Prologue
June 12th, 2552, Procyon system, Gihon, Arcadia's moon.
In the four years following the end of the Human-Covenant war, Several of the Outer colonies had been repopulated and by UEG/UNSC forces as well as regular civilians, several of whom had been natives to the planets and had been forced to leave when the Covenant glassed the surface. While the results were hit and miss at times, for the most part, restoration efforts had been a success. Arcadia, however, was an exception. The planet had been glassed in 2549, and there was little reason for the UEG to consider terraforming. As such, the planet and the few people still living there were left mostly to their own devices, neglecting to build any bases there.
Of course, that wasn't to say that was the policy of all human organizations. The Office of Naval Intelligence had seen the usefulness of setting up remote bases well out of the reach of interference from the UNSC or the UEG, and had selected Arcadia as a prime candidate. It was easy to see why; Arcadia was relatively unexplored, with the forests that had been left from the Covenant attack having rebounded tenfold in the past few years, leaving plenty of space to construct clandestine bases hidden beneath the foliage.
There were several such bases that had been built on the surface, most of which were dedicated to researching and reverse engineering recovered Forerunner technology.
The main base, however, was in orbit. Romanov Station was located on the moon Gihon, buried beneath the surface about half a mile down. It was nearly impenetrable, with mini- MAC guns and anti-aircraft missiles armed and ready to destroy intruders at the single command from the facility's commander, Director Petrov. At the moment, said director was in the command center of the base, keeping a sharp eye on his subordinates, both human and Ai,from his office.
One member of the latter group was Alistair, a fourth generation black ops Ai in charge of slipspace monitoring. Despite his intended design, he had been assigned by the director to oversee communications between Romanov and the other ONI bases on the planet surface. This was one thing about his assignment that Alistair resented; Before he had been sent here, he had specialized in confusing Covenant forces with his tricks.
For whatever reason, CINCONI had decided to put him under the command of someone who held him- and most other Ais for that matter- in contempt. He could still remember the day he had arrived here. The director had pale skin with salt and pepper hair that had been shaved to fit under a black baseball cap with the ONI emblem. If that wasn't intimidating enough, Director Petrov had an extremely muscular body hidden beneath his suit, contrasting his cunning and ruthless nature. Everyone on the base knew better than to cross him. It was also the reason that Alistair hadn't objected to his position. At the moment, he was reviewing the transmissions sent from the Arcadia outposts, when his attention was drawn to a signal from one of the slipspace monitors. He opened the transmission. It read simply:
WARNING: SLIPSPACE RUPTURE DETECTED NEAR ROMANOV STATION. SCANNING FOR SOURCE OF RUPTURE. SOURCE FOUND. DO YOU WISH TO SEE LIVE FEED? Y/N
"The heck is this?" He pressed yes and opened the feed. At first, he didn't see anything. Just the blackness of space and the occasional star. Wait… there was something else: a small speck of silver that seemed to be moving closer to the screen. Then it got bigger. Then bigger. Alastair watched in utter surprise as the silver glint quickly grew in size before it finally was clearly visible; From the looks of it, the vessel was a modified winter-class prowler streaking at breakneck speed toward the moon. Suddenly awakening from his stupor, he opened a secure channel to the prowler, hoping that this attempt would slow the ship down long enough to decide what to do." This is ONI Ai Alastair 12-B68 to unidentified ONI prowler, slow down your thrusters and identify immediately." He waited for a response. All he got was static from the other end. "Unidentified prowler, please respond!" Still nothing. Now Alastair went into all out panic mode.
He opened a direct channel to the Director's office." Director Petrov, this is Alastair. Do you copy?" "What do you want?!I'm busy!"" Sir, we have an unidentified winter class prowler flying a direct course for Romanov Station, and the pilot isn't responding! What are your orders sir?" The response from the Director was sharp at best." What in God's name are you talking about? Send me a live feed, now!" Alastair was all too willing to comply; Judging by the tone in his voice, the Director was likely in a worse mood than usual.
No sooner had the link been sent that the director was in the main command center, flanked by a pair of ODSTs. "Alright people, go to red alert! I want every marine on this station armed and ready to kill!" There was chorus of "yes sirs" from the staff. "Alastair, how long until that ship gets here?!" the Director barked." N-not very long sir. Should I hail the crew again?" the Ai asked. " I'll handle that myself. Corporal, open a comm!" "Yes sir!" the Director picked up a microphone and spoke." This is Director Petrov of Romanov Station to unidentified ONI prowler. I demand that you respond immediately. If you refuse to comply, we will use lethal force. What is your reply?"
