"
"Smells like Paree in ze mornin!"
"Aye but without the stench o' Covenant shite mate."

Daxia listened to the various reactions of the marines, she looked around the high Halo ground they had landed on. She had seen this area only briefly, it had been Foehammer who had run the drops in this area last time.

"Fiveson, how are the ship scans coming along?" She asked the AI still in space, loading her assault rifle.
"It looks as though this Halo follows the original schematics - roughly." Fiveson sounded a little doubtful. "The terrain has many natural changes, however, all the main structures are within acceptable parameters."
"So watch out for any surprises." Daxia said. Cortana's chip was safely hugged in her jacket pocket - but they had no way to talk to her until they got to the control room.

"There's nothing here." Annie ran up to Daxia and the sergeant to report. "No Covenant, no Sentinels - we don't even see a monitor."
"Right. Secure the area, once it's secure then head to the swamps. Secure that area - but do not, I repeat, do not under any circumstances enter the installations." Daxia told the sergeant. She headed for the Avalon, sitting patiently on the ground.

"Everything good?" O'Flynn asked from inside. Daxia nodded, climbing into the pilots seat.
"Yup. Fire Team Alpha, come in Fire Team Alpha." She opened a com.
"This is Fire Team Alpha. We have the area secured. No hostiles."
"We're on our way Fire Team Alpha, be prepared for hostiles." Daxia lifted the Avalon into the air and started her skimming the Halo surface. Below them they saw groups of marines working to secure Halo. Though against what threat - Daxia dreaded to think.

"I got a bad feeling about this." O'Flynn murmured as they reached the snowy ground. "Are the weather systems malfunctioning?"
"No." Daxia murmured. "Cortana thinks it's because most of the machinery is stored here. It's cooler - helps the computers work. It also plays Hell on a Banshee engine."
"Huh. Cool." O'Flynn landed them in a large canyon. "This place is amazing." She said, getting out as the marines rushed to meet them.

"No hostiles detected ma'am." One of the sergeants told her. Sergeant Deck was the other sergeant in the area but he was keeping a look out on the pyramid structure that coated the canyon's side. Daxia nodded, tugging her helmet down a little tighter against the chill.
"We'll soon fix that." She said. "O'Flynn - keep the Avalon warm, we might need a quick evac. Sergeant Klaus, I want some of your men to stay out here and guard the Avalon, the rest of us are going in."

***

The marines opened each of the doors to the control room easily, there was no Sentinels to stop them. And Halo looked all the more alien for the absence of the Covenant.
Daxia held her rifle at the ready as the final door slid open, revealing the glass Halo control room.
"Jesus." A marine beside her murmured. "This is place is so whack." The marines filtered in to the room, checking everywhere. Daxia headed straight for the control panel, inserting Cortana's chip.

"Feels so good to be home!" Cortana flared into life above them, glowing pink, then red - then back to her purple. The red in her eyes did not fade. "Oh. This. Is. Glorious!"
"Cortana." Daxia said softly. The AI brought herself back under control with an affected cough and a wink at the marines. Daxia was not so easily reassured - Cortana liked the Halos too much for her liking.
"Okay . . ." Cortana concentrated for a minute. "Very interesting," she opened her eyes and focussed on Daxia. "Good news, or bad news?" She asked.
"Bad news first." Daxia said.
"The bad news is that the Monitor knows we're here and has sent Sentinels to investigate. A marine opened fire and the Sentinels have assumed a position of hostility."
"You there." Daxia waved at a marine. "Get back outside, warn everyone." She turned back to Cortana. "And the good news?"
"There are no Flood on this ring. 30, 000 years ago there was a minor disaster and the monitor had to destroy the few Flood specimens he had."
"No Flood?" Daxia asked.
"Not so much as a . . .. uh . . . .hair." Cortana replied.

"Move out!" The sergeant had them moving forward while Daxia warned them to be careful.
"To better understand this Halos systems I'd need the Index." Cortana said to the commander who nodded.
"All in good time Cortana, first we secure the Halo - then we worry about the Index." She said. She had no intention of giving Cortana said index, she was pretty sure the AI could manage without it until she adapted to the freedom Halo gave her. Right now Cortana was just a little too crazy - like a colt that had been in the stable too long and was suddenly let out to pasture.

Daxia's grandparents had raised mustangs on one of Saturn's moons. She remembered them tell the story of when they all got up on a ship and moved away - a big carrier with only their son, a stallion and two mares. That was they could afford to take with them. Once they got to the terra formed moon they plotted out a piece of land and started to work for their living.

Daxia's father had met a nice young girl on a nearby ranch and they had moved into the city, both eager to escape their families 'farming roots'. Daxia's parents hadn't cared for stories of chasing stray mustangs into the paddock, or fighting off crashed pirates. Daxia had treasured the trips to her grandparents - riding the big old mare, the only surviving member of the three horses that had been transported all that way.

A little girl, carefree in the light of Saturn's glowing rings. She hadn't known that the sober men who took the long drive to the ranch were there to tell her grandparents the terrible news. Her parents had been killed on their holiday cruise, her parents had been shot out of the sky by pirates. Daxia hadn't understood then why she and her little sister were never going back to the big flat in the city - she had been kinda pleased. Apart from losing all her friends, she had fun on the ranch. She went to a new school and was there as her little sister took her first wobbling steps. She remembered one day asking grams - 'where's mam?' And really only then did she discover her parents had waved her away for the last time.


***

"Well. This is a surprise!" A marine shouted as the Master Chief ducked around a fallen block of concrete. He turned his shoulder to get a decent shot at the Covenant before them.

"Sorry for firing at you sir!" An aussie shouted. "We thoughts you were Covvie in that ship."
"Understood solider!" The Chief eased the young mans mind. "Where's our base?"
"We don't got many of those anymore!" The aussie laughed as if it was some marvellous joke.
"Well let's evac to the nearest one." The Chief shouted back. "We're pinned down here, there's nothing more we can do."
"No - you don't understand." The aussie waved his hand at the seven marines that were firing back at the Covenant. "We're all that's left of three squads. Nowadays we drop into a Covvie area; fight for a bit and if there's any survivors: we hide. It's the only way to keep them from our cities."

"You mean for the last four months you've made no progress?" The Chief asked incredulously. The aussie grinned.
"Hey Chief - for the last four months they've started pulling the best marines out. Earth is lost. Get used to it." He said. "Besides, I thought you were dead."
"What did your drill sergeant always tell you?" The Chief asked, trying to come to terms with the fact that Earth was lost.
"To expect the unexpected?" The aussie asked, remembering long forgotten days through a mist.
"Exactly." The Chief flung himself over the concrete and into the fray.

***

Siberia was as he remembered it. Cold, cold and again - cold. He debriefed quickly, explaining that the monitor was trying to find suitable candidates to be the Reclaimer and Preserver. He said that he had stalled 343 Guilty Spark's progress on this front, but he didn't know for how long. General Henderson found this report satisfactory and told him to freshen up - he'd be briefed on the situation at 23:00 hours.
John took a shower - which was the height of luxury for a man who'd spent four months in a confined space. Then he went to the gym and ran for two hours.

Feeling more relaxed, he began to think about other things beyond his training and mission. Where was Daxia? Where was Cortana? He tried to open a channel to Cortana, but Mitra told him Cortana was no longer on earth. The rest of that information was classifed.
"And before you ask Spartan-117, Commander Ring is no longer on earth either. That information is also classified."

So John went back to the gym.

***

"This place stinks." A marine expressed his opinion for all to hear. Daxia smirked, looking through the Flood containment area she had come to the same conclusion. Rotting Flood was not a pleasant odour.
"It smells of - how you say? Ze stench of a London sewer." The French one said, Jean-Pierre if Daxia remembered correctly.
"Heard that mate." The British marine said, he grinned at Daxia as he stopped to pull a cigar from his jacket pocket. He offered it to Daxia, grinning when she refused. "All the more for me love."

"Don't light up." Daxia ordered.
"I am a marine darlin'." He told her, sticking the cigar in his mouth. "But there's nothing here anyway." He said, looking around. "The name's Ben, don't laugh. Better name than old Bob over there."
"Hey!"
"Daxia." Daxia shook Ben's hand. "Nice to meet you."
"Bloody marvellous to meet you." Ben said with a grin. Daxia laughed a little and turned to face the approaching sergeant.

"All areas secure ma'am. What do we do now?" He asked. Daxia opened a channel to Cortana.
"What's our status Cortana?"
"Fire Team Bravo took out the monitor, 420 Guilty Spark if you want to know. He's been sealed into an empty missile and shot off into space since he seems to be indestructible and also able to tap into the transporter system. With no other AI's the Sentinels have started listening to me. I'm working on the Halo systems - but they're massive, it'd go much faster if I had an Index."
"Cortana . . ."
"I know I know I know." The AI said impatiently. "Colt. Stable. Field. You've told me the analogy twice now."
"Just so long as you know."
"I suggest getting the base camps set up in all the strong holds. I've directed the shipboard AI's to keep scanning the surrounding space but there's nothing coming. We should move on to phase 2 - prepare the ground for civilians."
"You heard the lady." Daxia said to them.

"Right! Move out!" The sergeant said, he paused, looking at Daxia. "Ma'am, may I make a suggestion?"
"Certainly sergeant." Daxia said.
"This place may be safe but I know me and the other men'd be a whole lot happier if you had a bodyguard or two. Just to be on the safe side." The sergeant added. Daxia smirked a little.
"Who did you have in mind?" She asked, deciding to be pleased that they'd shown so much concern.
"Jean-Pierre and I volunteer." Ben said quickly. The sergeant nodded and pointed to them both.
"Watch the lady." He said, moving out. Daxia rolled her eyes and headed for O'Flynn and the Avalon, her new pets tailing her.

