ALIENS: COVENANT
Disclaimer: The ALIEN franchise and all characters wherein are the intellectual property of 20th Century Fox, and their owner, 21st Century Fox.
Disclaimer: The HALO franchise is the property of Microsoft and 343 Industries.
Disclaimer: The number 7 is the property of all sentient life.
Funclaimer: Bungie Studios is property of the number 7 ;)
I would also like to mention that all Covenant races in this story appear as they do in Reach and Combat Evolved Anniversary, except the Brutes, who appear as they do in Halo 2 Anniversary. All Covenant armor and weaponry looks and behaves as it does in Reach and Combat Evolved Anniversary, except for the Brute weapons, which behave as they do in Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST. All Covenant vehicles look and behave as they do in Reach and Combat Evolved Anniversary, except for the Spectre and Shadow, which look and behave as they do in Halo 2 Anniversary, and the Banshee. The Banshee looks as it does in Halo 2 Anniversary, but behaves as it does in Combat Evolved and subsequently Combat Evolved Anniversary. Those are just my aesthetic preferences.
I don't really like the look of the new Covenant from Halo 4 onward. And in honesty, despite how few races there were in the original game, I always felt that there was more variety in how many different individuals there were in that one. There were different ranks and armors for each race, sometimes within the same rank. The Jackals are the best example, as there were dark-skinned Jackals and light-skinned Jackals, Jackals with helmets and without, and those varieties could all be found within a single rank, and then you had two ranks, according to shield color, so you had a lot of variety with the Jackals in the first game.
As an aside, I've always preferred the way the vehicles felt and operated in Combat Evolved over Halo 2, as the first game's heft gave a greater sense of weight to the machines and made them feel more like actual vehicles. The lighter weight featured in later games made them feel like toys in comparison, although Reach featured them feeling somewhat heavier again. I've also always liked the plasma pistol from the first game, as it was actually one of the best weapons to use on the Legendary difficulty, thanks to its overcharge, which could actually kill certain opponents in addition to instantly draining shields. The regular shots could also stun opponents briefly, which made the gun a life saver on higher difficulties. In the second game, the overcharge was the only reason to ever pick it up at all, if you couldn't find a plasma rifle to dual-wield a pistol or an SMG with. I've... never really liked the second game all that much. I think it's fun at times, but in my own opinion it's the most frustrating game of the franchise, as it does just as much wrong as it does right. And fuck those fucking Jackal snipers!
Now, as my other stories are still being worked upon, I will only be making periodic updates to this story. My other stories, including EPIDEMIC and GENESIS, are not dead, although ALIENS: GENESIS remains dormant as I am still suffering from writer's block on that one. Also, I would like to note that this story is also responsible for me being away from fan fiction for so long, as while writing this, I decided to go back and play the Halo games to remember how things worked in the Halo universe, and soon enough, I was installing Halo Custom Edition on my PC, along with the Halo Editing Kit, and I am now the creator of a Halo Campaign Mod. Life comes at you fast, doesn't it?
For those curious, the campaign mod I created is called BioGoji's Campaign Mod Version 1.0, and download links are available on the Halo Custom Edition Maps forum. BioGoji1989 is the alias I use for the Halo modding community, for those curious.
With my rant out of the way, the music I listened to while writing this chapter included the soundtracks for ALIENS (1986) by James Horner, Halo: Combat Evolved (2001) by Martin O'Donnell & Michael Salvatori, and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (2011) by Skywalker Sound Orchestra.
From ALIENS: Main Title, LV-426, LV-426 (Film-Edit), Dark Discovery/Newt's Horror.
From Combat Evolved: Opening Suite.
From Combat Evolved Anniversary: Random Slipsace Trajectory.
CHAPTER 01
DATE: JULY 20, 2552, HUMAN-DESIGNATED DATE
CCS CRUISER MIDNIGHT HARMONY, DOCKED AT HIGH CHARITY, COVENANT HOLY CITY
Looking down at the holographic controls beneath his fingers, Fal Redomee, the ship master of the Midnight Harmony, nodded his head in approval at how quickly the system was responding to his commands. A week earlier, the vessel had been in dire need of maintenance after an accident had caused the loss of several dozen Huragok. With the planned attack on the Human colony of Reach coming up, Fal had moved as quickly as possible to get his ship overhauled and ready for combat, should the vessel find itself assigned to the Fleet of Particular Justice.
With a new compliment of Huragok onboard the ship, Fal was finding himself quite pleased with the results. While the Huragok, also called Engineers by other races, were practically useless as combatants, the floating beings could still be useful in providing shielding to Unggoy and Jiralhanae, should they be provided with the proper equipment. Even the T'vaoans, or Skirmishers as some called the Kig-Yar subspecies, enjoyed having the occasional energy shield on the battle field, despite their speed and agility making them almost impossible for most opponents to hit.
Given the nature of the attack being planned on the Human world of Reach, Fal knew that great honor would come in participating. While he had never dishonored himself or his family in his service, he had the unfortunate distinction of never being in the right place at the right time, often missing important events for one reason or another. While he always did his duty to the best of his abilities, his crew was... not the greatest.
It certainly didn't help that the lone San'Shyuum, or Prophet as the species were often called, aboard his ship was a cranky and cantankerous old codger. Shem Sep'hok, holding the title of Minister of Curiosity, was an old fellow, albeit still very active when he felt like moving around on his own. While Fal held great respect for the prophets, he nevertheless felt annoyed with Shem's personality and often found himself wishing for the days when he was simply commanding a smaller vessel. Still, Shem was also a source of entertainment as well when he became drunk, often from beverages made by humans that were found by the Kig-Yar salvage teams he often deployed, and he was quite proficient in understanding Human languages, a trait he shared with many of the Unggoy stationed on the ship.
If there was one thing that the Unggoy held over the Sangheili, it was their relatively quick mastery of human languages, allowing them to decipher and interpret intercepted UNSC communications with relative ease. Many of the communication officers aboard the Midnight Harmony were Unggoy as a result. Of course, this was not without its occasional bumps in the road, as the Unggoy officers often found themselves watching Human entertainment for fun, much to the consternation of the higher ranking officers on the ship. There was always this tiny nagging fear that the Unggoy's enjoyment of Human entertainment media could potentially make them less willing to ensure the species' eradication.
So far, this had proven to be a baseless fear, although Fal knew that things could always change in the future.
In addition to the often-drunk Minister of Curiosity, and the Unggoy, often called grunts by most other races, Fal also had to contend with various Kig-Yar and Jiralhanae troops and officers aboard his vessel. The Jiralhanae, often called brutes for good reason, were always getting into fights with the Sangheili troops on the ship, and the Miniter of Curiosity was always egging them on for his own amusement. But it wasn't the Jiralhanae that gave him the biggest headaches. Oh no. That award went to the Kig-Yar, both the Ruuhtians and the T'vaoans, who often harrassed the Unggoy and each other on a constant basis if they weren't on the battle field.
