Chapter Two: More Questions? Splendid.
October 20, 2552
Planet Arcadia, Procyon System
Status: Glassed
The ruins of Arcadia weren't much to look at. Unlike Reach, the planet wasn't heavily explored and retained an agricultural status. This did little to prevent the Covenant from glassing the populated areas three year earlier. Although most of the planet is still intact, the areas of interest to the SPARTANs of Noble Team lay buried underneath layers of dust and debris.
It had been over a month since Noble Six and her men left the dead world of Reach with the new mission of finding the Spirit of Fire. So far, their efforts had been in vain. However, their most recent find—an underground ONI facility—held promise of a breakthrough for the weary team of three SPARTANs, an Army medic, and a former Covenant Elite Field Marshall. Inside an executive office in the vacant facility, Noble Six, Noble Three, and Icarus were hard at work searching through the vast ONI archives for any information that might lead them to the lost ship.
"Are you sure we're going to find something here?" Noble Three asked opening another file cabinet and dumping the contents on a table in front of him.
Noble Six glanced up from the computer monitor in front of her and at the green armored SPARTAN across from her and said, "Hope said that there is a strong possibility that we might find something here since the place where this base is hidden under is overgrown with foliage and missed by the Covies."
"Can't see how, considering that buildings still stand out even when they're covered with weeds." Noble Three replied.
"It is possible that the Covenant noticed this place but decided against glassing it because the planet was doing a good job of that itself." Hope responded.
"This coming from an AI that wasn't even around at the time."
"Kig-Yar Jaw," Icarus annoyingly said looking up from a set of documents, "your continued complaints are not getting us anywhere. If I may be so bold as to suggest diverting that energy to finding us a solution to our current problem."
"Says the exiled lizard." Jun muttered quietly.
"Says the mouthy coward." Icarus replied.
"What did you just call me?" Jun said turning his full attention towards the maroon Elite.
"You heard me." Icarus said turning to face the SPARTAN. The two stared each other down as tension filled the space between them. Noble Six looked away from the computer in front of her and at her two teammates staring each other down.
Some things never change.
She shook her head in disapproval and spoke to Hope. "You know Hope, it ceases to amaze me just how often some stereotypes continue to crop up despite their age."
"You're referring to Noble Three and Icarus' behavior."
Six nodded her head.
"Boys will be boys after all." Hope said. "If I may make a suggestion, just let them sort it out themselves."
"I'm inclined to agree but I get the feeling they will try to kill each other before they get along."
"Well, you better separate them before they do just that."
I'm their mom as well as their commander, yay me.
Six stepped in between the two just as they were about to come to blows. "Alright you two, back to work. Jun lay off the insults and get back to work. Icarus ignore him and do the same."
They glared at each other one last time before returning to their respective corners. Six returned to her computer and resumed her search. "Hope, can you search through the system and find what we're looking for?"
"I could try; however, given that this is an ONI server I will be looking through and that this place hasn't been accessed in a while it might take some time."
Six removed the AI's disc from her mind and inserted the disc into a nearby terminal. "Let's see: high level firewalls, detection algorithms, search and destroy programs, oh yeah this going to take a while."
"Take however long you need." Six replied.
"If Kat were here we would be on our way to the Spirit of Fire." Jun said tossing a stack of papers on his desk before grabbing his sniper rifle. "I'm going to head topside and get some air. I'll be in touch."
Six gave him a short wave as he left the room. Silence engulfed the room as Icarus and Six worked at their respective stations. Six was busy tapping on the keyboard in front of her when Hope spoke to her over the com channel.
"I can handle things from here, Lieutenant. Why not speak with Icarus while I continue the search?"
"About what?" She asked still typing on the keyboard in front of her.
"His argument with Noble Three? What that Honor Guard told him? His feelings? It could be about anything just keep him busy until I'm done over here."
Six continued working. Hope made a sound resembling someone clicking their tongue then disabled the keyboard Six was standing at. Six looked at the monitor in annoyance.
"That means now, Lieutenant." Hope said sternly.
"Fine." She muttered and walked over to the wall next to where Icarus was reading a pair of documents. Six leaned against the wall and said to the maroon Field Marshall, "I didn't know you could read our writings."
He looked up briefly and noticed her leaning against the wall and staring towards him then went back to perusing the documents. "I learned how when I studied your human language. Being an officer in the field, it helped to know what my enemy was saying so I may react accordingly."
