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Description
Search for the Cartographer Part 1.

- Dusk Till Dawn -

- Bridge -

- 44 minutes later -

First Lieutenant Carl Gordon has seen a view like this before, but there is something truly spectacular about entering anything built by the Forerunners, especially a Shield World.

He stands on the bridge among his fellow officers, and the Master Chief, as the Dusk Till Dawn finishes its trek through the access tunnel and into the Dyson Sphere. The light from the dwarf star in the centre of the Shield World shines into the bridge, causing Gordon to look away and wish he still wore glasses.

Then he hears Commander King order his navigation officer,

"Those Covies can't be far behind us. Best speed towards that sun and see if we can't hide behind it,"

"On it, sir,"

The frigate flies through the makeshift sky of the Shield World towards the source of natural light within the Dyson Sphere.

The Master Chief, meanwhile, transfers the feed from his helmet to his Spartans belowdecks and he receives a transmission from Douglas-042,

"It's quite a view, isn't it, Chief?"

John agrees, but he keeps that to himself.

The communications officer checks his monitor and says, "We're being hailed!"

"What's the origin? Forerunner?" Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel Richardson asks.

"Negative, sir, although I can't be certain," he replies.

Commander Trevor King glances at the LC, then he tells his subordinate to open the channel.

The main view screen displays a live feed of the cockpit of Samus Aran's gunship. The bounty hunter is sitting in her seat and she takes her helmet off once the channel opens.

Lieutenant Gordon has heard rumors of this unpredictable mercenary, but he's never seen her in person. Nobody on the bridge has, except for one.

The Master Chief steps forward and greets her,

"Samus,"

"John," she gives him a curt nod, then she studies the rest of the people on the ship's command deck.

As beautiful as the woman is, Gordon notices how tired her eyes look.

Before either the Commander or the Lieutenant-Colonel can say anything, the Chief gets down to business.

"How long were you down here before we arrived?"

"Four hours. Maybe longer," she replies.

The LC approaches the COMs officer and tells him to locate the source of the signal.

Samus shuts her eyes for a moment before she opens them and addresses the Chief.

"John, I need to tell you some important things. After I arrived, I saw that the Flood have begun breaching this world,"

"Shit," Richardson curses upon hearing this.

"And I found a Forerunner monitoring facility and contacted the administrative A.I."

Richardson steps forward and stands beside the Chief.

"You made contact with a Forerunner artificial intelligence? Was it a Monitor?"

Samus shakes her head.

"No, it was a construct like Cortana,"

John's finger twitches at the mention of her, but nobody notices.

"What did it say?" John asks.

Samus hesitates before answering, as if trying to decide what she should share with them.

"It said that there is a Library here and that this world is an emergency data storage facility,"

Gordon and Richardson's eyes light up, but the Chief does not share their enthusiasm.

"A Library…" John mutters.

"Did it tell you where it was located?" Richardson asks.

Samus shakes her head, "It was destroyed before it could,"

"Destroyed? How?" This time, it's Commander King who asks.

"I don't know, but it was in my armour systems when it happened. I could see the construct, at the back of my thoughts, when it was erased line by line,"

The Chief's hand involuntarily clenches into a fist.

"How do we know you didn't destroy it?" Richardson asks her.

"You don't, but the Sentinels weren't trying to shoot me before that happened. They're aggressive now without the AI directing them, so be careful,"

"We will," John promises her.

Samus inputs a few commands into her ship and starts transferring data to the Dusk Till Dawn.

"I'm sending you all the data on the terrain I've explored and the scans from my ship,"

"We appreciate that," Commander King replies.

Richardson turns towards the Commander and orders him,

"I need you to run a complete seismic survey of the surface. I want that Library found yesterday,"

-

Invisible but flying through the skies of the Shield World is the DAV Light Corvette, Trust in the Past.

They intercept the communications between Samus and the Dusk Till Dawn and transmit their intel to the Destroyer, Judgement of Penitence, as it makes its way through the access tunnel.

Inside the COMs station aboard the Destroyer, a team of Grunts listens in on the chatter while their Elite handlers watch over them.

An Unggoy Minor sweats under the glaring eyes of the Sangheili and he tries harder to listen as the data from the Corvette arrives.

"Something, something, construct. Ummm…"

Another Grunt tries to translate it better.

"Library and data storage something,"

"Library?" A Zealot approaches them and towers over the frightened Grunts. "Are you certain that's what the heathens said?"

The Grunts look at each other for a moment and then nod unanimously.

"Unacceptable!"

The methane breathers brace themselves for their punishment, but it doesn't come, much to their surprise.

"The nishum are unworthy blasphemers. They cannot be allowed to find a Library of our Lords! Continue to listen and translate as best you can. I must report to the Field Marshall,"

The Zealot turns and sprints out of the COMs station towards the bridge.

- - -

2 hours later…

In a small briefing room with a holographic projection table, Lieutenant Gordon studies three displays hovering in front of him, each depicting a different Shield World.

The door to the briefing room opens and Commander King, Major Holmes and Lieutenant-Colonel Richardson enter the room. Iona appears on the terminal at the corner of the table.

"Good. I see you've already lit them up for us," Richardson says when he sees the holograms.

Lieutenant Gordon nods and starts speaking,

"All right, so we've got Trevelyan, otherwise known as Onyx or Shield World 006," he points at the hologram to his left.

"Shield World 0459, the one discovered by the Spirit of Fire 24 years ago," he points to the hologram to his right.

"And now Shield World 007, according to the bounty hunter's data,"

He merges the holograms together and compares the sizes and structures identified within each different sphere.

