Years of Days: Book One- The Ring

Since the prequel wasn't working out so well, I decided to have the prequel deleted (and it has been), so this novel will end up being the first in the Years of Days series instead. Hopefully this novel ends up being halfway decent.

'Note: Some major changes may need to be made, I'm not sure yet. I'll keep you all updated, though.'

Chapter One: Fate
On a Covenant space station many parsecs away...

Newly promoted Kyran 'Miyakoee boarded the Covenant ship, followed by a rather apprehensive Yenee. They were preparing to go on a mission to bring back the Sacred Icon from a Halo Ring and Yenee incessantly voiced his opinion on the matter. Ever since he heard about the mission, he had been whining and complaining and more. He was a bit outspoken, for a Grunt.

"Bad idea! Bad idea! I think we gonna die. Me feel it in me icy bones," Yenee declared, looking around the ship anxiously, as if he was already expecting sudden death and destruction. "I want to go home."

"Be silent, Yenee," Kyran snapped, sitting down on a seat. "We are on the most important task of our lives. We could finally begin the Great Journey. If we die, we die for a great cause."

"Cause indeed!" Yenee snorted, also sitting down. "We're gonna die. I know it. I may be pessimistic, but I pessimistic for good reason!"

One Sangheli sitting next to Kyran leaned over and whispered, "What is the matter with him?"

"I think someone mixed the methane in his tank with carbon dioxide again," Kyran muttered sarcastically. "That's what I think is the matter."

"I heard that! Me not like comment about my tank! My tank pure methane! Nothing else." Yenee had very good hearing, for a Grunt. He fingered the needler in his holster. "One side bright. I got needler instead of Plasma thingy."

As Yenee spoke, the ship rose off the platform, and blasted off into space.

"We're orbiting the Ring now," the Sangheli pilot said. "We will land in a minute. I am still trying to find the clearing where the other ships are."

Kyran heard several other Sangheli acknowledge the pilot with a few shouts of enthusiasm, while a few others stayed silent, much like the Grunts and the two Hunters. He glanced over at Yenee, and saw he was trembling.

"Coward,"￼ he thought. But he shouldn't think that. Yenee- as much as Kyran loathed to admit it- did save his life during their battle against... oh great. That incident again. When Kyran freed some heretic prisoners so that they could help end a heresy. He was nearly killed several times- including when he initially freed the prisoners- but Yenee and his Grunt friends managed to keep him in one piece. In the end, Kyran and Yenee were the only survivors. Everyone else in the base was dead. They covered up the fact that they released the heretics, because if they were found out, then they would be executed.

Kyran wasn't sure how he felt about the whole situation. Even when he killed the last standing heretic after the destruction of the General's heresy. He remembered the heretic's name clearly. Zen 'Demari.

A traitorous heretic and an unlikely ally. Until Kyran stabbed him through the chest and listened to his last words of life.

"He was a heretic," Kyran told himself. "I did what I needed to. He is dead. All those heretics are dead. It is in the past. No one knows what really happened except for Yenee and I. I must focus on the task at hand. The Great Journey is so close..."

The sound of the pilot's voice interrupted his thoughts. "We have landed. We will soon be on the Great Journey. Let us go and find the Sacred Icon."

As the group of Covenant soldiers exited the ship, Kyran was immediately aware of their environment. He saw several other Covenant ships in the clearing nearby, the tall dark green trees, and felt the mugginess of the environment. It reminded him of that base, as it too was surrounded by a similar jungle.

"Again with the base," he thought. "What is the matter with me? Am I becoming weak...?"

His thoughts were interrupted by the squad leader, a fellow Sangheli, saying, "All right. I received orders from Supreme Commander Vadam that all our squads will split up and search for entrances in different parts of the jungle. We will take the south. Follow me."

Kyran, after a moment of hesitation, followed the rest of his squad. "I need to focus. Focus. Your destiny is at hand."

"Halt!" the squad leader suddenly called out. "I see movement ahead. And I think I smell Humans."

Kyran quickly activated his sword at this. Its blades flickered a moment, then steadied. Humans here, on the Sacred Ring. That was not a good sign. This means that they too must also be after the Sacred Icon. And the Covenant could not let them get their hands on it.