While the Ruuhtians, also called Jackals by most other species, especially the humans, were the most commonly found Kig-Yar in the Covenant Empire, they were also the second-lowest in heirarchy. As a result, they often abused the Unggoy around them in order to assert what little authority they had. They also carried a reputation of being pirates, which was not far from the truth. The animosity between the Ruuhtians and the Unggoy was aggravating to Fal, and he was often tempted to simply eject all of them out of an airlock, one by one, just to put an end to it.
Interestingly enough, the Ruuhtians were also looked down upon by the T'vaoan Kig-Yar as well. The T'vaoans considered themselves to be superior to the other Kig-Yar subspecies, especially the Ibeshian Kig-Yar, which Fal had only encountered once. He found them rather... brutish in comparison to the other Kig-Yar types, almost akin to a Jiralhanae variation of the Kig-Yar, if only with better manners than the actual Jiralhanae.
Currently, his ship held at least a hundred Skirmishers and two hundred Jackals, along with three hundred Grunts. There were only about twenty-five Brutes on his ship, but he didn't mind them, despite the animosity between them and his own species, the Sangheili. While they weren't exactly pals with him and the other Sangheili, Fal did what he could to keep things amicable between the various races on his ship.
He encountered very little success in this effort.
The Brute Chieftan aboard his ship, because the gods knew that every damn pack of Brutes just had to have their own chieftan, was at least cooperative enough to keep his fellow Brutes in line most of the time. Unfortunately, when the chieftan, whose name was Oakard, got drunk alongside the Minister of Curiosity, he would often let out his true feelings of contempt for the Sangheili and their treatment of his kind. Fal often paid little heed to this, and he honestly had little concern for the chieftan's feelings.
"Shipmaster?"
The one race who often gave him little to no trouble at all, though, was the Lekgolo. Those sentient worms were often the most amicable troops he had in the ship, even though they cared little for the safety of the other races on the battlefield. He liked their quietness.
"Shipmaster?"
"Huh?" Redomee asked as he was snapped out of his trance. He glanced to the side and saw Thol Jodamee, a Sangheili Ultra, standing in front of him. Despite not having the gold armor usually worn by field commanders, Jodamee was often the defacto commanding officer on the ground for his troops. His pearlescent armor with red trim stood out from the other Elites around them, especially as the front of the helmet covered his face.
Fal considered this to be one of the more intimidating armor designs to have been made in the recent years of the war, especially since the crested helmet bore some resemblance to the ceremonial armor of the Sangheili Counselors. To the humans who knew nothing of this, the armor was simply a unique variation, but to the Covenant troops and heretics who dared to turn away? It was a sight that struck fear into their hearts should they ever be on the receiving end of an ultra's wrath. It also made Fal slightly insecure because he couldn't tell if Thol was making faces at him under there.
That really annoyed him.
"Yes, Jodamee?" Fal asked the Ultra.
"The Minister of Curiosity wishes to see you," Jodamee replied.
Fal clicked his mandibles together in annoyance. He didn't worry about Jodamee reporting this, as everyone on the ship had encountered the drunk Prophet at one point or another, and thus knew that the Prophet had an unsavory reputation. "Keep my bridge clean," Fal said to the lower-ranked Elite as he walked down the ramp and over to one of the doors that led away from the bridge.
As he walked through the corridors of his ship, Fal took slow, evened out breaths to calm himself. When he had first encountered the Minister of Curiosity, he had taken every call to meet him as something of great importance. Having gotten to know the codger, he now resented every meeting call he received. It was no wonder his ship was rarely ever given major assignments, given that the cantankerous Prophet no doubt had made an impact on several other high-ranking Elites and Prophets throughout the empire. No one wanted to have the Minister of Curiosity in their midst, especially since it was known that he "studied" Human food and beverages.
Studied? More like consumed with no regard to who made them! He's an embarrassment to our Covenant, Fal thought to himself as he approached the Prophet's chambers.
As he approached the doors, they changed colors as they slid open, revealing the Prophet within as he lazed about in his chair, reclining back with a table in front of him holding several cups of various liquids, none of which were probably legal. Fal made it a point to only drink when given no other option, as the Prophet, no matter his title, still had higher power over him in the Covenant hierarchy. "You wished to see me?" Fal asked the Prophet of Curiosity, who quickly sat up, far too fast for someone who appeared to be intoxicated.
"Yes," Shem said, completely sober, "I wanted to see you. I've received word that the Midnight Harmony will be joining the Fleet of Particular Justice for the assault on the Human colony world, Reach. We will leave in three days to join up after restocking on supplies and equipment. And yes, Shipmaster, I was completely sober when I received this message," Shem said in a deadpan manner, almost as if he were expecting Fal to make a comment regarding his usual lack of sobriety.
However, hearing the news that they would be joining the Fleet of Particular Justice in its attack on Reach gave Fal a sense of pride. His eyes were alight with joy at the news. "I will inform the rest of the crew and our troops," Fal said triumphantly.
"Yes, but first, Fal... we should celebrate," Shem said with a smile before he picked up an opaque cup of a strange liquid.
"What is that?" Fal asked him.
Shem held a lone finger up to his lips and reached down with his other hand to retrieve a glass container from under his chair, hidden by a cloaking device. "It's a little somthing the Kig-Yar found on a scavenging mission a while bag," Shem said giddily. He held out the glass container for Fal to see.
Fal did not recognize the symbols emblazened on it at first, but he soon recognized them for what they were:
GUINNESS.
"Th-That... is a... Human beverage!" Fal hissed.
"Oh, it is? I had no idea," Shem responded sarcastically. "Shame, really. If the humans weren't so blasphemous in their actions towards Forerunner artifacts, they would make excellent cooks and servants. [Beat] Ah-ha! Ha-ha!" Shem laughed out loud after taking a sip of the... Guinness.
"It's actually quite good," Shem said with a smile as he took another sip, before he set down the glass container and reached for another cup, lifting it up to offer to Fal.
"I appreciate the offier, but I will pass," Fal said. Ordinarily, the behavior being displayed by the Minister of Curiosity would be considered blasphemous and would need to be reported immediately. As it stood, Fal had learned long ago that it was best to keep his mouth shut, especially since the individual he would report this to was also the individual he would be reporting on. He also had no desire to involve other high-ranking individuals from other ships or even the counsel or police forces of High Charity itself. To do so would be to decrease the chances of his ship being involved in major events in the future, or so he believed.
"Well, that being said... uh... go inform the rest and... you know, celebrate or what have you," Shem said in a relaxed manner as he sat back and slowly enjoyed his blasphemous vice.
Fal bowed his head and turned around to exit the room. As soon as the door slid to a close behind him, Fal let out a breath and shook his head in annoyance. He couldn't even enjoy the pride of being assigned to the Fleet of Particular Justice thanks to the behavior of the person who had given him said news.
