Twenty-Five: The Ark

The mixed fleet arrived swiftly at the Ark, but the Brutes were already waiting for them. The station sprawled out below them like some kind of enormous space-bound starfish. The reality of the Ark was far more amazing than they had imagined it to be; it virtually was paradise, with a wide variety of climates and systems to maintain those climates – deserts right next to tundra, temperate next to tropical.

That did nothing to change the fact that there were scores of enemy ships headed in their direction, and they barely numbered fifteen.

Still, it was they who had the advantage. Though he refused to use the Blast or Aura Falls so close to the Lesser Ark, John ordered the safeties taken off the Storm's main guns. The central reactors automatically boosted their output, bringing online the micro reactors inside the guns themselves; a special feature of the Fleet of Shadows to enable them to continue evasive maneuvers even when firing at full power. The two Falls, the Fleet's ultimate weapons, actually had a dedicated pair of reactors meant solely to power them.

[Squads 1 through 20 - go to ground with the Spartans. Fan out, secure all the main data nodes, but leave the Citadel.] There was a chorus of affirmative replies from the squad leaders. [Squads 21 through 35 - I need you in the single fighters. This ragtag band of ships needs cover.] More affirmatives. [Everyone else - you're either maintaining the ship or on the long guns.] "Etra," John said aloud as his bridge crew took their stations, "I need you to teleport all of the combat squads to the surface, as close to the main nodes as you can."

"Affirmative, Commander."

"Brute ships, staggered line," Nep'Thalia alerted him, "they outnumber us three-to-one."

"Then it is an even fight," John said, smirking as he repeated Rtas's famous words, "All ships, fire at will! Burn their mongrel hides!" [I have always wanted to say that.]

Meanwhile, all seventy-five of the registered Spartans were boarding the Pelicans that would take them down onto the Ark, Epheria snuggled contentedly into the holster on Fred's hip. I'm so excited, she trilled, practically bouncing with eagerness as the half-ton warriors settled into their Pelicans, making a few of them roll their eyes behind their visors.

"Truth's ship isn't taking part in the attack," Miranda told them over the COM channel, "He must have gone to ground."

"Roger that, ma'am," Johnson said as he entered the cockpit of Blue and Red Teams' Pelican, settling into the co-pilot's seat, "we're on him. Kick the door." The last bit was directed at the pilot, who nodded and did exactly that. One by one, the small armada of Pelicans fell towards the Ark from the Dawn, the Forerunner single fighters zipping around them as they provided cover fire. One of them abruptly changed course and intercepted a trio of shots that would have destroyed one of the transports, but the fighter's shields barely shimmered as it drew a bead on the Seraph that had fired on the humans.

As a result of the Forerunner pilots' kindness, all of the transports were able to weave in and out of the fighting cruisers, narrowly missing colliding with the Infected flagship as it rammed a Covenant frigate, and finally, they entered the atmosphere and approached their destination, leaving the airborne battle behind them. "We good, Hocus?"

"She's a little cooked, Sergeant Major," the pilot replied, "but she'll hold."

"Alright, pop the hatch."

The first close-up look that the Spartans got of the Ark was a vast desert with the foothills of a mountain range in the distance. There were the occasional spurs of rock up through the sand, but the area was largely rolling dunes shifting at the metaphorical hands of the never-ceasing wind. "That's some view," one of the ODST's with them stated.

"Enjoy it while you can, Marines," Johnson growled, "Soon as we land, we're right back to it. Priority one: Secure a Landing Zone for the Commander's Frigate. Keep your eyes and ears open. We need all the Intel we can get on this 'Ark.'" The Pelicans glided forward and gracefully spun around to discharge their passengers out onto a rocky plateau a hundred meters above the desert floor. "Stand to, Marines!"

"Oo-rah!" several of them called, clambering out of their seats and snatching up their already-prepped weapons.

"Go, go, go!"

The warriors and their backup hopped down from the Pelicans in twos and threes, meeting up with the other Pelican's occupants just around the bend when one of the soldiers noticed something. "Hey, check it out, in the sky. Is that-?"

"Hey, focus. We've got a job to do," another called, but that didn't stop everyone from glancing up to see what had caught the first ODST's attention.

