Hello again, and sorry about my long leave of absence. As promised (if slightly overdue) I got you guys all a chapter of the next part in line of this story. sorry it took so long, but to keep this short, I had a busy life. driving lessons, searching for a study, working thirty hours a week... it just took a bit of time
since you're not interested in me whining on, the usual follows.
Disclaimer: I don't anything beyond OC's.
Note: I haven't read the Forerunner Saga novels yet, so if it is non-canonical with that, I can assure you it's unintentional.
Request 1: Reviews, please. I love those.
Request 2: This image is only a filler until something better comes along. if any of you have something (made yourself or seen somewhere else) please send a link of it.
Gratitude: I like to thank Alpha Highbreed, for providing excellent ideas for this story, as well as a few OC's he sent through (Normandy and MacCastle).
Now, Read
Halo 4: Shelter of the Reclaimers
Chapter 1
B312 Audiolog 1
Well. Hello there. My name is- Jason, do I really need to do this?
"Yes."
Come on. Do I really have to use my full name?
"No, 'Sev'. Your stupid nickname is fine, too."
Thank you. Well, let's restart this. My name's Sev Zane. In case you're wondering, I have a despicably long full name. I just took the first letters from that, and here came my nickname. Sev.
"Oh, for the love of... Can't you just use one of the names? Sev just sounds... Dumb."
Like Jason's such a good name.
"Oh just quit it, you insane baby. It's not like the rest of them have a choice anyway. You only gave them that nickname."
With good reason. Anyway, You heard my name. Me and Jason are making these logs for posterity. Something for future generations of training to look back on. To see how their predecessors did it.
"It helps that you keep breaking into the Military HQ to steal these data chips for our recordings."
*chuckle* They should really start to build smaller vents. Anyway, we got our tags yesterday. Mine's B312.
"And I'm B170. Which means I got picked earlier."
pure chance. And since the training exercises will end soon, end of Log 1
"Adios"
Date: Unknown
Location: Forerunner Micro Dyson Sphere, designate 'Sarcophagus'
Three days, she said to herself as she made it to her destination. By her count, three days had passed within this Shield World. And already, a split was forming.
As expected, the days had been spent in relative peace. There had been no hostiles, and they had been able to rest quite well. But then, they were forced to move on, as their food supply was running low. In short order, they had found a small Forerunner city. It had been well-stocked, and he expected to be able to survive for at least a few months here. But it had been boring, and while Halsey had managed to hack into the surveillance systems, they'd quickly learned that their city was the only one in a thousand kilometers, and without some sort of vehicle, there was no way they would be able to hike to the nearest one.
The search for some sort of Teleportation Grid like on Halo had been fruitless so far, and so, they waited until there was some sort of success. But during that rest, Mendez had started to let his consciousness slip through, and started to question Halsey about a lot of the nastier details of the Spartan Programs. The Spartans had split since then, the Threes siding with Mendez (mostly because they barely knew Halsey) while the Twos defending Halsey. Halsey and Mendez had been squabbling ever since, and the threes and twos stayed on opposite ends of the town.
Kelly, over the last two days, had grown tired of it all, and had gone exploring to avoid the conflicts. She was careful to always stay within Com range, otherwise the others would worry too much. But most of he time, she muted the conversations in order to tune the conflict out.
And during her explorations, she had found this place.
After a small, ten minute hike, she'd found a small cliff that overlooked the city. It offered a nice view of the surrounding area, was protected around the sides by the cliff, which rose even higher beyond her small spot, and was hard to spot for the others. In all, a perfect place for some peace and quiet while also keeping watch over the others.
John would love a place like this she thought, as she overlooked it. He also preferred the peace and quiet.
Speaking of quiet...
"Anything, Kalmiya?" She asked, as she sat down on the rock near the edge of the cliff. Beneath her, a waterfall emerged from somewhere within the cliff, ending at a pool connected to a river that ran through the city. During early scans by the AI that inhabited her head had indicated the pool at the end of the waterfall was deep enough for her to survive a dive, and it was a mere twenty-second run for her from that pool to the city. So she could always return to the others in a hurry if need be.
"Not a bad spot in the sky." The AI noted in a bored tone. "As usual."
"Would you rather have the excitement of standing between Halsey and Mendez?" Kelly asked.
"Right now? No. In a week? Ask me again at that point."
Kelly chuckled, as they lapsed back into silence. The AI was a permanent companion, nowadays. Her quirky personality was quite a match with Kelly's sense of humor, and she was a good aid in combat, enhancing her actions even without asking. She had to admit, she understood a lot better why the Chief was as attached to Cortana as he was.
She sprung up from her seat and grabbed her shotgun, as she heard a twig snap. She whirled around, aiming it at the source of her noise.
To her relief and dismay, it was Sam. Relief, because it wasn't a threat. Dismay, because it meant her private spot wasn't private anymore.
"Relax." Sam said, as he dropped his Rocket Launcher near the cliff wall. "It's me."
She nodded, and put her Shotgun back on her back slot. Sam put his helmet, his Minigun and his SMG's on a pile onto the Rocke Launcher. He moved to sit on the edge of the cliff, resting with his back against the rock Kelly sat on.
After a moment, Sam broke the silence. "It's nice up here. I can see why you come up here."
"Yeah." She said. "Hard to reach, good cover, easy way to return to the city."
Sam frowned. "How? I had to climb through thick bushes to get here."
Kelly merely gestured downwards, towards the waterfall. Sam looked down, and gulped. "You consider a jump from a cliff alongside a waterfall a quick exit?"
She removed her own helmet, and smirked. "Six would."
Sam huffed. "Six would purposefully miss just to feel the pain from the jump. And don't try to contradict it. You heard her say she would willingly jump from orbit for the same kick."
Kelly chuckled. "Yeah."
"Not to mention, she would ask one of us to join her in missing." Kalmiya said from the helmet speakers. The two Spartans laughed. Then, they lapsed into silence again, enjoying the view. After a moment, Kelly noted Sam was staring off, thinking about something. Hazarding a guess, she asked him about it.
"You're thinking of her, aren't you?"
Sam nodded. "Yeah. You heard Cortana's message. A second Halo, Flood resurgence, not to mention chasing the Prophet... It's getting dangerous out there. I'm just hoping she's alright."
Kelly put her hand on his shoulder in reassurance. "Sam, put things in perspective. She's a psychotic Hyper-Lethal Spartan who can beat Field-Marshals for breakfast. You guys survived the first Halo. With the aid of the Covenant Separatists, she will survive this one. Besides, Fol's with her with any luck, and John's not far behind. They'll pull through."
Sam chuckled. "Guess so. Still, that leaves peace-time after all this. Who knows how she will fill that up?"
She had to admit he had a point. Kalmiya had shown her some of Six' video logs of Halo. Purposefully laughing about the death of a crewmember of the Pillar of Autumn, the argument in that tunnel in the Library, her stunt with Fol... no, she wouldn't adjust well to the peace and quiet.
"I wonder how the Chief would adjust." Sam said out loud. "He, and the rest of us for that matter, aren't the best during peacetime either."
"John would find a way." She defended. "He always does."
Sam chuckled. "You miss him, don't you?"
Kelly turned to look at him. "What?"
"Kelly, we're not blind." Sam started. "You and John liked each other ever since we all met on Reach. Not to mention the training exercises where gets beaten up and you avenged him every time. In fact, the only one of us who hasn't spotted it is John himself."
"He has a point." Kalmiya interjected before Kelly could protest. Sam smirked. "See? Even the voice in your head agrees."
Kelly sighed. "Then there's no point denying it, is there?"
Sam nodded. "Yep."
She frowned, as she looked away. "If you guys knew all along, why not spill the secret?"
"something called privacy. And courtesy. Just because we know doesn't mean we should broadcast it across all channels. We're better than that."
She looked down at him in relief. "Thanks. Aside from our Spartan brothers and sisters, who else knows?"
Sam looked up for a moment, thinking, and then held his hand out, counting down on his fingers. "Halsey, Conroy, Mendez... I'm pretty sure Sergeant Johnson figured it out on his own... And that's it as far as I know."
Kelly considered that for a moment. So, at least nine others alive knew about her secret. Ten, if she included Kalmiya. That was a lot more people than she thought had known. Still, it wouldn't come as a-
A twig snapped behind them, and Kelly whirled around, one of her Plasma Rifles in hand. Sam stood up as well, grabbing his Helmet and one of his SMG's.
"You weren't followed, right?" Kelly asked, though she feared she knew the answer.
"No." Sam answered, as he tossed Kelly her helmet with his free hand. Kelly caught it, and hurriedly put it on. She covered Sam, as he grabbed all of his own weapons. In the end, he settled on his Minigun.
"Ain't that a bit big for this little cliff?" She asked.
"It's likely Forerunner." Sam answered deadpan. "With them, nothing's overkill."
They stood still for a few more moments, both aiming their weapons at the only entry point to this overlook, a narrow path near a cliff wall. If anyone wanted to reach them, they had to go through there.
After a minute, nothing showed, and both lowered their weapons. "Must have been the wind." Sam said nervously.
"There's no wind here." Kalmiya contradicted. "As you kno-"
Kalmiya was interrupted, as something suddenly materialized in front of them, making both raise their weapons.
It had a triangular body, with broad shoulders and narrow hips. It had two larger arms, one ending in a rifle, the other in some sort of blade. Then, just above the hips, two smaller arms emerged. It had a large back, with two circles attached onto the back. It had thin legs and arms, and a head that was likely a mask. Along its entire body, including the eyes, circles, blade and rifle, white light lined its features.
"What in Death's name is that?" Sam asked out loud.
"Forerunner defense construct." Kalmiya answered in a curious tone. "Beyond that, I have no clue."
"Friend or foe?" Kelly asked, as she stepped towards it.
It responded by raising its rifle, and opening fire on them. Sam provided covering fire, as Kelly dove into cover.
"Friend." Kalmiya said sarcastically. "Can't you tell?"
Sam continued to open fire on it, and Kelly got out of cover, getting her second Plasma Rifle out as well. But the thing, whatever it was, was too quick. It disappeared in a ball of white light, only to reappear a few meters away, making them miss their shots.
Sam had enough of it evading them, and got out his Rocket Launcher. He fired a single rocket behind it, and the explosion caught it. When the smoke cleared, however, it was still standing. It was flickering, like power within it was disrupted. It didn't move for a few moments, and Kelly opened fire on it with her weapons.
To her surprise, it didn't evade this time. Instead, it took the shots, stumbling with each one. Catching on to the fact it was stunned, Sam opened fire with his Minigun as well. After a few moments, the flickering ceased entirely, and it fell onto the ground. It tried to get up, but it didn't get the chance. Kelly ran up to it, and jumped onto its torso. Before it could slash at her with the blade, Kelly got out her Shotgun, and unloaded a shot into its face.
To her surprise, it didn't simply die. Instead, the entire body turned into an orange so bright that she couldn't make out any individual features. Then, the body started to fracture apart into a thousand glowing pieces, starting at the head wound her shot had caused. After that, it fell apart, the pieces fading away.
"Interesting." Kalmiya said. "That flash we saw as it faded away is actually a data purge."
"Can you tap into it?" Sam asked, as he inspected the area where the thing had fallen onto the ground.
"As a matter of fact," Kalmiya answered. "Already done. It's called a Promethean Knight. Beyond that, though, things get a bit dense."
Kelly kicked a rock near where it had first appeared, trying to see if it had used a portal similar to the one on Onyx. But it just skidded onto the ground, not teleporting away or anything. That meant that whatever it had used to teleport was carried on its person. She smiled. That meant their way to move on was nearby. All they had to do was steal one, have Halsey figure out how it works, and teleport them to the next city over.
"Here." Sam said, as he tossed her a cube-shaped item, which had similar lighting as the Promethean Knights.
"What's this?" She asked, as she inspected it. It had a single round button, and she was about to press it.
"Oh, likely some sort of grenade." Sam casually answered. Immediately, she moved her finger away from the button. She put it on her belt near the other ones.
A flash came from behind them, and they both turned to look. Her mood soured. Seven Knights stood on the small clearing, surrounding them. They blocked the area, and their only way out was to jump.
One jumped at her, tackling her. As she fell onto the ground, it landed on top of her. As she struggled to get free, it opened up its mask. The visage beneath was that of a skull, lined in white light identical to the rest of the body.
Before it could do anything, she managed to give it a punch. The space it created gave her the room to kick it off of her.
As she hurried to get on her feet, it raised its blade, despite being out of range. Anticipating its teleportation, she grabbed her shotgun, and as it appeared. As expected, it appeared in front of her. For its troubles, she gave it a shot in the face. It started to flicker again, like its shields were down. She gave it a kick, which landed it in two others. Als she scrambled to get up, the three she just attacked fell down.
She rolled into cover before the others could aim at her, inadvertently ending up beside Sam, who was reloading his weapons. "Hello, there." Sam said, not even looking up. Kelly crouched, and looked over her cover. She immediately ducked down, as weapons fire from the Prometheans nearly hit her head.
"Got a plan?" Sam asked. "Because it would be nice to have one right now."
"I'm still stuck at 'eliminating the threat'." Kelly answered honestly.
"Then that'll have to do." Sam said. "Kalmiya, contact the others. Let them know about these Knights."
