Well, thanks for the reviews people, I really appreciate them. Despite the lack of overwhelming criticism they were decent. Could use some more of them though. I mean seriously? I got quite a few favorites and Alert Subscriptions but only 15 reviews! C'mon people I need more to make the story better. My writing style is rather weak so I need feedback to make it better.
Answering some of the anonymous reviews.
The Thinker- Jesus, how long did it take to write that? Just so you know I did my research before hand. Some of the stuff in there I already knew. Unfortunately, only the Pillar of Autumn was equipped with the MAC gun you were referencing. A standard UNSC frigate fires much slower but still does the whole heat capture thing. I'm using Sagittarius Missile pods, basically the evolution of the Archer missile pod. The rest I already knew.
Lord Primarus- Ah ah ah *wags finger* You didn't find the reference so no flame for you. Also, how the hell would I explain that? I just might make the Turians lives hell. I dunno yet. All of Mass Effect struck me as poorly set up. Might make that a default Spartan gun though. Maybe the Spartan Assault Rifle, SAR for short. Yeah, that sounds good. But first find a reference then I'll implement it.
Jacob- Some decent questions.
1. I really don't know. Depends on what everyone else wants. Hey, any of you guys want the Master Chief to be in this story?
2. Of Course, just keep reading.
3. Yep, might need a vote for that one though.
4. You'll see. ;)
5. I don't see why not.
6. Yes, the Spartan IIIs were better, but Project ORION was by no means a failure. It took existing marines and turned them into super-soldiers with no dropouts whatsoever. This is part of the reason why Johnson is immune to Flood Infection and why Mendez is still in amazing physical condition. The Spartan III's took decades to finish though. They were similar to the Spartan II's in that they were raised from childhood to be soldiers but their enhancements weren't as effective and most of them were killed in Operation TORPEDO. The Spartan III Betas that were trained on Onyx were complete failures (in my opinion). Even if they were effective in combat their drug addiction would probably kill them once taken out of the Military. Plus too many psychological defects.
Yeah, that's about it. here is the second chapter of Chaos Infinitium.
Turian Dreadnought Carrias
Combat Information Center...
Captain Cartorus was not in a good mood. What had seemed like a simple enough assignment had gone completely wrong. There were no transmissions incoming from the Science Team and he had no idea what kind of opposition was on the Ring's surface. The Mantis gunships were loading up with marines, and Cabal units were already en route to the structure's surface. Very little had been gleaned from the last transmission of the Science team but whatever was down there had apparently killed all 20 of the marines that had accompanied the them. It didn't help that the Spectre that had been down there was unaccounted for as well. Barely twenty seconds had elapsed when all transmissions had ceased from the surface.
His XO was busy with the Comm Officer examining the footage. They were still trying to determine what had happened down there. Unfortunately, barely anything was discernible beyond the Salarian who had been speaking. The XO was frowning at the sight of the beam piercing the Salarian's back. There was something there that didn't sit right with him.
This doesn't look right. There's no flare of his shields going down. They aren't being damaged.
"Gardol, zoom in a little."
The edge of the Doctor's shields and the beam became larger in the screen. There were no ripples whatsoever from the shield. The yellow beam seemed to pass right through the barriers.
Almost like a Directed Energy Weapon. The Captain should know about this.
"Captain, there's something you should see."
"What is it?" Cartorus asked while he walked over.
The XO showed him the footage and highlighted the main point.
"Our troops probably won't last long against what ever's down there if our shields are ineffective. We would probably need thicker armor."
"Send a communique out to refit all troops with heavier armor. Make sure they have thicker physical plates. Call the Cabal Units back. I don't want to lo-"
"Captain! We have an incoming transmission!"
"Source?"
The Comm Officer checked, "It appears to be coming from... the Ring."
The bridge went silent.
"Patch it through." Cartorus said silently.
The projector at the center of the CIC activated, the image of a Turian appeared.