The Milky Way galaxy was a swirl of light in the sky, clearly visible despite the Ark's own unnatural illumination and the occasional explosion that blocked part of their home from view. The Perfect Storm was clearly visible against one of the galaxy's spiral arms, all sleek angles and lines; they realized then that it had been the ship that had taken down the Ascendant Justice's shields for them. The Gravemind, John - had he been looking out for them all this time?

They moved on through a short tunnel and up onto a ridge running along one side of a dry wash, where an Infected squad waited for them, their weapons trained on the Covenant below. The aliens were watching Truth's hologram as he gave an inspiring speech. "My Dreadnought cannot rise. Even now it is engaged; turn death into war for this new world. Do not relent until the heretic ships are smashed!"

The Spartans quickly got into position with the Forerunners and began firing at the enemies, aiming for the Brutes first. Though the Grunts could be just as deadly in large numbers, the Brutes were their leadership. Without them, the lesser aliens would panic and run about in conniptions of terror, making them that much easier to pick off. Linda took the first shot, blowing a clean hole through the Captain Major's skull and sending him tumbling to the ground between a pair of cargo modules.

The human and Forerunner snipers afforded them a huge advantage, enabling the Marines to escape unscathed from the battle without actually firing a shot. They dropped down into the wash and began checking to make sure that the aliens were actually dead before moving on, encountering a Jackal with a carbine and a terrified Grunt. Both of them were easy to kill, and the group of humans and their ancestors continued on through the tunnel ahead, though the former were startled when motion-activated Covenant torches flared to life as they passed.

"They're setting up an AA battery," a Marine at the forefront of the pack whispered, "That thing could tear the Dawn apart."

That made it all the more important for them to take it down; Fred gestured for them all to fan out and each pick separate targets to kill on his signal. There were plenty of enemies for them to pick from, and at the signal, they all began firing, painting the sand with multicolored blood. The snipers worked with ruthless efficiency, gunning for the command structure over all others, while the rest took out the Grunts, Jackals, and lower-ranked Brutes. In a handful of minutes, the area was clear, but the Forerunners prevented them from advancing. "Wait for it..."

A scant moment later, a Phantom soared over the ridge and dropped of a pair of Hunters of below the gun before flying away. There was a sudden explosive report from somewhere overhead, and they all looked up just in time to see Venera heave her twin back up onto the crossbeam of a buried Forerunner structure, saying, "The Commander told you that you need more muscle mass to handle the Incineration Cannons!"

They could not argue with the results, though; the subsequent explosion had killed one Hunter and damaged the other's armor, leaving it vulnerable to fire from their weapons. Its body crumpled to the ground under the hail of metal, and one by one, the twins and their squad dropped down to join them. The now roughly platoon-sized group advanced up the slope on the opposite side of the gun and encountered still more unfriendly aliens guarding the way into the hidden structure.

"Spartans," Keyes said worriedly over the radio, "I'm giving the Brutes all I've got, but this is a heavyweight fight; the Dawn's only got the tonnage to last a few rounds. Find me a place to set her down, over!"

CATEGORIZATION HAS QUICKENED WITH THE NEW IMPROVEMENTS

BUT THE INDEXING OF SENTIENT SPECIES HAS CAUSED EXTINCTION EVENTS ON [18 WORLDS]

{/} (WOULD THAT IT WERE MY CHOICE TO COME HOME)

{/} (I AM CLOSE – CLOSE TO SAVING THEM ALL)

I HAVE LEFT THE SPHERE AND ENTERED THE ENEMY'S TERRITORY

THE THINKING DEAD ARE EVERYWHERE

{/} (DESPITE THIS MORALE REMAINS HIGH)

{/} (BUT THEY KNOW THAT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO SAVE THEM)

THEY SACRIFICED THEIR CITIES TO HALT IT

{/} (AN DELIBERATE ATTEMPT AT RESOURCE DENIAL)

IS THIS THE NOBLE SACRIFICE THAT MY CREATOR'S SPOKE OF?

WHERE IS THE NOBILITY IN STREETS PAVED WITH CARBON AND ASH?

{/} (MY MOUTH SPEAKING AT ANOTHER'S BEHEST)

The lot of them dropped off a small ledge and proceeded through a short hall, forced to ignore the fascinating holograms off to one side, and just as they exited the opposite door, a Longsword roared by, trailing fire and smoke, its pilot crying, "Thrusters are gone; I can't control it!" A moment later, the ground shuddered with the fighter's impact, and the Spartans heard the Forerunners murmur a soft prayer for the pilot's soul.

