The Oracle

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Arbiter flew his banshee and a wave of heretic banshees appeared.
"The Heretics have weapons emplacements all over the facility, Arbiter, we'll take them out, one by one, until we find the Heretic Leader", said the phantom pilot.
"Roger that", said Arbiter.
Arbiter and the phantom blew up the wave of banshees and searched around for Sesa 'Refumee.
"That was the last of them - but there are more ahead", said the phantom pilot.
Arbiter flew around looking at different emplacements.
"No sign of the Heretic Leader or his banshee, we must keep searching", said Rtas.
Another wave of banshees came as Arbiter neared the final emplacement.
"Incoming", said Arbiter.
Arbiter flew around shooting the heretic banshees one by one.
Many of the banshees blew up and Arbiter finished off the last one.
"We've tracked the leader to this part of the station, clear that landing zone and get inside", said Rtas.
"Yes sir", said Arbiter.
Arbiter flew to the final emplacement and cleared the landing.
He landed his banshee and ran towards the door.
Two special ops elites cover the entrance with plasma rifles while special ops grunts file in.
The elites cautiously advance, followed by Rtas 'Vadumee and Arbiter.
Rtas pauses and sniffs the air.
"What is it"?
"That stench...I've smelled it before", answered Rtas.
The assault team proceeds through a small room, where a large tank containing some small, floating, fleshy lifeforms can be seen.
The team approaches a doorway, and through the transparent floor of the next room, they can see the shadows of heretics and strange creatures battling.
"By the Rings, what is that", asked elite 1.
Grunts 1 and 2 whimpered.
"Quiet".
The creatures all leave through another doorway.
"It's moved on, quickly, before it returns, let's find the heretic leader and finish him off".
The team moves into a laboratory, strewn with deformed corpses.
"What happened here", asked elite 2.
"Me have bad feeling about this", said grunt 1.
"You always have bad feeling, you had bad feeling about morning food nipple", said grunt 2.
"Close your jaws, or I shall bind them shut", threatened elite 2.
A floating orb enters the room, and the image of the heretic leader appears in the air.
"See, heretic", yelled grunt 1.
The grunts started firing on it quickly coming apparently it's a hologram and nothing more.
"Hold your fire, hold your fire", yelled Rtas.
The grunts came to a halt as the hologram begins to speak.
"I wondered who the prophets would send to silence me, an Arbiter... I'm flattered", said Sesa.
"He's using a holodrone, he must be close, (to Sesa) come out, so we may kill you", said Rtas.
"(laughs) Get in line", said Sesa.
The hologram vanishes, and moments later, familiar tiny bulbous creatures start to appear.
"Leader", yelled elite 1.
"Stand firm, the Flood is upon us", said Rtas.
They blasted at the infection forms and some of them reanimated the corpse combat forms.
"Heretic fools, what have they done", asked elite 2.
The Flood assault subsides, and a doorway opens out of the labs.
"Go, Arbiter, I'll follow when our reinforcements arrive", said Rtas.
"This place is filled with the parasite, not even heretics deserve this", whispered elite 1 and 2.
Arbiter Thel 'Vadamee and the survivors ride an elevator down to the lower levels of the labs, fighting the flood and sentinels.
After a long ride, they enter a hallway strewn with corpses.
"We should have brought weapons to burn these bodies, every one is a potential vessel for the flood".
The team advances into a lab filled with battling heretics and flood.
"Heretics, above", yelled elite 1.
They fight their way through the flood that keep infecting and reanimating bodies.
Arbiter manages to press outside to the exterior of the station.
He sees flood battling more heretics, and a phantom swoops in to provide reinforcements and covering fire.
"Leader, the storm is about to hit, we cannot maintain our position", said the phantom pilot.
"Bring the phantoms closer to the mine, we're not leaving until the leader of these heretics is dead, Arbiter, the flood have spread throughout the station, we don't have enough troops to manage such a large infestation, find the leader of these heretics, kill him now", said Rtas.
"Yes sir", said Arbiter.
Arbiter pulled out his carbine and shot all of the flood.
He shot his way through to the top also destroying a couple of sentinels flying around.
Arbiter and his troops advance into the heart of the installation.
They encounter the heretic leader fleeing.
"Heretic boss, you see, you see", yelled grunt 1.
Sesa 'Refumee takes cover behind a shielded door before Arbiter can catch him.
"This will save me from the storm, but you will be consumed", said Sesa.
Arbiter pounds angrily on the portal, but cannot break through as the doors seal.
The SpecOps Commander and his troops arrive.
"Arbiter, where is he", asked Rtas.
Arbiter walked away from the door.
"Stinking floodbait boxed himself in tight, we'll never break through this".
Arbiter notices a hologram of the station, and watches it thoughtfully.
"Then we shall force him out", said Arbiter.
"How", asked Rtas.
"The cable, I'm going to cut it, (turns to Rtas 'Vadumee) get everyone back to the ships", said Arbiter.
"Warriors, return to the landing zone, the Arbiter is going to continue upward, cut this station loose, and scare the heretic from his hole", said Rtas.
"May our lords guide you", said elite 1.
"We shall not forget your sacrifice", said elite 2.
"Keep your blade handy, I doubt the cable can withstand its bite", said Rtas.
Arbiter fought the flood and sentinels on his way to the elevator.
After pressing the button, he rides the elevator to the upper level where the cable is located.
More flood and sentinels we're spotted.
Arbiter used his carbine to clear his way to the first cable.
"Flood bastards", said Arbiter.
"All of my phantoms are in the air Arbiter, go ahead, cut that cable", said Rtas.
Arbiter used his energy sword to cut the first cable.
"That's one, by the prophets, look at the station list", said Rtas.