PORTSIDE AFT ASSEMBLY HALL/PORTSIDE AFT MESS HALL
"Eee-Kaaw!" Lok Nel, a female T'vaoan Major, hollered in excitement. Her red feathers stood up slightly to signify this, along with the small scar running along the right side of her beak back to her eye. She had gotten the scar from a fight with a Marine on a Human colony several months earlier. Next to her, several other Skirmishers let out their cheers of approval in their native tongue as they sat around several bluish purple tables and seats in the dining area. Nearby, several Brutes and Jackals let out their approval as they heard the shipmaster's announcement over the ship's communication system.
"For the glory of the Covenant!" one Brute shouted.
For all their disdain for the savage creatures, several Elites also rose up and chanted in agreement with the sentiment. They then immediately went back to holding disdain for the large hairy beasts sitting near them. They could only let their civility stand for so long. In fact, them even eating in the same area as the Brutes was something they were only doing under orders from the shipmaster. It was supposed to "build comradery" among the troops and "improve morale."
Many of Fal Redomee's subordinates were under the impression that he was slowly losing his mind, or that he was so desperate to become noticed that he was doing everything in his power to make his ship and crew stand out in some way, no matter how dangerous the method.
In a special dining chamber filled with methane nearby, several Unggoy all hollered in jubilation at the news of joining the Fleet of Particular Justice, while some became nervous. Joining the fleet meant going into battle, and going into battle meant dying a horrible death. It also meant being bossed and kicked around by Jackals, Skirmishers, Brutes, and Elites, and possibly even being stepped on by Hunters.
The Elites and Brutes would boast about honor and glory that came with battle. Honor and glory meant nothing to those who were dead. Grunts understood this, as did the Jackals and Skirmishers, but the Elites and Brutes who commanded them could not be swayed to see things this way. Well, most of the time they couldn't be swayed.
Sitting back in the main area, two Elites, Mel 'Kodamee and Orna Rasomee, quietly consumed their food. Kodamee was a blue-armored Minor, while Rasomee was a red and orange-armored Officer. Rasomee had just recently been promoted after an attack on a Human colony some weeks earlier. Sitting close by was another Minor, Nodas 'Vatumee. He was a typical warrior, seeking glory and honor in battle. He'd yet to actually acquire a single confirmed kill to his name, though, despite his eagerness on the battlefield.
In his first skirmish, he'd accidentally destroyed a support structure and caused it to collapse on himself, along with three Marines. 'Vatumee had survived the ordeal, despite being buried under rubble, but it was unclear if the collapse of the structure was his own doing or simply a result of something else. While he'd claimed the kills, they couldn't really be confirmed as his doing with absolute certainty.
Next to 'Vatumee, another Minor named Koza 'Vadomee dined quietly. He'd learned that the best way to handle eating around the Brutes was to simply stay quiet and only respond to questions of a general nature, to avoid involving himself in any arguments or starting any to begin with. Next to 'Vadomee was an Officer named Xano Karumee. Karumee had recently accomplished a mission on Sigma Octanus IV in the role of an Ossoona. As soon as he'd completed the mission, he'd been returned to the Midnight Harmony.
Back at the Skirmisher table, Lok Nel busily consumed her meal as the other T'vaoans conversed with one another. "Do we know anything about this Reach planet? Other than it being a Human colony world?" a Skirmisher Minor named Viz Kol asked. While the Elites generally forbade most Kig-Yar from having more than one name except under special circumstances, the Skirmishers rarely cared for the Elites opinions on their own species' rights.
"From the rumors I've heard, it's supposed to be heavily fortified," a Skirmisher Major named Nol Jek said.
"How heavily? Will there be any need for shock troops, or will it just be another glassing from the start?" a female Skirmisher Minor named Zol Vam asked curiously. Zol often preferred to be called by her first name, rarely letting on to the Elites that she had a second name. Often, though, she would use this to her advantage to play tricks on them, by pretending that her two names were two different individuals, thus causing confusion among Elites when they spoke to her. So far, only the shipmaster had caught on to this, but he had yet to say anything to her about it.
Next to Zol, Kop Zim snickered. Kop Zim was a Murmillo, making him the highest-ranking Skirmsher at the table. "I've heard rumors that this Reach planet may in fact be the humans' home world, instead of just a heavily guarded colony. Apparently, it's where most of their military forces are stationed," Zim said knowingly. He'd listened in on dozens of conversations between higher-ranking Elites over the past few days, though he'd yet to say anything to anyone until now.
"If it is their home world, then we'd be facing opposition never before seen at a Human-occupied world," Bon Tek, a Skirmisher Minor, said thoughtfully.
"Kop, what do you know about Reach?" Mern Vik, a Skirmisher Minor, asked the Murmillo.
"Only what I've heard in rumors," Zim replied. "Although, it may be where those humans with the special armor originate from. You know the ones," Zim said.
Everyone nodded their heads. By now, nearly all Covenant troops and commanders had become aware of the humans' most dangerous warriors, which the humans themselves called Spartans. Most Covenant troops that survived or so much as witnessed these humans in action had a different term for them: demons. They moved with frightening speed and agility, with armor that granted them greater protection than the standard Human gear, and the ability to use and switch between weaponry that the baseline humans couldn't match. Only the black and gray-armored humans, called Orbital Drop Shock Troopers in official reports, came close to matching the demons.
Of course, the ODST troops also received their own special name from Covenant warriors: imps, as they were akin to less powerful, but still dangerous, demons in their own right. Sometimes, Covenant troops who killed ODSTs were allowed to keep various parts of their armor as trophies and momentos from the battlefield. There were many Unggoy who often took the ODST helmets and armor as signs of battle prowess for having survived an encounter with the highly trained human warriors.
Even more rare, some Covenant troops would scavenge and procure themselves various UNSC weaponry as trophies. Several Jackals and Skirmishers aboard the Midnight Harmony had secret stashes of M6C pistols and M7 submachine guns hidden in their quarters, which they would then sell off to their brethren at black market trading posts found throughout High Charity and various Covenant colonies. Of course, they also occasionally kept combat knives as well, but these were usually for themselves and often just for decoration on their uniforms, if their commanding officer permitted it.
Brutes were also known to take human weapons as trophies, especially since UNSC weaponry was very close to their own species' preferences with ballistic and kinetic energy weapons, such as shotguns and assault rifles. There were several Brutes aboard the Midnight Harmony who carried M90 and M45 series shotguns around as trophies, as well as ammo boxes for the weapons. The usage of such weapons was generally frowned upon by the Covenant Hierarchy and sometimes even viewed as heresy or blasphemy, but the Brutes truly didn't see how weapons so close to those made by their own kind were all that heretical.
True, the humans may have made them, but the shotguns weren't anything that hadn't already existed in the Brutes' own culture before. Even the most religiously devout Brutes would admit that Human weapons were often quite comfortable to use. Some Brutes would go so far as to modify the guns they took as trophies by adorning them with spikes and blades or changing the internal mechanics to allow new types of ammo to be used in them.
