The Forward Unto Dawn shot away from the exploding installation causing the Master Chief to get almost knocked out of the ship.

"Chief!" Cortana shouted with concern. Chief quickly smashed his fist into the deck, stopping him temporarily, as if on queue, a Warthog tumbled out of the hangar almost crushing him. Using the grooves inside the hangar, he pulled himself up to the holo-projector where Cortana was. When he reached the pedestal, he glanced back at the Ark, which was engulfed in fire.

He then brought his attention back to Cortana and held onto the pedestal firmly. A familiar blue outline of a slipspace portal surrounded the vessel as it was pulled into the source of gravity. Suddenly, an explosion was heard back at the Ark. Chief Turned his head at the sound. That's not possible, sound can't travel in space, he pondered.

His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden shaking of the ship, tremendous vibrations shook the ship. A screech of metal sounded down the walkways and halls. It lasted for several seconds before it stopped abruptly. He realised they weren't accelerating anymore and felt the feeling of weightlessness take over his body.

"Chief, I have bad news", Cortana spoke sadly, "We won't be going back". Chief turned his head to her holographic figure and looked at her questioningly.

"When the Ark was destroyed, it sent a massive shockwave out to a one light year radius, when the Dawn opened a slipspace portal, the shockwave shoved the ship off course and collapsed the portal", She explained clearly. "Since we are stranded what should we do?" she asked. Chief didn't answer, instead he pulled Cortana's data chip out of the holo-table and held on to it as he floated down the hall.

Chief floated for a couple of minutes before he rounded a corner to find his destination, the cryo bay. Taking Cortana's data chip, he place it into the pedestal in the centre of the room. Her avatar popped up as she watched the Spartan place himself into a cryo tube.

"Wake me when you need me", was his final words before he froze.