"They are merely an obstacle. Humans or no Humans, we will be successful," the squad leader told them.

Kyran looked over at Yenee and saw him fiddling with his needler.

"What is the matter now?" Kyran whispered as the group began to advance towards the Human soldiers.

"I have bad feeling about this," Yenee replied.

"Save your pessimism for after the fight," Kyran told him. "The last thing we need is more complaining."

"I just stating my feelings. You not need to insult." Yenee fell behind with the other Grunts, clearly not wanting to continue speaking.

"Unggoy," Kyran thought as they neared the Humans. "They never learn."

And then the squad leader shouted out the order to attack.

If there was one thing Yenee hated the most, it was being treated like he was nothing. He felt the same for how his fellow Grunts were treated by their superiors. What vexed Yenee even more was that he saved Kyran's butt several times back on that base, and the Sangheli didn't even bother to give him a mere "thank you."

"At least I get needler this time. Still wish I got promotion, though..."

There was no time for regrets, however. Yenee managed to quickly bring down a few Humans with his needler, then dodged as one soldier leapt at him, hands bare. Likely he was planning on strangling the little Grunt.

Yenee pointed his needler at the Human and shot him in the chest. Blood from the wound splattered on Yenee's armour, causing the Grunt to shudder a bit in disgust. The Human collapsed in the wet mud.

"He's definitely dead now," Yenee thought. He scrambled into the nearby bushes and started picking off a few Humans from there.

Bullets whizzed by Yenee's hiding place, barely missing him. He was about to take aim at another soldier, then saw Kyran standing over an incapacitated soldier- who was laying on the ground groaning- poised to strike with his sword.

But as Kyran was about bring the sword down, he hesitated for some reason. An expression of confusion was on his face.

Before either Kyran or the soldier could do anything, another Sangheli shot the Human in the back.

Yenee was puzzled by what had just transpired, but decided not to think about it right now. He shot a few remaining soldiers, then scrambled out of his hiding place.

Then he heard shouting and looked to see a Sangheli yelling at Kyran.

"Why did you hesitate?!" The soldier asked not so quietly, mandibles clicking impatiently.

"I am... not sure," Kyran murmured. "It will not happen again." He paused and asked, "Where is the squad leader?"

"Over here!" Yenee called, pointing at the squad leader, who was busy looking around for any other Humans.

Finally the leader said, "All clear. Let's move. Keep an eye out for any more Humans. Those were not the only ones."

Yenee looked back at Kyran, who was approaching.

"What happened?" The Grunt asked as they followed their fellow soldiers through the jungle. "You hesitate. Me never see Sangheli hesitate."

Kyran shrugged. "I am... uncertain. It does not matter. We have a mission. That is our priority right now."

That pretty much ended the discussion. Yenee fell back with his fellow Grunts, still puzzled.

One Grunt asked, "Why you so concerned about why he hesitate? He is Sangheli!"

Yenee shrugged and brushed some dirt off his needler. This was going to be a long day.

"Idiot," Kyran thought to himself. "I am an idiot. Clearly my judgement is impaired. Otherwise I'd have killed that soldier... stop pitying yourself. You have a mission. You must retrieve the Sacred Icon. These Humans are nothing more than obstacles. They will fail. We will succeed. It is our destiny."

Kyran's resolve was hardened. There was no time for regret. No time to dwell on the past.

"I am getting something on sensors," the squad leader announced, looking at a pad on his arm band. "It is a structure approximately fifty meters from our current position. It might be an entrance."

The Great Journey was almost at hand.

Chapter Two: Unkown Darkness
The squad leader approached the structure slowly and cautiously, rifle at the ready. It was definitely an entrance, though it was hard to tell since it was so overgrown with vines and other plants.

"I'll find the control panel and unlock the door," the squad leader told the group. "Watch the trees. If you see any movement, shoot it."

With that, he pushed away some vines and started tapping away at the control panel, which was thankfully still intact. For the most part. Some of the circuits were exposed due to the surrounding metal rusting away, but other than that, it was intact.