"Practical." Six replied.
"It also allowed me to know what your kind was saying when I was interrogating prisoners."
"Don't you mean torturing them." Six deadpanned.
Icarus gave the SPARTAN a toothy smile, "I prefer to view it as insightful questioning with the occasional unpleasant scream of agony for wrong answers."
And I thought only humans were capable of sadism.
"Let's discuss something else."
"And that would be what, Demon?"
"How about what that Honor Guard spoke to you about?"
Icarus calmly placed one of the documents down on the table in front of him and picked up another one. "What is there to tell? My race finds the most holy of all relics, the pinnacle of our belief and one of your kind destroys it as easily an angry Brute does a stack of boxes. "
Six imagined a Brute swinging a Gravity Hammer towards a stack of steel crates sitting in a hangar while a pair of Grunts looked at the destruction in complete terror. "I imagine it's not a pleasant sight."
"Was the destruction of your planet, the one you and Kig-Yar call 'Reach' enjoyable to watch?" He said with more sting than intended.
Six shrugged. "Not particularly. Then again, I didn't care for the planet as much as Joshua or Jorge did so I can't really say it's something I'm going to miss. The people whose lives your kind ruined in the process might have something else to say on the matter though."
Icarus clicked his mandibles in curiosity. "Oh? Does the destruction of your home world, the seat of your entire race, matter so little to you?"
Six snorted. "For the record, Reach wasn't my home."
"What was?" He asked placing both sheets on the table.
"A backwater place i would rather forget. I doubt anyone is still there and if there are people still there, then i doubt any of them remember me fondly."
"An outcast?"
"More like a problem most wanted to be rid of."
"Is it customary for your kind to scorn your warriors?"
Six let out a short laugh. "There was no war where I lived just endless boredom. What about you? Have you always been the killer warrior you are now or was there something else?"
Icarus thought for a moment then said, "My race is a race of noble warriors. You earn your right to belong and fight to rise."
"So you've always been this way?"
"A proud warrior willing to serve the gods, yes. A leader of vast armies no that came later." He let out a sigh and continued. "My first true battle was not against you humans but against our own."
"You're kidding."
Icarus shook his head. "It may come as a shock to you but our Covenant is not without its share of problems. As with any collection of races, disputes arise often and it is up to someone to resolve them peacefully. However, most of our disputes end in war and it is up to us to resolve it."
"You mean the Elites."
He nodded. "Yes. My first engagement was against what your kind refers to as Brutes. My kind and theirs have fights quite often. It is a rivalry that is likely to continue for many years to come. I began the war as a Minor but ended as a Captain. Not too long after, the war against your kind began and I quickly rose through the ranks to the level of Ultra. At that point, it is difficult to rise higher than that."
"Why?"
"Unlike your kind, we raise ranks by the number of enemies we kill. However, once we reach the rank of Ultra, it becomes harder to rise simply because volume becomes less important and one's ability to lead successful campaigns is more valued."
"Somehow I don't think you followed this rule."
Icarus gave her a faint smile. "What gave you that idea?"
"You're a Zealot or a variation of them."
"Perceptive. One does not earn the rank of Field Marshall through leading alone. The rank of Field Marshall is reserved for only the most worthy and devoted to the Covenant. It is one where leadership, honor, discipline, and skill are valued above all else. There is a mantra amongst us Field Marshalls, 'With this sacrifice of blood, we journey into the Divine Beyond'."
"Sounds pretty intense." Six said crossing her arms over her chest. "How'd you join them?"
"Shortly after I joined the Ultras, I was given a test to locate whatever artifacts I could on one of your dead worlds. It was assumed I would fail however, I returned with a relic the size of a Hunter's shield, which impressed the Council enough to grant me the rank of Zealot. I earned the rank of Field Marshall by successfully infiltrating one of your planets and secretly stealing several valuable relics as well as several correspondences detailing your shipping routes for the next several months. I did this without your kind ever discovering what I had done until we were disrupting your supply lines. The Council as well as the Hierarchs were pleased with my success and granted me the rank of Field Marshall shortly before we burned your home world."
"And then, because of me, you lost all of it and here you are."
"It is as you say though I loathe saying it."
Six shrugged, "it could be worse, you could have been among the ones who died at that Holy Relic of yours."
Icarus stared at her with his eyes narrowed before releasing a resigned sigh. "There is truth in what you say. Perhaps this is the gods' way of providing me with a new path to follow."
