Sixteen: Gone With The Darkness

The Dusk dropped out of Slipspace five days after leaving Infinity behind. They were in the Procyon system, glassed by the Covenant in 2549 - and they weren't alone.

A small fleet of alien ships was swarming near the system's main star, Procyon A; a massive supercarrier and two comparatively tiny cruisers. But they were gathered around a UNSC ship - one she knew well. Almost as well as the man who caused it to be lost, because some of her Spartans had been lost with it.

The Spirit of Fire.

"You found her," she said, turning to John, "How?"

"It wasn't hard. At least, not for the Fleet." He gestured for Joyeuse to take them in, and she set them on an intercept course. "They received word years ago that a Shield World – Etran Harborage - had been destroyed by humans because of Flood out of containment. After this universe's Reaving finally ended, they went looking for her. Knowing where the Harborage and UNSC space were relative to each other, it was simple to plot the fastest course from one to the other and follow the line. They finally caught up with her three weeks ago."

Halsey turned back to the Spirit, watching her get larger in the viewport. "Why didn't she come back right away? And how far out was she?"

"Her FTL drive was used to destroy the Shield World, induced a supernova in the internal star. No way back but the slow way, and she had about another sixty years before she reached the outermost edges of current human space."

After a moment of watching, Halsey said, "They're cleaning the ship?"

"There were some enemy Flood forms inside. Been dead for quite a while, but we're not taking any chances. Every inch of her is being scrubbed from bow to stern - we'd take her apart and clean every piece if we could do it without waking the crew. But with the Flood coming and the UNSC probably already on our tail, we don't have the luxury of that kind of time. We'll just have to hope it's enough, and monitor the situation closely."

"You say that like you think something will happen."

"Something did happen. I'll have Joyeuse brief you on the full details later, but the short of it is ONI fucked up. Again. After the Battle of Zero-Four, the prison ship Mona Lisa went to Threshold to acquire Flood specimens for experiments on the prisoners, no doubt looking for a way to control it, make it into something they could use. But containment was breached, a Proto-Gravemind formed, and the Red Horse shot her down so the Flood couldn't escape. So we'll be watching very closely, and it won't be the first time." He let out a soft laugh. "Let's just say that in the Parallel we made bank working with HIGHCOM and Section Zero."

The Dusk glided into one of the Spirit's cargo bays and landed without so much as a shiver, and the Spartans prepared to depart. It was obvious that they were not wearing UNSC standard issue armor; their helmets shimmered back into view - they hadn't been off but transparent - and the plates reconfigured themselves before her eyes to become slimmer and sleeker. Still clearly MJOLNIR, but unmistakably Forerunner as well.

"Joyeuse, go ahead and transmit yourself back to Edge of Eternity," John said as he packed up the extra food, "and tell everyone Doctor Halsey is secure. We'll be leaving as soon as the cleaning is done."

"You got it."

There was another Forerunner transport waiting for them in the bay, larger, more spacious, more comfortable than the Dusk. But her attention was caught by the ship beyond - larger, less sleek but still better than anything the UNSC had in its arsenal.

"What is that?"

John followed her gaze. "A gift, both for the UNSC and to make ONI a little less pissed we extracted you."

"Kidnapped," Kelly interjected.

"Extracted," John repeated, then turned back to the scientist. "You might know of it - that's Audacity."

The Librarian's personal ship. Halsey looked back at it, eyes wide.

John hummed. "I know that look." His head tilted to one side, listening. Then he said, "Ten minutes, Doctor. Then we need to leave."

A second later she was inside, escorted by Kelly and Linda. She ran her hand over the bulkheads and control panels and wished more than anything that she had her equipment with her to study Audacity.

Kelly seemed to follow her train of thought. "John's got copies of all Audacity's data, Doctor. Not quite the same as studying her firsthand, but I'm absolutely certain there will be other things to occupy your time."

"'Absolutely certain'?" Halsey glanced back at her. "What makes you say that?"

Both Spartans actually chuckled quietly. "We saw the Enterprise before we left," said Linda, "on our initial jump here. Enterprise is five thousand kilometers long, and no, that's not a mistake."

The scientist could count on one hand the number of times she'd been well and truly surprised. It seemed she had another one to add to the list. "Five thousand-?!"

"Kilometers, yes," Kelly finished, "As far as we're aware, she's the largest ship ever built. Cortana's the overseer now, but even she needs four archeon-class AIs to help her run it."

All the technology that went into building a ship like that… Even Audacity was chump change compared to a ship that size, and since John had copies of the ship's data, there wasn't really much for her here. She ran her hand over the console one last time, then departed the ship.

John was helping aliens in Forerunner armor - one of them looked like an oversized praying mantis - load the last of the equipment on their transport, though they were leaving their original MJOLNIR behind for the UNSC, at least partially so they couldn't be accused of stealing it. They boarded soon after, and it seemed normal enough inside for an alien transport, larger and far smoother and more comfortable than anything the UNSC had. She didn't even realize they had started moving until she glanced through a port and saw the Edge of Eternity growing as the Spirit receded. "What about Jerome, Alice, and Douglas?"

"We woke them, told them what had happened and what was coming," the Chief answered, "They're sad to be leaving the Spirit and her crew behind, but they're with us, too."

That was a relief. "How many of you are there?"

"A hundred and thirty-eight S-IIs, now, and more from other generations."