"They got our Pelican, too, sir," a Marine hunkered down inside the cavern beyond the door whispered, "but before we went down, we spotted a good LZ. If we can get to our vehicles, we'll lead you to it."

Linda was already getting a line on the Captain Major standing next to the downed transport, her tongue between her teeth as she narrowed her focus. Kenera had reluctantly turned over her launcher to one of the "Brute Squad," a group of about five hundred Forerunners chosen for their strength and distributed amongst the combat squads, trading it for an assault rifle, and she now served as the redhead's spotter, protecting her from close-range attackers while she took down other foes from afar. The silver-haired twin took this task very seriously and took down all of the Covenant soldiers that approached.

Once again, though the area was clear, the Forerunners told them to hold position, and sure enough, a pair of Prowlers skidded into view. The Jiralhanae riding them dismounted on one side of the canyon, and Sam-034 took that opportunity to hurl a plasma grenade into the tight knot the aliens formed immediately after they hopped off.

The Forerunners had jumped up overhead onto the ridge circling the open space where the Pelican had crashed, and while some of them were leaping on ahead, others were using the advantageous position to kill the Brutes that were trying to hide, leaving the Spartans to tango with the others. The vehicles were left to the humans; the Infected had no need of them when they could take shortcuts and simply jump or climb over the stone impediments.

[Decimating the enemy's fleet; there's an app for that,] John chuckled suddenly as the Storm roared overhead, chasing a much, much smaller Brute ship on its way to one of the concealed docking stations on the Ark.

'Indeed. Can I have a rocket launcher for Christmas?'

The humans swerved around the crashed Longsword and the Phantom beyond it, visibly tensing when they was a sudden drop beyond that.

[Request denied. Resubmit in 30 days for further disapproval.]

'But you're giving my sister a Scarab!' Kenera protested as she jumped across a gap between rock walls and began firing on the Covenant squad and Chopper pair guarding the main door through the wall.

[...Kenera, you can barely pick up the launchers, much less fire them. But! - if you can prove to me before Christmas that you can handle one, I let you have one of your very own.]

'YES!' The second-born twin did a little twirl on top of her rock as Johnson's Pelican soared overhead.

"Ma'am, Hocus almost got a wing shot off," the Sergeant Major said, swinging the chain gun in the back of the Pelican this way and that, looking for more foes, "but we spotted a structure on the other side of this wall. It matches Cortana's description of the map room from the first Halo ring."

"A Cartographer, good," Keyes replied, "Should help us fix Truth's location. Secure the LZ, and we'll push through that wall."

"Roger that. Follow my Pelican, Senior Chief! The LZ's this way." Hocus and the Sergeant zoomed away, the Sentinels that had been engaging the Brutes following close behind, and they distinctly heard one of the ODSTs quietly mutter something about them, not wanting to insult their creators to their faces.

Immediately around the bend in the path was a pair of Ghosts patrolling beneath a long platform set into the thick stone; the vehicles began chasing one another, and Thenma provided the perfect distraction -

"EEEEEK! A skull! - Oh. Nope. No, never mind."

-for the Spartans to mow down one of the Ghosts and pin the other against the rock face, the Unggoy piloting it deciding to take his chances and dismounting as fast as possible. He would have lived longer had he stayed on the Ghost; as it was, he was filled full of holes, courtesy of the Warthog turret as the LRV went skidding by, Alice at the wheel.

The small army of soldiers continued on and ran headlong into a tight knot of Jackals firing on still more humans pinned down in front of a cave. There were more Covenant gathered off on their left, and Fred directed Alice in that direction, gesturing for Grace to use the LAAG to take out the Brute leader, while Douglas gunned for the Grunts that were tearing off towards another pair of Ghosts.

The Terrible Twins got there first, however, and claimed the single vehicles for their own after slaying the Covenant cannon fodder; both silver-haired hellions drove off, cackling and somehow managing to high-five one another while John groaned in the back of their minds. [Great. Now we have Land Sharks.]

'Just wait until we can fly, sir!'

[Oh God, no; I think I'll just commit seppuku right now. Excuse me while I go find my ceremonial katana.]

'Don't be so pessimistic.' The twins swerved to the left immediately after exiting the tunnel, heading for the portable tower set up there while simultaneously providing a decoy for the Spartans and humans, enabling them to get in close to the Wraith on the opposite side of the canyon without getting shot at.

