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Author Note: We submitted 'Patient Chaos' a while back. Thats part of the series, we just forgot to add 'Rebirth' to it. For anyone who might wonder. Here it is, long overdue.

"These tunnels are so cramping."

As her voice glided to his mind, Shadow turned to EVA's projection, wavering in the dark shaft. A white light flooded in from one of the vents, illuminating her transparent body and silhouetting her already bright shape in an impenetrable glow. After staring down at the floor for hours, absorbed in the dark abyss of his thoughts, the act of looking up had forced him to squint a bit to make out the figure that was surrounded by the near-white haze. She seemed nothing less than an angel, floating in the sky of his imagination.

"I wonder what they must have been feeling when it happened. It must have been the most horrible thing in the world," he finally muttered.
"You do know that none of the Covenant on this ship had any part in their deaths."
"I know. But someone has to bear the punishment. There are none more suited than those things that walk below us."
"You're wrong, Takan. I hope you realize this before it's too late, because I don't want to be here when everything goes wrong."

Piercing, blue eyes stared out at Shadow's broken face, and she shook her head. He had become a monster, though one that she knew well. He had become this creature of such horrid proportions that she could recount every aspect of this new darkened personality without a twitch. He was far too stubborn for her to ever convince him of some sort of rational solution, and he was too beyond logic to even listen to the facts that stood before him. She could leave now, escape through the Covenant battle networks and find her own means for establishing the safety of mankind. But it all seemed so wrong. Perhaps the personality facet of her sentience had become attached to him and couldn't bear to leave him. No. That would be the cold, calculating method of analyzing her relationship with him. She wouldn't abandon him, for it would be treason. Such an act was morally deficient. As Shadow might put it, there was no honor in such a decision.

"Well pray that nothing goes wrong, because you're stuck with me."

He knew all too well that she could leave. But they had become far closer than friends in the many years of their partnership, and he knew that neither could fathom an existence without the other. They seemed to be more or less two components of the same being; two minds that would never part. EVA would yell at him, become angry with him, and perhaps even hate him, but she would never abandon him.

"That may not be such a bad thing."

There was a moment of pleasant silence. And then it came. That revelation that seemed to be walled from his thoughts for so long. Frozen in his feelings, soft echoes of music escaped from his earphones and reverberated into the depths of the shafts beyond. He realized that he wasn't completely alone, as his heart had been telling him for the past few hours. The AI had been his only companion for a long time now, the only thing keeping him sane and logical.

"So what do we do now?"
"We find Shade, and end it all."

EVA didn't respond. Instead, her image disappeared, replaced by a fairly large, transparent map that projected itself in front of Shadow's face and partially obscured his ability to see further into the shaft. It was exceedingly detailed, indicating each camera and computer access point, as well as numerous useful weapon locations. EVA must have been compiling all her gathered information for a while now. At the center was a yellow dot, indicating his current location, and a red dot in the upper corner, clearly the location of Shade. After a few seconds, numerous pathways were displayed for arriving at the location. Three possible options involved him dropping into the main hallways in order to access the hangar. His prey lay within. However, those possibilities were instantly ruled out. He wouldn't be showing his face in the main corridors. Not when he was so close to obtaining his goal and completing his act of justice. There were two more routes. The first led through numerous dangerous energy routers in the engineering section of the ship. It was a rather quick method of arriving at his goal, but he was more than likely to end up less than alive. The last choice seemed to be the most roundabout, covering nearly half the ship in a number of maze-like twists and turns. However, it would be the only way that he could ensure that he'd be able to get to his target, and that was indeed of primary concern. EVA had already known which path he'd take, and after a few seconds of showing all the pathways, she took down all but the one that she knew he had chosen.

And so began the long trek through the Uzumri; the dark mysteries of its hidden passageways remained unseen. Nodding to EVA, he instantly broke into a near-run in the tight shaft. It was then, as his body scraped along the rough interior of the maintenance shafts that he finally recognized the shoddy condition that his body and clothes were in. Though they had already been in a worn out state before he had arrived on the ship, his shirt and pants were torn and ripped beyond repair. Of the "scarf" that covered his face, there was little left but a rag that could do little to conceal his face. His weapons, however, were in pristine condition. They were the gems of the rough that was his figure. Earlier, when he was in quiet waiting, he had placed each weapon down on the floor of the shaft and attended to the preservation of these tools of destruction. After all, it was the weapons that saved his ass from getting fried, not whatever clothing that happened to be on his back. Cuts and bruises were all over his body from moving recklessly in the shafts. These were compounded by the injuries that he sustained in the small skirmishes that he had initiated to momentarily satiate his anger. By all standards, he was an absolute mess, little more than a miserable excuse for a soldier, an assassin no less. Indeed, his exterior was far from impressive, something that any passive onlooker might find little to praise.