"Shield World 007 is bigger than 0459, but smaller than Trevelyan. Some of the structures we've identified on its surface are consistent with others previously seen on other Forerunner installations, but there are several differences. What I can tell you is that…"

He discards the holograms of Trevelyan and 0459, then says dryly,

"I can't find a Library anywhere. We don't know if it matches the same physical description as the Libraries on Installations 04, 05 and 03. This isn't a Halo ring,"

Commander King stares at the display and shakes his head.

"I'm hesitant to do another pass. The Covenant's been sending out aerial patrols. I don't know what they're looking for but I don't want it to be us,"

"What's our repair status?" Richardson asks him.

"Internally, the ship's secure, but the outside's still pretty burned to hell. We need fresh Titanium-A, our Point Defence System suffered considerable damage and one of our Hyperion missile silos is in rough shape. MAC's fully operational and so are the Archer Pods, but they won't do jack shit to a Covenant Destroyer's shield before we get blown to kingdom come,"

Major Holmes leans closer to the holographic display and speaks up,

"When the initial sweep didn't turn up anything, I spoke with the Chief and he recommended we find a Cartographer in order to locate the Library,"

Lieutenant Gordon shakes his head and puts his forehead into his palm, "I thought of that too, but I looked and…"

The AI, Iona, interrupts him, "You looked but I looked harder,"

She rearranges the hologram and enlarges a section of land perpetually covered in falling volcanic ash.

"This sector drew my interest because of the ash. While it does appear volcanic, there is not enough geothermal activity on this artificial planet to spew out ash of his quantity. It may even be synthetic,"

"What's your point, Iona?" Gordon asks her.

Holmes closes her icy blue eyes for a moment before she says, "Think, Gordon. Everything about this planet has a purpose, including that ash cloud. We can't see anything inside it,"

"So there might be something hidden in there," Richardson leans closer to the hologram. "Iona, run a thermal and seismic scan,"

"Already done and there's quite a bit of interference, but I was able to identify a structure inside the cloud. It's sketchy, but what I could piece together shares some architectural similarities to the map rooms discovered on Installations 00 and 04, but it is still a long shot,"

"We'll take it," Richardson declares.

Iona holds up her holographic index finger,

"One second. Our scans have picked up additional activity on the surface…"

- - -

Ten minutes later…

Iona reappears next to the holotable on the section of the cargo deck occupied by the Spartans.

She watches some of them spar while the others clean their gear before she addresses them,

"If you boys and girls are done playing roughhouse and playing with your toys, please gather around the table,"

The Spartans immediately comply as they cease what they were doing and approach the table. Black-Three grins behind his visor and asks the AI,

"So, what's on the menu for today?"

Iona gives him a look and says, "I am not a waitress,"

The Master Chief cuts to the chase, "Have you found the Cartographer?"

"Maybe, but there's some Covenant activity we believe you should take a look at,"

She looks over at the table and a holographic outline rises from the surface, revealing two Forerunner structures.

"We aren't sure about the specific purpose of these facilities, but the Covenant are taking a great deal of interest in them,"

The hologram reveals a large number of troops and dropships deploying equipment such as crates, weapons and, most noticeably, Locusts. The same Locusts the Brutes had constructed in their camp some time ago.

"Are they tearing through the buildings or digging something up?" Alice-130 asks.

Iona shrugs. "They appear to be able to enter and leave the structures with ease, so I doubt they need the lasers to get in. My seismic scans haven't picked up anything significant underground, but the Covenant might know something that I don't. The notion irritates the hell out of me,"

"I can imagine," says Black-Four, aka Victor-101.

"The Covenant battlenet isn't offering much. Just orders to fortify and prepare, but their chatter hasn't revealed anything specific about their objective. Command wants to know what they're up to,"

Iona moves on and replaces the holographic display with a different one, this one revealing a battle taking place between the Covenant, Sentinels and the Flood near a large Forerunner facility.

"This structure is one of many that houses the life support and atmosphere controls for the Shield World. The Covenant have the right idea protecting this place. If it falls to the Flood, they could easily spread their spores and infect the entire sphere,"

Jerome-092 looks at John and tells him, "We've seen what that looks like. It's not pretty,"

"And now, for the reason we're all here, apparently…" Iona continues,

She switches the hologram to one of the ash cloud completely covering a sector of the Shield World.

"This is the only location that my scans have difficulty penetrating, but I calculate a 26% chance of finding the Cartographer somewhere in there,"

"Where's the ash coming from?" Jun-A266 asks.

"That, I was able to find,"

Iona highlights the entrance to a structure to the north-east of the ash cloud.

"The Covenant let this one slip in their chatter. If their intel is accurate, the mechanism that controls the dispersal of this ugly grey cloud is inside there somewhere, but I would anticipate the Covenant's presence there and inside the cloud as well,"

"The Covenant have always have a head start, but they never stay in the lead," the Master Chief says and then he turns to the Spartans in jet black armour.

"Team Black, you're on the Covenant encampment. Find out what they're up to and neutralize any chance they have of digging up whatever it is they're looking for,"

"Yes sir!" they reply in unison.

He then faces the trio of Spartans awaiting his orders.

"Red Team, take the life support facility. Use any means necessary to ensure that the Flood does not gain control of it,"

"Understood, sir," Jerome replies. Douglas and Alice nod in agreement.

The Chief addresses Jun next.

"You and I will take the Cartographer,"

"And the ash?" Jun asks.

John glances at Iona and tells her, "Send all the data you have to Grey Team on the sub-Prowler. They'll take the facility that controls it and shut it down,"

"Got it and you're welcome," Iona says before she vanishes.

