"The Gravemind's ship wasn't in slipspace for long, and it was slow. About half an hour until we reach Sangheilios," Cortana informed him calmly, assigning a tiny portion of her processing power to speak with the Spartan. "The holy warriors will tear us asunder!" Thel cried out worriedly. "Can you not exit this dimension awhile? If the Sentinels follow us, at least we shall be able to engage them." "We could, but this ship doesn't have enough power left in her to jump back into slipspace once we leave it. We'd be drifting. It could take decades, maybe even centuries for us to get back," Cortana replied, pushing the Longsword hard starboard. It smashed into a group of four Sentinels who had attempted to get close enough to board, wrecking them. "If there are stasis pods on this ship, then perhaps we should. It is a preferable alternative to dying," Thel replied. Cortana shook her holographic head. "No working cryo-tubes I'm afraid. You'd die of starvation, and I'd go mad in a few years. Not exactly an ideal solution." "Ah. Well you must double your efforts to thwart these Sentinels," the Arbiter told her. Cortana flared. "Don't tell me what I need to do! I'm doing all I can, Arbiter. If you're not satisfied, then feel free to take the controls. I'm sure we'll all be terribly impressed by your skill in the few seconds before we are blown up," came the satirical answer of the annoyed AI, which promptly quietened the Arbiter. "Cortana, what are you going to do?" John asked anxiously as three more Sentinels caught up the Longsword, shining their lights within and preparing to fire. His AI companion glowed a deeper hue of blue, and a fierce look played about her face. "I'm going to show these relics what happens when you mess with a [i]real[/i] AI." * * * * * * * * * * "I'm not entirely comfortable about having you with us, Admiral," ODST Lieutenant Toyle confessed as the boarding craft sliced its way through the suddenly still space. Most of Offensive Bias' ships were complete wrecks, and those that weren't were incapacitated. The only intact ship was Offensive Bias' flagship, which was surrounded by the entirety of Cole's fleet. It's shields had been disabled, and multiple boarding teams were crashing into it now, to neutralise the ship's Sentinels and defences. "Neither am I," Cole professed, adjusting the clunky and unfamiliar ODST armour strapped to his body. He held the helmet between his legs nervously, and was all to aware of the weapons on his back. He was squashed between two ODSTs whose weight and height far surpassed his own, and felt very much like an outsider. "Then with all due respect sir, why come?" Toyle replied exasperatedly, face conveying dismay. "I've got my own men to worry about without having to baby-sit you." "What you should be worrying about is me booting you back down to private if you don't watch your tone," Cole snapped back angrily. "Remember who you're talking to." "Of course sir, I apologise," Toyle replied bitterly, and Cole could tell that behind the mirrored visor he was being stared at angrily. The Admiral stretched out a little, trying to find some space in the tightly enclosed cockpit. "Don't worry about me troopers, I was firing a rifle before you were even born," Cole told them. "It's been a while, but I know what to do." Offensive Bias' flagship loomed as the boarding craft drew closer, floating past some dead and inactive Sentinels. "Just stay behind us and let us do our jobs, sir," Toyle told him, trying to make it seem like advice and failing. The ODST attempted to cover his blunder up. "Why are we even risking soldiers on this mission? Wouldn't it be wiser to just blow the damned ship up?" "I see what you're implying, Lieutenant, and you can drop it. I don't send soldiers to their possible deaths without good reason," Cole answered curtly. "There are hostile Sentinels on the surface as well, engaging the ground forces. There's no guarantee that just killing Offensive Bias will shut them down. We need to capture him, and have our own AIs find out from him how to switch off the Sentinels. 343 Guilty Spark is blocking the teleportation matrix temporarily, and his ship is completely surrounded. There's nowhere for Offensive Bias to run. All that remains is to apprehend him, and finally bring this short but catastrophic war to an end." The light emanating from the soft violet Helios vanished as the cold, alien, otherworldly greys of Offensive Bias' flagship encompassed the boarding craft as it entered its vicinity. A concentrated, steady stream of plasma burst from the front of the small craft, slicing into the steely hull of the gigantic ship. A small hole was created, which the boarding craft eased into like a cork in a wine bottle. A surreal sound called distantly, an ethereal humming which set Cole's teeth on