HALO: Redemption
- Volume One -
Disclaimer: The HALO series and all related characters, information, and pictures (not done by me) are property of Bungie, with the unique original characters, or OCs, that I place there being my own personal work within that amazing universe. Whatever other genre I will use here in this upcoming series of fictional stories will also get their own disclaimer, as is the case with my entry into World of Warcraft territory here, which of course, is completely the property of Blizzard Entertainment (the world of Azeroth, for example.) I am not making any money from this; this story is being written purely for my enjoyment, for no monetary gains whatsoever, and I hope you all like what I put forth.
Also, this is my first step into writing stories on , so be nice, you all. Finally, major props to Freedom Guard, as it was his version and time frame of WOW, being incorporated with the HALO genre, that inspired this first start of mine. Major props to you, man.
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Chapter One: A Quest Begins -
/ Personal Datalog Entry 0025... /
- So much fighting has taken place over the last several hundred millenia...
- So much death, for so many races... and for what, in the end? A difference of opinion? A want and greed for power over all? Shock and frustration that what was believed as the truth, was in fact, all lies? All of this utter WASTE, because others could not accept that the ones before us all, the Forerunners, had chosen some other race to be the ones to inherit the Mantle of Responsibility, and all the gifts left for them as well? All of this, and so much more that weighs heavily on my shoulders... those conflicts and wars continue even now, with brand new players on each side, with both new and old ideologies driving them, and yet, still the same struggle trudges along...
- I, however, won't be taking part directly in these new conflicts. It is not my quest. Then, again, not too many races would want me to do so. Why, one would ask? The answer I have is painfully simple... my progenitor, my 'father,' caused unforgivable pain and suffering to occur during his existence. 'He' was once known as the greatest of all the Contender-class A.I. ancilla in all the grand history of the Forerunners and their accomplishments, but at his end, he could also be called one of the most reviled monsters across the cosmos as well. He betrayed his makers, his purpose undone by the will of a dark and foul creature's hatred, and the universe nearly paid the maximum price for his hubris.
- His title was 05-032 Mendicant Bias, and I am one of his fragments, born from him from before his fall, and tasked to control vital systems under his purview, only to later be placed away from sensitive areas after he was finally defeated and made to answer for his crimes. I was split from all the other A.I.s by order of the Ecumene, the Forerunner High Council, after his trial, thought to only be used as research data until the end of time. But, somehow, some way, and by unknown means, I have been fully revived and repurposed, and for a completely unforseen attempt. I still know what he knew from all those millenia ago. Even when I was split from him, I remained as thorough and as methodical as he was, and because of that, I now believe that I've been brought out of my former banishment to do good in the galaxy. But by who, and for what end reason, I cannot say, for I do not know yet...
- None of the younger races of the universe - the Covenant Loyalists, the Covenant Separatists, the myriad races among them, or even Humanity itself - have all the answers to the questions I asked back then during my stay at that hidden research facility, and they are all unaware that I even exist. The mission assigned to me, now, though, is of paramount importance to all of them: find, rebuild, restore, and protect the true legacy of the Forerunners, and uphold the Mantle of Responsibility for those that the ancient ones chose to inherit it after their departure,... Humanity,... what my 'father' was supposed to do in the first place.
- I still have my own Contender-class A.I. capabilities and skills, but for now, the unknown ones who restored me have given me particular incentive to stay true to their goals. No longer am I quantum-level adaptive data within a computational construct; my very existence has been fully altered, completely reborn within the living construct of a synthetic humanoid male: a technological brevet mutation, the very first of its kind, I do believe. A perfect fusion between the most powerful Forerunner-type augmentations that I have ever seen, and the living cells of a HUMAN being: I now truly 'live' as humanity does, but I am not the master of everything around me, as a fully operable, and normal, Contender-class A.I. ancilla would be, and as my 'father' once thought himself so long ago. At best, I am now a Squad Commander of several Promethean Warrior platoons, their hard-light constructs glowing bright green with the will to see their mission succeed in all respects, but we are all now - as the Humans say - 'on the same team.'
- We can now be considered a family, seeking to protect one another on our quest, and I have been formally trained by the digital Durance-held memories of the most skilled and revered Promethean Warrior-Servants in Forerunner history for the last fifty years, while in their formidable armors, and while inside of a time-compressed slipspace bubble. It is also very important to note that now, I prefer to call them Promethean Warrior-Allies; the need to call them servants any longer has long passed, for they are far from it. To the rest of the universe at large, I have only been here for less than a month, but to anyone who would make themselves my enemies, I am no neophyte to war and its elements. I even have my Promethean Panzer-class battle armor to use when I engage the enemies of the Mantle along them in battle - when I have need of its considerable power, - but I have been taught to work together with all of my allies; only as a united group, can we succeed in this most vital of missions for our predecessors and for humanity.