Team Black approaches the weapon racks to arm themselves for their mission. Black-One takes an Assault Rifle and Battle Rifle, then turns to Black-Two and tells her,

"I need you on counter-intel, so try and stay quiet while you're working," she says.

Two nods and chooses an Assault Rifle and an M6S silenced pistol. She takes a suppressor and attaches it to the barrel of her AR.

Black-Three holsters two M6H Magnums on his thighs and lifts his SAW off the ground.

"Everyone knows I'm the loudest in the family, so I say, let those alien bastards come and get me!"

Black-Four slaps a fresh magazine into his Sniper Rifle, attaches it to his back and then takes a Battle Rifle.

"I'll make sure they don't, this time," he tells Three.

Red Team also equips themselves.

Jerome keeps his Spartan Laser and brings a suppressed Assault Rifle along for the ride.

Alice takes two M6S Magnums and then dons the new bullet pack for her Heavy Machine Gun.

Douglas holsters two silenced SMGs on his thighs and then takes a Rocket Launcher.

Jun and the Chief approach their armoury and Jun equips himself with a Sniper Rifle and DMR.

"You're not gearing up for distance?" he asks John.

The Master Chief takes an Assault Rifle and a number of armour piercing and shredder clips.

"I've been in Cartographers before. One of us has to be ready for close quarters,"

"I think getting there will be the tricky part," Jun says.

"That's what you're here for. You'll be my eyes,"

"Affirmative, sir,"

John takes a suppressor attachment for his AR, just in case. Then he picks up a Sticky Detonator. He figures the remote detonating explosive could come in handy, so he takes it and holsters it on his thigh.

Iona reappears and addresses Team Black.

"I'm uploading all of my translation and linguistics data to Black-Two, figuring she'll need it,"

"You're not coming with us?" Four asks.

Iona shakes her head.

"Command's going to be keeping me busy but I expect to see all of you again once you've finished your jobs. If any of you don't come back, I'll be the one writing your eulogies and I'm not going to skip over any details,"

Jun notices the members of teams Red and Black shift uncomfortably for a brief moment, then he asks the Master Chief,

"Are we ready to go?"

"Almost," he takes two pairs of frag and flash-bang grenades. "There's only one thing left we'll need. Meet me in the hangar,"

- - -

Two Pelicans fly through the sky, the open space between the surface and the Shield World's star.

One of the dropships breaks away from its partner and flies to a different location.

"Good luck, Red Team," the Master Chief tells them after they move out to accomplish their objective.

"We got this, Chief. Find the map room," Alice tells him over the COM.

The troop bay within the Pelican is empty, save for the Master Chief and Jun. The Spartan-III checks each sabot round before loading them back into the magazine and slapping it back into his rifle.

"You are aware that Team Black will be drawing attention to themselves, is that correct?"

"They can handle it," John reassures him as he stands inside the troop bay. Then he contacts the Spartan Fireteam.

"Team Black, are you in position?"

"Affirmative. Ready to engage," Black-One replies.

"Proceed at your own discretion… and Black-Three? No overkill unless you encounter the Flood,"

"Got it, Master Chief," he replies in a disappointed voice.

Jun snorts and mutters, "And I thought Emile was overenthusiastic,"

The pilot contacts the Chief, "Ash cloud in sight,"

John enters the cockpit and looks through the windshield at the large grey hazard blotting out a barren location on the surface.

"Find us an LZ outside the cloud, then get back to the Dawn, before the next Covenant patrol arrives," he tells the pilots.

"Roget that, Chief," the co-pilot replies. He finds a big enough spot less than a klick from the ash and marks it on John's HUD.

On their way down, they can detect heat signatures from Banshee, Vampire, even Seraph wreckages on the rocky surface. As soon as the Chief realizes this, alarm fills his voice.

"Find a different LZ, now!"

They are too late as Sentinels teleport around the dropship, surrounding it. Super Sentinels appear above the Pelican and fire stunning beams to slow it down.

"Shit! Weapon systems aren't responding!"

"Losing power to thrusters. Got to keep this bird airborne…"

Scorch marks cover the hull as Sentinels fire their beams and an Enforcer descends from above. The large machine opens its mechanical limbs and grabs the Pelican in a vice grip.

The Chief addresses the pilots, "When I give the word, kill power to the thrusters,"

He then dashes out of the cockpit and then jumps onto the Scorpion tank underneath the tail carriage. Taking his Sticky Detonator in hand, he moves to one side of the tank and aims at one of the arms gripping the dropship, then he fires a 12.5cm explosive that magnetically latches onto the end of the limb.

"Sir! Cockpit is breached!"

"Kill the power," the Chief orders as he detonates the device.

The end of the Enforcer's left limb is blown off as the Pelican's thrusters go offline. The dead weight and loosening grip allow the dropship to slip through the giant Sentinel's grasp and enter free fall.

The Master Chief rises up and he plunges his knife into the Pelican's tail carriage above him to stay latched onto the dropship.

The Pelican picks up speed as it descends from the sky, away from the aggressive Sentinels. The Chief tries to orient himself so he can land back on the Scorpion tank, but the thrusters come back online, slowing the Pelican's descent and his knife slides out.

He tumbles onto the edge of the Scorpion and rolls off. Jun jumps onto the tank and reaches for the Chief but John is already falling towards the ground.

"Sir!" Jun raises his voice for one of the few times in his life.