From her cover, Kelly could suddenly see a very bright flash from somewhere in the city. A loud boom sounded shortly after that. Clearly, the others knew about the threat.
"They're busy." Kelly answered. "On three, give them everything you've got."
Sam nodded, and grabbed his Minigun with both hands. Kelly grabbed her shotgun in one hand, and held her Plasma Rifle in the other. As Kalmiya counted to three, Kelly braced. As one, the two of them got out of cover.
The Prometheans were ready for them, and opened fire on them. The shots hit their shields, and to her dismay drained them rather quickly. Every shot was three times as powerful as the average plasma bolt. Still, they held long enough for her to run to another piece of cover near the cliff wall. Sam stayed where he was, firing on the center of the group.
As she reached her cover, she observed a worrisome development. On one of the Knights, the back-armor started to shift, with certain parts separation from the main body. Suddenly, the separated part shot upwards. The circles now formed wings for some sort of aerial drone. And the drone started to provide an energy barrier for one of the Prometheans.
"Shit." She uttered. "Sam, target the drone."
"What dro- oh, that one. Targeting it now."
Heavy weapons fire started to echo across the cliff side, and after a moment, she heard a small explosion. She looked over, and to her relief the Drone had fallen apart.
Her relief was short-lived as the remaining Knights all deployed their Drones as well. They were outnumbered now, and outgunned as well. Seven Knights and six of the drones against two cornered Spartans. Part of her wanted to prove to them it was a bad idea to try and corner a Spartan, and try to defeat the odds. Try to prove that she was one of the best human beings alive.
But her rational part, the dominant one, told her to run, as she wouldn't live long if she tried that. She'd be shot before she'd made three steps into her charge. So, she turned to Sam, who was still firing away at them.
"It's no use." She called. "We have to jump."
With that, she ran towards the cliff edge, the one over the waterfall and the pool. She heard Sam call after her what she meant by Jump. She trusted he'd get the idea as she jumped over the edge. As she came near the edge, she jumped, using her momentum to fall over it.
Her fall lasted less than five seconds, and when it ended, she heard a splash, and she landed in the pool. She immediately sank to the bottom due to the weight of her armor. After a few seconds, she heard a second splash, and saw Sam land in the water as well. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she started to walk towards the nearest shore, climbing back out. After ten seconds, as she shook her armor dry, Sam walked out as well.
"Nice dive, but a bit on the inelegant side." Kalmiya said drily. "I'd give it a B minus."
"I'd give it an A if those things weren't attacking us." Sam said. "Did they follow us?"
Kelly looked up, towards where the spot had been. The things were looking down on them, aiming their weapons. After a few seconds they lowered them, and disappeared. She turned to Sam, and relayed the events.
"They're gone. No idea where, but they ain't following us."
Sam nodded. "Right now, I don't care. Look."
The heavy weapons expert pointed to the town. Kelly's stomach dropped as a lot of large flashes played across it. Flashes similar to weapons fire from the Promethean Knights.
"We need to help them. Come on!" She called, as she started running to the town. Sam followed close behind.
Date: 02-12-2553
Location: Hood's personal office, Bravo-6, Sydney, Australia, Earth
Hood had an angry look, as he saw Parangosky and Osman enter his office. And Osman knew, from what had happened today, that it wasn't going to get any better. Only worse. Not that she blamed him, though.
The day had barely started, and things were already going to hell. Someone well-funded and well-connected had hacked into Waypoint, taking it over entirely and locking the UNSC and ONI out of the systems for hours. Whoever did that knew what they were doing, as the only ones with the codes to do that were all high-ranking members in Fleetcom. That meant someone had a massive Info leak.
But it was what the attackers had done while they controlled Waypoint that had people in a ruckus, and what had Hood pissed as hell.
They had published every data file ONI had in its database. From the now-disbanded controversial Blackwatch Bioweapons Division of ONI to the personal files of every Spartan in existence. From the evidence linking ONI to the nuclear bombing of Insurrectionists and civilians at Mamore to the location and access codes of Nukes ONI controlled themselves... all of it was put out on the street, ready for people to grasp it. Even Infinity wasn't safe anymore. Not that it was a well-kept secret anyway, considering the budget had become so large the woodentop Navy had to be let in on the secret. Of course, Hood had immediately demanded joint control in return for the required funding, something Parangosky was in no position to refuse. But now, none of that mattered.
ONI was exposed. They had no way of keeping their bad acts hidden now. A lot of people wouldn't look kindly upon some of the worse details of ONI's crimes. Children being abducted, herself included, only to be experimented on at a later age for augmentations and to be turned into super soldiers. Not to mention that said augmentations had killed half of the children, and crippled a dozen more. In the end, only roughly thirty would become soldiers that day. THe others were dead, crippled or worse, like Soren.
She, Captain Serin Osman, was one of those crippled in the Augmentations. The only reason she was up and about at all was because Admiral Parangosky had found her, and had spared no expense in getting her back on her feet. Ever since, the Admiral had practically raised her, training her to be her eventual protege. Her replacement as the head of ONI.
That position didn't look as good now. 99% of the UNSC didn't know about the dark secrets ONI kept hidden, and it was that ignorance that kept people from crying out in protest and attempt to destroy ONI. Now that it was out, half of the UNSC would likely desert outright, and more would follow in the coming years. Only a handful of captains and admirals, loyal to either Hood or Parangosky would stay, and that was because they were too honor-bound to their duty to leave.
So yes, in Osman's mind Hood had every right to be pissed. ONI had failed. Their security had been breached in a big way, and if matters didn't change soon the UNSC itself could fall apart.
"Admiral" Hood greeted, as the Admiral entered first. "Captain. How nice of you to come on such notice."
Osman noted his tone was icy towards them. Clearly, this was going to be a berating of them. Osman grimaced, as Parangosky started to speak. "Listen, Hood-"
"NO, YOU LISTEN." Hood interrupted angrily, surprising both of them in a bad way. Hood interrupting someone was as rare as seeing Elites and Brutes being friendly with one another: nearly non existential. That was a true indicator for Osman how bad it was going to be. Same as the angry tone of voice.
Hood took a breath to calm his voice, before continuing. "You two screwed up big-time. Not only was your internal security breached, but your entire database was hacked, and put out there for the entire galaxy to see. I haven't had a proper look at what's out there yet, but in the hour it took you two to get here, I've had calls from hundreds of captains and the heads of state of two dozen Colonies, all demanding answers whether the info is true. If I don't give them an answer in the next three hours, they all threatened to desert, and with the answer I'm forced to give, they likely will anyway."
"Make that twenty six colonies, Sir." An elder voice interrupted. "The colonies of Meridian and Asgard have issued similar demands."
Osman turned to the holographic display on Hood's desk. Hood's personal AI, Odin, stood tall. He was dressed as the Nordic God his namesake was, and held an old spear. He was to Hood what Black-Box was to Parangosky and Osman.
"Thank you, Odin." Hood said, not looking away from the pair in charge of ONI. "You see my point? Your lapse of attention has brought the UNSC to the point of collapse in less than a few hours. Do you two have any explanation for this?"
"Hood, I know you're pissed." Parangosky started. "But these... terrorists, whoever they are, still have control of Waypoint. For every File ONI AI's manage to delete from it, three dozen copies show up to replace it. Every attempt to trace the origin of the signal is met with more firewalls than anything we've encountered before. Whoever did this has been planning this for months, perhaps even years."
"No, Parangosky." Hood corrected. "If we lost a fleet because of one of ONI's hunches, I would be pissed. If earth was attacked a second time by Brute extremists, I would be pissed. Hell, when we lost Reach, I was pissed. But this... I am outraged."
Parangosky opened her mouth to snap something back at him. Before she could utter a word, however, Odin spoke up.
"Sir, we have an increase in activity on Waypoint. The terrorists are about to make one of their broadcasts."
Hood turned to the AI. "Put it on the main display."
"Yes, Sir." Odin answered, and he disappeared. The image on the display was replaced by the image that had dominated Waypoint for the past hour. A black background, with the words Now unlocked: Uncensored ONI Files written in white on the foreground. After two seconds, it was replaced by static, before being replaced again a second later. It was an image of a black man in his late forties, with short-cropped hair and a small number of small scars on his face. He wore an odd uniform, which had the slight appearance as if the man wore a thin body-warmer over it. Behind him was the insignia of an eagle viewed from above, with the letters R.I.F written underneath it. It was used as the background, as the man spoke.
"To all citizens and military personnel of the UEG, this is Admiral Graves." The black man started.
Osman heard Hood and Parangosky take in a sharp breath. Clearly, they recognized the man.
"For decades, we have watched, and waited. Gathering the evidence you all can see right now: that the UNSC isn't the paradise you all claim it to be. If you haven't read some of the bad stuff, let me summarize it for you: ONI building Bioweapons under their front company Gentek, and their spec-ops division Blackwatch covering it all up by killing the whistleblowers, like Alex Mercer."
Hood turned to Parangosky in shock. "That was you?"
Before Parangosky could protest, Graves continued. "And your precious Spartans?" Graves scoffed. "Abducted as Children, being replaced by flawed flash-clones, the deaths of which were blamed on genetic diseases related to the Parents. Then, they were experimented on. Physical Augmentations which would kill nearly everyone else. And by Christ, half of them actually did die. The rest were pressed into service by ONI, to serve as their hope against an ever-growing insurrection, which was already aware of ONI's crimes."
Osman didn't dare look at the others in the room right now. She was one of those kids. Parangosky knew it, and it didn't take a genius to know Hood had figured it out, too. But Graves didn't leave them any room to comment on it, as he continued.
"Now, I think you all get the picture. The UNSC condoned ONI's activities, purposefully keeping a very loose leash on them. Letting them perform these experiments."
"Disgusting." Osman heard Parangosky mutter.
"Now that the war is over, and humanity isn't on the point of collapse, I say enough. No more of this suffering, no more I humane experiments performed under the UNSC's watch. I ask anyone who's listening to join me in the Scorpio VI asteroid belt exactly Two years from now. I will escort you to an alternative society, where ONI isn't necessary, and where one can live without fear of repercussions for speaking out against me."
"Many of you will ask: 'why two years? Why not as soon as possible?' Simple. You need to think this through. Who do you wish to bring? Which belongings will you take with you? What do you want to do once you've joined my cause? All things you need to consider with desertion. And I'm not about to let you prowl in sadness just because you can't let your loved ones join you. "
"I welcome anyone into my ranks. Welders, businessmen, military personnel, families, units of tight-knit men... I turn no one down. All are welcome to join the Rebel Insurrectionist Front. I am Admiral Marcus Graves. And I'll see you in two years." The image disappeared after that, briefly turning black before show in the standard symbol for Waypoint, Earth with two satellites and their intersecting orbital paths visible over it.
It was silent in Hood's office for a long time. No one dared speak, either letting it sink in or not daring to risk Hood's wrath. The only who dared do so, in the end, was Odin.
"Well, that's just great." He finally said. "We've regained control of Waypoint, but every file has so many copies out there now that it's impossible to delete them all."
"Don't bother." Hood responded. "By now, any attempt to do so will only be perceived as us defending ONI's actions."
"What?" Parangosky asked, astonished. "You mean you won't defend ONI? A part of the navy, your own branch?"
"One that has been allowed to run unchecked for far too long." Hood retorted. "Mercer was a well-known genetics scientist. A well-respected young man, one I had taken a liking to. And you have him killed in cold-blood at Penn Station?"
"Is this personal, Hood?" Parangosky asked.
"And the Spartan children?" Hood continued, ignoring Parangosky's question. "You knew about their clones too, didn't you?"
Parangosky remained silent. And Osman couldn't blame her. She had known about it, but only for a very short amount of time. In fact, she had only known for about a year that Halsey had secretly diverted part of ONI's funds to create the clones. Likely to save her own conscious, thinking that by giving the parents clone replacements without them knowing that it would 't be as bad. But, since she was not only the head of the project, but also a genetics expert, she had to know that the clones would be faulty at best, and die out in a few years. Therefor, As Osman knew Parangosky saw it, it was Halsey, not her, who was responsible for the clones.
But Hood wouldn't see it like the Commander in Chief of the Office of Naval Intelligence. Regardless whether Halsey did it on her own or not, she was still part of ONI, and thus Parangosky's responsibility. And with the entire ONI database out on the streets, every failure on ONI's part would be blamed on Parangosky, regardless of the fact Parangosky could actually be blamed for half of said failures. Osman had to admit, Graves had achieved his goal: ONI had become the UNSC's scapegoat due to this failure.
"We need to send a fleet in two years." Parangosky said, interrupting the silence. "If there are people going to defect, we need to contain them, bring them in for questioning, and-"
"No." Hood interrupted. "We will not hunt our own people. With the situation as it is, half the UNSC will defect, and the outer colonies will soon follow. You really want to detain over a hundred million people just to catch maybe a dozen infiltrators?"
"We can't just sit back and do nothing." Parangosky defended. "We need to take measures to clean up this mess."
"Oh, we will." Hood answered, with a tone of finality in his voice. "Odin?"
"The rest of the security council's approved, Sir. All that's needed is your word."
"What word?" Parangosky asked, slightly confused.
"While you two took your sweet time getting here," Hood explained "I sent a request to the UNSC security council. Heads need to roll here for your failure to protect our database, regardless of the threat Graves poses to the UNSC's integrity. Which is why the council has agreed... To discharge you, Admiral."
