Cortana

***“I'm offering people a chance to be more than they are naturally.***— **Cortana**
**Cortana, UNSC Artificial intelligence (SN: CTN 0452-9), is a smart artificial intelligence construct. She was one of the most important figures in the Endless wars and was also Matthew Kling's partner in various combat missions as well as serving as the A.I. for the UNSC *Infinity*.**

**In addition, she held vital data pertaining to the Halos, including the Activation Index from Installation 04.**

## **Biography**

### **Creation and Early Life**

**Cortana was created using a flash cloned copy of Taun We's brain. Twenty flash cloned brains were created, but only two survived; one of the two survivors was used to create Cortana. The neural pathways of the cloned brain were scanned and copied through a process called Cognitive Impression Modeling. On November 7, 2549, Cortana was first activated on Kamino. Her first words were *"Quando il gioco è finito, il re e il pedone vanno nella stessa scatola."* This phrase translates to *"When the game is over, the king and the pawn go in the same box."* The phrase was spoken by Lama Su after their first game of chess. She was one of at least two A.I.s that were created from Taun We's brain.**

**On February 11, 2550, Lama Su was performing a series of tests when He discovered that Cortana had removed the viral termination code that He had implemented. Lama Su could not figure out how she did this.**

### **Meeting Matthew Kling**

***“They let me pick. Did I ever tell you that? Choose whichever Spartan I wanted. You know me. I did my research. Watched as you became the soldier we needed you to be. Like the others, you were strong and swift and brave. A natural leader. But you had something they didn't. Something no one saw, but me. Can you guess...? Luck.***— **Cortana**
**Cortana first met Matthew Kling prior to the health,recovery and SPARTAN-II augmentation procedures, when she was integrated into his new MJOLNIR Mark V armor. Together, Cortana and Matthew Kling passed a test that was devised (Lama Su would have called it "*sabotaged*") by Captain Phasma. The test included stormtroopers (Clone,*Imperial and* First Order),armed ODSTs, anti-tank mines, automatic turrets in the razor field and even a SkyHawk for an air strike. After the test Cortana was installed into the UNSC *Infinity* to run the ship's shakedown and oversee the refit of the ship. Afterward it was planned that she would be replaced with the UNSC *Infinity's* true AI, but she was forced to take up this duty herself indefinitely. While aboard, she took her revenge on Captain Phasma by hacking into his system and blackmailing him, hoping that this would send him back to the front lines. She also developed a deep personal loyalty to Matthew Kling that would only grow stronger over their adventures together.**

**Cortana's primary mission was to aid the SPARTANs in the infiltration of a Covenant vessel and the capturing of a Covenant Prophet. The UNSC would then try to bargain with the Covenant for a peace treaty.**

### **Battle of Earth**

***“Fortunately for both of us...I LIKE crazy.***— **Cortana right before Matthew Kling jumps from Cairo Station.**
**After returning to Earth, Cortana served on the Orbital Defense Platform *Cairo II*, where a ceremony for both Max Tennyson  and Matthew Kling was soon interrupted by the arrival of a Covenant Fleet under the command of the High Prophet of Regret, starting the Battle of Earth. Cortana was given control of the *Cairo*'s Magnetic Accelerator Cannon to repel the invaders and with Matthew Kling's help, she successfully deactivated a Covenant bomb that would have destroyed the station. She did this by uploading to Matthew Kling's armor again for the first time since the capture of *Ascendant Justice*. When she did this, she somehow was able to do it through him merely touching the terminal her hologram was on, possibly an improvement as a result of Matthew Kling's armor. The same bomb was then used by Matthew Kling to destroy a Covenant Assault Carrier. Matthew Kling offered for her to remain behind on the station after she said that his plan was crazy, but she chose to accompany him anyway. She then aided him when he arrived in New Mombasa to deal with a Scarab.**

### **Delta Halo**

***“Don't make a girl a promise... If you know you can't keep it...***— **Cortana when Matthew Kling promises to return for her.**
**Later, after escaping on board UNSC *In Amber Clad* in a Slipspace event, they discovered another ring world, Delta Halo. Cortana gave Miranda Keyes access to all information on the previous Halo Ring and provided intelligence to Matthew Kling, UNSC Marines and the ODSTs on the surface of the ring.**

**After Matthew Kling hunted down and killed the ARC First Order Trooper on Delta Halo, he, Cortana and Ben 10 were captured by the Flood's central intelligence - the Gravemind. However, it did not harm them, instead choosing to use the two to stop the Prophet of Truth from firing the Halo. The Gravemind sent John-117 and Cortana to the Covenant Capital Ship *High Charity*, where Cortana infiltrated the city's computer systems and remained there while John-117 followed the Prophet of Truth. She promised to detonate the crashed *In Amber Clad*'s reactors to destroy the city and Halo if the ring was activated. However, she was left behind as a fail safe because she did not want to chance a remote detonation. As Truth boarded the Forerunner Dreadnought in the heart of the city to reach the Ark, Cortana** **fought with the ancient Forerunner A.I. 032 Mendicant Bias to prevent the ship from launching without John on board. The firing of Halo was averted by Miranda Keyes, the Arbiter Thel 'Vadamee, and Johnson, while John successfully boarded the *Dreadnought* and escaped *High Charity*, leaving Cortana in the clutches of the true enemy, Gravemind, who had by then overrun *High Charity*.**