***

"Ah - John." Governor Mitchell smiled when the Spartan entered his office. "Take a seat John."
"Yes sir. Thank you sir." John sat down. Mitchell turned a big smile at him.
"It is wonderful to see you alive John, absolutely marvellous. We had feared you were lost." Mitchell smiled darkly. "I'm sure Commander Ring will be very pleased."

John wondered if he was abnormal - that his first thought in relation to Daxia was not always sex. He understood that the Catalytic Thyroid Implant all Spartans had been given also reduced the sex drive, but surely not that much?
"I'm pleased too." He said, drawing another big smile from Mitchell.

"Yes - however in your absence you will have noticed that earth is no longer a secure location for our civilians. Commander Ring is currently heading a mission to another Halo-"
"Another Halo? Daxia?" John snapped, suddenly concerned. "Which Halo? How many re-inforcements, I must insist Governor that I-"
"John." The Governor said sharply, calling the Spartan reluctantly to order. "We have received a coded transmission from Cortana - all is going well. They are currently setting up a military base there, but also a place for civilians to live. We've already selected which civilians will be transported to Halo. You will be accompanying those ships. Understood Spartan?"
"Yes sir."
"In the mean time - earth needs you."

John had once learned a lesson about what three options were open to you if you faced an enemy greater than you:
Charge them - they were pinned down, they could not.
Surrender - he'd die first.
Retreat - surely there had to be a better place to retreat to?

***

Under the night sky and the dull glow from the bluish planet this Halo orbited, the marines finally stopped 'unpacking' as they called it. They gathered around camp-fires and entertained themselves with songs and stories and they ate the rations softened with boiled Halo water.
The marines were already referring to Halo as 'home' - it was a strange thing for Daxia to witness. They were almost as devoted to the machine they'd landed on two days ago as they were to their own planet. She wondered if she could ever adapt to calling a Halo 'home'. The rising curve of her landscape in the distance was an image that had haunted her dreams - would she ever find as reassuring as the marines did?

"We used to shoot rats back home on Eridani." A marine was saying. "But of course- the rats blew up a whole lot easier than the Covenant do."
"You are so full of shit Ernie." O'Flynn laughed heartily. "With your aim - no way you know how a rat blows up!" They all laughed, even Daxia. She spent time with the marines and pilots because she felt more at home with their laughter and rations - than with the captains and their full meals up on the ships.
"Oh bite me Lara." Ernie replied.
"She really will you know." Daxia warned, getting another laugh. O'Flynn licked her lips saucily. The conversation lulled as everyone looked mournfully down at their empty bowls.

"I wonder if there's any wildlife around here." Ben said, looking over his shoulder as if he expected to see a rabbit. Daxia shrugged.
"Dunno - but it's not that difficult to acclimate new animals to new places." She said. "My grandparents did it with some mustangs on Saturn."
"Ah - an Inner world girl, are ya?" Ernie asked, with the contempt that all outer colonists had for those who had stayed in Sol's system. Daxia smiled and nodded.
"Born and bred."
"Hey - we're all human now." Ben said softly. "We all bleed red, I think we've spilt enough to prove it."
"Not any more we're not." O'Flynn spoke up. "We're Halo-ers."
"That's right!" Ernie punched the air. "Haloers!"
"That is - how you say? Ringers perhaps would be better?" Jean-Pierre suggested. Ernie stared at him as if he'd just worked out how to make an inner system jump through slipstream.
"Ringers." O'Flynn. "Yeah - I like that. Got a ring to it." She winked at Daxia who in return shoved her co-pilot off the log she was sitting on.

"So why'd ya leave Saturn?" Ben asked after some more silence. Daxia thought about it. How to explain the lazy days of summer and the joy she found in fixing the pieces of equipment around the barn? How to explain the way she had coasted through life until one day when someone suggested the UNSC. She thought it had been a professor. It seemed to be a good idea, between her and Aislinn, she had always been the orderly sister with the good marks. The UNSC had been the automatic suggestion and she had done as she was told. Then there was the Covenant and everything changed.

"Just did." She answered and Ben nodded.
"Yeah - I think that's how all of us got here." He said, gazing at the stars. "We just did." They all had stories, they all had pain - they'd all seen a Glassed world by now. They just did.

***

Cortana brought her holographic presence into view when Daxia entered with her two body-guards. She smiled down at the commander, folding her arms.
"Decided to pay me a visit at last?" She asked, grinning with Daxia.
"I could just march right back out you know-" Daxia suggested, looking as if she was about to do just that. "Thought you'd like to know that all our bases are now operational and ready for civilian populators." She cocked her head a little. "You might want to check up on the progress of the Civilian carriers."

"I've been doing that regularly for the past month." Cortana said. "They're moving slowly, taking great care to avoid all Covenant. They should be here within . . . say the next five weeks?"
"Excellent." The commander was grinning wildly, Cortana began to get suspicious.
"What . . . "

"Got a present for you." Daxia revealed the Index from her pocket and tossed it around. Cortana actually squealed with glee. "Captains Lewis, Tyler and myself discussed this at great length - but we think you handled the Halo system responsibly. We're giving it to you." She said, inserting it into a control panel. Cortana gleamed green and red, finally relaxing back into indigo.
"Thank you Daxia." She said. "Thank you so much."
"You're welcome." Daxia said, turning back out of the Control Room.

***

"Here they come." The Lieutenant on the bridge of the Gauntlet said. Daxia took a deep breath, seeing the ships grow in size as they approached the Halo. There was a large refitted Science vessel to carry all the young and intelligent civilians that Halo could possibly support. She was flanked by two warships - it was the best and brightest on the civilian carrier - they could not afford to loose them.
"Let's get the welcome mat out." Lewis said.

Commander Daxia Ring stood in front of the civilians in the large bay of the science vessel. They all watched her intently, the had been told they were being relocated - but apart from that they had no idea what to expect. Army brutality? Barracks and slave labour? Perhaps - but only if they choose to see it that way.

"You have all been allocated a drop ship number. After being dropped in your designated area a marine will show you to your barracks. The quarters aren't that comfortable yet - but that's what you're there to do. Craftsmen will be briefed on what we need from you, while those with no specific purpose" [read people who had connections or women that were to be used to produce more cannon fodder] "will have to get started in the kitchens. Trust me, we're hungry." She gestured to the marines that flanked her. "Any questions?" She asked, she would be prepared to answer as many as they had.

"I have one - what do we call ourselves?" Aislinn asked. "I mean, all the colonists have a name to stick to themselves - what's ours?" Her comments raised a grumble of agreement from the others. Colonists always had names.
"The colony is Halo." Daxia said. "You guys are the -"
"Uh I hate to contradict Commander." Ben spoke up. "The colony is Halo, yeah. But you guys are called Haloers, the marines who are the strike force are the Ringers."
"I see." Daxia grinned a little. "Any further questions."

"What do we do if the Covenant find us?" Asked a burly looking man. Daxia nodded a little.
"Good question. The location of this Halo is as closely guarded as the location of earth was. The Cole Protocol still exists. However, Halo is far more defensible than earth, you'll receive further instructions from your Area Leader once you land."

"I have a question. What about earth? Is that it lost forever?" Asked another. Daxia snorted incredulously.
"We have not given up. This isn't even a retreat." She lied. "This is a colonization of Halo - there are still a great many civilians on earth and in some of the few other colonies in the Sol system. Earth is still our headquarters, the marines still fight. Anything else?" She asked. There were no more questions, everyone was mulling over what they had learned.
"Then move out." Daxia ordered. She watched them file to their dropships and be given their orders. Some would have to wait until later, some were lucky enough to be leaving now. It was organized chaos in front of her.

"Are we heading down to the surface?" Ben asked as he and Jean-Pierre fell in line behind her. She shook her head, heading for the Avalon.
"We're on drop duty." She said.
"As usual." Someone had sneaked up behind her and the marines. Both marines swung around, their assault rifles ready to be fired.

"Not a good idea." John-117 warned them. Daxia could only stare - it was him alright, military buzz cut on the brown hair, piercing blue eyes to stare her down. There was even a long scar on his arm where the Brutes had ripped it open in the Jupiter system.
"That healed fast." She found herself saying. John shrugged.
"Forerunner technology." He replied. The marines were beginning to stand down, reassured only slightly by the fact Daxia seemed to know the Spartan. She recalled herself and gestured to them both.

"Uh - this is Ben and Jean-Pierre. Ben, Jean-Pierre meet John-117 . . . a Spartan."
"Thought you were all dead mate." Ben said, shaking his hand. Jean-Pierre rolled his eyes.
"It's ze British optimism." He said, shaking John's hand. Daxia nodded slowly, then without further thought flung herself into the Spartan's embrace. They kissed and John set her down, smiling a little.

"Where's Cortana?" He asked. Daxia grinned.
Where do you think?" She asked. "And when she sees you she is going to go right through you. We thought you were dead." She punched his chest as hard as she could, though he probably didn't feel it.

"A Spartan. Cool." Ben was falling in line behind her again as she headed for the Avalon. He turned to Jean-Pierre. "Think she knows him?"
"Ze British ave no sense of romance." Jean-Pierre muttered under his breath. He climbed into the Avalon and started to take a check of all on board. "And John is there? No?" He added, looking to the cockpit.
"He's here." Daxia confirmed, grinning again. John looked out at the Halo's surface, his face calm. There was a tiny flicker of doubt in his eyes. Daxia smiled.
"Don't worry." She said softly. "It's secure. Trust me."
John did not reply, but she didn't take offence as they left the docking bay - heading for home.