"What?" both Osman and Parangosky asked at the same time, as the reality of the situation hadn't yet sunk in.
"Simple." Hood said. "Your entire database was raided and exposed to the public in a single morning, the UNSC was asked to desert by a previously unknown adversary YOU were supposed to weed out for us, while Half was ready to take the rebels up on their offer, and you expect us to let you keep your job? Parangosky, you are many things, but not stupid."
Osman and Parangosky stood in shock for a moment. Parangosky had run ONI for over half a century, holding it together during the entire Human-Covenant war and most of the Insurrection. She had single-handedly made it from one of the UNSC's minor attempts at an intelligence department into the most powerful governmental entity in human history, destroying or absorbing all of her competitors along the way. If Hood was truly firing her, the security council was truly serious about the matter.
"You-... You-... You can't!" Parangosky finally managed beyond her shock. "I'm a part of the council, and I have a right to hear about this. I'm the head of ONI. You can't replace me."
"Under normal circumstances, no." Odin answered. "But consider these facts: You are a ninety two year old woman. Well past her prime. Granted, you held together admirably during the war that nearly destroyed humanity. But look at all the things committed by ONI under your watch: Genocide at Mamore. the Blacklight Virus experiments committed by Blackwatch, Gentek, and (forcefully) Alex Mercer. Child abduction and experimentation. Child soldiers. Do you think the UNSC can defend ONI when the people ONI, and you, committed all these crimes? As for your say and vote in the council, consider them... revoked."
"And who would you replace me with?" Parangosky asked defiantly, though Osman could see in the elderly woman's eyes that there was no way she would win this. "Ackerson's dead, killed over Cleveland. And the council wouldn't approve of anyone else."
"The council was prepared to make an exception for this one." Hood answered. "And the person agreed upon stands in this very room."
It took only a moment for Osman and Parangosky to realize who Hood meant. There was only one person fit for the job. One person who had been by Parangosky's side for the latter part of her leadership of ONI, step by step. Only one person who knew every intrigue in ONI by heart just as well as Parangosky herself.
Her. Captain Serin Osman. Former Spartan trainee and current captain of the UNSC Port Stanley. Leader of the Kilo Five unit which had been responsible for keeping the Covenant disorganized by supplying Sangheili insurgents with weapons.
"Me?" She finally asked, pointing at herself. Hood nodded.
"You have been Parangosky's protege for years." Hood answered. "You have had a few small hands in leading ONI operations. Leading ONI is only doing what you've been doing for years on a larger scale."
Osman and Parangosky were both silent. She was shocked to be honest. Becoming the head of ONI, even if Hood was likely to put a lot of restrictions on it? That was quite a jump up from the mere captain of a ship. Likely, she now would be able to order a few ships around. Still, with power came responsibility... and accountability. And with the mess this morning had left ONI in, any mistake would be blamed on her.
"Very well, Sir." She finally managed.
Hood nodded. "Good. We have a meeting with the rest of the council in three hours. I expect you to be there... Admiral."
"Yes, Sir." Osman nodded. Then, she left the office, recognizing a dismissal when she heard it. Parangosky stayed behind, likely to discuss some final details with the admiral about what would happen to her. If she were honest with herself, she wouldn't be surprised if the council decided to court-martial her, or in the worst-case scenario even put her in front of a firing squad. God knows there will be thousands of volunteers lining up for the opportunity to shoot her.
Still, she started to plan in her head, already thinking of what to say to the council. She needs to offer a solution, and fast, in order to get ONI back in something resembling good graces. Also, she had to start an entirely new database. There was no use of the old one, now that it likely had hundreds of hackers with a direct link to it. No, she had to practically start all over, all the while being careful to make no mistakes at all. Or the council would have her head as well.
In order to do that, she needed advise from an old friend. One who had advised her in many matters, and who she had known for a very long time. The one who had supplied the weapons for her for her operations with Covenant Insurgents, and who knew what to do in a situation like this. The head of Empirical Enterprises
She made a call to him on her Chatter. As expected, he immediately answered. He always did.
"Nelson, can you meet me in an hour? I need to ask you for a favor."
Date: Unknown (Approximately six months after The collapse of Installation 00 Portal)
Location: UNSC frigate Forward Unto Dawn, unknown space
-and after the bombings of the cities Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the Country of Japan surrendered, effectively ending World War II." Cortana finished.
She and the Monitor were in heavy conversation, both recounting tales. They agreed that, for every major time period told, the two would switch up, so that they both could learn something new. So far, Cortana was told about how the Forerunners came to power, their war with the Precursors and the near-extermination of humanity at the Forerunners' hands. She had surmised all that truly remained in greater lines was how the Librarian saved the human race by indexing it and adding 'Genesongs', as the Monitor called them: Genetic markers that opened up and motivated certain evolutions and developments, such the Mjolnir Spartan Armor, the ability for the Human Race to accept Augmentations, and even the development of AI's like herself. And, finally, the war with the Flood that lasted for centuries, ending with the activation of the Halo Array.
In turn, she had told the Monitor all about humanity's history. While he had absorbed a lot of data from the databanks of the Pillar of Autumn during the battle of the wreck of the ship, he had had very little time to sort, categorize and document it all properly. Cortana, in exchange for data on the Forerunners, was giving him a major helping hand sorting through it all.
"I see." The former Monitor of Installation 04, 343 Guilty Spark, finally said. "And the teachings of this 'Adolf Hitler' inspired the Revolutionists that exterminated a lot of European people around 2260."
"Indeed." Cortana answered. "Over a dozen cultures and languages, including Dutch, Finnish and Hundreds of dialects, were wiped out in those decades before the UNSC could put a stop to their activities. But we'll return to that later. As I was saying-"
A sensor alert went off on the Bridge, and alerted Cortana and the Monitor. The Monitor immediately sped there, while Cortana reactivated all of her subroutines. During their time adrift, Cortana went into her diagnostically mode. Basically, it reduced her capacities to a million times slower as usual. It effectively delayed Rampancy, as her thought processes were slowed considerably because of being in this state. It was the closest AI's had to being in Cryosleep.
It didn't stop Rampancy, unfortunately, merely delaying it to a million years instead of just seven. The downside of this was that her efficiency was down to the least of her potential. Basically, a seven year old child could accomplish things better than her in this state. Also, while in her Diagnostically mode, her primary programmings and directives could be altered by anyone, without there being a thing she could do to stop it. As such, AI's only went into such states in the rarest of circumstances. But, since they were adrift in the middle of nowhere, and with the damage she suffered at the Gravemind's hand, there was no reason not to go into diagnostic mode to save her life.
Now, as she brought herself out of it and went into her fully reactivated status, the damage became all too clear to her. In fact, unless they found a way back to the UNSC soon, she would start to go rampant within three weeks. The damage she had suffered at the Flood's hand must have been greater than anticipated. She didn't check up on herself immediately, due to the fact they needed to activate a replacement Halo, and then run for their lives. And later on, she had busied herself with telling the Monitor the tale of Humanity, and hearing his tale of the Forerunners in turn. But now, as she looked at herself, there was no avoiding it.
She would die. And soon.
The Monitor reached the bridge just as her reactivation process completed. She activated the monitoring screen of the sensor station, and used her avatar to guide the flying robot to it. "It looks like a Slipspace anomaly is headed towards us. At this rate, it will intercept us in thirty minutes."
"I recognize that signature." The Monitor said. "Forerunner in origin, and ancient. A Micro Dyson Sphere Core, by the looks of it."
"Is such a thing even possible?" Cortana asked. "Shrinking a Dyson Sphere and keeping it and the sun it orbits on the move within slipspace?"
"Was it possible to exterminate all life in the Galaxy?" The Monitor retorted. "None of it seemed so at the time, until we tried and succeeded. We made them as additional shelters in the center of Shield Worlds against the Flood, with some being as large as Your Earth's Solar orbit. In emergency, if the Shield World itself is destroyed or compromised by intruders, the Core would close itself off and separate, flying to the nearest Forerunner stronghold to protect its inhabitants. I wonder is what one is doing here."
Cortana nodded, as she took it all in. "Do I need to wake the others?"
The Monitor nodded. "I would advice so. Some of the more remote ones were known to be used as prisons, and if this is one, we need to be ready."
Cortana nodded. "I cannot access the Stasis pods of the Elites remotely. Can you manually release them?"
The Monitor nodded, and went on his way to the cryochamber. Cortana, being a virtual presence on the ship, beat him naturally, and deactivated the two only active pods on the ship.
One contained Sergeant Major Avery Junior Johnson. A veteran of the Human-Covenant War, he had been present at every major battle. Harvest, Arcadia, Sigma Octanus, the Fall of Reach, Both Halo Installations, the Battle of Earth, the Ark... Johnson was a man who could claim he'd seen and done it all in the war and actually tell the truth at that time. He was also a survivor of the Orion Project, the very first attempt to create Augmented human supersoldiers. The Project, shut down because they cost too much in men and budget while delivering too little in results, was the predecessor of the Spartan-II program, and had in hindsight be renamed the Spartan-I program. The survivors, including Johnson, Wilson, Mendez and a handful of others, were given the Diagnosis of Boren's Syndrome, a disease fictitious in reality in order to cover up the symptoms.
The other held Spartan 117, the Master Chief, John Mattock. One of the very last Spartan-II's alive. He was humanity's very best soldier in existence. Abducted at age of six, and trained non-stop ever since, he was raised a soldier, alongside seventy four other children. At Age fourteen, he and the others were subjected to experimental Augmentations, greatly enhancing the speed, strength, reflexes and agility of some, while crippling and even killing others. John, one of the lucky ones to survive, became a full-fledged Spartan-II Supersoldier. He and his Blue Team were immediately thrust into the middle of the Human-Covenant war after picking up their armor, destroying a cruiser without casualties. They would end up losing brothers and sisters during the rest of the war, to both insurrectionists and Covenant alike. They would even lose their home and Humanity's Strongest Fortress, Reach, during the latter part of the war. The Chief survived, as did Blue Team, and gained a member in the Spartan-III known as Noble Six. They traveled to Halo, where they uncovered an enemy in the flood, a dangerous super weapon in Halo itself, which could exterminate all life in the Galaxy, and an unexpected ally in Fol Katarn, a Field Marshal from an eccentric Covenant Colony willing to ally with humanity. Battling his way to a second Halo, he pursued the members of the Covenant leadership across the Galaxy in an attempt to exterminate them all. He pursued the last one across the Covenant's capital, all the way back to Earth and later the Ark, where he stopped the Halo Array from being activated remotely, the Flood from infecting all life in the Galaxy, and escaping in the nick of time from being killed by an unfinished Halo.
And last but not least, he was also Cortana's partner. Her guardian, her protector. Just as she was his guardian and protector. Partnered since the fall of Reach, they had proven their worth to each other multiple times, and had developed an unbreakable bond over time. John had literally gone into hell, in the form of a Flood-Infested High-Charity, just to get her out of there. they cared for each other, the same way one cared about a friend who they know so long they lack a memory without them. They were to take care of each other, and Cortana could proudly say they did.
As she proved now by unfreezing him from his cryopod.
"Wake up, Chief." She said, as she unlocked the pod. The fog evaporated from the inside of his pod, revealing his helmet and upgraded armor. During his sleep, she and the Monitor had employed Nanites to upgrade the armor. It was now twice as durable, and had a slightly bulkier look to it, but was still the same green armor with a golden visor everyone instantly recognized as a Spartan.
"I need you."
John shook his head clear, as he started to wake up. He was surprised, and slightly panicked, as he suddenly bumped against against something, which had him trapped in very close confines.
"Chief, easy." Cortana's voice from outside calmed him. "You've been out for a while."
"Where are we?" He asked, as he looked around. As his vision and the fog cleared, he could see he was still inside a Cryopod. Beside him, he could see Johnson's pod, and in front of him, three Forerunner Stasis Pods that contained the Arbiter and his two Elite Special Forces soldiers, N'tho 'Sraom and Usze 'Taham.
"We're still adrift on the Dawn." Cortana answered. As she said this, the final occupant of the ship, the Monitor, floated past, and started to fire some kind of beam at the pods, deactivating them as well.
"Why did you wake me?" He asked.
"Hang on." Cortana said. "Bringing your armor's systems online now." Indeed, as she said this, his shield bar reactivated, charging to show the status was full. Also, his motion sensor and weapons indicators came online. He observed they were slightly different: brighter, more streamlined.
"Me and the Monitor upgraded the Armor while you were out." Cortana answered his unspoken question, as he started to inspect his armor. He noted that while it was a bit bulkier, felt just as light, and didn't inhibit his movements. Overall, the improvements seemed a success.
"You guys have been busy." He finally answered. After that, the pod opened, and he stepped out. Beside him Johnson continued to lay in the pod, despite the fact it was open. He walked over, and looked inside.
He had to restrain a smile. The sergeant lay on his side, his head resting on his hands, slightly curled up. Like he truly was just asleep. Johnson carefully tapped the Sergeant. "Time to wake up." He said.
The sergeant grunted. "Five more minutes." He heard the man grumble.
"Johnson." Cortana said calmly and in a friendly tone through the speakers, with the volume turned up to the loudest. "Usually it is the Sergeant who does the waking, not the one who needs it."