The Master Chief watches the Pelican continue its descent towards the LZ and he can hear Jun over the radio, telling the pilots to land the dropship immediately. John holsters his knife and his Sticky Detonator, then he flips over in the air until he's facing the ground, which is fast approaching. He spreads his arms and legs out to slow his descent and he maneuvers himself towards a piece of artificial molten rock sticking out at an angle.

He diverts his shield energy to his boots, grieves and right arm. Once he's too seconds away from hitting the rock, he angles his torso up and sticks his legs out from underneath him.

His boots hit the rock and his armour plunges through the outstretched rock. He lands and the Chief slams his fist into the ground while adopting a kneeling position, letting his shield absorb the impact after hitting the rock slowed him somewhat.

John maintains this pose while feeling pain shoot through his body, but he acknowledges the discomfort and puts it aside. Then he hears an angry hiss in the air and his combat instincts kick in.

His motion tracker shows a contact ahead of him and he stands up, grabs his Assault Rifle and aims at a Xenomorph charging on all fours towards him. His motion tracker shows another contact, directly behind him, and he receives a blow to the back of his unshielded helmet, knocking him unconscious.

-

The sound of explosions and shouting fill John's ears over the radio as he comes to.

"This was a fucking setup!" Black-Three can be heard over the sound of fuel rod detonations.

"Team Black, regroup and call for-" The transmission from Black-One is suddenly cut off.

The Chief opens his eyes and he finds himself lying face down on the ground. Lying next to him is a Xenoelite, with ballistic wounds in its long head. John recognizes the green trace chemicals left in its skull. He's seen plenty of wounds like that in his life and they were all caused by the radioactive rounds used in Carbine rifles.

His motion tracker reads a friendly contact nearby and he starts to get up when a four fingered hand is offered to him. John's eyes follow the hand to its owner and he looks up into the face of the only Sangheili he'd trust with his life.

"Come, Spartan. The ground is no place for a live warrior," Thel 'Vadam says.

The Chief accepts the hand and the former Arbiter helps him up. The seasoned Elite is still in the blue armour of a Minor and he holds a Plasma Rifle in his other hand while a Carbine rests on his back.

John looks around and assesses the situation. The drag marks left on the ground indicate he's been moved from his initial landing position and all around them is a barren grey rocky terrain covered in ash, giving the illusion of a volcanic environment without an actual volcano.

He reaches over his shoulder for his rifle, but he can't find it. Then he realizes he must have dropped it when he was knocked out.

"I need to find my weapon," he tells Thel and the Elite nods.

They follow the drag marks on the ground and the Chief asks his comrade,

"How did you find me?"

"We were on our way to the Cartographer when we saw your fall. I ordered my troops to let me off so that I can search for you. I encountered more of those devilish creatures before I found the one dragging you across here. You let down your guard, Spartan,"

"I know," John doesn't come up with an excuse. He knows he screwed up and he almost lost because of that. "I won't let it happen again. Wait, how do you know about the Cartographer?"

Thel looks up at the looming ash cloud nearby and he tells him, "We've been waiting for the right moment to strike. When the world opened and we ventured into this place, we explored and listened. Our Huragok broke the encryption our enemies have been using and we intercepted orders to secure a Cartographer site in order to find the location of a Library,"

He takes his eyes off the cloud and looks into the orange visor of the Master Chief. "From… personal experience and the effort the Forerunners have made to hide this Library, it is clear that whatever secrets this planet holds should remain buried,"

John nods and looks over his shoulder at the way they came, checking for hostiles.

"Where are your troops?" he asks.

"My brothers are hidden in the sky. It is the only way we've avoided detection by the Sentinels,"

Thel asks him, "Is it true that the Flood have tainted the outer shell of this world?"

The Chief nods again. "And they're down here as well,"

The Elite blinks and tells him, "I have sent a distress call to my brothers on Sangheilios. When they arrive, they will quarantine and glass this planet. Neither parasite can be allowed to escape,"

John agrees and he won't miss this world one little bit. All the men and women who have died here deserve to rest in peace, not live undead as the puppets of the Flood.

When they arrive at the Chief's landing site, they find his Assault Rifle with slime covering the cooling shroud. While wiping it off, a large friendly contact appears on his motion tracker.

"Chief, is that you?" Jun asks over the radio.

"Affirmative," he replies.

With his augmented hearing, the Chief can hear it long before it arrives. The Scorpion tank finishes its approach and comes to a stop. The hatch opens up and Jun climbs out.

He stops upon seeing the Elite and raises his rifle before three things stop him from pulling the trigger. IFF confirms him to be a friendly, the Chief hasn't tried to kill him and he recognizes his facial features from pictures and reports after the war.

"You're Thel 'Vadam, aren't you?" Jun asks while lowering his rifle.

The Sangheili nods before he and the Chief climb up the incline towards the tank.

Jun's not the type to hold a grudge. If he were, he'd state that he could hold Thel responsible for what happened on Reach.

The two Spartans and the Elite approach each other and Jun asks,

"Any change to the plan?"

Thel points at the ash and states, "That cloud will be a hindrance, but it will protect us from the Sentinels,"

"We need that cloud gone. Interference is preventing us from gaining an accurate assessment of the terrain," says the Chief.

"I've already received word from Grey Team. They've breached the complex," Jun tells them.

The Chief shoulders his rifle and climbs up the tank.

"Jun, you're on recon. Get into the cloud and mark any targets you find on my HUD,"

"Got it, Chief,"

"Do you have VISR?"

"Affirmative and a hologram generator,"

"Perfect,"

John enters the tank and closes the lid while Thel operates the machine gun turret. Jun scouts ahead of them as they approach the looming cloud and ash starts to fall like thick grey snowflakes.