edge. His old, tired heart was beating faster, and he resolutely struggled and successfully locked away the mounding fear. Now definitely wasn't the time to have another heart attack. He could hear the deep, controlled breaths of the ODST squad contrasting with his own shallow, panicking ones. "Helmets on, make sure your suits are airtight," Lieutenant Toyle ordered, and suddenly Cole didn't feel like his superior any more. This wasn't the bridge of a ship. It was a whole other world, and one which terrified him. He immediately complied with the ODST's command, fumbling slightly as his shaking hands lowered the bulky helmet onto his head. The helmet tinted the world a faint hue of blue, and gave him a horrible feeling of claustrophobia. A silly feeling, really, considering how much of his life he had spent in a metal shell. With clumsy, gloved hands, Cole fastened the airlocks on his heavy armour, the hydraulic sealing systems hissing as they snapped shut. The rest of the infiltration squad did the same, with practiced confidence. A wave of 'green' lights flooded the Tactical HUD, disorientating Cole for a moment. He normally never used a Neural Interface and seeing images superimposed upon the real world made him feel a little sick. Even when he closed his eyes the HUD was still there. Ignoring the queasy feeling, he activated his own green light, completing the row of twelve. They were all good to go. Toyle spoke to them, voice muffled by the faceless ODST helmet. "It's likely that the Sentinels don't bother keeping their ships air tight, since they don't breathe oxygen," Toyle informed them. "So we need to hit these metal sons-of-bit­ches quick, and hard. We'll be communicating via a short-wave radio link, but try to speak as little as possible. These Sentinels have technology far more advanced than ours, they could bypass the security systems easily. I've marked the location of Offensive Bias on the Tactical HUD, which we pinpointed when he was running his lousy mouth. When I open the door, fan out, quiet as you can. And how do we leave, troopers?" "We go feet first, sir!" the other ODSTs shouted back, startling Cole. He knew about the aggressive and protocol-lax behaviour of the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, but had never seen it up this close before. He'd always watched it from his bridge, or via a video link. What was it the marines and troopers usually said? '[i]Navy do the flyin', soldiers do the dying.[/i]' Cole smiled grimly, hoping he wasn't about to prove that saying wrong. He had no wish to die anytime soon, and certainly not encased in some generic armour with a rifle in his hands. When it was his time, he wanted to be standing on the bridge of a ship, staring out into space. Whilst he was entertaining these sombre thoughts, Toyle was chuckling just as morbidly. "Damn straight. Now stand back, I'm about to pop the hatch." Toyle punched an ostentatious red button hanging by the ramp-like door with a clenched fist. [i]Beep.[/i] [i]Beep.[/i] [i]Beep.[/i] [i]Bee--[/i] The noise was suddenly strangled as the door slid open, and the small amount of oxygen within the boarding craft sailed into Offensive Bias' ship, sliding out of the open vents and into the infinite realms of space. Lieutenant Toyle was the first to step out, slowly drawing his gun out. He raised his foot, and tapped it twice on the metal floor, sending vibrations surging through the ship. "[i]Well there's definitely gravity,[/i]" the ODST informed them a little unnecessarily, due to the fact that he wasn't floating around. "[i]Everyone out, on the double.[/i]" Cole exited the boarding craft last, stealing one last look at the inviting, safe interior of the boarding craft. He began to wonder if coming had been such a good idea after all. Was seeing Offensive Bias lose really so important? Memories of the arrogant, hateful AI played through his head. [i]Hell yes,[/i] he concluded, answering his self-posed question. Strengthening his resolve, Cole drew out his weapon. The room they were in was very dark, almost pitch black. For a few moments he looked underneath the barrel of his weapon for a flashlight, before remembering about the new VISR mode installed in all the new ODST helmets. He tapped the side of his helmet twice, and suddenly the ship was bright and vibrant. Inanimate objects were outlined in a sickly yellow colour, whereas the other ODSTs were highlighted in green. And in the corner of the room... Red. The other ODSTs hadn't noticed the Sentinel creeping out from a vent, slowly edging its way toward them. But Cole had. He tried to speak, but he found that he couldn't utter a sound. The Sentinel was drawing closer, and had outstretched its claw-like appendages now. Between the two, a bright light began to pulsate erratically, aimed at Toyle.