Taking the High Road [H&R 13]
Date: 3 October 2003, 3:25 PM

Halos and Rings

Author: Jillybean
AN: Couldn't have Louis saying I'd slackened off now, could I?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taking The High Road

The snowy canyons of the Halo had been adapted for living in just like everywhere else. Though there was a definite 'military' feel to the chambers inside. Most of the offices had been set up there, as well as the bunks for the marines and more private rooms for the captains, commanders and bridge crew.
Ring's quarters were inside the cliff, near one of the large generators. The heat from the generators staved off the chill from the cold walls, but there were an extra set of blankets beside the cot. Plaster walls had been set up to partition off the larger rooms and Ring was in one of these, the room was spacious enough for a makeshift table and an extra set of boots, but very little else.
When John opened his eyes it took him a fraction of a second to work out where he was.

After a careful extraction from Daxia's arms, one that his stealth trainers would have been proud of, he went for a walk outside. The large locking doors that separated the rooms from the outside world led to one of the long bridges that spanned the chasm. Snow was falling lightly, touching his bare forearms. If he had thought, he would have taken a jacket to wear outside. It didn't matter, he could survive in these temperatures for quite a while.
Unlike the two marines pacing the bridge, stamping their boots every step of the way. They saluted and John saluted back. They thought he was out of earshot and started talking, John found it difficult not to listen in.
"That's the Spartan, innit?"
"Didn't even look cold the lucky bastard."
"Would you if you'd woken up to that?"
"Watch your mouth - or Big Ben'll have you for dinner Private."

John kept walking. He was at once concerned and amused that the marines had taken to Daxia so quickly. It was not uncommon for marines to go crazy over their dropship pilots: they were, after all, the only lifeline a marine had. But Fast-Trackers like Daxia rarely were so well received. He'd seen Ben and Jean-Pierre shadow Daxia all of last night, on every single drop. Even John had taken time out of the tedious drops, he had gone to talk to Cortana personally.
And then afterwards in the mess hall the marines didn't let DAxia out of their sight and then at the large 'Community Bonfire' she was practically besieged by loving marines. O'Flynn received the same attention, even to the point of wasting two more marines as her bodyguards. What the Hell was going on? John didn't understand why they would waste the valuable resources.
Unless the marines were treating the shadowing as a game to play while they were on a 'safe' place and weren't giving Halo the respect it deserved.

John looked down at the snow filled canyon - a marine was teaching a young boy how to do doughnuts on the ice with a Warthog. It was most probably the second option.

***

He entered the Control Room with his suit on, not surprised to find Cortana sitting down, thinking about something or other.
"Hello Chief." She welcomed him.
"I'm going for a run - feeling cooped up?"
"Oh yeah." Cortana grinned.

***

"Ahh - look who it is." Alan turned to his companion. The older marine glanced at the Warthogs mirrors and nodded slowly.
"Runs fast, don't he?" He said. The Chief was cutting across their path behind them, pelting through the Halo's long grass. Alan glanced back at his companion, one eyebrow raised.
"Wonder if he's as fast as this Hog?"
"Wonder." Colin replied neutrally. "Thinkin' of finding out?"
"Oh yeah." Alan wrenched the wheel of the Hog around, nearly tipping them in their haste to get onto the Chief's trajectory.

"Hmmm - that might be company." Cortana said as the Chief noticed the Hog approaching out the corner of his eye. He kept running, prepared to run all day if he had to, he didn't feel like talking to the marines.
"Maybe I'm being insensitive - but is something the matter?" Cortana asked softly. The Chief grunted something and took a flying leap over a river, landing on the other side with no trouble whatsoever. The impact touched his shields, but didn't deplete them.
The Warthog was not so lucky, instead it went sailing over itself, landing belly-up in the river. The Chief hesitated, he wanted to run. Duty, however, called louder than his desires. He turned back to help them flip the Hog.

"Damn cars." Alan said, standing back as the Chief righted the Hog easily. "Yet to see someone take a good beatin' in one of them."
"Out for a morning run?" Colin asked pleasantly, thanking the Chief and getting back in. The Chief nodded once, an imposing action when covered in his MJOLNIR armour. Colin grinned, showing an ugly gap in his teeth. "You're more dedicated than any of the rookies I know."
"Hey!" Alan said.
"It's true." Cortana spoke up. "Some marines ought to keep in better shape." She didn't seem to understand that the marine's didn't mind poking fun at each other - but someone else making fun of them was not acceptable. John really wished she hadn't said anything, he witnessed Colin and Alan's faces drop and turn to stone.
"We could take the Spartan on." Alan said.
"Oh really?" John spoke before he could help himself. Alan drew back, visibly afraid.
"If there were enough of us." He said.
"I'll take those odds." Cortana grumbled. John smiled, hidden behind his visor.
"Gather your men." He growled, turning from them. "Meet me at the High Ground. Training begins."

"Is this wise?" Cortana hissed as he walked away, having accepted their challenge. "I don't think the Brass will be too pleased."
"In combat situations one must stay on their toes, that means regular combat training. As you pointed out Cortana, some of these marines have become rusty."
"Ohh they're not gonna like this." Cortana said, brimming with anticipation.

***

Daxia woke up and knew something was wrong. Intuition - years at war - sixth sense, call it what you will. Something was wrong. She dressed quickly, looking around for whatever it was.
The room was clear of any hostiles.

Perplexed she checked outside the room, but the thin hallway was devoid of life. She returned to her room and looked around, still she saw nothing. She stood in the middle of the floor, running a hand through her blonde hair (it was really getting too long now) and thinking. Of course.
"Silly bitch." She murmured to herself, holstering her weapon. She had been dreaming, a dream involving a young girl riding around her grandparents ranch while a tall man came to say he'd lost her parents on a Halo. The girl had said she'd keep looking.

She shook her head and left her room, in search of O'Flynn and the duty roster.

***

The hastily assembled assault course was like a living, breathing creature. The Master Chief leapt over two Warthogs piled together and had to roll when he landed to avoid a barrage of Frag Grenades.
"Hog guns, six and nine o'clock." Cortana warned. The Chief got to his feet, taking out his assault rifle and shooting the dirt embankmenton either side of the line of Hog's. Dirt sprayed up, blocking the gunners view, they fired blind and completely missed the Chief as he ran past them.
The Chief leapt onto the embankment and dodged behind a Warthog. He pulled the gunner from his seat and leapt into the drivers seat, revving the engine and sending them flying into the dirt channel again. A few grenades were launched, but with John's superior senses the Hog could avoid them easily.
They screeched to a halt by the target, which was a flag in the middle of the canyon. He scanned the area quickly and noted the marines scattered throughout the area. He wouldn't get to the flag without coming under heavy fire. But he was fast . . .
The Chief tossed a plasma grenade into the air and detonated it with a shot. The blast blinded the marines temporarily and the Spartan reached the flag - he stretched out his hand, aware that the marines were just about to fire-

"Hold it!" Cortana screeched and everyone stopped. Daxia was storming onto the field, O'Flynn was following her. Both looked furious. A marine sergeant shouted "Ten-Hut!" And everyone filed in as Commander Ring stopped, her hands on her hips, staring them all down. She glanced at the Spartan and shook her head once.

"What the Hell was going on here?" She asked the entire crew. There was an uncomfortable silence so John spoke up.
"We were training-" At her expression he hastily added "Ma-am."
"Training?" Daxia repeated into the deathly hush. Beside her O'Flynn snorted incredulously.
"Training." O'Flynn gave the Spartan a dirty look and then turned to Daxia. "We don't need this."
"Lieutenant O'Flynn is absolutely correct." Daxia's voice rang out to the marines. "This is completely unacceptable. There is a difference between training and cock fights." She glared once more at John. "_Soldiers_ know that difference. Any more of this and you'll be seeing the Captains. All of you." She turned on her heel and stalked off.

***

O'Flynn and Ring sat in the cockpit of the Avalon, just inside the solar system that the Halo was in. O'Flynn finished writing down some calculations and slid them over to Daxia to check.
"They seem good." Daxia said. "They concur with mine." She glanced at Lara and the other pilot smiled.
"Wanna run them by Cortana?" She asked. Daxia nodded and opened a channel through to the AI, still on the Halo's surface.
"Cortana would you check these figures for us?" Daxia asked. "In a purely hypothetical capacity of course." She added after Lara nudged her with her elbow. The pilots waited for only a few seconds.
"Um . . . hypothetically." Cortana stressed. "I could make them more accurate. They're not wrong just . . ."
"That's okay Cortana." Daxia said quickly.
"However if these were hypothetical co-ordinates." Cortana suggested. "It would be less dangerous if you would let me calculated them exactly."
"I'll remember that if this discussion moves beyond the hypothetical."
"Hypothetically." Lara joked.
"Okay . . . be careful." Cortana signed off reluctantly and Daxia stretched her fingers, hearing them click. Lara glanced at her.

"Do you think this is a good idea?" Lara asked showing her concern for the first time.
"Maybe not." Daxia met her co-pilots gaze. "Maybe we're just . . ."
"Cock fighting." Lara enunciated very clearly and Daxia had to laugh.
"Do you still wanna do this thing?" She asked with her head resting on the seat. Lara nodded.
"Absolutely." She said. "I'm putting in the co-ordinates." They both hesitated before sending the ship forward and into Subspace.