Fal Redomee knew that the Brutes aboard his ship did this, but he was already beyond the point of caring. If the Prophet stationed aboard his ship was secretly indulging in almost-heretical vices, then what was the point of scolding his subordinates for what were probably smaller infractions? For this reason, most of the Midnight Harmony's crew had a somewhat lax set of rules and guidelines that were only truly followed when the ship was stationed at High Charity.
When the ship was out on the prowl, however, things were different. As far as Fal was concerned, his mish mash crew and troops, who numbered in hundreds in terms of low ranking troops but only had a few high ranking ones, could do as they pleased so long as they didn't outright denounce the Covenant religion itself. As long as they got results on the battlefield and didn't blow up the ship or get himself killed by accident, he was reluctantly willing to put up with it all.
This was also one reason that he decided to integrate his troops in the eating areas against their will. If they were willing to bend the rules for themselves, then why shouldn't he? They could complain all they wanted, but Fal was the shipmaster, and his word was final.
COLONY OF HADLEY'S HOPE, LV-426 AKA "ACHERON", ZETA RETICULI SYSTEM...
On the mostly barren rock of Acheron, the wind howled and the rain fell in torrents upon the grey dirt and rocky soil below. Sharp rocks curved upwards into arches, causing rain to fall and cascade down their crevices and backs as tiny rivers. Grey skies loomed overhead as the faintest hint of a star shone on the surface through various breaks in the clouds above. As the rain fell, a Daihotai 8x8 wheeled tractor drove over the terrain as it entered the inner streets of a startup colony, slowing down as it moved past the storm wall. The wind on the colony only ever blew in one direction, and so the storm wall was built only to face one direction.
The colony of Hadley's Hope, named after Curtis Hadley, was a sprawling complex that housed over 437 colonists, along with a UNSC Marine detachment of 30 troops for protection and security. Unlike most Marine forces, the Marines stationed at Hadley's Hope operated as Colonial Security, as well as first response in the event of Covenant activity. Given the size of the colony, with less than 500 people, it was quite likely that any Covenant ships that found the colony would simply obliterate it from orbit before moving on. In fact, all a Covenant ship had to do was simply damage the atmosphere processing station enough that the reactor went critical, and then boom. No more colony.
Still, it was better to be safe than sorry. The Marine detachment also used different weaponry from most of their comrades found elsewhere in UNSC occupied space. The Hadley's Hope detachment mostly used MA37 assault rifles, with only a hanfdul of the MA5B or later series that were favored heavily throughout most of the corps being provided to them. The MA37, or the MA5 Classic, was currently found only in the UNSC Army and various security forces.
Because the Marines were operating as security, they had been issued the MA37 as their primary general purpose firearm. It may have been older and held less rounds than the MA5B, but it was still very rugged and it could get tossed about, thrown and slammed into the ground and even held underwater, only to keep working like nothing had happened. In short, it was perfect for the environment of Acheron and the colony of Hadley's Hope.
Other weapons used by the Marines included M6B and M6C service pistols, the former currently found only in civilian security forces, and the latter being slowly phased out of the military in favor of the more powerful M6D, M6G, and M6H series sidearms, especially on colony worlds such as Reach and Sigma Octanus. The M45 series shotgun, both the standard and E sub-model, where also used by the Marine detachment at Hadley's Hope. In addition to that, the Marines also received a compliment of M392 designated marksman rifles, and a handful of M7057 flamethrowers. The flamethrowers were mostly used for heating up frozen pipes and outdoor equipment when the temperature dropped outside, including the storm wall's retractable doors.
Last but not least, there were at least six M12 LRV Warthogs parked in one of the colony's vehicle garages. They were the standard light reconnaissance vehicles of the UNSC. They were often nicknamed "Warthogs" due to the tusks that flanked the towing cable on the front of the vehicle. The Warthog was rugged and built for a variety of environments. Some models could even get flipped over and still keep working if they didn't suffer too much damage prior to the flip or at any point between being flipped and then put back up. Of the six 'hogs stationed at Hadley's Hope, two of them were scout Warthogs, having no offensive attachments, while the rest had the standard chaingun mounted on the back.
Currently, most of the Marines were occupied at the colony's bar, while only a few were on duty performing patrols inside the main complex and out in the rain.
Meanwhile, inside the operations center of the main building, Colony Administrator Al Simpson was busy sipping a cup of lukewarm coffee was he watched several workers and other personnel perform their tasks around him. On the holo-pedestal in the corner, the blue-colored avatar of the colony's amdinistrative artificial intelligence, Bishop, appeared. Bishop had the appearance of a somewhat lanky man wearing a blue jumpsuit. "Mr. Simpson, Mr. Stevens wants to see you in his office," Bishop said.
"Did he say what for?" Al asked the A.I. with a raised eyebrow.
"He said that he wanted it to be a surprise for you. I don't believe that it's bad news, sir. Although, the secrecy of it is somewhat... intriguing to me, I suppose," Bishop replied.
"Alright. I'll go see Mister Top Secret," Al said with a hint of annoyance in his voice as he prepared to leave the room. He soon heard foot steps to his right and turned to see Brad Lydecker, the assistant operations manager, walking up to him. "Yes?" Al asked Lydecker expectantly.
"Al, I gotta speak to you about something," Lydecker said. Al rolled his eyes in annoyance before standing up and following the slimmer man out of the room. "Yeah, what is it?" Al asked as the two men entered the corridor, walking past several other colonists.
"Uh, you remember those wildcatters that you sent out past the Illyum range a while ago?" Lydecker asked Al as they made their way over lines of cable on the ground, carefully stepping around the cords.
"No. Stevens wanted them sent out. I just gave the order," Al said bitterly as two workers carrying a long support pylon walked past them towards a junction where three others waited with the tools to put the pylon in place.
"So, what about them?" he then asked between sips of his coffee.
"Well, one of 'em's on the horn. A mom and pop survey team. The Jordens, I think," Lydecker said as he and Al weaved through the human traffic of the corridors, avoiding workers who were fixing wires and people simply traveling from their offices.
"Okay," Al said as he and Lydecker soon made a turn and walked down a short flight of stairs, entering another area of workers and a two-Marine patrol unit. The Marines nodded at Al out of courtesy and he curtly nodded back at them as he and Lydecker kept walking. "So, what do they want?" Al asked Lydecker.
"Well, one of 'em, uh, Russ, I think. He's the pop of the team," Lydecker explained. Al nodded his head with a roll of his eyes in response. "Anyway, he said that he's found something and he wants to know his claim will be on it," Lydecker explained. Al groaned in response.
"His claim?" Al asked him in disbelief. "Look, he'll get credit for finding whatever it is he's found, but... what exactly did he find?" Al asked Lydecker. The two men squeezed through a pair of ladders in the hallway as they moved closer to the office of Mel Stevens, a recently-assigned UNSC liaison.
"Well, he didn't say what it was exactly," Lydecker replied.
"Oh. Is that so?" Al asked in annoyance before he stopped walking. He turned to face Lydecker and leaned back against a safety rail in front of the wall behind him. "So, he says that he's found something and he wants to know if he can claim it without telling us what it is? Christ. For all we know the guy could've found a weird looking boulder or something, and you know how many of those there are on this moon," Al said in exasperation.