Description
Search for the Cartographer Part 1.

- Dusk Till Dawn -

- Bridge -

- 44 minutes later -

First Lieutenant Carl Gordon has seen a view like this before, but there is something truly spectacular about entering anything built by the Forerunners, especially a Shield World.

He stands on the bridge among his fellow officers, and the Master Chief, as the Dusk Till Dawn finishes its trek through the access tunnel and into the Dyson Sphere. The light from the dwarf star in the centre of the Shield World shines into the bridge, causing Gordon to look away and wish he still wore glasses.

Then he hears Commander King order his navigation officer,

"Those Covies can't be far behind us. Best speed towards that sun and see if we can't hide behind it,"

"On it, sir,"

The frigate flies through the makeshift sky of the Shield World towards the source of natural light within the Dyson Sphere.

The Master Chief, meanwhile, transfers the feed from his helmet to his Spartans belowdecks and he receives a transmission from Douglas-042,

"It's quite a view, isn't it, Chief?"

John agrees, but he keeps that to himself.

The communications officer checks his monitor and says, "We're being hailed!"

"What's the origin? Forerunner?" Lieutenant-Colonel Daniel Richardson asks.

"Negative, sir, although I can't be certain," he replies.

Commander Trevor King glances at the LC, then he tells his subordinate to open the channel.

The main view screen displays a live feed of the cockpit of Samus Aran's gunship. The bounty hunter is sitting in her seat and she takes her helmet off once the channel opens.

Lieutenant Gordon has heard rumors of this unpredictable mercenary, but he's never seen her in person. Nobody on the bridge has, except for one.

The Master Chief steps forward and greets her,

"Samus,"

"John," she gives him a curt nod, then she studies the rest of the people on the ship's command deck.

As beautiful as the woman is, Gordon notices how tired her eyes look.

Before either the Commander or the Lieutenant-Colonel can say anything, the Chief gets down to business.

"How long were you down here before we arrived?"

"Four hours. Maybe longer," she replies.

The LC approaches the COMs officer and tells him to locate the source of the signal.

Samus shuts her eyes for a moment before she opens them and addresses the Chief.

"John, I need to tell you some important things. After I arrived, I saw that the Flood have begun breaching this world,"

"Shit," Richardson curses upon hearing this.

"And I found a Forerunner monitoring facility and contacted the administrative A.I."

Richardson steps forward and stands beside the Chief.

"You made contact with a Forerunner artificial intelligence? Was it a Monitor?"

Samus shakes her head.

"No, it was a construct like Cortana,"

John's finger twitches at the mention of her, but nobody notices.

"What did it say?" John asks.

Samus hesitates before answering, as if trying to decide what she should share with them.

"It said that there is a Library here and that this world is an emergency data storage facility,"

Gordon and Richardson's eyes light up, but the Chief does not share their enthusiasm.

"A Library…" John mutters.

"Did it tell you where it was located?" Richardson asks.

Samus shakes her head, "It was destroyed before it could,"

"Destroyed? How?" This time, it's Commander King who asks.

"I don't know, but it was in my armour systems when it happened. I could see the construct, at the back of my thoughts, when it was erased line by line,"

The Chief's hand involuntarily clenches into a fist.

"How do we know you didn't destroy it?" Richardson asks her.

"You don't, but the Sentinels weren't trying to shoot me before that happened. They're aggressive now without the AI directing them, so be careful,"

"We will," John promises her.

Samus inputs a few commands into her ship and starts transferring data to the Dusk Till Dawn.

"I'm sending you all the data on the terrain I've explored and the scans from my ship,"

"We appreciate that," Commander King replies.

Richardson turns towards the Commander and orders him,

"I need you to run a complete seismic survey of the surface. I want that Library found yesterday,"

-

Invisible but flying through the skies of the Shield World is the DAV Light Corvette, Trust in the Past.

They intercept the communications between Samus and the Dusk Till Dawn and transmit their intel to the Destroyer, Judgement of Penitence, as it makes its way through the access tunnel.

Inside the COMs station aboard the Destroyer, a team of Grunts listens in on the chatter while their Elite handlers watch over them.

An Unggoy Minor sweats under the glaring eyes of the Sangheili and he tries harder to listen as the data from the Corvette arrives.

"Something, something, construct. Ummm…"

Another Grunt tries to translate it better.

"Library and data storage something,"

"Library?" A Zealot approaches them and towers over the frightened Grunts. "Are you certain that's what the heathens said?"

The Grunts look at each other for a moment and then nod unanimously.

"Unacceptable!"

The methane breathers brace themselves for their punishment, but it doesn't come, much to their surprise.

"The nishum are unworthy blasphemers. They cannot be allowed to find a Library of our Lords! Continue to listen and translate as best you can. I must report to the Field Marshall,"

The Zealot turns and sprints out of the COMs station towards the bridge.

- - -

2 hours later…

In a small briefing room with a holographic projection table, Lieutenant Gordon studies three displays hovering in front of him, each depicting a different Shield World.

The door to the briefing room opens and Commander King, Major Holmes and Lieutenant-Colonel Richardson enter the room. Iona appears on the terminal at the corner of the table.

"Good. I see you've already lit them up for us," Richardson says when he sees the holograms.

Lieutenant Gordon nods and starts speaking,

"All right, so we've got Trevelyan, otherwise known as Onyx or Shield World 006," he points at the hologram to his left.

"Shield World 0459, the one discovered by the Spirit of Fire 24 years ago," he points to the hologram to his right.

"And now Shield World 007, according to the bounty hunter's data,"

He merges the holograms together and compares the sizes and structures identified within each different sphere.