"Captain! Thank Palaven!" The turian had several burns on his face and there were bandages wrapped around his arm. Behind him an asari was supporting another turian who was missing a leg. The light in the area was low and the camera angle was skewed giving the entire scene a haphazard air.
"What happened down there-" Cartorus glanced at the rank marker on the marines shoulder,"-Captain?"
"Those damn probes, sir! One moment they were fine, just floating around, then the next second they were tearing us to shreds. If it wasn't for the Spectre, the four of us would be dead."
Cartorus sighed, "Give me a sitrep, Captain"
"Me, Lieutenant Vakarian, the Spectre, and Doctor T'soni are the only survivors. Everyone else was killed by the probes."
"I suppose we are lucky we survived." came the voice of an asari off-screen. "Those beams went right through our barriers."
"Don't I know it." came the grunt of the injured turian.
"Garrus, be careful. We don't want to aggravate your wounds" said the asari supporting him. "I had a hard enough time applying the medi-gel the first time around."
"Where are you right now?" Cartorus asked.
"We escaped into the tunnels on the inside of the structure." the off-screen asari- Dr. T'soni- said. "For some reason the probes did not follow us."
"Got lucky there, huh?" Vakarian muttered.
"Shut-up and let the medi-gel do it's work." The Spectre said.
"Captain, can we get ev- What was that?" The Captain said.
A hissing sound was heard off screen.
"What the- WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?" The Captain screamed.
He raised his rifle and began spraying rounds at something off-screen. There was a snarl and something with a basic humanoid figure jumped on him and started slashing at his chest. The other survivors also opened fire on the creature. Suddenly, a biotic Warp flooded the entire screen and the signal was lost.
The CIC was silent once again.
"Rewind to 2:44." Cartorus ordered.
The transmission moved backward to the requested time-slot. The creature that had jumped on the Captain's chest filled the holo-screen. It appeared to be a salarian but horribly twisted. Two long tentacles had emerged from it's left arm and it had turned a sickly shade of green. An unusual growth was protruding from it's chest and more tentacles emerged from it's mouth. Clutched in the remants of its right hand was an M-4 Shuriken SMG.
Cartorus slowly turned to face the all his personnel. They were staring at him at him, waiting for instructions.
"Get all combat personnel reequipped ASAP. That is the current priority. I want all of our mechs loaded onto the Mantis's and dropped off to establish a base. Refit all weaponry with either Armor Piercing or Shredder Rounds. I want all ships on Priority One Combat Status. If we have to, we will blow that Ring apart. Am I understood?"
"Yes Sir!".
UNSC Into the Night
Bridge...
The constant stream of expletives being issued from Sage's mouth was enough to make even the most hardened marine blush. The bridge operators were all staring wide-eyed at the Captain as he paced around the bridge. Here was the man who had faced down Covenant Assault Carriers without so much as flinching cursing up a storm at a video clip.
"Captain! Please, calm down! Your present emotional state will not facilitate any positive solutions to this situation!" Victor, ever the pragmatist. Of course, being an A.I. he didn't actually have much of an emotional cortex.
The storm of expletives stopped and Sage groaned and covered his face with his hands.
"Well isn't this great! Now the Flood have escaped containment! If anything could get worse it could..."
"Well here's some good news; incoming transmission from HIGHCOM on Reach."
Sage spun around, "Finally! Bring it up!"
The image of a smartly dressed man in an Admiral's uniform appeared in the tank. He was old, white haired, with a wrinkled face. Despite the obvious signs of old age, he was still powerfully built and gave off an obvious aura of command. This was Lord Admiral Jasper Cutter, commander of the entire United Nations Space Command, and effectively the de facto ruler of all humanity due to Martial Law.
"Lord Cutter," Sage said. "It's about time. We have a p-"
"I know Captain." Cutter cut him off. "I've read all the transmissions you've sent. But that isn't our only problem. Although finding a new alien empire would be an unusual development along with the discovery of the Halo we have much bigger fish to fry. Two weeks ago, a massive Covenant fleet broke through the Armistice Line. Fifth fleet was decimated and four planets in the immediate sector were glassed."