"Well, I don't think he'd be asking about claims if it were a rock or a boulder," Lydecker responded.
Al sighed in frustration before taking a breath. "Look, if this guy wants to have any kind of claim that involves money, he needs to tell us what this thing is that he's found. Okay? If he wants me to let him have a claim, then I have to know what it is that he's found, so until that happens, he's gonna have to wait while I take care of more important things. So, go get on the horn with this guy and tell him to give us some actual details about this... whatever he's found, and we can talk about finder's rights and shit later. Oh, one more thing, Lydecker," Al said with a dry smile before using his free hand to point his thumb at a nearby group of children playing in the hallway around a construction zone, crawling under work benches and hopping around wire bundles and warning signs.
"Hey! You kids know you aren't supposed to be playing over here! Go on, get out! Shoo!" Lydecker shouted at the kids, watching until they fully vacated the area on their feet and on their plastic toy tricycles. Lydecker then looked back at Al with a sigh before rubbing the back of his head.
"So, what am I supposed to tell this guy?" Lydecker asked Al.
"What? I just told you!" Al replied before rubbing his temples. "Look, go get on the horn with this guy and tell him to give us more details on this thing that he claims to have found, and then we can work things out from there. Now, get out of here," Al said before gesturing for Lydecker to return to his office. Al continued walking to Mel Stevens' office on his own, turning a corner and seeing several of the kids from earlier entering a maintenance duct.
"God dammit," Al muttered to himself, shaking his head in frustration before he continued on his way. After walking through a mostly empty corridor, save for a handful of colonists talking with each other in their free time, Al finally arrived at the door to Mel Stevens' office. Al grimaced as he pressed the com button outside the door.
"Hey, Mel, Lydecker said you wanted to see me," Al said into the com.
"Come on in," Stevens said from the other side. The door opened swiftly and Al walked inside the office, which was basically a large storage closet with a desk, computer system, and a holo panel for the colony's main A.I. to make appearances. A security camera was fixed to a corner of the ceiling near the doors, and a large picture frame hung on one of the walls, displaying multiple images of mountains, valleys, and oceans from Earth and other colonies.
The door closed quickly behind Al as he made his way over to Stevens' desk and took a seat. "Okay, what's going on Mister Navy?" Al asked. Stevens glanced away from his computer screen to glare at Al briefly. While most people were aware that Mel Stevens was a liaison between the UNSC Armed Forces and the civilian colonists, only a small handful of individuals knew that he was also an agent from the Office of Naval Intelligence, having been assigned to Acheron after Forerunner architecture had been found on the moon.
Al and Mel were often at odds with each other, since Mel was often giving him orders and taking control in situations where Al was supposed to have authority. Al had been one of the few people in Hadley's Hope to discover Mel's identity as an ONI agent. Because of how far away LV-426 was from just about every other colonised world and system, Mel had decided that Al posed very little threat to him or his cover. Even if his cover was blown out here, no one would care. He was the only ONI agent on the moon, and the colonists didn't have any reason to care, other than his being able to call for reinforcements in the event that the Covenant were to attack.
"I told you not to call me that," Stevens said. Al rolled his eyes in response before taking a sip of his coffee. "Anyway, I thought I would share some news from the other colonies," Stevens said.
"Recently, the Covenant attacked Sigma Octanus. I just received word a few hours ago," Stevens said. Al let out a sigh through his nostrils. "And the UNSC pushed them back," Stevens added with a smile.
"Great. We lost another-did you say we pushed them back?" Al asked in astonishment. From everything he had seen and heard so far, the Covenant had seemed invincible and nigh unstoppable. In the minds of Al and just about every colonist who had heard of the war, the Covenant were a juggernaut of death and destruction, wiping out colony after colony. Most victories against the alien invaders required massive sacrifices.
"How many forces did we lose?" Al asked Stevens.
"We lost twenty-five ships, five cities, and hundreds of ground troops. The Covenant lost eighteen ships and just about every alien son of a bitch they sent to the planet's surface," Stevens replied with a grin at the last part. "But we beat them back," he added.
"Were there... were there, you know? Spartans?" Al asked him cautiously. The Spartan II program had become well known among the general population in the past decade, although most people initially thought of the supersoldiers and their victories as exaggerations of several very lucky military forces meant to improve morale. It wasn't until video imagery of them was made available that everyone quickly accepted the Spartans' existence, improving morale amongst just about everyone when they heard that a Spartan or two were incoming or were already fighting alongside them.
"Several," Stevens said with a grin.
"No wonder we won. Still, how much of the planet was glassed?" Al asked him. Even if the Spartans had won the fighting on the ground, everyone was aware that the true victory for a planet took place in space between Covenant ships and UNSC ships. And usually, the Covenant won. The UNSC could win every battle on the ground against the Covenant, but when the aliens decided to begin orbital bombardment with heavily concentrated energy beams, it was all over.
"None of it. The Covenant were, and this is not something you should blab out, searching for Forerunner artifacts on the planet's surface. After they found what they were looking for, they had no reason to keep fighting, other than to kill as many humans as possible. Al, I'd recommend not telling anyone about the artifact involvement. It might dampen the morale boost when you tell everyone about the victory at Sigma Octanus Four, especially since we've got quite a few Forerunner artifacts of our own here in Acheron," Stevens said.
"Wait, I'm going to tell everyone?" Al asked him in disbelief.
"Yep. You're gonna tell everyone, and then you can start planning a small celebration. I'd recommend it, in fact. We don't often have victories against the Covenant. We should celebrate now while we can," Stevens said. The news of the UNSC's victory had already improved his usually sour mood considerably.
"So, get on the intercom and spread the good news," Stevens said to the colony administrator. Just then, the blue holographic form of Bishop, the colony's administrative AI, appeared on the holo console. "Mr. Stevens, you have a call from the medical wing. Sergeant Sorola has had his cast removed and is fit for patrol again. Also, weather patterns over the past few hours indicate that we're going to experience another electrical storm by midnight," Bishop said.
"Thank you, Bishop. Please inform Captain Brackett on Sorola's recovery. And since you mentioned the electrical storm, please run a series of diagnostics tests on the communications transmitter. I don't want another incident occurring so soon after the last one," Stevens said. Bishop nodded his head before his holographic avatar dissipated.
SOMEWHERE OUT BEYOND THE ILLYUM RANGE...
Out on the rough terrain and at the mercy of rain and heavy winds, the Jorden family sat inside their Daihotai tractor and looked out the window of the front cab at the large structure that loomed overhead. The large looming arm held a strange appearance to itself. It was clearly not a natural formation, and yet, somehow, it had an almost organic quality to it. The entire structure was shaped like a giant U, with two large prongs forming what looked like arms.