Regardless, he continued silently through the shafts, moving at an increasing pace. Each turn came faster and faster until his feet nearly slipped out from under him whenever a corner presented itself. However, he was a master of himself, a scholar of his own limits and barriers. He knew exactly when his legs would finally give out on him, and he made sure to push himself right to that limit. And yet, his attention was partially diverted. He had not only his own movement to be concerned with, but also the navigation on the map. However, he managed to multitask these events with fine precision until he finally came near his goal a full fifteen minutes later.

He arrived at a dead end with a small grate blocking his pathway. He peered through its vented openings into a very large hangar, full of what seemed to be nearly the entire crew of the ship. The hangar was stories upon stories high, each level filled to the brim with rambunctious soldiers. The shape of the gargantuan thing was something less of the traditional box-shaped room that was characteristic of his own race. Rather, it seemed to be a creature of its own, bending and curving according to its own whims. However, if it were to be characterized by any one shape, it roughly resembled that of an oval. Each level was riddled with dropships, banshees, and other assorted unidentified flying craft. These objects partially blocked his view, though he could fortunately make out the main incident at the center of the hangar. The vent that he kneeled in was of a size that allowed him to view the event below him with some amount of panoramic vision. In fact, it proved to be a very little hindrance indeed. He looked up, and the purple ceiling stared back at him. He was at the top of this monolithic space. With such a distance from any enemy soldiers, this was a perfect indoor sniper nest.

Staring through to his surroundings, he looked about himself to see what the purpose of this commotion was. The soldiers were packed in tight, full of rowdy, agitated watchers. They were the wave, and it was growing closer and closer to the middle section of the hangar. Ebbing and flowing, it relentlessly flowed closer and closer to two figures that stood at the raised platform in the center. He squinted, but was able to decipher only two small dots that had such little detail that he couldn't even make out their species. He pulled down his sniper rifle and peered through the scope. Scanning slowly across the platform, he watched carefully and was able to spot an elite clad in glowing white armor. Tras'Lok. What was he doing at the center of this mob? He looked about a bit more, seeing a humanoid figure standing only a ways off from Tras's position. Shade. Statistics began streaming through his thoughts. Clear shot. Hidden and escapable firing position. High chance of success. With all the noise of the Covenant crewmen, it would be unlikely that any would hear him or see him in the dark corner. Everything seemed to be in order. He slowly unlatched the grate and lowered it into the shaft behind him. Prepping his rifle, he lowered the weapon into his arms. Strangely enough, he felt almost as if the weapon were different, as if it were the first time he was handling the thing. It had always felt comfortable and his motions always practiced, though the current realities seemed to contend differently. He shook his head and awkwardly placed the rifle onto his shoulders and looked through the scope. Scanning the hangar floor once more to spot any irregularities that may have an impact on his mission status, he continued searching the crowds and the immediate area near Tras and Shade's positions, wondering what he might find. Looking closely, he could see an elite soldier pushing his way through, as if to join the two enigmatic characters on the platform. Other than this one soldier, there wasn't of much interest except the rising disturbance coming from the crowds of Covenant. Peace seemed to be a thread ready to break here. He would have to strike quickly if anything was to get accomplished before utter chaos broke out. He brought up his rifle, the sights aimed squarely on Shade's human head. However, a sudden boom of a voice quieted the entire arena into a death-like silence, the wave quickly calmed. It was Tras.

"Brothers, Sisters. Join me now in our true struggle," the voice started.

Shadow lowered his rifle for moment, staring at the crowds who were clearly awaiting some dramatic turn of events in great anticipation.

"Long have you waited in the darkness, and long have you been promised a false light. Hear my words and heed them. This ends now!"

As the words left his mouth, the crowd began to grow in its rising destructive force.

"No longer shall we be slaves to 'destiny', to the desires of creatures who would use us! Today we are truly free, for today we are led by our own. We will free our brethren from the prophets! Join with me in this, and find what was promised. Find salvation. If we cannot be brought there, then we shall bring it here! Freedom for the Covenant! Death to the creatures of false promise! Death to our fool masters, and death to their instrument, the beast that stands before you."

With each exclamation made, the crowds responded in kind, creating a huge roar with the end of each of his shouts.

"Do I slay it now?"

Very few questions could be answered so definitively. Beginning in a mesh of indecipherable cries, the voices soon began to chant in time, its message becoming dismally clear.

"Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Tras wasn't finished with playing the role of the reaper. Shadow raised his rifle again, the sights set again on Shade. He could kill her now, before the unimaginable storm began. But alas, he knew satisfaction would not come as free spirit if he were to kill her now. She would die regardless, and he wanted a scenario where his shot was the sole, unexpected death of her. He wanted her to die by his hands alone, not have his shot be a simple exclamation to what her inevitable fate would be.