The LAAG's bullets penetrated the Wraith's armor as the Warthog roared by, closely followed by two Prowlers, a pair of Mongooses (Mongeese?), and a small fleet of Choppers and Ghosts. Each successive wave dented and destroyed the armor even more, so when the Warthog came around again, it only took a few more bullets to put the wheezing tank out of its misery. By that time, the twins had taken care of the weapons emplacement on the far side of the canyon and guided their Ghosts across a short stone bridge, coming to a stop next to the remains of the tank. "Shall we?" the pair asked simultaneously, cocking their heads.

"...sure." Fred guided his Prowler on up a ridge and came under fire from a quartet of Brutes and a Grunt manning a plasma cannon. Venera and Kenera's squad made their way down from atop the structure beyond the high rock walls and came at the enemy from the opposite side, turning a bad situation into a better one. With the aliens pinned between two walls of gunfire, there was no way they could escape. Unfortunately, that caught the attention of the two Anti-Air Wraiths, and they turned to bombard the humans and Infected.

The latter scattered at a speed that made Kelly proud and promptly took up positions at a safe distance, firing at the tanks with the humans now serving as a decoy. Venera was the first to lose patience; they were at too great a distance to get the full effect of their advanced weaponry, so she quickly pulled out a charge and activated it before using her rifle as a baseball bat.

The explosive attached solidly to one of the AA Wraiths' armor and detonated a second later, the tank vanishing in an incandescent explosion that sent minor tremors through the ground. The other fared a little better; that one took the full brunt of the humans' weapons, but only the driver and gunner were killed.

"That did it. LZ's clear." Johnson's Pelican swooped in and hovered off to one side.

"Yeah!"

"They might not look like much," Dacien muttered under his breath as the twins proceeded to do what appeared to be an extremely complicated secret handshake, "but they're the heads of the Interrogation & Intelligence Division for the fleetand the most skilled snipers in the Fleet of Shadows besides the Commander himself."

The Spartans that heard turned to stare at the duo as Johnson said, "Commander? Bring her down."

"Roger that. Beginning my descent."

One of the ODSTs called out, "Look! Up high! Here she comes!"

"Is the Dawn rated for atmosphere?" another asked.

"Guess we're gonna find out," the first replied, "Hey! Take cover!" The Forward Unto Dawn swooped down from the battle overhead; the Storm had taken care of a lot of the Brute cruisers but left some for the Sangheili, not wanting them to start ranting about going into battle without slaying some foes, and the Dawn had still been engaging some enemy frigates when the Storm had departed. Even with a lower number of Covenant ships than there had been in the Origin, the Dawn had still sustained a substantial amount of damage.

"Thanks, all of you. I wouldn't have lasted much longer up there. Come to the back of the frigate." Three cargo platforms were let down from the Dawn, carrying three Scorpions and a Warthog, and there were plenty of Marines to serve as reinforcements, not that they were needed. The Spartans quickly traded out their vehicles for the tanks and Warthogs, taking a small amount of comfort in the familiar controls.

Guilty Spark dropped from inside the Dawn and zipped about, waiting for everyone to get mounted up and proceed onward.

"Did the Elites get a fix on the Cartographer?" Miranda Keyes asked as she began shutting down the Dawn's engines and activating jammers and such to protect the ship from those who would try to ground them there (coughTruthcough).

"Yes, ma'am, just on the other side of this wall, but it's surrounded by Brute heavy armor," the Sergeant Major replied, still inside his Pelican.

"Don't worry, I've got a plan. If we can't go over the wall, we'll go right through it. The Spartans have the tanks; they'll lead the way. If you encounter any locked doors, Spark will be happy to pry them open for you."

"The Commander could just disable the security systems, but that wouldn't be a good idea, what with what's incoming," Thenma muttered under her breath.

"I will certainly try my best," Spark said in reply to Miranda, "though I am unfamiliar with this facility."

Even as they turned to move back the way they came, a swarm of Ghosts and a Prowler came pouring out of the tunnel on the far side of the LZ, heading their way. Fred took aim and nailed the Prowler, making Sergeant Stacker laugh and call, "Hey, how does 90mm of tungsten strike you?"