Johnson, jumping out of the pod due to the loudness of the announcement, grumbled. "I'm awake, I'm awake. Keep your skirts on."
John chuckled, as he looked to his side. The Monitor had released the Elites, who were stretching a bit. He looked over at Cortana's avatar, who smiled as he approached.
"Seems like old times." She said cheerfully.
"Ready to get back to work?" He asked. Cortana crossed her arms in amusement.
"I thought you'd never ask." She answered.
He pulled her data chip from the pedestal, and slotted it into his head. At once, he felt the Mercury-cold sensation that indicated she had entered his head.
"We're on a collision course with a Shield World that's in Slipspace." Cortana explained. "ETA: two minutes."
He nodded, as he grabbed his weapons. "How long were we out?" He asked, as he headed for the vehicle bay, the others close behind.
"6 months, 1 week, 2 days." Cortana answered. "The Monitor already loaded everything onto Warthogs. Figured if we crashed onto some unknown world, we could leave immediately."
"Everything's loaded, Reclaimer. Weapons, Armor, Ammo, Food, Medical Supplies, tents... I've thought of everything."
John nodded, as he arrived. As the Monitor claimed, the Warthogs were put upright and loaded up. Two heavy crates sat on two trailers attached to the rear, and the spare spaces were all used for supplies. They were all securely tethered to the deck by cables, to ensure they didn't topple or move during the crash
"We wait here." He ordered. "If we do crash onto an unknown shield world, we can easily move out from the ship and explore the terrain."
"What if people intercept the distress beacon?" The Arbiter asked, as he sat down.
"I've adjusted the message accordingly. They'll know we're headed for shelter. Impact in thirty seconds."
Everyone braced. No matter how large a ship, a crash was always violent. Otherwise it would be called a landing. The Spartan saw a side room, and opened the door. Inside, as he expected with the layout of the ship, were the drop pods for ODST soldiers.
"Johnson, sit in one of the pods." He ordered. "Its armor will protect you should the crash take a turn for the worst."
"Y'know the things are nicknamed coffins for a reason, right?" Johnson quipped, as he got in. John shut the hatch, and locked it.
"Impact in three." Cortana counted down. Two. One."
Before she could finish, there was a loud roar, and a flash of white as he was flung into a wall. Then, silence.
Date: 02-12-2553 (two hours before council meeting)
location: CEO's office, Empirical Enterprises Building, Sidney, Australia, Earth.
Osman quietly entered the office, and gratefully sat down in the chair CEO Leon Nelson offered for her.
Leon Nelson, founder and CEO of multi-trillion credit company Empirical Enterprises, was a tall and broad man, to the point one could mistake him for a Spartan out of uniform if one didn't pay close attention. He had green eyes and black hair, with a single white streak that was the result from a scar of a battle from the past. Said scar began just above his eyebrow and ended in his hairline, continuing in said white streak. He was quite an extraordinary man, in Osman's opinion. He had trained with ODST shock troopers, and even fought during the battle of New Constantinople, before retreating back into the world of business and economics. He had then started and founded Empirical, in order to supply the UNSC with better weapons and gear. Yet in the short time it had existed, it had grown from Nelson's hobby to a company that could rival Misriah Armories in mass-scale weapons production.
He was also a good friend of Osman. Having met twelve years ago, the man had supplied weapons for Osman's operations with Sangheili insurgents. Since then, the man had grown to be something of a confidante for Osman. Whenever she wasn't clear on what she needed to do, like now, she approached him for advice. In return, she used ONI to give him a heads up when a colony with his assets located on it would come under attack.
Now, however, she needed help of a different kind.
Nelson sat down in his own chair. "So, Osman. I haven't seen everything yet, but from what I did see, I can conclude this: You're chin-deep in the shit."
"Understatement of the year." She answered. "There are a lot of details involved, but it comes down to this: our database was hacked into and exposed to the public in a single morning, a previously unknown Insurrectionist extended an invitation to desert to all UNSC personnel, and from the looks of things, half the people will accept at this point. And to top it off, Hood and the Security Council had Parangosky fired."
Nelson raised his eyebrows in surprise, as he sipped from his coffee. "Old Maggie got busted? Hood must really be pissed at ONI to pull her away."
Osman nodded. "You have no idea. Now, with the situation as it currently is, Every Operation gone wrong will be blamed on ONI and me, regardless of whether it actually is our fault or not. I need to lower the heat on ONI in some way-"
"A very difficult task, to say the least." Nelson interrupted.
"and I have found a way." Osman continued, ignoring Nelson's comment. "But I want your advice before I go through with this." With that, she pulled the data pad from her bag and slid it across the desk. Nelson grabbed it and read it over.
Her plan was quite simple: ONI would fake the death of a very... Capable person, preferably an ex-mercenary, and make them complete operations for ONI. If the operations go well, ONI will slowly start to recover some of their image in the public's eye. If things went FUBAR, the operative could be thrown under the bus, with ONI claiming the man worked alone. And, to ensure obedience instead of whistleblowing or desertion, a Nanite bomb would be implanted in the operative's neck. Of course, they still needed to find an individual who had the skills and fit the criteria in the file. But that came later.
"And this operation." Nelson finally asked. "Off the books? No records, digital or on paper? The council will never learn the details?"
Osman nodded. "You think Hood would approve of something like this? It involves kidnapping someone, faking their deaths to get them to us, forcing them to do our dirty work, and using experimental Nanite technology. No, Hood and the AI's loyal to him can't learn. And as such, there won't be any records of this."
Nelson looked down on the pad, obviously expecting something like this. "I don't like this. This is something Parangosky would have done, and not fitting in Hood's ideal world. If he learns of this, you're dead. And not as in screwed, but as in 'being put in front of a firing squad' dead. Not to mention that there are very few people who fit your criteria."
Osman opened her mouth to agree, but Nelson raised his hand, silencing her comment before it could be made. "That being said, I think you should go through with this. ONI needs to survive this. No one else is competent enough in our area of expertise to replace us, and if you want ONI to continue existing, you need to be able to perform operations. And for that, as much as I hate to admit it, you need this operative."
Osman thought that over, as Nelson handed back the data pad. He had a good point: this was a Parangosky-kind of thing to do. If she were to get caught, she would indeed find her head on a pike along with a bullet inside of it. But right now, she had no choice if she were to continue her operations, she needed the operative.
"Speaking of hate..." Nelson continued "you owe me one. I managed to learn through my usual business channels that the council plans to put an overseer on you... and I managed to manipulate the selection choices. They will only see one person as truly fit for the job."
"Really?" Osman skeptically asked. "Only one?"
Nelson nodded, and pulled up a dozen images. She recognized a few of them, like The recently promoted Captain Keyes, MacCastle and Normandy, as well as the EverLasting Spirit's XO Kathleen Cutter, daughter of the late Captain James Cutter of the Spirit of Fire. All were naval personnel at heart... And not cut out to keep the Commander in Chief of ONI in line, and thus unsuited as overseers.
"Corruption, despite the distaste of it, has its uses." Nelson said. "I carefully modified the list of candidates to include either junior personnel, people with issues like PTSD that make them unfit for the task, or people so infamously incompetent even the Council knows of it. Leaving one exception you can make your plans with."
Nelson eliminated all the images except for one Russian Fleet Admiral. One she knew well, as he had tried to supplant her as Parangosky's protege of ONI.
Aleksei Levitsky. The guardian of Demeter's home fleet until the planet fell in 2546. As Osman recalled, the casualties had been high on both sides, as Levitsky's preferred tactics cost lots of soldiers. And a well-known hater of Insurrectionists. A plan was already forming in her head.
"Hello, Levitsky." She said out loud. "Oh, how I will put your tactics to use for me."
"Care to fill me in?" Nelson asked, confused.
Osman waved her hand dismissively. "Long version cut short: he will be the one to fight Graves' fleet for me in two years, I swoop in to save the deserters and let them get away, I gain a bit of favor with the council for my compassionate and brave act, and persuade them a overseer is counterproductive, Levitsky takes the fall of the pursuing fleet's cruelty, and we all go home a bit happier than before."
"A promising plan." Nelson admitted. "With two flaws: it takes a lot to push Levitsky that far, and Hood will see through it after he hears of the attack."
"Even if he does, " She answered. "without proof he has nothing, and Levitsky isn't the record keeper."
Nelson looked up at her knowingly. "Your AI Black Box."
She nodded. "BB is a prince among con artists, and claimed he could even frame the Archangel Gabriel for armed robbery. I think he can make anything Levitsky records in my presence disappear from the mainframes."
She got up. "Thank you, Leon. I needed that advice."
"You're welcome, Serin." Nelson answered. "Now if you excuse me, in twenty minutes I have a business agreement to make with Trident Industries."
Osman nodded as he dismissed her, and silently left his office.
Date: unknown (Approximately six months after the collapse of the Installation 00 Portal)
Location: Hangar bay, Forward Unto Dawn, Unknown Micro Dyson Sphere Interior
John shook his head clear, as he got up. Man, that had been a hard crash. Granted, he had felt worse after jumping from the Forerunner Keyship on Earth, but this came close.
He noted he was back in the Hangar bay of the ship, and moved over to the drop pods. As he arrived, he let out a sigh of relief. Johnson was alive, mostly unhurt, and already out of the pod he'd been put in and moving around on his own.
"Glad that wasn't your Coffin, Sergeant?" Cortana joyfully asked. The human just grunted in response.
"Yeah. But next time, you join me. See how you like it."
Inside his helmet, John smirked. If Johnson felt good enough to make remarks like that, he would be alright. He got out into the main hangar again, to check on the others.
The Arbiter and his Elites were clearly alright as well, as they were busy unlatching cables that had kept their Warthogs and trailers upright and attached to the floor. Miraculously, the contents hadn't spilled out across the hangar bay. Above them, the Monitor was busy with a console in the observation bay of the Hangar.
"What's our status?" John asked.
"I have good news and bad news, Reclaimers." The Monitor started. "The good news is that we have no fatalities or injured, and all our gear, weapons and vehicles are intact. Also, we have arrived at the interior of the Dyson Sphere, having somehow entered its interior. The bad news, unfortunately, is that we aren't leaving any time soon."
"Why not?" One of the Elites asked.
"The ship's a Wreck." The Monitor answered. "The bow has crumbled and bent beyond recognition, demolishing and destroying many systems and circuits along its way. Not to mention, the ship was separated in the middle, and the stern lies three kilometers behind the bow. Thrusters, slipspace drive, communications... All are offline at the moment. On Cortana's advice, I shut down the ships' reactor core to prevent it from overheating, melting down and detonating. But frankly, we are going nowhere."
John mulled that over. So they were stuck on another Forerunner creation with a handful of weapons, two warthogs and a load of supplies. Their way of reaching society was cut off while they were in here. Their food supply...
"Monitor, how long will our food supply last?" He asked.
"A month under normal eating habits, one and a half if you ration. This ship was well-stocked for the journey through the Portal when Johnson commandeered it."
Their food supply was plenty but not infinite. The ship was a wreck, but a good defensible position. He looked outside, as the Hangar doors eased open.
It was a pretty sight. At their sides, they were flanked by high walls of twelve meters high, likely their crash trail. The trail itself was also blackened, from the heat of friction as the frigate flew through the atmosphere and crashed here. But ahead, if he looked with the binoculars build into his visor, he could see nothing but beautiful hill lands and mountain ranges.
A hell of a terrain to cross without Warthogs.
Fortunately, they had those. He turned to the others, and began giving out orders.
"Monitor, leave the ship and fly up. Alert us to any city or other installation within visual range, regardless whether it's Forerunner or not. Johnson, look through the armory and make your own judgement whether we have everything we need. Bring back anything you consider... Necessary." He turned to the Elites. "Arbiter, you and me will get this Warthog ready. Red and blue, start on the other."
Everyone gave an affirmative, and went on to their assigned tasks. The Monitor sped past and went through the Hangar door to the outside, before immediately shooting upwards. Johnson ran deeper into the ship, towards the armory located above the Hangar. The Elites all started working on the Warthogs, and he moved to join them. As he finished with unlatching the cables, he opened a private channel to Cortana.
"Have you detected any UNSC signals in here? Or any of the Covenant Separatists?" He asked.
"No. But since the ship's sensor and com are offline, my scanning range is limited to that of your suit, AKA only a hundred meters until we find another satellite or antenna."
"Keep scanning." He ordered, as he put the cables in the trailer as well. They might come in handy later. "Without a means of transportation, the only way out of here is with outside help. And for that, we need to reach someone."
"I'll keep working on it." Cortana promised. "But for now, what do we do?"
"Depends on what the Monitor reports." He answered. "If he sees nothing at all, we stay here. The ship might be damaged, but she'll provide excellent shelter here. Not to mention we'll be found immediately should UNSC personnel find a way in here and detect the automated distress beacon."
"And if there is something within a reachable distance?" Cortana asked.
"We head there and investigate." He answered. "We're still within an unknown environment, and with little answers to what this place was used for. A massive ring world was used to exterminate all sentient life in the Galaxy, so who knows what the Forerunners did here?"
"I didn't know you had long-term planning skills for outside of combat." Cortana said, surprised.
"I don't always rush head-on into things, you know." He quipped. "Just when it's more fun to do so."
"Aaaaand the caveman returns." Cortana responded in kind. "Long time no see, sir. You do understand me, don't you?"
