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Description
Finding the Chaotic Fury was easy enough. As suspected, it was in Sanghelios' system, but was nowhere near the planet by the time Ahst's fleet had arrived. Perhaps Discord, in his overconfidence, had decided to take some time to explore? Or may be he was just screwing around. Either way, it didn't matter. Ahst quickly herded her party, now including Bias, aboard a Phantom, and headed for the captured Battlecruiser. It was time to end Discord's little game…

---------------------------------

Once again, no one on board the ship made a move to stop the Phantom or its crew, and they had a significantly easier time getting to the bridge now that they knew about Discord's little tricks. The AI was either losing his touch, or simply far too proud of himself to give a damn. Clearly tired of not having a command chair, Discord had made his own as part of his avatar on the ship's bridge, projected by the numerous holoprojectors in the consoles around him. The Rampant AI cackled rather jovially at the insanity around him, producing a glass in his eagle hand, which promptly filled up with chocolate milk--from top to bottom. Bringing the "drink" up to his mouth, he sighed happily. "Chaos is a wonderful, WONDERFUL thing!" he said, preparing to take a sip…

"Not as wonderful as this team is, Discord!"

Discord looked at the entrance to the bridge, mildly surprised upon seeing Ahst standing proudly before him, a complete opposite of how he had left her. Her team stood behind her, just as confident and wearing brave grins. None of this (to Ahst's annoyance yet again) seemed to faze Discord, however, who simply rolled his eyes.

"Ugh, this again?" he groaned, gulping down his drink in one go. However, he didn't drink the milk, but the glass around it, which disappeared down his holographic throat like any liquid would. Staring at the solid cylinder of chocolate milk in his hand for a moment, he subsequently threw it over his shoulder… where it promptly exploded. Fortunately, being a complete fabrication, it was harmless.

"That's right," Sarge growled. "You couldn't break apart this team for long." Discord merely grinned, as one of his jury-rigged, spiderlike holoprojectors skittered from a dark corner of the bridge and towards the Spartan.

"Oh Sarge, don't lie to me," Discord growled, an evil grin on his face. Suddenly, as the projector drew up to Sarge, it produced the three "Archivists," now each containing Discord's ugly face, eyes swirling with color as they spoke in unison. "I'm the one who made you a liar…"

More projectors scuttled towards the group, creating their own holograms: a balloon with a cartoonish version of Discord's features, a floating emerald with Discord reflected within, a dangling human corpse that also had Discord's head replacing the original, a trio of Monarch butterflies that looked decidedly Discord-ish, and a picture-perfect copy of Lucky, Discord's face reflected in her visor. All these malicious illusions once more attempted to hypnotize Ahst's crew, still speaking in perfect unison: "Will you ever learn?"

The telltale whine of plasma fire tore through the bridge as Ahst fired her Plasma Rifle six times, shattering the fragile projectors and ending their effects prematurely, taking Discord by surprise. The group, momentarily frozen by Discord's mental assault, quickly regained composure, glaring daggers at the AI. Ahst joined them. She had had enough of this piece of scrap.

"I'll tell you what we've learned, Discord," she growled, to the AI's mild amusement. "We've learned that making a team…" she paused, looking over her group of comrades fondly. "…Making friends isn't always easy. It's messy, stressful, and not always successful. But I know one thing: it's definitely something worth fighting for!"

Discord's response was, for lack of a better term, anticlimactic.

"Ugh, GAG! Fine, go ahead and try and use your little artifact again, 'frienemies,' just make it quick! I'm missing some excellent chaos here!"

Ahst couldn't suppress her smirk. "Bias, please come up here please."

As the Forerunner AI stepped forward, artifact in hand, Discord gave him an interested stare. "Oh, what's this? A new pet, Admiral Trout?" Ahst narrowed her eyes.

"My name… is Admiral Ahst 'Zar 'Traotee! Now Bias!"

As if on cue, Bias activated the Precursor device, which glowed with bright light that extended towards the consoles on the bridge around Discord. For the first time since Ahst had met the crazed AI, a look of true fear swept across his holographic face as he looked frantically around the static-filled, fizzling screens.

"No…"

If Discord had attempted to stop Bias' intrusion, it almost certainly didn't work. His holographic avatar started to become indistinct, blurring and flashing random colors as he seemed to lose cohesion. Lights in the ship flickered on and off, and Bias' armored suit temporarily slumped forward as the Forerunner AI entered the ship's systems personally. With a final, strangled, "NOOOOOO!" Discord's avatar vanished, shattering into yellow pixels that drifted away from each other before slowly fading away, one by one…

As Discord's influence abruptly ended over the crew of the Harmonic Grace, they seemed to collapse like puppets with the strings cut, momentarily stunned. All was silent for several moments, until Bias's body returned to life, turning to face Ahst. "Admiral, the rogue AI has been destroyed. It put up a fight, but I managed to strip it down, code fragment by code fragment. If there is anything left, it is certainly not a threat to this ship any more."
Ahst nodded her approval. "Excellent work, Bias. I knew I could count on you." She turned to her friends. "Alright everyone, let's get these soldiers back on their feet. We've got a whole lot of cleanup to do."

Vhar's eyes widened in terror.

"W-we have to clean up THIS?!" he shrieked, gesturing wildly at the none-too-clean Battlecruiser. As the Kig-yar began trembling in his boots, Sar sighed.