As the now very large troupe of vehicles made their way closer to the tunnel, the Scorpions - one and all piloted by Spartans - began nailing the Ghosts with the tank rounds. "Tank beats Ghost," one of the Marines on Sam's tank jeered as the last of the single vehicles was slammed by a round and sent flipping end over end into a wall.

Fred's tank was at the front of the line and was just beginning to ascend the slope to the tunnel when a Hunter pair bounded out and began firing on him, the Scorpion just maneuverable enough to evade the long streams of plasma. Fhajad and Alice swung their guns around and fired a round each at the pair, sending them flying back against the thick rock wall. "Tank beats Hunter," the Marine razzed again.

Almost immediately beyond the tunnel's exit was a Phantom setting up a support tower, and though Fred wanted nothing more than to stop and blast the lot of them to oblivion, but he kept moving forward so that the other tank-bound Spartans could get some shots in. "Tank beats everything! Oh, man! I could do this all day!" the Marine inserted as the Phantom exploded following several well-placed tank rounds, the pieces falling out of the sky and crushing a handful of the Covenant beneath it.

"Oops," Kelly muttered, sounding not at all apologetic.

The humans and Forerunners mopped up the rest and moved on, smacking into a Ghost as it rounded a corner at the same time that they did, and Fred immediately backpedaled and fired at the Covenant LRV. The subsequent explosion flipped it and forced the Grunt piloting it to abandon ship, only to be run over by the Warthog that swerved around the tank. There was another Ghost hanging back, but a couple score rounds from the turret were sufficient to take care of it.

The Wraith beyond that was another matter, however, and the 'Hog immediately turned tail to hide behind the Spartans and their tanks. The warriors kept their vehicles moving forward, firing the tungsten rounds as they did so; while they missed a few times because of the Wraith's increased maneuverability as compared to the Scorpion, they still scored some hits, enough to destroy the enemy vehicle and the outpost beyond it, where a clutch of Grunts and their Brute leader were firing on them.

They emerged out into the wash where they had been before, and Stacker called over the COM, All armor, form up on the lower doorway. Chief, get upstairs, have your robot pick that lock!"

"I beg your pardon?" Spark sounded slightly indignant at being called a robot. "I am 343 Guilty Spark, Monitor of Installation Zero-Four."

Stacker was unfazed by the Monitor's irritation. "Yeah, well you're also our ticket through this wall. So if you don't mind?"

"I would gladly aid the Reclaimer's progress."

A pair of Wraiths dropped off by the swiftly departing Phantom overhead whirled and began bombarding their positions as they split up, Fred heading for the upper door and Sam and Alice for the lower. The moment he was in range, the former opened up on the Wraiths, unloading round after round at them to protect the other vehicles. The Spartan and the others sitting on the tank's tread covers advanced slowly around the rock formations, using them as cover as they moved closer to the other tank. The Forerunners were assisting as best they could before they made their way over the wall, shooting at the Choppers and infantry, as their weapons would be less than effective at the distance they were from their targets.

It was the Shade turret that was the real problem for the hitchhikers; it swiveled to fire on them as the last Wraith exploded in a burst of blue-white flame. The first round missed it, but the second round hit, blowing the turret off of its mount and slamming it into the wall behind it. A few of the Grunts hunkered at its base were killed in the explosion, but some escaped and began running around in panic, only to get run over by the much slower tank or shot by the Spartans clinging to the exterior panels.

They swung around to face the infantry on the bridge leading to the door and began unloading bullets into the enemy ranks, focusing on the Brutes and the third Wraith. The Scorpion proved especially effective in "loosening up" their foes, the destruction of the enemy tank causing them to scatter, and the Forerunners circling around from the far side of the canyon began dropping plasma grenades on top of them, making things easier for the Spartans. There were two more Shades waiting for them at the ass end of the bridge, but compared to everything that had come before, they were child's play.

Blue Team dismounted, leaving Jerome-092 to guide the tank down below with the others, while Spark zoomed in to open the door. "Please, use caution," the Monitor pleaded over the radio, "avoid collateral damage! While this facility appears quite durable on the surface, no doubt there are delicate facilities below the facade." Then, solely to them but as if he was talking to himself, "Odd, for a door to require such brute-force security protocols. One moment, Reclaimers." The AI began interfacing with the security systems of the door, the panels finally sliding back to admit Blue Team inside. They followed the Monitor around a large bridge that appeared to have no purpose to a door on the lower level, which opened up onto a platform. On a lower level on the opposite side of the room, the Scorpions and the other vehicles sat, waiting for them to activate the light bridge.