There was silence for several seconds. Then, a grainy voice, though easily recognizable as male responded, "Acknowledged. Open a bay for me to land. No tricks, got it?" Petrov was taken aback for a moment, as he wasn't to being spoken to in such a manner. Still, he had to answer." Copy that. Proceed to Bay 7. The route is highlighted for you." After he had switched off the communications, he spoke to Alastair." Tell every soldier to get to that hangar bay and be armed with live rounds. If this is a trap by the Innies, we'll be ready." "Sir, the ship is coming in good faith is that really-" "I DON'T GIVE DAMN WHAT THEY COME IN! You have your orders, Alastair!" The Ai grunted." Yes sir."
A few minutes later, the prowler was landing inside of Docking Bay 7. It was greeted by a whole platoon of marines and ODSTs, as well as director Petrov himself, all of which were armed to the teeth with Magnums, SMGs, Automatic Rifles, and even a few rocket launchers. In the light of the hangar bay, the surface of the prowler could be seen to have a coating of black and silver paint, contrasted by streaks of azure and gold focused on the nose. Petrov stared at the vessel with an expression that seemed as if it were designed to burn a hole into the hull.
Finally, he picked a microphone from his back pocket, attached it to his left ear, and shouted," Alright, I ask that all crew members of this ship to come out with their hands up. Is that understood?" No response." If you refuse to comply, I will give the order to attack. I can assure you, there won't be much left of your ship if you choose that option-" There was a hiss as the bay door of the prowler lowered to the ground. Every finger edged ever closer to their designated trigger. The ramp lowered, and the sound of footsteps became audible, until all beheld the sight of… nothing. There was absolutely no one standing there. Glances were shot between soldiers. Petrov was the first to speak." Some of you at the front, move up! Search the ship!" After hesitating for a moment, two ODSTs and a marine crept toward the ramp. At that moment, the marine felt a breeze go by his left shoulder. He turned his head." What the he-" He never got a chance to finish. Before anyone could react, all three soldiers were laying strewn on the ground, knocked out senseless. Petrov stared in utter confusion. What had just happened? He hadn't seen anything attack, nor had the rest of the platoon. He was suddenly drawn from his thoughts by several gasps. He looked up.
One of the automatic rifles was lifting off the ground on its own accord. Suddenly it stopped, then began to move back and forth, as if an invisible had was testing the weapon. Then it leveled- directly at Petrov's head. Oh crud. The next thirty seconds were a blur of shouts, bullets, and screams of pain. By the time it was over, most of the troops in the hangar were incapacitated. The Director had managed to avoid the bullets and retreat to the command center with what few marines he had left. He was visibly shaking as he attempted to make sense of the situation. Finally, he managed to gather himself." S-seal all doors to this area! No one gets in without my direct permission, is that understood?" He received a few shaky nods from the soldiers.
At that moment, an ODST spoke up." Sir, what should we do? Do you want us to call for reinforcements from Arcadia?" "No…no. We must keep this contained. The Innies must have gotten their hands on some Covenant tech. They likely came here for more supplies-" A voice came into earshot." Not exactly Director, but you aren't too far off with that assumption." Petrov looked around, searching for the source of the voice." Alistair!" "Yes sir?" the Ai responded." Scan the room! Find out if we're alone in here!" "Y-yes sir." The was momentary pause as Alistair scanned the area." No heat signatures detected, or any signature for that matte-" He was cut off abruptly as the lights overhead flickered and died. There was a collective gasp as both the Director and the remaining soldiers looked around wildly for some source of illumination.
A marine cried out," What the hell is going on?!" Then, another voice became audible: the sound of someone laughing- with sinister glee from what anyone could tell. The ODST who had spoken before said," What… is that?" No one got the chance to respond to his question. The laughing never stopped, but the sound of what could only be people crying in agony as some unknown attacker finished them off in the darkness. The lights suddenly turned back on. Director Petrov slowly opened his eyes(he had closed them after the room had gone dark). The sight that met his eyes left him utterly speechless: the marines and ODSTs that had escaped with him from the hangar bay all lay at his feet, dead. He stared, too shocked and terrified to move. The laughing had finally stopped, only to be replaced by the voice from earlier." To be honest with you, I'm somewhat disappointed; I expected better from an ONI facility. Instead, I find myself dispatching marines that fight like children." Fear turned to rage as the Director searched wildly for the source of the voice. He was the only living person in the room.
