Just to let you all know, I have a new chapter up for my other story Divergent: An Unforeseen Event in case you want to go and check that out, latest chapter is over 3k words. On with the chapter...
The first ones through the forerunner Door into the structure was Sergeant Forge with his small personal detail of elite troops he calls Night Bloods. He came up with the name as when they fought and bled in battle, they didn't seem to bleeding red blood, mainly due to their battle armor. Once they were through, and secured the hallway, Captain Cutter followed in after with Professor Anders right behind him with her science equipment.
They continued into the structure, keeping an eye out for anything that would pose as a threat, and then, they heard a humming noise from around the corner. Forget and his Night Bloods formed a small defensive line in front of Cutter and Anders, weapons at the ready, waiting for the being to show itself. After a few moments, a floating ball of metal came around the corner and it actually seemed started to see them.
"Oh, well, I must say I was not expecting guests to be here on the Ark. Well, now that you are here, welcome home Reclaimers! I am one of many monitors found within the galaxy, but I am in charge of this building and the surrounding areas. My name is Chakas, well, it was when I was a human, so it will be easier for you to use it. Follow me and I will show you to the main room." and with that, the monitor now known as Chakas started to float away from them, continuing down the hall. After a moment's hesitation, the group began to follow the monitor, but kept a good 2 meters away from it. That's when Anders spoke up.
"Wait, you said that Chakas was your human name, what did you mean by that?" she asked, and everyone else found it strange as well.
"Well reclaimer, thousands of years ago, Humanity had transversed the stars, and we were on par with the Forerunners at one point in time. However, we were running away from a parasite known as the flood. Humanity along with the San'Shyuum waged war against the Forerunners, but we were also fighting the flood, and so we lost from having to fight on two fronts. What remained of the human race was held in captivity, and the Forerunners didn't believe in the flood till is was to late. They suffered loss after loss, and had to deal with the shame of killing off a race that didn't do anything to harm them. They preserved man through genetics, but decided that the Forerunners were best to die out and that Humans take up the Mantle of Responsibility. That's why you are here now, isn't it? You have come to claim what should have been yours a very long time ago correct?" but not a single person said a word.
Everyone was in sock at what they just heard. Not only were they told that they existed thousands of years ago, but that they had fought a war against the Forerunners and weren't utterly destroyed, but that they were fighting a war on 2 fronts, with one ally, and still held their own till the end. But they had to deal with this new revelation later, as they had a mission to complete, and tell a certain monitor to address.
"Well, we don't know how we got here. Our ship had lost its capabilities of slip space and we were just drifting in space, while we were in cryosleep. Only a few hours ago did we actually wake up and find this structure. Humanity has been in a war that shows no end in site. Humanity has faced a war with a group of aliens, which includes the San'Shyuum along with many other aliens. They believe that the Forerunners were Gods and that humans are heretics for not believing so and are deemed unworthy to continue to exist. They have glassed thousands of planets, killed billions in the process, and show no mercy to anyone." and this seemed to shock the monitor, well as shocked as a floating ball of metal can be.
"Forerunners? Gods? I think not! Whoever thought of that idea was clear a mad being! The Forerunners were only creations of the one true God. While many think that the Precursors created the Forerunners, it was untrue. All living things were created by God, and he created the Precursors, but was unsatisfied with the outcome. So he created what we know as the mantle of responsibility, and began to create other beings to see which of his creations were worthy, but he left the judgment to the Precursors. Then when the Forerunners were told that they were unworthy, they rebelled, but were punished later. However, all beings at one point of another agreed that a God existed in the Universe. So the thought of Forerunners being Gods is blasphemous. Come, we will start to sort this out." and they again began to follow the monitor, but all were having thoughts within their mind racing millions of miles a second. The most common one was, God exists!
"Ah! Here we are, the dockyard of the Ark. This facility's specific purpose is to produce a large number of ships within a matter of months! I believe at Max speed we could create over 300 ships in 4 to 6 months. Granted is all depends on the length of the ship, and the amount of crew members it would need to keep it running. I believe that you have ship designs from your world?" The monitor had asked as it floated into a large open area.
While at a glance it did not seem as a dockyard, when you take a closer look, you see it in all of its' glory. The facility itself went into the Ark, making the outside seem as just another building for another purpose. Other Sentinels could be seen flying and round, almost as if waiting for a design to be given, and to start their work and build a mighty Armada capable of wiping out entire systems in days. The structure itself was cylinder in shape, like a can standing upright. There were hundreds of levels, each with its own workforce of Sentinels, and each one able to hold a few dozen ships in each level, almost as if it was a drydock mixed with a shipyard, the creation and housing of a fleet. The total amount of ships it seemed to be capable of holding looked to be around a thousand, give or take when you have to take into account the size office each ship.
"We do, we have our own designs, but with the men and women we have left on our ship, it's almost a skeleton crew. We can run our ship fine, but work has to be more distributed and even soldiers are to take part in helping. From our stand point, we don't have the capabilities to crew and entire fleet." Cutter told Chakas. Chakas just seemed to think for a moment before coming up with an idea.
"Oh my, that is a predicament. However, I do have a solution to the problem. The Forerunners, after the fired the halo rings, had sent out Dreadnaughts that were filled with DNA samples of the species that lived on that planet so that they could replenish their homeworlds. They also kept these samples on the ark, meaning, we can rewrite the programing, to not only have these new humans be more sophisticated than they would be before, but to also have the knowledge on operating the ships. Not only can we do this, but each human will be their own being, with their own memories, attachments, personalities. It would be almost as if they lived their entire lives like you have." and this Revelation scared the group.
To create an army with Forerunner technology seemed dangerous already, but to create an army capable of fighting the Covenant as any other UNSC soldier could, seemed unreal. Cutter thought on this for a long minute. On one hand they would be helping to not only crew and entirely new fleet with the power of the Forerunners, but on the other, these people will be strangers to them and to the other crew members, and will have to find their new home on the Ark. But, with a convincing enough story to program into the machines, it could work.
"How about this, we start up the process of the reproduction of the new humans, but in their memories, we put them as having lived on the Ark all their lives, and looking at their Human cousins from a safe distance. And when they saw that they needed help, they answered the call, and began to create a fleet for the UNSC. Then, they noticed that we had stopped the Covenant from using Forerunner ships, and opened up a Slipspace portal, bringing us here. That way the rest of the crew will believe this more than we creating more humans for our war machine, and they will accept them better." and this seemed the most logical route to go on, and everyone else seemed to be in agreement.
Okay so I know this is exactly VERY short chapter, and for that I am very sorry. I have been juggling all these ideas in my head, and while most would say that is bad, I enjoy it. Thinking of all these stories and trying to make these stories make sense, is a challenge, and I gladly accept them. If you have suggestions on how YOU want the story to progress, or if you are liking the way it's progressing let me know! Anyways, see you all in the next one.