Yenee watched the trees, letting his thoughts wander. He thought of his homeworld and how much he missed it, he thought of... many things. He wished he could go back. But he couldn't.

"Rest no for weary," he thought. He glanced over at Kyran and noted that the Sangheli looked almost... emotionless right now. Typical of an Elite, but... for some reason, this disturbed Yenee slightly. Usually Kyran had some emotion written on his face- usually a prideful one- but none of that now.

"Eh, not me problem," Yenee thought.

"The door is open," the squad leader announced. Sure enough, it slid open with a squeak or two. It revealed a long corridor, with flickering lights on the ceiling. A soft blue hue from said lights reflected off the metal floor and walls. "Let's go."

Kyran followed the rest of the squadron inside, suddenly excited. The Sacred Icon was so close! Soon the Great Journey could begin! The only problem was that there were humans here, but they could easily be dealt with.

The squad moved swiftly and steadily down the corridors, so far meeting no resistance. Strange. Kyran checked his sword and storm rifle, making sure both were ready for battle. He glanced over at the other Sangheli, who were also doing the same.

The sounds of blaster fire erupted from a room a few corridors away. That was where the Humans must be. Kyran's excitement grew. Despite what happened earlier, instead of being repulsed by the thought of battle, he was hoping for it. Eager for it, even. His adrenaline rose high and his heart was racing.

The group reached the end of the corridor and stepped into the room where the fighting was taking place.

A wave of stench hit Kyran's nostrils. It smelled like decomposing flesh... but...

And then they saw. The other Covenant soldiers weren't just fighting Humans. There were others. Mutant aliens, with slimy, green, decomposing skin, and several nasty long tendrils. Some of them were small, others were the size of Humans or a bit larger. That, however, was not the worst of it.

As everyone else started shooting at the creatures, Kyran managed to bring down one of the aliens with his sword, and got a quick look. It looked like a Human, but was mutated horribly. It's flesh was a moldy green, and the smell was putrid. Thick, light green slime dripped slowly from its skin. What was going here?

He quickly looked away from the body and focused on the battle, swiftly slashing another alien. He was pretty sure that one was a fellow Sangheli that had also been mutated, but there was no time to think about that. Yes, he felt guilty. But the creature had attacked him. He killed it in self defense. There was nothing more to it.

Yenee, on the other hand, was perfectly horrified. As he fired every which way with his needler, he screeched loudly, "I told you we would die here! You not listen! We Unggoy right sometimes! But you not listen, and this place be our grave!"

Kyran, hearing this, had to agree. But they could not stop because of a setback. They had to push on...

Kyran's sword fizzled out, as he had slashed many enemies with it in such a short amount of time. And there were more coming.

Quickly he holstered the sword and pulled the rifle off his shoulder. "I'd have preferred to continue using my blade..."

He fired at everything that moved, be it Human or the strange alien. He could have sworn that at least once he accidentally shot one of his own comrades, but there was so much chaos that he couldn't tell for certain.

Yenee hid behind a small metal crate, surprised that he was still alive in all this insanity. "Then again, if I survived a heresy, guess I can survive this."

He reached his arm over the crate, aimed at a Human, and fired. Then an alien. Another alien. Whoops, he accidentally shot a Sangheli in the back. Another Human. A few more aliens. Another Sangheli, also by accident.

All the Humans in the room were pretty much dead now.

The aliens began to thin out, and eventually there were none left. Aside from the tons of bodies that lay on the bloodstained floor.

Kyran looked at the carnage and saw fifteen of their own had died in fight. He looked at his bloodstained armour, feeling disturbed by what they had just seen. "What happened to these soldiers..?"

Then he looked at the survivors and counted. The squad leader, five Sangheli, two Grunts, and the Hunters (obviously). Two of the Sangheli were from the other group. Not many soldiers left, but it was better than nothing.

Yenee slowly approached the group, his rage building up like a tea kettle. "I told you. I knew something would happen. But you not listen! Many die! We die, too, if attacked by those things again! Then mission failed! Then you be sorry! Prophets be sorry too!"

The squad leader shook his head and sighed. This Grunt was a bit quick tempered. Suddenly there was static on the comm on his arm band.