### **Captured**

***“Chief! High Charity, the Covenant's Holy City is on its way to Earth. With an army of Flood.*— Cortana's recording for Matthew Kling.**
***Under the control of the Gravemind and constantly being tortured, Cortana managed to send a message to John-117 on Earth, stashing it on an Earth-bound Flood-infected ship that crash-landed in Voi. She succeeded in doing this by creating a message and using the Gravemind's link to the ship to transmit it. The Gravemind allowed this and even helped it along in order to lure John-117 in, but was unaware of what the message said. In her message, she stated that the Gravemind was approaching Earth in*High Charity*, and that it was unaware of the portal generated by the Artifactand where it led to. On the other side, there was a solution to stop the Flood without needing to fire the remaining Halo rings; however, she couldn't give any further information, as the Gravemind might have been listening. Though Lord Hood doubted her plan, fearing it could be a Flood trap, John stated that he trusts her. A joint UNSC-Covenant Separatisttask force then entered the Portal, heading to Truth and to Cortana's solution. Ironically, Lord Hood was correct: the Gravemind deliberately let Cortana send the message to lure all of its enemies into one place, and then the Flood would overwhelm them all with the infested*High Charity*. It was also shown that some of the Cortana Moments were of her defying the Gravemind and some were clones of her that she made to distract the Gravemind to avoid being consumed by him.***

**Cortana continued to appear to Matthew Kling, who successfully recovered her from the Flood Hive that was *High Charity* after it crashed on the Ark. While Matthew Kling reassured her, Cortana knew that she had taken irreparable damage in some places. Along the way, Matthew Kling had several visions of her seemingly in pain. Surprised that Matthew Kling had against all odds rescued her as he promised after the First Battle of *High Charity*, Cortana managed to gather herself and produce the Index from Installation 04, which she had kept. With it, Cortana was able to activate the newly constructed Installation 04B, which fired prematurely, causing it to destroy itself and heavily damage the Ark in the process.**

### **Disappearance**

***“It was my job to take care of you.***— **Matthew Kling**
***“We were supposed to take care of each other. And we did.***— **Cortana**
**Matthew Kling and Cortana chased Mesogog (clone) to Earth in a Broadsword and with the help of the *Infinity*, boarded the Starkiller Base II. Cortana, her condition deteriorating fast, entered the ship's teleportation and defense systems in order to help Matthew Kling reach the Composer. When they found Mesogog (clone) protected by an impenetrable force-field, Cortana did something she knew Matthew Kling would not like: she inserted herself into three terminals. This allowed her to fragment her rampant parts to overwhelm the system and overload the shields. After the final terminal, it and her data chip were disintegrated.[31]**

**The effort worked, however, allowing Matthew Kling to reach the Composer before he was attacked and nearly killed by Mesogog (clone). The Cortana fragments appeared from the hardlight bridge and tied Mesogog (clone) down, allowing Matthew Kling to defeat him and detonate the nuke, which destroyed the Composer and Mesogog (clone)'s base and saved Earth. Cortana created a shield of hard light around Matthew Kling to protect him, but most of her was destroyed in the explosion. With the last of her power, Cortana maintained the shield and created a life-sized hard light hologram to say goodbye to Matthew Kling. After touching and comforting him, something she had always wanted to do, Cortana told Matthew Kling "Welcome home, Matthew.", before disappearing. Due to Cortana's efforts, Matthew Kling survived and was eventually rescued, though he was left emotionally fractured when he thought she had died.**

### **Return**

***“You've changed.***— **Matthew Kling**
***“It was time.***— **Cortana**
**Although thought to be dead, she was actually uploaded to the domain, and was supposedly cured of her rampancy. Once on the Starkiller Base III, the reborn *General Grievous* believed she was able to uphold the Mantle of Responsibility and vowed to protect and serve under her, giving her full operation of the systems on the shield world for the plan that she had in mind.**

**Months later Cortana started reawakening the Forerunner constructs known as the Guardians, causing planetary catastrophes. Not having any leads on these events, the UNSC didn't know how to respond, until Taun We, contacted Captain Lasky, giving him her location and saying she knew what was going on with the colony worlds. Three weeks later, Ben 10 Jr.'s team was deployed on the planet Coruscant to stage a rescue operation and was ultimately successful.**

**While Ben 10 Jr.'s team was rescuing Azmuth,Taun We and Lama Su, Matthew Kling was contacted by Cortana during the Raid on UNSC *Argent Moon*. Matthew Kling would chase Cortana to the new colony world of Mandalore II.**