There were no windows of any kind, and the entire thing looked as alien to the Jordens as the terrain around them, so alien that they wondered if it was even from the moon at all. If Russ and Anne Jorden had to guess, the structure was not a building, but actually a vessel of some kind, although it was impossible to tell which part was the front, due to the lack of windows or any adherence to known ship designs. Even the alien vessels of the Covenant Empire adhered to basic principles of ship design, with obvious fronts and backs, in addition to proper symmetry.
This, however, was something completely new. The ship, if it was a ship, looked as though it had been grown rather than built. It was somewhat disturbing, to say the least. From where the family had parked their tractor, three openings could be seen in the middle of the vessel, near ground-level. The openings themselves had a strange, almost vaginal appearance to them, adding to the odd and disturbing appearance of the vessel.
"Uh-huh," Russ said into the tractor's communication phone system. "Yeah, we'll do that. I'll let you know what we find when we call back," Russ said into the phone. "Okay, give us about... five hours, and then we'll let you know what all we've found so far. Thanks, Lydecker. Bye," Russ said before hanging up.
Russ quickly looked over his shoulder at the rest of his family. His daughter and son, 9 year-old Rebecca and 10 year-old Timothy, were both arguing with each other. His wife, however, was already getting her outdoor gear on, having figured out from Russ's conversation that they were going to be exploring the vessel to a certain degree. Still, the arguing of their children was getting on her nerves, especially due to the context of their argument.
"I do not cheat!" Rebecca squawked at her brother.
"You do too! You always go into places we can't fit!" Tim retorted heatedly. They were arguing about a game that the children of the colony liked to play in the air shafts, a game that they called Maze Monster. It was a game that Rebecca always won, much to the constant frustration of the other children, her brother included.
"So? That's why I'm the best!" Rebecca shot back, hitting Tim in the shoulder with her doll, Casey. Timmy flinched and let out a small cry of surprise at the attack. And then Anne finally had enough.
"Listen, you two! If I catch either of you playing in those ducts again, I'm gonna tan your hides!" Anne snapped at her children. There was a look in her eyes that told both kids that they were already in trouble just for talking about their game.
"But Mom, all the kids play it!" Rebecca protested defensively.
"I don't care if the other kids play it. I'm not their mom. I'm yours, and I'm telling you to stay out of the damn vents," Anne retorted with a warning tone.
"Hey, Annie, come on," Russ said as he tapped his wife on her right shoulder to get her attention. "You can scold them later... after we get back. If we wanna make any kind of claim, we've gotta inspect this thing. Whatever it is," Russ said as he glanced back at the vessel outside. He then looked back over at his children.
"Timmy, you and Newt stay here and wait for us," Russ said, referring to his daughter by her nickname. Hardly anyone except Tim actually called her by her first name. The only other exceptions were the colony's A.I. system, Bishop, who addressed everyone by their proper names and titles, and Russ and Anne themselves when they were scolding Newt for doing something stupid, dangerous, or both.
"How long will you guys be gone?" Newt asked as she stole a glance at the strange vessel outside. She hadn't seen much of the universe outside of Hadley's Hope and the rough terrain of Acheron in her nine years of existence, but this strange vessel simply unnerved her in ways that she had never known before. There was a sense of wrongness about the thing that made her spine tingle. It wasn't the fact that it was alien in origin that unnerved her. She'd already seen the Forerunner structures and artifacts that the colony and the atmosphere processor had been built near. No, there was something else about it that evoked that wretched sense of wrongness.
Even though the Forerunner structures seemed more out of place on Acheron than this derelict vessel, with their straight edges and deliberate curves and even majestic and grand designs that evoked a sense of purpose and function, this ship that seemed as alien as the moon itself somehow felt more out of place. It set Newt on edge, and she didn't like it. She didn't like it one bit.
"We won't be too long," Russ said. "Probably just a few hours at the most. Now, you guys know where the snacks are kept, and you know how to use the waste systems. Behave yourselves while we're gone. If your mother and I come back to find a mess, you're both gonna be in a lot of trouble," Russ said as Anne opened the door of the front cab, letting the howling wind blow around inside and tussle everyone's hair briefly as the rain began to let up outside.
Russ grabbed his gear and quickly put it on before looking back at his children. "We'll be back soon. And make sure to set the tractor's battery system to the backup for about an hour to let the main one recharge for a bit," Russ said before stepping out of the cabin and closing the door. Newt and Timmy both crawled up to the window and watched as their parents began their trek towards the entrances of the strange and ominous derelict vessel.
DATE: AUGUST 30, 2552
COVENANT CCS BATTLE CRUISER MIDNIGHT HARMONY
Fal Redomee looked at the star map of his bridge. Unlike the bridges of human vessels, which were placed in a vulnerable position at the front of their vessels with even more vulnerable windows, the bridges of Covenant ships were usually found deep inside, safe from enemy fire and secured by hundreds of armed personnel moving around through dozens of interconnecting corridors at any given moment. Despite the secureness of his current physical location, Fal felt that something was... wrong.
The Midnight Harmony was the only Covenant ship in the system. Scratch that. It was the only ship in the system. Period.
Fal didn't understand how the Midnight Harmony could be all alone. Where's the rest of the Fleet of Particular Justice? Where are the humans' satellites and orbital defenses? Where are the other planets in the system? There's just some gas giants and their moons!
"Where's Reach? Where's the Fleet?" Fal asked worriedly as he set the ship's navigational scanners to check for signs of other Covenant vessels in the system. Studying the star map, he quickly began to notice that the map of their current system did not match up with the map of Epsilon Eridani, the home of Reach. Instead of a single star in the center, there were two. He'd studied the map of Epsilon Eridani enough to know that it was not a binary star system. But he'd made certain the coordinates for Reach had been put into the ship's navigational computer. So what had gone wrong? How did the Midnight Harmony end up in the wrong planetary system?
Fal soon had his answer when he checked the ship's navigational databanks. Someone had entered the wrong coordinates into the navigational computer. Or, rather, someone had entered the right coordinates in the wrong way, with many decimal points out of place in too many spots. The ship's computer had taken them to a completely different part of the galaxy.
Fal should have known something was wrong when it took longer to come out of slipspace than expected. We should've just left at the same time as the rest of the fleet, instead of leaving early in an attempt to get a head start, Fal thought wearily to himself. The planet's coordinates were even known to us before we discovered the humans' presence! I'll probably be stripped of my rank for this blunder, unless...
Fal soon began setting up the ship's Luminary to search for possible Forerunner artifacts in the system. Hopefully, if the ship detected any such artifacts, then there might be a chance to salvage the situation. If not, then Fal could still input the proper coordinates for Reach into the system and hopefully make it there in time to participate in the attack on the humans.
After giving the Luminary several minutes for a hopefully decent scan of the system, it soon showed a symbol that he recognized. "Humans," Fal muttered as he studied the symbol. So, perhaps the situation could be salvaged after all. But how great was the human presence in the system? There were no visible defenses, so any human presence must have been small.