Sage felt his blood go cold, "No wonder they've been silent for so long."
Cutter nodded, "We estimate at least a thousand ships. Only reason anything out of Fifth fleet survived was because Admrial Hackett's retinue arrived at Hassal too late. It had had already been glassed by the time they got there."
"Damn. Is there anything you can send?"
Cutter smirked a little, "Don't worry Captain. We've already gathered most of the surviving ships from Fifth fleet into an impromptu battelgroup. It's been designated "Reclaimer"."
Sage chuckled at the joke, "When will they arrive, sir?"
"Hopefully in a day or two. Slipspace currents have been acting up ever since the Covenant Fleet broke through. We're not even sure if our communications are secure let alone our ships. Till then though, you'll have to hold out on your own. For all we know they could arrive in the next hour. Attempt to make contact with this "Council" Fleet and convince them to abandon the Halo."
"What will I be getting?"
Cutter pulled a data-pad out of a pocket "9 Bucephalus-class Frigates, 12 Templar-class missile Frigates, 7 Hydra- class Destroyers, 5 Marathon II- class Cruisers, 2 Artemis- class Battleships, a Trafalgar- class Carrier , and the Void Dragon.
Sage's eyes bulged, "You're sending a Dreadnought? I thought we were holding them in reserve for an emergency."
"A Covenant fleet just broke through the Armistice Line. I think this counts, Captain. We can't afford to lose this Halo."
Dreadnoughts were the result of two-hundred years of engineering focused on one class of ship. They were seventeen kilometers long, plated with over twelve meters of Titanium-A and it's shields could take one hell of a pounding. It was armed with no less than six rotary spinal MAC guns, twelve dual-barreled Particle Accelerator Turrets, four Energy Projector Turrets, four-hundred oversized Sagitarrius missile pods, and over a thousand laser CIWIS turrets. They were dedicated to space combat and carried no fighters whatsoever. It was assumed that nothing would really survive combat with it, excluding Covenant Supercarriers. There were currently twelve of them in service with nineteen more in construction.
Sage saluted, "Understood, Sir. We'll make do till then."
Cutter nodded, "Godspeed Captain. Remember; all of the sentient species in this galaxy are counting on you."
Victor popped up in the Holo-Tank, "Razor Team is ready for deployment. Shall I maneuver us above the ring?"
"Affirmative. Get the Transit Grid powered up. I want them on the ground within an hour."
"What about making first contact?"
"Prepare the transmission."
"Understood."
Fleet of Divine Wrath
CCS Super-Carrier Rage of the Gods
Chamber of Contemplation...
The Prophet of Vengeance was not a patient San'Shyum. He had planned his entire life for this moment, when he would lead the Fleet of Divine Wrath against the Humans and Traitor Species and blast them into oblivion. But there was a new development. Something that could change the entire face of his mad crusade.
"They found WHAT?" He roared.
The Brute Chieftain in front of him, Margorusk, growled in the affirmative, "We intercepted a transmission from a small ship belonging to the humans. They confirmed they had found one of the Sacred Rings sire. Their message was damaged but we could trace it back to the source. A single battlegroup could overwhelm them completely."
Vengeance smiled, "I want to oversee this myself. Redirect us and the Will of the Prophets along with our support ships."
"Yes, your Holiness."
UNSC Into the Night
Transit Grid Station...
Gunnery Sergeant Faye Winters was not a person who was distressed easily. She had faced down rampaging Brute Chieftains armed with nothing but her combat knife and barely broken a sweat. However, she was shaking like a rookie at the thought of facing the Flood. She had heard the stories from the Human-Covenant War. How they twisted you up to serve the Gravemind, how the infection process was pure agony, how they didn't even leave you alone once you died. They were nightmares and were the worst fears of nearly every sentient being. But she understood the implications. Unless they secured the control room and contacted the monitor it was likely the Flood could escape aboard on of the Council's Ships. And if that happened, every single life-form in the Galaxy was screwed.
