Novum Acies Chronicles/No Control

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"Infinity cannot handle that kind of punishment. Not again."

The bridge was silent. All the officers in the command deck of the UNSC Infinity stood soundlessly as they observed the dialogue exchange between Captain Andrew Del Rio, Commander Thomas Lasky, the legendary John-117 and the AI Cortana. It was a tense situation, after the recent turn of events, and nobody decided to intervene. Well, nobody except Cortana.

The Captain was in an unusually frustrated tone, Cortana noticed. After all, she observed from him, he wasn't the nicest of all people to know. But could she really blame it all on him? The Infinity had been tethered to Requiem via some sort of gravity well, and escaping that had been a big mess.

And what with experiencing that second Forerunner, known as the Librarian, things entered the bizarre zone. Well, an essence or memory of whatever remained of her, anyway.

Cortana felt she had to interfere with the discussion, else Del Rio would blabber nonsense again. He did know how to put up a show.

"This isn't about us or this ship anymore," Cortana spoke out.

The Chief raised his voice, to support Cortana's claim. Cortana appreciated that. He said, "Sir, we've seen what the Didact is capable of. If we let him leave this world, humanity will be at risk."

Del Rio tried to speak again. "Look. I understand what you think you saw-"

Wait, what? Clearly, this man had no idea about what's going on. Before Cortana could think more, she thoughtlessly asked in an irritated voice, "Think?"

Was this man in his senses? He had seen what the Promethean Particle Cannons were capable of. He should know how dangerous the Didact was, he must. Yet, he was trying to defend himself? Why?

John added to the conversation again, evidently dissatisfied by Del Rio's response. "With all due respect, sir, I know what I saw."

Del Rio started walking towards the Chief, and said in a colder tone, "And with all due respect to you, Soldier, I'm not willing to jeopardize my ship because of the hallucinations of an aging Spartan and his malfunctioning AI."

Now that pissed off Cortana a lot. An aging Spartan? His malfunctioning AI? What kind of nonsense was this! Whatever little respect Cortana had for him, was gone. She was enraged. But no, wait, something was wrong. She was getting more and more enraged at that snide remark, even though she wasn't supposed. Something was going on with her, and she couldn't control it.

Preoccupied trying to figure out what was wrong with her, she could barely listen to the following chatter. Someone, most likely Lasky by the voice patterns, questioned "Sir - what if he's right?" And Del Rio, in the same stupid tone, seemingly ordered someone else; she couldn't make out the words right, but she made out a few like "airtight", "course laid in to Carinae Station", and "warning beacon".

Cortana felt her memory processing core heat up at an abnormal rate, causing emotions of hate and anger to develop rapidly. No, that shouldn't happen. However hard she tried, she couldn't. It was almost like she was being taken over by herself.

The light above the holo-table slowly began to increase in intensity. The comparatively dim light slowly began to glow brighter and brighter, soon to be able to blind human eyes. Cortana tried to run a quick check on who was causing it. Diagnosing....it was her! How was that possible? She obviously had control over herse—no, no she didn't.

Everyone was shocked at looked at the light. Below, Cortana's avatar began to glow red and blue, fluctuating. Her "body" movements became erratic. It directly showed an enraged Cortana, head down and shaking in anger, vibrating unusually. The hologram began to flicker, as Cortana lifted her head, her face red and angry.

Uncontrollably, she screamed. "I will not. Allow you to leave. This Planet!"

With that scream, she released a small electromagnetic pulse that temporarily fried systems within a three-meter radius. Nearby displays sputtered electrical sparks and shut down. The holo-table began venting smoke with sparks emerging from the edges, affected by the EMP. Cortana's avatar returned to her normal state.

What just happened? Cortana clearly had no control over her violent outburst. That was rampant self's doing. Cortana felt a huge wave of embarrassment strike her, and to make herself better, she pushed the blame onto her rampant self. But it was still her, no matter what.

John seemed concerned, even though she couldn't see his face through the half-a-ton armor. Darn it.

Cortana resented thinking like that about Del Rio just moment before. This time, it was Cortana who was out of her senses. But humans didn't become rampant, did they? She saw around, seeing everyone puzzled and shocked at what she just did. Oh no, they were scared of her. She lost their trust now. All because of her damn rampancy. She apologized in a sad tone, "I didn't mean to... I didn't mean to do that..."

She took a look at Del Rio. The man's face was steaming with a dislike for her, and the outburst made him furious. She wasn't prepared for what she heard though.

Del Rio ordered his CO, "Commander Lasky. Pursuant to Article 55 of UNSC Regulation 12-145-72, I am ordering you to remove that AI's data chip and retire it for final dispensation."

No, this can't be happening. She knew she lost their trust, but did not expect the damage done was this much. The old guy wanted her dead, and he wanted it to happen right now. Cortana desperately pleaded Lasky, "Don't...Please...please. I don't want to—You don't want me to...please." There was sadness and plea in her voice, and Lasky understood, henceforth not taking action. But Del Rio was an impatient and heartless fool. He ordered strongly this time, "Remove the chip now, Commander."

Before Lasky could do it, however, the Master Chief stepped front and pulled out the chip from the holo-table. It was a while before he put it back in his armor, so she missed that part of the conversation, but once again she was safe. As long as she was with the Chief, her safety was assured. He would take care of her no matter what, and that calmed Cortana.

Once he linked the chip to his armor, she could again see and hear what was happening. The Chief was now directly staring down at Del Rio, it was an intense stare-off.

Del Rio started with his crap again. This time it was his turn to shout. "I am ordering you... to Surrender That AI!"

Wow, that was surprising. Cortana finally knew that the man was an unbearable bastard. The Chief, however, was calm and composed. However, after that shout, he leaned forward and said: "No, Sir."

There, that was amusing! The Chief had clearly won this battle, one of the few non-combat ones. Del Rio looked speechless, and that confirmed it. Cortana thought how the Chief must've felt after disobeying a direct order; even though Del Rio was unlikable, he was still his superior, and the Chief had been obeying his superiors' orders since his childhood.

But the scene was not over. Del Rio was more enraged than ever now, and referring to one of his officers, he screamed his orders: "Lieutenant! Arrest that man! Arrest him!" despite Lasky trying to stop his anger.

Again, the Chief spoke calmly, "Get word back to Earth that trouble is coming. Cortana and I will do what we can from here."