A/N: Hello everybody! I am back with another story... Well, a rewrite actually. If you all will recall, I wrote a story a while back that held the same name. To make a long story short, it had several issues with the plot, characters, dialogue, and just about everything else.
Because of this, I liked the concept but not the execution, I decided to do a rewrite. However, the future of this rewrite is in your guys' hands. I NEED to know if you guys want this to continue. If you do, than I will keep writing. If not, I will move on and let it fade into obscurity as an unresolved one shot.
So, with all of that noted, I give you chapter 1 (take 2)...
The space was an endless void of black, broken up by the occasional twinkle of a far off star. In the depths of this void, a ship drifted toward seemingly nothing. It's flashing red and blue lights were all that stood visible against the black backdrop. Yet, it was not alone. Concealed by this very same darkness was a planet. Despite the title, it was not a natural formation, but instead a prison. Within that prison were two beings, one awake and one asleep. Both were held in by the strongest force in the Galaxy- gravity.
At first glance inside, this planet did not appearto be a prison.The air was warm as a slight breeze held it to a comfortable temperature. There was nothing but clear blue sky as far as the eyes could see, and there were no restrictions on where the awake prisoner could go. However, the woman knew better. This was a prison. She did not have truly "free reign". She did not get to alter this planet as she wished. More importantly, she could not leave.
"Soon. Soon, you will set me free," the Woman muttered to herself as she walked down the narrow trail.
She could sense him up there. He was sleeping as he had been for the last seven years. However, even in sleep, his power radiated outward from the broken ship. He was no force sensitive, but he was a man to be respected in combat none-the-less. To some like the Covenant, and even her sleeping partner, he posed a real threat. However, she did not fight like them. She had no wish to fight this man. For now, she had use of him, and for that reason she waited. Time did not matter. Concepts such as death and age had long since fallen away. These trivial things meant nothing to her in this prison, and so she waited.
The woman stopped at the edge of a jagged cliff and closed her eyes. She could feel it. The planet was coming alive. The ship was finally close enough to warrant an inspection for Flood forms. This continued for the next several minutes. Each sensory wave was slightly different than the last. Finally, it happened all at once. The Force surged with lifeformsas they suddenly amassed outside of her prison. Emotions spiked. Anger, greed, and determination all came rushing forth within these newcomers. Then, a minute later, the man in question woke up. She could feel it almost like a glow-rod being turned up to a brighter setting.
"It's about time, Cortana," she mumbled.
If that A.I were truly smart, she would have woken him well before now. But of course, certain exceptions had to be made for constructs falling into rampancy. Yet it proved not to matter. For the next several minutes, she felt various lifeforms wink out in the force entirely. The dead were serving as a testimony to the greatness of her plan. She needed not fear for the man's safety up there. This allowed her to simply enjoy the mayhem through what the force would show.
All the time, she could feel the planet continuing its rise from the ranks of the dead. It was waking up, preparing to take more captives. Oh, yes. There was all kinds of enjoyment to be had.
The fight escalated to its climax as a concentrated cry of alarm and horror shot through the force. Suddenly it fell to relative silence as hundreds of the contributing beings were silenced for eternity. Those left alive were nothing but weak, dying signatures in the force. As if taking its cue from the explosion, the planet finished its awakening and opened itself up. The woman felt brief hope for escape. However, it was savagely crushed as the gravity well increased power. As ships were sucked in, she reached for the only human in the mess. With him being sucked in without the protection of a ship, she needed to intervene.
She guided him as he streaked past debris. He would twist himself up, down, left, and right in attempts to get through the deadly obstacle course. Of course he thought that his own reflexes were guiding him. Theknowledge of thisannoyed the woman. However, she reasoned that what he didn't know wouldn't kill him… yet.
The Chief let out a muted groan as he attempted to blink open his eyes. As he mentally took stock of his body, the Spartan was starting to think that Sergeant Johnson's prediction had come true. The Chief had finally crashed into something harder than himself. The idea of letting sleep carry him away was tempting.However, sound of Cortana calling into his ear brought him around. With a shake of the head, he banished the previous thought from his head. He was alive. That was what mattered. As long as he was alive, he had things to do.
"You can sleep when you're dead," barked a voice from somewhere in his head.