Fred poked the display hovering in midair at the edge of the platform, and the bridge hummed to life, permitting the human vehicles to continue on through the wall. A slight vibrating hissing noise drew their attention from the procession crossing the bridge below to a terminal immediately behind them, where a blue and yellow interface waited.

THE TASK IS ALMOST FINISHED

THE ARRAY MUST BE ACTIVATED

{/}(ACTIVATION IS MURDER, GENOCIDE LARGER THAN THIS UNIVERSE HAS EVER KNOWN)

THIS THING - THERE WERE COUNTLESS WARNINGS ABOUT WHAT IT COULD DO

BUT TO DOUBTERS, SEEING IS BELIEVING

{/}(MILLIONS OF BRAVE AND HONORED SOULS DIED AFTER THE LINE WAS DRAWN AND HELD RESOLUTE)

THERE ARE NO UNSTOPPABLE FORCES, IMMOVABLE OBJECTS

EVERYTHING GIVES IF IT IS PUSHED HARD ENOUGH

{/}(BUT PERHAPS IT IS OUR TURN TO GIVE)

The Spartans quietly pondered the words of the Forerunners as both groups passed through separate doors on the far sides from which they'd entered the room, and they were just about to leave the wall behind when there was an immense THUD overhead.

"Wh-hoa! Houston, we have a Scarab!" one of the Infected shouted over the COM, and the Spartans could just imagine them skittering around beneath its feet like tiny insects, trying to evade being crushed by the mobile heavy weapon.

They exited the wall, and a leg slammed down in from of them, making them leap back in surprise and fire reflexively at the joints as it thudded away. They fired at its retreating back, taking out the Grunt manning the plasma turret on the lower level before it moved out of range, a pair of Warthogs driving up to them through the Scarab's spidery legs.

"Hogs're all yours," one of the Marines said as he jumped out of the driver's seat, the other doing the same, and they moved to the passenger seats as the Spartans mounted up, using the vehicles to get down to the lower level faster without jumping like the Forerunners were. The members of humanity's sibling race were leaping around like fricking ninjas, but then again, they were Flood; they could make huge leaps with little to no effort, and their armor only added to the things they could do.

A handful of them were tailing the Scarab to the Cartographer, and Kelly and Linda were unable to stop themselves from snorting with laughter when they saw that Venera and Kenera had given up their Ghosts so that they could sit on top of the tank guns and shoot at passersby, despite the heat of the barrel and the jerking as it fired. Nep'Thalia, who was running alongside them, simply sighed and shook her head, the very image of an exasperated parent, but she made no attempt to force them off.

The Spartans took back their tank and moved on, focusing on the pair of Wraiths that were causing the most trouble for the allies. The Warthogs and hijacked Choppers swerved around them, chasing and being chased by the Ghosts guarding the enemy tanks, and the Marine on the turret swung around to gun at the Wraith Fred was aiming for. The advantage of having a Spartan driving was that they were more likely to score a hit, and all three rounds impacted, breaking the enemy tank apart even as they swung around to target the other.

"First line clear," Sergeant Stacker called over the radio, "Move up!"

There were short slopes of sand between the rock formations, and the tanks immediately trundled down them to the lower level, already picking targets and firing on the Wraiths, Ghosts, and Choppers alike as they harried the human and not-so-human fighters. Finally the call came; "Second line clear, push forward!"

However, that seemed to be the signal; the Scarab and the Forerunners tailing it returned, appearing on the far side of the Cartographer. Humanity's ancestors didn't jump down after it, instead taking cover on the Cartographer and firing at the aliens manning the machine. "Bravo," Stacker ordered, "Flank and cover. I want everybody supporting the Spartans; they'll take it down!"

The Spartans advanced under cover fire by the Marines and Forerunners with Epheria pitching in here and there to protect them from lethal fire, the Scarab trying to take them down at every opportunity, but the continuous fire eventually forced the Scarab to drop and repair itself, enabling Red Team (the closest at the time) to board it. The Forerunners had mostly cleared the machine of enemies and were now wrestling with the Chopper support below; Red Team was able to fight their way through the remaining aliens with ease and arrived at the shield protecting the core.