Cortana monitored their progress with all her sensors - when the Avalon disappeared her CPU started to feel dread - until it reappeared in the middle of the Halo system. Cortana could have whooped for joy.

Daxia exhaled in relief as they reappeared in the middle of the Halo system.
"Wooo!!!" Lara punched the air with her fist. "We did it!" She added. Daxia grinned and hugged her. The first inner-system subspace jump had been made by a human.
"Let's go again!" Daxia said breathlessly.
"Are you ladies proud of yourselves?" Cortana asked over the radio. Daxia slumped in her seat and Lara answered for her.
"We are. We are."
"How did you do it? With those co-ordinates?" Cortana asked. Daxia grinned and started calculating the next jump, this time aiming to re-emerge inside the circumference of the Halo.
"We'll explain when we get back." Lara said, still grinning like a loon.

***

Cortana's control room was full of marines, civilians, captains and John - all of whom were desperate to see the second inner-system subspace jump to be made by mankind. Cortana had brought the holographic representation of the Avalon to hover above their heads and she too watched as it disappeared - only to reappear inside the Halo itself.
The room erupted into cheers.

John followed Captain Tyler and Captain Lewis to the docking bay on Halo. The Avalon sparkled as she hovered above a pad, then gracefully she set herself down and her hydraulics sighed wistfully. O'Flynn and Ring emerged from the gangplank and were swept away in the celebrating crowd.
"A tactical advantage over the Covenant - oh man!" A marine exclaimed, no one corrected him that this was merely an evening of the odds. His enthusiasm bowled him into John who barely moved as the marine hit him. John waited in silence until Daxia managed to reach him. She grinned up, her eyes sparkling with giddy joy.
"We did it!" She said breathlessly. The rowdy crowd moved again and John had to steady her. She didn't seem to notice. "John, we did it!" She repeated, desperate for a reaction.

"It wasn't a wise decision." John found himself saying. Daxia sobered.
"Excuse me?"
"Risking yourself and O'Flynn." Who was in control of John's mouth, he knew that this wasn't the kind of thing he should say to a senior officer - let alone Daxia. Yet he couldn't stop himself. "It was unwise. You risked yourself, a good pilot and an irretrievable piece of technology."
"But . . ." Daxia cast around, wondering why he wasn't beaming with approval like everyone else. "Hang on." She snapped suddenly. "So you're allowed to risk yourself for a training exercise but I'm not allowed to take on a significantly smaller risk for something which could actually help us win this war." She stared at him then backed off.

"How come an AI can understand." She gestured wildly to Cortana, her voice was louder than she intended but fuck it. Fuck them. Fuck them all. "But you can't? You're really not human, are you?" She turned on her heel and stormed off, furious that he had reduced her to tears. Spartan-117 did not follow.

***

Lara O'Flynn was drunk. She staggered past the lines of marines to collapse into her bunk with a happy giggle. She was thinking about going to sleep when she heard a heavy clunking and noticed the Master Chief walk up the aisles of marines and out into the snowy landscape again. Lara frowned, no one should be grumpy like he was on a night like this, so she rolled off her cot and followed him.

"Hey! Hey I know you hear me!" She slurred as she found him walked across the bridge. The Chief hesitated and turned to watch her progress across the chilly expanse of rock. She hesitated when she reached him then grabbed his arm.
"Uh oh." She said before vomiting her dinner out. The Chief stayed with her, staying mercifully quiet the entire time, until she had finished her drunken crisis.

"Ugh." She muttered limping away from the disaster area.
"Why do you drink if you know you'll only be ill?" The Chief asked curiously. Lara snorted.
"If you ask stupid questions like that I can't see why Daxia puts up with you." She scrutinized him closely then shrugged. "Nope. Too scarred for my tastes." Then she swayed and the Chief lunged to catch her.
"I'm okay." She insisted, batting him off. "You really are a prick, you know that? I mean Daxia's cool and all - but she's all . . ." Lara tried to think of the word and the suspense was driving the Chief crazy.
"What?"
"Dunno. Vulnerable I guess. Messed up in the head, I guess zombies will do that to you." Lara shook her head. "I mean this - you don't deserve her. You're a complete freak." She looked at him sincerely. "You save a lotta lives. But you are a freak."
"I wasn't aware human beings were sorted into classes now." The Chief said dryly.
"Friends do that." Lara replied. "Friends make sure other friends don't get hurt and I'm saying this now. Back off or I'll get those marines of mine to gut you." She hesitated then added quizzically. "Or try to, at any rate."
The Chief had to smile at that.

***

It was easy enough to find Daxia with Cortana's help. She was sitting with her sister in the community area of Tango Camp. The sweeping grasslands were eerily lit by the moonlight and practically no artificial light was needed in the community area. Daxia and Aislinn were sitting with a makeshift board game. The blonde pilot glanced up when she saw him but then turned back to her game with an air so haughty Aislinn had to laugh. John moved to where he could see the board and Daxia's face, she was studiously ignoring him.

"Your move." Aislinn whispered. The board game had three concentric squares and eighteen coloured pins scattered on various locations on each square. Daxia moved one of the blue pins along a line, nimbly she removed a red pin and deposited the blue pin in the dot beside it.
"Red versus blue." Aislinn explained to John and moved one of her red pins, but did not take any blue ones. Daxia started to move on of her blue pins as well.
"Nine Man Morris." Aislinn told John and repositioned another red pin. "Our granddaddy taught us this. It's a great game." She laughed at Daxia. "Soon you will fall into my trap." She said. John stepped forward and moved a blue pin to the outermost corner. Daxia glared at him but he didn't take any notice. In a few short moves he had decimated Aislinn's pins.

"Familiar with the game I see." Aislinn said in surprise. John shook his head.
"Battle strategies." He said. "I am familiar with them." He glanced at Daxia but she was staring at the game. There was a blue pin in each of the outermost corners and any of Aislinn's red pins would die if they moved- which they had to inevitably.
The blue pins each had a range - all four together took out all the red pins.
"Dax?" Aislinn asked curiously.
"Watch!" Daxia exclaimed. She reached forward and took one of the blue pins away and grinned up at them both. "The red pins are safe now."
"But . . ." Aislinn looked at John for confirmation that her sister was in fact crazy. However, the Spartan was staring at the board as well.
"Halo." He murmured, then he and Daxia sprinted from the room. Aislinn nodded slowly and looked at the board. It still all looked like pins to her.

***

Cortana's control room only unlocked after the three had made the plan.

"Technically, this installation's pulse has a maximum effective radius of 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."

343 Guilty Spark had said that. Like four pins, each at a corner of the galaxy. Actually, Cortana estimated six - but who was counting? With one pin knocked out - the red pins had somewhere safe to go. The safest place was the destroyed Halo - the only place that couldn't be reached by the other Halos superweapons.
And they had inner-system jumps now. Impossible to calculate exactly, as the navigational AI's tried to do - instead a rough - human - calculation would bring you out almost exactly where you wanted to be.

Two gems of knowledge - there had to be a way to use them. Cortana had found it. It was risky, it was crazy - it was definitely a last ditch attempt . . .

But it was the only one they had.

Crazy Cowboy [H&R 14]
Date: 8 October 2003, 3:11 PM

Halos and Rings

Author: Jillybean

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Crazy Cowboy

Lara O'Flynn stood outside the war room. She had her dress uniform on, but it was bitingly cold outside the made-over Control Room and she wished she had the luxury of her thick uniformed jacket.
Beside her Spartan-117 waited. He too was in dress uniform, decorated with more medals than Lara thought a single person could have. It probably wasn't even all of them. There were marines, a few officers, but Lara's attention was on the lone Spartan.

"Is there something wrong?" He asked after a moment. Lara shrugged.
"I just hope you haven't convinced Dax of a suicide mission." She said calmly. The Spartan looked straight ahead.
"She's used to them."

Lara stared at the door to the war room, she marvelled at the Spartan's callousness. Without looking at him, she said:
"There's a saying that God made women to make up for making men."
"Did he make men to make up for making Covenant?"

Their verbal battle was cut short by the clunking of the unlocking door. It slid open just a fraction and Commander Ring exited. She nodded to the assembled members and beckoned them inside.

***

Cortana's holographic projection towered above the circle of seats that had been set up in the Control Room. She rotated slowly as she took note of each face, prepared to tell them her master plan. The Governors and Generals who had given their idea the go-ahead were now sitting staring at their hands.

"Ladies and gentlemen." Cortana began. "Our scientists have been working hard on the Forerunner technology: The Avalon and the Halo. They have managed to decode the complex Space-Maps that reside in the Avalon's computers and; cross referencing this with speculation and current knowledge; we now know the location of the Covenant homeworld and the other Halos."
Cortana paused to allow this information to sink in.

"So now we are proposing a double strike.

"Alpha Team, led by General Harrison, will attack the Covenant homeworld. This will be a massive, co-ordinated, pre-emptive strike. With our new knowledge of Subspace jumping we expect to at least survive the encounter.
"Beta Team, lead by Captain Lewis, will supervise the evacuation of Earth. Every citizen on Earth or an any other colony must be evacauated. They will be sent either to this Halo, or the site of the first Halo in specially prepared cargo-ships.
"Delta Team, lead by Commander O'Flynn, will prepare the ground on the Halo we have dubbed Halo 3. Their job is to prepare Halo 3 for colonization. "

Cortana stopped again. O'Flynn seemed to take the news of her promotion well, though her mission cooled her off. Now Cortana had to tell the world the truth and she didn't know if she could. This was the worst part. The part where she admitted her lies.