"Hardy-har." He sarcastically laughed.
The Monitor floated back into the Hangar just as the company finished entirely with the Warthogs. He floated over to the Spartan.
"Reclaimer, there is a single tall installation five hundred kilometers from here." The Monitor reported. "It's quite a long drive, on the other side of the eastern mountain range even. But it should be reachable with two or three days of driving."
He nodded. "Good. As soon as Johnson returns and packs up what he's salvaged, we'll mount up and start our drive."
"Speak of the devil." Usze 'Taham interrupted, and John turned to look. Indeed, Johnson had entered the hangar, with a small trolley behind him. As John looked inside, he could see the Sergeant had packed a few more heavy weapons, including the Spartan Laser he had carried on the replacement Halo. Beneath the pile, he noticed a lot of parts. Including one with a radiation warning label. John picked it up and looked it over.
"Why this?" He asked, as he turned it within his hand. Johnson grabbed it back, and gently put it in the cart.
"Just for myself. Trying to see if I can upgrade the laser's power supply, to keep me busy with all the time we will have on our hands."
He had to admit, the Sergeant had made a good point. They would have a lot of time on their hands, and an upgraded Spartan Laser would be a welcome addition to their armory. He helped the Sergeant tuck everything in the trailers, then helped the man onto the Warthog's back trunk, where the turret was located. He himself went into the driver's seat, while the Arbiter climbed into the passenger one. The other Elites climbed into the other one and got into the seats, with the Monitor moving to sit on the back end of the car.
"Let's roll out." He said, as he sped the vehicle to the hangar's exit and out of the ship. He immediately followed the crash trail until he could turn right. Then, he headed for the mountain range indicated.
Date: unknown
Location: Forerunner City, Forerunner Micro Dyson Sphere, designate 'Sarcophagus'
Fred cursed himself for not having John's luck, as he covered Linda's climb to the top of the nearby tower.
To start it off, shortly before they had entered the Shield World, they had lost an incredible amount of Spartans: 14 in total. Ten missing trainees, two members of Saber Team, Will...
And Kurt.
Fred cursed once again. They had lost Kurt twice now. And this time, as much as he hated it, there was no way his death could be faked now. Normally, the death of a brother was painful enough on its own. But they had learned barely a few hours earlier that he was in fact alive instead of dead for two decades. To lose him again so soon after that...
Fred forced himself to move on, as he lowered his head to avoid getting shot in the head, cursing a third time. To make things worse, he had been promoted shortly before Kurt's death to the rank of Lieutenant, making him the highest ranking Spartan alive. Normally, he wouldn't have had a problem with this. He was used to having a commanding role, especially since personally he reformed Red Team after the original team's demise on the Spirit of Fire.
But in here, especially with Halsey and Mendez getting in more and more arguments, he was more and more forced to become a babysitter between two siblings that hated each other. At least, that's how exasperating and tiresome it felt.
And especially now, as he finished his reload and resumed firing on the odd Forerunner constructs, he cursed his luck and rank the most. These things had attacked while the majority of them were slacking off. In fact, a last-second warning from Tom and Lucy, who were on guard duty on the edge of the city, was the only reason they were alive at all. They had grabbed their weapons and opened fire on the things, soon being joined by Sam and Kelly returning from Patrol. And now, they were making a slow retreat towards the shelter.
The shelter was a small safe-like room underneath what they had assumed was a Forerunner equivalent to a bank. At least, they couldn't figure out what else it could be. It was a room with a central platform and a console. Once the door closed, the room was hermetically sealed, and no com signals would come out of it. That's what Halsey claimed, anyway.
They were in the final street, the one that lead to the building. The threes were already there, providing covering fire against the Promethean Knights and the crawlers. As soon as Kelly and Sam had returned, wet from a jump into the nearby water pool, they had fought, with Kalmiya briefing them all and searching for Intel at the same time. So far, she had only deduced names. The tall ones with reverse-triangular bodies were Promethean Knights, while the Drones were Watchers, an-
Fred ducked again, and forced himself to fall back even further, as the blasted Crawlers threatened to overwhelm him again.
And the last ones, the dog-like things with guns in their faces, were Crawlers he finished his thought. They had started to overwhelm them, and so he had Linda sent up onto a nearby watchtower and provide covering fire from above. It wasn't of much use, as for every Knight they killed, two more teleported in to replace them. It was systematic, well-coordinated. Almost like some presence was watching them and reacting to their moves.
"Halsey and Mendez are in the vault." Sam reported to Fred, using the most recent nickname for the Shelter. "All that remains are us Twos, Tom and Lucy." A short pause. "Correction: just the Twos. Lucy and Tom were forced to retreat into the Vault."
Fred sighed. "Halsey'll love that. Kelly, retreat back inside and help keep the peace. Sam, cover her retreat."
Both of them lit their acknowledgement lights in response, and from the corner of his eye, he saw Kelly retreat into the building. Realizing something, he opened a private channel to Linda.
"Retreat." He ordered. "We've been forced back to the Vault, and you're almost without covering fire."
"You need the extra seconds." Linda cryptically responded. It was followed by three more shots from above, and two Knights disintegrated. Of course, four phased in immediately behind where the two deceased had just stood, and resumed firing. Fred got out his laser, and pressed the trigger down to charge it.
"What the-?" Kelly cursed. "The Vault door slammed shut in my face."
"Our faces." Kalmiya corrected. "And from what I could detect, it was remote control. Not Halsey's doing."
Fred cursed. Just what they needed: being locked out of the only safe place in the city. All while they were outnumbered, outgunned and cornered in that bank. The Threes had the weapons they had before they entered, mainly small arms like Assault Rifles and DMR's, but they had the majority of their supply of grenades. As such, he and Sam (he with the Spartan Laser, Sam with his Rocket Launcher and Minigun) were the only ones with true heavy weapons.
Except for Linda and her Sniper Rifle, who he knew were still in the tower, and to whom he still had a channel open.
"Linda, get down here now!" He ordered. "We're cut off from our escape, and cornered."
"And what about your covering fire?" Linda asked, as she fired more rounds into the Knights.
"Linda, unless you climb down, you will be overrun. Get down from there, and we'll cover you."
He heard a grunt, before the channel was briefly closed. Likely Linda cursing him for his protectiveness of her. Then, she reopened the channel, clearly disagreeing with him.
But she followed his orders. "Yes, Sir."
He let out a sigh of relief. Then, he fired the Laser on the largest Promethean knight. As expected, the blast pierced the shields and the being itself, burning a hole through it and hitting the one behind it, repeating the process a third time before hitting the wall.
As Sam and Kelly ran out to help him cover Linda's descent, the Prometheans teleported in as a massive large group, having a good shot at them from everywhere. Frankly, no matter where they turned, they would be shot at by at least five Prometheans. Sighing about their predicaments, he got out his Battle Rifle.
To their surprise, the Prometheans lowered their rifles as one, and stood more at ease. Sam and Kelly shared confused looks, as they uneasily lowered their own weapons.
Before Sam could make a joking comment on it, a portal opened in front of them. Out of it stepped a mechanical drone similar in design to the Promethean Knights, yet far different from the standard Knights.
It stood two heads taller than Sam, and he already was nearly two and a half meters tall. It had a muscular body covered in parts magnetically floating around him. He had a colored broadsword in his head that was longer than a Spartan-III, and it was colored in the same white as the lights on the Knights. It had an decorative headdress not dissimilar from that of ancient human cultures, and the face was composed of the same floating miniature parts around the being, with the same white light as on the blade forming the background.
"Who are you?" Fred asked, as it approached them.
"I am the Warden Eternal." The Being spoke with an echoing, ominous voice. "I was the former second-in-command of the Promethean Warriors of the Forerunner armies, and current protector of the Guardians spread across the galaxy."
It raised its sword, and shifted into a combat stance. "Your intrusion here alerted the guardian of this place, drawing me here. And your presence is not approved."
"Are you threatening us?" Sam asked, as he mockingly cupped one of his hands around where his ear would be were his helmet removed. "Was that a threat, Fred?"
"VACATE THIS SHELTER NOW!" The Warden thundered, as he made a swipe at them with his sword. It released a white energy stroke which slammed into them. It sent them flying backwards with a massive force. Kelly and Sam respectively slammed into the door posts of the entrance of the bank, while he was sent flying into the building. The force of hitting the wall hurt, and downed his shields entirely. As he hit the ground on his feet, he struggled to stay upright.
"Yep, that was a threat." Sam grunted, as he got up as well. "What now?"
Fred's mind went into overdrive, as he reassessed the situation. Clearly, this 'Warden' was very powerful, as he showed no sign of exhaustion of loss of power from such a powerful swipe. Worse, its armor seemed nearly impenetrable, and that sword made attempting to get close suicide.
Then, he noticed something. Something that promised an escape.
The portal the Warden had entered through was still open, and showed no signs it was about to close anytime soon. He already had a plan in mind.
"Make for the portal, all of you." He ordered. "I'll keep it busy, and follow right behind." The three others all green lit their acknowledgement signals in response.
Fred, Kelly and Sam all charged forwards. But, to his surprise, Sam and Kelly both disobeyed. Sam tackled the Warden before he could counterattack, which only had the effect of unbalancing him. Kelly used the opportunity to fire her shotgun at the Warden's hand. It shattered it into a dozen pieces, making it drop its sword. The hand started repairing, with the parts returning to their place, but by the time it was restored Sam and Kelly had run past him and jumped into the portal.
Fred, while all this happened, charged his Spartan Laser for another shot. And by the time the Warden had recovered, fired the shot at the Warden's face. It let out a hurt, echoing cry, as the pieces that made up its face flew away due to the force of the hit. At the same time, a shot from above hit the Warden in the back, and he fell forwards.
Reminding himself to thank Linda later, he ran for the portal. As he reached it, he felt a sensation that reminded him of motion sickness similar to the variant that people suffered at sea. For a moment, whiteness was all he could see beyond his visor. But after that moment, he was in a large room, with a large black sphere with orange lights lining it.
Before he could further examine the room, something slammed into his lower back, and he fell forwards hitting the floor faceplate first.
He heard Sam chuckle beside him. "If I knew you guys liked each other enough to lay upon each other, I'd have given you a room together."
Fred looked up, and saw Sam and Kelly look down on him.
But, more importantly, Linda's helmet laying on his head. And the rest of her body awkwardly laying on his.
Kelly chuckled as well. "Kalmiya, I assume you are recording this?"
"Of course." Kalmiya said in a very amused tone. "John and Six will want to see this."
Linda rolled off of Fred, and both got up. As he got onto his feet, he looked at her. "How did you get through so fast?" He asked.
"Simple." Linda said. "I let go from the tower, and fell into it."
"And as a gentleman, you broke her fall." Sam chuckled. "Some chivalry."
Fred rolled his eyes, and examined the room. At the other side of the room, behind the sphere, was a control panel with two pillars. Two walkways led around some kind of Slipspace abyss below the sphere. In front of them, there was a two-way intersection that led to both walkways.
"Kalmiya, where are we?" Fred asked, as he looked around. It wouldn't be long before the Warden and his Knights would follow them back here.
"My best estimate: we are inside the sun of this Dyson Sphere, and thus the very core of this place. The deepest place in here. What this place is, or why it's here, I Haven't a clue."
"You shouldn't have come here." The Warden's voice threatened them. Immediately, a squadron of Knights backed up by Crawlers teleported in front of them. More appeared along both walkways... and the majority around the console.
"You do not know what is guarded here." The Warden said, as he teleported in as well. To their surprise, he also appeared three times near the console. "If you reclaim what is inside that Cryptum, you could destroy the entire Forerunner Legacy."
Fred, tired of the Warden, charged his Spartan Laser as he talked, and fired. To Sam's credit, he also fired a rocket at the Warden, and both shots hit at the same time. The resulting damage was so great, that the Warden's pieces flew backwards, into the Slipspace abyss below.
"Considering you tried to wipe out all life in the Galaxy, I don't think that's such a bad thing." Fred responded. He turned to the others.
"The Warden wants us away from those Pillars, Blue Team. Obviously, he wants a fight."
He knew Sam smiled, as he said his usual response to such a statement. Even if it was usually the Chief that uttered the statement.
"Let's give him one."
Date: 02-12-2553 (twenty minutes after the meeting between Hood, Odin, Osman and Parangosky)
Location: Hood's Office, Bravo-6, Sydney, Australia, Earth
Jameson Locke looked around nervously, as he entered Hood's office. He had just seen the files brought to light by Graves. To put it simply, he wasn't sure his ass was safe right now. Sure, he was officially part of a different branch, and transferred out of ONI. But with the data files and the dirt on ONI exposed, and with his former profession as an 'ONI acquisitions specialist' (a fancy name for a hitman, in his opinion), he felt like he had a giant bullseye painted on his back.
Even with the training he had received from Warrant Officer Jun and Commander Musa, and the Augmentations and armor that came with being a Spartan-IV, he didn't like his odds. After all, there were now many Spartans out there with a grudge against ONI and ONI personnel. And Locke didn't think they cared whether it was former or not. He didn't get that idea when he saw the composition of the team he was going to lead: An ODST veteran, an ex-engineer-turned-Marine from Minab, and an ONI translator who had turned out to be very proficient in both close-quarter combat and in small firearms.
