Wake me...When you need me.

That landing didn't feel so good. My empty stomach threatened to release whatever liquid was in it but my adrenaline kept me going. As the hog rolled onto its top both the Arbiter and myself fell out onto the deck of the hangar bay. I stared down at the deck of the hangar bay, waiting for my head to stop spinning but was forced back to my senses by the shifting of the Forward Unto Dawn. It was moving. The hog started to shift toward me but I put my hand up to stop it then the sound of screeching metal caught my attention. I climbled over the hog just in time to catch sight a Scorpion tank "chasing" after the Arbiter. It and the Arbiter crashed itn a pile of crates. Now was when I jumped from the hog toward the pedistal where I could place Cortana. As I landed I looked over my shoulder and the Arbiter poked his head out from the boxes to give me a nod. We both knew our jobs. I ran toward the pedistal and removed the chip from the back of my helmet before placing it into the recieving slot. Cortana's image popped up, <Hold on!> I nodded and gripped onto the pedistal as she pulled the Frigate from the unfinished halo. I could barely hold on and as I looked at the ground for a split second, as I lifted my head the same warthog decided to hit me in the face full force. I lost my grip and tumbled end over end and was suprised when I hit the deck of the hangar belly first and began sliding toward the mouth of the bay. I shoved my arm into the steel and shredded it like paper only to have my shoulder dislocated as I yanked to a stop. I heard Cortana ahead of me yelling, <Chief!> I mustered what strength I could and pulled myself onto my hands and knees and began crawling toward her fighting the g-forces exerted by the exit burn of the Frigate from the Ark installation. I slowly reached Cortana and pulled myself up into a standing position, placing my hands on the rails on either side of the square pedistal. Cortana rose from her kneeling position and looked at me. I only offered a single nod before pulling myself around the back of the pedistal where I removed Cortana's chip. The frigate itself kept going toward the portal at maximum burn. I sat down with my back to the pedistal and inserted Cortana's chip into the back of my helmet. <If we don't make it...> "We'll make it..." Her next words caused my head to fall back as the frigate began to rumble with the vibrations, <It's been and Honor serving with you, John...> The next thing I remembered was the entire Frigate shook with the force of an explosion and white light bathed the hangar bay. I opened my eyes and only had enough time to register a wall in front of me. After that I felt like an elite had smashed in my head and a sea of blackness swallowed me.


<Chief! Can you hear me?!> I deftly reached up and activated the lights on both sides of my helmet. Cortana exhaled, <I thought I'd lost you too...> I was greeted by, no doubt the same wall I slammed into after the Halo ring fired. There was a sensation of weightlessness then I began to look around, rotating my body slowly so I didn't gyrate out of control, something I'd learned a long time ago. I turned my body to look up toward an opening ahead of me, glowing red and orange, slowly dying with the coldness of space. Debris floated here and there, as did my assult rifle. I grabbed it and after a quick examination secured it to my back. "What happened...?" I drifted closer to the opening of the Frigate. <I'm not sure. When Halo fired it shook itself to pieces, did a number on the Ark. The portal couldn't sustain itself. We made it through just as it collapsed....> My right hand found a hold at the opening where the Frigate was cut in half by the portal., looking out nto the empty void of space. My stomach tightened into a knot before sinking into the pit of my bowels. I knew what had happened. Cortana finished her words, <Well...some of us did...> I lowered my head brifely and closed my eyes before opening them and turning back toward the room behind me. The cryo chambers were close by, that much I remembered. I turned down a hallway and pulled myself around the corner then through a busted door leading to the cryo tubes. My mind drifted back to Earth, wondering what was happening there. Cortana's words interrupted my slight rivere of home,  as I reached back and pulled her chip from my helmet and inserted it into a pedistal infront of a cryo tube. Her holoimage illuminated a small area,  <But you did it...>  As she spoke I deactivated my helmet's lights. Now was when she finished her sentence<...Truth, and the Covenant. The FLOOD. It's Finished.> I lowered my head once more and thought about this war all in an instant. Sam, Linda, Kelly. All of them. Gone, but he'd won. They'd all Won. That's all that mattered. I repeated Cortana's last words, "It's Finished..." I turned from Cortana and pulled the MA5C from my back, only to lock it into place beside the cryo tube in the weapon holder. As I floated into the open cryo tube Cortana looked toward me, <I'll drop a beacon, but it'll be a while before anyone finds us...> Her eyes turned to the floor for a brief moment, <Years even.> I began to lay down in the cryo tube, the lid closing over my head. I could make out Cortana's features and though she was an AI, I could tell she was close to crying by human standards, <I'll miss you...> I only looked toward her, "Wake me...When you need me." The cryo lid shut as I layed my head back down on the bed inside. Cold gases filtered through my helmet's vents. I could feel my extremeties start to tingle and go numb before my mind relinquished its grasp of time, space, reality and all senses. I only remember vaguely seeing a silver coin, flipping end of end in the hot sun.