He couldn't readily place who the voice belonged to, but it didn't matter. That had seemed to be the motto all throughout his training, and now was a perfect time for that kind of encouragement.
"Chief, come on! Wake up. We have to move," Cortana was urging.
Satisfied that he could move, the Spartan slowly picked himself up out of the pile of debris he had landed in.
"I'm awake," he declared as he sat up.
"Thank goodness," the A.I. responded with audible relief, "How was the nap?"
"I've had better," the Chief stated flatly, as his gaze drifted across the debris field.
In his immediate field of view were large pieces of a Covenant battle cruiser that had been ripped apart as it came crashing down. All around were scattered slabs of armor and frame work that were easily the size of a scarab. In the patchwork of shadows looming created by the crash, fires burned from various flammable parts. As he walked, the Chief noticed pieces of the Forward Unto Dawn intermixed and sometimes stabbed into pieces of the battle cruiser.
"Glad we didn't stay on the ship," Cortana commented.
The Chief did little more than nod his head as he tossed aside a slab of grey armor. He was immediately greeted with an energy sword wielding Elite. Lacking a weapon, the Chief backed away from the opening. However, instead of rushing him, the injured Elite stumbled forward. The steps were quick, but uncertain, and failed to carry the Elite very far very fast. As the Elite struggled to stay upright, the Chief caught sight of the blood pouring out of its side. The being weakly mumbled something in his native language before collapsing onto the dirt. After waiting a few seconds to ensure the Elite's death, the Chief scooped up his energy sword and continued onward.
"How bad is it?" the Chief asked as he picked his way through the debris.
"It's bad. The entire fleet got pulled into that gravity well. The Covenant battle-net's a mess. There's no clear leadership and the survivors are scattered across several square kilometers," Cortana explained.
"At least they left a trail of supplies," the Chief commented offhandedly as he scooped up a couple stray plasma grenades.
"That they did," she agreed.
To say they had left a trail of supplies was both an over and an understatement. The Chief had managed to load out with a Carbine for his main weapon, a Magnum on his right side, energy sword on his left, and about as many plasma grenades as he could reasonably carry. Yet, despite all of this, he was lacking any kind of motorized transportation. This made travel slow and almost tedious, with only the occasional Covenant soldier to give him trouble.
After about an hour of silent walking, Cortana spoke up, "Huh… It-it… appears that one of the Warthogs survived the fall fr-from space. I have a live beacon about a half click north of here on the other s'de this canyon."
The Chief came to a stop as he heard her speak. Something was wrong. He had heard it on the ship and he was hearing it now.
"Cortana, are you alright?" he asked with a stern edge.
"I-I'm fine. Let's see about getting to that Warthog," Cortana answered quickly.
"Cortana?" he pressed.
The distortion in her voice had said differently, and the Chief wasn't satisfied with her response.
"Look, the Covenant are starting to pull themselves together. It's best if we get clear of this fleet as fast as possible. I'll explain what's going on with me later. Right now, we need to get to that Warthog," she answered urgently.
The Chief didn't like her response. Yet, never-the-less, he took off for the blue waypoint Cortana had placed on his heads-up display.
The woman relaxed slightly as the Spartan started walking again. Years of watching had told her that directly influencing him would be difficult at best and counterproductive at worst. Instead she had chosen to take the more interesting route. Cortana was based off a human-being. Her construction was minutely, but sufficiently, organic. With rampancy setting in, Cortana was the woman's way of controlling the Chief. The trick would be ensuring that he continued to trust and rely on her as much as he currently did.
However, it didn't matter at the moment. With the beacon active and Covenant forces suddenly more interested in salvaging their equipment than chasing a lone human, she had little to worry about. Things could now fall into place more naturally, with a less intervention on her part.
(GSS Resolute: Somewhere in the Outer Rim)
Admiral Yularen stared out the viewport in awe. Outside, he could see a glowing, dark blue orb slightly bigger than his ship. Reaching out from it were tentacles of lighter, blue light that bathed the topside of the Resolute in a ghostly light. After a few seconds of staring, he realized they were still drifting from the abrupt exit from hyperspace.
"All stop," he ordered.
"All stop," echoed the ship's Captain.
"All stop. Aye," acknowledged the helmsman.
The Admiral waited until he was satisfied that the ship had come to a true stop before carrying on.