Investigating further, Fal soon discovered that the human presence was located on one of three moons orbiting a large gas giant. A small satellite of human origin orbited the moon. Fal quickly set the ship to move closer and check the object for data on the human population of the system. All orbital satellites had computer systems built into them, and those computers would house data revealing who had built the device, where it had been built, when it had been built, its purpose, and how long it had been orbiting a particular moon or planet. It would also contain more data on the star system itself, which Fal thought could prove useful.
Sending out a probe to intercept the satellite, Fal waited as the ship's automated systems prepared the device and then shot it out into space. The device would approach the satellite at great speed before activating its maneuvering and navigational computer system to avoid a collision. Then it would analyze the human satellite for all of the data held within it.
Seeing how much time it would take for the probe to reach the satellite, Fal used the ship's comm system to call for Thol to meet with him. While Thol may not have held the rank needed to command an entire ship, he was still a close friend, and both Sangheili had trained together in their youth when they'd joined the Covenant military.
When Thol entered the bridge, he joined Fal at the top of the sloped command area. "Yes, Shipmaster?" Thol asked in a respectful tone. Fal glanced at his comrade before pointing at the star map and the Luminary.
"We've found a human presence in the system," Fal said.
"Well, Shipmaster, we did not leave for a Human colony and not expect to... find... wait, this doesn't look right," Thol said as he scanned the star map. "Are we in the proper system?" Thol asked his friend curiously. Fal shook his head in response.
"No. The coordinates for our intended destination were not entered properly, and so we have traveled to a different star system by mistake," Fal explained with a sigh. The other Sangheili and Unggoy in the room all quietly rolled their eyes as they listened to the shipmaster vocalize his complaints. They were just as disappointed as Fal was, but they knew how to hide such disappointment and maintain a professoinal facade.
"Just what system have we entered?" Thol asked Fal curiously.
"I'm not certain. Hopefully, our probe will tell us when it collects the data from the human satellite orbiting one of those moons," Fal said as he pointed to a holographic representation of a moon orbiting a gas giant. There were two other moons in orbit around the massive body, but only one of them showed any signs of human activity.
Then one of the doors to the bridge soon slid open, prompting both Elites to turn around as the Minister of Curiosity made his way towards them. Shem was using his anti-gravity harness to aid in his movements as he glided across the floor and up the ramp with ease. "So, when do we attack and where?" Shem asked as he reached the top of the ramp.
"We don't," Fal said in disappointment.
"Eh? Why not?" Shem asked him curiously.
"We're in the wrong system," Fal explained.
Shem blinked at Fal in bewilderment. "What!? How is that possible!?" he asked crankily, raising a fist in the air to gesticulate his surprise and frustration at the news.
"The coordinates were not entered into the ship's navigational computer correctly," Fal explained yet again. Every time he explained the situation to someone, he found himself growing increasingly weary and angry. His bridge crew, however, were beginning to find his misery a source of amusement, though they would not dare give any indication or alert him to this fact.
"That's impossible! I entered them myself!" Shem responded angrily. Fal had to use all of his self control to restrain himself from grabbing the San'Shyuum by his long serpentine neck and strangling him to death right then and there. He would most certainly be executed if he did so, no matter how much the old codger deserved it.
"Well, that certainly explains everything," Thol muttered under his breath. Fal was too angry at Shem to notice, and Shem was too caught up in his own frustration to hear the comment either. Although, one of the Jackals posted on guard duty certainly heard it, and quickly shared this with his companion, sharing a snicker together.
With a resigned sigh, Shem shook his head. "So, what do we do now?" he asked the shipmaster carefully. Fal turned and pointed at the holographic star map behind himself.
"I have dispatch a probe towards this moon. We have detected a human-built satellite in orbit around the planetoid, and the probe will begin scanning and analyzing the satellite for important data. If we are lucky, we may even find something to suggest the presence of Forerunner artifacts in the system. If there is nothing but a single human colony, then we attack it and return to our proper destination," Fal said.
"The humans have made it a habit to destroy all sensitive data in their stations, ships, and satellites when we are detected in one of their systems. How do you know that the satellite's computer system will be intact by the time the probe reaches it?" Shem asked Fal. Fal narrowed his eyes slightly in return.
"There has been no indication of heavy resistance or any kind of defenses in the system as of yet. I doubt that the humans will have a chance to erase any data from this satellite, if they even notice our presence," Fal said. Shem nodded his head in response.
"Very well, Shipmaster. How great is the human presence on this moon?" Shem soon asked Fal. Fal turned to glance at the hologram of the moon before turning back to face Shem.
"I'm not sure just yet. Give us time to-ah! The probe reached the satellite faster than I thought," Fal said in a pleased tone. "Today might not be so bad after all," he added with a hopeful tone to his voice.
"Knowing your luck, Fal, this will be the pinnacle of good luck for you today," Shem said dryly.
Fal's smile faltered ever so slightly, but otherwise shrugged off the Prophet's words. Soon, data from the human satellite was being streamed from the probe into his ship's computer system, showing up as a holographic panel in front of him. "The humans have already given names to the bodies in this system," Fal noted with a hint of distaste.
Names were too important for creatures such as humans to be handing them out whenever and wherever they pleased. Although, secretly, he appreciated the title given to his species by the humans, as the term Elite meant something or someone which stood above others and had great power and prominence in Human culture, according to intelligence reports. That was... nice, he supposed. Of course, he would never admit this out loud.
"The gas giant is called Calpamos, and the moons are... hm? El-Vee-Two-Two-Three, El-Vee-One-One-Two, and El-Vee-Four-Two-Six. Four-Two-Six has a nickname of... Akeron? Asheron? How is that pronounced? The system is... Zeta Two Reticuli? I hope that's how it's pronounced," Fal said hesitently.
"Those are odd names," Shem noted. "Humans usually don't give such... well, maybe they just entered the system recently. Yes, they must only give proper names to things after they've established a fortified presence in a system," Shem guessed. "You said yourself that there's been no sign of human defensive systems around here, so this is probably a location where the humans are just starting to set things up," Shem said.
"If we can capture the colony intact, then perhaps we can find out where the supplies for it are coming from, allowing us to find more human worlds," Shem continued.
"That's if there's a colony on that moon," Fal said. "For all we know, it could just be an mining outpost. I've seen them before in systems with little human presence. They have one or two facilities set up to house human workers and let ships dock, and a single satellite for communicating with the rest of their colonies. This could just be another one," he added with a hint of disappointment in his voice.
Looking up at the holographic display, Thol, who was not wearing his helmet for once, noticed a familiar symbol floating up on the holographic screens and panels. "Fal-I mean, Shipmaster! Look! There's evidence of Forerunner artifacts on the moon," Thol said in excitement.
"Which one?" Shem asked excitedly as well.
"El-Vee-Four-Two-Six! Acheron!" Thol said as he read the readout of the moon's name. "I can take a team down there to neutralize the human presence and secure the artifacts," Thol said as he looked at Fal.
"Let's see what else the probe has found first," Fal said, hiding his excitement at having discovered Forerunner artifacts.
"There's some more data in the on-board computer's memory banks," Fal said as he continued reading the data. "The last major update was... a month ago? The humans had just received word about our attack on... S-Sigma Octanus," Fal said with some difficulty.