"There is an Omega Team." She began heavily. "Omega Team is comprised of the Spartan III project."

"There are more Spartans?"
"Where the Hell have they been?"
"Mighta known the Brass had somethin' up their asses."

"Ahem." Cortana affected a cough to regain control. "The Spartan III project has been in hiding throughout the war. Previously they have been deemed unfit for duty - however we need them for this. Omega Team is going to accompany Alpha Team to the Covenant homeworld."
Finished, Cortana chanced a look at the officers and sergeants surrounding her. They seemed eager to hit the Covenant first for once.

"Dismissed. Mitra will hand you mission specifics to you later." Governor Mitchel stood up to say.

***

John waited for them all to leave before he confronted Cortana.

"There were other Spartans and you didn't tell me?"
"John." Cortana stressed. "Before you say - or do - something we'll all regret: The Spartan III's weren't successful. Their enhancements - well - only twenty survived out of the whole troop. That twenty are still . . . the doctors are calling it 'adapting' . . ." Cortana sighed.
"What's wrong with them?" John asked.
"Very violent. Very dedicated. They're bigger than you are for a start. Nine foot tall on average. Stronger than you are - they're also just as fast. However, what they have in muscle they lack in ability. Skills like engineering, piloting, these things are far beyond them. They are not strategists."
"How did it go so wrong?" John asked after a moment.

"Over ambition." Daxia walked into the Control Room, unbuttoning her starched jacket and tossing it to an empty chair. She gave him a half-hearted smile. "They tried to do too much and it backfired. They can't be trusted in battle." She fell into one of the seats and kicked her legs of the arm.
"What's our mission specs?" John asked after a while. Although he had come up with the initial idea - Cortana and the officials had fine tuned the plan beyond his recognition.
"Wanna field this one Cortana?" Daxia asked.

"Omega Team lands on the Covenant homeworld: Finds out which Halo the Covenant are planning to release the Flood on: Go to that Halo: And make sure that Halo's defenses are triggered."
"We're going to wipe the Galaxy void of all life." John sighed.
"Technically - only those who aren't within the reach of our two colonized and one destroyed Halo." Cortana said. "We've worked out how to disable this Halo's firing mechanism."
"You're going to be coming with us - aren't you?" John turned to Daxia who spread her hands and put on a big smile.
"Pilot at your service. I'm not worried. I'll be with twenty one Spartans. And it's even rumoured, but it's never been proven, that one of those Spartans kinda likes me."

For Every Cowboy . . . [H&R 15]
Date: 18 October 2003, 10:16 PM

Halos and Rings

Author: Jillybean
AN: Miss me? ;)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For Every Cowboy . . .

The exact cause of the Spartan III failure had been attributed to a miscalculation in the reactions to a muscle growth hormone. Coupled with a clumsy cybernetic set of enhancements the brutes had been given strength beyond intention.
It was unofficially agreed that they had pushed the project too far, too fast. In their haste to defeat the Covenant the doctors defeated themselves.

But as Daxia watched the soldiers that were filing out in front of her and John she couldn't help think that they had chosen the wrong people. Twenty men and women stood before he, each as grizzled as the last. Not the kind of people she'd like to entrust the fate of the galaxy to. She could sense John's disappointment beside her, in some way, she knew he had wanted to adopt these and make them his unit.

In his position Daxia would have appreciated a word of comfort, of support. Except John wasn't her. He watched them calmly, ready to start imparting orders. This was his jurisdiction, not hers.
Still, she let her fingertips brush the back of his hand and surprisingly he responded with a little twitch smile, he glanced at her then stepped forward to confront them.

"Officer on deck!" Shouted the Spartan at the end. There was an eerie clunking sound as twenty suits of MJOLNIR armour snapped to attention. John nodded once to the Spartan.
"Thank you . . ."
"Spartan-1119 sir!" The Spartan shouted back. Daxia restrained a grimace. John nodded, then he seemed to change. It was the Master Chief who started to acquaint himself with the troops. He introduced 'The Commander' briefly, giving the Spartan a cursory second to take in Daxia as their superior officer, before dismissing them to their barracks in the Halo swamps.

The Chief turned back to Daxia. She stood, looking up at him even though she was standing on the raised step to the swamp HQ building.
"They're not ready." He said, an alarming statement in itself. Daxia swallowed and kept her hands clasped behind her back. At ease.
"Can you make them ready?"
"Yes." The Chief saluted her then left, heading in the same direction as his Spartans.

Daxia remained where she was watching the Pelican that had dropped the Spartans off rise above the mist and into the Halo atmosphere. It left her all alone in the foul smelling air and she felt distinctly uneasy. A marine crossed the make-shift assembly ground in front of her, only acknowledging her presence with a brief salute.
Preying on her mind was the soft clicking of Flood Spore. It wasn't the first time she wondered how she had survived the hectic flight from the depths of the Forerunner installation.

The water rippled and she felt her pistol in her hands before she registered the bubble of air that escaped from the waters surface. She fired once and the water simply returned to its natural state of calm.
Methane gas. A very natural occurrence in these swamps. The rational part of her mind tried to insist. That didn't mean that she could pry her fingers from the metallic surface of her pistol though.

***

Spartan-1119 watched for the Master Chiefs approach and snapped to attention the second he entered the room. The others in the barrack did like wise, yet they were to remain standing as the Master Chief paced by them. He did not give the order to stand 'at ease'.
"Were you trained by Chief Mendez?" He asked them. Spartan-1119 answered for his troop.
"Sir! Yes sir!"
"Good. Then let us begin a training simulation."

***

Decked out in full armour, complete with Cortana chip in his skull, Master Chief watched the Spartans run the assault course that the marines had formed for him.

It was an insight.

Spartan-1117 took an amazing jump over one of the Warthogs, spun and flung a grenade at the mounted gun. The marines had to scramble as the plasma grenade started to fizz away, but the Spartan took each out with a paint ball.
Unnecessary.

Spartan-1113 broke one marines arm with a careless blow, then continued onwards to the flag with no care to her fallen comrade, Spartan-1115, who in turn shot a paint ball into a sarge's head in order to escape his foe.
Excessive.

Lastly, Spartan-1119 reached the green flag and thrust it high into the air. The remaining Spartans sulked.
Exhibitionists.

Master Chief was silent as the Spartans returned to him. There was no expression that could be seen through their visors, but he suspected they weren't wearing expressions anyway.
"Impressive." Cortana said dryly in his ear.
"They got the job done." The Chief replied. "In the end, that's all we need."

The Spartans stood before him in two lines of ten.
"They can do the job we want." Cortana appeared to be agreeing, but the Chief felt she it wasn't an agreement in relation to his statement.

"Next time try to minimize our casualties." The Chief said, trying to inject some humor into his tone. "However, you accomplished the task. We leave at 06:00 hours, get some rest, you rise at 04:00."
The Spartans filed out smartly and the Chief was uncomfortably reminded of a younger self. As if she had been reading his mind Cortana said:
"You're not like that. Just in case you were wondering."
"I get the job done." The Chief replied.

***

He persuaded Cortana to locate Daxia, she was in the grasslands and he assumed that she was visiting Aislinn. However as he went to check on Aislinn's camp he found that Daxia's sister was working on the fields with the rest of the colonists. She grinned and waved him over when she spotted him and started chatting away about the joys of manual labour. John noticed she was wearing a marine's jacket, cut off to fit her smaller stature. She grinned at him when he noticed.
"Lieutenant Jones." She informed him. "Don't tell Dax, you know how she gets about stuff like that."
"Why would I inform her?" John asked, genuinely curious. Aislinn laughed at her warped reflection in his visor.
"Because she usually gets her lot to spy on me. Just to make sure I'm being a good little girl. Do me a favour John, let me just have a little fun?"
"Yes ma'am." John replied. He excused himself and followed the NAV point Cortana set so he could find Daxia's neural interface.

He found her sitting at the edge of a cliff. Her blonde curls shifted fractionally as she turned to see him approach, but she soon settled back into watching the sea. The Chief sat beside her and took his helmet off, setting it down beside him he took a real look at the scenery.
"Something wrong?" He rested his wrists on his knees and waited for her response. It was a long time coming.
"Lara left today. I think one of us should have gone with her."
"You could have volunteered." John reminded her. Daxia sighed shakily, he was surprised to see tears streaked on her cheeks. "Or not . . ."
"I didn't want to go with her. I was scared to go with her."

John held a sigh back and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"Because of the Flood that might be on the ring?"
"No." Daxia looked up at him and caught his gaze. "I was scared that I might never see you again."
"Uh . . ."
"Don't answer that."
"Okay."

They watched Halo rotate into night.

The Point of No Return [H&R 16]
Date: 22 October 2003, 5:18 PM

Halos and Rings

Author: Jillybean
AN: For Elfster ;)

AN2: Ok - this is a bit of a strange chapter since 1) It's a turning point and 2) I've been attacked by a bout of my inferiority complex
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Point of No Return

Lara O'Flynn was feeling apprehensive as she brought the Pelican closer to the Halos surface. It was strange to see a Halo that wasn't colonized, she'd gotten so used to 'their Halo' that this one seemed completely different.

The Pelican's exhaust fumes scattered pebbles and dust as it touched down. The marines started yelling and moving, for them the two things seemed to be completely interconnected. Lara glanced at her co-pilot who grinned back.
"Cheer up love!" He called, loudly in order to be heard over the engines. Lara nodded and powered the engines down, she retreated from the Pelican with a growing sense of dread.

