Meetings
Space. Space is one of the few fundamental quantities in physics, meaning that it cannot be defined via other quantities because there is nothing more fundamental known at present. Thus, similar to the definition of other fundamental quantities (like time and mass), space is defined via measurement. Currently, the standard space interval, called a standard meter or simply meter, is defined as the distance traveled by light in a vacuum during a time interval of 1/299792458 of a second (exact). This definition coupled with present definition of time makes our space-time to be Minkowski space and makes special relativity theory to be absolutely correct by definition.
This theory was soon layered with enough evidence to become fact. And to this day it is seen as a proven hypothesis that is known to all who join NASA or the U.S Marine Corps. You would not be allowed to travel in space without learning the basics about it but the advanced subjects in navigating through space is learnt or taught to those who wish to navigate a ship or command one.
The year 2321, religion has been morphed, killed, rekindled. When colonization of other worlds came about and new animals were found it was decided some religions were viewed totally false while others had risen, however each religion remained, not publicly but in their hearts.
In the year 2492 A young man named Ial Tanashia, born in old New Zealand, wrote a book on the facts of evolution. It basically was about how humans could not evolve unless the world itself changed and even still the change might not be physical. He wrote using modern science which proved that evolution, the meaning of the word was slightly misinterpreted. The fact was Darwin did not have the same technology and information humans had today and blindly following it was leading humans to false hope and stunted growth.
In March the 21st Tanashia was given a fleet to explore and find out what was truly evolution. His finding gave off the true meaning of Evolution that was already there. It was simple growth and adaptation of the body and the most evidence he had was from animals and the new found ones inhabiting planets which had lived longer than humans and fossils. From the planets and its inhabitants dictates the animals living on the planets now were a lot different a few hundred years ago.
Criticism was high on Ial, you do not just say Darwin was slightly wrong and expect quintillions worth of research to just agree. He soon found a creature that would change the human view point of evolution. The creature itself was a bird that changed from Arial to marine in a matter of weeks from bird to fish and this was the fruit which gave Ial a fleet of his own to command.
He had a ship called the war which had found the birds on Coral, the captain dubbed the bird, the bird of War or now known as the Warbird, A symbol to the Marines.
"Humans have the ability to adapt to anything by using technology and alterations to our enviromnent. These Aves can change their physical make up in a matter of weeks to match their enviromnent. It is now time we studied more intensly our own biology" A quote from Ial Tanashi, the quote had prospered to the point that his appointment as a vice-Admiral.
The date was 22nd Febuary 2524, Tanashia's fleet had been spending its time exploring the galaxy, noting down planets for further study teams and making pursuits in aquiring resources. His new drug, called Olinthe, had been pumping success around the galaxy, in and out of UNSC and insurrectionist controlled space. Olinthe was a drug that increased a humans life expectancy by triple while increasing the vitality and restorative powers of a person. Needless to say, Ial became one of the most influential person in history.
Ial, right now, was viewing todays update on his ship the war and was brooding over why someone had accidentally locked his A.I in a holo-dome.
A navigator known as Paul J Matthew picked up something on his slipspace frequencer and soon he realized the anomaly was coming from slip space. He crossed referenced the mass with all the information he had on hand and it came out negative. Feeling at a loss to what the anomaly was he turned to inform his commander, Ial Tanashia.
"Sir, incoming from slip-space" He called
The commander immediately became serious and focused, an action quickly mimcked by his crew.
"Identification or any known classification?" Ial asked
The navigator shook his head.
"None sir, all I know is that we are dealing with a mass of 120,000 kilometers" the navigator said.
Panic flowed through out the crew but the Commander remained composed.
"Send me the relevant data" he ordered
Immediately his screen was filled with cross mappings and indicators over the large shadowy mass. It seemed the mass broke up to reform or the mass changed shape and kept with it.
"Sir?"
"It is not one mass, it is a fleet of masses and it is going to come out directly in front of us. Sound the alarm, stage three alerts, everyone must be battle ready" Anything arriving from slip-space had a tendancy to appear any where that was not where it was meant to be. At one point two Unsc cruisers came out of slipspace at the same place and had fused together.
As soon as the order left his mouth the bridge was filled with orders and sound, after a few more seconds an alarm went off and he knew his fleet was preparing, however, would they be prepared for what happened next.
The ships exited slip space, a full fleet of some 300 which was fair to his 235. The real thing that might be a problem was their design which was with pun included, alien. The vessels seemed to notice them and started to realign to appropriate firing range while spacing out enough for effective evasion without being in each others way.
It was pretty obvious their forces along with his did not know what to do with this predicament. It was only after the communications officer informed the Commander they were being hailed that some action was being made. Despite all that had happened in the last two minutes the commander had always kept his straight face, he did not seem surprised in the least with the alien forces appearance, nevertheless he accepted the hail.
