Halo 4 Chapter 14

"I should have known something like this would happen." Leonard cursed as he looked around. "God damn it, Silent Spark, answer me."

"Calm down, Spartan. Getting mad will do us no good." The Arbiter looked around, trying to find any sort of sign as to where they were. "We need to try to make contact with the other teams so that we can destroy this core."

"We need Silent Spark to be able to tell what the damn core looks like." Leonard turned to the alien. "And we'll need the rest of our soldiers."

"Then why not try calling them on the radio," the Arbiter pointed out. "If we can make contact we can find a place to meet up."

"Yeah sure, we'll see if anyone replies." Leonard turned on his radio and opened a channel with his fellow Spartans. "Come in Spartan III. This is Leonard-G013."

"What the hell happened? How did Silent Spark mess this up?" Hannah sounded as though she was about ready to hit someone.

"Great to know that you are still there G106." Leonard silently cursed that she was the first one to reply. "Where are you, and is anyone with you?"

"I'm here with Andrew, of all the luck. I don't know where the hell we are. We're walking down a hallway. Not really any land\marks or anything… Not really much of anything at all," Hannah answered.

"Well that covers four of us. I seem to be on a…what is this thing, a platform? Either way, I'm here with the Arbiter." Leonard glanced over at the Arbiter as he mentioned him. He knew that the other Spartan couldn't see him but it was sort of habit. "Dylan, Rebeka, either of you hear me?"

"I hear you, we're in a wide open space, don't really know where though." Rebeka seemed much less annoyed. "Anyone have any landmarks that they could use to find their way?"

"No, anyone have any sign of Silent Spark?" Leonard moved to the edge of the platform. There was a ramp down but he didn't really care about that. "Oh, I see a light bridge of some kind."

"Anyone else see a light bridge?" Rebeka looked around the room they were in. "I don't see one around here, and it could be down any of these passages."

"All I see are walls; once more, we're in a hallway that only seems to split off into more hallways." Hannah's anger only seemed to grow as she looked at the walls around her. For a moment Leonard thanked his luck that he wasn't the one stuck with her.

"So, then how do we find each other?" Rebeka didn't sound too worried about their current situation. "If we can't find one landmark then we can't find a meeting place. Our maps don't cover this area, either."

"We will have to try to make contact with Silent Spark. All teams should search for any way to contact him. He may be able to tell them where the others are and we can make plans from there. The Arbiter and I will be Alpha team, Hannah and Andrew will be Beta team"

"Oh, hell no, I'm no one's beta." Hannah stopped nearly causing Andrew to run into her. "Andrew and I are going to be Alpha team, you can be Gamma team."

"This is not a democracy, you're Beta team." Leonard closed his eyes, fighting to not let her get the better of him. "Rebeka and Dylan are Gamma team. Why do you always have to be so difficult?"

"Why do you always have to be so stupid?" Hannah clenched her fists and took a threatening stance despite the fact that they were talking over the radio. Andrew took a step away from her, not wanting her to take the anger out on him.

"Andrew, could you talk some sense into her?" Leonard threw his hands out to his side, slightly pleading with the other soldier.

"Sorry Leo, but I think we should be Alpha team. I like the ring of it." Andrew smiled, enjoying the fact that he wasn't the object of Hannah's anger for once. "I think you should just celebrate that Hannah and I agree on something and give in."

"Damn it, fine. Arbiter and I are Beta team, Andrew and Hannah are Alpha, and Rebeka and Dylan are Gamma." Leonard had to fight to keep himself from shouting. "Anyone have any problems with that?"

"I still think that you and the Arbiter should be Gamma. No offense to the Arbiter, but with you on the team that makes it the third rated team." Hannah seemed more amused at the situation and no longer angry.

"That's it, end of discussion, just go find a way to contact Silent Spark," Leonard cut the channel and turning to the Arbiter. "I swear one of these days I'm going to kill them."

"Don't waste the ammunition. They are more useful alive any way." The Arbiter moved off to the ramp. "Now, what should we be searching for?"

"I have absolutely no idea." Leonard walked past the alien and down the ramp toward the unknown. He looked around for any signs of anything that could link them up with Silent Spark.