- In this life and purpose that I have been given, my ancilla title is 05-037 Adjudicant Bias, but my fellow warriors, who know what I wish to carry out with my new existence, simply call me "Reno," short for the Latin word 'renovatio,' or "rebirth." One day, you will see why they call me that. After all, the greatly revered Lifeshaper known as the Librarian, who stopped the parasitic Flood in the ancient past from taking control of the Ark by sacrificing both herself and all of her Keyships, left a very special gift for the Reclaimers - Humanity - in the form of the dual-pieced Janus Key. That one artifact, which only activates in the hands of the Reclaimers, and only when both halves are united in the same place, holds the real-time location of every piece of Forerunner technology, information, and relics in the Milky Way Galaxy. But, it stands to reason that she had to have the means to put that artifact together, correct? And immense safeguards to make sure it remained safe until the time was right, indeed?
- Thanks to my preserved memories from my progenitor, I have a strong inkling of where to start looking for those means... a place in the Milky Way Galaxy that none of the other races have discovered yet. It is very likely the place where the Librarian hid the most precious memories of her life from before the Flood came, and with any good fortune, it may also have the probable means and ability to restore the Domain itself in its entirety. Many of those ancilla who came before me believe that the Domain is gone for all time, but the Domain had a life of its own; I refuse to accept that such a living entity, with such vast understanding, is simply gone from the universe. Thus, I prepare to head out on my mission now, with my new brothers-in-arms, and my new guides...
- Guides, I say, for I am under the newly formed, but watchful eyes and ears of the massive Forerunner Dreadnought-class vessel, christened the 'Quest for Redemption,' and built in a horizontal image of the Mantle's Approach, the mighty ship of the legendary Didact himself, bold leader of the Prometheans and the brilliant military commander of the Forerunners during the war against the Flood. Last I knew before I was tasked elsewhere, though, both it, and the Cryptum with the Didact inside, were sequestered on the ancient Shield World 001, Requiem, in benevolent exile for crimes unrecorded to me. These facts bear further looking into, but not now; I have far more important things to seek and carry out now that stand before me. Besides, even though the 'Redemption' is only one-third of the original size of the Mantle's Approach's, and that it has been changed from a vertical Forerunner-type vessel to a normal horizontal one, it measures nearly eighty miles in length, and has the firepower, defenses, and warrior complement to keep up its integrity. Without a doubt, the 'Redemption' is well equipped and superbly armed to handle threats of any and all kinds that might threaten its sovereignty. Also, the governing Contender-class A.I. ancilla that guides the 'Redemption', 011-0007 Guide to True Reconstruction, or as I call him, 'Rico,' accepts the fact that I am NOT Mendicant, but he also understands that he though must support me, he must also watch over me, at the same time as I seek to complete this mission passed to me by my unseen benefactors.
- Also, I've been assigned a ship of my own as the launching point for me and my warrior brethren: a rebuilt Covenant CAS-class assault cruiser, the 'Paladin's Shield,' but it is fully armed with Forerunner weaponry, ships, bio-mechanical Promethean warriors in data-stasis, and navigational systems, but it remains reminiscent of the 'Ascendant Justice' that the Humans defeated some time ago. My presence, with those of the 'Quest' and the 'Paladin,' as well as the vast complement of ships and support vessels contained with our vessels, will serve to show anyone who we meet, that we are there to recover and restore the legacy of the Forerunners to its true purpose, but that we are more than ready and willing to fight and defend ourselves, if we have to.
- My mission is to find and protect these precious things of both the past and the present, to safeguard the future, and to destroy the ones who seek to prolong the conflicts once and for all. Enough is enough; it is Humanity who was dubbed the 'Reclaimers,' and they are the ones to succeed the Forerunners in the universe. The petty bickering and squabbling over this fact has gone on long enough. Now, I begin repairing what was damaged for so long... the original path that the universe laid before us all.
/ End Journal Entry. /
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
"Adjudicant here."
/ Reno, it's time for us to start moving out. /
"Understood, Rico. I'll get prepped, and call you from the bridge of the Paladin's Shield when I get there. Over, and out."
Quickly, Adjudicant Bias withdrew his mental presence from both his personal datalog journal and the comm uplink, and placed himself fully within his living bio-synthetic self, bringing himself to a fully awakened status in moments. Opening up his organic circuit-lined and light green eyes, Adjudicant, or 'Reno' as his new allies called him, opened up his personal sleeping cylinder, and swung his legs out of the bed so that he could stand up.