A brief pause before the main monitor activated and showed the face of a creature that made everyone gasp, except of course, for the commander. The creature had four mandibles, two reptilian eyes and a gold helmet that covered up everything else. The creature said something to which no one understood. It persisted until it growled, the commander decided, despite them not being able to understand their dialect, perhaps their actions may get through.
The commander put a hand over his heart and bowed and uttered the words seen mostly and always in Alien/scientific movies.
"We come in peace"
The crew took his example and it seemed the creature was slightly happy for a response that seemed friendly. The creature uttered something. The commander looked up and shook his head. The creature had the same feeling but then it seemed to have an idea before shouting to its crew and for a moment nothing happened until the monitor flickered and gave them the site of a being that at first glace could be mistaken for a human but you would have to have bad eye sight for such a thing.
The being had brown skin and three fingers on each hand. The crew could tell this creature had high status thanks to what it was wearing and its colour.
"We come in peace" the commander repeated
"I know you do" The creature said back.
The crew again gasped and seemed bewildered but the Commander did not seem to care.
"Interesting you know our species' dialect, has our species met before?" he said pressing record on his side panel.
"Indeed…A very long time ago, and I doubt your species would remember" the creature said.
Everyone looked at Ial; his books were not lies after all humans, really did have a life before animals. Before…Earth maybe.
"Before we continue may I ask your name, in our society it is rude to speak without knowing. Alas I shall forfeit my name, so you know as to what to call me. My name is Ial Tanashia, Fleet commander of the Fleet of Belligerence. may I ask what is your own" he asked
"My name is the Prophet of Truth, leader of the Covenant" Truth said with gestures
"Covenant?" Ark of the Covenant quickly came to mind.
"A union of all the species that either join of will, or force, to the promise of the Great journey" Truth said
"And…are we offered this `Great journey`" he asked, some of the crew glanced at him, should Ial be talking this much for the whole of humanity, should he not talk to his superiors first?
The Prophet of Truth fell silent.
"We will consider it, we shall contact you soon…all you need to do is be pertinent but movement will merit destruction." There was a pause to higlight the warning, Ial's crew bristled. "Try not to do anything that will be against your favor" Truth said before the line cut.
Silence echoed through the room and the crew was still trying to process what information they had just received. They had just spoken to two aliens who had more than one species and could destroy them. It was doubtful with their numbers but then again, technology was the key element that would settle the engagement if one should occur.
"Send a message and make sure it is scrambled and also make sure it destroys itself. I want reinforcements ready at a moments notice." Ial began before starting to ponder. "I doubt there will be any engagement, though, to be safe is better than sorry." He said for once, smiling as he put in his earphones and listened to his previous conversation which was being formatted into text.
The prophet of Truth was congregating with his fellow Prophets.
"But why Truth? Did we not assemble this covenant for the purpose of killing these creatures?" Mercy asked
"Indeed we did," he answered
"Then why?" Mercy asked feeling very confused.
"Because brother. Back then we were blinded with rage and did not see the bigger picture. An all out war would be a waste and would only slow us down. Also humans are resourceful and as we both know they multiply like no other. Their numbers, and take into the fact their creativity and amazing adaptation speed in battle, would make them a powerful foe and a fearsome ally. We could use them, not try to kill them, which would take many years and I for one do not wish to wait any longer. If we use them and give up on them, like we will the Sangheili, we can use the brutes as our shield. And lastly and most importantly they are the only ones who can use and have the ark." Truth said.
The two prophets were silent while regret was thinking more positively about the human alliance but to speak of such thoughts would be frowned upon by his older brothers and even as their brother he might meet an unfortunate accident. So he simply chose to be quiet because lying would be impossible, they were brothers from creation and they knew each other maybe even better than themselves.
"I am still am not persuaded, Truth, humans have always known wat compared to peace and they can be very manipulative, even one human can pose as much manipulation as ourselves. If we do choose to align ourselves with them then we must be very cautious . A simple accident to one of their kind will make them all anger. Remember the phrase that human named Otrail used…
"If you dare anger one of us you will anger all of us" Regret remembered from the Human colony they had planned to scorch. Inserectionists, he thought they called themselves.
"We had to live with that claim all the way to our vessels as they glared at us, that was the only time I felt true fear apart from when Klamath threatened me for my incompetence" The prophet of Mercy said.
"That was then this is now. Now we need to focus on our goal and if that means with those humans by our side then I do not care, nothing is more important than our goal" Truth said with finality ending the conversation.
"Then let us at least meet the humans, send for one of them to come to our vessel" The prophet of Mercy said.
The pelican went into the alien hangar bay and a shield materialized stopping the vacuum that was space from sucking everything out. The pelican hovered and descended slowly blowing the small aliens with the triangular body armour back. The bigger ones which the ships crew had seen, held their ground used to the force being displayed by a drop ship.