"Shield World 007 is bigger than 0459, but smaller than Trevelyan. Some of the structures we've identified on its surface are consistent with others previously seen on other Forerunner installations, but there are several differences. What I can tell you is that…"

He discards the holograms of Trevelyan and 0459, then says dryly,

"I can't find a Library anywhere. We don't know if it matches the same physical description as the Libraries on Installations 04, 05 and 03. This isn't a Halo ring,"

Commander King stares at the display and shakes his head.

"I'm hesitant to do another pass. The Covenant's been sending out aerial patrols. I don't know what they're looking for but I don't want it to be us,"

"What's our repair status?" Richardson asks him.

"Internally, the ship's secure, but the outside's still pretty burned to hell. We need fresh Titanium-A, our Point Defence System suffered considerable damage and one of our Hyperion missile silos is in rough shape. MAC's fully operational and so are the Archer Pods, but they won't do jack shit to a Covenant Destroyer's shield before we get blown to kingdom come,"

Major Holmes leans closer to the holographic display and speaks up,

"When the initial sweep didn't turn up anything, I spoke with the Chief and he recommended we find a Cartographer in order to locate the Library,"

Lieutenant Gordon shakes his head and puts his forehead into his palm, "I thought of that too, but I looked and…"

The AI, Iona, interrupts him, "You looked but I looked harder,"

She rearranges the hologram and enlarges a section of land perpetually covered in falling volcanic ash.

"This sector drew my interest because of the ash. While it does appear volcanic, there is not enough geothermal activity on this artificial planet to spew out ash of his quantity. It may even be synthetic,"

"What's your point, Iona?" Gordon asks her.

Holmes closes her icy blue eyes for a moment before she says, "Think, Gordon. Everything about this planet has a purpose, including that ash cloud. We can't see anything inside it,"

"So there might be something hidden in there," Richardson leans closer to the hologram. "Iona, run a thermal and seismic scan,"

"Already done and there's quite a bit of interference, but I was able to identify a structure inside the cloud. It's sketchy, but what I could piece together shares some architectural similarities to the map rooms discovered on Installations 00 and 04, but it is still a long shot,"

"We'll take it," Richardson declares.

Iona holds up her holographic index finger,

"One second. Our scans have picked up additional activity on the surface…"

- - -

Ten minutes later…

Iona reappears next to the holotable on the section of the cargo deck occupied by the Spartans.

She watches some of them spar while the others clean their gear before she addresses them,

"If you boys and girls are done playing roughhouse and playing with your toys, please gather around the table,"

The Spartans immediately comply as they cease what they were doing and approach the table. Black-Three grins behind his visor and asks the AI,

"So, what's on the menu for today?"

Iona gives him a look and says, "I am not a waitress,"

The Master Chief cuts to the chase, "Have you found the Cartographer?"

"Maybe, but there's some Covenant activity we believe you should take a look at,"

She looks over at the table and a holographic outline rises from the surface, revealing two Forerunner structures.

"We aren't sure about the specific purpose of these facilities, but the Covenant are taking a great deal of interest in them,"

The hologram reveals a large number of troops and dropships deploying equipment such as crates, weapons and, most noticeably, Locusts. The same Locusts the Brutes had constructed in their camp some time ago.

"Are they tearing through the buildings or digging something up?" Alice-130 asks.

Iona shrugs. "They appear to be able to enter and leave the structures with ease, so I doubt they need the lasers to get in. My seismic scans haven't picked up anything significant underground, but the Covenant might know something that I don't. The notion irritates the hell out of me,"

"I can imagine," says Black-Four, aka Victor-101.

"The Covenant battlenet isn't offering much. Just orders to fortify and prepare, but their chatter hasn't revealed anything specific about their objective. Command wants to know what they're up to,"

Iona moves on and replaces the holographic display with a different one, this one revealing a battle taking place between the Covenant, Sentinels and the Flood near a large Forerunner facility.

"This structure is one of many that houses the life support and atmosphere controls for the Shield World. The Covenant have the right idea protecting this place. If it falls to the Flood, they could easily spread their spores and infect the entire sphere,"

Jerome-092 looks at John and tells him, "We've seen what that looks like. It's not pretty,"

"And now, for the reason we're all here, apparently…" Iona continues,

She switches the hologram to one of the ash cloud completely covering a sector of the Shield World.

"This is the only location that my scans have difficulty penetrating, but I calculate a 26% chance of finding the Cartographer somewhere in there,"

"Where's the ash coming from?" Jun-A266 asks.

"That, I was able to find,"

Iona highlights the entrance to a structure to the north-east of the ash cloud.

"The Covenant let this one slip in their chatter. If their intel is accurate, the mechanism that controls the dispersal of this ugly grey cloud is inside there somewhere, but I would anticipate the Covenant's presence there and inside the cloud as well,"

"The Covenant have always have a head start, but they never stay in the lead," the Master Chief says and then he turns to the Spartans in jet black armour.

"Team Black, you're on the Covenant encampment. Find out what they're up to and neutralize any chance they have of digging up whatever it is they're looking for,"

"Yes sir!" they reply in unison.

He then faces the trio of Spartans awaiting his orders.

"Red Team, take the life support facility. Use any means necessary to ensure that the Flood does not gain control of it,"

"Understood, sir," Jerome replies. Douglas and Alice nod in agreement.

The Chief addresses Jun next.

"You and I will take the Cartographer,"

"And the ash?" Jun asks.

John glances at Iona and tells her, "Send all the data you have to Grey Team on the sub-Prowler. They'll take the facility that controls it and shut it down,"

"Got it and you're welcome," Iona says before she vanishes.