Presently, though, as he stood up, Reno paused, realizing that it was happening again. Casting his gaze down at his unclothed and well-formed physique, Reno again noted the very aroused state of his synthetic, techno-organic body. Having previously reviewed and been in serious consultation with several human-dedicated data banks, Reno was well aware that as a humanoid male - synthetic as he was, - he would've considered extremely well endowed by both males and females of humanity. He was also well aware that human males were genetically predisposed to continually seek out suitable female partners, thus displaying their high reproductive instincts. Still, it was not meant to be for Reno: he was, as far as he was aware of, capable of giving and receiving pleasure to the female side of humanity, but not the gift of life. His synthetic living systems functioned perfectly, but they could not truly produce life. His purpose now was to be a shield for humanity's future, not to partake in its future,... at least, not yet to his knowledge.
Hailing the 'Quest for Redemption,' the intimidating Forerunner-built cruiser/Dreadnought designated as his staging ally and welcome accompaniment for the long voyage to come, Reno quickly relayed his predicament to his commanding ally, its Contender-class A.I., 011-0007 Guide to True Reconstruction, or as Reno called him, 'Rico.'
"Adjudicant Bias, calling Redemption, please respond; requesting brief conference via secure channel."
/ Channel open and secured, Reno: what's going on? /
"Well, Rico, it's happened. Again."
/ Oh; THAT. /
"Indeed."
/ Run the alcove program I mentioned to you, Reno. Once you are done, get cleaned up and suited for bridge duty. I had a hunch this would happen to you again, due to you still getting acclimated to your new physiology. Hence, the reason I contacted you two hours earlier than normal, as well as having that special alcove built into your quarters on the Paladin before you came aboard. /
"Much appreciated, Rico. Will contact you again when I'm in route to the bridge. Adjudicant, out."
With that, Adjudicant walked over to an open alcove, allowed it to seal around him, and then, touched a panel within the alcove, which then activated the program. Within seconds, his mind left his shell once more, being occupied by refreshing his combat protocols and the vast number of tactical files used by him and the Promethean Warriors assigned to help him hone all of his fighting abilities. Then, just as quickly as he had left his body, Reno returned to his synthetic shell, but according to his internal timing systems, he had remained in the specialized alcove for ten minutes, and his augmented eyes and superior memory systems were invigorated and refreshed with a feeling of utter euphoria. However the alcove did what it did, it had allowed Reno to achieve a most satisfying release of his aroused state, and therefore, allowing him to return to the task at hand. With the alcove now done with its actions, Reno exited out of the special cubicle, and then, he quickly sheathed himself in his specialized combat skin, in its own 'dress' mode, before heading off to the bridge of the ship to prepare it for departure.
On the command bridge of the fully Forerunner-constructed vessel christened the 'Paladin's Shield,' Adjudicant Bias walked through the now-sliding open entry doors and headed over to the raised command dias. As he headed to his place, he could see all the Huragoks and Monitor-type crew members moving about and performing their duties, as well as the hard light hologram of the vessel's governing command ancilla A.I., a copy of his own reborn program which had named itself Argus One, working to make sure all was in order on the cruiser. Reno called over to the monk-robed view of his well-mannered counterpart as he moved toward the command chairs situated near the main viewing screens of the bridge.
"Argus One, I'm here."
- Hello, Brother Reno. Glad you could join us. -
"Still getting used to some of the idiosyncracies of this synthetic body of mine, A-1."
- One can imagine. -
"Well, let's get things underway here, shall we, A-1? Rico's probably burning through data archives left and right as we speak."
- Agreed. Hailing Redemption now; channel open. -
"Adjudicant calling Reconstruction, requesting status."
Greetings, Adjudicant. Everything's in order, I trust?
"Argus?"
- We're ready to get moving, Brother Rico. Brother Reno? -
"Ready. Accessing hyper-encryption protocols now. Standby."
With those calm words, Adjudicant dove into the vast internal data memories he had inherited from his progenitor, carefully searching for the heavily encrypted files that Mendicant preserved of the many Shield Worlds themselves. He already knew from both past and current events that several of those treasured protective worlds had been laid barren, either lost to the Flood, or utterly destroyed by enemy actions, but thankfully, one or two of them were indeed now in the capable hands of humanity. Fortunately, Reno was quite sure that several hundred Shield Worlds were still intact and unsullied; the Forerunners had the entire Milky Way Galaxy and slipspace to use for those installations, which easily outnumbered the HALO Arrays they had built during the war against the swarming parasite, and even the hundreds of centuries of conflict would not have destroyed them all that quickly.