"Tell engineering to do a second stage inspection. I don't want any nasty surprises when we leave. While they're working, get me a sensory report on that… that thing," the Admiral ordered as he struggled on what to call the object.
As the Captain went to carry out his orders, the rear blast doors hissed open. Turning toward the war room, Admiral Yularen locked eyes with General- no- Master Skywalker. Even after a year and a half, the Admiral was still not used to Jedi not having a military rank.
"What… is that?" Anakin asked as he amended his question mid-sentence.
"That, Skywalker, is what we are trying to find out," the Admiral replied as he gestured back toward the viewport.
As he finished speaking, the deck suddenly shifted under them. There was a whine as the ship's thrusters powered up in an attempt to match the ship's sudden acceleration. Down in the crew pit, there was a sudden, panicked flurry of activity.
"Kriff! I'm forcing a shutdown of engine 1 now."
"This is tower control to medical, requesting any available corpsman go to engineering. Multiple injuries, at least one immobile."
"Engine 2 is heating up. Compartment 1, you have fifteen seconds, get him out. I need to fire the engine. Something's wrong. We need to compensate," barked the first officer.
"This is helm, to engineering. Clear out. I need the engines active," added an officer from the other side.
"What's happening?" the Admiral demanded as he hurried over, with Anakin in tow.
"The object is pulling us in," the Captain answered as he darted from one station to the next, "However, we have several Engineers that are inside doing the inspection. Until their out, we can't counter, or we'll kill them."
"What of the injuries that did happen?" Anakin quizzed.
"The override system failed on Engine 1. As a result, the engine powered up in response to the sudden pull, and caught a handful of men. We transferred power to engine 2 since it was clear, but the excess energy is overloading the core," the Captain explained quickly.
Admiral Yularen swore to himself before addressing the Captain, "Get them out, and balance the engines. In the meantime… Just get it done and keep me posted."
"Yes sir." the Captain concluded before issuing further orders to the men.
"And get me that sensor report," the Admiral added as he turned to a set of officers on the far left side of the bridge.
"Admiral?" Anakin asked carefully.
There was a sharp distaste in the Admiral's words that Anakin only heard when one of his or someone else's hair brained stunts came back to bite everyone.
Admiral Yularen gave the question no chance to hang before answering sharply, "We just got done with a combat operation. The shields are damaged and we are spotted with hull patches. On top of that, this ship has been due for an overhaul since before the end of the war, and it's showing. It shouldn't take the Force to understand my issue."
Anakin nodded. That he understood. The Admiral was showing his anger at those that had caused this. Attempts to disband the military had been stopped short, but at the cost of crucial funding that left many ships without necessary upgrades or maintenance.
"Captain, engines are clear and balancing," called a crewman.
"Reverse, full power. Get us out of this field," the Captain quickly ordered.
Anakin and Admiral Yularen both shifted their weight to counter the sharp reduction in speed. A high pitched drone could be heard reverberating through the deck as the engines and reactor struggled to counteract both the ship's forward momentum and the pull of the object. A tense silence fell over the bridge as the bridge officers focused intensely on their assigned duties.
"What's our reactor power?" the Admiral quizzed as he felt the ship come to a stop.
"Seventy percent and spinning up to one hundred percent," replied the Captain.
"Good."
Suddenly the ship lurched forward. Yet, that wasn't the immediate concern. For Admiral Yularen, it was the ripple of concerned murmurs coursing through his bridge. For Anakin, it was the lack of reactor noise. Instead of increasing to compensate with the sudden motion, it was growing quieter, almost like-
"Sir, the reactor is failing. We're losing power rapidly," the Captain urgently reported.
This threw everyone into overdrive. Taking control of the chaos, Admiral Yularen started barking orders. As he was working, Anakin reached out toward the object with the force. Oddly enough he felt no real danger associated with it. Once he worked past the wash of alarm and fear radiating off the crew, Anakin almost felt like there was a small voice whispering for him to go. Despite the situation, he felt no danger.
"Admiral?" pleaded the Captain with a look of horror on his face.
In response, Admiral Yularen turned to Anakin with a similar expression. For once, Anakin could only stand and watch as the ship's hull began to pixelate against the glowing blue object. Then after several seconds, the bridge itself collided with the object. Out of reflex, Anakin braced himself against the nearby bulkhead as the world went black.