"Since we're on the topic, how about explaining what this Halo is? Why do you revere it so much?"
"It is as I stated earlier, the center of my race's religion."
"Could you be more specific?"
Icarus shifted uncomfortably. "I do not believe you would understand its importance even if I tell you."
"Try me."
"Do not say I did not try to warn you." Icarus stroked the bottom of his mandibles before continuing. "I can only describe it the way the Prophets have told me; Halo is a relic that when used will grant salvation to all the worthy who walk the blessed path with its holy light."
"So some kind of portal to what, transcendence, godhood?"
"No. As I said, you would not understand. It is something that your kind has no way to grasp."
"Have you ever seen what it can do?" Six asked.
"No, however—"
"Then how can you dismiss the possibility of it being a portal of some kind."
Icarus began pacing in front of the desk. "I suppose you have a point however, if we went by that logic it could be anything as neither one of us has seen it."
"Except the ones who were actual at the one that was recently discovered."
Icarus nodded.
"Which brings me to my next question, what is this 'parasite' you and the Honor Guard talked about?"
He stopped pacing, stared directly at her, and said flatly, "It is a creature so vile and so terrible that it would make the mightiest warrior cower in fear of its horrific power. It is not something to be taken lightly. An encounter with the parasite is almost certain death. It consumes all who stand in its way—turning comrades against one another in a bid for desperate survival. Pray you never encounter it."
Translation: their form of the boogieman.
"You make it sound unbeatable." Six said.
"Can you stop a massive wall of rushing water?"
"Not really."
"The same applies here. You may prevent some of the water from hitting you but ultimately you shall be overwhelmed and drenched by the wave."
"Speaking from experience?"
"Mostly. Like you with your childhood, it is not an experience I enjoy reliving."
"One that I can understand quite fully." Hope interjected.
Six turned her head toward the computer console. "What are you, do you know what he's referring to, Hope?"
"Indeed I do." She cheerfully replied, "I also know the purpose of Halo if you would like for me to recite to you its grand purpose."
"And how, construct, did you come to possess this knowledge?"
"Possess what?" Hope asked in a confused tone.
"Knowledge about Halo and Icarus' parasite monster." Six answered.
"Your guess is as good as mine, Lieutenant."
"But you just said—"
"I have no record of what you are referring to in my vast stores of knowledge, Noble Six. If I did, I would have let you know sooner."
Six gave the terminal a puzzling look before turning back towards Icarus who bore an equally confused expression on his reptilian face. "Is it normal for your constructs to contradict themselves?"
Six shrugged. "Honestly, no; but then again this is my first time around a smart AI so it is possible that she can do that as a form of humor."
Except this isn't the first time she's done this.
"What do you suggest, Demon?" Icarus asked in a low voice.
"For now, we ignore it" Six replied back in the same tone of voice, "but if it happens again we'll address the problem then."
Icarus nodded his head just as Jun's voice rang out in Six's helmet coms. "Six, get top side. I think we've got trouble headed our way."
"What is it, Jun?" she answered grabbing her Assault Rifle that was leaning next to the computer terminal and checking the ammunition count on its holographic display.
"A Covie ship and it just landed pretty close to our position."
"Scouts?" she replied turning to see Icarus checking his Plasma Rifle.
"Lieutenant." Hope interrupted.
"Possibly." Jun answered, "Whoever they are, you need to get up here so we can deal with them then hurry up and finish so we can get the hell out of here."
"Lieutenant." Hope called again.
"Alright, Icarus and I will be up there shortly." Six said, "in the meantime keep an eye on them and hold fire until we're up there."
"Understood." He replied.
"Looks like we have company." Six said to Icarus as she walks over to the terminal where Hope is steadily working.
"I look forward to facing the ones who are foolish enough to challenge us." He answered.
"Lieutenant, I have something." Hope desperately said.
"It'll have to wait. We've got bigger problems right now."
"But—"
"I'm getting ready to yank you. I would suggest you get ready."
"Fine." She said in a frustrated voice. "But since I'm not done looking for what we came here to find, I'm using your suit's power to do remotely."
"As long as it doesn't impede my combat effectiveness, you can do whatever you like."
"Alright." Hope replied. She paused then said, "You can yank me no—."
Noble Six removed the disk from the terminal and reinserted it into the slot in the back of her head then joined Icarus by the door where they proceeded to the dusty surface.