"Hello?" he asked. "Is someone there?"

A voice broke through the static for a second. But it was so brief that no one could make out what was said. Then the static ended.

The squad leader sighed again and said, "We should continue, I suppose."

Kyran looked down at the mutated bodies of both Human and Covenant soldiers. "What of them? What happened to them? What if what did this to these soldiers does the same thing to us?"

"Are you saying we should quit?" the squad leader growled out.

"No... I just feel... apprehensive about this now," Kyran replied.

"Then we will tread carefully," the leader told him.

"Obviously," Yenee muttered. The squad leader glared at Yenee, evidently having heard that, then started walking to the door across the room.

"Let us continue."

Chapter Three: Close Encounters
Kyran followed the rest of the group, his apprehension growing. He looked at his armour and tried to scrape off the dried blood. It came off in flakes, like paint. He reloaded his rifle, in case of another attack.

"Halt!" the squad leader called out, raising his hand. "I smell Humans. And something else... likely those creatures we encountered earlier."

"We can all smell them!" Yenee exclaimed from the back of the squadron. "You state obvious!"

"And you are not very quiet, Unggoy," the squad leader snapped, pretty much telling Yenee to shut up. Which he did, much to the leader's pleasure.

Kyran pulled out a sticky gernade. "Should I throw this at them when we find them? Or save it for later?"

The squad leader thought a moment. "No, we may need it, depending on how many there are."

Kyran nodded and pocketed the gernade. He glanced over at Yenee and saw that he was armed with two needlers, both fully loaded and ready for combat.

Yenee looked up at Kyran and asked, "Want one? Me not good at dual wielding. You could use extra weapon."

"What, do I look like an Unggoy to you?" Kyran asked, immediately regretting it.

"You insult. I offer you something and you insult. No needler for you now!" Yenee handed his second needler to a nearby Grunt, who gratefully took it.

"Be quiet, both of you," the squad leader told them in a low voice. "We are getting close. The element of surprise is vital."

"Also obvious," Yenee thought. But he didn't say it.

Kyran fingered his rifle anxiously as they made their way down the hallway.

Suddenly the lights flickered one last time, and went out completely. It was pitch black.

"We're gonna die!"

So much for the element of surprise.

There was suddenly an explosion, which caused Kyran to panic. Instinct took over reason, and he started running away from the scene. It was several minutes before he could regain control of himself.

"Hello?" Kyran called out. "Can anyone hear me?"

There was no response.

"Anyone...?"

Kyran started to panic again. He could not stay here, in the dark alone. He had to find the squad and fast. He fumbled around blindly, his hand hitting a wall. He listened for any signs of life other than his own. And he heard it.

The faint sound of breathing. And the telltale smell of decay.

Quickly Kyran turned and fired his rifle at the sound. The blast lit up the room for a second, and he saw his would be attacker. One of those mutated aliens.

The shot missed its mark. The alien, seeing Kyran, came charging towards him. Kyran fired again and missed a second time. The alien knocked the rifle from his hands and after a quick struggle, pinned Kyran to the floor. The alien grabbed his throat and squeezed.

Kyran slashed at his attacker's face with his sharp claws. Thick blood splattered all over Kyran's face, but he paid no heed. He just wanted this thing off him. The creature was undaunted by Kyran's attacks and continued to strangle his prey.

"Get... get off me, beast!" Kyran shrieked, kicking his attacker in the shin. But it was to no avail. The creature only squeezed all the harder. Kyran was sure he was going to die. His vision began to cloud over.

His left hand flailed around, desperately trying to grab his rifle. After a second, he managed to grasp it. He swung it into the alien's face several times, eventually knocking it backwards.

Kyran pointed the rifle at the creature and fired. It hit it in the chest. He fired a second time to make sure it was dead. The lights came back on, flickering, and the alien collapsed to the floor.

Kyran broke into a sprint, reloading his rifle as he did so. There was no time to waste.

"We're gonna die!" Yenee screeched, pulling out his needler as the lights went out. Suddenly there was an explosion, which flung him and the rest of the squad backwards. He heard the sound of shots being exchanged as he stood back up. Yenee looked and for a brief second, as another shot was fired, saw the silhouette of a humanoid.