The drop ship landed and the back of the ship opened up and a small ramp slid out. Seven humans walked out all about 6 foot five, for intimidation purposes, however, the human in the middle of the circular group was the most imposing. This human was different from the others who wore grey and green armor along with long odd looking weapons known as an assault rifle. The two at the back of the group held different weapons which were known as the M90 or shotguns, and strapped to their back was a rocket launcher.
Finally the one in the middle, the one the aliens focused on most, was Ial Tanashia. He had black hair pulled back with one lock stylishly hung in front of his forehead which touched his glasse. Behind those glasses were a pair of bio colored eyes, one blue the other an odd yellow/red. He wore black trousers, boots and black captains boots. He wore a black and white trimmed Commanders over his shoulders, hands outside the sleeve. To top it all off he put on a cap normally for field officers. Though not bright, Ial's attire had something eccentric aout it while the colours hinted his personality.
Beneath his clothing he wore a black vest with red stripes over the shoulders. A small alien walked up to them and spoke one word which anyone could tell was new to it.
"Follow" It said and proceeded to waddle off in its red armor.
The humans did as they were told and followed through a door and out of the hangar bay. The humans proceeded up a slope that led to a massive door and in through to a corridor where there were many 7 foot aliens. One marine verbally expressed himself to his commanding officer.
"Sir, will they attack? Because if they do, we are in deep shit" The marine at the right side asked, Bleak, Jame Love Bleak.
"No, they will not, you can see it in their eyes, they are probably thinking the same as you, private," Ial glanced around the room at the technology and writings. "Or at least how much of a threat you are" Ial told the marine
The female marine at Ial's left side stepped closer to his side clutching her weapon tighter.
"Calm down, trust my words, they will not harm you and they will be ineffective as well, remember that I am here" He said
The soldiers calmed but still kept closer to him more for their own self security than the commanders. They continued down the hall and through to a large domain which had floating pillars on each side and a metal path leading to a semicircle which had some kind of holo device, around that were three floating seats of some kind. Sitting in the seats were the same creatures he had talked to and he quickly recognized the one known as Truth, however, he did not know the others, he was guessing he would find out soon.
They walked and stood in front of them and he made a gesture and the marines lowered their weapons. The one in the middle known as Truth started to speak.
"We have considered your race and what affect it may have on the Great journey and I am pleased to say that you are accepted." Ial did not show any signs of happiness whatsoever, just interest. "However, I do not suspect you can make this decision for your Species as a whole," Truth said with a slight frown.
Ial kept his face straight and blinked before saying…
"No, with my influence, plus your existence, they will easily convert. I see no problems at this stage. I do need to know what Humanity, the name of species, will be facing should we form some sort of alliance" He asked giving a non caring look back at Truth. Ial had a knack for saying things of great importance that were more a formality for him, and in truth, it was.
"The Great journey has many tests. The Sangheili are the ones you should look to for example" Mercy said
"I'm guessing the Sangheili are the taller creatures with the four mandibles" Ial asked
Mercy nodded.
"Elaborate more on this "example"" He said
"The Sangheili thrive on respect and honor, if one does not have respect then the Sangheili will not follow, or in the very least, they will not be willing to follow" Mercy elaborated
"And the other creatures?" Ial asked, wondering what that had to do with the tests of the Great Journey.
"The Grunts will follow anyone, they are beneath us, the Hunters will only follow who they trust, the Jackals will follow those who order, the drones will be like the Grunts and the brutes will only follow those of power, brute strength, dominance" Regret inserted, an arrogance in his words Ial did not even consider overlooking.
Ial nodded, the grunts no problem, the hunters, kindness, the jackals, a normal soldier ready take on any order. The drones, like the grunts easy, the brutes were the problem and the name meant they would probably be rash and maybe even immature to a degree.
"And this Great journey?"
"The Great journey is the path to paradise. Created by the forerunners who created everyone of us, and we even have evidence. The way to this paradise are to find the sacred rings which are entrusted too the oracles. There are artifacts and stations on planets that house the equipment to activate the these rings. We must find them to unlock the secrets of the Forerunners" Truth said.
"Are these forerunners spirits?" Ial asked showing a hint of interest.
Mercy shook his head.
"They were physical beings with untold technology that surpasses any by hundreds of millennia, our own is a copy of theirs and, as you can see, this is just a fragment of their true power and we will continue to recover their unknown legacy" Mercy said with gestures.
"And will this tell of our creation?" Ial asked everything riding on this answer.
The prophet of Truth nodded.
"Ye-"
"We're in" Ial cut him off for the first time, showing a smile that made the prophets shudder to the core and his marines fill with confidence.