Twenty-Three: Making Up for It in the End

The Pelican flew as smoothly as John could make it for the half-finished ring overhead. The recompile finished and the data upload started just as they were curving over to the inner side of the ring, aiming for the Control Room.

Over the COM, John heard Rtas say, "We are aboard, humans and Elites. Will you not come with us, brother?"

"No," the Arbiter answered from Halo's Control Room, "this is our fight, and I will see it finished."

Miranda came on next. "Johnson, Spartans, I've got the frigate. I'll bring her as close to the Control Room as I can."

"Safe is better than close, Commander Keyes," said John, since Cortana couldn't.

"Roger that," the woman agreed, "You have Cortana?"

"Yes, ma'am. The Gravemind did some damage, but she'll be all right. Our ancillae are seeing to her now."

"Good. Tell her we're glad she's okay."

"Yes, ma'am."

Cortana rebooted right as he brought the Pelican in for as gentle a crash as he could manage. "Halo," she murmured, "it's so new, unfinished. Is this what the others looked like under construction?"

"Something similar, yes," John answered, equally soft, "but unlike this one, the originals' firing mechanisms were finished last to prevent any 'accidents.'"

"Smart."

The Spartan flipped on his active camouflage and waded through the thigh-deep snow on the ridge, following the path around to the tunnel that led to the Control Room. As he went, Mendicant Bias whispered to them both.

You don't know the contortions I had to go through to follow you here, Commander. I know what you're here for. What position do I take? Will I follow one betrayal with another?

You're going to say I'm making a habit of turning on my masters. But the one that destroyed me long ago, in the upper atmosphere of a world far distant from here, was an implement far cruder than I. My weakness was capacity - unintentional though it was! - to choose the enemy Flood. A mistake my makers - and you - would not soon forgive.

But I want something far different from you this time.

Atonement.

And so here at the end of my life, I do once again betray a former master. The path ahead is fraught with peril. But I will do all I can to keep it stable - keep all of you safe. I'm not so foolish to think this will absolve me of my sins. A few lives hardly balance billions.

But I would have my masters know that I have changed.

And you shall be my example.

-------------------------------------------

"Here they come!"

Fred looked out over the snow. Fully half of the Spartan teams that had come to the Ark were arrayed on the levels of the Control Room ziggurat, along with the Arbiter and a dozen Forerunners with heavy weapons. Nothing was moving out there-

No, wait. By the tunnel. The snow was flying as if someone invisible was running through it, and when he zoomed in, he saw footprints leading back into the dark beyond.

"Lady Cortana!"

"Your Grace, you made it!"

"It's good to see you, my lady!"

The Spartans heard Cortana laughing over the COM and returning the Forerunners' greetings before she called a warning. "Flood dispersal pods!"

As one the Forerunners all lifted their weapons and started shooting at the Flood crashing down all around them, even as the Gravemind roared, "DID YOU THINK ME DEFEATED?!"

The invisible Commander raced for the ramp leading up from the snow, gunning down all of the Flood in his path, somehow without breaking camo - but it was Forerunner tech, better than anything the UNSC or the Covenant had. But Fred had no real time to think about it, more focused on engaging the Flood that landed in front of them.

"Do I take life or give it?" the Gravemind rumbled, "Who is victim, and who is foe?"

There seemed to be no end to it all, dispersal pod after dispersal pod slamming down into the canyon, but they all kept going. Johnson joined them finally, wielding a Spartan Laser, and between all of them, they managed to drive the Flood back. Fred decided that only Blue Team would enter the Control Room with Johnson and the Arbiter and signaled the others to collect all the ammo they could while the getting was good. The Forerunners retreated down to the snow below the ziggurat, out of the red zone so Spark could open the doors for them.

(Protocol dictated that Monitors were not permitted to reveal the nature of the Fleet of Shadows to those who did not already know, but protocol also dictated that there was to be no Flood presence on the ziggurat for the main doors to open.)

(John was going to sneak in anyway, but Spark didn't know that.)

"Hold out your hand, Sergeant," said the Commander. Johnson blinked but did so, and from nowhere, Cortana's chip - new, sleek, and strong, glowing a benign sky-blue - dropped into his hand.

"Good to see you, Sergeant," she said warmly over the COM.

Johnson grinned at her chip. "Good to see you as well, ma'am. We're glad you're back."

"More dispersal pods incoming," said Ironheart.

"We'd better hurry!"

Johnson, the Arbiter, and Blue Team ran inside the moment the doors opened, and John slipped in after them, silent and unseen. The doors hissed shut behind them, and another set opened ahead.

They followed the path to the actual Control Room, and Blue Team and the Arbiter stood off to guard the door while Johnson (and John) approached the console.

Spark dropped down from above and accompanied the pair, humming to himself, then saying, "Oh, hello! Wonderful news - the Installation is almost complete!"

"Terrific," Johnson growled.

The Monitor seemed to have trouble understanding the reason for his irritation, so he simply replied, "Yes... isn't it?" There was a short but uneasy silence before he continued, "I have begun my simulations. No promises, but initial results indicate that this facility should be ready to fire...in just two more days!"