Arbiter made his way to the second cable and sliced it in half.
"One final cable Arbiter".
He found the third one and cut it disconnecting the station.
The entire station groans with the stress.
All the flood and sentinels present stop their fighting and look upward towards the cable.
The top of the station tears away, and it plummets into the atmosphere.
The remaining sentinels were swept out into the sky.
"That did it, the station is in free fall, the heretic leader is on the move, do not let him escape, we'll stay with you as long as we can".
Arbiter made his way to the elevator.
"I'm on my way down", said Arbiter.
He drops back down into the station and advances past heretics protecting the heretic leader's rear.
"Our lives for the truth, the truth and the covenant", said an H elite.
Arbiter killed that H elite and enters what looks like the main power generator for the station.
"Are you still alive Arbiter, we're keeping pace as best we can", asked Rtas.
"Yes, (sees Sesa'Refumee) and I found the heretic leader", answered Arbiter.
Arbiter fired his carbine and Sesa runs away firing back.
Sesa hops into another banshee and the Arbiter fires at the his banshee as it flies away, then dodges as the banshee fires at him in return.
The Arbiter dashes out, and gets inside another banshee and pursues the heretic.
"What lunacy, he'll never escape this maelstrom in a banshee, wait, the hangar, there was a seraph fighter inside, Arbiter, you know what to do", said Rtas.
"He won't escape this time", said Arbiter.
The Arbiter flies to where the Sesa landed.
The arbiter's banshee tries to land on a platform, but fails and crashes into it instead.
He holds on to the edge of the platform, raises himself up, and continues to go inside.
Arbiter fights through the first portion of the station back toward the hangar, as explosions appear throughout the corridors.
There, he confronts the heretic leader as he is boarding the seraph.
"Turn heretic".
"Arbiter, I would rather die by your hands than let the prophets lead me to slaughter", said Sesa.
"Who has taught you these lies", asked Arbiter.
A familiar humming is heard.
The Arbiter looks up and sees a floating robotic ball descending from above.
"The oracle".
"Hello, I am 343 Guilty Spark, I am the monitor of Installation 04", said Guilty Spark.
"Ask the oracle about halo, how they would sacrifice us all for nothing", said Sesa.
"More questions, splendid, I would be happy to assist you", said Guilty Spark.
Any questions are cut off as the heretic opens fire on Arbiter with twin plasma rifles.
Arbiter falls back, taking cover while his shield generator recharges.
As he does so, the heretic leader floats back toward the seraph and pulls out two holodrones.
"The elites are blind Arbiter ... but I (holds up two holodrones) ... will make them see", said Sesa.
Sesa 'Refumee releases the drones, which become copies of him.
They turn to look at the Arbiter.
Arbiter slices through the hologram clones activates his camouflage.
"Arbiter, show yourself"!
Arbiter shot Sesa with his carbine and he flew in the air shooting his twin plasma pistols.
"How did the prophets buy your loyalty Arbiter, with a new command, a new fleet,...or was it the promise ... their "Great Journey"?
"They promoted me as their blessing, they believed I was no heretic compared to you, they gave me this position because I got a second chance", answered Arbiter.
"Did they really", asked Sesa.
"They did say it was part of my indirect death sentence as well, but they also believed it was also an opportunity to redeem my name and to retain honor to the covenant, this mission was tough but even more problematic when the flood got here", answered Arbiter.
"Of course the flood is here, look around you Arbiter, this facility and dozens like it resulted in the study of the parasite, but where are the weapons Arbiter, what was the result, all that time and effort and the best the forerunners could do was put these foul creatures on ice", said Sesa.
"This mining facility predates Installation Alpha by several hundred years, it was retrofitted to research possible offensive and defensive measures against the flood, indeed, I designed and oversaw the construction of this facility's various outbreak management systems, the cable on top of this mine was designed as a fail safe in case an outbreak took place, I am glad someone had the foresight to cut it, fortunately, all the flood on this installation will perish once this facility enters the planet's nitrogen core", said Guilty Spark.
"And now where are these "Gods" the prophets would have us worship, transcended, (laughs)... hardly, (intending on killing the Arbiter) come Arbiter, let me show you where they went", said Sesa shooting his plasma rifles.
Arbiter dodged the blasts and attempted to shoot at Sesa.
"I will regain my honor to the prophets", yelled Arbiter.
Arbiter kept missing Sesa as he's flying around.
"I see the prophets have chosen poorly Arbiter", mocked Sesa.
Arbiter grew furious and tried to aim and at him even more.
He ran up to the ledge for a better aim.
Sesa aimed at Arbiter and shot at him.
Arbiter layed on the ledge thought to be dead.
"He's down, come oracle, we have much work to do".
Sesa lowered himself on the seraph. Without noticing, Arbiter got up from playing dead and aimed at Sesa's jetpack.
He shot it with his carbine and the jetpack was destroyed.
Arbiter them leaped and killed Sesa with his energy sword.
He is dragging his corpse to the hangar door.
"Unfortunate, his edification was most enjoyable", said Guilty Spark.
"I had no choice, holy oracle, this heretic imperiled the Great Journey", said Arbiter.
"Oracle, Great Journey, why do you meddlers insist on using such inaccurate verbiage-ohhhhh myyyyy", asked Guilty Spark.
343 Guilty Spark is snatched by an unseen force and pulled away.
He is dragged through the air, directly to the top of the Fist of Rukt, the gravity hammer of Tartarus.
Tartarus, standing beneath a phantom, pulls 343 Guilty Spark off the end of his hammer.
"That... is the oracle", said Arbiter disbelievingly.
Tartarus tosses 343 Guilty Spark into the Gravity Lift casually.
"(indifferently) So it is, come, we are leaving this system", said Tartarus.

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