The ODST was the leader of the infamousAlpha-Nine team, and had survived the entire night in New-Mombasa in the middle of the Covenant's invasion of the city. Granted, he had fought alongside a Spartan, a legendary member of Blue Team. But the Spartan himself had sent word to Jun about recommending Edward Buck for the Spartan-IV program. And if a Spartan recommended you to join his ranks, it was a massive compliment.
The Marine was a former insurrectionist, originally at least. Born on Minab while it was still in URF control, she had briefly sided with them before rejoining the UNSC while twelve. Since then, she had completed a study in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, and joined the Marine corps immediately afterwards. A veteran of war despite her age, Holly Tanaka was their Technical expert.
The last one was an odd one in his mind. The Translator, while not much older than Tanaka, was three times as knowledgable in Covenant routines as Buck was. Stuck on a freighter with her mother, a high ranking ONI officer before her death, for six months when she was a kid, she chose to memorize the entire database of Covenant languages that were on the ship at the time. And she had become so proficient at the languages she even corrected a few mistakes in said database. After that, ever since she became of legal age, Olympia Vale had been deployed as a combat-trained field translator when an AI wasn't available, and had served at Crow's Nest alongside the Master Chief during the Brute attack on the base.
And then, there was him, of course. Jameson Locke. An former ONI agent for a long time, he had been active for a very large part of the war. During his time at ONI, he had honed two skills: good leadership, and threat assessment. He had become so good at the latter, that he had been asked by ONI to compose target profiles on the members of the Covenant that made the advance so successful. Like Thel Vadam, commonly known as the Arbiter, or Fol Katarn, known to many as One-Eye, since Noble Six had slashed an Energy Sword across his right eye in Aszod on Reach.
His threat assessment skills filled him with fear now, as he laid eyes on Hood. The man wasn't in a happy mood, with both the exposure of ONI's database and Graves' invitation for the entire UNSC to defect. Hell, Locke doubted there were many who would outright refuse at this point. The only thing that would save the UNSC was if ONI was to be disbanded. And that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.
He noticed Hood wasn't alone: there was a man with him. Mid to late thirties, black hair and blue eyes, and a serious look permanently etched onto his face. A soldier by the looks of it: he stood straight, his SCAF uniform was flawless, and he wore his sidearm. Both men turned to look at Locke, and he saluted.
"Sir, permission to enter your office." He asked.
"Granted." Hood said with an exasperated tone. Clearly, he had had a long day. "At ease. I'd offer you a seat, Spartan Locke, but I doubt it would hold your weight with your new augmentations."
The way Hood said the word Spartan gave Locke some relief. It was calm, reassuring, and without a single trace of anger. Clearly, Hood wasn't angry with Locke's former status as an ONI agent.
"Allow me to introduce you to Captain William Lennox, the second in command of General Mahad of-"
"Of the Sovereign Colonies Armed Forces." Lennox interrupted Hood. "I'm certain Spartan Locke knows who I am, considering his last occupation."
Hood, not pleased with being interrupted, frowned. "Of course, Captain Lennox. But it's polite to introduce people."
Lennox nodded. "Point taken."
Hood turned to Locke. "Now, Spartan. I have a mission for you, and Musa and Jun have already cleared your team for it."
Locke, knowing any mission at all likely meant he had time away from resentful UNSC personnel, took it. "What is it, Sir?"
"A Sovereign Colonies Mining Vessel, the USG Ishimura, has failed to report in. A repair team was sent to check up on them for any problems, but they've failed to check in after boardiong. Likewise with a military response team sent shortly thereafter. Mahad's forces are occupied by Brute pirates harassing his boarders, so he's asking for the UNSC's best to fill the gap."
"What's the ship's status?" Locke asked, as he calculated and assessed the situation.
"Located over Aegis VII." Lennox answered. "A remote Sovereign Colonies mining colony rich with many mineral ores. Silver, Osmium, Iridium... Name an ore and it's likely that Aegis VII has a large vein of it somewhere. Shortly after a planet-crack of the richest region, however, we lost contact."
"We already crossed away an equipment failure." Hood finished. "A scan made by the repair team showed the com equipment was fine. It's just that no one's there to pick up the phone."
Locke frowned. "Unusual for a mining vessel. The USG-class vessels are massive for their line of work." He paused, an idea occurring to him. "Has there been any pirate activity near the system, human or Covenant?"
"No." Lennox said. "But that doesn't eliminate the possibility. As to who it really is... let's just say I asked Hood for help finding out, and he said you're it."
Hood nodded. "Your mission's simple: accompany Captain Lennox and his team to the Ishimura, help them establish what's wrong, and fix it."
Locke nodded, although he suspected there was more behind it. Why would Mahad, a known paranoid tyrant in the Sovereign Colonies, send his second-in-command to a simple investigation and a Possible repair mission? In addition to asking for Spartans, for that matter? True, with Blue Team and the Master Chief gone they were the best, but there was no way Hood or Musa would have sent them unless Mahad had asked specifically for them. Which meant there was more going on than just a loss of contact.
And the easiest way to get the answer lay with Lennox.
"Osiris will get it done, Sir."
Date: unknown (Approximately six months after the collapse of the Installation 00 Portal, Three days after crash landing of the Forward Unto Dawn)
Location: Closing in on Unknown Forerunner Installation 500 Kilometers east of Forward Unto Dawn
John looked in the rear-view mirror, as they final exited the canyon. It had taken over three days for them to drive from the wreck of the Forward Unto Dawn to this place, mostly because of the hills turning into mountains, and the terrain becoming nearly impossible to drive on. It was a miracle Spark had managed to find the canyon as a shortcut, or else they would have had to drive around the entire mountain range. A journey that would have taken months, for which they had neither fuel, food, patience or desire at all. But they were finally closing in on the Forerunner tower Spark had found.
John's mind started to stray for a few minutes. He wondered where the rest of Blue Team was, and what they were doing right now. Now that the war was over, their mission for Halsey likely would be as well, and they would have returned. To hear of him being missing in spa-
No, scratch that. He was missing for months, or likely even a year by now considering the delay of traveling through the portal. UNSC High Command would assume he was dead, and ONI would publicly declare so. Blue Team would thus think likewise.
He tried not to think what the others would do. Linda, the lone wolf of them all, likely would be the first to move on. She always managed to recover quickly from blows like that, and he didn't think that would change now. Six would likely remain Kaidon of that Sang'Katarn colony, due to a need to keep the peace. Fred and Sam would likely continue to serve in the military, after a short leave to deal with the grief of his loss.
But Kelly...
She had always been the most emotional of them all, and the two of them had always been close. His death would heavily weigh on her, and she likely wouldn't recover from the loss. The friendship between them was the closest any of the Spartans had ever had. Well, except for what Fred and Linda had, but out of courtesy he never openly talked about it, and rarely thought of it.
"You're thinking of them, aren't you?" Cortana asked, interrupting his thoughts. Her voice was in his head, indicating the discussion was private. Still, he involuntarily flinched a bit. In High-Charity's wreck, the Gravemind had spoken to him in a similar manner. And it had hurt so much that he still flinched every time Cortana's voice was inside his head instead of the helmet speakers.
"Yes." He answered. "Wondering what the others are doing right now. With us disappearing for six months after the Portal's collapse, combined with the months the others were stuck in the portal on the way back, makes almost a years since the mainstream UNSC last saw me. And you know standard UNSC protocol about that."
"After nine months of no sightings and circumstances that put your survival in doubt, and a collapsing Slipspace falls into that category, you will be declared KIA." Cortana said knowingly. She let out her own sigh, before continuing. "Look, they might think you're dead. But at least they are alive. Shouldn't that ease some of your worries?"
"Alive and alright are two different things."
"Nothing you can do about it from here. If you get out of here, on the other hand..."
Pointedly reminded why he was driving at all, he returned his attention to the tower ahead. Johnson and the arbiter sat relaxed in their seats, oblivious to the conversation Cortana and the Chief just had.
After fifteen minutes, he finally came close enough to identify an entrance. It was a large circular opening with two statues flanking it. As they came closer, and the convoy of two vehicles slowed down, the Monitor told them who they were.
"The left one is the Librarian. She was the one who preserved Humanity when the Forerunners defeated your race and were about to exterminate it, by sending specimens to the Ark for preservation and later reseeding. The right one is the Didact, the Promethean Supreme Commander of the Forerunner Military. He wished to have your race exterminated, for both the fact the Precursors favored your kind over the Forerunners, and the fact you resisted their attempts at genocide valiantly, killing millions of Forerunners before being subdued."
"Charming." The Arbiter said, as they got out of the Warthog and continued to look at the statues. "I wonder what they were like when they were alive."
"You don't." Cortana answered from his helmet speakers. "The Didact viewed the Forerunners as better than any other race, viewing them as mere primitives. And he held a special contempt for humanity due to the points the Monitor mentioned.
"And how do you know that?" John asked, surprised she knew this much about the Forerunners.
"Simple, reclaimer." Guilty Spark answered for her. "While you were all in cryo/stasis pods, Cortana and I talked with each other, catching ourselves up on each other's history."
So the Monitor knew a large part of Humanity's history. That meant he wasn't as ignorant as they all assumed.
They all gathered, as N'tho and Usze got out of their Warthogs as well. "How do we deal with this?" Usze asked.
"We split into two groups." John answered. "N'tho, Usze: you two guard the Warthogs. We don't know yet if the place is inhabited or not, and the last thing we need is some natives stealing our vehicles. Everyone else goes with me inside that tower. If we are going to find out how to get back, this is as good a place to start as any."
The two Elites nodded, and stayed with the Warthogs as John and the others went between the statues and inside the tower. As they went in, they arrived in an enormous hall, with incredibly tall pillars floating on either side of them. The ceiling, John estimated as he looked up, was over a hundred meters above them, with only a single walkway between them and it. The pillars ended at similar height as the walkway.
"Ah." The Monitor said in recognition. "The Cathedral. An information hub in case the Domain was ever inaccessible."
John let out a sigh of relief. While it was no way back to UNSC space, it would certainly help to have a clue as to what this place was, not to mention knowing whether they were the only ones here or not.
"Can we access it?" He asked.
"The closest access point is directly above us." The Monitor answered affirmatively. "On the walkway above us, to be precise."
"Hate to break it to yah, Lightbulb." Johnson stated in an annoyed tone. "But unlike you, the rest of us can't fly. How are we going to get up there?"
The monitor answered by firing a beam of light at the middle of the hallway. Instantaneously, a circle slightly rose from the floor, along with a console. It didn't take long for the Chief to figure out the Monitor had reactivated an elevator.
"By Elevator, Reclaimer." The Monitor answered, stating the obvious. "Shall we?"
The others answered in the form of jogging towards the Elevator. As they jumped (or in Johnson's case climbed) on, the Monitor floated upwards. Halfway up his descent, however, he stopped and looked down.
"Get on it then, Reclaimers." He tried to hurry them along for some reason. For a moment, John was confused as to why. But then the Arbiter looked around, and was the first to notice why.
"Uhmmm... why aren't we moving?" He pointed out.
John immediately caught on, and looked to Johnson, who stood closest to the console.
"Johnson?" He asked. The Sergeant looked his way quizzically. Exasperated, he pointed to the console, which only had two buttons.
"The button?"
Johnson quickly glanced to the console in surprise, and flushed in embarrassment.
"Oh. Sorry, Chief." He hurried to the console, and pressed the uppermost button. As they expected, the platform finally started to rise. It took about fifteen seconds until it was at the same level as the Monitor, and continued to rise. The Monitor continued to float alongside them at head level.
After another fifteen seconds, they arrived at the top, level with the walkway. John marched to the console now visible at the other end, with the others close behind.
As he arrived, he inserted Cortana into the systems. Her avatar appeared on the console, turned towards it, along with a list of Forerunner glyphs he couldn't hope to translate. The Monitor floated alongside it.
"Alright." Cortana started. "Let's see where we are. Cracking the security..."
"Isn't that far too advanced for you to crack?" Johnson interrupted.
Cortana let a smirk show, as she briefly turned to Johnson to answer. "I cracked Halo's systems, didn't I?" She returned her attention to the console. After a moment, John could see a smile on her face.
"I'm in. This is Forerunner shield world designate Sarcophagus."
The Monitor immediately stalled, stopping his fall only moments before he hit the walkway.
"Come again?" The monitor asked alarmed. "Did you say 'Sacrophagus'?"
Cortana turned to them. "Yes. Why?"
The Monitor's eye brightened in alarm, and he briefly turned away from them, mumbling to himself. The only intelligible thing John could hear was 'We should never have come here.' In the end, Johnson had enough of the wait, walked over, and beat with a fist on the Monitor's chassis. "Hey, tinker-bell. You still ticking in there?"
The Monitor turned to them, and his light had visibly dimmed.
"You recall what I had said about the Didact? That he was supreme commander of the Forerunner Military, and that he had extreme contempt and hatred for Humanity" the Monitor's voice was subdued, almost in fear.
"Considering you mentioned it barely five minutes ago, yeah we do." Johnson said sarcastically, missing the Monitor's change of tone.
"Well, this is the end of the tale." The Monitor started. "The Forerunners had attempted many things in their efforts to stop the Flood. The Lightway Engine to send us all away to other galaxies, a pathogen to stop a Gravemind from forming and depriving the Flood of a strategic presence... Many things were attempted before we resorted to galactic Genocide. One of theses was the Composer."