The lights suddenly came back on, flickering. And they saw who their attacker was. A Marine.

"The enemy!" Yenee shouted, firing at their attacker. The Marine dodged and shot at Yenee. The little Grunt barely managed to avoid the blast. Suddenly more Marines came running to join in on the carnage. "This getting out of hand..."

As more shooting began, Yenee hid behind a Sangheli, who asked, "What am I, coward, your shield?!" The Sangheli shot one of the Marines as he spoke.

"Maybe," Yenee thought. The Sangheli suddenly collapsed to the ground dead. The little Grunt let out a shriek of fear. He looked and saw the Hunters weren't doing much better themselves. That explosion did a lot of damage to their bodies...

Yenee scrambled behind a nearby crate and prayed to the Forerunners that he would survive this. Then he reloaded his needler, hands trembling. Its ammo was getting low.

"This not going to be easy."

Suddenly he saw one of those mutant aliens leap out of a nearby door. Yenee shrieked again and shot it full of needles. The creature collapsed to the ground, supposedly dead. Yenee lowered his needler slightly. He heard a Hunter fall over, and knew right away that said Hunter was dead. Killed by the Marines.

Suddenly the mutant alien stood back up and Yenee, startled, shot it again. "Ack! Green thing back from dead!"

The alien collapsed a second time. Yenee peered around the crate and saw the Marines shoot the last Hunter, the latter falling to the floor.

The little Grunt was alone now. Everyone else was dead. He felt a lump form in his throat. He was going to die alone, on this Ring. Clouds of grey swam before his eyes as he became dizzy at the thought. His limbs went numb.

And just before Yenee blacked out, he thought, "This Ring a death trap..."

Kyran was lost. He had been running around many corridors for who knows how long, and still hadn't found the squad. Plenty of mutated aliens, but no squad. This mission was falling apart. What was meant to be a simple retrieval of the Sacred Icon had turned into a bloody mess. Numerous times he tried contacting them via his comm, but to no avail. They did not reply.

Nothing was going the way it should have. Kyran let out a sigh as he tugged a needler out of the clutches of a dead alien. His rifle had run out of ammo and he was getting desperate. He remembered what Yenee said to him earlier and let out a low growl, which quickly turned to a whimper.

"Where are you, Unggoy? Why aren't you here? Why aren't you at my side...??"

Kyran suddenly heard the click of a weapon behind him. He whirled around to see a Marine aiming a gun at him.

"Human," Kyran whispered to himself. The Sangheli stood, unmoving, uncertain as to what to do.

The Marine also stood, gun still at the ready.

"What are you waiting for?" Kyran thought as he stared at the Marine. "You have the advantage. Kill me already, Human..."

Suddenly the stench of decay hit his nostrils. Kyran gripped his needler harder. Those creatures again...

The Marine, also aware of the aliens' presence, ran through a nearby doorway.

"Wait, come back here!" Kyran exclaimed, before the aliens came scrambling down the nearest vent. He aimed at the nearest creature and pulled the trigger.

Chapter Four: For the Covenant
''"Mynee!" Yenee called, entering his friend's quarters. "Time play hunting rock!"''

''No reply. Was he still asleep?''

''"Mynee?" Yenee looked and saw that his friend's bed was empty. Where could he be? Surely Mynee could not have forgotten about this morning's plans.''

''Yenee exited the room and sighed. Suddenly he heard a shot outside the bunker, and he yelped. The little Grunt scrambled outside and saw his friend's body on the ground. Blood poured out of a wound on Mynee's chest. And over the body stood a Sangheli, armed with a rifle.''

A crowd of Grunts and a few other Sangheli stared at the body, speechless.

''"What... what happened?" Yenee asked softly.''

''"This Unggoy tried to kill me in an escape attempt, that's what. Let this be a lesson to all of you- you run, you are a heretic. And we the Covenant will show no mercy," the Sangheli replied. "Go back to your stations, all of you. I will get someone to clean up the mess."''

''Yenee hesitated a moment, staring at his friend's body. Then he turned away and headed back to the bunker.''