Team Black approaches the weapon racks to arm themselves for their mission. Black-One takes an Assault Rifle and Battle Rifle, then turns to Black-Two and tells her,

"I need you on counter-intel, so try and stay quiet while you're working," she says.

Two nods and chooses an Assault Rifle and an M6S silenced pistol. She takes a suppressor and attaches it to the barrel of her AR.

Black-Three holsters two M6H Magnums on his thighs and lifts his SAW off the ground.

"Everyone knows I'm the loudest in the family, so I say, let those alien bastards come and get me!"

Black-Four slaps a fresh magazine into his Sniper Rifle, attaches it to his back and then takes a Battle Rifle.

"I'll make sure they don't, this time," he tells Three.

Red Team also equips themselves.

Jerome keeps his Spartan Laser and brings a suppressed Assault Rifle along for the ride.

Alice takes two M6S Magnums and then dons the new bullet pack for her Heavy Machine Gun.

Douglas holsters two silenced SMGs on his thighs and then takes a Rocket Launcher.

Jun and the Chief approach their armoury and Jun equips himself with a Sniper Rifle and DMR.

"You're not gearing up for distance?" he asks John.

The Master Chief takes an Assault Rifle and a number of armour piercing and shredder clips.

"I've been in Cartographers before. One of us has to be ready for close quarters,"

"I think getting there will be the tricky part," Jun says.

"That's what you're here for. You'll be my eyes,"

"Affirmative, sir,"

John takes a suppressor attachment for his AR, just in case. Then he picks up a Sticky Detonator. He figures the remote detonating explosive could come in handy, so he takes it and holsters it on his thigh.

Iona reappears and addresses Team Black.

"I'm uploading all of my translation and linguistics data to Black-Two, figuring she'll need it,"

"You're not coming with us?" Four asks.

Iona shakes her head.

"Command's going to be keeping me busy but I expect to see all of you again once you've finished your jobs. If any of you don't come back, I'll be the one writing your eulogies and I'm not going to skip over any details,"

Jun notices the members of teams Red and Black shift uncomfortably for a brief moment, then he asks the Master Chief,

"Are we ready to go?"

"Almost," he takes two pairs of frag and flash-bang grenades. "There's only one thing left we'll need. Meet me in the hangar,"

- - -

Two Pelicans fly through the sky, the open space between the surface and the Shield World's star.

One of the dropships breaks away from its partner and flies to a different location.

"Good luck, Red Team," the Master Chief tells them after they move out to accomplish their objective.

"We got this, Chief. Find the map room," Alice tells him over the COM.

The troop bay within the Pelican is empty, save for the Master Chief and Jun. The Spartan-III checks each sabot round before loading them back into the magazine and slapping it back into his rifle.

"You are aware that Team Black will be drawing attention to themselves, is that correct?"

"They can handle it," John reassures him as he stands inside the troop bay. Then he contacts the Spartan Fireteam.

"Team Black, are you in position?"

"Affirmative. Ready to engage," Black-One replies.

"Proceed at your own discretion… and Black-Three? No overkill unless you encounter the Flood,"

"Got it, Master Chief," he replies in a disappointed voice.

Jun snorts and mutters, "And I thought Emile was overenthusiastic,"

The pilot contacts the Chief, "Ash cloud in sight,"

John enters the cockpit and looks through the windshield at the large grey hazard blotting out a barren location on the surface.

"Find us an LZ outside the cloud, then get back to the Dawn, before the next Covenant patrol arrives," he tells the pilots.

"Roget that, Chief," the co-pilot replies. He finds a big enough spot less than a klick from the ash and marks it on John's HUD.

On their way down, they can detect heat signatures from Banshee, Vampire, even Seraph wreckages on the rocky surface. As soon as the Chief realizes this, alarm fills his voice.

"Find a different LZ, now!"

They are too late as Sentinels teleport around the dropship, surrounding it. Super Sentinels appear above the Pelican and fire stunning beams to slow it down.

"Shit! Weapon systems aren't responding!"

"Losing power to thrusters. Got to keep this bird airborne…"

Scorch marks cover the hull as Sentinels fire their beams and an Enforcer descends from above. The large machine opens its mechanical limbs and grabs the Pelican in a vice grip.

The Chief addresses the pilots, "When I give the word, kill power to the thrusters,"

He then dashes out of the cockpit and then jumps onto the Scorpion tank underneath the tail carriage. Taking his Sticky Detonator in hand, he moves to one side of the tank and aims at one of the arms gripping the dropship, then he fires a 12.5cm explosive that magnetically latches onto the end of the limb.

"Sir! Cockpit is breached!"

"Kill the power," the Chief orders as he detonates the device.

The end of the Enforcer's left limb is blown off as the Pelican's thrusters go offline. The dead weight and loosening grip allow the dropship to slip through the giant Sentinel's grasp and enter free fall.

The Master Chief rises up and he plunges his knife into the Pelican's tail carriage above him to stay latched onto the dropship.

The Pelican picks up speed as it descends from the sky, away from the aggressive Sentinels. The Chief tries to orient himself so he can land back on the Scorpion tank, but the thrusters come back online, slowing the Pelican's descent and his knife slides out.

He tumbles onto the edge of the Scorpion and rolls off. Jun jumps onto the tank and reaches for the Chief but John is already falling towards the ground.

"Sir!" Jun raises his voice for one of the few times in his life.