"Is there anything else?" Thol asked Fal.
"Here, there's some data on the colony. It's called... H-Hadley's Hobe-I mean Hope. Hadley's Hope," Fal corrected himself. "It has a recorded civilian population of... four-hundred and thirty-seven, with an additional... thirty Marine troops for protection. So, there is a military presence here," Fal said. Perhaps there was some glory to be found after all.
"Have they detected us? Do any transmissions or communication chatter indicate that we've been noticed yet?" Thol asked Fal curiously. Fal shook his head.
"Scan for all current transmissions being made," Shem said quickly. "If we can intercept incoming and outgoing transmissions from the satellite, that will give us more information to work with," he added.
"There's no activity on the satellite. There's nothing outgoing," Fal said as he inspected the data gleamed from the probe. "The last recorded outgoing message was transmitted... two weeks ago, according to the humans' time-keeping system. There's been no activity since then. The colony went silent for some reason," Fal said curiously.
"Maybe they only send transmissions once every two weeks or so?" Thol suggested. "Perhaps, if we wait a while, we might catch an outgoing transmission in action, and then we can intercept it and scan the data to find out where it's going," he added. "It could lead us to more heavily populated human worlds," he concluded optimistically.
Moving past Fal, Shem began reading the log of the satellite, his understanding of human writing much greater than Fal's. Fal and Thol both watched Shem as he spent several minutes studying the data from the probe. "Hm... strange," Shem said after a few minutes.
Fal and Thol both exchange glances with each other before pressing Shem to elaborate on his remark for them. "The humans have definitely been studying Forerunner artifacts on the moon, but something changed recently, prior their communication silence. There's an... uh, error message here, right when the colony stopped making transmissions," Shem pointed out.
"Do you know what it means?" Fal asked Shem.
"I can read it, but I don't understand the details very well. I may have a better grasp on human language than you do, but even I have my limits," Shem replied while shaking his head. He then began re-reading the error message. "I do understand the general meaning, however. It would seem that there's a problem with the... transmission equipment on the moon's surface," Shem said.
"I can't understand the intricate details of the problem, but I can tell you this much: the humans cannot send or receive any signals or transmissions down there," Shem said.
"What about the satellite? It seems to be working just fine," Fal asked him. Shem turned back to look over the data once more, before turning his long neck to face Fal once more.
"The problem isn't the satellite, Shipmaster. It's whatever equipment they've got down on the surface. This could be an excellent opportunity to send down some troops without being detected," Shem said. Fal slowly nodded his head in agreement.
"Yes. That's a good idea. We can send down an artifact retrieval team without any resistance, perform reconnaissance on the human colony, and then clear them out before securing the Forerunner artifacts and capturing the human colony's computer systems intact in order to discover other human worlds. If we fix their communication equipment, we may even be able to send and receive transmissions containing sensitive data. It would seem that we may indeed be able to salvage our mishap after all," Fal said triumphantly.
"Thol, prepare a moderately-sized team to deploy to the moon's surface in a few hours. We have ourselves a new mission," Fal said. Thol nodded his head and quickly exited the bridge.
Fal looked back over at Shem, who had returned his attention to the data on the holographic panels. A small frown marred Shem's face. "Is there something wrong, Minister of Curiosity?" Fal asked him.
"Well, I'd like to spend some time trying to decipher these messages myself. But... it's probably nothing," Shem replied with a wave of his hand as he continued reading. Fal tilted his head in curiosity.
"Would you like to share your thoughts?" Fal asked the old codger.
"I'm just wondering why the humans equipment malfunctioned when it did. Looking at some of these logs, it would seem that they've been studying Forerunner artifacts on this moon for quite a while before they suffered communication problems, but... there are also repeated mentions of... bad weather?" Shem said curiously.
Fal tilted his head in curiousity as Shem continued reading the logs.
"What have you discovered so far?" Fal finally asked the Prophet after several more minutes of quiet reading.
"Well, it would appear that the humans' equipment was brought down by the moon's weather patterns, most likely," Shem said eagerly.
Fal tilted his head once more as Shem spent several minutes reading more logs.
"Fal, we have stumbled upon great fortune!" Shem said with a grin.
"Elaborate," Fal requested, somewhat taken back by Shem's ecstatic outburst.
"Well, I was worried at first that the humans' communication problem may cause the other human worlds to send someone to investigate, in which case we would end up being outnumbered and our attempts to obtain an intact database would be delayed or scuttled, but the transmission logs from that satellite indicate that the humans have suffered multiple transmission equiment failures during their time on this moon," Shem explained.
"I fail to see how that is good fortune for us," Fal said in response.
Shem sighed and shook his head in dismay at Fal's lack of understanding.
"If anyone notices the lack of communication from this moon, then they won't think anything of it. They won't consider the loss of contact worthy of investigating, and when we capture the colony and take control of their communication equipment ourselves, we'll be in prime position to do what you said earlier. We can send transmissions to make the humans elsewhere think that everything is fine. Meanwhile, we slowly gather information from other human worlds and send that data to the rest of the fleet, or even High Charity! Fal, your plan may just go off without a hitch!" Shem explained and exclaimed giddily.
"This is a rare opportunity, Fal! This, Fal, is your moment to shine and bring further glory to this ship and everyone aboard it!" Shem exclaimed once more. Fal nodded his head in appreciation as he finally understood what Shem was talking about. For all of Shem's faults, and there were many, maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all.
Author's Notes: This was the first chapter of ALIENS COVENANT. So, basically, the story is generally the plot of ALIENS (1986), but with the Covenant taking the place of the Colonial Marines. I originally wanted to use the UNSC and their ODSTs instead, but it occurred to me that so many other crossovers already do that. So I asked myself what I could do to make my crossover different. How can I make my story stand out?
The answer was simple. Have the Covenant investigate a human colony and face off against the xenomorphs. Yes, I'm aware that I'm not the first person to have the Covenant fight the xenomorphs, but I find the concept so much more interesting than the UNSC fighting them. I mean, the UNSC is practically the Colonial Marines anyway, so there's really not much of a difference. A story featuring a group of ODSTs or regular Marines fighting against the xenomorphs would pretty much feel like any regular ALIENS fan fiction, just with different names for the weapons and vehicles. The M41 pulse rifle is replaced by the MA5B or whatever.
I'm not bashing stories that do this, just pointing out that they don't feel all that different from regular ALIENS fan fiction. If the story is well written and fun, then that's what really matters. I just wanted to do things a bit different is all.
So, anyway, the Covenant are taking the place of the Colonial Marines here. Of course, things are a bit flipped. The Covenant are intending to wipe out any humans they find, instead of saving them like the Colonial Marines would.
And of course I included Bishop as an AI like Cortana and Roland and all the rest. How could I not? I mean, in the ALIEN universe, droids are basically AI inside prosthetic or otherwise artificial bodies.
Anyway, be sure to let me know what you think of the chapter and the story so far in your reviews.