Yenee awoke with start, heart racing. That dream again. For a moment he felt confused, not quite sure where he was. Then, as his vision cleared, he saw the long, straight corridor. The body of that mutant alien. The bodies of his comrades.

He was still on the Sacred Ring. Yenee stood up unsteadily, his needler still in his hand. The little Grunt sighed as he took in the scene once more. He wished he hadn't been right.

But he had been. And it was too late. There was nothing he could do except continue the mission and hope by some miracle that he would succeed. He could not run away, no matter how frightened he was.

"Here go nothing."

Kyran shot the last mutant alien, emptying his needler. "What do you know? This thing is actually useful... a shame it has so little ammo capacity."

Kyran holstered the needler and picked up a sword from one of the bodies. He attempted to activate it. It produced a welcome glow for half a second, then fizzled out. The Sangheli's heart sank. Oh well. There will be other weapons. He pried a plasma rifle out of the clutches of another body.

He checked the battery level and sighed. Fifty percent. Better than nothing, he supposed.

Kyran lingered a moment longer, then broke into a sprint. He must not let the Humans get to the Sacred Icon first.

The lights flickered again, and Kyran, remembering the darkness that sent him in such a frenzy, moved faster.

"I cannot fail. Not now... not now..."

He reached the end of the corridor and tried to open the door. It wouldn't budge. It was sealed shut. He kicked it in frustration, then tried to pry it open with his claws. That didn't work either.

Finally, after a few minutes of struggling to pull it open, he let out a snarl of contempt and leaned with his forehead against the door for a brief moment. Then he began checking the other doors. Same results. And the vent was too small for him to crawl through, as he was slightly bigger than the average Sangheli.

"I'm trapped here... my own fault for running away like a coward."

Suddenly Kyran wondered what he'd tell the squad if he found them. How he would explain why he got separated from the others?

Even if he got out of here, they would know he ran away. And when they returned to Sanghelios, he would be branded with the Mark of Shame and be executed.

He could not go back. He would have to die here. Kyran fell to his knees. Only one escape was clear to him.

"Poetic justice, I suppose."

He pulled out the plasma rifle and lifted it to his head. At least now he could die without any more humiliation. He was about to pull the trigger, about to end it all, when a feminine voice on his comm shouted in Sangheli, "Wait!"

Kyran, startled, quickly lowered the gun. He was silent for a moment, then asked, "Who is there? Show yourself!"

"Yeah, that's not happening anytime soon, considering... uh, my current state," the voice replied. "I'll have the doors open in a minute. Now listen carefully. You see the door to your left, right?"

"Obviously," Kyran muttered.

"I heard that! Now, as soon as the door opens, run as fast as you can through the hall to the other end. Don't stop for anything. Otherwise the Flood will rip you to shreds faster than you can say 'I didn't listen.'"

"How do I know I can trust you?" Kyran asked, as he thought, "The Flood?... Does that have something to do with those mutated soldiers?"

"I can't give you a reason, except the fact that I'm giving you an escape route. Frankly, I can't believe I'm even helping you. But I'm going to need some help myself, though, so... yeah."

"And then after I am on the other side?"

"And then I'll open the other door for you, and close it as soon as you're on the other side. I'll answer the rest of your questions once you're there," the voice told him. "As I'm sure you have quite a few. The doors are opening now! Go!"

The door slid open and Kyran started running.

Kyran reached the other end of the hall, just as the door slid open. He scurried inside and the door slid shut, just as a Flood alien was about to leap in after him.

The Sangheli looked around. This was someone's office, at one time. There was a computer desk with a chair and a large metal container in the corner. That was all.

"Interesting," he thought. Suddenly the computer console glowed a light blue hue. A few holographic images appeared, then dissolved into nothingness.

Kyran approached cautiously, plasma rifle at the ready.

Suddenly the image of a female Human appeared.

"Hello," she said.

"Human!" Kyran spat. He aimed the rifle at the console, prepared to blast it, when the woman exclaimed, "Wait! I just saved your life. Can't you wait and listen to what I have to say before you go ballistic on me?"

Kyran hesitated a second, then asked, "What do you want?"

