Convergence Infinites: Halo

Chapter Fifty Five

343 Guilty Spark was at peace, as he oversaw the completion of the superstructure of his ring. Certain sections were still missing their plating, and the area around the Cartographer Island wasn't even finished yet. As such, Tragic Solitude had it temporarily moved closer to the Control Room, both for protection and for better access by Constructor drones. Still, he was happy, as he looked at the schematics updated nanoseconds ago. At this rate, if things went as well as hoped, the Ring would be ready to fire in a few days, instead of the weeks he'd feared it would take.

He looked down, as he heard the door to the central Chamber ease open. Briefly, he charged his Focus Laser. He powered it down in relief, however, when he saw it were only the Reclaimers and their Sangheili allies. Humming a tune he'd picked up from the Databanks of the now-destroyed Pillar of Autumn, he lowered down to their level, alongside the smaller Reclaimer holding a large, rectangular weapon, as he strode for the control panel.
"Oh, Hello." he said. "Wonderful news. Installation 04B is almost complete."

"Terrific." the smaller Reclaimer known as Johnson answered, in a tone indicating disinterest.

"Yes. Isn't it?" He responded, unsure of why the Reclaimer answered in such a tone. Surely, he would be interested in hearing the status of the ring, right? After all, it was his only hope of saving not only his own race, but every other one in the universe as well.

Yet, as he had a brief glance at the Reclaimer, he knew he wasn't 'scientist', as his Species referred to the Builders of their kin. He decided to drop the details, and immediately went to a shortened summary of the ring's status. "I have begun my simulations. No promises, but this Ring should be ready to fire in just a few more days."

The Sergeant, impatient, whirled to look at him. "We don't have a few more days. The Flood are knocking at our doorstep, and it needs to be fired now!"

Spark actually sputtered in shock and alarm. "Bu- Bu- But a premature firing will destroy the Ark!"

"Deal with it." Johnson retorted dismissively.

Spark looked down in contemplation. The Ark, back when the array had fired, had a host of samples of species for reseeding the galaxy, and while most were sent out, not all had actually left the Ark. If the Ark was destroyed, all of them would perish. Not to mention the failsafe the Forerunners had installed should one of the rings unexpectedly shut down.

Not to mention, in the unstable and unfinished state it was in, the Ring wouldn't survive the Firing. The Pulse Generators and all other systems in Halo would overload, the superstructure wouldn't hold. The ring would fall apart.

"Will destroy this installation." he quietly muttered to himself.

No, if either the Ark or the Ring were to survive, the firing would have to be delayed.

Even if it had to be at the cost of the current Reclaimers that would fire it. Slowly, so the others wouldn't notice, he readied his Focus Laser.

Before he could fire, however, one of the Elites called out. It was the blue one, holding a Human heavy-repeating weapon with three barrels, one that was so heavy he wasn't so much carrying it as he was carrying it along.

"Monitor. Think about it." the Elite paused, composing his words. However, the 343th Monitor still paid his undivided attention to it.