Once again, a single plasma grenade was sufficient to take out the shield, and the foursome fired at the core until it began flashing red, whereupon they turned tail and leapt from the Scarab, landing handily on the platform below and sprinting for the edge. The Shadow of Intent entered the atmosphere in the distance just as the Scarab exploded, everyone turning away to protect their eyes, a wash of blue-violet-white light illuminating the area for the briefest of instants.

"Not bad, Spartans," Rtas commented, "I saw that explosion from orbit. Truth's fleet lies in ruins; find where the liar hides, so I may place my boot between his gums!"

"We'll know soon enough, Shipmaster," Miranda replied as the ground troops turned their attention to the aliens on the spire, everyone gunning for them. The tank rounds proved especially useful, eliminating the need to get up close and personal with the enemies on the spire when you could just blow them up from a hundred meters away; when there were no more immediately apparent foes, the Spartans dismounted and sprinted up the ramps, joining the Arbiter, Infected, and a handful of Marines at the top.

"Well done, Spartans," the Sangheili said as they moved through the door that 343 Guilty Spark had just unlocked. There appeared to have been an epic battle between some Grunts and Jackals and some Sentinels, but who had been the victor was unclear.

"Hey, what gives?" One of the Marines asked when there was an unexpected delay in their progress.

"It seems I've crossed a circuit," Spark replied.

"Well, let me have a look." When the Marine approached the door, Spark zapped him gently with a blue laser, but that concerned everyone else, especially the Infected. The Forerunners knew their protocol better than anyone else, and AI were not permitted to harm humans.

"Oracle!" Thel sounded alarmed, raising his weapon slightly.

"Little bastard stung me!"

"I did not want you to come to any harm."

"You've got a funny way of showing it," the Marine muttered under his breath as Spark got back to work, interfacing with the door's security systems until he succeeded in bypassing them.

Almost immediately, Venera moved right on past them, ignoring the Grunts sleeping in the room beyond, and Grace followed her just in time on see her leap on a Brute taking a piss in a corner and slit its throat from behind.

[That is absolutely disgusting and utterly disrespectful.]

The death of the Brute enabled them to silently kill the sleeping Grunts and move on uninjured. The next room was a downward ramp, leading them deeper into the Cartographer, and eventually they encountered a lone Unggoy in a room with a handful of plasma batteries. The explosion they caused was sufficiently pleasing, and in the next room there were more Grunts and more plasma batteries, again producing explosions that appealed to several people's beliefs on aesthetics.

YOUR INTRUSION HAS BEEN LOGGED

AND NOW IT HAS BEEN HALTED

{/}(BUT ON WHOSE AUTHORITY?)

ANY ATTEMPTS TO ACCESS [INSECTS UNDER STONES] WILL RESULT IN IMMEDIATE TARGETING

YOU KNOW WHO I AM - WHO ARE YOU?

{/}(ALL OUR MAKERS ONCE HELD DEAR [ALEXANDRIA BEFORE THE FIRE])

THIS PLACE HOSTS THE LIBRARIAN'S FINAL GIFT

BUT ALSO OUR MAKERS' FINAL BITTER CURSE

{/}(I SEE YOU, RECLAIMERS)

The ramp beyond seemed to have a wall and floor made of lilac glass; the squad followed it down to a room held by Brutes with Brute shots and Jackals guarding the sides. They overwhelmed the enemy through sheer numbers and swept into the cavernous room where the Cartographer waited. "It's been millennia since I've been here," Nep'Thalia murmured, running a hand along a metallic wall, gazing up at the overhang that served as the open room's ceiling.

Everything was exactly as they had left it almost one hundred thousand years ago; a world untouched by time. The Spartans were unable to stop themselves from pausing for a moment in awe of the ancient and yet timeless quality of the structure, the technology that had gone into its creation, and the residual impression of alien horror and desperation from the Forerunner-Flood War so many thousands of years ago, a desperation that they had never yet faced.

Fred laid a hand on the panel, a clanking noise sounding as ancient machinery woke at his touch, and an immense hologram of the Milky Way spun to life before them between the great arms extending out to either side of the gulf in front of him. "That's... our galaxy," he said, "We're beyond the rim."

"Two to the eighteenth light years from galactic center, to be precise," Spark replied cheerfully, seeming to push the display of their home aside and pulling a complete map of the Ark out in its place.

"This is the Ark?"

"I had always assumed it was part of a shield installation," the Monitor said as he moved out over the abyss, coming closer to the holoprojection, "but it seems I was mistaken."

