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Description
- Space Pirate Base of Operations and Research -

- Inside the cubic force field in the armory -

- Two seconds later -

John and Samus look around at their surroundings. The Master Chief fires his Needler at the force field and the needles just bounce off. Samus fires different beam shots at the field and it absorbs it all. Samus scans the force field and discover that it's impenetrable to their weapons... Still, John doesn't give up and throws energy grenades at the field and they move out of the way as they explode!... No effect.

"Put me down Chief." says Cortana.

John crouches and places his hand on the floor. A small holographic figure appears, in the form of a woman with short hair, blue eyes and lines of code running from her toes up to her head. Samus raises an eyebrow as she learns that that's the A.I. in the Chief's head. She considers scanning Cortana, but that would be an invasion of privacy and they need to trust eachother.

She walks around and the two giants watch her while she ponders... finaly she looks up at them and says.

"We're stuck here. The deactivation switch for this shield can only be operated manually and we can't reach it."

Samus checks the floor for vents or anything her Morph Ball can slip into... it's completely solid. She looks at the other two and tells them:

"My most powerful weapons, the Power Bomb and the Zero Laser, are too dangerous to be used in close quarters. Besides I'm not completely sure they could breach this shield."

Cortana considers this... "Lets not use them then until we have no other alternative. We're still alive and not in immediate danger so... lets just keep trying."

She pauses for a moment and looks at the force field... "Why is the field emiting temperatures below zero?"

John looks at the field... his suit regulates his temperature so he didn't feel it. "Maybe to preserve something inside?"

"Or keep something out." says Samus in a grave voice.

Cortana looks up at Samus with a raised eyebrow. "And what would that be?"

"I'd rather not say."

"Why not?"

"Because I hope I'm wrong..."

- - -

Over the next half an hour, they continue to try and breach the force field, to no effect. John stops in order to conserve his ammo. They both lean against the crates filled with Pirate weapons...

Samus looks down at her boots and thinks about something... she glances at Cortana. "Are we safe from eavesdroppers?"

The "smart" A.I. thinks for a moment... then nods up at Samus.

"Good, because I need to tell you both something, and since we may be here for a while, now's a good time as any."

The Chief watches Samus... maybe now they can finaly understand what's going on.

She begins her narration... "Me and the Pirates hail from the Milky Way galaxy. The strange thing is... Where I am now seems to be another one."

Cortana raises an eyebrow. At first she questions Samus' sanity, but then she looks at her armor and it's completely foreign... maybe there is something to her claim.

She glances at the Chief and Cortana. "The ruling goverment there is called the Galactic Federation, a democracy composed of countless different races, including humans. We were at war with the Space Pirates, who raided ships and planets. Killing everything that stood in their way. They wanted to become the dominant force in the galaxy..."

She pauses for a moment. "They were on the verge of defeat. I destroyed most of their outposts and plans. The Federation had taken control of their homeworld, and the planet that was their last stronghold was destroyed..." She decides not to tell them that she was the one who destroyed Zebes.

"About a year ago, sensors had picked up a colosal energy spike beyond the rim of the galaxy. It was so big that even the most primitive of sensors couldn't miss it, even from that distance. Eventually the spike dissipated, but it still left an impression. The Federation sent ships to check it out, but it was quite the distance and it would take awhile for them to get there."

"I became curious and decided to investigate myself. I was not on speaking terms with the Federation at the time, so I wasn't getting any money from this, but I'm not that greedy. I made a stop at the shipyards of planet Aliehs III to get one of my ships and I warped out of system."

"When I reached the borderline of where the energy spike was, my ship's sensors concluded that what we picked up was a massive energy field of destruction that stretched about 25 000 lightyears in every direction. So if there was any sentient life in this part of space... I doubt there would be now."

Cortana and the Chief listen more intently after that last part. They save their responses for when Samus finishes.

"At the heart of the spike, where it originated from, was a massive dark sphere of strange energy. After spending some time here, and seeing what Slipspace was, it was proboably a portal made of that Slipspace energy, but on an incredible scale. The next thing I noticed was a battle between Federation ships and Space Pirate survivors several million miles from the portal. I was too far away and couldn't do much, except watch the Pirates destroy the Federation ships and then they entered the portal. It was stupid, but I decided to follow them, so I can finish them off myself."

"When I reached the other side, I was in the exact same location where I was earlier, but... I was somewhere else. The first thing I needed to do was avoid the debris field. There were millions of giant pieces of alien structures everywhere, and no sign of the Pirates. So I decided to enter this galaxy and hunt them down..."