"I miss corrupted Vhar already…"

Description
Finding the Chaotic Fury was easy enough. As suspected, it was in Sanghelios' system, but was nowhere near the planet by the time Ahst's fleet had arrived. Perhaps Discord, in his overconfidence, had decided to take some time to explore? Or may be he was just screwing around. Either way, it didn't matter. Ahst quickly herded her party, now including Bias, aboard a Phantom, and headed for the captured Battlecruiser. It was time to end Discord's little game…

---------------------------------

Once again, no one on board the ship made a move to stop the Phantom or its crew, and they had a significantly easier time getting to the bridge now that they knew about Discord's little tricks. The AI was either losing his touch, or simply far too proud of himself to give a damn. Clearly tired of not having a command chair, Discord had made his own as part of his avatar on the ship's bridge, projected by the numerous holoprojectors in the consoles around him. The Rampant AI cackled rather jovially at the insanity around him, producing a glass in his eagle hand, which promptly filled up with chocolate milk--from top to bottom. Bringing the "drink" up to his mouth, he sighed happily. "Chaos is a wonderful, WONDERFUL thing!" he said, preparing to take a sip…

"Not as wonderful as this team is, Discord!"

Discord looked at the entrance to the bridge, mildly surprised upon seeing Ahst standing proudly before him, a complete opposite of how he had left her. Her team stood behind her, just as confident and wearing brave grins. None of this (to Ahst's annoyance yet again) seemed to faze Discord, however, who simply rolled his eyes.

"Ugh, this again?" he groaned, gulping down his drink in one go. However, he didn't drink the milk, but the glass around it, which disappeared down his holographic throat like any liquid would. Staring at the solid cylinder of chocolate milk in his hand for a moment, he subsequently threw it over his shoulder… where it promptly exploded. Fortunately, being a complete fabrication, it was harmless.

"That's right," Sarge growled. "You couldn't break apart this team for long." Discord merely grinned, as one of his jury-rigged, spiderlike holoprojectors skittered from a dark corner of the bridge and towards the Spartan.

"Oh Sarge, don't lie to me," Discord growled, an evil grin on his face. Suddenly, as the projector drew up to Sarge, it produced the three "Archivists," now each containing Discord's ugly face, eyes swirling with color as they spoke in unison. "I'm the one who made you a liar…"

More projectors scuttled towards the group, creating their own holograms: a balloon with a cartoonish version of Discord's features, a floating emerald with Discord reflected within, a dangling human corpse that also had Discord's head replacing the original, a trio of Monarch butterflies that looked decidedly Discord-ish, and a picture-perfect copy of Lucky, Discord's face reflected in her visor. All these malicious illusions once more attempted to hypnotize Ahst's crew, still speaking in perfect unison: "Will you ever learn?"

The telltale whine of plasma fire tore through the bridge as Ahst fired her Plasma Rifle six times, shattering the fragile projectors and ending their effects prematurely, taking Discord by surprise. The group, momentarily frozen by Discord's mental assault, quickly regained composure, glaring daggers at the AI. Ahst joined them. She had had enough of this piece of scrap.

"I'll tell you what we've learned, Discord," she growled, to the AI's mild amusement. "We've learned that making a team…" she paused, looking over her group of comrades fondly. "…Making friends isn't always easy. It's messy, stressful, and not always successful. But I know one thing: it's definitely something worth fighting for!"

Discord's response was, for lack of a better term, anticlimactic.

"Ugh, GAG! Fine, go ahead and try and use your little artifact again, 'frienemies,' just make it quick! I'm missing some excellent chaos here!"

Ahst couldn't suppress her smirk. "Bias, please come up here please."

As the Forerunner AI stepped forward, artifact in hand, Discord gave him an interested stare. "Oh, what's this? A new pet, Admiral Trout?" Ahst narrowed her eyes.

"My name… is Admiral Ahst 'Zar 'Traotee! Now Bias!"

As if on cue, Bias activated the Precursor device, which glowed with bright light that extended towards the consoles on the bridge around Discord. For the first time since Ahst had met the crazed AI, a look of true fear swept across his holographic face as he looked frantically around the static-filled, fizzling screens.

"No…"

If Discord had attempted to stop Bias' intrusion, it almost certainly didn't work. His holographic avatar started to become indistinct, blurring and flashing random colors as he seemed to lose cohesion. Lights in the ship flickered on and off, and Bias' armored suit temporarily slumped forward as the Forerunner AI entered the ship's systems personally. With a final, strangled, "NOOOOOO!" Discord's avatar vanished, shattering into yellow pixels that drifted away from each other before slowly fading away, one by one…

As Discord's influence abruptly ended over the crew of the Harmonic Grace, they seemed to collapse like puppets with the strings cut, momentarily stunned. All was silent for several moments, until Bias's body returned to life, turning to face Ahst. "Admiral, the rogue AI has been destroyed. It put up a fight, but I managed to strip it down, code fragment by code fragment. If there is anything left, it is certainly not a threat to this ship any more."
Ahst nodded her approval. "Excellent work, Bias. I knew I could count on you." She turned to her friends. "Alright everyone, let's get these soldiers back on their feet. We've got a whole lot of cleanup to do."

Vhar's eyes widened in terror.

"W-we have to clean up THIS?!" he shrieked, gesturing wildly at the none-too-clean Battlecruiser. As the Kig-yar began trembling in his boots, Sar sighed.

"I miss corrupted Vhar already…"