The extensive Halo grasslands were very similar, already Lara could feel the complacency of the marines around her.
No no no no no no no no. This is all wrong. We shouldn't be here. We don't belong here.

"We'll set up base camp in that structure over there." The sarge waved at the tall, blue pulsing building that perched on the crest of the cliff. Like a castle from an old, ancient earth civilization. Old. Lara could feel the age of the Halo in her bones. She hadn't felt like this when she'd colonized that last Halo. This was very, very different. The long grass brushed her thighs in the gentle breeze and she shivered.
"Maintain vigilance for Sentinels or Flood." She called to them. The marines acknowledged her, but she didn't feel better.

***

"Hey."
In the cockpit of the Avalon Daxia was staring at the stars in front of her. The Forerunner ship was having no trouble supporting the Spartan IIIs as they trained, John was attempting to make them ready for what they were about to face. Daxia wasn't worried, they were like a blunt axe, they'd cause maximum damage, but perhaps not in the specific way the wielder wanted. Daxia had confidence in John, she was sure he'd make sure they were all right. She was sure he'd make sure she was all right too.

"Hey." He said and laid two gentle hands on her shoulders. She jumped a little, then smiled.
"Hey. Don't scare me like that." She spun her chair around to look at him. It was nice for once to see him out of his armour. His blue eyes smiled down at her and he sat on the other chair.
"I didn't mean to." He replied.
"Yes you did." Daxia grinned then leaned forward, on impulse she kissed him and felt a surge of happiness when he kissed her back. He reach around to catch her waist then he pulled her onto his knee. She felt a little giggle rise in her throat, though she tried to stop it. His hands rested on her hips and she laced hers behind his neck, happy to be in his space. To her, it was the safest place in the world.
John pulled back for a minute and ducked his head to kiss her neck, working between her chin and the high, starched collar of her UNSC uniform jacket. It was really getting in the way and already John was working on removing it.

"Ahem." It was Cortana's voice who interrupted. John sighed and Daxia looked over his shoulder, expecting to see Cortana's hologram. Cortana was there, but so was Spartan-1119, the Spartan looked completely baffled, his face was twisted in a strange mix of horror and fascination. Daxia suppressed the urge to laugh.
"Yes Cortana?" She slid from John's lap trying to remain cool and in control. John stood and raised an eyebrow at the Spartan III.
"Yes Spartan?" He asked. The Spartan collected himself slowly.
"Sir. We have finished the assault course you set us in the cargo hold." His eyes fixed on Daxia and he seemed to be processing the thought that his pilot was involved somehow with his commanding officer.
"Very well. Tell the others to go into Cryostasis. You will be woken when we get to the Covenant homeworld."
"Sir." The Spartan hesitated, his brain ticked slowly and finally an idea came to him. "Sir . . . may I ask a question."
"You may ask. It may not be answered however." John replied.

Spartan-1119 took a deep breath and finally tore his eyes off Daxia. He turned to John.
"Is . . . that . . . .not against regulations?" He asked.
"Are you questioning a higher ranking officer?" Daxia asked quickly, John wasn't quite able to reply, she could tell from the sparkle in his eyes. The Spartan III stared at her, then he saluted quickly.
"No ma'am!" He shouted.
"Dismissed." Cortana said to him and he fled the bridge.

"Well that was interesting." Daxia said, staring at the doorway through which the Spartan had retreated. Cortana laughed.
"Perhaps you'll be a little more circumspect next time." She folded flickering purple arms and regarded them affectionately. John slipped an arm around Daxia's shoulders to pull her closer.
"Don't you have a diagnostic to run?" He didn't wait to see Cortana shocked and insulted expression, instead he turned his back to her and leaned down to kiss Daxia on the lips. She had to stand on her tiptoes to reach his uniform collar, but once things got lower, she had no problems.

***

The marines sloshed through the stagnant water of the marshes and crept up on the installation.
"Man this is kinda freaky." One whispered as he was waved forward. They were equipped with the very latest shielding technology, shotguns as standard, enough armour to stop a Brute . . .
"Shut that yapping private." The Sarge called moving forward himself. They advanced into the cement building and headed down the ramp into what appeared to be a deep atrium. Sarge stepped closer to the lift and called it up. The huge floating platform creaked into place.
"Whoa amigos lets not be too hasty." Drake murmured. "We don't know what's down there."
"That's the idea of a recon mission genius." Sarge snapped back. The marines filed onto the platform Mitchell, the engineer, sent them downwards.
"Into the belly of the beast." He joked as the lift started to descend.

They filed out of the atrium and into what appeared to be a hangar bay. This installation was very similar to the ones they'd habitized on Halo 2 and the marines wasted no time in securing the area.
"Drake, Collins, you two on point." The Sarge announced and they moved onwards.

***

Daxia woke up in a cold sweat. She panicked at first, pinned down by a heavy arm, it took her several seconds to understand that the death grip was actually an embrace. For the first time since meeting him she had forgotten Spartans sheer strength in comparison to hers. She gently eased herself away, not noticing his eyes flutter open to assess the likelihood of a threat, before he chose to go back to sleep. Daxia dressed hurriedly and pulled her heavy UNSC boots on, clunking through the short corridor to the bridge.

"Cortana?" She asked as she entered. She longed for a coffee but they carried only the basic rations on board.
"Right here." Cortana flickered into life on the bridge. She smirked. "Sleep well?"
"One day I'm gonna take a crash course in decompiling." Daxia retorted. She collapsed into the padded pilots seat and gazed out at the stars. Her helmet with its inbuilt HUD display sat on top of the controls, ready to be worn when she needed it.
"What's the fleet status?" She asked leaning forward to check engine outputs. Cortana appeared to think for a moment, in reality she was just catching up with the other AI's in cyberspace.
"Everything is going according to schedule. Is something bothering you?" Cortana folded her arms and waited for Daxia's response. The pilot did not acknowledge. Cortana sighed and flicked to the projector right in front of the pilots chair, it was usually used for star maps - but it suited Cortana just fine.

"We need to talk." Cortana said simply. Daxia raised a blonde eyebrow and Cortana glowered. "We need to talk about your attitude recently. If you can't be part of this mission then I will cut you out." She said. Daxia leaned her head back, thinking about Cortana's statement.
"I'm fine." She said after a moment.
"Are you?" Cortana pressed. "I'm worried that your relationship with the Chief is perhaps going to compromise our mission at some point."
"It won't." Daxia leaned forward abruptly, her hands splayed on the panel. "I'm a pilot - do you think I haven't left soldiers behind before? Flown them to their deaths?"
"There is a great difference between soldiers and your lover." Was Cortana's sage comment.

***

Lara paced her tiny make-shift office. One lap, two lap, three laps. There was hole chewed in the side of her lip and she had whiplash from spinning around every time a call came through the radio.

"Commander?" It was Sgt. Klein at the door. He saluted smartly and approached the projector on her desk. The image of the tactical AI Arthur appeared. He nodded to them both.
"What's our status?" Lara asked unable to hide the tremor in her voice. Klein let Arthur display a topographical overview of the Halo marshlands.
"We have secured these red areas, the ones highlighted blue are the ones we have found contained Flood in. The contained Flood have been neutralized."
"You're sure?" Lara insisted. Klein nodded firmly.
"Positive ma'am. It was fairly simple to annihilate them - there was an inbuilt mechanism in their storage chambers."
"Any sign of the monitor?"
"He's been spotted once or twice - the Sentinels have tried to attack but we have survived and taken a few out." Klein hesitated. "Permission to keep working through the night?"

Despite all her instincts - Lara granted the marines their permission.

***

The human fleet came out of slipspace at four strategic locations around the planet Strayforth. It had been adapted as the Covenant's military factory and was the first location of attack.
MAC cannons charged, Pelicans deployed and the Avalon led the charge past the orbiting guns and down into the stratosphere.

***

It waited, absorbing all that it knew from it's host. Slowly muscle control became it's - the higher cognitive functions slowly gave way and the host ceased to exist. Now it was hungry, so hungry! It's brothers were hungry and trapped - there was only one thing to do . . .

Let us free - let us eat - let us devour.

It stumbled over to the glass laboratory that held the last of its brethren - but this one form was enough. It lifted what used to be a human hand and fired the standard issue shotgun at the glass.

Its brothers were free. Let us eat. Let us devour. Let us learn. Let us free.

Commander O'Flynn was informed by Sgt. Klein that one of the marines, a Lieutenant Gordons, was missing. Klein had been reluctant to inform her, he knew she would only panic. That was what happened when you put a woman in charge - they became somewhat hysterical at making command decisions.
He stood in front of her desk and Lara raised her eyes to meet his. She saw the doubt and condescending humour reflected in his face and felt a second of indecision.

"How did they attack you on Halo?" She'd once asked Daxia.
"From beneath. They even got onto the ships we tried to escape with - I was with the Chief, it was all that saved me."

"I want a complete fallback." Lara ordered. "A full headcount must be delivered to me within the next twenty minutes - make that fifteen." She stood and called up Arthur. "Get the pilots ready, our Pelicans are to leave in a moments notice." She ordered, Arthur nodded already carrying out his instructions.
"With all due respect ma'am-" Klein began.
"Sergeant when we get off this thing we can discuss battle tactics - right now you obey me and you don't even think about asking why. Are we clear or do you need to be relieved of duty?"
"No ma'am." Klein hurried from her sight.

***

Drake and Collins were the first through the door. They waved the all clear and the others in their team entered the room.
"Gordons? You in here?" Mitchell called. Drake sighed and took his helmet off for a moment.
"What do you think you're doing?" Collins snapped.
"My head's itchy man!" Drake replied. He fixed his helmet back on and pulled the strap tight. He readjusted the shield on his wrist and took another look around. "He's not in here. Let's head back to base."