"We don't have two more days," Johnson snapped back at him, tensing just a little when he felt John grab hold of his armor, but continued looking for a spot to insert Cortana's matrix.

Spark gave no indication that he was aware of the Commander's presence. "Bu-bu-but a premature firing will destroy the Ark!"

"Deal with it."

The Monitor lowered his voice, barely audible. "...will destroy this Installation."

"Sergeant, look out!" Cortana cried, and John yanked the man backwards, spinning to turn it into a throw and simultaneously taking the Galilean from his hand. Kelly was the first one to turn, and caught him but was knocked off her feet.

John dropped his active camo and dodged Spark's laser. Once they realized what was happening, the Spartans arrayed themselves in front of Johnson; he didn't have the benefit of personal shields the way they and the Arbiter did. But all their jaw dropped at the sight of the Supreme Commander in his MJOLNIR-inspired Forerunner armor - still green and black but sleeker, more advanced and streamlined - gunning for Spark with the Galilean.

All at once, the dream came back to them - the dream they'd had in cryo on approach to Alpha Halo.

"There is no need to fear; we will be with you. So arm yourselves. A storm is coming."

117. Their brother.

He dropped to one knee while the laser charged, even as the Monitor cried, "The Fleet's Compound Mind?! In the core?! Unacceptable, absolutely unacceptable!"

The blast caught him before he could prepare his own and sent Spark spinning away, deflecting off one of the transparasteel plates that edged the walkway. The Monitor caught himself and fired back, which John dodged even though he didn't necessarily need to; his shields could have easily absorbed the hit. "You alright, Sergeant Major?!"

"I'm good!"

"Get him, John, get him!"

"I'm gettin' him, I'm gettin' him!" he shouted back to Cortana, squeezing off another shot even as Spark tried to use his energy field to knock him off the edge. The ancilla was thrown back again, casing cracked, plasma and liquid crystal spilling out onto the platform. "I a-a-a-am the Monitor of Installation Z-Zero F-Four!"" he cried, but it made no difference.

John fired the third and final shot, and with a cry of "Oh myyyyyyyyyy-aaahh!", the Monitor exploded in a flash of blue-white light. The Commander held position for a second longer, just in case, then straightened with a heavy sigh.

Before anyone could say anything, the ground rolled under their feet. "Commander, the Gravemind's pressing hard! We need to go!"

The Spartan whipped around. "Johnson!"

The man understood, and threw Cortana's chip to him even as he stumbled to his feet. John caught it with ease and raced for the console. Cortana jumped from the AI matrix and appeared only briefly on the console, just long enough to input the data for the Index, before she jumped back.

John slotted her back into his armor even as the ground rolled under his feet again, this time from the half-finished Halo preparing to fire. "Go! Go!" he shouted, waving the others ahead of him, even as the pillar of light and energy blasted skyward behind him.

The Control Room - the entire Halo - was falling apart, and they all ran for the main doors, Sam scooping up Johnson and throwing him over his shoulder to increase their speed. The rest of the Spartans and Forerunners were still there, fighting against the Flood and now the Sentinels as well. John let out an ear-splitting whistle to get their attention and shouted, "Round up - let's go!"

The Forerunners broke away in groups to make for the ice ramp Johnson had made, and the Spartans followed close behind, running in a scattered line along the ridge above the Control Room. Johnson shouted directions through the halls ahead, still jolting on Sam's shoulder, but now he had the Spartan's assault rifle in hand and was firing at their pursuers.

The group burst from the halls through the cliffs just in time for two Pelicans and a Forerunner troop transport to touch down in front of them. The human ships had been remote-piloted, and two of the Spartans threw themselves into the pilots' seats while the others streamed on board and strapped themselves in. But Fred hesitated. "Cortana?!"

"I'm going with John!" she replied.

"HIGHCOM isn't gonna like that!"

"HIGHCOM can suck my-"

"Cortana!" John interrupted, "There are children present! Venera and Kenera have sensitive ears!"

All three transports blasted off for their respective ships, the Forerunner transport shimmering and turning invisible. But the Spartans, Johnson, and the Arbiter weren't left to fend for themselves; a dozen unmanned Phaetons swooped down and around them, clearing their path back to the Dawn. The moment they were aboard, Miranda and her crew throttled the engines to maximum and sent them all screaming for the Portal.

"When will we see you again?"

"Eventually? I don't know; I'm sure something will come up."

The Fleet's ships were jumping away from the Portal, entering local Slipspace around the Ark so that they didn't go too far. The Windchaser would be the last one away, waiting on the final dropship.

"The war might be over, but I'm sure the fighting is far from finished. Good hunting, all of you," said John.

"You as well, Commander," Fred managed before the darkness of Slipspace swallowed them both.

The energy of the ring continued to build at its focus, then burst outward in a wave, in an ever-expanding sphere, rolling over the Halo itself, the Ark, all of the local space. Even as the ring shook itself to pieces, the world went white.