"Might I ask, if you and your team do not get along then why do you remain a team?" The Arbiter followed the Spartan down the ramp.

"Because we work as a team."Leonard shrugged his shoulders trying to find the right words. "I know it's not logical but we barely even listen to the word logic let alone apply it to what we do. If we did the logical thing the five of us wouldn't even talk to each other but our reputation speaks for itself."

"I do not understand. How can those that do not listen to one another work together at all?" The Arbiter gazed around as they reached the base of the ramp.

"We listen to each other, we still trust each other, we just argue. I don't really see a problem with that. If there are enough holes in my plans then they'll point them all out and I patch them up. It works better than it sounds like it does." Leonard put his hands up, hoping that it made sense. "I mean, think of yourself, for example. You're a shamed elite, someone that everyone in your race is supposed to look down on. But what's the position that you hold? You're the most trusted soldier in the Covenant army. Doesn't seem very logical to me."

"I suppose you are right." The Arbiter turned away unable to argue against his logic.

"This is so stupid." Hannah glared at the fire paths around them. "Which path should we take? They could go to almost anywhere." She glared back at Andrew. "Any ideas?"

"I have no idea, why are you even asking me that question?" Andrew raised his hands from his sides with his palms up. "You never ask me what I think. Why would you start now?"

"Well, because I have no idea and if I don't ask you then you'll bitch about it later." Hannah smirked at him. "Consider this a preemptive strike."

"Well then, I say we go down whatever hallway you think that we should go down." Andrew smiled triumphantly. "That way you can't get mad at me when we get lost."

"I can get mad at you for not making a choice and leaving it up to me." Hannah jabbed him in the chest with one finger. "Let's just go this way." She turned and moved down a side hallway.

"Why do you always have to do that, be so mean to me? Why do you always target me when we do the one-on-one stuff?" Andrew walked after her.

"I don't know. You're fun to attack. There's a satisfaction to slamming my fist into your head that I don't get when I do it to other people." Hannah shrugged, smiling to herself. "I like that feeling, so I target you. There's something satisfying about being able to report to the command that I killed you."

"That just sounds so wrong." Andrew let his head fall to the side as his brows furrowed. "So you get some sick satisfaction out of hurting me?"

"I think that would be obvious." Hannah glanced back at him. "I get satisfaction out of causing you pain. I don't know if there's a term for it since it's really just like entertainment or like a fulfillment. The same kind of feeling you get when you crush a brute skull under your fist."

"Great to know that hurting me gives you the same feeling as killing the enemy." Andrew frowned at her. He glanced around, studying the walls. "I don't see anything we could use to contact Silent Spark."

"It's not the exactly same feeling. Hurting you feels better." Hannah hit him in the arm. "We haven't found anything other than more hallways. Of course there's no way to contact Silent Spark."

"Ow, stop that! We're in a combat zone and on the same team. You aren't supposed to hurt your own team." Andrew rubbed at his arm where she had hit him. "I just mean that we haven't found anything but hallways. Maybe we should try going down a different hallway again."

"Who cares what you are supposed to do. I never do what I'm supposed to do." Hannah smiled at him, stopping as they hit a fork in the hallway. "Well then, this time you are choosing the hallway."

"So then, where should we start?" Dylan looked over at Rebeka and then around at the passages. "I mean, there are a lot of ways that we could go from here. You got any ideas?"

"I don't really have a single clue. I think that out best bet is choosing a random passage and just heading down it." Rebeka frowned and set her hands on her hips. "The Forerunners have so much less style then the Covenant."

"What it is with you and the Covenant? I don't get that at all. You do realize that they are the enemy?" Dylan cocked his head to one side.

"Actually, half of them are our allies now." Rebeka raised her hand with pointer finger extended. "Their weapons, ship, and armor are much sleeker then human weapons. They use energy to destroy their enemies, and they nearly destroyed all humanity. I think that deserves being studied."

"I suppose that is reasonable, but why not leave that up to the intelligence agents?" Dylan turned his attention back to the passages. "That is kind of what they are for."

"Because I don't see why they should have all the fun." Rebeka crossed her arms and frowned. "I want to be able to study it. You wouldn't leave it to someone else to blow something up. If anyone should be worried it's me with your obsession over exploding things."

