Chapter 17: What's This Knife Doing in My Back?
Truth wasn’t dead.
Despite the discovery of Miranda and finding a Forerunner, John kept coming back to that one reality. He hadn’t missed the disgust on the Arbiter’s face when he showed him the former prophet, staring at them through the mysterious amber-colored resin.
He trusted Keyes and the Arbiter to do whatever it took to insure that the prophet would never be revived from his status state. If Truth were to live again, stories of his resurrection would undoubtedly fan the flames of the loyal Covenant and throw the UNSC back into a war they could barely fight. It was out of his hands now; he needed to focus on getting Cortana --and the Key-- back to the Light.
As he stepped off the lift, Cortana activated her avatar. It still took John a second to adjust to the bright purple color that she emanated. The calculations whizzed across her body. It was a stark contrast to how she had been after her initial encounter with Bias.
“You didn’t pick up any Monitors this time,” she noted with a smirk.
He approached the control panel. “I learned my lesson after Spark,” he replied. “You’re the only AI I trust.”
She rose her eyebrow, but didn’t call him on his overt compliment. In fact, if the slight burst of pink was any indication, John would have thought she was embarrassed by his statement. “Did you get it?” he asked, shifting topics.
She smiled triumphantly and held her hand out. A small floating holographic key, similar-looking to an ancient skeleton key, hovered over her right hand. “Did you doubt me?”
“Never.”
A coy smile passed over her lips. “The captain seemed to handle the news about Miranda relatively well,” she said, changing subjects.
“He’s hopeful,” John replied. “I don’t think he left her side once while I was in there.”
“Hmmmm,” she hummed, tapping her finger on her chin. “I seem to remember a certain Spartan who was pretty much by my side throughout the whole transfer process,” Cortana retorted with a soft smile.
John shifted, uncomfortable. Though he was slowly coming to terms with the idea that his feelings towards Cortana were something different, something deeper, than what he felt towards his fellow soldiers, he wasn’t comfortable talking about it. Even with Cortana.
“I’m happy for him,” Cortana continued, either ignorant of his discomfort or choosing to ignore it. “He’s getting a chance that most people in the UNSC would do anything for.”
“If we can get them out of stasis,” he replied.
“Oh, I’m sure Doctor Halsey will be motivated to figure out a way to revive them. Even though she hasn’t been a part of the commander’s life, she still is her daughter,” Cortana said.
John’s brow furrowed. Miranda was Halsey’s daughter?
Cortana instantly picked up on his confusion. “You didn’t know?”
He shook his head, seeing the commander, and Halsey, in a new light. How did he not know that Halsey was pregnant?
“When you were busy with your training on Reach, there was that six year gap when she didn’t visit you as much. Didn’t you ever wonder why?”
John thought back to his early days of his Spartan training, trying to think of a time when Halsey’s absence had been noticeably long. The doctor had dropped in and out of the Spartan’s life on a regular basis, but now that he thought about it, there was a longer-than-normal gap when he was ten years old. Chief Mendez had only said that she had important business to attend to and would be back when it was over.
He never considered a child was the important business.
“Don’t be surprised, Chief. Doctor Halsey didn’t exactly advertise the fact she was carrying Captain Keyes’ child. When Miranda was six, Catherine contacted Captain Keyes and gave him custody of Miranda, claiming she was incapable of providing her with the life she deserved,” Cortana explained. “They didn’t talk for a few--”
She stopped suddenly, her eyes widening. “We need to get out of here. Now, Chief.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Apparently one of your buddy’s right hand men decided to flip on the Separatists and has stolen Truth’s pod. Johnson, the Arbiter and the half dozen people with them were found unconscious on the landing pad. Keyes found them when they were transporting Miranda’s pod,” Cortana explained quickly. “I am doing what I can remotely using the Light’s defense systems, but I need to get back on board. Now.”
He reached over to the holotank and ejected the chip. He reached around and slid her chip into the slot and allowed Cortana to transfer herself back into his armor. Once the vertigo passed, John sprinted to the gravlift.
“How did this happen?”
She sighed. “According to the video feed from Major Hillston, when they got out of the building, one of the Elites started quoting Covenant scripture and shot the Arbiter at point blank range. He’s lucky to be alive, Chief. It didn’t take long for him to overtake the others. He hijacked the transport and is on course to one of the Covenant cruisers that have just arrived.”
“I thought we had taken care of all of them.”
“Apparently, they know how to hide their ships in a planet’s magnetic field as well.” She inwardly frowned. “I’m detecting five battlecruisers.”
As soon as the gravlift stopped, John ran out of the building and into the Warthog. Quickly, he sped across the compound in the where Keyes and several other UNSC soldiers were standing. He saw Johnson laying on the ground, unconscious. Doctor Halsey was kneeling beside the Arbiter, running some kind of scan from her tablet.
“I need to get back to the Light before they have a chance to exit the system through slipspace,” Cortana announced through John’s speakers. “We need to use your Pelican to get back to the ship, sir.”
He nodded curtly. “Permission granted. You do what it takes to get that ship down,” Keyes said.
“I have already instructed the Separatist ships to fire at will,” the Arbiter muttering, attempting to sit up, “but that traitor is using some sort of jamming channel. Perhaps your ship will be more successful.”
“Good luck, Chief,” Keyes said.
John nodded and boarded the Pelican. He wasted no time to transfer Cortana to the Pelican controls. “I hope you’re in the mood for a ride because something tells me this is going to be a bumpy trip.”
Chapter 18: Come Out, Come Out Wherever You Are