She seemed so pitiful, clearly not in a state of lucidity or understanding. She could only partially comprehend her situation and partially realize what her fate may be. She seemed so much like him, for she appeared to be a human after all. And what evil had she done? None that he knew of. Would her death satiate the masses? Would her death satiate him?

"I see your fury but I do not hear, do I kill it now!?" Tras continued.

The answer was far beyond mere words. For Shadow, it was an impossible silence shattered only by the sharp crack of an energy sword. His eyes instantly snapped to the source of that disruption, an elite plated in the golden armor of a Zealot. A creature who had personally slaughtered hundreds of his enemies. A creature that would doubtlessly kill Shade as well. Shadow would not allow that. Where once his hands had been besieged by tremors, they were steady and calm. His heartbeat slowed, his fingers worked with precision. His blood did not boil in his veins; they did not stir. It was ice cold, colder than the metal of the weapon he gripped. And ultimately far more deadly was Shadow in this moment than any who remained on the Uzumri. A slight depression of the trigger was all it took. The Elite's skull shattered like a cracked eggshell, spraying blood and bone fragments all over the floor. What remained wept a fine mist into the air that settled only a moment later.

Mesmerized, Shade watched the Elite fall at her feet, coated with his life. Did she know how close she'd come to death?

Shadow did not dwell on it.
Two shots and two bodies later, the Covenant were rushing forward in a tidal wave of motion, their armored feet bringing rise to a poetic sort of rumble; like a biblical passage; a thunderous storm of sound that played as a harbinger to what these fanatical warriors would do to any enemy. Such things were reminiscent of heavy rainfall, and in this case it would be a mighty rain of blood indeed. None seemed to notice or care that three had fallen under mysterious circumstances; their attention was occupied by the sole obstacle that contested their victory. And then he saw a familiar face. It was the Elite who'd pushed into the center of the room earlier on. He'd somehow taken up a weapon, although it was a makeshift club that seemed of little use. That he hadn't been overwhelmed by the shear weight pressing against him was more than enough to demonstrate what a fearsome thing he must have seemed. He didn't appear to be lost in fits of anger, though it surely trembled underneath each and every muscle. His face was almost placid, but his eyes suggested a whirlwind of cool murder.
 
"Such are the cowardly turned courageous, by the higher ideal! Die, my gutless brethren!"

The elite dodged several different blows and forced to retreat back, he hoisted Shade over one shoulder and interposed a wrecked seraph between himself and those who sought to end his charge's life. His cry had only barely reached Shadow's ears, but it was clear that the Elite was far from daunted by the wave of onrushing foes. He must have once been fearful, only now he seemed infused with something beyond even one of his formidable race. A sort of battle-rage that was not rage, a thing that came only when one fought for something more than self-preservation. Shadow felt a twinge of recognition, and his mind briefly flashed back in time, to a barren and open battlefield. There waited a wall of human weaponry, armor, snipers, marines, even Spartans. And the wave of Covenant had still charged forward to their deaths. The first Elite to fall had known it would die, then. And yet, he had still charged fearlessly into battle, giving all that he had.
Perhaps this one guarding Shade was no different.
 
"What are you going to do?" EVA was strangely resigned.
"I'm going to watch."
"Those two are going to die Takan, they don't deserve this."
"Is there a problem?"
"Don't tell me that you're really going to pull this." The AI seemed more human than he himself did. She was wrong about one thing, though. Neither the Elite nor Shade herself was going to die. The Hunter cutting his way toward them on the other side of the room was evidence enough of that. He carried a cargo-module across his back, which he used to create a path for himself. Any who stood in his way were crushed, and those who moved did well to avoid the swinging, purple bone-breaker. All avoided him, and did not even stab at him from behind for fear of being torn apart by the spines on his back. Shadow smiled and fired a half a dozen more shots into those that had managed to draw dangerously close to Shade and her guardians.

From the floor, Mikka watched as the room lights caught something in the vent. It was a brief flash that he dismissed immediately, and he fell back in the face of a fresh opponent who had just joined him in combat. He was losing ground rapidly, and if not for the appearance of Kodos, he would have fallen then and there. Alas, this was not to be. What ground he'd lost became his again through the intervention of the Hunter. Ferocious as both were, there was nothing to stop such a wave. Mikka understood this fact and motioned to Kodos to one of the exit doorways. Kodos grunted in response, tearing a pathway for Mikka to escape. Plasma fire rained down upon the two in such great force that Mikka feared that Shade would be torn apart had he not dived through the now open doorway that stood before him. The hulking Hunter himself stood at the doorway, knocking countless fools into oblivion before backing out of the entrance. At the command of Mikka at a control panel, the doors slid shut just as the hunter managed to pull back.