Petrov was an egotist by nature, so any belittlement to himself or the soldiers he trained was taken very personally." Show yourself coward! I won't be insulted by some Innie terrorist who won't even show his face!" There was a sigh as the voice responded." Innie coward, huh? I'm afraid I must make two corrections. First of all, I am not an insurrectionist. Second," Director Petrov stared as the air in front of him shimmered and rippled to reveal a black and silver armored Spartan materialized." I may hide when the need arises, but I am no coward."
Petrov stared at the newcomer. He had known about Spartans, but had never encountered one in a situation such as this.
The super soldier stood at an estimated seven feet tall, donning a Warrior class chest piece, Reach variant leg armor, and a Recruit helmet and shoulder armor. The entire suit was painted black, with generous amounts of silver painted onto the chest, legs, arms, and helmet, perfectly contrasting the indigo visor that reflected Petrov's face. He stared for a moment, trying to decide how to deal with this Spartan. He couldn't fight this guy, at least not alone; Even ONI officials had heard stories about these legends. The Covenant had been right to call them 'Demons'. That left stalling and intimidation. If he could distract this stranger long enough, he might be able to pick up a weapon from one of the corpses, hopefully to also be able to take down the Spartan's shield.
"Who are you? What authorization do you have to come onto my base, kill ONI soldiers, and threaten me?" The Spartan chuckled." You may call me… Umbra. As I recall, you were the one making the threats, not me. As for the soldiers, the only ones I… eliminated are all here. The rest in the hangar are simply unconscious." That gave the Director pause. Shaking off the surprise of the failure of his tactics, he continued." Why are you on this station then? Who the hell sent you here?" Umbra didn't seemed phased." No one sent me here Director. I came on my own accord. I simply needed some information from your data drives. If you would allow me to retrieve that data, I'll leave without incident. If not…"
That pushed the ONI director over the edge." How dare you! You think you can just land here, invade this facility, rob my data drive, and just leave?! You will pay with your life for this, you traitor!" His rage driving him on, Petrov picked up an assault rifle and barreled toward the Spartan, unloading every bullet left in the clip. Umbra simply dodged past the gunfire and ran toward his attacker. In a single movement, he had the rifle gripped in his left hand, and the Directors throat in his right. The was a metallic crunch as the gun was crushed in the Spartan's fist. Lifting Petrov into the air with barely any effort, he brought the man's face close to the helmet.
Petrov stared in terror as the visor depolarized enough to reveal a pair of silver eyes staring at him. Umbra's voice had lost all sense of amusement, replaced by a venomous tone." Traitor? I don't think so. Am I a traitor for wanting to bring down the organization that will drag Humanity into extinction?!"The grip on the Director's throat tightened." ONI took everything from me. Everything! I intend on making them pay." He brought Petrov closer." I could kill you right now you know. Hold you up until you suffocate or your windpipe collapses. Either way, it would be a slow and brutal death. Fortunately for you, I need you alive. To deliver a message." He dropped the Director to the ground, leaving him gasping for air. Umbra turned his back on the wretch." You are not my target, Director Petrov. You are but a pawn in a much larger game. I spare your life today to prove a point: You cannot defend Humanity if you lack what makes you human. Remember that." He turned to a holotank nearby. " Alistair, execute override protocol undead iridium." "What are you alking about? There is no such proto-proto c-col-argh!" The was a moment of silence before Alistair spoke again." What is your command, Spartan Umbra?"
"search and download all files pertaining Forerunner data, specifically dating from 2257 from known encounters from the planet Requiem. Oh, and give me a copy of all data existing in the files, understood?" "Yes Spartan Umbra." Umbra pulled a data chip from his helmet and inserted it into the holotank and waited for the download to complete. There was a hiss as the chip was ejected. The Spartan placed it back in his helmet. Walking to the door, he turned one last time to look at Director Petrov,who was still gasping.." Your compatriots on the surface should come to see if everything is in order soon. By then, I'll be long gone. I enjoyed the little chat we had, but I have a mission to complete." Still walking, he spoke again." Send my regards to Admiral Osman." The door closed behind him. Petrov managed to sit up slightly. Pressing a com link on his wrist, he said," This is Director Petrov to Arcadia… there's been a breach. Call CINCONI… Spartan Umbra… is alive." He collapsed on the ground, knocked out cold on the floor.
Aright you guys, that was the prologue for Halo: Renegades. Sorry it took so long to finish it up; I had a lot of stuff to do so I didn't get as much time as I wanted on this. Still, not a bad job, no? Submit your comments, ideas, and criticisms in the box below. Let me know what you think so far. Sierra Nova, signing off.