Fire Team Brava turned to retreat and were faced by a single Flood Spore. It rested on the floor, it's tiny pod-like shape pulsed as if it were breathing. One antenna twitched, but other than this it remained passive. As one the entire team levelled their shotguns and fired. The spore exploded.
"Shit. This is Fire Team Brava calling all units, repeat Fire Team Brava calling all units-" Mitchell began in his radio. The others crouched, flicking shields on and swinging shotguns around. Another Flood spore popped around the grey doorway and lay in the goo from it's fallen brother. It too was destroyed. A third Flood form leapt into the goo and sat - waiting to be destroyed.

The steady bang of shotguns hid the steady click - click - click on the approaching spore.

The marines never knew what hit them.

***

"Commander!" Arthur flickered into life in Lara's office. "Headcount reports two units missing."
"Shit." Lara pulled her UNSC jacket over her shoulders and headed outside, she stood on the parapet that looked over their temporary grounds.

"Sweep the Pelicans! Once you are sure they are not contaminated start taking off." Her voice rang out over the heads of the crew below her. They headed for the dropships, scouring them with scanners.

It was on Echo-792 that they found a lone spore. It was flamed to cinders, but it heralded the onslaught of the warrior forms. Lara leapt from the parapet, landing roughly on the concrete. There was a strange clicking noise all around her, one that would prove to be unforgettable. Lara understood now why Daxia was afraid of silence.
To her right three Flood warriors were leaping onto the parapets. One failed to make the leap and poised to try again - but it saw her prostrate on the ground. It knew she was a senior member of staff - it knew it because it turned and started for her. She pulled the pistol from it's holster and fired twice, but only one shot connected. Scrabbling to her feet she judged the distance between her and one of the clean Pelicans - not far.

Flood were swarming over the walls now - more spore than anything else. They leapt upon Sgt. Klein and started to tear through his shields. Oh how they had underestimated the Flood.
She realized now there were only four or five warrior forms - the rest of their missing marines must have become carriers, that was the only way to account for the sheer number of Spore that came at them. Klein met her eyes and turned his shotgun upon her. Lara felt her throat constrict as he fired - and took out the spore behind her.
"Go!" He roared. She sprinted for the Pelican and flung herself into the cockpit. She sealed the doors quickly and looked around the interior - no spore thank God. The little pods were flinging themselves at the cockpit windows but they weren't getting in. Lara sat herself at the controls and tried not to flinch as another splattered on the screen. Through the goo she could see one of her fellow pilots being slowly infected.

"Keyes was . . . what it did to Keyes was something else." Daxia had whispered on one long Pelican run. "They used him for his knowledge - combined him with Covenant to make a super control form . . ."

Lara opened fire on the other Pelicans, disabling them as best she could. The Sentinels were there already, cutting the air with lasers. She lifted into the air - heading for the cruiser above them being run with a skeleton crew.
It was the gentle clicking in the background that warned her. She reached for her pistol, but suspected the spore could still use her body even with her brains blown out. Maybe she could hit the Spore instead - but that was doubtful. She couldn't even see it. She could hear it's little feelers tapping together, almost thoughtful. She set a course for the sun and locked the panel. Then, haltingly, she sent a strict command to the cruiser.

UNSC Commander Lara O'Flynn stood from her chair and loaded her pistol.
"Come here you little bugger." She growled.

The Last Assault [H&R 17]
Date: 2 November 2003, 6:28 PM

Halos and Rings

Author: Jillybean
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Last Assault

The Avalon banked a sharp right and lost control for what was not the first time. She rolled in the sky, catching herself on thruster fumes as she skimmed the Covenant honeycombed buildings. A fifth Phantom hitched on her tail-wind and started firing. This time the Avalon started climbing, barely flexing her muscles on the pink hued sky as she made an almost impossible ascent into the heavens. She looped over on herself and plummeted back down behind the Phantoms firing her forward cannons as she did so.

With the path finally cleared the ODST's started to bombard the city. Feet first into Hell, there was no chance they were going to survive this mission - but they might succeed and in the end that mattered more. They were strips of blue scorching the air as they landed in strategic locations around the Covenant shipyards. The Avalon circled around once then found what she was looking for: the main shipyards. She streaked past and dropped twenty-one killing machines down onto the shipyards below her.

The orbital guns swivelled to target the fast little ship, but she stuck too close to the Covenant property - the military commanders decreed it wasn't worth risk.

Daxia Ring watched the Phantom squadron draw into formation in front of her. The arrowhead of purple ships leered closer. Daxia licked her lips and started to work her magic.

***

The Chief landed hard on the shell of a Covenant battle cruiser, he rolled and came up on one knee, both assault rifle and pistol aimed at whatever was coming. All the Covenant ground defences were concerned with the incoming attacks from the Longswords however, they almost didn't notice him. He took out the first Elite with a shot to the vulnerable lower back, but the second Elite charged at him. He rolled and slid down the metal side of the ship - endlessly sliding. The Elite roared and leapt after him.
"Chief!" Cortana cried.
He dug his heels in and aimed upwards with both pistol and rifle. He fired both endlessly as Cortana wordlessly adjusted his shields. He stood, perfectly stable on the side of the ship as the mortally wounded Elite slid past him and went spiralling into the air. It roared helplessly, the Chief saluted it with his gun. It was Daxia's influence on him - he was becoming a wiseass.

The Spartan IIIs had all landed by now and dealt with any immediate threats. They had assumed a tactical formation, close enough to perform as a group but still scanning the area for further potential threats. The Chief split them up easily, signing for the first group to head for the large Covenant cruiser being built. The second group had to stay on top and spread out - providing ground support for the ODSTs while the third group was to follow him.
"I'm setting their NAV points now." Cortana told him.
"Move out." The Chief grunted and started forward.

***

Spartan-1119 aimed the rocket launcher at the structural weak point in the Covenant cruisers hull. The metal bent and creaked but did not rip apart. One of his team-mates moved in and stomped hard on the buckled metal. It broke and they fell through into the bare corridors below. Bereft of any decoration but the wirings that controlled the ship the corridor was somehow given a human quality. Under the skin.
But the Spartan IIIs didn't even think about it. They moved forward, silently, creeping around each corridor, supporting each other in the way they had been taught. They came across two Engineers but eliminated them with clinical efficiency.

Their target was the engines and that eclipsed all else.

He was half way there when the world around him exploded into orange rings. His body registered movement at an incredible speed - but for some reason he couldn't see what was happening.

"Spartan-1119." A strangely tall alien stood before him - one hand was extended outwards. "We must talk. There has been a change in your mission status."
Spartan-1119 raised his plasma rifle, he was about to fire when the alien held the palm upwards in a gesture of peace.
"Security Override. Authorisation Beta Nine Alpha." The alien had given him the code that meant there was to be a mission change. Slowly Spartan-1119 lowered his weapon.

***

The Chief ran the length of the purple corridor and flung himself to the side of the door. It slid open automatically and the Spartan IIIs following him opened fire on the Elite guards. The Chief ducked and slipped around the door, he backed along the wall, taking out the Elites with better placed shots than the Spartan IIIs wild fire. He tossed a frag grenade at the remaining 'tortoise' of Jackals. It shattered on their shields and the Jackals went flying. The Chief's team cleaned them up with fire from their weapons.

"How're we doing?" He asked Cortana as they made for a spiral staircase. Needler fire rained down from above.
"Our time's okay." Cortana responded. "But we need to start punching through these ground troops. Hold on a minute."

Cortana rearranged her signals and transmitted to the Avalon above. She took a quick look at the Avalon's computer to gauge the extent of damage she had taken.
"Ring, come in." She demanded.
"I'm here Cortana." Daxia said smoothly.
"We need a distraction."
"What did you have in mind?" Daxia asked curiously.
"I'm setting a Nav Point - we need an explosion of reasonable size at that location." Cortana ordered. It was the location of the large generator she and the Chief had passed earlier.

In the mean time a few grenades had ended the problem with the stair case and the Spartans emerged into a circular room. This room was lined with the holo-screens that the Covenant favoured and it was showing that the attack was going badly - for the Covenant at least. Two Hunters moved with surprising speed against the Chief. He dodged - barely - but his shoulder was clipped by one of their shields. He rolled on the floor and came up with his plasma rifle blazing. The Spartan IIIs launched themselves at the Hunters, bringing them down with sheer violence. The Chief turned to finish off the Elite guard and then turned to see the Prophet that was left in the room. It clicked softly.
"More will come foolish human." It growled. The Chief lowered his gaze on the Prophet then lit a plasma grenade. He stuck it to the Prophet and dodged to the side.

"That panel there." Cortana instructed. The Chief steeled himself and removed the chip from his head. He slid it into place and looked up as the holo-screens flickered into Cortana. She smiled at him.
"Now this is interesting." She said softly.
"We don't have much time before more re-inforcements come along." The Chief said. Cortana smiled blissfully.
"It's all been taken care of." She whispered.

***

The Avalon used some fancy flying to prompt two Phantoms into tailing her. She allowed them to follow her closely and then veered upwards at the last instance. The Forerunner ship was able to escape death on the walls of the Covenant installation - not so the Covenant ships themselves. They ripped a hole in the side of the building and tore right into the generator. That entire section of the building went up in flames.

