Jaune-G027

Chapter 29

Jaune looks around after getting out of his pod, the follows the cryo technologist. Not long after, Emily reconnects with Jaune. "Is it just me, or is if freezing in your neural network?" she asks. "We just got out of cryo sleep, what did you expect?" Jaune fires back. "Aww, is someone grumpy after waking uppp?" "Stuff it, we got places to be." "Fiiiine."

Jaune, John, and the cryo technician rush down an electrical hallway. Out of nowhere, the hallway explodes, killing the technician and forcing Jaune to equip Crocea Mors to defend himself. An opening appears from the blast, allowing the Spartans to hop through and continue onwards. They reach the end of the hallway and the door explodes open. They reach a bigger hallway where Covenant are shooting at crew members, forcing Jaune and John to run down the hall. Eventually they found a Marine who led them to where the captain wanted them.

Eventually they reached the place where Captain Keyes was standing. "Captain Keyes." John said. At the same time, Jaune said "Sir." "Good to see you two. Things aren't going well." Keyes said while shaking both of their hands. "Cortana did her best, but we never really had a chance." "A dozen Covenant superior battleships against a single Halcyon class cruiser. Which those odds, I'm content with three... make that four kills." Cortana reported. "Sleep well you two?" she continued. Before Jaune could answer, John said. "No thanks to your droving, yes." "So you did miss me. And you Jaune, how dod you sleep." "Like I was stuck in ice." "So even after being frozen in cryosleep, you both still retain you..." Cortana was cut off when the ship suddenly shook.

"Report." Keyes ordered. "It must have been one of their boarding parties. I'd guess an anti-matter charge." Cortana reported. "Ma'am, fire control for the main cannon is off-line." A crew member reported. "Captain, the cannon was my last offensive option." Cortana stated. "Alright then, I'm initiating Cole Protocol, Article 2. We're abandoning the Autumn. That means you to Cortana." Keyes said. "While you do what, go down with the ship?" "In a manor of speaking. The object we found, I'm going to try and land the Autumn on it." "With all due respect sir, this war has enough dead heroes." "I appreciate your concern Cortana, but it's not up to me. Protocol is clear: destruction or capture of shipboard A.I. is absolutely unacceptable, and that means you're leaving ship. Lock in a selection of landing zones, upload them to my neural-lace, and then sort yourself for a hard transfer." "Aye-aye sir." Cortana disappears.

Keyes turns towed the Master Chief and the Silver Knight. "This is where you come in Chief and Knight. Get Cortana off this ship and keep her safe from the enemy. If they capture her, they'll learn of everything, and I do mean everything." "Aye-aye sir" Jaune says. "I understand." John says. "Chief, you will have her I'm your neural cortex." "Yes sir." Cortana reappears.

"The Autumn will continue evasive maneuvers until you initiate a landing sequence. Not that you will listen, but I will suggest letting my sub routines handle the final approach." "Excellent work Cortana. Thank you, are you ready." A few seconds later and Cortana responds, "Yank me." Keyes types in the code and pulls out a chip which contains Cortana. "Good luck Master Chief." Keyes says as he hands over the chip. John inserts the chip into his helmet and his vision goes white. Cortana notes that his architecture isn't much different from the Autumn's. "Don't get any funny ideas." Chief states.