Johnson feigned a yawn. "Very interesting. But how does thi- AAAW" the last bit came from John giving the Sergeant a soft hit at the back of the head for his rudeness. Normally, he only did that with his teammates, and it wouldn't hurt. But even a soft hit from a Spartan in armor could hurt like hell.
"I'm getting to that." The Monitor answered anyway, ignoring the mood of the commotion. "But anyway: The Forerunners attempted to transfer their bodies from the biological to the digital realm. It would make Forerunners immortal. Long story short: the transfer from biological to digital succeeded. The process back was what had my creators perplexed."
"I take it didn't go well." The Arbiter commented. The Monitor shook his head.
"I'm afraid not. The original digital bodies turned into abominations, and the personalities of the test subjects didn't survive. The Didact, however, had another use for them."
The Monitor brought up an image of a Forerunner combat drone with a reverse-triangular shaped body, with a rifle as one arm, and a blade as another.
"He stored them in these Combat Drones, which were forever known from then on as Promethean Knights. They were all led by a central, more advanced Promethean that, although only possessing a single mind, had 240.651.783 bodies at last count over a hundred Millennia ago. He was known as the Warden Eternal."
The Monitor changed the image from the Promethean Knight to a tall humanoid being with an excessively detailed helmet and a large sword.
"Together, The Didact and the Warden used a prototype of the Composer on a massive city on Erde Tyrene, the original Human Homeworld. Converting millions of humans into Promethean Knights, the Didact used this army and its new commander to lead a massive attack on Humanity. He was only stopped when the Librarian and her forces apprehended the Didact, took the Composer from Promethean care, and pacified the Knights."
"What happened to them?" John asked, as he and the others listened to the story.
"The Warden and the Knights were reprogrammed, and became the protectors of the Guardians and the Shield Worlds." The Monitor answered. "The Didact was put into stasis in a Cryptum, which was put into storage at the core of Requiem. However, near the end of the Forerunner-Flood war, Flood forces came closer and closer to Requiem, forcing us to move his Cryptum-"
"To Sarcophagus." Cortana finished with growing apprehension and realization. The Monitor nodded.
"Yes. We are standing in the prison of the Didact."
Johnson, suddenly a lot more nervous, let out a sigh. "Ok, I get why we're serious about this. But why the fuss? All we have to do is avoid his cell and we'll be alright."
"I'll check, just to be sure." Cortana immediately said. After a moment, she pulled up a massive digital map, which started to zoom in on the sun that was the core of the Dyson sphere/shield world. "Got it. Like Requiem, The Cryptum has been located at... the... core..."
Cortana trailed off, and her face showed increasing alarm. John immediately moved over to have a look himself. Cortana hadn't zoomed in enough, however, for him to have a good view. All he saw was a massive chamber, with the Cryptum as a dot at the center with a walkway and a console surrounding it.
"What is it?" He asked. "What's wrong?"
Cortana finally turned to him, and he saw true horror on her face. "Chief, four humans are on their way to the Cryptum right now! And I can't access any com systems to warn them from here."
Cortana zoomed in on the Cryptum. Indeed, he saw four figures fighting off a swarm of Promethean Knights, with here and there a body of the Warden thrown into the mix. By the looks of it, they were making good progress, and were for some reason quite adept at fighting off the Promethean forces. He estimated they would reach the console to unlock the Cryptum any second now.
He whirled to the Monitor. "Can you access the Telepor-"
"Chief." Johnson interrupted with a calm voice. An uncharacteristic calm. "Have a real good look at those humans."
To humor the Sergeant, John turned back to the hologram that displayed the Cryptum's room. He looked again at the four humans that had now reached the platform with the console.
And then he noticed. He finally noticed why Cortana and Johnson were so alarmed, and why they really needed to hurry. There was no way four normal humans could survive against so many Promethean Knights with little to no cover. That could only be done by Spartans. And one look at the armor configuration told him exactly who they were.
They were Sam, Kelly, Fred and Linda. The other members of Blue Team.
Date: 12-01-2554 (689 days until the 'Graves Exodus', and 41 days since the Publication of ONI's database)
Location: Pelican of Fireteam Heracles, en-route to New-Tyne, Venezia
"That's it." Rosenda said in her usual cheerful tone. "I'm shitcalling our code names."
Fol sighed and threw his head back, as they flew towards New Tyne. They had briefly been called off of their hunt. An ONI black-ops team that had been running operations in the insurrectionist capital had been exposed and come under attack, and they, by chance also on Venezia because of another lead on Cerberus, were the closest ready to assist. Granted, it had taken General Holland fifteen minutes to persuade Six and Rosenda, but the elder general had managed to do it.
Six had been angry, but like usual these days said few words. The hunt for Cerberus had been a good idea at the beginning, and it needed to be done. But with the massive amounts of false trails out there, it had been agony to sort through them all. Most of them, like the one at Empirical Enterprises, had been a dead end: there were no Cerberus units present, any possible data files that could contain a lead Zeus quickly discovered to be useless, and the people had barely heard of Cerberus units at all. Gharenshak, one hadn't even heard of the word Cerberus before.
With the long amounts of travel time, and the little activity the others had to do as one of them searched, it could almost be called a vacation.
He turned to Rosenda, as they were approaching the city. "And why, this time, are you doing it?"
Rosenda turned to him. "Fireteam Heracles? Really? Who picked the names?"
"I did." The male voice of Zeus came across the PA system. "Heracles, in Greek Mythology, captured Cerberus, the hound of Hades. As we are going to do with the Cerberus units we encounter."
Zeus was the upgraded variant of Six' AI partner void. Originally the ship's AI of the ONI Prowler Hidden Veil, the AI had been put into Six' head in a similar manner to the Master Chief and Cortana, and stuck with six ever since. shortly before this vacatio-, eh, mission, Void had felt it was necessary for him to upgrade, in order to be more prepared when Cerberus units came after him. But the upgrade resulted in him being changed so drastically, he even got a new name, Zeus. now, he served as the command line that connected all three of them.
Rosenda turned to the closest Speaker. "Yeah. But come on: our ship is called the Bifrost. You are Zeus. Christ, you tried to call the Pelican the Charon. What is it with you and Ancient Mythologies?"
"To be fair" Fol admitted "it would be correct to call us the ferrymen and women of death."
"That's beside the point." Rosenda dismissed, as she donned her CQC helmet. "I want new code names."
"ETA is 30 seconds." Six interrupted, as she walked into the troop bay. Her armor was already on in its entirety, and she already had her Katarns, her DMR and 'Demon's Flame' Grenade Launcher stowed on various slots on her armor. Like usual now, it was the standard version of the Reach Armories, the only exception being that she wore the Pauldron Armor Plate Fol had taken from Emile on Reach, and an identical model on her other arm, to match the design and make it more symmetrical.
These days, she always prepared separated from the others, and Fol had only seen her relax once. And that was when he had accidentally caught her sleeping, passed out from exhaustion. She had been so dedicated at finding Cerberus that she had been taking shifts for others in searching all the possible leads and files. But she had done so non-stop, doing nothing else all day, and after catching her in the act of sleeping during her shift, he and Rosenda refused to let her take over more shifts.
Now, as she prepared to exit the Pelican, he saw she was restless. Likely because she didn't want to deviate from her hunt, and desired to have this over with so she could continue.
"Zeus, after the Charon is emptied, hover above triple-A range until we give the signal." He ordered. "Don't want any Kig-Yar scavengers stealing our escape vehicle."
"Of course." Zeus said, as he opened the hatch. As he'd noticed in combat footage of her, Rosenda was the first one out, doing a backflip as she jumped out. Six merely stepped over the edge, and fell down. Fol was last, making a jump.
They all dove for five seconds before landing in an alleyway. The plan was simple: Heracles would clear the area of the black-ops team of immediate threats, and they would signal Zeus for pick-up. He would get them all back to the ship waiting for the team, and they would both go their separate ways. A simple plan.
Unfortunately, as he'd learned over his many past campaigns against humans, no plan survives contact with the enemy.
As they exited the alleyway, they immediately came under attack. Fol raised his Assault Rifle, and took down the nearest rebel he could see: A sniper on a rooftop.
The team they were rescuing was pinned down in a marketplace located on a large square in the center of town. Clearly, the Rebels had thought this through: exposing the team somewhere public and pinning them down in the center of a junction of roads so that the team was easily surrounded. And now, the team needed an opening made for them.
They would get one.
Fol continued to fire on the snipers on the roof, who were trying to pin them downin that alleyway. Little did they know, the large Elite had two Spartans with them. Rosenda and Six kicked in an adjacent wall, and went into the building. They immediately moved through it, and flanked the main group of soldiers, who were running towards Fol in the middle of the street. The soldiers, distracted by the fire coming from the Windows, didn't notice as Fol rolled a Frag grenade into their midst.
The explosion created quite a mess, killing most before they could even scream. The rest were quickly put out of the fight by Rosenda and Six, who jumped through the windows and killed them with their combat knives. Fol shot the last Sniper down, and came out of the alleyway.
"How far until we hit the market?" Fol asked as he reloaded.
"Three hundred meters down this street." Six answered matter-of-factly, as she pointed down said street. "Kilo-five's in the middle of it."
Fol nodded, as he looked over the gear they all had. Fol, as usual these days, had an Assault Rifle, a Fuel-Rod gun, and his two Katarns. As such, he was their heavy-weapons fire support. Rosenda had a Sniper Rifle, a Battle Rifle and a Shotgun for close quarters. Since most of her weapons were ranged weapons, she would split up now and provide them sniper cover. Six, who still had the weapons he'd observed on his Pelican, was their close-quarters expert.
Rosenda split up by climbing up the side of an apartment building. After a moment, she disappeared over the edge, only to catch a glimpse of her as she jumped over to the next building.
Six started to move on into the street, and he moved on right behind her, covering her back. Just because the street was clear for the moment didn't mean it would stay that way.
After a moment, they arrived at the end of the street and into the marketplace. It was chaos. Multiple stalls were on fire, and smoke blocked out the entire sky. People ran amok in every direction in an effort to get away from the chaos, some of them covered in blood. At first glance of them Fol couldn't even tell if it was their own blood or not.
"Kilo Five is in the center of all this." Six reminded them with an even voice. "Lets do this quick before local forces intercept us."
"Why?" Rosenda questioned. "Let them come. I can rack up the kills that way. It's like shooting fish in a barrel down there."
"Because we, and Kilo Five, will be in that barrel as well." Fol answered. "And if it's a barrel for you, it's a barrel for the rebels as well."
Rosenda sighed as she relented. "Very well. I'll cover your Six. No pun intended, by the way."
"Oh, really?" Fol challenged.
Before the banter could continue, shots came from behind one of he fruit stalls, and both Six and Fol dove into cover in opposite directions. As he came back onto his feet behind a fallen metal sign of a hotel, he saw Six was giving him covering fire, and thereby also diverting attention away from him.
"Rose, cover me." He ordered, using his coined nickname for Rosenda. She heard him, for after that statement three shots echoed across the square, and he noticed two positions stopped firing at them.
He got from his cover, and ran towards the position of Kilo-Five, darting between stalls along the way. Miraculously, he was attacked only once, by a rebel armed with a shotgun. He simply grabbed his Energy Sword, pulled the rebel towards him before he could fire, and stabbed her in the stomach. He moved on before she'd even finished falling to the ground.
He found them in the center, near a fountain that had a chunk blown out of it by an explosion. He saw three clear figures inside: two human soldiers who were clearly ODST's, and to his mild surprise, a Spartan out of armor. Spartans were supersoldiers meant for missions on the battlefield, or behind enemy lines and to disable things from the inside. They weren't usually trained for undercover stuff like this. That meant whoever had assigned the Spartan here had anticipated a fight.
He dove behind their cover, and raised his hands to show he meant no harm. As the first one noticed his presence, he briefly raised his rifle. The other two, seeing the reaction, did so as well.
"Easy." Fol said. "I'm with Fireteam Heracles."
The others, recognizing the name, either lowered their weapons or fired over their cover at other enemies.
"So you're our getaway?" One of the ODST's asked with an accent Fol vaguely recognized as Russian. Fol nodded in response.
"Our Pelican's standing by. As soon as the immediate area's cleared, he'll come in and pick us up."
"Good." The other ODST responded. "Because we overstayed our welcome here."
"No shit." Rosenda responded over their com. "I count over two dozen hostiles surrounding you, and a hundred more coming this way from all directions. You're about to get busy, Fol."
He rolled his only functioning eye. "Of course."
"You still want to do this routine?" Rosenda asked, as he heard four more sniper shots echo throughout the square. "Because that's a lot of foes, even for you."
Fol let out a chuckle. "Weren't you a member of Noble Team? I thought you enjoyed tough ops."
"I know, I know." Rosenda cursed in an exasperated tone. "It wouldn't be a Noble mission if it were easy."
Fol smirked, and got out of cover, as he prepared for the firefight.
And cursed. A Phantom gunboat was coming their way. And judging by the colors it held, it wasn't one of the Swords of Sanghelios.
But one of the URF.
"Take cover." Six called out from somewhere he couldn't see, as he heard her fire her grenade launcher at it. It came from his right, and hit the gunboat at one of the side engines. It exploded, and the force of the explosion tore up said engine. The ship started to bank.