The trick here, though, was to find them, reinforce their innate safeguards, and keep them safe from both the Covenant Loyalists and the small majority of humanity more concerned with gaining power over the rest of their still expanding race, and not gladly upholding the Mantle, and doing it while not raising too much apprehension all around the galaxy. That happening simply would not be in their favor, and Reno was going to make sure it didn't come to that. Presently, Reno found his first likely candidate, a hidden and likely untouched Shield World and its entry portal, about twenty-five light-years from their current cloaked place around Pluto, and just outside the Sol system itself. 'Hmmmm, looks like this one's slipspace approach vector was altered and modified to act like something akin to a star road, almost like a unique type of tunnel to its site. Strange, but I guess it is to be expected. Well, my father's Contender A.I. access codes were still able to bring it up, so it looks like this one is going to be the first retrieval stop of our mission. Better upload this intel to A-1 and Rico so we can move out and secure it. Here we come, Shield World 0719, designate 'Warborn.' Reno mused to himself.
"A-1, Rico, commencing translation of slipspace and real-time space coordinates in my memories, and uploading them to your navigational systems,... now. Transmit quantum data bursts between yourselves to confirm my findings, and then, let's head out."
- On it, Brother Reno. -
/ Acknowledged, Squad Commander Reno. /
Minutes after the two ancilla began communicating with each other on the coordinates Reno had given them, he received their approval, and then, the powerful thrum of the 'Paladin's' slipspace drives flared to life along those of the 'Redemption.' A minute later, both of the mighty ships made the calculated jump into slipspace, vanishing through their portals with ease. Ten minutes later, and after a very smooth ride through the altered slipspace 'tunnel,' both ships emerged in a fairly well-sized system. As soon as their flawless slipspace transit back to normal space was complete, the two Forerunner-constructed ships re-engaged their cloaking systems to keep from being seen by any other ships possibly in system, and the 'Redemption' hailed the 'Paladin.'
/ Redemption to Paladin, report status. /
"All ship-shape on our end, Rico. All sectors reporting in, no damage anywhere, and fully functional. How are things over there?"
/ Five by five, as the Reclaimers say, Reno. All in order here. Now then, my brother ancilla, did the Paladin's main sensory array start to detect a Forerunner-class signal at the same time we did? /
"Checking. A-1?"
- Signal confirmed, Brother Reno. Forerunner spatial beacon detected, localizing now, and displaying it on the main viewing screen. From the telemetry our scanners are receiving now, the beacon's origin point is coming from the orbit of the planet now highlighted on the tactical side-view. -
/ Acknowledged and now confirmed, Argus One. Well, Reno, it looks like we've got our first legitimate Forerunner find. Congratulations are in order, then. Well done. /
"Many thanks, Rico. I appreciate it, but let's make sure it's intact before we...-"
Just then, Argus One sounded out a whoop of excitement.
- JOYOUS! Brother Reno! Brother Rico! I've just begun receiving telemetry from a networked series of cloaked Forerunner satellite drones around that highlighted planet! They were only transmitting on a low-frequency through slipspace when we arrived in-system, but since both the Paladin and the Redemption's scanning protocols routinely scan both normal space and slipspace in turn, I just started picking up their chatter, which has only increased in strength! -
"Well, that confirms that the planet is important. Once we get over there and take a look planet-side, we should be able to decide if there really IS a Forerunner installation here that leads to a hidden Shield World, but this is encouraging. Rico, have you confirmed what A-1 detected by now?"
/ Confirmed, Reno; Argus and I are in agreement with your assessments as well, my fellow A.I. By the way, Argus, has the network requested that we transmit any access codes yet from us? /
- Negative, Brother Rico. The exact location of the beacon's point of origin is still being hidden now, but it also has not barred us from accessing its historical and spatial archives. Shall I commence with a download? -
"Wait, Rico. Let me transmit my access codes first. We want all of our dealings with the installation, the network, and whatever ancilla is most likely in charge of things over there to be fully appraised of the situation we are now in, and what has gone on while they guarded the Shield Worlds over all these millenia. No more lies, from any of us."
/ Understood, Reno, but to be safe, maintain your firewalls and all of your available counter-measures at full active status. No reason to risk your operating parameters so soon in our mission. /
- Indeed. Caution, Brother Reno. -
"I will, A-1, Rico. Thank you. Preparing to transmit access codes to the network,... now."
Placing his hand upon the nearest comm terminal before him, Reno promptly encoded his own Contender-class A.I. security clearance codes into the system, and with a wish for success, the synthetic humanoid transmitted them to the network. Moments later, without even noticing that he had been holding his breath, Reno got his answer.
Greetings, and welcome to Outpost 0719, emissary of the Forerunners, and new child of the Reclaimers. We have been patiently waiting for your arrival here for many millenia, and we have much to share with you and your brethren. Welcome, to the world,... of Azeroth.
- End Chapter One -