The Master Chief watches the Pelican continue its descent towards the LZ and he can hear Jun over the radio, telling the pilots to land the dropship immediately. John holsters his knife and his Sticky Detonator, then he flips over in the air until he's facing the ground, which is fast approaching. He spreads his arms and legs out to slow his descent and he maneuvers himself towards a piece of artificial molten rock sticking out at an angle.

He diverts his shield energy to his boots, grieves and right arm. Once he's too seconds away from hitting the rock, he angles his torso up and sticks his legs out from underneath him.

His boots hit the rock and his armour plunges through the outstretched rock. He lands and the Chief slams his fist into the ground while adopting a kneeling position, letting his shield absorb the impact after hitting the rock slowed him somewhat.

John maintains this pose while feeling pain shoot through his body, but he acknowledges the discomfort and puts it aside. Then he hears an angry hiss in the air and his combat instincts kick in.

His motion tracker shows a contact ahead of him and he stands up, grabs his Assault Rifle and aims at a Xenomorph charging on all fours towards him. His motion tracker shows another contact, directly behind him, and he receives a blow to the back of his unshielded helmet, knocking him unconscious.

-

The sound of explosions and shouting fill John's ears over the radio as he comes to.

"This was a fucking setup!" Black-Three can be heard over the sound of fuel rod detonations.

"Team Black, regroup and call for-" The transmission from Black-One is suddenly cut off.

The Chief opens his eyes and he finds himself lying face down on the ground. Lying next to him is a Xenoelite, with ballistic wounds in its long head. John recognizes the green trace chemicals left in its skull. He's seen plenty of wounds like that in his life and they were all caused by the radioactive rounds used in Carbine rifles.

His motion tracker reads a friendly contact nearby and he starts to get up when a four fingered hand is offered to him. John's eyes follow the hand to its owner and he looks up into the face of the only Sangheili he'd trust with his life.

"Come, Spartan. The ground is no place for a live warrior," Thel 'Vadam says.

The Chief accepts the hand and the former Arbiter helps him up. The seasoned Elite is still in the blue armour of a Minor and he holds a Plasma Rifle in his other hand while a Carbine rests on his back.

John looks around and assesses the situation. The drag marks left on the ground indicate he's been moved from his initial landing position and all around them is a barren grey rocky terrain covered in ash, giving the illusion of a volcanic environment without an actual volcano.

He reaches over his shoulder for his rifle, but he can't find it. Then he realizes he must have dropped it when he was knocked out.

"I need to find my weapon," he tells Thel and the Elite nods.

They follow the drag marks on the ground and the Chief asks his comrade,

"How did you find me?"

"We were on our way to the Cartographer when we saw your fall. I ordered my troops to let me off so that I can search for you. I encountered more of those devilish creatures before I found the one dragging you across here. You let down your guard, Spartan,"

"I know," John doesn't come up with an excuse. He knows he screwed up and he almost lost because of that. "I won't let it happen again. Wait, how do you know about the Cartographer?"

Thel looks up at the looming ash cloud nearby and he tells him, "We've been waiting for the right moment to strike. When the world opened and we ventured into this place, we explored and listened. Our Huragok broke the encryption our enemies have been using and we intercepted orders to secure a Cartographer site in order to find the location of a Library,"

He takes his eyes off the cloud and looks into the orange visor of the Master Chief. "From… personal experience and the effort the Forerunners have made to hide this Library, it is clear that whatever secrets this planet holds should remain buried,"

John nods and looks over his shoulder at the way they came, checking for hostiles.

"Where are your troops?" he asks.

"My brothers are hidden in the sky. It is the only way we've avoided detection by the Sentinels,"

Thel asks him, "Is it true that the Flood have tainted the outer shell of this world?"

The Chief nods again. "And they're down here as well,"

The Elite blinks and tells him, "I have sent a distress call to my brothers on Sangheilios. When they arrive, they will quarantine and glass this planet. Neither parasite can be allowed to escape,"

John agrees and he won't miss this world one little bit. All the men and women who have died here deserve to rest in peace, not live undead as the puppets of the Flood.

When they arrive at the Chief's landing site, they find his Assault Rifle with slime covering the cooling shroud. While wiping it off, a large friendly contact appears on his motion tracker.

"Chief, is that you?" Jun asks over the radio.

"Affirmative," he replies.

With his augmented hearing, the Chief can hear it long before it arrives. The Scorpion tank finishes its approach and comes to a stop. The hatch opens up and Jun climbs out.

He stops upon seeing the Elite and raises his rifle before three things stop him from pulling the trigger. IFF confirms him to be a friendly, the Chief hasn't tried to kill him and he recognizes his facial features from pictures and reports after the war.

"You're Thel 'Vadam, aren't you?" Jun asks while lowering his rifle.

The Sangheili nods before he and the Chief climb up the incline towards the tank.

Jun's not the type to hold a grudge. If he were, he'd state that he could hold Thel responsible for what happened on Reach.

The two Spartans and the Elite approach each other and Jun asks,

"Any change to the plan?"

Thel points at the ash and states, "That cloud will be a hindrance, but it will protect us from the Sentinels,"

"We need that cloud gone. Interference is preventing us from gaining an accurate assessment of the terrain," says the Chief.

"I've already received word from Grey Team. They've breached the complex," Jun tells them.

The Chief shoulders his rifle and climbs up the tank.

"Jun, you're on recon. Get into the cloud and mark any targets you find on my HUD,"

"Got it, Chief,"

"Do you have VISR?"

"Affirmative and a hologram generator,"

"Perfect,"

John enters the tank and closes the lid while Thel operates the machine gun turret. Jun scouts ahead of them as they approach the looming cloud and ash starts to fall like thick grey snowflakes.