Samus looks around. "I learned that I was in the Milky Way galaxy, but it's different here... I don't know whether this is the past or an alternate reality, but the latter might be more likely. I've been to a planet that had its dimension ripped in two."

At this point, Cortana interrupts her. "Ok... explain to me about that last part. You've been to a planet that had two dimensions?" She crosses her arms and looks up at Samus.

"The planet's called Aether. It was struck by a meteor a long time ago, the meteor was full of a radioactive and mutagenic element called Phazon. It was also a powerful source of energy, but incredibly unstable. The sentient race that lives on Aether, the Luminoth, tried in vain to alter the meteor's trajectory by firing weapons at it. The attempt put a great strain on the planetery energy, and Aether became unstable. So when the unstable Phazon meteor impacted the unstable planet... it ripped the planet's fabric of reality into two."

Cortana turns to the Chief and looks up at him. "The energy spike she mentioned earlier, did that sound like-"

"The firing of a Halo ring?" He finishes for her.

She nods. "And the portal she mentioned sounds exactly like the one that connects to the Ark, that happens to be beyond the rim of the galaxy. This is purely theoretical... but if what she says is true... I told you before that the portal couldn't sustain itself and was about to collapse, and Halo was incomplete. If these two powerful unstable energies met... then maybe they ripped through time and space and connected two different realities by accident, and the blast from Halo continued even towards the other Milky Way galaxy."

"Then why aren't we in her reality?" John asks her.

She lifts her hands up and shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know." John thought that was odd. It was rare for her not to know something.

Samus listens to them with interest. "So what is Halo? The Elites said that it was something very important, yet they were also rather sketchy about details, like they were almost in denial."

Cortana nods. "I wouldn't be surprised. They were part of the ruling class of the Covenant and co-founders of their group. For so long they believed that the seven Halo rings would activate a sublimation event called the Great Journey, and it was only recently that they learned the truth. It's a weapon of galactic destruction."

Samus raises her eyebrows... that would explain why the surrounding systems around the portal seemed almost dead. "Why would someone build things like that??"

Cortana and the Chief look at eachother... then she addresses Samus. "You might want to take a seat, this may take awhile..."

Description
- Space Pirate Base of Operations and Research -

- Inside the cubic force field in the armory -

- Two seconds later -

John and Samus look around at their surroundings. The Master Chief fires his Needler at the force field and the needles just bounce off. Samus fires different beam shots at the field and it absorbs it all. Samus scans the force field and discover that it's impenetrable to their weapons... Still, John doesn't give up and throws energy grenades at the field and they move out of the way as they explode!... No effect.

"Put me down Chief." says Cortana.

John crouches and places his hand on the floor. A small holographic figure appears, in the form of a woman with short hair, blue eyes and lines of code running from her toes up to her head. Samus raises an eyebrow as she learns that that's the A.I. in the Chief's head. She considers scanning Cortana, but that would be an invasion of privacy and they need to trust eachother.

She walks around and the two giants watch her while she ponders... finaly she looks up at them and says.

"We're stuck here. The deactivation switch for this shield can only be operated manually and we can't reach it."

Samus checks the floor for vents or anything her Morph Ball can slip into... it's completely solid. She looks at the other two and tells them:

"My most powerful weapons, the Power Bomb and the Zero Laser, are too dangerous to be used in close quarters. Besides I'm not completely sure they could breach this shield."

Cortana considers this... "Lets not use them then until we have no other alternative. We're still alive and not in immediate danger so... lets just keep trying."

She pauses for a moment and looks at the force field... "Why is the field emiting temperatures below zero?"

John looks at the field... his suit regulates his temperature so he didn't feel it. "Maybe to preserve something inside?"

"Or keep something out." says Samus in a grave voice.

Cortana looks up at Samus with a raised eyebrow. "And what would that be?"

"I'd rather not say."

"Why not?"

"Because I hope I'm wrong..."

- - -

Over the next half an hour, they continue to try and breach the force field, to no effect. John stops in order to conserve his ammo. They both lean against the crates filled with Pirate weapons...

Samus looks down at her boots and thinks about something... she glances at Cortana. "Are we safe from eavesdroppers?"

The "smart" A.I. thinks for a moment... then nods up at Samus.

"Good, because I need to tell you both something, and since we may be here for a while, now's a good time as any."

The Chief watches Samus... maybe now they can finaly understand what's going on.

