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The battle became somewhat easier after that, as there was less and less incoming fire, and he was able to knock three more robots out of the air in quick succession.
He started to move, reloading as he went. One especially persistent machine took advantage of the interlude to score three hits on his back, which triggered the audible alarm, and pushed his shield to the very edge.
With only four shells in his weapon, the Chief turned, blew the robot out of the air, and spun to nail another. Then, weapon raised, he turned in a circle, searching for more targets. There weren’t any.
“So,” he said as he lowered the shotgun and pushed more shells into the receiver, “don’t tell me—let me guess. You have a plan.”
“Yes,” Cortana replied unabashedly, “I do. We can’t let the Monitor activate Halo. We have to stop him—we have to destroy Halo.”
The Spartan nodded and flexed his stiff shoulders. “And how do we do that?”
“According to my analysis of the available data I believe the best course of action is somewhat risky.”
Naturally,the Chief thought.
“An explosion of sufficient size,” Cortana explained, “will help destabilize the ring—and will cut through a number of primary systems. We need to trigger a detonation on a large scale, however. A starship’s fusion reactors going critical would do the job.
“I’m going to find out where thePillar of Autumn went down. If the ship’s fusion reactors are still relatively intact, we can usethem to destroy Halo.”
“Is thatall ?” the Spartan inquired dryly. “Sounds like a walk in the park. By the way, it’s nice to have you back.”
“It’s nice tobe back,” Cortana said, and he knew she meant it. Although there were any number of “natural” bio-sentients that she thought of as friends, the bond the AI shared with the Spartan was unique. So long as they shared the same armor they would share the same fate. Ifhe died thenshe died. Relationships don’t get any more interdependent than that, something that struck Cortana as both wonderful and frightening.
His boots made a hollow sound as he approached the gigantic blast doors and hit the switch. They parted to reveal a battle in progress between a group of Sentinels and Covenant ground troops. Red lasers split the air into jagged shapes as robots burned a Jackal down. The contest was far from one-sided, however, as one of the machines exploded and showered the Covenant with bits of hot metal.
The room was a long rectangular affair with a strangely corrugated floor. Standing at one end of the space, and well out of harm’s way, the Spartan was content to watch and let the two groups whittle each other down. However, when the last robot crashed, leaving two Elites still on their feet, the Master Chief knew he’d have to take them on.
The Covenant spotted the human, knew he’d have to come to them, and stood waiting. The Chief took advantage of what little bit of cover there was and made his way down the length of the room. With only half a clip of ammo left in his assault rifle, he had little choice but to tackle them with the shotgun—far from ideal at this range.