The female let out a relieved sigh. "Thank you. My name is Cortana, and I'm an A. I., not a Human. And I need your help-"

"Wait, how do you speak Sangheli?" Kyran asked.

"If I can understand Forerunner code, then I can understand you no problem. The Forerunners really seemed to like to keep journal entries about the species they encountered," Cortana replied. "Now, will you stop interrupting me?"

Kyran, after a moment of hesitation, nodded.

"Thank you," she said. "Now, I need your help in accessing the computer where the Index is. Neither of us can access the Index from here. So I need someone to download me onto a hard drive and put my program in the Index's console. Like, to go there and pop in the hard drive. Then most, if not all, the security would be bypassed. That way I can lock down the Index and-"

"Why can you not do this yourself? Surely you are equipped with the necessary programs."

Cortana let out a frustrated growl. "If only the Chief's comm wasn't damaged..."

"This facility was designed specifically to prevent A. I.'s like me from accessing the Index. They probably figured that over time, the Sentinels may become corrupted and try to release the Flood. They were right," she said.

"Is the Index the Sacred Icon?" Kyran asked, a note of suspicion in his voice. "Sentinels?? What are those...?"

Cortana hesitated, then responded, "Yes. But it's not what you think it is. I've been watching you and your squad. You all think it's your salvation. Hate to burst your bubble, but it isn't. Activating the Halo will release the Flood into the galaxy and destroy-!"

"Human lies!" Kyran snarled. He aimed his rifle at the console. "Get out of my sight before I shoot!"

Cortana had a disappointed look on her face. "Then we all die because of you. You know what this Ring really is, just as much as I do. It's not your salvation. It's your downfall. And know this, mister. You haven't heard the last from me about this!"

With that, she disappeared in a flash. The console lost its glow as it shut off.

Kyran almost wanted to ask Cortana to come back, to tell her he would help her. To ask her what happened to the squad. To ask about the Flood. But he immediately pushed the thoughts away. To help her would be heresy.

"I am already a heretic, because of what I did," he thought. Abandoning the squad. Using heretics to aid in ending a heresy. And his hesitation to kill that Human. His hesitation to shoot Cortana. But he still did not say anything. He would not aid her.

Kyran turned around and, plasma rifle at the ready, opened the office door. And he shot the first Flood alien he saw.

"Nice try, Cortana," a voice commented as Cortana uploaded herself back into the Halo's network. "But you cannot stop what is to come. The Reclaimer will succeed. You cannot deny fate."

Cortana let out a low growl. "Hello, Guilty Spark. Miss me?"'

"Hardly," came the reply. "It's a shame that the fool didn't shoot you when he had the chance. Then you would be out of the way. Alas, it is not the case."

"Sorry to spoil your fun!" Cortana replied sarcastically. "I'll do everything in my power to protect humanity. Even if it means temporarily teaming up with that idiot reptile."

"You are the idiot if you think you can stop the Flood!"

"And you're an idiot for thinking that your talk is going to make me give up. It's going to take more than your words to stop me."

"You too continue to make threats. Somewhat... hypocritical, don't you think?" Guilty Spark asked.

"Good point. But I'm still not giving up. See ya later, Talker!"

With that, Cortana uploaded herself into another console, and began to try to contact Kyran again. It didn't work.

"I blocked all communications between you and anyone else on this Ring," Guilty Spark told her. "By the time you are able to access the Sangheli's comm again, the Reclaimer will have already retrieved the Index."

"You didn't do this the first time," Cortana pointed out.

"Because I did not see at first how much of a threat you are. But now I do."

"I still have some tricks up my sleeve," Cortana responded confidently. "It isn't over until the fat Brute has sung!"

"I will never understand human metaphors."

Trivia

 * This novel was originally intended to be a sequel to another story, but due to issues with the prequel, this is now the first story in the Years of Days series.
 * Although Kyran was previously a Sangheli interrogator, it is not an actual rank within the military. This means he only just recently was promoted into the Covenant military.
 * The scene where Cortana and Guilty Spark have their little spat was a sort of... well, they used the Halo's main network to communicate, since they obviously weren't in the same exact location.