She looked at her commanding officer, Sergeant Major Kunnath. He was conversing through sign language with one of the Huragok. Said Huragok had plugged itself in to the Transit Control Nexus and was currently reconfiguring the Transit system.
"I suppose you are nervous about this mission, correct?" came a voice behind her.
She looked over shoulder. Ortin was, for once, not fiddling with a mechanical device.
"Yeah. How about you?"
He shrugged, "I suppose, I was raised for battle but I am apprehensive about fighting the Flood. Even Thel Vadam feared the Flood."
"Well, we'll see." She said as she turned to walk to the Transfer Points.
"Do you want me to kill you?"
Faye spun around, "What the FUCK?"
Ortin held his hands up defensively, "I mean if you are infected by the Flood. Do you want me to kill you before you are assimilated?"
Faye paused, "I never thought of that."
"It does not have to be me. I just thought that it would be a good thing to remember."
"I really don't know Ortin. Perhaps. I won't know till I'm dead will I?"
"I suppose."
Jay chose that moment to walk over. "Are we all set team?"
"Yes sir. Are we good to go?"
"Yeah, just need to input coordinates and we'll be on our way."
They took their positions on the Grid.
A synthesized voice came from the speakers above their heads, "Slipspace micro-generator spooling up, identifying transfer subjects, locking in coordinates. Transfer commencing in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Transfer commencing."
A flash of light and they were gone.
UNSC Into the Night
Artificial Intelligence Hub...
VCT-002546 Designation "Victor" was always a careful A.I.. Even as he aged he found that the one thing that separated him from other A.I.'s of his class was his overwhelming need to quadruple or quintuple check his own calculations. He supposed it came from his creator, Victor Amadeus, who was renowned to be a control freak. Sometimes it was unnecessary but other times he caught little things that might of slipped by.
He examined the Transfer of Razor Team into the gravitational well of the Halo. All was proceeding smoothly. No fluctuations from the power capacitators, nothing was going wrong.
Suddenly, there were other fluctuations in the field. Victor immediately checked the Transfer from the control room. Nothing had been changed. The fluctuations were coming from elsewhere. Victor ran the calculations as raced to identify their sources.
These fluctuations could alter Razor Team's deployment coordinates. I would need to adjus-
His cycle was cut off when a massive fluctuation immediately caught Razor Team and scattered them all over the Ring.
Victor was frozen for just one second, an eternity to an A.I., before he indulged himself in some cursing.
UNSC Into the Night
Bridge...
"YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT RAZOR TEAM'S DEPLOYMENT WAS FUBARED?" Sage roared.
Victor's avatar rolled it's eyes, "Their deployment was fine, they have simply not landed where we wanted them to."
"WELL, WHY THE FUCK NOT?"
"Opposing signals from the Halo's Teleportation Grid threw them off. They are unharmed according to their Vitals but they are separated."
Sage pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger, "Get me a link to them."
"I've been trying, sir. It may take another hour to establish a link."
Sage cursed again. Then he pulled a cigarette pack from the pocket of his overcoat, pulled one out and lit it.
"You know that's against regulations, right?" Victor asked.
"I don't give a damn. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong, Victor."
"I beg to differ, Captain. Many more things could go wrong than what has already happened. I would suggest that you do not tempt Fate. She is a fickle mistress."
"Shut up, Victor."
Several minutes passed in silence. Victor spun up some subroutines, the A.I. equivalent of drumming his fingers. He then observed the camera feed from the female locker room.
Victor's avatar sighed, "Should I open the comms to the Council Fleet? I have already locked the frequency in and the translation matrix is loaded. I have also taken the liberty of uploading a data package to your CNI. You should be receiving it right about ... now"
The alert popped up in his eye implants. Sage opened and let the information suffuse his brain.