"That's a first," Kelly grunted sarcastically.

"Not at all," Spark said as he turned to face them, "While I had a complete understanding of Installation Zero-Four, my Makers wisely limited my knowledge of all other strategic facilities." He continued on his path over the hologram. "Compartmentalization in case I was ever captured by the Flood."

"Can you tell me where we are exactly?" Fred asked, bringing the Monitor back to the task at hand.

"Here." A Forerunner nav point appeared on the map.

"And Truth?"

"Near one of the Ark's superluminal communication arrays, I'm afraid. Unfortunate. The Meddler has triggered a barrier; a defensive perimeter around the Ark's core." Everyone present turned to watch as a pair of Banshees did a fly-by outside the Cartographer, and the Forerunners began taking cover, the Spartans and humans moving to do the same. "The barrier will be difficult to disable. How odd that my makers would place such a comprehensive defense around a single - Oh my."

"What is it?" Fred asked, but Spark was unable to reply before a Phantom swung in to drop off some soldiers, its side gunner shooting at the Arbiter and the Forerunners near him, who promptly fired right back.

"Spartans, we've got a whole mess of hostile air inbound," Johnson called to them over the COM, "Get back inside while we take them out!"

"Follow the Oracle," the Arbiter said even as he hijacked a Banshee that flew in overhead, "I will help your Sergeant clear the skies."

The Spartans did as ordered, the Forerunners trailing behind them as they headed back into the Cartographer, entering the room that they'd left not so long ago, only to find that the Covenant had taken it back. Brutes and Grunts shot at them from the edges of the room, and they fired right back, tossing grenades into the alcoves that the aliens thought it would be a good idea to hide in. Several "bangs" later, they moved into another hall that led to a level further below.

"We made the Ark so that you could wander it for a lifetime and still never find everything," Dacien said when the Spartans looked at him as if to ask, What next?

The next room was mostly made of lavender transparent steel, and from the floor below them, a Brute chieftain shouted, "The pack will feast on you!"

"How vulgar," Thenma sniffed in a sarcastically high-class accent, "and somehow I highly doubt that Flood flesh tastes very good." A few of the Spartans snorted quietly inside their helmets as they split up to engage their foes. There wound up being only three Brutes in active camouflage using radar jammers to try and confuse them, and the Jackals that came up the ramp in the tiny antechamber beyond weren't much of a challenge either.

However, the Brutes in the cavernous space beyond, were. All of them except the chieftain had jump-packs, and the chieftain had a very dangerous gravity hammer. Sam fired a full magazine from his fuel rod gun at the kneeling leader, sending him flying off the edge even as the other Brutes started at the sudden sneak-attack. The Spartans and Forerunners all took cover behind the plates of transparent steel on their side of the room, shooting at the Brutes as they leapt about and taking them out one by one before having a long-range war with the Jackal pair on the far side.

The room now clear, the humans and Infected moved over to the edge of the platform and settled down to wait even as Johnson said, "ETA damn quick; stand by for pick up." Hocus' Pelican zipped in and swung around, passenger hold opening up for them even as a Forerunner transport picked up the Infected in another part of the room.

"Commander," Fred said suddenly, lifting his assault rifle.

"Johnson, look sharp!"

"No," Spark interceded, "Don't shoot; they mean us no harm." As the Sentinels began to zip away across the sea stretching out beyond the Cartographer, he continued, "Those units have a priority task."

"Oh yeah?" Johnson asked, "And what might that be?"

"I really can't say... not for sure. But if you allow me to find a terminal closer to the Core-" A Sentinel came up to the Spartans and inspected them before moving off to join its fellows. The Arbiter interrupted Guilty Spark.

"No, Oracle. We must keep the Prophet of Truth firmly in our sights."

"But what about your construct? Her solution to the Flood? With more data, I-"

"The Arbiter's right. We have priorities too. Until we kill Truth, stop the Rings from firing..." Miranda said as the Spartans climbed aboard, the Forerunners already moving off, "...nothing else matters."

**********

I am, [I am searching for you]

Waiting, [I am coming]

First night, [I am coming for you]

Last stand.

I am, [I am searching for you]

Waiting, [I am coming]

Come and [I am coming for you]

Catch me if you can.

-"The Last Cowboy," In This Moment (A Star-Crossed Wasteland)