Cortana blithely re-directed the Covenant troops to that section. They had such faith in their Prophets they did not question her suicidal orders. There was so much in the planetary database. So much knowledge - so many missing links. She absorbed as much as she could, yet barely skimmed the surface. Above her the orbital guns redirected their attention to the Covenant cruisers. With their links to their military commanders disrupted the Covenant were in chaos. Cortana let herself go in the world of data to wreak havoc.

It was with her sensors - or perhaps the glorious taste of victory that was peppered with the rare spice of warning, the sharp bite of surprise - that Cortana recognized the ships approaching.
They were graceful, they were old. So old! She could hear the age that rumbled through them, old like the smell of coal on a winters day. Yet they were strong, she could feel the muscle bound underneath them. They were: Forerunner.
She was almost lost in the databanks, but though it seemed to her an eternity until she sent out her warning on all UNSC channels, it was barely a micro-second. She bathed in their replies and scattered the minuscule Covenant defense around one of the sole remaining orbital guns.

Ah the Covenant were wiser now. They were no longer listening. And there was such a commotion outside the control room. The Spartans were holding it off as best they could but Cortana knew they didn't have long.
She savoured her last moments - then she brought her fist downwards into cyberspace. The Covenant battlenet was completely eliminated.

"Chief!" She shouted and the Chief plucked her chip from the panel and shoved it into the back of his head.
"Cortana - you . . ." He began. "You've grown." He finished with.
"Infinitely." Cortana replied grimly. "We don't have much longer." She added. Just to prove her point the door was pried open by a Brute and the Spartans reopened fire.
"Get me out of here." Cortana ordered. But it was too late, even as the Spartan-IIIs held off the incoming Covenant three orbs blew into the room. There was a blue one, a pink one and a green one. 343 Guilty Spark hummed happily as he saw them.

"Ah. I was hoping to find you here. I'm ah - well. There's been a terrible disaster."
"Indeed." Trilled a higher, feminine voice from the green orb. "The Flood have been allowed to escape."
"Where?" Cortana demanded sharply. The green orb squealed and flew higher.
"Installation 08." 343 Guilty Spark replied huffily.
"Oh no." Cortana gasped. "That was the installation Lara went to."
"Well those marines have all been eliminated." The yellow spark told them flatly.
"The Forerunners have come to collect samples." 343 Guilty Spark informed them. "You have not been declared one of them. You are . . . too specific."
"An unsuitable specimen to show a result of general life in this galaxy." The green spark explained.
"We came for some human specimens." The yellow spark finished. "We must continue our search."

"Cortana-" The Chief began as the orbs left. "What were they-"
"No time." Cortana said shortly. "They're eradicating the galaxy, I've hacked into their network. Oh . . . oh no. They have taken one of the Spartan-IIIs and somehow transported him." Cortana gasped. "It's amazing! They have a transporter network that runs through the entire galaxy! 343 Guilty Spark cannot use it but the Forerunners can! Oh how sneaky! They won't set off the Halos themselves - they'll force a member of this galaxy to do it for them! The bastards!"

The Chief stared at the door, there was no way he could get out of it, there were far too many Covenant prying their way in. The body count on the floor was rising, but the Covenant kept coming.
"Chief. I estimate we have less than five minutes until the Halos are activated by the Spartan-III. You must get us to the surface. NOW!" Cortana yelled in his mind.
The Chief took a deep breath and barrelled forwards.

***

The Avalon looped up out of the atmosphere and inspected the incoming Forerunner fleet. There were seventeen ships, each built like the Avalon. They seemed to be waiting for something, though Cortana had said in her transmission that they were scanning the surface.
"Well let's see what you do." Daxia said as she sent the Avalon into a roll, back down into the atmosphere. The smallest ship detached from formation and followed her down into Strayforth.

They danced between the flaming buildings and raced to the docks. There the other Forerunner ship opened a channel.
"You have been scanned as a specimen but you are unsuitable. Reason: You are too involved with Forerunner culture." The ship left her alone and returned to the sky.
In front of Daxia a Pelican suddenly dove out of control as if it had lost it's pilot.

"Commander Ring!" Cortana's voice sounded through the radio. "We need evac!"
"I'm on my way Cortana." Daxia announced. The Avalon swept towards the NAV point Cortana had set for her. At the same time the destruction around them seemed to multiply.
"Ring to Cortana, what the Hell's going on down there?"
"The Forerunner's scans are picking up suitable specimens." Cortana replied. "I'll explain later."
"I have you on visual." Daxia said. Standing on the outside of a building, ringed with flame, was the Chief. He flung a grenade down the hold ripped in the building's roof and several Covenant exploded outwards. The Avalon hovered just above him and he leapt for the gangplank.
"Now move it!" Cortana ordered. "We don't have much time."

"Time until what?" Daxia asked as the Chief flung himself into the cockpit. They escaped the dying world and broke out of the atmosphere. "The Forerunners are turning around." She realized.
"They're leaving." The Chief whispered. "It's too dangerous now."
"There's no time." Cortana added.
"I'm rejoining the fleet. We took heavy losses - but we won." Daxia said.
"Wait. Join the Forerunner fleet, drop into formation."
"Cortana - we need to rejoin our fleet." Daxia said firmly. "You know what's going to happen. We need to return to the safe Halos . . ."
"There's been a change of plan." Cortana said softly. "The Halos are firing now."
"But- then we still need to get to our fleet-"
"I'm sorry." Cortana barely spoke, but the controls were suddenly unresponsive. Daxia yelled in frustration, slapping the panels as Cortana steered them away.

The Avalon joined the Forerunner fleet and then performed a manoeuvre Daxia had never imagined. All the ships suddenly flickered and then - they were gone. Moving faster than anything humans had ever imagined.

***

Spartan-1119 slid the Index into the Control Room of Halo 08, satisfied that he had done as ordered. 391 Guilty Spark glowed red in joy before the Halo slowly heated up. It's blast radiated out through space at a phenomenal speed, hitting the other Halos.
One by one fifteen installations were set off. Each one covered their blast radius and annihilated all bio-mass in the galaxy.

The Interlude [H&R Finale]
Date: 2 November 2003, 6:36 PM

Halos and Rings

Author: Jillybean
AN: The end!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Interlude

The Forerunners returned to their galaxy. I should say - galaxies. They had colonized six to be exact.

In ours - their seventh attempt, they had accidentally created the Flood. They had tried to create something that would help them get rid of any unwanted bio-matter. Well it worked, the Flood were too good. Plan B was the Halos - the Halos that activated and destroyed our . . . my galaxy.

So now John and I are one of the few humans left in the universe. There are far fewer of us than any Covenant. So many of us went mad at the thought of all the loss. Of those of us that are left - well, I should say those of the specimens that are left, they must endure Forerunner questions about life in their galaxy.
Perhaps if you hadn't destroyed it - you might have experienced it yourselves.

The Covenant thought we were the Flood their Gods had warned them about. And I guess, in a way, we were. After all, we had decided to destroy the galaxy too - just not the secluded parts that had our people in it.
The Covenant left us no choice. I still believe that, even today.

That same, feared enemy, is dying out. There are no females in their group. They know their days are numbered. I can see it every time I walk down a long Forerunner corridor and find an Elite standing, staring, at nothing. He is thinking about his destroyed home and I almost feel sorry for him. But I'm too busy feeling sorry for myself.

John and I are unsuitable specimens. We are polluted through Forerunner intervention. The Forerunners have no interest in us, though they are mildly concerned about John. After all - he is interesting - but not a true representation of the now extinguished human life. The Forerunners do not understand the difference between a specimen and the real thing. They feel they have saved humans - because they have a paltry few in their museums.

Cortana is slowing down. The Forerunners have already extended her lifespan - she has now lived seven years and we expect her to live more. But she is slowing down, thinking herself to death. I think it was the Covenant planet that did it to her. Still, she is so much smarter now than she was. She hacks into the Forerunners worlds and she learns things.
Things we shouldn't know.

We live in a museum. Oh it is not a museum as such - they call it a memorial. They call it a sanctuary. But Forerunners come here to ogle at the way we keep our quarters - to stare at us as we eat in the kitchens. They watch the footage the last grunts as they died - no methane left you see, the Forerunners would not supply any. The Forerunners believed it would be 'tampering'.
Their specimens must be kept pure.
I tried to obtain some methane - I couldn't hear the screaming agony one more time. But I failed. John didn't understand when I cried, they were still the enemy to him. The Elites did not understand. None of the other humans understood either. The Hunters, Prophets and sole Engineer all thought I was mad. But I couldn't sit by as the last grunt suffocated to death. I couldn't do that.
Cortana understood. Though she never says so.

If I sit up at night with John's arms pinning me to the mattress, clinging to me for fear that I may disappear along with everything else in his life, then I swear I can hear my sister laughing. She would be pleased for us, pleased for John now that he has found a release from the UNSC. Pleased for me because I have him now.
I only hear her when I try to hear her. I think. I know. Humans have somehow survived. I am sure that somewhere in our galaxy, maybe on the colonized Halo or maybe in the deep Siberian bunkers of Earth.
There are humans in the world and my sister is alive.

John knows it too. His arm tightens around me because he knows that we are not at peace. Not yet. We will return to Galaxy 07 one day. And then the fighting will begin again.
The Elite standing in the corridor knows it too.

I pass one today, he is clad in scarlet armour. He waits until I pass before slipping me something small. It is a plasma pistol. A precious gift, I thought we had none left. I hide it in my robe and continue onward. A Forerunner nods to me good day. The Elite smiles, it's a strange expression, yet I recognize it.
We are not finished.
Cortana is not finished.
John is not finished.


I am not finished.

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