In their direction.
"Oh shit." Fol muttered, as he looked on. Fortunately, he wasn't fired at, since these Insurrectionists were too focused on their air support being blown to bits. But if he didn't move-
A second grenade hit the ship as it started to veer forwards. It altered the crash course of the craft, flying over Fol.
Crashing into the façade of the building, some sort of town hall, behind it instead. The craft embedded itself into it, until it was buried up to its second set of turrets.
Unfortunately, it seemed to have broken some vital structural load-bearing supports, as the front started to collapse both below and above the craft, with multiple chunks falling onto stalls in front of the building.
"Shit." He heard Six curse, the first word she'd said since entering the marketplace. Fol looked around, looking for what made Six curse. So far, however, he saw nothing indicating a new threat.
"What is it?" Rosenda asked, obviously detecting nothing either.
Fol finally spotted Six, darting between stalls and heading directly towards the collapsing building. Said building actually looked like it was about to topple, onto the entire marketplace. The fountain would be out of range, so Fol was safe. But Six was headed directly into the danger zone. He was about to call her and ask her why...
When he saw what she was headed for. Underneath a meat stall directly in front of the building's entrance, a terrified six-year old girl in a dress was hiding behind a storage crate. And Six was heading straight for her.
Fol cursed, as he saw multiple of the Insurrectionists head for her from multiple directions. He got out of cover and fired on them, the Spartan on Kilo Five doing likewise. The Insurrectionists, attacked from two sides by both him and Rosenda, scattered.
All but one, who let loose a single rocket before being cut down by the Spartan on Kilo Five.
Six heard it being fired, and turned and shot at the missile with her DMR, but it was too late. She miraculously managed to hit it, but the force of the explosion knocked her back a dozen meters. She landed next to the stall with the the child hiding underneath it.
She was obviously badly hit. Her armor was smoking, and when she tried to get up all her limbs were shaking.
Then, she saw the child, and the building falling behind her, and he saw her evaluate. Just like he did now.
The building was collapsing too fast, with the pieces falling down now twice her size. If she sprinted now, she might make it. But only if she forgot the child now. If she stayed, and tried to protect it somehow, she would die, either buried alive or pierced by sharp parts of the debris. But the child would stand a slightly bigger chance.
Six saw that too, and made the choice Fol didn't expect her to make.
She ran for the insurrectionist child, just as the entire building gave way towards them. Just as it was about to land on the child, Six made it, and pushed the child behind her with one hand while holding her other up to the debris to ward the worst of it off. Fol saw her disappear under a really large piece of rubble, before a massive dust cloud swept up and outwards, blinding all of the people in the marketplace.
"Six!" Fol shouted, as he took cover behind the walls of the fountain should any debris still reach him. The dust cloud still swept over them, forcing him to stay in cover. Part of him was fortunate for that, as with the sweeping wind of it he wouldn't hear Rosenda's pleas for Six to answer. But as he got out of cover the moment the dust swept past, his worst fear was confirmed.
Before him was only a field of rubble, and no Spartan or child in sight.
"Siiiiiix!" He called out, as he looked over it. At that moment, he didn't care if Zeus or the Insurrectionists heard him. His sister in arms was missing, and there wasn't a damn sight of her.
"Siiiix!" He called again. Weapons fire echoed, but it was Rosenda's weapon, likely picking off innies in anger. Then, he finally saw something of Six.
Something that made his stomach drop.
Something that filled him with something he hadn't felt since dealing with the Flood
Fear. Fear for someone's life.
For what he saw was Six' left arm sticking out of the rubble, blackened and scorched. Her armor was melted away, and her arm was bleeding, with burn scars so heavy even her Augmentation scars were no longer distinguishable.
And it wasn't moving.
Date: unknown
Location: Center of Forerunner Dyson Sphere, designate 'Sarcophagus', unknown
Kelly kicked the Last Promethean knight standing in her way over the edge, firing at two crawlers with her Plasma Rifles as she did so.
The advance on the platform had been slow. The Warden proved even tougher than his Knights, only retreating after being hit by multiple heavy weapons at the same time. But so far, not a single body of his was destroyed. Only pushed back.
But now, they were finally at the platform. The others were covering her from the walkway as she advanced on the platform, preventing the Prometheans from reaching her. Only one more stood in her way, a Scattershot aimed at her.
The more Promethean Knights they killed, the more Kalmiya managed to learn. So far, she only knew the names of the soldiers and their purpose as combat drones, as well as the names of some of the weapons, like the Incineration cannon, the Binary Rifle and the Scattershot, Forerunner Rocket Launchers, Sniper Rifles and Shotguns respectively.
Kelly threw a Frag Grenade at it, and downed the Knights shields with her Plasma Rifles before it detonated. Along the way, she had learned Covenant Energy Weaponry was far more effective against it than UNSC projectile weaponry. As such, she used them to down the Knight's shields, and an explosive to finish it off. As she successfully did so now, downing its shields just before the grenade went off. It was damaged fatally by it, and started to disintegrate as it was blasted over e edge of the platform.
She immediately sprinted towards it as the area was cleared, before more of the Knights could appear to block her way, and jumped upon it.
At the end of a very narrow, and suspiciously clear walkway, with a single console at the end of it.
"Something's not right." Kalmiya warned, as Kelly moved to the console.
"Well, we don't have time." Kelly retorted. "The Prometheans are at our doorstep, and we need answers now."
Kalmiya was silent for a moment, before two pillars in front of the console were highlighted on her visor.
"Touch the pillars." Kalmiya finally said. "I think they, in junction with the sphere, might function as a com relay."
A com relay meant contact with the outside. Contact with the outside meant possible contact with command. Contact with command meant future reinforcements or pickup. Needing no further prompting, Kelly made an immediate dash for the pillars, touching both of them at the same time on the lit areas on top.
"To any UNSC forces in range, this is Sierra 087. Do you copy?" She immediately, and hurriedly, said. After all, Fred and the others wouldn't be able to hold out forever, and she needed to get the message out as soon as possible. As soon as she finished speaking, her words were echoed in a heavy metallic tone. The Prometheans all stopped fighting and turned to look at the sphere, of which the orange lines on the bottom started to glow brighter. But aside from that, nothing happened. Puzzled, Kelly made another attempt to create a message.
"Any UNSC personnel, do you read me?" She said, and it was repeated a moment later in the same heavy tone. The sphere started to slightly lower, and all Prometheans, including the bodies of the warden, turned reverently to the sphere. Blue team, who had stopped firing ever since the Prometheans did, were getting antsy with the odd situation, and if she were honest, Kelly was so as well.
None of this made sense. If the Warden wanted to stop them from reaching that panel, why didn't he deploy more of his forces to stop them? He had had plenty of time to place a dozen Knights between her and the console when she first arrived on the platform. For that record, he could have cut it to pieces with his large sword. Then why did he tolerate them meddling with it? Or for that matter, stop fighting at all as soon as the Sphere was activated?
In short, even if she didn't know for whom or why, they had walked into a trap.
She let go of the pillars, and got out her Plasma rifles. "Kalmiya. Exit for entire team. Now."
"I'm not the one standing around." Kalmiya said nervously, also having caught on about the fact it's a trap. Seeing her point, Kelly dove off the platform, landing beside the rest of Blue Team.
As soon as she landed, a shockwave emerged from the sphere, flattening everything not in cover. All Crawlers were ejected from their walls. All Watchers crashed onto the walkways. All knights and Warden bodies toppled. As did Sam and Linda. Only she and Fred were in cover, both in a crouch behind an extension of a nearby wall. As soon as the ripples of the wave came past, she looked around the corner.
A smaller single-person platform had lowered from the sphere, of which the black parts at the bottom had split apart revealing a glowing orange interior sphere. On the platform stood a being, who slowly rose and extended his arms. As he did, a section of the wall next to her opened up, and a metal piece flew towards the being at lightning speed, becoming a piece of the shoulder armor. Multiple other parts shot towards it froM all around the walkway, completing a set of body-encompassing armor. The being slowly slowly turned to them.
"And so fades the great harvest of my betrayal." It said, as it waved a hand, sending a second ripple to the Prometheans. As soon as the wave hit them, the white light that had been over their body turned as orange as the inner light of the sphere. Sam and Linda had gotten up, and while they didn't aim at the being yet, all of them had their weapons vaguely pointed in its direction.
"And humans." The being continued in a malevolent tone, turning to look at them all. "Corner them, and offer even a slight sliver of false hope, and they take it. Still as easy to deceive as ever, it seems"
At the end of that sentence, her cover started to glow and dissolve, like the ending of a Prometheans Knight. She whirled into the open and aimed her weapon at it. The others of the team raised their own weapons at it in response.
The being merely raised its hand palm towards its own face, and made a gripping-like motion. Immediately she was paralyzed and suspended in the air, her arms forced to her side and her head held facing upwards. From the corner of her eye she could also see the others were held aloft in similar ways. All of them moved forward against their own will, until they were in front of the being.
"The Librarian left little to chance, didn't she?" The being mused, as Kelly had a first good look at the thing. It had six fingers on one hand, two thumbs, index fingers and middle fingers respectively, and they were in mirror image of each other. It had pale skin, fangs, bags under red eyes with black background and a black pupils, and a small bit of hair on the top of its head.
And it looked enraged.
"Turning my own guardians, and an entire world, against me." The being continued. "But what naivety, to believe the Warden would stay loyal to her forever." It paused, and looked them over, turning them a bit one by one.
"If your technology is still this outdated and inefficient..." it mused, before it looked up, realizing something. "then Mankind has not attained the Mantle. Your ascendancy may yet be prevented."
"Who are you?" Sam managed to grunt despite the great hold on him.
The being turned to him, and moved them so they all floated alongside each other.
"I am the Didact, Human. And if you are unaware of my hatred for your kind... let's just say you would be better off with a Flood Outbreak on Erde Tyrene."
Three of the Warden's bodies teleported to stand next to the Didact. Two held identical devices of some sort, which moved to attach to the Didact's forearms. The third held a helmet, which shifted around the head and tightened until it was seamless.
Kelly tried to struggle more and more to release herself as this went on. This guy, whoever he was, sounded like one of the greatest threats humanity would ever face, and they needed to stop it. But no matter what she did, her body wouldn't move more than a few millimeters, the pressure too great to resist. And at the worst time possible, Kalmiya wasn't responding.
"I will finish what I started with the composer all those years ago." The Didact explained heatedly as it turned to the devices, adjusting their settings out of view of the Spartans. "I will digitalize your entire race, and turn them into new soldiers for my armies as I lead the galaxy into a time of piece and prosperity. The Forerunners at the top, with all other races beneath me. And humanity nothing but ashes."
"One tiny problem with that." Fred said. "Your race is extinct."
The Didact turned back to them, the devices on its arms now fully activated. "A trivial matter, compared to the threat your kind poses at present." It answered. "And I have the ideal solution for it." It raised the devices so they could see them.
"These are smaller prototypes of the Composer, which I used to create my Promethean army from your ancestors. The finalized version I used on them was a thousand times larger, and far quicker and less painful. These ones are far slower, excruciating... and unsuccessful in digitalizing living beings."
The Didact aimed them at them, and they started to glow with energy. "Consider this a sample of what I will do to your allies, false reclaimers."
Before any of them could shout in protest or do something similarly futile, the Didact fired his miniature composers at them. After that, Kelly stopped seeing. And hearing. And smelling.
All that was there was the excruciating pain and burning hell, as she was slowly, inch by inch, chipped away digitally, turning into crystallized dust to be swept aside.
Her last coherent thought before the pain and heat fully consumed her, was that she said goodbye to John, and that she loved him.
B312 Audiolog 3
Hello again, strangers who might find this. This is the first time I'm making one of these things without Jason being there. He got pulled away for hitting one of the other kids in anger for calling me out on my scar.
I don't mind my scar. Got it fair and square when I killed the bastard that took my family. At this point, I have more Covie kills than the rest of the cadets combined. Besides, it shows I was stronger than what tried to harm me. So why be ashamed of it?
Besides, Jason said he liked how it ran from the side of my nose to my chin.
Still, that guys is nuts. He tried to convince me to set off fireworks underneath the Eltee-Com's lodge. I've gotta learn how he keeps it hidden. Sure, a good Poker Face gets him far, but that can't be the entirety of it. Note to self: ask him about it during next training exercise.
I heard they are going to make a new training roster tomorrow, since they think they figured out what kind of training we need. Pfff. Pansies need to check up on what I truly need. At this point, I was involved in at least half of the fights that occurred so far... and provoked others into instigating a few more. I don't need karate or Kung Fu or whatever they want to throw at me at this point. I need the other stuff like how to be a doctor, or car repair man or how to fly a plane.
Or how to build robots. Because who doesn't love robots? Or Cyborgs. They're awesome, too.
Shit, the Bell's ringing. I gotta go. B312 out.
Damn, I must hate you guys, with all these cliffhangers I keep making.
The Locke part: I will make a subchapter for that similar to what I did with Halo 3: ODST... and that's the closest the deadspace fans will come to a crossover. so if you hoped for a full story: sorry guys, but I don't have that much free time.
The Logs at beginning and end of chapters: for this specific story they become usual.
as always, a pleasure. please, review
Gharst Omenlumin