That made her stop. Seventy-five from this 'Parallel' plus seven from the 'Origin' did not equal a hundred and thirty-eight. The scientist turned to look at John, who had an innocent look plastered on his faceplate. She glared at him, and he chuckled. Then he said, "We don't know how it happened. Even those who actually experienced it don't know how it was done, but… the other Spartans. The ones we lost in this world - all the ones we lost. When they died, they reported being… weightless. Bodiless. Like a sensory deprivation chamber in zero-gee. No sight, no touch, no sound, nothing at all - but even so, they heard voices. 'Your task is not done,' they said. 'Your commander still needs you.'

"And then they woke up on the Fleet, in one of the emergency cryo chambers on the Enterprise. Every. Last. One." He turned his head to look through the viewport at the approaching Edge, then turned back to her. "We're hoping the same will be true of the others, when they pass."

"Who's left?"

"Serin, obviously, but also Maria, Cassandra, Fhajad, Musa, Naomi, Leon, Robert, August, Jai, Adriana, and Mike."

A complex bunch. Serin especially; given what she knew of John and how he reacted to his sister's attempt on her life, he was more upset than he let on, and he'd let on quite a lot. It might be enough to make him make her wait to join up, if indeed she wanted to.

But now Halsey could see what John meant by "somewhere safe" and ONI not wanting to declare war on "this Flood Hive". Even just a hundred and thirty-eight SPARTAN-IIs was essentially an army all on their own, and that didn't even begin to touch the rest of the unknowns in the Last Fleet, their Flood-borne abilities, and their technology. And Cortana and Joyeuse and the other Forerunner ancillae as well; they had demonstrated that they could easily spoof even the UNSC's most secure systems.

He was right. She was out of their reach.

And some last bit of tension - some last coil of fear of they'll find me again they'll catch me and lock me away from everyone and everything that matters they'll bury me in a black hole and let me drive myself mad in shadows and silence - at last unwound.

"Speaking of family, that reminds me," John said, "Iridescence, put me through to the Twins."

"Which set?"

"You know damned well which set." The ancilla snickered but did as he asked.

"What's up, boss?"

"Stop putting in requests for a carrier named Condiments, I'm not gonna tell you again." John waived for the ancilla to close the COM channel even as the Twins started laughing.

"Condiments?" Halsey repeated as the rest of Blue Team started snickering really quietly behind her.

"Somehow, they got someone - Joyeuse - to let them name some single ships Ketchup, Mustard, Mayo, and Barbeque Sauce, and I think we also have a Tahini and an Aioli floating around somewhere. This is what I mean when I say 'we're a madhouse, but we know what we're doing.'" He gestured to the transport around them. "This is the Barbeque Sauce in question."

"Mm," was all Halsey said.

John knew her well enough to recognize the response behind it. "Speaking from experience, a hundred thousand years does things to people, Doctor," he said, "They had to occupy themselves somehow. They already doubled the size of the Fleet; giving some dropships ridiculous names is hardly the worst thing they could have done."

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Edge of Eternity, Final Frontier, and Ambient Wonder left for WR102 within the hour. Halsey didn't see them depart, or even know they'd entered Slipspace; she was too focused on observing absolutely everything she could about the supercarrier.

More than anything, Edge of Eternity was massive. She made Infinity look like a toy, even though that was one of the largest and most advanced ships in the UNSC fleet and Halsey herself had had a hand in building her. The ship itself was more spacious, the halls more open, technology more streamlined. She wasn't the type to believe in any higher power, but God, she wanted her equipment! Or at least a datapad to record her observations! And another hand to record with!

As if summoned, a green Huragok appeared before her, squeaking. She jerked back, startled, then heard a voice cursing in another tongue, clearly scolding.

There was a Forerunner coming down the hall toward her, three more Huragok right behind them. As the stranger approached, he switched to Standard. "Ah, Doctor Halsey," he said, "I apologize for this little one here; he is newly made and doesn't know yet that he shouldn't spring himself on people."

"Quite alright. But you know who I am - who are you?"

"Forgive me; I'm Ambience-of-Night, but please, call me Ambi. Most do." He turned to the Huragok. "This little one is now Drifts Away, and these are his parents, Intricate Adjustments, Never Sinks, and Floats Up." With the last, he pointed to her side, where another Huragok was poking at her missing arm with its tentacles, floating higher than the other three. "If you'd like to come with us to the infirmary, we can get you fixed up."

Maybe she did believe in a higher power. Just a little bit. "I'd like that."

The infirmary was awe-inspiring as well, and once she was settled and had received nutrient injections, it only took the four Huragok fifteen minutes to rebuild her arm in its entirety. Ambience supervised and nodded in approval when they were done. He said something to them in another tongue, which made them all squeak in delight and pat his armor with their tentacles before drifting off in a knot. "Sorry about them. It's not actually often that they get a lot of intensive work, so they tend to be a little much when they do."

"It's all right. I work in a different field, but I do understand, at least a little."

Ambience tilted his head, listening to something she couldn't hear. Then he said, "The Commander - that is, the Master Chief - is on the bridge. We're approaching WR102, if you want to see."

She did, and Ambience got a Builder, one Silver-Moon-of-Fortitude, to escort her. They spent the whole trip discussing Forerunner engineering, which made the Spartans laugh softly when they entered the bridge. John just looked amused, like he'd expected nothing less. Then he waved her over.

The bridge was impressive, too, shaped like a somewhat flattened spheroid with consoles and holograms lining the walls. At the center of the room was obviously the command console, a ring of both upper and lower screens angled towards them with a hologram of their destination in between.

John gestured in a seemingly random direction. "The bridge walls project the view of what's around us," he explained, "When we drop out of Slipspace, you'll be able to see the Fleet and all the allies who've come to help us."

"How much longer?"

Even as she finished asking, light bloomed on one wall. WR102 - they'd arrived. And before her…

Well, maybe she needed two hands to count her surprises after all.