"Might as well get it over with." Sage said putting out the cigarette.
Turian Dreadnought Carrias
Combat Information Center...
Ensign Gardol Forth took his job as Communications officer seriously. Maintaining all the Carrias's transmissions was an important job, one that he couldn't mess up. But when an unusual signal was picked up by the Comm set he became rather worried.
"Captain, we're picking something up something strange."
Cartorus looked at Forth, "What is it?"
"I'm not sure. It appears to be a transmission of some kind."
"What's unusual about that?"
"I can't find the source. And it's unidentifiable."
"Can you patch it through?"
"I think so."
The holo-screen flashed and the image of an alien appeared on it. It was lightly brown-skinned, with white fibrous tendrils growing from it's head. It resembled a male asari if such a thing existed.
"Greetings, My name is Captain Elias Sage of the United Nations Space Command in the service of Earth and her colonies." The statement sounded scripted.
Cartorus knew that this was a First Contact Situation. He immediately started to introduce himself.
"Greetings, I am Captain Vyrrgus-"
"I know who you are Captain Cartorus. We've been sifting through your data-banks for a few days now. We know about the Citadel and the Council. Right now we aren't that concerned about diplomacy. We are requesting that you simply recall all your troops from the Ring and move your ships away."
There was much consternation from the bridge crew. Cartorus looked a little angry himself.
"Well I'm sorry, this Ring belongs to the Citadel govern-"
"It BELONGS to the Forerunners!," Sage roared. "I don't give a damn what you say but that Ring is effectively neutral territory. Especially after your Science Team released the Flood!"
Cartorus blinked, "Flood? What-"
Sage sighed, "Look, I have already deployed a Special Forces team onto the Halo, which is it's proper name by the way. They should be able to handle the Sentinels and the Flood until we deploy the rest of our forces. Just don't send anything else down there until we give you the go ahead."
"Wait! just what gives you the right to order us around?"
"Because I'm the only one out of the either of us who knows what he's doing."
Cartorus was about to protest but was cut off by Sage again.
"My ship is going to de-cloak in a minute. I ask that you not open fire. Our resident Diplomat will take over negotiations."
"Don't you dare cut off! I have questions for you."
Sage looked annoyed, "We have a diplomat for that but sure, shoot."
"What is this "Flood" you speak of? What do you mean by "Sentinels"? And what is this "Halo"'s purpose?"
"I'm not at liberty to discuss that with you. Look, our diplomat will take care of everything. Just wait a bit."
And with that the transmission cut off.
Cartorus looked around the CIC. Most of the officers looked puzzled.
"What should we do sir?" Asked his XO.
"Pull our troops back. But keep us here. I'm not letting these upstarts take away what may be the greatest find in Citadel History. Am I clear?
"Yes sir."
The Sensor Station started to light up.
"What's happening?" Cartorus asked.
"Ummm, something appears to be decloaking. Sensors are picking up some fluctuations and a large mass, around the size of a cruiser."
"They stealthed a cruiser?"
"Apparently, sir."
"Bring a cam up."
The image of a large ship appeared in the holo-screen. It was boxy, utilitarian, and seemed to be only made for one thing: Combat.
"Pretty ugly, ship. They must see a lot of combat."
And how right he was.
Four thousand words. I think that will be the norm around here. And I'll try to update at a constant rate. Please rnr.
If your wondering why Sage handled the negotiations badly, all will be explained soon.
Also, I will be conducting two polls:
1) Do you want the Master Chief to be in this fic? And if you do, where?
2) Shepard is indeed in this story, so what pairing? And he's a guy.
Vote in the reviews, number them please. Also submit feedback about this chapter. I might not consider your vote if you don't give feedback.
I think that's it.
Lord Inquistor Sysero of Cain, Prima
Ordo Malleus
Change log: Redid the negotiations scene