She begins her narration... "Me and the Pirates hail from the Milky Way galaxy. The strange thing is... Where I am now seems to be another one."

Cortana raises an eyebrow. At first she questions Samus' sanity, but then she looks at her armor and it's completely foreign... maybe there is something to her claim.

She glances at the Chief and Cortana. "The ruling goverment there is called the Galactic Federation, a democracy composed of countless different races, including humans. We were at war with the Space Pirates, who raided ships and planets. Killing everything that stood in their way. They wanted to become the dominant force in the galaxy..."

She pauses for a moment. "They were on the verge of defeat. I destroyed most of their outposts and plans. The Federation had taken control of their homeworld, and the planet that was their last stronghold was destroyed..." She decides not to tell them that she was the one who destroyed Zebes.

"About a year ago, sensors had picked up a colosal energy spike beyond the rim of the galaxy. It was so big that even the most primitive of sensors couldn't miss it, even from that distance. Eventually the spike dissipated, but it still left an impression. The Federation sent ships to check it out, but it was quite the distance and it would take awhile for them to get there."

"I became curious and decided to investigate myself. I was not on speaking terms with the Federation at the time, so I wasn't getting any money from this, but I'm not that greedy. I made a stop at the shipyards of planet Aliehs III to get one of my ships and I warped out of system."

"When I reached the borderline of where the energy spike was, my ship's sensors concluded that what we picked up was a massive energy field of destruction that stretched about 25 000 lightyears in every direction. So if there was any sentient life in this part of space... I doubt there would be now."

Cortana and the Chief listen more intently after that last part. They save their responses for when Samus finishes.

"At the heart of the spike, where it originated from, was a massive dark sphere of strange energy. After spending some time here, and seeing what Slipspace was, it was proboably a portal made of that Slipspace energy, but on an incredible scale. The next thing I noticed was a battle between Federation ships and Space Pirate survivors several million miles from the portal. I was too far away and couldn't do much, except watch the Pirates destroy the Federation ships and then they entered the portal. It was stupid, but I decided to follow them, so I can finish them off myself."

"When I reached the other side, I was in the exact same location where I was earlier, but... I was somewhere else. The first thing I needed to do was avoid the debris field. There were millions of giant pieces of alien structures everywhere, and no sign of the Pirates. So I decided to enter this galaxy and hunt them down..."

Samus looks around. "I learned that I was in the Milky Way galaxy, but it's different here... I don't know whether this is the past or an alternate reality, but the latter might be more likely. I've been to a planet that had its dimension ripped in two."

At this point, Cortana interrupts her. "Ok... explain to me about that last part. You've been to a planet that had two dimensions?" She crosses her arms and looks up at Samus.

"The planet's called Aether. It was struck by a meteor a long time ago, the meteor was full of a radioactive and mutagenic element called Phazon. It was also a powerful source of energy, but incredibly unstable. The sentient race that lives on Aether, the Luminoth, tried in vain to alter the meteor's trajectory by firing weapons at it. The attempt put a great strain on the planetery energy, and Aether became unstable. So when the unstable Phazon meteor impacted the unstable planet... it ripped the planet's fabric of reality into two."

Cortana turns to the Chief and looks up at him. "The energy spike she mentioned earlier, did that sound like-"

"The firing of a Halo ring?" He finishes for her.

She nods. "And the portal she mentioned sounds exactly like the one that connects to the Ark, that happens to be beyond the rim of the galaxy. This is purely theoretical... but if what she says is true... I told you before that the portal couldn't sustain itself and was about to collapse, and Halo was incomplete. If these two powerful unstable energies met... then maybe they ripped through time and space and connected two different realities by accident, and the blast from Halo continued even towards the other Milky Way galaxy."

"Then why aren't we in her reality?" John asks her.

She lifts her hands up and shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know." John thought that was odd. It was rare for her not to know something.

Samus listens to them with interest. "So what is Halo? The Elites said that it was something very important, yet they were also rather sketchy about details, like they were almost in denial."

Cortana nods. "I wouldn't be surprised. They were part of the ruling class of the Covenant and co-founders of their group. For so long they believed that the seven Halo rings would activate a sublimation event called the Great Journey, and it was only recently that they learned the truth. It's a weapon of galactic destruction."

Samus raises her eyebrows... that would explain why the surrounding systems around the portal seemed almost dead. "Why would someone build things like that??"

Cortana and the Chief look at eachother... then she addresses Samus. "You might want to take a seat, this may take awhile..."