"I like to destroy stuff. I think that's a good thing in a soldier." Dylan looked around as a sound echoed through the open space. "What is that?"

"I don't know, never heard something like that." Rebeka caught sight of movement. She raised her rifle and Dylan turned to aim at the movement as well. "What is that thing?"

"Don't know." Dylan watched the sentinel move. It didn't even seem to notice them, just moved through the open space down one of the passages. "I say we follow it."

"That's right, because Forerunner things are something we should follow." Rebeka shook her head. "Seems like a stupid idea."

"If it were Covenant then you'd be all for following it." Dylan glared at her. "Listen, Silent Spark is probably controlling it, so we should be able to follow it to some sort of location where we can make contact with Silent Spark."

Rebeka sighed and shook her head. "All right, we'll follow it."

The two Spartans moved off, following the sentinel as it moved down the passage. They followed it for six minutes before it finally came out into a much larger room.

Dylan and Rebeka looked around the large room at the metal structure that stood in the center. "You think that's the core?" Dylan looked over the object. It almost reached the ceiling and there were wires that spread along the walls. Sentinels moved through the wires to ports around the object connecting to it and downloading or uploading information before disconnecting and moving away.

"I would have to say it is. The Covenant would have done it better though." Rebeka crept over a bit as a sentinel passed close to her. "You think those will be a problem when we try to destroy it?"

"Depends on if Silent Spark can control them when we do." Dylan watched as one of them moved above them. "We should report this to Leonard."

"Agreed," Rebeka opened a channel with the other Spartans. "G013, we think we've found the core. We'll see if there's any way around here to contact Silent Spark."

"G061, can you send me a video feed of what you think the core looks like?" Leonard stopped in his tracks and the Arbiter stopped a few feet ahead of him. "I don't think we should go down that way."

"Yes, sir. Video feed being patched through." Rebeka connected her video through the channel to transmit the images. She looked over the core and watched one of the sentinels work for a moment.

"Yeah, that looks like that could be it." Leonard sighed watching the footage. "Try to find a terminal or something to contact Silent from. We'll try to make our way to your location."

"Understood, we'll see what we can find. Gamma team out." Rebeka then cut the line and turned to Dylan. "Let's see if we can find anything." Dylan nodded and they started their search.

"Should we continue to the site or should we back off. If we don't go directly there it might draw attention to ourselves." Asho looked over at Hnsa.

"We cannot risk the loyalists finding out that we are not part of their teams yet we cannot join them on the ground. Try to take a long way there and hail the Arbiter." Hnsa paused to think.

The phantom turned and slowed to give them more time. "How long until your troops can be there?" Fred looked over toward the commander.

"I don't know, it is hard to tell. It may take a while for the field masters to agree on what strategy to use." Hnsa shook his head. "We have to hope that we can contact the Arbiter and coordinate with him and the other Spartans to be sure that they make it out with whatever the loyalists were looking for."

"Sir, I'm picking up the Arbiter's signal very faintly. It seems like it is very deep down under the surface of the planet." Asho glanced back at the soldiers from his pilot seat.

"Can you make radio contact with him?" Hnsa moved up to the head of the ship to look at the data.

"He's too deep down. We cannot connect to the signal at this point. We'd have to get closer and lower down to the signal to even get a full reading on his location." Asho glanced back at the data.

"See if you can get a lock on it, and a connection to the main fleet to find out what the orders are. Alert me if you get any communications from the loyalist fleet," Hnsa ordered and Asho nodded.

"Do you have anything planned?" Fred watched the commander moved back to his place among the other soldiers.

"I cannot make a proper plan without knowing the plans of the main fleet. For now we focus on finding the Arbiter." Hnsa looked toward the main view screen.

"Sir, we are getting an odd transmission." Ahso connected the signal to the rear of the phantom, filling it with the strange mechanical voice.

"Greetings, I am Silent Spark, are you the reclaimers?" The voice was obviously mechanical and ran in a loop.

"Reclaimers?" Hnsa glanced over at the Spartans. There was a slight shift of the shoulders as Fred shrugged. "I don't think this is going to work out well for us."

~End chapter 14~