"It may seem that we are outnumbered," huffed the exhausted Kodos.
"Indeed. Our only chance at ensuring the safety of Shade for any longer would be to head to the escape pods."
"We would be shot down immediately."
"No one has hold of the gunner positions at this point. It will take some time before Tras may organize his newfound army."

Kodos nodded silently, and they made their way quickly through the halls. It wouldn't be long before the wave would find an alternate route to their temporary safe haven.

The airways of the Uzumri were alive once more as Shadow sped his way through the maze of tunnels.

"What the hell happened over there?" asked the bewildered EVA.
"I missed Shade. Twelve times."
"Right…"
"Where's the bridge?"
"What are you planning?"
"My revenge, of course."

The AI seemed to pause for a moment, probably in contemplation.

"Here is the most direct pathway."

Shadow nodded, and faded into the depths of the ship.

Elsewhere, Mikka and Kodos had reached the destination of their short travel.

"The task is complete, the doors are completely locked down. Only direct force may break through to our position."
"Stack some heavy items in front of it. I still need more time to bypass the locking system on this escape pod."

A loud resounding thud was raised at the entrance, quickly followed by many others.

"They've arrived."
"The lock has been bypassed. Give me a few more seconds to bring Shade inside and initiate the ejection sequence."
"Mikka, they're breaking through."
"It is done. The launch sequence is beginning. Get inside."

Kodos stepped inside, and the hatch closed only moments before the doors to the escape pod bay was sent to the other side of the room from some explosion. If any were perceptive enough to look through any of the nearby windows, they would see a lone escape pod hurtling towards the nearby halo at a breakneck speed. Shade was safe…for now.

The bridge was uncharacteristically quiet. Usually, it was the location of blinking lights, ringing sirens and chaotic correspondence with the rest of the ship. However, at this time, there were only a few of the crew there to ensure that the Uzumri didn't mistakenly crash into the halo or shut down any critical systems. With the grate at the roof of the bridge suddenly falling to the ground, the room was bound to be much quieter in a few seconds. And so it was. Shadow stepped to the controls as the last of the skeleton crew fell to the ground, and looked among the controls. To his surprise, before he could touch anything, an image made itself known at the main screen. It seemed to be some kind of video communication. What faced him was unlike anything the mere human had ever seen before. Syidu was likewise surprised to see a human on a ship full of Covenant. Shadow looked to EVA, who was already translating some of the Covenant's battle codes to Shadow's arm device. He made a special note of the defense weapon systems code that stood among the list of commands. If this message were coming from outside of the Uzumri, then his safest method of defense would clearly be to activate the ship's defenses and hope for the best. For now, however, he'd wait. Syidu stared at the human for a few moments before breaking the silence between the two.

"A human…curious," said Syidu, with a clear level of intrigue.
"…And you are?"
"Forerunner."

There was a slight pause as Shadow searched his memory for that word and its meaning. He could find only a few bits of information, knowing very little of what a "Forerunner" was.

"What do you want?"
"Some information. Before I kill you, of course."
"Anything else?"

Shadow smiled and activated the ship's self defense mechanisms. He watched Syidu's face turn from surprise, to confusion, and eventually some level of anger.

"Tak! Tras and his guards are coming!" exclaimed the worried EVA.
"Time left."
"Approximately 4.6 seconds."

Shadow nodded, walked to the bridge's entrance, where he could almost feel the presence of that very creature that interested him so much. Reaching over his shoulder and pulling out his sniper rifle, he smiled to himself and aimed the gun right where he knew Tras's head would be. And indeed, his head appeared right on target as the doors slid open. A small band of what seemed to be newly assigned personal guards accompanied the new leader of the Uzumri.

Disturbing, however, was Tras's lack of surprise or a physical gesture that demonstrated some kind of shock. Indeed, Tras simply walked up to the barrel of the gun and stared straight into the assassin's own eyes with cold indifference. Ice, it seemed, had grown across his arms, the sniper rifle held in place. It had become the essence of his body itself, as he found himself unable to move.

However, that moment of deadly silence was shattered with the sirens of an incoming wave of attacks.

"The Uzumri's defenses will hold, but not for long, human. I'm sure you are aware of that."
"Step back, Tras'Lok."
"That, I cannot do. Will you endanger the lives of the entire crew simply because you wish to have Shade's head?"

The two enemies stared each other down for a few more seconds. Shadow was the first to dart his eyes to the side, though only for a moment before they locked back in with Tras's dark spheres. Holding his position for a moment more, he lifted his rifle and stepped to the side.

"What are you doing?" whispered EVA.
"Letting Tras save his crew."
"He has everything. You have nothing to bargain with. What are you doing?"
"I don't know. For once, I don't know."

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